Chapter 346: The Prototype of the High-Temperature Fire Sandstorm
Basalt found a remote corner on Mount Uruk, released Pupitar and Numel, and began the trial. "Pupitar, Sandstorm!"
Under Basalt's command, Pupitar focused its mind, and countless grains of sand spread out from it, quickly forming a considerable sandstorm that enveloped an area of over a hundred meters. Since its evolution, Pupitar's life essence had been strengthened, and its sand-raising ability naturally followed suit, showing a marked improvement.
"What a powerful Sandstorm move!" Ember shook her head in awe. "I don't know how Senior usually trains his control over sand."
Ember was quite knowledgeable and had seen Pupitar use Sandstorm before. Yet, every time she witnessed it, she was still impressed. This level of weather control, in terms of intensity and scope, was almost on par with the star Pokémon of the Chinese Professional League. But the problem was, Basalt's Pupitar had only just evolved!
Seeing the Sandstorm take shape, Basalt released Numel. "Dooom~" It was Numel's first time seeing a Sandstorm, and it found the weather condition quite novel.
"Numel, use Smog to scorch the sand and raise its temperature." Basalt waved his hand and gave the command. Phoo!
Numel nodded, and a blazing stream of fire immediately shot out from the vents of its humps. The fire was "orange," intensely hot, and accompanied by thick smoke. As the smoke dispersed, the flame's heat continued to expand. Even standing outside the sandstorm, Basalt could feel the oppressive heat.
"Success!" Basalt was initially happy, but quickly noticed a problem.
Pupitar's Sandstorm covered a large area, but Numel's Smog coverage was small, taking up less than a tenth of the total Sandstorm. Because the sand in the Sandstorm was in motion, the small portion of high-temperature sand quickly mixed with the regular sand. Their temperatures rapidly equalized, dropping from scorching to merely warm, completely losing the desired destructive power.
Basalt frowned. "I need to find a way to make Numel evolve quickly!"
Clearly, the issue was Pupitar's strength vastly exceeding Numel's. Numel's flames had high "quality" due to its talent, but its "quantity" was too low due to its limited strength. Unfortunately, evolving Numel wasn't something that could be done quickly, so Basalt had to find another approach.
"Pupitar, try to control the hot sand, keeping it from mixing with the outer sand to maintain its high temperature."
Since Numel's power was insufficient, Basalt had to add to Pupitar's burden. Upon reflection, Basalt realized that Numel's Smog coverage wasn't actually small; it was roughly the size of a standard battle arena. After all, Smog was an area-of-effect move. It only seemed small when compared to the freakishly strong Pupitar. Numel was objectively excellent, but its excellence was less obvious on Basalt's team.
"Numel, one more time, Smog!" Take two for the high-temperature Sandstorm combination, action!
"Dooom~" Numel's humps once again sprayed high-temperature flames, spreading outwards.
"Pu-pi~" This time, Pupitar was prepared. It focused its energy on precise sand control. Although the overall range and power of the Sandstorm were slightly reduced, the central area around Numel clearly turned "orange-red," sharply delineated from the outer Sandstorm.
"That works?" Ember, who was observing, was wide-eyed in astonishment.
Pupitar had essentially split the Sandstorm into two parallel "mini-sandstorms." This required not only multitasking but an exponential increase in sand control precision. Yet, Pupitar had... done it!!!
Seeing the high-temperature fire sandstorm stabilize, Basalt was overjoyed. Next, it was time to test its power!
"Cradily, try stepping into the hot sandstorm." Basalt sent out Cradily, which had the strongest recovery ability.
"Cra-di~" Cradily nodded and moved its body into the high-temperature Sandstorm. Shh-shh-shh... As a Rock-type Pokémon, the regular sandstorm sand not only didn't hurt Cradily but actually boosted its Special Defense, giving it a pleasant feeling. But upon entering the high-temperature Sandstorm, Cradily slightly frowned. The usual pleasant feeling was gone, replaced by a scorching sensation that made it feel mildly uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the discomfort was minimal, and Cradily quickly adapted. Its Special Defense still increased. Although the hot sandstorm hadn't mixed with the regular one, the sand's temperature was slowly dropping. After about a minute, the high-temperature Sandstorm had cooled to a warm state.
