"That's enough practice for today. You worked hard."
Zane placed a cup of orange juice he'd brought with him in front of Budew. "Take a break."
He glanced down at the timer in his hand. 1.6 seconds. That was the fastest Budew could currently execute the Stun Bomb combo. For a weak, unevolved Pokémon like Budew, it was an incredible achievement. The new move would be its key trump card for winning battles.
Next on the agenda was training its third move: Absorb.
In the games, the description for Absorb was: A Grass-type move. The user drains the target's nutrients. The user's HP is restored by half the damage taken.
As a move that the vast majority of Grass-type Pokémon could learn, Absorb was of great strategic importance in battles of attrition. Reality wasn't like the games; trainers couldn't just use potions to heal their Pokémon in the middle of a fight. In a drawn-out battle where neither side could land a decisive blow, it all came down to who could last longer and who would collapse first. In that kind of situation, a Pokémon that knew Absorb had a massive advantage.
The move itself had three stages of mastery.
The first stage was the basic Absorb, with limited power and healing ability.
The second stage was what the League officially called "Mega Drain." Compared to the first stage, it was a qualitative leap in both power and the amount of health it could restore.
The third stage was known as "Giga Drain." As the name implied, it was the pinnacle of the technique, with top-tier power and draining ability.
But unlike in the games, where a Pokémon could learn these moves just by leveling up, in reality, upgrading Absorb to Mega Drain required a Pokémon to practice constantly until it achieved perfect mastery. It was like learning to play basketball: at first, you might struggle just to dribble, but after enough practice, you could integrate all the techniques until you could sink a three-pointer with your eyes closed.
I wonder when Budew will be able to evolve... Zane thought. Once it evolved into a Roselia, it would have some real combat potential. The evolution method for Budew in the games was reaching 220 friendship and then leveling up during the daytime.
But what about in the real world? This place didn't even have a "level-up" system.
This is going to be a long road.
Zane sighed, recalled Budew to its Poké Ball, and prepared to head to his class.
Training without any real combat experience isn't going to cut it, he thought on his way. He considered his options. Could he ask the other teachers or students for a battle? No, that wouldn't work. Aside from him, the ecology teacher with a schedule as flexible as a P.E. teacher's, everyone else was too busy.
In that case, I'll just have to find someone to battle outside of the school.
————
If you wanted to know where to find the most "wild" trainers, the answer was obvious: the Pokémon Center. It was a common occurrence for two trainers who had just met to lock eyes, run into the nearest patch of tall grass, and immediately start a battle. To accommodate this, the Pokémon Center had even set up a dedicated battle area in its backyard for trainers staying there to use.
So, the moment his class was over, Zane went straight to the Pokémon Center and signed up for a match.
It didn't take long to find his first opponent: a rookie trainer from Littleroot Town.
"Alright, let's do this! Go, Torchic!" the boy, whose name was Austin, shouted. "Torchic, use Ember!"
With a flash of white light, a small, orange-feathered Pokémon appeared in front of Zane.
Slow, Zane thought. Too slow. Both his command speed and his throwing motion. In a real battle in the wild, an enemy could have taken him down before he even got his Poké Ball out.
Zane didn't forget he was in a battle. He tossed out Budew's Poké Ball.
"A Budew!?" Austin said. "That's a Grass-type! My Torchic has the advantage! Torchic, use Ember!"
Zane's command was short and to the point. "...Budew, dodge to the front left."
"NINI!"
Both Pokémon moved at the same time. As Zane had predicted, the untrained Torchic fired its Ember straight at the spot where Budew had been standing. But Budew was already gone.
"Stun Spore," Zane said calmly.
"Torchic, use Ember again!" Austin shouted.
This time, Budew moved a split-second before the Torchic. A cloud of pale yellow powder erupted from the bud on its head. The Torchic wasn't in the center of the cloud's range, but thanks to Budew's new position, the very edge of the Stun Spore still managed to reach it.
The Ember attack was cut off before it could even start. The Torchic's small body suddenly went rigid as it was seized by paralysis.
"Seed Bomb," Zane ordered.
A rookie trainer's rookie Pokémon wouldn't have built up any resistance to status effects. Budew's Stun Spore, followed by a relentless barrage of Seed Bombs, kept the Torchic completely locked down until it was unable to battle.
It all happened so fast that the boy seemed to still be processing what had happened, just standing there staring in a daze.
"You should probably take your Pokémon to the Center to get healed," Zane reminded him.
The boy snapped out of it, scooped up his Torchic, and rushed inside.
With his first victory secured, Zane immediately signed up for another match. Soon, a slightly older-looking trainer sent him a battle request.
Three minutes later, that trainer was staring blankly at his own fainted Pokémon.
"That's one incredible Budew!" a few other trainers who had watched both battles exclaimed. The way they looked at Budew had completely changed. In their minds, a Budew was supposed to be a weak, pre-evolved Pokémon. But this little guy had just consecutively defeated two stronger opponents, one of which even had a type advantage.
What did that mean?
It meant that the trainer who had raised this Budew was no ordinary person.
The crowd started looking at Zane differently, too. Battling against a strong trainer was an enjoyable experience. Over the next hour, Zane received several more battle requests. The result was always the same: he won every single one. No one even managed to force him to use his trump card, the Stun Bomb.
This is pointless, Zane thought, recalling a panting Budew to its Poké Ball. Most of these guys are new trainers just starting their journey. There's a huge gap between my battle philosophy and command ability and theirs.
I need to find stronger trainers to fight.
The trainers at this Pokémon Center were clearly not on his level. They could no longer meet his needs.
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