The next morning everyone woke up and thanks to the potential increase happening while they were asleep, neither Roselia nor Tangela noticed that their potential had reached 5-stars, due to missing the surge that happened during potential advancement.
I felt slightly sorry that I had not studied yesterday but ultimately decided that it was worth it to spend time with my parents. I could just make up for the sessions I missed yesterday and today, by increasing the study time by a bit for a few days.
After exchanging good mornings, we began to prepare breakfast together. I helped mom with cooking and dad set up the table. It was one of those small but nice family bonding events one could share, and I thought it was great.
Mom was always happy when her men helped her in the kitchen, and dad liked spending the time with us. That and snacking on the food while we were preparing it. As for me, I enjoyed the time spent with my parents, and the taste-testing was not bad too.
Once everything was set, we began eating, and I had to say pancake for breakfast was just awesome. Especially, with Beedrill honey and the variety of berry marmalade we had.
I preferred the one with strawberry and Oran berry in it, but mom loved Mago berry marmalade, while dad liked Pecha berry marmalade. Our whole family seemed to have a sweet tooth.
We talked about what to do today, and I decided to show off a few of our combo as well as self-made moves after lunch. That way mom and dad's Pokemon could learn them or rather get an idea of how to learn them since it would take more than just an afternoon to learn the moves.
I was hoping the moves would help them get stronger and if not stronger, then more versatile. However, before that, we decided to just spend time at home. Most stores were closed anyway since it was Grouday, so relaxing at home sounded nice. After cleaning up the table, we spent the time until lunch playing some games and watching some TV.
For lunch, we made spaghetti with meatballs. Aldini's had their own spaghetti brand, and we always bought that one since we like the taste the best among the brand we tried. For those who said they all taste the same, I can only say you've got no idea what good spaghetti was.
Anyway, after some satisfying spaghetti, we went to the garden, so that we, me and my Pokemon, could show my parent's group our moves. Mom and dad called out all their Pokemon while I called out Optimus/Butterfree, Mothra/Butterfree, Hashirama/Ivysaur, Moka/Crobat, Parvati/Beedrill, Mars/Ursaring, and Hera/Pidgeot.
"I'm sure you've already thought or started on a few of these, but I'll have them demonstrate all our moves then we can go from there," I told my parents before sending the professor to the front since quite a few were made by him.
Optimus went to the forefront and began performing his moves. He began with the 4 different versions of Powder Bomb, before showing off the 3 String Shot and Web variants.
Roselia, and Tangela, could learn the Powder Bomb variants, while Emerald/Butterfree and Cyan/Butterfree could learn everything Optimus had to offer.
After demonstrating the moves three times he flew back and I sent Hashirama forward. He showed off his 3 Vine Specials which Tangela could learn since he had Vine Whip and the three Powder moves. He would even learn an upgraded version using Power Whip instead.
After his short demonstration, Moka went up and showed up Poisonous Leech. Duke/Crobat was the only one that could learn the move, so she quickly returned to the group.
Parvati/Beedrill went up next to show off Furious Cutter, and the version we were currently working on with Poison Jab added on top of it. Titan/Nidoking and Titania/Nidoqueen could learn both versions. Titan using Fury Attack and Titania using Fury Swipes.
After her Hera went up next and demonstrated Steel Slash. Duke, Fearow, and Skye/Pidgeot could learn that one. Finally, Mars went up and showed them his Furious Slashes, which Weavile should be able to learn.
As expected, my parents had been working on some of the moves or had been working on other combinations, but they were happy with our accomplishment.
I was really happy because my parents had no reservation to ask us to explain to their Pokemon how we went about learning the moves and to demonstrate the moves some more.
So, while all our Pokemon were either demonstrating moves or discussing how to learn them as well as improve them, I told them some more combo-move ideas I had for Weavile, Fearow, and Cell/Magnezone.
"Mom, I have three more ideas for Weavile. Fury Swipes Combined with Metal Claw for Metal Swipes, and Night Slash with Fury Swipes for Night Swipes. Metal Claw and Slash can be combined as well for Metal Slash. The names are optional, but I think they fit pretty well." I told mom and she smiled at me before squeezing my cheeks.
"My sweet little genius. We're already working on Metal Swipes as you've called it, but the other combinations sound good as well." She informed me before releasing my cheeks from her clasp.
"I also think that Fearow could combine Drill Peck and Fury Attack for Furious Drill." I offered her another one of my ideas.
I seemed to have an affinity with the word Furious with how many of the combos ended up having the word in them. Well, that was mostly because Fury Attack and Fury Swipes were great moves for a combo move that I ended up using a lot.
"That's a good idea as well, but I think we'll work on the one you called Steel Slash first. We had been working on the one on occasion before and with Mothra and Hera's demonstration it will be easier for them to progress." Mom replied and I had to agree.
