Lin Fan ran far away in one breath, looked back, and did not see Niu Zhan Shi's figure. Only then did he stop and let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed the other party didn't want to bother him for now; otherwise, he could definitely have caught up.
"Winning the championship will get me something good?" Lin Fan murmured, then shook his head, "Forget it, I don't need to worry about him. My goal was always the Champion, and it has nothing to do with him."
As he muttered to himself, Su Ling had already finished her match and found Lin Fan.
"What are you thinking about, so engrossed?"
Meeting Su Ling's curious gaze, Lin Fan hesitated, then smiled: "Nothing, just met a strange person. Looking at you, your match went smoothly too. Let's go, there's another match this afternoon. After this one, the preliminary rounds should be almost over."
With that, Lin Fan led the way out of the arena. Su Ling tilted her head in confusion but didn't ask further, also leaving the arena.
......
In the afternoon, Lin Fan arrived at the arena early as usual and waited quietly.
However, due to his three instant-kill performances over the past day and a half, he had already become famous among the other Trainers.
The red outfit, originally a symbol of good luck, had also become his signature attire.
To some extent, he was the Red of this world.
After greeting the Trainers who had come to see him, Lin Fan heard his number called and squeezed through the crowd to one side of the battle arena.
On the other side was a neat, short-haired young man, looking at Lin Fan with eyes full of excitement: "Great Master, I'm your fan! Your Beedrill is truly amazing!"
What's going on? He has fans now?
Lin Fan was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand to greet the short-haired young man.
Judging by his statements a few days ago, those who could become his fans were likely people who genuinely wanted to become Trainers. He just didn't know how strong the person in front of him was.
As the referee announced the start of the match, both released their Pokémon.
Beedrill vs. Geodude!
"Finally, I see a Rock-type Pokémon characteristic of Xiyue City."
Lin Fan looked at the Geodude with interest. Its body resembled a round, grey stone, with raised stone eyebrows, trapezoidal eyes, and brown irises. It also had a pair of muscular arms, with five fingers on each hand, like a human's.
This Pokémon, similar to Onix, has Rock and Ground typing, and both are known for their defense. They are among the most numerous Pokémon in Xiyue City and can be considered a characteristic Pokémon.
Before facing Onix, using this Geodude for practice was also a good choice.
The short-haired young man's eyes burned with intense fighting spirit: "Geodude, all the hard training from the past month, show it all here! Use Defense Curl, then Rollout!"
As his words fell, Geodude curled its body into a ball, instantly transforming into a stone sphere, and began rolling at high speed across the field.
This was one of the classic combination moves. After using Defense Curl, the body's defense would increase to a certain extent, and the nearly spherical body could roll better, thus making the Rollout skill more powerful.
Lin Fan briefly assessed Geodude's offensive, a hint of admiration appearing in his eyes.
This combination move could easily be found online, but what those tutorial videos didn't specify was that in this set of combination moves, Defense Curl was the crucial skill, not Rollout, which was used for damage.
Lin Fan had seen many Trainers with Geodude continuously train Rollout, striving to let their Pokémon better control this skill, but they were indifferent to Defense Curl, not believing it was worth training.
But if Defense Curl wasn't important, then how could it boost the power of Rollout?
The Geodude in front of him had clearly undergone specialized training for Defense Curl, so much so that even its Rollout speed had increased significantly.
"Beedrill, test Geodude's defense."
Hearing Lin Fan's command, Beedrill vibrated its wings, appearing like a ghost beside the charging Geodude, and sharply thrust out its keen Double Needle.
The longer Rollout rolls, the greater its power and the faster its speed becomes.
Although it could only perform a linear attack, Lin Fan didn't dare to be overconfident and let the opponent fully charge up.
Bang—
A muffled sound spread out. Geodude's high-speed rolling figure was abruptly stopped, but Beedrill couldn't help but shake its right hand, clearly indicating that the friction with the stone was not pleasant.
"Hiss Bee~"
Hearing Beedrill's feedback, Lin Fan nodded, gaining a general understanding of the offensive and defensive difference between the two sides.
This Geodude's level was roughly estimated to be between LV.17 and LV.20. Beedrill could still break through its defense to some extent without using skills, and if it used Double Needle, it could still achieve an instant kill.
To be honest, ever since Beedrill evolved, Lin Fan had been instantly killing everyone he fought, and he still didn't have a concrete concept of Beedrill's limits. Today's battle with this Geodude helped him understand a little more.
Compared to Lin Fan's calm demeanor, the short-haired young man's mouth was wide open, looking at Lin Fan with eyes full of admiration: "How, how amazing! He actually stopped Geodude's Rollout with pure strength! As Brother Wu said, the Great Master's Beedrill is one of the strongest Pokémon in this Zero Moon Cup."
Amidst his excitement, the short-haired young man heard Lin Fan's voice, tinged with a faint smile: "Although you're my fan, I'm in a hurry to get back to training, so I won't keep you company. Beedrill, Double Needle!"
As his words fell, Beedrill used its signature skill for the first time, thrusting out two needles cleanly and decisively, directly sending Geodude flying as Lin Fan had expected. It rolled to the short-haired young man's side, its eyes turning into swirls, having lost its ability to battle.
"Geodude!"
The short-haired young man quickly picked up Geodude. After confirming that it was fine, he breathed a sigh of relief, returned Geodude to its Poké Ball, and scurried over to Lin Fan. He took out a Golem card and a black pen he had prepared earlier from his pocket, looking at Lin Fan expectantly: "Great Master, could you sign this for me?"
Signature?
Lin Fan was a little amused and exasperated. He hadn't expected to actually become a celebrity and one day be asked for an autograph.
However, seeing the other party's expectant gaze, Lin Fan did not refuse. He picked up the pen and signed his name with a flourish.
After signing, Lin Fan's peripheral vision caught sight of the other side of the card, where another name was written.
"Wu Heng?"
Lin Fan looked at the short-haired young man in front of him in confusion, who happily introduced: "Brother Heng is Gym Leader Wu's son. He's our elder brother, and he's usually very good to us. He's also my idol. My Geodude only knew how to train after he gave me pointers; otherwise, I would never have thought that Defense Curl is the core of this combination move."
Gym Leader Wu's son?
Lin Fan's gaze narrowed slightly. In this vast Xiyue City, who else named Wu could be called a Gym Leader?
As the thought just arose in his mind, a figure walked straight over and spoke with a smile: "Hello, my name is Wu Heng. Friends?"