It has been 2 weeks since our trip to the berry farm.
During this time some great and disappointing things happened.
The day after our trip, I checked up on my space, specifically the sub-space for flora.
I found out that the sub-space could only support 10 low-grade berry trees at the current size, energy capacity, and energy purity.
I was greatly disappointed when I was informed of this even though I should have expected it, and I kinda did.
I just had hoped against logic that it would be more, irrational I know.
I blame hormones, I mean my toddler body.
If I wanted more berry trees I needed to increase the size of my space and for higher quality berries I needed a higher energy capacity or purity, preferably both.
At least, the trees produced 4-8 berries every 2-4 days depending on the berry type.
I let the sub-space plant 2 oran berry, 2 cheri berry, 2 pecha berry, 1 chesto berry, 1 lum berry, 1 leppa berry, and 1 sitrus berry tree to stock up on berries for the future.
I focused on status conditions that can happen in the area while making my choice.
The days, outside of training, were spent like normal.
Wake up, bathroom visit, eat, play, snack, take a nap, wake up, another bathroom visit, play for a bit, dinner, play again and/or listen to stories or watch TV and go to sleep.
When it comes to training, I tried to sense the aura outside my body since I completed the internal sensing step.
It took me 4 days, until the first day of the new month, to achieve a 100% success rate in sensing outside aura during meditation.
It took me another 3 days and the morning of the fourth to do the same outside of meditation but at literally the end of the first week, since it was a Grouday, I was ready to progress to the next.
We didn't go out that weekend so I was at home for the whole week.
The next day, which was the first day of the second week, I managed to move my internal aura for the first time and became an advanced grade apprentice aura user.
It took me another 2 days to reliably move my internal aura and to move the external aura for the first time.
By Dialday, which was another 2 days later, I could reliably move both internal and external aura and only needed to unlock my aurascape to reach the top apprentice grade.
I tried the whole day yesterday but didn't manage to unlock my aurascape.
This brings us to today
Today, after breakfast, we are going to Hope Park again.
I am currently trying and failing to unlock my aurascape.
It seems I will have to wait until we return to try again.
Time to call my parents to officially start my day.
After breakfast, my parents, like they did the last time, changed clothes, packed everything needed for a picnic and called Growlithe, the Butterfrees, and Poliwhirl over.
Once they were recalled we drove to Hope Park.
There were more people there this time since it was Grouday and the people had seemingly decided to spend the last day of the week at the park.
His parents went to the same place they stayed the last time but there already were people there.
While there still was enough space for them, his parents decided that it was too crowded and went further into the park to find another less crowded area.
They called out their Pokemon before walking deeper into the park.
Mikail's eyes sparkled with delight, like they always did when he saw Growlithe.
His parents chuckled when they saw his expression.
They saw that he seemed to adore all Pokemon he saw but his response towards Growlithe was the biggest.
They did not know why he was so obsessed with Agni but found his reactions to Agni simply adorable.
During their search for the ideal resting area, Mikail kept looking out for Pokemon and anything that seemed special or different so that he could identify them.
He was not sure if his parents would allow him to touch the wild Pokemon here like they did with the Caterpie in the berry farm 2 weeks ago but he certainly hoped so.
He went to the first Caterpie he saw on the way, that he could reach, to stroke it, so that he could observe it and to his joy, his parents didn't stop him.
They simply told one of the Butterfree to follow him and make sure he was alright.
While he was a bit disappointed that the potential of the Caterpie was red, he was already used to that after checking hundreds of them in the berry farm.
He was still happy that he could keep checking all the Pokemon they saw during their stay in the park.
At least thought so until he tried to touch a Rattata he saw and was stopped by Butterfree.
He heard his mother saying.
"Caterpies are alright, honey because they can not accidentally hurt you.
They also won't try anything aggressive with Emerald following you but anything else except maybe a Metapod is not allowed for now."
He could only accept what his mother said, even if he felt a bit reluctant.
Variety was a spice of life, damn it.
Always having to look at status screens showing red potential Caterpies got a bit boring, but it is what it is.
He had to make do with what he had.
At least it was always a little exciting when something other than red potential came out.
Who knew, maybe he could find a treasure that he could try to take into his space.
He could risk-taking in a Pokemon at the park where only his parents and their Pokemon kept an eye on him compared to the berry farm where there was also the security to worry about.
If not for that he would have tried to take in the light yellow Caterpie, but a Pokemon disappearing and a berry disappearing were not the same.
Especially, when Cyan, his father's Butterfree, was looking over his shoulder every time he made contact with a Caterpie, so he didn't risk it.
This time around he could try to create a scene where he distracted his parents and their Pokemon long enough for him to nab a Pokemon since he had to only worry about them and no one else.
But it had to be worthy of forcing him to do his performance.
