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November 24th, Monday.
Upon waking up, Aiden's world collapsed.
The cause was a text message received on his navigator.
However, this time it wasn't from Cynthia, but...
The president of the Paldea region with supreme authority, the sole sun of the league, Geeta!
The content of the message was simple and directly posted in the league group chat.
[Geeta: Recently, the league has received many complaints from students about Sunlight Gym. We hope Gym Leader Aiden can lower the requirements for challengers and reduce the use of tactics that are impossible to win against. What are your thoughts on this? @Aiden (/smile)]
[Geeta: Let me emphasize, the average pass rate for the previous eight gyms is generally around 30%, even the hardest Alfornada Gym has a 20% pass rate.]
[Geeta: However, last week's statistics showed that Sunlight Gym had a pass rate below 10%!]
[Kofu: Hahaha, it must be the common rookie mistake of trying too hard. Be gentle with those students!]
[Grusha: ...]
[Geeta: And Grusha, why is the first-phase pass rate for your Glaseado Gym 0%??? Can you explain this?!]
Here it is, the bad reviews!
When Aiden saw this message, his fist clenched instantly.
Of course, the reason wasn't because his gym received bad reviews, but…
You bunch of geniuses who can't even beat a watered-down Eevee, how dare you think you can pass the Sunlight Gym challenge?
And although I didn't let you pass, I gave plenty of advice. Can't you learn from Okamoto and see how fast he improved?
Good old Grusha, at least he sticks to his guns and doesn't give passes.
[Aiden: It might be due to different philosophies, so such misunderstandings are inevitable.]
[Aiden: But in my view, failing is failing. We shouldn't lower our standards for challengers just because the pass rate is low. That would be irresponsible towards them.]
[Grusha: I agree. Weaklings do not deserve my approval.]
Good buddy, I knew I wasn't wrong about you!
Through the screen, Aiden's fondness for this fellow young beauty Grusha increased exponentially.
[Geeta: … Although I also think there isn't much of a problem, I've never seen a gym receive so many bad reviews before.]
[Geeta: This is just a reminder; don't take it too seriously. Adjust reasonably based on student feedback, both gym leaders.]
…
After turning off the phone screen, Geeta shook her head helplessly.
"Actually, I feel they haven't done anything wrong because the overall pass rates of all gyms seem to have dropped."
Not far from her, Rika walked over with two cups of coffee and smiled as she spoke.
"Yes, that's also why I didn't talk to them directly."
Geeta took a sip after receiving the coffee.
Bitter echoes spread in her mouth.
"Compared to Aiden and Grusha, Naranja Academy seems to have much bigger problems right now…"
Due to the disappearance of the two Professors and some key personnel within the academy during the incident, the league had no choice but to urgently hire some teachers to fill the vacancies.
Now it seems that this unavoidable decision at the time has started to spread its poison…
Known for its open academic approach, Naranja Academy seems to have veered off course while the League was busy cleaning up the mess.
Perhaps a strong medicine is indeed needed to thoroughly solve the lingering issues.
…
Regarding the collective bad reviews given by the students, Aiden didn't take it to heart.
Because as early as when Okamoto came the second time, he had already seen through these kids who say one thing but mean another. He seemed to actually like this kind of dynamic more…
Although the pass rate is low, Aiden believed the problems he pointed out were quite accurate.
As long as they are willing to calm down and settle for a few weeks, they should be able to feel his good intentions, right?
At that time, his gym's reputation will surely reverse…
Right?
Anyway, it's just some fleeting fame. It doesn't matter much to Aiden.
Today, he had something more important to do—
Boost Eevee.
With the increasing popularity of the gym, the trainers they faced were becoming stronger.
Riolu could keep up with the progress through talent and effort, steadily improving its strength.
In about 20 days, Riolu, who trained every night at the Isle of Armor Dojo, had reached 50% progression in training Unseen Fist…
Even Aura was being used quite impressively.
But little troublemaker Eevee was falling behind a bit.
Though the extremely illegal move Sketch somewhat compensated for this, in the face of increasingly obvious power gaps, there weren't many tactics that could lead Eevee to victory.
Though Substitute Toxic was good, it would eventually become overused.
So currently, there indeed needs to be a way to make Eevee stronger.
Considering the Titan Pokémon's size, it obviously wouldn't be as easy to defeat as in the game. He needed to prepare more contingency plans.
Fortunately, after an unknown number of days, the system store surprisingly had a good item, allowing Aiden to finally make a decision.
[Z-Ring (Optimized Version): A Z-Ring enhanced by mysterious powers, with the effect of slowly absorbing natural energy on its own.]
[Price: 20000 Growth Points]
At first, Aiden thought this crappy system was just a berry store, but after several updates, it has truly become somewhat outrageous.
Can you really pull out things that don't exist in reality?
The Z-Ring pairs with a Z-Crystal.
By resonating between the two, they absorb the abundant natural energy of the Alola region, making the next move of the Pokémon carrying the Z-Crystal extremely powerful.
In theory, this is an item that can only be used relying on Alola's unique Ultra Aura. In Paldea, it's basically just a decoration.
But since it's a product of the system, he decisively chose to believe in it.
During this period of streaming, he had saved up enough capital to buy a Z-Ring with plenty to spare.
Now that he had the Z-Ring, the crucial Z-Crystal was still missing.
Coincidentally, among the exclusive Zs discovered in Alola, there really is an Eevee-only Eevee Z, which cannot be used if evolved.
As for how to get the Z-Crystal…
Some brothers, some.
He still hadn't used the magical little gadget left over from passing the gym challenge.
Now it's time for you to shine again!
Aiden resolutely pulled out the "Wish Fulfillment Treasure Map" temporarily stored in the system.
As his thoughts became clearer, the originally blank parchment quickly revealed a few island shapes.
The picture became clearer and finally marked a red short line on the third island, eventually pointing to a location in the center and drawing a big X.
From the position, it should be Ula'ula Meadow?
It seems like a nice scenic spot, maybe it will suit Eevee's taste.
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