Chapter 19

I made much better time reaching Pewter City than I thought I would. Sure, I gibbered like a little pussy while Pidgeotto carried me along the last leg of the journey. But hey, it saved me an extra few hours of walking.

...And I didn't have piss trailing down the inside of my thigh. As far as I'm concerned, that is a motherfucking win.

Pidgeotto dropped me off at the end of the forest, along the pathway leading out towards Pewter City. And I may have petulantly returned him to his pokeball instead of letting him try and perch on my bag.

In my defence though. He nearly made me shit myself. And I'm a petty person.

'I think I can see the gym from here.' I noted internally as soon as I made it to near the end of the pathway and stood atop a rock ledge jutting out of the hill leading down towards the city.

Granted, to be fair, the Pewter City Gym stands out quite a bit among the suburbs. It's basically a giant ass boulder made into a building after all.

I was just about to hop off and head into the city when-

"You're standing on my merchandise kid." a gruff voice spoke up from below me.

It took more effort than I wanted to never admit not to yelp in fright like a little bitch. I still flinched back though for a moment before catching myself and looking down below me.

I found a very familiar dusky skinned man, half of his face covered by a thick matted brown beard, while the top half of his head was hidden beneath a red beanie hat.

Well, fucking well. If it isn't Flint the deadbeat dad. This is good news for me. It means he hasn't taken over for Brock, and I don't need to deal with taking down a Golem and a Rhydon.

My pokemon are way stronger than I imagined they'd be by this point thanks to abusing Chansey's Gravity and Heal Pulse, alongside stealing training methods I remember Ash using in the anime. But I still don't want to to risk taking on a Golem and a Rhydon right now.

"The fuck are you talking about old man?" I 'asked' him, jumping off the rock to land in front of him and look at him. I decided to play along for now. and I don't even mind being rude to Flint. Because Jesus fuck are Brock's parents useless. I'd make a better parent than them. And I I hate kids. Noisy attention seeking little shit buckets.

"What a rude brat," Flint stated bluntly. He pointed at the rock I was standing on before, jabbing his thumb at the front of at which I couldn't see while I was standing atop it. there was a piece of paper taped to it, reading: ₱500, "You were standing all over it. You break it you buy it."

...Is he fucking kidding me? I actually forgot he pulled this crap on Ash in the anime. Selling literal rocks from the ground. And seriously, that price for a rock, the hell is he smoking?

"Fuck off!" I spat, sticking my finger up at him like the rude little punk ass I am. "I could buy a freaking Geodude for five hundred never mind a damn rock."

"The common price of the average Geodude is a thousand actually," the man shrugged, completely ignoring, "This is a common city for them to be bred and shipped out from."

Interesting trivia. Not that I care. If I want a Geodude, I'll grab one at Mount Moon or something. I'm fairly certain I remember seeing a few there during the anime episode when Team Rocket strung up all those lights.

"Nice to know, later old man." I replied and turned on my heel and began walking towards the city.

"Hey! you forgot to pay for damaging my merchandise!" Flint shouted after me.

"Eat shit!" I shouted back, sticking my finger up at him again over my shoulder, but not bothering to look back at him.

The first thing I did upon entering the Pokemon Centre, was leave my pokemon with Nurse Joy for a quick check up.

Then, I entered the promised land.

You don't know what you have until you've lost it. And you know no euphoria quite like gaining it again. For me, I never knew how much I missed a toilet until I was shitting in the woods and it reminded me all over again just why I fucking hated camping.

And the cafeteria food that came after was freaking godsend after just munching on noodles every time I was hungry the passed few days.

By the time I was down filling my stomach up, my pokemon were already finished with their check up. The only ones with anything of any note were Pidgeotto and Chansey. Chansey was a little fatigued from using her abilities so much while Pidgeotto still had a few injuries from his fight with Shiftry. But it wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed up nice and quick.

Though Nurse Joy did advise that I should stock up on Oran, Sitrus or Gold Berries. They were apparently great for restoring a pokemon's stamina and ridding them of fatigue.

And can I just say how weird it is to meet a woman who looks the exact same as one I met a few days ago. I knew of course in an abstract sense they all looked the same, but god damn it was wiggy as fuck.

I could have gotten some training in after dinner with my pokemon. But honestly, I'm not so sure on just how long it will take Ash to get here to Pewter and yoink Brock. Without Team Rocket to hinder him, he could already be here for all I know. Somewhere, even if I haven't seen him around yet.

So instead of training, I'm going to head straight for Brock. There's still a few hours before it gets dark. But before then, I have to make a call.

