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"Uncle, where is Striaton Academy?"
"It's in Striaton City."
Lucas lay on Ninetales's back, looking up at the azure sky, and answered simply.
For this vacation to the Unova region, Lucas had specially brought Shauna and Tomoyo along.
Children, after all, need to go out and see the world often. They shouldn't always stay cooped up at home; that's not good for their physical development.
Especially since they were visiting a famous academy in the Pokémon world, maybe it would even encourage Shauna to start liking studying.
Mr. and Mrs. Fujino highly approved of Lucas's decision to take Shauna and Tomoyo away. For the next few days, they could enjoy their world of two again.
See? A single trip made both parties extremely satisfied. If this wasn't a win-win, what was?
Lucas, with a piece of foxtail grass he had casually plucked from the roadside dangling from his mouth, reached out to push away the fat face blocking his view.
"You're blocking my view of the sky."
Gengar looked at Lucas, who was lying down even when going out, made a face at him, and then floated over to Shauna and Tomoyo to whisper bad things about him behind his back.
"I say, Gengar..."
Gengar turned back to look at Lucas, asking him crossly what he wanted.
"Next time you badmouth me, could you be a bit quieter? Who badmouths someone so loudly right in front of their face?"
"Gen gengar."
"None of your business."
"Sigh, whatever. As long as you're happy."
"Gen gengar—"
Striaton Academy.
A young girl looked at her older cousin and asked worriedly, "Cousin, why hasn't my Dewott recovered yet?"
Nina glanced at the listless Dewott standing to the side and comforted her cousin, "Don't worry, I've already called for backup."
"Cousin, who did you invite? Can they solve our academy's Pokémon issue?"
Nina shook her head. "To be honest, I don't know either. But since he said it wasn't a very serious problem, it means he is quite confident he can resolve it."
The girl looked at her cousin, wondering why she had so much confidence in this person.
Just then, Nina's phone rang. She answered it, and Shauna's crisp voice came through from the other end.
"Sister Nina, we've arrived at the school gate. Where are you?"
"Little Shauna? You came too? Wait for me at the gate, I'll come out to get you."
"Okay~"
Hanging up the phone, Nina looked at her cousin and said, "They're here. Let's go out."
Arriving at the gate, Nina immediately saw Lucas sitting on Ninetales's back, looking around.
"Lucas."
Lucas turned around and saw Nina walking toward him with Empoleon, accompanied by a young girl and a Dewott.
"Sister Nina, sorry for making you wait."
Lucas apologized sheepishly. After all, he had said yesterday that he would arrive shortly, but ended up delaying it for a whole night.
"That's a minor thing."
Nina waved her hand. After smiling and greeting Shauna and Tomoyo, who were sitting on Rapidash's back, she walked over to Lucas and whispered, "Why did you bring Shauna and Tomoyo along? I seriously suspect there's something unclean inside the academy right now." Hearing this, Lucas's first reaction was actually to look at Gengar.
Gengar, who had been listening intently nearby, saw Lucas looking at him and was filled with confusion.
"You can't blame me for this too, can you?"
Lucas shook his head. "No, I'm not blaming you."
He then looked at Nina and comforted her with a smile, "It's fine. I discussed it with Gothitelle and Roserade yesterday, and we think there's a high probability this is caused by the weather, so there isn't much danger. That's why I brought Shauna and Tomoyo along."
Lucas paused and then whispered, "You also know what little Shauna is like. Maybe this trip will give her an unforgettable memory of learning, and she'll start liking to study when we return to the Breeding House. Sleeping in the classroom all day or taking leaves of absence to skip school is no way to go."
Hearing Lucas say this, Nina also felt relieved. "I was actually worried little Shauna might find it boring and want to go back."
"Then you don't really know little Shauna. As long as she's not at her own school, she can have a great time anywhere."
Lucas turned his head to glance at Tomoyo, who was sitting in front of Shauna. "Besides, I brought Little Tomoyo along this time too."
Lucas got down from Ninetales and asked Nina, "By the way, Sister Nina, aren't you a lawyer? Why are you at Striaton Academy? You didn't change careers to become a Pokémon teacher, did you?"
Lucas sized up Nina in front of him. "You wouldn't, while teaching students, lose your temper and slap a student into a wall, would you?"
Nina's eyes widened, and she raised her hand to strike Lucas, but he dodged it.
"My cousin studies here. I came specifically to visit her this time, but since I happened to run into this issue, I wanted to ask if you had any ideas."
Nina gestured to the girl standing behind her. "Her Pokémon was affected too."
Lucas glanced at Nina's cousin, who looked quite similar to Nina.
Lucas walked up to the girl, looking at her and the Dewott behind her.
"Um—"
"Her name is Diani."
"Diani, could you let me take a look at Dewott?"
Diani glanced at her cousin. Seeing her nod, she gave a soft murmur of agreement and stepped aside so Lucas could get a better look at her Dewott.
