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The clock struck 12, signaling the arrival of a new day.
February 16th, Monday.
Due to time zone differences, the sun might have already risen in some regions, while others were still in the depths of midnight.
However, Pokémon TV users located in different geographical positions across various regions had one highly consistent goal at this moment—
According to routine, Teacher Azure's new video should have been released by now.
A significant portion of them had already experienced the wonders of Rain teams in ranked matches—this versatile team that could effortlessly switch between offense and defense truly provided a fulfilling experience.
However, this also gave birth to a problem.
Teacher Azure only taught this strategy, but didn't teach how to counter it...
Especially in Rain team mirror matches, situations where two Ferrothorns stared each other down were everywhere. Since neither side could break through the opponent's sighing wall, neither was likely to switch Pokémon.
In the end, they could only shake hands and agree to a draw.
Therefore, many serious players aiming for higher ranks desperately needed an answer:
How to break through Ferrothorn's defense!
Many people had already scrolled their screens until they smoked, only breathing a sigh of relief when Aiden's new video appeared.
"Teacher Azure Teaches You How to Play Rain teams - Singles Edition~"
As always, the simple title instantly attracted tens of thousands of viewers, who clicked in without hesitation.
[Teacher Azure, please rein in your powers—ranked matches are now full of Rain teams. When you meet, two Ferrothorns just stand there punishing each other—how are we supposed to play...]
[Front row reminder: today's victim is Hoenn Gym Leader Mr. Wallace, who supposedly almost became Champion. But he also sent many gifts in Teacher Azure's live stream, so he should count as a viewer friend, right?]
[The completion level of this strategy is simply incredible. Actually, I'm more curious—if Teacher Azure uses this strategy at the gym tomorrow, will any newcomers really be able to pass the challenge...]
[I doubt it!]
As the chat scrolled wildly, the video quickly began playing.
"Hello everyone, today is still Teacher Azure's four major weather series tutorial, bringing you a very practical Rain team composition."
"Compared to Sun team' straightforward brutality, Rain teams offer more room for error while also making the team's offensive and defensive capabilities more balanced."
"Correspondingly, this leaves much more space for trainers to demonstrate their skills."
"Well then, without further ado, let's use a ranked battle as a case for simple analysis."
[As expected, the victim is Mr. Wallace—this one is even more significant. His trainer ability is not bad, and he's also a two-time consecutive winner of Pokémon Contests, currently aiming for a third crown. In some ways, he's as versatile as Teacher Azure...]
[Wallace: Hey, give me my dues! How did I become an example too!]
[Someday, Teacher Azure's videos will collect all elite trainers, becoming his victim cases...]
Unlike the Sun team' straightforward, maximally explosive firepower, Rain teams had more diverse tactics.
Therefore, Aiden and Wallace's Rain team mirror match was even more interesting to watch.
As everyone knows, Teacher Azure may seem like a prank streamer, but every strategy he pulls out actually has potential. Even teams he labels as "entertainment lineups" have no problem climbing ranks.
However, Aiden, who usually didn't appear very serious, showed extraordinary seriousness in this battle, demonstrating absurd prediction ability and rotation strategies.
[Oh my god, Teacher Azure really can guess what the opponent is thinking every time—you know whether you opened it or not!]
[Having post-production voiceover is confident... What? It's actually the original live stream footage???]
[Wallace should be considered genuine Champion-level, right? His strength gap with Steven is very small—how can he be blown up like a fish by Teacher Azure?]
It wasn't strange that viewers were so shocked—after all, this was indeed a bit absurd.
Wallace debuted two or three years before Aiden, so theoretically he should have more experience.
Before today, he was widely recognized as the rain master. Although he had recently shifted his focus to Pokémon Contests, his strength was still not to be underestimated.
As for his opponent...
Aiden had never before demonstrated his understanding of Rain teams—his most notable contribution was just giving some pointers to Nessa.
Yet, with a casual move, he easily suppressed Wallace?
If it were anyone else, viewers might have started questioning if it was a fixed match.
But with Aiden... it somehow felt very reasonable.
[As expected of you, Teacher Azure—I really need to control you to update more videos!]
