Big City Life

**** Karl's Perspective ****

I showed my new friends the locations of the Pokémon I could still remember, some of them were already gone, the whole process lasted about an hour.

I didn't walk back towards the Pokécenter with them. Would have been interesting seeing the whole team and girl with her Growlithe again, but I didn't want to run into too many people.

I already attracted too much attention for my liking.

How things continue was already discussed and the plan set so I didn't really have a need to had back with them, Jake, Richard, and the two brothers seemed a bit down because I didn't go with them but they didn't ask me to do otherwise, so I guess I'm ok.

I lost most of my worries now, which primarily was being hunted down by humans. The Evil Team doesn't seem like a threat, as long as I don't gather too much attention I should be alright. The stronger I get the less dangerous it gets for me. As of now, even the normal Grunts of the Team could probably defeat me.

That's why finding a place to train is a huge deal for me, and now I even get told where I can hunt Pokémon without worrying too much about how the humans react.

I found my way back to the road I already discovered. Richard told me I could find the first Type of Pokémon after crossing through the next city which lies north of here about 5 Kilometers (3,1 Miles) so that's my destination now.

At the moment I'm still surrounded by forest. But I can see the City Skyline in the distance and the End of the forest seems just 400-500 Meters away. Still just like before I'm walking in the forest behind the last line of bushes and trees before the road begins.

[I haven't drunk in a while hopefully I can find a water source at the end of the forest or at least in the city.

You would think fighting strong foes in a new and unknown world would be your main problem but it seems if you don't want to run after some humans, your biggest problem is finding food or water.

Only strong point at the moment is that I can take a leak everywhere I want.

Other problems, for now, seem that I can't talk to Pokémon yet. On the other hand, I guess it helps with hunting, I'm not sure if I could hunt and kill Pokémon if they could talk with me and I'm not even talking about eating yet.

I guess everybody would feel that way.

I believe this means I should find out how Pokéfood tastes, or what it's made of maybe then I could even make it myself.]

I stop walking looking through the treetops in thought.

[Naaah. I guess that's impossible for me...

So how do I get that stuff when I need it in the future?]

I continue walking.

[Maybe I can get the GYM Leaders to give some to me after I defeated them? Instead of money? I really don't need money. Normal trainers are probably difficult, rather then food they will probably try to catch me even after their Pokémon are defeated. If that is even possible. I don't know. In the games, it doesn't work, but this is real life now.

Maybe I can get the Pokémon Wildlife Guys to give some to me after I clear an area? As some sort of payment or something? That seems like a good Idea!]

My deep thought session ends. A car just blasted down the road, well it seemed like it, I guess I still am pretty slow. I want to get faster covering small distances in a „long" time like this sucks.

[being a small Pokémon sucks. I hope I can get taller soon.]

I reach the end of the forest and what lies ahead is a huge grassland, long grass that sways in the wind. The dirt road stretches itself to the city with a few bends and curves. The forest seems to have been on some higher ground, right now I walk down into the grassland. I can see a few willow trees standing alone spread across the grass plains.

I decide to walk in the high grass, as it's highly possible that humans can spot me from far away.

Some Pidgeys are flying over my head towards the City.

I continue my walk without interruptions, I believe the city is about a Kilometer away so it won't be long before I get there. An hour if I walk, running would be a lot faster but I'm not sure how fast I can find water so I don't want to take risks.

The weather is perfect a few clouds but mostly clear blue sky, the wind makes the warm temperature bearable. I can hear some Bird Pokémon sing and I even saw a Butterfree fly by.

None of them were interested in confronting me which makes my life easier. Suddenly I hear voices in the distance, not from the road and neither from the city, there seem to be two kids coming from somewhere in the grass, from what I can hear it's a girl and a boy. The tall grass should be able to hide all of my body with ease so I'm not worried about them finding me.

As they draw closer I can hear what they are talking about, they seem to be heading back to the city just where I want to go, so I guess I found my source of entertainment for the journey, as long as I don't walk faster than them.

Boy: "I and my Crabby are able to fight against two more Pokémon without having to use a Potion now!"

Girl: "That's impressive, my Rockruff can't even fight against two Pokémon in a row. It will take ages until I will be able to beat the GYM-Leader..."

Boy: "Don't worry it won't take that long, I just had a 2-week headstart on you."

Girl: " I hope that's right, from what I heard we both aren't good against them Pokémon Type the GYM-Leader uses so we have to train extra hard."

