Training

"Bai Shi, I heard you managed to catch a Pokémon?"

A stocky boy asked Bai Shi at the top of his lungs, his face full of surprise.

His name was Ishimaru, and like Bai Shi, he was an orphan.

They were about the same age and had both grown up in the Orphanage.

Their names even shared the character for "stone."

That odd connection had often brought them together.

After coming of age, they had moved out of the Orphanage at almost the same time.

Having grown up together, the two were naturally close.

Unlike Bai Shi, who worked at a fruit shop, Ishimaru was currently hauling bricks at a construction site.

When Bai Shi had mentioned going into the wild to catch a Pokémon, Ishimaru had kept insisting on coming along.

But Bai Shi knew Ishimaru didn't have a Pokémon either.

If they ran into danger, Ishimaru would just be one more person needing rescue.

So Bai Shi had firmly turned down his request to come along.

He had planned to try his luck in the wild alone.

Even with all his preparations, he had nearly lost his life out there.

If Ishimaru had gone with him,

one of them might have been dead before Paul arrived to save them.

After all, Ishimaru couldn't run nearly as fast as Bai Shi.

The facts proved Bai Shi had made an incredibly wise decision.

"Heh, I got pretty lucky. I caught a Starly."

At that thought, Bai Shi grinned and admitted it with a hint of pride.

His rented room was cramped, so Bai Shi hadn't let Starly out.

Instead, he had left Starly to rest in its Poké Ball.

"Whoa, you caught a Pokémon that can fly!"

"That's so cool!"

"Let's see that Kuroda kid brag to you now."

When Bai Shi nodded, Ishimaru broke into a broad, toothy grin, genuinely happy for him.

Kuroda, the boy he meant, had also grown up in the Orphanage.

His relationship with Bai Shi wasn't all that bad.

Kuroda had been the first among their peers to get a Pokémon.

As a result, he couldn't help acting a little superior around the other orphans.

He often took it upon himself to coach them and share the secrets of his success.

It hadn't seemed like a problem at first, but over time, it had grown irritating.

Ishimaru had complained to Bai Shi about it more than once.

He had even declared that the first thing he would do after getting a Pokémon was defeat Kuroda.

"Kuroda's Zigzagoon really is pretty strong."

"I only just got a Pokémon. I probably can't beat him yet."

Bai Shi thought it over instead of agreeing with Ishimaru.

"Oh, really?"

Ishimaru looked doubtful when he heard that.

As he remembered it, Bai Shi would say he probably couldn't do something even when he was seventy or eighty percent sure he could.

A real sneaky—

Ahem. He was cautious to a fault.

"I mean it this time."

"At least give me some time to train my Pokémon."

"Once training's done, we can talk about challenging Kuroda."

Bai Shi was speechless at the doubt in Ishimaru's eyes.

He couldn't help feeling that Ishimaru had the wrong idea about him.

"Uh... fair enough!"

Ishimaru realized Bai Shi had a point and scratched his head awkwardly.

"Don't worry! Once I've become a master, I'll go into the wild with you and catch a Pokémon."

"Then you can battle Kuroda yourself."

Bai Shi patted Ishimaru's broad shoulder and made him that promise.

"Okay! You said it. It's a deal!"

"Show me your Pokémon next time we're both free."

With Bai Shi's promise secured, Ishimaru happily headed off to work.

Unlike Bai Shi, he didn't dare stop working before he had a Pokémon.

"After what I spent on supplies, my savings should last at least another month."

"So there's no rush to find a new job."

"Once Starly has some fighting ability, I can take a better-paying job."

Bai Shi made a rough estimate of his finances.

He found he had a fair amount of time to focus entirely on training.

With that in mind, Bai Shi began drawing up a training plan for Starly.

He had no experience training Pokémon.

Still, Bai Shi had watched the anime before crossing into this world.

Its protagonist, Ash, had been called a "Flying-type master."

Ash had also caught a Starly in the anime.

Bai Shi could borrow from Ash's approach to raising it.

Then he could adjust the plan to fit his own ideas.

"Whether you're training or battling, it all comes down to playing to your strengths and covering your weaknesses."

"My goal is to build on Starly's strengths while making up for its weaknesses as much as I can."

