Practicing Moves

After class, the other students handed their finished homework to Zhang Cheng. There was no getting around it—as class monitor, he had to handle all these little chores.

Zhang Cheng gathered everyone's homework and delivered it to Bai Yuling's desk in her office.

As for why he didn't give it to Bai Yuling directly, she had slipped away before class even ended.

Zhang Cheng could only resignedly clean up the mess she had left behind before heading off to eat with Ye Tian.

After their meal, Zhang Cheng and Ye Tian went to the training grounds. It was time for the sparring session they had arranged at noon.

"Zhang Cheng, you're acting a little strange today. Usually, I'm the one asking you to come out and spar. Why did you suggest it yourself this time?" Ye Tian asked in confusion.

"Ahem, there's a reason for that, of course." Zhang Cheng took the Pecha Berry he had prepared out of his pocket and held it up. "This is a Pecha Berry, a Pokémon Berry that can cure poisoning."

Ye Tian rolled his eyes. "I'm not an idiot. Of course I know it's a Pecha Berry. What does it have to do with our battle?"

"I mainly asked you to spar today because I want to practice the Thief move Poliwag learned last time," Zhang Cheng explained.

"We haven't had any held items for our Pokémon, so Poliwag hasn't been able to practice Thief. But during class today, it suddenly occurred to me that Pokémon Berries can be used as held items too."

"So you want my Butterfree to hold this Pecha Berry, then have your Poliwag steal it?" Ye Tian grumbled.

"Exactly." Seeing Ye Tian getting worked up, Zhang Cheng continued, "Of course, you'll get something out of it. I earned these Pecha Berries from my part-time job over summer break."

"I had ten altogether. I used one during the class placement battles, so there are nine left. How about I give you four in exchange for helping me practice?"

"Why didn't you tell me about this great deal sooner? Of course I'm in. Four Pecha Berries—you promised!" Ye Tian changed his tune in an instant.

Knowing Ye Tian's ways all too well, Zhang Cheng couldn't even be bothered to comment. "Don't worry. Once we're done sparring, I'll take you to get the Pecha Berries."

"Okay, okay! Let's get started, then. I want to see what Thief looks like too." As he spoke, Ye Tian took the Pecha Berry from Zhang Cheng's hand.

The two then sent out their Pokémon. Following what he had learned about held items, Ye Tian had Butterfree absorb the Pecha Berry's energy, turning the berry into Butterfree's held item.

Then Ye Tian tried having Butterfree remove the item. As Butterfree gathered its energy, the Pecha Berry changed from energy back into a physical object.

These items really were remarkable, able to switch between energy and physical form.

Once he confirmed that Butterfree could hold the Pecha Berry properly, Zhang Cheng began training Poliwag's Thief move.

Zhang Cheng ordered Poliwag to use Thief. Drawing on what Poliwag had learned from the Technical Machine, Poliwag charged straight at Butterfree.

Butterfree darted aside and dodged. Thief failed.

Zhang Cheng wasn't disappointed by this. Mistakes were perfectly normal when first practicing a move.

Using a move more effectively required constant practice and the accumulation of actual battle experience.

For the next stretch of time, Poliwag kept using Thief over and over.

After some practice, Poliwag's success rate with Thief had reached forty percent.

Whenever the move landed, it dealt damage to Butterfree and transferred Butterfree's Pecha Berry to Poliwag as a held item.

Zhang Cheng was very pleased to see Poliwag's accuracy steadily improving. His Poliwag learned moves quickly and was willing to work hard too.

After practicing a little longer, Zhang Cheng ended the session. Both Pokémon had used up a great deal of stamina, and pushing them too hard in training wasn't a good thing.

Once training was over, Zhang Cheng took Ye Tian to his dorm room and gave him four of the Pecha Berries he had brought with him.

After receiving the Pecha Berries, Ye Tian joked, "Make sure you come to me whenever you've got another sweet deal like this."

"In your dreams. Get as far away from me as you can," Zhang Cheng said with a look of disdain.

Amid laughter and playful insults, the two parted ways and returned to their respective dorm rooms.

Pecha Berries weren't particularly precious, really. They were simply interested because all of this was still new to them.

After so many years, their friendship certainly couldn't be measured in a handful of Pecha Berries.

Back in his dorm room, Zhang Cheng took out some of his dwindling supply of Pokéblocks and fed them to Poliwag and Pidgey.

Once the two Pokémon had eaten, they settled down to sleep. Zhang Cheng took a quick shower and went to bed as well, ready for a new day.

The next morning, another day began with the familiar ringing of his alarm. Today, they had a practical battle class.

After getting up and eating breakfast, Zhang Cheng went to the training grounds where his class met. He felt especially sleepy whenever he attended theory lessons, but the moment it was time for practical battle instruction, his drowsiness vanished and he perked right up.

As class time approached, Bai Yuling arrived punctually at the training grounds. Under their instructor's guidance, the students of Elite Class One began another day of learning.

And so Zhang Cheng attended theory lessons and practical battle classes day after day. During this time, he also chatted with Bai Yuling on his phone on and off in his daily downtime. Sometimes, they even teamed up to play games late into the night.

There was one thing that puzzled Zhang Cheng, though. No matter how late Bai Yuling stayed up, she was always full of energy the next day. He had no idea how she managed it.

Unable to figure it out, Zhang Cheng simply stopped dwelling on it. He could ask Bai Yuling when he got the chance.

The days passed quickly, and six days had gone by in the blink of an eye.

Today was Saturday, the last day of classes for the week. Once today's lessons were over, Sunday would be here.

Sunday was their only day off each week, giving everyone a chance to relax and shake off the week's exhaustion.

Zhang Cheng didn't feel quite as strongly about Sundays, though. Since he no longer needed to put effort into studying the theory material, he had a much easier time than the other students.

Bai Yuling also turned a blind eye to Zhang Cheng during theory lessons, so he spent those classes sleeping with his head down or idly scrolling through his phone.

If the other students knew how comfortably Zhang Cheng was living, they would probably be furious.