Three days flew by in a blink.
On the morning of the exam, the three members of the Vale family arrived at the test center gates—Auron, his parents, and the Eevee cradled in his mom's arms. An Audino stood at Auron's mom's side. Gengar hid inside Auron's shadow. Aside from Gengar, Audino, and Eevee, the rest of Auron's parents' Pokémon didn't appear due to their size; they stayed in their Poké Balls, cheering Auron on from inside.
Jace Rowan and Tim Wynn had been assigned to different test sites, so Auron was the only one from their circle taking the exam at this location.
Like Auron, Jace would also be testing alone in a separate hall. Serena Elm and Hanling Yin were placed together in one hall. As for Youyu You and Tim Wynn, not only were they in the same test site, their assigned homeroom for the exam was the same as well.
Day One of the entrance exam focused on written subjects. The practical (battle) portion wouldn't begin until Day Two.
The written test started at 8:00 a.m. and ran for two hours, ending at 10:00 a.m. The first subject was General Pokémon Studies.
It was a comprehensive exam on basic Pokémon knowledge—mostly material covered in school. For anyone with a good memory, it was relatively straightforward.
Before long, it was time to enter. Auron packed up his things. After high-fiving little Eevee, Audino, and then his mom and dad, he turned toward the gate.
"Go get 'em!" his dad and mom cheered from behind him. Gengar slid up from his shadow for a quick high-five as well, then melted back down as Auron headed into the building.
No Pokémon or electronic devices were allowed in the test hall—unless the examinee themselves was a Pokémon.
Which meant, unfortunately, that Gengar couldn't go in. It had to wait outside.
One after another, the examinees disappeared into the halls amid the chorus of encouragement, leaving behind a crowd of anxious parents.
Auron scanned his ID and stepped into the classroom. He found his seat, laid out his pens and pencils, drew a steadying breath, and waited for the exam to begin.
After a short while, the bell rang. The proctor walked in, carrying a sealed document pouch.
He opened it in full view of the examinees and began passing out the test papers one by one.
Auron wrote his name and got to work.
The first section was single-choice multiple-choice: ten questions, two points each, for a total of twenty points.
Question 1
Prankster is a powerful Ability that lets a Pokémon use status moves with increased priority. Which of the following statements about Prankster contains no mistakes?
A. When a Pokémon gains Prankster, the priority of [Trick Room] will be higher than [Mirror Coat].
B. Among Pokémon with Prankster, Meowstic's gender can only be male. It is also the only Pokémon with Prankster that is always male.
C. Pokémon with the Ability Prankster cannot learn [After You].
D. When a Pokémon with Prankster uses [Destiny Bond] against Morpeko, the move will display as having failed.
Auron finished reading and, without hesitation, selected C.
Option A: Even with Prankster, [Trick Room] has base priority −7; with +1 from Prankster it becomes −6. [Mirror Coat] has priority −5, so [Trick Room] still does not go before [Mirror Coat].
Option B: Male Volbeat's Hidden Ability is Prankster.
Option D: [Destiny Bond] targets the user.
There were ten single-choice questions in total; Auron finished them quickly and moved on to Section Two.
The second section was multiple-answer multiple-choice: five questions worth twenty-five points total. Each question had five options, and one or more could be correct. Full marks (five points) were awarded only if all correct options were chosen; partially correct answers received two points; any wrong selection resulted in zero.
Question 11. In Turn 1 of a Singles battle, Player B orders their Moltres (Dark/Flying regional form) to use [Nasty Plot]. Player A's Darmanitan moves first this turn and uses [Rock Slide]. Assume Moltres is not holding an item. At the end of the turn, if this Moltres (Dark/Flying regional form) has 40% HP remaining, by how many stages might its Sp. Atk have increased?
(Moltres's regional form Ability is [Berserk], which increases its Sp. Atk by one stage whenever its HP drops below half; this Ability can trigger repeatedly.)
