Eric spent the next 2 days training in Viridian Forest.
Knowing that Viridian Forest might have a strong Team Rocket presence, Eric would occasionally have Haunter scan the area and avoid interacting with them. He was wise to do so, as Haunter found 3 groups of Rocket grunts over these 2 days.
Thanks to that, they avoided any major trouble during this time. They didn't go too deep into the forest, training in the middle area, which was ruled by five major Pokémon territories:
The Heracross, Pinsir, Pidgeot, Fearow and Beedrill territories.
Amongst them, both the Heracross and Pidgeot were passive Pokémon. They usually didn't attack unprovoked. Fearow were territorial and did not like outsiders in their territories. Beedrill and Pinsir both actively attacked others the moment they saw them. And Beedrill were usually more annoying, as they were always in a swarm.
So after some consideration, Eric had decided to train in the Pinsir territory. He had become a nightmare for the Pinsir over the last two days.
On the first day, he would go around challenging small Pinsir groups or lone Pinsirs. Fearow and Poliwhirl would handle the beginner-level Pinsir, whereas Haunter would intervene if any intermediate-level ones showed up. He avoided killing them, leaving them unconscious.
These battles soon caught the territory leader's attention, who started sending the stronger Pinsir from deep within the territory after Eric.
Pinsir were prideful Pokémon. They generally avoided hunting in large groups, ensuring that Eric didn't have to face an entire army of Pinsir, fighting only small groups at a time.
After facing 10s of such groups, both Poliwhirl and Fearow reached level 29. It was then that Eric decided to make them face an intermediate-level Pinsir on their own, without any assistance from Haunter. They had already built a strong enough foundation; now, all they needed to cross the level 30 bottleneck was a difficult fight.
Fearow shot towards the Pinsir while it dodged a bubble beam from Poliwhirl, hitting it squarely on the face with her beak. Pinsir was sent flying. Poliwhirl didn't miss this chance and fired a Bubble Beam at the air-borne Pinsir. Despite being level 31, the Pinsir couldn't do anything against the coordinated assault of Fearow and Poliwhirl, and eventually succumbed to its injuries.
Eric was satisfied with their progress. If things went well, they would both reach level 30 on this trip.
The next day, they continued with the same routine, but then Eric ordered them to stop, as he heard a beep from the incubator in his backpack.
This could mean only one thing: Growlithe was about to hatch!
Eric had made sufficient preparations for this moment. He quickly removed his backpack and then took out the egg from the incubator. The egg was showing cracks as it moved around on the ground.
Fearow, Poliwhirl and Haunter gathered around the egg alongside Eric, watching curiously.
Eventually, a small paw broke out of the egg, breaking it completely.
And there he was. A baby Growlithe, who was so small that he could fit in Eric's palm.
Growlithe looked around curiously and then looked up to find Eric sitting in front of him. He slowly walked towards him. He was having trouble walking, so Eric picked him up carefully and gently stroked his head.
"Growl!"
Eric felt an unexpected amount of affection as he looked at Growlithe.
'So cute!'
He then pulled out a bottle of Moomoo Milk from his spatial watch. He had bought a lot of them earlier to prepare for this moment. Items don't go bad in Spatial storage.
As a breeder, Eric understood the needs of a newborn Pokémon very well. They go through a quick infancy stage that typically lasts 10 days, depending on the Pokémon species. Pokémon grow up very fast in this stage, but during this time, they can't be trained or fed normal food.
Moomoo Milk is one of the best sources of nutrition for them in this stage.
After this stage, they enter a rapid growth phase and can officially begin their training.
Growlithe drank the whole bottle of Moomoo Milk delightfully, and then immediately fell asleep. Eric kept holding him close to his chest as he sat down. It isn't recommended to keep a Pokémon in a Poké Ball during this stage.
Haunter, Fearow and Poliwhirl looked at the sleeping Growlithe curiously. Especially Haunter, who was feeling a mix of both joy and a sense of responsibility. He was the strongest, and Eric's first Pokémon. As a senior, it was his duty to make sure his juniors were safe.
When Eric met Gastly, he did not have any of the trademark mischievousness of the Gastly line. He was serious and a bit bitter due to his past.
Eventually, he had begun to relax and show some level of mischievousness. When he evolved into Haunter, he had gotten rid of the trauma from his past completely and became quite the naughty, goofy Ghost. Even a little arrogant, after gaining so much power. That arrogance was quelled, however, after seeing the Druddigon.
He realised that he wasn't strong at all, and once again increased his efforts in training.
Now, he felt even more pressure as he felt his responsibility increase.
"Haunter. I know how you're feeling. We'll train as hard as we can, but remember to relax and forget about everything when you're not training. Don't lose yourself in a quest for strength."
Eric said this for both Haunter's sake and as a reminder for himself.
"Haunt!"
"You two as well." He then turned to Fearow and Poliwhirl.
All three of his Pokémon were hard workers.
Fearow trained desperately to try and catch up to Haunter, getting frustrated as the gap kept widening. Even Poliwhirl had got up to her. But she never complained about it to Eric, and continued to work harder and harder than before.
Eric felt bad for her, but was also inspired by her efforts. He had long since decided to treat her the same as the rest of his Pokémon, giving her the best of resources regardless of whether that was practical or not.
Poliwhirl still had the most willpower out of all his Pokémon. He hated to lose more than anyone, and his fighting spirit surged whenever he faced a stronger opponent.
Eric had considered whether to evolve him into a Politoed or a Poliwrath. Politoed was great for a rain team with his Drizzle ability. But looking at his Poliwhirl's disposition, he decided that Poliwrath suited him more. A Poliwrath with Swift Swim was not a bad choice either.
With the addition of Growlithe, Eric now had 4 Pokémon in total, increasing his resource consumption. If he wanted to get the best resources for all of them, this was probably his current limit, despite the amount of money he earns. Of course, if he spent like a normal trainer, he could support even 10 Pokémon right now. But he wasn't satisfied with that.
For example, Tier 1 Crystals, while still good, were no longer optimal for his Haunter.
For him, he wanted to use tier-2 Crystals, and each of them cost about 3,000,000P! And this was just one thing. Even the resources for the custom Poke blocks he wanted to use for his Pokémon were rare and expensive.
Eric set these thoughts aside. He can't rush things.
'One step at a time.'
His attention then shifted to the Growlithe in his arms, who was starting to wake up.
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