The figure who had just walked into the classroom was none other than Dominic — David's Pokémon Battle teacher.
After everything they had been through together last semester, the students of Class 1 had come to respect him deeply. They had seen what he was capable of, and that was enough. So the moment he stepped through the door, the chatter in the room faded on its own.
Dominic's expression today was a little different from usual. The sharpness that normally sat on his face had softened, just slightly, though it was easy to miss if you weren't paying attention.
There was a good reason for it. Class 1's results from last semester had been, by any measure, impressive. A few unlucky students had been knocked out of the Great Ball ranking tournament due to bad draws, which left their regular grades short of the threshold and earned them a week of remedial classes over the holiday. But as a whole, the class had performed better than any Class 1 in Imperial City First High School's recent history — at least over the past decade or so.
That meant something to Dominic. He had been brought to this school by the newly appointed principal, Arthur, who had gone out of his way to recruit him. Arthur had also cleared out a number of teachers who had been coasting on tenure, and he had given Dominic a level of freedom and support that most instructors here had never seen. That decision had not been popular with some of the older staff, who muttered behind Arthur's back that he was the sort of principal who pushed out his own people to favour outsiders. But the results were hard to argue with now. Dominic felt, at the very least, that he had not let Arthur down — and more importantly, that he had not wasted these students' time.
He stood at the front of the room for a brief moment, gathering himself, then looked out at the sea of faces below. Nearly everyone had arrived. He cleared his throat.
"The new semester has started. You all worked hard last semester, and your results showed it. I hope you carry that same effort into this one."
A beat of silence fell over the room.
Dominic was not someone who handed out praise easily. His students knew that. So hearing those words come out of his mouth — on the first day back, no less — left most of Class 1 standing still for a second, unsure how to respond.
David, however, recovered quickly. He started to clap, slow and deliberate, with a grin spreading across his face.
The rest of the class caught on almost immediately.
Cheers went up around the room. Someone called out "That's what I'm talking about!" and the noise level shot up at once. Dominic stood at the front and let it happen, watching them with his arms folded. If you looked closely, the smile hadn't quite left his eyes.
After a minute or so, the cheering wound down on its own. Dominic cleared his throat again, and the room settled.
"With that said — this is your final semester. Don't get complacent."
"Two things to be aware of going forward. First, the selection process for our school's representative team will be opening soon. Any student who meets the requirements is welcome to apply. Second, in the coming weeks, student groups from other Alliances will be visiting Imperial City for an exchange programme. I expect everyone to represent this school well."
He paused, then added simply, "That's all."
With that, Dominic turned and walked out, leaving the classroom to his students.
The first day of school at Imperial City First High School was traditionally relaxed. Students were expected to hand in their holiday assignments, collect their new semester materials, and attend the opening ceremony. After that, they were free to head home.
That was, of course, for students who had actually finished their assignments. For more than a few people, today was the day they finally started them.
David had been in a similar situation. When he arrived back in Imperial City two days before the semester began, he had allowed himself a quiet couple of days to rest and recover from his trip. It was only on the morning he was about to leave for school that he suddenly remembered — winter holiday assignments.
He had sat down with a pen and paper, even reluctantly pulling Kirlia over to help, bracing for a long night of cramming. Then he remembered: his first-place finish in last year's final competition had come with an extra reward. Beyond the usual resource prizes, Dominic had personally waived all of David's holiday assignments. His exact words had been something along the lines of "these assignments are a waste of time for someone like you — go out and gain real experience instead."
David had felt a sudden surge of appreciation for his teacher that day, and he felt it again now. While his classmates hunched over desks trying to finish weeks of work before the ceremony, he leaned back in his seat with nothing to worry about.
Not that anyone was actually in the mood to write assignments right now. Dominic's two announcements had given everyone far more interesting things to think about.
The school team selection was something many of them had already been looking forward to. But the news about exchange students from other Alliances — that had caught everyone off guard, and the room was buzzing with it.
David turned to Luke and nudged him with an elbow.
"So when you mentioned the Sakura Alliance students earlier, that was already related to what Teacher Dominic just told us, wasn't it? You really do hear things fast."
Luke shrugged, though he looked a bit more cheerful now that the topic had shifted away from his holiday.
"Honestly, I only just found out myself. Right before you walked in."
He leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice.
"From what I've heard, the Sakura Alliance is one of the first groups coming. Should be interesting."
"No arguments from me," David said. "I'd be happy to show them around the battlefield."
But even as he said it, there was a question turning over in the back of his mind. Why would students from the Sakura Alliance come to Cloudspire for an exchange programme? The timing felt off.
The history between the Cloudspire Alliance and the Sakura Alliance was not a simple one. Ever since the World War, the two sides had never been on good terms. When the World Pokémon Alliance was being formed in the years that followed, Cloudspire had voted to have Sakura removed entirely. The White Eagle Alliance and the Northern Ross Alliance had both voted against it — White Eagle because it wanted to keep a foothold in the Far East, Ross because it did not want Cloudspire to have unchallenged dominance over the East Pacific. The Europa Alliance, still rebuilding from its own internal chaos at the time, had simply abstained. For them, the calculation had been clear: a weakened Sakura that depended on their aid was far less of a threat than a Cloudspire that had held the centre of the world for thousands of years.
So Sakura had survived. In the era of Alliances, open warfare between member states had become far more difficult, bound by treaties and councils and the ever-present threat of collective sanction. The old imperial way of settling things — march your armies, crush your enemy — was no longer so simple.
But the grievances had never gone away. Among the old Trainer families of Cloudspire — the ones whose lineage stretched back to the ancient Empire — the wounds were still fresh in living memory. The sealing of Yveltal had not come without cost. Real people had died for it, not so long ago. A hundred years was not nearly enough time for that kind of bitterness to fade.
That was why David found this visit strange. Students didn't cross Alliance borders for a simple school exchange unless something had already been decided at a higher level. He was certain there was more to this than anyone in Class 1 was being told.