Chapter 297: Super Storm Drain
"Huh? No water? What's going on?" Basalt was utterly confused. His watch wasn't wrong. Five minutes had definitely passed.
"Did my watch jump ahead? Or did I miscalculate?" Basalt scratched his head, deciding to wait another five minutes.
Soon, another five minutes passed. Basalt dropped the bucket again, but the bottom of the well was still empty.
"Don't tell me..." Basalt's eyebrow twitched, and his gaze involuntarily settled on the rooted, motionless Cradily.
"Dily-da~" Just then, Cradily, which had been perfectly still, finally opened its eyes, a smug look of triumph on its face. At the same time, the previously dry sand beneath Cradily's body suddenly became wet. The moist patch spread outwards until groundwater began to bubble up like a fountain. However, the size of this fountain was surprisingly small.
"Water!" Basalt was shocked. Cradily had actually managed to draw the groundwater up!
"Didn't they say even Pro-level Pokémon couldn't do this?" Basalt scratched his head. As far as he knew, the outpost had a Pro-level Sand Shocker (Cacturne) with the Storm Drain ability, but even that Pokémon couldn't achieve what Cradily just did.
Basalt was amazed and secretly wondered, "Is this just an incredible talent for the 'Storm Drain' Ability? Or is the Cradily line naturally gifted?"
Super Storm Drain?
Basalt had no knowledge of Celebi gifting Cradily "Life Dew," so he could only attribute the miracle entirely to Cradily's natural ability.
"Dily-da~"
After wetting the sand dune, Cradily's eyes narrowed, and it continued to exert its power. The moisture quickly turned into droplets, which then converged into a stream that slowly flowed towards the waiting bucket.
The scene looked surreal, as if an invisible water pipe had been inserted dozens of meters underground to pump the water up. The stream was small, but it was continuous, and its efficiency was at least ten times faster than using a bucket.
"The efficiency is amazing!" Basalt was overjoyed. At this rate, he wouldn't need to spend ten hours a day squatting by this place. One ton of water daily? He could handle that in an hour or so. Easy peasy.
"This means I can dedicate the rest of my time to improving my Pokémon's strength." Basalt patted Cradily's head with a grin. "I'll give you extra snacks tonight."
An hour later, all ten of Basalt's water containers were full. Mission accomplished.
"Dily-da~"
But Cradily showed no sign of stopping. After all, it hadn't had a good drink of water since arriving in the desert. It had to seize the opportunity to drink its fill.
"Alright, alright! But take it easy. Don't suck the entire underground dry." Basalt blinked, slightly concerned about the groundwater flow. He knew Cradily's absorption power was like a super-sponge; its capacity was astonishing. The only minor inconvenience was that the water Cradily expelled after absorbing it wasn't perfectly clean; it naturally picked up a slight salinity. Basalt suspected this was due to Cradily being an ancient sea creature and its knowledge of Brine. Other Storm Drain or Water Absorb Pokémon had similar issues. Otherwise, why bother with containers? Cradily could just suck and spit.
"Dily-da~"
Cradily's ability continued to draw water. The underground water kept penetrating the soil and rising towards Cradily, defying gravity.
Just then, an unexpected event occurred.
RUMBLE!
The ground beneath Cradily suddenly collapsed without warning, forming a circular crater about five meters in diameter. It was like a quicksand vortex, swallowing everything nearby. Cradily, at the epicenter, was dragged down to the bottom of the pit.
"What's going on?" Basalt, who had been standing next to Cradily, was also caught in the vortex's range. Fortunately, Bronzong noticed quickly and used its psychic power to save him. Otherwise, falling into the quicksand would have had severe consequences.
"Dily-da~" Cradily, at the bottom of the pit, was unharmed. The pit wasn't very deep, and the sand stopped flowing quickly.
"Good thing the well is fine; otherwise, that would have been a disaster." Basalt looked at the deep well. Its walls were reinforced with sturdy rock masonry.
