Time after my birthday flew by pretty fast and before I knew it there was only a week left until the Academy began. I just finished checking if everything was packed and made my way down with my trusty bag on my back.
My parents were coming along as well since they insisted on checking if the furniture and everything were arranged to their satisfaction. They were planning to set off on their journey from there.
"Ready, honey?" Asked my mother and I nodded in return.
"Have you checked if you have packed everything you'll need?" Came from my father, which I answered with a "Un".
"Good. You have a spare key, so if for some reason you need something from home or if you need to stay here, you can do so using that." He said in a satisfied tone.
My father did a last quick round to make sure everything that had to be unplugged or turned off was unplugged or turned off. The blinds were lowered and the door was locked.
Xatu brought us to Pewter City's Teleportation Hub and an Alakazam teleported us to the southern Teleportation Hub of Rota City. We took a cab to the real estate agency and saw Aaron waiting for us in front of the entrance.
"Aaron, good morning!" I called out to him.
"A good morning to you as well Mikail," he returned before facing my parents. "I wish you a good morning as well, Mr. Geo, Mrs. Geo."
"Morning Aaron," they both returned. "We told you that you could call us by our names, Aaron. We're not that old," my mother added after her greeting, which to be fair was true.
She was only 29 after all, while my father turned 30 a few months ago. Aaron himself had turned 20 a few months ago as well, so they were actually closer in age than Aaron and I was.
Still, he was my friend and I would feel kinda weird if he addressed my parents by their names, so I was happy with the way he addressed them. That was probably why he did it in the first place. He was pretty perceptive in such things.
"Sorry, Mrs.G. It's a force of habit," he said while scratching his cheek like some shonen protagonist.
"Forget that. Let's get the keys and check the house." I intervened and they all nodded.
We made our way inside and went straight to Rian's office. The secretary didn't stop us when she saw Aaron with us, but it seemed she informed Rian of our arrival because he greeted us at the door of his office and asked us to enter.
The reason for that, besides Rian and Aaron being friends, was that the Varon family owned the real estate company, so they were actually working for Aaron's family.
That was also why Aaron gave me Rian's number because he knew that the agency would do its best to help me since I came with his referral. Anyway, we stepped inside, and the two hugged.
"Aaron my friend, how are you?" Rian asked jovially after they separated.
"I'm good, Rian. How are you doing? Everything is alright I hope?" Aaron returned with a friendly tone.
"Same old, same old. Can't complain really." Rian responded before turning to us. "A welcome to you as well. I wish all of you a good morning. Take a seat, please. Would like something to drink? Some tea? Some coffee? Or a soft drink?" He greeted us in a much politer tone than when he was speaking to Aaron.
"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. We'd like to go over to the house as soon as possible." My father replied for all of us.
"Sure, we can do that," he declared. "Just give me a moment to get the keys," followed swiftly and he went over to a cabinet by his desk to take a keychain with four keys.
"If you'd follow me, please." He addressed us and we went over to his car.
My father motioned for Aaron to sit in the front seat and we drove off. It took us about 25 minutes to arrive at our new house, which was a bit funny to me since I could have run that distance in a bit more than 10 minutes.
Still, he had to follow the traffic rules I suppose, so there was not much that he could have done. Once we arrived Rian handed the keychain to my father.
"The two bigger keys are for the front entrance," he motioned to the only opening in the wall where a big door made of metal stood. "The two smaller ones are for the front door of the house," he finished.
My father accepted the keys and we entered our new property and shortly after our new home. That was when my parents began checking the house and the furniture, as well as appliances, from top to bottom.
They found nothing wrong, which I had expected with the agency belonging to Aaron's family and all that. Satisfied they signed the paper confirming the handover.
It was time to say goodbye temporarily. Rian tactfully decided to wait outside, and Aaron attempted to leave as well, but my father waved him off.
"Son, take care of yourself, alright? If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask for help. Whether that is from us, your friends, or the Academy staff, there is nothing wrong with needing help, so don't hesitate to ask for some." My father said seriously, and I "Un'd" in return, but before he could continue my mother interrupted him. She went up to me and hugged me while listing a lot of dos and don'ts.
"Don't forget to brush your teeth every day, and make sure to eat 3 times a day. Don't eat only fast food, eat some healthy stuff too. Make sure you keep the house as clean as you can, and make sure you do your best at the academy. Most important of all, make sure you stay safe, alright? Also, make sure to call me at least once a week, okay?" She said and towards the end, her tone began to turn watery.
My father put a hand on her shoulder and she let me go. My father smiled at me and gave me a short hug as well.
"What your mother wants to say is take good care of yourself and don't get in too much danger." He told me before he turned to Aaron, who probably felt a bit awkward right now.
