Pingcheng No.1 High School.
As the only key high school in Pingcheng, it boasts strong faculty and excellent student quality. While not many of its graduates become professional trainers, it's also not that rare compared to other schools.
This year was no exception—Pingcheng No.1 High once again served as a testing site for the national college entrance exam (gaokao).
The battle test is the final segment of the college entrance exam for key high schools, which means the gaokao had just concluded.
After putting on his blue-and-white school uniform, Yun left his house. He wandered around a bit before heading toward the school he attended.
Along the way, he saw plenty of Pokémon-like creatures, but most were common ones like Caterpie and Pidgey.
The rarer Pokémon were following closely beside people—clearly already captured and trained.
Once he stepped onto the campus of Pingcheng No.1 High, Yun headed straight to Room 302 in the comprehensive building.
This was the activity room for a small club with only five members.
Yun was one of them—a member of the "Pingcheng No.1 High School Psychology Club."
Before the great changes in the world, their role was to help guide students struggling with academic pressure, under the supervision of a faculty advisor.
Of course, nowadays students are pretty prideful; even if they feel stressed, they wouldn't randomly show up at a club like this to talk. So, the club members had a lot of free time.
However, from his memory, something about the current situation was a bit different.
This club was now also responsible for mediating emotional issues between students and their Pokémon…
And apparently, the workload wasn't small. If most of the work weren't handled by their advisor, they might not even have time to attend classes.
"Huh… You didn't go home, senior?"
Yun casually pushed open the door—it wasn't locked. Looking inside, he immediately recognized the girl wearing denim shorts and a white t-shirt.
She was the upperclassman he used to chat with, the one who took him under her wing when he first joined the club and taught him the ropes—Tang Ying.
Beside her was a Meowth, yawning, clearly exhausted.
Since today was the college entrance exam, she wasn't wearing her uniform. She looked a lot more vibrant than usual.
"Yun?"
"No… Mr. Li brought over this year's Pokémon Breeder qualification exam materials during lunch. I wanted to take them home to look through," Tang Ying explained.
"Breeder exam materials? The latest?!"
"Yep, want to take a look?"
Pokémon Breeder—a career path separate from battle-oriented trainers.
Some people don't enjoy battling but love nurturing Pokémon. Most of them choose to take the Breeder Certification Exam and specialize in raising Pokémon.
Professional Breeders have status equal to that of Trainers. There's even a popular saying online:
"Behind every successful Trainer, there's a Breeder quietly supporting them."
That alone shows how crucial Breeders are.
Many Pokémon-related corporations also like to hire Breeders to care for their Pokémon.
Most importantly, Breeders don't have to risk their lives exploring dangerous places like professional Trainers do. Their lifestyle is a lot more comfortable.
Helping resolve emotional issues between Pokémon and their Trainers is actually one of the required courses for Breeders.
So for members of the "Psychology Club," they were kind of like a very simplified version of Breeders.
Because of that, the club members were very interested in the Breeder career path.
Every year, the national Breeder exam happens around the same time as the college entrance exam. So right after the gaokao ends, the first round of exam materials leaks out.
Their advisor, Mr. Li, brought them the materials as soon as he got them.
Yun took the exam paper Tang Ying handed over and began to read.
"Let's see how much of the Pokémon knowledge in my head actually helps me score…"
From his name alone, you could tell Yun had quite a connection with Pokémon. He was confident when it came to offering unique insights.
First question:
What does Beldum mainly use to control its movement?
Yun: "???"
Psychic powers… right?
But after seeing the answer, Yun's face darkened.
What the hell—it's magnetism?!
"If I had thought of Steel-type properties first, I would've gotten it. Not hard at all," he told himself.
Second question:
What's the ideal incubation temperature for a Swablu egg?
Yun frowned. How the heck would I know that?
Why not ask about evolution stages, types, move sets or something useful...
When he got to the essay questions, he just gave up.
Essay prompt [with picture]:
Mareep's white cheek patches appear light green and it looks to be in severe pain—how would you handle this?
Send it to the Pokémon Center?
If it's sick, take it to a doctor, right?
But he knew that kind of answer wouldn't earn any points. There was a massive explanation filled with technical steps that left him dizzy.
Then came more questions like:
How would you teach a Meowth to learn one of the following moves—choose one and explain:
Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse, Double Team, Water Pulse…
"Use a TM disc?"
Smack it on the forehead—boom, it learns the move.
Nonsense! That kind of thing doesn't exist in real life.
"These are the actual exam questions for this year's Breeder test?" Yun looked up. "Brutal. The knowledge from games and anime is completely useless."
"Yup. Easy, right?" Tang Ying chuckled at his expression. "They say this year's written test is the easiest one in five years. The real challenge is the two practical tests afterward—apparently they're insane."
"Okay, okay, stop—" Yun waved her off. "I don't want to know any more. Breeder path? I'm out. I still want to be a professional Trainer."
"Knew you'd say that," Tang Ying said with a strange smile. "You might be the only one in our Psychology Club who doesn't want to be a Breeder. Once we four graduate, you'll be club president. Honestly, I'm not confident about leaving it to you."
"Mr. Li was busy this year, so we didn't recruit new members. Don't let the club shut down next year."
"Don't worry. Once school starts, I'll round up a team of awesome students to help," Yun said, giving an 'OK' gesture.
"That's all I needed to hear. Anyway, you better work hard. The battle test this year is no joke. If you get stuck, feel free to ask me for help."
Each year, only a small number of students from Pingcheng No.1 High get into top universities. And among them, only a handful become professional Trainers. Tang Ying was one of those academic elites—so Yun's dream wasn't going to be easy.
"I will," Yun smiled slightly.
Having accepted his memories, he had also accepted this reality.
Everyone in the Psychology Club was optimistic and mentally resilient. Yun was no exception. Whatever he committed to, he would invest himself in completely.
Besides, his family had spent a lot of money to get him into this key high school and help him register as a Trainer. Considering their not-so-great financial situation, Yun didn't want to let his parents down.
Even if the world hadn't changed, he would've needed to give his all during senior year.
But now that he was starting to understand this new world, he was actually growing to like it.
Honestly, he couldn't wait to get his first Pokémon.
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