The annual Elite Four Selection always worked this way, divided into a qualifying round and a deciding round. In the qualifying round, contestants competed against one another, and only one could ultimately rise above the rest to enter the deciding round.
The deciding round was rather more interesting: its format seemed to change every time. Long Weixi had even wheedled her master earlier, trying to get him to tell her what form this year's deciding round would take, but he had firmly refused.
"Phew..." After a long wait, the Ghost-type matches finally ended. The staff called for the Dragon-type contestants next.
Ten people promptly stood up and began walking in the same direction.
As she walked, Long Weixi considered her strategy.
Her strengths and weaknesses were obvious. Her strength was that her team had many Pokémon with naturally high base stats; her weakness was that she was too young, and one Pokémon on her team had not even reached its fully evolved form.
Still, she had her own trump card. As she walked, she gave her wrist a little shake, making the gleaming Key Stone hanging from it sway.
Since everyone present dared to compete for an Elite Four position, Mega Evolution presumably would not be rare among them. Compared with the other Dragon-type specialists, however, Long Weixi's advantage was that her ace, Altaria, became a Dragon- and Fairy-type after Mega Evolution. It was immune to Dragon-type attacks from its own kind, and it also had two ways to hit its own kind super effectively.
How could there be such an amazing Dragon-type Pokémon!
"Come on! You can definitely become the Dragon-type Elite Four member!"
That was how Long Weixi cheered herself on.
Once the matches began, however, Long Weixi felt unprecedented pressure. Every candidate who had passed the preliminary