"Ribbit." Froakie felt the muscles in both its legs constantly tense, unable to relax. It felt as if it had lost all strength.
Cheng Tian showed Froakie the video he had just taken. "Look, it's already starting to look like a Double Team, isn't it?"
"Ribbit!" Froakie did indeed see faint afterimages appearing behind itself and was incredibly excited. Cheng Tian patted Froakie's head reassuringly: "Don't worry, you'll definitely master Double Team."
After a short rest, Cheng Tian took Froakie to watch Bai Yun and Chimchar's training.
Bai Yun and Chimchar were seen practicing punches in front of a boxing counter. "Yaka yaka yaka yaka!" Lightning flashed on Chimchar's hands as it struck the target at an extremely fast speed.
After one minute of timing, the counter displayed the data.
Time: 60s, Number of Attacks: 116, Force: Average 24 kg/hit
This force was already quite good, considering Chimchar hadn't been born long.
"How's the training going?" Cheng Tian held two bottles of water and gave one to Bai Yun. Bai Yun twisted it open and took a sip: "It's alright, Chimchar's speed and strength have improved. Next, I plan to train Flame Punch."
Two weeks is neither long nor short. The best approach is to thoroughly master a few skills first; blindly pursuing new skills would lead to a lack of proficiency. So Bai Yun planned to have Chimchar practice the two punching skills well first.
"Hmm, the Double Team training is also showing results. How about we let the two little guys rest for a bit?" Cheng Tian suggested.
So the two decided to take a break. There were training method tutorial videos in the training room. After Cheng Tian browsed two, one training video caught his attention.
"Hello everyone, this episode will teach you how to better train your Pokémon's strength." Cheng Tian's eyes lit up. "Hey, come and see, there's a video on strength training here." Bai Yun also became interested upon hearing this and watched with Cheng Tian.
"To train strength, you shouldn't just practice strength blindly, but learn to control yourself. Let your body release power in more extreme environments, thereby adapting to this feeling. This will quickly enhance your strength while improving your stamina."
"Today we'll talk about one method: weighted training." As he spoke, the man in the video walked towards a Hitmonchan beside him. Hitmonchan had lead weights wrapped in cloth strips tied to both its arms.
"Appropriate weighted training can put pressure on a Pokémon's muscles, reaching an overloaded state in a short time, thereby beginning to break through its physical limits."
"Of course, this method is not suitable for every Pokémon. Trainers should choose to use it based on their Pokémon's specific situation. If used improperly, it is very likely to cause muscle strain to the Pokémon. In such cases, please go to the Pokémon Center to treat the Pokémon. Finally, I wish all trainers to grow stronger and stronger."
A short one-minute video gave Cheng Tian and the others considerable inspiration; this method seemed applicable to their own Pokémon.
"A-Tian, let's try this method too!" Bai Yun said excitedly.
Cheng Tian nodded in agreement. "Then let's go buy weights after training ends."
...After training, the two treated their Pokémon. Then they went to the item section of the Pokémon shop.
One bought weighted items for the arms, and the other bought weighted items for the legs.
One item cost 1500... This amount of money was, of course, nothing to Bai Yun; he swiped his card to buy it without a second thought. Cheng Tian was startled by the price, but after learning that the items could be returned within two weeks, he paid without hesitation.
Just return the items after the exam. If they need to train again, they'll buy them for two more weeks and then return them!
I freeload, I'm proud!
Leaving the shop, Cheng Tian and Bai Yun immediately equipped their Pokémon with the items. After putting on the items, Froakie and Chimchar clearly felt uncomfortable with the weights.
"Ribbit." "Yaka." Froakie felt its legs become incredibly heavy after putting on the items, unable to even take a step. Seeing this, Cheng Tian adjusted the weight to ten catties.
"Froakie, this item can help you speed up leg training. After wearing it for a while and taking it off, you'll be able to use Double Team. So you must persevere," Cheng Tian said.
Bai Yun also adjusted the weight to ten catties. Chimchar tried to lift its arm but found it couldn't. For the next period, the two little guys would have to work hard to adapt to the weights.
Over the next period, Froakie took about three days to adapt to the weights and could already run at its original speed. By the weekend, Froakie no longer felt the presence of the weights at all. And Chimchar, from struggling to throw a single punch, could now continue to *muda muda*... It was clear to see solid and distinct muscles appearing on Chimchar's arms and Froakie's legs, which was the effect of the training.
"Alright, Froakie, next we'll take off the weights and see how fast you can run."
On the treadmill, Cheng Tian was removing Froakie's weights. As soon as they were off, Froakie, who had adapted to the weighted feeling, suddenly felt its body become much lighter.
This was the benefit of weighted training. "Fro!" Froakie felt it could now run at gear 4!
On the treadmill at gear 4, Froakie moved its legs so fast that afterimages appeared. It ran for 5 minutes before feeling tired.
Stopping the treadmill, Cheng Tian nodded with satisfaction. "It looks like the effect is excellent!"
Froakie was also very happy. It found that it suddenly liked this feeling, from the initial discomfort and various difficulties.
To slowly adapting in the middle, overcoming difficulties, and training hard. Until finally achieving results. Although the process was tough, the sweat and rewards were proportional!
"Froakie, adjust your breathing, now move left and right at your fastest speed," Cheng Tian commanded.
"Froak!" Froakie nodded and moved at its fastest speed.
Slowly, three Froakies actually appeared on the field! Seeing this, Cheng Tian was incredibly excited; the Double Team training was successful!
The information panel promptly provided information adjustments, and at this time, Double Team was added to its own skills.
Double Team (Lv1)
Bai Yun was very envious to see Froakie's Double Team training succeed, and quickly removed Chimchar's weighted items as well. He opened the boxing counter.
"Come on, Chimchar, attack at your fastest speed!"
"Yaka!" Chimchar relaxed its arms, immediately feeling boundless strength. It let out an excited cry, its fists enveloped in flames, and struck the target.
Cheng Tian timely took out his phone and played the high-energy part of "Roundabout" at 1.5x speed.
Hearing the familiar music, Chimchar felt as if its hidden DNA stirred, and the flames on its fists intensified.
The wind of victory is blowing from behind me!!!!!
Cheng Tian nodded. It seemed this child was truly becoming a Jojo... "*! Tian, turn it off quickly! Don't lead Chimchar astray anymore!" Bai Yun pounced to turn off the music. "How am I? Look how fired up Chimchar is!"
Just as the two were bickering, the timer ended. The machine gave its report.
Time: 60s, Number of Attacks: 138, Average Force: 4.5 kg/hit
"Look, look, how obvious is Chimchar's progress!" Cheng Tian said, pointing at the machine.
Chimchar faintly blew out the flames on its fists, striking a pose similar to DIO's expression.
This is my time and my time alone!!
Bai Yun's face was full of exasperation. Cheng Tian stifled a laugh: "It's fine, if the child has an interest in this, we should support it. Look how obvious its progress is now. It's low level now, but once it evolves into Monferno, it'll probably 100% learn Mach Punch."
Although Chimchar was going further and further down the path of Jojo-fication, both little guys had made significant progress using weighted training.
For the foreseeable future, they just needed to maintain this training method, Cheng Tian thought to himself.