Chapter 306: Waterfall Training
"Come out, Drednaw!"
Teacher Alvin threw his Pokéball. A flash of red light, and a massive, sturdy turtle Pokémon appeared.
Drednaw's appearance was like a real-life alligator snapping turtle. Its head had a horn that looked like it was made of rock, its shell was segmented with protruding ridges, and its beak was incredibly sharp. A circular biting muscle was visible where its jaw connected to its face.
Drednaw's jagged teeth were sharp and powerful enough to bite through rock and steel. Although it carried a thick, heavy rock shell, its well-developed muscles allowed it to move with surprising agility.
"Gah-naw!"
Drednaw appeared, and its cold, fierce gaze made the hair on Basalt's arms stand up. It opened its mouth in a yawn, and Basalt instinctively took several steps back to keep his distance.
"Don't be afraid, Basalt. My Drednaw is usually very well-behaved. Go on, you can pet it."
"I'll pass, Teacher Alvin. I'm good right here."
Basalt shook his head vigorously. This was a snapping turtle. The kind that bites down and doesn't let go.
"Alright, then." Teacher Alvin looked helpless. He had to admit, Drednaw's appearance and glare were a bit intimidating.
After Basalt released his Marshtomp, Teacher Alvin waved his hand, pointing at the hundred-meter-tall ice waterfall. "Drednaw, Waterfall!"
"GAH-NAW!"
A low roar rumbled from Drednaw's throat. Basalt watched as it did a quick stretch, then leaped into the icy pool.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The waterfall's flow was immense, and with a hundred-meter drop, the water was incredibly powerful. The water crashing into the pool below created a massive, thunderous roar.
But even in such a torrent, Drednaw's gaze was firm. Its four legs paddled rapidly, its tail thrashed, using every part of its body as it began to ascend the current with astonishing force.
Before long, the gray-green Drednaw had climbed to the very top of the ice waterfall. The massive torrent couldn't stop its advance.
After reaching the top, Drednaw leaped off, diving from a hundred meters up and crashing back into the pool. The entire process was incredibly smooth.
"So strong!"
"Marsh-tomp!"
Both Basalt and Marshtomp stared, their mouths wide open in admiration.
It could climb a hundred-meter waterfall. If Drednaw's Waterfall move was used on a Pokémon, how much power would it have?
Their expressions were exactly what Teacher Alvin had been looking for.
"Basalt, my Waterfall secret technique has two key points. The first is how to use your strength. You absolutely cannot climb the current with brute force. You must learn to turn the rushing water from an obstacle into a driving force, turning a passive situation into an active one."
After the demonstration, Teacher Alvin began his lecture. "Second, you must learn to use your mental energy. In an instant, you must unleash an indomitable and unstoppable aura to intimidate your opponent's spirit, which increases the chance of making them flinch."
"Use... mental energy?"
Basalt was shocked, feeling like he must have misheard. Marshtomp and Drednaw can use mental energy?
"That's right, mental energy."
Teacher Alvin gave Basalt a confirming look. "Every Pokémon has mental energy. They just can't use it as skillfully as Ghost or Psychic-types, and its power isn't as great. But just because they use it less doesn't mean they don't have it. Aura, or a battle-focus, is one form of it."
"However, projecting an aura is an advanced application of Waterfall. Your Marshtomp hasn't even mastered the basics, so don't worry about that for now."
Teacher Alvin shook his head and began with the fundamentals.
The first stage was the application of physical strength. Although a true Waterfall couldn't rely entirely on physical power, without it, it was impossible. The body is the foundation of a Pokémon.
"First, have your Marshtomp try to climb the waterfall. I want to see if it has any problems with its power output."
Teacher Alvin looked around and finally chose a small, five-meter-tall waterfall, signaling for Marshtomp to test the waters.
The force of a waterfall increases exponentially with its height. The force of a five-meter waterfall couldn't compare to the hundred-meter one, but for a Marshtomp with no climbing foundation, it was still a significant challenge.
Basalt nodded. "Go for it, Marshtomp!"
"Marsh-tomp!"
Marshtomp's gaze sharpened. It also leaped into the water, using its hands, feet, and tail to build up speed, gathering strength for the coming ascent.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Marshtomp finally reached the base of the waterfall and charged up into the current.
One meter! Two meters! Three meters!
At first, Marshtomp seemed to struggle, but as it climbed higher, it began to find it easier, and in the end, it actually reached the top.
"Huh? It made it to the top with just brute force?"
Teacher Alvin's mouth twitched, and his eyes went wide. "This Marshtomp's physical stats... aren't they a little too good?"
He had chosen the five-meter waterfall precisely because he thought Marshtomp would fail, at which point he could step in and offer his expert guidance, thus establishing his "wise master" persona.
But now... it had just succeeded on the first try? How was he supposed to offer guidance now?
The air was thick with an awkward silence.
