CH132 (362), Until The Next Time, Rota (3)

The definitely not date, no matter what mom was trying to tease me with, went pretty great. Erza was not one for sad farewells, so our simple meeting between good friends was more us hanging out one more time before we got to see each other again than it was us saying goodbye.

We actually went inside the coliseum and Erza ended up booking us a spot since she wanted to test her Pokemon against some of mine. Still, the slot she got was for two hours later, so we first went to eat lunch before we strolled around the area a bit just talking until it was time for our fight.

Since the coliseum could be considered an open place, there were a few spectators during our battle. We had after all not booked one of the closed rooms, but the main arena since that one was the widest field available.

The battle itself was more of a test for Erza and her Pokemon since we both knew that she stood no actual chance of challenging me if I went serious. Instead, I matched her Pokemon and let them go all out.

Erza currently had a total of 4 Pokemon and all 4 had a respectable strength. Her Rapidash and Doublade were at the (high) silver stage, while her Corviknight and Dewgong were at the (mid) silver stage.

She asked me not to pity her or have my Pokemon hold back, so I called out Seb/Nidoking and told him to go all out. He took out both her Rapidash as well as Doublade, and since I had no (mid) silver-stage Pokemon, I kept him in, so that he could take on her Corviknight and Dewgong as well.

In the end, Seb ended up sweeping her whole team, but he was pretty much spent after that. Nonetheless, I felt his satisfaction at the workout, and he was smiling when I recalled him, even though he barely managed to keep staying on his feet after he was done.

Erza being Erza was not depressed due to losing against a single Pokemon of mine but was fired up instead after seeing how her Pokemon stacked against one of the Pokemon of a world champion. Those were her words, not mine.

She declared that she would train her Pokemon some more and that she would challenge me to a rematch. Her primary goal, for now, was to take out one of my Pokemon at the same stage.

We went to the coliseum's PokeCenter and stayed there for around half an hour until the Nurse gave Erza's Pokemon the all-clear. After that, we decided that it was time to go home. Erza gave me a farewell hug and promised to train hard for our next meeting.

Obviously, mom teased me a lot about my non-date meeting with Erza, but other than that the rest of the day went fine as well. I expected Giratiday to go by similarly, with me helping my parents until noon and then getting ready for my meeting with my friends for lunch.

That changed when Aaron showed up just now. He said he came in person to help out with packing up stuff despite me telling him and the others that they did not have to help since we could easily deal with the preparations for our move.

Nonetheless, now that he was here I could hardly send him away, so I had him lend a hand while we helped my parents with packing up anything they said needed to be packed up. I told Aaron about my meeting with Sorrel, Marlene, Danielle as well as Henry, and he said he would join me.

Aaron had no problem recognizing Sorrel, and Marlene since he had seen them a few times, on top of me telling him about them becoming my first pseudo-students. Yet, he needed some slight help remembering who Danielle and Henry were since they had joined in later on and he'd seen them less often.

Still, he let none of that show on his face when we met up with them later on in front of "Aldini's Delightful Meals" for lunch. Our conversation during lunch was centered on our plans. Well, everyone already knew mine, so my plan came up for the shortest time.

Apparently, all four of them had decided to apply to a trainer school in Rota, with Sorrel and Marlene moving on to Aaron Aura Academy's tertiary division.

Danielle and Henry on the other hand decided they had enough knowledge of aura to tide them over and wanted to apply to a pure trainer school, so they asked Aaron for recommendations since the catalog I sent to the chat group focused on trainer schools in Kanto.

Aaron enjoyed playing senior and gave them some recommendations. He even got to brag about his Pokemon and the 4 juniors were pretty impressed when he told them that all 10 of his Pokemon were at the gold stage, with 4 of his Pokemon actually being at the (high) gold stage.

Daniele and Henry even joked that Aaron was a proper goal/target they could aspire after since he seemed kind of reachable unlike me, who appeared to be towering so high above everyone else that aiming for me seemed ludicrous.

I saw that Sorrel and Marlene looked like they disagreed with that, but they kept mum, and I did not disagree either. Nonetheless, I believed that only those that aimed for the stars, or me in this situation, could reach the peak of their potential. It was a simple difference in drive and motivation, and seeing their previous reaction, Sorrel and Marlene felt similarly.

Honestly, our meeting and conversation gave me the feeling that Danielle and Henry were slowly going to drift apart from my friend circle over the next few years since they disliked, or rather could not deal with the growing contrast between us. Sorrel and Marlene on the other hand did not give off such an impression to me.

Well, it was not a nice idea, and I felt a bit sad thinking about the possibility of that happening, but I would not force the situation since that would only worsen the situation. I planned to let nature take its course, and who knew, I could be wrong.

