528 CH1 (523), Prelude To The Practical Year (1)

The three months I had before my practical year began were the last days I would properly stay at home for at least the next year. I was not counting the occasional visit over the weekend I might be able to fit in, so Mom and Dad decided to stay at home with me during this time.

Dad insisted that he could simply train in the forest close to our home each morning during these three months, so they delayed the training journey he was doing in preparation for the Grand League Tournament. Well, at least, Mom and I were able to offer his Pokemon a decent enough challenge, since the wild Pokemon and trainers in, as well as around, Hope Town couldn't.

Mothra/Butterfree and Stan/Gyarados were more than strong enough to face Dad's team, and Mom's strongest Pokemon were able to apply enough pressure on them as well. Considering the strength of our Pokemon and the impact their battles had on the area, we made sure to battle only twice a week. Yet, I was pretty sure that we had scared and impressed nearly every Pokemon in those woods.

Anyway, the reason I would be gone for nearly the whole next year, was that each phase/step of the practical year would take place in a city that was pretty far away from our hometowns and the city we/I studied in. Moreover, the alliance was providing us with housing in those places, and they were expecting us to actually stay in them during our time there

Further, we were not allowed to leave the area during certain phases such as the military and ranger period of the practical year. Hence, my previous words about being gone from our home for nearly the whole next year.

Actually, aside from me spending time with my parents, occasionally beating up Dad, or at least his Pokemon, as well as spending time with my Pokemon and training, both personal as well as my Pokemon, two "major" events happened during this first month, along with three "minor" ones. Though, one of the "major" events could probably be seen as a "minor" one as well.

Two of the minor events happened before the first major event, which happened to be Rose's 16th birthday on 20.17.2184. The first minor event was Parvati/Beedrill finally starting her official limit-breaking phase.

Honestly, her Endurance's racial value was really dragging her progress speed down, at least compared to her other parameter. Well, aside from her Energy Capacity since that one was only slightly better off than her Endurance. However, aside from those two, Parvati's Strength, Energy Density, Agility, and Vitality parameters had already risen to S.

All this meant that Parvati was already more than halfway through her first round of LB even though she only "started" her LB phase, and honestly, I was pretty sure that at least her Strength would reach the SS value before she managed to finish the first round.

The second minor event was in the same vein as well. Tatsumaki/Alakazam's Endurance reached the regular parameter limit (A-value), which meant that she was officially starting her limit-breaking phase as well. However, unlike Parvati, Tatsumaki only had one of her parameters already at S-value.

Anyway, after those two events, Rose's birthday happened, and Rose made sure to pause her journey for that day, but instead of heading to Orchid City, she came to Hope Town since our parents decided it would be more convenient to celebrate her birthday at our house.

Our house was simply bigger and we had a "garden", so we could freely grill on the veranda while enjoying the nice weather. The girls all managed to make time to show up for the celebration but from the boys, only Kinji, Aaron, and Coco as well as James who accompanied their sisters, showed up. Speaking of James, Rose was actually the one that invited Layla, who had struck a friendship with all the other girls.

Ace couldn't come because he was on duty, but his parents showed up. Most of the other boys on the other hand were casual friends of Rose, whom she knew through to me, so it was not surprising that they did not go out of their way to keep their schedule free. Not to mention that they were actually busy, at least from what they told me.

Anyway, Rose and her parents were the first ones to show up since they came early to help out with preparing everything. Kinji and Aaron showed up early as well for the same reason. They wanted to help out and actually showed up just 20 minutes after the Fields.

By 5 p.m., which was the time we told the others the party would begin, everyone had arrived, and we began the grill birthday party. Dad, Uncle Thorn, Uncle Jacques, and Uncle Roger manned the grill, while Mom, Aunt Lily, Aunt Willow, and Aunt Rouge sat on the veranda to accompany them.

Meanwhile, we talked about our respective journeys and matters. Though we mostly kept our part short and focused more on Rose's journey since it was her day. Rose actually ended up surprising all of us that day. It had been nearly a full year since she began her journey, and by now she had collected/earned 4 of the 5 1-star Ribbons she needed to qualify for the Rookie/Minor Festival next year.

Rose declared that she wanted to aim for the 2-star Ribbons next after she earned her 5th 1-star Ribbon. While she was unsure if she would be able to get all 5 2-star Ribbons within the 22 months until the upcoming Rookie/Minor Festival, she wanted to try her best to do so. Besides, the more 2-star Ribbons she managed to earn, the more preliminary rounds she would be able to skip.

For most rookies/firsties, those being trainers around their first year, earning even a single 2-star Ribbins was a high hurdle since they had to beat a 2-star Contest Hall member before an on-call jury to qualify for the 2-star difficulty.

