"Roar!"
A ringing dragon's roar came from the horizon. Salamence's massive, imposing body suddenly flew above the arena, and the ten holographic projections immediately switched to show Principal Jiang's kindly face to everyone.
Principal Jiang greeted them with a smile. "Hello, everyone. I'm looking forward to your matches. I won't take up your time. Let's begin."
By then, all the school administrators had taken their seats in the arena. A deputy mayor had even come in person to watch.
Principal Jiang got off Salamence and began chatting warmly with the deputy mayor and the teachers.
The host called out, "All right, the matches will now begin! Students, please head to your battle areas according to the numbers on the projections."
Ye Qing looked up. He was in the first batch of contestants, assigned to battle area ten.
Wang Yao saw that his number wasn't up there and sat off to the side, eating snacks.
"Monferno?"
The moment Ye Qing released his Pokémon, countless eyes turned toward him. It had only been a little over a month since everyone had received their Pokémon. What kind of freak had managed to evolve his in such a short time?
Worst off was Ye Qing's opponent. His face turned green the moment he saw Monferno. He looked at his own small, adorable Oddish, then at the fierce-looking Monferno rubbing its fists together, and went straight to the referee to forfeit.
As the battles began, everyone's Pokémon appeared on the projections. The vast majority were still in their initial forms, with only a handful having completed their first evolution.
Those students were already prominent figures at school. After all the buzz about Ye Qing, everyone had built up a tolerance and wasn't particularly shocked.
Seeing that it was his turn again, Ye Qing fired himself