Merry Christmas! Now that the holiday special is done, we can get back on track with the vacation! In this chapter, we'll finally meet some of Ayame's family! What will they be like?

Rosealine gold: Maddi wasn't involved since she isn't part of Blake's "harem". Unless…

Pokemonking0924: Notable that it would have to be Ayame's dream, because Ayame is the only one who knows that Sango has feelings for Blake (along with Cynthia, Claira, Kate, and Elaina). So Sango wouldn't have shown up in Blake's dream about his "harem".

Aquahaze675: Same to you!

Thunder Fire: Very cute, I know, hopefully this chapter will be cute, too.

JoshGamerV: Harem route, that's what the fuck.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 409

"…And in high school, my sister was already being scouted by Olympic instructors!" Ayame explained. "She was even faster than me!"

"She sounds pretty amazing," Blake said, smiling at her. She had been spending the last two hours explaining how great an athlete her sister was and how much she looked up to her.

"My sister was the reason I got into running in the first place," Ayame had explained, her face bright. But even now, Blake could hear tones of sadness in her voice, for a reason he hadn't quite discerned yet. He didn't say anything about it, though, and let her just keep talking. No one could have any doubt about how much she obviously loved her sister. Blake could understand her feelings all too well, he loved his sister just as much.

Ayame gasped, remembering that sisters were somewhat of a touchy subject for Blake.

"Oh, no! I've been talking so much about my sister, you must be so bored," Ayame said. "Sorry, when I talk about her, I just get so carried away…"

"No, it's fine," Blake assured her.

"R-Really?"

"When you talk about your sister your face lights up in a way that is just the most adorable thing I've ever seen," Blake replied.

Ayame's face turned bright red and she averted her eyes, brushing a fringe of hair from the side of her face the way she always did when she got shy.

"Don't worry, if your family is as amazing as you are, I'm going to love them," Blake assured her. "I'm honestly looking forward to meeting them all, I can't wait to get there."

"Err, yeah, it's gonna be… urp." Ayame held her hand over her mouth. She heart was pounding in her chest with excitement, she couldn't wait until she got home either, but she was so anxious that it was causing an uneasy feeling in her gut the way she always did when she was nervous, and she felt like she was going to throw up. She took off her seat belt and got up out of her seat and Blake stepped up as well to make room for her, Ayame shuffling down the aisle.

It's going to be okay, you don't need to be nervous, she told herself, kneeling in front of the toilet and dry heaving. She forced the nausea down, thankful she had taken some Dramamine to suppress air sickness. Oh, please, I hope my family likes Blake… my dad said he could stay, but I hope he won't make that big a deal… maybe… maybe he can sleep in my room?

Another urge to vomit surged up. No way was that going to happen. But maybe…

Ayame wiped her lips as she stepped out of the bathroom, popping a few breath mints into her mouth. She hated that her body made her throw up all the time when she was feeling anxious. Luckily, the queasiness had abated, and her rapid heartbeat was just a sign of her excitement. She swallowed and took her seat next to Blake, smiling.

"You okay?"

"Just some nerves," Ayame said. "Hey, Blake… are you nervous, too?"

"Nervous? About what?" Blake asked.

"W-well, yeah, like… wh-what if my parents don't like you?" Ayame asked, the worry in her voice plane to hear. "I mean, you're my first boyfriend, after all, and we've only been dating for a month or so, and like, what if they think you're too fucking young for me, or that you aren't worthy of being me, or what if they think we don't belong together, or want me to break up with you…"

"Would you?" Blake asked.

"No! Fucking never!" Ayame exclaimed, waving her hands frantically. "Even if my parents want us to break up, I would never-! I just…"

Ayame looked down, her cheeks flushed and her eyes tearing up. "I just want my parents to like my boyfriend, you know?"

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm positive that my dad would absolutely never approve of our relationship," Blake said, patting her on the shoulder. "So you don't have to worry just about your parents, okay?"

"…How is that supposed to make me fucking feel better?" Ayame scowled.

"Because whatever our parents might think, it doesn't matter about us, right?" Blake asked. "Don't worry. Even if my dad won't accept our relationship, it doesn't matter at all. Because you're the one I want to be with, not whoever it is my dad would want to fix me up with. I told my dad I would do what I wanted, and choose who I want to be with, and I did. You."

Ayame's face grew an even brighter red and she squirmed in her seat. She felt the urge to throw up again, much to her frustration.

