Hearing the voice, Eichi turned around and recognized the senior student from the freshmen registration desk. The senior, Yuli, was as beautiful as ever.
Eichi smiled faintly. "Hello, senior! I'm currently choosing a Fighting-type Pokéblock."
Yuli looked at the several kinds of Pokéblock Eichi had arranged on the floor. She had been watching Eichi squatting there for several minutes, with his hand placed on the box of Pokéblock. What a strange selection method. Yuli then smiled and said, "So you're choosing Pokéblock! That method of selection is quite unusual."
Eichi chuckled. "I think it's quite strange too, but this method is actually very effective. Oh, by the way, senior, how do you remember my name is Eichi?"
Yuli covered her mouth slightly and smiled. "Eichi, you are quite the celebrity in our academy now! I happened to be out wandering around last time and watched the Freshmen Tournament finals; it was incredibly exciting, so of course I remembered your name."
Eichi finally understood. "I see. However, I still don't know your name."
"My name is Yuli," the senior student said. "You can call me Senior Yuli."
"Understood, Senior Yuli," Eichi replied.
Senior Yuli said, "Alright, you continue with your selection. I won't disturb you anymore."
"Mhm," Eichi acknowledged.
With that, she gracefully left. After she was gone, Eichi continued to use his Bug Force to make his selection. A few minutes later, he was finished and went to the counter to check out.
Because of the 60% off promotion, things were much cheaper, yet it still cost a substantial amount of money.
The money Eichi brought with him when he came to the academy was already mostly spent. Before coming, Eichi had given his father a card with 300,000p on it, and he still had over a million Pokédollars on him, but now only a few hundred thousand remained, and it might not last very long, especially since Eichi had started learning how to make Pokéblocks.
This skill was particularly expensive, requiring constant purchases of Berries for practice.
Making Pokéblock was not easy; every successful Breeder had undergone countless practice sessions. For students in the breeding major, the school provided some free Berries for practice, but if that wasn't enough, they had to buy their own.
Eichi was not in the breeding major, so he had to buy Berries to practice. However, Eichi had good talent and learned quickly. With just a few days of practice, he had progressed very fast, fully mastering the most basic types of Pokéblock, although they were all of Ordinary quality.
These were only the simplest kinds of Pokéblock, and Eichi was ambitious. He did not want to learn to make them slowly, like other breeding students. He wanted to be able to create the most suitable Pokéblock for his Pokémon as soon as possible, namely Custom Pokéblock and Pokémon food. Eichi's goal was to reach the rank of Senior Breeder quickly and develop Pokéblock that could greatly enhance the potential of Bug-type Pokémon.
The source of his ambition was naturally the Bug Force. He discovered that having Bug Force greatly increased his ability for subtle control, which was a huge advantage for Eichi.
After Eichi bought his supplies, he slowly left the food store. The moment he stepped out, he ran into Tetsu again, who was accompanied by Kelly.
Tetsu immediately asked, "Eichi, you finished shopping?"
"I'm finished," Eichi replied.
"What are you planning to do next?" Tetsu asked.
"I was just planning to head back," Eichi said.
Tetsu quickly replied, "Don't! You came all the way out here just to go back? That's too boring. Look, you've run into me twice now. What does that mean? It means fate wants you to come out and play! Don't refuse; playing sometimes is good for your mental and physical health."
Kelly, who was standing beside Tetsu, also persuaded him. "That's right, Eichi, come and play with us! It's a lot of fun."
Seeing Tetsu and Kelly's enthusiastic invitation, Eichi felt he couldn't refuse and agreed.
Upon Eichi's agreement, Tetsu said, "Let's go! Let me tell you, this festival only happens once a year. It's incredibly fun; there are all sorts of interesting things..." Eichi then joined Tetsu and Kelly in the fun.
At first, Eichi was a little reserved, but the festive atmosphere was contagious, and Eichi gradually let loose. He began to enjoy himself, eating delicious food, playing games, and taking pictures. By the end of the day, Eichi was very happy; it had been a long time since he felt this joyful.
Overall, both his mind and body were thoroughly pleased, and even the Bug Force inside him had increased significantly.
Of course, Eichi also let out his three Pokémon. However, Beedrill and Scizor disliked the environment and quickly returned to their Poké Balls. Only Heracross, the silly, happy-go-lucky one, joined in the fun.
That night, Eichi slept with a smile on his face. Not far from Eichi's bed, Beedrill opened its eyes and observed the scene.
Beedrill rarely saw its Trainer smile like that. It seems Eichi had a lot of fun today. Seeing Eichi happy made it happy too.
***
After the fun day out, Eichi was in great shape today, and his learning efficiency was even higher than usual. In the evening, after dinner and a short rest, Eichi took his three Pokémon to the Training Room.
Eichi had already prepared a training plan for Heracross. He had asked Heracross how it used to train, and Heracross told him that in the Viridian Forest, its Big Brother would throw rocks at it to train its dodging ability. Its Big Brother would also take it to a waterfall, where it would stand directly under the rushing water, relying on its body to withstand the impact of the flow. Furthermore, its Big Brother would take Heracross for close-combat training, where no moves were allowed, only physical attacks with hands and feet. This was supposedly to train its battle instinct and its ability to find the opponent's weak points. Finally, its Big Brother would take Heracross to engage in real battles with Pokémon of similar strength.
However, the thing its Big Brother loved to do most was beat up Heracross, claiming it would improve its resilience. That way, even if it took a powerful hit, it wouldn't lose consciousness and could quickly counterattack.
After hearing this, Eichi became even more curious about Heracross's Big Brother. These training methods could not have been devised without a high level of intelligence; they felt like something a human, not a Pokémon, would invent.
The training then began. After Eichi arranged the training content for Beedrill and Scizor, he let them train on their own. He also assigned training content to Heracross, and under Eichi's watch, Heracross trained obediently. Eichi then turned to check on Beedrill and Scizor. When he turned back to check on Heracross, he discovered that Heracross was slacking off.