Chapter 296: The Ghost City
In mid-air, Finn and Basalt sat side-by-side on their Pokémon, flying quickly.
"See that? That's the Ghost City!" Finn pointed to a glistening, masonry castle in the distance. The castle's body was partially buried by yellow sand, but one could still faintly see the splendor of its past thousands of years ago. It looked incredibly ancient and covered a vast area. Outside the castle, there were remnants of structures resembling city walls, though most had collapsed, and a few patches of green grass stood out strikingly.
"Is this the Ghost City?" Basalt's eyes narrowed.
According to Finn's introduction, Basalt learned that the Ghost City was an ancient city ruin. Some scholars believed it might have been the royal court of an ancient nomadic tribe, while others thought it was a waystation built along the Silk Road. The true history of the Ghost City was lost to time.
The Ghost City was about thirty kilometers from the research outpost. Since no one typically came here, the research team had jokingly nicknamed it the "Ghost City."
Directing his Golurk to land, Basalt and Finn finally touched down in the Ghost City. All Basalt saw was desolation and decay.
"The Ghost City is abandoned, but there's one dry well inside that still gathers water. I actually discovered this place myself!" Finn scratched his head.
When he first arrived, he felt cooped up in the outpost after a few days, so he took his Golurk out for a break and eventually found the Ghost City. The city was quite large; it must have housed many people before its decline, so there were many well openings. Unfortunately, after thousands of years of wind and sand, most had been clogged and couldn't gather water. Only one well still worked, and even it was only semi-functional. This well became the research team's important water source.
"Bronzong?" Just as Basalt and Finn were chatting, Bronzong suddenly frowned, its psychic power instantly sweeping out.
"Sssshhh~" From a sand dune not far from the well, a small snake carrying a sack was confined by Bronzong's psychic force and lifted out of the yellow sand. The snake was about two meters long and slender. Its droopy eyes had tear-like markings, and it had a black sand sac near its head and neck.
"Hmm? A Sandaconda?" Basalt recognized the Pokémon.
The Sandaconda must have been lurking in the sand dune, but no matter how well it hid, it couldn't escape Bronzong's psychic sensing.
"Sssshhh~" The Sandaconda, under attack, immediately shot out a large amount of sand from its huge nostrils, but it was useless.
"Bronzong, stop. This guy probably means no harm. Just toss it away." At Basalt's command, the Sandaconda was instantly flicked away like a blur.
Finn led Basalt to the only working dry well, which was in the castle courtyard.
"This is the only well that still gathers water, but it's been abandoned for so long and is partially buried, so the rate of water gathering is very slow," Finn explained, pointing at the dry well. "Crucially, once the water reaches knee-deep, it stops accumulating. And the deeper the water, the slower it gathers. So, we have to fetch water about every five minutes. If we do this from morning until dark, we can just barely gather one ton of water."
"What? From morning until dark?" Basalt was speechless. Fetching water took this long? He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he didn't expect this kind of difficulty. It was purely a matter of grinding it out!
"That's why we hate coming here to fetch water. The process itself is easy, but it's incredibly time-consuming. You basically can't leave the well for a moment. Otherwise, the gathering speed drops, and we risk not getting enough water." Finn shrugged, indicating he couldn't help.
From now on, the water-fetching chore was Basalt's problem; he had become the "dedicated water fetcher." For Finn, he was finally liberated, passing the burden to Basalt.
Under Finn's guidance, Basalt lowered the bucket into the dry well, about thirty meters down, until he finally heard the sound of water. He waited for the bucket to fill completely, then pulled it up. The bucket was about seventy percent full, holding roughly three to four liters of water, which Basalt poured into a large water tank. After three consecutive hauls, the well was basically empty. Basalt put his ear against the well wall and could faintly hear the sound of water seeping in.
"Alright, I've shown you the method and the things to look out for. Now, I'll leave this to you." Finn warned, "Generally, there aren't many powerful Pokémon in this Ghost City. At most, they'd be Pro-level. Since you have Excadrill and Bronzong, fight if you can, run if you can't. Your safety is the most important thing." Finn already mentally rated Excadrill as Pro-level. Coupled with Bronzong's flying ability and psychic shield, Basalt was unlikely to be in danger, which was why Finn dared to leave him alone.
