Chapter 50: Get Me Another Can!
“Pikachu~~ Pikachu~~ Hic~~~~”
The Electric Mouse hiccuped after drinking Happy Water for the first time.
Aerial Ace did leave a wound on the Caterpillar, but compared to the Caterpillar’s massive body, a small cut was really insignificant.
The Caterpillar had already stood up from the grass lawn, and Xingye’s words seemed to have encouraged him.
Because of its oversized body, the Caterpillar hadn’t stood upright for a long time, to the point that Xingye had forgotten the Caterpillar’s Pokédex image was upright.
The standing Caterpillar was taller than Xingye.
The back was no longer his blind spot!
“Caterpillar! Tackle!”
The upright Caterpillar swung its body and charged fiercely at Fletchling. There was no Skill Light on its head, but with this body size
Even without practicing Skill Light, a simple Tackle should still deal considerable damage.
“Fletchling, use Flame!”
No need for Zuo Hang to say things like dodge; with the Caterpillar’s speed, it was impossible to hit anyway.
Fletchling took to the air and easily reached a position Tackle couldn’t touch. A ball of fire gathered in its belly and sprayed from its beak!
—Flame!
“Caterpillar! String Shot!”
Using String Shot to counter Flame, the same routine as before.
Fletchling wasn’t fixated on the result of the clash between the two, because he knew Flame would definitely lose.
At the instant Flame and String Shot clashed, it flapped its wings and shifted sideways. Skill Light for “Peck” lit up on Fletchling’s beak, and whether Flame could break through the String Shot enclosure was completely ignored by him.
A sharp, sword-like dive, Fletchling’s Peck struck the Caterpillar’s eye.
“Mao Mao!!” The pain from its right eye plus the sudden loss of vision made the Caterpillar wail.
Fletchling followed up by spitting out a Flame. Without String Shot blocking, the Flame burned freely on the Caterpillar’s body.
“Mao Mao!! Mao Mao~~~” The Caterpillar, not often battling, clearly hadn’t felt the pain of being burned by Flame before. After screaming twice, it twisted its body and rolled on the ground, taking a lot of effort to extinguish the Flame on its body.
“High physical resistance, but average special defense.”
Zuo Hang said: “The path a Pokémon will take in the future is something the trainer needs to consider. First determine personality, then nurturing direction, and skills last. Xingye, don’t waste your Pokémon’s talent. High physical resistance means focus on training that, and I see this Caterpillar’s String Shot volume—maybe special attack is high too. Physical resistance and special attack, which attribute is better to improve? You need to judge that yourself.”
In Zuo Hang’s view, having the Caterpillar practice Tackle in the first week and now practice speed—neither was what the Caterpillar was good at.
Every Pokémon has a few surprises.
Zuo Hang’s old man had raised a high-speed Snorlax; a physical tank Caterpillar was totally possible too.
A training method like Xingye’s—practicing whatever came to mind—Zuo Hang couldn’t stand watching it much.
“Last time I saw your Snowy Child battle, I thought you were a decent trainer. Honestly, I’m a bit disappointed in you, Xingye.” Zuo Hang put his hand on Xingye’s shoulder and said.
“Hey, that tone of yours makes it sound like you’re my senior.” Xingye stepped back and said, “And your lecturing face is kinda creepy. Where’s my cool-faced Hangzi Ge?”
“Pika?!” The Electric Mouse drinking Happy Water heard Hang Hang being mentioned and suddenly looked up at Xingye.
“Pika!! Hic~~~ Pika~ Hic~~~~~”
Pikachu seemed to want to say something, but the hiccups broke up the original sentence. Xingye wasn’t too familiar with the Electric Mouse species; besides Snowy Child, understanding other Pokémon speech was pretty tough.
“Among peers, I think you and Lin Ping both have something going on. Watch closely, learn well, don’t disappoint me.” Zuo Hang said meaningfully.
“???”
Xingye’s mind was full of question marks.
What was this about?
“What are you disappointed about?”
Fletchling circled in the sky once, the azure Flowing Light on its wings far more dazzling than a few minutes ago!
“—Whoosh!”
The old Wutong Tree had a neat cut, with some wood chips falling onto the grass turf.
If this Aerial Ace had cut the Caterpillar, he definitely wouldn’t have only gotten a minor injury like before.
Seeing this, Xingye suddenly remembered, “Oh yeah… the arena has some Jiang Yuan’s Trainer who’s supposedly waiting for you? Are we still doing it? And last time we didn’t get the money. It was supposed to be two wins one loss, peak operation!”
Zuo Hang said: “Let’s go, tomorrow. That Jiang Yuan kid is kinda annoying; ignoring him for a day feels good.”
Xingye said: “Works for me! It’s settled then, tomorrow. Don’t screw me over then—two wins one loss, or if we accidentally win, we’re done being friends.”
“Good grief, friendship maintained by money? Is this 2025? Making friends is this real now?”
“What 2025, he’s the same in 2020!”
“Speaking of, aren’t you from a big family? What’s the point of money?”
“Damn! Can White Dragon even use money?!”
“Oh, right.”
“Hic~~~~” Pikachu let out a satisfied hiccup, feeling its head a bit dizzy.
“Pika!!!” It tossed the can aside, sat on the ground, slapped its leg, and pointed at the distant vending machine.
—Get me another one!
*
That afternoon.
Ren Haiyun’s cooperative combat class.
Zuo Hang’s practice partner was still Heichuan Nagi, while Fletchling’s opponent had changed to Natu.
There was some cooperation between Heichuan Nagi and Natu; their personalities were similar, and they could achieve cooperation exceeding Zuo Hang and Fletchling’s in some areas, but
Whether Heichuan Nagi or Natu, taken alone neither could match Zuo Hang or Fletchling.
This left Heichuan Nagi and Natu passively taking hits.
After a few days, Natu had learned Power-Up Punch.
This was a skill whose power increased the more its own stats were boosted—a little signature move for Natu.
Power-Up Punch’s initial power was only 20, maxing at 860, but Heichuan Nagi’s Natu hadn’t learned any self-stat boosting skills, so Power-Up Punch was somewhat underwhelming.
Natu and Caterpillar were two different types.
One relied heavily on speed early on, the other a clunky physical tank.
When Fletchling fought Natu, it was clearly even more at ease. Among same-level bird Pokémon, Fletchling was already far ahead.
Zuo Hang didn’t know how many times he had thrown Heichuan Nagi.
This airheaded girl always attacked from the same angle; Zuo Hang felt like he could guess where she was coming from with his eyes closed.
Just as Heichuan Nagi charged again after regrouping, Zuo Hang saw her give Natu a look.
Kinda familiar—he and the Electric Mouse did that often too.
His spine inexplicably chilled. The Natu confronting Fletchling suddenly vanished, appearing behind Zuo Hang.
—Teleport!
（ps: Specifically checked, seems Fletchling does indeed cry “Ji~~ Ji~”. Then Pidgey, Spearow and such are all “Bi bi~~”. Could only check the anime today, head went bald.）
Collections, rewards, recommendation votes—any one is fine~~
