He knows Pokémon better than me.

In the hazy silver whirlwind, although visibility was poor, the grass flute had already allowed Charming Cat to pinpoint its location.

"Water Ripple!!"

A water bullet instantly condensed at the corner of the charming cat's mouth and shot out at an extremely fast speed, accurately hitting the target. The water splashed on the speaker cricket, soaking it completely.

"Speaker Squirrel, get the cross-cut shears ready!"

Shang Zhi no longer cared about the harp in his hand, his tone became much more impatient, and Xiao Wang's attacks became more fierce than before.

The speaker-like creature nodded, raised its scythe-like arm, and was covered in a gray-green light.

Charming Cat suddenly leaped out of the gray mist of the silver whirlwind, but not towards it; it maintained its distance and leaped high into the air.

"Now! Electric Shock Wave!!"

Charming Cat tensed its back and this time shot out a beam of lightning laser from its mouth with incredible speed.

The Speaker Cricket raised its cross-shaped shears, attempting to forcefully cleave the electric shock wave. However, its body was soaking wet, causing the current that had been struggling to cleave the scythe in front of its arm to climb back up the Speaker Cricket's body along with the water droplets.

It's like the electric shock wave first splits, bypasses the scissors, and then reconverges on the target's body.
Sizzle! Boom!

A burst of electricity exploded from the speaker!
The outcome is decided.

Shinji frowned and said coldly.

Speaker crickets, those ubiquitous insects, are definitely no good.

As the smoke cleared, Speaker Cricket collapsed unconscious on the ground, while Charming Cat remained elegantly standing at one end of the arena, clearly demonstrating the difference in their abilities.

"The Speaker Kite has lost its ability to fight!"

"Xiao Wang has won this ranking match! The real-time rankings for both players have been updated!"

Rotom immediately announced loudly, and Xiao Wang looked down to check the encyclopedia, discovering that he had reached number 2500, and his face lit up with joy.

On the other side, Shang Zhi helplessly picked up the speaker and gave a bitter smile. He was already ranked outside the top 3000, which meant he was completely eliminated in the first round.

However, being a laid-back person, he didn't care too much and left with Xiaowang with a smile, heading towards where Xiaozhi was.

"Ash, it's been a long time! You've actually come to the Sinnoh region!"

Xiao Wang greeted him with delight.

"Xiao Wang, your charm is getting sharper and sharper."

Ash gave a thumbs-up in praise.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, it turned out the other person was a friend of Xiaoguang's, so he asked:
"By the way, Xiaowang, have you heard anything about Xiaoguang lately? I was thinking of hanging out with her."

Before he could ask any further questions, Rotom called out his name.

"Ash, ranked 3400th in the Poké Ball rankings, and Ariel, ranked 2800th in the battle rankings! Please come to the stage!"

Ash paused for a moment after hearing his opponent's name. Why did it sound so familiar?

So he gestured to Xiao Wang to talk later and quickly went up on stage.

Xiao Wang frowned, surprised that she couldn't contact Xiao Zhi either. She had been trying to contact Xiao Guang to come to the World Championships together, but no one answered her calls.

I don't know where Xiaoguang ran off to.

On the central rocky platform, Ash quickly spotted his first opponent.

She had short, yellowish-green hair with a tuft sticking up on top. She had delicate features and wore a tight-fitting sleeveless vest and orange trousers. She looked quite thin, as if she would be blown away by the wind.

Xiao Zhi exclaimed in surprise:

"It really is the Insect King A-Liu, no, it's the former King."

A-Liu: "."

The appearance of a former superstar in a competition with around a thousand players immediately sparked a lot of discussion. After all, the other two superstars from yesterday were both high-level players.

Ah Liu took a deep breath and looked intently ahead.

After being defeated by Dianci, A-Liu began to reflect, calm down, and undergo a period of grueling training.
Now, he wants to take advantage of the World Championships to reclaim his glory!

This is the first step in his comeback. His goal: to break into the top eight!

Looking at her first opponent, Ash, A-Liu's brows furrowed deeply. How did she end up facing this guy right from the start?

He was a guest at the Lily of the Valley Conference back then and watched Ash's matches. This kid is simply a monster!

"But I have undergone a year of hard training, and I am a completely new person now!"

Ah Liu clenched her fists, full of fighting spirit.

"Mr. Liu, that's so inspiring!"

Ash scratched his head, quite curious. Was Mr. Aru going to counter-snipe Mr. Denji?
"Both sides, please send out your Pokémon!"

After nodding to each other, the two stood at opposite ends of the arena and threw their Poké Balls.

"Heh heh!!!"

A Liu's starting general is the Dragon King Scorpion, who wields its two huge pincers and roars fiercely as soon as it enters the field.

This scene drew cheers from the audience; as expected of a former Elite Four member, his Pokémon level was indeed very high.

Ash's first Pokémon was Melmetal!

"Mehta".

When Melmeta appeared, its imposing presence was much weaker than that of Dragon King Scorpion; it didn't even raise its two large, thick hands to show off or demonstrate.

"Uh, did Lucario kill your fighting spirit?"

Xiao Zhi wasn't too worried about this.

It's not a big problem. Once you've destroyed the fighting spirit of others, your own fighting spirit will naturally return.

The battle begins!
"Meruma, double-hit with your steel fist!"

Melmetal was initially hesitant when listening to Ash's commands.

A-Liu calmly analyzed the Pokémon she had never seen before. Judging from its appearance, it must be a Steel-type, which meant that Drapion's Poison-type ability was completely ineffective.

Bug-type moves are all only half-effective, they're completely countered by their type.

However, there's nothing to worry about with the opponent's bulky build wanting to throw a punch; there's plenty of time to defend.

However, the next moment, Melu Meta turned his body and, with the help of centrifugal force, his two huge and hard nut fists shot out like cannonballs!

Real Iron Fist!
Ah Liu's expression changed drastically. Wasn't it a fist? How did it turn into a fist cannonball?

Bang bang!

Clang!

The Dragon King Scorpion barely withstood the first blow, but was nearly knocked off the edge of the cliff by the second one, its pincers trembling violently.

Mehmet's back straightened up considerably.

Do you think you're pretty awesome?
Confidence restored by 30%!

"Such immense power?!"

Two dull, heavy thuds seemed to be pounding on Ah Liu's heart, and his eyes widened in horror.

However, since it's a steel attribute...
"Dragon Scorpion, use Earthquake!"

"Meruma, unleash a megaton punch on the ground!!"

The Dragon King Scorpion shook the arena, and the seismic waves visibly spread outwards. As a result, Melo Meta slammed his fist hard into the ground in front of him.

Enveloped in white light, the million-ton fist, enhanced by the Iron Fist's properties, was even more powerful, cracking the ground and forcefully dispersing and neutralizing all the spreading seismic waves.

In an instant, the center of the field was a mess, filled with rubble and ruins.

just
Melmeta's confidence has recovered to 50%! (End of Chapter)