"Froakie!"
Froakie patted its little chest, assuring Su Yi it had everything under control.
He led Froakie toward Torchic.
Torchic seemed to notice someone approaching and turned its wary gaze toward them.
Seeing another Trainer with a Pokémon, Torchic instinctively prepared to flee again.
"Come on, Torchic. Let's battle! I'm going to catch you!"
"Froakie!"
Froakie had already charged forward.
"Chim!"
Only then did Torchic realize its mistake. The Trainer was alone, and he was openly challenging it.
That immediately piqued Torchic's interest.
It suddenly dug its claws into the ground. The moment Froakie charged in, Torchic kicked dirt and sand up toward it.
Sand Attack: Uses dirt and sand to obscure the opponent's vision. If it hits, the opponent's move accuracy is reduced.
"Dodge it, Froakie! Quick Attack!"
"Froakie!"
Froakie dodged to the side, avoiding the dirt kicked up by Sand Attack. Then it pushed off with both hind legs and charged at Torchic!
Quick Attack hit, sending Torchic flying.
Torchic was just about to use Growl to lower Froakie's attack, but then it saw Froakie leap into the air of its own accord.
"Scratch Attack!"
"Froakie!"
Froakie's little paw struck Torchic, sending it crashing into a nearby tree.
The successive attacks drained Torchic's stamina, and it collapsed to the ground.
"Go, Pokeball!"
He took out an Advanced Pokeball and recalled Torchic into it.
Once Torchic was inside, the Advanced Pokeball began rocking from side to side.
Then, with a final click—
It was caught!
[ Ding! Congratulations, host! You caught Torchic. Side Quest 3 complete. Rewards issued: Roulette Draw Chance +1. Current chances: 1! ]
[ Ding! Congratulations, host! Side Quest complete. Bonus reward: Battle Drop Function! (Battle Drop: Your first battle against any Trainer's Pokémon or a wild Pokémon will grant you a randomly dropped item.) ]
[ Ding! Side Quests refreshing...]
[ Ding! Side Quests refreshed. New quests issued! ]
[ Ding! Side Quest 4: Evolve any Pokémon once. Reward: One Roulette Draw Chance! ]
[ Ding! Side Quest 5: Battle any three Trainers once each. Reward: One Roulette Draw Chance! ]
[ Ding! Side Quest 6: Maintain a three-win streak. Reward: Mysterious Item! ]
These were the system notifications that had appeared one after another in Su Yi's mind.
It looked like he'd completed three side quests.
The Main Quest, on the other hand, would take a little longer.
No rush. He could take his time.
Su Yi had just been about to take out Torchic and use a potion to treat its injuries when he realized the system notifications weren't over yet.
[ Ding! Congratulations, host! Froakie defeated Torchic and gained Battle Experience. Level increased to Lv. 16! ]
Huh? It leveled up again?
Lv. 16... If he remembered correctly, wasn't that when it evolved?
Sure enough, as soon as Su Yi thought of it, Froakie's body began to shine with the light of evolution...
"Frogadier!"
Amid the glow, Froakie's body visibly grew taller.
Its pale blue coloring had deepened.
It now stood upright on two legs instead of four.
It seemed much more powerful than before.
Frogadier appeared before Su Yi and gave a little hop, looking at him.
"Frogadier, Frogadier!"
Frogadier was conveying its joy to Su Yi.
"Great, you evolved. You've gotten even stronger."
[ Ding! Congratulations, host! Froakie evolved into Frogadier. Side Quest 4 complete. Roulette Draw Chance +1. Current chances: 2! ]
Excellent. He'd only just received the new quests, and one was already done.
"Come on out, Torchic."
"Chim..."
Torchic had only just been caught, and its stamina hadn't recovered yet. But now it knew Su Yi was its Trainer.
Seeing Torchic struggle to stay on its feet, Su Yi felt sorry for it. This little one would be his partner from now on.
He quickly connected to Spatial Storage and took out a Stamina Potion.
Then he crouched down and fed it to Torchic.
The potions Su Xiyan had prepared for him were all high-grade, and each one was worth a lot.
Because Pokémon had special constitutions, the Stamina Potion took effect quickly. Before long, Torchic's stamina was already recovering rapidly.
"Chim, chim!"
