I caught a Pokémon

For a newcomer, this is already a very good result. Considering the scale and level of this celebration, May's current record has completely surpassed Ash's record when he first participated in the Indigo League!

From this perspective, Xiaoyao is undoubtedly successful and deserves celebration.

Unlike Ash, she hasn't stopped yet and still has the potential to compete for the championship!

After Haruka finished her match, it was soon Shun and Rob's turn to fight, and unsurprisingly, both of them defeated their opponents and advanced to the top 8.

At this point, the intensity of the competition increased to another level.

None of the eight finalists are simple characters. In fact, the upcoming group draw is extremely important and could very well directly affect who wins the championship!

If you're grouped with a weaker player, you'll be guaranteed a spot in the finals. But if you're unlucky enough to face someone like Robert, you might be eliminated there.

Everyone stared intently at the big screen.

Not only the contestants, but even the audience held their breath, waiting for the final answer to be revealed.

As the avatars on the big screen kept rotating, the 8-to-4 battle group was soon revealed to the audience!

Almost instantly, Xia You and the others spotted Xiao Yao, and her opponent was none other than—Xiao Shun!

Everyone except Xia You was greatly surprised by this grouping!

On the one hand, although they knew that it was inevitable that they would run into each other as the number of people decreased, they did not expect to meet in this round, which was indeed a bit unexpected. On the other hand, they had just finished fighting Harry and now they had to fight Shun. It could be said that all the people who had grudges against them were unlucky enough to be encountered by Haruka!

Xia Youxin felt that this was the same group in the anime, and could only sigh – it really was a fateful duel.

Just as Ash's rival in Kanto, the starting village, was Gary, May's rival is undoubtedly Dawn. Their encounter seems to have been arranged by fate, something they couldn't avoid.

Since Xiaoyao wasn't by their side, they didn't know how she was feeling, but they could imagine that her feelings must have been very complicated.

The wait wasn't long; after a short break, the quarterfinals officially began.

The only good news is that May's battle isn't her first, which gives her more time to allow her Pokémon to recover more stamina and for May to develop some targeted tactics.

Of course, this time was very limited, but after a few minutes of rest, as the first group of contestants decided their match, Xiaoyao also made her appearance.

Through the big screen, people could clearly see Xiaoyao's expression, which was more somber than in any previous performance. Even from such a distance, they could almost feel the pressure she was under.

Even that imposing aura from before had vanished without a trace, replaced by a pursed-lips, very serious face.

"Gulp." Xiao Sheng couldn't help but swallow, and said nervously, "My sister seems so nervous. I've never seen her like this before..."

“Of course,” Xia You replied. “After all, she was facing Xiao Shun, and Xiao Shun has always been a clear winner over Xiao Yao. It would be strange if she wasn’t nervous facing such an opponent in such a situation.”

At Vivian's prompting, May and Shun simultaneously released their Pokémon.

In this battle, May sent out Skitty and Combusken, while Dash sent out Roselia and Flygon.

Seeing this lineup, Xia You frowned slightly.

I don't know what May was thinking, but she didn't send out Bulbasaur and Beautifly. Although Skitty and Combusken are not countered by these two Pokémon, they are obviously not a good choice compared to Bulbasaur and Beautifly after their training last night.

This isn't about differences in attributes or strength, but rather the synergy developed through training together allows Bulbasaur and Beautifly to perform even better when paired together.

Could it be that Xiaoyao has other plans?

Was it because Bulbasaur and Beautifly were running out of stamina that she had no choice but to make this decision?

Chapter 761 The Celebration Ends

After much thought, Xia You still felt that perhaps Xiao Yao wanted to use Grass and Fire-type Pokémon to achieve a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts.

Regardless of what Xiaoyao's plans are, the lineup has now been finalized, so all we can do is hope she performs well.

With Vivian's command, the countdown began and the competition officially started!

In this match, Xiaoshun once again seized the initiative and was the first to order an attack.

This also made Xia You realize some problems. He found that Xiao Yao was not very aggressive. Whether it was fighting Harry or Dunping, she was always a step behind in the fight, giving up the initiative and turning the initiative into a passive one, and being forced to defend and counterattack.

This is highly inadvisable and caused her to lose the initiative.

After all, offense is the best defense. Taking the shot early means you can inflict damage on the opponent sooner and score first, which is extremely important in such situations!

It can only be said that Xiaoyao's training period was too short, and she has many bad habits. If she had gone through training in another region, she would definitely not be like this now.

