To boost visual excitement and encourage young Trainers, the Challenge Tournament imposed an age limit of under 24.
Participants also had to be at least Provisional Professional Trainers.
The event would be live-streamed nationwide.
To drive viewership, the prizes were extremely generous:
Trainers who succeeded in the challenge could
choose any one Poké Egg from the League's vault
receive a 500,000-yuan cash reward
earn an official Professional Trainer Certificate
Normally, the Professional Trainer Certificate was only awarded to Trainers with at least one Gym-tier Pokémon.
Worth noting: the custom-choice Poké Eggs came directly from the Pokémon League's official egg reserve.
Many of these rules mirrored those of the National Youth League.
Charmeleon had been itching to fight after days of rest.
It was now Level 28 — just two levels away from Gym tier.
This tournament was the perfect chance!
Opening the age cap to 24 drew in amateur Trainers and college students alike.
That only made Lin Yu more excited.
Time flew. The tournament day arrived right on schedule,
held during the evening of the Spring Festival.
The venue was still Shuimu City's largest arena. Unlike last time, energy shields were fully activated —
Elite-stage Pokémon leaking energy could easily injure ordinary people!
As the name "Challenge Tournament" implied,
the opponents were none other than the four Gym Leaders of Shuimu City!
All were Intermediate Professional Trainers, each owning at least one Lord-tier Pokémon.
Frost Gym: Alolan Ninetales
Flora Gym: Venusaur
Aqua Gym: Primarina
Flame Gym: Charizard
Rumor had it the Flame Gym's strongest Pokémon wasn't always Charizard.
But during a Secret Realm crisis years ago,
the Gym Leader's original ace sacrificed itself stopping a massive Pokémon riot.
Now Charizard stood as his new strongest partner.
Of course, they wouldn't use their ace Pokémon against provisional trainers — that would be far too cruel.
Night fell.
Prime streaming time!
The usually quiet arena erupted with cheers.
Gym Leaders were, in a way, the city's spiritual icons.
The four sat at the front of the arena, and contestants could choose which to challenge first.
Lin Yu spotted Auntie Xue but didn't wave.
This was a formal challenge —
being seen as friendly with a Gym Leader could spark rumors of cheating.
The win condition: defeat three Gym Leaders.
Difficulty depended on which Pokémon each Leader sent out.
Thirty contestants in total.
Lin Yu avoided Auntie Xue and picked the other three Leaders.
Among the mostly college-aged Trainers, the young, green Lin Yu stood out sharply.
But that didn't mean he was unknown.
Many spectators in the stands and watching at home recognized him instantly.
After the last high-school tournament, no one had made a deeper impression than Lin Yu.
Those brilliant, explosive flames still lingered in everyone's minds —
breathtakingly beautiful and devastatingly powerful.
Even professional Pokémon Performers could rarely pull off moves that stunning.
In this world, all celebrities revolved around Pokémon.
"Lin Yu! I'm your mom-fan! Go, Xiao Yu!"
"God Yu! God Yu! Did your Charmeleon reach Elite stage already? That's insane!"
"He's only a freshman… and he's here? Unbelievable!"
The deafening cheers made fellow contestants glance over repeatedly.
The challenge order followed registration time.
Lin Yu was 27th — one of the last to sign up.
He'd barely made the cut.
Perfect for observing which Pokémon each Gym Leader would use!
The first challenger was a girl wearing hotpants even in winter, slim and striking.
Her first target: Auntie Xue.
Her Pokémon was a Fire-type Pignite, Level 27 — hence picking the Frost Gym first.
Strong, but the pairing felt like "beauty and the beast."
Auntie Xue sent out Froslass, Level 28.
Fire beats Ice… but not Ghost.
And Froslass had a far higher base stat total than Pignite.
The girl's face paled the moment she saw it.
Snow began fluttering from the sky, quickly covering the battlefield.
Ability: Snow Warning
Manipulates energy to change the weather.
"Pignite, Flare Blitz!"
"Dodge…"
The outcome was obvious.
Froslass won.
Pignite's flames were fierce, no question.
But it couldn't land a single hit.
Snow Warning + drifting snow + high heat
turned the snowy ground to slush, then to ice.
Pignite's Flare Blitz was neutralized instantly.
Hidden in the snow, Froslass moved like a ghost, striking with Shadow Ball again and again.
Pignite crumbled quickly.
The first challenger's fast defeat warned everyone left:
type advantage didn't guarantee victory.
The Gym Leaders on stage had terrifying battle experience.
Despite the warning, all six contestants on day one failed.
Only the last, with a Gym-tier Unfezant, won two rounds before falling to the Frost Gym.
By then, everyone realized:
the seemingly gentle Frost Gym was actually the hardest to beat.
Many groaned quietly —
most had picked the Frost Gym first, simply because the Leader was a beautiful, soft-looking woman.
The tournament lasted five days.
On day two, still zero successful challengers.
People began suspecting the League had set up a scam.
But the League quickly released a statement:
all four Gym Leaders were using Pokémon of similar level and tier to their opponents.
Public anger calmed, but doubts lingered.
That changed on day three,
when a challenger who skipped the Frost Gym finally succeeded.
The rumors vanished.
Everyone now understood:
avoiding the Frost Gym was the only path to victory.
With success rates this low, the crowd waited eagerly to see who would conquer the challenge…
or even dominate these pro Gym Leaders.
Day five.
February 4th.
An auspicious day.
Today, four Entries would refresh:
Daily, Monthly, Seasonal, and Half-Yearly!
Please, just one gold Entry…
Lin Yu started with the Daily Entry.
[Green Bound Entry (Self-Motivate):
For a short time, lower the opponent's Attack and raise your own Attack.]