Traveling and training at the same time, Liu Qing arrived at Mt. Moon a few days later. He originally planned to see if he could catch a glimpse of the Clefairy moon ritual scene, but unexpectedly found no trace of that cave from the anime, only managing to unearth a few Moon Stones. With no other choice, Liu Qing simply continued on his journey toward Cerulean City.
After walking for a few more days, Liu Qing finally arrived in Cerulean City. He wondered if the Cerulean Sisters had gotten any stronger; otherwise, they truly wouldn't be enough to entertain Gyarados, which had already learned Thunderbolt. Of course, Liu Qing had no intention of challenging them right at this moment. After all, journeying all this way, not only were the Pokémon undergoing rigorous training with Liu Qing exhausted, but Liu Qing himself was also physically and mentally worn out. After handing his six Poké Balls over to Nurse Joy, he first made a phone call home to let them know he was safe, and then rented a room to sleep soundly. The next morning, after watching the Cerulean Sisters' performance, he finally sought them out.
"...Each of us will send out one Pokémon, and you can use three. As long as you win, the Badge is yours," the eldest of the three sisters said, and then released Starmie.
"Go, Scyther!" Liu Qing also released his own Pokémon.
"Scyther, preemptive attack, X-Scissor!" Following Liu Qing's command, Scyther crossed its two scythes together, emitting a white glow as it flew swiftly toward Starmie.
"Starmie, stop it, Water Gun!" the eldest sister hurriedly shouted. Unfortunately, all of Starmie's Water Guns were dodged by Scyther, and the X-Scissor accurately slashed across Starmie's body, causing the gem on Starmie's body to flash red instantly.
"Ah, my Starmie!" The eldest sister cried out miserably as she recalled Starmie, casting a resentful glance at Liu Qing as she walked aside. Meanwhile, the second sister released her own Pokémon, Seaking.
"Uh, that was defeated way too quickly." Having resolved Starmie in a single move, Liu Qing thought in a somewhat dumbfounded manner. However, for the sake of balanced development, he still recalled the eager Scyther and sent out his well-trained Gyarados!
"Roar!" As soon as Gyarados appeared, it let out a massive roar, frightening the sisters opposite it so much that their faces turned pale. Too shaken to care that the opponent was a Shiny Gyarados, they directly recalled Seaking and conceded defeat on the spot.
"Uh, I got the Blue Badge just like that?" Taking the Blue Badge that the eldest sister retrieved from Dewgong's mouth, Liu Qing asked in disbelief.
"Of course! You're so strong, and we can't beat you in a fight, so we have no choice but to hand the Badge over to you," the third older sister explained. Then, glancing at the time, she suddenly shrieked, "Yikes! Big sis, second sis, it's time for our beauty regimen!" With that, the three sisters let out simultaneous cries of alarm and instantly vanished, leaving a dumbfounded Liu Qing behind.
"I am truly... speechless." Liu Qing recalled the equally depressed Gyarados, walked out of the Gym and out of Cerulean City, and once more set out on his journey.
Over the next ten-odd consecutive days, Liu Qing traversed many places, yet for the sake of training his Pokémon, he chose not to take the main roads, instead making his way through the woods. Astonishingly, Liu Qing never got lost once; he truly wondered how Ash and company managed things, frequently losing their way over the slightest thing.
On this day, having passed through the dense forest, Liu Qing reached the seaside. The fresh sea breeze blew against him, offering a sensation entirely different from the sea of trees.
A massive lighthouse came clearly into view atop a hill. This must be where Ash and the others encountered that gigantic Dragonite. What a pity; I won't get to see it, Liu Qing thought with a trace of regret.
Although he had no ties with Bill, Liu Qing still wanted to utilize the ocean to properly train his Pokémon for about a month. Therefore, to secure a place to stay during this period and make it convenient to contact home, he still went to greet Bill. True to his reputation as a research fanatic, Bill simply asked Liu Qing not to disturb him, leaving everything else up to Liu Qing's own devices.
After resting for a day, early the next morning, Liu Qing came to the seaside and released all his Pokémon.
"Gyarados, go train in the ocean. The deep-sea pressure and immense resistance can effectively temper your speed and body's defense. Furthermore, you must practice the move Aqua Tail, ensuring that when executing attacks in the deep sea, you can achieve the exact same speed and power as you would on land without water resistance. You also need to practice the technique Giga Impact; I've already explained the mechanics of force generation to you-strive to master it within a month." After Liu Qing finished speaking, Gyarados let out a loud roar and plunged directly into the seawater, swimming toward the depths.
"Scyther, your focus remains on training your flight speed and the speed at which you swing your scythes," Liu Qing said to Scyther. "Fly close to the surface of the sea, and try to use the wind pressure generated by your speed to part the seawater. Moreover, huge waves will periodically occur in the ocean, so when you encounter massive waves, you must rely on your scythes to unleash your ultimate attack. It's best to train until a single slash can split the waves!"
"Exeggcute, your primary focus is training your mental strength. Growlithe, I've already told you that when using Flamethrower, you must condense the flames. Therefore, your task is to train the speed and power of your flame output." Seeing Scyther fly off to train independently, Liu Qing looked at Exeggcute and Growlithe and said, "Thus, I've decided you two will cooperate in your practice. Exeggcute, use Confusion to gather sand into a mass, fly it into the air to attack Growlithe, and Growlithe, you must use Flamethrower to target these sand masses and prevent them from attacking you. You can start practicing with just one sand mass first."
At this moment, only Shelgon and Chansey remained by Liu Qing's side.
"Wuh~" Seeing that Liu Qing hadn't assigned her a task yet, Shelgon nudged Liu Qing with her claw and called out.
