Training Grounds

Axel saw that Charizard was completely drained and now it was unable to battle. He looked towards Dante and saw that it had moved back 2 steps. There were some scratches on its chest. 

There was a slight blood on its chest like a small kitchen knife wound but that was it. It should be remembered that the power of this attack was very high compared to previous clashes. The one attacking was Axel's Charizard and the one injured and unable to battle was also Axel's Charizard. 

Axel went near Charizard and patted its back. Charizard had already deactivated 'Blaze' but his skin was still burning since he was in close proximity but he didn't care about it. All he cared about was the mental state of Charizard. 

"You have done a good job and you should be proud of it. Yes, we lost but we are still young and we have a lot of time to reach that stage. Don't sell yourself short. Come back to the ball and rest.", said Axel and called Charizard in the master ball.

The temperature of the training ground suddenly dropped and it started to drop some more over time. 

Elizabeth came over and spread the fire extinguisher on Axel. Axel's skin was literally burning from being near the battle scene.

Clap.. Clap.. Clap…

"I am surprised and happy to know that you have trained your Charizard to such a level.", said Elizabeth.

"Yes, you really did a good job. I should thank you for it.", said Marry the Hydreigon.

"He still needs to work and train hard. He needs to throw out that arrogance.", responded Dante the Charizard.

Dante still had the angry father expression all over its face.

"What do you mean by surprised?"

"Well, a lot of young trainers want to train their Pokemon fast. They want fast results and they want higher rank Pokemons. So, they never concentrate on the foundation of the Pokemon and it is really sad cause it makes a huge difference in the later stages.

You have done a good job in raising its foundation. I may be able to train it and make it stronger, and faster and increase its knowledge on how a Charizard would fight but if the foundation was bad from the start, it would not rise up no matter how hard it tries.

I also loved the new moves that it had learned. It was very deadly and practical."

"I have nothing much to say. Just train it harder on dragon-type moves too. I could feel that it had some dragon-type energy hidden deep inside it. I had never felt something like this before in another Charizard.", said Marry.

Was Marry talking about its hidden power potential? Cause Charizard's hidden power was dragon-type. Axel thought to discuss that at length with Marry and Elizabeth. Maybe he could uncover something.

Everyone looked at Dante for more advice. Axel could see that it didn't want to say anything but seeing that its trainer was also looking at it, it had to.

"I would say again. He is weak, very weak.

I am not saying that he is a weak Pokemon but he is a weak Charizard.", said Dante.

Axel let that sink in. That was some deep thought and he didn't know what that even meant.

"I get what Dante is saying. You have trained it well but you have not trained it on how a Charizard would train and fight. Don't worry, it would learn it here. Come on, I will take you somewhere.", said Elizabeth.

All of them started to follow Elizabeth and they reached a weird place. Axel could say that it was a training ground cause it said, 'training ground number 3' on board but all the things were different here. 

All of the equipments here were placed and hung up in the air. There were pointy rocks on the ground. None of these equipments followed a linear pattern. All of them were jig jag.

"Axel, you should also keep in mind that Charizard is not only a fire-type Pokemon but also a flying-type Pokemon. It is true that fire is deep inside its DNA. No Charizard would want their core mastery to be flying type but flying type is still inside it.

This training ground would train its flying manurer, flying speed, and flying strategies. A Charizard would have to go through here without hitting any places. Call out your Charizard first.", said Elizabeth.

Axel threw the ball and Charizard came out. Charizard was hurt in multiple places, especially its wings and chest. Its wings were hurt cause it overpowered its wings with all these attacks and hit Dante. Since Dante was not hurt and it refused to move from the attack, the impact of the attack had affected it. Wounds on the chest were due to 'Belly drum'.

"Now, start the training ground."

All these obstacles on the ground and in the air started to move in a random direction. Axel now realized how good of a training ground it was. Charizard could train not only its flying type moves here but also it's flying capability.

"First it would have to fly around here freely without turning all these machines on. After it is comfortable to do it, I would turn on all these machines. When it reaches a higher rank, I could even increase the speed of these machines. 

