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

Gurusha smiled faintly. "No, Xia Chen's choice is the optimal solution. Only Milotic can benefit from the rain buff in the entire team. Most importantly, only Milotic can win the weather battle. If Xia Chen changes his Pokémon, Wang Ding will definitely switch to Ninetales and change the weather to snow to reorganize. At that time, it will be too late for Xia Chen to switch to Milotic to cast Rain Dance."

Having said too much in one breath, Gurusha paused for a moment before continuing, "Instead of that, why not take advantage of the rain to defeat the opponent's core damage dealer, Daruma, directly?" Wang Ding thought so too. If Daruma could defeat Milotic without falling, the situation could be reversed. But Wang Ding seemed to have overlooked an important issue: Daruma in Daruma Mode is a dual-attribute of ice and fire, which is countered by water.

"I see, as expected of Teacher Gulu, your analysis is so insightful. Let's turn our attention back to the field. Darmanitan is still fighting desperately, using brute force again, while Milotic has locked down Surf in a strong response. These two Pokémon are going crazy..."

"The fierce battle to the death has finally ended. Darmanitan has fallen, and Milotic, with the help of type advantage and the rain, has firmly defeated Wang Ding's ace Pokémon, Darmanitan. So, will the battle situation develop as Gulu-sensei predicted?"

…………

The answer is yes.

The fact that Daruma fell while Milotic remained on the field means that Xia Chen still held the initiative in the weather.

As expected, the Ice Nine-Tails returned to the field, and the weather changed from rain to snow. This time, the Ice Nine-Tails was smarter and didn't use any aurora screen. Instead, it directly unleashed a magical flash.

But Ninetales' special attack is so weak, and Milotic has such high defense.

Milotic retaliated with its water cannon without flinching. After a brief exchange, Wang Ding suddenly realized that if they continued fighting like this, Ninetales might very well suffer the same fate as Darmanitan.

So he quickly switched to Tundra Bear, and with the speed boost from the [Snowball] ability, after several battles, he finally managed to defeat the extremely troublesome Milotic.

Milotic, before collapsing, changed the weather back to rain, further irritating its opponent.

In this battle, Milotic's ability to release attacks faster than others made Wang Ding's Snowy Team suffer greatly.

Milotic successfully completed his mission, and Gardevoir took over to finish him off.

Because rain reduces the damage of Fire-type moves, Gardevoir is not well-suited to using Magical Flame, which is effective against its opponent.

But there's no need to restrain yourself. With the [Psychic Boost] talent, there's no difference between using Psychic-type moves and using them against your type.

First, Gardevoir used Teleport to create distance from the Tundra Bear that was about to pounce, and then immediately followed up with a Psychic attack.

Without the speed boost from snow, the Tundra Bear could only helplessly follow Gardevoir, clumsily being kited around.

Wang Ding had no choice but to switch to Ice Nine-Tailed Fox and restart the snowy weather.

However, Gardevoir doesn't care whether you turn on the snowy weather or use the Aurora Screen.

Taking advantage of the opponent switching Pokémon, I immediately used Meditation to strengthen myself, embodying the idea that "as long as my output is high enough, no matter how tough you are, it's useless."

The intensity of meditation enhanced by emotional energy is terrifying; the Ice Nine-Tailed Fox's aurora curtain is practically the same whether it's open or not.

If Gardevoir hadn't lacked a four-fold super weakness to Ice-type Ninetales' Steel-type moves, this Ninetales, as crystalline and beautiful as ice and snow, definitely wouldn't have been able to withstand a single hit.

Even so, Ninetales couldn't withstand Gardevoir's second Psychic attack.

As for the last tundra bear... it was just a matter of foreseeing the future.

……

"Wang Ding's last Pokémon, Ursaring, has fallen, which means the match is over. Congratulations to Xia Chen for defeating Wang Ding 3-1 and advancing to the quarterfinals! Thank you to both players for bringing us this exciting match, and thank you to Guru Xia for the wonderful commentary. Guru Xia, would you like to say a few more words?"

In the studio, Guruxia's holographic projection paused for a moment, then seriously summarized: "It was a very exciting match. Both players had outstanding performances. Even Wang Ding, who lost, showed remarkable judgment of the situation and a fighting spirit when he was at a disadvantage. As for Xia Chen, just play normally. I hope he can go further in the upcoming matches."

After a pause, Gulusha added, "Of course, I still hope he can visit Frostmog Mountain when he has time..."

Using the guise of official business to make a final invitation, Gurusha hung up the line, and the holographic image went out.

On the battlefield, staff and elves began cleaning up.

The next match is about to begin.

…………

Today's round of 16 only has eight matches. Even if the interval between the two matches is extended to half an hour, the entire round will be over before 5 pm.

Following this, the official list of the top eight was released.

The four people in the upper half of the competition area, besides Xia Chen's acquaintances Hu Yang and Chi Hong, also include Jiang Pei, whom he had defeated in the preliminaries, and another dojo inheritor.

The second half of the competition, where Xia Chen is located, consists of Xia Chen, Lu Weiyu, and Bai Mu, two of the favorites to win the championship, as well as a student from Nandu University.

Most of the participants in the competition were representatives from various universities, but only three of the top eight were academic trainers, which shows how low the competitiveness of academic trainers is.

However, there's no way around it; in Pokémon battles, the most basic factor is still the amount of resources accumulated during Pokémon training.

In this regard, the "second generation" of museum staff with a long history have a significant advantage.

Xia Chen's opponent in the quarterfinals was Lu Weiyu, and he wasn't very lucky.

