The day of the freshman representative battle arrived.
Roy reached the competition entrance on time and met Reece.
"Hey, how have you been preparing?" Reece patted Roy on the shoulder, glanced around to make sure no one was listening, and whispered: "I've gathered some information on the recommended students over the past few days. I'll send it to you later."
"Doing all the unnecessary things as usual," Roy smiled and gave him a blank look. Not bothering to be polite, he instead asked, "Where's your sister?"
"The Breeder major she enrolled in has a written test, so her exam room is different from ours." Reece smiled. In truth, a large portion of the information he'd collected came from Serena—the pretty girl had a much wider social circle.
Of course, he couldn't admit this to Roy or his sister would scold him to death.
"By the way, my sister asked me to tell you something..."
"She said, 'Good luck.'"
"Thanks." Roy smiled slightly. "I will."
The two chatted while waiting in line at the registration counter.
After ten minutes, they finally reached the front.
"Please show your student ID."
"Here."
Roy took out his student ID card, allowing them to enter his information.
"Name: Roy, Class 20 freshman, participating Pokémon: Riolu, Trainer ID: 976600. Please verify your information and confirm." The senior student handling registration showed a smile, though her eyes kept examining this student who had become a hot topic around campus.
Wow~ He looks even more handsome than in his photo.
Too bad he's going to get a harsh lesson in this tournament.
"The information is correct," Roy nodded.
"Here's the competition rulebook." After handing Roy the manual, the senior student smiled and pointed the way. "That's the contestants' passage, and your waiting room is the third door on the left... Good luck in the competition, freshman!"
"Thank you."
Roy responded politely before turning to leave.
"Next person."
As soon as Roy left, the senior student instantly dropped her smile as she dealt with Reece, who was next in line.
Reece, who was typically smooth with the ladies, had initially planned to ask for her number, but his hopes died instantly.
'This world that judges by appearance—if you're tired of it, destroy it!'
The Mu family had excellent genes, and Reece could never be called ugly. He even met most people's standards of handsome.
But appearance is always relative.
Female students understood this concept best. Beautiful girls always liked to bring their less attractive friends along to make themselves stand out.
Reece had never enjoyed the treatment of a handsome guy since he'd been hanging around Roy since childhood.
"Third door on the left..." Roy arrived at a room with 'Group F' on the door plate, swiped his student ID card, and entered.
Instantly, all eyes in the room turned toward him.
"Is that Roy?"
"Perfect, the little boy with the overconfident attitude. Let's see if I don't crush him."
"He has a Riolu anyway, don't underestimate him."
"Heh, a Pokémon's strength is only thirty percent natural talent and seventy percent the Trainer's skill... No matter how talented that Riolu is, with a Trainer like him, it's useless."
Roy completely ignored the deliberately loud discussions around him. He found a place to sit down but unexpectedly spotted a familiar face.
The other person also looked at him in astonishment.
Unlike the confident students around who wanted to defeat Roy, Callan was completely speechless.
Why did he have to be in the same qualifying group?
Just my luck.
It wasn't that he feared Roy—that would be unnecessary.
The Freshman Representative Tournament was divided into two stages: qualifiers and the main tournament.
The qualifiers were split into eight groups: A through H. Only the top two from each group would advance to the main tournament.
Recommended students enjoyed the privilege of being seeded players, with each group assigned at most one recommended student. Callan was the seeded player in Group F.
After yesterday's battle, Callan had recognized Roy as a rival of equal standing... Having such a formidable opponent in his group was terrible luck. Wouldn't this jeopardize his advancement?
Every year in the freshman representative competition, recommended students weren't guaranteed to win first place in their group. Upsets occasionally happened due to unusual tactics, type matchups, or genuine dark horses emerging...
For recommended students, finishing second in their group was like "doing poorly on an exam but still passing because your parents know the teacher."
Roy's presence meant one thing.
"Now that he's here, I can't afford any mistakes. Otherwise, I might not even advance."
While Callan was nervously contemplating the situation, the large screen in the waiting room lit up.
"Group F, first match of the first round..."
The two students whose names were called stood up, exchanged glances filled with determination, and left the waiting room.
Soon, a live video of their battle appeared on the screen.
The qualifying rounds had no audience.
Roy watched thoughtfully.
'Only people in the same group can see the results of the qualifiers...'
"But participants can use their phones freely, so information will leak anyway..."
"The ability to gather intelligence on opponents is also part of the assessment..."
Roy glanced at the battle—a contest that could only be described as two Rookies pecking at each other ineffectively. His expression conveyed complete disgust, like someone watching an annoying video on public transit.
He gave up on watching the match, took out his phone, and began reading the information Reece had sent him.
It wasn't until the fourth match that Roy's turn finally came.
His first opponent was a chubby guy wearing glasses who stood with his hands on his hips, looking at Roy with a sneer.
"Well, aren't I lucky."
Though not a recommended student, the plump trainer could barely be considered second-generation. His parents were both trainers but had failed to reach the 'professional level' threshold. While not comparable to true second-generation trainers, he was still confident about defeating someone from an ordinary background like Roy.
This match seemed straightforward, and the chubby trainer grabbed his Poké Ball.
"Go, Onix!"
"..."
Roy also threw his Poké Ball simultaneously but didn't shout dramatically like his opponent.
The gigantic rock serpent roared skyward with impressive presence.
Compared to Onix, Riolu's size was like a child standing before a sumo wrestler—small and seemingly vulnerable.
"Onix, Dragon Breath!"
Dragon energy began gathering and condensing in Onix's mouth.
Of course, Roy wouldn't foolishly wait for his opponent to complete the attack.
Besides, this Onix—
Its attack preparation was much too slow!
"Quick Attack!"
The moment Roy's command fell, Riolu leaped tens of meters with astonishing speed, shooting like lightning toward Onix's jaw!
"Hurry, dodge—"
The chubby trainer was so shocked he couldn't even finish his sentence when he witnessed an improbable scene.
BOOM!
Riolu collided with Onix's jaw, and despite the size difference like a mayfly attacking a tree, the rock serpent staggered and fell.
Dragon Breath, only half-formed, dissipated as Onix crashed to the ground.
"Rock Smash!"
Riolu landed lightly beside the fallen Onix. Before Roy could even finish his command, as if understanding his intentions perfectly, Riolu's right hand glowed with white light, gathering Fighting-type energy. In a flash, its arm swung down like lightning, striking Onix's head.
BOOM!
With a thunderous crash, Onix wailed in extreme pain. Its massive body dragged and rolled across the ground, kicking up waves of sand before being thrown completely out of the battlefield.
Three seconds later, the referee announced the result.
"Onix is unable to battle. The winner is Roy!"
In the waiting room, everyone except Callan wore the same shocked expression as the chubby trainer—eyes bulging and jaws practically hitting the floor.
Seconds... it only took seconds?!?