Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

The sluggish and carefree Swamp King;

Nido, who loved her son and risked her life for him;

Golducks gracefully swim in the water to rescue people who have fallen in.

In the previous battles, these blue sprites presented the audience with a series of visual feasts under the blue sky.

This year marks Sugiyama Kage's tenth year as a professional player, and it's also his second time participating in the Quartz tournament. We'll have to wait and see if he can go further, defeat his opponents, and advance to the top 32.

Now, let's turn our attention to the two players on the field.

The commentator, who also served as the host, spoke at a very fast pace, and after introducing the contestants' general information, he got straight to the point without any hesitation.

After confirming with the two contestants, the referee returned to his seat on the sidelines.

"Tetsuya Tamaki is on the blue team, and Kage Sugiyama is on the red team. It's a 6v6 battle with all players on both sides. Each side has two chances to switch Pokémon. The first to attack wins, and neither side can lose a battle with all their Pokémon."

The match begins!

As the referee waved the flag, Tetsuya and Sugiyama Kage simultaneously threw out their Poké Balls.

"Go gracefully, Serpent Lord."

"Confidently crush it, Dunka."

"Okay, we can see that both players' Pokémon have appeared. Tetsuya has sent out one of the three starter Pokémon from the Unova region, the proud snake-shaped Pokémon, the Grass-type Serperior."

These Pokémon are not something that ordinary novice trainers can command at will. By nature proud, they have extremely strict requirements for the strength of their trainers, and if they are slightly dissatisfied, they will stare at you with their noble eyes.

Meanwhile, the Dontaur from the Johto region was sent out by Sugiyama Kage. According to the data, the 7-year-old Dontaur's teeth are 1.35 times the average length of individuals of the same age, which means that it is a male Dontaur.

We all know that a Donak's teeth gradually grow larger and longer with age. In the wild, this is also a basis for distinguishing a Donak's status within the group. The larger the teeth, the higher the status in the group, and its strength should not be underestimated...

The narrator, standing several meters in the air, moved his lips and gave an extremely detailed explanation.

He liked the two ground-based Pokémon the most, especially the ones that weren't good at jumping, so he could save a lot of energy and be safer.

Zhe ignored what he said and instead carefully observed the short, anthropomorphic elf opposite him.

Donjia's appearance is similar to that of the extinct mammoth, except that its main body is grayish-blue, it has a pair of very dangerous-looking long tusks, and its black nose extends all the way to its tail as if it is covered with a layer of armor on its back.

"The Grass-type Serperior has a huge advantage against the opponent's Water/Ground-specialized Pokémon. The opponent probably didn't expect Serperior to have broken through to the Elite Four level, giving it a slight advantage."

Whether Donphan has the hidden ability Sand Veil is irrelevant to Serperior, and Serperior, which is good at sustained output, is actually countered by Donphan, which has the Sturdy ability (cannot be KO'd in one hit).

As expected, the order of appearances went as planned, so the rest is just a matter of proceeding according to schedule.

Tetsuya calmly analyzed the situation, and everything was exactly as he had initially predicted.

The opponent's ace Pokémon, Feraligatr, definitely can't be the first to go out, otherwise there will be no way to recover once it fails. But the first Pokémon can't be too bad either, so Donphan is the best choice.

As fellow potential Heavenly Kings, Weng Guoweng is still much more limited compared to Dunjia.

Tetsuya's excellent eyesight allowed him to notice that the other person paused for a moment when they saw his Serpent, probably because they didn't expect that an "elite" level Serpent would be the first to appear.

No wonder, Serperior has only been evolved for two months. The news of its on-the-spot evolution in the contestant village is easy to find, and no one would believe that it could improve so quickly.

But I'm sorry, it's that fast.

Tetsuya narrowed his eyes.

"Monarch Serpent, Grassy Field."

With a soft hum, a green halo unfolded, covering about a third of the area.

"Not even close to becoming a Heavenly King?" Sugiyama Kage was stunned by what he saw.

A normal near-elite-level Serpent Lord's influence range in Grassland should be about half the size of a standard battleground, and this one-third proportion should be for elite-level Serpent Lords.

Although it matched his initial understanding, it was the opposite of the normal battle strategy.

