Perhaps it was because of everyone's growing expectations, or perhaps because fewer and fewer contestants remained, but as the strength of the competitors increased, the pace of the matches did not slow down at all. Instead, it became even faster.
On January 16th, the entire day was spent rapidly finishing the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals. By the afternoon, the semifinals had already been decided.
There were no surprises along the way.
The four trainers who advanced into the semifinals were Lin Feng, Tobias, Fiona Feng, and Lucas Li.
Aside from Tobias—
Fiona had already revealed five Pokémon: Gengar, Gourgeist, Chandelure, Beautifly, and an Alolan Marowak.
She looked close to thirty. Unlike the other female trainers participating in the Horizon League, her style was extremely casual. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders in a messy way, as if she barely bothered to take care of it.
Her cheeks were slightly thin, and beneath her eyes were faint dark circles that looked like the result of many sleepless nights.
Fortunately, in the Pokémon world, people rarely had to worry about things like acne.
As for Lucas Li, his team consisted of Charizard, Blastoise, Sceptile, Pelipper, Flygon, and Pidgeot.
January 17th.
The final half-day of the Horizon League.
Under commentator Li Bing's energetic hosting, the semifinal draw quickly began.
The portraits on the giant central screen rotated rapidly, and soon, the matchups were revealed.
Tobias vs. Fiona.
Lin Feng vs. Lucas Li.
The first match would be Lin Feng against Lucas Li.
The second would be Tobias against Fiona.
Under everyone's gaze, Lucas looked at Lin Feng's calm expression and took a deep breath.
"…Haa…"
Truthfully, Lucas had already understood this long ago.
He knew that if he kept moving forward, sooner or later he would run into Lin Feng and Tobias.
Those two stood before everyone like towering mountains.
Even if the mountain was impossibly high, since he had already climbed this far, he had to try.
"Alright! Today is the final day of the Horizon League! Let's see who will claim the championship title! Now, let the battle begin!"
Li Bing continued to hype up the audience.
Though honestly, even without him, the stadium was already buzzing with excitement.
"They're here, they're here! Finally! Brother Lin and that guy… what was his name again… Tobias! Neither of them has lost a single match yet. Can Lucas actually do it?"
"Doesn't that depend on which Pokémon Lin Feng sends out? If he sends Gardevoir right away, wouldn't Lucas just get demolished?"
"Alright, it's starting. It's a water field. Looks like Milotic is coming out again. Yes! Beautiful Milotic!"
"The real question is—which Pokémon will Lucas choose?"
The battlefield had already been decided.
As Lin Feng's video channel became more and more popular, people began analyzing every move he made in battle.
For example, the pattern of which Pokémon he chose had become easy to predict.
At first, during 3v3 matches, he rotated through all of them. Later, once the tournament became full 6v6 battles, everything depended on the battlefield.
He always sent out the Pokémon most suited for the terrain.
So with a water field like this, Milotic was the obvious guess.
But that put Lucas in a difficult position.
Because for a moment, he couldn't decide whether to send out Blastoise or Sceptile.
Sceptile had the type advantage over Milotic, but…
…it felt a little unfair.
Before the match, he had also read all the analysis about Lin Feng's Pokémon choices. He knew very clearly that Lin Feng would most likely send out Milotic.
Knowing your opponent's choice in advance and then deliberately sending out the perfect counter left him feeling uneasy.
"Both contestants, please send out your first Pokémon!"
Li Bing was already urging them from above.
Lucas clenched his teeth and grabbed a Poké Ball.
"Forget it! Losing is losing anyway."
A battle should be won fairly and honestly.
Even if he lost, he wanted to lose with a clear conscience.
"Milotic, I'm counting on you…"
"Blastoise, come on out!"
"Blastoise!"
Blastoise appeared with its twin giant cannons, landing heavily on the wooden platform and splashing water everywhere before letting out a roar toward Milotic.
But its 1.7-meter height had absolutely no intimidation value in front of Milotic's nearly 9-meter-long body.
Even Blastoise itself looked stunned when it saw its opponent.
"It's that big?!"
"Blastoise…?"
Lin Feng had absolutely no idea Lucas had been thinking so much.
Because whether it was the level 54–55 Sceptile or this level 56–58 Blastoise, in his eyes, neither of them were Milotic's match.
Don't think Milotic was weak just because it spent most of its days watering flowers instead of battling.
It was actually incredibly strong.
Still, it had to be said that every one of Lucas's Pokémon had been raised exceptionally well.
Pokémon: Blastoise
Gender: Male
Ability: Torrent
Potential: Red
Stats: HP (31), Attack (28), Sp. Atk (18), Defense (31), Sp. Def (31), Speed (20)
Strength: Level 56–58
Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Water Gun, Withdraw, Hydro Pump, Rapid Spin, Protect, Water Pulse, Rain Dance…
There wasn't much room for tactical maneuvering in a clash between these two.
Milotic and Blastoise were both fortress-style Water-type Pokémon.
Almost at the same moment, both trainers called out for Hydro Pump.
Powerful streams of water erupted from both Pokémon at once, but one was clearly far larger than the other.
After only one collision, Blastoise was already at a disadvantage and was blasted violently back into the water.
Then the fierce battle continued underwater.
Whether it was Aqua Tail or Water Pulse, Milotic held the upper hand.
Milotic might not have been as technically refined with these moves as Blastoise, but its fighting style relied entirely on overwhelming natural stats.
In simple terms:
I'm stronger than you.
My energy output is stronger than yours.
So I crush you head-on.
After Blastoise was defeated, Lucas immediately chose to change the battlefield.
The second round became a grassy field.
For this terrain, Lucas hesitated again, but in the end, he chose Sceptile.
Lin Feng naturally chose Serperior.
And the result was the same.
"Sceptile, use Leaf Blade!" Lucas focused completely, ready to throw everything into this battle.
But Lin Feng's command was:
"Serperior, use Leaf Storm!"
The wind howled.
Dark clouds rolled overhead.
Countless leaves filled the sky like a green blizzard, each one razor-sharp, nearly covering the entire battlefield.
All Sceptile could see was green—
and then everything went black.
What Lin Feng wanted to say, however, was this:
This was only Serperior's first time using Leaf Storm at this level.
The second time.
The third time.
The power would only grow stronger.
Not to mention, his Serperior could stack Leaf Storm repeatedly.
The blessing of the World Tree hadn't even been activated yet.
And Mew's blessing could still increase Grass-type move power by another 30%.
There was also the Pokémon lockdown effect that should have applied…
Honestly, even Lin Feng himself could no longer accurately judge just how strong Serperior had become.
As for why he chose this move—
Because in most other places, it was difficult to fully unleash the true power of Leaf Storm.
And this Horizon League…
was the perfect place to test it.
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