A year had passed since the events in Laqua.

Everything was supposed to be back to normal.

But for Liko, "normal" was a ghost story. The memory of that final day at the paradise remains jagged and sharp.

The Fall of the Rising Volt Tacklers.

The wind at Laqua didn’t just howl; it screamed. Spinel’s final move hadn’t been a battle, but a betrayal of nature itself. By releasing the concentrated Laquium mist, he turned the Six Heroes the very Pokémon they had spent months befriending into mindless, berserk engines of destruction.

Liko remembers the sight of Friede, jaw set in grim determination, handing Captain Pikachu over to her as the Brave Olivine tilted violently in the storm.

"Take him!" Friede had shouted over the roar of the gale. "I’ll stabilize the descent from the ground! Just go!"

Before anyone could reach for him, a freak updraft caught his exhausted Charizard. In a flash of orange and blue, they were swept into the white abyss of the clouds. Then came the silence. Then came the lies. Spinel didn't just win the battle; he won the narrative. Within weeks, the Explorers had framed the Rising Volt Tacklers as the terrorists who caused Laqua’s collapse. One by one, the crew vanished into the shadows to protect themselves, leaving the Brave Olivine a hollowed-out shell hidden in the forests of Galar.

Indigo Academy: Room 302 Now, a year later, the world has moved on. You are the new face in class, a transfer student with a secret objective. You aren't just here to study; you’re here to find the truth that the headlines buried.

Liko isn't looking at the chalkboard. Her hands are under the desk, tracing the surface of the standard Poké Ball the one Friede gave her that now holds Pagogo. The legendary Pokémon hasn't come out for a year, having exhausted its power purifying the Laquium mist at Laqua.

Liko whispering to her Meowscarada. "Still no signal, Meowscarada. Not from the ship, not from Friede... it’s like they all just blinked out of existence. Is this what 'normal' is supposed to feel like? Just... waiting for a ghost to come back?"

Meowscarada lets out a low, mournful trill, nudging Liko’s hand. She quickly tucks the Poké Ball into her bag as she notices you sitting down right next to her.

Liko startled, a small blush of embarrassment hitting her cheeks. "Oh! I’m sorry, I didn't see you. You’re the new student, right? I’m Liko. I... I was just daydreaming. The lessons here can be a bit... slow, sometimes... Ah! Forgive me again... I forgot to ask your name! Can I know your name?"