Farfetch'd stood there, staring blankly at the leek that had just been knocked flying.
"Bwe?!"
Then it snapped back to reality — and its eyes lit up with absolute delight as it stared at Auron.
"Bwe!"
"Bwe!"
Auron smiled faintly, sheathed his bamboo sword, and stood relaxed.
"Want to learn? I'll teach you."
"Bwe!"
Farfetch'd's eyes practically sparkled as it nodded vigorously, then scurried off to pick up its leek.
*This is hilarious,* Auron thought to himself. All that half-hearted training actually came in handy.
Back in his previous life, working at a company, Auron had always had the bodycouldn't keep up, the attentioncouldn't keep up, the reaction speedcouldn't keep up. Despite loving martial arts, he'd trained for so long and still only ever reached a journeyman's level.
But things were different now. This version of him hadn't been worn down by the 996 grind yet — still had a young body. And Aura had supercharged his reaction times. Dealing with an ordinary opponent? Not happening. But handling a newborn Farfetch'd that still fought purely on instinct? No problem at all.
"Bwe!"
Farfetch'd stood before Auron with eager anticipation, clutching its leek tight.
This morning, when it had first hatched, watching the way Auron had looked — Farfetch'd had already steeled itself to train alone and grow strong on its own.
But who could've guessed its trainer had a trick stashed away this whole time? What a delightful surprise.
"Ready? Then let's begin."
Auron started teaching Farfetch'd the sword.
Because he'd always been the weakest student, the coach had actually put the most effort into correcting his form.
Which meant the coach's words were still etched clearly in Auron's memory — every correction, every piece of advice. All he had to do was repeat them faithfully for Farfetch'd.
"Keep your arms slightly raised. No trembling. Don't grip the sword too tight — but don't hold it limp either…"
As Auron coached Farfetch'd, the others watched with interest from the sidelines.
"Wow — a true master. Knows everything!"
Lucas gazed on with undisguised admiration. Jace, standing beside him, had to stifle a laugh.
Was Auron really a master who knew everything? Those exact words Auron had just said were obviously a line from a drama they'd both watched as kids.
Then again, Jace wasn't about to call him out on it. No need to embarrass a guy.
But he also couldn't have imagined how much Aura would change Auron once he picked up a weapon. The kid could genuinely fight now.
Still, nothing compared to Ash, Cynthia, or Alain — not even close.
"Alright, let's hustle too. Can't fall behind too badly!"
Jace watched Auron and Farfetch'd training with genuine focus, then stood up with a stretch.
"Go ahead, Bulbasaur, Ralts!"
"Ralts!"
"Gloom~"
Ralts chirped with boundless energy, then used telekinesis to lift itself up and settled down on Jace's shoulder. Bulbasaur, meanwhile, extended one of its vines eagerly and placed it in the hand Jace had extended toward it.
"Gloom!"
"Bulba… sasu?"
The moment the vine touched Jace's hand, a creamy white light began to glow from the flower bud on Bulbasaur's back.
Gradually, the white glow enveloped Bulbasaur entirely.
"What's this — it's evolving?!"
Lucas, Tim, and Simon all stopped what they were doing, their eyes wide with surprise as they watched Bulbasaur bathed in the white light.
"Nice."
"Bwe!"
Auron glanced over at Bulbasaur with undisguised envy. His Elekid hadn't evolved yet, either.
Farfetch'd, for its part, fixed Bulbasaur with an intensely competitive stare — as if calculating exactly how strong the newly evolved form would be.
"Gloom~!"
"Ha ha — Ivysaur! Perfect!"
Jace watched the evolution complete, then crouched down and wrapped his arms around Ivysaur in a big hug.
Ivysaur squirmed slightly with embarrassment, pushing at Jace's face with a vine tendril — but not too hard, not wanting to actually push him away.
"Awesome, Ivysaur!"
After the hug, Jace stood back up and gave Ivysaur a thumbs-up.
"Alright, time to train!"
"Gloom!"
Ivysaur answered eagerly, then followed Jace over to the practice target.
Bulbasaur would be training Solar Beam and Grassy Terrain.
Solar Beam needed no explanation — the core damage dealer for any sun team Bulbasaur would eventually run.
The focus was Grassy Terrain. Grassy Terrain was a field effect — distinct from weather — and it did two things: boosted the power of Grass-type moves and restored a small amount of HP to all Pokémon on the field each turn.
For a tanky Venusaur, that was a natural fit.
As for Ralts, the path was straightforward — focus on physical moves.
Feint, Shadow Sneak, and Fire Punch would be Ralts's main practice targets for this stage.
Sure, watching a cute-looking Ralts pummel a training target with boxing punches was a little strange — but no one's complaining.
Lucas, Tim, and the others were also working through their own routines, following their own paths.
Simon, meanwhile, had his family's generations-deep Ghost-type raising method to fall back on. Just work through it step by step.
…
A day packed with training flew by before they knew it.
Between drills, several Pokémon squeezed in a battle or two — though nothing serious, just friendly exchanges.
One notable moment: Auron and Jace had a realbattle as well — the human kind.
Watching Auron wave that bamboo sword around, Jace started to feel the itch himself. He offered to step up for a round.
He'd measured this match carefully, of course. Growing up together, they'd always been perfectly matched in their own way — Jace won every strength contest, and Auron won every skill contest. He'd always figured brute force was the answer. He'd been bigger, he'd hit harder, and he'd won every scrap as kids.
But he'd never accounted for how massive Aura would amplify Auron's capabilities.
Jace didn't land a single hit. Every move he made was visible to Auron through Aura — telegraphed, read, anticipated.
That was how Auron secured his first ever victory against Jace in eighteen years.
"Alright, see you. Bye."
"Bye — see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow!"
At the intersection, Auron waved goodbye to everyone and headed toward home.
Nearly seven o'clock. The Pokémon would be back soon. Time to start dinner.
He remembered the last time he'd come home late from training, too late to cook. He'd been forced to endure Snorlax's…
"Ugh—"
Just thinking about Snorlax's smotheringwhined from two days ago made Auron shudder involuntarily. Snorlax's affection was genuinely more than a person could handle.
That weight was terrifying!
PS: Looks like the chapter I was supposed to post yesterday didn't go up. We had a big thunderstorm yesterday, and lightning struck the power line — the voltage surge completely blew out my computer. So I had to get it repaired. Sorry about that.
(The End of This Chapter)