The atmosphere in the battle arena was utterly bizarre.
Wang Linpeng stared silently at the fallen Lycanroc, his thoughts unreadable.
The spectators had plenty they wanted to say, but so much was wrong with this that they had no idea where to begin.
Li Fei, who was waiting for her turn, had her brows tightly furrowed, perhaps trying to come up with a countermeasure.
In the end, Xia Chi, the only emotionally stable person on the field, broke the silence. "Uh, are we still battling?"
He meant absolutely no mockery. If he could advance straight to the battle round, he certainly had no desire to risk another match.
Granted, with Misdreavus now close to maxing out its [underworld mark] stacks, that risk was practically zero.
"We're continuing."
The answer came not from Li Fei, but from Lin Qunzhi.
She turned toward Xia Chi and asked, "Do you need to switch Pokémon?"
Xia Chi quickly shook his head. "No, I'm sticking with Misdreavus."
I finally built up all these stacks, and you want to deny me the payoff?
"All right."
Lin Qunzhi nodded, watching the powered-up Misdreavus with interest, as though curious to see where its limits lay.
There was no time to mourn Wang Linpeng. The next to arrive on the battlefield was-Li Fei!
Before throwing her Poké Ball, she said gravely, "I look forward to learning from you, junior."
That single sentence made her current attitude and thoughts perfectly clear.
I'm the challenger here!
Xia Chi nodded in reply. "Likewise, senior."
Voices rose from the sidelines, one after another.
"Fei, use your invincible Ursaring to take it down!"
"You've got this, senior! You'll win!"
Amid the cheers, a flash of white light burst from the opening Poké Ball.
A powerfully built, imposing bear Pokémon appeared, sporting a yellow ring