Pokemon: The Legendary Trainer

To be honest, when Sato first saw the six available Pokémon, his initial thought was to choose the strongest one: Ekans.

However, after calming down and thinking it over, he shifted his focus to the rack filled with PokéBalls containing Zubat.

As a Pokémon enthusiast, Sato was naturally very familiar with these six common Pokémon from the Kanto region. Ekans and Koffing, in particular, were standard for Team Rocket. Both were Poison-type Pokémon, and among all the basic Poison-types, they were considered quite powerful.

Ekans, for example, was a large purple snake, and most of them had the Intimidate ability, which made it clear they were not to be trifled with.

In the wild, Ekans, being a Poison-type, had a dominant presence in its habitat and was high on the food chain. Most wild Pokémon would turn and flee at the sight of it.

Koffing, on the other hand, was even more notorious, known as Team Rocket's go-to escape tool. Whether it was releasing black smoke to confuse enemies or performing a self-destruct attack at critical moments, Koffing was an extremely useful Pokémon for Team Rocket. Moreover, Koffing wasn't picky about food, making it an easy and powerful Pokémon to raise.

However, as a starter Pokémon for a new trainer, both of these Poison-types were clearly unsuitable.

You have to understand, when a trainer chooses a Pokémon, the Pokémon is also choosing its trainer. If the trainer isn't capable enough to earn the Pokémon's respect, they might face retaliation.

This is especially true for Pokémon with no prior bond with their trainer. Haven't everyone seen how Pikachu used to constantly shock Ash? If even Pikachu behaved that way, one can only imagine the danger of handling dangerous Poison-types like Ekans and Koffing.

Ekans, in particular, is a cold-blooded, highly aggressive Pokémon. Even with the constraints of the PokéBall, a trainer would still need to be cautious of backlash. Otherwise, they might end up becoming the snake's victim.

Koffing was also quite hazardous. As its name suggests, it is filled with gases. Everyone knows what gases can do. If a large amount of gasses gather, even a small spark could trigger an explosion.

Moreover, despite Koffing's dopey appearance, it has a bad temper, almost comparable to an Electrode. A minor incident could easily set off a self-destruct move. (Pokémon using Self-Destruct won't die, but they will be left severely injured, though timely treatment can save them.)

So, after carefully considering his current abilities as a trainer, Sato wisely ruled out both Ekans and Koffing. He didn't want to risk serious injury at such a young age.

As for the remaining four Pokémon, Sato quickly eliminated Rattata and Geodude. The reason was simple: while Rattata is easy to raise, it has very little potential for growth. If it were an Alolan Rattata, he might have considered it.

Geodude, while boasting excellent defense, has far too many weaknesses, making it easy for opponents to outmaneuver and keep it at a disadvantage in battle.

That left him with two final options: Spearow and Zubat. Sato then engaged in some intense internal debate.

In terms of combat ability, Spearow is clearly stronger than Zubat. However, Spearow is also notoriously hot-tempered, living up to its name, and taming it in a short period would be no easy task.

Zubat, on the other hand, earned Sato's admiration. As a nocturnal creature, while its combat abilities are reduced during the day, it's excellent scouting capabilities are unmatched by any of the other five Pokémon. Additionally, it's easy to feed, requiring fewer resources to raise.

Zubat's echolocation ability also provides excellent early warning for its trainer, reducing the risk of dangerous encounters.

Zubat's utility for a new trainer, who don't yet have much battle prowess, is immense, helping them transition through the early stages with relative ease.

Moreover, because Zubat's combat power weakens during the day, Sato felt confident he could quickly tame it.

Based on his understanding of bats, he knew that Zubats are extremely afraid of strong light. By exploiting this weakness, he believed capturing a Zubat would not be too difficult.

Sato also had great confidence in his ability to train Zubat. As its name suggests, Zubat's innate talent revolves around sound waves—no surprise there. And as a former science student in his previous life, Sato had an in-depth understanding of sound waves. He knew just how powerful they could be. If he could develop Zubat's natural ability, it would undoubtedly become a formidable force under his command.

Having decided on his starter Pokémon, Sato fully focused his attention on the rack holding Zubat's PokéBalls. At the same time, a faint blue light flickered in his eyes.

As a transmigrator, Sato Kaede had more than just memories from his past life; he also possessed something many transmigrators typically have—a special advantage often referred to as a "golden finger," or cheat: a system.

