1-4

I stared into the eyes of green-headed impossibility and it stared back with glowing eyes.

"It's tickling my brain. Is that normal?" I asked with barely contained laughter.

"You should be fine as long as it isn't painful." The doctor said from the side. I hummed but kept my gaze on the creature currently rooting through my mind.

Consensually, obviously.

The Xatu seemed to shift uncomfortably for a moment and I marveled at how alive it was. It's head wasn't a solid colored mass of green, but thousands of small green feathers spread over it's head with the eyes of a hawk and a beak that had small divots and grooves.

I could hardly believe it. A real, actual Pokemon was in front of me with a level of reality that even Detective Pikachu couldn't bring to the table. The detail was the only reason I was sure I wasn't complete insane and even after waking up in this hospital two weeks ago and seeing all manner of Pokemon every single one of them inspired a giddiness in me.

An almost manic smile began so spread on my face.

The glow to the five foot tall Xatu's eyes faded and I'm fairly certain it shot me an affronted look.

I warned them they might see things in the old noggin they didn't want to see.

The psychic Pokemon turned and let out a trill like a dove that took lessons to sing baritone. It's eyes glowed again briefly before the clacking of heels on the floor sounded and the other room's occupant came into view.

"How are you feeling Miss Koch?" She asked as she took a seat. "Did you feel any changed or returned memories from that?"

Professor Sago was an ambiguously tan woman that appeared to be in her mid forties and always seemed to ride the line between business appropriate attire and elaborate dinner party attire. She also always seemed to treat me like a bomb technician handles a rednecks homemade pyrotechnics.

"No. Nothing new really. Though...I can remember my High School Locker combination again, so there is that." I said with a shrug. "In all honesty are we really sure that the problem is with my memories?"

"That's possible." The Professor admitted, "But consider this. A woman is found in the middle of the woods and the entire world isn't as she remembered it. The woman had faint psychic energy readings on her and she has memories of Pokemon, but thinks them fictional. What is more likely? That the woman somehow transported to a completely separate universe? Or that she was attacked by a psychic Pokemon and disassociated and made them fictional in her own mind to defend herself?"

"Honestly? There are like three Legendaries off the top of my head that could do the first one and I lean towards that. Though I am perhaps biased." I stated with a shrug.

"Sure." Professor Sago said nodding. "But again, the simplest solution is usually the correct one. Either this was an act of a god like Pokemon in an action never before seen in history or myth, or it's an understood phenomenon of disassociation."

"Are you sure you're a Pokemon Professor and not a psychiatrist?" I joked.

"A Pokemon Professor that studies the wave form energy fields that Pokemon exude." The woman corrected, tilting her head up imperiously. A ghost of a smile on her face showed her humor though. "Though having had a focus on Psychic type wave fields in particular might have given me a bit of insight in how minds work."

I shook my head fondly. Sago was an impressive woman that had a dry sense of humor that I had a feeling wasn't often appreciated. She was also a teacher at heart and seemed to relish in all the questions I peppered her with on her visits.

"That's fair. Honestly, I'm not even sure it really matters which one it is though. This is my reality right now and I have to deal with it either way, right?" I'd thought long and hard about that, and after the first week of bemoaning my circumstance I'd just gotten tired of it. I'm sure I'd feel down about it again and I'd probably treat it with some tequila, but for now I just wanted to move on to other things.

Like the fact I could fucking own POKEMON!

"That isn't a bad mental state to have." Professor Sago said with a nod. "Considering your circumstances you're handling this remarkably well."

"I had a lifetime of suppressing trauma to practice." I said dismissively.

"What?" Sago said suddenly sitting up straighter.

"Nothing. So why are you really the one looking after me? If it was just about the Psychic energy you'd probably be gone by now, right? If I'm not an alien from another dimension, then why are you sticking around with me?" I asked.

Sago stared at me, not rising to the bait.

"Daddy went to find dinner and found a new life in another state instead. Lots of things that happen with little parental oversight. Getting into drugs. Getting out of drugs. Walk outside and find thousands of people with the same sob story. It's not unique. Now what is unique is the sexy professor lady that's been slumming it with some amnesiac nobody for two weeks. Tell that story." I insisted.

She stared at me.

"And give me something cute to pet while you do it." I ordered.

My last comment succeeded in making her give a small chuckle. Not a giggle. I'm sure Professor Sago hadn't giggled since she was a preteen.

"I can't decide if you have the mental fortitude of a battered and experienced aggron or if you are just great at putting on a façade." She said with a shake of her head as she pulled out a pokeball.

In moments I had a dark blue bipedal cat with ears far too big for its body. Said ball of adorable fluff turned and trilled at me before walking further up the bed and laying against my torso and graciously allowed itself to be shown affection.

"Hey buddy! I missed you and your cute little ears!" I gushed over the Meowstic as I stroked its silk-like fur.

The professor watched me with a fond smile for a minute as I gushed over her Pokemon before speaking up. "You are familiar with the Pokemon Wave Form Energies?" She confirmed.

"Yeah. The Pokemon types." I confirmed easily.

"Right. Humans don't have that energy. At least not typically. With training some people have managed to gain an energy signature of one of the types. That's how you get humans like myself with weak psychic abilities or martial artists that are able to use Aura." She lectured.

"Makes sense." I confirmed. The games canonically had people with powers and it stood to reason that it might have happened by tapping into the same energies that Pokemon do.

"When we picked you up you had another Wave Form Energy on you besides psychic. In fact, it was the stronger energy reading but we expected it to fade with time. It hasn't."

I stopped petting the poke-cat as implications came to me. The meowstic mewled in complaint.

"Wait, do I have powers? Am I half dead? Do I have ghost powers?" I asked.

"No. Ghost energy is one that we've seen in others before. You exhibit Normal energy." The woman said excitedly. "I have no idea how, but you've connected to Normal type. People have to train themselves to gain a connection to their typing and I don't even know where someone would even begin to attune to Normal energy!"

"Normal type?" I said, sagging. "That's so...boring."

"Normal types are some of the most successful pokemon." Sago said dismissively. "Some of the most useful moves are theirs. Quick attack, Mega Punch, HYPER BEAM. Its a very useful typing."

"Are you suggesting I punch Pokemon with my fist?" I asked disbelieving before getting excited, "Wait, could I use hyper beam?"

"Well...no." The professor admitted and my rising spirits crashed. "You'll probably never be able actually use pokemon moves. Using a pokemon will always be the better choice."

I huff and burry my face in my lap partner, nuzzling the top of its head. Her meowstic smelled like strawberries. Did she use shampoos on it or did it naturally smell like that? I allowed the train of thought distract me for a moment to get over this rollercoaster ride of emotion. A woman can be teased with super powers only so many times before it starts to weigh heavy on the soul.

"Besides letting me have your dazzling presence, is the Normal type energy effecting me in any way?" I asked.

"I honestly have no idea. You're breaking new ground. Though if I had to hypothesize I'd guess it might make you more resilient and give you more stamina. It would explain why all of your vitals while here were so strong despite your-" she faltered, "-your uh."

"Fat. My belly jiggles when I wiggle. I'm 30 years-old. I'm aware of my appearance hun." I said dismissively.

"Right." She said awkwardly before recovering. "Regardless, we've taken about as many tests as we can right now and it's become more a waiting game. There's no sense in keeping you in the hospital any longer. Which brings me to my most important question of the day."

The professor leaned forward and gazed over the top of her glasses, voice full of firm comfort as she asked. "Sara, what is it that you want to do on getting out of the hospital?"

I didn't have to consider it. I'd been thinking about it for a while.

"First thing I'm doing is having a lot of booze, pizza, and icecream. After that...well I don't suppose you'd know how a 30 year-old lady could have her very own pokemon adventure?"

xxxxx

I was greatly relieved to leave the hospital, outside of any sort of medical professional's ability to keep constant watch of me. The hours after my release I ate junk food, got drunk, and made a few questionable decisions. It was very cathartic as I reveled in my ability to do things besides sit in one place and fill out paperwork and answer questions.

Then Professor Sago walked into my temporary apartment and informed me that to be a Pokemon trainer I needed to sit in one place and fill out a bunch of paperwork then go answer some questions.

The longer I was out of the hospital though the more sure I was that I wasn't in the Pokemon world as I knew it. If only for the reason that this one made a lot more damn sense and I kind of hated that.

For one, twelve year olds were too young to licensed trainers. The gym circuit and the program for people wanting to be a Pokemon trainer was available starting at the age of 16 though it was common to wait even longer. The average newbie entering ranged from 16 to 21. Further, there wasn't a single story online of someone becoming the Champion for their region in a single year.

So that made basically every version of the main characters from all the games impossible. It wasn't even a regional thing, that was an international league standard.

