He knows Pokémon better than me

Really new town.

A few figures were already standing at the entrance of the town, with backpacks on their backs and complete equipment. They couldn't help but look back at the whole Zhenxin Town, letting the breeze blow over their cheeks.

"It's finally time to go..."

Xiaozhi rubbed the cheeks of the electric mouse lying on his shoulder, his eyes sparkled with excitement and nervousness.

The one-month special training time is fleeting, and now is the time to start.

"Pickup!"

Pikachu jumped directly on Xiaozhi's head, stood on the latter's red and white hat, and swallowed mountains and rivers.

After a month of training, Pikachu's body has now returned to the body of a normal electric mouse, instead of the thick fat a month ago, his movements are vigorous and powerful.

Standing beside Xiaozhi are his eternal good friends Xiaogang and Xiaoxia, and his temporary best friend, the photographer Archer. At this moment, everyone is about to leave Zhenxin Town and go to the venue of the Quartz Conference— — Quartz Plateau.

His fellow countryman, Xiao Lan, who was also going to attend the Quartz Conference, was going to travel with them, but the latter left a note two weeks ago and slipped away early.

And Xiaomao left Zhenxin Town early, only jumping around on the vast land.

It can be said that Xiaozhi is the only one who is still training silently in Zhenxin Town. As Chi said, he has gone through a long journey and faced many opponents. The process of experience is very important.

However, Dr. Oki, his mother Hanako and other relatives and friends in Zhenxin Town are holding back for the time being, planning to go to the Quartz Plateau after someone reaches the top 16 results.

The matches before the top 16 were all played on the fancy arena around the outside, and in the top 16, all the matches will be concentrated in the main arena of the Quartz Conference.

If you go now and find that none of the trainers in Zhenxin Town have advanced to the top 16, it will be Dr. Oki who will be embarrassed by then.

"Come on, the future is bright!"

Dr. Damu just patted him on the shoulder, indicating that Xiaozhi can leave Zhenxin Town first.

...

"By the way, I had a dream recently."

Thinking of Dr. Oki's top 16, Xiao Zhi suddenly said a word, which also attracted the interest of others.

Xiaozhi put Pikachu on the ground, took a deep breath, and slowly told what happened in the dream.

"I dreamed that I participated in the Quartz Conference, and I made it to the top 16 smoothly..."

Usually the dream is not remembered clearly after waking up, but the strange thing is that this time the dream is still very clear even after waking up, as if it really happened before.

In the dream, he even relied on the giant claw crab to start a series of threes, which Xiaozhi couldn't accept. He thought that the person who put the giant claw crab on the bench this time was to help everyone shout and cheer Cheerleading Crab.

"Isn't that nice?"

"Debuting in the top 16, the future is already promising."

Seeing the puzzled expressions of his friends, Xiaozhi waved his hands and continued:

"The problem is that in the round of 16, my opponents were weird..."

In the dream, I couldn't see the face clearly, but Xiaozhi remembered that it was a boy who also wore a peaked cap, and also used Pikachu, Yusanjia, and Ba Dadie, which he also had Pokémon.

The smell is even more familiar, like...

"Am I playing against myself?"

Yes, it was like fighting against another self.

Everyone: "?"

What kind of riddle is this?

But seeing Xiao Zhi's thoughtful expression, Xiao Gang just patted the former's shoulder, expressing that he was too nervous.

"This may be a demon."

"Demon?"

"That's right, everyone may have demons at every stage, and the most common demon is our own shadow."

This was Xiaozhi's first meeting challenge, and it was reasonable to be so nervous that demons appeared.

But with Xiaozhi's strength at the moment, the top 16 is too much, and he even thinks that the top 4 is basically stable.

The premise is not to meet the royal masked man in advance.

Recently, it has been officially announced in the news that the royal masked people will participate in this quartz conference, and the king will come to the fish pond to fry fish.

If you meet him in advance, you can already start preparing for activities in your circle of friends, and switch to buying some purchasing agents for the Quartz Conference...

...

But not only Xiaozhi, the dream also appeared in Chi's mind connected to his soul, and even in the dream, he saw farther than Xiaozhi.

He saw that demon's face, which was actually not similar to Xiao Zhi, but in terms of the aura it gave off, it was strangely similar, as if this was the second Xiao Zhi.

Xiaozhi's dreams are generally not deceiving, and they all carry magical meanings, Chi did not regard them as meaningless dreams.

He remembered that the last time he had a dream was in Nibi City. In Xiaozhi's dream, he traveled for 20 years, but Xiaozhi never became the champion.

And in that dream, there was no Chi.

He even suspected that if he hadn't possessed Xiaozhi, maybe this was the latter's path...

"hiss..."

Chi couldn't help shivering. He hasn't won the championship for 20 years. This is something he can't accept...

But this time, it was Xiaozhi's second dream, dreaming of another Xiaozhi.

But when it comes to Xiaozhi, it seems that something is missing...?

"What's missing?"

Chi struggled for a long time, until now he finally figured out what the second Xiaozhi in the dream was less than Xiaozhi himself.

Protagonist halo.

The world chooses to revolve around Ash from this real new town, not another Ash.

The same is true for one's own possession.

Chi even has a special intuition that at this Quartz Conference, they can meet the second Xiaozhi...

...

In reality, it's really a small hill outside the new town.

"Hmph, that's all for the top 16, this time I can at least make it to the top 8!"

Xiaozhi secretly clenched his fists and shouted in a low voice, trying to forget this weird dream.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the words fell, the ground suddenly began to vibrate inexplicably, as if something terrible had happened.

But the magnitude is not strong, and may only have an earthquake intensity of magnitude 2 to 3.

"Is there an earthquake? Strange, Zhenxin Town is not at the junction of the continental plates, right?"

Xiao Gang couldn't help frowning.

Since leaving Honglian Island, after knowing that the group of geologists in Nibi City had cheated Honglian Island, Xiao Gang has also started to supplement geology. According to common sense, Zhenxin Town should not earthquake.

Soon, the shock ended, causing no harm to Bobo flying in the sky.

"Smell..."

Xiaozhi sniffed sharply, maybe the others couldn't smell, but he could smell something in the air at the moment.

It was a smell similar to gunpowder and sulfur, very familiar, as if he had smelled it somewhere before.

"It seems to be the smell we smelled on Red Lotus Island...?"

After the words fell, the three of Xiaozhi were shocked at the same time, their eyes widened, and they exclaimed in unison:

"Wait, how many days has it been since we left Red Lotus Island?!"

Archer: "?"

What kind of riddle is this?