Every new student starts with 50 credits, and it's said that one credit equals about 100 Pokédollars.
However, even if you want to exchange money for credits, no one is willing to trade with you.
Of course, it's not that simple, since some of the academy's items can only be redeemed with credits.
The price of this training room is 3 credits per hour.
At the Silver Academy, credits serve as currency. They can be used at the warehouse to exchange for all kinds of items, Poké Balls, Pokéblocks, TMs, Evolution Stones, and even Pokémon Eggs.
These things can only be purchased with credits, money doesn't work here.
There are many ways to earn credits. For example, working part-time is an option for students from modest or poor backgrounds.
Then, those who perform well on various exams are rewarded with credits.
There are also missions available, usually for senior students who are about to graduate.
Each mission rewards thousands or even tens of thousands of credits.
Another way to earn a lot of credits is by achieving good rankings in school competitions or League tournaments.
For instance, the upcoming Freshmen Tournament rewards the top ten participants with generous prizes and credits.
***
Opening the door to his training room, Eichi walked in. The space was quite large, about the same size as the one he rented back in Pewter City.
But the price difference was several times higher. They really knew how to do business.
There were plenty of training tools in this room, even humanoid targets. He touched one; it wasn't bad, though not as good as the ones Eichi had bought before. Those were antiques, and it was impressive that they still held up.
On the ceiling were many objects that looked like gun barrels and cannons, encircling the entire ceiling for a full 360-degree coverage.
He wondered how the previous senior who trained here used these machines.
After looking around, he found an instruction panel on the wall. It said that this device was designed to train Flying-type Pokémon in evasion.
It also stated that freshmen were only allowed to use the cannons for the first month or two before unlocking the gun mechanisms.
The intensity levels were different. The cannons fired hollow iron balls, which were slower and weaker, meant for basic dodging practice.
The gun barrels, however, fired solid metal balls. They were much faster and hit painfully hard.
This training setup was quite interesting. It even stated that trainers had to pick up the fired balls and return them themselves.
Curious, Eichi released Scyther and Beedrill. He said to Beedrill, "Fly to the center of the ceiling. I'll activate the system in a moment. The cannons will target and shoot at you. Try to dodge them, got it?"
Beedrill nodded, flying up to the center of the ceiling and giving him another nod.
Eichi flipped the switch. The cannons began to aim at Beedrill. Then one fired a small ball. Beedrill instantly sensed it and dodged.
Now all twenty cannon barrels locked onto Beedrill from every angle. The first shot was like a fuse, and soon all the others fired in rapid succession.
Using Agility, Beedrill easily avoided every single ball.
Seeing how effortlessly Beedrill dodged, Eichi realized this level wasn't challenging enough.
So he turned off the cannon system and activated the gun barrels. Within 0.1 seconds, one gun barrel fired a bullet-sized iron sphere, moving far faster than the cannon shots.
Soon, the other gun barrels began firing in bursts like machine guns.
Beedrill focused and tried to dodge continuously.
But there were too many, and they were too fast. Even though Beedrill dodged some, several still hit its body.
Judging by its condition, it was starting to take damage, scratches beginning to appear on its body.
Eichi quickly shut off the system. Beedrill stopped to rest and buzzed toward Eichi.
It wanted him to deactivate the Weighted Vest and try again. Eichi agreed; he was curious to see how fast Beedrill would do without it.
He pulled out the remote and turned off the Weighted Vest. Beedrill immediately felt its body lighten, like a heavy load had been lifted off its back.
After stretching its joints a little, it nodded to show it was ready.
Eichi turned the system back on. The gun barrels resumed firing like before.
But this time, Beedrill was different. Without using Agility, it relied solely on its natural speed to dodge the iron balls.
Graceful and fast, these two words perfectly described it.
Ten minutes later, Eichi shut off the system and Beedrill landed, clearly exhausted.
With the Weighted Vest off, its speed had increased dramatically. Although it was still hit a few times, the difference compared to the first round was obvious.
"Beedrill, take a rest. Scyther, you're up."
Scyther still wasn't quite at Beedrill's level. It couldn't even dodge all the cannon-fired hollow balls and got hit several times.
Eichi turned off Scyther's Weighted Vest. This time, it had no problem dodging the cannon shots.
But when they switched to the gun barrels, it was completely different. Scyther dodged a few at first, then got hit repeatedly.
Seeing its frustration and exhaustion, Eichi quickly turned off the system. The difference between the two Pokémon was too large.
While shutting it down, he realized the gun barrel's difficulty level was adjustable. He had accidentally set it to maximum difficulty earlier.
After testing this mechanism, Eichi tried out the others.
Two hours passed before someone knocked on the door. It was Tetsu, who had finished his own training and came to ask if Eichi wanted to go back together.
Eichi told him to go ahead, saying he wanted to train a bit longer.
Then, Eichi went to the counter to pay for another hour and continued training.
***
After finishing his session, Eichi cleaned up and left the training room, heading home.
As he passed another room, a boy stepped out. Seeing Eichi, the boy called out, "Eichi!"
Eichi turned and asked, "You're calling me? What is it?"
The boy's face was serious. "Nothing much, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Sato."
Eichi blinked. "Oh, you're Sato. I heard you're the class rep of Class 2."
Sato continued, "Eichi, I'm really looking forward to facing you in the Freshmen Tournament.
I hope you're strong, that'll make it more fun, don't you think?"
Eichi smiled. "Yeah, that'll make it more fun."