I spent nearly the whole break with my parents and only left on Kyoday, the last day of the month so that I could head back to our house in Rota City to clean it up for my stay there for the period I was going to be a part of the collaboration project at Varon Labs.
Grouday was the sole day of the first week of the new/27th month, and it was another cleaning day for me. Just like on Kyoday, I had some of my Pokemon help me with cleaning, and Luna/Clefable actually enjoyed cleaning. Gwen/Gardevoir did not mind it as well, but she did not have the energy Luna exuded whilst doing it.
The others saw it as what it was, a chore. Still, the result of our two days of cleaning was pretty good and the house was ready for my/our stay for the foreseeable future.
Frankly, I was planning to spend most of my nights inside Utopia, but the house had to be clean for the other days and for appearance's sake. Now that I had done a big cleaning once, I would only have to clean up once a week or so to keep the house somewhat clean. I was excluding the kitchen and the bathroom sink from that since those were the sole places that definitely needed daily cleaning as long as they were in use.
Anyway, early next morning I made my way over to Varon Labs for my first day there. The lab was only 20 minutes away from our house. Mind you that was at my walking pace, and I tended to walk quite fast if I was on my own. Most people would probably have to either jog or straight-up run to keep up with me.
Honestly, I was not even doing that on purpose, that was just how I rolled or rather walked. In fact, I had to consciously focus to walk slower since I began to speed up if I stopped focusing on going slow. That actually had been pointed out to me a few times, so I knew what I was talking about since it actually happened and I had been asked to slow down again.
Honestly, why couldn't everyone else be like me, that would be much easier. Justified complaint aside, while I was going through my 13-kilometer walk, I began considering whether I should simply teleport over the next time, or if I should put on some gravity bands and use the walk to exercise instead.
The only real drawback I could see with option 2 was that I would end up being sweaty, but I could solve that by leaving a bit early and simply entering Utopia close to the lab. There I could freshen up and once I was done, I could walk the last bit in a regular manner. At least this way I could handle my morning exercise on the way to the lab.
I would have to think on that some more later on but for now I had made it to the lab entrance, so I put my game/serious face on and stepped inside after taking a deep breath.
Surprisingly, as soon as I stepped inside, I saw Professor Maria Varon herself waiting for me in the lobby with a few of her assistants. I recognized her since I had looked up all renowned professors at one point, and she was definitely among that group.
"Mikail Geo, we finally meet," she said when I made it in front of her. "Professor Varon, it is an honor to meet you," I greeted her back. "And I'm flattered that you've requested my participation in your research," I added while using my tone to put an unasked "why did you do that though?" in there.
"I've read as well as heard all about you, Mikail, and I have to admit that roused my interest in you," she began with a smile. "An upcoming young man in the academic scene that had his name on multiple successful papers and projects with quite a few of those being on rather prominent subjects."
"More importantly, you were listed as either a primary, secondary, or tertiary researcher on those papers, which shows your competence and contribution to each project. Not to mention your young age," she finished with a smile, and I had to admit that I did sound rather impressive if looked at from that angle.
"Besides, my nephew Aaron mentioned you quite often, and he has praised you to the high heavens," she added with a chuckle, and I was not overly surprised by the mention of Aaron.
As I said I had looked her up at one point, so I had known that the surname was no coincidence and that she was from the same family as Aaron. From there it was not hard to learn that Professor Maria Varon was Aaron's great grand-aunt, so the professor actually left out some greats and a grand there when she called Aaron her nephew.
"He only has praises for you as well madam, whenever he mentions you," I swiftly returned, feeling that it was the safest answer I could give at that moment. I was definitely not dumb enough to mention/point out the great grand nephew thing to her.
"I'm sure he does," she said knowingly before turning more serious. "Anyway, I have my reasons why I want you to participate in my research and one of them has to do with the fact that you are an accomplished aura user. Not to mention the fact that from what I've heard, you have a member of our research subject on your team.
You must have no doubt noted the difference, dare I say merit of the aura variant compared to the regular Lopunny," the professor explained seriously and I had to agree with her.
In my opinion, the aura Lopunny variant was better than its regular counterpart as well. Not only was its BS/Racial Value higher than its counterparts, but it also gained the fighting type of its mega evolution in advance.
Sure, that came with three new (minor) weaknesses, but it also brought along three (minor) resistances, and while it did not happen to my Lopunny, I was confident that Scrappy also became an option as far as abilities were concerned. We would have to wait for her to attain aurora potential to unlock a third ability, which would most likely be Scrappy.
