Fumiko's request did indeed make Terrance pause for a moment.
A Gym apprentice?
However, before giving it any deep thought, Terrance still chose to refuse her request.
Fallarbor Gym had been established for too short a time; compared to other Gyms, its infrastructure was still far from complete. Recruiting Gym apprentices indeed wasn't something he had considered yet.
"Ah?" Rejected by Terrance, Fumiko showed a disappointed expression.
Looking at her, Terrance said, "Fallarbor Gym hasn't officially started taking on apprentices yet. If you're interested, you can keep an eye on the Gym, and when there's news, you can come back then to take the qualification test."
Hearing Terrance's explanation, Fumiko finally nodded in understanding.
"Were you serious?" Kotoko asked slowly after Fumiko left the Gym.
"You mean about Gym apprentices?" Terrance replied.
"Yes."
"More or less. I hadn't thought about it before because Scarlet, Ayan, and the others have been handling the day-to-day chores here at Fallarbor Gym. But that's not a long-term solution."
"They'll have to leave this place eventually," Terrance said.
He certainly didn't want Scarlet, Ayan, and the other kids to spend their whole lives stuck in the Gym. Once they left, it would be impossible for just one or two people to run the place.
In the future, the number of Bug-type Pokémon would only increase. Looking after Pokemon, cleaning, welcoming challengers; if only one or two people handled everything, it would be far too troublesome.
Terrance had visited many Gyms, Saffron… Anistar… Petalburg. All of them had a large number of Gym apprentices. In comparison, everyone managing Fallarbor Gym was a personal acquaintance of his, which, for a Gym aiming for long-term stable development, was rather unusual.
So when Fumiko made that request, Terrance had clearly hesitated.
"When do you plan to start recruiting apprentices?" Kotoko asked.
"Well… let's wait for a while. Let me think it over first. Recruiting Gym apprentices isn't a small matter, we can't rush it." Terrance said.
After sending off the two challengers, Terrance returned to his room.
It was then that he began thinking seriously about recruiting apprentices for Fallarbor Gym. In other Gyms, apprentices were usually trained from a young age, and once they mastered their skills, they graduated.
There were also cases of recruiting Trainers who were currently traveling, providing them with a place to train.
Terrance didn't mind either source of apprentices, but given Fallarbor Gym's situation, the age of any apprentices could not be too young. After all, the Gym had only recently gotten on track and didn't yet have a systematic training framework.
For now, he decided to just keep the matter in mind and returned to his usual routine.
Studying, training Pokémon, over and over again.
In addition, in the days following Fumiko's visit, more and more Trainers began choosing the second challenge mode when coming for Gym battles.
Because of the lesson learned from Fumiko's challenge, Terrance had lowered the standard significantly this time. As long as a challenger could fully grasp the provided Basic Coordination-Oriented Training Method, they could pass his test and earn his recognition.
As a result, the first… the second… challengers began to appear who managed to receive the Honorary Coordination Badge from Terrance.
…
…
Crunch!
Crunch!
In the back garden of Fallarbor Gym.
Terrance looked at Larvitar eating its food, a thoughtful expression on his face.
At present, the food Larvitar was eating was made using a special recipe.
At the core of the recipe was a rock called "Float Stone."
Just as its name implied, if Larvitar ate a diet centered around Float Stone over the long term, its weight really could become lighter.
This was a special food recipe gifted by Steven.
Although Steven was renowned as the "Steel Emperor," he was also a Top Trainer well-versed in Rock-type Pokémon. When Terrance merely asked him a little about Larvitar's situation, Steven provided him with a recipe perfectly suited for this Larvitar.
The effect of this recipe was to let the Float Stone alter the internal structure of a Rock-type Pokémon's body, granting them a special ability to control their own weight at will.
Of course, this alteration could only reduce weight, but it had to be said, for certain Rock-type Pokemon, this recipe could be considered an exceptionally valuable breeding method. If used properly, it could indirectly enhance the Pokémon's agility.
"Both being heavy and being light have their advantages. This Larvitar was born with an astonishingly high body weight; if it can learn a way to temporarily reduce it, it won't be much different from a normal Larvitar."
"And… depending on the battle situation, I could decide when Larvitar should switch between 'light and heavy mode!'"
With this breeding method from Steven, Terrance was completely reassured about Larvitar's growth, though at the same time, he felt the pinch in his wallet.
Float Stone was by no means cheap, with very low production and limited quantity, making it very difficult to purchase. Even though he wasn't short of money, he hasn't been able to acquire much Float Stone.
"What an extravagant food recipe… I wonder how Steven even came up with it," Terrance said with a wry smile.
A Pokémon's breeding method was one of the benchmarks of a Trainer's skill. A truly excellent method could make a Trainer exceptional.
Terrance's own four weather move secret techniques was one of his foundations, and without a doubt, this Float Stone-based recipe was one of Steven's foundations.
That Steven would share this method with Terrance without reservation showed just how generous he was.
And to have developed such a method, one could easily imagine how many Float Stones Steven must have acquired, and how many experiments he must have conducted using other stones alongside them…
For now, "light-heavy mode" was Terrance's primary focus for Larvitar's training. Once Larvitar could control its own weight, Terrance planned to add the "sandstorm weather" training method, supplemented with rare stones such as the Smooth Rock, to continue its development.
If nothing went wrong, the combination of these two training methods would be enough to push Larvitar into the Elite Four tier—and a particularly fearsome one at that.
"Light and heavy mode… light for technique, heavy for power. I'm looking forward to seeing what Larvitar can do after evolving into Tyranitar, combining both modes with Sandstorm weather." Terrance smiled as he watched the clumsy Larvitar happily munching on rocks, then walked over to where the Ice Vulpix was training.
At the moment, Ice Vulpix was practicing the moves "Sheer Cold" and "Moonblast."
Ever since it had touched the threshold of these two moves while under the influence of Fairy Aura, it had been working hard to master them.
After a few days, Ice Vulpix could already use these two moves quite decently, but it's only at the basic level of mastery. To use them effectively in battle, it would need to be considerably proficient in executing them.
"Stop for now," Terrance said suddenly, watching Little Vulpix's practice.
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