"Good job."
Roy smiled. For the first time in battle, Squirtle had fought despite the type disadvantage, and he was already satisfied.
It seemed that Squirtle had also experienced the joy of battling and the beauty of victory...
Creatures like Pokémon had fighting instincts in their bodies, no matter how weak or timid they might be. This was the result of natural selection and survival of the fittest.
If they didn't want to battle or win, the moves inherited in each Pokémon's genes would be meaningless.
"So, are you still against training?" Roy asked.
"Squirtle!" Facing Roy's teasing, Squirtle gave a thumbs up, indicating there was no problem.
"Well, this battle helped me discover something new, and your training regimen will change accordingly..."
Roy hadn't chosen Callan as a rival just to give Squirtle confidence. Otherwise, he could have gone to the Pokémon Center for a random match, and it would have worked just as well.
The real reason was that he wanted to find a rival with similar strength to test Squirtle's true level, and hopefully identify weaknesses.
Additionally... he wanted to observe the training methods used by a Gym Leader's apprentice.
Battling these well-educated trainers was beneficial every time; they provided Roy with many ideas and inspirations.
"Recovery speed and reaction time—in these two aspects, Squirtle is still lacking," Roy summarized.
Squirtle currently had decent stamina, but its recovery rate wasn't good.
In the battle of attrition just now, if Bulbasaur had persisted a bit longer, Squirtle would have been the first to lose momentum.
As for the weakness of slow reaction speed, it had actually been exposed earlier during the practice battle with Riolu...
Squirtle wasn't good at dealing with fast opponents.
Its moves couldn't connect at all, and at close range, it could only take hits.
It wasn't that Roy didn't want to improve Squirtle's speed; it was because the species simply didn't excel in that area, making training twice as difficult.
Using base stats as an example, Squirtle's speed was the lowest among the Kanto starters, while its defense was the highest.
"If you don't train your reaction time, how can you improve your response speed..."
Back in his exclusive training room, Roy pondered for a while before his eyes suddenly lit up.
There was a type of Pokémon that was physically weak with unremarkable reflexes, yet had extremely fast reaction speed...
Right!
"Psychic-types..."
Roy thought of Professor Birch's Abra, the only Pokémon in its class that could fully keep up with Riolu's speed.
It relied on nothing more than strong mental power rather than physical reflexes.
Idea found.
But new confusion emerged.
"How can Squirtle develop mental strength?"
Roy could exchange Technical Machines for Psychic-type moves for Squirtle, even trading for a 'master-level' Psychic move.
But that wouldn't work—it wouldn't solve the root problem.
Moves were the output method, and stats were the power engine.
Moves relied on stats to be effective.
Even if Squirtle was given a Psychic move with master-level proficiency, it couldn't be fully utilized because Squirtle's mental power was too low.
Similarly, even if Roy traded for an 'Aura Sphere' TM for Riolu, a Riolu without aura power in its body couldn't use it. Roy would have to provide the aura, putting the cart before the horse...
Roy gave it a try anyway, teaching Squirtle the 'Calm Mind' he had acquired earlier. He then looked at Squirtle expectantly, hoping it could comprehend the technique by itself.
Squirtle: ???
...I'm just a turtle, Roy thought. I shouldn't expect too much.
"It really doesn't work."
Roy was just experimenting and wasn't too disappointed.
Unable to think of a solution, Roy decided to... call his teacher.
Professor Christian quickly answered the phone.
"A way to develop mental strength?"
After thinking about it for a while, Professor Christian understood Roy's purpose and praised him: "Using strong mental power to compensate for slower reflexes... that's a good idea."
"However, I can't solve this problem."
"My main research is in Electric and Fighting-types... I'm not familiar with Psychic-types."
Roy was slightly taken aback.
"Research?"
After listening to the explanation, Roy realized that although Professor Christian was their class teacher, he wasn't a professor of battle tactics who had graduated as a Trainer.
Professor Christian specialized in Breeding. After graduation, he became a national Pokémon researcher. He had rich theoretical knowledge, which was more than enough to teach most students.
"However, I can point you in the right direction."
Professor Christian's tone suddenly became a little more cheerful.
"Meet me at the school gate at five o'clock, and I'll take you somewhere special."
Roy arrived at the school gate as scheduled and got into Professor Christian's Mercedes.
"Professor, where are we going?"
"A home visit."
"Home visit?" Roy raised his eyebrows. "Whose home?"
"You'll know when we arrive."
No matter how Roy asked, Professor Christian refused to disclose more.
Twenty minutes later, the car passed through the gate of a single-family villa in downtown Capital and stopped in the driveway.
Roy got out of the car with Professor Christian. Before he had time to comment on the "wealthy family," he saw a familiar figure walking toward them.
"Professor Christian, I..." The person was about to greet them when he spotted Roy. His eyes immediately widened, and his face turned red. "Why are you here too!"
Roy replied calmly:
"Long time no see, fellow student Cade. Professor Christian brought me here."
"...Hmph."
Since it was Professor Christian's idea, Cade had nothing to say. He could only give Roy an annoyed look before leading the way for them.
Walking into the villa's living room, Roy couldn't help but notice the luxurious and elegant furniture. The living room alone was about 100 square meters just by visual estimation.
If Roy remembered correctly, Carter and his family lived in the capital full-time, meaning this villa was just their temporary residence.
...Indeed, being a Trainer was very promising.
In the living room, besides the kind-hearted Elite Carter who was slightly heavyset, there was also a beautiful woman Roy had never seen before.
Roy couldn't help but take a few glances at her appearance, which was not inferior to Serena's beauty at all.
Despite visitors arriving, the woman didn't even raise her head. Her face remained expressionless, her eyes fixed on the book in her hand.
"Old Christian, you're here."
When Elite Carter saw Roy, his expression showed no surprise. He had obviously been in contact with Professor Christian beforehand.
He said kindly, "I'll call you Roy, is that alright?"
Despite Carter's elite status, he still asked for Roy's permission—this small gesture made Roy appreciate him, and he nodded in agreement.
"Christian has already told me why you're here." Carter smiled gently. "You want to find a way to train mental power, right? I have plenty of resources for this in my collection. I can let you choose one and give it to you."
"This..."
Roy hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. He quickly said:
"Thank you, Mr. Carter. I will remember your kindness."
"No need for that." Carter shook his head with a calm expression. "My career as a Trainer has plateaued, and I haven't made progress for many years. I'm just waiting for a powerful young Trainer to take my place so I can retire early..."
"Now, my only interest is cultivating outstanding talents. I hope someone can take over my position soon."
"Over the years, I've seen many kinds of prodigies."
"In my opinion, you rank among the top three of these individuals."
When he said this, Roy thought it was just elderly courtesy and didn't take it seriously.
But Professor Christian and Cade, who knew Elite Carter well, showed shocked expressions.
"Father, you're so optimistic about this kid..." Cade sounded a little bitter.
'Top three? Why such a high ranking?' Professor Christian probably knew who the other two were, as he glanced calmly at Caroline sitting nearby.
She must be the one ranked first in Carter's estimation.
Carter looked at Roy with a smile and suddenly said: "However, I have a better proposal. Would you like to hear it?"
Before Roy could answer, Elite Carter spoke surprisingly.
"Would you like to learn the mental power training method that I've been practicing?"
"—What?!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Professor Christian was ecstatic, while Cade couldn't believe his ears.
Caroline finally looked away from her book and regarded Roy with an emotionless stare.