Only, my Charizard, Dante has been able to clear this training ground at its maximum level.", said Elizabeth.

"I am already sold on letting Charizard stay here. You have done a really good job, Elizabeth."

"Thank you. Charicific Valley was constructed very wisely thinking about all the things that Charizard should train. There are other training grounds like this, let me show you all of them.", said Elizabeth.

"Before that, I think that I should send Charizard to a Pokemon center. It is hurt."

"No, you should not do that. Axel, to train a Charizard, you must also have a Charizard mindset. If you start to heal it in every small wound, its confidence would go down and it would be dependent on these healing centers. 

Let me tell you, such Charizard would not grow stronger in the future. Charizard is one of the few non-dragon-type Pokemon that has its dragon pride. Even most of the dragon-type Pokemons are not as proud as Charizard. 

If it is proud, you would have to train it while not hurting its pride.", said Elizabeth.

Axel's Charizard was also listening to the discussion.

"But won't it have permanent damage if it goes on like this?", asked Axel.

"No, it would not. You see, Charizard could heal in such a way that it would not have permanent damage and it could heal fast if it is trained. It is just that normal trainers never train it in that way. My Charizard had not been to the Pokemon center in over a decade and it fights with other Charizard all the time. 

We are going to training ground number 1 to see why.", said Elizabeth as they were walking to the next training ground.

Training ground number 1 was on the higher side of the mountain. Just when they entered the training ground, Axel was surprised. 

The place was burning in fire. Axel could also see some molten lava on the ground. The place was really hot. 

"This is a place where a Charizard would go after they are badly hurt. Let your Charizard sit here for 30 minutes. We could wait.", said Elizabeth.

Axel told his Charizard to go there and meditate. 

"Just close your eyes and start to feel how your body is healing. Try to concentrate on it.", said Axel.

"Fire is an important part of Charizard. This fire has been specially made to heal and power up a Charizard. This training ground would not only heal it but also make it comfortable in using fire-type attacks, increasing the power and usage of its fire-type moves.

I would say that it is the most important training ground for a Charizard that is why it is training ground number 1. There are also levels in the training ground. Every level would increase the fire temperature of the training ground.", said Elizabeth.

"I have a question. Wouldn't a Charizard get addicted to such an environment?"

Axel could see that his Charizard was enjoying the environment. It was nice but a Pokemon could also get addicted to such a place and it was not a good thing.

"You are right. That is why only the Charizard that had been hurt badly is sent here. It is very rare for a Charizard to come here. I just wanted your Charizard to experience this otherwise I would not have let it go inside.

Our research also shows that a badly hurt Charizard is able to suck all these fire-type energies and their mastery over fire-type attacks increases by a good margin."

They waited for 30 minutes for Axel's Charizard. Elizabeth started to talk about how they train a Charizard here. It was really fascinating. However, there was one thing that stuck in his mind.

"Every Pokemon have their own base desires and intuition. A nature of a Pokemon could change with time but its base desires and intuition never change. They are hidden but they never change. 

If you want to be a good trainer and want your Pokemon to be powerful, you would have to research those base desires and intuition and capitalize on it. Capitalizing on these desires and intuition would give them confidence and let them believe that they were right from inside of their heart. 

This would fortify their mental state and also increase their physical power. This would hugely increase their fighting capability."

Axel had never thought of it that way. He started to think about it and started to believe that Elizabeth was right.

Let's take an example of his own team. 

If one would look at Shedinja, one would realize that it was a well-trained assassin. Being an assassin was in its veins and blood. It gave the feeling that it was perfect in its own domain. 

However, such a thing could not be said for Mamoswine. Mamoswine was a powerful Pokemon, there was no doubt about it but it didn't feel righ,t like there was something missing. Axel could guess what it was missing but he wanted to do enough research before he make a decision.

After Charizard came out, Axel saw that most of its wounds have been healed. It had not been perfectly healed like in the Pokemon center but Charizard's expression showed that it was happy and content with this. 

