"Unbelievable! After seven years, another team has successfully advanced to the finals in the singles battle! This is also the first time Illumina Pokémon University's East Campus has broken into the top three… no, it should be said they have directly claimed both the championship and runner-up positions in the singles battle, achieving a historic breakthrough!"
Illumina Pokémon University, the largest university in the Illumina region, is divided into six campuses. Though nominally a single university, in reality, each of the six campuses operates independently and can be seen as separate universities.
"Yes, without a doubt, the new contestant introduced by East Campus is a dark horse. His Meowscarada blazed a trail to victory with a perfect win record, defeating all tough opponents along the way."
"This is also largely due to how the grouping was done this year. All the powerful contenders coincidentally ended up in the Rocky Field, leading to a showdown in the early rounds that was even fiercer than the finals themselves!"
This outcome stemmed from a rule allowing teams to swap battlefields internally before the competition began. Teams didn't know who their opponents would be beforehand, so no one deliberately avoided any specific contestant. Everyone just chose the battlefield that suited them best.
This indirectly created the "group of death" in Rocky Field.
And it had a ripple effect: normally, the finals would be the most intense phase of the tournament, so at the beginning, many spectators hadn't even arrived yet.
After all, theoretically, the later matches are supposed to be the most exciting. But now…
The strongest competitors were eliminated in the early rounds through intense in-fighting, and the further the competition progressed, the faster the matches became. By the time the finals arrived…
"Referee! I forfeit!"
Rowan's teammate didn't even want to fight. She had already been beaten badly during training and didn't want to suffer another loss in front of such a large audience.
Besides, they still had the team battle tomorrow; fighting among themselves now was just meaningless self-destruction.
"Yes, Contestant Lü You has forfeited. While her Charizard holds a type advantage, this is likely a tactical decision made by their coaching team..."
The Ability Protean is truly difficult to judge. To be precise, without any fixed information, trying to identify a Pokémon's Ability just by sight is nearly impossible.
Nekomi hadn't used any method of using type matchups to evade enemy attacks either. The host only knew Aggron's Ability because it had participated in so many matches.
So with this fog-of-war, god's-eye-view perspective, all they saw was that Charizard had a type advantage. [TN: In games, "fog of war" is a mechanic where unexplored areas of the map are obscured. You can't see everywhere, you don't know where everyone is, you don't know what's going on, etc. until they are actively explored or revealed.]
"That's understandable too; the strength disparity is clear. If other teams don't come up with a way to counter this Meowscarada by tonight, they'll have a real headache during the team battle."
The judges understood this decision. The other members of East Campus understood this decision. The already-defeated teams didn't care anymore.
But the audience didn't understand.
To them, it just felt like the much-anticipated final ended in an extremely abstract way.
Somewhere, someone started it, and soon the stands were filled with a chorus of boos.
"Ahem, ahem, today's matches did end rather quickly... For those spectators who entered late, don't worry, please log into the official backend system. We will issue proportional ticket refunds based on your entry time.
All contestants, please exit the venue in an orderly fashion and prepare for tomorrow's match…"
This kind of situation is rare, but not unheard of. Tickets are sold as full-day passes, and pricing is based on time. Following the principle of "no extra charge for overtime, refund if the event ends early," the competition organizers maintained a fairly high satisfaction rate.
Meanwhile, in Iono's livestream room, a flood of bullet comments was urging her to go "capture" the target right away.
But Iono deflected them with the excuse that she couldn't interfere with someone else's competition, and that any business should wait until after the competition.
What if it wasn't that Meowscarada? Wouldn't that be bothering others?
That was the true reason in her heart, but there was another factor. According to her schedule, once she achieved her goal, she'd have to return to Levincia to resume her duties.
If during these two days of streaming, she didn't have enough fun— er, work, it would feel like a bit of a loss.
With the end of the first day's matches, it was also time for the on-site Joys to get to work.
For a large-scale battle arena like this, one of the essential support facilities is a sufficiently spacious Pokémon Center.
According to the designated zones, the Joys assigned to each Varsity Team began getting busy.
At the same time, a round of familial greetings kicked off among them.
"Hello, Auntie."
"Sis! Wanna group order milk tea from that new place on Tianfu Road?"
"Girl, it's been over a year since we last met. Wanna grab some drinks tonight?"
Yes, all Joys are part of one family. Joys from the same region are branches of the same lineage, and due to their parents having children at different ages, they fall into different seniority levels within the family.
According to tradition, after each tournament, these Joys always gather together for a family get-together.
Meanwhile, Rowan and their team's accompanying Joy received more greetings than usual. They were still having difficulty figuring out Meowscarada's completely blank records, and this Joy might serve as a new breakthrough point.
"Cut the crap. Don't try to cozy up to me, I don't know anything."
Joy remained tight-lipped and didn't say a word. She quickly slipped through the crowd and made her way to the area designated for her university's team to begin her routine check-ups.
"Your Meowscarada… doesn't need any treatment. Just let it rest. Chansey, go give it a massage."
Joy released a pink, egg-shaped Pokémon from the Poké Ball on her belt; the standard Pokemon of Joys across many regions.
Just as the Jenny family has the largest Growlithe breeding center, the Joy family has specialized facilities for raising Happiny, as well as Pokémon Nurse Schools dedicated to teaching Chansey medical knowledge.
Of course, don't be fooled by how harmless these Chanseys appear, on the battlefield, they're nicknamed the Pink Demon. When it comes to infuriating tactics, they're real pros.
But outside the training ground, Chansey is still Joy's reliable assistant.
As Joy used the equipment to check each Pokémon one by one, Chansey skillfully unfolded a portable massage bed, arranged the pillow, and gestured for Nekomi to lie down.
"Chanseeeey~"
"Meow?"
"Chanseeeey~"
"Meow."
Lying on the bed, Nekomi looked somewhat puzzled at the Chansey stretching its limbs, then waved toward Rowan.
"What's wrong?"
"Meow~ (Aren't you supposed to give me the massage? I don't want Chansey, you do it instead.)"
"Chansey should be a bit more professional than me."
Pokémon massage is considered part of a Breeder's education, and some even major in it. Depending on the Pokémon's anatomy, targeted pressure on certain areas can help them relax better.
"Meow… (Don't wanna~ You try it first...)"
At this moment, Boss Neko picked her own massage therapist as the skill level was secondary.
"Alright! Chansey, maybe you can…."
"Meow~ (No need for Chansey. I know where I'm feeling uncomfortable. Start with the shoulders.)"
"Chanseeeey..."
The now "unemployed" Chansey shook her head helplessly, or rather, swayed her whole body, then returned to Joy's side to continue assisting her...
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