Chapter 1255: Time Off Request_2

To ensure that the spaces between the arenas minimally affect each other and leave more room for the Pokémon to show their skills, only five were activated.

“Never mind how Ying Ma and the others do, if you all lose, don’t blame me for targeting you first.”

Baimu said to Otsuka and the others.

The young lads shivered and began to boast that even the Celestial King would lose.

Ayana’s mouth twitched as she looked at the young trainers opposite her, unable to find suitable “prey” for a moment.

She indeed wasn’t pretentious, but it was difficult for her to challenge people so much younger than herself proactively.

Baimu seemed to notice her concerns, saying, “Don’t worry, I’ll arrange it for you. There might be Hidden Dragon and Phoenix among these people, don’t underestimate them because they are young.”

“I know.”

Ayana nodded.

The first round of exchange battles begins with selections on both sides.

Baimu sent Cheng Hong along with four male arena trainers, while Ying Ma, Ayana, Kendall, and others watched for now; Silicon City sent three boys and two girls, totaling five teenagers.

Each side freely decided their opponents.

This group hadn’t experienced the baptism of strong female trainers from outside and felt embarrassed to bully 13-14-year-old girls, eagerly grabbing for those three boys, nearly causing internal conflict.

The comedic scene caused laughter from the Silicon City side.

Baimu covered his face and sighed.

Luckily, after some fuss, the lineup was finally settled.

The competition adopted a single combat format of three-on-three, judged by an electronic referee to ensure fairness without favoring any side.

At the moment of declaring the start, ten people successively released their Pokémon.

Baimu mainly focused on Cheng Hong.

Having grown up together, he was aware Cheng Hong’s talent in Pokémon breeding wasn’t outstanding, but diligence makes up for clumsiness.

During his half-year trip, Cheng Hong never slacked off in training Pokémon, and life aboard Fury provided him with new insights; now was time to test the results.

“Gah-oo!”

The Gigalith, like a stone monster, roared, stirring up sand everywhere.

The Pokémon opposite was a Slaking lying and picking its nose leisurely as if the sandstorm was non-existent, seeming as lazy as lying in a bedroom.

Honestly speaking.

Slaking is undoubtedly a very strong Pokémon, but trainers capable of skillfully maneuvering this Pokémon are indeed rare.

Cheng Hong’s opponent—

“Destructive Beam!”

Seeing Slaking, resembling a silverback gorilla, open its mouth to launch a gold beam, Baimu couldn’t evaluate it for a moment.

In contrast, Ying Ma and others felt Slaking’s Destructive Beam was mighty, suspicious that Cheng Hong’s Gigalith couldn’t withstand—

It did withstand.

Cheng Hong anticipated the opponent’s aggressive attack, having Gigalith directly use [Defend] at the start, causing the Destructive Beam to hit and only result in intense vibration without any sign of breaking the shield.

One move to establish dominance.

Gigalith seized the opportunity to unveil the venue-style technique [Invisible Rock], while Slaking succumbed to its Trait and dozed off.

After laying the “foreshadowing,” Cheng Hong remained calm, continuing to have Gigalith use Defend, seeing Slaking pounce forward with Arm Hammer, merely causing superficial damage to the light shield.

It had to withdraw to a safe spot before the influence of the Trait.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Hong still did not attack but chose Iron Wall to strengthen, evidently having his strategy.

The opponent failed twice in a row yet was unwilling to withdraw Slaking, tried changing to Yawn to constrain, only to find Cheng Hong exceptionally cautious, using Defend for the third time.

This time the opponent panicked.

How many opportunities were missed due to three rounds of futile offense?

Boos faintly echoed from outside as the Yawn failed upon hitting the Defend light shield, prompting the opponent to swiftly withdraw Slaking.

“A reckless one, huh? Then, no problem.”

Baimu initially was worried for a moment, seeing Cheng Hong’s opponent hurriedly retrieve their Pokémon, he was completely relieved.

While Cheng Hong wasn’t experienced in battles, neither was his opponent.

Then looking at other battle arenas…

Hidden Dragon and Phoenix, fifty-fifty.

Perhaps too nervous, or maybe momentarily unsure of what tactics to use, trainers on both sides were indecisive in giving orders, causing their Pokémon to exhibit hesitation as well.

