Elf: I have a secret realm of emerald green.

Xia Shen remained noncommittal: "It looks alright, but the opponent is too weak, so it's hard to tell anything."

Zhou Yuanyuan, grinning mischievously, stirred things up: "Earth dragons and flying insects, they're starting to look like mortal enemies, huh? Want to go up and fight them?"

------

"Zhang Ziheng, Class 2, Grade 11, nice to meet you."

"Xia Shen, Class 1, Grade 11".

The instructor for this match was once again Teacher Ye, and as always, the Fiery Roaring Tiger took the lead, announcing, "The match begins!"

……

"Why are they fighting?" Lin Weiyu, who had just wandered over, asked in confusion when she saw the two fighting on the field.

"It's normal for experts to appreciate each other," Zhou Yuanyuan replied perfunctorily, then loudly called to the classmates who had gathered around.

"Come on, let's have Scyther versus Gible! The odds are 1.5 and 2.5 respectively. Place your bets now!"

The students watching found it interesting, and many of them gathered around to join in the fun.

"I bought a Scyther, a fully evolved one against a juvenile, plus type advantage, how can a bug-type be defeated!"

"Let's bet on Gible, okay? Do you even understand the value of pseudo-legendary characters?"

Startled by the commotion behind her, Teacher Ye turned around and saw her students doing this kind of thing.

Frowning, Zhou Yuanyuan patted the Blazing Roaring Tiger on the shoulder. The muscular tiger turned around and glared fiercely at Zhou Yuanyuan, scaring the guy into immediately withdrawing his hand.

------

On the field, a major battle is about to break out.

"Gible, charge straight in and use Dragon Claw!" Since the opponent and Gible were both speed-type physical attackers, Xia Shen's choice was to just charge straight in.

The main problem is that there are too few moves available now, and Ground-type moves are ineffective against Scyther, so there aren't many options to choose from.

"Flying Mantis, Shadow Clone!" Zhang Ziheng had his own plans, deciding to activate Shadow Clone first to increase his evasion rate.

Gible rushed over only to find three Scythers, indistinguishable from real ones, standing in front of it.

"Gible, watch out for the shadows on the ground. The one with a real shadow is the real one."

"Roar—" Gible's eyes narrowed, and a dense, dark green dragon-type energy gathered in its hand. It swung its claw at the Scyther in the middle.

The attack hit squarely, and the mantis cried out in pain.

Zhang Ziheng was somewhat surprised by the Pokémon's reaction. How could Gible's claws have such great power?

"Use a flash to get behind him!" Without time to think further, Zhang Ziheng instinctively gave the order.

Gible is, after all, a late-blooming Pokémon in its juvenile form, so its speed is naturally not as fast as that of a Bug-type Pokémon that grows and develops extremely quickly.

"Flying Mantis, Strike Combo!"

"No need to turn around, right rear, use Scale Shot!" Considering Gible's short legs, Scyther would probably have already slashed three or four times by the time it turned around.

The combo attack has an increasing damage characteristic, with each strike hurting more than the last.

The mantis's scythe-like sharp blades slashed across the gible's dorsal fin.

At the same time, several sharp scales flew out from the side and rear of the gible, striking its opponent's face directly.

Scyther stopped attacking after two slashes, while Gible took two solid blows to its back and was also in pain.

"Gible, let's pull and create some distance!"

"Don't stop, Scyther, keep using the combo attack!"

The intense close-quarters battle between the two Pokémon kept the trainer on edge at all times.

In the end, Xia Shen reacted faster.

……

While using Scale Shot can increase speed, it has the side effect of reducing defense.

Xia Shen guessed that Zhang Ziheng would seize this opportunity and use a series of attacks to relentlessly attack the Garchomp.

"Whoosh—" The sharp scythe slashed through the air, making a terrifying sound.

It's hard to imagine what it would feel like to be hit by such an attack.

Fortunately, Gible heard Xia Shen's command and hid far away to avoid the attack.

"Gible, use Sand Spray backwards!"

"Scyther, keep using Quick Attack to get behind him!"

……

"I've been read again. Does this guy have mind-reading abilities?"

"In hindsight, Xia Shen should have observed that the flying mantis approached the enemy twice by using a lightning flash to flank from behind, so reading that was a highly probable event."

"But Sand Splatter is a Ground-type move, so it shouldn't be effective against Scyther."

"Hey, did your Pokémon battling class come from your history teacher? Sand Shot ignores type matchups and can hit Flying-type and Levitate-type Pokémon!"

"Wow, is that even a saying?"

