บท 125: Chapter 122

Alex decided not to watch the rest of the preliminary round because it wasn't interesting to watch. It was either a single strong Machop dominating the other, or a bunch of weak Machop whaling on each other. It was entertaining to watch for the first few times, but after watching hundreds of rounds, it quickly got boring.

Alex instead thought of relaxing with Machop and getting some warmup exercises done in the meantime.

The Machamp festival would be on for three days, where the first day was the preliminary rounds for Machoke and the entire Machop tournament.

After a significant amount of time, Alex got notified by the app he downloaded for the festival that the preliminary rounds had ended, and the 256 selected contestants would participate in the 1v1 knockout stages soon. There were also some 20 'seeded' contestants that were specially marked and advertised by the sponsors as likely winners. While the draw and matches were random, it was arranged so that the seeded contestants would not meet at least before the top 32.

Alex wasn't a seeded contestant, but that was to be expected, seeing that he wasn't known at all to the local population, and to those that did know, his Machop had barely broken the mid Novice stage bottleneck. They couldn't have guessed that he had fed Machop some rare treasures that could boost it to the peak of the Novice stage within the day.

As Alex was looking at the seeded trainers, he saw one that seemed familiar. Machop next to him gave a growl.

"Is this the guy you met before? The one who said you weren't talented enough?" asked Alex.

Machop nodded. Alex looked at his details.

Gregory Hans, 17 years old. From Slateport City in the Hoenn region. Specialist in Fighting type Pokemon. Known to known several Fighting type Elites. One of the favourites to win the tournament. These were the details in the profile for the guy.

Alex then texted Nathaniel, asking if he knew of Gregory Hans.

"Gregory Hans is a very strong trainer, and he has some big backing in the Hoenn region. Not much is know about him though. He was goaded into catching a Machop and participating in the tournament by another favourite to win the tournament, Scrigor Scrimmage. Scrigor is a local, a bit arrogant, but a decent trainer. He lost to Gregory in a fight, and goaded him into joining the tournament. Gregory for his part, not only accepted, but caught a strong Machop and rose to become a tournament favourite. The winner is expected to come from among them" texted Nathaniel.

Alex thanked him, and checked out Scrigor's profile in the app. It also listed him as 11 years old, Fighting type expert, son of a former Machamp Festival winner, and had a powerful Machop as his starter.

"Welcome to the knockout round of the Machop tournament! Earlier today 256 Machop have valiantly fought for a place on stage right now! And soon, all of them will be fighting for the honour of being the strongest Machop! A warm welcome to all the participants, trainers, and audience who are here to witness what I am sure will be an amazing tournament" said the emcee on stage, as he announced the start of the knockout rounds.

The lots for the first round were drawn by the organisers without the involvement of the participants. They had set it semi randomly, such that the stronger competitors would face each other for the next three rounds. After winning three fights, the Machop would advance to the top 32, and the lots would be redrawn, this time with trainers participating.

Alex watched a few of the fights in the first round. But he quickly lost interest, because, with the help of the organisers, no truly powerful Machop faced each other. It was always a mediocre Machop that faced a much stronger one, and the fights ended quickly in a one sided manner.

As Alex was waiting, the announcer who could be heard over the loudspeakers said, " Number 1312 and Number 678 please ascend the arena"

"Well, that's us. Let's go Machop" said Alex, as he started walking towards the arena.

"Machop!" yelled Machop as it followed closely behind him.

Alex ascended the arena and stood in the trainer's section. Machop strode into the middle of the arena and waited. Shortly after, a young boy came into the arena, stood in the participant box opposite, and threw a Pokeball into the arena. The Pokeball spawned a Machop.

"Go Machop!" yelled the boy.

"Let the match begin!" yelled the officiator.

"Machop, advance and use Karate Chop!" yelled the boy. The opposing Machop leapt at Alex's Machop, with its hands glowing with the Fighting type energy of Karate Chop.

"Dodge, and fell it with Low Sweep" said Alex.

Alex's Machop effortlessly dodged and swept its leg towards the opposing Machop. The opposing Machop stumbled.

"Now, finish it off! Use Brick Break on its head" said Alex to Machop.

"Dodge it" yelled the boy nervously, as Machop raised its hand, prepared to land a devastating Brick Break. The opposing Machop tried to move out of the way, but failed to do so as it was too close to Alex's Machop, and was half probe on the ground due to the Low Sweep. The Brick Break landed directly on the opposing Machop's head.

"Machop!" yelled the boy concerned.

The opposing Machop tried to get up, but stumbled and fell, and laid down with circles in its eyes.

"Number 678 is unable to battle. The winner is Number 1312" declared the officiator.

Alex praised Machop, and under the disappointed gaze of his opponent, walked out of the arena.