"Feel free to do whatever you want with them. These two guys are both stubborn anyway," Red explained helplessly to Bruno, telling him to freely order around Ash and Brock since Red didn't feel sorry for them.
After all, Red had already advised Ash and Brock from the beginning, but these two were still obsessing over the so-called shortcut "great secret technique" and wouldn't listen to advice. Red had no choice but to let Bruno properly teach these two stubborn fools a lesson.
'Looks like I won't have to waste energy going hungry this time...'
Although temporarily unable to understand Red's intention, Bruno still couldn't help but show a happy smile, feeling pleased about the two "tool people" he was about to acquire.
At this moment, Ash and Brock were still waiting nervously. Due to Bruno's "dignity" as one of the Elite Four, neither Ash nor Brock dared to rashly approach, afraid of angering Bruno.
So Ash and Brock couldn't hear Red and Bruno's conversation clearly, and both mistakenly thought Red was "requesting" Bruno to help train them.
'Big brother, you really are my good big brother...'
Ash looked gratefully at Red, who was willing to "request" Bruno for the sake of his strength improvement. He almost shed tears of emotion and felt guilty about his recent laziness.
'I should have known better than to disappoint big brother like that...'
"Is this your brother? Although they look quite similar, I somehow feel something's not quite right..." Bruno looked at Ash, who was full of emotion, with a puzzled expression, wondering what was wrong with him, then turned to look at the embarrassed Red.
'These days, people get this excited just from helping others cook?!'
"It's nothing. This kid acts foolish quite often. I'm used to it by now," Red joked, telling Bruno not to mind and to just properly "train" the two's willpower.
After delegating the task, Red chose to leave, planning to first let his massive Steelix go "challenge" the new generation giant Onix king of this area, wanting to use this to temper its strength.
After all, the new generation giant Onix might be captured by Bruno, so Red had his massive Steelix go "train" beforehand. It would also be an interesting memory.
Of course, Red wasn't "deliberately" targeting Bruno; it was purely a whimsical idea.
Red took out a Poké Ball to recall the patiently waiting massive Steelix, then used Teleport and disappeared on the spot, as if he had never been there.
Ash's trio was already used to this, but Bruno was stunned for a moment, not understanding what had happened.
"What a convenient ability," Bruno commented after recovering.
After Red left, Bruno also pretentiously turned and left, not deliberately having Ash's group follow him, to avoid having his true purpose discovered by them.
A moment later, Bruno, who was walking on a small path returning to his dwelling cave, turned around with a "surprised" expression to look at Ash's trio, who had followed.
"Why did you follow me?" Bruno asked knowingly.
"Well, we..." Ash said awkwardly, frozen in place, not knowing what to do.
"Master Bruno!"
Fortunately, Brock nearby reacted, and he nervously knelt before Bruno while pointing at Ash beside him.
"This kid is going to participate in the Indigo League soon. Although he's stupid and reckless, he's a very earnest person. Please teach him the great secret technique. I'm willing to do anything!"
"Brock, you really are Ash's good friend..."
Red, who had left, was watching from a distance. Seeing Brock willing to kneel before Bruno for Ash's strength improvement, he felt a bit of admiration for Brock.
"Ash, you should come ask together too!" Brock suggested.
Hearing this, Ash was about to kneel before Bruno, but Bruno suddenly felt a killing intent.
Bruno immediately straightened his attitude and rushed to Ash, helping him up before he could kneel.
"Alright, alright, I've already felt your sincerity. If you're really willing to do anything, then follow me."
"We're willing! Please take care of us!"
Both Ash and Brock said sincerely.
A moment later, Ash's trio came to a clear stream, working hard to carry several buckets of clear water for Bruno.
"What does carrying water have to do with the great secret technique?" Misty complained, not understanding why the two were so excited about helping Bruno carry water.
"I've seen in movies that carrying water is used as muscle training in many martial arts schools," Brock explained.
"Worthy of being a big brother. It seems Master Bruno really does want to teach me the great secret technique."
Ash said excitedly, feeling increasingly guilty toward Red, not expecting his proud older brother to actually "humble himself" to Bruno for his strength.
Thinking this, Ash carelessly almost tripped over a small stone at his feet. Fortunately, he steadied himself in time but accidentally spilled all the water from both buckets he was gripping onto Misty's face.
Ash looked awkwardly at the speechless Misty and apologized: "Sorry, I didn't mean to!"
Afterward, Ash and Brock struggled to carry the water buckets to a cave halfway up the mountain, Bruno's dwelling place.
After a simple rest, Bruno assigned another task to Ash and Brock.
Since they had water, they naturally needed firewood to boil it, so Bruno's current task was to have Ash and Brock help chop wood.
"What's the significance of chopping wood?" Ash wondered.
"Chopping wood requires grip strength. It's a fundamental part of mountain training," Bruno explained seriously to Ash.
"I don't want to get caught up in this again. This distance should be safe, right?" Misty said leisurely, deliberately sitting on a distant rock to avoid being affected by Ash again.
However, due to insufficient grip strength, when Ash swung the axe to chop, the split wood pieces actually flew directly into Misty's face, the impact force knocking her down.
"I didn't mean to..." Ash apologized.
"Next, we need to move these stones to the other side," Bruno directed.
"Master Bruno, what's the significance of this training?" This time it was Brock who voiced his confusion. Brock felt like he and Ash were being used as tool people by Bruno, but out of personal admiration for Bruno, he still tried to suppress his inner doubts.
"By stacking natural stones, you develop a subtle sense of balance," Bruno explained seriously again, successfully dispelling Brock's doubts.
"So heavy!" Ash struggled to lift a rock, but due to unstable gravity, he clumsily rushed toward Misty again.
"Hey! You're definitely doing this on purpose!" Misty said angrily, quickly turning to run away, afraid of being victimized by Ash again.