Adults didn't want to give children living flamethrowers. Go figure.

The next part was the bit of logic that hurt me as I read it aloud.

"To begin with all applicants will only have a trial based license. If a trainer cannot show their ability to benefit society their Trainer License will expire and not be renewed." The words fell out of my mouth in disbelief. "Any Pokemon labeled under the Unsafe Species List in Paragraph 5b, subsection V, will be confiscated by the Pokemon League."

I could start this and not only lose my license, but also have some of my pokemon taken away from me as well. It felt like I'd been punched in the stomach but I also understood it. Pokemon were powerful and a guy that works an office job and leaves his Charizard at home for nine hours a day...well I've seen the damage a bored German Shepard can do, I don't imagine a Charizard would keep to that small of a scale.

It was apparent that things weren't like the anime or the games. Hell, the Florum Reigon, the area I found myself in, didn't exist in any piece of Pokemon media I could think of. The more I looked into things the more it was a living breathing world that had its bureaucracies and flaws that didn't get tied up in neat little bows to make everything digestible for children.

I mean, I watched a pidgey get snatched out of the air and eaten by another bird pokemon I didn't recognize the day before. Clearly they don't all live on a diet of berries.

I stared down at the paperwork, mind spiraling over how much I didn't know in the world right now, and then deciding that I needed to get out for a while. The small hotel room that was provided for me was nice enough, but I needed to get out and about.

Besides, there were Pokemon to gawk at and possibly even pet!

So I gathered my stuff, went out the door, and began to wander Hollingsworth City. It was a decently sized city but not one of the sprawling metropolises. The most notable thing about the city was that it had one of the better medical facilities in the region.

It still had more than a hundred thousand people living here and who knew how many Pokemon.

That was more than big enough of a population for me to find what I was looking for. A pet store. I didn't have the kind of money to actually buy a pokemon, but I could see a few pokemon and look into some of the care items they might have for them.

Two hours and five failed attempts at petting a pokemon later and I found it. The sign above was lit up and the sign proclaimed it as "PokeSmart."

I took a deep breath as I entered, the air was cool, crisp, and tinged with a smell similar to that of dog kibble.

"Welcome to PokeSmart! What can we help you with?" The clerk next to the door chirped, his smooth uniform matched his fixed customer service smile.

"I'm just looking around right now." I said with a wave as I walk in, "I'll let you know if I have any questions though."

The doorman let me go and I began to walk the aisles. It was almost exactly like a regular pet store but just with a few extra things thrown in that were such a unique mix of mundane and fantastical that I couldn't help but feel giddy.

Collars that had tags about being fire retardant, leashes stating they could hold seven hundred pounds of force, metal bristle brushes to clean rock and steel types. That's not even taking into the foods! There were foods rated by element typing, sizing, carnivores, and herbivores. More than half the store seemed dedicated just to the food.

Then, there were the Pokemon for sale. A large glass container in the center of the area had masses of webs that sparked with electricity as small yellow forms scuttled over the webs. The brown and white forms of two zigzagoons wrestled one pin on the floor and two poochyenas lay sleeping in another one next to it. Separate from them in glass enclosure set into the wall an eevee sat grooming itself on a pillow.

"An Eevee!" I exclaimed and ran over to the enclosure and pressed a hand against the glass. The eevee turned to regard me for a moment before it went back to its grooming. It looked so FLUFFY! The mane of fur around it's neck looked soft and I had a mighty need to pet it. If I was gonna be a pokemon trainer it would be a good pokemon to add to my team! I was excited and looked at the price tag.

That was a LOT of zeroes. Like...fuck, a lot of zeros. No wonder they had this one in a container that was only accessible from the back room.

"If I had a dollar for every time I see a customer go into sticker shock over the eevee I'd be able to buy it by now." A voice says from behind me.

I turn to see a pleasantly plump older gentleman with a curly cue mustache and a rosy disposition. He wore a formal white button up shirt but the blue apron of the store's uniform. A badge on the apron declared him both a manager and Harrold.

"So why do you stock them?" I asked, curious.

"When we do sell one we make a lot of money, but we only sell one ever two or three months. Most of the cost is in the initial buy. Housing it, feeding it, and taking it for some exercise is something we are already doing with all our other pokemon. It doesn't cost much for it to take longer." The manager said with a shrug.

"Well if you want me to take it off your hands, just let me know." I joked.

"I'm afraid not, but if you're looking for something like an eevee we are supposed to be getting some furfrou and some rockruffs soon. If you'd like I can-"

"Mister Harrold!" A voice called out, cutting the man off.

"Ah, just in time." He stated as he looked over to see a girl with sun-kissed blonde hair a face that was almost as much freckle as it was smooth skin. She wore a straw hat, blue overalls, dirty boots, and toted a large cardboard box in hand. "Dixie, come over here, I might already have one sold for you."

"That's great!" The girl said as she approached and I began to specify that I didn't have the money to buy right now but then registered yipping sounds from the box.

Without thinking I stepped forward and saw big blue eyes looking up at me and my heart melted. "Aw, hello babies." I cooed as I reached out towards the box full of rockruffs.

"They are a bunch of cuties aren't they?" Dixie said, "Bandit, their mama, is about fit to get rid of them, so it's time for them to be sold."

I put a hand in the box and the puppies begin to crowd around the appendage and sniff at the stranger.

"They are really cute aren't they?" Harrold stated fondly. "Would you like to go to our petting area and hold one?"

My mind caught up to things. This was a business and I had no real cash to speak of. I would be a dick move to waste all their time on me when they had other things to be doing.

"I would love nothing more." Damn it! That's not what you say. Do it right! "But...I should inform you that I don't have the money to buy it right now." The words left my throat like tiny chainsaws.

I wanted to hold the cute puppies damnit!

"That's fine." Harrold said. "It's okay for to take one and play with it for just a bit. It will make other customers want one too. Plus you might come back and buy one later."

"They make really great guard pokemon too." Dixie added, "Their mom and dad both are more laid back and can actually be happy sitting around the house all day."

"That's nice, but I am supposed to be going onto the gym circuit soon, so a guard dog isn't quite what I'm looking for."

The two stopped still and stared at me with surprise before turning it into a look of incredulity.

"You're going on the gym circuit? This year?" Dixie asked.

"I didn't get a chance when I was younger but managed one this year, so yeah." I nodded. "I'm at a place in my life where I don't have anything to lose by going for it, so I decided, what the hell, why not?"

"Oh. Well it's nice you're getting a chance now." Harrold stated, though it came off almost as a question.

"I'm going onto the gym circuit too!" Dixie stated happily, as she handed the box over to Harrold. "Go ahead and get them set up! We got some pokemon trainer talk to have here!"

Harrold shook his head fondly, "Sure, I'll leave you to it."

"Wait, but...puppies." I muttered seeing them go.

"I don't know if we were properly introduced." She said sticking out a hand, "I'm Dixie. My family owns Square A Farms."

It hit me that I hadn't given my name.

"Sara." I said, taking the handshake, "Sara Koch. No real other titles currently."

"Nice to meet you Sara." Dixie said with a nod, "So were you hoping to find a pokemon to take on the circuit here?"

"Not really. I don't really have the funds for that right now."

Dixie sagged in relief. "That's good."

My brows furrowed. "Why is that good?"

"Well-" She trailed off for a moment, "It's like this. The pokemon you'll find in stores like this will usually make great pets for the average person because they're from breeders who have been breading them with the idea of them being house pets."

The links clicked for me.

"They don't have the disposition necessary for pokemon that will be battling a lot." I concluded.

"Yep." Dixie agreed, "They'll be great snuggly pets, but people have generally worked for a while to make them not so aggressive or as likely to get stir crazy in the house. They're also generally not as strong or as fast as pokemon meant for battle."

My cheeks flushed. That logic all made perfect sense and if I had thought about it a little long I might have come up with it too. This wasn't a game anymore. There's no reason that I should have thought that a pet store in a city would give me something that could fight grizzly bears.

"Yeah, I guess this was kind of dumb. But I just found out I'd be joining and I might have been jumping the gun here."

"That's fine! Here, how about we go to lunch and we can talk more about stuff? I know there are a lot of rumors about the gym circuit and pokemon battles that can make it hard to know what's true. We can sit together and compare notes?" She offered.

"Sure. I'd like that." I confirmed. That was going to be really helpful for me. Though... "Do I have time to go pet a rockruff first though?"

xxxx

2

Dixie was a nice girl. The blonde started with floating some ideas of local restaurant in a clear attempt to see what sort of price point I was looking at for food. It was very considerate of her, to which I responded to take me to someplace local that gives you the best bang for buck.

