Aaron tore through the arena, not a single Pokémon able to take even one hit from Greninja, Snorlax, Gyarados, or Sceptile.
Whenever he started to feel drained, he'd take a quick break, pop a few Energy Cubes, and jump straight back in once his stamina recovered—right back to farming points.
Six hours flew by, and before long, night had fallen.
Then a bell rang out across the arena, signaling the end of the exam.
"Beep—beep—beep…"
"Attention all examinees!"
"Attention all examinees!"
"The combat exam has ended. Time is up!"
"All candidates must immediately cease battling. Any violations will result in score disqualification."
"The safe zone is now open. Please return in an orderly manner."
...
A string of alerts echoed across the arena.
All the candidates immediately stopped battling, located the exits, and began filing out.
Aaron ended his run as well, recalling his four Pokémon with a bit of reluctance. With a faint frown, he headed toward the safe zone.
Up ahead, a Blastoise—clearly at Gym Leader level despite its swollen, battered face—had tears streaming down its cheeks.
Relief flooded its expression.
"Waaah…"
It dropped to the ground and started bawling.
It was relief… but there was obvious humiliation mixed in.
The sight was so miserable that even nearby Pokémon looked shaken, and the onlookers couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for it.
No one could quite figure out how a Pokémon that strong had ended up like this.
...
Aaron left the exam grounds and made his way to the Sealine Academy gathering area, where Grace, Simon, Fishball, and the others were already waiting.
As he approached—
"Aaron! Over here!"
"Yo, Aaron!"
"Finally, dude!"
...
A few of his friends spotted him right away and called out.
Aaron waved and joined them.
"Aaron, how'd it go?"
"Yeah—what'd you end up with?"
Yuri leaned in, clearly curious, while the others watched.
"…Points?"
Aaron paused, caught off guard. He wasn't sure how they'd react if he told the truth.
"Yeah, yeah—I got like 2.1k."
Yuri lifted his chin, clearly fishing for praise.
"Tch… only 2.1k? I hit 3k, and I'm not even flexing."
Victor scoffed.
"Heh, same. 3k."
Ethan grinned.
"I got 4k."
Simon said calmly.
"Damn… you guys are ruthless."
Yuri muttered, his expression dropping.
"What about you, Grace?"
Ethan turned to her.
Grace glanced briefly at Aaron, then answered flatly—
"6k."
"Wait—what?"
"No shot…"
"6k? Seriously?"
"That's cracked…"
The group instantly erupted, voices overlapping.
...
The group immediately blew up, everyone talking over each other.
Aaron just looked at them, unimpressed.
What a world.
"Aaron… what about you?"
Grace cut through the noise, her eyes fixed on him.
"I…"
He hadn't expected it to swing back to him that fast.
…100k.
He let out a quiet breath.
Yeah… no dodging this.
You asked.
"Wait—what!?"
"How much!?"
"Say that again—I didn't catch it!"
Yuri and the others stared at him, stunned. He even dug at his ear before leaning in again.
"I said—"
"I got 100k."
Aaron rolled his eyes.
Don't blame me if you can't handle it.
"100k!?"
"You're kidding—right!?"
"No shot!"
"Dude…"
The group exploded again, voices loud enough to draw attention from nearby students.
Grace froze slightly, her lips parting, eyes locked on him like she was looking at something unreal.
Victor stared, clearly shaken.
"Aaron… y-you're serious?"
"100k?"
"How many Pokémon is that even…?"
"Dude… Elite-levels are, what—100, maybe 200 points each?"
Victor shook his head, still in disbelief.
"Even if you only farmed those… you'd need like 500 of them to hit 100k."
His voice trailed off.
That number just didn't make sense.
"Yeah… Aaron, cut it out. That's not happening."
"Seriously—where would you even find that many Elite spawns?"
Yuri added, still not buying it.
The others nodded, all staring at him like he was joking.
Aaron: "..."
The corner of his mouth twitched.
You made me say it, and now you won't believe it?
Unreal.
He clicked his tongue inwardly.