Chapter 372: Choose Your Initial Pokémon!

August 10th, Monday.

Today was a workday, and also the start of the week for the students and teachers of the Grape Academy.

A light rain had fallen just last night; at this moment, the dazzling summer sun had not yet risen, and a considerable amount of standing water still pooled on the steps leading to the main gate of the Grape Academy.

The clouds piled in the sky showed signs of dispersing, the air carried the fresh scent after the rain, and students, in pairs or trios with their partner Pokémon, disregarded the splashing water as they laughed and chased one another toward the Grape Academy's main gate.

With more than an hour remaining before classes began, following the steps downward led to the center of Mesagoza City, Sun Plaza, where a rather lively battle arena had been established.

Based on the icons of the eighteen Pokémon types, a colorful pattern resembling the sun surrounded the battle arena; this place was a famous landmark in Mesagoza City and also an area where many Trainers battled.

The regulars here were the students from the Grape Academy located above the plaza; beyond them, many traveling Trainers, and even Trainers from other regions, would come attracted by its reputation, solely to experience a Pokémon battle rich in the Paldean style.

On very rare occasions, famous Trainers would come to battle; Gym Leaders of the Paldea region and even the Elite Four had once conducted public battles here, and aside from the on-campus battle grounds, the Grape Academy would occasionally set up its examination venues here to reduce the burden.

A bustling crowd surrounded the battle arena tightly; the battle between the two Trainers on the field was at its most intense, and besides the cheers and support from the surroundings, passing office workers would involuntarily stop to watch the match, often leading to comical incidents where they became so engrossed they nearly arrived late for work.

At this moment, on the battle field of Sun Plaza, the fervent battle had entered its final stages.

Both sides of the battle were students of the Grape Academy; one side was a energetic black-haired girl with her hair tied in a single ponytail, while the boy on the other side had hair leaning more toward a purple hue, his expressionless face adorned with a pair of somewhat fierce dead-fish eyes.

The two battling in their Grape Academy uniforms were none other than Hearing Nimo, Luo Mu's number one troublemaking rebellious disciple, and Shinji, who had just been taken in last night.

The Pokémon they commanded were a Sliggoo and a Turtwig respectively.

Facing the Sliggoo with the "Sap Sipper" ability, Shinji fought with great discomfort, able only to rant internally that the girl opposite him appeared simple and straightforward without any scheming, yet her battling style was exceedingly cunning, directly seizing upon his fatal weakness.

Nowadays, with most of his move proficiency invested in Grass-type moves, the Turtwig, which could only clumsily use a few moves of other types, naturally lost cleanly and decisively to the Sliggoo.

Amidst the cheers of the surrounding spectators, Hearing Nimo, beaming with a bright smile, extended her hand toward Shinji, who had recalled his Turtwig: "That was a battle from which I benefited immensely!"

Although it was just me getting beaten up by you unilaterally.

The expressionless Shinji twitched the corner of his mouth, merely nodded silently, then withdrew his hand, turned around, and departed.

Pondering in his heart, Shinji calculated the time; the teacher's lesson should be starting soon, so it was better to return to the academy first, and the location for the lecture seemed to no longer be on the academy's sports field.

Not long after Shinji left, Hearing Nimo, looking thoroughly satisfied from the battle, placed her hands on her hips and gazed at Shinji's departing back, when two voices sounded from behind her.

"Hearing Nimo, it's about time to return to the academy; it's nearly time for class."

"How did the battle just now feel? That student's Turtwig was quite strong, pity it ran into your Sliggoo."

The former was spoken by Penny, who as always carried her Eevee backpack, while the latter was spoken by Arven, who had gulped down the crepe in his hand as if swallowing a date whole.

"It was very good, but I always feel like I've seen that student somewhere before."

Hearing Nimo first answered Arven's question, then turned her gaze toward Penny.

"Let's go, let's go! The teacher said he prepared a surprise for us today, hehehe... Could it be battling against that Lei Guan Wang? If not, the Lei Ji Ice that Xiao Dan Dan mentioned would also be great!"

"Truly, I don't know whether you are fearless due to ignorance or possess a pure heart."

Penny shook her head helplessly; in her view, Hearing Nimo had simply never witnessed the power of Lei Ji Ice and Lei Guan Wang, thus giving rise to the desire to challenge them.

Having personally witnessed the power and physical hardness of Lei Ji Ice, as well as Lei Guan Wang's long-distance instantaneous teleportation, she had never once harbored the thought of challenging them from the very beginning.

Not to mention that the surprise prepared by that slightly black-bellied teacher had a high probability of being a fright instead.

The three had come together to Mesagoza City for breakfast; although the Grape Academy supplied delicious meals three times a day, students would occasionally wish to try new flavors, such as the milk toast that had recently become very popular in Mesagoza City.

It was merely toast of decent quality smeared with butter, upon which hot milk was poured; a simple breakfast any family could make, yet recently it had received widespread acclaim for its taste, even Miss Feng of the Delibird Presents praised it repeatedly after tasting it.

