You're not allowed to play Pokémon!

Chapter 258 Taijinghua Promotion Ambassador - Teacher Yu (8k words today, 410 words owed for monthly votes)

Kanto region, Shichinoshima.

A dense group of islands located in southern Kanto.

Although it is called the Seven Islands, it actually includes nine large islands and several smaller islands.

This is a legendary place in the Kanto region, once the home of Ho-Oh and Lugia.

After the Burnt Tower incident in Johto, people occasionally encounter the legendary Pokémon here.

The seven main islands of the Seven Islands each have their own characteristics. The fourth island, which is covered in ice and snow all year round, is also known as the "Frozen Island" by the Kanto people.

Compared to the Articuno, which inhabits the Frozen Waterfall Cave in a vague legend, this unassuming island is known to the people of Kanto because of a powerful woman.

That's right, this is the hometown of Kanto Tenno.

Due to the extremely cold climate, the population here is relatively small, even among the seven islands, with only a dozen or so households.

Located near the Frozen Falls Cave is Kona's residence.

"Tsk..."

"I never expected Charizard to have a Solar Beam. How come Lance has never shown this move before?"

A red-haired woman in a swimsuit sat in front of the computer, silently pushed up her glasses, and stared intently at the scarlet word "failure" on the screen, clicking her tongue in amazement.

Her identity is self-evident.

It is none other than Lorelei, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Kanto, known as the "Ice Queen"!

(Kona in the original series)

Having gotten a vacation, Kona, with nothing to do, decided to follow the recommendation of her little fangirl, Misty, and occasionally play games to improve her tactical skills.

As a result, in the first match tonight, I encountered this rather special opponent and was almost completely crushed...

However, Kona's emotions remained relatively stable. She did not experience any emotional fluctuations due to her previous failure. Instead, her cold expression quickly melted away, revealing a gentle smile.

"Just as Xiaoxia said, he's a very thoughtful and interesting little guy."

Although she is a new gym leader, Lorelei has known Misty for a long time and knows that she has always aimed to become a mature trainer like Lorelei.

Because of this connection, even though she rarely surfs the internet, she heard about "Teacher Yu," a dojo master in Padiya, from Xia.

Xiaoxia said that he is a very thoughtful and excellent trainer who can always come up with unexpected fighting styles and tactics.

After personally facing him today, I can confirm that, just as Xiaoxia said, he is an unconventional trainer.

Kona didn't dwell too much on the outcome of a game, since there's a big difference between gaming and real-life matches.

Without standardized data, it would be more normal for an ivory pig to withstand a beam of sunlight through sheer willpower and the thick layer of fat on its body.

It's even common for them to take the hit for their Pokémon.

In the chaotic and unregulated battles, if a trainer's strength cannot keep up with that of their Pokémon, they will obviously become the weak link in the team and the target of special attention.

Therefore, some barbaric tactics have even emerged, such as Shiba, who acts as a human shield and leads his Pokémon into battle.

Let alone withstanding a Solar Beam, even if all of his main Pokémon unleashed their Ice Beams at Shiba, it would only disrupt his movements at most, not kill him.

Why do game designers think Pokémon can't do something that even humans can do easily?
That's really not rigorous, and it seriously underestimates the power of Pokémon.

Kona had been wanting to complain about this for a long time when she played games, and today she finally had the chance to say it out loud.

Which of the Pokémon of the Kanto Elite Four isn't capable of battling for hours on end, and able to hold its own against opponents even with type disadvantages?

Does having unfavorable attributes mean you can't fight?

That would make breaking through the trials of the Four Heavenly Kings of Kanto far too easy!
However, despite her inner complaints, Aoba's idea did indeed give Kona a pleasant surprise.

The Solar Beam Charizard was something she never expected before the battle.

It was precisely this unexpected choice of tactics, combined with the various advantages of the Sunny Day team, that ultimately allowed him to push the team away.

Kona accepted her defeat wholeheartedly.

For a tactic that no one had ever used before, the first use of it clearly had a huge advantage due to the information gap.

But this will be the only time.

