After restoring Frogadier and Mawile’s stamina, Terrance soon had them begin their second battle.
The moment Mawile fought Arcanine, it immediately found itself struggling. Although it had been unable to touch Beautifly during their battle, it had at least been able to maintain some initiative. Against Arcanine, however, Mawile discovered that this fellow was even wilder than it was.
The two Pokémon had finally met their match. They nearly fought themselves into a frenzy, and the shockwaves from their battle prevented Frogadier from intervening. Fortunately, they knew this was only a simulated battle and held back from going all out.
Arcanine’s growth lay in its ability to continue battling after its stamina had been depleted. Learning how to rapidly recover enough strength to fight again while completely exhausted was the main focus of Arcanine’s current training. It was also because of this training that its willpower ranked among the strongest of Terrance’s Pokémon.
“Stop. Recover for a while, then we’ll begin the next battle.”
Terrance clapped his hands again, then began overseeing Frogadier and Mawile’s battle against Castform. In this battle, Frogadier and Mawile were suppressed even more miserably than in any of the previous battles. Castform’s training focused on comprehensive improvement. It had few weaknesses and a clearly defined role. Precisely because of this, Castform, which could freely switch among its three major forms and manipulate four kinds of weather, possessed an even more outrageous level of strength. It was simply not something Mawile, which had only just entered the top tier, could withstand.
“Frogadier.”
After treating the Pokémon once again, Terrance left Arcanine, Castform, and Beautifly near the training base he had established to continue their training. He then recalled Mawile and kept Frogadier by his side, instructing it along the way.
“From now on, you’re not allowed to open your eyes.”
After leaving the area where the Power Herbs were planted, Terrance began traversing mountain paths and forests. Amid the complex and tangled terrain, he continued having Frogadier hone the move “Mind Reader”. As a ninja, the first thing it should doubt was its own eyes, and instead temper its perception.
Frogadier, which knew Mind Reader, kept its eyes closed as it followed beside Terrance and cleared the way. Whenever they encountered particularly aggressive Pokémon, Frogadier dealt with them. Although the wild Pokémon were not very strong, Terrance would impose different combat restrictions on Frogadier according to the species of its opponent, allowing it to train a specific individual ability. In this way, even battles of a simple level could still contribute at least somewhat to Frogadier’s growth.
Along the way, they fought no fewer than ten battles.
“We’re finally here.” After a long while, Terrance let out a breath, turned his sun hat around, and looked toward the enormous cave surrounded by mountains ahead.
Meteor Falls!
Frogadier also stopped alongside Terrance and gazed toward it from a hilltop. After Terrance exchanged a glance with it, he nodded and continued walking down the mountain, intending to approach the great cave.
As they descended, the chill in the surroundings grew increasingly intense. Terrance and Frogadier could faintly hear the sound of water, and Frogadier could clearly sense how different this place was from Mt. Chimney.
No wonder this place was called Meteor Falls…
Along the way, Terrance and Frogadier also saw several bodies of water, but they were almost entirely inhabited by Pokémon such as Barboach, Magikarp, and Goldeen. In the shadows of the cave, they occasionally spotted Zubat as well. However, despite having come this far, they had not seen a single Lunatone or Solrock, the Pokémon they were searching for.
“Let’s keep going.” Terrance continued forward.
Lunatone probably would not appear during the day, so their only option was to venture deeper into Meteor Falls and take a look. In any case, they had to be either outside or inside.
The air grew increasingly damp, and the surroundings became darker. Terrance then released Gardevoir to help him sense the locations of Lunatone and Solrock.
With its psychic power spread out, the entirety of Meteor Falls became clear to Gardevoir. Before long, using the unique fluctuations of Synchronoise, Gardevoir locked onto four places containing large amounts of psychic power.
Within the dim Meteor Falls, those four locations were like sparks in the night sky. Their psychic power fluctuations were extremely active, forming a stark contrast with the other areas. Sharing Gardevoir’s perception, Terrance quickly determined the locations of all four, then chose the nearest one and planned to visit them one by one.
However, what interested Terrance more was that, aside from the four places where psychic power fluctuations was exceptionally active, Gardevoir had discovered another area that differed greatly from the rest while scouting the cave. The vigorous life fluctuations within that region could not possibly belong to the Zubat family.
“Can you roughly determine their size?”
Terrance asked Gardevoir beside him, but Gardevoir shook its head, indicating that the cosmic magnetic field within Meteor Falls was too strong and severely interfered with its judgment.
“Forget it. We’ll go see for ourselves. It’s on the way anyway.”
Because the interior of Meteor Falls had extremely complicated terrain and Terrance had never explored it much, he was not very familiar with its deeper regions.
After determining their destination, Terrance and the others did not proceed on foot. Earlier, that had been for Frogadier’s training, but things were different now. The terrain inside the cave was unsuitable for battle, so Terrance simply had Gardevoir use Teleport to travel. It did not take long before they arrived at the first location where psychic power fluctuations were active.
One, two, three… eleven. A full eleven Solrock were sleeping against the wall. Hiding off to the side, Terrance rubbed his chin and, with his discerning eye, fixed his gaze on the Solrock in the very center. It was clearly the best developed of the group. If he were going to capture one of them, it had to be this one.
However, now was not the time to capture it. There were still three other locations he needed to investigate, and Terrance’s primary objective was to capture Lunatone. Solrock was secondary and should be left until last.
Without disturbing the Solrock, Terrance and the others continued onward. Before long, they arrived at the region with the vigorous life fluctuations.
This place was noticeably brighter than the others. It seemed to connect to several different areas, and sunlight could even shine in from above…
“Interesting. I never expected Meteor Falls to contain a secret like this.”
As Terrance gently stepped into the area, his eyes lit up. Blue bodies, exposed fangs, and skulls that looked exceptionally hard… Alongside them were Pokémon resembling juvenile sauropod dinosaurs, also with blue bodies and black fur covering their eyes. The sight left Terrance rather surprised.
No wonder the life fluctuations here were the strongest. They were Dragon-type Pokémon.
Bagon and Deino. Looking at the dozen or so Dragon-type Pokémon that were either frolicking or resting, Terrance scratched his head, finding it rather unbelievable.
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