You are not allowed to be a Pokémon Trainer

Chapter 515

Chapter 515

There are only two reasons why Meile Meile Island has suddenly become so lively.

First, the Masters Tournament is approaching.

As the world's premier Pokémon tournament, the Masters 10 attracts audiences and media from all regions, as well as the entire industry chain related to Pokémon battles.

Hotels in Hoola were fully booked two months ago, and now even empty rooms in ordinary residents' homes are listed at prices equivalent to five-star hotels, yet rooms are still hard to find.

The makeshift stalls along the beach stretched as far as the eye could see, selling tree sap, Alola-themed flower wreaths, and limited-edition T-shirts printed with images of contestants and Pokémon.

The one with Xia Chi and Miao Ha's images was sold out on the first day, and the stall owner was all smiles, saying he would print another two thousand next time.

Of course, the more important reason is the decision made by the Ether Foundation.

Trainers from other regions are allowed to capture Ultra Beasts.

Lusamine's speech at that press conference was cut into countless short videos and went viral on social media. Within 72 hours after the press conference, the total global search volume for the keywords "Ultra Ball," "open capture," and "Ultra Beast" exceeded the total search volume for all Pokémon-related keywords in the Alola region during the same period last year.

The Ether Foundation's Ultimate Ball supply stations and safety training centers on four islands were packed with long queues by 7 a.m. on the first day of operation.

This has put trainers around the world in a happy predicament.

In the Padia region, the Paradox Pokémon Park in District Zero is also gradually opening to the public.

Those Pokémon associated with ancient and future forms, such as Winged Hair, Roaring Tail, Iron Thorns, and Iron Bundle...

Each one possesses an irresistible, mysterious charm.

Needless to say, the Dynamax wave that started just a few months ago is still going strong, and the Galar Particle Research Institute has had to urgently expand its reception team.

In addition, there's the Alola region, which is attracted by Ultra Beasts...

In short, these three regions have become the top choices for trainers worldwide when traveling.

A highly popular topic even emerged on social media: "Of the three major regions, which one should you visit first?"

The comments section below has turned into a three-way battle.

The Padian faction argued their case by citing Summerpool's Wings of Power, the Galar faction countered by highlighting the visual impact of Dynamax battles, and the Alola faction silently presented a GIF of Guzzlord with its massive mouth wide open.

However, the dilemma of choosing one of three options will soon be a thing of the past.

Because just one day before the Ten Masters Tournament officially kicked off, an explosive piece of news suddenly emerged.

Z-Move, released!

To be precise, the Aether Foundation and the Alola League jointly announced that through in-depth research on the Necrozma crystal, now officially named the "Z-Crystal," they have successfully developed a brand-new battle system.

Trainers can wear Z-Rings and Pokémon can carry Z-Crystals of the corresponding type. During battle, the two can resonate with energy at a specific frequency, unleashing a full-force attack that surpasses the limits of conventional moves.

This combat system is named Z-Moves!

Xia Chi looked down at her phone screen, a slow smile playing on her lips.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Masters Tournament, and the Z-Move is being released at this time.

The Alola League's timing was so good that he had to admire Dr. Kukui.

Regardless, tomorrow's game will be even more interesting.

That evening, Xia Chi received a call from Dr. Kukui.

"Hello, Doctor."

"Dr. Xia Chi!"

Dr. Kukui's hearty laughter came from the other end of the phone. "How are the preparations for tomorrow's match going?"

Xia Chi leaned against the headboard, her gaze sweeping over the elves still playing and frolicking in the room.

"It's alright."

Xia Chi replied casually, "Anyway, it's not like we haven't fought before."

This was a rather arrogant statement, but Dr. Kukui clearly didn't see anything wrong with it.

He laughed heartily, the laughter blasting from the speaker, forcing Xia Chi to move his phone a few centimeters away.

"That's good, that's good."

The doctor paused for a moment, then changed the subject, "Speaking of which, as you know, the knockout format of a cup tournament with ten participants is not easy to implement. So before officially entering the main tournament, several players ranked at the bottom of the league points need to play two qualifying matches."

Xia Chi certainly knew.

In fact, when this arrangement was first announced, it sparked quite a bit of discussion on social media.

