Miyamoto narrowed her eyes and chuckled.
"One last thing. Anyone found secretly keeping a second Pokémon will also be eliminated."
Though she said it with a smile, her words were utterly chilling.
Some of the youths who had hoped to get away with it hurriedly handed over their hidden Poké Balls. They did not want to die.
Normally, these should have belonged to whoever obtained them.
But these youths simply lacked the ability to raise a second Pokémon.
Rather than let these Pokémon waste away in their hands, why not give them to more experienced Team Rocket members? At worst, they could be sold for money, couldn't they?
Once everything was settled.
The third stage officially began.
The youths had two kinds of classes. The first was academic instruction, where they learned to read and write, as well as the history of the Pokémon World, astronomy, geography, and so on.
The second was battle class, which taught them how to conduct Pokémon battles.
After all, never mind battling-some of these youths could not even name Pokémon moves.
Various elite Team Rocket members would take turns teaching. Their Pokémon and approaches to raising them differed, showcasing the diversity of Pokémon.
They also provided more examples to learn from.
During battle class, the Team Rocket members also introduced Giovanni and the others to a device that could determine a Pokémon's level.
If they wanted to use it, they could go to the infirmary for a test.
Giovanni was fine on that front. He could use his Viridian Force to sense how much energy Weedle had and judge his Pokémon's level that way.
He had gone to look at the infirmary's device too. It was too big and cumbersome.
Without a device available, trainers could also observe their Pokémon more closely, since a white light flashed over a Pokémon's body whenever it leveled up.
Then, as Miyamoto had said, the hundred-plus youths were shuffled and reorganized into three classes.
As luck would have it, Max ended up in Giovanni's class, though unfortunately, that was not a good thing.
Being in the same class meant the two of them would face each other sooner.
If Giovanni's guess was right, these three classes meant that the third stage's three winners would emerge one from each class.
The supposed reshuffling was nothing but a joke. Miyamoto and Giovanni Rika could adjust the lists with a flick of their fingers.
The reason Giovanni thought this was that A Rui and Yalan had both been assigned to different classes.
As standouts among all these boys and girls, it was only natural that they had caught Miyamoto's and Giovanni Rika's attention.
Interestingly, the ninja boy had been assigned to Yalan's class.
Giovanni had also learned his name: Yadu.
Unfortunately, if he wanted to kill them himself, he might have to wait quite a while longer.
To give the youths more time to raise and train their Pokémon, there was only one class a day.
Today's lesson was academic. The body's original owner had learned to read and write at the orphanage, so Giovanni, who had inherited all his memories, naturally knew how to read.
These academic lessons posed no difficulty for Giovanni either.
The instructor was a Trainee Researcher who took his teaching quite seriously.
While the other youths, accustomed to running wild, were already dozing off, Giovanni listened with keen interest.
Class passed quickly, ending in the blink of an eye.
The youths woke from their dreams one after another and rushed outside.
Only Giovanni, who slowly rose to his feet, and Max, who was yawning and stretching, remained in the classroom.
In contrast to Giovanni's indifference, Max was rather enthusiastic because Giovanni had helped him, though he still looked as simple and honest as ever. "Giovanni, where are you going? Want to train together?"
Giovanni stopped and told Max coldly:
"Our deal is done. We're even now, which means we're competitors again!"
Max gave a guileless smile, completely different from the way he had previously buried himself in training and kept everyone at arm's length.
"I know, but isn't there still a long way to go in the third stage? Maybe we won't even face each other, and we'll both end up among the three survivors, right?"
"Naive!" Giovanni frowned, snorted, and headed outside.
Max did not mind Giovanni's attitude. He hurried after him, his tall, broad frame making him look like a bodyguard as he walked behind Giovanni.
He told Giovanni:
"You saved my life. Even if I lose to you, I'd only be giving it back."
Giovanni's temples throbbed.
He knew how things would ultimately end. Too much involvement with these youths would only leave him with unnecessary trouble.
He spoke harshly, trying to drive Max away. "Stay away from me. If I face you, I won't hesitate for a second to kill you!"
Giovanni's coldness seemed to have truly discouraged Max.
He stopped where he was, merely watching Giovanni's back as he slowly walked away.
Training continued as usual, but there was one important point.
Once Weedle reached level seven, he could evolve.
Giovanni did not actually intend to let Weedle evolve too early.
Especially now that there was plenty of time, Giovanni did not need Weedle to evolve into Kakuna and Beedrill as soon as possible to quickly gain strength surpassing that of these youths.
There were other reasons too.
First, he had yet to find anything that could improve Weedle's potential. If he missed this opportunity, another might be hard to come by.
Furthermore, Kakuna could not eat during the period before evolving into Beedrill.
In other words, he actually needed to prepare twice the resources this time!
Just thinking about it was enough to give Giovanni a headache.
The problem was that they were not even given some token resources at each stage. Having to rely entirely on talent made it quite a grind.
This was actually also because Weedle was a Bug-type and evolved at relatively low levels.
Starter Pokémon, for instance, needed to reach level thirty-six for their final evolution, and that was not something they could achieve in a year.
As things stood, Giovanni could only find a solution himself.
At the training ground, Giovanni was fretting over this when someone appeared behind him.
Ever since he had gained the Viridian Force, Giovanni's five senses had been steadily improving, though he was not yet on par with a superhuman.
Still, he could sense when someone appeared behind him.
But he assumed it was Max, so he casually said:
"Didn't I already tell you? Do you really not understand human speech?"
Yet the voice from behind him was not Max's. "Told me?"
Giovanni turned his head slightly. Upon seeing who it was, he was not particularly surprised, instead remaining quite calm. "Do you need something, Mr. Axin?"
The visitor was none other than Axin, who had dealt with Giovanni several times before.
Axin acknowledged him and said to Giovanni with great respect:
"There is something, but this isn't a convenient place to talk."
Giovanni gave Axin a long look. He sensed no hostility from him, only goodwill, so he said:
"Then come to my room after the training ground closes."
Axin nodded firmly. "All right. Sorry for the trouble."
He turned and left, while Giovanni watched his retreating back and rubbed his chin.
Interesting. What does a full-fledged Team Rocket member want with me? Is he placing an early bet?
With only a little thought, Giovanni had guessed pretty close to the truth.
"Woo-oh?" Weedle, who was training alone, urged Giovanni along.
Giovanni was about to head over when Max approached with Machop.
Under Giovanni's gaze, he said, "I understand now. When I face you, I won't hold back either!"
"Mm." Giovanni merely gave a perfunctory response.
Max seemed to have thought about it for a long time before saying earnestly to Giovanni:
"You want to get stronger quickly, right? So do I. Weedle and Machop both need a sparring partner. They can gain more experience that way too. Want to make another deal?"
Giovanni simply looked at Max, then finally turned around and casually replied.
"All right."
Before you continue