Time passed in the blink of an eye. One month later, on the training ground.
Koffing and two Zubat were attacking each other, dodging and weaving.
"Koffing," "Zubat×2," you can rest now. Amid the three people's shouts, the Pokémon each returned to their own master's side.
Nobunaga looked at the greatly changed Koffing in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Sure enough, knowledge is power. The ancients truly did not deceive me!"
The current Koffing's whole body was deep purple. Its skin looked rough yet glossy, and the thick smoke from each vent was very forceful.
Every Saturday, the three of them went to the auditorium to listen to knowledge lectures, mainly about Team Rocket's three main families: Koffing, Ekans, and Zubat.
They then applied what they learned to the Pokémon, and after a month, all three Pokémon had improved a lot.
"According to what Brother Yingcai said, Nobunaga, your Koffing should be Level 16–18 now, right?" Menyan looked at the Koffing and said to Nobunaga.
"Yes, the current Koffing is about Level 18."
During this month, Yingcai often came to the training ground to train together with them, and at the same time told them a method of quantifying strength.
Pokémon are divided into four stages: ordinary, elite, Elite Four, champion, but if subdivided, it can only be divided into early, middle, and late. So someone proposed a subdivision method, dividing it into Level.
Level 1–20 is ordinary level; generally, young Pokémon are commonly around Level 1–10.
Level 21–40 is elite level; Team Rocket elites need to have three elite-level Pokémon before they can be promoted.
Level 41–60 is quasi–Elite Four, also called reserve Elite Four.
Level 61–80 is Elite Four level; the aces of the Kanto Elite Four are all around Level 80.
Above Level 80 is champion; Yingcai did not say much more to them.
During the three of them's one-month recruit period, aside from training Pokémon, every noon Team Rocket's instructors would also train them in fighting.
According to the instructors, wild Pokémon would not only attack Pokémon; more Pokémon directly charge at the Trainer.
So Nobunaga's three also did not dare to slack off; everything the instructors taught them, they absorbed it all like sponges. After a month, aside from Stone, Nobunaga and Menyan both got sturdier by a whole round.
"Tomorrow is the day of assignment. We're also going to become regulars and become official Team Rocket grunts." Stone said with some emotion.
"Yes, but this is only a beginning, isn't it!" Nobunaga said to the two.
A day and night quickly passed, and it was time for Team Rocket to assign the new recruits.
Saburo, 1st squadron, 3rd platoon
Okamoto, 3rd squadron, 7th platoon
Stone, 1st squadron, 2nd platoon
Maocai, 2nd squadron, 2nd platoon
Menyan, 1st squadron, 7th platoon
Nobunaga, 1st squadron, 9th platoon
Very quickly, everyone was assigned.
The leaders of each platoon also came over to take their people away; Stone and Menyan were also taken away by their platoon leader.
Nobunaga waited a while longer, and Yingcai came over and said to Nobunaga: "You, from the 9th platoon, come with me."
After hearing this, Nobunaga followed Yingcai to the training ground.
"I'll do a self-introduction. My name is Yingcai, I'm the platoon leader of our 1st squadron's 9th platoon. You all also do a self-introduction."
"Nobunaga, only one Pokémon, it's Koffing."
"Tajima, also only one Pokémon, Ekans."
"Mizumen, one Pokémon, Zubat."
"Alright, everyone's introduced themselves. Release your respective Pokémon; I want to see your strength!" After Yingcai finished speaking, he released his Arbok.
The three also released their own Pokémon.
"Koffing."
"Ekans."
"Zubat."
"Your Pokémon have all been raised pretty well. Next, you should also start looking for a second Pokémon." After Yingcai looked at the three Pokémon, he said.
"Come, have your Pokémon attack Arbok and see."
After Yingcai finished speaking, he stared straight at the three. "Koffing" used Smokescreen.
"Ekans" used Dig.
"Zubat" used Supersonic.
In an instant, black smoke filled the field, while Arbok coiled in place; its ferocious head tilted slightly backward and it dodged the Supersonic.
"You're quite smart, not forcing an attack on my Arbok, otherwise it would already be over now!" Yingcai said.
The three had their Pokémon probe with attacks, and then, one after another, were defeated by Arbok.
After the battle ended, Yingcai said: "Today I'll first give you a lesson. Facing a gap in rank, it's impossible for you to win, so in the future, when facing those whose rank is higher than yours, turn around and run away directly."
"Also, you saw it: from start to finish I didn't give a single verbal command to Arbok. Right now you only have one Pokémon, so it's fine; in the future, when you have more Pokémon, you won't be able to command them all."
"So you must cultivate Pokémon's self-battle awareness. We are Pokémon Trainer, not Pokémon conductors. Do you all understand!"
"Yes, understood!" ×3
The black-haired, black-eyed youth Nobunaga.
Tajima with brown hair and a gloomy, cold face.
Mizumen with a head of blond hair and a sunny smile.
The more Yingcai looked at these three people, the more satisfied he felt; his 9th platoon was considered set.
"Next we'll for three days. After three days, we'll start carrying out missions." Yingcai said to the three.
In the time that followed, there were nonstop battles, and Yingcai continuously explained; slowly, the four of them also developed coordination.
At night, Nobunaga, Menyan, and Stone only met in a hurry.
The next day, the two of them both had to follow their platoon out to carry out missions. They each explained their own situation a bit, then went back to their rooms to rest.
After Nobunaga returned, he lay on the bed, and Koffing lay by his side. Slowly, one person and one Pokémon both gradually fell asleep.