บท 18: Examinations

Pidgey proved itself to be an interesting house guest for the next week while we waited for it's broken wing to heal.

Though the Pidgey, which I learned was a male, didn't do anything drastic, he made its displeasure plain every chance he got. Mom of course crooned over the adorable ball of feathers, while Ash was as excitable as ever as he tried to talk to him.

Even as Pidgey snuffed every single one of their attempts to pet, snuggle, or talk to him, neither one was discouraged in the slightest. They were even sad when the day came to take Pidgey's bandages off, and he readily flew away into the forest as if fleeing for his very life.

Funnily enough, I noticed Pidgey stalking me again a few days later, before he challenged Riolu to another match that my partner easily won.

That continued on for a while as the months went by, and I could tell that slowly but surely Pidgey eventually began to trust me somewhat. It helped that I would occasionally teach it new moves and help it train.

As that was going on I had also become busy with a couple new parts of my daily life, namely studying for the Ranger and Breeder exams that I planned to take in the future.

Studying for the Breeder exams was fairly simple since it mostly involved pretty much the majority of content we learned as professor Oak's assistants anyways, as Gary, Ash and I had all developed experience caring for Pokemon eggs, helping them hatch, and taking care of the Pokemon afterwards. There was only a small handful of items that I specifically needed to learn, but they weren't that hard to grasp.

The Ranger material on the other hand was almost completely new territory. Most of their content involved how to handle dangerous situations, navigating and surviving the wilds, applying emergency first aid, and caring for wounded yet dangerous wild Pokemon. There was even a bit about how to deal with criminal activities, but there was a highlighted bit stating that one of the first things a Ranger would need to do is contact an Officer Jenny, and simply support her in apprehending them.

And whenever I needed a bit of a break from studying or training, about once or twice a month, Riolu and I would take an overnight trip to Viridian on our days off to find some poor shmucks to battle against, and some lovely ladies to take to bed.

I had built up quite the reputation in Viridian city as I continued going back to it, and that had even been before people began recording our battles and posting them onto Pokevision. Most battles we won, a few we lost, and afterwards I would have to cheer up Riolu by telling him it was defeat we avoided in the future when we began our own journey.

And of course I also became known for my habit of seducing any of the eye catching women that could be found around the Pokemon Center during my visits, and bringing them back to what was staring to become my second bedroom since I was booked into the same room during every visit.

So, alternating between working for the professor, our lessons, studying, battling, and fucking, three years slipped by until it was painfully close to THAT day, the day I finally started my journey.

There was still a week left until then though, and before I could take off on my own with Riolu, we had to take the Pokemon League examination to become approved as official League trainers. And on the morning of the actual examination, Ash and I were busy sparring in our backyard.

"Ha!" Ash exclaimed as he rushed me, an overly eager smile on his face as he presumably made up another new tactic.

With his eyes glowing red, Ash darted at me from the front with his fists raised to deliver a pair of punches. With aura fueling his movements, I could hear the wind whistling as Ash's fists just barely passed by my face, narrowly missing me as I slightly shifted my weight to the side.

Ash then followed up by swinging around with his heel coming up at my face, which I also narrowly avoided as he swung wide and slightly lost his balance. As Ash tried to recover I planted my foot on his back, and shoved him forward onto the ground.

Rolling with the momentum, Ash sprung back onto his feet before launching himself into the air at my direction, his foot raised to bring down upon my head. To me however he appeared to be moving slowly, and all I had to do was step backwards once as his foot came down with enough force that there was a noticeable indent on the ground.

The brief second he needed to recover from the move left my brother wide open, but before I could decide if I wanted to take advantage of it or not, a shrill voice cried out,

"What are you doing to my yard!?"

Both Ash and I looked up to see an angry mom coming directly towards us, before we looked down to see Ash's foot sunk a couple inches into the freshly mowed lawn.

"Uh oh..." Ash uttered as he turned pale, before turning around and taking off in the opposite direction mom was coming from.

Knowing there was no point trying to get away, I just stood as I waited for mom to arrive a moment later with a huff, before she asked,

"He knows he'll have to come back home eventually, right?" I looked in the direction Ash took off and thought for a second, before replying,

"Normally I'd say yeah, but this IS Ash we're talking about...." Mom nodded in agreement before kneeling down to look at the small indent on the otherwise pristine yard.

"I'll fix it after we finish our exams later." I hurriedly told mom so she wouldn't worry, but she surprisingly shook her head as she instead told me,

"Leave it. In one more week the two of you will be on your way, and all I'll have left until you come to visit are these little things..." I didn't need my aura to sense the sadness in my mother's bearing or voice, which hit me harder than any man or Pokemon had in either of my two lives.

My only lingering regret when I died in my last life involved my mother. And even though Delia wasn't her, I had long since accepted her as my mother as the images of the two amazing women couldn't help but to overlap in my mind.

