The Road Forward

The next morning came with some surprises.

It seems I was the only person in this town eligible for an elite egg battle.

With my mood all over the place yesterday, I didn't notice what Trainer Lucas leaving after my battle meant.

I was proud of my achievement and at the same time sad considering nearly 20 orphans wrote the exam in the Pokemon Centre yesterday.

While having breakfast with Joy I questioned.

"What happens to people who scored low percentile?"

" Huh! Don't take Trainer Lucas's words to heart." Joy sighs.

"Unlike what he said there are many examples of such trainers making it big, being a trainer is more than just scoring some percentile in the exam. There is a reason why League is sponsoring the other participants with low percentile too you know," she said kindly.

True, the league sponsors the top 2 percentile scorers. But with all Kanto taking the exam, the top 2 percentile scorers are counted in tens of thousands.

Most of the rich participants aim for the elite Pokemon egg as some things are not bought with money.

The government offers the rich participants a chance to get their own Pokemon if they are capable so that the league's help reaches those in need.

Hogging League's funds when you don't need them is very much looked down upon, as most of the good trainers become famous and popularity comes with people checking your whole history. So, rich hogging the funds generally never happens.

After finishing my breakfast, I offered Joy my help, but she waved me away.

While I was playing with Joy's Gengar, I saw a Pidgeot land near the Pokemon Centre. A man climbed off the Pidgeot wearing a huge bag on his back.

The Pidgeot was huge, easily 3 Meters, and instead of looking like an overgrown pigeon, like in the anime, it looked like a cruel bird of prey, majestic and scary.

The Pokeleague Official-judging by his uniform- on seeing me grinned and started rummaging through his backpack and took some devices, which emitted rays of light scanning me.

Before I could register what was happening, he dropped a parcel on the ground and climbed back on his Pidgeot, which started to beat its wings and gain altitude.

" Those are yours, Trainer," were the words I heard before the Pidgeot took off with lightning speed, generating fierce gales of wind.

"What?" I said, processing what just happened.

My mind took some time to process after seeing a 3-meter bird of prey with razor-sharp beak and talons.

The Pidgeot was not cute like the Arcanine before. The Arcanine had an innocent charm, but this Pidgeot gave a cruel feeling, halting my brain.

' Does the Pidgeot have Intimidate ability?' I thought.

' Both are huge. I don't think their anime counterparts are this huge.' I observed.

Mulling over the huge Arcanine and Pidgeot, I opened the parcel.

It has a bag, an incubator with an egg and a ….Pokedex?

After giddily securing my Pokemon egg, I opened the bag.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed.

Knowing that the world has spatial technology is one thing, but seeing it is another.

The bag has every essential item needed for camping, one Pokeball and a Luxury ball, which I specifically asked Trainer Lucas. He said the cost of the Luxury ball would be deducted from my funds along with one Pokeball. As Generally three Pokeballs are given.

I thought it was worth the cost if the ball increased the friendship level like in the game. 

The Pokedex has every feature as mobile with a scanning feature too, but unlike the top tier versions, my Pokedex cannot scan other's Pokeball and show the Pokemon in it.

I rushed to find Joy, humming a Pokemon title song('On a road far from home.')

As I was fiddling with my basic Pokedex, I was able to look up the previous Zubat's details.

The Zubat was caught in the wildling stage when caught(unawakened), by a Ranger. The ranger must have caught the Zubat after seeing it use a Zen headbutt.

'The Zubat has Zen headbutt as an egg move. The ranger must have used Hypnosis TM or TR not to waste the Zubat's Psychic Talent.' I thought shocked.

My initial guess was off, but catching a wild Pokemon with an egg move is rare. The ranger was too lucky.

I clicked on the J.I.E. battle link on my profile. A website opened after checking my trainer's licence.

It seems all Pokemon given to the novice trainers, for battle, will be of the initiate stage with at least an egg move.

' If I hadn't considered winning the battle impossible with normal Zubat moves. I wouldn't have asked for egg moves, making me not use the Pokemon's full potential,' I thought and shook my head at the league's tests. 

