For students, the most troublesome thing was the final exam, especially the final exam during the winter break. If you didn't do well, you wouldn't be able to pass the year.
As for Xia Hunao, although his high school final exams had long been irrelevant, this did not prevent him from responding to his teacher's expectations and returning to school on the day of the exam.
Walking to school with Shen Yu, Shen Yu said to Xia Hunao, "After the exam, accompany me to the secret base."
Xia Hunao nodded, "Okay, but why are you going to the secret base?"
"I saw you and Xiao Meng dancing last night. I want to make a beautiful dress to match your water-blue gown, and I want to dance that kind of dance with you!"
Xia Hunao thought of the scene and quickly nodded, "Okay, okay, let's dance ballroom dancing with Xiao Yu. But Xiao Yu, are you jealous of Xiao Meng? I told you, you are both young, there's no need to be jealous."
Unable to stand Xia Hunao's teasing, Shen Yu swung his fists towards Xia Hunao. The two chased each other into the campus before stopping.
The final exams at Jinghai City No. 77 Middle School were independently set by each class, and there was no school-wide ranking, so the examination hall was filled with students from their own class. However, because the examination content of each class was similar, most of the exams were held on the sports field. Of course, for fear that fire-type sprites would use their skills to burn down the entire sports field and campus, there was no grass on the sports field of the sprite middle school.
Xia Hunao arrived at the sports field, and his classmates saw their "old class monitor" gathering around him to ask about his well-being. Xia Hunao also missed them, and for a moment, the atmosphere was pleasant, with no feeling of taking an exam.
After chatting for a short while, Bai Lan arrived at the sports field, directed the students to line up, and began the exam.
Xia Hunao's class had forty-five people in total, including Xia Hunao. They were divided into fifteen groups of three. Every two groups would have a 3v3 battle, and Bai Lan would score based on each group's performance. As for the extra "strongest trio," Xia Hunao and his classmates would directly face Bai Lan in a three-on-three battle. However, because Xia Hunao had withdrawn from school midway, the scheduled three-on-three battle was changed to a two-on-two.
But with the school's dean's manipulation and the principal's inaction, Xia Hunao was still counted among the school's students, which made Bai Lan a bit conflicted. In the end, he decided to have a one-on-one battle with Xia Hunao to see how much progress Xia Hunao had made during his travels.
The exam quickly began, with groups of students entering the arena to battle. Xia Hunao, on the other hand, continuously identified his classmates' sprites using his system.
"Host, it has been proven that your travels were quite useful. The highest-level sprite among your classmates so far is only a level twelve Treecko, and the lowest is a level six Marshtomp."
Xia Hunao nodded, "No evolved sprites? I expected that. It's difficult to have high-frequency battles in school. So it's normal for them to grow slowly. After all, obtaining the title of junior trainer upon high school graduation was due to the examiner going easy on them. Otherwise, what could they do with this level of training?"
The battles of the first seven groups quickly ended, and it was now Shen Yu and Zhang Hong's turn to battle Bai Lan.
Bai Lan's sprites were still two Dusclops, but their level had risen to eighteen. Although there were no new skill additions, they had definitely become tougher.
Looking at the Fennekin sent out by Shen Yu and the Snivy by Zhang Hong, Xia Hunao asked, "System, how are their sprites?"
The system quickly identified and gave Xia Hunao the conclusion. Xia Hunao breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the stats. The Fennekin was level ten, and the Snivy was level eleven. These were relatively high-level sprites in the class. Although the Fennekin's effort value distribution was a bit scattered, Shen Yu had told him that he wanted to develop towards the direction of Contests, so effort values were not particularly important. After all, Contests were not won solely by effort values.
As for Zhang Hong's Snivy, it made Xia Hunao puzzled. It had been said before that Zhang Hong's Snivy was a perfect specimen. After not seeing him for a while, his training was outrageous. There were no scattered effort values at all; all of them were in Special Attack and Speed. How did he achieve this? Even Xia Hunao had to carefully select with the system's help. Wasn't this lucky person too lucky?
After cursing the lucky person to die a horrible death in his heart, Xia Hunao refocused on the battle.
Although the battle between the Snivy and Fennekin against the two Dusclops did not achieve immediate results, as the battle continued, the Fennekin and Snivy gradually gained the upper hand. The Snivy used Bind to entangle one of the Dusclops, and the Fennekin followed up with attacks.
Xia Hunao nodded from the side, "This is the weakness of the two Dusclops. As long as they are controlled, Dusclops have no counter-measures."
After the Fennekin and Fennekin defeated the first Dusclops, Bai Lan's second Dusclops did not resist for too long.
Teacher Bai Lan clapped his hands, "Not bad, you two have trained your sprites well."
