The next morning, Gladion decided to begin his day with something that had become increasingly rare for him during his travels.
He gathered his entire team together for a proper bonding and training session in his Gym's Ranch.
Gladion stood in front of them with his arms folded, looking over the newer members of his team before his eyes settled on Drapion, Abomasnow, the Alpha Bagon.
"Before any of you enter your first official match, I am going to give each of you a proper name," he explained.
"You are going to be fighting alongside Pokémon that already have years of experience with me, so I want each of you to have an identity of your own before you step into the battlefield. Until then, you are going to train, learn how I battle, and learn how my other Pokemon fight."
His eyes eventually settled on Riolu, who was standing slightly apart from the others.
The Fighting type had already grown considerably since joining Gladion, and there was no doubt that evolution was within his reach.
Gladion could feel it whenever they trained together. Riolu could probably evolve whenever he truly wanted.
However, Gladion had deliberately prevented that from happening for now. "And you are going to remain a Riolu for a little longer," Gladion said, looking directly at him.
"I know you are capable of evolving, and I know you want to become stronger, but I want you to understand something first. Evolution is not simply about becoming stronger. I want you to develop your fighting style and your confidence before you make that choice. When you finally evolve, I want it to happen because you are ready, not because you think you need a bigger body to win battles."
Riolu crossed his arms and looked away, clearly unhappy with the decision, but Gladion could tell from the slight movement of his ears that he understood.
Frogadier stood nearby with his arms folded, pretending that he was not particularly interested in any of this. His expression carried the same stubborn attitude he had shown ever since joining Gladion's team.
He was still very much a Tsundere, constantly acting as though he did not care while becoming strangely competitive whenever Gladion praised another Pokémon.
Gladion glanced at him and smiled. "And before you start complaining, Frogadier, yes, this applies to you as well. You have improved considerably, but you still have a habit of thinking that every battle needs to be won by yourself. You are part of a team now, and learning how to work with everyone else is just as important as learning new moves."
Frogadier turned his head away with an exaggerated huff, as though the entire speech was beneath him, but his eyes briefly shifted toward Gladion before he looked away again.
Then Gladion stepped aside and gestured toward Guy. The Machamp was already smiling. That smile immediately made several members of the team nervous.
"Today, Guy is going to take over your physical training," Gladion announced.
The reaction was almost immediate. All his older Pokemon took a couple steps back confusing the new members.
Riolu's ears had dropped. Even Frogadier, who normally tried to act too proud to be afraid of anything, took one careful step backward.
Gladion noticed all of it and struggled to keep a straight face. "I see that some of you have already realized what that means."
Guy stepped forward enthusiastically, all four arms raised as if he had just been given the greatest responsibility in the world. [My young warriors, today I shall guide you toward the glorious path of physical strength! We shall run until your legs become stronger than steel, perform push ups until the earth itself respects your determination, and train your bodies until even the most powerful opponents tremble when they see you approaching!]
Drapion slowly turned toward Gladion. The expression on his face clearly asked whether he could return to his Poké Ball.
Gladion shook his head. "Unfortunately, no."
Abomasnow looked at Guy, then at Gladion, and then back at Guy.
The Alpha Bagon was not nearly as intimidated. In fact, the young dragon seemed excited by the challenge. He puffed out his chest and took a confident step forward, apparently believing that his Alpha status meant he would naturally be the strongest member of the group.
Guy noticed him immediately.
[Excellent! I see that we have an Alpha among us who possesses tremendous confidence. That is wonderful, because confidence will be extremely useful when you are running your first ten kilometers!]
The Alpha Bagon's expression changed. He looked at Gladion. Gladion simply smiled.
The Bagon's confidence visibly decreased.
"Do not look at me like that," Gladion said, laughing. "You wanted to become stronger, did you not? This is how you start."
Guy clapped his hands together loudly. [Then let us begin with warm up exercises! Everyone will start with a long run around the training field, followed by push ups, squats, jumps, and strength exercises. Nobody will stop until I say that the session is finished!]
Guy blew an imaginary whistle and pointed toward the track. [Everyone move!]
The entire group of dozen Pokemon started running including the senior members of his team.
The ground shook as Collosus, Zeus, Arsenal and Rocky also ran.
Several laps later, the expressions of the Pokémon had changed completely.
After the running came push ups, Squats and another half a dozen excercises.
Gladion watched quietly. The training was exhausting, but that was exactly what he wanted. These Pokémon were going to become part of his core team, and he needed them to understand that raw power was not enough.
They needed stamina, discipline, teamwork, and the ability to keep fighting when their bodies became tired.
Once the physical training finally ended, the Pokémon collapsed across the training field.
Guy stood proudly in front of them.
Gladion laughed as he approached them. "You all survived. That is something to be proud of."
Gladion smiled. "I will look through all of you new guys movesets today. Tomorrow, we are going to work on teaching you new moves and improving the ones you already know. Once I understand exactly what each of you can do, I will start planning how you fit into my Gym battles."
-----Author Notes------
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