"Now then, let's ask the Pidgeys over there..."
Anthony wanted this matter to be gotten over with; actually, if only Glen and Treecko were not undergoing their foundational training, he would immediately tap on these two as their sparring partner. However, like it was said earlier, going from and to the house of Glen would be too cumbersome and the route behind their houses is not specifically meant for prolonged Pokemon spars.
Plus, the danger that the two friends might hold back against each other made Anthony get out of the nearest mindset and choose a stranger, Pidgey or Spearow. Just as when Anthony was about to stand up and go with Zubat to the forested area of the mini farm. Zubat suddenly shouted.
"Zuu! Zuu!"
This caused the Pokemons that are eating or mingling with Venusaur or the Baby and Mama Kangaskhan to look in their direction. Anthony, who looked at his Pokémon on the table, made a strange 'Zuu Zuu' sound and then, pointing at him and the Pidgeys, repeatedly tilted his head in confusion; however, soon he finally realized what Zubat was doing.
_It seems like Zubat is making an effort to help me train it... such exemplary Pokemon... though it's my only Pokemon as of now..._
Anthony sat down with a smile as he heard 'Piiii!' sounds of about 2 Pidgeys while also hearing the sound of Mama and Papa Golbat. Anthony and Zubat were startled by the appearance of the parents of Zubat.
"ZUUUUU! BAAAAAT!"
Zubat started to shout as it blushed, trying to chase away its parents, of course to no avail. Anthony, as well as the 2 Pidgeys, watched the incomprehensible yet entertaining argument between the family of an overbearing mother and father and an embarrassed child. Over the course of 3 months, Anthony was able to see these two parents embarrass their child to the point of numbness. At times, they would have choreographies with matching pompoms, while at times they would appear to be die-hard fans of Zubat.
It was one of Anthony's pleasures in his monotonous routine. The embarrassment of Zubat didn't end until 30 minutes have gone by, and in this time frame, the two Pidgeys and Anthony watched them silently, now the two parents is patting the head of their child who was just 'standing defeated', looking at Anthony with its metaphorical eyes with skin-piercing grudge.
"Zuuuu..."
It slowly 'growled' as it continued to look at Anthony, who finally decided to dispel the situation.
"Uhm... Mr. and Mrs. Golbat, I know that you might want to personally test the improvements of your child. However, with how it acts when you see it train, plus the fact that Zubat might not use its full strength when fighting its parents, I don't think that it's a good idea to make you two its sparring partner."
At the shocked faces of the two Golbats, Anthony bowed his head to apologize.
"Thus, even though I might sound disrespectful, I have to reject your kind offer."
The two Golbat parents didn't speak for a moment before making a sad-sounding 'Goool...' sound at the same time. Zubat, who had just sighed in relief, was again rained down with kisses of goodbye. It was a wonder whether the retreating parents of Zubat were here to really offer their services or just really wanted to embarrass their child.
In any case, Anthony is glad that he doesn't have super hands-on parents and was taught to be independent to some extent. Anthony didn't think of anything more and immediately started to negotiate with the two Pidgeys. He put up the star-shaped protein cookie and said.
"Who from the two of you wanted to spar with Zubat? The schedule is every Sunday and the reward is access on the obstacle course every morning until the sparring period ends and a ration of Protein cookie."
The Pidgeys looked at Anthony for a moment before looking at each other. Seemingly, the two Pidgeys were close friends as they started to converse with 'Piiii' and 'Piii Piiigeeeyy' for about a minute before one of the Pidgeys flew away. The Pidgey that retained pointed on itself using its wing.
"Well, Zubat and I will be in your care for a while."
Anthony said. Now, normally, people would be afraid of being duped by Pokemons who doesn't really have that much difference in terms of appearance, however, as someone who have dabbled in Pokemon knowledge, he knew how to see subtle variations in beak length and patterns in feather, plus, Venusaur is present as it was left behind by Anthony's mom who was again going around Fuchsia to ask for signatures and statements of some sort. No Pidgey will ever dare to dupe the young master of such a strong Pokémon by using their sameness in appearance to substitute for one another's jobs to get both slices of the pie.
"That should do it, now, I will give you pointers and guide you on how to properly control and improve your aerodynamics..."
Anthony produced a pen and paper in his pocket before continuing his lecture. Zubat also went towards the front of the paper where Anthony would write in order to see it clearly.
"To properly control and ride tumultuous air currents, you have to be aerodynamic. And to become aerodynamic, you have to have the ability to use your body control properly and become like like so..."
As Anthony spoke, he started to draw the top and front view of a peregrine falcon. The top view is a jet-shaped design with the wings properly curved for efficient air piercing, while the side shows how the joints of a peregrine should be positioned. This is one of the animals that made an impact on him back on Earth, for its amazing aerodynamic and streamlined body, the inspiration for fighter jet designs. And with how short the wings of Zubat are compared to the peregrine, Anthony is sure that it would be able to copy the style of swooping down of the said falcon. Of course, with how non-streamlined the body of Zubat is, it would be impossible to turn it into the world's fastest Pokémon.
One should aim for the stars while making sure that their feet are planted to the ground, after all.
"Actually, you can already use this form during the times when you have to shift directions fast, and you unconsciously want less wind resistance in your direction. You just have to use it where the obstacle is the air pressure and currents itself."
