Indigo League—Rock Venue—First Round
"This is now the second match at the Indigo League's Rock venue! Both contestants in this match have extraordinary backgrounds!"
"Entering from the green contestant passage is Tetsuya from the Pokémon Technical Institute. Tetsuya is an advanced graduate from the Pokémon Technical Institute, specializing in theoretical Pokémon battle knowledge. He has participated in the Indigo League twice before and achieved excellent results both times."
"Brat, do you know how powerful I am now? I advise you to surrender quickly and wait for the next Indigo League!"
Tetsuya, who had arrived at the command platform, said arrogantly to Red, mistakenly thinking Red was just a rookie participating in the Indigo League for the first time and posed no threat.
Although strictly speaking, Red was indeed a 'rookie' who had just started traveling and was participating in the Indigo League for the first time.
Just as the announcer was about to introduce Red's background, several young men dressed as teachers suddenly rushed in from behind. Under the announcer's puzzled gaze, the leading young man approached the announcer's ear and quietly explained a few things.
Subsequently, under the announcer's reluctant expression, he slowly took a speech script from a nearby Pokémon Technical Institute instructor, apparently having to read some advertisement.
"The Pokémon Technical Institute is an elite academy officially designated by the Kanto League. Advanced graduates can directly participate in the Indigo League without spending any time traveling to various places to collect eight League badges."
"Its success rate is even more 'convenient and reliable' than Pokémon certification exams, the price is very 'affordable,' and the campus has 'no' bullying phenomena whatsoever. Everyone is welcome to enthusiastically sign up for the Pokémon Technical Institute!"
Obviously, this was a specially inserted advertisement from the Pokémon Technical Institute, which truly surprised many audience members present.
But based on the high taxes the Pokémon Technical Institute had paid to the Kanto League over the years, the League officials also tacitly approved this advertisement speech. After all, the more students enrolled at the Pokémon Technical Institute, the richer the taxes the Kanto region would receive.
After introducing the advertisement inserted by the Pokémon Technical Institute, the announcer's expression became much more rigid, obviously very dissatisfied with this sudden arrangement for the match.
Fortunately, the nearby instructor quickly noticed something was wrong and promptly offered some small gifts, which made the announcer's expression look much better.
Perhaps to suppress Tetsuya's momentum, to prevent the audience from losing enthusiasm for watching the match, and to regain face, the announcer, after adjusting his tone, began formally and solemnly introducing Red's arrival.
"He is a strong trainer from Pallet Town who single-handedly repeatedly thwarted Team Rocket's evil schemes. He is a fighter recognized by Elite Four members Lance, Lorelei, and Bruno, and is also the hero who single-handedly blocked the attack of the giant Tentacruel on Porta Vista shortly after beginning his journey!"
"He is the red contestant from Pallet Town, Lord Red! Also the second seed contestant of this Indigo League. Let us welcome Lord Red's arrival with enthusiastic applause!"
As soon as the words fell, the crowd in the spectator seats erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers, immediately overwhelming the Pokémon Technical Institute's momentum.
After all, Red had too many impressive achievements, whether it was single-handedly repeatedly destroying Team Rocket's evil plans, being a fighter recognized by three Elite Four trainers, or being the hero of the giant Tentacruel incident.
These were all events they had heard about, so naturally they felt immense admiration for Red's arrival.
Some audience members who specialized in theoretical knowledge and loved browsing research papers also recognized Red's other identity at this moment: that of an outstanding new-generation Pokémon research doctor in the Kanto region in recent years.
From this point on, the crowd in the spectator seats overwhelmingly cheered for Red, with no one paying attention to Tetsuya on the opposite command platform, whose face had turned red with embarrassment.
Tetsuya hadn't expected Red's background to be so outstanding, causing his few fan club members to immediately turn their backs and start cheering for Red instead, becoming Red's fans.
The most amusing thing was that some audience members from the Pokémon Technical Institute also cheered for Red in unison, led by Sundae, who was also a Pokémon Technical Institute contestant.
Wearing a gorgeous uniform with beautiful makeup, Sundae held up a fan sign with Red's photo and cheered for Red along with her girlfriends.
Sundae's actions truly bewildered the senior and junior students around her. Was this still the Miss Sundae they had all been secretly in love with?
She was totally just a star-struck fangirl now!
"Senior Sundae, if you don't support Senior Tetsuya, our Pokémon Technical Institute's reputation will be somewhat..." A slightly more rational junior student nearby advised, hoping Sundae wouldn't so blatantly support Red. At least be more subtle so everyone could save face.
"What do you know? Do you think that guy Tetsuya can beat Red? That guy has participated in the Indigo League twice at most and only made it to the third round. There's no way he can defeat Red," Sundae replied displeasedly to the junior's advice, then impatiently instructed her girlfriends to tell the junior who still wanted to reason with them to get lost and not interfere with her cheering for Red.
"What's the big deal? He's just slightly more handsome than me, slightly stronger..." The junior said jealously, looking sourly at the calm Red on the command platform, his eyes inevitably showing jealous emotions. Obviously, Sundae was also a senior he had a crush on.
At this time, at Professor Oak's research lab in Pallet Town, Delia looked joyfully at the TV in front of her, unable to imagine that the crowd in the spectator seats were all cheering for Red in unison. She didn't forget to point at Red on the screen and introduce him to the residents behind her.
"Everyone, this is my precious son!"
Meanwhile, at the Rock venue, the referee announced, "Both sides can use three Pokémon. The second match of the Rock venue officially begins!"
After the announcer finished explaining the match rules, the referee beside the Rock venue immediately rang the bell, signaling the start of the battle.
"Let's have an absolute crushing victory, Tauros!"
With that, Red immediately threw the Poké Ball in his hand, releasing a shiny Tauros with gray fur.
"Moo!"
The newly appeared Tauros let out a resounding moo that echoed all around, its thick legs continuously shaking the ground, creating cracks across the surface within moments, appearing extremely powerful.
Tetsuya in front of Red also threw his Poké Ball at the same time. The white light faded, and a well-developed Victreebel appeared on the Rock venue.
"Damn it! It's not a Rock or Ground-type Pokémon!"
Tetsuya said angrily, clenching his fists and regretting his choice.
Tetsuya had thought Red would send out a Pokémon advantageous on the Rock venue, so he had chosen Victreebel to lead this match, planning to use type advantage to defeat Red and dampen his momentum.
He never expected Red to not play by the rules, actually sending out a Normal-type Tauros to lead, completely destroying all of Tetsuya's battle strategies.