Chapter 171: Bai Bai vs. Zephyr
One-hit KO!!!
Not only was Konrad frozen in place, but even the referee was stunned for two seconds before belatedly waving his flag to announce the result.
"Magmortar is unable to battle! Slaking wins!!!"
"What just happened!!"
"Heavens!! A one-hit KO!! Slaking actually one-shotted Magmortar!!"
"Let's watch the replay in slow motion..."
Outside the arena, commentators Forrest and Candy chimed in one after another.
On the big screen, the other matches disappeared, replaced by the replay of the battle between Slaking and Magmortar.
Through slow motion, it was clearly visible that just as Magmortar's Flamethrower was about to hit Slaking, Slaking teleported and vanished from its spot.
That's right, not dodged, but teleported—vanished. Immediately after, Slaking appeared behind Magmortar.
Again, it was teleportation; there were no traces of movement.
This scene, defying common sense, undoubtedly dropped everyone's jaw.
Then came the punch from Slaking, a Mega Punch with earth-shattering power.
Boosted by the Iron Fist ability, Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB), Silvermere Dawn, and its high base Attack stat, this Mega Punch from Slaking was insanely powerful.
Kenji's gaze swept over Slaking's stat panel.
Slaking (4-Star)
Gender: Male
Level: LV.44
Type: Normal
Abilities: Truant, Iron Fist
Base Stats: 850
Moves: Mega Punch, Hammer Arm, Thunder Punch...
Equipment: Silvermere Dawn, Bloodthirster, Spectral Cutlass
Potential: S+
Since the New Year, Slaking's level had risen to 44.
The current Slaking made all equal under one punch.
Let alone Elite-level Pokémon, even Gym Leader-level Pokémon would be instantly incapacitated by a serious punch from Slaking after teleporting behind them with the Spectral Cutlass.
Bad news: It can only throw one punch.
Good news: The battle only requires one punch.
This was the strange beauty brought about by pure stats.
"This..."
In the VIP seats, Drago's mouth hung open, his expression filled with shock.
Sitting in the middle, Zhurong Yun also narrowed his eyes, tapping his finger lightly on the armrest, watching Slaking and Kenji with interest.
Although a Slaking possessing the ability to teleport was somewhat beyond common sense...
Anything beyond common sense appearing in a Pokémon was plausible.
After all, Pokémon were the most miraculous creatures in this world.
As the referee officially announced the result, Kenji recalled Slaking into its Pokéball.
On the other side, Konrad from Blackwater Academy looked utterly devastated.
Konrad had been confident that with his strength, even if he couldn't make the top ten of the National Collegiate League, the top hundred shouldn't have been an issue.
He hadn't expected to be eliminated in his very first match of the league.
And not just eliminated, but one-shotted. His ace, Magmortar, had only released one move from start to finish, and it hadn't even hit.
Kenji turned his head to look at the adjacent battlefield—Zephyr's battlefield.
On the other side, Zephyr had also finished his battle. On the field, his Gogoat held its thick horns high, and a Sawk lay defeated before it.
Undoubtedly, the brilliance Kenji displayed in this battle had completely overshadowed the genius from Imperial Academy.
Kenji withdrew his gaze and walked off the battlefield.
Returning to the lounge, he was met by an excited, laughing Coach He.
"Good lad!! You really did Metropolis Academy proud!!" Coach He said, patting Kenji on the shoulder.
Kenji smiled, though he wasn't as excited as Coach He.
Returning to his seat, he fiddled with his phone for a while and then watched the matches.
Next, the remaining contestants from Metropolis Academy took their turns. Surprisingly, none were eliminated; all successfully defeated their opponents and advanced to the next round.
The 67 groups of matches ended quickly. Once they were over, Coach He left a few hurried instructions and departed.
Judging by his impatient look, he was probably eager to go rub it in the face of the Imperial Academy coach.
For the first two rounds of 1v1 matches, Kenji chose to send out Slaking for all of them.
In these matchups, Slaking was the undisputed One-Punch Man. No Pokémon could withstand a second punch from Kenji.
As the first two days of competition concluded, the number of contestants dropped from the initial 1,340 to 335.
Metropolis Academy also had three contestants unfortunately eliminated.
After all, contestants from other top academies were no pushovers.
However, compared to the reduction in numbers from top academies, the contestants selected from the open preliminaries fared much worse.
In some zones, the qualifiers had been completely wiped out in the first two rounds.
Next was the round of 335 to 168. The rules changed from 1v1 to 3v3.
Compared to single-Pokémon battles, 3v3 matches undoubtedly offered a much more spectacular viewing experience.
This time, the matches were no longer held simultaneously in groups but played one by one.
This was to ensure the spectating experience as much as possible.
Because matches were held sequentially, this round of 335 to 168 was spread over three days.
After two days of competition, videos of Kenji's matches expectedly went viral online again.
This also brought a surge of popularity to Slaking.
For no other reason than the fact that the One-Punch Man Slaking's performance was simply too impactful. Those scenes of visceral punches resulting in instant KOs were enough to make anyone's blood boil.
This prompted many trainers to consider raising a Slaking.
But soon, these bandwagon trainers realized a harsh truth.
There were two kinds of Slaking in the world.
One was Kenji's Slaking.
The other was everyone else's Slaking.
Meanwhile, friends like Tyson Tang, who had a decent relationship with Kenji, sent messages congratulating him on smoothly passing the first two rounds.
...
Back to the main topic. Before anyone knew it, the first day of the top 168 qualifiers had proceeded into the afternoon.
So far, only one contestant from Metropolis Academy had appeared, and they had advanced smoothly.
As the 50th match of the first day approached, Bai Bai's name appeared on the electronic display.
But when everyone saw the opponent listed next to Bai Bai's name, the expressions of everyone in the Metropolis Academy lounge froze.
Even Bai Bai pursed her lips slightly, her expression becoming solemn.
Bai Bai VS. Zephyr!!!
Zephyr!!
This was the first official clash between a contestant from Imperial Academy and a contestant from Metropolis Academy in this National Collegiate League.
Unexpectedly, it was between Bai Bai and Imperial Academy's strongest contestant.
Coach He's expression was also grave.
Although he hated to admit it, in all of Metropolis Academy, the only one who could suppress Zephyr was Kenji.
After all, Zephyr possessed Mega Evolution.
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