Chapter 103: Fate Works in Mysterious Ways
After finishing applying the mixture to one side of the sword body, Arthur shook his hand.
That Iron Thorn Fruit stuff really caused a numbing sensation; all ten of his fingertips now hurt as if pricked by needles.
Annoyingly, this type of fruit wasn't suitable for contact with plastic or chemical rubber products. Normally, its pulp had to be stored in glass containers, making it inconvenient to wear gloves while applying it. It was truly torturous.
But these were necessary costs.
Although the methods he used to subdue Honedge earlier were perhaps a tad violent, after its capture, it was ultimately his Pokémon now.
Training certainly couldn't be spared, but it was also impossible to actually injure Honedge and then ignore it.
The harsher the training, the more diligent the maintenance must be to keep up.
This is what a truly qualified trainer should do.
Once one side was coated, Arthur called Little Lapras over to spray a breath of cold air onto Honedge's surface, freezing the still-wet pine balm and fruit pulp to prevent dripping.
Then, he flipped Honedge's sword body over, let his hands rest for a moment, and continued applying the mixture to the other side.
After getting past the initial period of irritation, Honedge gradually began to even enjoy it a little.
It had to be said, this truly was a level of treatment it had never experienced during its time back at the Ghost Tower.
Once both sides of the sword body were coated, Arthur carefully picked it up and placed it on the sofa.
Less than an hour remained until the "Swords Dance" course gifted by the dojo. Arthur decided simply not to continue tormenting Honedge for this bit of time.
His rental time for the training room wasn't up yet. He thought for a moment; there wasn't really anywhere else to go outside. So, he simply continued doing squats within the room.
Since transmigrating, he hadn't only trained his Pokémon very hard; his own personal physical exercise hadn't been skipped for a single day either.
Today, the exercise volume for his upper body had already exceeded the standard; next, the lower body exercises had to keep pace.
Squats, frog jumps, lunge high knees.
Arthur's exercises weren't fancy, but they were extremely solid, ensuring every single movement was performed perfectly to standard, never cutting corners.
Initially, Honedge watched without paying much attention.
But after Arthur did over a thousand sets of movements in the blink of an eye, it gradually sensed that the atmosphere was becoming somewhat unusual.
Shocked! This human is clearly super strong yet overly self-disciplined!
This...
In the future... do I really still have any hope of overthrowing him while under his command?
After some thought, Honedge decided to gather some intelligence first.
Such a notion would never have even crossed its mind in the past—sucking energy from a human wasn't as simple as eating? Did it really require specially gathering information?
But now, faced with an increasingly tyrannical fate, it had no choice but to lower itself...
Frogadier possessed Dark-type skills; it didn't dare ask him.
Little Lapras was too active; she had slid away again just now and was too far from it.
Finally, after searching around, Honedge had no choice but to approach Celebi, who had been absorbed in playing a handheld console in the corner ever since entering the room.
As a Pokémon that had stayed in the human world since its birth, Honedge clearly didn't recognize Celebi as a rare Mythical Pokémon. It just assumed she was also one of Arthur's captured ordinary Pokémon.
It floated slightly suspended in the air from the sofa, slowly flew over towards the corner, then extended the blue ribbon from the end of its hilt. Upon making contact with Celebi, it simultaneously transmitted its thoughts, asking.
"Uh, excuse me, I wanted to ask... was Master always like this before?"
Celebi was still focused on playing her game at the moment. Hearing the question, she didn't think much of it and subconsciously replied.
"Huh? Oh, you're asking about that man? No. He was much scarier than this before. Back then, I wouldn't have dared to even approach him."
Hiss!!
Honedge gasped sharply upon hearing this!
This... is this really so ridiculous?
This human, in the past, was actually an existence feared even by his own Pokémon?
Does that mean... his current treatment of me is already very merciful? At least after using my body, he still performed maintenance on me...
Although what Celebi truly meant was completely different from this—her relationship with Arthur was actually much more complex, and the "before" she referred to differed from the "before" Honedge assumed by over two hundred years...
However... from the perspective of the outcome, this actually facilitated a positive development.
This single sentence from Celebi unintentionally weakened the remaining bit of rebellious thought within Honedge's heart once again.
So, one can only say that sometimes, fate truly works in mysterious ways.
...
Continuing to exercise until four in the afternoon, Arthur finally stopped. He went to the dojo's public bathroom for a simple rinse, then returned to bring all his Pokémon along to attend the class.
Although he didn't currently have a great need for the "Swords Dance" skill, it was a freebie course; not attending would be a waste.
Before going, he had inquired slightly; the price for this course was not low. One person was charged over six hundred per hour, and a typical class lasted two hours, costing over a thousand without discounts.
The lecture took place in the dojo's backyard. The students and Pokémon attending all sat on cattail hassocks arranged beforehand on the veranda surrounding the yard, sitting in a kneeling position.
The lecturing Grandmaster and his Empoleon demonstrated in the center of the backyard.
Only after arriving did Arthur discover: quite a lot of people were attending the class.
At this price point, nearly twenty people still came to listen, showing that this dojo's reputation in this area was indeed very solid.
It seems this course should have some substance.
This freebie looks like quite a profitable gain.
The students attending all released their Pokémon one after another upon arrival.
Among them, Scyther, Sandslash, and Kingler were the most numerous. Relatively rarer Pokémon included Zangoose and Sneasel.
Normally, Pokémon specializing in slashing skills have quite competitive personalities. But after Arthur released Honedge, his surrounding area remained quiet from start to finish; absolutely nobody came close...
Subsequently, the lecture began quickly.
Arthur listened for a while and soon confirmed: this dojo's Grandmaster indeed possessed real substance.
While having Empoleon rotate on the spot using the skill, he simultaneously explained alongside the numerous key points of the skill's execution, dissecting and analyzing the "Swords Dance" skill very thoroughly.
Skills are certainly Pokémon's exclusive abilities; humans, of course, cannot learn skills.
But equally, human understanding, comprehension, and ability to express often surpass what Pokémon are capable of achieving.
Many times, after a Pokémon learns a skill, they merely know how to use it, that's all. If asked to explain specifically how to use it, they could probably only answer "just use it by turning" or "just use it like that."
In this aspect, analysis and instruction ultimately still rely on humans.
This is precisely why truly professional Pokémon skill instructors are always human, rather than Pokémon themselves.
In this process, human wisdom becomes a bridge for transmitting experience between Pokémon.
At this moment, Arthur, having confirmed that the course contained genuine substance, settled his mind and began listening seriously to the class, also considering it an opportunity to learn by inference and broaden his knowledge base.
Then soon after, he also discovered something strange that filled him with wonder—
Honedge was actually also listening very attentively.
This made him momentarily quite surprised: This fellow... just an hour ago, when held in my hand, it was constantly trying all sorts of ways to struggle, being very restless. How could it, after just a short while, suddenly change its temperament and become so obedient?
(End of Chapter)
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