"Grandma, I missed you so much!"
Auron Vale burst through the door and shouted at once.
"I think what you missed is the Pokémon egg,"
said Liu Xiangjun from the sofa, turning her head to regard the grandson who'd rushed in. Joy she couldn't hide softened the lines of her brow.
"No way—of course I missed you. It's just been so long, hasn't it?"
Auron plopped down beside Liu Xiangjun, looped his arm through hers, and spoke with a hint of playful wheedling.
"If your eyes would actually stay on me, I might believe you."
Grandma flicked a finger against Auron's forehead in mock reproach.
So much for missing me, she thought—his gaze had been glued to the Pokémon egg on the table from the moment he came in.
Startled by the flick, Auron finally snapped back to himself. He grinned at his grandmother and said,
"No, really, I did miss you—but it was Aura guiding my eyes to the egg, not me."
Grandma's eyes brightened. "You've awakened the power of Aura?"
By this time Ashford Vale already had one foot across the threshold. The instant he heard Auron utter the word "Aura," he sensed danger; his own Aura set off frantic alarms.
"If that foot steps outside, don't bother coming back in,"
Grandma said without so much as turning her head.
At her words, Ashford silently drew back the foot he'd just put out.
"Dear, let me arg… ahem, correct my mistake," he ventured.
Liu Xiangjun shot him a sidelong look. "Fine—go ahead and make your excuses."
Ashford's face froze for a beat, but unwilling to lose face in front of the youngster, he ploughed on stiffly,
"It's not an excuse. It's just that when Little Wu told me about it, he also mentioned how to use the Xuancai Stone, so all my attention got pulled toward that. It's all his fault."
As he finished, he pointed at Ashen Vale and Mom, who had been quietly spectating from the side.
Dad blinked, readying a rebuttal—only for Grandma to cut him off.
"Enough, enough—honestly, all day long…"
Waving a hand, Grandma stopped paying them any mind and turned back to Auron.
"You've awakened Aura. Have you figured out what your Aura's special trait is? What are its characteristics?"
"Mhm!"
Auron pointed at the Pokémon egg. "For example—right now, with this egg, my Aura's special ability tells me it's connected to the Electivire in the backyard. It should be an egg of Electivire's evolutionary line—an Elekid egg."
Grandma's brows lifted a fraction.
"And what else?"
Auron thought for a moment.
"Mm… Dad says my special trait probably has to do with hunches and intuition."
"Good, good," Grandma said, nodding with pleasure. "How does it manifest specifically?"
"Well, say there's a Pokémon egg. My Aura might tell me its aptitude, or give me certain bits of information about it—and sometimes it directly tells me what people or Pokémon the egg is connected with.
"Besides that, it'll also tell me what a particular item does and how it relates to other items—and now and then it even provides usage methods or conditions. It's a bit of a mixed bag."
"Very good. Much better than your dad's special ability."
Dad blinked. Struck by stray fire while lying down?
Mom at the side was already laughing so hard she was nearly doubled over.
"Are you coming to Skyspire?" Grandma asked once the teasing subsided and her teacher's bearing slipped back into place. She wanted to hear Auron's plans.
"Mm—yeah."
Auron answered crisply, without hesitation.
Grandma frowned. "If I remember right, your written-test scores weren't very good…"
A jolt went through Auron. His eyes darted, and he hurried to explain,
"Aw, that's just because I didn't have a goal before, right? But then I got my starter Pokémon and realized I had talent as a Trainer. The best way to fulfill that talent is to get into a good university. So I've been studying hard this whole time! Didn't Grandpa tell you??"
Grandpa and Grandma both paused. In the end, Ashford recovered first and barked,
"Brat, don't drag me into it. Your grandma asked you something—just answer her and stop trying to change the subject."
Grandma shot him a glare but let it pass, then continued with Auron,
"Trainer talent, hm? So after you get into Skyspire, you'll choose the Battle Track?"
"Nope, I'm choosing the Breeder Track."
Grandma looked at the toothy, all-smiles Auron and said, at a loss,
"Didn't you just say you had talent as a Trainer?"
"I do," Auron said matter-of-factly,
Pubfuture Ads
nodding as though it were obvious. "But later I discovered I also have talent as a Breeder—maybe even better talent than my Trainer talent."
Grandma could only sigh. "Alright—so long as you're happy."
"Hehe."
Auron flashed a delighted grin, released Liu Xiangjun's arm, and lifted the Pokémon egg from the table.
He had already checked the egg's information when he first came in.
Species: Elekid
Sex: Male
Type: Electric
Ability: Static (When a contact move hits this Pokémon, or when it hits a foe with a contact move, there is a 30% chance to inflict paralysis. For multi-hit contact moves, each hit checks this effect separately.)
Aptitude: Red
Basic Moves: Thunder Shock, Quick Attack
Egg Moves: Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Cross Chop, Dual Chop
It was the aptitude and Egg Moves that had kept Auron's attention off Grandma at first. He couldn't help it—this Pokémon was just too good.
Suddenly, as if something had clicked, Auron looked up at Ashford and asked,
"Grandpa, can the special trait of your Aura probe aptitudes?"
"Sometimes it can—why?" Ashford replied without lifting his head, still kneading Grandma's shoulders.
"No reason," Auron said, eyes back on the egg. "No wonder your and Dad's Pokémon aptitudes are all pretty solid."
He didn't dwell on it. Hugging the incubator base, he headed upstairs, beaming.
"Hold it, Auron—don't rush up just yet. Come to the institute with me in a bit."
Just as Auron was taking the stairs, Flint Jonas happened to come in and spotted him. He called out at once.
"Okay! Give me a sec, I'll be right down."
Auron glanced back, then quickened his pace to stash the egg safely in his room.
"You old coot—why's my grandson going with you? If he's going anywhere, he's going with me."
Ashford's face went cold in an instant; he glowered at Flint Jonas.
"Tch. I already made plans with your grandson. Why are you sticking your nose in?"
"You *****—you—"
They barely got two sentences out before they were in a full-blown squabble.
Grandma, Dad, and Mom had seen it a thousand times. The two old men were often like this.
And even if they bickered fiercely, their relationship was still extremely good. Strange, really.
"Where's your grandson?" Grandma cut in out of nowhere just as Ashford began to fall behind in the quarrel.
Flint's face tightened. He gave a cold snort, then stopped arguing and sat quietly on the sofa to wait for Auron.
Auron finished putting his things away and quickly came back down. Sensing the odd atmosphere in the living room, he unconsciously slowed his steps.
"Uh, Grandpa Flint, what are you taking me to the institute for?"
Flint flicked a glance at Ashford and said coolly,
"Because your grandpa's Aura isn't up to snuff. He couldn't even see through a mere object related to Rayquaza—what use is he?"
"Hmph. Still better than a certain old fellow who doesn't even have Aura," Ashford shot back.
Seeing they were about to go at it again, Auron hurried down the last few steps and said,
"Let's go, let's go—I'll go with you now."
He was very interested. Something related to Rayquaza? Could it be the Rainbow-Pattern Meteorite needed for Rayquaza's… super evolution?
"Hmph. I'm coming too—wait for me," Ashford said, rising to his feet.
"You're a bag of old bones and no use at all—what are you coming for?"
Flint's words said one thing, but his feet said another: he paused at the doorway and waited for Ashford to catch up.
(End of this chapter)