Apparently that meant an all you can eat buffet in Dixie.

Though honestly I didn't know that she was wrong to chose it either. I hadn't eaten breakfast and at the rate I was filling my plate I wasn't going to eat dinner.

"Oooh, what's that?" I asked pointing at a pile of long cut meats on a sticks.

"Oh that's Doduo necks. It's a bit of a local food thing and-"

I reached out and snatched one up, sending my lunch partner into a tittering of laughter.

"Careful now. Lots of people from out of region don't care for it."

"I like try every food at least twice." I said dismissively.

"Why twice?"

"In case it just wasn't cooked right the first time." I said before scooping up some macaroni and cheese.

"Oh, then you really need to try some of their krookodile tail."

It had taken me a while to adjust to the idea of eating pokemon, but it wasn't too different. The professor had assured me that only some pokemon were used as food sources, though she also couldn't seem to find the words to explain which ones were okay to eat and which ones weren't. Which probably made it a cultural thing, like how most Americans would be horrified to eat dog or cat.

Though I found that much like chickens and pigs, pokemon were delicious.

The section with fruit was also notably much larger here than the fruit and salad bar was in most all you could eat places I'd been to. The sheer number of berries on it likely contributed. I grabbed a second plate to carry and began loading that one up too.

"See, I told you, bang for buck." Dixie said with a plate that was almost as large as my own. We returned to our table and began to eat and drink.

"So!" I started, "You're going to be on the Gym Circuit this year too?"

"Yep!" Dixie confirmed, "I'm a little on the older side for it, but I was waiting for the right time. My little brother is old enough to help around the farm now so I figured if I was going to do it, now would be the time."

"You're on the older side?" I asked with a raised eyebrow that would have looked more dignified if I didn't follow it up with taking a bite of Doduo neck. The meat was chewy, topped with some sweet sauce that I'm sure was made from some sort of berry, and tasted somewhere between turkey neck and chicken giblets.

"Yeah, I suppose I'm not going to be the oldest." She admitted before taking a bite of her own food, speaking around a mouthful of some sort of berry. "I turned twenty-one last month and most people don't join that late, though there usually a handful that do each year."

I gave a hum before washing my bite down with some sweet tea. Wherever I was in this world, it was absolutely similar to the American southeast. Not once did I have to explain what a sweet iced tea was, it was the default tea.

"How many people enter at the age of thirty?" I teased.

Dixie gulped and not just to swallow her food. She looked nervous for a moment before admitting, "I..uh...I think you'd be the first I've heard of."

"Oh good. I'm gonna be the old lady of the bunch." I said with some dry humor.

"Uh...yeah." Dixie said, fading off for a moment. The table grew uncomfortably silent for a moment before she spoke up again, "So, have you given thought into what kind of team you're planning on building?"

I quickly took a bite of something to have a full mouth. Because I had absolutely no idea how to answer that question.

After having a brief moment to stall I answer, "I'm still deciding that. I was just given this opportunity yesterday, so I haven't decided on specifics yet. You?"

"Oh, I'm building an all-round team, but I'm going to focus on making it Pokemon that can still work well on our farm. I want the trainer license so we can start using some of the more rare breeds of pokemon, like harvesting Skarmory feathers or maybe some fire-type products."

I blinked for a moment as that registered for me. I should have considered that before. Farms were places that harvested animal products and that would make farms have a much bigger range of possible products. Hell, Skarmory feathers probably were a lot of blacksmiths' dream.

"All-round team sounds right for me too, honestly. I don't wanna be in a situation where I don't have an answer for it, ya know?" I said as I tried some of the krookodile tail. It tasted almost exactly like gator tail. It was also deep-fried though, so that might be covering some of the difference.

"Yeah. Same. I'm really excited for them to announce what the League provided starting pokemon are going to be this year though." Dixie grinned and gazed past her freckled nose and off into the realm of her imagination.

"The starters aren't the same every year?" I asked, surprised.

"Nah. The Florum region usually imports from other places for that." Dixie said sounding sour and muttering a few things about invasive species that I couldn't catch.

"Oh." I said before blinking a few times, "So...what are you hoping for?"

"Bulbasaur." She said immediately, "Bulbasaur is great for farming. It can help with growing the crops and it produces some great pesticide and weed killer naturally. If I can't get him I'll probably go with some other grass type."

"Bulbasaur is one my favorite too." I said with a smile. He had always been my favorite Gen One starter when I played X and Y.

"Right!?" Dixie gushed. "It's cute and if you're smart about it you can make the tree it grows on its back as Venusaur fruit bearing.

"Wait, really?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. You can't eat it, but a lot of poison types can. It also is constantly being used to look for new medicines." Dixie said with a smile. "I've been looking into how the nutrition of it might help with poison types. It's not viable for mass production, but it could be done for some high end food."

"Do you have any poison types at your farm?"

"No." Dixie answered before popping a berry in her mouth.

"So...you just looked up the possible fruit for a possible pokemon to feed pokemon that you might possibly one day have?"

"...maybe."

Dixie blushed and looked away.

"Don't be like that. It's cute. It's something you're passionate about. Passion is good." I comforted as I took a bite of something that tasted a lot like collards but I was told was not.

"Diet is important on a farm." She said, playing with her food. "You need to know what pokemon need in their diets and that they get enough of it. The difference of enough iron in the feed of one species or more calcium in another is what decides if you make a quality product."

"Sure." I nodded, "Which means I'll have to consult you after I get my pokemon. Make sure they get everything they need, nutrient wise."

"Yeah!" Dixie said, suddenly perking up.

"So you have a farm. Are you going to have any of those pokemon on your team. Like a miltank?" I asked.

"Oh, no." She said, shaking her head. "Miltank's are...well they're pretty stupid. They're pretty strong, but you can't teach them much besides running someone down. It's hard to get them to remember moves too."

I tried to keep my face still as she spoke. I couldn't let her know that she was blowing my fucking mind.

Pokemon had variable amounts of intelligence. Which...duh, but I'd never thought of how much that would effect a battle before. Pokemon being smarter would mean better tactics and more moves. The pokemon here wouldn't be locked to just four moves! It was based on how many you could get your pokemon to remember!

Dixie continued without seeming to notice her shaking my world view. "Plus Miltank's require a bunch of food, which they offset a bit by producing milk that you can possibly use for other pokmeon, but you still have to take them out and feed them like six times a day, even when they spend the rest of the day in the pokeball."

Holy shit! Different pokemon would also eat different amounts!? Of course they do! But...how the hell does someone provide enough food for things like a copperajah!? Or...fuck a wailord!? I probably couldn't afford to get a big pokemon until I had some serious cash flow!

"Though one of our more gutsy chansey had a pretty spunky happiny recently that I'm planning on taking. Plus the pups of one of Lycanroc's that's only first generation tamed." She continued and turned to look at my strained face.

"Mhm." I eeked out.

"Oh..do...do you have any pokemon to use yourself?" She asked hesitantly.

"Nope. Goin in with just what they hand out to me to start." I admit.

"Oh...well it's not too bad." She reassured. "You just have to be careful on what gym you choose first."

I relaxed a bit with that one, because I was more familiar with that concept. "Sure. What's the nearest gym to Hollingsworth?"

Dixie gave a shrug. "Well, the Steel, Water, and Grass gyms are all pretty close. We're pretty centrally located in Florum."

"Oh, tough time for water types." I stated, thinking on super effective moves, "Though I guess they'd be resistant to water and steel moves too."

"See? There you go. It can work out anyway you go." She comforted, "Though really, most gym leaders will also take into account bad typing and how early you are in your circuit, so they'd probably take it easy on you even if you went to bad one."

"I'd rather not have to depend on the mercy of people grading me." I said with a grimace. "Better to be prepared and go for the better odds." I took a bite of magicarp.

It tasted...different. A bit like cod, a bit like catfish, but there was some other flavor in it that I didn't have a comparison for.

"Well, I've heard it's better to aim for some of your bad match ups first. Get them when they're willing to take it easy on you, rather than when they expect you to know what you're doing." Dixie said as she took a bite of SOMETHING'S ribs.

Fuck, where did I miss the ribs?

"Sure. But again, I don't know that I want to count on them being merciful." I reiterate. "I also want to treat this just as much as an opportunity to see the world as it is a gym challenge though."

Dixie propped a chin in her hand, "True. As soon as I'm done I know I'm going back to the farm, so this is going to be my only real time to explore Florum."

"Right? I've always wanted to travel." I smile just thinking about it, "Okay, okay, so. Question, where is it that you want to go in Florum. Not for the gyms, but just to go visit?"

"Oh, I really really want to visit Fantasia Kingdom." Dixie said, practically bouncing in place. "I haven't been since I was a little girl, and I really want to go again!"

I had no idea what Fantasia Kingdom was, but if she was that excited by the prospect, I probably would want to swing by too.

"That sounds fun! I know pretty soon after starting I want to go to the beach." I comment.

"Oh! I know a great place for that. My family visits it. It's a Region Park, but it's lesser known, so it's not overrun by tourists."

"Sure." I say then a thought occurs. Traveling alone is never as fun as traveling with others. "You wanna go together?"

"To the beach?" She asked, head cocked.

"No. Like...with me on the gym circuit? We can travel together." I propose.

"Oh." She said then paused for a moment before speaking again, starting hesitant then growing more confident as she went. "Yeah...yeah. I think I'd like that quite a lot."

I gave a mad grin. Travel companion obtained!

Now to acquire some of the stuff over in the dessert section.

xxxxx

I let out a groan as I walked and my stomach growled complaints.

"I think you might have gone too far." Dixie said, looking at me like she was a step away from laughing at me. She had much to learn.

"An all you can eat buffet is not done when you are full. It is done when you kind of hate yourself." I said with grace of wise sage.

"I'm pretty sure that only accomplishes making you hate yourself." A smile tugged at her lips. Bah, what did she know?

"I'm gonna go back to my hotel and finish my paperwork. Do some research on the local gyms too to have an idea of what we'll be up against." I said.

"Sure." She nodded, "I'm gonna start heading home too. I have some miltanks to feed and some wooloo to sheer. Text me if you have any questions."

"I'll text you so we can meet up again. Coordinate stuff we'll need for travel."

"Okay!" She called back before turning a corner and leaving.

Nice girl. Very upbeat. Hopefully traveling together would make us close friends and not make us totally hate each other.

In the meantime, I had an appointment with my bed, because I was going to pass the fuck out and have a short food coma. As was tradition.

I began making my way to the hotel, backtracking my path, when I walked through an alleyway. It was well lit, I wasn't stupid, but as I went through it appeared that someone else was.

The man was less than impressive. His face was covered in what looked like acne scars, he was almost anorexic thin, and his teeth were the kind of fucked up that only came with a drug habit.

His unimpressive state actually served to make me more leery. These sorts of people where the kind that decided that stabbing you in a well lit alley was a good idea.

"Alright lady, hand over the purse." He said before tossing his pokeball behind me.

There was the familiar snap-pop sound of a pokeball and a glance behind me showed a meowth, the Alolan kind. At least I think it was the Alolan kind. Its fur was dark but in a greasy and matted way. It had patches of fur missing to show dry and scabbed skin. It was even thinner than its owner and had immediately started making hissing and spitting noises on being released.

"Scream and I'll have it get ya!" He shouted.

My eyes hardened and I glared at the man in fury.

How dare he. How fucking dare he! That poor meowth! It was one thing to fuck yourself over with drugs, but to mistreat your pokemon like that? No. Fuck him. Not okay.

My glare made the man back up a step and he pointed an accusing finger.

"I- I mean it! It'll put you down in a second! Just hand over the purse!" He shouted again.

Sure. I'd give him just what he wanted. I began marching towards him, fiddling with my purse and reaching into it.

Holding my purse out in front of me appeared to make him feel better about his situation and the would-be mugger relaxed a bit.

"That's right lady. Now-"

The next second my hand grasped what I was looking for. I dropped my purse, then there was a popping sound followed by a choking grunt and a buzzing sound.

I was a realtor. My job involved meeting strangers in isolated locations. Of course I carried a taser.

The man collapsed on the ground making funny sounds as I held down the trigger to the taser. I heard a yowl of anger behind me and did a half turn to see the meowth stalking forward, though not with the eyes of a hunter, but the eyes of an animal that was afraid. Which was way more dangerous.

"You sit the fuck down right there!" I roared and pointed at the Pokemon threateningly. I did not need the thing hurting me or itself by trying to do something about this.

It seemed to work as the pokemon scrambled back at the sudden loud sound and actually pressed it's head to the pokeball, sending it back into storage.

Now I just needed to call-

Fuck, was it still 911 here?

"Hey, you, what number do I use to call the police?" I asked the man on the ground.

"Wha?" He groaned out.

"The police. How do I call them? What is the number in Florum?"

"Man I ain't telling you-" I cut him off with another squeeze of the trigger. I couldn't continue that for much longer, but I was confident I'd just made the man shit himself. That had a way of motivating.

"0-1-1! 0-1-1!" The man screamed.

"Thanks." In a few moments I had a call on the other line. "Hi, I need to report a mugging."

xxxxx

Professor Sago felt the pit in her stomach as she drove. She'd been called to verify the identity of one Sara Koch, who had apparently been the subject of a mugging. One day. Just a single day the woman had been out of the hospital and managed to get herself hurt.

The phone operator was light on the datils but she managed to at least get the location of the event from her so she didn't have to meet them at the hospital and could show up in person.

The red and blue flashing lights told her her she was in the right place.

Professor Sago could feel the emotions of the people and immediately the tension drained from her. She could only feel amusement, joy, and one spot of pain and fear. Almost certainly the criminal.

Rounding the corner she spotted something that didn't surprise her in the least. Sara kneeling in front of a stoutland that was preening under her touch.

"Whose a handsome boy? It's you! Yes you are!" The woman gushed over the pokemon.

"Ma'am?" A voice called, making her turn to see an officer approaching. A glance at his breast pocket showed the name Judd. "We got things mostly wrapped up here, but we'd just like you to confirm her identity for us and we'll be on our way."

In a few moments she had produced identification for herself and then gave a brief explanation of the reason for Sara's lack of identification. It was all taken in stride and the man wrote some notes down.

"Alright, this is all pretty straight forward. This isn't the perps first time either so this is open shut. Questioned separately they are still giving all the same answers, so she's free to go." Judd reassured.

"It's a good thing you guys got here in time to save her." The professor said, though she imagined the woman might need some more therapy after-

"Save her? I'm tempted to offer her a job." Judd said with a laugh. "We showed up and she already had the perp apprehended and managed to get the guy's pokemon to listen to her after she bribed it with some fish she found in the trash can next to her. The only reason she's not still petting the damn thing was that it ran back into its ball when we showed up with Diogi."

"What?" She found herself asking, dumbfounded.

Judd let out a laugh, "First thing she does when we pull up is apologize too! Said she knew she should have just handed the purse over but she didn't want him to get away with abusing his meowth."

That...did sound like Sara.

"Last I left her she was asking what everyone's favorite cookies were. She apparently wants to bake everyone thank you cookies." Judd said with a shake of his head.

"How? She's living in a hotel right now?" Sago asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Well get her back to it before she works me out of a job." Judd joked.

The professor started to speak when a flash of light cut her off and suddenly questions began to be shouted.

"Who is this woman?"

"Why was a Pokemon Professor called to the crime scene?"

"Does this have to do with recent upswing in Heaven's Glass users?"

Reporters. Three of them with cameras, questions, and the capacity to ruin everyone's day.

"Alright, back off! If you want questions answered you aren't going to ambush us at a crime scene. Get out of here!" Judd yelled as he began pushing at the air with arms, before looking over his shoulder at the Professor. "Go get her home. I'll handle them."

She nodded and hustled to Sara and began pulling her away. The older woman didn't need much prompting after catching sight of the reporters.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" Sago asked as they power walked away from the scene.

"Oh, yeah. I'm good." Sara said with a dismissive wave. "But I could really use a nap."

She heaved a sign of relief before continuing speaking. "We are going to get in my car, I'll take you home, and then you're going to tell me what happened."

"Sure. It wasn't anything too exciting." Sara said with a nod. "Though I'd really like to know what's going to happen to that meowth. It really needs some TLC."

Taking down a drug addict and his half feral pokemon was nothing exciting and she was more concerned the pokemon would be taken care of.

Yes, this girl absolutely needed to enter the Gym Circuit.

3

"Walking in now is Florum's own Champion! The one and only Tallahs Augustine!" The announcer's voice announced as the local champion came into camera view. She was an obviously short woman, even from the camera's low angle. Her demeanor made her presence tower despite that. Her caramel skin appeared flawless and her sprinter-like form looked at home in an outfit that wasn't far from most tennis outfits I'd seen. The only thing that seemed to mar her perfection was a scar that ran from the right side of her lip up to her cheekbone.

She gave a half smile, the left side her lips quirking up as she gave a few waves of acknowledgment.

"I'm Bobby-Ray Sparks." A new voice said with a southern drawn that would have been at home in a methlab in a trailer park.

"And I'm Phillip Summers." Another voice said, this one seeming to be almost the essence of white bread. Plain with no surprises in store and yet one that would be used for everything.

