Two bugs clash

Although Natu was a bird Pokémon with the Flying type, its wings were still undeveloped and far too short to let it fly. Its jumping ability was excellent, however, allowing it to leap straight up tree trunks to peck at tender buds.

"Tch, you talk like you've already won. Don't forget that your Natu is also a Flying type. Magnemite's Electric type has it completely countered." After being taunted over and over, Jiang Cheng had naturally lost his patience and snapped back.

So what if I can't beat Xiao Ran? You think I can't beat you? Who do you think you are? What's so special about a Psychic type? My Magnemite even has a Steel typing that hasn't been announced yet! (A true reflection of Jiang Cheng's thoughts at that moment.)

"Then let's see! Natu, use Leer!" Having said that, Gu You impatiently sent Natu charging forward.

In the games from his previous life, Leer was a Normal-type move that frightened an enemy and lowered its defense. This was reality, though. There was no such thing as stripping away a layer of armor just by glaring at someone. Leer's actual effect was therefore to frighten an enemy into hesitating. When the difference in strength was overwhelming, there had even been cases of Pokémon being scared to death.

"Magnemite, don't be afraid! Hit it with Supersonic first!" Jiang Cheng shouted.

Natu was still young, so while its Leer had some intimidating power, using it right at the start of a head-on clash did little against a mentally prepared opponent. That alone showed that Gu You's understanding of Pokémon moves was lacking.

As Jiang Cheng's command rang out, Magnemite suppressed its fear. Rings of sound waves, barely visible to the naked eye, spread from the magnets on either side of its body and easily struck Natu, which had just finished using Leer.

Supersonic caused confusion, but that did not mean putting little birds over an opponent's head and making it hit itself, as in the games. Instead, high-frequency sound waves disrupted its mind and could even cause Illusion. Different moves also produced different kinds of confusion. The Ghost-type move Confuse Ray, for instance, also caused confusion, but its effects leaned more toward trapping the target in an illusion.

"Natu!" Gu You shouted.

Under the effects of Supersonic, Natu's face twisted in pain. This was another difference between Supersonic and Confuse Ray: the sound waves agitated the mind, making their effects even more pronounced against Psychic-type Pokémon like Natu.

"To hell with it! Natu, charge in and use Peck!" Gu You gritted his teeth. With no better ideas, he could only order his Pokémon to charge straight ahead.

At least he isn't completely stupid! Xiao Ran thought upon hearing the command.

He had a rough idea of which moves a newly acquired Natu could know: its innate Peck and Leer, along with Stored Power, which it could learn relatively easily. More advanced moves like Teleport and Confuse Ray were not powerful attacks, and Natu might not be able to learn them yet anyway.

That left only two usable attacks: the Flying-type Peck and the Psychic-type Stored Power. Whether Natu could even use Stored Power in its current state was questionable, so Peck was its best choice.

But how much damage could a Flying-type move like Peck really deal to a Steel-type Magnemite?

"Magnemite, dodge!" Jiang Cheng shouted. "Charge!" and "Dodge!" were always the miraculous go-to commands of rookie Pokémon Trainers. Still, when their Pokémon knew so few moves, there seemed to be no better option than having them evade attacks under their own power.

Although Natu could not fly, it could jump exceptionally well, often closing the distance to an opponent in an instant. Magnemite, still using Supersonic, failed to react in time and was struck by Natu's sharp beak, imbued with Flying-type energy.

Despite taking the hit, Magnemite only slid back a little. The attack left just a faint Bai mark on its magnetic body. Both its Electric and Steel typings resisted Flying-type attacks far too well.

"Magnemite, now's your chance! Finish it with Thunder Shock!" Seeing that Magnemite was fine, Jiang Cheng immediately seized the opportunity.

Threads of electricity flashed across Magnemite's body, quickly gathering into a bolt that shot toward Natu. Having just landed, Natu had no time to dodge and took a direct hit. The powerful electric blast knocked it straight to the ground without any chance to resist.

"Looks like Magnemite's been training quite a bit these past few days. Its Thunder Shock is much faster now!" Xiao Ran said with a smile to Ye Ling beside him.

"Yay!" Meanwhile, Shen Yue had already rushed toward Jiang Cheng. His clean, decisive victory was immensely satisfying.

"Haha, rich boy Jiang, that was awesome! Who knew even a Magnemite could be so strong!" Victory commanded respect, and with Jiang Cheng's family background on top of that, their classmates immediately gathered around to offer their congratulations.

"Not bad, young man! Reminds me of myself back in the day!"

"You're going into Pokémon studies, aren't you? My daughter graduates next year. Why don't you two get acquainted? If you end up at the same university, you could look out for each other!"

