Chapter Nine: Physical Attack and Special Attack

Aam's Bulbasaur suddenly extended two enormous vine whips, instantly ensnaring the stunned Pikachu.

“Pika...chu!” Pikachu struggled with all its might to break free, but it was powerless against the force of Power Whip.

With a power of 120, this move is normally only mastered by Pokémon at level forty or fifty, even if they meet the learning conditions. Although this Pikachu was a bit stronger than Aam's Bulbasaur, it simply couldn't escape from such a formidable move.

Controlling this technique seemed to push Bulbasaur to its limits; the two massive vines quivered, and without hesitating any longer, Aam directed another gigantic vine to lash Pikachu several times, left and right, before flinging it aside.

Pikachu was tossed out of the arena, and after a brief, unwilling struggle, it fainted.

“Pikachu!” Ash cried out, hurrying to cradle his Pikachu in his arms.

“Ash's Pikachu is unable to battle. Aam is the winner,” Professor Oak immediately declared, then called to Ash, “Take it to the lab, we have healing equipment there.”

Pokémon “losing the ability to battle”—that is, “fainting”—is quite normal in matches. This world seems to be protected by a mysterious force; ordinarily, after being defeated, Pokémon simply faint, even in the wild, and will naturally awaken after some time.

As long as they can find berries in time, even wild Pokémon have a good chance of recovering. And with human intervention, it's almost impossible for a Pokémon to die from injuries—unless the attack was maliciously intended to kill, or the defender pushed itself too far, failing to trigger the protective fainting.

Such cases are rare. After all, predatory behavior between Pokémon is limited to only a few species; most Pokémon do not prey upon others, and even carnivores usually hunt regular animals.

“I have some medicine here,” Aam said, quickly retrieving a spray-type potion from his backpack and tossing it to Ash.

After a normal defeat in the wild, it's important to treat injuries promptly with medicine; if that's not available, then finding energy-restoring berries is a must. In a town, it's even simpler—just hurry to the nearest Pokémon Center!

Even the smallest Pokémon Centers will have at least one member of the Joy family. Of course, one Joy alone is not enough; Centers also have many regular Pokémon doctors, with Joys overseeing critical cases to ensure safety.

While Professor Oak instructed his assistant to care for Pikachu, he turned to Aam and said, “Did you train this Bulbasaur last night? I didn't expect you two to be so compatible—just one night, and it awakened its inherited Power Whip. That's really rare...”

Typically, inherited moves manifest shortly after birth.

“That’s right. And... I feel I have quite a bit of experience training these kinds of moves. My Exeggcute only awakened Ancient Power and Moonlight after my training,” Aam replied honestly.

While it was difficult to explain the divine path he’d taken, he saw no reason to hide his talents as a Trainer—after all, there are plenty of incredible Trainer gifts in this world.

“What? You have such a gift... Let me check that with you later,” Professor Oak said, astonished.

He had thought it was simply a matter of compatibility, but if Aam’s Exeggcute had demonstrated the same, it was clearly Aam’s own talent! Still, such abilities could scarcely be uncovered with a simple test—most Trainer talents are like that.

A few hours passed with little to show for the investigation, but Aam did at least earn a free lunch. Meanwhile, the trio from the park had already set out ahead.

Professor Oak took this opportunity to advise Aam: “There’s no fixed formula for raising Pokémon—it’s mainly about what works between you and your Pokémon. However, you should decide early whether you want to focus on physical or special attacks; your training needs coherence and foresight.”

It was obvious the professor was concerned that, after Bulbasaur awakened the inherited Power Whip, Aam might put too much emphasis on its physical attack.

Though physical attacks seemed advantageous for now, as Bulbasaur grew, its tendency toward special attacks would only become more apparent.

Training a Pokémon in both physical and special attacks is also a path, but... it’s best to plan ahead to avoid being torn between options later. Especially since this Bulbasaur was particularly weak in physical attack and strong in special attack.

New Trainers often misjudge their Pokémon’s future growth, overemphasizing physical attack—indeed, “special attackers” are generally weaker than physical attackers in the early stages.

Below the tournament level, physical attackers of equal strength usually outperform special attackers in real combat! This is because, at the start, physical attackers are physically stronger, while special attackers only show their strength when using the corresponding moves.

And this world isn’t a turn-based game; battles outside of move usage are also crucial, putting special attackers at a disadvantage.

But Aam quickly replied, “Don’t worry, Professor, I understand. I’m not placing too much importance on Power Whip. Next, I’ll focus on training Bulbasaur’s Leaf Storm, Petal Dance, and Sludge Bomb—all special attack moves!”

Aam was modest, yet his confidence shone through—almost as if to say, “I can train these moves whenever I want.”

Professor Oak simply laughed heartily. As long as Aam understood, the rest was up to him.

For other new Trainers, raising Bulbasaur—or Venusaur—as a special attacker is not so easy. The physical attacker path requires greater strength, while the special attacker path demands immense mental power to manipulate energy. Some moves depend on strength, others on mental focus...

If Bulbasaur takes the special attack route, it will be at a disadvantage not only outside of using moves but also because of a lack of special attack skills. If Bulbasaur doesn’t inherit or otherwise learn new moves, relying only on those awakened naturally as it grows, there’s just one special attack move: at level 36, it can learn Solar Beam, and if it evolves into Venusaur, not until level 58.

Admittedly, Solar Beam is powerful, but it takes too long to charge sunlight, making it tactically inflexible. As for the other attack moves—they’re all physical!

Which means, for a long stretch, it has no usable special attack skills.

Aam, however, wasn’t worried and was fully prepared to support Bulbasaur through the difficult early stages—with his unique abilities, Bulbasaur needn’t worry about lacking special attack moves.

As Bulbasaur grows, the gap between physical and special attack will also narrow. A strong special attacker can, outside of using moves, gather different types of energy, even move objects with their mind or fly by mental power.

But for a special attacker Pokémon not to be a burden outside of moves, it would need to reach tournament-level strength...