Lucas looked at the blue Pokémon in front of him, which closely resembled a sea otter, with two hard shells on its thighs. However, it was currently in low spirits, seemingly afraid of something.
Lucas took a Petilil-shaped Candy from Gengar, handed it to Dewott, and said gently, "It's alright now, no need to be afraid. Here, have a piece of Candy."
Dewott looked at Lucas curiously, then reached out to take the Candy and popped it into its mouth.
Instantly, an incredibly blissful sweetness enveloped it, and its mood relaxed as a result.
"Such delicious Candy—"
Seeing Dewott's expression, Lucas nodded in satisfaction.
It seemed the Breeding House's new product was quite effective.
Once Dewott was no longer as afraid, Lucas asked, "Can you tell me what happened? What made you feel so scared?"
Looking at Lucas's gentle eyes and the smile on his face, Dewott hesitated for a moment, then shook its head.
"I don't know either, but I just feel so oppressed, and I can't muster any energy."
Lucas frowned.
Could there be some hidden story behind this?
Just as Lucas was about to call up his Golden Finger to check Dewott's status, he noticed Dewott pointing in a direction.
"Over there, there seemed to be something very terrifying—"
Lucas turned his head to look in the direction Dewott was pointing. The sky there was clear for miles, the deep blue sky looking like the surface of the sea, as beautiful as a painting.
"It doesn't look like there's any problem, clear skies for miles—wait."
Lucas looked at the sky over there and frowned.
"Latias."
Lucas called out softly, and Latias revealed her form. Lucas sat on her back and flew up, looking in the direction Dewott had pointed.
In the distance, the azure waves stretched out—it was an ocean.
Although the scenery looked picturesque, Lucas still noticed something amiss.
That was, there wasn't a single flying Pokémon around. Occasionally, when a Pidove passed by there, it would quickly detour to get away.
"Is there really a problem?"
Lucas calculated in his heart.
"Lucas, the humidity over there isn't right."
Latias's voice rang out in Lucas's mind.
"The humidity isn't right?"
"Yes. Logically speaking, the humidity over there should be about the same as ours, but I can feel that the wind blowing from that direction has a much higher humidity than here."
"Even if it is close to the sea over there, it shouldn't be this much higher than here."
Latias analyzed carefully.
"Which means—something over there is interfering with the humidity?"
"Yes, and it also emits a feeling that makes Pokémon feel oppressed."
"Do you feel it?"
"For me, it's negligible."
Hearing Latias's words, Lucas nodded in understanding and patted Latias's head.
"Let's go down first. Then, I'll trouble you to make a trip over there to check it out for me."
"Mm."
Lucas rode Latias back to the ground. After he dismounted from Latias, her form blended into the surroundings.
"I'm heading off now."
"Mhm, stay safe. If anything seems wrong, run immediately."
"Don't worry."
A strong gust of wind swept by, and Latias departed.
"What's wrong?" Nina asked.
Lucas shook his head. "Nothing, everything is normal."
At this moment, Gothitelle had finished feeding the herbal medicine to Dewott. It came to Lucas's side and nodded at him.
Lucas looked at Diani. "Alright, the issue with Dewott actually stems from the environment. Have you been taking it running around in areas of the academy where Pokémon have been acting abnormally lately?"
Diani nodded.
"That explains it. The environment is extremely important for a Pokémon. Even a very cheerful Pokémon, after witnessing so many abnormal Pokémon, might start to think, 'Will I also turn into this abnormal state?' This leads to a loss of vitality and low mood."
"This type of problem is easy to handle. You just need to spend more time playing with it so it can feel energetic again. In this regard, I have a few people and Pokémon I can recommend who are particularly good at this."
"Shauna, Little Tomoyo."
Lucas turned around and called out to the two, who were squatting in front of a Patrat watching it eat, though he didn't know when they had gotten there.
Shauna and Tomoyo turned around together. The Patrat tried to take the opportunity to slip away, but Shauna grabbed its tail without even looking back.
Lucas watched as the Patrat struggled for a while, realized it couldn't break free, gave up, and stood obediently in place.
A little Patrat like you wants to escape from the great Queen Shauna?
"What is it, Uncle?"
Hearing Shauna's voice, Lucas snapped back to reality. Looking at the two, he said, "I have a mission for you two now: go play with Dewott along with this big sister, Diani. You know the drill, just like how you play with Zorua, Munchlax, and the others at the Breeding House."
Shauna and Tomoyo's eyes lit up. They exchanged a look, then Shauna stood up, dragging the Patrat, and grabbed Tomoyo's hand with her other hand as they ran toward Lucas.
"Put that Patrat back where you found it."
"Oh."
Shauna stopped, looking at her Pokémon friend she had just met not long ago with some reluctance. However, she looked at the Dewott beside Diani, hesitated for a second, and gave her little hand a flick.
The Patrat felt itself flying through the air.
Patrat: ???
