"What do you mean you're not going to continue your tertiary studies at Aaron Aura Academy?" I asked in surprise since that was the first time Weiss mentioned anything about that.
Ace seemed just as surprised as me, but it seemed to be a lesser degree, and he had a sad look when he looked at me that was not foreboding at all. Meanwhile, our parents stepped aside to give us some "privacy".
How nice of them, right? Yet, I was sure they could hear most if not everything we were saying given the distance they kept. Typical parent curiosity. Well, it was the thought that counted, right?
"Hmm," Weiss nodded, before explaining the reason. "Now that I have a pretty good grasp of the fundamental aura abilities, the family decided that it is time I changed my focus back to my ice-elemental training."
"What about your aura training?" I couldn't help asking, despite being able to guess the answer.
"I will continue any further studies on my own under the supervision of hired tutors instead. Twice or thrice per week should make sure I keep improving somewhat." She explained simply.
"If you're going to study aura with a tutor and ice with your family, then what about tertiary schooling? Where are you going to apply?" I asked out of curiosity.
"I'll commute to Azure Snow Trainer School using teleportation for my tertiary education. It's a trainer-centric school in Azure City sponsored by my family."
Azure City was the closest Tier 6 Major City to the Sea Foam Islands where her family lived, so going to a trainer school there made sense, especially one sponsored by her family. I had not even considered her going to a civilian or regular studies-focused school.
"Alright!" I had to nod when she said that since it made sense for her to go there.
"I guess we'll have to keep in contact over the phone and see each other occasionally during the vacations," I said with a slightly sad tone since she was one of the few true friends I had.
I was definitely not going to let our friendship fade to obscurity. Weiss agreed with a slight smile, and I took a look at Ace to see his reaction. I saw him looking down as well, but he seemed more conflicted than sad.
*sigh*
"I'm not going to attend Aaron Academy as well. I'm going to the Navy and Sea Ranger Academy in Coral City. That way I get an in with both the Navy and the Sea Ranger Corps after finishing my mandatory education." Ace said after releasing a sad sigh which made me throw him a look that said "Et tu, Ace?"
I was quite surprised when he admitted that. While Weiss's admission came out of nowhere, I kinda subconsciously expected something like that. However, Ace's declaration truly surprised me.
In hindsight, it shouldn't have been as surprising, with his father being in the Navy and Ace's admiration toward his father, I should have gotten an inkling that he would try to follow his path.
I just thought he would do so after he started his official journey. I neglected to consider the existence of military and ranger academies, despite knowing of their existence.
"Seems like we'll have to stay in contact over the phone as well," I told him, giving Ace, who nodded, a slightly sad look.
"I'll stay in the academy dormitory, but I'll totally stay in contact. We'll try to meet up during the Holidays, and you could come by for a visit during the weekend if possible. I'll have to see what the dormitory rules are regarding weekends." Ace promised and I gave him a small smile.
"I'd like to know why you kept it for yourself until now. I'm sure both of you knew about this months ago." I asked them, using the disappointed grandfather look and tone created by the great Al. Dumbles. It was not as effective when used by a young person, but oh well.
"I didn't know how to break it to you two, so I kept putting it off," Weiss admitted, and Ace professed that it was the same for him as well.
I asked them some more questions about their future schools, and after promising to meet up at least once or twice during the three-month-long break, we split up.
On the way home I felt a tiny bit somber, and my parent noticed that as well, so they tried to distract me by talking about the latest stuff they had been up to.
Apparently, two days ago dad had exchanged the Dratini using the 50% voucher and the majority of the points they had gathered during the last close to 8 months. He even bragged that he managed to get it by spending only his points without using my mom's points.
I couldn't wait to check it out, and I needed to consider when to place it inside Utopia for a spa trip. They also told me that they had brought along the Salandit egg and that it was currently at home since they had stopped there to store the egg.
Now, I had to say their strategy worked, my curiosity was currently at the forefront of my thoughts. While I was still bummed out that Weiss and Ace wouldn't be readily available after the break, I knew I would still get to see them and talk with them over the phone, so my curiosity won out.
Once we entered our home, dad and I went to the living room while mom went upstairs to bring down the egg. I saw her enter the room with an incubator in her arms. Inside the incubator was a black egg with a few thin red and purple lines on it.
She arrived beside us and both mom, as well as dad, had happy and excited expressions while presenting the egg to me.
"Here it is," mom said while handing the incubator over to me. "I'm sure you'll raise and treat it well."