This expression surprised Axel a lot. These were small changes but when he healed Charizard in a Pokemon center or with a potion, it never showed such a happy and dominant expression. 

Axel could not put it into his words but Charizard looked like it was more closer to its primal self. It just felt right. 

Axel realized that he had made a massive mistake in his training plans. He calmed himself down and started to think, 'What's next?'.

###

Elizabeth started to show all the training grounds and their significance. One of them trained their fire powers. It was made to increase the power of firepower and also help Charizard to manipulate fire-type energy.

One of them was to increase the defense of Charizard. In real life, Charizard had an incredible defense. Being a fake dragon, it needed to have a good defense.

Another training ground focused on resistance. Resistance to super effective moves like water moves or electric moves. There were multiple training grounds for resistance.

Another training ground was for improving its physical power and another one was to increase its special power. 

There were a lot of training grounds. Each had its own purpose. Axel could say that the training ground was made very wisely. 

It was already night when they finished touring all the places. Now they were eating dinner now.

Elizabeth started to examine Axel's Charizard and said, "Its natural healing capability has gone down a lot. Normally, it should have fully healed by now. We need to train your Charizard a lot in this aspect."

Axel also wanted to leave Pidgeot here to train in the flying training ground. It was perfect for a flying-type Pokemon like Pidgeot. However, he decided against it. 

Pidgeot was just an uncommon rank Pokemon and it needed to learn a lot from Axel. It was still young and it needed to mature. Axel didn't want to leave it in the hands of others. 

Charizard was already matured and now it could carefully think for itself. However, such was not the case for Pidgeot. 

###

Next day,

"Do you think that my Charizard could beat the Charizard that holds the first position in pseudo-king rank?"

They were now going to the battle arena again. Axel's Charizard was a pseudo-king rank and it would have to beat the Charizard who holds the first position in that rank to be the top of that rank.

After it won, it could also challenge some of the king-rank Pokemon but that king-rank Pokemon would have to accept the fight which was very rare. 

"I know the answer but what is the fun of telling you before the battle even began? Remember, you cannot assist Charizard in this fight. It would have to fight on its own because it would not be fair.", said Elizabeth.

The first rank Charizard of pseudo-king rank was ready for battle. It had a long thin scar on its face showing that it was a battle-hungry Pokemon.

"Are you both ready for battle?", asked Elizabeth. She had decided to become the referee of this battle too.

Both of them nodded their heads.

The wounds of Axel's Charizard were almost perfectly healed and it was ready for battle.

"Let the battle begin.!!!!"

###

"Axel's Charizard has lost the battle. Charizard retains the first position."

RROAAAARRRR!!!!

Axel went near it and saw that it was injured and tired.

"Don't be sad. You gave it your all. Remember, this Charizard has been training here for a long time. You would catch up to it in no time.", said Axel patting its back.

It had lost 2 matches in a row and this had never happened before. It was starting to question its own power. Axel's words did calm it down to think.

"Charizard, it was a great battle. Yes, you didn't win but the first position is not handed to a weak Charizard. Train hard and challenge it again.", said Elizabeth.

This improved its mood even more. It was determined to train harder and beat the crap out of it.

Elizabeth looked at Axel and said, "See, you and I said the same thing but Charizard was more motivated with my speech than yours and you are its trainer.

What I mean to tell you is, you should also have a Charizard's mindset while talking to it. A simple change in words could make a huge difference in its mental state."

Elizabeth was not only training Charizard but also training Axel on how to train Charizard. She was the most complete trainer Axel had ever seen. No wonder she had a master rank Charizard.

###

Time to leave Charizard was coming near. Axel had never left any of his Pokemon for an extended period of time and it was uneasy even for him. However, they had to grow and learn from the world too. 

Axel told Charizard what it was lacking in stats and move mastery. He could easily see it in its stats. He told Charizard to focus on the flying training ground and defense training ground more. He also told it to focus on 'Ancient power'.

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[Ding!