The Alola League has always taken an unconventional approach to its tournament format design.

When Dr. Kukui championed the creation of the Manaro Conference, he designed the Royal Dome arena as a free-for-all format that could accommodate four Pokémon battling at the same time. That reform was called "heretical" by countless old-school trainers.

The format of this Masters 10 tournament also carries a distinct Kukui style.

It's not a conventional round-robin tournament, nor is it a one-size-fits-all single-elimination tournament. Instead, players are divided into two tiers based on their league points ranking over the past year.

The four players ranked last will play two qualifying matches. The winners of the two matches will advance to the main tournament, while the losers will be eliminated before even reaching the main tournament.

This is an almost cruel arrangement.

But it is precisely because of its cruelty that it is so captivating.

Among the four contestants who qualified for the finals were Xia Chi and Kukui.

Xia Chi's ranking is low, and the reason is quite simple.

He played far too few official matches in the past year.

Aside from a few key exhibition matches and incidental match records in league missions, he has almost never systematically accumulated league points.

The Hoenn God Battle, the Unova Team Plasma Incident, the Galar Dark Night Incident, and the Alola Ultra Cave Crisis.

His schedule was packed with legendary elves and world crises, making the routine of participating in leagues and accumulating points completely out of his reach.

Tomorrow's qualifying matches are Xia Chi vs. Gadriya and Kukui vs. Karune, both Origin matches.

The announcement of these two matchups caused an uproar online.

The reason why Gadriya needs to play in the qualifying rounds is quite simple: she has just succeeded as the Unova Champion.

Prior to this, her position was one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

The Four Heavenly Kings don't participate in many competitions, and the required qualifying points are far below the championship level, so their positions on the leaderboard are naturally not high.

But everyone knows that points ranking and strength ranking are two different things.

This trainer, renowned for her psychic abilities, has an undefeated record in training matches within the Unova League, whether it's her Gothic or Metagross.

A reporter once interviewed her colleague Wanlong, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and asked her who the opponent she least wanted to face on the field was.

Wanlong looked down at the novel in his hand, which was only up to the third chapter, and replied in a bitter tone, "Gardelia, I can never guess from which angle her Gothic Miss will use her mental powers to grab me."

The premise of this statement is that... the Ghost type of Wanlongshancang is super effective against the Psychic type.

Karuni... In terms of strength, she is undoubtedly the champion.

However, a more tactful perspective is that the Carlos champion has devoted a significant amount of energy to his acting career in the past two years.

From Pokémon and the Lady to Miare Holiday, from the red carpet at the Bobo May Film Festival to the runway at Miare Fashion Week, Karen has enjoyed far more exposure under the spotlight than any of her champion peers.

Her cultural influence on the Carlos region was unparalleled, but her performance was indeed affected as a result.

They won their last two Kalos League title defenses by a very narrow margin, and in their most recent attempt, they were even defeated by their sixth Pokémon before managing to turn the tide.

This was unprecedented in the early part of her career.

As for low emotional intelligence... in a word, it's being incompetent.

Of course, the assessment of "bad" is only relative to other champions.

For ordinary trainers, Karyl remains a legend who can make Gardevoir unleash Mega Psychic with a mere gesture.

However, among those who stand at the top of the world, there must always be someone in first place and someone in last place.

Unfortunately, she ranked lower than the latter, which led to her fateful match against Kukui today.

Therefore, the two direct matches between these four players will determine two precious spots in the main tournament, with an elimination rate as high as 50%.

It's cruel, but that's what makes it so appealing.

Xia Chi's appearance made the qualifying rounds, which were originally more like an "appetizer," no less exciting than the main competition in the eyes of audiences worldwide, and even more so.

It is rumored that the opening match of tomorrow's Masters Tournament, the duel between Xia Chi and Gadalia, will attract at least hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.

This figure is a conservative estimate based on the official live stream and broadcasts from various regions. It does not include those who crowded in front of the public screens at Pokémon Centers, sat under the outdoor screens on the streets of Hauerle City, or watched through various unofficial channels.

Back to the topic.

Faced with Dr. Kukui's concern, Xia Chi asked jokingly, "Dr. Kukui, you don't actually have some inside information, do you? You're going to put me and Gadriya together?"

