An unexpected move

Ordinary damaging moves would have little effect on Altaria, making any chance of victory even harder to find.

But Zhang Cheng would not give up easily. There were always more solutions than problems.

He had already devised a plan to deal with Altaria.

Throughout the next stretch of the battle, Zhang Cheng kept ordering Poliwag to defend.

Altaria used only low-damage moves, constantly holding back to give the opposing Pokémon room to fight.

But even with Altaria reducing the power of the attacks, an infant-stage Poliwag could hardly withstand them.

After taking repeated attacks from Altaria, Poliwag's HP had nearly bottomed out. Poliwag would soon be unable to battle.

"Defending all the time won't get you anywhere. If this is all you've got, I'm very disappointed," Bai Yuling said as she watched the battle.

Zhang Cheng did not respond. Sensing that the time was right, he immediately ordered Poliwag to use Mind Reader.

Seeing Poliwag use Mind Reader, Bai Yuling felt the battle was getting interesting.

"Show me everything you've got, or you won't have another chance." Bai Yuling ordered Altaria to keep attacking.

With a Level advantage, Altaria was much faster than Poliwag and reached Poliwag's side in the blink of an eye.

Altaria immediately used Fury Attack, wings beating furiously as the attack bore down on Poliwag.

After using Mind Reader, Poliwag immediately unleashed another egg move—Endeavor.

This was precisely the opportunity Zhang Cheng had been waiting for: a chance to catch Altaria off guard, get close, and use Endeavor.

Altaria coming in to attack at close range had undoubtedly given Zhang Cheng an enormous opening.

The two moves collided, and Poliwag's Endeavor landed cleanly. Since Poliwag's HP was already nearly depleted, that single Endeavor stripped away more than half of Altaria's HP.

At the same time, the massive damage interrupted Altaria's Fury Attack.

Both Pokémon were now at critical HP. Their next moves could decide the outcome.

The students watching nearby were utterly stunned. Who could have imagined that Zhang Cheng could bring Altaria so close to fainting despite such a huge Level gap?

Bai Yuling was also a little surprised by Zhang Cheng's counterattack. "It seems I underestimated you. I didn't expect a novice Trainer to come up with a tactic like that."

"This was the only way I could beat Altaria right now. Of course, luck played a part too. With such a huge level gap, I couldn't guarantee Endeavor would hit, so I used Mind Reader first to improve its accuracy," Zhang Cheng explained.

While Altaria reeled from the damage, Poliwag gathered the last of its strength and unleashed Water Gun.

Poliwag used Water Gun because it had the highest accuracy of all Poliwag's moves.

Both Pokémon were now on the verge of fainting. What mattered was no longer high damage, but attacks that were fast and certain to hit.

Poliwag's sudden attack did not faze Bai Yuling, as though everything remained under her control.

Water Gun shot straight toward Altaria in the air. Altaria seemed to have no strength left to dodge.

Just as everyone thought Zhang Cheng was about to win, a transparent Rainbow Shield appeared around Altaria.

An instant before Water Gun could hit, Altaria activated Protect and blocked it.

After blocking Poliwag's Water Gun, Altaria immediately used Disarming Voice again.

Seeing that Water Gun had failed to land, Poliwag began gathering another Water Gun as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, Poliwag was nowhere near as fast as Altaria. By choosing a ranged Sound Wave move to ensure Accuracy and maintain distance, Altaria left Poliwag no room to counterattack.

Disarming Voice rang out and struck the barely standing Poliwag, leaving Poliwag unable to battle.

Seeing the final result, Zhang Cheng felt a little regretful. In the end, he had still fallen one move short.

Altaria's Potential and Level were both extremely high, so the mastery of those moves went without saying.

By calmly using Safeguard in a crisis, Altaria had secured victory.

The surrounding students were still stunned by the roller-coaster match. They had never expected the outcome to turn around again and again.

"It seems you're doing a pretty good job as class monitor. You've already given your teacher quite a few surprises," Bai Yuling praised Zhang Cheng.

"I'm still far behind you when it comes to battle experience. Thank you, ma'am. I learned a lot from this battle," Zhang Cheng said honestly.

"If Altaria hadn't attacked at close range, I wouldn't have had a chance to use Endeavor. Altaria was also holding back. Otherwise, I would have lost long before that."

Bai Yuling was pleased by Zhang Cheng's humility. What she hated most were Trainers who let even the slightest achievement go to their heads.

After the battle ended, Zhang Cheng hurriedly took both Poliwag and Altaria to the Treatment Room.

Since Bai Yuling still had to battle the other students, she did not accompany Altaria.

After getting Poliwag and Altaria settled, Zhang Cheng returned to the Training Ground to continue watching the battles between Bai Yuling and his classmates.

By the time Zhang Cheng returned to the Spectator Stand, Bai Yuling had already begun battling another student.

With Altaria unable to battle, Bai Yuling had brought out her second Pokémon.

Zhang Cheng was somewhat surprised when he saw Bai Yuling's second Pokémon. It was yet another extremely rare species from abroad.

Zhang Cheng opened the system to check the Pokémon's information:

Name: Primarina (Level 52)

Gender: Female

Potential: B

Types: Water, Fairy

Held item: Mystic Water (increases the holder's Water-type move damage by 20%)

Basic moves: Sparkling Aria, Pound, Growl, Water Gun, Disarming Voice, Baby-Doll Eyes, Aqua Jet, Icy Wind, Encore, Bubble Beam, Sing, Double Slap, Hyper Voice, Moonblast, Captivate.

Learned moves: Protect, Round, Scald, Light Screen

Egg move: Perish Song

Ability: Liquid Voice (turns all sound-based moves used into Water-type moves.)

Notes: Primarina, the Soloist Pokémon. She evolves from Brionne and controls balloons made of water with her singing. This melody is learned among companions and passed down from generation to generation.