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

"I've watched several of Xia Chen's matches—no, I mean, I've seen several of his games. He's amazing, especially the one where he froze the field with Water Spray and Ice Beam. It was incredibly skillful. I think he has a real talent for being an Ice-type trainer. He could at least try training an Ice-type Pokémon. Frostmountain has a rich variety of Ice-type Pokémon, and Whaleon is also very cute. If there's a chance..."

"Ahem." The female commentator gently interrupted the suddenly talkative Guruxia, "So what do you think of player Wang Ding?"

After a two-second silence, Gurusha said, "Not bad."

After waiting for several seconds with no further development, the female commentator asked blankly, "That's it?"

"Hmm, I think Xia Chen could consider training a pseudo-legendary Pokémon unique to our Padia region, the Styracosaurus. It's a physical attacker that Xia Chen lacks, and it has a wide range of coverage."

The female commentator sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation. Wasn't this differential treatment a bit too much?

The viewers in the live chat were laughing hysterically.

"Haha, Master Pigeon's charisma has turned the iceberg into a chatterbox!"

Wang Ding: Aren't we both Ice-type trainers? All you can say in your review is "not bad"?

"Case solved! Gurusha is also a Bean Pigeon!"

"Fun fact: Gurusha's Pixiv account has a level 28 'Cooco Pigeon' badge."

"The first thing he said was a video of contestant Xia Chen. He's a seasoned fan of pigeons."

Amidst the playful chatter in the live stream, the camera switched to the battlefield, with Gurusha's holographic projection displayed in the upper right corner.

All the spectators knew that this meant the match was about to begin.

Shortly after, the referee blew his whistle, and the match officially began.

"The battle begins, and both sides send out their first Pokémon. As expected, Wang Ding's team sent out an Ice Ninetales with the [Snowfall] ability. Activating the Aurora Veil after a snowfall is a tactic that Wang Ding usually uses. And now, it has started snowing above the battlefield."

Gurusha chimed in, "Xia Chen has sent out Milotic. Is he trying to steal the weather? Xia Chen's Milotic has a very fast attack speed. He might be able to cast Rain Dance before Aurora Veil is fully cast, thus changing the weather to rain and preventing the very troublesome Aurora Veil from being cast. Is that his idea?"

I'm recommending a Prince of Tennis novel, which is relatively rare on Qidian.com. Those interested can check it out.

Chapter 227 Who's going to steal your weather? ( )

Chapter 227 Who's going to steal your weather? (7.6k views)

"Wow, Professor Gu's judgment was so accurate. Milotic's first action after appearing was indeed to cast a rain spell. However, can his rain spell be faster than the Ice Nine-Tails' extremely skillful use of the Aurora Veil?"

In the studio, the female commentator in white stockings looked at Milotic, who immediately cast Rain Dance as soon as she entered the arena, with an expression of amazement.

Grusha, appearing in the live stream as a holographic projection, nodded slightly and replied, "It should be fine. I have a lot of confidence in Milotic's attack speed. Also, could you please not call me Teacher Grusha? My surname isn't Grusha."

The female commentator, whose mistake had been corrected, stuck out her tongue cutely and apologized, "Sorry, sorry, Guru was right again. Before Ice Nine-Tails could release its aurora curtain, the rain covered the ice and snow that hadn't been there for long. Xia Chen used the most direct method to cut off Ice Nine-Tails' chance to release its aurora curtain. So, next, it should be a battle of weather between the two sides."

Gurusha looked helpless and said, "No, Wang Ding might think that way, but Xia Chen definitely won't. Milotic will most likely take advantage of the rain and spray water directly at us, or at least use Whirlwind Dance. Also, I'm not surnamed Guru. Oh well, whatever."

"It really is water spray! Although Ice Ninetales isn't weak to water, in the rain, Milotic at full strength still unleashes a water spray that's incredibly powerful. Ice Ninetales's in trouble now! Goru-sensei, this isn't just commentary, it's practically a prophecy!"

