Chapter 52. Boulder!

“Boulder!” Cobble and Pebble eyes were about to pop out of their socket as they looked down at the kid no older than 12. He had short red hair and gentle brown eyes, he looked exactly like a version of Gran when he was younger. His two brothers were completely stunned, it was only a year ago they had seen him, and his hair was already a different color.

“Boulder! Y-your hair!? How!?” Pebble exclaimed and stopped himself “I mean welcome back we were not expecting you until tomorrow.” It wasn’t surprising for Pebble to be extremely shocked; it took both him and Cobble into their mid-teens before their hair changed colors. However, their youngest brother outpaced them to be the youngest in the household to obtain their power at 12.

“Hehe, surprised?” Boulder struck a superman pose and continued. “I caught the eye of a teacher at school, he told me he was surprised to see someone so young know how to use meditative energy. After that I received personal training! Hehe this is all thanks to brothers and father for teaching me.”

Boulder’s eye finally noticed the other people who were sitting in the meditation room. He was too excited to surprise his family with his new hair that he didn’t even know there were other people in the room until now.

Boulder leaned over to Pebble’s ear and whispered, “Who are they?”

Pebble whispered back. “These five are from the Galafray’s estate and Seth was a person we scared.” Pebble pointed at the pair of eyes who were curiously looking back at the red-haired tan skinned boy. Boulder walked up before them and introduced himself. “Hello! I’m Boulder, what are your names?”

The trainees all introduced themselves to Boulder with those capable of talking replying first. Boulder’s eyes lit up when he saw the attractive Julie and Shelly who calmly introduced themselves. Boulder then walked over and squatted before Michael and Arthur and introduced himself before the weary duo, they greeted with a smile.

Boulder noticed the bruised arms and legs on both Michael and Arthur and thought back to a year ago where he had to go through the same ordeal, he returned the smile and continued. “It’s tough huh? Don’t worry though, it’s tough but effective just look at me. One day you two can find your meditative energy.”

Michael and Arthur wanted to say that they’ve found their meditative energy, however they were so tired and sleepy they just nodded their head to Boulder’s response.

Boulder then turned his attention back to his father. “Dad! My teacher was the one that brought us back here, he said he always wanted to meet you. Do you want to meet him? I can go get him if you do.” Boulder exclaimed excitedly. He wanted to bring his teacher to meet his father so that the two people he most respected can have a conversation about him and how wonderful of a son and student he is.

“Oh? Where is your teacher right now?” Gran asked. He was intrigued about a teacher who wanted to meet him, was it because of his days back in both Lumiere and Naturelle? Was it someone he knew? Was it a fan of his? So many thoughts circled in his mind that he was unwilling to ask.

Gran was always a person who wanted to be surprised when it comes to surprised guests. His likes for surprises rubbed off on Roselyn and was the reason why after Pebble they never asked for the gender of their other sons. If the surprises were not life-threatening Gran welcomed it.

“My teacher is escorting everyone else back right now.” Boulder excitedly with a smile on his face. He continued “I told him to wait at the Inn when he’s done so that I can get you two to meet!” The eager in his eyes was apparent.

“So can you? Do you want to meet him? Please meet him. He’s so cool, I think you’ll like him, please, please please.” Boulder begged with his palms clasped together. Gran laughed at Boulder’s begging. “Son, who taught you to beg like that?” Gran rhetorically asked.

Pebble and Cobble rolled their eyes when they heard their father asked Boulder that. It was how Gran normally begged Roselyn when he wanted something from her. “So can i? Can I go fishing? Please? Fishes are good for you. It’ll make our sons great, please, please please.” and other scenes of Gran begging came to their mind.

Noticing Pebble and Cobble’s weird look Gran coughed and rustled the short hair of the youngest son of his. “Go see your mother first, you haven’t seen her in over a year, she’s been worried about you, you know? And she has a surprise for you too.” Gran stated calmly.

“A surprise?” Boulder asked. He continued. “What kind of surprise?”

“A big one, now go see your mother, or else I won’t see your teacher.” Gran patted his son on the back propelling him forward a step with his strength. Boulder’s eyes lit up afterwards and rushed towards the door before stopping there. He turned around and looked at the trainee within the room.

“Oh, it was nice to meeting you all today, I’m going to see my mom now, tomorrow I can help you guys with training if you need help I’m one of the best for my age, maybe I can teach you guys! Bye!” Boulder’s eyes lingered on Julie and Shelly for a short moment before he ran out as fast as he came in. His hurried footsteps could be heard running up the stairs.

“He’s quite the kid.” Boss who was the most ignored by Boulder remarked. “Is he always that hyper?”

“Yes!” The father and two sons replied in unison and laughed. Pebble continued “He’s also straightforward and you’ll know exactly what’s on his mind at all times, apparently he’s already at that age where he’s interested in girls.” Pebble laughed, everyone in the room besides the two who were laying on the ground half asleep had noticed Boulder’s eyes lit up when he saw Julie and Shelly.

“But, father… what surprise does mom have for him?” Pebble asked. His confused look made Gran speechless. Did Pebble not know? He then turned his eyes over to Cobble who raised his eyebrows when Pebble asked that question and sighed in relief. At least Cobble knows what he meant.

“Pebble, Boulder’s been away for a year.” Cobble spoke calmly and slowly.

“Uh huh, I know that.” Pebble gave Cobble a curious look. Even Cobble knew what the surprise was?

“What happened to mom during that time?” Cobble asked.

Pebble’s dimwitted eyes slowly grew wider and wider until the lightbulb above his head lit up and he facepalmed himself so hard when he realized the answer. “Ahaha, I can’t wait until he sees his surprise. We should hear it soon.” Pebbled remarked.