“You guys—” Baimu spoke, then decided to forget it upon careful consideration.

Intervening would only distract them, moreover, the primary purpose of exchange battles is to acclimate them to battling with strangers.

There’s no need to complicate matters with trainers scattered all over outside, Ore Region trainers have to find ways to enhance their battle experience.

Soon after.

Cheng Hong made a gain.

The newly switched-in Persian underwent Invisible Rock and then Gigalith’s pre-prepared Rockslide, with giant stones accurately slamming onto its forehead, struggling to stand attempts to counter, but to no avail, that monster-like Pokémon charged ahead first.

[Pounce]!

Thud!

Persian ended up heavily pinned beneath Gigalith, transforming from a strong leopard-like big cat to a pitiful cat pancake.

“Collapsed so quickly?”

Seeing the opponent becoming anxious and flustered, he felt surprised.

Reasonably speaking, the psychological resilience of Zhengyi’s trainees should be solid, right? How are they like Ash Ketchum in the early No Seal stage?

Perhaps this person inherently belongs to minor ranks.

Baimu looked toward other battle arenas, and truly, those four Silicon City trainers commanded excellently, stalemating with the arena trainers.

Not long after.

Cheng Hong, using Gigalith, swiftly conquered Slaking.

Even though Gigalith was soon defeated by Ambipom with a four-strike Splitting Tiles, it also caused considerable damage to Ambipom before losing.

The substituted Sudowoodo relied on Imitation and sandstorm weather accumulating fatigue to defeat it.

“Ambipom has lost combat capability!” The electronic referee’s voice was loud.

Barring the warm-up matches of the two arena masters.

The Pyrite Arena trainers won the first point, significantly boosting the morale of Ying Ma and others, prompting people in the other four arenas to become brave and aggressive quickly.

The trainers on the Silicon City side looked visibly displeased.

Momentum.

Truly an elusive essence.

As the remaining four arenas ended their battles, Pyrite Arena miraculously led the Trainer Training Center with a 4:1 advantage temporarily.

“Quite impressive.”

Baimu nodded in satisfaction, simultaneously feeling somewhat disappointed in the exchange quality of Silicon City trainers.

In his view, the average level of Silicon City should be superior to Pyrite Town, and the exchange would benefit arena trainers in broadening their horizons, additionally serving as a motivational spirit boost if they suffered a crushing defeat.

But unfortunately, these Little Ghosts aren’t delivering!

Elsewhere, a ten-year-old with twenty years of travel experience is about to become Regional Champion, yet you perform 1:4 even in visiting the adjacent town?

“Focus, everyone! Exhibit your usual capabilities!”

Zhengyi found it a bit embarrassing, even for him who didn’t particularly care about the results, feeling bewildered by the current score.

“Got it!”

Silicon City trainers responded sparsely.

The second wave of battles.

Baimu deployed the eager Otsuka and Ying Ma; Cheng Hong’s prominence left them believing they could perform too.

He chose three voluntary arena trainers, waiting for Silicon City to deploy.

Opposite side.

After careful contemplation, Zhengyi decided to send some promising young trainers forward.

“Jin Ge! Fude! You two go!”

“Leave it to me!”

Fude chuckled, while Jin Ge silently observed Ying Ma and Otsuka, noticing they were personally picked by Baimu all along.

Which victory would capture Baimu’s attention more?

“Hey! Jin Ge, don’t compete for that person with me, okay?” Fude suddenly spoke, discreetly pointing at Otsuka, “I’ve always wanted to bully this Little Yellow Hair!”

Little Yellow Hair…

Jin Ge disdainfully glanced at him, as his own hair was also golden yellow, yet still called others Little Yellow Hair.

But in this case.

You too can.

Jin Ge saw Ying Ma excitedly whispering to Baimu, secretly resolving to defeat him.

The second round of exchange battles soon began.

As Fude wished, he faced off against Otsuka, while Jin Ge paired with Ying Ma.

“Hey! Jin Ge! Let’s see who wins first!” Fude raised his hand, shouting, ignoring the strange looks from those around.

Otsuka was shocked.

“Such an arrogant Little Ghost! This time I’ll definitely make you cry!”