Chapter 252: Little Eevee's Growth
After a brief chat with Ivy and Bianca, Arthur took Eevee and headed back.
The main reason was that he had already bought his high-speed rail tickets and had to leave that night; otherwise, he wouldn't even have a place to stay.
As they were leaving, Little Eevee was full of reluctance. Tucked under Arthur's arm, it kept wagging its tail restlessly, its eyes fixed on the Vulpix on the sofa.
"Take care, then. Let's keep in touch online," Ivy said with a smile as she saw him to the door.
The moment the door closed, Specter phased out of the wall and rapped a knuckle on Little Eevee's head, scolding it.
"Disgraceful! You should just quit!"
"Quit" was an old catchphrase Arthur used to say all the time.
Poor Little Eevee, looking utterly bewildered by the knock, had no idea what it had done wrong.
It had never met its infamous ancestor, so it couldn't possibly know that its innocent puppy-love act was like comparing a bronze-tier player to a king when measured against its forebear's legacy.
Arthur found the whole scene amusing.
It was ironic. Back in the day, whenever his old Leafeon caused trouble with another family's vulpine Pokémon, Specter was always the first to jump out and criticize it, calling it a heartless beast. Now, two hundred years later, when a descendant finally wasn't a heartless beast, Specter was complaining that the little guy's game was too weak.
Arthur didn't have the heart to expose Specter's hypocrisy, so he stepped in to save Little Eevee's pride.
"Alright, Eevee is still young. It's normal for him to be inexperienced with this stuff."
Specter huffed, still looking annoyed.
Arthur couldn't help but roll his eyes.
What gives you, a two-hundred-year-old single ghost, the confidence to look down on our kid…
A ghost ought to know its place.
However, this incident did serve as a reminder for Arthur: it was about time to put Little Eevee's training on the official schedule.
On the high-speed train back, Arthur fed Little Eevee some snacks while asking, "Do you want to become stronger?"
"Vee."
Little Eevee nodded.
But Arthur felt the reply was a bit half-hearted.
So, he rephrased the question.
"Ivy's Vulpix will most likely evolve and become a professional competitor. Do you want to battle in the pro league?"
"Eon!"
Little Eevee's head shot up instantly, its tail perking up and wagging furiously.
Arthur felt a sense of "I knew it" at this response.
Such a pure heart…
He was nothing like his ancestor.
"Alright, then. We'll start your training as soon as we get back."
Little Eevee's cheerfully wagging tail suddenly froze.
In the seat next to them, Greninja couldn't help but turn its head to look, giving the little guy a sympathetic glance.
From Little Eevee's brief experience, Greninja had come to a profound realization: the opposite sex truly only brings misfortune.
The path of the ninja has no need for female frogs!
Back at the Sea Carp Team's base, there were still two days left in the off-season break.
Arthur resumed his regular routine, but this time, Little Eevee's training was added to the schedule.
Time felt even more scarce now.
Fortunately, although Little Eevee was young, its training didn't require too much of his effort.
The reason was the move it had taught itself: Copycat!
In actual combat, the move wasn't overwhelmingly powerful.
This was because, in the real world, moves had a proficiency level. Proficiency affected various attributes of a move, such as casting speed, flexibility, power, and cooldown.
For example, the normal cooldown for Metronome was four to six seconds, but Chloe's Clefable had been able to use it every three seconds.
Similarly, before Greninja evolved, the power of its water moves was average. But after specialized training on Coral Island, the power of its Water Pulse was now on a completely different level.
These proficiency bonuses couldn't be replicated by Copycat.
In a real battle, a replica would almost always lose to the genuine article.
But in the context of training, this move was a godsend!
It allowed a Pokémon to experience how an unfamiliar move was executed in advance!
In the modern era, various high-tech Pokémon training aids essentially provided the same function: they let a Pokémon feel the casting process and energy flow of a move before they had mastered it, thus lowering the difficulty of learning it from scratch.
And Copycat could do this better than any tool!
It could genuinely let a Pokémon use the skill ahead of time.
Therefore, mindlessly using this move to imitate skills a Pokémon couldn't normally learn wasn't the right path. The best way to use Copycat was to accelerate the Pokémon's own learning process for its natural moves.
And luckily, Little Eevee had plenty of tutors around.
Greninja could teach it Quick Attack. When she had time, Bella's Togekiss could teach it Yawn and Charm. Luna's Empoleon could teach it Focus Energy.
Eevee had many evolutionary paths. Once it evolved, its type, ability, and even its move list would change drastically. So, for now, Arthur wasn't in a hurry to teach the little guy powerful attack moves. Instead, he focused on teaching it versatile, fundamental skills.
As for offensive moves, those could wait until its evolutionary path was decided.
Personally, Arthur would have loved for Little Eevee to evolve into a Leafeon. That way, much of the experience left behind by its ancestor could be put to use again.
The proper kind of experience, of course…
However, after observing for a couple of days, Arthur quickly realized this was probably a lost cause.
He never thought his Little Eevee, a distant descendant of his Leafeon, would be such a romantic. After training each day, its favorite thing to do wasn't to go to Little Lapras to practice Ice-type moves, but to go to Bella's Togekiss to practice Fairy-type moves.
It was obvious he was aiming to match the type of an evolved Alolan Ninetales.
Arthur couldn't bring himself to stop him.
All he could say was that love was a fascinating thing, equally magical for both humans and Pokémon.
It even led to Luna noticing that Little Eevee had started sneaking over to find her Vulpix more often.
Luna's Vulpix was male and had always been Little Eevee's good friend. At first, Eevee had no ulterior motives, but now, he was single-mindedly trying to find out from Luna's Vulpix what the Vulpix species liked.
Without even realizing it, the smitten Little Eevee's intelligence had seen significant growth!
In the past, he would have never thought of something like that.
This led to Luna teasing Arthur about it one day. "What's been up with your Eevee lately?"
"What?" At that point, Arthur had no idea what Little Eevee had been up to.
Luna's eyes crinkled with laughter. "He's been bringing my Vulpix snacks every day, saying he wants to observe its taste preferences. My Vulpix is completely freaked out."
"..."
Arthur's face turned red with secondhand embarrassment.
Of course. From Luna's Vulpix's perspective, he must have been so worried lately, constantly fearing that his backside was in danger!
What's going on, little bro? I thought we were friends, but now it feels like you're trying to hit on me?!
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