The first day of the Edge Cup.
Qualifying begins
The preliminary rounds consist of seven rounds; winning four of them will qualify you for the main preliminary rounds.
During the matches, the official team has a dedicated team to film the matches; individuals are not allowed to host their own live streams or record videos.
The preliminary rounds will be held on a small island in the lake, using a 1v1 format, with each match lasting thirty minutes.
If the match is not completed within 30 minutes, both sides will be considered to have lost. The main goal is to quickly and efficiently select Pokémon Trainer can participate in the preliminary rounds.
Contestants numbered 1-50 are in the first arena, 51-100 are in the second arena, and so on up to the fiftieth arena.
Roy then realized that there were more than two thousand young people participating in this Edge Cup. More than two thousand people competing for one championship position was incredibly fierce.
Roy and his two companions entered their respective Arena with their competition qualification certificates.
As Roy left, he said to Wallace:
"Wallace, don't get knocked out before you even make it past the first day of the qualifiers."
After receiving a middle finger from Wallace, Roy walked into Arena Two with satisfaction. Before entering Arena Two, Roy saw Tobias again.
The opponent's name tag read "Player 260," indicating they were in Arena 6. Roy silently memorized the number.
When Roy arrived at the second arena, there were already nearly 50 people in the stands, all of whom were also participating in the competition.
Roy even ran into someone he knew in the stands: Tetsuya, the champion of the Ever Grande Conference in the anime.
Beside it was a Meowth wearing boots and a fisherman's hat, walking upright with an indifferent expression.
In the anime, this Meowth is capable of defeating Team Rocket's Meowth and Ash's Pikachu.
However, there's a reason why the other party didn't evolve into the Persian (I won't go into the specific reasons, but if you're interested, you can watch the anime).
Roy never expected to run into him here.
Tetsuya's number was 55, which meant there was a possibility he would run into the other person.
Tetsuya felt Roy's gaze, turned to look at Roy, and saw Roy nod at him before turning his attention back to the battlefield.
Strange, do I know him?
In the preliminary rounds, there was only one referee: Officer Jenny and a person dressed as Prosecutor.
Outside the arena, there was also Nurse Joy and Chansey pushing a stretcher, waiting at any moment, but Roy didn't recognize Nurse Joy.
Next to the arena, there is a large screen that displays the players' numbers and their opponents.
The first match begins.
Feraligatr versus Gyarados.
Feraligatr tried to get close at the start, but was blasted back by Gyarados's Hydro Pump.
Roy watched the battle below and analyzed the data of the two Pokémon through the Analytic. Both were early-stage Gym Leader level Pokémon.
According to the requirements for participating in the Edge Cup, the strength of these participants must be at least intermediate Pokémon Trainer, so the Pokémon levels of the participating Pokémon Trainer are basically at the Gym Leader level or above.
Roy felt the intensity of the qualifiers was similar to the Intermediate Division at the Rustboro City Dome Arena.
He sat in the stands and watched the previous matches, feeling that apart from Tetsuya, there was probably no one who could threaten him.
Not long after, Roy saw his name appear on the big screen.
"Contestant number 99, Roy, will face off against contestant number 57, Cheng Yi!"
After hearing the referee call out his name, Roy walked up to the right-hand control panel. His first opponent was a man named Cheng Yi wearing a red baseball cap.
The two released their Pokémon together.
Roy sent out his own Lampent, who, after three months of growth, had reached level 49, just a little short of becoming a Pseudo-Elite Four.
Cheng Yi's Pokémon is a Lava Snail whose body is covered in magma and whose back shell is made of a rocky Magcargo that is still in molten lava.
System Scan
Pokémon: Magcargo
Level: 41
Sex: Male
Ability: Shattered Armor (If damaged by a physical attack, Defense decreases, but Speed increases significantly.)
Skills: Shell Smash, Ember, Rock Throw, Smog, Harden, Clear Smog, Incinerate, Smog, Rock Slide, Body Slam
Items to carry: Charcoal
Egg Move: Rollout, Inferno
Individual Values: 14
Technical Machine /Skill Transfer: Take Down, Earth Power
If the opponent commands Magcargo to use Rock type moves, Roy will be wary and tell Lampent to be careful.
But the opponent actually started by commanding the Magcargo: "Magcargo, use Incinerate."
