During the two months Xia Huanao waited for Froakie to hatch, their lessons did not stop. As second-year students, they had already begun basic battle training. However, since Xia Huanao, as class monitor, did not have his own Pokémon, he could only watch from the sidelines.
One pleasant afternoon, Xia Huanao placed Froakie's egg in his backpack and headed to Shen Yu's house for a soak in the hot spring. This routine was performed so smoothly, it was almost painful to watch.
Two months had passed. He had been using Shen Yu's house for the hatching buff every day, yet the Pokémon refused to hatch. Instead, his constant visits to Shen Yu's house had been given other meanings by his gossiping classmates. Those who knew understood he was after the buff; those who didn't might have assumed he was after something else entirely...
Just the day before yesterday, Tao Yanyan from his class had teased him, "Class monitor, even if Xiao Yu is your girlfriend, you can't visit her house every day. What if you elope?"
Arriving at Shen Yu's hot spring, Xia Huanao dived in. Froakie's egg was placed in a basin, floating on the water's surface.
Surrounded by the warm water, the comforting heat made Xia Huanao feel incredibly relaxed, almost drowsy. Though his eyes were on Froakie's egg, his mind had already drifted far away. Xia Huanao swayed his head, and fell asleep.
He wasn't sure how long he slept in a daze. The next thing he knew, he opened his eyes and found himself resting on Shen Yu's lap. Xia Huanao's mind was still quite hazy. He mumbled, "This is quite comfortable. Maybe I should sleep a little longer..."
With that, Xia Huanao tried to close his eyes again, but Shen Yu didn't give him the chance. She pushed him up and opened the window, telling him to cool off.
The cold night air instantly cleared Xia Huanao's head. He shook his head groggily. "This is... this is Xiao Yu's room. How did I get here?"
Shen Yu's voice came from behind him, "Awake now? Honestly, how could you fall asleep in the hot spring? If I hadn't come to clean, I wouldn't have known you were lying in the pool."
As she spoke, Shen Yu's face turned red. It seemed the hot spring had quite stimulated her. Xia Huanao reached out to touch Shen Yu's flushed cheek with the back of his hand. Before he could finish the movement, a small spark flew from not too far away and hit his hand.
Fennekin's Ember sparks carried considerable heat. Xia Huanao's reflex was to shake his hand, and in doing so, he slapped Shen Yu across the face...
Half an hour later, Xia Huanao followed Shen Yu like a subservient dog. Shen Yu was taking him to see his egg.
"I'm telling you, if something like this happens again, I'll be angry, understand!"
"No, is it my fault? It was all Fennekin's fault. If it hadn't suddenly appeared and given me an Ember, I wouldn't have..."
"I don't care. It's your problem anyway. I won't be reasonable, okay?"
"Yes, yes, what Xiao Yu says is always right..."
Shen Yu led Xia Huanao to where Froakie's egg was kept. "Don't forget to pay the storage fee."
Xia Huanao didn't hear Shen Yu. The system had just alerted him that there was a sound from the egg. It was about to hatch.
Xia Huanao quickly clutched Froakie's egg to his chest and, without looking back, hurried home. As he ran out, he called back to Shen Yu, "Thank you for keeping it for me."
He rushed home and wrapped Froakie in a blanket on his bed. Lying beside it, he watched the egg. "Soon, it should be coming out, right?"
The system looked at him disdainfully. "I'm really impressed. When you were lying on your girlfriend's lap just now, I didn't see you looking at her so captivated."
Xia Huanao casually replied, "I'm used to seeing her often. Do you understand..."
Xia Huanao stared intently at Froakie's egg. Although nothing seemed to be changing, he felt it was about to hatch.
Man and egg remained in a stalemate for a while. Soon, Xia Huanao couldn't hold on. Drowsy, he fell asleep again.
As soon as he fell asleep, Froakie's egg wiggled twice, then flashed with white light. A moment later, a blue head emerged.
...
The next morning, Xia Huanao woke up to a world of white. He touched it; it was soft and felt good. Xia Huanao leaned back, and then he saw the full picture of the white object. It was the foam around Froakie's neck.
After playing with Froakie in the room for a while, Xia Huanao returned it to its Poké Ball and walked out of the room.
At the dining table, there were a few slices of bread and a cup of still-warm milk. Beside the table, a Mr. Mime was playing with a chair.
Xia Huanao walked over and ruffled the Mr. Mime's head. "Xiao Meng, Mom and Dad are out again, right?"
Mr. Mime shook its head, indicating no.
Xia Huanao swallowed a few bites of bread. "Okay, I get it. They didn't come back last night, did they? What are they up to all day, being so mysterious?"
