Chapter 35: Learning Rain Dance
After breakfast, Director Meili took the children back to the Blue Bird Orphanage. Bai Feng, Popplio, and Helioptile went to cultivate fruit trees.
Bai Feng went to Fangcun Mountain, while Popplio and Helioptile stayed on Fangxing Mountain.
At noon, Bai Feng returned from being busy on Fangcun Mountain and saw Popplio and Vaporeon huddled together, seemingly talking about something.
Just as Bai Feng was about to walk over, he saw a small patch of dark clouds suddenly appear above Vaporeon's head, followed by a gentle drizzle falling down.
It turned out that Popplio was asking Vaporeon for advice on how to use the Rain Dance move.
The move Popplio used for watering the fruit trees was Disarming Voice. Although it had mastered this move creatively, it was still not as convenient or quick as the Rain Dance move.
So, after Vaporeon arrived, every time Popplio saw it use the Rain Dance move, completing the watering work for the entire orchard in no time, it couldn't help but feel incredibly envious.
That's when it decided to learn from Vaporeon.
Vaporeon was very generous and taught diligently, but the Rain Dance move didn't seem easy to learn. Popplio tried again and again, but let alone dark clouds, not a single drop of water appeared in the sky.
Seeing them both studying seriously, Bai Feng thought for a moment, stopped, turned around, and went Home to take a bath. He had gotten covered in dust working on Fangcun Mountain and felt uncomfortable not washing up.
After such a long period of growth, the fruit trees on Fangcun Mountain finally showed changes. Of the two batches of grafted fruit trees, one batch was almost completely dead, while the other had many new sprouts emerging.
The batch that was almost dead was grafted using branches from Fangxing Mountain fruit trees onto the roots of Sea God's Cavern fruit trees. The batch with new sprouts was grafted using roots from Fangxing Mountain fruit trees onto the branches of Sea God's Cavern fruit trees.
Bai Feng felt that the batch that survived had a significant connection with the fact that the Arbor Diagram of the Fangxing Mountain fruit trees' roots had been illuminated.
The fruit trees from Sea God's Cavern grew in an environment with extremely high energy concentration. When moved outside, they withered gradually because they couldn't adapt to the low energy environment.
However, the Fangxing Mountain fruit trees, possessing a developed root Arbor Diagram, could absorb enough energy from the earth and transport it to the branches, ensuring their growth and promoting their survival.
But the reverse didn't work. They still couldn't adapt, so they could only continue to wither and die.
Today, Bai Feng used his Golden Finger to check the surviving fruit trees and found that their Arbor Diagrams were very compatible with each other, already showing a subtle trend of merging into one. This made Bai Feng look forward to their future very much.
Because the Arbor Diagrams of the grafted fruit trees were still unstable, Bai Feng couldn't detect their energy rating, but he guessed their level should not be low.
He just didn't know what kind of fruit the grafted fruit trees would bear, which introduced a lot of uncertainty.
If the fruit bore a high energy level but had a flavor that was too unique, it wouldn't be very competitive compared to similar fruit. After all, compared to strange-tasting fruit, anyone would choose fruit that is high in energy and tastes good.
Improving fruit tree varieties often requires repeated experiments. Whether the new fruit trees you cultivate during this process will bear sweet fruit or deformed ones depends entirely on providence.
Only through repeated elimination can the unfavorable factors finally be removed, thus cultivating berries that are first-class in both flavor and energy level.
In this regard, Bai Feng still had a long way to go.
When Bai Feng finished his bath and came out, he saw Popplio's face was still red with effort, unable to manage to produce anything. So he couldn't help but walk over and ask:
"What's wrong? Still can't learn it?"
"Woo~"
Hearing this, Popplio lowered its head in frustration.
"Shawooz~"
Vaporeon couldn't help but comfort Popplio, saying that Rain Dance was a very difficult move to learn in the first place, and it was normal not to learn it after one or two tries. There was no need to be too discouraged; practicing more would definitely help!
Bai Feng strongly agreed with Vaporeon's words, so he also advised it, "That's right, you don't need to rush. Take your time. If one day isn't enough, try two days; if two days aren't enough, try three. As long as you keep practicing, you'll eventually learn it. It's not like you're in a hurry to learn it for something specific."
However, Popplio was impatient. The more it couldn't learn, the more anxious it became, and the more its patience wore thin. Eventually, even Vaporeon, who was teaching it, was affected.
After another half day of learning, the empty lot in front was almost flooded by the Rain Dance Vaporeon used, yet Popplio still hadn't managed to learn the move.
Just then, Bai Feng suddenly placed his hand on Vaporeon's back, injecting Golden Finger energy into its body, and said to Vaporeon, "Vaporeon, use Rain Dance one more time."
Vaporeon was feeling quite comfortable at that moment. Startled by Bai Feng's voice, it quickly snapped back to attention and used the Rain Dance move again.
The moment Vaporeon used Rain Dance, Vaporeon's energy circuit in Bai Feng's mind displayed the vibration frequency and operation trajectory of its origin energy.
