Helena's party had been walking for hours now, and despite May's best efforts, it had already turned dark; both girls knew their Pokemon would instantly obliterate any Pokemon that attacked them, but it was still dangerous to travel at night, so even if May opposed due to the strange dreams she had every time she traveled with Helena, both girls decided to stay and camp.
"Helena, I'll go and get some firewood; just stay here while we go; we are really good at walking in the dark," May proudly said. Blaziken stared at May without saying a word and grabbed her like a sack of potatoes in the forest.
"Mean! mean! You are so mean, Blazy! I carried you when you were a Torchic, but you can't carry me now that you are a Blaziken; let me walk this instant!" May threw a tantrum while being carried away in Blaziken's arms as both girls disappeared into the forest, leaving Dune and Helena alone.
Dune and Helena shrugged off Blazikens and May's behavior and lay on the grassy field under the starry night. "Dune, can you teach me more about Pokemon fights?" Helena said out of nowhere, shocking Dune immediately.
"!" Dune was shocked but decided to play it cool, staring into the black sky. "Can I ask why, Helena?" Dune asked. Helena sighed loudly and shifted her head to the ground, staring at his scaly yellow skin.
"I started my adventure wanting to be more independent, then I met you and became addicted to your, um..." Helena blushed and drifted away for a second before looking back at Dune. "I got addicted to you, Dune, that sense of security that no matter what, you would bulldoze through everything and everyone."
"Gardevoir and Lopunny are such a great company; Gardevoir is a little weird; sometimes she speaks like an old-fashioned maid like Donald used to speak when I was little, and Lopunny acts like any stereotypical Bimbo trainer, but I like them. They are my companions, my Pokemon." Helena focused on the moon as she let her heart out on Dune; the moonlight reflected on her beautiful dark purple eyes.
"Um... well, I meant that I want to be more like me and not more like what I want to be." Helena finally explained; Dune could feel how much effort Helena had to put in just saying those words, and he kind of understood them; in his past life, he went through so many problems, but he could still emphasize the feeling of being you, and not being restrained by anything.
"Okay, Helena, if you want to learn, I'll be your teacher." Dune stood up and helped Helena stand up with his claw. "Let out Gardevoir; let her make dinner with [Mystical Fire] while I teach you the basics," Dune said as he cut down a tree using [Slash] so both he and Helena could sit down and talk.
Helena stared as the tree fell, making a loud commotion in the middle of the night; dozens of Taillow flew off into the night sky while Dune and Helena sat down on the now-fallen tree.
Gardevoir grabbed May and Helena's bag for ingredients; as she skimmed through the bag, she accidentally freed Lopunny, who used this opportunity to tease and annoy Gardevoir.
Dune and Helena chuckled as they saw Gadevoir try to keep her serious attitude. At the same time, Lopunny skipped alongside her, teasingly grabbing her breast and slapping her butt while making naughty comments about her.
"Anyway, Helena, the outcome of a Pokemon battle is decided in two aspects, the decisions you make before a battle and during one; first, to win a Pokemon battle, you need a strong team that covers each other's weaknesses and has a specific objective." Dune broke one of the tree branches and [Bulldozed] the ground to make the earth manageable to draw into.
Dune drew the symbols for all 18 Pokemon types, a monumental task considering that he had two draws with both claws to barely grab the stick.
"There are 18 Pokemon types; a good team doesn't have to resist all of them, but it should cover its weakness with a good move pool of attacks." Helena nodded in understanding; she already knew this but let Dune continue.
"Second, Pokemon have different stats. Humans have tried to number them, but these are extremely volatile due to training (Evs), Genetics, also named IVS, and the moves it uses during battle; these stats, alongside other factors, determine what archetype that Pokemon follows."
"Now, all Pokemon have an archetype, but we'll go to that later; Pokemon, much like teams, have archetypes, too; there are 3 main archetypes. Those are Offensive, Balanced, Ste up/support, and Stall." Dune asked Helena for her pokeNav so he could give her examples of this Pokemon.
