As soon as I made it to our seats I heard a "my baby" before I was struck by a mom missile which led to me being crushed by an explosive expression of love, also known as an overenthusiastic hug.
A moment later Dad actually joined in, and they both congratulate me on my dual championship. Once they stopped, Misty came up for a hug as well.
She congratulated me before stopping the hug since she was not the only one that came forward to hug me. Aaron, Kinji, and Takeshi followed her example and were waiting for their turn for a bro-hug.
Once everyone had their turn, and we took our seats, we began going over the possible rewards, now that I was the dual champion. We also kept an eye on the construction of the stage that was happening on the battlefield since I would have to go there once the process was done.
During our discussions, everyone seems to be certain that I would receive the offer to choose a Pokemon among my possible rewards, but none was certain what kind of species it would be.
We concluded that the regional royal Pokemon of the northern continent were the most likely candidates. Misty, in her Misty-fashion, strongly recommended I chose a Squirtle or Mudkip if that was really the case.
I'd have to disappoint her if that actually happened since I already had an idea which regional royal Pokemon I would choose. However, all this was only an assumption on our part, and we had no way of knowing if it was true before the actual reward ceremony began, so we moved on to another topic.
We began talking about the final part of the personal combat competition, and we concluded that if not for me, then more than half of those that made it to the quarterfinals could have become the champion if their match-ups were lucky enough to not have them face someone that hard-countered them.
Their personal abilities were overspecialized for nearly all of them at this point, so unlike the Pokemon battle category where type coverage was a thing even among type specialists, some might have lost simply due to an extremely unfortunate match-up.
Anyway, while we were discussing that luck was also an important factor in life and that everyone had to learn to suck it up when experiencing bad luck, the staff finally completed their work. One of the staff members came up to me to invite me to the field for the reward/closing ceremony.
I followed him, and he led me backstage, where the others that made it to the Top 16 in either category were convening. While we were waiting backstage, the host initiated the closing ceremony and invited the representative of the continental government for a speech.
She turned out to be the minister of education, and unsurprisingly her speech resembled the speech I heard at the end of the regional competition. I might have decided to only listen with an ear to her speech due to that, but thankfully less than 10 minutes after she began, she finished her speech.
After that, the reward ceremony followed, but this one was a bit different from the regional one. Here they did not separate the categories and simply called out the participants according to their placement.
First, the 16 participants that lost during the round of 16 in their respective categories were called onto the stage, 8 from each category, and received a certificate as well as some congratulations for making it to the global competition.
That was it, they got nothing else, not counting the rewards they were going to receive from their academies, and were asked to stand by the side. Afterward, those that lost during the quarterfinals were called onto the stage.
These 8 also received a certificate along with some congratulations for making it to the global competition. However, they also received a voucher that allowed them to choose one thing from a list of C-Class materials.
The 4 participants that lost the semifinals followed, and they got nearly the same rewards, just that their voucher allowed them to choose 3 C-Class materials instead of 1, and instead of a certificate, all of them got a bronze medal.
After them, the two that lost their respective finals made their way onto the stage and received their reward. Each one of them got a silver medal, some congratulations for making it to the global tournament, and a voucher that allowed them to choose one thing from a list of B-Class materials.
Then it was finally the turn for the champions of each category to appear, and this time it was only me that walked onto the stage under the looks of everyone that went onto the stage before me. While I was walking toward the minister to accept my prize, the applause of the enthusiastic audience drowned the stadium.
The minister placed the two gold medals on my neck before she congratulated me for not only qualifying for the global competition but doing so while winning in not one but both categories.
"This makes you the first dual-champion our northern continent witnesses after more than a thousand years," she said, which led to another round of wild cheering by the audience.
"Now, this brings us to your final reward. As a dual champion, you are given a choice by our continental government. You can either accept the regular rewards as the champion of a category, which is a voucher that lets you choose 3 items from a list with B-Class materials.
In your case, you would receive two vouchers, one for each championship, entitling you to a total of 6 B-Class materials. Your other option, expressly provided because of your dual championship, is to receive a voucher that allows you to choose 2 items from the B-Class list.
On top of that, in place of the other 4 B-Class items, you'll be allowed to visit the top breeding centers of any of the regional royal Pokemon of our northern continent to select one egg of your choice," when she said that, the crowd, and students on the stage, broke out into discussions.
Being able to visit those breeding centers was an honor since they were some of the most protected sites in any region, and any egg from there was highly likely to hatch into a top-of-the-line member of their respective species.