Using Fire type move right off the bat is practically suicide. After taking the hit of the flame, the Lampent with the Flash Flame Flash Fire suffered no damage whatsoever. Instead, it absorbed the energy from the flame and used it for its own benefit.
The opposing Pokémon Trainer was completely baffled, assuming the flames weren't powerful enough, and commanded the Magcargo to use "Smog" again.
While the Magcargo's shell emitted raging flames, it also emitted a thick plume of black smoke, which even contained flames that sprayed towards the Lampent, but still did not cause any harm to the Lampent.
Moreover, after absorbing the two flames, the fireballs inside the Lampent Lampshade burned even more smoothly, and its momentum surged instantly. When Roy opened the system, he found that he had directly broken through to the level 50 Pseudo-Elite Four.
What kind people there are!
The scene unfolding before Cheng Yi's eyes caused Cheng Yi to faint.
His level was already lower than the Lampent. Now that the Ghostly Lantern is breaking through in the battlefield, he's completely out of the game.
Cheng Yi immediately raised his hand to indicate that he had a problem. The Pokémon on the other side probably had some kind of coating that could block Fire type attacks, otherwise how could his Magcargo have taken any damage?
The Prosecutor, who was familiar with the situation, stated that Lampent has the Flash Fire, so it's normal that Fire type moves cannot cause damage, and contestant number 99 did not engage in any cheating or other misconduct.
The match is to continue.
Many people in the stands nodded in agreement after hearing the Prosecutor's explanation; so that was the reason.
They need to be careful behind them; if they encounter Lampent, they shouldn't let their Pokémon use Fire type moves.
Flash Fire?
Cheng Yi seemed to recall something, and he became completely distraught.
While Cheng Yi was still pondering how to counterattack, Lampent Stockpile a Shadow Ball followed by a Psychic Shot, defeating Magcargo.
"The Magcargo is unable to fight; the winner is contestant number 99."
After the battle, Roy and Cheng Yi both left the stage. Cheng Yi handed his Poké Ball to Nurse Joy and then returned to his seat.
He then saw Roy waiting for him. He thought Roy was there to mock him, but Roy simply took out his Communicator and showed Cheng Yi his IQ account.
And ask the other party to follow your live stream, where you'll share information about Ghost type Pokémon regularly.
Cheng Yi, also bewildered, took out his Communicator and, with a series of maneuvers by Roy, successfully got the other party to follow him.
Roy hadn't forgotten his purpose in participating in the competition. Roy had no choice but to go offline to gain fans, since there were no spectators during the preliminary rounds.
After realizing that Roy meant no harm, Cheng Yi started chatting with Roy. Actually, Roy was still wondering why the other party would give him a boost right away, since Magcargo has so many Rock type moves that it doesn't use.
However, the reason was simpler than Roy had imagined: Cheng Yi didn't recognize Lampent at all. He had never seen this Pokémon during his travels, let alone knew Lampent Ability.
Looking at the Lampent's iron lampshade, he assumed it was Steel type, so he immediately ordered the Magcargo to use Fire type attack.
It was only after the Prosecutor spoke that he realized Fire type skills couldn't damage the Lampent.
Roy then realized that he had overcomplicated these people; they were different from him.
His knowledge of Pokémon came from both his past life's gaming experience and the extensive Pokémon knowledge notes left to him by Agatha.
Many Pokémon Pokémon Trainer like Cheng Yi acquire their knowledge through travel, and they haven't systematically studied the less common Pokémon knowledge.
This is also the biggest difference between travel-oriented and Academy Pokémon Trainer. Travel-oriented Pokémon Trainer focus more on practical application and believe that Academy Pokémon Trainer focus too much on theory and are just daydreaming.
Academy Pokémon Trainer, on the other hand, believe that traveling Pokémon Trainer have no theoretical foundation, only know how to fight, and are just reckless brutes.
But it was clear that Roy in front of him was not the dreamer he had imagined. Roy's Lampent, whether in terms of combat breakthroughs or skill strength, made him have to admit defeat.
Roy's conversation with Cheng Yi also attracted the attention of several other Pokémon Trainer nearby. Roy didn't miss a single one, took out his Communicator, and started collecting fans offline. Now, becoming a fan can also Harvest an autograph.
One or two is not too few, ten or eight is just right.