It was said that the shop owner used secret Tapu Tapu Moumou fresh milk and butter purchased from other cities as raw materials.

Because many people waiting in line could see the figure of a Bombirdier flying into the shop carrying full loads of Tapu Tapu Moumou fresh milk and packaged butter, a trend of curiosity regarding the boss's source of goods had surged.

Unfortunately, the breakfast shop owner's security measures were very strong, and the answer to this question remained an unsolved mystery to this day.

"Legend has it that the breakfast shop also opens randomly for a very short period in the afternoon to sell the dreamy milk pudding for afternoon tea; often the opening time lasts only a few minutes, and it is said that the super delicious limited-edition milk pudding sells out immediately."

Walking on the steps leading to the Grape Academy, Arven cupped his cheeks, his face full of longing.

"If only I could eat some someday."

"Arven, you really do love sweets," Penny sighed, then immediately looked at Hearing Nimo beside her, who was already half-dead, "As for this one... her stamina is as terrible as ever."

After all, they had currently walked less than one-third of the entire staircase.

Helplessly, Arven and Penny could only each hook one of Hearing Nimo's arms, forcibly carrying her up to the entrance of the Grape Academy.

Looking at the campus style shifting from the warm orange tones to the intermediate cool-warm purple tones, as if remembering something, the three suddenly began discussing a rumor that had recently spread widely within the academy.

"Have you heard? Recently, the ghost rumors in the academy are so rampant that even the gold ring that Nurse Nurse Mimosha in the infirmary prepared to exchange with her other half has been lost!"

Inside the Grape Academy, outside the indoor battle arena that Geeta had specifically asked Clavell to construct during the summer vacation to ensure the quality of Luo Mu's teaching.

Hearing Nimo and the other two once again encountered Shinji, who had just left moments ago, while beside him squatted a sorrowful Arven, who had hit a wall due to Shinji's coldness.

Hearing Nimo, now fully revived with energy, asked in surprise: "Student, why are you here as well?"

Shinji glanced at Hearing Nimo, feeling no surprise; for someone of Hearing Nimo's strength to appear here was only natural.

Arven, squatting on the ground drawing circles, murmured gloomily: "He is a transfer student joining us starting today, named Shinji."

Clearly, he had not yet recovered from the shock of happily greeting a same-gender companion he finally had, only to have his warm face meet a cold butt.

Shinji merely nodded lightly to Hearing Nimo, Penny, and Arven, hummed an "Mm," then leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and fell silent.

He was the very image of a cold, cool guy.

The three girls exchanged glances, and finally, the enthusiastic Hearing Nimo took the lead: "Student Shinji, have we met somewhere before?"

Before Hearing Nimo could finish her sentence, the bell representing the start of class rang throughout the Grape Academy campus, and behind them sounded the voice of Luo Mu, who had arrived precisely on time.

"Yo, has everyone arrived?"

The five politely called out to Luo Mu: "Good morning, Teacher!"

"Mm, good morning," Luo Mu replied with a smile, his gaze then falling upon Shinji, who was leaning against the wall, "Shinji has also passed my test; from now on, everyone is a classmate, so make sure to build good relationships with each other."

After speaking, Luo Mu took out a key to open the door of the battle arena, gestured for the students to follow, and walked into the brand-new battle arena which had been completely ventilated and held not a trace of odor.

Hearing Nimo and the others could only follow along, while Shinji specifically waited until everyone had entered the battle arena before moving.

Locking eyes for an instant with Hearing Nimo as she passed before him, unsure if it was because he was naturally inept at dealing with this kind of hot-blooded battle idiot, Hearing Nimo's question left Shinji somewhat speechless.

It seemed she had not remembered even a single bit about the matter of him and his brother asking her for directions.

A moment later.

Inside the battle hall, Luo Mu revealed the surprise he had been withholding until now.

Beside him, three Nacli stood in a row, brimming with fighting spirit due to Luo Mu's promise of extra meals.

Shuckle Junior, whose confidence had soared after the battle with Iono and who had trained diligently while Luo Mu was out, was also released from his Poké Ball by Luo Mu.

Luo Mu clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention to himself, and announced, "This is the first warm-up exercise after summer break!"

"Penny, Arven, and Rika will battle the Nacli; Nemona will battle Shuckle; as for Paul, you can first observe your classmates' battles to understand their Pokémon and battle styles."

Paul: "... I understand."

Silently retreating to the edge of the battlefield, Paul cast a look of pity at Arven and the other two, then immediately locked his gaze onto that Shuckle, curious about how it would fight against Nemona.

Based on his guess, Nemona must be the girl Luo Mu mentioned, who was now capable of clearing all eight Gyms and achieving a good result at the League Conference.

The four of them did not yet know that a nightmare was imminent; even usually unenthusiastic ones like Arven and Penny, after a period of rest, were now eager to try.