Unfortunately, compared to other transmigrators, his system was somewhat lackluster. It didn't gift him a powerful Pokémon from the start, nor did it grant him any amazing abilities from the Pokémon world, like the power of Viridian, Aura, or psychic powers.

So far, based on his understanding of the system's functions, it only had one feature: the ability to scan/inspect Pokémon.

Still, Sato was quite satisfied with this feature. It allowed him to instantly see a Pokémon's level and skills, giving him a significant advantage in battles by knowing his opponent's capabilities ahead of time.

Thanks to the system's detailed scanning ability, the information of each Zubat in the rack of PokéBalls was quickly laid out before Sato's eyes.

Innate talent is important in every world. There's no denying that some are born with better potential than others, and unless there's a stroke of luck later in life, it's very hard to change that.

At the same time, in the Pokémon world, talent is extremely important for Pokémon.

Within any Pokémon group, there are naturally members with high talent and those with lower talent. Generally, the more talented ones grow into leaders of their groups, while the less talented ones remain as underlings.

However, Sato felt a bit disappointed that his system didn't include a function to detect a Pokémon's talent. He could only see their level and moves, and as for distinguishing their talent, he could only make educated guesses.

Currently, Sato's only method for gauging a Pokémon's talent based on the system's data was to see whether they had any egg movee or tutor moves (moves taught by themselves or by someone naturally)

Typically, if a Pokémon inherits a powerful move that can only be learned at higher levels or not at all through normal level progression, it usually indicates high potential. After all, a Pokémon born with such moves must have at least one strong parent.

The same goes for tutor moves. For a wild Pokémon to learn a move it wouldn't normally acquire through simply leveling up, it either has to figure it out on it's own or be taught by others.

These self-learned moves are often treasured by wild Pokémon, treated like heirlooms, and are rarely taught to others, usually only passed down to offspring or close companions.

Similarly, any Pokémon capable of independently learning a skill they wouldn't normally acquire through leveling up must have a strong aptitude, at least in terms of intelligence.

By this logic, any Pokémon with tutor moves either has a very strong parent or a close partner who taught them. The first scenario is usually the more likely.

Using his system's scanning function, Sato quickly reviewed the levels and skills of each Zubat. Unfortunately, none of them were above level 7, and only two had egg moves or tutor moves, which left Sato somewhat disappointed.

The details of the two Zubats were as follows:

Pokémon: Zubat (#1)

Level: 7

Type: Poison/Flying

Ability: Inner Focus

Gender: Female

Known Moves: Absorb, Supersonic, Astonish, Bite, Wing Attack, Gust (Egg move), Aerial Ace (tutor)

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Pokémon: Zubat (#2)

Level: 7

Type: Poison/Flying

Ability: Inner Focus

Gender: Male

Known Moves: Absorb, Supersonic, Astonish, Bite, Wing Attack, Hypnosis (Egg move), Shadow Ball (tutor)

Comparing the two Zubats, Sato could easily tell that these two were likely the most talented Zubat available from Team Rocket's selection. Of course, there could be even more talented ones, but since he couldn't take them out to inspect, he had to rely on the available data to make his judgment.

Besides egg moves and tutor moves, another way to gauge a Pokémon's talent was by observing its physical development.

In the wild, unless a Pokémon has a trainer to care for it, they must rely on their own abilities to find food.

It stands to reason that a more talented Pokémon would naturally be stronger than it's peers during it's growth, allowing it to secure more resources and develop better.

This is the harsh reality of nature's survival of the fittest: only the strongest thrive, while the weak stay weak unless some extraordinary opportunity comes along to change their fate.

After some quick consideration, Sato chose the second Zubat as his Pokémon. To him, Zubat, being a fragile Pokémon before evolution, wasn't suited for charging straight into battle but was better at attacking from a distance and supporting with interference tactics. Between Gust and Aerial Ace, and Hypnosis and Shadow Ball, the latter set seemed a much better fit for Zubat.

"I hope we can become great partners. I'll do my best to train you," Sato thought as he held the PokéBall containing his Zubat.

Then, amid the impatient gazes of the others, Sato—who was the last to choose a Pokémon and had also taken the longest time—calmly returned to the lineup of new trainers, showing no hint of awkwardness or embarrassment.

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