Pokémon: Starting with a Dragon Dance Gible [19]

The idea that knowledge from the Business Administration major could help with managing, training, and planning schedules for Pokémon…

At first glance, it might actually seem plausible.

In essence, it was just applying management skills for people to his own little “Paru”—er, rather, to his Pokémon.

But despite all that talk, at the end of the day—

If Kaiba really intended to focus wholeheartedly on raising Pokémon without distraction, then he needed to switch to the Pokémon Battle major sooner rather than later.

After all, if he only needed to balance making some side cash from streaming and Pokémon training, Kaiba was confident he could manage it.

All he had to do was sacrifice a bit of his easy-going college life and get just slightly more diligent—a little more grind, a little less laziness.

But if he had to juggle professional course credits, making money, and Pokémon training all at once?

Then Kaiba would end up like a female knight captured by goblins, full of bitter resentment, muttering, Ugh… Just kill me already…

—Who the heck could endure that?!

“You and your Gible should head to the gym, then. If they take attendance in class today, I’ll help answer ‘present’ for you,” Dyson offered.

“Thanks, buddy,” Kaiba nodded gratefully. He wasn’t shameless enough to kneel and say something outrageous like, “Dear adoptive father, please accept this bow from your humble child,” but he genuinely appreciated Dyson’s help.

College life brought together friends from all corners of the world. Having a roommate with good character and personality was truly fortunate.

The phrase “Thanks to my roommate for not killing me” was no mere joke.

“I’ll treat you and Yamper to dinner sometime.”

“No need to be so formal,” Dyson said, adjusting his black-rimmed glasses. “But honestly, if you keep going like this, it won’t be sustainable. If you genuinely love raising Pokémon and don’t want to waste your time on other stuff, you should probably transfer to the Pokémon Battle major ASAP.”

“Easier said than done...” Kaiba rubbed his temples in frustration.

“What university lets freshmen transfer majors right at the start of the semester? No one allows that.”

If freshmen could freely transfer majors whenever they wanted, the concept of being “reassigned due to exam scores” wouldn’t exist.

Students with lower college entrance exam scores who wanted to attend better schools had no choice but to accept whatever major was assigned to them.

Only after finishing at least one semester or even an entire academic year—and maintaining good grades in their major—could they apply to transfer.

Kaiba wasn’t about to travel down that long, difficult road.

After all, since he never intended to excel in Business Administration to begin with, how could he possibly earn the good grades necessary for transferring?

“If that’s the case, why don’t you and your Gible try participating in the ‘Sprout Cup’ freshman tournament?” Dyson suggested. “If you perform well enough, the university might consider making an exception and letting you transfer majors early.”

“That…actually makes sense.” Kaiba’s eyes brightened at the suggestion.

“Of course, that’s assuming you and your Gible can make a good enough showing.”

“From what you said before, Pokémon that are late bloomers aren’t especially powerful early on. But I don’t know much about Pokémon battles, so I can’t offer any more useful advice.”

“No worries~ Just hearing this idea is already a huge help,” Kaiba said with a grin.

“I’ve got a clear goal now, and a direction for my efforts. Leave the rest to me—and my Gible!”

“KapuKapu!” Gible placed one fin confidently over her small, red chest, proudly showing off her readiness. Her expression clearly said, Leave it all to me!

…

Kaiba quickly logged into Shanghai University’s student system and signed up as a non-Battle major student to participate in the freshman “Sprout Cup.”

Interestingly enough…

Since it was called the “Freshman Tournament,” it naturally didn’t restrict participants to Pokémon Battle majors.

Pokémon battles were one of the most common competitive sports in the Pokémon world, designed specifically for mass participation—everyone could enjoy it.

Unless it was something high-level and professional like the Pokémon World Championships, the Champion’s Road Challenge, or Regional League tournaments—

Most Pokémon-related activities were open to anyone.

Events like the Bug-Catching Contest at the National Park, water races, and aerial competitions welcomed even casual trainers to participate with their Pokémon partners, experiencing the joy of standing shoulder-to-shoulder in battle.

Gible: Shoulder-to-shoulder? Since when?!

Kaiba: Seems like you don’t understand what it means to be a ‘super Donghuang citizen’ at all…

“Routine training, raising Pokémon, then entering battles… it’s actually a very clear growth path for new Pokémon Trainers.”

Kaiba began to develop a clearer vision of his future direction alongside Gible.

The Donghuang region was vast, dotted with numerous professional Pokémon Gyms.

The path often depicted in Pokémon anime—traveling trainers like Ash and Pikachu, collecting gym badges and competing in the Pokémon League—was a real option.

However, even though adventure-focused trainers like Ash seemed common in fiction, reality was quite different.

Every region in the Pokémon world had dedicated Trainer schools. Most new Pokémon Trainers stayed in school, studied hard, and occasionally took short trips or adventures as extracurricular activities.

Trainers like Ash—headstrong and blessed with plot armor—were actually in the minority.

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This is a fan translation of 宝可梦，开局龙舞圆陆鲨 by 眼含泪光 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!