Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw a person with a spiky hairstyle, squinting eyes, and a smile on his face, looking completely harmless.
"Lin Fan."
After a simple introduction, Wu Heng cordially took Lin Fan's hand, his eyes burning: "Brother, I didn't expect you to be not only strong but also so handsome. Do you want to add my Piplup account?"
Lin Fan: "...?"
His mind went blank for a moment, unable to follow the other person's train of thought. In his dazed state, Lin Fan mechanically took out his phone and added the contact.
After all, the other party was so enthusiastic, it would be rude not to add them.
The short-haired young man beside him, seeing Lin Fan's bewildered look, quickly explained: "Brother Heng isn't gay, he's a really good person. We all respect him a lot."
Lin Fan: "?"
Wu Heng: "?"
The atmosphere became silent for a moment.
Wu Heng quietly said: "Brother, I look forward to meeting you in the competition. I have something to do now, see you next time."
With that, Wu Heng pulled the short-haired young man away, a brilliant smile on his face, a smile that conveyed a message that made Lin Fan's butt clench.
"Playing it really wild."
Lin Fan sighed, not expecting his first meeting with the other party to be like this.
As he was sighing, a message popped up on his phone about the next match:
Number 404 Lin Fan, bye.
Lin Fan's eyes lit up. Such good luck?
Although this meant he was truly "404 not found" this time, judging by the number of people present, tomorrow's battle would most likely be the last round of the preliminaries. This meant he could rest for an entire day and also scout out the strong opponents.
......
Inside the hotel, Lin Fan and Beedrill finished their evening training and lay on the bed, browsing the forums together.
After two days of preliminaries, the truly strong Trainers had gradually revealed their prowess.
"The Scyther from the Iaido Dojo, the Growlithe from the Police Family, the Kirlia from the Psychic Gym... Su Ling's Machop is also among them."
Lin Fan scrolled through a post titled "Zero Moon Cup Masters Compilation" with a "hot" tag, observing the Pokémon of various masters with great interest.
His Beedrill was naturally on it, and it was given a very high evaluation.
However, the comments section was mixed. Some people questioned why a Beedrill could be compared to the other Pokémon on the list, but many also strongly supported Beedrill.
Lin Fan roughly skimmed through the comments discussing his Beedrill, a hint of a smile in his eyes.
"I heard that Beedrill won all four battles with one-hit KOs. Isn't that strong?"
"Hmph, I heard that Beedrill's opponents were all amateurs, just there to join the fun, terribly weak. I could do it too."
"Are you saying my Geodude was just there to make up the numbers? If you're so capable, let's meet offline and see if I don't beat you to a pulp."
Lin Fan chuckled, not expecting to coincidentally stumble upon that short-haired person's comment. Their online persona was completely different from their real-life one, quite cute.
By the way, he still didn't know the short-haired person's name. They were the first fan to come and "fangirl" over him...
Lin Fan pondered for a moment, then shook his head helplessly.
Could he be blamed for this? Although the referee would announce the Trainer's name, since it was always a one-hit KO, why pay attention to such details?
After casually scrolling through the comments section, Lin Fan returned to the main text of the post and fell into deep thought, looking at a giant Onix.
This Onix was undoubtedly Wu Heng's Pokémon, its cold and domineering appearance a complete contrast to its Trainer.
Onix's body is composed of multiple large gray rocks, its connected form resembling a giant snake, hence its name.
Onix has a long rock horn on its head and sharp eyes. The rocks from its midsection to its tail gradually become smaller, but even the smallest one is larger than a Weedle.
Onix can absorb various hard objects to make its body stronger, which is one of the reasons its defense ranks among the top of all Pokémon.
"Undoubtedly a formidable opponent."
"Bzzzz~"
Lin Fan took a deep breath, a hint of solemnity appearing in his eyes.
Beedrill also nodded repeatedly, gravely looking at the colossal Pokémon that seemed to cover the sky.
Although that Kirlia was also strong, it was a low-speed, high-attack type compared to Beedrill. Both sides had type advantages, and Lin Fan was confident he could defeat Kirlia within three moves.
Wu Heng's Onix was undoubtedly exceptionally well-trained. Its size was much larger than others of its kind, and the scars on its rocky body indicated that it was certainly not a pampered Pokémon raised in a greenhouse.
Beedrill could one-hit KO Geodude with Double Needle, but it wasn't very confident in dealing sufficiently effective damage against this Onix.
However, conversely, it wouldn't be easy for Onix to hit Beedrill and deal damage either.
Lin Fan took a deep breath, his eyes flickering slightly: "Assassin versus tank, truly an age-old dilemma..."
"Bzzzz~"
Compared to Lin Fan's solemnity, Beedrill remained full of confidence, brandishing its gleaming Double Needle, indicating that it would definitely defeat all opponents and help Lin Fan win the championship.
Smiling softly, Lin Fan narrowed his eyes, looking at the crisscrossing patterns on the ceiling.
He had already figured out how to deal with that Onix.
......
The next afternoon, all the preliminary matches concluded. A total of 128 Trainers entered the main tournament and were divided into 8 groups by the organizers, with 16 people per group, battling in pairs.
In other words, advancing from the group stage would qualify one for the top eight.
To increase the appeal of the competition, each group had a strong Trainer designated as a "seeded player," representing the strongest person in that group as favored by the officials.
Lin Fan was D Group No. 5, and also, unsurprisingly, the seeded player for D Group.
Su Ling was F Group No. 1, but she was not the seeded player for F Group.
However, upon seeing the name of the seeded player in that group, Lin Fan was not surprised.
Because that person was Wu Heng, who owned the Onix.
"Before, Uncle Su went to challenge the Rock-type Gym and lost, and now his daughter is going up against Gym Leader Wu's son. Looking at this situation, the older generation didn't win, and the younger generation probably won't either. Type advantage is useless in the face of absolute strength, huh."
Lin Fan scratched his head, glancing at Su Ling not far away, not daring to voice these thoughts.
Although she also knew deep down that she couldn't beat Wu Heng, if those words came from Lin Fan's mouth, it would inevitably lead to a friendly Trainer spar in an octagon cage.
Su Ling, sensing something, turned her head to look at Lin Fan. Although he said nothing, Su Ling completely understood the information contained in his gaze. She glared at Lin Fan, her delicate face filled with menace: "If you dare say my Machop can't beat Onix, then just wait for a free-for-all fight."
Lin Fan: "......"
Heaven help him, he didn't say anything!
He knew Machop couldn't beat Onix, she also knew Machop couldn't beat Onix, but he couldn't say Machop couldn't beat Onix, because he couldn't beat her.
He was trembling with anger, he also wanted to learn martial arts!