Monday, August 10th.
It was a workday, and also the start of a new week for the students and teachers of Naranja Academy.
It had rained lightly the previous night. The dazzling summer sun had not yet risen, and a fair amount of rainwater still pooled on the steps leading up to the academy's main gate.
The clouds gathered in the sky were already beginning to disperse. The air carried the fresh scent that follows rain. Students, two or three together with their partner Pokémon, didn't mind the splashing water as they laughed and chased each other toward Naranja Academy's gate.
Classes would begin in just over an hour. If you followed the stairs downward, you would arrive at the center of Mesagoza, the Sun Plaza, where a very lively battle court had been built.
Its design incorporated the icons of all eighteen Pokémon types, forming a colorful pattern like a sun encircling the field. It was a famous landmark of Mesagoza and also a popular battling spot for many Trainers.
The regulars here were mostly the students of Naranja Academy up above the plaza. In addition, many traveling Trainers—and even Trainers from other regions—came specifically to experience battles with the unique flavor of Paldea.
On rare occasions, famous Trainers would also come to battle here. Gym Leaders and even members of the Elite Four of the Paldea region had held public matches on this field. Aside from the arenas on campus, Naranja Academy would sometimes also set up exam battles here to reduce the load on school facilities.
The bustling crowd formed a tight ring around the battlefield. The battle between the two Trainers on the court was in full swing. Amid the cheers and cries of encouragement surrounding them, office workers passing by would also stop involuntarily to watch, often getting so absorbed that they nearly ended up late for work.
Right now, the heated battle on the Sun Plaza field was nearing its end.
Both combatants were students of Naranja Academy. On one side was a lively black-haired girl with a single ponytail. On the other was a boy with purplish hair, his expression blank and his eyes hanging half-lidded in a way that looked a bit fierce and dead-fish-like.
The two wearing the school uniform and battling here were none other than Nemona—Lucas's number one student—and Paul, who had just been taken in last night.
They were commanding a Sliggoo and a Grotle, respectively.
Facing Sliggoo with the Ability Sap Sipper, Paul was having a miserable time. He could only rant internally that the girl opposite him looked so straightforward and guileless on the surface, yet her battling style was incredibly tricky, going straight for his weak point.
Right now, most of Grotle's move proficiency was piled into Grass-type moves. It only knew a few off-type attacks and could barely use them. Naturally, it was cleanly defeated by Sliggoo.
Amid the cheers of the surrounding crowd, Nemona beamed as she held a hand out to Paul, who had just withdrawn his Grotle. "That was really a battle I learned a lot from!"
Paul thought:
It was just you beating me into the ground, one-sidedly.
His lips twitched, but his face remained expressionless. He simply nodded silently, then withdrew his hand and turned to leave.
Paul considered the time. Class should be starting soon. He decided to head back to the academy first—if he remembered correctly, today's lesson wasn't being held on the school field.
Not long after Paul left, Nemona stood there with her hands on her hips, looking at his retreating back, a face full of the satisfaction that came from a good fight. Two voices sounded behind her.
"Nemona, it's about time to head back. Class is going to start soon."
"How did that battle feel just now? That classmate's Grotle was really strong—too bad it ran into your Sliggoo."
The first speaker was Penny, still carrying her usual Eevee backpack. The second was Eri, who had just wolfed down the last bite of her crêpe.
"It was really good. But I keep feeling like I've seen that classmate somewhere before."
Nemona first answered Eri's question, then turned to look at Penny.
"C'mon, let's go, let's go! Teacher said he prepared a surprise for us today. Hehehe… Could it be a battle against Calyrex? If that's too much, that Regice you mentioned, Pen-pen, would be great too!"
"I really don't know if you're fearless because you're ignorant, or if your heart is just that pure."
Penny shook her head helplessly. In her view, Nemona only had her desire to challenge them because she had never truly seen the power of Regice or Calyrex.
Penny had personally witnessed Regice's power and how hard its body was, as well as Calyrex's ability to teleport instantaneously over immense distances. From the very start, it had never even occurred to her to try and challenge them.
Not to mention, knowing that slightly black-bellied teacher of theirs, there was a high chance the surprise he mentioned would actually be a shock.
The three had gone to Mesagoza together for breakfast. Though Naranja Academy supplied tasty three meals a day, students would occasionally want to try something new—like the milk toast that had become very popular in Mesagoza recently.
It was clearly just decent-quality toast spread with butter and then drenched in hot milk—a simple breakfast any household could make—yet it was currently being praised to the skies for its flavor. Even Miss Katy from Patisserie Soapberry had taken a bite and couldn't stop complimenting it.
Rumor had it that the shop owner used a secret supply of Moomoo Milk and butter purchased from another city as their raw ingredients.
