Before leaving the safe zone to court death in the outside world, Fang Yuan and Rotom started by collecting the strength data after Glutton's evolution.
At this time, Glutton, now a Gengar, had an internal space, and many of Fang Yuan's tactical concepts finally had a stage to be employed.
The first was the Ghostfire Armor, which had completed its final upgrade.
With this technique, Gengar would turn into a shadow, using its amorphous nature to expand its size several times, a sort of alternative to gigantification.
At the same time, Ghost Fire would burn shadow energy to form armor, creating a sturdy shield of flames.
The Flame Shield could greatly reduce the damage from enemies' attacks on Gengar, and it would also cause enemies attacking Gengar to suffer the "Ghost Fire's" burn.
Although this technique drained energy similar to Milotic's Machamp technique, the energy consumed was actually the fuel for Ghost Fire, allowing its power to undergo a qualitative change.
The vast Ghost Fire was controlled by Glutton and could condense into various shapes to attack the enemy, significantly increasing the lethality of Ghost Fire.
Not only ordinary Ghost Fire but also Black Flame which could burn life energy and soul power, and White Flame that upgraded from Black Flame after Mega Evolution, could be harnessed.
It could be said that in this state, Glutton was most suitable for combat against those large Legendary Pokémon, or when facing a multitude of opponents alone.
As for how to compensate for the consumption, it was simple: just stuff Gengar with countless energy-restoring Dark Stones, Energy Blocks, and nutrients before the battle. Utilizing Glutton's Big Stomach King-like eating techniques, energy could be expended while simultaneously being replenished, forming a dynamic equilibrium.
Rather than a combat technique, it was more of a "pay-to-win" strategy.
Normally, Fang Yuan would definitely not use this combat technique; a single battle would mean shelling out millions, and Fang Yuan couldn't think of any fight that required him to go to such extremes.
Beyond Ghostfire Armor, there was another combination tactic: the Attribute Wheel.
This tactical technique was also something Fang Yuan looked forward to immensely.
"Hold on a second," Fang Yuan said, looking at Glutton and Rotom, then turned to call Ditto, who was in the midst of special training, over.
To gather data about the Attribute Roulette Tactics, Ditto needed to temporarily become Glutton's partner for the exercise.
Like a pale purple slime, Ditto, upon hearing Fang Yuan's call, immediately stopped training. It transformed into a Dragonite flying swiftly over, and after landing in front of Fang Yuan and Glutton, returned to its original form.
"Meng Meng..." Then, Ditto transformed into a "?" signaling its confusion.
On the other side, since Ditto, the training partner, was summoned, Monferno could no longer continue its training and thought it over before deciding to follow along.
"Here's the thing, Ditto: I need you to cooperate with Glutton for a new tactic," Fang Yuan said.
"Glorp!!" Glutton nodded, and after hearing the principles of the tactic from Fang Yuan, eagerly looked towards the "?" Ditto.
"Meng Meng?" After hesitating, the exclamation mark Ditto eventually transformed into a "√" signaling OK.
It seemed that Ditto had become skilled at integrating its transformation moves into daily life, which in a way was also training...
"First, enter inside Gengar, then follow my instructions," Fang Yuan commanded.
Inside... the body?! Hearing such alarming words, even though Ditto was still a child with a pure heart, being from the Genetic Research Institute, it couldn't help but let its thoughts wander.
However, following Fang Yuan's words, Gengar's body swirled into a black hole vortex, opened its internal space, and Ditto let out a sigh of relief... It wasn't what it had thought.
To prevent Fang Yuan from realizing its misinterpretation, Ditto fell silent for half a second and without a word, jumped right in.
The space inside Gengar was vast, filled with various Energy Blocks it had stored. As soon as Ditto entered, though it was pitch dark, it was instinctually attracted by the aroma emanating from the Energy Blocks...
"Glink!!!" Suddenly, Glutton's eyes bulged, and it began pounding its belly with its fist, warning Ditto not to eat its stash.
The emptiness in the stomach told Glutton that Ditto must be snacking covertly.
And there was a high chance it had transformed into a Crabby for the act of theft...
"..." Fang Yuan fell silent for a moment then spoke up, "Alright, let's start now."
"Ditto, just like that inside Gengar, randomly transform into an Ice Type Pokemon, can you do that?" Fang Yuan asked.
"Meng Meng!!"
Hearing Fang Yuan's command, Ditto put down the Energy Blocks and promptly recalled.
Although the number of Pokemon it could transform into was neither many nor few, changing attributes was something it could still easily accomplish.
After pondering for a moment, Ditto chose a Cloyster it had encountered at the Dragon Palace Dojo as its transformation target.
Inside Gengar, with a flash of white light, Ditto instantly transformed into Cloyster, perfectly replicating the appearance and emitting the attribute wave motions, and from the outside, Fang Yuan and the others naturally couldn't perceive any change.
Only when Gengar showed a smile did Fang Yuan understand that Ditto's transformation was complete.
"Next, feel the power inside you, Glutton, use the Mirror Property Moves," Fang Yuan continued.
