CHAPTER 1493: VERDANTURF CITY AND THE BATTLE ARENA

Two months passed in the blink of an eye. By the end of August, Ayaya, Anlin, and Anmu participated in the entrance exam for Verdanturf University as scheduled.

It was Yuga himself who personally took them into the exam hall.

Those who came to take the exam weren’t just the three of them—there were also quite a few students who had been recommended through other channels for admission.

Meanwhile, students who were formally admitted through graduation from intermediate trainer schools had already started arriving one after another for registration.

Because they gained their admission slots through special recommendations, Ayaya and the others had relatively easy exam content. There weren’t many subjects to be tested either. The entire exam concluded in just one day, after which they only needed to wait for the final results.

While Ayaya, Anlin, and Anmu were still nervously preparing for their exams, Ash had already successfully enrolled in a university in the Alola region with Pikachu and Hoopa.

The school in Alola started much earlier than the one in Hoenn, with the semester beginning at the start of August. Ash, who had arrived in a new region, was full of anticipation for his upcoming academic journey.

On the first day of September, the results of Ayaya and the others’ entrance exams were published on the official website of Verdanturf University and also on the school campus.

As expected, all three of them passed successfully. They didn’t bring shame to the Verdanturf Gym, nor did they let down their two months of getting up early and staying up late to study.

Verdanturf University officially opened on September 10th. Before that, Ayafu and the others returned home for a visit, precisely to celebrate the successful admission of Ayaya, Anlin, and Anmu into Verdanturf University.

Although the YoYo Day Care was not far from Verdanturf University, Yuga still decided to let the three kids live on campus. That way, they could better experience campus life.

On the 8th, Ayafu and Anya personally took the three younger brothers to the university and helped them get settled with their living arrangements before returning home.

Verdanturf University offered various majors, including the traditional trainer major, breeder major, coordinator trainer major, Pokémon doctor major, and others. Ayaya and the others were all admitted into the traditional trainer major, and conveniently, they were also assigned to the same dormitory.

Verdanturf University dormitories are four-person rooms, and coincidentally, the fourth roommate of Ayaya and the others turned out to be Ryota. After learning this, Yuga strongly suspected that Mr. Gasai had used his position as the principal to pull some strings.

Ayafu didn’t stay long in Verdanturf Town. After sending his younger brothers to school, he left again with Sena Arata.

On September 10th, Verdanturf University held its opening ceremony. Yuga, as the Gym Leader of Verdanturf Town, was invited and gave a speech on stage.

Currently, Yuga could be considered a representative figure among Hoenn’s trainers. He was very reputable among young trainers and had many admirers. In fact, many students had chosen to enroll at Verdanturf University precisely because it was located in Verdanturf Town.

This was a typical example of the celebrity effect.

The number of students in the first batch of Verdanturf University was not large, only just over 800. It was said that a considerable portion of them were descendants of the League military.

Most of the League’s soldiers were part of the pioneer corps. For the children of these individuals, the League provided educational support, and the threshold for them to enter various higher educational institutions was much lower than that of ordinary students.

Because the Hoenn League feared that Verdanturf University might not attract enough students in its first year, they transferred some graduates from the military-affiliated intermediate trainer schools to fill the numbers.

Of course, all of this also followed the principle of voluntariness. If someone truly didn’t want to attend Verdanturf University, the military couldn’t force them to come either.

All military-affiliated schools under the League—not just limited to trainer schools—had students who were children of League military personnel.

That said, Verdanturf University’s admissions situation wasn’t as bad as the League’s upper echelon had feared. Although having just over 800 students wasn’t a huge number, it was more than enough.

Moreover, the school was newly established, and many areas were still in the exploratory stage. Having fewer students wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

After the opening ceremony ended, Yuga, unsurprisingly, was surrounded by a crowd of students. Some wanted his autograph, others sought his guidance. It took a lot of effort for him to finally escape.

Half a month after the start of the new term at Verdanturf University, another major event occurred in Verdanturf Town. The League’s iconic building project in Verdanturf Town—the Verdanturf Arena—was completed and officially opened to the public. At the same time, the League formally announced that Verdanturf Town was being renamed to Verdanturf City, and Mayor Ishida was promoted to the first mayor of the new city.

The upgrade of Verdanturf Town and the opening of the Verdanturf Arena happened on the same day. On that day, a grand celebration was held in the new Verdanturf City’s Arena, and all the notable figures of the city were in attendance.

