Honestly, this girl's luck was… complicated. Not good, not bad, but certainly dramatic. She had actually managed to hatch a Baby Tyranitar from a Lucky Egg.
And from the look on her face, even she still had not recovered from that surprise.
After all, raising a Baby Tyranitar was not something an ordinary trainer took lightly. Everyone knew the species was expensive to feed. This was the Pokémon famously said to be capable of eating an entire mountain clean. Trainers usually prepared themselves psychologically and financially long before owning one.
But Su Luolo had gotten hers from a gambling-style egg draw. She probably could not bring herself to sell it afterward. One thing led to another, and now she and the little guy were bonded enough that giving it away felt impossible.
[Pokémon: Baby Tyranitar]
[Gender: Male]
[Ability: Guts]
[Potential: Red]
[Individual Values: HP 27, Attack 28, Defense 28, Sp. Def 26, Sp. Atk 27, Speed 19]
[Current Level: 18–19]
[Moves: Tackle, Sandstorm, Payback, Leer, Bite, Stomp]
[Description: A Baby Tyranitar who is never full.]
Lin Feng nodded internally. It was a very good Baby Tyranitar. Except for that note at the bottom. "Never full." That part felt strangely familiar.
"Cha?"
Fireblaze Chicken crouched down and stared at the small creature in confusion. Was this tiny Pokémon really that good at eating?
If anyone had the right to judge such a thing, it was Fireblaze Chicken. Hearing that a trainer had come looking for Lin Feng because her Pokémon ate too much made Fireblaze Chicken instinctively alert. After all, it had been abandoned for that exact reason.
"This is different from you," Lin Feng murmured, rubbing Fireblaze Chicken's head before turning back to Su Luolo. "Even if you eat a lot, it is just normal food. But he eats more, and what he eats is rare minerals."
Lin Feng studied her carefully. "Your family must have a good business, right?"
She scratched her cheek awkwardly. "We run a food processing factory, but my dad's working capital…" Her voice trailed off. She glanced quietly at Baby Tyranitar and forced a small, embarrassed smile.
Clearly, she did not want her Pokémon developing a sense of guilt or inferiority over its appetite. She had faced the same dilemma when she first hatched it: sell it to a supermarket for a large sum or raise it herself. After discussing it with her parents, they decided to keep it.
Unfortunately, they had severely underestimated just how expensive Baby Tyranitar could be.
Lin Feng's eyes lit up slightly. He originally let Goodra participate in these tournaments to help it overcome its shyness. With Goodra at Elite strength, letting it battle here would be unfair to the others. The preliminaries were fine since they did not affect direct eliminations, but bringing Goodra into the main matches would be excessive.
However, seeing this Baby Tyranitar gave him an idea.
"How about this?" Lin Feng offered. "You do not need to worry about Goodra. You need prize money to feed him, right? Then let him earn his own food money. Use Baby Tyranitar in this round. Let him fight for himself. That will mean more to him in the long run."
Then Lin Feng smiled and lifted a hand. "And I…"
He called toward the sidelines. "Ajiu, come here!"
A brown blur popped up from behind Glaceon, who was still chasing its own tail. Ajiu scampered over with wide curious eyes.
"I will use this Eevee."
Su Luolo blinked, obviously startled.
"You can think it over," Lin Feng said lightly. "I have been wanting to let my Eevee battle, but I never found the right moment."
"Bui?" Ajiu tilted her head, not understanding the sudden attention.
"Look," Lin Feng said, pointing at Baby Tyranitar. "Your strength levels are almost the same. He can be your opponent."
"Bui!"
"Yoki?"
Baby Tyranitar, disappointed it could not fight Fireblaze Chicken, gave up and toddled back to hug Su Luolo's leg.
Her expression softened. "Really? You are sure about this?"
She had indeed seen Lin Feng release Eevee in previous rounds. She hesitated only a moment longer.
"But let me say this first," Lin Feng added. "I am using Eevee, but that does not mean I am going easy. Holding back in a trainer battle is disrespectful."
Su Luolo glanced at the innocent-looking Eevee, then at the intimidating Fireblaze Chicken, Serperior, and Glaceon beside Lin Feng. She took a deep breath and nodded firmly.
"Alright. Please fight with full strength."
Even if he used Fireblaze Chicken or Glaceon or Serperior, she would have the courage to battle. But facing Goodra, who was practically a one-Pokémon army, she had truly felt hopeless.
An Eevee versus Baby Tyranitar was far more reasonable.
"Bui!" (I get to battle?) Ajiu's eyes sparkled with excitement.
Despite her modest power, she was still the captain of their little "Hero Squad," a detail she took very seriously. Lin Feng had also told her she had not evolved yet partly because her energy level was still too low.
"Feeling confident?" Lin Feng asked, watching Su Luolo walk away.
He ruffled Ajiu's fluffy tail and pulled up her stat panel.
[Pokémon: Eevee (Ajiu)]
[Gender: Female]
[Ability: Anticipation]
[Potential: Purple]
[Individual Values: HP 22, Attack 21, Sp. Atk 22, Defense 21, Sp. Def 20, Speed 25]
[Current Level: 18–19]
[Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Growl, Quick Attack, Charm, Swift, Sand Attack, Dig, Protect…]
[Intimacy: 94 (She sees you as her emotional anchor)]
[Joy: 60 (I wonder how my first battle will go…)]
Lin Feng smiled. He actually felt confident too.
Ajiu quickly covered her face with her tail, then flicked it away to reveal a mischievous grin.
(●'?'●)~ "Bui, bui!"
"You are plotting something, aren't you?" Lin Feng asked helplessly.
╯(○｀ 3′○) "Bui!" (Of course not!)
Ajiu denied it immediately, though her twinkling eyes said otherwise. She was simply thinking about how to perform in her first official battle.
Lin Feng shook his head and let her be.
He turned his attention to the third match of the quarterfinals unfolding below.
The Pokémon in this round were a Swampert and a Breloom.
The battle played out almost identically to the earlier match between Wartortle and Breloom. With type advantage on Breloom's side and a very clever trainer commanding it, the strategy was downright nasty.
Ignoring stronger options entirely, the Breloom trainer relied on Poison Heal, immediately spreading poisonous spores, then whittling down Swampert with Leech Seed, Absorb, and other irritating moves.
Even Lin Feng felt the strategy was disgustingly efficient.
Most importantly, the Breloom trainer was not greedy. Despite having Seed Bomb, a move that could hit Swampert for quadruple damage, he did not use it. Instead, he chose steady pressure with poison, seeds, and multi-hit moves like Bullet Seed.
Against Pokémon of the same level, you either finished Breloom instantly or you got ground down to exhaustion.
The Swampert trainer clearly realized this.
But he had no solution.
The only option left was to quietly prepare for elimination.
After all, quadruple weakness was quadruple weakness.