With the Tapu quartet's performance concluded, the large screen at the top of the audience stands began the random draw ceremony.
Su Sheng wasn't among them, following the Galar Champion Cup's system where only winners of major tournaments can challenge Champion Leon.
This Alola Friendship Tournament also allows only the final winner to challenge Su Sheng.
Although it feels like looking down on the strong trainers from other regions, no one had any objections.
After the Indigo Plateau battle, even the proud Lance admitted that Su Sheng's strength was above his own.
Well, for now.
"Wow——"
The battle list appeared, and the venue erupted in an uproar.
In the densely packed battle list, several noteworthy combinations emerged.
Sinnoh Elite Four Flint VS Lucian.
Who is the strongest among the Sinnoh Elite Four, Flint or Lucian, is a popular topic in Sinnoh.
It seems we'll have an answer this time.
Diantha VS Drasna.
A battle of the old and new champions of the Kalos League.
Steven Stone VS Wallace.
The Hoenn Twin Stars battle, also highly anticipated.
The matter of who will succeed Champion Wallace, Steven Stone or Wallace, is also a major focus in Hoenn.
Then.
There's Bertha VS Lance.
This draw made Rose on the VIP stand frown slightly, glancing sideways at Kukui, who was sitting in the corner, discreetly minimizing his presence.
Wasn't it agreed that Lance would be given to our Leon?
Kukui secretly felt ashamed.
You all want to fight Leon, there's nothing I can do.
Livestream comments:
[Wow, so exciting in the first round, is anyone betting? Flint and Lucian, I'm betting on Lucian to win, Steven Stone's ace Infernape has a Fighting-type, I think Lucian has the advantage]
[Are you even watching? Lucian's ace Bronzong has a Steel-type, which is countered by Fire!]
[Haha! I'm dying of laughter, two guys who got one-shotted by Team Rocket's leader's Beedrill in the Indigo Plateau are arguing]
[Where did this clown come from? So what if they got one-shotted? At least they dared to go to the battlefield, you'd probably wet yourself just watching from home]
[Diantha is probably going to replace Drasna, speaking of which, Drasna has been champion for so many years at the peak of the Elite Four, it's a bit much]
[There's no way, who told the Kalos region to be so peaceful, I suspect Diantha hasn't even reached the Champion level]
[The battle between Steven Stone and Wallace is the highest quality battle in the first round]
……
……
The next day at ten o'clock.
Manalo Stadium was packed to capacity.
The eyes of the world were focused on the official Alola livestream.
Male and female player lounges.
Many top League trainers looked at the broadcast screen on the lounge wall.
The screen was split in two, with Steven Stone and Wallace walking out from the player tunnels on either side.
"Hoenn probably wants to use this battle to decide who will be the champion, right?"
In the female player lounge, Diantha said.
Drawing such a coincidental match in the first round, only a fool would believe there's no inside story.
Logically, Steven Stone only needs to defeat Wallace, the current Hoenn Champion, and he can smoothly be crowned champion upon returning.
But the Hoenn League called Wallace, a Gym Leader, here, the purpose is self-evident.
"Under normal circumstances, Wallace is still inferior to Steven Stone, but Steven Stone's condition is not normal now."
Next to Manalo Stadium, in Aether Paradise, Su Sheng watched the live tournament on his phone and commented.
Although Su Sheng thought the champions in the anime "Journeys" were greatly weakened.
But that Masters Eight ranking still has some reference value.
Steven Stone can still be ranked third at best, while Wallace didn't even make it into the top eight.
It can only be said that there are gaps even between Champion-level trainers.
But Steven Stone's ace partner Metagross took the brunt of Dark Lugia's Dark Rush on its own.
It is said that the situation is not good.
"Doctor, the private jet to Kalos is ready."
At this time, Wicke's voice came from outside the room.
"Okay, thank you for your hard work."
Su Sheng replied.
This Alola Friendship Tournament will be held for a full five days.
And as the Alola Champion, he only needs to fight the final winner of the tournament on the last day.
During this time, Su Sheng wanted to strengthen his battle power to make final preparations for the decisive battle with Pryce.
Of course, no matter how much you train in five days, it's impossible to become much stronger.
Unless you have a Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
But……
Su Sheng glanced at the stone that Diantha had given him before on his desk, to be precise, this thing is called a "Key Stone".
