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Pokémon Master Source:

"Let's do it again," Fang Yuan said.

Eevee nodded, looking half-dead inside.

Seeing Eevee still wearing that expression, Fang Yuan immediately said sternly:

"Don't let yourself feel that way."

"Bring out the same drive you had when you were building sandcastles."

"Just like then, I'll stay with you until you finish your special training."

This was special training. Fang Yuan couldn't keep his usual carefree attitude anymore.

One minute onstage took ten years of work below the stage.

If Eevee feared hardship and exhaustion now, it would feel the same resistance toward the training organized by the school after classes began.

And when it came to real battles, unless it voluntarily admitted defeat, its opponents would not go easy on it out of pity.

The pain it would have to endure then would be several times, even more than ten times, what it was now.

"Eevee!" Eevee cried out firmly.

It wanted to become stronger too, so it had to overcome these difficulties this time!

Thinking of Fang Yuan's company while it built sandcastles, as well as their shared joy after succeeding, Eevee suddenly felt a little ashamed. It walked over and rubbed against Fang Yuan to show its determination.

"Very good. Keep going. Yesterday, your best time was 117 seconds. This morning, you need to complete the round-trip sprint within 110 seconds. If you fail, lunch is canceled. And you're not allowed to watch dramas for a week."

Eevee was instantly startled and quickly ran back to the white line.

To it, those two punishments were practically fatal. Ever since it was born, Eevee had never suffered any major setbacks. It had always eaten and drunk well, and every day it could hug its phone and watch the dramas it liked. If it suddenly lost all that, it would kill Eevee.

So it had no choice but to stare seriously at the dense forest...

"Begin!"

This time, because Fang Yuan had steeled his heart and said some harsh things, Eevee truly reflected on itself a little. Just as adults could not spoil children all the time, Pokémon needed proper guidance as well. However, driven by instinct, Eevee's movements were still sometimes timid and hesitant. This time, Fang Yuan did not urge it on and simply let Eevee work hard on its own.

He did not remain idle either, training his own body. Ever since some Secret Realms had merged with Earth, changes in the air had slightly improved humanity's physical fitness. But after training alongside Eevee yesterday, Fang Yuan's body had still struggled to keep up. That was not the outcome he wanted.

By the end of the morning, the injuries on Eevee's body had clearly accumulated. Although Fang Yuan treated them constantly, Eevee was the one enduring the pain. Unfortunately, it still failed to break 110 seconds, falling just short.

Fang Yuan held the stopwatch without saying much and took the dejected Eevee home.

No lunch...

And no dramas either...

After half a day of training, Eevee was already extremely hungry. Its stomach had long been rumbling. That was why it felt so hopeless now. It knew it had a chance of breaking 110 seconds. The acceleration from Tackle had made its starting speed much faster, but because of some instinctive reactions, its training efficiency still had not improved.

"This is lunch and an Oran Berry."

After returning home, Fang Yuan busied himself briefly before handing the food to Eevee.

Seeing the food and the Oran Berry, Eevee's eyes widened in confusion.

"Skipping lunch is my punishment. Not being allowed to watch dramas is your punishment. Hurry up and eat. Afterward, take a nap. Special training will continue this afternoon, and it'll be even stricter," Fang Yuan said.

After placing the food before Eevee, Fang Yuan sat back down on the sofa, closed his eyes, and recalled the morning's training.

He was already very satisfied with Eevee's change. As for canceling Eevee's lunch, he had never intended to do that. With such a heavy training load, if Eevee's food was taken away too and it failed to get enough nutrition, it would not be able to endure any longer.

But to make Eevee understand certain things, punishment was still necessary.

"Eevee..." At the same time, looking at the food in front of it and Fang Yuan, whose face looked equally exhausted, Eevee finally understood. It hurriedly pushed the Oran Berry toward Fang Yuan and cried out.

After learning that it was not its own food that had been canceled, but Fang Yuan's, Eevee found it even harder to accept.

"Hurry and eat."

Seeing Eevee's actions, Fang Yuan opened his eyes and shook his head. "Since we've made this decision, we have to be stricter with ourselves. It's only one meal, nothing serious. Eevee, remember this: I'm your Trainer. For a long time to come, we'll be one whole. Only by working together can we live better lives in the future."

At least... Fang Yuan's finances could not support Eevee's current standard of meals for much longer.

Resources were already scarce. If he and Eevee wasted them too, Fang Yuan would not only feel sorry for Eevee, but for his parents as well. That was also why he had become strict.

It was for his own sake too. From beginning to end, Fang Yuan had never wanted to remain ordinary. A Trainer and a Pokémon were one whole; when one prospered, both prospered, and when one suffered, both suffered. Their futures were already bound together.

From that noon onward, after hearing Fang Yuan's stomach growl, Eevee also began to understand this. It was not a pet that Fang Yuan had to care for unilaterally, but a partner. It needed to do something for its Trainer too.

That day, Eevee threw itself into training even more seriously. Training was incredibly dull, but there were simply too few shortcuts to becoming stronger. At the very least, Fang Yuan and Eevee could not find one at the moment.

During the afternoon training, Eevee broke 100 seconds. Once it let go completely, it endured the pain and improved rapidly. But the price was that today's injuries could no longer be quickly resolved with Potion alone. For the first time, Fang Yuan voluntarily recalled it into its Poké Ball and took it to the Pokémon Center.

Since this was the countryside, the Pokémon Center here was, just like in the anime, a very simple little clinic. It could not compare with the Pokémon Centers in Flat City and Magic City, which were located in high-rise buildings and resembled proper hospitals.

There were few Trainers in Nanwu Town, so the Pokémon Center was quiet. Most of the time, the doctors and nurses here had nothing to do. After arriving, Fang Yuan registered with his Trainer ID, handed over the Poké Ball, and began to wait.

About half an hour later, a Female Nurse who looked like an intern pushed a small cart out of the treatment room. Eevee had already fully recovered and was bouncing around on the cart, eager to jump toward Fang Yuan.

"How's Eevee?" Fang Yuan asked, catching Eevee and holding it in his arms.

"It's nothing serious. Here's your Poké Ball," the nurse said.

Fang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. They were only superficial injuries, and he had used Potion beforehand, but he had still been afraid that something unexpected might happen.

Though the Pokémon Center was small, its efficiency satisfied Fang Yuan greatly.

He would come here again.

Eevee: ???