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After bidding farewell to Flannery and Roxanne, Sato began visiting some of the friends he'd made in Slateport City to announce his return.
After that, he headed to the Pokémon Center and contacted Elsa in Lilycove City, retrieving his Tentacruel, Lanturn, and Cloyster from her.
"Alright, let's begin special training."
Taking the final PokeBall containing Cloyster in hand, Sato ended his call with Elsa. He then put back on Tyler's human-skin mask and stepped out of the Pokémon Center. Gazing toward the distant ocean, his heart surged with excitement.
He had decided that, until the aftermath of the Super Legendary Battle incident completely settled, he would focus on developing his secondary League account in Slateport. He'd take League missions while training the Pokémon in his team that were still in their early stages of growth.
At present, his Duskull, Misdreavus, Squirtle, and newly obtained Staryu were all below level 30—still at a beginner stage.
Aside from Pikachu, he lacked any truly powerful Pokémon capable of changing the tide of battle.
Therefore, during this period, he needed to raise at least one Pokémon that could temporarily fill the role of Swampert.
...
About ten minutes later, on a secluded beach near Slateport, Sato stood conducting strict training for Pikachu and the others.
"Tentacruel, you've done very well with the Poison Jab technique I taught you. Next, you'll train on how to flexibly utilize your tentacles."
"Compared to most Pokémon who only have two arms, you possess eighty tentacles—essentially eighty arms, and ones that can extend to great lengths."
"That's your physical advantage, something few other species can compare to. If you can flexibly maneuver all eighty tentacles in battle, you'll be nearly unbeatable in close combat."
"Of course, you know your own limits. For now, you can only control up to three tentacles simultaneously, and you can't yet use moves in coordination. You still have a long way to go from eighty."
"Controlling eighty tentacles at once would be too difficult—probably impossible for any Pokémon in existence. I'm not asking for that much. If you can control five tentacles simultaneously, that will be enough."
"In a moment, Cloyster will fire evenly spaced Icicle Spears at you. Your task is to knock them down using your tentacles."
On the beach, Sato gave his instructions to Tentacruel, whose body was half-submerged in water. Once Tentacruel understood, Sato sent a telepathic command to Cloyster to begin.
Upon receiving the order, Cloyster immediately began channeling Ice-type energy to form icicles—each one half a meter long—before launching them rapidly across the water toward Tentacruel.
Tentacruel instantly focused his attention, whipping his tentacles to strike down the incoming Icicle Spears.
However, since Cloyster possessed the Skill Link ability, he released five icicles in a single volley.
Although Sato had instructed Cloyster to slightly lower his firing rate, Tentacruel could still only manage three tentacles at a time.
Thus, while Tentacruel successfully knocked away the first three icicles using his most dexterous tentacles, he fumbled and failed to block the remaining two, which hit him squarely.
Fortunately, Sato had ordered Tentacruel to use Barrier beforehand to maximize its defense, and with Aqua Ring aiding in recovery, Cloyster's unevolved Icicle Spears barely did any damage.
Soon, Cloyster's next volley came.
Once again, Tentacruel could only knock away three of the five Icicle Spears. Despite his efforts, the last two still struck him.
This continued for nearly twenty rounds before Tentacruel finally managed to graze the fourth Icicle Spear with his fourth tentacle.
"Good! That's it! Keep going—you've just taken a big step toward controlling four tentacles at once."
Seeing the improvement, Sato praised Tentacruel and encouraged him to keep at it.
In truth, Sato knew that mastering five-tentacle coordination was as difficult as performing two complex moves simultaneously.
However, since the tentacles were part of Tentacruel's body and frequently used for swimming, Sato believed that with systematic training, Tentacruel—being a top-tier, purple-quality Pokémon—could eventually master it.
What Tentacruel needed now was to form the habit of consciously using five tentacles at once for both offense and defense.
In Sato's plan, once Tentacruel could skillfully control five tentacles, the next step would be to train them to execute move combinations simultaneously—like five tentacles using Poison Jab at the same time.
The result would be devastating. Any opponent that entered Tentacruel's attack range would face a storm of relentless strikes.
Of course, for now, this was still just an ideal scenario.
Tentacruel would need considerable time before mastering full five-tentacle coordination, since this technique required advanced multi-tasking control.
...
Meanwhile, Cloyster's training was also progressing smoothly. Sato wasn't simply making Cloyster fire endless volleys of Icicle Spears at Tentacruel—he was training Cloyster to fire while moving.
Cloyster's base Speed stat was 70—moderate among most Pokémon—but that reflected only its underwater mobility, where it could propel itself using water currents.
On land, however, Cloyster's heavy steel-like shell became a huge burden. Without legs, it could barely move at all.
To other Pokémon, a land-bound Cloyster was basically a stationary target.
Sato, of course, refused to let his Cloyster be defenseless on land. So he came up with the idea of using water propulsion for movement.
In short, Cloyster used Hydro Pump to generate thrust against the ground to propel itself.
Tests proved this method workable—though a bit clumsy and lacking agility, it granted Cloyster explosive bursts of speed, letting it dash in short, powerful movements.
However, because this propulsion was so forceful, Cloyster found it difficult to aim ranged attacks mid-movement. Hence, he needed intensive adaptation training.
In fact, Cloyster and Tentacruel were serving as each other's training partners—Cloyster fired Icicle Spears for Tentacruel to practice deflection, while Tentacruel served as Cloyster's stationary target for mobile shooting practice.