Chapter 43: The Digging Misconception
Meteor Club, Coach Miles's Private Instruction Room.
Ms. Anya listened quietly as Basalt described the difficulties he was currently facing and the worries in his heart. Faced with the "big three" favorites to win, Basalt felt immense pressure. If he couldn't master the move "Dig" in time, forget about winning the championship; he felt that even making it into the top four was a huge risk. If he was unlucky and ran into one of the favorites early, the possibility of defeat was not small.
"This new generation of youngsters is truly not to be underestimated."
Listening to Basalt's account, Ms. Anya's brow also furrowed. According to her original estimate, Basalt's chances of getting into the top four should have been quite high. But now it seemed she had been too blindly optimistic and had underestimated the heroes of the world.
"Alright, I understand. This week, I will personally train you and do my best to help you learn Dig." Anya nodded, her expression grave.
The Seaside County High School Elite Selection Tournament was held entirely on weekends, with a week in between each stage. This gave Basalt time to improve again.
Anya was a new teacher who had transferred from the military. Although she didn't take this profession too seriously, when she encountered a talented student like Basalt, her professional instincts kicked in. If Basalt couldn't get into Jiangnan University or another top university in the future, Ms. Anya was thinking of recommending he apply to the "National Defense University."
A real man should serve in the army and serve his country! This was Ms. Anya's simple thought. Especially seeing Basalt's fair and delicate appearance, she had the urge to send him to the army for some reshaping immediately.
"Thank you, thank you!"
Basalt put his hands together and bowed in gratitude, completely unaware of Ms. Anya's true thoughts about him. He couldn't help it; she had helped him so much. He currently had no way to repay her, but if he had the ability in the future, he wouldn't hesitate even if he had to go through hell and high water.
"Let me see your Drilbur's foundation first. Its Ground-type affinity isn't weak, so it shouldn't be hard for it to learn."
This was also the source of Ms. Anya's confidence. If a student's talent wasn't good, she wouldn't bother spending extra time teaching them. Moreover, as one of the few Pokémon best at digging, the difficulty for Drilbur to learn "Dig" was much lower than for other Pokémon. Dig was Drilbur's natural talent!
"Okay."
Basalt released Drilbur and commanded, "Drilbur, dig quickly."
"Chari~"
Drilbur nodded, leaped forward, its claws flying rapidly, and instantly dug a large hole in the standard battlefield. Then, with dirt flying everywhere, it advanced quickly just below the surface, plowing out a channel that looked like a ditch. This was to make it easier for Ms. Anya to watch and to directly show her the problem. Otherwise, Drilbur would definitely have gone deeper underground and then tunneled horizontally, digging a passable burrow.
"This…"
Watching Drilbur dig the hole, Ms. Anya first frowned deeply, then took a closer look, and was instantly dumbfounded, as if she'd lost her mind.
She frowned because the noise Drilbur made while digging was very loud. Such a loud noise and vibration were like a sound and tremor source, constantly reminding the opponent of its position. In this way, the surprise attack characteristic of Dig was completely lost. The point of Dig was to hide underground and launch a sneak attack, right?
But upon closer inspection, Ms. Anya discovered the root of the problem and was stunned. It seemed Drilbur was digging purely with brute force, without using any technique or elemental energy control.
For example, a Machamp without any skills could deal 100 points of damage with a basic attack. A Machop, on the other hand, might only deal 40 points of damage with a simple basic attack. However, if the Machop used a move to amplify its attack power, it was entirely possible to deal double the damage, catching up to the level of Machamp's basic attack. This was the value of moves—to multiply a Pokémon's attack power and cause greater destruction.
But what shocked Anya now was that Basalt's Drilbur, without having mastered the move, without even using any skill techniques or elemental energy amplification, had almost reached the level of a Pokémon using a "move" to amplify its power. What did this mean? It meant that this Drilbur's physical condition was several times that of an ordinary Drilbur! Even without using a move, it could barely reach the level of an ordinary Pokémon using a move to amplify its power.
"Ms… Ms. Anya, is there a big problem with my little mole?"
Seeing Ms. Anya's strange expression, Basalt's heart skipped a beat, and he even stammered.
