I know Hassel's class (and others) aren't unlocked until you reach a certain point, but we figured these kids needed to go to school.

While Florian was confronting Arven in the cafeteria, Juliana had encountered Nemona when she went to pick up some last-minute art supplies. Of course, it was because she'd wandered into the staff room by mistake, but rather than finding Mr. Hassel and explaining, she'd found Nemona and a tall woman with wild dark hair. The woman left, giving Juliana a knowing smile as she went, and Nemona turned her full attention to her friend.

"So, now you've met La Primera," she said, the tone of her voice saying she idolized this woman.

"I don't know who La Primera is," Juliana said honestly. "I was looking for the school store."

Nemona stared at her, stunned into silence. "La Primera is Geeta," she explained, "Top Champion of the Paldea region and Chairwoman of the Pokémon League."

"Oh." That explained why Nemona was so starstruck. Someone as talented in battle as Geeta sounded, of course she'd be Nemona's idol. "Hey, can you give me directions to the school store? I navigate by landmarks, so if there's some paint on Mr. Hassel's door or a big sign..."

Nemona didn't seem to be listening. Juliana suspected that their similarities went a bit deeper than teenage girls who liked to battle. "Hey, Juliana? I know you said you wanted to complete the 'cutiedex,' but hear me out. What if you became a Champion?" She grinned. "We could be real rivals! Equals forever! We could battle and not hold back, ever!"

"Um...I like battles, but I think art is -"

"Then you'll love Gym Leader Brassius! He's an artist, too, and he's capable of holding back. Grusha isn't, so I strongly suggest taking him on last, but Brassius and Katy are usually the first two because they're the closest to the school."

"If I go to Brassius, I'll probably stay there forever."

"Please?" Nemona's smile faltered. "Become a Champion this Treasure Hunt, and then you can bug Brassius to be his art apprentice next year!"

Juliana faltered, too. She would have preferred to spend the Treasure Hunt catching cute Pokémon and sketching. But then again, she knew that more cute Pokémon would be available for capture the more badges she had - her time spent in Galar had taught her that much. "That sounds like a plan," she said, and Nemona barely restrained a cheer. "Now, about the school store..."

No sooner had she gotten out of there than she got her own call from Casseopeia. "Juliana Fernandez, school ID 805C393?" She could process that the voice was female and heavily distorted, but she couldn't place the accent.

"That's my name," she confirmed, not going into the fact that her brain had refused to process her school ID.

"My name is Casseopeia. I would like to request that you join me in putting a stop to Team Star's antics. Your friend Florian has already agreed to it."

"So I won't be doing it alone," Juliana said to herself, thinking it over. "All right. I don't like Team Star."

There was a sound on the other end, as if Casseopeia had her own mixed feelings about the group. "Very well. I have already spoken with Florian Vasquez. Meet with him after classes and we will discuss things then."

Casseopeia hung up. Rotom shivered.

"I think she hacked me," she mumbled.

"Cool."

"I feel violated."

"Would a new case make you feel better?"

"Um...maybe?"

"Good. Make a note - get you a new case as the first act of the Treasure Hunt."

The halls of the school had Pokémon (perhaps extras from other students?) specifically trained to lead new students to their classes. Following a Starly to Languages class, Mr. Salvatore welcomed her to the class in three different languages. She noticed that he preferred French as his foreign language. She wondered if that meant he was from Kalos.

She couldn't sit still or focus, despite her meds and her friend trying their best. She knew that the next class was art, and she copied notes from the board instead of doodling and listening. She managed to process that 'arigato' meant 'thank you,' but given that she'd grown up speaking English and Spanish fluently and learned bits of Japanese from subtitled anime, she was already familiar with that one.

Art class came, and she was practically vibrating with excitement. Florian hid his laughter well, but she wouldn't have noticed unless he'd actually made noise.

Hassel didn't notice, either. "Greetings, students! It's nice to meet you all." There were people who spoke here, too, but unlike the other teachers, he held up a hand to silence them. "Now, if I may be candid for a moment. I imagine many of you will forget what you learn in here as soon as you graduate." Juliana made a restrained sound as she practically begged to be given her first assignment. Hassel ignored it. "Art is not a subject many people require for most exams or jobs. Some people may even look down on it. But if you're passionate about something, you should do it anyway." He finally looked at Juliana. "And I believe Miss Juliana is very passionate about art."

"Yes, sir!" Juliana chirped. "I've been looking forward to this class all day."

"Good. Your first assignment - and this goes for all of you - is a simple one..."

Juliana was looking forward to history class almost as much as art. Not because history was as much of an interest - though she did find renaissance fairs exciting, she doubted people like Florian and Raifort would call that historical - but because her new friend had such a crush on his teacher that it was funny.

She wondered if she'd have to keep him focused.

The teacher had glasses and brown skin and hair that reminded Juliana of Prince Takumi from Fire Emblem Fates. She didn't pay much attention to Ms. Raifort, too focused on Florian and muffling her own laughter.

Still, she paid enough attention, unlike in languages. She learned that in Paldea, the Great Crater had a named location inside, named Area Zero - the namesake for the Zero Book, not that she knew what that was until she heard it. She learned that the Great Crater was one million years old.

And then Raifort decided to test her attention span, just like Tyme had. "Miss Juliana! Do you know what was rumored to be in the depths of Area Zero?"

"A Pokémon Center," Juliana blurted, to the teacher's annoyance and her classmates' laughter.

