I caught a Pokémon

"So, this man really did come to participate in the Rainbow Dance Competition?"

"Yes, in that case, with his strength, wouldn't he easily win the championship again?"

"But I heard that when he challenged the gyms in Hoenn, he didn't use the same team that won him the championship before. Will he still have the same strength as before?"

"Who knows? But if he still wins with this lineup, then we might as well not hold the event anymore and just give him the trophy!"

He listened to these people's words but didn't get the answer he wanted. Dama Lanqi slammed his hand on the table, and the conference room fell silent instantly.

"I'm here to ask for your solutions, not to listen to your complaints!"

The others at the round table looked at each other, and remained silent.

After a long silence, someone finally said weakly, "We really have no other options. We can't just stop him from participating, can we?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room erupted in discussion again.

"How is this possible! Not letting him participate? There has never been such a precedent since the Pokémon Tournament was established. No way! Absolutely not!"

"That's exactly right, if word gets out, our reputation will completely collapse!"

"Then what else do you think can stop him?!"

Amidst the commotion around him, only one person remained silent, smoking quietly, without uttering a word, a faint sneer on his face.

And this person is none other than John, who has served as the live broadcast director for both the Quartz and Silver Conferences!

John looked around at the people and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

No one understands ratings better than him, and no one knows better what viewers want to see.

Do you want to prevent Xia You from participating in the competition?

I can't get past him!

As for Dama Lanqi's idea of ​​having these people find a way to stop Xia You from winning the championship, that is even more unacceptable!

These people only think about development, not realizing that ratings and word-of-mouth are the most important things!

Having such contestants guarantees high viewership, and high viewership signifies success, which in turn means the success of the entire event!

Think about it, even if you rack your brains, it won't help!

John shook his head, stubbed out his cigarette, crossed his legs, and looked up at the big screen again.

It must be said that Xia You chose a really good photo.

Six parts confidence, three parts unruliness, and one part arrogance.

It was as if he was looking at this room full of people with a disdainful expression!

Chapter 763 Preliminary Rounds

When Xia You and Xiao Zhi arrived at the torch relay point, they were surprised to find that Xiao Xia, Xiao Yao and the others were also there!

This was quite surprising, since they had just finished eating ramen when I contacted them. How did they get here so quickly?

Seeing the expressions on their faces, Xiaoxia said smugly, "Hehe, didn't expect that, did you? Humph, you thought you could leave us behind to watch the torch relay? No way! How could something like this be without us!"

Upon further inquiry, it was discovered that after arriving at the ramen shop, Xia and her friends happened to meet a torch relay runner with a cat wearing a hat. While waiting to receive Xia You's message, they decided to follow the runner to the relay site. In fact, because it was closer, they arrived there before Xia You and Xiao Zhi!

Since they were already there, the group watched the torch relay ceremony together.

By this time, the torch relay had been underway for quite some time, and the runners had changed several times. Because all the good spots had been taken, they could only watch from afar on both sides of the road.

It is said that the sacred flame was collected from Moltres, which is indeed sacred and mysterious to ordinary people, but to Xia You, what? Moltres? Isn't that a Pokémon that you can see every day?

Throughout the ceremony, Xiaoxia had a smile on her face.

This also puzzled Xia You.

After all, it was obvious that she seemed to have something on her mind these past few days, and she had been sullen and unhappy, but since the lavish celebration party ended, a smile has returned to her face.

Although she didn't know exactly what had happened, Xia You was still very happy to see that she had returned to her old self.

It must have been Xiaoyao who comforted her, right?

It seems I should properly thank Xiaoyao when I have time!

When the group returned to Sooto City, Ash and the others went to check in, while Xia You temporarily parted ways with them and went to the Fast Food Company alone.

The meteorite keystone that Kuroda mailed has arrived, which is something Xia You has been looking forward to. He wants to see what makes this meteorite keystone different from ordinary keystones!

But he was disappointed.

Once completed, the meteorite keystone is almost indistinguishable from an ordinary keystone, at least in appearance. If one did not know its origin beforehand, no one would be able to tell the difference from its appearance alone.

It seems the only way to truly understand is to try it out myself, by having my Pokémon Mega Evolve, and experience the difference in strength between them.

After putting the key stone away, Xia You went to the police station there.

There's one more thing to take care of: the bonus that Interpolis promised him has finally arrived!

However, the award was not presented by familiar faces like Lila and the handsome guy, but by a bespectacled, refined-looking senior civilian official from Interpol!

