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One week later.
After a week of fierce competition, the top eight contestants of the National Finals had been determined.
The list of the top eight competitors matched the official predictions exactly, without any surprises. These eight trainers represented the highest level of skill among this year's graduating high school students.
Jacob, Julia, Augustine, Vicente, Julien, Ariana, Isaac, and Chaim.
Starting today, the quarter-finals would officially begin, marking the start of the final carnival of the High School Cup tournament.
To attract viewers and boost television ratings, the organizers deliberately scheduled the popular contestant Jacob to compete first.
Tickets for this match had sold out immediately upon release. The original price of 600 Pokédollars per ticket had increased tenfold in the hands of scalpers, and even at those inflated prices, tickets remained incredibly difficult to obtain.
Before the match had even begun, the stadium was already packed to capacity with no empty seats visible anywhere.
Nearly two-thirds of the entire crowd wore Starlight City battle uniforms, holding up cheering signs and continuously shouting words of encouragement for Jacob.
"Dear viewers, welcome to the annual High School Cup National Finals. I am Boston, the commentator for today's match." The official commentators for this tournament were China's top broadcasting talents, Boston and Aubrey.
Boston was in his forties, at the prime of both his life and career, and served as the exclusive commentator for the Heavenly Kings Ranking Tournament finals.
"I am commentator Aubrey." Aubrey was the rising star anchor of China Television, twenty-four years old this year, young and beautiful, with an outstanding, dignified, and gentle demeanor.
"After one week, contestants from across the entire country have endured four rounds of cruel and intense competition to finally earn their places in the top eight of this High School Cup."
"Today marks the first match of the quarter-finals, featuring the seeded contestant Jacob from Starlight City, Frosthollow Province!"
As Boston's powerful voice echoed throughout the arena, enthusiastic cheers and Frosthollow Province dialects erupted from the crowd.
"Jacob! Rise up!"
"Jacob, I love you!"
"Mom will always support you, Jacob!"
Amidst the frenzied shouts of the audience, Jacob emerged from the contestant's entrance tunnel. On the football field-sized battlefield venue, Jacob gazed out at the sea of people, the dazzling camera flashes, and listened to the hysterical cheers. His heart boiled with excitement.
Standing on such a grand stage, Jacob's heart surged with powerful emotions, and he wholeheartedly embraced this moment, savoring the cheers of the crowd.
He continuously waved his hands, responding enthusiastically to the audience. In the stands, Jacob spotted many familiar faces among the spectators.
His father, mother, maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, maternal uncle, as well as Amelia, Kyle, and also Nina, Eleanor, Maximus, Julia, Raya, and many Heavenly Kings and Champions who had personally attended the event.
Many people wanted to witness Mega Evolution with their own eyes. After all, watching Mega Evolution in a video recording and experiencing it live were two completely different experiences. The presence of these distinguished guests was also a major factor in keeping ticket prices so high.
"His opponent is Isaac, a genius Flying-type trainer from Shuimu Affiliated High School!"
Isaac entered from the opposite contestant passage, and similarly, enthusiastic applause and cheers erupted throughout the stadium, though the volume remained far less intense than the reception for Jacob.
Jacob looked directly at Isaac, and the scene of his defeat several months ago flashed vividly before his eyes.
A few months was neither particularly long nor short. During these few months, both he and his Pokémon had undergone earth-shattering transformations.
This time, he would definitely emerge victorious!
Jacob's gaze fixed intensely on Isaac, a confident smile spreading across his face.
"Match begins!" The referee's voice rang out clearly, and Jacob and Isaac simultaneously reached for their Poké Balls, releasing their first Pokémon onto the battlefield.
"Go, Salamence!"
"Go, Noivern!"
Isaac's first Pokémon was Salamence, which somewhat surprised Jacob. He hadn't expected Isaac to directly send out his ace Pokémon right from the start.
