A student, wide-eyed, was suddenly blinded by Xia Huona's flashlight shone directly at him. His vision went white, his body lurched backward, and he found himself back in his chair. It took him a while to finally open his eyes.
Even with his eyes open, he blinked intermittently, "Assistant Coach Xia, you weren't holding back at all. That was incredibly uncomfortable."
Xia Huona replied, "Don't worry, the flashlight has been modified. It won't cause irreversible damage. You'll just be uncomfortable for a little while. How are you feeling now?"
After a moment, the student nodded, "Coach Xia, please rest assured, I'm fine now."
Only then did Xia Huona continue addressing the class, "Are there any other students willing to try out the glaring technique?"
Everyone shook their heads. Having their eyes swept by Coach Xia's flashlight again would be too unbearable. However, Xia Huona shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I won't use the flashlight anymore."
Saying this, Xia Huona set aside the flashlight he was holding. "How about it, is anyone willing to give it a try now?"
Seeing Xia Huona put down the flashlight, Yan Chunyu stood up. "I'll try."
After saying this, Yan Chunyu also tried to glare intensely at Xia Huona. Xia Huona quickly took another flashlight from his pocket and gestured with it.
Yan Chunyu was startled by Xia Huona's action and took two steps back. However, when she realized Xia Huona hadn't turned on the flashlight, she patted her chest and let out a sigh of relief. "Coach Xia, you scared me to death."
Xia Huona put down the second flashlight, and the students then realized what kind of person Xia Huona was. Did he ever speak the truth during battles?
Xia Huona looked at everyone. "How about it, is anyone else willing to cooperate with me for a third experiment?"
No one spoke. Who knew if Xia Huona had a third flashlight? Besides, that was Yan Chunyu just now. Xia Huona had held back out of consideration for her being a girl. If it had been a boy, who knew what level of treatment they would have received.
It was Wei Chiting, the vice-captain, who volunteered. He said, "I'll do it," and then directly picked up the flashlight Xia Huona had set aside and aimed it at Xia Huona. To his surprise, Xia Huona took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on.
Wei Chiting's attempt was in vain. Xia Huona looked at Wei Chiting. "Not bad, worthy of being the tactical core. Your mind works so fast. But you didn't expect this, did you? While you learned to use flashes to counter glaring, you overlooked something like sunglasses, which can simultaneously counter both the flash and the glare."
The boy who had been directly blinded at the beginning felt like crying. "We're all students, why am I so unlucky?"
Xia Huona walked up to him. "This is the gacha style. Even if you have enough tries, you can draw all the prizes, but you can't guarantee whether your current draw will be a second prize, a third prize, or a unlucky 'thank you for playing'."
With the example Xia Huona gave, everyone had a better understanding of his gacha style of play.
"This gacha style of play looks so powerful."
Tong Ruo, seeing the excited classmates, advised them, "You must not learn this style of play. Just as Coach Xia said, this kind of gacha-style play requires a substantial prize pool and a sufficient number of draws to be effective. Otherwise, it's just ordinary play."
Seeing that everyone present still seemed to have the idea of learning this unorthodox style of play, Tong Ruo sighed. "The gacha style of play is difficult to deal with, but it has four prerequisites: a solid foundation, quick reactions, a wild imagination, and abundant choices. If you fail even one of these conditions, the style of play will be distorted."
Tong Ruo flipped the whiteboard Xia Huona had been using and wrote eight characters on the other side.
"If your foundation isn't solid, you'll misremember the effects of certain skills. If your reactions are slow, you won't be able to respond in time. If your imagination is limited, regular moves will expose your weaknesses. If your choices aren't enough, you'll fall into a predicament with no other way out. Therefore, powerful techniques require a strong foundation. Do you understand?"
Everyone nodded. One student looked at Xia Huona with bright eyes. "So Coach Xia is indeed very strong, to be able to develop such a style of play."
"No, my current Pokémon lineup isn't enough for me to fight a gacha-style battle to my heart's content. When I have four or more Pokémon, I might be able to get a rough idea. You need to know that my style of play is like licking blood off a knife. My current gacha style is practically a 'crazy' style."
Although Xia Huona said this, he actually had the ability to play the gacha style in one-on-one battles. It was just that he was inclined to hide his true strength for now.
After saying this, Xia Huona patted the whiteboard. "This is strange. I started talking about one thing and drifted to another. Let's get back to the original topic. Once we've confirmed everyone's trainer type, we'll start targeted training tomorrow."