A few hours later, the plane set down on the runway. Checking his watch, it was 10 o'clock in the morning. Time zones made no sense. The sun was high and bright in the sky, which was surprising for winter time.

"Blake! Blake, look!" Ayame grabbed his shoulder and pointed out the window. Blake leaned over her, to see a large mountain off in the distance, bathed in snow that was shining a bright silver in the morning sun. "That's Mt. Silver!"

"It's so far," Blake said, surprised. "I thought we were coming in closer."

"We, uh… my family doesn't exactly live in a big city," Ayame admitted sheepishly, the two getting up out of their seats and picking up their backpacks. They pulled their backpacks from the overhead bins, and filed out of the plane. They went to the luggage pickup for the rest of their stuff, which was basically just about picking up Blake's Skorupi. The baby pokemon scratched eagerly at the reinforced cage when he saw the two of them, Blake smiling warmly at the cute pokemon.

"Blake, I just called," Ayame said, walking over to him. "Our ride's outside." Ayame took Blake's suitcase in her other hand, pulling both of them behind her so that Blake could carry Skorupi in both hands, the two heading out into the terminal exit.

"So where are we exactly?" Blake asked.

"Victory City," Ayame explained. "It's a town right at the connecting point between Kanto and Johto. Technically we're in the Kanto region, but it's sort of part of both."

Ayame pointed towards Mt. Silver.

"So, to the West is Mt. Silver. North is Victory Road and the Pokemon League for Kanto and Johto. East will take you to Viridian City in Kanto, and Tohjoh Falls is to the South."

"Those are the waterfalls that your family was named after?" Blake asked, grinning.

"My ancestors were fucking weird," Ayame admitted, rubbing her brow. "But my parents did go there for their honeymoon."

"Maybe we could go check it out sometime while we're here?" Blake asked, flashing Ayame a smile that turned Ayame's entire face bright red. "I think it would be nice to see some of the sights."

"Err… that's-! N-no!" Ayame exclaimed. "I-I mean, maybe we can, but… not like there's any special meaning if we go. Yo-You aren't planning on… right?"

"Planning? On what?"

Ayame was freaking out over the thought that Blake might have been wanting to go to the waterfall to propose to her. It was a crazy thing to think about, but part of her made her wonder if it was a possibility.

Was it wrong to hope that it was?

"I-I gotta go," Ayame said, rushing back into the airport and running for the bathroom, their suitcases bonking around behind her.

Blake glanced back and laughed, turning back and looking across the loading and unloading zone at the crowd of people gathered around, seeing if he could spot anyone waiting for them.

He quickly found someone. Over the heads of the others, a large sign was being held up by two slender hands. The sign read "Ayame Toujou + Boyfriend". He was on the right track. Blake maneuvered around the thinning crowd until he found who it was that was holding the sign.

The person in question was a girl about Cynthia's height, with shiny hazel-gold eyes and long black hair. She looked up at Blake with a smile, and he could see the resemblance to Ayame immediately, though this girl was a lot more feminine than she was, he hated to admit it. She was also short, too, which was a surprise. He had expected Ayame's family to be full of tall people like her.

"Hi, I'm Blake Harker," he said, introducing himself to the girl. He held his hand out to her and she smiled, lowering the sign to shake his hand.

"Hi! We've heard all about you!" The girl said, her voice high and bubbly, nothing like Ayame's at all. "You're the boyfriend, right? Aya's jus head over heels for you, you know? I'm Hiromi Toujou, but you can just call me Romi!"

"So you're Aya's little sister?" Blake guessed. "I knew she had an older sister, but I didn't know she had a younger one."

"Oh, yeah, Aya is a big fan of Megumi! She talks about her all the time," Hiromi laughed. "I'm not surprised you would know about her, too!"

"She, uh… does she say anything about me?" Blake asked, trying to make the question burning a hole in his brain seem casual.

A sly smirk slowly spread across Hiromi's lips. She narrowed her eyes.

"What, like 'my boyfriend is such a good kisser', or 'every time Blake and I are together I have to resist the urge to pounce on him because he's just that adorable'? Stuff like that?" Hiromi snickered, Blake turning red in embarrassment.

"How old are you anyway?" Blake asked, wondering if someone so young should be talking about stuff like that.

"Oh, well-"

"Mom?!" Ayame dashed up, her face bright red. "Why-why the fuck are you talking about stuff like that with Blake?!"

Blake did a double-take.

"Mom?!"

"Ehehehe," Hiromi smiled, giving him two peace signs.