"To increase power in the short term, I can only rely on this."
Su Sheng got up and put the Key Stone in his pocket.
After opening the door, besides the two old partners, Anabel and Will.
Giovanni was also among them.
Giovanni was also among the partners traveling with Su Sheng this time.
In fact, finding Mega Evolution stones is more about strengthening these three than strengthening Su Sheng's own Pokémon.
Because among Su Sheng's partners, only three Houndoom have Mega Evolution abilities.
And although Su Sheng doesn't discriminate against his partners because of their strength.
But Dai Dai, Lu Lu, and Bi Bi are indeed only second-tier members in Su Sheng's team now.
Helping them awaken Mega Evolution is of little significance, at least not when fighting Pryce.
But Anabel's Houndoom, Will's Slowbro, and Giovanni's Beedrill.
The significance of these three getting Mega Evolution is considerable!
Especially the last one.
"Sorry Ah Sheng, I have to trouble you to strengthen my Beedrill."
Giovanni patted Su Sheng on the shoulder.
"It's nothing Uncle, after all, you have to be responsible for monitoring Pryce."
Su Sheng took his teammates to Kalos to find Evolution Stones, while Giovanni secretly went to Sinnoh to keep an eye on Pryce.
Although there is a locator, but facing a Master-level old madman, I always feel uneasy if I don't keep a close eye on him.
……
……
While Su Sheng's side began to act separately.
In Manalo Stadium, Steven Stone and Wallace had already walked to the center of the field and stood facing each other.
"The last time we competed in such a formal setting feels like a long time ago."
Wallace spoke first, half-jokingly.
Steven Stone returned with a smile, "Let's have a battle without regrets."
Seeing the two looking like they cherish each other, many fangirls in the livestream shouted that they were shipping them.
At this time, in a small box in the lower right corner of the livestream, Hu Tao wearing headphones smiled and said:
"Mr. Steven Stone and Gym Leader Wallace have a very good atmosphere, they are also longtime friends, I believe they will present us with a wonderful duel."
"Next, let us invite our Alola Pokémon Doctor, Mr. Kukui, he will guest star as the referee for this Friendship Tournament."
"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself, I am Hu Tao, the commentator for this tournament, please take care of me~"
The boy from Nuvema Town frantically typed on the keyboard to call.
And Cynthia in the female player lounge frowned slightly when she saw Hu Tao.
"What's wrong? Cynthia."
Diantha, who noticed her best friend's strange expression, asked.
"No... it's nothing, I just think that commentator looks a bit familiar..."
Cynthia muttered to herself softly.
Diantha blinked and was about to ask again, but at this time Kukui's shout came from the TV:
"The match begins!"
Instantly, everyone's attention was drawn back to the battle of the Hoenn Twins.
"I'll leave it to you! Metagross!"
Steven Stone kissed his Poké Ball in a flashy manner, making this action with his handsome face, causing the female audience in the audience to cheer.
"Gah-meh!"
The Steel-type Pokémon's heavy body landed, and the audience vaguely felt that the entire battlefield shook.
"Using the ace Pokémon from the start?"
Leon, Lance, and others in the male player lounge were quite surprised.
"Understandable, after all, it's only 3V3."
Alder interjected.
If it is a 6V6 full team battle, then the ace Pokémon should be released at a more suitable time.
But if it's only 3V3, you can completely take it out at the beginning to strive for a good start, and even defeat two opponents in one breath, or even achieve a one-hit-three!
"Is it really that simple?"
Wallace, the current Hoenn League Champion, narrowed his eyes.
……
"You're so serious from the start Steven Stone, then what about me..."
Wallace's eyes lit up, and he took out his Poké Ball with a backhand.
"I'll leave it to you! Swampert!"
The Poké Ball opened in mid-air, and a white light flashed.
A strong blue Pokémon landed.
It has the characteristics of fish and canine animals.
It is Hoenn's starter Pokémon, Swampert!
"Using Swampert..."
The former girlfriend Winona in the audience thought thoughtfully.
Tate, the granddaughter of Hoenn Elite Four, who just reached the age of a novice trainer this year, blinked and said:
"I remember Swampert is positioned as defense in Mr. Wallace's lineup."
Wallace and his master Juan are both trainers specializing in Water-types.
In order to deal with the Electric-types that Water-types hate, the master and apprentice have cultivated Tank Pokémon.