Under Bronzong's telekinetic pull, Cradily was lifted out of the pit. But the recent event left Basalt deep in thought. "Was this area also a quicksand zone? Or did Cradily's water-drawing process change the soil's properties?"
He couldn't figure it out, so he simply ordered Excadrill to refill the pit to prevent the well walls from being damaged by wild Pokémon.
With the water-fetching done, Basalt didn't leave immediately. He had his Pokémon train until noon, then remounted Bronzong and flew back to the outpost.
"Hey, why are you back so soon? Didn't you have to fetch water?" Seeing Basalt return, Finn looked confused.
Basalt patted the full dimensional backpacks on his back and grinned. "Don't worry, Senior. The water's all filled up!"
"The water's all filled up?" Finn looked skeptical until he checked the backpacks one by one. "It's really full? But... that's not logical! It hasn't rained. How could the water level suddenly rise?" The desert rarely got rain, but when it did, the rainfall was significant, causing a rapid surge in the underground water flow, which would make fetching water easier.
"What's going on? Did you get lucky and find a new water source?" Finn looked at Basalt suspiciously.
"Actually, this is all thanks to my Cradily..." Basalt chuckled, holding nothing back and explaining the whole situation to Finn.
"A Cradily? You have a fossil Pokémon?" Finn was shocked. Fossil Pokémon were not easily obtainable. Teacher Alvin, a Gym Leader-level Rock-type specialist, dreamed of owning one, but he never had the connections. And Basalt had one?
"Just a lucky break," Basalt said, playing it down. He certainly wasn't going to tell him about the "Father of Fossils" title.
At Finn's strong insistence, Basalt had to release Cradily for him to observe. After Finn was satisfied, he told Basalt, "Since the task is complete, you can go rest. Professor Rowan's experiment isn't over yet, but you can choose to train instead."
"Training can wait a bit." Basalt waved his hand and looked out at the vast sand dunes near the outpost.
If there was an underground water flow at the Ghost City, perhaps there was one here, too? If so, he wouldn't have to go to the Ghost City anymore. He could just "draw water" right next to the outpost. That would be much more convenient.
This was a sudden thought Basalt had on the way back, and he felt it was worth a try. After saying goodbye to Finn, he searched the nearby dunes and released Excadrill. "Excadrill, dig down. See if there's any underground water flow here."
"Dro-lisk~"
Excadrill nodded, spun its body, and drilled straight into the dune. Sand squeezed out around it, and it vanished in an instant. A short while later, Excadrill returned, but shook its head. "Looks like there's nothing here."
Basalt was slightly disappointed but didn't give up. He continued to search with Excadrill. After dozens of pits were dug, Excadrill finally returned, waving its claws excitedly.
"Dro-lisk! Dro-lisk~" Bronzong translated telepathically: "Excadrill says there's a small water flow down there. The sand is moist. But the damp area is very deep, at least fifty meters."
"Fifty meters deep? And the flow is small?" Basalt's eyes narrowed. That made Cradily's job much harder. But they still had to try. So, he had Cradily step up.
"Dily-da~" Cradily nodded seriously and began to exert its power again. This time, it took much longer. It wasn't until 2 PM that the sand around Cradily finally showed signs of moisture.
"Success!" Basalt jumped three feet in the air, overjoyed. "Excadrill, dig a big pit here." "Cradily, pull the water into the pit first." "Marshtomp, use Icy Wind." Basalt gave his commands one after another.
Before long, a five-meter-square, ice-lined pit appeared on the sand dune. The bottom and sides of the pit were covered in a thick layer of ice, preventing the water from escaping.
"We did it!" Basalt pumped his fists, extremely excited. This solved the water problem once and for all.
"I've totally over-completed the mission! If Professor Rowan still won't tell me the secret of the Quicksand Domain, that's just unacceptable." Basalt rubbed his hands together, full of anticipation.
But seeing the water flow was still slow, no thicker than his pinky, Basalt decided to wait until the pit filled up a bit more. It would be much more impressive that way. That would give Professor Rowan a truly big surprise.
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