CH26 (256), Second Minute Of Fame

The exams were pretty easy, so I was confident that I aced them all, which should bring me a few academy points. That was actually the most important reason I even bothered acing them in the first place. The second reason was to make my parents happy.

Well, the most important thing that happened this last month academically was actually not the final exams, at least not in my eyes. No, it was what Mr. Burns told me during our last session.

According to him, it was time for me to learn how to handle Pokemon moves, so once the third year started he was going to teach me how to use my external aura manipulation to handle energy attacks.

That, and the fact that the previous third years had graduated were the reason why my visits to the Knight Academy would be paused for the first three terms of my third year. He promised that he would try to have me spar against tertiary students, like Erza and her year mates, if I showed enough progress.

Mr. Burns also added that we would include my psychic abilities into my spars against both him, others, and wild Pokemon during the last three terms in preparation for the personal combat competition at the end of the academic year.

I was really pumped about that and it would help improve my confidence regarding the global personal combat competition, and while I was on the topic of the competitions, I should mention the average performance our people put on this year.

Well, actually, it wasn't really an average performance per se, but compared to the results of Weiss and Ace last year it looked worse. The best that we managed this year was Top 16 in the continental personal combat competition and Top 8 in the continental regular competition, so not bad but not good enough.

Anyway, back to the important stuff, namely me, on Arcday, 03.17.2180, The Pokemon Ecology Journal got released and my second paper got published with it. The Forest And Jungle Magazine and the Viridian Forest News were released the next day, and the first part of my paper, the list, got published by them.

That was also when the congratulatory calls began trickling in, but the real callmagedon began on Palkiday after Kanto Weekly and Rota Weekly published the first part of my paper together with a small excerpt on me.

I mean getting calls from my friends and acquaintances was no problem, even if I had more acquaintances than I thought, with most of them being from Aaron Aura Academy and some being from the Rota Knight Academy.

That much I could accept, even if the most I have talked to some of them was a "Hi". However, once I began getting calls from people that were the brother of the friend of the cousin of the father of my year mate at Aaron Academy about cooperating on my next paper, I decided that enough was enough.

Come the next morning, I got myself a new phone number, and send everyone on my Contacts list a message with my new number along with the request to not share it with others. Thankfully, that seemed to do the trick since I stopped getting calls from virtual strangers.

Then I personally went to the academy around noon to inform the secretariat about my phone number's change. Thankfully, the secretariat was open from 10 a.m until 2 p.m on Arcdays, Giratidays, and Dialdays even during the break, so I successfully changed the recorded number.

I wanted to leave after that but the secretary told me that Mr. Cameron wanted to talk to me, and I was just wondering how he knew that I was here in the first place.

Was he keeping tabs on who entered the Academy or keeping tabs on me? Was he staying inside his office even during the break? Didn't someone important like him have to be at more important places?

Well, the nice lady seemed to read the question on my mind from my face since she told me that they were told to inform Mr. Cameron of my arrival in case I showed up at any time this week and I thanked her for telling me that.

Her colleague had called Mr. Cameron while we were changing my phone number on the record. Mr. Cameron had informed them that he would be inside his office in a few minutes and that I should make my way there after I was done with my reason for coming to the academy.

That was much better than my theories and much less creepy too, even if it would make sense for the academy to keep tabs on me to make sure that I did not encounter a hopeless situation.

Anyway, after thanking the nice lady for her help I made my way towards Mr. Cameron's office, and after knocking on the door, I entered once he said "come on in".

"Good day, Mr. Cameron, sir. I was told you wanted to speak to me," I said after entering the room.

"Yes, I did," he said while motioning for me to sit down on the chair across from him before he continued.

"As you know, the publishing of your paper is done, and just like the last time we've gotten invitations from various TV and radio shows for an interview with you. While the number is still low for now, I expect the number of invitations to increase due to the release of the Kanto Weekly and Rota Weekly yesterday."

I nodded in understanding since I had expected this to happen.

"So, I want to ask you if you want to choose one of the current offers, or if you want to wait for a bit until there are more offers. Personally, I would recommend choosing from the current stack of invitations, since these were sent out by TV and Radio teams that follow either the Pokemon Ecology Journal, the Forest And Jungle Magazine, or the Viridian Forest News.

That means they are either more in tune with the topic of your paper, or they are the more serious kind of show. Both are good reasons for you to choose them. Anyway, the choice is obviously up to you, we'll go along with any choice you make, so what do you want to do?"

I pondered over what to do. What he said made sense and I honestly did not want to drag out the whole interview thing the faster I went through with it the faster the hype would die down. Now, some would say if you want the hype to die down why are going through with the interview in the first place?

