After finally appeasing Houndour, Ethan got back to work.
He pulled up Abra's profile on his bracelet. Somehow, it had crept up to Level 9 already. Its ability was the wonderfully practical Magic Guard. And like Houndour, its egg moves were stacked—four of them:
Guard Split — averages both sides' Defense and Sp. Def. Great tool, but risky: the Kadabra/Alakazam line's Sp. Def is solid; sharing could backfire.
Magic Coat — perfect into control-heavy foes (hello, Persian), though it won't reflect every signature trick.
Encore — brilliant for wrecking set-ups and forcing exploitable loops.
Psychic Terrain — terrain defense vs. priority and a damage boost to Psychic moves.
He'd once dismissed Psychic Terrain as niche, but rumor from the EU said a new move—Expanding Force—synergized with it into legit AoE pressure.
He jotted notes, then checked Abra's natural kit at this stage: the travel MVP Teleport (he'd only seen it float so far, but in real fights the blink would be nasty), Miracle Eye (to tag Dark targets), and Telekinesis.
Ethan whistled under his breath. "I really rolled high on this one."
Compensation secured, Abra secured—two birds, one very loud stone.
He flipped to a fresh page and started a training plan, dumping every idea that popped into his head:
Teleport practice: map max hop distance, recovery time, daily PP windows.
Psychic Terrain reps: build familiarity now to prime for Expanding Force later (light daily work, no need to grind).
Mind build: brain foods, mental stamina work, and Telekinesis load progression.
He cracked the [Exchange] tab hunting for an Expanding Force disc. No dice; the spiral nebula didn't so much as blink. Second time the "all-requests" engine ghosted him (first was "free Pokémon, please").
At some point Abra had drifted over, hovering behind him, eyes slitted, reading along.
Ethan teased, "Think you can follow this, little professor?"
"You underestimate my brilliance," Abra's voice rang in his head. "If we Alakazam invested in human institutes, your scientists would be outclassed by year's end."
Toxic tongue, day two. Great.
"Your plan is fine. Proceed. Also, buy me two Telekinesis training balls—the school didn't let me take mine. And line up a tutor for Focus Blast, Dazzling Gleam, or Shadow Ball. With my intellect, I'll learn one in two to four weeks and start shouldering fights."
Ethan's jaw kept dropping.
"I've heard of Expanding Force. If you have connections, get me that too. Lastly, recruit a partner with Psychic Surge. Their natural terrain beats my casted one—maxes my output and doubles as your team's medic."
Abra flicked its head when Ethan froze.
"Why aren't you writing?"
Right. Right.
He glanced at the bed—Houndour was sprawled there, snoring softly—and the universe snapped back to normal. That was what training Pokémon usually looked like.
(Still… a Pokémon crafting his playbook? Wild.)
"Are you listening?"
"I am, I am! Dear Tactical Director Abra—do you think a Ralts line with Psychic Surge qualifies as your 'worthy partner'?"
"You're mocking me."
"I know it's practical! But would the EU really let a top-tier Surge setter walk?"
"Why not? Did you forget what Fire-Guy told you yesterday?"
Ethan blinked, then remembered Zhang Yi and the "unsourced" Gen-8 Starter eggs.
"Exactly. Humans are shameless—poaching, rerouting. But thanks to that, we might actually build the comp we want. Keep looking; we'll find the teammate we need."
"Got it. Anything else?"
"No. Wake me for training. Let's push toward Mega Evolution."
That last line came hot and earnest. Abra drifted back to the bed and nested beside Houndour like they'd been littermates for years.
Smart, driven, self-managing, mouthy—but easy enough to live with. And it had put total trust in a one-day partner. Not a bad deal at all.
Ethan smiled, turned back to the desk, and polished the plan. Then he pulled out Zhang Yi's notebook and started a deep read.
On a skim the night before it had hooked him; in truth, it was tailor-made for Houndour—a single, elegant doctrine:
Pyromaniac Style (by a Heavenly-King-tier Houndoom)
Moves: Hidden Power (Grass) + Dark Pulse + Flamethrower + Flash Fire
Seed the field with Hidden Power (Grass)—not healing like Grassy Terrain, but a flammable layer.
Rot the "green" with Dark Pulse, sapping vitality like winter's first frost—making tinder.
Ignite the world with Flamethrower, and let Flash Fire overclock the blaze—an "overclocked Fire Pledge" effect.
The manual broke training down step-by-step—clean enough that any mon with average smarts could follow it.
Counting up the haul, Abra was the jackpot, but this manual was a very close second. Then came the Scorbunny egg (maybe Libero if luck held). Fruit allotments were a distant fourth.
Ethan spent all afternoon pulling key drills into Houndour's ledger and layering his tweaks. One snag: should he shell out for Flamethrower and Dark Pulse now?
Together they ran 1,700 Ancient Energy in [Exchange]. Painful. He only had a bit over 7,000 left—and saving for a Mega Stone would take forever if he bled here.
Houndour already had depth—especially with Substitute research underway—so survivability was fine. What it lacked was a finisher. Like it or not, he needed at least one of the two now to uphold the "mobile mage" identity.
And anyway, a Heavenly-King playbook wasn't plug-and-play; to run the full Pyromaniac script he'd need Houndour evolved and working at pro level.
Abra's shopping list wasn't cheap either—he'd need to pick one of Focus Blast / Dazzling Gleam / Shadow Ball to start. Another chunky spend.
Ancient Energy was dwindling. Time to refill the tank.
Antiques? Fossils? …Tomb-raiding?
He winced. He joked about it, but going in blind now was begging for a Cofagrigus, Chandelure, a Spiritomb, or worse—Revenant Slate nonsense. Suicide run.
For now, grind smart, not spooky.