The victory at Blueberry Academy had brought ample positive feedback, giving them slightly more enthusiasm and confidence in their usual training.

Luo Mu saw all of this, so as a reward, he chose to demonstrate the battle routines of the Nacli and Shuckle in front of several students for this semester's first class.

Luo Mu quickly distributed more detailed battle group arrangements.

Rika, whose Turtwig had defeated Paul last night, would battle a Nacli, using Annihilape as her Pokémon.

Penny and Arven would each battle one of the other two Nacli that had not yet learned Recover, using Sylveon and Mabosstiff respectively.

Nemona's Pawmot would battle Shuckle Junior.

Luo Mu had already taught the specific battle routines to the Nacli and Shuckle Junior.

Even without his command and lacking some adaptability, executing the routines posed no problem.

The battles commenced quickly; just like Paul's initial setback, the close-combat specialists Annihilape and Mabosstiff were hit by Salt Cure right from the start, after which the Nacli immediately began using Iron Defense to boost themselves, exactly mirroring Paul's experience last night.

Penny's Sylveon fared better; even without type advantage, as a special attacker, Sylveon still held a significant advantage against the Nacli, although during the battle, it was accidentally hit by a charged Salt Cure spray from the Nacli and entered the painful Salt Cure status.

But the scales of victory were indeed tilting toward Sylveon and Penny.

As for Nemona's side, after being disgusted by Shuckle's repeated combination of Power Split, Substitute, Toxic, and Sticky Web/Protect, she, true to her character, chose to actively have Pawmot attack instead of defend to seek a chance for victory.

The four simultaneous battles lasted a long time before a winner was decided.

The first to achieve victory was the combination of Penny and Sylveon; with an incomplete move pool, not yet fully evolved, and lacking a commander, the Nacli indeed struggled against the special-attacking Sylveon.

However, the Nacli still successfully made Penny's already somewhat pale face turn even paler due to disgust.

This caused Paul, whose attention had shifted for a moment, to display a thoughtful expression.

The method to counter that routine... is it indeed to use Pokémon skilled in special attacks?

Arven and Mabosstiff were the first to become captives of the junior Salt Lord; after the battle ended, he wandered in a daze, taking Mabosstiff to receive treatment from Teacher Dudunsparce.

Under Rika's command, Annihilape fought with the Nacli for quite a while, but unfortunately, under the pressure of Salt Cure and without understanding the Nacli's Purifying Salt ability, it was worn down to death by the cyclic moves preliminarily constructed by the Nacli.

Somewhat unwilling to accept this, she received guidance from Luo Mu.

"The Purifying Salt ability halves the effect of Ghost-type moves; from the moment you had Annihilape gamble on Rage Fist instead of using Fighting-type moves that counter Nacli, the outcome of the battle was already sealed."

The battle between Nemona's Pawmot and Shuckle lasted the longest; the tenacity of Nemona and Pawmot exceeded the expectations of Paul, who was carefully observing every detail of the fight.

If Shuckle had not saved a trump card, Earth Power, to counter Pawmot at the end, perhaps Nemona and Pawmot could have truly defeated Shuckle without Luo Mu's command.

Watching Nemona in the arena pick up her Pawmot, which had fallen due to the double strike of Toxic and Earth Power, Luo Mu revealed a slight smile of gratification.

Nemona's growth rate was changing by the day; seeing her proficient command of Pawmot, who could have imagined that half a year ago she hadn't even touched a starter Pokémon?

While waiting for the gap as Nemona and the other four lined up with their partners to receive treatment from Dudunsparce, Luo Mu called Paul over; upon observing the thoughtful look in Paul's eyes, he knew there was no need for him to personally summarize things for Paul.

"It seems you have already gained some realization; that is good."

With Paul, a trainer with keen tactical intuition, added to the mix, his influence would surely enable the four students to reach the next level based on their current foundation.

So-called trainers must clash with different opponents, absorbing their strengths to reinforce themselves in order to become stronger and stronger.

"Yes, I discovered that Nacli do not seem very skilled at countering Pokémon that use special attacks; as for Shuckle, I am currently organizing the battle details."

"Well said, but the current Nacli are not yet in their complete state; it is not too late to draw conclusions after they evolve." Meeting Paul's surprised gaze, Luo Mu smiled again and took out three Poké Balls: "I heard from Director Clavell that you have not yet selected the starter Pokémon prepared by the academy?"

Paul first nodded, then hesitated, saying, "I already have the Turtwig I received from Professor Rowan."

"That was a matter in the Sinnoh region and has nothing to do with Naranja Academy." Luo Mu very seriously recited the lines Clavell had taught him in full, "Whoever becomes a student of Naranja Academy has the opportunity to receive a starter Pokémon."

Saying this, Luo Mu opened the three Poké Balls in his hand.

Amidst flashing red light, three starter Pokémon unique to the Paldea region appeared before Paul.

Their names were—Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly.

Luo Mu said with a smile, "Come, choose your starter Pokémon!"

(End of Chapter)