Pokémon: Check-In System

Today's competition consists of ten matches—five in the morning and five in the afternoon.

In Nero's class, three students have advanced, with the first match in the afternoon belonging to Dennis.

Dennis's Pokémon, Vibrava, is incredibly dominant. It stands out as a rare sight in the entire school, where Dragon-type Pokémon are few and far between.

Naturally, Dennis secured his advancement to the third round. However, another classmate wasn't as lucky—perhaps due to the school's arrangement, he faced off against one of the seeded contestants of this selection tournament.

His Wartortle was swiftly defeated.

After two rounds of elimination, only ten competitors remained.

These ten participants came from different classes, except for Nero's class, which had the rare distinction of having two representatives.

As dusk fell, Nero followed his usual routine, heading to the martial arts training ground to continue training with his Combusken.

The spiky-eared Pichu reappeared as well. Keeping his promise, Nero shared his Pokéblocks with Pichu.

Pichu grew increasingly affectionate toward Nero, its affection level steadily rising.

After training, Nero returned home.

That night, instead of practicing fighting techniques with Combusken, Nero kicked around a soccer ball for a change of pace.

The next morning at nine o'clock.

It was the final day of the school team selection tournament. After three days of intense matches, the results would be announced today.

For the final round, the matchups were still determined through a random draw, but this time, the battle list would be displayed directly on the big screen.

To build suspense, the hosting teacher revealed the matchups group by group.

Perhaps he had too much to drink in the morning—just as the matchups were being announced, Nero suddenly felt the urge to use the restroom and had to rush out.

When he returned to the stadium, his phone kept buzzing with notifications.

Unable to ignore it any longer, Nero opened his phone. The first thing that caught his eye was the class group chat.

Normally, the class chat was rather quiet, only active when the teacher made important announcements. However, he had only been away for a short while, and the chat had already exploded with 99+ unread messages. Nero's curiosity was piqued.

Tapping into the chat, he saw that many classmates were frantically tagging him.

Nero scrolled through the chat history.

John Snow: "Holy crap! Third match—Nero vs. Dennis!! It's an internal class showdown!!"

Classmates:

"Wow, this matchup... Nero versus Dennis. Did the school plan this on purpose?"

"It was a manual draw, so anything is possible. How could the school rig it?"

"This is too intense! A battle within our class—no matter who wins, our class will have a member in the school team, right?"

"Sharp thinking! That's right, no matter the outcome, our class secures a spot! But the real question is, will Nero win, or will Dennis win?"

"Nero's Combusken is strong, and that Thunder Punch he used was breathtaking. So, I bet on Vibrava to win. (Dog emoji)"

"hhhhhhhc!"

"Well then, we should probably tag the contenders. @Nero @Dennis."

Since Nero was late to check his messages, a few minutes had already passed since they tagged him. More messages had poured in below, so he continued scrolling.

His classmates kept making wild guesses, but soon, the chat exploded again—Dennis had entered the conversation.

Amid the excitement, Dennis finally responded:

Dennis: "Honestly, I'm really surprised. I didn't expect him to make it this far. Looks like the class leader of Class Three (Leiv) has gotten weaker—losing to someone like him? Absolutely speechless."

Then, someone interjected.

Classmate: "But… I think that Thunder Punch from Combusken was really powerful. That Vaporeon had almost full HP and still got one-shot. Better be careful."

Another Classmate: "Wdm, you've got to be kidding me. Don't forget what kind of Pokémon Vibrava is—it's unfazed by Thunder, immune to Earthquake. No matter how strong Combusken's Thunder Punch is, it won't do a thing to Vibrava. Plus, Vibrava's Dragon-type resists Fire attacks, and its Ground-type moves counter Combusken's Fire typing. No doubt about it—Dennis is going to win."

This guy's analysis was spot on, and many others agreed, expressing their support.

Nero knew that Dragon-type Pokémon were naturally strong and highly resistant.

In this era, the most popular Pokémon types among young trainers were Electric, Fire, Water, and Flying…

These types were widely available, giving trainers plenty of choices. However, aside from a select few, most Fairy-type Pokémon were more on the cute side rather than battle-oriented.

As for Ice-type Pokémon, due to the geography of Galas City, they were rarely seen and were more common up north.

Mainstream types like Water, Fire, and Electric weren't effective against Dragon-types, which made Combusken's disadvantage even clearer.

Fire-type moves were weak against Vibrava. The dazzling Thunder Punch was useless against its Ground typing. Meanwhile, Vibrava's Ground-type moves countered Combusken's Fire typing.

At equal levels, Combusken had no chance against Vibrava!!

Everyone unanimously agreed.

The chat was soon flooded with messages praising Dennis.

Messages like "Congrats on making it to the school team!" and "Don't forget us when you make it big!" filled the chat.

Basking in the praise, Dennis became even more arrogant.

Dennis: "Alright, alright, let me make a statement here—once our match begins, I will win within ten minutes. If I don't, I'll forfeit the match! You guys are my witnesses."

This was basically an outright declaration of victory—not just a promise to defeat Nero but also a self-imposed restriction in front of everyone.

If he couldn't win within ten minutes, he would surrender.

How incredibly bold.

Classmates:

"Wow! That's so badass. I love it."

"This is great news for Nero. If he just focuses on defending or dodging until time runs out, he'll win by default, right?"

"That's a solid strategy. I bet Nero is lurking in the chat, reading this."

The homeroom teacher was also in the class group chat, but she remained silent.

To her, debates were pointless—what mattered was proving oneself in battle. However, with this internal class match-up, at least one of her students would make it to the school team.

That meant she had nothing to worry about.

Dennis was arrogant and provocative, but it didn't really matter. It wasn't worth Nero's attention.

Still, the class kept making a ruckus, repeatedly tagging Nero, urging him to respond.

His message box kept flashing, which annoyed Nero. He even considered closing the chat app, but in the end, he dismissed the idea.

He was waiting for a specific message.

With a helpless sigh, Nero swiped his fingers across the screen. Facing Dennis's declaration of victory, he simply replied:

"I'm looking forward to it."

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