Preparing for the Exam

Hearing Bai Yun call her a rich young lady, Cheng Tian couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.

You're a rich young master yourself, okay???

Bai Yun gave Cheng Tian a pat with a wicked grin. "A-Tian, why don't you go say hello? Maybe start some ill-fated romance?"

Cheng Tian replied irritably, "Why don't you try? Maybe she likes delicate, pretty boys like you."

Bai Yun hurriedly waved his hands. "You know me. Three-dimensional women are just for admiring. My two-dimensional wives are where I belong!"

Lin Lin scoffed. "Heh. You hopeless otaku."

At that, Bai Yun raised an eyebrow, carefully looked Lin Lin up and down, then shook his head and sighed.

"What are you sighing for?"

Bai Yun put on an air of profound wisdom. "Flat-chested girls and normies have no place in this world."

His answer was a book smacking him hard in the face. Humiliated and furious, Lin Lin shouted, "Drop dead!!!"

The two tussled for a while before Cheng Tian hurriedly called a halt. If they kept going, class would start. "All right, all right, we've got actual business to discuss. A-Tian, want to go train our Pokémon after school?"

Cheng Tian was surprised. "Train? Where?"

"The Pokémon Center has dedicated training facilities. Fifty an hour. Want to go? They've got a really complete set of equipment."

Cheng Tian's eyes lit up. Only fifty an hour, or twenty-five each if they split it-just like going to an internet café. That was pretty cheap.

"Sure. At that price, we definitely have to go."

The last class was psychology, and Cheng Tian chose not to listen at all. He spun his pen as he thought things over.

The exam was in two weeks. Simply passing wouldn't cut it; he had to get a good score so he could be placed in a good class.

That meant his combined practical and written scores had to rank in the top forty among all these students.

Cheng Tian might have felt nervous about an academic exam, but a Pokémon exam? He could only give a disdainful smile.

What a joke. I've lived two lives, and I've watched more Pokémon battle videos than you've watched porn. You're just a bunch of little kids. If I can't handle you, I'll write my name backward.

Well, confidence was confidence, and vanity was vanity, but Cheng Tian wouldn't let himself become arrogant.

Who knew whether some students at the school had been learning about this since childhood? If he actually lost to them, he would make a fool of himself.

Cheng Tian glanced at the psychology teacher droning on about boring psychological concepts at the front, then secretly took out his phone and started browsing a Pokémon encyclopedia.

He skipped things like the type matchup chart. Writing that out from memory was easy enough for Cheng Tian.

After a whole class spent reading the Pokémon encyclopedia, the dismissal bell finally rang. The students in the classroom all busied themselves packing up to go home.

Once Cheng Tian had packed his bag, he left the classroom with Bai Yun and Lin Lin.

When they reached the main gate, Bai Yun asked, "Lin Lin, A-Tian and I are going to train our Pokémon. Want to come along?"

Lin Lin shook her head. "I want to go home and review my Pokémon knowledge first. There are still lots of Pokémon in the Pokédex I haven't learned to recognize."

Hearing that, Bai Yun didn't press her. After parting at the school gate, Cheng Tian and Bai Yun got into the black sedan together and headed for the Pokémon Center.

When they entered the Pokémon Center, the receptionist asked with a smile, "Are you two here to have your Pokémon treated?"

"Please find us a training room. We want to train our Pokémon," Bai Yun replied.

"Certainly. Renting a training room costs fifty yuan an hour."

Cheng Tian and Bai Yun split the fifty yuan. Bai Yun naturally didn't care whether they split it, but Cheng Tian did. He still owed Bai Yun three hundred yuan; making him cover the training fee too wouldn't feel right.

"Your training room number is 336, and your session lasts one hour. A staff member will come notify you when your time is up."

Cheng Tian and Bai Yun nodded, then headed for the training room. Stepping inside, Cheng Tian could only marvel at the League's lavish spending.

The training room's walls and floor were all made of a special alloy, so there was no need to worry about damaging them. The alloy could withstand a Rhydon's charge head-on without deforming.

The training room was equipped with dedicated punching bags. As long as no one deliberately damaged them, such as by cutting them with slashing moves, they were quite durable.

A setup like this had to cost a fortune, yet the League had installed it without hesitation, and the hourly fee wasn't expensive either. It really had money to burn.

In the middle of the field, Cheng Tian and Bai Yun sent out Froakie and Chimchar respectively.

Cheng Tian already had a rough training plan. As a Water-type Pokémon, Froakie was weak to Grass-type moves. Fortunately, one of Froakie's Egg Moves happened to counter Grass-types.

Ice Punch (Lv. 3)

Cheng Tian's goal was to have Froakie practice that move.

As for Bai Yun, his main priority was still learning to work with Chimchar. After all, he had only gotten Chimchar the night before.

