Anticipation

Since it was their first day of training, and Eevee might need time to adapt, Fang Yuan did not push too hard. The special training meant to develop various basic attributes had ultimately turned into pure stamina training.

A little in the morning, a little in the afternoon, and a little at night. By the end of the day, Eevee and Fang Yuan had run back and forth a hundred times.

Fang Yuan himself was on the verge of collapse and had nearly failed to hold on. Both his legs ached terribly, but in order to set an example for Eevee, he absolutely could not be the first to fall. So Fang Yuan gritted his teeth and accompanied Eevee through the day.

When they returned home...

Eevee was exhausted.

Since it was not injured, and there had been breaks during the special training, there was no need to take it to the Pokémon Center to recover.

Fang Yuan fed it an Oran Berry he had bought in advance to restore its stamina. Eevee then drank plenty of milk to replenish its nutrients. After they took another hot bath, Eevee quickly fell asleep curled up in its Silk Scarf.

After training all day, Eevee slept soundly. Fang Yuan was also sleepy and exhausted, but he still had to summarize today's Special Training Results and plan tomorrow's training first.

"This pace is too slow..."

Looking at the messy notes in his notebook, Fang Yuan felt a headache coming on.

After a hundred trips, Eevee had finally brought its round-trip time under two minutes, but that was still far from enough.

It was still too slow.

"I'll have to increase the intensity tomorrow."

With that, Fang Yuan put down his notebook, collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep as well.

The next day, the sun rose, and the alarm woke Fang Yuan and Eevee from their pleasant sleep.

As soon as he woke up, Fang Yuan felt sore all over. He looked at Eevee. This little guy was completely fine, full of life and energy. It seemed the Oran Berry had done its job.

Oran Berries were one kind of Berry, produced in Secret Realms. Secret Realms contained many plants with miraculous effects, and Berries were a typical example. The effect of an Oran Berry was to restore a Pokémon's stamina. Although the recovery was not substantial, it was enough for low-consumption special training like Eevee's.

However, although Oran Berries were the most widely cultivated type of Berry, they were also consumed in large quantities, so they were not cheap. They cost more than most ordinary fruits. For Fang Yuan and Eevee, this kind of special training was already burning through money.

And once they needed to use the Pokémon Center later on, their expenses would rise even further...

It could be said that they had wagered most of their savings on the Little Phoenix King Cup.

That was also why Fang Yuan was so troubled.

On the new day, according to the training schedule, Fang Yuan was about to take Eevee to their old spot for training when Eevee suddenly began dozing off.

Its reluctance was obvious. Yesterday had exhausted it, and now it had no desire to repeat that tedious training.

"I'm telling you, Eevee!"

Fang Yuan looked at Eevee, which had shrunk into its Silk Scarf and wrapped itself up, then said with feigned anger, "This isn't what you promised me back then."

"You said yourself that you wanted to participate in the Little Phoenix King Cup."

"Eevee..."

As Fang Yuan finished speaking, Eevee slowly poked its head out, wearing an expression that said, I'm hopeless too.

Being enthusiastic for even one day was already impressive enough, okay, Eevee!

But when it thought of its promise with Fang Yuan, as well as those cool members of its species in the movies, Eevee's expression changed. As though it had made some momentous decision, it reluctantly jumped onto Fang Yuan's shoulder.

"That's more like it... We have to work hard today too! Together!"

That day, Fang Yuan and Eevee began their second round of special training. Since Fang Yuan had not specifically emphasized it yesterday, Eevee still instinctively slowed down to avoid obstacles. After watching for a while, Fang Yuan sighed.

Fine, it looked like he had to bring out the Killer Move.

"Eevee, come here."

"Listen. To stop you from instinctively slowing down, we're changing the starting method from today onward."

"Eevee?" Eevee looked utterly confused.

Fang Yuan drew a White Line. "Starting here, use Tackle to accelerate. Use its explosive force to gain an initial burst of speed, and then you are not allowed to slow down at any point until you hit an obstacle. Of course, it would be best if you can avoid it."

"Eevee!!!!!"

Fang Yuan had made himself perfectly clear, and Eevee's last shred of wishful thinking instantly crumbled.

