Chương 157: Opening Ceremony

Hoenn region, Kanaz city, Devon battlefield.

Today, this super arena, which can accommodate 50, 000 spectators, is completely full.

Above the venue, the colorful flags of the World College Cup fluttered in the wind, while the giant school flags of the sixty-four participating colleges surrounded the dome below, creating a scene resembling a grand event.

Amidst the host's frantic shouts, the current Pokémon League Chairman, Masanori, took to the stage and delivered a 30-minute opening address.

The content is nothing more than a rehash of old themes, recounting the ancient history of the bond between humans and Pokémon, promoting the great ideal of the League to maintain world peace, and finally tracing back to the original intention of the World Academy Cup.

It has to be said that anyone who can become the president of the alliance must be an absolute master of nagging.

Lu Sha, waiting in the contestant tunnel, listened with wide eyes, and even couldn't help but yawn so much that he almost dislocated his jaw.

Not only him, but the young lady beside him, though still standing upright, was already lost in her own thoughts.

Lu Sha looked around. In his watchlist, apart from Ye Ci and Shirona who were still listening, everyone else had already revealed their true colors.

Some were wiping their Poké Balls with their heads down, some were resting with their eyes closed, and some were even secretly taking out Energy Cubes from their pockets and chewing them noisily.

What made Lu Sha most nervous was that Ye Ci not only listened attentively, but also nodded frequently, looking utterly ecstatic, as if saying, "The president spoke so well, I have benefited greatly."

Tsk, I must say he truly deserves to be the future president and champion of the Padiya League.

"This talent is on a completely different level from our group of crude martial artists," Lu Sha thought to himself.

"Thank you, President D'Amaranh, for your enthusiastic speech! Now, let's give a warm round of applause to the sixty-four college teams as they take the stage!!!"

As the host suddenly raised the volume by eight octaves, the dull atmosphere in the arena was instantly ignited.

The passion of 50, 000 spectators, which had been building up for more than half an hour, erupted in a thunderous burst, with deafening cheers and thunderous applause mingling together, as if to overturn the venue.

Hearing the commotion outside, which was like a tsunami, Lu Sha rubbed his chin.

He guessed that the audience wasn't really that excited; they were just tired of the old man's chanting and had finally gotten their revenge.

boom! boom! boom!

As dozens of deafening cannon salutes soared into the sky, confetti rained down everywhere.

Lu Sha took a few steps forward and led the group from Zhuqing Academy to the railing of the contestant passage.

They were the second group to enter, determined by a draw, and needed to wait in the passageway.

At this moment, walking under the spotlight towards the center of the field is Quartz Academy, the runner-up from Kanto last year.

"Hehe! (Tsk tsk, the first one is Quartz Academy, interesting.)" The Hoenn League's intention to stir up trouble couldn't be clearer: they caused such a huge uproar before the match, yet they acted as if nothing had happened after a player died, and the organizers even scheduled them to be the first to appear.

Leading the quartz procession was Du, his face solemn.

Today, he was wearing a dark-colored turtleneck trench coat with a scarlet lining, and his signature red hair was wildly flowing in the wind, exuding a kind of chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur) aura.

However, the scene following behind Watari was rather strange.

Muscular hunk Shiba and icy queen Kona each carried a huge quartz school flag, standing on either side of the line.

Behind them were the few ordinary team members scattered around.

"Huh? (What's going on with their team? Everyone else has one flag bearer, but they're using two?)" Lu Sha moved closer to Mikoli, who had just walked over, and whispered something in a low voice.

The Kanto team felt really strange to him.

It's one thing for the top star not to lead the team in raising the flag, but for the two aces below to compete over such a trivial matter as raising the flag, just how strained must the internal relations be?

"Haha, the special display requested by Kanto is probably to highlight their unique status. Perhaps this is their aesthetic?"

Michael gently waved a folding fan, his smile carrying a meaningful meaning.

As the host of Hoenn, he obviously knew a lot about the inner workings of Indigo Academy.

The fact that they insist on creating this kind of unconventional, divisive spectacle during a major competition shows that this team is not a cohesive unit at all.

However, this is entirely a good thing for Hoenn.

After all, in their eyes, only Quartz Academy, which boasts two Heavenly King-level experts, is their biggest rival.

