Time flew by, and it was now January 16th, Friday.
Nearly a week had passed since the Victory Road opened.
During this time, the Sunshine Gym, guarded by Aiden, had welcomed quite a few challengers.
On Monday, the Trainers who came to challenge encountered Sableye with the Prankster Ability and were utterly defeated.
On Tuesday, thanks to the collective brainstorming of some clever students (and partly due to Aiden's deliberate teaching), the first Pokémon of the gym was finally broken through.
Aiden's Prankster interference tactic was quickly seen through. Just as the students were rejoicing, thinking they could finally earn the badge…
The appearance of the second Pokémon, Riolu, instantly turned the tables again.
Of course, this wasn't Aiden acting on a whim to deliberately block others from passing.
From the very beginning, he had anticipated that Sableye would eventually be countered.
After all, the first stage mainly tested their understanding of Ability mechanics. Once they grasped his intent, countering Sableye with type advantages alone was easy.
If he really used only Sableye for evaluations, by the end of the week, Geeta would likely come to question why the gym's pass rate was so high…
Too high is bad, but too low is also unacceptable.
Being a gym leader is hard!
That's why Aiden had Riolu as a backup plan. After letting half of Paldea's sea of trainers flow through, he used it to evaluate how well these students had raised their Pokémon.
Commanding skills and strategic thinking must improve, but the ability to raise Pokémon cannot fall behind either—this is what makes a well-rounded Trainer!
After all, this year's Victory Road goal was different from previous years. President Geeta had explicitly stated that they wanted to screen out a champion with real strength.
This future champion would likely join the exploration of Area Zero. If their strength couldn't keep up, they'd only hold the team back—or worse, put themselves in danger.
Therefore, adhering to the principle of "better none than subpar", the overall difficulty of this year's Victory Road had been increased.
Rather than letting people advance only to fail at the next stage, it was better to let them settle down in this "starter village" and build up momentum before making a final push.
In the days that followed, a few challengers finally managed to pass the Sunshine Gym's evaluation.
Though there were only a handful of truly talented young geniuses, it gave the students a glimmer of hope.
As long as they could pass the Sunshine Gym's evaluation…
They'd become the coolest person in school!
A week passed in an endless cycle of challenging the gym, repeatedly failing, and growing stronger with each defeat.
By Friday evening, Aiden finally let out a sigh of relief.
"This week's evaluation is over. I didn't expect there to be so many stubborn challengers…"
Being a gym leader could be considered a job under the League's jurisdiction. According to League regulations, gym leaders typically worked four days a week and rested for three, meaning their actual working hours weren't that demanding.
However, Aiden was slightly more "competitive" than other gym leaders, so he worked an extra day.
For the upcoming weekend, he planned to temporarily close the gym for two days.
He had something to take care of.
"Speaking of which, shouldn't Riolu have evolved by now?"
On the other end of the video call, Cynthia's voice rang out.
Following her gaze, Aiden looked toward Riolu, who was doing one-handed push-ups in the gym.
Sylveon, the Eevee evolution that had become Aiden's "life's unbearable weight," was sitting on Riolu's back, yawning lazily.
Riolu seemed lighter than Sylveon, yet it kept training normally despite the added weight.
This was a testament to its progress…
Aiden shook his head.
As Cynthia said, Riolu had already shown signs of evolution.
Just during the past few days of battles, Aiden had seen it emit special evolutionary light several times.
However, this child seemed unusually calm, absorbing the light back into itself the moment it appeared…
It seemed Riolu had no intention of evolving until it completed its training at the Isle of Armor Dojo.
But before heading to Sinnoh and Kitakami, Riolu's Unseen Fist training had already reached its final stages.
With the practical battles of the past few days, its progress was stuck at the 99% bottleneck, just waiting for the final breakthrough.
Though Aiden hadn't directly participated in its training, he knew clearly:
The final trial of the Isle of Armor Dojo required battling Master Mustard to ascend to the highest level and learn the secret techniques from the scroll.
But this final trial involved battling Master Mustard, so Aiden needed to visit Armor Island…
After sharing his thoughts with Cynthia, she quickly responded:
"The Isle of Armor Dojo? That's Master Mustard's private territory in Galar. That elder is a legendary figure."
