1. Ash's Story (Part 10: Galar)

Chapter 100: The Next Academy

The year in Galar ended more quietly than the battles that had filled it. There was no roaring crowd in Wyndon, no legendary cry over the Crown Tundra, and no emergency message from a cave where another world had opened too close to ours. There was only Hammerlocke Academy, the smell of polished floors, and the final test schedule pinned beside the classroom door.

I stood in front of that schedule with Alice beside me and Pikachu on my shoulder. The page looked harmless compared with Ultra Wormholes, but the names of the subjects still made my stomach tighten.

Alice noticed and smiled. "You faced Raihan in a final tournament battle and look more nervous about written exams."

"Raihan does not ask essay questions about Galarian history," I said.

Pikachu patted my cheek, ears raised with teasing confidence, "The battlefield shouts back, but the paper waits silently."

"That is exactly the problem," I said.

Megan walked up with a stack of notes hugged against her chest. Mark followed her with three pencils behind one ear, while Minami balanced a notebook, a drink bottle, and far too many sticky tabs. Jane arrived last, calm as always, carrying flash cards tied with a ribbon.

Megan sighed when she saw the schedule. "It really feels final now."

Mark grinned. "Final tests, final reports, final chance to panic together."

"Please do not call it panicking," Minami said. "I prefer organized academic concern."

Jane handed me half the flash cards. "Then let us organize before concern becomes disaster."

That was how our last exam week began: not with a legend, but with friends pushing desks together and arguing over which review sheet mattered most.

Hammerlocke Academy had become normal before I noticed it happening. At first, the school had felt like another transfer program, another place where I had to learn the halls, the teachers, the rules, and the rhythm of a region that did not slow down for anyone. Somewhere along the way, it turned into a place where people expected me to show up.

Megan was the one who remembered every deadline. Mark remembered the shortcuts between classrooms. Minami remembered which teacher preferred detailed answers and which one cared more about examples. Jane remembered everyone's weak spots and somehow turned them into neat little study plans.

Alice remembered when I was about to overdo it.

During one review session, I pushed through Galar culture notes until the words blurred. Alice quietly took the page from my hand and replaced it with a sandwich.

"I was reading the review sheet," I protested.

"You were glaring at the page," Alice answered.

Megan laughed. "It did look like you were trying to intimidate the page into answering itself."

Mark leaned back in his chair. "If that works, I want to borrow the technique."

Jane did not laugh, but her eyes warmed. "Eat first. Then we review the Hammerlocke founding timeline."

The tests came one by one. Pokémon battle theory was the easiest, even when the questions asked for more explanation than instinct. Galar history made me slow down, especially the parts about Hammerlocke's old role in the region. Math was still math, which meant it fought me with numbers instead of moves. Alice finished almost every paper with the same steady focus she brought into battle.

The practical test came after the written ones. Principal Relena and two academy instructors watched from the training field while each transfer student had to show strategy, communication, and control without relying only on raw power.