Night fell.
Opelucid City's towering buildings thrust into the sky. A huge full moon overlooked the heavens, its pockmarked craters clearly visible.
"Grandpa Drayden, why is the moon so bright tonight?"
Holding a broom, Iris tilted her head up in the courtyard of the Pokémon School. The snow-white moonlight shone on her, making her feel a faint chill.
Sitting in a wicker chair, Drayden sipped his tea and looked in the direction of Iris's voice.
Sure enough, he saw the bright moon that had just poked its head out from behind the clouds.
He could not help but sigh, but his expression quickly turned stern. "Sweep properly! You can look at the moon after you figure out the difference between Dragon Pulse and Dragon Breath."
At that—
Iris stuck out her little tongue.
But she still obediently continued sweeping the ground.
This was not the first time it had happened.
No one knew when it had begun.
Drayden would summon Iris here and ask her questions about Dragon-type Pokémon. If she could not answer, she would be punished by having to sweep the grounds.
A large part of why the grounds of Opelucid City's Pokémon Academy were so clean every day was thanks to Iris.
However—
Under Drayden's personal tutoring, Iris's grasp of Pokémon knowledge had also improved by leaps and bounds.
The only drawback—
Was probably that Drayden was getting old.
Although he still looked strong and imposing, his energy was far from what it had been in his younger days.
If he was not careful, he might simply fall asleep in his wicker chair.
Neither tea nor coffee did much to help.
Rustle, rustle, rustle—
The constant rustling of the broom scraping across the stone-paved ground seemed to possess some special magic, making Drayden's eyelids begin to droop