"I certainly did, and I'm happy that it happened," I confirmed and she gave a satisfied nod at my answer. "Exactly," she returned, "that is why I want to ensure that we have the option to help Buneary evolve to its aura variant at will. I know that at least the Order would be more than happy about such a development, and they would certainly not be the only ones."
Once more I had to agree with her, and seeing how Professor Oak had agreed to send me over to aid her in her research, he certainly agreed with her as well since I knew that there more requests for a collaboration than just hers.
"Well, with the pleasantries out of the way. These are my leading assistants, Kate, Kyle, Emi, and Amari. In the future, if there is anything you need to ask that you don't want to bother me with, you can go to them. They should be able to help you.
If they can't, they will tell you that as much, and you'll have to bring it up with me," Professor Varon introduced the four aides beside her and I greeted each one of them. While doing that, I saw Professor Varon taking a look at her watch.
"I wanted to personally welcome you to our Lab, but as you can imagine, we are quite busy, so I have to go back to work. Amari will bring you around the lab and show you the areas you have to know for your future work with us," the professor ended up saying before she left with the others, leaving me alone with Amari.
"Once again, welcome to Varon Labs," Amari began after Professor Varon and the others were gone. "Well, let me show you around our place. As you can no doubt guess, having worked at Oak Labs for two years, the area we'll have to cover is quite big, so let's get right into it," he declared with a chuckle before he began walking.
I naturally followed along, and seeing me walk beside him, Amari began listing the areas we would be visiting. Thankfully, aside from the general utility areas such as the canteen, gym, and toilets, there were only a few places I had to know for now.
Nonetheless, the whole tour still took more than three hours since we had to head to different areas of the lab to cover everything, and I had to say that some of the rooms had certainly piqued my interest. The ones I found the most interesting were probably the radiation rooms.
Those rooms had nothing to do with the radiation I knew from before but were called like that because they irradiated the targets, in this case, Buneary and Lopunny but mostly Buneary, with aura. There were multiple rooms since each one used a different method/source. One of them actually used a Pokemon or Aura User that had mastered Aura Manipulation to send a steady stream of aura into the target's body.
Another activated the aura inside certain crystals that had aura stored in them and aimed the energy released toward the intended target. A third room used different ores to do the same, while a fourth used various other objects.
Aside from those radiation rooms, some rooms/labs dealt with the creation of salves and tonics that had the same goal. In fact, all their methods had the goal of awakening, and improving the aura affinity of the Buneary line, and as a probably welcome side effect most other species as well.
Even the food was made with that goal in mind, and I could not help but think that those things could actually be considered part of my expertise. Amari also brought me to the habitats of the Buneary and Lopunny that stayed at the lab, as well as their designated exercise and relaxation areas.
Interestingly, I got to see quite a few aura variants, showing that they had already succeeded to a certain degree. Amari explained that their all-around "treatment" method had already helped them achieve a success rate of 6 out of 10 Lopunny variants when used on Buneary coming from a lineage/family of Buneary/Lopunny with an already generations-pervading aura affinity.
If used on random Buneary, the result was only 3 out of 10 Lopunny aura variants which was still a good outcome. Nonetheless, their goal was to ensure a variant evolution and they not only wanted a standard "treatment" plan that could help achieve it, but if possible Professor Varon and her team sought to discover a method that worked within a shorter period as well.
Yet, there was no doubt that their team could still be considered as having achieved their overall goal once they managed to reliably complete the first one. In my opinion, the chances of them accomplishing their first goal were extremely high since they were already on the right track and had actual results in that direction.
As for the second goal, that one was much harder, but I was not willing to call it impossible, since I believed that creating a treatment/training plan that capable of achieving the intended result within a short period was possible.
Though creating something like an Aura Stone capable of acting as an evolution trigger similar to the Fire or Water Stone seemed a bit farfetched for now.
Nonetheless, there was no doubt that their research direction and methods were right up my alley, and Professor Varon along with her team had certainly managed to arouse my interest. I could not wait to take part in their research and help them complete it.
There was no doubt in my mind that I could in fact do that, help them complete their research I mean. Considering that this would not only benefit regular trainers, but more importantly the Aura Guardian Order, and with it mankind as a whole, I was more than happy to do it.
Anyway, once we were done with the tour, Amari led me to the lab/area Professor Varon was at. She asked me for my impression and I honestly told her that I could not wait to take part in the project. When she heard my answers she released a happy chuckle at my eagerness and thanked me in advance for my help.
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