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After a trip to the infirmary.
The Thunderbolt had scorched a lot of Riolu's fur. With a gentle brush, the fur fell like rain, revealing patches of skin underneath.
Although the remaining fur was still thick, from a distance it looked fine, but up close... it was a tragic sight.
Well, it had become a programmer-in-training.
"Woo..."
Riolu clutched its scarf, feeling a bit sad, its eyes slightly red but silent.
The dog was actually the most image-conscious one in the family. Otherwise, it wouldn't have gone into a months-long cold war with Torracat after being discovered with a bald patch on its arm last time.
Li Xiang gently comforted it, offering chocolate and holding its paw. After much coaxing, Riolu finally agreed to return to its PokéBall to rest.
Li Xiang was relief.
What to do when a Pokémon is in a bad mood?
Just comfort it.
If you can't even comfort a Pokémon, what good are you as a trainer?
See, yet another essential skill for trainers.
Back in the classroom.
Qu Sheng approached, exclaiming, "You really dare to take risks, aren't you afraid of crashing?"
Using a last-ditch Reversal at the brink of defeat requires considering whether the Pokémon still has the strength to stand and whether it can actually hit the opponent.
In short, it's very difficult to use.
Usually, only those who believe in "high risk, high reward" dare to use it.
"No choice, its evasion is too strong, my moves couldn't land. With its reaction speed... I couldn't just wait until it ran out of stamina, right? Under that blazing sun, I might have been the one to collapse first."
Li Xiang replied helplessly.
Heliolisk is a Pokémon that can use the black umbrella on its neck to recharge. In other words, under the sun, Heliolisk basically never runs out of energy.
Trying to outlast it in stamina would mean enduring its relentless Parabolic Charge.
And if that move hits, it even restores its own stamina.
Damn, it's practically a perpetual motion machine, restoring both energy and stamina.
Riolu has Life Dew to heal, but it doesn't have any moves to restore energy.
How can you fight like that?
Qu Sheng nodded in agreement. Given what Li Xiang said, Riolu really had no other choice.
"Luckily, most of my Pokémon have wide-range moves."
He recalled the entire battle with Ni Wei back then.
If Ni Wei's three Pokémon hadn't all struggled against Magnemite, and the only one that could use Fire Punch couldn't even touch Magnemite, he might not have managed to get one win and one loss.
After all, he specializes in Water types, and Ni Wei happens to be an Electric type weak to Ground. How could he fight?
Getting one win was already good, with only a four or five-level difference between their Pokémon, still in the early growth stage and not yet far apart.
Once Qu Sheng's Pokémon grow stronger, what's a mere Heliolisk?
Li Xiang waved his hand. This year, after learning Magnet Rise, Riolu had only managed to pick up Reversal, Screech, and Double Team.
It's currently practicing Magic Coat and has some ideas for Substitute and Captivate.
Now it seems it needs to learn a wide-range move, otherwise it might not stand a chance against such agile opponents.
Actually, Riolu knows quite a few wide-range moves, but it needs one with a large area of effect.
—Either Earthquake or Bulldoze.
The former is undoubtedly a high-power move, even used by many physical attackers for coverage.
The latter is more suitable for support, with slightly lower power but the added effect of lowering the opponent's speed.
Calculating the cost-effectiveness, the latter is better. Lower power means lower energy consumption, plus it has an additional effect.
This is quite important. Everyone tries to save energy when using moves; relying solely on physical strength, who can you beat?
So, Bulldoze it is.
Li Xiang silently made his choice. His current schedule doesn't allow him to have it all.
...
That evening.
Li Xiang approached his dad and mentioned that Xu Wan's father had invited him to dinner today.
Li Zhehan, unaware that Li Xiang had overheard his conversation with Xu Dongran, initially didn't react and laughed, "Not bad! Quietly getting close to a female classmate, even meeting the parents—uh, what did you say her name was?"
"Xu Wan," Li Xiang replied honestly.
Hearing the name, Li Zhehan immediately fell silent, frowning slightly.
After a few seconds, he said, "Her father asked her to invite you? Alone?"
"Yep," Li Xiang nodded. "But I'm not close to her, and I don't know her father either. It's just out of the blue..."
Silly boy, her dad knows your dad.
Li Zhehan patted his son's head, sighing inwardly, "It's fine, go ahead."
"Really? You want me to go?"
Li Xiang was stunned. Was his dad not joking?
"Go, why not? A girl's parents inviting you to dinner!" Li Zhehan said, exasperated.
Is this really the time for this?
Li Xiang almost spat blood, "Dad! She's closer to Lin Feng! I'm really not close to her!"
"Little Lin?"
Li Zhehan naturally knew Lin Feng. When he bought his first boat, he even invited him aboard.
