"Let's move, Aron, keep up with me. Our goal today is ten kilometers."
Aron stomped heavily on the ground, white air puffing from its nostrils before it burst into a run.
Kyron was heading toward the Battle Park. One lap around the park was five kilometers, so two laps made ten.
In the morning, the sun wasn't yet scorching, and countless workers had already begun their daily grind.
Meanwhile, Kyron jogged leisurely along the roadside, enjoying the crisp morning air.
Aron trudged along behind him. After two kilometers, it was already feeling tired.
At the three-kilometer mark, its pace slowed significantly. Seeing this, Kyron also reduced his speed, keeping a three-meter distance to match Aron's pace.
After four kilometers, Aron was practically crawling, like an old man taking a stroll—each step slow and arduous—but it still hadn't given up.
At this point, they had completed one round. Kyron returned Aron to its Pokéball and said, "Alright, Aron, take a break."
He then picked up his pace and continued running. His morning run wasn't over yet.
Twenty minutes later, Kyron returned, soaked in sweat, his clothes completely drenched.
While resting, he released Aron, who had already regained some stamina but was now ravenously hungry and whining nonstop.
Kyron said, "Alright, let's head back for breakfast."
He stopped at a long-standing breakfast shop at the entrance of his neighborhood and bought enough steamed buns, dumplings, and soy milk for two.
Back home, he prepared Aron's breakfast. Unfortunately, Aron didn't enjoy human food; it found it tasteless.
It quickly finished its usual portion of food and still wasn't full. Kyron had no choice but to bring out the remaining Pokémon food and minerals.
Watching Aron gobble up the leftover food and minerals, Kyron thought—Aron's appetite was really something today.
Could it be that its appetite increased after starting training?
Back home, Kyron took a shower and returned to the living room. His mom, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff had also gotten up, and they all had breakfast together.
They turned on the TV during breakfast—the National Tournament was still ongoing.
Even after so many days, the first round hadn't finished, and many contestants hadn't even had their first match.
While watching, Aron's training couldn't stop.
Currently, Aron was at level 7, and it had learned four moves: Tackle, Harden, Mud-Slap, and Headbutt.
Yes, it had just learned Headbutt yesterday. Kyron figured it must've picked it up from repeatedly ramming the target during training.
These basic moves didn't require any special training method—just repetition. Practice makes perfect.
He had seen many experts on PokéTok explaining that foundational moves didn't need fancy techniques—just diligence.
Take Tackle, for example. Keep ramming things repeatedly. With enough time, a talented Pokémon would naturally grasp subtle techniques to increase the move's power.
That's where talent makes a difference—same move, same effort, but someone else's move hits harder than yours.
And talented Pokémon also had greater endurance. While some Pokémon max out at six hours of training a day, those with high potential could go eight hours. That's two extra hours a day—60 a month, 720 a year—that's a whole month's advantage.
Unless you have an advanced training method or unbeatable strategy, you'll lose eventually.
Aron didn't need much coaching for Tackle. The main focus was on Harden, Mud-Slap, and now Headbutt.
"Aron, use Harden!"
Right there in the living room, Aron activated Harden. A grey energy coated its body like a new layer of armor.
Upon closer inspection, a thin energy shield covered its entire form—very slim, but its defense was solid.
Since Kyron's mom was watching dramas and Pikachu and Jigglypuff were always causing trouble, he took Aron to his room.
There, Aron continued practicing Harden until it reached its limit, then switched to training Headbutt on the humanoid training dummy.
Aron didn't need supervision—it diligently trained on its own.
Kyron watched fondly. A Pokémon that didn't cause trouble, wasn't lazy, loved training, had talent, and was self-motivated? Apart from having a huge appetite, it was perfect. What's not to like?
After a full morning of training, Aron was exhausted. Kyron didn't want to overdo it, so he let it rest at home while he headed to the Azure City Pokémon Supermarket.
The Suicune Cup tournament banner still hung in the lobby, but most people were glued to the huge screen showing the National Tournament.
Kyron grabbed a cart and stocked up: five bags of low-grade Steel-type food (2kg each), 500 jin (250kg) of iron ore, five bags of Rock-type food, some Moomoo Milk, and one pack each of Steel and Rock-type energy cubes.
