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Monday.
After getting up and finishing washing up, the first thing Aiden did was open the gym doors and put away the Sunny Day Doll hanging outside into his pocket.
The brilliant sunlight bathed the ground, bringing a warm atmosphere even in winter.
Miraidonn, basking in the sun, comfortably squinted its eyes. After a quick glance at Aiden leaving, it continued to enjoy the sunbath that relaxed both its body and mind.
Aiden shook his head with a mix of helplessness and amusement.
An outsider might think it was charging using solar power...
Then, he looked up at the golden sun hanging high in the sky.
The Sunny Day Doll worked surprisingly well. Even though the weather forecast last night predicted light rain, today there wasn't a single cloud to be found.
While having Pokémon use Sunny Day could achieve a similar effect in the short term, it clearly couldn't match the prolonged duration provided by technology.
To ensure today's gym tactics would go smoothly, Aiden had made ample preparations.
For some time now, the Sunshine Gym's tactics would focus on weather systems, and they would only change every two weeks.
Thus, he planned to do something creative with what he had.
For instance, this week's gym battles would have the weather forcibly locked as Sunny Day. Next week, challengers who had roughly understood his Sunny Day team system could attempt to override it with other weather conditions.
This way, even with the same Pokémon, various tactical styles could emerge in actual combat, deepening their understanding.
Initially, Aiden thought his teaching might give students some understanding, but after so many gym battles, he realized a truth—
Sermons and lectures are useless!
Only those kids who were thoroughly beaten by the tactics he mentioned could remember them, and their enlightenment speed was much faster than classroom learning…
After losing once or twice and seeing how others lost, they pretty much got the picture.
Want to learn the Sunny Day team? First, see how Teacher Azure plays it. You'll understand after getting hit!
It was a rough method, but unexpectedly effective for Naranja Academy students.
As long as one student (referring to Okamoto) led the charge, everyone else was soon dragged along to improve...
After seeing others get thrashed by Teacher Azure and quickly learn new tactics, improving rapidly, would you choose not to learn?
You'd die before refusing!
Everyone was progressing. If you didn't keep up, you'd fall behind and eventually become the school's laughingstock!
No one wanted that!
So, unexpectedly, starting with Aiden, the "highly praised" gym leader, all Naranja Academy students began studying feverishly.
Even during the Victory Road period when classes weren't mandatory, students often returned to catch up on lessons, making up for any missed fundamentals.
Under such intense competition, where if you didn't study, plenty of others would, the entire Naranja Academy was brimming with vitality and fierce competition.
Aiden had heard about this somewhat.
His thoughts on the matter were:
Isn't this just great news? As expected of me!
Students not only became obedient, but their strength also skyrocketed like rockets.
The serious bullying incidents Aiden had previously worried about never even had a chance to occur...
With no time to read books or study tactics with Teacher Azure, who has the leisure to bully other students?
Not only students, but even the gym leaders responsible for evaluations and temporary teachers handling basic theory courses felt immense pressure recently.
Especially Iono from the Levincia Gym—after her beloved Tailwind tactic was exposed, she reportedly became the confidence-boosting breakthrough point for students...
He hoped Iono was okay.
"By the way... Even though campus bullying has been inadvertently resolved, did Penny still establish Team Star as per the original timeline?"
Aiden suddenly remembered Penny, who had challenged the gym last week.
Though appearing somewhat frail, Penny's initiative ranked top among students.
Being directly recognized by Aiden and receiving the highest evaluation for this year during her first gym challenge quickly earned Penny fame among students.
Based on this, forming a Team Star with a slightly different purpose, yet more acceptable, seemed very natural.
The current Team Star had nothing to do with campus bullying anymore; it was purely established to provide students with a platform for mutual sparring and discussion.
Even the school's administration swiftly approved the club establishment request.
Of course, compared to student organizations, this new Team Star had another aspect that filled Aiden with the urge to complain.
Aside from discussing battles, Team Star's other name was—
Teacher Azure Fan Club!
"Something feels off..."
Aiden sighed. At that moment, he suddenly heard a strange noise above.
Looking up, he saw his Bagon had sneaked out somehow and climbed onto the roof, laughing foolishly while gazing down at him.
Then, under Aiden's wide-eyed gaze, it jumped down directly.
"…"
Instinctively, Aiden wanted to catch it but quickly realized and his expression grew slightly complex.