Combining moves was not easy, since the moves had to be at an advanced mastery for the combination to progress decently. Using mastered moves was naturally the best choice but not mandatory. They could even try to start with proficient mastery, but I would not recommend it since it went way too slow that way.
Anyway, I had a final idea, and this one was for Cell, so I turned to dad who had been quietly listening to me with a proud smile.
"Dad, this one is for Cell. He could try to combine Gyro Ball with Spark. That one seems like a combination that would work well." He patted me on the head and smiled.
"That's a good idea. I don't think Cell's Spark is good enough to use it in a combo move, so he'll have to train that one up first, but I like the idea." He responded and after that admission, we turned to the Pokemon.
We spent the next few hours until dinner working on different move combinations and discussing what was possible and what was not. Once dinner time came around, we handed out everyone else their food, before heading out to a nice restaurant that I had found.
We had to wait in line for roughly 20 minutes, for a table to clear up, but the wait was worth it. I ordered some steak with mashed potatoes and gravy while recommending my parents do the same.
The steaks were made with regular beef, but the chef had obviously mastered his craft because it tasted better than most of the Tauros steaks we had eaten, despite Tauros beef normally being tastier, more flavorful, and impactful.
While the Tauros steak was more filling for me and most people that needed a high food intake due to their diet, I would definitely still recommend eating this. The difference could be made up by eating more.
The taste would make sure one did not get sick of it and ultimately it still ended up being cheaper. Anyway, my little raving episode aside, we paid for the food, gave a healthy tip, and left perfectly satisfied.
My parents praised me for finding this little gem. The funny thing was the restaurant could not be found on the web. The restaurant itself did not need the attention, while the customers did not brag about it to avoid luring in more customers, due to the tables being full nearly all the time.
We walked home at a moderate pace to help digest the food while enjoying the clean evening air. Once we arrived home, we watched a movie together, before tucking in for the night.
The next morning my parents bid me farewell before leaving and I left our house for the academy as well.
For the next three days, I made sure to make up for the missed study sessions by increasing my study time. That way I managed to finish the "Emotion Sensing" stack I had started.
I spent the next two weeks after that going through the "Meditation III", "Aura Sensing II", "Internal Aura Manipulation", and "Combat Preparation" stacks I had prepared, as well as the mock tests I requested from my teachers.
"Combat Preparation" had the smallest stack since it was a mixed class that was part practical and part theoretical, with the practical part being bigger.
The theory aspect had rules of engagement, things one should consider before combat, identifying signs of danger, tracking, counter-tracking, and combat moves/theory.
The practical aspect was implementing the theory. Still, the exam was a written one, since the practical tests had been done during the lessons. Anyway, "Meditation III", and "Aura Sensing II" had roughly the same number of pages, despite the "Meditation" stack having three years' worth of content.
Surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly, "Internal Aura Manipulation" had the biggest stack despite having only been introduced at the start of the third year. The amount of content per topic was just too much, with all the theories and warnings, and guidelines.
Honestly, there was as much on what not to do, as on what to do, along with detailed descriptions of what could go wrong. There obviously were descriptions on how to do stuff, but the previous material made sure one did not recklessly try out the techniques.
At least, that's how the lessons were prepared, and that's why there were practical lessons as well. Unlike other courses where each term ended up with one to maybe two notebooks, "Internal Aura Manipulation" managed to fill a notebook with each topic.
Still, the exam was a purely written one since the practical aspect had already been checked during the lessons just like with "Combat Preparation", so we only had to worry about memorizing the stuff we had written down, and that could be considered a specialty of mine.
Finally, by the end of 23.15.2179, I was through with all aura-centric courses leaving me only with my regular first-year classes. While the number of regular classes was much higher, the amount of content per course was much smaller.
Since exam week began on 12.16.79, I still had 18 days to go over "Language", "Math", "Chemistry", "Physics", "Music", "Art", "Geography", "History", "Material Science", "Ethics", "Biology", "Pokemon Knowledge", and "Physical Education".
Two days later my parents called and told me they had collected the egg, but that they requested the institute to take care of the egg for a while longer.
They were planning to leave the egg with them until they were going to visit me the next time, which was during the report day, also known as the last day of the academic year.
Anyway, I spent a day on "Physical Education", "Language", "Music", "Art", "Ethics", "History", "Geography", as well as "Material Science" each and in that order. The 10 days that I had left after that was spent on "Biology", "Pokemon Knowledge", "Chemistry", "Physics", and "Math" in that order.
Each of those 5 courses got 2 days, and I left "Math" until the end because I disliked it the most. It was also the first exam I had to take on Arcday, along with "Language" and "Music".
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