As night fell, Gengar floated in through the front door after getting off work, its tongue reaching out to lick Lu Ye.
"Gengarr~~"
That icy cold sensation hit, and surprisingly, Lu Ye didn't get paralyzed—he was actually a little panicked.
Then suddenly, Lu Ye's body stiffened for a moment… and he let out a breath of relief, "Go wash your hands, dinner's ready."
"Gengarr!" Gengar nodded and started pulling out bottles of soda one by one, lining them up on the table.
Lu Ye's mouth twitched.
Good grief, you went out restocking again?
Well… guess this could count as an employee benefit.
Still, Lu Ye transferred the money to Sabrina.
---
Private message window—
[Sabrina: Gengar's strength has improved at an incredible rate.]
[Lu Ye: Of course… look who trained him.]
Sabrina frowned slightly and fell silent.
She had to admit—even she was a bit stunned by how fast the growth had been.
It was hard to imagine just how terrifying Teacher Lu would be in full power, considering he managed to train Gengar to this level in just half a year.
Sabrina sent three thumbs-up emojis.
Lu Ye replied with a toothy grin emoji.
---
After dinner, Gengar took Arcanine out for a walk around the neighborhood.
Since this was the luxury residential area where Cynthia's villa was located, Pokémon like Arcanine and Rapidash weren't exactly rare, so they didn't draw too much attention.
Meanwhile, Togepi was cuddled up at home in a Pikachu onesie, hugging a huge bottle of cola while watching cartoons.
Squirtle was doing push-ups on the floor, its shiny bald head gleaming under the light.
Lu Ye stared at it with a complicated expression.
With a head like that, it's almost impossible not to become strong…
Even Sylveon had disappeared somewhere. Probably out nearby, beating up a Persian and a Raticate or two.
Lu Ye wasn't too worried.
Thanks to Sylveon's Forewarn ability, even after evolution, it had powerful sensing skills.
And even if it couldn't win a fight, after being with Lu Ye for so long, it could easily run away if needed.
That said…
Not having Sylveon in his arms just felt like something was missing.
So, Lu Ye grabbed a 25kg dumbbell and opened his livestream.
He'd taken three days off for the trip to Cinnabar Island, and this stream was meant to introduce a new battle tactic.
He renamed the stream to: [Teacher Lu's Grand Dining Hall – National Banquet Standards.]
As soon as the stream went live, fans swarmed into the dining hall with excitement.
"Dinner time, brothers!"
"This round, we're having braised Farfetch'd!"
"Thanks to 'Did Teacher Lu Eat Yet' for the plane!"
Lu Ye said, "I did. Had egg fried rice just now."
"Streamer, why do you eat egg fried rice every day?"
"Just curious—does egg fried rice glow?"
As usual, the stream began with a Q&A session.
Stuff like, "Why isn't Eevee here today?" or "Did Teacher Lu go on a blind date?"
"Eevee's out for a stroll, so today I brought a dumbbell as the stream's mascot."
Lu Ye casually lifted the 25kg dumbbell with one hand.
The solid iron plates left viewers dumbfounded.
"Steel dumbbell—danger!"
"Spam FEAR in the chat, brothers!"
"As we all know," Lu Ye said with a serious face, "Before becoming a streamer, I was a professional fitness athlete."
A flood of question marks rolled across the comments.
"When's Teacher Lu gonna be crowned number one in Modu?"
"Legend has it, Teacher Lu was the P1 Martial Arts Tournament champ, held the lightweight title belt, and left the sport in protest of rigged matches—then turned to streaming…"
"Exactly right."
As the chat got more and more ridiculous, Lu Ye nodded solemnly, "Today, I'm gonna show you guys some lower-body techniques."
When Lu Ye opened his team editor and dragged Hitmonlee into the lineup…
Everyone watching froze.
Seeing Lu Ye's serious face, an unbelievable thought crossed their minds, 'Don't tell me… this guy really f**ing knows his Fighting-types?!'
"You're not seriously a fight champ, are you?!"
"Lower-body techniques… Hitmonlee… is this the legendary 'Lu-style Kick'?!"
"I was there! I AM that golden belt!"
Hitmonlee, more widely known by its Japanese name "Sawamular," was a humanoid Fighting-type Pokémon with a brown body, no mouth, and just a pair of eyes.
(Lu Ye: Then how the heck does it eat berries…?)
All four limbs could extend and retract freely, making it super flexible. Its legs, in particular, were like loaded springs.
"Hitmonlee's Ability is Unburden," Lu Ye explained. "Once it loses its held item, Unburden gives it a big speed boost. This is the focus of today's tactic—Unburden Team."
"The standard Unburden combo is Grimmsnarl with Hitmonlee, using Swagger to burn through the held Persim Berry that cures confusion. Or, Lapras using Ice Shard to activate Hawlucha's Weakness Policy, giving it the Unburden boost for a sweep."
"As always—both Hitmonlee and Hawlucha have their own strengths."
Unburden Team was known for being fast and aggressive.
Its core was almost always centered around Fighting-types like Hitmonlee and Hawlucha, so calling it a Fighting-type tactic wasn't wrong at all.
With its blazing speed, Unburden was even faster to activate than Tailwind, sometimes deciding a match in just one turn.
Simple, brutal.
The perfect cheese strat for Fighting-type Trainers!
Lu Ye hit the matchmaking button. "Let's welcome today's first victim!"
---
Interpol Tactical Academy
A middle-aged man in a brown trench coat stroked his chin in deep thought.
At such a young age, how has he already mastered these Pokémon tactics and built strategies around them?
Even within Interpol's anti-riot squad, which specialized in close combat, they used similar Unburden tactics.
But to share it so openly, without holding back…
This young man truly lived up to the title of "Tactical Instructor."
"All units—take detailed notes!" barked the man, codename Looker.
"Yes, sir!"
---
Team Rocket's Secret Base
A man in a black suit stroked his docile Persian while staring at the projection screen.
"Fighting-types again this time?" Giovanni lowered his head, his gaze gentle yet full of intrigue as he murmured: "What kind of surprise will you bring me this time…"
---
Teacher Lu's livestream had caught the attention of all the top players in the chat group too.
Seeing that classic team comp, Yellow couldn't help but exclaim, "Red-senpai!"
"Ah…" Red smiled faintly, his eyes sharp. "That's the same tactic we've encountered before."
Back in the day, Red clashed with the Elite Four over ideological differences.
He fought Bruno, Lorelei, and Agatha all at once—and didn't fall behind.
In the end, it was only Lorelei's Glalie that managed to freeze him solid.
Back then, Agatha and Bruno had also shown off a combo where Arbok used Swagger to boost Hitmonlee's power.
Now, seeing Teacher Lu pull out a similar strategy again—
A nostalgic light flickered in Red's eyes.
Yellow sat quietly beside him, not interrupting.
After a while, she asked softly: "Is Teacher Lu also really good at Fighting-types?"
Red didn't hesitate at all and nodded firmly.
"Of course."
Compared to Trainers who only competed in official matches—
Teacher Lu was more like me and Blue: someone who embraced and excelled at no-holds-barred wild battles.
You could tell just from how he defeated both Gold and Professor Oak in outdoor fights.
Without a solid physical foundation and serious fighting skills—
Forget Professor Oak—even Gold isn't someone the average master could beat!
No wonder he chose to stream an Unburden team this time.
Red smiled slightly at the thought.
"Let's watch Teacher Lu's lesson first!"