Training and Battles

Training and Battles

Five days of classes passed in the blink of an eye. After another week of training and battles, the three of them and their five Pokémon had completely moved past their beginner stage, and their strength had improved greatly compared to a week ago.

Pokémon: Zubat

Gender: Female

Type: Poison, Flying

Ability: Infiltrator (can attack through the opponent's barriers and Substitute)

Aptitude: Orange

Basic Moves: Absorb, Supersonic, Astonish, Mean Look, Poison Fang

Egg Moves: Cross Poison, Air Slash, Pursuit

Pokémon: Munchlax

Gender: Male

Type: Normal

Ability: Thick Fat (protected by thick fat, so damage from Fire-type and Ice-type moves is halved)

Aptitude: Gold

Basic Moves: Lick, Tackle, Defense Curl, Covet, Bite, Thunder Punch

Egg Moves: Belch, Curse, Fissure, Counter

Pokémon: Torkoal

Gender: Male

Type: Fire

Ability: Drought (the weather becomes Sunny Day upon entering battle)

Aptitude: Purple

Basic Moves: Ember, Withdraw, Rapid Spin, Smokescreen

Egg Moves: Smog, Eruption, Fissure

Pokémon: Growlithe

Gender: Female

Type: Fire

Ability: Flash Fire (when hit by a Fire-type move, absorbs the flames and strengthens the Fire-type moves it uses)

Aptitude: Purple

Basic Moves: Bite, Leer, Howl, Bite, Agility

Egg Moves: Flame Wheel, Flame Charge, Facade

Pokémon: Feebas

Gender: Female

Type: Water

Ability: Adaptability (moves matching its own type gain increased power)

Aptitude: Red

Basic Moves: Tackle, Water Gun

Egg Moves: Confuse Ray, Dragon Breath, Hypnosis, Ice Beam

All of their Pokémon had learned some new moves. Feebas could not help it—while it was still a Feebas, without TMs it would only know Tackle, Water Gun, and Flail. Lu Ze told Tang Yunqin not to rush Feebas into comprehending new moves; mastering its Egg Moves would be enough.

On the second day after school began, Lu Ze entrusted Munchlax to Kommo-o and had Kommo-o teach it Farmer's Three Punches. Kommo-o taught it diligently, while Munchlax learned, practiced, and ate at the same time. In the end, it learned Thunder Punch, one of Farmer's Three Punches.

Every afternoon after school, Lu Ze went to the Day Care to pick up Munchlax. Then the three of them would go together to train and battle in a training room at the Pokémon Battle Center.

At first, Lu Ze had Tang Yunqin and Sui Yan battle. Because of the field advantage, Torkoal's Ember and Smog could not reach into the water. Once Feebas dove underwater, Torkoal had no way to deal with it.

Then Feebas simply used Confuse Ray and Water Gun, slowly wearing Torkoal down to defeat. Sui Yan ended up at the bottom again.

On Friday, after school, the three of them picked up Munchlax and arrived at the entrance of the Pokémon Battle Center. A new notice had been posted on the bulletin board beside the main doors.

Teacher Lu Baby Cup Chang'an City Tournament Notice

The organizers of the Teacher Lu Baby Cup had decided to hold the Chang'an City Baby Cup tournament on April 15th, open to all high school seniors.

Only one Pokémon may be entered. It must be a Pokémon personally registered by the participant; unregistered Pokémon may not participate. Violators will have their eligibility revoked and automatically forfeit.

Teacher Lu Baby Cup prizes for the winners are as follows:

First Place: Toxic TM

Second Place: Gyro Ball TM

Third Place: Water Pulse TM

Fourth Place: One box of B-grade nutritional Energy Cubes

Fifth Place: One box of B-grade body-enhancing Energy Cubes

Sixth to Tenth Place: Choose one premium Berry or 2,000 Dragon Coins

Eleventh to Twentieth Place: One random C-grade Berry

"Lu Ze, what do you think? Should we enter? I've got my eye on that Toxic TM. If my Torkoal learns Toxic, it'll definitely be able to beat her Feebas."

After reading it, Sui Yan spoke excitedly to Lu Ze. It was no wonder he was so excited. On the market, TMs like Toxic, Flamethrower, and Thunderbolt were rated A-grade, while ones like Gyro Ball and Water Pulse were rated B-grade.

A-grade TMs cost around three hundred thousand to six hundred thousand, and they were hard to find. B-grade TMs still cost around one hundred thousand. As for even higher S-grade TMs, they were practically impossible to come across. Moves like Protect, Substitute, Hyper Beam, and Outrage generally started at eight hundred thousand, while moves like Protect that could change the course of a battle were even more expensive.

Of course, if there were no TMs, they could also find another Pokémon to teach them moves it already knew. For example, Lu Ze had asked Kommo-o to teach Munchlax Farmer's Three Punches.

If they could not find a Pokémon capable of teaching the move, then they could only throw money at the problem. That was why professional Trainers were often so expensive to support. Still, while they spent a lot, they also earned quickly—one trip into a Pokémon Secret Realm could bring in around a hundred thousand.

