The reason Terrance chose Bug-type was because he valued Bug-type Pokémon's growth potential!
When it comes to Pokémon like Caterpie and Wurmple, it's not an exaggeration to say they grow the fastest!
With proper training, they can form a basic fighting force in as little as a week, even starting from scratch. With a month's training, they can develop impressive skills.
The growth speed of Pokémon like Caterpie and Wurmple is quite rapid, but on the flip side, they tend to hit a bottleneck quickly, making further progress more challenging.
But that doesn't matter! A Gym battle doesn't require the Gym Leader to go all out and use their strongest Pokémon. The primary purpose of a Gym is to screen for outstanding Trainers for the League Conference. It's an institution designed to test Trainers, and most of the challengers are rookies!
If most of the opponents are rookie Trainers, what's the point of using overly strong Pokémon? You'd still have to hold back, so why make it harder on yourself?
Bug-type Pokémon, which can form a fighting force in a short time, are undoubtedly the best choice for Terrance. More importantly, Pokémon like Caterpie and Wurmple are incredibly easy and inexpensive to train. At the same time, the resources required to raise a Growlithe and a Caterpie are completely disproportionate, so this is another advantage.
Besides, for high-level battles, Terrance has Beautifly.
To handle most strong challengers, Beautifly's presence in Fallarbor Gym is more than enough!
More importantly, Terrance's four years of experience in raising Beautifly will be a huge asset that can accelerate the development of Fallarbor Gym in the future. Even some of Beautifly's current skills can be replicated.
Terrance became a Top Coordinator this year, and his signature Pokémon is Beautifly.
In a way, that alone can serve as a large-scale promotion for the Gym.
With the presence of a Top Coordinator's signature Pokémon, even many Coordinators may be tempted to challenge the Gym.
Moreover, the core challenge Terrance plans to implement at his Gym will be about problem-solving!
You could say it's also about coordination.
If a rookie Trainer comes to challenge Terrance's Gym with the intention of relying solely on brute-force fighting style... well, sorry, but they're probably not going to pass.
In this way, it will give Pokémon like Butterfree, Beautifly, and Dustox more opportunities to shine.
As long as they can understand Terrance's painstaking efforts and grasp what the Gym challenge is about, even if they don't pass on their first attempt, if the Gym Leader notices the Trainer's improvement, he may still allow them to pass. This is the true purpose of Gyms in today's society: they primarily serve to instill certain values in rookie Trainers, impart knowledge that helps them grow stronger, and function as a guiding institution.
Terrance felt that this idea was pretty solid. After all, Wurmple was the most common Pokémon in Hoenn, and there were plenty of Caterpie as well. Capturing these two Pokémon species would be the easiest.
That night, as Terrance mulled over his plans, he unconsciously drifted off to sleep.
…
…
The next morning, Terrance made breakfast for everyone and, as usual, chatted with them.
For the past few days, Terrance hadn't intentionally trained his Pokémon. After the conclusion of the Pokémon Contests, he had decided to give himself and his Pokémon a well-deserved break.
However, before noon, Terrance received an unexpected call.
"Mr. Raoul Contesta?" Terrance answered his phone, a bit surprised.
"It's me," the voice on the other side said.
"Good morning, Mr. Raoul Contesta. Is there something you need?" Terrance was initially confused but quickly thought of something.
"Congratulations! Your application has been approved. Within six months, a Pokémon Contest Hall will be built in Fallarbor Town."
Sure enough!
Terrance was shocked. He hadn't imagined it would happen so quickly. It had been less than a week, and he already had concrete news.
Contest Committee really listened to his suggestion and decided to build a Contest Hall in Fallarbor Town!
For Terrance, this was undoubtedly fantastic news.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Raoul Contesta," Terrance said sincerely, expressing his heartfelt gratitude.
Raoul Contesta replied, "No need to thank me. Most of what you said was true. Fallarbor Town is indeed a great location. While it hasn't fully developed yet, it has the potential to become one of Hoenn's signature towns in a few years. What we're doing now is merely an early investment."
Terrance shook his head. "I still have to thank you. Without your help, this might have been delayed for a long time."
"It's no problem. But that's not the main thing. I have a question for you. About your plan to establish a Gym—have you seriously thought it through? How confident are you that it will succeed?"