Watching the Patrat follow a parabolic arc, Lucas felt sorry for it for three seconds.
Fortunately, the height wasn't great, and with Gothitelle's psychic power, the Patrat landed safely a short distance away. Once it realized it was free, it bolted away immediately.
Mom, the world outside is so scary!
Shauna held Tomoyo's hand and went to Diani. After some exchange, Diani took Shauna and Tomoyo and walked into the academy.
Beside them walked Dewott, Chimecho, Rapidash, and Dratini.
Watching Diani and the others leave, Lucas looked at Nina.
"Shall we go in and check on those abnormal Pokémon?"
Nina nodded and led Lucas into Striaton Academy.
"What did you find in the air just now?"
Lucas didn't hide anything. "I discovered that the humidity in the air in one area wasn't right, so I had Latias go investigate. Don't worry, we just need to handle the abnormal Pokémon within the academy next."
"The academy has already gathered some of the abnormal Pokémon for observation, hoping to find the cause of the abnormality, but it seems they haven't found anything yet."
Nina, sitting on Arcanine, said to Lucas, who was sitting on the back of Ninetales.
"Logically speaking, it's impossible for a large number of Pokémon to have emotional abnormalities at the same time."
Lucas said.
Pokémon are very magical creatures with extremely strong survival abilities in the wild, which means they rarely experience severe emotional problems.
Especially to the point of not eating.
Lucas currently has two hypotheses. The first is the issue of emotional contagion; the cause of this event might be that a certain Pokémon transmitted its abnormal emotions to other Pokémon.
However, the probability of this hypothesis is very low. After all, according to Nina's explanation, nearly half of the students' Pokémon at Striaton Academy have experienced emotional abnormalities. The scope is too large; if it were caused by just one Pokémon, it wouldn't be possible to spread to this extent.
If this hypothesis is wrong, then only the second one remains.
Pokémon are creatures that admire strength. In other words, when certain particularly powerful Pokémon appear nearby, the pressure they exude causes surrounding Pokémon to fall into a panic and want to flee. However, because the Pokémon in the academy are almost all captured Pokémon, they cannot leave their Trainers behind, so they can only suffer under this pressure and fall into an abnormal emotional state.
Combined with what Lucas observed just now, this hypothesis has a very high probability.
Yesterday, before he arrived, Nina only said that a small portion of Pokémon had emotional problems. He didn't expect that in just one night, it had become this severe.
Could it be caused by a particularly powerful Pokémon?
If so—
Which Pokémon could it be?
Unova region—
Zekrom? Reshiram? Or Kyurem? Or perhaps the Forces of Nature?
Just as Lucas was thinking.
Gengar suddenly appeared behind Lucas, scanning the surroundings with its eyes, and finally looked up at the sky.
Lilligant and the others also jumped out of their Poké Balls immediately.
"What's wrong?"
Ninetales stopped, and Lucas turned back to look at Gengar and asked.
Gengar blinked, its face full of confusion.
Strange, why do I feel like someone was staring at us just now?
"Gengar—"
Gengar shook its head, indicating it was nothing, perhaps it had sensed wrong.
Lucas nodded. "Don't make a fuss, you scared me."
Gengar grinned sheepishly, then jumped into Lucas's shadow, remaining vigilant of the surroundings.
Lucas winked at Gothitelle and Lilligant, recalled them to their Poké Balls, and took a moment to send a message to Shauntal on his phone.
"Striaton Academy, major problem, come quickly!"
When in doubt, call for backup.
Lucas was extremely proficient at this.
Now, it was just a matter of waiting for Shauntal to arrive and for Latias's results.
And finding the cause of the emotional abnormalities in the Striaton Academy Pokémon.
"We're here."
Lucas looked at the building in front of him and looked at Nina with confusion.
Nina shrugged. "The academy specifically cleared out this building to house the Pokémon with emotional abnormalities, making it easier to care for them separately."
They used an entire building—
That is truly—wealthy and imposing—
"Can we go in? Or do we need to wait for the Elite Four to arrive?"
"You mean—Elite Shauntal and Elite Caitlin?"
"Mhm."
"That's not necessary, we can go right in. Besides, don't you have the medical assistant certificate issued by Linnea? That's enough."
"However, it would be better if an Elite came. After all, this is the Unova region. If you accidentally cause any damage, having them there will avoid significant legal entanglements."
As expected of a lawyer. Anyone else would only be worried about whether they could heal the Pokémon or what to do if they couldn't.
But what Nina was worried about was how much compensation Lucas could get if the Pokémon went berserk, how much Lucas would have to pay if he accidentally damaged public property, how to minimize the payment, and how to maximize the compensation—
At this moment, she seemed to have found her familiar rhythm.
"Then I will act as your lawyer from now on. Let's go."
Lucas was just about to say, "Isn't that a bit too formal?" But after seeing Nina's serious expression, he hesitated and didn't say it out loud.