Anthony continued as he coaxed Zubat to imitate the shape he have just drawn, which the Pokemon did and like Anthony have said, Zubat doesn't need much adjustment in the wing area and a little bit of a reversed v shape in the last joint is enough to imitate in the best of its physiology the shape of the peregrine during swooping down.
"Very good, now, I will go inside and install the giant fan and the extension. Stay there and be sure that you're able to memorize that stance, as being toppled over by the wind will not be a very pleasant feeling."
Zubat nodded seriously; long forgotten was the embarrassment it felt in the hands of its parents. Now, the Pokémon only showed determination to prove itself. To its trainer and, of course, to its parents who are still continuously watching Zubat despite being rejected of their aid in training their child. Anthony didn't say anything and picked up the extension cord and went inside their house, locating the nearest socket before plugging the extension in it and extending it to the entrance of the mini-farm.
After finding a suitable spot to lay the sockets of the extension cord, Anthony went back inside and into the living room, where the brand new standing heavy-duty fan with a tripod type of legs is located. It was a purchase of her mother in advance for the training of Zubat in controlling its body in the air. Anthony actually wanted a bigger, more proper facility, but again, foundational training is different from official training and only when Zubat became older can Anthony ask his mom without being rejected.
_Charizard probably trained in the Hoenn Desert... I bet I can only train Zubat there once it becomes a Crobat or at least, a Golbat..._
Anthony sighed before disassembling the giant fan into two parts by unscrewing the joint part. He first lifted the tripod-like legs and put it just outside of the mini farm adjacent to the sockets of the extension cord, and went back for the heavier head. Anthony was gasping for air, cursing that Electivire was needed by his mother for a commission from Prof. Oak in his mind. After a minute or two of resting, Anthony finally recovered and went towards Zubat.
"Let's go."
Zubat, who was looking at the paper intently, nodded with resolution. Anthony picked him up alongside the paper where the perigrine doodle was in, and as they walked, he instructed.
"Remember, you have to balance and traverse the wind using a combination of timed wing flaps and the right posture for good aerodynamics."
Zubat nodded as the two arrived at the heavy-duty fan. Anthony then switched the electric fan into its 1 setting, which caused a slight rumble before the metallic blade started to spin. It started slowly; however, soon, the heavy-duty fan made it apparent why it is called 'heavy duty'. The winds that came from the fan are more times greater than twice the max setting of a regular fan.
"Zu-zu..."
Seeing how the fan blew apart small dust particles and made the not-so-near ropes of the obstacle course sway, the Pokémon became nervous, which made Anthony stroke its head gently to relieve it of its nervousness.
"Don't worry, you don't have to be nervous, it's not like I'm expecting you to be a master in air currents immediately. After all, everyone starts as a novice at one point. As always, you have to do your best, okay?"
Anthony smiled at Zubat, who nodded, but still, its built-up pride in its flying ability made it so that the Pokémon wanted to show off to its trainer. This is a plan that horribly failed as the moment Anthony put Zubat in the end side of the air pressure of the heavy-duty fan, giving Zubat the task to go near the source as much as possible, Zubat immediately fell to the ground despite using the peregrine falcon pose.
"Zuu? Zuu? Baat?"
It lay in the ground, confused as it looked at Anthony, even though it didn't fear that its kind trainer would get disappointed, as evident by his patience in training the Pokémon's once pathetic endurance and agility, it still wanted to inquire what went wrong.
Anthony picked up Zubat as he smiled and shook his head.
"Remember, a combination of the streamlined posture and wing flaps, you will not go far when you just use one of them."
Zubat furled its metaphorical eyebrows before nodding and tapping the hands that were cradling it, prompting its trainer to restart the training. This time, Zubat remembered with all its mind the combination instructed by Anthony, making it able to go near the more tumultuous area of the sphere of influence of the heavy duty fan. This made Anthony and Zubat to smile a little bit; however, just as Zubat was about to celebrate, it made a mistake in its flapping, soliciting wind propulsion than what its task needed, causing Zubat to be blown away.
"Zuweeeegh!"
Zubat whimphered a little as it stumbled to the ground; however, it immediately smacked its wings in frustration to the ground. It was evident to Anthony that the Pokémon was just about all right. The trainer went to walk towards Zubat and picked it up again.
"Well, like I said, no one is born a master. We will try and try until you can do it perfectly, okay?"
Zubat, who was feeling down, looked at its trainer again, not nervous about Anthony being disappointed. But maybe that's the reason why Zubat wanted to master things fast.
Zubat sighed, the determination going back in its eyeless face.
"Zuu."
Anthony smiled, seeing his Pokémon gain its vigor, and again restarted the training. The training went on for 5 intended hours until Zubat's endurance was exhausted due to the continuous fall or blasting off. The progress can be said to be minimal at best; however, Anthony knew that, as always, training the Pokémon would need an ample amount of time and effort, so he was not disappointed and instead gave Zubat encouragement and well-deserved rest.
After a 5-minute rest, Anthony continued with the demo of the rest of the training, all of which, except for the Bite move training, yielded almost no result other than shattered glass and times where Anthony almost got shards of glass lodged into his skin, and the mess they made.
For Bite, Zubat was able to successfully gather energy on its teeth and destroy the plywood. Now, Anthony scheduled it to move to a small plank of wood instead of plywood, which is less dense. The demo and the training lasted until the afternoon, where the trainer and the Pokémon had lunch while Zubat decided to take it easy.
Now, it's time for Anthony to continue his studies.