chapter 127

Heihachi looked at Alfie, who was standing in the command position across from him. Alfie was wearing a military uniform from the Protection Bureau, with a capable face and a solemn temperament.

Just by meeting his eyes, Heihachi's heart trembled.

I'll hit your horse! Shady! This elite arrangement in the opening game was typical of favoritism.

But what's abnormal is, why am I matched against him?

"Rufflet, use Quick Attack!"

"W-what? Raticate, dodge out of the way!"

A young Rufflet flew across the ground with its talons outstretched. Though small in size, its talons were extremely sharp, cutting the floor and sending sparks flying.

Raticate, the evolved form of Rattata, has a base stat total of 413, which can easily overpower the unevolved Rufflet with its base stat of 350.

In terms of level, the two Pokémon were at the same level, both level 20. But Heihachi was already frightened. He wasn't focused during the battle, or else his Raticate could have attacked first with Quick Attack.

But now, it was Alfie's Rufflet using the same skill that Raticate knew... to strike first!

On the opposite side, Alfie, the captain of the Protection Bureau, looked slightly disappointed. As expected, he couldn't have high expectations for the level of wild trainers.

"Rufflet, use Aerial Ace!"

After being hit by the Rufflet's claws and flying backward, Raticate got up and caught a glimpse of the Rufflet's afterimage quickly returning from behind. Raticate was suddenly frightened and screamed!

Without waiting for the trainer's order, it had to rely on its own experience to fight. It tried to dodge, but the Rufflet flew by with a hint of teasing in its eyes.

When Raticate finished dodging, its body stiffened.

"Now!" Alfie seized the moment when Raticate was vulnerable.

The sense of combat between Alfie and his Pokémon was highly unified.

In that instant, the Rufflet swooped down and grabbed Raticate, who was even bigger than itself, with its sharp talons.

Bang!

Two seconds later, Raticate fell from a height and hit the ground hard. It immediately lost its ability to fight!

Crushed from beginning to end!

The referee, well-trained, immediately blew the whistle.

"Alfie, Rufflet, wins!"

Tian Tiezui swallowed his saliva and quickly commented:

"...Player Alfie is indeed an elite trainer of the Adventurers' Association Protection Bureau and the Pokémon Guard of Mondstadt!"

The live arena with nearly 100,000 people was silent for a brief moment before erupting into enthusiastic cheers. Alfie's prowess left a deep impression on the audience.

As the victor, Alfie, wearing the Protection Bureau uniform, faced the guest seat. The key was that he faced Takumi's position, bowed deeply, and then stepped off the stage like a javelin.

Seleus, the branch president of the Mondstadt Adventurers' Association, was also in the guest seat. Seeing the former Mondstadt branch intelligence agent—his subordinate—now grown into an operator in the Protection Bureau, Seleus was filled with emotion and envy:

"Manager Takumi, your Environmental Protection Bureau is really a place to train people. Alfie has changed so much that I can barely recognize him!"

Hearing this, Lan, the president of the Liyue Adventurers' Association, who was sitting next to him, was quite surprised:

"So this elite trainer named Alfie was once an operator of the Mondstadt Association? He was assigned to the Conservation Bureau and patrolled the ecological zone day and night? It has only been a month, yet he already has such momentum?"

A satisfied smile appeared on the corner of Takumi's mouth.

"Everyone probably knows, it doesn't matter if you haven't heard me say it before, I can talk about it now. The reason I created the Environmental Protection Bureau was simply to use the Adventurers' Association's organizational power across seven countries to quickly build a transnational law enforcement team capable of dealing with vicious criminal cases in any region or any Pokémon Alliance! Probably, it could also be called the Transnational Crime Suppression Service... or Interpol"

"You've seen that the officers must be carefully selected, and those who rise to the top are cadres, such as investigators, search officers, and inspectors general."

The guest room was silent for a moment.

This was the first time that Takumi explained the founding purpose of the Environmental Protection Bureau. The confidence and calm aura on Takumi's face impressed notable figures from Mondstadt and Liyue, one by one.

Zhongli couldn't help but be surprised. Venti, in the back row, said:

"Hey, this guy's planning and layout are so profound that I think he has far surpassed the old emperor... Well, no, he has surpassed you, old friend."

For the members of the Environmental Protection Bureau, this competition was also an internal screening. In addition to the big cadres, middle- and lower-level cadres such as Alfie had to strive to achieve a high ranking in the first set of rules.