Has it finally come to this day?
Soon, a loud "thud" echoed as the head-heavy Bagon plunged headfirst into the dirt.
Its hard iron skull provided the best protection, preventing any damage from the fall, but it also got stuck in the ground, wiggling its small legs in an attempt to break free.
Seeing this, Aiden smiled helplessly and walked over, pulling it out of the ground with both hands.
"Yip!"
After emitting a foolish laugh, Bagon quickly broke free from Aiden's grasp and skillfully climbed back onto the roof from the side of the gym.
Aiden silently watched its movements without saying a word.
According to the Pokédex, Bagon is a Pokémon that longs for the sky and desires to master flight someday.
Therefore, after their bodies develop to a certain extent, they begin their "flying career."
Simply put, they find a high place and jump off a cliff.
Due to their top-heavy body structure, they always land headfirst, but their hard heads can shatter huge rocks while protecting them from any harm.
Hence, Bagon's classification in the Pokédex is "Rock Head Pokémon."
Aiden's Bagon had the Rock Head ability, making it a solid iron-head kid...
However, perhaps it was precisely this daily behavior that allowed Bagon to evolve one day and spread its crimson wings to soar in the sky?
See?
If your heart is sincere enough, maybe any Pokémon has the potential to fly!
...
Time quickly approached noon.
The first batch of challengers arrived right on schedule.
After switching his Rotom Phone to live mode, Aiden quickly began fulfilling his duties as a gym leader—
Teaching the students a lesson!
Because he announced the tactics for this week's assessment in advance, the first challenger came prepared.
"The battle rules are 2v2. The challenger goes first, and the gym leader cannot actively switch Pokémon."
"By the way, since this week's gym assessment is the Sunny Day team, the weather at Sunshine Gym will be locked as Sunny Day. Any objections?"
"I have none."
The short trainer opposite nodded while thinking—
Sure enough, it's just like the tactics explained in yesterday's stream. I really came at the right time!
As a newcomer specializing in Water-types, each of his Pokémon knew Rain Dance, easily overriding Sunny Day.
Without the weather advantage, Solar Beam wouldn't be usable, let alone those Fire-type Pokémon, which were heavily countered by his side.
Breaking through Sunshine Gym starts today!
With this thought, today's first "lucky" challenger began his test.
"Primarina, use Rain Dance!"
Full of confidence, the opponent immediately issued a command the instant the battle began.
However...
At the same time, noticing Teacher Azure suddenly smile, he inexplicably felt a bit panicked.
Even though Teacher Azure hadn't done anything yet, simply waiting for Primarina to use Rain Dance, his side already felt immense pressure...
It felt like he had just made a wrong decision.
And indeed, as he suspected—
Soon, Primarina completed its power-up, injecting Water energy into the sky, attempting to form clouds to temporarily block the sun and create localized rain.
However, this high-purity Water energy dissipated immediately upon reaching the sky, resulting in nothing happening.
Watching the opponent freeze in shock, Aiden smiled and reminded gently:
"Challenger, I warned you beforehand. This week's gym battle will be locked as Sunny Day to assess your understanding of Sunny Day tactics."
"If you want to use other weather tactics, feel free to challenge again next week."
Although unsure of the principle, the Sunny Day Doll seemed to possess some rule-based force. Once the weather changed successfully, it affected the entire day.
Other weather moves and abilities had almost no chance of working under this powerful sunlight.
The opponent was instantly on the verge of tears.
His Water-type was indeed strong against Teacher Azure's Sunny Day team...
But under Sunny Day conditions, Water-type moves' power was halved, offering no attribute advantage!
In the end, as expected, he was swiftly defeated.
Witnessing the opponent's journey from full confidence to being utterly disheartened, viewers couldn't help but start commenting.
[Teacher Azure, is it legal for your gym to lock the weather…]
[Though special rules in gym battles are normal, how exactly is the Sunny Day weather locked? Is there a Pokémon continuously using Sunny Day outside?]
[Teacher Azure is still too overpowered!]
Several challengers still in line, after watching this battle, exchanged glances and bolted.
Teacher Azure was terrifying, preemptively predicting their countermeasures, knowing they'd use Rain teams to skip class...
Suddenly feeling stomach pain, I'll challenge Sunshine Gym again next week!
As most challengers quietly left, when Aiden noticed, only one student remained.
And this one, Aiden vaguely recognized...
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