Saying that, Teacher Bai Lan looked at Xia Hunao, "It's your turn."
Xia Hunao stood up and stretched his body, "Teacher Bai, I hope you will go easy on me."
Bai Lan threw out a Poké Ball, and a Dratini emerged from it.
Xia Hunao became interested, "Dratini, this is my first time seeing a genuine Dragon-type sprite. It's indeed different from that imitation Flying-type elite, Jade Dragon Crossing."
He asked the system to check the stats of this Dratini, and Xia Hunao was surprised. The level was not important; the fact that Teacher Bai brought it out for the exam meant that the level would not be very high. Xia Hunao could fight an eighteen-level Dratini, but what was this move set?
Twister, Dragon Rage, Dragon Pulse, and Thunder Wave. Was this move set intended to defeat Froakie in one go? Xia Hunao had already figured it out: Thunder Wave first, then Dragon Rage. After this combo, Froakie would only have eight HP left. This was even after Froakie had evolved and its HP had increased slightly. If it were Xia Hunao's original Froakie, it would only have one HP left after this move.
"Teacher, you are really mean. With the students in our class, it's not certain that anyone can defeat a Dragonair."
Bai Lan smiled and said, "This is special treatment for you, the class monitor. Let me see how much progress you've made after training for so long."
Xia Hunao took out a Poké Ball, "Then let you see the results of my travels. Go, Froakie!"
Seeing the Froakie sent out by Xia Hunao, the classmates were stunned, "The class monitor is indeed the class monitor. His sprite has evolved so quickly."
"Yes, I didn't expect the class monitor to be talented not only in research but also in training sprites."
Shen Yu and Zhang Hong were also surprised by how quickly Xia Hunao's sprite had grown. Shen Yu, in particular, had seen Froakie as a Frogadier just two days ago when they were soaking in the hot springs with Xia Hunao, and now it had become a Froakie.
"I'm sorry, Teacher. Froakie, we'll attack first with Water Pulse!"
As for Froakie's move set, the most effective way to deal with Dratini was Ice Beam. However, although Ice Beam could instantly defeat this Dratini, if it were dodged by Dratini, it would be much more troublesome to use this move for a one-hit kill. So, it was better to use Water Pulse to cause confusion first, and then defeat it.
Froakie shot out a water orb, and Bai Lan, seeing the approaching Water Pulse, commanded Dratini, "Dratini, use Dragon Pulse!"
The two pulses collided, creating a strong shockwave. However, since neither hit the target, this tentative exchange ended.
"Froakie, maintain a certain distance and use Double Bubble to restrict Dratini."
Froakie spat out countless bubbles from its mouth towards Dratini. Bai Lan countered by using Twister to blow away the bubbles and continued to blow them towards Froakie.
"Froakie, jump to the right to avoid the Twister, and then use Bubble Beam!"
Froakie jumped to the right and condensed two water orbs in its hands, combining them and throwing them at Dragonair. Bai Lan wanted to see what kind of move Bubble Beam was, so he had Dratini take a hit to test it.
Dratini's body was hit by Froakie's Bubble Beam. The rotating ripples struck Dratini's body, successfully causing Dratini to become confused.
Seeing the actual use of Bubble Beam, Bai Lan nodded with satisfaction, "Not bad, you've got something. Dratini, use Dragon Rage!"
Dratini swayed its body and remained motionless. Xia Hunao understood that it was confused. Seizing the opportunity, he said, "Froakie, get close quickly and use Ice Beam!"
Froakie ran at high speed and shot a white beam towards Dratini. Dratini, despite taking a little damage from its confusion, quickly removed the confusion with its Shed Skin ability. However, by then, Ice Beam was already in front of it, and it was too late to escape.
Dratini was hit by Ice Beam, and the damage was explosive. It instantly fell to the ground and stopped moving. Bai Lan recalled Dratini and came to Xia Hunao, "Not bad, your performance was excellent. I can see that your travels were not in vain, and you have grown very quickly."
Xia Hunao nodded, "It's good that I didn't disappoint you, Teacher."
Bai Lan said softly, "Yes, you didn't disappoint me, nor did you disappoint Xiaoxiao and Ruoruo." Hearing this, Xia Hunao took a step back and looked at Bai Lan in disbelief, "Teacher Bai, you, you this..."
Bai Lan just smiled mysteriously and then gathered the students to arrange affairs for the winter break. Xia Hunao's heart was instantly stirred by a stormy wave, "Could it be that Teacher Bai knows the two sisters? Then this world is too small."
After arranging the winter break affairs, Teacher Bai announced the end of school, and the students scattered and left the school. Regardless of the final exam results, at least it was vacation time, and having fun was the most important thing.
Xia Hunao also left the school with Shen Yu and Zhang Hong and headed back to the secret base.