"Froakie, use Ice Punch first. Let me see."

"Froak, froak." Froakie nodded. Ice-type energy quickly covered both little white hands, soon forming a layer of ice.

"Hit that punching bag." Froakie swung an Ice Punch at the bag. The blow sent it swaying, and a layer of ice crystals formed where the fist had struck.

Cheng Tian scratched his head. Training like this didn't seem particularly useful. After thinking it over, he turned to Bai Yun. "Why don't we battle? Training alone like this doesn't seem very effective."

Bai Yun agreed with a nod. After all, battling was the fastest way to learn to work with a Pokémon.

The two Pokémon took their stances on the battlefield. Bai Yun gave the first command. "Chimchar, Work Up!"

Chimchar patted its chest, its fighting spirit rapidly swelling. "Froakie, charge!"

Froakie ran across the field, quickly closing in on Chimchar. "Use Bubble! Aim for the feet!" Froakie pulled off two clumps of foam and hurled them at Chimchar's feet.

"Jump out of the way, then use Thunder Punch!" Chimchar leaped clear of the two clumps aimed at its feet, lightning flashing around its fist. Its Thunder Punch came smashing down toward the approaching Froakie.

Froakie stopped short and used Cut, forming two water spikes in its hands to block the Thunder Punch.

"Use Lick!" Froakie stuck out its tongue and licked Chimchar's face. Though Chimchar's face went numb, the paralysis effect didn't trigger.

"Glare and Scratch!" Chimchar widened its eyes and freed a hand to swipe at Froakie. Unhurried, Froakie canceled Cut and thrust both fists forward, Fighting-type energy flashing around them.

Power-Up Punch. Since Chimchar was a Fire-type, the Ice-type move Ice Punch wasn't very effective against it, so Froakie used the Fighting-type Power-Up Punch to trade blows.

Water Pulse would actually have been the best choice for trading damage against Chimchar. However, Froakie not only had the type advantage but was also at a higher level, so before the battle, Cheng Tian had told Froakie not to use any Water-type moves except Bubble.

Chimchar was knocked back some distance and took damage. Bai Yun hurriedly ordered, "Keep using Thunder Punch!"

Chimchar unleashed Thunder Punch again, while Froakie continued using Power-Up Punch. The Fighting-type Power-Up Punch grew stronger with repeated use.

All four fists collided. Froakie took a little more damage because of the type disadvantage, but although electricity coursed through its body, it wasn't immediately paralyzed and rendered unable to battle.

"Don't trade blows! Dodge and use Bubble!" Froakie stopped engaging Chimchar at close range, leaped out of reach, then began pulling off clump after clump of foam and throwing them at Chimchar.

Chimchar was in a miserable position. Its only ranged attack was Ember, which dealt negligible damage to the Water-type Froakie.

It couldn't get close enough to fight in melee, while Froakie kept kiting it with Bubble. Before long, Chimchar was defeated.

"Ah, A-Tian, you kept kiting me. That felt awful," Bai Yun complained.

"Bai Yun, do you know where you went wrong?" Cheng Tian asked seriously. "Huh? Where? Getting kited?"

"No. You need to understand that in a Pokémon battle, it's the Pokémon actually fighting, not the Trainer. You should let the Pokémon handle the flow of the battle themselves. A Trainer's role is to decide which move to use at crucial moments, not spend the entire match ordering their Pokémon around."

"Like just now. Having Chimchar use Work Up to boost its attack at the start was the right call. But once you were getting kited, you kept mindlessly pushing Chimchar into close combat. You could actually have dodged Bubble by putting some distance between you. Bubble's range is limited, after all."

Bai Yun listened intently to Cheng Tian and felt a little embarrassed afterward. He really hadn't understood their respective roles during the battle and had kept ordering Chimchar around.

"Sorry, Chimchar. This loss wasn't your fault. My commands were to blame," Bai Yun said apologetically. "Chim!" Chimchar shook its head. As far as it was concerned, there was nothing wrong with following its Trainer's orders, and it wouldn't blame its Trainer.

"Froakie, you had some shortcomings too. Trading damage at a crucial moment was fine, and you used your moves confidently. But once Chimchar used Thunder Punch, you should have pulled back immediately. Thunder Punch has too much of an advantage against you. That hit didn't cause paralysis, but if it had, you would've been in danger."

"I did restrict your use of those Water-type moves, but Bubble wasn't restricted, was it?"

Froakie lowered its head in embarrassment. It had gotten a little carried away, thinking only about trading blow for blow.

"Remember, Froakie, your goal is to become a ninja, right? You need to remember that if a ninja can attack from range, they should never fight up close unless they're absolutely certain or have a specific purpose."

Froakie nodded earnestly to show it would remember.

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