With the Shadow Team eradicated, he could now openly appear in the public eye without having to constantly hide himself anymore. He had informed Catherine of the news at the first opportunity. Even if she did not tell him what she was busy with now, he could more or less guess…
Setting out from Ecruteak City toward Gringey City in Kanto, the two-day voyage by ship could be treated as a form of relaxation.
The last time he traveled by ship had been two years ago. At that time, Skorupi had only just begun training. Now it had already become the powerful Drapion. However, compared to the Pokémon he had caught earlier, it still lagged behind somewhat. His current training mainly focused on Drapion and Spinarak.
This time, Tetsuya had brought all of his Pokémon with him. In truth, that inevitably became a burden…
Traveling outside was different from training at a stable location, where there was a fixed schedule for training Pokémon, preparing food for them, and sending them back into their Poké Balls for recovery whenever necessary. The Pokémon could always remain in an environment with a regular routine of training and recuperation, allowing their capacities to improve steadily.
During travel in the wilderness, however, most of the time was spent on the road, leaving no fixed schedule for training.
Even so, the battles in the wild and the encounters with different Pokémon and different Trainers were unique experiences. These were things that could never be experienced through training at a fixed location.
To overcome and improve one's level, it was inevitable to go through certain experiences, even life-and-death ones.
The reason the League only allowed registered Trainers to carry six Pokémon was partly because of this consideration.
Some Pokémon would experience training at fixed locations, while others would improve through wilderness training. It was just that most Trainers were unaware of the reason behind it.
Of course, an even greater number of Trainers simply lacked the conditions for systematic training at a fixed place. Usually, only big Families or Gyms had personnel dedicated to providing specialized, professional training for Pokémon.
As for average households, simply being able to afford raising a Pokémon was already quite an achievement.
Now Tetsuya carried all of his Pokémon with him mainly because he did not have a support team behind him.
Ditto, Mamoswine, Golurk, Houndoom, Beedrill, and Weezing had already completed their special tasks at the glacier falls, and they had all experienced the various life-and-death battles on Shadow Island. Their capacities had all risen to a new level.
Mamoswine had already surpassed the Pokémon of Gym Leaders.
Even the strongest Pokémon of Matsuba and Sheila were certainly no match for Mamoswine now. Although it still fell just short of Elite Four-level Pokémon, that was only a matter of time.
Golurk was currently in a stagnation phase. The main reason was that the seventh layer of energy had stopped progressing. Even so, its combat power had already approached the peak of Gym Leader-level Pokémon. Of course, there was still a considerable gap between it and Mamoswine.
Weezing ranked close behind. Although it had a completely different battle style from Golurk, with its potent toxicity and the terrific power of its gas explosions, it was capable of matching Golurk on equal footing.
Ditto worked tirelessly and diligently, Houndoom refused to fall behind with its "kingly bearing", and Beedrill excelled in its specialties, capable of producing unexpectedly remarkable results under the right conditions.
These three Pokémon were in the same tier, but if any two of them were to battle one another, Beedrill will be at a disadvantage, since everyone knows its weaknesses…
As for Miltank, its position was irreplaceable. Just its use of Helping Hand could double the power of its allies' moves. Not to mention that the milk it produced through Milk Drink could restore stamina while further enhancing physical condition.
Slowbro's psychic power also continued to grow stronger through constant use of Calm Mind. One day, it would become one of his main Pokémon. Most importantly, it did not require training, yet its combat power was increasing every moment.
Drapion was still somewhat lacking. Tetsuya was not in a hurry to have it "suffer" deeper training. Reinforcingi ts basics at the glacier falls had been for its long-term development.
From here on, his training would mainly focus on Drapion!
What Spinarak had in common with Drapion and Weezing was their exceptionally potent toxicity, which was also what made them so terrifying. Although Spinarak had not yet begun its training, its ferocious nature and ruthless battle style had already demonstrated its astonishing potential in battle.
Naturally, his feelings toward Spinarak were different from those toward his other Pokémon…
Spinarak, as the Starter Pokémon of his previous life, it had accompanied him for a very long journey and had even sacrificed itself for him.
On an island within the jurisdiction of Dewford Town in the Hoenn Region, he had gone there in his previous life to catch the island's overlord, a Salamence, just to make a living. However, limited by his own capacities, Ariados had desperately held Salamence back to cover his escape, only to be killed by Salamence in the end…
In this life, he had to use the Spinarak in his hands to defeat and kill that Salamence, avenging what had happened in his previous life.
Tetsuya was no longer the same person he had been at the beginning, when he had nothing and couldn't defend himself; now, he could give himself the chance to "feel" again…
---◓---
The passenger ship drew closer and closer until it finally arrived at the port of Gringey City.
Compared with two years ago, Gringey City had become much more desolate. The harmful effects of environmental pollution had gradually begun to emerge. Many people had contracted serious illnesses from living in such a city and ultimately died without a cure.
He still intended to check on the Muk and Grimer living in the industrial wastewater. Back then, he had released a great deal of poison there. According to his estimate, a number of Grimer would certainly have been unable to withstand such toxicity and died.
After the Muk died, their bodies would rot in the wastewater, allowing their toxins to dissolve into it. As a result, the wastewater would become increasingly poisonous, and more and more Grimer would die within it until it became incomparably toxic.
This was the method he used to raise Grimer. Once the Grimer throughout the entire sludge lake stopped dying, the ones that remained would be the "Poison King" Grimer.
In another few years, this industrial district would be abandoned. At that time, he would purchase the area and turn it into one of his bases. By then, this sludge lake would become the cradle where he raised his Poison-type army.
After disembarking, Tetsuya headed toward the sludge lake.
He had barely taken a few steps when he heard a series of explosions, followed immediately by cries for help.
Tetsuya found it rather strange and quickened his pace. At that moment, a panicked crowd came rushing toward him. Every one of them was wearing factory uniforms, so they were most likely employees from the nearby factories.
The only way to learn what had happened was from these people. Tetsuya stopped one of the workers and asked about the situation.
"Run! So many Muk and Grimer have crawled out of the waters and started attacking the factories! This is already the fifth time…
The previous attacks were on a smaller scale, so Officer Jenny and the Trainers under her command managed to wipe them out. But there are simply too many this time! A lot of people have already been injured!"
No sooner had the worker finished speaking than the sound of a factory building collapsing rang out. Terrified, he hurriedly ran away.