But in reality, being in the death zone, it's highly likely that you'll encounter Lu Weiyu or Bai Mu at this stage, so there's nothing to complain about. Xia Chen was prepared for this.

Lu Weiyu, from Yunze Gym, mainly uses Poliwag, Swampert, and Ludicolo.

These three Pokémon don't need much analysis: Poliwag with the Rain ability, Ludicolo with its Swift Swim ability, and Swampert, a powerful attacker.

A very typical rainy day team.

As the game progressed, Xia Chen could sense that the number of teams using this weather tactic was increasing.

As before, he had already faced the Sandstorm Team and the Snow Team, and this round it was the Rain Team. Of the four weather teams, only the Sunny Team was left to face.

Although it's quite a coincidence, it's actually not entirely unexpected.

The weather-based tactics are highly demanding, the training period is short, and the command difficulty is moderate, making it very suitable for developing young trainers.

In addition, these "second-generation dojos" all come from long-established dojos or training centers and have their own training systems, so the competition for dominance in the weather has a long history.

However, looking at the world, very few single weather teams have become champions, let alone reached the top of the world.

The powerful champions we've all heard of in recent years, like Adair, Dante, and even Cynthia, don't have a fixed tactical system; they mostly adjust their strategies based on their opponents' situations.

The root cause is the drawbacks of a one-dimensional tactical approach.

While training and commanding Pokémon has become simpler, it has also made it easier for opponents to research and counter their strategies.

Reality is not like rock-paper-scissors in a game.

Change is the most captivating and exciting core of Pokémon battles.

Therefore, even when facing Lu Weiyu, whose overall strength was a level higher than his own, Xia Chen did not feel any pressure or tension.

Because he had complete confidence in Xenbear and Milotic.

…………

December 21st, the day of the quarterfinals of the Donghuang Youth Trainer Competition.

With the competition progressing to this point, every one of today's four matches has been full of highlights and suspense, and no one can guarantee that any contestant will advance.

Of course, even so, there are definitely some contestants that the audience favors and others that they don't.

In comparison, the gap in strength between the two matches in the second half of the competition may be slightly larger.

Especially the match between Lu Weiyu from Yunze Martial Arts Academy and Xia Chen from Beijing University.

Those two are basically the strongest in the quarterfinals.

Even among the most loyal DouDouGe, few genuinely believed before the competition that Xia Chen could make it into the top eight.

Most importantly, Xia Chen's debut time is simply too short.

In a year and a half, at the age of under eighteen, what level can a normal trainer reach?

Even the best trainers who can get into the trainer department of Kyoto University, which only admits two or three hundred people out of hundreds of thousands of fresh graduates, are at best at the senior level at this time.

Xia Chen, however, made it into the top eight of the Donghuang Youth Competition, which has an elite entry threshold!

This growth rate is comparable to that of Cynthia at the same stage.

However, Xia Chen's miraculous journey is coming to an end when he encounters Lu Weiyu, the favorite to win this tournament, in the quarterfinals.

This was the opinion of most people before the competition began.

The most direct way to see this is by looking at the odds for Xia Chen in the entertainment betting on Pornhub.

1: 3.8!

This means that if you bet ten coins on Xia Chen to win, you can get a return of 38 coins. Of course, the more likely scenario is that you will lose everything.

As for why the audience is so pessimistic about Xia Chen, it's because his opponent, Lu Weiyu, is too strong.

Anyone who has fought at Yunze Dojo knows that since this summer, half of the dojo challenge matches have been fought by the old dojo master's youngest daughter.

This behavior is not actually against the rules, but there is a prerequisite: the "agent manager" needs to reach the level of elite one-star.

This level doesn't require just one elite-level one-star Pokémon, but three.

What's even more terrifying is that she "joined the army in place of her mother" starting in August, which means that Lu Weiyu has already reached the level of an elite one-star for more than four months.

After several months of growth, no one was surprised that her Swampert had reached the Elite Rank 2 strength.

As for Xia Chen... if you search for his information on the Trainers Association's official website, it still shows the Senior Trainer Certificate he obtained at the beginning of the year.

Reaching the elite level is already considered a miracle these days, so why would anyone want to add stars after the elite level?

Even if Cynthia came, it wouldn't be possible!

Therefore, most onlookers believe that Xia Chen's chances in this match are slim.

…………

The battle between Xia Chen and Lu Weiyu is in the second match.

The first match was between Bai Mu from Fengdu Dojo and Cheng Shuru from Nandu University.

As expected, Bai Mu, another favorite to win the championship, defeated Cheng Shuru with a score of 3:1 and advanced to the semifinals.

After a half-hour break, the second match, a showdown between Xia Chen and Lu Weiyu, entered the preparation stage.

In the studio.

Today's female commentator was neither wearing black stockings nor white stockings, but was barefoot. Her slender calves were gracefully crossed like two smooth and delicate lotus roots, making the viewers in the live broadcast room unwilling to switch channels even during breaks.

The female commentator picked up the Firefly cat in her arms, waved its paw and greeted the audience, and the cat reluctantly gave a perfunctory smile.

"Welcome back to the match! I'm Lulu, your commentator for this game. Next up is the match between Lu Weiyu and Xia Chen. First, let's connect with our guest for today's game. Who is this guest... I promise you'll never guess!"

These words, once spoken, immediately piqued the audience's curiosity.

"Little kid, still guessing?"

"Can't guess? Could it be Nana?"

"Nana? Which Nana? Cynthia? Lurina? Sabrina? Dorasena?"

"Going against the grain, I think it might not be these pretty ladies, but a grumpy old man, like Professor Oak!"