Pokemon: Spiritual Master-Chapter 603: Blueberry Academy, Alder’s Invitation

Nimbasa City Airport.

Ding——

Johan placed the gold coin at the base of his thumb and lightly flicked it, sending it spinning into the air before catching it securely.

This was the second day since obtaining this "Meowth Gold Coin" at the amusement park.

Yesterday, Johan had tried searching other vending machines, but couldn't find any more.

It seemed this coin had appeared out of nowhere.

However.

As a Ghost-type Pokémon, Gengar's unconscious ability to purchase things from that malfunctioning vending machine might be considered a kind of destined fate.

Honestly.

Johan actually quite "liked" Meowth as a Pokémon, as well as its evolution Persian.

After all, who wouldn't like a Pokémon completely made of gold coins?

Just hearing that "ding-ding-ding" sound of coins clinking together gave one a sense of... confidence.

The essence of wealth.

But on the other hand.

"Am I perhaps a bit too 'connected' with Ghost-type Pokémon?" Johan wondered.

First Gengar, then Rotom, and later Ceruledge...

"Our home already has enough ghosts, it's not like we're planning to open a haunted house."

Johan gently rubbed the surface of the gold coin. "I wonder if I gave this coin to Meowth, could its Pay Day ability produce more?"

After seeing off Cynthia, Flint, and Caitlin, he walked out of the airport alone.

He looked at the bustling crowd and glanced skyward, feeling a strange sense of loneliness...

"Nii-mi?"

Victini sat on his shoulder, making a "yeah" gesture with its hand.

"Ka-kaah?"

Gengar stealthily poked its head out from the shadow, looking around as if searching for a target.

It tugged at Johan's clothes, pointing to a fashionable beauty dragging a suitcase in the distance.

Hey! Johan, look, her legs are black!

Hmm?

Following Gengar's gaze...

Johan tapped the purple fatty's head irritably, "Those are called stockings! Though her legs are indeed nice..."

The slight feeling of "loneliness" that had barely surfaced was instantly washed away by the liveliness of his little ones.

Indeed.

How could a trainer ever be lonely?

Wherever he went, his best companions were right there with him.

"Teacher Johan?"

A voice came from behind.

Turning around, it was none other than the famous horror novelist and Unova Elite Four candidate, Shauntal!

She adjusted her round-framed glasses with an expression of "it really is you."

"Ka-kaah!" Gengar shouted.

Hey! Johan, she's wearing stockings too!

Johan: "..."

As a Ghost-type specialist, Shauntal naturally understood what Gengar was saying and a blush crept up her cheeks.

Does Teacher Johan like stockings?

"Jo-Johan, are you—"

"Ahem." Johan cleared his throat, "No, I was just playing rock-paper-scissors with Victini."

Saying this, he made a couple of gestures toward Victini on his shoulder, then clenched his fist.

"Nii-mi! (￣▽￣)V"

"See, I won."

Shauntal instinctively shrank her neck, whispering, "Victini... can it throw anything besides scissors?"

Johan quickly changed the subject, "By the way, Shauntal, what brings you here?"

"Oh." Shauntal came back to her senses, remembering her errand, "I'm here on behalf of the Unova League to express our gratitude for what you did at Giant Chasm and Eindoak Town."

"Gratitude?"

Shauntal didn't waste words and took out a small package, saying:

"Inside are TMs for Giga Impact, Hyper Beam, and Heavy Slam, including all supplementary training materials, as well as some masters' training insights for these moves."

Hearing this, a large bead of sweat appeared on Johan's forehead.

Giga Impact, Hyper Beam, and Heavy Slam?!

"Ka-kaah! （^▽^）"

Gengar's eyes lit up.

In Johan's mind, images flashed of Gengar using Hyper Beam, Urshifu using Giga Impact, and Dragonite using Heavy Slam...

Cold sweat trickled down.

"No, no need to be so generous—"

Shauntal said somewhat embarrassedly, "Actually, we're the ones who should be embarrassed. Teacher Johan, you've helped our Unova region so much, but we didn't know what you needed, so our token of gratitude is really—"

"Wait," Johan raised his hand, "Who told you I needed these moves?"

Shauntal lowered her voice, whispering, "I specifically asked Caitlin."

Cai-Caitlin?!

Johan's eyes widened slightly as he couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Flint, you're in trouble!

Flint: ?

"But Teacher Johan, don't worry, we've already submitted a report to the International Police Department at League Headquarters. I believe you'll receive a promotion notice soon."

Another promotion?

Johan's current rank in the International Police was already Chief Inspector. The next step would be Senior Superintendent!

What did that mean?

Aside from the Chief Superintendent who was the highest commander at the International Police Headquarters, there were nine Superintendents, corresponding to the nine regions.

Below that... was Senior Superintendent!

