After two days of observation, Tetsuya did not find any Pokémon that could be considered "acceptable", but many team leaders had not brought out their Pokémon for training. These all belonged to those "hiding" their strength.
Such things were completely unnecessary for him. Tetsuya only had two Pokémon for battle, Piloswine and Beedrill, and it did not matter if everyone knew.
So Tetsuya had already selected a training ground for himself, doing regular physical training for Piloswine and Beedrill. As for moves, it was indeed difficult to use them here. Of course, if he revealed their level of move mastery, he would inevitably become the focus of attention.
During his observation, he naturally saw a few familiar faces. The team from Violet City now had Pokémon of "uneven" quality in their hands. There were Pokémon such as Rattata, Oddish, and Caterpie. It was certain that in such a short time, they had no way to catch a unified group of Flying-type Pokémon.
The four-person group around Yako that "supported" Aurora had already gathered their Pokémon. When their Pokémon were killed by Tetsuya, it had been quite early, so they had managed to catch new Pokémon again. A few of them looked fairly decent.
When these two teams saw Tetsuya, they could not help but step back. No one wanted to run into a devil like Tetsuya…
As for the team from Cianwood City, Tetsuya took a look and saw that they still had the same Pokémon as when they battled the Houndoom pack last time. It seemed they had never encountered Houndoom again.
Their Pokémon on the list had clearly already been abandoned, and that Houndoom and Houndour pack had become his spoils. No matter what, they would never have imagined that it was his doing. The Houndour pack had seemingly vanished from the world.
"Tetsuya!"
A voice called out to him.
Tetsuya turned to look. It was the team from Cherrygrove City. As expected, the original six-person team was now reduced to four.
"So you didn't die! We had always thought you were also killed by that Rhydon..." One of them said.
"Hn."
Tetsuya responded with a sound but did not reply further.
"…Unfortunately, two people in our team were killed by that Rhydon. We never dared to go back to that mountain area again."
Sure enough, Tetsuya's guess had been correct.
"Hey! When we were dealing with Rhydon, why didn't you help?" The leader of the Cherrygrove team questioned.
Tetsuya chuckled and said, "Heh, do I have that obligation? And why should I follow you to go asking for trouble?"
"W-Why..." The Cherrygrove City captain was immediately speechless.
"Maa maa, Tetsuya, don't be angry. Our leader is just too sad because two people died. So… where did you go afterward?"
"To the other side of the mountain," Tetsuya said.
"Ah, no wonder… We never dared to go to the mountain area again. It was all those Rock-types. Their bodies were extremely hard. If any one of them hit your head, you would be killed in one shot!"
After hearing this, Tetsuya could not have wished for more. This way, he could continue to enjoy some peace in the mountain area.
---◓---
On the exact day of the half-year deadline, the ship that originally transported supplies had not yet arrived.
Raven gathered everyone together.
First was to register the three Pokémon to be used in this "competition", then to check whether anyone had more than five Pokémon on them.
Catching three Pokémon to make up the numbers was quite simple. Those who dared to come here had naturally caught three Pokémon, so almost everyone present could pass this stage.
Now all that remained was to wait for that huge ship to arrive and begin the first elimination round. As for the competition format, Tetsuya was already very clear about it.
Raven walked while evaluating these kids who had experienced half a year of wilderness training.
The members of the Shadow Team had already completed the registration.
Out of the original one hundred people, ninety remained gathered here now. From Ecruteak City, only Tetsuya was left.
This half year was the period with the highest mortality rate, and such a mortality rate was still within Raven's acceptable range.
"Now, there are still ninety people standing here, but that does not mean you are safe. When the ship arrives, the ninety of you will participate in two-on-two and three-on-three battles. Rahaha¹[1], our grouping battles are very professional~"
After Raven finished speaking, he had his subordinates put up a ranking list. From first to ninetieth place, all had already been ordered.
At this moment, many people naturally began whispering, feeling puzzled, because no matches had been held, so where did this ranking come from?
Raven clearly understood what these kids were thinking and said, "Now I will tell you. The basis of this ranking is the Pokémon you used to exchange for supplies here. The higher the total value of the Pokémon submitted, the higher the ranking."
"""Ohhh! So that was the case."""""
In his previous life, Catherine had never mentioned such details to him. Of course, each island had different management systems, and Admins like Raven were also in a competitive relationship with each other. Naturally, they would not share such "good" methods and systems with their competitors.
Although Raven's method could not be said to be absolutely fair, it was indeed a good one. A person's ability could be very directly reflected through the Pokémon they captured.
Under the restriction on the number of Pokémon, any excess Pokémon would naturally be exchanged for supplies. Eating was the most important thing.
In this way, many people had already given up their fluke mentality, because now no one had extra Pokémon on hand. Such a ranking was naturally beneficial to the strongest among them.
"No need to discuss it. First place against ninetieth place, matching from the ends in battle. This is the rule. This is only the first round, we will talk about the second round later. This time, thirty people will be eliminated. Mm, perform well."
Raven's words struck everyone's hearts like a morning Bronzong -bell-.
"Eliminated" What this word meant, everyone understood very clearly. Although it might just be a gimmick, the demonic image of the Shadow Team was already deeply rooted in people's minds, and they had no choice but to believe it.
Now all they needed to do was wait for the arrival of the ship.
After the Shadow Team grunts had explained everything that needed to be announced, they returned to the camp.
The remaining people all rushed toward the ranking list in a swarm. Only by knowing their opponent could they know their chances of survival.
The battle had already begun at this moment.
Tetsuya had already walked away. No matter who his opponent was…
Soon, voices came from the crowd…
"Tetsuya…?"
"Tetsuya, who is Tetsuya?"
"Tetsuya in first place!"
For some teams, such a result was within expectations.
…But for most teams, they were still unconvinced.
The one ranked last was Sieg from Yako's team, who had already collapsed onto the ground.
He kept shaking his head, his body trembling non-stop, the ground beneath him already wet, muttering, "I don't want to die… I don't want to die… I don't want to die..."
•.
•.
¹. I've been running some "tests", and there are a lot of things you'll miss if you don't read this book in english. For example, when the characters laugh, I use the first letter of their names for the laughter. I also play around with "‑Type", like instead of saying "Hey, a seasoned Trainer", I edit it to "Hey, a "Seasoned‑type" Trainer". So if you occasionally see something translated into your language as just "type" or "hahaha", in general, know that you're probably missing out something…
[1] I’ve been running some "tests", and there are a lot of things you’ll miss if you don’t read this book in English. For example, when the characters laugh, I use the first letter of their names for the laughter. I also play around with "‑Type", like instead of saying "Hey, a seasoned Trainer", I edit it to "Hey, a “Seasoned‑type” Trainer". So if you occasionally see something translated into your language as just "type" or "hahaha", in general, know that you’re probably missing out something…