The fifth day aboard the ship arrived.
Early in the morning, Ace sought out trainers, hoping to spar with them.
However, facing Ace, who was just a slightly older kid, no trainer was willing to be his sparring partner for the moment.
Ace searched all morning before finally finding a good-natured trainer. After hearing Ace wanted to train his Pokémon and wished for a spar, the trainer considered it for a moment, then nodded and agreed.
The two walked to a more open area near the ship's bow. After taking their stances, Ace was the first to throw out his Poké Ball. Zubat immediately soared into the sky, creating distance from the opponent.
This was also something Ace had taught Zubat.
When facing a strong enemy, first create distance, observe the opponent's attack patterns, find a gap to inflict the poison status, and then, relying on the immense advantage of flight, avoid the opponent's attacks as much as possible, slowly wearing them down.
"A Zubat, huh? It looks like it hasn't been trained for long. A bit weak," the male trainer said. He put down his backpack, pulled a Poké Ball from his pocket, tossed it, and then threw it out.
A flash of white light later, a Zangoose with incredibly sharp eyes landed on the deck.
Ace's pupils contracted. This Zangoose's strength was definitely dozens of times greater than Zubat's!
"Sorry, I don't have any newly caught Pokémon on hand right now. This is my weakest one," the opponent said, a little embarrassed. After all, with such a vast difference in strength, even winning felt like an unfair victory.
The huge disparity in strength between Ace and his opponent immediately attracted some onlookers.
Ace didn't complain. To complete the "Level Up" side quest, this was a situation he had to face.
"Zubat, Supersonic!"
Starting with Supersonic, Ace knew that to win, he had to inflict a status condition on his opponent.
The silent Supersonic wave came. Zangoose crouched, its limbs tensed, just about to escape the Supersonic's range when its trainer calmly spoke, "We won't bully the weak. Zangoose, endure it."
Zangoose looked at its trainer with a helpless expression, its aggressive posture shifting back to a normal upright stance.
Supersonic successfully hit Zangoose, causing it to become confused. Its claws immediately began striking itself.
"I'll give you one free move. From now on, I'll be serious." The trainer stated, his previously somewhat gentle gaze now stern.
"Thank you." Ace didn't say anything about wanting the opponent to go all out; he was grateful for the free hit.
"Zubat, Poison Fang!"
Zubat watched Zangoose attacking itself, then immediately swooped down. As it descended, venom adhered to its fangs. When Zubat landed behind Zangoose, its fangs fiercely pierced Zangoose's back!
"Ow!"
The intense pain instantly snapped Zangoose out of its confusion. It turned its head to glare at the culprit behind all this, filled with immediate rage.
"Zangoose, Thunder Wave!"
Electricity sparked beneath Zangoose's fur, but Zubat retreated after a single strike. Before Zangoose could even launch its Thunder Wave, Zubat flapped its wings and had already escaped Zangoose's vicinity.
Thunder Wave missed. Zangoose's expression turned grim, its eyes gradually becoming bloodshot, accompanied by a hint of purple.
"Poisoned?"
Ace nodded internally. Now he was certain that this Zangoose's ability was Poison Heal, not Immunity.
While Poison Heal could rapidly boost Zangoose's physical attack, significantly increasing its strength, for Ace, this was the ability he wanted most.
If this Zangoose had the Immunity ability, then Ace's efforts up until now would have been practically wasted!
"Poisoned? Should I say you're lucky, or unlucky?" The trainer looked at Ace with a strange expression, seeing his Zangoose poisoned.
Although the concept of abilities wasn't clearly defined at this time, as Zangoose's trainer, he knew very well that if his Zangoose was poisoned, its strength could increase by several tiers!
Ace knew this too. Seeing the opponent poisoned, Zubat flapped its wings, quickly widening the distance. Flying high in the sky, it wasn't afraid of Zangoose's close-range attacks.
"Trying to wear us down? But who says my Zangoose doesn't have long-range attacks? Aerial Ace!"
Zangoose roared. A whirlwind formed around it, then numerous wind blades slashed towards Zubat in the air.
Without Ace needing to remind it, Zubat flapped its wings. Having practiced flying techniques for three days, it now perfectly demonstrated the results of its learning.
Using Supersonic, it could quickly detect attacks around itself. The incredibly fast Zubat weaved rapidly through the wind blades. Not a single attack managed to hit it.
"So slippery?"
The trainer looked at Zubat flying higher and higher, feeling a bit speechless.
His Zangoose's only long-range attacks were Thunder Wave and Aerial Ace. But the opponent was clearly determined not to engage in close combat, relying solely on the poison effect to slowly wear them down.
The main problem was that he couldn't hit the opponent. That Zubat was extremely slippery; it dodged all of Aerial Ace's attacks. How was he supposed to fight like this?
Helpless, the trainer could only rely on Aerial Ace for long-range attrition, but Zubat's training these past few days wasn't for nothing. No matter how Zangoose attacked, Zubat could detect the attacks using Supersonic and calmly dodge Zangoose's assaults.
After a while, the onlookers began to chatter amongst themselves.
"That Zubat is really fast."
"And its predictions are very accurate. Not a single attack can hit it."
"Those aren't much; with enough effort in training, you can achieve that."
"Exactly. What I'm more interested in is, this Zubat is clearly still in its growth stage, so why can it use Poison Fang?"
Someone quickly spotted the most crucial issue.
According to the games, for Zubat to learn Poison Fang, it would need to reach Level 25.
And at Level 22, Zubat would evolve into Golbat.
So, to put it plainly, for Zubat to learn Poison-type moves before evolving, the most crucial thing was to get its poison glands to develop.
Normally, a Zubat's small head wouldn't have enough space for its poison glands to develop properly. Thus, it required a long development period to end, waiting for its body to grow larger before the poison glands would have space to develop.
Or, it would have to wait until it evolved into Golbat, at which point its body size would increase significantly, freeing the poison glands from constraint and allowing Golbat to use Poison-type moves.
"But seriously, this newbie's fighting style is too cautious!"
Watching the trainer using Zangoose look utterly defeated, everyone present felt a shared sense of exasperation.