Time flew by until the final exams began. Xia Huna came to the battle hall and saw that all the first-year students were present. A camera was working by the side of the arena, presumably streaming the match to the teachers in the conference room.
Xia Huna looked at his classmates, "Alright, who are the three students who will bear the hope of the entire grade? Step forward."
Three people emerged from the student crowd: Feng Bing, Zhang Fengshui, and Zeng Xiaotian, who had previously declared his intention to participate.
Here's a brief introduction to Zhang Fengshui: he is a student from Class Four, and his main Pokémon is a Blastoise.
Upon seeing these three students step onto the stage, Xia Huna pointed at Zeng Xiaotian, "I can't believe you actually told me the truth. You dare to come up here."
Zeng Xiaotian smiled and said, "Of course. Since I promised Assistant Instructor Xia that I would participate, how could I go back on my word?"
"Is that so? Which Pokémon did you borrow?"
Zeng Xiaotian shook his head, "Assistant Instructor Xia, please don't joke. How could I borrow a Pokémon from the school? That's against school regulations."
Xia Huna pointed to the students watching from the side, "I'm asking, who did you borrow the Pokémon from? Tell me the truth!"
Zeng Xiaotian shook his head like a rattle drum, "No, I can't say. Assistant Instructor Xia, you'll change your lineup."
Xia Huna took out three Poké Balls from his waist, "Then let the battle begin! Go!"
Xia Huna released a Pokémon first. Upon seeing the Chansey that appeared, the three opponents nodded, "As expected, it's Chansey. Our guess was correct."
Feng Bing also threw a Poké Ball, "Go, Froslass!"
Xia Huna looked at Froslass on the field, "Hmm, that's exactly what you'd do. You want an Ice-type and also need to guard against my Trick. There's nothing more suitable than Froslass. But is it okay? I still have Knock Off and Fling."
Hearing Xia Huna's words, Zhang Fengshui released a Pokémon from his Poké Ball. It was a Butterfree.
Xia Huna examined it carefully, "This isn't something your lineup should have. You borrowed it from Chu Xiaodie, right? I can roughly guess your strategy: use Tailwind to interfere with Fling, which is reasonable. Then how will you deal with my remaining Pokémon?"
Zeng Xiaotian took out a Poké Ball, "Go, Aerodactyl."
"Aerodactyl, huh? It's somewhat useful, I suppose. A three-on-three battle against my three Chanseys isn't impossible, but unfortunately, you're still not as ruthless as I am."
"Go, Froakie, Chansey!"
Seeing the last two Pokémon Xia Huna sent out, the students were stunned. They were all very familiar with Froakie, and it must be Assistant Instructor Xia's, because only Assistant Instructor Xia's Froakie would often pat its neck with its hands to maintain the state of its foam. But what was the origin of that Chansey? They hadn't heard of the school's breeding center having such a Pokémon.
Xia Huna chuckled, "Surprised, aren't you? My third Pokémon is Chansey."
Feng Bing was confused, "Impossible. Didn't Assistant Instructor Xia say he'd use Pokémon borrowed from the breeding center?"
Xia Huna extended his index finger, "You're still half asleep. When did I say I was going to use Pokémon borrowed from the breeding center? I only said I would use Pokémon borrowed from the school. This Chansey was borrowed from Senior Sister Yan Chunyu. Is there a problem with saying it's borrowed from the school?"
Feng Bing pointed at Froakie and the other Pokémon, "Then these two..."
"Of course, they are our Froaky and Little Meng, what do you think?"
Xia Huna was well aware of the impact of his actions, "I didn't break any rules. I said I'd use borrowed Pokémon, but I didn't say all three were borrowed. As for your assumption that I would use three Chanseys, that was just a setup I created for you. How could you fall for it so easily? Come on, let's battle! Your exam goal is to defeat Froakie. As for the other two, I think you guys are still a bit lacking in skill."
Indeed, Little Meng, who was now level sixty-eight, couldn't be defeated by the three of them, even with a Ghost-type Froslass.
...
The battle began quickly, and ended just as quickly.
Knowing that their opponent was a Froakie that hadn't evolved yet, the three's first thought was to attack. With the level advantage of their three Pokémon, defeating Froakie should have been easy.
But Xia Huna had Froakie hide behind Little Meng, letting Little Meng take the brunt of the attack. Although Little Meng wasn't significantly affected after taking the hit, Xia Huna still had Chansey use Heal Pulse on Little Meng.
This changed the situation on the battlefield. To defeat Froakie, it would have to be a one-hit KO. Otherwise, with Little Meng and Chansey, a war of attrition would be impossible. However, Froakie kept hiding behind Chansey and the other Pokémon, and with these two shields, they couldn't reach Froakie.
