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Chapter 323 - 323. Vs Alexis

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The finals were scheduled for two days later.

After Chris and Alexis scored crushing victories in their respective matches, the third winner chose to forfeit the competition.

It hadn't been easy for him to come this far in the tournament.

His Pokemon's stamina and his own physical condition weren't sufficient to support him in continuing the battles.

After confirming who his opponent would be in the next round, he decisively chose to withdraw from the competition.

So the tournament fast-forwarded straight to the finals of the Gym Leader qualifying round!

It was almost comical—originally, the sixteen gym leaders would have needed to compete through at least four rounds of battles, but now with only three rounds completed, they had reached the final round, saving an entire round of competition.

Chris silently thanked that contestant for his decision. Otherwise, in a three-way match, as last year's winner, Alexis would have received a bye for one round.

Chris would only be able to challenge Alexis after first determining the outcome with another gym leader.

During the two days of preparation for the finals, Chris and Alexis didn't encounter each other at all.

Both sides were making their own preparations for the upcoming battle.

During this time, Roy also called, and his message was brief but pointed: "Teach him a lesson! Let him know what it means that there are always people stronger than you, and there's always a higher mountain to climb!"

Chris could only respond with a wry smile.

He figured that Alexis had probably already learned the lesson about "there are always people stronger than you, and there's always a higher mountain to climb."

After all, having a young man who was nearly fifteen years younger than him as his rival should have made Alexis well aware of the talent gap between them.

When they finally stepped onto the battlefield, however, Alexis put on his game face and declared loudly, "Student, this battle is nothing like our practice match at the beginning of the year. Your senior won't be holding back this time! Victory in this gym qualifying competition is inevitable!"

Chris wasn't about to back down either. "Senior, you've challenged the Elite Four several times already. Since this is such a rare opportunity, let this junior give it a try!"

In their rush to reach Elite status, neither Chris nor Alexis would concede this opportunity to the other, because missing it would mean waiting another full year!

The atmosphere felt almost like some store's promotional campaign slogan.

Alexis especially was thinking deeply and feeling immense pressure.

Junior Chris's momentum was unstoppable, his growth rate exceeded all imagination, and his rise seemed inevitable.

This meant that in the coming years, Alexis himself would likely face tremendous pressure in future ranking tournaments.

If he couldn't win this year and secure the chance to challenge the Elite Four—or if he lost to an Elite Four member again—then starting next year and continuing until Chris eventually became an Elite Four member, he might never get another chance to challenge them!

Therefore, what Alexis had to do now was defeat Chris while Chris hadn't reached his full potential yet! He needed to win the opportunity to challenge the Elite Four and achieve Elite status this year!

The pressure might be intense, but whether Chris was there or not, wasn't this always his goal?

This year, his target was to become an Elite Four member!

Alexis's eyes blazed with fighting spirit!

The gym leaders in the audience and the senior management of the Pokemon League were also highly focused on the upcoming battle.

This would arguably be the strongest battle below Elite Four level.

Both sides took their positions, and the referee immediately announced the rules of the match.

"The battle beginning now is the final of the Gym Leader Ranking Tournament. 

Alexis from the Ice Dragon Gym will face Chris from the Green Valley Gym.

The battle format is a standard Pokemon battle.

Each trainer may use up to six Pokemon.

The battle ends when one side surrenders, when all of one side's Pokemon lose their ability to battle, or when a trainer is unable to continue fighting!"

"Both trainers, remember to show restraint!" The referee gave the standard warning to both competitors, then raised his hand. "The battlefield will be randomly selected, and the battle begins!"

At the side of the battlefield, the display screen below the audience flickered rapidly before settling on a white icon.

More precisely, it was an icon showing a white floor.

This indicated a standard battle field.

There would be no environmental advantages to exploit, and both sides would have to rely purely on their Pokemon's raw power and skill.

Therefore, there was no need to modify the battlefield.

The referee didn't need to wait and directly raised his hand to announce, "Let the battle begin!"

Chris and Alexis immediately threw their Poke Balls simultaneously.

Chris started with two Poke Balls, releasing Gardevoir and Greninja.

Against his senior, he didn't plan to hold anything back—he was going straight to his main team for a serious battle!

Hariyama's large Aura Sphere technique had already been cracked by Atticus, so there was no point in embarrassing himself by using it again.

Alexis also sent out two Pokemon.

One was an ice-type Pokemon, the other was Kommo-o.

The ice-type was a Mr. Rime, the evolution of Mr. Mime (Galarian form). The evolution of the regular Mr. Mime hadn't been discovered yet.

It looked like a simple, comical character from an amusement park, leaning on an ice crystal cane and exceptionally skilled at tap dancing.

Its typing was Psychic and Ice.

It was also the only Psychic-type Pokemon in Alexis's lineup, serving as his defensive anchor.

Kommo-o was a Dragon-type Pokemon covered in golden scales, which also possessed the Fighting type.

If Alexis didn't have a second Kommo-o that could serve as a main battler, Chris recalled that its ability should be Bulletproof.

The effect of the Bulletproof ability was to provide immunity to ball and bullet-based moves.

In other words, Hariyama's Aura Sphere attacks would be completely ineffective against Kommo-o.

Compared to Atticus, who had used the combination of Parting Shot and Z-moves to counter the large Aura Sphere, Alexis with his Bulletproof ability Kommo-o probably never even considered needing to crack the Aura Sphere technique from the beginning.

Because he simply didn't need to!

Fortunately, Chris hadn't sent out Hariyama either.

However, if the Water and Dark-type Greninja faced off against Kommo-o, it would still be at a type disadvantage.

This was problematic.

"Greninja, Evolve!" Chris suddenly called out loudly.

Out of nowhere, a stream of water emerged from the air and enveloped Greninja, wrapping around it completely.

When the water dispersed, Greninja appeared in its Ash-Greninja form with a large Water Shuriken spinning on its back!

All the spectators stood up one by one, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

"Wait, what did he just say? Which Pokemon transformed?" A gym leader couldn't believe either his eyes or his ears.

"Does Greninja have a Mega Evolution?" A high-ranking League official hurriedly opened his Pokedex to check the latest information about Greninja, but after scrolling through multiple pages, he still couldn't find any information about Greninja's Mega Evolution.

"He said Evolution, but why didn't I see a Mega Stone or Key Stone?" Another gym leader spotted a crucial detail.

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