Getting in Sync

"Zang~"

Zangoose stared blankly at the unfamiliar human before it.

It still seemed unable to accept the established fact that it had been captured by him.

It was the lone hunter of Seviper. How could it become a human's subordinate?

Even though it had failed this time, nothing could stop it from chasing its dream.

But now, its dream had shattered, and it might no longer be able to freely hunt Seviper as it had before.

"Hello, Zangoose. My name is Bai Shi, and I'm from Twinleaf Town."

"I'm glad you've joined my team. I hope we'll get along from now on!"

A faint smile appeared on Bai Shi's face as he greeted Zangoose after it regained consciousness and welcomed it to the team.

Zangoose, whose spirit had been shattered, merely glanced at Bai Shi without giving any other response.

"If we run into a Trainer with a Seviper later, I'll arrange for you to be the first one sent out."

Seeing that Zangoose was in low spirits, Bai Shi rolled his eyes and changed his approach.

Zangoose's eyes regained a little of their former light the instant it heard those key words.

If it could continue fighting Seviper, then temporarily putting up with this situation wasn't entirely unacceptable.

Once it discovered that Bai Shi had lied, it could think about regaining its freedom.

"Zang~"

After hesitating for a while, Zangoose finally nodded at Bai Shi with an unwilling look, indicating that it barely accepted him.

"Zangoose, I'll do everything I can to help you become stronger."

Seeing that he had truly convinced it, the smile on Bai Shi's face grew even wider, and he took the initiative to make it a promise.

He remembered that Jessie from Team Rocket had a Seviper.

Since Zangoose was so deeply obsessed with Seviper,

perhaps he could use Jessie's Seviper to motivate it.

If so, why would he have to worry about Zangoose lacking the drive to move forward?

Zangoose didn't fully believe Bai Shi's promise. It merely nodded perfunctorily, intending to see what happened next.

"Star~" (Newcomer, Big Brother Bird's got your back from now on. I guarantee you'll reach the peak of the Pokémon world!)

Staravia, who fancied himself the "big brother," flew in front of Zangoose and extended a wing, wanting to pat it on the shoulder.

It was trying to show some affection to the newly joined Zangoose.

"Zang~" (Who the hell are you? Get lost!)

Unfortunately, Zangoose didn't appreciate it and immediately brushed its wing aside.

"Staravia~" (How dare you! I'm going to teach you a lesson today and show you who's boss!)

Having lost face, Staravia flew into a rage and immediately wanted to battle Zangoose for three hundred rounds.

Fortunately, Bai Shi was quick enough to stop it.

Only after exhausting every possible argument did he finally manage to calm Staravia down.

He got it to "let bygones be bygones" and give up on teaching Zangoose a lesson.

However, Zangoose's arrogant behavior had already offended it.

Sooner or later, it would find a chance to make Zangoose suffer a setback and establish its authority as the team's leader.

Zangoose, meanwhile, sneered at Staravia, believing it could suppress the bird with one hand.

What right did it have to claim it would protect Zangoose? It was simply laughable.

If it didn't hold Zangoose back, that would already count as good enough.

"Dunsparce~" (The new Pokémon is so scary!)

Dunsparce had originally wanted to go over and welcome Zangoose as well.

Who would have thought that it would clash with Staravia the moment it arrived?

This quickly made Dunsparce abandon the idea and retreat back into its shell.

For a time, it even began worrying that this bad-tempered Pokémon would bully the weak—namely, itself—in the future.

"Stantler~" (The more Pokémon there are, the better! That way, I can hide behind them and slack off.)

The unassuming Stantler was also very welcoming of the new Pokémon.

At a glance, it was obvious that Zangoose was a "battle maniac."

With Zangoose joining them, Stantler could also reduce the frequency with which Bai Shi sent it into battle.

After Zangoose's injuries had healed, Bai Shi brought it out for a round of skill testing.

Through the test, he obtained its skill list.

At present, Zangoose had mastered a total of five skills.

They were Scratch, Fury Cutter, Slash, Hone Claws, and Crush Claw.

All of Zangoose's current skills were related to its claws.

Its personality and fighting style could essentially be seen from these skills alone.

Most of the skills it had learned had evolved from Scratch.

Without a strong will and an adequately obsessive personality, that would have been impossible.

After all, what normal Pokémon would stubbornly focus on one type of skill?

It would have long since gone on to learn new skills of other types.

"Other than Hone Claws, they're all claw-based attack skills. It's far too monotonous."

"And it hasn't mastered a single long-range attack skill."

"With such an unbalanced fighting style, once an opponent targets its weakness, its head might get knocked sideways."

After studying Zangoose's skill list, Bai Shi couldn't help shaking his head.

Even Staravia had Gust, which it could use to maneuver around and keep its distance from opponents.

Unlike Zangoose, which knew nothing but charging at its opponent with its claws.

No wonder it had lost to that Seviper.

If he had been Seviper's Trainer, he could definitely have toyed with Zangoose in the palm of his hand.

"Zangoose already has more than enough close-combat skills. It doesn't need any more for now."

"So my next task is to have it learn some other types of skills, such as Quick Attack and Agility."

"Besides that, I need to have it master at least one long-range attack skill."

Based on Zangoose's situation, Bai Shi formulated an initial training plan.

He planned to use several new skills to make up for the weakness of its monotonous fighting style.

However, Zangoose didn't agree with Bai Shi's idea.

It had already used its current fighting style to defeat several Seviper before, and it didn't think there was any problem with it.

The reason it had failed this time was simply that its claws weren't sharp enough.

If its claws had been sharp enough, it could have torn that Seviper apart outright. Why would it need to go through so much trouble?

When Bai Shi told it that it needed to learn other skills, Zangoose naturally had objections.

However, considering that it had only just been captured, it didn't feel it was in a position to argue.

It couldn't refuse the training Bai Shi arranged, so it could only accept it.

But if Bai Shi expected it to take the training seriously, he could forget it.

Zangoose's passive resistance also caused the training to progress extremely slowly.

For a time, Bai Shi thought he had captured another Stantler.

Only after observing carefully did he figure out that the problem was with the process of getting in sync with Zangoose.

The two of them had yet to establish enough trust.

It was obvious that Zangoose didn't believe Bai Shi's training plan could help it become stronger.

For that reason, Bai Shi had no choice but to think of another way to earn its trust.