"Actually, I feel that even if we fought head-on, we could still win."
After the battle ended, Rachel spoke with some joy. They had won this battle far too easily.
"Fight head-on? Of course we can."
"In the next battle, we'll use that tactic directly. I'll go out first, Ryan second, and you third, Rachel."
After hearing Rachel's words, Ethan spoke directly with a smile, which startled Rachel a little.
She had only said it casually!
Who would have known that Ethan seemed to have taken it seriously?
"I'm not joking. The reason their tactic failed was simply because their spearhead wasn't sharp enough. Besides, I think both Ryan and you are among the strongest Leaders in this tournament."
Ethan smiled faintly. Moreover, he had already studied the opponent of the next round. Their frontal strength was quite inferior to that of his team.
After all, the Ironvale region was considered a fairly developed region among many regions. It placed great importance on the training of Trainers and possessed abundant resources. That caused the Ironvale region to have many powerful families, and behind the Gym Leaders were precisely those great families.
"Alright, I have no problem."
After hearing Ethan's words, Ryan also nodded.
In reality, during the previous round, he had also wanted to face the second strongest Trainer of the Wellspring region.
Although they had now won more easily, there was still some regret left in his heart.
...
"Phew, now I feel better. But the Leaders of this region really are somewhat weak."
After the second battle, Ryan smiled proudly.
In this round, Ethan continued to win with extreme ease.
However, the one who truly faced the strongest Trainer on the other side was Ryan.
After a series of exchanges, Ryan's Slaking used the move Giga Impact to defeat the opposing Blastoise and obtained victory.
After Ethan and Ryan won two consecutive rounds, Rachel also did not disappoint expectations, and they finally obtained an easy 3-0 victory.
...
"This third round will be somewhat difficult."
After returning to the lounge, Rachel received the list of opponents for the third round.
This time, they would be facing precisely the Gym Leaders of the Duskwell region.
As an equally developed region within the League, the foundations of the Duskwell region were even above those of the Ironvale region.
Under these circumstances, arranging the lineup made her feel somewhat worried.
"The Gym Leaders of the Duskwell region, huh."
Ethan rubbed the space between his eyebrows and began to review the composition of the opposing Gym Leaders.
Water, Ice, Ghost, Dark, Dragon, Electric, and Steel. Those were the types represented by the Gym Leaders of the Duskwell region.
From the types, it could be seen that the attributes represented by these Leaders were all very strong. Their weaknesses were not obvious, so it was very difficult to target them.
Especially with the existence of a Dark-type Leader. If they managed to catch the Psychic-type Leader on their side, that battle would not even have any meaning to play.
Therefore, Ethan immediately abandoned the idea of sending out the Psychic-type Leader.
The same happened with the Flying-type Leader. His main Pokémon was Pidgeot, which was very severely countered by Ice, Electric, and Steel types, so Ethan also ruled him out.
In addition, the Dragon-type Leader on the other side would surely go out. Dragon-type Pokémon basically represented strength, so they would undoubtedly participate.
Under those circumstances, if they managed to make their Ice-type Leader face him, their chances of winning would increase quite a bit.
After thinking about it for a good while, Ethan finally determined the battle order.
In the first round, Ryan would go out this time.
In team battles, the first round was also called the vanguard battle.
As long as they won the first round, to a certain extent, they could raise morale, and that victory was also crucial.
Under these circumstances, letting Ryan go onto the field was best.
On one hand, Ryan's strength was powerful enough. On the other hand, the type Ryan represented was Normal, so he would not suffer a type disadvantage.
Moreover, since Ethan had been the vanguard in the previous two battles, that would inevitably make the opponent somewhat cautious, so they would not dare to send out their strongest Trainer to collide directly with Ethan. However, they would also not be willing to directly give up such an important vanguard battle.
Under these circumstances, the opponent would probably send out a mid-level Leader within the team, and that battle could be considered practically won.
For the second round, Ethan still planned to give it up. Since the other side had given up the first battle, they would surely concentrate on winning the second.
Otherwise, if Ethan's team directly obtained two victories, they would have three match points. Under those circumstances, the pressure on the Leaders who went out afterward would be too great.
Therefore, in that battle, they would surely send out the second strongest Leader of the team. As for the strongest, Ethan felt that they probably would not bring them out yet.
The most crucial would be the third battle. That round would undoubtedly become the most important of the entire battle. Ethan planned to go out personally to obtain the match point.
As for the fourth battle, Ethan planned to send out the Ice-type Leader. In that battle, if he encountered the Dragon-type Leader, he would completely have a chance to fight. And even if he lost, Rachel would still remain to close at the end.
He had great confidence in Rachel's strength. Moreover, he did not believe that the Gym of the Duskwell region would leave their strong ones for the end. After all, if the result was decided in the first four battles, the result of the fifth would no longer have any meaning.
...
The next day, the third battle continued.
The Daleron League had a total of four capitals and thirty cities, that is, thirty-four regions. Since two regions had not yet established their Gyms, thirty-two regions ultimately participated in this exchange tournament.
At this point, after the first round from 32 to 16 and the second from 16 to 8, the top eight of the tournament had already been decided.
Having reached this point, the strong and weak teams had already been clearly differentiated. Both the Ironvale region and the Duskwell region had naturally received recognition as strong teams, so this battle had many points of interest.
"The battle is about to begin. Who will go out in the first round?"
After the competition began, everyone turned their eyes toward the referee, waiting for him to announce the list of matchups.
"Ryan, it's Ryan Grant."
"What a good response from the Ironvale region."
After the referee read the battle list, even in the guest area there were secret praises.
Ryan's strength was considered high among all the Gym Leaders, while his opponent only had a mid-level rank. In their eyes, this battle no longer had any suspense.
And the facts were exactly like that. Ryan won the battle very easily, helping the Ironvale region obtain an initial victory and, at the same time, confirming Ethan's prediction.
"Truly, there's no choice but to admit it."
Ryan stepped down from the stage and could not help but sigh with emotion.
Indeed, compared to him, Ethan was more suitable to be the captain. This time, he was completely convinced!
(End of chapter)