To the left of the waterfall stood a gate leading to a sightseeing elevator built against the cliff behind it. The smooth cliff face had clearly been polished by human hands.
A small marketplace lay in front of the gate. Its most eye-catching feature was a Pokémon Center, far smaller and more refined than those in town.
This Pokémon Center only offered Pokémon treatment and information verification. There were no accommodations, no meals, and no courtyard.
Yong handed his Pokédex to Nurse Joy to verify his information. Once cleared, he followed a Pokémon League staff member through the gate toward the elevator.
Through the transparent, diamond-shaped glass panes, he watched the enormous waterfall thunder down beside him. Its sheer power was breathtaking, and even Yong could not tear his admiring gaze away.
The elevator rose smoothly and swiftly, stopping at the top of the cliff with a clang!
The castle ahead immediately came into view.
The bustling crowds in the square and the hot-air balloons drifting across the sky gave the whole place a festive atmosphere.
Yong smiled faintly. Listening to the trainers around him exclaim in wonder, he walked forward with the group.
The Pokémon Aptitude Test was underway. After Pokémon League officials verified his trainer information for the third time, Yong headed to the contestants' village.
The preliminaries would begin tomorrow and last two days, whittling more than two hundred contestants down to sixty-four.
From a certain perspective, the preliminaries seemed even more ruthless...
Of course, to ensure fairness, the preliminaries used a single-match format-one-on-one, single-elimination battles! The Pokémon allowed to compete were also subject to level restrictions, with only those around levels 35 to 45 eligible.
That was quite reasonable.
Levels 30 to 45 would fall within the range of advanced trainers no matter how one looked