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The arena was packed with spectators, countless Starlight City residents filling the stands while wearing Starlight City battle uniforms to show their support. Among all the merchandise, the #25 Gym battle uniform sold the best, completely selling out as soon as it was released the previous night. Its sales volume in just one hour broke the Gym battle uniform sales record for the entire city.

The reason was simple – #25 was Jacob’s number.

As the entrance music began to play, Jacob, Amelia, Kyle, and Parker appeared simultaneously on the battlefield. Due to the live broadcast coverage, all four contestants wore light makeup and Starlight City’s official Gym battle uniforms.

The Starlight City Gym battle uniform was entirely black, symbolizing the endless starry sky above the city, with a shining star emblem in the center and a Bug-type Gym logo prominently displayed on the chest.

As the four trainers made their grand entrance, a tremendous cheer erupted throughout the arena.

“Jacob! Jacob! I love you, I want to have your babies!”

“Amelia, marry me!”

“Kyle, ah! Kyle!”

“Parker, come on, you are the strongest!”

The continuous shouts and cheers made Jacob blush slightly. He turned to look at Amelia beside him and saw her face was also flushed, clearly surprised by the fans’ boldness and enthusiasm.

Normally, Amelia wore no makeup, always appearing with her natural face. While still beautiful in her own right, with the light makeup applied today, she glowed like a precious pearl and shimmered like fine jade. Even a fleeting glance from Jacob left him feeling amazed and somewhat distracted.

What struck him most was that Amelia had an excellent figure – well-proportioned and maintaining graceful curves while keeping a slender waist, which was quite unusual and almost seemed too perfect to be natural.

After their brief appearance and introduction, Kyle and Parker were scheduled to step down and rest first, as the opening match of the semifinals would be Jacob against Amelia.

Before stepping down from the platform, Kyle walked over to Jacob and whispered a few words in his ear: “Go easy on her, we’re all classmates after all.”

“No,” Jacob shook his head and refused without hesitation, “Only going all out is the greatest respect I can show for my opponent. Don’t you think it would be disrespectful to hold back?”

“You have a point,” Kyle nodded, though he still looked somewhat concerned. “But try not to be too harsh.”

Jacob and Amelia stood on opposite sides of the battleground, staring at each other from across the field, their gazes meeting briefly before looking away.

Today’s battleground was different from the usual smaller ones used in earlier rounds. This was a battleground specifically designed for Gym Leader Level Trainers, not only much larger in area but also more open above, making it far more suitable for Flying-type Pokemon to battle freely.

At the same time, there were now three referees overseeing the match: one head referee and two assistant referees to ensure fair play.

“The match begins!”

As the head referee raised the flag high and blew the whistle, the battle between Jacob and Amelia officially commenced.

“Alright, we can see the match has officially begun!” From the top four onwards, there were professional commentators at the match site, still the familiar male and female duo, and Starlight TV would also broadcast the entire event live.

Because of Jacob’s presence in this particular match, Starlight TV’s viewership ratings were significantly higher than usual tournament broadcasts.

“Go, Charizard!”

“Go, Orbeetle!”

“We can see Jacob has still chosen his Shiny Charizard as his starter Pokemon. The black Shiny Charizard indeed looks quite handsome and imposing.”

“Since the High School Cup tournament began, Trainer Jacob hasn’t used a second Pokemon in any of his battles. It has always been Charizard as his starter and finisher.”

“From this pattern, it can be seen that he is quite confident in his own strength and his Pokemon’s abilities. Of course, I also particularly admire Trainer Jacob’s battle style. No matter who the opponent is or what tactics they employ, he only has one consistent strategy – overwhelming power!”

“Actually, this match is quite difficult for Amelia. Charizard has a significant type advantage against Bug-type Pokemon, and if she brings out Frosmoth, it’s four times weak to Fire-type moves. To be honest, I think this match is heavily favored toward Jacob, maybe 90-10.”

“Isn’t that assessment a bit too conservative? I think it might be even more one-sided than that.”

Amelia looked at Jacob standing opposite her, her eyes flickering with determination. This was her first official battle against Jacob since becoming a Pokemon Trainer. She knew deep down that she wouldn’t be able to match Jacob’s strength, but she wanted to prove herself and show that she belonged on this stage.

“Orbeetle, use Light Screen!”

“Charizard, Sunny Day!”

Jacob’s strategy remained the same as always – his unchanging Sunny Day tactic to boost Fire-type moves, while Amelia employed her signature barrier-setting strategy. Both sides could be said to be following their standard battle patterns.

Following the first round of move exchanges, Orbeetle successfully activated Light Screen, creating a barrier that would reduce special attack damage. Meanwhile, Charizard successfully set up Sunny Day, changing the original light rain weather to bright sunshine.

Jacob had been feeling that his luck with weather had been particularly bad these past few days – either cloudy skies or light rain seemed to follow him around. If it had been naturally sunny, there wouldn’t have been so much setup required; he could have started with his offensive moves immediately and let his opponent feel the overwhelming power of Charizard’s fiery arsenal.

