Upon receiving Tetsuya's command, Spinarak began its training. It climbed onto the first tree, then immediately started following its original training rhythm. It used String Shot to wrap around the trunk of the second tree, but Tetsuya immediately stopped it.
"Don't use your silk to wrap around the trunk. Use Spider Web to entangle the trunk and move to the next tree." After Tetsuya finished speaking, Spinarak focused its gaze and immediately fired Spider Web. Silk connected to the web, and as the web entangled the tree trunk, the silk pulled Spinarak onto the second tree.
"Good, that's it."
Under Tetsuya's guidance, Spinarak's movements became smoother and smoother!
---◓---
After a full day of training, Spinarak was already moving freely among the trees. The training progressed remarkably well.
On the second day, the moment it landed on a tree, it began using Poison Sting to attack the wooden post positioned between the trees. This required excellent rhythm, demanding seamless transitions between moves while attacking at the same time.
Practicing over and over again, improving little by little, it progressed from attacking while standing on a tree trunk to attacking while moving between the trees. Every improvement represented a major leap.
During its repeated movements, Spinarak also learned Agility, making its attacks even more and unpredictable.
The other primary target of the training was Drapion. As the backbone of Tetsuya's Poison-type team, its combat power had to be top-notch. This time, Tetsuya had organized the strongest possible lineup of sparring partners for it.
Ditto, Golurk, and Houndoom.
The three Pokémon attacked Drapion simultaneously from its left, right, and rear. Drapion had to make full use of both pincers and its tail while coordinating various moves, with the goal of improving its bodily coordination and reinforcing its capabilities in team battles.
Ditto, Golurk, and Houndoom each used their own methods. Naturally, the purpose was to maximize the effectiveness of the special training.
"Drapion, use Toxic Spikes," Tetsuya commanded. Drapion scattered Toxic Spikes around itself, naturally to gain an advantage in battle. Otherwise, surrounded by attacks from all three directions, it would not be able to hold out for very long.
Tetsuya ordered all three Pokémon to use close-range moves, which also gave Drapion a slight advantage.
Ditto was the first to Transform into Drapitton and charge toward Drapion from the left.
After Transforming into a Poison-type Pokémon, Ditto could reduce the damage caused by Toxic Spikes to a minimum, but not eliminate it completely. That was because Ditto's true form was not a Poison type, and Drapion's toxicity was far too potent. It would still have some effect on Ditto.
Golurk, on the other hand, was clever. It charged directly at Drapion with High Horsepower propelled by rocket propulsion.
Under an attack like Golurk's, using the only Ground-type move that had an advantage against Drapion, Drapion would have had no way to withstand it!
Left with no other choice, Tetsuya had to go easy on Golurk by requiring it to charge in from the ground.
As the toxins seeped into Golurk's body, even its body of earth and stone suffered from the intrusion of Poison-type energy. Golurk had no choice but to use its own energy to resist the toxins, which was also highly beneficial for developing its resistance to poison.
Although Houndoom had stronger long-range attacks, under Tetsuya's orders it could only use close-range moves. It charged forward across the Toxic Spikes as toxins seeped into its body.
Houndoom could only use the Poison Gland in its gums to expel the toxins from its body. Fire Fang was already prepared, while drops of poison continuously fell from its mouth as it bit toward Drapion's tail.
After several days of training, Drapion no longer panicked when facing three opponents like before, nor was it defeated almost immediately. It had finally begun to fight with composure.
Its two pincers struck first with Cross Poison against the strongest opponent, Golurk. As Golurk stepped across the Toxic Spikes, it already had to devote part of its energy to resisting the toxins.
Since the four-headed Weezing, Drapion, and Spinarak raised by Tetsuya all specialized in potent toxins, Golurk was forced to expend a huge amount of energy resisting the poison. As a result, it could only display about half of its normal combat power. It had no choice but to swing both fists and use Shadow Punch to block Cross Poison.
Against Ditto, one of Drapion's pincers used Pin Missile to hinder Ditto's advance. However, Ditto was also "using" Drapion's body. Wielding both pincers, it used Brutal Swing, knocking all of the Pin Missiles out of the air.
Every day during training, Tetsuya had Drapion repeatedly use Acupressure. His goal was to open all of Drapion's energy nodes, allowing its energy to circulate through every part of its body. As a result, Drapion could now even use Poison Sting with its tail, naturally targeting the steadily approaching Houndoom.
Affected by Toxic Spikes, Houndoom's movements were far from smooth. Faced with the incoming Poison Sting, it had no choice but to use Flamethrower to shoot them down in order to maintain its normal attacking rhythm.
Three against one!
Although Ditto, Golurk, and Houndoom had all been delayed to some extent, they still closed in on Drapion. Drapion now had to face attacks from all three at once.
The pincer dealing with Golurk used Crunch. Dark-type energy gathered around the hooked claw of the pincer, making every strike incredibly fierce!
Golurk did not dare lower its guard either, countering with both fists using Fire Punch. Had it not been restrained by Drapion's terrifying poison, it would have already gained the advantage.
The pincer dealing with Ditto used Fell Stinger.
At this point, Ditto was undoubtedly the most troublesome opponent because it was essentially fighting another version of itself. Worse still, Drapion had to face a complete copy of itself using only a single pincer…
Fortunately, Ditto had not Transformed into Drapion very many times and was still unfamiliar with the body. As a result, Drapion was barely able to hold its ground by combining Fell Stinger with Feint Attack as a surprise attack.
Drapion's tail manipulated physical attack moves with exceptional agility. It constantly switched between Poison Tail and Iron Tail, while Houndoom had very few physical moves at its disposal. Fire Fang simply could not touch Drapion's tail. This allowed Drapion to gain the advantage for a short while.
However, it did not last long…
Once Houndoom began using the Dark-type moves Beat Up and Foul Play, it quickly turned the tide, leaving Drapion struggling to cope once again!
At its current level, Drapion could hold out in a battle like this for half an hour, which was already quite remarkable!
---◓---
This truly was an ideal place for training, so they remained here for an entire week…
First, they stayed to recuperate and restore their confidence so that the Pokémon could recover from their crushing defeat against Steelix as soon as possible.
Second, they stayed to give Spinarak and Drapion special training. As two of the most important members of Tetsuya's Poison-type team, their capacities needed to improve as quickly as possible.
After a week of training deep in the mountains, Tetsuya prepared to leave the following day and continue searching for the location of Fuchsia Gym.
That day, he continued training Drapion and Spinarak, allowing them to demonstrate the full extent of their toxicity.
At that moment, a Pokémon suddenly sprang out from the grass. Tetsuya recognized it at a glance!
Toxicroak…