As for the other colleges, they can't beat one person, but two people together can always win.

"Cut! (Stop talking nonsense. If this is aesthetics, then there's no such thing as ugliness. After walking the runway, shouldn't it be time to test your firepower in public?)" Lu Sha rolled her eyes.

Before he could finish speaking, a fierce dragon roar suddenly resounded from the heavens!

"roar!!!"

A sudden gust of wind arose, and a massive and ferocious blood-red figure tore through the clouds in the sky, plunging down with the force of a meteorite crashing to the ground.

The enormous wings suddenly spread out in mid-air, creating a terrifying hurricane, before landing steadily in the center of the field.

Meanwhile, on the broad back of this dragon, stood a proud, rugged middle-aged man wearing an old-fashioned captain's hat and smoking a cigar.

"It's King Genji!"

"And his trump card, Salamence!!"

Upon witnessing the imposing entrance of this man and the dragon, the adrenaline of the 50, 000 spectators surged, plunging them into a frenzied frenzy.

Genji is undoubtedly the strongest Elite Four member in the Hoenn region, and is currently the absolute face of the entire Hoenn. His status and reputation even slightly surpass those of the Sinnoh Elite Four member, Mustard Bamboo.

Especially in this year's World Championship, Genji not only made it to the semi-finals, but he also stepped over the shoulders of Kanto genius Tenoh Wataru.

This has brought his popularity in Hoenn to its peak.

"Now, please welcome the representatives from Quartz Academy to demonstrate your strongest attack to our examiners for the initial ranking test!"

As the host gave an enthusiastic announcement, Genji leaped off the back of the Flying Dragon, crossed his arms, and stood steadily to the side.

The enormous Salamence took two heavy steps forward, standing like a mountain in front of the Indigo Academy team.

Clearly, it is the champion-level examiner used to test the strongest combat power of each academy.

Despite the fact that this champion Pokémon could make ordinary Pokémon tremble with just its aura, the reaction within Indigo Academy was surprisingly calm.

Kona casually handed the school flag to Aju behind her and took the first step forward.

On the other side, Shiba stood firmly with his strong arms crossed, showing no intention of stepping forward to steal the spotlight.

Lu Sha touched his chin and instantly understood.

In the eyes of these Kanto people, internal strife is one thing, but when it comes to external matters that involve the academy's reputation, they still distinguish clearly.

Compared to Fighting-types which are twice as effective, sending out Ice-types which are four times as effective against Salamence is obviously more effective.

"Huh? (Wait, using elemental advantage to deal damage? That counts?)" Seeing Lorelei decisively throw out the Poké Ball and summon Lapras, which exudes an aura of extreme cold, Lu Sha couldn't help but marvel.

The higher a Pokémon's control over its type, the lower the damage multiplier from type advantage.

Salamence is definitely not four times weak to Ice, but dealing twice the damage with Ice should be no problem at all.

Isn't this practice of exploiting the examiner's weaknesses to gain points cheating?

"Within the bounds of the rules, utilizing every available advantage, including type advantages, is an integral part of a trainer's overall competence. Not only does it count, but the organizers strongly encourage it," Mikuri added casually from the side.

Since learning that Lu Sha was going to cause trouble, the German Academy has lost its obsession with getting first place in the testing phase.

Although they weren't afraid of Zhuqing Academy's strength, if they were to fail, they would be finished.

Even if you praise Zhuqing Academy to the skies, it won't change the fact that they've lost.

Hoenn can accept losing in the finals, but they absolutely cannot accept being eliminated early.

"Laplace, Freeze Beam!"

On the other side, Laplace made a move in response to Kona's cold rebuke.

hum!!

A thick, cold beam of light, as thick as a water tank, instantly traversed a distance of tens of meters and slammed into the chest of the Salamence.

Even though Lu Sha was standing far away in the passage, he could clearly feel the bone-chilling cold and couldn't help but shiver.

Salamence is four times weak to Ice, and the Gible family isn't much better off.

Visible to the naked eye.

Even a champion-level Salamence, after taking Lorelei's full-force attack, couldn't help but take a half step back, a hint of pain and discomfort showing on its ferocious face.

This attack is probably not weak even among the Heavenly Kings.

Lu Sha narrowed his eyes, silently assessing the situation.

