Chapter 608: Mew has come at just the right time; you shall be the star of the next video!

With the first batch of students arriving to test the lineup, the new Gym team Xiang Qingyu added this week quickly spread throughout Naranja Academy.

Pelipper + Palafin—a rain-team duo with a very Paldean flair—didn't look like they would be too difficult to handle.

After all, both Palafin and Pelipper were terrified of Electric-type moves; one didn't even need to fight Master Yu for the rain, as they could easily use a single Thunder in the rain to deal massive damage to the opponent.

Even with the Eject Button to save time and allow Palafin to complete its Hero Form transformation quickly, the disadvantage in typing was still very hard to overcome.

And so—

With the first person to brave the challenge, the subsequent students immediately followed suit. Any newcomers with an Electric-type Pokémon in their team wanted to try their luck.

After all, no one could say for sure how difficult the Sunshine Gym's assessment was. If they didn't take this opportunity to get the badge, who knew if an even more "underworld" lineup would appear later, leaving them stumped for ages?

They had to seize what might be the only chance they'd ever get!

The number of Electric-type Pokémon was not small, and they were relatively easy to raise. Plus, with cute creatures like the Pikachu family, they were deeply loved by novice trainers, so there were quite a few students who met the criteria.

However, once they arrived at the Sunshine Gym to challenge him in person, they quickly realized—

"Oh no, we've been tricked!"

Since the tactics had been seen through, how could Xiang Qingyu not have realized such an obvious flaw?

Therefore, his tactics quickly underwent new changes.

The solution was simple: Xiang Qingyu added a very conventional Pokémon to his rain team.

Seaking.

This Pokémon, discovered long ago and widely present in many waters across various regions, had always been one of the choices for rain teams.

The reason was simple: like Ludicolo, it possessed the Swift Swim ability, making it quite fast in the rain.

However, the reason Xiang Qingyu chose it to counter Electric-type Pokémon was, of course, not that simple.

This brings us to the fact that although Seaking is a pure Water-type and deeply bound to rain teams, it possesses the hidden ability Lightning Rod.

Just like Manectric, and the effect was even better.

Not only could it avoid a weakness in typing, but it could also be sent out unexpectedly during defensive rotations, achieving damage-free switching while boosting its own stats via the Lightning Rod ability.

Moreover, as a Water-type Pokémon, it could actually learn Mud-Slap and Drill Run, two Ground-type moves, making it an Electric-type killer when combined with the Lightning Rod ability.

Therefore, although Seaking's strength was quite average, it caused great trouble for the later challengers.

However, with the support and quick review from the logistics team (Team Star), a corresponding solution for this Lightning Rod Seaking was soon found—

Ground-type moves were actually easy to deal with; one only needed the Levitate ability or to use the Electric/Flying-type Kilowattrel to easily neutralize and completely ignore them.

Even without relevant Pokémon, one could use a Terastal Orb to transform into a Flying-type to avoid it.

Although the production of Terastal Orbs was limited, in order to give novice trainers more ways to win when facing Gym Leaders, basically all Naranja Academy students were equipped with them.

For them, using a Terastal Orb was standard procedure, but usually, when challenging Master Yu, they couldn't even hold out long enough to use the Terastal Orb to turn the tables...

This suggestion sounded very reliable, so many newcomers quickly adopted it and stormed the Sunshine Gym again, intending to wash away their previous shame.

And then...

There was no "and then."

While Terastal Flying could avoid Ground-type weaknesses, it also exposed a more fatal problem—

Water and Ice have always been strongly bound; almost all Water-type Pokémon have plenty of Ice-type moves for coverage, and the Flying-type happens to be weak to Ice.

Thus, after a deep review by Team Star members, including Mela herself, they finally concluded:

Maybe we should just go back to fighting for the weather...

After one cycle, the strategy against Xiang Qingyu's new tactics actually returned to the very beginning.

Never mind the Team Star members; even Xiang Qingyu couldn't help but laugh.

Although the Eject Button Pelipper configuration had been exposed, who said he had to use that set?

When he first revealed this strategy, he had his own considerations.

Once this move was used, it was foreseeable that future challengers would definitely guard against him using it again, allowing him to complete the weather-stealing while letting Palafin enter the field easily.

So, as long as the opponent thought he would use this move, his strategy was already more than half successful.

Because Pelipper's configuration was flexible, changing its held item on the spot wasn't difficult; he could even go for a Choice Specs or Life Orb offensive mode.

Thus, the challengers soon discovered...

Before the start of the battle, they had to play mind games with the air for a while to know what configuration Xiang Qingyu's two Pokémon actually had, while Master Yu could take the opportunity to learn the opponent's Pokémon configuration.