"Starly is a Flying-type Pokémon that can learn Close Combat after it evolves. Fighting up close is clearly its forte."

"Ash's Starly was a prime example."

"So I need to improve Starly's physical conditioning through different exercises."

"As for Starly's weaknesses..."

"Right now, Starly only knows Tackle."

"That's far too few moves."

"Teaching Starly more moves has to come first."

"I can work on its other weaknesses later."

"Quite a few moves, like Quick Attack, depend on a Pokémon's speed."

"I can try starting there."

Bai Shi pulled out a notebook and scribbled furiously.

Before long, he had filled an entire page.

He gradually formed a clearer idea of how to train Starly.

As the saying went, there was no substitute for putting an idea into practice.

Bai Shi took his bag to a small grove on the outskirts of town.

It was close enough to town that they were unlikely to encounter many Wild Pokémon, making it a good place to train.

"Come out, Starly!"

Bai Shi tossed the Poké Ball into the air and let Starly out.

"Star!"

Glad to be out of that cramped space, Starly was in high spirits.

It beat its wings hard and soared freely through the air.

Someday, I'm getting a bigger place.

Watching it, Bai Shi made himself a silent promise.

Only after Starly had flown to its heart's content did Bai Shi call it back to him.

He explained the exercises they would be doing.

"Star!" (Bring it on!)

Far from resisting, Starly seemed eager to begin.

"All right, let's get started!"

"I'm going to throw you a ball. Control your strength and knock it back to me with your wings."

Bai Shi nodded and began the day's training at once.

He took several pieces of equipment out of his bag.

He chose a solid plastic ball about the size of an egg and threw it toward Starly.

Starly had to swat it back with its wings.

Many of the moves Starly could learn directly involved its wings.

This exercise was meant to strengthen them.

It would lay the groundwork for learning wing-based moves later.

At first, Starly handled the exercise with ease.

It could knock Bai Shi's plastic ball back with barely any effort.

Then Bai Shi switched to a larger ball.

Starly finally began to struggle a little.

As soon as it managed to adjust, Bai Shi brought out an even bigger ball.

Gradually, Starly began to wear out.

"All right, take a break!"

Bai Shi called a halt only when Starly was drenched in sweat.

He gave it some time to recover its strength.

Starly let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"Break's over! Next up is weight training."

"I'm going to tie a small, flat stone to your back."

"Carry it and fly laps around that grove."

"That'll build your stamina and speed."

But before Starly could enjoy its relief for long,

Bai Shi laid out its next exercise.

"Star!" (No, please!)

At Bai Shi's instructions, Starly let out a wail.

It was starting to regret the promise it had made earlier.

Maybe getting stronger wasn't so important after all.

It flew up into a tree and refused to come down.

"Come on, Starly! Endure!"

"I know you can do it!"

"The moment I saw you, I knew you were a Pokémon with the makings of a Staraptor!"

"One day, you're bound to evolve into a powerful Staraptor!"

Seeing Starly's resolve falter, Bai Shi immediately encouraged it.

Huh?

What did it just hear?

That human said it was definitely going to evolve into a Staraptor?!

No wonder it had chosen him as its Pokémon Trainer. He had a good eye.

He had spotted the great potential it had yet to show.

In that case, it couldn't let its Pokémon Trainer down.

"Star!" (Bai Shi, you have my respect!)

The moment it spoke, Starly rallied as if it had received a sudden burst of energy, its fighting spirit blazing.

It flew down to Bai Shi and offered its back so he could tie on the stone.

Then it beat its wings hard, weaving back and forth through the trees.

It threw itself completely into the training.

It carried out Bai Shi's exercise with meticulous care.

Bai Shi didn't sit idle either. He began jogging around the grove.

After his desperate flight through the wild, Bai Shi had realized his own physical fitness needed work.

So he decided to train himself alongside Starly.

"Starly~" (Bai Shi, you're a real man!)

Starly saw that his Pokémon Trainer was exercising too, just like he was.

The sight gave Starly a tremendous boost, and he worked even harder.

At that moment, both of them were striding forward in pursuit of their own goals.

Driven by the same purpose, they strove to become better versions of themselves.