Of course, part of it is because her combat experience is far inferior to Natsuhiko's, but mainly because her Pokémon team lacks a pivotal existence that links the whole team together, what Uncle Liu once referred to as the so-called "core."
However, the role of the "core" is mainly reflected in team battles and small-scale battles; it doesn't have much impact in the most prevalent one-on-one Pokémon battles in the league.
Kona suddenly realized she finally understood why, despite the academy trainers possessing more extensive knowledge and a superior grasp of tactics—and effortlessly winning all kinds of league tournaments—they still couldn't match up to field fighters once ability reached a certain level.
In today's league, most desk job workers come from the academic faction, while the combat operatives are mostly from the practical faction.
Now she vaguely understands that it might be due to the existence of something like a "core."
If the academic faction represents the lower limit, then the practical faction represents the upper limit. Perhaps the practical faction is weaker compared to the academic one initially, but when it comes to the later stages of growth, the outcome is less certain.
Kona realized this through Natsuhiko's battles; otherwise, she would only have had a vague concept taught by Uncle Liu before, without knowing where to start.
Her gaze towards Natsuhiko turned increasingly respectful.
Natsuhiko naturally wasn't aware of what Kona was thinking, as he was just directing his four Pokémon to quickly complete the cleanup task.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly.
"Roar—"
Suddenly, a roar echoed from behind the Vigoroths.
Upon hearing the sound, the Vigoroths suddenly became more docile, glanced at each other, and finally chose to slowly retreat to the sides, leaving a path in the middle.
And at the end of the path, it led to beneath a large tree.
There lay a Pokémon that looked similar to a Vigoroth, about seventy percent alike, resembling a gorilla, lying horizontally on the ground, propping its head with one hand and picking its nose with the other.
Slaking!
The evolved form of Vigoroth.
Seeing the lazily lying Slaking, Natsuhiko and his Pokémon dared not treat it like a Lazy Old Man.
"Yongji," Yujira gently called.
The intuition from Future Sight told it that the Pokémon opposite was terrifying, extremely terrifying!
It seemed listless, but in reality, it was accumulating power, and when it erupted, it would unleash exceptionally formidable destructive power.
Natsuhiko's understanding of Slaking was evidently much deeper than Yujira's.
To put it simply,
Slaking is the only Pokémon with a species value of 670 among all the normal Pokémon.
And consider other Pokémon with the same species value of 670 points, such as the owner of this space, Groudon, who "cannot fly," and its nemesis, Kyogre, "Big Water Fish."
But they are all legendary Pokémon, Divine Beasts!
Looking at those with lower values, the species values of Quasi-God Pokémon from various regions are only 600, 70 points lower than Slaking.
Although species value doesn't determine everything, it does indicate something.
Yet, despite having such a high species value, Slaking has a very unique trait, "Laziness."
Laziness: If a technique is used, it will enter a brief rest period.
In other words, every time Slaking uses a technique, it requires a resting period, during which the opponent will seize the opportunity to launch a frenzied counterattack.
So many people have a love-hate relationship with Pokémon like Slaking.
Thus, it was given a fitting nickname...
"Half-Step Divine Beast"!