"Let's go—to the backyard."
Ashen Vale glanced around at everyone and said it with a smile. He remembered the sunny-team suggestions Auron had once passed to Jace Rowan. Building on those ideas, he had been sketching out possible compositions for a Sandstorm team, a Rain team, and even a Hail/Snow team. Today, he genuinely wanted to hear what his son thought of Sandstorm builds—see where their understandings overlapped and where they differed.
Yu Xiuzhu and the other two traded puzzled looks. They didn't quite understand why father and son were asking him to send out his main roster. But out of trust for Dr. Lu and for a national research institute, none of them objected. They shrugged in unison and followed the Vales toward the back.
In the yard, Yu Xiuzhu stepped forward and released his six Pokémon.
A flicker crossed Auron's eyes; in an instant, the six sets of data unfurled before him.
Pokémon: Excadrill
Sex: Male
Type: Ground / Steel
Ability: Sand Rush (In a sandstorm, Speed is doubled.)
Aptitude: Green
Basic Moves: —
Egg Moves: —
......
Pokémon: Hippowdon
Sex: Male
Type: Ground
Ability: Sand Stream (On entry, changes the weather to a sandstorm for a time.)
Aptitude: Orange
Basic Moves: —
Egg Moves: —
......
Pokémon: Onix
Sex: Female
Type: Rock / Ground
Ability: Weak Armor (When hit by a physical move: Defense −1, Speed +2. For multi-hit physical moves, each hit can trigger this Ability.)
Aptitude: Purple
Basic Moves: —
Egg Moves: —
......
Pokémon: Rhydon (Rhyhorn line)
Sex: Male
Type: Ground / Rock
Ability: Reckless (Moves with recoil deal 20% more damage.)
Aptitude: Purple
Basic Moves: —
Egg Moves: —
......
Pokémon: Aggron
Sex: Male
Type: Steel / Rock
Ability: Heavy Metal (User's weight is doubled.)
Aptitude: Red
Basic Moves: —
Egg Moves: —
......
Pokémon: Garchomp
Sex: Male
Type: Dragon / Ground
Ability: Sand Veil (In a sandstorm, evasiveness increases.)
Aptitude: Gold
Basic Moves: —
Egg Moves: —
Auron blinked in mild surprise when he reached the final entry. He'd expected Tyranitar; after all, Tyranitar was often considered the heart of Sand teams—though it did have plenty of weaknesses.
Then he rapped himself lightly on the head. "Right—this isn't the game. You can swap team members as you wish."
"Xiaoze, let's hear your take."
Ashen looked to Auron with an easy smile. Auron could more or less guess what his father was thinking, so he answered:
"Dad, you've clearly got thoughts of your own. Why don't you start?"
Ashen chuckled. "All right—then I'll go first."
Their exchange left Yu Xiuzhu and the other two at sea. What take? What thoughts? Ashen didn't explain, but went straight on:
"First off, the identity of a Sandstorm team is simple: it's a team built around sandstorm weather. In sandstorms, only three types—Ground, Rock, and Steel—don't take chip damage. Correct?"
The three nodded. Of course. That was basic.
"But if your Sandstorm team is entirely Ground/Rock/Steel, then there's a glaring weakness: Fighting. A fast Fighting type shows up and it can sweep you off the board—right?"
Yu Xiuzhu nodded. "Exactly. That's why I keep losing to Yang Jingheng."
"Right. Because he specializes in Fighting, he threatens your Sand team heavily. And his ace Blaziken only gets faster the longer the fight goes. That's exactly why his sweeps come so easily."
Yu Xiuzhu bristled, unwilling to concede the point. "I know that. If Sand teams are weak to fast Fighters, then Sun teams are still weak to Sand, aren't they?"
Ashen didn't take offense. He just smiled. "Don't worry. That kind of hard counter won't keep happening in the future."
Seeing Yu draw breath to argue again, Ashen raised a hand to head him off.
"Let me finish, and then you can push back."
Yu Xiuzhu clamped down on his retort. He'd wait for Dr. Lu to finish before arguing. He was widely recognized as the country's foremost master of Sand teams, after all.
"How do you shore up against fast Fighters? You've surely thought of this: Flying, Bug, Fairy, Psychic, and Poison all resist Fighting."
"So we can consider incorporating those five types—either as primary or secondary typing—into a roster otherwise centered on Ground/Rock/Steel."
"For instance, Skarmory (Steel/Flying). Or Metagross (Steel/Psychic). Or Nidoking (Ground/Poison). And so on."
By the time Ashen finished, Yu Xiuzhu was nodding despite himself. It was true: fast Fighters would still be dangerous, but the threat was already much reduced.
He couldn't help looking at Ashen with a bit of respect. "As expected of Dr. Lu. Not only brilliant in research, but this fluent in team building, too. Impressive."
Ashen smiled and turned to Auron. "What I just said is very basic—like a sheet of paper over the truth. Poke through it and possibilities bloom; fail to poke through and you just tread water. As it happens, the one who poked through was Xiaoze. Ask him—see if he's got an even better way to build."
The line was aimed at Yu Xiuzhu—but it was also a prompt to Auron: do your views diverge from mine?
Auron fixed on Onix. "Why not evolve it—to Steelix?"
At that, Yu Xiuzhu immediately sounded a little aggrieved. "I asked Dax Jonas, and he wouldn't tell me. Said it wasn't public yet and told me to come ask you. If you hadn't brought it up, I'd have forgotten again."
Dax covered his face at the side, as if dying of secondhand embarrassment.
Auron chuckled. "All right, I'll tell you how later—it's simple. For now, let's talk Sandstorm."
"What Dad said is basically right: when your team has a glaring type-matchup vulnerability, you can cover it with your secondary typing."
"But even then, the threat doesn't vanish—it just shrinks. You can still get swept."
"For example: Skarmory is Steel/Flying. So Fighting hits it neutrally—but Fire still hits it super-effectively. If you slip for a moment, Blaziken can still blow through you."
"So in that situation, why not try Togekiss? As Fairy/Flying, Fighting deals ¼× damage, and Fire hits for neutral."
Yu Xiuzhu blurted, "But—Togekiss in a Sand team? Does that even fit?"
(End of this chapter)