Time flew by in a flash.
The entrance exam for Silver Mountain High School was less than a week away.
Ye Chuan, as usual, took Charmander out for training. For the past half-month, he hadn't missed a single day of training, persevering with Charmander. And Charmander hadn't disappointed him; its daily progress was clearly visible.
Now, Charmander could wear the training vest for jogging and keep up, and it could also use its skills smoothly. Ye Chuan thought that if the training vest were removed, the power Charmander would display would definitely be explosive.
After finishing their two-hour jog, Ye Chuan and Charmander sat on a bench to rest. Just then, someone walked over and greeted him:
"Hello."
This was a short man... or was it a boy? "Hmm?" Ye Chuan couldn't quite tell if the person in front of him was a boy or not. They had medium-length hair, a baby face, and were about 1.6 meters tall. A small green snake, a Grass-type Snivy, was beside them.
"Um, I've been watching you for a while now." The first words made Ye Chuan愣住.
"Sorry, I already have someone I like," Ye Chuan quickly stated his position.
"Eh, I'm not here to confess my love...
No, I'm a guy!"
The person clarified their gender, then gestured somewhat flusteredly. "Um, are you also a trainee trainer?"
"Yeah."
Seeing Ye Chuan nod, the boy patted his chest, as if relieved. "If it's okay with you, could we have a Pokémon battle?"
"A battle? Sure, we can..." Ye Chuan looked at the boy, who immediately introduced himself. "My name is Gu Qi, and this kid is Snivy."
The Snivy at his feet seemed a bit aloof, closing its eyes.
"My name is Ye Chuan, and this is my Pokémon, Charmander." Seeing the other person introduce themselves, Ye Chuan smiled slightly.
"It's like this, I want to get into Silver Mountain High School, so after receiving my initial Pokémon, I've been training here," Gu Qi said a bit embarrassedly. "But I haven't had any real battles yet, so I want some practical experience. That way, I'll be more confident during the exam."
"Silver Mountain High School?" Ye Chuan smiled after hearing that.
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. So, you haven't had any real battles, right?" Ye Chuan pointed to himself. "Actually, I'm the same as you, I haven't had any real battles either."
"That's great! Can you battle with me?" Gu Qi excitedly grabbed Ye Chuan's hand. "Please?"
I kind of feel like your eyes are looking at a fellow species.
Mentally making a small remark, Ye Chuan glanced at his Charmander. "A real battle, is that okay?"
Charmander looked at Snivy, slightly opened its mouth to spit out sparks, and nodded, seemingly very interested. Snivy, feeling the oncoming heat, flicked its vine whip with a bit of disdain.
"Thank you!" Gu Qi nodded gratefully, then pointed in a direction. "There's a battle field over there, let's go."
"Okay."
Arriving at the other side, the two chose a small-sized battle field.
The Trainer League had clear regulations on the size of battle fields. For trainers at Ye Chuan's and Gu Qi's level, because their Pokémon were generally weak and couldn't cause much damage, they usually used fields with dimensions of 4x10 meters.
Trainers at higher levels would use larger battle fields, partly to avoid the risk of trainers being accidentally injured in smaller fields like the 4x10 size, and partly to facilitate free battles for higher-level Pokémon. After all, these Pokémon caused extremely high damage, and small battle fields couldn't accommodate them.
The top-level competitions, such as the World Pokémon League, involved trainers standing on elevated platforms to command their Pokémon in battle. The field was the highest standard 8x22 meters, which ensured the safety of the trainers and also allowed the Pokémon to battle more freely without being restricted by the field, making the battles more exciting.
Ye Chuan and Gu Qi each stood at their respective command positions on one side. Since there was no referee, the match would end when one side was unable to battle.
"I have the type advantage, is that okay?" Ye Chuan reminded him. After all, Fire-type was strong against Grass-type, which was advantageous for him in this battle.
Gu Qi nodded. "No problem!"
As he spoke, he noticed the device on Charmander's body and asked, "Shouldn't you take that thing off? It would be bad if it got damaged during the battle."
"No need, it's fine like this," Ye Chuan said.
The instructions stated that the training vest was made of special metal and had a certain degree of impact resistance. It was almost impossible for battles between early-stage Pokémon to damage this device. Otherwise, something costing five or six thousand would be too worthless.
Hearing Ye Chuan say this, Gu Qi didn't say anything more.
The two silently counted down three seconds—
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Battle begin!"
"Charmander isn't good at close combat, Snivy, get in close!" Gu Qi said immediately.
"Whoosh!" A sharp light flashed in Snivy's eyes, and it began to approach Charmander quickly. It was already a relatively agile Pokémon, and with the small battle field, it reached Charmander in just a few seconds. Its vines lashed out, directly缠绕住 Charmander's legs! "That's it, directly pull Charmander down and don't let it use Ember!"
Closing in and then controlling, the smooth commands showed Gu Qi's solid level. Although he was just a trainee trainer, someone aiming for Silver Mountain High School wouldn't be too bad.
However, he miscalculated.
Snivy used all its strength, but it didn't manage to pull Charmander down. Instead, Charmander remained motionless, its eyes fixed on Snivy.
"How is that possible? Charmander's weight is generally 8 kilograms, and my Snivy's pulling force can reach 25 kilograms. How could it not be able to pull it?!" Gu Qi was stunned on the spot.
"25 kilograms, not quite enough," Ye Chuan said with a smile. The pulling force of the training vest far exceeded this number. Now that Charmander had adapted to the training vest's pull, how could it be pulled down by Snivy? Moreover, the training vest itself had weight.
"In that case."
Gu Qi's adaptability was still good. Seeing that this move didn't work, he immediately changed his strategy: "Snivy, use Wrap!"
Snivy leaped high, a white light emitting from its tail, then slammed its tail down heavily from above!
"Metal Claw!" Ye Chuan's voice rang out.
Charmander let out a low growl, a metallic sheen appearing on its claws, directly clashing with Snivy.
In just a second, Snivy's wail of pain was heard.
It flew backward, skidding along the ground for a long distance and losing its ability to battle.
"Snivy?!"
Seeing Gu Qi's incredulous look, Ye Chuan scratched his nose: "Um... actually, my Charmander is quite good at close combat."