"Yu, recall your Pokemon, and I'll do the same with mine. I'll have Horus Teleport us near the meeting point." I told Yu and he nodded seemingly happy with not having to run back.
Some recalls and a teleportation later we were less than a minute away from the meeting point. Once we entered the meeting area we saw that we were the first students to arrive, and all teachers had their gazes trained on us.
I saw that there were a few psychic types outside most likely keeping an eye on the students. Besides Mr. Koetsuji's Gallade, there was an Alakazam, Starmie, Hypno, Slowbro, and Exeggutor, so there was quite the lineup. Yu suddenly elbowed me to gain my attention.
"Hey, Mikail. I noticed that Mr. Thompson is missing. I wonder where he went. He was here before we went out." He quietly told me, but that got thrown to the back when another one of the knight instructors waved us over. We naturally went up to her.
"Alright you two, I want you to hand over all your coins one by one. I'll do the counting and note them down." She said and I began pulling out the coins before handing them over.
"208 points, not bad at all. That's the highest number I got to see in the last few years. Alright, we're done. You can go to the side and wait for the others to return." She praised us before dismissing us directly after.
Still, her words made us smile since what she said did bode well for our chances. During the next 10 minutes, one pair after another arrived and each one was waved over by a teacher as soon as they appeared.
I actually noticed that a lot of pairs were injured to a certain extent. I would even go as far as to say that there were more injured students than uninjured ones. Still, no one seemed to be seriously injured so at least that was good.
It took only another 5 more minutes for the teachers to check everyone and be done. Afterward, they gathered together to compare the results, and shortly after Mr. Koetsuji stepped forward to announce the results.
"Now before I begin with the rankings I want to inform you that Leonard Fanfarone, as well as his partner Alfred Knecht, have been seriously injured and have been delivered to the hospital by Mr. Thompson." The crowd began to buzz when Mr. K said that.
'So that's where the missing instructor went,' I thought to myself. Mr. K ignored the hubbub and resumed.
"Leonard seemed to have thought that it would be a good idea to insult and provoke a Victreebel that was much stronger than him and his Pokemon.
The Victreebel took exception to that and attacked them. We interfered and saved their lives, but Leonard will have to spend a month in the hospital while Alfred will be there for a week.
Let this be a warning to you all. Don't behave like idiots and don't go around provoking stronger individuals out of some sense of arrogance."
I heard stuff like "he deserves it" and "what an idiot" from the students around us. It looked like no one had any sympathy for young master Peng, I wondered why that was before smiling and shaking my head.
That was a stupid question. Who knew how many of them he had offended with his high and mighty attitude. As a wise man once said "don't be a dick", because it was easy to make enemies that way.
While I was thinking about the follies of all young masters, Mr. K began announcing the rankings.
"Anyway, let's move to the rankings. Fifth place with 152 points goes to Ace Gold and Ranmaru Law." I heard excited murmuring going through the crowd that one of the winners of the previous competitions only got 5th place.
I also heard Ace shout "come on really?" in surprise, and had to smile at his boisterous behavior.
"Alright, pipe down!" Mr. Koetsuji said sternly before he continued. "Fourth place, with 158 points goes to Bianca Bianchi and Clarissa Clairemont."
That sent the crowd in another round of excitement and I actually saw as well as heard the aforementioned pair shriek in excitement. Mr. K just coughed once to shut up everyone before he continued his announcement.
"Third place, with 169 points goes to Eric Ericson and Pierre Durant." After Mr. K said that Yu spoke to me.
"Just 169 points, quite a bit away from our 208 points. We seem to already have this in the bag." He said in a joyous tone and I had to do my best not to gape at what he had just done, again.
This f**ker had just raised a flag. I could not understand just why Yu seemed to like provoking Murphy so much. Hopefully, nothing came out of it.
"Second place, with 208 points goes to Mikail Geo and Yu Tianjin. This is actually the second-highest number of points in the last 30 years, so they were simply a bit unlucky." As soon as Mr. K said that I glared at Yu for a bit before letting out a sigh of disappointment.
Meanwhile, Yu experienced what it felt like to be slapped in the face, metaphorically, I mean. It wasn't like I didn't feel like doing so myself for him opening his smart mouth before, but I knew logically that it was not due to his minor brag that we only came in second.
So, I took the result as any real man would, with a slight pout. Mr. K obviously ignored our reaction on finished his announcement.
"First place, with 224 points goes to Weiss Schnee and Erza Scarlet. These two managed to get the highest number of points in the last 30 years, so congratulations.
Alright, that's it. With that out of the way, you have 30 minutes to mingle with each other. After that, we'll return to our respective camps." He finished his announcement and went back to the other teachers.
I directly began moving towards Weiss and Erza with Yu following behind me. I saw Ace and Ranmaru doing the same. After the obligatory greetings were out of the way, I went straight to the point.
"How'd you manage to get so many points?" I asked the female pair and Weiss giggled.
