Pokémon: Sandstorm Sovereign

Chapter 28: The Theory of Moves

As the supervisor and star coach of the Meteor Club, Coach Miles had his own private training room, completely isolated from the outside world.

"I heard from Anya that your Drilbur has only been training for a month but has already mastered five moves: Mud-Slap, Rapid Spin, Scratch, Sand Tomb, and Rock Tomb. She also said its physical condition is excellent in every aspect, and its talent is top-notch."

Coach Miles stood with his arms crossed, looking down at Basalt with a smile. "It's not easy to get praise from Anya. Come on, release your Drilbur and show me what it's got."

Hearing Coach Miles's words, Basalt realized that this was all arranged by Ms. Anya. No wonder she told him he had to find Coach Miles when he went to the Meteor Club. It seemed the two were old acquaintances who knew each other well.

First, the special Metal Coating, and now convincing Coach Miles to be his coach—Basalt felt that he owed Ms. Anya a great debt. Unfortunately, he currently seemed to have no way of repaying her.

Looks like I have to get stronger as soon as possible, Basalt thought. His mind was clear. Great kindness is not something to be repaid with mere thanks; he could repay her later when he had the ability. For now, he would just keep this favor in his heart.

"Come on out, Drilbur!"

Basalt took out the Poké Ball and pressed the switch.

"Chari~" (^ω^)

Drilbur flamboyantly raised its claws, showing off its muscles. This was quickly becoming its signature entrance pose. Although the intensity of the battles today had been high, the little mole had won every single one, so its spirits were high. Plus, it had been resting in its Poké Ball all afternoon, so there was no fatigue to speak of. It was full of vitality.

"Your Drilbur is indeed very well-raised."

Coach Miles's eyes lit up when he saw the little mole appear. As a Professional-level trainer and the club's supervisor, his judgment was very sharp. He could tell Drilbur's physical condition and approximate strength just from its appearance.

A Drilbur nourished by a Smooth Rock Crystal? It would be strange if it wasn't outstanding, Basalt thought to himself, feeling it was only natural.

Then, under Coach Miles's guidance, Drilbur began to use its moves, displaying its full strength. However, after each move, Coach Miles would scribble something in a notebook. His expression was very serious, which made Basalt feel a little uneasy.

Two or three minutes later, Drilbur had demonstrated all of its moves.

Basalt looked at Coach Miles, waiting for his evaluation. The coach was still writing furiously. Basalt stood on his tiptoes and tried to sneak a peek, but Coach Miles's handwriting was like chicken scratch; Basalt couldn't understand a single word. Seeing how focused he was, Basalt didn't dare to disturb him and could only wait obediently.

After a long while, Coach Miles finally stopped writing. He let out a long breath and said, "Based on your Drilbur's condition, I already have a rough training plan in mind."

"So fast?" Basalt was slightly surprised. In this world, the study of Pokémon training was far more complex than fitness studies on Earth. The content was vast and varied, yet Coach Miles was able to formulate a training plan for his mole in just a few minutes?

Basalt stood up straight, ready to listen intently. He didn't blindly trust so-called "experts." He had to hear what Coach Miles had to say first before judging his level.

"First, in terms of moves, your Drilbur's moveset is already quite rich for this stage, and it's well-balanced. Your main goal now should be to strengthen its use of these moves, making their execution more proficient and effortless."

"After all, the same move in the hands of different Pokémon can have vastly different effects."

Coach Miles put down his notebook and began to speak eloquently. As a Professional-level trainer and star coach, although he was knowledgeable in all aspects, his greatest expertise was in improving a Pokémon's strength from the angle of move development. The accumulation of a Pokémon's energy and the strengthening of its physical condition were like a child growing up; it required a long period of methodical training and couldn't be achieved overnight.

Under these circumstances, the best starting point for rapidly increasing strength was move development. Of course, move development also required time, but compared to physical conditioning and energy accumulation, it was relatively more efficient. This was the real reason Anya had contacted him and recommended Basalt.

Basalt nodded in understanding. This was essentially the domain of skill proficiency. For the same move, some Pokémon used it in a standard, sometimes even clumsy, manner, just barely managing to execute it. Other Pokémon could use it with ease, as if it were second nature. This was the difference in proficiency.

To achieve high proficiency, the first step was to practice a lot—practice until it becomes second nature, until it's ingrained in your very bones, until you can use it at will. By doing so, not only would the speed of move execution greatly increase, but its power would also rise accordingly. As far as Basalt knew, a certain Elite Four member in the anime had a Pokémon that was so proficient with the move "Calm Mind" that it could use it anytime, anywhere, making its psychic power abnormally strong and its overall strength terrifying.

