Pokémon: Above the Top

"Skorupi, use Acupressure."

"SKOOOOORU!"

The red Skorupi let out a loud cry, then cautiously used its tail pincers to stab a pressure point on its own back.

Yes, after spending many days together, Skorupi had finally begun to gradually learn to follow Sato's commands.

And it had already been a week since Sato eliminated the poacher ship.

Considering that the injuries of the Lapras group couldn't possibly heal in just a day or two, Sato and the others decided to stay on this beach for the time being.

Joseph and Mark continued to help the Lapras, and also stayed to prevent opportunists from targeting them.

Although Sato felt that letting the Lapras group leave on their own and recover slowly was also acceptable, since both Mark and Joseph insisted, Sato didn't say anything more. After all, they weren't in a hurry, and they didn't lack money.

"Skoruu!"

A red light flashed from Skorupi's body, but even it wasn't quite sure what stat had been enhanced.

"Remember the location of that Acupressure point. Let's try it repeatedly. First, test for speed." Sato said seriously while holding a tablet.

"Skoruu~"

Skorupi didn't nod in response, but still started moving its little short legs, huffing and puffing as it ran.

"Hmm… no increase in speed, you can stop now."

"Skoruu..."

Skorupi was still very young and couldn't train for extended periods. Upon hearing Sato's command, it collapsed without hesitation, not the least bit polite about it.

"Dos Dos~"

Seeing this, "oneesan" Ariados immediately waved her front claws to cheer up her "otouto".

Skorupi got nervous and obediently stood up again. Well… standing still was also a way to rest.

Sato didn't interfere with how those two got along. He just focused on carefully comparing the data he had previously recorded.

Sato had done a lot of research on Skorupi's training.

As a fellow Poison/Bug-type, Ariados and Skorupi actually had a lot in common in some aspects, but their training methods were completely different.

Ariados excelled at web-type moves, none of which Skorupi could learn. However, Skorupi had a powerful and flexible tail pincer that Ariados lacked.

Both specialized in poison, but based on the tests from the past two days, Sato realized that Skorupi only had standard Ace Poison-type potential. It couldn't compare to Ariados at all.

So the combo move [Toxic Hell] wasn't very suitable for Skorupi either. Even if they tried to train it, the effort would hardly be worth it.

After all, Ariados was unique. Even though Drapion had higher base stats after evolution, it could never truly replace Ariados.

Furthermore, once Skorupi evolved, it would lose the Bug-type and gain the Dark-type instead, which actually made it more compatible with Sato.

With the Dark-type, at least Sato could start using [Dark Energy: Blood Nourishment] to gradually enhance its potential, giving it a shot at reaching Elite Four level.

Currently, Ariados's core tactical system consisted of complex poisons and layered Sticky Webs.

It had once tried the Toxic-Sniper strategy, but due to the unexpected rise of web-type moves, that approach had become less suitable.

After all, Ariados's physical durability wasn't as great as one might imagine. Compared to defeating an opponent with a single critical blow, Ariados much preferred capturing the enemy and then slowly "torturing" them… which also came with less risk.

The compatibility between layered Webs and complex poisons was extremely high, and over time, Sato completely gave up on the Toxic-Sniper strategy.

Simply put, enhancing Ariados's original hunting skills to their fullest was the battle style that suited it best!

But the Toxic-Sniper strategy was actually more suited to Skorupi's evolution, Drapion; something Sato had realized after careful thought.

First of all, Drapion had the dual Poison/Dark typing after evolution and was only weak to Ground-type moves.

It also had strong resistance against Poison-, Psychic-, Grass-, and Dark-types, and was completely immune to Psychic-type moves.

Its physical durability was also far superior to Ariados's, allowing it to better endure the physical backlash from explosive tactics.

Furthermore, Drapion's body structure was very unique. The massive pincers on either side of its head, as well as its long tail pincer, all had incredible reach.

When used together, they allowed it to effectively catch nearby prey, greatly increasing its move accuracy.

Moreover, based on Sato's testing, this particular Skorupi also had the ability Sniper.

Moves with high critical-hit ratios like Cross Poison and Night Slash were all within Skorupi's learnset.

…But the most important point was a move Skorupi had already learned but couldn't yet fully master: Acupressure!

Acupressure worked by striking specific pressure points on the body to stimulate energy flow and dramatically boost one stat.

The boost was equivalent to that of Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, Agility, Iron Defense, or Amnesia.

In other words, learning this one move allowed Skorupi to trigger one of those five buffs at random.

What Sato was doing now was using repeated practice and tests to locate the five fixed pressure points on Skorupi's body that corresponded to each specific boost.

Then, it could apply them flexibly in future battles. Whatever boost it needed, it could get.

But this was extremely difficult. And Sato wasn't the first to come up with this kind of training method, yet no one had ever succeeded before.

The reason Sato was so persistent was because, in the future, the League would have its first-ever Bug-type Elite Four member, and his ace Drapion could control Acupressure boosts at will!

And that person was someone not yet famous, but who had recently passed the Gym Leader Qualification Tournament and would go on to become one of Sinnoh's Elite Four, praised as "the peak of all bug catchers": Aaron!

In any case, Sato had made up his mind. He would continue training like this, collect as much data as possible, and if it worked, great. If not, at least it would make the move more familiar.

Since Aaron would eventually become a Gym Leader, Sato had plenty of reason and opportunity to meet him in person. When the time came, they could… cough cough… they could trade a little. 'Wouldn't that be wonderful?'

With that thought, Sato became even more invested in Skorupi's training. Seeing that the time was about right, he immediately called Skorupi over to continue the session.

"Skoruu~"

Under the watchful gaze of Ariados, Skorupi obediently walked up to Sato, feeling once again that its life was just too hard.

Was there anyone else like it, stabbing themselves with their tail every day?

Once or twice wasn't enough… every single day, every hour, every second, it had to stab itself!

And after stabbing, it had to remember what each spot felt like and what stat boost it gave.

Skorupi had no idea what boost it was getting… but it sure hurt like hell every time.

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Patre0n/Romeloff