Hogan walked in.
"Hello, everyone," he continued speaking as he walked over to the control panel of a projector in the room. He carefully manipulated a few controls, and a video began playing on the projection screen.
"Even though we have plenty of time, I won't waste it with idle chatter. I'm sure you already know enough about me, so let's get straight to the point."
Hogan looked at the two people in the room, tapped a few buttons on the control panel, and then raised his head to say, "These are the five Trainers you're most likely to encounter. What you see now is their personal and their team's information."
The personal information of the top five young Trainers from the Castelia Club had been recorded by Hogan on the device, and he displayed it to Terrance and Shiro one by one.
"One of them has qualified for the Champion League..." Terrance was surprised as he looked at the information about these five Trainers from the Unova Region.
Among the five, one had already qualified for the Champion League through the League Conference, while the other four had also achieved notable results in their respective League Conferences, though their achievements were relatively ordinary.
Despite this, Hogan seriously warned, "Don't underestimate them. Except for Kaveh, all these achievements were made in their rookie year before they were scouted by the Castelia Club. In other words, they are all exceptionally talented Trainers."
"Starting from humble beginnings, they showed great talent as a Trainer during a year of travel and were then discovered and developed by the club, huh," Terrance thought to himself.
Shiro also glanced sideways, noticing that some of these rookie year achievements were on par or even better than his.
"As for the Unova region, how should I put it... It's quite far from here, and in recent years, the Unova region's technology seems to have developed faster than other regions. However, the development across the region is uneven, with a focus on rapidly developing one or two cities at the expense of other areas."
"You don't need to worry too much about that. Next, I'll introduce you to the Pokémon these five are known to use and the battle styles of the Castelia Club Trainers."
Hogan sighed inwardly. He will have to spend another three months here. Although the daily training at the club headquarters was monotonous, involving repeating each tactical maneuver dozens or even hundreds of times with Pokémon to master various abilities and moves, it was still the best way to maintain and improve his strength.
However, since he had signed a contract with the club, he had to follow the higher-ups' instructions and come to the Battle Tower to guide a few Trainers. It was something he wasn't quite used to.
"There's a lot of information, so you should take notes by hand to help with memorization," he said.
As he duplicated the gathered Pokémon data, Hogan sized up the two boys.
He didn't know much about Terrance and Shiro, with most of the limited information coming from Scott's brief mentions.
"Shiro, a grassroot Trainer from the Unova region, made it to the quarterfinals in his rookie year, and then traveled to other regions. It's said that his parents and ancestors were all involved in the Trainer profession."
"Terrance, a rising star among this year's Coordinators, and also a Breeder... In addition, he has a solid battle foundation."
Not bad...
If, after Hogan's guidance, Terrance and Shiro failed to deliver results, it would reflect poorly on him as well.
"Serperior, Emboar, Samurott, the Starter Pokémon of the Unova region, comparable in status to Blaziken and other Pokémon here."
"I'll start with Serperior, which is the ace of Castelia Club's Kaveh. What makes this Serperior special is its Leaf Storm move, which has been trained to be incredibly powerful. Every time it uses Leaf Storm, the destructive power of the move increases significantly. This is a rare ability, and currently, only Spinda in the Hoenn region has a similar trait. Oh, Serperior is the Starter Pokémon of the Unova region, so you must be familiar with it, Shiro."
"Yes, but most Serperior over there only have the Overgrow Ability," Shiro replied.
As Hogan explained, Terrance listened carefully and took detailed notes. Although he wasn't as familiar with the Pokémon from the Unova region as he was with those from Kanto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, he had a general understanding.
"Serperior with Leaf Storm, huh?"
"The Contrary Ability reverses stat changes, so what should decrease actually increases. Normally, using Leaf Storm would weaken a Pokémon, but with this Ability, the more Serperior fights, the stronger it gets. I trust you both understand how to counter this Serperior?" Hogan asked.
The two nodded. For Terrance, this kind of thing was easy to grasp without needing detailed instruction. Since Hogan had just met Terrance and Shiro and didn't know much about their Pokémon, he could only highlight the key points in this manner. After all, battles can be unpredictable, and much depends on real-time decisions.
"Next..."
Hogan went on to analyze many of the opponent's Pokémon from the Unova region like Liepard, Musharna, Unfezant, Zebstrika, Gigalith, Excadrill, Audino, Seismitoad, Whimsicott, Lilligant, Darmanitan, Gothitelle, Beartic.
He also emphasized a few key Pokémon to watch out for, like Volcarona and Hydreigon—both extremely powerful Pokémon from Unova. Just going over these Pokémon took the entire day.
Terrance ended up filling four full pages of notes. Although some of the information was already familiar to him, it didn't hurt to review it once. After all, knowing your enemy is the key to winning every battle.
Even though Shiro was a native Unova Trainer, he was equally serious, listening carefully as the other party went over everything again.
"Good. Tomorrow morning, I'll go over some of the common tactics used by the Castelia Club and the battle styles of the Trainers there," Hogan said with a faint smile. "In the end, I'll create some test questions based on your Pokémon and those of your opponents at the Castelia Club to test how you can counter them in battle. That's the real focus."
"I understand," Shiro replied.
"Got it," Terrance said.
"Oh, by the way, Mr. Scott mentioned that if you perform well in these tests, you'll receive generous rewards," Hogan concluded, sharing some good news with the two.
I see...
Terrance smiled slightly, feeling even more motivated. These Pokémon's moves and Abilities are all just variations of the same thing. With his experience as a Breeder, he could quickly come up with a preliminary strategy tailored to his own Pokémon. He had never lost at this kind of thing before; having a strong foundation gives you the confidence to be this bold.
Most moves have similar effects, and while different Pokémon might use them with subtle variations, the essence remains unchanged. What really needs to be guarded against is how an excellent Trainer might develop unique ways to use moves based on their Pokémon's individual characteristics.
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