As the tournament progressed day by day, the number of participants dropped from 450 to 225. Because it was an odd number, one person received a bye.
That lucky individual was Annis from the Country of Pampas.
After another full day of battles among the 224 remaining contestants, the number dropped to 112.
Adding Annis, who had received the previous bye, the total became 113, meaning someone would get another bye. And as luck would have it, it was Annis again.
The same person receiving byes twice in a row.
This led many people outside the competition to question whether there was some behind-the-scenes thing going on.
However, the tournament's organizing committee promptly issued a statement clarifying that Annis's two byes were purely a result of luck.
The organizing committee was composed of representatives from major nations, so no one dared to cheat, nor did they have the ability to do so.
With the committee's clarification, the public naturally chose to believe it. Meanwhile, Annis, having received two byes, was seen as incredibly lucky. Combined with her good looks, some enthusiastic fans had already dubbed her the "Goddess of Luck."
Now the remaining participants numbered 113, with the vast majority having strength at the peak of Elite-level.
All ten participants from Drakoria, Celestria, and Volkaria were still in the tournament. But many other countries had already lost a considerable number of contestants.
In the upcoming matches, the chances of major countries fighting each other, as well as teammates fighting teammates, would increase significantly.
The match pairings had already been sent to the participants' phones.
"Damn! I'm up against Evan!" Sky looked at his phone and couldn't help but shout.
With the number of participants decreasing, internal matches were inevitable. Now that it had happened, few people would be surprised.
The others who hadn't checked their match info yet felt a bit nervous after Sky's outburst, hoping they wouldn't be so unlucky as to face a teammate.
After checking, they all sighed in relief.
Even facing someone from Celestria or Volkaria was better than fighting your own teammate.
"What do you two think?" Julian called Sky and Evan over.
Internal matches among teammates were unavoidable in the later stages, unless a nation's participants were relatively weak and couldn't make it that far.
It wasn't just Drakoria having internal matches; even Celestria had them. Volkaria was comparatively luckier, with no internal matches this round.
Basically, when faced with an internal match, most countries adopted the strategy of having the weaker participant concede directly, thereby preserving the other participant's Pokémon from taking unnecessary damage.
After all, if two contestants from the same country fought, given that they were both national team members, the difference in their strength likely wouldn't be huge. So if they fought for real, even the winner's Pokémon would end up heavily injured.
This would affect their performance in the next day's matches.
Therefore, having the relatively weaker contestant concede to preserve the other contestant's strength was the most common practice among all countries.
That was precisely the reason why Julian had called them.
In terms of strength, Sky was slightly stronger than Evan, mainly because Sky possessed a Zapdos. The advantages of a Legendary Pokémon were still quite substantial.
"How about a real battle?" Sky raised an eyebrow at Evan.
Evan nodded. "Then let's fight."
Alright then—since both wanted to earn their advancement through an actual battle, Julian didn't say anything more.
As for worrying about whether the internal match would be too intense and cause serious injuries to their Pokémon…
These past few days, Julian had already shown them through his actions: go ahead and fight boldly. As long as the Pokémon wasn't killed outright, it was guaranteed to be lively and healthy on the field the next day.
This was also the main reason both of them wanted a real fight.
It wasn't that they lacked a broader perspective, but Julian's presence had eliminated their worries about the aftermath.
Among the other eight, Pierce's opponent was from Celestria, and Adrian's opponent was from Volkaria.
Internal matches had begun, and the clashes between major nations had also started.
The battles hadn't even started yet, but the matchups had already been announced, stirring heated discussions everywhere. The excitement was high, and everyone knew the coming rounds would only get more explosive.
> "Sky vs. Evan—wonder if they'll fight for real or if one will just surrender?"
> "Normally, one of them should surrender."
> "I like both of them! Why did they have to meet so early?"
> "At least it's not my goddess Ember."
> "As long as our players keep advancing, internal matches are unavoidable. It just proves how strong our team is. Look at Pannar— they can't even qualify for an internal match."
> "Pannar only has one contestant left, and their next opponent is Volkaria."
> "Celestria also has an internal match now, which balances things out a bit."
> "The Goddess of Luck didn't get a bye this time, sigh."
> "Look who her opponent is—they are from Wyvernia! Their current strength is only at the late-stage Elite-level, and their ace Pokémon was severely injured in yesterday's match."
> "The Goddess of Luck remains lucky."
---
The next day, the matches began.
The battle between Sky and Evan was full of anticipation.
In the stands, a hundred cheerleaders wearing uniforms, holding up posters of Sky, with sweet faces and beautiful figures, were cheering their hearts out for their sponsor.
With a hundred girls with lovely voices cheering for you, how could you not be motivated?
Even before the match started, Sky felt he was already half victorious.
As for Evan, his face was a bit dark. 'Damnit, I'm your teammate, and you're treating me like an enemy? You even brought an entire cheerleading army!'
Evan was an Ice-type trainer from the Imperial Capital's Frost family—the same family as Luis. In fact, he was Luis's older cousin.
"Brother, go for it! Go! Go! Go!!"
Luis had also come to cheer for Evan, but unfortunately, his voice was completely drowned out by Sky's cheer squad.
"Sky, Sky, so handsome! Sky, Sky, so awesome! Sky, go, go, go!!"
This immediately made Luis feel depressed.
Rowan, who had a match in the afternoon, was sitting with Julian, along with Pierce and Adrian, who also had matches in the afternoon.
"It's all that bast**d Sky's fault. Now the price for cheerleaders has gone up; it's 150,000 per person now!" Rowan said somewhat angrily.
It was only 100,000 before, but Sky insisted on hiring a hundred, causing a shortage of cheerleaders and driving the price up.
This level of internal competition was getting ridiculous.
"You two have tough opponents. Want me to hire a few cheerleaders for you? I definitely can't match Sky's numbers, but around ten is no problem," Rowan said, looking at Pierce and Adrian.
Adrian shook his head and said calmly, "No need. These are just superficial things. Your own strength is what matters most."
"Tch. Wait until you see your opponent with dozens of cheerleaders cheering for him while you have none. Let's see if you still think that way."
"Didn't you see how Evan's face turned dark?"
Adrian glanced over. Alright, Evan's face did look quite grim. 'Could cheerleaders really be that effective? Should I also look for some…'
"I don't need them either. Some of my comrades are coming to cheer for me this afternoon," Pierce said.
*****
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