Anyway, after that meeting, Aaron and I went back home. Mom insisted that he stayed until after dinner, and Aaron had no choice but to agree. Not that he put up a fight or anything since he had nothing else going on and mom's food was great.

We talked about the things we were going to do with me mentioning some of the things I wanted to accomplish during my internship, and Aaron sharing his plan to conquer the Almia, Oblivia, and Fiore triumvirate during the next few years.

That meant that he would be staying on the eastern continent most of the time, so there would be only a few chances for us to see each other. Still, I reminded him that he could visit Yu since Orre was on the same continent, and not too far off from Fiore.

Besides, it was not as if we could not communicate over the phone, and since video calls were a thing we could "see" each other whenever we wanted. I was curious if his trip would help him push his Pokemon to the dark gold stage, or rather how soon he could push them there since I did not doubt that they would reach that point in a few years.

Regardless, Aaron said he would only leave when the new academic year began, and he was planning to visit us before he left. Aaron left after dinner, and I retreated to my room as well when mom began to tease me about my meeting with Yoruichi tomorrow.

I spent the time until I was ready to sleep working on my ground affinity. I was still smoothing out my manipulation/moving of the ground energy in the atmosphere. I could feel myself improving each day, and I did not doubt that it was thanks to my experience with aura and psionic energy. It was after three hours of meditation/training that I went to sleep.

All three of us spent the Palkiday morning after lunch packing as well as cleaning, with mom delegating the jobs. Shortly after lunch, we received a surprise visit from Mr. Burns and Mr. Koetsuji.

The two showed up together, and they came to say their goodbyes to me, knowing that I would be returning to Kanto, which meant I would rarely be coming back to Rota.

I felt flattered that the two had decided to visit us and thanked them for coming over. Mom obviously invited them in and the two stayed for close to an hour to talk.

They offered to help us with packing, but my parents politely declined, citing that there was not much left and that we could easily handle it. The two gave out some advice and asked me to take care of myself before they left.

I spent the two hours following that cleaning up the terrace and covering the barbeque rack to safeguard it from the elements while we were gone. I also covered the chairs and tables for the same reason, but dad asked me to be extra meticulous with the grill area.

Once I was done with the terrace I went upstairs to clean up and change into a new set of clothes. Just as I had done for my meeting with Erza I put on one of my nicer sets before I left the house to make my way to our meeting spot.

I arrived at the cinema at 5:50 p.m and proceeded to wait for Yoruichi in from of the cinema entrance. She actually managed to sneak up on me and covered my eyes with her hand while jokingly asking me to guess who she was. Granted I had not been on full alert but it was still impressive enough that she managed to slip past my passive senses.

I humored her a bit before greeting her properly. She teased me that I had cleaned up pretty well and I thanked her while returning that she did not look too bad herself, which made her laugh.

Anyway, after our little banter, I asked her if she wanted to watch a movie first, or if we should have dinner before that. She chose to get dinner out of the way first, so I let her choose the restaurant and we ended up going to a seafood restaurant.

The movie we watched afterward was an action film that Yoruichi ended up choosing, and before we said our farewells after leaving the movie theatre, Yoruichi revealed that she had accepted a long-term mission from the Order that had her stationed in Celeste City in Kanto.

She mirthfully said that we would probably end up seeing each other every now and then before she left with a pep in her step. Mom grilled me on details regarding my meeting once I was home, and she completely ignored my insistence that it had not been a date, even though it had truly not been a date.

We were simply two friends that were supposed to meet up and see each other one more/last time before saying goodbye for the foreseeable future. Or rather, that had been my intention before Yoruichi's little surprise reveal. Mom oooo'd pretty hard when I mentioned that part.

Anyway, after I escaped mom's interrogation I retreated to my room and only spent an hour meditating/training before I went to bed. We spent the next day finishing up our packing, leaving only the things we would need until we left tomorrow/on Kyoday. Well, that and Sunny as well as Lono's graves, but that would be handled tomorrow as well.

We were done a bit after lunch, so we decided to relax for the rest of the day. At 4 p.m. we received a surprise visit from Mr. Cameron, and he was not alone. Some government clerks were accompanying him, or rather Mr. Cameron privately told me that he was accompanying them to ensure everything went smoothly.

The government clerks left after learning that we were keeping the house and planning to return on occasion. They also assured us that the security of our house and the area was guaranteed even while we were gone since the government was really happy that we had become dual citizens after our recent return to Rota.

Mr. Cameron left together with them, declining mom's dinner invitation, but he wished us luck and said his goodbyes before he departed. The rest of the day after that passed pretty quickly.

The next morning, after breakfast, we finished cleaning up and covering the last of the furniture/house. Once that was done, we dug up Sunny and Lono's coffins, and mom, as well as dad, put them away. After that was handled as well, we gave the house a final once over, locked up, and made our way to Hope Town.

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