Half a month later...
It was about time for the annual evaluation that the university held once a year.
In the Secret Kingdom of Ironvale City's Pokémon University, headquarters of the university team.
After a month, the five members who had originally split up here gathered once again.
Since the five had already joined the university team and their performance far surpassed that of the rest of the freshmen, the university canceled their standard annual evaluation and replaced it with an internal evaluation of the university team.
The evaluation method was quite simple: it would assess the team formation they had developed during that time, as well as the construction of their defensive core.
In the wide plaza, the captain of the university team, Daniel Harper, watched the five new team members with interest, accompanied by both the starting members and the substitutes.
"Who wants to go first?" asked Daniel Harper, arms crossed as his eyes swept across the five.
"I'll start," said Lucas Silver, the former captain of the reserve university team, stepping forward.
With three Poké Balls in hand, he tossed them lightly into the air, sending out three Pokémon onto the field:
Metang, Lairon, and Bisharp.
Among them, Ethan Black had already seen Metang and Lairon before, so he focused his attention on Bisharp.
Bisharp was completely red, with two crescent-shaped blades on its sides, a golden blade on its head like an axe, and hands that were also blades. Just by standing there, it resembled an unsheathed sword, overflowing with aggression.
"It's a Bisharp!" Ethan Black thought in surprise. "This kind of Pokémon is only found abroad. The Devon Corporation really shows its multinational power, even managing to acquire such rare species!"
"Three Steel-types?" the captain reflected. "That's quite a good team combination. Then, let me test the strength of your team."
With that, he threw his Poké Ball and a sturdy-bodied Piloswine appeared.
The Piloswine, with its brown fur almost covering its eyes, squinted lazily at the three Pokémon on the other side.
"Alright, then come at me with everything, captain!" replied Lucas Silver with a solemn expression.
"Not so fast," the vice-captain Emily Collins interrupted with a slight smile.
Beside her, an Azumarill quickly moved onto the training field and set up an energy measurement device in the center of the field.
"Prepare yourselves. The rule is that your Pokémon must protect this device. If the energy level exceeds the red line, the evaluation will be considered failed."
"And the consequences of failing? Hehehe." Emily Collins smiled mischievously at the five like a little demon.
"Understood," Lucas Silver nodded gravely.
Immediately, his three Pokémon positioned themselves around the device: Metang floating to one side, Bisharp on the far end, and Lairon standing in front as a shield.
"Then, careful now... Piloswine, use Powder Snow!"
At Daniel Harper's command, Piloswine opened its mouth and fired a flurry of snowflakes forward.
"Lairon, use Rock Tomb!"
Seeing the snowstorm approaching, Lairon raised its front legs and slammed the ground, causing a stone wall to rise right in front of it.
Crack!
Crack!
The snow hit the wall, and the sound of freezing spread instantly. Ice quickly spread across the wall until, finally, it shattered into pieces under a rain of icy shards.
"Good work!"
Seeing that Lairon had successfully blocked the attack, Captain Daniel Harper praised it with a smile.
It was clear that Lairon was the defensive core of Lucas Silver's team, and using Rock Tomb to create a defensive wall showed that he had refined this move to the point of using it with complete freedom.
With such a solid defense, combined with its naturally high physical defense, Lairon fit perfectly into that role.
"Lucas Silver, approved. Next, Marcus Foster, your turn," said Daniel Harper.
"Phew, so we just have to withstand an attack... I thought I'd have to battle the captain directly. If that were the case, not even with six Pokémon would I win!"
Marcus Foster, seeing Piloswine being withdrawn, pulled out his three Poké Balls, sending out: Shelgon, Altaria, and Vibrava.
Just like Lucas Silver, Marcus Foster followed a single-type path —in this case, Dragon— which clearly showed that his family likely had a complete breeding and strategy system for that specific type of Pokémon.
"A pure Dragon-type team?"
Daniel Harper pondered for a moment, then sent out his Breloom.
Once Marcus Foster was ready, Daniel Harper commanded Breloom to move in and use Fighting-type moves to break through the opponent's defense.
But this was exactly what Marcus Foster wanted. Although Shelgon couldn't react in time to Breloom's speed, his defensive Pokémon, Altaria, had already used Cotton Guard, perfectly blocking the frontal blow.
Seeing that Altaria had successfully stopped the attack, Daniel Harper nodded in satisfaction and withdrew Breloom. Marcus Foster also passed the test without issue.
Next came Jasper Reid, who, perhaps because his family worked in mining, also sent out three Rock-type Pokémon: Onix, Graveler, and Nosepass.
It was clear that his family had made great efforts to help him succeed in the university team. And the choice to specialize in Rock-type was probably for practical reasons: with limited resources, specializing in a single type allowed them to make the most of a single breeding guide.
Most impressive of all was that his Graveler had mastered the rare move Wide Guard, a powerful Rock-type defensive move.
(End of chapter)