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The final match.
Li Xiang stepped onto the stage amidst the cheers and anticipation of the audience.
It wasn't that he wanted to show off, but he was simply too tired. His feet felt like lead, incredibly uncomfortable, and the soles of his feet were still ice-cold, refusing to warm up.
If the first three matches had drained his stamina to below half, the previous match had left him critically low.
It felt like returning to the very beginning when he first started learning martial arts.
Right now, his senior brothers and sisters were probably watching. Even the master might be watching, especially since Third Senior Sister was right beside him.
Li Xiang silently grumbled to himself.
The old man, getting on in years, was quite tsundere. He would never take the initiative to turn on the TV to watch, but if you turned it on and put it in front of him, he'd focus intently for the entire afternoon.
It was utterly exasperating.
If he won this match, he would make history: a first-year student defeating all five participating students from a higher institution in a single match!
Who knew how long that record would stand.
In the standby area, many senior sisters had already abandoned decorum, cheering for him and encouraging him just like the audience.
Li Xiang rubbed his shoulders and nodded to the referee confirming his condition.
The match began.
The Sunny Day from the previous match had turned several spots into puddles of varying sizes, and the soft snow had turned into crackling ice crystals.
He wouldn't sink halfway with each step anymore, but moving was still difficult.
'Dammit. Snowfields are so annoying.'
Li Xiang cursed under his breath, looking at Greninja, which had its back turned to him, landing on the ground.
He hadn't let it enter the field earlier because the snow would expose its footprints, making it too easy to spot without using its concealment ability. Now that the top layer of snow was covered in ice crystals, with Greninja's light body, stepping on it wouldn't be a problem.
Therefore, this guy became the sixth Pokémon to take the field.
Its different coloration, combined with the finally revealed sixth Pokémon, successfully made the audience start taking pictures with a frenzy of clicks.
Many were also discussing whether Greninja could perform as well as the previous five.
As for the opponent, upon seeing Greninja, cold sweat began to bead on their forehead.
Meicheng University's intelligence work was quite good. By questioning students from the same Youth Training Camp batch and alumni, checking materials from the Three-Camp Joint Exam, and gathering scattered match records, they had deduced the existence of a variant Greninja skilled in stealth, possessing outstanding strength and mastering numerous moves—though exactly which ones remained unknown.
There weren't many video records of it.
This guy was even one of Li Xiang's first three Pokémon. Yet it was only appearing now.
It was impossible for him not to be nervous.
Riolu's incredible speed, Incineroar's terrifying endurance... What about Greninja?
The fifth player pondered as the Pokémon in front of him, with a mouth larger than its body like a pelican, summoned rain clouds.
—Pelipper, Water/Flying-type, a rain specialist with the Drizzle ability.
More fragile than a certain big frog, but slower, with options for rotation, hazard removal (Defog), and recovery.
Which was better was a matter of opinion.
Dark clouds blocked the sunlight, dimming the light across the field.
Rain once again baptized the entire arena.
Li Xiang's freshly changed clothes were once again covered in water droplets, destined to be soaked through before long.
'Great. Changed for nothing.'
He was somewhat speechless but understood why the opponent was doing this.
Weather was the best way to identify the opponent.
Plus, the opponent had a typical rain team composition. Barring any surprises, this guy would switch to another Pokémon next.
Sure enough, Pelipper, like the previous match's Torkoal, was a utility player.
The main force for this match was a completely azure seahorse with golden scales on its belly—Kingdra, with the Swift Swim ability.
Learning from their captain's lesson, the opponent didn't hold back, sending out their ace right away.
No more useless talk, straight to the fight.
On the other side, Greninja had just entered its camouflage state. Its form wasn't particularly obvious in the rain, but upon close inspection, one could tell.
However, the next moment, dozens of clones appeared across the field, running towards Kingdra's location!
They were drenched by the rain but remained resilient, putting on cold, hard faces, advancing wave upon wave!
Vision was disrupted. Kingdra, currently using Dragon Dance, paused slightly and, not daring to overthink, cancelled it immediately, cleanly and efficiently used Hurricane!
A fierce wind rose!
Countless sky-blue air currents flew out from the wings behind Kingdra, spreading in all directions.
The clones that had just run within a certain distance were blown away, disappearing completely. Kingdra looked around but couldn't find the opponent's location, feeling somewhat bewildered.
At that moment, the trainer behind it spoke.
"Behind you, diagonally!"
Without hesitation, fully trusting its trainer, Kingdra spewed a bluish-red flame towards its back!
[Dragon Breath]!
For Pokémon with Protean, using Dragon-type moves against them was most effective. It might not be super effective, but at least it would deal damage.
At most, Steel-types would resist it, and Fairy-types would be immune.
In Kingdra's memory, of all the Greninja it had fought, not a single one knew those two move types!
If the Dragon Breath hit, with a bit of luck, it would paralyze. Once paralyzed, Greninja couldn't hide anymore!
However, this guy had considered many things but failed to consider the crucial factor: Hidden Power.
