That night, Ryosuke, Maiko, and Tōkichi gathered together without prior arrangement.
For the three of them, this New Year was indeed not so pleasant.
Each sat quietly, the three merely looked at one another, and no one spoke first…
"Are we going to sit here until dawn!?" Ryosuke finally could not help but speak.
Tōkichi let out a long sigh and said, "I didn't expect that after planning so carefully for so long, we would end up lifting a rock only to drop it on our own feet…"
"It is already a blessing. If not for Karen and that Tetsuya, Johto would have been humiliated today. It's just that now Pryce sits even more firmly in his Elite Four Position. It will be even harder for us to make a move against him," Ryosuke said.
Tōkichi added, "Now that Tetsuya has rendered merit to the League, if we move against him, will the council investigate? Should we have the Shadow Team cancel the assassination of Tetsuya…?"
Time fell silent once again.
All three of them hesitated somewhat.
Maiko gave a sinister smile. "Mahoho… Kill! Even if we let the Shadow Team cancel the plan now, we still won't get our money back. Besides, the Shadow Team has always been decisive in their actions. They leave neither bodies nor survivors, and no clues behind. The council would have no way to investigate. More importantly… killing that kid has two advantages!"
Ryosuke and Tōkichi both looked at Maiko. As the saying goes, the most poisonous is a woman's heart. This woman often proposed extremely vicious strategies that even these two men felt inferior to.
"All of you have seen this Tetsuya's performance. Being able to fight Caitlin to a draw. Caitlin's strength is the greatest among these kids. If such a person is nurtured by Pryce, will we still have any good days in the future? Wouldn't the League end up directly controlled in Pryce's hands!?"
""Ohhh! Mhm mhm!""
Ryosuke and Tōkichi nodded repeatedly.
"…And also, if the Shadow Team kills Tetsuya now, the damage to Pryce will definitely be huge. Although it won't directly shake his position, his psychological state will certainly be damaged. If he takes in students again in the future and we kill one or two more… what do you think Pryce will think, hm??"
Maiko smiled knowingly.
"I think Pryce won't dare to take in students anymore~"
The three reached a consensus.
---◓---
At the Pokémon Center, Tetsuya got up early and directly retrieved Piloswine from Nurse Joy. He had Eternal Ice, so Piloswine could recover on its own after resting for two or three days.
At this time, all around Mt. Silver, the sound of New Year firecrackers could be heard everywhere, a scene full of joy. Tetsuya walked alone on the streets, completely out of place with such an atmosphere.
After leaving the busy area, Tetsuya took Ditto out from the bag containing Quick Powder, transformed into Rapidash, and headed toward Ecruteak City.
Quick Powder had fused with Ditto's body for a few days and had already produced some effect, although it was not very obvious. However, it could still be seen from long-distance running that, compared to before, the time required to cover the same distance had shortened somewhat.
At noon, he had already completely left the area of Mt. Silver and arrived at a grassland. The grassland was wide and unobstructed, making it the best place to test Haunter's moves.
At lunchtime, Ditto also returned to its original form. This was the first time his four Pokémon had all appeared together. When he caught Golett, Haunter had been training at the glacier falls.
Ditto, Piloswine, and Haunter could be considered old acquaintances and were already very familiar with each other. While Piloswine and Ditto were eating, they continuously made sounds, likely communicating about their respective training over the past half month.
Golett listened and could only feel restless in its heart(?)…
The current Golett could not even eat on its own and needed Tetsuya to feed it. Its body was completely unable to move, and training would only begin after three months. During this period, who knew how far it would be left behind by the other three Pokémon.
It was also very inconvenient for Tetsuya to feed it. He had to wear glasses, otherwise the Bright Powder on Golett's body was simply too dazzling✨.
"Right now, what you need to do is endure these three months. I spent a lot of money on this Bright Powder on your body, so it absolutely must not be wasted! Moreover, the effect this Bright Powder brings you is not something that three months of training can compare to. As long as you work twice as hard afterward, the results of just three months of training can be made up very quickly."
As Tetsuya watched Golett repeatedly glance toward Ditto and the other two while eating, he could naturally guess what it was thinking.
---◓---
After Golett finished eating, Tetsuya recalled it into its Poké Ball. As usual, Piloswine licked the Eternal Ice once and was also recalled. What both of these Pokémon needed now was rest.
"Alright, Haunter, now let's test your results."
After Tetsuya spoke, Haunter floated a bit higher, looking eager to try.
"First, use your moves once with the assistance of psychic power."
Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Dark Pulse, and Will-O-Wisp were used one after another. There was only a slight gap between them. Since they were assisted by psychic power, there was a process of passing through the brain.
Being able to reduce it to such a slight gap was already quite good. From this, it could also be seen that after training at the glacier falls, the increase in psychic power was indeed astonishing.
The power of the moves had also increased significantly along with the enhancement of Haunter's physical condition after training at the glacier falls.
Bursts of explosions rang out across the grassland, and the originally intact grassland was left in ruins.
The next test was also something Tetsuya was very concerned about, which was the continuity of using the four moves without the assistance of psychic power. Haunter revealed a serious expression, clearly no longer as relaxed as before.
The four moves were used once again, but this time the interval between them was no longer just a slight gap, it was already close to a full minute. However, this was still a significant improvement. Previously, it had taken a full two minutes. This type of training could not be rushed, and the further it progressed, the more difficult it became. If it could truly be done with perfect seamlessness, Haunter's strength would experience a qualitative leap.
The testing was almost complete.
What needed to be observed now was the defensive effect of combining psychic power with Night Shade.
Testing defensive effects out of thin air without a reference object made it difficult to truly see the results of the training. After thinking for a moment, he still had Ditto transform into… Dittoswine!
Having stayed with Piloswine day and night, it was easy for Ditto to use Piloswine's moves. Moreover, Piloswine's moves were quite diverse and could serve as a good means of testing.
"Haunter, use Night Shade, enhance it with psychic power. In a moment, Ditto will attack you. Let's see how long you can resist."
Haunter's entire body was instantly shrouded in black phantoms. With the enhancement of psychic power, it became even more solid, forming a very perfect oval-shaped black barrier.