Chapter 17: The Magikarp Against the Current
Chenxi currently doesn't have many plans for Staryu's Water Type moves.
This is because Staryu only knows Water Gun.
This move is easy to learn but hard to master; almost every Water Type Pokémon knows it, but it's truly difficult to build a Water Type combat system solely around Water Gun.
Mikoli might be able to do it, but Chenxi... he should probably forget about it.
So, Chenxi had Staryu focus on Psychic Type moves, specifically Cosmic Power.
To be honest, the best choice for developing a Psychic move system should be Calm Mind, not Cosmic Power.
This is because Calm Mind significantly enhances a Psychic Pokémon's mastery of Psychic energy.
But there's no way; Staryu can't learn Calm Mind.
Even if it evolves into Starmie, it still can't learn Calm Mind through normal channels.
For Psychic Pokémon that are naturally unable to learn Calm Mind, unless a top-tier Psychic user teaches Staryu at the cost of their family's heritage, it might be possible for Staryu to learn Calm Mind.
Otherwise, Chenxi really has no other way.
The Yuan Family also has such inheritances, but most of the moves the Yuan Family masters are Grass Type.
For example, having Floette master Growth and Charge is impossible for anyone not directly descended from the Yuan Family.
Therefore, Chenxi can only dream of Starmie learning Calm Mind.
So, the core move truly suitable for Staryu's Psychic training right now is Cosmic Power, which it already possesses.
The move Cosmic Power trains Staryu's Defense and Special Defense.
To be honest, this move doesn't quite fit Starmie's future role, and having Staryu train it is somewhat luxurious.
However, this move actually plays a very important role in Staryu's Growth.
Staryu and its evolutions are quite star-worshipping Pokémon.
Whenever the night is clear and cloudless, Staryu and its evolutions always like to use Cosmic Power, reflecting the stars in the sky.
Because of this, Staryu are believed to be alien species from the universe, often exchanging information with entities beyond Earth.
However, Chenxi found that after Staryu used this move every night, its condition would recover, and even the red gem on its chest would become a bit more lustrous.
Therefore, Chenxi believes that Cosmic Power is sufficient to become Starmie's core training move.
In the mornings, Staryu should use Gravity to support Turtwig for Psychic training, and moves like Power Gem, Water Gun, and High Speed Spin should not be neglected.
In the evenings, it should use Cosmic Power to accumulate energy and communicate with the entire universe.
Moreover, Chenxi gradually discovered that when Staryu trained Cosmic Power as its core move, its endurance in Psychic moves not only significantly improved.
Especially when using Psychic moves at night, its endurance was about one-third longer compared to using them during the day, as if it could recover its mental energy while fighting.
Chenxi made relevant records of this.
Since the Yuan Family had no training records for Starmie, Chenxi only hoped to find answers once he entered the academy.
Compared to Staryu, Turtwig, which Chenxi focused on training the most, finally gave Chenxi a return.
It evolved!
With the shimmering light of evolution, Turtwig successfully evolved into Grotle.
After evolving into Grotle, Turtwig's original shell became a yellow shell large enough to Protect Grotle's entire head, back, and short tail.
Turtwig's small sapling also moved from its forehead to its back, beginning to grow lush and green.
Grotle's shell has three long, coffee-colored ridges, and its yellow lower jaw extends from its cheeks, forming two triangles.
Because it evolved by accumulating a large amount of energy using the Charge system, this Grotle appeared exceptionally tall.
A typical Grotle is 1.1 meters tall, basically reaching an adult's waist, or even a bit lower.
But this Grotle was as tall as Chenxi.
And this is the benefit that the Charge move brings to Grass Type Pokémon, allowing their evolved bodies to become larger.
For some Pokémon, growing larger isn't necessarily a good thing; it not only reduces movement speed but also drastically increases food expenses, potentially bankrupting many ordinary Trainers.
But for Grass Type Pokémon like Venusaur and Torterra, who prefer and excel at positional combat.