Even Looker, who was promoted to head of the Ultra Beast Response Division, was only a Senior Superintendent.

To put it bluntly, in special situations, a Senior Superintendent's authority might even be slightly higher than that of an Elite Four member.

You guys really know how to play this game...

"How about it, Teacher Johan?" Shauntal asked with a hint of expectation, even wearing an expression of "waiting for praise."

"Haha——" Johan laughed bitterly.

With greater power comes greater responsibility, that much was certain.

"By the way, Teacher Johan, are you planning to go to Blueberry Academy?" Shauntal asked.

Blueberry Academy had previously invited Johan to provide guidance.

And in his "excuse" for delaying his return to Hoenn, this was one of the reasons.

Honestly.

Johan was quite curious about Blueberry Academy.

Besides the Paldea region, the island where Blueberry Academy was located was the only place where one could charge Terastal Orbs.

"Is there something special happening?" Johan asked in return.

"Then let's go together!" Shauntal smiled, "The Blueberry Academy Spring Festival just ended, and they're holding an internal competition. Perhaps I could gather some interesting material for my writing!"

Internal competition?

Johan's interest was piqued.

Plus, since obtaining the Terastal Orb, he hadn't used it yet, as it could only be used once. He was saving it for a critical moment.

Going to Blueberry Academy would solve the charging problem, and perhaps... he could try Terastallization with his little ones, to get some practice.

The League's private plane flew over the open sea of the Unova region.

"Nii-mi~~"

Victini pressed against the window, gazing at the vast ocean below.

This was its first time seeing the ocean in a thousand years, and the little one was filled with curiosity about the mysterious world of the sea.

On the vast ocean stood a special island.

The island wasn't particularly large, but looking down from above, one could see its unique features.

Based on the terrain, the island was divided into four areas, corresponding to grasslands, coastline, polar region, and canyon.

This was Blueberry Academy's unique "ecological dome" facility.

According to reports, Blueberry Academy was designed by its principal Crispin and built at great expense alongside an underwater resource development factory. It was an academy dedicated to Pokémon battle education.

With the joint support of the Unova and Paldea Leagues, Blueberry Academy, though newly established, had become a destination that countless young trainers aspired to in just a few short years.

The plane landed on the helipad in the center of Blueberry Academy island.

As soon as they disembarked, several people came forward to greet them.

"Hahaha—Teacher Johan, Miss Shauntal, welcome, welcome."

A middle-aged man dressed in a white suit and wearing a white hat took off his hat and came forward.

"I am Crispin, the principal of Blueberry Academy."

"Hello, Principal Crispin," Johan smiled and shook hands with him.

"This is—" Crispin began introducing the person beside him, a young woman about twenty-four or twenty-five years old with golden curly hair and star-shaped earrings.

But halfway through, he suddenly froze.

"Called—" Crispin wore a thoughtful expression.

The young woman lightly pressed her forehead, stepped forward, and extended her hand to introduce herself:

"Raimu Stary, a teacher at Blueberry Academy."

Johan shook her hand.

Some information about Raimu flashed through his mind.

This Raimu Stary was not only a teacher at Blueberry Academy but also a descendant of Hawthorn, the captain of the Area Zero Observation Team from Paldea two hundred years ago. She possessed the "Scarlet Book/Violet Book" written by Hawthorn.

"Oh right, what were we supposed to do—" Crispin looked at Raimu.

Raimu seemed accustomed to Crispin's reactions and said, "Principal, you need to prepare the opening speech for the internal competition."

"Ah, yes, yes, yes." Crispin slapped his forehead, somewhat embarrassedly saying to Johan and Shauntal:

"Teacher Johan, Professor Shauntal, due to the many pressing matters, please allow our... our Teacher Raimu to show you around our academy."

With that, he hurriedly left.

Johan & Shauntal: "..."

Raimu apologetically said, "Sorry, you two, our principal... um... isn't very sharp, he's quite forgetful, but he's actually a good person."

Shauntal smiled to defuse the awkwardness, "I'd heard Principal Crispin had some memory issues, but I didn't expect it to be so... memorable."

"Now then, let me take you both on a tour of our academy. There's also a familiar face waiting for you~~"

As she spoke, Raimu winked at them somewhat like a young girl.

A familiar face?

"Here are our classrooms, each equipped with the latest holographic teaching equipment purchased from the Lysandre Labs in the Kalos region—"

Raimu began showing Johan and Shauntal around Blueberry Academy.

Wait.

Holographic equipment from Lysandre Labs?

"This is the student cafeteria, which includes food provisions for Pokémon, prepared by professional breeders to ensure the nutritional needs of both academy students and their Pokémon—"

"This is the campus store, though it may look small, it has everything for daily needs, whether Pokémon items or student necessities like toothbrushes and towels."

