The Second Egg Move

Mt. Chimney.

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed since Swablu began its targeted training.

This was already Terrance's sixth day and night on Mt. Chimney.

Over the past few days, Terrance had truly gotten a taste of life as a "savage." Although he had Swablu for company, the feeling of being cut off from the world for so long still made him a little uncomfortable.

After two days of focusing on training itself, Swablu could already use Peck with ease. Its flight training had also paid off, and it would certainly no longer fly as unsteadily as it had shortly after hatching.

The power is enough, but it's still not flexible enough, Terrance thought as he watched Swablu continue to Peck at a wooden post.

At first, Swablu had only been able to leave a faint white mark on the post, but now it could Peck a dent into it. That was undoubtedly a major improvement for Swablu, and Terrance was very pleased with its progress.

Swablu's control over its energy had also improved considerably. It could now divide the energy for a single Peck into two or three uses. Although each strike was relatively weaker, Terrance could see the beginnings of Fury Attack in it.

With a little more practice, Swablu would surely master it better.

Even so, none of this was the most important result of the past two days. What surprised Terrance most was that Swablu had learned-or, one could say, awakened-its second Egg Move on its own: Agility.

As expected, Swablu should have inherited this move from Master Katsumune's Pidgeot as well.

A day ago, Swablu had gone with Terrance to gather food when they once again encountered a Seedot lying in wait to scare someone. Terrance was fine, but little Swablu was another matter. Still emotionally immature, the little one was badly startled by Seedot and flew around in a panic. What Terrance hadn't expected was that, at that very moment, Swablu actually learned Agility, greatly increasing its speed. In the end, because it couldn't control its speed, Swablu lost its balance. Fortunately, Terrance caught it, and it wasn't badly hurt.

Swablu had only just mastered ordinary flight, so using Agility was still very difficult. Terrance didn't push it, merely adding Agility to its daily training for the time being.

It was also worth mentioning that, aided by food Terrance had prepared beforehand using a Berry called Qingyingluo, the voice the Swablu species took pride in had begun to develop.

Normally, a newly hatched Swablu's throat took about a week to mature, but thanks to a Breeder's knowledge, Terrance had greatly shortened that time.

With its throat mature, Swablu could begin to use its voice and display the characteristics of its species.

Building on Growl and following Terrance's guidance, Swablu had learned to sharpen its voice and use a weakened version of Astonish. Terrance estimated, however, that Swablu's Astonish was probably only as effective as the frightening Seedot's.

As for frightening a more mature Pokémon, the chances probably weren't high, even if the Pokémon was timid by nature.

Besides Astonish, Terrance was also teaching Swablu Sing.

Sing: a soothing song was sung to put the target to sleep.

Essentially, Sing wasn't a fixed move, nor could it be learned directly. A Pokémon needed some "talent" of its own or "guidance" from an external source. Of all the Pokémon Terrance knew, Jigglypuff could use Sing most flexibly and skillfully.

Jigglypuff were special because their vocal cords could freely change the wavelength of their voices, allowing them to sing at the wavelength most effective for putting an opponent to sleep. Swablu clearly lacked that ability.

Only after Swablu evolved into Altaria would its voice gradually develop its own distinctive qualities: "high-pitched," "sustained," and "moving."

So if Swablu wanted to master Sing, it would inevitably have to practice hard. But if its practice time was controlled just right, it would also help refine Swablu's voice to some extent.

Unfortunately, Terrance didn't have a wavelength chart for Jigglypuff, so he couldn't offer much guidance on Swablu's Sing. He could only give it advice based on some basic knowledge and misconceptions he remembered reading about. As for this training, Terrance would have to make further plans after leaving Mt. Chimney.

That was essentially everything Swablu had accomplished over the past two days. Though its progress was still modest, it had come a long way compared to two days ago.

After two days of basic training, Terrance hesitated, unsure whether he should find some Pokémon to give Swablu a little actual battle experience.

On closer thought, however, Swablu really did have pitifully few attacking moves: Peck, whose power had increased slightly; Fury Attack, which allowed it to use Peck repeatedly but with considerably less power; Astonish, whose effect was minimal but could be counted as one; and Take Down, which it could barely execute by using all its strength while under Agility and adding the impact of its high speed, but which caused severe recoil. All of that made Terrance doubt whether an actual battle was even possible.

One could even say that Swablu's current battle ability was only on the level of the starter Pokémon each region issued to new Trainers.

After all, every starter Pokémon had already undergone standardized breeding and training by the League. From birth, they spent a month in an adjustment period designed for new Trainers, ensuring that their Trainers could take control of them and put them into battle as quickly as possible.

A newly hatched Pokémon had no such advantage.

"Rustle~~~ rustle~~~ rustle~~~"

Pushing through the grass, Terrance plunged into the forest with Swablu.

At present, Swablu had no moves capable of playing a decisive role in an actual battle. This was one of its current weaknesses: its moves were too limited and basic.

That was only natural, though. The little one had hatched just a few days ago, and everything required a period of adjustment.

Moreover, Swablu had yet to enter its period of rapid growth and development. Some things simply couldn't be forced; once it left its infant stage, it would be easier for it to learn certain things.

Terrance could only find a way to deal with this himself.

After pondering for a long time, Terrance did come up with an idea. Unfortunately, he didn't have the necessary preparations on hand, so he had no choice but to take Swablu back into the forest.