Cyndaquil’s back suddenly erupted with bzing fmes, like a burst of fireworks.

  This was Cyndaquil’s unique battle state. Su Wen’s heart tightened as he focused on Cyndaquil’s movements, trying to predict its next move.

  "Quick Attack!"

  In the next moment, Wu Yan revealed that the fmes on Cyndaquil’s back were just a distraction. After closing the distance with ?Quick Attack, Cyndaquil unleashed a burst of fmes from its mouth.

  Caught off guard, Charmander instinctively crossed its cws in front of its face to block the attack.

  "Use ?Scratch," Su Wen commanded, feeling a surge of excitement rather than panic.

  Su Wen knew that, without being able to use ?Ember, ?Scratch was one of the few moves Charmander could use to deal damage to Cyndaquil.

  However, nding a hit on Cyndaquil, which had ?Quick Attack, was as difficult as convincing Zhou Wan to wear a gown and dance a waltz with Su Wen.

  Moreover, the effectiveness of ?Ember was significantly reduced against another Fire-type like Charmander. Combined with the fact that Charmander was constantly surrounded by dense Fire-type energy, the damage from ?Ember was much lower than Wu Yan had anticipated.

  Now that Cyndaquil had closed the distance, Su Wen had no reason not to take advantage of the situation.

  But Wu Yan was no rookie trainer. Seeing Charmander’s cws gleam with readiness, he immediately ordered, "Use ?Fury Swipes!"

  Charmander’s cws and Cyndaquil’s paws cshed in an instant, producing a grating, metallic screech.

  "Is that an inherited move?" Su Wen wondered, unsure if it was an inherited move or a TM.

  Thanks to a week of training with Zhou Wan, Charmander’s ?Scratch had taken on a more polished form. However, Cyndaquil’s reactions were even sharper and more precise.

  Fury Swipes was a continuous move with an extremely fast attack speed. Combined with Cyndaquil’s superior experience, Charmander would’ve been left wide open if not for Su Wen’s timely interventions.

  "Left! Above!"

  Su Wen accurately predicted Cyndaquil’s attacks, and with his guidance, Charmander narrowly managed to block each strike.

  Wu Yan suddenly spoke up, offering praise. "Not bad. Is this your first battle?"

  Su Wen ignored Wu Yan’s question. Charmander was walking a tightrope—if it missed even one block, the entire defense could colpse.

  Seeing Su Wen’s silence, Wu Yan wasn’t offended. He continued as if talking to himself, "Too bad. While you can keep up with Cyndaquil’s attacks, Charmander is starting to fall behind."

  Su Wen’s eyes were beginning to feel dry. He knew Wu Yan was right. There was a dey between his commands and Charmander’s reactions, and Charmander was struggling to keep up.

  Under Cyndaquil’s relentless assault, Charmander was becoming increasingly overwhelmed. It was only a matter of time before it was defeated.

  But Su Wen didn’t give up. He and Charmander continued to hold on, enduring the pressure.

  Then, in the next moment, Su Wen noticed a slight hesitation in Cyndaquil’s attacks.

  "Don’t hold back! Use ?Dragon Cw!"

  Su Wen understood that even a continuous move like ?Fury Swipes had an end point. Although he hadn’t expected Cyndaquil’s ?Fury Swipes to st this long, now was the time to counterattack.

  A true ?Dragon Cw should use Dragon-type energy as the foundation, with the Pokémon’s cws as the base, transforming the energy into a tangible, indestructible cw.

  Despite a month of training, Charmander hadn’t reached that level yet.

  But Su Wen found a workaround. Instead of extending the Dragon-type energy, he simply coated Charmander’s cws with it. Though it only extended a few centimeters, the power it contained far surpassed that of ?Scratch.

  Wu Yan hadn’t expected Su Wen to have this trick up his sleeve. "Get back!"

  But just as Charmander struggled to keep up with Su Wen’s commands, Cyndaquil couldn’t fully follow Wu Yan’s orders either. It had no choice but to block with its left paw.