Gurusha explained, "It's not a prophecy. I just know Xia Chen well enough. His thinking is simple: in the rain, if Ninetales wants to activate Aurora Veil, it will need to use two moves in succession. So what's the difference between that and directly activating Reflect and Light Screen? In fact, considering the weather-type move [Snowy], it will take even longer. Moreover, Xia Chen's three main Pokémon are all special attackers. Aurora Veil serves the same purpose as Light Screen, so what's the point of stopping her from activating it?"

"It seems Xia Chen has studied Wang Ding very thoroughly, while Wang Ding seems somewhat inflexible. Now that Xue Tian has been released, Teacher Gulu, do you think he will still allow Ice Nine-Tailed Fox to continue using the Aurora Curtain?"

Gurusha pondered for a moment and said, "It's highly likely. Given the sunk cost, a normal person would think, 'We've already turned on the snow screen, it would be a waste not to turn it on now.' As for Xia Chen, although the rain screen is gone, he can still make Milotic continue to spout water. If he... well, you know, asks for rain again, Wang Ding's mentality should collapse."

"Haha, I understand what you mean. Let's look at the scene. Wow, it really is a rainmaking ritual. Xia Chen is playing too badly. The director is also bad, turning the camera on Wang Ding right now. His face is very red. I don't know if it's from the high altitude or from being angry."

Gurusha shook his head slightly. "Getting angry is the most useless thing in Pokémon battles. If he were more rational, he could fight Milotic in the rain without any problem. Anyway, the physical defense boost that snow provides to Ice-type Pokémon won't do much in this battle. It would just waste Ursaring's [Snowplow] ability."

"Teacher Gulu's analysis makes a lot of sense, but we're not the ones fighting on the field. Let's see what Wang Ding will choose. Stop! Wang Ding didn't let Ice Nine-Tailed Fox continue using Snowy Weather; he switched to Daruma Baboon!"

Gurusha pondered, "It's not a wise choice. Wang Ding must have figured it out. A Galarian Darmanitan with high physical attack is the most suitable for fighting Milotic. However, it is resistant to ice with water-type moves, so signature moves like Ice Spike can't be used. Let's see if Darmanitan has any other moves we can use. Also, Darmanitan's ability is very important in terms of how we play it."

"Ah, this Daruma's ability is [Daruma Mode]. To those unfamiliar with this Pokémon, this ability allows Daruma to transform into Daruma Mode when its HP drops to about half, changing its type to both Ice and Fire, and significantly increasing its Attack and Speed."

During the commentary, Xia Chen had already launched an attack while his opponent was switching Pokémon.

"Before the Daruma even moved, Milotic attacked first, spraying water like it's raining! Wow, Wang Ding is so tough to beat. But thankfully, Daruma Mode hasn't been activated, which means his stamina is still relatively good. The most important thing now is to wear down Milotic's condition, otherwise, who can stand being sprayed water like that?"

Seeing the white light shining on the arm of the Darmo baboon on the field, Gurusha pondered, "The Darmo baboon has made its move. Is it the arm hammer? It seems that Wang Ding is going to gamble everything."

…………

On the battlefield, Wang Ding, who had been led by the nose by Xia Chen, finally began to fight back, and the female commentator's voice unconsciously rose.

"Daruma charged forward with a powerful punch, his speed was fast, and the Arm Hammer hit! Judging from Milotic's reaction, the damage was considerable, but the problem is, the Arm Hammer move has the side effect of reducing its own speed. Even in this situation, it still slows down. What do you think, Mr. Gollum?"

Gurusha chimed in, "This speed is nothing. The Daruma baboon can activate Daruma Mode soon, and the lost speed can be made up for. It's better than using brute force to reduce attack power. After the initial setback, Wang Ding has become more and more composed, while Milotic's response was hot water. Is Xia Chen trying to gamble on a burn effect?"

