Chapter 4: Training Montage

A month has passed by since Ethan has delved into the pokemon world. His daily routine of training under his grandfather has now fully integrated into his life.

Currently, its early around six in the morning, when the earliest pidgeys are just starting their days. And outside the fence of the research grounds of the Oak Laboratory, one will be able to see a six-year old kid trying running at a decent speed.

The boy has a height slightly below 4 feet. The last ounce of baby fat that was present on his body has disappeared. The boy was perspiring heavily and the thin t-shirt was sticking to his skin with sweat.

But taking a peek inside his mind will reveal a different story.

'What is that slave driver of gramps of mine thinking, I don't know? Telling me to run 5 laps every morning around the large research compound of his! One day, I will really strangle him to death!'

'At least, he did not tell me to cover the entire Oak Ranch that ran kilometers after kilometers.'

In the next moment, as if scolding himself, 'Don't jinx yourself, idiot!'

Completing the last lap, he drags his dead tired body to the house. Entering the shower, as the cool droplets of water graces his skin, he reminisces how quickly a month has passed.

In his studies, his grandfather has made him fully focused on the geography of the world and basic history, such as the establishment of the league and the major clans of each region, and finally about the food habits of various types of pokemon.

Every major region is governed by its own league, where the Champion is the official head. The elected Chairman of each Region handles the administrative duties. All the individual Leagues are under the Pokemon League whose Chairman is his grandfather's good friend, Charles Goodshaw.

Of course, there are places such as Orre and Almia in Kanto which do not fall under the Kanto League. The former being an independent territory where the Shadow Organization rules true to its name, from the shadows while the latter is still a Monarchy where the King reigns supreme.

That dead bat grandfather of his has forbade him to learn about pokemon movesets and battle strategies, telling him that before training a pokemon, one should be able to feed him properly.

Anyway today his grandfather has given him an off day from the studies and that old cot has also declared a rest on his psychic training. Because... TODAY HIS SISTER IS COMING HOME FROM HER SCHOOL.

Daisy Oak is taking a course on Pokemon Co-ordinating, otherwise had it been a trainer course, his Gramps wouldn't have allowed her to enroll in a school far from their home.

His sister is scheduled to arrive at around 10 in the morning. So, there's still some time left.

Exiting the house refreshed, as he trudged along the paved stone path meandering through the ranch, he couldn't help but recall his experiments with his cheat.

According to his grandfather, the most common pokemon found has a potential of Iron and some cases, Bronze. But in the ranch, he failed to spot even a single Iron potential pokemon. He mostly spotted Bronze pokemon with around 40% being of Silver potential with one or two Gold mixed in.

Just by imagining the wealth of the Oak Laboratories and that happy-go-lucky Grandfather of his by seeing the plethora of pokemon, he developed a cold sweat.

Then he remembered the day when he for the first time saw his Grandfather's Ace pokemon. When the massive frame of Smaug, Professors

Professor Oak's Dragonite first appeared, it felt as if the entire sky was overcast.

When it landed in front of the duo, his psychic senses were screaming at him to run at full speed with a 180 turn.

Standing at a whopping 14 feet 1 inch, almost double the regular Dragonite's height of 7'3", the towering pokemon was brimming with unimaginable power. Concentrating on it, when the status screen popped up, he involuntarily took a step back in shock. That freak of a pokemon had a potential of PSEUDO DIAMOND, touching upon the potential of legendaries.

Just who are the legendary pokemons!!! They are the living and breathing embodiment of the forces of Nature and his grandfather's pokemon has already touched upon that threshold of infinite power.

As a dragon on top of being a pseudo-legendary, it is bound to have a long lifespan. As a result, it has high chances of reaching the rank of legendary.

Feeling his gaze upon itself, it turned around and stared at him directly in his eyes. Refusing to back down, Gary stared back with all his strength. The pokemon squinted its eyes and let out a howl of dominance. The shockwaves from the howl thrust him off his feet and deposited him few feet behind.

Pushing up his body with ragged breathing, Gary refused to show a weakness. As if satisfied with his evaluation, Smaug turned to the Professor and gave an imperceptible nod.

Alas! Gary who was still reeling from the shock was unable to notice it.

Then it took off at a speed that appeared as a blur to the naked eye and flew towards the back mountains of Pallet Town leaving behind, a wake of destruction in the form of uprooted trees and cracked ground.

Then the master of that pokemon lent a hand to the staggering kid.

"That my dear grandson should teach you a lifelong lesson, 'Never ever stare into the eyes of a predator', did you understand?"

Committing the incident to his memory, his body shuddered and nodded quickly like a hen pecking a grain.

That was the first and last he had seen or heard of the freak pokemon of Gramps'. At that moment, he had vowed to himself to earn the recognition of Smaug.

On his way, he came across the field lab assistants who were studying the pokemons who typically wake up early. Greeting them with a nod of his head, he saw a group of red pokemons in the far distance taking their morning run. He recognized them as the pack of Samuel Oak's Arcanine with the beast leading the pack itself.

On the topic of assistants, the outer lab usually had 4 types of assistants, field assistants, junior lab assistants, senior lab assistants, and finally the trusted personal assistants of his grandfather.

Entering his grandfather's lab, he spotted him that man engrossed in his experiment struggling with an extra lively Pichu jumping around the room.

So, Gary took a seat in the quiet waiting lounge of the personal lab. Entering the state of piece of mind, he slowly stepped into his pyschic realm. Compared to a month ago, the blurry threads were clearer and the colours were more vivid. Coming out of the trance, he released a heavy sigh.

He was even after a day unable to decide his psychic path. So, he took Alakazam's advice. The old cot said to first clear up the visual clarity to a degree such that at least he could separate a thread of one colour from that of a different one and then try to touch the threads. One must be able to see the threads clearly to some degree to touch them. One can't touch something that one can't see clearly.

His visual clarity now has reached to a satisfactory limit. It is time to start approaching the threads to feel them with his appendages.

When he peered inside the lab again, his grandfather had already finished collecting data from the pokemon and had recalled the pokemon back and was clearing up the scattered documents on the floor. So, he pushed open the door and entered slowly to lend a hand to the old man.