Elf: I have a secret realm of emerald green.

The principal continued, "Coach Zhang and I have been emphasizing to everyone that Yancheng Middle School is this year's dark horse. Their captain Zhang Yi's main Pokémon, Sagamosa, is recognized as one of the top three Pokémon in singles this year. In addition, their starting doubles team should not be underestimated."

"If we lose to Yancheng Middle School and become the second-place team in the group, we might be drawn against Nandu Middle School, which is guaranteed to be the group winner, or Ocean University Affiliated Middle School in the first round. Therefore, we must win this match!"

After his speech, everyone present became serious.

The principal looked around, nodded in satisfaction, and continued, "However, the match against Yancheng Middle School is the last one. We cannot be careless in the two matches before that. If we lose in the early matches, we can forget about making it to the finals."

He scanned the team members, "So we must win the opening match tomorrow. Wang Yiyi, your Aggron will be the captain in singles. Chu Si's Swampert and Xu Chong's Alakazam will be the vice captains. In doubles, Chen Chuan's Troll Warlord and Pan Yujie's Red Fox will be the vice captains."

This is the strongest and most stable lineup on the school team.

He paused, then turned his gaze to Xia Shen. "As for the arena match... we've decided to have Chu Si's Ludicolo, Wang Yiyi's MetalGreymon, and Xia Shen's Ursaring make their appearances. Does anyone have any questions?"

(It would be too tedious to write out the competition rules in detail, so I've included them in the author's notes in this chapter.)

P.S. Wishing all book lovers in Sichuan and the surrounding areas a safe and peaceful time!

----------

Author's Remarks

There are three singles battles: the winner of the main battle gets two points, and the winner of the vice-captain battle gets one point. There's one doubles battle, with the winner getting two points. The 3v3 arena battle earns the winner three points. Each Pokémon can only be used once per battle; for example, if Aggron is the main captain, it cannot participate in the arena battle. A simple calculation shows that the arena battles are crucial. If you get two points early on and win the arena battle, you can turn the tide. You ask why it's designed this way? Of course, it's to give the protagonist a reasonable opportunity to appear and show off.

2022-06-01 18:00

## Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Black Bomber! (A massive chapter of 3600 words!)

With China's consecutive defeats in the World Cup in recent years, the attention given to domestic youth competitions has been rising.

After all, aside from the rise of beneficiaries of the Hawaiian and British Secret Realms.

The lack of top-tier trainers in China is also a significant reason for the country's declining performance in the World Cup.

Naturally, these promising high school and college students are the people who place high hopes on them.

Thus, this qualifying round in the Jiangnan region, which wasn't particularly high-profile, became the hottest event in Jiangnan Province this winter.

On the first day of the opening match alone, the popularity of the official live broadcast room on the online platform immediately reached the top three positions across the entire platform.

Firstly, Jiangnan Province is a populous province, and secondly, the competition times in other regions are later, so many spectators from other regions also came to watch the show.

……

After all, it was just a qualifying round, so the opening ceremony wasn't going to be too fancy.

After a brief encouraging speech by the chairman of the Jiangnan Provincial Trainers Association, the first competition officially began.

The two teams facing off are Nandu Middle School and Yuncheng No. 3 Middle School.

Nandu Middle School's strength ranks among the top in the country.

Every year in the National High School Championships, they usually reach at least the top eight, with several teams reaching the top four.

If they're lucky and don't draw those two freakish schools, Beijing and Tokyo, which are clearly not in the same league as the other schools, they can occasionally get a runner-up.

The opponent of Nandu Middle School in this game, Yuncheng No. 3 Middle School, is just an ordinary team in the third tier, commonly known as a "minnow team".

Unsurprisingly, the match didn't even go to the ring. After three singles matches and one doubles match, Nandu Middle School swept their opponents 6-0 with overwhelming momentum, securing a winning start.

Xia Shen watched the match with a solemn expression in the players' lounge. Not only him, but even the principal had the same expression.

There's no other reason than that Nandu Middle School... is too well-rounded. Perhaps the pressure from the opponents wasn't enough, because Xia Shen didn't even see a single Pokémon that was a weakness.

Especially the Flame Ace in the main battle, one Fireball instantly killed the opponent's Nut Dumbbell!

That's steel!

Although Grass/Steel types are four times weak to Fire, real-world Pokémon are much tankier than those in the games.

Generally speaking, even with a four-fold type advantage, it usually takes two moves for two Pokémon of similar level to be instantly defeated.

This can only be achieved in extreme situations, such as when a highly powerful Pokémon attacks a squishy Pokémon.

Is the grass steel crispy?

Obviously not, then the difference in energy levels between the two is quite alarming.

Perhaps Yuncheng No. 3 Middle School is playing the "Tian Ji's horse racing" strategy, deliberately sacrificing their main battle in order to gain one or two points later and make the score less embarrassing.

But the Pokémon that make it to the breakout stage are by no means weak.

Regardless, this Blaze Ace, which was already recognized as the singles champion of this year's qualifying tournament, is even stronger than everyone predicted before the match!

