Three days later.
["Paldea Daily News: The strength of Typhoon is gradually weakening and is expected to dissipate completely today."]
["The League Chairwoman and Champion, Geeta, made an important speech: Typhoon has had a certain impact on the coastal areas near the Southern Paldea Sea. A large number of wild Pokémon have been affected, the historic Naranja Academy has suspended classes, and nearby towns have also been impacted. The League has already dispatched—"]
The cracked phone screen went black under Lucas' finger. Watching the rain outside his window gradually lessen, he muttered, "It's finally over."
When a typhoon hits, the first to suffer are the wild Pokémon living exposed to the elements, followed by crops on farms, houses in towns, and so on.
This morning, Lucas went into Los Platos Town to buy supplies and found that the town's houses had all suffered varying degrees of damage. Compared to them, the little cottage left by the elderly couple was unbelievably sturdy.
The tiles were still perfectly aligned on the roof, and the only marks on the walls were from rain washing over them. Its durability was beyond imagination.
With the combined efforts of the Pokémon, they managed to protect the three experimental fields of tomatoes, strawberries, and cabbages in the farming area during the hardest times. This typhoon was successfully weathered without disaster.
By afternoon, the rain had completely stopped. The clouds parted, and long-lost sunlight dazzled down on Paldea, mesmerizingly beautiful. Lucas looked up and saw a gorgeous rainbow hanging in the sky towards the Southern Paldea Sea.
Unfortunately, there was no rainbow-colored bird dropping feathers as it flew by, but since it's rare to see such a beautiful scene, Lucas still called out his Pokémon to enjoy it together and held a small tea party on the farm.
He set up a small table and took out ordinary tea ware he'd bought at the Los Platos Town market. Carefully, he took out a chipped teapot worth 150,000 League coins and brewed a pot of rich black tea, then poured it into the cups in front of each Pokémon.
In the still-chilly air, Lucas savored the hot black tea brewed from the chipped teapot.
The faintly fragrant black tea tasted rich at first sip. After a moment, his tongue detected a slight bitterness turning into a subtle sweetness, giving the tea a more complex flavor.
This was some very ordinary tea, costing only a few dozen League coins per pound at the Los Platos Town market. When brewed with regular teaware, it was just drinkable.
But with the chipped teapot, the taste was so different. Lucas was once again amazed at the wonders of items in the Pokémon world.
Among the Pokémon, opinions on the black tea were divided.
The Luxray and a few others enjoyed the rich, slightly bitter flavor, while the Serperior and Dragonite couldn't quite accept it and preferred sweeter tastes.
The newly evolved Poliwhirl sided with Luxray, delicately sipping his tea with his new hands.
Next to Poliwhirl, besides three Poliwags, was a Pokémon with sparse feathers, mimicking the act of drinking tea.
The Delibird still felt a tingling numbness in its body and couldn't taste food at all. Drinking tea was just imitating others.
Delibird had woken up on the second day after the typhoon made landfall in Paldea. The natural lightning was just too powerful. If Luxray hadn't found the Delibird, it would most likely have died alone in the typhoon's rainstorm.
Even after Lucas's treatment, Delibird was left with many aftereffects, the most severe being its loss of the ability to fly, in addition to temporarily losing its sense of taste.
Although it was partly because its feathers hadn't grown back yet, Delibird's flying posture was off, its wing movements clumsy, as if it now feared the sky.
Lucas, who had intended to release Delibird after it recovered, could only keep it for now. In its current state, it would have a very hard time surviving in the wild.
As for its flying ability, he would have to wait for its feathers to regrow before making any further assessments.
During tea, Lucas was wondering if Naranja Academy would resume classes soon when his blacked-out phone suddenly lit up and vibrated a few times.
It was a message from Director Harrington. Judging from the wording, this message was sent to him personally.
[To Teacher Lucas: The typhoon has passed. Naranja Academy in central Paldea wasn't significantly damaged. Classes will resume tomorrow. Your Battle Studies class is scheduled for that afternoon. Here is the student list for your first Battle Studies session:]
[Arven, Nemona, Giacomo, Ortega, Eri, Aliquis…]
Lucas stared at his phone in confusion, rubbed his eyes, and checked again—only to find that just fifteen students had signed up for his class.
After all, Naranja Academy currently has at least a thousand students enrolled!
Sure, not all students are interested in Pokémon battles, and not everyone wants to be a Trainer, but this ratio was way too low.
"Could it be that I spoke too harshly at the opening ceremony, and now they're all scared of me?"
Lucas looked at a few familiar names. He wasn't surprised Nemona chose Battle Studies—he'd already seen her potential as a battle maniac on the first day.
As for Arven, the kid probably signed up because his parents aren't around, and he's a bit lonely.
The rest were some future Team Star squad bosses and some names Lucas didn't recognize.
And to think, he'd spent all this extra time coming up with different teaching plans, only to have just fifteen students sign up.
Lucas was hit hard.
After moping for a while, Lucas was cheered up by his Growlithe's comforting licks. No matter how many students there were, his responsibility as a teacher was only one thing—to guide them correctly and help them grow into excellent Pokémon Trainers.
If there are only a few now, more will come once his reputation spreads.
After pumping himself up, Lucas gathered the empty tea cups from the Pokémon and muttered, "The typhoon and rain are over. It's time to develop the farm again."
PS: Hey guys, please read atleast 50 advanced chapters at patreon.com/AbsoluteCode