"And we are going to be the ones with the honor of bringing this legendary Augustine match. She's set to make history today with a match that is breaking records. A match against four League ranked trainers all at the same time."

"Now I'm as big of a believer in the Tallahs Train as much as the next person, but I think she's biting off more than she can chew with this matchup today." Bobby-Ray said as the camera panned around the stadium. Most of the outside of the stadium was the usual. Bleachers, cameras, advertisements, and people hocking expensive food, all present. It was the center of the field that made my eyes widen. The field had a river going diagonal down it before reaching the side opposite from Tallah where it pooled into a pond large enough to fit two minibuses side by side. Away from the small pond was a mud pit with cypress trees that crowded a solid fifth of the field. Most of the river was lined with white sand until it reached the mouth of the river, where a waterfall poured over large grey stones. In the very center of the field was a concrete bridge wide enough to fit a two lane road. The rest of the field was grass, either the long yellow stuff found in grass lands or the green rich stuff fond on people's lawns. There were oak trees and palm trees interspersed throughout as well.

"I wouldn't say that. Her opponents might be in the League, but none of them have the kind of record behind them that makes me think they can take someone like Tallahs. The only reason this match is happening is because of that disastrous press conference that made them famous." Philip replied.

"I dunno, was it the press conference or the fact that their last mission they took resulted in the deaths of four Cowmers, a critically endangered species." Phillip said, "Or it could have been their insistence that even Tallahs couldn't do a better job than they did."

"Fair, I'd hate to be on their end of this match up."

"And here are the four challengers. Brittany Wyatt, Kyle Strong, Chad Malcom, and Beverly Smith." Phillip said as it panned across the four people approaching. I could immediately see how young they were. Old enough to be adults but too young to understand what that meant. One of them looked nervous but the other three had steel in their eyes. The four walked up to a platform that took them up high enough to be able to see most all of the field. Across the arena Tallahs did the same.

"This is gunna be a one pokemon challenge. Each trainer can only send out a single pokemon, no substitutions."

"We'll see if the challengers are going to be able to take advantage of their numbers or if the Champ is going to put them in their place. Either way, this one is going down in the history books!"

The music changed, a slow steady track like reality shows liked to use just before a big reveal as numbers began counting down on the screen.

3

2

1

"Let's show them Fuego!" Tallah called as she threw out her pokeball. In a pop and flash of light a Typhlosion appeared on the field. It rose onto it's back legs, it's fur glistening in the lights of the stadium as it released a high pitched cry into the air, the fire around it's neck flaring out to almost two feet from the pokemon before it settled down to being only a few inches form it's fur, though already the haze of intense heat warped the air around the creature.

The crowd went wild, droning out the challengers cry as they threw out their pokemon. On the other side of the field sat a Camerupt and a Graveler, an Unfezant was released into the air, and a Sharpedo fell into the lake with a splash.

"Prep time!" Tallahs called out. The Typhlosion responded immediately and dashed into tall grass marking the sandy ground around that side of the field.

"Seek and circle!" The trainer of the Unfezant yelled.

"Solid ground!" The one for Graveler yelled.

"Follow Graveler!" The Camerup trainer called.

"Bide your time!" The Sharpedo one called.

I blinked in surprise as the Pokemon all moved with purpose. The trainers didn't immediately start calling out moves. Instead they seemed to call out pre-planned strategies for their pokemon to follow.

"Fuego, Tallahs' Typhlosion, is runnin off to the grass to lay low! Probably in there usin' defensive curl to up it's defense before it goes on the attack." Bobby-Ray announced.

"And the Challengers are letting her go for it too. Their pokemon don't seem to want to move past the bridge in the middle of the field. Though their Unfezant seems to be circling above looking for Fuego. Possibly for a group attack. Their team has a lot of type advantage so even with a it's defense buffed it'll be hard pressed to survive that kind of onslaught." Phillip narrated.

"Tallahs is going to have to move careful here. Though we've seen Fuego at his best, we've never seen him handle multiple-"

"Anti-Air! Make some cover!" Tallahs called.

Abruptly a shower of star shaped energy shot up from the grass, shooting so fast that I could barely register their shape before they started impacting the Unfezant in the air in a shower of hits. The bird faltered in the air and began to fall down. Just as it began to catch itself form it's fall the lithe form of the Typhlosion burst up from the grass, mouth open wide and it belched out a cascade of smoke as black as night that danced with tiny embers inside them. The smoke hit the flying type full on and blew past it towards the center of the arena, the smoke billowing outwards to blot out half the field from vision. The Unfezant fell out from the smoke and impacted the ground, unmoving.

"Jump-Prep!" Tallahs called.

"Shove me on a skewer and call me dinner! Did Tallahs just take out one of their pokemon with Smokescreen!?" Bobby-Ray called in amazement.

"It looks like she did! Her Typhlosion's Smokescreen must be just that potent! That's the Champ's training in action!"

"Graveler! Magnitude launch!" One of the challengers called. The rock type rocketed out from the smoke, falling down towards the where Fuego had last been, the fire pokemon having since dove back into the grass.

"Execute!" Tallahs called and her pokemon launched itself up out of the grass just as the Graveler impacted the ground with the force of a meteor, the grass in the area, the platforms the trainers were standing on, and even the camera shook violently. However Tallahs' Typhlosion remined unaffected from its position midair. "Crack him!"

The champion's pokemon arched through the air to the Graveler, twisting it's body like a whip as one foot hit the Graveler, it use the power of the hit twist itself around and the other foot smacked against the Graveler as well. Both hits boomed in the microphone like gunshots and spider cracks began to spread from the impact.

Holy shit!

"Holy-!" The recording proceeded to have a string of bleeping sounds before resuming again with Bobby-Ray's voice, "That is amazin! Not even it's typing and Fuego is using Double Kick with enough force to crack a rock pokemon like a walnut! Graveler is no slouch when it comes to defense!"

"An impressive display for sure. Maybe it took some advice from Tallahs' Duran?" Phillip asked.

"Duran is a Hitmonchan, it doesn't kick it punches ya goober."

"Push back!" One of the challengers yelled and five massive rocks flew out of the dissipating smoke.

"Make it rain!" Another called as the Sharpedo rose out of the water and began to fire line after line of water, pressurized so much that it began to sheer the stalks of grass apart as it plowed through towards where Fuego was.

The rocks were aimed poorly and only did little other than kick up a bunch of dirt as they smacked into the earth in sprays of soil. The Sharpedo had better aim though, and a jet of the water smacked into Typhlosion, who rolled with the blow and let out a hissing sound. Then the air began to his the water that was shot out evaporated off the fire type.

"Make some cover! Nail the Coffin! Anvil!" Tallahs called, cutting her arm through the air like a monarch calling for an execution and her pokemon answered. It billowed out black smoke once more, letting it roil out around himself and the Graveler, blocking them from sight.

"Keep up the pressure!" One challenger shouted towards his Sharpedo. "Keep firing!"

"Graveler! Explosion!" Another challenger yelled.

Light began to shine through the smoke and a the sound of a crunch echoed through the air then a glowing form shot out from the smoke. The cracked and battered form of Graveler spiraled through the air as the light of barely contained energy leaked from its form, the giant rock pokemon smacking on the bridge and skidding along the ground. It was heading directly for the Camerupt, who bayed and scrambled to get out of the way of the massive form rolling towards it. It succeeded as well, as the massive weight of the Graveler quickly bleed the energy off on the solid ground, coming to a halt almost next to the Camerupt.

Then the Graveler released an explosion of energy.

The shaggy furred form of the Camerupt was blown through the air. Though it didn't get far before there was a cry form the champion. "Anti-Air!"

The spiraling form of the Camerupt got peppered with star-shaped energy before it hit the ground with a thud and then didn't get up.

"That's some brutality from the Champion right there!" Phillip called.

"Serves them right, usin' explosion in a match like this. Un-sportsman like, it is." Bobby-Ray tutted.

"Either way, that was a beautiful play, taking two of the competition out of the fight in one blow. All that's left is the Sharpedo and I don't think Fuego is going to struggle with that much." Phillip stated as the smoke began to dissipate and the Typhlosion stood on its back legs and glared down at the Sharpedo in the water.

"Blitz him!" The last challenger yelled to his pokemon in desperation.

Water swirlled around the shark pokemon and it rocketed out from the water, the water flowing around it in a vaguely glowing vortex while a dark colored light gathered in the its mouth as in.

"Dodge!" Tallahs called and the fire type dropped to fours and dashed away from the oncoming attack faster than the camera could keep track of. However there was a cracking sound and the camera swerved to see the Typhlosion had impacted the siding of the bridge, leaving cracks in the stone.

The Sharpedo got nothing but a face full of grass and dirt.

