Class Assignments Underway

"The tournament will take place over two days. The preliminary round will be held this afternoon, and the Semifinals will be tomorrow. Once the battles are over, the school will assign you to classes based on your results."

"If there's anything you don't understand or have questions about, feel free to ask. I can answer them for you."

"Mr. Jin, what exactly is the battle format? Could you explain it ahead of time so we can prepare?" Class monitor Hao Chenggong immediately asked.

Their homeroom teacher, Jin Haoxian, was very patient with their questions. "For this afternoon's preliminary round, the forty students in our class will draw lots and battle in pairs. The twenty winners will advance to tomorrow's Semifinals."

"Tomorrow's Semifinals will have two rounds. In the morning, the twenty remaining students will battle to determine the top ten. In the afternoon, the final round will narrow those ten down to five," Jin Haoxian added.

"Also, once the final five spots have been decided, students who performed exceptionally well in earlier battles will have one chance to challenge someone in the top five. If they win, they'll take that person's spot."

After learning the rules, Zhang Cheng felt that the school's tournament was quite fair.

Adding a final challenge round gave students who had been eliminated after drawing overly strong opponents in the first two rounds another chance, making skill count for as much as possible and luck as little as possible.

If the second-strongest student in the class was unlucky enough to face the strongest in the first round, they would be eliminated straight away.

That made the school's rules very reasonable, giving capable competitors who had been knocked out through bad luck another opportunity.

Only battles within a school class could be this fair. In tournaments open to outside competitors, the draw really could decide a great deal.

Seeing that the students had no further questions, their homeroom teacher continued, "If there are no other questions, you're dismissed. Just gather at the school's Pokémon Training Ground at two o'clock sharp this afternoon."

After explaining everything, their homeroom teacher left the classroom.

Once he was gone, the classroom erupted into chatter, with students discussing the tournament in small groups.

"Zhang Cheng, I think the two of us are pretty much guaranteed to qualify. Who do you think has the best chance of taking the other three spots?" Ye Tian asked, patting Zhang Cheng on the shoulder.

"No idea. I barely even know what Pokémon they have. How would I know who'll qualify?" Zhang Cheng replied disinterestedly.

"You're no fun at all. Aren't you even a little curious about our classmates' Pokémon? I've been asking around about them lately," Ye Tian said in frustration.

Looking at the gossip-loving Ye Kai, Zhang Cheng said helplessly, "I'm not interested in that stuff. All I need to do is get stronger. If I'm strong enough, I won't have to worry about any of it."

"Fine, fine. If you don't want to guess, let me break it down for you," Ye Tian said enthusiastically. "I think our class monitor, Hao Chenggong, and our study representative, Wu Yueyue, are very likely to make the top five. The last spot will come down to everyone else's luck."

"Oh? How so?" Ye Tian's enthusiasm sparked a little interest in Zhang Cheng.

"From what I've heard, our class monitor has the only starter Pokémon in our class. His dad works at the League Center, and his family's pretty well-off. His starter Pokémon is a Fire-type Tepig," Ye Tian explained.

"With a starter Pokémon, he's practically got a spot reserved already. What Pokémon does our study representative have?" Zhang Cheng asked.

"Wu Yueyue has an Eevee. Absolutely adorable. I heard her Eevee is already level eight, two levels higher than the class average," Ye Tian explained to Zhang Cheng.

"What level is Hao Chenggong's Tepig, then? Do you know?" Zhang Cheng was more interested in information about Tepig. After all, Eevee wasn't much of a threat before evolving.

"I don't know that. I only know what his starter Pokémon is. I've never seen him send his Pokémon out, so I can't confirm its level," Ye Tian said helplessly.

Judging by the current state of their classmates' Pokémon, Zhang Cheng and Ye Tian should have no trouble making the top five.

Their Pokémon were far higher in level than those of their classmates, so neither felt much pressure about the upcoming class placement tournament.

After learning about their classmates, Zhang Cheng went to the No. 1 High School Cafeteria with Ye Tian for lunch.

Accustomed to his mother's cooking, Zhang Cheng found the cafeteria food a little hard to get used to. Still, away from home, he had no choice but to adjust. A few meals would do it.

With nowhere else to go after lunch, Zhang Cheng and Ye Tian headed straight to the Pokémon Training Ground.

The Training Ground at Jiangcheng No. 1 High School was roughly the same size as the Nanting Training Ground Zhang Cheng had visited before. The fact that a school had built such a large, dedicated facility showed how seriously it took raising Pokémon.

Each class's battle area had already been marked out inside the Training Ground. Following the signs, Zhang Cheng soon found his class's area and stood off to one side with Ye Tian, quietly waiting for the tournament to begin.

More and more students trickled into the Training Ground. The class placement tournament was about to begin.

However, the battle areas were separated from one another, so they couldn't check on the other classes for now.

"Zhang Cheng, Ye Tian, you two got here early!" After arriving at the Training Ground, class monitor Hao Chenggong walked over to them of his own accord.

"We had nothing to do after lunch, so we came early. Did you need something?" Zhang Cheng asked casually.

"Haha, come on. We're classmates. Isn't it normal to look out for each other? Once we're in the Elite Class, we should keep doing that. We'll all need time to adjust to a new environment, after all. One more friend means one more way forward," Hao Chenggong said with a cheerful smile.

"Oh? You sound pretty confident that we'll all get into the Elite Class," Zhang Cheng said mildly.

"Of course I have faith in you two. With your strength, making the top five in our class shouldn't be any trouble. I'll leave you to prepare. See you in the Elite Class." With that, Hao Chenggong walked away.

"Hao Chenggong's got some skills. He's already figured us out in advance. I wonder where he learned about our Pokémon," Ye Tian said, puzzled.

"Someone in his family probably works at the League Center. They keep records there, so if he has family connections, it's no surprise he could look this up," Zhang Cheng explained.

"As long as he doesn't mean us any harm, making another friend is a good thing. We might need help sometime down the line. For now, let's focus on the tournament," Ye Tian said with a shrug.