Night fell.
Aoki and Genji spent the day honing their tactics.
Genji was very impressed with Aoki's lineup and dual-core combination.
However, he was not proficient enough and needed to work on it for a while longer.
It is said that actual combat is the best way to test one's abilities.
Sure enough, in the battle with Genji, Aoki found many shortcomings and improved his Pokémon's coordination through actual combat.
After a day of fighting, Aoki stayed on Genji's ship.
He took out the manual that Genji had given him during the day.
The book mainly recorded training experience for Dragon-type Pokémon, with the most common being the special training methods for Pokémon such as Beast Dragon, Shellder Dragon, and Salamence.
Especially during the Shellder Dragon stage, there was a very special training method before evolving into Salamence.
According to Genji, this training method could only work for Shellder Dragons with high aptitude, and the higher the aptitude, the greater the effect.
Take his current Salamence, for example. It has a blue aptitude, which is champion-level potential. But actually, during its Shellder stage, its aptitude was only light blue. It was only after using this training method that it successfully advanced to blue during evolution.
Keep in mind that Genji doesn't have special aptitude potions. Being able to improve aptitude by one level after evolution is already remarkable, especially at such a high level as blue.
According to Genji's writings, not all Shellders are suitable for this method. After many attempts, he concluded that at least deep cyan, what he called top-tier aptitude, is required for this effect after evolution.
The higher the Shellder's aptitude, the greater the potential improvement after evolution.
Genji was initially unaware of this special training method and hadn't even considered it; it was his old friend who told him about it.
That's right, it's Genji's old friend, another Salamence.
The Salamence that Aoki is using right now is actually the offspring of Genji's old friend.
When Genji was young, he went out to explore and accidentally encountered danger. He was saved by that Salamence, and that's how the boy and the Pokémon formed a bond.
Genji didn't describe the old Salamence in detail.
He only told him that for their species, evolving into a Salamence is their coming-of-age ceremony. During this ceremony, the Salamence needs to drink a large barrel of Dragon-type Pokémon blood to unlock the true potential of the Dragon-type Pokémon buried within them.
This way, after evolution, their bodies will be stronger, their wings more powerful, and their Dragon-type moves will be stronger.
Originally, Genji thought this was just a common ritual passed down through the ages by their Salamence clan, like eating cake on a birthday—a way to get good luck.
Therefore, Genji didn't organize his old friend to perform this ritual on his son, the Salamence that Genji is currently using.
Furthermore, the Salamence that Genji is currently with has been drinking dragon blood from its father during its Armored Dragon stage – blood of exceptionally pure lineage.
The effect was remarkably good. After drinking the blood, the Armored Dragon lay quietly on the ground for a week, and the moment it stood up, it completed its evolution, spreading its long-awaited wings.
Genji later learned of this effect and, after further research, arrived at the current conclusion.
Just as the Kommo-o has requirements for its offspring – Kommo-o must go out and undergo trials before returning –
the Salamence also has its own unique method of raising its offspring.
However, this method is only known to larger Salamence groups; the few scattered individuals encountered outside are unlikely to know it.
After evolving into a Salamence, there is no longer any chance for a complete transformation.
Aoki and his Armored Dragon still have a chance.
Seeing this information, Aoki once again felt the benefits of having someone to guide him. Even with all the data the chip had collected, there was no description of this special training method. The
latter half of the book roughly tells the story of Genji's journey from becoming a trainer to the renowned first Champion of the Hoenn region, the Dragon-type Champion.
It mainly focuses on how he found ways to improve after achieving Champion-level strength, gradually becoming a formidable Dragon-type Champion. What
Aoki valued most were Genji's early battle notes against various Champion and Champion-level powerhouses. These notes detailed the Pokémon used by his opponents, their battle tactics, the combinations of different Pokémon, and special methods to fully unleash their power, etc., covering
everything from Champion to Champion levels. In
the early to mid-stages of Champion level, the battles primarily depended on the raw strength of the Pokémon; whoever had the stronger raw strength was stronger.
However, upon reaching the advanced Champion level, two different philosophies emerged.
Some believe that before reaching the Senior Champion level, it's all about raw skill; as long as you continue to improve your raw skill, you can maintain your advantage.
Others, however, argue that since individual aptitude varies, the rate of improvement in raw skill inevitably slows down at the Senior Champion level. They suggest developing special tactics to compensate for this gap. It
must be said that neither group's thinking is entirely wrong.
Those who can continue improving their raw skill will break through to the Quasi-Champion or even Champion level, while those who can't will research various tactics. The first to emerge was the single-core tactic, similar to the most common sandstorm team or rain team.
Then, after single-core tactics became widespread at this level, multi-core tactics were devised, combining multiple cores and tactics in a synergistic way for even greater strength.
Some who break through to the Quasi-Champion level in raw skill may not be a match for those using dual-core or even multi-core tactics in a full-team battle.
Conversely, some using multi-core tactics are unable to withstand those who have broken through to the Champion level or even higher.
Therefore, these people realized that both raw power and multi-core tactics are essential!
Tactics should only be considered when the rate of power improvement slows down or stagnates.
Ideally, a core part of one's tactics should be conceived before raw power is fully developed, avoiding the need to spend excessive time training specific Pokémon later.
This requires a high level of expertise and extensive research into Pokémon.
However, it's worth noting that after reaching the Senior Elite Four level, a trainer's combat ability is no longer solely determined by the apparent strength of one or a few Pokémon.
Some trainers may not seem strong in one-on-one or two-on-two battles, but the difference becomes apparent in full-scale battles or life-or-death situations.
Therefore, after reaching the Senior Elite Four level, never underestimate anyone, especially older trainers. Their individual Pokémon may not be strong, but years of experience have made their tactics versatile and their combat capabilities formidable!
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Fifth update! Requesting monthly votes!
(End of Chapter)