Eevee

The instant Machop rolled to its feet, it drove power through its waist, its right leg swinging like a heavy hammer charged with force as it viciously kicked the charging Aron.

At that moment, Aron's 60-kilogram weight became a fatal weakness. Combined with Aron's all-out charge, the power of [Low Kick] erupted completely.

Aron was kicked onto the ground, its metal armor slamming directly into the arena with a piercing scrape. The billowing dust obscured everyone's vision.

Yamazaki's face turned pale at the sight, and he trembled as he called out, "Aron..."

As the dust settled, the two Pokémon were revealed. Machop stood where it was, slowly exhaling a mouthful of Qi, its gaze fixed tightly on the fallen Aron.

After confirming Aron's condition, the referee raised the red flag in his hand and announced, "Aron is unable to battle! Contestant Ishikawa wins!"

Following the referee's announcement, the audience fell silent for a moment before erupting into thunderous applause.

After checking whether Machop was hurt, Trainer Ishikawa high-fived Machop in celebration. Meanwhile, Trainer Yamazaki recalled Aron in a daze and left the arena dejectedly amid the audience's cheers.

"Amazing!" Yingnan excitedly patted Xinhai on the shoulder. "But Low Kick really counters Aron to death!"

Xinhai stared at the Qi-spirited Machop and its trainer on the stage, then smiled and nodded. "Normally, both of them should have advanced. Too bad they ran into each other."

"Classmate, how did you know Machop would win?" A clear voice came from behind him.

Xinhai turned around and saw a girl with twin ponytails. She held an Eevee in her arms, and both were staring directly at him with curious eyes.

The girl also wore a contestant badge on her chest, clearly marking her as a participant in this competition.

Yingnan squeezed over first and said seriously, "Speed."

The girl repeated in confusion, "Speed?"

Yingnan explained further, "Aron was already slower than Machop. On top of that, after being knocked down by Low Kick the first time, Aron's leg was clearly injured. How could it possibly catch up to Machop?"

Xinhai found Yingnan's enthusiasm a little strange, but he did not interrupt. He listened to Yingnan's analysis and compared it with his own.

The girl nodded thoughtfully. The Eevee in her arms also chirped, "Eevee, Eevee," as if agreeing.

Yingnan continued, "And Machop's initial burst of speed was obviously much faster than Aron's. But afterward, its speed became roughly the same as Aron's. The gap between them kept gradually closing, so Machop was clearly slowing down on purpose and waiting for an opportunity."

"So that was it!" The girl clapped excitedly, startling Eevee into jumping up. "You're amazing! Could we exchange contact information? My name is Shimizu Shali, and I'm a student at Trainer School. You can just call me Shali. This little one is Eevee. We're contestants too! If I run into battle problems in the future, could I ask you for advice?"

Yingnan smiled upon hearing that. "Of course! We're both contestants, so we can exchange experience."

Watching the two add each other as friends, Xinhai felt something was a little strange. Still, he silently praised Yingnan's excellent memory. Yingnan still missed a few details, but that's normal. It's easy to have omissions or inaccuracies when relying only on memory.

After Machop wiped most of the mud off its face while running at high speed, it looked at Aron twice more. Only then did it gradually slow down.

Machop's direction of travel had happened to block Trainer Yamazaki's line of sight. Otherwise, it probably wouldn't have ended so easily.

That was most likely Qi. Trainer Ishikawa had looked nervous at the time too. Qi could be important sometimes, but I can't leave my own success or failure to Qi.

Shali looked at Xinhai, who seemed to be spacing out but was actually reviewing the battle in his head, and asked Yingnan, "What's wrong with him?"

Yingnan glanced at Xinhai and immediately said, "Oh, him? He's spacing out. He does that all the time, so don't worry about it."

Shali looked at the seemingly absent-minded Xinhai in confusion. "Is that so?"

At that moment, the Eevee in Shali's arms jumped directly onto Xinhai's shoulder. Seeing that he still had not snapped out of it, Eevee curiously patted his cheek with its paw pad.

