The Naclstack line in Paldea held the same status as the Miltank line in Johto.
With their inherently valuable rock salt, nobody really cared if they were good at fighting.
From ancient times to now, people in Paldea thought this way, so almost no one used a Naclstack in battle. That was why Paul didn't know its moves and gave the wrong order.
The moment Lucas spoke, Grotle smashed headfirst into Naclstack. Even with Naclstack's naturally steady footing, it still stumbled from the impact under Grassy Glide, almost losing its balance.
In terms of weight, the two Pokémon weren't too far apart, but Grotle was bulkier, and combined with the super-effective nature of the hit, it produced a very obvious result.
Paul didn't have time to be pleased before Grotle suddenly let out a cry of pain. Alarmed, he snapped his gaze to the gap between Grotle and Naclstack.
He found that Grotle's head was now coated in a layer of pure white salt from Naclstack's spray. That salt seemed to have an extremely corrosive effect, embedding itself firmly into Grotle's head, and as time went on, the salt grew and expanded, making Grotle howl in agony.
Paul's expression changed. A near-unbelievable guess came to mind.
Could that move—Salt Cure—not simply be some Rock-type attack Grotle could tank with its defense, but a move that inflicted something akin to poison or burns, some persistent condition!?
"This is bad. Grotle, use Rest—"
"I'll remind you," Lucas smiled mildly, "Salt Cure lasts until you recall Grotle to its Poké Ball or the battle ends."
"Rest's bonus effect of removing status conditions can't clear Salt Cure, because it isn't a status condition."
Paul's eyes flew wide open. He finally realized where his decisive mistake lay.
He should've been guarding against Salt Cure from the very start!
"Since you're not giving out orders, I'll call the second one: Iron Defense!"
At Lucas's command—a command that made Paul's face darken even more—Naclstack was bathed in a metallic sheen, as if its hardness had sharply risen.
"Tch… Razor Leaf!"
Though things were slipping completely out of his control, Paul forced himself to stay composed and issued an order to Grotle, which had instinctively backed away to maintain distance from Naclstack to avoid getting another faceful of salt.
Gritting its teeth through the gnawing pain of the rock salt crystals growing all over it, Grotle gathered Grass energy. Countless sharp, crescent-shaped leaves shot out from both sides of its body and rained down over Naclstack.
Lucas's mouth quirked up, and he answered boldly, "Tank it—and another Iron Defense!"
Paul: "???"
You dare get greedy with your buffs!?
As the storm of Razor Leaf subsided, Naclstack emerged, its body now even more impressively solid.
Lucas didn't know if Paul had realized the deeper purpose behind him choosing Naclstack for this battle, besides simply wanting to disgust him—but even so, he still gave an order that would make Paul's mentality completely collapse.
"Recover!"
A pale green light wrapped Naclstack, and the damage from the opening Grassy Glide and the follow-up Razor Leaf was wiped away.
Everything was back to square one.
The rest of the battle was something Paul would look back on for years, and every time the memory surfaced, he'd feel queasy.
It was that disgusting. He had never seen a strategy so vile. There was no joy of Pokémon battle at all—just pure torture.
Lucas and Naclstack perfectly embodied motionless as a mountain—letting Grotle and Paul unleash themselves in a frenzy while Naclstack simply refused to move.
Aside from occasionally throwing out a Tackle, Rock Throw, or Mud Shot out of boredom—weak, insulting little moves—it mostly just sat there and let Salt Cure gnaw away at Grotle's HP. When it looked like all of Grotle and Paul's efforts were about to amount to something, it calmly used the freshly learned Recover and erased their progress.
And the Salt Cure kept chewing away at Grotle's stamina. Naclstack's weak yet insulting little hits only drove Grotle into a raging red state.
Even like this, Lucas still felt a bit regretful.
Besides the battling Naclstack, the other two siblings were still practicing Recover and were a ways off from learning their main offensive move, Body Press, and evolving… Though their physical hardness had definitely improved a lot. It seemed Mt. Silver's soil mainly boosted physical stats.