[Teacher Azure, are you content with just being a small streamer on Pokémon TV? When are you going to blow up the Master Tournament fish pond too!]
[By the way, I heard a few days ago Teacher Azure disappeared because he was invited by Mr. Lance, secretly traveling to Kanto to deal with Team Rocket. Given Teacher Azure's status, it wouldn't be impossible for him to participate in the Master Tournament...]
[Huh? So Teacher Azure really went to save the world?]
[Yes, Mr. Lance even publicly thanked Teacher Azure for his support at the press conference. Don't you fans from other regions know about this?]
[...Could I be a fake fan?]
It wasn't until a thoughtful viewer from Kanto revealed this that many Paldea students suddenly realized—
Oh no! Teacher Azure's unorthodox persona seemed to be collapsing!
Could it be that Teacher Azure's previous behavior at the gym was just teasing these newcomers, and he was actually an impartial, emotionless Warrior of Justice?
[Are you saying... this man who pulled out Sableye, Chansey, and Ferrothorn in his streams is actually a good person...?]
[And furthermore, a crime-fighting hero who traveled all the way to Kanto to punish evil?]
No no no... that doesn't seem likely at all!
The style changed too suddenly!
While countless trainers cried out "Teacher Azure's persona collapsed," in the guest room of Sunshine Gym, Mewtwo was also silently watching this episode.
Although it had watched from behind Aiden during the live stream, getting a first-person view, that still wasn't enough.
In reality, even with a brain comparable to a supercomputer, Mewtwo hadn't kept up with Aiden's speed at first—every move was somewhat unexpected.
Therefore, even at midnight, Mewtwo still took out its notebook, controlling the mouse with psychic power while analyzing Aiden's command intentions frame by frame, recording all its insights.
"I see—so at this moment, Leech Seed should be used to continuously harass the opponent instead of Power Whip for more direct damage..."
"Protect + Toxic—I remember Aiden introduced this in previous videos too. Should I research this in depth?"
"And defensive synergy thinking... this seems temporarily unlearnable. Aiden also said one must have extensive battle experience to understand this point."
After about an hour, "good student" Mewtwo finally finished watching Aiden's video.
At the same time, it noticed the last few chat messages.
"Warrior of Justice...?"
Seeing viewers enthusiastically discussing whether Teacher Azure could be called a "Warrior of Justice," Mewtwo subconsciously fell into deep thought.
Others might not know, but it did.
Eliminating Team Rocket, freeing the clones from suffering, allowing them to truly feel the beauty of human society and witness human kindness.
Aiden's actions—could they really be evaluated as "Warrior of Justice" without issue?
But why did it seem that many people didn't believe in Aiden...
Mewtwo fell into contemplation, then quickly gave up thinking.
Forget it—it's still too early to understand complex humans. For now, I should focus on improving my skills as a trainer and becoming one who can help the cloned Pokémon grow strong.
With this thought, Mewtwo held its notebook in one hand, repeatedly reading the essence it had just copied down, while the other hand grasped the mouse, beginning its own ranked climb journey.
I've fallen behind quite a bit—only by putting in more effort can I catch up to other trainers.
...
Johto Region, Blackthorn City.
Since last week's decapitation operation was successfully completed and Team Rocket's deeply hidden final leader Giovanni was captured, Kanto Region no longer had to worry about Team Rocket. The entire region immediately became much more peaceful.
Thanks to this, international police officers had much lighter workloads this week.
Even Lance, who was always on the front lines fighting crime and standing against dark forces, had a rare holiday, returning to his hometown Blackthorn City to sleep well for a few days.
Waking up with no tasks weighing in his mind, Lance found himself somewhat unaccustomed to it—feeling too peaceful and at a loss, he could only sit dazedly on the sofa listening to the noise from the TV.
At this moment, Lance vaguely felt as if he had aged ten years.
"Team Rocket is gone—shouldn't I be happy?"
"Isn't a vacation good? Having plenty of time to..."
Halfway through his self-talk, Lance's expression suddenly became much more serious.
Oh no!
Most of his life had been spent dealing with Team Rocket.
After suddenly achieving his ultimate life goal, he hadn't thought about what to do next...
