The next day, Cole and Alfred walked to school together.
On the way, Cole spotted a Caterpie wriggling in the grass. He took out a berry from his backpack and offered it.
"Hey Caterpie, I'll give you this berry if you input a bit of energy into my device. What do you say?"
"Li~"
The Caterpie nodded happily, its eyes squinting.
As its energy entered the device, the rating appeared.
┌─────────────────────┐
│ CATERPIE│
│ Energy Quantity: F- │
│ Energy Quality: F │
└─────────────────────┘
Too weak!
Cole realized his Special Ability was crucial in helping Pokémon improve their energy quality. If regular Pokémon had to rely solely on their own efforts, their energy quality would be concerning!
Seeing him wave the strange device at the Caterpie, Alfred asked, puzzled, "Cole, what are you doing?"
Cole stood up and explained, "My friend's company made this device and gave me one. I'm testing its performance!"
"Oh." Alfred nodded without asking further questions. He wasn't in the Pokémon department anyway and wasn't particularly interested. He just urged, "Let's hurry up, or we'll be late."
The brothers started running toward school. Fortunately, they made it in time — Cole wasn't even the last to arrive in class.
Today was their first official day, so the teacher arrived especially early.
"Hello everyone, I'm your Pokémon Basics teacher. You can call me Teacher Nando. I'll be leading you all in studying this course from now on. Please treat me well."
Pokémon Basics was a required course for all Pokémon majors and the most important one. The teacher was a small elderly man with graying hair.
Though he looked quite old, he appeared very energetic and spoke with a strong, clear voice.
"Most of us in the breeding department will work in Pokémon service industries in the future, becoming breeders or Pokémon doctors. So understanding and getting to know Pokémon is particularly important for us."
After his self-introduction, Nando began the formal lesson.
"Since we're talking about getting to know Pokémon, let's start our first class by getting to know our own Pokémon! I assume everyone brought their Pokémon? Please let them out now."
"Teacher, right here in the classroom?" A student raised their hand to ask.
"Of course, is there a problem?"
"N-no problem." The student hesitated before sitting back down.
"Good, please begin."
The students started releasing their Pokémon one after another. There were standard starters like Chespin and Fennekin, as well as more common ones like Spritzee and Swirlix...
Cole released his Helioptile, while Daniel and Valerie, who weren't far from him, released their Furfrou and Pichu respectively.
Suddenly the classroom floor shook, and a Snorlax appeared, taking up a large amount of space.
The sleeping Snorlax, probably feeling uncomfortable when released, rolled over and knocked over several desks and chairs.
"Haha..." The Snorlax's trainer — the same student who had just asked the question — awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "Accident, accident!"
Tap tap tap~
Nando tapped his desk and said firmly, "Focus on your own Pokémon, not others'. Take out your pens and write an observation journal about your Pokémon. Include their type, ability, known moves, hobbies, favorite foods — write down everything you can think of, then turn it in!"
The students immediately groaned.
"Ugh, why do we have to write all this?"
The small elderly man rapped his desk sharply, "Write because I told you to! How can you expect to understand other Pokémon if you can't even understand the ones you live with? Everyone write — and don't blame me for failing you if you don't do a proper job."
At that, the students didn't dare complain further.
Nothing mattered more than course credits!
The classroom fell silent except for the sound of writing.
The students' Pokémon were all well-behaved, with none causing mischief — if you ignored Snorlax's "not too loud" snoring.
Just as the students were concentrating on their observation journals, a knock at the classroom door startled them.
Everyone looked up to see an extremely tall youth standing there, wearing a loose backpack and scanning the classroom impatiently.
"What do you want?" Nando glared at the person disturbing his class.
"Teacher, new student reporting!" The youth announced loudly.
"New student? Yesterday was registration day — why are you coming today?"
The youth just lowered his head silently.
"Alright, come in!" After a pause, Nando frowned and motioned the youth inside, explaining the current assignment.
"Hey, Cole." Daniel whispered, leaning close, "Is this the one who missed yesterday? He looks older than you — could he be repeating a year?"
Can't you watch what you say?! Always going on about age, is he eating at your expense?!
Cole really wanted to smack this guy's head.
"Maybe he just looks tall, his actual age might be the same as yours."
"That can't be, I think..."
Daniel tried to continue, but the teacher had spotted him.
"Focus on your writing, no whispering!"
Though Nando didn't call him out by name, his fierce glare made Daniel's head duck immediately.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
Soon after class ended, the teacher collected the assignments and left. The classroom immediately became lively.
Only the tall youth sat there lost in thought, keeping to himself.
His Pokémon, a Doublade — rarely seen in the Kalos region — stood silently by his desk like a samurai guarding its lord.
The Pokémon's cold demeanor discouraged anyone from approaching the tall youth, leaving him isolated.
Meanwhile, Valerie's Pichu hopped onto Cole's desk to greet Helioptile. The two Electric-type Pokémon quickly became friends, communicating through electrical currents.
Cole brought his energy detection device close to Pichu, putting on his sweetest smile, "Pichu, would you please send a bit of energy into this device?"
His expression resembled the wolf grandmother trying to trick Little Red Riding Hood.
He had grown eager to test every Pokémon he encountered with his measuring device. Testing many would help him determine his own Pokémon's level.
