Seeing that Masamune remained completely relaxed, Scizor's competitive spirit flared up again. Even though its entire body was already exhausted, it gritted its teeth and persevered.
Another half hour passed this way. Scizor truly couldn't hold on any longer; its mind grew hazy, its body lost all strength, and it was washed away into the River by the Waterfall.
Seeing Scizor fall into the water, Eichi quickly jumped in. He swam to Scizor's position, pulled it up, and brought it back to the shore. Placing it on the Ground, he chided it with a hint of heartache, "You just have to push yourself. You know full well the gap between you and Masamune."
Scizor remained silent, simply lying on the Ground to rest. Muramasa spoke up, "Alright, don't blame it anymore."
After a while, Eichi and Muramasa returned to the underside of the Waterfall, while Scizor continued to rest in place.
Once it felt rested enough, Scizor glanced at Masamune, Eichi, and Muramasa, who were still being lashed by the Waterfall. It jumped onto a Rock again, sat cross-legged, calmed its mind, and cast aside all distracting thoughts.
It continuously tried to perceive everything around it. Everything was still pitch black, completely shrouded in darkness. Suddenly, several clumps of gray mist appeared within it, constantly changing positions.
Scizor felt it could continue to perceive further, so it willed its sensory range to expand slightly. It opened its eyes, feeling a surge of joy. Could it be because of the training just now?
Scizor guessed that standing still under the lashing of the Waterfall provided immense training for both the mind and the body. Realizing this effect, it vibrated its wings and charged into the Waterfall once more.
Half an hour later, Eichi and Muramasa swam back to the shore to rest. As he roasted himself by the fire, Muramasa said, "That's enough for today, Eichi. We should head back in half an hour."
"Okay," Eichi replied.
About half an hour later, Eichi called out, "Come back, Scizor."
Muramasa also called, "Masamune."
Scizor vibrated its wings and flew out from the Waterfall. Masamune had been holding out since the beginning, totaling three and a half hours. It was truly too powerful. Masamune didn't look tired at all, appearing as calm and composed as ever.
Eichi asked curiously, "Teacher Muramasa, how long can Masamune stay under the Waterfall?"
With his hands behind his back, Muramasa replied, "I haven't actually tested that, but for now, staying there for an entire day shouldn't be a problem."
"A whole day?" Eichi was stunned.
Scizor was equally speechless.
Eichi now had a concrete concept of Elite Four Rank Pokémon. They were strong, truly strong, as evidenced by this alone.
Since it was his first time staying under the Waterfall today, his body couldn't quite take it. His muscles were aching all over. Eichi had already begun mobilizing his Bug Force to soothe his muscles.
Scizor was also aching everywhere. It was working incredibly hard. Eichi considered letting Beedrill and Heracross try this training method tomorrow as well.
On the way back, Mr. Muramasa said, "For the next week, you will train on your own. I won't be following you. After a week, I will teach you new training methods."
"Understood," Eichi replied.
The setting sun cast its glow on the two of them, creating an unexpectedly harmonious scene.
Over the next few days, Eichi went to train by himself, bringing his own Training Equipment. However, most of the time, Eichi simply had Beedrill and Heracross help Scizor with its training.
He blindfolded Scizor and first had Heracross attack it. Although Scizor had learned Perception and knew Heracross's exact location, that was while it was sitting still and taking time to enter the state.
In Battle, it was a different story. Scizor needed to stay alert to Heracross's attacks while simultaneously calming its Heart to enter the state of Perception. This kind of multitasking was truly difficult.
Current Scizor still couldn't manage it perfectly, but it had made significant progress compared to its Battle with Scyther. Of course, it wasn't just Scizor; Beedrill and Heracross had to participate too. This training wasn't just useful for Scizor; it was beneficial for all Pokémon.
When it was Heracross's turn, its performance was terrible. Once blindfolded, it had no power to fight back against Scizor's barrage of attacks and was thoroughly pummeled. After Heracross stepped down, it felt quite aggrieved, signaling that it never wanted to do this again.
Then it was Beedrill's turn. Beedrill truly lived up to its role as the eldest brother; its performance was many times better than Heracross's. Even blindfolded, it didn't panic at all. Eichi ordered Scizor to attack Beedrill.
Facing Scizor's attacks, even though Beedrill couldn't see, its intuition was incredibly sharp. Even without having learned Perception, it could still roughly determine Scizor's direction.
Furthermore, Beedrill's reactions were lightning-fast. Even if attacked from behind, it could respond instantly as soon as the opponent came within a one-meter range. It would block in a split second and immediately begin its counterattack.
No matter how Scizor attacked, Beedrill blocked it. Scizor tried to imitate Scyther by attacking from below, but little did it know that Beedrill was very aware of its own weaknesses and openings. As Scizor attacked from below, Beedrill was already prepared.
This made Scizor very frustrated. How is it that Beedrill being blindfolded is no different from it not being blindfolded at all!
Next, Eichi took the two Pokémon to the Waterfall for training. Last time, Scizor told him that practicing Perception after training under the Waterfall yielded excellent results.
Eichi took off his clothes, wearing only his Shorts, and went straight in. At first, no one had much of a reaction. They moved to the very center and sat down on several Rocks.
Initially, everyone could hold on, but after half an hour, Heracross started to feel tired. Moreover, it found it too boring and wanted to return to the Riverbank, but Eichi glared it back.
It had no choice but to stay put honestly, struggling to persevere. An hour later, Eichi felt it was enough and said, "Let's go, we're heading out."
Hearing that they could leave, Heracross instantly perked up and vibrated its wings to fly out.
After everyone reached the shore, Eichi took out Towels from his Backpack to dry the three of them, while he used his Bug Force to evaporate all the moisture from his own Clothes.
Once dry, the three of them sat back down on the Rocks at the edge. Eichi began teaching the Perception training method. Beedrill learned very quickly, even faster than Scizor. After all, Beedrill was inherently focused; besides training every day, there was nothing else that could distract it.