"We have 500 soldiers on the sun team, 1000 soldiers on the grass team, and 500 on the protect team. I know it is a small amount of members but they could make a huge difference in the battle.", said Hector.
"Ok, so, let me first ask you this. What is a sun team?"
"Sun team consists of members that focus their moves on the move 'Sunny day'. When the move 'Sunny day' is used, it decreases the power of water type Pokemon and increases the power of fire types. Moves like 'Solar beam' and 'Solar blade' didn't need to charge and their power was also heightened.
Healing moves like 'Synthesis', 'Morning sun' and 'Moon light' would recover a higher amount of health points, and the move 'Growth' would have higher effects.
So, 500 of them would use the move 'Sunny day' at the same. This would increase the heat of the environment to a very high level. Fire-type attacks would become very powerful. This is ideal for dealing against, water type, grass type, bug type, rock type, ground type, steel type, and ice type Pokemons.
We plan to place this team close to these types of wild Pokemons."
"So, you are planning to use grass-type and fire-type Pokemons in this team."
"Yes, that is the idea."
"Ok. But after using the move 'Sunny day' by so many Pokemons, grass-type Pokemons may not be able to handle such a high amount of heat.", said Liam.
"Yes, you are right. They would not be able to handle it. That is why we are only using Pokemons like Venusaur, Vileplume, and Exeggutor who have the ability or hidden ability of 'Chlorophyll'.
This ability would defend the grass-type Pokemons in fire-type moves. It is not perfect but they could defend against intense heat."
The soldiers from the village started to think about the ramifications of this strategy. They found out that the strategy was perfect. It was an attack-and-defensive strategy. Water-type Pokemons would have their power lowered. Grass-type Pokemons could use 'Synthesis' and 'Growth' for healing and defense. Others could use moves like 'Morning sun' and 'Moonlight' for healing. And the attack power of this strategy was very high.
Why had the league not published this strategy on a wider scale? That was the thing that was going on in Liam's mind. The strategy was very simple. It was not too complicated. Obviously, the top brass from the league might have thought of it before or were they just plain stupid?
"Now, let's go to the next team. The grass team. This is the cream of the crop and it took us a lot of time to train this team. This team would moves like 'Sleep powder', 'Grass whistle', 'Spore', to make the opponent fall asleep, and then moves like 'Glare', 'Stun spore' to paralyze the target, then use moves like 'Toxic', 'Toxic spikes', 'Poison powder' to poison the target. They would use moves like 'Substitute' to take hits or moves like 'Mega drain', 'Leech seed', 'Giga drain', or 'Absorb' to take health from the opponents. They might also use moves like 'Dig' or 'Protect' to save themselves."
The city soldiers felt sweat drip from their heads after hearing about this team. This team, if used well would be a nightmare for the wild Pokemons. Liam actually felt bad for the wild Pokemons after hearing it. Meanwhile, Oliver, the grass-type specialist also wanted to form a team like this. This would really help them in the tide.
"The team is not perfect as it takes a lot of time to learn so many moves and perfect them. They had been training together for a long time. Moves like 'Protect' are very hard to learn even though it is done through TMs.
However, the good thing about this team is that they don't need to be grouped together. Unlike the sun team, which needs the combined power of 'Sunny day' to have the maximum benefit, this team could be divided and spread around. However, I suggest that a group of 10 members should be appointed together to have a good benefit."
"Finally, we have the protect team. All of the Pokemons in the protect team know the move 'Protect'."
The city soldiers felt ridiculous after hearing about it. This was just insane. The TM for moves like 'Protect' cost a lot of money and it was also very difficult to learn and master it. However, the mercenary team had 500 trainers in this team.
"They also know other moves but all these moves are purely for defense. Moves like 'Flower shield', 'Iron defense', 'Barrier', 'Reflect', and 'Cotton guard'. The team was specially designed to defend and block the moves of the wild Pokemons. We can separate the team into 20-30 teams and they would be able to tank the hits of wild Pokemons while other Pokemons would fire attacks and kill them."
"So, do you still think that 5% is not achievable?", asked Axel with a smile.
Liam looked at the information of the teams and then at Axel.
"It would be very hard but I think that it would be possible.", said Liam.
"Good, that is what I want to hear. Let me be clear at first. After looking at the grade and the details of the tide, I am confident that we will be able to defend against it.", said Axel.
All of them nodded their heads after hearing. All of them were now confident to win against them.
