Heracross was actually slacking off! As soon as Heracross saw Eichi look over, it immediately resumed training seriously, secretly observing Eichi while it worked. Heracross thought Eichi hadn't seen anything, but he had noticed everything.
This was like cheating on an exam; you think your technique is flawless and the teacher hasn't caught you, but the teacher knows and just can't be bothered to call you out. Heracross was exactly in this situation. Eichi pretended not to notice and turned his attention back to Beedrill and Scizor's training.
Heracross breathed a slight sigh of relief when Eichi turned away. It thought Eichi hadn't noticed, and then it started slacking off again.
The training Eichi had set for Heracross was to continuously use Brick Break against a humanoid target.
When Eichi was watching, Heracross was very diligent. However, the moment Eichi stopped looking, it would begin to slack off, lightly hitting the humanoid target with its hand.
Eichi, meanwhile, was observing Beedrill's training. Beedrill was still constantly chopping, slashing, stabbing, and sweeping the humanoid target. Each attack aimed to use the minimum amount of force while achieving the maximum effect. Beedrill was quickly nearing this state.
Beedrill already had three moves that had reached the Peak level of mastery: Twineedle, Focus Energy, and Agility. Only one of these was an attacking move, and two were supporting moves.
For most people, if their Pokémon had one move that reached the Peak level, they would be overjoyed. However, for Eichi, this was not enough. Beedrill was not strong enough yet. In the early stages, Beedrill might be invincible, but as they progressed, some Pokémon would become much stronger, especially the pseudo-Legendary Pokémon.
Given the family backgrounds of trainers like Sato and Konan, their families would certainly prepare pseudo-Legendaries for them. They were likely already being prepared, just not revealed yet. Most pseudo-Legendaries are generally not very strong until they evolve into their final forms, often being weaker than average Pokémon.
Their true power is only revealed when they accumulate enough energy to evolve into their final stage, but when they reached this stage, their power was unmatched. Therefore, Beedrill, the way it was now, was not strong enough; it still needed to work harder.
Conversely, Scizor only had one move that reached the Peak level, and that was Vacuum Wave, the move it used the most before learning Brick Break. However, Scizor had now learned Bullet Punch, and its progress was remarkably fast. Right after evolving, due to its special state, its mastery of moves temporarily increased by several levels, masking its true level. Now that the special state was over, Scizor's mastery of Bullet Punch had already reached the Skilled level. With a bit more training, it could fully reach the Mastery level.
However, the most important issue now was the sharp increase in weight and the reduction in speed caused by its evolution. Therefore, Eichi had arranged speed training for it, which involved constantly using Agility, with its Weighted Vest set to maximum.
Then, Eichi turned back to look at Heracross. Sure enough, it was slacking off. Heracross slowly tapped the humanoid target with one hand, making a small sound to pretend it was training. By the look on its face, one would think it was training seriously, but it was actually just pretending.
As soon as it saw Eichi look over, the force in its hand instantly intensified. Someone who didn't know would think it had been training seriously for a long time.
Eichi didn't expose it and simply kept watching Heracross train.
With Eichi watching, Heracross could not slack off. It was afraid of being beaten. It continued to train diligently without daring to be lazy. After practicing for a while, Heracross started to feel tired and groaned internally. Why is the Trainer staring at me all the time? Why doesn't he look at Beedrill and Scizor? This makes it impossible for me to slack off.I'm so tired! I don't want to train! I just want to sleep.
Eichi did not know Heracross's inner thoughts. He was currently grappling with a different problem.
Beedrill and Scizor had never slacked off since they began training, so Eichi never worried about them. But this Heracross actually slacked off during training. It had been doing this since the very first day of training, and Eichi had never encountered such a problem before.
Eichi finally understood why Heracross's Big Brother often beat it; it must have been because Heracross frequently slacked off during training.
This Heracross didn't like battling, didn't like training, and just wanted to eat and sleep all day, like a sluggish, lazy creature. It wasn't just this one Heracross, either; almost all Heracross were like this.
Although Heracross had high base stats, the species generally disliked battling. Training a Heracross well was a real test of a Trainer's skill.
However, Eichi was confident he could train it well. If its Big Brother, a Pokémon, could train it, there was no reason why he, a Trainer, couldn't. Furthermore, Heracross's talent grade was very good. With the Bug Force, its future potential would only get better and better.
After a moment of thought, Eichi decided it was time for a break and said, "Alright, everyone, take a rest. We'll continue training in a bit."
As soon as Heracross heard it could rest, it immediately plopped down on the floor. Finally, a rest. I'm exhausted.
After a short rest, Eichi announced, "Alright, break time is over. Everyone, continue training."
Upon hearing that they had to train again, Heracross wore an expression of utter despair. Eichi saw that Heracross was motionless and asked, "Heracross, what's wrong? Why aren't you training?"
Hearing Eichi call its name, Heracross had no choice but to slowly get up and continue training.
After training all night, Heracross finally experienced Eichi's terrifying strictness. Its Big Brother was also very demanding, but at least it allowed for longer rest periods. With Eichi, it felt like non-stop training; he'd make it continue practicing after just a short break. Is there no justice in the world? Will he let me live? I regret this! I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go back to my Big Brother's side.
Therefore, as soon as the training ended, Heracross began to complain, jabbering on and on. Eichi listened attentively until it was finished. Heracross, seeing that Eichi wasn't angry, thought Eichi was considering letting it stop training. Thus, it looked at Eichi expectantly, but instead of the answer it wanted, Eichi smacked Heracross on the head. "I told you to train. Do you have a problem with that?"
"Look at Beedrill and Scizor. Neither of them slacks off, but you do. Don't think I didn't know," Eichi scolded. Heracross turned its head to look at Beedrill and Scizor.
Beedrill looked completely indifferent, its inner thoughts unreadable.