"Skorupi, your tail claws will be one of your strongest offensive tools after evolving. Because of their position, they're also ideal for surprise attacks, so you need a solid base."

Sato kept a stern face, looking like a heartless ex during a breakup… coldly staring at the exhausted Skorupi collapsed from training.

"Sko sko…"

The over one-meter-tall Skorupi whimpered in frustration, but just thinking about the super delicious breakfast waiting after training gave it enough motivation to keep swinging its tail claws, again and again, with no end in sight.

Tightly fastened to its tail claws was a small yet heavy black sandbag that made a faint "sha sha sha" sound with every swing.

On the other side, Mark and Joseph were commanding Phione and Clauncher -two complete rookies- into a sparring match. The two Pokémon were practically spitting at each other at every turn.

Phione's shots were small but frequent, and it used Aqua Ring to fly around freely in the air, making it incredibly agile.

Clauncher's Water Pulse, on the other hand, packed a punch. Its offensive power was strong enough to keep forcing Phione backward again and again.

Mark and Joseph weren't rookie Trainers anymore, so there were barely any noob mistakes while commanding Phione and Clauncher.

The result: you shoot one, I shoot one… uh, spit one? Wait, no…

Anyway, it turned into a full-on war of attrition, with no end in sight.

---

As Skorupi finally completed its 300 tail swings, the rest of Sato's Pokémon all gathered around, eyes gleaming with hopeful "pick me, pick me~" expressions.

"Zweilous…" Sato called out to the long-absent Zweilous.

It strutted out proudly, its smug expression practically begging for a smack.

"Zwe~"

"LOUS!!"

Lefty and Righty happily greeted Sato, nodding enthusiastically as they showed how eager they were.

Sato rubbed the big heads of Lefty and Righty, then turned to look at Cynthia, who was standing not far away talking to Roserade.

Their eyes met, and Cynthia's lips curled into a faint smile. She walked over with Roserade.

"So this is your hidden ace~? Still just Elite though. And it hasn't even completed its evolution," Cynthia commented calmly as she looked at Zweilous.

"It's just a sparring match. And those two just made a very important improvement~" Sato replied with a grin.

Cynthia caught on immediately to his use of "those two," sparking several thoughts in her mind. She waved her hand, signaling Roserade to take position opposite Zweilous.

Joseph and Mark were still caught in their endless match, but for Sato and Cynthia, a duel didn't really need a referee.

As a breeze swept across the grassy ground, Sato and Cynthia gave their commands at the same time.

"Lefty, Dragon Breath."

"Roserade, Magical Leaf."

Roserade, a veteran Ace level Pokémon, moved with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, it unleashed hundreds of shimmering, razor-sharp green leaves glowing faintly with a purple hue.

The Magical Leaf flew in all directions with no discernible pattern.

It was clearly mimicking Gengar's Shadow Ball technique!

Meanwhile, Lefty ignored the barrage of Magical Leaf completely and fired a rapid Dragon Breath straight at Roserade.

Righty hadn't received any commands, but that didn't mean it wasn't taking action. As the Magical Leaf closed in, it suddenly shook its head, and 30 violet-white energy spheres instantly appeared around it.

It was Hidden Power!

The Hidden Power burst outward in all directions and exploded violently. The shockwave sealed off all the surrounding Magical Leaf attacks.

The next moment, Dragon Breath landed on the stunned Roserade, pushing it back several steps.

"Interesting… You've actually trained Zweilous's two heads to act independently, using different moves. If coordinated well, one plus one could far exceed two…"

Cynthia glanced at Sato with genuine admiration. She had never raised a Zweilous herself, but she was familiar with the species.

Zweilous's two heads had completely separate minds. Forget about synchrony… just getting them not to argue was already an achievement.

After all, Zweilous's evolution condition was for one head's consciousness to "devour" the other's. Though they shared the same body, they were naturally at odds.

But now, Lefty and Righty were taking turns attacking and defending, coordinating so well it was as if Zweilous's entire nature had changed. How could Cynthia not be surprised?

Still, admiration aside, Cynthia wasn't about to go easy. In fact, facing such a rare opponent only got her more fired up.

"Roserade, again, Magical Leaf!"

"Charge in, Dark Pulse."

Magical Leaf once again danced through the air, quickly obscuring Roserade's figure, while Lefty and Righty both unleashed Dark Pulse, sweeping outward in sync.

But Roserade was no longer where it had been. The dense Magical Leaf acted as both offense and defense, and was also ideal for setting up further maneuvers.

"Double Team, Sludge Bomb!"

Cynthia's command rang out again, and several Sludge Bombs shot toward Zweilous from all directions.

The Magical Leaf covered the position swap.

Double Team created confusion.

And then came the multi-angle Sludge Bomb assault.

Roserade was unleashing its Ace level speed without reservation, relentlessly pushing Zweilous back!

"Hyper Voice, amplify it."

Sato's command wasn't slow to follow. Zweilous had plenty of options for indiscriminate attacks too.

Lefty and Righty suddenly turned to look at each other, then opened their mouths wide at the same time. Two identical Hyper Voice moves erupted simultaneously.

The visible soundwaves rippled outward, and where they collided, they bounced back even faster and stronger.

Looking closely, one would notice that both Lefty and Righty had slightly tilted their heads upward, not targeting each other directly. The angles were perfect so that neither was caught in the other's attack.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…

Wherever the soundwaves reached, every Sludge Bomb exploded, and every Double Team clone was wiped out.

And Hyper Voice was so fast and difficult to block that Roserade was hit again!

"Hold on, use Giga Drain!"

"Righty, Fire Fang. Lefty, Dragon Breath."

The vines from Giga Drain lashed toward Zweilous like a storm. Righty opened its mouth and launched Fire Fang, incinerating most of the vines in a single bite.

But there were too many… Fire Fang couldn't cover everything.

Still, Lefty didn't hesitate. Following the path of the Giga Drain vines, it fired off another Dragon Breath.

Unfortunately, Roserade dodged with a swift sidestep.

The Dragon Breath missed!

Roserade had fallen for that trick once before, it wasn't going to fall for it again. It had now fully recognized Zweilous as two independent opponents.

Once that mindset changed, its approach naturally shifted too.