“Chu Xiaodie, do you need something?” Tong Ruo asked the girl who had come closer.
Chu Xiaodie nodded, “Teacher, can you tell me about the skill ‘Gift Distribution’?”
Tong Ruo looked at Chu Xiaodie, then at the classmates who were devising tactics, “They sent you to ask, didn’t they?”
Chu Xiaodie nodded, “Yes, Teacher, please tell me.”
Tong Ruo pointed to Xia Huanao who was playing nearby. Chu Xiaodie looked over and saw Xia Huanao smiling at both of them. Tong Ruo didn’t react much, but Chu Xiaodie did. After all, she was now a member of one of the opposing sides. Coming to the referee for help after being defeated by an opponent, and being discovered by the opponent, made the usually shy Chu Xiaodie flustered.
Xia Huanao just smiled at them and continued playing with his Happiny, but Chu Xiaodie was unsure of Xia Huanao’s intentions, “Teacher, what is Assistant Coach Xia doing?”
“It’s nothing, he just discovered us. Don’t worry, I’ll explain Gift Distribution to you simply. This is a Normal-type skill that can forcibly give an item held by one of your Pokémon to another Pokémon.”
Upon hearing this, Chu Xiaodie nodded, “Thank you, Teacher, I understand.” She then returned to the Class 5 group.
A lively discussion erupted again within the Class 5 group, and finally, a rather unremarkable boy was chosen to fight.
Xia Huanao got up from the ground, “My Pokémon will still be Happiny.”
The boy on the opposite side threw out his Poké Ball, “The Pokémon I’m using is this.”
Seeing the Dusclops that the boy released, Xia Huanao’s interest was piqued, “You have something like this, huh.”
“Yes, this should seal your Gift Distribution, right?”
In the school team’s training room, everyone nodded, “It seems their plan is no different from our countermeasure.”
“What do you think he’ll do about this problem?”
“I think he should be able to figure it out.”
…
On the battlefield, Xia Huanao was quickly analyzing the Class 5 students’ strategy, “I know your plan very well. You intend to use the Normal-type skill’s ineffectiveness against Ghost-types to counter this move, right? And you probably even brought an item on this Dusclops to prevent me from finding a way to make Normal-type effective against Ghost-type.”
Listening to Xia Huanao’s explanation, the boy commanding the Dusclops became a little flustered but managed to put on a brave front, “That’s right. Does Assistant Coach Xia have any other tricks up his sleeve?”
“Oh, you’re calling me Assistant Coach now? Then let me show you what this Assistant Coach has in store. Happiny, use Fling!”
Happiny threw the Orb in its hand, hitting the Dusclops accurately. The Dusclops swayed and then collapsed.
Xia Huanao hadn’t even expected this to happen. After a long while, he said, “Your Dusclops is completely useless. I was planning to use Happiny to throw a Toxic Orb for a poisoning effect, but I didn’t expect your Dusclops to be so weak that it would be knocked out by Happiny’s Fling?”
The school team classmates were also surprised that Happiny, which was usually not good at offense, had defeated Dusclops.
“Chiting, what do you think?”
“I think he’s right. This Dusclops doesn’t seem very capable.”
Xia Huanao was asking the system, “System, what’s going on? Why is this Dusclops so useless?”
“Take a look yourself.”
Name: Dusclops♂
Level: 13
Ability: Mummy
Effect: +Sp.Def -Def
Stats: HP35, Attack16, Defense25, Sp.Atk22, Sp.Def27, Speed15/
Held Item: Sitrus Berry
And Happiny’s stats were as follows:
Name: Happiny♀
Level: 25
Ability: Natural Cure
Effect: +Atk -Sp.Def
Stats: HP95, Attack44, Defense55, Sp.Atk42, Sp.Def54, Speed33
Xia Huanao calculated the theoretical damage of using Fling, “That must have been a critical hit, otherwise the damage wouldn’t have been enough.”
But whether it was enough or not, this bizarre battle was over. Looking at the dejected figure walking off the field, Xia Huanao sighed, “I hope I didn’t crush his spirit too much.”
However, after saying this, Xia Huanao suddenly realized: That’s not right, it’s three to zero, the match should be over. There’s no fourth game.
Xia Huanao looked at Tong Ruo, “Ruo Jie, my mission should be complete, right?”
“Wait, we hope the match can continue.”
Xia Huanao turned his head and saw Feng Bing walk out, saying, “Assistant Coach Xia, we hope the battle can continue.”
Xia Huanao looked at the other students, “Do you all think so too?”
The Class 5 students looked at each other, and then collectively nodded.
Xia Huanao also looked at Tong Ruo, “Since the Class 5 students strongly request it, let’s continue and finish all five games.”
At this moment, in the school team’s training room, no one was speaking. This wasn’t because they were overly surprised, but simply because Zheng Xiaoxiao had entered the training room.