When it blew out that Dragon flame that could paralyze Pokémon, the invisible Greninja also released a shining, blade-shaped pink light towards it!
Hidden Power - Fairy!
Kingdra was startled, trying to dodge, but the distance was too close, and it had just attacked. Whether using Protect or dodging was too late.
It could only watch helplessly as the Dragon Breath flame was swallowed by the void, while it itself was blown away by the Hidden Power!
Boom!
Smoke spread, but was quickly dispersed by the rain!
In the faint smoke, Kingdra showed a pained expression. Clearly, the Hidden Power's power was extremely strong, almost knocking it out in one hit.
Seeing Kingdra still standing strong, the opponent felt somewhat relieved and decisively recalled it into its ball.
The variant Greninja's Hidden Power - Fairy was too strong. Keeping it on the field would just be feeding kills.
Better to switch it out and let it rest.
A silvery, spike-covered clam appeared on the field, with three green claws on its head.
—Ferrothorn, Grass/Steel-type, also known as "Grass-Steel," with the Iron Barbs ability. Pokémon that hit it with contact moves suffer recoil damage.
No percentage-based HP loss; damage varies based on the part of the Pokémon making contact.
Greninja had revealed Hidden Power - Fairy, proving it couldn't possibly have Hidden Power - Fighting or Fire. The remaining Fighting-type moves it could learn were only Power-Up Punch and Low Kick.
Ferrothorn wasn't afraid of either!
"Stealth Rock!"
Upon landing, Ferrothorn swung the claws on its head, releasing numerous spike-shaped rocks that spread all over the field.
The rocks seemed wrapped in optical camouflage, disappearing from sight.
Greninja had no means of hazard removal, so Ferrothorn could lay down hazards without worry.
Even if a later Pokémon could remove hazards, it would still get pricked once. No matter what, Ferrothorn would profit.
At that moment, a bolt of ice-blue lightning flew through the air out of nowhere!
"Protect!"
A green shield appeared in front of Ferrothorn, perfectly blocking the ice-blue lightning.
"Over there!"
The opponent pointed at a flickering figure as if discovering a treasure, joyfully shouting, "Bullet Seed!"
Ferrothorn swung its three tentacles, about to act, when it saw many Greninja appearing in front of it, scattering in all directions, making it impossible to distinguish which was real and which was fake.
Simultaneously, a plume of dark gray smoke rose out of thin air, obscuring its vision. Although it dissipated quickly under the rain, it still made it hard to distinguish.
Countless Greninja stirred the smoke, interfering with it and its trainer's judgment!
With no other choice, Ferrothorn had to shower all those hard-to-distinguish real-from-fake beings with Bullet Seed.
Suddenly, in the smoke, ice-blue light appeared. A bolt of ice-blue lightning shot through the air!
Ferrothorn decisively adjusted its "gun muzzle," spewing seeds towards the direction the lightning came from.
The two moves collided, once again emitting thick smoke!
But clearly, Ferrothorn's offensive power was far inferior to Greninja's. The ice-blue lightning broke through the smoke, suddenly splashing onto its head! Three tentacles were actually frozen stiff!
Couldn't move for a short time!
But just as Ferrothorn thought the lightning would land on its body, it saw a smooth icy path slowly forming beneath it!
'This is….!'
Ferrothorn's pupils contracted slightly. A sudden force pushed it from behind!
It fiercely spun its body but still involuntarily slid down, sliding towards the large puddle filled with water in front of it. It could only watch the Greninja behind it waving at it with a smile.
It was a Substitute!
Ferrothorn instantly understood, but with its three tentacles frozen stiff, it couldn't for the moment use them to stop its slide.
It had no choice but to let itself sink into the water.
Splash!
Water splashed!
The opponent's vision was blocked by smoke. Upon hearing the water sound, he thought, 'This is bad' and hurriedly ran forward.
He clearly saw the gurgling as it fell into the water Ferrothorn!
Greninja's figure was right nearby!
"Gyro Ball! Get up here quickly!"
He shouted, trying to get Ferrothorn to use rotational torque to break out of the small pit, but Greninja had finally lured it into the trap.
How could it possibly let it go so easily.
In the air, another bolt of ice-blue lightning flew over, just landing on Ferrothorn's head, solidly freezing the water surface and continuously releasing cold air downwards!
The opponent looked at the motionless Greninja nearby and how could he not realize it was a Substitute. He couldn't help but grow more anxious but couldn't switch with a Poké Ball mid-attack.
He could only keep shouting, trying to get Ferrothorn to fly out.
Underwater, Ferrothorn twisted its body, turning into a silvery top-like whirlwind. But to its dismay, the snow underwater was too soft. It simply didn't have much force to leverage.
Instead, it kept digging downward—
'Hm? This could work too!'
As if having an idea, Ferrothorn gave up breaking out from above and chose to dig its way out from underground.
Thus, above, Greninja happily froze the puddle, trying to freeze Ferrothorn along with it.
Below, Ferrothorn diligently dug away with Gyro Ball.