The former champion of Galar, who reigned undefeated for eighteen years, dominated the Master Tournament, and retired immediately after earning the title of "Battle Legend" due to his overwhelming strength.
Though he now appeared to be a kindly old man, in his youth, Master Mustard was an undeniably formidable figure.
Even the development of the Galar League owed much to his fame.
In the virtual image, Cynthia raised an eyebrow, saying teasingly:
"I never expected Riolu to have such an encounter. It seems sending this child to you was the right choice."
She had never imagined that Aiden possessed such terrifying potential.
In just two months, he had gone from being an ordinary gym leader with almost no reputation to becoming a figurehead of Paldea…
Though his strength might not have grown as rapidly as his fame, his Trainer skills were undeniable.
Before this, the world had never seen a genius Trainer who could stun others—and even achieve perfect victories against stronger opponents—through pure prediction and tactics.
"By the way, your livestream's popularity has risen again recently. Did you know?"
Cynthia smiled gently and looked at Aiden.
"Now, Trainers from other regions tune in daily to watch your gym battles."
As Aiden's fame spread across the internet to other regions, it caught the attention of many.
Now, his livestream audience wasn't limited to Paldea students. Elite Trainers, gym leaders, and even Elite Four members from various regions might be quietly observing his insights.
In a sense, his lessons weren't just for Naranja Academy students anymore.
"I know."
Aiden nodded.
"I never intended to hide anything. If learning these things can help newcomers grow, then it's worth it."
His original goal was to use this Victory Road to help more Trainers understand basic battle concepts and truly step into the world of Pokémon battles.
"After learning about Naranja Academy's situation, I realized there's a problem with the current mainstream learning methods in this world."
Since they were already discussing it, Aiden opened up, sharing his thoughts with Cynthia despite the distance between them.
Cynthia simply smiled and quietly waited for him to continue.
When talking about his area of expertise, the light in Aiden's eyes shone brightly.
"As a school with a thousand-year history, Naranja Academy's teaching standards are undoubtedly excellent. Even though it underwent some adjustments last year, the impact shouldn't have been that significant."
"But after investigating, I found that while the academy's teachers taught them theoretical foundations and encouraged active battling…"
"How to apply what they've learned in real battles seemed to be left entirely to the students to figure out on their own."
At this point, Aiden sighed.
This wasn't just an issue with Naranja Academy or its teachers—it was a flaw in the entire Pokémon school system…
Many students began their journey as Trainers at ten years old, with plenty of time to experiment and grow through travel, gradually developing their own styles before leaving their mark in tournaments or the Victory Road.
A very Pokémon-style growth method.
This was why schools had almost no presence in games, anime, or manga.
"But what if we could help students actively apply what they've learned and truly fulfill their role as Trainers in battles?"
Aiden suddenly looked up and asked.
After several days of practical testing, he had already drawn a conclusion.
The answer was—
Their growth speed had noticeably accelerated.
In just five days, these students had evolved from clueless rookies panicking at the sight of Sableye to occasionally surprising him with strange and creative strategies.
Such was the charm of Pokémon battles!
"Perhaps after this year, the overall strength of our Paldea region will become terrifyingly strong~"
Aiden chuckled, saying it as if in jest.
But after staring at him for a few seconds, Cynthia quickly realized that Aiden was completely serious.
At the same time, she became aware of something—
Aiden was undertaking something that could potentially overturn the entire Trainer cultivation system and greatly advance the development of Pokémon battles…
For a long time, almost everyone believed that a Trainer's growth was an extremely slow process, requiring constant travel to gain experience and waiting for Pokémon to naturally grow stronger.
But now, Aiden offered a completely different path.
First, elevate the Trainer's level, making them the decisive factor in battle.
Just like the various tactics he used in gym challenges.
If this could truly be achieved…
Pokémon battles in the future would undoubtedly become far more interesting, wouldn't they?
Thinking this, Cynthia couldn't help but smile faintly.
"Mm, I believe you can do it."
If Aiden could single-handedly propel the development of the Pokémon world, then his future status…
Would surely rival that of Professor Oak, who unified Pokémon theory and laid the foundation for modern Pokémon research!
------------------------------------------------------
Join my Patreon to read an exclusive novel – 'Douluo: Rebuilding Hao Tian Sect'
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)