I caught a Pokémon

There's really not much to say about this.

It's simply a choice between victory and friendship. Everyone understands the logic, but only simple-minded people like Ash and his friends would fall into such a prison of friendship and be unable to extricate themselves.

Although they seem to value friendship highly, from a trainer's perspective, they are undoubtedly unqualified.

If it were me, I would simply apologize and then do my best to defeat my opponent.

After all, only in this way can we show the greatest respect to our friends.

Seeing that Masamune was still standing there motionless, showing no intention of sending out the next Pokémon, the referee raised the colored flag again.

"Masamune has lost his will to fight, therefore..."

However, before the referee could finish speaking, Ash interrupted him. Because they were too far away, Xia You and the others couldn't hear what Ash was saying at all. They could only see him excitedly shouting a few words to Masamune, and Masamune gritted his teeth and finally took out the second Poké Ball.

Masamune's second Pokémon was Growlithe, but in terms of type, it wasn't a wise choice.

After all, with Ash's Griffin still on the field, Masamune had already lost a round, yet he still sent out Growlithe, whose type was weak against him, which was tantamount to creating a disadvantage for himself.

On the other hand, it's hard to say what might happen if a Fire-type Pokémon battles on an Ice Terrain. But then again, the opponent is a Garchomp. Even if the ice melts and the water surface is exposed, it would still be more advantageous for Garchomp.

This only makes Masamune's intentions even more puzzling.

Could it be that he was emotionally unstable and lost his mind, which led him to send the wrong Pokémon?

Amidst the doubts of the crowd, the second round of battle between Ash and Masamune began.

Ash didn't switch Pokémon; instead, he immediately commanded Corphish to launch a fierce attack, seemingly trying to wake Masamune up in this way.

To be honest, after what just happened, Masamune's condition has indeed improved a lot. Although he still can't directly attack Ash's Pokémon, he can at least give the correct commands.

Unfortunately, this was far from enough. The lobsters already had a type advantage, and Masamune was too timid, which led to the battle ending quickly, with Ash once again winning easily.

The audience became increasingly dissatisfied.

What the hell are they hitting?

Even the boos from the audience drowned out all other sounds!

Not only them, but even Xia You felt a little impatient.

It wasn't that he didn't understand; it's just that people came to watch the competition, not to watch a few players act coy. This was not only dragging out the competition time, but also wasting the enthusiasm of the entire Hoenn region.

The annual Saiyu Tournament is a grand event for everyone. People travel from afar to the stands, full of anticipation, or steal a moment from their busy schedules to watch the competition via broadcast. But what do they think when they see this scene?

One game is one thing, but failing to adjust one's mindset for two games in a row is really unacceptable.

This cannot be used as an excuse by saying that one is young, naive, inexperienced, or values ​​friendship.

Just then, Ash shouted something to Masamune across the field, and Masamune's expression visibly changed.

First came a blush of embarrassment, then anger, and finally, pain.

He held the fallen Growlithe and whispered something to it, then suddenly seemed to perk up and roared loudly.

As I said before, because they were too far away, probably no one except the referee and Ash could hear what he was shouting.

But in an instant, it seemed as if all the momentum had returned to Masamune.

"It's finally back to normal."

Xia You yawned widely and snorted through her nose.

Ash and Masamune's friendship moved them, but not outsiders. Now that the competition is about to get back on track, he has finally become a little interested.

On the field, Masamune, whose demeanor had changed drastically, shouted and then returned to his energetic self. After recalling Growlithe, he didn't wait for the referee's signal and immediately took out a third Poké Ball.

With a flash of blue light, a giant swamp monster appeared in front of the lobster soldier.

This time, facing Masamune in such a state, Ash did not recall the Garchomp that had already fought two battles and wasted a lot of energy, but instead let it continue to fight Swampert.

On one hand, Corphish had defeated two Pokémon in a row without getting hurt, and was riding high on his momentum. On the other hand, Ash didn't want to take advantage of Masamune!

Once the battle began, under the command of the two, the two Pokémon charged straight at each other, launching attacks from three distances: far, medium, and close.

A clash between water cannons and foam beams.

Mud shooting meets water jet.

A clash between True Qi Fist and Crab Claw Hammer.

The two Pokémon presented a most direct and exciting battle, and in just a few minutes, the two sides fought back and forth, resulting in a close contest!