A. +1
B. +2
C. +3
D. +4
E. +5
Auron thought for a moment. The key here hinged on Darmanitan's Ability.
He filled in A, B, and C on the answer sheet.
If Darmanitan's Ability were [Sheer Force], Moltres (Dark/Flying) wouldn't flinch, but [Sheer Force] would suppress [Berserk]'s activation on moves boosted by Sheer Force?—no, that wasn't the point he needed. The important consequence in this problem setup was that [Nasty Plot] would succeed (no flinch), giving +2 Sp. Atk, and then if HP crossed below half from [Rock Slide], [Berserk] could add another +1, depending on timing and damage ranges. In contrast, if Darmanitan did not have [Sheer Force], [Rock Slide] could cause a flinch, causing [Nasty Plot] to fail that turn; in that case, depending on whether HP dipped under half, [Berserk] could trigger for +1. Various sequences therefore made +1, +2, or +3 possible.
So the correct choices were A, B, and C.
There were five multiple-answer questions, and Auron finished those pretty fast as well—he'd done stacks of mock exams and plenty of past papers.
Section Three was short-answer.
16. Based on the partial information below, identify the Pokémon. (5 points)
(1)
Type: Ghost
Category: Gripper Pokémon
Ability: Pressure
Height: 2.2 m
Body shape: (diagram)
(2)
Type: Water
Abilities: Hyper Cutter or Shell Armor
Weight: 60 kg
Pokédex Color: Red
Egg Group: Water 3
Body shape: (diagram)
Auron studied the silhouettes and, based on the provided data, reached his conclusions.
For the first Pokémon (I'll let you guess), the answer he wrote was Dusknoir. For the second, he wrote Kingler.
17. [Sheer Cold] is one of the one-hit KO moves.
(1) _______ (Pokémon name) can learn the largest number of OHKO moves. The OHKO moves it can learn are _______.
(2) _______ (Pokémon name) is currently, aside from Smeargle, the only Pokémon that can learn _______ (fill in "Lock-On" or "Mind Reader") + _______ (fill in an OHKO move).
This one was easy; Auron filled in the blanks without a second thought.
18. (10 points) Xiao Ming is one of the administrators of the Pokémon transfer system. One day, he discovers someone used their equipment to combine the images of several Pokémon into the likeness of a certain movie protagonist. Please help Xiao Ming identify which Pokémon are included in the composite shown on the right (only the first ten names you list will be counted).
Auron wrote down ten Pokémon and moved on to the next question. (The picture, by the way, was "posted in the comments.")
19. (5 points) To investigate regional forms, Xiao Meng traveled to the Alola region and Eastern Europe. Please fill in the blanks in the survey notes and reflections to help complete her report.
Survey Note 1: Alolan Exeggutor
Survey location: _______
Survey description: Alolan Exeggutor stands 10.9 meters tall. It is said that the year-round intense sunlight in Alola caused its appearance to change. Based on what I've learned, this description seems to fit its regular form's Ability, _______ , more closely; however, Alolan Exeggutor's Ability is Frisk.
Survey reflection: I had heard that Exeggutor in the Alola region are extremely tall, and I worried that it might have no way to deal with enemies positioned on the nearby ground. But after seeing an Alolan Exeggutor with my own eyes, I realized my concern was unnecessary. Its _______ body structure allows it to handle enemies both near the ground in front and behind it with ease.
There were three blanks. Auron filled in "Exeggutor Island," "Chlorophyll," and "eyes on its tail, plus a head that can direct movement and watch for threats behind it."
He'd actually done this exact problem before in an extracurricular workbook—it was a straight repeat.
"Exeggutor Island," one point. "Chlorophyll," one point. Mention "eyes on its tail," one point.
Mention "one of the heads can control movement," one point.
Mention "can monitor enemies behind it," one point.
Five points total; not a single one to be missed.
(End of Chapter)