Chapter 64: Eh, Yes! Nice!
“Competitor Li Wei’s Riolu has eliminated all opponents in just one minute since the start of the match!!!!”
“Oh my god!!!”
“What is this?!!”
The commentator shouted excitedly, and the audience outside the arena cheered enthusiastically.
They never imagined that the first elimination match of the morning would be so visually stunning and thrilling.
And amidst such cheers, Li Wei bowed to the entire audience and left.
His expression remained as calm as ever, feigning no emotional fluctuation, appearing very placid. He walked past the media taking photos, waved away reporters who came to interview him, as if he had accomplished his mission and vanished into obscurity. He led Riolu by the hand and left through the competitor’s tunnel.
After meeting up with Dragonair, Eevee, and Mime Jr. who were waiting to greet him, Li Wei quickly left the center of the venue and ran into his own car.
“Hahahahaha! Riolu, you did great! Nice!!!!”
Once inside the car, Li Wei’s demeanor had completely changed.
······
“As expected of you, keep it up next time, let’s go all out, hahahaha!!!”
“See their shocked faces, you scared them silly, hahahaha!”
“Awesome! Absolutely awesome!”
······
Seeing Li Wei like this, Riolu shook its head helplessly.
Well, it had actually expected this outcome long ago.
A person’s face, expressions, and body language might deceive, but Aura wouldn’t. It was extremely honest.
As early as after winning the match, upon seeing the Aura surging around Li Wei like a “Magikarp in a frenzy of Splash,” it had guessed that Li Wei would find a secluded spot to reveal his true nature like this.
But speaking of excitement…
It actually… was the same way too!!!
“Riolu!!!!”
【It was indeed awesome!!!! When is the next battle!!!! Li Wei! How should we fight! 】
It was also its first time participating in such a formal battle.
So excited, so thrilled!
It used to practice its skills alone, with Eevee or Dragonair as opponents, and felt no sense of accomplishment at all.
Today, it suddenly encountered a group of Pokémon its own age, and in that moment, a sense of “superiority” and “accomplishment” washed over it!
After all, who doesn’t like to easily defeat opponents in Bronze and Silver ranks?
Isn’t it satisfying to stomp on noobs?
Isn’t it great to get kill streaks?
It felt incredibly good, absolutely awesome, didn’t it!
“It really is awesome! The subsequent elimination matches are all solo battles, right? I have a few great ideas, come on, Riolu, let’s discuss them and find the coolest one…”
Then, Eevee, who got into the car behind them, glanced at the two of them, who had already descended into a frenzy, with some disdain and quickly moved to the side, shrinking into a corner as if to avoid idiots.
Regarding the excitement of the two cubs behind them, Mime Jr. took out its phone and began its usual social media activity.
【The cubs and little Riolu are very excited and happily discussing how to instantly defeat their opponents in the subsequent elimination matches.】
······
【Gallade: Send me the match schedule later, I’ll watch.】
【Swampert: Just grabbed a pad, typing is too difficult… Tell little Riolu that one punch per opponent is the most satisfying!】
【Mime Jr. replied to Swampert: Yes, thanks to you, their final plan is this.】
【Mime Jr.: The original quote is this, ‘I think it’s so cool for big brother Gallade to beat up Swampert like that! Fighting like painting! Big brother Delibird’s violence is also pretty good too!!! Li Wei, let’s fight like that! I don’t think the arena floor is that great either, let’s just embed a few Pokémon directly into it!’】
【Mime Jr.: @Gallade @Delibird】
······
Li Wei’s elimination match ended very quickly. Even with the opening ceremony, it was only 10:30 AM.
It was still early, and Tian Bai and the others’ elimination matches were scheduled for the afternoon.
Looking at the match schedule table sent by everyone in the group, Li Wei compared the times and considered the priority. He decided to go watch Yu Yixian, Mo Jiu, and Tian Bai’s matches after eating.
He felt it was unnecessary to watch Zhou Fengjue and Tu Xiaomi’s matches.
Those two were quite strong, capable of reaching the top 64 at least, so they didn’t need his support; a few messages of encouragement would suffice.
