[bonus chapter for powerstones]
Since it was the first day of training and Eevee needed an adjustment period, Owen didn't have the heart to push the multi-attribute routine too hard.
In the end, the special training essentially turned into a simple stamina exercise.
One hour in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night—by the end of the day, Owen and Eevee had completed 100 shuttle runs.
Owen himself was on the verge of collapse. He nearly gave up, his legs aching miserably, but to set an example for Eevee, he couldn't be the first to fall. He gritted his teeth and suffered through the day alongside her.
Back at home... Eevee was spent.
Since there were no injuries and they had taken breaks during the training, there was no need to send her to the Pokémon Center for recovery.
Owen fed her an Oran Berry he had purchased in advance to restore her energy. Eevee then gulped down a large amount of milk for nutrition and, after a final hot bath, quickly curled up in her Silk Scarf and drifted off.
After a day of exercise, Eevee slept soundly. Owen was exhausted and sleepy, but he still had to summarize today's results and plan for tomorrow.
"Progress is too slow like this..." Owen looked at the messy notes in his notebook with a headache.
After 100 rounds, Eevee's shuttle time had finally dropped under two minutes, but that was far from enough. Still too slow.
"We have to turn up the intensity tomorrow." With that, Owen dropped his notebook, collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep.
The next morning, the alarm clock woke the slumbering pair. Owen woke up feeling sore all over, but Eevee was perfectly fine—vibrant and energetic. It seemed the Oran Berry had done its job.
Oran Berries are a type of fruit from the Secret Realms. These realms contain many plants with magical effects, and Berries are the most common.
The Oran Berry restores a Pokémon's stamina; though the recovery isn't massive, it was sufficient for low-intensity training like Eevee's.
However, while Oran Berries are the most widely cultivated, the demand is enormous, making them quite expensive—far more than regular fruit.
For Owen, this training was already burning through his cash. Once they needed the Pokémon Center's services, the expenses would skyrocket.
They were betting almost everything they had on the Young Ho-Oh Cup. This was the source of Owen's anxiety.
When Owen tried to drag Eevee to the usual spot to start the new day's training, Eevee suddenly started dozing off.
Her desire to retreat was obvious; yesterday had exhausted her, and she had no interest in repeating that tedious grind.
"Hey, Eevee!" Owen looked at her curled up inside her scarf and feigned anger. "This isn't what we agreed on. You're the one who said you wanted to join the Young Ho-Oh Cup."
"Vee..." Eevee slowly poked her head out, wearing a look of "pure despair."
Keeping up that enthusiasm for a whole day was already a miracle, Vee!
But thinking of her promise to Owen and those cool Eevee's from the movies, her expression shifted. Like someone making a monumental life decision, she reluctantly hopped onto Owen's shoulder.
"That's more like it... Let's work hard today! Together!"
During the second round of training, Owen noticed that Eevee was still instinctively slowing down to dodge obstacles. He sighed. Time to bring out the big guns.
"Eevee, come here. To stop you from slowing down, we're changing the starting method today."
"Vee?" Eevee looked puzzled.
Owen drew a white line. "Starting from here, use Tackle to burst out. Use that explosive force to gain initial speed. Then, you aren't allowed to slow down at all until you hit an obstacle. Of course, if you can dodge it, even better."
"VEE!!!!!" Eevee's hope for an easy out vanished instantly.
"Come on, look." Owen pulled a white spray bottle from his bag. "I've already prepared the Potion (Wound Medicine)."
Eevee: (*￣︿￣) This does not make me feel better.
The training continued. Eevee prepared cautiously and used Tackle as requested. She streaked forward, but within seconds of accelerating into the woods, there was a loud THUD. She slammed right into a tree.
The strange trees in this forest were incredibly hard. With Eevee's small frame, even a Tackle only left a faint white scuff mark on the bark; knocking one over was impossible. Her Tackle simply lacked any real destructive power yet.
Eevee ended up looking like a meat patty stuck to the trunk. As she slowly slid down to the ground, she almost cried from the pain, looking back at Owen with teary eyes.
Owen slapped his forehead. Even though he was prepared to train her physical durability, seeing her like this made him rush over with the Potion.
He was starting to worry about her battling; if hitting a tree did this, a Flamethrower or Thunderbolt might actually be the end of her.
No wonder experts said Eevee wasn't suited for combat.
Owen's current problem was that while movies had made Eevee accept training, she still couldn't overcome her natural instinct to avoid pain and fatigue.
If he had caught a stubborn, aggressive, or wild Pokémon as a starter, it might be different. But picking a gentle Eevee was basically starting on "Hell Mode."
Actually... there was a more specific reason for Owen's difficult start.
Earlier, he had vaguely discovered Eevee's Ability: Anticipation.
Abilities are special powers unique to each Pokémon. Overgrow boosts Grass-type moves when health is low; Guts boosts attack when suffering from a status condition. Most Abilities help in battle, though some (like Truant) are detrimental.
In this world, Abilities haven't been fully cataloged yet—at least, "Anticipation" was an unannounced Ability for Eevee.
This Ability has great tactical value as it allows a Pokémon to sense dangerous moves from an opponent and evade them.
The catch? The Pokémon has to master it.
For little Eevee, Anticipation wasn't a mastered skill; it was a burden. It acted like a heightened survival instinct that caused her to shrink back intensely whenever danger—like a tree trunk—was imminent.
Her personality was being directly influenced by her unrefined Ability.
This "Tree Trunk Training" was meant to kill several birds with one stone. Owen planned to use it eventually to help Eevee train her Ability by having her do the course blindfolded.
She wouldn't rely on her eyes, but on the instinct brought by Anticipation.
But that was for later. For now, she had to adapt to the basics.
"Eevee..." As he sprayed the Potion onto the scrape (which vanished almost instantly), Owen sighed. "It's a long road ahead of us..."
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