Bang… Bang… Bang…
Golett was swinging its fists and smashing them against Bronzong's body. Bronzong used Iron Defense to defend itself and would not suffer much damage.
While defending, Bronzong kept retreating, while Golett advanced as it attacked. This was not to make Golett use great strength to attack, but to let it grasp the rhythm of attacking. It was also a kind of training for body coordination. Every punch would mobilize every part of its body, and Bronzong could completely handle Golett's attacks.
After organizing Ditto and Golett training, Tetsuya brought Piloswine to the Pokémon Center, the purpose naturally being to rent the Pokémon Center's move learning machine.
The move learning machines were also a technology monopolized by the League and several giant corporations. Only Gyms and large Pokémon Centers had such machines
The move learning machine was used together with TMs. Tetsuya had used it in Gyms several times before, both at Ecruteak Gym and Mahogany Gym. That was because of his special status that he had such opportunities.
Under normal circumstances, after buying a TM one still had to go to the Pokémon Center and pay to use it. The charging standard was calculated according to the playback duration of the TM, because all TMs were uniformly recorded by the League and each had a serial number. Therefore the playback time of every TM was clearly recorded.
The learning machines in the Pokémon Center all had a virtual enclosed space. Only one Trainer and one Pokémon could enter that space, so one TM could only be learned by one Pokémon.
The move learning machines in Gyms simply had that virtual enclosed space system manually removed by Gym Leaders to avoid trouble.
"Rest" and "Sleep Talk," these two moves complemented each other and could be learned at the same time. They were simply divided into two TMs, and one had to pay twice. Since the price of TMs was expensive, the cost of using the move learning machine was not considered "high". The two together cost five hundred Pokédollars.
Nurse Joy brought him to the room where the machine was placed and activated the virtual enclosed system. After Tetsuya and Piloswine entered, no other person or Pokémon could enter again.
Tetsuya first inserted the TM for "Rest." On the screen appeared a Snorlax.
The reason Rest could be called a move was naturally because it was very different from ordinary sleep. Otherwise, if moves like Hypnosis or Sleep Powder made the opponent fall Asleep, would that not also help the opponent restore energy/stamina/vitality?
Ordinary sleep meant that the entire body and mind entered sleep completely. Some people sleep so deeply that even Thunder would not wake them.
However, the move Rest made damaged cells in the body enter a dormant state to repair themselves.
Although it entered a sleeping state, there was still a trace of remaining consciousness. Therefore, when the cells finished repairing and the body condition was restored, the Pokémon could wake up smoothly.
Of course, an opponent in the Rest state could still be attacked. Because all energy was focused on repairing previous injuries, damage newly received during sleep would not be repaired.
The move Sleep Talk worked by "awakening" that faint remaining consciousness in a sleeping Pokémon to launch or use a move. Because the consciousness was blurred, it could not organize an effective attacking tactic, and could only rely on its own reactions to use the moves it was most familiar with.
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It took the entire morning to learn the two moves Rest and Sleep Talk. When they left, the two TMs were already useless.
It was noon. Tetsuya bought several bottles of Awakening Potion at the Pokémon Center and hurried back to Battle Park with Piloswine. If he was not there, no one would take care of Ditto and the others.
"Sigh…" Sure enough, when Tetsuya returned, Ditto and the others already looked starved.
After lunch and a short rest, they continued the morning's training.
Tetsuya brought Piloswine to the battle field next door.
"Alright! Piloswine, use Rest."
Piloswine nodded, lay down on the ground, and began to sleep soundly…
"Sleep Talk."
Tetsuya called out several times in succession, but Piloswine did not respond. Since Piloswine currently had no injuries, if it used the move Rest it should wake up very quickly.
However… after more than ten minutes Piloswine still had not woken up.
There was only one conclusion.
Piloswine had actually fallen asleep…
Tetsuya was very familiar with such a situation. He took out an Awakening Potion and successfully woke Piloswine, then made it run a lap around the training grounds to fully awaken its sleeping consciousness before using the move Rest again.
The move Rest seemed simple, just sleeping, but the difficulty of practicing it could only be understood by the Pokémon training it.
It should have been an ordinary sleep, yet it had to forcibly retain a trace of consciousness. If too much consciousness was retained, the body could not effectively recover. If one was careless, it would completely fall into normal sleep.
Although stamina would still recover, it would be difficult to wake up and Sleep Talk could not be used. It was even possible that the Pokémon would be defeated before it woke up.
The entire afternoon passed with Piloswine cycling through Rest, waking up, running to fully restore consciousness, and sleeping again.
However, the move Rest did not succeed even once!
Sometimes too much consciousness was retained and it could not enter sleep, and sometimes it simply fell directly into deep sleep.
After dinner, Ditto transformed into Golett and practiced exchanging punches. Although Bronzong was not Tetsuya's Pokémon, this day had been the most exhausting for it, being punched by Golett all day was certainly not pleasant.
What Tetsuya cared about most now was still Piloswine. After all, those two TMs could not be wasted, so he had to hurry and dominate these two moves.
He brought Piloswine directly back to the room and said, "Piloswine, carefully recall the key points of these two moves from the TMs.
Now start using Rest. I will not use Awakening on you anymore. In short, you sleep and wake up by yourself. When you wake up, continue sleeping. Only when the time it takes to fall asleep becomes shorter and shorter will you be closer to dominating Rest."
Piloswine nodded and lay down once again, entering sleep. The essence of the move Rest was truly difficult to grasp. Compared with many attacking and defensive moves, learning this move was far more difficult.
However, it also had an advantage. Once Rest was learned, it could immediately function. Unlike attack and defense moves, which still required a long process from learning them to using them skillfully.
Take Golett for example. It knew so many moves but could not yet use any of them in battle. It still had a long way to go before dominating them.
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Just one thing. In this book and in this world, learning moves from TMs isn't as simple as "I used it once, now I can pull it off perfectly every single time". The setup is more like having a guide that points you in the right direction and helps you take the first step. Sure, you've technically "learned" it, but let's say the muscle memory isn't there yet.
With training, a Pokémon can reach the point where it pulls it off flawlessly 10 out of 10. Since this world doesn't really have "levels" or "hierarchies", a Pokémon's potential is also shown in how fast it can truly "master" a move.
And ohhh boy… our MC has some… ridiculously strict, requirements for what counts as a move being "mastered and learned". I think by now we all know his personality, so don't be surprised when Tetsuya says (or insists) that the Pokémon aren't "ready" yet to fight or use certain freshly learned moves.