Chapter 52: Special Attack and Physical Attack

Flobber left behind an unregistered Pokémon World Bank card worth five million, and took a receipt with him to pick up Houndoom and the other Pokémon.

Mawile wouldn't arrive until tomorrow; once the trade was complete, the two-million deposit would be returned.

Baimu watched him go, sat at the table for a long while, and a few ripples stirred in his heart.

Not only because of the new Pokémon arriving tomorrow, but also because of the other party's possible motives.

If one had to say what special value Houndoom and the others had, apart from their combat ability, it was probably the bodies that had already taken the drug.

Could it be that there's something wrong with that drug, so the boss behind the scenes wants to use Houndoom's body to extract the remaining drug in reverse, and do something with it?

Baimu turned it over in his mind.

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed — the other party was in such a hurry precisely because the drug content in Houndoom and the others would drop after their metabolism.

However.

Something even Ken could get his hands on — why would the boss need to be so roundabout about it…

*slap slap*~

He patted his own cheeks, cutting off his runaway thoughts — there were simply too many possibilities, and coming up with a hundred at random wouldn't be strange. The reason he was letting his imagination run wild was just because he had a tiny bit of regret.

After all, in a certain sense, he had also bowed his head to money and status.

In the final analysis, it was still a lack of strength.

Unable to say no to everything he found distasteful, so everything he currently possessed was sand in his palm, the moon reflected in water — a single gust of wind could make it slip away.

Thinking this way, Baimu's longing for strength instantly grew even stronger.

The backyard.

Chansey was enjoying the cool under the dappled shade of a tree.

The blazing sun made her sweat buckets, yet she worried that going inside would disturb the Trainer while he talked business with someone, so she could only huddle under the tree shade that didn't offer much cover from the sun.

Roggenrola…

Huh? Where's Roggenrola?

Baimu was startled for a moment, then immediately spotted the fellow carrying a rubber tube from goodness knows where.

He had assumed it was going to water that little sapling, but instead the thing made straight for where Chansey was, flicked the switch at the very top with its claw, let clear water spray out, and let it flow down over the latter's head in a parabola.

"Lucky~"

Chansey immediately showed a blissful expression.

"Gogogo!"

Roggenrola laughed and shook the water pipe — it could cool things down and water the tree, truly killing two birds with one stone.

I'm so smart~

It held the pipe in its mouth and tilted its head back, letting the clear water spray up into the sky, then flow down over itself like a shower, like sweet rain from the heavens.

Sizzle sizzle…

The sound of water droplets evaporating was unceasing.

Baimu's expression was a little odd — a Steel- and Rock-type Pokémon should be weak to Water, right? Either that, or these few droplets couldn't compare to water formed from type energy, so they meant nothing to Roggenrola…

This is a Pokémon that can learn Water Pulse!

"Playing with water? Count me in!"

His voice broke the two Pokémon's leisurely afternoon. Although he very much wanted to let Roggenrola and the others keep playing like this, if he didn't get stronger, this beauty could never be kept.

After playing with Roggenrola and Chansey for a while, Baimu began today's training.

First and foremost, he naturally had to get a feel for Roggenrola and Chansey's new states.

【Pokémon: Roggenrola】

【Type: Steel + Rock】

【Gender: Male】

【Height: 103 cm / Weight: 135 kg】

【Ability: Solid Rock】

【Level: 35】

【Moves: Tackle / Harden / Mud-Slap / Metal Claw】

【Iron Defense / Take Down / Iron Head / Dig / Reversal】

【Rock Tomb / Sand Tomb / Iron Tail / Rock Blast】

The life-and-death showdown had pushed its level up once more, and the moves it learned after evolving were Sand Tomb and Iron Tail, while Rock Blast came from the simulator's reward… Seems a bit lacking in type coverage?

Baimu felt it necessary to learn a move of another type to broaden Roggenrola's offensive coverage, and a Ground-type move was undoubtedly a great fit.