"And here are the student dormitories, one room per person, each with its own bathroom, toilet, washing machine, dryer—"

After seeing the cafeteria, campus store, and dormitories, Johan couldn't help but marvel at the rich resources of Blueberry Academy.

Is this what a "boarding school" looks like?

In this aspect.

Their Kanaz Pokémon Academy was completely outmatched.

Especially the single dormitories with so many facilities, even private bathrooms and toilets—are you serious?

"And this is our academy's special League Union building," Raimu said.

She led the two to a standalone building.

"Inside are all the academy's clubs, including but not limited to baseball club, science club, photography club, art club, and so on. All students can earn Blueberry Points within these clubs."

"At Blueberry Academy, Blueberry Points are the foundation for exchanging everything, essentially serving as the currency within Blueberry Academy."

Just as they arrived at the League Union building, the doors opened, and a familiar figure appeared in their sight.

Red lion-like hair, worn clothing, a string of Poké Balls around his neck...

Alder!

"Haha—Johan, Shauntal, you've arrived."

"Champion Alder," Shauntal didn't seem surprised.

Johan, however, felt somewhat curious, "Mr. Alder, what are you—"

"Hahaha——" Alder laughed heartily again, patting Johan's shoulder with appreciation, "Johan, I'm here to thank you on behalf of the Unova League for your contributions."

As it turned out, during the Eindoak Town and Giant Chasm incidents, Alder had been at Blueberry Academy, which was why he hadn't appeared.

He had tried to rush over.

But just after leaving Blueberry Academy, he learned the matter had been resolved. Upon finding out it was Johan who handled it, he decided to stay at Blueberry Academy to wait for Johan and express his gratitude in person.

If not for Johan, with such major events erupting in the Unova region, his failure as Champion to arrive promptly would have been a significant dereliction of duty.

As he spoke, Alder's smile faded, and he solemnly bowed to Johan, saying:

"Johan..."

Seeing this gesture, Johan quickly sidestepped and hurriedly said:

"Mr. Alder, there's no need for such formality. I'm also a League trainer, and within my capabilities, it was just a small matter—"

Shauntal glanced at Johan.

The Black and White Dragons, Kyurem, Giratina, Darkrai... these were just small matters in Teacher Johan's eyes?

Alder was also momentarily surprised, then said with satisfaction: freёnovelkiss.com

"It's the League's blessing to have young trainers like you..."

Then he continued, "Johan, would you reconsider what I proposed earlier?"

Johan: "..."

The two men understood, but Shauntal and Raimu didn't know what Alder had proposed, so they couldn't help but show curiosity.

"Champion Alder means..." Shauntal asked.

Alder regained his smile, "Asking Johan to stay in Unova as Champion."

Raimu: "?!"

Unlike Raimu's shock, Shauntal, while surprised, also felt delight and hope.

"Teacher Johan, why not stay in Unova?" Shauntal said softly.

"Ahem, ahem—" Johan quickly coughed and changed the subject:

"By the way, Mr. Alder, why are you at Blueberry Academy?"

Alder didn't dwell on the topic either, simply explaining:

"On one hand, I wanted to help my grandson with his enrollment application."

Alder was indeed not young, and Johan remembered that his grandson Benga was also a very accomplished young trainer.

"On the other hand, I wanted to learn about Blueberry Academy's teaching philosophy to improve myself."

As a Champion who greatly valued the education of younger generations, Alder actually lacked somewhat in his mentoring abilities.

For instance, his student Marshal didn't have a particularly close relationship with him.

If he could improve his abilities in this area, perhaps he could help the Unova League nurture a serious, responsible, competent, and capable young Champion—this was Alder's goal.

There was also another point.

Through this "internal competition" at Blueberry Academy, he could observe whether there were sufficiently outstanding young trainers who could be given focused training.

For the sake of Unova's younger generation, Alder had truly put his heart and soul into it.

No wonder.

In this "Youth Master World Championship," although it was held in the Unova region, Unova region... didn't even make it to the semi-finals.

Kanto had Lance, Hoenn had Johan and Steven, Sinnoh had Cynthia, but Unova... was somewhat lacking.

The "Blueberry League Policy" adopted within Blueberry Academy, where students took on the roles of Blueberry League Champion and Blueberry League Elite Four, was perhaps a way to supply talent to the Unova League.

Johan admired this aspect of Alder.

At this moment, Raimu added:

"Mr. Alder, there's also the opening performance for the internal competition."

"Oh, right," Alder remembered and smiled, "I promised Principal Crispin that, as a guest, I would have an exhibition match for the opening of the internal competition."

Hmm?

Johan suddenly felt Alder's gaze was a bit odd.

Then he heard him ask, "How about it, Johan, would you like to... battle with me?"

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Powerstones?

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