Liu Xiangjun sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead.
"Give us more detail on that — the Venusaur and Gallade parts."
Sui Yan nodded, grinning. "It's actually pretty simple. Venusaur's ability is Chlorophyll, so sticking it on a sun team isn't a problem. The only real downside is getting hit by a same-type matchup."
"But if you can work around that, Venusaur is solid on a sun team. The speed boost from Chlorophyll lets it check most Water- and Rock-type Pokémon that hard-counter your Fire-type core. It takes pressure off your sun team so your main Fire-types don't have to absorb everything."
"Similarly, comparing Gallade to Gardevoir — Gallade fills the gaps in your offensive coverage, and what I just mentioned — directly taking out the opponent's weather setter."
When Sui Yan finished, Liu Xiangjun considered what he and Lu Ze had discussed, then turned to address the class.
"Gallade can take out an opponent's weather setter in two scenarios. The first is when the opponent's weather setter has an ability that changes the weather — things like Tyranitar, Pelipper, or Torkoal."
"In that case, Gallade is faster than all of them, and with its wide offensive coverage, it can OHKO the weather setter in one hit."
"The second scenario is using a move to change weather — Pokémon like Golduck, Ninetales, or Geosenge. Many of these are faster than Gallade. So what do you do?"
"Taunt!"
Before the class could even react, Sui Yan had already supplied the answer.
"Right — Taunt. You probably all know what the move does, but the key is using it well. That's how you shut down whoever they swap in to set up weather. It requires some read-ahead thinking."
Liu Xiangjun finished, then looked at the students, all wearing expressions of deep contemplation. She knew her students had already accepted Lu Ze's ideas. Now it was down to Sui Yan and Fugui to see if their results could be big and beautiful.
"All right, that's it for today. Your homework is this: think about the three major weather teams — sun, rain, and sandstorm — and come up with other Pokémon that could fit into them."
"Great. Class dismissed!"
With the assignment given, Liu Xiangjun left without a second glance, untroubled by the weight of what she'd just handed her students.
The Dragon Kingdom students all wore expressions of suffering — but were also buzzing with excitement.
Suffering because there was homework. Excited because it seemed like they were about to be the ones to break from tradition.
As for the American students, they were overjoyed.
They hadn't expected that, on their very first day in the Dragon Kingdom, they'd gain so much.
Most of America's team came from established families, so their见识 wasn't lacking. They understood perfectly how useful the strategies just outlined really were.
In particular, Skorenski and the other girl traveling with them.
Both of them were weather team users.
Though unlike Skorenski's sun team, the other girl had chosen the rain team route.
"Truly worthy of the Dragon Kingdom. This trip was absolutely worth it — wait, where are you going? Don't wander off!"
While Garcia was still gushing with excitement, he suddenly spotted Angola乖乖following behind the departing Dragon Kingdom students. He froze.
Angola is being obedient?
Hmm? No, that can't be right.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, he snapped back to reality.
Obedient?
That word and Angola were complete opposites!
"Me? I'm going to find Lu Ze, obviously?"
Angola flashed Garcia a radiant smile as she said it.
Gulp.
The smile did its damage. The students around her couldn't help but swallow hard.
"Worth the adornment of a lovely face — wind from the water hall, pearls and fragrance."
"Damn, she's gorgeous!"
The two spoke in unison, then caught each other's eye and scornfully jeered back.
"Fuck, what a poetic ass!"
"Fuck you, wish you could compose that!"
She ignored the glare from the two classmates behind her, and the helpless look on Garcia's face.
Angola蹦蹦跳跳的 continued following along behind the group.
"Lu Ze? Where could he be? I heard he's a Breeder student — mm, so strong, yet still in Breeder Track. That makes him even more interesting."
Angola concentrated, trying to recall the campus map of Shangqing Academy she'd seen before, and instinctively made her way toward the Breeder Track academic building.
"Lu Ze? Where are you?"
All at once, she seemed to hear someone calling for Lu Ze.
"Where are you right now?"
Angola perked up, inching closer to eavesdrop.
"I'm over at the back mountain. Why?"
"Are you really planning to publish the improved weather team already?"
Angola froze. Could all that stuff discussed in class just now have been Lu Ze's idea?
"Yeah. Though Sui Yan and Fugui's experiment results aren't quite ready yet, the general framework is already in place. Once they all finish evolving, it'll be good to go."
"Get lost!"
Sui Yan laughed and cursed back. Then he checked the time. "Stay there. Fugui and I will come find you."
"Sure, come on over."
Lu Ze hung up, then continued to lie there. He'd already slept through his afternoon nap, but he still closed his eyes to think.
"The improved weather teams — yeah. From what I remember, both the internet back then and the internet here, there's no shortage of trolls."
"But most of them should be reasonable. As long as Sui Yan makes a name for himself, it'll be very convincing."
Lu Ze mused, shaking his head and dismissing these thoughts.
Take it one step at a time. He was right, and he wasn't afraid of certain people online giving him a hard time.
"Let's go. Lu Ze seems to be training Pokémon in the back mountain. You coming?"
"Going!"
Fugui nodded, then said with a hint of grievance: "Master still hasn't told me the lineups for my next two Pokémon. I only have four right now. I need two more — plus an Aggron, so that's one more. I can't count on Mega Salamence yet. Should I ask Master if there's anything else I can use?"
Fugui's aggrieved look instantly made Sui Yan burst out laughing: "Tyranitar, Mega Salamence. Don't settle. Using Lu Ze's framework, it's not just the team synergy that's good — just the fact that two pseudo-Legendaries are on the team is something to be proud of."
"But a Bagon egg is so hard to find..."
Fugui complained,苦着脸. His family had been searching for so long, but there was still no trace of a Bagon egg.
Mega Salamence's main habitat was in Europe.
But even in Europe, Mega Salamence was exceedingly rare.
Let alone in the Dragon Kingdom.
So Fugui had been wondering if there was any other Pokémon that could fill the spot Mega Salamence was meant to occupy.
"Fine, go ahead and ask. Honestly weird that you'd pass on two pseudo-Legendaries."
"Dude, I didn't pass. I literally can't get one!"
As they talked, neither of them noticed that behind them, a sneaky figure was still following along.
(End of Chapter)
———
Please give me Power Stones!
Support me on Patreon @ patreon(dot)com/SorenEclipse
Read 15 Chapters Ahead on Patreon!