The competition continued until the sixth day of the Edge Cup, when the preliminary rounds and initial matches concluded, marking the halfway point of the Edge Cup.
In the afternoon after the preliminary rounds ended, the contestants who advanced to the main competition were kept behind by Officer Jenny.
Of the 820 people who initially participated in the preliminary rounds, only 256 remain across the four medium-sized Arenas – exactly the right number of participants.
The four Officer Jenny led everyone into the main arena, the largest Arena on the largest island in the lake, which is also the venue for the Ever Grande Conference.
The arena alone will be four times the size of the preliminary rounds, and the circular Arena alone will have tens of thousands of seats for the audience.
A stand has been set up in the center of the audience seating area, with a row of judges' seats on it. The judges for this year's Edge Cup will be revealed tomorrow.
Standing at the command post, Officer Jenny, explained the rules of the main competition to the Pokémon Trainers participating in the Arena.
They will participate in two rounds of the main competition tomorrow and the day after. The main competition is different from the preliminary rounds, and it will adopt a 3v3 battle mode.
Moreover, it's a single-round elimination game; if you lose, you're immediately eliminated, with no room for error.
The opponent is still determined by drawing lots, and the person who is drawn does not need to draw again.
A mysterious figure dressed in a white robe stood quietly beside the lottery box, while the contestants had already lined up to draw lots with practiced ease.
Roy reached into the wooden box and randomly picked up a bamboo skewer.
[No. 28]
Roy drew Pokémon Trainer #28, Flannery, from Lavaridge Town.
Roy paused for a moment when he saw the name. Wasn't this the future Gym Leader of Lavaridge Town? Why hadn't Steven found any information about her?
Cade, who was at the back of the group, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Roy drawing lots in front of him. He was glad that Roy hadn't been eliminated in the preliminary rounds and qualifiers.
He didn't want Roy to be eliminated even more Roy did.
However, he felt a little disappointed when he saw that Roy's opponent in the draw was not him.
His main concern was that Roy would be eliminated by someone else, and that losing once in the main tournament meant immediate elimination with no further opportunities.
If Roy wasn't the one who eliminated him, then why bother proving that he's the one who deserves the Dragon God's blessing?
After Steven and Wallace drawing their opponents, the three of them returned to the hotel together.
In the hotel room, Roy reviewed Flannery's previous battle records via Communicator and finally understood why Steven hadn't collected information about Flannery.
Because Flannery's strength was somewhat weak, Steven didn't even consider her a potential opponent.
Flannery is about the same age as him, both under 14 years old. Most of their Pokémon are at the Gym Leader level, and Flannery's ability to reach the main competition is largely due to luck.
In the first game, Flannery drew a nameless bamboo stick and advanced directly to the second round. In the subsequent matches, Flannery won 3 out of 5 games in the preliminaries, barely making it into the main draw.
Especially in the final round, Blaziken fought against a Nidoking and fought to the very end, with Blaziken only falling one second later than Nidoking, thus qualifying for the main event.
The highest level Blaziken that Flannery has ever used is a mid-level Gym Blaziken, which should be the opponent's main force.
After learning about Flannery's situation Roy began selecting the three Pokémon the next day. To deal with Flannery, the future Fire type Gym Leader, his Flash Fire Lampent would definitely have to make an appearance.
Then there's Drakloak, who can U-turn and Baton Pass, and can team up with Lampent.
As for the last one... Roy looked at his other Pokémon, except for Palossand, and after thinking for a moment, decided to send out his Misdreavus.
Primeape looked on enviously at his companions who could go into battle. He hadn't volunteered to fight since he lost control last time, because he was afraid of causing trouble for Roy.
I've been taking the sedative Potion that Agatha gave me for the past two days, and it has indeed helped stabilize my mind a lot.
Seeing the envious look in Primeape's eyes, Roy crouched down so that his perspective was level with Primeape's.
"Don't worry, we can definitely do it."
This is the sentence Roy has said to Primeape the most recently, because he is also afraid that Primeape will lose its fighting spirit.
"Extremely popular!"
Primeape nodded emphatically, then cheered on his three companions who were about to take the stage.