The battlefield shifted once again.
"Creamie~!"
Alcremie flew happily back onto Lin Feng's shoulder, its face full of pride.
"Alright, alright, I know you won. You did really well."
Lin Feng smiled as he gently patted its head, rubbed its little cheeks, and returned it to its Poké Ball.
Just as he had expected, Alcremie's Metronome really could trigger moves according to its own will.
And honestly, based on what happened in this battle, it was almost absurd.
It wanted to fly upward, so it used Aura Wings.
It wanted to fly back down… so it used Aura Wings again.
Even cheaters would not play that shamelessly.
Was this its way of showing off its ridiculous margin for error?
Lin Feng shook his head. Though amused, he quickly turned his attention to the newly changed battlefield.
Scorching Rock Field.
The terrain had become rough stone ground, with dozens of massive rock pillars jutting upward, each three to five meters tall.
The ground was steep, uneven, and burning hot underfoot.
Faced with this terrain, Sally carefully considered her choice and sent out Rapidash.
Although it was called Rapidash, this one was the Galarian form, meaning it was not Fire-type at all, but Psychic and Fairy-type instead.
Lin Feng barely needed to think.
On a battlefield like this, there was no better choice than Blaziken.
The result was exactly as expected.
Blaziken did not even need to take advantage of the weather conditions. On the Scorching Rock Field, it easily defeated Rapidash.
Then the field changed again, becoming Grassland.
For the next three rounds, Sally sent out Frosmoth, Hatterene, and finally an Ice-type Beartic.
Just when everyone thought Lin Feng would reveal more new Pokémon, surprisingly, he chose to send out Pokémon that had already appeared before.
Frosmoth was countered by Fire-type Blaziken.
Hatterene was countered by Psychic-type Gardevoir.
And the level 54–55 Ice-type Beartic was countered by Alolan Ninetales.
Her entire lineup collapsed.
Frosmoth was taken down in one hit.
Hatterene was also defeated in one hit.
Beartic did slightly better and managed to last for two turns.
By the end of it all, Sally's lips were tightly pressed together. She no longer had the lively energy she had at the beginning.
Her eyes narrowed, looking as though tears could fall at any second.
In truth, even after traveling for three years, Sally had never experienced a battle like this.
Aside from the opening Glaceon match, she felt like the rest of her Pokémon had lost in the most ridiculous ways possible.
Either they were defeated in a single move…
Or worse…
they were beaten by Alcremie.
Even the field selections had not gone her way.
When people felt frustrated, it always seemed like the whole world was working against them.
That was exactly how Sally felt now.
But standing there on the battlefield, all she could do was bite her lip, remember her poor Beartic, and silently let tears fall.
That wronged, pitiful expression broke the hearts of countless fans watching.
"Damn it, Lin Feng… does he not have even a little gentlemanly spirit?"
"Waaah, my Miss Sally, this is too tragic. She met the final boss in the Top 32. Otherwise, she definitely could have reached Top 4…"
"Brother Lin, well done! That's exactly how it should be! In a trainer's eyes, there's only victory and defeat, no women!"
"Brother Lin… honestly, aside from Tobias, the guy who only uses one Pokémon, it feels like nobody can compete with him for first place, right?"
"Are you joking? We have only seen the tip of Gardevoir's power. Do you really think that's everything it can do?"
"It's over… my Miss Sally…"
The audience was loud with discussion.
As Lin Feng walked off the battlefield with Alolan Ninetales beside him, he felt slightly awkward.
After this whole match, he had a strong feeling his video account was about to be flooded by Sally's massive fanbase coming to condemn him.
"Forget it, forget it~"
Lin Feng shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
Anyway, he rarely checked his comment section.
As long as they could not find him in real life, everything was fine.
Although his match against Sally caused quite a stir, this was still the Horizon League.
Even if some people were unwilling to accept it, the competition would continue.
For the next six matches, Lin Feng did not leave the battle area. Instead, he stayed and continued watching.
However, after witnessing the earlier spectacular battles, the following matches felt somewhat dull by comparison.
Sometimes, the loudest reaction was only the occasional gasp.
The only truly memorable moment was when a Gengar suddenly appeared with a huge grin and scared the opponent's Pokémon half to death.
Finally, just when everyone thought the day's excitement was over and there would be no more thrilling battles, a Salamence suddenly appeared!
Its trainer was a girl wearing a pink jacket over a white school-style blouse, paired with a tie and a plaid pleated skirt.
A very classic campus-style outfit.
She had ash-brown hair tied high into a ponytail.
From appearance alone, it was hard to judge her age, but she looked very young.
Her name was Shiran Lin.
In her previous matches, her performance had been fairly ordinary. The Pokémon she sent out were decent, but not especially outstanding.
Most of them were cute or stylish-looking Pokémon, like Ninetales, Scyther, and Ditto.
Still, because she was beautiful, she had gained some support from the audience.
But the moment that Salamence appeared, the entire stadium exploded.
Because it was a shiny Salamence.
A pure green Salamence.
Yet when she released it, there was no strange expression on her face at all. Instead, she looked even calmer.
That green Salamence was genuinely powerful.
Its level was around 68 to 69, and its ability was even Moxie.
She opened with Salamence, defeated her opponent's Torterra immediately, gained an Attack boost, and began sweeping through the rest of the team.
One after another.
By the end, not a single Pokémon could withstand even one hit.
She won the match decisively, drawing the attention of countless spectators.
And just like that, the afternoon slowly passed with the battles from Top 32 to Top 16.
There were no evening matches.
When the competition temporarily ended, everyone left the audience stands still unsatisfied, continuing to discuss the day's battles.
Lin Feng also returned to his room.
This was already his third day away from home.
Although he called every day, being gone for three days still made him think about home.
"Should I head back for a little while?"
Lin Feng could not help glancing at his Pokémon.
Alolan Ninetales lay comfortably on the bed. After shrinking down, it was currently playing a tail-chasing game with Serperior.
Serperior, however, had not shrunk.
It was curled across the entire bed, occupying all of it, yawning lazily while watching the fox that somehow still looked tiny even after evolving.
Hearing Lin Feng's question, all the Pokémon poked their heads over.
"No?"
"Show, show…"
At that moment, Lin Feng's phone rang.
He picked it up and saw that it was Rotom calling from home.
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