Chapter 214: Class Orientation
By the time Basalt arrived at the classroom, most of the students were already there.
"Hey, classmate, sign in here!"
As soon as Basalt walked in, an extremely outgoing boy came up to greet him, smiling. "My name is Zach, let's look out for each other. What's your name, classmate?"
"Basalt."
"Whoa! You're Basalt? This year's Rookie King for Centralis Province, our class's Student 01? It's an honor!"
Zach's face showed deep admiration, his eyes squinting as he sized Basalt up. "We're about to elect the class president and other officers in the orientation. In my opinion, the position of class president belongs to none other than you, Basalt! I, Zach, will be the first to raise both hands in support!"
"You're clearly the one who wants to run for president, aren't you?"
Basalt glanced at Zach, sneering inwardly. Basalt saw right through Zach's little plan.
But Basalt was used to his freedom and couldn't be bothered to take on such a role. More importantly, he didn't see the point. In the Pokémon world, especially among trainers, strength was ultimately all that mattered.
After Basalt politely declined, the smile on Zach's face grew even wider.
He rubbed his hands together. "Well, if Basalt isn't interested, then I'll be bold and give it a try later. When the time comes, I hope you'll give me your support, Basalt!"
He's finally showing his true colors.
"Sure, sure," Basalt said with a smile, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Basalt found a seat. Most of the students who had arrived early kept glancing his way, whispering among themselves. Basalt was slowly getting used to it, so he just pretended not to see or hear.
Glancing around, Basalt quickly spotted a stunningly beautiful girl sitting quietly. Her calm and ethereal temperament was impossible to hide. The guys in the class were constantly sneaking glances at her, just like the girls were sneaking glances at Basalt.
Basalt also glanced at Sylvie a few times, and just then, she happened to look over. She gave Basalt a faint smile.
The two nodded at each other, counting it as a greeting.
Before long, the advisor for Battle Department Class 1 arrived.
He was a middle-aged man of about forty, with meticulously combed hair and very formal attire—a full suit and tie. He looked like the very model of a successful professional.
"Welcome, everyone, to Battle Department Class 1. I am your class advisor, Mr. Burton. For the next four years, I will be responsible for guiding your studies. If you encounter any difficulties, you can always come to me."
Mr. Burton started with a simple opening and self-introduction, then smiled. "This should be the first time most of you are meeting. Let's have each student come up and give a self-introduction, in order. It's a good way to get to know each other. You might even find some people from your hometown or with common interests."
"First, let's have Student 01, Basalt, come to the front. Let's give him a round of applause!"
"Huh? I'm first?"
Basalt's mouth twitched, but he still walked up to the podium and gave a very standard self-introduction.
He mainly covered his name, hometown, and hobbies. The whole thing took less than thirty seconds.
Class 1 had just over thirty students, so the self-introductions alone took up half the class period. But it was effective; at least everyone now had a basic idea of who their classmates were.
After the introductions, Mr. Burton spoke for a while about various things, and then they moved on to electing the class officers.
Basalt couldn't be bothered with it, so Zach ultimately got his wish and was elected class president. He was on top of the world, patting his chest and promising to serve everyone well.
With the officers chosen, Mr. Burton prepared to leave. But before he left, he instructed Zach to organize a class activity to help the students bond, as was to be expected.
After Mr. Burton left, Zach's sense of leadership instantly kicked in. He walked to the podium. "Out of the hundreds of millions of students in the Alliance, for us to come together as classmates is truly fate... First, let's make a private group chat. One without any teachers or advisors. If anyone needs anything, you can just ping me in the group."
Zach's first proposal immediately got unanimous approval from the class.
Once the group chat was made, Zach proposed, "Since none of us have anything to do this afternoon, why don't we hold our first class activity right now? It's a good chance to get to know each other better! If anyone has ideas for an activity, feel free to speak up."
"Mr. President," a well-built guy raised his hand, "we're students of the Battle Department. What else is there to do? Let's just have Pokémon battles. It's direct and to the point!" He glanced around arrogantly, but he didn't dare look toward Basalt.
Hearing this, most of the guys agreed, but the girls were hesitant.
Starting a fight right away? How barbaric!
Basalt didn't say anything. He was fine either way. A Pokémon battle? Basalt had this in the bag.
Seeing the girls' hesitation, Zach laughed. "Even though we're the Battle Class, starting with battles right away might cause some bad blood. I think we should save the battles for next time. For this first one, let's focus on a fun competition..."
With Zach mediating, the class activity was finally decided: a team relay race. Each team would have three people, responsible for three different legs: sky, land, and water.
