Chapter 783: Chapter 677 The First Battle of Great Interest_2
Rainbow Arena is live, and Zhou Ying, holding a microphone, switches the view to the center of the arena, "Hello everyone, this is Zhou Ying. Now, under the leadership of Captain Fang Yuan, all members of both teams have stepped onto the field for the handshake. Once the handshake is completed, we will enter the countdown to the match!"
Under the gaze of audiences from over a dozen countries, members of the China National Team and the Egyptian team shake hands in turn. Before Fang Yuan is a tall and burly young man with dark circles under his eyes, exuding a strong presence. But in terms of presence, Fang Yuan has never lost. Just with a handshake, the Captain of the Egyptian team, Saeed, starts to feel uneasy.
After their eyes clashed, he felt an enormous pressure from Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan smiles, and at this moment, the other four members also finished their handshakes. Fang Yuan's gaze moves from Egypt's Captain Saeed to another young man with sunken eyes…surprisingly, the former second team Captain has actually made it into the first team.
Egypt's Cairo also notices Fang Yuan's gaze but remains silent.
If it were other countries, they might have prepared some trash talk, but facing China's Second Team, they dare not get ahead of themselves.
As the players each return to their spots, the Referees also take their positions. There are five Referees for each match, coming from five different countries, all of them at least Master Level Trainers with a wealth of experience.
"Damn it." Suddenly, Shang Ren speaks up from the player's bench.
He looks at an opposing player, shakes his hand out, clearly displeased.
"That guy with the short hair, purposely creating a scene, his handshake was ridiculously strong."
"Don't let me encounter him."
"You probably won't have to." Tang Xinlan quietly says.
"Yeah, exactly." Fang Yuan says with a laugh.
Upon hearing this, Shang Ren's face turns dark as he abruptly remembers this detail.
For the individual battles, three matches, and for team battles, two matches, there's a total of five battles, the sequence for China's side is Fang Yuan, Tang Xinlan, Mu Fan, Zheng Hongyi, Shang Ren.
As for how they arranged the sequence of the battles…well...it was done by drawing lots.
If they win all four matches straight, that's a direct 8 points. More than half the points are secured; it's not just about winning the bouts. Shang Ren's team battle wouldn't even be necessary.
"Damn." Upon realizing this, Shang Ren feels stunned.
Being drawn for the last match in this type of one-sided battle… it seems he really won't get to play.
Even if the China Team becomes the regional Championship winner, at most there would only be four battles… Now, one match is gone already, Shang Ren feels like chopping off his hand.
Fang Yuan has no time to sympathize with Shang Ren as he starts giving the last reminders before the match.
"Don't take this lightly, the first battle is very important. Apart from the finals, it's the match with the highest viewership, we must show our fighting spirit."
"..." Shang Ren.
You all show your fighting spirit, which means you're determined not to give me a chance to play.
"Understood!" "Got it." "Received!" Mu Fan, Zheng Hongyi, and Tang Xinlan are all very cooperative, eagerly nodding their heads.
"Of course, according to the data and the opponent's past records, their strength won't be excessively strong. We also need to conserve our strength appropriately and not reveal our trump cards too soon, or else it will be difficult to play later on." Fang Yuan then advises.
As soon as Fang Yuan finishes speaking, the four others are startled. What do you actually want, for us to show our spirit or to conserve our strength?
Just give us a straight answer.
Fang Yuan said, "What I mean is, try to deploy the weakest Pokemon, and then aim for a one-versus-six situation. This way, we've shown our presence while also hiding our strength."
Shang Ren, Tang Xinlan, Mu Fan, Zheng Hongyi: ???
Are you even human?
Feel sorry for the Egyptian team for a second.
...............
As the countdown came to an end, the time for the official match grew closer. With that, the gigantic screen inside the Rainbow Arena displayed the national flag of Egypt, adorned with a golden emblem, on one side, and the Five-star Red Flag of Hua Nation on the other.
In between the shimmering national flags, the bold and energetic white letters "VS," reminiscent of dragons dancing in flight, appeared.
