The moment Lucario dodged, it still got caught by Sticky Web — its Speed dropping before Discharge lanced through it anyway.
"Both Pokémon have fainted. Please send out your next Pokémon."
Old Dog shook his head ruefully. He recalled Galvantula and threw out his next Pokémon.
"This纸精灵似窝刚刚收服没多舅的——如果尼的精灵和千面一样的话,窝就认苏了."
The Poké Ball opened in mid-air, and a Banagon appeared on the field.
"What's that?"
"A new Pokémon?"
"Looks like a Dragon type."
The students in the stands murmured among themselves. The American exchange students wore smug expressions of pride.
Even Skorelsky, trussed up against the railing, cracked a contemptuous smirk.
(Hmph. Stupid Dragon Kingdom peasants. Banagon is the newest tech from the American Empire — revived from a fossil by our state-of-the-art restoration machine. Didn't see that coming, did you,哈哈哈!)
Old Dog swelled with pride looking at Banagon on the field.
His family was the lowest-status among all the exchange students. So he'd only managed to acquire two Pokémon. Banagon had been a reward from the school after he joined the exchange program — and he'd been proud of it ever since.
"A new fossil Pokémon?"
Liu Xiangjun gazed at Banagon on the field, puzzled.
She had a guess, but she couldn't be certain. Fossil Pokémon tended to carry some resemblance to prehistoric animals, but that wasn't a hard rule. After all, there was also the fully evolved Tyrantrum, which looked plenty prehistoric too.
Compared to everyone else's surprise, Lu Zhengjie seemed entirely unimpressed.
"I've got a Pokémon here too. It should be a bit stronger than yours — also caught not too long ago. If you want to try your luck anyway, fine by me."
He threw Lopunny's Poké Ball.
"Excuse me… does the contestant Old Dog wish to forfeit?"
Old Dog nodded helplessly, then recalled Banagon — who hadn't even gotten to enjoy the field yet.
打不了认苏了.
With that, he walked off the field with an air of nonchalance.
"Okay — Rodriguez forfeits. Now, does anyone else want to come up and demonstrate a live battle?"
Before Liu Xiangjun even finished, Anghura's hand shot up.
"Me me me! Teacher, I'll do it!"
"No problem — you, then. Does anyone want to be Anghura's opponent?"
Once Liu Xiangjun agreed, Anghura stepped onto the field.
"I'll do it!"
Looking at Anghura standing on the platform, all smiles, Sikong Ling felt spring arrive in his heart.
Ignoring Wang Siyuan's protest beside him, he leapt straight onto the field.
"I'll be this fair lady's opponent."
Sikong Ling mounted the stage and offered Anghura a bow he thought was the very picture of chivalry.
When he saw that she showed no displeasure — still beaming that same warm smile — Sikong Ling's excitement hit the stratosphere.
(She smiled at me. She must be into me!)
(Her hair is pink! I should dye mine pink when I get back!!)
What Anghura noticed, from start to finish, was only Sikong Ling's eye-catching pink hair.
"Please send out your Pokémon."
"Go, Braixen!"
"Go, my precious!"
.........
A moment later, glassy-eyed Sikong Ling was hauled off the field by Wang Siyuan.
According to sources, as he was dragged away, Sikong Ling kept muttering: "This can't be happening, this can't be happening!"
Sui Yan and Fugui exchanged a glance. Both wiped cold sweat from their foreheads. A single unspoken thought passed between them.
Thank god it wasn't me!
Just before Sikong Ling had leapt down, Sui Yan and Fugui had been arguing over who would step up to fight. Now they were deeply grateful the other person had been arguing with them at that exact moment.
Otherwise, the one embarrassing themselves would have been one of them.
Whereas the American exchange students wore expressions of absolute matter-of-fact confidence, the Shangqing students' faces were all etched with shock.
Sure, Sikong Ling had made it into the top three of all freshmen last year — but that was partly because his face was pretty enough to carry him through on the tiebreaker. Still, he was top three among an entire cohort of new students. How could he possibly have lost this badly?
How badly did Sikong Ling lose?
Right at the start, his Braixen had a Dragon Dance used on it — and then it was charged down hard by Full Power Dragonite, who tanked its Psychic-type Psystrike at point-blank range.
The next thing Braixen knew, it was flying off the field, batted away by Dragonite's calm expression and a single Water Tail.
Braixen went down in one hit.
Could Sikong Ling accept that? Of course not.
So he sent out his second Pokémon — Houndoom.
But Houndoom met the same fate: one Tail Slap sent it flying.
At this point, Sikong Ling was already ready to throw in the towel.
His next Pokémon was Camerupt — Fire/Ground dual type, four times weak to Dragonite's Water moves.
Water Tail did quadruple damage. Even with the Rock Head ability, which reduced super-effective damage by a quarter, Camerupt couldn't survive a one-hit Water Tail.
And to make things worse, his Camerupt didn't even have Rock Head. It had Run Away — so it was even less likely to survive.
But just as he was about to forfeit, he caught Anghura撇嘴.
So his brain caught fire, and he sent Camerupt out anyway.
And Anghura recalled Dragonite.
At first, Sikong Ling felt a thrill of joy — she must like me! She's going to go easy on me, give me face. Why else would she switch out?
That feeling lasted exactly until he saw Hydregion.
He watched Hydregion tank two full-power Flame Bursts from Camerupt without flinching, use Calm Mind to set up, and then unleash Surf.
A towering wall of waves reflected the terrified look in Camerupt's eyes and Sikong Ling's ashen face.
Three games. Sikong Ling wiped out with zero counterplay. In a daze, he was dragged off by his bestie Wang Siyuan.
"Teacher, I win~"
"Mhm. Very impressive."
Liu Xiangjun nodded to Anghura with a smile.
This daughter-in-law — beautiful, sweet-natured, talented. The more she looked, the more she liked.
But liking was liking. There were still things to say — it was a practical combat class, after all.
"That said, a Hydregion at your level doesn't need Calm Mind. Surf alone would've taken Camerupt out."
Anghura smiled lightly. "I know. But the waves look bigger that way."
Liu Xiangjun shook her head with a helpless smile. Fine. You're strong. You set the terms.
(End of chapter)
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