[Stone Bridge Clinic — 46 Patients]
[Dashiwan Valley Clinic — 53 Patients]
The Stone Bridge Clinic primarily served the small river outside Pallet Town, as well as its downstream estuary and nearby coastal waters. Meanwhile, the Dashiwan Valley Clinic catered to the grasslands outside Pallet Town and the Pokémon inhabiting Viridian Forest.
Compared to the crowded lands, the vast oceans provided wild Pokémon with far larger territories. Food and territory disputes were less frequent, and with the clinic itself being established along one section of the river outside Pallet Town, the number of Pokémon seeking treatment there was naturally lower.
By contrast, the Dashiwan Valley Clinic was located directly outside Viridian Forest, where territorial conflicts occurred frequently. Consequently, far more Pokémon came there seeking Ash's treatment each day.
Overall, Ash would conduct consultations once in the morning and once more after returning from Viridian City in the evening. Together, the two clinics treated an average of two hundred patients daily. Adding the three hundred patients seen each afternoon through the online clinic, Ash treated approximately five hundred injured or sick Pokémon every single day.
Yet despite treating an average of five hundred Pokémon daily, his Viridian Power still wasn't enough to gain even a single level.
That alone demonstrated just how enormous the amount of experience required for leveling his Viridian Power had become.
Fortunately, Ash wasn't anxious about it. He understood that becoming stronger was a process of continuous accumulation. Moreover, he had plenty of time, so he remained remarkably calm and patient.
More importantly, he genuinely loved Pokémon.
Healing sick and injured Pokémon and helping them free themselves from pain and suffering was, in itself, something that brought Ash great joy and fulfillment.
...
After treating all the Pokémon gathered at both clinics, Ash returned to the main road and rode his bicycle home with his two Pokémon companions.
After helping the Pokémon sent over by Melanie for the online Move Shop learn their assigned moves and helping Pikachu and the others wash up and clean themselves, Ash finally took a shower himself before returning to the living room to spend some time chatting with his mother while watching television.
Afterward, he made video calls to Misty, who wasn't by his side, and Serena, whom he hadn't seen since they parted ways, to nurture their long-distance relationships.
Misty: "(△△)..."
Serena: "(???)..."
...
By the time he finished talking with his two girlfriends, Ash had already returned to his room upstairs.
Sitting down at the desk beside the window, he opened his notebook and began revising Venusaur's future training regimen now that it had finally evolved into its final form earlier that day.
At the same time, he began outlining his plans for researching Greninja's Bond Evolution now that its combat capabilities had fully matured, as well as developing his own Rasengan combat techniques.
This was the daily life of a professional Pokémon Trainer.
If he wasn't training his Pokémon, he was on his way to train them.
Any Trainer who believed that a Pokémon Trainer's daily life consisted primarily of challenging others to battles was undoubtedly an amateur.
~
The first task at hand was adjusting Venusaur's training plan following its recent evolution.
After evolving from Ivysaur into Venusaur, its body weight had increased nearly tenfold.
Although Ash had never restricted Bulbasaur or Ivysaur's use of their speed during battle, he had never specifically included speed-focused training in their daily regimen either. Now that Venusaur's weight had increased tenfold, it might seem as though there wasn't much that needed changing in its training program.
In reality, however, there was quite a lot that needed to change.
First and foremost, Venusaur needed to settle its mindset and become more composed in battle. It had to learn to fight like a heavyweight—a true powerhouse that possessed both immense bulk and tremendous resilience.
It needed to understand what it had lost through evolution and what it had gained in return. Compared to its previous self, what were its strengths now? What were its weaknesses? How should it approach future battles? How could it avoid exposing its shortcomings while maximizing its advantages?
As Venusaur's Trainer, Ash needed to possess a clear understanding of all these things before his Pokémon did.
His understanding didn't need to be absolutely perfect, but a Trainer should always remain one step ahead of their Pokémon in terms of awareness and planning.
Only then could he properly guide his Pokémon to develop the same understanding, help it adapt to its changing circumstances, and make the necessary adjustments and improvements.
That was both a Trainer's responsibility and obligation.
At the same time, it was a form of self-cultivation for Trainers themselves—constantly maintaining the correctness and advancement of their own understanding.
When Pokémon choose to follow a Trainer, perhaps it begins because of appearances.
But as time passes, admiration inevitably grows from talent and ultimately deepens into appreciation for one's character.
Pokémon don't follow Trainers merely to become beasts of burden. They seek better growth through their Trainer's wisdom and strength, while Trainers themselves grow alongside their Pokémon in return. It is, ultimately, a mutually beneficial relationship.
Of course, if neither side possesses such aspirations—if a Pokémon merely wishes to secure a lifelong meal ticket and a doting caretaker, while the Trainer simply desires a lovable pet to pamper—then that is an entirely different matter.
Returning to the topic of Venusaur's future development—
Because Ash had never specifically trained Ivysaur's speed in the first place, there wasn't much that needed to change regarding its daily training routine. The primary adjustments would instead lie in its battle style and combat philosophy.
With Venusaur's body weight increasing tenfold and its speed decreasing substantially, the greatest changes brought about by these two attributes would naturally manifest in its methods of combat and fighting style.
Simply put, it would transition into a true Magic Tank.
Fortunately, changes in combat style didn't require drastic alterations to its training regimen. Rather, they required changes in understanding and mindset. Once Venusaur fully comprehended these changes, it could gradually adapt and refine its battle style through practical experience.
In truth, Ash had already envisioned Bulbasaur's future role as a Magic Tank from the very day he first captured it.
Now that Ivysaur had finally evolved into Venusaur, its development as a true Magic Tank had only just begun.
"Although Venusaur possesses all the natural qualities of a Magic Tank, becoming a Pokémon capable of standing proudly on its own won't be easy."
"After all, Venusaur is a dual-type Grass and Poison Pokémon."
"Grass-type moves possess relatively poor offensive coverage. Their damage is resisted by numerous types and they're weak against a total of five attributes—Bug, Poison, Fire, Ice, and Flying."
"Its secondary Poison typing eliminates two of Grass's weaknesses—Poison and Bug—but in exchange introduces two new weaknesses: Ground and Psychic."
"Taking everything into account, while Venusaur's STAB attacks are resisted by many different types, it still retains four major weaknesses—Fire, Ice, Flying, and Psychic."
The path of becoming an indomitable Magic Tank would undoubtedly be a long one.
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