“Orbeetle, Calm Mind!” Amelia continued with her established strengthening tactic. Orbeetle concentrated intensely, psychic energy enveloping its entire body as it focused its mental powers, continuously boosting both its Special Attack and Special Defense stats.

“Charizard, Heat Wave!”

Flames began to gather around Charizard’s mouth, and a scorching wave of fire surged forth, powerful and overwhelming, instantly rushing toward Orbeetle with tremendous force.

“Orbeetle, hold on!”

Flames completely enveloped Orbeetle, and the fiery wave continuously burned around the Bug-type Pokemon. Even though Orbeetle’s defenses were extremely good due to its tank-oriented nature and the protection from Light Screen, it still couldn’t withstand the full power of one Heat Wave attack from Charizard!

After the Heat Wave burned for several intense moments, it finally receded, revealing Orbeetle’s charred body lying motionless on the ground, having already lost consciousness from the overwhelming attack.

“First round complete! Orbeetle has lost its ability to battle. First round victory goes to Charizard!”

A tremendous cheer erupted throughout the arena. Everyone was genuinely surprised by Charizard’s incredible strength, not expecting that Orbeetle, even with Light Screen activated for protection, would still be taken out by a single Heat Wave attack from Charizard.

“To be completely honest, I’ve commentated on many Gym Leader Ranking Tournaments over the years, and it’s quite rare to see a tank-oriented Pokemon like Orbeetle, even with Light Screen activated, be taken out by a single special attack move.”

“Actually, when you think about it, it’s quite understandable. After all, this attack was delivered under Sunny Day conditions where Fire-type damage increases by fifty percent, plus Fire-type’s natural advantage over Bug-type, plus the same-type attack bonus for Fire-type moves, plus Charizard’s Solar Power ability boosting special attacks in sunlight, and the significant difference in raw power levels between the two Pokemon. When you consider all those factors together, it’s quite reasonable.”

“By the way, I have an interesting question for our viewers: have any other trainers’ Pokemon actually managed to take a direct hit from Charizard and remain standing?”

“Aside from using the Protect move to completely block an attack, it seems no Pokemon has been able to withstand a single offensive move from Charizard so far in this tournament.”

While the two commentators chatted and analyzed the battle, Amelia took out a Poke Ball to recall her fallen Orbeetle and prepared to release her second Pokemon.

“Go, Frosmoth!”

Frosmoth’s Ice Scales ability naturally reduces the Special Attack damage it takes by half, and with Light Screen also halving Special Attack damage, Frosmoth would theoretically only take one-fourth of the usual Special Attack damage. However, there was a very awkward and problematic situation: Frosmoth had a four times weakness to Fire-type moves. So, all the damage reduction essentially didn’t matter when facing Fire-type attacks.

“Charizard, charge forward and use Fire Fang!”

Jacob wasn’t foolish either; at this crucial moment, he definitely couldn’t rely on Special Attack moves. Using a Fire-type Physical Attack move would be the optimal choice. Frosmoth’s naturally fragile body definitely couldn’t withstand a direct Fire Fang attack.

Looking at the approaching Charizard swooping down toward her Pokemon, Amelia gritted her teeth in determination. She knew her chances of actually winning were essentially zero, but she absolutely couldn’t give up without putting up a real fight.

“Frosmoth, use Icy Wind!”

Ice energy enveloped the cold wind, and a biting, freezing wind blew directly toward the charging Charizard!

Charizard moved with incredible speed; its black figure flashed across the sky like a dark comet. With flames enveloping its mouth, it directly passed through the Icy Wind attack and pounced aggressively on Frosmoth.

Its body became covered with a thin layer of frost from the Icy Wind, but the ice instantly melted away due to the intense heat radiating from Charizard’s body.

“Frosmoth, Feather Dance!”

Frosmoth shook its delicate body, and its beautiful feather-like plumage scattered around it, flying toward Charizard in an attempt to greatly lower Charizard’s Physical Attack stat.

“Roar!”

Charizard ignored everything in its path, directly passing through the area covered by the Feather Dance attack. It pounced directly in front of Frosmoth, opened its massive gaping maw, and flames burst forth instantly as it bit down fiercely on Frosmoth while simultaneously engulfing it in scorching flames.

“Frosmoth!” Amelia called out anxiously, watching her Pokemon disappear within the flames and hoping desperately for some kind of miracle.

However, when the flames finally dissipated and cleared, Frosmoth had already lost consciousness and fainted on the battlefield. Charizard gently released its grip, carefully placing Frosmoth on the ground with surprising gentleness.

“Frosmoth has lost its ability to battle. Jacob wins this match!”

The crowd erupted in celebration as Jacob advanced to the finals, though many spectators also applauded Amelia’s brave effort against such overwhelming odds.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep