Pokémon: I picked up a reborn Eevee at the start of the game

After recalling for two seconds, Crimson replied, "When we passed through Nandu City during our travels, Pikachu and I trained at the Thunder Gym there for a while, and we got along very well with Master Lin. Their dojo happens to have no eligible students this year, so I came on their behalf."

Hmm... the reason for being the chosen one of the extraordinary planes.

Xia Chen smiled slightly, "It seems your journey has been quite exciting!"

Chi Hong smiled and said, "Nothing is as exciting as yours. I've been listening to your news and stories all the way here."

"Well, I know nothing about your deeds. Would you like to tell me your story?"

"..."

So much had happened in a year that the two of them lost track of time while chatting. It wasn't until all the morning's matches were over and the surging crowd poured out of the stadium that Xia Chen and Chi Hong got up to part ways.

"I have training this afternoon, so I won't be able to watch your game. Good luck."

Before parting, Xia Chen apologized slightly for his absence in the afternoon.

Chi Hong grinned. "It's alright, you go ahead with your work. See you in the finals."

He spoke the most arrogant words in a nonchalant tone, and Xia Chen thought to himself, "What a tyrant!"

However, no matter what, he couldn't lose his momentum, so Xia Chen reached out and met the outstretched, crimson palm.

They high-fived as a pledge, then smiled at each other.

People came and went around them. Xia Chen and Chi Hong waved goodbye and disappeared into the crowd, gradually disappearing into the distance with the flow of people.

…………

December 20th, the third day of the main stage of the Youth Competition.

The third round of the competition has begun, and today, the top eight teams of this tournament will be determined.

At this point in the competition, all the remaining contestants are the pride of the Donghuang region.

No, that's not right either. We also need to exclude the Crimson One, who's from Kanto...

In short, there will be almost no more crushing victories in the upcoming matches.

Xia Chen's opponent in this round is a non-academic trainer whose strength is comparable to Jiang Pei, whom he defeated in the qualifiers.

Wang Ding, successor of the Bingzhen Martial Arts Academy.

Xia Chen knew this opponent; he was the first person from Beijing University to be knocked into the loser's bracket.

Although she can't compare to the favorites to win like Lu Weiyu or Bai Mu, she is still considered one of the top contenders in this competition.

Xia Chen had studied Wang Ding's formidable Snowy Team at the time, but he never expected to encounter them in the round of 16.

However, in the match schedule he drew before the main competition, Xia Chen predicted that his opponent in this round would most likely be Wang Ding, so he was somewhat prepared.

He knew more about the weather team, including sunny, rainy, and sandy weather, but not so much about the snowy weather team. He had been cramming on it for the past few days and discovered the key to this lineup: the Ice Nine-Tailed Fox.

To be precise, it was the aurora curtain opened by the Ice Nine-Tailed Fox.

This is hardly a secret, because the Aurora Screen move is just too conspicuous and eye-catching.

All physical and special damage taken by your Pokémon is halved; Caterpie even dared to take on Rayquaza while standing behind the Aurora Veil.

Of course, there are ways to break the aurora screen. The simplest way is to use [tile splitting], which can break through light walls, reflective walls, and the aurora screen itself.

The good news is that Brick Break is a move with a wide range of learnable moves, and Xia Chen's Zoroark can learn it.

The bad news is that Xia Chen doesn't want Zoroark to be exposed during this battle.

So how to break through the aurora barrier blocking the Ice Nine-Tailed Fox is a difficult problem.

After considering several options, Xia Chen finally decided to try the strategy that best addressed the root cause.

…………

"Hello everyone here, and to all viewers watching on TV and in the Pixiv live stream. You are watching the third match of the Round of 16 in the Donghuang Youth Trainer Tournament, which is also the highlight of this round: Xia Chen from Shangjing University versus Wang Ding from the Bingzhen Gym in Litang City. I am your commentator, Youyou."

In the studio, a white-stockinged female anchor with a dream monster perched on her shoulder calmly introduced the situation.

"Our guest for this live stream is an Ice-type specialist, the Gym Leader of Mt. Frost in the Padilla region, Gurusha!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the white-stockinged female commentator was suddenly surrounded by flashes of light and shadow, and then a holographic image of a cold and beautiful woman standing in the snow appeared beside her.

This is an advanced version of the Fradali holographic communication device, capable of projecting people thousands of miles away into the studio.

The voice, appearance, and movements are all very realistic.

This is one of the innovations of this year's competition. Starting from the round of 16, each match will invite an outstanding trainer from around the world as a guest commentator.

The first two matches were against Denji from the Seaside Gym in the Sinnoh region and Natchet from the Greenwood Gym in the Hoenn region.

Judging from the enthusiastic response from the audience, the experiment was very successful.

