Chapter 3 Difficult Profession and a Unique Choice

Faust lay in bed thinking of the Pokemon Egg he would receive tomorrow. Since they were unappraised eggs the procedure was very simple. All the students of the graduating class would be called to choose from a pile of eggs in order of their names. Faust was not worried about the choice, for him the choice was not up to fate.

He thought of the possible first choices. The starter Pokemon of the different regions would be a good choice because they all had three stages of evolution and grew into powerhouses with proper training and nutrition. However, the real concern was the aptitude. A Purple aptitude Caterpie would grow stronger than an Orange aptitude Charmander.

'Argh screw it we shall see tomorrow.'

Thinking so Faust drifted off to sleep thus ending his first day in this new world.

The ringing of the alarm woke Faust up and he reluctantly lifted himself out of bed complaining about how the world changed and yet he had to go to school.

Faust put on the new XY series outfit he had received from the system. Looking at himself in the mirror he couldn't help but compliment himself.

'Damn this guy hit the genetic lottery. Oops...I mean I hit the genetic lottery.'

In the kitchen, Faust whipped up a quick breakfast consisting of cereal, milk and fruits. Finally stepping out of the house he couldn't help but eagerly look forward to what Pokemon eggs would he get to choose from.

Faust stepped past the gate showing his ID but unlike a normal day, there were no kids on the playing field and the school seemed much quieter. There were a few heavy-duty cargo vehicles that looked like 18-wheelers parked to one side. He noticed many Pokemon and their trainers standing vigilantly around the vehicles as a few Machoke wheeled down steel crates from the trucks. Using the [Identifier] on them he found that most were in the Late to Peak Intermediate stage. A few Pokemon stood out like the Growlithe that lay lazily next to its trainer.

[ Pokemon: Growlithe(♂)

Ability: Flash Fire

Type: Fire

Aptitude: Green

Strength: Mid Senior(Lvl. 41)

Moves: Ember, Leer, Bite, Flame Wheel, Take

Down, Sunny Day(TM),

Flame Thrower,

Crunch, Fire Fang, Agility]

It was an impressive Pokemon and it knew a TM move. The trainer of the Growlithe was rich or capable enough to get a TM and raise it to the senior level. As Faust observed the trainer he suddenly realized he knew this person.

Ted Hawkins, one of the three Senior trainers of Applegrove Town and Marcie's father. He was capable enough to become an Elite trainer but for that, his Growlithe needed to evolve. In the real world, Pokemon would not necessarily keep rising in levels if their evolution was suppressed. It became monumentally difficult to raise Pokemon levels if they did not evolve. For instance, the Growlithe could probably grow up to the Peak of the Senior Stage but to step into the Elite Stage it would have to evolve into the Arcanine using the pure fire energy of a Firestone.

Evolution unclogged the aptitude of the Pokemon and could even raise it. A green aptitude Pokemon if taken care of properly, using enough nutrition and proper training could raise its aptitude to blue in the next stage. Similarly, without evolution, the true potential of a Pokemon would be repressed. Imagine a human kid not being able to grow up even as the years passed. Yes, he would learn new things but his physical and mental capabilities would not improve substantially.

As Faust thought of the vague explanations this world had on Pokemon evolution and Pokemon aptitude he couldn't help but think of competitive breeding in the Pokemon games. Getting maximum EVs and IVs was more mathematical than it was biological in the games. If he wanted to work on the aspects of Pokemon evolution and aptitude in the real world he would have to carry out extensive research. Faust realized that last night he had not thought things very rationally. Sure he knew Pokemon would evolve when traded but how would he explain it? Shaking his head he decided to think of these things later. He could start with the easy stuff, the Eeveelutions for example, for them he could hypothesize about the environment and elemental energies.

Faust took one more look at the Growlithe and turned away to walk to his class.

The class was filled with low murmuring and excited chatter. Faust saw Mr Flint sitting at the teacher's table on the podium engrossed in what looked like a Sudoku puzzle. The man couldn't stop surprising Faust, given his looks he fit right in with the mob but his pursuits were rather scholarly. Suddenly Mr Flint looked at Faust with a 'whatcha think you lookin' at ya punk, find yer seat or imma' smoke yer ass' look.

Faust quickly found his seat, sat down and lowered his head. He heard a chuckle beside him.

"Damn Faust whatever happened yesterday I don't think Mr Flint is gonna let it go anytime soon."

Faust looked at a rather good-looking kid with blonde hair and recognised him instantly.

Kyle Goodwin, a good friend and a typical back-bencher. He and the former Faust were close friends since Faust never stood out and Kyle found it hard to step out of his elder brother's shadow. His elder brother, Scott Goodwin was a school legend. Having hatched a Dratini he was scouted by the Dragoon family of Dragon's Nest city and received a full-ride scholarship to Grand Coast City's Trainer Academy. Case in point of just how much the first Pokemon truly mattered.

Since the success of Scott, Kyle's actions were always compared to his brother and somehow each time Kyle managed to fall short. The psychological toll of the pressure was immense and the only person who probably did not treat him any differently was Faust. Hence, the friendship between the two grew.

"Well he is a teacher and he has a right to reprimand his students. Besides, it doesn't seem to be that bad", Faust replied.

"So what are your actual plans for the future? Still set on becoming an explorer?" asked Kyle.

Faust had always wanted to be an explorer and had mentioned it to Kyle on numerous occasions. Perhaps it was born out of an urge to follow in his dead parents' footsteps or a means to grow out of his insignificance, the former Faust wasn't very sure about his choice. It was similar to a situation back on Earth, students often worked with a one-track mind towards a goal their parents had set for them or what society believed to be the best. But never once did they stop to explore other avenues of employment that could bring them even better results or greater success.

