Pokémon: I picked up a reborn Eevee at the start of the game.

However, according to the known information, the dozen or so trainers who joined this project have all experienced a leap in strength in recent years.

Therefore, the competition in the youth competition has naturally become increasingly fierce in the past two years.

Naturally, this intensity also reached Kyoto University.

Data shows that the number of ranked matches this month has increased by a staggering 60 percent compared to last month.

On the afternoon of November 28th, in a battle arena.

As a powerful and forceful water cannon shot out, the Super Armored Rhino in the center of the arena, which attempted to use a rock blast to block its opponent, was swept away by the rushing water.

It then crashed down, raising clouds of dust on the battlefield.

The referee spun Rotom to its side to check, and after confirming that it was unable to fight, the score was immediately changed to 3:0 on the large screen above the battlefield.

What was subsequently rewritten was the ranking of the two opposing teams.

Xia Chen rose to nineteenth place, while Tang Chengxu fell to thirty-second place.

The match was over, but the sidelines were filled with the lively discussions of the spectators.

…………

"Another 3-0 victory over Xia Chen? That guy is just too fierce!"

"What's even more impressive is that he came back on the 25th and, in just four days, went from being ranked in the 80s to 19th, losing only two or three matches in between! Moreover, he didn't even use his last main Pokémon, Kirlia, but instead used the pseudo-legendary baby, Dracomecia."

"How do you know all this, bro? You don't have a crush on him, do you?"

"What are you talking about? I'm definitely going to gather all the information I need about my rival!"

"To be honest, I don't believe Xia Chen is so powerful without Cynthia's help behind him."

"The thought of him living with Cynthia for two months makes my teeth clench so hard, it's too much!"

"Jokes aside, Xia Chen's progress in the past two months has been truly remarkable. His Sylveon and Milotic are definitely elite-level now, and his Kirlia has most likely evolved into Gardevoir, otherwise he wouldn't have kept it hidden."

"Maybe he can actually make it into the Eastern Huang Youth Tournament? If that's the case, isn't that terrifying? He's not even eighteen yet!"

While everyone was engaged in heated discussion, Xia Chen, who was at the center of the conversation, had already retrieved Milotic and left the battlefield.

"It wasn't easy. We finally managed to get our rankings back. Thank you for your hard work, Senbu."

As they walked toward the Pokémon Center, Xia Chen praised his top generals.

"Buy~"

The fairy cloth at Xia Chen's feet casually indicated that this was nothing at all.

"Messi!"

Dorgon Mesia, perched on Xia Chen's head, reminded her trainer that he had missed praising Dorgon.

Xia Chen took him off his head and smiled encouragingly, "I know, and you too, Dorgonmesia, you did a great job too."

This isn't just empty talk; Little Dragon has fought six battles in the past few days and defeated a total of three Pokémon.

It looks weak, but to achieve such results in a competition of this intensity is quite remarkable for a nascent quasi-god.

Wait, Dorombalto doesn't seem to have any hair to begin with?

Hmm. Are you fantasizing about something fluffy again?

…………

Pulling his jumbled thoughts back, Xia Chen began to plan his battles over the past few days since his return.

Because he had been away from school for two months, Xia Chen's ranking on the ladder dropped from 39th to over 80th.

Although this doesn't affect his participation in the end-of-month selection competition while he's still on the school team, he still wants to improve his ranking and gain points.

One reason is to practice, and the second reason is that the selection competition is in mind.

Although the format of the competition is unknown, it is likely that this kind of bubble tournament rule will favor those with higher rankings.

To be on the safe side, Xia Chen decided to aim for a higher ranking.

Three and a half days, twenty-eight games, twenty-five wins and three losses.

Thus, Xia Chen, who is now ranked nineteenth, came to be.

Speaking of these three losses, he was facing players ranked in the top five.

In one of the matches, Xia Chen felt that replacing Little Dragon with Gardevoir would almost guarantee a win.

In the other match, switching to Gardevoir would most likely be fine.

But in the final match, he faced a senior player named Hu Yang, who had consistently held the top spot all year.

Even with Gardevoir, Xia Chen knew his chances of winning were slim.

However, he was not discouraged, after all, Hu Yang was the current star of Beijing University and a top contender for the semi-finals of this year's Donghuang Youth Competition.

If he can easily defeat any of the top four contenders, then this competition won't be much of a challenge for him.

Apart from Hu Yang, Xia Chen was confident that he could defeat the other members of the school team.

