Chapter 450: Ascetic Training in the Snowfields
Besides Hakamo-o and Swampert, Basalt's other Pokémon were not idle either; they mainly engaged in friendly exchanges with Wu Kong's Pokémon.
You read that right, exchanges.
Excadrill possessed two treasures: the Smooth Rock and the Groudon Scale. Bronzong had absorbed Celebi's Origin Energy and Registeel's metal fragment. Cradily had Celebi's Origin Energy and the Root Domain. Not to mention Camerupt.
Just these four freaks, even Wu Kong's Pokémon weren't qualified to guide them too much. On the contrary, sometimes they gave Wu Kong's Pokémon a refreshing feeling.
However, speaking of combat aspects, Basalt's Pokémon couldn't catch up to Wu Kong even if they whipped their horses. After a year of ascetic training, all of Wu Kong's Pokémon had stepped into the Gym Leader level, with terrifying strength.
So Basalt's main purpose was to increase combat experience and absorb some of Wu Kong's combat thinking. A trainer's combat thinking is actually quite important in actual combat. If your tactics are old-fashioned and childish, it will definitely be detrimental to the performance of your Pokémon's strength. Conversely, it can often allow Pokémon to perform at 120% efficiency, winning by surprise.
In the cave at night, although the outside temperature had dropped to minus twenty degrees, because of the temperature control expert Camerupt, Basalt not only didn't feel cold but felt very warm.
The only bad point was that Basalt couldn't take a bath and could only wipe his body with hot water. Unlike Wu Kong, who wiped his body directly with snow or jumped into the Frozen Pool for a swim and bath if he endured it. As long as the time wasn't long, Wu Kong could still handle it.
After dinner, Basalt drank hot water while scribbling in his notebook, glancing at the Pokémon beside him from time to time.
Although Swampert was beaten up by Crabominable, its spirit was excellent, evidently gaining something from the subsequent exchanges. Basalt asked and found out that Crabominable gave it pointers on "Ice Punch," benefiting it greatly.
In terms of power application, Poliwrath was an expert. It saw at a glance that Swampert's physical strength was formidable, but its way of exerting force remained at a superficial level, completely unaware of using fighting techniques to achieve the effect of deflecting a thousand pounds with four ounces.
Although Poliwrath indicated that this technique of leveraging strength and deflecting heavy force required extremely long special training and wouldn't show results in a short time, it still made Swampert yearn for it. It had made up its mind not to go back without learning this technique.
As for Hakamo-o, the Lucario it followed wasn't as straightforward as Crabominable and Poliwrath. It emphasized calming Hakamo-o's heart first. Starting with metaphysical things made it hard for Hakamo-o to adapt. Anyway, after this day, apart from understanding Aura a bit more, Hakamo-o didn't have any substantial gains.
Nothing happened overnight.
"In-fer~ In-fer~"
Early the next morning, the sky hadn't completely brightened yet. Basalt was sleeping soundly, but Infernape's anxious urging calls sounded outside.
"No way... it's only 4:50 AM!"
Basalt felt unwell all over. Growing up so big, had he ever gotten up this early?
"Haka~"
However, hearing Infernape's call, Hakamo-o immediately got up spiritedly, grabbed a handful of Pokéblocks and stuffed them into its mouth, drank some milk, then pushed aside the rocks blocking the cave entrance and walked out. Today was the first day of training with Master Infernape; it couldn't be late.
As soon as the wind-blocking rocks at the cave entrance were moved, cold wind poured in directly. Basalt shivered involuntarily and wrapped his small quilt tighter.
Then a few minutes later, the rocks were moved away again; this time Swampert went out. Cold wind poured in again; now Basalt felt terrible, sleepiness gone completely.
"What are you guys doing?"
Basalt wanted to cry but had no tears.
At the same time, Basalt had a trace of enlightenment in his heart. Senior Brother Wu Kong's achievements today were inseparable from his ascetic character. Training in the coldest winter and hottest summer—behind these eight words were blood and sweat poured day after day, year after year.
"Those with better talent than me work harder than me?"
Although he wanted to sleep more, Basalt couldn't fall asleep anymore, wailing, "Just let me die from the rat race (involution)!"
