As planned, the opening ceremony invited Champion Xia Chunyu to light the flame of competition with a torch. The flame came from a Moltres feather and was known as the most beautiful fire in the world—eternal and unending.
After the Champion's appearance came the four Elite Four members. Their entrance also received a rousing welcome, especially Fairy-type Elite Four, Nan Gongmeng.
She was undeniably the role model and idol for countless female trainers, as evidenced by the screams from the female spectators.
One Champion and four Elite Four members—they completely stole the spotlight from all the participating teams. But that didn't stop everyone from looking up with admiration at the man who lit the flame at the highest point. Holding a microphone, he said:
"To all you shining future stars, the Moltres Flame watches over you here. Please, give it your all on this stage! Show your true skill and spirit! Fight with honor, leaving no regrets!"
The moment he finished, the flames behind him shot into the sky. The cheers grew even louder, and all the school team members below responded in unison.
With the formalities over, the teams exited the arena. The battle horn was officially sounded.
A total of twenty-seven teams, each sending three battle groups, would compete in Doubles matches. The top sixteen would qualify for the Autumn Tournament's Doubles Championship.
In the first round, with eighty-one groups in total, one group would inevitably get a bye. Which group got the bye depended entirely on luck.
Each team was assigned a number, and forty groups were randomly selected to draw lots and determine their opponents. The remaining group would receive the bye.
Su Qian's luck wasn't great—she didn't get the bye. Instead, she drew a group from Chongzhou.
Chongzhou... like Mist City, it was an inland region, located further north with many mountains.
"When's your match?"
The other two groups came over to check their schedules.
During the Summer Tournament, Doubles matches were mostly held in sub-arenas to reduce congestion and shorten the overall time. After all, having all eighty-one groups rely on a single arena would take weeks. Spreading them out greatly reduced the pressure.
"Court Four, tomorrow," Su Qian said, glancing at Lü Shu and the others. "What about you?"
"Court Two, the day after tomorrow, against Yongzhou."
"Court Three, tomorrow, against Treasure Island."
Neither was competing today, so it seemed everyone would be taking it easy.
But "taking it easy" still meant scouting their targets. Everyone had opponents they needed to watch, and they would inevitably make strategic adjustments based on their matches.
The temporary lounge was a large private room equipped with air conditioning, fruit, and other essentials. If you wanted to sleep, there were simple sofa beds.
A large screen was divided into four sections, one on each wall. The camera crews were still the Magnemite family, while the referees rode on Magnezone to avoid being caught in stray move effects. It was all more professional than the Spring Tournament.
Online, the appearance of the Champion and Elite Four at the opening ceremony had caused a stir.
Many lamented not being able to get tickets, while others asked if it was too late to go.
Of course, it was.
The Champion here wasn't like in some other worlds, free to roam around—they had their own responsibilities.
The regret was palpable, showing just how popular the Champion was—perhaps even more so than Michael Jackson in his prime.
This was also Li Xiang's first time seeing the Champion in person, not on TV or online, but in real life. Even though he was nearly two hundred meters away, his eyes could still make out plenty of details.
He had once thought Xia Chunyu was a trainer like Leon, but seeing him in person proved him wrong. They were two completely different individuals—in temperament and everything else.
When Xia Chunyu stood on the platform, looking down at the young trainers, his eyes held not the arrogance of strength but a profound sense of expectation. He wanted them to grow quickly and become truly excellent trainers.
Without a doubt, Xia Chunyu had made it his mission to mentor the next generation. That was why he was willing to appear at the Youth Tournament opening ceremony as a torchbearer.
The Junior World Tournament, while popular, wasn't significant enough to warrant Xia Chunyu personally carrying the torch.
The Champion... so this is Zhu Xia's Champion.
In that moment, Li Xiang felt this Champion was truly worthy of the title.
There was still some time before the first match, so he quietly took out his phone.
From the group chat videos, he knew Lin Feng and his friends had arrived, but he couldn't go out and meet them. He'd have to wait until all the matches were over.
In the group, Lin Feng was, as usual, praising Xia Chunyu's handsomeness and posting photos of himself with the Champion, showing off shamelessly.