It was Zhang Fengshui who came up with a plan: use moves to control Little Meng and Chansey, then attack. But just as Butterfree flew close to Little Meng and Chansey, about to use Sleep Powder, it flew too close. Xia Huna seized the opportunity, "Froakie, use Ice Beam!"
Zhang Fengshui was stunned. Then, Butterfree was pinned to the ground. Little Meng and Chansey, looking cute but actually very "brutal" Pokémon, proceeded to beat Butterfree into submission, forcing it to withdraw from the battle...
The so-called Ice Beam was also a new trick Xia Huna taught Froakie. It involved throwing the foam out to hit the target, and then directly using Ice Beam on the foam, which would freeze it. For a Pokémon like Butterfree, which wasn't very large, it could be frozen directly, fall to the ground, and be beaten to death...
With one Pokémon down so early in the battle, the students were at a disadvantage. Xia Huna pressed his advantage and began attacking Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl, being Rock and Flying type, was completely countered by Froakie. With the support of two healers, it was quickly knocked to the ground. Then, the two healers showed their brutal side again, and Aerodactyl also lost the ability to battle.
Xia Huna breathed a sigh of relief as two Pokémon consecutively lost the ability to battle. Fortunately, he had discovered a bug in this world; otherwise, the effort point allocation would have been messed up.
Back when he was battling those two wastes from Lixing Country, Xia Huna had thought that both Decidueye and Charizard had Special Attack 3 effort values. But after the battle, he realized that experience points and effort points were different. Experience points were shared among all participating Pokémon, but effort points were only obtained by the Pokémon that delivered the final blow. Upon learning this, Xia Huna nearly lost his mind. If he had known, he would have let Little Meng train Froakie, and if the effort points were compatible, he would give them to Froakie; if not, he would have Little Meng finish them off directly...
Back to the battle arena, with two Pokémon already down, the students were left with only Froslass. However, Froakie's current four moves were Pound, Growl, Bubble, and Ice Beam. No matter what attribute Froslass had, it would be difficult to deal with.
At this point, Feng Bing, who was still on the stage, no longer wanted to continue. He raised his hands, "Assistant Instructor Xia, I concede."
This outcome, which he had won, was within Xia Huna's expectations. However, he still wanted to try and have Froakie deliver the final blow, as Froslass had a clean 138 Speed stat.
Xia Huna recalled his Pokémon and waved to the students, "Everyone, keep up the good work during the winter break!" With that, he left.
Meanwhile, in the conference room, the observing teachers had grim expressions.
"What can I say? I don't know whether to praise these students or scold them."
"Professor Mu is right. While it's understandable that they couldn't predict Xia Huna's tactics, given that his ideas are so unconventional that even we find it hard to fully grasp them, their performance during the battle was too poor."
"Let's wait for Xia Huna and hear his thoughts."
Before long, Xia Huna arrived at the conference room. Zheng Xiaoxiao asked, "Little Xiazi, what did you think of their performance today?"
"From a battle perspective, not very good. My Froakie knocked down Butterfree, and then I had Chansey and Little Meng surround Butterfree. Froakie didn't do anything. I deliberately left that opening for them. If they had attacked, I wouldn't have had Froakie resist. With their abilities, Aerodactyl and Froslass should have been able to defeat Froakie easily, but they just stood there, not even attempting to rescue Butterfree. I really can't understand it. Perhaps they were wary of me using this method to lure them into a trap, but I think they should have jumped into it even if it was a trap."
Xia Huna was correct. Even if it were a trap, Feng Bing and Zeng Xiaotian would have had to jump in. After all, if Little Meng and the others were free, there would be no battle left.
After discussing his views on today's battle exam with the teachers present, Xia Huna went back to pack his bags to return to Jinghai City. Meanwhile, the students who had lost knew they had failed one subject and were dejected, especially the three who had carried everyone's hopes.
However, there were still exams for other subjects, so they could only pull themselves together and try not to fail any more.
...
That afternoon, at the Liuling City train station.
As he boarded the train from Liuling City to Jinghai City, Xia Huna leaned back in his seat, "Now comes my long vacation. I wonder where I should go to have fun?"
As he mused, Xia Huna turned to look at the scenery outside the window. The weather was a bit gloomy, but amidst the dark clouds, a bright flash of light could be seen.
Although the light flashed and disappeared in an instant, Xia Huna's eyes widened, "A Pokémon that flashes such a brilliant light at that altitude should be a mythical Pokémon, right?"