The battle between Aiden and Nemona just now, like Okamoto's before, was naturally watched by the students waiting outside.
However, compared to the slightly harmonious scene inside the Champion Road, the students outside were instead a bit puzzled: "Gholdengo—what kind of Pokémon is that?"
"I heard it's apparently the evolved form of Gimmighoul. You can look it up in the Pokédex."
"Gimmighoul??? That thing can actually evolve? I can't even be bothered with it when I encounter it in the wild!"
"Yeah, and the evolution condition is extremely demanding too, so almost no Trainers would spend a lot of time cultivating it. It might already be considered Paldea's rarest Pokémon, right?"
"But isn't this Pokémon kind of amazing? Today is the first time someone took the first point from Teacher Azure, and it didn't even look like there was much skill involved?"
"—I wouldn't know about that. If you're willing to patiently collect coins, perhaps a Gimmighoul would be willing to become your partner."
"Also, what do you mean no skill? That's Nemona. She's been guided by Teacher Azure several times before and could be considered Teacher Azure's direct disciple. Of course she's stronger than us~"
"Unfortunately, I basically haven't seen her since school started. Otherwise, I definitely would have asked her for advice!"
The students chattered away, discussing Nemona and her somewhat unfamiliar Pokémon.
Only Arven, who knew some inside information, was clearly working hard to keep his expression composed, preventing himself from bursting into loud laughter.
Did Nemona spend a lot of time and effort cultivating this Gholdengo?
That was indeed true, but more crucially—financial ability!
Such a demanding requirement of 1000 coins—it was only because that Gimmighoul was lucky enough to encounter Nemona, this true tycoon, otherwise who knows how many years it would have taken to evolve.
What Gholdengo could compare to a real tycoon!
However, recalling the words Big Brother Aiden occasionally mentioned like "Stop destroying the pure worldview of the Pokémon world!" and such, Arven still swallowed this sentence back into his stomach.
He quickly raised his head, redirecting his attention to the large screen beside the building.
At this moment, Aiden was wearing a kind smile, gazing at Nemona who had performed excellently just now.
Although in the battle just now, Aiden had slightly held back a little, his praise for Nemona was absolutely sincere.
Nemona's growth had truly exceeded his expectations.
Because before this, in his impression, Nemona was still that "beginner" who would adjust her thinking based on his opinions and slowly build up the simplest tactics.
And after she challenged the Sunshine Gym and received the badge from his hand, Nemona had resisted coming to challenge him for nearly three months, instead beginning to devote herself to studying her own playstyle.
The coordination between her and Gholdengo—Aiden hadn't interfered with it at all. It was completely explored by Nemona herself, the most suitable playstyle for their combination.
Gholdengo's tactics could indeed be described as simple and unadorned: Nasty Plot into Nasty Plot into Make It Rain to directly overwhelm opponents.
But Nemona knew this, and Aiden knew it too, which was why he had prepared Psych Up, this unconventional countermeasure, to deal with it.
So what made him feel gratified was the most valuable trait Nemona had shown.
That is, the excellent tactical literacy she unintentionally displayed when handling the "new tactics" he had never used before.
Before coming to challenge him, she had already prepared a Steel-type Tera Orb for Gholdengo, specifically to seize the opportunity when facing off against Sylveon.
There might indeed have been some gambling involved, but Aiden could see that she had made thorough preparations before the match.
That was already enough.
"Nemona, I have witnessed your growth with my own eyes."
Aiden put the Poké Ball containing Sylveon back into his pocket, representing that he had lost a combatant first. At the same time, he looked at Nemona across from him and spoke calmly.
"All along, my greatest concern about you was being too reliant on instinct. If you encountered an experienced Trainer, you might suffer considerable losses."
"But now it seems you have achieved transformation through your own efforts. I am very gratified."
"If it's the current you, becoming Champion should only be a matter of time."
"Really?!"
Aiden's words of praise obviously pleased Nemona greatly. Her face, flushed with excitement, revealed a smile full of pleasant surprise.
"Of course. I have always believed in you."
After Aiden nodded, he suddenly changed the subject.
"However—the battle isn't over yet~"
"Next, let me see your full strength!"
