Gazing at the black Eeveelution that bore a striking resemblance to his Sylveon, Aiden's lips curled into a subtle smile.
Umbreon, Dark-type, one of the eight known evolutions of Eevee, corresponding to the Psychic-type Espeon. It requires an extremely high level of intimacy between the Trainer and Eevee to evolve under moonlight.
Because Eevee's genetic makeup is highly unstable, they are easily influenced by their surroundings to evolve into different forms.
This evolutionary path generally has two channels: the early-discovered method of using mineral stones with high concentrations of elemental energy to guide Eevee's evolution, and increasing intimacy with the Trainer to subtly meet the evolution conditions.
In a sense, intimacy also reflects the home environment.
There are currently eight known Eevee evolutions, each corresponding to different attributes.
Thus, some scientists believe that Eevee might potentially have seventeen evolutionary forms, but other forms have yet to be discovered.
It makes sense; however, since the discovery of Sylveon, research on other evolutionary forms hasn't yielded results for a long time.
In the game, Penny's team consists of six Eevees in different evolutionary forms, making her a pure Eevee box pusher. Therefore, it's not surprising she would use Umbreon.
But why specifically Umbreon?
Aiden's smile widened slightly as he proactively asked before the battle began:
"Penny, why did you choose Umbreon as your starter?"
"Huh?"
Caught off guard by this question, Penny thought for a moment before quickly answering:
"Because of intuition?"
"If I must explain... Since we already know Whimsicott has the Prankster Ability and mainly uses status moves to interfere, directly using a Dark-type Pokémon as the starter is the best choice, right?"
"Plus, my Umbreon knows Taunt, so Whimsicott can only attack head-on, posing no real threat to us."
"Even if Whimsicott's Moonblast is super effective against Umbreon, it won't cause significant damage."
After finishing, Penny adjusted her black-rimmed glasses.
"Am I correct, Teacher Azure?"
"Absolutely correct."
Aiden nodded with a smile, silently marveling:
No wonder she's the future self-taught super hacker who hacked the League system; her mind works better than other students'.
Without any spoilers from me, she figured out all the details herself and utilized them efficiently. Battling such a genius is truly reassuring!
[Whew—, this challenger seems tough. Her strategy has even been acknowledged by Teacher Azure; it must be the standard answer for this test, right?]
[But everyone knows these things! Similar conclusions were drawn in the challenges over the past two weeks. We still need to see how the actual battle plays out.]
[Don't you think...Teacher Azure's eyes are practically sparkling? She seems to be the most satisfying challenger so far. Even Kato, the first to pass this week, didn't receive such treatment!]
[Could it be?]
From an observer's perspective, it was quite evident that Aiden was very satisfied with this challenger.
However, everything still depends on the outcome of the actual battle.
After their brief conversation, Penny quickly returned to battle mode and decisively made the first move:
"Umbreon, Taunt!"
"Whimsicott, Moonblast."
Due to their earlier conversation, both were almost fully aware of each other's thoughts.
Thus, Penny unhesitatingly chose to start with Taunt, preemptively suppressing Whimsicott's influence.
Aiden quickly reacted, using Moonblast as a counterattack.
However, since this Whimsicott wasn't trained to focus on offensive moves, even though it had a type advantage, the damage was rather mediocre.
For the sturdy Umbreon, it wasn't particularly lethal.
In the game, all Eevee evolutions share the same numeric combination for base stats, with Umbreon having the best allocation.
High values were allocated to durability, making its seemingly slender frame surprisingly robust, with absurd endurance.
Combined with a somewhat decent move pool, it carved out its own niche in battles.
After enduring the Moonblast, Umbreon retaliated with a series of taunting gestures, causing Whimsicott to quickly lose its composure and fall under the move's effect.
Facing other Pokémon's Taunts, Aiden might have been able to preemptively Taunt and forcibly interrupt the opponent.
But Dark-type Pokémon are too sharp; Prankster-enhanced status moves couldn't escape their notice, rendering them ineffective.
He could only endure this move.
With Whimsicott's status moves locked by Taunt, Aiden's options were clearly limited.
At this point, the most reasonable choice should be to use U-turn to quickly retreat.
