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

But now, it's too late.

To lower Jiang Pei's guard and give him no time to react, Gardevoir even allowed Excadrill's metal claws to attack it before releasing its black gaze.

Currently, Excadrill is tainted by a strange Ghost-type energy, meaning it will never be able to return to its Poké Ball before it loses its ability to battle.

Even more critically, at the same time, the sandstorms on the battlefield gradually subsided, and the sandstorm weather completely ended.

Jiang Pei was immediately thrown into turmoil.

It turned out that Xia Chen had planned ahead, intending to trap the Dragon Head Ground Rat with his black gaze when his sandstorm ended.

This means that the Hippo Beast cannot participate, which also means that the player must either fight in non-sandstorm weather or have the Excadrill manually activate a sandstorm.

Jiang Pei was having a headache because he didn't want to choose either of these two options.

First, without sandstorm weather, Excadrill's ability becomes useless, and without the speed advantage, Excadrill's threat level is greatly reduced.

The latter, in this state, involves the dragon-headed gopher manually activating a sandstorm.

It's obvious that Gardevoir will definitely be followed by a combination of hypnosis and dream-eating spells.

Jiang Pei rubbed his temples in frustration. It seemed that he could only choose the less dangerous first option.

Gardevoir has already taken damage from Excadrill's Swords Dance twice with Metal Claw, plus the damage from Stealth Rock and Sandstorm when it first came out of its Poké Ball.

Her condition is definitely no better than that of the dragon-headed gopher!

"Dragon-headed gopher, metal claws!"

…………

The sharp steel blades gleamed once more, but this time, Gardevoir deftly dodged backward, avoiding the metal claw attack that was within arm's reach.

Jiang Pei's heart sank. He hadn't used teleportation; he had dodged it with just his speed?

There may have been some element of pre-reading involved, but this scene undoubtedly means that the Dragon Mole has completely lost its speed advantage.

But that wasn't the only thing that alarmed him.

"Gardevoir, use Hypnosis!"

Over there, Xia Chen's long-absent command voice clearly reached my ears.

After dodging the metal claws, Gardevoir, using its psychic powers to fly backward, suddenly brightened its eyes and unleashed a transparent, invisible energy wave that struck Excadrill, which was attacking with all its might but neglecting its defense.

His sturdy body swayed and turned twice like a roly-poly toy, then fell to the ground and fell into a deep sleep.

It really is hypnosis!

Jiang Pei felt bitter. Just now, when I was trying to defend against hypnosis, you didn't use it. Now that I wanted to go all out and fight to the death, you had to use hypnosis at this time.

Xia Chen, you've figured out psychological warfare!

If this were a game, Jiang Pei would probably have both hands off the keyboard right now.

Commanding is useless, and it's impossible to take back control.

"Dragon Head Mole, wake up!"

After Gardevoir's stubborn Roar of Rejuvenation failed, Jiang Pei could only watch helplessly as Gardevoir used Dream Eater twice in a row, gradually draining Excadrill's last bit of health.

Looking at Gardevoir, whose stamina had been restored from danger through Dream Eater, Jiang Pei recalled Excadrill, which had lost its ability to battle, with a heavy heart.

He knew he had no chance in this match.

With their key player down and Hippo in terrible form, is it possible to turn the tide against Xia Chen, who is in relatively good condition, by relying on a blind-covering Alakazam?

Hope is too slim.

Even so, Jiang Pei could only switch to Hu Di and hope for a miracle.

After all, if he loses this match, he will fall into the loser's bracket and have to compete for one of the few dozen main tournament spots.

If they fail again in the loser's bracket, and the inheritors of the prestigious Huangsha Dojo can't even make it into the main competition of the Youth Tournament, they'll lose face big time.

…………

Backfired.

Hudi's entry into the game failed to create a miracle and turn the tide of the game.

Even after a difficult defeat of the heavily depleted Gardevoir, Alakazam immediately collapsed in Sylveon's hands.

The last hippopotamus was no exception; with a steady roar following the high-speed star, Sylveon's number of defeats in this tournament increased by one.

Thus, Xia Chen narrowly defeated Jiang Pei, the inheritor of the Huangsha Dojo, and advanced to the main competition of this year's National Youth Trainer Competition.

After the battle, Xia Chen led the Pokémon to the Pokémon Center at the Blazing Arena.

This match was different from the relaxed and carefree first two days. Milotic was seriously injured, Gardevoir fought to the very end, and only Sylveon was still alive and kicking.

After handing the two badly injured Pokémon to Nurse Joy, Xia Chen cleaned the dust off Sylveon's fur while silently summarizing his thoughts on the match.

Jiang Pei's strength is roughly between that of Hu Yang and Yin Yuan, so winning this match was not easy.

Although it seemed like he was completely dominating, one important reason was that Jiang Pei wasn't familiar with him.

Conversely, Xia Chen, who had information about his opponent provided by the "Shanghai University Think Tank," was able to gain a relatively clear understanding and knowledge of Jiang Pei before the battle.

