CH82 (212), Graduation & Farewell?!?

I spent the weekend unwinding from the stress, the sheer number of exams involuntarily caused me. I did go over my notes on the last four courses, but that took less than four hours of my Grouday.

On Arcday I first went through the "Chemistry" exam, before finishing the "Emotion Sensing II" with Ace and Weiss. I only had to go through those two, but they had another exam waiting for them, so I wished them good luck and went home.

Mewday felt like the dawn of a new day after a long night full of terrors for all students that went through the exams. They only had to finish the exams today and they would finally be free. To an extent, I felt like that as well despite not struggling as much as they did, or at all for that matter.

It was the psychological burden of going into test after test that drained me. So, despite having to go through a math-heavy exam like "Physics", and the hardest aura-centric exam "Internal Aura Manipulation" I felt happy, happy to be done with it all.

For everyone except for the third-year students, a leisure period had started that would go on until the last academy day when they would receive their report cards.

For the third-year students on the other hand competition season had begun, at least for those that managed to qualify. I knew that so I addressed all of my third-year classmates after the "Internal Aura Manipulation" exam to ask them if they wanted to go out for lunch together.

Everyone agreed and we clamored about where to go since they decided against RFP. I suggested the steakhouse I brought my parents to, as that started another round of discussions since there were too many people who wanted to invite the rest.

In the end, it was decided that Ace, Weiss, I, and three others would split the bill. The whole thing was pretty funny since we showed up as a group of 22 students. We had to wait 20 minutes until enough seats were free, but once that happened we filled more than a third of the tables in the restaurant.

We politely asked if we could combine two tables to allow more of us to sit close to each other and the owner was nice enough to allow it. We stayed there for close to two hours and the bill, tip included, was 1500 Poke, so each of those paying contributed 250 Poke.

The next day the inter-academy selection happened and all third-year students, except for me who was only counted as a part-time third-year student, participated.

The four students that won, managed to qualify for both the personal combat and regular Pokemon battle categories. All four were individuals that had shown promise in the excursion.

The four winners were Ace, and Weiss, as well as Pierre Durant and Clarissa Clairmont. Surprisingly all Pokemon battles were 3-vs-3 including the global competition.

The rationale behind that seemed that 3 Pokemon with top capabilities was the maximum kids of that age group could raise. At least that was what history had proven.

The principal gave a short speech about them representing our academy. He announced their prizes, which were contribution points and a cash reward.

The principal also introduced the person who was going to supervise them during the following competitions, and surprisingly it was someone I knew. Mr. Cameron would be the team leader and Ms. Yu was his assistant.

The next day the second phase started and went on for three days. While I and everyone else could not watch the first two days on-site due to the competition happening in Saffron City, the battles of our students were shown in the auditorium.

Many of us did travel to Saffron City for the final day of phase 2 since it was a Kyoday. Heck, the Academy teachers organized travel groups for those interested, and all of us cheered for our participants.

Our results were not bad at all. In the personal combat category, Weiss and Pierre made it into the Top 16, with Weiss making it into the Top 4. Another one of my acquaintances that made it into the Top 16 was Erza who made it to the Top 8.

The others were from psychic, astral, or elemental academies. Honestly, besides Erza there was only one more person who made it to the Top 16 using martial prowess.

As for the Pokemon battles category, Pierre barely made it to the Top 16, Ace made it into the Top 8, and Weiss made it into the Top 4. Erza from the Knight academy made it into the Top 16 as well.

Unlike the personal category, the other 12 representatives of Kanto for this one were from all kinds of academies and elite schools. We celebrated Pierre, Ace, and Weiss's success, and I went up to Erza to congratulate her as well.

From Arcday, 26.16.79, to Palkiday, 29.16.79, the battles to determine the 16 students that would represent the continent waged on. Sadly, we were unable to watch any of the battles on-site since they were happening in Hoenn this year, but we followed the battles in the auditorium.

Ace and Weiss managed to make it to the Top 16 for Pokemon combat, while Weiss also made it to the Top 16 for personal combat. Pierre, unfortunately, didn't make it in either group.

Erza didn't make it for either group as well, but she barely lost out on the Pokemon front. It was an unlucky match-up really that cost her a place in the Top 16.

I naturally called her to comfort her after her loss, but she was not as sad as one would expect. She told me that things like that happened and that luck was an important factor as well.

Meanwhile, our academy was on fire due to Weiss and Ace making it to the Global competition. Especially Weiss, who made it to the global stage in both categories.

Even if the personal combat one had more to do with her ice-elemental abilities than her aura. She was a student of the Aaron Aura Academy and that was the important bit for everyone.

The principal announced that he would bring along everyone to the competition venue as long as one of them made it to the quarterfinals. Considering that the global competition was held in Sinnoh this year that was kind of a big deal.

