Listening to the advice, Shiro stopped insisting and instead began meditating to train his psychic powers.
Come to think of it, his psychic ability had already reached Advanced-level. Even so, he had never found the time to properly learn how to use it from Unown A.
The truth was that Advanced-level psychic power was nothing special in the battles he faced now. He could barely withstand the aftershocks of those fights, and whenever he needed Psychic-type abilities, he had the Unown. He had never expected his own psychic power to make much of a difference in real combat.
Now that he thought about it carefully, it was time to seriously learn how to use it. Unown A had mentioned before that once he reached Advanced-level, he would be able to use Teleport.
* * *
About two hours later, Shiro finished his training and brought up the subject with Unown A.
'Learn Teleport?'
Unown A had been instructing Corviknight. It looked him over before realizing he had already reached the point where he could begin practicing Teleport.
'Alright. Follow me.'
Without wasting any words, Unown A led him to an open space nearby. After giving a simple demonstration and explanation, it said, 'Now give it a try.'
Recalling the method Unown A had explained, Shiro carefully took a step forward.
The space around him slowly twisted under the influence of his psychic power. Unfortunately, the distortion wasn't strong enough. It took more than a dozen seconds before the space finally met the conditions required for Teleport and began to ripple.
Suddenly, the world spun around him, and his vision filled with countless colorful and bizarre fragments.
A moment later, his body stabilized, and he felt his feet touch solid ground again. His physical condition was excellent, so he didn't feel nauseous. He was only breathing a little harder.
Letting out a long breath, he turned around.
The place where he had been standing was marked with a Poké Ball. The distance between that spot and where he stood now was just over ten meters.
It had taken more than a dozen seconds and consumed a large amount of psychic power, yet he had only traveled ten meters. With his physical strength alone, he could have sprinted several hundred meters in that same amount of time.
He couldn't help feeling disappointed. Still, it was his first attempt, so he quickly adjusted his mindset and asked, "A, can this Teleport..."
'With your current psychic power, the only thing you can improve through practice is the time it takes to activate Teleport. As for the distance, that's directly tied to the strength of your psychic power. Training won't increase it.'
"So with my current psychic power... can I eventually cast it instantly?"
'That depends on how hard you're willing to train.'
As soon as Unown A finished speaking, it disappeared from where it stood.
Hearing that, Shiro immediately began practicing. If effort alone could bring improvement, then it was actually very simple. All he had to do was repeat it until he reached his limit.
Step after step, he moved forward by repeatedly using Teleport with his psychic power.
While he was training, two figures appeared not far away. It was Cynthia and Carolina.
Only after the two of them walked up to him did Shiro snap out of his focused training and greet them.
The fact that he possessed psychic powers wasn't much of a secret. Besides, his abilities weren't particularly strong, so there was no need to hide them.
"You're certainly hardworking." Carolina smiled faintly with one hand in her pocket as she looked around at his Pokémon.
It wasn't just Shiro. Every one of his Pokémon trained with remarkable dedication.
Corviknight went without saying. It wished a day had forty-eight, or even a hundred hours so it could keep training until its strength reached a level Gengar could never hope to catch. As for Gengar, it hadn't relaxed either. It was determined to surpass Drakloak.
The rest of the Pokémon had also been influenced by the atmosphere to varying degrees. Another reason was the fierce battle not long ago. Most of them had been unable to help much, and they naturally felt frustrated because of it.
"There aren't really any shortcuts to getting stronger," Shiro replied as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The few Teleports he had just performed had nearly exhausted all of his psychic power, leaving him slightly dizzy.
Cynthia nodded in complete agreement, while Carolina chuckled and waved her hand. "Come on. It's almost noon. Rowan said he'd treat us to lunch."
At this, Shiro quickly recalled all of his Pokémon, tidied himself up, and followed them.
"Normally, Rowan is as stingy as they come. All he ever does is hide in his laboratory every day," Carolina remarked as they walked toward the building. "Thanks to you, we finally got him to spend some money."
"Haha..." Shiro simply laughed politely.
* * *
The three chatted casually until they reached the main entrance of the laboratory, where a black car was already waiting.
The window rolled down, revealing Rowan's slightly chubby face. His white beard was as bushy as ever, yet he was wearing a pair of sunglasses.
"Get in quickly." He urged them like a race car driver eager to hit the road.
Unfortunately, he was sitting in the front passenger seat.
Carolina opened the driver's door and took the wheel. She shot Rowan a slightly disdainful glance before saying, "Hold on tight."
Once she saw that Shiro and Cynthia had climbed into the back seats, she slammed on the accelerator.
The car shot forward in an instant. Everyone inside was pushed hard against their seats, and Rowan gripped his seatbelt tightly across his chest with a nervous expression.
Only after they left Sandgem Town and the road became rougher did Carolina slow down. Everyone finally let out a sigh of relief.
Shiro hadn't expected the kind and gentle Carolina to enjoy speeding so much.
"My grandmother used to be a Pokémon race driver when she was young," Cynthia explained.
"A Pokémon... race driver?" Shiro looked at her.
Cynthia explained in detail.
Back when the Sinnoh League had just been established decades ago, all kinds of Pokémon-related competitions appeared across the region. Things were rather chaotic at the time. There were almost no rules, and the events had very little to do with Pokémon themselves. Most of the competition revolved around attacking one another.
Whether it was bicycles, motorcycles, or race cars, the trainers did the driving while their Pokémon protected them from the side. At the same time, they also had to attack the other competitors.
"The casualty rate was very high." Cynthia gently stroked the Piplup in her arms, which she had carried out of the laboratory before leaving.
Looking at it, Shiro suddenly remembered the children. "Where are Dawn and Lucas? Didn't they come? Is Sapphire playing with them?"
Cynthia thought for a moment before answering, "Dawn and Lucas both went to school. As for Sapphire... I asked her, but she refused to go outside no matter what. She only wants to stay in the courtyard."
Shiro nodded in understanding. Sapphire really was rather withdrawn. She didn't get along very well with Dawn and Lucas, who were about the same age.
"When are you leaving?" Rowan asked as he turned around from the front seat.
"Probably in two days," Shiro estimated.
"Mmm... Birch asked me to tell you to bring Sapphire with you when you leave. Take her to Hoenn."
"Alright."
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