I browsed the PokeNet with my new level of access, granted by my license.

….

I sat on my bed holding an egg waiting eagerly for it to hatch.

After finding Nurse Joy, she looked at the incubator and declared that it would hatch in not more than two days.

The past two days I didn't let the incubator out of my sight. I think Gengar got jealous because of it.

I started brainwas*cough* bonding with the egg. Talking about how it is going to be an amazing and powerful Crowbat.

I chose Zubat because of its final form and its parents. I don't want my starter to be content with nothing less than the best.

 Suddenly the egg started to shake and jump around the room and I started jumping with it, fearing an accident.

But the egg kept on shaking for an hour, and just when I was losing hope cracks started appearing on the egg.

Finally, a small Zubat came out of the egg and looked around adorably.

I went towards it and held my hand in front of it, waiting patiently.

The Zubat sniffed my hand and jumped onto my hand.

Its body was just the size of a basketball, excluding its wings.

I took the eggshells with my other hand and started feeding them.

The Zubat gulped down hungrily.

But before I could feed the prepared moo moo milk, it fell asleep.

I held on to it carefully laid it on the bed and started looking at my journey plans.

I was hoping to catch the Zubat while it was awake.

The Zubat woke up when it was nearly midnight, I didn't leave my room waiting for the Zubat to wake up, Nurse Joy understood and sent the dinner to my room with Chansey.

The Chansey cooed around the baby Zubat after delivering the food and left.

On waking the Zubat started flapping its wings and took to the air.

After flying a loop of the room, it sat on my head crying its name happily, making itself at home.

I let it be for a moment and took out the moo moo milk, luring it down from my head.

The Zubat finished its milk and snuggled in my arms.

"Your name is going to be Cetan, like a hawk spirit from my home."

" You are going to be as fast and fierce as the mythical bird, Cet," I said looking at the baby Pokemon.

I know it won't understand me, but it squealed when I said its name, that got to count for something.

Petting the adorable Pokemon in my hands, I reached for my luxury ball and slowly touched it on its head.

There was no shaking, I took my Pokedex and registered my Pokemon, to see its moves.

"Awesome" I exclaimed on seeing the moves.

Cetan has Absorb, Supersonic, Gust (Egg move), and Bravebird(Egg move).

Absorb can do very little damage, so not a good option for my Ceton who is going to be a speedy damage dealer.

But I hit the jackpot with the two egg moves.

I opened the TM shop in my Pokedex for ranged moves and power-up moves for my Ceton.

Their rates just blew my mind away, I have so many things I want to buy, but with the league only providing me 10,000 Pokedollars as my starting fund and no more until I win some Gym badges, I will have to cut some luxuries. 

So, I chose Poison Sting and Agility TRs.

The TRs or TMs are a clever piece of technology, created with the help of Psychic Pokemon, where the Psychic Pokemon record their experience of the move in the form of a disc and a video of the move will be forwarded to the trainer's Dex.

The TRs disappear after touching a Pokemon or its Pokeball, making the targeted Pokemon experience the feeling of using the move. The feeling granted by the TRs or TMs helps the targeted Pokemon to learn the move quickly. 

The TM's use is obsolete for awakened Pokemon as they won't be influenced by the TM's due to their advanced mind. But they can understand human language and will have a better grip on their capabilities, making learning new moves easier compared to their non-elite counterparts.

For novice trainers like me, whose Pokemon is just a wildling and cannot communicate, TM's are very helpful.

My shopping spree left me with little more than 4000 Pokedollars left. Which I am going to spend on Ceton's diet, nothing but the best for my Pokemon.

Since League provides every essential other than clothes, I must scour the PokeCenter's lost and found room for clothes, and for food in the deep jungles. 

Going into deep jungles is risky business, but I refuse to compromise when it comes to training my Pokemon.

'Wasting my time doing part-time jobs is the furthest thing on my mind, wasting any amount of time is not going to get me my championship.'

'Maybe winning some trainer matches will get me enough money for my food,' I thought languidly and climbed my bed to sleep, tucking the Pokeball into my bedside drawer.