In the morning, after breakfast as usual, everyone started their drills.

Skinny's Pokémon trained with the group too, except his Poliwhirl, which he assigned to do Waterfall sprints. The rest kept practicing their accuracy.

Reiji's Poliwhirl had an injured arm, so it skipped morning training and just watched the others.

Reiji also didn't run this morning—only Skinny jogged. Reiji took out the incubator to charge it, then gently wiped down the egg's shell.

Today was day nine of incubation; in six more days he'd know whether this egg was a Spearow.

After wiping it, he put the egg back into the incubator and called Poliwhirl to the front gate.

Seeing them leave the yard, Skinny stopped jogging and, curious, followed them outside to see what Reiji was up to.

"Poliwhirl, what's your current Waterfall burst distance cap? Give me a few reps," Reiji asked once they were outside.

"Yobo, yobo." Poliwhirl immediately started doing Waterfall bursts across the grass.

"Okay, that's enough." After three burst steps, Reiji pulled out a tape and measured the start–end points of each takeoff and landing.

Skinny, plus Kingler, Rhyhorn, Farfetch'd, and Skinny's Poliwhirl, all paused to watch him measure.

Under their eyes, Reiji finished measuring the three burst distances. Each was about four meters, with less than ten centimeters of variance.

He figured four meters was basically Poliwhirl's current limit; more jogging wouldn't help much. Time to raise the difficulty.

After a moment's thought, he told the others to resume training and brought Poliwhirl back inside.

"Big Bro Reiji, is there something wrong with Poliwhirl's Waterfall?" Skinny asked—he'd been learning Waterfall and perked up at anything related.

"No problem. Jogging has just taken it as far as it can go."

"Cap… four meters?" Skinny didn't quite get "cap."

"I mean jogging can't compress the burst distance any further. We need to increase the difficulty."

"Oh—so we should add weights for Poliwhirl?" Skinny said.

"Right." After more than a week of running, they'd only shaved a meter off the burst span. He didn't know when running would stop helping entirely; once Poliwhirl healed, it'd be time to add weights.

Only weighted training would keep compressing the Waterfall burst distance—and speed it up.

But he figured weights would top out around two to three meters of compression. Once weights stopped helping, it'd be time for some "black tech":

Keep the weights on and add artificial Gravity—2×, 3×, even 4×…

Only under Gravity would burst intervals keep shrinking. If he could push that interval down to one meter, then release Gravity… he couldn't even imagine how terrifying Poliwhirl's burst would be.

"Don't rush it, Skinny. Wait until your Poliwhirl hits its cap, then add weights." Reiji patted his shoulder. It was too early to stress over this.

After calming him, Reiji packed up the charging incubator and started his own drills.

Skinny noted it all down—just like Grandpa had told him yesterday not to rush Poliwhirl's evolution: whether weights or evolution, both were still early. He resumed his jog.

Morning practice wrapped up quickly. For some reason, Chubbs didn't show. After lunch, everyone napped.

When he woke, Reiji packed up and recalled the Pokémon—he was heading to the department complex to find tutors for Rhyhorn and Kingler to learn new moves.

Hearing that, Skinny also decided to stop training and go find his grandpa to ask about gems and held items.

Just as they were heading out, Chubbs arrived and, before even stepping in, shouted, "Skinny, I've got my third Pokémon!"

"Chubbs, what is it?" Skinny walked out with his backpack.

"Shroomish. I had my dad buy it." Chubbs proudly showed off the Poké Ball.

Knowing Skinny had a Breloom, he figured Shroomish was basically the same thing—just unevolved.

"Oh, Shroomish." Skinny's interest waned; he already had one, and evolved at that.

"Huh? Where are you two going?" Chubbs noticed their packs.

"We're heading into the city. Wanna come?" Skinny asked.

"Aw, I just got here…" Chubbs deflated. He'd rushed over after picking up Shroomish—but not too fast; he'd skipped morning runs out of laziness, hence the bad timing.

"Enough chatter—let's grab a cab," Reiji said, locking the door. The three of them headed to the road and waved one down.

Skinny and Chubbs chatted the whole ride and got off at the Sailors' Bar so Skinny could find his grandpa. Reiji split for the department complex, saying he'd swing by the bar later.