In the end, Paul recalled his Grotle—now covered head to toe in rock-salt crystals—back to its Poké Ball. The moment Grotle turned to red light, those crystals, as if they'd lost their anchor, tumbled to the ground and then slowly faded away.
Lucas gave Naclstack's head a couple of pats, promising it an extra sack of Mt. Silver soil later as a reward, then turned to look at Paul, who now stood there with his head bowed, clearly deep in thought. Lucas walked over.
When he got closer, he could finally hear Paul's muttered self-talk that would've been inaudible from any further away.
"Grotle's fighting style doesn't seem suited to actively closing in. Once it evolves, its body will be even bulkier… Rushing in blindly could hand over the advantage to a surprise move and even decide the battle in an instant."
"In that case, it seems like I could try copying Naclstack's battle style. But Grotle doesn't have such a broken move like Salt Cure. If we want to win, we'll have to go with training the power behind its attacks."
"Next time… next time, I'll definitely give Teacher Lucas a battle he'll be satisfied with…"
Lucas listened a while, and the curve of his smile grew even higher.
Unlike Nemona or Ash's hot-blooded friendship-based approach, Paul had a cool head and sharp tactical senses. He almost never made the same mistake twice; you could see that from the fact that he'd switched Grotle to long-range moves afterward.
And going by his League performance in the original Sinnoh timeline—where he used rotations to gain advantages—his tactical aptitude absolutely fit the profile of a future top-tier Trainer.
Clap, clap, clap.
Lucas lightly clapped to draw Paul's attention, then announced, "You've passed my test. From now on, there's no need for you to attend the regular battle classes with the others. You can join Nemona and the rest in the special training area and receive my instruction."
Hearing that, Paul—whose face still held traces of frustration and unwillingness—froze, then lowered his head in confusion. "But… I lost the battle."
The loser had no right to make demands of the winner.
Seeing how stubbornly Paul clung to that, Lucas could only pinch the bridge of his nose. "I never said, from the very beginning, that you have to beat me in a battle for me to teach you or make you stronger."
Paul stared, disbelief flickering across his face.
Lucas continued, "Likewise, if I'm not satisfied with you, even if you beat me, I still wouldn't take you on as a student."
"If I've accepted you, that means you've met my requirements."
"Your idea just now was very good. A Pokémon like Torterra is suited to standing firm without moving and using overwhelming, suffocating attacks to pressure the opponent, winning without having to take a single step."
Paul's eyes widened slightly. With Lucas's explanation, the fog that had been hanging in his mind was almost entirely dispersed.
His direction for Grotle's future training was now set: a fixed turret with ironclad defenses and overwhelming firepower.
At this point, Paul's gaze toward Lucas completely changed.
Before, he'd only wanted to learn how to become stronger from Lucas, then train and one day defeat Palmer and Regirock. His respect was just surface-level politeness and upbringing.
Now, his respect was real—true reverence toward a powerful Trainer and teacher.
Paul bowed deeply again, this time with even more formality. "Thank you for your guidance. Both Grotle and I have gained something extremely important!"
Lucas chuckled. "Are you heading back to the academy now? Do you have a second Pokémon with you?"
"I plan to return to the academy." Paul nodded lightly, confirming the first question, then shook his head. "I don't have a second Pokémon yet, since I haven't started my journey."
"I see…"
If Paul had a second Pokémon, Lucas wouldn't have bothered Comfey; he would've just told Paul to head to a Pokémon Center.
But walking back to Mesagoza without a partner could be dangerous if wild Pokémon attacked, so to be safe, it was better to have Comfey treat Grotle first.
Lucas quickly explained his idea. Paul nodded, a bit flustered, saying he'd follow whatever Lucas arranged.
Paul's reaction surprised Lucas slightly, though it also made sense.
In the anime, Paul was incredibly polite in front of elders like Cynthia and Professor Oak; now, without his later extreme views, he was even more so.