In just an instant, Jacob analyzed Isaac's likely strategy: he planned to use Dragon Dance to boost his stats, then rely on the Moxie ability to sweep through Jacob's entire team.
However, facing Jacob's Noivern, Isaac would have no choice but to change his tactics completely, since Noivern possessed the Taunt move, which could prevent Salamence from setting up stat boosts.
"Jacob, you are very strong, but my Salamence and I will not lose today. Salamence, use Dragon Claw!" A hint of seriousness flashed across Isaac's face. He vaguely remembered that just a few months ago, Jacob's strength had been completely negligible compared to his own.
In only a few months, Jacob had grown to reach this incredible level.
But so what? Life was a continuous process of challenging stronger opponents, and only by battling against the strong could one constantly improve and grow.
"Roar!"
Salamence's sharp claws began glowing with intense Dragon-type energy, shining with a brilliant blue light. Its blood-red wings flapped powerfully, and the dragon Pokémon pounced fiercely toward Noivern.
"Is that so?" Jacob smiled confidently. "After losing to you in that match, I made up my mind that I would not lose any more battles and would claim the National Championship with a perfect record."
"Come on, Noivern, use Dragon Pulse!"
"Roar!"
Jacob was fully immersed in the intensity of the match. He deliberately chose not to have Noivern use its strongest Draco Meteor attack, instead opting for the slightly less powerful Dragon Pulse, mainly to guard against the possibility of Salamence using the Protect move.
Noivern flapped its massive dragon wings powerfully, its entire body becoming enveloped in swirling Dragon-type energy, forming a massive energy dragon that flew directly toward Salamence.
From the very beginning of the battle, both sides were going all out, displaying tremendous vigor and determination. As both Dragon and Flying-type Pokémon, the statistical gap between Salamence and Noivern was quite obvious to experienced trainers.
Their defensive capabilities were relatively similar, but their offensive potential differed greatly. First, in terms of physical attack power, Noivern's weaker physical attack stat was simply incomparable to Salamence's impressive strength. Second, regarding special attack power, Noivern was also slightly inferior to Salamence's capabilities.
It could be said that Noivern was weaker than Salamence in most statistical categories, with only its superior speed giving it any advantage over the pseudo-legendary Pokémon.
This disparity was unavoidable. Pseudo-legendary Pokémon earned that designation precisely because they were the Pokémon closest to true legendary Pokémon in terms of power, and in competitive battles, they were often stronger than some actual legendary Pokémon.
"Contestants Isaac and Jacob have gone all out from the very start, with neither trainer holding back in the slightest."
"From their recent exchange of attacks, it's not difficult to determine that these two had a previous encounter several months ago. According to my knowledge, the strength gap between them was quite significant at that time. Jacob, who had just entered the Elite-level trainer ranks and whose Grovyle had not yet evolved into Sceptile, was absolutely dominated by Isaac's Elite-level peak strength Talonflame."
"So in that context, today's match represents Jacob's revenge battle. In this clash between Noivern and Salamence, who will emerge victorious from this intense match?"
"Dodge it, Dragon Pulse! Salamence, accelerate!" Isaac calmly commanded his Salamence, attempting to have the dragon Pokémon bypass Noivern's Dragon Pulse attack by approaching from the side.
However, the energy dragon seemed to possess its own intelligence, circling through the air under Noivern's precise control and accurately striking Salamence. The surging Dragon-type energy instantly engulfed the pseudo-legendary Pokémon.
At the same time, everyone in the audience noticed that Jacob's Noivern was holding a Life Orb. With the Same Type Attack Bonus and the Life Orb's damage boost, the Dragon Pulse dealt significant damage to Salamence, which was doubly weak to Dragon-type attacks.
But even despite taking that heavy hit, Salamence's body showed no signs of stopping its assault. Its Dragon Claw, now completely covered in concentrated Dragon-type energy, swung toward Noivern with tremendous force, seemingly intending to tear the Sound Wave Pokémon apart!
"Roar!"