[2400 people participated, and in the end, more than 820 people were able to participate in the preliminary round of the main competition.]
Nearly two-thirds of the contestants were eliminated in the two-day preliminary rounds of the Edge Cup!!!?
Upon seeing this news, Roy couldn't help but marvel at how the intensity of the Edge Cup was already comparable to that of other regional Pokémon League.
And we don't even know how many more people will be eliminated in today's preliminary rounds.
Roy won 13 out of 14 matches in the two days of qualifiers, losing only one.
The reason it couldn't win was because the opponent's Blastoise was at Pseudo-Elite Four rank, a full 7 levels higher than Palossand. Palossand couldn't withstand the opponent's Hydro Pump, and the amount of health restored by Giga Drain wasn't even as much as the opponent's damage, so it couldn't win.
However, he didn't care about winning or losing that match; he just considered it as helping Palossand gain combat experience, since he had already advanced to the preliminary rounds.
The main competition begins after the preliminary rounds. The preliminary rounds consist of five rounds of matches over three days, with no time limit. Winning three rounds is enough to advance to the main competition.
The preliminary rounds were held on four medium-sized islands in the middle of the lake.
Because the preliminary rounds eliminated too many players, the organizers shuffled the players' order and randomly assigned them to four Arena instead of the original ranking.
Each battleground consists of over two hundred players, and is also a 1v1 mode.
Roy was assigned to the first arena, where he and Wallace were in the same Arena. After saying goodbye to Steven, the two quickly went to the preparation room backstage of the Arena.
Roy stepped onto the medium-sized island, whose battlefield area alone appeared to be larger than the island used in the qualifiers.
They've already reached the Intermediate Division of the Dome Arena in Rustboro City. If they make it to the semifinals... Roy looked up at the enormous island in the distance, the venue for the semifinals and finals.
When the two reached the players' tunnel, Roy discovered that there were finally ticketed spectators in the arena, surging into the stands.
This thrilled him immensely; in Roy's eyes, these viewers were all just sitting ducks waiting to be Popularity Points!
Moreover, the stands were completely full, mainly because Tobias was also in the Arena.
Many viewers who watched this year's competition reported that a Legendary Pokémon had appeared in the Edge Cup.
Everyone wanted to see for themselves if the Legendary Pokémon really looked exactly like the pictures online, so they all bought tickets and came to Battlefield Number One.
Roy stumbled upon the popularity of the Legendary Pokémon Man by accident, but whether he can fully capitalize on it depends on his performance.
Seeing Roy looking excitedly at the audience, Wallace was speechless. They had had this many spectators when they participated in the Rookie Cup before.
"What are you looking at? Hurry up and move!"
Wallace's question was met with Roy's dismissive "You wouldn't understand."
As soon as they entered the contestants' preparation area, the two spotted Tobias immediately, mainly because he was too conspicuous.
Tobias stood alone in the corridor, and no one dared to approach him.
This created a vacuum zone within a 3-meter radius of Tobias.
Yesterday morning, for some unknown reason, news circulated on IQ that Tobias is actually the grandson of Chairman Damaranch.
However, this rumor frightened Chairman Damaranch so much that he immediately issued a denial overnight. He doesn't even have a spouse yet, so how could he suddenly have a cyber grandson?
Just because both of them have the word "da" in their names, we can't just doubt him!!!
Darkrai also has the character "Da" in his name, so why not say Darkrai is his grandson?
Of course, Roy didn't believe it either. Just as Roy and Wallace were exchanging trash talk and chatting in the players' preparation room, an Officer Jenny pushed a large box into the preparation room.
Following behind Officer Jenny was a mysterious person whose gender was indistinguishable, wearing a veil and a white blouse.
Roy sensed a similar aura from this person as he had felt from Asahi Nana, the Psychic type in the Safari Zone.
This person also Psychic type.
Officer Jenny reiterated the rules, including the Pokémon 1v1 format and the 5-win-4-advance rule, to the contestants in the preparation room.
In order to prevent any cheating, the tournament organizers still use the most basic method of drawing lots to select opponents, and those who are drawn do not need to be drawn again.
There are a total of 205 bamboo sticks in the cart in front of her. The contestant who is not drawn at the end will advance directly.
After all, luck is also a part of ability.
At the same time, Officer Jenny stated that the person following behind her is an Advanced Psychic, which is also to prevent any contestant from having some special means to sense the numbers on the bamboo sticks, which can be said to have brought the anti-cheating system to the top level.
