Ch.6 Ranks

After a few minutes, five lines had formed, containing all 100 children, and looking around, I could see that all the corridor entrances were being guarded by Rocket members as they kept their eye on us, and there were two guys standing near the table too, 'These guys are totally different from games.'

"Ok, now that the line has been formed, you kids have to follow these simple instructions. Come here when your number is called and pick up the pokeball from these briefcases." He then pointed towards the closed briefcases on the table, which were then opened except for one by the rocket member near the table.

'That's hundreds of them, each containing 25 pokeballs. The eyesight of this body is pretty good.' Honestly, I was surprised that I was able to clearly see all the pokeballs in the briefcases even though I was pretty far from them. 'But what does the last one contain? The special Pokemon?'

"After that, you will be given the Pokemon detail paper by Alex with a key; after collecting that, quietly go back to your position and do not move or open your pokeball till further order from me." My thoughts were halted quickly as the second guy near the table opened the last briefcase, and inside were a bunch of keys and papers.

"1!" After hearing his number, a small boy who was severely malnourished came forward and looked towards all the pokeballs with an excited gaze, but even after a few minutes, he didn't pick one. 'Just choose one, dude; it's just getting annoying now.'

"Choose one quickly, or go stand there, and my pokemon will deal with you personally."

"O-okay sir." The boy quickly picked up a pokeball and started to go back in line.

"Did you forget what I said earlier?" Hearing that voice, the boy quickly halted and ran towards the other rocket member to get the paper and keys.

"Aren't you a silly fella, anyway here's your paper and key. Also, you are pretty unlucky as this one is just a copper rank rattata." Suddenly the boy's expression was filled with hopelessness as he looked at the paper in his hands. "You wouldn't want the boss to be angry, so go back in the line quickly."

"Y-yeah." His tone sounds like he was almost about to cry as he goes back to his position with a slouched posture, and almost all the kids were looking at him with pity. 'Well, that was a lot of information to process, but most importantly, I hope the others are faster or gonna be waiting for days here.'

"2!" The second person was called, but I didn't pay it any attention as I was still processing some information that was said earlier: 'So there are ranks for Pokemon in this world?'

Even though I tried to think of this mechanic being present in any games, I couldn't remember any, and I had played almost all Pokemon games. 'I guess it's something unique to this world, but what do they imply?'

Even after a lot of thinking, I couldn't reach any conclusive answer as there were lots of possibilities, and after a while I decided to give up on this for now. 'It would just be easier and faster to just get all the information by asking around or by reading.'

So instead I decided to focus on the event ahead of me and try to filter out the people I should look out for: 'But holy, it's going to be a while before my turn comes.'

A few minutes later:

"Oh, finally a steel one after fifteen copper ones in a row, and it's an Ekans too. Here you go, little girl. Your papers and keys, and good luck." The guy handed the stuff to a girl who was almost the same height as me, which was a little surprising because almost all the girls here are at least a head smaller than me, even the twins.

"Thank you." With a bow, the girl took the paper and key and went back to stand at her position, and right behind her were the twins who were talking to her, but I couldn't hear them from here, 'Hmm tall and short black hair, got to remember it.'

"17!" Hearing her number being called, Abigail walked towards the briefcase with a confident stance and, without any hesitation, picked up the last pokeball in the fifth briefcase. She then went towards the paper guy, 'Well that's something to like about her.'

"Well, that was a fast little girl, oh my! What do we have here?"

"Eh, what happened?"

"Oh, don't worry, it's nothing bad; instead, it's great news: you have gotten an Iron-rank Elekid. Take the key and paper here and take great care of it."

"Really? Let's goooo!"

"Silence, and go back in line."

"Okay." With an annoyed expression, she started going back to her position when she suddenly turned to look at me and say something quietly, which I was able to somewhat discern, and when I gave her a thumbs up, she then finally walked back to her position with a smile on her face.

But neither I nor she missed the gaze of envy that some of the kids who were before her gave.

'Oh, she wants to battle? Well, that is going to be fun.' I couldn't wait to have my first real-life Pokemon battle, as I couldn't have expected something like this to come true. While I was filled with excitement, I was able to discern another thing: 'Hmm from what I have seen, the rank hierarchy is probably Copper, Steel, Iron, and Silver, respectively, in order. So is it all of them or are there more?'

"18!" My thoughts were put on hold as it was Aurora's turn now, and I was interested in what pokemon she was going to get.

Surprisingly enough, even she did what the other redhead did earlier and without hesitation picked up the last pokeball in the 1st briefcase, 'Little surprising as I expected her to take her time but good for me.'

Before going to the paper guy, she turned around and looked at her sister with a bit of an anxious expression when suddenly both Abigail and the black-haired girl both gave a thumbs up to her, 'Oh the twins and the girl know each other? Well, that makes it easier.'

After that, she suddenly turned towards me, so I decided to emulate the other girls and give her a thumbs up with a smile while looking at her, and surprisingly, she seemed a little calmer after our encouragement and, with a confident expression, nodded towards us and went to the paper guy.

Oh, what do we have here? Two in a row!"

"Wait, don't tell me, you mean!"

Yes, little girl, you also got an Iron-rank pokemon, and it's a rare one at that, it's a Cleffa! Here's your paper and key, and take great care of the pokemon."

"Oh, thank you very much." Taking the key and paper, she started going back to her position, but not before turning towards me and doing a little wave with a smile on her face.

'Well, it looks like it was not a bad idea to get acquainted with them.'