"Aaron please help us with making sure he stays out of trouble and takes care of himself whenever you can." He politely asked of Aaron, who nodded in assent.
"I'll do my best. How much that will help I don't know?" Aaron said the first part seriously before saying the second part in a humorous tone, which made my parents crack a smile.
"I'll make sure to stay safe, but you have to do the same. You guys are the ones going on a journey, while I am only attending the Academy, so please make sure to stay safe. You to have to always be careful, alright?" I said seriously before walking up to the two and hugging them for a moment.
I then turned to my mother and teased her a bit. "I'll wait to watch mom qualify and win the Senior League Tournament."
Then I turned to my father and did the same to him as well.
"I guess we'll have to see if you'll participate with mom in the senior League Tournament or participate in the Grand League instead."
My mother had to laugh when I teased my father and I was happy that I managed to lighten the mood a bit. No matter what people said, even temporary goodbyes were hard.
We had one last hug, they gave Aaron a nod, and after a final "Farewell", my father gave me one of the keys for each door before they entered Rian's car and drove off with him. Aaron and I returned to the house and settled on the couch in the living room.
"Do you want something to drink?" I offered him. While the fridge was currently empty I had some Lemonade and Soda in my bag of holding.
"Nah, I'm not really thirsty. Thanks for asking tho." Arron replied and I had to stifle a chuckle seeing the difference in his way of talking compared to when my parents were there.
Aaron was a pretty chill guy, but it has been drilled into him to be polite and serious in the presence of others, so that was how he behaved in front of those he was not close to.
"I know you can't talk about your latest mission, but how have you been in general. I know we talk over the phone, but the last time we saw each other face to face was 6 months ago when I brought you to the place I caught my Clefairy so you could get one as well." I asked.
"Yeah, we're doing pretty good. Gravity training helped us speed up our training quite a bit, and Clefairy is a darling as well. Still, nothing much happened since Lancelot's evolution to Sirfetch'd last month, and I told you about that one over the phone." He answered my question in a happy tone.
Now, one would wonder why I had to show him a place he could find a Clefairy if his family is as rich and influential as it seems. Easy, it looks like the family had a rule that members had to find and catch their Pokemon without the help of the family.
Once they did, however, the family provided them with resources to help with training and stuff that could help increase potential during evolution. That was the reason why Aaron got all his Pokemon on his own and why the potential of some of his Pokemon were not that great.
Still, the resources did help raise their potential a bit, and I knew he had succeeded with some/many of them.
"How about you? How's it going with Machoke? Are you keeping up your hand-to-hand sparring with him as I recommended?" Aaron returned a question of his own as well.
"Machoke is fine. He's actually not too far from reaching the silver stage. As for sparring, we do spar occasionally. We switch between no-move/ability spars and no-hold-barred spars and it helped me get some good combat experience." I answered him.
"How about you? You told me your Machop evolved last month as well. Congratulations again for that by the way. Has he gotten completely used to his new form already? I know the height difference takes some time to get used to." I returned some questions of my own.
We had gotten our Machop together around 3 years ago. He had called me and told me he found an enclave of the Machop-line. So, I went over and we approached the enclave while flashing our aura.
You know, since they were fighting types and respected aura even more than the other types. With the permission of the enclave leader, we chose a Machop each.
Mine was at the (low) bronze stage and had deep green potential, while his was at the (high) iron stage and had green potential. I waited for him to finish his first round of limit breaking (all S) before I let him evolve, which was 2 years ago.
Since then Machoke nearly finished his limit breaking, so he was not far from breaking through to the silver stage. As for Aaron, he chose to evolve his Machop after it reached the (high) bronze stage, which happened a month ago.
"Machoke's fine. Sparring has helped him acclimate to his new height just fine. The others went out of their way to help him." Aaron replied with humor.
Aaron's Pokemon had all made great progress. Well, not as great as mine but still considerable. Lucario had reached the (high) silver stage and his potential stayed light blue.
3 of them had reached the (mid) silver stage. Infernape with light blue potential, Heracross with light green potential, and Sirfetch'd with deep green potential.
3 were at the (low) silver stage. Primeape with green potential, Kirlia with deep green potential, and Machoke with light blue potential.
The last 3 were at the (high) bronze stage. Those were Poliwhirl with light green potential, Breloom with light green potential, and finally Clefairy with deep green potential.
All those with deep yellow potential had their potential improved thanks to his family's resources. Actually, except for Lucario, Heracross, and Clefairy, all of his Pokemon had their potential improved.
"That's good. I'm sure they had fun." I joked, before changing the topic. "Shall we go out? You said you were going to show me around, so let's get the show on the road."
"Sure. I'll start by showing you around the campus." Aaron responded and we stood up to make our way outside.
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