But then, he said in a tone of disappointment, "You actually let someone else get the upper hand! What have I been teaching you all this time?"
"Dad, if you keep this up, I'm telling Mom!" Li Xiang was about to lose it. Same dad, but the difference between this life and the last was huge.
Hearing this, Li Zhehan chuckled awkwardly, "No, no, let's be serious. You really should go. Her uncle specifically invited you, so you should give him face."
Ah...
What did they talk about that day? Did they reconcile? Are they on good terms again?
Seeing his dad's supportive attitude, even encouraging him to go, Li Xiang couldn't help but ponder.
He didn't believe his dad was naive enough to trust others so easily.
Li Zhehan must have some confidence to let him go.
"Alright."
Li Xiang agreed.
In fact, he was also curious about Xu Dongran.
What exactly did they bring back from the island region?
With a bit of luck, he might even meet Xu Wan's grandfather.
As they say, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even if the pillar has half-collapsed, it's still taller than other small stakes.
Unfortunately, Xu Wan's grandfather isn't a particularly strong trainer. After becoming the branch association president, he was banned from ranked battles, so it's just a hobby now.
He was not that strong.
Come to think of it, it had been almost a year, and Li Xiang hadn't interacted with any high-ranking trainers.
What a pity.
After sharing his thoughts with Anya, Li Xiang prepared to attend the dinner in two days. Tomorrow was Friday, so he could give Xu Wan a definite answer.
...
The next day.
Li Xiang told Xu Wan.
She visibly relaxed, looking at Li Xiang with gratitude and even thanking him.
This made Li Xiang feel a bit awkward. It was supposed to be her treating him to dinner, but it felt like she was begging him.
Xu Wan must have been under a lot of pressure at home. Without Lin Feng around, her personality might have changed drastically.
Tsk tsk.
Back to today's match.
The main tournament and the revival tournament are held on the same day, with both determining winners and losers. The losers of the main tournament join the revival tournament, while the losers of the revival tournament are out.
The qualifying match Li Xiang fought earlier was technically the round of 48 to 24.
Meaning he's now within the top 24.
In the revival tournament, the first round had 96 losers, who then competed in the second round to determine 48 who would continue. These 48 would then pair up with the 48 losers from the second round of the main tournament...
In short, there are still 72 people in the revival tournament aiming to advance.
According to his plan, losing in the round of 24 to 12 would be the most profitable.
Although there's a chance of encountering that early starter who was defeated by Song Jie, the probability is lower than in the main tournament, which only has 24 people left!
At that moment - A photo was sent to the group chat.
It was the new match schedule.
Coincidentally, Li Xiang's new opponent happened to be that early starter who had tied with Lin Feng using Torterra last year!
"~"
Li Xiang couldn't help but whistle. It seemed fate wanted him to lose here.
If he continued calculating, the main tournament would eventually leave six people, with four spots open.
If Li Xiang lost this match and entered the revival tournament, to compete for those four spots, he could still fight at least four more matches.
Not bad.
And most importantly, the final round of the main tournament, from 12 to 6, is a 3v3 format.
The final round of the revival tournament to determine those four spots is also a 3v3 format!
In this format, even if he encountered an early starter, Li Xiang wouldn't be afraid.
Of course, it's best not to encounter one.
'Hope the early starter is okay.'
Li Xiang clasped his hands together, sincerely hoping that in the revival tournament, early starters would face each other, fighting to the death, sparing the law-abiding future pillars like them.
...
In the afternoon.
The match slowly began.
This time, it was Torracat with its grumpy, world-weary expression taking the stage.
Last match, it thought it was its turn, but Riolu had cut in halfway. It didn't mind, considering itself the leader and believing in the virtue of yielding.
But now that it's finally its turn, being asked to throw the match?
What's that about?
Looking down on cats?
Believe it or not, I'll slap your head off!
Torracat, knowing it had to throw the match, was furious. It took a lot of coaxing from Li Xiang to calm it down.
But accepting the situation didn't mean it would be happy about it.
Throw the match?
I don't know how to throw matches!
The moment the referee signaled the start.
Torracat charged straight at Torterra, flames wreathing its body, a formidable sight.
The opponent's trainer, waiting to use Intimidate and Fake Out, was stunned, not understanding what was happening.
Of course, he wasn't so foolish as to just stand there. He immediately had Torterra use Earthquake.
Torterra roared, its thick front legs lifting high before slamming down with a crash!
The ground instantly shattered, debris flying like bullets!
Accompanying this terrifying scene were layers of fan-shaped, earth-yellow shockwaves, rushing straight at Torracat!
Earthquake can naturally attack in all directions, but Pokémon aren't so foolish as to hit their own trainers standing behind them.
Thus, fan-shaped shockwaves are a must-learn for every Pokémon that masters Earthquake.