Tetsuya had stayed at Ecruteak Gym for nearly a month, eating and living there free of charge. His Pokémon had continued their regular training and received care at the Pokémon Center as usual.
Life had been quite comfortable.
Over the past month, although his Pokémon had been in excellent mood, their training efficiency had indeed become far worse than before. If this continued, his Pokémon would start developing laziness.
Just then, Mr. Shellby called to inform him that this batch of ten Skorupi Eggs was ready for pickup. The most important thing he could do now was raise the Skorupi, so Tetsuya said his goodbyes and left Ecruteak Gym.
There were ten Skorupi Eggs. Tetsuya brought them back to his Pokémon Daycare.
Opening the sealed room, he saw that the original ten Skorupi had all sunk beneath the Toxic poison. Their toxins had merged into Koffing's poison. Tetsuya opened the sealed container, and a cloud of gas immediately rose into the air.
This was the poisonous gas released by the ten Skorupi. Tetsuya sent out Koffing, which inhaled all of the gas in one breath, wearing a thoroughly satisfied expression. At present, he could not provide Koffing with a large supply of poisonous gas, causing its strength to improve rather slowly.
Koffing's power had increased much more quickly back on Shadow Island when it absorbed poisonous gas in the arrow tree forest. Unfortunately, arrow trees simply could not survive in Johto.
Moreover, they grew dozens of meters tall, making it impossible to cultivate them in such a large greenhouse. As a result, he would have to think of another way to raise Koffing.
Only after Koffing had finished absorbing the poisonous gas did Tetsuya dare approach. Now that the toxicity of the Skorupi had also merged into the poison, its toxicity had become even stronger.
Tetsuya threw the ten Skorupi Eggs into the container. The eggs quickly sank to the bottom of the poison. Now it all depended on whether any Skorupi could hatch successfully.
Any Skorupi that managed to hatch would already be considered a success. At this point, all he could do was silently pray…
After locking the door, he only needed to check on them once every morning and evening.
Having left the comfortable conditions of Ecruteak Gym, Tetsuya once again began putting his Pokémon through intense training.
Now it was time to begin focused training for Koffing.
There was no need to mention Koffing's ability to control poisonous gas. It could freely manipulate all kinds of gases.
Poison Gas, Clear Smog, and Smog mixed together could be described as lethally poisonous. Anyone who inhaled them would inevitably be poisoned. Combined with Koffing's unique move, Icy Wind, it could control the gas even more perfectly.
Driven by Icy Wind, the poisonous gas could instantly shroud the opponent, leaving them with nowhere to escape!
Its primary offensive methods were still Sludge Bomb and Belch. As for Toxic, it had already been incorporated into all of its offensive moves. Whether using Sludge Bomb or Venom Drench, they were both infused with Toxic.
Originally, Tetsuya had planned to have Koffing learn the Fire-type moves Flamethrower or Fire Blast. Combined with Poison Gas, they would create explosions capable of unleashing a terrifying power. Unfortunately, because of this Koffing's unique body, it could not learn Flamethrower even with a TM, leaving Tetsuya quite helpless.
However, he now had a new idea. When it came to gaseous poison attacks, Belch was undoubtedly the strongest. The poisonous gas expelled by Belch had extremely powerful corrosive properties. With Koffing's potent toxins, it was fully capable of dealing with Steel-type Pokémon.
Its poison could corrode steel itself, meaning even Steel-type Pokémon could be injured or poisoned. This was already beyond anything found in textbooks.
Koffing could also store the gas from Belch and mix it into its Poison Gas.
Poisonous gas with such potent toxins could truly catch opponents completely off guard.
Sludge Bomb was fierce and swift. As long as it exploded and left a wound, poisoning was inevitable. Then Venom Drench could come into play. Its special poison would lower the poisoned opponent's Attack, Special Attack, and Speed. Once that happened, victory was essentially assured.
At present, the only Pokémon that could coordinate with Koffing was Beedrill. Beedrill's Toxic Spikes could provide field control. By combining Toxic Spikes with the poison from Venom Drench, the entire field could weaken the opponent's combat power. After that, Koffing's poisonous gas shroud combined with Beedrill's [Twin Fury] would allow them to handle even more than twenty Pokémon with ease.
The training Koffing realized most often now was combining poisonous gas with Belch with the assistance of Icy Wind. At present, this gas could only be expelled outside the field, namely where the old mine was located. Since no one ever went there anymore, it was still perfectly safe… right?
---◓---
On the first night, when Tetsuya entered the sealed room, one egg had already floated to the surface. It was clearly ruined. The first Skorupi had died just like that.
Over the next three or four days, the eggs entered what could only be described as a peak period of dying. One egg after another floated to the surface. Four days later, only three eggs remained. The hope of success was growing ever slimmer.
On the fifth day, another egg died. One of the remaining eggs, originally purple, had begun developing red spots. Tetsuya had never seen such a situation before and had no idea what it meant. By now, he was already prepared to give up. Only two Pokémon Eggs remained, and one of them had already developed an abnormality.
Sure enough, after a week, one more egg floated to the surface. The only egg still resting beneath the poison liquid was the Skorupi Egg covered in red spots.
After two more days of soaking, more than half of it had turned red.
Tetsuya no longer knew how to deal with this last egg. Since it had not floated to the surface, it was very likely still alive. However, its color was undeniably abnormal. It looked like raw red brownie…
Perhaps the egg had become moldy all the way through, inside and out. Tetsuya had almost given up completely. He locked the door.
Originally, he had checked the room every morning and evening, but now he only visited once each night. Three days passed in succession. The final Egg had become completely red, yet it still rested at the bottom without the slightest movement.
Another two days passed. The egg had become a brilliant, gleaming red, yet there was still no reaction. Tetsuya was already preparing to dispose of the poison. After all, there was no telling when Mr. Shellby would be able to produce another batch of fourth-gen Skorupi Eggs.
---◓---
In the early hours of the following morning, while Tetsuya was fast asleep, a tremendous bang suddenly rang out, jolting him awake.
The sound had come from the sealed room. Tetsuya immediately sensed that something was wrong. His first thought was that a thief had broken into the sealed room.
This secret absolutely could not be discovered by anyone. If necessary, he would have no choice but to kill to silence them!
Throwing on his clothes, he immediately rushed over.
There were no signs that anyone had tampered with the sealed room, which only made Tetsuya even more puzzled. He sent out Houndoom to scout ahead while cautiously unlocking the door.
"Houndoom, go inside," Tetsuya ordered.