Plenty of folks waiting in line had seen a Squawkabilly flying into the shop, carrying crates full of Moomoo Milk and packaged butter. As a result, speculation about the owner's supply chain was all the rage.
Unfortunately, the breakfast shop's owner kept his secrets well. To this day, nobody had figured out the truth.
"They say the breakfast shop sometimes opens for a short while in the afternoon too, to sell a dessert for teatime—the dreamy Milk Pudding. It only opens for a few minutes, and the super-delicious limited Milk Puddings sell out immediately."
Climbing the stairs back toward Naranja Academy, Eri cupped her cheeks with both hands, her face full of longing.
"If I could taste it just once someday, that'd be amazing…"
"You really do love sweets, Eri," Penny sighed, then glanced at Nemona, who was already half dead from the climb beside her. "As for this one… your stamina is as bad as ever."
To think, they'd only gone up less than a third of the staircase at this point.
Helpless, Eri and Penny each hooked an arm under one of Nemona's and half-carried, half-dragged her to the academy gate.
Looking at the campus, whose dominant warm orange tones gradually shifted into a cooler violet palette, the three seemed reminded of something and suddenly began discussing a rumor that had been spreading across the school.
"Have you heard? The academy's ghost rumors have gotten so bad that even Nurse Miriam's golden ring—the one she was preparing to swap with her other half as a present—was stolen!"
Inside Naranja Academy, outside the indoor battle arena Clavell had specifically had built during the summer holidays at Geeta's request, to ensure the quality of Lucas's teaching.
Nemona and her two friends ran into Paul again, who had only just left them not long ago. Next to him squatted Arven, looking utterly dejected after bouncing off Paul's cold attitude.
Now that she'd fully recovered, Nemona stared in surprise. "Hey, classmate, how come you're here too?"
Paul glanced at Nemona and wasn't particularly surprised. With Nemona's strength, it was only natural she'd show up here.
Still squatting on the floor, drawing circles with his finger, Arven said gloomily, "He's the transfer student who's joining us starting today. His name's Paul."
Clearly, he still hadn't recovered from the blow of finally having a male classmate he could hang out with, getting all excited to say hello, and then having his warm enthusiasm smacked down by cold indifference.
Paul merely nodded slightly at Nemona, Penny, and Eri, giving a quiet "Mm" before leaning against the wall, closing his eyes, and falling silent again.
The very picture of a cold, aloof cool guy.
The three girls traded looks. In the end, the ever-enthusiastic Nemona took the lead. "Paul, haven't we met somewhere bef—"
Before she could finish, the bell signaling the start of class rang across the Naranja Academy campus, and the sound of Lucas arriving right on time came from behind them.
"Everyone's here?"
The five of them greeted him politely: "Good morning, Teacher!"
"Mm, morning." Lucas replied with a cheerful smile, then let his gaze fall on Paul, who was leaning against the wall. "Paul has also passed my test. From now on, you're all classmates, so be sure to get along well with each other."
With that, Lucas took out a key, opened the door to the indoor battle arena, and gestured for the students to follow him inside the brand-new, thoroughly aired-out arena that no longer had a trace of new-building odor.
Nemona and the others had no choice but to go in after him. Paul deliberately waited until everyone else had entered before moving.
His eyes met Nemona's for a brief moment as she walked past. Maybe he was just naturally bad at dealing with hot-blooded battle idiots like her, but Nemona's question earlier really left him a bit speechless.
So she hadn't remembered him or his brother asking her for directions at all…
A short while later.
Inside the arena, Lucas announced the surprise he had been teasing them with all this time.
Standing lined up beside him were three Naclstack, fired up and eager to battle thanks to Lucas's promise of extra snacks.
After gaining confidence from their fight with Iono, and having continued training diligently while Lucas was away, the Shuckle younger brother was also released from his Poké Ball.
Lucas clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention to him as he announced, "This is your first warm-up exercise after summer break!"
"Penny, Arven, and Eri, you'll be battling the Naclstack. Nemona will battle Shuckle. As for Paul… you can observe your classmates' battles for now and familiarize yourself with their Pokémon and battling styles."
Paul: "…Understood."
He quietly stepped back to the edge of the field, casting a sympathetic look at Arven and the others. Then his gaze locked onto the Shuckle, and he grew curious about how it would fight against Nemona.
From what he'd inferred, Nemona had to be the very girl Lucas had mentioned—the one already strong enough to clear all eight gyms and achieve a good result in the League Conference.
The four of them had no idea that their nightmare was about to begin. Even the usually unmotivated Penny and Arven were now raring to go after a period of rest and recovery.
Their victory in the Blueberry Academy event had given them a ton of positive feedback, making them significantly more proactive and confident in their daily training.
Lucas had noticed this, and as a reward, he had chosen to use the very first class of the new term to demonstrate Naclstack's and Shuckle's battle tactics in front of his students.
