"Poliwag, let's take our time. As long as we practice, we can hit two, three, or even four floating balls..."
What Ryan wants is this fighting spirit, and it should be used here, instead of wasting time with meaningless arguments, quarrels, and frustrated anger.
"Come on, start by practicing hitting two floating balls. One floating ball has a trajectory, and two floating balls also have trajectories. You need to learn to multitask now..."
"Poli, Poli..."
This Water Gun training lasted until the evening, and the floating ball exercise finally came to an end.
"Alright, Poliwag, the Water Gun training is over for now. Come back and rest for a while, and then we'll go out to find food..."
Ryan clapped his hands, calling Poliwag back. After an afternoon of training, Poliwag could barely manage to hit two floating balls in quick succession with two bursts of Water Gun.
"Poli, Poli," Poliwag, after training for three or four hours, was already exhausted. Without the benefit of soaking in seawater, it would have been difficult to even stay on land.
Ryan saw that Poliwag had been pushing through its exhaustion, but he didn't stop it. If it couldn't handle this small hardship, future training would only become harder, and it would be impossible for Poliwag to endure it.
Judging by today's training session, Poliwag's potential wasn't exceptional, and its use of moves was just average.
However, mediocrity doesn't mean Poliwag is dumb or slow. Mediocrity is normal.
Just like Ryan himself isn't a genius; he's just a fisherman wanting to live a quiet life, yet forced to train a rather ordinary Poliwag.
The only reassuring trait about Poliwag is its determination and persistence.
Poliwag's resilience is a direct result of Ryan's special training and encouragement, guiding Poliwag's focus and energy into its training.
In fact, the challenge of the two-hit combo lies in the second floating ball and the second Water Gun.
If the first Water Gun needs to be fast, then the second Water Gun needs to be even faster.
Only by perfecting the first Water Gun can all attention be shifted to the second one from the start.
By ensuring a 100% hit rate with the first shot, Ryan could then start calculating the timing for the second Water Gun and the trajectory of the floating ball.
Once the first and second Water Gun shots become reliable, the focus could shift to training for a third hit.
In fact, this is where the genius of Ash's Squirtle could be seen before it was captured by Ash.
The Water Gun training method Ryan was using was something he recalled from when Ash challenged a Gym in the Orange Islands, where Squirtle participated in a shooting competition at the Gym and tied with the Gym Leader's Pokémon.
These Gym Leaders often train their Pokémon professionally before allowing them to accept challenges, so for Squirtle to compete on their level was quite impressive.
Ryan had to admit, the show creators did a great job crafting such a strong Squirtle for Ash.
When Ryan watched the show in his previous life, he found Ash's approach to training quite inconsistent. Ash rarely trained his Pokémon outside of battles, and yet his Pokémon often improved through sheer force of will after each defeat.
This also led to the fact that about half of Ash's Gym Badges at the Indigo League were simply given to him by the Gym Leaders, and only a few were earned through actual battles.
At Cerulean Gym, for instance, the badge was given without a battle.
It was very unrealistic, but considering that Ash was the central character, allowances were made for him that couldn't be compared to the average trainer's journey...
After placing Poliwag back in the bucket to rest, Ryan lay down to recover from the afternoon. He had spent hours encouraging and coaching Poliwag, and he was quite tired.
Fortunately, the sun hadn't been out for long today, and the temperature wasn't too high, so he didn't break into a sweat.
"Speaking of the sun," Ryan muttered, glancing towards the sea. There was no sunset to be seen; instead, the sky was ominously dark. It seemed like it was going to rain again.
Just as he lay down, the thought of rain spurred him into action. He got up to fetch the bucket he had changed in the morning, just in case a downpour ruined everything. It was only a small bucket of water, but still a precaution worth taking.
On his way back, he spotted a few Caterpie on the trees and set down the bucket.
"Poliwag, it's time for dinner…"
"Poli, Poli," Poliwag had rested for a bit in the bucket and, although not fully recovered, still had enough energy to catch a Caterpie.
"Poliwag, knock out those Caterpie," Ryan said, pointing at the trees.
These Caterpie always seemed to gather at the edge of the jungle to avoid their natural predators, but catching them was a never-ending task.
There were very few flying Pokémon around, except for a few Wingull on the shore. Most of the island's flying Pokémon stayed deep in the jungle where resources were more abundant.
Ryan didn't know what kind of Pokémon ruled the island's center, but he often heard the roars of beasts and felt mild tremors.
The tremors weren't too strong, likely the result of Ground-type Pokémon using moves like Earthquake.
If Ground-types were truly present, then the island's center was probably rich in minerals. Ground, Rock, and Steel-type Pokémon typically inhabit areas where they can consume such resources.
But Ryan didn't have time to worry about such things. He could barely afford to feed Poliwag, let alone get involved with the island's more powerful Pokémon.
After catching a few Caterpie and checking the proficiency panel, which displayed an unremarkable 32% potential for Poliwag, Ryan returned to his temporary shelter to start cooking.
Poliwag was starving after the day's training, and Ryan needed to get dinner ready quickly. But the smell of their cooking soon attracted a group of uninvited guests.
Click click click click click click——
"Damn it, Krabby! Why are these thugs here?" Ryan cursed as he turned to see three Krabby approaching, waving their enormous red pincers.
Without a second thought, Ryan grabbed the Magikarp from the bucket and yelled at Poliwag to run into the woods with him.
"Poliwag, hurry!"
Boom boom boom——
"Damn it, they're throwing mud!" Ryan shouted as the Krabby used Mud Shot to attack. He glanced back to make sure Poliwag was following and saw it fire a Water Gun to counter the mud, knocking it aside and blocking many attacks.
"Forget about it, Poliwag, just run!"
The sounds of mud hitting trees and Water Gun blasts filled the air as they fled, with Ryan even losing one of his shoes in the chaos.
"Damn it, why are these Krabby here now? They haven't shown up for days, and now they come at dinner time?" Ryan realized something.
Were they here for the food?
"Poliwag, find a tree trunk to hide behind!" Ryan said after running about a hundred meters, ducking behind a tree for cover.
Finally, the sound of attacks ceased, and Ryan peered cautiously toward the camp. The Krabby hadn't followed. Instead, they were rummaging through the camp, knocking over the stew pot and snatching up the Caterpie that hadn't yet been cooked.
They had only come for the food after all.