"Wallace, don't you dare touch me with that stinky hand, or don't blame me for being ruthless and turning on you."
"You? Pfft~"
Wallace snorted at Roy and went to Officer Jenny's cart to draw her first opponent.
He randomly pulled out a bamboo skewer from the wooden box, picked it up and looked at it; the skewer was marked with the number 260.
No. 260?
Isn't that Tobias's race number?
Wallace a gold medal on her first try?
Those behind him breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Wallace had drawn Tobias; they didn't want to face Tobias either.
Only Wallace returned to Roy's side with a dark expression, clearly feeling immense pressure facing Tobias.
Roy nudged Wallace, Wallace turned his head away. He knew Roy was just going to laugh at his clumsy hand, so he simply ignored him.
Roy's thoughts were perfectly guessed by Wallace. Seeing that Wallace was ignoring him, Roy started teasing the Snorunt in his arms.
Before he could even go up to draw a lot, a petite girl with a bun hairstyle, wearing a loose long gown, drew it.
The girl is Xiaonan, one of the two inheritors of Psychic type from Mossdeep City.
He is also the gym leader of the Gym that requires Double Battle challenge in the game.
Roy hadn't expected to face his opponent in his very first match of the preliminary rounds.
However, he wasn't worried. According to Steven, Xiaonan's strength was inferior to her younger brother, Xiaofeng, and her strongest Pokémon was only a Gallade that was about to reach the level of Pseudo-Elite Four.
After all the players had drawn their lots, the large screen in the preparation room lit up, with the camera pointed directly at the battlefield.
A Charizard descended from the sky on the screen, spewing scorching flames from its mouth, and circled the First Arena where they were.
There was a blurry figure faintly visible on the Charizard's back, but the photo wasn't very clear.
As the camera zoomed in, everyone could see that a person wearing a headset and holding a microphone was sitting on the back of the Charizard. Clearly, this person was the host for the first battle.
Such a stylish entrance instantly attracted the attention of the audience.
"Welcome everyone to the preliminary round of our Edge Cup. I am Lei Ye, the host of the first venue."
I'm sure everyone is eagerly anticipating our Edge Cup. Who will emerge victorious?
Without further ado, let's welcome our two first contestants, contestant number 400 Xiaonan, and contestant number 99, Roy!
Before leaving the preparation room, Roy patted Wallace on the shoulder, gave him a "watch out for me" look, and then walked out of the preparation room.
After passing through the players' tunnel and arriving at the arena, Roy nodded in satisfaction upon seeing the large number of spectators and the dozens of Drone and cameras set up.
There shouldn't be any need to worry about Popularity Points in future matches.
After seeing Roy walk onto the command platform, the male host on Charizard's back directed Charizard to come to Roy's side.
"This is our number 99, Roy, Ghost-type Trainers from the Rustboro Academy! He entered our preliminary rounds with a record of 13 wins in 14 matches!"
Ghost-type Trainers?
Some of the audience members recognized Roy, since Roy had been streaming on iQ for a long time and they would occasionally see him on their feeds.
"I think I watched his live stream; Professor Birch explained Ghost type knowledge in his stream."
"Now that you mention it, I remember. That streamer was possessive of his food; there was a blonde beauty in the livestream, I only saw her once, and he immediately swiped her account!!!"
"Dad, look! It's Roy! He's looking at us! Quick, hold up the sign!"
Erika shook Second Kiku's shoulders with all her might, but her thin arms and legs couldn't budge Second Kiku at all.
Second Kiku had no choice but to pick up the fan light board with the words "Roy and Litwick Fan Club" on it and hold it up.
His daughter had been clamoring to come ever since she heard that Roy was going to participate in some kind of "Edge Cup," so he had no choice but to bring her to Ever Grande City. Now he even had to hold up a light stick for that brat Roy.
After setting down the lantern, Second Kiku looked at Ziyu, who had come with him, and asked:
"By the way Ziyu, when are you Unova? My older brother started calling me the day before yesterday, telling me to hurry up and go back."
"Next month, anyway, the holiday isn't over yet. I heard this is a city full of flowers, and I'd like to go to the Miracle Garden after watching the game."
Ziyu's answer brightened Second Kiku's mood; people always need to compare themselves to others.
Now that his eldest brother's daughter is also disobedient, he can finally relax.