"Come on, come on, look." With that, Fang Yuan took a white spray bottle from his backpack.

"I've already prepared Potion for you."

Eevee: (*￣︿￣), It felt even less reassured.

The special training still had to continue. Eevee cautiously got ready and began using Tackle as Fang Yuan instructed. As Eevee shot forward, it had accelerated through the dense forest for less than a few seconds before hitting a tree with a bang. The strange trees in this forest were extremely hard. With Eevee's small body, even using Tackle could only leave a faint white mark on the trunk. Knocking one down was impossible, and its Tackle did not have much destructive power yet.

Eevee was now like a meat pancake stuck to the trunk. As it slowly slid down to the ground, the pain nearly made it cry. It immediately looked back at Fang Yuan with tear-filled eyes.

Fang Yuan slapped his forehead. Although he had been prepared to train Eevee's Body Strength, the moment he saw something go wrong on Eevee's side, he immediately ran over with the Potion.

He was starting to feel uneasy about letting Eevee battle. It was already like this after crashing into a tree trunk. If it got hit by something like Flamethrower or Thunderbolt, wouldn't that cost Little Eevee its life?

No wonder everyone said Eevee was unsuitable for battle. The experts had not deceived him.

The problem Fang Yuan faced now was that although he had made Eevee less resistant to special training through movies, it was still difficult to make it overcome its natural fear of pain and exhaustion. It would have been fine if he had chosen a stubborn, violent, battle-loving, wild Pokémon as his beginner partner, but for a Rookie Trainer like Fang Yuan, who had chosen a gentle-natured Eevee, this was undoubtedly a hell-difficulty start.

"There's no helping it." Fang Yuan had actually done extensive research and asked upperclassmen about it. The intensity of his and Eevee's training was not particularly high. Pokémon were more adaptable than humans imagined; it was just that Eevee had not adjusted its mindset yet.

Come to think of it... the actual situation was not caused by mindset alone.

Fang Yuan's start was more difficult than that of 99.9% of Rookie Trainers, and there was a reason for that.

Because some time ago, he had vaguely discovered that Eevee's Ability... was Anticipation.

Abilities were special powers possessed by every Pokémon. For example, the Overgrow Ability increased the power of a Pokémon's Grass-type moves when its stamina was low. The Guts Ability increased a Pokémon's attacking power when it was afflicted with abnormal conditions such as burns or poison.

Most Abilities benefited a Pokémon's performance in battle, but there were also Abilities such as Truant and Slow Start that were detrimental in battle. Using a Pokémon's Ability flexibly could produce unexpected results in battle, yet Eevee's Anticipation Ability was now like a double-edged sword.

Pokémon Abilities had not yet been fully explored. At the very least, Anticipation was an Ability that had not been publicly identified in Eevee.

The Anticipation Ability had great tactical value in battle. It could detect and sense the dangerous moves an opponent possessed in advance, allowing the Pokémon to avoid danger through its body's instinctive reactions.

However, that was only possible if the Pokémon had already mastered the Ability proficiently.

Little Eevee clearly had not mastered the Anticipation Ability. Instead, the Anticipation Ability was like a burden that constantly affected it.

Whenever danger approached... for example, when it was about to crash into a tree trunk, Eevee would have an intense urge to retreat. Its incompletely mastered Anticipation Ability was clearly causing trouble.

An Ability could also be regarded as part of a Pokémon itself. Fang Yuan did not find it strange that a Pokémon's personality could be influenced by its Ability.

Therefore, if Fang Yuan wanted Eevee to overcome certain mental barriers, he would also be indirectly helping it overcome the drawbacks its Ability brought to its personality.

This Tree Stump Training Method could be said to kill several birds with one stone. In Fang Yuan's special training plan, aside from basic attributes and moves, he also intended to use this method to help Eevee train its Ability.

That was something for later, though. He would have to wait until Eevee adapted to its current special training before proceeding. The general idea was to blindfold it and have it repeat the current training.

What it would rely on... would no longer be its eyes, but the instincts brought by Anticipation. That would train its Ability very effectively.

"Eevee..." As he sprayed Potion on Eevee, Fang Yuan looked at the scrape, which had almost instantly disappeared, and spoke helplessly. "The road ahead is long..."