The kitchen.
Blue's lessons were packed with practical knowledge and emphasized hard data, making them perfect for an academic type like Li Wei.
A silver Metagross stood beside Li Wei, its dark red eyes flashing constantly.
If Metagross had notification sounds in its head, they would have gone, [Beep, beep. Recording in progress...]
Li Wei might not remember everything in one go, but Metagross could firmly commit everything Blue taught to memory.
Blue neither held anything back nor questioned the extra Metagross. He simply taught as usual.
"Breeders don't just make food for Pokémon. They also need to understand their anatomy,
joint and muscle strain, fur care, dry skin... even their mental health."
"Kang Jin! Kang Jin!"
(So that's how it works. Lesson learned!)
The corners of Blue's mouth lifted as he tossed out a Poké Ball. "Now for some hands-on practice. Come on out!"
A Rhyperior standing over two and a half meters tall appeared before Li Wei, its bipedal body covered in orange-red armored plates.
"You don't have a Pokédex, right? Tell me what you know about this Rhyperior first."
Li Wei nodded slightly. "Ground and Rock type. Its usual Abilities are Lightning Rod and Solid Rock, while a small minority have Reckless. Should I explain the Abilities?"
Blue shrugged. "Up to you."
"When a Pokémon with Lightning Rod is hit by an Electric-type move, its Special Attack rises. It can also draw Electric-type attacks away from its teammates."
"Pokémon with Solid Rock take reduced damage from moves that would normally be super effective."
"When a Pokémon with Reckless uses a move that causes recoil damage, the move's power increases. Examples include Volt Tackle, Flare Blitz, and Brave Bird."
Blue nodded. "All correct."
"Kang Jin!"
(Recording at full speed!)
Blue stroked Rhyperior's rocky armor.
"Then what Ability do you think my Rhyperior has?"
"Solid Rock." An instant answer!
Blue looked a little taken aback. "You're that sure?"
Li Wei nodded confidently. "It's definitely Solid Rock."
"How did you work that out?"
The lie rolled effortlessly off Li Wei's tongue.
"Its armor looks harder, and there's no sign of collision damage on its body, so that rules out Reckless."
If his lies had a rank,
they would definitely have been Master-level!
What did its armor have to do with anything?
He had simply gotten the information from Appraisal Eye.
This Rhyperior was Champion-level.
Its move list was so long that Li Wei couldn't be bothered to read it all.
It had such delightfully obnoxious moves as Rock Wrecker, Stomping Tantrum, Supercell Slam, Horn Drill, Earthquake, and High Horsepower.
With a guaranteed-hit, one-hit KO Horn Drill,
Supercell Slam was nothing but a lie...
Three Horn Drills. Carry them out and bring in the next!
Bet you didn't see that coming!
Li Wei had no Pokédex, but he did have appraisal!
Blue was growing more and more pleased with Li Wei.
Judging from his assessment of Rhyperior alone, Li Wei had solid fundamentals and exceptional observational skills.
"Go on."
Blue only told him to continue,
without specifying what he wanted Li Wei to say.
Li Wei considered for a moment. "Rhyperior has poor defensive typing, with quadruple weaknesses to Water and Grass."
Rhyperior: (ó﹏ò｡)
"Rock-type Pokémon give a lot of people the impression that they're excellent defensively, but most are actually better suited to offense."
"Rhyperior has excellent Attack and Defense, great HP, and somewhat low Special Defense, which an Assault Vest can compensate for.
Its only drawback is its low Speed, but Heavy Room can solve that problem."
Blue nodded slightly. "Go on."
Li Wei continued, "Heavy Room teams have Trick Room attackers, Trick Room setters, and support Pokémon."
"For support, you can use a Butterfree with Compound Eyes holding a Focus Sash. Just put them to sleep. Even bad luck won't stop it from landing."
"Amoonguss is another good choice, or an Indeedee that knows Follow Me."
When Li Wei mentioned Indeedee, Blue remembered the Indeedee of the Galar Region.
As he listened to Li Wei's explanation, Blue, who was himself a tactical master, also considered Indeedee's viability.
Indeedee's hidden Ability, Psychic Surge, established Psychic Terrain when it entered battle, protecting against opponents' priority attacks.
It did seem to be the powerful support Pokémon Li Wei described.
It could also work with Expanding Force.
"Trick Room setters include Dusclops, Bronzong, and Porygon-Z. Their job is to get Trick Room up."
Blue nodded slightly. Trick Room reversed the two sides' Speed order for a time, allowing slower Pokémon to move first instead.
"Finally, there are the Trick Room attackers: Torkoal with Sunny Day, Hatterene with Magic Bounce, and Rhyperior with Solid Rock."
When Li Wei finished, Blue said in surprise, "Your knowledge of Pokémon has completely exceeded my expectations."
Discussing these tactics also demonstrated Li Wei's understanding of Pokémon.
Li Wei smiled. "I'm just a theory nerd."
In a real battle, Trick Room wasn't that easy to use. Most of the time, sheer power trumped clever tricks.
Blue's Rhyperior couldn't care less about Heavy Room or whatever else. It could tank an attack and simply blast away.
A sufficiently powerful hit could blow apart your Trick Room itself.
"Kang Jin!"
(Lesson learned! Lesson learned!)
"Rhy! Rhy!"
Rhyperior nodded vigorously beside them.
(I'm learning! I'm learning!)
As expected of Blue's Pokémon, they were excellent independent learners.
"You don't need to learn this."
Heavy Room was certainly useful, but Rhyperior was purely an attacker.
Specializing in theory? That's pretty interesting, too.
With one hand in his pocket, Blue looked a little helpless. "I feel like there's nothing left for me to teach you."
"Not at all," Li Wei hurriedly said. "It's all just theory."
Studying under Blue had sent Li Wei's breeding knowledge soaring. These seven days were incredibly important to him.
Blue smiled. "I won't go back on my promise. You can give Rhyperior its care treatment."
"Okay."
Blue pointed at Rhyperior.
"Show me your usual care routine."
The first step resembled the observation, listening and smelling, questioning, and palpation used in traditional Chinese medicine: assess the whole body first.
Li Wei circled Rhyperior, then gently lifted its arm.
Despite its formidable strength, Rhyperior cooperated fully with Li Wei's movements.
"Muscle condition is normal. The joints are slightly stiff and need care. The skin is dry, but that's normal for Rhyperior. Mental state is healthy."
Even with Rhyperior cooperating, Li Wei had lifted its arm so easily...
Blue still found that rather astonishing. It would have been more plausible if Dayou had done it.
There were essential oils for Pokémon care in the room where Li Wei filmed his videos.
"What scent do you like?"
Li Wei took out a whole row of aromatic essential oil samples and let Rhyperior smell them one by one.
"Rhy!"
Li Wei smiled at Rhyperior. "You like citrus and basil? That suits your colors pretty well."
"Kang Jin!" Metagross was eager to try, too.
"Wait a little, Metagross. I'll give you a treatment, too."
Blue pointed at the group pressed against the window, eavesdropping.
"Hold on a second. What are they doing over there?"
|ω･`) |ω･`) |ω･`)
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