This is the moment where I think to myself, why don't these doofuses just catch different types of Pokémon or hit a different GYM? I doubt there is a real use of VM's if they even exist here and not like People use Pokémon services like in Alola. Nobody would have needed to cut down a small tree in the real-world only because it's standing on some small dirt path. So reaching other GYM's shouldn't be too difficult. Guessing by them having Water and Rock-Type Pokémon the GYM seems to use Grass Type Pokémon?

Not that that's of interest for me yet, the PWO-Guys still have to talk with the GYM-Leaders. But if I could hunt and train against some fire, bug or grass types that would be helpful later on.

Thankfully my first goal is already helpful in that case. It seems that a lot of trainers caught Heatmor's on the hills and mountains on the northern side of the city, in order to battle the GYM Leader in this City. Which lead to the rapid breeding of Durants, of which more than enough survived because their natural enemies are missing.

The dumb thing about it is that Durant's should be as effective against Grass-types as Fire Pokémon like Heatmor. Maybe I'm missing something here? Is the GYM not a grass Type GYM? Dammit, I should have asked Richard when I still could. Anyway battling another Bug Type is really tedious.

And this one is bug-steel Type, which is even worse. I don't think I have any Attack yet that is effective against Steel Pokémon. So I will have to be careful of its Bug-Type moves and counter with something to is only of normal effectiveness.

The City isn't that far away anymore, the two kids still ramble on about the GYM and how they can beat it. I stop walking the two seem to be really close. They walk towards the road on my left and come towards me from the right.

"If only there were still some Heatmor's left but those 16 and 17-year-olds all got them first. Flying Types would also be good but they are so hard to fight, most of them just fly away if the battle gets too hard and those that come to fight you first are too strong."

- says the boy annoyed.

The girl replies sounding a bit unmotivated: "Well, the ones you can find in the city are useless against them as well, they are a bit too weak and got no type advantage either. Also they are boring, most of them can be found at every corner. In that case, I'm better off with my trained rockruff."

[This is just stupid, I have to say something. I know I shouldn't but I just can't hold it back.]

"Just go catch Durants they are effective against Grass Types as well, holy moly I can't believe people try beating GYM Leaders without having at least half their knowledge. Maybe not against Heatmors but they are good enough for beating that GYM."

[Sh*t, now I did it. Time to haul a** and get the hell out of here before they try to find out who said that.]

I try to peak through the grass, the two kids look confused into my direction.

"Who said that? What the hell? Are you hiding?!" - the Boy looks around confused, the girl does the same without saying anything.

[Well, now it's not my problem anymore]

I start sprinting through the grass towards the city. I seem to be pretty fast when sprinting, not anywhere near the speed I want to achieve later on but compared to the running speed of a human I'm quite the bit faster.

I reach the city in what felt like a heartbeat. And what I can see from up close is impressive. The city seems to be a lot bigger then I expected. The architecture is impressive as well, a lot of very tall and big buildings made out of concrete and stones, but not plain in any way. most of the buildings have tons of ornaments. The windows are big and the shops I can see look expensive.

I can't spot much more as I still stand about a hundred meters away from the city but what I can see makes me happy. There are some big fountains with water decorating the city entrance to my left there is a long rectangular fountain with 4 sprinklers that are placed with equally big gaps in between them. and to my right on the other side of the now asphalted road, there is a huge round fountain with a big sprinkler in the middle, blasting water into the sky. Around both you can find shadow throwing trees, between them you can see park benches, which are neither rotten nor brand new, but nice enough that you would gladly sit down to take a breather should the weather be really hot.

As I walk along the fountains, while still hidden in the last line of grass to hide I notice that the whole park like area is extremely clean. And it doesn't take long to notice why different from the Real World this one actually has bins set up in locations that you can find one if you need it.

From where I come littering is a no-no but bins are actually hard to find, so you walk around with your trash until you forget you actually still have it in your pocket, so you end up pulling it out when you are home again, throwing it into your own trash bin.

The trash bins are set up around the park benches and trees, so not far away from where you would drink and eat your food and drinks. You gotta give it to these people, sending kids to hunt dangerous animals and train them afterward is one thing, but they actually seem to care about their environment.

I asked myself before if I should go around the city to remain hidden but I really could use a drink by now and the city looks way too big for my lazy a** to walk around it.

