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Chapter 132: The Tournament Schedule
🕑 Added 2025-08-11 14:31:19 +0000 UTCChapter 132: The Tournament Schedule
"Gastly is unable to battle! The winner is... Basalt!"
As Supervisor Hoffman made the final ruling, the battle for the captaincy came to a close. Basalt had successfully earned the title of team captain.
But even though the battle was over, the spectators remained in stunned silence. Basalt's substitute Pokémon, Bronzor, was already strong enough to defeat Waylon's Gastly? Just how powerful was his Drilbur now?
Gulp.
The six other trainers on the team swallowed hard. It seemed that Basalt was no longer playing on the same level as them.
"Sigh. The longer time goes on, the wider the gap becomes," Luna murmured, a sense of loss in her voice as she watched Basalt calmly recall his Bronzor.
"That Bronzor… its psychic power is on an incredibly high level," Director Sterling remarked, a hint of surprise in his voice.
Waylon's Gastly was already pushing the boundaries of the intermediate tier. Aside from its naturally low defenses, it had almost no weaknesses. And as a Ghost-type, its own psychic strength was by no means inferior to a Psychic-type's. The crucial point was its invisibility technique; unless a Pokémon's psychic power surpassed Gastly's, it was nearly impossible to detect. By that logic, didn't that mean Bronzor's psychic power was equivalent to that of an advanced-tier Pokémon?
"The Director is absolutely right!" Sheffield smoothly chimed in. "And did you all notice when Gastly's Hypnosis failed earlier? If I'm not mistaken, Bronzor must have used Imprison to disrupt it. Imprison is a high-level Psychic-type status move, and it's extremely difficult to learn. The fact that this Bronzor has mastered it at its current level is a testament to its exceptionally high psychic power, which just further proves the Director's point."
A joyful and proud expression spread across Sheffield's face. "It seems Basalt's Bronzor is also a diamond in the rough!"
Hearing this, Mr. Shane and Mr. Leo both shot him looks of disdain. What a shameless suck-up. It's disgusting. As if they, as professional-level trainers, needed him to point out what Imprison was. And everyone at the camp knew about the bad blood between Sheffield and Basalt when he first arrived. Now, here he was, dishing out praise with sickening ease.
"Director, I've fulfilled my duty!" After the match, Basalt trotted over to Director Sterling, rubbing his hands together with a sheepish grin.
"You little rascal!" Director Sterling laughed, knowing exactly what Basalt was after. "Since you won, go ahead and tell me which type-enhancing item you want. I'll have Hoffman put in the request."
"I want Soft Sand!" Basalt blurted out without a second's hesitation.
"I figured as much." Sterling nodded, a knowing look on his face. It only made sense. As a Ground-type Pokémon with so many native-type attacks, getting Soft Sand to boost Drilbur's power was a no-brainer.
As for Bronzor, Basalt couldn't afford to focus on it right now. Its main task was to improve its control over Rock-type energy. A month ago, when Agent Zhou had delivered the two Smooth Rocks, Basalt had surreptitiously given one to Bronzor. Drilbur hadn't even finished absorbing the energy from the Smooth Rock Crystal inside its own body, so it couldn't use the second one yet anyway.
Unfortunately, since Bronzor wasn't a Rock-type, its capacity to absorb Rock-type energy each day was limited. And since weather moves required an incredibly high affinity from a Pokémon, simply absorbing one Smooth Rock wasn't enough. To this day, Bronzor still hadn't learned Sandstorm.
Looks like weather moves really are hard to master, Basalt mused. Even a battle prodigy like Bronzor was struggling with it. In the Pokémon world, it really paid to have a cheat.
Director Sterling gave Hoffman a look, and the supervisor quickly left the arena, presumably to request the Soft Sand for Basalt.
Then, the Director addressed the group. "Next, I'll go over the schedule for the Regional Tournament."
Everyone immediately fell silent, their ears perked.
"The tournament officially begins in seven days. All eleven cities in the Jiangnan Region will send teams to compete. The tournament is divided into two categories: the Individual Tournament and the Relay Battle."
"The Individual Tournament is a standard one-on-one competition. Each of the four main members will send out one Pokémon. The winner advances, the loser is eliminated. That much is straightforward." Director Sterling paced as he spoke. "What I really want to talk about is the Relay Battle..."
As the Director explained, Basalt got his first real understanding of the format. The Relay Battle was exactly what it sounded like. Each team would select five trainers to participate. The winning trainer would remain on the field to face the next opponent until they were defeated; they could not be subbed out. The losing team would have to keep sending in new trainers to try and defeat the reigning opponent. The match was over when all five trainers on one team had lost.
It was clear that the Relay Battle was not just a test of a team's overall strength, but also a test of the captain's strategic and teambuilding skills. It was also a chance for the substitute members to shine, though it was a given that not every substitute would get a chance to battle.
"In the end, the tournament organizers will rank each city based on the combined results of the Individual and Relay battles. And our goal for Metro City this year is to place in the top three. Do you have the confidence to achieve that?" Director Sterling shouted.
"Yes, sir!" the eight trainees roared back, their voices full of conviction.
"Good!" The Director nodded in satisfaction.
In previous years, Metro City usually ranked somewhere between seventh and ninth. The original goal this year had been top five. But with Basalt's appearance and the massive resources invested in him, expectations had naturally risen. However, the teams from the capital, Centralis City, and the secondary capital, Nexus City, were simply in a different league. So, the Metro City leadership didn't dare aim to "surpass Centralis," and settled for a more modest, yet still ambitious, goal of top three.
After explaining the tournament, Director Sterling paused to let the information sink in. "The tournament starts in seven days, but we will be departing for Centralis City in three days. This is because we have scheduled a friendly exhibition match against the team from Kyanite City five days from now."
"So, for the next three days, go home, rest, have some fun. But in three days, we leave. We'll have one day to rest in the capital, and on the fifth day, it's the exhibition match."
"When that time comes, I expect you to be in peak condition. If you lose... I will make your lives miserable," Director Sterling finished, his eyes narrowing. A powerful, intimidating aura emanated from him. The handsome, gentle man seemed to transform, and a chill ran down the trainees' spines.
Basalt could have sworn he felt a hint of… killing intent. It was clear that Director Sterling's true personality was not as easygoing as it appeared on the surface. No one who could command the respect of so many professional-level trainers was ever simple.
With all matters settled, the Director and the other leaders departed. The other trainees began to pack their bags to head home. Basalt stayed behind, waiting for Supervisor Hoffman to return with his Soft Sand.
It was nearly noon when he finally received it. It was a bag of fine, soft, golden sand, weighing about a pound, held in a beautifully crafted pouch.
"Drilbur, come try this out!" Basalt released his Pokémon and poured the sand from the pouch into its claws.
Shhh-shhh-shhh.
As Drilbur's Ground-type energy surged, the grains of sand seemed to respond to a call, eagerly flowing onto its body and adhering to its skin. Without looking closely, it was impossible to tell that Drilbur was even holding an item.
"Chaa!" Once the Soft Sand was in place, Drilbur let out a happy cry. It could feel the Ground-type energy within its body become more active and responsive, moving exactly as it commanded.
RUMBLE!
Drilbur couldn't help but unleash a Bulldoze. A terrifying shockwave rippled through the ground, its power so immense it looked like the precursor to an Earthquake.
Next, Basalt had Drilbur test out Dig, Sand Tomb, and Drill Run. The conclusion was that the Soft Sand boosted the power of its moves by roughly 20%.
"Just like in the games," Basalt smiled, patting Drilbur's small head. "It's been a long time since we've been home. Come on, I asked Mom to make her special stew. You can eat as much as you want tonight."
"Chaa!" (´・ω・`)