Even with an attribute advantage, it's unrealistic for an elite to defeat a quasi-elite, as the opponent wouldn't waste their own manpower for no reason.

He had already accepted that the opponent's Serperior had broken through from a newly evolved Serperior to a near-Elite Four member in just two months, but his opponent pulled this stunt on him.

Sugiyama Kage hesitated for a moment, then said, "Dun Armor, become round, and then roll to accumulate power."

Forget it. Since we can't be sure how strong you are, let's focus on building up our attack power first.

Sugiyama Kage's thinking was very clear.

Donphan has skin as hard as armor and immense strength, making it highly compatible with the Rollout move combination.

Since you're planning to play dumb to take advantage of the tiger, then just wait and see how the tiger builds up its momentum and power.

The only downside is that Ground-type Donphan doesn't have a type matchup bonus against Rock-type Rollout; otherwise, its power would be truly terrifying.

Of course, this is without considering the type. If we consider the type, the Rock-type Rolling is actually more suitable to deal with the Grass-type Serperior in this situation.

After all, Grass-type has resistance to Ground-type but not to Rock-type. If Rollout is a Ground-type, the damage caused by the increase and decrease is hard to say.

Tetsuya felt a little disappointed that he wasn't fooled, but he didn't take it seriously; he was just trying it out anyway.

But wouldn't it be too disrespectful to Serperior, which was empowered by the Grassy Terrain? Tetsuya unconsciously rubbed his slightly sweaty palms.

"Monarch Serpent, Magic Leaf."

The Monarch Serpent's red eyes narrowed slightly, and one after another, green leaves covered with blue-purple light appeared around it.

"Buzz~"

Unlike usual, all these magical leaves were controlled by the Monarch Serpent and did not fly directly towards the target, Don't.

Faintly, the sound of air being torn apart by the flying magical leaves could be heard.

As more and more magic leaves gathered, the sound grew louder and louder.

Tetsuya smiled as he looked at Sugiyama Kage across from him. Everyone was gathering their strength. Guess who would be the unluckiest?

"Of course it's myself," Sugiyama Kage understood the meaning behind Tetsuya's smile, and at the same time, sensed something was wrong and immediately came to the answer.

With the added benefit of Grassy Terrain, the double super-effectiveness of Grass-type against Ground-type, and the type match bonus of STAB moves, this power, combined with the sheer number of moves after charging, makes this Magic Leaf a potential candidate for the name Magic Leaf Storm.

Most importantly, although the power is great after turning round and rolling to charge up, it can't hit the target every time like the Magic Leaf.

Overall, Magic Leaf is definitely the one that cannot be charged up.

Still acting? What elite Grass-type Pokémon could have such control over its form?

Looking at the grassy field that remained unchanged in its coverage area, Sugiyama Kage couldn't help but mentally complain.

Now we can be completely certain that the opponent has the strength of a near-elite.

Although he was stronger, Sugiyama Kage couldn't help but feel a little relieved, at least he didn't have to think about what kind of strategy the other side had in sending out elite-level Pokémon.

After calculating the time, the power of the Rolling skill, enhanced by the Rounding buff, was already quite considerable at this point, while the number of the opponent's magic leaves was still within an acceptable range.

Sugiyama Kage immediately ordered, "Charge forward and take the Flame Fang!"

That's right, Donphan's incredibly dangerous-looking teeth aren't just for show; it's very skilled in using its teeth to attack with Flame Fang and Lightning Fang.

This gives it a lot of room to maneuver when facing Water-type or Grass-type Pokémon that have an advantage over it.

Moreover, the momentum from the rolling motion amplifies the damage these sharp teeth can inflict.

"Boom!"

Upon hearing the command, the Donphan, which was constantly rolling in its own half of the standard battlefield, immediately found its direction and charged aggressively towards the Serpent Lord.

Dust rose wherever they went, making it almost impossible to see the exact location of Dunjia.

Its small size, just over 1 meter tall, became its most effective way of hiding itself.

Without Tetsuya giving any orders, Serpent Lord readily released its control over the Magic Leaf, and swarms of blue-purple leaves, resembling wasps, swept out.

The magical leaf, equipped with an automatic locking function, systematically attacked a certain spot in the green-glowing dust.

"Bang bang bang."

A dull thud sounded.