"Haha, don't rush. After evolving, although your defensive capabilities increased drastically, your speed was also severely restricted. Therefore, I've thought of a method to help you properly adapt to your own weight, though it's going to be very tough. I don't know if you're willing?" Liu Qing squatted down and asked, stroking Shelgon's shell.
"Wuh~" Hearing Liu Qing's words, Shelgon immediately patted her own body with one claw and cried out.
"Good, since it's like that... Chansey, sorry for the trouble, but please use Gravity on Shelgon. However, don't make the gravity too strong at the beginning; only increase it gradually after Shelgon adapts." After giving instructions to Chansey, Liu Qing turned back to Shelgon and said, "Shelgon, your task is to be able to support your own body under the influence of Chansey's Gravity Field and use Dragon Claw to shatter the coastal reefs."
With the tasks assigned, Liu Qing watched Scyther continually flying across the ocean surface, while Exeggcute controlled a mass of sand to attack Growlithe, who in turn constantly used Flamethrower to fend off the incoming sand clumps in a brilliantly intense exchange. Over on Chansey and Shelgon's side, however, the sight was nothing short of disastrous. The moment Chansey activated the Gravity Field, Shelgon collapsed straight onto the sand, struggling for half a day before finally staggering to her feet. She then prepared to use Dragon Claw, only for her unstable footing to cause her to tumble down once more, after which she resumed struggling...
Now that the Pokémon were training, Liu Qing naturally wouldn't let the opportunity to train pass him by. Although the physical fitness of people in this world was astonishingly high, due to Liu Qing's six-year confinement in bed, his current physical stamina could be said to be far inferior even to a ten-year-old Rookie Trainer. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to stop and rest after traveling only a short distance. Without further ado, he changed into his swim trunks and jumped straight into the sea to swim to his heart's content.
Time flew by, and today was already the twenty-fifth day of Liu Qing's stay at Bill's Lighthouse.
Under the setting sun, wherever a green blur flew rapidly across the ocean surface, the sea parted to a depth of around one meter. Faced with oncoming waves, a brilliant white light erupted from the green blur, slicing the waves cleanly in half and allowing the green blur to pass through unhurriedly. This green blur was none other than the thoroughly trained Scyther.
Meanwhile, Shelgon had also firmly steadied her footing under the full effect of Chansey's Gravity Field, and a single strike of Dragon Claw would cause the reefs to splinter apart.
Exeggcute's Confusion aura had shifted from a faint multi-colored glow to a brilliant multi-colored radiance, controlling dozens of sand masses to attack Growlithe. Growlithe dodged the incoming sand strikes through leaping, running, and executing Flamethrower, while the color of her Flamethrower had deepened to a dark red, instantly melting any sand masses caught in its blast into a glassy state.
Only Gyarados had not appeared once since diving into the deep sea on the first day, leaving them entirely in the dark about how its training was actually progressing.
Calling the other Pokémon over to rest, Liu Qing took out a Leaf Stone he had discovered in Viridian Forest from his Travel Bag and said to Exeggcute, "Exeggcute, your potential has already been almost entirely unlocked. If you want to take it a step further, evolution is your only path. After evolving, you will also possess a much greater room for development. Now, I'll give this Leaf Stone to you." With that, he placed the Leaf Stone right in the middle of Exeggcute's six heads and took a step back.
Moments later, both Exeggcute and the Leaf Stone emitted a dazzling white light. Amidst the white light, Exeggcute's form gradually grew taller. When the white light dissipated, it revealed an Exeggutor over two meters tall. The green leaves atop its head absorbed the sunlight even more intensely under the sunset's glow, and once the green leaves finished absorbing the sunlight, a pale green beam of light erupted from its central head, piercing through several layers of waves before its energy gradually exhausted itself.
"That's awesome, Exeggutor! I never imagined you'd comprehend Solar Beam upon evolving!" Liu Qing cried out in pleasant surprise, not expecting this extra bonus after Exeggcute's evolution.
Exeggutor was clearly extremely delighted as well, its three heads letting out a tremendous volume that made Liu Qing's ears ring. He couldn't help but wryly smile and mutter, "Truly worthy of being an Exeggutor; it's a match for Dodrio."
Seeing Exeggutor evolve, Growlithe also ran over to Liu Qing's side, barking incessantly.
"Haha, Growlithe, I know you want to evolve too, but I don't have a Fire Stone on hand right now," Liu Qing picked up Growlithe and said with a helpless chuckle.
Right at that moment, a violent change suddenly erupted across the open ocean. Amidst an earth-shattering roar, a massive column of water soared straight up into the air like a colossal dragon with a resounding crash, climbing over twenty meters before finally cascading back down. It revealed a swirling, high-speed column of pale purple light that then plunged fiercely downward, plunging back into the sea like a horned dragon entering the water, kicking up a wave over a dozen meters high.
"Giga Impact! It's Gyarados!" Seeing the pale purple pillar of light, Liu Qing recognized the move instantly, crying out in astonishment as he felt the sheer might of the technique. After all, when he first taught Gyarados, it was merely based on the execution method he had envisioned in his past life, supplemented only by what he had seen in the anime. How could he have truly grasped the majestic power of this move beforehand? How could he not be shocked at this moment?
Following Liu Qing's cry of amazement, Gyarados indeed emerged from the sea, swimming over to Liu Qing's side. It pressed its massive head against Liu Qing's chest, roaring happily.
"Good job, well done." Liu Qing stroked the horn on Gyarados's head, and upon closer inspection, discovered that Gyarados's body size had increased by about another meter. In other words, Gyarados was now roughly ten meters long, and its originally red scales had turned a deep, purplish crimson, lending it an even more incomparably profound and solid appearance.
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