Perhaps the essence of Pokémon battling really did have a bit of a rock-paper-scissors nature, but the opponent was a cheater who knew your tactics at a glance, and even your ideas were learned from them—how were you supposed to fight him?

However, perhaps because Xiang Qingyu showed mercy, or perhaps because he had judged the newcomers' strength after testing.

Even if a few newcomers didn't win, they struggled for a while and eventually received that Sunshine Badge, which looked 90% similar to an Evolution Stone.

Being able to get a badge even after failing, as long as one showed their style—this greatly encouraged many novice trainers, reigniting their desire to clear the Sunshine Gym.

As long as I work hard enough, Master Yu will definitely recognize me!

There were countless newcomers with such thoughts, and among them, some really did break through the trial with their passion and received the Sunshine Badge personally issued by Xiang Qingyu.

Perhaps this was Xiang Qingyu's final mercy? (Laughs)

Time flew, and it was soon Friday.

The trainers who came to challenge the new tactics had already been there a few days ago. Today's challengers were mostly pragmatists aiming for Mewtwo or other rental Pokémon, planning to secure the badge first.

So Xiang Qingyu was happy to be idle, sitting on the lawn outside the Gym, quietly admiring Mewtwo's command.

Two weeks ago, Mewtwo's knowledge regarding trainers was basically zero; everything started from scratch. However, relying on its terrifying learning ability, it had basically gotten the hang of it and become a newcomer with some level of skill.

However, in Xiang Qingyu's view, it was still a bit far from passing.

"Being a trainer isn't that easy!"

Xiang Qingyu shook his head.

And he always felt... even though he had deliberately not taught Mewtwo tactics, planning to wait until it formed its own style before slowly guiding it, why did Mewtwo's current command style always feel like it was imitating his own battling?

In this match, Mewtwo was clearly using a sun team, but the Tangrowth it evolved using its psychic power had no intention of attacking at all, instead using various disruptive moves and defensive power to continuously wear down the opponent.

Just a few days ago, it was a reckless fighter who only knew how to attack head-on, getting wiped out by the opponent's Lanturn while using a rain team. How did it become so brainy in just a few days?

Don't tell me I'll end up raising Mewtwo into a "quality" trainer too...

Wait, why did I say "too"?

Xiang Qingyu scratched his head.

It seemed it really was his own fault.

Because even though he hadn't taught Mewtwo his own battle insights, other challengers had been influenced by him to some extent, and the tactics they used when battling Mewtwo were all quite "quality."

Plus, its limited internet time now was basically spent playing "Pokémon Champion," where there were more "crouching tigers and hidden dragons" than offline.

With all this back and forth, shouldn't Mewtwo's current battle database be full of "quality" tactics?

Analyzing with these cases, it would be a miracle if it didn't become "quality"...

Just as Xiang Qingyu was thinking, the opponent's Wash Rotom had already used Will-O-Wisp on Tangrowth.

Xiang Qingyu clearly saw Mewtwo's mouth twitch, and its eyes immediately became even more piercing.

With your way of playing, I'd believe it if you turned Mewtwo dark!

Although it turned dark in the wrong direction and shouldn't pose any threat to the Pokémon world, the thought that the culprit seemed to be himself...

When Mew finally finishes wandering and comes to the Sunshine Gym to take a look, and sees Mewtwo has become a "quality" old schemer, trading blows with these newcomers for hundreds of rounds—won't he be mercilessly laughed at by it hundreds of times?

Xiang Qingyu, unable to bear watching, decisively turned his head to look the other way.

The sky is so blue today!

In the evening, the Pokémon who had finished a week of work finally welcomed the long-awaited weekend.

And Xiang Qingyu didn't treat them poorly, ordering a very sumptuous takeaway from a restaurant in Mesagoza, just like last time.

During the leisure time before dinner, the Pokémon engaged in their own activities in twos and threes.

Mewtwo seized the opportunity, taking notes seriously on the sofa before dinner, recording all the various tactics and Pokémon it had seen today, saving them for review at night.

It could be described as forgetting to eat and sleep.

Even Xiang Qingyu couldn't help but admire this drive.

Xiang Qingyu actually knew about it sneaking on its phone in the middle of the night, because the Rotom residing in the special Pokédex was quite sensitive to the use of household appliances. Mewtwo thought it was hiding it well, but it underestimated the power of Pokémon technology...

However, Xiang Qingyu didn't expose it.

After all, on the surface, Mewtwo had indeed kept its promise to him, and its mental state had improved a lot recently.