Coincidentally, disturbed like this, the other Pokémon also woke up.
After washing up and eating breakfast with his Pokémon, the sky finally brightened slightly. Basalt walked out of the cave entrance and saw Wu Kong practicing a set of fist techniques shirtless.
Although Basalt didn't understand martial arts, he could see that this set of fist techniques should be high-end martial arts combining hardness and softness. Because Basalt heard the breaking wind sound of Wu Kong's fists clearly.
"Damn, yesterday he said there are no martial arts masters in the world; today his fists are booming." Basalt twitched his mouth and complained.
Behind Wu Kong, besides the five Pokémon appearing yesterday, six more Pokémon lined up.
The Herculean Bug King Heracross, the green kangaroo-like Breloom, the caped strange bird Hawlucha, the evil fighter Toxicroak, the pink and tender Bewear, and the bamboo-chewing Pangoro.
This group of powerful Pokémon gathering on the mountaintop for training was quite spectacular. Presumably, this was Wu Kong's Pokémon lineup, a total of eleven, but not excluding the possibility that Wu Kong had other Pokémon not brought along.
As new members, Hakamo-o and Swampert were arranged at the very front. But contacting fist techniques for the first time, they fought somewhat clumsily, yet still tried hard to follow.
Idle and bored, Basalt also moved along. Unfortunately, no magical reaction occurred.
"It seems I'm not that one-in-a-million martial arts prodigy!" Basalt sighed secretly.
Ascetic training on the high mountain snowfields, although the environment here was a bit harsh, the advantage was no disturbance, allowing single-minded focus on cultivation.
Over time, Basalt's bad habit of sleeping late and getting up late disappeared directly. Going to sleep at 9:30 PM every night, waking up at 4:30 AM, starting training at 5:00 AM sharp, unshakable. Not only that, due to the remoteness and poor signal here, Basalt's bad habit of playing with the Pokédex and browsing forum videos also disappeared.
Anyway, it was just focusing on cultivation. Besides eating, drinking, and relieving himself, his mind was full of training and becoming stronger. Although this state was painful initially, after adapting, Basalt also felt a sense of enjoyment.
Cultivating like this for a month, Swampert and Hakamo-o gained huge rewards.
First was Swampert; its Ice Punch had made great progress, double fist combos were no problem. Besides that, its body force exertion had also improved slightly, becoming more fierce and domineering, also crisper, with amazing explosive power.
As for Hakamo-o, its current gain was one: learning Aura Sphere! However, this single move was enough to raise its strength by half a level. Aura Sphere had this prestige!
Besides these two Pokémon, Basalt didn't neglect the training of other Pokémon; each made huge progress. This was the benefit of single-mindedness!
Not only that, Wu Kong later informed Basalt that there were many ascetics hidden near this snowfield. The weakest were at the level of the First Division League ("Grade A League"), and Gym Leader-level trainers were not few. In the depths of the mountain range, there were even Master-level ascetics.
Basalt was dumbfounded hearing this. He didn't expect a dangerous place like the Himalayas to be so popular with the strong. At this moment, Basalt finally understood why peerless masters in martial arts stories hoped to live in seclusion in places with few human tracks.
"I know a few trainers with strength similar to yours. I'll ask Gallade to take you there; you can exchange skills."
Wu Kong made his suggestion. Although Basalt was also sparring with his Pokémon, his Pokémon were all Gym Leader-level, a full level higher than Basalt. Even if their methods weren't as "flashy" ("xiu" - showy/tricky) as Basalt's Pokémon, Basalt couldn't handle being crushed directly by strength. Sparring was only interesting with people of relatively equal strength.
"Understood!"
Basalt obediently accepted the suggestion.
After lunch, Basalt took his Pokémon and left the Blizzard Peak. Led by Gallade, they arrived at a remote snowfield.
Before Basalt and Bronzong could land, a flapping Delibird flew up to check the situation, looking alert.
"Ga~lade~"
Gallade stepped forward to negotiate.
"Deli~"
Just like that, Delibird flew away. Before long, it returned with a lean man wearing a fox fur coat, shouting loudly from afar: "You kid, are you also a member of the Weather Bureau?"
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