"Sha~"
Sandshrew let out a discouraged whine. After having tasted real feasts, cookies and milk no longer excited him at all.
"You should already be grateful to have lunch! If you don't manage to learn Gyro Ball before dinner, we'll also have only cookies and milk for dinner."
"Of course, if you manage to use Gyro Ball even a little before dinner, I'll treat you to a fancy dinner... how about that hot pot you dream about so much?"
"Sha sha sha!"
At the mention of "hot pot," Sandshrew's soul burned with excitement. Without another word, he threw himself back into training with everything he had.
The power of food was truly great. This poor Sandshrew, just to reach his culinary dream, dug deep and, finally, by late afternoon, managed to execute Gyro Ball for the very first time.
Of course, it was only an initial execution and very short in duration, but that was already enough to deeply excite Ethan Black.
Having taken that first step, all that remained was to keep accumulating practice and technique. With enough effort, the move would become entirely his.
"Sha sha sha!"
After succeeding, Sandshrew shouted with joy and began showing off before Ethan Black, demanding to be taken immediately to his promised dinner.
"Calm down, calm down, you won't miss out on your hot pot."
"But it's only been 10 minutes of this hour... we still have 50 left, and each hour costs 1,000 Pokédollars!"
Ethan Black burst out laughing, but upon glancing at the timer on his phone, he held back his excitement and tried to persuade Sandshrew patiently.
"Sha~"
Sandshrew let out a resigned sigh. Fifty more minutes!? That was going to feel endless!
...
Finally, the remaining 50 minutes passed. Ethan Black and Sandshrew came out just in time and returned to the surface. Then they went to the counter to pay the total fee for the use of the metallic chamber.
They had gone in around 8 in the morning and came out past 6 in the evening. In total, they had spent 10 hours there, and the final cost was 10,000 Pokédollars!
Even so, Ethan Black considered it completely worth it, since Sandshrew had managed to perform Gyro Ball.
After leaving the foundry center, Ethan Black took Sandshrew running to a hot pot restaurant, and after spending several hundred Pokédollars, both of them were completely satisfied and full.
"Sha sha sha!"
Sandshrew ate with tears in his eyes.
Fifteen days had passed... fifteen days of eating only simple things with Ethan Black!
"This can't go on!" Sandshrew thought with determination. "I have to push my trainer to work harder. I want to eat this at every meal!"
After dinner, Ethan Black didn't go straight back to the club, but instead headed once again to the foundry center.
But this time, they didn't enter the building; they went to an open area near the foundry instead.
Although it wasn't the metallic chamber, the place was close enough to the mineral veins to have a good concentration of Steel-type energy, enough to continue training Gyro Ball.
"Sha!"
On the open ground, Sandshrew curled up into a ball and began to concentrate on sensing the metallic energy in the surroundings.
After a while—about half a minute—a metallic glow began to shine from his body, and soon Sandshrew started to spin slowly, like a gear starting up, letting out a faint grinding sound against the ground.
But that Gyro Ball only lasted five seconds before stopping.
Being far from the metallic chamber, the Steel-type energy was weaker, and his ability to perform the move diminished considerably. He still had a long way to go before fully mastering Gyro Ball.
(End of chapter)