Upon hearing Xia Huona mention training, Tong Ruo turned off his video conference. Although the teachers were not outsiders, Tong Ruo still wished to maintain a certain degree of confidentiality.
Meanwhile, the teachers who had already heard Xia Huona's explanation began their discussion.
"What do you think of what Xia said?"
"Hmm, I think he has a point. After all, the combination of trainer and Pokémon can only create these few types. Aren't we also categorized into them?"
"That makes sense. So, what do you think of his gacha style of play? Is he just seeking attention?"
"I think it's feasible. He's probably not just seeking attention. Look at his previous battle with that Wobbuffet. According to his explanation, it was a fusion of the special effects style with the gacha style. However, as they both said, this gacha style of play has extremely high requirements."
"Indeed, Xia Huona is a young man with considerable talent, which is why he can control this style of play. It's hard to say if our school can find another student like him."
The teachers were discussing Xia Huona's gacha style of play, while Xia Huona had already arranged most of the school team's training plan. Seeing everyone had recorded their training plans, Xia Huona gave them a little push.
"How about this: everyone trains hard. After the first week of the training plan ends, if Teacher Tong is satisfied with your training, we'll have a battle. A six-on-six match, so you can experience my gacha style of play?"
Upon hearing Xia Huona's words, everyone was stunned, then asked, "Coach Xia, are you confident you can develop chemistry with new Pokémon within a week?"
Xia Huona shook his head. "Of course not. That's why I still plan to borrow some Pokémon from our school's breeding center."
Hearing Xia Huona say this, the school team members looked at each other. Finally, Li Qiufeng asked for Wei Chiting's opinion. As a trainer specializing in tactical play, how could Wei Chiting not want to witness Xia Huona's gacha style of play? The previous three-on-three Wobbuffet battle had a bit of a gacha feel to it, but as Xia Huona put it, the prize pool wasn't large enough.
Seeing Wei Chiting nod, Li Qiufeng said, "Alright, we will definitely satisfy Teacher Tong."
Wei Chiting immediately added, "Can you tell us beforehand what kind of Pokémon Coach Xia plans to use?"
Xia Huona glanced at Wei Chiting. "What, are you lacking confidence in your tactical abilities?"
Wei Chiting nodded. "That's right. If the opponent is Coach Xia, I'm indeed a bit lacking in confidence."
Xia Huona pondered for a moment. "Alright, but I can only tell you half. After all, I still need to keep some trump cards. How about that?"
Wei Chiting quickly agreed. "Okay, half is fine. Even with only half the information, I'll have more confidence."
Xia Huona walked over to Wei Chiting and whispered a few words into his ear. Although the students around couldn't hear what Xia Huona said to him, judging from Wei Chiting's increasingly grim expression, they knew that Assistant Coach Xia had given Wei Chiting a considerable challenge this time.
After whispering to Wei Chiting, Xia Huona left the training room. "I'll go borrow some Pokémon now. Don't worry, everything I told Wei Chiting is true. There are no outside-the-arena tactics involved."
Watching Xia Huona's receding figure, Tong Ruo also followed him out. Before leaving the training room, Tong Ruo thoughtfully said, "I won't disturb your contemplation."
Tong Ruo quickly caught up to Xia Huona, who hadn't gone far. "What did you say to Wei Chiting? His expression suddenly became so grim."
Xia Huona turned to look at Tong Ruo. "Teacher Tong, you guess."
Tong Ruo clenched his fist. Then, Xia Huona honestly told Tong Ruo what he had said. Tong Ruo was taken aback, then took out his phone. "You're really wicked. I have to tell the teachers about this and see what they think."
"Great, I'd also like to hear the teachers' opinions."
Meanwhile, Wei Chiting sat in his chair, scratching his head. Those around him watched with bated breath. Lu Bingming quietly nudged Li Qiufeng. "Captain, go ask the vice-captain what Coach Xia told him."
Li Qiufeng walked to Wei Chiting and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Chiting, what did Coach Xia say? It's no use agonizing over it alone."
Wei Chiting slapped his forehead with both hands. "Assistant Coach Xia's first Pokémon is his Froakie."
"Oh, Froakie. What about the other two?"
Wei Chiting grinned wryly. "Coach Xia said the other two Pokémon are ones that won't be on his team, but are perfectly suited for the gacha style of play."
"What? Come on, tell us!"
Wei Chiting said in a trembling voice, "Smeargle and Ditto."