Gallade’s combat power is primarily concentrated in “Slash-type moves” and “Teleport.”
Teleport is the core of Gallade’s battle strength. Aside from rigorous training to become more proficient, another way to enhance it is by further developing its perception—specifically, its use of psychic energy.
With the comprehension of the move Calm Mind, Gallade gained a new training method in addition to intense practice. Training under a waterfall proved to be highly effective in improving Gallade’s Calm Mind. Moreover, Terrance had another idea on how to utilize this waterfall.
“?”
Hearing Terrance’s explanation, Gallade stared blankly at the waterfall.
“Slash the waterfall, Roto?” Rotom Pokédex spun around and said, “Cannot comprehend… Cannot comprehend…”
Shortly after, Gallade nodded, ready to follow Terrance’s instructions. It approached the waterfall, extended the blade on its elbow, and looked up at the continuously cascading water before striking upwards with Splash!
A bright white light enveloped Gallade’s blade. The Slash move connected with the water, forcefully splitting the flow. However, it lasted only for an instant before the water crashed down on Gallade, forcing it to Teleport away in a disheveled state to regain its footing. The temporarily split water quickly resumed its original flow.
“Rotom Pokédex, video,” Terrance instructed.
“Recorded, Roto.”
Seeing the result, Gallade looked slightly disappointed, but Terrance simply laughed.
“Gallade, you noticed it yourself, right? The power of your Slash move bursts forth with incredible strength in an instant, even managing to cut through part of the water flow. But since the waterfall flows continuously, your move isn’t strong enough to slash through the entire waterfall. That’s why you lost momentum after one strike and got pushed down.”
Even though the waterfall’s force was far weaker than Gallade’s Slash in terms of raw power…
Its continuous impact was unrelenting.
Even if Gallade could momentarily slash through part of the waterfall, it couldn’t stop the water from flowing entirely.
“Gal~lade!” Gallade had a new idea. It stepped back under the waterfall, preparing its Slash stance once more. This time, it leaped upward, controlled the power of its Slash, and used Teleport to make its body flicker rapidly, as if stepping on air while ascending. Its right hand gleamed with light, swinging its blade through the waterfall as it climbed.
This time, it managed to slash through about two-thirds of the water, executing multiple Slash moves in the process. However, it still couldn’t fully control its power and timing, leading to another failure as the waterfall struck it down again.
“It’s impossible, Roto…” Seeing Gallade fail once more, Rotom Pokédex clutched its head in despair.
“No…”
“I remember there’s a move called ‘Rising Dragon Punch,’ whose explosive power is strong enough to make the waterfall that plunges straight down three thousand feet flow upwards against the current… Ahem.” Terrance blushed.
“Rising Dragon Punch? No data found, unable to comprehend…” Rotom Pokédex searched through all recorded moves but was utterly baffled by Terrance’s words.
Terrance shook his head. Although he was joking just now, he was serious about whether Gallade could slash through the waterfall.
At full power, Gallade could slash through about one-third of the waterfall. Even with consecutive slashes, it could only reach around two-thirds.
“The power is too scattered,” Terrance said after watching the video several times.
“The first time, when you slashed, the force spread in all directions—up, down, left, and right—making the power too dispersed. Even though the strength was great, it couldn’t be fully utilized to form a concentrated force that slashed directly upward.”
“The second time, the force varied with each slash, and the continuous flow of water wasn’t met with quick enough follow-ups. Ultimately, it’s still a matter of control over power.”
Terrance also understood that it would be difficult for Gallade to slash through the entire waterfall in one go. After all, Slash was dependent on its blade, and with continuous slashing, Gallade’s energy control wasn’t yet refined enough to handle the ceaselessly rushing flow. Even a slight misstep would result in getting knocked down.
“I’ve decided.” After thinking it through, Terrance said, “Rotom Pokédex, cancel all of Gallade’s training plans for the next four months.”
“Roto?”
“Rather than that training plan, having Gallade stay here to train will be much more effective.”
Gallade’s attacks relied on its blade, and given the nature of its moves, making Slash function like Altaria’s Dragon Claw would be a complete waste of energy.
Altaria’s Dragon Claw had considerable force and a wide area of effect, so dispersing power didn’t pose an issue.
However, Gallade’s blade attacks naturally had a limited range. Due to the structure of its moves, if the force was scattered, the power of its moves would be significantly reduced.
“Gallade’s sword… shouldn’t be a heavy blade; it should be a sharp blade.” After watching Gallade attempt to reverse slash the waterfall, Terrance decided to refine Gallade’s slash-type moves once again.
Focus the power into a single, sharp slash rather than a scattered blast.
“Gal~lade…” Gallade stood in place.
“For the next four months, you’ll train here,” Terrance said. “I’ll come by every so often to check on your progress.”
…
…
What was supposed to be an Island Challenge trial ended up inspiring Terrance to give his own Pokémon special training. As for the trial itself, he didn’t take it too seriously—he wasn’t going to waste too much time on it.
As for Gallade, the training here was proving highly effective. Not only was it beneficial on a mental level, but it also gave Gallade a clear understanding of its own power—killing two birds with one stone. With such an ideal training ground, Terrance naturally wouldn’t let Gallade waste time on less efficient training elsewhere.
Terrance planned to prepare enough food for Gallade to train here until it completed its Slash waterfall training.
With Gallade’s abilities, nothing here posed a threat to it. Even if it couldn’t win a battle, its mastery of Teleport ensured it could always escape. Because of that, Terrance had no concerns about leaving Gallade on its own.
As for Terrance himself, he was already planning to head to another island.
He didn’t think he could get any more useful information from Mr. Hala, so he decided to visit the Island Kahunas of other islands to see if he could make any new discoveries.
After making another visit to Professor Kukui and Principal Oak, Terrance planned to leave this island for now and head to Ula’ula Island.
This time, he intended to pay another visit to Ula’ula Island’s Kahuna, Nanu.
During his first visit to Alola, Terrance learned that Nanu used to be a member International Police, but he hadn’t thought much about it at the time. However, while discussing Rina’s enrollment in the police academy with Mr. Looker from International Police, he was surprised to learn that Nanu and Looker were friends—and he even obtained some valuable information.
You can read ahead upto 65 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.