After recuperating in the forest for several days, all of the Pokémon had recovered and were fully capable of resuming normal training.
After several days of rest, however, training still needed to proceed step by step. Yet all of the Pokémon seemed to have lost the enthusiasm they once had…
This crushing defeat had indeed dealt a heavy blow to their confidence, and Tetsuya would have to encourage them little by little.
"In your opinion, who is the 'strongest' Pokémon?" Tetsuya asked. He could naturally learn their answers through Gengar's interpretation.
For Mamoswine, the answer was naturally Pryce's Delibird. As an Ice-type Pokémon, Mamoswine longed for that kind of power.
The facts also proved that, ever since Mamoswine was born, no Pokémon stronger than Delibird had appeared, including the Steelix they had just fought.
As for the others, only Ditto had no definite answer. Having "traveled" through various Black Markets, it had heard of many powerful Pokémon. However, Legendary Pokémon such as Ho-Oh and Lugia existed only in legends. Since it had never seen them with its own eyes, it had no way of knowing how strong they really were.
Aside from Golurk, which remained silent, all of the others believed that Mamoswine was the strongest.
The main reason was that Houndoom, Beedrill, and even Weezing had all lived on isolated islands and had very little experience of the outside world.
Mamoswine's strength was indeed far greater than theirs, and it had almost never suffered defeat. It was only natural for them to believe that Mamoswine was the strongest.
Even though they lost to Pryce's Pokémon… at least Mamoswine was still standing before they all went down, right?
As for Skorupi and Spinarak, they had been with Tetsuya ever since they were born. The only Pokémon they had ever truly known were the ones around them, so they naturally believed that Mamoswine was the strongest as well.
All of these Pokémon had regarded Mamoswine as their goal. As a result, after witnessing a Steelix that was even stronger than Mamoswine, they immediately became confused, as though they had suddenly lost their direction.
Even their training had become aimless!
Golurk remained silent the entire time, looking absent-minded. It was probably recalling fragments of its ancient memories, so Tetsuya did not interfere.
As for the other Pokémon, he said, "Mamoswine, your training won't be affected at all. After all, there's still a huge gap between you and Delibird.
As for the rest of you, don't dwell on this defeat either. I can tell you with certainty that there are thousands upon thousands of Pokémon stronger than Mamoswine. Then there are the Legendaries standing high above all others. Their abilities are beyond anything we can even estimate.
So take things one step at a time. Since you've chosen Mamoswine as your goal, then continue making it your goal. Once you're capable of surpassing Mamoswine, I'll naturally find a new goal for you!
But if you start aiming for something even higher before you've reached your current goal… you'll only become confused because you'll lose sight of your direction.
The only way to become stronger is through constant training and battle!"
After Tetsuya finished speaking, Mamoswine was the first to resume its training. This battle had not affected it in the slightest. Blizzard instantly howled through the forest.
Seeing Mamoswine begin training, the Pokémon that regarded it as their goal had their fighting spirit reignited.
None of them was willing to train any less than Mamoswine!
Ditto continued drilling as it always had. It had always been the most diligent one, and this defeat did not make it slacken in the slightest.
The only one behaving strangely was Golurk…
It remained absent-minded the entire time. Whenever Tetsuya tried asking it about it again, Golurk simply held its head with both hands and shook it.
Tetsuya had begun to wonder whether Golurk had some "unknown past". Even after several hundred years, those memories should have faded by now. Perhaps he should not have brought up the subject in the first place.
As for the six Scyther, Tetsuya had completely healed them. However, as "warriors" among Bug-type Pokémon, they felt no gratitude toward him. Instead, they believed that Tetsuya had taken advantage of their weakened state and forcibly caught them.
They constantly provoked Tetsuya!
During the past few days, all of his Pokémon had been in poor condition, and Tetsuya could not be bothered to argue with such simple-minded Pokémon. He simply recalled them to their Poké Balls. After all, they were still nothing more than goods.
Now in the forest surrounding Fuchsia City, Tetsuya unfolded his map and searched for a route. His destination was Fuchsia Gym.
Two years ago, Asea, the Gym Leader of Fuchsia Gym, had been killed by Tetsuya. Now that two years had passed, he naturally wanted to see what Fuchsia Gym had become.
More importantly, before becoming Johto's Poison Elite Four, Koga had served as the Gym Leader of Fuchsia Gym. Perhaps he could discover the reason why…
---◓---
As he continued training while making his way through the deep mountains, he encountered a great number of wild Pokémon. After all, these mountain forests had still not been developed by the League, nor had he heard of any Families or Clans living here.
As a result, the Pokémon here were not protected by Rangers.
Moreover, Pokémon that had lived in forests like these for a long time had survived under harsh natural selection. Each of them had developed its own means of survival, either by having outstanding strength or by excelling in a particular specialty.
Although the training continued day after day, most of the actual battles were entrusted to Spinarak. The large number of battles steadily fortified its battle experience, and it also learned the decisive move Spider Web.
Learning Spider Web meant that Spinarak had fully dominated the use of its silk. Spider Web could instantly trap an opponent, preventing it from escaping. Unlike the simple use of String Shot, Spinarak had to instantly weave its silk into a web before launching its attack.
The reason it had managed to learn this move so early was largely because Tetsuya had focused on String Shot from the very beginning of Spinarak's training. Even its workout had revolved around swinging between trees with its silk.
He was now drawing ever closer to recreating the Poison-type team from his previous life. Tetsuya was already preparing to begin Spinarak's special training. Once it learned Venom Drench and Sticky Web, he would be able to establish the core battlefield tactic.
After it evolved into Ariados, it would naturally learn many more useful moves, making its combat style even more complete. Furthermore, Spinarak had inherited Scolipede's genes through Beedrill, giving it an innate talent -IVs- for offense.
Once it also learned Swords Dance and Agility, its ability to maneuver with its silk would turn it into a terrifying assassin!
Now that Spinarak had learned Spider Web, from this point onward, its training would focus primarily on attacking with its silk.
Tetsuya drove a wooden post into the ground between several trees. This would serve as a fixed target.
First, he "upgraded" its original basic training 1.0 to 1.001!
Spinarak had to use Spider Web to anchor its web to the trees, with silk connected to the web itself. Then, by coordinating both the web and its silk, it had to swing between the trees. While moving through the trees, it also had to attack the wooden post with Poison Sting.
This was by no means an easy training exercise!