Days slipped away quietly amidst the alternating sandstorms and rain curtains, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.
During this half-month, the camp beneath the rock wall played host to intense skill confrontations every day.
Tyrunt's sandstorms became increasingly violent, while Feebas's Rain Dance grew more exquisite.
The two Pokémon went from their initial awkward stalemates to being able to flexibly change tactics during combat, and their skill proficiency improved rapidly.
What surprised Lionel even more was that after Tyrunt consumed the high-grade Pokémon energy cubes from the system space, it actually learned the skill 'Rock Slide' on its own the very next day.
At first, it only instinctively kicked up a few pieces of rubble, but after practicing for a few days, it became more proficient. Now, it could precisely control dozens of rocks to whistle down from the sky.
This little fellow was quite cunning; occasionally, during the stalemate between the sandstorm and the rain curtain, it would suddenly unleash a Rock Slide to sneak attack Feebas.
However, this happened to play right into Feebas's specialty. Its proficiency in skill chaining and simultaneous control was far beyond what the novice Tyrunt could compare to.
Feebas could always calmly mobilize its energy to release a small 'Water Pulse' skill, which both shattered the falling rocks and allowed it to counterattack Tyrunt in the same motion.
Stimulated by Feebas's counterattacks, the defiant Tyrunt grew more courageous with every setback.
Through back-and-forth exchanges, it gradually grasped the trick of multitasking and simultaneously controlling two skills, making its skill transitions smoother and smoother.
As for Beldum, Lionel didn't assign it any heavy training tasks, yet it always managed to find its own role during the confrontations between the other two Pokémon.
Every morning, it would use Confusion to hold back the rocks Tyrunt was pushing, adding resistance to its endurance training.
And when the weather skill confrontation between Tyrunt and Feebas reached a fever pitch, Lionel only needed to glance at it and say softly:
"It's your turn to take the field."
Beldum would immediately charge into the battlefield like a wound-up little cannonball with a 'shoo'.
It would either use 'Iron Head' to ram fiercely or launch a 'Zen Headbutt' sneak attack, forcing the two battling Pokémon to divide their attention to defend.
Tyrunt was already in a stalemate with Feebas, and being suddenly disrupted like this often left it in a flurry, stumbling several times from Beldum's impacts.
Feebas, on the other hand, remained composed.
Due to its small size, it would sense Beldum as soon as it approached the rain curtain area, flexibly manipulating the water vapor to dodge and causing Beldum's sneak attacks to miss repeatedly.
Tyrunt didn't have it nearly as easy.
Feebas was already much more adept at controlling Water-type skills than it was, and it had only just grasped the trick of multitasking.
It had to put all its effort into maintaining the sandstorm while guarding against Feebas's sudden strikes; now, facing Beldum's 'Iron Head' sneak attacks as well, it was truly overwhelmed.
When Beldum's Tackle landed on its side, it would always make it let out a pained 'ow' grunt, and the rhythm of the sandstorm would falter slightly.
Fortunately, Tyrunt was thick-skinned and had strong physical endurance, and Beldum also knew when to hold back, not using its full power for the skill attacks.
Initially, Tyrunt could only dodge pathetically, but later it gradually figured out a way to respond.
Whenever that silver figure of Beldum approached with the sound of breaking air, Tyrunt no longer panicked. It would suddenly tighten its tail muscles and unleash its 'Iron Tail' skill.
The tip of its tail instantly shimmered with a cold metallic luster, like a refined steel whip, lashing out at Beldum with precision and ferocity.
"Ow—!"
Tyrunt let out an unyielding low growl from its throat, as if declaring:
I can use Steel-type skills too! I might fear your head-butting, but I'm not afraid of a tail-clash. Let's see whose body is harder!
The crisp sound of metal clashing rang out in the camp every day, and Tyrunt's Iron Tail became increasingly swift and sharp.
Beldum's Iron Head also became more fierce and hard, and the proficiency of both skills soared through repeated head-on collisions.
Just as Feebas and Tyrunt were becoming more proficient with their current training and developing a mutual understanding, Lionel decided to start the advanced training plan.
"Next is advanced training."
Lionel's tone suddenly became serious, and his gaze landed on Tyrunt's slightly heaving back:
"Tyrunt, try to set up Stealth Rock while releasing a sandstorm, and then manipulate those invisible rock fragments to make them a living trap that moves with the sandstorm."
Stealth Rock was originally a fixed trap skill of the Rock attribute; once used, it could only stay in one place, waiting for the opponent to trigger it.
What Lionel wanted was to make this trap 'alive,' moving around with the rotation of the sandstorm to strike the opponent unexpectedly.
This was undoubtedly an extreme test of Tyrunt's fine energy control.
Tyrunt immediately acted upon the command, launching a sandstorm skill toward the open sandy ground.
The gale whipped up sand with a whistle, and yellow sand filled the sky, perfectly obscuring the outside view.
