Elf: I have a secret realm of emerald green.

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## Chapter Thirty-Six: Pachlitz and the Rhythm of the Battle

Thirty-two matches across four venues, which means that eight matches will be played at each venue in the first round.

Apart from Xia Shen in the first match, Yan Yan and the other two's matches were all at least the third match or later.

So Xia Shen is now dragging Yan Yan around aimlessly, trying to find a match that interests them to watch.

…………

Xia Shen stopped beside a match in the upper half of the competition area and exclaimed, "This match seems interesting!"

Yan Yan looked over curiously, wanting to see what kind of elf had piqued Xia Shen's interest.

To the left of the battlefield is a seemingly harmless electric squirrel—Patchlitz.

Its opponent was a much larger water hare, Marill.

"Two very common Pokémon, is there anything strange about them?" Yan Yan looked at Xia Shen with confusion.

Xia Shen smiled, offered no explanation, and instead asked, "Who do you think will win?"

Yan Yan lowered her head and pondered. In terms of attributes, Patchlet is an electric mouse, which is super effective against the water-type Marill.

However, Patchlitz's own attack power is really weak, and hitting the tough-skinned Water Rabbit is really just scratching the surface.

On the contrary, Marill, as a third-stage evolution form of the Pokémon, seems to have more advantages, and has more damage skills.

Bouncing, Aqua Tail, and Playful—if combined with the Huge Power ability, the damage of these physical attacks would almost double.

Is Xia Shen's question really that simple?

After pondering for a while, Yan Yan replied, "Patchlitz will win, right..."

Seeing Xia Shen's surprised look, Yan Yan felt a surge of joy and pride.

Hmph, I knew it would be this kind of tactic.

…………

On the field, the battle has entered a fierce stage.

Although Marill always wanted to confront Patchlitz head-on, the little squirrel was too fast and gave her no chance.

Patchlitz attacks while running, and when someone gets close, he uses a cheek rub to paralyze the opponent, followed by a lightning bolt or electric ball.

It doesn't matter if you get hit by Amarillion's moves occasionally, since there's no type advantage and your defenses are high anyway, so it's not a big deal.

While Pachirisu's attack power is indeed weak, it has double the type advantage and the power boost from its STAB moves, so it can still achieve decent results.

After consuming several electric balls and electric beams, Marill finally couldn't hold on any longer and lost her ability to fight.

Xia Shen glanced at the girl who was picking up Patchlitz in celebration, then went to watch the next match.

…………

"How did you figure out that Patchlitz would win?" Yan Yan asked curiously.

Xia Shen looked at the girl with amusement, "So you were just guessing?"

Yan Yan's pretty face flushed slightly, and she glared at him angrily.

Xia Shen had no choice but to raise his hands in surrender and explain, "That trainer's command ability is quite outstanding. She and Patchis work together very well."

"Many times, Patchlitz could understand her intentions before the trainer even gave the command. They must have been together for a long time."

Xia Shen initially found the appearance of the White Devil quite amusing.

After all, this elf has quite a few interesting quirks.

In a previous world championship final, this weak Pokémon with a base stat total of 405 managed to withstand a Meteor Shower, helping its trainer turn the tide of battle.

From then on, it earned that nickname—the White Devil.

But when Xia Shen put aside his playful thoughts and carefully observed the match, he discovered something unusual about Patchlitz and its trainer.

—That trainer has a very accurate grasp of rhythm.

This might sound a bit far-fetched, but the rhythm of a battle is indeed a very abstract concept.

Mastering distance control, anticipating attacks, and assessing the situation; knowing when to attack, when to retreat, which skills to take damage from, and which to dodge...

Everything that happens on the battlefield seems to come down to rhythm.

This is why the battles between those champion kings look as smooth and fluid as mercury.

As for the Patchlet trainer, although her command skills were somewhat inexperienced, one could still feel the beauty of her battles.

……

I watched another uninteresting match with Yan Yan.

In the fourth round, it was finally Yan Yan's turn to appear.

And her opponent... is a Luccat.

It's another matchmaking event, only this time the other side is the one with bad luck.

…………

The chat room was also buzzing with noise.

"Both Gible and intelligent matching are mentioned, what is the relationship between them?"