The onlookers on the sidelines were whispering among themselves.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Sand imbued with Ground-type energy slammed into Scyther's face, blurring its vision and halting its attack.

"Gible, Dragon Claw!"

Xia Shen pressed his advantage without hesitation, giving the defeated dog a good beating.

"Flying Mantis, fly up!" Zhang Ziheng's anxious shouts echoed across the field.

The flying mantis, still cleaning the sand off its face, quickly leaped high into the air, flapping its wings and barely dodging the dragon's claw.

Zhang Ziheng breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, he had dodged it. If he had eaten it, he probably would have been cold by now.

Looking at the Scyther flying in the air, Xia Shen sighed helplessly. It's a pity that Gible hasn't evolved yet, otherwise you think you're the only one who can fly?

"Gible, use Meteor Shower to force him down. If he doesn't come down, use Meteor Shower on him; if he does come down, use Dragon Claw on him!"

Xia Shen stopped hiding his intentions and made his intentions clear: General!

The sand on the Scyther's face hadn't been completely cleaned off, and with his vision temporarily obstructed, he heard Xia Shen's voice, and the insect went numb.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Zhang Ziheng decisively conceded defeat: "I'll surrender, let's save the school some medical expenses."

"Thank you for your kind words." Xia Shen patted the head of the Gible that had returned to claim credit, bowed to Zhang Ziheng, and then took the little shark to the infirmary.

He left the onlookers with only the lonely silhouette of a master.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"You're coming to the infirmary a bit too often, aren't you? Looks like our school is about to have another belligerent individual," Teacher Lu teased, taking the Poké Ball from Xia Shen.

"Huh? Didn't you say you were going to take a few days of sick leave?" Xia Shen was a little surprised to see that it was Teacher Lu on duty again.

"Don't even mention it. The principal told me that minor injuries shouldn't keep me from the front lines, and he even gave me a raise, so I had no choice but to accept it."

Teacher Lu sighed, "There are fewer and fewer people working in the Pokémon medical field these days. Everyone's thinking about becoming a professional trainer—it's like a thousand soldiers crossing a single-plank bridge!"

Another teacher on duty nearby chimed in, "It's no wonder kids these days. With social media so popular, all they see online is a deluge of Pokémon battles."

"If I were twenty years younger and saw this kind of exhilarating video, I might be a superstar by now!"

"Old Wang, that's enough. Do you think you can beat the Elite Four with your Chansey?"

Listening to the two teachers' joking conversation, Xia Shen recalled the so-called postgraduate entrance examination craze and civil service examination craze in his previous life.

Is it like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge...?

Even so, now that we've come to this world of dreams,

Then we must work hard together with the elves to become the strongest!

(Thanks to Ghost's Black Memories for the donation, it's too much of a waste, thank you so much!)

(Please collect, invest, and follow this book daily~)

Chapter Fifteen: Young man, I'm sure you don't want this either...

"Baby bottles, bottle brushes, bath sponges, soft brushes..." Xia Shen muttered to herself as she picked out the items.

Looking at the growing number of items in the basket, Xia Shen felt as if she had forgotten to buy something important.

Xia Shen regretted not taking pictures of the things she wanted to buy earlier.

Because very few people have ever caught a Zoroar, it's really hard to find information on how to train it online.

So Xia Shen made a special trip to the school library that afternoon to borrow a book called "Key Points of Zorya Breeding".

I spent the whole afternoon studying it, but when I came to the elf shop, I seemed to have forgotten something important that was mentioned in the book.

…………

"Excuse me, could you move aside?" A pleasant female voice came from beside me.

Xia Shen realized that he had been standing there thinking for too long and was blocking other people's way.

Xia Shen smiled apologetically at the stylish and beautiful older sister and stepped aside.

The older sister walked past Xia Shen, glanced at his basket, stopped, and asked with interest, "Are you trying to raise a fire fox?"

"Fennekin?" Xia Shen was taken aback for a moment, then realized that both Fennekin and Zoroah were Reno Pokémon.

This person can tell what kind of Pokémon they want to raise just by looking at the breeding items.

Xia Shen was still marveling at her keen perception when the older sister frowned and shook her head, muttering to herself, "No, fire foxes don't like eating blackberries, which have a sweet and sour taste..."

"A coyote? A cunning little fox? Neither seems like it..."

She seemed to have entered a state of complete absorption, making her own deductions.

Xia Shen didn't want to cause trouble by exposing Zorya's affairs to outsiders.

Regardless of whether she could hear him or not, he politely said to her, "I still have things to buy, I'll be going now."