234 CH3 (233), Choosing A Weapon/Eggy Hatches
The next day Mr. Burns came back to me and handed me a timetable that showed which teacher could supervise which subject on either Giratiday or Palkiday.
They set the preliminary order to first week Aura Speech and Internal Aura Manipulation, second-week Emotion Sensing, third week Aura Sensing, and fourth-week External Aura Manipulation.
I was told I could change that order or the period by simply telling the teacher which week I wanted to shift the subject or that I was going to postpone the next session.
Weapon Handling was also on that timetable but it was marked as weekly and showed at which times Mr.Burns was available. The same rule regarding the period or postponement applied for this one. The academy was really going out of its way to accommodate my wants.
I was even feeling as if they were going too far since the poor teachers had to follow my whim to a certain extent. When I told that to Mr. Burns just laughed good-naturedly and told me that as long as I kept thinking like that their effort would not have gone to waste.
I think he meant my concern/respect for others but honestly, I'm not sure, so just nodded before I told him that I accepted the order. I then told him which period I wanted the sessions to be at, before leaving for my next class.
Since I chose to have the weapon handling session during two of the three free periods I had on Giratiday, I met Mr. Burns once more at that time. We met in front of our classroom and he led me to the Academy Gym, or rather to one of the adjacent facilities which I assumed was a storage facility.
I was proven wrong when I was confronted with a dojo that had a multitude of different wooden weapons displayed/hung on the upper half of one of its walls. Actually, according to Mr. Burns, I was right and this used to be a storage room, but they renovated it into a small gym/dojo for my lessons.
At that, I once more felt that they were overdoing it a bit, and Mr. Burns seemed to have noticed that since he just pat me on my shoulder and told me that it was no problem for the academy.
He added that now that they had made it, the room could be reused in case another talented student showed an interest in weapons. Moreover, the faculty staff could use it as well, so there was no waste of effort or money even if no such students showed up for a while.
After properly entering the dojo I saw that 3 of the wall had weapons on them, not just one. I already had an idea of what type of weapon I wanted to learn the handling of, but when Mr. Burns told me to try out all the weapons first, to see which one I had a natural inclination to, I agreed.
There were more than 80 wooden weapons hung upon that wall, from the regular staff-, spear-, saber-, sword-, rapier-, dagger-, and bow variants to more exotic weapons like needles, maces, whips, chain-sickles, morning stars, and even things like whip swords. There was even a variety of shields on the wall as well.
I began going through the weapons, and it became apparent after trying out the third spear that I just did not particularly like them, the same was true for staffs, maces, morning stars, and sickles.
I tried out a variety of sabers, swords, and rapiers before deciding that I preferred swords more out of those three categories. Still, out of all available sword types I preferred the shorter ones/short swords.
I tried the daggers as well, and while I found them easy to use and practical, I thought they were too short. I also tried out the bows, throwing daggers, throwing knives, and needles. Among these, I preferred the needles, especially since I could use my psychic abilities in concert with the needles turning them more dangerous.
Finally tried the whips before trying the sword whip. I liked the last one even if it was probably the hardest or among the hardest to use among the options. Once I was done checking the available weapons, I turned to Mr. Burn who had been patiently observing me.
"I made my choice," I told him and he signaled me to continue. "For long-range, I choose the throwing needles. For short-range I want a pair of short swords, though I have to ask if we have some wooden models of a pair that is a bit shorter than this one."
"Are you ambidextrous? Learning to wield two swords is harder than one, so if you aren't ambidextrous I wouldn't recommend it." He inquired while giving out some advice.
"Yeah, I can use both hands to the same degree," I returned, and it was true as well. I used both hands alternatively while learning to write and draw just for this.
"Alright then," he accepted before ruminating a bit. "The Ranger Sword should fulfill your request. It's 40 cm long, with a 25 cm blade and a 15 cm handle. It is popular among many of the rangers, which is also where it got its name from," Mr. Burns recommended and I nodded since that sounded about right.
"Also, besides those two I want to learn how to use a whip sword for the middle range," I added and I saw Mr. Burns looking a bit concerned.
"Are you sure? Whip swords are extremely hard to use proficiently. Learning how to use one will be even harder than learning to dual wield. It will take you years to just use the whip sword correctly much less use it proficiently. It should take you even longer since your not only focusing on that one," he asked with obvious misgivings.
"Yeah, I want to try it. I have more than enough time to get it down, so I'm not in a hurry," I assured him and he accepted after seeing that I was serious.
"Good, then we'll start with the dual ranger swords and the needles. Once you've shown some progress with those two, we'll go over the basics of the whip sword. Anyway, our session today is over, so we'll begin with the correct way to grip the swords and needles during the session next week."
I was surprised that the two periods were already over, but a quick glance at my watch confirmed that the periods had indeed passed.
"You plan to attend the next session, right?" Mr. Burns inquired and I nodded.
"Yes, definitely. Thank you for helping me," I thanked him and he waved me off with a smile before we went our ways. I went to my next geography class and Mr. Burns went wherever teachers went when they are not needed.
The first Aura Speech and Internal Aura Manipulation sessions on Palkiday were used by Mr. Smiles and Ms. Yu to go over the stuff we learned at the academy to make sure I had it down pat, before starting on new stuff during the next session in a month.
During the next Giratiday, Mr. Burns showed me how to correctly grip the sword. He had me put down as well as lift the ranger sword with each hand and corrected me each time I deviated from the correct grip.