"Pi~"
The helpful little Pichu proudly patted its chest and sent a small electrical current into the device.
┌─────────────────────┐
│ PICHU │
│ Energy Quantity: C- │
│ Energy Quality: D++ │
└─────────────────────┘
Cole nodded with satisfaction at the results, "Hmm~ not bad, much stronger than wild Pokémon."
Daniel approached curiously, "Cole, what's that? I've never seen anything like it."
"It's something my friend gave me — it can measure Pokémon levels." Cole explained.
"That's so cool! How come I've never heard of it?" Daniel's eyes widened with excitement.
Since Lysandre hadn't publicly announced the device's existence yet, Cole didn't want to draw too much attention, so he made up an excuse:
"It's still in development, just testing for now."
Daniel nodded in understanding, "Oh, I see."
In fact, many people had tried to develop similar devices, but besides Lysandre, no one else had succeeded yet, which explained why he wasn't too surprised by it.
"Well then, test my Furfrou too!" He figured that even if it wasn't accurate, testing wouldn't hurt, and he could support his classmate's endeavor.
He called out to the elegant dog resting nearby.
"Furfrou, come here!"
Furfrou approached, but not without secretly glaring at its trainer: Don't order me around for no reason!
Fortunately, Daniel wasn't a battle trainer — with this kind of relationship between him and his Pokémon, they would have been easily defeated in battle.
Daniel: (*˵•⋏•˵)
Struck by Furfrou's piercing glare, his face suddenly turned red.
Cole, who hadn't noticed the dog glaring at its owner, saw his flushed face and asked, puzzled, "What's wrong? Are you sick?"
Daniel shook his head, biting his lip, afraid to make a sound if he opened his mouth.
"Pervert!" Valerie appeared beside Cole, looking at Daniel with contempt.
Cole suddenly understood, looking from the "hentai boy" to Furfrou, and couldn't help but step back.
┌─────────────────────┐
│ FURFROU│
│ Energy Quantity: C+ │
│ Energy Quality: D- │
└─────────────────────┘
Seeing its test results, Cole shook his head and said to Daniel, "Daniel, are you really aspiring to be a breeder? Your Furfrou isn't even as well-raised as Valerie's Pichu!"
The energy quantity was a bit higher, but energy quality was much easier to improve.
Hearing the praise, Pichu, who was playing with Helioptile on the desk, immediately puffed up its chest proudly.
Pichu: ( ˘▽˘)
I'm just that awesome!
Daniel protested, "Impossible! That's absolutely impossible! Your device isn't accurate!"
Cole shrugged, "If you say it's not accurate, then it's not accurate!"
Never mind the device's results — just look at your relationship with Furfrou, then look at Valerie and Pichu's relationship. Isn't the outcome obvious?
After Cole's comment, Daniel had no comeback and remained dejected all morning, as if he'd received a crushing blow.
Indeed, being told you're worse than your arch-rival is quite devastating.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
At noon, their teacher Sarah came to the class specifically to introduce the new student and asked everyone to get along with him.
Through the homeroom teacher's introduction, everyone learned the new student's name was Keith.
He was late registering because of a conflict with his family. According to his own plans, he hadn't wanted to attend Middle School. Feeling he was old enough to travel, he had wanted to become an adventure trainer.
But his family disagreed, insisting he should follow the proper path: attend middle school, graduate with excellent grades, then enter advanced school to become a Pokémon scholar.
Unable to fight against his family's wishes, Keith was finally forced to attend school after a difficult struggle. He couldn't even enter the battle specialization — instead, his family placed him in the breeding program.
At lunch, Cole decided to eat at home instead of going to the school cafeteria.
Since Alfred had other plans, Cole walked back alone. Along the way, he encountered several wild Pokémon, which he lured with berries to test their energy levels.
After successfully dealing with a Diglett, Cole noticed something peculiar — a bottom wiggling in the grass nearby.
Hm? A bottom? Why was there a wiggling bottom in the grass?
The next second, following a scream, he saw clearly who it belonged to — none other than their new classmate Keith.
A green, slimy Spinarak sat atop his head, angrily patting it with its legs, clearly upset.
Who knew what outrageous thing Keith had done to provoke it.
"Ow ow ow... ouch ouch ouch... ow ow ow... ouch ouch ouch..." His ridiculous appearance now was completely different from his cool demeanor in class.
At this moment, four Ariados appeared in the tree canopy above Keith's head — apparently the Spinarak's elders.
Poof~
The Ariados, who had sneaked up on Keith, simultaneously used String Shot. In the blink of an eye, they had him hanging from the tree, while the Spinarak on his head fell to the ground with a splat.
One Ariados immediately turned red-eyed and prepared to pounce on their enemy.
The instant Keith was tied up, Cole knew this was bad, so he quickly released Popplio. As the Ariados was attacking, he shouted:
"Popplio, Water Gun!"
✲ Water Gun ✲
Bang!
Popplio's attack was powerful, instantly blasting away the attacking Ariados, but this also drew the attention of all the Ariados to master and Pokémon.
Ariados: (╬ ⋋_⋌)
All the Ariados turned their gaze toward Cole and Popplio at once.
"Popplio, get Keith down!" Cole continued commanding.
✲ Water Gun ✲
Poof~
Another water stream shot out, precisely hitting the spider silk holding the tall kid, rescuing him from the tree.
✲✲✲
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