The Pokémon on the left looked like a light-green kitten. Its face bore dark-green markings like four overlapping leaves, and its pink eyes seemed filled with a mysterious, tempting allure.
This was Sprigatito, Paldea's Grass-type starter Pokémon. Upon final evolution it would gain a secondary Dark typing, becoming something like a magician, extremely good at using its agile movements and unpredictable attacks to toy with its foes.
Its signature move was Flower Trick.
The moment it emerged from its Poké Ball, Sprigatito yawned, then picked a sunny spot and flopped down lazily to sunbathe.
The Pokémon in the middle resembled a small, cartoonish red crocodile whose body had been slightly shrunk. Its face and belly were white, with yellow scales on its stomach and back. The tuft on its head that looked like an ahoge was actually Fire-type energy leaking out from inside it.
Fuecoco was a Fire-type. When it fully evolved it would gain a Ghost typing. It wasn't very fast and favored a slow, steady style. It had solid bulk and a good movepool, and it excelled at attacks that used singing or vocalizations.
Its signature move was Torch Song.
True to its name, Fuecoco just stood there foolishly, opening its jaws while its eyes rolled upward to stare at its own ahoge.
The Pokémon on the right was a little duck that had styled its blue head feathers into a pompadour. It had a flat yellow beak, pure-white feathers on its body and face, and blue feet.
Quaxly was a Water-type. Upon final evolution it would gain a Fighting typing. Its legs were extremely strong; it excelled at kicking moves and absolutely loved blending an exotic, full-body dance rhythm elegantly into its attacks.
Its signature move was Aqua Step.
Quaxly was carefully grooming its slightly damp pompadour. You could tell at a glance that it was a Pokémon that cared a lot about its appearance.
Thanks to Lucas's introduction, Paul—who still didn't know much about Paldean Pokémon—had now roughly grasped their basic info.
He fell silent for a moment. In the end, he decided not to waste Lucas and the academy's kindness. He looked carefully at the three Pokémon and began to make his choice.
On the other side, the four students had noticed the commotion. While watching over their own Pokémon during treatment, they turned to look over with a hint of nostalgia.
Nemona's eyes sparkled. "Whoa! He's picking a starter Pokémon!"
"Sprigatito, Quaxly, Fuecoco— they're all so cute!"
Eri asked curiously, "Nemona, didn't you get a starter from the academy?"
Nemona looked at her Pawmot, who was currently being treated by Comfey, and recalled, "Pawmot… Pawmot was a Pokémon my family prepared for me. Same for Sliggoo, so I didn't get one through the academy."
Penny and Arven both raised their hands. "Same here."
Arven felt that since he'd had Mabosstiff with him from childhood, he didn't need a starter from the academy and gave up that right from the start.
Penny only liked Eevee. Her family had prepared Eevee for her since she was little, so naturally she hadn't taken a starter from the academy either.
Eri looked left and right and suddenly felt something was off.
…Don't tell me I'm the only one who got my Mankey from the academy?
On the other side.
Faced with the three Paldean starters, Paul fell into silence.
Still deep in thought, his gaze first settled on Sprigatito.
Although cat-type Pokémon in general loved to show off their lazy side and bask idly in the sun, Sprigatito's appearance was also the cutest among the three.
But no matter how cute Sprigatito was, from the moment he saw its Grass typing, it was no longer a candidate he would consider.
Even if it would gain a Dark typing upon final evolution, Paul had no intention of including it in his team-building plans.
His gaze moved on to Quaxly, who was carefully styling its pompadour.
This one wasn't bad. From what he understood and from what Lucas had said, the three elements of Water, Ice, and Fighting could hit a lot of types effectively. It could be put on the "maybe" list.
Then Paul's eyes slid past Quaxly and met Fuecoco's vacant stare head-on.
They locked eyes like that for a full minute. For the first time, Paul's usually emotionless face changed.
The corners of his mouth rose slightly. Pointing at Fuecoco, he said respectfully to Lucas, "Teacher, I'd like to choose this guy."
Lucas didn't look the least bit surprised by Paul's choice. It was as if he'd already predicted that Paul would pick Fuecoco. He calmly took the prepared Poké Balls and recalled Quaxly and Sprigatito.