He quickly assigned more detailed matchups.
Eri would fight the Naclstack that had defeated Paul's Grotle last night, using her Annihilape.
Penny and Arven would each face one of the other two Naclstack that hadn't learned Recover yet, using her Sylveon and his Mabosstiff, respectively.
Nemona's Pawmot would face Shuckle's little brother.
Lucas had already taught the Naclstack and Shuckle the specific battle patterns they would be using.
Though they lacked a Trainer's real-time command and thus a bit of adaptability, they had no problem executing basic patterns.
The battles began quickly. Just like Paul's original experience, the close-combat specialists Annihilape and Mabosstiff were hit with Salt Cure right at the start. Afterward, the Naclstack immediately began using Iron Defense to boost themselves, perfectly replicating what Paul had suffered through the previous night.
Penny's Sylveon fared a bit better. Even though the typing matchup wasn't favorable either way, as a special attacker Sylveon still held a decent advantage against Naclstack. She did accidentally get caught by a fully-primed Salt Cure mid-battle and ended up in a painful Salt Cure state…
But the scales of victory were indeed tilting toward Sylveon and Penny.
As for Nemona, after getting thoroughly annoyed by Shuckle's repeated use of Power Split + Substitute + Toxic + Sticky Web/Protect in sickening combination, she, true to her personality, continued to have Pawmot take the initiative and press the attack, trying to force an opening.
All four simultaneous battles dragged on for a good while before the winners were decided.
The first to win was Penny and her Sylveon. Without a full move pool, not yet fully evolved, and lacking a Trainer's direction, Naclstack had a rough time dealing with a special attacker like Sylveon.
Even so, it still managed to make Penny's already pale face turn even paler from sheer nausea.
Watching from the side, Paul, whose attention was drawn for a moment, showed a thoughtful expression.
So the way to counter that pattern… is to use special attackers?
Arven and Mabosstiff were the first to fall victim to the youthful Salt King. After the match, he stumbled off in a daze with Mabosstiff to seek treatment from Comfey.
Under Eri's command, Annihilape tangled with Naclstack for quite a while. Unfortunately, under the pressure of Salt Cure and her lack of knowledge about Naclstack's Purifying Salt Ability, Annihilape was slowly worn down and defeated by Naclstack's nascent looping pattern.
Still unwilling to accept the result, she received a bit of guidance from Lucas.
"Purifying Salt halves the damage from Ghost-type moves. The moment you had Annihilape gamble on Rage Fist instead of using Fighting-type moves to hit Naclstack's weakness, the outcome of this battle was already set."
Nemona's Pawmot and Shuckle lasted the longest. Nemona and Pawmot' sheer stubbornness exceeded even Paul's expectations as he carefully observed every detail of the battle.
If Shuckle hadn't kept Earth Power in reserve as a trump card that hit Pawmot super effectively, Nemona and Pawmot might actually have beaten a Shuckle that was fighting without Lucas's commands.
Watching Nemona cradle her Pawmot, who had finally collapsed under the combined assault of Toxic and Earth Power, Lucas showed a satisfied smile.
Nemona's growth was practically visible day by day. Looking at how skillfully she commanded Pawmot now, who would have thought that half a year ago she hadn't even had a starter Pokémon?
While Nemona and the others lined up with their partners to receive Comfey' healing, Lucas called Paul over. He had seen the thoughtful look in Paul's eyes and knew he wouldn't need to summarize the lesson for him.
"Looks like you've already realized something. That's good."
With an extra teammate like Paul, whose sense for tactics was sharp, the four students would no doubt be pushed to a higher level on top of their current foundation.
After all, a Trainer has to clash with many different opponents, absorb their strengths, and then reinforce themselves in order to grow stronger and stronger.
"Yes. I've noticed that Naclstack seems to have a hard time dealing with Pokémon that use special attacks. As for Shuckle, I'm still organizing the details of its tactics."
"Not bad. But remember, Naclstack isn't in its final state yet. It's better to draw conclusions after it evolves." Meeting Paul's surprised gaze, Lucas smiled and took out three Poké Balls. "I heard from Principal Clavell that you haven't chosen a starter Pokémon prepared by the academy yet?"
Paul first nodded, then hesitated. "I've already received a Grotle from Professor Rowan in Sinnoh…"
"That's Sinnoh's business. It has nothing to do with Naranja Academy." Lucas carefully repeated the line Clavell had taught him, word for word. "Anyone who becomes a student of Naranja Academy has the chance to receive a starter Pokémon."
As he spoke, he opened the three Poké Balls in his hand.
With flashes of red light, the three Paldea-region starters appeared in front of Paul.
Their names were—Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly.
Lucas smiled. "Come on then, choose your starter Pokémon!"