Of course, Bagon wasn't aware of any of this yet. It was still training hard, trying to catch up to Chimchar and surpass it. Rex didn't plan to tell it the truth in advance, either.
But once Chimchar evolved into Monferno, Bagon would probably get a little discouraged—after all, the stat boost from evolution wasn't something sheer hard work could immediately overcome.
Only when Bagon finally evolved into Salamence would the tables turn. Even if Chimchar had reached its final form, Infernape, by then, it would still struggle to stand up to a pseudo-legendary. That kind of power wasn't just for show.
As for Pyukumuku and Skrelp, Rex hadn't neglected them. He'd been giving them foundational training during this time.
With Pyukumuku, there wasn't much in the way of movement-based drills—its land speed was practically nonexistent. But its strengths lay elsewhere: incredible durability, a body packed with elasticity, and resistance to most forms of damage.
So far, Pyukumuku had learned Baton Pass, Harden, Helping Hand, Taunt, Safeguard, and Counter.
Out of those, only Counter could deal damage, but paired with Taunt and Pyukumuku's ultra-low speed, it made for a lethal trap. If an opponent used physical attacks, Pyukumuku could punish them with a devastating counter.
Still, that wasn't nearly enough.
Rex had been exposing Pyukumuku to Skrelp's Acid Spray daily, hoping it would become familiar enough with poison-type energy to eventually learn Toxic—one of the most notoriously frustrating moves in battle.
To support this, Rex also started mixing poison-type Pokémon food into Pyukumuku's meals to help it develop internal toxicity.
He had also mapped out two key skills he wanted Pyukumuku to learn: Recover and Soak. Soak would temporarily change an opponent's type to Water, making their attacks far less effective against Pyukumuku. Recover would dramatically boost its endurance, making earlier damage essentially meaningless.
But that was still just a starting point. Rex hoped Pyukumuku would also learn other utility moves like Protect, Charm, Substitute, Swagger, and Psych Up. If it could master those, it could easily become an opponent's worst nightmare.
That said, everything depended on Pyukumuku's own will to grow. Rex could design the blueprint, but if Pyukumuku wasn't interested, he wouldn't force it.
Thankfully, Pyukumuku was unusually stubborn and naturally combative. Even a careless step from another Pokémon would have it spitting out its inner organs like a fist to retaliate.
Good thing those organs regenerated quickly—otherwise, its species might have gone extinct long ago.
Aside from its skill growth, Pyukumuku also served as a sparring partner for Skrelp.
Because Skrelp's current offensive power was still low, it was perfect for helping Pyukumuku build resistance. Once Skrelp got stronger, Rex would let them train more equally with real battle simulations.
Right now, Skrelp had access to Tackle, Smokescreen, Acid Spray, Water Gun, Tail Whip, and Dragon Pulse.
Rex was a little surprised it had already learned Dragon Pulse—a high-tier dragon-type move. Usually, a Skrelp would need to be much closer to evolving into Dragalge before picking that up.
Clearly, this Skrelp had a strong natural affinity for dragon energy.
Before evolution, Skrelp was poison/water-type, only becoming poison/dragon after evolving. A high dragon affinity gave it a major advantage not just in learning dragon moves but also in increasing its odds of evolving successfully into Dragalge.
Studies in the Alola region confirmed that most wild Skrelp never made it to evolution. Only a select few with high dragon aptitude had the potential. With Rex's careful training, this Skrelp's evolution was nearly guaranteed—and it would take far less time than it would in the wild.
In the meantime, Rex's focus for Skrelp was refining Acid Spray. Repeated use against Pyukumuku helped improve its accuracy and power—and indirectly helped Pyukumuku adapt to poison-type energy.
Rex wasn't ignoring Dragon Pulse on purpose. The problem was the move's energy cost—Skrelp could only use it once before running dry. That kind of strain left no room for further training during a session.
For now, maximizing Acid Spray's output gave the best return on energy investment, and training could be synced with Pyukumuku's development.
Now that both Pyukumuku and Skrelp were part of the team, Rex would definitely raise them with care. Still, how far they progressed would ultimately depend on their own motivation.
He had too many Pokémon now to micromanage them all. The best he could do was set the direction—after that, it was on them to follow through.
Fortunately, Skrelp was eager to grow. Though Rex had reeled it in while fishing, it had quickly fallen for the delicious meals he offered. Now that it had a consistent food source, it trained seriously to keep its place.
In the wild, unevolved Skrelp sat at the very bottom of the food chain—barely above Magikarp and Feebas. Their diets were mostly rotting seaweed. Evolving through such poor nutrition was almost impossible.
After its initial adjustment period, Skrelp fully accepted Rex as its trainer. For a Pokémon so used to being prey, the chance to become strong and stop living in fear was everything.
The same was true for Rex's Magikarp and Feebas. Their desperate drive to evolve came from the same place—the hope of breaking free from being easy targets.
In comparison, Pyukumuku didn't have that same level of desperation. Its combat power wasn't high, but its absurd defenses meant most wild Pokémon couldn't hurt it anyway. It had less urgency, less hunger for growth.
That difference in mindset was bound to show in their paths ahead.