As its stamina returned, Torchic's mood improved. It went over to its Trainer, Su Yi, and affectionately rubbed its head against his palm.
"From now on, we're partners. This is Frogadier—the Froakie from just now. Frogadier, come say hello."
Su Yi introduced the two little Pokémon to each other.
Frogadier greeted Torchic a little sheepishly, knowing it had just defeated Torchic and worn it out.
Torchic didn't mind at all and returned the greeting.
Torchic had a pretty good temperament. After being caught, it didn't show any signs of refusing to obey.
Wild Pokémon could be extremely difficult to tame.
If you challenged one head-on, defeated it, and caught it, that was fine. But if you tried to catch one by underhanded means, most wild Pokémon would disdain serving such a Trainer.
Some Pokémon even attacked their Trainers after being caught if they were treated too badly. There were countless examples of that.
Just as Su Yi was about to recall the Torchic he'd caught, he suddenly heard voices from not far away.
"Brother Yuan, I swear I really saw that Torchic run over here. It's got to be somewhere nearby."
"Yeah, that Torchic looked like it had good potential. I watched it for a while. Its size and the sheen of its feathers were both excellent. It's worth catching and raising."
"Heh, they say Su Yi, ranked first on the overall Knowledge Ranking, is in this Spirit Primal Forest in the south with us. If Brother Yuan runs into him, he should challenge him. Knowledge is one thing, but what matters is knowing how to use it. Brother Yuan's been battling Pokémon for ages. Su Yi shouldn't be able to beat him, right?"
"Don't say such obvious truths."
Song Yuan was ranked first on the Knowledge Ranking at Radiant Spirit High School in Xijiang Province.
He was also among the top twenty on the national rankings.
But his score was more than a hundred points lower than Su Yi's.
He'd scored a little over six hundred.
Song Yuan's family was fairly well-off, and his parents had prepared his Starter Pokémon for him: a Spinarak with Blue Qualification.
Its evolved form was Ariados, which had both Bug and Poison types.
Pokémon with two types tended to cost more.
As soon as he entered, Song Yuan had put his plan into action:
Team up and rack up points!
Having a few lackeys help him through the trial would keep him out of a lot of danger in the Spirit Primal Forest.
For instance, there could be rampaging powerful wild Pokémon. And when they ran into other groups, those people generally wouldn't pick on a team that was sticking together.
What he didn't realize was that truly strong Trainers generally scorned that sort of thing.
As luck would have it, the first Pokémon he'd found with decent potential was a Fire Type Torchic.
Spinarak was at a type disadvantage, and it lost when he challenged Torchic...
With no other option, Song Yuan had his lackeys keep an eye on Torchic while he looked around to see if he could catch another Pokémon that countered it.
Who could've guessed they couldn't even keep track of a low-level Pokémon? They'd let Torchic escape.
Following its tracks, Song Yuan looked ahead almost without thinking.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Damn, someone had beaten him to it and gotten a free Pokémon?
Still, he wasn't about to make trouble for the guy.
Song Yuan decided he'd earn some points by challenging the Trainer who'd caught Torchic, then go look for other wild Pokémon.
"Hey, pal, I saw that Torchic first. You got yourself a nice freebie."
As Song Yuan spoke, his lackeys also noticed Torchic had been caught by someone else.
They exchanged glances, then slowly surrounded the Trainer.
If they couldn't help Song Yuan vent his frustration on this Trainer, they'd be in for a rough time afterward.
Sorry, man. You're on your own. Just your bad luck.
After casting the Trainer pitying looks, the lackeys noticed a slight change in Song Yuan's expression. Only then did they realize the Trainer had a Pokémon that had already evolved once!
Frogadier!
Had they just picked a fight with someone way out of their league?
Song Yuan's heart tightened.
There was no doubt about it: the Spirit Trial Exam absolutely forbade participants from bringing an already-evolved Starter Pokémon.
This Trainer had a Frogadier, which meant it must have evolved after he entered. That proved he was capable.
And Frogadier's size and coloring were excellent. Its potential had to be good, which meant this Trainer had connections—otherwise, he couldn't have gotten such a high-quality Pokémon.
They were done for...
Then the Trainer looked at Song Yuan and his group—and actually smiled.
Of course. Su Yi had only just received his new side quests, and now someone had come along to deliver the rewards...
"Got a freebie, huh?"
Before you continue