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In the following match, Jacob naturally won the battle without any suspense.
After the competition ended, Jacob met with Caleb backstage as planned.
He didn't say much to Caleb during their first encounter. First, since this was their initial meeting, they weren't close enough to engage in lengthy conversations. Second, Jacob didn't really know Caleb well enough yet. While he could check Pokemon information through his system, he couldn't access details about people. He could see Caleb's Infernape's potential and abilities, but he couldn't see into people's hearts or judge their true character.
The two of them exchanged a few polite words, and then Jacob left him a phone number for future contact.
Back at the Dragon Secret Realm, in Trainer Nina's dormitory.
"You go train your Pokemon first. I'll handle cooking dinner," Nina said with a gentle smile.
Nina took out a floral apron and tied it around her waist, then gathered her long hair into a neat bun behind her head. She carefully tucked the loose strands on both sides behind her ears and prepared to start cooking their evening meal. Jacob noticed that after such a long period of recovery, Nina's figure had become much fuller and more mature. She seemed to grow more gentle and caring with each passing day.
"Alright," Jacob nodded and walked out to the yard. He took out his Poke Balls and released all of his Pokemon.
Looking at his team of Pokemon, Jacob felt a deep sense of emotion and pride. Especially when he looked at Treecko - when they first met, it was still a young Pokemon being protected by Sceptile, but now it had grown so much.
Looking at Charizard again, Jacob remembered its appearance when he first found it in the Fire Secret Realm, when it was still just a Pokemon egg waiting to hatch.
Now that Sceptile and Charizard had both evolved to their final forms, they had become the absolute core members of his team. Having reached their final evolutionary stages, their next phase of training would focus on learning new moves and mastering mega evolution.
Charizard needed to learn the Solar Beam. On sunny days, Charizard with the Solar Power ability could use Solar Beam with enough power to counter most Water-type and Rock-type Pokemon. It was a move that Charizard urgently needed to master.
Sceptile needed to learn the Sword Dance to further enhance its already impressive attack power significantly.
However, both of these moves were extremely valuable and difficult to obtain, especially Sword Dance, which was notoriously hard to acquire.
In addition to learning new moves, Jacob also wanted to research mega evolution. After all, he had already obtained Sceptile's mega evolution stone and the Key Stone. It could be said that everything was ready except for the right opportunity and location.
However, Jacob still faced a significant problem - he couldn't find a suitable research site. Mega evolution research had to be conducted in complete secrecy, and he needed to find a location that was private enough. He couldn't openly study mega evolution in the restricted areas where others might see.
This made Jacob think involuntarily about Julia's family's large villa. Jacob couldn't help but sigh wistfully. If only he could afford to buy such a magnificent villa, he could build a personal laboratory at home like Professor Oak and conduct many secret experiments.
Unfortunately, although the Jacob family had made substantial money from the Grass Bug Secret Realm, they still lacked the funds to purchase a large villa in the capital city.
According to Jacob's understanding, the price of a family villa was in the billions of Pokedollars, so for the time being, Jacob had better not even dream about it.
"Money! Money! Money!" Jacob sighed heavily.
As his strength increased, he felt more and more acutely the critical importance of having sufficient funds. He couldn't help but reach out and gently touch both Sceptile and Charizard.
If it weren't for his family's financial support, he wouldn't be able to afford raising these two powerful Pokemon. No wonder people said that lack of money could bring down even the strongest heroes.
Especially Sceptile - with its body measuring over three meters tall, Jacob's heart bled with every meal it consumed. Although Grass-type Pokemon were basically vegetarian, that didn't stop it from eating enormous quantities of expensive energy blocks.
And these were just the smaller Pokemon who hadn't evolved yet. When he thought about the future when all his Pokemon would evolve into their final forms - Noivern, Haxorus, Garchomp, and the future Dragonite - Jacob was genuinely worried about his wallet's survival.
The annual expense of properly training and caring for these Pokemon was absolutely enormous. He couldn't always rely on his family's financial help. A man living under heaven and earth couldn't depend on others for support indefinitely. He had to find a stable way to earn money as soon as possible, or perhaps find a wealthy partner who could provide financial support.
"Noibat, Axew, Dreepy, and Bagon, you guys train together for a while first," Jacob said to the smaller Pokemon who hadn't evolved yet. Then he turned to Sceptile and Charizard. "Sceptile, you go supervise their training. Charizard, you worked too hard today, so you don't need to train right now. Just rest here for a while. Come on, lie down here, and I'll rest against you for a bit."
Charizard heard this instruction and lay down on the ground, curling its large body into a comfortable semicircle. Jacob leaned back against Charizard, feeling the warmth and comfort like resting against a living cushion. Charizard moved its tail closer and positioned it near Jacob, warming him with the gentle flames at the tip.
Jacob looked at this peaceful scene and couldn't help but affectionately touch Charizard's head. The two companions smiled contentedly at each other.
"Charizard, in future formal competitions, don't always think about launching sneak attacks when there are lots of people watching," Jacob said thoughtfully, remembering the scene from today's battle.
After hearing Jacob's words, Charizard raised its head with a puzzled expression appearing on its face and in its eyes. It looked at Jacob as if asking, "Why won't you let me use sneak attacks anymore?"
"Sneak attacks are all about the element of surprise," Jacob explained seriously to Charizard. "Think about it - if you use sneak attacks frequently in regular competitions, other trainers will naturally start taking precautions against them. Then it's no longer really a sneak attack."
"When it comes to life-or-death situations, if enemies have already prepared countermeasures, your sneak attack might not only be ineffective, but could also be discovered and turned against you," Jacob continued his analysis.
"When others know you're going to launch a sneak attack, it's not called a sneak attack anymore. So don't use sneak attacks in competitions from now on. Sneak attacks should only be used when fighting enemies in the wild," Jacob carefully shared his strategic wisdom with Charizard. "Sneak attacks work by catching enemies completely off guard. If you use them too frequently, they lose their effectiveness."
Charizard nodded, though it didn't fully understand all the implications.
Jacob continued with his lesson. "In summary, you only need to remember one important rule. There are only two kinds of people in this world. The first type doesn't know you're going to attack them, and the second type is dead."
"Because everyone who has witnessed your sneak attacks should be dead."
After hearing Jacob's profound words, Charizard's pupils widened in amazement. Jacob's philosophy seemed to have opened the door to an entirely new world of strategic thinking.
Compared to Jacob's deep understanding, Charizard felt like a complete novice. It looked at Jacob with newfound admiration and respect glowing in its eyes.
Master! Charizard realized that while it had been feeling proud about successful sneak attacks, it had only been operating at the most basic level of stealth combat. Meanwhile, Jacob had already reached the absolute pinnacle of perfection in this art.
Charizard secretly memorized Jacob's words and adopted them as its personal motto for future battles.
"There are only two kinds of people in this world. Those who don't know I'm going to launch a sneak attack, and those who are dead."
But wait - the master also knows that I use sneak attacks, Charizard thought as it glanced curiously at Jacob.
"Charizard, your eyes look dangerous right now!" Jacob said with a laugh.
After the trainer and Pokemon had spent considerable time exchanging their philosophies about sneak attack strategies, Jacob picked up his phone and opened his stone purchasing post to check on his future money-making endeavors.
Because Jacob had raised his purchase prices significantly, many people had sent messages during the past week saying they wanted to sell rare stones to him.
Among all these messages, Jacob unexpectedly discovered someone offering both a Key Stone and a mega evolution stone for sale!