Chapter Eighty-Six: Ralts versus Natu

The opponent in the second round was a tall, thin boy with glasses who looked quite refined.

While waiting for the match to begin, he even strolled over to make a few casual remarks to Tang Yi.

But they were all empty pleasantries with little substance, and he seemed to be trying to pry out some information. When he discovered that Tang Yi was just as sly as he was, he gave up.

The match officially began.

As the intelligence had indicated, Long Taoyi's partner was Starly: a petite girl with red wings striped in black across her back, and a little tuft of red hair standing up on her head.

Starly gave her wings a slight beat and flew into the air first, circling in the middle and lower reaches of the arena as she waited for an opening.

This was the opening tactic adopted by all elf girls with flight abilities. Tang Yi and Zhang Chen had sparred with their own Starly many times in practice, so they were not surprised.

Ralts did not, as before, keep looking up to track Starly's flight path.

Li Yaowen had repeatedly warned her that when dealing with opponents like this, those who moved at high speed, psychic-type elves must never rely only on the naked eye to follow them; otherwise, they would be led around by the nose.

But Ralts still could not quite manage to ignore a moving blur darting around in her field of vision, so she chose to close her eyes directly and sense Starly's position only through psychic power.

Long Taoyi was a little surprised, but then he lightly waved his arm. He could no longer resist launching his attack.

Starly understood at once, beating her short but powerful wings as she plunged downward at high speed. With her right hand clenched into a fist, a sharp, bird-beak-like mass of flying-type energy rapidly formed over it.

This was the most basic flying-type attack move: Peck.

"Confusion!"

Ralts suddenly opened her eyes again. With a spoon in her left hand and confusion surging from her right, the experience she had gained from battling Dovep was already making her far more capable; her reaction speed was clearly much faster now.

"Dodge!"

As the blue psychic force flew out, the diving Starly changed direction almost at the same time, making an abrupt turn of nearly ninety degrees and sweeping swiftly around to Ralts's right. The beak formed from flying-type energy struck down mercilessly.

Tang Yi's heart nearly leaped into his throat.

In her haste, Ralts barely had time to instinctively swing her left hand; the spoon she had just lifted happened to block the beak.

Clang.

Amid the clear ring of impact, Starly froze for a moment too, a little speechless.

"Now! Confusion!"

Having escaped disaster, Ralts swung out her blue psychic force once more. By now, releasing confusion in rapid succession was no longer especially difficult for her.

At such close range, even though Starly, after that moment of speechlessness, immediately tried to pull away, the distance was still too short. The instant Ralts's blue psychic force left her hand, it trapped Starly in place.

Tang Yi did not dare relax. Knowing Starly's strength, he was certain she would not simply stand there and let Ralts slowly push her out of bounds. He immediately shouted, "Push her out directly!"

If they were lucky, or if Starly reacted just a little more slowly, they should be able to win.

Ralts applied her psychic power again, pushing Starly toward the edge of the arena.

But today, luck was not on her side. Though forced by the tremendous push, Starly adjusted her posture in midair with rapid wingbeats, rolled twice in the air, and landed back on the field.

Her short wings might not allow her to fly higher or farther, but they did give her more agile control over her body than an ordinary flying-type girl.

"Well done! Starly!" Long Taoyi let out a small sigh of relief.

Starly, who attacked again, did not choose to fly into the sky. Instead, she ran straight toward Ralts. Though she could fly, her running speed was by no means slow, and she also possessed excellent leaping ability.

The instant Ralts released her confusion, Starly drove her feet into the ground and sprang lightly away. As she plunged through the air, she beat her wings and changed direction at high speed, with flying-type energy beginning to gather again.

It was still the flying-type move Peck, but this time energy began to condense over both fists.

Even if you can block one Peck with a spoon, then this time I'll strike from both sides at once. Surely you can't stop both.

Starly's agility made Ralts panic again.

"Ralts! Believe in yourself!"

The girl took a deep breath, then closed her eyes once more, calming herself as she sensed Starly's nimble evasions.

Starly found her chance and rushed in quickly; with the Peck gathered in her right hand, she attacked. Ralts, with her eyes shut, almost instinctively raised her left hand.

The spoon once again blocked the center, but Starly smiled slyly. That was only a feint. The beak condensed on her left hand stabbed fiercely toward Ralts's right shoulder.

In that instant of lightning and fire, both Tang Yi and Long Taoyi widened their eyes in tension.

The damage from this basic flying-type attack was not actually very high, but Ralts's slender body could not withstand too many close-range blows to begin with.

Starly's left-side Peck struck true. At such close range, Ralts could not evade at all. The heavy force made her stagger back two steps, her face turning somewhat pale.

Ralts bit her lip lightly, enduring the sharp pain in her shoulder. Almost at the same time, she gathered her psychic power and trapped Starly once again.

"Well done, Ralts!" Tang Yi shouted to vent the ache in his heart.

He knew very well that at a time like this, if Ralts still kept her fighting spirit high, then any worry of his own might affect the girl's mentality.

Tang Yi and Ralts were both growing, little by little.

Having already suffered a failure with confusion just moments ago, Ralts knew very well that using confusion alone to push Starly directly out of the arena was unrealistic. But she could also sense that maintaining sustained psychic control until the opponent was forced out was even more unrealistic.

That kind of pressure strategy could only work on opponents with weaker mental strength or willpower, like most of those in the first round of qualifiers. Starly was obviously not one of them.

If she wanted to end the match outright, there was only one final method left: Hypnosis.

Ralts glanced at Tang Yi outside the ring and thought of the same possibility. Though Tang Yi had not spoken yet, she felt that her trainer's thoughts must align perfectly with her own.

So she began to prepare Hypnosis.

She had not used Hypnosis or Teleport in yesterday's match; on one hand, the situation had not required them, and on the other, she had only just mastered those two moves not long ago, so she was in fact not especially proficient with them.

But if it was used on an opponent already under control, then there should be no problem, right?

Outside the arena, Tang Yi had also thought of Hypnosis at the same time. Yet when he raised his head and looked at Long Taoyi across from him, an odd feeling suddenly surged in his chest.

No. Hypnosis must never be used.