The battle was in full swing, and soon it was Lin Mo’s turn, who owned a Scyther.
As two people with the same surname and whose initial Pokémon were Bug-type, Lin Fan and Lin Mo were once compared by busybodies, with the conclusion that Lin Mo was stronger than Lin Fan.
Lin Fan was noncommittal about this, because Scyther’s performance in the previous few matches was also extremely outstanding, with most battles being one-hit KOs. Coupled with the fact that Beedrill was common and Scyther was extremely rare, many naturally favored Lin Mo more.
“Although I’m being underestimated, it doesn’t matter anyway, since we won’t run into each other. According to the event organizers’ arrangements, Lin Mo will most likely face Xu Yue, and it will be a bit difficult for his Scyther to defeat Kirlia.”
As Lin Fan mumbled, the two people on the field released their Pokémon.
Lin Mo’s opponent in this battle was also quite excellent, owning a Krabby with extremely strong physical attack.
As soon as the battle began, Lin Mo commanded Scyther to approach Krabby using its speed advantage, confidently using “Fury Cutter.”
Fury Cutter is a Bug-type move, which involves attacking the opponent by slashing with scythes or claws, with its power increasing with consecutive hits.
Krabby tried to use Slash to block Scyther, but the speed difference between them was too great. Scyther merely vibrated its wings slightly to dodge the horizontally striking claw, and successfully left the first Slash mark on Krabby.
“The outcome is decided.”
Lin Fan mumbled, and the situation on the field was just as he expected. Krabby simply couldn’t keep up with Scyther’s speed, and could only watch as the latter continuously stacked the power of Fury Cutter until the final winning blow.
The reason for this Krabby’s defeat was its poor independent battle ability. When its Trainer couldn’t provide effective commands, it directly panicked and was led by the nose by Scyther.
However, this Scyther’s speed was indeed astonishing. Based on its current performance, its speed was already 70% of Beedrill’s.
“It is indeed a very powerful Scyther.”
Lin Fan praised, acknowledging Lin Mo’s strength.
As expected of a competition held in a big city, there are many experts.
The competition continued in an orderly manner. The battles for Group b ended, and after a customary short break, it was Group C’s turn. Soon, it would be Group D’s turn, which included Lin Fan.
If viewed according to the organizer’s arrangements, Lin Fan’s opponent after advancing to the top eight should be the seeded player from Group C. Therefore, Lin Fan also slightly perked up, scrutinizing the blue-haired girl who entered the arena.
This was Liu Zhiruo, the seeded player from Group C, whose initial Pokémon was a very cute Spheal.
However, don’t let Spheal’s chubby and cute appearance deceive you; its evolution can only be described as an eyesore, evolving from a baby into a middle-aged uncle, and the kind that is bald and has a big belly.
Although the final evolution, Walrein, is quite strong, due to its appearance, very few girls choose its initial form, Spheal, especially girls like Liu Zhiruo, who has an ice-cold beauty demeanor, which is a stark contrast to Walrein’s image.
However, it was said that the opponent came from a family specializing in Ice-type Pokémon and would likely form a Hail team in the future, so choosing Spheal was understandable. After all, Pokémon with the Snow Warning ability either take too long to mature or haven’t been discovered yet, so a strong Pokémon is naturally needed for a transition in the early stages.
Spheal’s opponent was a Geodude of average strength and severely type-disadvantaged, being instantly defeated by a 4x effective Water Pulse, which meant Lin Fan couldn’t discern anything, feeling a slight regret.
Why couldn’t it suddenly evolve into Graveler, directly staging an ultimate type-disadvantage + dark horse comeback, trampling the ice-cold beauty, punching the spiky-haired squinty-eyed guy, and directly winning the Zero Moon Cup Champion?
Lin Fan fantasized about Geodude’s comeback drama in his mind, but then he suddenly remembered that he was also a participant, and the kind aiming for the Champion title, so he immediately fell silent, silently clearing the fantasies from his head.
