Li Xiang and Su Qian exited to the applause of the audience. The moment they entered the tunnel, their expressions didn't change, but they both let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, only to startle each other with the sound.
"Huh?"
"Senior?"
They spoke almost in unison.
But Su Qian couldn't help laughing first. She asked, "Ha, were you thinking, 'How is this senior who's been to two big tournaments not calm about this little scene?'"
Li Xiang scratched his face. "Uh..."
"I'm human too, Li Xiang. No matter how many times I participate, as long as I'm human, I'll react—to varying degrees. The only difference is whether I show it or not."
Su Qian's smile was as warm as ever. She patted his shoulder. "Don't underestimate or overestimate anyone—me, or anyone else."
"Alright, let's go. The coach is waiting for us at the exit."
With that, she strode forward.
Li Xiang opened his mouth, watching her back, but ultimately said nothing.
The pressure on Su Qian's shoulders was something he couldn't feel. No matter how you dressed it up, the fact that she had lost to Li Xiang was undeniable.
Taking away the title of "strongest" alone had little impact on her. Gossip didn't affect her much either.
But what she carried wasn't just the desire to win back her title. Doubles practice, singles practice, association rankings, honing her specialty, and the many responsibilities of being the team captain—they all weighed on her.
Holding that position meant she received far more attention than others. She had to repay that attention.
How well she fought, how she performed, whether she made small mistakes—all of it reflected not just on her, but on Mist City University's face and reputation.
Human energy is limited. Too many things piling up becomes pressure. And when pressures accumulate, no matter how small, they pile up like an artificial mountain, teetering on the edge.
So much so that even in her very first match against an opponent who usually lost in the first round, Su Qian, a seasoned veteran, couldn't help but feel nervous.
She didn't show it during the match; she performed normally, even exceptionally. But afterward, she couldn't help but secretly let out a heartfelt sigh of relief, like a student who had just finished a major exam.
If Li Xiang's perception weren't sharp enough, he might not have noticed.
Still, no matter how much pressure Su Qian carried, it wasn't his place to worry. She handled it well on her own.
During the match, she never wavered, sticking to their pre-match strategy from start to finish. Being able to do that already put her above ninety-nine percent of trainers.
Carrying a heavy burden without being shaken—that was Su Qian's shining quality, one that even failure couldn't obscure.
"I'm coming." Li Xiang responded and quickly caught up.
At the end of the player tunnel, amidst the hustle and bustle, the Mist City University students stood around, their faces filled with excitement.
Seeing the two emerge, they swarmed them with hugs and pats on the shoulders, as enthusiastic as fans meeting their idols.
Surrounded and cheered on, their commotion drew quite a bit of attention, as if welcoming a triumphant general home.
The reaction was a bit over the top, but understandable. Every point they won meant they were one step closer to the global stage. There was no such thing as "it doesn't matter if we lose a point or two." Every point was crucial.
Moreover, as the commentators had said, while this match wasn't particularly flashy, it had clearly demonstrated their strength to the outside world—steady and overwhelming.
Strength didn't have to be proven by one-shot kills. Making your opponents struggle desperately, think they've found a lifeline, only to realize there was no comeback path, only countless traps—one wrong step and the whole game was lost. Leaving that impression on others was also proof of strength.
To be honest, a newly formed team showing such excellent coordination in real combat was already remarkable. At least Coach Xu He was satisfied.
"Keep it up! Take the next round too!" He gave both their shoulders a firm pat.
"Mm!" They nodded in acknowledgment.
And with that, the morning's matches ended.
After a short lunch break, the first match of the afternoon would feature Zhao Jie and Lü Shu's team. Their match was on Court 3 against the Treasure Island team.
The two sisters weren't particularly lucky; they had drawn a team that had made it to the Autumn Tournament in doubles last year. In other words, a top-sixteen team.
Making it into the top sixteen in doubles was no small feat. They were formidable opponents, leagues above the "fodder" they'd faced in the previous match. There was no doubt it would be a tough battle.
Through their practice matches, Li Xiang already knew their strength well. Personally, he had confidence in the two sisters.
At lunch, arranged by the tournament organizers, the team's center of attention shifted from Li Xiang and Su Qian to Zhao Jie and Lü Shu. But to avoid putting pressure on them, everyone remained restrained, silently looking forward to their performance.
However, Zhao Jie and Lü Shu acted no different from usual—perfectly balanced mentally, even having the energy to pester Li Xiang, chattering away like two lively swallows.
They weren't specifically targeting him; it was just that Song Jie was afraid of them and avoided them, Gong Xu was neither familiar nor particularly cute, so the only easy-going one left was Li Xiang.