……

The match for Zhijiang Middle School was scheduled as the third game in the morning, so Xia Shen and his team didn't watch the second game. Instead, they went to the pre-match preparation area to get ready.

Judging from the reactions of the audience, the result of the match was not unexpected.

That's normal. Luck plays a very small role in Pokémon battles, and upsets aren't that easy to happen.

Not long after, the second match ended, and it was finally Zhijiang Middle School's turn to play.

Although Zhijiang Middle School is a regular participant in the National High School Championship finals, its past performance in the finals has been lackluster.

If they can advance from the group stage, it's either because they were drawn into a favorable group or because their players have an outstanding performance.

If we make it into the top eight, it will be an even bigger cause for celebration that the school will put up banners to mark.

Therefore, their matches were not like those of Nandu Middle School, which were met with thunderous applause and cheers.

Thus, amidst applause from the audience that was neither enthusiastic nor lukewarm, the lieutenant colonel team officially took the stage.

Their opponent was a little-known school from a small, unknown place: Weicheng No. 1 Middle School.

Since the principal and coach didn't offer any further reminders, there shouldn't be any problems playing normally.

Everyone on the colonel's team had this thought before the game started.

……

The first match is a singles main battle, with Wang Yiyi's Aggron facing off against a Jolteon.

Although the principal's pre-match intelligence indicated that Weicheng No. 1 Middle School's strongest singles Pokémon was a Cloyster with extremely high attack power, the middle school team was not surprised by Cloyster's avoidance of battle.

To win against a stronger opponent, one could forgo the main match, or even the three singles matches, and focus on doubles and ring matches; perhaps then there's still a glimmer of hope.

However, Zhijiang Middle School did not have the presumptuous idea of ​​putting the strongest Aggron in the arena.

If the opponent does the opposite and focuses on the main battle and arena matches, then you will actually suffer a loss.

In short, as long as you are strong enough, no matter how fancy your opponent's formation is, it will all be in vain.

Just like the first match against Nandu Middle School.

……

Wang Yiyi's Bosscodora has the characteristic of being heavy metal—its own weight will double.

In reality, this characteristic, just like in the game, can alter the damage of certain moves, such as heavy impacts.

Some ordinary moves can also gain a certain power boost.

For example, the game doesn't show the difference in damage caused by weight in the "Mount Tai pressing down" scenario.

But if the weight difference is double, the damage shouldn't be more than 50%, even if it's not double.

However, while the power is greater, the cost is also obvious: it becomes cumbersome.

Aggron isn't fast to begin with, and with double the weight... its speed is practically as slow as a Coal Tortoise.

The advantages are obvious, and the disadvantages are also obvious. It depends on how the trainer can maximize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages.

……

The opponent in this match is one of the types that Aggron hates the most: Jolteon, which is small in size, fast, and a special attacker.

The opponent was also smart; they didn't rush to use damaging moves like Thunderbolt or Lightning Bolt.

Instead, they first added an electromagnetic wave to the Bossco, making the already slow Iron Eater even worse.

Mastering the stick, but aiming for the yard.

Wang Yiyi's qualifications as the captain of the school team are naturally not limited to her strong Pokémon abilities.

She calmly anticipated her opponent's thoughts and began charging up her true energy blast before being hit by the electromagnetic waves.

So, at the same time the electromagnetic wave hit Aggron, the long-charged Aura Bomb also struck Jolteon, who couldn't dodge in time.

Although Focus Blast isn't a STAB move and Aggron's Special Attack isn't high, it's still a move with a power of 150 in the game, so the damage from this Focus Blast is quite considerable.

In the first round of the battle, Bossdora had a slight advantage.

Next, Wang Yiyi cleverly used Dig to dodge Jolteon's Electric Ball. Although Aggron was paralyzed, Dig was his bread and butter, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was his signature skill.

The underground Boscodora is like a crocodile lurking underwater, quietly waiting for its prey on the calm surface of the lake to make a mistake.

Boscodor deliberately made some noise underground, causing the ground to tremble.

Amidst the tense atmosphere, Jolteon was frightened into using Protect, thus completely sealing its defeat in this battle.

……

In the following two singles matches, Chu Si's Swampert and Xu Chong's Alakazam lived up to everyone's expectations and won their matches.

However... these two victories came too easily, so easily that they didn't seem like matches between players of the same level.

As expected, the opposing team will likely send out two non-main Pokémon.

Everyone knew that the opposing team had taken the Tian Ji horse racing strategy to its extreme.

Regardless, the score at this point was 4-0.

If the junior high school team wins another doubles match, the opponent's ace Pokémon Cloyster won't even get a chance to play.

The principal gently patted the shoulders of the two players who were about to go on stage, who were a little nervous. "Relax, their doubles team is just a regular Sunny Day team. Just play as I told you."

Chen Chuan and Pan Yujie exchanged a glance, nodded, and walked onto the stage.

However, the two people who appeared on the other side surprised everyone at Zhijiang Middle School.

They did not field their starting doubles pair, Sunny.

One of the people who appeared was none other than the trainer of that Cloyster!

Chen Chuan and Pan Yujie looked at each other, wondering why the script was different from what they had imagined.