Endure

Training ground.

Team Rocket's training ground also served as a battle arena. It had always ranked among Team Rocket's largest expenditures.

Because it was simply too popular.

Heiduo and Quan You stood on opposite sides of the field, surrounded by other people watching from the perimeter.

Most of them wore gleeful, malicious smiles. They clearly knew about the wager between Heiduo and Quan You.

"Why don't we get started early?"

Quan You wore a confident smile. A rookie who had owned a Pokémon for less than half a day, with an Ekans whose Energy Level was lower than Spinarak's.

Wasn't he destined to make a fortune?

It had been worth withdrawing all his savings to set this trap.

And he had just learned a new battle tactic. This little rookie would make a perfect test subject!

Heh heh heh!

Inside the gym.

A tall Team Rocket grunt ran over to Lan, who was lifting weights, and leaned close to whisper something in his ear.

Lan did not stop moving. Sweat poured down his body as he said, "What's the deal with this Quan You?"

"Reporting to the squadron leader, he's one of Captain Ke De's men. He has a record of setting up reserve members, but he's quite capable," the grunt reported.

Lan set down the dumbbell, exhaled, and used the towel on his shoulder to wipe away his sweat. "Tell me the result after they're done."

"Yes!" the grunt answered loudly.

"As you wish!"

Heiduo glanced at Ekans, whose expression was somewhat strange, and knew it had probably felt the sudden new strength in its body.

There were five Attribute Points in total. Heiduo used one to learn a skill, one to upgrade a skill, and put all the rest into bonus attributes.

Every little bit helped! Wasn't that how small gains added up?

And at low levels, one point of an attribute meant more powerful moves and greater speed.

Unfortunately, Attribute Points could not be added to levels. Otherwise, Heiduo would definitely have Ekans teach that Spinarak playing dumb a lesson!

Quan You covered his mouth and snickered. He tried hard not to laugh, then said righteously, "Don't say I don't look after juniors. I'll let you attack first. How about it?"

"Then I won't stand on ceremony—Poison Fang!"

After giving the command, Heiduo quickly began moving. Trainer battles were nothing like the anime, where people stood still in one spot. Trainers needed to observe their Pokémon from different angles to get a full view of their condition while also guarding against attacks from the opposing trainer.

Hearing Heiduo's words, Ekans opened its huge mouth. Two long fangs glowing purple suddenly grew from its otherwise empty jaws. Its serpentine body twisted as it lunged toward Spinarak at high speed.

"String Shot!"

As an experienced trainer, Quan You naturally would not make the same careless mistake Guifu had made before. He shouted and moved along with Spinarak.

Spinarak suddenly spat a milky-white strand of silk from its mouth. The silk shot straight for Ekans's head!

The tip of the thread was somewhat sticky. Its adhesion was obviously extremely strong; once hit, Ekans would likely find it very difficult to break free.

Heiduo slightly opened his mouth, just about to tell Ekans to dodge, when he saw it lower its head slightly. The silk stuck beside Ekans's S-shaped body, and with a few twists, it perfectly avoided Spinarak's thread.

It seemed he ought to trust Ekans more. By the time he reminded it, it would probably already be too late.

Still, this Spinarak was most likely not as powerful as Heiduo had imagined.

He vaguely remembered that in Pokémon Adventures, the Spinarak of Team Rocket squadron leader Liang could casually weave an enormous spiderweb with a simple spray of silk. Those webs could even conduct electricity!

After all, Liang was a squadron leader.

On the field, Ekans slithered beside Spinarak and sank its fangs viciously into its head.

Quan You hurriedly shouted, "Reel in the silk! Then Shadow Sneak!"

Upon receiving the command, Spinarak suddenly swallowed the silk it had spat out, its tiny body brushing past Ekans's fangs as it reached the thread's position.

At the same time, Spinarak's shadow stretched out behind it and reached beneath Ekans. A mass of darkness pounced onto Ekans's body.

"Hiss!"

Ekans cried out in pain. Shadow Sneak was simply too fast; even though Ekans reacted, it could not dodge in time.

"Keep using String Shot!"

Having succeeded with one strike, Quan You had Spinarak use the same tactic again.

Heiduo's expression became somewhat flustered. He had truly not expected Shadow Sneak to be so fast. In his eyes, Spinarak had only just "flown" over when a dark shadow extended beneath Ekans.

"Calm down, calm down!"

Heiduo forced himself to take deep breaths and relax. His heartbeat was too fast, making it difficult for him to breathe.

At that moment, he was extremely nervous. This was a twenty-thousand-yuan battle; to him, it might mean a bright future or a dark one.

He stared intently at the field, trying to find Spinarak's weakness.

Spinarak had four moves. Poison Sting was out; he remembered its power being low, and it could not Poison a Poison-type Pokémon. Quan You probably would not use it.

Infestation was a Bug-type move with a restraining, entangling effect. Quan You had not used it yet, and Heiduo did not know what he was planning, but he most likely would not use it, because Bug-type moves dealt half damage to Poison-type Pokémon.