He was mainly worried about Tian Bai and Yu Yixian, these two weaklings.
If they didn’t show significant improvement in their strength or develop excellent tactics in the next half month, they might not even pass this elimination round if they encountered a death group.
Feeling concerned, he decided to go watch their matches.
After all, a father worries when his child travels far.
As for Mo Jiu, he intended to watch purely for the purpose of understanding his opponent.
He always felt she was a formidable opponent that shouldn’t be underestimated.
Especially after visiting their home for a meal, Li Wei’s conviction on this matter only grew stronger.
If he and Riolu hadn’t misjudged, Mo Jiu’s family was practically full of villains.
A large family specializing in the Dark Attribute, they must have some insights and capabilities, right?
Thus, Li Wei finalized his schedule for the afternoon.
What they needed to do now was to go eat.
Although it felt a bit ungentlemanly to leave Magikarp alone at home and go out for a big meal, as long as they showed Magikarp photos of them eating when they got home, it would probably feel included, right?
Thinking this, the group rushed to their pre-selected restaurant, ready to have some roasted meat to celebrate the astonishing victory.
While Li Wei was happily eating, the internet exploded once again.
Videos of Li Wei’s Riolu instantly knocking out the entire field, clearing the arena in ten seconds, had already spread online.
Initially, it was just recordings and screen captures from the audience being posted, and then within ten minutes, even the official channels started to “get involved.”
After the official release of the full HD video, the comments below it were instantly countless.
Amidst the exclamations, many “masters” also chimed in, analyzing with varying degrees of accuracy how Riolu ascended and defeated its opponents.
Beyond that, the most interesting comments under the official post were from Li Wei’s friends and family.
The “mom fan” factions were truly formidable.
It could be said that after long years of training and work, these Pokémon had finally found “entertainment.”
The dedication to “farming” and “nurturing” was etched into the hearts of every person in Zhonghua Family, and Pokémon native to Zhonghua Family had not escaped this fate.
They had watched these cubs for over a decade, and today they went out to participate in the provincial competition.
Their first victory demonstrated their family’s heritage.
Now, they were frantically sharing videos on their Moments and Weibo to show off. If they saw any subtle or sarcastic comments while in high spirits, wouldn’t they immediately rush to attack?
Unlike the fierce battles of the mom fans, Li Wei himself found reading the comments quite enjoyable.
If…
It would have been even better if his footage hadn’t been cut.
Whether it was the widely circulated interview video or the battle video from earlier, his screen time was pitifully short.
Eevee stole the spotlight in the interview, and the subsequent battle footage didn’t even include him at all.
········
After a satisfying meal, Li Wei went to the supermarket to buy a ton of snacks and happy water, and returned to the center of the venue.
The first match to begin was Yu Yixian’s.
A213.
This computer system was very reasonable, which pleased Li Wei.
Li Wei arrived at the spectator seats early and found a spot in the front center, occupying four seats.
One was for himself, one for Riolu, one for Mime Jr., and one for Dragonair.
As for Eevee.
Eevee declared, was the hood not fragrant enough, or was Li Wei’s head not allowed to be a perch anymore?
······
The group was in full swing. Dragonair, that very expensive giant snake, was already quite eye-catching when it appeared in the arena. Looking at the giant blue creature, they then spotted a Riolu of similar considerable worth. Upon closer inspection, when they saw Eevee perched on the man’s head, everyone couldn’t help but realize, “Oh, isn’t that Li Wei?”
The Li Wei who cleared the field in one move this morning!!!
The group was in full swing, showing no intention of being “low-key.” They ate and drank as usual, and Li Wei even brought the cola he had just bought to Eevee, asking her to help cool it down…
Showing no “celebrity” airs, as if on an imperial tour, when the competitors took their positions below, Li Wei loudly shouted, “Go, silly Yixian!”
Others watched others, he lived his life. In terms of carefree behavior, Li Wei was at a high level.
He was only timid in front of acquaintances.
Knowing them well, if he got mischievous, some bad friends might film it, and that precious footage would go down in history…
That would be too terrifying.
┓(`)┏
Li Wei, who had a story to tell, stated that these were all bitter tears.