Next time, I should watch fewer over-the-top dramas; they’re really leading me astray.
Lin Fan rubbed his head, sat back down in his chair, and quietly waited for his turn to enter the arena.
Time flowed by, and as noon approached, Lin Fan’s number finally echoed through the broadcast.
Clutching the Poké Ball in his hand, Lin Fan walked out of the aisle without hesitation, ascended the steps, and stood on one side of the field.
In this match, his opponent was an artistic youth with long flowing hair, wearing a confident and unruly smile, and a studded leather jacket, exuding a wild aura.
The referee was an old acquaintance of Lin Fan’s, who nodded at Lin Fan with a smile on his face, showing considerable favor towards Lin Fan. After all, he had watched Lin Fan achieve one-hit KOs all the way, and even Lin Fan’s status as a seeded player had his recommendation as a contributing factor.
Lin Fan also smiled in response, and as the referee announced the start of the match, he threw his Poké Ball.
Beedrill vs. Voltorb!
Voltorb, the Ball Pokémon, looks like an enlarged red and white Poké Ball, with the upper half red and the lower half white. It will directly explode at the slightest provocation and is very popular among wild musicians who are artists, such as Lin Fan’s opponent in this match.
Moreover, both Voltorb and Beedrill are Pokémon known for their speed, and the outcome of their battle might only be decided in an instant.
“Getting hit by Thunder Shock doesn’t feel good, so let’s end this quickly. Beedrill, Double Needle!”
Lin Fan’s command rang out, and the opponent also shouted, “Voltorb, unleash your art, Thunder Shock!”
Beedrill and Voltorb charged towards each other, colliding several times in an instant, then crossing paths in mid-air and coming to a standstill.
Zzz—Zzz—
The unique sound of electricity spread, and Voltorb’s body gradually became enveloped by a circle of electricity, its expression ferocious. The next moment, it directly exploded on the spot, falling to the ground with a “bang” in a cloud of black smoke permeated with electricity.
“Is that the Aftermath ability? As expected, it’s very characteristic of Voltorb.”
Lin Fan shook his head, recalled Beedrill, and walked off the stage.
Voltorb’s explosion was due to its Aftermath ability, which causes damage to an opponent that makes contact with it when it faints. It doesn’t cause much harm to Voltorb itself, so although it looked quite miserable, it only needed a doctor’s care to recover.
Some abilities perform well in games but are quite useless in reality, just like this Aftermath ability. Not only is the explosion range not too large, but the activation condition is being in a fainted state, which makes developing it very difficult.
After all, who could accept letting their Pokémon fall into a fainted state frequently just to develop an ability?
With the battle over, Lin Fan no longer lingered, leaving the arena and returning to the hotel.
......
At 3 PM, the matches for Groups E to H were also held in sequence.
Although Lin Fan didn’t have a match in the afternoon, he still accompanied Su Ling to the venue.
After all, he wasn’t Su Ling. The latter knew in her heart that she would most likely not be able to pass Wu Heng’s Onix and wouldn’t even make it out of the group, so she simply stopped paying attention to the other groups’ contestants.
And his goal was the Champion title, so he naturally needed to roughly observe the performance of other seeded players, especially Wu Heng’s Onix, and whether any dark horses appeared.
Glancing at the somewhat nervous Su Ling, Lin Fan thought for a moment and handed his hat to her: “A lucky hat. Wearing it will grant you the blessing of a certain strongest Trainer.”
Strongest Trainer? How shameless.
Su Ling glanced at Lin Fan, and although she inwardly scoffed, she still took the hat and put it on her head. Her original nervousness did indeed alleviate somewhat.
“Thanks, I didn’t expect you to have such a warm-hearted side,” Su Ling thanked him, a bright smile on her face.
Lin Fan chuckled dryly twice, turning his head away with a hint of guilt.
Warm-hearted?
He just didn’t want Su Ling to fail unexpectedly, because then Machop wouldn’t be able to face Onix, and thus wouldn’t be able to provide him with battle data and experience.