Chapter 35: That’s Just How It Is! Don’t Overthink It!
Li Wei, who had always hoped to implement reward teaching at home, finally experienced the joy of reward teaching.
Although he couldn’t enjoy such bliss himself, seeing Eevee and Riolu eager and full of expectation made him quite happy.
Hmm.
A strange sense of satisfaction, like “I’ve finally not grown into the kind of person I hated most,” welled up in his heart.
This inexplicable self-satisfaction made Li Wei sigh again, “Sigh, I really am a perfect trainer~”
With a trainer like him who gives rewards, how many Pokémon would fight to be his Pokémon~ Sigh~
His self-indulgent look left Eevee speechless. After she silently extended her paw and smacked his head, Li Wei got back to the main topic and began communicating about the upcoming battle that would stake their dignity.
“Our objective is to win! So you get what I mean, right?”
Li Wei frantically hinted to his two Pokémon.
“Bu Yi!!”
“Ru!!”
Eevee and Riolu, already indoctrinated by Li Wei’s little class, nodded frantically, indicating they understood what Li Wei’s words “our objective is to win” truly meant.
“Go all out, Eevee, Riolu!”
Their tactic was no tactic! It was extremely simple and easy to execute—just charge in with pure passion!!
Unlike Li Wei’s side using mental encouragement method and hints, the five people here were seriously discussing their Pokémon’s conditions.
They planned to formulate a simple, reliable strategy against Li in this brief five minutes.
Driven by the desire to beat Li Wei senseless, everyone was very serious, cooperating with Zhou Fengjue’s battle meeting and attentively listening to each other’s Pokémon nurturing situations.
“My Treecko is about to evolve soon. Its energy should be about the same as a normal Grovyle. But unfortunately, it hasn’t mastered many moves—just Pound, Quick Attack, Agility, and Leaf Storm.
I originally thought my Treecko’s speed was a big advantage, but compared to Li Wei’s Riolu, I think my Treecko still can’t catch it. Using combo moves to harass from the edge might work.
If I let my Treecko one-on-one with his Riolu, I currently have no confidence in taking it down.”
Zhou Fengjue recalled Riolu’s performance in the earlier battle, compared it to his own Treecko, and frankly laid his cards on the table.
“Yeah, that Riolu’s nurturing degree is simply outrageous. Is this the legendary Aura User? I’m done for. If this were a game, I’d really suspect he’s cheating!”
Tian Bai couldn’t understand at all how this Riolu had hatched, gone through the infancy period, and still gained strength to crush that near level 1 Onix all in this one month.
“How did he do it??”
No one could answer Tian Bai’s question.
After all, Li Wei had been “missing” for over a month, unreachable by anyone, so the intel they had was far too little.
Time was tight, and unable to figure out how Li Wei achieved that outrageous Pokémon nurturing speed, the group chose to give up analyzing it.
Just like seeing a pyramid math problem on the high school graduation exam at the end of March—strategically leave it blank.
Giving up on dwelling on such meaningless things, Tian Bai pulled her Mime Jr. forward and began introducing it.
“My Mime Jr.’s nurturing is average, can only be called passing level.
It only knows Refresh as a recovery move. It can set up Misty Terrain, but due to low energy, it can only last about a minute right now.
Besides that, all her moves are close-combat skills: Horn Attack, Double Slap, Pound, and some basic fighting techniques like punches…”
“Okay, okay, got it!!!”
Before Tian Bai could detail every move her Mime Jr. had learned, Yu Yixian standing beside her firmly covered her mouth.
First, it’s meaningless and wastes time.
Second, why is a Mime Jr. learning close-combat skills???
Everyone who gets it understands. If Tian Bai had let this Mime Jr. learn less of these terrifying fighting techniques, with this Pokémon’s innate racial advantage, it might have mastered more recovery moves by now.
The group looked away uncomfortably at the fierce-looking Mime Jr., shifting their gaze to Yu Yixian.
“Huh? My turn?” Yu Yixian hooked his arm around his Ponyta’s neck, introducing it to the group like a good brother.
“My Ponyta only knows normal Tackle and Agility.”
Utterly confident, if you only heard the tone, you’d think Yu Yixian was saying, “My Ponyta has already learned Psychic and Magical Leaf.”