Shali had wanted to stop Eevee's prank when she saw it jump onto Xinhai's shoulder, but Yingnan stopped her.

Yingnan thought: There was a good show coming. ✧(≖ ◡ ≖)

If Trainer Yamazaki had moved along with both Pokémon, this wouldn't have happened! I need to learn from this and make sure I don't make the same mistake... Xinhai, who was already close to snapping out of it and was admonishing himself not to repeat the same error, was startled awake by the pat and looked toward his shoulder.

Eevee: (๑•̌.•̑๑)ﾉ

Xinhai: (⊙ˍ⊙)?

"Goose goose goose goose goose..."

Yingnan immediately burst into goose-like laughter at the sight, while Shali also let out a snort of laughter. People nearby turned to look after hearing them.

Seeing everyone looking over, Shali apologized to Xinhai, quickly scooped Eevee off his shoulder, and fled the scene with a flushed face.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't go!"

Xinhai saw Yingnan trying to stop Shali, but grabbed him. "Forget it. Look around you. She's embarrassed already."

Xinhai rubbed the cheek Eevee had patted. The soft feeling of Eevee's paw pad still lingered there, yet the corners of his mouth rose unconsciously.

Eevee really is adorable. I have to catch one when I get the chance.

After hearing Xinhai's words, Yingnan looked around and scratched his head awkwardly. Then his expression changed, and as though he could no longer see anyone else's stares, he watched the battle in the arena with a serious face.

Xinhai shook his head at the sight and looked back toward the battle as well. This match was another one-sided beatdown, with a Bulbasaur smacking around a Geodude.

Before long, Geodude had been beaten until it could no longer battle, lying on the ground covered in wounds.

The referee immediately raised the blue flag and declared loudly, "Geodude is unable to battle. Bulbasaur wins."

After another two rookie slap-fights, a familiar surname reached the ears of both Xinhai and Yingnan.

"Next match: Trainer Tanaka versus Trainer Shimizu. Please come to the stage."

Xinhai and Yingnan exchanged a look, then turned toward the man and woman walking onto the field. "It really is her!"

As Shali carried Eevee onto the stage, her twin ponytails swayed gently with her steps. Her originally nervous expression relaxed a little when she caught sight of Xinhai and Yingnan in the stands.

She waved at the two of them, while Eevee poked its head out and chirped with a soft, childish Qi, "Eevee, Eevee."

"Please send out your Pokémon," the referee said, glancing at the two contestants.

Trainer Tanaka across from her took a deep breath of Qi and threw out his Poké Ball. A flash of red light appeared, and a Poochyena emerged on the field, its sharp teeth glinting coldly under the lights.

"Go, Poochyena!"

"Eevee, do your best!" Shali said to the Eevee in her arms.

Eevee nodded and jumped into the arena as well, locking eyes with Poochyena.

Seeing that both sides had sent out their Pokémon, the referee swept his flag downward. "Battle begin."

"Eevee, use Tail Whip!" "Poochyena, rush in and use Fire Fang!"

Eevee spun in place, its fluffy tail swaying from side to side while its watery eyes were full of innocence.

Poochyena hesitated, but it still charged forward quickly, opening its jaws and biting at Eevee.

Just as Poochyena was about to bite Eevee, Eevee sidestepped and narrowly avoided the attack. At the same time, it blinked its eyes, sending a pink heart flying toward Poochyena.

Poochyena was enveloped by the pink heart, and its movements immediately slowed. Its eyes became dreamy as it stared at Eevee with a lovestruck grin.

"Wake up, Poochyena!" Trainer Tanaka shouted anxiously at the sight.

"Great chance! Use Swift!" Shali commanded. More than a dozen golden stars appeared around Eevee and flew toward Poochyena. The infatuated Poochyena had no ability to dodge and was blasted head-on, kicking up waves of dust.

Poochyena woke up after being attacked. Once it regained its senses, a fierce glint filled its eyes. A low growl rumbled from its throat, and every hair on its body stood on end with anger.

Trainer Tanaka seized the chance and shouted, "Poochyena, use Bite!"