Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

"Two brutes."

Tetsuya, standing in the stands, made a blunt remark.

In his opinion, the initial clash between Fire Punch and Thunder Punch was completely meaningless. If one really wanted to determine the opponent's strength, Flamethrower and Thunderbolt would have been more effective.

"Lu Ping acted impulsively," Yamashiro-kun also offered his opinion.

Not only can the Demon Mask frighten Electivire so it can't use its skills, but it can also significantly reduce its speed, which is extremely disadvantageous for it.

On the field, the already suppressed Electivire was forced into retreat, and its condition was visibly declining under the continuous attacks of the Incineroar.

Fortunately, it has thick skin and a single electric attribute, and Electivire is only weak to Ground-type Pokémon. Most of Incineroar's moves do normal damage to it, otherwise its condition would not have been as bad as just declining.

The one-sided beating didn't last long; viewers gradually noticed that Electivire was showing signs of reaching parity with Incineroar.

"You can use 'Stomp' like that?" Tetsuya exclaimed in amazement.

He didn't realize it at first, but after careful observation, he quickly understood.

If you look closely, you'll see that every time Electivire takes a step back, cracks appear where it was standing.

This is a demonstration of the effect of the Ground-type move, Stomp.

Unlike other Pokémon that need to charge up and stomp their feet before using Stomp, Lu Ping's Electivire clearly has a unique way of using this skill.

"It borrowed some of the Blazing Roaring Tiger's attack power, then reduced the damage as much as possible, focusing on the accompanying speed reduction effect?"

Yamashiro-kun also quickly followed up with his analysis.

It sounds easy, but changing skills is not as simple as it sounds. No one knows how much effort Lu Ping and Electabuzz put into this.

"Now the speed is back to normal, no, the Blazing Roaring Tiger is even slower."

Tetsuya watched with great interest.

Two equally matched Pokémon and two equally matched Trainers – this kind of match is so much fun!

He sighed again.

The final result was not surprising to most people; Incineroar defeated Electivire by a very narrow margin, securing its first victory of the match.

However, as Lu Ping sent out his second quasi-heavenly king-level lizard king, the Blazing Roaring Tiger was instantly carried away.

Incineroar had exhausted all its strength and was no longer able to fight in order to defeat Electivire.

Yozo gently recalled it and also sent out his only remaining near-Elite Four Pokémon, Slash Commander.

Unlike the match between Tetsuya and Sugiyama Kage, the two on the field were clearly prepared to decide the outcome from the very beginning with a Pokémon of near-Elite Four level.

The Dark/Steel type Bisharp has a slight advantage in terms of type, and it has some resistance to Grass-type moves.

However, its fatal weakness is its near-complete inability to resist Fighting-type moves. Although Sceptile is a Grass-type Pokémon, it also knows quite a few Fighting-type moves.

Both are equally agile, one is strong in offense but weak in defense, and the other is strong in defense but weak in offense. Tetsuya is very curious about what kind of duel they can bring.

This is also something the audience is looking forward to.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the second match between Yozo and Shikahei officially began.

......

"Don't be discouraged. You're only one move behind. You'll beat him next time."

Tetsuya and Yamashiro were simultaneously comforting someone who had turned their grief into appetite.

"No, no, I'll win again next time, it's a piece of cake!"

Only Yozo, the victor, could utter such an infuriating tone.

The two of them rolled their eyes inwardly, speechless at him.

"Heh, you were just a little luckier." Lu Ping chewed his food fiercely while utterly scorning Ye Zang, who had defeated him.

What he said makes sense. If they were to fight again, it would be hard to say who would win.

Yozo's victory was entirely due to the unexpectedly high probability of hitting the vital point with his second slash at the commander.

In Tetsuya's opinion, Yozo could be described as using his lifespan to command the use of skills, and the effect of hitting vital points with critical hits every time would be unbearable even for the most powerful Pokémon.

The Lizard King's defeat was entirely reasonable under these circumstances.

Although it also inflicted extremely high damage on Bisharp, causing the near-Elite Rank Bisharp to lose its ability to battle after defeating only one Elite Rank Pokémon, the difference in strength of that one Pokémon was enough to determine the final outcome.

Thanks to "luck," Ye Zang successfully advanced to the top 32.

"Just watch, I want more than just the top 32; I want the top 16, the top 8, the top 4!"

Yozo declared his grand goal with great momentum.

This time, none of the three of them paid any attention to him. They're crazy.

"If you can make it to the top 16, I'll rip my head off and let you use it as a ping-pong ball," Lu Ping retorted without any restraint.

Of course, Yozo took all of this as the barking of a loser.

After the meal, the four of them returned to their respective rooms, each with their own things to take care of.

......

On the morning of April 10th, at the lottery pool in the service hall.

After completing the draw for the round of 32 to 16, Tetsuya and Yozo walked out of the door, where Shikahei and Kimiya greeted them.

"How is it?" they asked.

"I'm alright, not great, not great either, there's still hope." Tetsuya shrugged, then pointed to Yozo next to him with a droopy face. "But he's definitely out of luck."

"He ran into your opponent from the last round, Junya," Tetsuya added, a hint of schadenfreude in his voice.

All four of them were mentally prepared for being eliminated by a strong competitor, so they naturally wouldn't get angry over a joke between friends.

Yozo punched Tetsuya in a fit of anger.

He was already sad enough during the draw, and now Tetsuya is rubbing salt into his wounds.

Shikabe expressed delight at Yozo's bad luck, while Kimiya expressed sympathy.

