Among Pokémon Trainers, the four most popular specializations were Water, Fire, Grass, and Fighting.
Pokémon belonging to these four types generally possessed excellent offensive coverage.
They also had a large number of powerful species to choose from and were relatively abundant throughout the world.
Naturally, there were far more Trainers specializing in those types than in most others.
However, when it came to the two types with the greatest number of Trainers overall, the answer would undoubtedly be—
Bug and Grass.
The reason was extremely simple.
Pokémon of those two types were inexpensive and easy to raise.
They were especially suitable for common-born Trainers who lacked sufficient funds during the early stages of their journey.
Bug-type Pokémon were often treated as synonymous with weakness.
Although that stereotype was not always accurate, many Bug Pokémon remained relatively unimpressive even after reaching their final evolutionary forms.
Species such as Weedle, Caterpie, and Wurmple could be purchased for only fifty or sixty thousand yen.
That was a price nearly any ordinary family could afford.
Furthermore, even if their Trainer lacked the money to purchase specialized Pokémon food or Pokéblocks, those Pokémon could simply be fed leaves.
That was what they ate in the wilderness, after all.
With such rapid growth cycles, Pokémon like Weedle could evolve once within a week and reach their final evolutionary forms in roughly a month.
Of course, a Pokémon raised through such a bare-minimum method would possess extremely poor combat ability.
Its lifespan might also be reduced to only two or three years.
Even so, Bug types remained highly attractive to struggling Trainers.
They were cheap to purchase.
Cheap to feed.
Quick to evolve.
And capable of forming a certain degree of combat power within a short period.
Grass-type Pokémon were more expensive than Bug types, but they possessed an equally important advantage—
Their tenacious vitality made them exceptionally easy to keep alive.
As long as there was sufficient sunlight, most Grass-type Pokémon could maintain their daily energy requirements through photosynthesis.
Once a Grass Pokémon learned Ingrain, it could survive for long periods even without ordinary food or water.
For common-born Trainers, choosing a Grass-type partner could save an enormous amount of money on food expenses.
That was why Bug- and Grass-type Pokémon became the first choice of countless civilian Trainers.
They did not require expensive training facilities, nor did their Trainers need to invest overwhelming amounts of time and resources into their early development.
For someone with limited funds, they were undoubtedly the most economical options available.
Their combat ability might not always compare favorably to that of rarer or naturally stronger Pokémon, but they could still play indispensable roles in ordinary battles and wilderness exploration. New chapters come out on novelping(.)com first.
Furthermore, Bug and Grass Pokémon were widely distributed throughout nature.
A Trainer was far more likely to encounter and capture one in the wilderness, further lowering the barrier to entry.
Aside from being cheap and easy to obtain, those two types also possessed unique tactical value.
Individual Bug-type Pokémon might not have overwhelming power, but many possessed an advantage in speed.
They could seize the initiative through rapid attacks or disrupt opponents with status-inducing techniques.
Grass-type Pokémon, meanwhile, excelled in prolonged battles.
By using recovery moves such as Synthesis and Ingrain, they could restore their stamina while gradually exhausting the opponent, creating an opportunity for a decisive counterattack.
As long as a common-born Trainer properly utilized those advantages, Bug- and Grass-type Pokémon could produce surprisingly effective results.
More importantly, raising them allowed inexperienced Trainers to accumulate valuable knowledge and practical experience.
By growing alongside those Pokémon, Trainers could gradually learn about abilities, type matchups, command timing, cultivation methods, and battle strategies.
That experience would form a solid foundation for the challenges awaiting them in the future.
Many Trainers initially chose Bug Pokémon because of their family’s financial limitations.
Once their economic circumstances improved, they would either capture more powerful Bug-type species—
Or change to a type that suited them better.
…
“Suguru Natsume.
Steel-type Trainer.”
Before long, all thirty students in the classroom had finished introducing themselves.
Twenty had chosen to become professional Trainers.
The remaining ten intended to pursue other Pokémon-related professions.
All twenty Trainers had selected a single type as their specialization.
Not one had chosen to become a multi-type Trainer.
Generally speaking, single-type specialists were more likely to become powerful.
When every Pokémon on a team belonged to the same type, there would naturally be similarities in their diets, cultivation methods, move combinations, training routines, and required resources.
This significantly reduced the amount of attention the Trainer needed to divide among their team.
A single-type specialist could concentrate all their time and effort on thoroughly understanding one field.
There was only one obvious disadvantage—
They were easily countered by unfavorable type matchups.
A Fire-type specialist who encountered a Water-type specialist would naturally find themselves at an overwhelming disadvantage.
Even so, most Trainers still preferred to focus on a single type and explore its potential to the absolute limit.
Fire-type Trainers, for example, would conduct extensive research into combustion, temperature control, explosive attacks, and the various ways their Pokémon could maximize their offensive power.
Water-type Trainers would instead focus on water manipulation, flexibility, adaptability, and prolonged combat.
Each type possessed its own knowledge system.
Choosing multiple types could greatly reduce the danger of being completely countered.
A Trainer might even use their secondary type to turn the matchup against their opponent.
However, becoming a multi-type Trainer required several times more effort than specializing in a single type.
The cultivation methods for different types could vary enormously.
Their food, training environments, resources, physical requirements, and tactical systems might have almost nothing in common.
Dividing one’s attention among several types would inevitably slow the development of the entire team.
Many Trainers only began studying another type after reaching a high level—such as the Elite tier—and discovering that they could no longer advance through their original specialization alone.
Beginning one’s career as a multi-type Trainer was exceedingly rare.
In the eyes of most experienced Trainers, doing so was an unwise decision.
Rookie Trainers generally lacked both resources and experience.
They could barely afford to properly cultivate one team, much less several completely different systems at once.
For most beginners, concentrating on a single type, establishing a solid foundation, and achieving a certain degree of fame and success was the safer path.
Most famous Trainers had also begun their careers as single-type specialists.
Through their deep understanding of one type and their refined cultivation techniques, they distinguished themselves in numerous competitions.
Only after accumulating sufficient knowledge, resources, and strength would they consider adding another type to broaden their battle style and tactical options.
Those who blindly pursued multiple types from the very beginning often found themselves unable to properly cultivate any of them.
Their Pokémon developed unevenly.
Their teams lacked coordination.
And during actual battles, they were unable to display the strength they should have possessed.
Eventually, such Trainers would be pushed toward the margins of the fiercely competitive Trainer world.
Thus, beginning with a single type was not a limitation.
For the overwhelming majority of Trainers, it was the result of careful consideration and practical wisdom.
Of course—
Everything changed if an overwhelmingly powerful family stood behind you.
Cultivation methods?
Resources?
Training facilities?
Move combinations?
Battle strategies?
The family could arrange all of it.
The Trainer only needed to work hard at building a bond with their Pokémon.
At the very least, they had to make sure their own Pokémon did not dislike them so much that they refused to obey during battle.