The reason that was hard for most rookies was that each 2-star Contest Hall member was a certified Junior-class trainer, which meant that everyone that managed to take part in the 2-star Ribbon challenge was strong enough to qualify as a Junior-class trainer.

Though that was not a problem for Rose since her Pokemon had reached the necessary strength long ago. In fact, Rose's team was roughly as strong as that of a fresh Senior-class trainer. The only reason she had not won all her 1-star contests so far was that she ended up losing against more experienced Coordinators by running out of points.

Still, she was earning more experience with each Contest she took part in so nothing that happened was in vain. One thing was certain, Rose would be able to smoothly rank up to the Senior Class after she participated in the Minor Festival, and with all the experience she was gathering, I was optimistic about her chances of actually winning the Minor Festival in one go.

Anyway, Rose's birthday was a success, and it was also the first time Rose saw me after my latest maturity/growth boost. I no longer looked like a teenager, but a young adult, whose looks/body had finally settled, so my body went from looking like a 16/17-year old to around the age of 21/22.

Rose pouted a bit at the fact that she had to crane her head again to look at my face, and I could not help but pat her head when she complained about that, which made the others laugh and her pout even more. Still, her complaint was only slightly exaggerated since she was 165 cm tall which was roughly half a head smaller than my 182 cm.

I would stay like this for a long, long time, and I didn't mind. I had surpassed my dad's 179 cm, which was enough for me to tease him with, and I was happy with my height. In my opinion, the 180 to 183 cm range was the optimal one, and I was thankful that I had not grown beyond it.

Though I knew that there were many people out there who thought that the 185 to 190 cm range was the optimal one, while others thought that 190+ cm was better. However, as I said that was a matter of personal preference, and everyone was entitled to think what they wanted.

Moving on, during the days after Rose's Birthday, before major event number 2, another minor event happened. Tyson/Machamp began his limit-breaking phase as well, and while he did not have an exaggerated start like Parvati's 4S-value start, his 2S-value start was still more impressive than Tatsumaki's 1Sv start had been.

Well, with Tyson's minor event out of the way, we were left with the last major event of the 17th month, which was actually a phone call from none other than Professor Oak. He called me to inform me that the matter of my practical year had been settled.

The professor assured me that he had made sure that I would be sent to the best possible locations during each phase of my practical year. Though he did add that best did not always mean agreeable or nice, and that I would most likely, read definitely, have a much harder time than nearly all the other trainees, both physically and mentally.

If that did not sound ominous I did not know what did, but I thought that a harder training period was better for me than an easy one, so I didn't mind that. Professor Oak chuckled when I told him that, and he actually advised me to do my best to keep that mindset up for as long as I could.

Before he hung up, he shared that he sent me the 3 tentative schedules the Kanto government/alliance had come up with for now. According to the professor, the alliance would choose one of these 3 plans and announce it at the start of the 19th month as the official plan for my/the upcoming practical year.

They would send out the assignment notice around the middle of the month so that everyone knew close to half a month in advance where they would have to head to at the start of the next month.

After Professor Oak hung up, I opened my mailbox to look at the three prospective schedules. There were two points that all 3 plans had in common. One, each plan contained the 10 departments/organizations we would be assigned to, and two, each schedule had one of the active/physical parts at the start, in the middle, and at the end.

I also confirmed that the 10 locations were the ones from my research, which was not surprising since those were the places Weiss, Rose, and Ace had been assigned to last year. Still, it was good to know that nothing had changed.

The 10 places were the Military, Police, Rangers, Hospital, PokeCenter, Orphanage, Nursing Home, Disaster Relief Department/Organization, Logistic Department/Firm, and Finance Department/Bureau. As for the three schedules I was not really sure which one I preferred since I thought they all seemed reasonable enough.

The first schedule had the Military at the start, followed by a Hospital, a PokeCenter, and then the Police. After that came an Orphanage, a Nursing Home, Logistic Department/Firm, Finance Department/Bureau, Disaster Relief, and finally the Rangers.

The second schedule started with the Rangers. Afterward came Disaster Relief, a PokeCenter, a Hospital, and then the Police. That was followed by a Logistic Department/Firm, a Finance Department/Bureau, an Orphanage, a Nursing Home, and finally the Military.

The third/final schedule started with the Police, which was then followed by Disaster Relief, an Orphanage, a Nursing Home, and then the Military. Next up was a PokeCenter, a Hospital, a Finance Department/Bureau, a Logistic Department/Firm, and finally the Rangers.

When I showed the tentative plans/schedules to my parents, Mom thought that the third one was better, while Dad believed that the first one was the best one. I briefly considered posting the schedules to my friend's chat group to ask the others for their opinion but ultimately decided against it.

Even though Professor Oak did not say that I shouldn't spread it, this was still something he took from the alliance which had yet to be published, so I felt that not spreading it was better.

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