A Quiet Power Plant (Another Update Later)

This was the first time the two had worked together, but their understanding of battle allowed them to achieve perfect coordination, producing a chemical reaction where one plus one was greater than two.

Xia Yan looked at Lance's Dratini, analyzing its abilities and strength in his mind.

There was one thing he had never mentioned: his identity and profession in his previous life.

In his previous life, he had been an excellent data analyst, working in product data analysis for the sports industry.

Because of his job requirements, he had needed to read a great many books every day. He had also needed to understand athletes' physical data and provide the most accurate product data while analyzing their strengths and weaknesses.

His work had made him subconsciously collect and analyze data whenever he saw athletes. Combined with their training and competitions, he could summarize the most suitable product requirements for different training and competitive situations.

Thus, reading, gathering information, combining it, and analyzing it had become one of his habits.

As he continued learning and gaining a deeper understanding during this period, along with the Weedle data reports provided by the club, he had gained a certain conceptual and data foundation.

The Silph Pokémon Battle Club stored a vast amount of Pokémon data internally. Originally, Xia Yan, as a Beginner sparring partner, had no opportunity to access it, but after being promoted to an intermediate sparring partner, he finally gained the authority to view some of that data.

Combining the information he already had with partial analysis and conjecture, a simple data profile template gradually took shape in Xia Yan's mind.

Although he did not know much about Pokémon like Dratini, he could still piece together data from different angles and roughly obtain some useful conclusions.

For instance, the brightness of a Dratini's scales, the lightness of its cry, the length of its tail, and the firmness of its muscles were all factors that could be used as references.

Lance's Dratini should have Outstanding-tier strength. Its Ability was currently unknown, while the moves it was known to possess were Thunder Wave and Dragon Rage.

For now, that was all he could conclude. If he had detection tools like those at the Silph Pokémon Battle Club, along with enough data samples, he should be able to obtain more useful information.

Reaching such a conclusion was not difficult. Perhaps a slightly more professional Breeder could do the same, since these were merely broad guesses and estimates.

As for Weedle, because it had already undergone testing at the Silph Pokémon Battle Club, the information available was relatively more comprehensive.

Pokémon Trainer: Xia Yan

Pokémon: Weedle

Type: Bug-type + Poison-type

Ability: Run Away

Body: Top-tier

Speed: Exceptional

Moves: Exceptional

Reaction: Superior

Rapport: Exceptional

Overall Rating: Exceptional

Strength Evaluation: Outstanding tier

Known Moves: String Shot, Poison Sting, Bug Bite, Electroweb

Of course, these evaluations were not necessarily completely accurate.

Perhaps the Silver Company's final computer terminal contained attribute data precise to decimal points.

But for a Pokémon Trainer, knowing this much was enough for the time being, whether in battle or training.

If he had the chance, Xia Yan would definitely try to obtain more information.

For example, Professor Oak's Pokédex in the original work had served much the same purpose to a considerable extent.

Lance's Dratini should be considered quite outstanding among all Dratini. Under his training, it would only become even more outstanding. Compared to ordinary Weedle, my Weedle is already among that tiny group closest to the top of the pyramid. Xia Yan compared his Weedle with Lance's Dratini in his mind.

The conclusion was—

Although Weedle was theoretically no worse than Dratini at present, the gap between the growth limits of the two Pokémon was still enormous.

I wonder how Giovanni raised that Beedrill of his. Did he use top-tier resources without regard for the cost? And the Viridian Force?

He was uncertain, so he could not reach an accurate conclusion.

But he quickly remembered that Lance also seemed to possess the Viridian Force, though Xia Yan had yet to see him display it.

Watching Lance walk ahead of him, his cape swaying behind him, Xia Yan deeply realized the gap in strength between them.

Dratini was probably just one of Lance's relatively weaker Pokémon, while Weedle was everything Xia Yan had.

As he thought about it, Xia Yan suddenly laughed.

Why compare myself to Lance? We were never people from the same world to begin with.

If Xia Yan was a Pokémon Trainer slowly climbing up from the bottom, then Lance had been born into that tiny group standing near the very pinnacle of a Pokémon Trainer's starting point. The two could not be compared at all.

"What are you laughing about?" Lance suddenly turned around, saw Xia Yan's somewhat self-mocking smile, and could not help asking.

"Nothing. I just thought our cooperation just now felt pretty good," Xia Yan replied casually.

But Lance strongly agreed with that statement.

"I think so too. I think the two of us are practically natural partners. We hadn't even battled together before, yet we already had such coordination."

"Maybe it's just battle instinct." Xia Yan shrugged.

Lance, however, fell into thought.

The battle just now had been insignificant, but it had given him quite a bit of inspiration.

As the two continued deeper in, experiencing a few more minor clashes with wild Pokémon, they finally saw the Power Plant hidden deep within the forest, supplying electricity to the entirety of Goldenrod City.

Thick grayish-white walls concealed everything within.

After approaching the area, they could clearly sense that there were suddenly far fewer traces of wild Pokémon activity nearby.

"Something's not right." Xia Yan frowned.

"What is it?"

Xia Yan raised his hand. The fine hairs on his arm were faintly beginning to stand on end.

"Although there's a magnetic field around the Power Plant and there definitely won't be a shortage of free electrons, the Power Plant should have protective measures. Yet merely approaching it is enough for them to start directly affecting objects. That means something must have gone wrong inside."

Lance pressed his lips together.

After Xia Yan pointed it out, he realized it as well.

"Looks like the problem really might be with the Power Plant. Come on, let's take a look."

They had already come all this way. It would be too much of a waste not to investigate.

The two cautiously approached.

"Magnemiteee~~"

As they neared the Power Plant's wall, a slightly mechanical yet cheerful cry reached their ears.

They saw a gray, mechanical-looking spherical creature with one eye in the center, a horseshoe magnet of opposite polarity on each side of its body, a large screw atop its head, and two smaller screws on the front of its body.

Magnemite!

An Electric-type and Steel-type Pokémon.

However, the Magnemite did not seem to notice them. With a somewhat vacant gaze, it simply floated past them, drifting from one side of the wall to the other in irregular circles.

Xia Yan and Lance exchanged a glance.

Something was wrong with this Magnemite, but since it posed no threat to them, they left it alone for the time being.

The two climbed in through an inconspicuous side door, encountering no obstruction whatsoever.

The Power Plant was brightly lit, almost no different from being out under the sunlight.

The only problem was—

It was so quiet.

Too quiet.

A place like this, where large numbers of machines should have been running at high speed and roaring without pause, was far too quiet. Quiet to the point that it felt—

Quiet.

There would be another update later. Starting today, there would officially be three updates a day, and with bonus updates, that would make four. During the new book period, he was really going all out. Asking for some monthly votes wasn't too much, right?