"But, I am not only aiming to survive but also to dominate this tide. We are already separated from the league. The city only has you now. The mercenary team would be available if we were to face the tides in the future but we need to make a strong impression towards the citizens of Hakone city.
We need to make them believe that we can do this. So, let's work and prepare for the tide.", said Axel and then concluded the meeting.
###
Today, Axel also went on to the large stage of Hakone city and invited everyone to the announcement. They had to inform the citizens about the tide. He also planned to tell them about the mayor.
If he was not confident about the tide, then he would have hidden the issue of the mayor as he didn't want the people to freak out. However, such was not the case and he was very confident. People needed to know about the mayor and they needed to know how much problem the city was facing because of it.
###
"People of Hakone city. You all know me but I will introduce myself. I am Axel Blaze. Now, all of you might be confused, about why the airport has closed. I am here to announce that we are facing a tide in 3 weeks time."
The people gasped after hearing about it. They had never seen a tide but they had heard a lot of scary stories about it. They started to panic and then murmurs turned into screams.
"SILENCE!!!", shouted Axel and all of them looked at Axel with some hope.
"Now, I know that the city has never faced a tide before but worrying and then panicking about it would not help. I want all of you to trust me when I say that we will be safe.
I am the leader of the tide and I have faced 2 tide battles till now. This will be my third and let me tell you, we have already made preparations for it. I have also called my mercenary team. All of them are experienced in tide and they are 50k strong."
After hearing some reassuring statements, the crowd calmed down.
"Now, I want to talk about another issue today. It is about the mayor….."
Axel went on to tell the heinous crimes of the mayor and how it was his fault that they were facing the tide. The crowd was very angry after hearing about it. Some of them wanted to go to jail and kill the mayor. Tide was not a simple thing. People die in tides.
The soldiers were from the village and they died in the tide. They wanted vengeance.
"I promise to give the mayor a good punishment but not now. Now we need to focus on the tide. I am not here to ask you for anything. I just want you to be in your homes and in the basement if needed.
If there are problems in the center, I want some of the capable people to help."
The announcement ended after some reassuring words from Axel. Announcing the tide was the duty of the mayor but since there was no mayor, Axel was taking control of it. Axel also said that he would appoint a new mayor but till then, he was the mayor and he would handle all things.
The crowd accepted it. Axel was the prodigy and he was the one leading the tide. All of them knew that Axel could get out of this situation, but he didn't and stayed here to help the city.
Now, the citizens of Hakone city were trusting Axel blindly.
###
The training of his Pokemons didn't stop. Lance, K, and Frank were also training their Pokemons very seriously. Frank was especially feeling a lot of pressure. Lance had participated in the tide before so he had some experience. K went on a mission to save the members of the Venu family, so K also had some experience.
However, Frank didn't have any experience. Frank only had 1 pseudo-king rank Pokemon and the rest were in elemental ranks or lower ranks. So, Frank had a lot to prove for himself. K also had not participated in the tide battle but he had a good amount of experience.
###
Axel had already ordered the air cooler from Mark. It was a material that would cool the air rapidly and then turn it into ice. It was super effective against flying-type Pokemons and he had used it in the last tide battle.
Finally, he was going to talk to Shedinja and Charizard about their training plans. When they reached tier 2, their growth had slowed down a lot. They were still training on their moves and it had improved but Axel noticed that Shedinja's training speed had reduced.
It was not that it was not training hard. However, it was trying to learn a lot of new moves and it had not been able to complete even one of them. At first, Axel didn't care about it. Shedinja was one of the most mature and intelligent Pokemon in his team but now he was getting worried. So, he first thought to talk to Shedinja at night.
Its training time had also changed and it now mainly trained at night and woke up in the afternoon. This sudden change happened after it came to Axel from training with Gengar.
"Marcus, what are you trying to do? You are training on new moves but you have not been able to complete even one of them and frankly, they look very high level for me."
"You are right. I will not be able to complete even one of them at my current rank."
"What? Then why are you even trying?"
"Axel, when I trained under Agnus, I learned a lot of things. The world of ghost-type Pokemons is completely different from normal Pokemons. First of all, our training speed increases if we train at night. That is why I have changed my routine."
Axel nodded his head. He did notice that its training speed had changed a lot. However, he could still not understand why Shedinja was training on these weird concepts.
"Axel, I am sorry but I will not be able to tell you all the reasons for my actions."
"Why?"
"Because Agnus told me not to."
"What?"