15 minutes later they had found a place his parents took a liking to, so they laid out their blankets and set down their stuff.
During those 15 minutes Mikail had checked on another 10 Caterpie without any luck.
His parents set Mikail down on a cushion and gave him something to drink.
While drinking his juice, Mikail thought about his body.
'I am lucky that I only look like 2 years old and that my body is surprisingly strong for its size or I would have been simply incapable of walking all that distance at the berry farm two weeks ago or even these 15 minutes right now.
No matter how small and weak a being here looks, I can't forget that we are living on a planet with 6 times the gravity of the earth and that this planet has energy floating around that all beings here subconsciously absorb when needed.
Being stronger and having more stamina is to be expected.
Wait a minute, if I can make use of the fact our bodies unconsciously absorb some energy then I should be able to use that fact to break through to Tier 1 once my aurascape is open.
Hopefully, that happens soon.
There's no reason it shouldn't, for I have fulfilled all requirements.
The throne shall be mine.
Ehhhm, back to the topic.
I seem to have found a fast track to Tier 1, which is great.'
After they had all drunk something and his parents took out an inflatable kid swimming pool for Poliwhirl they told him to look after their belongings and started a trek around the park.
They didn't leave behind the Butterfrees this time around so that Mikail could keep touching Caterpies if he wanted to.
1 hour into their walk he had seen quite a few different kinds of Pokemon, even if he could only check up on the Caterpie.
There had been no one with higher than deep orange potential.
Pidgey, Spearow, Rattata, Sentret, Oddish, Hoppip, and not to forget Caterpie we're some of the species he saw.
There were also more Pokemon around than the last time.
Curious as to why he asked his father, even if he had an inkling of the reason.
"Daddy.
Why more Pokemon?
Before less."
His parents smiled at him, happy at his observation and curiosity.
"The last time we came here, we walked around the outer parts of the park.
This time we are trekking a bit further inside.
There is also Agni.
Agni can release an intimidating aura.
During our last visit, Agni released a small bit of that intimidating air to keep most Pokemon away.
Those Pokemon you saw were the ones who could ignore the slight atmosphere he was releasing.
This time Agni is using his ability to simply warn the stronger and aggressive Pokemon to stay away."
Was his father's answer.
"Woahhh.
Agni strong"
Said Mikail while thinking.
'What the hell?
It seems Agni has, if not complete, nearly complete control of his Intimidate ability.
He actually can decide how much of his presence he wants to release and even who he wants to target.
Just how strong is this Growlithe?'
"Grrr, Grow."
Came from Agni, who seemed to say leave it to me.
They continued their stroll for another 30 minutes when one of the pebbles Mikail checked showed a surprising status screen.
'Name: Hard Stone
Type: Rock
Quality: Low
Faults: None
Uses: It's a small boulder that has been compressed until it became a
pebble.
Contains some compressed rock-type energy, increasing its purity.
Can be used as a supplement to help rock and ground type
Pokemon.'
As soon as Mikail saw that he was over the moon.
Who would have thought that one of the stones he kept checking would truly be something useful?
He simply did it because he could not check other things and it took no effort.
He started dancing to express his joy and his parents laughed while saying he was cute.
No one noticed the pebble in his hand disappear, since they were distracted by his dance.
After his dance, they decided to walk back to their picnic area.
Mikail focused on his space during their walk.
'Analyzing...., hard stone analyzed.
Start improving...., currently cannot be improved.
Storing hard stone in the sub-space minerals and material.
Hard stone can be replicated in the sub-space.
Process finished.'
He was happy to see the message.
He had already guessed that it could not be improved right now.
Since it was a mineral, it could only be improved by using more or purer energy which he currently did not have.
Still, he was satisfied.
At that moment he felt a stirring of his aura in his heart area.
Using this chance he moved his aura everywhere in that area.
When his aura moved to the middle of his heart he felt his aura scape unlock, which was awesome.
While this was great, it was also strange because he had moved his aura there before.
It seems his happiness triggered some condition that was needed to unlock his aurascape.
He inspected his aurascape while trying to act normal and not start another dance.
He was a top-grade apprentice aura user now.
His aurascape was empty, which was to be expected since it just opened.
He did not want to get distracted right now, so he decided to carefully look over his aurascape once they were home.
During their walk back Mikail just kept walking at the side of his parents.
His parents, who were surprised by his behavior asked if he was exhausted, which he denied.
Once they reached their picnic area Mikail sat on his cushion and his parents sat down on the blanket as well and they all started resting.
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Authors Note:
The poll on my patre*on ends tomorrow, so anyone that wants to participate can do so there.
The result influences some of the order of the plot, Mikail's father's job, the first species experiments focus on, as well as the first member of his Pokemon Roster.