The next thing I knew I was kneeling down beside Delia and had wrapped one of my arms around her shoulders, before telling her,

"No matter how old we get or how far we go, both Ash and I will always be your boys, mom." Delia shuddered in my embrace as she held back a sob, before standing suddenly as she lightly smacked her cheeks.

"Right! There's no use moping like this!" Standing beside her, I nodded while saying,

"Yeah. No matter what, Ash and I will always come home someday. But maybe I should catch you a Pokemon to keep you company and help around the house until then...?" Though I had been thinking out loud to myself, mom looked at me with sparkling eyes as she asked,

"Really?!? I never thought about having my own Pokemon before!"

Having successfully cheered mom up, I then spent the remainder of my morning suggesting certain Pokemon that I could send to her in the future to keep her company. Though I never said anything about a Mr. Mime, as I remembered the memes, and did NOT want to spend the rest of my second life worried about my mom getting taken to pound town by a Pokemon.

When the time that professor Oak told us to be at the lab by finally started to arrive, I departed home as I walked the long familiar road to take the test that would get me my license. Naturally everyone seemed to know what day it was today, as every person I passed wished me luck with the rest.

And sure enough, Ash caught up with me shortly before I got to the lab, as he asked,

"How mad was mom?" I just smiled wryly and said,

"She wasn't mad. More upset that we're going to begin our journey soon." Ash just nodded as if he understood, though I doubted it, before saying,

"Yeah, but when I get back I'll be a Pokemon master!" Pumping his fists as he said so, I couldn't help but to ask with a smirk,

"Oh? Does this mean you intend to beat me someday too?" All of Ash's pomp and bravado suddenly dissipated as he said in a Mareepish voice,

"I doubt it..... I don't think anyone could beat you Aniki..." Hearing him say that, I stopped walking suddenly before grabbing my little brother's shoulders, and said in a serious tone,

"Ash. I will ALWAYS be your brother, and you mine. But the day we get our League licenses, we also become rivals. I want you to promise with me that no matter how strong either of us gets, we will NEVER give up. Do you understand me?"

For a moment neither of us said anything, as Ash's brown eyes stared into my amber ones, before he smiled and said,

"I understand Aniki! I promise!" Laughing lightly, I released his shoulders before Ash and I clasped forearms, and gripped the other tightly in agreement.

"Good. Now let's go pass our test!" Nodding in agreement, Ash and I quickly entered the lab to do just that.

The moment I entered the building though, I suddenly sensed four auras that I didn't recognize in the area of the lab that doubled as a lounge.

One of them felt wild and powerful, like a storm. The second felt a comforting spring breeze, ready to wrap you in its embrace. The third felt elegant yet sharp, like a blade waiting to be unsheathed. The fourth however was like a predator that was waiting to strike, with sinister undertones in its otherwise strict and neat exterior.

While the first three had me curious, the fourth aura put me on guard as I wondered who had come to visit the professor, and did he know the man's real nature. Even Riolu, who was busy sparring with the Machoke team behind the lab, was on edge as he too could sense the aura.

Since there was still time until the exam began, I was contemplating going to see who the aura belonged to when something else caught my attention.

"Psst!"

I didn't even have to look to know who was trying to get my attention from one of the storage closets, as I swiftly made my way over to it without anyone noticing me. And the second I opened the door a hand shot out to grab me by the collar of my short before pulling me in, where a pair of lips instantly sealed my own as lavenderesque scent filled my nose. Which was ironic considering the one kissing me was a Daisy.

And as the door closed behind me my hands immediately shot down to her ass to squeeze and massage the lovely lumps, while her own hands started combing through my windswept black hair.

When we finally separated Daisy was gasping for air from the intensity of the kiss, while I was smirking slyly as I told her, "someone's eager."

Daisy however simply pecked me on the lips again before she said, "I just wanted to wish you luck with your exams today."

I smiled warmly and was about to thank Daisy for her concerns, but then I thought about something she said as I asked quizzically, "examS?"

We were only supposed to be having our one League license exam today, so Daisy hinting at several exams confused me. As I pointed out her mistake though, Daisy blinked before covering her mouth with one of her hands while saying,

"Oops! It's a secret!"

I just stared at the mature blond blankly at her slip up, who just shook her head as she stated, "nope, I'm not going to say anything mister. You'll just have to wait."

Even as she said that though a wicked smile formed on my face as I told her, "then you'll just have to compensate for your slip up in some other way."

The words were barely out of my mouth before Daisy smirked as she pecked my lips one last time, before slowly sinking down as her hands reached for my belt.

...

With only two minutes to spare I walked into the examination room to find the professor waiting along with Gary, Ash, and a large muscular man with a thick mane of black hair.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Gary sneered as I arrived, making it very hard for me not to say why I was almost late.

Thankfully I was spared from having to say anything as the newcomer, the source of the wild and powerful aura I sensed earlier, stepped forward and declared,

"You must be Ace! I'm Bruno of the Elite Four!" My thought process paused slightly at the realization that I was meeting a member of the Elite Four here, which Bruno took as a chance to shake my hand.

