Chapter 84: Ralts vs. Minccino

“Go, Mini Ice!”

A girl whose hair resembled vanilla ice cream appeared from the Poké Ball. Her pupils were blue, and on either side of her face were two rectangular, crystalline objects, sparkling like ice cubes.

As soon as the Mini Ice girl emerged, a ring of white chill radiated from her body.

“Mini Ice, use Hail!” Xiao Bingjia shouted loudly.

The cold aura around the girl rapidly expanded, spreading across the entire arena in the blink of an eye. Dense ice-type energy gathered in the air above the field, and hail began to fall, piece by piece.

As a pure ice-type, Mini Ice could naturally release colder air due to her unique physiology, making it easier for her to master certain ice skills.

The damage from the hail was negligible, but Tang Yi noticed that Mini Ice’s figure was starting to fade in and out, becoming elusive. He realized this Mini Ice likely had the Snow Cloak ability, which greatly increased her evasion under hail conditions.

No wonder she was a standout from the high school qualifiers—their strength was clearly more formidable than in the first round.

“Ralts, use Charming Voice,” Tang Yi commanded.

A clear, melodious song rang out. The hail could not block the spread of the sound; even with Snow Cloak granting evasion, the song still struck true, causing Mini Ice’s face to twist in pain.

“Quick, use Scare!” Xiao Bingjia responded decisively.

In agony, the Mini Ice girl took a deep breath and let out a sudden, piercing scream.

The shriek startled Ralts, who, though not visibly shaken, had her Charming Voice interrupted. Fear was plainly written on her face.

The Scare skill wasn’t particularly damaging, but it could make opponents flinch. Ralts was completely unprepared for it, and clearly succumbed to the flinching effect.

“Now’s the time—use Icy Wind!” Xiao Bingjia pressed the attack.

Mini Ice moved without hesitation. The two crystalline blocks on her cheeks gleamed faintly, the primary sites for gathering and storing her ice energy.

She exhaled a cold breath filled with icy shards—the Icy Wind, an early-stage ice attack, was powerful and could also slow the opponent.

Seeing that Ralts hadn’t yet recovered from her fright, Tang Yi called out desperately: “Ralts! Think about how much money you have left in your bank account!”

Ralts shuddered, the fear in her eyes instantly replaced by fighting spirit.

“Use Psychic!”

Ralts gripped her bent spoon in her left hand, and quickly gathered psychic energy with her right. The spoon proved its worth at this critical moment—the psychic power imbued in it helped Ralts form blue mental waves even faster than usual.

The Icy Wind, which had been rushing toward her, halted mid-air, then swiftly drifted toward the Mini Ice girl. With Ralts applying stronger psychic force, the wind traveled faster than before.

Mini Ice reacted quickly, beginning to run away as soon as she sensed danger, but her short legs didn’t get her out of range in time.

Icy Wind posed little threat to an ice-type like Mini Ice, but after being struck, a light frost coated her skin, slowing her movements.

Tang Yi exhaled in relief; the training had paid off. With Ralts’ current mastery of psychic energy, she could easily counter slower, ordinary moves.

“Keep using Psychic!”

This time, Ralts targeted the Mini Ice girl directly. With her speed reduced, the advantage Snow Cloak offered under the hail was nearly neutralized.

Mini Ice dodged the incoming psychic attacks as best she could, but after several attempts, Ralts caught her off guard, binding her with psychic power.

“Use Scare, break free quickly!”

“Don’t give her a chance—push her out!” Tang Yi knew this opponent wouldn’t wait passively to be moved out like those in the first round.

Both sides gave orders almost simultaneously. Ralts made a gentle pushing motion with her right hand, just as she had practiced pushing coins, precisely sending Mini Ice out of bounds.

The referee blew the whistle decisively: “Match over! Mini Ice is out of bounds—Ralts wins!”

“Yes!” Tang Yi couldn’t help but cheer, rushing to meet Ralts as she left the arena.

Up close, he saw numerous reddened marks on Ralts’ body and face, clearly caused by the falling hail.

Within the hail, any Pokémon without an ice attribute would suffer continuous damage. Though the harm was slight, prolonged exposure would still cause pain for the Pokémon girls.

Tang Yi checked briefly—fortunately, they were only superficial wounds. He planned to see the doctor for treatment soon.

As was customary, he shook hands with Xiao Bingjia.

Xiao Bingjia comforted Mini Ice after losing, but he was not resentful. He nodded to Tang Yi: “Your Ralts is very well-trained. Honestly, for her to use Psychic so skillfully at this stage is rare—I underestimated you in that regard.”

The referee recorded the result and had both sides sign, confirming the match’s fairness and integrity.

Afterwards, Tang Yi took Ralts to find the doctor outside the arena. Treating these minor injuries was easy—a spray of healing medicine reduced the pain considerably.

Tang Yi, still cautious, asked for an extra bottle of spray before leaving.

Back in the lounge, he found that several others had already finished their matches. Though the second round was tougher, it still fell short of the intensity of official competitions, and matches rarely lasted long.

After waiting fifteen minutes, all results were in.

Once the referees’ results were entered, tomorrow’s match-ups appeared on the screen.

Tang Yi scanned carefully. His schoolmates Zhang Chen and Jiang Hai had advanced, but Yang Fu was eliminated in the first match.

Tang Yi’s opponent for tomorrow was Long Taoyi, a stranger to him. But in these one-on-one matches, there were few secrets to hold—success depended mainly on how well each Pokémon girl was trained.

He caught up with Zhang Chen and the others. They comforted the eliminated Yang Fu and his Cotton Ball Pokémon, and discussed their upcoming opponents. Everyone sensed that their rivals were getting tougher, but they themselves were also improving bit by bit.

Tomorrow’s matches would be at the same time. Tang Yi didn’t linger; he took Ralts home, deciding not to train further. The rest of today would be devoted to rest.

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