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Bruno found a place to sit down once again. He needed to observe Eddie's battle carefully.
After the host introduced Eddie to the crowd, he immediately arranged for the first contestant to take the stage.
The other contestants moved to the rest area to watch the battles of their fellow competitors.
Of course, a few of them were hiding in the corner of the rest area, trembling with fear.
"Damn it, why did that terrifying guy also come to participate in this competition!" one of them whispered.
Yes, the ones shivering were naturally the Team Rocket trio.
Jessie, James, and Meowth were hiding in the corner, desperately trying to avoid Eddie's line of sight.
But unfortunately for them, Eddie spotted them when they were still in the waiting area.
"Hey there! Good to see you again. I hope you can teach me more later," Eddie said as he walked up to them with a cheerful expression, greeting them in an overly friendly manner.
The three Team Rocket members nearly collapsed to their knees, but Eddie simply said his greeting and walked away.
He didn't want to provoke these three into fleeing the tournament - that would be far too boring for his taste.
Of course, while Eddie was being friendly, the Eevee perched on his head was still glaring at them with a menacing expression.
"Wh-what does he mean by that?" Jessie asked, her teeth chattering as she turned to James in confusion.
"I... I don't know. He didn't expose our identities, so maybe he meant for us to compete normally?" James replied, stuttering nervously. Eddie's departure seemed to ease his anxiety slightly.
"Could it be that he wants to let that Eevee vent its anger on us again, so he's not revealing who we really are, meow?" Meowth stated bluntly, and both Jessie and James found this explanation quite reasonable.
"So... do we still want to fight?" James asked hesitantly. After all, they had been defeated twice in just two days - would this be the third consecutive loss?
"No way! If we leave now, we'll likely anger Morning Sun, and besides, if we quit like this, what about the prize money for today's meal? Are we really going to sleep on the streets and starve for another night?" Jessie reasoned sensibly, knowing that leaving now wouldn't benefit them at all.
"That's right! And this tournament is one-on-one battles using only Fighting-type Pokémon. We might actually have a chance to win!" James declared with renewed confidence, his tone dripping with false bravado.
"Then let's fight it out, meow!" Meowth exclaimed, immediately pulling out various gadgets and props to increase their chances of victory.
For example, he had glue to stick their opponent's feet to the ground, or electrical devices to shock their enemies.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Eddie was finishing another match with effortless ease.
"Lucario, end this," Eddie commanded calmly.
Lucario sensed the opponent's aura and gathered the power of its inner energy into its palms.
The enemy's Machoke launched a powerful Dynamic Punch, moving with impressive speed and force.
However, the opposing Machoke had no time to react to Lucario's counterattack and was struck directly, collapsing to the ground instantly.
"Ding! Eevee gained experience! Level increased by 1, now at Level 31!"
Eddie sighed inwardly. "So weak. The competitors here are all of intermediate to advanced strength at best, and even the advanced ones are barely scraping by..."
Eddie had hoped that here, at least Eevee could gain substantial experience through the Exp. Share item.
However, the opponents were proving too weak, and it was taking several battles just to help Eevee gain a single level.
"No wonder the host mentioned earlier that Anthony is the championship candidate for this tournament. With an Peak-level Hitmonchan, it's only natural that he would dominate all these weak trainers," Eddie muttered under his breath as he walked off the battlefield.
Fortunately, he had now advanced to the finals.
After the final match, he wouldn't have to face any more of these underwhelming opponents.
"However, the next battle is between Anthony and Team Rocket," Eddie observed, looking toward the arena while recalling the original storyline.
He remembered that Team Rocket seemed unable to defeat Hitmonchan in a fair fight, even though their Hitmonlee possessed Peak-level strength as well.
But they had played dirty tricks, with Meowth secretly spreading glue across the arena floor.
It was almost comical how Hitmonchan's feet became stuck to the glue, preventing it from dodging attacks and leaving it vulnerable to continuous punishment.
"Then came the plot point that made me want to complain endlessly," Eddie thought to himself, remembering how Rebecca had inexplicably "teleported" onto the arena to shield Hitmonchan from harm.
Following that, Anthony had also somehow "materialized" in front of Rebecca and took a direct hit from Hitmonlee's kick.
After being struck by the Fighting-type Pokémon's attack, Anthony sustained minor injuries and chose to forfeit the match.
Eddie found this entire sequence of events completely bewildering, with far too many illogical elements to count.
It was clearly meant to be a touching, dramatic scene, but why were there so many plot holes and questionable decisions?
"Forget it, I don't really care. I just need to win this Fighting-type tournament," Eddie said, shaking his head with obvious boredom.
Such low-level matches truly failed to capture his interest.
If Eevee were a Fighting-type Pokémon and eligible to compete, he still wouldn't be able to have an engaging battle.
As things stood, nearly every opponent was defeated by Lucario in a single move, making the entire experience incredibly tedious.
Of course, Eddie wasn't the only spectator feeling this way.
"Damn it! The skill level of this Fighting tournament is pathetically low. Why did I even think of coming here to scout for potential rivals?" Bruno grumbled, watching the subpar battles with growing frustration.
He had originally wanted to observe Eddie's fighting style and techniques, but in such a low-caliber competition, watching Eddie defeat everyone with single moves was excruciatingly dull.
How could he possibly analyze Eddie's combat strategy when every battle lasted only one attack? There was no tactical depth or skill demonstration to observe!
"What kind of joke is this Fighting tournament? I need to find out who organized this event and have a serious discussion with them about what real Fighting-type battles should look like," Bruno muttered angrily.
Bruno was determined to have a thorough conversation with the tournament organizer. Watching such a poorly conceived Fighting competition was nothing but a complete waste of his valuable time.
Naturally, only Eddie and Bruno found the competition this boring and disappointing.
After all, both were exceptionally strong trainers, so they naturally viewed such amateur-level competitions as beneath their standards.
But how many truly powerful trainers exist in the world? Peak-level strength is actually considered quite impressive. While trainers of this caliber aren't exactly rare, they're not common either.
Tournaments like this one were fairly typical throughout the various regions.
If someone wanted to witness truly high-level competition, they would need to attend official League tournaments and conferences.
Unofficial local tournaments like this one were probably less entertaining than watching standard Gym battles.
The disparity in skill levels and the predictable outcomes made for poor spectator entertainment, especially for those accustomed to witnessing battles between truly skilled trainers and their powerful Pokémon partners.