The third match was no exception. As soon as Gurusha's holographic image appeared in the studio, the live chat immediately started generating a barrage of comments.

"The Parthian region, oh, that's so far away! But this guest is really beautiful, I've already forgotten about Naki, sister, step on me!"

"Beautiful sister! Ice queen! High-class beauty! Sister Gurusha, you're so captivating!"

"Sister? Brother, wake up! This is a man! His penis is bigger than yours!"

"Holy crap, how is that possible? Someone this beautiful can't possibly be a man!"

"Holy crap, it's a guy? I'm even more excited now!"

After all, each region has at least eight or more Gym Leaders. Many people from the Eastern Empire don't even know all of their own dozen or so Gym Leaders, let alone those from the Padia region.

So when a viewer in the live chat revealed Gurusha's true gender, many viewers were stunned.

That's understandable, though. The scarf covered his neck, and the heavy down jacket covered his upper body, concealing two important gender characteristics. Judging from his delicate features and cold demeanor, he really did look like a girl.

However, after learning that it was a man, the comments section became even more excited.

There are just too many Nantongs online...

…………

Like the ice and snow around him, Gurusha was cold-hearted, and female commentators usually brushed him off with a few words when they tried to talk to him.

However, when the commentators asked the players questions, Gurusha started to talk more.

"I've watched several of Xia Chen's videos... oh no, I mean, his matches. He's amazing, especially the one where he froze the field with Water Spray and Ice Beam. It was incredibly skillful. I think he has a real talent for being an Ice-type trainer. He could at least try training an Ice-type Pokémon. Frostmountain has a rich variety of Ice-type Pokémon, and Whaleon is also very cute. If I have the chance..."

"Ahem..." The female commentator gently interrupted the suddenly talkative Guruxia, "So what do you think of player Wang Ding?"

After a two-second silence, Gulusha said, "Not bad..."

After waiting for several seconds with no further development, the female commentator asked blankly, "That's...it's over?"

"Hmm... I think Xia Chen could consider training a pseudo-legendary Pokémon unique to our Padia region, the Styracosaurus. It's a physical attacker that Xia Chen lacks, and it has a wide range of coverage..."

The female commentator sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation. This differential treatment... isn't it a bit too much?

The viewers in the live chat were laughing hysterically.

"Haha, Master Pigeon's charisma has turned the iceberg into a chatterbox!"

Wang Ding: Aren't we both Ice-type trainers? All you can say in your review is "not bad"?

"Case solved! Gurusha is also a Bean Pigeon!"

"Fun fact: Gurusha's Pixiv account has a level 28 'Cooco Pigeon' badge."

"The first thing he said was a video of contestant Xia Chen. He's a seasoned fan of pigeons."

Amidst the playful chatter in the live stream, the camera switched to the battlefield, with Gurusha's holographic projection displayed in the upper right corner.

All the spectators knew that this meant the match was about to begin.

Shortly after, the referee blew his whistle, and the match officially began.

"The battle begins, and both sides send out their first Pokémon. As expected, Wang Ding's team sent out an Ice Ninetales with the [Snowfall] ability. Activating the Aurora Veil after a snowfall is a tactic that Wang Ding usually uses. And now, it has started snowing above the battlefield."

Gurusha chimed in, "Xia Chen has sent out Milotic. Is he trying to steal the weather? Xia Chen's Milotic has a very fast attack speed. He might be able to cast Rain Dance before Aurora Veil is fully cast, thus changing the weather to rain and preventing the very troublesome Aurora Veil from being cast. Is that his idea?"

Chapter 227 Who's going to steal your weather? (7.6k views)

"Wow, Professor Gu's judgment was so accurate. Milotic's first action after appearing was indeed to cast a rain spell. However, can his rain spell be faster than the Ice Nine-Tails' extremely skillful use of the Aurora Veil?"

In the studio, the female commentator in white stockings looked at Milotic, who immediately cast Rain Dance as soon as she entered the arena, with an expression of amazement.

Appearing in the live stream as a holographic projection, Grusha nodded slightly and replied, "It should be fine. I have a lot of confidence in Milotic's attack speed. Also, could you please not call me 'Teacher Grusha'? My surname isn't Grusha..."

The female commentator, whose mistake had been corrected, stuck out her tongue cutely and apologized, "Sorry, sorry, Guru was right again. Before Ice Nine-Tails could release its aurora curtain, the rain covered the ice and snow that hadn't been there for long. Xia Chen used the most direct method to cut off Ice Nine-Tails' chance to release its aurora curtain. So, next, it should be a battle of weather between the two sides."

Guru Shah looked helpless and said, "No, Wang Ding might think that way, but Xia Chen definitely won't. Milotic will most likely take advantage of the rain and spray water directly at us, or maybe use Whirlwind Dance... Also, I'm not surnamed Guru. Oh well, whatever..."

