Pokémon Battle Tournament Begins

The Academy Battle Tournament arrived quickly. Over those five days, aside from their usual training, Zubat and Munchlax underwent intensive extra practice.

Lu Ze had Lu Ba's Umbreon teach Zubat Swift, Confuse Ray, Shadow Ball, and Taunt.

But time was tight. With only five days, even though Zubat worked diligently, it only managed to learn Confuse Ray and Swift.

Munchlax was different. Pokémon with high aptitude learned new moves quickly. Tempted by Lu Ze's Energy Cubes, it mastered all of Farmer's Three Punches within a week, while Kommo-o successfully taught it Mega Punch as well.

When Lu Ze went to pick up Munchlax after school on Thursday afternoon, Kommo-o patted Munchlax on the shoulder and raised a large clawed toe at Lu Ze, indicating: This little brother is great.

Lu Ze did not know whether to laugh or cry. Then Kommo-o demonstrated Bulk Up before pointing at Munchlax and waving its claw, indicating that Munchlax had not learned that yet.

Lu Ze looked at Munchlax. Munchlax lowered its head with both hands behind its back, looking extremely uneasy. Lu Ze walked over, rubbed its head, and said,

"You're already amazing. You learned so many moves in one week. I'm very proud of you."

Munchlax was deeply moved when it heard that. It immediately took out a box of Energy Cubes from the Backpack behind its back and devoured the whole thing.

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, Lu Ze got up, packed his things, brought his two Pokémon, and set off for school.

After waiting for Sui Yan at the intersection for a while, the two headed toward school together.

"Is everyone ready? The drawing will begin right away!"

Once the classes had lined up, the grade director shouted passionately from the podium.

The Academy Battle Tournament's drawing determined each person's opponent. There were a total of 560 seniors this year and 280 lots. Those who drew the same number would battle onstage. There were twenty battle platforms in total, and after the first round ended, the winners would proceed to draw lots for the next round.

Although many people had complained that this method relied too much on luck, the principal had declared domineeringly, "Luck is also part of strength. First place is still first place. Nothing can shake its position."

Lu Ze's number soon appeared on the big screen: Battle Platform Two, Number Two. His opponent was also revealed: a boy from Class Four.

They were the second pair of contestants on Battle Platform Two and would need to wait for the first pair to finish before taking the stage.

Sui Yan's and Tang Yunqin's results were revealed soon as well. Sui Yan was Number Eleven on Battle Platform Five, while Tang Yunqin was Number One on Battle Platform Seven. Their luck was good; the three of them had not been matched together.

"Good luck. See you in the finals."

Lu Ze extended his fist, and Sui Yan and Tang Yunqin extended theirs as well, knocking them together.

"See you in the finals."

"See you in the finals."

After their fist bump, the three headed toward their respective platform areas. Each platform would continue until only one person remained to advance to the finals. Those were the top twenty, after which the top ten, top five, top three, and Champion would be decided.

Lu Ze's match had not begun yet, so he first glanced toward Tang Yunqin's side. Her opponent's Pokémon was a Shroomish with the Effect Spore Ability. It would have been more troublesome if it had faced Sui Yan's Growlithe, but unfortunately, it had encountered Tang Yunqin's Feebas. Effect Spore was practically useless.

Sure enough, Tang Yunqin's Battle Platform Seven finished faster than any other platform. Two Ice Beams hit, and Shroomish instantly went down. The skeptical comments from below immediately vanished. No one had expected this Feebas to be so powerful.

"I'm done. How was that?"

Tang Yunqin jumped off the platform and ran over to Lu Ze, asking with a radiant smile.

"Mm, not bad. Your opponent was too fragile. It didn't even know how to dodge."

Lu Ze gave his evaluation seriously, failing to notice Tang Yunqin rolling her eyes beside him.

"Mm-hm, sure, sure. I'm not talking to you anymore. It's almost your turn, so I'm heading back first."

After rolling her eyes at Lu Ze again, Tang Yunqin returned to her platform area.

Lu Ze thought in confusion,

What's wrong with her?

"Contestants on Battle Platform Two, prepare to take the stage!"

At that moment, the first match on Lu Ze's Battle Platform Two had ended, and the loudspeaker called for the second pair of contestants to come up.

Lu Ze stopped thinking about it and walked onto the platform. His Class Four opponent was already waiting there.

"Both sides, release your Pokémon!"

They released their Pokémon simultaneously. Lu Ze sent out Zubat, while his opponent sent out a Doduo—a Flying type Pokémon that, like Groudon, could not fly.

Pokémon: Doduo

Gender: Female

Type: Normal, Flying

Ability: Early Bird (Even when it falls asleep, it wakes up twice as fast.)

Aptitude: Blue

Basic Moves: Peck, Growl, Quick Attack, Leer, Fury Attack

Egg Moves: Haze, Flail

"Battle begin!"

The referee's flag dropped the instant the two Pokémon appeared, giving neither trainer a chance to trade trash talk.

"Zubat—Swift!"

"Doduo—Growl!"

Zubat's Swift landed before Doduo could even let out its Growl, interrupting the move.

"Damn it! Use Quick Attack to rush in, then Peck!"

"Zubat, fly higher—Confuse Ray!"

Lu Ze saw that his opponent was getting a little flustered, so he directed Zubat to fly higher before using Confuse Ray, making the other side's mentality collapse even further.

Although Doduo's Quick Attack was fast, Zubat had already flown too high by the time it charged over. Doduo could not touch Zubat at all, then was struck by Confuse Ray and began crashing around like a headless fly.