Teacher Alvin had no way of knowing that Basalt's Marshtomp had been regularly consuming water from the Fountain of Life. Its life potential had been effectively stimulated, so it would be a miracle if its stats weren't good.
"Teacher Alvin, should I have Marshtomp try the ten-meter waterfall?" Basalt asked, scratching his head with a sheepish grin. He could understand Teacher Alvin's frustration at having his big moment stolen.
"Hmph."
Teacher Alvin snorted through his nose and nodded silently.
And so, after a short rest, Marshtomp found a waterfall nearly ten meters high and began its ascent.
This time, as expected, it failed.
What's more, on its first try, it had managed to climb five meters, but on this second attempt, it only made it just over two meters before it was overwhelmed by the current and washed away.
"This is because of the water's force!"
Teacher Alvin could finally give his guidance. He quickly explained, "For a five-meter waterfall, the water at the bottom has only gone through a five-meter acceleration zone. But for a ten-meter waterfall, the water has gone through a ten-meter acceleration zone. The force increases exponentially. They are completely different."
"Therefore, when practicing Waterfall, the most stamina is consumed at the very beginning. It actually gets easier as you go higher. But... when you run out of stamina, the result is the same."
"I see!" Basalt nodded, enlightened.
Next, Teacher Alvin began to personally instruct Marshtomp on its posture for climbing. Because Waterfall was an upward ascent, the forces involved were completely different from swimming. If Marshtomp just used its normal swimming posture, it would never be able to adapt to the waterfall's force.
Changing its posture in the water was a relatively quick fix.
After just one hour of adjustments and one hour of practice, Marshtomp had learned the "scientific" posture for Waterfall.
On its second attempt at the ten-meter waterfall, it instantly climbed an extra meter higher. The improvement was obvious.
"Changing your form is just the very basic foundation. You'll need to practice it more, but it's not difficult," Teacher Alvin said, rubbing his chin. "But precisely because it's the foundation, it must be solid. If you practice this for a long time, it will not only help improve Marshtomp's overall physical condition but might even allow it to start utilizing its tail, perhaps learning Aqua Tail in the process. So you must train every day, without fail."
Without a solid foundation, the whole building will collapse. As a teacher, Teacher Alvin knew the importance of fundamentals all too well. Many of his former students had suffered from a weak foundation, which led to their progress slowing in the later stages, preventing them from ever getting past the Pro-level.
"Don't worry, Teacher Alvin. I'll make sure it trains every day, no matter what." Basalt's face was firm. He had endured three months of grueling training in the desert. What was a little Waterfall training compared to that?
"Good." Teacher Alvin nodded in satisfaction, then began to explain how to use the water's force. This was the true core of the Waterfall technique. The aura part was just the icing on the cake.
"The water in a waterfall is pulled down by gravity, which is what opposes a Pokémon's ascent. However, when the water strikes the Pokémon, its downward momentum is broken, and the Pokémon absorbs that force. At that moment, the Pokémon can use its natural control over water to, in an instant, gather that water and use it as a foothold, pushing off against it to move up..."
Teacher Alvin was, after all, a professor from Centralis University. He could take complex move principles and explain them in simple, easy-to-understand terms. Basalt had no trouble following along.
But again, it was easier said than done. To isolate and control a portion of a raging waterfall in an instant... the difficulty was immense.
He spent the entire afternoon on the practical application, and by the end, Basalt and Marshtomp had only just barely gotten the hang of it. The overall effect was not ideal. To fully master it, they would have to put in a lot of hard work.
"This Waterfall move is way harder than I thought," Basalt's mouth twitched. It was completely different from what he had imagined. If the ten-meter waterfall was this hard, the hundred-meter one... that was just hell-level.
But Teacher Alvin's thoughts were completely different.
From his perspective, Basalt and Marshtomp's learning speed was already incredibly fast, surpassing at least ninety percent of trainers. And Basalt was still not satisfied?
"Geniuses are really different. They hold themselves to such a high standard," Teacher Alvin mused. "But isn't that standard a little too high?"
In the following days, Marshtomp's life became even more packed. In the mornings, it helped Professor Rowan with his experiments. In the afternoons, it went to the snow-capped mountain for special Waterfall training. Its schedule was full.
The Waterfall training was especially exhausting. As Teacher Alvin had instructed, while they needed to train diligently, the intensity had to be managed. If they pushed too hard, the Pokémon could overexert itself and damage its core life potential.
But Basalt had the "Fountain of Life." He didn't need to worry about that problem.
He immediately applied a super-boost to the training intensity.
And so, after just seven days, Marshtomp could successfully climb the ten-meter waterfall. The progress was obvious. This was the benchmark for whether a Pokémon had learned the Waterfall technique.
In other words, Marshtomp had now preliminarily mastered Waterfall.
That day, after completing his training and returning to the outpost, Basalt heard a message from the rotating team members.
"Amuyar is looking for me?"
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