Cottonee (Please Bookmark, Vote, and Send Monthly Tickets!)

After Jiang Jing stepped down, Zhou Wan took the stage. She was as formidable as ever. Once Jiang Jing came down, he began to think: Could Aron possibly defeat Staryu?

The answer was brutal: almost certainly not. The level gap was too large. Staryu was level 17, while Aron was only level 13—a difference of four levels. Staryu also had Two-Star Talent. Though it was one star below Aron, the gap was tiny.

If Aron had Four-Star Talent and were level 14, there might have been a chance. Defeating an opponent three levels higher would still have been plausible.

As for Liang Sheng, there was indeed nothing he could do. If his luck was truly bad, then so be it. He still had to fight; he could not just surrender outright.

A level 21 Drilbur was simply too high-level. There was no way to figure out how to fight it, and it definitely had not hatched just two months ago.

The nation stipulated that people could only have their own Pokémon in their second year of high school. In fact, they could begin hatching their own Pokémon as early as June of their first year.

That was the national rule, and there were corresponding punishments. Yet many families still chose to arrange Pokémon for their children when they were very young.

As for why they did that, just think about it. Your Pokémon had only trained for three months in a competition, while mine had been raised for over a decade. The level gap would be absurd. What could you possibly use to fight me?

This situation severely undermined fairness and could easily trigger excessive competition. Although the rule came with penalties, they were nothing more than fines. Wealthy families did not care about such trivial amounts and could pay them casually.

So, in the name of fairness, the nation introduced a new clause: all large-scale competitions had to conduct strict inspections of Pokémon ages.

The country's technology had now reached the point where it could determine a Pokémon's age down to the month.

In other words, once a Pokémon was found to be over the age limit, it would automatically lose its eligibility to compete. It would also be banned from all large Pokémon-related competitions for the next two years, including the National College Entrance Examination.

The punishment was no small matter. It was exceptionally harsh, and that was what ensured fairness throughout the two years of high school and the first year of university.

But it only lasted three years. Once they reached their second year of university, the clause would automatically be voided, and there would no longer be an age limit.

After entering university, things became extremely unfriendly for Trainers from ordinary families. That was why they had to seize these three years and develop like mad.

Who knew what level of Pokémon others would bring out by their second year of university?

Unfortunately, Cerulean Supermarket had no Pokémon age restriction. Otherwise, Liang Shen's Drilbur would never have been allowed to compete.

The Suicune Cup Pokémon Challenge was merely a small neighborhood competition, so it was unlikely to have age restrictions. After all, many Pokémon were kept as pets and were already quite old.

While Jiang Jing was spacing out, all five groups of matches ended in less than an hour.

The remaining six were Jiang Jing, Liu Bin, Zhou Wan, Lin Manman, Liang Shen, and the plain-looking guy.

Among them, Zhou Wan, Liang Shen, and the plain-looking guy were in the same tier. Jiang Jing would have a hard time beating any of them, though the plain-looking guy should have been the easiest to deal with.

The electronic screen was arranging the next round of matches.

"Stop!" the female host called out.

The entire screen switched, and all the matchups for the next round appeared.

Jiang Jing quickly looked over.

Second match: Jiang Jing VS Lin Manman

His luck was pretty good. He had drawn one of the two weakest opponents; the other was Liu Bin. Liu Bin's luck had run out, since his opponent was Liang Shen, the strongest one.

Liu Bin said mournfully, "Brother Jing, how did this happen? This is so unfair. I actually drew Liang Shen."

Jiang Jing said, "Enough. It's already impressive that you made it this far. Of the five of us left, who do you think you can beat?"

Liu Bin said, "That Lin Manman!"

Jiang Jing said, "At most, you'd be evenly matched with Lin Manman. The others aren't opponents you can beat, so you should be secretly thrilled to have made the top six."

Thinking it over, Liu Bin realized: That's true.

After everyone rested for twenty minutes and the Pokémon had mostly recovered, the challenge continued.

The first match was the plain-looking guy against Zhou Wan. Jiang Jing favored Zhou Wan. He would absolutely not admit that it was because Zhou Wan was pretty.

Pidgeotto was one level higher than Staryu and had the advantage of flight, but Staryu had greater talent, and Zhou Wan's command ability was stronger.

The plain-looking guy was visibly nervous. Sweat kept dripping from his forehead, and his expression was frighteningly serious.

Unfortunately, Pidgeotto had wanted to use its aerial advantage to continually wear down Staryu. But Zhou Wan was too cunning. She had Staryu pretend that it was about to collapse, luring Pidgeotto into landing before hitting it precisely with a Water Gun.

It was blasted from the sky, crashed onto the ground, and lost its ability to battle.

The plain-looking guy dejectedly recalled Pidgeotto and silently returned to the contestants' area.

Jiang Jing stood up. It was his turn. Liu Bin said beside him, "Good luck, Brother Jing!"

Lin Manman said nervously, "Xiao Wan, I'm so nervous. What should I do?"

Zhou Wan took her hand and calmly said, "Don't be nervous. Just fight. Losing isn't a big deal."

"If you lose, I'll get revenge for you. Don't worry."

Lin Manman breathed a sigh of relief. "Xiao Wan, I feel much better after hearing that. I'm going up."

Zhou Wan said, "Mm, go on!"

Lin Manman took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and hurried onto the Arena in quick little steps.

Then she looked at Jiang Jing somewhat nervously. Taking a closer look, she realized he was really handsome. He had traces of all sorts of celebrities she liked—he was totally her type. No, wait, I'm in the Arena. Why am I thinking about such random things?

With that thought, she vigorously shook her head, leaving Jiang Jing utterly confused. What the hell? Why was she shaking her head?

Referee: "The battle begins. Both sides, release your Pokémon!"

"Go, Aron!"

"Show yourself, Cottonee!"

The two Pokémon appeared amid flashes of white light.

Cottonee looked like a light-green bulb with three dark-green leaves atop its head. It was small and adorable.

Pokémon: Cottonee

Type: Grass

Talent: ★★

Level: LV11

Ability: Chlorophyll

Its level was not high, and its talent was not impressive either. It had already lost half the battle at the starting line.

"Aron, use Headbutt!"

Jiang Jing had watched Lin Manman's previous matches. She always opened with Sleep Powder, catching her opponents off guard. Once they inhaled the Sleep Powder, they would immediately fall asleep, then get drained by repeated Absorb attacks until they lost the ability to battle.

But once that attack pattern was known, it was easy to counter.

"Cottonee, use Sleep Powder!"

Cottonee remained where it was as countless green particles sprayed out around it in every direction.

"Aron, hold your breath. Don't inhale the Sleep Powder."

Aron did not slow down, but it held its breath and did not inhale the Sleep Powder.

Jiang Jing secretly laughed. I've been waiting for this move!