Five minutes later.
After a battle, except for the initial burst of Scovillain's absurd combination of Eject Pack and Leaf Storm, almost all the remaining time was dominated by Aiden's Incineroar.
Relying on flexible retreats and constant switching, Incineroar's back-and-forth tactics left Mela completely disoriented.
If she kept following Aiden's actions and immediately recalled her Pokémon after their abilities were lowered, it would be a waste of time.
But if she didn't, neither Ceruledge nor Houndoom could effectively counterattack after their abilities were reduced.
Finally, through repeated pulling and seizing the opportunity, Aiden's Incineroar used Darkest Lariat and Cross Chop, easily defeating Mela's two Pokémon with just a couple of elbows.
[Whew—, is Teacher Azure being too ruthless? It seems like this challenger couldn't stand a chance in a direct confrontation...]
[Because rather than winning or losing, Teacher Azure mainly assesses the trainer's own level. He often deliberately leaves some openings, though they usually go unnoticed.]
[Now I finally understand why Sunshine Gym has so many bad reviews—it turns out it's Teacher Azure's own fault!]
[To be honest, if I were tortured by switches, I wouldn't give the gym a good review either! (Thumbs down)]
"I lost."
Though the process was tormenting, as a challenger, Mela calmly accepted her defeat.
"Thank you, Teacher Azure, for giving me a lesson..."
Mela wasn't quite sure what she had learned. She only knew that Teacher Azure's two Pokémon acted like ghosts, quickly breaking her side's morale with back-and-forth maneuvers.
Of course, the main reason might be that her starting Pokémon's attributes weren't well-chosen, having no effective countermeasures and being unable to restrict Teacher Azure's rotations.
Ultimately, the defeat was understandable.
However...
As the second "brave soul" to challenge the gym this week, Mela hadn't held much hope for a first-try speedrun against Teacher Azure.
Her visit was merely as the vanguard of the newly established "Team Star," to gauge the difficulty of Teacher Azure's gym this week.
Currently, it seemed that as usual, the first encounter might be very challenging, but with a basic understanding of his tactics and preparation, at least they could fight back and forth.
Anyway, they could continue to challenge next week; consider it gaining experience.
For these students, the assessment battles at Sunshine Gym were quite interesting, vastly different from other gyms.
Teacher Azure changed tactics every week and intentionally or unintentionally showcased his tactical advantages and vulnerabilities during battles, leaving challengers with deep impressions.
The first time they encountered him, they might feel it impossible to win, but upon reviewing, they quickly discovered many deliberately exposed flaws.
According to Teacher Azure himself, in cases where both sides' strengths are similar, the outcome of Pokémon battles largely depends on intelligence.
Being able to present unexpected tactics or routines and promptly seeing through the opponent's intentions is the most fundamental way for trainers to achieve victory.
Understanding this isn't difficult, but for Teacher Azure, who finds it easy, they find it genuinely hard to replicate, even struggling to learn...
The reason is simple: the basic gap is too large!
In fact, trainers who can directly master any tactic like Teacher Azure and switch tactics weekly are unheard of, at least to Mela herself.
It's precisely because of his excellent fundamentals that Teacher Azure can pull off such impressive feats.
Just like in the previous battle, rotation is already a very basic operation in battles.
Generally, trainers choose to rotate to establish an advantage when they are at a disadvantage or have defeated an opponent and gained an opening.
However, Aiden's earlier operations were something few had thought of before.
It turned out that besides targeting matchups, rotation itself could limit opponents, and under repeated pulling, the opponent's pressure was immense.
Because you never know when the opponent will stop pulling and swiftly end the battle with a decisive move...
From this battle, Mela felt she had learned a lot.
Especially that under Sunny conditions, it wasn't necessary to stubbornly focus on brute force attacks; one could use this suppression to gradually build an advantage and decisively defeat the opponent in one fell swoop.
Just like how Teacher Azure defeated her in a crushing manner...
Thinking about this, Mela quickly smiled.
I get it, I fully understand!
After returning, I'll share my insights from the challenge with everyone in the club!
Teacher Azure began live streaming this year's gym battles, which was undoubtedly a good thing for the students.
They could enjoy watching other students' failed challenges and incidentally learn details they hadn't noticed during their own battles.
Sometimes, observing from an outsider's perspective made things clearer than being on the battlefield themselves.
Moreover, the establishment of the Team Star allowed a group of students eager to improve to start exchanging insights. After today's battle, they could thoroughly review it together.
Group discussions obviously yielded better results than pondering alone.
Especially their captain, Penny, who received the highest evaluation in her first challenge against Teacher Azure and was willing to share her experiences with them.
Under Penny's influence, there was a noticeable change in the student atmosphere at Naranja Academy, which Mela found very commendable.
So, even though she lost, it didn't matter. Her thoughts were now entirely focused on finding Penny back at school.
"Then, see you later, Teacher Azure. I'll come back to challenge the gym next week!"
"Always welcome."
After smiling and seeing off Mela, Aiden also heaved a sigh of relief.
After deploying the complete set of switching tactics, he was a bit worried that such playstyle would spike the opponent's blood pressure. He felt that the seemingly quiet and reserved Mela might burst into tears after his attack...
If it were the punk-looking leader of the Team Star from his memories, he wouldn't have been so concerned.
If he really made the students cry, it would be even worse for the already rock-bottom reputation of Sunshine Gym, and even Aiden himself was a bit afraid.
Would he really have to bear the label of "overwhelming negative reviews" for life?
Some games don't sit as steadily in the number one spot for negative reviews as him...
However, fortunately, such incidents did not occur.
After seeing off Mela, Aiden couldn't help but think—
To some extent, the transformation of the Team Star was closely related to him.
Those rebellious kids, in the end, seemed to have all become top students in school, never skipping classes again!
Could it be that he was somewhat considered half of a life mentor?
As expected of me!
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