On the way to the infirmary to find Comfey, Lucas asked curiously, "Do you have any plans for which Pokémon to catch later?"
Paul stopped, thought carefully, and replied, "I have some ideas. Once Grotle evolves into Torterra, it'll gain Ground typing. Its weaknesses will be Bug, Fire, Flying, and Ice. Right now, I want to catch a Rock-type Pokémon…"
"Good idea."
Lucas's eyes lit up. A Rock-type would perfectly cover Torterra's weaknesses and form a strong defensive core.
His gaze fell on the silent Naclstack walking calmly at his side.
"Shame my Naclstack has only been with me a few months—it'll be a long while before I see any eggs. Otherwise I'd absolutely pick one for you."
Listening to Lucas's regretful tone, Paul pictured himself commanding a Naclstack in battle.
He had to admit, when you were the one using the disgusting strategy, it suddenly felt… pretty great.
Then Lucas suddenly said, "Right—how about Teddiursa and Ursaring? You thinking about catching one?"
Paul didn't even need to think. "I had considered catching a Teddiursa or Ursaring when I planned to travel in Kanto. Ursaring's physical power is excellent and worth cultivating."
"Paldea has Teddiursa and Ursaring too," Lucas reminded him.
Paul hesitated. "…You seem very eager for me to catch an Ursaring, Teacher?"
As the infirmary came into view and Arcanine and Dachsbun barreled toward him, Lucas simply painted a big, enticing picture. "There'll be a surprise for you all later—provided you beat all eight gyms."
"Oh, and Nemona has an Ursaring too. She should be finishing up the remaining gyms around this time, so you can see what surprise she gets."
With that, Lucas stopped looking at the pensive Paul, dropped into a solid horse stance, and braced himself for Arcanine's full-speed tackle.
He could not get knocked flying this time!
After Comfey treated Grotle, Paul politely bid Lucas farewell and set off back for Naranja Academy.
With some free time now, Lucas called in Calyrex and Oranguru to discuss the fields.
To appease Spectrier and Glastrier's tempers, they definitely had to recreate the Shaderoot Carrot and Iceroot Carrot fields from the Crown Tundra in Paldea.
But as for how to recreate them, they still didn't have a solid plan yet.
The field for Shaderoot Carrots was built next to an Old Cemetery, and the Iceroot Carrots' field sat in the middle of a snow-covered valley.
So, to create land suitable for Black and Iceroot Carrots, should they replicate those environments exactly, or would a sufficient concentration of Ice- or Ghost-type energy be enough?
Replicating the snowy valley wasn't too tricky, but recreating the Old Cemetery… was a bit iffy.
Once their discussion reached that point, Lucas, Oranguru, and Calyrex all came to the same conclusion.
"Practice is the only criterion for testing truth!"
…
On the other side—
Twilight descended and the sky blazed with afterglow.
With Grotle at his side, Paul walked the wild route back to Mesagoza and Naranja Academy, all the while fretting over whether the uniform really didn't suit him.
Naranja Academy allowed students to have their Pokémon out with them, as long as the students accepted full responsibility for anything their Pokémon caused.
Grotle was steady and reliable, and Paul trusted it.
As he walked through the purple-toned campus, Paul occasionally glanced around. His gaze drifted, almost without his noticing, to the fellow students in uniform, considering how the outfit looked fine on all of them—even a balding uncle in his fifties could wear it.
That line must've just been Teacher Lucas teasing him, right?
Thinking this, Paul finally exhaled and felt a lot lighter.
At that moment, his ears picked up the hushed conversation of two girls sitting on a bench beside the path.
Paul normally wasn't the type to eavesdrop on others.
But maybe because he was in a good mood now—or because their topic piqued his interest—he chose to pause and listen.
"…Did you hear? The academy's haunted lately!"
"For real!?"
"Totally! They say it's the grudges of expelled students and teachers gathering into ghosts!"
"They say a lot of shiny trinkets from teachers' and students' rooms have just been vanishing without a trace!"