Outside the boys' dormitory, Jace and Fugui had just arrived at the main entrance.
"Jace? You're finally back?"
"Uh… who are you?"
Jace studied the blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigner stepping out from the shadows.
"I want to challenge you!"
"Hah… challenge me?"
Jace snorted. "I'm ranked second. Where are you?"
The foreigner smiled. "I'm seventh right now. But exchange students have special privileges — we can directly challenge your second or third ranks. So, accept already. After I beat you, I'll go take down your first place too."
That arrogant expression was enough to make Jace's blood boil. He didn't care how this guy shot up in ranking — what mattered was that Jace wanted to knock him down a few pegs.
"Bring it, then. Let's go — training field!"
Jace said, and he and Fugui turned toward the training area.
Exchange students had special privileges for challenges, but the Dragon Kingdom's own exchange students had the same rights. And those privileges only applied to the challenge conditions themselves.
For example, with only two hundred people on the ranking board, the only way to get on it was to challenge whoever was ranked between 191st and 200th. Win, and you took their spot.
For those ranked 51st and below, you could skip ten ranks to challenge.
Inside the top 50, you could only skip five ranks.
Inside the top ten, only three ranks. Inside the top three, only one.
Which meant that once you were in the top ten, the tenth-ranked trainer could only challenge seventh place at most.
If you wanted to challenge first place, you had to first challenge third, win, then challenge second, win again — and only then could you challenge first.
That was the normal process. But exchange students were different.
Besides not being able to challenge first place directly, they could skip ranks without limit — though only during their first month.
Which was why this foreigner could directly challenge Jace.
In truth, he had wanted to challenge Sikong Ling first, then Jace, one at a time. But he waited under the dorm for ages and never saw Sikong Ling. He did see Jace though. So he decided to go for Jace first instead.
Soon, both arrived at the battlefield. Then, with the referee as witness, the two trainers shook fists — signaling the challenge was official.
This way, after the challenge the rankings would update immediately, with no possibility of either side backing out.
"Please both trainers release their Pokémon."
"Go, Politoed!"
"Go, Charizard!"
Both released their Pokémon at the same time.
Jace grinned.
"Knew you'd bring a Water-type."
"Swish!"
The flag fell. Battle start!
"Charizard, Mega Evolution!"
"Politoed, Surf!"
"Charizard, fly up! Dodge, then Swords Dance!"
The outfit Jace had brought this time was the Mega Charizardite X.
Compared to Mega Charizard Y, Mega Charizard X's Dragon-type water resistance was a crucial factor.
After all, whoever was confident enough to challenge him either believed their raw power could overpower him, or had one or more Water-types on their team.
And news that Jace ran a sun team wasn't exactly a secret. He'd even shown it in class — his sun team would resist Water-types once it was fully built, but right now it wasn't there yet.
So the reason he chose Charizard X was simple: no matter what the opponent brought, X could hold its own.
A solid pick all around.
"Politoed, Waterfall!"
"Goddamn it, can you stop flying?!"
The foreigner cursed as he watched Charizard reinforce in the air, then ordered Politoed to press the attack.
"Now? You're just handing yourself over."
"Charizard, Dragon Claw!"
Politoed's whole body wrapped in water, shooting straight up toward Charizard.
But by this point, Charizard had finished powering up. Looking down at the approaching Politoed, a ruthless grin spread across its face.
Six pale blue, claw-shaped blades materialized around Charizard's forelimbs.
Charizard's wings flared, and it dove straight down to meet the attack head-on.
"Crash!"
The instant they connected, Politoed's trajectory changed.
What had been a direct upward charge became a sideways tumble through the sky.
Both trainers had sharp eyes. They could see it clearly — Politoed had been one-shot by Charizard.
"Get back here, Politoed!"
The foreigner gritted his teeth and recalled his falling Politoed, sparing it the secondary damage of hitting the ground.
"Mega Charizard X wins. Please switch to your next Pokémon."
"Damn it — should've given Politoed a Focus Sash!"
The foreigner cursed internally. He'd equipped Politoed with Leftovers. He'd been counting on that recovery to let Politoed sweep his sun team single-handedly.
Who could've known Politoed would get one-shot?
"Go, Staraptor!"
"Staraptor, Tailwind!"
"Charizard, again — Dragon Claw!"
Staraptor opened with Tailwind the moment it hit the field.
It had no choice — in terms of base speed, Staraptor simply couldn't match Charizard.
And Jace's Charizard, like Lu Ze's Charizard, trained by flying behind Crobat.
Speed and evasion were not things either Charizard had to worry about. (Crobat was another matter entirely.)
"Staraptor, Air Slash!"
"Fly right through it!"
Jace wasn't fazed. Air Slash? At Staraptor's Special Attack stat, a little Air Slash was nothing.
"Quick Attack! Dodge through it!"
When Staraptor saw Charizard barrel straight through the attack, not just the foreigner but Staraptor's own feathers stood on end in shock.
Quick Attack.
Staraptor felt like it had never moved so fast in its life. If it could just get away from the dragon that was looking at it like trash—
"Staraptor, dodge! Dodge right now!"
Before Staraptor could even catch its breath, its trainer's voice came crashing down again.
A bad feeling crept over Staraptor.
Its body instinctively shifted right — but the moment it moved, it felt the gust from behind.
Staraptor knew what that was. But it was too late. It could only squeeze its eyes shut in despair.
"Crash!"
Dragon Claw slammed into Staraptor. Staraptor didn't even scream — just started spinning, its eyes going in circles as it collapsed.
"Staraptor is unable to battle. Charizard wins. Please switch to your next Pokémon."
The foreigner recalled Staraptor with a dark expression, then looked up at Jace and spoke through gritted teeth.
"Okay. This is your fault."
"This is your fault!"
Another chapter at six tonight.
———
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