"Thank you, Shuckle."
Ethan picked it up with a smile.
During the battle he had not brought Shuckle with him, leaving it free in the room.
Moreover, during this time Shuckle had a very important task: refining the quality of pokéblocks.
After obtaining the recipe for the nutritious juice from the treasure of the Daleron League, Shuckle had been trying to produce a special type of pokéblock.
Since they were preparing for the World Championship, Ethan decided that Shuckle should focus all its efforts on perfecting a nutritious juice recipe that increased Special Attack.
After a long period of development, Shuckle — who could already be considered a master in creating pokéblocks — managed to prepare medium-quality special attack nutritious juice and later refine it to create high-quality special attack pokéblocks.
Pokémon such as Charizard, Lucario, Slowking, and Vibrava had greatly improved their special attack thanks to these pokéblocks.
But the one who improved the most was Litwick. After absorbing large amounts of vitality pokéblocks and special attack pokéblocks, its control over flames became much stronger.
"Keep working hard and accumulate more special attack pokéblocks."
Ethan patted Shuckle's small yellow head and smiled.
Although Shuckle was not suitable for battle, it was one of the most indispensable companions on his team.
Moreover, Shuckle had the nickname "Shuckle Cannon." When it consumed all the pokéblocks in its body and used the Hidden Power move of the Grass type, it could instantly unleash an attack comparable to that of a Quasi-Elite level Pokémon.
And that was when it only used normal vitality energy pokéblocks.
Now that Shuckle had further refined the quality of those pokéblocks, together with the new special attack pokéblocks it produced, the power of the Hidden Power move of the Grass type increased even more.
Not even Ethan knew exactly how powerful Shuckle's strongest attack could become.
...
The next day, the competition continued.
The day before, the first place of each group had already been decided.
That day the loser's bracket matches would be held, and the final winner would obtain the last slot for the eliminations, while the loser would be eliminated directly.
After a full day of battles, the list of participants in the eliminations was finally decided.
In Ethan's group, the final winner was, as expected, Johnson, whose strength truly deserved a place in the eliminations.
Additionally, in Group 1, one of the qualifiers was, without surprise, Stefan Levin.
And in all his battles, Stefan continued maintaining his arrogant style: he defeated all his opponents using only Gothitelle.
Even the other qualifier of his group, who had sent out two Quasi-Elite level Pokémon, was crushed by Stefan.
That clearly demonstrated how strong he was.
"Is that Stefan going to sweep the entire tournament using just one Pokémon and win the championship?"
After seeing his performance, everyone began to worry.
Many people thought about how to defeat Gothitelle, but in the end they only reached one conclusion: defeat her with numerical superiority.
But no one knew how many Pokémon would be needed to defeat her.
And that was without counting Stefan's other five Pokémon. If the price to pay was too high, the battle would basically be lost from the start.
...
Amid a somewhat tense atmosphere, the eliminations finally began.
In the group stage, the Federal League had achieved impressive results.
Of the 16 participants in the eliminations, 5 belonged to that League, almost one third of the slots.
Additionally:
Daleron League: 3 qualifiers
Tavaria League: 3 qualifiers
Arctic League, Sylvara League, and Red Sun League: shared the remaining slots.
Another notable detail was that, among the 16 participants, 14 were 22 years old, while only Ethan and Kevin were 20 years old, making both of them clearly stand out among everyone.
"What a pity... they were born two years too late. Otherwise, this would probably be their era right now."
Many spectators sighed with emotion, which showed that they acknowledged the strength of both.
However, compared with the sixteen participants as a whole, their strength still did not seem that outstanding.
"Now it depends on you three."
Within the Daleron League team, everyone looked at Adrian, Jorge, and Ethan.
After so many battles, only the three of them had managed to advance; the other five members had been eliminated with great regret.
"Don't worry. In the last World Championship we finished among the top four. This time we'll reach the final!"
Adrian spoke cautiously. After seeing Stefan's battles, he felt a slight pressure in his heart.
Soon, the 16 participants of the eliminations stepped onto the stage to begin the opening ceremony of the knockout phase.
After that, the first round of the eliminations would begin immediately, where 16 competitors would fight to advance to the top 8.
Before the battle started, naturally came the drawing phase, which would decide everyone's fate.
Especially those competitors whose strength was somewhat weaker watched the screen nervously.
Some were even murmuring that they hoped not to run into Stefan, which showed the enormous pressure he exerted on the others.
Very soon, the list for the first match appeared on the screen.
Adrian Vs Harvey
"Adrian from the Daleron League?"
"If I remember correctly, isn't that guy also the second place of the Daleron League?"
Seeing the match list, the spectators began to discuss.
"That's interesting. Because our Harvey is also in second place." Said a spectator with some excitement, one of the few who remained neutral.
"Second place?"
"Do you really think the second place of the Daleron League can compare with the one from our Federal League?"
At that moment, the person next to him replied mockingly.
"Exactly. Look at the first place of the Daleron League. That Ethan may be strong among people his age, but at only 20 years old, how strong can he really be?"
"On the other hand, the first place of our Federal League is on another level. If Harvey were in any other League, he would definitely be number one!"
Another spectator added with a smile. For him, this world championship would probably be the same as the previous ones.
A little boring.
Amid the noise of the audience's discussions, the first battle began.
Adrian and Harvey stepped onto the field at the same time.
A great battle was about to erupt.
(End of chapter)