Chapter 139: Indigo Academy

Don't forget to drop some power stones!

*****

Most of the students got off the bus, leaving the five of us to get off last. I could feel the intense rays of the summer sun strike my tanned body. It was only June, but summer was already starting to heat up. The smug look remained on Gary's and Green's faces while they both held red Pokeballs in one of their hands. As for me though, to my surprise Lillie reached down and locked her fingers with mine. A light blush appeared on her cheeks, but didn't deny my hand, and started holding hands together. The warmth of her hand was warm and her hand felt soft, my body was starting to get soothed already.

Green was quick to see this, and a playful smile appeared over her lips.

"It would seem something happened between you two, Itsuki. Lillie. I suppose this is a call for celebration?", Green happily asked.

"No kidding? We did go on that group date before you guys started your journey. It was pretty obvious, but I guess the extra mile happened while we were absent.", Gary said, nodding his head, and gave us a thumbs up.

"Yes, but it took some courage. Itsuki, Serena and I are now a happy couple. It's good to see your relationship with Green is steady too. Seeing this does make me a bit worried about Ash, though. Do you know if he has come into contact with anyone he likes yet?", Lillie responded with a nod of her head. At the same time, a hint of worry appeared in her eyes.

To be honest, I was curious about that too. I saw Gary and Green look at each for a moment, before they shrugged their shoulders with defeated looks in their eyes.

"That dimwit doesn't know a single bit of how romance works. Ashy-boy only displays his love for Pokemon. It's been growing at an alarming rate ever since he acquired his starting Pokemon. It is a bit worrying if he will even end up with someone at this rate.", Gary replied.

"Yeah. Ash even got a few advances from other girls in our classes. The signs were so obvious but he didn't realize it at all.", Green also replied, nodding her head to Gary's words.

"I kind of feel bad for the schoolgirls who tried that...", Serena frowned as she heard that.

Well, Ash will be Ash, I guess. I do recall he had several travelling partners throughout each region he ventured to. Each generation he had different companions.  Going through the list of people that travelled with Ash, I wondered, who would be a good fit to pair up with Ash? It was clear after hearing it from Gary and Green that Ash didn't know a single thing about romance. That would be a challenge in itself, haha.

Not that it was a bad thing, of course. 

I recalled who all travelled with Ash during his adventures to each different region. Of those individuals, one particularly stood out. He wouldn't meet her until he arrived at the Unova region, where the Black and White games came from. The one I was referring to was Iris.

Unlike other trainers, Iris shared a very similar ability to what Ash had. Iris had the ability to read a Dragon-type's thoughts and emotions. As a result, she could develop a much closer bond to Dragon-type Pokemon than any other Trainer could. Even achieving closer bonds than how Cynthia would eventually develop a bond with her Garchomp. This sensation of hers had a very similar behavior to what Aura is. Only few could develop Aura powers, one either had it from birth, or required extensive training to achieve Aura. If one didn't have the body for Aura, they would have to seek out Pokemon that could utilize it.

Pokemon such as Lucario.

But Iris's ability was innate. What she could do was equivalent to Aura, but only worked on Dragon-Type Pokemon. Iris could likely even perform Mega Evolution with her Pokemon without a need for a Mega Stone, should she ever train that far into it.

And as one would have it, being the protagonist of Pokemon, Ash also had an innate body, one capable of training Aura without external need. Sure, I could have nudged Ash to start learning what Aura was and how to use it, but my knowledge on the matter is limited, and I could have steered Ash in the wrong direction. With how much I have learned over the past ten years, however, my knowledge rapidly expanded under Lusamine's guidance, and with her help I'm sure I could find books on how Aura worked. I don't think it is too late for Ash to start learning it either.

Considering that Ash hatched a Riolu egg during Pokemon Journeys, and would learn Aura from him. He already had the body, so he actually did develop an Aura move during the show, which was nice to see. It made Lucario's Aura Sphere much, much bigger than one normally could have. It was a shame his Aura powers only stopped there.

And while I was on the topic of Aura, I did wonder if I could learn it. The simple answer was, unfortunately no. At least, not now. I did dabble into a book on what Aura was back during my stay in Alola. It even taught me the beginning method in practicing it. Sadly, I had no way of using it. With the Karma points that I had from God, he gave me a healthy body, but it wasn't a perfect one. I'm sure if I earned higher Karma points from my previous life, I could have acquired a body that could learn Aura from birth.

That did not deter my determination to learn it though. Just going over these thoughts further steeled my resolution on learning Aura. The first step to achieving that was to get a Riolu. It didn't have to be a Pokemon Egg, but it was preferred, considering a bond would form with the first trainer that it would see after getting hatched.

But back to my point, Ash could learn Aura, and Iris has had that special ability of hers to feel what Pokemon could feel. A suited match if I do say so myself. I have not encountered Iris yet, so she is likely still in her village in the Unova region. Ash would need to travel through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh before that.

Ash may be clueless on romance matters now, but with enough time, I hope he'll start to recognize those signs. I don't want to be the one to teach him that, haha!

I saw Serena's worried look and ensured that Ash would be fine.

"It is unfortunate to see those confessions fail, but it just means Ash is a late bloomer. I do have someone in mind, but we'll need to wait and see how that goes.", I responded.

