Chapter Ninety-Five: A Night Talk and Guidance

It took a little over an hour to get used to fear.

By the time Ralts’s shrieks had gradually turned gleeful, and she no longer shut her eyes in terror each time she landed on the mat, but instead seemed to relish the trampoline-like thrill, Tang Yi knew it was time for the next step.

The next step was levitation, and it was the most crucial one of all, because it determined whether she could rise into the air successfully.

At the level of Psychic, psychic power could freely control the body and lift it into the sky with ease.

But Confusion could not.

The psychic force of Confusion was far from sufficient to raise the body into the air; at best, it could only manage to lift the tips of the toes a few centimeters off the ground.

So Ralts would need to use Confusion to maintain her floating balance while relying on Teleport to complete the hardest part: the ascent itself.

Tang Yi explained the general principle to Ralts, and the clever girl understood it quickly enough. But understanding it and actually trying it were two very different things; in truth, the difficulty was far greater than one might have imagined.

After all, this was a technique one only began to master at Psychic level, and learning it so far in advance could not possibly come without hardship.

At the end of the day, the second step had made almost no progress. Teleporting upward while keeping Confusion in balance demanded a very high degree of coordination.

Tang Yi was deeply impressed by Butterfree. Her earlier prediction had been almost exactly right.

“Coach, we’ll be counting on you and Simisage again tomorrow.”

Before school ended, Tang Yi thanked them once more. Simisage was surely exhausted by now as well. During the second-stage training, Ralts had kept falling from the air again and again because of her lack of coordination, forcing Simisage to stay even more focused on watching over her.

Simisage waved it off. “No need to thank me. Watching how hard you two are working actually reminds me of when I was young. Keep it up.”

Coach Li Yaowen also said warmly, “When I get home, I’ll reach out to a few old friends and talk to them. They’re all provincial-level trainers. Let’s see whether they can suggest a better way to train.”

He did not believe Tang Yi had truly sought advice from some champion, but he still wanted to do his part.

At first, Li Yaowen had not held out much hope. But seeing how determined Tang Yi was, he could not help thinking that if this really worked, it would absolutely become a trump card. They might even take first place in the group.

Then, beyond the daily wage, he would also receive a hefty bonus. Who could possibly turn their nose up at money?

That night, when Tang Yi got home, he no longer insisted that Ralts continue training Confusion. He told her to go to bed early and rest, while he stayed in his room and kept studying.

For the final week’s decisive match, he had also resolved to give it everything he had.

The later the rounds went, the stronger the opponents would become. Hiding behind hypnosis alone, as he had until now, probably would not be enough. He needed more trump cards if he wanted a better chance of winning.

A little later, Fang Tianze rarely sent him a message on WeChat, asking how practice had gone during the day.

Tang Yi did not even need to ask to know that the person on the other end was definitely Butterfree again. He was rather surprised by it.

Of course, he would not be so conceited as to think Butterfree was helping him for his sake. The elegant, graceful woman’s concern for Ralts, that younger generation, was plain for anyone to see.

He briefly described what had happened during training, and once again expressed his admiration for Butterfree’s judgment. As expected of a champion-level trainer—she had seen the key problem at a glance.

Probably finding text too troublesome, Butterfree sent a voice message directly.

“You’re still awake?”

Butterfree’s voice remained as gentle as ever.

“Not yet. Ralts went to sleep first, though she probably hasn’t actually fallen asleep yet. Should I go get her?”

Tang Yi knew perfectly well who Butterfree was going to such lengths for.

“No need. Let’s just talk with you.”

“With me?”

“Enough nonsense! In matters of raising Pokémon, I have more experience than you do!” Fang Tianze’s voice cut in, and faintly beside him there seemed to be the sound of Eevee’s laughter and Vulpix being scolded.

“We actually just discussed this as well. I think you should break down your training objectives instead of rushing to achieve everything at once...”

Butterfree and Tang Yi went over each of the more detailed steps. Most of the time, it was Butterfree speaking, while Tang Yi occasionally raised a question and Fang Tianze would interject at just the right moment to add more.

The other side was full of champion-level trainers, after all. In just a few exchanged words, Tang Yi felt as though he had discovered priceless treasure.

Naturally, he was not about to let such a rare opportunity slip by. He picked up a pen and paper and began taking notes. Probably guessing that he was writing everything down, Butterfree deliberately slowed her speaking pace and paused from time to time.

And so, before they knew it, the conversation went on until ten o’clock. Butterfree was still not quite satisfied; she felt there was still so much left unsaid.

But Fang Tianze kept yawning and said it was time to stop for today.

Tang Yi immediately caught on. Fang Tianze did not want his Pokémon girl staying up too late, so Tang Yi cooperated at once, stretching lazily. “Sister Butterfree, I’m a bit tired too, so maybe we should call it a day. We’ve already covered a lot. I’ll digest everything properly tomorrow.”

“Mm, all right then. You should get some sleep early too,” Butterfree said, deciding to sleep as well.

Fang Tianze’s opinion of Tang Yi finally improved by a tiny amount. He said half-jokingly, “It’s only a little high-school entrance selection tournament, and we’ve already gone this far to help you. If you still can’t take first place in the group, then don’t ever say you know me in the future. I can’t afford that kind of embarrassment.”

Butterfree’s reproach came immediately: “Tianze! Don’t say that. Ralts is a very sensitive child. If she heard that, she’d end up carrying the pressure in her heart.”

“All right, all right, I won’t say it. Besides, you have too little faith in this kid. He may be a bit sleazy, but there’s no way he’d say such things to Ralts. Ah, I forgot to hang up the phone. I’m turning it off now. Beep—”

On his end, Tang Yi was left speechless for a moment.

That was clearly just a little jab at him before hanging up. Still, Butterfree really did care about Ralts.

Tang Yi still had not figured out the reason, but it did not matter. It was a good thing, after all.

He could not disappoint that concern.

Leaving the phone to charge, Tang Yi continued his late-night battle by lamplight. He reorganized the notes he had just taken and read over them several more times with great care.

The next day.

Freshly awakened and full of energy, Ralts saw Tang Yi with his eyes only half open and asked in surprise, “You stayed up late last night?”

“Mm-hm. I was organizing training materials for you.” Tang Yi lifted the notebook in his hand.

“I don’t really believe that.”

Lately, Tang Yi had been acting so diligently and out of character that Ralts almost did not dare recognize him.

Tang Yi sighed helplessly. “Even a salted fish gets its turn to flip over.”

“But once a salted fish flips over, it’s still a salted fish, isn’t it?”

Well then, that was the end of that conversation.