Tactical Concepts for Umbreon

Meanwhile, Ye Li had never stopped training Umbreon.

Umbreon's strength soon revealed itself to Ye Li in a way that exceeded his imagination.

On the training grounds, Ye Li invited a sparring partner who specialized in Fighting-types. The Pokémon he sent out was a battle-hardened Machoke with bulging muscles.

"Machoke, show us what you can really do! Use Karate Chop!" the sparring partner commanded loudly.

Machoke let out a fierce roar. The muscles in its thick arm bulged, and white Fighting-type energy shone along the edge of its hand. With a whistle that tore through the air, it chopped viciously at Umbreon's back. That blow could have split a half-meter-thick slab of granite in two. Several spectators, including a few researchers, instinctively closed their eyes, unable to bear watching the seemingly unassuming black Pokémon suffer a devastating blow.

Yet the expected cry of pain never came.

Clang!

A dull sound like clashing metal echoed across the training grounds.

Machoke's chopping hand struck Umbreon squarely, but Umbreon merely sank slightly, its four feet planted firmly on the ground. It did not budge at all. There was not a trace of pain on its face, nor even the slightest change in its eyes.

The sparring partner and his Machoke both froze. Machoke stared at its palm in disbelief, then looked at the spot where it had struck Umbreon. There was only a white mark so faint it was almost negligible. As Umbreon shook its jet-black coat, even that mark disappeared without leaving a trace.

"What... what astonishing physical defense!" a researcher exclaimed involuntarily, hurriedly scribbling notes on the data tablet in his hands.

Its physical defense was already so terrifying. What about its Special Defense?

Ye Li's next test subject was a Koffing skilled in special attacks.

"Sludge Attack!"

Koffing took a deep breath and sprayed a large quantity of dark purple, highly poisonous sludge from the holes in its body, giving off a foul stench. The sludge was extremely corrosive and adhesive. Once it stuck, it would not only inflict ongoing poison damage but also severely hamper its opponent's movements.

The purple venom came pouring down, covering Umbreon completely. Yet Umbreon simply stood calmly in place, allowing the filthy liquid to coat its entire body. Then the golden markings across its body glimmered faintly, and it gave a powerful shake.

Splash!

All the venom clinging to its body seemed to be repelled by an invisible force and was flung cleanly to the ground. Not a single drop had penetrated its satin-smooth coat. It remained completely unscathed, without even changing its posture, merely watching its opponent coldly with its ruby-like eyes.

The researchers present erupted into excitement.

"Unbelievable! Both its physical and special defenses have reached an utterly inconceivable level!"

"Just how is its body structured? Its coat seems to possess a special resistance to energy!"

"This evolved form completely overturns our understanding of Eevee's evolutionary system!"

Beyond its impregnable defense, Umbreon also showed Ye Li another side of itself as a Dark-type Pokémon-an endless array of disruptive abilities.

A Confuse Ray fired from its eyes could throw the opposing Pokémon into complete confusion, making it attack wildly without distinguishing friend from foe and throwing its formation into disarray. Another move, Mean Look, could truly be called extraordinary. When Umbreon fixed its deep red eyes on an opponent, an invisible mental shackle would lock firmly onto them. No matter how the trapped Pokémon struggled, its Trainer could not recall it into a Poké Ball to switch it out, nor could it use any escape moves. In battle, this amounted to pinning one of the opponent's key fighters to the battlefield, forcing it into a fight to the death.

This never-before-seen Umbreon, with its unusual evolved form, drew the attention of every researcher in the base like an enormous magnet. Like hounds that had caught the scent of the discovery of the century, their eyes gleamed, and they all but wore through the threshold of Ye Li's office.

"Director Ye Li, we'd like to perform a noninvasive cellular activity scan on Umbreon!"

"Director, with just one drop of blood, we could analyze the differences between its genetic sequence and those of ordinary Eevee evolutions!"

"Lord Ye Li, please allow us to use an energy detector to record complete data on its energy circulation during battle!"

Applications of every kind landed on Ye Li's desk like snowflakes. Faced with requests that would practically dissect every aspect of Umbreon inside and out, Ye Li maintained a polite but distant smile and rejected each one.

His official explanation was unassailable. "I appreciate everyone's good intentions. However, Umbreon has only just evolved, and both its body and mind are at a very sensitive stage. Any form of external examination could cause it stress, affecting the friendship we worked so hard to build. That would be extremely detrimental to its future growth. Please give it some more time."

Though the researchers were frantic with impatience, scratching their heads in frustration, "friendship" was an inviolable principle in Pokémon raising, and none of them could argue against it. They could only leave dejectedly, filled with regret and reluctance.

After seeing off the last researcher, Ye Li closed his office door. The smile immediately vanished from his face, replaced by a hint of coldness.

Are you kidding me? Hand my Umbreon over to you research fanatics?

If you reverse-engineered the data and worked out that Umbreon's evolution required "extremely high friendship" plus the specific timing of "night," wouldn't that expose the tip of the iceberg of my secret as a transmigrator?

