Chapter 29: Practice and Late-Night Snack
Dark-type energy generally feels cold and negative.
Except for Dark-type Pokémon themselves, few living things enjoy this feeling.
Froakie was no exception.
But Arthur still tried his best to encourage him to persevere.
"Hold on a little longer, try to get used to this energy. Don't rush to throw the thing in your hand, endure, come on!"
To learn Dark-type moves, you have to let yourself adapt to this negative energy.
The core of the "Thief" move isn't simply throwing something, but imbuing the thrown object with Dark-type energy.
Without energy infusion, "Thief" is just throwing things around randomly.
Just like without energy, "Lick" is just smearing saliva on someone.
That has no meaning.
However, as a non-Dark-type Pokémon, it was really hard for Froakie to adapt.
Arthur was very focused on observing the changes in his expression and hands.
When he noticed that Froakie's right hand began to tremble rapidly, he finally stopped forcing him and immediately commanded.
"Okay, that's enough, throw it out!"
Froakie received the order and immediately let out a joyful cry.
"Croak!"
The ball in his hand was thrown hard at the target.
This drew a heart-wrenching complaint from the Rotom nearby, "Guest, please take care of the training equipment in the center, thank you!"
"Okay."
Arthur replied verbally, but his actions completely ignored Rotom. He walked straight to the target.
Looking at the dent in the plastic target, he praised with a smile, "The accuracy is quite good."
Froakie's hand was still trembling slightly, but hearing the praise, he proudly raised his head.
"Croak~"
This was all thanks to the stones he used to throw at Squirtle heads in the sanctuary.
Those Squirtle were so quick to retract into their shells when they sensed danger. If his accuracy wasn't good, he wouldn't be able to hit them.
However...
Arthur touched the surface of the target and didn't continue with the rest of his thoughts.
At the final moment when the ball was thrown, he had turned off the remote control button in his hand.
As expected, this hit on the target didn't show any signs of Dark-type energy erosion.
Move practice isn't so easy to achieve overnight.
This was also normal. In the real world, most of a Pokémon's moves rely on acquired training and practice. Expecting to automatically learn moves as they level up? That's too unlikely, like winning the lottery.
Expecting to get free moves from leveling up? That's only something that happens in parallel world games.
Many ordinary Pokémon raised as pets might only have three to five moves in their entire lives.
In reality, it's not that easy for Pokémon to learn moves.
But even so, Arthur still gave a lot of encouragement.
"You did a good job, come and have a grilled silkworm, we'll try again later. After training, I'll take you out for grilled fish for a late-night snack."
Training Pokémon isn't just about forced cramming.
Arthur certainly had the ability to force Froakie to keep training. Before Froakie evolved into Greninja, he probably wouldn't be able to overpower Arthur.
But Arthur didn't choose to do that.
He was never an arrogant human supremacist and didn't believe in treating Pokémon as mere tools.
As partners who fought side-by-side, mutual growth was the best state between Pokémon and trainer.
Froakie had a very competitive personality. At this time, using encouragement as bait and rewards and praise as motivation, using his desire for victory to entice him to become stronger and motivate him to train willingly was a better choice.
At the same time, Rotom on the side was also cheering him on.
"Come on~ Come on~ A few more times, maybe you'll learn the move tomorrow."
Of course, Rotom's encouragement had nothing to do with kindness. He just hoped that Arthur and Froakie would rent the space for a longer period.
Because the training center here charges by the hour.
...
Training ended that day past 9 PM.
Under the night sky, Arthur carried the tired Froakie who had trained all day and walked along the snack street in search of food.
Although Froakie's body was very tired at this time, his spirit was exceptionally good.
Pokémon can be very smart sometimes. Now Froakie had increasingly understood his owner's style of doing things—
The harder they trained, the more generous the owner was afterward.
During this period after training, Arthur would satisfy any requests he made as much as possible.
So he was extremely happy looking at the snacks and night stalls all over the street.
Entering a restaurant specializing in grilled fish, Arthur took a seat and handed the menu directly to Froakie.
The waiters here were already used to this kind of sight.
Nowadays, almost every family had Pokémon. There were often jokes online that working adults had lower status than their Pokémon at home.
The act of handing the menu to a Pokémon to choose what to eat undoubtedly highlighted this "status," and they were already accustomed to it.
"Hello, would you like to see this?"
The waiter said while skillfully communicating with Froakie through gestures.
He pointed to a page on the menu, then pointed to a certain type of fish in the fish tank behind the counter, and finally gave a thumbs-up, indicating his recommendation.
Froakie happily clapped his hands and croaked his approval.
"Alright, please wait a moment, we'll get you a boiled Imperial Silver Eye Fish."
Arthur, on the side, could only quietly add a stir-fry and a bowl of rice after Froakie was satisfied...
While waiting for the food, Arthur noticed a super-thin LCD TV hanging on one side of the restaurant wall, which was showing a Pokémon competition-related program.
To be precise, it was showing an edited documentary.
Various amazing moments from the matches were shown with exciting background music, creating a perfect performance effect that made people's blood boil.
Froakie next to him was also attracted and watched with great interest.
But when the film was halfway through, the style suddenly changed drastically.
The background music suddenly shifted from exciting to somber, with a hint of sadness in the slow rhythm. The visuals were also processed to look old and yellowed, as if deliberately emphasizing a sense of time.
"What's going on?"
At first, Arthur was a little confused.
It wasn't until subtitles occasionally appeared later that he finally understood.
It turned out that in this world, the Eastern Alliance had not won the championship trophy in the T1-level World League, the highest-level league held every four years, for more than twenty years.
As a major alliance with consistently top-three overall strength in the world, this result was undoubtedly disappointing.
This documentary was intended to convey the feeling of sadness from striving for many years but repeatedly missing the mark.
"Croak!"
At this moment, before Arthur could feel much emotion, Froakie sitting across the table, as if infected by the film, suddenly let out a resounding croak.
Arthur watched in surprise and amusement.
But he didn't stop him, nor did he discourage him.
He just asked, "Do you really like competitive matches? Do you really want that championship?"
Froakie pondered for a moment, then replied through the psychic link, "Yes, I like to win! I'm happy when I keep winning~"
At that moment, Arthur smiled from the bottom of his heart.
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