"Eichi," Tetsu said, "how did you manage to capture Heracross?"
Eichi chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth before answering. "I happened to see it being ambushed by a few Pokémon in the forest outside the academy yesterday. Seeing it was in danger, I intervened and drove the Pokémon away. After that, I noticed Heracross was seriously injured, so I brought it back. It recovered today and simply refused to leave. That's how I ended up capturing it."
Of course, the truth was not exactly this. Eichi chose not to tell Tetsu about Heracross and its Big Brother's connection to him. The situation was too complicated, and he was too lazy to explain it to Tetsu. He feared that if Tetsu told others, it would only become more troublesome. Furthermore, even if he explained, Tetsu might not believe it. Therefore, Eichi chose to hide a part of the story from Tetsu, only mentioning what was necessary.
Tetsu nodded after hearing the explanation. "I see. However, the fact that it chose to follow you shows you have a fate with it."
Eichi nodded in complete agreement. "I truly do have a fate with it."
To be honest, Eichi had captured the Pokémon he had set his heart on, but Tetsu was not angry. He understood Eichi and knew he would not deliberately capture Heracross, knowing Tetsu wanted to. Furthermore, Heracross willingly decided to follow Eichi.
Tetsu feigned anger. "Oh, you, Eichi! You stole my Heracross! No way. In a while, we'll go to the Pokémon Breeding Center, and you have to help me choose a good Pokémon."
Eichi immediately agreed. "No problem." In truth, Eichi felt a bit guilty. After all, Tetsu had been staking out in the forest for several days for this Heracross, only to have Eichi intercept it. This, however, was just a small, inconsequential side story.
After a night of treatment, Heracross's injuries were completely healed. It was full of energy and jumping around right from the morning.
However, when Eichi called it to wake up that morning, Heracross, finding the warmth of the blanket too comfortable, did not want to get up. Since it had only just joined Eichi's team, Eichi felt it was inappropriate to use force, so he just called its name over and over. Still, Heracross refused to get up. Finally, Eichi realized that Heracross was just a goofball and he could not spoil it too much, so he gave it a gentle smack and Heracross reluctantly left its new little nest.
Once it was up, Heracross was lively and energetic. Most importantly, it was hungry. Eichi had to prepare breakfast for it, and it immediately pounced on the food, eating ravenously.
***
Evening arrived quickly. After Eichi and his three Pokémon finished their meal, he brought the three of them to the Training Room.
Eichi did not know Heracross's specific details. Although he knew its Level, he was unaware of its other aspects. Furthermore, he was very curious to know how much Heracross had improved over the past few months.
He sent out the three Pokémon. Beedrill and Scizor knew immediately that it was time to train upon seeing the Training Room, and it was indeed their scheduled training time. Heracross, however, was different. It had always lived in the forest and had never lived in a human city, so it was very curious about the equipment in the Training Room.
Eichi activated the Eye of the Bug Emperor. Heracross's internal energy was much greater than when he last saw it. The last time he saw it, it was at the Experienced Rank, and while it remained at the Experienced Rank now, the same as Scizor's, one must remember that Eichi's training involves the best Pokéblocks and the most suitable ones. Although the two Pokémon were currently in the same rank, Scizor had directly leveled up several ranks due to the infusion of Bug Force during its evolution.
This showed how incredible Heracross's Talent Grade must be. However, Talent Grade was likely only part of the reason; the other part must be the training Heracross received from its Big Brother.
Eichi explained the mechanism-based training content to Heracross and then began testing it. First was the evasion training. When Scizor was still a Scyther, this training mechanism had tortured it relentlessly.
Starting with the first, simple level, Heracross did not disappoint Eichi and passed perfectly. Eichi then increased the difficulty.
This time, it wasn't as easy for Heracross, but it still performed very well on the second level of difficulty, but when the difficulty was increased further, Heracross started to struggle.
It wasn't that Heracross's reaction speed was lacking, but rather that its body was too large, it didn't specialize in speed, and the projectile bursts were too dense. Consequently, Heracross didn't perform well later on.
This was understandable. Next were the other tests. Several of them were very good overall, Heracross excelled greatly in strength, evasion, and defense. Ultimately, the results showed that Heracross was currently not weaker than Scizor, and perhaps even slightly stronger.
However, Heracross's data was being compared to Scyther's old data. The comparison was now unfair. Eichi then asked Scizor to retest.
Scizor's current data was much more impressive than when it was a Scyther. Now, the data for both Pokémon was similar, and the areas they excelled in were now also comparable.
Before evolving, Scyther specialized in Speed and Attack. After evolving into Scizor, it shifted its specialization to Attack and Defense.
"Not bad," Eichi told Scizor. "You've improved a lot. But you know your speed has also slowed down considerably after evolving into Scizor."
Scizor nodded, indicating it was aware of its situation. Therefore, it knew it needed to continue training its speed.
Eichi then praised Heracross. "Very impressive, Heracross! It seems your Big Brother trained you quite well."
Heracross replied happily,"Hera, Hera (Of course! My Big Brother is amazing)," Heracross said.'
At this point, Scizor suddenly approached. '"Zor zor (Heracross, let's have a battle)," Scizor suggested.'
Heracross shook its head after hearing this. '"Hera, Hera (No way. I don't like to battle. I won't fight you)," Heracross declined.'
Scizor was unwilling to give up and insisted on battling Heracross. Beedrill said nothing and silently watched the drama unfold. Eichi knew Scizor desperately wanted to battle Heracross again. Their previous battle had left a strong lingering desire in it.