Hearing the various Pokémon of the Secret Realm discuss the students' performance, Dominic felt a flush of embarrassment, though in his heart he couldn't help but curse the people who had once run his old school into the ground.
Imperial First High had such a strong foundation, and yet those parasites had still managed to ruin it. Principal Arthur's decision to remove them from their positions had been the right one, without question.
Dominic and his seven Pokémon had been quietly watching the students since early that morning. Except for the elderly Sceptile, who was still giving special training to his own offspring and to Willow, every other Pokémon who had appeared earlier in the day was already gathered here.
They also acted as a kind of support team, making sure neither side of a battle got too carried away in the heat of the moment. If something went wrong, it would reflect badly on everyone involved—but so far, all of them seemed satisfied with how things were going.
Most of the twenty-five students on the school team came from Class One. Over the previous semester, Dominic had given them extensive hands-on combat training, regularly bringing them to the Battle Center for live practice. Their performance today wasn't dazzling by any means, but it was solidly above average, and the overall quality was a clear improvement over previous years.
Whether it was Emma, Miles, Luke, or Willow—who was training directly under the Elder, as the Secret Realm Pokémon called the old Sceptile—each of them stood out as one of the strongest students.
And then there was David, who was even more impressive than the rest. The Secret Realm's Guardians agreed unanimously that, setting aside their own Pokémon who had already reached Gym-level strength, there probably wasn't a single opponent left in the entire Secret Realm capable of defeating him.
What pleased them most, though, was that David and his Pokémon were not only battle-hardened but also clearly pulling their punches. Their fights were quick and decisive, yet they always made sure their opponents never came away too badly hurt—a level of restraint that took real skill and discipline to maintain.
Dominic had even gone so far as to boast to the Secret Realm's Pokémon that this year they would win the High School League Championship without question and restore Imperial First High's good name.
All the Pokémon nodded in approval. Their bond with the school went back more than a hundred years—the two sides were practically family. That was the only reason they had ever agreed to let Imperial First High's students train in the Secret Realm at all, let alone send their own kin along as sparring partners.
The school's earlier decline had been caused entirely by problems on the human side, something the Pokémon themselves had never been able to do anything about. If Dominic could really turn things around, they would be more than happy to see it happen.
After lunch, David wasn't in any hurry to head back out and search for more materials. He had already gathered most of the wood he needed to build the house that morning, so he decided to put up the basic frame first before going out again.
"Alright, everyone, let's get to work!"
Since it was still lunchtime, all of his Pokémon were already out and about, so there was no need to call them back. Kirlia, Salamence, Lucario, and Zorua all answered him with enthusiasm.
None of them had ever helped build a house out in the wild before. Whenever they went camping, they always brought large tents along instead, so this was an entirely new experience for all of them, and each Pokémon seemed a little curious about what lay ahead.
"Right, let's get the basic frame up quickly, and then we'll see what materials we're still missing. We can go look for the rest after that."
"Salamence, dig a pit here—about a meter and a half deep. Something around this size."
David picked up a few branches and sketched out the rough dimensions on the ground for Salamence to follow.
"Roar! (No problem!)"
With its task set, Salamence moved straight to the marked spot and began tearing into the earth with its claws.
"Lucario, you and Zorua work together on the wood we brought back. Smooth out all the rough surfaces."
"Lucario, cut some of it into flat boards. And for the thickest support beams—Zorua, don't forget to char the outside with fire so wood-borers won't get into them."
"Luca~ (Got it.)"
"Zoro! (Understood!)"
The little fox darted off with a soft whoosh and leapt straight onto Lucario's shoulder, and the two of them headed over to where the gathered wood was piled up.
"Kirli~"
Kirlia, standing beside him, was growing anxious that David hadn't given her a job yet.
"All right, all right, I didn't forget about you."
David gave her a quick, reassuring smile.
"Your job's a little different from theirs. You'll use Confusion to move the wood once Zorua and Lucario finish shaping it, and you'll help me put the frame together."
"Let's get started!"
With everyone's tasks assigned, the Pokémon threw themselves into their work.
Despite how confident David looked, most of his knowledge of wilderness construction actually came from videos he used to watch back before the world changed. It had all looked simple enough on screen, but once he was actually doing it himself, he realized it wasn't nearly as easy as he'd imagined.
Even with the Pokémon's help, a job that would normally take ten days to two weeks was compressed down to just about an hour. Even so, putting up the basic frame of the house took David most of the afternoon.
"Phew... finally done!"
David let out a long breath as he looked over the finished frame in front of him. It was done at last.
"Come on, let's go see what else we're missing and try to gather it all before dark!"
With that, he led his Pokémon back toward the forest.