······
Yu Yixian’s elimination match had exactly 20 participants, and the Pokémon were diverse.
However, Rattata and Pidgey were still the more common Pokémon.
After a general overview of everyone’s Pokémon, Li Wei felt that Yu Yixian needed to pay the most attention to Grovyle, Marill, and Arbok in the match.
If luck was on his side, he would only need to wait for those three Pokémon to deal with the other opponents, and he would win without effort.
If he was unlucky and became a target for those three Pokémon, based on Yu Yixian’s battle strength during training, he could at least hold his own against Grovyle and Marill. However, if he encountered Arbok, he might become the first person in their small circle to be eliminated.
Even though Yu Yixian had Psychic Power, he still couldn’t ignore the exceptionally long growth period of Psychic-type Pokémon.
Even the most powerful Psychic-type Pokémon were somewhat weak in their early stages.
Take “Psychic,” rated as the most annoying and common Psychic-type move, for example. When it lacks the energy to move others, what use does it have?
If “Spark” isn’t hot enough, and the impact force isn’t enough, maybe after using it five or six times consecutively, it could deal some damage to the opponent.
If it spits out a little more water, and the wind blows a bit more, it might make the opponent sneeze.
Psychic, if it can’t move anything… what else can it do?
It’s probably not even strong enough to tickle…
Although Li Wei constantly picked on Yu Yixian, he still didn’t want his good friend to be randomly beaten up while he was dominating.
“The match begins!”
While Li Wei was racking his brain to devise a winning strategy for Yu Yixian, the referee announced the start of the match.
From the first row, Li Wei could clearly see the every move of the trainers and Pokémon in the arena.
There were also soundproofing panels made of Psychic Power and Aura in the spectator seats.
The establishment of such a thing was likely to prevent external manipulation that could compromise the fairness of the match. Although this facility ensured the fairness of the competition, it also made the viewing process much more complicated for Li Wei.
Unless he opened a live stream while watching the match, whether he focused on the arena or the broadcast on the screen above, he still couldn’t hear what the competitors were saying during the battle.
Therefore, he couldn’t predict the battle situation with prior knowledge based on the commands given.
It was quite difficult.
The feeling of not being able to fast-forward this kind of live broadcast was truly unbearable.
The battle began.
Competitors who were very confident in their Pokémon ordered them to find a weak opponent and attack.
Li Wei expected Yu Yixian to adopt a defensive counter-attack strategy or to use Ponyta’s agility to stay at the edge and wait for the stronger Pokémon to eliminate opponents, but to Li Wei’s surprise, Yu Yixian’s strategy was head-on confrontation!
Ponyta’s horn gathered Psychic Attribute energy and charged madly in one direction.
The impact force was immense, combined with a move that resembled a headbutt, it violently sent a group of unprepared Pokémon flying.
After a simple observation, Li Wei found that under Yu Yixian’s command, Ponyta’s charge route was also very tricky.
It deliberately avoided Arbok, utilizing the advantage of its high speed, presumably to send the knocked-away Pokémon near Grovyle and Marill, invisibly putting significant pressure on those two Pokémon.
As for Arbok, no one wanted to provoke it.
As one of the few Pokémon in the entire match that had evolved to its final form, no one wanted to risk their limited advancement qualification in an elimination match to test its strength.
And its trainer seemed very laid-back.
He only ordered Arbok to attack Pokémon that approached it, and for the rest of the time, he merely had it maintain a defensive posture.
Such actions and commands were fortunate for the competitors in Yu Yixian’s group.
After a charge that knocked over many opponents, Yu Yixian changed his command to Ponyta.
Now, Ponyta stayed at the very edge of the arena.
Yu Yixian’s tactic was to use Ponyta’s speed advantage to kick out any Pokémon that tried to pounce and attack it.
In fact, this decoy tactic was also successful tactically.
Many Pokémon that lunged at it to deliver a “finishing blow” ignored the arena boundary. After being kicked by Ponyta, they stumbled out of the arena, directly disqualifying them.
After repeatedly practicing this a few times, the remaining trainers, recalling Ponyta’s fierce charge earlier, gave up on bothering it and categorized it as “not to be trifled with.”