"Zubat—finish it with Air Slash!"

Watching the headless-fly-like Doduo, Lu Ze gave his final command.

After Zubat fired two Air Slashes from the air, Doduo fell to the ground with meaningless spirals in its eyes.

"Doduo is unable to battle. Zubat wins!"

"Come back, Zubat."

Lu Ze recalled Zubat and stepped off the platform, completely ignoring his opponent, who was loudly calling him despicable.

Soon, the first round on Battle Platform Two ended. Since he was rather far away, Lu Ze did not go see how Sui Yan was doing. But given Torkoal's combat strength, there should not have been any problem.

Because Growlithe lacked long-range attacks, Sui Yan feared encountering an annoying Flying type Pokémon like Lu Ze's. He had therefore decided to use Torkoal in today's matches. It was slow, but at least it had ranged attacks.

In the second round, Lu Ze encountered Taillow, the common early-route bird Pokémon from the Hoenn region anime. Since they were both Flying type Pokémon, Lu Ze's fly-higher tactic was no longer useful, which was a little unfortunate.

Pokémon: Taillow

Gender: Female

Type: Normal, Flying

Ability: Guts (If it gains a status condition, it shows Guts and its Attack rises.)

Aptitude: Blue

Basic Moves: Peck, Growl, Focus Energy, Quick Attack

Egg Move: Boomburst

Seeing Taillow's moves, Lu Ze became secretly wary. The basic moves were nothing special, but he needed to guard carefully against the Egg Move Boomburst. A close-range Boomburst would deal considerable damage to Zubat.

"Zubat—Swift!"

"Taillow—Growl!"

Zubat's Swift accurately forced Taillow to shut its beak. The Class Four kid below the stage had tears streaming down his face. "Finally, I'm not the only one being punished!"

"Tch. Taillow—Focus Energy!"

"So greedy? Buffing right in front of me? Zubat—Air Slash!"

Lu Ze was somewhat surprised by his opponent's command. Because of the platform, the two Pokémon were not very far apart at all and were completely within Zubat's attack range. It still dared to greedily set up?

Zubat's Air Slash struck Taillow just as it finished using Focus Energy. After taking two moves, Taillow was already running low on stamina.

"Zubat—Air Slash!"

"Taillow, use Quick Attack to dodge, then Peck!"

Taillow traced a graceful arc through the air, dodging Zubat's Air Slash. Then its beak glowed white as it charged toward Zubat.

"Zubat—Poison Fang!"

Zubat opened its mouth wide, its purple fangs biting into Taillow's body, while it was struck by Taillow's beak at the same time.

Purple light flashed over Taillow's body. Taillow had unfortunately suffered Poisoning, but before it could trigger its Guts Ability, the poison drained away its last bit of stamina.

"Taillow is unable to battle. Zubat wins!"

"Come back, Zubat."

Lu Ze extended a hand to the opponent who had caught the falling Taillow, pulling him to his feet as he asked,

"Why didn't you use Boomburst after getting close with Quick Attack?"

"Boomburst? What Boomburst?"

The opponent froze for a moment before replying.

Lu Ze was also a little stunned. He had guarded against it the entire match, even trading damage at the end to finish the battle as quickly as possible, and now he was being told that the other guy did not know Taillow could use Boomburst?

"Oh, it's nothing. I thought your Taillow could use Boomburst, since Taillow's parents can easily pass Boomburst down to their offspring. Since it can't, then... goodbye."

Lu Ze smiled as he said farewell, while inwardly aching with regret. Damn, what a loss. If I'd known it couldn't use Boomburst, I could've just dodged and used Air Slash. Instead, I traded damage. Stupid.

Lu Ze's battle had just ended when Tang Yunqin's battle began as well. Her opponent had a Pichu, which doubly countered her Feebas. Moreover, Feebas found it extremely difficult to dodge on land. It might only take two Thunder Shocks to carry it away.

After enduring a Thunder Shock head-on, Feebas used Hypnosis. It landed with incredible luck, and then consecutive Dragon Breaths took down Pichu.

Tang Yunqin excitedly ran over to Lu Ze again, asking for praise.

"How was that, Lu Ze? My Hypnosis was great, right?"

"Mm, it was okay. Both you and your opponent had problems. He was too confident. It would have been better if you had used Confuse Ray. Hypnosis is too slow. If he hadn't just used Thunder Shock, he could have dodged your Hypnosis."

"Mm? That's true, but how was he too confident?"

Tang Yunqin nodded, indicating that Lu Ze's words made sense.

"He thought two Thunder Shocks would be enough to take you down, and that you had no way to deal with him, so he used Thunder Shock directly. If he had used Nuzzle to Paralyze Feebas, then after using his move, he could have completely dodged Hypnosis."

"But how could he have known that my Feebas could use Hypnosis? I didn't use it in the first round either."

Tang Yunqin blinked her large eyes slyly at Lu Ze.

"Fine, that's true. Going by what you said, his tactics weren't wrong either."

Lu Ze nodded in agreement and silently mourned Tang Yunqin's opponent for one second. After all, anyone holding a Pichu against a Feebas would think of taking it down with two Thunder Shocks, right? Who could have expected a Feebas not only to know Hypnosis, but Dragon Breath as well?

"Alright, the third round is about to begin. Go get ready."

"Okay~"

I hope everyone can give me more feedback, so I can know what I haven't written well. Please, I'm begging you. ε(*ω)_/:☆