Mirror Attribute reflected the attributes of other Pokémon, allowing oneself to transform into the same type of attribute with a special move. Upon hearing the command, Glutton immediately felt the power of Cloyster within itself after Ditto's transformation, blinked, and an unknown transformation occurred on Gengar, its body color also shifting toward a blue-purple hue.
The Mirror Property was activated, and Gengar's attributes changed to a dual Water and Ice Type!
Whoosh!
In this state, Glutton threw a punch— the Ice Punch, a move it had never been able to use before, was now naturally understood.
"Transform into Rotom," Fang Yuan continued.
Within Gengar, Ditto rapidly responded to Fang Yuan's command, transforming into Rotom, and Glutton once again replicated Ditto's attributes, this time becoming a dual Electric and Ghost Type Pokémon.
"Hee hee!" With a subtle change in color, and golden electricity spreading throughout its body, Glutton unleashed a Thunderbolt.
"Transform into Rayquaza..."
Ditto: ???
"My mistake, Caterpie."
Next, as Ditto continually transformed, Gengar experienced all eighteen types, one after the other.
Attribute Roulette Tactics utilized Ditto's Transformation Technique and Gengar's Mirror Property Moves, granting Gengar the ability to freely switch among 18 individual types and various composite attributes.
Now, when changing attributes, Gengar's body color would change as well, and Fang Yuan finally understood the special reason for his own Glutton's shiny variant; perhaps it was because the Mirror Attribute was subtly altering Gengar's original attributes. A Ghost, Fire dual-type Gengar, right? The Poison type silently left the group...
Meanwhile, Monferno, who wanted to see what kind of tricks Fang Yuan and Glutton could play, was stunned once again. What kind of unbeatable tactics were these?
That's to say, if Ditto is Glutton's partner, and it hurls a Thunder Punch, could Glutton completely ignore it by becoming a Ground type?
Although the Mirror Property Moves won't bring about a qualitative change in Glutton's strength, tactically speaking, as long as Ditto and Glutton coordinate well enough, this tactic could be even more unsolvable than the Freely Changeable Trait.
After Ditto emerged from within Gengar, Fang Yuan said,
"That will do, thank you for your hard work, Ditto."
"Meng Meng~" Ditto shook its head; it wasn't so much hard work, rather it felt a bit full...
"Nghssss!!" Glutton glared fiercely at Ditto, the first to ever dare to contend with it for food.
It was like a calf not afraid of tigers...
Attribute Roulette Tactics, quite interesting,
If Glutton could successfully master it, it would definitely become a Tactical Master.
The tactical value of freely switching between multiple attributes was very clear to Fang Yuan.
Typically, powerful Trainers described this kind of tactic with two words, "invincible." In the past, Greninja had used its Freely Changeable Trait for some stunning plays. Now, Gengar using the Attribute Wheel to ignore everything should be no problem. After all, with several dozen attributes, how can you defeat me in a second?
"Basically, Mirror Property Moves is a technique for reflecting and copying energy. Aside from mimicking specific Pokémon's attributes, I think we could also try copying special items containing a large amount of energy,"
"Like Attribute Gems, various Evolutionary Stones...," Fang Yuan pondered before saying.
Fang Yuan's suggestion momentarily startled both Glutton and Rotom. Could it work like that?
"There's still a lot of potential to the Mirror Property Moves," Fang Yuan affirmed.
It didn't necessarily require the assistance of Ditto...
Eventually, Gengar could use the items storing the eighteen types of attributes within its body for an even faster attribute switch.
"Nghssss! Nghssss!" Gengar nodded, listening to Fang Yuan.
On the side, having witnessed the tactical value of Ditto, Monferno felt a deep sense of crisis, suddenly fearing that one day it might lose Ditto. The weak may eventually not even deserve to have a partner.
"Wahhhh!!" After a moment of silence, Monferno turned around with a determined expression and dived back into training. Hesitant at first, Ditto quickly followed Monferno.
Compared to transforming into Pokémon... Ditto preferred transforming into high-tech items. If it had to choose between Monferno and Glutton, it would definitely pick Monferno as its partner.
The main reason was that, although training with Monferno was hard work, Monferno's effort touched Ditto. Ditto hoped to do its utmost to help Monferno reach the pinnacle...
.........
Besides the bonds between Trainer and Pokémon, in Fang Yuan's Team, bonds of a different kind formed among the Pokémon themselves.
Due to Fang Yuan, Pokémon of different personalities and species gathered together, leading to their own unique encounters. Fang Yuan rather enjoyed watching this happen, as Pokémon should not be seen merely as tools for battling. A Trainer's team, akin to a big family, is much more interesting. Nevertheless, Fang Yuan still thought it would be difficult for Dragonite to win over Milotic...
"Next time, maybe I could quietly tell Dragonite that Milotic likes Pokémon with great strength, not a meek Lickitung at the bottom of the pile. By doing so, perhaps Dragonite may have a chance to improve at Extreme Speed?"
"If you can't even win first place in the Lian Fangyuan Tournament, what right do you have to win Milotic's affection."
"Hmm... that's a perfect explanation. With nothing to its name, Lickitung must aspire to progress—that's the proper way. I must provide Dragonite with the right guidance."