The reason Lin Mo could resist coveting the Dratini before him was that this Dratini, which was happily playing with its own tail on the ground, had the Ability—Shed Skin.
Not the rare Hidden Ability, Marvel Scale.
This discovery immediately calmed much of the turbulent excitement in Lin Mo's heart. After all, a Dratini's Ability would transform alongside its evolution:
Only a Dratini with the Hidden Ability Marvel Scale would eventually evolve into a Dragonite with the nearly broken Ability, Multiscale.
And this was the most perfect, most powerful form of Dragonite in Lin Mo's mind.
The Shed Skin Ability of the Dratini before him would only turn into Inner Focus after evolution.
This Ability was not weak. It allowed Dragonite to be immune to Flinch in battle and remain unaffected by Intimidate, maintaining steady output at all times.
But compared with Multiscale, that nearly bug-like Hidden Ability, it was undoubtedly far inferior.
Although a Dratini with an ordinary Ability could still become a top-tier combatant after evolving into Dragonite, a presence to be feared on the battlefield, Lin Mo still felt that it was just lacking something.
More importantly, Lin Mo had long since made careful plans. It was not as if he would never have another chance to choose a Dratini he truly liked.
But that hidden opportunity would only truly emerge after Tyrantrum successfully evolved into Tyrantrum.
After all, real Pokémon were not like the games from his previous life, where there were clear Base Stats such as Attack and Defense for reference, allowing someone to see a Pokémon's strengths and weaknesses at a glance.
Most people judged a Pokémon's strength based entirely on how it performed after growing up—its physical toughness, the explosive force of its moves, its reaction speed in battle, and so on...
Combined