There's still a lot of room for growth...

In the arena, under Shun's command, Rose of Poison used Petal Dance, while Flygon sped through the Petal Dance and flew towards the Strong Chicken and Skitty on the opposite side.

Fortunately, although Xiaoyao didn't make the first move, she calmly responded.

She first commanded Meowth to use Borrow, successfully borrowing Combusken's Jet Vortex, instantly igniting the petals and breaking the move. Then she commanded Combusken to use Sky Punch, forcing back the rapidly approaching Flygon.

Unfortunately, Mighty Chicken's jump height was a bit too low. Although it forced Desert Dragonfly back, it failed to land a punch on its opponent.

Seeing this, not only May, but also Misty and Ash in the stands secretly felt sorry.

Undeterred by the failed first attack, Xiao Shun organized a second offensive.

This time, Shun didn't approach again. Instead, he had Flygon use Flamethrower and Roselia use Solar Beam, both shooting at Haruka once more.

These are two extremely powerful moves; if they were to hit, it would undoubtedly be a very dangerous situation.

Because they came so fast, it was practically impossible for May to get her Pokémon to dodge. Seeing Flamethrower and Solar Beam getting closer and closer, she made a quick decision and ordered Combusken to use Flame Vortex.

Faced with two powerful attacks, Broccoli also breathed fire. However, strangely enough, the power of the Flame Vortex was not enough to block the Flame Jet and Solar Beam. But somehow, when the three attacks collided, they created an even larger vortex. The attacks of Flygon and Roselia were unable to advance any further!

The seemingly weaker flame vortex, with its regular rotation, successfully withstood two powerful attacks!

This is incredible, but it really happened right before people's eyes!

Shun was also somewhat taken aback by this unexpected turn of events. In the instant he was stunned, with a shout from Haruka, the flames spewed out by the Mighty Chicken intensified, directly deflecting the Flamethrower and Solar Beam back!

In the blink of an eye, Desert Dragonfly and Poison Rose were hit by the rebounding attack and suffered a great loss!

The explosion generated a huge plume of smoke that enveloped the arena. People looked up at the big screen and saw that Xiao Shun's energy bar had been reduced significantly.

"Great!" Ash clenched his fist and exclaimed happily, "I didn't expect May to get the first move! If this continues, she might actually be able to beat Shun!"

Not only was Ash excited, but even Misty and the others standing nearby couldn't help but feel happy for Haruka when they saw her gaining the upper hand.

After all, in their view, if they could just keep doing this a few more times, Haruka would be able to defeat Shun and successfully enter the top four!

However, despite feeling apologetic, Xia You poured cold water on their enthusiasm at this moment.

"May and her Pokémon performed very well, but this battle will likely be won by Dawn."

"What?" Ash and the others were stunned when they heard him say that. They asked in confusion, "Shun will win? But didn't May perform better?"

Xiaoxia also asked curiously, "Yeah, Xia You, look, didn't she just deflect the attacks from Desert Dragonfly and Poison Rose?"

The group was quite puzzled, wondering why Xia You was so certain that Xiao Shun would win. Only Xiao Gang, after thinking for a moment, slowly offered his opinion: "I think Mr. Xia You is implying that Xiao Shun hasn't been serious at all yet?"

As expected of the composed Xiao Gang, his intelligence and insight remain sharp as long as there are no pretty older women around.

Nodding, Xia You continued, "If you look closely, Xiao Shun's face remained calm and composed throughout, which contrasted sharply with Xiao Yao's caution. This is not overconfidence, nor is it underestimating Xiao Yao; rather, it's a relaxed way of testing Xiao Yao."

"Even so..." Ash was still very puzzled, "that doesn't mean you can say May will lose..."

Xia You continued, "Of course, Xiaoshun's mentality doesn't mean anything, but look at its Pokémon. Don't you notice that even after being attacked like that, they didn't panic? They still seemed quite at ease?"

Upon hearing his words, Ash and the others rushed to check on Roselia and Flygon, and found that, just as Xia You had said, after enduring their attack, these two Pokémon not only hadn't suffered much physical damage, but were also in good condition, and even seemed eager to try again.

Before they could even process their surprise and doubt, Xia You's voice echoed in their ears again.

"In fact, Shun also considers Haruka a worthy opponent and wants to test how much Haruka has grown. That's why he acted so casually. If I'm not mistaken, after the test just now, he should be going to use his full strength."

