Chapter 71: Training and Preparation

It was already two o'clock in the afternoon. Rex, who had only rested for a short while, felt that he couldn't waste any more time and needed to prepare well for the upcoming Gym challenge.

For this Gym challenge, Rex didn't plan to use his Swellow. After all, its type was too disadvantaged. There was no need to forcefully act as a master of disadvantageous matchups when there were other choices available.

Through the information on his phone about the Mauville Gym, Rex learned that the most frequently used Pokémon for Gym challenges by Gym Leader Wattson were Magnemite, Voltorb, and Magneton.

Rex planned to send out Machop, Sandslash, and Heracross as the lineup for this Gym challenge.

Machop and Heracross were both Fighting-type Pokémon, which were perfect for dealing with Magnemite and Magneton, which had Steel-type properties. Meanwhile, Sandslash was a Ground-type Pokémon, naturally immune to Electric-type.

Now, the only question was whether Sandslash would be willing to participate in the battle. After all, based on its performance during this period, it didn't seem to have much ambition for its own strength. Therefore, Rex hadn't trained it much.

"Sandslash, I plan to have you participate in this Gym challenge. Are you willing?" 

Rex tapped Sandslash, who had curled up into a ball, awakening it from sleep mode, then asked.

Sandslash, awakened by its trainer, rubbed its confused eyes. After a moment of contemplation, it resolutely nodded, indicating its willingness to battle.

Although Sandslash didn't particularly enjoy battling, if it was requested by its own trainer, it would fight for him.

Although it didn't show it on a regular basis, it was very appreciative of its trainer for providing it with a happy life. It was willing to follow his commands and fight for him.

"In that case, I'll leave it to you, Sandslash!"

Rex had been somewhat worried that Sandslash might refuse to battle, but he didn't expect it to agree. This was somewhat unexpected.

If Sandslash didn't want to battle, he wouldn't force it. This was the bottom line for a Pokémon Trainer.

After arranging the other Pokémon's training, Rex led Sandslash to a small stream outside Mauville City to train. He chose this place because it was sparsely populated and had good environmental conditions, making it an ideal training ground.

"Well, Heracross, you and Machop will continue with your previous training. Are you both okay with that?"

Rex said to Machop and Heracross, who were already eager to go.

"Heracross!"

"Machop!"

Heracross naturally had no objections. Since allowing itself to counterattack, it found this kind of sparring quite enjoyable. It was suitable for training the younger ones, and as an elder, it was willing to put in a bit more effort to help Machop improve its strength. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing to take it out.

Although Machop had been thrown around quite badly by Heracross, it could truly feel its own rapid progress in strength. 

"Alright, you guys can practice on your own. If you can't handle it, go find Victreebel for healing, but don't force yourselves."

Seeing their eager spirits, Rex couldn't help but remind them.

"As for Swellow, you can help train Poliwhirl and the others!"

Rex turned to Swellow, who was about to squat down and sleep.

Swellow gave him an understanding look, then looked at Poliwhirl and the others. Being able to play with these little ones for a while was better than sleeping lazily.

Poliwhirl, who felt a bit flustered being stared at by Swellow, felt a bit innocent. As the one at the bottom of the strength hierarchy, it was really tough. Anyone could teach it a lesson.

But this time, it wasn't facing Swellow alone. It was together with Flaffy and Gastly, two old pranksters. Suddenly, it felt like it had the upper hand.

Poliwhirl had actually experienced firsthand how annoying these two were. Once it got hit, it was very easy to be continuously controlled.

So, after exchanging glances with them, Poliwhirl suddenly felt that today might be a good opportunity to challenge Swellow and relieve the frustration it had endured for some time.

At this moment, Swellow was immersed in the fantasy of teaching its three younger siblings how to behave. It didn't expect that the little siblings it thought of were actually planning something devious against it, intending to teach it a lesson on how to love its juniors.

"Torchic, Torchic!"

Torchic, feeling a bit at a loss as to what it should do, hurriedly came to its trainer to show its presence.

"Ah, Torchic, you're still young. Here's a bottle of Moo Moo Milk for you to drink. After you finish it, you can play around here. Just remember not to run around!"

Seeing the eager little chick, Rex quickly took out a bottle of Moo Moo Milk from his backpack and handed it to Torchic, then said.

It would take some time for Torchic to grow out of its infancy, and training now could affect its future development. So, for now, the main focus was on supplementing nutrition. Simply put, it could only eat and sleep for now.

"Torchic!"

Although it felt a bit belittled by its trainer, Torchic forgave its trainer for this time, especially since there was delicious Moo Moo Milk. It felt moved by its own sensibility at this moment.

"Please take care of Torchic for me during this time. Make sure it doesn't run around!"

Seeing the happy Torchic drinking Moo Moo Milk, Rex turned to Victreebel, who was standing around.

For Victreebel, being assigned the role of babysitter for Torchic was readily accepted due to its gentle temperament. Now that there were no Pokémon seeking its healing services, helping watch over the little one was still manageable.

"Well then, thank you all, Victreebel!"

Rex smiled and nodded at them.

"Let's go, Sandslash. We'll go to that slope over there for training."

After arranging the other Pokémon's training matters, Rex took Sandslash to a nearby slope. There was no vegetation on the ground here, making it suitable for Sandslash to use its skills.

Upon reaching the slope, Rex first had Sandslash release the skills it knew. He found that it actually knew quite a few skills, which was somewhat unexpected.

Sword Dance, Dig, Rollout, Poison Sting, Earth Power.

A very rich skill pool. However, Sandslash was most proficient in Rollout, Dig, and Sword Dance.

Among them, Sword Dance was trained when helping dig the artificial lake at the Rex Farm. Rollout and Dig were forced out during survival in the wilderness.

After all, at that time, it was still a Sandshrew without good digging skills and had been eliminated by the harsh natural environment.

As for Earth Power, it was to maintain a relatively high defensive power even when sleeping, to prevent sneak attacks from other Pokémon while sleeping.

Even now, Sandslash maintained a round shape when sleeping,

 and this skill had almost become its instinct.

As for other skills, it could be said that it could use them, but they were relatively stiff, and the speed of skill activation was not fast, indicating that it hadn't used them much in its daily life.

Due to the limited time, Rex planned to focus on training Sandslash's Rollout skill today.

With Rollout combined with Sword Dance, as long as it could maintain the rolling state, the speed would increase with time, and naturally, the power would also increase.

"Sandslash, use Sword Dance once, then use Rollout."

Rex ordered Sandslash, which was already ready.

Sandslash didn't hesitate at this moment, directly curling up into a ball, then rolling down the slope. With the slope's angle, its rolling speed increased as time passed. It aimed at the boulder set by Rex as the target and crashed into it.

"Boom!"

The boulder designated as the target was directly shattered under Sandslash's rolling attack, and Sandslash stopped because of the obstacle of the boulder.

"Sandslash, are you okay?"

Rex quickly ran over to ask, already prepared to use his abilities at any time.

Sandslash shook off the dizziness caused by rolling, then waved its hand to Rex, indicating that it was fine.

Now that Rex finally relaxed, he had already seen the power of Sandslash's combination of Sword Dance and Rollout. So, he planned to focus on training Sandslash's tracking ability during the rolling process in the remaining time, after all, no matter how powerful the attack was, it was useless if it couldn't hit the opponent.

End of Chapter.