Then he asked Paul, "Can you tell me why you chose it?"
Paul replied as if it were only natural, "Sprigatito will definitely slack off in training. Quaxly cares too much about its hairstyle, so it doesn't look like the type that can endure hard training. But as long as I give this dopey guy an apple, it'll probably have all the motivation it needs to complete whatever tasks I give it."
Lucas: "…"
He had imagined Paul listing a long chain of tactical reasons to explain why he'd chosen Fuecoco and not Sprigatito or Quaxly.
He hadn't expected such a straightforward answer.
Thinking of this, Lucas gave an awkward yet polite smile and reminded him, "Fuecoco's final evolution, Skeledirge, is actually a bit like your Grotle—it's not very mobile either. The difference is, Skeledirge is much better at using special attacks."
A look of understanding crossed Paul's face. He nodded seriously. "I see. Thank you for the reminder, Teacher!"
A short while later.
Paul, holding Fuecoco exactly the way Lucas had instructed and feeding it an apple Lucas had brought from his farm, found himself surrounded by Nemona and the others.
Watching the adorable Fuecoco hug the apple with both little hands and chomp away happily, Nemona cupped her cheeks in envy. "That's so nice. Fuecoco's so cute—it makes me want to catch one too!"
Lucas, who had been watching Comfey treat Naclstack and Shuckle, turned his head and called over, "If you want one, you can get one from the academy too. I still haven't returned Sprigatito and Quaxly's Poké Balls yet."
Nemona's smile froze. She scratched her head, took out a Poké Ball, and released a Pokémon that looked like an owl. For once, she turned something down. "Better not. I'm still in the middle of syncing up with Dartrix… I should choose my sixth Pokémon carefully."
Lucas arched a brow and didn't press it.
Currently, Nemona's team was Pawmot, Ursaring, Sliggoo, Taurus, and the Dartrix that had evolved from the Rowlet she'd caught at Blueberry Academy.
While Comfey was healing Shuckle and the Naclstack squad, the five students continued chatting. With Nemona around, even Paul would unconsciously get dragged along by her pace sometimes.
As if trying to deepen their bonds, they each introduced their own Pokémon lineups to Paul.
Eri had Annihilape, Toxicroak, Breloom, and a Combusken that had evolved from the Torchic she caught at Blueberry Academy.
Arven had Mabosstiff, Greedent, Cloyster, and Scovillain, which he'd also captured at Blueberry Academy.
And then there was Penny's Eevee squad…
Lucas didn't intrude into the students' conversation. Once the five of them had gotten acquainted with one another, he recalled Shuckle and Naclstack and moved on with the day's lesson, giving a brief summary of Shuckle's Sub-Protect-Toxic tactic and Naclstack's strategy revolving around Salt Cure.
He warned them too: while Sub-Protect-Toxic and Salt Cure stall could catch opponents off-guard, they shouldn't rely on such tactics too heavily.
After all, those were just two patterns among countless possible strategies. Some opponents would brute-force their way through with sheer strength, while others would find approaches that bypassed those tactics entirely. These were absolutely not learn it and you're invincible combos.
At eleven o'clock sharp, Lucas ended the class on schedule and delivered a notice.
"You all know about the extracurricular Treasure Hunt the school is going to run this term, right?"
The five answered in unison, "We know!"
"Good."
Lucas nodded in satisfaction.
The so-called Treasure Hunt was an activity with considerable educational value, proposed by Clavell.
Simply put—
The course load at Naranja Academy wasn't heavy, so students had a lot of free time to do things they were interested in.
The extracurricular Treasure Hunt encouraged students to use this time to travel freely to destinations of their choice, meet many Pokémon, and find their own personal treasure.
The treasure, despite the name, wasn't about something with monetary value. Rather, through a free adventure across the Paldea region, students would experience many things.
They could challenge Gyms, help people in need, or even literally go looking for treasure. Through these varied experiences, they would learn things that couldn't be taught in school.
"If anyone wants to take part in the Treasure Hunt, you can tell me. That way, if you go in and out of the school gates frequently, or can't make it back to campus for class because of something important, it won't be counted as skipping."
The instant Lucas finished speaking, Nemona shot her hand straight up.
"Teacher, I want to challenge the Gyms!"
