Pokémon: I have no choice but to do this old thing?

Dawn in the Tianguan Mountains is awakened by frozen fingertips and the white breath exhaled.

Zhang Jianying struggled to crawl out of his sleeping bag, feeling as if all the bones in his body had been trampled by a group of Tauros.

He grimaced as he moved his aching shoulders, his gaze sweeping over his companions who were still asleep or pretending to be asleep.

Baby Dragon, like a blue koala, clung tightly to the Everstone, curled up beside his legs, twitching restlessly in his sleep, emitting soft whimpers, clearly still feeling the effects of yesterday's energy control training.

Zhang Jianying's heart softened. He carefully reached out, avoiding its sensitive areas, and gently stroked its cold, hard head carapace. At the same time, a faint, soothing wave flowed slowly over it.

Baby Dragon unconsciously rubbed against his palm in his sleep, the whimpering gradually subsided, and his tense body relaxed.

Meanwhile, Kirlia had already woken up.

Or rather, it doesn't need to sleep like some lousy trainer.

It was hovering half a foot above the ground, meditating in the morning, surrounded by an extremely faint blue halo, its posture still elegant and graceful.

However, upon closer inspection, one can see that the edge of its skirt is stained with some mud that could not be completely wiped away with telekinesis; these are marks left from last night's training.

Zhang Jianying looked at Kirulian trying so hard to maintain a perfect appearance, feeling both amused and a little sorry for her.

A forest tortoise uttered a low, sleepy call, its huge head poking out from its shell, staring drowsily at Zhang Jianying. The bushes on its back stretched out in the morning light, exuding a refreshing and invigorating fragrance, which also made the tortoise on its shell open its beady eyes.

"Hehe~ Good morning, boss~"

Gastly, like a deflated balloon, slowly floated out of the shadows, letting out a huge yawn. Its misty body appeared somewhat transparent in the sunlight. "Last night I almost successfully created the improved Shadow Ball in my dream, but Lucario woke me up with a Wave of Bullets, hehehe..."

After barely understanding its incoherent whimper, Zhang Jianying shook his head helplessly. Just as he was about to say something, Gustav's voice, like the grinding of rocks, came from not far away: "Get moving now that you're awake! The cross-country run with weights begins in ten minutes!"

The new day of "hell" arrived as scheduled.

Zhang Jianying carried the heavy backpack, feeling as if he were carrying a baby kiras.

Every step I took on the cold, rugged ground sent a tingling sensation shooting straight from the soles of my feet to the top of my head. My lungs felt like a broken bellows, each breath a burning pain.

Lucario appeared like a ghost at the edge of the field of vision, a flash of blue light at the tip of its claw, and a small wave missile came flying with a sharp whooshing sound!

Zhang Jianying dove sideways in a disheveled manner, a pebble flying past his ear, the resulting wind pressure making his cheek sting.

He scrambled to his feet, and before he could even catch his breath, the second and third bullets came one after another!

"Your balance is off! Your lower body is as unstable as a ladybug in autumn!"

Gustav's rebuke came like a whip.

Zhang Jianying gritted his teeth, trying his best to activate his weak waveguide perception in an attempt to predict the trajectory of the next one.

Occasionally, he would successfully sense the energy fluctuations on his left, narrowly dodging them, and a hint of joy would appear on his face.

"Bang!" A pebble shot from an extremely tricky angle hit him squarely in the buttocks!

"What's there to be smug about?! The battlefield is ever-changing! You need a wide field of perception; you can't just focus on one point!"

Gustav's voice was cold and ruthless.

Zhang Jianying clutched her burning buttocks, on the verge of tears.

He glanced at the baby dragon beside him, which was undergoing the same painful energy cycle training in the open space nearby.

The baby dragon's entire body was tense, and chaotic energy flowed out from between the gaps in its scales. It let out a suppressed growl from its throat.

The Everstone's light continued to flicker steadily, barely soothing its young master's pain.

"Hang in there, baby dragon!"

Taking advantage of a brief moment when he was dodging, Zhang Jianying shouted encouragingly, "You can do it!"

Baby Dragon heard his voice, and his scarlet pupils showed pain, but even more so, stubbornness.

It lowered its head and tried even harder to guide the two tearing forces within its body.

Meanwhile, Kirlia was on the other side, navigating its "powerless" obstacle course. Without the aid of psychic powers, its running style was indeed somewhat...unrefined.

While crossing a small ditch, it miscalculated, and its skirt got caught on the edge of a rock. It stumbled and almost fell. Although it managed to catch itself with its hands, it looked quite disheveled.

Kirlia quickly stood up straight, her small face tense, and a hint of annoyance flashed in her crimson eyes, but she stubbornly refused to look at anyone and continued running forward.

Under Gustav's guidance, the forest tortoise is experimenting with new defense concepts.

Lucario slapped its shell with the claws that were wrapped around the waveguide.

At first, the forest tortoise instinctively tried to tough it out.

But under Gustav's repeated shouts of "Relieve the force! Guide!", it began to try to slightly rotate the angle of its carapace at the moment of contact, in conjunction with the subtle movement of its hind limbs.

"Ugh!" Once again, when Lucario's slap landed, Torterra didn't take the hit head-on. Instead, it cleverly spun around in the direction of the force, redirecting most of the impact to the side, and only swayed slightly!

"Great! That's it!"

Gustav gave a rare affirmation.

Forest Turtle: Ugh (*≧▽≦)!

Gastly, during training breaks, happily played the role of the battlefield atmosphere group, flying up and down around Zhang Jianying and the other training partners, trying to disturb them with its sharp, strange laughter.

Sometimes he would use his shadow to mimic a cartoon image of Gustav in anger to amuse himself, though he would often be startled and immediately vanish after Gustav's cold glare. But the idea king's joy, in a sense, did alleviate the overly tense and oppressive atmosphere on the training field.

During lunch break, Zhang Jianying and Pokémon slumped in the shadows of the ruins.

While massaging Baby Dragon's muscles, which were stiff from the energy conflict, Zhang Jianying thought about the afternoon's training.

Gustav walked over, his gaze falling on Kirullian.

"You've mastered the basics of using your superpowers, and your mental attacks are beginning to take shape. But you lack a certain sharpness and decisiveness."

He paused for a moment, then took out a uniquely shaped Poké Ball with a metallic sheen.

Zhang Jianying's heart stirred with curiosity, as he had not yet seen Gustav's other Pokémon.

The Poké Ball opened, and a tall, agile figure wielding a double-headed light blade appeared before everyone, accompanied by an energy hum.

It stands silently, a stark contrast to the ancient ruins around it, as if it came from another time and space.

"Iron Warriors?! What kind of stitched-together world is this...? Zhu Lan hasn't even finished the story yet, how come there are future beings here? But to be fair, Iron Warriors are pretty cool."

Zhang Jianying suppressed his doubts and prepared to listen to Master Gustav's explanation...