There were only so many Pokémon Secret Realms, while there were plenty of Trainers outside. For all sorts of reasons, many could not enter a Pokémon Secret Realm, so the items inside were naturally in high demand. Buy low and sell high, and the money came rolling in.

On top of that, there were commercial tournaments, official tournaments, and the like. The stronger a Trainer was, the more money they could make. Even weaker Trainers could get jobs and have no trouble supporting a family. As for those without talent or funding, they might choose not to raise one, or raise one virtually, visiting the Day Care every day until they were able to support a Pokémon of their own.

"Hmph. Once I get Water Pulse, I'll still crush you."

Tang Yunqin raised her chin and said proudly.

"The tournament hasn't even started, and you two have already reserved first and third place. What about me?"

Lu Ze said with a smile as he walked inside.

Since training could not be done one day on and one day off, Lu Ze simply rented that training room for a month. They would decide later whether to keep renewing it monthly.

"Listen to yourself. Your Munchlax should be able to take first, right? It's way too ridiculous. You can't hurt it no matter how you hit it, but if it hits you once, you can't take it. How are we supposed to fight that?"

Sui Yan followed behind Lu Ze and complained. Ever since Munchlax learned its new move, even Torkoal, which had once been able to wear Munchlax down with Smog, could no longer do anything. Munchlax could endure Poisoning and defeat Torkoal with two Thunder Punches. Not to mention Growlithe and Feebas.

As for Zubat, before Munchlax learned a ranged attack, it had no way to beat it. And Feebas, despite having ranged attacks, could not beat Zubat either.

That was because, aside from speed, Lu Ze had always focused on training Zubat's control over Supersonic. The moment the opponent used a move, Zubat could already sense it precisely through Supersonic, then rely on its speed to dodge. As a result, although Feebas had plenty of ranged attacks, it still could not defeat Zubat.

After that battle, Sui Yan had even complained, "Its evasion is clearly maxed out. How are we supposed to fight that?"

"That's your own problem. Haven't you noticed that even though you're both using Torkoal, yours is much better than Zhang Wei's from our class in terms of size, move proficiency, and combat strength? I've helped you so much, and instead of thanking me, you're complaining about me."

Lu Ze's exaggerated acting was too much for Tang Yunqin to watch. Wrinkling her nose, she said,

"But your Zubat and Munchlax really are so hard to fight."

"They just happen to counter you. You can't hit Zubat, and Ice-type and Fire-type moves deal half damage to Snorlax. It'll be better later."

Lu Ze spread his hands.

The two of them gave Lu Ze disdainful looks and decided to ignore him.

"Alright, let's start training. You two can keep doing what you were doing before."

After entering the training room, the three released their Pokémon, and Lu Ze slipped into the role of their head coach as he spoke.

"Okay~"

The two agreed. Feebas continued firing moves at the targets onshore, Growlithe ran laps around the field, and Torkoal also practiced its moves against a target. Every Pokémon worked hard to improve itself step by step.

"Munchlax, your move proficiency is too poor. You need to work harder. Once you practice well enough, I'll add another kind of Energy Cube to your meals."

Munchlax's eyes lit up. Its left and right hands both began to glow, and it used Thunder Punch with both hands at once, as if asking Lu Ze: Can I eat the new Energy Cubes like this? ⊙▽⊙

Lu Ze helplessly held his forehead and explained,

"That's not what I mean, Munchlax. You still can't properly use Belch and Fissure from your Egg Moves. Today, you'll mainly practice those two moves."

Munchlax's eyes dimmed, and lightning no longer shone from its hands. Its pitiful expression left Lu Ze both amused and exasperated.

"Alright, Munchlax. Practice properly, and I'll give you an extra meal tonight."

^_^

Munchlax happily went off to practice its moves. Lu Ze shook his head, then turned to Zubat and said,

"Hey, Zubat, let's continue practicing Supersonic. I'll control the speed of the BB Eggs properly. Let's try to reach an A-grade dodge rate this time, okay?"

Zubat could not make a sound, so it could only fly up and down twice to show its agreement.

To train Zubat's use of Supersonic and its dodge rate, Lu Ze had specially ordered ten BB Egg launchers. They fired dense barrages of BB Eggs inside an isolated room. Since they were computer-controlled, the BB Eggs followed random trajectories, and Zubat had to rely entirely on its reactions to dodge.

Lu Ze had set a goal for Zubat: eighty BB Eggs fired in one minute, with dodging more than sixty counting as A-grade and more than seventy-five counting as S-grade. Zubat's current best record was dodging fifty-seven in one minute.

That was why the others said Zubat's dodge rate was high. It was precisely because of Zubat's hard work that it had reached a level that amazed them.

"Work hard today too, Zubat."

Lu Ze extended his fist, and Zubat bumped it with its wing. One human and one Pokémon headed into the training room together—or rather, one walked while the other flew.