52 Ch 52. Back Home

(Unedited)

"Ares Oak, how dare you come back here without even calling! Do you know how worried I've been? You have been away for more than a few months and you haven't written, called or even sent a message. Where do you think that Rotom phone is for, decoration!?"

Leaf ranted, having already guided Jenny in and handed her some tea, beginning her rant only when they were out of earshot. Even Lucario had wandered off, as he had already predicted what would happen when they returned. Instead, Lucario had gone off to find the rest of Ares's pokemon to catch up.

"If I said I have been busy, would you belief me?"

Ares muttered, not sure how he could stop his mom from continuing this for another hour. The scene in front of him was all too familiar, as it was the same one he would get when he spent too much time at professor Oak's lab.

If memory served him well, the last one had lasted for over two hours. The first one happening right after Blue had decided to add him in the family register, giving him the surname Oak.

"Well, well Leaf. Go easy on the boy. I remember when you and Blue went on a journey. Your mother was as concerned as you are now. I wonder how poor Gary will handle your outbursts once he goes on his journey."

Coming inside, Professor Oak defused the situation, leading Leaf and Ares further inside towards the living room.

While professor Oak and Ares had both taken a seat, Leaf had stormed off to get some refreshments, even if she still hadn't completely calmed down.

When everyone had procured something to drink and to eat, professor Oak got to the point of why he dropped by.

"It is good to see you back my boy. I belief it had been a few weeks since we last spoke. It has been quite the surprise with the pokemon you sent back to me. Lapras and Horsea are doing just fine, if you were wondering. The pokedex has filled in nicely as well, considering that every pokemon has their own little quirks to discover. It is wonderful to see how much it can still be added with."

"That is good to hear professor. Now that we are on the subject, I wanted to take Lapras out with me, leaving Clefairy with you. We need to head to Cinnabar island to take on Blaine, you see."

Ares placed Clefairy's pokeball on the table.

He had already written everything down in a notebook concerning food, training schedule and her likes and dislikes. He had kept one for all his pokemon, assuring he gave them the best of care. Now that Clefairy would be staying with professor Oak, it was only a matter of course her caretaking details were shared with the professor.

"Ah yes, wonderful. It has been some time since I've seen one for myself. Clefairy are rather elusive, hiding away at the slightest sign of strangers. Some even belief Clefairy originate from the moon. A peculiar belief I would say."

Professor Oak muttered, staring at Clefairy's pokeball.

"I will get Lapras in a moment. Do show me your other pokemon when you have the time."

Professor Oak left shorly after. Ares and Jenny spent the rest of the day and the next sharing their information and experiences. It would be best if they got to know each other better, now that they would go traveling together for the unforeseen future.

While Jenny hadn't gone on a pokemon journey yet, she did graduate as a Police trainee. Considering the time she was going through, her family had given her some time off to come to terms with the situation.

Something Jenny took advantage of to go out on her own and gain experience as a trainer.

So far her only partners were her mom's Growlithe and a Rapidash. She had wanted to get more familiar with fire-type pokemon in general, before she got her own Growlithe. The situation where she finally got her Growlithe, was however the worst scenario.

As Jenny had shown her pokemon to Ares, he showed her his as well.

Going towards the laboratory's grasslands, the place near the lake, Ares took out all his pokemon. Standing in front of Jenny were Ares's Lapras, Horsea, Clefairy, Pidgeot, Pikachu, Lucario, Umbreon, Charizard and Beldum.

The only one who was absent was Mew, but that was obvious. No need to show a mythical pokemon to someone he was not yet familiar with. He hadn't even shown Mew to professor Oak or his family.

The pokemon all got to know each other, playing around when they were comfortable enough with the others.

"You've already gotten yourself a lot of pokemon. I need to catch up!"

Jenny became more pumped up at the foresight, already imagining herself as the strongest Jenny in the police corps.

Letting his pokemon and Jenny get used to each other, Ares dropped by in the lab, seeing professor Oak talking excitedly with an aqcuintance of him, professor Elm. Hanging up shortly after Ares entered, Ares finally had the time to share all of his findings during his journey, as well the pictures and recording he had made from the underground cave.

Professor Oak was ecstatic, replaying the recording over and over, writing down all kinds of things. Leaving professor Oak to himself, Ares spent the remainder of his time with the new additions of his team, getting to know all of them better.

*

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After a week spent filled with preparations for their coming journey, Ares spent his last day at home at his leisure. It would be a long time before he could see his mom and the rest again, so he didn't want to spend that time training, like he had done the last week. Today he would have a get together of his family and the Ketchum family. It would be a rambunctious evening with the two young boys.

Having come to visit early, Ash was sitting at the table, excitedly sharing his tale of the pokemon camp he had visited a month ago. At his side was Gary, who looked at Ash like he was an idiot.

"Ashy boy overslept. Again. How many times has this been? The seventh? I wouldn't be surprised if you oversleep on the day we get our started pokemon."

Gary snickered, his hand tapping on the sole pokeball on his belt, his Horsea.

"Shut up Gary! My alarm broke, again."

Ash exclaimed, taking out his own pokeball, the one holding his Horsea as well.

Ares watched amused how the two of them bickered back and forth, both getting even more annoyed with the other than before.

"I'm leaving, I don't have the time to spend with this loser. I need to train my Horsea to prepare for my future journey. I don't want a weakling on my team, especially considering the potential it has. Smell ya later, Ares."

Gary left the room first, leaving a fumming Ash behind, who didn't know how to respond to that.

"You're the loser, Gary!"

Was all Ash came up with as he left through the other door.

Following silently behind them, Ares spotted Gary and Ash both training their Horsea, though they had differing methods of doing so.

While Gary focussed of Horsea mastering its moveset and battle tactics, Ash was playing with it, getting to know it better before he even tried to train it.

It was rather odd to see two different methods being displayed in front of him, though both seemed to work rather well. They really showed the differences in their characters.

"They are working hard for kids. It will take a few more years before they can start their own journey. I wonder how strong their pokemon will be then?"

Jenny muttered, as she had followed shortly after him to watch.

"I can't wait to see them when the time comes. I bet they will be great trainers."

Ares added, smiling as he imagined it. Gary being the more serious and confident trainer, battling his way through the gyms with strategy and different moves.

While Ash would surely go headfirst into the battle, not even knowing the type advantages and disadvantages. Ash wasn't too good at using his head when it came to the theoretical part of pokemon battling. The only way Ash would learn it was the hard way. By losing battles and encountering setbacks on his journey.

It was amusing, to say the least.

"Let's check our stuff for the last time. We'll leave tomorrow at dawn."

Ares said as he headed back in, making sure he had everything ready. He hated going back to collect some forgotten items.