Fortunately, Lapras doesn't have any special attack boosting moves. If it were an Ice-type special attacker with Calm Mind, a single Ice Beam would probably take away half of Salamence's health.

Genji's overall strength is still at the Elite Four level, but his ace, Salamence, has reached the threshold of Champion.

From Lu Sha's perspective, this Salamence is at most stuck at level 80, on par with Mustard Bamboo's Roserade.

"It's your turn to enter the game."

As the Salamence recovered, it roared to the sky with a deafening roar.

The leaderboard on the big screen flashed, and Quartz Academy's name appeared in first place.

Mikuri turned his head to look at Lu Sha and Gadria and gave them a reminder.

"Haha! (Fine. You Hoenn people are really cunning. You made us perform after Indigo Academy, but when it came to arranging rooms, you put us in front of them. You've all grown up to be incredibly shrewd.)" Lu Sha glanced at Mikoli with disdain, making no effort to hide her disgust.

Michael simply smiled and did not respond.

The Hoenn League did act unethically, but it wasn't his decision.

Once Daigo becomes the champion, Hoenn will be able to live a legitimate life.

"Kaka! (Brothers and sisters, let's go!)" Lu Sha walked to the center of the crowd, took the school flag from Wu Song, and swung his arm forward, full of vigor.

"Now, please welcome the second team, the champions from the Sinnoh region, the Celebration Academy team, to the stage!!!"

""

"Approaching us is this year's most anticipated championship favorite! Leading the pack is their undisputed strongest player in this year's Academy Cup, Chief Judge Gadriya!"

"She is a natural-born psychic, only 16 years old, and is already a Champion-level psychic, the youngest Champion Trainer since the League was founded..."

As Lu Sha carried the large flag out of the passage, his ears were instantly filled with the host's exaggerated praise.

Lu Sha paused, his expression turning extremely strange.

Good guy.

If it were a Sinnoh native host praising their own princess like this, Lu Sha would find it perfectly reasonable, since it was the truth.

But the person standing on the stage now, holding the microphone and blowing wildly, is a true Hoenn person!

This way of elevating Cattleya to a divine status sounds like a blatant attempt to flatter her to death.

This is an attempt to put Cattleya in a difficult position, making all the geniuses in the world hostile towards her.

but...

Lu Sha held up the huge school flag with one hand and walked side by side with Cattleya.

He looked around at the stands, which were packed with 50, 000 people, and listened to the thunderous cheers and applause from audiences all over the world.

I have to admit, being enveloped in this frenzied atmosphere and experiencing the feeling of making a grand entrance under the spotlight is really quite amazing!

Amidst the host's rapid-fire introduction, the Zhuqing Academy team walked calmly to the giant Salamence.

"Cut! (It's my turn to perform, Shark Lord.)" Lu Sha chuckled mischievously twice and shoved the school flag in his hand into Dora Sena's hands.

Then, he twisted his neck, took a big step forward alone, and broke away from the group.

Seeing Lu Sha step forward, the members of Zhuqing Academy, including Gadriya, showed no surprise whatsoever.

Everyone in the school knows that although Lu Sha is not very strong, he is the absolute ace of the Gadria.

Moreover, Lu Sha had already given instructions before they even entered the venue.

Today, they are celebrating the upcoming big event at the college.

However, Zhuqing Academy's composure seemed utterly absurd to outsiders.

"A Garchomp that hasn't even reached its final evolution? Have the Sinnoh people gone mad?"

Having reached the rest area belonging to the Quartz Academy, Kona pushed up her reflective glasses, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

No matter how she sensed it, this Garchomp seemed unremarkable, not even reaching the Gym Leader level.

Pokémon of this caliber, let alone sending Pokémon, even Lorelei could take it down with his bare hands if he put on boxing gloves.

"Haha, maybe they felt it was boring to be ranked higher, so they deliberately wanted to come in last place so they could face us directly in the first round of the round of 64?"

Shiba slammed his fists together, making a dull cracking sound, and grinned as he joked.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, some mocking, some doubtful.

Lu Sha moved.

He did not use any amplification or his signature moves.

He merely opened his mouth perfunctorily.

"call!"

A simple, unadorned wisp of pale blue ice breath swayed gently from the sand's mouth, then lightly struck the Salamence's thick calf.

""