Choosing Each Other

"System, what exactly does this evolution progress mean?"

[Ding! Evolution progress measures how close a Pokémon is to achieving a perfect evolution. The closer it is to one hundred percent, the better the evolution's effects and the greater the improvement afterward.]

Ye Lan's eyes lit up at the system's message, and he marveled at his good fortune.

Luckily, he had chosen to upgrade the scanning function. Otherwise, according to his original training plan, he might have arranged for Snivy to evolve at around eighty percent, wasting a good deal of its potential.

"Snivy..."

Watching its trainer bask in an expression that practically said, Just as expected of me, Snivy looked utterly disgusted and nearly rolled its eyes into the back of its head. (Fun fact: Snivy's sclerae are brown, so there technically weren't any whites of its eyes to roll.)

Its trainer was only calm and reliable when practicing moves or battling, which made him seem pretty cool. The rest of the time, he was not only lazy but occasionally ridiculous, which really didn't suit its own refined air.

Now that evolution progress was displayed as a numerical value, Ye Lan could pinpoint the best time for Snivy to evolve, which immediately put his mind much more at ease.

When he reached the school storeroom's front desk, old Mr. Zhang, who managed the storeroom, was sitting with his legs crossed, rocking gently as he sipped hot tea.

Seeing Ye Lan approach, old Mr. Zhang showed no particular expression and simply called out, "What's the number?"

"2568."

Only after Ye Lan gave the number the Principal had told him beforehand did old Mr. Zhang slowly stand up and retrieve a palm-sized metal box from the room behind him.

Picking up the ordinary-looking box, Ye Lan couldn't shake the feeling that he had been ripped off. He slowly opened the lid, revealing a green gemstone inside.

The gemstone was green throughout and roughly shaped like a leaf. Although its color was dull, the Grass-type energy it radiated still made Snivy look involuntarily toward the box in Ye Lan's hands.

It was actually a low-quality Leaf Stone!

Although a Leaf Stone of this quality produced poor results when used to evolve certain Pokémon, it was perfectly suitable as a source of energy for Snivy to absorb in preparation for its eventual evolution.

Handing the Leaf Stone to Snivy beside him, Ye Lan felt quite satisfied with the reward.

Although this Leaf Stone might not be worth as much as the Protect TM he had received before, it could effectively speed up Snivy's progress toward evolution.

After checking the time, Ye Lan nodded his thanks to old Mr. Zhang and headed to the training grounds with Snivy, ready to continue training.

Today's assessment was over, and all twenty places in the elite class had been filled.

Once the full results were out, some were delighted while others were disappointed. Even Ye Lan's childhood friend, Chen Yang, had failed to secure a place in the elite class.

Seeing Ye Lan approach from a distance, Chen Yang pulled a miserable face and complained, "Ye Lan, why am I so unlucky? Getting crushed in the same group as Lin Yan in the first round was bad enough, but then I ran into a Butterfree that knew Confusion in the second!"

At Chen Yang's description, Ye Lan couldn't help picturing the Butterfree that had used psychic power to evade Snivy's attacks.

That Butterfree had indeed been quite strong. If it hadn't faced Ye Lan, it could even have earned a decent placement in the top-ten ranking battles.

"If your Charmander were as strong as Lin Yan's, you'd definitely have won. How about I introduce you, and you become Lin Yan's apprentice?"

Ye Lan looked at Chen Yang teasingly. He had only meant it as a joke, but when he saw Chen Yang actually start considering whether it was feasible, he hastily said he needed to train and ran toward an unoccupied training area.

He knew his childhood friend's personality all too well. If Chen Yang could last three days at Lin Yan's training intensity, Ye Lan would drink gasoline and demonstrate Flamethrower himself!

He arrived at the training area in the farthest corner, which was also the spot he used most often.

Perhaps because Ye Lan had trained in the same place for so long, the other students generally left it empty. As long as they had somewhere else to train, they wouldn't come to this area.

