Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

With Tetsuya, an outsider, present, the dragon trainers couldn't openly chat and could only stand up straight and wait for the challenger to arrive.

Twenty minutes later, Matsumoto Matsushita, dressed in a black robe, finally appeared before everyone.

Matsumoto Matsushita glanced around, and when he saw Tetsuya, his eyes, hidden under his black robe, narrowed slightly. He then silently looked at the dragon tamers who were clearly the gatekeepers.

"I am your opponent, Charizard!"

A dragon tamer stepped forward after seeing the two marks on his black robe.

The elves they sent out, however, made people want to complain.

However, it's not entirely incomprehensible.

These dragon trainers' ace Pokémon are definitely Dragon-type, but they certainly exceed the threshold of near-Elite Four level.

You can't just bring out a Celestial-level pseudo-god to bully people.

"It's up to you, Gengar."

Matsumoto Matsushita muttered something under his breath, and suddenly a purplish-black sprite appeared before everyone's eyes.

"That's interesting."

Tetsuya, who was lost in thought, looked up for a moment, then looked down again after a flash of surprise.

In his eyes, Matsumoto Matsushita was not standing alone.

Gastly, Normal Level

Gastly, Normal Level

"Ghost, Elite level"

"Gengar, Elite level"

"Gengar, near-Champion level"

"Gengar, Champion-level!"

A dozen Gastly-family Pokémon were surrounding Matsumoto Matsushita, some hidden in the air, others in the shadows.

Their strength also spans three or four stages.

I don't know how Matsumoto Matsushita manages to withstand so many Ghost-type Pokémon's "demands".

This is probably the best illustration of how everyone's constitution is different.

The Pokémon world is so vast that there are humans who are not afraid of being absorbed by Ghost-type Pokémon.

Tetsuya was simply curious about how both sides determined which spirit should be summoned when he called for it.

Despite both being called Gengar, the one that came out to fight Charizard was a near-Elite Four level creature.

"That's very interesting," was Tetsuya's assessment.

However, he was indifferent to most Ghost-type Pokémon, not out of fear, so he didn't really care.

The eerie and gloomy ghost-type energy and the explosive and flamboyant fire-type energy constantly collided on the mountaintop.

This commotion is far more intense than Tetsuya's battle just now.

During the battle at Matsumoto Matsushita, groups of trainers who had passed the first two stages also arrived here.

One by one, the dragon trainers began to perform their duties.

Tetsuya, who was analyzing Togekiss, stopped what he was doing and gradually began to observe each trainer.

After all, these trainers could all become his opponents in the next stage.

That's right. After the Three Dragons Trial, if nothing goes wrong, the next step will be the battle for the top ten.

Tetsuya only hopes that not too many trainers will pass the test.

Ideally, there should only be ten, so he can quickly get his first dragon-type Pokémon.

However, it's clear that he was overthinking it.

The Trial of Three Dragons may be difficult, but it couldn't hold back so many excellent trainers.

By the time the sun was high in the sky and all the battles had ended, a total of 43 trainers had passed all three stages.

The vanished Tsubaki reappeared before everyone's eyes, riding a Dragonite.

Tetsuya keenly noticed that Dragonite wasn't in good condition, and there were signs of battle on Tsubaki's body.

He knew that Xiaochun had just exchanged a less-than-friendly greeting with some people.

"Congratulations to all trainers who have cleared the stage. I will now take you to the next battle arena."

Trainers who didn't clear the stage shouldn't be discouraged. The Rising Dragon Ceremony three years from now awaits you. You can also use the completion tokens from the first two stages to redeem rewards at the Inkstone Gym.

Xiaochun's tone was filled with a sense of dread.

"Please follow me."

She dismounted from the Dragonite and walked towards the other end of the canyon.

Tetsuya stretched; he was getting tired from waiting so long.

Indeed, it's better to get some physical activity.

Recalling the tradition of the Rising Dragon Ritual battle, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.

Chapter 471 The Long-Awaited Battle

The Three Dragons Trial Canyon is located in the wilderness near Yanmo City, and is a sizable area of ​​rock and soil.

As Xiaochun walked to the other side, a rocky area soon appeared before everyone's eyes.

Giant Rock Field.

This is the name of this venue.

Long, long ago, this place was an open-pit mine.

What happened next was quite simple.