The checkout total made his heart ache—¥3988 in total. Iron ore had gone up to ¥2000 per ton, and each energy cube pack cost ¥399.
Money flowed like water. In less than a month, he had already made three trips here.
As he was about to leave with two bags in hand, he heard someone shout, "I won!"
He noticed two red vending machine-like devices in the corner. They looked familiar—weren't these lottery machines?
He remembered these from his past life, but they weren't introduced until years later. How were they here already?
In college, his roommate was a lottery fan and often played "7 out of 35" lotto tickets—but never won.
Sometimes they'd try scratch-offs on trips—occasionally winning ¥10 or ¥20.
Kyron had picked up the habit too. Seeing the machines now made his hands itch.
A couple stood in front of him, cashing in a win. The guy said excitedly, "I can't believe I actually won ¥50!"
The girl asked, "Wanna scratch two more?"
He shook his head, "Nope, every time I win, I stop. Otherwise, it's just wasting money."
"Come on, let's go get milk tea—the large size."
As they passed Kyron, the guy whispered, thinking no one could hear, "Once you win one, you never win again."
Kyron chuckled silently: Young man, you know too little.
He picked a green ¥10 scratch-off, paid via WeChat, and a ticket popped out from below.
He scratched it with a coin.
Winning number: 13.
First row: ¥100,000 — no match.
Second row: ¥50 — no match.
Fourth row: number 13 appeared—his heart skipped a beat. He scratched off the prize: three zeroes... ¥5,000!
Kyron was thrilled inside, but kept a calm face.
He scanned the QR code on the back of the ticket, waited three seconds, and WeChat dinged—¥5,000 received.
Yes! I knew I was lucky! In his past life, Kyron was notoriously unlucky. But now? He was an RNG god.
If that couple knew the very next ticket hit ¥5,000, would they regret it? Would they come back and try to take him out?
After all, they had bought the same ¥10 ticket. Everyone knows the difference between ¥50 and ¥5000.
With ¥5000 in hand, he bought two more tickets but didn't win—so he stopped.
Satisfied, he carried his bags home with a smile.
Ten days later—July 14.
That morning, Kyron returned from training with Aron. It followed behind, panting heavily.
Now Aron could complete a full 10-km run—still slow, but its progress was impressive. It hadn't even been a month since it was born.
Current stats:
Pokémon: Aron
Type: Steel/Rock
Talent: ★★★
Level: 9
Ability: Heavy Metal
After these training days, Aron had reached level 9.
Its physical and skill growth was rapid.
Current moves: Tackle, Harden, Mud-Slap, Headbutt.
Trainers categorize skill mastery into three levels:
Basic: Can perform the move as taught.
Proficient: Smooth execution with confidence.
Mastered: The move becomes instinctual, unleashing full power.
Beyond mastery is a realm called "Peak Perfection," but ordinary trainers don't need to concern themselves with it. That's for elite trainers who've run out of new moves to learn and must refine existing ones.
Now, Aron had reached Proficient level in all four of its moves.
Three-star talent was no joke—and Aron's effort was just as important.
Kyron once heard from Teacher Lin Kai that the ideal Pokémon was talented, hardworking, self-motivated, and had clear goals. But those were rare.
Most Pokémon only had one or two of those qualities.
Some were talented but lazy. Some had no talent but were extremely diligent. Others were average across the board.
So Kyron was incredibly lucky to have a Pokémon like Aron—talented, hardworking, and self-disciplined.
Back home, they showered and had breakfast together like usual.
Aron's appetite had grown even more. Kyron was used to it by now. The food was fine, but the minerals… that was getting expensive.
What used to be 150 jin (75kg) lasting three days was now 500 jin (250kg) barely lasting two.
Right after breakfast, the phone rang.
"Hello? Ah Bin, what's up?"
It was Liu Bin. Over the past ten days, he frequently called to talk about the National Tournament.
Liu Bin: "Kyron! Let's go to the Battle Park and play! (🐶)"
Kyron: "What, you're done watching the tournament?"
Liu Bin: "Can't watch it all day, you know. My parents keep nagging me to get out of the house."
"To be honest, staying home all day is boring. Plus, my favorite players don't have matches coming up soon."
Do you like this Fic? Let me know via a comment!
(Please bookmark and vote)