Chapter 1 The First Wave of Cooperation Failed to Achieve Much Effect. Xia Hu Nao Decided to Rally and Had Froakie Retreat, While Fennekin Did Not Linger and Quickly Returned to Shen Ning's Vicinity.
Meanwhile, Snivy and Happiny Were Locked in a Fierce Struggle. In Reality, Zhang Hong Had Snivy Entangle Happiny to Prevent it from Causing Trouble.
To be Honest, Entangling Was Not a Skill, but Happiny, Without Offensive Power, Could Not Break Free. Bai Lan Did Not Intend for Happiny to Break Free Either. After All, a Happiny with a Significant Level Advantage Could Still Handle Three First-Stage Pokémon, Let Alone a Level One Froakie.
Zhang Hong Had Successfully Completed His Task and Thus Had More Time to Pay Attention to the Battlefield of Xia Hu Nao and the Others.
The First Attack Had No Effect, and Xia Hu Nao Began to Plan the Second Round.
"Froakie, Use Pound on Happiny!"
Froakie Leapt Up and Flew Towards a Happiny. The Targeted Happiny, Under Bai Lan's Command, Used Counter to Resist the Damage.
However, Xia Hu Nao Was Clever. At the Moment Happiny Used Counter, He Ordered Froakie to Stop and Had Fennekin Use Ember.
His Plan Was Sound: If Froakie Stopped, Counter Would Not Activate, and Fennekin's Ember Was a Special Attack, Against Which Counter Would Be Completely Useless, Thus Inflicting Pure Damage on Happiny.
The Ideal Was Full, but Reality Was Grim. Although Xia Hu Nao Had Given the Order, Fennekin Did Not Use Ember. It Merely Spat Out a Spark, Slightly Stronger Than the One That Had Previously Burned Xia Hu Nao.
This Spark Hit Happiny, but Caused No Damage.
Bai Lan Looked Appreciatively at Xia Hu Nao: "Not Bad, You Know How to Use a Time-Lag Attack to Counter Counter, But You Still Don't Understand Your Teammates' Pokémon Well Enough. You Didn't Expect This Fennekin Can't Use Ember."
Xia Hu Nao Looked at Fennekin Again. The System Clearly Indicated Fennekin Was Level Five, So Why Wasn't Ember in Its Skill List?
Bai Lan Looked at the Confused Xia Hu Nao and Explained: "Let Me Tell Everyone, Although the Official Skill List Shows the Skills Each Pokémon Can Learn and Their Order, It's Not as If Pokémon Can Learn Them on Their Own. It Requires the Trainer's Teaching and Learning, Which Is a Very Long Process."
Upon Hearing This, Xia Hu Nao Did Not Dwell on It and Quickly Had the System Display Fennekin's and Froakie's Skill Lists.
Indeed, Fennekin Did Not Have Ember. Froakie Had No Other Skills Either. However, There Was Another Type of Skill in the Skill List Called "Egg Move."
Fennekin's Egg Move List Included an Attack Skill, a Special Attack at That, Named "Heat Wave."
Heat Wave, as an Egg Move, Required the Parent to Be Growlithe or Torkoal. However, All Starter Pokémon in Jinghai City Had Themselves as Parents, So Egg Moves Were Essentially Non-existent.
Informed of This News, Which Was Like a Bolt from the Blue, Xia Hu Nao Completely Gave Up. He Couldn't Possibly Wear Down an Opponent with Counter Using Physical Attack Skills when His Few First-Stage Pokémon Combined Had Less HP Than a Single Happiny.
Ultimately, Xia Hu Nao Chose to Surrender. Since He Couldn't Win, Why Let His Pokémon Get Hurt Further?
Upon Seeing Bai Lan and the Others Surrender, the Surrounding Classmates Also Sigh-ed: "As Expected, Even the Class Monitor Can't Beat the Teacher."
"Although It's the Truth, Why Does It Sound So Awkward?"
After Xia Hu Nao's Match Ended, the Other Classmates Began Their Respective Group Battles. Xia Hu Nao, Who Had Little Interest in This "Chickens Pecking at Each Other," Began to Consider How to Break Through Teacher Bai Lan's Three-Happiny Formation.
"If We Want to Defeat Happiny Using the Previous Method, We Must All Learn Another Skill."
While Analyzing, Xia Hu Nao Took Out a Notebook and Began to Record.
Zhang Hong Walked Over and Asked Xia Hu Nao About His Analysis: "Is There a Way?"
"Perhaps. Let Snivy Come Here."
Zhang Hong Called Out to Snivy: "Your Majesty, Come Here."
"Your... Majesty? Your Hobbies Are a Bit Strange..."
Xia Hu Nao Was Helpless About Zhang Hong's Title, But Since It Was Zhang Hong's Own Business, He Let Him Be.
Snivy Walked Over with a Majestic Demeanor. Xia Hu Nao Also Had the System Briefly Scan Its Level.
Level Six. Five Levels Gained in Two Months Was Not Bad, But the Next Skill Could Be Learned at Level Seven, Which Was a Bit Troublesome. Moreover, the Skill Learned at Level Seven Was Vine Whip, a Physical Attack.
Xia Hu Nao Finally Pet Snivy's Head Lovingly and Had Zhang Hong Take Snivy Away to Play.
Watching Zhang Hong Play with Princess Snivy, and Then Looking at Shen Yu, Who Was Trying to Teach Fennekin How to Use Ember, Xia Hu Nao Rubbed His Forehead: "This is Troublesome."
Just Then, Bai Lan Sat Down Beside Xia Hu Nao: "What's Wrong, Feeling a Lot of Pressure?"