The ice and rocks were shattered into ice shards under their attack, and the ice surface continued to crack. Half of the arena was completely altered in terrain due to their battle.

In the end, it was another clash between Focus Punch and Crab Claw Hammer. In the violent explosion, the two moves hit each other at the same time, and both Pokémon fell down at the same time.

The referee glanced at it and decisively raised the colored flag.

"Botty Lobster and Swampert are both incapacitated, resulting in a draw!"

Audiences are the most fickle. They can resent a contestant for being coy and boo them loudly, but a brilliant performance can completely change their minds.

That's how it is right now.

The battle that just took place was undoubtedly spectacular, and the audience gave the two Pokémon the loudest cheers, as if they had completely forgotten their earlier unpleasantness.

At this point, with Masamune having already lost three Pokémon, the match entered halftime.

Xiao Sheng and the others discussed it and decided to go to the lounge to cheer on Xiao Zhi, while Xia You, too lazy to move and too lazy to watch any 'promise to compete seriously' drama, stayed in the audience.

The short break passed in a flash.

When the two players returned to the arena, their second-half match venue had already been decided – the grass field.

When the battle began, Ash sent out his first Pokémon, Pikachu, but coincidentally, Masamune also sent out Steelix at that moment.

This is both good news and bad news.

The good news is that when Pikachu is in good condition, it will display great power when facing Pokémon whose type is effective against it, triggering its hidden Type Master ability and defeating them in no time.

The bad news is that this doesn't happen often.

Just like in this battle, despite Pikachu's constant running and attacking, trying to find an opportunity, it clearly couldn't unleash its full potential. In the final clash of Iron Tail, it was directly knocked to the ground by Steelix and lost its ability to battle.

It has to be said that since entering the main competition, whether it was facing Xiaofeng's Dugtrio before or facing Masamune's Steelix now, Pikachu has suffered two consecutive defeats due to its type disadvantage.

This is both surprising and yet makes perfect sense upon reflection.

After all, the reputation of being able to go 50/50 with a pickup truck is well-deserved!

Chapter 781 The More They Fight, the Stronger They Become

With Pikachu's defeat, the score reached 3-2, allowing Masamune to slightly salvage the situation. However, the two battles he almost squandered in the early stages still left him on the verge of danger.

Ash still has four Pokémon that haven't shown up yet, which means that Masamune will have to be careful in the next few battles and can't afford to lose any more Pokémon easily.

Once he brought Pikachu back to the Trainer Command Area, the match continued.

In this match, Ash released his Torkoal.

In terms of attributes, Torkoal is undoubtedly effective against Steelix, but Masamune did not change his Pokémon and continued to use Steelix to fight against it.

Despite his disadvantageous attributes, Masamune was completely unconcerned and instead exuded an imposing aura, as if he were a completely different person compared to the first two matches.

When the battle began, he even commanded Steelix and Coalossal to engage in a battle of moves.

Dragon's Breath and Flamethrower collided, but in the end, Flamethrower prevailed, negating the dragon's breath and continuing its flight, striking Steelix.

The flames dealt double damage to Steelix, causing it considerable pain. Seeing this opportunity, Ash decisively ordered Torkoal to press its advantage. However, when Torkoal unleashed its flames again, Steelix reacted and blasted them together with Dragon Breath once more.

This time, the flamethrower failed to overpower the dragon's breath, and the two attacks exploded in mid-air, producing a large amount of fire and smoke.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Steelix used Drill to burrow underground, while Torkoal used Retract to deal with the attack that came from nowhere, but was then rammed into the air by Steelix that emerged from directly below.

Just as the Coalossal fell from the sky and accidentally flipped over, Steelix seized the opportunity and used Dragon Breath on it again, rendering it unable to fight.

After a quick glance, the referee raised the colored flag.

"Tortoise is unable to battle, Steelix wins!"

They've already won two straight...

Surprisingly, despite its type disadvantage, Steelix defeated Torkoal, achieving a 1v2 victory!

On the other hand, the Coal Turtle's performance at the conference was as stable as ever.

Seeing Coal Turtle's defeat, Brock couldn't help but sigh, "Masamune's form is getting better and better..."

His words were met with nods of agreement from the people around him.

It was obvious to everyone that Masamune had completely let go of his psychological burden and acted without any hesitation, returning to his cheerful personality.

Even Xia You agreed, saying, "That's right. Compared to just now, Masamune's current state can be described as fiery. It's probably Xiao Zhi who's suffering now."