My most cherished partner will never become cold data and reports on your lab tables.

He walked over to Umbreon, crouched down, and gently stroked its smooth coat. Umbreon narrowed its eyes comfortably and let out a contented rumble.

After rejecting all the research requests, Ye Li's life returned to its peaceful routine. He began devoting all his thoughts to a more important question: how to integrate Umbreon's unique abilities into an effective tactical system.

He took Umbreon to a private training room and had it battle a Raticate used for sparring.

When the battle began, Umbreon did not attack immediately. Instead, its eyes flashed red as it used Mean Look. An invisible barrier seemed to form around Raticate, trapping it firmly in place.

Next, Umbreon fired a Confuse Ray at it. Raticate's eyes instantly lost focus, and it began frantically using Quick Attack where it stood, only to keep hitting empty space or charging into the walls, leaving itself dazed and dizzy.

During the earlier test, Umbreon had expended some stamina shaking off the sludge. Now, rather than rushing to attack, it looked up at the simulated moonlight lamp on the training room ceiling. A ring of gentle silver light descended from above, enveloping its body. As Moonlight activated, its slight fatigue vanished, and its stamina recovered at a visible rate.

Ye Li crouched at the edge of the field, watching quietly. Looking at Raticate, firmly trapped and confused, capable of nothing but impotent rage, then at Umbreon, unhurriedly disrupting its opponent while leisurely restoring its stamina, he felt as though lightning had flashed through his mind.

The outline of an utterly shameless tactic-one that could even be called "devious and underhanded"-rapidly took shape in his mind, developing and solidifying.

That's it! I've found it!

This tactic is practically tailor-made for Umbreon! I'll call it... the "Torture King" tactic!

Ye Li's eyes grew brighter and brighter. His thoughts raced as he clearly mapped out every step of the tactic.

Step one: the opening. Take advantage of Umbreon's respectable speed to use Mean Look right away. It'll be like clamping an inescapable set of shackles onto the opponent's main Pokémon, completely cutting off any thought of switching out or escaping.

Step two: pressure. Repeatedly use moves like Confuse Ray, Yawn, or Toxic to keep piling negative conditions onto the opponent. Either confuse it so its attacks go astray, put it to sleep and leave it at my mercy, or badly poison it so its stamina keeps draining away. The core objective is to completely break the opponent, both mentally and physically.

Step three: sustain. Rely on Umbreon's monstrous defenses on both fronts to take every attack the opponent launches during its lucid moments head-on. As soon as its stamina drops to a certain level, immediately use Moonlight to recover, always keeping its health at an absolutely safe level.

Step four: finish. Once the opponent has burned through a large amount of stamina and move PP, and its mental state has completely collapsed under the endless harassment and inability to inflict meaningful damage, it'll be time to finish it off. Use Assurance to deal double damage when the opponent switches out (although Mean Look has already trapped it, this can be combined with moves like Toxic); or use Foul Play to turn the opponent's confusion-boosted Attack against it, inflicting massive damage. Just like that, steadily and bit by bit, whittle away all of the opponent's HP.

The more Ye Li thought about it, the more excited he became, until he nearly laughed aloud.

This tactic perfectly embodies what it means to play it safe. Its central idea is to win in the most obnoxious way possible.

As long as the opponent can't take me out in one hit, it'll definitely be the one to fall in the end. It'll be tormented until its resources run dry and its mental state shatters, finally collapsing in despair. This is simply perfect!

Meanwhile, in Giovanni's office on the highest floor of the base, he was watching Ye Li's every move in the training room through hidden surveillance equipment. That exceptionally clear inner monologue, filled with phrases such as "mental state shatters," "tormented to death," and "obnoxious," also reached his ears without missing a single word.

The corner of Giovanni's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

He looked at the mysterious Umbreon on the screen, then at the young man brimming with excitement over his own "underhanded" tactic. An unprecedented intensity of interest showed in his eyes.

This was no longer merely an unknown evolved form. What it brought was an entirely new tactical philosophy, one capable of overturning conventional understanding of Pokémon battles. Traditional battling pursued greater speed and stronger attacks. Ye Li's envisioned tactic, however, went to the opposite extreme-using absolute defense and control to drag an opponent into the mire of a slow death.

Giovanni made an immediate decision and issued an order of the highest priority through the internal system.

He classified all information concerning "Eevee's special evolved form-Umbreon," including footage, data, and ability analyses, as the organization's highest-level S-rank secrets, accessible only to himself.

At the same time, he once again issued a strict order to the research department and everyone in the base: no one was to disturb Ye Li's raising and training of Umbreon for any reason. He intended to create an absolutely private, absolutely comfortable environment for Ye Li.

He had a strong premonition that this young man's mind held even more astonishing secrets about Pokémon. All he needed to do was provide the most fertile soil and allow every one of those secrets to take root and sprout, bit by bit, with nothing held back, for Team Rocket's use.