"Don't wander off after fetching the water. I'll come back to pick you up before dark." Finn patted Basalt's shoulder and flew away on his Golurk, leaving Basalt to the arduous task of drawing water.
"What in the world is this nonsense?" Basalt tossed the bucket aside and sighed in frustration.
Though frustrated, training was still the priority. To ensure his progress, Basalt released the remaining four Pokémon—two large, two small—to supervise their training.
"Yoji~~" (ω) Larvitar felt the rich Rock-type energy in the air and the Ground-type energy beneath its feet. It felt like coming home; everything was wonderful. It wanted to run around and play, but a glance at the already evolved Marshtomp immediately sobered the little Pokémon, and it dutifully ran off to train. Marshtomp was already one step ahead; if Larvitar didn't try to catch up, its status would be at risk!
"Ma-gloo~" Marshtomp felt the surrounding environment with its fins and gills, silently frowning. The water molecules in the air were shockingly low. If it used a Water-type move here, the power would probably be less than half of its full strength. A look of intelligence flashed in Marshtomp's eyes. It found a corner and quietly practiced non-Water-type moves like Defense Curl, Mirror Coat, and Mud Sport.
Cradily, on the other hand, hadn't changed much in personality despite evolving. It was still very attached to Basalt and needed a cuddle and some affection. Cradily rubbed its massive head against Basalt's chest, tickling him. "Alright, alright, I still need to fetch water. You have to help me!"
Basalt checked his watch. Good, five minutes were almost up. With no choice, Basalt brought Cradily to the well and pointed down the deep shaft. "Cradily, draw water!"
"Nida~" At Basalt's command, Cradily's Storm Drain ability instantly activated. In that moment, the water that had just gathered at the bottom of the well began to move. As if by a mysterious summons, it overcame gravity and flew out of the deep well. Controlled by Cradily, the stream of water obediently flowed into the water tank, with barely a drop wasted.
"Nice! Success." Basalt was overjoyed. The Takla Desert was extremely dry. Trying to draw water directly from the sand dunes was very difficult, which was why the team's Pokémon with the Water Absorb or Storm Drain abilities couldn't gather water and had to rely on this well thirty kilometers away.
However, since there was already water in the deep well, Cradily's ability could still be activated. The only problem was the difficulty of controlling the stream to pour it all into the tank. Fortunately, after being nourished by the "Spring of Life" and evolving, Cradily's control over water had vastly improved, so it was not an issue.
"A pity! Even though using Storm Drain makes fetching water easier, we still have to wait if the well runs dry." Basalt sighed, looking down the bottomless shaft. "If only Cradily's Storm Drain ability could affect the groundwater."
The presence of water in the well meant there must be an underground current. The only trouble was that the underground currents were usually very deep. Through the well shaft, Cradily could barely control the water flow because only air separated them. But to affect the deep groundwater, it was much harder because the sand dunes and soil offered far more resistance than the air.
"Nida?" Hearing this, Cradily was displeased, its face pouting. You haven't even tried it, how do you know I can't do it?
"Nida~" Cradily was determined. The Grass-type energy in its body surged out, transforming into countless tiny roots that burrowed into the sand dune. But Cradily immediately ran into trouble. Sand dunes were unlike soil; they had neither moisture nor nutrients, making it extremely difficult for its root network to extend outward or downward. After rooting to a depth of only two or three meters, Cradily couldn't go any deeper.
"Cradily, stop trying. The moisture in the air here is too thin, and the groundwater is too deep. Even Pro-level Pokémon can't handle it. Don't waste your energy." Basalt shook his head.
"Nida~" Cradily, though panting, refused to give up. It had sensed the presence of groundwater. Although it was very far away, and its ability's attraction was minimal, the attraction hadn't disappeared, and the groundwater was indeed slowly seeping upward, though at an agonizingly slow rate.
Seeing Cradily's stubbornness, Basalt didn't bother to persuade it. This little one was never one to obey easily.
Soon, five minutes were up again. Basalt wanted to call Cradily to repeat the process, but the little one ignored him. Left with no choice, Basalt picked up the bucket to fetch the water himself.
But strangely, the bottom of the well was completely empty this time.
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