"Hot water hit Darmanitan head-on, but unfortunately, it didn't inflict a burn. Instead, it triggered Darmanitan's Darman Mode. Xia Chen is in trouble now! Just as Teacher Gulu said, after Darmanitan transforms, its speed increases instead of decreasing. With its long arms supporting it on the ground, it leaps a lot with each move. After two jumps, Darmanitan has already circled behind Milotic. It's going to use brute force! Milotic isn't backing down at all. Before it can even turn around, it immediately uses Surf to respond! Teacher Gulu, would it be better if Xia Chen switched Pokémon in this situation?"

Gurusha smiled faintly. "No, Xia Chen's choice is the optimal solution. Only Milotic can benefit from the rain buff in the entire team. Most importantly, only Milotic can win the weather battle. If Xia Chen changes his Pokémon, Wang Ding will definitely switch to Ninetales and change the weather to snow to reorganize. At that time, it will be too late for Xia Chen to switch to Milotic to cast Rain Dance."

Having said too much in one breath, Gurusha paused for a moment before continuing, "Instead of that, why not take advantage of the rain to defeat the opponent's core damage dealer, Daruma, directly?" Wang Ding thought so too. If Daruma could defeat Milotic without falling, the situation could be reversed. But Wang Ding seemed to have overlooked an important issue: Daruma in Daruma Mode is a dual-attribute of ice and fire, which is countered by water.

"I see, as expected of Teacher Gulu, your analysis is so insightful. Let's turn our attention back to the field. Darmanitan is still fighting desperately, using brute force again, while Milotic has locked down Surf in a strong response. These two Pokémon are going crazy!"

"The fierce battle to the death has finally ended. Darmanitan has fallen, and Milotic, with the help of type advantage and the rain, has firmly defeated Wang Ding's ace Pokémon, Darmanitan. So, will the battle situation develop as Gulu-sensei predicted?"

…………

The answer is yes.

The fact that Daruma fell while Milotic remained on the field means that Xia Chen still held the initiative in the weather.

As expected, the Ice Nine-Tails returned to the field, and the weather changed from rain to snow. This time, the Ice Nine-Tails was smarter and didn't use any aurora screen. Instead, it directly unleashed a magical flash.

But Ninetales' special attack is so weak, and Milotic has such high defense.

Milotic retaliated with its water cannon without flinching. After a brief exchange, Wang Ding suddenly realized that if they continued fighting like this, Ninetales might very well suffer the same fate as Darmanitan.

So he quickly switched to Tundra Bear, and with the speed boost from the [Snowball] ability, after several battles, he finally managed to defeat the extremely troublesome Milotic.

Milotic, before collapsing, changed the weather back to rain, further irritating its opponent.

In this battle, Milotic's ability to release attacks faster than others made Wang Ding's Snowy Team suffer greatly.

Milotic successfully completed his mission, and Gardevoir took over to finish him off.

Because rain reduces the damage of Fire-type moves, Gardevoir is not well-suited to using Magical Flame, which is effective against its opponent.

But there's no need to restrain yourself. With the [Psychic Boost] talent, there's no difference between using Psychic-type moves and using them against your type.

First, Gardevoir used Teleport to create distance from the Tundra Bear that was about to pounce, and then immediately followed up with a Psychic attack.

Without the speed boost from snow, the Tundra Bear could only helplessly follow Gardevoir, clumsily being kited around.

Wang Ding had no choice but to switch to Ice Nine-Tailed Fox and restart the snowy weather.

However, Gardevoir doesn't care whether you turn on the snowy weather or use the Aurora Screen.

Taking advantage of the opponent switching Pokémon, I immediately used Meditation to strengthen myself, embodying the idea that "as long as my output is high enough, no matter how tough you are, it's useless."

The intensity of meditation enhanced by emotional energy is terrifying; the Ice Nine-Tailed Fox's aurora curtain is practically the same whether it's open or not.