The older men and women nearby also gathered around. A capable Pokémon Trainer might well become a future powerhouse, so getting on his good side early could hardly hurt. If he really made it big one day, they could even say, "See? Back then, he battled so-and-so right here in this square..."

Gu You, meanwhile, looked utterly dejected. He returned Natu to its Poké Ball and watched Jiang Cheng surrounded by the crowd, his eyes filled with hatred and resentment. All that glory should have belonged to him.

"Take Natu to get treated quickly. Injuries from electric attacks aren't easy for Flying-type Pokémon to recover from on their own." Xiao Ran turned and frowned slightly at the sight of him. He disliked Gu You's behavior, but the Pokémon was innocent, so he could not help reminding him.

"Hmph! Keep your fake sympathy. I'll beat you sooner or later." Coming back to his senses, Gu You spoke bitterly before turning and running toward the school's Pokémon Center. Minor injuries from battles like this could be treated quickly, so there was no need to worry about them affecting today's outing.

Xiao Ran shook his head and paid him no further attention. Everyone had to walk their own path; no one else could do it for them. Taking Ye Ling's hand, he headed toward Jiang Cheng. Now that the guy had won an official battle, he would be showing off for quite a while.

"Haha, little Ran, what do you think? Piece of cake!" Sure enough, before they even reached him, they heard Jiang Cheng's smug laughter.

"Tch, look at you. That was just because Gu You was terrible. If you're so good, why don't you battle me?" Shen Yue cut him down without mercy.

"Well..." Jiang Cheng immediately lost his words. He really could not beat her, and there was a good chance he would get utterly thrashed.

Everyone burst out laughing at Jiang Cheng's embarrassment.

"Since Jiang Cheng got things started, how about another battle? Anyone want to take on my Caterpie? Fair warning, no one too strong. I'm pretty weak right now!" Inspired by Jiang Cheng's battle, Lin Binbin could no longer resist the urge to try his hand. He called out to the other classmates who had been accepted into Pokémon programs.

Naturally, he did not dare challenge Xiao Ran or the others. Wurmple was simply too weak in its early stages. No matter how well it was raised, the innate gap between species was still there. Only after evolving into Beautifly or Dustox would it truly possess considerable battle strength.

"I'll do it. My starter Pokémon happens to be Caterpie, so the two of them can get to know each other." A boy stepped forward. He had not been accepted into Nancheng University, only an ordinary Pokémon university, so he naturally had not received a particularly good starter Pokémon. Much like Lin Binbin, he had ultimately chosen an easy-to-raise Pokémon like Caterpie out of frustration, planning to get something stronger for his second Pokémon.

They had expected this battle to be thoroughly boring, but to Xiao Ran and the others' surprise, it turned out to be quite lively. Although the Pokémon used only low-level moves, their timing was often just right.

The two Pokémon could learn much the same moves early on. Caterpie could only learn Tackle and String Shot, with stronger ones capable of learning Bug Bite. Wurmple had a slight advantage in being able to learn Poison Sting as well, but it had a much harder time learning Bug Bite than Caterpie did. Most importantly, both kinds of bugs often evolved before they had time to learn Bug Bite. Bug-type Pokémon had such short life cycles that there was little time for them to develop.

Lin Binbin and his classmate clearly understood their respective Pokémon's strengths and weaknesses, so both focused on the most basic move, Tackle. Caterpie had also learned Bug Bite, while Wurmple had learned Poison Sting. The two Pokémon used Tackle to speed up their movements, one desperately trying to defeat the other with Bug Bite, the other repeatedly turning back to fire Poison Sting, while both kept using String Shot to disrupt their opponent's movements.

In the end, the battle produced no winner. Both Pokémon became entangled in the other's String Shot. They had intended to keep fighting, but unexpectedly, both began glowing with the Bai light of evolution.

"Congratulations! That's a Silcoon. It'll emerge as Beautifly, a Bug and Flying type," Xiao Ran said upon seeing the form Wurmple had evolved into.

Unlike Caterpie, Wurmple had two different evolutionary forms, each with a fifty-percent chance of appearing at random: Silcoon, which would become Beautifly, and Silcoon, which would become Dustox. The former was a Bug and Flying type, while the latter was a Bug and Poison type. They filled completely different roles, but another crucial difference was their appearance.

"This is great! I was worried it would evolve into Dustox. It's just so ugly. Now that it can evolve into Beautifly, I'm sure Wurmple must be happy too!" Lin Binbin said joyfully, holding Silcoon in his arms.

"A Pokémon Trainer's feelings can be sensed by their Pokémon. Maybe Wurmple sensed yours and deliberately chose to evolve toward Beautifly," Xiao Ran said with a smile.