The next round

After quickly washing up, Zhang Cheng found Ye Tian. The two ate breakfast together, then headed toward their class's Training Ground.

Many students had already arrived at the battlefield. Although half of them had been eliminated, that did not stop them from watching the exciting matches and learning more about their classmates' Pokémon.

After they had waited a while, their homeroom teacher, Jin Haoxian, arrived at the battlefield.

As yesterday, matchups were decided by drawing lots. Unlike yesterday, today's lots were numbered from 1 to 20, and students who drew consecutive pairs of numbers would battle each other.

Zhang Cheng unexpectedly drew number 1 this time, while Ye Kai drew number 7.

Zhang Cheng took the field for the first match. His opponent's Pokémon was a level 5 Oddish, and Zhang Cheng sent out his Pidgey to battle.

Quite a few students cried out in surprise when they saw Zhang Cheng send out Pidgey. They had not expected anyone in their class to have already caught a second Pokémon.

Most rookie Trainers had spent their summer vacation learning about and training their first Pokémon, leaving them with little energy to catch any others.

Pidgey had both a type advantage over Oddish and a considerably higher level, so the victory came easily. After the battle, Pidgey also reached level 7.

The opponent Ye Tian faced next was a trainer who used Geodude. With his Pokémon's level advantage, Ye Tian also won easily.

The spots in the afternoon's second stage, the Semifinals, were soon all decided. Class president Hao Chenggong and academic representative Wu Yueyue both advanced without trouble.

Just as Ye Tian had said, two days of observation showed that the four of them had the higher-level, stronger Pokémon in Class Five.

Barring any surprises, four of the top five spots were already as good as decided.

After a quick lunch, Zhang Cheng returned to the battlefield and quietly waited for the afternoon matches to begin.

The afternoon matchups were also decided by drawing lots, once again using numbered slips.

By a lucky coincidence, Ye Tian, Zhang Cheng, Hao Chenggong, and Wu Yueyue all drew different matchups.

Zhang Cheng had thought he might face a tough battle that afternoon, but they had all managed to avoid one another perfectly. That made securing a place in the top five practically a breeze.

Zhang Cheng's opponent that afternoon had a Sentret that had already reached level 7. Its level was indeed considerably higher than most of their classmates' Pokémon, so its advancement to the second stage was no surprise.

This opponent was a little stronger than those he had faced in the previous two rounds, but still did not give Zhang Cheng much trouble. He sent out Poliwag, who defeated the opposing Sentret after several exchanges and successfully reached level 10.

Making it into the top five earned him a reward of twenty thousand Pokémon Coins. Zhang Cheng was quite pleased with that reward, since Pokémon Coins were what he needed most right now.

Zhang Cheng currently had forty thousand Pokémon Coins on hand. Adding the school's twenty-thousand-coin reward brought his total to sixty thousand Pokémon Coins, and he planned to buy a move for Poliwag to learn.

Poliwag currently had few attacking moves, so Zhang Cheng intended to choose a suitable move for Poliwag to learn.

Zhang Cheng spent the remaining time in the spectator area, waiting for the other matches to finish. He could not leave early yet, since there would be a challenge round after the battles ended.

Still, no one was likely to challenge him. Judging by the current situation, no one would challenge Ye Tian, the academic representative, or the class president either. The only likely target was the lucky person who claimed the final spot.

The results soon came in. Just as Zhang Cheng and Ye Tian had predicted, the academic representative and the class president secured spots alongside the two of them.

The final spot went to a trainer who used Machop. During the subsequent challenge round, the Numel trainer who had previously lost to Hao Chenggong chose to challenge Machop.

Unfortunately, the challenge ended in defeat. After battling over the past two days, Machop had broken through to level 8 and narrowly defeated Numel, securing the final place in the Elite Class.

With that, the entire class placement tournament was over. Once the places were confirmed, their homeroom teacher, Jin Haoxian, submitted the roster.

"Everyone, you all put on wonderful performances over these past two days. Keep working hard when you enter your new classes and settle into your new surroundings. I have high hopes for all of you," Jin Haoxian told his students, his voice full of emotion.

The students were still caught up in the excitement of the matches. Suddenly hearing their homeroom teacher's words, they all grew downcast. They knew it was time to say goodbye to him.

The girls went up one after another to hug their homeroom teacher goodbye, and he kept comforting them.

Once everyone had calmed down a little, their homeroom teacher approached the five students who had advanced to the Elite Class. He explained how to collect their rewards, offered them some words of encouragement, then left the Training Ground.

To collect the twenty-thousand-Pokémon-Coin reward for winning the tournament, they only needed to register at the school's finance office and present their student identification.

Their homeroom teacher had barely left when Ye Tian eagerly dragged Zhang Cheng to the school's finance office. After registering their information, they collected their rewards of twenty thousand Pokémon Coins.

"The school was really generous this time. Twenty thousand Pokémon Coins just for a class tournament! I hope we get more opportunities like this," Ye Tian said excitedly.

Zhang Cheng rolled his eyes. "Do you think the school's stupid? Why would they hand out Pokémon Coins for no reason? Only a small number of students can get those rewards."

"Maybe I'm one of that small number. Haha!" Ye Tian said smugly.

Whenever Ye Tian acted like this, Zhang Cheng could not be bothered with him and simply headed toward the school gates.

"Hey, hey! Where are you going? Are you heading out to celebrate getting your reward?" Ye Tian hurriedly asked as he watched Zhang Cheng walk toward the gates.

"Celebrate, my foot. I'm going out to buy a Technical Machine to improve Poliwag's fighting strength," Zhang Cheng said as he walked.

"That's a good idea. I was planning the same thing, actually. Let's go take a look together. My Butterfree doesn't have any egg moves, so I've been thinking about buying a Technical Machine!" Ye Tian said, jogging over to Zhang Cheng's side.

"Sure, let's go take a look together, then. I still don't know how much Technical Machines cost. If they're too expensive, I'll have to forget it," Zhang Cheng said helplessly.

"Oh, don't worry about that yet. Let's check out the move shop first. Starting tomorrow, we won't be allowed off campus, so let's make the most of the chance to get out while we can," Ye Tian said, pushing Zhang Cheng along.