Night fell.
Aoki and Drake spent the day refining their tactics.
Drake was very impressed by Aoki's team composition and dual-core combination strategy.
However, their proficiency was insufficient, requiring more time for thorough practice.
It is said that actual combat is the best way to test things.
Sure enough, in his battles with Drake, Aoki found many shortcomings and, through practical experience, allowed his Pokémon to achieve better synergy.
After a day of battling, Aoki stayed on Drake's ship.
He took out the handbook Drake had given him earlier that day.
The book primarily contained insights on training Dragon-type Pokémon, with a significant portion dedicated to special training methods for Bagon, Shelgon, and Salamence.
Especially during the Shelgon stage, there was a very unique training method before evolving into Salamence.
According to Drake, this training method could only be effective for Shelgon with higher aptitudes, and the higher the aptitude, the greater the effect.
For example, his current Salamence, which has a blue aptitude, meaning Champion-level aptitude, actually only had a light blue aptitude during its Shelgon stage. It was only after using this training method that it successfully advanced to blue upon evolution.
It's important to note that Drake didn't have special aptitude-enhancing potions. To increase aptitude by one level after evolution, especially at a high level like blue aptitude, was already quite remarkable.
According to Drake's writings, not all Shelgon were suitable for this method. After numerous attempts, he concluded that it required at least a deep green aptitude, which he referred to as top-tier aptitude, to achieve such an effect upon evolution.
The higher the Shelgon's aptitude, the greater the potential for improvement after evolution.
Drake himself was initially unaware of this special training method and hadn't even considered it; it was told to him by his old partner.
That's right, Drake's old partner, another Salamence.
The Salamence Aoki was currently using was actually the child of Drake's old partner.
When Drake was young and venturing out, he accidentally encountered danger and was rescued by that Salamence. A bond formed between the man and the Pokémon, eventually leading to a deep connection.
Drake didn't elaborate much on that old Salamence.
He only told him that for their species, evolving into Salamence was their coming-of-age ceremony. During this ceremony, Shelgon needed to drink a large barrel of Dragon-type Pokémon blood to unlock the true potential of the Dragon-type Pokémon hidden within their bodies.
This way, after evolution, their bodies would be stronger, their wings more powerful for flight, and their Dragon-type moves would be more potent.
Originally, Drake thought this was just a common ritual passed down through the long ages of the Salamence species, like people eating cake on their birthdays—a way to bring good luck.
So, Drake did not prevent his old partner from performing this ritual on his son, the Salamence Drake currently used.
Moreover, the Dragon blood that the Salamence currently by Drake's side drank during its Shelgon stage came directly from its father, making it extremely pure Dragon blood.
The effect was surprisingly good. After drinking the Dragon blood, the Shelgon quietly lay on the ground for a week. The moment it stood up, it completed its evolution, spreading those long-desired wings.
Later, Drake realized there was such an effect. After conducting some in-depth research, he arrived at the current findings.
Just as Kommo-o have requirements for their offspring, where Jangmo-o must go out and complete their training alone before returning after evolution, Salamence also have unique training methods for their descendants specific to their species.
However, this method is only known to larger Salamence communities; scattered groups of two or three individuals are unlikely to be aware of it.
Once they evolve into Salamence, there's no longer an opportunity for a complete transformation.
Aoki and his Shelgon still have this opportunity.
Seeing this information, Aoki once again felt the benefit of having a guide. This special training method, even with all the data the Chip had collected, had no mention of it.
The latter half of the book generally recounted Drake's journey from becoming a trainer to his current status as the renowned Dragon-type Elite Four of the Hoenn region.
It primarily detailed how, after achieving Elite Four level strength, he found ways to improve, step by step, to become the revered Dragon-type Elite Four.
What Aoki valued most were Drake's earlier notes on battles against various Elite Four and Champion-level opponents. These included details about the Pokémon his opponents used, the tactics they employed in battle, how different Pokémon could be synergized, and what special methods could fully unleash a Pokémon's power, and so on...
From Elite Four level to Champion level, all were covered.
In the early to mid-Elite Four stages, meaning newly appointed Elite Four and formal Elite Four, battles relied more on the raw strength of the Pokémon. The stronger the raw strength, the stronger the trainer.
However, upon reaching the veteran Elite Four level, two different philosophies emerged.
Some believed that since raw strength was the deciding factor before the veteran Elite Four level, continuing to improve raw strength would maintain their advantage.
At this point, another group emerged. Given that human aptitude varies, these individuals believed that the rate of improvement in raw strength would slow down upon reaching the veteran Elite Four level. At this time, they could research some special tactics to compensate for the disparity in raw strength.
It must be said that neither of these two groups' philosophies was inherently wrong.
Those who could continue to improve their raw strength would break through to the quasi-Champion or even Champion level. Those who couldn't continue to improve would research various tactics, starting with single-core tactics, similar to the most common sandstorm or rain teams.
Then, after single-core tactics became prevalent at this level, others conceived of multi-core tactics, combining multiple cores and various strategies to complement each other, resulting in greater strength.
Some individuals who broke through to the quasi-Champion level in raw strength might not necessarily be opponents for those using dual-core or even multi-core tactics in full-team battles.
Conversely, those using multi-core tactics also couldn't withstand individuals who had broken through to the Champion level or even higher.
So, these people realized that both raw strength and multi-core tactics were essential!
Only when the rate of strength improvement slows down and further improvement becomes difficult should tactics be considered.
Of course, the best approach is to conceive some of your tactical cores before your raw strength is fully developed, to avoid having to spend a lot of time specifically training one or several Pokémon later on.
This requirement is relatively high, as it demands extensive research into Pokémon to be achievable.
However, it must be said that once a trainer reaches the veteran Elite Four level, their combat ability sometimes cannot be simply judged by the apparent strength of one or a few Pokémon.
Some people might not seem very strong in one-on-one or two-on-two battles, but in full-team battles or deathmatches, a significant difference can be observed.
Therefore, upon reaching the veteran Elite Four level, never underestimate anyone, especially older individuals. Their Pokémon might not be individually strong, but years of accumulated experience make their tactics versatile and their practical combat ability strong!