The seven or eight Shellder had already approached Slowbro, but they were blocked by an invisible force and were unable to move even an inch closer.
Tetsuya began using telepathy to issue commands to Slowbro. Because Slowbro was a Psychic-type Pokémon, its brain could receive signals transmitted through psychic powers. This was the connection between a Psychic and a Psychic-type Pokémon.
Such signals could only be received by Psychic-types, which was why people capable of using psychic powers inherently had an unfair advantage when using Psychic-type Pokémon against others. However, there were very few people capable of such a feat.
For the current Slowbro, only commands transmitted through psychic powers could be used. Slowbro's reactions were sluggish, and if commands had to be received through hearing and then transmitted to the brain, the process would inevitably delay the timing of battle. By using telepathy, Tetsuya could directly transmit commands to Slowbro's brain, allowing it to execute them at the fastest possible speed.
"Confusion. Send them beyond the horizon."
Tetsuya transmitted the command to Slowbro. Silently and without anyone noticing, Slowbro unleashed a terrific psychic force. In an instant, the seven or eight Shellder began spinning through the air. With a casual movement from Slowbro, lake water was drawn upward by a tremendous force, forming a gigantic whirlpool.
The vortex swept up the Shellder and spun them through the sky!
""""… … …"""
All the Pokémon were left dumbfounded. Could this Slowbro actually have been pretending to be dense all along? The superb sight was comparable only to the [Blizzard Vortex] created by Mamoswine. The rushing water carried the Shellder away, truly drawing a line across the horizon before disappearing from view.
By then, the lake's water level had already dropped by a quarter.
Slowbro also collapsed, unconscious. It seemed that it had consumed too much enery. As expected, Slowbro's psychic powers had not yet fully matured.
The time when Will became famous because of this Slowbro would be roughly ten years from now. During those ten years, Slowbro would constantly use Calm Mind to strengthen its psychic power. When that time came, it would undoubtedly become famous with a single battle!
Only a "reincarnator" like Tetsuya had witnessed just how terrifying it would become.
Furthermore, this Slowbro's psychic power and energy seemed to have no upper limit at all, continuously increasing through Calm Mind. That was why Will only grew stronger with age. In truth, it was all because of this Slowbro.
After displaying such power, none of the Pokémon dared underestimate Slowbro anymore.
---◓---
Tetsuya wiped down the unconscious Slowbro's body, gave it water, and massaged its head until it woke up. After feeding it breakfast, he finally recalled it into its Poké Ball to rest.
Continuing their journey to Ecruteak City, Tetsuya and Catherine arrived at a town. There was nothing particularly special about the town itself, but a Pokémon Balloon Race being held there caught Catherine's interest.
The prize for the winner was a TM for Brave Bird, which was extremely important to Catherine. The market value of such a TM was around 10,000 Pokédollars. Furthermore, several of the Pokémon Catherine had caught on Shadow Island suffered from the same lack of moves as Tetsuya's Pokémon, so TMs were needed to supplement them.
Tetsuya also roughly judged the overall strength of the participants. As far as he could tell, there was simply no one capable of competing with Catherine's Skarmory, so all he needed to do was sit back and enjoy being a spectator.
After renting a hot air balloon locally, Catherine went off to practice by herself. Tetsuya wandered around the town and, after quite a bit of effort, finally found an inn that did not require an ID.
It seemed that he absolutely had to speed up his plans in Ecruteak City. Restoring his identity was the highest priority. Otherwise, he could not even ride public transportation right now, which was simply too inconvenient.
Next to the inn was actually a shop that sold TMs. Tetsuya could not resist going in for a look, since he still needed quite a few TMs himself.
The moment he entered the shop, the owner enthusiastically introduced Flying-type moves that controlled air currents, such as Gust and Tailwind. These were indeed the best-selling TMs here, but Tetsuya had no need for them and simply ignored the owner.
"Do you have any more, you know, 'normal' moves?" Tetsuya asked.
"…Aren't the ones I just mentioned 'normal'?" The owner asked in surprise.
"What I need are offensive moves. Those Flying-type moves aren't useful to me," Tetsuya said.
"Let me take a look. There don't seem to be many…" 'After all, Pokémon Balloon Races are popular here. As businessmen, we naturally stock goods according to market demand.'
After saying that, the owner went into the back warehouse to search. Tetsuya waited for quite a while before seeing the owner come out covered in dust. He was holding several TMs, all of which were covered with a layer of dust.
"Cough cough! Ahem! It looks like there are only these three left. I picked them up casually when ordering stock. Some have already been sold, and some were simply forgotten. Other than Flying-type moves, nothing else sells here at all! This is Waterfall, this is Magical Leaf, and this one here Flamethrower. If you want one, I'll give you a discount," The man said.
"I'll still have to go to a Pokémon Center to use it, right?" Tetsuya asked.
"Yeah! That's a mandatory League regulation, nothing can be done about it. But the Pokémon Center isn't far from here, and renting a TM player doesn't cost much," The man replied.
"Then give me the Flamethrower TM. How much is it?" Tetsuya asked.
"I'll give it to you at cost price! Hmm, how about 5,000 Pokédollars?"
The owner was quite honest and did not ask for more. Tetsuya could not be bothered to haggle.
"However… but if it doesn't work, I'll be coming back to find you," Tetsuya said.
"Oi! Oi! Customer, there's never been any guarantee that a Pokémon will definitely learn a move from a TM! Pokémon have different levels of potential and talent, and not every Pokémon is compatible with every TM. Once a TM is sold, no responsibility is accepted!
…Of course, all of these are official League products. If you discover they're pirated, you can report me. Selling counterfeit TMs carries criminal liability!"
After hearing that, Tetsuya had nothing more to say. It seemed this owner was an [Expert-type]. He had only been testing him. The man was actually quite amusing.
In truth, the League was the biggest profiteer. Not only did it monopolize the TM market, but it also offered no guarantee that the move would be learned. Buying an expensive TM was far from a complete solution, while the League made a guaranteed profit and shifted all responsibility away from itself.
Tetsuya took out 5,000 Pokédollars in cash and purchased the Flamethrower TM.
Given Koffing's potential, learning Flamethrower should not be a problem. Moreover, in order to deal with Steel-type Pokémon, it really did need to learn a Fire-type move.
With the TM in hand, Tetsuya headed toward the Pokémon Center. Fortunately, using a TM player did not require an ID Card, which spared him his biggest inconvenience.