Besides his confidence in his strength, Gardevoir, which has never been shown to outsiders, is also one of his trump cards.

Xia Chen knew that Gardevoir existed, which most people probably already guessed. His opponents would definitely be on guard to some extent.

But knowing that it has evolved is one thing, no one knows how powerful Gardevoir is after evolving.

Xia Chen was confident that Gardevoir would give everyone a big surprise.

…………

The next day.

Before nine o'clock in the morning, the stadium of Kyoto University was already packed with people.

Because the final day is reserved for the selection matches, the monthly school team rotation competition started early today.

This is Xia Chen's second time participating in the positional change competition, but in September, he was the challenger.

This time, he sat in the defending seat for the school team.

Everyone has a different perspective, and the attitudes of the thirty players on the school team towards the positional change match were not entirely the same.

There were some slightly nervous bottom-ranked players, and others big shots who knew no one dared to challenge them and were just there to make a brief appearance.

Xia Chen, on the other hand, is somewhere in between, neither good nor bad.

It's definitely not just a formality; there are plenty of people willing to challenge for the 19th place spot.

However, a closer look at his recent record reveals that his true strength is far more than just 19th place; his actual challenge level is comparable to that of the top ten.

However, we can't say for sure. Twenty out of thirty people will be selected, and who knows, there might be a Steel-type trainer who specifically chooses to challenge me, a weak and pitiful Fairy-type trainer?

Because he was the one being challenged, Xia Chen couldn't guess or control whether any reckless people would come to challenge him. All he could do was wait for his turn to be chosen.

As the morning passed, none of the stronger challengers who had the opportunity to choose their opponents chose Xia Chen.

After all, there are plenty of easy targets, around 20 to 30 years old, and no one is foolish enough to challenge Xia Chen.

But by the afternoon, as the easier targets ranked below Xia Chen were picked off one by one, the challengers had fewer and fewer options to choose from.

Choosing Xia Chen, a freshman with a lower ranking but higher ability, or choosing a top ten student with both a high ranking and high ability, doesn't seem to be a difficult decision.

Finally, as the position-swapping challenge was about to end, the person who challenged Xia Chen appeared.

47th place, Bai Zhengqiu, a third-year student majoring in Pokémon Research, a Steel-type specializing trainer.

…………

Generally speaking, the people with a higher chance of successfully switching seats are those in the morning.

Not only are they ranked higher and stronger, but they also get priority in choosing their opponents, naturally increasing their win rate.

And in the afternoon...

A player ranked in the forties challenging a player ranked in the teens is destined to be a difficult match, even with attribute advantages.

Therefore, even before the battle began, the onlookers already had a pretty good idea of ​​what to expect.

However, this does not mean they are uninterested in the game.

After all, it was that man who was being challenged!

Although Xia Chen has been away from school for two months, her popularity and the amount of discussion on campus have not declined; on the contrary, they have been on the rise.

Initially, everyone only discussed his past achievements and talent in combat. Of course, many people who were attracted to his good looks also paid attention to Xia Chen's handsome appearance.

Things are different now.

Two months later, Xia Chen gained another identity: "Xirona's live-in partner and rumored boyfriend," which could be considered a public enemy among men.

Do you want to know who Cynthia is?

This beautiful, strong, and cool new champion of Sinnoh and the new champion of the Eight Masters has captured the hearts of countless trainers around the world since she rose to fame in the past two years.

Regardless of men and women.

And now this kind of scandal has surfaced.

Most importantly, Cynthia has never denied the rumors!

This shattered the hearts of all the Boiling Sheep fans to pieces; the goddess didn't even bother to come forward and deny the rumors, deceiving herself instead.

But why would Fei Yangyang scold Mei Yangyang?

Jealousy was naturally vented on Happy Sheep.

In no time, posts saying "Xia Gou should be killed by everyone" were flying around on the school forum.

In short, as the most well-known "villain" on the Shanghai University campus, Xia Chen's match has attracted a lot of attention.

Besides seeing how strong their rival was, some people were also secretly hoping that Xia Chen would fail and embarrass himself in the role-swapping challenge.

Although the chances are slim, what if it happens?

Amidst the intense anticipation of the crowd, Xia Chen and his challenger Bai Zhengqiu stood on the battlefield.

The schedule is tight, no nonsense.

With the referee's whistle, both players threw out their Poké Balls.

"I choose you, Magneto!"