Rotom had been staying in its Poké Ball ever since Xia Huhnao tricked it with a Flame Orb. If Xia Huhnao hadn't remembered it today, Rotom would have likely stayed in its Poké Ball until death. Well, until Xia Huhnao died.
Xia Huhnao released Rotom from its Poké Ball. Rotom, with its eyes rolled back, collapsed on the ground. Xia Huhnao was startled, then remembered that the Flame Orb had never been removed. Even though it wasn't a battle turn, Xia Huhnao couldn't recall if he had taken Rotom to recover.
In reality, Rotom's Poké Ball had been used by Xiao Meng to restore its stamina before. The reason it was still dazed was because it was hungry.
Rotom was classified as a Plasma Pokémon, but it still needed to replenish its energy. Xia Huhnao was constantly focused on his Froakie, completely neglecting Rotom. Rotom expressed that being confined for so long made it hungry, and being hungry for too long made it faint.
Xia Huhnao, acting like a scumbag, looked at the fallen Rotom. He considered taking it to the nearest Pokémon Center, but the center's equipment could only heal battle damage. For non-battle related exhaustion like starvation, the Pokémon Center equipment was useless. This was one of the unsolved mysteries of the Lingyao Star.
Based on Xia Huhnao's speculation, Pokémon that fainted from hunger should typically be revived by injecting glucose to replenish energy. But Rotom, being entirely made of plasma, had no blood vessels. If it had blood vessels, it wouldn't be able to infiltrate electronic devices.
So, what should be done?
Xia Huhnao's final idea was to shock it with electricity. A jolt of current should wake Rotom up. With that in mind, Xia Huhnao rushed back into the house to find a wire. Xia Huhnao couldn't remember what this wire was originally for. The device at the other end of the wire had long been broken, and he didn't know why the wire itself was still kept.
He plugged one end into the socket and then held the other end directly, poking it at Rotom. Even though Xia Huhnao was wearing insulated gloves and the wire's outer coating was intact, he still felt a sense of dread. After all, the voltage of the civilian electrical circuits on the Minglong Nation was not the 220 volts he was used to in his previous life, but 380 volts.
When the wire touched Rotom, sparks flew. The scattering sparks were accompanied by Rotom's unintelligible cries, and combined with Xia Huhnao's terrified expression, it was a tragic scene.
After a while, Rotom floated up, saying, "Ah, I'm finally awake, Roto. Where am I, Roto?"
After a round of explanations, and under Xia Huhnao's threats and inducements, Rotom decided to move into the secret base. After all, it had 24-hour power supply there, and it wasn't his electricity bill that was being paid... (Note: Rotom claimed Xia Huhnao only used threats, specifically, threatening to turn him and his Poké Ball into fertilizer...)
...
Study hall at Jinghai City No. 77 Middle School was a peculiar subject. It was held every day and was not much different from physical education classes. Since No. 77 Middle School was a school that offered basic courses in Pokémon studies, the exams included both academic and battling components. Study hall was designated for students to train with their Pokémon.
Of course, depending on the student, some trained with their Pokémon outdoors, while others crammed Pokémon knowledge in the classroom to avoid failing the academic portion of the final exams.
And in Class 7 of the second year at No. 77 Middle School, sat someone who absolutely shouldn't have been there.
Xia Huhnao, a super scholar who had consistently placed first in the academic exams at No. 77 Middle School, was currently hunched over his desk, writing furiously.
His classmates were all stunned. Had the super scholar just been called out by the teacher to get the exam questions? Were the final exams this year so difficult that even the top student was struggling?
"Class monitor, what are the final exams about? Did Teacher Bai leak the questions to you?"
Xia Huhnao turned his head, his face devoid of emotion. "Yes, the questions were leaked. But it was our questions that were leaked."
Hearing that Teacher Bai Lan had leaked questions, everyone eagerly crowded around to ask what the final exam questions were. This was also a unique feature of No. 77 Middle School; each class set its own final exam questions, and there were no school-wide rankings. Only in the final year of high school would students receive specialized training based on their intended majors.
Xia Huhnao sighed. "Teacher Bai leaked the questions for our battle exam. My team, consisting of Shen Yu and Zhang Hong, has to defeat Teacher Bai's three Reuniclus. If we win, we get one point, with bonus points based on performance. If we lose, we get zero. If you guys keep loitering around here, I'll ask the teacher to make you take this exam too!"
Hearing Xia Huhnao's threat, everyone scattered like birds and beasts, attempting to battle the teacher's three Reuniclus. There was no chance of victory. The Lunar New Year came early this year, so the final exams also arrived early. By then, not many students in the entire class would even have Pokémon above level ten. How could they possibly defeat the higher-leveled Reuniclus?
