Chapter 10: Sand Tomb
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two weeks had passed.
During these two weeks, Basalt diligently attended classes during the day, took copious notes, and absorbed as much Pokémon-related knowledge as he could. After school, he would seriously train Drilbur according to the methods he had learned, helping the little mole grow as quickly as possible.
Drilbur was already talented, and with the help of the Ground Gem fragments and a scientific training regimen, it made significant progress every single day for the past two weeks.
First, Drilbur's digging speed had improved, shrinking from five seconds to three. This gave Basalt hope that it would soon master the move Dig. Second, its battle techniques had also improved, and its practical combat ability was on a completely different level than before. Lastly, the little mole had grown a full 3cm and its physique was a circle more robust. If not for its inherently mole-like demeanor, it would certainly be a handsome little Pokémon.
…
In the open space next to Basalt's house.
To create a battle atmosphere for Drilbur, Basalt had specially enlisted his mom's Poliwag as a sparring partner.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
A series of small Water Guns shot out from Poliwag's mouth, heading straight for Drilbur ten meters away with impressive force. However, at Basalt's signal, Poliwag had deliberately slowed down both the power and speed of its Water Gun. Combined with Drilbur's own considerable speed, the little mole managed to dodge every single blast by weaving left and right.
"Poliwag, gradually increase the power of your Water Gun!"
Seeing Drilbur dodging with ease, the corner of Basalt's mouth curled up. He decided to increase the difficulty.
Although his mom's Poliwag wasn't a battle-focused Pokémon, it was quite old. Even with just natural growth, it had the strength of a Junior-level Pokémon. If it were to go all out, it could wipe the floor with Drilbur in minutes.
"Poli~"
Poliwag nodded to show it understood, and the output of its Water Gun instantly intensified. The water stream, which was originally only three fingers thick, immediately expanded to the thickness of a wrist. As the water flow increased, the speed of the jets also rose rapidly.
"Chari~"
This time, Drilbur could no longer be as relaxed as before. It instantly became flustered, using both its hands and feet to desperately dodge. But despite its frantic state, Drilbur still successfully avoided all of Poliwag's attacks, right up until Poliwag upgraded the power of its Water Gun once more…
This time, Drilbur simply couldn't handle it. It couldn't dodge.
With no other choice, Drilbur let out a sharp cry and its body began to spin rapidly, like a top.
Rapid Spin!
Pew-pew-pew…
Poliwag's Water Gun hit its mark but had no effect. The water stream wasn't solid enough; the moment it made contact with the high-speed rotational energy, it was shattered and dispersed, turning into a spray of mist.
Not only that, after entering its "Rapid Spin" state, Drilbur switched from defense to offense. It transformed into a spiraling energy mass and charged swiftly towards Poliwag.
"Not bad, you didn't veer off course this time!"
Basalt stroked his chin, a look of admiration in his eyes.
Half a month ago, after discovering Drilbur's problem, he had gone to consult Ms. Anya. Her advice was to appropriately reduce the speed of its rotation. When a Pokémon learns Rapid Spin, in its pursuit of power, it can easily fall into the trap of spinning too fast. The faster the rotation, the greater the power of Rapid Spin. The problem was, once a Pokémon spun at its maximum speed, it not only couldn't see its surroundings clearly but also easily became dizzy, making the move unsustainable.
Under Ms. Anya's guidance, Basalt had Drilbur reduce its rotation speed. When the speed was lowered to sixty percent of its original pace, Drilbur was indeed able to see its target while spinning and no longer had to worry about losing its vision. After that, Drilbur started from that sixty percent and steadily improved, slowly increasing its speed on the premise of maintaining its vision and not getting dizzy.
Now, half a month later, Drilbur could already spin at eighty percent of its maximum speed, allowing it to move and actively attack its opponent while balancing both vision and power.
Is my little mole getting cocky? Poliwag is a Pokémon with a base speed of 90. Plus, it's a higher level than you. How could you possibly catch it?
Seeing Drilbur chasing Poliwag to no avail, Basalt couldn't help but laugh. Although this world didn't have the concept of base stats, Basalt was still accustomed to thinking in those terms, as it represented a Pokémon species' natural talent. While base stats didn't apply to every single Pokémon, they were still a useful metric in most cases.
"Alright, stop!"
Basalt stepped forward to call a halt and said with a smile, "Take a ten-minute break!"