As he spoke, Aiden had already thrown out a second Poké Ball, signifying that the battle would continue from this moment.
"Lucario!!!"
After the red light flashed, a muscular, dignified-looking big dog—Lucario—appeared before Aiden.
Lucario—
Nemona slightly furrowed her brow. Although she had roughly guessed Teacher Aiden's next move, facing this Pokémon with absurdly abundant martial virtue, Gholdengo definitely wouldn't work.
Tera Steel indeed gave Sylveon a headache, but Gholdengo losing its Ghost type also exposed new weaknesses.
If hit by Lucario's iron fist, it would probably lose combat ability on the spot.
From Nemona's perspective, the previous students had all made the same mistake—they seemed to always think that the "Elite Four level" Teacher Aiden mentioned would involve going easy on them a lot. Precisely because they held such naive thoughts, they were at a loss when encountering new problems.
Because they had no expectations.
Against Teacher Aiden's Lucario, Nemona very decisively made an immediate decision: "Come back, Gholdengo!"
Even though the Make It Rain after two previous Nasty Plots had already taken down Sylveon, if she forced Gholdengo to stay on the field now just to preserve its setup, it would undoubtedly disrupt her layout.
So, Nemona decided to quit while she was ahead, using rotation to avoid risks.
And this decisiveness was also seen by Aiden, who nodded imperceptibly.
This child Nemona had grown so much that it made him look at her with new eyes.
Knowing how to make trade-offs during battles was definitely an important standard for measuring whether a Trainer was excellent or not.
And Nemona did very well in this aspect.
Since she chose to rotate, her choice should be—
Just as Aiden was thinking, Nemona had already taken out a second Poké Ball and thrown it decisively.
"Go, Skeledirge, you can definitely defeat Lucario!"
Red light flashed. The starter Pokémon Nemona had adopted at the beginning of the school year stepped onto the ground, singing with full momentum.
Just as expected!
After confirming his thoughts, Aiden suddenly had that "how did the kid grow up so fast" feeling.
Apart from that Gholdengo which was Nemona's "hidden trump card," he could name all the other Pokémon in her team.
Pawmot as the initial Pokémon, Skeledirge obtained and cultivated all the way since the start of school, Dudunsparce skilled in using powerful Drill Run and Rollout, Orthworm who was caught by the little rich girl and now lived a good life, and Kommo-o who was a late bloomer.
And this Skeledirge had been used by her to specifically counter Lucario during the Gym battle.
The Fire + Ghost type combination directly sealed Lucario's dual STAB moves, forcing it to use "unconventional moves" to respond.
A normal Lucario encountering it could only use Earthquake to chip away, but Aiden's was clearly not normal.
For example, Unseen Fist, and also Surging Strikes and Wicked Blow.
As for whether it would actually use these moves, it depended on whether Nemona could prepare some brand new tactics this time.
"Skeledirge, Will-O-Wisp!"
Nemona quickly gave the command, always giving Aiden a sense of déjà vu.
However, there was nothing wrong with it. If it were him, he would also try to weaken Lucario's combat ability as much as possible.
This opportunity was rare, and this time Aiden also planned to try new tactics.
"Lucario, use Extreme Speed to avoid Will-O-Wisp and close the distance in one breath!"
"Lucario!"
After Aiden's command fell, Lucario instantly activated. While stepping forward, it already created several afterimages, completely catching Nemona and Skeledirge off guard.
Actual combat had its own way of fighting. Moves like Will-O-Wisp inherently had a small flaw of being easy to miss. If utilized well, one could completely ignore their tracking.
And with Skeledirge's reaction speed, it couldn't keep up with Lucario at all.
Soon, the distance between the two Pokémon was closed considerably in one breath. The ghostly blue flames spit out by Skeledirge were easily shaken off, and Lucario cautiously didn't rush over to punch it for the time being.
"Tsk—as expected, still very troublesome."
Nemona shook her head after speaking, looking like she really had no way to deal with Lucario.
After all, if speed couldn't keep up, the vast majority of moves were useless. Lucario could completely dodge them with Extreme Speed.
So, as expected, she should avoid direct combat with Lucario.
"Lucario, rush over and use Wicked Blow."
