Sparring Partner

"Bulbasaur, use Tackle!"

Seeing that Vine Whip had missed, Kenji immediately gave a new command.

But he clearly hadn't considered that if Bulbasaur couldn't even hit Weedle with Vine Whip, how could an ordinary charge possibly connect?

"Weedle, String Shot. Aim for its eyes," Xia Yan commanded.

After realizing Bulbasaur was not as formidable as imagined, Weedle also became much calmer.

Hiss—

A bright white strand of silk shot out, sticking directly across Bulbasaur's eyes and blocking its vision.

"Bulba!!"

With its vision suddenly obstructed, Bulbasaur immediately panicked, even interrupting its own attack.

"Bulbasaur!"

Kenji was a little flustered, but he couldn't think of a response right away.

This was the flaw of lacking battle experience, as well as a Pokémon Trainer's inability to adapt.

Of course, Bulbasaur's severe lack of training was also why it was so slow and so easily struck in the eyes by Weedle.

"Wrap it up."

Then, Weedle swiftly skimmed across the ground, continuously spitting white silk from its mouth. Loop after loop, it turned Bulbasaur from a Garlic Turtle into a garlic dumpling.

"Bulba."

With only its head exposed and still unable to see, Bulbasaur could only cry out helplessly for help.

"Stop! Stop!" Kenji hurriedly shouted, running over to Bulbasaur on his plump legs. He reached out to remove the silk from its body, only to get stuck by the highly adhesive threads himself.

"That won't work. Weedle."

Xia Yan stepped closer and called Weedle over.

Weedle's tail swept over the silk, snapping layer after layer of thread. Bulbasaur was finally freed.

Kenji immediately scooped Bulbasaur into his arms.

"Bulbasaur, are you okay?"

"Bulba." Bulbasaur shook its head. There was both awe and fear in its eyes as it looked at Weedle.

Weedle proudly lifted its head, looking just like a victorious general returning from battle.

"Your battle experience is almost nonexistent, and your commands during battle lack adaptability. Bulbasaur actually isn't weak, and my Weedle didn't perform all that strongly either. In a normal battle, we would have been more likely to lose."

Xia Yan explained truthfully.

"Wuu?"

Hearing Xia Yan say that it was inferior to Bulbasaur, Weedle was immediately a little unconvinced.

Xia Yan reached out and stroked its back. "No need to rush to deny it. Wasn't our purpose in coming here to challenge the impossible and make you stronger? Only by recognizing your shortcomings can you grow better."

After consecutively defeating Rattata and Bulbasaur, Weedle had become somewhat blindly confident.

As its Pokémon Trainer, Xia Yan had to make it clearly understand its shortcomings.

Confidence was a good thing, but blind confidence had the exact opposite effect.

"Wuu." Weedle lowered its head, seeming a little discouraged.

But it quickly recovered.

It felt that Xia Yan was right. They had come here to grow stronger in the first place. There was nothing unacceptable about admitting that someone else was stronger.

Xia Yan looked very satisfied as he stroked Weedle's back.

Beside him, Kenji watched Xia Yan comfort Weedle with an expression as though he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Noticing his expression, Xia Yan said, "According to the club's rules, you still have fifty minutes left. Do you want to continue battling?"

Every sparring partner at the club charged by time. Each hour was billed separately, and even less than an hour was charged as a full hour.

"I..." Kenji opened his mouth.

Xia Yan's words just now had not only dispelled Weedle's excessive confidence, but also dealt Kenji a hard blow.

The facts proved that Bulbasaur's defeat had a great deal to do with him as its Pokémon Trainer.

"Actually, you've already learned quite a bit of theoretical knowledge, including battle and training material. What you lack is accumulated experience, as well as a sufficient understanding of your own Pokémon," Xia Yan added.

"How can I understand my own Pokémon better?" Kenji blinked curiously.

"Training. Constant training. Have you trained your Bulbasaur before?"

"N-No. I only brought it home from the Pokémon Trainer Building yesterday," Kenji said awkwardly.

"That explains it. Bulbasaur has a high ceiling. Train it properly, and you'll see the difference."

Just as Xia Yan had guessed.

