Pokémon: Above the Top

Weavile agreed with Sato's suggestion and continued digging deeper without hesitation.

Not long after, Sato heard Weavile's excited cry. Soon enough, Weavile came running out, holding a stone that was still ice-blue in color.

However, unlike the others, this one was no longer transparent, and even Sato could sense the intense Ice-type energy contained within.

No need to ask, just from Weavile's delighted expression, it was obvious that this was something truly valuable.

"Wea~"

Weavile clutched the brick-sized ice-blue stone tightly, occasionally taking deep whiffs with its nose.

It was just like... a Meowth sniffing catnip, eyes dreamy and dazed, the usual cold demeanor completely gone.

"Weavile, Weavile?"

"Wea?"

Sato had to call twice before pulling Weavile back to a bit of awareness.

It seemed that even Weavile realized something was off about its own behavior, so relying on its iron will, it reluctantly handed the stone over to Sato.

"Weavile!"

"Don't worry, I'll keep it safe," Sato nodded, then asked, "Do you still want the other ice-blue stones from earlier?"

Weavile shook its head without hesitation. Now that it had a better option, everything else was just settling.

Sato dumped the rest of the ice-blue stones out, then after a moment's thought, kept one with a deeper color, planning to ask the all-knowing Nurse Joy later.

Leaving the Glalie's nest behind, the group picked a random path and continued exploring.

But it didn't take long before they had to turn back again; they'd hit another dead end, and this time gained nothing from it.

"Mark, you pick a path. We'll follow your lead."

It was naturally the time to send out the mascot-cough, to let Mark take charge.

Confident in his self-awareness, Mark strutted forward and theatrically pondered for a while before finally pointing to a path.

"..."

"That's the one we just came from," Joseph muttered, facepalming at the sight.

"Eh? Really? Then let's try this one, over here!"

Sato pursed his lips but said nothing, simply choosing to follow along.

About ten minutes later, they hit another dead end... but this time they found an Never-Melt Ice, an item that boosts Ice-type move power.

"I told you this was the right way!" Mark declared proudly, holding up the Never-Melt Ice with a grin that begged to be punched.

"Then let's keep going," Sato cut off Mark's smugness and turned to head back.

"Absolutely!"

This time, things turned out differently. Relying on Mark's instincts, the trio advanced for a long while without hitting any more dead ends, going deeper and deeper into the cave.

"Hey, that's a Mamoswine, it looks really strong!"

As they went deeper, the wild Pokémon they encountered grew tougher. The Mamoswine in front of them had actually reached Peak Elite level.

Weavile charged in without hesitation and engaged it in close combat. Even with Sato's guidance, it took quite a bit of effort to finally bring it down.

Sato could clearly feel that after all this focused training, Weavile's improvement had become significantly faster. It wouldn't be long before Weavile could make a breakthrough.

After Joseph's Wigglytuff used Heal Pulse to restore Weavile's stamina, the group continued forward.

But not long after, they encountered yet another opponent.

This time, it was a lone Glalie, and its strength was no less than that of the Mamoswine.

Sato was more than satisfied with this. There were clearly plenty of high-level Pokémon in Shoal Cave, and the environment here let Weavile perform at a 120 percent.

If Metal Claw was Weavile's go-to move against same-type Pokémon, then Gyro Ball was Glalie's trump card.

Compared to Weavile's speed, Glalie was noticeably slower, but that only made Gyro Ball even stronger.

Gyro Ball: spins its body to strike the opponent. The slower the user compared to the opponent, the greater the power.

Furthermore, Glalie wasn't particularly strong in any one stat, but it also didn't have any clear weaknesses. Its stats were all well-balanced.

Maybe it was because Weavile had just wiped out a whole nest of Glalie, but at first, it looked down on this one.

Yes, Weavile was getting cocky.

But after taking two consecutive hits from Gyro Ball, the searing pain unique to Steel-type moves immediately brought it back to its senses.

This Glalie was different from the others.

Fortunately, Weavile still managed to defeat it with its speed, though it wasn't unscathed.

This was where Joseph's role came into play. Wigglytuff used Heal Pulse to restore Weavile's strength, and Gogoat's Gogoat's Grass Milk helped relieve its mental fatigue.

They rested in place for half an hour, and during that time, Sato and the others casually munched on a few things; more or less counting as lunch.

Once they'd recovered enough, the three continued deeper inside. As for the Ordinary wild Pokémon they frequently ran into, Weavile didn't even need to act anymore, they'd flee on their own.

Only Elite-level Pokémon could withstand Weavile's sharp, cold stare; most of them chose to back off as well.

Weavile was no longer the kind to take on any opponent that crossed its path. At this point, it only showed interest in at least Mid Elite level Pokémon.

Part of it was practical -Weavile didn't have unlimited stamina- but there was no benefit in defeating weaker opponents over and over again.

Soon, Weavile encountered another strong opponent: a Peak Elite level Cloyster!

BangBangBangBangBang!

Five Icicle Spear in a row, gleaming with cold light, launched straight at Weavile.

"Weavile, dodge with Agility!"

Sato kept a close eye on Cloyster's movements, and a hint of excitement flashed in his eyes. This was already the third time it had launched five consecutive Icicle Spears.

If he wasn't wrong, this Cloyster had the rare Skill Link ability and had inherited the move Icicle Spear.

Skill Link guaranteed all multi-hit moves would land the maximum number of times. With Icicle Spear hitting five times per attack, its total damage exceeded even Fire Blast or Thunder.

And the accuracy was high!

This was the third time Weavile had faced Icicle Spear. On the first two, it had barely dodged using its speed and agility.

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But dodging one Icicle Spear and dodging five were two completely different things.

Every evasive maneuver was like dancing on the tip of a needle, one misstep...

ThudThud!

Weavile couldn't hold out forever. It ended up getting hit by the final two Icicle Spear, suffering serious damage.

ThudThudThudThudThud!

More Icicle Spear. Cloyster clearly wasn't going to let Weavile catch its breath!

"Substitute, close the gap with Cloyster!"

"Wea!"

A black doll appeared in front of Weavile. Grabbing the Substitute, Weavile used it to block the incoming Icicle Spear and forcefully closed the distance.