Pokémon: Above the Top

Watching Sharpedo swim over with excitement, Sato chuckled knowingly and reached out to pat its smooth, slippery fish head.

To be honest, Sharpedo was one of the few Pokémon on Sato's team with almost no major flaws. Its advantage in speed alone was enough to threaten the vast majority of opponents.

If there was any area Sharpedo could improve in a short time, it was the same as Gengar, lacking a decisive finishing move.

So in addition to its daily basic training, Sharpedo's goal was to develop a brand-new finishing move, just like Gengar.

Sato's suggestion was for Sharpedo to start from its already instinctive Whirlpool and most practiced Aqua Jet, and build up from there.

"Next up is you, Weavile."

"Wea!"

Weavile stepped forward, sharpening its bone claws, clearly ready to listen seriously.

"Weavile, your training is a bit special… it's about studying." Sato said, pulling out a book titled [Analysis of Pokémon Physiology].

"Wea…vile?"

Weavile twitched its ears, wondering if it had heard that correctly.

"You heard right. As the team's purest assassin-type Pokémon, every part of your training must support your one-hit KO potential.

For the next month, you'll stay by my side. I'll use every spare moment to teach you the contents of this book. So that even when facing an opponent you've never seen before, you can analyze its body structure, find shared fatal weak points, and strike to kill in one blow!"

After hearing Sato's words, Weavile still seemed a little reluctant, but it trusted its Trainer. It nodded in understanding.

With that taken care of, Sato exhaled lightly and turned to the Honchkrow who had been eagerly waiting its turn.

"Honchkrow, you've got a lot to work on this month. The first thing is getting your takeoff and landing speeds up to standard."

"Kroow!"

Honchkrow nodded obediently. Ever since it evolved, its body had more than doubled in size. The flying techniques it used to execute flawlessly were now awkward and clumsy.

Sato wasn't the only one who noticed, even Honchkrow itself had been secretly anxious about it.

Only after becoming a true "big bird" could a Flying-type Pokémon truly understand how important agility was.

"Your bigger size has pros and cons, not all flying techniques need to be practiced anymore. For example, the loop-back dive maneuver's turning radius is now too wide for you. That one can be discarded…"

Sato carefully analyzed each technique one by one, also listing the flight skills that needed special focus for the first day.

At that moment, Honchkrow could only keep nodding nonstop, showing it would train its hardest.

"Of course, I'm not saying I'm absolutely right. The Honchkrow leader is about your size too, you can discuss with her more often."

"Kroow!"

Hearing this, Honchkrow didn't want to wait another second. With Sato's permission, it flapped its wings and immediately flew off to find its mom.

Only Zoroark was left.

As Sato's Starter Pokémon, Zoroark didn't actually appear in battle very often…

A big reason for that was because Sato had always treated it as his ultimate card. But most of his opponents so far hadn't been strong enough to push him into going all out.

Zoroark's most recent appearance had been during Sato's battle against Ariana, where it ended the match with a [Night Daze Sphere].

But even in that battle, Zoroark hadn't shown its full strength. It hadn't even used its signature ability -Illusion- very much.

For Zoroark, Sato didn't feel the need to set any short-term improvement goals. The title of team leader alone was enough to keep it from slacking off.

Still, in the long run, Sato had already come up with a great way to enhance Zoroark's Illusion.

"Ralts, just like we discussed before, use the Nightmare Orb to help Zoroark train its Illusion."

"Got it, Toto!"

"Zoro!"

After finishing the training plans for all his Pokémon, Sato began to supervise their exercises… only to feel a light tug on his ear.

"Pichu, what's up?" Sato tilted his head and nudged his shoulder slightly.

"Chuu~ Pichuu chuu~"

Pichu looked up at him pitifully, then hopped off his shoulder and fired a Thunder Shock at a nearby tree.

"You want to train too?"

"Chu!"

Pichu's eyes lit up as it nodded rapidly, and then suddenly, a bluish evolution glow burst from its body!

As the blue light faded, an equally adorable electric mouse stood before Sato and the others.

"You evolved…" Sato murmured softly, then realized that Pichu -no, Pikachu- might really want to fight now!

"You ready? You've seen everyone else's training… it's tough."

"Pika pi!"

Pikachu stood upright and clenched its tiny fists, its glossy black eyes filled with determination.

Then suddenly, electric sparks surged around its body, and a bolt of Thunder erupted, blasting into the empty clearing nearby.

"Thunder! So you learned it right after evolving? Looks like all that Sweet Milk over the years wasn't wasted~" Sato chuckled, then quickly regained his serious tone.

"If you're ready, then give it your all!"

"Pika~Chu!"

---

One month later.

"You just got back two days ago and you're already heading off to a tournament again? Look at those happy trainees… don't you think they mind even a little~?"

Joseph watched Sato packing his bags and teased him deliberately.

"They respect me, not resent me. No matter how much you two mentor them, when they go out into the world, who do you think they'll mention first?"

After a full month of intensive training in the forest, Sato's sharp tongue hadn't dulled at all… mainly because he had to give Weavile lessons every single day.

Every time he saw Weavile's utterly confused expression, Sato felt like slapping himself… but he had no choice but to keep pushing forward.

Thankfully, the end result wasn't bad. Weavile had gained an entirely new understanding of "critical hits."

"Fair enough… Boss, you're so evil!" Mark finally reacted and slapped his thigh in protest.

"Heh, if you manage to catch six Dark-type Pokémon, I'll give up my Leader position right now," Sato replied without even turning around; each word a direct hit!

Mark fumed but had no rebuttal. He could only turn to Mama Joseph for help.

Joseph shrugged with a helpless expression. "I can't help you catch six Dark-types either."

(╯°Д°)╯︵┻━┻

Mark: That's not what I meant!

"Alright, I'm heading out! You two are in charge while I'm gone."

"Don't worry."

"Go, go, go~ Come back holding a trophy, hahaha…"