"Poli~"
Poliwag wiggled its small tail and walked over to sit next to Basalt, looking incredibly cute.
"Chari~"
Drilbur also came out of its Rapid Spin state and sat down on Basalt's other side. His left and right guardians were assembled.
"Now, let's practice Mud-Slap!"
A moment later, the specialized combat training continued.
For the Mud-Slap practice, Drilbur was on offense, and Poliwag was on defense. The premise of "Little Mole's Mud Shot, Never Misses" was based on shooting a stationary target. Once it faced a moving target, Drilbur's accuracy dropped sharply, which was why this practice was necessary.
At this moment, Basalt felt a little lucky that his last opponent had been a Munchlax. If it had been a high-agility Pokémon, his dirty tactics wouldn't have worked at all…
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Taking a deep breath, the Ground-type energy inside Drilbur began to gather in its palms, finally condensing into dark clumps of mud, which it hurled with all its might. Compared to half a month ago, the mud clumps were now significantly larger, and crucially, they were darker, a clear sign that their accuracy-lowering effect would be much better.
"Poli~"
Although the mud clumps were numerous, flying all over the place, Poliwag, with its speed advantage, dodged them with ease. It had the air of passing through a storm of mud without a single speck touching it.
"Poliwag, don't run so fast, take it easy!"
"Drilbur, don't get anxious, stay calm!"
As the trainer, Basalt began to guide the training. First, Poliwag wasn't holding back its speed enough. If it was too fast, Drilbur would never be able to hit it, and the training would be ineffective. As for Drilbur, Basalt had to make it understand that even if its attacks missed temporarily, it couldn't panic; it had to maintain its own rhythm.
Basalt's guidance took effect. Both Pokémon adjusted their pace, and the atmosphere instantly intensified.
However, as a Water-type Pokémon that loved to be clean, Poliwag's bottom line for holding back was not getting hit by mud. So, although Drilbur tried very hard, it still failed to land a single hit, with each shot just grazing Poliwag's body.
As a result, Drilbur's rhythm began to get disrupted again, and its attack frequency slowly started to increase…
"The little mole is still too young, it can't keep its cool."
Basalt shook his head, just about to intervene.
But at that very moment, Drilbur abruptly lifted its right claw and slammed it heavily onto the ground. A mysterious energy transferred into the earth, and the soil beneath Poliwag's feet instantly turned into a 2-meter diameter pit of flowing sand.
Caught completely off guard, Poliwag sank halfway into the sand, instantly trapped and unable to move a single step.
"Is that… Sand Tomb?"
Basalt was stunned for a moment, then it hit him, and a look of wild joy spread across his face.
Sand Tomb, a Ground-type move, creates a vortex of sand to trap and attack the opponent. This was a move for both control and offense. If used well, it could lock down an opponent to death!
"Chari~"
Seeing Poliwag trapped, Drilbur was overjoyed. It quickly formed a mud clump and threw it at its opponent, covering Poliwag in filth.
"Chari~ Chari~"
Drilbur: Y(^o^)Y
The little mole jumped for joy, even extending its claws to make a "V for victory" sign!
You're so good at running, aren't you? Now you're trapped and covered in mud by me!
However, Drilbur didn't get to celebrate for long. The expression on the face of the Poliwag in the sandpit instantly changed, its anger flaring to the heavens.
Poliwag: (╬◣д◢)
You dare to get me covered in mud?
You're dead!
FWOOSH!
A massive column of water erupted from Poliwag's mouth, instantly blasting Drilbur, who was over ten meters away, into the air. By the time the little mole fell back to the ground, its eyes were swirling, and it had lost the ability to battle.
"Poli~"
After blasting the mud off its body with the water jet, Poliwag returned to its usual cute and cuddly appearance, as if nothing had ever happened.
The sudden turn of events happened too quickly for Basalt to intervene. Besides, it was Drilbur who was at fault. Basalt couldn't blame Poliwag; what if the little guy held a grudge and refused to be a sparring partner next time? Who would he complain to then?
"I told you not to mess with girls, I told you not to mess with girls, why don't you ever listen?"
Basalt sighed and took out an Oran Berry to feed to Drilbur. After the little mole slowly came to, tears welled up in its eyes as it complained about Poliwag's barbaric behavior, hoping Basalt would stand up for it.
But Basalt couldn't be bothered with it. The little rascal had brought this upon himself.