"I can't believe it," Blake said, shaking his head in stunned surprise. He and Ayame were sitting in the back seat of Hiromi's van, driving down the road towards the border between Kanto and Johto. Blake wasn't paying attention to the scenic views, however, he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Ayame's mother was a woman just over half her height.

Doing the math, if Ayame is the average of the two, then doesn't that mean that her father would have to be like 9-10 feet tall? Blake wondered.

"I know, sometimes I wonder how we're related," Hiromi laughed from the driver's seat of the car. "Aya and Megu were taller than me already by the time they were 10!"

"I'm just… I'm just finding it hard to believe," Blake said. When he pictured Ayame's mother, his imagination had been a towering woman with a piercing glare. Instead, she was a slender slip of a girl, with a bubbly affable personality. Yes, upon looking closer, he could see signs of age starting to set in, but she could still easily be mistaken as a high schooler. Though even with her short height, he couldn't imagine her being mistaken for someone younger.

"Mom, why were you teasing my boyfriend?" Ayame asked, sulking at the fact that her mother had teased her boyfriend and revealed several things that she would have very much preferred to be kept private.

"Oh, don't be so uptight, Aya," Hiromi laughed. "Just relax a little! I doubt Blake wants to see you so irritated all the time."

"Actually I find her quite adorable when she gets annoyed like this," Blake admitted. "I can't help but tease her myself sometimes, just to see her face get all cute and upset like this."

Ayame pounded on his shoulder in frustration.

"I'm glad you think that about her," Hiromi laughed. "Yes, Aya is completely adorable! The fact that you notice how cute she is when she gets flustered really says a lot! I'm glad my daughter's first boyfriend is someone like you, who understands the kind of person that she is."

"M-Mom!" Ayame gasped, resisting the urge to smile at her mother's assessment. It seemed that she approved of their relationship after all. That made her a little less worried.

"So, Mrs. Toujou-"

"Romi is fine, I already told you," Hiromi laughed, good-naturedly.

"It, um, it's a little weird referring to my girlfriend's mother with a nickname," Blake admitted. "Can I just call you Mrs. Toujou?"

"My, he's a polite one, you found yourself quite the little gentleman, Aya," Hiromi laughed. "Tell you what, Blake, until you're comfortable enough to call me 'Romi' you can just call me Hiromi, is that good enough?"

"Uh, y-yes," Blake said, nodding, silently deciding he would just try very hard to not refer to her by name in general.

"Aw, loosen up, Blake, you're basically family now, you'll get used to me!" Hiromi laughed. "I'm a bit of a teaser, but that's nothing to worry about!"

"I hope so," Blake admitted.

"Well, we're going to be seeing a lot more of you, I hope," Hiromi said. "If you and Aya get married, you'll definitely be seeing some more of us!"

"MOOOOOOOOM!" Ayame exclaimed, hiding her burning hot face in her hands. Blake turned bright red and glanced out the window at the approaching Mt. Silver, not willing to look either woman in the eye after that little comment.

Hiromi just laughed.

Blake was stunned by what he saw as they pulled up towards the Toujou residence. When Ayame explained to him that her family stayed in a log cabin by Mt. Silver, Blake had expected a nice, quaint little thing.

Instead, he was staring at a three story mansion built out of timber, standing proud in a field of snow. Mt. Silver stood off in the distance, so close that Blake could no longer see the peak as it pierced he clouds above. Blake gulped, and calmed himself. He had been thrown off, but he quickly regained his composure. It still wasn't comparable to his father's estate.

"Come on, let's get your bags," Hiromi said, pulling into the driveway. She stepped out of the car and grabbed Blake's suitcase, leading the way inside. Ayame took hers and Blake carried Skorupi, the three heading up the stairs of the entrance and into the cabin.

The first thing to catch Blake's attention was the wave of heat that smacked him in the face. The front door led to a single room that was a combination of entrance hall and living room. There was a large stone fireplace in the back of the room, a blaze heating him up nicely. Blake stepped down from the wooden deck lining the room and down into onto the cobblestone floor, looking around. It was…

Blake had to reconsider what he had thought about his father's estate. True, this cabin wasn't the same size, not even close. But… it was cozy. And so wonderful. Blake would have loved to grow up in a home like this. There were large paintings hung on the log walls, some of pokemon and others of the scenery. Hanging above the fireplace was a large canvas depicting Mt. Silver in all its glory, so finely detailed Blake almost thought it was a window, not a painting.

"Pretty amazing, huh?" Hiromi laughed, snapping Blake out of his feeling of awe.