At the beginning of the match, while everyone was assessing the overall situation, it created a false impression of “I may look cute, but I’m fierce” for its opponents, then used dirty tactics to annoy those who wanted to eliminate it early, and finally sat back like a big shot.
I must say, as expected of Yixian, this strategy truly captured his essence!
Although he usually called Yu Yixian a silly fool, that was just simple teasing.
If he were truly a silly fool, he would have been despised by the Psychic-type Pokémon in his family long ago.
Yu Yixian’s father specialized in Psychic-type Pokémon, which is why Yu Yixian had the courage to choose a Psychic-type Pokémon as his starter and dared to nurture it.
However… if Yu Yixian had listened to his father even a little and chosen a Slowpoke or an Abra, he wouldn’t be so humble in this provincial competition.
Time quickly passed to five minutes.
Thanks to the efforts of Grovyle and Marill, by the time the referee announced the end of the match, only four Pokémon remained on the field.
As the list of advancing competitors was announced, Li Wei led his group of Pokémon away and headed for the next arena, preparing to watch Mo Jiu’s match.
The reason he didn’t wait for Yu Yixian was that Li Wei wanted to secure seats early.
After all, this was an important observation match, and he couldn’t pick a bad seat that would affect his viewing experience. To ensure successful information gathering, he needed to find a good spot early.
After sending Yu Yixian a message to inform him of his movements, the group majestically headed to Arena F where Mo Jiu was located.
F11, Mo Jiu.
When Li Wei arrived, the match had just begun.
“Good thing I didn’t keep Yu Yixian waiting.”
After a moment of emotion, Li Wei bent over and found a few empty seats to sit down.
The instant the match started, Morpeko switched to its hangry mode.
Its two small fists gathered full Dark-type energy, and with red eyes, it accelerated straight into the group of Pokémon.
There were no flashy attack skills; it just grabbed whoever it could and hit them, with Pursuit thrown in for good measure. Right now, the arena was basically in a state where a group of Pokémon were being chased and beaten by a tiny Morpeko.
Under Li Wei’s careful observation, comparing the timing of Mo Jiu’s commands, he had a good idea of the strategy Mo Jiu had designated for this battle.
Mo Jiu, with the advantage of the Trainer’s bird’s-eye view command, helped Morpeko observe the battle. Morpeko only needed to follow her instructions to evade the attacks of other Pokémon, and during the remaining time, it just needed to seize one to beat it to the point of being unable to battle.
This tactic was violent and fierce.
It was much more stimulating than Yu Yixian’s match!
Li Wei was so surprised by the sudden ‘turncoat’ behavior of this Morpeko, which usually only cared about eating, that he hadn’t even eaten a single snack during this match.
The match dragged on until Morpeko had knocked out all but three of the opponent’s Pokémon.
The moment the Referee announced the end of the match, Morpeko pulled a nut from some mysterious storage space behind it, crunched on it a couple of times, and returned to its full belly state.
Seeing Morpeko change its pattern while eating the nut, Li Wei couldn’t help but exclaim that this person’s tactics were too dirty.
As expected, the saying “near vermillion, one gets stained red” holds true!
He originally thought Mo Jiu was a cute, slightly introverted girl!
Because Li Wei had spent a lot of time with Morpeko and had been paying attention to this Pokémon for a long time, he knew this.
This Morpeko could completely switch forms without needing to eat food!
And now, in front of everyone, the reason for insisting on eating a nut before changing forms was self-evident.
Not only was the opponent crushed in terms of absolute strength, but they also had to lay down a smoke screen to confuse future opponents.
‘As expected! It was right for me to observe more!’
Through this small action, Li Wei’s need for caution was reinforced once again.
As expected, it’s precisely because they are acquaintances that one must hit them with full force!
This time, he didn’t leave the arena directly to watch Tian Bai’s match. Instead, he waited by the entrance to the competitor’s tunnel for her to come out.
After all, the treatment of Yu Yixian and Mo Jiu could not be equated.
“Yo! You won in a cool way!”
Li Wei said to Mo Jiu when he saw her.
