"So… we're taking a boat?" Sato called Joseph and Mark over, gave them a brief explanation, then asked directly.
"Yeah yeah! I've never been on a big ship before!" Mark was like a bird set free… interested in everything.
"What do you think?" Joseph noticed that Sato seemed a little reluctant, so he turned to ask.
"Well, taking a boat is obviously more convenient, but…" Sato trailed off. He couldn't exactly say he didn't trust them because he knew they would one day become leaders of dark organizations.
"We're going! No matter what, we have to!" Mark suddenly said firmly.
"Why?" Sato and Joseph both turned to Mark, puzzled.
"I don't know… I just feel like if we don't, we'll miss something really important." Mark's eyes flashed with confusion, but also a strange certainty.
On the other side, Archie was whispering with Maxie.
"Why are we bringing them along? This trip isn't just a boat ride, you remember that, right?" Maxie frowned and adjusted his rimless glasses. He didn't quite get what his old friend was thinking.
"Of course I remember, that's exactly why I want to bring them. I've already looked into Sato's background. He's strong, and if he's got those two as partners, they can't be weak either."
"Do whatever you want." Maxie shook his head helplessly. He didn't agree, but he didn't refuse either.
In the end, Sato and Joseph decided to trust what Mark said and agreed to take the boat to Mt. Pyre. They just needed a bit of preparation first.
"Sato! Three days from now, 9 a.m. We'll meet you at the dock!" Archie laughed heartily.
"Alright. Thanks."
"No need for thanks, I'm doing it for the happiness of my Shiny Sharpedo!"
"Uh… okay then."
After saying goodbye to Archie for now, Sato and the others settled into a hotel in Seabreeze Town.
Since there was no Pokémon Center in Seabreeze Town, Sato had to use the hotel's public phone to contact Lillian Joy.
"I'm going out to sea. Can you lend me two Water-type Pokémon that are good for riding?"
Sato didn't waste time, he went straight to the point.
"Sato, where are you? And you haven't contacted me in forever. Are you mad at me?" Lillian sounded a little nervous.
"No, I've just been busy lately. About the Water-types… can you help?"
Sato quietly rolled his eyes. Neither of them told the truth.
"No problem. I'll transfer you two Lapras soon. Aunt Haruka is speeding up the paperwork, and I'll get you the Mega Stone for Gengar as soon as I can."
"It's fine. Thanks," Sato nodded and ended the call.
From Lillian's words, it was clear that even within her family, things weren't entirely united. The Mega Stone for Gengar would probably go through.
As for the others… that might be more difficult. Unless, by that time, he was strong enough that the Joy family would willingly offer him a Mega Stone.
Not impossible. But by then, whether he'd even accept it… that would be another question entirely.
Sato grinned and walked toward the hotel's training grounds. Time to let the Pokémon out and get some training!
Right now, Sato's current team consisted of Zoroark, Gengar, Houndoom, Sharpedo, Cacturne, and Ariados.
After the Gym Leader Qualification Tournament, Sato had started rotating the Pokémon on his team, two each month, to keep everyone active.
This way, he could maintain strong bonds with all his Pokémon. If they got neglected too long, it would definitely be a problem.
"Let's try that new combo move! Cacturne, Cotton Spore! Ariados, Electroweb!"
The two Pokémon moved quickly. Cacturne spun in place, and nearly a hundred Cotton Spores burst out instantly.
Next, Ariados opened its mouth and fired an Electroweb crackling with electricity.
While the web arced through the air, the Cotton Spores evenly adhered to it. Because they were so light, they barely slowed the web down.
The web hit the target dummy, and thanks to the electricity, the Cotton Spores began to expand continuously. Soon, the dummy was completely buried in the swelling spores.
This combo had extremely strong area control, especially effective when facing large groups of opponents. It was a successful combination.
The Elite level was all about accumulation, so Sato hadn't spent too much time on any of his Pokémon before they reached the Elite stage.
But after reaching the Elite stage, only Zoroark had broken through to Mid Elite level through pure accumulation.
The others hadn't, not really.
Gengar had jumped to Mid Elite through "Perfect Evolution", Houndoom and Zoroark had each received the gift of a Rainbow Feather, and Weavile had already been Peak Elite -and the oldest of them too-.
The rest were still stuck at low-Elite level.
But right now, Ariados had almost completed its accumulation thanks to how fast Bug-types grow.
So over the past few days, Sato had been giving Ariados as many battles as possible, testing new training methods, increasing outside stimulation, and helping it cross that final hurdle.
"Ariados, today's poison dose… this one's from a Tentacruel. Be careful."
After the combo training, Sato called Ariados over and handed it a test tube of pitch-black poison.
Ariados happily wiggled its little head. Its favorite part of the day was absorbing poison.
That tangible feeling of growing stronger… it was addictive.
The biggest change in Ariados wasn't just that it was about to break through. It had started to form an Energy Crystal¹ inside its body!
Just like that Shiny Arbok they encountered in Luminous Swamp -Belle-, Ariados had developed a rhombus-shaped Energy Crystal in its abdomen where it stored poison.
Ever since then, Sato had discovered Ariados could directly absorb toxins or venom from other Poison-types to strengthen its own toxicity.
And as Ariados's poison grew stronger, the Energy Crystal in its body continued to grow.
If they took that Shiny Arbok as a reference, the Energy Crystal might even help extend its lifespan!
Sato wasn't exactly sure how toxic Ariados had become… but the Poison Barb it wore had already been corroded by its own poison.
A Poison Barb -a held item meant to boost Poison-type moves- was dissolved by its toxins!
Even so, Sato didn't dare let Ariados openly use Poison-type moves in public battles.
From poisoning to death could happen far too fast; if anything went wrong, Sato wouldn't even have a chance to explain.
"Slurp~ slurp~"
Ariados slurped up the poison with joy.
"Hurry up and finish, we've still got training to do."
Ariados nodded obediently. It could feel that it was close to breaking through, and it was pumped. It welcomed every battle.
It was just a little sulky that the 'handsome' Sato wouldn't let it use its most powerful Poison-type moves.
.
.
.
¹. The purple 'gel' extracted from Belle's head; with Rose help, it was confirmed to be an energy crystal, Poison-type of course.