Populus euphratica was puzzled.
After pouring the Carp King into the river, he took Will Young back to the dormitory. Before preparing his lessons, he warned, "Don't bring anything home from now on."
Times were different now. He had successfully found a job. Even though he hadn't been paid yet, he wouldn't be as hungry as before.
"Gah?" Will Young's reaction showed that it clearly didn't understand what he was saying.
Seeing this, Albus sighed helplessly.
Sure enough, it wasn't working.
It wasn't that there weren't dumb Pokémon in the world—Slowpoke and Psyduck, for instance—but unlike them, Will Young didn't even seem to understand human speech.
Although Will Young had been just data in a game before, now it had a life of its own. The blood flowing through its veins was warm.
So why couldn't it understand human language?
Albus was confused.
He thought of the golden-finger templates he had lost during his time travel. Could it be that Will Young, like him, had lost something in the process?
Thinking of this, Albus touched the money in his pocket—only 330 dollars left. He wasn't sure if that would be enough for an examination at the Pokémon Center.
It wasn't that he doubted the information Goldfinger had given him, but he didn't want to overlook any possibility.
As a companion who had traveled with him, Albus didn't want to see Will Young continue like this.
So, after lunch, he took Will Young to the Pokémon Center in the city center.
"Excuse me, how much does it cost for a full-body checkup for a Pokémon?" Albus asked.
Miss Wednesday's voice was gentle as she replied, "Two hundred dollars."
Albus let out a sigh of relief. If he didn't have enough, he would have had to sell one of his valuable Poké Balls.
"Please give it a full-body check," he said, handing Will Young to Miss Wednesday.
"Alright, please wait a moment," she said.
A Chansey pushed a small trolley over, and Miss Wednesday placed Will Young on it before turning toward the treatment room.
The door slowly closed behind her. Albus was about to sit down and wait, but before he could turn around, he heard Miss Wednesday exclaim in surprise.
Immediately after, the door swung open, and Will Young came flying out, flapping its wings. Though it still wore its usual silly expression, Albus could see traces of panic in its movements.
Stunned, Albus instinctively reached out and caught Will Young.
"I'm very sorry," Miss Wednesday said, walking over with an apologetic look on her face. She was familiar with this type of situation and explained, "You may need to accompany it during the examination."
Albus had no problem with that. He carried Will Young into the ward and stayed with it for the full-body checkup.
Before long, the results were in. Miss Wednesday looked at the screen and said, "This Pokémon is completely healthy. There's nothing wrong with it."
Totally healthy...
Albus was even more confused. But he was still rational—after thanking Miss Wednesday, he took Will Young back to school.
There were no problems with its personal data. The physical examination showed nothing wrong either.
At this point, Albus couldn't think of anything else that might be causing the issue.
For now, he could only focus on preparing his lessons.
A Week Later
The school officially opened, and Albus began his teaching career.
Since he was a newcomer, the school assigned him only two classes.
At first, Albus had assumed that Pokémon Junior School would be like an elementary school, but after experiencing it firsthand, he realized it was more like a kindergarten.
Although he had no prior experience as a teacher, he had at least seen enough to know how it worked.
In his first class, Albus performed smoothly. After wrapping up, he packed his things and moved on to his next class.
As soon as he stepped onto the podium, he noticed a girl wearing a red headscarf, dark blue shorts, and a red T-shirt.
Isn't that May?
May, the heroine from the Pokémon anime era and games.
Thinking about it, it made sense to see her here. She was the daughter of Norman, the Adelaide Gym Leader.
Albus wasn't too surprised. After introducing himself, he asked the children about their future aspirations.
For the first class, he wanted to take it easy and get to know everyone.
Since he was going to be here for a long time, it made sense to build a connection.
By the end of the day, all the students knew that their school had a new teacher who was around their age.
"You're very popular!"
Not long after, Elvina and McGrath teased him.
They had watched his class and found his lessons on Pokémon ecology so vivid and engaging that they themselves wanted to keep listening.
"Any special tricks?" McGrath asked curiously.
"Maybe it's just talent!" Albus replied smugly.
Over the past half-month, he had met many people and made new friends.
He grew close to fellow teachers McGrath and Elvina, both of whom were warm and easygoing.
Hearing his remark, McGrath clenched his fists jokingly. "I think you deserve a good beating!"
"You're a grown man, and you still act like a kid," Albus said, giving him a weird look.
After spending so much time with young people, Albus himself started feeling younger.
"You brat!" McGrath lunged at him, and the two playfully wrestled.
Elvina laughed on the sidelines.
The school welcomed their new teacher with open arms.
At first, some teachers who hadn't attended his evaluation doubted his abilities. But after reading his class reports, they had no complaints.
Besides, with his tragic backstory—both parents gone—everyone at school sympathized with him.
Teachers left milk and snacks on his desk, the janitor kindly offered to take out his trash, and the cafeteria lady always filled his bowl with extra food.
Albus had never experienced such kindness before.
Initially, he insisted he didn't need special treatment. But instead of stopping, people only treated him with more care.
While deeply touched, Albus also felt a bit embarrassed.
Of course, he couldn't reveal his true origins. All he could do was keep it in his heart and repay their kindness once he had the money.
Right now, he was too broke to even catch a new Pokémon.
Before, he had even asked May if Pokémon battles worked like they did in the games—where the loser had to pay the winner.
With her usual cheerful enthusiasm, May had responded, "Of course not, Teacher! What kind of weird idea is that?"
Albus had been very disappointed. He was hoping to earn some quick cash from Bug Catcher kids.
Speaking of Will Young, it still hadn't given up on bringing back random things for its trainer.
Sometimes it was fish. Other times, it was berries. And occasionally, it was unlucky Magikarp or Feebas.
When Albus saw the Feebas, he actually considered keeping it in a tank. After all, its evolution, Milotic, was incredibly rare.
Unfortunately, he didn't have enough money to buy a fish tank, so he had to give up on the idea for now.
Maybe after his first paycheck.
Albus did want to capture a new Pokémon, but his choices were limited: Grass-type Pokémon, Magikarp, or Feebas.
Grass-types could use photosynthesis and required minimal resources at first. Meanwhile, Magikarp and Feebas had great potential despite their weak beginnings.
For now, though, he just had to be