Pokémon: Master System.

Lü Guanjun?

Lü Tinghe, the champion of the Southwest region and a formidable fighter.

"I understand." Xia Yu nodded, then chatted with Dragon King for a few more minutes before hanging up the phone.

"Captain Feng, I'm joining." With Long Fan's tip-off, Xia Yu, though still unclear about the situation, chose to listen to Long Fan and join the Fire-Breathing Dragon Special Operations Team.

"Very good." Feng Kuangyin nodded in satisfaction, then his face darkened: "Prepare diligently for the next match and strive to reach the national finals. I have some matters to attend to."

After saying this, Feng Kuangyin hurriedly left the hotel and rode his fire-breathing dragon to the Tiandu Plateau wilderness area. This morning, the police received an anonymous message claiming that Roger, the captain of the Tiandu Plateau wilderness area patrol team, had been killed by poachers, and the message detailed the location of Roger's death.

After the patrol team sent people to investigate, they did indeed find Roger's body at the location mentioned by the mysterious man.

The tragic death of the patrol team leader at the hands of poachers immediately caused a sensation.

The Pokémon Association immediately blocked the news and prepared to thoroughly investigate the matter.

Furthermore, due to Roger's complex background—having served in the Fire-Breathing Dragon Special Operations Team before becoming the patrol team leader and being involved in numerous top-secret events—it is not convenient for outsiders to thoroughly investigate this matter.

Therefore, the Charizard Special Operations Team will take over the investigation into Roger's death and conduct a comprehensive investigation!

(Roger's character was based on Sonam Dargye.)

…………

I can't help but complain. In the first few chapters, I mentioned that Xu Xiu was a key character, and some readers started asking why there were two main characters or why I was adding another main character, blah blah blah.

The main characters can be male supporting characters, female supporting characters, or villains. Please read the book carefully.

Chapter 252 Salt Stone Giant Spirit

University Cup, Sichuan Province Semifinals.

Xia Yu was slightly nervous, his palms were sweating. This was probably because today's match was particularly important, and his opponent was extremely strong. This was the first time Xia Yu had ever been so nervous before a match.

"call."

Xia Yu kept taking deep breaths backstage to adjust his mindset, but he still couldn't help but have a rapid heart rate. He could even vaguely feel that his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

Even in the match against Shang Hongxin, Xia Yu had never been this nervous. Why was he so nervous today?

Perhaps it's because he cares too much about winning or losing. This match is truly crucial for Xia Yu; a win would mean advancing to the national finals, while a loss would mean stopping here and not even having the chance to go to the capital to participate in the competition.

Calm down, you must calm down!

Xia Yu silently opened the Douyin account he inherited from his older brother Xia Luo, deciding to watch the videos his brother had liked before to relax.

It has to be said that this alt account of his brother is simply a haven for Xia Yu's soul. It can always soothe Xia Yu's restless emotions, calm his mind, cultivate his character, and elevate his soul.

So lovely.

…………

A few minutes later, just as Xia Yu was engrossed in the video, a message suddenly popped up.

Teacher Long: "Keep it up!"

Looking at Teacher Long's message and then at the video on his phone, Xia Yu fell silent. Instantly, the video on his phone lost its appeal. How could he be so decadent? Don't let desire shatter your will.

I really deserve to die!

…………

"Hello everyone, I am Cheng Taiheng."

"I am Jiang Yao."

"Today we will continue to provide commentary on the semi-finals of the University Cup in Sichuan Province. First, let's introduce our two contestants: He Zhizhou, a seeded player from Kapok City, and Xia Yu, a seeded player from Starlight City."

"I believe that the audience is already quite familiar with the two players in this match. He Zhizhou has been the favorite to win the championship all along, and his ace Pokémon is Giant Salt. He has made it all the way to the semi-finals with an overwhelming momentum."

"Xia Yu is the biggest dark horse of this year's College Cup. He fought his way through the competition and made it to the semi-finals against all odds. I wonder if he can continue his dark horse legend today."

"According to the official AI prediction, based on the lineups and Pokémon strength of both sides, He Zhizhou has a 70% chance of winning, while Xia Yu's chance is only 30%," Jiang Yao added from the side.

"AI predictions can only be used as a reference. The difference between humans and AI is that humans can create infinite possibilities," Cheng Taiheng said with a smile. "I will always believe that Xia Yu can create miracles."

"The match is about to begin, let's wait and see."

…………

Xia Yu and He Zhizhou appeared at the same time. He Zhizhou was gentle and refined, with a delicate appearance. He wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses on his nose and had a slightly youthful face. He had the air of a scholar.

He Zhizhou may appear to be a scholar who is weak and helpless, but in fact he is quite powerful.

"Game start."

As soon as the referee's voice rang out, Xia Yu immediately became serious and focused, throwing himself wholeheartedly into the match and concentrating all his attention on the game. This match was of great significance; he could only win and could not afford to lose.

Only one of him and He Zhizhou can participate in the national competition, and the two will engage in a fierce battle for this one spot.

"Come on, Lizard King!"

"Go, Saltstone Giant!"

The two Pokémon appeared at almost the same time. Knowing that the opponent had a Rock-type Gigantamax, Xia Yu naturally could not send out Charizard, which is four times weak to Rock, as his first Pokémon.

