One year
501, 502, 503...
Under the waterfall
The rushing water cascaded down from the mountaintop, crashing against two figures at the point where the waterfall met the river below.
Roy, carrying his Dusclops, with the Annihilape beside him, is doing squats while bearing the weight of the waterfall.
Just as Roy shouted "504", several wind blades suddenly and without warning tore through the air and attacked.
While bearing the impact of the water flow and the weight of the Dusclops on his body, Roy nimbly dodged the wind blades, as if he had anticipated their arrival.
He easily dodged more than ten wind blades, leaving only one wind blade that was sometimes fast and sometimes slow and completely uncontrollable.
Roy didn't have a good solution for the final wind blade. Just as it was about to hit his chest, Roy simply raised the Dusclops to shield himself.
The over 2-meter-tall, broad-bodied Dusclops perfectly blocked Roy, becoming an impenetrable shield.
With a "smack," the azure wind blade, which suddenly accelerated, struck the Dusclops's rear end.
The Dusclops, who was still asleep, was awakened by the wind blades, and its single red eye opened.
Is it lunchtime?
Roy:...
Dusclops scratched its butt; with an Eviolite, its Defense and Special Defense stats reaching a whopping 195 were no joke.
The wind blades from before barely caused him any harm; it was like being bitten by a mosquito.
Seeing Roy successfully dodge all the wind blades, Bruno nodded in satisfaction and checked the boxes for "Reaction" and "Strength" on the paper assessment list in his hand.
In just one year, he had trained Roy to become the second-best Fighting type Pokémon Trainer in the dojo, after himself.
Even he himself couldn't believe that Roy had actually spent a whole year under his devilish training.
Bado is no match for Roy now; he can't even withstand two punches from Roy.
With the addition of Roy's mysterious Ghost Power, he could already unleash a knock-off version of Shadow Punch and Shadow Claw, almost to the point of throwing out a Shadow Ball as Kamehameha.
Roy could even arm-wrestle with his own Machamp.
Of course, this is on the premise that Machamp doesn't use any skills.
You could say Roy is more like a Pokémon than him.
Upon hearing that he had passed the test, Roy leaped away from below the waterfall and placed the Dusclops he was carrying on the ground.
Bruno stepped forward, put his arm around Roy's shoulder, and congratulated Roy on completing his year-long training, telling Roy to come back and visit often if he had nothing else to do.
No sooner had he finished speaking than Bruno Cleave at Roy's neck. Roy reacted instantly, his hands imbued with the Ghost Power, and he raised his hand to block Bruno's slash in front of him.
"Not bad, you managed to block this palm strike. You've officially passed your apprenticeship assessment. Remember to come back and visit often."
Roy released Bruno's clenched fist, knowing the test wouldn't be so simple, and nodded in agreement to what Bruno would say next.
The burly Bruno, who was over two meters tall, rarely showed any reluctance on his face. However, he knew that he could no longer teach Roy anything; the rest would have to be learned by Roy himself.
He and Agatha shared the same idea: they both Volo could develop his career across multiple areas.
In the past year, Roy has grown nearly 10 centimeters taller, reaching 1.9 meters. Although he is still not as tall as Bruno, at least he no longer has to look up at him.
God knows how he got through that year.
The Annihilape tossed the black training suit to Roy, Roy caught it and put it on, covering up his explosive muscles.
He was going to see Joy Lando that afternoon.
"Gengar, Arbok, we're leaving!"
"Aber!"
"Ghost!"
"Ghost~"
Two Gengar emerged from the shadow of a tree in front of the Gym. When they appeared, the two Gengar were still secretly competing and playing pranks on each other. One was Agatha's Gengar, and the other was his Ancient Gengar.
Throughout the year, Roy did not stop training his Pokémon; the level of his Annihilape had increased from level 57 to level 68.
His improvement has been rapid, but he still can't compare to a prodigy like Leon, who won a regional championship at the age of 16.
Legend has it that when Leon was 15 years old, his first team of Pokémon was already close to the High-level Elite Four, after all, he had been training Mustard with Pokémon on the Isle of Armor since he was 10 years old.
Compared to a year ago, the level of the Ancient Gengar has increased directly from 60 to 72, becoming an Intermediate King level Pokémon and the highest-level Pokémon among Roy's Pokémon.
Dragapult has also reached the level of a mid-level Elite Four.
The Misdreavus was only one step away from the Intermediate King level. When it successfully broke through to the Beginner King level, the Misdreavus was able to control the power within its body and evolved into the Flutter Mane, no longer needing Roy's Ghost Power to enhance it.
Both the Lampent and the Dusclops have reached level 65. The flames inside the Lampent's lampshade have filled the entire lampshade, and its energy accumulation has reached its peak.
Roy plans to return to Mt. Pyre in Hoenn a couple of days after meeting Agatha, so that Lampent can complete its final evolution Mt. Pyre.
The Dusclops is still the same as always: eat, sleep, wake up and eat again, and at night he goes to the Arena with Roy to annoy people.
Snorunt has reached level 33, and like Lampent, Roy plans to take her back to the summit of Mt. Pyre and use the Dawn Stone to evolve her.
Palossand is still one level away from breaking through to the initial Elite Four, mainly Roy has always treated him as a tool pet, using him like a campervan.
Palossand knew he wasn't cut out for battle, so while completing Roy's training on time, he spent his time eating and drinking with Dusclops and the Ancient Gengar, thoroughly enjoying himself.
Marshadow has changed quite a bit. Since following Roy, his face has become much rounder. Fortunately, Marshadow can adjust his face shape himself, otherwise it would be hard to say if Ho-Oh asked.