"Sha sha sha~!"
At the back of the mountain in Stonefield Town, Ethan Black and his Sandshrew were sitting on a large rock.
At that moment, Sandshrew was visibly depressed, clearly affected by what had happened earlier.
"Sandshrew, there's really no reason for you to be afraid."
"If you're willing to accept my special training, I'll prove with actions that you too can become strong."
"What do you say? Do you want to try? It won't take long before you can defeat that Sandshrew that intimidated you."
Noticing the sparkle in Sandshrew's eyes, Ethan Black narrowed his eyes slightly. Defeating an opponent once thought to be very strong was without a doubt the best way to regain confidence.
"Sha~!"
Sandshrew's little eyes narrowed into a thin line, and an expression of doubt appeared on its face; it was seriously considering what Ethan Black was saying.
"Trust me, Sandshrew. Do you really want to keep being called trash, for your own peers to keep bullying you?"
"Think carefully. If you manage to become a strong Pokémon, surely even your clan will accept you."
Sandshrew's expression changed again. Suddenly, it opened its eyes wide and showed a determined look. It was clear it had accepted Ethan Black's proposal!
"Congratulations on making the right decision!"
"Trust me, I'll make you into a powerful Pokémon. And our first target will be that Sandshrew that intimidated you!"
"Sha sha sha!"
"Hahaha, good! Then let's head home now, alright?"
"We'll eat something tasty, you'll take a nice bath, and go to bed early. Training starts tomorrow!"
"Sha sha sha!"
Sandshrew nodded excitedly. Food was the best!
Wait, bath?
Terror!
Bathing was death for a Sandshrew!
...
The next day.
Ethan Black, for once, got up early.
Beside him, Sandshrew was sleeping curled up in a little ball.
"Sandshrew, up! Let's wash your face, it's time to start training!"
Ethan Black smiled mischievously. Remembering last night's bath scene, he couldn't help laughing to himself.
"Sha?"
Hearing his voice, Sandshrew opened its sleepy eyes.
But upon hearing the words "wash your face," it jumped out of bed in terror! It looked at Ethan Black in panic.
Wash hands, wash face, bathe...
Now, every time it heard the word "wash," its body trembled involuntarily.
"Relax, same as last night. I'll just use a damp towel to clean you a little, okay?"
Under Sandshrew's resignation, Ethan Black took a damp towel and began to clean its face. Another chaotic moment...
After washing its face came Sandshrew's favorite part of the day: eating!
A delicious meal was its greatest motivation to endure daily handwashing, face washing, and baths.
After happily finishing breakfast, Ethan Black said goodbye to his parents and hurried off toward the back mountain of Stonefield Town.
Last night, Ethan Black had already made a preliminary assessment of the moves Sandshrew currently knew. As expected, it only knew the move Scratch and the move Defense Curl as basic moves.
As for Egg Moves, Ethan Black wasn't sure yet. In the games, if a Pokémon inherited a move, it could use it directly, but in the real world it wasn't the same.
In this world, even if a Pokémon inherited a move genetically, certain conditions were required to activate it.
It's like some hereditary diseases: even if you inherit the gene, it doesn't manifest immediately. It might activate at any time, or maybe never.
Given this, Ethan Black would have to train his Sandshrew manually, step by step. He went to the mountain to look for a slope where it could train the move Rollout.
Since the move is called "Rollout," then roll!
Besides, he clearly remembered how Whitney in the anime trained Miltank exactly like that to master Rollout.
After searching a bit with his Sandshrew around the mountain, he found a sunken area between two slopes. These were quite steep, perfect for practicing the move.
"Sandshrew, use Defense Curl and then roll down this slope!"
With Ethan Black's command, Sandshrew first curled into a ball and then used Defense Curl, starting to roll downhill.
Because of its body structure, Sandshrew was very well-suited for rolling. Taking advantage of inertia, it quickly descended the slope and kept rolling until it reached the bottom of the hollow. It even rolled a bit up the opposite slope before stopping.
"Sha sha sha!"
Once it stopped, Sandshrew was very excited. This game was way too fun!
"What's so good about that? What you just did was literally rolling. But the move Rollout is a Rock-type move. You should be wrapping yourself with Rock-type energy while rolling."
"Try again!"
Seeing Sandshrew so happy, Ethan Black didn't hesitate to pour a bucket of cold water on it. Sandshrew's smile froze instantly.
Soon, Sandshrew came back up from the bottom of the hollow and, under Ethan Black's instructions, tried again.
"It seems that for Sandshrew to learn the real move Rollout, it must first be able to perceive Rock-type energy."
Ethan Black's face turned dark with frustration as he watched his Sandshrew training... like it was on a slide!
Understanding the problem, he decided to take it somewhere it could clearly feel Rock-type energy.
"Sandshrew, come back. Let's go to a place where you can feel Rock-type energy."
So he took it to a rocky area.
This place used to be a quarry. Later, the Pokémon League promoted environmental protection, and the site had been abandoned long ago.
It was the only place Ethan Black could imagine with a high concentration of Rock-type energy—it was filled with stones everywhere!
And sure enough, the place did not disappoint. After a round of exploration, Sandshrew managed to sense Rock-type energy, and excitedly began rolling down one of the slopes!
(End of Chapter)