Pokemon Alternate Universe Adventures

I had been keeping track of the time, so when less than 2 minutes of the 10 minutes I told my group was left, I gently steered the conversation with Ryujin to a conclusion. She was understanding and let me hurry out of the room toward the reception area after she asked for and got permission to write me if any questions regarding their Skellibra undertaking came up.

I had no problem answering a few occasional questions, which was why I agreed, though I did not expect her to write me all that often or soon for that matter. Undertakings like these could take a long time and I had already commented on quite a few of the questions/issues they had.

Anyway, Ryujin had already told me that the reception was pretty close to the room we had been in, and I did manage to make it there within a minute, making it there in time just as I had promised. I ignored the whispered and not whispered conversations that sprung up among the people, who had probably seen the battle or heard about it by now and happened to be present as well. My focus was on my friends and parents, who welcomed me with another round of hugs and congratulations.

"So, what did you talk about with Miss Ryujin?" Yu threw out just when I was about to suggest heading to one of the popular restaurants of Fallabor City for a celebratory dinner on me. Once that question was thrown out the entire group suddenly went quiet and the stares I was getting from a majority of them were asking me to answer the question.

"Yeah, Mika," Ace, who naturally could not stay quiet, followed up. "Tell us, what did you two talk about", he parroted, and he made no attempt to hide the mirth he was feeling when he did that. In fact, I felt a spike of schadenfreude after he had said his bit, and I knew that he was planning to drop another provocative remark, so I glared at him to warn him to not do it. He just raised an eyebrow, and gave me a challenging grin, before opening his big mouth again.

"And, have you exchanged numbers or have you forgotten to do that? You should probably go back and do that if that's the case," he let out, and the gazes around us rose in intensity when he said that. I even felt quite a few glares from outside our group bore into me, showing that some busybodies had caught Ace's remark as well. I smothered the urge to tell those people to mind their own damn business before smothering the urge to smother Ace, who gave me an unrepentant smirk along with Yu.

I did not miss the backhand low-five they gave each other, so I gave the duo a look that promised revenge before I turned to the others. I opened with a shrug before I gave my answer. "We mostly talked about the Skellibra project they are working on," I started; "She shared what they are doing right now, and I gave her some recommendations and tips on where they could improve some stuff with their setup and approach to raise the odds of one of their Marowak evolving to Skellibra," I followed up, which earned me quite a few understanding nods.

"I remember Gym Leader Ryujin mentioning something like that during the Gym Battle," Dad remarked, which Kinji and the other boys, including Ace and Yu, echoed, though the latter two actually giggled as they did that. "True," Yu followed up with a nod. "I also remember her wanting Mika's number," that f**ker reminded everyone of Ace's second question while obviously trying very hard to not laugh. Ace did not bother holding back and laughed.

"Stop causing trouble you two," Kinji admonished after slapping both Ace and Yu on the back of their heads for stirring things up. That had them rub their heads which had everyone chuckle. "Yes, she asked for my number so that she could ask for advice if their Skellibra project runs into some issues since I'm the authority on the topic," I replied calmly.

"Let's forget that for now. I've got my badge, and it's time for dinner, so let's have a celebratory feast; Ace and Yu are paying, so make sure to eat a lot," I swiftly declared, redirecting the topic. I gave the aforementioned duo a glare that warned them not to bother protesting. 'Take your punishment like men or I'll think of something worse,' I warned them telepathically, which had them stand straighter.

"Leave it to us," the two promptly followed up, while thumping their chests. There was some laughter at that, and more than one teasing looks were thrown their way. "You two are truly incorrigible," Weiss declared with a sigh before looking at me. "Well, what are we waiting for?" she opened up with; "Mika, I'm sure you've learned all one needs to know about Fallabor's culinary scene, so lead the way," she followed up with, not forgetting to poke fun at my habit of scouting the best restaurants of each city I visited.

"Make sure to choose the best one", "Price is not a problem," Jessie and Rose chimed in after Weiss, which had everyone but Ace and Yu laugh. "Sure," I replied jokingly, though I did not plan to go for any of the truly expensive restaurants. 'Don't worry, I won't let you bleed much,' I assured the remorseful duo, who looked better at that. "Alright, let's go," Ace said before he took the lead and headed for the exit with Yu following right after him.

I chuckled at that, and I was not alone with that. Nonetheless, we followed after the two, and I saw them waiting for us in front of the Gym. I took the lead and brought us to one of the restaurants I had previously noted down and marked during my pre-Gym search. I went to this one because it had private rooms, which we definitely needed with our numbers to avoid disturbing other guests.

