First training

After returning Weedle to his Poké Ball, Giovanni spent the remaining time trying to meditate again, but he still could not get the hang of it, let alone look inward.

After all, he had only just begun. Meals had to be eaten one bite at a time, and progress had to be made one step at a time.

The night grew rather deep.

For the first time, Giovanni lay on a soft, large bed, and for the first time, he slept until he woke naturally.

His sleep was not particularly restful, though. It had been his first time killing someone, and he was no murderous maniac. He still could not stop himself from having nightmares.

It was not just Nohara. In his dreams, he killed countless people, with mountains of corpses and seas of blood beneath his feet, and both hands stained crimson.

The next day, the rhythmic ringing of the doorbell woke Giovanni.

He climbed out of bed and slowly opened the door. Outside stood a Team Rocket member pushing a cart, who took out a list and checked it.

"9527, right? Here's your food for the day, along with your Pokémon's food."

Giovanni accepted the food and thanked him.

The Team Rocket member did not linger, instead continuing his work.

Only after closing the door did Giovanni come to his senses, remembering where he was and what he had been through.

He gave himself a quick wash, put Weedle's food into a clean bowl, then took out the Poké Ball and released Weedle.

"Woo."

After coming out, Weedle did not rush to eat. Instead, he gave Giovanni a low cry and rubbed against his leg.

He was careful and would not hurt Giovanni.

Giovanni looked at Weedle with a smile all over his face. It felt as though he had a clingy little puppy.

It was just that this puppy was a little strong.

"Good morning, Weedle." After greeting Weedle, Giovanni pointed at the food bowl and told him:

"Go on. Once you're full, we need to do some simple training today."

Weedle did not know what Giovanni meant by training, but he already understood what eating meant.

He immediately tucked in, eating with relish.

Watching him enjoy his food made Giovanni a little hungry too, so he took out his breakfast and dug in.

He had to admit that Team Rocket prepared pretty good food. It was healthy, tasty, delicious, and free.

After breakfast, Giovanni first checked Weedle's body, giving him some time to digest.

That would keep him from getting gastroptosis during exercise.

After examining Weedle, Giovanni discovered that both his energy and the condition of his muscles had improved considerably since yesterday.

Pokémon grew fastest during this stage, making it especially important.

Now was the time to develop battle instincts and lay a foundation.

Giovanni did not use the Viridian Force to restore Weedle's body right away.

Normally speaking.

Replenishing nutrients after training, when the body was most exhausted, would allow for better absorption and make the most of the nutrients consumed.

Besides, Giovanni himself needed to train as well. Only then might he improve his Viridian Force.

He had not had the means before. Even getting enough to eat had been a struggle, never mind training. He probably would have passed out from hunger.

Now that he had the means, he no longer needed to worry.

He wanted more room to move around, and this could also serve as a warm-up.

Giovanni piled up everything in the living room-the table, chairs, and sofa-and soon cleared a space.

By the time he finished, Giovanni was already exhausted and drenched in sweat.

Weedle wanted to help Giovanni during the process, but his physical limitations got in the way, so he could only do whatever was within his abilities.

Giovanni did not dampen his enthusiasm, giving him a few words of praise.

Weedle was delighted by that, so happy that his eyes narrowed into slits.

"Whew..." Giovanni let out a breath. He had finally finished tidying up. Next came the actual training.

Stamina was important for Pokémon and humans alike, so Giovanni started by taking Weedle around the room, running while Weedle crawled.

After only a short while, Weedle was perfectly fine, but Giovanni was already panting like a bellows.

An ordinary person's stamina could not compare to a Pokémon's, let alone Giovanni's current body, which could not even measure up to an ordinary person's.

He plopped down on the floor, his clothes already completely soaked with sweat.

Seeing him stop, Weedle was about to stop too, but Giovanni immediately said:

"Don't mind me. Keep going."

Only then did Weedle resume crawling. Without Giovanni slowing him down, Weedle scurried freely, even crawling onto the ceiling and circling around.

Giovanni gave a wry chuckle at the sight. "I really was holding you back."

Weedle had plenty of energy. Even after Giovanni recovered and started doing push-ups, he still had not stopped.

But Giovanni's physique was so terrible that the breeze from his push-ups could have given Weedle a cold.

By the end, he collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion.

To avoid overdoing things, Giovanni had Weedle pause his stamina training after a while. There were plenty of hours in a day, and their training time needed to be planned sensibly.

Giovanni called Weedle over to lie beside him, then placed a hand on his body and activated the Viridian Force.

Love was a light, green... ahem.

Sure enough, using the Viridian Force to restore Weedle's stamina and improve his potential after physical training yielded twice the results for half the effort.

He would not even need to worry about excessive fatigue later on.

By the time he finished restoring Weedle, it was noon.

After proper training came replenishing energy, and Giovanni needed to recover his stamina too.

And so their second meal began.

He had to admit that Team Rocket did a very good job of keeping the food warm. Even after sitting for so long, it had not cooled at all.

After eating, Giovanni felt as though the Viridian Force within him was helping him digest, distributing energy throughout his body.

His exhausted body and cells were activated once more, returning to peak condition.

After another short rest, they began targeted training.

Weedle currently had only two moves: Poison Sting and String Shot.

He would learn Bug Bite upon reaching level 9, but he could evolve into Kakuna after level 7.

After evolving into Kakuna, his combat strength would fall considerably, mainly because his mobility would be restricted.

Everyone said Kakuna could only use Harden.

However, Giovanni remembered seeming to have seen a Kakuna use Poison Sting in an episode once.

He was still somewhat uncertain. He would find out when Weedle evolved into Kakuna.

The targeted training involved improving the speed and accuracy of Weedle's Poison Sting.

Its power was not a concern. As long as it grazed the skin, the potent poison would take effect.

Since Weedle had also been eating Poison-type Pokémon Food all along, his poison would gradually grow stronger, to the point that even ordinary Antidotes would be useless.

The training for accuracy and release speed needed to progress incrementally.

Giovanni first placed a chair at the farthest point, then had Weedle attack it as best he could, releasing Poison Sting as quickly as possible as well.

Although Weedle did not understand, he listened to Giovanni's orders.

If his master wanted him to do this, he must have his reasons.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Poison needles shot from Weedle's forehead one after another, whistling through the air and nearly covering the chair.