Early in the morning, Daniel and his students were jogging around the edge of the grassland area. Not all of them looked happy or completely awake, but everyone was running. except for Kiran, who sat in the center of the clearing wearing a facemask.


    Daniel had to circulate his aura to avoid showing his amusement when the boy appeared at their training center with a cold. At first, he wanted to send him back, but Kiran was too stubborn to listen. In the end, Daniel agreed to let him stay and watch the lesson, provided Lily monitored him the whole time.


    After 30 minutes of jogging, they did some stretches. Daniel’s joints popped with each one, giving him some satisfaction.


    “Alright, class! That’s enough!” Most of them collapsed to the ground, exhausted. The only two who didn’t fall were Nate and Reece, who just looked a bit winded.


    “This is going to be our routine every morning before we begin classes. It’s important to build up some resistance for your future.”


    “I… don’t need it!” Valerie called between gasps. “I’ll have a… Pokémon help me!”


    “You won’t always have a Pokémon available.” Daniel shook his head. “What if you got lost in the wilderness? Or got attacked and your team got wiped out? Or if you get a flat tire? Expect the best but be prepared for the worst.”


    Valerie didn’t look convinced, but her tiredness prevented her from wasting any more breath. Daniel gave everyone a small bottle of water and watched in amusement as they all greedily drank it.


    After five minutes, everyone was able to sit down properly and breathe normally. They formed a semicircle and watched him intently. Daniel took out a small projector from his bracer and placed it a couple of meters away from the center. With a mental command, it lit up and displayed a white screen in the air, imitating a whiteboard.


    “Let’s start from the basics and go up from here.” He nodded, ignoring his stunned students. “Team composition.” Letters appeared on the whiteboard as if written by an invisible marker.


    “But—How—What—?” Everyone called out in disbelief.


    “This is secret technology we’re testing in the league. That’s why you all had to sign those NDAs before entering.” He ran with a small lie. He had already told the higher-ups his plans, and Iris was on board with his methods… as long as they produced good results. “We’ll talk more about that later; for now, I need volunteers. How do you form a team?”


    The shock was still evident in their faces, but they took a moment to think about his question.


    “Oh! Sharing a bond with your Pokémon!” Linda exclaimed, lifting her arm in the air. Daniel noticed that Valerie silently rolled her eyes, thinking nobody saw her.


    “Yes. It’s very important to have a bond with your Pokémon. Happy Pokémon are powerful Pokémon.” Daniel nodded with a smile. “Any other ideas?”


    “The strongest Pokémon you can find,” Valerie called with confidence.


    “That’s one way, yes.” Daniel nodded. “But what do you mean by ‘strongest,’ Valerie?”


    “The most powerful Pokémon are better.” The girl blinked in confusion and tilted her head.


    “The strongest… that’s a nebulous concept.”


    The whiteboard shifted and divided into two sections. On the right side, there was an image of a Salamence, while a Rattata was on the left. Daniel tapped the photos and looked at his students.


    “Which one here would win in a fight? A champion-level Salamence or a young Rattata?”


    “The Salamence.” Valerie narrowed her eyes as if saying, ‘Where are you going with this?’


    “Not quite,” Daniel said with a mirthful smile. “Let me show you an example.”


    The screens merged once more, and the display shifted into a frozen video. With a snap of his fingers, the video unpaused.


    ***


    Surrounded by transparent, crystal-like windows, the chamber offered a breathtaking view of Alola’s sky and land, the vibrant scenery stretching out in all directions. At its center stood two circular platforms, the first connected to the second by a pure white flight of stairs. The second platform, elevated above the first, remained sparse, save for a throne-like seat that seemed to await its occupant.


    Two figures faced each other. One, a teenager, wore a smug expression, his wild white hair tousling around his face as he stood confidently in sandals, black cargo pants, and a white sleeveless shirt. The other figure, more composed and refined, mirrored the casual vibe but with a more deliberate style: an unbuttoned floral shirt, black shorts, and sandals.


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    “Trainers!” A voice called. “Release in 3.”


    “2.”


    “1.”


    “GO!”


    On the teenager’s side, a purple Rattata stood tall with a sense of pride. Its small stature and long whiskers marked it as a young male. A red scarf flapped in the wind as it chittered defiantly, as if ready to challenge the world.


    Opposite, the man summoned a Salamence, its powerful roar shaking the air with an unmistakable challenge. The dragon’s scales were etched with scars, each one telling a tale of countless battles fought. Its muscles rippled with strength, and a dangerous glint in its eyes revealed the battle-hardened soul of a warrior, honed through years of experience.


    The teen wasn’t dissuaded by the show of force. A wild and mischievous pink ignited in his eyes as his smirk grew. The man scoffed and shook his head, his eyes similarly ignited in a majestic and overbearing purple.


    White energy flared in Salamence’s mouth before shooting a hyperbeam in the little rat’s direction. The arena trembled as the pillar of energy decimated everything in its path, carving a deep crater into the soil. The screen briefly went white, overwhelmed by the power. Seconds later, when it finally died down, the same rat was in the middle of a burning gorge in the ground.


