They decided to celebrate after the meeting by picking up Sybil after his treatment and getting everyone a celebratory bite to eat. They’d also stopped by Drew's new hospital room on the way and told him about the good news. He gave Valerie his congratulations on the success, but with his back still not in any comfortable condition, the most he could do was clap and receive a celebratory hug.

  Now at a local sweets shop, Valerie and her mother got Milkshakes, while both Sybil and Larry received some high-grade PokeChow to their taste out of Valerie's backpack. Sybil didn’t quite know the cause for celebration, but after explaining it to her, she also gave her congratulations to Larry.

  On their way home, Larry felt he could still taste the delicious aftertaste in the back of his mouth from the premium mix of granite he’d had, ‘I wouldn’t be against having that again…But considering the look on Valerie's face when she heard the price, I probably won't.’

  Taking in a big breath of the rural air around the League Reception, Larry couldn’t help but stare up at the stars with a little hope in his eyes, ‘Everything turned out well, I got a trainer who’s nice, my mom is going to be alright and she is alright with me going on a journey!’ Emotionally, he was on cloud nine. It felt like he was walking on air, he was so happy.

  Pokemon’s ability to heal is far stronger than humans', but according to the Nurses, his mother would still be forced to stay here for another week or, at worst, two before being released back to Mt. Silver. Larry had to be quite insistent with his mother that she should follow the nurse's instructions, even threatening her with the fact that she could hurt herself even worse if she didn’t. In the end, she grumbled about not bowing down to anyone, but still following instructions if they seemed logical to her.

  They’d spent the rest of the evening chatting, with Larry and Valerie regaling his mother with every single piece of information they could scrounge up about their lives and what had gone down while she was indisposed. Valerie regaled her with her story about how she’d met Larry while on the ‘Bring-Your-Kid-To-Work’ Day, Michelle swooned about her husband in Viridian City and his wonderful flower shop, and Larry himself told her about the Chance meeting with Donpahn, Phanpy, and the Ursaring family they’d had on their trek into the mountain and how they’d saved them.

  At the beginning of their talks, his mother had reluctantly agreed to letting him travel with Valerie, doing so more to respect Larry's own wishes while putting hers behind herself. But by the end, she looked far more content with the agreement, it seemed that getting to know the people who were caring for her son made her far more welcome to the idea of their agreement. When Larry told her about their recent fights against other trainers and Larry's easy wins, she was more than excited to hear about her child's exploits in fights.

  In the end, his mother still wasn’t quite one hundred percent accepting of the idea of him going on a journey. She’d clearly had other plans for Larry already set in her mind, even if she didn’t talk about them out loud. ‘Her whole rant about me growing up as a Pupitar, all the way to a Tyranitar, while near her showed that she wanted to raise me the whole way through. She must’ve really been putting her own wants behind herself to allow me to journey…I’ll make sure to stay thankful that I had such an accepting mom.’ Larry thought with a smile, ‘She might be a Tyranitar, but she for sure isn’t a Tyrant.’

  Some things still hung in the back of Larry's mind, like his supposed older sibling he never got to meet or how his mother would fare back in Mt. Silver once she was brought back, but he knew that those concerns were secondary at the end of the day. He didn’t know the first thing about his sibling, not even what the people who stole him looked like, and even injured, his mother was still a Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon who had gone toe-to-toe with a Moltres, she’d be fine in Mt. Silver so long as no more legendary birds made the place their roosting place.

  ‘But, all in all, today was a good day.’ He thought to himself with a smile, walking along the sidewalks towards their hotel.

  …

  Entering the lobby of their cheap hotel, the group was assaulted by a loud argument currently going down at the reception table.

  “-but why would they have folded it into a Swanna? I wanna use these towels for showering, not for display!”

  The man at the reception, who couldn’t be over twenty, looked more resigned than incensed at the argument, “We’re sorry, Miss, but one of our cleaners called in sick. We’re understaffed and have instead started relying on a tiered schedule, cleaning rooms every other day instead of every day to make up for the staff shortage. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”

  Getting closer, Larry saw that the customer complaining was a young girl in her teens, she had long, golden blonde hair, swooping down her back all the way to her hips. Her looks were stunning, dressed in a simple sundress, she already had the makings of a future model.

  Michelle swooped in between the receptionist of the hotel and the young girl, seeing an opportunity to mediate, “Hello! I’m sorry to cut in, but what seems to be the issue?”

  “This man here thinks it's ok to let his customers only have their rooms cleaned every other day. What a terrible idea!” She pointed at him angrily, somehow expecting the man to falter at the accusation. The young man simply gave another sigh, “Miss…As I’ve said before, we’re understaffed. I apologize for the-”

  “Isn’t this hotel super cheap anyway?” Valerie interjected with a wincing nod from Michelle. Even if it was true, she probably shouldn’t have worded it like that in front of an employee, “Why are you expecting premium service at a cheap hotel?”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  The girl furrowed her brow when she looked at Valerie, but when she looked down at her Pokemon, Larry specifically, realization dawned on her, “Hey! You’re that girl with the Larvitar!”

  Valerie recoiled at the pointer finger flying her way, “Ugh, yup. That’s me…”

  “What's a person like you doing in a run-down place like this?” Behind the girl, the receptionist rolled his eyes,

  She began prodding, “You’re super famous! Shouldn’t you be at a more expensive hotel? Is it true you went into Mt. Silver? Isn’t that dangerous?”

  ‘What's this girl's deal?’ Larry thought to himself, ‘She's been nothing but a nuisance since I first saw her.’

