"Hmph... an unfamiliar ceiling."
David forced his eyes open and stared up at the ceiling above him, muttering the classic line without even meaning to. It was such a cliché thing to say that he almost laughed at himself.
"This is..."
He rubbed his head, still a little foggy from Resting so deeply, and looked around the room while digging through his memories.
"Right, the hotel the School Team booked. I'm in my own room. So yesterday wasn't a dream after all!"
Once his mind cleared, David finally remembered exactly where he was.
The day before, after dealing with the giant Chimera, he and the others had left the scene right away at Presley's request. They had then found Willow and Emma, who were busy helping evacuate the crowd, along with the rest of the School Team.
Back at the hotel, Vivian and Dominic had rushed to the scene the moment the incident began. But because of the distance, and because David had already stepped in himself, the threat was dealt with before they could even arrive. By the time everyone regrouped, it was already over. After the team finished taking a headcount, it was very late by the time they finally made it back to the hotel.
After such an intense and exhausting day, nobody had the energy left to do anything that evening. Everyone washed up quickly and went straight to Rest.
David was no different. He held out just long enough to call his older sister and his parents back home, then climbed into bed and let himself Rest properly.
As for his Pokémon, aside from Salamence, who had only shown up near the end to serve as an aerial lookout for a short while, the rest of his team — Zorua included — had all taken some kind of injury. They'd already been dropped off for treatment the night before, and David reminded himself he still needed to go pick them up later.
"My first day in Magic City sure was eventful. A little too eventful, honestly."
David sighed as he dragged himself out of bed. Looking at his tired reflection in the mirror, it was obvious that even a full night of Rest hadn't been enough to bring him back to normal. He'd felt fine yesterday, but after sleeping on it, his whole body ached. Even with a Heavenly Aura Physique like his, he felt completely worn out.
And thinking about it more, he couldn't help but feel frustrated too.
On their very first day in Magic City, they'd only planned to eat some snacks, sing a few songs, and relax at a scenic spot. Instead, they'd ended up ambushed by bandits — no, by terrorists. After everything that happened, it was honestly a miracle anyone had the strength to get up this morning. It barely counted as Resting at all.
David had it worse than most. First an assassin had tried to kill him, and he'd only survived because of the Light Stone in his pocket — the one tied to Reshiram. Before he'd even had time to recover from that, a terrorist attack broke out, followed by modified Pokémon and giant beasts tearing through the city. He'd ended up fighting for what felt like forever, like something straight out of an action movie. His perfectly good vacation had turned into this mess. Who was he even supposed to complain to?
"And that cursed End Church." Just thinking about that organization was enough to make David grit his teeth.
That was the most ridiculous part of all this. The last time he'd gone out somewhere, he'd also stumbled across them in the middle of committing some crime and had to step in and stop them. Now here they were again. Was he simply fated to keep running into these people?
At that moment, David had no idea that everything that followed would trace back to the attempt on his own life. Before the higher-ranking members of The End Church and the assassin were finally caught, no one would have guessed that the worst terrorist attack in nearly a decade had started from a simple misunderstanding.
"But those modified Pokémon..."
David thought back to how the organization had once worked together with poaching rings inside the country, capturing large numbers of rare Pokémon eggs and young Pokémon. After the last incident, thanks to David's report, the Pokémon League had launched a special investigation into the poaching and smuggling operations. Investigators had followed the trail and shut down far more poaching groups tied to The End Church than anyone expected.
There had already been suspicions before, but this latest incident all but confirmed it. The reason they'd been capturing so many Pokémon was to use them in modification experiments — and the modified Pokémon that had attacked the city yesterday were the results of that work.
"Those modified Pokémon were probably all..."
David's hands curled into fists at the thought. His love for Pokémon had started even before his world had changed, so it wasn't something he could just switch off. How could he not be furious at people from The End Church who treated Pokémon so cruelly, just to further their own twisted goals?
"Forget it. Once I get stronger, there will be plenty of chances to deal with them properly. For now, let's see what came out of yesterday."
David thought it over for a moment before speaking to himself. Yesterday, with everything happening so fast, he'd shut off the system's notifications completely just so he could focus. Knowing how the system usually worked, an event that big and sudden was bound to have triggered some kind of task, so it was worth checking what exactly had happened.
Knock, knock!
Just as David was about to open the system menu, a sudden knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Come in."
The door swung open right after he spoke.
"Good morning, Teacher Dominic, Teacher Vivian!"
Standing in the doorway were Dominic and Vivian, the two adults leading the School Team on this trip.
"Congratulations, David. The High School League is officially over, and you've been asleep for over a month now. Time to start getting ready to leave."
If he'd only just woken up, David might have actually believed her. But now that he was fully alert, he knew exactly how long he'd really been out.
"Alright, Teacher Vivian, that's enough teasing. If there's something important, just tell me!"
David said with a crooked smile. Having both team leaders show up at his door this early in the morning could only mean they had something serious to discuss.
"Tch, David really isn't any fun to tease."
Seeing that her joke hadn't landed, Vivian muttered under her breath.
Dominic, who had stayed quiet the whole time, simply held out a folder to David and said, in his usual short and to-the-point way,
"Opponent."
David reached out and took the folder, though he hadn't had a chance to open it yet.
"Our first match is tomorrow afternoon. That's the information on our opponent. Take a look."
Vivian added, standing just behind Dominic.
"Since you're doing fine, we'll get going now. There's a meeting at nine tonight in Conference Room Three at the hotel — don't be late!"
With that, she pulled Dominic out of the room by the arm, remembering to shut the door firmly behind them on her way out.