Looking at the Alakazam ice sculpture before him.
Tetsuya gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with bloodlust. "Haunter, it's yours. Drain it until not even scraps remain!"
Houndoom and Golett both sensed Tetsuya's resentment and retreated to the side, both feeling extremely puzzled. What exactly was Tetsuya hating so much…?
If it was pitying that Gardevoir, there was completely no need for it. That was a male Gardevoir after all...
Tetsuya still stared at Alakazam with a face full of resentment, while Houndoom and Golett looked at Tetsuya with puzzled expressions.
The atmosphere was inexplicably awkward!
Haunter used Night Shade to completely envelop Alakazam and began absorbing its vitality.
---◓---
Sure enough, just as Tetsuya had expected, this Alakazam possessed an enormous amount of vitality. It took an entire night to fully absorb it.
At this moment, Alakazam truly only had a layer of skin remaining.
"Houndoom, use Flamethrower and burn it!"
Tetsuya's resentment still continued, and Houndoom could only comply. Within the flames, Alakazam truly did not even leave behind any scraps.
After absorbing Alakazam's vitality, Haunter continuously spun its body~. This powerful force truly required proper digestion.
Tetsuya did not bother with it. He and the remaining Pokémon ate breakfast and settled down to rest.
After all, in order to prevent any accidents from occurring, Tetsuya and all the Pokémon had stayed up all night accompanying Haunter.
The Pokémon each found a place nearby to sleep, while Tetsuya naturally went to sleep on that piece of wool. However, lying on it filled his mind with wild thoughts, forcing him to change places anyway.
Only around noon did Haunter completely finish digesting Alakazam's vitality.
"So, how does it feel?" Tetsuya asked.
White light surged around Haunter's body. It already fully possessed the conditions necessary for Evolution, but without the stimulation of toxins, it still could not evolve.
At this moment, Haunter felt endless energy within its body. Suddenly, red light burst from its eyes. An entire row of towering trees ahead was uprooted, and under Haunter's psychic power control, all of them were embedded into the rocks of the mountain hollow, penetrating a full three meters deep.
Such power caused not only Tetsuya, but even these Pokémon, to involuntarily swallow nervously…
This exploration of the mountain hollow had truly yielded abundant rewards.
Haunter's psychic power had once again received a jump in improvement. Although it still could not compare to that Alakazam from before, it was already considered exceptionally outstanding. Even the Pokémon of Trainers at the champion or runner-up level in League tournaments specializing in Psychic-types might not necessarily possess psychic power as strong as Haunter's.
That Alakazam's Psychic capabilities from earlier were completely no weaker than the Ninetales deep within the mountains. Furthermore, it was a pure Psychic-type Pokémon, so it could be said that absorbing its vitality produced even better effects than absorbing the vitality of that Ninetales.
Tetsuya observed this mountain hollow. It truly was a good place. Not only was it hidden, but it also had food and water, and the "training grounds" were sufficiently spacious.
He might as well stay here for a month and then head out directly for the second elimination round.
However, the place where Alakazam had originally "conducted" those activities was still thoroughly cleaned by Tetsuya. Everything that should be burned was burned away. Otherwise, he truly would not have been able to sleep.
This month was equivalent to closed-door training. It was also a period for summarizing and improving upon the battles from the previous two months.
Here, Ditto could also recklessly Transform into any Pokémon it wanted. After all, this place was too hidden, and reaching the deepest part required a long time. That gave Tetsuya more than enough time to prepare certain things.
With Ditto, this all-purpose Pokémon, many forms of training became much easier. Because there was now a reference target, training became far more convenient.
Ditto underwent physical training every day, so its condition was undoubtedly the best among all the Pokémon. In addition, because Quick Powder had fused into the cells of its body, after Transforming into the same Pokémon, its Speed would still surpass the Pokémon it transformed into.
However, Ditto's continuity and proficiency in using moves could not compare to those Pokémon.
Therefore, battling Ditto was equivalent to battling one's own shadow. Any progress or changes one made each day could easily be tested.
The value of training lay in perseverance, and the improvement of strength was also subtle and gradual.
---◓---
A month of training passed in the blink of an eye.
Seeing that this round of the elimination round was about to begin, Tetsuya also packed his belongings and headed toward the Shadow Team base. He probably would not be returning to this area for quite some time.
After the elimination round, he would head to the poisonous forest. Now the energy within Haunter's body had already begun to show signs of swelling. Every day it was forced to vent that energy outward. It wanted to evolve yet could not, and that feeling was extremely uncomfortable.
Only by going to the poisonous forest could Tetsuya see whether there might be a suitable Poison-type Pokémon capable of stimulating Haunter's Evolution.
Along the way, Tetsuya only focused on moving forward and did not provoke any Pokémon. On the journey here, he had fought his way through everything, so now many Pokémon fled in terror the moment they saw Tetsuya. Naturally, traveling became much easier~
Traveling nonstop, he reached the Shadow Team base in only five days. Now the grasslands had once again become lively.
Tetsuya first returned to his original secluded area and set up his tent, establishing camp. He hid the Poké Balls containing the six Gloom inside the tent.
He needed to make a trip to the Shadow Team camp, so he left Houndoom behind to guard the place. With such a vicious Pokémon watching over it, nobody would dare set their sights on his tent…
---◓---
Shadow Team camp.
Tetsuya took out twenty Poké Balls.
Ten Pokémon were exchanged for supplies and medicine, leaving ten remaining.
"Kid, exchange these ten for points. Let me tell you honestly, your current ranking is simply terrible. Exchanging these ten Pokémon for points will definitely improve it greatly!" The Shadow seemingly advised Tetsuya in a "friendly" manner.
"Tch, register them for me. I'll exchange them for supplies next time," Tetsuya said impatiently.
"And the points…?" The Shadow still refused to give up.
Tetsuya coldly said, "Hmph, I don't need that kind of thing."
After speaking, he left.
---◓---
Returning to his tent area, Tetsuya saw a familiar figure wandering around near his tent. Probably because of fearing Houndoom, the person had not dared to approach.
"What do you want!?" Tetsuya shouted.
The person patted their chest and let out a sigh of relief before turning around. "You scared me to death!"
It turned out to be Kanta.
"Where did you go during these three months!? I searched for you so painfully… I finally spotted your Houndoom but still couldn't find you, so I waited here for you. I didn't expect you to scare me like this either. Let me tell you, you have to compensate me for my emotional damages, humph~!" Kanta said as though it were only natural.
Tetsuya felt as though the guilty party was accusing the victim first. "Compensate… you…?"
Besides, the forest was so massive that even if he did not go to the northern area, there was no guarantee Kanta would encounter him.
And were they even that familiar with each other?
Did he need Kanta to search for him?
If not for Kanta's considerable ability making him a good sparring partner, Tetsuya would not have paid any attention to him at all.
Furthermore, it was Kanta wandering suspiciously around his tent…
No matter how one looked at it, it seemed like there were ulterior motives.
Who knew whether Kanta was after money or beauty~? And now Kanta still wanted compensation…
'Hn.' It was simply wishful thinking!