The little incidents that happened one after another on Monday surprised Qingyu, but they didn't interfere with the Sunshine Gym's normal operations.
Over the next few days, he continued commanding Hippopotas and Sandaconda every day, easily defeating most challengers.
Now that he had confirmed he would serve as an examiner in the final stage of Victory Road, Qingyu naturally raised his expectations for the students considerably.
Although he still used the same sandstorm team, Qingyu showed off plenty of new tricks in how he handled those two Pokémon.
Compared with Tyranitar's straightforward raw power, the other weather setters really weren't as strong. That, however, gave them some unconventional little strategies that were difficult to counter on a first encounter.
The students found it painful but rewarding. Even as they struggled through their battles, they remembered to pick up practical tips for using sandstorm teams from Teacher Yu.
By Friday, a Trainer had already arrived with a sandstorm team of his own to face Qingyu head-on.
Unfortunately, his skills still fell a little short. Qingyu didn't let him off just because he was a quick learner, either, though he did offer some extra advice.
After all, if these challengers couldn't clear his challenge as the "starting Gym Leader" even with him going so easy on them during their first playthrough, then facing Qingyu of the Elite Four in his second form...
Would probably leave them in despair, wouldn't it?
What the hell? Why has Teacher Yu stopped playing around with mechanics and started crushing us with stats?
How the hell am I supposed to play against this? I surrender!
So these higher standards were actually intended to keep challengers who advanced despite clearly lacking the necessary skills from having a meltdown later. In a way, this was Qingyu's mercy.
Time