Chapter 269: Preliminary Round
Under the special training of the Team Rocket Trio, the strength of the Pokémon Ash captured in the Johto region had undergone a qualitative leap. Quilava, Murkrow, Teddiursa, Phanpy, and Elekid had all evolved.
After completing its evolution, Typhlosion's strength reached the Quasi-Elite Advanced level. The strength of Honchkrow, Ursaring, and Donphan also reached the Quasi-Elite level after evolving. Electabuzz was just a little short, stuck at the Gym Advanced level, but its skill pool was maxed out, and its skill proficiency was very high. In situations where its attributes were not countered, it could compete with Quasi-Elite level Pokémon.
As for Yue Guifei, it also completed its final evolution while grinding the Viridian Forest dungeon. Counting Feraligatr, Ash had trained all three of the Johto region starter Pokémon to their final forms, and their levels had all reached the Quasi-Elite Advanced level.
In short, all of Ash's current Pokémon, except for the Millennium Ghost who didn't like to fight, were at least at the Gym Intermediate level. For example, the Carvanha bought from the Orange Islands was now at the Gym Intermediate level and had not yet evolved.
As for Larvitar, after being fed a large amount of high-quality minerals that Ash purchased from the system, it had evolved into Pupitar, and its level had reached the Gym Advanced level.
The reason, naturally, was that there wasn't enough time, and the Team Rocket Trio didn't have enough time to intensify its training.
Today was the day the preliminary round began.
Guided by the map, Ash's group soon arrived at the venue where the preliminary round was being held.
It was a row of simple, standard battlefields with no spectator stands and no audience.
The rules for the preliminary round were very simple: it was a one-on-one Pokémon battle. However, the condition for advancing was determined by the level of the battle; if one could gain the referee's approval, they could advance to the main tournament. Everyone had three chances.
Ash's first opponent was Saburo from Cherrygrove City.
After the referee finished announcing the rules, they started drawing lots to decide the order of the first and second attacks.
In conventional matches, it was usually more advantageous to go second, because one could choose a Pokémon with an attribute advantage based on the opponent's Pokémon.
Of course, for the powerful Ash, it made no difference.
After being chosen as the first to attack, Ash sent out Pupitar.
Seeing Ash send out Pupitar first, Ash's opponent sent out Furret.
[Pokémon: Furret] [Attribute: Normal] [Gender: Male] [Level: Excellent Advanced] [Ability: Keen Eye] [Potential: Quasi-Elite] [Skills: Quick Attack, Double Team, Dig...]
"Pupitar, use Rock Throw." Ash shouted.
"Pupi~" Pupitar jumped twice on the spot, generating two rocks and smashing them towards Furret.
"Furret, use Double Team." Saburo shouted.
Furret executed the skill very quickly. Before the rocks thrown by Pupitar could hit, it had already split into several clones.
There were many Furret clones, and in the blink of an eye, they surrounded Pupitar.
It was the first time Pupitar had been surrounded by Double Team, and for a moment, it was actually a bit flustered.
Seeing that Pupitar was flustered, Saburo intended to press the advantage: "While it's like this, Furret, use..."
However, for Ash, who had 'aim-lock' turned on, Double Team was a joke. "Pupitar, aim to the left, Stone Edge."
Pupitar's skill was almost instantaneous.
Sharp stones fired like bullets towards Furret.
Saburo shouted anxiously: "Furret, use Dig quickly!"
Enduring the sharp stones, Furret dug a hole downwards.
"That's exactly the move I was waiting for. Pupitar, use Earthquake."
Receiving the command, Pupitar jumped up and slammed heavily onto the ground, causing the ground to vibrate violently.
Furret, hiding in the hole, took double damage, and only managed to crawl back to the surface before collapsing.
In the second match, Ash's opponent was a Trainer from Cianwood City who used Machoke.
The Pokémon Ash chose to counter with was Ursaring.
"Machoke, use Karate Chop."
"Ursaring, use Slash."
Just as Machoke's Karate Chop came down, Ursaring's expression became extremely sinister. It didn't use Slash immediately; instead, it reached out and grabbed Machoke's arm to block, then raised its claw and slapped downwards at Machoke at a 45-degree angle.
Slap!
The claw slapped against Machoke's face as if it had missed its mark.
As luck would have it, Ursaring didn't even use its full strength for this slap.
Seeing this, Ash shook his head helplessly. This style of play wasn't something he had taught; it was something Ursaring had learned from Jessie during the Team Rocket Trio's special training.
This highly humiliating slap made Machoke break its defense and fly into a rage.
But with a one-tier level gap, Machoke only got angry for a moment, used two more skills, and then was knocked down by Ursaring with a Thunder Punch followed by a Slam.
In the third match, Ash encountered a Trainer using Exeggutor.
And the one Ash chose to send out was Typhlosion.
With the advantage of attributes and a far superior level, Typhlosion easily defeated Exeggutor.
When all the preliminary rounds were over.
Ash's group came to the venue hall to check the list of those who had advanced.
On the display screen in the hall, the avatars of the 48 contestants who had advanced to the tournament were published.
And Ash's avatar was ranked first.
Further down, Ash saw the avatars of Harrison and Gary.
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