"It's nice to meet you." I finally said to the behemoth of a man, even as he tried to crush my hand, before I decided to return the favor.

Bruno's smile widened as my hand tried to crush his large one, before he boomed, "Good grip. A man needs to have a strong handshake! But then again, I don't suppose I should expect anything else from a person chosen by a Riolu."

My brow rose when I heard that, prompting me to ask, "you know about Riolu?"

Bruno surprisingly appeared almost offended as he replied, "of course! Riolu and Lucario are borderline Legendaries for fighting specialists like myself! I wouldn't be surprised if every fighting specialist in Kanto knew about the two of you by now!"

My smile became wry when I heard that from Bruno, before I thought about just how many people have probably heard about me through Pokevision, the primary video sharing site in this world. After all, there was no shortage of videos that people had filmed from the numerous battles Riolu and I fought in when we went to Viridian.

"Bruno is here as a representative of the League to oversee your exams." Professor Oak suddenly said, to which the brutish man nodded as he said,

"Usually we send out one of the paper pushers to oversee the exams, but I wanted to come myself to see the only Riolu I know of in Kanto."

Gary clicked his tongue in irritation as we talked, which helped to remind Bruno that we were in fact supposed to be taking a test.

"Right! There's time for that later. Let's begin!"

Ash, Gary and I were then spread out around the room to ensure we couldn't see each other's test sheets, before being given a thick packet filled with questions we'd have to answer within the next hour and a half.

The vast majority of questions were fairly simple to answer since it pretty much all pertained to Kanto Pokemon, such as identifying them, their evolutions and the different moves they could learn. Some questions however also referred to Pokemon from outside Kanto, as well as more specialized questions pertaining to caring and raising Pokemon.

For the most part the test was fairly easy to me since I'd literally spent my entire second life preparing for it, and it was only when I got to the last few pages that the questions began to spike in difficulty.

Nothing about it was too horrible though, and I managed to finish my test with a little over thirty minutes left before both Gary and Ash, the latter of which was no real surprise to be honest, even though I tried to help him study for the last few weeks.

Bringing my test to Bruno up front, the muscular man nodded in affirmation as he accepted it, not wanting to disturb the other two, before professor Oak beckoned me to follow him. Once the door latched closed behind us though, the professor surprised me by saying,

"While Ash and Gary finish up their tests, there's a couple other things for you Ace." Curious, I followed the professor as he led me to another room, which I quickly realized was the one with the other three auras I didn't recognize.

Opening the door, I found myself facing three unfamiliar faces as two women and a man, who the sinister aura belonged to, tuned to face me.

"Mr. Ketchum! I'm Isobel, with the Breeder Association." One of the women said as she too eagerly greeted me like Bruno had earlier, before the other woman said,

"I'm Ms. April, a teacher from the Ranger Academy in Almia, and this is one of my colleagues, Mr. Kincaid."

"Greetings." Kincaid said with a curt and cold tone to his voice, sharing none of the enthusiasm of the other three people I'd met today.

His appearance was that of a person who made sure not a single hair was out of place, which I could tell was the case as I took in his attire, blond hair that was styled into a curl at the front, while even what appeared to be his casual clothes were pressed and without a single wrinkle. His black eyes appearing cold and uncaring, which went well with the sinister aura radiating from his body.

Ms. April and Isobel meanwhile seemed much more pleasant to be around, the former having pale skin with long brunette hair, and was wearing a light green shirt with a white skirt, her eyes warm and gentle to those she was looking at, though her aura felt elegant yet sharp. Isobel meanwhile had curly brown hair with matching eyes, her attire consisting of a suit with a skirt, though I could tell she didn't feel comfortable in them. Her aura meanwhile was like a comfortable spring breeze, which I couldn't help but to compare to aura that I'd felt mothers have more often than not.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." I said while shaking their hands one by one, before professor Oak said wryly,

"I didn't realize you also applied to the Ranger and the Breeder Association, Ace." I issued an awkward laugh at the professor's comment, and said wryly back,

"I did send an application to both of them, but wasn't expecting to hear anything back until I went to Fuchsia city to take their annual exams." Ms. April and Isobel both nodded at my comment, since both organizations had their Kanto regional headquarters in Fuchsia, before the latter explained,

"Well, once we learned that one of our applicants was a student of THE professor Oak, we decided that we couldn't put off the examination until the next one. So, I was sent out here to conduct it right away." Ms. April then added once Isobel finished speaking,

"As for us, it was immediately picked up on that you said in your application that you were already partnered with a Riolu. We're in growing need of capable trainers, and with the legends surrounding those who were partnered with Riolu, Chairwoman Erma sent us to personally assess your skills."

"I still say this is a waste of time." Kincaid said as Ms. April finished speaking, making her hush him before turning back to me with a warm expression.

"So, that's the story. What do you say Ace?" Professor Oak asked once they finished explaining what they were all doing here, to which I didn't even hesitate as I stated,

"Let's get started!"