Well, it looks like our little group turned out to be right with our previous discussion. Honestly, I doubted that many people would hesitate before choosing the second option, but unlike them, I had Utopia which could replicate/reproduce materials as long as it had an exemplar.
It might be unable to do so for B-Class materials right now, but preparing 6 rare materials in advance was a pretty great option in my opinion. Still, in the end, I decided to go with the second option.
"So, which one option do you want to choose," the minister asked after waiting for a moment to give the audience to calm down, taking me out of my musing.
"I choose the second one," I returned and she smiled at me, before handing me two vouchers.
Afterward, they asked the others to move to my side and we took some photos. One with everyone, one with only the participants of each category, as well as one with only the semifinalists and above. Following that short photo shoot, the continental competition came to an end, and we left the stage.
While we were leaving the stage, the minister approached me and told me that the staff had temporarily prepared a store room in the alliance building beside the Pummelo Grand Stadium for the materials on the reward list, so I could have Mr. Cameron lead me there to check them out if I wanted to.
She also told me that I had until the end of the week to choose which species I wanted to select the egg from. I thanked her for informing me, before excusing myself and moving toward Mr. Cameron, who seemed to be waiting for me.
"Congratulations, my boy," he began with a smile. "I did not doubt that you would win both categories and you did just that," he finished happily.
"I don't want to keep you for too long from your family and friends, so I'll just ask you if you want to return to Rota with me within the next hour, or if you want to do so later on with your group. If you want to return with me, I can bring along your group as well.
However, if you want to return with your group, then I have to ask that you meet me in front of the academy gate at 8:30 a.m tomorrow for our trip to the global competition venue," he followed up and waited for my answer.
"Thank you for the offer to bring us back to Rota Mr. Cameron, but I'll return with my parents later at night. We want to eat dinner on Pummelo Island. You could join us if you want to," I offered in the end, but he shook his head in denial.
"I can't, I have to make the necessary preparations for our trip tomorrow, but enjoy your meal," he expressed why he couldn't join us for dinner, even though he didn't have to, and I nodded in acceptance.
"Mr. Cameron, I was just told that I could take a look at the materials on the reward list, and I'd like to do that," I began and he, guessing what I was wanting to ask, replied before I could complete my sentence.
"No problem, I'll lead you there, but I can't stay if you plan to take too long to choose your two materials, I'll have to leave early," he clarified and I thanked him.
After that, he told me that he would be waiting for me in front of the stadium entrance in 15 minutes, giving me enough time to meet my group before we left for the store room.
I thanked him for his consideration and made my way to our seats. I saw my parents and friends waiting for me at the entrance to the stands/seats and I got crushed by mom in another hug.
That started the congratulations of the rest as well, and after the excitement settled down a bit, I told them that I had to meet up with Mr. Cameron in 5 minutes to receive part of my rewards.
We agreed for them to go to the restaurant we settled on ahead of me, and I would go there in an hour or so once I was done choosing my reward. I also send a quick reply to everyone congratulating me over the phone, before I met up with Mr. Cameron.
He led me to the storeroom in the alliance building beside the stadium, where he handed me over to the staff member responsible for the safety of the materials there and departed after reminding me to meet him in front of the academy gate at 8:30 a.m.
The staff asked if I wanted a staff member to explain what the respective items were, but I told him that I was fine with exploring the store room on my own.
He looked skeptical but still chose to let me roam the room on my own. However, I was warned that there were cameras around the room to ensure the safety of the materials before I was allowed to head in, and I gave him a nod of acknowledgment before I began checking out all materials.
There were a total of 150 B-Class materials in the room, and after checking them all I managed to limit my options down to 6. 3 of them belonged to the same kind, and the other three were different from one another.
The three that were of the same kind, were crystal core fragments of different types.
'Name: Fire Energy Crystal Core Fragment
Type: Fire
Class: B-
Uses:
A fragment from Fire Energy Crystal Core. As a fragment from one of nature's purest sources of fire energy, the Fire Energy Crystal Core Fragments can be used for various situations that require pure fire energy.
Unfortunately, due to being a mere fragment the purity and density of the fire energy are incomparable to a real crystal core, but it still manages to qualify as a really high-class ingredient/resource.
The fragment is unable to trigger evolutions.'
This was the smallest of the three fragments and belonged to the fire type. It also had the lowest rating of the three, but I was not sure if that was solely due to its size or not.
