Training Was Never All Smooth Sailing

After the Hoppip finished eating, Dian took a damp cloth and wiped its mouth, then touched its leaves, which had regained their shine. "How have you been lately?"

"Hey hey..."

Hoppip was somewhat disappointed after hearing this.

It has recently been feeling an itch on the top of its head, as if it could Spit Up something out, but it still can't.

"It's alright, take your time. Today, let's continue training Fairy Wind and Synthesis."

Dian estimated that it was still a little lacking, so he wasn't in a hurry and continued to prepare to hone the two skills of the Hoppip.

While Fairy Wind isn't particularly powerful, with practice, it can become quite useful if you can make it appear and disappear unpredictably, especially when combined with the speed boost of Hoppip after its evolution.

The skill of Synthesis is a good foundational skill for future growth and recovery from the fatigue of training.

As for Splash, Tail Whip, Tackle, these were set aside by the temple because they weren't very useful.

As the Hoppip slowly stood in the sunlight, faint White Light spots began to appear around its two leaves. These white light spots became denser and denser, gradually adhering to the two leaves.

Eventually, its Pink body was also tinged with a faint White Light slowly disappeared as Synthesis subsided.

"Hey hey."

The Hoppip moves with boundless energy, and after each Synthesis, it gives people a feeling of being full of energy.

Dian held a small stopwatch in his hand. He checked the time and saw that he had made some progress compared to before.

Synthesis is a skill that restores stamina based on weather conditions.

Logically speaking, a skilled user of Synthesis should be able to recover their strength in the presence of light, with the amount of strength recovered varying depending on the intensity of the light.

In reality, this skill is quite time-consuming, because from the beginning to the end, the Hoppip took a full minute and a half at the start.

In a real battle, you'd probably only be able to waste time so leisurely if you had your opponent under control; otherwise, they wouldn't let you use your healing skills so easily.

However, the skill effect is still quite Ideals, especially on Sunny Day Drought with plenty of sunlight.

The current goal and idea of the temple is to reduce the skill usage time as quickly as possible, and to increase the amount of Drought that Hoppip can collect.

During this period, he tended to the two tender leaves of the Hoppip every day to enhance its ability to collect sunlight.

Currently, the only good way to accelerate skill usage seems to be to strengthen the body and increase skill proficiency.

It's perfectly acceptable to keep using this method; sticking to the old-fashioned approach until a new one is found is a good option.

Then, Dian took out several Air Balloon, inflated them, and tied them to a tree branch nearby.

"Hoppip, aim and use Fairy Wind to pop the Air Balloon!"

After assigning tasks to the Hoppip that had finished exercising, he sat down and watched them carefully.

These Air Balloon are different from the kind of children's Air Balloon that can be blown up or even crushed by stomping. They are made of special materials, and at least I've tested them. They are very difficult to pop without some force.

"Hey hey!"

The Hoppip, full of ambition, tied a red ribbon around itself, then quickly aimed at an Air Balloon swaying in the wind and unleashed its Fairy Wind.

A gust of wind quickly struck the Air Balloon.

Unfortunately, the Air Balloon only wobbled slightly and remained unharmed.

Dian keenly noticed that although the Fairy Wind was very concentrated when it first gathered its power, it became somewhat dispersed in the middle, and this dispersion became even more obvious when it hit the Air Balloon.

The leaves blown up by the wind and the swaying saplings on the ground are proof of this.

The reason the palace chose this tree was to make it easier to observe the use of the Fairy Wind.

"No! The force is too scattered. Keep concentrating. Also, don't worry about how the Air Balloon is moving. The Air Balloon itself doesn't move; it only moves when the wind blows."

So, when observing Hoppip, you need to pay attention to the wind direction, not just look at the surface. Keep it up!

The palace sternly rejected it, then pointed out its shortcomings, before ordering him to use the Fairy Wind once more.

The reason he stayed here to train was that Nurse Joy had already registered his information in the League Trainer Terminal, but his Pokédex wasn't ready yet, so he would have to wait a few more days.

"Hey hey!"

The leaves on the top of the Hoppip twitched, as if Perception the wind direction, then its gaze was fixed on the Air Balloon tied to the tree, and it hesitated to attack.

The hall didn't urge them, because this kind of thing couldn't be accomplished by just burying oneself in hard work; sometimes, a flash of inspiration was needed. A gentle Clearwind drifted by, two green leaves danced slowly in the wind, and colorful Air Balloon swayed gently with the breeze.

Sudden!

A strand of hair in the palace was blown up by the wind.

With a "bang," the swirling Fairy Wind struck the colorful Air Balloon.

The Air Balloon was launched into the air, spun around, and then returned to its original position, continuing to sway incessantly.

Pity...

As you can see, the Air Balloon has already dented inwards a bit; if it were Air Balloon made of ordinary material, it would probably have broken by now.

"Good! Hoppip, concentrate the Fairy Wind a little more. Don't Sheer Force restrict its form and power, but rather follow the nature of the wind and do it skillfully."

The emperor clapped his hands, indicating that he could rest for a while.

He quickly went over and fed it a bite of dried blueberry to help it regain its strength. "Here, eat. After you finish, you can use Synthesis."

The combination of dried blueberries and Synthesis gives it a powerful energy boost; in just two minutes, the Hoppip was back to its old self and happily went to challenge the Air Balloon activity.

Pokémon with an optimistic and cheerful personality are great; they save Trainer so much trouble. If you end up with a tsundere or arrogant one, or if you dare to make me tired, I'll cry—you'll see how exhausting that is.

That's not the scariest part. The scariest part is the kind that just stirs up trouble for no reason. Today they'll send out a swarm of Beedrill, tomorrow they'll drag you into a hunting game with Ursaring. After a few days, you're guaranteed to be either dead or a god.

Dian was in a great mood, looking at the sunny and breezy weather and seeing how obedient his Pokémon was.

Unfortunately, fate was not on their side, and soon someone came along to cause trouble.

"Heh... You're training here even though you can't even pop an Air Balloon Pokémon. You're really working hard."

With his arrogant and disdainful tone, and his haughty gear-shaped hairstyle, if it weren't for his ordinary face shape and the absence of a luxury car and beautiful woman, everyone would have thought he was Professor Oak's grandson Gary. But upon closer inspection, it didn't seem like something Gary would say.

Although Gary was indeed arrogant at the beginning of his journey, his understanding of Pokémon was not superficial. Moreover, he had experienced a lot during this period, and his calm and composed side as a scholar should have gradually emerged.

A hint of anticipation crept onto Dian's lips as he thought of Gary. He wanted to see just how much excitement Xiao Mao could bring to his plans.