After a series of photos and speeches, Xia You finally received the money.

Five million dollars, tax-free, was indeed much more than the prize money from the Quartz Conference and the Silver Conference. Once the money arrived in his account, it further increased the balance in his bank account.

Along with the bonus, he was also awarded a certificate of honor as a special investigator. With this certificate, he would have a semi-official status, and would be more legitimate in his confrontations with terrorist organizations, no matter which region he went to in the future.

It's fair to say that he had already reaped a great harvest even before the Rainbow Tournament began!

When Xia You returned to the dormitory hall, Xiao Zhi had just finished contacting Professor Oak and Hanako.

As a dutiful child, Xia You naturally had to inform the two most important people on this occasion. Seeing this, Xia You hesitated for a moment before telling Naz, Rika, and Dr. Sakuragi's family that she had arrived at the venue.

The group was naturally delighted to hear the news, but due to distance and work commitments, they were unable to travel there and could only watch the live broadcast on television.

Xia You didn't care about this; in fact, if they really came, that would be the biggest problem.

The Sakuragi family is perfectly fine, but if Rika and Naza both show up...

Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

After doing all that, the group returned to the teleportation machine.

Before this, Ash had clearly stated that he would use his current lineup to challenge this year's Hoenn Tournament, but Xia You was different. Although the Pokémon he caught in Hoenn were quite strong, it would still be a bit difficult for him to win the championship. Moreover, for him, the Pokémon that had accompanied him in the two regions could not be neglected either, and he also needed to stretch his muscles and bones properly.

After sending away several legendary Pokémon, Xia You traded them back for Tyranitar, Scizor, Venusaur, Jolteon, and Blastoise.

Including his existing Dragonite, Eevee, Milotic, Metagross, and Blaziken, these are all the Pokémon he has participating in this tournament.

As for the Crystal Steelix and the Giant Red Gyarados, because they were so overpowered and strong, Xia You didn't hesitate at all and let them stay in Sakuragi Park.

Next, they must focus wholeheartedly on the final training camp and adjusting their condition!

However, at this point, no matter how good their relationship was, they were still competitors. Xia You and Xiao Zhi had to train separately. Before they met in the tournament, they had to make sure that their tactics and secrets were not discovered.

……

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it was already time for the qualifiers.

Unlike the Grand Festival, the Ayame Tournament is divided into three stages: the preliminary rounds, the preliminary tournament, and the main tournament. In fact, the number of people who have registered for the Ayame Tournament is undoubtedly much larger than that of the Grand Festival, reportedly reaching a staggering 600+!

The fact that the competition has been narrowed down from over 600 participants to just 256 in the main event shows just how fierce and brutal it will be.

The preliminary rounds are one-on-one battles, and each player can only send one Pokémon to the field in each match. This is also the easiest place to lose. If the players are evenly matched, and you accidentally send out a Pokémon whose type is weak to yours, you may even be eliminated.

After ten days of closed training, Xia You and Xiao Zhi finally met again.

It makes sense. Even though they live in the same dormitory building, they hardly ever see each other. Xiaozhi occasionally sees Xiaoxia, but this is the first time he has seen Xiayou in all these days.

During this period, Xia You basically left early and returned late. Apart from eating and sleeping, he spent every day at the training ground. No one knew how he trained.

This made Xiao Zhi very curious about what kind of effect Xia You had achieved, but since Xia You didn't mention it, he was too embarrassed to ask.

Xia You, however, smiled at him and said, "Be careful, or you might get eliminated before you even get to the main competition."

"That's absolutely impossible!" Ash clenched his fist, clearly full of confidence. "Just wait for me, I'll definitely make it into the main competition!"

"That's hard to say," Xiaoxia chuckled. "What if you're unlucky enough to run into Xia You in the first round of the preliminaries? Wouldn't you be eliminated and sent home immediately?"

"Pah! Pah! Pah!" Speechless after being rebuked by Misty, Ash was annoyed. "Misty, shut your mouth!"

The preliminary rounds were not held in the main stadium in the lake, but in 15 identical individual small venues on the outermost perimeter. Although they were called small venues, they covered a large area and could accommodate 3000 spectators at a time. With the competition taking place in 15 venues at the same time, the scene and momentum were undoubtedly spectacular.

The enthusiastic audience nearly packed the entire venue to capacity.