'Name: Fairy Energy Crystal Core Fragment
Type: Fairy
Class: B
Uses:
A fragment from Fairy Energy Crystal Core. As a fragment from one of nature's purest sources of fairy energy, the Fairy Energy Crystal Core Fragment can be used for various situations that require pure fairy energy.
Unfortunately, due to being a mere fragment the purity and density of the fairy energy are incomparable to a real crystal core, but it still manages to qualify as a really high-class ingredient/resource.
The fragment is unable to trigger evolutions.'
The fairy fragment was a bit bigger, and its rating was higher than the fire fragment. Other than that, the description was virtually the same. Still, the reason I was unsure if the size was the reason for the rating difference was the final fragment.
'Name: Water Energy Crystal Core Fragment
Type: Water
Class: B+
Uses:
A fragment from Water Energy Crystal Core. As a fragment from one of nature's purest sources of water energy, the Water Energy Crystal Core Fragment can be used for various situations that require pure water energy.
Unfortunately, due to being a mere fragment the purity and density of the water energy are incomparable to a real crystal core, but it still manages to qualify as a really high-class ingredient/resource.
The fragment is unable to trigger evolutions.'
The size of this fragment was visibly the same as that of the fairy fragment, but its rating was higher for some reason. I guessed that micro-cracks within the fragment could be responsible for the difference in their rating, but I was not sure if that was the case.
I tried reading up the description of the fragment to see if I was right, but the expanded text was so long that I gave up checking it since it would take too long to read through the whole thing.
Aside from those three fragments, there was also the Evergem.
'Name: Evergem
Type: Normal
Class: B-
Uses:
A superior version of the Everstone. Its evolution preventing energy had been further compressed and the increase in energy density had led to a change in quality.
As long as a Pokemon came maintained contact with the Evergem and allowed its energy to irradiate it, it could ensure that evolution is impossible for some time.
The length of the period depended on the period the Pokemon spent in touch with the Evergem. The maximum period this gem can block evolution at once is 117 days.'
This was something really useful for me since all my Pokemon had to keep back their evolution at some point, and the Evergem made it impossible to evolve during its effective period, meaning they could go all out without having to worry about accidentally evolving.
It would also allow certain Pokemon to absorb the energy of evolutionary stones without actually triggering the evolution, which would be beneficial for them. Not only that, it was not a single-use item, and everyone could use it as long as they spent time touching it.
Anyway, aside from the Evergem there was also the Gravity Stone.
'Name: Gravity Stone
Type: Rock
Class: B
Uses:
A stone that following a chain of lucky circumstances managed to gain the ability to increase its gravity. Things in immediate contact with the stone are affected by this increase in gravity as well.
The increase in gravity and the duration of the effect are depended on the energy injected into the stone. The maximum duration depends on the amount of injected energy, while the increase in gravity depends on the quality/density of the injected energy.
The maximum uninterrupted period this stone can increase gravity is 28 days.
The maximum gravity increase this stone can cause is 15 times.'
This one was really useful as well. I could use it as a training aid for my Pokemon, but unlike the Evergem, this one seemed to be only usable by one Pokemon at a time.
This meant that it would only become truly useful once Utopia was able to replicate B-Class items. Finally, there was the Dawn Crystal.
'Name: Dawn Crystal
Type: Irregular (Outside The Standard 18 Types)
Class: B
Uses:
The Dawn Crystal is a superior version of the Dawn Stone. The particular energy it carries can be used for a multitude of purposes, among which the most well-known is triggering the evolution of certain species.
A less known use is that in combination with a Sun Crystal, the Dawn Crystal can be used to simulate all aspects of sunlight in an artificial environment.'
This one was pretty interesting as well. I could use it for Ali/Kirlia's evolution to Gallade, which was great in itself, but not the most interesting part.
No, the really interesting part for me, was that it could be used to create an artificial day. Sure, an additional Sun Crystal was needed, and there was no mention of how big the affected area was, but it was a highly useful thing nonetheless. Especially if one wanted to create an artificial environment.
Moreover, using this information as a basis, one could infer that a Dusk Crystal and a Moon Crystal together would be able to simulate the night, with everything that pertained to it.
If one had all 4, one could perfectly mimic the day-night cycle, which was something pretty significant as far as artificial environment creation went. Anyway, I now had to decide which 2 materials to choose from these 6.
I had already spent close to 50 minutes looking through all 150 items, so I wanted to leave soon since I did not want to make the others wait even longer.
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This chapter ended up a bit longer than my usual chapters with over 3k words :)
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