"What did I tell you Erza, I told you he would ask us how we managed to surpass him, didn't I?" She directed at Erza who chuckled at her antics.
"Yes, you did. Seems like you know Mikail quite well." Erza used the moment to tease Weiss a bit before she turned to me.
"Actually, all I can say is that the two of you were quite unlucky. 10 minutes before the deadline we got ambushed by two pairs working together.
We took them down before the time was up, so we took their coins instead. Before that, we only had 181, but those four offered us 43 more points. If that had not happened you guys would have come in first." She explained with mirth and I somehow blamed Murphy for that. It may have made no sense, but I still did it.
After that, we kept recounting the most interesting situations we got into while searching for coins. On our part, the most popular ones were the Aipom encounter which Yu told them about, that ass, and I told them about the Furret.
Ace and Ranmaru's most exciting encounter was with an Ariados. Apparently, they managed to get caught in its net while running from a group of Beedrill. Thankfully, they managed to escape using Chimchar after Ace delayed the Ariados from attacking them using his aura.
Weiss and Erza's most interesting encounter had to be with a group of Tangela. They did not go into too much detail and just said they had to fight against 4 of those tentacle lovers, I meant to say, vine users. We kept exchanging stories until Ms. Striker said it was time to go.
"Let's exchange phone numbers," I suggested to the knight academy students and they all agreed. Afterward, we said our farewells and returned to our camp with the rest of our year mates.
Mr. Koetsuji praised us for our performance and we ate dinner. He gave us the rest of the day off and the next day after breakfast we only did a warm-up and some stretching exercises before we returned to Rota City.
On Arcday we simply returned to our normal academy routine. Well, except for Mr. Burns keeping me back for a talk after his class. He informed me that the brass, as well as staff, had been informed that I had revealed myself as a Tier 2 Second-class and that it had been noted as such in the academies system.
Nothing really changed for me, even after that, I kept going about my everyday life, going to the Academy for lessons, training my Pokemon, and occasionally talking with my friends or parents over the phone. We celebrated mom's birthday on Kyoday that week, throwing a little party with a few of their friends that were available.
Well, my parents actually planned for another of their weekend stayovers two weeks after that, but they decided to postpone it since the holidays were coming up and they wanted to finish some things before then. Also, we, Ace, Weiss, and I, met up twice with our new knight buddies during that time.
Anyway, the month ended on a high note when Tiamat/Milotic reached the (high) silver stage two days before the end of the month. The new month kept that high note going for a while when Hera/Pidgeot reached the (high) silver stage as well at the beginning of the second week.
The next interesting thing happened a week later, just a week before the second term exams. We celebrated Tatsumaki's 8th birthday among ourselves. It was a great party, I sang a few songs I remembered and we ate great food as well as a cake I made for the occasion.
Still, I also checked her status to see how far she had come since I met her, and I was satisfied with what I saw.
'Species: Abra
Gender: Female
Type: Psychic
Potential: Light Blue
Stage: Bronze-stage (mid)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Synchronize, Magic Guard
Talents: None
Affinities: Psychic'
She went from this when I met her, to this one right now.
'Name: Tatsumaki
Species: Kadabra
Gender: Female
Age: 8 years
-
Type: Psychic
Potential: Light Purple (52.41%)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Synchronize, Magic Guard
Talents: None
Affinities: Psychic
-
Bond: Mikail (strong)
Quirks: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Silver Stage (mid)
Vitality: E
Strength: F
Endurance: F
Agility: D
Energy Capacity: D
Energy Density: E
----
Resistance:
Fighting (Minor), Psychic (Minor)
-
Weaknesses:
Bug (Minor), Ghost (Minor), Dark (Minor)
-
Standardized:
Bug (in-progress)
----
Condition: Healthy, Content
----
Masteries:
Psychic Energy Manipulation (Proficient)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Protect, Encore
-
Beginner:
Reflect, Future Sight, Calm Mind, Stored Power, Endure
-
Proficient:
Disable, Kinesis, Miracle Eye, Psycho Cut, Recover, Role Play
-
Advanced:
Confusion, Psycho Shock, Psychic
-
Mastered:
Teleport, Ally Switch'
Tatsumaki still had a bit to go to the (high) silver stage, but she was doing well and we were both happy with her progress. A week after her birthday was exam week, where the end-term exams for all classes were written.
As we had been promised Ace, Weiss, and I had been exempted from the "Combat Preparation" and "Internal Aura Manipulation" exams, passing them with full marks. As for the others, I was confident that I had passed them with flying colors as well.
So, it was on Dialday after the last exam that the second holiday began, posing as a great end to the academic month and ringing the beginning of an awesome new month. A full month without lessons, sounded great and felt even better.
During our talk over the phone, my parents told me they were going to stay for a week from 07.30.2178 till 13.30.2178, which was the second week of the holidays.
Not only that, but Rose and her parents were coming for a visit during that week as well. When exactly was not yet determined, but they would most likely stay for a day or two.
-----------------------------
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