Bottom-tier trainers in the Pokémon world

This way, it doesn't affect his public identity as a gym leader, nor does it affect his private identity as a member of the Hunter Guild—killing two birds with one stone.

Kikuko gave him a meaningful look, nodded, and said, "Okay."

"May I ask why it's the Hunter's Guild?" Xia Yan asked tentatively.

Kikuko glanced at him dismissively. "Where else did you think it would be? Team Rocket? Ha—"

Xia Yan could interpret her final cold laugh as a sign of disdain.

But even though he looks down on it, he's actually afraid to go to the Rockets.

"The Hunter Guild has become increasingly blatant in recent years, capturing Pokémon on a large scale and selling them to a series of underground organizations such as Team Rocket, Team Magma, Team Aqua, and Team Galactic. Do they think our League can't see this? Besides... they've reached into places they shouldn't have."

Kikuko didn't finish her last sentence, seemingly implying something more.

Xia Yan could only say that if the Hunter Guild had kept to itself, things would have been fine, but now that it had encroached on the Alliance's big pie, the Alliance couldn't sit still.

Another thing is the appearance of Tom Ruchi.

She successfully made the league see her ambition.

As a former candidate for the Four Heavenly Kings, she has a good understanding of the League. If she were to actually take charge of the entire Hunter Guild, wouldn't she be able to take off?

They either perish in the outbreak, or they rise in the outbreak, rising to the point that the alliance can no longer contain them.

"One last question, why did you choose me?"

"Because only you are 'bad' enough."

Is this a derogatory or complimentary term?

Wataru is too honest. Does Daigo believe he'll throw ten 50 million League Coins at him in return? Not to mention Cynthia and Lorelei.

As for those established and famous trainers, they are too easily recognizable. Only young trainers like Xia Yan, who were originally unknown, are suitable.

To be honest, Xia Yan wasn't really that resistant to joining the Hunter's Guild.

It wasn't just because Tom Ruchi had joined, but also because the Hunter Guild was such a loose organization that it didn't really have many restrictions on its members.

This means that the danger of joining is not that high.

In fact, Xia Yan can now be considered a semi-member.

"Um... is there any ceremony required for becoming an apprentice?"

Now that things were settled, Xia Yan began to worry about his compensation and benefits.

Although becoming Kikuko's apprentice made him feel uneasy, he shouldn't underestimate Kikuko.

"No need," Kikuko waved her hand casually.

"Oh."

The two fell silent again, showing no sign of being master and disciple.

“That Kikuko Tenno…” Xia Yan broke the silence again.

"Ok?"

"Uh, teacher? Then teacher, as one of the Elite Four in the Kanto region, how did you become a Gym Leader in the Sinnoh League?"

thump—

Kikuko gently tapped her cane on the ground and slowly stood up.

He revealed a rare hint of undeniable domineering aura.

"What reason does my disciple need to become the head of the academy?"

Xia Yan.

I'm starting to like this feeling of being protected.

Chapter 123 Nanami

After the qualifiers ended and we rested for three days,

The group stage of the Lily of the Valley Youth Tournament has officially begun!

The short break is to give players who have successfully advanced from the qualifiers to the group stage enough time to adjust their form.

The exciting moments in the qualifiers have made people even more excited for the start of the group stage, so the hype has not decreased but rather become even more intense.

The main purpose of the group stage is to determine the top 64 teams that will advance to the final knockout stage.

There were more than 200 people who passed the preliminary rounds. In addition, Xia Yan and his group, who survived the trials, directly entered the group stage, which made the number of people in the group stage a bit bloated, reaching more than 500.

As a last resort, the organizers had to divide all the contestants who entered the group stage into sixteen groups by random selection, with each group having approximately thirty-two to thirty-five members.

The top four teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage.

The group stage uses a double-elimination format.

In other words, after the first round of competition, the winners enter the winners' bracket and the losers enter the losers' bracket. If the losers lose again, they are eliminated. If the winners lose, they continue to enter the losers' bracket.

Each person has two chances, which greatly reduces the chances of several outstanding players in the same group being eliminated early on.

