The End of Vacation

Vacation was over.

After two days of training and battling, Sui Yan could barely manage to occasionally predict Lu Ze's moves first. Although they were newborn Pokémon with only two or three moves each, it was still progress.

Besides that, Sui Yan's top-student qualities had played no small part. He never made the same mistake twice when commanding battles, and he was gradually moving beyond mere armchair tactics.

After three days of matches, the rankings of their Pokémon had more or less been decided. First place went to Lu Ze's Zubat.

Flying types had far too much of an advantage in early battles. Once it flew high enough, there was nothing anyone could do without ranged attacks. Torkoal's Ember could reach it, but with Zubat's speed and the enhanced perception from its Supersonic training, it still couldn't hit it even if it was within range.

Second place went to Torkoal. With Ember and Smog, it could attack from afar and endure up close. Combined with its already impressive defense, Munchlax and Growlithe would be slowly worn down by Smog's Poisoning if they failed to defeat it quickly in close combat.

Third place was Munchlax. It also lacked ranged attacks and fought at close range, but it could practically pin Growlithe down and beat it up.

Fourth place was Growlithe. It really couldn't beat anyone. After losing every battle, it would run laps around the field to ease the sadness in its heart.

Second and third place were actually fairly close. Without Poisoning, Torkoal couldn't break through Munchlax's defense. But if it had to fight at close range, getting poisoned was only a matter of time, so Munchlax was ranked below Torkoal.

"Lu Ze! School starts today! Did you pack your backpack? Get up already! Come eat breakfast!"

On school mornings, Lu Ma seemed like a completely different person. She transformed from a gentle little woman into an irritable housewife.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. I'm up."

Lu Ze quickly got dressed, then called Zubat and Munchlax out to breakfast with him.

Munchlax's breakfast consisted of some Pokémon food and five boxes of Energy Cubes, while Zubat's was simpler: Pokémon food and one box of Energy Cubes.

Since their birth, as they gradually moved beyond the newborn stage, both Pokémon had been eating more and more. The Energy Cubes Lu Ze had prepared to activate their physical energy had also made them much stronger than Pokémon of the same species and age.

"I'm done eating. Dad, Mom, I'm heading to school."

"Alright. Study hard."

"Okay, Munchlax, Zubat, get into your Poké Balls first. I'll take you to school."

Lu Ze put on his backpack and picked up the two Poké Balls. Red beams shot out from them and struck Munchlax and Zubat, wrapping them in red light before drawing them into the Poké Balls.

"I'm leaving."

"Be careful on the way."

"Lu Ze!"

When Sui Yan spotted Lu Ze at the school gate, he charged over and leaped onto Lu Ze's back in a bear hug.

"Get down. Are you a pig? Why are you so heavy?"

"Bullshit. I'm at a perfectly normal weight, alright?"

Sui Yan jumped down, threw an arm around Lu Ze's shoulders, and swaggered toward the classroom with him.

"By the way, Lu Ze, when do you think our Pokémon will be able to use their Egg Moves in battle?"

"Practice more. It should get easier once they're past the newborn stage."

The two of them had already noticed this issue during their recent battles. Aside from Zubat's Air Slash and Torkoal's Smog, the other Egg Moves could be used during training.

But in battle, they took too long to charge and were easily interrupted. Also, later in a fight, they might be unable to use Egg Moves at all because of exhaustion.

They guessed that the long wind-up was due to low move proficiency, while newborn Pokémon lacked the stamina to use powerful moves. Their later battles confirmed their theory.

"Sigh, but I really want to have an exciting battle with you where we can throw around our big moves however we want."

Sui Yan sighed with a miserable expression.

"You should work on your commanding skills first. It'd be embarrassing if you passed the National College Entrance Examination but failed the Trainer assessment after getting into university."

"Tch. If I can pass the National College Entrance Examination, how could I possibly fail that? I've watched loads of Pokémon comparisons and Pokémon commentary these past few days. Haven't you noticed how quickly I've improved?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very fast. Keep it up."

Once they entered the classroom, Lu Ze put down his backpack, lay sprawled across his desk, and gave him a perfunctory response.

"Huh? Lu Ze, Sui Yan, why are you two here so early? How rare."

As the two chatted nonsense, a cool voice reached their ears. The chilly voice combined with the silly tone and context left Lu Ze feeling utterly powerless.

"Tang Yunqin, your mother didn't give you that voice so you could play the fool."

"Nonsense. I'm clearly the cool goddess type."

Tang Yunqin put her hands on her hips and angrily rebuked Lu Ze.

"Sigh, fine. Whatever makes you happy."

"So, what are your starter Pokémon? Let me see them."

Tang Yunqin pulled out a chair and sat in front of Lu Ze. Supporting her chin with both hands, she looked at Lu Ze and Sui Yan with sparkling eyes.

"My starter Pokémon is Zubat."

"Mine is a Growlithe."

"Zubat? Zubat's evolution, Crobat, is super cool."

"Mm-hm, yeah."

Lu Ze answered perfunctorily.

The dynamic between the three of them was rather strange now: the indifferent Lu Ze, the expectant Tang Yunqin, and Sui Yan wearing a wide, auntie-like grin...