Ye Lan and Lin Yan were already very popular among the third-year students. Their results in this assessment had also made them familiar to people who hadn't known much about them before.

With younger students having watched the battles as well, Ye Lan and Lin Yan were now recognized throughout the school as Mianzhou No. 1 High School's two sharpest blades for the provincial tournament.

Watching Snivy execute its moves smoothly over and over, Ye Lan felt his own enthusiasm rise and began physical conditioning and ball-throwing practice.

After a week of practicing moves according to Ye Lan's training plan, Snivy could now follow the routine on its own. It would even correct bad habits in its moves based on the shortcomings exposed in its latest battles.

Although Snivy was proud, it had always approached training and battles with the attitude that if it could do its best, then it should.

That had always been Snivy's creed.

Ye Lan had once told it that if it wanted to remain proud, it had to keep defeating every opponent. It couldn't stop, and it couldn't lose. Only then would it have grounds for pride; otherwise, it would merely be deceiving itself.

As time passed, the training grounds gradually emptied, and Ye Lan began to notice how this session differed from the previous ones.

For some reason, whenever he practiced moves with Snivy, he felt a sense of seamless understanding that hadn't been there before.

It was as though they weren't two separate individuals but closely linked together. Their perceptions were in sync, and one round of practice seemed to produce the results of two, while their coordination improved considerably.

Ye Lan had been too focused during the earlier battles to notice, but after gaining the ability "Grass-type Pokémon Affinity Lv. 1," his communication with Snivy had become far smoother.

Before Ye Lan could even voice a command, the moment an idea formed in his mind, Snivy could react swiftly and deliver the most effective counterattack for the situation.

"Looks like upgrading this new ability needs to be a top priority too."

As he thought it over, Ye Lan realized that the ability called "Grass-type Pokémon Affinity" wasn't nearly as simple as its name suggested.

The Grass-type Pokémon he caught in the future would probably benefit from the same effect.

Previously, Ye Lan had worried that specializing in a single type would make him easy to target and counter, with less tactical flexibility than trainers who didn't specialize.

After all, even the Elite Four members who specialized in particular types didn't have entire teams made up of that one type. Yet the system's restrictions left Ye Lan with no choice.

Take Lance, the Kanto Region's Dragon-type Elite Four member. He had been born into a family of Dragon-type specialists, yet he had Flying-type Pokémon by the handful, earning him the teasing nickname "Lance the Dodo" from countless fans.

Now that Ye Lan was gradually discovering the system's powerful capabilities, he no longer had so many lingering worries.

Before, he had only had a goal. Now, he had confidence as well.

Facing the setting sun, Ye Lan headed home with Snivy.

Along the way, Ye Lan stroked Snivy's little head and asked softly, "We went straight into training after the battles. Was today's workload too much? Are you tired? We'll have to keep working hard tomorrow too."

"Snivy~"

Snivy turned its head away without saying anything.

Even if Ye Lan hadn't said it, it would certainly have worked hard.

What Ye Lan had never known was that some exceptionally gifted Pokémon could already faintly sense what was happening outside while they were still in their Pokémon Eggs.

Although those impressions were hazy, Snivy had still sensed countless disdainful gazes. At one point, it had even thought no trainer would ever choose it.

Then Ye Lan had appeared, bringing such pure affection and fervent joy that Snivy had wanted to break out of its shell immediately and meet him.

They had chosen each other from the very beginning.

When Snivy first opened its eyes after emerging from its Pokémon Egg, it immediately turned its head away.

Ye Lan had always assumed that was simply Snivy's natural temperament. In truth, the warmth in his gentle gaze had been too intense for Snivy to meet his eyes.

At that moment, Snivy had sworn that it would keep winning.

It would become so strong that even when facing that verdant legendary dragon, it would have the courage to fight.

It would take Ye Lan with it toward the highest peak!