Chapter 88: The Next Opponent, Nidoran

Long Tao-yi supported his Natural Sparrow as they slowly approached, shook hands with Tang Yi, and were about to leave when he suddenly asked, “I’m quite curious—when did your Ralts learn Teleport?”

“Recently. By the way, does your Natural Sparrow have the Magic Mirror ability?” Tang Yi seized the moment to voice the question that had been lingering in his mind during the match.

Long Tao-yi replied with a touch of regret, “That’s right. During the first round, my opponent was too weak, so I never had to use Magic Mirror. I’d hoped to save it for a critical match and catch someone off guard.”

“Schemer!” Tang Yi scoffed.

Long Tao-yi chuckled lightly. “Right back at you. According to the information I’d gathered, Ralts wasn’t supposed to know Hypnosis or Teleport. But I realized all that intel was from the first round—outdated. In over a month, there’s plenty of time to master a new move, and usually, it would be Hypnosis. I just didn’t expect you to choose Teleport.”

In fact, Ralts had learned both.

But there was no need for Tang Yi to reveal that now. As something occurred to him, he mused aloud, “You got your information from the forum, didn’t you? No wonder there were so many new level-one accounts stirring things up on our school’s forum yesterday.”

Long Tao-yi blinked in confusion. “I went to bed early last night, so I’m not sure. But someone did post a provocative thread on our South City High forum.”

Tang Yi’s face was all innocence and curiosity. “That’s just too much, stirring up drama like that. I wouldn’t know—I haven’t used the forum in years.”

The two exchanged a silent look for a couple of seconds, then shared a knowing smile.

“It was a good match today. I hope you make it even further.”

“Good luck!”

They shook hands again and parted ways.

Outside the infirmary, Tang Yi waited even longer than he had the previous day. Twenty minutes later, Ralts bounced out lively as ever. After thanking the doctor, Tang Yi made sure to request another bottle of healing spray—just in case, he planned to use it again that evening.

Thankfully, in these official selection tournaments sponsored by the Ministry of Education, all medical services for participants were free; nobody minded sparing an extra bottle or two of healing spray.

Tang Yi and Ralts arrived late to the lounge.

“Looks like your match was a tough one this time.” Zhang Chen and Jiang Hai had already returned.

Tang Yi nodded and inquired about their matches, though their expressions said it all—they’d both won.

With this, all three of them had made it into the top sixteen of their group, but there were still four rounds to go before claiming first place.

The bracket for the next round had just been posted.

Tang Yi’s next opponent was Lu Renbing, from Tianshui High.

On the way home, Tang Yi was already considering whether he should post more provocative threads on Tianshui High’s forum.

But when he got home and logged in, he discovered that Tianshui High’s forum had already enabled posting restrictions—new accounts could no longer stir up trouble.

Vigilant and proud, aren’t they?

Tang Yi silently gave them a thumbs up, then pulled out his phone and chatted with Gu Qingyue on WeChat. He asked if she knew the forum moderators at their school, and whether she could help set similar posting restrictions.

Though there were many ways for opponents to gather intel, it was still worth taking some precautions.

Gu Qingyue was eager to help, promising to do her best. She didn’t know the mods personally, but knew someone who did, and went off to help Tang Yi find them.

With that, the first week of matches came to an end, and there was a whole week before the next round.

A week wasn’t quite enough to master a new skill, but there was still much to do.

Ralts had already used Teleport in the second match. Tang Yi didn’t know Long Tao-yi well enough to judge his character, but he had to be prepared—the next opponent would likely have already learned that Ralts could use Teleport.

But Ralts had never revealed Hypnosis. In fact, Tang Yi had nearly used it in the last battle, but Natural Sparrow’s Magic Mirror ability made him reconsider—so Ralts still had a trump card hidden.

Ralts’s psychic abilities were already quite proficient; though there was room for improvement, it wasn’t an urgent priority for now.

So in the coming days, Tang Yi focused on having Ralts repeatedly practice Hypnosis and Teleport, hoping to further hone those skills.

The school was supportive; during the tournament, the three students had plenty of free time. As for Yang Fu, who had been eliminated, he no longer enjoyed such privileges.

The first couple of days, training wasn’t too intense—after two matches over the weekend, they needed to fully recover physically.

By the second night, Zhang Chen mysteriously pulled Tang Yi aside and handed him a stack of printed materials—all about Lu Renbing.

Tang Yi was surprised. “Where did you get this?”

“My cousin’s a first-year at Tianshui High. I asked him for a favor. Don’t worry, the info’s solid.” Zhang Chen was simply returning the favor for Tang Yi’s help in the previous round.

Tang Yi flipped through the papers, puzzled. “Height, weight, favorite foods—everything’s here?”

Zhang Chen laughed. “Lu Renbing is rather handsome, and some girls have chased after him. He likes to turn them down, so naturally a few have an axe to grind.”

Tang Yi suddenly grew concerned. “Do you think our opponents might try the same tactic—find girls we’ve rejected to dig up intel on us?”

Girls we’ve rejected? The corners of Zhang Chen’s mouth twitched.

He and Tang Yi sized each other up, then shook their heads in unison.

No, not likely.

Lu Renbing’s partner was Nidoran. Though, in the pre-genderbent era of the Pokémon world, Nidoran was exclusively male and Nidorina exclusively female.

But two centuries ago, that mysterious storm had triggered the genderbending phenomenon, regardless of gender.

At first, the newly anthropomorphized Nidorans were deeply uncomfortable with their transformation, but after two centuries of gradual evolution, they had fully adapted.

Of course, compared to the cutesy or sweet personalities of other Pokémon girls, Nidorans were known for being more forthright and independent.

This difference in temperament was now the main distinction between Nidoran and Nidorina.

A similar divergence could be seen in Kirlia as well—personality differences even influenced their evolutionary path. Those with more forthright, bold personalities, if exposed to a Dawn Stone, were highly likely to evolve into Gallade.

If the personality was too different, forcing a Dawn Stone on Kirlia would not trigger its evolution.

As for Tang Yi’s Ralts, there was essentially no possibility of evolving into Gallade, so he could look forward to a future Gardevoir with peace of mind.