“Chu!!!”
【 Hmph! Xiao Ke is also very cool! 】
(＞︶＜)
“It was okay, not as cool as your ten-second sweep.”
Unlike Morpeko’s “As expected of me” proud demeanor, Mo Jiu was as humble as ever.
“Tian Bai’s match seems to be about fifteen minutes away; her previous match isn’t over yet. Zhou Fengjue’s match is already underway, and Yu Yixian is watching. Do you want to go too?”
Li Wei asked Mo Jiu, sharing the first-hand information he had just obtained.
Due to uncontrollable factors like overtime matches, the timing of each match was quite chaotic, with most of them being pushed back by a period of time.
“Hmm… I won’t go. I’ll just go directly to watch Tian Bai’s match.”
Mo Jiu thought for a moment and then said to Li Wei.
“OK.”
Afterward, the two headed towards District D where Tian Bai was.
Coincidentally, the six of them had perfectly avoided each other’s brackets, meaning they wouldn’t meet before the Top 16. It was quite pleasing to have fewer internal clashes.
“I’m quite worried about Bai Bai’s match. I don’t know how her Mime Jr. training is progressing. This elimination match doesn’t seem to offer her any advantage.”
On the way to the District D stadium, Mo Jiu and Li Wei began to analyze the elimination match Tian Bai was about to face.
In this small group, Mo Jiu was most familiar with Tian Bai, aside from Li Wei.
Therefore, she was able to chat with Li Wei quite normally at this moment.
“I don’t think the situation is that desperate.”
“How so?”
Mo Jiu was very curious about Li Wei’s assessment.
“Do you remember her peculiar training method for her Mime Jr.?”
“You mean…?”
Mo Jiu asked Li Wei with some confusion.
“Oh, she was quite restrained during training, so you might not know. She raised her Mime Jr. as a Fighting-type Pokémon. Do you remember?”
Li Wei asked Mo Jiu.
“I have a slight impression. It seems like she mentioned it the first time we battled. I thought she was joking…”
“She wasn’t joking at all. Her fighting skills were learned at my dad’s gym… Although the gym is for Pokémon, because we’re on good terms and she visits my house often, she’s learned quite a bit from being around my dad…”
“In that case, the situation is indeed much better. As long as her Mime Jr. can master a recovery skill, combined with her physical attacks, basically no one would dare to provoke her in this free-for-all.”
Mo Jiu stroked her chin and continued her analysis.
“Of course, I think this also depends on luck. If she gets focused, it will still be quite bad.”
“Yes, her speed isn’t very fast, and even with specialized training, it feels like it won’t have much effect in a short time. It all depends on whether Bai Bai has made any targeted preparations.”
“I don’t know, but I feel like she might just go with her instincts and continue teaching her Mime Jr. some strange fighting techniques.”
Saying this, Li Wei shrugged helplessly.
“She probably won’t. I feel like she’s inexplicably very determined for this Provincial Competition.”
Recalling what Tian Bai had told her a few days ago, Mo Jiu said thoughtfully.
“Huh? Really?”
As she spoke, Mo Jiu glanced at Li Wei with some doubt, feeling as though there was some information gap between them.
Li Wei pondered in his mind for a while longer before muttering, “But even if she has a secret countermeasure, isn’t it standard practice to focus fire and take down the support first during a battle??”
“Hiss…”
“But it would be great if she learned some recovery skills…”
Even though Tian Bai was the one competing, these two seemed more concerned about the battle than she was herself.
Chatting back and forth like this, they arrived at the District D stadium five minutes later.
Tian Bai was also in the first row. Hearing that Li Wei and the others were coming to watch her match, she generously occupied the entire row.
Walking from the aisle, she distributed small stools for the Pokémon and people, leaving exactly one empty seat.
Yu Yixian announced in the group chat that he would come to cheer for Tian Bai later, and Zhou Fengjue was at the N stadium to cheer for Tu Xiaomi, so there was no need to save his seat.
Tu Xiaomi’s match was essentially without suspense. On the contrary, if Li Wei were eliminated, he would have to immediately start studying this powerful opponent he would meet in the Top 16.
