"Team assembled," Ethan Black murmured.
"Now it's time to train them properly."
He watched the Pokémon playing in the room with affection, smiled slightly, and then pulled seven training notebooks from his backpack, one for each Pokémon, perfectly lined up.
Sandslash's training was going wonderfully, especially since mastering the technique of "controlling two things at once." Thanks to combining multiple moves, its strength had grown by leaps and bounds.
Cacturne was also progressing very well: after learning to channel its moves through its roots, it had developed its own path.
"As for Shellder... better wait until it learns Hidden Power first. If it gets a Psychic-type Hidden Power, I'll be able to implement many of my training plans."
Ethan Black set aside Shellder's notebook and picked up Meltan's.
On this trip to the Greenrock Mountain Breeding Area, aside from catching Absol, his greatest gain had been the Toxic Orb he found inside the leader Arbok.
Thanks to the energy of that Toxic Orb, Meltan had unexpectedly learned two Poison-type moves: Acid Armor and Toxic, instantly expanding its move repertoire.
Currently, Meltan mastered the moves: Headbutt, Harden, Thunder Wave, Thunder Shock, Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Acid Armor, and Toxic.
In recent training, Ethan Black had developed methods tailored to Meltan's characteristics.
Using its liquid mercury-like body and the Harden move, he devised a very interesting technique: in the Secret Kingdom, against the leader Arbok, Meltan covered its head with its mercury body and then hardened it into steel, delivering a lethal blow.
He called this technique "Mercury Mold": Meltan shapes its liquid body into different forms and, using Harden, turns it into solid steel, creating an adaptable and deadly weapon.
Additionally, thanks to its Magnet Pull ability, Meltan could manipulate metals to attack. He had already demonstrated this in the Rock Cave Secret Kingdom, surrounding itself with iron ore, leaving Ethan Black astonished.
"Now that it has learned Acid Armor and Toxic, it might be better to pause the development of its Electric-type moves," Ethan Black thought.
Since the last ranking battle, he had tried training Meltan to use electromagnetism for levitation, using its magnetism and internal electricity reserve, but the results were not good.
"Harden and Acid Armor can modify its body structure; maybe I can use them to further enhance the Mercury Mold technique..."
He tapped the table lightly while searching for combinations of Meltan's moves that could produce a multiplying effect.
Moreover, if he could make its close-range attacks apply Toxic, its combat power would skyrocket.
"Mercury Mold, Magnetic Control, Electromagnetic Levitation, Poisonous Body..." he reviewed mentally.
He finally decided Meltan should focus on perfecting the Mercury Mold technique, as it was the most direct way to enhance its close-combat capability.
After adjusting Meltan's plan, he reviewed Shuckle's and Trapinch's.
With Absol joining the team, Shuckle was relegated to a purely support role; its training would continue focusing on increasing its endurance.
Trapinch was still in an early phase, with enormous potential. Its plan was to first develop its Ground-type moves, which was progressing smoothly.
"Lastly, Absol," Ethan Black murmured, taking out a blank notebook. In truth, this entire plan review revolved around him.
He wrote down the moves it knew: Perish Song, Future Sight, Scratch, Feint, Leer, Quick Attack, Bite, and Punishment.
The repertoire was a mess. Beyond its basic moves, the only inherited move it had was Punishment; it lacked key inherited moves like Magic Coat, Baton Pass, or Curse.
As for abilities, Absol could have Pressure, Super Luck, or, as a hidden ability, Justified.
Fortunately, his Absol had the Justified ability: when receiving a Dark-type move, its attack increased thanks to its sense of justice.
This reminded him of Patrick Mills' Arcanine, with the Flash Fire ability, which allowed it to strengthen by absorbing Fire-type energy. In fact, that Arcanine could even absorb its own flames to increase power.
Ethan Black wondered if Absol could achieve something similar: absorbing its own Dark-type energy to enter a state of explosive power.
"That's a very interesting line of research..."
But for now, the most urgent task for Absol was to perfect its moves, especially Perish Song and Future Sight, both with enormous potential. The problem was that most Pokémon barely touched the surface of their true power, and fully mastering them was extremely difficult.
The move Perish Song, for example, caused any Pokémon that heard it to be on the verge of fainting after a certain time.
The description was simple but chilling. However, in the real world there were no turn-based systems like in the games, so that "certain time" was uncertain, and its effectiveness depended heavily on the opponent's strength. Against very powerful rivals, it might not even work.
The biggest drawback: there was no practical way to train this move, so its potential, though enormous, was almost impossible to exploit.
(End of chapter)