I caught a Pokémon

She'd even come up with a title for it!

'The man Karen has her eye on has traveled across the ocean to challenge the Indigo League in order to gain his approval!!'

Thinking of this, she excitedly asked a few more related questions, and finally, when the interview ended, she reached out and pulled Xia You up.

"Quick, quick, there's only one step left! Let's take a picture!"

"Do you want to take more photos?"

“Of course.” Pansy took out her camera and pushed Xia You in front of a white wall. “Since this is an exclusive interview, in addition to the video and article, your photos are also very important. You have a great image, and I think many girls will like it when the photos are released!”

"That kind of thing doesn't matter." Xia You waved her hand, then changed the subject, asking, "I just wonder where this report will be broadcast?"

“Of course it will be sent back to Carlos and reported locally,” Pansy laughed. “But in addition to the online video, our publishing house’s newspaper and magazine will also publish this report.”

Adjusting the focus, Pansy first took a few solo photos of Xia You, nodded in satisfaction, and then asked Xia You to release her Pokémon.

Because of the limited space in the living room, Xia You did not release large Pokémon such as Gyarados, Blastoise, and Charizard. Instead, she took several group photos with Gardevoir, Haunter, and Jolteon under the guidance of Violet.

It has to be said that Pansy truly deserves to be called an all-around reporter. Her photography skills are excellent. Even though it was just a few simple poses, she still managed to make Xia You look very cool!

……

When the next day dawned, Xia You, Xiao Zhi, and the others arrived at the lottery venue for the fourth time.

This time, they returned to the very first counter where they were the first to have their affairs handled.

Welcome!

The smiling staff once again congratulated them on their successful advancement.

Xia You exchanged a few polite words with her, and then Xiao Zhi couldn't wait to start drawing opponents.

In fact, as the final match of the qualifiers, everyone had already guessed their final venue. The only variable now was who their opponent would be.

As expected, Ash was assigned to the Grass Field, and his opponent was Kaoru from Girlstown!

When Xiaogang saw Xunzi's photo, he was instantly attracted by her beauty.

He was captivated for a moment, then proceeded to tell Xia You and the others as if listing precious treasures: "Do you know? This place called Girl Town is extraordinary. It wasn't originally called that, but since ancient times, this place has been known for its beautiful women, so over time, it came to be called Girl Town."

"Really..." Xiaoxia rolled her eyes at him. "I really don't understand. As a gym leader, you seem to know more about these kinds of gossip than about Pokémon."

After Xiao Zhi got his results, it was Xia You's turn next.

Xia You pressed the button, and as the light stopped, the Ice Arena appeared on the screen the instant the image froze. At the same time, Xiao Mao's avatar also appeared in front of everyone.

It's Xiao Mao!?

Everyone was taken aback. Although they knew that a fight between acquaintances was inevitable, the outcome still caught them off guard.

What they didn't know was that Xia You's opponent had already been designated by John, so no matter when he pressed the button, the final outcome would be the same.

Numerous footsteps echoed in the hall, and a boy's voice came from behind.

"Looks like I've finally met a worthy opponent!"

The group turned around and saw that the person who had come was Xiao Mao!

Beside him were more than a dozen cute young women, dressed in matching cheerleading outfits and holding ribbons; they were clearly his supporters!

Compared to his cheerleaders, Xia You's biker gang, covered in tattoos and dressed in outlandish clothes, was utterly pathetic.

Looking at Xia You, Xiao Mao smiled confidently: "I still remember when we first met in the wilderness of Golden City, you asked me to have a match. It seems that although I refused you at the time, this battle was ultimately inevitable. I just wonder who is stronger between us!"

Chapter 148 Xiao Mao's Harsh Words and Xunzi

After uttering those harsh words, Xiao Mao and his cheerleading squad walked away triumphantly.

At this point, he still hadn't calmed down; he was still that arrogant rich young master.

Both of them advanced to the fourth round, but Xiao Mao didn't really take Xia You seriously. On the contrary, he was seriously dissatisfied with the fact that Xia You had gained a lot of popularity after the previous round.

It's just that he defeated a weak girl!

If it were me, I could definitely end the battle more cleanly and efficiently!

Moreover, in terms of background, he is Professor Oak's grandson, and in terms of popularity, he is the most sought-after figure at this conference. Why is Xia You receiving so much attention?

Hmph! I'll teach you a lesson in a bit and show everyone who's really better!

Watching Xiao Mao's departing figure, among all the people present, only Xiao Chun was meeting Xiao Mao for the first time. Seeing that he dared to be so contemptuous and provocative towards Xia You, Xiao Chun's first impression of him was extremely bad.