Juan cultivated Whiscash, while Wallace cultivated Swampert.
Both are Water Pokémon with Ground-type attributes that are immune to electricity.
Although it is four times weak to Grass-types, but don't forget, Water-types are often good at Ice-type moves.
Therefore, it is impossible to defeat top trainers by relying on attributes alone.
Of course, it is even more undesirable to always play against attributes like Ash.
……
"We're going to be impolite, Steven Stone."
Wallace, who came from a Coordinator background, showed his elegance in his words and deeds, waving his right hand forward as if dancing.
"Swampert! Earthquake!"
Swampert roared excitedly, raised its two arms, and slammed them **** on the ground like King Kong was furious.
Waves of ring-shaped shock waves splashed from the surface, rushing towards Metagross in succession.
"Metagross, Protect!"
Steven Stone waved his backhand.
A light green barrier surged from Metagross's body surface, but the ground impact force was temporarily isolated from the outside.
At this time, the sound of electric current scraping came from under Metagross's body, under the close-up shooting of the drone.
The audience with more than eight digits in the livestream found that under Metagross's huge limbs, there were dead arcs passing by.
It actually lifted that huge body!
Electromagnetic levitation that can lift Pokémon up for a certain period of time!
"Water Gun!"
Wallace's command sounded again.
Swampert jumped up, and a thick water gun fell from above Metagross at a 45° angle.
When half of the water gun was shot out, the protective barrier had disappeared by itself!
Boom!
The water gun hit the center of Metagross's forehead directly.
Thump!
Metagross, which had just floated up through electromagnetic levitation, fell to the ground again.
This time, the entire field vibrated violently.
"Zen Headbutt!"
Steven Stone's expression remained calm, and he spoke suddenly.
The next second, the light purple halo bloomed on the brow of Metagross, who was still hit by the water gun and fell to the ground, and it became brighter and brighter in a second, wrapping the entire body in it.
Then, it ejected and jumped, like a flying bullet burning purple flames hitting Swampert.
In the air, you can't avoid it!
Thump——
The huge sound echoed in the middle of the arena, Zen Headbutt hit completely.
"Great! As expected of the battle of top League trainers, we have to work hard too, Pikachu!"
In a humble detached house in Pallet Town, Ash sat cross-legged in front of the TV, looking down at Pikachu in his arms jumping and shouting.
"Pika Pika!"
Pikachu nodded heavily.
"...Sit back a little."
A mute couldn't help but speak.
He can't see it anymore.
"Double Team!"
Before Ash could move his butt back, Wallace's command came again.
Under the attention of the audience.
I saw that Swampert, who had taken a Zen Headbutt head-on in mid-air, not only was not blown away.
Instead, he held the Hoenn Pseudo-Legend that hit his stomach with both hands.
The next second, in a Thunderous Explosion posture, he slammed himself and Metagross **** in the center of the battlefield.
Boom!
A huge sound came out.
There was a large pit with a diameter of seven or eight meters and a depth of more than one meter in the center of the battlefield.
Swampert held Metagross upside down in the center of the deep pit in a posture of pulling a willow tree upside down.
Kukui squinted his eyes and carefully observed Metagross's condition.
At this time, Swampert released his opponent and took two steps back.
Kukui, who was a guest referee, also completely saw through Metagross's state and raised the flag to declare:
"Metagross is unable to battle, Swampert wins."
As soon as the voice fell, on the big screen, the Poké Ball icon printed with Metagross's next to Steven Stone's avatar dimmed.
"No way?"
Seeing this scene, the most surprised were the trainers from Hoenn.
Tate exclaimed: "Is Wallace's Swampert's defense so strong? Not only was he not blown away by a Zen Headbutt head-on, but he was able to use Double Team in that situation?"
Juan twirled his beard, "Rather than saying that Swampert's defense is too strong, it is better to say that Steven Stone's Metagross's strength is not as good as before."
"Ah?"
Tate, Flannery and other younger Hoenn trainers, I can understand what Juan means.
And Roxanne, who is half of Steven Stone's childhood friend, and also a stone lover, said in one word: "Is it the sequelae left by resisting Dark Lugia's attack?"
As soon as this remark came out, everyone remembered.
Previously, Metagross had withstood Dark Lugia's Dark Charge!
