Beedrill learned Perception in one try. In the darkness before its eyes, several clusters of gray mist slowly appeared, accompanied by red energy globules.
Conversely, Heracross was completely different. The moment it sat down, its mind was filled with thoughts of food, making it entirely impossible to enter the state.
Furthermore, after sitting for just a short while, it actually started to feel sleepy. Eichi stood up and looked; this was unacceptable. If he didn't intervene, Heracross would fall fast asleep.
Eichi gave Heracross a sharp knock, causing it to wake up from its doze in a panic.
Eichi kept a close eye on it. Only then did Heracross behave, starting to pull itself together and cast aside distracting thoughts. Despite this, it still couldn't enter the state and spent two full days just to barely achieve it.
Meanwhile, the people in the Dojo were actually very curious about Eichi. Currently, Eichi only joined everyone during mealtimes. For everything else, such as training, Eichi went into the forest alone.
Since everyone wasn't very familiar with him, aside from some interactions with Takuya, Azuma, and Jin, Eichi remained somewhat of a mysterious figure to them.
During a break in training, several people gathered to chat and suddenly brought up Eichi.
"So, what do you think Eichi goes into the forest to train every day?" a young man with short brown hair asked.
"Eichi is a student from Silver Academy," Azuma replied after taking a sip of water. "He has a Scizor but wanted to train it better, so he specifically took a leave of absence to come to our Dojo to study. He only has one month, which is a very short time, so the Master must have taken him into the forest for intensive training."
"I see!" the brown-haired boy said. "By the way, Senior Azuma, do you know how strong Eichi is?"
"Actually, did Jin tell you about that incident?" Azuma asked.
"I haven't told them about it," Jin said.
"Since he hasn't told you, I'll tell you," Azuma said. "It happened when I went back to visit my family in Blackthorn City. That day, I was rushing for the tram. While passing the Pokémon Center, an incident occurred where two Pokémon went out of control. One was a Rhydon, and the other was an Ursaring. You know how terrifying those two species are when they go into a frenzy. They were destroying everything, and although people nearby released their Pokémon to resist, they were all defeated."
"Based on what you're saying, those two frenzied Pokémon were very strong!" the brown-haired boy exclaimed. "So what happened next? And what does it have to do with Eichi?"
"Just listen to me," Azuma said. "When I arrived and was about to step in, someone had already made a move. That person was none other than young Eichi. He released two Pokémon instantly. Do you know? Under the attacks of Eichi's two Pokémon, the Rhydon and Ursaring lost their combat capability in an instant."
"Really?" the brown-haired boy said in disbelief. "That powerful? He could disable those two Pokémon with a single blow?"
The others were also somewhat skeptical.
"Don't doubt it; that's exactly what happened," Azuma said. "Do I look like I'm joking?"
Seeing Azuma's serious expression, the others began to believe it.
"Then he's way too strong," the brown-haired boy lamented. "How old is he? If he's that strong, there's no need for him to come to our Dojo."
The others looked confused as well. Seeing this, Azuma explained, "I asked him that when I chatted with him. Guess what he said?"
"What?" the others asked.
"He said," Azuma continued, "he felt his Scizor's progress was slowing down and he wasn't satisfied, so he came to our Dojo."
Everyone: "..."
Those words are a bit punchable. What does he mean by 'not satisfied with the progress speed'? Your Pokémon are already that strong, and you still think it's not enough? You're only ten years old; is there a need to be in such a rush?
Seeing the silence, Azuma added, "Do you know which two Pokémon he used?"
"One should be Scizor, right?" the brown-haired boy guessed.
"Correct," Azuma said. "But you will absolutely never guess the other one. Also, let me tell you, from the moment Eichi released his Pokémon to the moment they defeated the out-of-control Pokémon and were recalled, I only clearly saw one: Scizor. The other Pokémon's speed was so fast that I couldn't see what it was at all."
"What?" the brown-haired boy shouted. "Even with your eyesight, Senior Azuma, you couldn't see it? Such high speed... could it be a Skarmory?"
Azuma shook his head.
"Gligar?"
"Scyther?"
Everyone listed almost every famous high-speed Pokémon from the Johto and Kanto regions, but Azuma kept shaking his head.
"Senior Azuma, what Pokémon was it then?" the others asked urgently. "Just tell us!"
Azuma originally wanted to keep them in suspense a bit longer, but Jin just blurted it out: "It's a Beedrill!"
"A Beedrill?"
Everyone was shocked. The brown-haired boy said, "Are you sure it's a Beedrill? A Beedrill can defeat a Rhydon or an Ursaring in one hit?"
"Senior Jin, why did you steal my line?" Azuma complained before continuing. "It is a Beedrill. Eichi told me himself."
Now, the others truly didn't know what to say. They finally had a concept of Eichi; in their hearts, Eichi was an out-and-out genius.
"Master, why are you back?"
Hearing this voice, everyone snapped out of it and turned around. They realized that unknowingly, Muramasa had returned and was standing right behind them.
Everyone stood in a line, bowing their heads like children who had done something wrong.
"Chatting instead of training," Muramasa said with a serious face. "Get back to training immediately!"
"Yes, Master!" everyone replied.
They quickly scrambled back to their training positions. Seeing them resume their training, Muramasa walked into the pavilion, muttering to himself, "Beedrill..."
During dinner that evening, Eichi noticed everyone looking at him with strange eyes. He had no idea what had happened, leaving him full of questions. However, since he couldn't figure it out, he stopped thinking about it.
Eichi continued his training as usual, and in the blink of an eye, a week had passed.
Today was the day Mr. Muramasa would teach him a new training method. Muramasa brought Eichi to the Waterfall again.
Once at the Riverbank, Muramasa said, "What you are going to learn today is also related to this Waterfall. Watch closely."
Then he called out, "Masamune!"