From now on, Lorelei will probably think twice before encountering Charizard, wondering if it will use the Sunny Beam move as well.

Fortunately, Wataru didn't think of this move when he challenged for the championship, otherwise, after defeating two top players, Kikuko and Shiba, his morale was so high that he might not have been able to win easily...

That was close! The civil war between the Four Heavenly Kings of Kanto was almost over!
The people of Kanto also have a temperament that favors harmony and compromise.

Compared to this obviously more unacceptable result, a small setback in a game was nothing to Kona. Instead, it reminded her to be more careful when A-du used this move in the future.

She wasn't sure if A-du had seen the fight, but the same move wouldn't work on her twice!
As an Ice-type Elite Four member, now that she knows her weakness, she will immediately try to make up for it.

The battle just now did expose some of the weaknesses of her team.

Any trainer with a modicum of insight could see that their entire team was slower than that Charizard.

In open battles, her style is to use wide-range ice-attribute moves like Blizzard to directly overwhelm her opponent and gain the initiative.

However, if someone actually gets a sunny day, the disadvantages of your own attributes will be magnified.

That's why she used the "Dumb King's lame joke about snowy days" as a backup plan to counter this tactic.

Judging from the results, the effect seems to be just so-so...

Perhaps I need to broaden my thinking, which has become somewhat limited?

Just as Kona was deep in thought, hoping to find a suitable answer, a sudden phone call distracted her.

Ke frowned subconsciously, but his expression softened considerably when he picked up his phone and looked at the caller ID.

As soon as she answered the phone, Xiaoxia's sweet voice immediately entered her ears.

"Hey, Kona~"

Even through the sound, you could feel the girl's energetic expression on the other end.

"Oh, it's Xia. What can I do for you?"

Kona's initially serious expression quickly softened, and her voice became even gentler.

She really liked this very young and promising fangirl because she seemed to see some of her past self in Xiaoxia.

It seems like only yesterday that I was a rookie trainer, full of girlish dreams, hoping to meet my soulmate on my trainer journey...

However, this dream has not yet been realized to this day.

In a few years, she may no longer be active as a trainer, moving behind the scenes and handing over the top spot to other younger trainers. For example, Misty, who is deeply influenced by her and has a special fondness for Water-type trainers, might be a good candidate.

Xiaoxia's excited voice came through the phone again soon after.

"Kona, I watched your match with Teacher Yu just now. Teacher Yu is reviewing the match now. If you're interested, you can come to the live stream to listen."

"Teacher Yu is very understanding, and as a trainer from another region, he can also suggest some Pokémon that we wouldn't have thought of as top choices. Sometimes, the change in a single Pokémon can affect the strength of the entire team!"

After listening to Xiaoxia's earnest explanation, Kona couldn't help but smile.

"Okay, I'll go take a look."

"Could you please promote his live stream to my Navigator?"

"Okay~, it would be great if I could help Kona!"

Xiaoxia quickly hung up the phone, and then her phone vibrated again.

Kona had some indirect knowledge of "Teacher Yu" whom she often mentioned, and knew that Professor Oak and even Lance had shared his videos more than once.

She had also watched the video, and the quality certainly lived up to its high reputation.

However, since they were in different regions and probably wouldn't have any contact in the future, Kona hadn't taken it too seriously before.

However, after personally facing him in a match, Kona actually became a little curious about him.

So Kona opened the link that Xiaoxia had sent.

Several minutes had passed since the duel between the two, and as soon as I entered, I heard a young man's passionate voice, seemingly discussing something with the chat.

"Mamoswine is a Pokémon with obvious strengths, but its weaknesses are even more obvious!"

"While ice-based attacks are unparalleled, what's the price? A weak defense that's countered by many popular types!"

"Water, Fire, Grass, Steel, Fighting—I laugh just reading those five types. Even newbies know what the starter Pokémon's types are, right?"

"Even if thick fat can barely offset the weakness of fire attribute, it is still a great disadvantage - of course, in the limited combination of ice attribute, it is already good that there are such a few weaknesses."

Qingyu's voice quickly reached Kona's ears, causing her to subconsciously frown.

