Chapter 35: The Old Substitute Poison
Friday, a Frivolous day.
The long-awaited weekend was right around the corner, but blocking the way before dismissal was the Combat Assessment that made every Classmate nervous.
“Grimer! Poison Gas!”
“Caterpillar! String Shot!”
Purple mist the same color as Grimer’s Body enveloped the Caterpillar. The white Silk Thread broke through the Poison Gas but was blocked by the Aura on Grimer’s Body surface.
While the Caterpillar was using String Shot, Grimer used Protect.
Xingye felt very uncomfortable.
Grimer’s Poison Gas wasn’t very thick, and its coverage wasn’t large either. Any other Pokémon could easily dodge it.
But
Forget it, the Caterpillar still couldn’t. This kid couldn’t dodge it.
No matter the early or late game, the Substitute Poison Tactic was very disgusting.
*
Grimer’s Trainer was called Guan Qiqi, a girl. The Pokémon she used in Combat Class was another Mao Mao. No one knew her starter Pokémon was actually a Grimer.
“Caterpillar! Use Bite!” Xingye suddenly commanded.
As soon as he said this, the onlookers from Class A were all stunned, including Zuo Hang. Even Teacher Guan Tong, who was in charge of scoring, was awkward on the spot.
Everyone thought Xingye was joking with this command. After spending a week together, Xingye’s image in their minds was lively, but the Caterpillar actually charged toward Grimer!
Guan Qiqi momentarily didn’t know if the opponent really meant to use Bite or was bluffing her.
“Grimer! Use Slap!”
The Caterpillar could really use Bite. He had exceptional Talent in this Skill, managing to gnaw through the Alloy Mannequin in the Training Ground in just one night, but
The Caterpillar stopped halfway and looked back at Xingye with pleading Eyes.
“Mao Mao!!!”
Grimer was a Pokémon born from Genetic Mutation, its entire Body made of Mud, and it had a weird Smell. How was he supposed to bite this thing?
The Caterpillar indicated he didn’t want to bite.
Xingye was helpless; he couldn’t force this thing. Probably no Pokémon wanted to use Bite on Grimer.
While the Caterpillar was looking back, Grimer’s big palm had already swung down on the Caterpillar’s head. The Poison effect of Poison Gas also activated at that moment. The Caterpillar’s Eyes went black, and he fainted.
The starter Pokémon of this group in Class A were basically less than two weeks old, with nearly zero Poison resistance.
In the Game, it deducts HP by percentage, but reality doesn’t work that way. These newborn cubs could at most withstand one Poison flare. If any could take two, it was likely born with high Special Defense Base Stats. But even if it could take two, Grimer still had Protect, so you probably couldn’t win.
Poison Gas was Grimer’s Talent Skill. As long as you spent time mastering either Protect or Substitute, you could basically dominate at the same level.
Zuo Hang suddenly recalled what Old Man said.
——”Today’s girls always pick Eevee or Electric Mouse as starters. What use are those little guys in the early game? They just Tackle, claw, Slap, and such. How is that as reliable as Poison Gas?”
Tsk.
You could always trust Old Man.
*
Teacher Guan Tong held a Tablet Terminal bigger than everyone else’s, using the stylus to record the Scores of Xingye and Guan Qiqi on the Screen.
“Next group, Zuo Hang, Lin Ping!”
The opponents for the Combat Assessment were decided by Guan Tong. No one knew his pairing standard. It was probably based on Class A’s performance in Combat Class over the past week, or maybe just simple random grouping. Teacher Guan Tong, always with a Laziness and indifferent face, had no intention of sharing his grouping Rules with everyone.
Zuo Hang and Lin Ping both took out their Poké Balls at the same time.
Red light flashed.
Two Flying-type Pokémon took to the air simultaneously.
Fletchling and Swablu!
Swablu’s Body was sky blue, chubby, with exceptionally fluffy cotton-like Wings, and two blue Feathers on its head.
One blue, one red—the two Pokémon locked Eyes. Before the Trainers could command, Skill Light lit up on their Beaks!
—Peck!
Extremely fast collision, Beaks crossing. Flowing Light suddenly burst from Fletchling’s Wings, slashing horizontally with a side Slap!
It didn’t use the flat side of the Wings to Slap, but gathered the Skill Light at the tips of the Wing Feathers, turning its Wings into cutting blades!
Swablu’s cotton-like Feathers clearly couldn’t do this. Fletchling’s Feather cut left a scratch on her Body.
“Swablu! Use Fury Attack!” Lin Ping’s voice came from behind. Skill Light lit up on Swablu’s Beak again!
“Fletchling, Quick Attack!”
Faint electric arcs wrapped around Fletchling’s Wings. Fury Attack was a Skill that attacked the opponent multiple times continuously with beak or horn, but the premise was getting the chance to touch the opponent.
As the electric arcs lit up, Fletchling also gathered the Slap Skill Light at the end of its Body.
In the vision of Class A onlookers, the red electric arcs were clearly a bit faster than the blue Afterimage.
Both Pokémon showed Speed far exceeding the current stage!
Unfortunately
Fletchling was undoubtedly faster than Swablu.
Wings sharp as blades left another wound on Swablu. With Quick Attack’s boost, this wound was clearly deeper than the previous one. Swablu’s Fury Attack only grazed Fletchling once, and it was offset by “Peck”.
Fletchling’s Slap and Peck were both strong enough to damage practice Mannequins. The Adamant Fletchling had exceptional Talent in Physical Attack.
Two scratches, one deep and one shallow—Swablu’s Wing movements were already a bit unnatural.
“End it with Quick Attack!” Zuo Hang’s voice rang out.
As soon as he spoke, the small red figure crashed toward Swablu. This time, no Slap—just a pure Quick Attack.
The injured Swablu couldn’t resist and was knocked to the ground by Quick Attack, landing butt-first. The fall wasn’t too embarrassing, but it lost the ability to continue battling.
Lin Ping recalled Swablu and returned to his position in the group. From start to finish, he had squinting Eyes with no extra expression.
Teacher Guan Tong began recording Scores. A few seconds later, she called the next pair of students for assessment.
“Heichuan Nagi, Zhang Wei, you two prepare.”
*
Around 6:10, the assessment ended.
Zuo Rou lost as expected. Although Turtwig was very reliable, Zuo Rou didn’t say a word during the Battle, just Leer the whole time. Turtwig kept getting hit and passively counterattacking, always on the defensive.
This couldn’t be blamed on Zuo Rou. When facing many people, she still struggled to speak. For someone with severe Social Anxiety, being stared at by 40 pairs of Eyes definitely panicked her inside. She could only speak normally to Zuo Hang… and that thick-skinned Xingye.
*
Teacher Guan Tong didn’t say anything suspenseful like “Your Scores will be announced next Monday.” Right after the assessment ended, they immediately received their Scores, along with a Class Ranking.
Zuo Hang took First Place with 95 points, Second Place was Guan Qiqi with 90.
Zuo Rou got 55 points, the only failing grade in the class. Xingye was above her, Second to Last Place with 65.
Last Place—no one would be happy about that. Behind the 55-point Score were three bright red “Fail” marks. Zuo Rou looked at her Score, feeling more and more aggrieved.
After everyone else had left, she let out a “Wah~” and pounced toward Zuo Hang.
“Wuu~~ Why?? Why did I fail?! I clearly… I clearly tried so hard. Wuwu~~~ I’m so mad, I’m so mad!!!”
His sister was crying, and Zuo Hang panicked.
Chirp chirp chirp? Anyone there? Anyone? Remember to vote after reading~