······
“Hey! Why are you looking at me like that? Don’t you know Psychic Attribute moves are not easy to train in the early stage??”
Yu Yixian wasn’t wrong. Moves like Psychic can’t be released at all when the body’s attribute energy isn’t abundant enough.
It requires piling on massive resources and a nurturing cycle of up to half a year to see significant improvement.
After all, moving a mountain with Psychic isn’t something done overnight.
If it were, the league textbook wouldn’t cite the “Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains” story to describe the “correct way to raise Psychic Pokémon.”
Generally, starting with a Psychic Type as your first Pokémon means you’re either a big shot or an idiot.
And clearly, in everyone’s eyes, Yu Yixian was the latter.
“Whatever, your Pokémon is like you—looks tough but useless.”
Zhou Fengjue glanced at the cute, headless Ponyta next to Yu Yixian and summarized its combat power.
“Hey! Watch your respect! My Ponyta can run really fast too!! If its Fairy-type energy is abundant, it can release Fairy Wind, okay!!”
Yu Yixian shouted and struggled.
“Oh? Really?” Zhou Fengjue raised an eyebrow doubtfully.
“Yeah! I’m a trainer at least!!”
“That’s pretty good then. If Mime Jr. sets up a basic Misty Terrain, your Ponyta releasing Fairy Wind shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Though Misty Terrain is generally for reducing Dragon Attribute moves on Dragon-type Pokémon, the Fairy Attribute effect filling the arena after release is like half a terrain move.
For Fairy-type Pokémon in Misty Terrain, this permeating attribute effect is the best buff.
“Of course!!” After hearing Zhou Fengjue’s question, Yu Yixian nodded frantically, like Timo the chick.
“Mm, okay.”
Nodding to indicate “Got it, you’re useful,” Zhou Fengjue now had a rough plan for this operation.
But to save time, he’d explain it at the end, so he shifted his gaze to Tu Xiaomi, signaling her to introduce her Pokémon.
“Um… My Whimsicott won’t perform well in this arena.
She inherited Camouflage. It changes smoothly on the grassy field at home, but this dirt-only arena is tricky.
She only knows Fairy Wind, Razor Leaf, Magical Leaf right now. No Grassy Terrain— at best, it can make a few blades of grass sprout from the ground, which is tough for battle.”
Unlike the useless Yu Yixian and violent Tian Bai, Tu Xiaomi’s Pokémon nurturing was properly done.
Textbook-level nurturing with exceptional talent.
Same Type Attack Bonus means when the attacking Pokémon’s move matches one of its types, the move’s power increases. League test data shows about 1.5 times amplification.
So a Whimsicott using Grass-type moves after turning Grass-type via Camouflage has different power from one still Fairy-type using Grass-type moves.
But at this point, as a full-output type, Whimsicott helps tactics even with lower damage.
For example, amplified by Mime Jr.’s Misty Terrain to quickly release Fairy-type moves, etc.
“Compared to Yu Yixian the flop, your pure output makes up for it nicely!!”
No comparison, no pain. Zhou Fengjue’s earlier worry eased.
Now, their lineup had initial capital to slaughter Li.
The brothers had all revealed their hands; their gazes settled on Mo Jiu, whom they’d just met hours ago.
“Um… Mo Jiu, can you tell us about your Pokémon’s training level?”
The others were brothers, basically grew up in each other’s pockets—asking semi-private questions like this was fine.
They knew each other inside out; Zhou Fengjue knew they weren’t hung up on such details.
Even if they became rivals later, the day before a match, they’d tell each other without pressure, “I have a secret weapon against you.”
But their closeness didn’t mean Mo Jiu wouldn’t mind.
For a girl they just met today, abruptly asking her to spill her hand with some “moral binding” vibe before confirming her willingness was impolite.
So, politely, Zhou Fengjue continued explaining, “Or just hint at what your Morpeko excels at. We just need to divide roles.”
“Hm? No need to be so troublesome, I’ll just tell you directly.”
Mo Jiu paused for a few seconds at Zhou Fengjue’s question before quickly answering.
She blinked, feeling her wording was off, then added, “This little strength now, nothing to keep secret. I’ll tell you all. Um… that’s it! Don’t overthink!”