He also showed me the correct way to hold the needles to make it possible to throw them properly. This took up the whole session and he told me he would show me basic sword stances during our next session, along with the way to release the needles, which we did for the next two sessions.
He corrected any deviations in my basic movements but said that I needed to focus on repetitions right now. As for the sessions on the other subjects, Ms. Brown, Ms. Nord, and Mr. Koetsuji also followed the example of Mr. Smiles and Ms. You, so we only went over previous stuff.
Now, outside the Academy, we continued with the pressure training for the whole month, and as previously decided it had been Enji/Growlithe, Thor/Pikachu, as well as Luna/Clefairy's turn.
I actually went around searching for (high) silver-stage opponents for them and only challenged (mid) silver-stage ones if they were fully evolved Pokemon like Cacturne, Exploud, or Ursaring. Otherwise, the three did not get pressured enough by Pokemon at the same substage as them.
Well, actually pitting Thor against (mid) silver stage ground types worked as well, so I guess counters like that also counted among the acceptable challenges.
As a result of our effort during this month, the trio made some visible progress. Besides the improvement of some of their moves, Luna elevated her Vitality to C, which was her first one.
Thor raised his Energy Capacity, or special attack in canon terms even if that was not wholly accurate, to C as well which was his second one. Finally, my good boy Enji elevated his Strength to C which was also his first parameter to reach C.
Right now, I was in front of Eggy waiting for him to hatch. The egg had shown all indications of its imminent hatching, so I have been sitting here since I left the academy at 11:25 a.m. Well, I first went home, before entering Utopia, but that took less than 15 minutes.
That was more than three hours ago and in that time the signs had intensified. Then suddenly the egg lit up and energy got funneled into it, increasing the intensity of the light and its size. When the light settled the egg vanished, it was turned into energy and absorbed by the hatchling.
All that remained in its place was a baby Salandit. 30 to 40 cm in length, which was roughly half the size of a grown one. He would reach his full size within a few months since baby Pokemon reached their full length pretty fast due to the circumstances of their lives.
Utopia did its thing optimizing his genes and improving his potential, but he didn't feel a thing. No, the first thing Eggy, the baby Salandit, did was to take a look at his surroundings.
All Pokemon babies were able to do most actions straight after hatching, but that was something many animal babies in my previous life could do, so not really surprising.
As soon as Eggy's eyes landed on me he turned his full focus on studying me. Then it seemed as if he recognized something in me, probably my aura or a feeling, maybe a smell?
Anyway, he headed straight toward me and began acting all cute, showing that he recognized me as his parent. I stroked the top of his head and he seemed to enjoy it since he leaned into my palm.
I brought out a bottle of Miltank milk and slowly poured the milk into his mouth. Due to his anatomy, he was unable to suck on a bottle nipple, so I chose to slowly feed him the milk myself. After he finished the bottle, I gave him a mush made of Oran berries and ground beef.
Then I spent the next 3 hours bonding with him on my own to solidify his impression of me before I brought him out of the nesting area to present him to the others who had been waiting for us just outside the nesting room.
They made sure to come forward in small groups to avoid grounding the little guy and once everyone got a look we made a group photo to commemorate the event.
After about an hour Eggy released a yawn showing that he was sleepy, so I brought him to the den created for him and laid him on his new bed. I waited until he fell asleep, after which I waited for another 20 minutes to make sure he wouldn't wake up before I softly touched him with an already marked Pokeball I crafted just for him.
I did it for the sake of the artificial bond, and as soon as the capture was complete, and the bond established I let him out again. The little guy was still sleeping peacefully without having noticed anything. I, on the other hand, could now check his full status, which I promptly did.
'Name: None (Eggy)
Species: Salandit
Gender: Male
Age: 1 Day
-
Type: Poison, Fire
Potential: Deep Orange (80.96%)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Oblivious
Talents: None
Affinities: Poison, Fire
-
Bond: Mikail (artificial, weak)
Quirks: None
----
Parameters:
Stage: Stageless (0%)
----
Condition: Healthy, Asleep
----
Masteries:
Poison Energy Manipulation (Initial)
Fire Energy Manipulation (Initial)
----
Techniques:
-
(Unofficial) Initial:
N/A
-
Novice:
Scratch, Poison Gas
-
Beginner:
N/A
-
Proficient:
N/A
-
Advanced:
N/A
-
Mastered:
N/A'
Well, his status was pretty much as I had expected. The Utopia boost improved his potential to deep orange and he was missing less than 20% to light yellow. I was sure that I could fill the rest during his stageless period since I expected this period to last 1 to 2 years.
I was planning to have him progress slow and steady with him, to make the most of every part of the way. He was going to take a long time to progress anyway, so trying to rush things was useless.
The emptiness of his move section was unsurprising as well since it was the same for nearly all baby Pokemon. Anyway, I left after making sure he was fast asleep.
I then assigned Horus/Xatu, Mothra/Butterfree, Luna/Clefairy, and Nyx/Umbreon as his nannies and caretakers. They were the ones that had to keep an eye on him when I was not with him. The four happily accepted the duty, and puffed out their chest, throwing smug looks at the others, at least Nyx was doing so.
I made some dinner for everyone before leaving Utopia. I had to do my weekly clean-up before I went to bed since tomorrow was Kyoday which meant my parents were coming over, and they were not going to leave for missions anymore since dad's access was ending in a few days.
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