Quan You had just used the remaining two moves. Shadow Sneak was fast, but even shadows had a limit to their reach. With only a level-two shadow, there was no way it could extend all the way to the opposite side of its own shadow.

Once Ekans got to the side where Spinarak had no shadow, that move would be half useless.

But after using String Shot, Spinarak could suck the silk back in, greatly boosting its mobility. If Ekans kept chasing the side where it had no shadow, that would probably be a considerable drain on Ekans's stamina...

That's it!

Wouldn't Acid dissolve the silk?

Heiduo suddenly understood and hurriedly called to Ekans, which had barely dodged the silk, "Use Acid! Spit out less! Spray it at the silk that thing shot over!"

Ekans immediately spat out a small clump of dark-purple liquid. Upon touching the silk, it dissolved it effortlessly.

Without its silk, Spinarak was half crippled!

Actually, it was easy enough to think of melting spider silk with Acid, but Heiduo had been too nervous just now. His mind had gone completely blank, and he had not thought of anything.

Quan You saw it, and his expression stiffened.

Using silk for mobility was the little trick he had secretly learned before. He had even specially trained Spinarak's ability to reel in silk for it.

"Keep using silk! Then use Poison Sting to scatter the Acid!"

Quan You furiously gave the order.

Spinarak spat out another thread of silk. When Ekans used Acid, the small horn atop Spinarak's head glowed purple, and several needle-shaped bolts of purple energy scattered the liquid.

Wasn't Poison Sting a physical move? Why was a physical move ranged too?

And why could the horn on your head release moves too?!

Heiduo was shocked. Jessie's Ekans had spat Poison Sting like that in the anime too, but he had considered it an exaggerated portrayal for animation.

This touched upon a gap in Heiduo's knowledge.

What he did not understand was that not all physical moves required contact. Many physical moves were non-contact as well.

Like Rock Slide, which he had just learned.

Heiduo bit his finger but ultimately did not order Ekans to use Rock Slide, because it would serve as a trump card.

Spinarak had two ways to use moves, but Ekans only had one. It could not use another move while firing Acid...

In that case, he could only make things a little harder for Ekans!

"Spray directly at its silk! Don't spray where it lands! I believe you can do it!"

Heiduo encouraged Ekans.

Attacking a fixed object and attacking a moving object were entirely different matters.

Over there, Spinarak saw that its silk had missed again, but Ekans remained in place without moving, so it spat out another strand!

Whoosh!

A faint corrosive hiss rang out.

This time, Ekans sprayed toward the direction the silk was coming from. Before its precise shot, not only was the newly fired silk corroded, but the old silk vanished too.

Quan You was furious. This Ekans was nothing like the weakling Guifu had described. This precision strike alone was not something just anyone could pull off.

Though silk shot much slower than a bullet, it still traveled dozens of meters per second. To human eyes that could only see at sixty frames at most, it was instantaneous!

Not to mention that snakes had notoriously poor eyesight!

"Well done!" Heiduo was overjoyed.

Ekans had truly brought him too many surprises. Who said Ekans was weak?

Step forward and see if I don't slap you!

Quan You said viciously, "Fire silk and Poison Sting continuously! Even a little damage is fine! I refuse to believe your Ekans can outlast my Spinarak in a direct exchange!"

His patience seemed to have run out, so he chose to win through sheer quantity.

"Don't lose to him! Keep getting closer while spraying Acid!"

Heiduo pressed his advantage, waiting for the instant Spinarak let down its guard.

Countless strands of silk and Poison Stings began trading fire with Ekans's Acid.

The distance between them kept shrinking.

Suddenly, Spinarak's Poison Sting stopped, and its String Shot became intermittent. Ekans's Acid stopped as well.

Heiduo instantly understood that Ekans could no longer use that move.

"Heh heh!" Seeing Ekans continually approach Spinarak, Quan You sneered twice. "Spinarak, spray silk beneath your feet!"

Splat splat!

Several strands of silk rapidly wove themselves into a web beneath Spinarak's feet.

Quan You had it all planned out. Ekans had already run out of Acid, but even without Poison Sting and String Shot, Spinarak still had Shadow Sneak to kite Ekans. As long as Ekans dared enter the range of the silk, it would definitely be restrained.

Then wouldn't Spinarak be free to carve it up however it pleased?

I've been waiting for this! The gap between Spinarak's attacks!

Heiduo's eyes lit up. Every move had startup and recovery time. He had not dared use Rock Slide because he feared Spinarak would use String Shot to dodge instead of controlling Ekans.

If that happened, by the time Ekans condensed a large rock, Spinarak would have already disappeared!

But now, Spinarak's String Shot seemed to have reached its limit.

It had lost that high mobility!

"Ekans! Show him the move we just learned! Rock Slide!"

"Nani?!"

Two utterly different voices rang out across the field.

The first was brimming with confidence; the second was shocked.