"2nd place with four thousand, *pause* one hundred *pause* thirty-two points goes to Erza Scarlet from Rota Knight Academy." Ms. Striker finished her announcement, which made me release a sigh of relief.
When she said "thirty" I was starting to think I might have actually failed to get first place, but thankfully Erza had 2 points less than me. Still, the difference between our scores was minuscule and I was lucky that I had 2 more points than her.
This showed that I had underestimated the competition a bit too much. Had I caught just one or two more silver stage Pokemon I wouldn't have needed to rely on luck. It wasn't like I did not have enough time.
The near loss only happened because I didn't take the students serious enough, not considering that there might be geniuses among them that could pose a problem point-wise.
The Knight students cheered with such enthusiasm that it broke me out of my introspection. A few of them were actually chanting her name. For a moment I was starting to believe someone might start shouting things like "let me have your baby" or something along those lines but thankfully that didn't happen.
I would have probably lost whatever respect I had for the Knight Academy students if that had happened. She waited for a bit before motioning for the crowd to quiet down, and as if she was performing magic the Knight students did shut up.
"1st place, with a total of four thousand, one hundred thirty-four points, goes to Mikail Geo from Aaron Academy." This time around our students went bonkers as soon as she finished proclaiming me the winner.
Not only were Weiss and Ace congratulating me but I felt the students around us patting me on the back as well. Someone even slapped my ass but I didn't see who or would have had a few serious "words" about appropriate conduct.
Ms. Striker tried to motion for our teammates to quiet down, but since she was not one of our teachers she had less success than she had with her students. Still, a serious cough from Mr. Koetsuji that everyone heard through the power of bullshit, I meant aura, was enough to instantly stop everyone.
"Alright, now that the competition is over you have 20 minutes to relax and mingle with each other, while we put away everything and make sure everything is in order. Afterward, we shall return to our respective camps.
As for the students in the Top 3, walk over to the desk where Mr. Koetsuji is standing to choose your rewards." After saying that she moved there herself.
Weiss and I walked over there as well and I saw a girl with long red hair walking there too, which I assumed was the second place Erza. Mr. Koetsuji had a smile on his face when he looked at us and I can honestly say it looked just as scary as his intimidating stare.
"Good job, you two. I'm pleased that you, and the others, managed to get good results. Seems like there won't be any rounds before dinner. Still, don't think that getting good results will spare you from performing your duties.
You shall still do whatever chore your group was assigned. That said, you did well and this will be added to your file. A few more positive additions like these and the academy might allow you to choose a Togepi or Riolu, so keep up the good work." He praised us, I think.
Halfway through, I was not sure if he was praising us or telling us to not get a big head. Still, at least towards the end, it turned into praise and encouragement. While Mr. Koetsuji was talking to us Ms. Striker was speaking to her own student, but they both finished around the same time.
They looked at each other and nodded before Mr. Koetsuji pulled out 3 Pokeballs. He let the Pokemon in each one out, and what appeared before us were a Swablu, Rufflet, and Vullaby.
"As stated each of you will receive one of these three Pokemon as his or her reward. All three of them have 5-star potential, so you can choose whichever you want without having to worry about the potential of one being better than the other." Ms. Striker said after Mr. Koesutji released them.
I had to hold back a chuckle when she said that. We would have to see if their potential was equal or not, but before it had been confirmed by me it was questionable.
"Since Mikail came in first he shall choose first as well. After him, Erza will be allowed to choose, and Weiss shall receive the last one." Mr. Koetsuji declared after Ms. Striker finished.
The two motioned for me to step forward to choose and I walked over to each one to look them over. I asked for permission to touch them and scratched each of them on their crown after I received their permission.
While I was acting as if I was seriously scrutinizing them, I was in truth checking out their status screens.
I began with Rufflet since he used to be one of the flying types I liked to occasionally use because of his higher BS. Not the best reason I know, especially since he was a physical fighter, but he had a high BS so I couldn't resist.
