After everyone—plus Dax—finished analyzing, by the time they'd gotten a good grasp of everything, the sky had already darkened.
Dratini also lay listlessly on Auron, completely drained of energy.
Auron surveyed his previously cheerful Pokémon around the house—now all showing expectant expressions as they waited for everyone to finish talking—and swept his arm dramatically.
"Let's go eat! Boss Jace is treating."
"Myu~"
"Graow!"
"Roar!"
"Keh!"
"Ling~"
The Pokémon all cheered, eager to head outside (or fly outside).
Auron and Jace exchanged a glance and smiled. Watching their Pokémon, they saw themselves as children.
Back then, they'd start out playing happily too—but once they got hungry, they'd stare longingly at the adults who were still chatting.
Hoping for when the adults would finish their conversation and take them out for a big meal—just like this.
"Let's go!"
At the mention of a big meal, Dax got excited too.
Though as an Elite Four member he'd basically eaten everything, with his childlike personality, dining with youngsters Auron's age made him genuinely happy.
"Another day of an empty wallet."
Walking at the back of the group, Jace quietly sighed to himself before smiling and hurrying to catch up.
"Not bad at all—this restaurant is really not bad."
Coming out after dinner, Peter happily picked at his teeth.
The seafood feast had made everyone—both people and Pokémon—extremely happy.
Especially Snorlax and Clawitzer.
Snorlax kept stuffing his mouth with all kinds of fish, shrimp, and shellfish—eating so much the servers could barely keep up with bringing dishes.
Clawitzer, meanwhile, had a particular fondness for small yellow croaker. The deep-fried small yellow croaker were so crispy even the bones were edible. Clawitzer worked both claws in tandem, grabbing fish after fish and sending them straight into his mouth without any sign of stopping.
Even Dragonair, who normally maintained her image, couldn't help but have her appetite awakened when she saw how happily Dratini was eating. She ended up eating quite a bit more than usual.
"Indeed—this place's seafood is pretty great. We should have Boss Jace treat us to another meal when there's a chance."
Dax also picked at his teeth in agreement, just like Peter. In this state, it was completely impossible to imagine this was the person who'd said "Those who trespass—die!" at the border.
Looking at him like this, you'd think he was some lazy relative freeloading off his younger family members—the kind thick-skinned enough to ask for the next meal before finishing this one.
"Of course no problem! Uncle Dax, if you have time to give me some personal guidance, forget one meal—I'll cover them all."
Jace's eyes rolled, and he immediately patted his chest in promise.
Personal guidance from an Elite Four member—this one meal was worth it!
Dax picked at his nose, glanced at Torkoal strolling leisurely behind Jace, and at Bulbasaur lying contentedly on Torkoal's back, and asked with some confusion:
"Guidance is easy enough, but weren't you planning to build a sunny weather team? What's the deal with this Bulbasaur?"
Jace froze, then turned to look at Auron.
Auron smiled and nodded. This kind of thing was just a thin piece of paper—as long as it wasn't pierced, it would stay that way. Once pierced, everyone would understand.
Jace also nodded. Their synchronized movements left Dax somewhat baffled, but soon Jace's words left him stunned.
"Venusaur with Chlorophyll ability—in Sunny Day weather, its Speed doubles."
"Mm, I get that, but..."
Before Dax could finish, Jace continued.
"Solar Beam requires no charging. Fire-type move power increases by 1.5x. Water-type move power is halved. Synthesis recovers more HP. Growth provides an extra stage boost to Attack and Special Attack. These are all Venusaur's advantages on a sunny weather team."
Dax froze, then nodded in understanding. "Mm, that makes sense. But what if the opponent also has a sunny weather team and Fire-type damage is boosted 1.5x? What would your Venusaur do then?"
Auron blinked, then said to Dax with wry amusement: "Uncle Dax, if the opponent sends out Fire types, you can just switch out Venusaur."
"Besides, Venusaur is meant to counter opponents who try to steal weather with Rain Dance, or weather setters from Sandstorm teams. The Chlorophyll ability makes Venusaur faster than most weather setters. Combined with Grass-type advantages against Water, Ground, and Rock types—you could say it's one of the perfect sunny weather team members."
Dax seriously simulated the battle in his mind. His Venusaur in Sunny Day weather, opponent switching to Tyranitar.
Before Tyranitar's Sandstorm could take effect, Solar Beam had already cut through space, striking Tyranitar's chest directly and KOing it instantly.
"This... actually works!"
By the end, Dax had figured out the key point. His eyes grew brighter and brighter. He'd even started replacing Venusaur with other Pokémon that had Chlorophyll ability to test battle effectiveness.
Auron and the others didn't disturb him, quietly continuing toward the school.
After finishing his mental battle simulations, Dax finally snapped back to reality, looking at Auron with complex emotions.
"How does that brain of yours come up with all this stuff?"
"Well, I guess I just like thinking things through."
Auron smiled awkwardly. He obviously couldn't say he'd seen it on Bilibili and forums before.
"Plenty of people like thinking things through—but I haven't seen anyone else figure out this much stuff."
Dax said this aloud, but his thoughts drifted uncontrollably away again.
His generation had basically followed the team-building philosophies of America and other countries when cultivating their own teams.
Of course, some people just went with the flow—training whatever Pokémon they wanted, completely ignoring team-building strategies.
But back then, they'd only formed teams of single attributes. They hadn't considered things like type coverage or being swept by counters.
This was because the war years had only recently ended, so most people's thinking followed military patterns.
Whatever the military's combat methods were, they followed suit.
The military pursued firepower coverage, so same-attribute Pokémon on one team. They learned this way too—training a team of same-attribute Pokémon.
The military pursued tactical coordination—activate Sunny Day, all Fire types release moves simultaneously.
So they'd train a team of Fire types, and after activating Sunny Day, just charge forward.
That was the early origin of weather teams.
But later, as times progressed and people reflected, weather teams weren't static either.
For example, Fire types were weak to Rock types—so use a Fire/Fighting Pokémon to resist and counter the opponent's Rock types.
Though there'd been progress, the core philosophy of weather teams remained the same: sunny weather teams were all Fire types, rainy weather teams were all Water types, Sandstorm teams were all Ground/Rock/Steel.
Maybe without Auron, this would have eventually evolved into weather teams with mixed types. But now with Auron—this was the change brought by Auron piercing through that paper barrier.