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January 30th, Friday.
Four days had passed since the Sunshine Gym first showcased its systematic tactics.
This week, as usual, the Sunshine Gym welcomed many confident challengers.
However, with the sudden spike in gym challenge difficulty, this week's clearance rate was noticeably lower than the previous two weeks.
Reflecting on this, Aiden conducted a simple review.
The reason, perhaps, was that his expectations for these precious students were too high?
Releasing the tactics might have been premature for them.
Although their growth exceeded his imagination, growth required substantial time investment and real combat experience to truly realize their potential.
Even Mela, who excelled at Sunny Day teams and ranked relatively high among students, stumbled this week. It goes without saying for other ordinary students.
Moreover, even if they learned Sunny Day teams and some Pokémon usage patterns during the gym battles, it was still difficult for them to replicate.
After all, real trainer cultivation requires a lot of time. Raising Pokémon alone is already a time-consuming endeavor.
Therefore, having them face a new tactic each week and find corresponding solutions might be somewhat unrealistic.
Not to mention the students, even after inheriting the Sunshine Gym for such a long time, Aiden himself was still short of assembling a full main team...
Hence, the drop in this week's gym clearance rate was understandable.
As a "Gym Leader" responsible for assessing the abilities of every rookie trainer on behalf of the League, Aiden couldn't let too many people pass by going easy, but he also had to expose some flaws occasionally to give truly outstanding rookies space to shine.
In summary, he needed to dynamically adjust his strength, appropriately testing trainers' levels and the state of their Pokémon's cultivation.
Being a gym leader is tough…
However, Aiden quickly came up with new methods to give challengers more room to perform while further enhancing the content of his gym.
Simply put, he added multiple challenge modes to his gym, turning single-choice questions into multiple-choice ones.
The weekly refreshed new tactics became optional instead of mandatory, expanding the question bank for top students willing to take on new challenges.
Average-level students could choose tactics that their Pokémon were better suited to handle—
Of course, Aiden's standards wouldn't be lowered because of this.
Additionally, he considered those who had just received their starter Pokémon and didn't have much chance to engage with tactics in the short term—true beginners.
Just like this year's Paldea League assessment requirements, dynamic difficulty itself was also a test for the gym leaders.
Coincidentally, Aiden happened to have a "baby dragon." While they battled, it could also help temper its stubborn personality.
If it vented all its energy in battle, maybe it would jump fewer times and use its head to nudge its own legs less...
Thinking about it this way, it seemed all good?
Even students who had already earned badges could return to the Sunshine Gym to tackle different tactics and hone themselves.
If they succeeded multiple times, it indicated that these students had excellent strength and potential, worthy of close observation.
In this way, the problem of Paldea's shortage of manpower seemed to be solved?
What a great example of achieving multiple goals!
Besides, regarding the factor limiting trainers' imagination—one being insufficient Pokémon reserves—Aiden had some ideas.
As a relatively well-connected gym leader, he planned to emulate the Battle Frontier model, offering rental services to trainers tackling higher difficulties.
Just like how he currently rented Pokémon from the League, allowing trainers to flexibly pick Pokémon based on the tactics they were challenging.
If implemented, it would undoubtedly better assess trainers' skills.
So, where would these Pokémon come from?
The answer was simple—borrow!
Besides the Pokémon needed for new tactics, he would regularly rent a batch of Pokémon from the League and the Battle Chateau, rotating them periodically.
For his request, President Geeta surely wouldn't refuse.
As for the Battle Chateau...
Caitlin wasn't around anymore. I'm buddies with Darach; we don't need to calculate so clearly!
I must take full advantage of her resources!
Under this dual-rule system, it could both assess trainers' cultivation of their Pokémon and further enhance trainers' tactical thinking under Aiden's guidance.
In this way, how could the reputation of our Sunshine Gym be bad?
Aiden thought so, and he began to look forward to the joyous expressions of newcomers when they saw the new mode.
Want to become the strongest trainer in Paldea?
Then strive to conquer all the tactics of the Sunshine Gym!
...
Nighttime.
After a tiring week, Teacher Azure finally welcomed his loyal weekend.
Aiden was lying on the couch watching TV, while Sylveon sat on the armrest next to his pillow in an obedient posture.
The TV was playing a new movie produced in Kalos. The protagonist was a popular actor turned champion, Diantha.
Rather than human love stories, most protagonists in this world's films were Pokémon. Diantha's co-star was her starter Pokémon and absolute ace, Gardevoir.
"Syl…"
Watching a flash of white light on the screen, Sylveon quietly observing suddenly let out an envious murmur.
Why can Gardevoir, who is already so cute, evolve once more into a queen exuding mature charm?
It's so unfair. I want to become cooler too...
Moreover, the way this Gardevoir looks at the lead actress seems a bit off. It feels like she's drooling over her!
Is the bond between humans and Pokémon really this visibly apparent?
While quietly enjoying the movie, Aiden suddenly felt an unusual sensation on his arm and instinctively turned his head.
He saw that the ribbon extending from Sylveon's neck had somehow wrapped around his arm and even formed a cute pink bow...
Aiden was momentarily stunned and instinctively looked up at Sylveon.
"Syl, syl…"
Noticing Aiden's gaze, Sylveon instinctively turned her head away, her long pink ears standing tall, seemingly listening to the sounds coming from the TV.
Faced with Sylveon's slightly tsundere act of affection, Aiden could only smile faintly, showing a gratified smile.
At this moment, another familiar voice suddenly reached his ears—
"Mew!"
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