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The seventh round concluded.
Exactly twenty-three contestants remained.
This meant only one round was left in the singles selection tournament.
Lu Yi suffered a regrettable and crushing defeat at the hands of a fifth-year senior, missing the reserve position by a hair's breadth.
The girl's eyes were red after her loss—whether from sadness or anger was unclear.
Song Jie and Gong Xu remained strong contenders. In Li Xiang's power ranking, they were firmly in the reserve category—no surprise there.
However, on the evening after the seventh round ended, a minor incident occurred.
Somehow, a poll titled [Please Let Li Xiang Join the Reserves] appeared on the forum.
The general idea was to stop Li Xiang from tormenting them any further.
They'd rather compete for the remaining fourteen spots against others than face the possibility of encountering Li Xiang while fighting for the original fifteen.
The voting rights belonged to the other twenty-two contestants besides Li Xiang, all tagged by the post's author.
This student, whose real name was unknown, claimed that once the results were in, they would immediately propose it to the school board of directors—acting as if they had connections.
The post instantly attracted countless eyeballs after appearing, with replies exceeding five hundred within half an hour.
Seeing the post still up after thirty minutes, Li Xiang knew this person might genuinely have pull.
'Hey! This won't do!'
Li Xiang still planned to get the last three candies, so he naturally had Song Jie and the others vote against it.
But the result was that only the two of them voted against it. The other twenty unanimously agreed.
Upon seeing this, the post author immediately deleted the thread and went to find their contacts, telling everyone to wait for the good news.
Li Xiang quickly called Su Qian. Su Qian said she would inquire with Xu He.
After waiting ten minutes, Su Qian called back and regretfully informed Li Xiang that the school board had already approved.
His request to continue competing was rejected.
"Ahem, this is what the school official said," Su Qian cleared her throat, adopting a deeper tone, "Having strong skills is good, but we must also give other students opportunities! The original plan was direct entry into the reserves, so let's just stick to the original plan!"
Li Xiang: "...What about doubles?"
"Doubles are still possible. But the selection tournament for reserves mainly focuses on singles. To get in through doubles, you need to be in the top fifty for singles first, so not many participate..."
"As long as I can battle, it's fine."
Li Xiang said casually. For him, being able to battle was all that mattered. But then again, according to Bai Wanhua's promise to him, he wouldn't lack battles once he joined the reserves.
All the reserve students would become his candy tools.
Thinking about it that way, missing out on three measly candies didn't matter much.
...
While Li Xiang stood down, a storm brewed within the school.
For the first time since Misty City University's founding, the student body had collectively recommended a student for the team—and succeeded.
More importantly, everyone was genuinely convinced.
Because no matter how "arrogant" or "overbearing" Li Xiang seemed, his strength was undeniable.
Currently, aside from the less than fifty people on the school team, who dared claim they could beat Li Xiang?
No one. Not a single person.
Would you want to face him in a tournament or rankings match?
Absolutely not.
Who wants to hand over points guaranteed? Academic credits don't fall from the sky.
So, there was nothing wrong with this matter itself. They desperately wanted Li Xiang to join, preferably moving straight to the primary reserves.
Stop competing with them for spots, stop tormenting their poor seniors anymore.
But while there was nothing wrong with it, this groundbreaking event was still noteworthy.
It was like a school that never had postgrad recommendations suddenly making an exception for one student. And this student was even advancing towards a direct PhD recommendation.
It made for perfect conversation fodder.
If the school didn't prohibit spreading internal matters outside, the outside world would probably be in an uproar by now.
What explosive news.
And while they were buzzing about it, the final round concluded completely.
Without much surprise—it would be strange if Song Jie and the others lost. Gong Xu preferring doubles didn't mean he was weak in singles.
Thus, a total of fifteen spots were taken by three first-years—unprecedented. Then again, first-years participating was already unprecedented.
Seniors lamented loudly; they had to wait another year.
"Next year, and the next, so many next years." The sixth-years became stagnant; it was their final year, and they had no more chances.
From now on, they could only focus on association and school rankings, striving to get their diplomas and leave.
They seemed somewhat pitiful.
As one of Zhu Xia's top institutions, Misty City University had a graduation rate of 82%, meaning over four-fifths of students could reach the Great Ball rank by age twenty.
This number was already remarkable.
After all, the entire Zhu Xia only had just over 500,000 Great Ball-ranked trainers, spanning ages from forty to eighteen.
Misty City University alone steadily supplied over 500 people annually.
It was a qualified and excellent trainer training base.
After singles ended, the doubles selection tournament began immediately.
Number of participants—less than one hundred.
"Why so few? Don't they want to participate? There's still a chance!" Li Xiang didn't understand. Shouldn't they seize such a rare opportunity tightly? What if they performed exceptionally well and were chosen by Xu He?