  Michelle cut between the two, “Sorry, but I think you’re asking a few too many questions at once. First up, why were you here at the reception complaining?”

  The girl seemed to remember why she was here, looking back over to the reception, "That's right! My mother and I were enjoying a nice evening out in the city, and when we returned, we found our towels folded into a Swanna and a group of young Duckletts!”

  “So?” Valerie asked, sharing a confused face with her mother.

  “So?!” The girl looked outraged, “Someone clearly broke into our room and maliciously folded all the towels up into the shapes of Pokemon!” She put a hand on her chin, “But why would they do that? Is it a conspiracy of some kind? A warning?”

  Larry felt his brain short-circuit at the stupidity on display in the girls' thought process, much like his trainer and her mother, ‘That’s just…Wow…’

  “Isn’t that just basic room service? They cleaned your room and folded your new towels as an extra.” Behind the girl, the receptionist also nodded, “That’s correct, that is what I’ve been trying to explain to the young Miss here.”

  From the staircase of the hotel, an extremely beautiful woman emerged. She floated down the staircase with practiced ease. Wearing a simple blouse and jeans combo, she looked like she’d jumped straight out of one of the magazines put on display in the reception's seating area.

  “Stella, so that's where you went.” The woman's voice was clear and bright as she looked towards the young girl. She put a hand on her head as she approached, much to the girl's displeasure, “I’m sorry if my daughter bothered you in any way, she is quite sheltered.”

  “No problem,” Valerie said with a smile.

  Next to her, Michelle squinted her eyes at the woman, “I’m sorry, but I think I’ve seen you somewhere before?”

  The woman put on a practiced, candid smile, “You must be mistaken-”

  Michelle snapped her finger in recognition, “Aha! Now I remember! You’re Aurora!”

  Aurora hitched and stopped, her smile frozen in time and space.

  “I can’t believe I get to see a Contest Megastar like you here!” Michelle gushed, “I remember reading in the news about how you moved from Celadon because of the number of fans who kept hounding you. What a small world to find you in a hotel at the League Reception Town.”

  “Umm…Who is Aurora?” Valerie asked with a quirked brow.

  “Oh, she’s a famous Contest Star,” Michelle explained, “She-”

  “You must have the wrong person.” Aurora suddenly blurted out before turning, “Let’s go back to our room, Stella.”

  “But Mom! I still haven't found out about the Swanna~!” Stella complained from her mother's clutch as she was pulled up the stairs again.

  “Huh, weird.” Michelle spoke with a scratch of her head, “I remember her being far more personable on TV.”

  “How do you know about Contest Stars anyway? You said you didn’t get trainers.” Valerie asked with a quirk of her head.

  “They always run contest reruns when I get back from work, so I’ve been watching them from time to time.” Michelle explained, “It's pretty much the only thing on my favourite channels when I come home. And contests and gyms are an entirely different thing anyway, all the women at the office follow contests.”

  “Huh.” Larry resonated with Valerie as they made their way towards their room.

  …

  Sitting down on their hotel beds, Michelle began to broach a new topic, “So, now that you can be sure that Larry's mother will be ok, when can we finally fly back to Viridian? Drew will still be out of commission, and you still have to prepare a few things for that journey of yours, don’t you? Spring is coming up very quickly, and you’ll want to be ready by then.”

  “What about Larry's mother, though?” Valerie argued, “Larry won’t be able to see his mother off when she finally heals if we go now!”

  Nodding along, Larry agreed, “Yeah, yeah.”

  Shaking her head, Michelle answered, “That one is tough. I think it would be nice if he could see her off, but we don’t know when exactly she’ll be healed, and those two weeks could be far better spent preparing for your journey.”

  “Why can’t I just prepare for my journey here?” Valerie whined.

  “Well, for starters, you’ll actually need to sign up for the journey. You did get signed as a trainer already, since you managed that whole thing with the police back when you caught Larvitar, but I don’t think that you signed up for this year's circuit yet, right?” With a shake of Valeires' head, Michelle continued, “Right. You might be able to do that online these days, but there are other points to discuss.”

  “Like, which ones?”

  “I think this vacation has gone on long enough,” Michelle spoke with a smile, “I’d like to get back to my husband and actually get back to working again, and I can’t really keep you here alone. The last time my coworkers heard of me, they saw me hurry out of the office after I got a call from the police. I’d be happy if I could finally clear the air and get back to work, this trip hasn’t been what I’d call cheap, y’know?”

  “Right…” Valerie agreed, slightly downtrodden now. Larry could see Michelle's logic, ‘These had been extraordinary circumstances that brought us together.’

  Looking down at Larry, Michelle asked the big question, “Are you ready to go to Viridian City? It’s my hometown and the place you’ll be staying until you start your journey.” Larry nodded back reluctantly, no matter how much he wanted to stay here by his mother's side until she was completely healthy, he couldn’t ask that much of his trainer's family.

  Michelle took his nod as agreement, “That's good! I’ll order some tickets for the flight back first thing tomorrow morning, we’ll fly either tomorrow evening or the morning after, so make sure to tie up any loose ends.”

  The duo kept looking downtrodden at the news that they’d soon be leaving. Seeing her daughter's and her Pokemon's expression, Michelle knew just how to cheer them up, “Look, if it's really that important to you, we can return for the day his mother gets discharged and then fly back the same day. It will be a bit hectic, but I think it should be possible.”

  That got both of their smiles to return.

  “For now, how about we get to sleep?” Michelle tested.