Chapter 33: Rule Research
The main competition matches were significantly more formal than the preliminary selections.
The entire open-air stadium was dedicated to a single field at the center, surrounded by camera positions.
There were floor-standing cameras fixed around the field, and also mobile cameras suspended in the air by Magnemite, capturing the entire field from all directions without blind spots.
In addition to this, a professional judge was stationed at the edge of the field, instead of just staff members casually filling the role like in the preliminary selection.
Despite being only a semi-professional event, the Golden Autumn Cup did a decent job in preparing for the main competition, making Arthur feel the sense of ceremony inherent in the sport of Pokémon competition for the first time.
Before the match, both sides had to come to the center of the field to bow and touch fists, and confirm their condition to the judge.
Then, both trainers returned to the square commanding platforms at their respective ends of the field.
The main competition had more formal procedures, and even the field was upgraded—
A one-and-a-half-meter-high railing was added around the rectangular field to clearly define the boundaries;
The field was no longer just monotonous hard soil but had half of its area partially sandy and half covered with grass. In addition, there were several man-sized boulders and a small pool of water.
Finally, at each end of the field, commanding platforms about three square meters in area and two meters high were added. Players could stand on these platforms to have a better view of the battle.
When both players were ready on their commanding platforms, the judge waved his hand to signal.
"Next, please send out your Pokémon simultaneously after hearing the first whistle. Deliberate delays will be considered a technical foul."
The main purpose of this was to restrict participants with multiple Pokémon, not allowing them to intentionally delay sending out their Pokémon and then choose theirs to counter the opponent's Pokémon's type advantage.
This rule was passed down from higher-level events, but in reality, it rarely came into play in the semi-professional arena.
Because in the amateur circuit, few people own multiple main Pokémon...
The whistle blew.
Arthur, as always, sent Froakie onto the field.
And the Pokémon that Darren sent out was Farfetch'd.
A Pokémon that resembled a toy rubber duck in appearance, and mostly carried a leek as a weapon.
It's worth mentioning that like Geodude, Farfetch'd also has two varieties with completely different types. Darren's Farfetch'd had gray feathers, a lighter color, and seemed to be the more common Normal and Flying type.
The other variety of Farfetch'd is a pure Fighting type.
Seeing that one side sent out Farfetch'd, the judge specifically emphasized a rule before declaring the start.
"Special reminder: Farfetch'd is subject to Rule 12 of the standard competition rules. They are allowed to carry the leek as a companion weapon for battle in all level events, but only one leek is allowed. If the leek is broken or falls out of the field, it cannot be replaced or replenished before the end of the round, otherwise, it will be considered a technical foul. Do both sides understand?"
The judge mainly looked at Darren.
"Understood," he replied calmly.
He wasn't the first day bringing Farfetch'd to battle, and he had heard the relevant rules countless times.
But at the same time, Arthur on the other side slightly raised an eyebrow without showing any expression.
Unlike Darren, he had really not heard about this derived rule before.
Before participating, he mainly understood the basic rules of Pokémon competition. He really didn't have time to carefully review the derived rules regarding individual Pokémon.
After all, there were too many of these rules, and they were too detailed. Many rules might not even be used once or twice a year, and they all involved uncommon Pokémon.
For example, Rotom, who Arthur had seen at the training center before, had at least two or three pages, four or five hundred words of derived rules.
This was because possessing appliances was Rotom's inherent ability. Completely prohibiting this ability would greatly weaken this Pokémon's combat power, which goes against the spirit of fair competition.
But at the same time, complete freedom was definitely not allowed. Otherwise, for the sake of winning, players might even bring military electromagnetic cannons onto the field. Given the influence of the current T1-level leagues, if there were no restrictions, someone might actually do it.
So, the types, energy consumption, and materials of the appliances that Rotom could use were clearly defined in the derived rules.
These were written in the derived rules.
After all, the rules of a world-class competitive sport must be clear and explicit, and there can be no ambiguity!
The purposes of other derived rules were similar, all targeting specific Pokémon, and the content was too numerous and miscellaneous.
Arthur really couldn't read them all at once.
So it was the first time he had heard about the restrictions on Farfetch'd's leek.
But soon, it seemed like he thought of something because of this, but his face remained unchanged, and he didn't say anything.
"Understood," he replied briefly in the same tone.
Then the referee nodded, raised a red flag high with one hand, and blew the second whistle.
This meant the match officially started!
Darren didn't say a word while standing on the commanding platform, but at the same time, Farfetch'd took the initiative to approach, his short legs rushing towards Froakie!
This lightning-fast speed obviously subverted the racial image of Farfetch'd as a short-legged bird.
Because at this moment, he was using a move.
Psychic-type move: Agility!
Arthur on the other side raised his eyebrows again.
"Retreat, Smokescreen."
As always, he followed his habit and spoke the commands.
On the other hand, Darren still said nothing.
The Farfetch'd on the field jumped back repeatedly, breaking through the spreading Smokescreen, then raised his leek and began to dance on the spot.
Move: Swords Dance!
A Normal-type buff move, using sword dance to ignite one's momentum, thereby increasing the damage of physical attacks.
Arthur immediately responded.
"Quick Attack!"
Froakie obeyed and quickly charged out of the smoke, crashing into the dancing Farfetch'd.
And once again, Farfetch'd, with his trainer silent, actively abandoned "Swords Dance" and raised his leek to block Froakie's swift collision.
In the official live stream, the commentator pointed out, "We can see that Mr. Darren is very experienced in matches, completely abandoning his personal habit. All commands were given telepathically."
After several rounds of offense and defense, Arthur naturally noticed this.
The opponent's silence was not accidental, but consistent.
This wasn't something to criticize. The main way trainers communicate with Pokémon is through the psychic link provided by the Poké Ball. They don't necessarily have to shout out commands like in parallel world anime.
Most of the time, verbally giving commands is just a personal habit.
Humans, by nature, lack telekinesis. Compared to silent telepathic communication, most people are more accustomed to using language to communicate.
But this was just a habit, with no additional benefits or necessity.
So Arthur only raised an eyebrow at the opponent's silent commands and didn't pay much attention to it after that.
But—
The next moment, after Farfetch'd blocked Froakie's "Quick Attack," the silent Darren suddenly spoke.
But what he said had nothing to do with commands.
Instead, he sneered derisively, "Heh, is that all you've got?"
"?"
Arthur was momentarily stunned, unsure if he should respond.
In that brief moment, Farfetch'd quickly swung his leek, almost hitting Froakie solidly.
Compared to the momentarily stunned Arthur, the commentators on the official live stream were much more experienced, and they commented with a cheerful smile, "Ha, we can hear from the live audio that Mr. Darren is starting to use trash talk. We all know that Mr. Arthur is still a rookie, so I wonder if his mentality will be affected?"
This kind of behavior had never happened in the preliminary selections.
Arthur glanced at the referee in less than half a second and found that the referee didn't react at all.
So he realized: this kind of interference was undoubtedly allowed by the rules.
Combined with the derived rules he had learned earlier, he realized for the first time: he seemed to have indeed lacked dedication to the research on competition rules in addition to Pokémon training.
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