"Offensive Pokemon use brute force to defeat the opposing team. It involves setting up entry hazards like [Stealth rock], using moves to weaken the enemy team like [Fake out], [U Turtn], and moves that don't do much damage but are annoying to counter, then sending in the Hyper offensive Pokemon to finish them off. The focus is on generating momentum by creating ideal matchups for the trainer. Hyper offense teams usually consist of two set-up Pokemon, one Offensive Pokemon, one revenge killer in case all Pokemon are defeated, and one entry hazard lead."
After Dune explained all of this to Helena, he asked Helena to look up Garchomp in the Pokedex.
"Garchomp, my next evolution, is particularly good at everything, either Offensive or set up, but is somewhat bulky to stall some Pokemon, but I'm mostly offensive." As Dune explained to Helena, he noticed how much she was concentrating and her effort in memorizing and learning everything he said, making Dune smile widely; Helena thought his smile was cute, but for anyone else looking, Dune looked like a beast crawled out of hell.
"Now, Balance has Pokemons with strong defensive capabilities be their natural strength, abilities, or types; they rely on wall breaker Pokémon to do damage and need entry hazards to be removed." This time, Dune showed Helena a picture of Rotom-Wash from the Pokedex.
"Wasn't this Wattson's last Pokemon?" Helena asked, staring at the picture of a flying washing machine. "Yes, Rotom wash can be either defensive or offensive, while also providing support with [Will o wisp], become hyper offensive with [Nasty Plot] or being defensive setting up [Reflect] and [Light screen]," Dune explained, a loud scream made both Dune and Helena turn their heads towards Gardevoirs direction, Gardevoir had set up a campfire and fas frying some Magikarps over it, simultaneously, she was scolding Lopunny who was making obscene moves with her hands.
"Let them be Dune; they are like that when you are not around," sighed Helena, grabbing Dune's claws. "What is the last archetype?" Helena asked, moving closer to Dune's face.
"Okay, the last thing I'll teach you today is that Stall Pokemon are the slowest archetype to use in Pokemon battles. They focus on residual damage provided by bulky teammates to wear down the opposing team. This Pokemon primarily focuses on their longevity and residual damage to chip down the foe. This Pokemon mostly uses moves like [Recover], [Rest], [Wish], etc., to recover HP and are usually trained to improve its HP, defenses, and special defenses."
As Dune finally explained, the sound of rustling bushes could be heard from the other side of the camp, May and Blaziken returned empty-handed, with May covered in mud and Blaziken legs covered in wild Joltiks that were hugging her legs.
"Sorry, Helena, we had some trouble with a giant Galvantula who thought we wanted to kidnap her children," May said in exhaustion, dropping to the ground, making Blaziken stare at her disapprovingly.
"Um... May, if you didn't kidnap its children, why are Blaziken legs covered in Joltiks?" Helena asked, like what May said was the stupidest thing she had ever heard.
"Well, after Blazy attacked her, I figured, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to have a gigantic Galvantula on my team?" after I captured their mother, these little rascals have been following me." After May finally explained, Blaziken laughed. Out loud, she laughed so hard she had to grab her stomach.
"Don't you laugh, Blazy! Why did you even have to fight the poor Pokemon!? It's your fault, not mine!" May stood up and started hitting Blaziken's arm as she laughed. The Joltiks jumped from Blaziken's legs to May's clothes, and she screamed in terror, dropping to the ground and rolling to take them off her.
"Gabite..?" (You will release the Galvantula, right?) asked Dune to Blaziken as she cleaned up May from all the mud and dirt and Joltik hair off her clothes.
"Bla, Blaziken, Blaziken" (Yes, I only wanted to see if I could beat the alpha Pokemon of a route by myself, even if it had the type disadvantage, unlike you who spends his time "breeding" its trainer and Pokemon, me and your Lopunny train to be stronger every day) Blaziken said proudly, hitting her chest with her fist.
Dune just stared at her in silence, wondering what kind of image she had about the horny Lopunny, who, just behind her, was playing with Gardevoirs breast as she served dinner.