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Having resolved the matter of the "Phantom Thief" and the "Great Detective," Ash and his friends enjoyed a comfortable night's rest in the luxurious castle. After catching up on sleep, they left the forest under the send-off of the castle lord, Matthew.
Upon leaving, Dawn held quite a few shiny trinkets in her hands, and Brock's Pokétch now featured a much more precise map.
Only Ash's hands were empty, with nothing in them.
"Mr. Matthew is such a great person, giving us so many good things!"
Dawn spoke with great emotion and joy as she held the beautiful but inexpensive stones, such as the shiny Everstones.
Brock also agreed and seriously observed the new 3D Map.
The details were much better than before; they no longer had to worry about getting lost.
"Ash, why didn't you want the things Mr. Matthew offered you?"
The young girl toyed with the smooth stones she couldn't bear to put down, while curiously asking Ash on her left.
Because before they left, Mr. Matthew had claimed he wanted to give Ash some good things, but unfortunately, he was explicitly rejected.
Only she and Brock had accepted some small gifts.
"It couldn't be helped. He was offering too much; it would have been like holding a hot potato!" Ash shrugged helplessly; it really wasn't his fault.
If it were just some trinkets to express gratitude, he would have accepted them.
But things like Dragon Fang, Dawn Stone, and Shiny Ston were hot potatoes best left alone.
After all, in reality, these items were quite valuable and could be described as rather expensive.
Accepting them so easily would mean owing the other party a favor for nothing.
Besides, he already had similar items in his backpack, so why make such a losing deal?
Of course, unless he didn't have his Gold Finger, he might have actually agreed.
After declining Matthew's kindness, he led Dawn and Brock to continue their journey.
With the map Matthew had upgraded for Brock, it could clearly guide everyone in the right direction, preventing them from getting lost again.
So, after exiting that forest, it took them less than half a day to arrive at Solaceon Town ahead of schedule.
There were still two days before the start of the Suíyì Competition, plus the half-day today, giving Dawn a full two and a half days to train.
Ash didn't stay idle either; he immediately found a quiet place and released all his Pokémon for training.
The training content for most of the Pokémon remained unchanged.
For example, Scizor still sparred with the Rock-type Aerodactyl, conducting impact resistance training on this well-behaved baby from ancient times.
The training for Grotle and Steelix was much the same.
To become a qualified tank, their ability to withstand pressure had to be improved.
As for Staravia and Buizel, these two were positioned more as assassin-fighters, so they could only practice their output and improve their skill proficiency.
Grotle and Steelix served as excellent targets.
Regarding the newly joined Chimchar, he once again asked the Oscar Winner Pikachu to train with him.
However, the focus of this training was not fire abilities, but rather developing Chimchar's fighting skills first.
After evolving, Chimchar would gain the Fighting type, and its close-quarters combat capabilities would be greatly enhanced.
For balanced development, he decided to first train the Power-Up Punch that could be learned during the Chimchar stage.
Although the power of the Power-Up Punch move isn't particularly strong, hitting an enemy increases Attack by one stage.
Later on, for the Fighting-type Infernape, it would be a very practical little move.
After all, Infernape is Fire and Fighting type, with base stats for both attacks at 104; with proper training, it could follow the path of a mixed attacker.
Considering this, he wasted no time and had Pikachu and Chimchar start Close Combat training.
Normally, the Pika-god shouldn't know close-quarters combat.
But who told its Trainer to have a cheat? During the last shopping spree, he accidentally bought extra Technical Machines for Brick Break and Thunder Punch.
This allowed even a short-armed mouse like Pikachu to engage in melee.
"Ya-ku Ya-ku"
This scene happened to be seen by the only baby in the team, Happiny.
She immediately jumped into Ash's arms and used Charm, gesturing towards where Pikachu and Chimchar were fighting, and then pointed at herself with her short little fingers.
Indicating that she had grown up and also wanted to participate in the training.
"Don't be silly, little one. How about in a few more days?"
Looking at the pink little thing in his arms, he quickly comforted her gently, trying to get her to drop the idea for now.
He knew the one in his arms was a violent l*li, but he didn't want to train her in that direction.
Wouldn't it be better to honestly become a Toxic healer?
With Chansey's natural advantages, combined with learning moves like Toxic, Protect, and Substitute, she could easily win battles.
Why waste energy learning close-quarters combat like those big guys?
Not to mention, he hadn't even trained the Minimize strategy yet!
To be a qualified Toxic player, a Chansey that knows Seismic Toss and Minimize is a must-have.
Oh, and she also needs to carry an Eviolite to increase her dual defenses by another fifty percent, becoming the king of kings among Toxic tanks.
Every time he thought of this, he felt happy for the opposing Trainer.
"Ya-ku~"
Knowing her training was hopeless, Happiny could only run back to the side to play house with her good sister Audino and her "Happiny" (the egg).
"Ya-ku~"
Only this time, Happiny felt that playing house wasn't as interesting as before.
Her eyes were fixed on the fist-to-flesh training between Pikachu and Chimchar.
Thunder Punch!
Pikachu gathered electricity into its little fist and delivered a critical blow to Chimchar, but the latter agilely dodged it.
Brick Break!
But Pikachu didn't panic at all; its other little fist glowed with white light and chopped down at Chimchar.
This time Pikachu's movements were nimble, successfully striking down... three of Chimchar's hairs!
Well, Pikachu's Close Combat skills were indeed not strong, only a tiny bit better than Chimchar's.
Overall, this close-quarters battle was a bit ugly.
But despite such training, the Happiny on the side was actually watching with great interest.
This gave Ash a massive headache!
He finally understood that this little one's love for fighting was etched into her bones and couldn't be changed at all.
Since that was the case, he could only revise the plan overnight.
He immediately added the word "Fighting" in front of "Toxic Healer," preparing to let this little one learn a few Fighting moves to satisfy her craving.
Since she loved melee so much, she should learn the Three Elemental Punches, and then throw in the Sub-Protect-Toxic combo to become a Toxic healer who could fight in Close Combat.
After that, he'd see if this little one was willing to play with the Minimize strategy.
In this way, a healer with combat capabilities would be preliminarily formed.