Chapter 363: Gogoat vs. Venusaur
After a quick scan,
Hikaru paid no further attention and began greeting people he knew.
After lengthy opening speeches.
Came the drawing lots segment.
Compared to the High School League, the first three rounds of the main tournament were also 3v3.
Three Pokémon against three Pokémon.
Only when reaching the top sixteen would the traditional 6v6 format be used.
And this tournament would often last for over a month, until the Spring Festival.
After all, for Master-level Pokémon, deciding a winner sometimes wasn't that easy.
Everyone stood on the stage, looking at the virtual screen projected by Rotom.
On the screen, names were repeatedly paired up.
Sakura's opponent also flashed by during this time.
After returning from the Orange Islands, Hikaru had checked the information of all contestants.
With the aid of [Eidetic Memory], he remembered all the Pokémon that any contestant had already revealed.
Sakura's opponent was a senior from the same school.
His main Pokémon was a Water-type Swampert, level 52.
He also had a level 51 Vaporeon.
A solid T3 level contestant.
This wasn't a big problem for Sakura.
Before the tournament,
Based on the known information,
Hikaru had also categorized the known contestants into three tiers.
T3—Trainers possessing one to two early Master-level Pokémon.
T2—Trainers possessing three to four Master-level Pokémon.
T1—Trainers whose Pokémon are all above Master level, and possess one peak Master-level Pokémon!
As for T0...
In Hikaru's judgment, it meant—trainers whose Pokémon were all at peak Master level.
For this, apart from himself, Hikaru didn't believe anyone else qualified~
As time passed.
Hikaru soon saw his paired opponent.
Coincidentally, this contestant was an acquaintance of Hikaru—Mu Hui.
On the contestants' platform, Hikaru subconsciously directed his gaze towards Mu Hui.
Mu Hui over there also looked over, but his expression instantly turned bitter.
When they first met, he only thought Hikaru was merely the champion of the High School League. What was there to fear?
Now, he just found it outrageous.
Who didn't know about Hikaru's performance in the preliminaries?
The strength of Latias was already legendary!
Why had the gap become so large in less than half a year?
Hikaru gave him a smile; the latter returned a wry one.
He thought to himself: "Looks like a one-round trip for me..."
After finally overcoming his grandmother's challenge and making it to the stage of the Youth League, ready to show his skills, he didn't expect to encounter this monster in the first round...
Then there were Ash, Sakura, Hu Yan'er... they were also matched against some T3 level contestants.
Only Ash's opponent made Hikaru a little unsure.
Then there was Qin Shou, who was up against a T2 contestant.
Mu Wanqing was facing a T3 contestant.
In short, everyone's opponents were quite representative, meaning their strength was roughly similar to their own.
This gave Hikaru reason to suspect that the officials might be controlling the matchups.
The draw for the first round of matches quickly concluded, followed by the match order.
Why does the Youth League last for over a month?
Because only 5-8 matches are held per day.
The destruction caused by Master-level Pokémon battles, even if an Elite Four level Metagross used Protect on the entire field.
Damage was still inevitable.
After each match, some time was needed for repairs.
Therefore, the time taken was inevitably longer!
There were a total of 132 people in this first round, meaning 66 matches to be played, totaling about ten days...
The match order was also quickly arranged.
Hikaru was in the 13th match, Sakura in the 25th.
In any case, it definitely wouldn't be their turn today.
Once the order was drawn, contestants were free on days other than their own match day. They could watch from the spectator seats or attend to their own business.
Hikaru chose not to leave but stood in the spectator area.
As the massive energy shield rose around the spectator seats.
The first match began.
The contestants on stage, according to Hikaru's assessment, were two T3 level contestants.
Just as Hikaru was about to watch the match, the purple-haired young man from before walked over.
His first greeting was, "Brother Lin..."
Hikaru was momentarily stunned, "???"
He suddenly realized Mu Hui was calling him.
"What's wrong?"
Although they weren't close, they had at least gone through a challenge together.
But Hikaru sensed a certain unfamiliarity in his tone.
Hikaru had always thought of himself as being gentle with people, right?
This "Brother Lin" completely threw him off.
But Mu Hui didn't see it that way.
The Mu family's upbringing always emphasized that the strong were to be respected. That's why they demanded such strict emotional control from them, striving for perfection in psychic abilities!
But Mu Hui seemed to have misunderstood...
The Mu family's education was for them to become strong, not to look up to the strong...
He had always struggled to control his emotions and was now caught in anxiety and mental self-consumption.
He opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing, just shaking his head, "It's nothing."
Hikaru was a bit baffled.
Meanwhile, the battle below had already begun.
The Pokémon on both sides were Venusaur (Level 51) and Gogoat (Level 52) respectively.
In terms of typing, Venusaur had a slight advantage.
Poison is super effective against Grass.
Their strengths were roughly equal, as were their talents.
It looked like it would be a tough battle.
(Venusaur) "Grassy Terrain!"
(Gogoat) "Grass Knot!"
From the first moves released by both Pokémon.
Hikaru could see the trainers' intentions at a glance.
The Venusaur's trainer wanted to go for a SubToxic stall strategy.
While the Gogoat's trainer, thinking Venusaur was slow and heavy, aimed to trip it with Grass Knot first to prevent it from using Ingrain.
Ever since the SubToxic strategy was invented.
Venusaur's strength in actual battles had skyrocketed.
Basically, every Venusaur trainer would learn this tactic.
Setting up Grassy Terrain undoubtedly required time, but Grass Knot was incredibly fast.
The grass knot extending from underground shot out quickly, and Venusaur, which had begun to spread grass around itself, was tripped hard to the ground.
With that, the Grassy Terrain, manifested from energy, began to rapidly disappear.
Both sides were predicting how the opposing trainer would start the match.
Venusaur's trainer wanted to use Grassy Terrain to gain an advantage.
Once Grassy Terrain was up, the initiative in the match would be entirely in its hands.
But the opponent anticipated Venusaur's move,
And used Grass Knot first.
This was also a gamble by Gogoat's trainer.
If Venusaur had used Substitute as its first move, his gamble would have backfired spectacularly.
"Gogoat, don't give it a chance to recover, Rollout!"
"Maa!"
The Gogoat on the field kicked its hooves, its body quickly curling up, and charged towards Venusaur at extremely high speed...
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