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After wrapping up three hours of training at noon, time had reached 7 PM, and by then, the ocean was already blanketed in the evening darkness.
To avoid interruptions from people seeking treatment assistance, Sato and his Pokémon team had dinner at the training grounds. Since there was no training in the morning, Sato decided to add an extra two hours in the evening.
By nearly midnight, they concluded a full day of training.
Thanks to almost eight hours of training, his Pokémon made solid progress.
With Magneton's Electric Terrain as a boost, Golbat and Nidoran saw great improvement in mastering their Electric-type moves. Golbat and Nidoran had entered the beginner stage in Hidden Power and Thunderbolt, respectively.
Among them, Nidoran, thanks to his improving Psychic ability and natural growth, experienced the biggest change. Now he could efficiently gather Electric-type energy and release a current.
Currently, his range reached about five meters, and he could even slightly influence its path using telekinesis.
However, since his Thunderbolt skill was still at a beginner level, the amount of Electric-type energy he could channel at once was limited, and the power was only comparable to Shock Wave.
Growlithe, after nearly eight hours of Double Team practice, producing thousands of clones, began to memorize the technique's movement patterns.
Now, without even using Flame Charge to charge up, he could instantly create three clones to mimic his movements.
As for Bellossom, her progress wasn't too shabby, but she lacked the resources needed to train her Rock-type Hidden Power, so she could only reach the beginner level.
Right now, Bellossom's Rock-type energy gathered into a Hidden Power energy orb about the size of a fist, with a range of two meters—far from being battle-ready.
Each type of Hidden Power starts by gathering elemental energy into a form that, once released, takes various shapes to attack.
For instance, Golbat's Electric-type Hidden Power creates a small electrical explosion, while Bellossom's Rock-type Hidden Power produces sharp shards. Growlithe's Grass-type Hidden Power results in energy blades.
In Sato's eyes, Mudkip's endurance training today was impressive. Averaging 200 laps around the pool per hour, he swam nearly 1,500 laps, excluding rest breaks.
Given each lap is 25 meters, Mudkip covered about 37.5 kilometers in eight hours. Mudkip's determination surprised Sato, showing him that Mudkip also held a strong drive to grow.
Though the reason wasn't clear, Mudkip no longer acted as standoffish as he did when Sato first met him.
While Sato hadn't yet won him over enough for head pats, Mudkip no longer greeted him with Water Gun and was diligently following all training instructions.
Ditto, however, left Sato a bit disappointed. Compared to the newly joined Mudkip, Ditto was more laid-back, taking the most breaks among the team.
On average, he trained for only about four hours each day, spending roughly half of every hour resting.
Sato didn't scold Ditto for this "laziness." He understood that transforming into other Pokémon was already an exhausting task for Ditto.
Ditto's Transform ability involves restructuring its cells, which continually drains energy to maintain its form.
When Ditto transforms into Pelipper and flies around, it consumes even more stamina, so this situation is quite natural.
In essence, for Ditto to be battle-ready, it first needs to address its stamina issues.
Battles differ from training, where factors both within and beyond one's control make battles significantly more exhausting than regular training.
With Ditto's current stamina, it could last only three to four minutes in intense combat, and this doesn't even account for any additional energy-draining moves.
"If you really want to participate in battles and keep Transforming into Pelipper, you'll need to quickly adapt to that form to minimize your energy consumption," Sato told Ditto at the end of training. Ditto, fully aware of this issue, made no objections.
After their late-night snack, Ditto maintained its Pelipper form and perched on Sato's shoulder.
Sato didn't immediately return to his room to rest after training. Instead, he had Ditto Transform into an Aipom and joined him on the deck, where he took out his fishing rod and began night fishing alongside some of the other anglers.
In truth, Sato wasn't fishing for fun; he was merely posing as an ordinary angler while watching time tick by.
In just two days, the St. Louis would reach Slateport City, leaving him with limited time.
Yes, he intended to "pay a visit" to the person who ambushed him last night.
Having his belongings stolen and facing a direct attempt on his life was something Sato couldn't just let go. Even knowing it was risky, he was determined to confront this person.
His opponent had been injured last night, so they likely weren't too powerful.
Anna's warning was probably about the person's connections rather than their strength, but Sato knew his own background wasn't exactly lacking either.
Though he hadn't been around Hans and the other sailors for long, Sato had subtly noticed that some of them might have "another identity."
A few of these sailors were, in fact, his "colleagues."
Yes, Sato had deduced that many of the ship's guards, Hans included, were Rocket members.
When he "accidentally" revealed his Rocket insignia watch, Hans's gaze had shifted, and he acknowledged Sato in turn.
Thanks to this connection, Sato had bonded well with Hans, which was also why Hans had shown him three specially acquired Water-type starter Pokémon without any hesitation.
Through his conversations with Hans, Sato learned that this ship was Rocket property.
With his knowledge of the organization, he guessed many crew members were likely associates, especially those in critical roles on board.
Beyond discussing compensation for his Gyarados, Sato also informed Hans about the ambush and even offered 10,000 PokeDollars to help locate his assailant.
Now, Sato was at the designated spot for the exchange, simply waiting. He believed it wouldn't be long before a passing crew guard would "come by to talk."
Anna's appearance earlier had been unexpected. Even without her information, Sato was confident he'd get what he wanted—and probably even more complete details.
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