The winning team members would each receive a Type Gem as a reward, specially sponsored by the class president, Zach.
As soon as they heard there was a Type Gem on the line, the students who were originally uninterested suddenly became eager to participate. A Type Gem was an item worth a hundred thousand dollars; a normal student would definitely be very interested.
"My Pidgeot is really fast! Anyone want to team up? I'll take the sky leg!"
"My Seadra is a great swimmer. We'd be a good match!"
"My Electabuzz has been specially trained for speed. I can take the land leg!"
...
Team formation began. The previous shyness was gone as everyone began to "sell" themselves.
As the Centralis Province Rookie King, almost all the local students knew about the speed of Basalt's Excadrill. The moment team-up began, a whole crowd of people approached Basalt, most of them girls.
Of course, even more guys were flocking to Sylvie.
The male-to-female ratio in the Battle Department was a high 8:2. Even with all his charm, Basalt couldn't compete with Sylvie.
"Alright, my Excadrill will take the ground leg."
Basalt smiled and teamed up with two classmates, one guy and one girl.
The girl's name was Jenna, and her participating Pokémon was the Psychic/Water-type Starmie.
The guy's name was Reynold, and his Pokémon was Swellow, a Flying-type with a high base Speed of 125.
"Leave the ground portion to me. It's a guaranteed win," Basalt said with a smile, feeling like victory was in his grasp.
Of course, that was assuming his other two teammates didn't choke.
Hearing this, Jenna and Reynold also smiled. Although their opponents weren't bad, as top students, they were also very confident in their own abilities. Anyone without skill or confidence probably wouldn't have made it into Centralis University.
Ten minutes later, everyone was in teams. The few class officers didn't participate, as they had to act as referees and record the results.
There were 9 teams in total. The race would be held in 3 heats, with 3 teams each.
The fourth and final round would be a final showdown between the winners of each heat to determine the champion.
The race was held at the Azure Lake extension on campus. First, the Flying-type Pokémon would circle the lake (about 1.5 km), then the Water-type Pokémon would cross the lake and back (about 500 m), and finally, a land sprint (about 200 m).
"Will the three teams from the first heat please take your positions!" The officer acting as the starter shouted for the competitors to get ready.
"Come out, Pidgeot!"
"Let's go, Scyther!"
"Fly, Jumpluff!"
The first-leg competitors all released their Pokémon. It was clear that their Pokémon were all well-raised and skilled at flying.
Basalt was in the second heat, so he could just sit back and watch the show.
"On your marks, get set, go!"
The referee blew the whistle, and the three Pokémon shot into the sky like arrows, all of them incredibly fast.
But unexpectedly, the Pokémon that took the temporary lead wasn't Pidgeot, but a cute, round, blue Pokémon. It had three large cotton tufts extending from its body: one on each arm and one on its head.
It was the Grass/Flying-type, Jumpluff. Jumpluff had three or four leaves growing under the cotton on its head, round feet, a small tail, and red eyes. Its flight speed was impressive.
"Tsk tsk, it has a weather advantage. What a miscalculation for the others." Basalt looked up at the sky and noticed the sun was shining brightly. This was a massive buff for a Pokémon with the Chlorophyll Ability.
For the first half of the race, Jumpluff held a firm lead.
Unfortunately, in the second half, an east wind blew across the lake, and all three Pokémon were instantly affected.
The one affected the most, however, was Jumpluff.
Jumpluff could only use its fluffy cotton spores to float in the air. Although it could control its flight even in strong winds like a hurricane, flying against a headwind was just too difficult for an Intermediate-rank Jumpluff.
So, in the first leg, Jumpluff started strong but fizzled out, finishing last.
"Look, it's Milotic!"
Just as Jumpluff reached the finish line, someone in the crowd cried out in surprise.
The next leg for Jumpluff's team was Sylvie and her Milotic.
Milotic is a Water-type Pokémon, with an appearance similar to a sea serpent. Its natural body color is mostly cream, with red eyes and three black dots below its neck, which are likely its gills.
Milotic's head is long, with a slight protrusion at the end, and red, "eyebrow-like" appendages extending from above its eyes. It also has red, hair-like fins covering the sides of its head.
Its tail is covered in blue and pink scales with black stripes. The four large, fan-like blue scales at the end of its tail have red dots in the center.
The moment Milotic hit the water, with a flick of its tail, the lake's current began to flow rapidly, pushing it forward.
The gap was shrinking steadily.
By the time it reached the other side of the lake and began its return trip, Milotic had already caught up to the first-place team and was beginning to pull ahead with a slight lead.
"That Milotic... it's so fast!" The watching students exclaimed in awe.
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