-086- Double Battle (3/3)

During lunch, Jiang Tao forbade Tong Si from talking about the morning exam.

Tong Si was a little too showy, and Jiang Tao could hardly stand it.

After all, he was nothing more than a mediocre student; even getting into Jiahua University had been thanks to his family pulling strings.

Tong Si also learned that Jiang Tao’s major was actually Water Class, the single-attribute branch of Elemental Spirits.

That was only because the Jiang family chiefly specialized in Water-type spirits.

After lunch, Jiang Tao challenged Tong Si to a battle.

Come to think of it, the two of them had never truly faced each other in an actual spirit duel.

Their last encounter had been in the chaos round of the Newcomer King Tournament at the Gilded Sun Club.

Tong Si’s Elekid had casually beaten Jiang Tao’s Slowpoke.

“Tong Si, I’ve been to Jiahua University’s battle hall. The facilities inside are excellent,” Jiang Tao said as they walked, introducing the place to him.

Tong Si nodded repeatedly. He had only passed by once, but even through the windows, the battle equipment inside looked genuinely impressive.

When they arrived at the battle hall, Tong Si and Jiang Tao had originally planned to hold a two-on-two spirit battle there.

Unfortunately, every single battlefield inside was already occupied.

“Looks like we’re too late,” Tong Si said, feeling a little regretful.

So many battlefields, and every one of them was taken.

“I never expected them to be so eager,” Jiang Tao muttered, half in disbelief.

It had only been lunchtime, yet the battle hall was already packed.

The two then headed outside together.

The rock-training area, on the other hand, had few students.

“Let’s battle over there.”

“Okay.”

With that, Tong Si and Jiang Tao made their way to the rock-training grounds.

Most of the trainers here were those with Rock-type or Fighting-type spirits.

After lunch, they were all undergoing special training here.

Preparing for the afternoon’s practical exam.

It was worth noting that the written exam that morning had been held uniformly across the whole school, though each department had a different paper.

The afternoon practical exam would also be held in the battle hall.

Of course, each department would be kept separate.

“Tong Si, how about we try a two-on-two tag battle?”

Jiang Tao suddenly had a thought.

Mostly because back in the battle hall, he had seen a tag battle taking place on one of the fields, which instantly stirred his battle enthusiasm.

“Sure.”

Tong Si did not mind in the least. In fact, he had been thinking about tag battles himself.

“Come out, Slowpoke, Beedrill!”

“Yadon~”

“Hiss-bee!”

Jiang Tao sent out his two spirits first.

A level nineteen Slowpoke and a level eighteen Beedrill.

Seeing this, Tong Si did not send out Elekid to bully Jiang Tao. Instead, he used the combination of Eevee and Shuckle.

“Shuckle? So this is the third spirit you caught? And it’s green too!”

Jiang Tao was a little surprised.

After leaving Verdant Grove Forest, although the two had not met in person, they had kept in contact.

Tong Si had told Jiang Tao that he had successfully captured his third spirit in Verdant Grove Forest.

As for what kind of spirit it was, he refused to say.

This was Jiang Tao’s first time seeing Tong Si’s third spirit, and he could not help finding it astonishing.

“Yeah. Its fighting power is not low, so be careful!”

As Tong Si spoke, he launched the first attack.

Eevee rushed toward Slowpoke, and a burst of electricity caught Jiang Tao completely off guard.

But Jiang Tao reacted at once.

He had Slowpoke use telekinesis to block Eevee’s electric attack.

At the same time, he ordered Beedrill to use Twin Needle.

When Eevee saw its electric move fail, it immediately used Dig to evade.

The situation suddenly turned into Shuckle facing two opponents alone.

“Bazi...”

Shuckle’s eyes tightened. It simply withdrew into its shell and did nothing at all.

Beedrill’s Twin Needle stabbed against Shuckle’s spiked helmet.

Its attack failed to do any damage to the absurdly durable Shuckle, and the spiked helmet even rebounded the force twice, leaving Beedrill somewhat drained.

Just then, Eevee emerged from underground and slammed into Slowpoke.

Slowpoke still looked blankly dazed, while Eevee followed up with another burst of electricity, leaving Slowpoke’s head buzzing.

“No way? That works too?”

Jiang Tao scratched his head, still hung up on how obnoxious the spiked helmet’s recoil damage was.

But here, Slowpoke had actually been electrocuted by Eevee?

“Tong Si, why does your Eevee know Electric-type moves?”

Jiang Tao was baffled.

Even the worst student would know that Eevee was a Normal-type spirit.

If it were Jolteon, learning electricity would make perfect sense, but Eevee learning it was a bit...

“Of course it’s talent plus effort!”

Tong Si said something he did not even believe himself.

Effort?

That word and Eevee seemed as unrelated as could be.

“Damn it! Beedrill, use Fury Attack on Eevee!”

Seeing that his attacks on Shuckle had no effect, he had no choice but to switch targets.

“Eevee, Dig again!”

“Bui!”

At Tong Si’s command, Eevee burrowed back into the ground.

Although this battlefield was in a rocky area, Eevee used Dig with such ease that it was like a fish in water.

This gave Tong Si a new appreciation for Eevee’s ability to burrow.

And Jiang Tao’s Slowpoke, having lost Eevee’s shove, also lost its balance and dropped swiftly from the air.

Bang!

Slowpoke hit the ground hard, right where Eevee had been moments before.

“Hiss-bee?”

By then, Beedrill had already flown to Slowpoke’s front, and its Fury Attack had begun. There was no stopping it now!

Muda, muda, muda...

The fierce barrage of stabs landed directly on Slowpoke’s body.

Countless needle marks appeared instantly on Slowpoke’s back.

“Yadon!”

Even someone as sluggish as Slowpoke could only endure so much when attacked like that by its own tag partner.

Slowpoke directly used telekinesis on Beedrill.

Then the two spirits began fighting each other.

Tong Si and Jiang Tao were both stunned.

This was their first tag battle, and they had never expected something like this to happen.

“Slowpoke, Beedrill, stop fighting!”

Jiang Tao hurried to intervene, but the two spirits only fought more fiercely and could not be stopped.

“Eevee, use Electric Shock!”

Seeing them locked in a brawl, Tong Si had no choice but to let Eevee stop them.

“Bui!”

Eevee unleashed a powerful electric shock, instantly numbing both spirits, and only then did they cease their internal fight.

“I think we should call it here for today, Jiang Tao. Your two spirits don’t seem to get along very well?”

Tong Si walked over to Jiang Tao.

In a tag battle, coordination between the two spirits is what matters.

Even if Eevee and Shuckle did not have much coordination, at least they would not fight each other.

Back when Eevee was still a Leafon, it had already formed a bond of green juice with Shuckle.

After that, through this period of living together, the two spirits had only strengthened that bond.

The two of them often went off together to steal tree fruits to eat.

...To be continued.