After speaking with Anghura, Liu Xiangjun turned to address the class.
"This is the flaw of single-typing teams — like Sikong Ling's pure Fire squad. Run into a Dragon-type that knows Water moves, and not only can you not damage it, it deals extra damage to you."
"That's why I've never been fond of weather teams. The vulnerabilities are too obvious — and since they're all the same type of vulnerability, they're easy to exploit with a single well-built counter team."
"But teacher, you can't deny that weather teams are easier to pick up than regular teams, simpler to build, and once they're set up, their strength is nothing to scoff at."
Liu Xiangjun nodded at Garcia, who had spoken up. "Agreed — all of those are genuine strengths of weather teams. But it doesn't change what I just said about their weaknesses."
She turned to look in Sui Yan and Fugui's direction.
"Sui Yan, Wang Quan — the two of you come up and show everyone how your teams are structured."
Sui Yan and Fugui nodded and walked toward the field.
Liu Xiangjun knew the full picture: Lu Ze was already writing a paper on weather team restructuring. Both Lu Ze and Grandpa Ashford had discussed it with her. Once that paper dropped, it would be theoretically sound — but it would also invite a storm of controversy. No real-world examples yet, after all. Some people would try it out. But the mainstream reaction would be to attack the paper's credibility.
And some with malicious intent would stand on the moral high ground, accusing Lu Ze of potentially ruining the futures of anyone who tried to build teams using his methods.
So during National Day, they'd worked out a plan: drop the paper first, then let Sui Yan and Fugui develop their teams over time — and use their results to prove the paper's validity.
At most a year. Once their teams were fully built, Lu Ze's paper would be validated by the public.
Releasing before having concrete examples might attract criticism, yes — but once the proof was established, public acceptance would be that much higher.
So Grandpa Ashford, Lu Ze's dad, and Liu Xiangjun had discussed it and agreed to Lu Ze's plan.
And now was their chance: an opportunity to show the world what a restructured weather team could do.
Smaller audience, yes — but students were far more adaptable than adults.
"Which one of you wants to go first?"
Once Sui Yan and Fugui were on the field, Liu Xiangjun asked.
Sun team, sand team, or rain team — Lu Ze had walked her through all of them. She understood the reasoning behind every team member.
"You first. Sand team is simpler."
"Bullshit! Sun team is way simpler!"
Fugui shot Sui Yan a glare, but he still sent out his Pokémon.
Fugui's current team was: Drilbur, Sanglar, Jirachi, and Wooper.
Kadabra had already evolved into Alakazam — but Sanglar still hadn't evolved into Banagon.
After Fugui sent out his team, Liu Xiangjun began assessing each member.
"I can see Wang Quan wants to build a sand team. After all, once Sanglar evolves into Banagon, it'll have the Sand Stream ability — it can set up Sandstorm weather instantly. And while in Sandstorm, Banagon gets a 1.5x Special Defense boost, giving it exceptional staying power."
"Though Banagon has many weaknesses, its attacking power is high and its coverage is broad. It's both the weather setter and the main damage dealer for the sand team."
Seeing the students nodding along with focused expressions, Liu Xiangjun was satisfied. She continued.
"The second: Drilbur. No explanation needed — one of the sand team's main damage dealers. Whether it's the Sand Rush ability boosting its Speed, or Sand Force boosting its Rock, Steel, and Ground-type move power, Drilbur is a powerhouse on any sand team."
"The third: Alakazam."
Here, Liu Xiangjun paused. She checked the students' reactions.
When she saw that most of them looked confused, she continued at a leisurely pace.
"Once Alakazam evolves into Gardevoir, it covers the sand team's need for Special Attack damage. And with its Magic Guard ability, it also blocks the residual Sandstorm damage that most Pokémon on a sand team can't avoid."
The students nodded — not fully understanding, but nodding. Liu Xiangjun relaxed.
Looks like Xiao Ze's paper should publish without issues.
"As for Wooper — I'll let Wang Quan explain that one himself."
When Liu Xiangjun saw that the last Pokémon on Fugui's team was Wooper, she froze.
Xiao Ze never mentioned this to me!
Because of that Wooper, she couldn't make the point she'd been planning to make about weather team weaknesses. After all, Wooper's Ground/Water typing shared the same vulnerabilities as the rest of the sand team — it was also four times weak to Grass.
"Wooper's role is to check and counter one of the sand team's biggest nemeses: Water-types. With the Water Absorb ability, Wooper becomes an impassable wall against any Water-type Pokémon."
"Then what about Grass-types?"
After Fugui explained, Liu Xiangjun asked again.
She was genuinely curious about this. She was worried Lu Ze hadn't solved all the vulnerabilities — otherwise, publishing the paper would be pointless.
"For Grass-types, I use other Pokémon to check and counter. Mega Altaria plus Skarmory form a perfect check-and-counter core. Grass-types won't be a problem either."
"But wouldn't Mega Altaria take damage from Sandstorm's residual effect?"
Liu Xiangjun asked the question everyone wanted to ask.
Fugui shrugged. "Yeah, it does. But so would the opponent's Grass-type Pokémon. At that point, my Mega Altaria just fires a Fire Blast and solves the problem."
"Once the opponent's Grass-type is gone, I can just switch Mega Altaria out — bring in Banagon or Drilbur to clean up the weakened team."
Liu Xiangjun froze. The students froze. Garcia and Anghura on the American side also stood there, frowning and thinking hard.
They all had the same feeling: it sounded reasonable, but something just didn't sit right.
Fugui looked at the suddenly silent crowd and helplessly拍了拍 Sui Yan's shoulder.
(I can't do this part — my bad. Over to you.)
Sui Yan raised an eyebrow.
(On it.)
Surveying the silent field, Sui Yan didn't give them any time to process. He sent out his team directly.
"Fugui's a bad talker. Just look at my sun team — it'll be clearer."
"First: Coalossal. Weather setter. Simple enough, yeah?"
Everyone nodded.
Okay. That one made sense. They got it.
"Second: Arcanine, Charizard, Volcarona — damage dealers. Make sense?"
"Mm-hm."
Another round of nods. No problem there.
"Third: Bulbasaur — check and counter against rain and sand teams. Got it?"
"Mm-hm — wait, huh?"
Hold on. Something didn't add up here.
But before anyone could raise an objection, Sui Yan continued.
"Fourth: Gardevoir — the fast-attack Pokémon that eliminates opposing weather setters. Make sense?"
"That's it. Sun team's really not that complicated."
Sui Yan recalled his team and stepped back.
"That's not fair! At least let us say something!"
Author's note: Three chapters today! Please reward me!
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