Zheng Xiaoxiao looked at the school team members, “What do you think?”
The school team captain thought for a moment and then said, “Assistant Coach Xia is a good assistant coach. His tactical reserves have opened our eyes.”
Zheng Xiaoxiao interrupted him, “I didn’t ask about him. I asked about these freshmen. What do you think of them?”
The school team captain couldn’t quite read Zheng Xiaoxiao’s intentions and didn’t know if the principal was satisfied or not, so he hesitated to speak.
“Chiting, what about you?”
Chiting pondered for a moment, then said, “Although they had no room to fight back under Assistant Coach Xia’s tactical arrangements, their continuous efforts to break through are commendable strengths.”
Zheng Xiaoxiao didn’t speak, but his expression revealed that he was quite satisfied with these freshmen.
“Alright, don’t be so tense. Let’s watch the remaining two games together.”
The team members breathed a sigh of relief and sat around Zheng Xiaoxiao to continue watching the battle.
In the battle arena, Feng Bing was discussing countermeasures with his classmates, while Xia Huanao was reading posts on the school’s forum. As expected, his reputation on the forum had soared. The posts that had previously questioned his ability as an assistant coach were not deleted but had new comments added below them.
However, before he could read a few more posts, the opposing side had already finished discussing their strategy. To Xia Huanao’s surprise, Class 5 students had sent out Wang Hu again.
“Wang Hu, it’s you again.”
Wang Hu nodded, “Yes, my Incineroar is the only Fire-type Pokémon in our class that has evolved.”
“I see. Let’s begin.”
“Incineroar, use Fire Fang!”
Incineroar opened its mouth and lunged forward to bite. Xia Huanao merely smiled faintly, “Do you know what ‘all’s fair in war’ means?”
Those watching the battle were stunned, while Wang Hu replied, “Of course, but we’ve already prepared for it.”
Xia Huanao nodded, “I know. You have a berry to cure poison, right?”
Wang Hu nodded, “Exactly. That way, even if you threw a Fire Orb earlier instead of the Toxic Orb you mentioned, I would still be prepared.”
“Happiny, use Knock Off, then Gift Distribution.”
After giving the order to Happiny, Xia Huanao looked back at Wang Hu and the Class 5 students, “You are indeed smart. Your plan this time is also very effective. I threw a Fire Orb earlier, because the Fire Orb is indeed mine, and I borrowed the Toxic Orb from the principal. But you overlooked one point: Happiny has four moves. I’ve only used Gift Distribution, Rest, and Fling. This is the fourth one.”
Happiny’s Knock Off hit just as Incineroar’s Fire Fang landed, knocking off the berry. Then, it used Gift Distribution to give the Toxic Orb to Incineroar.
However, what happened next was not a repeat of the second game. Xia Huanao rarely launched a frontal assault. Happiny and Incineroar traded blows, and because Xia Huanao and Wang Hu were attacking each other head-on this time, Happiny’s HP decreased rapidly. Xia Huanao was close to defeat, but thankfully he used Rest in time, which prevented his HP from hitting zero.
In the fourth game, Xia Huanao and Happiny ultimately emerged victorious.
Xia Huanao recalled Happiny into its Poké Ball and put the Poké Ball into his pocket, “I don’t think the fifth game needs to be played anymore, because you won’t be able to find any Poison or Steel-type Pokémon. I’ve already looked at your data yesterday, otherwise I wouldn’t have designated this operational plan.”
Just as Xia Huanao finished speaking, “Who says we don’t have a Steel-type Pokémon?”
Following the voice, a student ran out, panting, “I, I managed to borrow one. I borrowed a Steel-type Pokémon from the school’s breeding center.”
This panting boy instantly became the hero of Class 5 of the first-year students. Even though he arrived too late, he preserved Class 5’s hope of not being swept.
The boy walked to the center of the battle arena under everyone’s gaze. Xia Huanao asked, “What Pokémon did you borrow? Are you sure you can command it?”
The boy nodded, “Don’t worry, Assistant Coach Xia. I won’t joke around about such things. Come out, Bisharp!”
Xia Huanao looked at Pawniard and was stunned, then praised, “You’ve been researching from the beginning, haven’t you? Not afraid of Dark-type, nor poisoning. You’ve really thought this through.”
The boy grinned, “Assistant Coach Xia, does this count as cracking your strategy?”
Xia Huanao nodded, “That’s right. I only have one Toxic Orb left in my hand now. In a sense, you have indeed cracked my strategy. Although it’s a bit late, it’s commendable.”
As he spoke, Xia Huanao took out the Poké Ball containing Happiny from his pocket, “But I’m not someone who gives up easily. I won’t lose to you carelessly in this final game.”
“Final game, it’s decided then, Happiny!”