The reason Terrance didn't appear in the High-level Area is that Mr. Scott had returned. Along with the sixteen Trainers he successfully invited, they were all gathered in a reception room on a certain floor.
Initially, Scott had selected twenty-four Trainers who met his criteria through various channels. He managed to invite more than half of them, which is a testament to his wealth and the generous conditions he offered that most people found hard to refuse.
Among these sixteen, there were twelve male Trainers and four female Trainers, all between the ages of 12 and 14. They could all be considered rare elites among young Trainers.
At this moment, the sixteen were observing each other, with two individuals drawing the most attention.
One was Terrance, and the other was a boy dressed in a black academy-style uniform; his name seemed to be Shiro and he had come from the Unova Region.
Like Terrance, he was also a Trainer who reached the High-level Area during this period, and he did so even faster and earlier than Terrance.
"I'm glad you all accepted the invitation..." Mr. Scott laughed heartily, looking at these vibrant young Trainers with a touch of sentimentality, "Since you've all come, I'm confident you won't be disappointed with the final outcome."
"Now that everyone is here, I'll explain the specifics."
At this point, Scott's chubby face turned serious as he continued, "I remember mentioning before that your task is simply to battle with Trainers around your age. Here's the situation—"
"Your opponents are from the Castelia Club in the Unova Region. The Castelia Club has a much longer history than the Frontier Club. This time, they will be sending five Trainers under the age of 15 to have an exchange battle with the Frontier Club."
"Since the Frontier Club is relatively new, we've only signed contracts with official Trainers and haven't started developing provisional members from scratch. So this exchange is a bit troublesome for me. Among the officially contracted Trainers at Frontier Club…. there are hardly any under the age of 15."
At this point, Scott couldn't help but scratch his head. The Frontier Club he had established still lacked foundation.
The opposing club was well-established with a long history, while the Frontier Club was still an emerging club. Although it has strong financial backing, it still lacks experience, and has yet to settle into a proper routine. This could be seen from the distribution of its members across different age groups.
The current owner of the Castelia Club was Scott's business rival and longtime adversary. Both owned Trainer-related businesses and clubs. Scott couldn't resist his opponent's provocation and fell into the trap, agreeing to this wager that was unfavorable to him. As a last resort, he had no choice but to search for suitable Trainers from among the people of Hoenn.
"So... out of you sixteen, we actually only need to select five in the end." Mr. Scott hesitated before continuing, "Of course, the others will also receive appropriate rewards."
"At the very least, these next two months will be a great opportunity for you all to improve yourselves."
Everyone present understood that the right moment to establish the five spots is not now, but rather during the last stretch of time.
"However, we do have some advantages," Scott said with a cheerful smile. "The number of eligible members in the Castelia Club is limited. With a little investigation, we can find information on their commonly used Pokémon. But for the Castelia Club, gathering information about you will be much more difficult."
"Over the next two months, I'll bring in professional Trainers to help you with special training targeted at the opposing Trainers. The most crucial thing isn't strength, but rather choosing the right person to counter specific Trainers. After all, strength may be important, but there are also many factors to consider."
"But don't be discouraged. During these two months, you'll have access to excellent training resources, and those who perform well may have the opportunity to further sign a contract with the Frontier Club."
Signing a contract with the Frontier Club... This was the condition that made most of the Trainers present eager. Although the Frontier Club had not been around for long, it was well-funded and had few members, which meant plenty of resources to go around.
Relying solely on a Trainer's individual strength is pointless if their Pokémon can't keep up, no matter how much the Trainer improves.
And aside from standard growth, building up a Pokémon's strength naturally required a massive amount of resources—much like comparing a healthy, well-nourished child with a malnourished one in a sports activity. The advantages and potential of the former are clear to see.
"Alright... Do you have any questions?" Scott asked.
Immediately, someone below asked, "The opponents are from a club in the Unova Region, so does that mean their Pokémon are almost all exclusive to the Unova Region?"
"Of course, but it's also possible they could have Pokémon from other regions. I'll arrange for professionals to provide you with information on the Pokémon that are common in the Unova Region," Mr. Scott nodded.
A female Trainer asked, "What's the special training going to be like?"
Scott replied, "I've set up three requirements. The first one is here in the Battle Tower. Once you complete a streak of thirty-five consecutive wins in the Beginner Area, you'll have passed the first requirement..."
At this point, the Trainers Scott had invited all looked toward Terrance and Shiro.
Terrance's expression didn't change as he continued listening to the explanation.
"The second requirement is to understand the characteristics of the Castelia Club through our club's professionals. Once you're familiar with each of their weaknesses, you'll have passed the second requirement. This will require you to learn a lot about the battle styles of Unova Trainers and the abilities of local Pokémon. After all, Unova is quite far from here, and the customs and environment are very different."
Everyone nodded in understanding.
"As for the third requirement, after understanding the characteristics of the Castelia Club's Trainers, you'll engage in simulated battles with Trainers our club has hired from Unova. At that time, the contracted Trainers of the club will also be responsible for evaluating your performance!"
"Once you successfully pass the evaluation, there will likely be more than enough candidates, and we'll further select the best among you. The officially contracted Trainers of the club will conduct a second assessment of your strength."
After hearing about these three requirements, Terrance shrugged. It was clear that the club wasn't looking to truly cultivate talented and promising Trainers for the long term. Instead, the focus was purely on the outcome of this bet. The first requirement was designed to weed out those who couldn't even reach the High-level Area. The second requirement tested their learning ability—whether they could quickly identify and counter the opponent's weaknesses. The third requirement was an upgrade of the second, determining if they could apply what they had learned in real battles and counter their opponents during an actual match.
These three requirements were ultimately preparation for the upcoming bet, but that suited Terrance just fine. However, the real question on his mind wasn't this. Soon after, someone else asked another question.
"Mr. Scott, the special training can't be just as straightforward as this, right? I remember you initially promised an opportunity to quickly boost our strength."
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