After the draw, the final round of the preliminary competition will begin.

Xiao Zhi's match time is 11:00 AM, while Xia You's match time is scheduled for 3:00 PM.

Three o'clock, although it can't be considered prime time, is the only option, since there are only 32 people left, the number of matches has been reduced to 16, and each arena only holds four matches, so the time simply cannot be postponed.

After leaving the venue, they found a place to rest for a while. When it was almost time, Xiao Zhi went into the players' lounge, while Xia You and the others went to the stands in the Grass Field.

The place was still packed with people, but luckily a group of bikers had saved them seats in advance. However, they didn't expect that as soon as they sat down, they would see an acquaintance next to them!

An elderly man with short, silver-gray hair, wearing a white lab coat, was sitting next to a beautiful woman.

"Huh? Professor Oak!? And Aunt Hanako too? What are you doing here?"

Although he was squinting, Xiao Gang, with his sharp eyes, spotted the two people immediately.

Professor Oak was surprised to see Brock and Misty: "Oh, it's you two!"

Hanako smiled warmly and said, "Hello, thank you so much for taking care of Satoshi all this time. I'm so sorry to have troubled you."

"It's okay, we're teammates after all!" Xiao Gang said, then asked in surprise, "But I remember when Ash contacted you yesterday, weren't you in Pallet Town? Why did you come all the way here today to cheer him on?"

Professor Oak said, "While watching the game on TV at home is comfortable, you can only truly experience the atmosphere by coming to the venue!"

At that moment, Professor Oak's gaze swept past Brock and landed on Xia You.

Despite his advanced age and somewhat diminished memory, Professor Oak recalled things about this young man he had met once before, thanks to the matches he had participated in over the past few days.

"Your name is Xia You, right? I watched your match too. You're really amazing to have defeated so many opponents!"

Xia You greeted them in a friendly manner, then her gaze lingered on Professor Oak and Hanako.

This was the first time he had ever met Ash's mother, but he couldn't understand why such an ordinary housewife would hang out with an authoritative Pokémon professor every day!

Why doesn't Professor Oak refuse to talk to me when we clearly have nothing in common?

And since she came here to watch the match, why didn't she tell Ash beforehand?

Are you afraid of putting any pressure on him?

Shaking her head, Xia You banished these strange thoughts from her mind and then introduced Xiao Chun, who was beside her, to them.

"This is Koharu, Professor Sakuragi's daughter."

"Oh?" Professor Oak was extremely surprised and couldn't help but look at Haru a few more times. "I still remember when you were a month old, I went to your full moon celebration and even held you in my arms. I never imagined that time would fly by and you would grow up so much!"

Xiaochun nodded politely. Her mother had never told her about these things, and she herself would never remember them.

Professor Oak went on and on, seemingly speaking from the heart, and even revealed some secrets from Professor Sakuragi's school days.

However, these amusing anecdotes, which are of interest to scientists, held no appeal for Xiaochun.

At this moment, Xiao Zhi's match had already begun, and Xia You and the others quickly shifted their attention to the field.

Ash appears as the green team, while his opponent, Kaoru from Girlstown, appears as the red team.

However, unlike Ash's unremarkable walk into the training area, Kaoru's appearance was quite impressive!

A red carpet was laid out from the contestants' passage, and then a girl dressed in traditional red clothing slowly walked out, showered with flowers by attendants.

Her appearance was both dignified and elegant, instantly attracting the attention of most of the men in the room, including Xiao Gang.

Meanwhile, in the audience seats on one side, a group of boys and girls rhythmically banged on drums and gongs, while shouting loudly, "Miss Kaoru wins! Miss Kaoru wins!"

Even amidst the hustle and bustle of the match, the sound drowned out the noise from the stands, while Ash's side was completely at a disadvantage in terms of momentum.

Seeing this momentum, Xiaoxia murmured, "Wow, what a powerful aura! Looks like another popular player. How about we cheer for Xiaozhi too?"

"Forget it." Xiao Gang shook his head. "Don't waste your breath. With just a few of us, let alone compared to them, our voices probably wouldn't even make it out of the audience; they'd be drowned out by the crowd around us."

In the arena, when the referee announced the start of the match, Ash sent out Bulbasaur first, while Kaoru sent out Beedrill.

In terms of type, Beedrill, a Bug/Poison type, has a certain advantage over Bulbasaur, a Grass/Poison type. However, as soon as the battle began, Ash demonstrated his skill as a master of type reversal, using Leech Seed to bind the Beedrill flying in the air, and then using Tackle to end the battle.