"Oh? If that's the case, it may be something to look forward to. We shouldn't keep the Head Mistress waiting too long. She's the old woman at the entrance, let's go meet the Head Mistress. She's in charge of this entire campus.", Gary said, pointing at the elderly figure who was standing at the entrance gate, welcoming other students. 

"The head of the school board is a woman?", Lillie asked, seeing the old woman in the distance. As she said that, we continued our walking, and spent a few minutes to reach the entrance gate to Indigo Academy

"It was a shock to see a woman as the school director too. But don't let her fool you. Indigo Academy performs as one of the best schools around the block thanks to her.", Green said.

"Hoho, you needn't to praise me like that, Green. Welcome back Gary. I take it you successfully brought over our guests for today.", The old woman said, greeting us. We nodded our heads and welcomed her.

"Sorry for intruding. You know, if things weren't already decided ten years ago, I very well may have ended up here in Indigo Academy with Gramps' recommendation. It would seem Gary, Green and Ash took it in place of me. Thank you for looking after them., I said, giving my greetings to Indigo Academy's Head Mistress.

"It is always my pleasure to welcome Kanto's rising professor, the Little Professor. Your thesis on Pokemon Natures was spectacularly presented. It's allowing students to find the good and the bad of the Pokemon presented to them. I'm sure we'll be seeing many excellent trainers from here on after they graduate. And by the way, both Gary and Green performed at the top of the class, passing their grades with flying colors. Your friend Ash struggled at first, but he was also a rising star. Battling is his forte.", The Head Mistress explained.

"Haha, it's nice to see they weren't lazy during my absence. It does make sense learning that Ash loves the battling classes. We'll be intruding for a couple hours. Gary here wants to battle me, so would it be possible to take up one of your fields?", I asked the Head Mistress.

"It would be my pleasure, Little Professor. It isn't often to see a professor battle, even though you are in the middle of your journey. Gary did bring this to my attention earlier before your arrival, so I do apologize. The influx of students you are currently seeing all want to watch you battle. It'll serve like a final class for them after having finished their studies. You won't be against that, would you?", The Head Mistress asked me.

"Of course not. Being able to experience a battle with a crowd of people is what makes battling fun!", Serena chimed in, happily clapping her hands together in response.

"A battle field with a bunch of students to watch us as we battle...That makes your heart flutter just thinking about it, doesn't it?", Lillie said, slightly tightening the grip she had with my hand. I could feel that she was a bit worried hearing the Head Mistress mention a bunch of students going to watch us battle.

"Oh you'll get used to it quickly. If we manage to do well in the latter half of Kanto and make our way to the Indigo League, it'll be a much wider battle field, capable of housing thousands of spectators both in-house and around the world alike. This would serve as a good entrance point to that. It'll definitely rile up the students for sure if we manage to pull off a good battle.", I said, explaining it to Lillie. Hearing that, Gary grinned.

"Then you'll just have to show off what you've successfully done so far, Big Brother. We've only recently got our starting Pokemon from gramps so we'll be making a substitute for this battle. Otherwise it wouldn't be fair to you, who has four badges.", Gary said, explaining the situation further.

"Uh-huh. Our starting Pokemon haven't even evolved yet, so the Head Mistress made an exception, and she'll let us use the final evolutions of what we currently have.", Green responded.

"It is as Gary and Green says, Little Professor. Their battle grades are just as impressive as Ash's, so don't underestimate them.", The Head Mistress said with a serious tone in her voice.

"Oh trust me, I have no plans to doubt Gary here. After all, we both come from a family of Champions.", I said with a nod of my head. At this time, we all heard a sudden voice call out to us, which drew our attention from another figure walking in the distance. Someone who I haven't seen in person since our journey began, causing me to raise my eyes at his arrival. In fact, he wasn't alone either.

"Hohoho, then how about I'll be the announcer for this battle? It is good to see you again, even though we were just on the phone the other day.", Another aged voice said. I could see two aged people walk up to us, both men. They were none other than Professor Oak, and the director I had just recently been introduced to, Director Clavell. I could see a shiny and slick briefcase in his hand. A serious look could be seen in his eyes.

"Well, well, so your trip ended in Paldea already, Gramps. It is really nice to see you again. I didn't think you would bring Director Clavell with you. Even Liko is still on her plane. I guess you took a different one?", I asked.

"We did. Professor Sycamore went on and headed back to Kalos. But he didn't forget to leave me with a little something. I'll show you guys later.", Professor Oak said, walking up to us with Director Clavell beside him.

"You don't mean...", Serena uttered, realizing what Professor Oak was mentioning. It was likely the Mega Rings for Serena and Lillie. And on top of that, I could likely guess what the slick case in Director Clavell's hands was. His so-called commission for me watching over Liko.

"I originally didn't intend to come, Professor Oak persuaded me. Kanto is just like another home. It is very lively here.", Director Clavell said, greeting us.

"Paldea huh? I'll want to hear your story later, Gramps. But for now, we have a battle to get to.", Gary said with a playful grin.

"Then allow me to guide you all.", The Head Mistress said, drawing our attention to her.

"Heeeeey! At least wait for me!", Another, hurried voice called out to us. Even though it has only been some months since I last saw him, I could see a black-haired boy dashing our way with a student's uniform on. And to my surprise, he wasn't alone, I could see a little yellow creature sprinting beside him...