Cobble and Gran nodded their head and waited. Everyone within the room turned their head to the opened door of the meditation room. A short moment later the loud scream of a 12-year-old red haired boy could be heard echoing throughout the home.

“AHHH, MOM YOUR STOMACH YOU’RE PREGNANT! HOW? WHAT? WHY?” The sound of loud footsteps stomped the stairway followed by a crashing sound as the 12-year-old red head wearing his school uniform walked back in massaging the back of his head.

“DAD! MOM’S PREGNANT. DID YOU KNOW? DID YOU DO THIS?” Boulder’s ran up to Gran and exclaimed. The excitement in his voice couldn’t be maintained.

“Uh, yes I know that she’s pregnant. Well if I didn’t do it, who did?” Gran replied. He continued. “Did you just run away from your mom?”

“Oh shoot!” Boulder’s footsteps could be heard running up the stairs again, however there was a steadier and less reckless steps to them than before. “Mom, sorry! Is it a boy? Is it a girl? You don’t know!? Why not!? Surprise!? NOOO, Wait really? SOON? OH MY GOSH! Tell me everything!” The sound of a door closing could be heard as the house quieted down.

Boulder’s voice could be heard all the way back to the meditation room before it got quiet.

“Did he just say, tell me everything?” Boss asked Gran.

Gran squinted his eyes and thought to himself. There’s no way Roselyn would tell Boulder about everything, right? He then turned and looked at Pebble and Cobble who was standing there with a weird expression on their face. “Did you ever ask your mom to tell you everything?”

“No…but if it’s mom, I think she would do it.” Pebble thought about it and replied. He then turned his head to Cobble and asked. “Right, Cobble?”

Cobble nodded his head. “I asked mom to tell me her life story once, she started from the beginning and didn’t leave out any detail until I fell asleep.”

Gran’s silhouette disappeared from the meditation room before Cobble could even finish his sentence. Another sound of doors being opened could be heard a short second later followed by Gran shouting “Wait!” before the door closed again.

Pebble and Cobble continued to stand there awkwardly looking at the pair of eyes that were on them. “Your training is over today, go back to the Inn and rest up, we’ll start again with Cobble tomorrow, try to pass this time. You have only… is it two or three chances left? Two right? Two left.” Pebble stated after confirming with Cobble beside him.

“Anyways, we’re going to catch up with Boulder tonight, so we’ll see you all again tomorrow morning.” Pebble excused himself and left the room. Cobble glanced at Michael and Arthur who actually fell asleep sometime during all that ruckus. “They can sleep here tonight, if you want.”

Boss waved it off. “It’s okay, I can bring them back.”

Cobble nodded his head and walked over to help Michael and Arthur up off the floor. Seth and Julie held onto Michael whereas Shelly held Arthur back up to his feet. With Silver in his arms and Barkie on his head Boss and the trainees disappeared from the meditation room.

It has been this kind of situation since the intensity of the meditation went up with Gran. Boss would just teleport everyone back to the Inn into their respective rooms because they were in no condition to even stay awake at that point.

Cobble sighed to himself when he saw the trainees disappear, the actions of Boss no matter how many times he saw it and concentrated in his meditative state he couldn’t sense even an ounce of power energy being used when he teleported them away.

Boss looked at the bruised-up Arthur and Michael who finally managed to find their meditative energy and smiled. “Welp, looks like it’s time for me to cook once again, wake them up in a few hours when it’s done will ya?” Boss asked the other three who was in the room.

“You can join us too, Seth.” Boss stated calmly before walking out of the door.

Seth looked at Shelly and Julie who was completely unharmed. “Is his cooking that good?” He asked.

“Yes, it’s the best cooking I’ve ever had.” Julie replied. She continued “It also have some weird healing properties, the last time we had Boss’ cooking we would recover a lot faster.”

Shelly nodded her head to Julie’s statement and looked towards Seth’s bruised up arms. “It’ll be good for you if you had some.”

“Do you think my friends can have some too?” Seth thought about his fellow companions who he traveled with. Even though Seth’s training with Gran’s estate was grueling and rewarding at the same time. Mason, Riley, Gerald, and Sampson were no slackers when they saw him improve.

They were embarrassed to ask Seth to have Gran train them too, considering they rejected Seth’s offer the first time. So, they would instead ask about what kind of training Seth did with them and copied it back at the Inn with Mason and Riley acting as the trainers for Gerald and Sampson. All four of them improved training and tutoring each other, Riley and Mason still haven’t hit Tier 2 but they were more opportunistic about the future once they traveled to the Tillowisk Empire as compared to before.

“I don’t see why not?” Julie replied to Seth as she looked towards Shelly hoping to Shelly agree.

“It should be okay.” Shelly replied.

Seth was delighted and left to tell his friends.

On his way back he noticed a tall elegant looking gentleman with bright red hair and a thin brown moustache standing before the hallway looking at the room beside theirs. The elegant gentleman felt Seth’s gaze and turned around and nodded his head in greeting before closing the door to his room.

Seth thought about Boulder’s teacher and tried recalling if he’s ever seen that gentleman before back at Lumiere. However, after opening the door to his own room Seth determined it wasn’t someone he had ever met.

His four friends were concentrating on their meditation when Seth walked in. They were not meditating the same way Gran had done with the trainees because Riley and Mason realized immediately they lacked the control to properly stop in time resulting in Gerald and Sampson getting smacked when they shouldn’t have.

Seth looked at Riley who didn’t even open his eyes from his meditation when the red-haired gentleman was right next door. “That’s definitely someone Tier 3 or higher” Seth thought to himself and concluded, he closed the door behind him and started to meditate until it was time for dinner.