Three days passed in a flash.
During those three days, aside from eating and resting, Haruki spent almost all his time in the training room, leaving many curious onlookers with no chance to gather any useful information.
Zirc had taken on a long-term assignment and couldn't devote himself as fully as Haruki. But Zubat had successfully learned Steel Wing, and its strength was steadily improving.
As Haruki exited the rest room, Zirc was already waiting at the door.
"Boss, this way."
Zirc led the way, and the two quickly arrived at the F Zone.
The usually sealed gates of the F Zone were now open. On the way, small groups of people continued to converge.
The area was full of probing glances; clearly, plenty of people were paying attention to him.
But before long, those gazes shifted elsewhere.
Haruki followed them instinctively.
It was her!
The photo from the intel file overlapped perfectly with the real person. Haruki recognized her instantly.
Matori!
The future personal secretary of Team Rocket's boss Giovanni, an elite Intelligence Officer. And yet, she was in the same recruitment batch as him.
Haruki had been stunned for quite a while when he first saw her name listed among the applicants.
This made her the second well-known canon character he had seen here, after Gardenia.
Fortunately, Mobile Intelligence Officer selection wasn't a single-winner competition, there were multiple spots available.
Retracting his gaze, Haruki silently entered the F Zone. The dim lighting made it hard to judge how many participants had arrived.
Still, everyone seemed deep in thought about the upcoming rounds. No one was foolish enough to cause a scene.
Bang!
At exactly 9:00, the F Zone gates closed.
A burst of white light lit up the space. The participants instinctively squinted and turned to face the center.
There stood a series of semi-enclosed booths, each containing nothing but a computer.
The broadcast began.
[Sinnoh Division - Mobile Intelligence Officer Selection: Round One - Cyber Intelligence Gathering. Please take your assigned seats as instructed.]
The next second, everyone's communicator vibrated simultaneously, displaying their seat numbers.
'Number 66. Not bad!'
Haruki smiled slightly, then headed toward booth 66.
---
Ten minutes later, Haruki stood up and walked calmly toward the entrance to the next round. On his computer screen, only two large green characters remained:
[Passed]
First place in round one!
Even though everyone already had sky-high expectations of Haruki, they still hadn't expected him to be this strong…
Three minutes later, Matori stood up, adjusted her slipping glasses, and exited as the second to pass.
A full fifteen minutes passed before waves of other contestants began completing the task and heading toward the site of the second trial.
Once 50 people had completed round one, all remaining computers were forcibly overridden, displaying a glaring red:
[Failed]
The red text only made their defeat more humiliating.
---
Now rewind to 15 minutes earlier.
Haruki was the first to arrive at the second test venue. The dim lighting concealed his smile and the excitement he could no longer suppress inside.
After reading through the rules of the second round, Haruki quietly muttered, 'Just as I thought,' then remained in place, waiting.
Three minutes later, Matori entered.
Haruki instinctively turned to look. Their eyes met.
"I'm Matori. Pleased to meet you."
Haruki paused, surprised that Matori would take the initiative to greet him.
He gently shook the hand she extended.
"Haruki. You can call me that."
"I looked into you. You used to be an IT prodigy in the Intelligence Division at headquarters. Half a year ago, you were suddenly reassigned to the field. But you've never shown any Trainer aptitude before… so why are you joining the selection now?"
Haruki: "..."
'Was this girl always this aggressive? Shouldn't she be silently observing me, secretly gathering the "truth"?'
Directly asking the person involved… what kind of move was that?
It didn't seem like something the sharp and capable future secretary of Giovanni would do.
"...I just never showed it before. But Miss Matori, what brings you to Sinnoh?"
Haruki threw the question back at her.
Half a year ago, Matori was already a senior Intelligence Officer at headquarters. How had she ended up like this?
"Mission-related. Inconvenient to disclose."
'This woman!'
Haruki twitched his lips and decided not to pursue it further.
---
[Mobile Intelligence Officer Selection - Round Two - Arena Challenge]
There were 10 final spots for MIO. Based on completion times from the first round, the arena challenge would proceed in reverse order.
In short, the last 10 from the first round would automatically become the Arena Holders and be challenged by others in reverse ranking order.
During the event, the same participant could not be challenged twice in a row; there had to be an interval.
After each battle, only recovery devices could be used to restore the Pokémon's stamina and status.
Additionally, each participant could only use one Pokémon per match, though they could choose to switch after each round.
---
As the first-place finisher in the opening round, Haruki would be the very last to challenge.
An enormous advantage.
Conversely, the earlier one's rank, the more battles one would have to endure, and the more intel would be revealed in advance.
No speech, no formalities.
The ten bottom-ranked participants stepped up with grim expressions, eyeing the crowd below who looked like predators ready to pounce.
Only one of them looked relatively calm, and Haruki happened to recognize him.
It was that veteran Intelligence Officer who had ambushed Zirc on the first day...
Wesley.
True to his name, Wesley had a rugged, wild appearance and a completely bald head.
He didn't look like someone who was great with computers, so ranking last in round one was probably within his expectations.
And the reason he was so calm now was simple.
He was strong!
[Contestant #40, please choose an Arena Holder to challenge.]
The announcement rang out. A completely ordinary-looking contestant stepped out from the crowd and chose an equally ordinary Arena Holder.
Just like that, the second round began.
And it had to be said… when all the Pokémon involved were Veteran-tier, the battles truly were far more exciting.
Like most people, Haruki split his attention between all the arenas, trying to gather as much intel as possible.
During the process, if anyone showed signs of fatigue or if their Pokémon got seriously injured by accident, someone would immediately target them, lining up to challenge in the next available match.
Recovery devices could restore stamina and cure status conditions, but they couldn't instantly bring a Pokémon back to peak condition.
Mental fatigue would keep piling up.
…Unless, of course, you had a dose of Honey.
One after another, contestants from #40 to #20 took the stage. Since each battle used only one Pokémon, the pace was brisk.
But no one challenged Wesley!
So up to this point, Haruki's understanding of Wesley still came only from the data: he owned a Veteran-tier Croagunk and Golbat.
Haruki wasn't afraid of him, but he did wish someone would teach Wesley a lesson.
If he got through without a single battle, wouldn't that make him look even more arrogant than Haruki, the top-ranked competitor?
Finally, the contestant who placed 15th in the first round stepped up. Another one Haruki had been planning to deal with.
Short and sleazy-looking: Zachary.
As soon as Zachary entered, he decisively picked a female contestant who hadn't performed particularly well.
Then, using a Yanmega, he easily defeated the girl's Roselia and took over the arena.
.
.
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Sooo… I kinda forgot to post yesterday's chapter… I SWEAR I DID THOUGH!