Greatest Pokémon Trainer

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"Let's do it again," Fang Yuan said.

Eevee nodded, looking rather disheartened.

Seeing Eevee still sporting that expression, Fang Yuan immediately said sternly, "Don't carry that attitude."

"Bring out the enthusiasm you had when you were building sand castles."

"Just like then, I'll be with you all the way until you complete this special training."

This was a special training, and even Fang Yuan couldn't afford to be as carefree as usual.

A minute on the stage requires ten years of work offstage.

Now, Eevee is afraid of hard work and suffering, and it would have the same aversion to the training organized when school starts.

And when it really comes to battle, unless you give up voluntarily, your opponent won't pity you and be merciful.

The pain endured at that time will be several times, or even a dozen times, greater than now.

"Bwoo," Eevee asserted firmly.

It too wished to become stronger, so this time it must overcome the difficulties!

Thinking about Fang Yuan's companionship during the time it built sand castles, and the shared joy after its success, Eevee felt a bit ashamed and walked over to rub against Fang Yuan's body as a sign of its determination.

"Good, let's continue. Your best record yesterday was 117 seconds. This morning, you need to complete the round-trip sprint within 110 seconds. If you fail, lunch is canceled. And you're not to watch any shows for a week."

Eevee was shocked and quickly ran back to the starting line.

These two punishments were nearly fatal to it. Since birth, Eevee hadn't suffered any major setbacks. It had always enjoyed good food and drink and could watch its favorite shows on a mobile phone every day. If it suddenly lost all these, it might kill Eevee.

So it had no choice but to watch the dense forest intently...

"Start!"

This time, since Fang Yuan had made some tough statements and Eevee had indeed reflected somewhat, just like how children can't always be spoiled and need proper education, Pokemon also require appropriate teaching. However, driven by instinct, Eevee's actions were sometimes still hesitant. This time, Fang Yuan didn't prod it, letting Eevee struggle on its own.

He hadn't been idle either, working on his physical conditioning. Since parts of the secret locations had merged with Earth, the elemental composition of the air had changed, and human physique had slightly improved. However, after training with Eevee all day yesterday, Fang Yuan's body was still somewhat overwhelmed. This was not the outcome he desired.

Half a day had passed, and Eevee's body bore noticeably more scars. Although Fang Yuan had been continuously tending to them, the pain was borne by Eevee. Unfortunately, it still failed to break the 110-second mark, missing it by just a bit.

Fang Yuan, holding his stopwatch, did not say much and took the dispirited Eevee back home.

No lunch then...

And no shows to watch either...

At this point, Eevee, having trained for half the day, was extremely hungry, its stomach rumbling loudly. It was precisely because of this that Eevee felt very desperate now. It understood it had a chance to make the 110 seconds because the acceleration of Tackle had greatly increased its starting speed. However, due to some instinctive reactions, its training efficiency still hadn't improved.

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"This is lunch and an Orange Fruit."

After returning home, Fang Yuan busied himself for a while before handing the food over to Eevee.

Seeing the food and the Orange Fruit, Eevee's eyes widened in confusion.

"Skipping lunch is a punishment for myself, but not watching dramas is the punishment for you. Eat up quickly, and after a good noon nap, our special training will continue in the afternoon, and it will be even stricter," Fang Yuan said.

Having placed the food in front of Eevee, Fang Yuan sat back on the sofa and closed his eyes to recall the morning's intensive training.

He was already very satisfied with the changes in Eevee. As for skipping Eevee's lunch, he had never considered such a thing. With such a large amount of training, if Eevee's food were also cut off, it wouldn't be able to keep up with the nutrition, and it would be even less likely to make it through.

However, to help Eevee understand certain things, there needed to be some form of punishment.

"Bwoo..." Meanwhile, Eevee, realizing what was happening and seeing the tired-looking Fang Yuan opposite it, quickly pushed the Orange Fruit toward Fang Yuan and started to growl.

The fact that the food being cancelled was not its own but Fang Yuan's made Eevee even more reluctant to accept it.

"Go ahead and eat."

Seeing Eevee's action, Fang Yuan opened his eyes and shook his head, "Since we've made a commitment, we have to be even stricter with ourselves. It's just one meal at noon, it's nothing big. Remember, Eevee, I am your Trainer. For a long time to come, we will be one unit. Only by working together can we hope to lead a better life in the future."

At least... with Eevee's current level of food and water, Fang Yuan couldn't afford to support it for very long with his financial means.

Resources were already scarce, and if both Eevee and he wasted them, Fang Yuan felt not only that he would be letting Eevee down but also his parents; this was another reason why he had started to be strict.

It was also for his own sake; from the beginning to the end, Fang Yuan never considered being passive. Trainer and Pokemon, as an entity, share both glory and loss. Their futures were now tied together.

Since that noon, when Eevee heard the growling of Fang Yuan's stomach, it began to understand this point. It wasn't just a pet for Fang Yuan to take care of single-handedly; it was a partner and needed to do something for its Trainer as well.

That day, Eevee threw itself into the training even more seriously. The training was unbearably monotonous, but the shortcuts to getting stronger were exceedingly scarce, at least Fang Yuan and Eevee had not yet found any shortcuts.

In the afternoon training, Eevee ran in under 100 seconds. Once it let loose, it bore the pain and improved rapidly, but at the cost of injuries that medicine couldn't quickly solve this time. Fang Yuan, for the first time, actively recalled it into the Poké Ball and took it to the Spirit Center.

Since it was a rural area, the Spirit Center here, just like in the animation, was a simple small clinic and couldn't be compared to those in large skyscrapers, like regular hospitals in Magic City or Peace City.

There are few Trainers in Nanwu Town, and the Spirit Center is usually quiet. Most of the time, the doctors and nurses are idle. Fang Yuan, using his Trainer ID, registered and handed over the Poké Ball before he started waiting.

About half an hour later, a nurse who looked like an intern, pushing a small cart, came out of the ward. By then, Eevee had fully recovered and was lively, ready to leap toward Fang Yuan from the cart.

"How is Eevee doing?" Fang Yuan asked, catching Eevee in his arms and holding it close.

"There's nothing wrong now. Here's your Poké Ball," the nurse said.

Fang Yuan sighed with relief. Although it was just some superficial injuries and he had previously applied medicine, he was genuinely worried that something unexpected might happen.

Although the Spirit Center was small, Fang Yuan was satisfied with its efficiency.

He would visit again.

Eevee: ???