On the other side, Reiji flew on Pelipper to the old craftsman's courtyard.

The elderly craftsman had been waiting for him. When he saw it was Reiji arriving, he just nodded and went back to work, reminding him, "Hey kid, you're here. What you wanted is in the box on the workbench…"

Reiji walked over, picked up the two boxes, and opened them. Inside were two brand-new items.

One was a crescent-shaped Sharpedo pendant, and the other was a blue wristband made of soft, flexible material.

The crescent had been polished to a snowy white. The pendant's silver clasp was sculpted into Sharpedo's toothy maw, biting down firmly on the end of the crescent. The tail was tied with a black cord—made from the same material as the wristband.

The moment Reiji laid eyes on the pendant, he liked it. No doubt about it—the old man had real craftsmanship. He had even carved Sharpedo's features in detail.

As for the wristband in the second box, Reiji tested the fabric with a dagger. Sure enough, it was cut-resistant, and it was a double-layered design.

The slot for embedding the Mystic Water was hidden in the first layer. You could access it by pulling back the second layer, and it was further protected by a plastic cover.

He immediately took out his Mystic Water, embedded it into the wristband, snapped the plastic cover over it, and examined the finished setup.

Unless you knew exactly what to look for, you'd never know there was a Mystic Water hidden inside. Even if someone suspected it, they wouldn't be able to see it. The inside of the wristband was flat and smooth—no bulges, no discomfort.

He released Poliwhirl and strapped it onto its wrist to test the fit. The slightly bulging inner padding didn't interfere with training or battle at all.

Reiji was very satisfied with the wristband. He took out 15,000 PokéYen and handed it to the craftsman. "Here's the final payment. I've got one question—after Poliwhirl evolves, will the wristband still fit?"

"Those big fists can fit just fine. What wouldn't fit?" the old man chuckled, clearly in a good mood after seeing the money. He even cracked a joke with Reiji.

"Great. Paid and done. Thanks again," Reiji said as he left the workshop and headed back to his rented place by the sea.

After running his errands, it was just around noon. He released his Pokémon for lunch, and once they were done eating, they all took their afternoon naps.

When naptime ended, it was time for their usual training routine again—a sign that life was back to normal, and that his team could start growing stronger once more.

Reiji was about to check everyone's proficiency panels to see how much progress they had (or hadn't) made during their lazy spell. That way, he could plan a new training regimen tailored to their current status.

After all, with the new food supply, they'd need a new training plan too—one even more intense than back on the deserted island…

First up was Poliwag—easily the one he worried about most.

[Poliwhirl]

Type: Water

Gender: Male

Potential: 50.01%

Level: 35.33%

Abilities: Damp (16.13%) / Hidden Ability: Swift Swim (14.13%)

Moves:

Mind Reader (14.21%)

Ice Ball (4.31%)

Refresh (17.11%)

Water Gun (25.14%)

Water Sport (20.21%)

Waterfall (15.22%)

Rain Dance (1.11%)

Ice Punch (4.31%)

Mega Punch (13.82%)

Mega Kick (11.45%)

Poliwhirl's potential had increased—probably thanks to the Pokéblocks. Not by much, but every little bit counts.

Turns out Pokéblocks do slowly enhance a Pokémon's stats. So that salesgirl wasn't lying—Pokéblocks really do help, but how much they help depends on the Trainer.

Even though Poliwhirl hadn't trained much this past week, it had still gained experience—now at level 35.

Skinny Kid's Poliwhirl was probably only in the twenties—just freshly evolved. No way it had even hit 30 yet.

That's why it couldn't take a hit—got KO'd with a single kick.

Reiji had already told his Poliwhirl to go easy. Even just kicking from a standstill was enough to knock the other one out. If it had sprinted in, it probably would've caused internal injuries.

Next, Reiji checked abilities. Damp hadn't improved much—just 2%—since they hadn't practiced perception with Damp lately.

Swift Swim, on the other hand, jumped 4% after running through the forest in the rain. It was way easier to level up—just needed rainy weather.

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Pelipper trigger Drizzle yet. Maybe the ability's proficiency was too low to activate? He should test that later. If that's the case, he'd just train Pelipper to use Rain Dance until Drizzle improved.

Now for Poliwhirl's move progress:

Mind Reader +2%

Ice Ball +1%

Refresh +2%

Water Gun +2%

Water Sport +3%

Waterfall +5%

Ice Punch +1% (rarely used)

Mega Punch +3% (mostly used against Farfetch'd)

Mega Kick +2%

That summed up all the changes. Not much overall, since training had been pretty minimal.

Compared to how much they used to improve per day on the island, this was nothing.

From now on, Water Gun drills were out.

Poliwhirl's core strength was Waterfall—its explosive Water-type move. Its new plan would focus on:

Waterfall

Moisture perception

Combo techniques using Waterfall as a base.

Waterfall was Poliwhirl's main tactic.Just mastering Waterfall would let it break through the heavens—assuming its potential kept growing.

With moisture perception and combo attacks layered in, Poliwag could sweep same-level opponents—unless it was a bad type matchup.

It wasn't about Poliwhirl being weak. Type disadvantage just wasn't something you could brute-force.

When you're at a disadvantage, your opponent can mess up a dozen times and still win. But you? You get one shot. If they land a hit, you're half-dead.

So unless absolutely necessary—never fight against type disadvantage. You're not Ash. You don't have plot armor.

Take Brycen from the anime—he used a Mamoswine to fight Flint's Magmortar. Sure, it was flashy, but both got severely injured. Then Mamoswine fell off a cliff looking for herbs, went missing, and Brycen thought it abandoned him.