A larger physique can provide them with a stronger sense of intimidation and a more resilient body for confrontation, which is very important.
What's more important is that with the benefits brought by this evolution, Pokémon will follow their biological instincts and engrave the Charge move into their hearts.
From now on, it will instinctively master the Charge move without Chenxi's urging.
Originally, as a Turtwig, it could only apply one stage of Charge; at the Grotle stage, it can conventionally apply two stages of Charge; and by the time it becomes a Torterra, it can directly apply three stages of Charge, maintaining the charged state permanently as long as energy supply is sufficient.
This is the terror of this Charge move system.
In other words, once this Pokémon is summoned, it's already a top-tier fortress with three stages of Charge applied.
This is enough to make most Trainers despair when looking at a future Torterra.
Of course, if this mode of the Charge system is chosen, it won't be able to accumulate explosive power bit by bit over time like Floette.
Instead, to maintain the defensive power brought by this Charge, Grotle will need to consume a large amount of high-energy food daily.
In short, Synthesis alone won't be enough to satisfy it; from now on, its food expenses won't be lower than Snorlax's.
This is not a tactical system that ordinary people can cultivate, as it is quite expensive.
However, for Chenxi, at least the current Grotle has its first relatively complete combat system, so he actually increased its feeding to allow it to quickly complete the accumulation for the second stage of the Charge system and maintain a charged state long-term.
Then, with this as the core, he began to thoroughly perfect this combat system.
For example, Chenxi began to have Grotle master the move Sand Tomb.
Sand Tomb is a Ground Type move, one of the moves Chenxi found in the book "Earth Exploration." There were also two other Ground Type moves: Magnitude and Drill Run.
The effect of Sand Tomb is to create a quicksand trap on the ground, causing continuous damage to the target Pokémon while preventing it from breaking free; it's a very supportive move.
This move was listed by Sakaki as a must-learn for Ground Type Pokémon.
It's mainly to lay the groundwork for a future Sandstorm system, forming a dual-sand binding and draining system.
Therefore, there was a very detailed analysis of Sand Tomb; if one wants to run a Sandstorm team, this move is considered essential.
Moreover, the book "Earth Exploration" states that if a Pokémon whose second type becomes Ground after evolution is exposed to Ground Type moves early, it can aid its evolution and Growth.
So, having Turtwig get exposed to it early is also very good.
Of course, in reality, the best Ground Type move for developing a second type is Sand Attack, which is simple to learn and easy to understand.
However, this move is too low-level, so this book "Earth Exploration" has no records or applications for it.
Fortunately, Chenxi's Grotle inherited Earth Power, so it has some talent for learning Ground Type moves.
Soon, this move was successfully mastered by Grotle.
And with Sand Tomb, Leech Seed, Synthesis, and the mastered Charge, Grotle now has its first combat system, at least in terms of being annoying.
Additionally, Chenxi also equipped Grotle with an Eviolite he had prepared long ago, further strengthening Grotle's Defense.
At this moment, Grotle's Defense is enough to make Trainers of the same level feel disgusted.
Even when facing a Pokémon of the same level that has a type advantage against it, Grotle can deal with it with a one-for-one mindset.
And the training during this period also allowed Grotle to grow to level 25, and Staryu reached level 23.
Of course, compared to the visible Growth of Staryu and Grotle.
Floette's Growth was not as fast; the training and accumulation over these days brought Floette's Awakening Power for the Water Type to just a hair's breadth away.
It was just a paper-thin distance, but it prevented Floette from fully comprehending it.
And as time slowly passed, although Floette still couldn't comprehend anything.
The location they had chosen began to become unsuitable.
This is because more and more people, both ordinary people and Trainers, were appearing in the vicinity.
Moreover, there was a Magikarp run in this section of Mt. Coronet's river basin; they were climbing towards Mt. Coronet.
These Magikarp swam upstream, one by one bravely pushing forward, heading towards Mt. Coronet.