With no idea about today's schedule, Lance sighed, subconsciously taking out his phone.
The inbox that should have been overflowing was now empty—seemed his subordinates were also enjoying their rare holiday.
Since that was the case, he could only try to adapt.
Lance swiped the screen, accidentally clicking on Pokémon TV, and soon the homepage displayed Aiden's brand new video.
"Oh? Rain team."
Lance raised an eyebrow.
For him, rain might not be very useful.
After all, considering the international police's configuration, they were basically bound to the Sun team.
But for his cousin Clair, Aiden's Rain team strategies might have good reference value.
Then, he would review it on her behalf.
With this thought, Lance quickly clicked on the video, planning to watch it carefully.
However, at this moment, his expression suddenly froze.
Come to think of it—didn't Teacher Azure say before...
When he had free time, he could go to Paldea to exchange ideas with him.
He could also visit the legendary Casseroya Lake, witnessing what "Dragon Pokémon are as common as dogs, various pseudo-legendaries everywhere" really meant?
Regarding that massive lake in Paldea, said to have exceptionally beautiful natural environments leading to abnormally rich Pokémon populations nearby, Lance had heard about it since his last visit to Mesagoza for the Dragon-type Master Tournament.
Since he was on paid vacation anyway, should he just contact Teacher Azure and go explore together?
According to Aiden's own words, Casseroya Lake had so many Dratini and Dragonair they were as common as weeds, almost reaching pest levels...
If such a magical place really existed, might there be other even more interesting Pokémon too?
Thinking this, Lance quickly opened his phone, preparing to open the Navigator app.
"Knock knock knock—"
Just at this moment, his room door was suddenly knocked on.
"Cousin, are you there?"
It was Clair's voice.
Lance quickly reacted, immediately walking over to open the door.
"What's the matter?"
For this cousin who was only a few years younger than himself, Lance subconsciously assumed a parental posture, his expression also becoming serious.
"..."
After a moment of silence, Clair suddenly extended her hand with a stern face.
"I don't quite understand this round's rotation—I hope you can give me some guidance."
?
His cousin had always been cold-faced, and their communication was basically limited to official matters, right?
Why would she come to his door during his holiday today, even actively seeking his help with questions?
Lance looked confused, taking the phone Clair handed him, suddenly understanding.
I see—it's Aiden's Rain team tutorial video.
That explains it.
After all, Aiden's strategy this time was indeed quite difficult—even he had to watch for quite a while before roughly understanding his thinking.
Recently he hadn't spared teaching other officers insights, but giving lessons to his cousin was a first.
"The rotation here is actually to avoid the opponent making further adjustments, so the versatile pivot Scizor was sent out early to prevent Wallace from seizing the advantage..."
Lance quickly explained, in just a few minutes making Clair thoughtful.
"I think I understand."
"Thank you, cousin."
Clair nodded slightly in acknowledgment, just about to leave when Lance called her back.
Come to think of it—he and Clair had always communicated in such a formal, rigid way...
Having temporarily put down his work duties, with a relaxed mindset Lance suddenly realized:
Was his relationship with this cousin a bit too distant? More like colleagues than family?
When he was busy with work before, he had never realized this.
Then, should he take this rare holiday opportunity to improve his relationship with Clair?
Although he was strict verbally, he actually held high hopes for this cousin.
It was just that he wasn't good at expressing himself, and Clair seemed to be stubborn with him too—needing his recognition to eliminate her obsession.
This was something he had heard from the elders of the Clan.
Thinking this, Lance suddenly had an idea.
"Clair, would you like to travel to Paldea together these next few days?"
That's right—if he could put down his elder identity and spend a few days properly getting along with this cousin, finding opportunities to praise her well, perhaps he could ease their obviously too-serious interaction pattern.
Lance felt he was simply a genius.
Coincidentally, Aiden should also be traveling with him—letting Clair see geniuses from other regions and discover her direction for improvement wouldn't be bad either.
"???"
Clair quickly looked confused.
Cousin... had he received some kind of stimulation?
Inviting her to travel to Paldea together—this kind of behavior didn't seem like something Lance would do at all!
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