Pokemon : The Timeless Journey

Chapter 20 : And the training begins...

Orion instructed, "Rhyhorn, use Smack Down."
Rhyhorn opened his mouth and a metallic gold orb of energy that was surrounded by orange energy appeared in front of him. It fired it at the target. In the blink of an eye, the orb hit the target and exploded.

Orion's eyes immediately widened. Shock could be seen on his face. Cedric looked at Orion and thought, 'He finally understands how reckless he had been.'

Orion was indeed fearful. In fact, some sweat had appeared on his face. Cedric said, "You were lucky that Rhyhorn was completely out of energy when you met him. If you had met him an hour later and he had recovered some energy and used that attack on you…"

Cedric didn't complete his sentence. He knew that Orion was already thinking about it. Orion thought, 'I was indeed very lucky. While I am fast, there is no way I could have dodged that attack. If it had hit me, I'd be dead without a doubt.

I knew that my decision to venture outside was risky, but I didn't think it'd be so risky… Fortunately, my gambit has paid off. I won't be doing such a stupid thing anytime soon. Only once I have a full team should I try something with such a high risk.'

Though Orion was scared about what could have happened, he quickly moved past it. After all, he already had a Pokemon. He was no longer a helpless little boy.

Seeing that Orion had already recovered, Cedric thought, 'He is way too mature for his age. Still, this isn't a bad thing. Orphans have a tendency to mature when they are very young. Hopefully, he won't take such big risks again.'

Cedric said, "There is a chance that Rhyhorn might know other moves as well. Experiment with him and check which moves he knows."

Orion nodded. He experimented for fifteen minutes with Rhyhorn. In addition to those three, Rhyhorn knew three more moves. They were Bulldoze, Dig and Rock Polish.

Orion was surprised again. Rock Polish was an egg move, so it was fine. However, Dig wasn't something Rhyhorn learnt naturally. And, Bulldoze was something he should have learnt on level 10 according to the data he found.

Understanding Orion's doubts, Cedric explained, "Don't stick to textbook knowledge religiously. There are always exceptions. For instance, your Rhyhorn was most probably running away from a horde of Beedrills. He probably learnt Dig instinctively to get away from them. As for Bulldoze, the extreme situations should have made him learn it earlier. Or perhaps he just discovered it somehow. So, this is nothing strange. Remember, Pokemons are living creatures just like us humans. Though there are similarities, not every Pokemon will be the same."

Orion nodded and said, "I hadn't thought of that. Thank you."

He thought, 'I'm still thinking too much about the games… I shouldn't be stuck up on that. It might become the cause of my downfall.'

Cedric asked, "Are you aware of move mastery?"

Orion nodded and said, "Yes, it goes from Common level to Perfect level."

Cedric nodded and said, "Your Rhyhorn's Tackle, Tail Whip and Smack Down are at Common level. The other three aren't even at the Common level. You'll need to train each move one by one to improve move mastery. However, don't train too many moves. That will make it difficult to improve their mastery level. Just focus on the useful moves."

Orion nodded. Cedric ended the training session for the day. After all, Rhyhorn still hadn't recovered completely. Anything more than light training would be harmful to him instead.

Orion went back to his room while wondering, 'Which moves should I focus on developing first?'

Orion thought for a while before deciding, 'Right now, the two most effective moves Rhyhorn has are Smack Down and Bulldoze. Both moves have the Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB), which will boost their damage by a great degree. In addition, both moves are very practical in combat as well.

Bulldoze also hurts the legs of enemy Pokemon, making them slightly slower. Though the damage isn't fixed and hence how much the speed drops by can't be said for sure either. Regardless, it is a good added bonus.

The other important move is Dig. It can help Rhyhorn hide underground and could also allow me to escape or hide underground. Tackle and Tail Whip I can ignore. As for Rock Polish…'

A disappointed look appeared on Orion's face. He thought, 'Just like Tail Whip, Rock Polish isn't that helpful. I guess moves that buff or debuff stats aren't as useful in the real world as in the game. Or well, at least buffs aren't that good.

A Rock Polish can only increase speed by 10% instead of 100%. Three Rock Polish can increase speed by just 25%. Though decent, I can't sweep through by having one Pokemon set up while hiding behind the tank.

Rock Polish in particular is even more peculiar. It polishes Rhyhorn's body, reducing the drag and thus making him slightly faster. However, the effects don't run out as soon as I call him back. The drag will stay reduced for a long time.

It's like people waxing their hair. New hair won't regrow as soon as they exit the salon. Rhyhorn's body will stay smooth for quite some time. I only need him to use this move occasionally to ensure that he can maintain his maximum speed. So, it isn't as important as in games.

For now, I'll focus on getting Rhyhorn's Bulldoze and Dig to Common level move mastery. Once they are done, I'll raise Rock Polish to this level as well in case I need to use it in a battle for some reason.

Once that's done, I'll start training Smack Down and Bulldoze and try to raise them to the Expert level. Then, Rhyhorn won't need to stand in one place while he prepares those moves. It'll increase my flexibility… Alright, I'll follow this path.'

For the next week, Cedric assisted Orion in bonding with Rhyhorn and beginning light training.  Only after Cedric was sure that Rhyhorn had bonded enough with Orion to not attack him and that Orion was responsible enough to not mistreat Rhyhorn did he allow Orion to train by himself.

This week had also healed Rhyhorn completely. Orion began training him seriously. Within two weeks, Rhyhorn had practised Dig and Bulldoze so many times that he reached the basic level of mastery with them. He could now perform them without failing even once! A week later, Rock Polish reached the basic level of mastery as well.

During these three weeks, Orion's bond with Rhyhorn improved even further. He was able to communicate with him better and also learnt about Rhyhorn's past. Needless to say, making Rhyhorn recall all those memories and tell him about it was a Herculean task!