Right now, Nemona had three plus one Paldean Gym Badges: the first three from Cortondo, Artazon, and Levincia, and, per Lucas's request, the sixth badge from Montenevera.
She still lacked the fourth (Cascarrafa), fifth (Medali), seventh (Alfornada), and eighth (Glaseado) badges.
She wanted to use this Treasure Hunt to collect those four badges in one go!
Seeing Nemona's reaction, Paul refused to fall behind and raised his hand as well. "I'd like to use this chance to challenge the Gyms here too!"
Lucas nodded, unsurprised, and wrote down the two battle addicts' requests. Then he turned to Eri, Arven, and Penny.
Arven said he still hadn't decided what to do for the Treasure Hunt. Eri was hesitating between starting a fighting club at the academy or heading out to challenge powerful opponents.
As for Penny, she said weakly that all she wanted was to hole up in the dorms, cuddle her Eevee, and play video games.
Since Naranja Academy had already been cleaned up in advance and Team Star had essentially been butterfly-effected out of existence, Penny naturally found nothing else that interested her.
To her, as long as she could stay in the dorm every day playing games and petting Eevee, occasionally spend a bit of effort dealing with clingy Nemona and Eri, and live such a comfortable and half-hearted life, that was her treasure.
Faced with Penny's total salt-fish attitude, Lucas honestly didn't know where to start trying to change her.
All he could do was silently pray that she wouldn't get caught by Geeta while hacking systems everywhere, or she'd end up as an overworked corporate drone under Geeta's command.
After announcing the Treasure Hunt, Lucas didn't remain in the arena any longer.
Before leaving, he handed one key to the arena to Penny—who would definitely be holed up in the dorms—and another to Nemona. He told them that they could use the arena for training when there were no classes, instead of crowding onto the academy's main field with the other students.
Leaving the arena, Lucas didn't head straight back to the farm for lunch. Instead, he walked toward the teachers' office building.
After all, there was someone waiting for him in his private office—Geeta.
A little later.
When Lucas pushed open the door to his office—which remained spotless despite his long absence—Geeta raised her head from the guest sofa where she was sitting, having already made tea.
She smiled. "Long time no see, Lucas."
Lucas gave a slight nod. "Chairwoman."
His gaze slid naturally to the small table in front of the sofa, and his brows rose slightly. "You even made black tea?"
Geeta didn't particularly care for the idea of hierarchy. She simply poured hot tea into the cup on his side.
"It was on your desk. I figured you'd be back soon, so I went ahead and brewed it. You don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not." Lucas sat down opposite her, picked up the cup, and took a sniff. "This tea is made from leaves I picked from Sawsbuck's antlers and roasted myself back on the farm. How is it?"
"It's excellent—more aromatic and mellow than those expensive high-end teas."
Geeta savored the lingering flavor on her tongue with a look of bliss.
That wasn't flattery. She genuinely meant it.
"Looks like I didn't make a mistake letting you start that farm. I've been hearing about your Moomoo Milk and dairy products lately—even in Mesagoza, they're quite the talk of the town."
Geeta teased lightly.
"Mesagoza?" Lucas looked a bit puzzled. "I've only set up business in Levincia so far, as far as I know."
As the woman currently in charge of the entire Paldea League, Geeta had her own unique information channels.
She wiggled the fingers inside her gloves a little. "Someone's been buying your Moomoo Milk and butter from the farm and using them as ingredients to open a breakfast shop right here in Mesagoza. It's caused quite a stir."
"Things like, 'It's clearly just regular milk-and-butter toast and milk pudding, but the taste is unbelievably good,' and so on."
"…Hah, that's really something."
A flicker of surprise flashed in Lucas's eyes. He hadn't expected someone to start a business so soon off the Moomoo Milk and butter his farm produced.
Still, that didn't really bother him. He certainly wasn't free enough to make some rule like "buyers can only drink the milk themselves," which would be all cost and no benefit.
"Alright, enough small talk. Let's get to why you specifically asked to meet with me."
Geeta crossed her hands and looked at Lucas with open curiosity.
Her intuition told her that during his time away from Paldea, Lucas had probably pulled off something big again.
Lucas nodded slightly and came straight out with it. "I brought Galar's legend back with me."
Geeta: "???"