They even encountered places like waterfalls, where they were seen using moves like Splash to forcefully leap over extremely high and dangerous waterfalls, climbing higher without any intention of stopping.
Because they needed to reach the depths of Mt. Coronet to breed and reproduce.
In such an environment, Chenxi simply couldn't allow Floette to calm down and delve into Water Type Awakening Power.
Chenxi thought for a moment, then recalled his Pokémon and began to climb higher along the river and waterfalls.
It wasn't about profit or anything; he just wanted to see more of such a sight during his journey.
Before long, Chenxi stopped halfway up the mountain, where there was a relatively gentle section of the river, and Yuanzhi City had built a fishing platform there.
When Chenxi arrived, it wasn't exactly a sea of people, but there were already quite a few fishermen fishing there.
"Little friend, do you want to fish? A set of fishing rod, line, and bait costs 200 Pokémon coins for a day's rental, and the deposit is 500. This is the Magikarp Festival, which only lasts one week a year, so don't miss it!" Someone greeted Chenxi as soon as he arrived.
To be honest, 500 Pokémon coins wasn't much, but Chenxi directly pulled out his fishing gear from his spatial bag.
Excuse me, how could Chenxi not have prepared a fishing rod?
Top-tier fishing rod, top-tier fishing line, and top-tier bait. After Chenxi chose a spot and put the bait into the water.
Half an hour, an hour, two hours... Chenxi silently watched his bait float in the water, but not a single Magikarp came to bite. Then he looked at the fishing uncle next to him; his bucket was already overflowing!
Cough, cough, cough... Fishing, what's important isn't what fish you catch, but fishing itself.
With nothing to do, Chenxi observed these Magikarp schools and found that as the Magikarp continuously climbed towards Mt. Coronet, their potential values changed; although not obvious, only one or two points, their qualities indeed received a fundamental improvement.
Originally, Chenxi only hoped to find a purple-grade Magikarp here and slowly train it.
So he looked at almost every Magikarp, but Chenxi unexpectedly found a Magikarp that went from red quality to orange quality, so Chenxi felt surprised and looked at it a few more times.
He found that such Magikarp were not unique; after observing more, there would always be some Magikarp whose quality improved.
Although the improvement was not much, only one or two points, this was the first time Chenxi had seen a Pokémon's potential increase.
But then, Chenxi didn't find it strange anymore.
The Magikarp's journey to the depths of Mt. Coronet this time was for reproduction. At this time, they would fully unleash the energy they usually accumulated, climbing towards higher places. For them, it was instinct, but also a trial, making them stronger.
In other words, the Magikarp in the depths of Mt. Coronet might be the strongest among all Magikarp.
Just then, suddenly, an explosion came from higher up the mountain, and even faint, angry roars!
And with these roars, the Magikarp's speed slowed down, becoming more vigilant.
"Someone is causing trouble?!"
Chenxi was slightly startled, quickly put away his fishing rod, and chased towards the summit of this hill.
After all, with Floette protecting him, and someone secretly guarding him, Chenxi stated that he truly wasn't afraid of trouble.
When Chenxi reached the peak of the hillside, he saw that upstream of the river, someone had cast a huge net, wantonly capturing the Magikarp that had struggled to climb this far, and also blocking their path forward.
To be honest, people in this world don't prevent Trainers from capturing Pokémon.
But capturing on such a large scale would cause very serious damage to the entire ecosystem, which is something all people don't want to see.
Of course, the Magikarp also had a certain degree of resistance. To destroy this special giant net, and also to deal with the Pokémon summoned by these people, some Magikarp were forced to evolve into Gyarados at this time.
Magikarp are Pokémon that can easily evolve into Gyarados through anger.
However, Gyarados evolved in this way often have significant genetic defects, giving these Gyarados powerful strength but often a short lifespan.
But for the sake of their clan's reproduction, they were now fighting desperately.