"Well that's match then." Phillip said as the Sharpedo began to awkwardly flop on the ground, as it lacked any form of legs or arms it found moving on land rather difficult. "If they're smart they'll-"

"Blitz again!" The last challenger called one more time, making the Sharpedo flail about, trying to turn itself to face its opponent.

"Bake!" Tallahs called, and her pokemon circled it's opponent, staying at the back of the creature, opening its mouth and releasing a torrent of flame over the water type. "Sustain!"

The fire continued to pour on for almost a minute before it abruptly cut off, the Sharpedo laying unmoving and with far less burns than something that was just in that level of heat had any right to have.

"Well stick a fork in this match cause it is done!" Bobby-Ray yelled. "A complete shut out with an almost flawless victory goes to Tallahs Augustine!"

The camera panned to the trainer, who let out a sharp whistle, calling her Typhlosion back to her. It scampered over and the woman pulled out what looked like raw meat and threw it towards her pokemon. The Typhlosion pranced over to it, took a few moments to breath fire over the meat until it was a charred black, then it swallowed its treat in a single bite. Tallahs bent down and have the Typhlosions head a few pets, which the creature leaned into and began to wiggle its butt like an overly excited dog.

Then the cellphone's screen turned off.

"That's probably my favorite match of hers." Dixie said before taking a sip of her coffee.

I blinked several times as I processed what I just watched. That had been astounding. Tallahs hadn't called for a single move by name but managed to tear her opponents apart with both superior tactics and overwhelming power. It left little doubt in my mind that her position of Champion was well earned.

"I can see why. That was really impressive." I stated before taking a sip of my own white mocha. "I see what you mean by having orders that give concepts rather than just calling for certain moves."

"Yeah, it allows for some synergy too. Like the Sharpedo at the end that was trying to use Crunch and Liquidation at the same time." Dixie responded.

Oh. That's why its teeth were glowing. Makes sense.

"I'll have to keep that in mind, thanks." I told my new friend before shifting gears. "Have you bought everything you need for the journey?"

"Oh yeah, I got my tent, some food preserves, a sleeping bag, pokeballs, and some generic pokemon kibble that should be good for any starter we'd be given. Just for them to have until I make them a custom mix." Dixie said.

"And did you get toilet paper?" I asked.

"Oh...uh."

"What about a towel to dry stuff off if it gets wet in the rain?"

"I mean...I own some towels." She said meekly.

I let out a laugh. "It's okay. You'll always forget something when going on a trip, but make sure that you don't completely miss all the mundane stuff because you are focused on the exciting stuff."

"I'll give it another look over. Did you get a proper backpack?" Dixie asked back. I did not blush and look away.

Apparently the pokemon world didn't just mean a random bag you could shove stuff into. No, they had managed to figure out how to FOLD SPACE to increase storage capacity. The folded space was also vacuum sealed. Anyone wanting to go on a proper Pokemon Adventure would need something like it. Said bags were also ludicrously expensive, but Professor Sago had given me an old one of hers to use.

"Yeah. I have one. I guess it just didn't occur to me that if you are going to be doing that much traveling that you'd need one of those. Six pokemon do eat a lot." I admit firmly.

"That's good." Dixie nodded, "Have you considered what your team is going to be? I think you mentioned something about liking Normal types."

"Eh," I drew out. I hadn't exactly said that I liked them, but that I was thinking of having a normal type team. After all, I gave off normal type energy, that might mean something, right? People with psychic type energy had psychic pokemon and people with fighting type energy had fighting types. It would make sense that my team would be normal type then.

Turns out, no. That was putting the horse after the cart. People got psychic types to learn how to harness the energy, same with hex maniacs and martial artists. Having the pokemon and learning from them is what allowed for them to tap into that energy. Since I already had that energy there really wasn't much of a point in me having a bunch of normal type pokemon.

"I think instead I'm going to focus on pokemon that want to go with me. I want my pokemon to be with me because they want to, not because I trapped them in a pokeball." I said with a shake of my head. Dixie's eyes sparkled at that.

"Yes! That's great, that's what trainers are supposed to do. If your pokemon isn't going to give you their one-hundred percent, then what's the point?"

"Glad you approve." I said with a smile before checking the time, it was getting late. "So you wanted to meet in front of the League Headquarters at nine?" I asked.

"Sure thing!" Dixie confirmed, "I'll even bring the coffee."

"Then I'll bring some muffins." I said with a smirk. No sense in facing the day on an empty stomach. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow then." Dixie confirmed and we parted way so that we might spend the night laying in bed and not sleeping through our mounting excitement.

Tomorrow we would become bona fide Pokemon Trainers.

xxxxx

I had expected there to be more people. Hollingsworth City was not exactly small and I expected there to be at least a hundred people arriving to take part in the officiation of us joining the Pokemon League. Instead it was less than two dozen people joining us, all so young I felt like the chaperone at a high school field trip.

"I really am a bit old for this." I muttered.

"Experience has its own strengths." Dixie said from the chair beside me. We were sat in a small auditorium inside what would have been a typical government building were it not for the large red pokeball symbol on the outside of the building. Otherwise it was all the straight lines and dull colors that always come from any sort of government building.

"That was a really nice way to say that it's okay I'm old. I appreciate that." I complimented genuinely. "Though I guess I'm also surprised that so few people are showing up."

"Well yeah," Dixie said, "Unless you are lucky enough to have someone higher up in the League like you, you have to pay a whole lot of money to be here, not many people can afford that."

"Yeah, that's true." I said lightly, hoping the shock didn't show on my face.

Holy shit, this costs MONEY!? What happened to just handing out Pokemon to random passersby!? How much money are we talking here? Was Professor Sago footing the bill? I didn't think I'd have to pay it back since I hadn't signed anything like that, but holy crap! Was this like the cost of going to college level expensive?

"Welcome trainers!" A voice chirped and the lights in the room grew dark, a projector above us began to play an image on the wall. A familiar image. Nurse Joy, or a very convincing cosplay of her, was displayed on the recording against a white background. "Today is the first day of your Pokemon Journey! We are so excited for you! We are going to go over just a few things first and then a local Pokemon Professor is going to go over what pokemon are going to be available for you this year!"

Not mentioning Professor Sago specifically. I wonder if they repeat this message in every region or just multiple places in this one? Was there a bunch of Professors per region? It would make sense.

Nurse Joy stepped to one side and the display began to show what looked like a hospital.

"I'd just like to remind everyone to get regular checkups for their pokemon at local Pokemon Centers! It's important keep track of your teams health and growth! We will also provide free healing services for up to six pokemon on a weekly basis!" Joy said as a familiar tune of do-do-do-de-do played in the background. "When you catch a new pokemon make sure you check the Dangerous Pokemon registry and see if you need to register your new friend!"

"Remember, the major thing that will let you keep your Trainers License is going to be showing you are responsible! So filing paperwork promptly is a must! Also make sure to document any activity to help with your license too! So make updates on your online profile for getting Gym badges in the circuit, valuable research you find, and stopping any violent encounters with pokemon!"

That part I had managed to get by pouring through the paperwork. Completing the Gym Circuit was a guaranteed way keep your trainer's license, but you could also manage to keep it by working with research or helping to do stuff like capture or push back dangerous pokemon that wandered into city limits.

"Well that's all I needed to go over today! Let me be the first to congratulate you on becoming Pokemon Trainers and give a warm welcome to your local Pokemon Professor!"

The projector screen turned out to be a curtain that opened away to give room to Professor Sago, who stepped out to the podium to a smattering of applause form the occupants of the room, the crowd too small to sound truly impressive.

"Hello. I'm Professor Sago, a specialist in Pokemon Energy. This world is full of breathtaking wonders, the most prevalent of which are pokemon." The professor said, throwing out a pokeball and releasing her Meowstic. "Pokemon are amazing creatures with amazing capacities for creation, destruction, and friendship. Pokemon are both living things and necessary tools for our society. Today you become the people that help us to maintain a healthy balance between humans and pokemon. It's a big weight, but it comes with amazing friends, if you put in the work and trust." She held out a hand her Meowstic rubbed his head against her hand before floating itself up to stand on her shoulders.

"Now, shall we go over your first companion for your journey?" The professor asked rhetorically before giving a slash of her hand and the curtains once again closed and the projector lit up, showing the image of three pokeballs, lined up one after the other. "For the first companion~" The professor trailed off, letting tension build in the room. I scooted forward in my seat, fascination taking hold of me as my mind flashed through possibilities.

"Totodile!" She announced and the far left pokeball on the screen burst open to show the small bipedal alligator. "Totodile is from Johto! A water pokemon with a strong bite and playful spirit! Trainers that choose Totodile should be careful though, it likes to give play bites and those can be not very playful on us humans."

