The tournament began

"Let's not worry about all that for now. What matters most is making sure we advance and secure our spots," Ye Tian said bluntly.

"That's true. As long as we don't draw each other, we should be fine. We'll probably both advance," Zhang Cheng said after a moment's thought.

"Well, hopefully our luck won't be that bad. We probably won't get matched against each other."

"We'll know when we draw lots tomorrow. There's no point overthinking it now."

After briefly discussing the situation and finishing dinner, both took their Pokémon out for move training, making thorough preparations for the next day's tournament.

The night passed uneventfully.

Early the next morning, the ringing alarm marked the start of another day.

Zhang Cheng arrived at the training ground, where quite a few students from Class One and Class Two were already sitting in the rest area.

The school had specifically invited several professional Referees to ensure fairness in this friendly tournament.

As time passed, more and more students arrived at the training ground. The instructors of the two classes were the last to arrive.

Class Two's instructor was a middle-aged man named Liu Feng, reportedly a Gym-level Trainer who specialized in Ground-type Pokémon.

After arriving at the venue, the two instructors spoke with the Referees to confirm the tournament procedures.

A short while later, two Referees brought boxes over to the two classes and began the draw.

The ten competing Trainers from Class One drew lots in order. Zhang Cheng's luck was off the charts—he drew number one.

That meant he would face the Trainer from Class Two who had drawn number one in the first match.

Once everyone had finished drawing, the Referee immediately announced the matchups for all ten battles in the first round.

Zhang Cheng's opponent was a Trainer named Li Yue who used a Spearow. He was among the weaker of Class Two's ten Trainers.

Ye Tian had drawn number five and would face Wu Yueyue. It looked like Wu Yueyue would most likely be eliminated; Zhang Cheng had plenty of confidence in Ye Tian's abilities.

Among the competing Trainers' details, Zhang Cheng also spotted Ye Lang, whom he had previously met at the Nanting Training Ground.

I hope you don't get eliminated too early. Otherwise, I won't get the chance to beat you until you're truly convinced.

After reviewing the matchups, Zhang Cheng headed to the Battle Area to await the Referee's instructions.

"Contestants who drew number one, please enter the left battlefield. Contestants who drew number two, please enter the right battlefield," the Referee announced in a booming voice.

Two matches would take place simultaneously to speed up the tournament.

Hearing the Referee's instructions, Zhang Cheng went straight to the Trainer's platform. A chubby boy approached from the other side—his opponent for this match, Li Yue.

Once both had entered the Battle Area and finished their preparations, the Referee blew the whistle to begin the match.

Both threw their Poké Balls at the same time.

"Go, Poliwag!"

"Spearow, it's your time to shine!"

Zhang Cheng opened the system to check Spearow's information:

Name: Spearow (Level 10)

Gender: Male

Potential: C

Type: Flying, Normal

Held item: None

Basic moves: Growl, Peck, Leer, Pursuit

Learned moves: Steel Wing

Egg moves: Quick Attack, Astonish

Ability: Keen Eye (Opponents cannot lower this Pokémon's accuracy stat by any means. Ignores increases to the target's evasion stat.)

Notes: Unlike Pidgey, Spearow has a fiery temper and sometimes attacks humans and other Pokémon.

This Spearow had fairly decent potential and possessed Egg Moves. His Trainer had also put some thought into his training, teaching him Steel Wing.

This chubby boy knows a thing or two about raising Pokémon. I wonder how much battle experience he has.

Zhang Cheng had no intention of waiting to see what happened. He immediately ordered Poliwag to attack with Bubble Beam.

Spearow reacted quickly, using his flight advantage to evade the Bubble Beam.

After dodging Poliwag's attack, Spearow launched an offensive of his own, charging straight at Poliwag with Quick Attack.

Quick Attack was extremely fast. Seeing that there was no way to dodge, Poliwag fired another Bubble Beam to meet Spearow head-on.

Both Pokémon took damage. Neither attack had a type advantage, so both suffered only minor injuries.

Overall, Poliwag had gained a slight edge in this brief exchange. Thanks to Poliwag's higher level and the power of the move, Spearow had taken a little more damage.

Seeing the situation, the chubby Li Yue knew full well that he could not trade blows head-on with the opposing Poliwag.

He chose to have Spearow keep using his aerial advantage to dodge moves, then look for opportunities to attack.

However, Zhang Cheng had already anticipated that choice and immediately had Poliwag use Mind Reader.

Li Yue clearly knew nothing about Mind Reader. Mistaking it for an attacking move, he continued ordering Spearow to dodge.

Poliwag successfully used Mind Reader, then fired off a swift Bubble Beam.

This time, Spearow had no time to dodge and was knocked straight to the ground by the Bubble Beam.

Only then did Li Yue realize that the opponent's Mind Reader was actually a support move. He silently berated himself for not doing enough homework.

Seeing that he was already at a disadvantage, Li Yue made a decisive choice: he would have Spearow use the Steel Wing move he had just learned.

Li Yue had only bought the Steel Wing Technical Machine for Spearow the previous week. Spearow was still not very proficient with the move, and using it consumed considerable stamina, so Li Yue would not order him to use it lightly.

This was Spearow's current trump card. Now that he was at a disadvantage, his only option was to use Steel Wing in a desperate final gamble.

Watching Spearow activate Steel Wing and charge toward Poliwag, Zhang Cheng knew this would be Spearow's last attack.

Zhang Cheng had originally planned to let Poliwag take a Steel Wing head-on, then defeat Spearow with Bubble Beam.

Based on his battle experience, Zhang Cheng was certain that Spearow's Steel Wing could not defeat Poliwag, who still had well over half of its HP remaining.

But there was still a second round that afternoon. If his Pokémon suffered serious injuries, a few hours might not be enough to recover to peak condition.

With that in mind, Zhang Cheng abandoned the idea of ending the battle quickly and ordered Poliwag to avoid the Steel Wing attack as best it could.

But how could Spearow's desperate Steel Wing be so easy to dodge? Even though Poliwag did its utmost to evade it, the attack still landed.

Still, Poliwag's evasive efforts had not been entirely ineffective. They forced Spearow to adjust his attack's direction, reducing some of Steel Wing's power.

After using Steel Wing, Spearow was already on his last legs. He had exhausted too much stamina to easily dodge any further attacks from Poliwag.

In the end, Poliwag's successive Water Gun attacks left him unable to battle.