Day 17 of the Johto journey. Clear.
After breakfast, the Pokémon split up and followed their training plans. Reiji still kept most of his attention on Zapdos.
Carvanha would be evolving today, but he wasn't in a hurry. It was a carnivorous fish, and nighttime suited it better. He planned to let it eat its fill first, then evolve it in the evening, when it was relaxed and at its sharpest.
The morning was simple. Reiji jogged for a while, drew water from the lake for a quick wash, then settled back into his folding chair with a fishing rod.
There probably weren't any fish in this lake, but that had never stopped a fisherman before. Sometimes the point was the waiting.
Besides, he could feed Carvanha, wear Dratini like a scarf, rub its head, keep an eye on Zapdos's training, and build affection with all of them at the same time. Efficient.
"Tini…" Dratini was no longer afraid of him. It curled around his body, soaking in his warmth, and when Reiji stroked its head, it rubbed its cheek against him.
"Here. Have one." Reiji smiled and fed it a Pokéblock.
Now and then, Reiji went into the forest to check on Golurk. Umbreon and Gengar were teaching it the basics, but he still didn't trust those two not to slip in something ridiculous. If Golurk grew up crooked, there was no easy reset. He didn't have another core stone.
Krystal kept her distance all day. Once she understood why Reiji was here, she mostly watched him from afar. Sometimes she went deeper into the forest to patrol and check on the area.
Whenever an explosion went off in the woods behind his camp, she hurried over to ask what had happened. Reiji brushed it off as Pokémon training.
It was believable enough. The Pokémon training openly by the lake had already left the ground full of craters, so a few explosions in the forest didn't look too strange. Reiji also told her not to worry. He wouldn't damage the forest.
The day passed quietly.
Krystal had received a bowl of mushroom soup from him the day before, and today she brought over some mushrooms in return. Reiji added ham and cooked another pot, then sent her a bowl as well.
After dinner, he took out thirty million Pokédollars' worth of Water-type resources and another ten or twenty million in Dark-type resources. Some of the Dark-type materials came from the Lightning Gang's stockpile, while the rest was his own reserve.
He had originally saved those for Darkrai.
Where was that guy, anyway?
When Reiji entered the Reverse World last time, he hadn't found any trace of Darkrai. And he wasn't crazy enough to go poking around Giratina's territory just to check. For now, he could only try the League side. Bruno and Agatha had been the ones who explored those ruins back then, so Shun would probably be the best way in.
Connections made everything easier.
For now, Carvanha came first.
Golurk hadn't used Water-type resources, since it barely had any Water-type moves. That saved him a good supply, perfect for Carvanha's evolution.
Reiji laid everything out by the shore and told Carvanha to leap out of the lake once it was ready.
Carvanha snapped its teeth in the water. The resources on shore gleamed blue under the moonlight, mixed with the darker energy that drew it in like bait.
Excited, Carvanha burst out of the lake and threw itself straight at the pile.
The instant it opened its mouth and plunged into the resources, evolution light flared around it. Reiji and the others had to shut their eyes against the glare.
When the light faded, a blue-and-white shark lay in front of him.
Its fins were larger and stronger than before. Its teeth were sharper. Its red eyes looked vicious enough to make most people take a step back. It really did look like a villain's Pokémon.
Perfect for him, honestly.
"Shar? Sharpedo." After evolving, Sharpedo flopped its way to the water's edge and looked down at its reflection in the moonlit lake.
"Sharpedo, pull back Rough Skin for me."
Reiji walked over with the others and waited until Sharpedo withdrew its ability before reaching out to touch it. Sure enough, it didn't scrape his hand. It was just slick with mucus, which was normal for Water-type Pokémon.
So contact-damage abilities really could be controlled. Around their Trainer, Pokémon could turn them down.
"You look good, Sharpedo. Go try swimming." Reiji smiled.
The shark really was his kind of Pokémon. He liked rough, powerful-looking ones like this. Beautiful Pokémon were fine, but they didn't suit him as well.
"Shar?" Sharpedo glanced back and saw everyone watching it, congratulating it, celebrating its evolution.
They were all pretty decent, actually. Especially when they weren't using it as a punching bag. Everyone was smiling now. And since it hadn't managed to beat any of them anyway, joining them was clearly the smarter choice. With strong partners like these, it could call for backup if anyone picked on it.
Splash.
Sharpedo flopped into the lake and began circling through the water.
It had never felt this fast before.
If only this were the sea. It wanted to tear through open water and swim until it had nothing left.
Once Sharpedo entered the lake, Reiji started cleaning up the leftover materials. The stones and items that had already lost their energy went straight into Hanhan's mouth as a snack.
After sorting everything, he found about ten or twenty million Pokédollars' worth of resources still unused. Most of the leftovers were Water-type materials. That was probably Carvanha's current limit. Pokémon without enough prior accumulation couldn't absorb too much at once.
Reiji packed the remaining resources away, returned to his lounge chair, and opened Sharpedo's panel.
[Sharpedo]
[Type: Water + Dark]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 70.13%]
[Level: 35.12%]
[Ability: Rough Skin/18.55%][Hidden Ability: Speed Boost/26.23%]
"Seventy? Not bad."
Sharpedo's potential had reached 70. Not bad at all. It had just crossed the line Reiji wanted, and once it matured, it could become a nasty underwater attacker.
Its level had climbed to 35 as well, putting it close to Advanced tier. That was enough to count as part of the third-string team for now, but only barely. If it didn't keep growing, its only real job would be hauling him across the water.
Its moves were about what he expected: Water, Dark, and speed-based techniques. Nothing surprising, but nothing missing either.
The next step was teaching it to handle Speed Boost properly. Raw speed was useless if it couldn't steer. At minimum, Sharpedo needed to turn cleanly while moving fast. Ideally, it should be able to snap around at high speed without losing control.
Its aim needed work too, but that could be left to Staryu and Pelipper. With those two drilling it, Sharpedo should be able to fire three clean shots in a row before long.
Then there were the teeth.
That mouth was Sharpedo's real weapon. Its bite could tear through a ship's steel hull, and if Reiji trained that properly, very few things would be able to take a hit from it head-on.
Great white sharks in his old world already had terrifying bite force. They could crush a person without much trouble.
Sharpedo was a Pokémon shark.
There was no point comparing the two. Even if Sharpedo lost teeth in a clash, shark teeth grew back.
Once he finished checking the panel, Reiji got ready for bed.
He had Rhydon dig a pool near the edge of the forest, about seven or eight meters from the lake, so his Water types would have somewhere safe to rest without getting shocked.
When Sharpedo got tired of swimming, it could jump into the pool by itself.
The water in the pool had been supplied by Pelipper, Swampert, Starmie, and Carvanha before it evolved. It wasn't connected to the lake.
Reiji crawled into the tent with Umbreon and Dratini. Tonight, he had one more little heater curled up with him. Spinarak would take the night watch.
Lucario and a few of the others had their own tents, and Reiji made sure they were covered with blankets.
Magmar stayed outside. Letting it sleep in a tent was just asking for a fire.
Accelgor, Scyther, Toxicroak, Golbat, Pidgeot, and the rest all had their own habits. Some slept in the trees, some slept under them, and some made little nests wherever they liked. Most of them preferred the open air anyway.
Weezing was the one exception.
That rotten egg spent the day training with Gengar in the forest, then went straight back into its Poké Ball at night. There was no helping it. It stank too much, and it couldn't hold the smell in. The moment it ate something good or got excited, foul gas started leaking out.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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