During this entire process, Cradily never entered the "Burn" status. This was because the temperature of Numel's orange flame, once absorbed by the sand, lost heat and eventually dropped to a level comparable to red flame. Furthermore, Cradily was a Rock-type Pokémon and was not easily "burned."
Basalt then sent Excadrill and Marshtomp into the high-temperature Sandstorm to test it. Neither Pokémon experienced strong discomfort. Although Excadrill was a Steel-type Pokémon and weak to fire, its defense had sharply increased after absorbing Groudon's scales, giving it fire resistance. Thus, it was completely fine. Moreover, Excadrill's home ground was underground, and it wouldn't endure the heat on the surface for too long. Marshtomp, as a Water-type Pokémon, had a situation similar to Cradily's. As for Bronzong, its fire resistance was extremely high, so Basalt wasn't worried at all. Thus, Basalt's "High-Temperature Fire Sandstorm" concept had taken its initial form.
"Although having Pupitar control the fire sandstorm is feasible for now, it would be difficult to manage in an intense battle, and it could easily distract Pupitar, leaving it vulnerable to enemy sneak attacks."
Although the experiment was successful, Basalt didn't think the work was done. He immediately began to reflect on the shortcomings and brainstorm solutions.
"The best solution is to teach Numel 'Sandstorm' as well. That way, the fire sandstorm would be entirely under its control, and there would be no coordination issues." Having Numel provide the fire and Pupitar control the sand was feasible, but it was like trying to complete a two-handed task with Numel's left hand and Pupitar's right. It would inevitably be uncoordinated. The best approach was to let Numel do it all; one's own two hands would always work best together.
"Too bad the Robu Tribe's secret realm is already closed. I can't make it in time," Basalt sighed regretfully. To learn Sandstorm, the Robu Tribe's inheritance realm was the best, even better than absorbing a Smooth Rock.
"But Sandstorm can wait for now. The most urgent matter is to balance Numel's unbalanced type skills." After a moment of thought, Basalt retrieved Groudon's scale from Excadrill. As a Fire/Ground dual-type Pokémon, Numel's Fire-type was excellent, but its Ground-type skills were lacking. For balanced development, Basalt felt it was necessary to boost its Ground-type power. It didn't need to be outstanding, but at least functional—the "generally excellent" level would suffice.
"Dooom~" Numel's expression changed the moment it received Groudon's scale and began absorbing the first wisp of energy from it. This object was significantly more appealing to it than a Magma Stone! Unfortunately, before taking the scale, the robust and imposing Excadrill had already "explained" with a large claw that the scale was only on loan and that Numel shouldn't dare try to keep it.
"Dooom~" Completely overshadowed by Excadrill, Numel shrunk its neck, chuckled nervously, and was utterly submissive. Resistance? Impossible! It knew that Bronzong was only Top 3 on this team. The big rat in front of it was the undisputed number one. I can't afford to offend it!
Groudon's scale truly lived up to its reputation as a Ground-type treasure; the effect was profound. In just half a day, Numel felt a noticeable increase in the power of its Stomping Tantrum and Magnitude moves. Even its physical fitness seemed to have improved significantly; it felt full of energy. This rate of progress was like cheating. Oh wait, it was cheating!
"Dooom~" Numel was reluctant to part with Groudon's scale, but it eventually returned it to Excadrill. It only had the right to use it for half a day; the other half had to be spent absorbing magma energy. If only I had a scale like this, life would be perfect!
Thinking this, Numel slowly made its way back into the magma pool, continuing to absorb Fire-type energy and increase its flame temperature. But this time, it suddenly realized something was wrong. It felt a mysterious power at the bottom of the magma pool, constantly calling out to it.
"Dooom?" Numel was confused. It had visited this magma pool countless times, but this was the first time it had felt this way. What is happening?
Numel thought for a moment and finally decided to dive down and investigate. Unfortunately, the temperature at the bottom of the magma pool was too high; even it couldn't withstand it.
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