"A Pokémon Center?" Raifort repeated, her tone indicating that she held this young lady to very low standards already. "In a million-year-old hole?"

Juliana shrugged. "Someone has to be there to help with the Pokémon. I figured they'd send a nurse or two down."

Raifort shook her head, though her expression softened slightly when she heard the logic behind it. "The Great Crater, and by extension Area Zero, remains off-limits to all but the most dedicated researchers. Professor Sada is one of the few people with enough clearance to get in. Master Florian?"

He sat up straight immediately. "Yes, Ms. Raifort?"

"Explain to your friend here what the rumors of Area Zero are."

He immediately did. "Treasure. That's why we have the Treasure Hunt at the Academy. Right, Ms. Raifort?"

"In a way. Good job." She smiled back at him, seemingly oblivious to the slight color in his face at the praise. "Treasure is found at the bottom of the Great Crater, according to legends. But enough speculation - let's get into the facts."

Home Economics. Juliana was indifferent to this one - she was a decent cook, it was something she liked to do when she got too "twitchy" to sit still. All of the students they'd met before were in this class, and Arven actually stayed for once.

The teacher seemed like a man she didn't want to cross, so maybe Arven felt the same.

"Welcome to your first Home Economics class," the teacher said, his voice less rough than Juliana expected. "Here, you will learn the most important lessons in cooking: how to cut food without cutting yourself, how to not burn down your house, and how to avoid needing your stomach pumped. Fail to learn these lessons, and you will die."

"I can live with that," said Arven.

"You literally can't," Juliana hissed back.

"I can do what I want."

"Not cheat death," Florian objected.

"Quiet in the front!" Mr. Saguaro snapped, and all three of them shut up. "But more than keeping you alive, they can also keep your Pokémon alive - and if they have ingredients a Pokémon likes, it can even help you in training. In fact, one of the recipe blogs mentioned a girl in the Galar region who caught a shiny Hatenna by giving her curry."

"Are we making curry today, Mr. Saguaro?" a girl asked hopefully.

"And destroy my stoves? No way! We're starting with sandwiches!" He held up a piece of plain bread. "We're starting with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If anyone's allergic, tell me and I'll change the recipe."

The class was silent. Saguaro scooped up peanut butter with a knife and spread it on the bread. It wasn't until he got to the jelly that Juliana objected.

"You're using the same knife for the peanut butter and the jelly?"

"Well, yes. It saves time on cleaning up." He shrugged. "But if you want to use two knives, it's fine. Now, to balance it out -"

"You're also putting it on the same piece of bread," Arven added. "It needs to be balanced by having one piece of bread have the peanut butter and the other have the jelly!"

Saguaro took a deep breath to calm himself. "Look. There's no wrong way to make this sandwich."

"Except yours," said Florian, who just wanted to be noticed at this point. "You're supposed to put the peanut butter on both pieces of bread. That way the jelly doesn't make the bread soggy."

"And can we use wheat bread?" Penny's voice asked from the computer she was doing online classes from. "I've read it's healthier."

"Look, this is the easiest sandwich on earth! You have peanut butter, you have jelly, you have bread! It doesn't matter what kind of jelly or bread or nut butter! Just watch and learn!"

Nemona cautiously raised her hand. Saguaro, reluctantly, pointed to her.

"Can we...toast the bread?" she asked quietly. "So it...won't get...soggy..."

She trailed off as the entire class laughed and started shouting their own requests for the sandwich.

Saguaro stabbed the jelly as if he wanted to stab his students. "I quit," he said quietly.

"Huh?" said Nemona, who was honestly there to learn.

Saguaro took another deep breath. "Congratulations, students," he said through his teeth. "In just ten minutes, you managed to put me an entire year closer to retirement."

"Cool," said Nemona, picking up her knife. "Now when can we make sandwiches?"

Florian came to Juliana's dorm room after class, and they waited for Casseopeia to call. The conversation was short - their phones were hacked again, and then they had Team Star bases on their maps. Then Casseopeia ended the call, and Juliana's Rotom dove into the pillowcase.

"Don't be like that," Juliana complained as she pulled her out. "I don't think she'll hack you again."

"Hackers are just ticks," Florian's Rotom added from where she was scrubbing his fingerprints off her screen with his tie. He paid no attention.

Juliana was distracted, though. "Your Rotom prefers a female voice, too?"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "Makes writing easier."

"And she doesn't mind being hacked?"

"I wouldn't say that," Florian's Rotom objected. "I just delete all his secrets."

"And you can be a real pain about it," Florian added, to his phone's laughter. "Seriously, she deleted my contacts once."

"Secrets?" Juliana leaned in and nudged her friend. "You have secrets, Vasquez? What kind of secrets?"

"Not the kind you're thinking of."

"Joke's on you," she half-sang, pushing him off her bed. "I wasn't thinking anything!"

"I somehow believe that," Florian said under his breath.

Juliana ignored him. "But now I have to learn to hack, just to get your secrets!" She nodded to her own phone. "It's up to you, Rotom! Let's get learning!"

"Joke's on you," Florian shot back. "The computer teacher changed since last year! I don't think she'll last long enough to teach you to hack!"

Juliana threw a pillow at him. He threw it back.

His aim was much better than hers.

TEAMS

Juliana: Webby (Quaxly, female) Lechonk (male) Hoppip (male) Tarountula (male) Fletchling (female)

Florian: Lloyd (Sprigatito, male) Ralts (female)