Chapter 273: The Ultimate Curse
"Dily-da! Dily-da!"
Cradily, naturally, had no objections to Basalt's plan.
"Alright, then. I'll explain how to use Curse. Listen carefully."
Basalt nodded, his mind replaying the information he had seen in the Saffron U secret technique room the day before.
Saffron U's secret of Curse followed the enhancement route, sacrificing Speed to boost Attack and Defense. One stat down, two stats up—overall, the Pokémon's power was still increased.
The mechanism behind it involved reallocating the body's internal cellular energy. A portion was transferred to the surface to activate the cells there, thereby increasing Defense. Another portion was transferred to the parts of the body that generated attack energy, increasing Attack.
Because this internal energy transfer weakened the cells' activity, the body's overall energy level would drop, inevitably leading to a side effect: a decrease in speed.
Of course, this was just the general principle. The actual application involved numerous details and points of caution.
However, since Basalt had the most advanced and efficient method for channeling the energy of the "Curse" move, and since Cradily's control over its internal energy had greatly improved after evolving, learning the move was a natural progression.
The main difficulty with Curse was that most Pokémon didn't have enough life energy. Transferring internal energy would lead to a deficit, making it unsustainable.
But for Cradily, who had evolved in the Fountain of Life and been gifted a Life Dew by Celebi, this was not a concern.
After just a few practice runs, Cradily had easily mastered the move.
"Crad-ily!"
With a strange cry, Cradily effortlessly used Curse for the first time. A faint light flashed over its body. Its defense rose, and its aura began to climb.
"Cradily, how do you feel?" Basalt raised an eyebrow.
"Dily-da!"
Cradily swayed its large head, looking completely at ease.
Even before evolving, it had been able to handle the double stack of boosts from Storm Drain and Ancient Power. A single layer of Curse was far from its limit.
"In that case, let's use Curse again." Basalt smiled and gave the command to continue boosting.
"Dily-da."
With a slight sway of the tentacles around its neck, Cradily began its second enhancement.
However, the efficiency of the second Curse dropped off sharply. The first time had taken less than three seconds, but the second time took twice as long, a full six seconds.
Six seconds might not seem like much, but in the heat of a fierce battle, it was enough time for an opponent to close the distance and unleash an ultimate move. Even three seconds was enough for an opponent to use a move and change the course of the battle.
This was why, in practical combat, very few Pokémon would use a stat-boosting move right in front of an opponent. It was an extremely arrogant display unless you had astonishingly high defense and were confident you could tank a full-power hit.
The problem was, the opponent might not even use an attack move. Some status moves were far more insidious than a single instance of damage—moves like Toxic, Sleep Powder, Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Swagger, or Scary Face. If one of those hit, the consequences would be dire.
So, although Cradily successfully used Curse a second time, Basalt had already mentally dismissed the idea of stacking it in a real fight, at least until its proficiency with the move increased and its execution time dropped.
"Sure enough, the best boosts are still Storm Drain and Ancient Power," Basalt mused, smacking his lips.
Storm Drain's activation could be integrated into Ingrain, and Ancient Power was an attack, so it didn't leave an opening for the opponent—unlike Curse, which required it to just stand there and channel energy.
"But once it fully masters Saffron U's secret of Curse, that won't be a problem."
Basalt's eyes narrowed.
When the Saffron U Curse technique was trained to a high level, the user could use the rising aura to stir the air currents, forming a protective barrier. It was similar in principle to how Swords Dance and Dragon Dance were depicted in the anime. In addition, the efficiency of the Curse boost would also be greatly improved, making it much more practical.
However, reaching such a high level of mastery was no easy task. For now, Basalt had only just grasped the basics of the move. The road ahead was long.
"Dily-da."
After the second boost, Basalt noticed that while Cradily's defense and aura had increased dramatically, its body from the waist down seemed to have become completely stiff. It could barely even move.
Fortunately, in a normal battle, the rooted Cradily couldn't move anyway, so this side effect was practically nonexistent.
"Cradily, can you go for another one?"
Basalt's eyes narrowed, wanting to test its absolute limit for stat boosts.
In the outside world, recklessly boosting stats could cause physical damage. But here, with the Fountain of Life, Basalt wasn't worried.
Injured? Just take a dip in the Fountain. What's the big deal?
"Dily-da!"
Although its body was already stiffening, Cradily's thoughts were in sync with Basalt's. It also wanted to test its own limits.
And so, Cradily began its third Curse boost.
Compared to the first two, the third one was not only slower, but a pained expression finally appeared on its face.
As the internal energy continued to move outward, there came a point where its body's cells were on the verge of being completely drained. Its instincts would naturally try to stop it.
What Cradily had to do now was fight against that instinct, to let its consciousness override its body's self-preservation.
The whole process was extremely difficult and painful.
It was only because Cradily's life force was now incredibly powerful that it could even attempt this. Any other Pokémon of the same rank would have struggled to even survive a second boost.
"Crad... dily-da!"
After thirty seconds, Cradily's third boost was finally complete.
At this moment, although its aura was soaring and the energy within its body was raging, the base of its body began to involuntarily spasm and twitch.
"Cradily, that's enough! Quick, get in the Fountain!"
Seeing Cradily's pained and wretched state, Basalt's heart ached. He shouldn't have tested it.
"Dily-da~"
With Basalt's permission, Cradily quickly dispersed the Curse boost. The pained expression on its face immediately eased, and its body could slowly begin to move again.
But the feeling of being completely hollowed out, and the stinging pain in its muscles, hadn't completely vanished.
Plop!
It swayed its body and fell into the Fountain of Life. Absorbing the powerful life energy from the spring water, the deficit in its body was quickly replenished, and the muscle soreness was effectively relieved.
In just two or three minutes, Cradily was back to its original state.
"The Fountain of Life really is amazing," Basalt said, giving it a thumbs-up.
After training at the Centralis University school team for so long, he had heard many battle stories from the senior members. In Pro-level matches, many Pokémon would sometimes push themselves to their absolute limits with boosts to try and sweep the opponent's team.
But although this "limit-breaking" strategy could win a match, the side effect was that the Pokémon's core life force would be damaged, requiring a month, or even several months, of rest to recover.
Not like Cradily, which recovered in three minutes. They weren't even in the same league.
But it had to be said, a Cradily with three Curse boosts would have an incredibly ferocious attack power. Basalt estimated that it could probably take on an unboosted, ordinary Pro-level Pokémon without much trouble.
"A great opportunity... and no other Pokémon around."
As if something had just occurred to him, Basalt looked around furtively. He quickly took out a 3-liter container from his dimensional backpack and walked towards the Fountain of Life.
"It would be a real shame not to take some of this good stuff back with me," Basalt said with a sneaky grin.
And nearby, the invisible Exeggutor's mouth had already begun to twitch uncontrollably.
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