Ever since, Brycen became cold and strict with Pokémon—distant and emotionally reserved. That's how his "Winter Brycen" persona came to be.

That was just background lore Reiji remembered from his past life.

The point was clear: unless you have no other option, don't go against type disadvantage.

Even someone like Brycen couldn't handle it. Reiji sure wasn't gonna try.

Good thing this was the anime universe—not the Pokémon Adventures manga.

In Adventures, Brycen could straight-up clash with Legendary Pokémon. Ridiculous. Way stronger than his anime counterpart.

Back to Poliwhirl: Now that his Waterfall-centric plan was set, Reiji broke it down into three stages.

Training Plan:

Morning:

Run with Waterfall active.

Blend it into jogging like on the island.

Later, add rain and Swift Swim for dual-ability training.

Afternoon:

Moisture perception drills.

Goal: Boost accuracy + evasion.

Method: Blindfolded training with teammates.

Optional: Mix in Waterfall to sharpen reactions.

Evening:

Practice combo attacks using Waterfall.

Since Waterfall is a contact move, it pairs best with punching/kicking techniques.

Long-range moves only benefit from the burst speed—not full combo synergy.

Besides all that, Poliwag needed to learn new moves—very important.

Reiji flipped through its move pool. One move caught his eye: Focus Punch, a Fighting-type physical move with 150 base power.

He'd been eyeing it forever.

If Poliwhirl could charge it while moving, this would become its ultimate trump card. High-speed, high-power, high-burst—one hit, one kill.

Other must-learn moves included:

Drain Punch

Bulk Up

These would restore HP or boost offense/defense—core to Poliwhirl's future strength.

Still a long way to go, but one step at a time.

Once Poliwhirl's plan was locked in, Reiji turned his eyes to Krabby, who was currently doing claw-lifting drills.

[Krabby]

Type: Water

Gender: Male

Potential: 59.99%

Level: 24.96%

Abilities: Hyper Cutter (17.22%) / Hidden Ability: Sheer Force (5.53%)

Moves:

Hammer Arm (2.22%)

Leer (3.43%)

Water Gun (16.35%)

Harden (15.14%)

Metal Claw (5.34%)

Dig (11.54%)

Mud Shot (6.24%)

Rain Dance (1.04%)

Lately, with all the traveling and problem-solving, Krabby hadn't trained much aside from claw-lifting. So progress had slowed.

Its potential hadn't changed, but its level had gone up a lot—almost 25 now.

Only 3 levels to go before evolving at 28. That's about two weeks away.

Hyper Cutter proficiency jumped 5%. Every spare moment, Krabby practiced claw-lifting. Clearly, it remembered everything Reiji had told it.

Sheer Force went up 2% too.

Surprisingly, Hammer Arm rose by 2%.

Leer went up 3%—guess it was constantly intimidating Farfetch'd.

Water Gun +3%, Harden +5%, Metal Claw +3%, Dig +2%, Mud Shot +2%.

That summed up Krabby's panel. Overall, not bad—it hadn't slacked on its claw training.

Reiji's plan for Krabby was simple: Big claw = offense. Shell = defense. A spear and a shield—Krabby's core strategy.

Max those out, and there's no need for flashy stuff. Just charge and smash—no thinking required.

As long as Krabby perfected those, it'd dominate melee battles—unless facing type counters, high-special-attack Pokémon, kiting enemies, or something even bulkier than it.

But aside from those rare matchups, most foes would get flattened. That claw could knock out XP fodder in one hit.

Training would continue focusing on the "spear and shield."

He also planned to teach Krabby new moves:

Swords Dance to boost offense

Iron Defense to raise defense two stages

Agility to fix its speed weakness and prevent kiting

Claw, shell, Agility, Iron Defense, Swords Dance—that was Krabby's future.

As for type coverage? He'd worry about that later, after mastering the basics.

Speed came first. For a tank like Krabby, mobility was crucial.

High offense and defense mean nothing if you can't move. You'd just get worn down and kited to death.

Krabby was almost ready to evolve. Reiji had already prepared a Water gem—it was just a matter of time.

With Krabby's plan done, Reiji turned to Rhyhorn's proficiency panel.

These three… Poliwag, Krabby, Rhyhorn—they were his three main forces for the future.

Whether he could win a championship…

Whether he could make a name for himself…

Whether he could grab a piece of that League spotlight…

All of it hinged on these three.

[Rhyhorn]

Type: Ground + Rock

Gender: Male

Potential: 58%

Level: 21.98%

Abilities: Rock Head (18.15%) / Hidden Ability: Reckless (14.17%)

Moves:

Counter (10.22%)

Skull Bash (15.31%)

Rock Polish (10.26%)

Crunch (13.82%)

Thunder Fang (5.45%)

Ice Fang (8.94%)

Fire Fang (9.91%)

Rock Slide (6.21%)

Stomping Tantrum (8.99%)

Double-Edge (16.14%)

Smack Down (7.37%)

Bulldoze (9.17%)

Horn Attack (20.53%)

Rest (19.81%)

Tackle (21.21%)

Dig (8.73%)

Rhyhorn's potential didn't change. Level only went up 2%.

This glutton had done nothing but eat and sleep since that week of abuse from Rhydon. No wonder there was barely any progress.

Sure, it gets stronger by eating—but how many minerals would it need to evolve? How many years of eating?

Still, Rock Head and Reckless were perfect for it—both abilities had gone up 2%.

Why? Simple. Rhyhorn's weird habit.

This goof loved headbutting trees. If it didn't ram stuff, it got itchy all over. Only smashing things made it feel better. And that boosted its abilities.

So yeah, those two abilities were a perfect fit.

As for move progress…

[End of Chapter]

[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]

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