"Because they lack suitable partners."
Su Qian explained helplessly, "After eighteen, or fourth year, they can participate in ranking matches. They don't have much time to spend finding partners and building synergy."
'And before fourth year, they couldn't beat the seniors, unable to meet the top fifty requirement...'
Li Xiang silently completed Su Qian's sentence in his mind.
This world ultimately prioritized singles, unlike the games which emphasized doubles, with even official tournaments being doubles.
Practicing it didn't offer much return.
Only true enthusiasts like Gong Xu would wholeheartedly dive into it.
A significant portion of the hundred-plus participants were familiar faces to Li Xiang and Gong Xu, often battling doubles together.
"Even among the Big Six..." Gong Xu was clearly dissatisfied with Misty City University's lack of emphasis on doubles, his usual smiling face somewhat gloomy.
Didn't they know doubles contributed just as many points as singles in the Junior World Tournament?!
Sometimes, when singles performance was lackluster, they had to rely on doubles to save the day.
After all, singles results could be affected by multiple teammates; sometimes winning yourself wasn't enough. But doubles weren't like that. If you were strong enough, you could carry a slightly weaker partner, breaking through obstacles all the way to the top.
That was the most liberating aspect of doubles, and also what attracted Gong Xu the most.
"Relax, we'll battle anyway. We're not short those few people," Li Xiang patted the golden-haired youth's shoulder.
The latter immediately showed a Gengar-like smile, "True, not short those few."
...
On the day the doubles tournament began, Li Xiang and Gong Xu arrived at the venue together.
Doubles arenas were larger than singles, allowing two Pokémon to move freely, and the rules were much more complex and strict.
Especially regarding switching Pokémon.
In singles rules, you couldn't switch with a PokéBall from when the opponent's move succeeded until it finished. In doubles, considering two Pokémon could chain moves seamlessly, it was changed to allow switching with a PokéBall as long as the opponent's move hadn't been released, even if it was charging.
But the switching time was reduced from five seconds to two seconds.
Meaning when you wanted to switch, there was no extra time to think; you had to recall one and send out another immediately.
And you couldn't change the position of the replacement Pokémon—it had to be placed exactly where the previous one stood.
Those were the rules for PokéBall switching.
Move-based switching didn't have these restrictions, though the time remained two seconds.
Even so, many people still enjoyed switching Pokémon frequently, as this rule undoubtedly benefited many strategies.
"Not much to select anyway," Li Xiang stretched, looking at his unfamiliar opponent while grumbling internally. Beside him, Gong Xu wore a serious expression.
This guy always turned very serious at the start of doubles matches. According to him, it was a form of self-regulation.
Additionally, he hated noise around him. If it got noisy, his face would darken. He preferred a teammate who talked less.
—No wonder everyone said he had a terrible personality.
Li Xiang, being the quiet type, satisfied him immensely.
In games, team selection was based on the opponent's lineup, considering type coverage and speed tiers.
Here, there wasn't much need for that. Unless you lacked moves entirely, you usually had something to hit the opponent with.
Speed could be compensated for indirectly. Could you be faster than sound or light? Not even the "fastest non-Legendary," Ninjask, would boast that.
Moreover, no one held items, and EVs were unclear, making them almost like blank slates.
Unless the opponent had a particularly threatening Pokémon, you usually picked the two that synergized best.
It had to be this way. Without an ally damage immunity system, with blurred lines between spread and single-target moves, hitting your partner happened all too often.
Even the positioning of the two Pokémon required consideration.
In short, synergy was crucial. It was also one reason doubles had a high barrier and consumed more time.
Soon, the referee finished announcing the rules. After checking both sides were ready, he blew his whistle sharply!
"BEEP—"
Pop pop pop pop!
Four soft sounds of PokéBalls opening!
Li Xiang's side sent out Riolu and Bisharp.
The opponent sent out a Pokémon resembling a cotton ball combined with a black humanoid sheep—Whimsicott.
And another with a reddish-brown crest, like a lizard person holding saggy skin—Scrafty.
'Well now! Black-hearted cotton!'
Li Xiang's eyebrow twitched upon seeing Whimsicott. This Pokémon was something else, quite the doubles expert.
But it relied heavily on Focus Sashes. Without one, it was really fragile.
"Scrafty!" The opponent's Scrafty shouted, activating its Intimidate ability, a fierce glint flashing across its ferocious face.
Riolu remained calm, largely unaffected by Intimidate.
But the Bisharp beside it couldn't stop its body from trembling, its expression incredibly complex.
Because—
'You dare intimidate me!?'
Defiant ability triggered!
Bisharp's Attack skyrocketed!