Chapter 299: Learning the Quicksand Domain
The next day, Basalt woke up early. He first fed his Pokémon and Hippowdon their Energy Cubes to replenish their nutrition, then waited by the rock shelter entrance.
Soon, an energetic Professor Rowan appeared. He waved. "Let's go a bit further away, to prevent the noise from disturbing everyone's rest." Due to the water crisis being solved, everyone had stayed up late celebrating, and Professor Rowan had happily granted them all a day off.
Guided by Professor Rowan, they arrived at a gentle sand dune just as the sun was rising, full of morning vigor.
"Since you solved the water problem, I will keep my word and pass on my research findings to you." Professor Rowan stood with his hands behind his back, facing the sunrise. "But first, I'll be blunt: through my research, I believe the application of desert terrain has much more to be explored—it's far more complex than simple quicksand movement. The directions I believe are feasible for a breakthrough include quicksand, sticky sand, rapid desertification, Sandstorm amplification, and many others we don't know yet..."
"Sticky Sand?" Basalt's eyebrow raised in confusion. While he didn't know the specifics of quicksand, rapid desertification, or Sandstorm amplification, he could grasp their general purpose. But "sticky sand" made no sense to him.
Seeing Basalt's confusion, Professor Rowan smiled and explained, "I know trainers like you only care about how to apply the research, never the underlying principles. But as a researcher, I still hope to start with the theory. Call it my obsession."
Professor Rowan sighed slightly. "I hope you don't mind, and don't find me long-winded." Although the status and fame of researchers were high, they still fell short when compared to trainers. In public perception, the trainer was always the protagonist, and other professions were supporting roles. Yet, it was undeniable that many of the trainer's secret techniques, especially the advanced ones, depended on years of experimentation and summarization by researchers.
"Professor Rowan, please go on!" Basalt instantly straightened up, showing great respect. Most researchers were selfless contributors, working for years to finally produce an idea applicable in battle. Yet, the fame and reputation often went to the trainer who implemented the idea. This was fundamentally unfair. Basalt knew he couldn't change this fact yet.
Seeing Basalt's respectful demeanor, devoid of any impatience, Professor Rowan nodded with satisfaction. "To talk about the Quicksand Domain, I must start with Sand Tomb. We know Sand Tomb is a Ground-type move, but have you ever considered why, if sand is the crystallization of Rock-type energy and Sand Tomb is full of sand, it is ultimately classified as a Ground-type move?"
"Uh... I..." Basalt was speechless. This was something he had genuinely never considered. It was the common dilemma of contemporary trainers: if it works, who cares about the principle?
Professor Rowan showed an "I thought so" expression and answered his own question. "The principle of the Sand Tomb move is primarily to vibrate the ground using Ground-type energy to rapidly turn the soil into sand, while constantly changing the terrain to drive the sand's movement, thereby trapping and swallowing the enemy. Vibrating the ground and changing the terrain—these effects can only be achieved with Ground-type energy. As for the small Sandstorm in Sand Tomb, it's more like a byproduct with limited effect."
"I see!" Basalt felt a sudden clarity. The principle wasn't overly complicated, but without Professor Rowan explaining it, Basalt wouldn't have summarized it so precisely.
"Sand Tomb is a low-level move, and its effective range is quite small. So I wondered, could we strengthen the effect of Sand Tomb while simultaneously expanding its range?" Professor Rowan's face showed a reminiscent look. This was the idea he had when he first came to the Takla Desert to research last year, and he had been experimenting tirelessly, seeking a breakthrough.
His main directions were two: expanding the desertification range and enhancing the sand's movement and swallowing capacity. To achieve the first, he had to expand the area of desertification. But expanding the range required the Pokémon to focus its Ground-type energy entirely on desertification. In doing so, the Pokémon would have no spare capacity to continuously change the terrain and urge the sand to flow.
This was Professor Rowan's first bottleneck. Given a Pokémon's fixed strength, its mental energy and control capacity are limited. If you allocate power to one task, the other inevitably suffers a reduction. It was a deadlock.
After long contemplation, Professor Rowan couldn't find a solution. Then one day, he saw news coverage of the formidable Tyranitar in the Asian Cup, and it suddenly struck him: there are Pokémon in this world that naturally possess the ability to control sand freely.
Thus, Professor Rowan applied to the League to study such a Pokémon. Unfortunately, Tyranitar was too rare, with only a few in the entire country, and the required one needed the Sand Stream ability. Ultimately, Professor Rowan received special permission from the League to borrow a Hippowdon from the Weather Bureau.
With Hippowdon's help, Professor Rowan's theory was immediately proven to be a feasible path. Hippowdon controlled the sand with almost no mental effort; the sand moved with a mere thought. Therefore, Hippowdon could focus all its power on using Ground-type energy to vibrate the ground, perform desertification, and expand the effect range.