Right below the flags were the upper body photos of the players from both sides. Beneath the Five-star Red Flag was a picture of Fang Yuan wearing the national team's uniform. Despite looking handsome as always in the photo, Fang Yuan shook his head silently, thinking it was truly uncreative to be permitted only to wear the team uniform for the shot.
Fang Yuan had thought about emulating Dr. Kukui from the Sun and Moon anime, taking a picture with his researcher coat open—adding to his Pokemon Doctor identity would surely escalate his cool factor!
If that wasn't possible, even donning a duckbill cap, holding the brim, and taking a cool shot would be better than this one. The classic pose of putting on airs in red was quite handsome.
For China's side, Fang Yuan would be the first to go, while for Egypt, their only female Trainer, Hera, was up first.
At this point, there was already a slight change in Hera's expression among the Egyptian team's players...
The Egyptian team had guessed that the China Team aimed to take the lead with a strong player first, so they chose Hera, who was relatively weaker, to go up against them. And indeed..., she was up against the Captain of the China Team right from the start.
"Do your best, Hera, and be careful of that special trick Milotic has that I told you about," Cairo, who had battled against Fang Yuan before, warned. One must be careful of Milotic's powerful moves.
"Don't feel pressured," Team Captain Saeed said. "The other side might not use their full strength. By taking advantage of their underestimation, you have a hope for a reversal..."
They didn't expect Hera to defeat Fang Yuan, but if she could briefly overpower the Captain of China's Second Team, the World Pokémon Doctor, it would still be an extremely honorable feat.
"Leave it to me." After a moment of silence, Hera fully rallied her fighting spirit. She was one of the Pyramid Masters among the hundred fighting Pyramids in Egypt, and no opponent could make her cower, no matter who they were!
As Fang Yuan and Hera both walked towards the central battlefield, the audience erupted with intense cheering.
Amidst the noise, there were also many serious gazes. Teams from countries such as Thailand, Israel, and Portugal had naturally come to the scene.
They were observing the first match in order to gauge the strength of their upcoming opponents!
The data each country had collected on players from other nations were, more or less, incomplete, or had been outdated for a long time. Hence, the strengths showcased by the Trainers in this official match were invaluable information. Even missing a minor tactical detail could jeopardize their country's chance of victory.
"The first match is between Fang Yuan of our Hua Nation and Hera from Egypt. Everyone is certainly familiar with Fang Team; he is the Captain of China's Second Team, The Fifth King! In addition, Fang Team is this year's Ron Award winner, one of the greatest Researchers in Hua Nation. Let me just whisper, I am also a fan of Doctor Fang Yuan—how can there be such a perfect young man?" the reporter Zhou Ying from the Rainbow Arena tirelessly expressed her admiration for Fang Yuan to the audience from Hua Nation.
"As far as I know, Pokemon battling is just a hobby for Doctor Fang, yet even so, he has powerful strength, securing the title of The Fifth King. His opponent is one of the Masters of the Fighting Pyramids, among the hundred in Egypt. She's one of the few strong female figures in Egypt, holding the name of Female Fighting God and specializing in Fighting Attribute."
"Next, let's watch the battle together~~"
While Zhou Ying introduced the scene live, the TV host Wei Tianlong repeated the information, and soon, the national audience had a clear understanding of the upcoming battle.
Fang Yuan is amazing—a top-level Researcher at just 20 years old, a World Pokémon Doctor, and most importantly, even his "hobby" of Pokemon battling has led him to achieve the title of The Fifth King. He's nothing short of a prodigy.
And Fang Yuan's opponent, Female Fighting God Hera, is also incredibly strong, the Egyptian Fighting King. This match is sure to be exhilarating.
"Egyptian Fighting King?" Xu Haoran, seated in the special section for Hua Nation, looked towards the woman with brown long hair and let out a light laugh. The title Female Fighting God sounded grand, but Fang Yuan was a monster capable of taking on the Japanese Dragon King all by himself—this match held no suspense to those in the know.
However, to audiences around the world, it was different. The majority of these viewers were not Trainers, with those who were largely being amateurs or Ordinary Trainers. They had little concept of Pokemon strength; their pursuit was the visual sensation of the battle, and analyzing the strengths of each side relied almost exclusively on the reputation and past honors of the Trainers.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone