Pokémon: Sandstorm Sovereign

Chapter 34: News of the Selection Tournament

"Excuse me, I have to take this call."

Basalt smiled at Lucas and walked to a corner with his phone.

"Hello, Basalt? Are you at the Meteor Club?"

The call connected, and Ms. Anya's slightly magnetic, very capable voice came through, without any beating around the bush.

"Yes, I'm here," Basalt answered truthfully.

"Oh, then it's nothing."

Click. The line went dead, leaving only the "beep, beep, beep" sound in Basalt's ear.

"What the heck?" Basalt was completely baffled. Is the beautiful teacher on her period today? Or did her brain short-circuit? So weird!

However, Basalt's confusion didn't last long, because when the club door opened, the beautiful woman who walked in was none other than Anya. Dressed in workout clothes, Ms. Anya's figure was perfectly outlined. The men in the club naturally focused their gazes on her.

"Come with me. I have something to tell you."

Ms. Anya stopped by Basalt for a moment, then led him into a small room, leaving only her beautiful back for everyone to see.

"Whoa, that girl has an amazing figure!"

"Seriously, does anyone know who she is? Does she have a boyfriend?"

"Five minutes, I want all her information!"

"I've seen her a few times. She seems to be a friend of Manager Miles. They occasionally spar in the private stadium."

"Spar? Are you serious? Manager Miles is a Professional-level trainer!"

"It's true. Although the private battle stadium is well soundproofed, their battles are so intense that you can hear them just by standing outside the door."

"Could she be his girlfriend?"

"That I don't know. But I've seen Manager Miles being very polite to her. Their relationship must be something special."

"Something special with Manager Miles? Oh, then never mind!"

…

The moment the crowd heard Ms. Anya was connected to Coach Miles, they immediately dared not say another word. Although Coach Miles seemed sunny and cheerful, one shouldn't forget that he was the star coach of the Meteor Club and the only Professional-level trainer there. In terms of strength, everyone present combined couldn't beat him in a relay battle. Because the gap between the Senior rank and the Professional rank was a huge hurdle. If you crossed it, you were somebody. If you didn't, you were just an ordinary person. In the Meteor Club, Coach Miles was the uncrowned king; no one dared to challenge his authority.

"Ms. Anya, did something happen?"

Seeing Anya's serious expression, Basalt's heart instantly became uneasy.

"The provincial government just issued a document. This year, they're holding a province-wide high school elite selection tournament for third-year students who have just received their starter Pokémon. If you get a good ranking, you can get early admission and enter South River University directly without taking the college entrance exams."

Ms. Anya explained her reason for coming. She had actually gotten wind of this news through private channels half a month ago, but now it was officially confirmed. The provincial government had issued an official document, requiring each county and city to first select their own talented individuals. Then, the top talents would form teams under the name of their respective prefecture-level cities to compete for regional and individual rankings.

"A high school elite selection tournament? You can get into South River University directly if you get a good ranking?"

Basalt was greatly surprised. South River University was a top 3 university in the country. You could get in with just a certain ranking? It was clear that the prestige of this competition was very high, completely different from those no-name tournaments.

"That's right. This competition has high prestige, and the difficulty is also very high. It will be a big challenge for you. I hope you'll participate. You're probably the only one in our class right now who has a chance of getting into the city team."

Ms. Anya spoke directly, without praise or belittlement. As it stood now, Basalt was the most promising student in her class. The difficulty of getting a good ranking in the provincial selection tournament was immense, but Basalt still had a chance of making it into the Metro City team.

As long as Basalt could get into the Metro City team, even if he couldn't get a ranking at the provincial level, he would still receive a large amount of resources from the city to accelerate his growth. The benefits were numerous. County-level, city-level, provincial-level—every step up meant a bigger stage, a higher perspective, and more resources.

Basalt was talented. He might not be considered a genius on a province-wide scale, but with hard work, he had a chance to go to the city for further development. As his teacher, Anya also hoped that Basalt could go further in the future and not just fade into the crowd.

"The city team?"

Basalt felt a little dizzy.

"That's right. In one month, the six counties of Metro City will hold selection tournaments simultaneously to pick out talented individuals to be sent to the city for unified training."

"After the special training, the city will select the best few from this group of talented individuals to form the city team, representing the city in the provincial competition."

"And your goal, first, is to pass the selection in our Seaside County, and second, is to work hard to pass the city's selection and stay on the city team…"

Anya looked at Basalt, her face serious. As for Basalt getting a ranking in the provincial competition, the difficulty was not just great; Anya didn't dare to hope for it. Because among the 11 prefecture-level cities in the province, Metro City's strength ranked very low.

"Ms. Anya, when does the county selection tournament start?"

Listening to Ms. Anya's words, Basalt felt a fire ignite within him. Weren't he and Drilbur training so hard every day in the hope of one day making a name for themselves? This provincial selection tournament was practically tailor-made for him. He and his little mole just needed this one chance, a chance to become famous.

"It's hard to say right now. But I estimate that it won't be too long, a month at most."

"One month?"

Basalt's gaze sharpened. With one month, Drilbur's combination move should be accurate enough by then. If he could switch from "Spinning Mud Bomb" to "Spinning Rock Bomb" for a defensive counter-attack, it should give his opponents a huge headache.

"In our Second High, there probably aren't many who can be your opponent. But let me remind you, the student quality at First High is far superior to ours. There are many students from trainer families who have special Pokémon breeding methods. They absolutely cannot be underestimated."

Seeing Basalt's confident look, Ms. Anya couldn't help but give him a warning. She was mainly afraid he would get cocky.

"First High? They certainly can't be underestimated."

The smile on Basalt's face disappeared, and he nodded seriously. According to his memory, the admission score for First High was several dozen points higher than Second High's. In terms of learning ability, the students there were clearly better. At the end of the day, the profession of a Pokémon trainer could also be seen as an academic subject. It's just that this subject didn't just look at theory; it valued practice more.

"Don't worry, Ms. Anya, I'll work hard."

Basalt understood what she meant and secretly clenched his fists.

"As long as you know what you're doing."

Anya nodded and turned to leave. She had said all she needed to say and helped where she could. The rest was up to Basalt's own fortune.

"In that case, let's set a small goal first: win the Seaside County selection tournament!"

Watching Ms. Anya's back, Basalt clenched his fists. It seemed that tonight's training would have to be super-sized on top of the extra training.

As long as it doesn't kill you, train like you're going to die!