Seeing that Nemona still hadn't reacted, Aiden also developed the desire to force her to make a command quickly, so he urged Lucario forward to apply pressure.
However—
"Right now!"
When seeing Lucario rushing toward Skeledirge at full speed, the originally distressed Nemona suddenly had shining eyes and impatiently spoke up immediately.
"Skeledirge, use Roar!!!"
Aiden: ?
When Nemona spoke, he already felt something was wrong, but commanding Lucario to stop now was clearly unrealistic.
The distance between the two Pokémon was almost within arm's reach. Even if he dodged as much as possible, it would still be hit, so he might as well just deal some damage and treat it as a damage-free rotation.
"Lucario!"
Lucario understood in its heart, so it decisively swung its fist containing black energy—a heavy, powerful sandbag-sized fist—smashing heavily onto Skeledirge's back.
Although the secret techniques inherited from the Master Dojo on the Isle of Armor allowed it to easily discover opponents' weaknesses, and there was an obvious type advantage, Skeledirge's durability wasn't for show either.
After tanking Lucario's punch, Skeledirge only let out a muffled grunt before turning grief into strength, roaring out with astonishing momentum. The sound waves shook Lucario into retreating repeatedly until it was on the verge of stepping out of the field boundary.
Seeing this, Aiden had no choice but to temporarily recall it.
"Teacher Aiden, this move is what you taught me today~"
Seeing her little trick succeed, Nemona even playfully made a face at him.
"—"
Aiden could only sigh helplessly in his heart.
Sometimes, students being too talented seemed to be a challenge for him as well. After all, the little trick he had just used today was immediately learned by Nemona.
It always gave Aiden the illusion that he was challenging himself—
So in the students' eyes, he was normally this sneaky of a person?
Aiden immediately decided to reflect—
Reflect on why the other students hadn't become as enlightened as Nemona yet. If they had learned these practical tactics earlier, wouldn't that be better!
He had never said they couldn't use tactics learned from him. As long as they could really learn them, they should just use them against him. Aiden had always welcomed all challengers.
"Since the opponent is Skeledirge, then the Pokémon I'll send out next will be—"
The smile on Aiden's face gradually faded, and his expression became somewhat more serious.
"I choose you, Salamence!"
In his view, Nemona already basically possessed the potential to become Champion, so his assessment could no longer stump her.
Then next, he only needed to enjoy this genius girl he had personally cultivated, and devote himself wholeheartedly to the battle!
Half an hour quickly passed, and Nemona had already set today's record for the longest Champion Road challenge.
After prolonged high-intensity confrontation, the score had now reached 5:3, and Nemona had already forced out Aiden's last Pokémon.
Facing Dudunsparce, which had burrowed underground and disappeared, Ogerpon temporarily had no good solution either. It could only hold its Ivy Cudgel like playing whack-a-mole, waiting for Dudunsparce to surface.
But very obviously, while holding back a little bit, Ogerpon's every attack was slightly slower by just that much, just barely missing the opportunity to knock Dudunsparce out with one blow.
—
And this scene was also fully captured by the students outside.
"Student Nemona is this amazing? Teacher Azure looks like he's about to lose!"
"Isn't Teacher Azure always like this? Once he thinks someone can pass, he starts holding back and hiding things, leaving them for the next student to suffer doubly—"
"Brother, please stop talking. I'm already starting to get scared!"
"I see, so playing like this can get past Teacher Azure's challenge? Tomorrow I'll try copying Student Nemona's homework!"
The watching students' mentality had long shifted from pure bystanders at the beginning to learning from and understanding Nemona's actions, even analyzing them frame by frame.
Of course, the other students might not be able to assemble Nemona's team of Pokémon, but putting together a budget version to make do was also fine~
In the crowd, Okamoto, who had long been ignored by everyone, shook his head, expressing difficulty understanding these students' naive thoughts.
These little guys were still too young!
If defeating Teacher Azure were this simple, then the Gym battle pass rate back then wouldn't have been so low.
And also—why did it feel like their goal had shifted from "I want to clear the Champion Road!" to "Winning against Teacher Azure once counts as success"?
Teacher Azure's oppressive presence was still too authoritative!
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