"Then how do you train? A-A Weedle... is so strong."

Losing the battle itself was nothing, but losing to a Weedle dealt him quite a blow.

"Can I take that to mean you want to change from battle sparring to training sparring?" Xia Yan raised an eyebrow.

It just so happened that neither he nor Weedle had trained today because they had been looking for work. He had thought there would be no opportunity today, but unexpectedly, he could train while earning money.

The club also offered this service: training sparring.

"Okay." Kenji nodded heavily.

"Good." Xia Yan set Weedle back on the ground. "Weedle, in that case, let's make up for the training we missed today."

"Wuu wuu!!" Weedle was full of fighting spirit.

After Xia Yan had said it was inferior to Bulbasaur, it wanted to become stronger even faster.

Thud.

Xia Yan took off the ill-fitting outfit he wore, revealing a lean, dark upper body covered in fine scars.

When Kenji saw the scars crisscrossing Xia Yan's body, he fell silent.

"We'll show you our training. If you want, you can follow along with us. If you have any questions, you can ask them too. Maybe I can give you some answers."

After saying that,

he began training Weedle.

Since they were in the club's training room, they could use all kinds of professional training equipment. Compared to training in the wilderness, the results were better.

Of course, it was also more exhausting.

But whenever Weedle saw Xia Yan persisting as well, it could grit its teeth and keep going.

Kenji also led Bulbasaur through some tentative training on the side. After imitating them a little, he immediately felt how difficult training was.

At the same time, he occasionally raised some questions, and Xia Yan tried to provide answers that might not have been entirely standard, but were definitely well-founded.

Very quickly,

the hour of sparring time passed.

As the bell rang through the training room, Kenji grandly booked Xia Yan and Weedle for another three hours.

Without even blinking.

He was absurdly generous.

This also gave Xia Yan and Weedle the opportunity and time to complete their basic training for the day.

Three hours later,

Kenji, who had already been very talkative, was completely won over by Xia Yan and Weedle—not because they had defeated him, but because of their hard work.

People who worked hard deserved respect.

At the same time, Xia Yan gained his first loyal customer at the Silph Pokémon Battle Club.

"I gained a lot this time. I'll book you again next time. When I get back, I'll tell a few of my classmates and have them come learn too."

Xia Yan watched Kenji leave from the lobby.

He could earn money and train at the same time.

It felt pretty good.

Anna curiously poked his arm beside him. "Not bad, Xia Yan. You got a loyal customer on your first day. From the looks of it, he might even keep introducing customers to you."

"Luck." Xia Yan smiled as he held the exhausted Weedle in his arms.

Anna pursed her lips.

Once again, she confirmed her assessment of Xia Yan: A lucky person.

This time, it really had been good luck.

Because in her impression, the most common reason sparring partners left the club was that their Pokémon had been crippled in battle.

A large portion of people came to the club to vent, so they didn't hold back.

With Weedle's frail body, she had thought Xia Yan wouldn't last more than a few days.

"Here, this is your payment for that sparring session." As she spoke, she handed him several Poké Dollars.

"So much?" Xia Yan was a little surprised. He took the money and counted it. There were actually 320 Poké Dollars.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Your title is Beginner sparring partner. Each session costs 400, which means 80 per hour. Four hours comes to 320, and payment is settled immediately after the sparring ends."

Sure enough, anyone who could hold a membership at the Silph Pokémon Battle Club was no ordinary wealthy person.

That chuunibyou kid Kenji's monthly allowance was probably several times his salary.

"Thanks." Xia Yan thanked her. Money was what he lacked most right now.

"Oh, I'm curious. How much does an intermediate sparring partner charge per session?"

"Intermediate is double your rate, advanced is four times your rate, and special grade is ten times your rate. The commission rate is different for every level too. Of course, there are higher ranks, but I don't know much about them." Anna shrugged.

Tsk, tsk.

"Then how do I raise my rank?"

"Number of members, and your strength. I don't know the specifics. The supervisor handles that. Anyway, it isn't easy."

Xia Yan nodded. After thanking her again, he took Weedle back to rest.

Could I humbly ask for some bookmarks and recommendations~~