"It will be a good addition to your team, and I believe, no I'm sure that you will train it to be a strong Pokemon," Dad added after mom, and after smiling at my parents, I used my ability to check the egg to see what I was going to work with.
When I saw the status screen I froze for a microsecond since I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
'Species: Salandit
Gender: Male
Type: Poison, Fire
Potential: Light Orange
Stage: None, PokeEgg
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Oblivious
Talents: None
Affinities: Poison, Fire'
There were two major issues with what I was seeing. One, the Salandit inside the egg was male, and two, the potential of the Salandit was currently light orange.
Well, I could deal with the second issue. It might take a long, long, time, a lot of resources, and a lot of patience, but I was sure that with Utopia, my knowledge, and my resources I could slowly train him up and raise his potential while doing so. A slow and costly process, but definitely possible.
However, the first issue made the whole thing a lot more complicated. As far as I knew from my old knowledge Salandit only had a female evolution, and I had heard or found nothing that disapproved that knowledge during the research on Salandit I made after my parents to me about the egg.
Still, the fact that I found nothing or that it was currently unknown did not mean that it was impossible. I mean as far as I knew there existed only two species with a female-only evolution, or rather one where only the female could evolve, everyone else had an evolution for both genders even if they looked different.
Those two species were the Combee line and the Salandit line. So, knowing that everyone else had an evolution for both sides and that the legendaries, especially Mew and probably Arceus as well, treated all species fairly meant that the male evolution most likely existed, but had just not been discovered/seen by humanity yet.
Had it been the case for both genders, I would have said it could be, but I honestly did not think that they cut off the advancement path of just a part of a species based on gender.
The evolution condition for male Salandit was probably really high, so they were extremely rare globally. At least that sounded much more believable than a Pokemon being unable to evolve just based on its gender. Consequently, the strength of the evolution was presumably just as impressive.
What this meant for me was that I just had to find out what the conditions for a male Salandit's evolution were, and help my Salandit achieve those conditions. I was already doing something like that for Osiris/Marowak, so this was just a step above that.
Besides, with his potential, I had a long road ahead of me to get him ready for evolution anyway, so I had more than enough time to research the evolution condition and prove that it existed. So, all I had to do was to treat it with love, raise it to the best of my abilities, and help it evolve into an until now unknown evolution. Easy, right?
I kept my look at my parents. I saw their excitement, happiness, and expectations. I felt that and much more through my aura, and I also felt the slight doubt that began sprouting when I did not speak up for a few seconds.
While all my mental considerations had taken a scant a few seconds, that short delay was enough to make them wonder if something was wrong. I had already solved the situation in my head and it was going to take more time as well as effort.
That was something I could easily afford, so it was not worth making my parents sad by rejecting their goodwill. Moreover, now that I had accepted that egg, Salandit was part of my family, and he would be treated accordingly, with love and care.
While I generally avoid Pokemon with bad potential, once a Pokemon joined me all that did not matter anymore, and I would do everything I could to help it. So, I gave them a bright smile.
I put aside the incubator, before rushing up to hug them. I thanked them for their gift, and I saw them beam at my positive reaction. We kept up the hug for a while before separating.
After that, we made ourselves comfortable and my parents began asking me how I felt about the exams. They saw that I had a perfect report card, but they wanted to know how I felt about the workload. I gave my honest opinion, adding that I had an easier time due to my passive psychic abilities.
They were happy for me, and the topic shifted to any plans I had for the break and the things I wanted to do. They were willing to put aside their mission rush if I wanted to go on an extended vacation, but I told them that wasn't necessary.
There were still 3 months until the deadline for dad's access, which was just as long as my break, so I told them they should not give up the chance to exchange some of the materials useful for their Pokemon.
We agreed on a compromise that they would do missions for 4 days of the week, from Arcday to Palkiday, and spent the other 3 days, from Dialday to Grouday, with me.
By the time we came to that agreement, it was already pretty late, so we went to bed, but before that dad promised me that he would show me his new Dratini after breakfast.
The next morning we slept a bit in, and only woke up slightly after 10 a.m. We leisurely prepared breakfast together, some eggs, sausages, and freshly made juice. After breakfast, we cleared up the table, before making our way to the garden.
Once we were outside mom and dad called out everyone, including Dratini. He introduced me to Dratini who seemed a bit reserved probably due to seeing me for the first time and being in a new environment. Moreover, he was a pretty new addition to dad's team as well, so that much was pretty normal.
I greeted him in a jovial tone, before taking out some Pokefood I had made with dragon types in mind. Dratini seemed to like the taste and released a happy thrill. While I was feeding it some more food, I decided to check Dratini's status.
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