Still, I knew about there being an alternate evolution psychic-evolution for the line that was discovered some 200 plus years ago. Or rather rediscovered, since the one who managed to evolve his Rufflet into the psychic-alternate found an old manuscript in some ruins in Sinnoh that mentioned it.
He followed the instructions on that manuscript and successfully evolved his Rufflet into a Psychic Braviary. Once he did that he sold, no wait, that sounds too capitalistic. He contributed, yes, that sounds much better.
He contributed the manuscript to the alliance in exchange for a lot of contribution points, 100 years of protection for him and his family, as well as a small share from each sale.
The alliance then added the manuscript to its information pool and allowed Senior-class trainers and above to read it in exchange for contribution points. We actually learned about that one in one of our recent history lessons.
It's as if the Alliance was trying to say if you find some good stuff, don't hide it or keep it for yourself. Bring it to us and we'll give you an awesome offer for it that you won't regret.
Anyway, I looked over his status first and I had to say I was impressed.
'Species: Rufflet
Gender: Male
Type: Normal, Flying
Potential: Deep Blue
Stage: Iron-stage (high)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Keen Eye, Sheer Force, Hustle
Talents: None
Affinities: Normal, Flying'
No idea if they knew what they were giving out here, but the guy actually had deep blue potential. If the other two really had the same potential like him, the academies were eating a major loss here by just handing them out as prizes for such a little competition.
Still, I doubted that they knew about it since they could only tell the star-grade, color, as far as I knew without being able to differentiate the shade. Other than his frankly incredible potential, the other sections were normal.
His gender being male was no surprise, seeing how the whole line was a purely male one. No extra talent or gene and the abilities were the same as that of any other Rufflet. Still, his potential alone was enough for me to place him at the top of my choice list.
Still, I had to check the other two first before making my final decision, so after stopping my ministrations to Rufflet's visible disappointment, I went over to Vullaby, who was kinda his female species counterpart.
Under her anticipating gaze, I began scratching her head while checking her status and acting as if I was observing her.
'Species: Vullaby
Gender: Female
Type: Dark, Flying
Potential: Blue
Stage: Iron-stage (high)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Keen Eye, Big Pecks, Overcoat
Talents: Tough Head
Affinities: Dark, Flying'
Well, as I had expected her potential was not as good as Rufflet's potential, but it was still blue which was impressive enough. Furthermore, unlike Rufflet she had a Talent that made up for her slightly worse potential.
I had no idea if her talent was the world's idea of making a joke about her head being so thick she used it to break out of her egg or not, but "Tough Head" basically had the same function as "Rock Head", which was to safeguard the Pokemon from self-harm caused by moves like Brave Bird.
Not the best Talent overall, but not bad either. She had around the same attractiveness to me as Rufflet. They were not making this easy for me, were they?
I went over to Swablu next, leaving behind another bird wanting me to keep scratching that itch. Swablu was already stretching out her head, so I satisfied her desire by scratching her head.
'Species: Swablu
Gender: Female
Type: Normal, Flying
Potential: Blue
Stage: Iron-stage (high)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Keen Eye, Natural Cure, Cloud Nine
Talents: Climate Control
Affinities: Normal, Flying'
Swablu turned out to be a female as well, and just like Vullaby, she had blue potential too. Surprisingly, she also had a Talent that seemed to be linked to her "Cloud Nine" ability.
"Climate Control" allowed her to literally take control of the weather phenomenon. She could extend their duration, dissipate them, and target whether to negate the effects targeted by "Cloud Nine" or not. It even went so far as to negate the effect only for individuals of her choice.
So, she could choose to allow the water-attack boosting effect of Rain Dance for herself, but the moves of her opponent wouldn't be boosted. The same was true for the accuracy increase of Thunder.
That was honestly a pretty overpowered ability in real life if used correctly. She could practically go into the desert during a sandstorm, making sure it stays up indefinitely while ensuring she and her partners are not affected. The same for mountains and blizzards.
I stood up, gave Swablu a final scratch, and took a few steps back so that I stood in front of all three Pokemon. I honestly had a hard time deciding. For me, it ultimately came down to a choice between Rufflet and Swablu.
