Chapter 20
It had already been 3 years, close to the 4 years mark since Caleb had transmigrated.
A lot of incident and things happened that one lead to another. Caleb was now much more mature as his feature was now removed from all it's childishness.
All of his baby fats were gone from the result of his physical training with Magby.
Speaking of Magby, Caleb trained his pokemon very hard, and fortunately Magby had the drive to work hard and follow his training regime.
They had became so strong that even the current Diantha, who was hailed as this region's champion in the future with her partner Ralts, was no match to him and his Magby. Sometimes, he and Magby even have to held themselves back for them.
Magby's movesets now consist of; Leer, Ember, Smoke Screen, Smog, Fire Punch, Scary Face, Flamethrower, Low Kick, Rock Smash and finally, Flame Wheel.
Rock Smash was a move learned through using a Technical Machine, TM for short. It was a very convenient device since after usage, it would give the coresponding pokemon knowledge and the proper utilization of the move contained within the TM. Although it solely depended on the pokemon to improve and how much they could discern from the disk.
The TM was given to him by his grandfather, Cesar. Caleb knew of the device with his past knowledge in games, after gathering information in the internet, he also knew how hard they were to buy. Not all PokeMarts sold such item, and even then, one needed the reputation and most importantly, one needed the required Authority to possess one.
Since his grandfather was a Class 7 Authority, he naturally got himself one with enough money, or else Caleb wouldn't have been in possession of one even with his valuable knowledge.
Cesar Laurent seemed to have dotted on Caleb since the day the family found out he had achieved spiritual connection with his first pokemon.
Caleb was a genius in their family, he naturally was seen as an opportunity and was given all the love and care.
His cousins were jealous of him, Christian even challenged him to a pokemon battle multiple times, even till this day his persistent challenges were still on going.
Caleb was annoyed, not to his cousin, but to his persistency on winning against him. However, he had to commend him on his drive. As expected of a Laurent.
"Yow Caleb, did you heared the news?" Caleb and Diantha, bumped into Eusine on their way to the cafeteria.
"What news?" Caleb asked casually as he focused on his food.
"I heared that there is gonna be a Rookie Competition being organized by all the teachers in our Academia, not only that but the students that are attending in different cities are also gonna participate in it. Coumarine, Laverre, and Santalune City's students were rumored to be invited by our head principal personally." Eusine looked to be very hyped about this so called upcoming competition as it was written all over his face.
"Hey! Stop talking when you are eating, you are spewing food all over the table, disgusting shit!" Diantha smacked Eusine's head. This made the dude behave.
He was afraid of Diantha, and was naturally so since he never won against her against pokemon battling and even then, he couldn't win against her even when physical combat.
When Caleb saw this scene, he began to doubt the clips where Diantha was featured. What was shown of her character in the series compared to reality was a very great difference. He didn't think of this any further, shaking his head as he simply conclude that it was because of her still being young and was full of youthful energy. He nodded to himself as he thought of his genius deduction.
"Anyways, what does that have to do with us? We are just fourth years. The school would definitely choose the sixth years students since they are more experienced than us. They don't even attend lectures anymore since they are all doing assignments outside the school. That just goes to show how independent they are that the principal and the League allowed them to do such dangerous things even though they are still not certified trainers." Caleb continued eating his food, but he still listened attentively to what Eusine has to say. His friend wouldn't inform them without meaning.
"That's what people would usually think first inside their minds Caleb. That's also what I thought at first." Eusine looked around mysteriously and hunched over as he moved near to Caleb and Diantha's ear. "But from what grandfather told me last night after he trained me..." Eusine trembled out of nowhere when he mentioned the hellish training he was forced to do from his usually 'gentle' grandfather. Then he continued. "Close friends he had from the League informed him about a particular selection. In this special selection, students from the fourth years to the sixth years would all be included. Then after the rounds of selection, the last fifteen students would then be given spots to participate in the Rookie Competition. Overall, there would be sixty participants, participating from ours, and the other three major city's respective academia."
At this point Caleb had stopped eating his food as he contemplated over the information his friend told them. Even Diantha wore a serious expression on her face.
"So that basically means that we got the chance to gain a spot is that it?" Caleb asked.
Eusine nodded.
Diantha also commented saying. "But... We are going up against the fifth years and not to mention the sixth year's students, we don't stand a chance against them."
That's when Caleb interjected at her words. "How can you simply judge that as so? Just because they had a year or two superiority in terms of our grade, that doesn't simply mean all of them are stronger than us. We trained so hard, I also can see that you, Diantha, Eusine and including even, Eclairisse who didn't focus on the combat department held back your strengths against our classmates every time we spar on Saturdays."
"Have you even got the chance to go up against a fifth year or even a sixth years? No, right? So that just simply meant their strength are unknown but now worth of fear and anxiety. Of course they may be stronger than us, but that doesn't mean we would back away from a challenge. We are trainers, we improve by the battles and defeat we would experience in our career." Caleb's speech was impressive, that it made Eusine and Diantha fell silent. Even the people near them who had the chance to listen to what he had spoken felt silent.
Caleb throughout the years earned quite a reputation inside their family business's people. He was hard working and was even a genius, morever, he wasn't cocky or arrogant about it.
"You really are impressive and positive minded, Caleb..." Eusine shook his head helplessly. "But, that's also the reason you are a friend that I greatly admired."
"Yeah. Even though he's constantly being annoying, he does act very reliable." Diantha also said with her arms crossed and nodding on along with Eusine.
"You guys..." Caleb smiled. Then they continued on eating their food.