After eating lunch, Eichi returned to the dormitory to rest and take a nap. Since Wimpod had been so exhausted during the morning, he made sure it got plenty of sleep.
Currently, Wimpod lay motionless on a piece of artificial coral in its fish tank, fast asleep. Eichi also lay down to sleep, his body involuntarily beginning to release Bug Force.
The released Bug Force split into four streams in the air, injecting themselves into Beedrill, Scizor, and Heracross. If Eichi were to activate his Eye of the Bug Emperor right now, he would see the energy within Wimpod's body beginning to rise slowly.
In the afternoon, Eichi was awakened by his alarm. He washed his face and headed out for training with his four Pokémon.
Returning to the same waterfall from the morning, he found several wild Pokémon drinking there. They didn't hide when they saw Eichi; they simply continued their business. Most of the Pokémon near the Academy had been here for a long time, some even growing up alongside Silver Academy.
Because students frequently trained nearby, these Pokémon were used to seeing them, and some had even become quite familiar. They weren't afraid of the students or teachers, especially since the Academy sent people to provide Pokémon food to the local wildlife every month.
Eichi didn't drive them away. Instead, he waited for them to finish drinking and leave before starting the training. Wimpod's afternoon session would be the same as the morning's, though move training would be added shortly.
As before, he sent the others to warm up, specifically cautioning Heracross. "Heracross, don't even think about slacking off. Otherwise, Scizor will catch you again, and you'll get another beating. Follow Beedrill and Scizor to properly loosen up your body."
Hearing Eichi's warning, Heracross looked at Beedrill and Scizor. Both were staring back with serious expressions, which frightened it. It quickly signaled that it would definitely not slack off.
"Alright then, head out," Eichi nodded.
With that, Beedrill, Scizor, and Heracross buzzed their wings and shot forward. Eichi turned to Wimpod, who was swimming in the water. "Wimpod, move around in the water for a bit. We'll start training once I get back."
Wimpod leaped out of the water with a cry, indicating it understood.
Eichi then began his run. It wasn't just the Pokémon who needed exercise; he did too. He ran approximately 10 kilometers through the forest before returning. He wasn't exactly sure if it was 10 kilometers, but after several months of tempering by Bug Force, his physical fitness had improved by another significant margin.
Eichi felt very satisfied. His current goal was to reach a level where he could engage in close-quarters combat with an Onix, just like Bruno in the anime.
Upon returning to the lakeside, Eichi took a short rest. Coincidentally, Beedrill, Heracross, and Scizor returned at the same time. After seeing them off to their individual training, he walked to the water's edge. Seeing Eichi approach, Wimpod swam over.
"The afternoon training will still be swimming laps," Eichi told Wimpod. "This is the first set. Get ready, we start now. Go!"
As soon as he spoke, Wimpod didn't even have a chance to refuse and obediently began its laps. Its initial speed was identical to the morning. After finishing the 20 laps, Wimpod returned.
Eichi pressed the stop button and looked at the time. He then stared at Wimpod in surprise. The time was five seconds faster than the morning's best record. This Wimpod is evolving very quickly.
It had improved this much in just one morning. He originally thought an improvement of one or two seconds would be good, but he hadn't expected five. Truly worthy of Champion talent!
"Great progress, Wimpod," Eichi praised without hesitation.
Though Wimpod was still very shy, it was clearly happy to hear Eichi's praise.
"Don't get cocky, though. Keep working hard. Rest a bit, then go for another set."
Three minutes later, Wimpod went for another round. It had much more drive this time; knowing it was making progress gave it a significant boost in motivation. Eichi had Wimpod swim three more sets, and each time it improved by a few seconds compared to the morning. Eichi was truly starting to feel the terrifying nature of Champion-grade talent.
With the speed training officially over, Eichi allowed Wimpod to rest for twenty minutes before the upcoming move training. He fed it a bottle of Moomoo Milk and several Pokéblocks.
Twenty minutes later, seeing Wimpod was sufficiently rested, Eichi pulled a humanoid target from his pocket and set it up on the shore. He pointed at the target and said to Wimpod, "Wimpod, use Aqua Jet on the humanoid target."
Wimpod knew it could use Aqua Jet. A few days ago, Eichi had asked what moves it knew, and Wimpod had somehow managed to perform three. It didn't even know when it had learned them. Eichi later explained that these were moves inherited from its parents—innate abilities that didn't require learning.
One of them, Aqua Jet, was simple: mobilize internal energy, gather it in the mouth, and shoot it out.
Wimpod stared at the humanoid target, focused its gaze, and began to mobilize the energy within its body. It felt the energy gather in its mouth; once enough had accumulated, it fired.
Wimpod raised its head from the water and shot at the target. A small stream of water sprayed out. Calling it a "small stream" was being generous—it was tiny. Most embarrassingly, the water jet lost momentum and stopped a full meter short of the target.
The atmosphere became deathly quiet. Wimpod stole a glance at Eichi. Seeing Eichi's unreadable expression, Wimpod's face turned bright red. It immediately mobilized its energy again, desperately forcing energy into its mouth. This time it put in every ounce of effort and fired.
This water jet was a bit faster than the previous one and actually hit the target. However, the power was pitiable—it felt as if it had barely touched the target.
Eichi sighed inwardly, but on the surface, he spoke encouragingly. "Not bad, there's progress. Do it again, Wimpod."
Wimpod breathed a sigh of relief, glad Eichi hadn't scolded it. It then began using Aqua Jet again with newfound focus. Eichi watched; a Pokémon like Wimpod shouldn't be scolded. Encouragement was the way to go.
Sure enough, after a few more tries, Wimpod's Aqua Jet showed clear improvement—at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.