A large portion of the form Old Liu sent over was blank, very different from a standard application form.
If digital versions weren't already the norm these days, the ink on it probably wouldn't even be dry yet.
[Fill out the digital version first. We'll talk about the paper version after the Academy Cup ends. I pulled some strings for you, if your performance is good, you'll have more choices available.]
The digital version had to be submitted first—at the very least, it had to prove that the contestant was from their university.
The rest was some privileges Old Liu had managed to secure on his own. After all, the Academy Cup wasn't a one-time event.
As long as Rowan performed well, he'd probably be promoted from a temporary contestant to a permanent one, which would mean several years' worth of achievements.
One way or another, Rowan was someone Old Liu brought in, so the better Rowan performed, the better Old Liu's own prospects would be.
That was the real reason he was going all out—this world was vast, but finding someone willing to go out of their way for you without any reason was close to impossible.
You had to treat people like that around you well.
[Got it. But… this won't cause any trouble, right?]
[Not at all. If other universities discover promising talent, they'll also find ways to keep them. The extra slot I gave you wasn't taken from someone else.
Whether or not you were added, the total external slots wouldn't change. Plus, this kind of thing doesn't need to be publicly announced, so it won't cause any issues.
Come see me after you get back from the race. I'll take you to do the tryout.]
If Rowan failed the tryout, there might be other issues, but that possibility wasn't even on Old Liu's mind.
Old Liu didn't believe Rowan would fail the tryout; unless Rong Lei set him up together with his own son and Rowan, the result of that Gym Battle couldn't be faked.
He even chose to watch the entire race, despite it being more for entertainment.
Though this kind of race couldn't reflect a Pokémon's overall strength, it did show the degree of trust and coordination between the Trainer and the Pokémon.
Coordination and trust weren't tangible, nor did they directly impact a Pokémon's strength, but they did affect whether a Trainer's commands could be executed smoothly during a battle, and could even directly impact the execution of many tactics.
The way Rowan let Nekomi throw and catch him spoke volumes about their trust in each other.
After all, trust was mutual, and even one-sided trust could reveal a lot.
"There is a tryout today… he wants to see Nekomi's limits?"
Rowan couldn't shake the feeling that someone had deliberately scheduled the tryout for today; otherwise, with so much available time, choosing today seemed a bit odd.
"Nekomi, how are you feeling?"
"Meow~ (Feeling great! Want some of this?)"
There were also rest areas set up by volunteers at the finish line. Since they arrived early, it looked just like a buffet table to Nekomi.
While Rowan was talking with Old Liu, she quietly kept eating and taking things, and now there were quite a few things in her hands.
As for stamina expenditure...
Even if a Pokémon gets knocked out in the arena, they can recover some stamina over time even without going to the Pokémon Center.
This kind of pure long-distance running was something Nekomi had pretty much recovered from already.
"Meow! (If it's still at Gym level, I could take on ten of them right now! All ten at once!)"
"Alright, alright, I know you're the strongest. Let's go do some testing this afternoon then."
"Meow~"
A not-nerfed Protean is hard to counter with type advantage. To actually pull off a type-based counter, you'd need to land the first hit while Nekomi is completely unable to use any moves—that's unquestionably a tall order.
Especially in an arena, where the level of difficulty increases even more.
Given the current situation, to really test Nekomi's limits, it would probably take encountering a Regional Champion who brought their main team along.
Boom!
Suddenly, an explosion rang out from the back of the race track, and several dark figures streaked across the sky into the distance.
Nekomi's ears twitched—she seemed to vaguely hear someone shouting something like "We're blasting off again!"
"Meow~"
Nekomi put down her snacks, tugged on Rowan's clothes, and pointed to the sky.
"Meow. (Looks like your 500,000 just flew away again.)"
"You've got a good memory. I'll check with Jenny later to see how much the bounty is on Team Rocket this time…"
If the bounty was high enough, Rowan was planning to find a reason to invite Ash and the others to hang out somewhere for a few days.
According to unscientific theory, Team Rocket periodically respawns around Pikachu, perfect for collecting bounties.
As for why not just tell Jenny directly, "Just keep an eye on that Pikachu and you'll catch them"...
Well, someone would have to believe that. Otherwise, it might cause other complications.
Rowan didn't need to worry about that side of things; there were naturally people to handle it. Meanwhile, the result of the race had already been determined.
According to high-speed camera footage, Nekomi crossed the finish line just ahead of Ponyta, successfully winning the race and earning the mysterious champion's reward: a Luxury Ball.
Unlike the standard Poké Ball, which costs 200 apiece, the Luxury Ball is much more expensive. With its black background and gold-embossed design, it radiates pure luxury.
It's marketed as a luxury item—its catch rate is the same as a regular Poké Ball, but it's said to have a more extravagant internal space, which helps increase the caught Pokémon's friendliness.
"That guy told me it was a cash reward... Whatever, I'll probably use it eventually. Worst case, I'll figure out a way to exchange it for cash."
Rowan felt like he'd once again been fed false intel by Zhang Lin. The Poké Ball Ash gave him to offset the cost of his bike still hadn't been used.
This was the city center. There weren't wild Pokémon running around everywhere. Rowan hadn't been moving around much lately either. Forget finding one that caught his interest, he'd barely even seen any wild Pokémon at all.
Once the competition ended, he planned to go out and see if he could expand his team.
"Nekomi, do you have any thoughts about your future teammates?"
On the way back, Rowan asked Nekomi what she thought.
Reality wasn't like a game. Whether a team was offensive, defensive, or balanced depended entirely on the characteristics of the Pokémon. You couldn't just press a button and expect them to follow your commands perfectly.
Even if newly caught Pokémon were trained using items like in the games, catching up to Nekomi wouldn't be easy. Nekomi being Rowan's mainstay was basically set in stone.
And it wouldn't be good if there was discord within the team.
"Meow~ (As long as it's someone you like, it's fine.)"
"You sure?"
"Meow! (Of course! But I can help train the new teammates. I understand Pokémon's traits better than you do!)"
As she said this, a subtle smile appeared at the corner of Nekomi's mouth.
She didn't mind Rowan catching other Pokémon; as long as those Pokémon didn't "overstep," she truly didn't care. So while she still had Rowan all to herself, she tried to take over the responsibilities of training them.
If she had a preference...
It would be that all the other Pokémon were male.