After shooing everyone away, Xia Huhnao began to ponder how to quickly train Froakie. If the teacher hadn't suddenly assigned this exam subject, Xia Huhnao wouldn't be so bothered. With Shen Yu and Zhang Hong, he could easily coast through.
Xia Huhnao drew a hexagon on a piece of paper, writing the six Pokémon types at each corner, with the speed corner slightly protruding.
"If there are no battles, then I can only choose to use potions or training. Potions might be too expensive, though."
With that thought, Xia Huhnao asked the system, "System, is it feasible to use potions to increase EVs?"
The system replied quickly, "It's definitely possible, but you can't use it."
"Because it's too expensive?"
"No, Froakie has already consumed too many potions. While they still provide supplementary elements, they no longer improve its stats."
Xia Huhnao recalled that to raise Froakie's IVs to thirty-one, he had used all sorts of strange ingredients to concoct a pot of dark cuisine, only then managing to raise a perfect IV Froakie.
Consuming too many potions leads to resistance, especially when the potions were consumed in the egg.
However, Xia Huhnao hadn't completely abandoned the idea of using potions and continued to ask, "So, other Pokémon would be fine then?"
The system pondered, "I don't think so. Because once you catch a Pokémon for battle, you'll always mess with its IVs first."
Xia Huhnao gave up. This was the truth. Battlers have very high demands for IVs, as the difference between perfect IVs and zero IVs is significant at level one hundred. If training IVs makes a Pokémon resistant, then using potions really isn't worth discussing.
"Furthermore, you should note that only the Rainbow Star Mall sells potions to supplement internal elements. While the Pokémon Alliance doesn't prohibit these potions, they don't sell them in their own stores."
"Do you have any information?"
As the system pulled up the potion information for the Rainbow Star Mall, Xia Huhnao's expression grew increasingly grim.
The information from the Rainbow Star Mall was vague, but from the system's perspective, regarding EVs, the potions from the Rainbow Star Mall were nowhere near comparable to the original game. One bottle of potion could only increase one EV point.
So, how much did one bottle of potion cost? In the game version Xia Huhnao couldn't quite recall, one bottle of potion cost nine thousand eight hundred. The Rainbow Star Mall, with its principle of extracting money from desperate situations, simply added an extra zero.
Ninety-eight thousand per bottle! You might as well just rob me! At this price, it would cost Xia Huhnao fifty million to raise a Pokémon with max EVs. He didn't have fifty million. Even the rich second-generation Zhang Hong couldn't come up with that much money.
Although in the game, you could level up first and then reset the EVs to retrain, as the data would be the same, the Lingyao Star didn't operate that way. In the training system of the Lingyao Star, EVs were a concrete manifestation of potential. And potential had two characteristics. The first was that potential was limited. If potential were infinite, then you would be more powerful than the creator god Arceus.
The other characteristic was that potential could not be reset. You couldn't say, "My potential is used up, so let me get a refund. Give me back the expended potential, and I don't want those abilities anymore. I'll choose a different development path."
That wouldn't be Pokémon; that would be a life re-simulation simulator!
Training, intensive training. Xia Huhnao once again thought of the Super Training system that had troubled him for so long in the XY series.
The Super Training system could increase EVs through penalty kicks and punching sandbags. The penalty kick was quite difficult, especially with Xia Huhnao's somewhat faulty NDS.
Theoretically, training could be achieved through similar methods on the Lingyao Star.
"System, do you think increasing EVs through penalty kicks is possible?"
"I think it's difficult."
"Why?"
"The penalty kicks in Super Training were designed to affect EV gain based on different opposing Pokémon. How would you implement that on the Lingyao Star?"
Xia Huhnao recalled the Pokémon that increased Special Attack and Speed EVs in XY: Magnemite family, Noibat family, and Aerodactyl.
These were not easy to obtain. Although you could find the Magnemite family at power plants, there were only Magnemite and Magneton, and why would they lend themselves for special training? The Noibat family and Aerodactyl were even harder to find.
"Then, System, would using sandbags be a better option?"
The system analyzed the result as theoretically feasible. However, the specific implementation was problematic. After all, the system was the initial 1.0 version, and who knew when it might become unhelpful.
As long as the theory was sound, Xia Huhnao was the type of person who would overcome difficulties, and if there were no difficulties, he would tackle them with even more vigor. Upon learning that sandbags were indeed feasible, Xia Huhnao began to consider how to make them.
"By the way, System, these sandbags aren't disposable, are they?"
"Are you stupid? In the game, they were disposable because you hit them too far away. In reality, if you control yourself and don't hit them too far, they won't be destroyed, right?"