"I'm confident," Terrance said decisively. He had already researched the exam criteria.
Raoul Contesta was silent for a moment before he asked, "Have you heard of the Wallace Cup?"
The Wallace Cup?!
"Yes, it's a special Pokémon Contest named after the Contest Master, Wallace. The Wallace Cup is held in various locations around the world. The winner receives the Aqua Ribbon, which can be used in any region's Grand Festival. It's a newly introduced large-scale Pokémon Contest second only to the Grand Festival, so it's a highly regarded competition for Coordinators from all regions," Terrance explained slowly.
"Good, since you know about it, it'll be easier to discuss. If you manage to establish your Gym successfully, I have a proposal for a collaboration. Would you be interested?"
Collaboration?
Terrance was puzzled at first but then listened carefully to Mr. Raoul Contesta's explanation.
"After the Pokémon Contest reforms, it might take one year, or it might take two or three, but eventually, there will be a Grand Festival that pits Coordinators against Trainers. This will be a large-scale competition where Coordinators will face off against traditional Trainers. This hasn't been made public yet. Would you be willing to attend the Grand Festival as a Coordinator?"
A-A Grand Festival where Coordinators compete against traditional Trainers?!
Terrance was stunned. He could sense something was off. Although the words didn't seem overly confrontational, they carried a subtle but undeniable sense of rivalry, as if neither side was willing to back down…
Is this an attempt to stir things up, to restore the reputation of Coordinators and Pokémon Contests?!
"I'm probably overthinking it," Terrance guessed. "It's likely just a way to ensure that Coordinators receive the recognition they deserve. There are still too many traditional Trainers who look down on Coordinators. This Grand Festival is probably meant to address that!"
Seeing that Terrance had been silent for a while, Raoul Contesta continued, "There aren't many outstanding Coordinators. While Wallace is one, the influence of a single person isn't enough. If more exceptional Coordinators step up, the likelihood of the Grand Festival's success will increase significantly."
Terrance thought that as long as Wallace was involved, unless an Elite Four-level Trainer appeared, it wouldn't be too difficult for Wallace to sweep the competition by himself. However, the Contest Committee didn't want Wallace to be the sole representative of all Coordinators. That wouldn't be convincing enough. They need to invite more Coordinators.
And one of their targets was the rising star, Terrance.
"As long as you can showcase the qualities of a Coordinator during the Grand Festival, the Contest Committee will offer corresponding benefits," Raoul Contesta said.
"What are the conditions?" Terrance asked.
"Of course, it depends on your performance. You mentioned that your Gym will be successfully established, right? How about this: just like the Wallace Cup, the Gym's Badge could be accepted in Hoenn's Grand Festival. What do you think?"
Terrance couldn't stay calm. A Gym Badge that could be accepted in Hoenn's Grand Festival? That would practically turn the Gym into a Pokémon Contest Hall!
This wasn't just a simple promotion—this would make the Gym famous across all of Hoenn!
Sure enough, the requirement Raoul Contesta mentioned was extremely harsh: "The requirement is that, aside from Wallace, you must be the most dazzling performer."
Terrance immediately calmed down. In other words, at some point in the future, they wanted him to become No.2 Coordinator among the participants.
"…" Terrance wasn't sure how difficult this would be. But if it were true, and the Gym Badge could serve as a Ribbon for the Grand Festival, the benefits for the Gym would be unimaginable.
This wasn't just a collaboration; it was pure temptation.
Several people within the Contest Committee had high hopes for Terrance. While there were many Top Coordinators, Terrance was the youngest and had the greatest potential, showing signs of becoming the next Wallace. He was highly regarded by the upper ranks of the Contest Committee. Additionally, Terrance has a clean background, and if he can bridge the gap between Gyms and Pokémon Contests, it would be a bold and innovative move. No one knows how it will turn out, but the future is undoubtedly exciting.
It might even create a second Wallace!
"About two years…" Raoul Contesta said.
Two years... Terrance fell silent. If given two more years, how far could he grow?
Can his value truly be recognized by the Contest Committee? Terrance understood that their interest in him was largely due to his age. It was his advantage, but as he got older, that advantage would gradually diminish. That's why he didn't want to turn this down—he had no reason to refuse.
This was really a win-win collaboration.
[TN: A slightly bigger chapter.]
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