"The odds are what they are. Even if you don't run into Shinagawa Seiji, most of the other people are still stronger than you."

Clearly, Lu Ping was still quite dissatisfied with the defeat he suffered a few days ago and continued to look down on Ye Zang.

"Well, there's nothing I can do. I'm one of the top 32 in the tournament, so the opponents I've faced are all pretty strong. Some of them, I'm not specifically referring to anyone, are just so-so."

Ye Zang shrugged in response.

Jun, who was lying nearby and also got caught in the crossfire, said he felt helpless, but he was used to it, as he had been accidentally injured quite a few times in the past few days.

"It's okay, I'll help you mock him later."

Tetsuya patted Kimiya on the shoulder reassuringly.

"Your opponent is Natsuko Hatayama."

Jun also checked the latest tournament schedule on the official website and learned about Tetsuya's opponent.

"Yes, he's very strong, but there's hope." Tetsuya nodded.

There's a reason he said that.

Natsuko Hatayama is one of the six remaining female trainers out of the thirty-two trainers, specializing in Grass-type Pokémon.

These last four words are enough to explain the source of Tetsuya's confidence: his ace is Blaziken, a fire-type Pokémon.

Natsuko Hatayama, whose main team has five fixed Elite Four level Pokémon, ranks in the middle among the remaining trainers. If it weren't for her specialization in one type slightly lowering her rating, her ranking could be even higher.

Compared to Tetsuya, who ranks at the bottom in terms of theoretical strength, many more people are optimistic about this powerful female trainer.

This can be seen from the amount of "prizes" listed on the official website.

By the way, Ye Zang ranks thirty-second among the thirty-two trainers, undoubtedly taking the crown.

However, in the words of this shameless boy, he still has a lot of room for improvement.

After chatting briefly with their two friends, Tetsuya and Yozo returned to their room to prepare for their next battle.

Whether by coincidence or design, his match was still the first game of the first day of the round of 32 to 16.

Zhe also had ample reason to suspect and believe that the alliance was behind it all.

As for Magikarp being uncontrollable? You can decide whether Tetsuya believes it or not.

Two hours of preparation time passed quickly, and we stepped onto the command platform in the main arena once again.

This time, however, Tetsuya felt a little more nervous than the first time, because he couldn't be 100% sure of his victory.

Looking at his beautiful and charming opponent, Tetsuya suddenly smiled.

Seriously, why do I need a 100% chance of winning? That wasn't my initial idea.

"Then, let's go without regrets," he silently prayed.

At the referee's signal, both sides released their Pokémon.

"Bring victory, Blaziken!" "Go forth with grace, Yeevee!"

Two loud shouts rang out, a flash of red light appeared, and Blaziken and Leafeon faced each other from afar.

Hatayama Natsuko's expression changed immediately.

No, we agreed to use a weaker Pokémon as a test, so why did we start with the Fire-type ace Blaziken?

She had specifically researched Tetsuya's pattern of sending out Pokémon. In all previous battles, the strongest Blaziken was almost always sent out last, so why was it her first Pokémon?

"Leaf Elf, the only elite-level one, are you planning to test her?" Tetsuya thought calmly. "However, I have no intention of testing her."

"Blizzard, say hello with your flamethrower."

He unleashed a powerful attack.

Blaziken unleashed a torrent of fire from its mouth, its Flamethrower attack crossing half the arena and charging straight toward Yeevee.

"Pass the baton!" Natsuko Hatayama shouted out this skill she had prepared in advance.

However, unlike what she had imagined, the timing of using this skill was completely unexpected.

Originally, she planned to wait until Yeebu had weakened the opponent before using it, hoping it might even allow her to inherit the ability from her next Pokémon.

However, facing the opponent's Fire-type Pokémon, especially the strongest one, Hatayama Natsuko really didn't have the confidence to think that Yeevee could last long.

Rather than keeping Yeevee on the field to allow the opponent to stack its Speed-Up ability, it's better to switch to another Pokémon.

The baton-passing skill was used extremely quickly, showing that Natsuko Hatayama had put a lot of effort into training Leafeon in this area; a flash of red light appeared in an instant.

To retrieve or release.

The Leaf Sprite disappeared from the field, replaced by an incredibly large sprite.

"Hmm—"

Before people could even see what kind of Pokémon it was, the flamethrower had already completely enveloped it.

From within the fiery red color came the elf's painful cries.

As the flames subsided, an elf covered in black charred wounds appeared before the people's eyes.

"Earth turtle, photosynthesis."

Hatayama Natsuko called out its name and directed it to begin the recovery process.

Chapter 278 The Battle for the Round of 16: Violent Combat Methods

Torterra, the final form of the Sinnoh Grass-type starter Pokémon, is a continental Pokémon.

As a turtle with a huge, flat shell, it also looks like a type of ankylosaur.

Its shell is covered with an oak-like tree and three gray equilateral triangular rocks. The combination of coffee, gray, and green colors, along with its large size, gives it a sense of solid security.

This is one of the reasons why it is classified as a mainland Pokémon.

The Earth Platform Turtle has two symmetrical, protruding cones on its head, and its mouth is similar to the alligator snapping turtle from Tetsuya's previous life, which looks somewhat frightening. Its thick legs are the foundation for supporting its large and heavy body.

The massive body, weighing over 300 kilograms, stood on the field, exuding an overwhelming sense of oppression.

Without it making any movement, a series of green light spots automatically appeared from the air and covered the body of the earth turtle.

The greenery was lush, the black charred scars were fading, and the earth turtle's breathing became steady.