Chapter 69

As the two followed the prompts on the screen, they took photos in normal poses, some with funny props, and some with goofy expressions. As it was coming to an end, the last photo was a free-for-all, meaning they could take a picture doing whatever they wanted. Ally already had enough fun and just smiled towards the camera expecting to take a normal picture but then Jax called her name.

"Hey, Ally." Turning her head to see what Jax wanted to say, she was met with his chin? While she turned, Jax had leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead! Not knowing how to process the situation, Ally turned tomato red like she used to and blanked out. Chuckling at her innocent expression, Jax left the booth and took the picture strip with their photos and walked away.

Evelyn didn't see what was on the photos but not seeing her friend walk out, she went into the booth only to find her bestfriend hunched over covering her red face with her hands. 'What did that boy do this time!?' Being none-the-wiser, Evelyn tried asking her friend what happened only to be greeted by her squeals and fanning her face.

While the two girls were still back at the booth, Jax had already walked off and was looking at the stalls by himself. Not paying attention to where he was walking, he inevitably bumped into someone's back. Looking up, he noticed that person he had bumped into was a woman with long, blonde hair in all black apparel. After apologizing, the woman walked off but Jax noticed that she had dropped something when he bumped into her.

Running off after the woman to return the dropped item, Jax called out towards her, "Hey! Miss! You dropped this!"

Looking back, the woman felt around her waist and noticed that she had indeed dropped something. Smiling, she walked towards the boy chasing after her and said, "You hold onto that for me. It must be fate that you were the one who picked it up. If you ever meet my grandmother one day, you can hand it over to her."

As the woman walked away, Jax looked down at the item he was suddenly entrusted with. It looked like a trinket made out of some pokemon's bone tied by a red string. Looking at the shape, it reminded him of one half of the Chinese yin-yang symbol he was familiar with on Earth. 'What the heck. I don't even know her and she just left me with this necklace? And give it to her grandmother? I don't even know her; how would I know who her grandmother is?'

Seeing no use in pondering over the matter, Jax headed back towards the Count's estate since it would be too much trouble finding the girls in this crowd. As night fell, Jax thought back about his earlier battles and felt troubled. He had all this knowledge from his previous life but with his limitations, mainly, his age, Jax couldn't use them to his advantage. It's been a year since his mother's disappearance and he was feeling rushed to grow stronger and set off to go find her.

'Feeling frustrated won't make me stronger. I can only speed up my pace. I'm only 7 years old but already have three pokemon close to the elite rank. By next year, they should all enter the level 70s if not 80s. Once they do, exploring the Great Beyond won't be impossible.' Sleeping with that thought in mind, Jax dreamed of the day he was reunited with his mother. He even saw the shape of a man who he could only assume to be his dad.

Waking up and eating breakfast with the Count's family once again for the last time, Jax didn't know what to do! Ally was clearly avoiding him! While eating his food with his pokemons, Ally walked into the dining room but once she saw him, she ran back out! "Tsk. Maybe I acted too soon."

"Stupid brother. A girl's heart is as delicate as glass. You should have waited for a better moment."

"I'm happy that you finally initiated things first thought, JJ!"

"U-umm. Maybe she's just s-shy? I saw her b-blushing earlier."

As boy and pokemons ate their meal and conversed, the subject of their conversation was currently face-down on her bed kicking her feet in the air. 'AHHH! I don't know what to do! Every time I see him, I just turn red and my body moves before I know it! Ugh. Evie told me what she saw last year. Why did he do that if he already has someone else? Confusing!'

With enough exploring, the three kids decided to spend the rest of the day just relaxing around the estate. Since the third day was just a parade with the royal family strutting around town, none of the kids were really excited for it. The final event was the thing they were looking forward to! A giant fireworks show!

With nothing else to do, Jax went to go visit his teacher, Sabrina at the Psychic Tower since he was already in the Empire. Over the past year, he finally beat Floor 8 and consolidated his psychic powers to level 8, as well. Even if he couldn't beat Floor 9, it was out of respect that he was visiting his teacher. While he was doing that, the two girls back at the estate were busy coming up with a battle strategy!

"That scumbag! To take advantage of the situation and k-kiss your forehead! Unforgivable!

"Stop! Don't say it out loud! Ugh. After you told me about last year, I was ready to give up on him. But he comes around and does little things like this that just makes me…notice him."

"Hmph! You're just too easy to tease! Honestly, I haven't seen that little that was with him last year around lately. Maybe they already split up. If you really l-like him, I'll support your decision!"

"Ugh. It's because you keep saying things like that that I get my hopes up. I'll ask him tonight before the fireworks. It's about time he made it clear who he likes: me or that random girl!"

With fighting spirit, Ally just made a shocking declaration! The once shy girl was now burning with determination not to lose against this mystery girl! Will our hero be able to safely dodge this situation or will he fall before even seeing a glimpse of Team Rocket and his dad? Will Jax tell Ally the truth behind the gunmetal grey-haired girl? About Kami-sama? Earth? Or will he run away from her honest feelings and set off on a lone journey? Find out in our next chapter!