Galar is known for several things, such as the drinking culture, the basic yet cosy cuisine, the drinking culture, the social division of Hulbury, the drinking culture, the football, the drinking culture, the countless and often unintelligible accents... Did I mention the drinking culture? Their Pokémon Centers have pubs! Their blood alcohol level is more than all the neutral regions combined, including Kalos!

That aside, they're definitely the most unique region in the Kanto Union. They helped form it along with Johto and Hoenn, two regions more similar to Kanto. It's said the idea of the Union even started in Hulbury Academy in... Hulbury, obviously, ironically through an exchange program that really scaled up in the 1970s.

When it got to 13 September 2013, for those of you keeping count, the yearly assembly at Hulbury Academy started. Usually these are held during the first week of school, but this year there was a lot more to announce than usual, so the assembly was to take place the Friday before. Since the headteacher wasn't here yet, Al was talking with some of his mates.

"You seen Jono?" Al asked. "He's always here for these."

"He's in Snowpoint now, somehow got into the exchange program," one replied. "Good for him, of course — those things are hard to get into — but Darren would be crushed if he was here."

"So he would," Al sighed. "He's gonna be unstable this year, ain't he?"

"Did I miss the part where he was stable last ye–"

"I take it Darren's skipping again?" the teacher interrupted from behind them. "I can tell for a fact he's supposed to be here, though he doesn't seem to understand that."

"Suppose so," replied Al. "You can't rely on him on his good days, let alone his off days. He doesn't even need to get up early; it's three in the afternoon, and there's even more people here than normal."

The teacher sighed in resignation before changing the topic. "You could probably get into the exchange program this time, Al. Could have last time, too."

Al shook his head. "Maybe, but I don't really want to be away for a whole year. My uncle wouldn't want it, either."

"Good morning, everyone!" announced the head at the front of the hall.

Everyone immediately went silent as the assembly began. Despite any disbelief, sometimes kids can be orderly when their parents are paying five hundred thousand yen a term, which this narrator can't explain either.

"For our first order of business, I want to inform you that the shipments of chocolate pudding haven't arrived yet, and it won't be available for dessert for at least two weeks. We've bought some apple conserve so we can make pies in the meantime." A single cough was heard in the audience. "...Tough crowd, huh? I'm going to end up with that all over my car, aren't I... Anyway, I have a very exciting announcement to make!" the head continued, while the audience simply didn't react. "As some of you may know, Galar has a yearly student exchange program where students can experience a new culture for the entire school year. You may also already know we've been selected as one of the exchange schools this time, so some of your classmates are not here."

The sound of a clicker filled the room, bringing up a list of students and where they left for.

"Don't expect to hear from any of these lot anytime soon. They're settling into life thousands of kilometers away right now. Next slide, please." Click. "Here's the students replacing them this year. I hear many of them don't know Galarian, so we've brought in translators so we can understand each other while they learn it. You'll treat them with the same understanding and respect that you should already know how to treat each other with. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded simultaneously.

"Good. By the way, Pokémon are now allowed on school grounds, because we understand there will be many unique species present from other regions this year."

Suddenly the crowd began making sounds of interest.

"Good, you're alive. I must tell you however that school rules still apply. No Pokémon out during class, and absolutely no battles during school time. If you want to have Pokémon battles, you may do so in the battle club on the roof–"

"The roof!" the hivemind declared.

"Seriously, what am I going to do with you lot? Alright, you can get out of here now!" The head left while everyone immediately ran out of the building.