However, the Magic Leaf failed to stop Donphan's advance, and the smoke and dust visibly approached Serpent Lord at great speed.

Tetsuya was not surprised at all.

Although Don armor is weaker in energy attack and defense compared to physical attack and defense capabilities, it is not so easy to deal with.

Moreover, in the case of mutual collision, the power of the rounding and rolling negated a considerable portion of the magic leaf's attack, and of course, it did more than that.

Tetsuya snapped his fingers: "Monarch Serpent, tie a grass knot."

Sugiyama Kage pushed up his glasses.

The Grass Knot ability can indeed inflict significant damage on a Donphan weighing over 100 kilograms and moving at high speed. With its fifth power of 100, plus its type advantage and bonuses, it can almost completely disable a Donphan, leaving it only able to survive by relying on its Sturdy ability.

However, a very important question is: how does the Serpent Lord detect Donphan's location?

Sugiyama Kage was well aware of Donka's weaknesses, which was why he allowed it to create insignificant dust during its roll.

In this environment, any skill that doesn't have a 100% hit rate will be even more difficult to hit Donak and cause damage, let alone a skill like Knot of Grass that requires extremely precise timing and positioning.

Before Sugiyama Kage could react, a loud bang shattered his thoughts.

"boom"

His face suddenly turned pale. This was... the grass knot had hit him?

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, Donjar, covered in wounds, appeared on the field. It was lying on its back, struggling to turn itself over with its nose, but its weak body seemed unlikely to support it in doing so quickly.

Not far behind it, a grass knot that had just emerged from the ground was torn in two, and the rocks and soil it kicked up fully demonstrated the strength of Donjia's impact.

After observing for a while, Sugiyama Kage finally understood why.

"Did they expand the grassy area without us noticing?" Sugiyama Kage pushed up his glasses again. What a "cunning" opponent.

Of course, that's not the most important thing.

Expanding the grass field area mainly affects the release speed of the grass knot, but does not help with accuracy.

As for power, it's all about directly hitting Donphan and triggering the Sturdy ability, so there's not much difference between 100, 130, or even 140.

Sugiyama Kage's gaze fell on the leaves scattered around Donja, and only then did the blue-purple light covering their surfaces slowly dissipate.

With the added benefit of the grassy field and the recent dust, this light was almost invisible unless one paid close attention.

"It utilizes the tracking effect of Magic Leaf, so the main focus of its development is on manipulating Grass-type energy?"

Despite the obvious defeat in the first game, Sugiyama Kage calmly analyzed his opponent's strength and characteristics.

We cannot betray the intelligence that Dunjia obtained at the cost of their lives.

"Parasitic seeds".

Tetsuya didn't give Sugiyama Kage even the slightest chance to resist.

After Serperior recovered from the stalemate caused by the use of its move, Donphan Armor, whose HP was kept at a very low level due to its Sturdy ability, still failed to turn the tide.

Tetsuya decisively commanded Serpent Lord to launch an attack.

A green seed flew out from the vines near the neck of the serpent monarch and landed gently on Donjia's body.

In an instant, thin vines stretched out and bound Donja tightly.

The next second, green light flowed simultaneously from Donphan and Serpent Lord.

However, their reactions were completely different.

Donphan didn't even utter a sound before its eyes rolled around, rendering it unable to fight. Serperior, on the other hand, barely straightened its body, feeling slightly refreshed as its stamina was restored.

They really don't miss any opportunity. Sugiyama Kage felt somewhat powerless as he watched the skills his opponent used.

"Dongreh is incapacitated, Serpent Lord wins." After observing Dongreh, the referee decisively raised the blue flag.

At the same time, on the huge LCD screen above the field, the Poké Ball dot below Sugiyama's portrait, which resembled Donphan, went dark, leaving only five Poké Ball dots with unclear meanings.

Conversely, the six Poké Ball dots below Tetsuya's portrait are all glowing, one of which is printed with the image of Serperior.

Ignoring the voices of the audience and commentators, Sugiyama Kage retracted the Donpa, which had lost its ability to fight: "I'm sorry, my intelligence was wrong. Now, I'll leave it to your partner."

With that, he threw out a second Poké Ball: "You can play all day, my buddy."

"so nan su~~"

The blue sprite who appeared shouted and saluted.

Chapter 271 vs. "God of Fruit"