Verdanturf Arena is located in the northeastern corner of the new Verdanturf City. That area was originally a village under the jurisdiction of Verdanturf Town. As Verdanturf Town expanded outward, the village was later incorporated into what is now Verdanturf City and was restructured and re-planned by the League.

There were quite a few other villages around Verdanturf Town that underwent similar transformations—all part of the effort to turn Verdanturf Town into Verdanturf City.

The Verdanturf Arena is a comprehensive training facility built specifically for trainers. It covers a total area of more than 80,000 square meters. Its main structure is the Battle Tower, which stands 108 stories tall and rises high above a corner of the new Verdanturf City. It is now truly the city’s landmark building.

The former landmark of Verdanturf Town used to be the Contest Hall—later known as Verdanturf Town Arena—which had long become outdated.

This massive Verdanturf Arena includes designated areas for trainers to train their Pokémon, spaces for free battles between trainers, and also houses the largest digital library in the Hoenn Region. Whether you’re a traditional trainer, breeder, or coordinator trainer... everyone can find a place that suits them here.

Among all the features, the most eye-catching is definitely the Battle Tower. It uses the most advanced virtual technology currently available. Trainers can challenge the tower one floor at a time, and the control center’s main system will generate suitable opponents based on the strength of the challenger’s Pokémon.

Back when Yuga participated in the Gym Trainer qualification exam, the League had used similar technology, but the technology applied in the Battle Tower now is an upgraded version of that.

The opponents generated by the tower’s main system through virtual technology are all given temporary physical forms. Other than being slightly less agile than real Pokémon, they are practically indistinguishable from the real thing.

Yuga heard that this technology was discovered by the League in an ancient ruin. After being retrieved, researchers modified it and combined it with modern science and technology to create the final product. Currently, the Verdanturf Arena is the first place to adopt this new technology.

The Battle Tower can accommodate up to ten thousand people for simultaneous challenges. However, most of the facilities are currently turned off, because it’s impossible for that many people to challenge at the same time, and leaving the facilities running would only waste energy.

In many areas of the Verdanturf Arena, you need to pay to enter. The Battle Tower is one of them. This place could be considered a staggering money pit. Perhaps the greatest benefit for ordinary trainers is that enormous digital library, which is open to the public free of charge.

Knowledge in the Pokémon world is very expensive. Although there are plenty of platforms online where people can spend money to access knowledge, slightly more advanced knowledge often requires a considerable amount of money to view.

Because of this, the opening of the electronic library at Verdanturf Arena is clearly of great significance for ordinary trainers.

The League is now vigorously promoting the profession of being a trainer, and even more so trying to integrate Pokémon into every household. The opening of the Verdanturf Arena Library is one of the League’s pilot projects in this initiative.

For a long period after the Arena opened, many trainers would flock to Verdanturf City just to experience this new type of training facility. This also brought a lot of popularity and attention to the newly established Verdanturf City.

This new training method represented by the Battle Tower is very useful for trainers. Even for trainers at Yuga’s level, its benefits cannot be ignored.

The only downside is—it costs money.

But Yuga is not someone who’s short on cash. Ever since the Arena opened, he directly rented an entire floor and had some of his core Pokémon stationed there permanently, participating in different forms of challenges every day.

The Battle Tower challenges are divided into two types: Random Challenges and Custom Challenges.

In Random Challenges, the tower’s AI randomly assigns opponents to the challenger—the species and types of those Pokémon are all random.

In Custom Challenges, the challenger selects the type or species of Pokémon they will face on each floor.

Each type of challenge has its own advantages and disadvantages.

That day, after lunch, Yuga saw Doudou carrying a small bundle and about to head out. He knew Doudou was going to deliver food to the Pokémon in the Battle Tower, so he said: "Doudou, wait a second. I’ll go with you."

It was already the seventh day since Yuga’s Pokémon had moved into the Battle Tower. In these seven days, they hadn’t left the tower even once, and their food and drinks were all being delivered by Doudou every day.

Because Yuga had been extremely busy lately dealing with matters concerning the newly established Verdanturf City, he barely had any time to visit them.

Fortunately, those matters had now come to an end, and the rest of the responsibilities were now up to Mayor Ishida, so Yuga finally thought about going to check on how his Pokémon were doing.

Just as Yuga was about to get up and head out with Doudou, Ninetales—who was using psychic power to clean up the dishes—shouted: "Don’t leave me behind! I’m coming too!"

Yuga asked, "You’re not going to wash the dishes?"

