CH96 (326), Global Competition Day Two (5)

The sword slammed onto Thomas's neck, but he seemed to have reinforced the neck area with extra thick rocks causing the sword to get stuck there.

Thomas apparently being pretty confident in his defense chose to ignore the sword and focused on attacking me but that was a big mistake since I was already sending the second sword at the first one to hammer it further in.

As soon as the swords crashed they were immobilized, probably due to a staff member, and the referee declared me the winner. The moment he did, I released my hold on Thomas, whose rock armor receded once he was freed.

"I was sure the armor would hold, and I was planning to let the rock swallow the swords," he said with a wry look on his face.

Apparently, he felt the need to justify himself, expressing that he had not forgotten the other sword, but simply miscalculated the strength of his defense.

"Too risky," I returned with a shake of my head. "Never risk your neck during a plan since you can't afford to lose it," I added my sage advice a moment later.

"I know, but I knew someone would interfere, so I decided to risk it," he replied with a shrug, but his shoulders sacked a moment later. "Shit, I'm definitely going to hear an earful for that from a lot of people," he said in a defeated tone.

"Good fight and good luck," I said with a laugh before leaving the field.

With this victory, I had now qualified for the semifinals in both categories, and since the battle was the last one for today, at least for me, I was free to do whatever I wanted until my first battle tomorrow.

The whole thing only took around 20 minutes, so there were still 10 minutes until 3 p.m. I decided to call Mr. Cameron and ask him if he would be willing to teleport me to Aaron Academy before 4:30 p.m so that I could take part in the graduation ceremony.

*purururu* *purururu* *purururu* *gacha*

"Hello sir," I greeted him as soon as he took the call.

"Thank you, I did my best," I thanked him for his praise before I began explaining to him why I called.

"Sir, I'd like to ask if you would be willing to let me participate in the graduation ceremony happening back at the academy. Obviously, only if you're not busy with something else," I added at the end.

"Thank you," I expressed my gratitude after he agreed before I became a bit nervous since the next bit was a teeny tiny bit presumptuous.

"Um, sir," I began a bit nervous. "Would it be possible to bring my parents along when we return from Rota?" I finished, being fully aware that I asked someone of his status to play taxi.

*bwahahahaha*

Mr. Cameron erupted in laughter when I uttered my request, and he kept at it for a bit before jokingly saying that I was the only one that dared to treat him like a travel service. Thankfully, he told me that he did not mind since we were going to make the trip back either way and it made no difference for his Alakazam whether he was lugging around two pieces of baggage or four.

"Thank you, Mr. Cameron," I genuinely thanked him for fulfilling my request. "Yes, I'll be in front of the main entrance at 4 p.m," I confirmed before he hung up.

Afterward, I began heading out of the stadium, and while I was walking I called mom to tell her I was heading to Aaron Academy so that they could head there as well.

She was really happy when I told her that, and I heard her scream at dad to bring out the cameras before she hung up. After ending the call with her, I called Mr. Burns to give him a heads up that I was coming to the graduation ceremony, in case Mr. Cameron did not tell them we were coming.

He sounded pretty happy that I could make it to the ceremony and he congratulated me for advancing to the third day before we ended the call. After finishing that, I dealt with all the congratulatory messages I was getting for making it to the semifinals tomorrow.

Yu's message was the funniest with him going on about how I was his lucky star, and so on, he also added that he had already booked the teleportation service and that he would be here tomorrow to cheer on me in person just as he had promised.

The others in the chat directly confirmed that they all would be coming as well, and I felt a bit moved. Still, I made sure to tell them that they did not have to come if other stuff came up. Just the thought was enough, so they did not have to postpone their other affairs just to come to another continent to cheer me on.

They all waved me off verbally saying that they were definitely coming, and I simply send a thank you to the chat. Once that was settled as well I took a peek at my watch and saw that I still had 50 minutes until I had to meet up with Mr. Cameron, so I decided to do a quick visit to the Pokemon shops to ask if they had gotten any new arrivals.

I first headed to "Spring Water Oasis", but forget about any interesting new arrivals, I learned that the Axew had already been sold, and the 3 Cubchoo were gone as well, along with 2 of the 3 Litwick.

According to the helpful shop assistant, some of the visiting students had bought them. At least that was what she shared with me after I buttered her up a bit. She also divulged that they were expecting a small batch of Eevee tomorrow, so my trip proved to not be completely fruitless.

I moved to "Izumi's Buddy Store" after that, and that one proved to be a bust as well. None of the new arrivals drew my interest, and the assistant seemed to have noticed my disappointment since he told me that they would receive a few new Aron tomorrow, among some other species.

He seemed to have remembered that I asked if any new Shinx or Aron had arrived with the new batch at the start of my visit. I gave him a 200 Poke tip to thank him for that tidbit before I left the store and made my way to the main entrance of the Motochika Grand Stadium.

I made it there with 5 minutes to spare, and Mr. Cameron came just a few minutes after I did. He patted my head while greeting me, and seeing how he was doing me a favor as well as his advanced age, even if he did not look like it, I chose to let that one slip without a peep.

He called out his Alakazam and I greeted it since I was polite like that. It gave me a nod in return before it began teleporting. It took 5 jumps within roughly 12 minutes to arrive at the academy gate, and as always I was impressed with its teleporting ability.