“Tian Bai~ Are you ready?”
Li Wei handed her a can of cola that Eevee had just chilled and asked.
“It’s okay.”
With a bold one-handed opening of the can, Tian Bai took a sip of cola.
“Hah~ It really feels best to drink cola~”
Saying this, she disdainfully put the mineral water by her hand into her backpack.
“I heard you have a secret tactic? Is it true?”
Li Wei asked.
“Of course!”
After answering confidently, she also put on a mysterious expression.
“Of course, I won’t tell you what it is! Hmph!”
Seeing Tian Bai like this, Li Wei nodded with some reassurance.
“Yu Yixian has already fought his way out of the elimination round. Don’t be outdone and laughed at by that idiot.”
“Hey! How can you badmouth me the moment I’m not here!!”
Speaking of the devil, Yu Yixian popped up at this very moment.
“Huh? Did I? Did I say anything bad about you?”
Admitting it was out of the question, of course, he had to play dumb.
“You didn’t say anything??”
“I’ve been telling the truth the whole time!!”
“You bastard!!!”
“Hahahahahaha.”
Watching the two bicker back and forth like a stage play, Tian Bai couldn’t help but laugh. The slight nervousness she had felt earlier had disappeared.
“You two, stop embarrassing yourselves here and be quiet. Everyone’s watching, hahahaha. It’s too stupid.”
“Competitors participating in the eighth elimination match of District D, please gather at the backstage entrance. Competitors participating in the eighth elimination match of District D, please gather at the backstage entrance. There are ten minutes left until the match begins. Please report to the designated location promptly.”
At this moment, an official announcement came through the broadcast.
“I won’t argue with you anymore. I’m going to gather now.”
“Mhm, good luck!”
Putting down the half-finished cola she was holding, Tian Bai took out her Poké Balls from her bag, waved goodbye to everyone, and ran off.
When all the competitors revealed their Pokémon and took their positions, Li Wei exclaimed, “This is bad.”
The Shanghai Youth Combatant Competition is indeed one of the most prestigious tournament regions.
Calling Tian Bai’s group D a “nightmare group” wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
He had only focused on letting Riolu carry the weight, and hadn’t carefully observed his opponents at all.
In Yu Yixian and Mo Jiu’s battles, apart from the evolved Arbok that caught his attention, he hadn’t paid extra attention to anyone else.
But this time, the Pokémon in this arena were something else.
The most eye-catching was undoubtedly the giant Drednaw standing in the center of the arena.
Its appearance resembled a magnified version of a world crocodile turtle, with segmented plates on its shell, each with sharp edges.
Its mouth looked like it had immense biting force, with strong jaw muscles and sharp teeth capable of crushing rocks and steel.
If he remembered correctly, although this Pokémon appeared to have a very thick rock shell that made it seem cumbersome, its developed musculature allowed it to move nimbly.
Very bad.
Another Pokémon that had reached its final evolutionary stage through two stages of nurturing.
Although Drednaw’s evolution had no special requirements and the threshold was relatively low, in this group where most Pokémon were either cubs or in their initial forms, this Drednaw, purely based on its basic physical fitness, could easily overpower most competitors.
Looking at its sharp appearance, Li Wei felt a chill down his spine just imagining Mime Jr. getting bitten by this terrifying turtle.
Very not good.
But this Drednaw wasn’t the worst.
There was worse.
A Dracovish.
A terrifying whale of a trainer, whose starter Pokémon had reached a level unattainable by others.
The only good news was that this Dracovish wasn’t very tall, only about a meter, and should still be in its long growth period.
But the mere appearance of a Dragon-type Pokémon in this elimination match was already very problematic.
Its Steel-type attribute would provide it with very good resistances, and since most of the Pokémon in the arena were likely small Rattata, it would be very difficult for them to inflict any significant damage on it.
The quality of the Pokémon in this group was clearly much higher than in the earlier elimination matches.
However, this was a random grouping, so one could only say that those who were assigned to this group had bad luck.
And Tian Bai was clearly one of those with bad luck.
“Wow, this is a bit of a bad situation.”
Yu Yixian said with some worry.
“Mhm, it really is quite bad.”