"Next is..." She trailed off as the ball on the right side of the screen shook for a few moments before bursting open, showing the green and yellow form of a snake like pokemon with tiny limbs. "Snivy! This grass pokemon is a incredibly intelligent grass type! It has a calm demeanor is adept at ambush and stealth tactics!"

Snivy? It must have been from Diamond and Pearl or Black and White, because I recognized it but I never played it in my games. I didn't really have a strong feeling about it except I remembered thinking its final form looked kind of dumb. Totodile I did remember from my first pokemon game, Silver. I had like Totodile but it always fell in second place to Typhlosion whenever I played, in part because I didn't know what I was doing and usually just had one really high level pokemon rather than any sort of balanced team at the time.

"The last pokemon though is..." The middle ball on the screen burst open in shining light to display a positively adorable sight. It was an orange ball of down feathers with a few full feathers sticking out in places, it blinked out with big expressive eyes. "Torchic! This fire pokemon is adorable and has a fire inside itself both metaphorically and literally! It bonds with its trainers intensely and will follow them for all of their days."

Torchic!? Torchic had a special place in my heart. Silver might have been my first pokemon game, but Ruby was the first one I actually understood what I was doing. Torchic was my first pokemon that was part of an actual team. It was always an amazing asset in battle and it amazed me. It learned flying, fire, and fighting moves and was good at all of them. That covered a lot, type wise. I already knew what I was getting.

"Line up in front of the Pokemon you want and your new friend will be handed out to you!" Professor Sago said.

I headed immediately for the Torchic line, beating everyone else there. I needed to pet the warm fluffy chicken.

4

I held the red and white ball up in front of my face. The image familiar, but this was my first time holding one like this where it was metal, and not cheap plastic. It also had a real, actually real, pokemon inside it. I could feel my cheekbones straining as I had the biggest, dumbest smile on my face.

I had my fire chicken, and I-

"Ma'am. You're holding up the line." The attendant passing out pokemon to all the other people starting their time as a licensed trainer.

"Oh! Sorry about that." I stated sheepishly as I scuttled out of the way and turned around. Lines had begun to form as people waited to get their selected starter, but as I looked around I realized that I had half the room staring at me and another fourth stealing glances.

Oh. I did just get up and sprint to be the first one to get a torchic, wasn't I? While also being the only person here over twenty-one...and it was by quite a bit. I felt a blush of embarrassment blossom across my face and started to warm my ears and travel down my neck for good measure. This was something I was going to be teased about for years, I knew it.

"You have to cut the umbilical cord someday you know." A young man's voice stated. I blinked at the sound of it. It was reminiscent of someone trying to sound snobby, like they were mocking the statement just made.

I turned to address the voice.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, confusion clear on my face.

"Your daughter is about to become a pokemon trainer. You don't need to keep doing every little thing for her." The voice clarified.

I blinked at the person in front of me. It was a kid. I'd be surprised if he was over eighteen years old. He was almost exactly my height, wore a long sleeve button-down dress shirt, a sweater tied around his neck, and far too much hair-jell. His face currently set in affront.

"My daughter?" I asked confused for a moment before it clicked. He thought Dixie was my daughter. The girl that was only nine years younger than me. "Oh. Dixie's not my daughter, she's-"

"It really doesn't matter what she is to you. If she's going to be going on a the gym circuit then she's going to need to stand on her own more without someone looking out for her." The boy continued.

I stared at the audacity in corporeal form in front of me for a few moments as my brain processed what was going on. As my brain recovered, Dixie approached me through the rows of chairs of the auditorium.

"Hey! Sara, I got mine, so why don't we-" She cut off as she noticed the atmosphere.

I came to my senses. "Sure, we can go get some food and go to the park to get to know our pokemon." I stated, causing the boy to start sputtering as he looked to be building up to go on another tirade. I cut it off before it could build up by waving my newly acquired pokedex at the kid. "I'm a trainer too. Getting started like everyone else here."

"What?" The kid asked, askance. "Doesn't the league have like an age limit or something?"

"Wow. That's really rude." I state aloud as I feel my temper begin to flare, but I stop myself before it gets farther. My temper tends to make me escalate quite quickly if I let it in the driver seat. I didn't need that now. This was literally just a child. He didn't know anything. This was just him trying make himself feel important on his first big day of a daunting adventure; or he's just copying what he's seen his parents doing. "If you have an issue with it, feel free to take it up with the League. In the meantime, I have a fire chicken to pet, so you can take your unsociable behavior somewhere else."

Then I turned and began to walk away, linking an arm through Dixie's to get her to keep up with me.

"Wait! I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" The kid called back behind me.

I stopped in place and slowly turned to look at him. He had the pokeball up high in the air over his head and his other hand pointing an accusing finger at me.

The room went quiet as all eyes turned towards us. Ever single person suddenly interested now that the words pokemon battle had been stated. That was what we are all here for, after all. I saw a flash of light go off from somewhere, as apparently someone decided to take a picture of the obvious spectacle happening.

"No, that's stupid." I stated and I could see the piss and vigor drain from the kid to be replaced with shocked audacity. Only two modes for this guy apparently. "We literally just got our pokemon. We are pokemon trainers, not a pokemon battlers. We haven't done any training yet, and I don't think having a battle without getting to know your partner yet is going to productive for anyone."

"I- um-" He started.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I have things to do." I stated, eager to get away from the brat.

"Wait!" He yelled after us.

I did not wait.

"My name is Kyle Lauderdale and you'll hear from me again when I-"

The two of us walked out the door and his voice grew too faint to make out.

"Wow. What was that guy's problem?" Dixie asked.

"No idea, but I'm positive he's the kind of guy that doesn't really have any friends he didn't buy." I stated firmly. He probably got picked on in school for his fashion sense if nothing else.

The two of us left the government building behind and a short walk later had us obtain sandwiches from a local shop, along with some pokemon treats for our new parners. I let Dixie pick mine out, as I hadn't managed to do any research on what a torchic's diet should be. Apparently, a good treat was some cheap raw cuts of meat for mine, while Dixie got something that looked like your typical dog treats for her new snivy.

We made our way to the local park that you could have pokemon out at and I quickly pressed the button on the pokeball and threw it.

"Come on out!" I found myself saying, feeling very much like an anime character suddenly.

The torchic appeared in a flash of light. It was as large as a grown chicken but had the puff and down feathers of a chick. It's beady black eyes blinked in the sunlight as it took in it's surroundings as it stood in place, moving from foot to foot.

"Hey there sweetie." I cooed at it and slowly reached my hand out towards it, palms down.

My caution was unwarranted, as it pushed it's head up and out towards my hand and began to rub against it. The feathers were just as plush as I imaged they were, and running my fingers through them warmed them like a plush electric blanket. I squealed and picked the thing up and pulled it to my chest.

"You're so cute!" I gushed.

"I'm going to name you Kernel." I stated as I held the chicken out from me.

It gave a chirp in reply and a stupid grin crossed my face.

"Did you hear that?" I squeeled at Dixie. "Is that not the cutest little chirp you ever heard?"

The young freckled woman looked on in amusement.

"Yeah, it is pretty-" She started, but I cut her off by thrusting the pokemon towards her.

"Pet it! It's soft and warm!" I insisted. Kernel gave a chirp of agreement.

Dixie let out an amused chuckle. I didn't know why though, this was very serious.

The girl reached out and pet the chicken and spoke up, "Oh, that is soft."

"Right!?"

There was a few more moments of petting before Kernel decided it had enough and began to wiggle from grasp. I obliged and put it on the ground and fished out the meat I had just purchased for it. Though as I did, I noticed something.

"Hey, why don't you have your snivy out?" I asked.

"Bad idea to have two pokemon that are just getting to know their trainer out at the same time. I figured I'd let you go first and then I'll take mine out." Dixie answered.

"Oh...well now I feel bad." I stated as I threw finger sized cut of meat onto the ground in front of Kernel.

"Oh it's fine." The girl said dismissively. "If mine was out I wouldn't have gotten to pet the floof."

I gave a nod. Dixie did have her priorities right.

Kernel meanwhile noticed the cut of meat and gave an experimental peck at it before it opened it's beak and a small balls of fire poured out from the bird's maw and impacted the meat. I could feel the flash of heat from my place three feet away as the meat rapidly turned a dark black on the outside. Kernel then gobbled the meat down with a delighted coo.

As Kernel finished his small burst of fire I took out another recent purchase of mine. It was a small metal circle that easily fit in the palm of my hand. I pressed my thumb in the center and held it for a moment.

"Char!" I said happily before releasing the center.

