"Battle begin!" the referee teacher announced.
Teacher Jiang crossed his arms, his tone a bit arrogant. "I'll let you go first."
"Charmander, Ember," Ye Chuan ordered without any hesitation.
Charmander opened its mouth, and embers spewed out, surging towards Froakie. The next second, the embers splashed onto Froakie's body, leaving some marks, but they didn't seem to cause much damage.
"Using Fire-type moves against a Water-type Pokémon, it seems your Charmander hasn't learned any other type of skills, wasting such a good first-move opportunity..." Teacher Jiang showed a disappointed expression. "Silver Mountain High School doesn't welcome trash. You should just go home early."
"Ember," Ye Chuan continued to command.
Embers spewed out, but this time Froakie didn't take the attack. It leaped high, took two bubbles off its neck, and threw them directly at Charmander's feet! The sticky bubbles quickly adhered to Charmander's feet.
"Ga?" Charmander moved its legs, realizing that Froakie's bubbles were extremely sticky, firmly securing its paws.
Froakie flashed past Charmander, leaving a string of floating, colorful bubbles.
"Boom boom boom—" The bubbles exploded in a series, water mist rose, and Charmander's low growl could be heard. The Water-type attack was extremely powerful against the disadvantaged Charmander.
The water mist dissipated, and Charmander still hadn't broken free from the bubbles.
"How did that combination feel?" Teacher Jiang looked at Ye Chuan, but found that the latter's expression hadn't changed. Instead, he was quietly observing the situation on the battle field.
Calmness was a basic quality of a trainer, but Ye Chuan's appearance made the teachers scoring on the side unsure whether he was calmly thinking of a countermeasure or had simply given up.
Froakie used Bubble again.
"Boom boom boom—" Water mist rose.
"It's over." Two Bubble attacks were something Charmander's defense couldn't withstand. Teacher Jiang chuckled self-deprecatingly, shook his head, and took out a Poké Ball, intending to recall Froakie.
"Dragon Dance."
Ye Chuan suddenly spoke.
A faint light rose in the water mist, followed by a sudden burst!
Red and purple light erupted from Charmander's body as it charged towards Froakie like a cannonball, its sharp claws flashing white—
One strike, the powerful brute force forcing the unprepared Froakie to fly backward!
"What?!"
Froakie slid several meters on the ground before stabilizing itself. The pain from its body made it gasp, "Croak."
"I see. You used Ember to numb my and my Pokémon's alertness, and then looked for an opportunity to counterattack." Teacher Jiang clapped his hands.
"Very confident, and somewhat interesting."
"With a type disadvantage, how else am I supposed to fight without some psychological warfare?" Ye Chuan said with a smile, regretting that he hadn't directly knocked out Froakie.
"Then how about this?"
As soon as Teacher Jiang finished speaking, Froakie's figure began to blur, then started to split into shadows, a dozen of them in total! They surrounded Charmander, each one looking real, with no visible flaws.
Double Team!
Then, each Froakie began to gather a water ball in its hands, the Water Pulse skill.
"Your Charmander can't take a third Water-type skill, right?" Teacher Jiang said. Then, the Froakie all leaped up, holding Water Pulses from all directions, pressing down on Charmander! "So many clones!"
"Wow, Teacher Jiang is showing no mercy. The number of clones isn't something ordinary Pokémon can achieve, right?"
Ye Chuan slowly closed his eyes after seeing this scene. "Indeed, Charmander can't take a third Water-type skill.
But..."
When he opened his eyes again, a faint blue light covered his pupils. Centered on him, the world in his eyes began to transform into a blue, translucent image. All the shadows on the battle field were light blue, except for one deep blue—
Aura!
"Your Froakie also can't take my Charmander's second attack."
Ye Chuan gave a directional command. Charmander let out a low growl, its body leaping up. The claw attack, boosted by Dragon Dance, heavily struck one of the Froakie. The Water Pulse shattered, water mist surging in mid-air. At the same time, all the shadows broke apart, and two figures fell down.
"Ga." The red and purple light on Charmander's body faded, its gaze fixed forward—
It was a Froakie lying on the ground, unable to battle.
"Froakie, unable to battle," the referee teacher announced the result.
"Did I see that wrong? Charmander defeated Froakie?"
"Teacher Jiang was actually defeated by someone with a type disadvantage?!"
The surrounding examinees were stunned. They really couldn't figure out how Ye Chuan had found the real body just now, and Charmander's attack was also terrifying.
"How exactly did you see through the real body?" Teacher Jiang frowned.
Ye Chuan smiled slightly.
On the other side, several scoring teachers began to whisper among themselves.
"How was that Double Team seen through? Does Charmander have a similar skill to see through illusions?"
"No, the trainer discovered it. As for how he discovered it, did you guys notice that the examinee closed his eyes just now?"
"And then?"
"He must have used his ears to distinguish the sounds in the air to confirm Froakie's exact location. You know that there's a subtle sound of flowing water when Water Pulse is charging."
"No way? You can even do that?"
"So, this is a very frightening student. None of us can do that, right?"
Several teachers felt they had discovered the truth and exchanged glances, taking out their pens to write down 10.0 on the score sheet. Whether it was the trainer's psychological warfare of feigning weakness, the Pokémon's combat power, or the trainer's commanding ability, they couldn't find any fault.
The practical exam ended. As soon as Ye Chuan left the battle field, he found himself the center of attention for the surrounding examinees, just like a panda being watched in a zoo.
After all, in the current situation, he was the only examinee who had defeated a teacher, and even defeated a teacher with a type disadvantage. It was only natural for him to be stared at.
Ye Chuan didn't care about the gazes of others and directly turned to leave for the medical point to heal Charmander's injuries.
Pokémon's recovery speed was very fast. Half an hour later, a teacher in a white coat returned the Poké Ball to Ye Chuan. "Student, the wounds have been healed."
"Thank you."
Ye Chuan took the Poké Ball. A flash of white light, and a spirited Charmander appeared, spitting out sparks.
"Good job." Ye Chuan squatted down and smiled, stroking Charmander's head with his hand.
"All that hard work during this time has finally paid off."
After so many days of being together, Charmander had long become close to Ye Chuan. It rubbed its head against Ye Chuan's palm, making a gentle sound. "Ga..."
After confirming that Charmander had fully recovered, Ye Chuan stood up and turned to look at the teaching building of Silver Mountain High School behind him.
"Silver Mountain High School, here I come."