Adam sighed and said, "That Metagross can no longer serve as Steven's ace."
Other Hoenn trainers also looked somber.
At this moment, Steven had already thrown out his second Poké Ball.
"Do your best, my new partner!"
Seeing the second Pokémon Steven sent out, the whole world's eyes lit up.
It was a silver Beldum.
Shiny Beldum!
"Well, well, as expected of the son of Hoenn's richest man."
Su Sheng on the plane exclaimed.
After the original Metagross's strength was greatly damaged, he immediately got a new Shiny Beldum.
However, I remember that Steven used a Shiny Metagross when he participated in the World Championships in the future.
"But using Beldum in a competition of this scale... is he kidding me?"
Yishu complained from the side.
"Steven is probably just letting this Shiny Beldum experience the atmosphere; he probably already gave up on winning this match."
Su Sheng speculated.
The result was just as Su Sheng predicted.
Steven's newly obtained Shiny Beldum only skirmished with Wallace's Swampert for a while and couldn't withstand a Mud Shot.
Seeing this, Steven decisively replaced this baby Pokémon and sent out his last partner, Skarmory.
Although it defeated Swampert with its aerial combat advantage,
Wallace then released Pelipper.
After a round of aerial combat, Skarmory narrowly defeated Pelipper with a slight advantage.
But when Wallace finally brought out his ace, Milotic, it casually took down Skarmory with a single Dragon Pulse.
With only a red-health Beldum left, Steven decisively chose to forfeit.
With this, Wallace's position as the next Hoenn Champion after Drake was all but confirmed.
However, any trainer with a bit of insight could see that Steven's overall strength as a trainer was above Wallace's.
The reason he lost was that his ace partner was seriously injured in the previous battle and could not return to its peak.
While giving Steven and Wallace applause,
Many viewers subconsciously thought of another unlucky fellow whose ace was severely damaged in the Indigo Plateau Conference.
If Steven's ace was just past its prime, then that person's ace was completely ruined.
And obviously, the Alola officials, as the organizers, were well aware of what the audience wanted to see.
Next match—
Indigo Plateau Conference runner-up Lance VS Geeta, the current Champion and Chairwoman of the Paldea region.
"Well then, please excuse me for a moment."
Geeta, who was originally sitting with several Chairmen in the second-floor VIP booth, stood up.
Rose stroked his chin, his expression somewhat displeased.
If Geeta got there first, wouldn't his plan to use Lance as a stepping stone for Leon be ruined?
Rose looked coldly at the red-haired hedgehog head who had already entered the arena below, and muttered to himself in a low voice:
"You're slightly useful, Headquarters Champion; you wouldn't want to lose face in front of the whole world, would you?"
……
……
Inside the arena, Geeta, standing opposite Lance, smiled and said, "Has the injury you sustained at the Indigo Plateau Conference healed? Don't push yourself."
"Heh~ You just need to be careful not to lose face in front of the whole world."
Lance was too lazy to shake hands with this smiling tiger, turned around and walked back to the command deck, leaving Geeta with the back of his head.
"Just like the rumors say, his personality is terrible."
Geeta muttered to herself, leaving a comment, and also turned to walk towards the command deck.
"Ahaha~ The atmosphere is very hot; it seems that Chairwoman Geeta and Elite Four Lance are both very much looking forward to this battle."
Kotone in the commentary booth laughed and smoothed things over.
"I'm counting on you, Glimmora."
Geeta, returning to the command deck, gently tossed a Poké Ball.
Appearing was a cone-shaped, floating, strange Pokémon.
"What is that?"
Red, who was pulled back into his seat, even hadn't recognized all the Pokémon from the Kanto region, widened his eyes.
The next second, the deep blue petals around Glimmora bloomed.
Countless Toxic Spikes were scattered on the ground, buried in the battlefield.
"The Chairwoman is serious."
Hassel, the leader of the Paldea Elite Four, exclaimed.
Many times, Geeta only brings out Glimmora at the end when facing challengers.
But now, she actually brought it out from the beginning... it seems she really wants to defeat Lance.
"Using poison? A boring trick!"
Lance flicked open his cape with his left hand and forcefully threw a Poké Ball from behind his belt with his right hand.
"Crush it!"
The battles in 《Journeys》 weren't as good as those in the Sinnoh League; so many top trainers seemed to have their intelligence reduced.
