For Geeta, the Naranja Academy was undoubtedly one of the places she valued the most.
As a rising league, the Paldea League was severely lacking in talent across various fields. And where does talent come from?
The Naranja Academy, being the largest and oldest academy in the Paldea region, treated every student as a treasure and the future of Paldea. Geeta would absolutely not allow a few bad apples to destroy Paldea's future. No matter who was involved or what forces were behind them, she would uproot them entirely.
After all, the internal factions of the Paldea League hadn't taken root to the extent of the Kanto or Johto Leagues, so dealing with them didn't require as much caution.
When Geeta left, Lucas and Harrington could clearly sense the anger hidden beneath her calm expression.
Lucas and Harrington exchanged a glance, and Harrington awkwardly spoke up: "The chairwoman is really going all out this time. She's even planning to use league insiders to handle the academy's affairs directly. I imagine we'll see results soon."
"Even though you only gave a few examples, Chairwoman Geeta understands a key principle—when you see one cockroach in your house, there are already dozens or hundreds hiding in the cracks of the walls."
Harrington's metaphor was a bit odd, but Lucas had to admit it was apt. These incidents were definitely not isolated cases; he knew that better than anyone.
As long as things continued like this, the bullying that led to the rise of Team Star would be put on pause, and the entire Naranja Academy would return to a state of clarity and peace.
Lucas didn't know what changes revealing all this early would bring, but at least a group of suffering students would be able to return to normal lives.
Thinking of this, Lucas glanced at the sky outside the window and saw it was already pitch black. He quickly stood up and said to Harrington, "Director Harrington, I'll take my leave now."
Harrington was about to nod, but he hesitated as if suddenly remembering something and asked, "Teacher Lucas, do you remember if Young Master Ortega showed any abnormal changes about two months ago?"
"."
After a moment of silence, Lucas said gravely: "At the time, I observed that the classmates who usually hung around him were down to just two. Judging from his followers' reactions in class, Ortega was probably being ignored or isolated by the class."
"But don't worry, he has two real friends by his side now, so there's no issue anymore."
With those words, Lucas didn't linger and quickly walked out of the office.
Harrington leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor as if drained of strength. He covered his face and muttered to himself in a low voice: "Whether it's the young master's issues or the students' problems, I didn't notice any of it. How can someone like me deserve the position of director?"
…
That night, many people stayed up all night, working overtime to review the surveillance footage from the public areas of Naranja Academy.
Search teams composed of Pokémon appeared in every corner of the Naranja Academy campus, using their special abilities to investigate.
Meanwhile, Lucas, who had just returned to the farm, handed the washed lunch boxes and clothes to Oranguru and received his home clothes from it in exchange.
Since it was approaching 11 PM, Lucas only gathered some of the Pokémon living inside the house to introduce the five new members joining the farm.
The Pokémon that usually lived indoors included Luxray, Serperior, Mimikyu, Ceruledge, Dragonite, the Eldegoss, Dolliv, Alcremie, and Comfey.
Moltres lived in the birdhouse built for it outside. Arcanine couldn't even fit through the door due to its size, so Lucas had temporarily set up a small shed for it between the chicken coop and the warehouse. Dachsbun followed its boss and slept outside as well.
At that moment, eleven Pokémon gathered together, intently watching the new arrivals, including intimidating figures like Dragonite and Luxray.
The two Skiddos had never seen such a scene before. They panicked and looked around, realizing that Lucas was the only familiar face from that morning.
The two Skiddos scampered behind Lucas, trying to curl up and hide behind his legs, occasionally letting out uneasy bleats.
Lucas helplessly squatted down and gently stroked the Skiddos' horns, conveying his soothing emotions to them.
Evolved Gogoats could read their trainer's emotions through their long horns, and Skiddos could actually do the same.
After a short while, the two Pokémon's emotions gradually stabilized.
Normally, the soothing work would be handled by Comfey, but it had been busy all afternoon and was now completely drained of both energy and stamina. It was currently sprawled out asleep on Dragonite's head.
Compared to the Skiddos, the three Nacli were much bolder in their reactions.
They boldly moved up to Ceruledge, shook their bodies, and directly sprinkled the salt they had specially accumulated onto Ceruledge's armor.
This sudden action from the Nacli surprised not just Ceruledge, but Lucas and the other Pokémon as well. Lucas even doubted his own memory for a moment.
Nacli shouldn't have learned Salt Cure yet.
But looking at the Nacli, it didn't seem like they were attacking out of fear.
Ceruledge was utterly bewildered as it was covered in salt. It felt a bit aggrieved inside—sure, it was a Ghost-type Pokémon, but was there really a need to sprinkle salt to ward off ghosts?
But when Ceruledge felt the dents in its armor from practicing with Swampert during the day slowly recovering due to the salt's effects, its eyes widened slightly, as if realizing something.
These little guys' salt could heal injuries?
The Nacli happily bounced up and down, their cheerful voices rapidly increasing the goodwill of all the Pokémon present toward them.
"Nacl Nacl~~" (No pain, no pain~ Sprinkle some salt and the wound won't hurt anymore~)
Lucas: "."
It was a good thing the Nacli knew their salt had healing effects; otherwise, this act of kindness could have turned into a disaster scene.
True, rubbing salt in the wound.
The Nacli quickly won everyone's favor, making the two Skiddos peeking out from behind Lucas feel a bit envious. At the same time, they realized that these powerful-looking Pokémon seemed quite friendly.
The two Skiddos remembered that before Lucas took them away, the elder Gogoat in the pasture had pulled them aside and earnestly advised them to build good relationships with the locals to establish themselves outside.
The Gogoat had seen many of its kind who couldn't integrate into new environments and were sent back. It didn't want the Skiddos to face the same fate.
They had to build relationships quickly!
The two Skiddos exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with determination. They stepped forward to the center and, under the puzzled gazes of the other Pokémon, lay down, rolled over, and exposed their bellies.