Chapter Ninety-Seven: Preparing for the Final

At the sound of the whistle, Chen Ding still could not quite accept the result.

Only after the referee called out a reminder did Chen Ding slowly walk over, help the Houndour girl to her feet, and shake Tang Yi’s hand. “Can your Ralts use Psychic?”

“No.”

“I guess not. It would be impossible to learn it that early.”

Chen Ding seemed about to say something more, but in the end he merely sighed and left the arena in disappointment.

And just like that, Tang Yi advanced to the group final, where he would face his last opponent of the group stage the next day: Ling Wu and his partner, Magnemite.

The two had already met in the waiting room.

“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s final. I’m sure it’ll be a wonderful match, but the one who will win is definitely me,” Ling Wu said, polite yet overflowing with confidence.

Tang Yi smiled. “Then do your best.”

If boasting could win matches, there would be no need to fight them.

When he returned home, his parents, who had long since received the news, had prepared a full table of dishes in advance. In truth, they had also been holding themselves back for many days.

Tang Yi had advanced all the way through the group stage, and they had been eager to tell the whole city, if not the whole world. But fearing it might affect Tang Yi’s preparations, and fearing that it might put pressure on him, they had avoided making too much of a fuss. Life went on as usual, as though nothing had happened at all.

The moment Tang Yi stepped inside, he saw the table piled high with food. Turning to Ralts, he said with a grin, “There’s your favorite fruit and vegetable salad today. Mom used to be far too lazy to make this kind of thing. Looks like your place in this house is about to outrank mine.”

Ralts blushed crimson and wanted nothing more than to kick Tang Yi on the spot.

This guy was getting more and more outrageous. How was he saying things like that right in front of his parents?

Tang Yi’s father said sternly, “What nonsense are you spouting, you brat? Since when did you get the impression you were more important than Ralts?”

Tang Yi’s mother smiled as she chided him, shooting her husband a disapproving glance. She did not quite agree, but she would not say so aloud. “Exactly. If she made it to the final, it was all thanks to Ralts working hard enough on her own. What use are you, anyway?”

Indeed, worthy of being his real parents. They understood their son very well.

Tang Yi confirmed it for himself, then thick-skinnedly kept serving dish after dish to the true heroine of the day, Ralts.

Ralts knew perfectly well that this ordinary little family never ate salad under normal circumstances. Tang Yi’s mother had clearly made it especially for her.

That made the girl shy and touched in equal measure. Sniffling, she said seriously, “Dad, Mom, don’t worry. I’ll work very hard in tomorrow’s final. I’ll definitely help Tang Yi advance to the third round of the main tournament.”

Fortunately, I almost called myself a slacker out of habit.

Whenever Ralts spoke to Tang Yi’s parents, she would sweep her green hair fully to both sides, revealing her pair of large red eyes.

Tang Yi set down his chopsticks, then stroked the little girl’s head with affectionate amusement and said, half laughing and half sighing, “They’re not putting pressure on you, you know. This meal was mainly because they figured I probably wouldn’t win tomorrow, so they wanted to celebrate early with a good dinner. Otherwise, if I lose tomorrow, there won’t be anything left to celebrate.”

Tang Yi’s parents were instantly embarrassed, staring at him in outrage. Since he had seen through it, he did not need to say it out loud. Then, one after another, they began to scold him.

“You really don’t know how to talk properly, do you!”

“Ralts is better in every way. Pretty and sensible. Our son was raised for nothing.”

...

Tang Yi felt that the couple’s alternating jabs and praise held half truth and half joke, but Ralts believed every word. Her entire expression was overflowing with delight.

Well, that was fine too.

Tomorrow would be the final match, against Magnemite.

At this point, any extra training would be meaningless. On the last night, the best response was to calm the mind and adjust one’s state. So when he saw the bright, satisfied smile on Ralts’s face, he knew the meaning of the dinner had already been achieved.

After dinner, the two returned to the room to discuss tomorrow’s tactics.

“Our battle against Magnemite tomorrow is still going to be very difficult. We’re at a type disadvantage, and the opponent has the ability to float. Relying on aerial combat to win won’t be easy this time.”

“Disarming Voice probably won’t do much damage, and as for Confusion, I’m afraid it won’t control the opponent very well.”

...

After a brief analysis, it was indeed a hard fight.

Ralts, who had just received praise from her father, now looked troubled. “If I lose, I won’t even have the face to go home tomorrow.”

Tang Yi shook his head. “Don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself. To be honest, I never expected to get this far before the tournament. We made it here with strength, plus a bit of luck.”

He did not say things like, what if we lose tomorrow. Being timid before the battle had no benefit.

Ralts looked a little skeptical. Strength plus luck? It was clearly luck that made up a huge part of it.

If they had not learned teleportation and flying techniques ahead of time, there would have been no way they could have reached the group final. In her heart, Ralts once again silently thanked Butterfree.

Thinking of that, she suddenly hesitated. “Should we ask Sister Butterfree for advice?”

Tang Yi shook his head and smiled. “That would be too much trouble for them. We can ask them to guide us when learning techniques, but when it comes to the actual match, we still have to rely on ourselves.”

As for tactics, Tang Yi did not want to depend on anyone else. He knew that if he really sent a voice message over, Fang Tianze might be hard to say, but Butterfree would definitely be willing to help, and with their champion-level strength, they would surely know how to deal with Magnemite.

But somehow, he felt that was not right.

Ralts nodded vaguely, understanding more or less. In any case, she would simply listen to her trainer.

“Ralts, can you explain the principle behind your hypnosis to me again?”

“Huh? All right, but why are you asking about that?”

“Nothing. I just suddenly thought of a possibility. Maybe it has something to do with tomorrow’s outcome.”

...

A silent night.

In a certain tidy bedroom, several girls and one middle-aged man were still awake.

Butterfree stared at the phone in her hand. Several times she began typing a message, only to delete it halfway through. After a moment, she sighed. “It’s already so late, and still no message. Should I take the initiative and ask?”

Fang Tianze, who was watching television, glanced up at the time. “It’s this late. They’ve probably all gone to sleep. Let’s not disturb them. Besides, I was actually rather surprised that boy didn’t come to ask us about tactics on his own this time.”

Eevee asked curiously, “If he really wanted us to help with tomorrow’s final strategy, would you help him?”

Fang Tianze thought about it. “For Butterfree’s sake, I would help. But if he truly asked for help, I’d be disappointed. That’s completely different from guiding him in training. The one fighting is him, not me.”

Butterfree mumbled a little, then sighed again. “I understand the reasoning too. We can only teach them how to move forward, but the road still has to be walked by themselves. I just checked online, and Ralts’s opponent tomorrow is Magnemite. What do you think, can they win?”

Fang Tianze shook his head and gave a soft laugh. “Under normal circumstances, there’s no way they can win. That boy isn’t exactly the hardest-working trainer, and you should be able to see that too. Still, he’s fairly clever, and he often comes up with strange ideas. If he can think of one this time, then maybe...”

Glowdisk H