This morning, Eichi left early with Scyther and Beedrill for training.
Scyther still wanted to stay in bed and sleep in, but Eichi would not allow that. He pulled it right out of bed despite its protests.
Now, Scyther was sulking in his arms.
When they reached the small grove and were about to begin, Scyther showed clear reluctance.
Eichi grew serious and said, "Scyther, it is time to train. You must understand, I am a Pokémon Trainer. One day, I'll travel across many places, and along the way, there will be dangers and battles everywhere."
"If you don't train, I'll have to leave you at home and stop bringing you along."
Scyther didn't quite understand everything, but it sensed Eichi's displeasure. It quickly straightened up and nodded, showing that it was ready to train.
Just like yesterday, Beedrill led Scyther in flying laps.
Today, Scyther followed Beedrill carefully, flying fifteen full circles without slacking off.
Afterward, it was panting heavily but still had some strength left.
Eichi smiled to himself. "It's growing so fast. Just one day and it's already improved this much."
While Scyther rested, Beedrill began its own training.
With a rapid beat of its wings, Beedrill sliced through the air, sending out a sharp gust like an arrow.
The air still rippled from Beedrill's movements. Watching from the side, Scyther's eyes were filled with admiration. It wondered when it would reach Beedrill's speed.
Indeed, Scyther now saw Beedrill as its big brother, and Beedrill had accepted it as his little sister.
Next came Scyther's skill training, beginning with Vacuum Wave.
Eichi called it over. "Scyther, aim at that dummy and keep releasing Vacuum Wave, got it?"
Scyther nodded cutely. Seeing that, Eichi took a humanoid dummy from his backpack and set it up in place.
"Go ahead, Scyther."
Scyther flapped its wings with determination, swung its blades, and released a visible wave that struck the dummy.
The dummy shook slightly. Eichi could tell the power wasn't great, but he still praised it. "Not bad, keep going, and you'll get stronger."
Encouraged, Scyther grew more eager. It released another Vacuum Wave, hitting the dummy again.
"Good, keep it up."
"That's it."
"Again."
"Put in more force."
"Focus all your strength at one point."
"Don't let the power scatter too much."
Under Eichi's guidance, Scyther's progress could be seen with the naked eye.
Eichi nodded in satisfaction. By now, Beedrill had finished warming up and was breathing heavily.
After letting it rest a moment, Eichi pointed at another dummy. "Beedrill, now it's time for Brick Break training. Keep using Brick Break on that dummy. Today's goal is to reach Mastery level."
Beedrill silently flew to the target. Its twin stingers gathered white light and struck down. The impact rang out with a loud crack, and the dummy swayed violently.
Scyther watched in awe. "Big Brother Beedrill is so strong… I can't fall behind!"
Motivated, Scyther threw itself back into training, giving its all to improve its Vacuum Wave.
But Scyther was still young. After a while, exhaustion overtook it.
Eichi told it to rest while Beedrill continued. Again and again, Beedrill slammed its stingers into the dummy with Brick Break.
After countless strikes, its body began trembling. That meant it had reached its limit.
Eichi did not stop it. He let Beedrill continue.
Scyther, watching nearby, grew anxious. It chirped at Eichi, "Why won't you let Big Brother rest? He's so tired!"
Eichi shook his head. "If you rest whenever you're tired, you'll progress too slowly."
"Only by training at the edge of exhaustion can you truly dig deep into your potential and make real progress."
He looked at Scyther and spoke softly. "Your brother Beedrill didn't have good talent at first. I trained him strictly, and he didn't understand why."
"Until I took him to see other Weedle and their struggles. That's when he understood, to grow strong, you have to fight for it."
"His species is often seen as weak. People call Beedrill one of the weakest Pokémon. If he doesn't work hard, how can he ever grow stronger?"
"Even if his talent is better now, it only means he's at the same starting line as others. To truly become powerful, hard work is the foundation."
"In the future, his opponents will have talent, resources, and determination. If he doesn't train harder than them, how can he win?"
In the distance, Beedrill let out a cry and gathered all its remaining strength for one last Brick Break. The strike was far stronger than before.
At that moment, Beedrill broke through its limits, mastering Brick Break completely.
"Do you understand, Scyther?" Eichi said.
"We have great dreams, so we must become stronger."
"If you don't want to be defeated by others someday, then train hard."
Scyther froze. It didn't fully understand Eichi's words yet, but it could feel the determination in him and Beedrill.
It realized that it had to work hard. If even stronger ones were still pushing themselves, how could it slack off?
Eichi saw Scyther thinking and nodded quietly. It was still young, and it didn't yet understand that weakness was the greatest sin. Someday, it would.
Today's lesson was about more than training. It was about giving Scyther the resolve to grow stronger.
That Heracross had entrusted Scyther to him, asking him to train it well.
That meant it trusted Eichi deeply. Since Heracross had such faith in him, he couldn't let it down.
Heracross truly was powerful. Eichi knew exactly how strong Beedrill was, yet even then, the two had fought evenly.
If their battle that day had continued, Eichi was confident Beedrill would have won.
Looking at Beedrill resting in the distance and Scyther chatting beside it, Eichi found himself looking forward to meeting Heracross again.
***
When the day's training ended, Eichi took his two Pokémon home.
After he left, a shadow appeared in the trees above the training ground, then vanished again.
Eichi didn't notice any of it.