  As expected, with a pained cry, Cyndaquil’s block was easily shattered, and it took the full brunt of the attack. However, after taking the hit, Cyndaquil quickly retreated.

  The damage from ?Dragon Cw didn’t meet Su Wen’s expectations. In his mind, that attack should’ve left Cyndaquil half-dead.

  Cyndaquil’s left paw was twitching from the blow, and three distinct cw marks were visible on its body, causing it to stagger as if it had drunk too much. But the fmes on its back burned even brighter, signaling its growing determination.

  "Seriously?" Su Wen was shocked but remained calm. "Charmander, keep going! Don’t give it a chance to recover."

  Wu Yan, however, no longer underestimated Su Wen. "Use ?Fme Wheel!"

  With a cry, Cyndaquil leaped into the air, curling into a ball and spinning rapidly. The fmes on its back created the illusion of a fiery wheel enveloping its body.

  Charmander, attempting to press its advantage, couldn’t dodge in time and was sent flying by ?Fme Wheel, crashing into the protective barrier in front of Su Wen.

  Cyndaquil moved in to finish with ?Fury Swipes, but Su Wen stepped through the barrier and picked up Charmander.

  "No need to continue. I concede."

  The damage from that attack wasn’t too severe, but Su Wen knew there was no point in continuing this one-sided battle.

  Although his Aura hadn’t been able to gauge Cyndaquil’s exact strength, the ?Fme Wheel alone suggested it was nearing the peak of the Amateur level.

  Normally, Cyndaquil would evolve into Quiva by the mid-Amateur level unless it was holding an Everstone.

  Even though Charmander’s foundation was solid, Su Wen knew better than to think it could match a Pokémon close to the Advanced level.

  Rather than let Charmander suffer more damage, conceding was the best choice.

  At this point, Su Wen didn’t care whether Wu Yan had really only started training Cyndaquil st week. He comforted the slightly aggrieved Charmander and decided to take it to the school’s medical room for treatment.

  Su Wen had some healing spray on him, but the medical room was equipped with Chansey and professional Pokémon doctors. He wanted a thorough checkup.

  "Don’t leave yet. You haven’t cimed your prize," Wu Yan called out after praising Cyndaquil, noticing Su Wen was already at the door without even a goodbye.

  Su Wen turned around, a polite smile on his face. "Teacher Wu, I conceded."

  Wu Yan waved his hand. "I lost. I did start training this Cyndaquil st week, but a friend had been raising it for half a year before that. You’ve only had Charmander for less than a month. The moment I let Cyndaquil use its full strength, I lost. I just wanted to test your limits."

  Su Wen stroked Charmander’s back. "A loss is a loss. If you feel bad about it, keep the Muscle Wing for now. You can give it to me when Charmander defeats Cyndaquil."

  With that, Su Wen checked the time. It was almost 1 PM, and if he didn’t hurry, Charmander might miss the afternoon css.

  Without another word to Wu Yan, Su Wen carried Charmander and asked the staff for directions to the medical room.

  At the entrance, Old Man Niu, lounging in a rocking chair and zily fanning himself, watched Su Wen rush off while Wu Yan followed at a leisurely pace.

  "Did you teach him a lesson?" Old Man Niu asked, eyes closed.

  Wu Yan sighed. "I was the one who got taught."

  "What?" Old Man Niu’s eyes snapped open, and he stopped rocking. "You lost?"

  "Not exactly," Wu Yan said, sitting on a small stool next to Old Man Niu and downing a gss of water. "I wanted to show Su Wen that there’s always someone better, but he surprised me. I almost lost."

  He gnced in the direction Su Wen had left and smiled. "But I guess the goal was achieved anyway."

  Old Man Niu closed his eyes again and resumed rocking. "Be careful next time. Don’t really fall into the river. I can’t afford the embarrassment."

  "Right, right. Your advice is always spot on."