At the complex, Reiji went straight to the third floor, into the TM shop, and asked for the owner.

He'd only popped in briefly last time; the owner likely wouldn't remember yet another forgettable face, with so many customers daily.

"Boss, I'm looking for tutors: Rhyhorn/Rhydon that can teach High Horsepower, and Krabby/Kingler-line that can teach Swords Dance and Iron Defense."

"Looking for teachers? You want a guaranteed-pass package, or the cheap option?" the owner asked.

"Guaranteed, as fast as possible," Reiji said.

"Guaranteed costs more. Each veteran tutor sets their own rates…"

"Money's not an issue," Reiji waved. He had plenty of it.

"Here are two addresses. Go straight there. Both tutors charge fairly—no funny business."

"Thanks." Reiji took the slips and left.

The owner didn't charge a finder's fee here, but someone would—there was clearly a kickback system. Reiji guessed it was per head: send a student, get paid.

He didn't care about the backroom game. If it was too expensive, he'd just walk.

He hailed a cab to the first address—the Rhyhorn tutor. The car kept going out to the north edge of the city. It was remote: no high-rises, just low wooden houses by the forest.

The slip pointed to a cabin near the trees. No one at the gate; inside the yard, two Rhyhorn were dozing.

Seemed right. He stepped up and knocked.

Knock, knock, knock—knock, knock, knock.

"Who is it?"

The voice inside was old and raspy—an old man, by the sound of it.

"I'm here on Tavern Boss referral," Reiji said—exactly as the shop owner told him to.

"That old man sent you? Which move does your Pokémon need?" A gray-haired old man opened up, saw a young trainer, and asked.

"My Rhyhorn wants to learn High Horsepower. How do you charge?" Reiji asked, already thinking: if it wasn't absurd, he'd pay—easier than struggling alone.

He'd shown the disc to Rhyhorn several times; the big lug still hadn't learned the move. Pure video teaching clearly wasn't enough.

Like Kingler's Agility—it took ages to learn. He didn't want to wait again. Time to open a path with money.

"Non-guaranteed: 20,000. Guaranteed pass: 50,000," the old man said after giving Reiji a once-over.

"Deal. Here's 50,000." Reiji handed over the cash. Fifty times a TM's sticker price—tutoring was a gold mine.

Maybe the discs were deliberately poor to herd trainers to tutors—and the profit.

"You're straightforward. I'll see to it your Rhyhorn learns High Horsepower this afternoon," the old man said, beaming as he pocketed the money. "Send it out."

"This is my Rhyhorn. Please take care of it." Reiji released the big lug.

Rhyhorn came out with a yawn, still sleepy, and clomped over to another Rhyhorn's water basin for a huge drink—splashing the other two, earning their glares.

"Haha, sorry." Reiji recalled his Rhyhorn again before it caused trouble.

"So this is the one… I'll do my best. If it doesn't click today, come back tomorrow—until it does," the old man said, a touch noncommittal after seeing the big goof.

"No problem—teach however you see fit." Reiji scratched his head, a little embarrassed that all of Rhyhorn's talent seemed to have gone to its muscles, not its brain.

"Out you come, Rhydon," the old man said, sending his own. He had Reiji release Rhyhorn again.

"Rhyhorn, no messing around this time. Learn properly from your senior. If you don't, no dinner tonight. If you do, you get this…" Reiji took out a Mineral Lure chunk and coaxed.

"Hrrr? Really?" One sniff and Rhyhorn lunged, only for Reiji to hold the treat high so it whiffed.

"Go on—earn it." Reiji gave the lug a firm kick. With hide that thick, it wouldn't hurt.

Thinking of the prize, Rhyhorn happily trotted after Rhydon into the woods.

Watching them go, the old man poured tea for Reiji, and they sat under the eaves to chat.

They shot the breeze—Reiji tried to probe whether personal guidance alone would work. The old man said to let the two get acquainted first.

After a while, the old man stood. He was off to check on progress in the woods.

When Reiji offered to tag along, the old man refused: "My tutoring methods are secret. No spectators."

Reiji let it go—then quietly sent Pelipper into the air to tail the old man and watch Rhyhorn's lesson from above.

[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]

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