If Gardevoir hadn't lacked a four-fold super weakness to Ice-type Ninetales' Steel-type moves, this Ninetales, as crystalline and beautiful as ice and snow, definitely wouldn't have been able to withstand a single hit.

Even so, Ninetales couldn't withstand Gardevoir's second Psychic attack.

As for the last tundra bear, it was nothing more than a premonition of the future.

……

"Wang Ding's last Pokémon, Ursaring, has fallen, which means the match is over. Congratulations to Xia Chen for defeating Wang Ding 3-1 and advancing to the quarterfinals! Thank you to both players for bringing us this exciting match, and thank you to Guru Xia for the wonderful commentary. Guru Xia, would you like to say a few more words?"

In the studio, Guruxia's holographic projection paused for a moment, then seriously summarized: "It was a very exciting match. Both players had outstanding performances. Even Wang Ding, who lost, showed remarkable judgment of the situation and a fighting spirit when he was at a disadvantage. As for Xia Chen, just play normally. I hope he can go further in the upcoming matches."

After a pause, Gulusha added, "Of course, we still hope he can visit Frostmog Mountain when he has time."

Using the guise of official business to make a final invitation, Gurusha hung up the line, and the holographic image went out.

On the battlefield, staff and elves began cleaning up.

The next match is about to begin.

…………

Today's round of 16 only has eight matches. Even if the interval between the two matches is extended to half an hour, the entire round will be over before 5 pm.

Following this, the official list of the top eight was released.

The four people in the upper half of the competition area, besides Xia Chen's acquaintances Hu Yang and Chi Hong, also include Jiang Pei, whom he had defeated in the preliminaries, and another dojo inheritor.

The second half of the competition, where Xia Chen is located, consists of Xia Chen, Lu Weiyu, and Bai Mu, two of the favorites to win the championship, as well as a student from Nandu University.

Most of the participants in the competition were representatives from various universities, but only three of the top eight were academic trainers, which shows how low the competitiveness of academic trainers is.

However, there's no way around it; in Pokémon battles, the most basic factor is still the amount of resources accumulated during Pokémon training.

In this regard, the "second generation" of museum staff with a long history have a significant advantage.

Xia Chen's opponent in the quarterfinals was Lu Weiyu, and he wasn't very lucky.

But in reality, being in the death zone, it's highly likely that you'll encounter Lu Weiyu or Bai Mu at this stage, so there's nothing to complain about. Xia Chen was prepared for this.

Lu Weiyu, from Yunze Gym, mainly uses Poliwag, Swampert, and Ludicolo.

These three Pokémon don't need much analysis: Poliwag with the Rain ability, Ludicolo with its Swift Swim ability, and Swampert, a powerful attacker.

A very typical rainy day team.

As the game progressed, Xia Chen could sense that the number of teams using this weather tactic was increasing.

As before, he had already faced the Sandstorm Team and the Snow Team, and this round it was the Rain Team. Of the four weather teams, only the Sunny Team was left to face.

Although it's quite a coincidence, it's actually not entirely unexpected.

The weather-based tactics are highly demanding, the training period is short, and the command difficulty is moderate, making it very suitable for developing young trainers.

In addition, these "second-generation dojos" all come from long-established dojos or training centers and have their own training systems, so the competition for dominance in the weather has a long history.

However, looking at the world, very few single weather teams have become champions, let alone reached the top of the world.

The powerful champions we've all heard of in recent years, like Adair, Dante, and even Cynthia, don't have a fixed tactical system; they mostly adjust their strategies based on their opponents' situations.

The root cause is the drawbacks of a one-dimensional tactical approach.

While training and commanding Pokémon has become simpler, it has also made it easier for opponents to research and counter their strategies.

Reality is not like rock-paper-scissors in a game.

Change is the most captivating and exciting core of Pokémon battles.

Therefore, even when facing Lu Weiyu, whose overall strength was a level higher than his own, Xia Chen did not feel any pressure or tension.