No promotion was needed; the mere mention of the Hoenn Tournament was enough to generate the biggest buzz and discussion in the entire region.

Even though it was just the preliminary rounds, countless spectators flocked to the venues, filling them up almost instantly.

Xia You was assigned to Arena A4. After parting ways with Xiao Zhi, she came to this arena accompanied by Xiao Xia.

Although most trainers reach this stage after obtaining eight badges, and a few participate through other channels, the skill levels of these trainers vary greatly, leading to various dramatic scenes in the preliminaries.

Xia You's match number is 3, which means he will only be able to play in the third group of matches in Hall A4. While waiting in the audience, he also saw two matches that were not of very high level.

The first match was between two little boys. Although they looked to be the same age as Ash, they were clearly from an academic background!

They certainly have a wealth of theoretical knowledge, but when it comes to actually fighting with their Pokémon, it's a bit hard to describe.

It was all rigid offense and defense, just like strictly following the textbook. Not only did the audience lose interest, but even Xiaoxia was yawning constantly. It was really uninteresting. Perhaps only the two trainers present felt that this was a 'evenly matched' contest.

In the end, the red-haired boy narrowly won, taking nearly 7 minutes to defeat his opponent and successfully advance.

The audience gave a polite little applause, but the boy was oblivious, still smiling brightly and waving to the audience.

It wasn't until he left the field and the second group came on that people started to have a little interest.

If the previous battle was between junior teams, then this is the last stand of passion between middle-aged people.

Two middle-aged men, who looked like office workers, were sweating it out on the field. While giving commands, they also cheered for their Pokémon with gestures. They seemed to be putting in even more effort than their Pokémon.

But regardless, the close-quarters battle between the two Pokémon, with its brutal, hand-to-hand combat, was definitely much more exciting than the previous fight.

In the end, the slightly older middle-aged man was unfortunately eliminated.

However, this does not mean he has lost hope. In fact, due to the large number of participants, in order to determine 256 people, some people will inevitably have to fight one more match or receive a bye. As for this middle-aged man, although he lost the match, he will have another chance to fight because of his good performance. If he still cannot win by then, then he will be truly eliminated.

But none of this has anything to do with Xia You anymore.

In the third match, it was finally his turn to play.

And he proved with his strength what it means to achieve a "dimensional reduction attack"!

Despite only fielding Ibrahimovic, his exceptional skill allowed him to easily defeat his opponent.

This battle could only be described as 'suffocating'.

The entire match lasted 42 seconds from the referee's announcement to the referee's flag being raised. Throughout the match, Ibrahimovic's opponent didn't even touch him once and was defeated directly under Ibrahimovic's continuous attacks!

This surprised the audience watching the game, who then belatedly cheered.

Some of them had just opened their potato chip bags, put the chips in their mouths, and looked up to find that the game was over. How could they not be surprised?

Compared to the previous two battles, this is on a completely different level!

This also allowed the people of the Hoenn region to get to know for the first time the extremely handsome man in the Trainer Command Area, who had one hand in his pocket and a calm smile on his face!

Of course, compared to Xia You, his opponent stared blankly at his fallen Pokémon, then at the referee's flag, mouth agape, completely unable to believe that he had been eliminated so easily...

What was the purpose of all that effort over the past year?

It feels like the game is already over before it even started?

Regardless of the psychological trauma Xia You inflicted on his opponents, just the fact that he walked off the field amidst the cheers of the audience and gave Xiaoxia, who was waiting nearby, a light high-five.

"Wow, that's fast!" Xiaoxia chuckled. "I thought it would be easy before the match, but I really didn't expect my opponent to not even last a minute."

"It's because Eevee performed well." Xia You glanced at Eevee at her feet and laughed. "It didn't give its opponent any chance at all. With that, I should have no problem advancing to the next round. I just wonder how Ash is doing now."

"Want to go check it out? Ash's match is later in the series, it hasn't started yet."

"Of course we're going, let's go."

The two left the arena and headed towards the stadium where Ash was. On the way, he unexpectedly saw Team Rocket again!

To be honest, since traveling with Ash, the three of them have been appearing in public much more frequently.

But this time they weren't causing trouble; they were dressed as salespeople, with a small box hanging around their necks, selling things like rice crackers, milk candy, and juice bento boxes!

They even know to take this opportunity to make money...

All I can say is that, as long as they don't cause trouble or catch Pikachu, they are quite business-minded and hardworking. Although Musashi often complains verbally, they always succeed in what they do.