The second round of the knockout tournament has officially begun.
Natsuhiko already knew his order in the lineup and his opponent for this round.
To be honest, when he first saw this name, Natsuhiko thought he might have read it wrong, but after stumbling upon this person's personality, he knew he was right.
"Natsuhiko, start us off strong," Lance said with a smile to Natsuhiko as he prepared to enter the field.
That's right, Natsuhiko was once again the first to go on stage in this round of battles.
"Go for it," Hilona added.
"Once you win, that item you wanted should have arrived," Flint said confidently, trusting in Natsuhiko's abilities.
Kona: "..."
Kona was spaced out again.
"Let's hope so," Natsuhiko shrugged and turned to walk into the players' tunnel.
In the tunnel, he happened to bump into his opponent for this round, a guy with braids and a proud look on his face.
Upon seeing Natsuhiko, he gave him a cold glance.
"Hmph."
He turned and strode out of the players' tunnel.
Natsuhiko touched his nose.
"What an unlikeable personality; people really do change a lot."
"Tokitoki!" The Togetic on his shoulder nodded in agreement, its tiny fists clenched as if ready to show him a thing or two.
"How about you lead the way?" Natsuhiko asked with a smile.
"Tokitoki!"
With a firm nod, Togetic indicated there was no problem.
Togetic's strength had improved last night, but it lacked enough time to adapt, and adapting during a battle could be a good choice.
They continued chatting as they walked towards the exit.
Bright light poured in through the entrance, and the moment they stepped out, Natsuhiko's vision blurred for a brief second.
Then.
Whoa—
A wave of cheers erupted like a tide.
Most of it came from the excitement of getting to watch a match soon, while a small portion came from those who had already become fans of Natsuhiko.
Some wore clothes printed with Togetic patterns, others held signs featuring a cute version of Beedrill; these were the people who cheered loudest for Natsuhiko.
After a few days of matches, Togetic's cuteness and Beedrill's swift dashes successfully won Natsuhiko quite a few supporters.
After all, compared to people like Hilona, Flint, and Lance, who had been famous for a long time, Natsuhiko was an unknown Trainer using the very "down-to-earth" Beedrill, which resonated more easily with Trainers of ordinary backgrounds.
Some computer-savvy folks even dug up some photos of Natsuhiko from when he trained hard with Weedle at the Silver Pokémon Battle Club in Goldenrod City, further solidifying his identity as an "ordinary" Trainer and garnering more supporters.
As an audience, besides wanting to see intense, exciting battles, they also yearned for a sense of empathy.
There was no Trainer more relatable than Natsuhiko. Among the thirty-two finalists, he might be the only one like this.
Now that the network set up by the league is so advanced, and since Natsuhiko didn't deliberately conceal it, it wasn't too difficult to find these photos.
However, in the scope of the entire venue, Natsuhiko's supporters seemed quite insignificant.
The person with the most supporters in this tournament was Hilona.
The number of guys holding "Hilona, I love you!" signs was countless.
After all, this was Hilona's home ground in the Sinnoh Region.
With Sister Cabbage's looks, demeanor, and strength, she was absolutely at the "Dream Goddess" level in all respects.
Following closely after Hilona was Flint.
If ninety percent of the guys supported Hilona, at least sixty to seventy percent of the girls supported Flint.
"Rich and handsome" were Flint's labels in the Pokémon Realm.
There were also others like those supporting Lance, Da Ye, Wusong, Kona, or even Nanami, who had already withdrawn, all had more supporters than Natsuhiko.
Relatability aside, support is support, they're two separate issues.
Still, Natsuhiko didn't really care about these things.
"In this match, the contestants are Leisi from 'Veil City', and Natsuhiko from 'Goldenrod City'!"
The host gave a brief introduction of the two contestants participating in the match.
At the same time, the big screen in the arena showed Natsuhiko's calm face and Leisi's cool one.
Leisi.
His name might seem unfamiliar, but he has another identity; he is Ash Ketchum's future rival in the Sinnoh Region, Shinji's older brother.
A very gentle and passionate person.
But that was the future Leisi.
The current Leisi was simply a carbon copy of the future Shinji, with such an over-the-top arrogance that it's hard to have a good impression of him.
Who knows what kind of blow Leisi later suffered at Shinda's place that led to such a significant change in his character.
Leisi's strength was still formidable; even though he later became a not very famous Breeder, he had started traveling to various regions early on and obtained eight badges from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, all while participating in elite competitions and achieving commendable rankings.
Therefore, Leisi was somewhat well-known and had quite a few supporters.
"In the knockout stage, each participant can use three Pokémon. Pokémon switching is allowed during the match, and the battle ends when all three Pokémon are unable to fight."