Chapter 142 Catching Articuno!
Leaving the Indigo Plateau for Twin Islands, Xia Mu used Zapdos's power to find and catch Articuno.
With the three legendary birds complete, he then returned to the Adaptation Plateau.
The round trip, including the time spent searching and catching Articuno, didn't exceed ten hours.
Although Xia Mu returned to the Indigo Plateau quite late, at least he returned safely.
His sudden disappearance, however, caused his family immense worry, especially Sonia, who thought something had happened to him.
Xia Mu never imagined that his departure would alarm the League's higher-ups. Yan Tie, as the League's Commander-in-Chief, had already issued a statement, yet Xia Mu had vanished without
a trace. Fortunately, Xia Mu's return meant no accidents had occurred.
Curiosity about Xia Mu's whereabouts was understandable, but since he didn't say, no one would ask.
That night, Xia Mu and Sonia stayed together again.
Although it was done secretly, the elders mostly turned a blind eye.
The main reason was Xia Mu's sudden disappearance, which nearly caused Sonia to lose control. Now that Xia Mu was safe and sound, no one would disturb the young couple's time to nurture their relationship.
...
A passionate night.
The next morning, Xia Mu and Sonia got up early.
There was no other way; today was the last day of the Indigo League. Although Xia Mu had done everything he needed to yesterday, he still had to be tested and prepared.
Yesterday's opponents were two near-Elite Four level trainers arranged by Yan Tie.
It was hard to imagine how strong today's opponents would be.
There was still one round of the preliminaries left. Although there were only sixteen players left, Xia Mu still couldn't be careless.
Arriving at the Indigo League arena, it was already packed with people.
After all, since the fifth round of the round of sixteen, the battles had been conducted in a formal arena. Although it was still a three-on-three format, it wouldn't be like the previous informal matches.
Of course, some people did manage to sneak into the top 16, like Ash and Hiro, but their strength was indeed quite average. Even with Pokémon over level 40, what use is a Pokémon in the early 40s at this level? Without
a single Pokémon at level 50, you're considered weak.
To Natsuki's surprise, Gary didn't get eliminated like in the original story, but instead made it into the top 16.
Natsuki was chosen to fight in the first official match, which left him feeling helpless.
Although he knew that Yantie was doing this to make sure all the viewers remembered him, Natsuki felt it was too deliberate.
To those who manipulate power, it would be obvious that he was a trainer specially arranged by Yantie to ascend to the champion's throne.
Natsuki's opponent was still someone his age, whose strength was no less than the two from yesterday—a solid near-Elite Four level.
This also made Xia Mu realize that Yan Tie was warming him up, preparing him for the Elite Four battle. Therefore, even though there were some Elite Four level trainers in the League, they wouldn't send out trainers to fight him.
His opponent was a Water-type master, starting with Gyarados, which was easily defeated by Xia Mu's Venusaur.
The second was Kingdra, which was a real coincidence; Xia Mu also used Kingdra. The outcome was obvious—a complete rout. After all, the difference between level 70 and around level 60 is significant, especially considering Xia Mu's training method involved maximizing Effort Values and IVs.
The third Pokémon wasn't from Kanto, but Milotic from the Hoenn region.
This was a Pokémon Xia Mu had always wanted but hadn't had the opportunity or time to catch.
Facing Milotic, Xia Mu sent out Tentacruel to battle.
Without a doubt, it was a Poisonous Battle!
With a 7-level difference and the same type, the suppression wasn't particularly strong, and this Milotic was exceptionally well-trained, definitely a Champion-level Pokémon. Winning against the same type is difficult, but using poison is a different story.
Having defeated this opponent, Xia Mu successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.
Then, he returned to the waiting area to watch the matches.
Because it was no longer the preliminary rounds of the previous two days, and the quarterfinals would begin after the round of 16,
as Xia Mu had predicted, after watching several matches, Ash was defeated by Hiro, while Gary advanced to the quarterfinals.
Therefore, the reason Gary lost to Jiki in the original story was actually related to his previous arrogance.
After being defeated by Xia Mu, Gary received guidance from Xia Mu and underwent a significant transformation. It's clear that he trained diligently after Xia Mu left, resulting in a significant improvement in not only his Pokémon strength but also flawless tactical deployment and Pokémon combinations.
In summary, with the top eight finalists finalized, everyone remained the same except for Natsume and Gary replacing Jimi and Gangzi from the original series.
Next up were the quarterfinals, significantly reducing the pressure on Natsume.
He was still the first to fight, facing Lily. Even in a six-on-six battle, Natsume used only Charizard and easily defeated all six opponents, giving Lily no chance.
So cruel?
Natsume didn't think so.
During the Sinnoh Conference, Darkrai, with his overpowered abilities, defeated all opponents with just one Darkrai, only losing to Ash's Sceptile, which is why he used his second Latios.
He wanted to emulate Darkrai; although he had used many Pokémon before, from now on, he absolutely couldn't use a second Pokémon in a single match.
Natsume advanced to the semifinals, while Gary's opponent was Hiro, whose luck was exceptional.
To prove himself, Gary decisively defeated Hiro, since Hiro had beaten Ash, leading Gary to believe he was superior.
The semifinal results were announced.
The morning's matches had just concluded, and the afternoon featured three matches to determine the champion, runner-up, and third-place winner.
This was standard practice at the Indigo League, a format used by many tournaments.
All participants competed to determine the top three, followed by an awards ceremony.
Natsuki believed that as long as Shigeru didn't falter, securing second or third place was a certainty.
If Natsuki didn't face Shigeru, second place was practically guaranteed; however, if they did, Shigeru would have to compete against the other loser for third place.
With the final matches approaching in the afternoon, the entire tournament reached its climax.
Before the afternoon's semi-finals began, Entei appeared at the tournament, accompanied by the Elite Four and a host of league executives.
He announced that after this year's Indigo League, the league champion would have the opportunity to fight the Elite Four; defeating an Elite Four member would grant the title of Elite Four member! Alternatively, a championship challenge could be held; defeating one of the Elite Four members would make one the Kanto region champion!
This news was undoubtedly exciting, especially given the previous reports; everyone was eagerly anticipating it.
Everyone knows that while it's said the league champion is a contender, Xia Mu is definitely the one who will win this time. However, the competition hasn't started yet, so no one can say for sure.
(End of Chapter)