What constitutes champion-level insight?

This is!

Just as Xia You finished speaking, as he predicted, the situation on the field suddenly changed.

It's obvious that Shun's offensive pace has sped up significantly!

This change made it difficult for Xiaoyao to adapt in a short time, and she quickly fell into a disadvantageous position.

Time passed little by little.

The Desert Dragonfly and the Poison Rose launched frequent attacks, while the Mighty Chicken and the Skitty defended against the attacks and launched timely counterattacks.

The two sides fought back and forth, and the battle was very intense. But at this point, it was clear to everyone that the situation was developing in Xiaoshun's favor!

Even those who don't know much about combat can tell from the yellow energy bar that Haruka is on the edge of a cliff.

This is not a good situation...

Seeing that Xiaoyao had fallen into such a disadvantage in just a minute or two, Xiaozhi and the others' hearts sank as well.

0:45…

0:44…

Time is still ticking away.

Although it's not yet apparent from physical strength, Haruka's yellow energy bar, representing her score, has only one bar left, while Shun's still has nearly half its length remaining.

This also means that if Xiaoyao takes another attack, she could very well be eliminated!

Haruka was well aware of her situation, and just as Shun commanded Flygon to use Flamethrower again, she launched her final counterattack.

The flames shot straight toward Jack-o'-the-Wisp and Combusken, and May's Combusken leaped up and actually jumped into the flames. Before anyone could be surprised, Combusken was bathed in flames all over. As it leaped under Flygon, it used a Sky Punch to disperse all the flames and punched Flygon hard in the face!

That punch was truly spectacular, and the audience immediately responded with enthusiastic applause and cheers.

Although Xiaoyao's performance was outstanding, it also became her final performance.

After Flygon landed, Ashun immediately launched a counterattack. He first had Roselia use Paralysis Powder to paralyze Combusken and Skitty, and then had Flygon use Steel Wing to crash into May's two Pokémon.

boom!

The Mighty Chicken and the Skitty had no chance to dodge and could only watch helplessly as they were knocked away.

As the two Pokémon flew backward, May's energy bar on the big screen also reached zero!

The time finally stopped at 0:03.

With only 3 seconds left, the 5-minute countdown was about to end, which shows just how intense the battle was.

Of course, even if Shun didn't launch the final attack, based on the score, Haruka would have undoubtedly lost when time ran out.

Seeing that the outcome was decided, the audience cheered for Xiaoshun's victory and also applauded Xiaoyao. Although they lost, they were equally grateful to Xiaoyao for such a wonderful match.

After a moment of disappointment, May on stage quietly comforted her two Pokémon, then stood up and bowed to the audience who were still cheering for her.

Xia You and the others also got up at this moment, left the audience seats, and went to the contestant passage.

As they reached the door, they ran into Xiaoyao, who was leaving the stage.

"Sister, you were absolutely amazing just now!"

"Xiaoyao, you did a fantastic job!"

Upon meeting, Mitsuko, Masaru, Kasumi, Satoshi, and Brock all offered encouragement, showing no disappointment at Haruka's elimination, but instead sincerely congratulating her.

Even Xia You silently applauded at the end of the crowd.

Although they were eliminated in the top 8, this result is still very good. Keep in mind that they stood out from 247 contestants who won five ribbon medals and made it all the way to the top 8, which is an extremely outstanding performance.

Most importantly, this was Xiaoyao's first time participating in such a large-scale celebration, and achieving this result is already quite remarkable.

At least compared to Ash, cough cough... never mind, let's not talk about it.

After the group reunited, they left the stadium and had lunch at a nearby restaurant.

While having lunch, they also watched the rest of the game on television.

After defeating Haruka to advance to the semifinals, Shun eliminated another opponent and finally met Rob in the finals for the ultimate showdown. The winner of that final match would be the champion of this grand celebration.

After taking a sip of juice, Xiao Zhi asked the others curiously, "Who do you think will win in the end?"

"It should be Robert."

"I guess it's Robert too, he's too strong."

Xiao Zhi certainly didn't expect that his question would elicit such a unified answer.

"What? I thought you were going to talk about Shun!"

Xiao Gang laughed and said, "Although Xiao Shun is very strong, he is still a bit weaker than Robert. There should be no suspense."

Undeterred, Xiao Zhi turned to Xia You, only to receive the same answer.

"I guess it should be Robert. As for the reasons, they've already explained them, so I won't repeat them."