The Resolve to Grow Stronger (Please Bookmark, Please Vote)

Eichi took Baby Scyther and Beedrill out for training early that morning.

Baby Scyther was still reluctant to get out of bed and did not want to wake up so early, but Eichi was not about to indulge it. He forcibly pulled it out of bed.

It was sulking in Eichi's arms right now!

When they arrived at the Small Woods and it was time to begin training, Baby Scyther seemed rather unwilling.

Eichi grew serious and lectured Scyther, "Scyther, it's time to train. You need to understand that I'm a Pokémon Trainer. In the future, I'll travel to all kinds of places, and there will be all sorts of dangers and battles along the way."

"If you don't train, I'll leave you at home in the future and stop taking you with me."

Though Baby Scyther did not quite understand what he meant, it sensed that Eichi was angry. It quickly perked up and indicated that it could train.

Just like yesterday, Beedrill led Scyther in flying laps.

Today, Baby Scyther followed Beedrill meticulously and completed fifteen laps.

Afterward, Baby Scyther was panting heavily, yet it still seemed to have some strength left.

Eichi sighed inwardly. It's growing so fast. It's only been one day, and it has already improved this much!

While Baby Scyther rested, Beedrill finally began its proper training.

With a flap of its wings, Beedrill seemed to slice through the air and shot forward like an arrow.

The air still carried ripples from Beedrill's movement. Baby Scyther, resting nearby, stared with envy, wondering when it would be able to reach Older Brother Beedrill's speed.

That was right—Older Brother Beedrill. Baby Scyther had already acknowledged Beedrill as its older brother. From now on, Baby Scyther would be Beedrill's little sister.

Eichi arranged Baby Scyther's skill training, starting with Vacuum Wave.

He called Baby Scyther over and told it, "Baby Scyther, in a moment, keep using Vacuum Wave on that humanoid target, understand?"

Baby Scyther nodded adorably. Once it did, Eichi took the humanoid targets from his backpack and set them in place.

He said to Baby Scyther, "Go on, Baby Scyther."

Filled with Guts, Baby Scyther flew before the humanoid target. It swung its scythes, sending a visible ripple crashing into the target.

The humanoid target swayed. Eichi could tell that the attack's power was not very impressive.

Still, he praised it. "Not bad. Keep going. Work hard, and you can become even stronger."

Hearing the praise, Baby Scyther became even more motivated and struck the humanoid target with another Vacuum Wave.

"Very good, keep it up."

"Not bad."

"Keep going."

"Put a little more force into it."

"Concentrate the power on one point."

"Don't spread the force out too much."

Under Eichi's constant guidance, Baby Scyther improved at a visible rate.

Eichi nodded in satisfaction. By then, Beedrill had also finished warming up and was breathing heavily.

After letting Beedrill rest for a while, Eichi pointed at another humanoid target and said, "Beedrill, next is Brick Break training. Keep using Brick Break on it. Today's goal is to raise your mastery of Brick Break to proficient."

Beedrill silently flew to the humanoid target. In an instant, its Twin Needles gathered a white radiance and chopped down on the target. A thunderous boom rang out, and the humanoid target shook violently backward.

Baby Scyther watched in shock from the side. Older Brother Beedrill was so strong. No, I can't lose to Older Brother either.

Spurred on, Baby Scyther trained Vacuum Wave even harder for the rest of the time.

However, Baby Scyther was still too young. After training for a while longer, it could not continue.

Eichi had it rest to the side while Beedrill continued training, striking the humanoid target with Brick Break again and again.

After using Brick Break an unknown number of times, Beedrill's body began to tremble. This meant it had reached its limit in using Brick Break.

Eichi did not call for it to stop and had Beedrill continue.

Seeing that its older brother was already exhausted, Baby Scyther did not understand why its master-dad would not let him rest.

It babbled at Eichi, "Why won't you let Older Brother rest? He's already so tired."

Eichi shook his head. If it rested whenever it got tired, its progress would be far too slow.

Only by continuing to train like this, when the body was extremely fatigued, could one most effectively draw out one's potential and improve rapidly.

Eichi then said to Baby Scyther, "Your older brother Beedrill did not have good aptitude before. I demanded strict training from it, but it did not understand why."

"Only after I took it to see the battles and circumstances of other Weedle did it understand that if it wanted to grow stronger, it had to train desperately."

"Your older brother's species is generally not very talented and is regarded by others as one of the weakest Pokémon. How can it grow stronger without giving everything it has?"

"Even if its aptitude has improved now, it has merely reached the same starting line as others. If it wants to become truly powerful in the end, this is only the most basic requirement."

"Our future opponents will lack neither aptitude, resources, nor Guts. How can we defeat them without training desperately?"

Beedrill cried out in agreement from not far away, then exhausted all its strength to use Brick Break. This Brick Break was far more powerful than the previous ones.

At that moment, Beedrill made a breakthrough, and its Brick Break skill reached the proficient level.

"Do you understand, Baby Scyther?"

"We have lofty goals, so we must grow stronger."

"If you don't want to become someone else's defeated subordinate in the future, then train properly!"

Baby Scyther froze. It was still young and did not really understand Eichi's words.

But it felt the resolve of Eichi and Beedrill.

It did understand one thing: it had to train hard. Those stronger than you were all working hard, so what right did you have not to?

Seeing Baby Scyther absentmindedly pondering, Eichi nodded to himself.

Baby Scyther was still young. It did not understand that weakness was the original sin, but it would understand someday.

He had given Baby Scyther a proper lesson today so that it would understand why it needed to train and establish its resolve to grow stronger.

Since that Heracross had entrusted Baby Scyther to him and asked him to train it well,

it showed that it trusted Eichi greatly. Since it had such faith in him, Eichi could not let it down.

Come to think of it, that Heracross really was strong. Eichi knew exactly how strong Beedrill was, yet such a powerful Beedrill had only fought it to a draw.

However, the battle that day had not continued. If it had, Beedrill would definitely have won. Eichi had confidence in that.

Watching Beedrill resting in the distance and Baby Scyther going over to chat with it, Eichi found himself looking forward to his next meeting with Heracross.

After a day of training, Eichi took the two Pokémon home.

After Eichi left, a dark shadow appeared in a tree beside the training clearing.

Then it vanished once more. Eichi knew nothing of any of this.