Chapter 15: 12 Years of Age

Tomorrow was Arks 12th birthday. Time had flown by without much disturbance, his days a mixture of training and flirting.before he was aware, he had already become 12. In the Pokemon universe he knew of, Trainers left at the age of 10 yet here they did not. While he was told this fact beforehand, he still was anxious but it seemed that the tenth birthday was just treated like a normal birthday. As trainers left at 16, every birthday before that wasn't exactly given too much celebration. That was all except the 12th. On a childs 12th birthday, they officially graduate from regular school. This means Ark no longer has to study basic subjects such as Maths or English. For someone like Ark who despises written tests, this was a true achievement. After graduation, Children can choose further education or use the years to gain experience doing something they wish to.

Ark had decided to volunteer at Professor Oaks lab one day a week so that he can make sure he is prepared with enough knowledge before his journey. While he was able to remember the story pretty well from his previous memories, he has since come to realise that reality is much more different. For example, making money and the dangers of Pokemon were true threats to his livelihood.

Ark was laid in bed staring at the ceiling, his thoughts were occupied about tomorrow. Looking at the time, he decided it was time to sleep. He turned over and pushed all of his previous thoughts to the back of his mind.

The morning of his 12th birthday, Ark was laid in bed. It was already 10am and his Mother had come in multiple times telling him that there were already guests downstairs waiting for him. To some Ark may seem rude, however the identity of the guests were the true reason for Ark pretending to stay asleep in bed. Right now, Ark was making a huge gamble that will decide his mood for the rest of the day.

Footsteps sounded outside his door. They did not knock or speak, instead they slowly opened the door. Ark was furiously straining his eyes closed so as not to give away the fact that he was awake, had he seen the identity of the intruder, he would have smiled. As Ark was growing closer to his breaking point, he felt a soft object sit on the end of his bed.

"Come on Mister Sleepy head, your Mother has already called you. Stop pretending, soon she will lose her temper"

The soft voice drifted to Arks ears, his eyes shot open as he sat up immediately. His gamble had paid off as the first person he saw on his 12th birthday was in fact Delia. Over the span of the past 4 years, the two had grown much closer. They now shared hugs whenever they met or separated. of course neither had voiced any feelings, Ark knew that Delia had not fallen in love with him yet, but he was aware that he was slowly worming his way into her heart. The only barrier he needed to wait to overcome now was age, once he hit 16, he could finally start a more serious pursuit of Delia.

"Good Morning Delia, I'm so thankful to be greeted by such a beautiful sight on my birthday morning!"

They both chuckled as Ark stood up, they both knew the reason he stayed in was to get Delia to come up. His sole intentions was to make Delia the first person he saw on the morning of his birthday.

From the bed, a small lump gradually moved out of the covers.

-Goo..d Mor..ning-

Sylph had also been studying with Ark to improve her speech. It could now speak more clearly than before and it now knew more words than before.

Ark picked up Sylph and kissed it's forehead before giving her to Delia.

"I will meet you both downstairs. I need to get ready"

With this, Delia and Sylph went downstairs while Ark went to get ready.

As the time was late, and they already had prior plans, Ark skipped breakfast and headed towards Professor Oaks lab with Delia, his mother and Ash.

When they arrived, the door was wide open and banners of Happy Birthday were pasted all around. As Ark walked in, a huge amount of voices shouted

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY"

Lined up across the walls, various people were stood with smiles on their faces, they were neighbours, shop keepers and even the craftsmen that let Ark borrow the axe to create his training ground. While it was true that Ark did not interact with these people much, they still watched Ark grow up from afar. Plus it wasn't a stretch to say that Ark was the hope of Pallet town as his potential was equal if not higher than the towns very own Gary Oak. Speaking of which, Gary was also stood in the back. He and Ark had interacted a few times and it was obvious that a rivalry had been born except unlike with Ash, Gary acknowledged that Ark was worthy of respect thus he remained silent and clapped along.

Seeing all of these people here to congratulate him, Ark smiled before saying thank you to them all. Ark did not enjoy long speeches, so he kept it short and precise.

"Thank you everyone for coming here today! It is only a few more years until myself, Gary and Ash leave the town of Pallet to test ourselves in Kanto, and we owe all of our current growth to you all. Therefore, I must say thank you on behalf of the younger generation! With that out of the way, please enjoy!"

After he had spoken, Ark dashed to the buffet table and started to eat everything he saw. Seeing the food being depleted at an alarming rate, everyone else swarmed the table.

Once he had finished stuffing his face, Ark backed away and went to stand with Delia. He carried two plates full of healthy food, one for Delia, the other for his Mother. The three spoke and laughed before Ark felt someone approaching him from behind.

"Hey Ash. You're going to be working in Gramps' lab right?"

Gary asked Ark, his tone showed that he was in a sour mood. The chances were he had most likely just spoken to ash. For some strange reason Gary cannot stop himself from getting annoyed with Ash.

"Indeed I am Gary, why do you ask?"

Gary stared at Ark and a look of displeasure crossed his face.

"Don't be interfering with Gramps ya hear! He is doing important research, and he doesn't need someone dragging him down!"

Ark frowned. This was not his first run in with a displeased Gary however it was the first time Gary had been so clearly hostile to him. As well as that, it seemed to be without a valid reason too. Ark took a deep breath before answering.

"Do not worry about that. I intend to learn for my journey, I will worry about myself, I think it's yourself you should truly be worrying about"

Though his words were polite, the venom they contained was deadly. Gary bared his teeth, he was not usually the one receiving shade.

"Hmm just you wait, I will show you what a real genius is. In 4 more years you will be nothing more than old news, this Gary Oak will show you!"

Gary shouted. Ark just shook his head before choosing to ignore him. In 4 years, Ark decided to make sure Gary knew his place. Should Ark choose to punish Gary now, he may lose his placement in Professor Oaks lab for the next 4 years.

Feeling that he won, Gary strolled away with a smirk on his face. Professor Oak saw this and just shook his head helplessly.

"My, Youth are so hot-blooded."

Delia chuckled as she watched Gary walk away. She had watched the proceedings and was surprised ark did not flip out. Though the moment she remembered what Ark was like, she thought it would have been amusing if he had. After all, for all those that knew of him, they were aware that Arks physical and mental strength is similar to that of the average young adults.

"Very true, Ahhh to be young"

Arks mother chipped in. She had watched the events with a smile as she knew Ark had more mental control than to flip out at a child misbehaving.

"You two are acting like you're old. To me you both seem like beautiful young woman brimming with youth"

Ark decided to slip in a flirtatious comment to use the situation to his advantage. It worked as Delia and his Mother had bright smiles on their faces. When night fell, Ark and his mother decided to walk Delia and Ash home. When they were separating, Delia hugged Ark tightly and said 'happy birthday' one more time. As usual, ash remained oblivious and just went straight inside after a quick goodbye. With this, Arks 12th birthday passed and life continued on as normal.