Mo Jiu twirled her hair with a finger, looking down at Morpeko on her calf, blinking rapidly as if casually explaining.
“Um…
My Morpeko can already switch forms on its own now, but it has few Dark-type moves, mostly Electric-type… But attribute-wise, against Riolu and Eevee’s combo, making it Electric-type main seems like a good thing.”
Per league official tests, Dark-type moves have nearly half damage reduction against Fighting-type Pokémon, while Fighting-type moves deal double damage to Dark-type Pokémon.
So for a Pokémon like Morpeko that can freely switch between Electric and Dark, the smartest way this time is to skip Hangry Mode and stay in its base Electric Mouse form for battle.
“Mm, makes sense. I think so too. Otherwise, with that Riolu’s attack plus type advantage, your Morpeko would suffer. Not sure if it has other Fighting Attribute moves, but one Aura Sphere landing on your Dark-form Morpeko would normally send it flying.”
“Yes.”
By now, their intel was fully exchanged. After reviewing the previous skill intros and Pokémon abilities, an extremely simple strategy combo was formulated.
Treecko and Morpeko lead with first attack; meanwhile, Ponyta harasses from the side, coordinating with the opening Misty Terrain to use Agility and bait.
Whimsicott is the main carry, releasing moves from afar.
Use as many moves as possible until out of energy.
Mime Jr. at the back provides healing amount support to the front main carries except Ponyta as needed.
In MOBA or RPG PVE terms, this is a fairly complete team system.
Frontline engager Treecko, assisting face-rusher with control Morpeko, baiting skill-draw Ponyta, standard backline mage, and a physical-attacking healer behind the mage.
Very well-prepared; even before the instructor shouted “match start,” they were full of confidence to fight Li Wei.
But.
They never imagined.
Li Wei had no shame.
“Match start!”
With the referee’s command, Li Wei issued orders to Riolu and Eevee at near “Agility chant” speed.
“Quick Attack! Smack Mime Jr. out!”
Unclear command, but both Pokémon instantly got it.
Translated fully: Use Quick Attack at full speed to the Mime Jr., treat her like a volleyball and spike her out of the arena—means unrestricted.
Money opens all doors.
Riolu’s speed was already outrageous; under Li Wei’s full-speed emphasis, it frantically mobilized aura energy around it, teleporting in the blink of an eye past the front Pokémon to reach Mime Jr.
Similarly, though Eevee’s speed was much slower than Riolu’s, her energy was so abundant it nearly overflowed.
Offsetting speed deficiency with energy tilt, she desperately used Quick Attack, arriving just half a beat after Riolu.
Bursting to Mime Jr. with massive energy, Eevee twisted her waist, compressed the energy pouring behind, and smoothly unleashed Iron Tail. With the terrifying roar of violent energy, Mime Jr. was ruthlessly launched into the air.
Now, coordinating with a leaping charged Aura Sphere.
Boom!
After the familiar massive boom, in merely a 3-second opening gap, Mime Jr. was knocked over a meter out of the arena, losing combat qualification.
￥￥￥￥￥￥
Today’s py: 《This Assassin Has Issues》, big shot Ren Qiuming’s book, about a life-loving assassin rising to martial arts pinnacle in calm waves.
If you like, grab the link in comments as fated.
Timo’s Flop Diary
July 8th, sunny
【July 7th recommendation votes: 898, no extra chapter. ε=(ο｀*))) Sigh, don’t you love me anymore? Wuu wuu wuu.】
First, congrats to all gaokao students escaping the sea of suffering~~~
My left arm hurts for some reason today.
Sigh, occupational disease of the little writer.
Not sure if this writer gig will bring fame and fortune, but the occupational diseases are all here.
Really #￥!&*#（）@#*）
No fucks given.
Another day looking at life and death indifferently.
Happily streamed some League of Legends, then duoed a few big brawls with noob Yixian.
This was my only entertainment activity today besides exercise.
Wuu wuu wuu wuu.
Feels like this way, I’ll go dumb.
My emotes might become—”I love writing most!” / “Nothing can stop me writing!” / “What! You don’t love writing! We can’t be friends!”
↑
If it really gets like that, I’m not far from dying of illness.
Wuu wuu wuu wuu.
