Xia Huanao extended his hand to Xiaodu, and Xiaodu reciprocated: "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Yu Longdu."
Xia Huanao blinked: "Excuse me, could you tell me which three characters?"
"The 'yu' from jade, the 'long' from lobster, and the 'du' from ferry crossing."
Xia Huanao immediately wanted to retort: So you're the Flying-type Elite Four, are you!
"Why did you get such a name?"
Yu Longdu and Xia Huanao walked and talked: "My surname is Yu. It is said that before I was born, my father dreamt of a dragon flying over a ferry crossing, so he named me Yu Longdu."
Xia Huanao nodded: "So that's how it is. What kind of Pokémon do you have then?"
Yu Longdu smiled: "I don't mind telling you. My first Pokémon is Charmander. For the second, I captured a Magikarp. My next goal is to get a Dragonair. What do you think?"
Hearing this, Xia Huanao didn't know how to comment. This was exactly Lance's team, the Flying-type Elite Four.
"What about Gyarados?"
Xia Huanao really wanted to know how that Gyarados came to be. At level eighty, he had never seen such a high-level Pokémon.
"Oh, that one. I borrowed it specifically to carry out a mission. When the Pokémon League of Minglong Country carries out missions, we can borrow one Pokémon to protect ourselves."
...
The two walked along the main road from the police station towards Liuling University. When they reached a fork in the road, Yu Longdu nodded to him: "Want to have a spar?"
Xia Huanao thought about it, how could he possibly win against a Gyarados in a direct confrontation?
Yu Longdu also understood Xia Huanao's thoughts: "Don't worry, I'll only use my Pokémon. Do you want to have a match?"
Xia Huanao nodded: "Sure, let's do it. Where should we battle?"
"Let's go to Liuling University. I estimate I'll be staying at Liuling University for a while."
...
The two arrived at Liuling University and found a battle arena. The school team was training inside the arena. Seeing Yu Longdu enter, Li Qiufeng came over and asked: "Who is he?"
Yu Longdu took out his badge: "I am a staff member of the Pokémon League, and also a friend of Xia Huanao."
Li Qiufeng gave Xia Huanao a thumbs-up: "Assistant Instructor Xia, you're amazing! Not only are you an assistant instructor at such a young age, but you also have a friend working at the Pokémon League at such a young age. What department do you work in?"
"Me? I'm responsible for the daily care of Pokémon at the Pokémon League. If you're interested, you can also seek such services from the Pokémon League."
Yu Longdu pinned his badge back onto his chest and looked at Xia Huanao: "You should know, our Yu family has always been quite skilled in Pokémon nurturing."
"The Yu family?"
Xia Huanao hadn't reacted yet, but Li Qiufeng had. This so-called Yu family was a family in Minglong Country famous for nurturing Pokémon. Legend had it that the Yu family had a Pokémon that could rival legendary Pokémon, a powerful Pokémon that the Yu family had nurtured over several generations.
After Li Qiufeng explained, Xia Huanao said: "Since that's the case, let's do it. Let me see how strong the Pokémon nurtured by the Yu family are."
Li Qiufeng voluntarily stepped forward to be the referee. Both sides took their positions at either end of the field, and the battle began.
"Go, Froakie!"
"Face the challenge, Charmander!"
"System, data."
Xia Huanao was also quite worried about the reputation of this so-called Yu family. As soon as the battle began, he asked the system to bring up Charmander's data.
Name: Charmander ♂
Level: lv15
Ability: Solar Power
Effect: +Sp. Atk -Atk
Stats: HP41, Attack22, Defense22, Sp. Atk40, Sp. Def24, Speed38
Moves: Smokescreen, Ember, Growl, Scratch
Held Item: Pokémon's Food Bag
Notes: Perfect Training
Xia Huanao looked at the stat sheet: "System, I have two questions. First, what is Pokémon's Food Bag?"
"Pokémon's Food Bag can be equivalently substituted for leftovers, which can continuously restore the Pokémon's stamina. It's not through eating, but by emitting energy for the Pokémon to absorb."
Xia Huanao nodded: "I see. It's indeed a more pleasant way to say it than 'leftovers' or 'scraps.' Then, the second question, what is the concept of 'perfect training'?"
"It means thirty-one in all six IVs, two hundred and fifty-two in Speed and Special Attack, with the remaining six points allocated to HP."
Xia Huanao broke out in a cold sweat after hearing this. This was indeed top-tier training. He hadn't even managed to train Froakie to this extent yet. And now, a level fifteen Pokémon had achieved such a training progress. One had to admit, this so-called Yu family had something special.
Xia Huanao's conversation with the system ended in a flash. Xia Huanao swallowed and said: "Come on, Froakie, attack quickly and use Bubble."
"Charmander, use Smokescreen to block vision, then use Ember!"
Froakie jumped into the smokescreen and shot out two bubbles, but it didn't have much effect. Charmander outside the smokescreen spat out Ember and flew into the smokescreen.