Li Wei agreed.
“Let’s see how Bai Bai operates. If I remember correctly, she hinted a few days ago that her special secret weapon was a very powerful new skill.”
Mo Jiu suddenly said to Li Wei and the others at this moment.
“Huh??? You didn’t tell us such important information earlier?”
Li Wei turned his head, looking at her in shock.
“Oh, I forgot just now.”
┓(`)┏
Mo Jiu stated that she genuinely forgot.
“What exactly is the skill?”
“She didn’t tell me. She said it was a secret and she planned to surprise us with it later?”
“I’d say it’s more likely to be a shock.”
However, regardless of how worried the people off the field were, the match proceeded as usual.
And in everyone’s sight, as their Pokémon began to charge at each other and clash, Tian Bai’s Mime Jr. clasped its hands together.
Li Wei was familiar with this pose; it was the pose he taught Riolu for Shinra Tensei…
At the very moment Li Wei’s imagination went wild, many star-shaped sparkles appeared around Mime Jr.
“It’s Wish!”
Mo Jiu exclaimed.
“Wish!!!”
Yu Yixian repeated with some surprise.
Then, under everyone’s gaze, Mime Jr. put on its loop and charged fearlessly towards the enemy Pokémon.
It’s terrifying when a healer goes toe-to-toe with enemies while having the healing buff.
This battle allows the carrying of ‘weapons’ that are officially identified and recognized.
For example, wooden swords or Kakala’s drumsticks, these are all considered portable weapons.
However, considering the healer’s abilities, Li Wei thought that if this Mime Jr. were to carry a staff.
Wielding a staff and hitting someone from a longer range than a close-range fighter might be more comfortable.
Tian Bai also understood the situation clearly; she didn’t provoke those two terrifying characters who possessed nearly absolute suppressive power.
However, just because she didn’t want to provoke them didn’t mean they didn’t want to eliminate her.
Just as Mime Jr. finished off the first opponent in front of it, with a fierce roar, Drednaw charged at Mime Jr. under its Trainer’s command.
It was a Headbutt.
The Headbutt skill itself isn’t something to fear, but its user is a Drednaw. If one takes this skill, they’ll likely be out of contention for advancing in this elimination match.
The sharp spikes on its head and its sharp fangs aren’t just for show like in the game animations; they actually serve a purpose.
“Mime Jr., dodge!!!”
Even though Tian Bai had issued the command immediately, Mime Jr. was still scratched by the sharp spikes of Drednaw’s shell.
The effect of Wish was gradually healing the scratches on Mime Jr., but as a clearly injured Pokémon, even if Drednaw didn’t pursue, the surrounding competitors, who were eyeing the elimination match advancement spot like hungry wolves, would surely finish her off.
It was a very unfavorable start.
But this was also due to the disadvantage of early nurturing.
If this were a mid-to-late-game Mime Jr. battling Drednaw.
A simple Vine Whip + Solar Beam would force Drednaw to retreat.
Now, relying on close-range skills, even if attacked with targeted strikes, all Tian Bai could do was retreat to the side and endure.
Simply put, she couldn’t do anything.
Fortunately, Mime Jr.’s own recovery ability is extremely high, and its defense is also quite outstanding.
The experience from training with Rhyperior came into play at this moment.
It chose a corner where it was all or nothing, waiting for the Pokémon surrounding it.
It gave itself a Refresh buff, followed by releasing a small Misty Terrain, using the pink mist to blend with its own appearance and cleverly conceal its figure.
Anyone who approached that corner would be met with a basic Fighting-type skill plus a Slam.
After a period of battling with Li Wei, everyone gained new insights into arena combat.
Forget ‘cannot battle’; dominating the competition is being the best, right?
At this moment, to ensure she could advance, Tian Bai adopted the same strategy.
“Nice! Well done!”
Seeing Tian Bai with the same tactical ideology, Yu Yixian couldn’t help but praise her.
“Hold on, hold on, there’s still 1 minute and 30 seconds left!!!”
“No! Hold on, wait for that Dracovish to deal with the two Pokémon surrounding it!”
“Right, right! Go Dracovish!”