Xia Hu Nao Nodded: "Yes, Although I Have Many Tactics, Even the Best Cook Can't Cook Without Ingredients."
"You Want to Know How to Learn Skills, Right?"
"Yes."
"Alright, I'll Explain It Clearly to You All When Class Is About to End."
After Saying This, Teacher Bai Lan Continued to Observe the Group Battles.
...
As Xia Hu Nao Was Deeply Contemplating His Tactics, Class Was Also Nearing Its End. Teacher Bai Lan Gathered Everyone and Gave a Detailed Explanation of Skill-Learning Techniques.
After the Battle Class, There Was a Self-Study Period. Xia Hu Nao, Sitting in the Classroom, Was Communicating with the System in His Mind.
"System, Although the Teacher Explained How to Learn Skills, What Are the Mechanics of Skills? What Are the PP Mechanics Like on Lingyao Star?"
After a Period of Silent Data Retrieval, the System Provided Its Explanation:
"PP Value in the Pokémon Games Refers to the Number of Times a Skill Can Be Used. The English Translation Is 'Power Point,' Yes, the Same as 'PPT.'"
Xia Hu Nao Frowned: "Is There Anything Substantive? I Already Know This."
The System Was Slightly Annoyed by Xia Hu Nao's Interruption: "Be Quiet and Just Listen."
As It Spoke, the System Played a PPT in Xia Hu Nao's Mind.
"Let's Take Froakie as an Example. At Level One, It Knows Pound and Growl. Their PP Is 35 and 40, Respectively."
Saying This, the System Drew Two Circles on the Blackboard in Its Mind, One Labeled "35" and the Other "40."
"After a Pokémon Is Born, Its Internal Energy Is Determined. This Energy Is Unconsciously Divided into Several Parts, Used to Unleash All the Skills It Knows."
This Explanation Did Not Convince Xia Hu Nao: "So, Leveling Up Continuously Increases Internal Energy? But Levels Have a Cap, Yet a Pokémon Can Learn a Vast Number of Skills."
"That's Right. Levels Are Limited. This Limited Energy Cannot Allow a Pokémon to Possess All Skills, Hence Why a Pokémon Only Uses or Carries Four Skills."
"What About TM Machines? When the Level Isn't High Enough to Learn a New Skill, Is Energy Directly Injected? If So, Wouldn't Using TM Machines After Level 100 Cause Them to Explode?"
The System Casually Wrote Three Skills on the Blackboard and Continued Its Explanation: "If You Were to Use a TM Machine to Teach Froakie Ice Beam Now, the Energy in the TM Machine Would Be Injected into Froakie's Body. Part of It Would Allow Froakie to Learn Ice Beam, and Another Part Would Be Stored Internally for Using Ice Beam."
Xia Hu Nao Nodded and Asked the System to Continue: "After Learning a New Skill, a Pokémon's Appetite Will Increase to a Certain Extent. This Is Mainly to Intake Energy to Maintain the Internal Energy Reserves for Using Skills, as the Energy in TM Machines Cannot Permanently Exist Within a Pokémon."
At This Point, Xia Hu Nao Finally Had an Epiphany: "I Understand. If a Pokémon Already Has Four Skills and Uses a TM Machine Again, Part of the Energy Will Be Used to Forget the Previous Skill, Right?"
The System Nodded with Satisfaction: "A Promising Student. Perhaps You Should Become a Pokémon Researcher, at the Same Level as Breeders and Trainers."
Xia Hu Nao Had No Such Plans. After Understanding the Mechanics of Skill Learning, He Continued to Research Tactics to Overcome Teacher Bai Lan's Three-Happiny Formation. As for Cultural Subjects, His Cultural Scores Had Always Been Excellent.
Just as Xia Hu Nao Had Finally Devised a Decent Tactic and Solved All the Loopholes He Could Think Of, School Was Over.
Xia Hu Nao Stood Up and Stretched. Sitting at His Desk for a Long Time Writing Was Tiring. He Turned to Shen Yu: "Xiao Yu, Can You Give My Shoulders a Massage? I'm So Tired."
Shen Yu Turned Her Head: "No. You Ignored Me When I Passed You Notes in Class, So I'm Angry."
Xia Hu Nao Reached Out and Poked Shen Yu's Pouting Cheeks: "Alright, Don't Be Unhappy. Let's Go Shopping at Rainbow Star Mall This Weekend. Consider It My Apology, Okay?"
"Is That Okay? Things at Rainbow Star Mall Are Very Expensive, Right? Is Your Allowance Enough?"
Indeed, Rainbow Star Mall Was the Most Luxurious Shopping Mall on the Entire Lingyao Star. Theoretically Speaking, You Could Buy Anything You Wanted There. But the Fame It Carried Meant That Everything Was Extremely Expensive.
Xia Hu Nao Felt His Pocket Wallet and Then Gritted His Teeth: "It's Okay, My Wallet Can Still Handle It."
Although Xia Hu Nao Said So, Both Shen Yu and Zhang Hong Beside Him Knew That This Was Just Putting on a Brave Face. It Was Estimated That After This Shopping Trip, No Matter How Much Shen Yu Tried to Save Him Money, He Would Be Eating Beans for Half a Month.
Shen Yu Looked at Xia Hu Nao, Who Was Willing to Spend Extravagantly to Pacify Her, and Was About to Say Something When She Saw Zhang Hong Lean Over and Say: "Sister Yu, This Weekend is the Rainbow Star Group's Anniversary Celebration, and There Will Be Quite Large Discounts..."