The tournament grounds were divided into the Main Stadium and three satellite venues: Red, Green, and Blue. All the current matches were scheduled at the three satellite venues, and Liu Qing's match was the second one on the Green Field. The night passed in a flash. Since his match was early, Liu Qing arrived at the Green Venue's competitors' waiting room well ahead of time.
"Ash, good luck in the first match!" The Green Venue's opening match was between Ash and Nando. As the time drew near and a staff member called Ash out, Liu Qing offered him some encouragement in the waiting room.
"Yeah, I'll definitely win!" Ash clenched his right fist, then ran out of the waiting room.
Although Liu Qing had met Ash's opponent, Nando, in Vinyardes, they had only been passing acquaintances. This time, Ash's introduction had given him a better understanding of Nando. Originally a wandering minstrel, Nando had begun challenging Pokémon Contests and Gyms after meeting Ash and Dawn. He had placed in the top four at the recently concluded Grand Festival and specialized in Bug-type and Grass-type Pokémon.
Soon, the match began playing on the waiting room's big screen. Nando's first Pokémon was Roserade, while Ash sent out Staraptor. Nando opened by having Roserade use Sweet Scent to lower Staraptor's evasiveness, then landed Magical Leaf. He tried to finish the battle with Solar Beam, but with Ash's encouragement, Staraptor recovered, dodged the attack, and used Brave Bird to win the first round.
Nando's second Pokémon was Armaldo, presumably the one he had caught during the Fossil Pokémon rampage in Vinyardes. Somehow, he had managed to keep Armaldo rather than surrender the Pokémon to the League, and now he was using Armaldo in the Pokémon League Conference. Armaldo first used Protect to block Staraptor's