The preliminary round

"Class, this afternoon we'll be holding the preliminary round. All forty of you will draw lots for your matchups, and twenty will advance to tomorrow's Semifinals. Come over here now to draw your lots and find out who you'll be facing," said their homeroom teacher, Jin Haoxian, holding a box of lots.

The lots were labeled with letters, with two lots for each letter. Students who drew the same letter would battle each other.

Zhang Cheng drew F, while Ye Tian drew C.

Once everyone had drawn, their homeroom teacher recorded the results and confirmed the preliminary matchups. Zhang Cheng's opponent was a classmate named Li Peng, whose starter Pokémon was a Sandshrew.

Ye Tian was facing a girl who used a Bellsprout. Both Butterfree's Flying and Bug types had an advantage against Grass types, so she would probably be eliminated right away.

After the draw, the battles proceeded in alphabetical order. The two students who had drawn A entered the Training Ground first.

Their Pokémon were a level 5 Zubat and a level 6 Oddish. Zhang Cheng scanned their data with the system. Both had E-grade Potential and were thoroughly ordinary Pokémon.

Neither Pokémon knew many moves yet, making the battle rather monotonous. In the end, Zubat won and advanced to the Semifinals.

Zhang Cheng wasn't particularly interested in the matches that followed. He took out his phone and began reading up on Pokémon instead. After all, academic scores counted toward the exam too, so he might as well memorize a little whenever he had free time.

Although he already knew a fair amount about Pokémon, there were still some obscure facts he might not be familiar with.

Ye Tian also won his match with ease. With Butterfree's advantage in both Level and typing, Bellsprout went down in a single hit.

Only when their homeroom teacher called the F matchup did Zhang Cheng quietly put away his phone and walk onto the battlefield.

Once both students were in position, their homeroom teacher checked that everything was in order and announced the start of the match.

Li Peng looked grim. He had heard a little about Zhang Cheng from his classmates. Facing such a strong opponent in the first round meant he would most likely be eliminated straight away.

But he couldn't just surrender. That would be far too humiliating. With that thought, Li Peng gritted his teeth and threw his Poké Ball.

"Come out, Sandshrew!"

"Poliwag, you're up!"

Both sides released their Pokémon, and the battle was about to erupt.

Zhang Cheng immediately activated the system to scan Sandshrew's stats. Although he had an overwhelming advantage, it was still better to be cautious. Better safe than sorry, after all.

Name: Sandshrew (level 6)

Gender: Male

Potential: D-

Type: Ground

Held item: None

Basic moves: Scratch, Defense Curl, Sand Attack, Poison Sting.

Egg moves: None

Ability: Sand Veil (raises evasion by 20% during a sandstorm and prevents HP loss from sandstorm weather.)

Notes: Sandshrew, the Mouse Pokémon. It digs burrows in the ground to nest in. Whenever it senses danger, it curls into a ball to protect itself.

This Sandshrew had no egg moves, but it knew quite a few basic moves. Poison Sting was the main thing to watch out for. Getting Poisoned would be troublesome.

"Poliwag, let's strike first! Attack with Bubble Beam!" At the command, Poliwag immediately began gathering bubbles. A blue-white beam made of bubbles shot straight toward Sandshrew.

"Sandshrew, dodge it! Counter with Sand Attack!" Sandshrew backed away, trying to evade Bubble Beam while scattering sand to lower the Accuracy of Poliwag's moves.

But Poliwag's attack wasn't so easy to dodge. Bubble Beam struck Sandshrew as he retreated.

The super-effective attack dealt double damage, taking away more than half of Sandshrew's HP in one hit.

"Sandshrew, can you still fight?" Li Peng asked worriedly.

"Kuga~ Kuga~"

Sandshrew nodded to his trainer, indicating that he was fine.

"Good job, Sandshrew! Get yourself ready and attack with Poison Sting!"

"Kuga~ Kuga~"

A volley of purple poison needles shot from Sandshrew's mouth, flying straight toward Poliwag.

"Poliwag, finish the match with Water Gun!" Hearing his Trainer's command, Poliwag immediately unleashed his highly practiced Water Gun. It struck Sandshrew head-on, while the incoming poison needles also hit Poliwag.

"Sandshrew is unable to battle. Zhang Cheng wins and advances to the Semifinals."

Their homeroom teacher, Jin Haoxian, announced Zhang Cheng's victory.

Poliwag didn't seem to be in very good shape, however. Zhang Cheng noticed that Poison Sting had left it mildly Poisoned.

Zhang Cheng felt rather unlucky. Poison Sting only had a 30% chance of inflicting Poisoned, yet it had triggered on the very first hit.

Zhang Cheng immediately took out the Pecha Berries he had earned from completing his task at Shennong Orchard and fed one to Poliwag. The poison gradually faded, and after about ten minutes, Poliwag was back to normal.

There were two reasons Zhang Cheng hadn't told Poliwag to dodge Poison Sting before attacking:

First, Poison Sting was fast and difficult to evade. Second, with Pecha Berries on hand, Zhang Cheng wasn't particularly worried about being Poisoned. He had therefore let Poliwag take the hit and used the opening while Sandshrew recovered from launching Poison Sting to knock it out.

Zhang Cheng had no intention of leaving after his match. Although the remaining battles didn't interest him much, he wanted to check Hao Chenggong's Tepig when it was his turn to battle.

Learning about his opponent's Pokémon beforehand would give him room to prepare if they met in a later round.

The class monitor, Hao Chenggong, had drawn K, so there were still two matches to wait through.

After Zhang Cheng spent a while idly browsing Pokémon facts, it was finally Hao Chenggong's turn.

Their homeroom teacher announced the start of the battle, and both sides released their Pokémon.

The Pokémon facing Hao Chenggong was a Numel, which was relatively uncommon around Jiangcheng.

Hao Chenggong, of course, was using his signature starter Pokémon, Tepig.

As soon as Tepig appeared, Zhang Cheng opened the system to inspect it. Tepig's stats appeared in his mind:

Name: Tepig (level 9)

Gender: Male

Potential: C+

Type: Fire

Held item: None

Basic moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Ember, Odor Sleuth

Egg moves: Body Slam

Ability: Thick Fat (protected by a thick layer of fat, this Pokémon takes half damage from Fire-type and Ice-type moves.)

Notes: Tepig, the Fire Pig Pokémon. It can blow flames from its nose, but when it feels unwell, it can only puff out black smoke.