In subsequent matches, this information gap is unlikely to occur.

In this battle, Xia Chen's fighting style and the characteristics of his three Pokémon were completely exposed. Future opponents only need to study this match.

It can be said that the real battle begins when it comes to pure tactics and strength.

Moreover, based on past trends, the further the competition progresses, the more trainers like Jiang Pei will become proficient in certain tactics and strategies.

They are often the inheritors of dojos or training centers, and their strength should not be underestimated.

The opponents I faced today, Jiang Pei and Wang Ding from Bingzhen Dojo, are not the strongest. According to the information provided by the school, Lu Weiyu, the successor of Yunze Dojo, is the biggest favorite to win this competition.

It's quite a coincidence that, like Xia Chen, she is also from Zhijiang.

However, Xia Chen has not yet challenged the local Yunze Dojo, so the two have no prior experience fighting each other.

If you want to win the championship, Lu Weiyu is a formidable opponent that you have to face.

Xia Chen pondered the information and materials sent from the school.

A rain team centered around Swampert?

…………

"The next match is a bit special because one of the contestants is a traveling trainer from the Kanto region named Red. He is also the only contestant from outside the region participating in this tournament. In the first two matches, he only used two Pokémon, Pikachu and Poliwag, demonstrating his extraordinary strength."

The familiar name coming from the television hanging on the wall interrupted Xia Chen's thoughts.

Is Crimson about to start his match?

He turned to look at the TV and saw the familiar figure in the red and white training uniform standing quietly by the battlefield, with a yellow rat perched on its shoulder that looked eager to jump in.

There were many matches in the past two days, and Xia Chen left in a hurry, so he didn't get to watch Crimson's matches. Today he has the opportunity to see just how strong Crimson really is now.

Holding Fairy Cloth on his lap and continuing to groom her, Xia Chen looked up to watch the live broadcast of Group A's match.

Crimson's opponent was a student from Huangdong University. Judging from his background, his strength was probably inferior to that of the apprentices from those dojos and training centers.

But Huangdong University is still one of the top three universities in the entire Donghuang, so it is enough to serve as a touchstone for Chihong.

Xia Chen originally thought so, but in fact, Crimson still ended the match without sending out his third Pokémon.

Actually, the opponent's strength is not weak, but when facing Pikachu who hasn't even started playing yet, the gap is quite large.

Pikachu carried the team throughout, and Poliwag is a completely different player compared to a year ago. In just over five minutes, Crimson easily won the main tournament ticket with a score of 3-0.

"As expected of him."

Xia Chen sighed softly, casually crumpling the fabric fibers pulled from the comb into a ball and playing with it in his hand.

"Buyi!"

Fairy Cloth didn't have much to say about Crimson's growth, but she was very unhappy about Xia Chen playing with her fur. She stretched out her silk and snatched the fur ball that had just left her body back.

Xia Chen ignored her and continued to think about the crimson matter.

That Poliwag is alright; it doesn't seem to have reached the elite level yet. Although its growth rate is frighteningly fast compared to ordinary Pokémon, it's still not enough compared to Sylveon and the others.

However, that Pikachu's strength was a bit outrageous. Xia Chen didn't dare to make any rash judgments about Pikachu, and could only say that he really couldn't figure it out.

Aside from the two known Pokémon, the identity of Crimson's final main Pokémon remains a mystery.

Snorlax? Venusaur? Or Charizard?

The answer to this question may only be revealed when he encounters a more powerful opponent.

…………

After the intense battle, Xia Chen didn't pay much attention to the remaining matches.

Instead of wasting this time, why not spend some last-minute time cramming with the elves to improve yourself?

So, after the preliminary rounds were completely over, Xia Chen learned that three of the ten students from Beijing University who had come with him had already been eliminated.

A 70% promotion rate is an astronomical figure that other schools can only dream of, but for Kyoto University, it can only be considered barely satisfactory.

The three eliminated contestants had no desire to stay in Funan any longer. As soon as the preliminary rounds ended, they took a plane back to Beijing overnight.

Although elimination may not be due to a lack of ability, but rather bad luck in the draw, young people of this age are very concerned about their image.

We all come from the same school. If you advance to the next round and I'm cheering you on from the sidelines, who can stand that?

Xia Chen ignored everyone else; he was studying his upcoming schedule.

From the very first match of the main tournament, the entire competition adopted a standard single-elimination format.

That is, a tournament format that divides the competition into upper and lower halves, allowing participants to clearly map their path to the next round using a bracket chart.

Similar to the final round of the winners' bracket, Xia Chen was in the lower half of the bracket, while Hu Yang and Chi Hong were in the upper half.

So unless it's the finals, I probably won't have the chance to play against them in this tournament.

The bad news is that the two favorites to win the championship, Lu Weiyu and Bai Mu, are both in the same half of the competition.

Fortunately, judging from the match schedule, Xia Chen won't encounter them too early, leaving himself, or rather, Zorua, some time to evolve.

Hopefully, the little fox will evolve soon.

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