It was Silas's final day at the Academy.
When he stepped into the classroom, every student lowered their gaze, too wary to meet his eyes.
The corner of Silas's lips curved upward. "No training class today. Instead, we'll observe Miss Roxanne's lecture on Pokémon battles."
It happened to be an open lesson-Roxanne teaching the entire Academy. With her popularity, the turnout was enormous, and Silas saw no reason to waste energy holding a separate session.
He simply gathered his dozen students and led them south toward the battle square.
"Yeah!!!"
The group erupted in cheers, following eagerly behind.
.....
By the time Silas and his students arrived, hundreds of others had already filled the square. Roxanne stood at the center, flanked by a small projector, a screen, and the lawn-a simple setup, but enough for her teaching.
"Pokémon battles aren't as simple as you might imagine," Roxanne explained, pacing with a slender teaching stick in hand.
Her voice carried with conviction. "They involve far more than move clashes or simulated duels. One must weigh the environment, type matchups, tactical coordination, item choice, even the psychological pressure between trainers…"
Surrounded by rows of students, she spoke earnestly but most of them weren't listening.
In their eyes, battles were nothing more than power differences between levels and moves. The subtleties of tactics, strategy, and mental games were wasted on them.
"Let's watch footage from the last Kanto Championship-Lance against Elite Four Lorelei."
At the name, Silas perked up, his gaze fixed on the projector. His eyes brightened at the fierce clash unfolding onscreen.
The students around him, however, whispered about everything except the lesson.
"Wasn't that Lance's fourth Championship attempt? He always loses to Lorelei at that stage."
"Yeah, and every time, her Cloyster wrecks his Dragonite!"
"Honestly, doesn't he look more like a Flying Master than a Dragon Master?"
Their laughter grated. Roxanne's patient explanation of tactics went ignored, her words swallowed by idle gossip.
Her steps faltered, frustration surfacing. "Pokémon battles aren't that shallow!"
Her normally composed face flushed with anger, her ribboned hair swaying as she turned sharply.
"Look at Silas," she declared. "The same age as you-yet already a licensed Breeder, and far ahead of you even in battle!"
The words slipped out before she could stop them. Roxanne froze, realizing too late the trouble she had invited.
Dozens of heads swiveled toward Silas, eyes narrowing with resentment.
They already bristled at how often their families compared them to him. Why should someone their age-someone no older than them to be set on a pedestal as their superior?
Now, hearing their admired teacher praise him so openly, anger boiled over.
"Why?! Just because he's a breeder?" one shouted.
"His Pokémon aren't even that high-level! He only beat Teacher Roxanne by luck!" another barked.
"Yeah, if he's so great, let him battle us right here!"
The outcry swelled into a storm, voices rising like a wave crashing toward Silas.
Roxanne's face paled. She hadn't meant to incite this, but her words had sparked a blaze she couldn't smother. Her protests drowned beneath the roar of jeers.
Silas's brows furrowed slightly. His sharp gaze swept the crowd like a blade. 'Was this deliberate… or simply careless?'
Then he caught Roxanne's stricken, helpless expression. That was enough.
He stood, his voice cutting through the chaos like steel.
"Academy Rule, Article Seven: any student who insults or disrespects a teacher is to be expelled and barred from re-enrollment."
The square fell silent at once.
For most here, their enrollment was everything. To be expelled was not only disgrace but an end to any future in the League. Even those from wealthy families wouldn't easily explain away such a record.
Only a handful of students with truly powerful backgrounds might shrug it off but the rest froze in terror, their earlier bravado already crumbling.
Beside him, Roxanne exhaled in relief. With a single sentence, Silas had diffused what she could not.
She was a top graduate, a Gym Leader, a rising figure in Hoenn. But in that moment, she realized-she lacked the decisiveness, the authority, that came so naturally to him.
Her lips moved in a murmur, softer than a whisper, meant only for herself. "He really… surprises me."
Her gem-like eyes lingered on him, bright with admiration.
She thought back to their first meeting, when Silas had chased for her from Gym to school, insisting on a battle. Even then, his courage and tactical insight had startled her.
And now? In less than half a month, he had risen to become the Breeder prodigy on everyone's lips-the one courted by powerful families, the one she herself had tried to recruit and failed.
Yet here he stood, calm, sharp, commanding, steadying the chaos she had stirred.
Roxanne's pride, her sense of superiority as a scholar and Gym Leader, seemed to dissolve quietly.
'I want to be like that too,' she thought, determination hardening in her chest. 'To act with that same decisiveness.'
Her gaze locked firmly on Silas-the young man who had turned the tide with nothing more than his presence.
<><><><><><>
(End of chapter)