Watching his Pokémon grow more proficient with their moves, Zhang Cheng felt genuinely proud. Looking at them was like looking at his own children.
As evening approached, Zhang Cheng ended their training for the day and took out the Pokéblocks he had prepared, handing some to each Pokémon.
The Pokémon held their Pokéblocks and ate them in big bites.
After taking care of his Pokémon's dinner, Zhang Cheng found a restaurant and enjoyed a hearty meal himself, then took them back to the hotel to rest.
The next morning.
Zhang Cheng arrived at the Yellow Sand Mountains and began searching for opponents with his Pokémon.
Whenever he encountered a Ground-type Pokémon, Zhang Cheng had Mudkip battle it.
When they occasionally encountered a wild Pokémon that was purely Rock type, he let Mareep fight instead.
Over the course of the morning, Mudkip defeated several wild Pokémon in succession.
Seeing Mudkip become increasingly proficient with its moves, Zhang Cheng decided to venture deeper that afternoon and find slightly higher-level Pokémon for it to battle.
The Pokémon they encountered on the outskirts of the Yellow Sand Mountains were all below level 10. With its type advantage, Mudkip could win easily.
With that in mind, Zhang Cheng planned to head deeper into the Yellow Sand Mountains and make Mudkip's training a little more challenging.
He chose to head toward the place where the Onix they had encountered before lived.
Since he had been there before and was more familiar with the surroundings, this route was the best choice.
As they traveled, the wild Pokémon's levels steadily rose. By the time they reached the area near Onix's habitat, most Pokémon were around level 12 to 15.
At level 8, Mudkip still struggled a little against level 12 Pokémon, so Zhang Cheng specifically searched for