However, considering further testing of Penny's abilities, Aiden ultimately didn't give that command but instead repeated:
"Whimsicott, Moonblast!"
Aiden roughly estimated that with his Whimsicott's combat power, this second attack still wouldn't be fatal.
But after enduring two attacks, Umbreon's HP would reach a dangerous level, possibly leading to a one-hit knockout.
At this point, Penny's choice became crucial.
Speaking of Umbreon, there's one move it must know.
"Umbreon, Moonlight!"
As Aiden expected, Penny quickly issued another command.
Even without Prankster's priority boost, Whimsicott's speed was still quite fast, hitting Umbreon with Moonblast again before it could use its move, hitting the same spot and eliciting a muffled groan from Umbreon.
As he anticipated, it wasn't fatal but somewhat dangerous, always on the verge of being finished off.
However...
The pained Umbreon quickly retrieved a yellow fruit from its tail, biting down and soon showing a relaxed expression.
Clearly, the item it carried was a Sitrus Berry, a common pairing for Umbreon.
Following this, Umbreon quickly raised its head to look at the nearly invisible moon under the sunlight.
As the favored child of the moon, it naturally shared a special connection with it.
As the golden halo on Umbreon's head shone brightly, gentle moonlight energy descended from the sky, quickly restoring all the damage it had taken.
Moonlight, like Morning Sun, is a recovery move similar to Recover and is affected by weather, significantly increasing HP recovery on sunny days.
It was through this move that Umbreon's robust build was maximized and earned its "infamous" reputation.
It's well-known that a single shield isn't enough to annoy opponents; other unique skills are needed to hold the field and make a difference.
Such recovery moves are basically standard for stall teams.
If unable to break through the opponent directly, they will be repeatedly dragged out by recovery moves, ending up in a stalemate where neither side can finish the other...
This is exactly the current situation.
Thanks to the dual recovery effects of Sitrus Berry and Moonlight, Umbreon, whose HP was previously precarious, miraculously regained vitality, almost returning to peak condition.
[WTF Is this still a Gym challenge? What is this...]
[Feels like the opponent is also a true disciple of Teacher Azure, seizing the opportunity to heal and stall, wasn't this the same idea when Teacher Azure played with ToxicSub stall before?]
[After watching these two battle, I just want to ask where is the sunshine in this Sunshine Gym? It's dark as hell...]
[Umbreon? Dirty ahhh Eevee!]
Penny's move shocked many live stream viewers, but Aiden didn't react, maintaining his enigmatic smile.
He guessed correctly; Penny had something special about her understanding of Umbreon.
And her next counterattack surprised Aiden even more—
"Umbreon, Snarl!"
Seeing Aiden hadn't moved, Penny quickly and decisively commanded, calling out a move familiar to the live stream audience.
Snarl!
Though used by Umbreon, the most famous user of this move is undoubtedly the universe's top shell-breaking cutie, Alola's Tiger God!
Of course, Aiden himself often used it during his streams.
Umbreon's own combat power was very limited, and Dark-type moves weren't particularly effective against Whimsicott.
So this move obviously had another intention.
Through a deafening roar, Pokémon affected by this move would temporarily weaken their ability to use special attacks.
That is, Special Attack -1.
Whimsicott's combat power was already quite average; if further affected by Snarl, it could be confirmed that it posed no threat to Umbreon.
Next, relying on its nearly unbeatable recovery ability, Penny could gradually consolidate her advantage with a calm mind, eventually nurturing a monstrously powerful Umbreon.
Once it was strengthened, even Kilowattrel wouldn't be a match for it.
According to the Gym challenge rules, the Gym Leader couldn't actively switch Pokémon. Clearly, Penny had also seen through this loophole, making such a choice.
The situation seemed to have entered an unsolvable state.
But…
Aiden quickly smiled faintly. As Umbreon powered up to use Snarl, causing Whimsicott to cower in fear, he quickly countered:
"Whimsicott, U-turn!"
During this week's Gym challenges, he rarely used this move.
And switching moves were something Aiden could normally use.
Whimsicott delivered a flying kick to the opponent before quickly being recalled by Aiden.
Kilowattrel quickly appeared, but this time it lacked Tailwind support, being noticeably slower.
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