Therefore, Xia Yu chose to send out the Lizard King.

The Lizard King makes its debut, its enormous size resembling a monster from a disaster movie, its eyes fixed on the Salt Stone Giant, ready to launch an attack at any moment.

He Zhizhou's Salt Stone Giant was also very well-developed, standing over three meters tall, even taller than the Lizard King, with its white body covered in shimmering salt stains.

"Salt Stone Giant, pickle it with salt!"

At the start of the match, He Zhizhou launched the first attack, choosing to have the Salt Stone Giant use its exclusive skill, Salt Pickling, which is also the Salt Stone Giant's signature skill.

Salt is a Rock-type physical move with low power, or even quite low power. However, Salt has a rather outrageous ability: it inflicts the Salt status on the enemy upon hitting them.

While salted, it can continuously damage Pokémon, and the continuous damage to Steel and Water-type Pokémon is doubled.

Originally, the Rock-type Salt Giant had five weaknesses: Fighting, Ground, Steel, Water, and Grass. However, the Salt skill is effective against both Steel and Water types.

This gives Giant Salt a way to counter Steel and Water types, which is why Giant Salt has become a popular Pokémon in battles, known as the "Salt King." It is quite formidable and difficult to deal with in battles.

A large amount of rock energy surged from the Salt Giant, forming large patches of salt, which were then splashed onto the Lizard King, activating the Salting skill.

"Lizard King, Sword Dance!"

Faced with the large clump of salt flying towards him, Xia Yu remained quite calm. He had anticipated that the Salt Stone Giant would use the Salting skill, so he decisively had the Lizard King use the Sword Dance skill to deal with it.

The Lizard King was enveloped in Normal-type energy, and then it twisted its body and spun rapidly on the ground.

It's hard to imagine that a lizard king of such a massive size could spin like that. It spun its body at high speed, its thick tail waving constantly, creating a faint whistling sound, forming a small storm centered on itself.

Salt, which flew toward the Lizard King, was instantly repelled as soon as it approached the green storm, unable to get close to the Lizard King at all.

At this moment, the sword dance move used by the Lizard King was somewhat similar to the sword dance skill of the Commoner Bug King, Cai Panqiu's Beedrill.

The Lizard King successfully used the Sword Dance skill to spin its body at high speed, which served as a defense, both enhancing its own attack and blocking the Salt Curing skill from the Salt Stone Giant!

"Well done, Lizard King." Xia Yu smiled and saw Cai Panqiu cheering him on from below the stage, his eyes filled with gratitude.

For the past three days, Xia Yu has been thinking about how to defeat the Salt Stone Giant. The first thing he needs to do is to break the Salt Stone Giant's salting skill. After thinking for a long time, he thought of Cai Panqiu's giant bee.

The scene of Cai Panqiu's Beedrill using Swords Dance to block Charizard's Flamethrower left a very deep impression on Xia Yu, and he also had a bold idea: could he use Sceptile's Swords Dance to break Salt Giant's Salting move?

Therefore, Xia Yu specially contacted Cai Panqiu to ask about the use of sword dance skills. Cai Panqiu did not refuse and agreed without hesitation, imparting his understanding of sword dance skills and acting as his sparring partner.

After three days of continuous practice, although the Lizard King is not yet as proficient as Cai Panqiu's Beedrill, it is already able to use its Swords Dance skill to block the Salting skill.

It must be said that the use of Sword Dance is quite powerful, combining offense and defense.

Chapter 253 The Salt King

He Zhizhou was clearly encountering this situation for the first time, but his ability to reach the semi-finals shows he has real skill.

He reacted quickly. Since the salting technique was ineffective against the Lizard King, he decided to try a different move!

"The Saltstone Giant uses Iron Wall!"

Iron Defense is a Steel-type status move that greatly increases Defense. Combined with the already top-tier defensive capabilities of Rock Giant, it's a nightmare for physical attackers.

More importantly, the Saltstone Giant can also learn the Pounce skill, and the combination of Iron Wall and Pounce can be said to be an extremely classic skill combination.

The Pounce move is a very special fighting-type physical move. Other physical moves deal more damage to the enemy the higher the user's physical attack, but the Pounce move is different.

When using the Sucker Punch move, even if a Pokémon has a high Attack stat, it has almost no effect on the damage dealt by the Sucker Punch move.

The damage dealt by the pounce skill is only related to the user's defense. Take the Saltstone Giant as an example: the tougher its body and the higher its defense, the more damage it will inflict on enemies!

This also makes Sucker Punch a core offensive move for physical tank Pokémon.

The Salt Stone Giant's defense was already ridiculously high, and with the Iron Wall buff, its defense reached a terrifying level. Not only was its defense ridiculously high, but the damage from its pounce skill also reached a terrifying level.

This is what makes the Saltstone Giant so disgusting; while strengthening its defense, it also indirectly strengthens its attack. The Steel Raven is just as disgusting.

The old Steelraven was known for its Iron Wall, Pounce, and Roost abilities, which were quite annoying.

The current Saltstone Giant has Iron Wall, Pounce, and Regeneration, plus the disgusting saltiness.

They can be said to be from the same school, and the younger generation surpasses the older generation.

…………