The allure of tactics

"I still have too little practical experience, and I don't understand moves well enough," Li Yue said, scratching his head.

"You can build up practical experience gradually. Read up on theory in your spare time, too. It'll help a lot in battles," Zhang Cheng told Li Yue.

Li Yue was a pretty decent guy, so Zhang Cheng had offered the chubby boy some advice out of kindness.

"Thanks for the pointers, haha. I'll settle the score when I get the chance," Li Yue said confidently.

"I'll be waiting." With that, Zhang Cheng left the battlefield.

As he passed Class Two's rest area, Ye Tian gave him a thumbs-up, and Zhang Cheng returned the gesture.

Next came the matches for draws three and four. Both sides' Pokémon were level 10, and the back-and-forth battles were quite entertaining.

Unfortunately, both winners were Trainers from Class Two, which had also won the match for draw two.

So far, Zhang Cheng was the only person from Class One to advance to the next round. Its other three contestants had all been eliminated.

What was more, Ye Tian would face Wu Yueyue next, and he would most likely win, eliminating another contestant from Class One. Hao Chenggong would take the field afterward, and with his higher-level starter Pokémon, Tepig, he would probably win as well.

That effectively meant five Trainers from Class One would be eliminated. In terms of overall strength, Class Two was indeed superior.

Next was the match for draw five, between Ye Tian and Wu Yueyue. After stepping onto the field, they exchanged a few pleasantries. They had been classmates before, after all, and Ye Tian had copied Wu Yueyue's homework plenty of times.

But friendship was one thing, and a match still came down to strength. Both would bring their full power to bear as a sign of respect for their opponent.

At the referee's command, they released their Pokémon.

"Eevee, time to come out and battle."

"Butterfree, go, go, go!"

Zhang Cheng was also curious about how strong Wu Yueyue's Eevee had become, so he opened the system and checked both Pokémon's information:

Name: Eevee (level 10)

Sex: Female

Potential: C+

Type: Normal

Held item: None

Basic moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Growl, Helping Hand, Sand Attack, Quick Attack

Learned moves: None

Egg moves: Wish, Thrash

Ability: Adaptability (moves of the same type as the user receive an additional power boost)

Notes: Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon. Various factors can cause her to evolve into different forms.

Wu Yueyue's Eevee had above-average potential, and her Egg Moves were quite good. Both were highly useful.

Her disadvantage was that she had yet to evolve and had learned relatively few attacking moves.

Her Ability was also pretty good, boosting the power of Normal-type moves. Adaptability had played a major role in helping Wu Yueyue reach the Elite Class with Eevee.

If she had not been matched against Ye Tian, Zhang Cheng believed Wu Yueyue was strong enough to reach the Second Round. Her Eevee was definitely among the best at her level.

Next, Zhang Cheng checked Butterfree's current condition. He had to stay up to date on his best friend's Pokémon:

Name: Butterfree (level 12)

Sex: Female

Potential: C

Type: Flying, Bug

Held item: Pecha Berry

Basic moves: Tackle, Bug Bite, String Shot, Harden, Gust, Confusion, Sleep Powder

Learned moves: Protect

Egg moves: None

Ability: Compound Eyes (having compound eyes multiplies move accuracy by 1.3)

Notes: Butterfree, the Butterfly Pokémon, the evolved form of Metapod. The scales on her wings allow her to bounce across the surface of water.

The Pecha Berry he had given Ye Tian earlier was now equipped on Butterfree, allowing her to cure poisoning once.

After leveling up, Ye Tian's Butterfree had learned two new moves—Confusion and Sleep Powder.

Used well, Sleep Powder could have a terrifying effect. Briefly putting a Pokémon out of action could turn the tide in an instant.

Learning Confusion also made her more effective against Fighting-type and Poison-type Pokémon.

Combined with the Protect she had learned earlier, Ye Tian's Butterfree was a formidable combatant.

After reviewing both Pokémon, Zhang Cheng already had a rough idea of how the match would end.

The battle soon began, and Ye Tian took advantage of Butterfree's agility to attack with Confusion.

Before evolving, Eevee had few ranged attacks. Ye Tian was experienced and knew this well, so he gave her no chance to use Close Combat.

Butterfree was fragile to begin with. If Eevee landed a Quick Attack boosted by her Ability, Butterfree would take heavy damage.

After being kited by her opponent, Eevee stopped stubbornly trying to use Quick Attack.

Instead, she used Wish to restore her health, recovering while dodging Butterfree's attacks.

As time passed, Butterfree landed several attacks on Eevee, but Eevee kept restoring her health with Wish and did not fall.

After using Gust again, Butterfree had expended quite a bit of stamina, and her speed had dropped.

Eevee seized the opportunity, taking Gust head-on before immediately launching Thrash.

Her agile body leaped into the air, and she wildly slashed her claws at Butterfree. By then, Butterfree had no time to dodge the sudden attack.

Thrash grew stronger when used at low health. Combined with Eevee's Adaptability, this hit could potentially knock out the fragile Butterfree in one blow.

Wu Yueyue had fully demonstrated her skill in this battle, using Wish to fight a war of attrition against Butterfree while waiting for an opening.

At the last moment, she had even used Gust to lower Eevee's health, maximizing Thrash's power.

Pulling off something like this put a Trainer's battle experience to the test. A mistaken judgment of Gust's power or Eevee's remaining health could have resulted in Eevee being defeated by Gust outright.

But Zhang Cheng's assessment remained the same: unfortunately, her opponent was Ye Tian.

Against anyone else, that Thrash would most likely have won the match. But Ye Tian's Butterfree knew Protect.

What followed was exactly as Zhang Cheng had predicted. Butterfree's Protect completely neutralized Eevee's strongest blow.

Only someone who had experienced it could understand the despair of having a carefully planned, all-out strike effortlessly blocked.

Thrash had been perfectly countered, and Eevee's health was almost gone. Wu Yueyue was now in a desperate position.

Using Wish now would undoubtedly make Eevee a sitting target. After the attack missed, Wu Yueyue ordered her to pull back and create some distance to prevent a sudden attack from Butterfree.

But how could Ye Tian let this opportunity slip away?

Butterfree rapidly beat her wings and rushed up to the retreating Eevee, immediately using Bug Bite to sink her teeth into her.

With her health already so low, Eevee lost the ability to battle the moment the powerful Bug Bite struck.