It's not that he said anything wrong; after all, this is basic knowledge that can be easily found in the Pokédex.

In Lorelei's view, the Ice type inherently sacrifices defense for violent offensive capabilities, which is a common characteristic of this type of Pokémon.

But judging from Qingyu's words, it seems that he has a way to avoid this pain point.
Kona decided to continue listening, and soon Aoba's voice lingered in her ears again:

"So, is there any way to neutralize this problem?"

"Yes, brother. Yes."

[Shivering and freezing, when will we girls be able to stand up again?]

[Can Teacher Yu really change attributes? It seems like no special ability can save Mamoswine...]

[Hiss—wait a minute, now that you mention it, I think I understand what Teacher Yu meant.]

Could it be something that even the Parthians would be familiar with...?

[Which one is which? All riddle solvers, get out!]

After glancing at the comments, Qingyu quickly revealed a satisfied smile.

"That's right, some of you have already guessed it, what I'm going to say is—"

"A specialty of the Padia region, the Phocrystia phenomenon, which can temporarily alter a Pokémon's type!"

While ivory pigs have many weaknesses, they are not entirely beyond redemption.

Besides using Crystallization to further enhance the power of moves of the same type, using Crystallization to avoid weaknesses is also a common tactic among elite trainers in Patia, including but not limited to:

The strange tree's crystal electric floating dream demon, Kosha's crystal grass tree, and other random things.

Because Crystallize can be used by every Pokémon, and can temporarily change to any type simply by using Crystallize Shards, it is extremely versatile, giving any Pokémon the potential to have a moment of glory.

However, the mass production of the Crystal Beads has only been perfected in the last two years, and even gym leaders like them have only started using them gradually. Therefore, people outside the Padia region rarely know about this peculiar phenomenon.

However, since the atmosphere had already reached this point, Qingyu casually mentioned Taijinghua as well.

"Besides being able to crystallize into a Ground type and further enhance its own suppression power, the Crystal Grass type also provides a qualitative leap in the defensive capabilities of Mamoswine."

"Dear students of Padia, if you have the opportunity to obtain a Crystal Bead in the future, you can try using Crystallization to expand your joint defense capabilities!"

Qingyu quickly revealed the answer.

Grass-type has many weaknesses, but the Thick Fat ability helps Mamoswine avoid the two most fatal ones.

As for other weaknesses, they don't pose much of a threat to one's own attributes. In actual combat, one can suddenly pull out a move called "Tai Jing Hua" to overload the opponent's brain.

"Typhoid is a very interesting phenomenon with many functions in battles. Trainers from other regions who are interested can also learn about it."

"Who knows, maybe one day crystallization will even be included in the game?"

After saying that, Qingyu smiled.

After all, Mega Evolution is almost here in the game, so other regional phenomena such as Z-Moves, Dynamax, and Crystallization shouldn't be too far off.

Although she was introducing Taijinghua in a very serious manner, why do I always feel that Teacher Yu seems to have "accepted a payment"?

[Teacher Yu, tell me quickly how much "friendship fee" President Ye Ci gave you to help promote Taijinghua for the alliance!]

[Hey, it's Teacher Yu, the ambassador for Taijinghua! As the most popular streamer in the region, it's only right that she does her best to bring some benefits to her fellow villagers!]

[Family members, our crystal beads are not selling well, please help us!]

The chat quickly started buzzing with comments.

The Parthians were well aware that the Crystal Pearl was not for sale. Apart from obtaining it through internal alliance channels, only a select group of exceptionally talented students at Orange Academy were qualified to acquire it.

Therefore, there is no such thing as a commercial order.

However, what was said in jest may have been unintentional, but the listener took it to heart.
"Too crystalline...?"

Kona frowned slightly. She had only heard of this unique phenomenon in the Parthian region occasionally and didn't know much about it.

However, she was indeed interested if it could improve her overall strength.

After thinking for a moment, Kona quickly typed a line of text—

[Kanto Tenno Kona: Yu-sensei, could you elaborate?]

(End of this chapter)