After experiencing a winter break full of wonderful adventures, Wu Yao welcomed the start of a new semester. Through continuous training and hard work, his Froakie had already reached level 12. Froakie possessed high potential and had gained a lot of combat experience. To acquire experience, a Pokémon had to battle different opponents; if it constantly fought the same opponent, it would completely master that opponent's rhythm, learn nothing new, and gain virtually no more experience. He and Sun Qing had sparred many times, and Sun Qing basically lost every single match. Froakie could no longer learn anything new from battling Litten.
However, the new semester presented a great opportunity for Wu Yao. Many upperclassmen had chosen to stay behind and act as teachers' assistants. The League regulations stated that no one could challenge a Gym more than three times a year, and the Pokédex automatically recorded the number of challenges. This prevented anyone from challenging the same Gym Leader day after day for a year and annoying the leader into simply handing over a badge. If someone failed three times in a row, even if they eventually succeeded on a subsequent attempt, that badge would not be officially recognized. If a student failed to earn a single Gym badge within a year, they could voluntarily choose to repeat a grade. The school would provide resources equivalent to those for a senior student, but only for one year. After that, the student would be expelled from the school registry—there was no taking a free ride on school resources. This system was very similar to a grade-retention mechanism, and it was likely adapted from the rules established before the arrival of Pokémon.
"This semester we are welcoming a new classmate. She is the daughter of the renowned Professor Xu Hanyun, and she transferred to our school due to her father's work. Let's have her introduce herself."
"Hello everyone, I'm Xu Qing. *Xu* as in promise, *Qing* as in a sunny day, and this is my partner, Eevee."
With that, she took a Poké Ball from her waist and pressed the button. Standing on the podium was a Pokémon with brown fur, fluffy cream-colored fur around its neck and tail, short and thin legs with three-toed paws and pink paw pads, brown eyes, long ears, a small black nose, and a brown tail ending in a heart-shaped pattern.
"Boui!"
"Alright, put your Eevee away. This isn't the time for Pokémon activities. Xu Qing, go sit next to Wu Yao! He's our class monitor, so you can ask him if you don't understand something!"
Xu Qing walked over, took the seat beside Wu Yao, and greeted him warmly.
"Hello!"
Wu Yao gave a cold, aloof reply: "Hello..."
"All right, our first class is about to start. Pokémon Breeding class is scheduled for the afternoon; the morning is still for theoretical lessons. Gather at the gymnasium and line up at one o'clock after lunch. Class One will be the first to go to the gymnasium for battles. Those seniors acting as your sparring partners have mostly been through the crucible and survived life-or-death combat. Their Pokémon have evolved to the second stage, and they will be holding back when fighting you, so don't underestimate them!"
With that, the head teacher walked straight out of the classroom. The instructor for the first period, Mr. Li, stepped up to the podium and began casting a hypnotic spell over most of the students. Furious at those who were sleeping, he called out a student by name and woke him up.
"Lu Ren, you tell me what type Dhelmise is!"
The summoned student was clearly still half-asleep, and the teacher had to throw a piece of chalk with pinpoint accuracy right at his head to jolt him awake.
"Dhelmise, you say? Uh... Water and Steel!"
"Wrong! Stand up and listen to the lecture! Wu Yao, you answer!"
"It's Grass and Ghost."
"Correct. Sit down. None of you can give us teachers peace of mind like Wu Yao does! Theoretical knowledge of Pokémon accounts for half of your score as well! If you fail theory, you won't even qualify to be basic researchers, let alone achieve anything significant in this lifetime—forget about becoming a Champion or a Doctor! Your parents might be successful people in certain fields, but our academy is least lacking in successful people. Our founding principal was the Champion of the Third World Championship. There have been fewer than ten World Tournaments from the past down to the present—do you understand the sheer value of a world champion? And don't think you can just inherit the family business and ignore everything. If your parents really wanted you to take over the family business, they wouldn't have made studying compulsory after middle school. They sent you here to cultivate your all-around abilities. If you don't even know Pokémon types and end up feeding your Pokémon unpalatable feed that gives them a stomachache, the higher-ups will be coming after you!"
After that, the teacher spent half the time scolding the wayward students. When the period ended, he kept everyone behind, lecturing right up until the teacher for the next class walked in.
The teacher for the next period gave a ten-minute break for the restroom. Since he had a two-period block, he wouldn't run overtime.
By noon, many students began staring fixedly at the clock above the blackboard. Five minutes before the end of class, they grew restless, ready to bolt for the cafeteria at a moment's notice. Most of them were terrible at sports, but when it came to mealtime, they could erupt with astonishing speed, running a thousand meters in under five minutes. Such violent physical exertion had no effect on Pokémon, however; the inside of a Poké Ball and the outside world existed in two separate spaces. Even if the outside world were destroyed, as long as the Poké Ball remained intact, the Pokémon inside would be completely fine.