"After a move is fully mastered, you can then consider move advancement. You should know that many Pokémon moves can be advanced, right?" Coach Miles looked at Basalt, his eyes testing.

As a veteran gamer, this small concept was no challenge for Basalt. He immediately gave an example, "Of course, I know that. Water Gun can be advanced into Hydro Pump, Ember into Flamethrower, Gust into Hurricane…"

"Correct. The examples you gave are typical of advanced moves. But did you know that mastering an advanced version of a move is easier than learning a completely new one?" Coach Miles smiled.

"Huh? That…" Basalt was slightly surprised at first, but he quickly understood. In the game world, you learned moves either by leveling up, using a TM, or through a move tutor. A Pokémon couldn't advance a move on its own.

But this was the real world. For example, a Growlithe that has mastered Ember, as its skill proficiency and internal energy accumulate, could very well have a breakthrough at some critical point and advance its Ember into Flamethrower. This was very reasonable. After all, Ember and Flamethrower used the exact same principles and methods; the only difference was the magnitude of the flame's power.

"Based on your Drilbur's situation, its Scratch can be advanced into Fury Swipes, and then further advanced into Crush Claw. Also, its Rock Tomb can be advanced into Rock Slide, and then into Stone Edge."

Coach Miles looked at Basalt, who was nodding furiously, clearly having benefited greatly. This was because Coach Miles's words had opened up a whole new path to strength for him.

Extrapolating from this concept of advancement, if his Drilbur could learn Bulldoze, could it later be advanced into Earthquake? And if he took an even bigger step, opened his mind a little more, could Earthquake be advanced into Fissure?

If it could learn the one-hit KO move Fissure, his Drilbur would be unstoppable. As long as the level difference wasn't too great, a hit from that move basically meant "go die," no questions asked. However, a move like Fissure seemed to have poor accuracy. But after thinking about it calmly, Basalt felt that the threshold for such a high-tier move must be very high. Drilbur probably couldn't learn it, but maybe its evolved form, Excadrill, would have a chance.

Still, advancing Scratch to Fury Swipes and Rock Tomb to Rock Slide might be possible at the current stage.

Seeing Basalt's greatly shaken expression, Coach Miles smiled to himself, remembering how he looked when he was young. Once upon a time, when he was a university freshman, he probably had the same expression when he first heard his professor's theory of moves.

After talking about skill proficiency and advancement, Coach Miles began to talk about skill development. Skill development was really about developing new ways to use a move. This time, he used Rapid Spin as an example. Rapid Spin itself was an attack and an escape move, but if used properly, it could also become a defensive move. Basalt had previously used this method to break through Nidoran's Poison Sting. If developed even further, Rapid Spin could actually be used for movement. Especially for slow Pokémon like Pineco, if it used Rapid Spin, its movement speed would increase dramatically. Rollout had a similar effect.

Basalt wasn't too surprised by the concept of skill development. After all, having watched over a thousand episodes of the Pokémon anime, he at least knew about the Counter Shield.

"After skill development, the next step is combination moves!" Suddenly, the aura around Coach Miles changed.

"Combination moves?" Basalt was dumbfounded. This was a realm he had never touched upon before.

"That's right, combination moves." Coach Miles nodded, looking up as if lost in thought. He said to himself, "When a Pokémon's strength has grown to a certain point, and the execution of its moves is as proficient as eating and drinking, it can then try to combine two or even multiple moves to be used together."

"For example, your Drilbur could totally consider using Rapid Spin and Rock Tomb at the same time, forming the combination move 'Spinning Rock Bomb.' That would be a true integration of offense and defense, attacking while simultaneously defending."

"Spinning… Rock Bomb?"

Basalt closed his eyes and imagined his Drilbur using Rapid Spin while simultaneously using Rock Tomb, hurling rock projectiles in all directions. He had to admit, that scene would be pretty nice. Usually, when an opponent is attacking you, because their concentration is divided, there will be certain openings in their defense. This is the best time for a defensive counter-attack.

Basalt opened his eyes and said hesitantly, "Coach Miles, combination moves must be… very difficult to master, right?"

"They are, and they aren't." Coach Miles smiled, not giving a direct answer. "Whether it's difficult or not always depends on the individual." Because the difference between people is sometimes greater than the difference between a person and a dog. A genius and a common person really can't be judged by the same standard.

"If you want to learn, I can try to teach you." Coach Miles looked at Basalt. A Poké Ball had appeared in his hand at some point.