After stuffing a few more mouthfuls of bread into his mouth, Xia Huanao grabbed his backpack from the chair and dashed out the door.
The hatching of Xia Huanao's Froakie was definitely the biggest news in Class Seven today. Everyone wanted to see what this long-awaited Froakie looked like.
Just as Xia Huanao was about to release Froakie, their homeroom teacher, Bai Lan, entered the classroom. "Everyone, gather at the battle hall."
...
In the battle hall, Bai Lan stood before them in a white tracksuit. "Today, we were supposed to have you guys pair up for battles. But since Xia Huanao's Froakie has hatched, we'll do a three-on-three team battle."
The so-called three-on-three team battle was a variation of a two-on-two. Each team had three members, with each sending out one Pokémon. Battles took place in the arena, and no replacements were allowed. The team that lost all its Pokémon first would be declared the loser.
The students of Class Seven were accustomed to this type of battle. Although there were only forty-four students without Xia Huanao, everyone knew that Xia Huanao, Shen Yu, and Zhang Hong formed one team, so forming teams was not a problem. To prevent unfairness in a two-on-three situation, Shen Yu and Zhang Hong had always fought two-on-two against Bai Lan.
At the unanimous request of the classmates, Bai Lan and Xia Huanao's team's three-on-three battle would go first. After Xia Huanao's team sent out Froakie, Fennekin, and Snivy respectively, Bai Lan revealed her Pokémon: Wynaut, Wynaut, and another Wynaut.
Xia Huanao had absolutely not anticipated this lineup. Although he had seen Bai Lan send out two Wynauts when Shen Yu and Zhang Hong fought in a doubles match, he never expected Bai Lan to have a third Wynaut...
Who in their right mind would put three Wynauts on their team? How were they supposed to fight this?
Seeing the three Wynauts on the opposing side, Xia Huanao immediately called for a timeout. "Teacher, let us discuss our strategy first."
Bai Lan gave them no opportunity. "Think as you fight. They did the same thing before!"
Unable to buy any time, Xia Huanao and his teammates had to take it one step at a time.
The characteristic of Wynaut was its complete lack of offensive power; it relied solely on defensive counterattacks to win. However, Xia Huanao felt they should carefully observe Wynaut's stats.
Name: Wynaut ♂
Level: Lv16
Ability: Telepathy
Effect: None
Stats: HP 96, Attack 14, Defense 27, Special Attack 14, Special Defense 27, Speed 14
Looking at Wynaut's stats, Xia Huanao felt immense pressure. A newly hatched Froakie would probably do no damage. Even Fennekin and Snivy, who had grown somewhat, might not be able to defeat them. Even on Lingyao Star, where the damage calculation mechanism was somewhat different, if it couldn't deal damage, it couldn't deal damage.
Looking at the composition of both sides, Xia Huanao said to Zhang Hong, "Zhang Hong, can you hold off one of them?"
Zhang Hong glanced at Snivy and nodded. "Don't worry, although I can't win, it shouldn't be much of a problem."
Xia Huanao then leaned in and whispered something in Shen Yu's ear.
Since Wynaut had no offensive capabilities, Bai Lan waited for Zhang Hong and the others to make the first move.
Xia Huanao and Shen Yu: "Froakie/Fennekin, approach them."
On the other side, Zhang Hong also gave his command: "Snivy, use Leer on the right Wynaut."
Bai Lan sighed. "Always so forgetful. Wynaut, use Protect."
Protect was not a special move. It simply made the Pokémon close its eyes, thus blocking moves that targeted the eyes or relied on being seen, such as Leer or Sand Attack. Of course, the side effect was a significant reduction in the Pokémon's initiative while its eyes were closed.
Zhang Hong was well aware of the side effect of closing its eyes and commanded Snivy to use Tackle. Just as Snivy was about to hit Wynaut, Bai Lan issued her second command: "Wynaut, Quick Attack."
While Zhang Hong was tying up one Wynaut and distracting some of Bai Lan's attention, Xia Huanao and Shen Yu also began their commands.
"Froakie, use Growl."
"Fennekin, use Scratch!"
Bai Lan, as the homeroom teacher of Class Seven, was still quick to issue commands despite having her attention divided by Zhang Hong. "Wynaut, dodge quickly."
Although one Wynaut managed to dodge the Scratch attack, the area-of-effect sonic attack of Growl was not as easy to avoid. Seeing that Growl had hit Wynaut, Xia Huanao was greatly encouraged.
However, while Xia Huanao understood that Growl was not affected by the Protect skill, he overlooked one problem: Growl reduced attack power. Wynaut's meager attack power of a dozen points was only useful when struggling.
Realizing his mistake belatedly, Xia Huanao punched his palm. "Tch, careless."