As for Greninja, its current training direction remained unchanged.
It would continue learning and mastering the following moves:
Water-Type: Complete
Fire-Type: None
Grass-Type: Grass Knot
Bug-Type: U-turn
Poison-Type: Toxic, Toxic Spikes, Gunk Shot
Dark-Type: Complete
Electric-Type: None
Ice-Type: Haze, Ice Punch, Blizzard, Icy Wind, Ice Beam
Steel-Type: None
Dragon-Type: None
Normal-Type: Complete
Fighting-Type: Power-Up Punch, Low Kick, Mat Block
Psychic-Type: Role Play, Rest, Extrasensory
Ghost-Type: Lick, Spite, Shadow Sneak
Flying-Type: Bounce, Aerial Ace, Acrobatics
Rock-Type: Smack Down, Rock Tomb, Rock Slide
Ground-Type: Mud Sport, Spikes
The goal was to completely master all these off-type moves and push the limits of Greninja's Protean Ability.
Only after that stage was complete would Ash begin expanding its core move pool with additional Water-, Dark-, and Normal-type moves to further refine its combat framework.
Afterward, Greninja would follow a path similar to Pikachu's.
Improve its six core attributes.
Further deepen its control over moves.
And eventually—
Begin exploring the mysterious power of Bond Evolution.
At present, Greninja had already learned most of the off-type moves Ash wanted it to acquire.
Once their proficiency reached the Mastered level, this phase of training would be considered complete.
Only then could the next phase begin.
Overall, Greninja's development was progressing steadily.
There wasn't much for Ash to worry about.
The same applied to Pidgeot and Fearow.
As long as their core strengths—movement speed, attack speed, and evasive ability—continued improving, they didn't actually require huge move pools to remain terrifyingly effective.
Among Ash's four First-Tier Pokémon, Greninja was the only one that required special attention.
The reason was simple.
Protean.
That Ability demanded the mastery of as many move types as possible.
And unlike Pidgeot, which could achieve Mega Evolution through an external Mega Stone, Greninja's future power lay elsewhere.
Bond Evolution.
That power couldn't be unlocked through an item.
It had to be discovered and developed by Greninja itself.
Fortunately, Bond Evolution was still a distant goal.
Greninja had plenty of unfinished training ahead of it.
For now, Ash didn't need to concern himself with it.
...
Compared to the relatively self-sufficient First Tier, Ash's primary focus now rested on the Second Tier.
Specifically—
Gyarados.
And Milotic.
Both Pokémon had only recently evolved.
Both were currently in a period of explosive growth.
Which made this the perfect time to intensify their training.
Even though Bulbasaur had just joined the team today, Ash's attention remained focused on Gyarados and Milotic.
Bulbasaur was only Level 14.
It hadn't evolved yet.
It was still in the very early stages of development.
For a Pokémon at that stage, building a solid foundation and steadily gaining levels was far more important than learning a large number of advanced moves.
Ash could simply assign Bulbasaur various intermediate training tasks and have Pikachu and the others supervise it.
That would be sufficient for now.
Meanwhile, he could devote his full attention to Gyarados and Milotic.
Ash's gaze settled on the Gyarados profile attached to his notebook.
"Gyarados has a much larger body than Milotic."
"Although its base Speed is 91, which isn't actually slow among Pokémon, that's only true from a statistical standpoint."
"If it's fighting in deep water or the open sea, where its entire body can move freely, its actual speed should be terrifying."
"But on land..."
Ash twirled his pen thoughtfully.
"It becomes much more cumbersome."
Even so, Speed wasn't the primary focus of Gyarados's development.
If it still possessed Swift Swim from its Magikarp days, perhaps Speed would deserve greater emphasis.
However, after evolving, its Abilities had become:
Intimidate
And
Moxie
Those Abilities pointed toward one thing.
Aggressive offense.
Brutal offense.
Gyarados was a Pokémon designed to crush opponents head-on.
Its primary development priorities were:
Physical Attack
Physical Defense
HP
Well...
Not entirely.
Special Defense deserved a mention too.
However, Gyarados's Special Defense was already exceptional.
The average Gyarados possessed a base Special Defense of 100.
Ash's Gyarados had reached 110.
That stat barely required additional training.
It was already battle-ready.
Physical Defense, on the other hand, sat at only 89.
That needed improvement.
HP needed further development as well.
After all, Gyarados was an enormous Pokémon.
If it failed to eliminate opponents quickly, it would inevitably become a gigantic target.
That meant it needed sufficient durability to endure incoming attacks.
Unfortunately, Gyarados didn't naturally learn many defensive moves.
The only true defensive move available to it was Protect.
Although Ash could use the system to teach additional moves, there simply weren't many pure defensive techniques among Water-, Flying-, or Normal-type moves.
Besides—
Ash preferred counterattacking over passive defense.
Moves like:
Facade
Avalanche
Payback
Retaliate
These moves suited Gyarados perfectly.
As long as it survived the incoming attack, it could immediately retaliate with devastating force.
In some situations, those moves could even deal double damage.
Future Gyarados would definitely need all of them.
They would become key components of its combat framework.
However—
Defense wasn't Gyarados's true identity.
At its core, Gyarados was an offensive Pokémon.
And offense would always be its highest priority.
Yet because of its massive size, even its offensive style needed special consideration.
Conventional attacks weren't ideal.
If Gyarados relied purely on single-target techniques, agile opponents could evade them.
Worse, they could continuously kite and wear it down.
Therefore—
Area-of-effect attacks were actually more valuable than single-target attacks.
Compared to moves like:
Dragon Rage
Bite
Ice Fang
Brine
Moves such as:
Twister
Whirlpool
Hurricane
Icy Wind
Earthquake
Were significantly more important.
Those large-scale attacks perfectly suited Gyarados's enormous body and battlefield presence.
Of course, Gyarados's true damage output would still come from physical attacks.
That would never change.
Fortunately, not all area attacks relied on Special Attack.
For example—
Earthquake was a physical move.
After opening a Pokédex database and reviewing Gyarados's available move pool, a smile gradually appeared on Ash's face.
"I've got it."
His thoughts finally became clear.
"Gyarados's future training should prioritize offense."
"Defense will be secondary."
"Physical conditioning and stamina training will support both."
"For attacks, single-target physical moves remain the core."
"Area-of-effect moves will serve as supplementary weapons."
"As for defense..."
"We'll focus on counterattack techniques."
Ash began writing rapidly in his notebook.
Line after line.
Plan after plan.
Before long, Gyarados's complete training roadmap had taken shape.
Looking at the finished outline, Ash nodded with satisfaction.
Now—
He finally had a clear direction for how to develop the terrifying sea tyrant into an even more fearsome powerhouse.
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