When going to school today, Brionne refused to go into its Poké Ball, so Cole had to take it along as is.
Fresh from evolution, it was quite vain and eager to show off its beautiful new form to others.
As the proud sea lion entered the classroom, Daniel ran over and said, "Wow, Cole, your Popplio evolved! Is this a Brionne? It's so cute!"
"Yes!" Cole quietly moved his Pokémon behind him, then added, "But your Furfrou is even cuter."
Brionne knew this guy was a weirdo with peculiar tastes, so it obediently hid behind its trainer.
"Right, right!" Once Furfrou was mentioned, the pervert grew excited, "I also think my Furfrou is the cutest!"
Seeing Daniel start rambling again, Cole walked straight past him to his seat.
At this point, Valerie turned around and whispered, "Hey, did you know someone important is coming to the Battle Department today?"
"Someone important? Who?" Cole asked.
"I don't know." Valerie shook her head, "I'm not in the Battle Department. I just heard rumors, but they're about 80% accurate."
"Isn't that irrelevant to us? We're not in the Battle Department anyway."
"Aren't you curious? Want to go check it out with me later?" Valerie whispered.
Suddenly Daniel stuck his head over, "Go see what? Why don't you take me along?"
"Ah!!!" Valerie, startled by the pervert, reflexively slapped him.
Smack!
A bright red handprint instantly appeared on his face.
"Why did you hit so hard!" Daniel covered his face angrily.
"Who told you to suddenly stick your head in! You're eavesdropping and still acting justified!" Valerie jumped up and down with anger.
Just then it was time for class, so the two had to temporarily cease fire.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
In the afternoon, there was indeed a commotion coming from the Battle Department's direction. Valerie quickly ran to the window to check.
"See, I told you someone important was coming. Byakuho, come take a look!" She waved to Cole while straining to see the Battle Department.
Cole was also curious about who the important visitor might be, so he joined her at the window.
Unfortunately, their teaching building wasn't positioned well relative to the Battle Department. They only saw a black car drive into the area from afar, with many teachers coming out to welcome the visitors, but couldn't make out who stepped out of the car.
"Why don't we go over and take a look?" Valerie couldn't contain her curiosity.
"But we have class soon!"
"So what? Missing one class won't hurt!" She said carelessly.
Before Cole could protest further, she had grabbed his hand and run out.
"Hey~ wait for me, I'm coming too!" Seeing this, Daniel quickly chased after them.
The class bell soon rang, and while other students returned to their classrooms, the three of them secretly snuck into the Battle Department's building.
"Where should we look for this important person?" Cole wondered.
Daniel chimed in, "The multipurpose hall of course! That's usually where school events are held."
Valerie looked at him in surprise, "I didn't expect you to have moments of intelligence!"
Daniel glared at her angrily, "I've always been intelligent!"
But she completely ignored him, already heading toward the multipurpose hall with Cole.
The pervert's guess was right — the important visitor was indeed giving a lecture to the Battle Department students in the multipurpose hall.
When he saw the person on stage through the glass window, he almost cried out in joy.
"It's Miss Palermo! Today's visitor is actually Miss Palermo!"
"Miss Palermo? Who's that?" Cole was confused by his excited behavior, wondering if this person was famous.
At this point, Valerie also looked at him strangely.
"Cole, what backwoods did you come from that you don't know Miss Palermo? She's the Kalos Queen, the Kalos Queen!"
The Pokémon Showcase was a national event in the Kalos region with very high popularity, so anyone who became Kalos Queen would instantly become a household name.
"That's right, Miss Palermo is the current Kalos Queen, a super performer who dominates all Pokémon Showcases — she's the perfect goddess in my heart!" Daniel said with an enchanted expression.
"Is she really that amazing?"
Cole really didn't know about this figure, as he had spent all his time these past few years cultivating berry trees, with barely any leisure time, let alone following the Pokémon Showcase.
Looking through the glass window, he saw that Palermo, whom Daniel and Valerie spoke of, had long gray-black hair, wore a black suit, and was tall and graceful with beautiful features — indeed a beautiful young woman.
"How do we get in?" Daniel paced anxiously outside, "It's so unfair of the school — Miss Palermo comes here but they only arrange for her to lecture the Battle Department. Aren't we students too?"
"But we're in the Cultivation Department, which has nothing to do with being a performer. The Battle Department will have many students going into performing as a career, so isn't it normal that only they get the lecture?" Cole said matter-of-factly.
Valerie, who had been pressed against the glass window listening carefully, suddenly said, "Miss Palermo doesn't seem to be giving a lecture — it looks like she's going to choose a student to be her successor!"
"Choose a STUDE—"
Before Daniel could shout out, Cole quickly covered his mouth, and Valerie, seeing this, gave him a smack on the forehead and scolded in a low voice, "Are you trying to get us caught? Keep quiet!"
Daniel quickly apologized, "Sorry, sorry, I was just too excited — Miss Palermo is actually taking on students! I wonder who'll be lucky enough to be chosen!"
Valerie rolled her eyes and said, "Well it definitely won't be you or me!"
Though she also liked the Kalos Queen, she wasn't as fanatical as Daniel and wouldn't change majors just for her.
"We've seen enough, let's head back." Cole suggested.
"Alright, let's go back." Valerie nodded, her curiosity satisfied.
Only Daniel was still a bit reluctant to leave.
The three sneaked back to the Cultivation Department's building together.
"Excuse me!" Cole stood at the classroom door with the other two behind him.
"Where did you three go? Don't you know it's class time?" The teacher scolded them with a stern face.
"Teacher, Daniel fell and his face got swollen, so we took him to the school nurse!" Valerie pulled the pervert over, pointing at his still-swollen face.
"Oh, be more careful next time." The teacher's anger subsided after hearing this, but as Daniel passed the podium, she added, "Why does it look like a handprint on your face?"
"Teacher, you must be seeing things — it's from falling!" Daniel answered firmly.
"Fine, fine, watch where you're going next time!" The teacher dropped the matter and turned back to continue the class.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
News about Palermo coming to Fourth Middle School quickly spread throughout campus, along with rumors about her taking on disciples. During breaks, students everywhere were discussing it.
At noon, Cole didn't go home but met with Emely at the cafeteria.
As soon as they met, she excitedly asked, "Did you know? Miss Palermo came to our school, and they say she's taking on disciples!"
"Uh... Emely, are you also a fan of Miss Palermo?"
"Of course! We're talking about the Kalos Queen here!" Emely said as if it was obvious, "Did you see her at school?"
"Yes." Cole nodded and described how he and Valerie had skipped class to see the famous woman.
"That's so cool! I wish I had been there too!" Emely said excitedly.
"Alright, alright, Emely." Cole interrupted her daydreaming, "Let's talk about the real business."
Only then did Emely remember he must have something important to discuss when he asked to meet.
"What did you want to talk about?"
"Well, I just caught a Larvitar, so I wanted to ask for your advice on what to watch out for when raising one." Cole said.
"A Larvitar? How did you manage to catch such a rare Pokémon?" Emely nearly choked on her food, "Where did you catch it? You didn't break any laws, did you?"
These days, nearly all areas where Larvitar could be found were restricted capture zones.
✲✲✲
T/N: If you want more chapters like this, check out my Patreon! Take a look at my other translations too, you might like them!
For just $1.50 you can access all the extra content, and descriptive images, costs only $2!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1305384