Li Han was absolutely right; the analysts from the other teams were indeed very busy right now.
Compared to veteran contestants who delayed "retirement" through means like repeating a year or delaying graduation, rookies like Rowan were much more of a thorn in their side.
With veterans, at least you could plan strategies based on their previous performance. But rookies were usually blank slates, there wasn't even anything to target.
This wasn't an esports match, where a single ban is enough to counter a one-trick's limited hero pool. [TN: One tricking means to only play as a single character in a game. In titles with multiple characters, such as fighting or hero-based games, if a player only uses one character, and does not know how to play anything else, they're considered a one trick player.]
A Pokémon Trainer's main team is usually fixed, given the time investment in raising them. The Pokémon which has been raised from early on often has a significant advantage. But they couldn't exactly ban that Pokémon.
"No record of participation in any regional conferences!"
"Found something... uh... it's from a Pokémon race. That's useless."
"I found his livestream channel! He does lane match-up tutorials!"
"Quick, pull it up and watch!"
At the moment, the busiest people were the support staff of the contestant who would face Rowan in the next round, based on the match grouping.
Their Varsity Team was clearly more professional, at least in terms of size, and they usually had contestants who could make it to the top three in singles battles.
Originally, they thought it was bad luck to get grouped with Ding Wanning, the defending champion. But it turned out there was someone even more frightening to deal with.
Besides complaining about where Jia Qiong had found this monster, they were also grumbling about the group draw; they clearly weren't happy with being put into the "Rocky Field," this so-called group of death.
So much so that while gathering intel, they didn't even notice the content was about "laning" and not "battling."
"Master Yi tower dives at level 2 with full HP... What the hell is this?! What's the point of watching this?!"
"Found it! This time for real! It's a battle record from their local Lanxiang Gym. While the Trainer's identity isn't listed, Meowscarada is there! It should be them!"
The Gym Battle footage only had highlights—no full battle scenes—so based on external analysis, the only thing they could confirm was that Rowan's Meowscarada could use a Rock-type Z-Move.
Which meant that in addition to the already demonstrated Fighting-type move, and the Grass and Dark-type moves that it would naturally know, it also had Rock-type moves.
"What are we supposed to do with that? Even Aggron couldn't tank an attack from that Meowscarada, let alone a Rock-type Z-Move. Even just that Aura Sphere alone, Butterfree couldn't withstand it, right?"
Yes, if their team ended up facing Rowan, they'd have to send Butterfree into the match.
Butterfree's overall appearance was that of a large, deep-purple butterfly.
"There's no good solution. Since both of them would go on the stage at the same time, just go with that plan to support your teammate."
"Yeah, that's all we can do."
"Okay, Coach, I understand what you mean. It's fine, we're teammates. I'll do my best."
His Butterfree belonged to the type that played dirty. It specialized in moves like Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, and Poison Powder.
At the same time, since most Pokémon could learn the move Protect, the learning resources for it were quite extensive. Any well-developed Varsity Team would typically have methods for training their Pokémon to use Protect.
Combined with Protect and Substitute, his Butterfree was all about being annoying. But when there was an absolute difference in strength, it became much less effective.
That was when you could take advantage of certain rules.
After all, the four battlefields were adjacent, and there were no walls separating them. When large-area moves were used, their spillover effects on neighboring fields was considered unavoidable.
So, Rowan saw the opponent's Butterfree open with Tailwind, boosting the speed of their teammate's Pokémon on the neighboring battlefield.
"Brother Han, are you sure this really isn't against the rules?"
"It's not. As long as the move isn't targeting Pokémon in the other field, any collateral effects are within the rules. Tailwind and Sunny Day are especially common for this sort of thing.
Sometimes even an Earthquake can interfere with a nearby battle.
But getting two teammates' matches to happen simultaneously depends on luck. If the timing's right, we can help you set up Sunny Day too."
"No need. If it's like this, maybe I can help you instead."
"Wait, don't. That'll attract too much attention. Our original goal was to carry you through; don't risk everything over something minor."
Because the chance to even trigger this kind of ally-assist situation was rare, and since Meowscarada was already considered Rowan's ace, they hadn't bothered to talk to him about this kind of tactic.
They hadn't expected that Rowan's opponent's teammate just so happened to be battling against Rowan's teammate at the same time.
"Brother Han, I eliminated the defending champion in the first round. It's already impossible for me to avoid attention. Since that's the case, why not go big?"
After hanging up the bluetooth headset, Rowan looked at the Butterfree that was using Tailwind to indirectly influence the other battlefield. He was starting to understand more about this match format.
It wasn't as strict as the regional conferences. A lot of the time, coordination between teammates was even implicitly allowed, like secretly switching battlefields before the match, helping a teammate drain an opponent's stamina, or throwing a match to buy them recovery time.
Since that's how it was, there was no need for him to polite.
"Nekomi! Learn from that Butterfree and use Frenzy Plant at full power!"
Rowan couldn't openly shout for a coordinated attack; that would be going too far. After all, collateral damage and direct targeting were two very different things.
Thankfully, Nekomi understood what Rowan meant.
"Meow~ (Got it)"
Nekomi wasn't so overpowered that she could use any move like a Mew. So the phrase "learn from the other side" was something she could easily interpret.
The opposing Butterfree, seeing that Meowscarada wasn't directly attacking or even moving much, just kept releasing large amounts of Poison Powder, some of which drifted off under the influence of Tailwind.
But just then, Nekomi clenched both fists and took on a charging posture.
"Meow... ha!"
Unlike the ease she displayed when casting Aura Sphere, Nekomi now drove both hands straight into the hardened ground. The barren Rocky Field began to tremble and crack open in countless places with her movement.
From the fissures, vines and branches of plants surged wildly. In an instant, the Rocky Field was transformed into a Forest Field.
Without needing any command, Butterfree instinctively flapped its wings, trying to escape the terrifying forest below, but it couldn't.
The green tide that blotted out the sky devoured the entire battlefield at an even faster speed. Even though Butterfree was flying high above, it was engulfed and buried by the rampaging plants in the blink of an eye.
The violently growing trees blotted out the sun and sky, and for a moment, all the spectators' attention was pulled toward this battlefield.
"The match is decided, Meowscarada wins!!"
"'Do not say tender green cannot be a blade; in a flash, it can grow wildly and bury all beneath the dust.' This Grass-type ultimate move is even more terrifying in Meowscarada's hands! Looks like matches on Rocky Field will need to be paused for a while!!"
"As a commentator, maybe this isn't the most appropriate thing to say, but this is like using anti-aircraft guns to shoot butterflies. Honestly, that is being generous to Butterfree!"
But it wasn't over yet. Over on the neighboring Grass Field, the low shrubbery seemed to have been affected as well, causing quite a bit of trouble for the Pokémon on the ground.
This was Frenzy Plant, a powerful move that only Grass-type Starter Pokémon could learn. It unleashes a wave of wild Grass-type energy, turning an entire forest into a weapon to attack the opponent.
Ironically, it was Rowan's teammate's Charizard who used its aerial advantage to further secure dominance in its own battle.
In addition, there seemed to be some issues with this year's draw. After the teammates reshuffled their assigned fields, not only was last year's defending champion placed in Rowan's bracket, but most of last year's strong contenders also ended up on Rowan's side, cementing the group's reputation as the true "Group of Death."
As a result, the level of competition in the other brackets dropped noticeably, making an actual finals showdown seem increasingly possible...
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