Someday in the not-so-far-off future, Tatsumaki/Kadabra would be able to travel such big distances as well, and I had zero doubts that she would surpass Alakazam in the end.

Anyway, we saw my parents waiting for us, or rather me, at the gate, and they came over to us and politely greeted Mr. Cameron before congratulating me for making it to the semifinals.

Mr. Cameron, being the experienced and understanding elder that he was, told us that he would see us inside before heading to the hall where the graduation ceremony would take place.

As soon as he was gone, mom pulled me into a crushing hug, and dad joined in as well. However, this time she actually released me within less than 30 seconds, which was pretty surprising. I quickly learned the motive behind that.

"Sweety, I brought along a set of nice clothes for you to change into, so you can change into them in one of the washrooms," she said with a smile while pulling out a sachet from her Silph.Co-brand handbag.

"What's wrong with my current clothes," I asked, thinking that they were pretty nice.

"There's nothing wrong with them honey, I just want you to dress extra nice for the ceremony. I'll be taking a lot of pictures of you as a memory for this event and I want you to look your best in them. You'll thank me in a few years," she said with a smile while I accepted the sachet.

There was nothing wrong with what she said, so we made our way to the closest washroom where I changed my attire while they waited at the door. The first thing that greeted me when I left the washroom was a flashlight, and I saw that mom had already started taking photos.

I gave her a deadpan look and she just gave me an innocent smile before taking another photo. I just chuckled and we made our way to the hall. As soon as I entered I got swarmed by my teammates, and they all began congratulating me which ended up in a cacophony of noise since everyone was talking at once.

Mom and dad just laughed at my predicament and moved toward the other parents, leaving me to my fate, but obviously not before mom took another few photos to eternalize the moment.

I thanked them all, and with the help of my classmates, we got the situation/crowd under control. After talking a bit while addressing everyone, I managed to partly satisfy everyone's curiosity, at least enough to disperse them.

Only my classmates stayed with me, and they led me to the seats/area that had been assigned to our class. There they began to grill me for more details and I humored them since they helped me with the large crowd. I saw the kids around our class listen in and I felt their curiosity, as well as that of my classmates, but I did not mind that.

Curiosity was the fuel of human progress after all, even if it was also the reason for many stupid actions. I regaled them with the tales of my time first at Pummelo Island and then at Fontaine City.

They all listened with rapt attention as I spoke of the battles, the students I met, and the cities, as well as the food. You can't forget the food after all. All that took a while, more than 30 minutes in fact, but no one seemed to mind since they all listened curiously the whole time.

After I was done with my tale, I excused myself before I headed toward the teachers. I went to each of my teachers one by one and thanked them for taking care of me. I did not care if they only taught me for a month or a year, I showed all of them the necessary respect they deserved as teachers that genuinely tried to teach their students.

I obviously left the teachers that taught me for the full 3 years to the end and expressed my appreciation as well as thanks to them too, just using more words. The last one I went to, after talking to Mr. Koetsuji was Mr. Burns since the two of them were the ones who helped me the most during my time at the academy.

I was not counting Mr. Cameron in this since he was not a teacher, but an elder in charge of more important stuff. I noticed my mother hovering close to me the whole time, taking pictures whenever she thought was a good moment, but I ignored her, and everyone seemed to do the same.

At least I was not the only one in that situation since I saw other mothers and fathers going around with cameras in their hands, occasionally taking pictures of their children.

Anyway, after my talk with the teachers, I went back to the seating area of my class and talked with Sorrel as well as Marlene. Danielle, Henry, and some of the others occasionally chimed in, but those two were my main conversation partners, being my "little" students and all that.

At 5:30 p.m, one of the teachers went up to the microphone to ask for our attention. He asked everyone to take their seats, before making a place for the principal who began his speech.

Everyone quietly listened and after he finished the diploma ceremony began where everyone got handed their graduation certificate personally by the principal.

When it was my turn the principal openly praised me, citing some of my achievements, before privately congratulating me and praising me some more. I saw mom taking a lot of photos during the whole handover process, and once everyone had their certificate, the official photo session began.

The photographers first took a photo with all students and academy staff, before taking one with only the student. After that they began taking photos of individual classes, and only then did they take requests for smaller group photos from students and parents.

I took a few photos with my friends and classmates. I also asked to take some pictures with my teachers, and obviously, they also took photos with my parents, both individually as well as together.

I did not forget Mr. Cameron and asked one of the photographers to take our picture, and I even took one with the principal since I thought it would look bad if he was the only one left out. Seeing his happiness when I asked for a picture with him, I felt like I made the right call.

By the time the photo frenzy/session was over, it was close to 7:30 p.m, and I organized a last supper with my classmates well as their parents. I naturally invited our teachers as well and they agreed to come along. Mr. Cameron coming along was a given since we would be heading back to Fontaine City from there.

We went to one of the better restaurants in Rota that accepted such large numbers on short notice, and everyone enjoyed the dinner. A few of the parents managed to agree on who got to pay and the "winners" split the bill.

After we left the restaurant everyone gave each other a last emotional goodbye before everyone went their separate ways. Sorrel and Marlene told me that they would be there to cheer me on during the finals before they left as well, and once we were alone Mr. Cameron called out his Alakazam, who took us back to Ransei.

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