In the lecture hall at Ecruteak Gym, Tetsuya used the TM for Sludge Bomb.
This time, a Muk appeared on screen in the role of the "tutor."
Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball were both projectile explosion-type moves, so their usage shared certain similarities. The main difference was that Sludge Bomb concentrated Poison-type energy.
After watching the TM disc, Gastly had memorized the move completely.
Back at the training grounds, Morty, Raine, and Fantina had become increasingly proficient with their newly learned moves. When Tetsuya arrived, Fantina ignored him completely.
"Gastly, try to secrete poison first." Tetsuya didn't care about them. He found an open area and began training on his own.
Seeing that Gastly's appearance had changed, Morty was surprised. He came over and asked, "Hey, Tetsuya, why does your Gastly look different from before? What kind of coloration is that? Did it mutate?"
"I just stimulated its Poison typing," Tetsuya replied while continuing to observe Gastly's actions.
Morty nodded without pressing further. He had been around Gastly since childhood and had read all kinds of books on the subject. He had never once heard of "stimulating" a Poison typing. While it was true that Gastly had a Poison type according to the literature, it was said to be incapable of learning Poison-type moves on its own.
The notion that Gastly had Poison typing was discovered because it was weak to Psychic-type moves, leading to further research and deductions. As for actual Poison-type moves, Gastly could learn fewer of them than some non-Poison Pokémon, and the power of those moves paled in comparison to its Ghost-type ones.
That's why Gastly's secondary typing was often overlooked. Many even forgot it was weak to Psychic moves and ended up paying the price for it.
Morty had also never heard of Gastly secreting poison. As someone with a deep interest in Ghost-types, he was eager to learn and kept his attention focused on Tetsuya's Gastly.
Soon, poison began to drip from its two fangs. Because the Poison Core had been stimulated by absorbing the core toxins of Swalot, the poison was almost identical. When it hit the ground, it caused corrosion, clear evidence of how potent the toxin was. Thankfully, those two Swalot hadn't gone to waste…
Seeing Gastly capable of secreting poison, Morty was stunned. "…Tetsuya, can you tell me how you did this?"
"Just use Poison-type moves to stimulate its body. But it'll suffer. It takes at least a full day and night."
Tetsuya had already prepared a response for Morty. This method could indeed stimulate the Poison Core, though the success rate wasn't high and the resulting toxicity would be weak. Still, sharing it cost him nothing and gained him some favor.
Morty treated the answer like a treasure.
Now that Gastly could secrete poison, the "real" Sludge Bomb training could begin.
Purple Poison-type energy began to gather.
Gastly's own poison mixed into the forming Sludge Bomb. But because its Ghost-type energy was so strong, the cohesion of Sludge Bomb could never reach the level of Shadow Ball.
Every Pokémon had a limit for how well it could use a move. To surpass that limit, external help was needed.
Sludge Bomb tore the training grounds apart. Even the rocky terrain was left chipped and corroded.
For a Pokémon like Gastly -whose Poison typing was practically useless- producing this kind of result with Sludge Bomb was more than enough to satisfy Tetsuya.
---◓---
With Ditto as the ideal sparring partner, Gastly's training progressed smoothly. After two days, it had become increasingly proficient with Sludge Bomb.
Morty, Raine, and Fantina had trained their moves for a full five days and had completely mastered them. Tetsuya didn't want to keep wasting their time. Besides, constant repetitive training was tedious, actual combat was needed to solidify progress.
Matsuba evaluated how all four were using their newly learned moves and expressed satisfaction. However, he was also quite curious about the change in Tetsuya's Gastly and couldn't help but ask about it…
Tetsuya blamed everything on his deceased father. Even if Matsuba wanted to investigate, there was no way to verify it.
On the third floor of Brass Tower, Tetsuya and the others faced the Duskull group led by Dusclops for a second time. But Tetsuya's purpose was purely to reinforce Gastly's skills.
Charging in without a strategy made clearing the challenge impossible.
Having just learned their new moves, Morty and the others were eager to show what they could do.
Each of them was brimming with confidence!
…However, faced with Dusclops's tactic of using Will-O-Wisp combined with Hex, they were completely helpless.
For five days straight, they attempted the challenge ten times without a single success.
Fantina was growing anxious. Morty was frustrated as well.
Raine didn't care about the outcome. Whether they passed or not had no place in his priorities.
Tetsuya, on the other hand, gave his all every time. He always charged in first, attacking relentlessly, bordering on frenzy.
His full commitment moved both Morty and Fantina!
Fantina's past resentment toward Tetsuya gradually faded.
But it was all a one-sided assumption. Tetsuya only cared about honing Gastly in battle.
In any fight, large or small, he never allowed himself to slack. Carelessness during training only opened the door to fatal mistakes in life-and-death battles.
On the sixth day, Morty didn't lead the group into Brass Tower immediately.
"We've tried for five days… ten full attempts. The result's been the same every time. I think we need to discuss a strategy. If we keep going in headfirst without a plan, we'll just fail again," Morty said.
Raine looked indifferent. He had no interest in tactical planning.
Fantina was desperate to pass but knew she was the weakest of the four and had nothing useful to contribute.
All three turned their eyes toward Tetsuya.
Tetsuya couldn't care less about passing. His only goal was making Gastly stronger. After five days of battles, Dusclops had outlived its usefulness as a training opponent.
It was time to move on to the next floor.
"Let's go," Tetsuya said, casting a glance at Morty as he stepped into Brass Tower.
Morty and Fantina were surprised by his confidence but followed him inside.
"Show-off…" Raine snorted and trailed in last.
When the four entered the third floor, Dusclops had already organized its formation. That sturdy fortress had become a nightmare in the hearts of both Morty and Fantina.
"What's our plan of attack?" Morty asked.
"Split up."
Tetsuya's reply stunned the others. Even combining all four of their Pokémon, they couldn't break through the Duskull group's Will-O-Wisp. Splitting up would just make them fail faster.
Seeing their expressions, Tetsuya gave a cold laugh.