Of the four contestants in the qualifying rounds, Xia Chi and Gadria are undoubtedly the strongest.

This is not blind confidence.

Xia Chi, needless to say, is a legendary elf who could form a complete team.

I just used Azure Flame Judgment to burn the Radiant God into raw materials for Z-Pure Crystal.

Gadria's Psychic-type team is virtually unbeatable in the Unova region.

It can be said that as long as Xia Chi and Gadriya are not drawn together, the two will most likely advance together, each breaking through from one half of the bracket, and meeting again on the main stage.

But this lottery... is rather intriguing.

With the two strong teams meeting early, one of them will inevitably be eliminated in the qualifying rounds.

This fortune slip has a bit of a "show-worthy" feel to it.

However, there were only four people in total.

The probability of four billiard balls with names printed on them being drawn into an opaque cup and ending up in pairs is not low.

Xia Chi wasn't very good at math, but he could easily estimate that the probability was about one-third, which wasn't high, but it was definitely not so outrageous that it warranted thinking about conspiracy theories.

He was just making a joke.

Dr. Kukui paused for a moment on the other end of the phone, then burst into an even louder laugh.

"Haha, you figured that out."

His tone was entirely joking. "That's right, there's actually a mechanism under the cup. I can make whoever I want draw it. Aren't you really eager to report me to the league right now?"

Xia Chi smiled.

That's just how Dr. Kukui is. He'll never sit up straight and explain "there's absolutely no inside story" in the face of a joke. He'll just take your joke a step further and make it even more outrageous.

"Alright, I'm pretty much looking forward to fighting Gadria anyway."

Xia Chi leaned back. "After this match, whoever makes it to the main tournament, the other person has to treat everyone to a meal."

"Alola-style barbecue, my treat."

After Kukui readily said that, he changed the subject, switching from a joking tone to a serious one.

"To get down to business, we've added a new rule to this competition: each match will allow the use of z once."

Techniques.

Dr. Kukui asked, "What type of Z-Bracelet will you be wearing tomorrow? I'll prepare it for you in advance."

Xia Chi was slightly surprised and raised an eyebrow slightly.

The Z-Move was just announced, and it was immediately used in such an important competition as the Masters Tournament?

The pace was even faster than he had anticipated.

He originally thought that the first public appearance of the Z-Move would be in an exhibition match or exchange match after the Ten Masters Tournament, giving the players enough time to adapt and practice.

But on second thought, I realized that this arrangement was actually the most reasonable one.

When it comes to promoting Z-Moves, there's probably no better stage than the GMMA Masters, a world-renowned event.

The world's top trainers gathered together, and hundreds of millions of viewers watched online at the same time. What could be a more perfect premiere window?

The Alola League's move was both bold and shrewd.

Z-Crystals are formed from the remains of Necrozma, the very same Radiant God who attempted to devour Alola.

The fact that Alora is showing the world how to use its power in battle carries a symbolic meaning of turning calamity into hope.

He pondered for a moment, his mind already rehearsing tomorrow's battle.

Caitlyn is the undisputed Queen of Psychic Pokémon, and every one of her Pokémon is centered around the Psychic type.

so...

"It's ghost-related, right?"

Xia Chi replied.

Dr. Kukui gave a soft "hmm" on the other end of the phone.

"Okay, I will give you the Ghost-type Z-Bracelet and Z-Crystal before the competition starts tomorrow."

Xia Chi hung up the phone and leaned back against the pillow.

The Crowned King looked up from his phone screen, his emerald green eyes glancing at Xia Chi, and said calmly, "I bet you'll finish the fight within the first three minutes."

Xia Chi rolled her eyes and didn't respond to the conversation.

Outside the window, sporadic fireworks began to bloom in the night sky over Melemele Island, a rehearsal held by Hao'ola City in preparation for tomorrow's Masters Tournament.

Golden and red streaks of light exploded against the deep blue sky, and the island awaited tomorrow with an irrepressible excitement.

Xia Chi turned his gaze away from the fireworks, closed his eyes, and began to mentally rehearse tomorrow's battle.

And the Ghost-type Z-Move that is about to amaze the entire world.