Hearing this, Ms. Anya didn't know what to say. If you're not showing off, then you must be truly clueless! But seeing Basalt's serious expression, she felt he probably wasn't showing off.
"This… when you had Drilbur train Dig, did you not consider having it control its Ground-type energy to vibrate the soil and soften it beforehand, to increase its digging speed?" Anya sighed. She never thought that Basalt would make such a low-level mistake.
A move, to put it plainly, was a use of elemental energy. If you only relied on brute force, what was the point of practicing a move?
What shocked Anya the most was that Basalt and Drilbur, while blindly practicing, were actually on the verge of succeeding. If not for the pressure of the competition, Anya felt that if she gave Basalt a little more time, he could really make his Drilbur achieve a "move-like" level with just brute force.
"Control Ground-type energy? Vibrate the soil and soften it?" Hearing this, Basalt was completely baffled and said dumbly, "What do you mean?"
Digging is digging. Isn't it just about digging? Why make it so fancy?
"Let me demonstrate for you."
Anya shook her head and released her Aggron.
"ROAR!"
With a wild roar, the steel beast Aggron appeared, looking down on Basalt and Drilbur. Then, Aggron once again became a tool, demonstrating firsthand how to use Ground-type energy to vibrate and soften the soil.
CRACKLE!
Aggron's steel palm plunged into the ground, and a wave of energy vibrated outwards, expanding in all directions. Basalt and Drilbur saw that the soil within the energy's range instantly changed from a solid, hard state to a granular, sandy state. This granular soil was somewhat similar to quicksand. Basalt reached out and gently scooped it, instantly digging a small pit, as easy as digging sand.
Basalt was dumbfounded. He wasn't an idiot. With Ms. Anya's little hint and Aggron's demonstration, he instantly understood the problem. Using elemental power to soften the soil to reduce the difficulty of digging, lessen the noise, and increase the speed—it was a triple win.
"How did I not think of that before?" Basalt slapped his head, full of regret.
He called Drilbur over and had it try to vibrate the ground with its Ground-type energy. He found that although the effect and range were not as good as Aggron's, the principle was indeed the same. The key was, there was no difficulty to it.
Once this window paper was poked through, Drilbur's path to the move Dig immediately fell into place naturally, with no more obstacles.
"Your Drilbur's Ground-type talent is indeed very good. It learned the gist of it after just watching Aggron demonstrate it once. The rest is just practice." Ms. Anya was once again shocked. Drilbur's Ground-type talent seemed to be even better than she had imagined. According to her estimation, within a day or two, Drilbur should be able to master the technique of vibrating and softening the soil. By then, Drilbur would have truly mastered the move Dig.
And since Drilbur could already achieve a move-like level with just brute force, once it truly mastered "Dig," the speed and power of its digging would be terrifying.
"That's really great!" Basalt was overjoyed to hear this.
"By the way, that bottle of Metal Coating should be almost used up, right? Do you think Drilbur has a chance of learning Screech and Hone Claws?" Ms. Anya suddenly asked.
"The Metal Coating, if I use it sparingly, should last another week. Screech might be possible, but I don't think there's much hope for Hone Claws." Basalt scratched his head, feeling a little regretful.
After getting to know Coach Miles better, Basalt had finally learned how extraordinary that bottle of Metal Coating was. Although its main purpose, learning Metal Claw, had already been achieved, people are like that—always wanting what's in the pot while eating what's in their bowl. If he could, Basalt would have loved to get all three. After all, only children make choices; adults want it all. Unfortunately, getting all of them was not very likely, but mastering two still had a chance.
"Hmm. Then you should work hard. If you can make it to the finals, I'll come to the venue to cheer you on," Ms. Anya said with a smile.
"I guarantee I'll complete the mission!" Basalt stood at attention and gave a salute.
If I can't even make it to the finals after mastering 'Dig,' I might as well find a block of tofu and smash my head on it! Basalt clenched his fists, full of confidence.
Afterward, Ms. Anya left, and Basalt continued to train Dig with Drilbur. But at that moment, with the broadcast of the Seaside County news report about the selection tournament and the accompanying picture, Basalt had unknowingly become a "hot topic," and was being enthusiastically discussed by everyone.