“Metal Claw! Yes, that’s it! Nice!”
“Use the terrain!!!”
“OH!!! Tian Bai is advancing!!!”
Seeing Yu Yixian frantically cheering from below, Li Wei couldn’t help but cover his eyes.
He felt that the cheers were somewhat bizarre…
To ensure advancement and then cheer for others to eliminate opponents, what’s wrong with this logic?
Feeling like he wanted to complain but didn’t know where to start, Li Wei smiled helplessly again.
But in the end, Tian Bai advanced, and that was a good thing.
Looking at the message on his mobile phone, ‘Tu Xiaomi successfully advanced,’ Li Wei’s lips curved up in happiness.
He was genuinely happy.
Often, winning and strength aren’t everything.
The most sorrowful thing is to stand at the pinnacle and have no friends by your side to accompany you.
Li Wei isn’t being melodramatic or “internet sad” here.
He has personal experience with this.
When he was still on Earth, he really enjoyed playing League.
Coincidentally, his family didn’t care much about whether he was on the computer or not.
He completed his homework on time and attended cram school without skipping classes, and his family didn’t force him to study 24/7.
He loved playing games and was very persistent about his rank.
Leveling up and defeating monsters, the most important thing was the level.
Similarly, in the era when everyone in League could only be level 30, his persistence was about rank.
He used to drag a group of good friends to internet cafes to play ranked games together, and then secretly use his parents’ computer to climb ranks late at night.
But at some point, when he successfully reached Master and posted on Moments, and wanted to find friends to play ranked games with again, he found he had no friends who could climb with him.
During matchmaking, due to hidden ELO issues, he would be matched with many very strong opponents, seriously affecting his friends’ gaming experience…
Gradually, he stopped going out to play games with his classmates.
Perhaps using an alternate account could solve the rank and opponent issues, but when he subconsciously discussed game understanding with his friends every time he played, and taught his friends what to do during laning phase…
A strange sense of alienation emerged.
It felt terrible.
He believed this situation was fundamentally no different from Pokémon battles.
He wished his friends all achieved good results and possessed great strength.
It wasn’t just his kind wish for his friends to have a good outcome; it was also a selfish desire to have a group of good friends who wouldn’t disappear quickly.
Thanks to Aura, Li Wei gained a deeper understanding of others’ emotions and also perceived more subtle emotions within himself that he had never discovered before.
“Sigh.”
Thinking this, Li Wei sighed.
“Huh??? Li Wei, why are you sighing?”
While lost in thought, Tian Bai had already run back.
“Why are you sighing even though I won!!! Did you go gamble beans??”
With a terrifying smile, Tian Bai walked up to Li Wei, grabbed his shoulder, and asked with a look that said if he said ‘yes,’ she would choke him.
“Ah, no, no.”
“Really? Then why are you sighing?” Tian Bai asked, looking at him with some concern.
“It’s nothing, I just suddenly thought about the written exam…”
“Hey, hey, hey? Didn’t they say you wrote it pretty well! Don’t worry~ You studied so hard, your grades will be great~”
“Let’s go, let’s go! To celebrate my hard-won advancement, let’s go have a big meal!”
Saying that, she slung her little yellow schoolbag over her shoulder, grabbed Li Wei with one hand and the dazed Mo Jiu behind them with the other, and ran towards the exit ahead.
Timo’s Flop Diary.
Due to a life-or-death speed race, I’m catching up now.
Today.
It was quite busy at home today, didn’t write anything in the morning. It’s a miracle I could finish this.
The reason I forced myself not to ‘chicken out’ today is to maintain my throne on the Two-dimensional Power Ranking.
Hahahahaha.
Viewed on the web version, I am TOP1.
I sent it to the group.
I will maintain it.
It’s not the one you see on the app; that one requires VIP and for paid word count to exceed 200,000 characters.
Curious cubs can ask me in the group; I’ll tell you where to find it.
Hmph.
Timo, the god of updates~~~~
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Today’s shoutout:
《Rebooted Pokémon Era》, a Pokémon story with Snivy as the starter Pokémon. If you like it, you can grab the link in 30 minutes.