Lu Ze and Sui Yan had known each other since childhood and had always played together. Tang Yunqin joined their little group in middle school.

At first, Tang Yunqin would simply tag along whenever Lu Ze and Sui Yan were together. Later, Lu Ze thought she was pretty cute.

Since Sui Yan was already following them around, having one more person was fine. It definitely wasn't because Lu Ze was curious about the contrast between Tang Yunqin's cool voice and her silly personality.

As for Sui Yan, he had wondered whether this girl had a crush on Lu Ze. Why else would she stick so close to him?

Tang Yunqin, meanwhile, had simply fallen for Lu Ze. Lu Ze didn't know it, and with her personality, she would never be too proactive. So the three good friends had continued hanging out together from middle school until now.

Their relationship was simple: Lu Ze was the backbone, Tang Yunqin was the little fangirl, and Sui Yan was the outsider and auntie-smile statue.

"By the way, what's your starter Pokémon?"

"Feebas. Let me tell you, Feebas isn't ugly at all. It's super cute. I'll bring her out for you to see."

Tang Yunqin jumped up, went to the back of the classroom to get a bucket, filled it with water, and returned. She placed Feebas inside, and only then did Lu Ze and Sui Yan go over to look at it.

Pokémon: Feebas

Gender: Female

Attribute: Water type

Ability: Adaptability (Moves sharing its type become more powerful)

Aptitude: Red

Basic Moves: Tackle, Water Gun

Egg Moves: Confuse Ray, Dragon Breath, Hypnosis, Ice Beam

"Why did you pick a Feebas? She can't evolve. What are you going to do for the National College Entrance Examination looking like this?"

Sui Yan poked Feebas as he asked.

"Smack!"

"Don't talk about Beauty like that. She's so cute."

After hearing Tang Yunqin's words, Feebas looked at her trainer with sparkling eyes.

"She really is different from other Feebas. She's pretty cute." Lu Ze nodded as well.

This Feebas had excellent Aptitude, the same as Lu Ba's Kommo-o. And she had met an owner like Tang Yunqin, someone who would not abandon her training and even found her cute. There was a high chance that she could evolve into Milotic in the future without relying on a Prism Scale.

Sui Yan looked at Feebas and asked again.

"Then what are you going to do for the National College Entrance Examination?"

"I'll raise another Pokémon and use that one for the National College Entrance Examination, but I won't give up on training Beauty either."

Tang Yunqin lifted Beauty out of the bucket and spoke seriously to Feebas.

It had long been discovered that Milotic's offspring were Feebas. However, due to the rarity of Prism Scales, the conditions for Feebas to evolve into Milotic had remained a mystery.

After all, every wild Milotic had evolved using a Prism Scale, and Prism Scales would only fall off when a Milotic died.

When Milotic was first discovered to be Feebas's evolved form, the previously ignored Feebas became highly sought after. Everyone wanted a Milotic, leading to demand far exceeding supply. There had never been many Feebas to begin with, and by then, there were no wild ones left.

Yet even after a long time, Feebas were still Feebas and had not evolved into Milotic. Many people felt they had been deceived and believed Feebas could not evolve into Milotic at all. Then came the largest Pokémon abandonment incident in history.

After that, few people chose to raise Feebas anymore. If it couldn't evolve, what was the point of training it?

"Where did you get a Feebas?"

Lu Ze stroked the Feebas Tang Yunqin was holding as he asked.

Milotic—who wouldn't want one? The one at Lu Ze's home had held a grudge against him ever since he called it ugly as a child. Every time he approached the pool, it would spit water at him, leaving him only able to dream about having one now.

"At Love Pokémon Store. The manager told my dad that they had offspring from high-Aptitude Pokémon, so he took me there to choose one. You know me, so I picked a Water type. The store didn't tell me what kind of Pokémon Egg it was at the time."

"Love Pokémon Store? I went there that day too. How come I didn't see that Pokémon Egg?"

Lu Ze asked in surprise. He and Lu Ba should have been the first ones there, but he had been so stunned by the golden legend when he saw Munchlax's Pokémon Egg that he hadn't looked at anything afterward.

"Huh? You went too? Shouldn't you be saying you didn't see me, not that you didn't see that Pokémon Egg?"

Tang Yunqin asked unhappily.

"Eh, same difference."

Lu Ze waved his hand dismissively.

"Huh? What does he know about you? Tell me too."

Sui Yan asked with a sly grin.

What? Lu Ze and Tang Yunqin had something going on that he didn't know about?

"Choosing this Pokémon Egg has something to do with my dream. You don't know?"

"How would I know? Nobody told me."

Sui Yan rolled his eyes helplessly.

"Let Lu Ze tell you."

"Come back, Beauty."

After returning Feebas to her Poké Ball, Tang Yunqin skipped back to her seat.

"So what is it?"

"I'll tell you during the next break."

"Huh? Why are you doing this too?"

The two of them bickered and returned to their seats. The rest of the class gradually arrived as well, and lessons were about to begin. Getting caught by the homeroom teacher and scolded again would not be pleasant.