Immediately after, it mobilized the rock energy within its body, condensing dozens of rock fragments that were difficult to see with the naked eye and merging them into the sandstorm, quietly laying the Stealth Rock trap.
"Very good. Now try to control the overall movement of the dust, bringing these Stealth Rocks along to change positions simultaneously."
Lionel continued to command, his tone filled with expectation. "Regulate your energy carefully; don't let the Stealth Rocks reveal their tracks."
Lionel looked at the beads of sweat on Tyrunt's forehead, knowing full well in his heart:
Controlling both the sandstorm and Stealth Rock at the same time, while constantly guarding against energy fluctuations that could reveal the rocks, was indeed a significant challenge for Tyrunt at its current stage.
Sure enough, before long, Tyrunt's sandstorm began to show signs of turbulence.
The Stealth Rocks originally hidden in the dust failed to follow along due to uneven energy distribution as the sandstorm moved, and instead, their tracks were exposed.
Tyrunt anxiously slapped the ground with its claws, letting out a frustrated low growl from its throat, yet it stubbornly refused to stop.
One stream of energy maintained the rotation of the sandstorm, while another acted like countless thin threads, struggling to pull the Stealth Rocks through the dust.
Even so, rocks would still show up in the sandstorm from time to time, announcing the failure of the attempt.
Feebas, watching all this from the side, quietly stopped its own training.
It was imitating Tyrunt's line of thought, injecting Ice-type energy with Icy Wind while releasing 'Rain Dance' to freeze some raindrops into ice cubes and make them move flexibly.
It could even adjust its Water-type energy to make the ice cubes grow larger or smaller under the cover of the 'raindrops'.
Although the dry environment of the desert made maintaining water vapor especially taxing, Feebas was naturally gifted at fine control of Water-type energy, so it could manage to release and retract it with some effort.
Seeing Tyrunt in a predicament, Feebas immediately swam over to its side and gently touched its claw with its soft tail fin.
Then, it began to demonstrate in slow motion, passing its coordination techniques for controlling 'water currents + ice particles' bit by bit to Tyrunt.
Tyrunt stared at Feebas's movements, and its red eyes gradually lit up.
It condensed its energy once more. This time, the sandstorm rose slowly; although its speed was slower than before, it was exceptionally stable.
Those Stealth Rock fragments were precisely pulled as if by invisible threads, hidden in the gaps of the sand flow, and steadily changed positions along with the movement of the sandstorm.
Although a few stray Stealth Rocks would still break free from control and be exposed occasionally, it was already much better than before.
Seeing that it had found the knack, Feebas happily nuzzled Tyrunt's head before turning back to continue refining its own skill training.
Only when Tyrunt encountered a bottleneck would it stop to offer a bit of guidance.
While Feebas and Tyrunt were focused on their training, Beldum also found its own fun.
It flew all over the rocky area like a silver little cannonball, slamming its Iron Head into the nearby rubble, shattering it with a 'bang'.
Every time it successfully landed a hit, it would excitedly spin its body in the air, its red crystal eyes full of pride.
During his breaks from watching Feebas and Tyrunt's skill training, Lionel would also pick up stones to play with it.
At first, he would throw a fist-sized rock, and Beldum would charge over with a 'shoo', precisely shattering it with its head, spinning proudly amidst the flying debris.
Then he threw two or three rocks at once in different directions.
It turned flexibly in the air, using Confusion to accelerate and make micro-adjustments to its body angle, causing every single rock to shatter into powder in mid-air.
Lionel really couldn't help but marvel at Beldum's talent.
Tyrunt and Feebas trained so hard for their skill proficiency to improve steadily.
Yet Beldum achieved it through this seemingly casual play.
The proficiency of skills like Iron Head, Zen Headbutt, and Take Down soared, and it even began to use 'Iron Defense' more and more naturally.
Before every impact, it would subconsciously make its metallic body harder, cleverly reducing the force of the recoil.
As for its control over Confusion, it had truly mastered it with flair:
Not to mention accelerating and changing directions while moving, it would even use Confusion to gently lift Lionel, letting him experience a short period of flight.
Although it couldn't be considered true flight—more like gliding close to the ground.
But the whistling wind in his ears and the sand dunes rapidly retreating beneath his feet made the sensation exceptionally wonderful, as if the power of human and Pokémon had merged into one.
Later, Tyrunt and Feebas also got to experience it:
Feebas usually hovered using its own water currents and had never tried the weightless feeling of being lifted by Confusion; it would wag its tail fin excitedly every time.
Not to mention Tyrunt.
Since it couldn't fly to begin with, when Beldum carried it across the sand dunes, it would always let out excited 'aw-woo' sounds, its short little claws waving wildly in the air.
And so, the three little Pokémon would play this 'flying game' during their free time.
In this atmosphere of balancing work and play, and mutual help and encouragement, the days passed one by one.
The scheduled challenge at the Mauville Gym and the upcoming Pokémon Contest were drawing closer and closer.
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