"Pretty girls have fair skin, it's like they got a guaranteed spot!"

"But speaking of which, are giblets really that worthless now? I've already seen two in such a short time."

"Doesn't anyone think she and another Gible trainer make a good match?"

"Shut up, that's my husband!"

……

As expected, Yan Yan won the match easily.

For a pure Electric-type Pokémon like Lupus, if it doesn't learn [Ice Fang], it'll be in a terrible state when facing Ground-type Pokémon.

Unfortunately, this Luke cat didn't know how to use it, and only used the [Bite] skill from beginning to end.

Someone who didn't know better might think it had some kind of special head-locking skill.

After the match ended, Xia Shen and Yan Yan took their two Pokémon to the temporary medical station to recover and prepare for the next round of the competition.

On the other side, Zhou Yuanyuan and Lin Weiyu from the upper division also made it into the second round. Although the process was a bit thrilling, they managed to pass the test.

In fact, luck plays a very big role in these 1V1 matches.

For example, if an Electric type fights a Ground type, or a Ground type fights a Flying type, and you don't have many skills in the early game, being matched in such a situation is tantamount to being eliminated.

This is why the rookie group competition is jokingly called an entertainment competition—team composition and starting lineup strategy are key aspects of Pokémon battle tactics.

Therefore, in the second and third rounds, Lin Weiyu and Zhou Yuanyuan encountered opponents who could restrain them and were eliminated.

They were the top 32 and top 16 respectively, and there were also consolation prizes sponsored by Devon.

The shopping vouchers of varying amounts from the German store, along with some cheap elf items, were things that the two rich kids didn't really care about.

That concludes the morning's matches. The quarterfinals will begin this afternoon.

After the competition ended, Xia Shen and Yan Yan went backstage to draw lots for the quarterfinals.

Looking around, I saw quite a few familiar faces.

Zhang Ziheng, a classmate from the same school, and his flying mantis, and Lin Li, his opponent in the breakout round, and his strong chicken.

There's also Pachirisu and its trainer, Su Mei, whom we've previously focused on—a pretty and quiet young woman.

Xia Shen didn't recognize the remaining three of the top eight. He only knew that two of them were classmates from other schools' Pokémon battle courses, and the other was a working professional.

The only thing that caught people's attention was that one of the classmates named Jiang Chuan was using a Dragonair.

The final draw results are as follows:

Yan Yan VS Zhang Ziheng

Xia Shen VS Yang Lei

Lin Li VS Wang Yiyi

Su Mei VS Jiang Chuan

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## Chapter Thirty-Seven: Fierce Bite of the Meteor Shower! (Please continue reading~)

Perhaps to prevent athletes from getting sick, lunch on competition days is provided by the organizers.

It's still sponsored by German company, so I don't know if the quality is guaranteed, but the gudgeon really likes to eat it.

Zhang Ziheng and Lin Li, oblivious to the atmosphere, insisted on crowding around Xia Shen and Yan Yan's table, making Xia Shen reluctant to even acknowledge them.

Yan Yan was a man of few words, and Xia Shen didn't want to talk, so in the end, it was Zhang Ziheng and Lin Li, whom they had just met, who chatted happily.

Xia Shen had no idea how Zhang Ziheng and the chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) teenager had connected on a brainwave.

Because the afternoon schedule is relatively short, with only seven matches in total, there is ample rest time between each match for the players to adjust.

At 1 p.m., the first quarter-final match is about to begin – Yan Yan vs. Zhang Ziheng.

In fact, this match against Yan Yan was very difficult; the elemental advantage was a fatal flaw.

This means that Gible can almost only use Dragon-type moves, plus one Fire Fang.

With limited skill options, Zhang Ziheng is very good at predicting moves.

It's unrealistic for Yan Yan to replicate Xia Shen's playing style from that time.

No one steps into the same river twice. Zhang Ziheng suffered such a great loss last time, he will definitely correct his bad habit of always flanking when he makes a breakthrough.

In short, Xia Shen emotionally hopes Yan Yan will win, but rationally speaking... the chances of her winning are too small.

To be honest, Xia Shen already found it incredible that Yan Yan could make it to the quarterfinals.