But now that the actual owner of the body was dead and Faust had taken over, he had analysed the pros and cons of being an explorer. He had concluded that it was a messy and treacherous occupation.

An explorer worked not only to explore rifts but also to conquer them. A rift could be conquered by obtaining the rift core which often was in the possession of the ruling Pokemon in the rift. Once you had the rift stone you became the owner of the rift, you could enter and exit the rift as you willed. The Pokemon in the rift also became less aggressive towards you and could be captured or tamed much easily. Exploration became much easier.

This is the reason why explorers were in danger not only of being killed by Pokemon but also being killed by their comrades and employers. After all, who would want to share the humungous benefits of owning a rift? Most rifts were owned by the Alliance but there were also rifts owned by powerful families, corporations and individuals. Moreover, there was no law on the monopoly over rifts because random rifts kept popping up here and there.

To sum it up: if you had zero backings and no background, exploring the rifts was not a job for you.

"Umm, actually I have been thinking and have realised that the decision of a job rests heavily upon the type of Pokemon you get."

Kyle nodded and Faust then continued.

"So if I want to be able to make an independent choice I would have to choose an occupation that demanded more of me than of my Pokemon. In light of that, I have decided to write a research paper and see if the Researcher's Union would be interested."

Kyle remained silent but his expression was sufficiently clear on what he wanted to say.

"Don't look at me like that, I know I'm lacking in terms of academic knowledge but research is more about observation and attention to detail. Worst case I'd end up an assistant my whole life and the best case is anything more than that."

Kyle sighed and said, "Man the worst case is you ending up with nothing. You do realise that a Researcher is one of the most coveted, respected and difficult professions out there. Just getting into a Research University requires you to have a published paper. Published papers are vetted by a panel of Researchers at the Researcher's Union! Bro, do you know how many researchers enter the Researcher University each year? Let me tell you the number is in double digits. Do you know how many of them graduate? 7 on average every batch! The rest end up changing careers or remain, assistants, the rest of their lives! You gotta think this through. You don't have the financial ability to change careers and writing a research paper over a year will keep you from utilising your time training your Pokemon. The Pokemon are best trained and bonded with in the first few years after they hatch, this isn't even a gamble Faust it is chopping off your foot with your own axe."

By the end of it, Kyle was visibly agitated and this warmed Faust's heart. Kyle showed genuine concern and his well thought out reasons were very convincing.

Faust should have ideally listened to him, but as a traverser, he had a treasure trove of knowledge and a very powerful system. Would he even be a traverser if he didn't do what was considered normally impossible? Besides, writing a research paper was truly not difficult for Faust. He had been a hardcore Pokemon fan and had spent hours agonizing over type strategies, breeding techniques, maxing out IVs and EVs, even Pokemon switching strategies to maximise the Pokemon abilities such as Emergency Exit and Moxie. He knew what to do. He would do it. Failure was always a possibility. But it was the least probable one.

Smiling at the agitated Kyle, he reassured him and promised him that he would not neglect the critical time for Pokemon training and would only attempt the research paper as a back-up. By the time they finished the bell had rung and Mr Flint stood up with a clipboard in his hands.

"Okay sit down and shut up. Ahem...I mean maintain some decorum, please. Now I shall be calling out your names and as your name is called you will make your way to the incubators to my left and pick one. I must warn you...these incubators are a new type developed by the Alliance Research Laboratory, you must hand them over at the end of the break...so don't break them. Also, please ensure you keep your incubators with no obstruction to the front. This is to ensure that the ejection mechanism works and your Pokemon doesn't drown in the incubation fluid. Also, it is advised to keep the incubator no more than 7 metres off the ground to prevent the egg and the Pokemon inside from suffering injuries on ejection. Your eggs should hatch within a week or two from now. Remember to bond and care for your Pokemon because quite literally your life and death in the future will be in their hands. Enough talk. Now...Abbey Stone!"

A nervous-looking girl with curly brown hair and an angular face hurried up to the incubators. Looking around for a few moments, she picked up a reddish egg with deep red marks on it. Mr Flint then handed her a normal Pokeball and a pack of what probably was Pokemon food.

Faust could see that she had picked a Vulpix with the Flash Fire ability. It was a decent Pokemon with Yellow potential. The downside was it needed an elemental stone for evolution. The teacher continued and Faust didn't check anymore after the first few people.

"Next...Faust Williamson."

Faust got up and walked to the incubators. Using his identifier he scanned through the eggs filtering out those below Green potential. His eyes lit up when he noticed two Blue potential eggs as well. Scanning the Blue potential Pokemon he found them to be a Caterpie and a Wimpod. But as he came to the stats of the Wimpod his eyes widened like saucers.

[ Pokemon: Wimpod (♂) (Shiny)

Ability: Wimp Out

Type: Bug/Water

Aptitude: Blue

Strength: N/A (egg)

Time to Hatch: 4 days

Moves: Aqua Jet, Metal Claw, Defense Curl,

Sand Attack, Struggle Bug]

'Fuck! This Wimpod sure hit the genetic jackpot! Five moves, each of different types. Damn if it evolves into a Golisopod it's potential will probably hit Violet! Plus Golisopods are known to be aggressively skilled at close combat! If I get Hyper Beam and Giga Impact...damn it'll be a nightmare within its own class. Moreover, the move First Impression is kinda overpowered. Okay, this is it.'

Faust decisively picked up the Wimpod and receiving the food and the Pokeball walked out of the class satisfied. He decided to wait for Kyle and looked at the egg again.

"Me and you buddy. I promise you...I will make you the strongest Golisopod to ever exist." Faust whispered and began planning a training and nutrition program in his head.