So next, he'd set Stomping Tantrum and Earthquake as the learning goals.

Also, considering the nature of a Pokémon like Roggenrola, he was determined to train its durability extensively; as for the choice between physical attack and special attack…

He hadn't decided.

If he hadn't come to a world based on the anime, Baimu would surely have mashed the physical attack button with his eyes closed.

But the anime, considering the feel of real combat, tends to blur the basic in-game stats like physical attack and special attack.

Which meant, as far as he could tell, this world's damage calculation ran on a different algorithm.

In the original final damage calculation, physical attack and special attack occupied a large proportion — the higher the two attacks, the higher the damage.

But the anime uses an algorithm similar to the new game *Legends: Arceus* — the influence of type effectiveness, move power, and effort values on damage was greatly increased, while the influence of the dual-attack base stats was reduced.

Of course, it's only similar, so it's not that the dual-attack base stats don't matter anymore — just that they're not as important as before.

They could no longer serve as the decisive factor.

Not only that, there's another factor that affects damage that doesn't exist in the game — type energy. This stuff increases with level, and is tied to move power: the higher the power, the more energy output. But without a doubt, the anime doesn't play by fixed rules.

For example, when Pikachu went all-out, its output far exceeded what Thunderbolt should deliver; and when it threw its match against Parasect, it used a ten-volt low-power Thunderbolt.

All these unbalanced, rule-breaking mechanics produce one result—

If Boscodola wants to specialize in Special Attack, that's also viable—train Special Attack specifically, and the power will be slightly lower, but it won't end up feeling like a mere scratch.

From this it's not hard to see why in the anime, regardless of Special Attack stats, everyone loves having their Pokémon hold a 【Hyper Beam】, and this move often produces terrifying destruction far exceeding what its Special Attack should allow.

The fully evolved form of a pseudo-legendary remains incomparably strong—not only because of its high base stats, but also because it can usually learn a variety of extremely powerful moves, and once it's an evolved form, its level is never low.

These creatures occupy the upper echelons of the Pokémon world with outstanding, top-tier performance across multiple aspects.

"Let's start with stamina first. Stamina is very important."

Baimu stroked Boscodola's somewhat scalding head. "The simplest method that requires persistence—running laps. Get used to it first, and we'll add other things later."

"Gudo!"

Boscodola had no objections and eagerly started running.

Off to the side.

Chansey watched him with slight nervousness and a hint of anticipation, trying to get her own assignment.

"Stop looking, you too—run." Baimu laughed and pushed her forward. "But you're different from Boscodola. Just run a few laps casually. If you feel uncomfortable, stop right away. Don't push yourself."

"Lucky~"

Chansey cheered and chased after Boscodola.

The two Pokémon have different tolerance for hot weather, so if Baimu wants to train Chansey's stamina, running laps under the sun isn't the best option.

【Pokémon: Chansey】

【Type: Normal】

【Gender: Female】

【Height: 112cm / Weight: 35kg】

【Ability: Natural Cure】

【Level: 32】

【Moves: Pound / Defense Curl / Tail Whip / Soft-Boiled / Minimize】

【Sing / Heal Pulse / Heal Bell / Telekinesis】

As a Pokémon that appeared in Generation One, Chansey's move pool has been expanded generation after generation and is now incredibly deep—she can learn all sorts of moves.

Physical Attack, Special Attack, and status moves—she has it all.

But since she can't yet launch attacks against other Pokémon and can only restrict or damage them indirectly, Baimu decided to have her learn utility moves like 【Toxic】, 【Thunder Wave】, 【Stealth Rock】, and 【Ally Switch】.

Basically, it's all about being as annoying as possible. Even without direct offense, she can still hold her own.

But how should she learn these off-type moves?

He thought for a moment, then decided to look it up online. One great feature of the internet age is information sharing—many signature techniques get spread across the web, willingly or otherwise.

These are treasures that can't be easily found.