Lately, since Doudou had to go deliver food after lunch every day, the dishwashing task had fallen onto Ninetales. Although Ninetales didn’t like water, it could use psychic powers to avoid physically touching it, which made it bearable.

Ninetales casually replied, "I’ll wash them when I get back. I haven’t been to that Arena yet. Today’s the perfect time to check it out."

Yuga had no choice but to nod and say, "Alright, then hurry up."

"Coming!" Ninetales quickly sent the dishes to the kitchen and then dashed back out.

After returning from filming the commercial with Kalos’s Diantha, Ninetales had been idle at home for several months. With no new job in sight, it was practically bored out of its mind.

And so, the one person and two Pokémon went out together.

After Verdanturf City’s expansion, it was divided into a new district and an old district. YoYo Day Care, where they lived, was located in the old district, while the Arena was situated in the new district.

Yuga walked along the main street of the new district, watching the bustling crowds and steady streams of people. He thought to himself that this area had indeed been constructed very well.

Compared to the old district, the newly planned and better-constructed new district was clearly developing more prosperously. It was believed that before long, the center of Verdanturf City would gradually shift to the new district.

When they arrived at the entrance of the Arena, Yuga was surprised to find that Ayaya, Anlin, and Anmu were walking in this direction in the midst of a large crowd. That crowd was clearly made up of students from Verdanturf University—Ryota was among them as well.

Seeing Yuga, Ayaya called out excitedly, "Gym Leader, you’re here too?"

Yuga smiled and replied, "I should be the one asking you that. What are the three of you doing here? Don’t you have class?"

The people who were with Ayaya were all his classmates. They knew that Ayaya, Anmu, and Anlin had grown up together, but they didn’t know they were apprentices at Verdanturf Gym. At this moment, seeing how familiar Ayaya was with Yuga, everyone couldn’t help but grow curious.

One classmate who was especially close with the twins even leaned over to Anmu and asked excitedly, "You know Gym Leader Shimizu? How come you never told us?"

Anmu replied helplessly, "You never asked, did you? Anyway, I’ll explain it to you later."

Anmu had no intention of hiding their connection to Verdanturf Gym. They were locals of Verdanturf City—there were plenty of people in the old district who knew them, so it wasn’t something they could really hide even if they wanted to. Besides, there was no reason to keep it a secret.

The other classmates were all making exaggerated faces and gestures at Anmu and Anlin, leaving the two of them exasperated.

After listening to Ayaya, Yuga finally understood—they had come with friends to watch a match.

"You said Bruno and Wikstrom came to Verdanturf City?" Yuga asked in surprise.

"Yeah! Gym Leader, you didn’t know? I thought you were here for the same reason—to watch their match," Ayaya said with a puzzled expression. "Lots of students at our school heard about it. There should be a pretty big crowd today."

"Then I definitely have to see it," Yuga said. He really hadn’t known those two Elite Four members were in Verdanturf City—he had been so busy lately. "Let’s go in together." With that, Yuga called Ayaya, Anlin, Anmu, and their classmates to enter the Arena together.

The Verdanturf University students following behind became a bit awkward because of Yuga’s presence. They started nudging each other, unsure of what to say or how to act.

Seeing this, Yuga smiled and said, "Just be yourselves. Pretend I’m not even here."

"Ryota, Ayaya, over here!"

As they entered the main hall, someone suddenly called out. Yuga looked toward the voice and saw that it was Chikai waving at them.

Yuga instinctively turned to Ayaya and asked, "You know Chikai too?"

Ayaya replied, "Yeah, he’s Ryota’s friend. We’ve met a few times, so I know him now."

"I see..." Yuga couldn’t help but glance at Chikai a few more times.

But what surprised Yuga even more was that Chikai had not only gotten close with Ryota, Ayaya, and the others, he also seemed to know the other Verdanturf University students they were with. He was chatting and laughing with them like they were long-time friends.

As if noticing that Yuga was watching him, Chikai walked over and asked, "Mr. Shimizu, are you here to watch the match between Wikstrom and Bruno as well?"

Yuga nodded and said, "Something like that."

Chikai seemed like he wanted to continue talking to Yuga, but at that moment, a student shouted, "The match between Mr. Wikstrom and Mr. Bruno is about to start. Let’s go inside!"

So the large group surged forward toward the Arena, and Yuga quickly followed after them.

The part of the Arena Yuga had originally planned to visit wasn’t in the same direction as the battle venue, so he decided he’d go check on his Pokémon after the match ended.