Li Xiang, annoyed by the spam, muted him for a minute. Though Xu Wan quickly unmuted him, his goal was achieved.
Li Xiang: "That's enough. It's just a photo. Wait until I win the championship—then I'll be the one battling in front of tens of millions."
Lin Feng was so mad he could spit. He was just a fan of Xia Chunyu, but Li Xiang's words made him feel strangely insecure. Something about what Li Xiang said just didn't sit right!
He was about to reply when Xu Wan dragged him away. The matches were about to start, and if they didn't find a sub-arena soon, there'd be no good seats left. So he had to let it go.
Back in the lounge, Li Xiang began watching the first Doubles match of the day. In Doubles, coordination was key, and the audience loved watching perfect synergy.
As the opening match, Yunzhou vs. Zhuzhou was quite impressive. Li Xiang was surprised to find both teams seemed fairly strong—at least stronger than Feng Laiyi's group.
Such a wide gap in skill?
He remembered the Spring Tournament Doubles matches being more like rookies fumbling around. Now, at the Summer Tournament, they'd suddenly gotten this strong?
"The strongest group versus the strongest group—the organizers really know how to schedule," Gong Xu sneered from the side.
According to him, both groups in this match were the strongest Doubles pairs from their respective teams.
The draw itself was fair, but the organizers could arrange the order. By putting exciting matches at the start and end, with some less thrilling ones in the middle, they could keep the audience engaged.
What was the biggest concern for a tournament?
Losing the audience's interest.
Not every match was intense, and sometimes the trainers' strategies went over the spectators' heads, making the matches seem dull.
Strong vs. strong fights were usually more exciting than weaker matchups, helping to maintain viewership and attention for the Junior World Tournament.
"They're not breaking any rules—it's only natural," Li Xiang said, gesturing for Gong Xu to calm down.
On the first day, sixteen matches were held.
Li Xiang focused on the groups that performed well last year and also noticed two new dark horses: rookie groups from Shanghai and Star Island.
The former crushed a team from Saizhou, while the latter defeated one from Yuzhou. Both performed impressively, dominating their matches without much suspense.
—Without his senior sister, Yuzhou had really fallen off. They barely made the top eight last year, and now they'd qualified for the Summer Tournament but were this weak?
It was baffling.
It wasn't that they were weak—it was that their opponents were too strong, and Yuzhou had failed to keep up with the times.
"Ah..." Li Xiang sighed.
Beside him, Gong Xu watched Yuzhou's crushing defeat, idly plucking grapes one by one, showing no disappointment for his home region's loss.
To him, Doubles was something sacred—it demanded seriousness and full effort. Those two Yuzhou students hadn't even tried their best. He felt he could do better himself! What a waste of a slot.
Watching these "clowns" compete, he didn't say it out loud, but he was inwardly dissatisfied.
"Li Xiang."
"Yeah?"
"If you ever get bored of Doubles, just quit. Don't disrespect it with half-heartedness," Gong Xu said slowly.
"...Oh."
Li Xiang had no idea why he said that and even wanted to point out how much Gong Xu, despite his serious play, clearly despised Singles. But he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to get hit.
When a guy comes up with his own "truth," his pride is at its most fragile—prick it, and he'll explode, right or wrong.
And so, the first day of the Summer Tournament came to an end.
That night, Li Xiang quietly slipped out to meet Lin Feng and the others. He hadn't seen Lin Lan in a while, and she'd grown so much it caught him off guard. He marveled at how much a girl could change.
Lin Lan seemed shy and embarrassed around him, fidgeting as she mentioned her upcoming exams. Li Xiang remembered she was applying to a Breeder academy this year.
"Good luck! When you get into your dream school, I'll give you a huge present!" He laughed, patting her head. "Look at you—my little sister's all grown up."
"Brother this, sister that..." Lin Lan bit her lip and glanced at Lin Feng, who shook his head sternly.
"...Brother Li, you do your best too!" Lin Lan hugged him, holding back any misplaced words.
Teenage crushes are like poetry. When someone around you stands out, it's not strange to develop feelings—whether the person in question realizes it or not. But eventually, those feelings fade, buried deep in the heart.
"I will," Li Xiang replied with a smile.
And the next day, he and his partner Su Qian marched toward his first battlefield.