Challenge Tower

To earn a Trainer title, a person had to take on a challenge at their local city's Challenge Tower. Victory would earn them official certification from the League and the corresponding title.

Since the Challenge Tower was quite far from Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, Zhang Cheng and Ye Tian looked for transportation.

Zhang Cheng had originally planned to take a taxi, but Ye Tian insisted on renting a Rapidash.

At Ye Tian's insistence, the two rented a Rapidash to ride there.

The cost of using a Pokémon for transportation was worlds apart from taking a taxi. Renting a Pokémon to reach the Challenge Tower cost one thousand Pokémon Coins, while a taxi would cost only two hundred.

Still, this taste of luxury really did feel pretty good. Was this what it felt like to be rich?

The Rapidash had been trained to be very docile. Once they climbed onto its back, they felt none of the burning heat they had imagined. Instead, the ride was extremely comfortable.

Following Ye Tian's directions, Rapidash galloped toward the Challenge Tower.

True to its name, the Challenge Tower was a tower-shaped building that looked distinctly out of place among the surrounding high-rises.

After arriving, the two headed straight inside. The tower's interior had a traditional style of decor.

They went to the registration desk and explained why they had come, then took out their Pokémon Pokédexes and handed them to the staff member to register.

The staff member asked them to wait a moment, then began working on the computer.

"All right, you can now enter rooms A1 and A2 on the left for your battles. Your respective examiners are inside," the staff member said, handing them two keycards.

Zhang Cheng and Ye Tian each took a keycard, then followed the staff member to their respective battle rooms.

Zhang Cheng chose the A1 Battle Room. Inside, a middle-aged man was seated, waiting.

"Are you a Trainer here for an assessment?" the middle-aged man asked, looking up at Zhang Cheng.

"Yes, I'm here for the Beginner Trainer Title assessment," Zhang Cheng replied calmly.

"Then let's begin." The middle-aged man pressed a button beside him. The floor quickly sank, and a battlefield rose from below.

Zhang Cheng already knew the rules, so he wasted no more words and sent out Poliwag.

"Come out, Poliwag!"

"Oh? You've raised this Poliwag quite well," the middle-aged man praised.

"You're too kind, sir," Zhang Cheng replied politely.

"In that case, you're up." The middle-aged man tossed out his Poké Ball.

As the Poké Ball opened, a yellow-and-white crab appeared on the battlefield. His opponent had sent out a Krabby.

Zhang Cheng opened the system and scanned Krabby's information:

Name: Krabby (level 10)

Gender: Male

Potential: D+

Type: Water

Held item: None

Basic moves: Vice Grip, Mud Sport, Leer, Bubble

Learned moves: None

Egg move: Haze

Ability: Shell Armor (Pokémon with this ability cannot be struck by critical hits, even by moves guaranteed to land a critical hit.)

Notes: Krabby, a crab that inhabits coastlines and averages 40 centimeters in height.

After reading through the information, Zhang Cheng gained a better understanding of the assessment.

The Pokémon sent out by Trainer examiners generally did not have particularly high potential. They were fairly ordinary Pokémon for their level.

If the Pokémon they used were too strong, most Trainers would never pass.

The battle began, and the opposing Krabby proved fierce, raising his large pincers as he charged at Poliwag.

Seeing Krabby rushing over aggressively, Poliwag quickly dodged. Speed was one of Krabby's weaknesses.

Krabby's most fearsome strength was his Physical Attack. With a base Physical Attack stat of 105, getting caught in his pincers could mean being knocked out in a single hit.

But that terrifying Physical Attack came at the cost of very low Special Defense. Water Gun and Bubble Beam could still deal substantial damage to Krabby.

After several failed attempts to attack with Vise Grip, Krabby decisively stopped his assault.

He then gathered power where he stood and launched a Bubble attack. Krabby's Bubble did little damage, but the move had a chance of slowing its target.

The middle-aged man was a highly seasoned Trainer. Attacking with Krabby's Vise Grip made full use of his strengths.

When those attacks failed, he quickly changed tactics, using Bubble to wear Poliwag down while lowering its speed.

Seeing Krabby use Bubble, Zhang Cheng stopped having Poliwag dodge.

At Zhang Cheng's command, Poliwag attacked with Bubble Beam, and both Pokémon's moves struck their opponents.

Poliwag's Bubble Beam was more powerful. Krabby staggered backward under the attack, clearly taking considerable damage.

By comparison, Poliwag fared much better, suffering only a minor injury.

As long as Bubble did not trigger its slowing effect on Poliwag, Krabby would struggle to land Vise Grip.

Poliwag understood this well. It had already accumulated plenty of combat experience in its previous battles.

Whenever Krabby moved to use Vise Grip, Poliwag immediately stopped attacking and dodged.

Whenever Krabby tried to wear it down with Bubble, Poliwag attacked him with Bubble Beam.

After a period of trading attacks, Krabby's health was nearly depleted. He hesitated no longer, charging straight at Poliwag and unleashing one final Vise Grip.

This was Krabby's desperate last stand, but Poliwag did not let its current advantage make it careless.

It continued keeping its distance from Krabby. When his pincers snapped shut on empty air, it used Water Gun to defeat him.

"Krabby is unable to battle. Congratulations to Challenger Zhang Cheng on earning the Beginner Trainer Title."

The announcement sounded from overhead in the battle room. Clearly, monitoring equipment watched every battle from start to finish, ensuring fairness and transparency. The League had done a very good job in that regard.

"Quite a few Trainers have lost to Krabby's pincers because they got careless. You're very talented. You're sure to achieve great things," the middle-aged man across from him remarked.

"You're too kind, sir. I'm only a novice Trainer, and I still have a long road ahead. No one can predict how things will turn out," Zhang Cheng replied modestly.

The middle-aged man smiled and gestured that Zhang Cheng could leave.

Zhang Cheng nodded to the middle-aged man, then walked out of the training room.

Once outside, Zhang Cheng saw no sign of Ye Tian. Presumably, he was still battling.

Zhang Cheng went back to the reception hall first, where a staff member entered his Beginner Trainer Title into his records.

Afterward, Zhang Cheng waited for Ye Tian in the rest area beside the battle rooms.