"It really is water spray! Although Ice Ninetales isn't weak to water, in the rain, Milotic at full strength still unleashes an extraordinary water spray... Ice Ninetales is in trouble now! Guru-sensei, this isn't just commentary, it's practically a prophecy!"

Gurusha explained, "It's not a prophecy. I just know Xia Chen well enough. His thinking is simple: in the rain, if Ninetales wants to activate Aurora Veil, it will need to use two moves in succession. So what's the difference between that and directly activating Reflect and Light Screen? In fact, considering the weather-type move [Snowy], it will take even longer. Moreover, Xia Chen's three main Pokémon are all special attackers. Aurora Veil serves the same purpose as Light Screen, so what's the point of stopping her from activating it?"

"It seems Xia Chen has studied Wang Ding very thoroughly, while Wang Ding seems somewhat inflexible. Now that Xue Tian has been released, Teacher Gulu, do you think he will still allow Ice Nine-Tailed Fox to continue using the Aurora Curtain?"

Gurusha pondered for a moment and said, "It's highly likely. Given the sunk cost, a normal person would think, 'Since the snowy weather is already on, it would be a waste not to turn on the aurora screen as well.' As for Xia Chen... although the rainy weather is over, he can still make Milotic continue to spout water. If he... does something a little more and asks for rain again, Wang Ding's mentality should collapse."

"Haha, I understand what you mean. Let's look at the scene. Wow, it really is a rainmaking ritual. Xia Chen is playing too badly. The director is also bad, turning the camera on Wang Ding right now. His face is very red. I don't know if it's from the high altitude or from being angry."

Gurusha shook his head slightly. "Getting angry is the most useless thing in Pokémon battles. If he were more rational, he could fight Milotic in the rain without any problem. Anyway, the physical defense boost that snow provides to Ice-type Pokémon won't do much in this battle. It would just waste Ursaring's [Snowplow] ability."

"Teacher Gulu's analysis makes a lot of sense, but we're not the ones fighting on the field. Let's see what Wang Ding will choose. Stop! Wang Ding didn't let Ice Nine-Tailed Fox continue using Snowy Weather; he switched to Daruma Baboon!"

Gurusha pondered, "Hmm... a wise choice. Wang Ding must have figured it out. A Galarian Darmanitan with high physical attack is the most suitable for fighting Milotic. However, it is resistant to ice with water-type moves, so signature moves like Ice Spike can't be used. Let's see if Darmanitan has any other moves we can use. Also... Darmanitan's ability also has a significant impact on the fighting style."

"Ah, this Daruma's ability is [Daruma Mode]. To those unfamiliar with this Pokémon, this ability allows Daruma to transform into Daruma Mode when its HP drops to about half, changing its type to both Ice and Fire, and significantly increasing its Attack and Speed..."

During the commentary, Xia Chen had already launched an attack while his opponent was switching Pokémon.

"The Daruma baboon hasn't even moved yet, and Milotic has already attacked, spraying water like it's raining! Wow, Wang Ding is so tough to beat. But thankfully, Daruma Mode hasn't been activated, which means his stamina is still relatively good. The most important thing now is to wear Milotic down, otherwise, who can stand being sprayed water like that..."

Seeing the white light shining on the arm of the Darmo baboon on the field, Gurusha pondered, "The Darmo baboon has made its move, is it the arm hammer... It seems that Wang Ding is going to gamble everything."

…………

On the battlefield, Wang Ding, who had been led by the nose by Xia Chen, finally began to fight back, and the female commentator's voice unconsciously rose.

"Daruma charged forward with a powerful punch, his speed was fast, and the Arm Hammer hit! Judging from Milotic's reaction, the damage was considerable, but the problem is, the Arm Hammer move has the side effect of reducing its own speed. Even in this situation, it still slows down... What do you think, Mr. Gollum?"

Gurusha chimed in, "This speed is nothing. The Daruma baboon can activate Daruma Mode soon, and the lost speed can be made up for. It's better than using brute force to reduce attack power. After the initial setback, Wang Ding has become more and more composed, while Milotic's response is... hot water. Is Xia Chen trying to gamble on a burn effect?"

"Hot water hit Darmanitan head-on, but unfortunately, it didn't inflict a burn. Instead, it triggered Darmanitan's Darman Mode. Xia Chen is in trouble now... Just as Teacher Gulu said, after Darmanitan transforms, its speed increases instead of decreasing. With its long arms supporting it on the ground, it leaps a lot with each move. After two jumps, Darmanitan has already circled behind Milotic. It's going to use brute force! Milotic isn't backing down at all. Before it can even turn around, it immediately uses Surf to respond! Teacher Gulu, would it be better if Xia Chen switched Pokémon in this situation?"