I made my way to the area of the Pokemon Centre where the video phones are kept and sat down in front of one. A little look on the internet with my phone..pokedex...thing allowed me to get the phone number for it easily enough and I dialled it up.

Moments later, the screen lit up and Nurse Joy appeared on the screen and to my surprise, there was a very familiar brown body topped with a white mane of hair on its head. Shiftry.

"Oh, Jord!" Nurse Joy's eyes lit up when she saw you, "I was wondering when you were going to call."

"Hey, yeah I just got in to Pewter and thought I'd call to check in on my pokemon before I go get my first badge." I replied before letting my eyes move off the pretty pink haired woman and meet the yellow eyes of my most recent capture.

Shiftry's eyes narrowed at me and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. But made no threatening moves. He didn't even posture at all.

"Quite the capture you made here, I have to admit," Joy chuckled, reaching out to ruffle Shiftry's hair. The grass and dark type huffed and broke eye contact with me, looking away in what I assume might be embarrassment, "He was a big help after I got him healed up when he arrived. A trainer's Rhyhorn got a bit rowdy but your Shiftry here defeated it before it could even cause any damage."

I grinned, "Well I do have an eye for talent and Shiftry's something else alright." I replied. Like seriously, when I got a look at his profile on my pokedex I was utterly gobsmacked at the insane attacks Shiftry knew. Hurricane, Extrasensory, Leaf Blade and Dark Pulse just to name a few.

"You've been on quite the catching spree actually," Joy hummed, "What is it now? A total of eleven already? I can understand the Bellsprout since you talked about it before you left, and your Metapod is really something special as well, but I don't quite understand why you captured your Oddish and Feebas. They're sweet pokemon no doubt, but Feebas especially has little to no battle potential."

Huh. That just confirmed something for me. How Feebas evolve into Milotic, or even the fact that they do, isn't common knowledge. "Oddish was a sweetie and I've got big plans for Feebas," I shrugged before looking her in the eyes, "Do you know of an item called a Prism Scale?"

Nurse Joy raised an eyebrow at the question, "..Odd change of subject," she commented looking at me suspiciously, "They're scales off of a Milotic are they not? They're usually made into jewelry." she answered anyway after a moment.

"And how much are they?" I prodded further.

"..Err, not really sure to be honest," she answered with a shrug, "I know they're cheaper around port towns and cities. Buy you can probably get one in Cerulean City for a few thousand."

Eeesh, how pricey. They must really make nice jewelry then.

"Why?" Joy asked a moment later.

"No reason," you waved her off, "But really, how are they all settling in? I want to get a bit more time in with my current roster before switching my team around a bit.

"They're doing fine," she replied easily, "We aren't hosting that many other pokemon right now other than yours so there's plenty of room and with Shiftry here I'm sure they'll have no problem claiming a bit of the territory for themselves."

That brought Shiftry's attention back to the conversation, the grass and dark turn turning his head around to look at Nurse Joy and nodding before smirking at me.

"You're a dependable guy huh?" I praised him a bit, inwardly smirking when his chest puffed out with pride.

I gave my full attention to Shiftry now, "We didn't get much chance to talk since I just challenged you to a battle and caught you," I said, "But how do you feel about being my pokemon? Personally, I'm quite happy with you as my pokemon. You're strong, with amazing attacks and seem a real good sort."

"..Shift..ry.." my newest captured gave me a long hard stare once more before nodding once and turning around and walking away out of the camera.

"Don't mind him," Nurse Joy giggled, "He doesn't seem to have any hard feelings. And as far as Shiftry go, they're a warrior species, so the fact you defeated him to capture him is enough to earn you some of his respect."

"Thanks," I nodded my head gratefully. It was one less thing to worry about, "Do you mind letting the others know I'll probably bring some of them over in a few days?"

"I will, don't worry," she smiled back before flashing you a thumbs up, "Keep up the good work. Your trainer page on the league database and website is only a few days old at this point, but your captures are already attracting attention. You're doing way better than most do when they first start out."

"Well, next time I call you I'll have two badges." I grinned. Brock is going to be easy, I think. And Misty's sisters will be easier still if they're anything like their anime counterparts.

"We'll see." Nurse Joy rolled her eyes before bidding me goodbye and hanging up.

I stood up and stretched out my body, pleased with how things are progressing. And I had to marvel at how light my body felt with my backpack stored in my room for the night.

I felt stronger than I ever had even as an adult in my world and I tended to do at least fifty normal curls a day with my wrist and ankle weights, alongside fifty reverse curls.

"Time to get that fuckin' badge." I said to myself once I got rid of any lingering tightness in my muscles.