14 12. Military Man?!

It was a bright summers day with the sun shining down, it was the peak of the day and the temperature was about 30c (86f). the Miltank still lazed about in the fields with the occasional Tauros scattered about keeping a watch on the surroundings. At the top of a hill enjoying the shade provided by the large tree at its top was a young boy relaxing against the tree. This was naturally Robert and it's been 3 months since that day he first patted Stephanie's Snubbull. During those three months, he made massive progress and his fear of Pokémon was almost completely under control.

Even more surprising was that since that day it got a lot easier to use his ability to see the talent of Pokémon. He still needed to focus a bit on one Pokémon but this was already a lot better. He felt that he could improve more but something seemed to be blocking any more progress and he had a feeling he knew what it was. His soul and body still weren't totally in sync. It seems to have improved after that day he told his sisters his story. He's pretty sure the closer syncing of his body and soul helped him advance his skill and control his fear, but it still wasn't perfect.

The biggest shock he got was that he seemed to have gained a new skill, although it didn't always work. Sometimes he seemed to be able to feel when something was close to him, almost like a sonar for living things. He couldn't tell if it was a person or Pokémon, all he could tell was if something was close and its general location.

This "sensing" ability of his was rather difficult to use and more often than not it didn't work at all. He was sure this also had to do with the problem of his body and soul not meshing completely. Robert hoped his theory that when he hits puberty that his soul and body will finally link up perfectly is right. Otherwise, he really won't know what to do about this issue. All he could do for now is wait and work on other things.

For now, he's been working on getting his fear under control and torturing, cough cough training his sisters. At first, Stephanie and Sasha were overjoyed when Robert said he was going to help them train their Pokémon and battling skills. They thought it was just an excuse to spend more time with them, they soon discovered otherwise.

As it turns out Robert was even more Spartan at teaching than his mother. He was extremely strict. First was a physical exercise for the trainers and stats training for the Pokémon. The Pokémon focused training up one stat a day and changed to a different stat every day. After six days of physical training, Robert gave them the day to rest.

At first, the girls complained about the level of difficulty for their Snubbull. They didn't need to train every stat but should focus more on the ones that they raise faster. Robert simply snorted and said any less would be a waste of light silver grade talent. Seeing he wouldn't budge on that they could only leave their Snubbull to their fate, they also knew that Robert was right they just couldn't bear to be so strict with them.

Then they tried complaining about their fitness routine. At least they could understand the Pokémon but why did they have to train. Robert quickly shut them down with a question. "what will you do if you are out in the woods and wild a Pokémon decides to attack you instead of your Pokémon?" the girls were both smart and figured out what Robert was trying to say.

There was no guarantee that a wild Pokémon would wait for you to send out you're Pokémon before battling, even if you had your Pokémon next to you, who said it had to attack your Pokémon first. Pokémon aren't dumb and know which of the two would be an easier target. After hearing about Roberts story, they also knew that wild Pokémon wasn't all they had to worry about. they had to at least make sure they weren't a burden. The girls quickly stopped complaining and did their exercises.

Even more surprising was that Robert did it right beside them and barely broke a sweat. Robert was surprised as well, he just wanted to exercise a little as preparation for when he is ready for a Pokémon. He always knew he was a little stronger and fitter than most kids his age. Because of his overdeveloped soul, his body was always playing catch up to try and sync to his soul. Not to mention that his soul was a little different from normal to begin with. It would appear that he had underestimated just how much stronger it was as he never really tested his limits before.

Sasha and Stephanie looked as Robert seemed to get through the physical training so easily compared to them. They didn't want to be outdone and left behind by their little brother, so they gritted their teeth and put in more effort. The Snubbull seeing their trainers work so hard also put in extra effort in their training.

On the seventh day when the Snubbull rested, it was time for the girls to study battle theory. Whenever the girls complained saying they wanted a break too Robert always said "of course you have to work harder, you're Pokémon put their trust and faith in you so you have to make sure that you are the best trainer for them. Anyway, it's our brains we are exercising now not our bodies, so our bodies are resting". The girls could only sulk that Robert didn't know how to be kinder to girls. All that ever achieved was a disdainful snort and then the lesson continued.

This all went well until after the first month when the basics were done, then Robert noticed a problem. He didn't really know what exercises to do. He knew what needed to be done just not the process to do it in. after a week of not being able to figure out a solution he finely decided to ask for help. They have been doing their training in their little clearing, so no one had seen what they were doing. Robert didn't want to hide it from everyone, he was just worried that their parents might stop them worried they would get hurt.

That night he confessed to his parents what they had been doing that past month. To his surprise, they weren't in trouble but scolded for not coming to them sooner. As it turns out this was always something Dennis was supposed to do when the kids turned 10. He just couldn't bear to be so strict with his precious little daughters. Mariah never bothered to make it happen either as both girls hadn't shown much interest in being trainers before now.

The next day Dennis followed the kids to their little clearing and started to instruct them on proper ways of training for them and their Pokémon. Robert had to admit that while what they did in that first month wasn't completely useless, it by far paled in comparison to the methods Dennis knew. After a month of Dennis overseeing their training and the obvious improvements, Robert couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked his father where he learnt all this. The reply he got was quite shocking "well I spent a lot of years in the military, so I learnt everything I know about Pokémon and how to train them from there".

Since when does the Pokémon world have a military! Maybe this world is more different than the one he knew than he thought