That's it!
Bai Feng was delighted, but Vaporeon's origin energy operated too quickly. Before he could fully remember the frequency and operation trajectory, it returned to normal.
"Vaporeon, do it again!"
"Shawooz~"
Vaporeon nodded and used Rain Dance again.
"Again!"
...
Just like that, after Vaporeon used Rain Dance about ten times, Bai Feng finally clearly remembered the vibration frequency and operation trajectory of its origin energy at that moment.
Bai Feng's actions left both Popplio and Vaporeon completely bewildered. It couldn't be that if Popplio couldn't learn the Rain Dance move, he would just learn it himself, right? Even if he learned it, could he actually use it?
Under the confused gazes of Popplio and Vaporeon, Bai Feng placed his palm on Popplio's back again and said to it:
"In a moment, I will guide the energy in your body to mimic the changes in Vaporeon's body when it uses Rain Dance. See if you can remember it. If you can remember, then when you practice Rain Dance again, remember to control the energy inside your body like that."
"Woo woo woo~"
Popplio immediately understood Bai Feng's meaning and excitedly nodded its head vigorously.
"Then I'll start!"
Facts proved that Popplio's little brain wasn't very effective. Bai Feng guided it in learning for quite a while, and it only barely managed to remember the vibration frequency and operation trajectory of the energy, almost driving Bai Feng to lose his temper. (Bai Feng, lacking experience, didn't know that it wasn't because Popplio was too slow, but because Rain Dance itself is one of the more difficult Water-type moves to learn.)
"Remembered it? Then give it a try!"
"Woo~" Mm!
Popplio nodded firmly. It closed its eyes and worked hard to mobilize the energy within its body, its little face scrunching up with effort.
"Come on, Popplio, you can do it!" Bai Feng encouraged Popplio from the side.
Finally, as time passed, a palm-sized dark cloud appeared in the sky. However, before the rain could fall, the cloud shook twice and dissipated.
"Hah~"
Popplio suddenly opened its eyes wide, panting heavily, and then asked, "Did I succeed?"
Uh...
Bai Feng and Vaporeon looked at each other, unsure if what it had just done counted as success.
"Did I fail?" Seeing Bai Feng and Vaporeon's expressions, Popplio became very discouraged. "Am I really that slow? Even with hand-holding, I can't learn?"
Seeing this, Bai Feng quickly comforted it, "It doesn't count as a failure, it doesn't count as a failure. The cloud already appeared just now. Although it didn't rain, it shows that you've grasped the key points. You'll definitely succeed if you try a couple more times."
Hearing Bai Feng's comfort, Popplio indeed became less discouraged and started practicing again with enthusiasm.
With that initial dark cloud as a start, after practicing a few more times, Popplio finally successfully used Rain Dance. Although it was slow and produced little water, it managed to use it, right? From now on, as long as it practices diligently, there won't be a time when it's not proficient.
Looking at Popplio's happy appearance, Bai Feng thought to himself: Do I now have an extra method for teaching Pokémon to learn moves?
Leaving Popplio, Bai Feng walked into the orchard to inspect the Pokémon working, only to see Helioptile carrying a palm-sized small basket, picking up fruit under a tree.
It wasn't ripe fruit, but the green fruit that had just grown to be thumb-sized. These fruit were cut off because the fruit trees bore too many fruit too densely.
Leavanny was cutting them from the tree, and Helioptile was picking them up underneath, having a great time.
Hehehe~ One here, one there, so happy, one on the left, one on the right, tummy full!
Helioptile sang while picking, very happy.
"My little ancestor, I haven't deprived you of food or drink, what are you picking those up for!" Bai Feng said as he approached.
Seeing Bai Feng come over, Helioptile's singing stopped abruptly. It hid the basket behind its back and gave Bai Feng a shy smile.
"Aip~ Aip~" I didn't pick up anything!
"Still lying to me? I saw it all. These green fruit are bitter and astringent, why are you picking them up?"
Helioptile replied hesitantly, "These fruit are very nutritious! It's a shame to leave them on the ground to rot."
"So, you want to pick them up to eat?"
Not eating, not eating! Helioptile shook its head wildly. It wasn't short on food.
"Aip~ Aip~" I can give them to others to eat! Lots of wild Pokémon go hungry because they can't find food.
"Alright, pick them if you want, but if someone gets a stomach ache from eating them and comes looking for you, don't come looking for me." Hearing this, Bai Feng could only say no more, but he wondered to himself, did Helioptile have wild Pokémon friends?
(╰╯) Mm mm mm...
How could they cause a stomach ache? These are good things! Before it was caught by Bai Feng, it couldn't eat them even if it wanted to!
After warning Helioptile, Bai Feng left. And after Helioptile filled a basket with green fruit, it quickly ran down the mountain carrying the basket.
When it returned, that basket of green fruit had completely disappeared. It was hopping and skipping while singing.
La la la~ Everyone has good food, it's great not to be hungry~ La la la~
Judging by Helioptile's singing, it was in a very good mood.
(End of this chapter)