"Froakie, jump out and use Growl in mid-air!"
"Charmander, charge up and use Scratch!"
Froakie, who was in the air, was hit by Charmander and knocked to the ground.
Froakie stood up, and Charmander had already caught up, raising its claws to strike.
"Froakie, use Double Bubble."
Froakie simultaneously shot out two types of bubbles that hit Charmander. Because Charmander's eyes were obscured, its claws missed Froakie and were hit squarely by Froakie instead.
Charmander shook its head to clear the bubbles, while Froakie had already created distance. The tentative exchange between the two sides ended.
Looking at the HP bar provided by the system, he had taken a slight loss in the previous exchange, but the difference in HP between the two was not as large as it was at the beginning.
"Again, Froakie, move, use Bubble on Charmander."
Froakie again shot out bubbles from around its neck, while Yu Longdu chose a new countermeasure: "Charmander, use its tail to knock away the bubbles."
Charmander turned around and its tail directly struck the bubbles. Xia Huanao saw this and said: "Froakie, use Bubble on Charmander's tail!"
"Charmander, turn around and use Ember!"
Ember and Bubble collided in mid-air, and the steam generated obscured both sides' vision.
"Froakie, be careful of the bubbles."
Yu Longdu did not let Charmander attack at this moment. Both sides were on guard.
When the dust settled, their battle resumed.
"Froakie, maintain this distance and engage Charmander."
Xia Huanao knew very well that Solar Power's effect would boost Charmander's special attack, and keeping distance would mean Charmander would only use Ember. But in his opinion, this was the safest approach.
Although Ember's damage was higher than Scratch's, keeping distance at least allowed for exchanges with Bubble. If it became a close-range fight, it would be too difficult for Froakie to dodge.
However, Yu Longdu did not have the system, so he could not calculate the damage of the two moves. Relying only on his eyesight, he could not determine which move had a better effect. In his opinion, Xia Huanao was keeping his distance to take advantage of type superiority.
"Charmander, chase and use Scratch!"
"Froakie, Bubble Beam!"
Froakie launched bubbles towards the pursuing Charmander. As Charmander dodged the bubbles, Growl entered Charmander's ears.
Xia Huanao calculated that Charmander, having been hit by two Growls, had its attack power reduced by about half. If it closed the distance now, there would still be a chance. However, looking at Froakie's remaining HP, it was uncertain if it could withstand one Ember.
"Let's take a gamble, Froakie, use Double Bubble however you see fit!"
"Charmander, meet the attack with Ember!"
Froakie continuously leaped closer to Charmander. Since Xia Huanao had said to use its own judgment, the bubbles that flew out took various forms. This confused Charmander. After all, energy-form bubbles would deal damage to it, while the bubbles around Froakie's neck had little offensive power and only caused some effects.
However, Froakie's Double Bubble had a higher attack density than Charmander's single Ember. Charmander could not suppress Froakie's offense for a moment and was approached by Froakie.
"Froakie, jump up, aim for the tail with Bubble!"
Yu Longdu understood that Charmander's tail flame was particularly important to Charmander. He quickly told Charmander to dodge, but just as Charmander was about to move, it found itself unable to budge.
Just now, when Froakie was using Bubble to suppress it at close range, a large amount of bubbles had accumulated on Charmander's legs. As long as Froakie wanted to, it could attach a considerable amount of mucus to the bubbles, slowing down Charmander's movements.
This hit landed accurately on Charmander's tail, dealing super effective critical damage, directly causing Charmander's HP bar to flash red.
"Charmander!"
Although Charmander had Pokémon's Food Bag to restore its stamina, Solar Power's damage was much more potent than what the Food Bag could provide. After Charmander's tail flame was hit, Solar Power delivered the final blow, depleting Charmander's HP.
Charmander swayed and then fell to the ground.
"Return, Charmander."
"Return, Froakie."
Both sides recalled their Pokémon and met in the center of the arena to bow.
"As expected of the Pokémon nurtured by the Yu family, they are indeed extraordinary."
"Don't say that, your Pokémon is also extraordinary."
The two exchanged pleasantries and then left the battle arena. Li Qiufeng, who had watched the entire process from the side, gathered his team members and asked for their opinions.
After leaving the battle arena, the two chatted casually and then parted ways. After all, to protect Xia Huanao, Yu Longdu needed to make some preparations.
Xia Huanao walked alone on the campus of Liuling University: "System, I feel something is not right. I clearly defeated a level forty Swampert, so why hasn't Froakie's level passed ten?"
Indeed, even if the level sixty-seven Xiaomeng had made the final move, Froakie, who had played a supporting role, should have gained a considerable amount of experience and leveled up.
"This, this is a protection mechanism. You must understand that Froakie's physical constitution is limited. Although it gained a lot of experience at once, Froakie cannot withstand leveling up all at once. This is already the best outcome. The remaining experience will be gradually replenished during its growth process."
"Then I am relieved."