Tetsuya, who had left alone, still returned to Alakazam's place. Here, there was no need to worry about food or drink.
During this year, Tetsuya desired nothing but a [Extremely_Intense_Training_v1.1]!
Whether it was himself or his Pokémon, their power all had to rise to a higher level. Being able to reach the level of a Pokémon Ranger was the bare minimum, while getting close to the level of an Investigator would be even better.
However, most "Pokémon Trainers" would become stuck at this level.
Generally, Pokémon Trainers who achieved good results in the League Conference applied for Ranger or Investigator evaluations.
Ranger was relatively easier. Those who reached the top four to top eight in a Conference or any official League tournament all had a chance, while the requirements for Investigator were even higher. Those who could pass the evaluations to become an Investigator were basically all championship or runner-up level figures.
As for those capable of reaching the level of a Gym Leader, there were already very few. Generally, there were only around a dozen in a region. Such Gyms were usually famous far and wide, and the League would also announce the might of these Gyms, namely the strongest Gyms in a region, generally around eight to ten of them.
Only the Trainers who reached Gym Leader level were considered "internal" League members and could enjoy the League's many benefits.
The remaining Gyms were all established for training rookies and belonged under these strongest Gyms. Naturally, the Leaders of these smaller Gyms would not possess such power.
Therefore, many opportunistic Pokémon Trainers would avoid those strongest Gyms and instead challenge weaker ones.
Generally, the few strongest Gyms in a region were all world-famous. Those who dared challenge them were either exceptionally strong Trainers or Trainers seeking to surpass their limits.
---◓---
After entering the mountain hollow, every Pokémon had its own task, including Tetsuya himself.
Tetsuya, completely immersed in training, felt absolutely no passage of time. Winter passed into spring, heat gave way to cold.
It snowed...
Only then did Tetsuya realize that it was already another winter.
Looking at the six Pokémon before him, there was nothing more exciting than watching them become stronger.
The coordination between himself and Gengar had also become more tacit. Although the intensity of psychic power hadn't increased dramatically, its usage had already gradually matured. Against ordinary Pokémon, even without Gengar's help, Tetsuya could easily handle them.
During this year, every Pokémon's basics had become even more solid. Like Rock-type solid… cough!
Piloswine's progress in licking the Eternal Ice was also becoming faster and faster. In at most three months, it would finish the Eternal Ice, only waiting to evolve into Mamoswine. At that time, there would be, of course, a new direction for training!
'This is the Pokémon World… Of course, you have to train, train, traaaaain!'
Golett's supplementary food materials had already all been consumed.
If one had to say which Pokémon showed the most obvious improvement, it still had to be Golett. Golett was now covered by five layers of energy, and both its offense and defense "stats" had multiplied.
Now Tetsuya could already completely confirm that this Golett would definitely grow into a Pokémon surpassing Elite Four level. After all, it was the crystallization of an entire tribe's wisdom and also a Pokémon that had been sealed away for hundreds of years. When he originally bid for this Pokémon, he had never imagined that it actually possessed such potential.
Moreover, training Golett fundamentally did not require Tetsuya to worry too much. As energy was continuously unsealed, many moves were naturally learned and also became more proficient in use. It had learned Earthquake, Hammer Arm, and Focus Punch.
Golett might already showed a tendency to closely follow behind Piloswine. Of course, this was also related to Tetsuya treating Golett somewhat specially. After all, he needed Golett to evolve as quickly as possible.
Once Golett evolved into Golurk, its value would become irreplaceable!
Judging from Golett's recent performance, it indeed already showed signs of Evolution.
Another one with the greatest improvement was Koffing. Mainly because while Tetsuya was carrying out physical training, he was also developing Koffing's toxins.
Even as a "Poison-type expert" himself, Tetsuya had never seen such deadly toxins. If Koffing had the chance to evolve into Weezing, becoming a Pokémon surpassing Elite Four level was also possible… at least in one aspect, but honestly, that's all it takes.
During this year, Koffing also learned Sludge Bomb. Of course, Tetsuya did not let Koffing learn moves such as Destiny Bond or Explosion. Some, eh, tragedies, could not be repeated…
More importantly, Koffing's Egg move, Venom Drench, had awakened!
Venom Drench and this Koffing of his were practically a perfect match.
As long as Koffing's poison touched the target, aside from Poison- and Steel-type Pokémon, there were very few that would not become poisoned.
And the "odd poisonous liquid" of Venom Drench would cause the Attack, Special Attack, and Speed of poisoned opponents all to decrease by one stage.
With such a move combination, the opponent could basically already be considered crippled. Relying on its odd poison and toxins, Koffing's combat power had also advanced by leaps and bounds.
It was indeed very difficult for Houndoom and Beedrill's capacities to surpass Elite Four level… but of course, this was also related to Tetsuya's actual training methods.
However, no difference could currently be seen. Houndoom and Beedrill's combat power was also steadily improving, though the speed of improvement could not compare to Piloswine, Golett, and Koffing.
After a year of uninterrupted training and sparring, what they ate was also Berries and meat. Nutrition had not been neglected in the slightest!
Tetsuya's tenth year was plain, but it laid a solid path for future growth. In the future, there would not be too much time to devote all his energy entirely to training.
For many Pokémon Trainers¹[1], the time during their "Pokémon journey" was all wasted on traveling.
In his previous life, when Tetsuya was a Pokémon hunter, his time had all been wasted on making money.
Many times, those wanting to calmly do all-around training simply did not have such an opportunity.
Training and battle complemented each other. Tetsuya had maintained the balance between the two quite well, naturally allowing him to take many fewer detours and maximize efficiency!
If one wanted to become stronger, only by occupying a high position was it possible. Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champions were all the public faces of a region. Every year, they would also participate in all kinds of exchange tournaments or matches.
The League would absolutely not be stingy with money when it came to helping these people improve. Their level was also not something ordinary underground forces admins could compare to. Even the evergreen Team Rocket only maintained a very subtle relationship with the League.
As for openly resisting the League…
Even Giovanni did not possess such courage!
Giovanni was definitely the smartest leader among the underground organizations.
---◓---
Three years!
He was finally about to leave this place. Generally, Pokémon Trainers who "matured" well were already participating in the first League tournament of their lives, and Tetsuya was also almost eleven years old.
Of course, if Tetsuya were to participate in a League tournament in this lifetime, he would definitely be aiming for the championship!
The snow stopped.
After spending the final night within the mountain hollow, Tetsuya organized his luggage and departed toward Shadow Team's base together with his Pokémon.
This time, he would be facing the challenges of nine people, but he was not worried. After all, the one training them was only Raven.
A person who had not even reached the level of a Gym Leader… what was there to fear from the extras he trained? Moreover, it was impossible for Raven to teach them all the training methods he knew…
•.
•.
¹. I used "Pokémon Trainers" instead of just "Trainers", because in this context it excludes other types of Trainers; for example, Gym Trainers, Ranger Trainers, Contest Trainers, and so on. I'm mentioning this so it doesn't feel cumbersome or pointless.
[1] I used "Pokémon Trainers" instead of just "Trainers", because in this context it excludes other types of Trainers; for example, Gym Trainers, Ranger Trainers, Contest Trainers, and so on. I’m mentioning this so it doesn’t feel cumbersome or pointless.