School was about to start

Every morning, Zhang Cheng woke to his alarm and began another day of intensive training. In the mornings, his two Pokémon practiced their moves under his guidance. In the afternoons, they sparred with each other.

Poliwag won most of the time, though. Compared with Pidgey, Poliwag was at a higher Level and had more battle experience.

Pidgey had yet to officially battle another Trainer's Pokémon. Zhang Cheng wanted to take Pidgey to the Training Ground to gain some practical experience, but he had not had the same luck as last time.

Without a sparring assignment at the training ground, he would have to pay three thousand a day to battle there, an expense he could not currently afford.

Pidgey's practical battle training would have to wait until school started. By then, his classmates would all have Pokémon of their own.

There would certainly be plenty of matches and sparring sessions, both within their class and between classes in their year.

Over that final month, Zhang Cheng also accepted two public security assignments from the mission center, earning thirty thousand Pokémon Coins in total. Together with what remained of his earnings from Shennong Orchard, he now had forty thousand Pokémon Coins.

After a month of training, both Poliwag and Pidgey had gained Levels.

Pidgey had reached level six and learned Gust.

Poliwag had reached level nine and learned Hypnosis.

For his upcoming training, Zhang Cheng planned to focus on Poliwag's Hypnosis. The move had relatively low Accuracy, and without plenty of practice, it would be difficult to put an opponent's Pokémon to sleep.

However, practicing Hypnosis required a Pokémon as a target, so Pidgey had the good fortune of becoming Poliwag's practice partner.

Of course, Hypnosis only induced a light sleep, not a prolonged one.

A Pokémon would naturally wake up within one to four turns. Still, Pidgey was an excellent practice partner for Hypnosis.

Pidgey's agility made Poliwag's Hypnosis even harder to land. Training against such a challenging target would certainly help Poliwag improve.

And so, one Trainer and two Pokémon spent their summer vacation together.

Jiangcheng No. 1 High School would start classes tomorrow. On the last day before school, Zhang Cheng had no desire to train and planned to get some proper rest.

Perhaps everyone felt a subtle shift in their mood on the last day before school, wishing the start of classes could be pushed back a little longer.

Just as Zhang Cheng decided to spend the last day of his vacation tucked up in bed, his phone suddenly rang.

He checked it and found that the call was actually from his deskmate, Ye Tian.

Since coming to this world, Zhang Cheng had not contacted anyone else. Thinking back now, he did indeed have a deskmate he got along with quite well.

"Zhang Cheng, you didn't contact me once all summer! I thought you'd gone missing." As soon as the call connected, Ye Tian launched into his warm greeting.

Zhang Cheng replied helplessly, "I've been busy with my Pokémon lately. There's a lot to worry about when you've just become a Trainer."

Naturally, he could not admit that he had forgotten Ye Tian existed.

"Yeah, fair enough. I've been swamped lately too." Ye Tian knew the feeling all too well.

"By the way, Ye Tian, what did you choose for your first Pokémon?" Zhang Cheng was curious about what his deskmate had picked.

"Ah, my starter Pokémon is Caterpie. What about yours?"

Zhang Cheng knew that Ye Tian's family was not particularly well-off. Choosing Caterpie as his first Pokémon was actually a very good decision.

Bug-type Pokémon leveled up quickly early on and could become battle-ready in no time.

Ye Tian could strengthen his first Pokémon to earn better resources, then acquire better Pokémon later.

Besides, once Caterpie evolved into Butterfree, its battle prowess would be quite impressive.

Used properly, Butterfree would be a highly versatile Pokémon that could give opponents a real headache.

"Mine's a Poliwag. Right now, I'm planning to build a Water-type team."

"Nice! You've got ambition, young man. You're Huaxia Country's future Water-type Elite Four member."

"Cut the crap. Did you suddenly call me today for something?"

"Come on, can't I call to catch up without needing something? Interested in coming out today and letting our Pokémon spar?"

Ye Tian claimed he did not need anything, yet his very next sentence was an invitation to go out and battle.

"Sure, no problem. Let's battle at Nanting Training Ground. I've been there before, and it's pretty good."

"No problem. See you in a bit."

Beep... beep... beep...

With that, Ye Tian hung up immediately. He was always like this, rushing headlong into things and wasting no time.

Originally, Ye Tian had not planned to go out that day, but the chance to battle had caught his interest.

Pidgey was short on battle experience right now, so battling Ye Tian would help Pidgey improve.

Ye Tian still did not know that Zhang Cheng had a Flying-type Pidgey.

Zhang Cheng made up his mind to teach Ye Tian's Bug-type Pokémon a good lesson.

Taking Poliwag and Pidgey with him, Zhang Cheng caught a taxi to Nanting Training Ground, only to discover that Ye Tian was already waiting for him at the entrance.

"Zhang Cheng, you're way too slow! I've been waiting out here forever," Ye Tian complained.

"Damn it, your place is much closer than mine. Who told you to get here so early?"

"All right, all right, forget that. Let's hurry inside and battle. My Pokémon is itching for a fight."

"I think you're the one itching for a fight."

Seeing how excited Ye Tian was only strengthened Zhang Cheng's resolve to teach him a lesson with his Flying-type Pokémon.

Since Zhang Cheng had been here before, he was familiar with the rental process. He went straight to the front desk, completed the registration and paperwork, and paid the three thousand Pokémon Coins rental fee for the Training Ground.

After a short wait, a staff member led them to the Training Ground.

Since this was just a friendly spar, they did not need a referee. Zhang Cheng told the staff member to take a break; he and Ye Tian could handle the battle themselves.

"Zhang Cheng, I won't go easy on you. The loser buys dinner, all right? There's still time to back out." Ye Tian jokingly tried to shake his confidence.

"I was going to say there's still time for you to take that back, because I've got a big surprise for you." As he spoke, Zhang Cheng released Pidgey.

"Come out, Pidgey!"

"Damn, you already have a second Pokémon? And it's a Flying-type? You're not giving me a chance!" Ye Tian said with an agonized expression.

"It's too late to regret it now. Enough talk. Send out your Caterpie and let's battle."

At those words, Ye Tian dropped his pained expression and adopted a mysterious air. "I never said I regretted anything. Also, let me correct you on one point. It's not Caterpie—it's Butterfree."

"Come out, Butterfree!"

Zhang Cheng was stunned when Ye Tian released Butterfree. Caterpie had to reach level ten to evolve into Butterfree.

His own Poliwag was only level nine. But thinking it over, Zhang Cheng did not find it that hard to accept. After all, Bug-type Pokémon grew very quickly in their early stages.

Ye Tian worked hard too. Having his Pokémon evolve into Butterfree over a summer vacation was certainly reasonable.