Now that Golett would not need his supervision for at least more than a month, Tetsuya naturally shifted his focus to Piloswine and Beedrill. The first elimination round would mainly rely on the two of them.
Tetsuya first took Piloswine to a reef.
"Piloswine, you have now learned Blizzard. Yesterday you also successfully incorporated Icy Wind and Freeze-Dry into Blizzard. This combination move must be trained to the limit. It will be one of your ultimate finishing moves!"
On the reef, Piloswine was like a solitary samurai…
Blizzard fused with Freeze-Dry, and together with Icy Wind it swept out. Immediately after, under Piloswine's control, Blizzard formed several tornadoes, and as the tornadoes merged into one, it became a vortex-like Blizzard.
[Blizzard Cyclone].
[Blizzard Vortex].
Tetsuya gave them simple names. Under different situations, they could indeed produce different effects. Having names also made it easier for Piloswine to use them correctly.
Piloswine was able to easily fuse Blizzard, Icy Wind, and Freeze-Dry, and control them so smoothly, while the move chaining Tetsuya had originally had Haunter practice was extremely difficult.
This was mainly because the three moves Piloswine fused were all Ice-type moves and complemented each other. Piloswine only needed to mobilize Ice-type energy. It possessed "endless" Ice-type energy and a unique perception of Ice-type energy, so everything seemed natural.
Haunter was different. The moves that needed to be chained were of different types, requiring it to switch energy instantly, and there was no inherent connection between those moves, so naturally it was not easy to use them smoothly.
After practicing for a while, a large area of the sea surface had already frozen. With such training, Piloswine would be able to reach a level of mastery in about a week.
Beedrill, its current main training tasks were practicing Poison Jab and flying with Agility.
Maintaining flight under Agility, over time it would naturally form a habit. At that point, Agility would no longer be a "move" for Beedrill, but "normal" flight.
Ditto was swimming in the sea, Piloswine was practicing moves on the reef, Beedrill was performing ever-changing flight, and Golett would only come out at night to do, well… rolling practice.
'…'
All the Pokémon's personal training had entered the right track!
'No…'
Tetsuya's mind suddenly twitched. There was still Haunter. He did not know how Haunter was doing now. Without Haunter, the team was always incomplete. At this moment, his emotions suddenly surged…
◓---
On the other side of the ocean, a particular Pokémon wandered around a desolate cabin, only because inside that cabin there was a piece of cloth from its Trainer's trouser leg, and even the scent on it was still so clear.
---◓
At noon three days later, Tetsuya was taking a nap under a tree.
Suddenly, cries and shouts woke him from his dream~
"…tsuya! …T-Tetsuyaaa…! Tetsuya! Help me, save me!"
Takuya came stumbling and crawling toward him. Seeing this situation, Tetsuya did not dare to delay and called for Piloswine and Beedrill to follow.
"What happened!?" Tetsuya asked, not understanding. He saw that Takuya's body was already in tatters, extremely disheveled, and his eyes were red from crying.
His words came out in fragments, "H-Haruto… nd I… were attacked… Houndoom! Haruto…! H-He… he was already bitten to death by Houndoom! Waaaah!"
After Takuya finished speaking, he burst into loud sobs.
"…Then how did you manage to escape?" Tetsuya asked.
"My Poliwag, hic, and the newly caught Geodude are holding off that Houndoom. That Houndoom is too strong… e-even stronger than the one you caught! T-They are probably in grave danger now…"
With a long howl, a robust Houndoom stood imposingly on the slope, its body far larger than the one caught half a month ago to exchange for Piloswine.
That howl was something Tetsuya was extremely familiar with. It was very likely the leader of that group. Otherwise, why would it attack Takuya and Haruto? It must have sensed the Poké Balls containing Houndour in their hands. Houndoom must have thought that the two had caught them, which was why it rushed over.
Actually, this situation was very simple. As long as those two Houndour were released and allowed to "explain" the previous misunderstanding again, the misunderstanding would naturally be resolved, and Haruto would not have died.
Originally, Tetsuya only had Beedrill with him -officially-, so upon hearing the howl, he had no choice but to run away. Now he had four Pokémon in hand. This was the moment to catch this Houndoom!
On the slope, Houndoom saw Takuya and suddenly broke into a sprint, like a bullet, charging straight toward him.
"Save me… s-save me, please… I do not want to die!" Takuya cried out.
"Mmm, you will not die." Tetsuya gave a perfunctory reassurance, then immediately commanded, "Beedrill, use Pin Missile!"
Beedrill thrust out its stingers, and Pin Missile shot out like torrential rain. With such a move, there was no fear of Houndoom running fast. The farther it ran, the greater the impact force of Pin Missile, so the damage would only become more severe.
While Houndoom was sprinting quickly, it saw the incoming Pin Missile and instinctively dodged. It moved left and right at high speed, and Beedrill's Pin Missile could not hit it at all!
'Ho~ho… quite capable.'
"Beedrill, use Double Team while maintaining Pin Missile."
In an instant, more than a dozen Beedrill appeared, forcing Houndoom to stop. At this moment, Pin Missile was covering the sky as it came.
There was no way to dodge!
Houndoom opened its bloody maw, and blazing flames spread out. Pin Missile disappeared within the flames!
Beedrill continued to use Pin Missile. Only to see Houndoom's nose twitch slightly, and it had almost locked onto Beedrill's position.
"[Twin Fury], be fast!"
Tetsuya was naturally very clear about Houndoom's Odor Sleuth and keen sense of smell. Next, Houndoom would definitely launch a fatal strike at the Beedrill it had locked onto.
Rather than being passively beaten, it was better to launch an active assault now. This was the nature of an assassin.
Just as Houndoom was about to use Flamethrower, beams of black and yellow light shot toward it from all directions.
However, this move that Beedrill had obtained results with every time before actually failed to hit even once as Houndoom leaped up and down…
This Houndoom was extremely agile, weaving back and forth among Beedrill's clones. Its speed was actually comparable to Beedrill's.
This only made him want to catch it even more. However, for such a big and ferocious Pokémon… if Tetsuya wanted it to submit to him after catching it, he would have to defeat it head-on!
Chapter 220: Haruto's Death, Houndoom's Revenge!