Pokemon: The Legendary Trainer

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Less than half an hour after Sato placed his order, a Delibird arrived at the designated delivery location: the rooftop of the Pokémon Center in downtown Goldenrod City.

This Delibird, already at Level 50, was clearly specially trained. The moment it saw Sato—wearing his Ditto mask—waving at it, it immediately flew over to his side.

Once Sato successfully recited the passphrase for the transaction, Delibird pulled a beautifully packaged box out of its bag and handed it to him.

Next, Delibird stood by and waited patiently while Sato confirmed that the goods were complete and undamaged. When Sato nodded in approval, Delibird immediately pulled out a card reader from its bag and stared unblinkingly as Sato completed the payment.

Barely two seconds after the transaction went through, a voice echoed from the device strapped to Delibird's back: "Pleasure doing business."

Upon hearing this, Delibird gave a polite bow and swiftly flew into the sky.

"As expected of the Johto region's largest department store… the strength behind them is no joke. They even sent a powerful trainer to oversee the transaction. Trying to give me—a first-time buyer—a show of force, huh? That sense of danger just now… whoever they sent must've been at the pseudo Elite Four level at minimum."

As Delibird vanished into the distance, Sato felt the lingering sense of danger finally begin to fade. He turned to look at a rooftop of a skyscraper several dozen meters away, just behind the Pokémon Center, and thought silently to himself.

....

A few minutes later, Sato—now back in his original appearance and dressed in a different outfit—entered the Pokémon Transfer Zone inside the Pokémon Center and dialed a number on one of the public telephones. The call was directed to Professor Oak's Laboratory.

Not long after, the call connected. Professor Oak appeared on the screen, and, as usual during lunchtime, he was holding a cup of instant noodles—beef flavor, no surprise.

"Oh~ Sato! You look like you're in great shape lately. Looks like that Camphor-wood bracelet I gave you is working wonders! So, what's up this time? Don't tell me you've already found another high-potential Pokémon?"

Upon seeing Sato on the screen, Professor Oak immediately slurped the rest of his noodles at lightning speed, took a satisfied sip of soup, and then greeted him with a smile.

"Your bracelet's been working like a charm, Professor—thanks again. I'm currently in Goldenrod City, and I've got something I need your help with…"

Sato returned the greeting with a few pleasantries, then quickly got down to business and explained his reason for calling.

About ten minutes later, Sato exited the Pokémon Center, now holding three additional Poké Balls in his hand.

The semifinals and finals of the upcoming tournament were both six-on-six full battles. But Sato only had three Pokémon truly ready for combat: Swampert, Nidoking, and Shiny Pelipper.

That's why he had called Professor Oak—to bring in reinforcements.

Rather than summoning his higher-level Pokémon like Arcanine, Bellossom, or Shiny Beautifly, Sato chose to retrieve three of his lower-level but promising Pokémon: Heracross, Meowth (now fully evolved into Persian), and Arbok.

This wasn't a case of underestimating his opponents. Quite the opposite—Sato had absolute confidence in his own strength.

That confidence was built on a single name: Swampert.

If this were a one-on-one match, Swampert—when facing Pokémon of the same level—was already a nearly unmatched juggernaut. Add in the recovery power granted by his mutated Supreme Blue Water Stone, and even soloing a six-man team wouldn't be a stretch.

Because of that, Sato felt comfortable entering the match with a team whose average level was only around 40.

After all, while the three ultra-rare TM discs awarded to the tournament champion were valuable, they still weren't more important than strengthening his own Pokémon.

Sato intended to use this tournament as a large-scale training opportunity.

Right now, Nidoking's level wasn't very high. His move pool was still limited, and his recovery ability was lacking. Having him fight through the whole match—or even pull off a one-vs-six—wasn't realistic.

That meant Sato had to rely on his other Pokémon to secure victory—giving them a golden chance to gain experience in real combat.

"Come on out, everyone. From now on, you'll be training your moves right here."

After renting a private training room inside a large training facility near the Pokémon Center, Sato released all six of his chosen Pokémon and began move-training drills.

Swampert had already mastered all his original moves during the countless battles on the mysterious island. Now, the only technique he still needed to work on was Ice Beam, which he had just learned from a TM.

Fortunately, he had Shiny Pelipper—a teammate who already had a solid understanding of Ice Beam—acting as his mentor.

With his top-tier natural talent and comprehension, Swampert quickly picked up the basic techniques of Ice Beam.

Fueled by an endless supply of gem-grade PokéBlocks, he was able to sustain himself through repeated drills, causing his Ice Beam proficiency to soar rapidly.

Shiny Pelipper, having no new moves to learn for now, simply began routine training of existing offensive techniques under Sato's command.

As for Nidoking, Sato didn't have him practice the newly learned Elemental Punches or Flamethrower just yet. Instead, he focused on Sludge Bomb and Poison Tail, both of which were core Poison-type techniques.

Nidoking was a max-IV Pokémon, so just like other gold-tier Pokémon, he had extreme control over his native type energy.

His manipulation of Poison-type energy was as smooth as taming a lamb.

Thanks to this innate command, and supported by constant gem-grade PokéBlock recovery, his mastery of Sludge Bomb and Poison Tail progressed at lightning speed.

Within just a few hours, Nidoking had almost fully mastered both Poison-type moves and was ready to start training his other newly learned techniques.

....

Over on Heracross's side, things were a bit more frustrating.

Being of blue-tier potential, Heracross was at a clear natural disadvantage—and his progress on mastering the Rock-type move Rock Slide was very slow.

However, Heracross's willpower was the strongest among all of Sato's Pokémon.

Lacking talent? Then make up for it with effort.

Over the next eight hours, aside from eating PokéBlocks and drinking water, Heracross barely rested—repeating Rock Slide drills over and over.

Hard work always pays off eventually.

Though he wasn't fully proficient at Rock Slide by the end, Heracross could now manipulate Rock-type energy well enough to produce several fist-sized stones.

After watching the training progress of Swampert, Shiny Pelipper, Nidoking, and Heracross, Sato felt reassured and turned his attention to the final two: Arbok and Persian.

He hadn't invested much attention in these two lately. In fact, both had spent over a month at a Day Care in Cinnabar Town, and the time apart had made them feel a bit distant from him.

If it weren't for Swampert's intimidating presence, Sato suspected that these two—with their wild temperaments—might have attacked him outright.

He'd heard stories from the Day Care's manager: Arbok had been so aggressive that it injured sixteen staff members, several of whom were nearly eaten by it.

Persian wasn't much better. After evolving, it teamed up with Arbok, used its partner's fearsome reputation, and quickly became the ringleader of all the Pokémon at the Day Care.

Under Persian's influence, those Pokémon started causing mischief everywhere—pulling pranks, escaping the premises, and even stealing from outside.

The poor Day Care manager, unable to reach Sato for weeks, had to take the fall for their behavior.

When Sato finally contacted him and arranged for the return of Arbok and Persian, the manager cried on the spot—and it wasn't a small cry either.

Sato had to cough up 2 million PokéDollars in compensation just to get the man to stop crying—and another 500,000 in emotional damages before the manager agreed to bail the two troublemakers out of jail from the local police station.