Reaching the knockout round would earn them merit points in the Bureau. Ranking in the top ten would come with unknown rewards and the ability to exchange for many new things in the internal merit point store.

…

In the super-large arena built under Keqing's supervision, the venue was divided into four smaller arenas. Groups A, B, C, and D each played four games simultaneously to complete one round.

That's what auditions were like. Only upon reaching the knockout round would trainers have their own exclusive stage.

The first round of battles had not yet ended. The audience cheered loudly, following the guidance of commentator Tian Tiezui as they moved to another scene. It turned out that in Venue B, another operator from the Protection Bureau had won their battle.

"Xiaoqian?" Lan, the president of the Liyue Adventurers' Association, was stunned when she clearly saw the young man in uniform.

Seleus said, "What about our Mondstadt branch? This Xiaoqian turns out to be a cadre under you, right? Tsk tsk, his Arbok is well-trained. It's bigger than its kind, and its body length is estimated to be seven meters."

Takumi also nodded secretly. From such a distance, with his system privileges, he could easily access the Arbok's Pokédex entry.

Level 35? Incredible! This level was considered competitive in a customer group chat. Of course, this only applied to battles between Pokémon, not counting the Vision trainers. Moreover, the attack and speed stats of this Arbok were very high for its level. Perhaps it had some special opportunity?

"Xiaoqian..." Takumi asked the system to mark him. This young cadre was a future investigator.

Xiaoqian's Arbok didn't even need to use any advanced skills. It quickly moved in, constricted, and strangled its opponent's Rhydon with its ordinary snake body, defeating it effortlessly.

Thus, in the first round, all four battles in the four sub-arenas came to an end.

Takumi nodded in satisfaction. The "black box operation" of the system was recognized. No way around it—if it were completely random on the first day, we might end up with a Bug Catcher vs. Bug Catcher scenario, over and over again! That scene would be too dull, and we'd risk turning the Trainer Competition into a "Cooking King Competition!"

According to background statistics from the Pokédex, while there were over 600,000 contestants, the number of trainers who had Bug-type Pokémon as their first was significant. Green Caterpie, Weedle, and the like accounted for about 66% of the total.

Some of these players had Spinarak, which could evolve into Ariados, or Venonat, which could evolve into Venomoth. Among this group of Bug-type trainers, those with advanced evolutions were considered quite elite.

But when they faced the "seeded players" specially selected by the system, they still lost quickly.

Raticate, Arbok, and Rufflet.

Butterfree, Volbeat, Beedrill, Skarmory.

Bewear, Wobbuffet.

Trainer after trainer appeared with their Pokémon. The crowd of hundreds of thousands inside and outside the venue enjoyed the spectacle immensely, cheering enthusiastically.

These Pokémon were rare to see on the streets of Liyue. The higher the training level, the more powerful the trainer was. Such trainers spent most of their time in the wild and ecological zones and had no time to show off their Pokémon on city streets.

For the people of Inazuma, who unexpectedly watched the Liyue Pokémon competition due to a clandestine operation by the Sangonomiya resistance, how could this be described? Their eyes almost popped out of their heads; they felt as if their worldview had shattered into pieces.

Huh? On the continent of Teyvat, when did such creatures and monsters as Pokémon exist? Mommy! There must be something wrong with how to view it!

Narukami Taisha Shrine, under the Sacred Sakura Tree.

Yae Miko was gradually becoming dumbfounded:

"This Arbok is so long, maybe seven or eight meters. And the Skarmory, made entirely of steel, is called a living creature?"

"No, they are completely different from those mechanical self-disciplined automatons in Khaenri'ah. They are true living beings... rather than artificial creations."

When she saw a Pokémon like Wobbuffet with Psychic-type abilities using the bizarre skill Mirror Coat, instantly KO-ing a charging Bewear with a counter, Yae Miko's expression became serious:

"The energy that just flashed on the screen—definitely not any form of elemental power."

Kamisato Estate.

On the large screen in the square, the footage from each arena was displayed.

The Kamisato family had all gathered there, and the place had grown quiet.

Trainers, Pokémon.

Rich types, dazzling skills.

Increasingly fierce confrontations.

Kamisato Ayato and Kamisato Ayaka were unable to maintain the composure of nobles. Their expressions changed with each battle, each fierce round of attack and defense. Sometimes they were surprised, sometimes confused, sometimes shocked.