Chapter Eighty-Nine: Help me up; I can still stand again.

The Poison-type Nidoran was strongly checked by Psychic-types. After learning what kind of opponent he was facing, Tang Yi could finally breathe a little easier, though he did not let up on training.

Li Yaowen also offered the three of them timely advice. With only a few days left, it was basically impossible to make broad, all-around progress, and there was simply no time for that. Better to focus on specialized skill training instead.

Following Coach Li Yaowen's suggestion, Tang Yi chose Instant Teleport as the area of improvement for Ralts.

Compared with a control move like Hypnosis, Tang Yi still wanted Ralts to have more means of self-protection.

In the past two days, during the usual review and reflection sessions, Ralts herself had admitted that when faced with a Hoothoot breaking in at high speed, she had actually not had time to teleport away.

The reason she had been able to teleport successfully during the final attack was that Tang Yi had already discussed the tactic with her beforehand.

He knew in advance that Long Taoyi's Hoothoot could Teleport, and once the earlier plan failed, the opponent would inevitably use Teleport to attack.

So he had told Ralts to prepare for teleportation ahead of time. Only then had she barely managed to move away at the critical moment. But such perfect timing could happen once, not twice.

There were still many issues with Ralts's teleportation.

When releasing psychic power to lock on, it took about three seconds. At that point, it could hardly still be called instant teleportation, and an opening could easily be seized.

There was also the distance. For now, it could only be reliably done within a few meters; beyond that, success became difficult.

Of course, compared with when she had first begun learning it, there had been progress.

Now, after each teleport, Ralts could basically ensure that she landed safely on her feet instead of suddenly missing a step and falling flat on her face.

The way to improve proficiency was simple enough: use it repeatedly.

Tang Yi had even once considered taking Ralts to school by teleporting all the way there without pause, but the rule forbidding the use of skills on public streets had put an end to that idea.

It was hardly possible to train all day and then spend the night sleeping at the police station.

So after discussing it with Coach Li Yaowen, Tang Yi came up with another plan: an obstacle teleportation run.

Every day, the school still gave the three students separate training time. Before elimination, this was their privilege, and also a fixed tradition of the annual college entrance selection tournament.

Tang Yi specifically borrowed some fence sections from the school, and this small request was granted at once.

Then, along the track around the playground, he placed a fence section every so often. For the next few days of training, Tang Yi only had one task: to strictly supervise Ralts as she completed the obstacle teleportation run.

After winning two matches in a row, Ralts was now highly motivated. Though she felt Tang Yi was deliberately making things difficult for her, the thought of the first-place group bonus filled her with instant energy.

The first obstacle teleportation run required only fifty meters, and Tang Yi imposed no restrictions at all. Each time, Ralts had plenty of time to calmly use her psychic power to sense and lock on, then leap and teleport.

Each teleport covered roughly four to five meters, which just happened to match the spacing Tang Yi had set between each fence. After about ten teleports, she completed Tang Yi's requirement.

Tang Yi recorded the time on his phone from the sidelines: thirty-five seconds.

He could only shake his head helplessly. It looked slower than walking, but the main reason was that Ralts was taking too long between each teleport.

"All right, today's main goal is to get that down to thirty seconds," Tang Yi said. He had originally wanted to say twenty-five, even twenty seconds.

But he had taken Coach Li Yaowen's advice to heart: at the beginning, it was best not to compress the time too much, because teleportation was truly a highly draining skill.

After that came repeated teleportation drills.

On the second lap, Ralts slightly shortened the intervals between each teleport, and the total time immediately dropped to thirty-one seconds.

A trace of pride appeared on the girl's face, as if to say that it wasn't all that hard after all.

So before the third lap began, Tang Yi quietly adjusted the spacing of the fences. They were no longer fixed at four to five meters; some gaps were reduced to just over three meters, while others were extended to six.

Ralts fell for it as expected.

On the third lap, Ralts continued shortening the interval after each teleport as Tang Yi had instructed. But after doing it twice in a row, her subconscious had gradually become accustomed to the spacing between the fences.

This time, she instinctively teleported according to the previous interval, and after the teleport was complete, she ran straight into a fence that had already been adjusted.

Ralts staggered, her balance lost, and fell along with the fence.

Though he had foreseen it, Tang Yi still rushed over in a single stride, crouched down beside the track, and carefully lifted the hem of Ralts's white skirt. Sure enough, a patch of scraped, reddened skin was revealed.

Ralts pressed her lips together, feeling wronged. Only then did she realize that the fence spacing had been quietly adjusted. This guy had clearly done it on purpose!

"Don't bother with me!" The girl endured the pain and turned her head away stubbornly, refusing to look at Tang Yi.

"Don't move!" Tang Yi said, both stern and pained, glaring at her.

He then took a bottle of wound spray from his backpack and sprayed the scraped area twice. There was still plenty of the spray they had brought back from the match, so it was just right to use now.

When he looked up again, he saw that the girl's eyes were a little red, and she still refused to speak to him.

Tang Yi sighed and shook his head. "All right, I understand. Let's end today's training here."

Ralts froze, not quite believing it. Just moments ago, he had been finding all sorts of ways to torment her, and now he was suddenly changing his tune?

A look of concern appeared on Tang Yi's face. "Not just today. Tomorrow's training is canceled too. I was too impatient. You've only just learned instant teleportation not long ago. How could I push you like this? Seeing you hurt makes me ache, too."

"Ah, this..." Ralts hesitated, at a loss. She had indeed felt wronged just now, and had meant to take the opportunity to get Tang Yi to reduce the training load, but hearing that all training was to be canceled at once, she suddenly did not know what to say.

Tang Yi tilted his head slightly, gazing at the sky, and sighed to himself with regret. "I hear the city has added extra prize money to this year's group stage. The scholarship for first place is thirty thousand yuan. Ah, forget it. How could I value money so highly? Ralts should be the first place in my heart, too."

Ralts shuddered all over. "Eh? Thirty thousand? Weren't they always twenty thousand before?"

Tang Yi nodded earnestly. "No need for me to lie to you. The notice was just posted on the Ministry of Education's website a few days ago. But forget it. Look at you now, you can barely stand. Don't force yourself."

As for why he had waited until today to mention an announcement from several days ago, that was anyone's guess.

But Ralts's eyes were already shining with brilliance. She reached out to support herself on Tang Yi's arm and struggled to get back to her feet on the track.

"Quick, quick, help me up! I can still stand again!"