"Now, we'll announce the randomly shuffled matchups for the second round of the Pokémon World Championships Junior Cup!" As Zhuguang spoke, photographs of the eight advancing competitors appeared on the big screen and began spinning rapidly. Then the first pair of Pokémon Trainers appeared, and Zhuguang continued, "The first match of round two will be Trip against Marufuji! The second will be Liu Yuan against Cilan! The third will be Lusana against Ash! And the fourth will be Dawn against Iris!"
"I didn't expect us to face each other so soon! Well, let's give these battles everything we've got and aim for the championship!" Ash, Liu Yuan, Lusana, and the other three all froze briefly after hearing the matchups. Clearly, none of them had expected all six of them to be paired against one another in the second round. That meant only three could advance. Still, the hot-blooded Ash soon grew excited and shouted, drawing enthusiastic responses from the other five.
"That ice cream just now was really delicious!" With no match underway for the moment, Cynthia rested her chin lightly in her hand, savoring the memory.
"If you liked it, let's go buy some more. Barring any surprises, I think we can already predict the results of this round. It doesn't really matter whether we watch!" Liu Qing chuckled, finding Cynthia especially adorable at that moment.
"You're right. After all, those earlier practice matches already gave us some idea of everyone's strength and battle style!" Cynthia nodded in agreement, smiled sweetly at Liu Qing, and walked out of the Venue hand in hand with him.
"Oh, isn't that Iris? Looks like she's trying to talk to Dragonite, though it doesn't seem to be going very well!" As soon as they stepped through the Venue's automatic glass doors, they saw