We talked as we ate, so we ended up staying there for nearly 90 minutes before we left, and as I had declared before, Ace and Yu ended up footing the bill. Since both were decently accomplished trainers, splitting a "mere" 5k bill was a minor matter, which was probably why they did not bat an eye when they added a 1k tip on top, so that they could pay 3k each.

They gave me grateful nods for choosing a good/affordable place to eat since paying just 5k to allow 16 people to eat their fill was a very good price, especially since we had more than one good eater. At the top of that list was me, who ate more than twice as much as the other guys, though that was more because the restaurant was one that used only regular meats. Even then I was barely half full, but I decided not to eat more than that since I had already decided to eat some more food later when I went back to Utopia.

Anyway, one of the first topics during our dinner was obviously my Gym Battle, and the fact that Ryujin fielded some pretty high-level Pokemon came up. First Stephanie and now Ryujin; Quite a few of them mentioned that they had never seen anyone else face Pokemon of that strength during their challenges; Apparently, that included the Grand League challenges they had watched or participated in. Rose felt curious listening to everyone else and looked up the actual team Ryujin used for 8-Badeg 3-star challenges.

Listening to her list the Pokemon, I had to admit that the difference was not small at all, though to be fair, Ryujin had declared beforehand that she had raised the difficulty just for me based on my battle against Stephanie. Still, hearing that the only Pokemon from the usual team I faced were Flygon, and Dragonite was a bit surprising. Granted the lineup was nearly identical, with the only species that got replaced entirely being Drampa, who had its place taken by Kommo-o.

The others were simply replaced by stronger seniors/fellows, including the regular (high) dark gold Haxorus who got replaced by Ebony the Shiny Haxorus, who was at the same level. That comparison and the way we had won that battle without leaving any room for doubt sparked a discussion if I should even bother with the Grand League after I had won the Senior League here in Hoenn or if I should just focus on the Global Elite Class Trainer's List/Rankings.

They discussed enthusiastically how long it would take me to top the list, throwing around numbers ranging from 4 to 7 years. They could not be blamed for that since those were already numbers no one outside would believe, deeming them too low. Yet, I was pretty sure that I would be topping the Global Champion-Class Trainer's List at that point if I tried. In fact, I did not think that it would take me the maximum of 7 years they mentioned to reach the precipice of the Master Class, though I kept that to myself since it did sound kinda Farfetch'd.

Anyway, enough of that future stuff. We left the restaurant, and I led them to one of the city parks near the Teleportation Hub where we spent the next two or so hours. We mostly talked and the first thing they asked me was where I was planning on going next, and I told them that I was planning to explore the Meteor Falls for a month or so to try my luck at finding a Bagon and another Beldum. Another question that came up was when I was planning to challenge the next Major Gym and which one it would be.

I already had one in mind, so I told them that it was going to be the Rustboro Gym and that it would probably be around 2 months later. I chose to swap things around after that, switching the questions to the stuff they were up to since we had talked more than enough about me. We kept talking until 9:50 p.m. We had to head to the Hub after that since their Teleportations were starting at 10. Kinji and Violet were the first to go, followed by my parents and Jessie just two minutes later. The others followed suit as well and by 10:15 p.m. I had sent off Weiss and Rose, leaving me on my own again.

Not planning to do anything else tonight, I just went back to the park before entering Utopia. I greeted my Pokemon, at least the ones that hung out around my place, before calling over the rest to celebrate our victory over the Fallabor Gym. They had their dinner around the same time we did, but unlike me, they had eaten their fill, so aside from me, everyone else just ate some snacks and drank some juice while we watched some music videos along with some funny videos.

I, on the other hand, ate some real food while they were snacking. Well, Munchlax and I ate some real food while the others were snacking since he joined me, snacks in hand, as soon as I pulled out the food. We hung out until 1 a.m. before I decided to call it a night for everyone. I made sure the young ones went to bed before going to bed myself.

The next morning after breakfast, I left Utopia and looked up the local Battle Club to fulfill the promise I made to my Pokemon. Most of the gold and dark gold stage Pokemon had not gotten much of a chance to battle. They wanted to blow off some steam, and the Battle Club was the best place to do so. As Lord Satoshi I would usually be facing other Lords and Ladies, which meant a mix of gold and dark gold Pokemon, though frankly most of those dark gold stage Pokemon were too weak to let my dark gold ones blow off steam like they wanted to, so I set it as a personal goal to advance my rank to Duke to give them some proper opponents.

Honestly, even Dukes and Duchesses, who equaled Elite-Class trainers, were not enough to push them to their limits, but they would be enough to get the blood of my Pokemon running, and that was all they were asking for. So, I prepared myself for a lot, and I meant a lot, of battles. I was just hoping that the staff would manage to keep them coming as quickly as possible since I did not want to have long waiting periods between my matches.

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