Baimu hoped Porygon would learn many moves.
Among them, Trick Room is undoubtedly a rather important skill, which can effectively compensate for his team's general lack of speed.
But to be honest, Trick Room is used far less in single battles in games than in doubles. Because setting up the room, having the room handler leave the field, and replacing the attacker all take time to complete, it's quite dragging in the fast-paced single battles of choosing three out of six.
If the opponent predicts what you're going to do, this period of time is enough for them to complete enhancements that flatten your team.
Another point is that priority moves take precedence over speed, leading to situations where even after you set the room, the opponent can attack faster than you.
Overall, in single battles of choosing three from six, Trick Room teams are relatively hard to use.
But that's the situation in the games.
In the animated context, there are far more things to consider, such as no longer having the four-move skill limit, mixing doubles battles in Hoenn Region Gym challenges and League tournaments, and six Pokémon participating in all-out single battles.
The room for Trick Room to shine is broader than in the game's three-out-of-six singles.
Porygon can also learn more attacking moves, allowing it to switch between being a room handler and an attacker. Porygon II's attack isn't particularly high but not low either.
"Destructive Beam is learned upon evolution... then Trick Room, Strong Mental Will, Hundred Thousand Volts, Frozen Beam, Awakened Power... No Trick? Seems Porygon and Porygon II can't learn it."
Baimu flipped through Porygon's learnable move information, eager to instruct it in a Pokémon battle.
The opponent is undoubtedly Chansey.
Simply put, nobody can claim first in endurance and stamina against Little Egg, making it the most suitable Pokémon for sparring.
"Illusion Beam!"
Baimu stood beside Porygon so it could see him and waved his hand towards Chansey.
"Pory!"
Porygon swung its leg components, glowing with blue waves, concentrating at the tail tip forming a light dot, which it raised and shot towards Chansey!
The radiant multicolor beam streaked through the air but missed the nimble Chansey, which simply sidestepped, making the Illusion Beam hit the ground.
Pa!
Spiritual Power kicked up a thin layer of dust.
Porygon was visibly stunned.
"Don't be surprised, Chansey excels in evasion; it's its forte." Baimu patted its head, signaling reassurance.
"Pory!"
Porygon softly replied.
The most gratifying part is that its actual behavior isn't as unusually rigid or monotonous as Baimu feared. The Illustrated Guide describes it as only capable of performing basic actions based on programming; everything is artificial.
It seemed to have the cold mechanical feel of computer systems.
But after actually interacting with Porygon, it's found to be pretty much like a normal Pokémon, at least showing emotions of joy and surprise quite naturally so far.
"Again, use Signal Beam!"
Baimu ordered once more.
Porygon raised its tail again, shooting a gleaming green beam at Chansey.
Zoom—Boom!
The beam missed again, effortlessly dodged by Chansey.
Porygon paused.
Then,
It didn't wait for the trainer's command, firing another Signal Beam at Chansey, seeming like it was stirred up with a desire believing it can't miss.
Baimu silently noted this naturally emerging emotion and timely called it to a halt.
"Missing from over ten meters away is very normal; the opponent is already prepared, watching your tail's direction for evasion, so failing to hit is normal."
He turned Porygon's face towards him, looking into its dull eyes, "Want to hit such agile opponents? Simple, just be more agile than them, move around, shoot from places they can't react to."
"Pory~"
Porygon nodded as if suddenly enlightened.
As an artificial Pokémon, its major advantage lies in its ability far exceeding other Pokémon in understanding human language. Unlike when Baimu first met Aron, where all day long the most they did was guessing what the other was trying to convey.
It was really frustrating.
"Charge towards it! High-speed Movement!" Baimu commanded.
"Pory!"
Porygon swung its leg components, suddenly charging towards Chansey at a quite swift pace.
This guy, even without Electromagnetic Levitation, could float up, moving via unconscious release of the Magnetic Suspension System. Dr. Akihabara stated this feature was added during Porygon's creation, sourced from Magnemite.
However,
Though it can fly, the Ground Attribute energy can't be neutralized this way. If you truly want to avoid Ground Attribute, you still need Electromagnetic Levitation.
"Lucky!"
Chansey wasn't startled by Porygon's displayed speed, but its expression turned more serious, eyes closely watching the approaching Porygon, patiently observing the opponent's actions, and the opponent's tail movements.
"Get past its front!"
Baimu's shout suddenly came.
Porygon hesitated briefly, then swiftly moved past Chansey's front, trying to maneuver behind in an arc.
But who knew Chansey's dynamic vision and reaction capability were exceptional; no matter how it circled, it couldn't turn Chansey to face its back. Flying close to the ground instinctively sped up a bit.
Anxiety.
Another naturally formed emotion.
Unfortunately, even so, what lay before Porygon was still Chansey's front,
"Stop!"
Baimu's loud shout made Porygon's movements abruptly halt, but just like a car braking hard on a highway, due to inertia, it circled almost another half before stopping.
Then, an interesting thing happened.
Upon hearing the shout, Chansey instantly stopped turning, while Porygon continued due to inertia and finally saw Chansey's back.
"Now! Illusion Beam!"
"Pory!"
Porygon raised its tail, shooting a vibrant multicolor beam forward!
Buzz—
A shrill sound rang out.
But just as it was about to hit Chansey, a semi-transparent glass barrier appeared at its back, the beam entered, halving its power, barely affecting Chansey.
[Light Wall].
A magical wall effectively reducing special attacks.
Porygon's system rapidly gleaned data from the database and provided it an answer.
"Quick reaction indeed, no wonder it's you, Chansey."
Baimu walked over, praising Chansey's quick reflexes. Although this Little Egg got tricked by the trainer, it could promptly react and craft a strategy.
Undoubtedly, these are results of accumulated efforts.
"Lucky~"
Chansey, a bit embarrassed, rubbed its hands, gazing at Porygon with slight apology.
It personally preferred to go easy on new partners, letting them hit it a few times to boost confidence, but unfortunately, the trainer firmly disagreed.
This was how it had to be.
Porygon also blankly looked at Chansey, then admiration flickered in its gaze.