"So, Professor Rowan, your Quicksand Domain requires a Sand Stream Pokémon to learn it?" Basalt scratched his head, slightly disappointed. Did that mean Excadrill was out of luck?
"Ah, you can't put it that way!" Seeing Basalt's disappointment, Professor Rowan smiled. "Based on my deduction, once your Pokémon is strong enough, its energy control will rise. Quickly at the Gym Leader level, or slowly at the Master level, it should be able to balance the two aspects of desertification and flow. At that point, even without a Sand Stream Pokémon, you should be able to execute the Quicksand Domain."
Professor Rowan patted Basalt's shoulder and encouraged him, "Sand Stream Pokémon are rare, but you still have hope of obtaining one in the next few years. If you can help Jiangnan University win the Collegiate League Championship, a Tyranitar hatchling is not out of the question..."
"???" Basalt's face registered a series of question marks. Professor Rowan was looking down on him a bit too much. A Tyranitar hatchling? Who says I don't have one already?
"Professor Rowan, are you referring to this?" Basalt smiled faintly and threw out a Premier Ball.
"Yoji~" (～￣▽￣)～ The green little Larvitar appeared, excited. The boundless desert was its paradise! With a mere thought, the sand on the ground immediately began to float up and spin around it.
"Larvitar?" Professor Rowan was stunned. Basalt had a Larvitar? More importantly, this Larvitar seemed to have the... Sand Stream ability?
"But as far as I know, Larvitar's abilities are only Guts and Sand Veil, right? A Sand Stream Larvitar is unheard of!" Professor Rowan widened his eyes and even wiped his glasses to ensure he wasn't mistaken. But the rotating sand beside Larvitar was real and unmistakable. Larvitar had definitely not used a "Sandstorm" move since it appeared. Aside from the Sand Stream ability, all other Pokémon must make a visible move to change the weather—be it punching the ground or letting energy run rampant. Only the Sand Stream ability could control the sand so effortlessly.
"What is this boy's background?" Professor Rowan muttered inwardly. First a Fossil Pokémon, and now a Pseudo-Legendary hatchling with an extraordinary ability—it was terrifying! He had just been thinking Basalt wouldn't be able to utilize his findings quickly, but he was proven wrong so soon.
After a moment to calm himself, Professor Rowan continued, "Since you have Larvitar, you meet the most basic requirement for the Quicksand Domain. However, to achieve a certain scale, you must also overcome the sand's viscosity. This is the true core of the Quicksand Domain."
"Overcoming the sand's viscosity?" Basalt's eyes narrowed, instantly focusing. He knew this was the main event.
"Exactly!" Professor Rowan said with pride. "In reality, Sand Stream Pokémon are rare, but they exist, yet I am the first to develop the Quicksand Domain. Why? Because after years of research, I learned how to eliminate the viscosity between sand particles."
Through repeated experimentation, Professor Rowan's researchers found that while sand's adhesive force is far less than normal soil, it still possesses some viscosity. To make ordinary sand flow quickly, you must overcome its viscosity. It's not hard to make sand lose its stickiness: simply apply appropriate pressure to its surface. Once the quicksand surface is disturbed, the surface sand becomes loose, and the shallow sand quickly moves downwards, creating an effect similar to sand "liquefaction." This eventually causes it to act like a vortex, swallowing everything in its range.
This principle is the true core of the Quicksand Domain.
Not only that, but this migration causes objects moving on the quicksand to sink rapidly. However, as the sinking depth increases, the sand that has migrated from the upper layers to the lower layers gradually aggregates, creating a thick sediment layer that rapidly increases the sand's viscosity.
This is the origin of the "Sticky Sand" Professor Rowan mentioned. This Sticky Sand possesses a potent stickiness. If an opponent accidentally touches it, they will suffer a sharp reduction in speed, or at worst, be rendered completely immobile. This is Professor Rowan's next research priority. The combination of quicksand and sticky sand will be even more terrifying. Not to mention the directions of rapid desertification and Sandstorm enhancement—their fusion would be explosive. Basalt felt his scalp tingle just thinking about it.
"The Sandstorm team truly has immense potential!" Basalt rubbed his hands excitedly. From Professor Rowan's explanation, Basalt also realized that the method for breaking the viscosity between sand particles could also be applied to standard battlefields, as it was the method for Rapid Desertification. Cradily would handle the water and nutrients in the soil. Normally, soil has a much stronger viscosity, but with a method to eliminate that viscosity, turning soil into sand would be almost instantaneous. Excadrill's previous method of using Earthquake was forceful, time-consuming, and prone to being exploited by the enemy. Although Excadrill doesn't have the Sand Stream ability, mastering this method will bring a huge leap in both the speed of sand-raising and the intensity of the Sandstorm weather.
Seeing Basalt's excitement, Professor Rowan smiled. "Alright, that's enough for the principles for now. Next, let's proceed with the practical application..."
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