Chao? An upperclassman was out of the question.
A young, cute boy was more their style.
On his end, Li Xiang figured this was probably their way of relaxing. It was a bit odd, but much better than hiding in a corner trembling. So he let them be. It wasn't the first time anyway; he was already adept at handling these two.
And so, afternoon arrived. Zhao Jie and Lü Shu headed cheerfully to the battlefield.
The randomly assigned terrain was a grassland field—a stroke of luck. One specialized in Psychic types, the other in Poison types. Individually, neither was weak.
Over the past year, they had focused heavily on doubles, barely practicing singles. Even when they reached the age to compete in ranked battles, they hadn't bothered.
How would these two, so dedicated to doubles, perform in this new tournament? Li Xiang sat in the team's designated viewing area, quietly anticipating.
As usual, Zhao Jie and Lü Shu's playstyle leaned more toward the games.
What did that mean?
At the start, Zhao Jie's Hatterene landed, then immediately switched to bring out her male Meowstic, placing it in front of Lü Shu's Galarian Slowking, and used Magic Reflect.
With Prankster boosting Magic Reflect's priority, combined with Meowstic's already decent Speed, it successfully beat the opposing Skarmory's Taunt by a step.
The opponent outsmarted themselves.
Meanwhile, Lü Shu's Galarian Slowking successfully set up Trick Room, reversing the speed order.
Their coordination was excellent. It seemed they had predicted the opponent's strategy.
In fact, last year the sisters' most common opening was to field Hatterene and Galarian Slowking together, both ready to set up Trick Room depending on the situation.
The opponent, unable to prevent it and not bothering to try, opted to have Skarmory Taunt one of them and use Porygon2 to reverse the Trick Room.
That was a prediction, but Zhao Jie and Lü Shu had countered that prediction perfectly.
Moreover, Porygon2's clear backup plan gave Zhao Jie and Lü Shu an opening. Meowstic used Helping Hand, and Galarian Slowking unleashed Blast Burn, delivering pure brute force.
They had practiced this combo many times, so their execution was lightning fast.
Skarmory, retreating, couldn't dodge in time. Its teammate, in the middle of setting up Trick Room, used Rock Tomb spinning around to block, but severely misjudged Galarian Slowking's power.
Skarmory was one-shot.
In less than a minute, the first Pokémon was eliminated.
The violent attack duo sisters—that was their true nature.
The opponents actually knew them quite well, but they had put themselves on the back foot from the very start. They were too afraid of the sisters' Trick Room, too reliant on Taunt. That first step had cost them.
Once the opening collapsed, it was hard to recover.
The opponents' team composition was a poor match against the sisters'. One specialized in Normal types, the other in Steel types. While both had Dark-type Pokémon to counter Psychic types, they weren't very effective. Both were quadruple-weak to Fighting.
They were torn apart by Zhao Jie's Gallade. Out came Close Combat, one by one. Out came Brick Break, one by one.
And on top of that, the stat drops Gallade endured were restored by the Galarian Slowking swapping in and using its ability to heal its ally.
Its ability, Curious Medicine, restored its ally's stat changes.
Last year, the sisters had focused on a Spread Move strategy, with damage so high it was painful. The opponents had prepared a counter for that.
But this year, their tactics had changed too quickly, becoming a rain-based recovery style—Regenerator and Rain Dish—which proved exhausting to fight against.
The opponents were no pushovers. Otherwise, they couldn't have lasted over ten minutes and taken down two of the sisters' Pokémon, even if only through attrition.
But Zhao Jie and Lü Shu were just too resourceful. Last year, they had been relatively inexperienced, yet still made it to the semifinals, narrowly losing to Tiandu's team. That was a testament to their natural talent in doubles.
There was nothing more to say. The opponents had lost a fair fight.
Both teams advanced to the next round. In the first round of doubles, where half the teams were eliminated, this was a very impressive result.
After all, doubles had never been a monopoly of the Big Six.
Next up were Bai Xiang and Shen Qing's pair. Their opponents weren't the ace pair of the Yongzhou team either, so advancement shouldn't be too difficult.
And indeed, as he thought, Bai Xiang and Shen Qing successfully won their match.
Thus, all three of Mist City's doubles pairs advanced to the next round, securing a valuable three points.
Many people said that this year's Mist City had strong momentum and good luck.
Why luck?
Because one of Shanghai's doubles teams had been upset, drawn against Dragon City's ace doubles pair. They had managed to take down three of Dragon City's ace Pokémon, fighting tooth and nail to the end, but still couldn't turn the tide.
A real pity.
Losing that set led to rumors starting to spread that Shanghai's top-three position was in jeopardy, with Mist City University hot on their heels.