Due to overexploitation leading to resource depletion, the Giant Rock Site was abandoned more than a hundred years ago.

Aside from new trainers who occasionally want to catch Rock-type and Ground-type Pokémon, practically no one comes here.

This is especially true whenever the Rising Dragon ceremony takes place.

Due to the unique environment inside the Giant Rock Stadium, it is often used as a battleground for visiting trainers participating in the Rising Dragon Ceremony.

New trainers wouldn't dare to enter during this time period.

Battles between near-Elite Four level Pokémon are so intense that even the aftershocks are too much for a Pokémon that has just emerged from its infancy to withstand, let alone an inexperienced trainer.

"Then let's begin the lottery."

Standing on a small open space nearby, Xiao Chun swiftly pulled out a bunch of wooden signs.

"The wooden plaques are numbered from 1 to 43. The trainer with plaque number 1 will battle the trainer with plaque number 43, and so on. The trainer who draws plaque number 22 will advance directly to the next round."

She explained the elimination rules simply and clearly.

No one voiced a dissenting opinion.

The trainers present were all well aware of their roles.

Ultimately, opening the dragon-raising ceremony to the public was simply giving them an opportunity.

Rules and such can be approximated; we can't expect them to be as strict as those at regional conferences.

Otherwise, the Dragon Ascension Ceremony of the Imperial Dragon Clan would take half a month to complete, which is not the situation they want to see.

Didn't you see that because there were many trainees with high strength this year, the other side directly brought out the Three Dragons Trial?

Then it's a head-to-head elimination process.

This efficiency and speed are entirely geared towards getting things done quickly.

Otherwise, a round-robin tournament would be much more reasonable than a draw.

If you're unlucky with the draw, a Fire-type trainer might draw a Water-type opponent.

Even if the former is stronger, it's unlikely they'll be able to win.

"Stronger" here refers to the same level of strength; however, if there are Elite Four level Pokémon, that's a different story.

However, there aren't actually that many Heavenly King-level beings.

Of the 43 trainers present, less than half possessed Elite Four level Pokémon.

Of these, two or more are counted in the number of hands.

Keep in mind that this is the Dragon Ascension Ceremony, and the final reward is very likely to be a Dragon-type Pokémon.

The trainers who came to participate were not necessarily the best in their respective regions, but at least they were well-known figures in the cities near their hometowns.

The rarity of Heavenly Kings is evident.

"In that case, there's an element of luck involved in making it into the top ten."

Many trainers came to this conclusion, and their expressions gradually became serious.

Especially those powerful trainers who were originally confident of making it into the top ten.

Obviously, with 43 people, it will take two rounds of competition to determine the top ten.

Judging from the surrounding area, it doesn't look like there's a Pokémon Center that provides healing.

This means that if you encounter a strong opponent in the first round and get into a fierce battle, you may very well lose to your opponent in the second round.

Meanwhile, many trainers who had successfully passed the Trial of the Three Dragons showed expressions of joy.

This is definitely a good thing for them.

Whether or not we can capture a dragon-type Pokémon is another matter, but at least we have the hope of entering the dragon's lair, which is much better than what we originally wanted.

"Let's begin, proceeding in reverse order of clearing the levels. Tetsuya, you'll be last."

Xiaochun slightly raised her chin.

A middle-aged man who looked like a mountaineer immediately went up to it.

"Number 8"

"Number 19"

"Number 33"

One number after another was drawn away.

Everyone's face had a different expression.

Confidence, helplessness, determination...

What they had in common was that no one was afraid before the battle even began.

With this level of skill, they wouldn't lack the qualities expected of a normal League Trainer.

No one can predict their own victory until the very end; this is a motto among trainers.

The draw proceeded quickly, and in less than three or four minutes, only Matsumoto Matsushita and Tetsuya remained.

Wearing a black robe, Matsumoto Matsushita came down to Tsubaki and took one of the last two wooden plaques without hesitation.

"Number 7"

Xiaochun calmly gave out the number.

"Damn, what kind of luck is this!"

A trainer's voice came from the corner.

Because until just now, the bye draw representing number 22 had not appeared.

Matsumoto Matsushita made the wrong choice with a 50% probability.

Many trainers silently rolled their eyes.

They were indeed lucky, but their luck was even better.

While passing the first level doesn't necessarily mean Tetsuya is the strongest, he's definitely among the top two.