"Uh, yeah, wow, this place is… when Aya said she lived in a cabin, I thought, well…"

"It's a family tradition," Hiromi explained. "My husband explained it to me, every generation, they add another wing to the cabin, for the new family."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Mom, don't," Ayame groaned.

Hiromi's eyes glinted excitedly. "You see, when I married into this family, my husband built an entire section of the house for us to stay in, since his parents were still alive. The whole family pitched in to help expand it! That way, no matter how large our family gets, the house will still hold us all! Of course, that means that we end up with a lot of rooms that don't really see any use…"

She sighed, and shrugged her shoulders. But a smile quickly returned to her face.

"So, Blake, how good are you with an axe?"

"MOM!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Hiromi laughed. She reached up and patted Blake on the shoulder. "I'm just trying to get him to lighten up with some jokes!"

"You're embarrassing me," Ayame said, scowling.

Hiromi smiled at her daughter, and beckoned Ayame over. Ayame leaned down so Hiromi could pat her daughter on the head. As she did, she turned back to Blake and smiled.

"Blake, you're dating my daughter now," she said. "And it's clear from everything Aya has told me, and from everything I've seen so far, that you two are head over heels for each other."

"W-well…"

"Y-yeah…"

Blake and Ayame glanced at each other with shy smiles.

"On the drive over here, basically the entire time, either one of you was looking at the other when they thought they weren't looking. I had to resist cooing in sweetness it was so adorable."

Their faces flushed even brighter.

Hiromi raised her hand from Ayame's head and walked over to Blake, standing on the upper level of the wooden floor so she was at eye level with him. She reached out and cradled his cheek.

"Blake, you're important to my daughter! And that means you're a part of our family now!"

"Wait, huh?"

"You don't have to worry about complicated stuff like trying to impress us," Hiromi grinned. "I said it, didn't I? If Ayame loves you, that makes you a part of this family."

She retracted her hand and jammed her thumb into her chest. "So, you can just think of me like a second mother, sound good?"

Blake was at a loss for words. He had felt a little bit of stress at the notion of meeting Ayame's family, but this was nothing like what he had expected.

A family… He didn't for a second think of Ayame's family in that context to himself. He thought of his own adopted mother, Cynthia, long lost to him. He pictured Hiromi in her place. Another mother… a part of him did want to be involved in Ayame's family, to consider them as his own. A happy life with Ayame…

"S-sorry," Blake said bashfully, ducking away from Hiromi.

"Mom, saying stuff like that just isn't gonna work, you're just gonna embarrass him more," Ayame pouted.

"Aya, let's take your bags to your rooms. Blake, go warm up by the fire place, you're part of the family but you're still a guest.

Hiromi took Blake's backpack and Ayame took Skorupi off of his hands, the two heading down one of the hallways and leaving Blake alone in the room. Blake walked up to the fireplace to warm up. As the fire heated him, he admired the painting hung over the mantle.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A melodious voice caught his ear. "It's one of my best works."

Blake turned his head at the newcomer, his eyes widening in surprise. A woman a few years older than Ayame was across the room, a kind smile on her face. She was rather beautiful, as much as Ayame was handsome. She had the same sharp eyes and beaming smile as Ayame, though her features were softer, much like Hiromi. And where Ayame's hair was short, hers trailed down her back, near the waist of her white dress.

Most surprising of all, however was that she was seated in a wheelchair.

"You're Blake Harker, correct?" The woman rolled her wheelchair over to him, looking up at him with a kind smile.

"Y-Yes, and you are?" Blake asked, surprised.

"Megumi Toujou, at your service," the woman said, extending her hand up to him. Blake took it.

"You… you painted this?" Blake asked, changing the subject back to the painting. He had been caught off-guard. The way Ayame had talked about her sister, a star athlete, he was… unprepared to see her in a wheelchair, to say the least.

"I did," Megumi said, readjusting her wheelchair to face the painting. "After my accident, I needed to pick up a hobby to occupy myself. I'm glad you like it!"

"It's beautiful," Blake said, nodding. He glanced at Megumi, who smiled kindly back to him. The resemblance to Ayame was something, but Blake felt reassured that Ayame was still the cuter of the sisters. Still, he hoped Ayame would be back soon, to rescue him from the awkwardness.

So Blake has made it to the Toujou Family Home! We've met Ayame's mother and sister, and it looks like Blake may have a brand new second family! Hopefully, everything goes well with them, things are looking positive!