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Early the next morning, after Sato finished washing up and had breakfast with his Pokémon, he immediately set off on his off-road bike to head back. On the way, he deliberately passed by the construction site of the breeding house once more.
It had to be said—Takeda Jiro moved fast. After receiving a large sum of funding from Sato, he immediately resumed construction.
At this point, the once-barren land designated for the breeding house had already been leveled again, and the simple temporary sheds for the construction workers were nearly complete.
What was interesting, however, was that a vibrant flower field had somehow appeared at the northeastern edge of the site. Among them, several Gracidea flowers were blooming particularly beautifully.
The construction site was bustling with activity. Under the direction of technical supervisors, large numbers of workers—and Fighting-type Pokémon such as Machop, Machoke, Machamp, Timburr, Gurdurr, and Conkeldurr—were transporting various building materials and carrying out construction work. The whole place was a scene of intense, energetic labor.
"Tyler, it looks like you've successfully completed your promotion task. I knew you could do it."
Sato's arrival didn't escape Takeda Jiro, who was chatting with a contractor at the site. Upon spotting Sato, he quickly wrapped up the conversation and walked over at an unhurried pace, smiling warmly.
"You flatter me, Mr. Takeda. I was able to finish so quickly only thanks to some benefactors. But your efficiency is really impressive—less than two days, and things are already running so smoothly here. At this rate, the breeding house should be roughly completed before long."
Sato got off his bike and replied with a smile.
"That depends on the weather. You know this area—it rains often, and when it does, it pours for days on end."
"If the weather holds, we might finish in one or two months. If not, even three or four months could be difficult."
"Sigh… let's just hope no storms roll in, or we'll really be in trouble."
As a seasoned veteran in construction matters, Takeda Jiro responded rather pessimistically.
"There won't be any storms. We've just entered early autumn—this season is perfect for building."
"By the way, how's the funding situation for the breeding house now? I've just gotten to know a major tycoon. If funds are tight, I can introduce you. With the old gentleman and lady's capabilities, he'd definitely be willing to invest."
Seeing Takeda Jiro's gloomy expression, Sato encouraged him and smoothly changed the topic.
After chatting for a bit longer, Sato got back on his bike and continued on his way. Before leaving, he gave Takeda Jiro Steven's contact number.
As Takeda Jiro had said, the Hoenn region truly loved its rain. Not long after parting ways, Sato ran straight into a torrential downpour.
The heavy rain quickly turned the unpaved dirt road into a muddy mess. For safety's sake, Sato had no choice but to stop and look for shelter, patiently waiting for the rain to pass.
Unfortunately, the downpour lasted far longer than expected. Night was approaching, yet the rain showed no sign of stopping.
"This rain just won't quit. I was planning to get back to Mauville City later and have a meal with Wattson and the others. Looks like that's not happening."
Taking shelter in a small cave on higher ground, Sato glanced at the rain still pouring outside and the darkening sky. He set aside a news magazine he had nearly finished reading and thought helplessly.
He then took out some Pokémon food from his spatial backpack and began preparing dinner for his Pokémon.
He currently had quite a few Pokémon, but thanks to multi-space PokéBalls, he only needed to feed the Pokémon belonging to his "Tyler" identity.
At present, the Pokémon under this identity were: a level 44 Pikachu, level 47 Kecleon, level 45 Tentacruel, level 44 Cloyster, level 42 Lanturn, level 39 Staryu, level 36 Blastoise, level 53 Swampert, level 30 Kadabra, level 25 Duskull, and level 21 Misdreavus.
Truth be told, a person's energy was limited. With so many Pokémon on hand, it was impossible for Sato to meticulously train all of them at once. He could only focus on one group at a time.
Currently, the Pokémon he prioritized were Pikachu, Kecleon, Tentacruel, Staryu, Blastoise, and Kadabra.
Among them, Pikachu was already considered a success. It possessed numerous powerful Electric-type attacks and even the formidable setup move Nasty Plot.
Coupled with the mutated Thunder Orb, Pikachu's offensive power had reached absurd levels. Even though it was fragile and could be taken down easily, at the very least it could drag a powerful opposing Pokémon down with it.
As for Kecleon and Blastoise, they were also nearly complete builds. What they lacked now was a single extremely valuable Pokémon item each.
Kecleon needed a special item called the Expert Belt—an item that increased the power of super-effective moves by 20%.
With its Protean ability and its wide array of moves of different types, possessing this item would grant Kecleon a massive leap in offensive capability.
Especially since it also had Nasty Plot. If it could successfully use that move while hidden by its invisibility, even with its somewhat low base Special Attack, it could still unleash explosive damage.
Blastoise, on the other hand, lacked only a Mega Blastoise stone. It had already fully mastered Water Pulse, Dragon Pulse, and Aura Sphere—three powerful pulse-based moves. After evolving, it would be fully capable of releasing two of these attacks simultaneously.
If Blastoise could Mega Evolve into Mega Blastoise, then with Mega Blastoise's Mega Launcher ability, it could output devastating damage even without any setup moves.
It was also worth noting that after Mega Evolution, Blastoise would have three cannons—one of them a massive main cannon. Its firepower would be unquestionable.
As for Tentacruel, Staryu, and Kadabra, they still had plenty of untapped potential.
Tentacruel's issue was straightforward: it lacked moves and a suitable held item that could fully take advantage of its ability.
Clear Body prevented its stats from being lowered by opponents' moves or abilities, making it an ideal trait for a setup Pokémon. The only drawback was that it could still be countered by Haze.
That wasn't a major problem, though. Few Pokémon could learn Haze, and as a member of a rain team, Tentacruel would often fight under rain. In such conditions, Haze was nearly useless—rain would easily negate its effects.
Therefore, if Tentacruel could learn a powerful setup move, it would gain the ability to sweep entire teams.
In Sato's memory, Tentacruel did indeed possess a very powerful setup move—one perfectly suited for a Pokémon with many arms.
That move was Acupressure, a Normal-type setup move that randomly boosted one of the user's stats—Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed, Accuracy, or Evasion—by two stages.
In Sato's vision, once Tentacruel mastered Acupressure, it could use its numerous arms to instantly perform multiple boosts in succession, rapidly achieving overwhelming combat strength.
Additionally, Tentacruel had Reflect Type. With that move, type matchups would largely lose their meaning, allowing Tentacruel to easily handle Pokémon of any attribute.
The item Tentacruel lacked was Black Sludge—the ultimate Poison-type treasure. Tentacruel already possessed Aqua Ring for recovery; if it could also obtain Black Sludge—
Then a Tentacruel freed from type disadvantages and equipped with Acupressure would become a truly terrifying Pokémon. Its formidable self-recovery would be more than enough to sustain the massive stamina drain caused by repeated stat boosts.
In that case, Tentacruel's sweeping potential would become incredibly strong.
In the past, Sato might have abandoned this idea due to his inability to find a way to obtain Acupressure.
But ever since he learned about the League's special exchange system designed specifically for bounty hunters, this wild plan had begun to linger in his mind—refusing to fade away.