What's strange is that although the first Pokémon was defeated, Kaoru's cheerleaders were not disappointed at all. Instead, they cheered and shouted, "There's one more!"

Despite the doubts, the competition continued.

Kaoru silently recalled Beedrill and sent out Scyther instead.

It's clear that her Scyther is indeed very strong, especially after it uses Shadow Clone, where the two phantom clones can move around the field together with the main body at the same time!

With this incredible ability, Scyther once pushed Bulbasaur to the brink of defeat, but in the end, Bulbasaur used Vine Whip to hit all of its clones at the same time, found its main body, and defeated it!

Chapter 149 Combat Methods Worth Learning From

Bulbasaur charged in twos at a time, its momentum unstoppable.

It seems the scales of this battle are tipping in Ash's favor.

Judging from the confident expressions of Xunzi's supporters, she must still have a final trump card up her sleeve!

As expected, despite losing the first two rounds, Kaoru showed no signs of panic. After recalling her Scyther, she calmly took out a third Poké Ball.

During the competition, everyone, including the host, the audience, and even Xiaogang and Xiaoxia, thought that the last Pokémon that Xunzi sent out would definitely be a cool-looking and powerful ace Pokémon.

But no one expected that when the Poké Ball was opened, what appeared before them was a Bellsprout!

Wow!!

The audience erupted in cheers, with incredulous exclamations echoing throughout the entire stadium!

Because Bellsprout is thin and frail, it is generally considered a weak Pokémon and cannot be associated with the word "powerful".

However, they never expected that after the first three rounds of battles, there would still be people using trumpet buds in combat!

Ash, in particular, immediately became dismissive of the trumpet sprout upon seeing it, believing he would easily advance.

However, when the competition began, the seemingly weak trumpet sprout taught everyone a lesson with its outstanding performance!

Faced with Bulbasaur's impact, it used the force to throw Bulbasaur over its shoulder, sending it flying a great distance!

Although it didn't cause any real damage, it still opened everyone's eyes.

"Wow!" the host exclaimed in surprise. "That's amazing! I never expected this trumpet bud to not only have such incredible strength, but it also seems to know some techniques of using softness to overcome hardness!"

In the arena, Bulbasaur was thrown around and became dizzy. When it regained its senses, it hurriedly got up and charged forward again, refusing to believe it was going to fail.

This time, Bellsprout grabbed Bulbasaur's forepaw and swung it around like a windmill a dozen times before flinging it far away again!

"This is absolutely incredible!"

Amidst the host's exclamations of praise, the audience also took notice of the trumpet-shaped bud.

Especially Kaoru's supporters were overjoyed, clearly having foreseen this outcome.

Even Kaoru herself couldn't maintain her composure and burst into laughter without any regard for her image.

As for Xia You, he actually had no memory of Xunzi or her trumpet sprout. Even if it was troublesome and caused Xiao Zhi a lot of trouble, it would eventually be defeated by Xiao Zhi.

Meanwhile, the battle continued. Taking advantage of Bulbasaur's fall, Bellsprout rushed forward and tossed Bulbasaur around like a rag doll, finally throwing it out of bounds. With a 'thud,' it crashed heavily onto the steps beneath Ash's feet!

When the referee announced the result, Ash, who was having some difficulty accepting it, immediately sent out his most trusted partner—Pikachu!

Even with Pikachu's appearance, Ash still couldn't secure a victory.

When the fourth battle began, Pikachu used Electric Shock, covering half the field, but Bellsprout managed to dodge the current with incredible agility.

Even its root-like feet, embedded in the soil, withstood Pikachu's 100,000-volt attack without injury!

Ash was at his wit's end. Seeing that he couldn't break through after a long time, he had no choice but to send Pikachu forward to engage Bellsprout in close combat.

Under Kaoru's tutelage, this trumpet sprout possessed exceptional physical skills, defeating Pikachu with a single heel kick in just a few rounds.

Xiaoxia was clearly surprised by the result.

"No way? Even Pikachu lost?"

“That’s not surprising.” Xia You shook her head. “Grass-type Bellsprouts have a 50% resistance to Electric-type attacks. Also, Pikachu’s performance is very inconsistent, with a high ceiling and a very low floor. It’s normal for it to lose to a weaker opponent.”

Fortunately, Ash did not panic when faced with the sudden reversal of fortune. Instead, he forced himself to calm down at this critical moment and sent out his last Pokémon.