    Its scarf was reduced to ashes before everyone’s eyes as the small Rattata gasped for air. The Pokémon trembled, struggling to stay upright despite the numerous burns and bruises covering its body. Yet, it didn’t kneel or fall. Its eyes shone with a defiant glint.


    The white-haired teen, instead of looking distraught or scared, laughed out loud like a cartoon villain. His odd behavior gave the man pause before he widened his eyes in realization.


    “Endeavor!”


    “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!”


    The Pokémon shot like an arrow toward the still-recovering dragon. Before the Salamence could respond or counterattack, a claw glowing in gray Normal energy connected. In any normal encounter, such a small attack would be shrugged off without batting an eye. A mosquito would have been more bothersome to deal with.


    Before his trainer’s horrified eyes, the Salamence’s energy was sapped away into nothing. Strength left its body in droves, nearly knocking the dragon out in a single moment. The boy waited for this moment, another flash of pink in his eyes was followed by a quick attack from the purple rodent.


    As the dragon fell unconscious to the ground, the victorious Rattata cried to the heavens in victory.


    ***


    “Strength is not everything.” Daniel snapped his fingers. The screen turned white and displayed Rattata and Salamence once more. “True, it solves most problems, but you can’t use a hammer to pass a thread through a needle.”


    Again, the students stood in perplexed silence, staring blankly at the whiteboard.


    “Is that real?!” Kiran screamed before sneezing. “Where—” Followed by another sneeze. “Where was that?!”


    “That was in Alola,” Daniel smirked and nodded. “That’s Arthur McGowan, the one who came up with and named the FEAR Rattata. Does anyone have an idea of what happened?”


    It was a video of his father during his championship run in Alola. However, telling the truth would be complicated. The Alolan league was set to be founded in 2 years and won by Elio, not by a random teenager named Arthur. And he was a bit… embarrassed by his father’s attitude. Over the years, he had mellowed out and begun to act like a proper adult, but while growing up, Daniel sometimes felt like an older brother.


    “That was Focus Sash…” Nate murmured. “It broke after that Hyperbeam, then Endeavor… and Quick Attack?”


    “Got it in one.” Daniel nodded. “You may be asking yourselves why I showed this to you.”


    The teens nodded. Daniel ignored how… intense Valerie was glaring for some reason.


    “Team building is not about finding the most powerful Pokémon and calling it a day. You need to consider a lot of factors. The most important one is: Do you want to specialize, be a generalist, or develop a gimmick?”


    Words appeared on the whiteboard while a black line divided it into three parts.


    “A specialist dedicates themselves to one type of Pokémon. It is generally the way to go for those who don’t have that much money or for newer trainers. Their Pokémon would require mostly the same care and can share a lot of moves. A water specialist only needs to buy 2 kg of kelp and not worry about food, for example.


    However, if you can’t deal with your type’s inherent weaknesses, you’re toast. Using the water specialist example, if you’re not equipped to deal with grass types, that’s going to be a wall.”


    Under the specialist part of the board, the pros and cons were listed.


    “Generalists have a harder time, since their team all requires different diets, workout plans, moves… It can be costly if your Pokémon are exotic, like a Snorlax. The upside is the flexibility you have available. No single type would shut you down if you plan well enough.”


    Same as before, pros and cons were listed under generalist.


    “Finally… gimmicks.” Daniel sighed. “Those require a lot of… courage and a touch of madness to pull off. In the right conditions, you can absolutely dominate everything in your path. But if the right obstacle trips you, your entire strategy crumbles. FEAR Rattata can deal with anyone by surprise, but a single ‘entry hazard,’ weather effect, or damage deflection can shut it down completely. Be very careful if you want to develop a gimmicky team.”


    And finally, the same happened with the gimmick part, but the letters were red to show emphasis on the cons.


    “I thought we wouldn’t need to write anything down…” Amelie murmured, staring straight at the screen without blinking.


    Daniel blinked in surprise for a couple of seconds and chuckled. “Yeah, bring your own writing instruments from now on. But don’t worry, I’ll send the written lessons to your emails after class. Be sure to study!”


    Daniel ignored the complaints about ‘homework’ and ‘too much text’ and went on with his lesson. He recounted every type one more time, including general tips on how to care for Pokémon of those types. Each one was different and required studying to properly understand, but the general strokes were good enough until they decided what they wanted.


    After a small lunch break, he gave everyone the bracers he made. Everyone was amazed and fiddled with them curiously. Even Valerie couldn’t resist the temptation of pushing and prodding the thing.


    There was another round of ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’ when Daniel deployed his full team, sans Kyurem. ‘no need to give them a heart attack.’ He instructed them to do the same.


    So, while he taught them how to properly operate and care for the bracers, the small gathering of Pokémon left for another corner of the training area to train. Daniel wanted the kids to be present when he taught them new moves, but for physical training (and mental training in the case of the psychics), his team was enough.