No one expected that after adjusting his condition, Masamune would win two games in a row and turn the score around. If he hadn't just given away two games, creating a huge advantage for Ash, Ash would probably be far behind now!

This also shows that Masamune's strength is quite considerable, not weaker than Ash's at all. If Ash cannot unleash the potential of his Pokémon, he may very well stop here if he is not careful.

With only three Pokémon left on each side, Ash hesitated for a moment before sending out his Grovyle.

From an attribute perspective, this doesn't seem like a good choice, since Grass-type Pokémon can't deal full damage when facing Steel-type Pokémon.

But this is Ash's Forest Lizard, which is not only powerful but also has a cool personality, showing no sign of panic at all.

Perhaps he forgot the rules of the competition, just like Ash just now. Masamune did not change his Pokémon either, and once again sent his Steelix, which had already fought two battles, to battle the Sceptile again, dragging its slightly tired body.

As expected, the forest lizard won the battle.

Facing the giant steel snake's burrowing attack, the forest lizard easily dodged with its agile footwork, and in the end, it even created a memorable scene by facing the dragon's breath!

The forest lizard leaped high into the air, then crossed its arms in front of its head and used its leaf blades to cleave through the dragon's breath, charging straight to the giant steel snake's massive head and striking it heavily!

Boom!

The massive Steelix crashed down, causing the entire grass field to tremble.

When people looked at Steelix on the big screen again, they found that it had already fainted.

As expected of the top star, this set of moves was really cool and left a deep impression on the audience!

"Steel Snake is unable to battle; Grovyle wins!"

The score was tied again, and the two players were back on the same starting line. It has to be said that every match between Ash and Masamune has been very exciting since things returned to normal, and it has truly shown the audience what the top 8 players should be like.

Unfortunately, one of them is destined to fall in the round of 16.

In the stands, Xia You kept her eyes on the field and reached for the snacks on her seat, but found none.

He didn't think much of it and went to touch the other bags, but to his surprise, they were all empty again!

Ok?

Puzzled, he had to look down, and to his surprise, he found that all his snacks were gone, with only a few wrappers left on the spot!

Did I eat that fast?

Suddenly remembering something, Xia You quickly looked at Xiao Yao beside her and saw her with her cheeks puffed out, chewing on something like a little squirrel!

Needless to say, she must have stolen all my snacks!

But when?

Wow, that's fast!

And despite buying so much, Xiaoyao ate it all, which is really outrageous!

By the time his attention returned to the arena, Ash and Masamune had already resumed their battle.

This time, Masamune sent out a Gliscor, a Pokémon that, as its name suggests, has wings on its back and is shaped like a scorpion.

Its body is purple, the inside of its wings is blue, it has two sharp teeth protruding from its mouth, large pincers at the tips of its wings, and a terrifying giant needle at the tip of its tail.

It is said that scorpions build their nests on steep cliffs. They glide silently across the sky as if they were gliding on the ground. After each glide, they hop back to their nests. They usually cling to the cliffs and are adept at using the membranes on their hands and feet to move with the wind. When they spot their prey, they spread their wings and pounce on it, flying towards their opponent as if gliding through the air. They will also use the large claws on their arms and the claws on their feet to grab the prey's face. Then, while the prey is panicked by the entanglement, they will stick to the opponent's face to startle it before attacking with their venomous stinger.

Although Xia You had some prior knowledge of Scorpion, it was all from anime and games. This was the first time she had seen a trainer use it since arriving in this world, so she couldn't help but take a closer look.

At this moment, Scorpion's opponent was still Grovyle. The two Pokémon fought at an extremely fast speed and were evenly matched. However, Grovyle took advantage of the dense grass and the terrain to gain a certain advantage. During one of Scorpion's low-flying flights, Grovyle leaped onto its back, attempting to launch an attack from behind.

However, Scorpion reacted quickly, taking the forest lizard high into the air and throwing it down. High in the air, the forest lizard was unable to move and had nowhere to avoid it. In the end, Scorpion grabbed its neck and slammed it hard to the ground.

Ultimately, the forest lizard was knocked unconscious by the massive impact and lost its ability to fight.

This was an extremely fast-paced battle; the outcome was decided in just a few minutes from the start to the end.

Under such a fast-paced attack, both Ash and Masamune entered a state of excitement. Just as the referee raised the colored flag, Ash recalled his Grovyle and sent out Swellow without hesitation.