The first three rounds of the personal combat competition were held first, and unfortunately, Weiss lost her third personal battle against someone from Ransei called Hideyoshi.

The guy was a fire elemental and "expert" martial artist. The way he fought made him kinda look like a fire bender, and I had to admit it looked pretty cool.

While everyone was disappointed that she had lost, they were proud that she made it to the Top 16. I called Weiss a few minutes after her loss to encourage her, and we talked for a bit before she hung up. I felt relieved since she sounded fine, and I'm not talking about the false "I'm fine".

Anyway, the whole thing only took till 11 a.m and the teachers made use of the 30 minutes break between competitions to hand out our report cards.

If I was not as interested in the competition as everyone else, I would have laughed at the way the solemn affair of handing out report cards was treated. A look inside showed me what I had already been expecting, straight A's across the board.

Unsurprisingly, no one left after receiving their reports, most likely because watching the competition on the giant screen in the auditorium was much better than watching it at home.

After the break, Ace lost his first battle against someone from Galar, named Raihan. His loss caused a mass outcry of dismay, but no one blamed Ace in their outbursts, they blamed his luck. Raihan had a Sliggoo and a Turtonator, which was impressive and not a good match-up for Ace.

I called him as well after his loss, and he sounded disappointed at his loss. When I told him that the match-up had been unlucky, he said that they were just not strong enough and that there was no need to blame his luck.

He declared that he would train and challenge Raihan at a later date, once he was sure he could beat him. I had to smile at his determination and wished him luck telling him that I believe in him.

After Ace, it was Weiss's turn, and she won her first and second battle, raising everyone's excitement with each victory. They all started thinking about watching the quarterfinals on-site, but she lost her third Pokemon battle.

The disappointment was palpable and the collective outcry of dismay was legendary. I practically heard how the dreams of some people regarding the trip to Sinnoh shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.

The person she lost to actually came from Orre, and his name was Ryuuto. I was not a hundred percent sure, but he could have been one of the protagonists of canon, but there was no way to be 100% sure. He did have an Espeon though.

Still, their early losses meant that they would make it to the graduation ceremony for the third-year students at 4:30 p.m, which was in an hour and a half. Now, many would wonder how the two could make it here in 90 minutes from the furthest continent to Kanto and Rota.

The answer was as simple as impressive, I knew that Mr. Cameron had a Gallade, so I was sure that he could bring them back after Weiss's loss via Teleport.

Almost everyone continued watching the competition since the academy staff was not so petty that they would stop the projection due to our student's loss.

An hour later Mr. Cameron appeared with the Academy delegation. As soon as they appeared the principal began clapping and everyone followed suit. Congratulations were thrown around as well.

I went up to Weiss and Ace to hug them both. I offered my congratulations, and we talked about their experiences overseas. I also learned that they had already received their report cards from Mr. Cameron.

We were interrupted when our phones began to ring at the same time. It turned out that our parents had shown up for the graduation ceremony, mine included, and they met outside the academy gate.

The reason my parents came to the graduation ceremony was that I was invited as well due to theoretically graduating from my aura-centric classes.

There were still, 15 minutes until the ceremony, so the third-year students along with some of the teachers went to Auditorium B while the rest of the students along with some teachers kept watching the competition on the big screen.

A lot of adults, presumably parents, our parents included, were already waiting inside the auditorium. Each pair went up to their respective child for a hug, which I returned. A look to my right and left showed me that I was not the only one.

Mom and dad asked to see my report card and I directly handed it over. They smiled happily seeing all A's and praised me for doing a good job. I found it funny since they went about it in their usual way by adding things like "as expected of my son."

Still, after they felt they had praised me enough they turned to Weiss and Ace to congratulate them for both graduating, as well as their great performance during the last few days.

While we were talking the principal went up to the podium and did a short speech, praising everyone before addressing a few students directly especially Ace and Weiss due to their success at the competition.

After him, some teachers went up as well praising a few students myself included. Afterward, they started handing out the graduation certificates to each student. A lot of photos were taken by proud parents and I saw the Gold's and Schnee's taking photos as well.

My parents took some as well, once I received my certificate, which by the way was different compared to the others due to being only for the aura-centric courses.

After they took some photos of just me, they took some of Ace, Weiss, and me together, before asking the others to take a picture of me and my parents. They did the same for Ace and Weiss with their parents. Finally, we also took a photo with all third-year students and another one that included the teachers.

By the time we were done with the photoshoot turned ceremony it was close to 6 p.m, and the competition was over. The funny thing was that both of Weiss's opponents went on to win the whole thing in their respective categories.

So, with everything being over, we left the Academy and our families went out for a dinner in one of the finer restaurants. Only after the dinner, while we were saying our goodbyes did I learn that this was a bigger farewell than I had expected.

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