This also ensures that the number of teams that ultimately advance will be an even number, rounding up to the top 64 in the knockout stage.

However, in order to speed up the process, each person can only use one Pokémon in the group stage, and losing the ability to battle means defeat.

However, the existence of the "double-elimination system" also prevents some unexpected upsets.

If someone gets upset twice under this format, then they can't blame anyone else.

When the rosters and contestant numbers for each group were announced, Xia Yan exclaimed that there was something fishy going on!

There's definitely something fishy going on here.

He knew Lance, Goku, Cynthia, Lorelei, and Tsubaki, as well as people like Rika, Ichiki, Daiyo, and Sho, but none of them were in the same group.

If you say there's no inside story, Xia Yan would never believe it, not even if you beat him to death.

At the same time, he also saw his own venue and number.

Court number six, player number six.

Judging from the venue number and player number alone, Xia Yan felt that he should have a sure win.

According to the competition requirements, the players in the group stage must wait in their respective venues so that they can go on stage to compete at any time, thus speeding up the competition process.

Judging from the number of participants, the competition schedule is quite tight.

So Xia Yan and the others temporarily parted ways and headed to their respective competition venues.

When Xia Yan arrived, almost all the players had already gathered near court number six.

"Hello, is this venue number six?"

After Xia Yan arrived, a girl in a white dress, panting heavily with a slight blush on her fair face, asked somewhat hurriedly while supporting herself on her knees.

"Yes."

He glanced at her almost imperceptibly.

Although Xia Yan was used to being around beauties like Cynthia and Lorelei, he couldn't help but be a little amazed when he saw this girl.

Yes, she's a girl whose charisma rivals that of Lorelei and Cynthia.

But that's all.

Appreciating beautiful things always makes people feel happy.

Xia Yan didn't pay much attention to her either, because he didn't have much of an impression of her.

He's probably just some unknown cannon fodder.

That's what he was thinking.

The first round of the group stage draw was successfully completed under the referee's supervision. Xia Yan, with the advantage of the court number and his own number, became the first player to participate in court number six.

His opponent was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy dressed in traditional trainer attire, similar to Ash Ketchum in the future.

He appeared very energetic and confident after going on stage.

"This match will be between player number six, Xia Yan, and player number fourteen, Ye Zhu. Both players, please summon your spirits."

At the referee's signal, Xia Yan and the boy simultaneously threw out their Poké Balls and summoned their Pokémon.

Although the group stage is a double-elimination format, Xia Yan was cautious in his choice because he could only send one Pokémon. He sent out Togekine.

Meanwhile, the boy Nosuke on the other side sent out a powerful crocodile.

Just as Xia Yan had predicted, the boy was a true offspring of a Trainer, and his Pokémon was one of the three starter Pokémon of the Johto region, the final evolution of Totodile, Feraligatr.

"Battle begins!"

With the referee's flag falling, Xia Yan's "Lily of the Valley Youth Tournament" officially began.

"Mighty Crocodile, Frozen Fang!"

Nosuke launched the first attack without hesitation, and did not underestimate Togekiss because of its appearance. He immediately used an Ice-type move that was effective against Flying-type Togekiss.

This shows that the quality of the participants in this "Lily of the Valley Youth Competition" is quite high.

"Yawn," Xia Yan said calmly.

“Cha-ke-yi—”

Seeing the ferocious-looking Crocodile with its gaping maw covered in solid ice crystals rushing towards him, Togekiss remained unmoved, a tear squeezing from the corner of its eye, and let out a long yawn.

Mwah~~

A tiny, transparent bubble flew out from Tokigu's nose and collided head-on with the charging Crocodile.

The moment the sleep bubble burst, the crocodile stumbled, its steps faltered, and its eyelids began to slowly close.

"Mighty Crocodile!"

However, as a trainer born directly into the League, Nosuke has clearly learned the essence of League trainer battles.

Output is basically achieved by shouting, and status is basically achieved by yelling.

But I have to admit, it does have some use.

The crocodile shook its head, recovering from its dazed state.