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After commanding battles for so long, Sato was feeling hungry, so he chose an open ramen shop for a late-night meal.
Naturally, he didn't forget his five Pokémon. He released them to let them enjoy the delicious ramen as well.
The ramen shop's master chef was clearly very skilled. The ramen tasted fantastic, and he understood the flavor preferences of Pokémon of different types, making dishes that each of Sato's Pokémon devoured happily.
As usual, Sato ate at a leisurely pace. While his five Pokémon had already finished several bowls, he was still on his first, slowly eating and reflecting on the gains he made from the recent battles at the Pokémon battle facility.
The nine victories earned Sato 90,000 PokeDollars. Moreover, with his system's detection ability, Sato analyzed the Pokémon stats of each trainer he faced, using this information to join the gambling activities officially licensed by the Pokémon League and hosted by the facility.
While comparing stats doesn't guarantee the outcome of a battle, it does provide an objective view of the differences in power between both sides. So, although Sato occasionally made wrong predictions, he still won more often than he lost.
Through these betting activities, Sato managed to earn a profit of over 500,000 PokeDollars. This discovery opened his eyes to a new avenue for earning income.
(Note: Competing trainers are not allowed to place bets on their own matches to prevent match-fixing. Any suspicious activity results in a permanent blacklist from participating in battles and gambling in Pokémon facilities. Licensed trainers risk being permanently stripped of their League membership and may even face jail time for serious violations. In short, the consequences of fixing matches are severe.)
"Maybe I should shift my strategy for making money. Compared to the high risks of selling PokeBlocks, this betting activity around Pokémon battles feels a lot more suited to me," Sato thought to himself, weighing the risks and benefits of each approach.
Sato currently possessed different ways to earn high profits, but due to his lack of sufficient strength, he didn't dare expose his abilities openly. He could only look at the potential profits as though they were a mountain of gold and silver beyond his reach, afraid to step over the red line and risk being devoured by the "beasts" guarding that wealth.
If he wanted to claim this mountain of wealth, he'd need enough power to either deter or defeat those surrounding "beasts."
For now, though, Sato had a smaller, safer treasure trove to tap into. Although it's far smaller than the seemingly endless wealth from selling PokeBlocks, the gambling profits he could make from battles are enough. Moreover, this treasure trove was crowded with people of roughly his level or lower.
The advantage here was that the powerful "beasts" guarding this treasure trove were not very vigilant, making it easier for Sato to grab some treasure and disappear back into the crowd.
However, this treasure trove, tempting as it may be, also had the power to rob explorers of their wealth. If not careful, one might leave empty-handed or, worse, with one's money taken instead.
For Sato, this treasure trove was the gambling around battles. But thanks to his system's detection ability, he now had a good chance of drawing treasure from it successfully.
While it isn't guaranteed that every attempt at this "treasure trove" (gambling) would yield rewards, and the value of each win wasn't particularly high (payouts were generally modest), the system's detection ability gave Sato about a 60% success rate in placing his bets accurately.
Undeniably, this gambling approach suited Sato's need for a low-profile source of income during his quiet growth phase.
Discovering this safe new income stream naturally pleased him, but once he turned his thoughts back to his Pokémon, his concerns returned.
Currently, the only Pokémon Sato has at a competitive level are Golbat and Bellossom. Soon, they'll join him in the qualifiers for the Elite Four exhibition matches, but after recent battles, he's begun noticing some weaknesses in both of them.
Golbat's situation is a bit better since Psychic-type Pokémon are rare, and few trainers can command them. As a result, it's unlikely he'll encounter opponents using Psychic-types in most battles.
In most scenarios, Golbat's weaknesses are narrowed down to Rock- and Electric-types. However, with Golbat's speed and aerial advantage, it's hard for the usually slow Rock-types to hit him accurately.
In standard cases, Golbat can rely on Shadow Ball to kite Rock-types until they're worn out. Unless the opponent's Rock-type knows Gravity—a move feared by all Flying-types—it's likely Golbat could outlast most Rock-types of similar level.
Electric-types, however, pose the biggest threat to Golbat due to the sheer speed of their Electric attacks. With people often comparing Electric attacks to "lightning-fast," their speed is nearly impossible to dodge or defend against consistently.
Since Golbat is a Flying-type with lower special defenses, any direct hit from an Electric move is highly damaging. Two or three Electric strikes could easily leave him unable to continue fighting.
For now, managing Electric-types and defending against their moves is Golbat's biggest challenge.
Unfortunately, Sato feels at a loss because Golbat's move pool lacks any techniques to counter Electric-types. Unable to learn any Ground-type moves, Golbat has virtually no way to counterattack Electric-types effectively.
In theory, there is one move that could allow Golbat to counter Electric-types: Hidden Power. If Golbat's Hidden Power could manifest as a Ground-type attack, he'd finally have a countermeasure.
(Note: Hidden Power is a Normal-type special ranged attack with 60 power. Its type varies depending on the Pokémon, but it's never Normal-type.)
However, the chance of Golbat's Hidden Power becoming a Ground-type move is only 1 in 17—a frustratingly low probability.
In the end, Sato reluctantly set aside this impractical idea.
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