Chapter 366:
The field changed...
"Alcremie~"
Alcremie flew back onto Hayashi Kaede's shoulder, wearing a happy expression.
"Okay, I know you won. You fought really well."
Kaede patted Alcremie's head, nuzzled its cheek, and then recalled it into its Poké Ball.
Sure enough, Alcremie's Metronome summoned moves according to its wishes.
And judging by its performance in this match, it was somewhat unbelievable.
It wanted to fly up, so it got Fairy Wind. It wanted to fly down, and it got Fairy Wind again?
Even using a game modifier isn't this blatant, right?
Showing off its error tolerance, huh?
Shaking his head, though inwardly amused, Kaede turned his attention to the newly changed field.
Scorched Rocks.
This field change replaced the ground with rock, raising dozens of rock pillars, each 3-5 meters tall.
The ground was steep and uneven.
Stepping on it would give a scorching sensation.
Facing this terrain, Sally thought it over and chose Rapidash.
Although it's called Rapidash, the Galarian form doesn't have the Fire type; instead, it's Psychic and Fairy-type.
Kaede didn't need to think much.
For this kind of terrain, no one was more suitable than Blaziken.
And as expected, Blaziken didn't even need to set up sunny day. On the Scorched Rocks terrain, it easily defeated Rapidash.
Then the field changed again, becoming Grassy Field.
In the subsequent three matches, Sally sent out Frosmoth, Hatterene, and an Ice-type Beartic.
Just when everyone thought Kaede would bring out some other Pokémon, he unexpectedly used Pokémon that had appeared before.
Frosmoth corresponded to the Fire-type Blaziken, Hatterene to the Psychic-type Gardevoir, and the Ice-type Beartic at Level 54-55 to Alolan Ninetales.
One after another, Frosmoth was one-hit KO'd, Hatterene was one-hit KO'd, Beartic fared a bit better, lasting two moves.
By the end, Sally's lips were pressed tightly together, lacking the vitality she had at the beginning.
Her eyes were squinted, as if tears were about to fall at any moment.
In truth, despite traveling for three years, Sally genuinely felt wronged at this moment.
In her three years of travel, she had never experienced a battle like this.
Aside from the initial Glaceon, she felt her other Pokémon lost in utterly absurd ways.
Either they were defeated in one move, or they were... defeated by Alcremie?
The fields she drew weren't great either...
When people are down, they often feel like everything is against them, and Sally now felt that way.
But now, on the battlefield, she could only press her lips together, recall her final Beartic, and silently shed tears.
Her aggrieved expression made a large number of her fans in the audience unbearably heartbroken.
"Darn it, this Hayashi Kaede, doesn't he have any sense of cherishing the lovely and pitying the delicate..."
"Wahh, my Miss Sally, it's so tragic... facing this big demon king right in the Top 32... otherwise, she definitely could have reached the top four..."
"Brother Kaede, well done! That's the way! In our eyes as trainers, there's only winning and losing, no gender!"
"Brother Kaede... feels like now, aside from that Contestant Tobias who only used one Pokémon, no one can compete with him for first place, right?"
"Are you kidding me? With Gardevoir's strength, what we've seen is just the tip of the iceberg? You think this is its full power?"
"It's over, my Miss Sally..."
The discussion in the audience was quite loud. Even Kaede, leaving the field with Alolan Ninetales, felt a bit embarrassed.
After this battle, he felt his video channel would probably be flooded by a large number of Sally's fans coming to protest.
"Ah, well, never mind~"
Kaede shook his head and didn't dwell on it for long.
After all, he didn't really read the comments much anyway. As long as they didn't seek him out in the real world, it was fine.
Although his match with Sally caused quite a stir, this was the Pokémon League Conference.
Even if some people were unwilling, the matches would still continue.
For the remaining six matches, Kaede didn't leave the contestants' seating area.
Instead, he kept watching.
But after witnessing the exciting matches earlier, the later ones seemed somewhat mediocre and uneventful in comparison.
Only occasional exclamations of surprise were heard.
A notable match featured a Gengar grinning cheekily, suddenly appearing and startling the opponent's Pokémon repeatedly.
Finally, just when everyone thought there were no more exciting matches, a Salamence appeared!
Its trainer was a girl wearing a pink coat over a white JK-style school shirt with a tie and a plaid pleated skirt.
A very standard academy style.
She had a high ponytail in a linen gray-brown color. From her appearance, it was hard to tell her age; she just looked very young.
Her name was Sheryl.
In previous matches, her performance had been average. The Pokémon she sent out were decent but not outstanding.
And they were mostly cute or cool-style Pokémon.
Like Ninetales, Scyther.
And a Ditto.
However, she was quite pretty, so she had attracted some audience support.
But when this Salamence appeared, it instantly ignited the entire venue.
Because it was a shiny Salamence...
A pure green Salamence...
However, when she sent out this Salamence, she showed no unusual expression.
Instead, she seemed calmer.
And this green Salamence was indeed powerful.
It was at Level 68-69.
Its ability was even Moxie.
She led with this Salamence. After defeating the opponent's first Torterra, its Attack rose, and it began a sweep.
One after another, later on, no one could withstand even a single move from it.
It ultimately secured the victory, attracting a lot of attention.
And so, the entire afternoon passed slowly with the Top 32 advancing to the Top 16.
There were no matches in the evening.
When the matches temporarily concluded, people left the audience seats, still relishing the excitement, discussing today's matches.
Kaede also returned to his room.
This was already the third day away.
Although he called the Indeedee siblings every day, this was the first time being away for three days together, so Kaede couldn't help but keep thinking about things back home.
"Should I go home for a bit?"
Kaede couldn't help but look at his Pokémon.
Alolan Ninetales was comfortably lying on the bed, playing a tail-chasing game with Serperior after shrinking in size.
Serperior hadn't shrunk. Curled up on the bed, it occupied the entire space, yawning boredly while watching this fox that, even after evolving, still acted immature.
Hearing Kaede's question, several Pokémon poked their heads over.
"Ninetales?"
"Serperior ..."
And just at that moment, Kaede's phone rang.
Opening it, it happened to be Rotom calling from home.