Well, that's easy, I obviously wanted to achieve something with this, and that was to give a declaration that would help my plans for my tertiary education. Anyway, I had come to a decision, so I looked toward Mr. Cameron before informing him of my decision.

"Sir, I'd like to take a look at the current offers. Getting my picture out there is helpful for my future plan, so I'm also planning to choose one TV show on top of two radio shows, unlike the last time. That won't be a problem, right?"

Mr. Cameron looked completely unbothered by what I said, and he carelessly waved my concerns off.

"Don't worry about anything. We have your back, at least as long as you don't do anything that goes against our values. Until then, we'll fully support you and make sure that no criminals can threaten your well-being or that of your family.

You don't have to worry about exposing your talents or any of your Pokemon. As long as you don't become one of the bad guys, I, the Academy, the Aura Guardians, and the Alliance will have your back.

We, the Aura Guardians, have already classified you as a strategic talent for humanity, so as long as you are not evil we'll do our utmost to keep you alive and save you from any serious harm.

I do have to emphasize that we'll only keep the dangers away that we believe you won't be able to handle. If we believe that it is within your capabilities even if it is dangerous then we won't block it since you have to go through a multitude of experiences to become strong.

The only thing we'll definitely prevent is any harm coming to your parents due to you since that has proven to be detrimental to the psychological development of people/trainers."

Mr. Cameron put all cards on the table, telling me of the stance of the higher-ups toward little old me. I could summarize what he said to "we'll keep your parents safe, and keep anything we believe actually capable of killing you away. Anything else goes after the motto what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

"I'd like to take a look at the current invitation, please," I requested having made up my mind.

"Sure, here you go," Mr. Cameron replied while taking out a stack of letters from the drawer of his desk.

I went through the stack of letters and found some familiar names, but there were also quite a few radio shows and TV shows I had never heard about.

Among the radio shows that I knew "Good morning, Kanto!" and "Good morning, Rota!" were the ones that appealed to me the most, but I had to admit that "Hello, World!" also appealed to me since it was the global equivalent to "Good morning, Kanto!" as well as "Good morning, Rota!", with the difference being that it aired at 3 p.m and not during the morning.

"I think I'm going to once more go with "Good morning, Kanto!" and "Good morning, Rota!" for my radio show picks. I'm considering if I should accept the invitation of "Hello, World!" as well since it would let my interview be heard worldwide.

What do you think sir? I'm not sure what the reputation of "Hello, World!" is, but I haven't heard anything bad about them at least," I asked for advice since I couldn't decide whether to add the third radio interview or not.

"You don't have to worry about Hello, World! The radio show is endorsed by the alliance and belongs to the Sonezaki family, one of the most important families/clans in Kanto. The show has a good reputation and is pretty popular," Mr. Cameron assured me and I nodded at that.

"Alright, then I'll accept the invitation to those three radio shows, but I'd like to go through the interviews after I have gone through with my appearance on the TV show."

I took out all invitations from Tv shows from the stack and gave them another look. In the end, I decided to go with "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Talon", which aired at 9 p.m, Kanto-time, each Palkiday.

I knew about the show and it enjoyed global fame, at least as far as humanity was concerned. The reputation of the host was pretty good and the show had some pretty positive reviews.

Additionally, the studio was in Saffron City, so I did not have to travel "too far" to record the interview. Decision made I informed Mr. Cameron about my choice.

"Good," he said with a nod. "You should receive a message regarding the time and date of the interviews sometime tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

After he said that he dismissed me and I left after thanking him for his time. I received a message the next day that I would have my interview with "The Tonight Show" crew next week on Giratiday. The message also said that I was supposed to show up at the reception desk of the Saffron Studios at 10 a.m that day.

The dates of the radio interviews were set as well, and unlike the Tv show, those three were live. My interview with "Hello, World!" would be on Dialday, and I was supposed to show up at the Saffron Studios at 2 p.m, so that we could go over stuff before the start of the radio show. Yes, that one also worked from the same building as the "tonight show".

My interview with the "Good morning, Kanto!" and "Good morning, Rota!" radio shows took place on Kyoday and Grouday respectively. The appointment with "Good morning, Kanto!" was at 9 a.m at the Saffron Studios since the show began at 9:30 a.m. Yes, this one was located there as well. It was Kanto's biggest TV and radio studio after all.

The appointment with "Good morning, Rota!" was at 9 a.m as well, but this time the meeting was the Rota Studios here in Rota. Anyway, the days until my first interview flew by with me relaxing with my parents as well as our Pokemon, and before I knew it was Giratiday.

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