The three Pokémon vanished instantly before Eichi. Because of their immense speed, they kicked up a slight breeze that felt quite refreshing against his skin.
The climate in the Johto Region was truly pleasant; the temperature didn't fluctuate much throughout the year. During his months at Silver Academy, the weather had remained consistently mild—neither too hot nor too cold.
While Beedrill, Scizor, and Heracross went out to warm up, Wimpod was left to play happily in the lake.
This waterfall area wasn't particularly large. In the past, other Pokémon used to inhabit these waters. However, ever since upperclassmen from Silver Academy began training here, the local wildlife couldn't handle the disruption to their daily lives. Gradually, they all left and never returned.
To this day, no wild Pokémon nested in this lake; only the occasional passing Pokémon would stop by for a drink when thirsty.
Wimpod swam joyfully in the water. Since there were no other Pokémon around, this entire area was its personal territory.
Eichi watched Wimpod playing and didn't forget the reason he had brought it here. Standing up, he called out to the Wimpod in the water, "Wimpod!"
Hearing its trainer call, Wimpod immediately turned its body and swam quickly toward the shore. To the little Pokémon, Eichi was the person it was closest to in the world. As soon as Eichi spoke, it responded.
It poked its head out at the water's edge, looking at Eichi with a face full of confusion. Eichi patted Wimpod's damp head and said, "Wimpod, swim one lap at your absolute top speed and come back."
Although Wimpod didn't know why Eichi wanted it to do this, it obeyed. It nodded, turned around, and shot out like a sharp arrow. A wake suddenly appeared on the calm surface, cutting rapidly across the water.
Eichi nodded in approval. It truly is a Water-type, especially one that has its talent points invested in speed.
The moment Wimpod accelerated, Eichi pressed the button on his stopwatch to begin timing. Wimpod soon reached the vicinity of the waterfall, where the cascading current constantly pounded the surface. Wimpod was a bit frightened and didn't dare get too close, so it veered around the area.
Eichi watched Wimpod swim back, pressing the button the moment it arrived.
The stopwatch displayed: 5 seconds.
The distance from the start to the finish was approximately 50 meters. Wimpod's speed was already very impressive; Eichi's own current physical fitness would require over 5 seconds to run 50 meters. This was excellent, especially considering Wimpod hadn't undergone any formal training yet—it had reached this level just by eating and sleeping every day.
"Not bad, you're quite fast," Eichi praised.
Hearing Eichi's compliment, Wimpod's face turned red, and it slowly sank beneath the water. Eichi was surprised; Wimpod wasn't just cowardly, it was also very shy.
After a moment, Wimpod poked its head out again. Eichi remembered the task at hand and said, "Wimpod, starting today, you begin your training."
"Your training program consists of two parts: speed training and move training."
Upon hearing the word 'training', Wimpod felt an instinctive sense of rejection. However, Eichi had been doing 'ideological work' on it for the past few days.
Eichi had told it stories about how Beedrill had started training on the second day after hatching back when it was a Weedle. Scizor had been the same. Heracross had been dragged into training by its big brother as soon as it hatched. Only Wimpod had gone ten days without starting. Eichi told it that if other Pokémon found out, they would surely laugh themselves to death.
Furthermore, Eichi had even used some harsh words—for instance, threatening that if Wimpod didn't train and failed to meet his standards, he would abandon it to fend for itself in the wild.
As expected, this tactic worked. Although Wimpod felt some internal resistance, it was determined to carry out the training seriously.
Seeing no more pushback, Eichi nodded with satisfaction and said, "Now, let's start the first session. Wimpod, swim 20 laps around this lake at your top speed."
Wimpod used its tiny brain to think for a moment. 20 laps didn't seem like much.
"Get ready, Wimpod," Eichi said, "Start swimming when I say go."
"Go!"
At Eichi's command, Wimpod zipped away with a swish. It began circling the lake while Eichi tracked the time.
During the first lap, Wimpod clearly finished with ease. The second lap was also effortless. It felt nothing through the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth laps. Wimpod still hadn't slowed down.
Eichi was somewhat astonished. This Wimpod is actually quite impressive. It maintained its top speed for several laps; its explosive power was remarkable.
In the blink of an eye, 10 laps had passed. Wimpod's speed slowed slightly, but it was still fast. By the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth laps, its speed was decreasing by an average of one lap's worth of pace. By the eighteenth lap, the slowdown was visible to the naked eye, though it remained relatively quick.
Soon, Wimpod finished. It returned to the shore, poking its head out and panting heavily. This run had left it utterly exhausted.
Eichi pressed the stop button and checked the time. Very fast. When converting the speed and laps, it was much faster than Weedle had been back then.
Of course, it wasn't a fair comparison. First off, Weedle's talent points weren't in speed. Furthermore, Weedle's talent back then was only Ordinary; if Eichi hadn't constantly used his Bug Force to upgrade its aptitude, it would still be just a common Beedrill today.
However, this also allowed Eichi to feel the terrifying nature of Champion talent. It was already this strong while so young; Eichi could look forward to how powerful Wimpod would become after evolving into Golisopod.
Once Wimpod had rested enough, Eichi made it do another 20-lap swim. Wimpod didn't refuse and obediently swam off. Actually, it had felt quite good during the previous swim, so it didn't resist the training much this time.
Eichi watched Wimpod swimming in the lake. Swimming was actually a great training project. It offered huge benefits for humans—firstly for weight loss and exercising the whole body, but also for body sculpting to make the physique look better and more robust. The second benefit was building endurance and lung capacity.
These benefits applied to Pokémon as well. It was a massive help for improving Wimpod's endurance and speed.
Wimpod returned quickly, though it took a bit longer than the first time. After returning, it didn't make a sound, simply poking its head out to rest and catch its breath. It was truly tired this time and felt like it couldn't take much more.
Just then, Beedrill, Scizor, and Heracross returned as well.