Two more days passed, and they found themselves at the foot of Mt. Chimney.

  This marked Torii's eighth day and night since arriving here.

  A day prior, Swablu had fully completed its basic training and learned the principles of the Natural Gift move.

  Currently, Swablu's Peck move could chip the wooden stake, and if switched to "Fury Attack" mode, it could use the Peck move 3-5 times in a row, with each attack averaging around 40%-60% of the power of a regur Peck.

  As for Agility, Swablu still couldn't control it well, let alone Tackle in high-speed mode. However, Torii never expected Swablu to rely on this move with its small body.

  Feather Dance, its inherited move, was decent.

  And Natural Gift, although Swablu had learned it, it inevitably wasted two energy Berries Torii had prepared during the initial two attempts.

  ............

  "Little guy, are you sure you want it as your opponent?"

  Standing before Torii and Swablu was a Lotad searching for clean water.

  Torii hadn't seen this Pokémon nearby before. It probably accidentally wandered into this area. Lotad rarely walked on the ground, usually floating on the water surface of ponds and kes. However, if they lost their water source and their leaves withered, they would weaken and immediately search for new clean water sources, occasionally moving on nd.

  If Torii wasn't mistaken, this Lotad was probably lost.

  "Cheep~~~" Swablu hesitated for a moment, then chirped affirmatively.

  "Okay, I'll go communicate." Taking out some clean water from the ke from his backpack, Torii parted the grass and walked up to Lotad.

  Torii's method was simple: promise clean water and lead Lotad to find a ke in exchange for a battle between it and Swablu. The process was simple and smooth. Although it was a bit wary at first, Lotad happily agreed after Torii offered the water source.

  "Are you ready?" Torii looked up at Swablu, who had already flown overhead, and asked.

  At the same time, Lotad had regained its energy under Torii's bottle of clean water and was full of energy.

  After making eye contact, Torii could tell that both Pokémon were eager to try.

  "Looks like they're ready. Let's start the battle then." Torii revealed a surprised expression, not expecting Lotad to be a battle enthusiast. It seemed like Swablu could have a satisfying battle this time.

  After arriving at an open space and making some rough preparations, Torii had the two Pokémon stand on opposite sides of the field.

  "The battle will start after this stone hits the ground, so pay attention." After expining to Lotad, Torii pointed to the stone in his hand and made a throwing motion. After Lotad understood and nodded, Torii stepped aside and threw the stone into the air.

  The stone rose slowly, and after reaching a critical point, it fell rapidly!

  "Thud!" With a sound, the stone hit the ground. After hearing the sound, Lotad immediately unched an attack, its body radiating a blue light as it spat out a swarm of bubbles!

  Facing the numerous and chaotic bubbles, Swablu didn't panic. It was no longer the little guy who fought Wurmple a few days ago.

  Calmly watching the bubbles, this was the first thing Torii taught Swablu: learn to remain calm in the face of danger, trust the Trainer, and await the Trainer's commands.

  Swablu executed it well. Even with the bubbles approaching, it didn't actively dodge or attack. Swablu knew that it would be fighting as Torii's Pokémon in this battle, not fighting alone, so it was waiting for Torii's orders!

  The three major factors that determined victory in Pokémon battles were the Trainer's commands, the Pokémon's strength, and external factors. Torii temporarily ignored the external factors. Commanding was his job, and the Pokémon's strength included not only the superficial meaning of strength, but also battle awareness, judgment, and reaction.

  In battle, in the face of some special situations, the Trainer might be affected, causing command orders to be issued too te, and so on! At this time, the Pokémon's own prediction of the battle situation would become apparent. There was a great difference between a Pokémon that would only wait bnkly for the Trainer's commands and a Pokémon that had its own subjective battle awareness, but followed the Trainer's commands, fighting from both inside and outside the situation, and could understand the Trainer's meaning and execute it perfectly at or even before the Trainer's orders were issued, achieving a unity of mind with the Trainer. The difference in strength was immediately apparent.

  Torii hoped to cultivate Swablu into a Pokémon that trusted the Trainer's commands, but also possessed rich battle awareness.

  This training required a deep bond, trust, and understanding between the Trainer and the Pokémon. The road was still long, and Torii wasn't eager to succeed, and everything had to start from scratch.

  "Fury Attack!"

  With a decisive order, Swablu immediately understood Torii's meaning. White light flickered at its beak. Facing the approaching bubbles, it didn't flinch and began to charge in the direction with the fewest and most sparse bubbles.

  "Pop! Pop! Pop!"

  Three bubbles were burst in a row, and Swablu flew towards Lotad with unstoppable momentum.

  The light on its beak didn't fade. At this moment, Swablu attacked from the air, wanting to directly solve Lotad with the Peck move. But Lotad didn't sit still and wait for death, and directly unched a green light simir to vines, wanting to entangle the flying Swablu.

  Absorb!

  The energy vines filled with green light were covered with countless small holes. If entangled, Swablu's stamina would be continuously absorbed.

  Therefore, Torii issued a retreat command.

  "Fly back into the air."

  Hearing this, Swablu hurriedly cancelled its attack and quickly flew back into the air, barely dodging Absorb.

  However, Lotad's movements didn't stop. From the connection of Lotad's moves, Torii knew that Lotad had some battle experience, unlike Swablu.

  "Poof poof~"

  More and more powerful bubbles than before were blown out, and instantly flew towards Swablu in the air at an extremely orderly angle. Bubble Beam, which could also be said to be the advanced move of the Bubble move, was cleverly used by Lotad at this time.

  "There's no choice, dodge with Agility." Shaking his head, Swablu had limited ways to avoid this move at its current stage. Immature Agility had instead become the most practical one.

  Compared to decent dodging, Swablu's movements were very agile in the Agility state. With a "swoosh," it jumped over the range of the bubble sweep. Swablu was fortunate this time. Although it didn't control the high-speed state well, it at least didn't hit an obstacle, and just stopped with lingering fear.