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Training his psychic abilities not only improved Nidoran's mental state, allowing him to extend his training sessions, but it also significantly enhanced his control over various elemental energies.
For most Pokémon, manipulating elemental energy follows the natural flow of that energy. In essence, after gradually understanding how an elemental energy flows, a Pokémon can guide it to conform to their will.
However, Pokémon with strong psychic abilities can use a more brute-force approach. They can override the energy's natural flow, using their psychic power to manipulate it directly. This is one of the reasons why Psychic-type Pokémon can often reflect ranged elemental attacks with their psychic power.
Currently, through instinctive training, Nidoran's psychic power has grown significantly. After finishing his early developmental stage, he could only use his Confusion move to lift small stones weighing up to 50 grams. Now, with his increased level and improved psychic strength, Nidoran can lift objects weighing around 500 grams within a 5-meter radius and can even lightly restrict opponents.
Of course, this level of psychic power is nowhere near strong enough to negate and reflect an opponent's attacks like more powerful Psychic-type Pokémon, but it's enough to help Nidoran improve the efficiency of his training for other moves.
Since Nidoran is still young and his brain hasn't fully developed, Sato was careful not to overwork him. He made sure to remind Nidoran that he should only meditate for two hours each day to train his psychic power and avoid using Confusion unless practicing elemental moves.
After a brief practice using a 1kg dumbbell to train his Confusion move, Sato instructed Nidoran to stop practicing psychic moves and instead focus on training his Water Pulse, a Water-type move.
(Water Pulse, a Water-type long-range special attack move, has a power of 60. It attacks the opponent with water vibrations and may occasionally cause confusion.)
Sato had acquired Water Pulse from Team Rocket's internal points exchange system. Initially, he wanted to purchase Ice Beam, a move Nidoran could learn in his current stage.
Unfortunately, to his dismay, moves like Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, and Ice Beam were restricted to those with Captain-level clearance or higher.
Unable to get his first choice, Sato settled for Water Pulse, which was still available within his current rank and deemed highly beneficial for Nidoran.
Following Sato's instructions, Nidoran walked into a small pool surrounded by glass walls. The pool's water level was just enough to cover his limbs, and a large sprinkler overhead was gently releasing a drizzle of water.
As a Poison-type Pokémon, Nidoran found it difficult to sense and control Water-type energy, so this environment was created specifically to help him. Training in a light rain-filled pool provided an ideal setting for working with Water-type moves.
Within the pool, the area was saturated with dense Water-type energy, making it easier for Nidoran to sense and harness it. With his psychic powers, he guided the Water-type energy into performing Water Pulse.
A blue energy sphere formed above Nidoran, composed entirely of Water-type energy. Initially, it was the size of a ping pong ball, but as Nidoran's eyes glowed with a blue hue, the ball grew to the size of a soccer ball.
As the sphere grew, a rhythmic sound of vibrating water could be heard as the energy within the blue sphere spiraled.
Nidoran's training with Water Pulse was similar to Zubat's training with Shadow Ball. Each time he used Water Pulse, his goal was to gather as much Water-type energy as possible, making the blue sphere larger and more condensed.
Judging from Nidoran's progress in training Water Pulse, aided by his psychic power, it was clear that he was advancing much faster than Zubat had when training Shadow Ball.
Although Nidoran may not reach mastery quickly, he is on track to become proficient at using Water Pulse soon.
As Nidoran gradually familiarized himself with the flow of Water-type energy, and with the assistance of his psychic power, the Water Pulse he produced became more refined and stable, even though the growth in size was slow. The sound of vibrating water grew louder and more distinct.
"Very good, keep it up. Train at this pace, and rest when you get tired," Sato said, observing from outside the glass walls as Nidoran steadily gained control over Water Pulse.
Encouraged by Sato's praise, Nidoran nodded and continued training with full concentration. Sato had already informed all his Pokémon that they would soon face intense battles.
Both Nidoran and Growlithe would participate in the battles, but only if they honed their skills quickly.
In their eagerness to catch up with their senior teammates, Zubat and Bellossom, Nidoran and Growlithe were training diligently, hoping to contribute to the team's victories.
Now, all four of Sato's battle-ready Pokémon had settled into a consistent routine for both physical and skill training. What they needed now was more time and battle experience. With those, their strength would surely improve steadily.
After inspecting the progress of his four battle-ready Pokémon, Sato finally shifted his attention to the newest addition to his team—his fifth Pokémon, a non-battle type: Ditto, who was currently stuck to Sato's face.
Yes, Sato's face had undergone a drastic transformation, going from a young, handsome look to that of an average, unremarkable man you wouldn't notice in a crowd.
Compared to the training regimen for his four battle-ready Pokémon, Ditto's training was much simpler, though somewhat tedious. Sato's instruction was straightforward: transform into a human skin mask and maintain that form for as long as possible.
For Ditto, this task wasn't particularly difficult. Following Sato's guidance and using the face image provided, Ditto would stick to Sato's face and perfectly mimic the human mask Sato wanted.
The challenge, however, lay in Ditto's patience. Keeping the mask form for extended periods without moving was tough for Ditto, who had a playful and restless personality.
At first, Ditto's patience was limited, and it could only maintain the human mask for 15 minutes before giving up. However, seeing how hard its teammates were working in their own training, Ditto pushed itself to stay focused, determined to keep holding the mask form without moving.
"Well done, Ditto! You managed to hold it for 20 minutes this time, 5 minutes longer than before. You've improved. Take a short break and have a PokeBlock," Sato said with a smile, handing a high-quality PokeBlock to the tired-looking Ditto sitting on his shoulder.
Ditto quickly devoured the PokeBlock. After a brief rest, it climbed back onto Sato's face, once again transforming it into a nondescript, ordinary face.
'Everyone around me is working so hard, and my training is so simple. If I can't even do this properly, it would be embarrassing,' Ditto thought to itself.
Since it was stuck to Sato's face throughout the training, Ditto was fully aware that its training tasks were much easier than those of its four teammates. If it couldn't accomplish even this, it would feel too ashamed to remain in the team.