*Click*

Kernel glanced up at the sound and blinked for a moment before going back to his food while I cooed at him. "That's a good boy."

"What was that about?" Dixie asked me as she glanced at the piece of metal.

"Oh that's just a training tool. I click it when he does something I like and it'll help him learn what I want him to. That way I can say other things, but so long as he hears the click he'll know it means something good."

"Huh. I've never heard of someone doing that before." Dixie said curiously as I took out another small piece of meat.

"It's common back where I come from. Plus, some people must use it since the store sold them." I reasoned before calling out, "Kernel!"

The pokemon turned towards me. Likely not out of any sort of recognition of it's name and more just my tone. This was a pokemon that had already spent a lot of time around humans. Still, I dangled the meat where he could see it before throwing it out and away from me while shouting "Char!"

The little fire bird let out small orbs of heat the lit up the meat as soon as it hit the ground before excitedly running off towards it's prize.

*Click*

"Yes! Good char!" I gushed as he went to consume his prize. Though as I did, I had to blink as a flash of light took my vision for a moment. My eyes quickly laid on a tan-skinned teenager with a camera. Not just any camera. A nice one. I didn't know all the brands here, but I could tell from it's size and lens that this was not a camera that came cheaply.

"Hi, sorry about that, the moment was too good to let pass. The lighting, your expression, the torchic descending on his prize. Just too perfect a moment to pass up, ya know?" The boy said sheepishly.

I raised an eyebrow wearily at him. Taking pictures of strangers in a park was tingling my stranger-danger senses, but I'd hold of from being aggressive about that. For now.

"And you are?" I asked politely but firmly.

"And why are you taking pictures of random ladies without their permission?" Dixie asked less politely, but no less firmly.

"Oh! I'm not." He stated waving his arms in front of him.

Dixie and I glanced at his camera and then back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean I'm taking pictures but it wasn't random. I followed you two from the Starter Event." He said in a hectic tone.

"Not really helping your case there, hun." Dixie warned.

"Reporter!" He finally yelled. "That is, I am. A reporter. I work for the Florum Tribute!" He said as he went scrambling through his pockets before pulling out an ID. His picture was on it as well as the the words Florum Tribute, though his finger was covering his name. "I'm helping cover this years gym circuit. Mostly as a photographer."

A reporter?

Dixie and I exchanged glances and I quickly came to the conclusion that she was about as sure what to do with the situation as I was. I turned back to the flustered boy.

"Lets start from the beginning. What's your name?" I asked kindly.

"Oh. Um, Ahaya. My name is Ahaya."

"Ahaya. Nice to meet you. I'm Sara and this is Dixie." I said as I gestured to the freckled girl beside me. "Now, Ahaya, I think you can understand why two ladies might not be thrilled to find out that a man secretly was following them and then took pictures of them."

The boy's face flushed as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Oh. Um...yeah, that was a bit bad. I just smelled a scoop!"

"A scoop?" I asked in question. "How? I'm just some lady going on a Pokemon Journey way too late."

"Exactly!" Ahaya stated excitedly. "That's the point! A message that it's never too late to start on your dreams! People will love it!"

Oh. I was supposed to the subject of a puff piece. Look at the old lady who's getting her pokemon degree.

"Ah. I guess my age does make me...unique." I stated meekly.

"Well, yes, there's your age." The photographer agreed. "But not just that, there was that whole scene with Kyle."

"Kyle?" I asked, brows furrowed.

"Yeah. The one guy that tried to start something with you earlier." Ahaya stated.

I stared at him a little more.

"I think he means the guy with too much hair gel." Dixie supplied helpfully.

"Oh! That guy!" I said with a nod. "What about him?"

"Well, I mean, his Dad is the leader of the Walt City Gym and he had a huge scene with you back there. Then you shut him down while acting responsibly and cool. It's the inter-trainer drama that really grabs attention. Your age gives it some extra spice that makes people pay attention later."

Oh. He was a gym leaders kid? That explained a lot. I figured he was the son of someone important. I don't regret shutting him down like that, but...I wasn't so sure I wanted to have my face plastered all over a news paper for telling a stuck up child 'no' for the first time in his life.

Dixie marched up to the kid and pressed a finger against his chest while I contemplated. "Still doesn't give you a right to be taking our picture without permission."

"You're absolutely right!" Ahaya said quickly. "I'll delete it if you guys want. I just figure with you starting out that you could use the extra cash to-"

"I'm sorry. Wait. Cash?" I asked.

"Oh. Yeah. If you let me take your picture and interview you, you'll get a hundred dollars."

I got paid?

"Kernel. Return." I stated as I snapped out the pokeball, returning the pokemon to it's ball before taking the reporter by his arm and guiding him over to a bench.

"It started as a child. I always wanted to be a pokemon trainer." I began as Ahaya scrambled for a notebook while Dixie began laughing at me for some reason.

Traveling was expensive damnit.

xxxxxxxx

"And Professor Sago is the one that not only treated you, but also got you into the Trainer Program?" Ahaya asked. His voice seemed high and tense for some reason. I guess Pokemon Professors were a pretty big deal.

"Yeah." I commented lightly as I stared, riveted, at Dixie running around the park with her snivy. Not so much training as just bonding and playing with the grass type. Orchid she'd decided to name it. Something about the name being on theme. Regardless, I was letting her have her moment. It wasn't fluffy so I could withhold the urge to pet it.

For now.

"Are you...really comfortable with me sharing all that?" Ahaya asked, drawing my attention back to him where he shifted in place uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I'm s-" I stopped. I had told the man that Professor Sago thought I was an amnesiac while my memories were about being from another world entirely without pokemon and that no one had managed to find my identity to prove things either way.

I didn't care if individuals knew that, but it probably wasn't for the best that EVERYONE knew that.

"On second thought, no. Instead, just mention something about no one being sure where I came from and that I have Professor Sago's backing. They'll eat that up." I supplied helpfully.

It made for a juicy story and might get me a follow up interview.

For which I would demand an even larger amount of money.

Mama didn't raise no fool.

"I mean...you're probably right." Ahaya said with a shake of his head and a laugh before puffing out his chest. "I knew I was right though! My journalistic instinct knew there was something here!"

I let out a small laugh. The kid was cute, after he had a bit to calm down. When he wasn't being so nervous he asked insightful questions and was easy to make laugh. He did have an air of naivete about him, but I'd always found that a little endearing.

"How old are you anyways, Ahaya?"

"Oh. Um...I'm 18." He said sheepishly.

"Well you're doing a fine job, sweetie. You made the interview seem like it was done by someone with years of experience." I complimented.

"Really?" He said, perking up.

"Absolutely." I said with conviction before patting him on the shoulder and giving him my best smile. "You did a good job."

The sunrise manifested in the kid's smile for a moment before he popped to his feet, full of energy.

"Thanks! I'm gonna go get this submitted right now!" He said before turning and beginning to run off. He got about ten steps before turning on his heels and coming back.

"Hey, can I have your number? The article will be on our website first and I can send you a link as soon as it posts!" He offered excitedly.

"Sure." I agree easily. A moment later, numbers were exchanged and Ahaya was off in the distance, trailing smoke.

"That boy has more energy than a spoink on a caffeine rush." Dixie noted as she approached.

"Yeah. He has some real golden retriever energy." I agreed, though Dixie shot me an inquisitive look I ignored.

"So already ending up in the paper? You sure you want the attention so soon?" Dixie asked in leu of pushing the question.

"It'll be fine." I said with a dismissive wave. "Besides, I could use the money."

"You do know that we get paid just for being pokemon trainers, right?"

"No. We get paid for succeeding as pokemon trainers." I corrected. "They don't pay us for just existing. Not only do we have to do stuff, we have to win the fights, catch the pokemon, and do the research. The contract very specifically states that they pay trainers for results. The monthly stipend they give is going to be barely enough to feed us and three pokemon when starting out. We can't assume that we'll win our fights and actually catch the pokemon. If it was so easy to do things of note like that, everyone would just do it without a license."

"I...oh." Dixie started before fading off. I understood. It's the way of younger people to start with assuming they'll succeed. Nothing wrong with it, but living life and failing enough tends to make one have a different view.

"I guess I didn't really think of all that." Dixie admitted finally.

"It's okay. It means I actually bring something to the table besides my sunny disposition in this partnership." I agree with a smile before letting my face adopt a very serious expression and grabbing Dixie's shoulders, causing the girl to flinch back in surprise, though she didn't attempt to pull out of my grasp. "There is one more thing that must be done now."

"Sara?" She asked hesitantly.

"Let me pet the snek." I ordered.

Dixie collapsed into giggles that evolved quickly to mad cackling. Rude.

"Why are you laughing? I'm being very serious!"

She fell to the ground, wheezing.