Rufflet had a few points in his favor. His potential was higher, his evolution, Braviary, was slightly "stronger", had a higher BS, as a species, and there was an alternate psychic evolution that took care of the physical specialization I used to complain about a bit in the past.
Swablu on the other hand was overall not any worse than Rufflet. Her potential was only slightly worse, and the same was true for the strength of Altaria as a species. Additionally, Swablu turned into a dragon after evolving to Altaria.
It was pretty hard to come across dragon species in the wild and among trainers. There was also the fact that it was extremely hard to catch one even if one was "lucky" enough to encounter a dragon in the wild.
Moreover, Altaria had a confirmed Mega-Evolution that would make unlocking her next form much easier. Let's also not forget her potentially broken talent as well. Yes, making a choice was pretty hard for me.
"Mikail, have you made your choice? You've been standing there for nearly 5 minutes." I heard Mr. Koetsuji asking and got startled out of my thoughts.
It seemed like I got too engrossed in my contemplation and had made everyone wait for too long. Still, the question remained. Who do I choose?
'Rufflet or Swablu?' I mentally asked myself one last time before making my decision.
"I'll take Swablu," I informed them before I could change my decision.
Swablu thrilled happily after hearing my decision. She flew over to me, landed on top of my head, and sat down while making happy thrilling sounds.
Mr. Koetsuji nodded at that and gave me her Pokeball. I promptly used my blood to bind the Pokeball to me, making Swablu officially my Pokemon. I walked back to Weiss's side and Erza stepped up. She directly went over to Rufflet and stroked his feathers a few times before declaring that she was choosing him.
That meant that Vullaby automatically went to Weiss, so she went up to Vullaby and pet her a few times. They both received the Pokemon's Pokeballs, which they promptly bound to themselves.
While we were doing the whole selection thing, the other teachers had already started to pack up, so only 10 minutes after we made our choice we separated from the Knight Academy group and made our way back to our camp.
I had recalled Swablu before we left the meeting point and placed her inside Utopia, where I promptly released her out of Pokeball so that she could receive her habitat and optimization.
'Name: None
Species: Swablu
Gender: Female
Age: 3+ years
-
Type: Normal, Flying
Potential: Blue (21.38%) -> Deep Blue (81.38%)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Keen Eye, Natural Cure, Cloud Nine
Talents: Climate Control
Affinities: Normal, Flying, Fairy (budding)
-
Bond: Mikail (weak, artificial)
Quirks: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Iron Stage (high)
Vitality: B
Strength: B
Endurance: A
Agility: B
Energy Capacity: B
Energy Density: A
----
Immune:
Ghost
-
Resistance:
Grass (Minor), Bug (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Electric (Minor), Ice (Minor), Rock (Minor)
----
Condition: Healthy, Accepting
----
Masteries:
Neutral E. Manipulation (Beginner),
Flying/Air E. Manipulation (Beginner)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
N/A
-
Beginner:
Growl, Peck, Fury Attack, Safeguard, Sing
-
Proficient:
Mist, Disarming Voice, Round, Play Rough, Dragon Breath
-
Advanced:
N/A
-
Mastered:
N/A'
Her full status screen told me two important things. First was that Swablu would reach light aurora potential after breaking through to the silver stage if she did the complete limit-breaking training for both the iron and bronze stage.
The second one was that she may have a Mega-Altaria ancestor or a strong fairy-type parent, since she had a budding fairy-type affinity, and had either learned or inherited Play Rough.
It was more likely that she inherited it since I doubted someone had started teaching her a strong move like that early enough for her to become this proficient in it.
Anyway, after we arrived back in the camp my group was given 15 minutes to change clothes before we had to go to the kitchen to prepare food. We used the things Ace's group brought in the morning to make a fish dish and a bird dish.
During dinner, many students were teasing me by saying that they made the competition victor cook for them, which was theoretically true. After dinner, we were given the rest of the day off, and once I managed to dissolve the crowd that surrounded me to ask questions about my hunt, I spent the time before sleep talking with Weiss and Ace.
-----------------------------
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