I guess I will drink something when not too many people are around and cross through the city by nightfall. It's a city so there should be plenty of opportunities to find food. And if not there still should be some pidgeys or Pidoves that I can hunt, well I hope so I can be too sure about that.

I guess I should go for the big round fountain, as much more water is falling down hitting the water surface. Which mean more sound that mutes the sounds I make by walking. There are some people around, not many maybe there is some kind of event going on, with a place as nice as this you would expect more people relaxing here. Some old folks are sitting on some of the benches while eating or just chatting. Some parents are getting pulled along by their kids. And other couples are pulled by their Pokémon. Some Rockruffs, some Shinx, I can even see a Pichu and an Aipom.

I walk towards the big fountain and trying to pick a big gap between the elderly couples. I hope they see and hear as badly as I believe. My plan is to just run at full speed and jump into the fountain.

Drink my fill and chill until the coast is clear. And if that takes longer I can just take a nice bath the sun is shining and I guess the water shouldn't be too cold. Even if it is I believe my furr will make it warm enough.

As another young couple leaves, I ready myself. An elderly couple starts feeding each other.

[Damn that's f*cking adorable guys... love at that age.]

Well, the time has come I start sprinting a few meters and jump.

*splash* ((nothing happened *badum tz*))

I dive into the water. It's crystal clear, not too cold, maybe a bit fresh but not to bad. I swim towards the center, well... I try swimming in this body works a lot different.

But guess what. I was I child once and I tried to swim like a dog once. And what did not work perfectly that time now works like a charm.

I dive towards the center of the sprinkler/fountain where most to my presence should be hidden pretty well.

I resurface. It's quite shady here but nice and the falling water makes a calming sound. I drink my fill and watch the couple finish their meal if I had to guess I would say about 15-20 Minutes passed.

The elderly nicely dressed couple gets up slowly and leaves. It's go time. I check if anyone is coming and dive towards the edge of the fountain. I resurface up to my neck and peak outside. I can neither hear nor see anyone so I get out and try to shake off all the water hanging in my hair.

I had towards the grass again. Knowing what's up next. It's nap time boooiiiis.

I lay down about 3 meters away from the edge of the park, deep into the grass again. I close my eyes as I hear the calming sound of the fountain.

**** A few hours later ****

I wake up, I feel... well still sleepy like every time you do an hour-long nap also I'm really hungry, I should probably find something to eat.

I get up and walk outside of the tall grass onto the nicely trimmed park lawn.

I see nobody around so I guess I should finally check out the city.

[Wait a moment what was that!...]

When turning towards the city my left eye spotted something, there is a purple-yellow cat leaning against a bin. Seems like it's eating them out of the trash the elderly couple left. Which makes no sense to me, I always thought that was a dog thing to do, as cat always seem to find a way to get fed by humans. What's wrong with this one? I'm curious. And walk towards it. As I walk towards it I can see that it is a Liepard, about a meter tall.

That's when it's sighing loud throwing its head back looking into the sky.

[Uh shit it seems really annoyed]

That's when it says in a female quite gentle if not agitated voice: "Alright listen here buddy, I know I have nice furr. But I bet you won't want me if I turn around. So bugger off. And stop bothering me..."

It turned it's head around.

"Oh, dammit... it's just some weird looking Pooch-Something. Nevermind. Ignore what I said, I was wondering why some human would still be interested in me. Whatever then, stop bothering me anyway, I'm searching for something good." - She turns around again reapplying her attention to the trash, seem like she doesn't even see me as an enemy.

My jaw drops to the floor, well not really but it feels like it did.

[Holy shit I can understand it! Wait. Wait. Does that mean I can talk Pokémon now or that it can talk human?]

I decide to just carefully ask it, I don't want to annoy it any further as it is quite the bit taller than me: "Uhh,... you... can talk human as well?"

"What, wait?" - She turns around again, this time letting go of the bin standing in front of me on all four paws. Now I can guess what she was rambling on about. Now that she is standing right in front of me I can see a giant scar stretching up from her right front leg up towards her right ear.

[Holy fuck. Don't look at it. Don't be to obvious about it, that is one huge scar. How to Pokémon even get scars?]

"You could understand all of that perfectly?" - she asks in a confused tone, tilting her head to the right.

"Well, yes. As it's the only language I speak it's helpful you said it in the human language. How are you able to speak human, fluent even?"

"Wait,.. what? I mean. You only speak human? How does that work? I? Well, it's a long story..." - she answers depressed, sadly looking towards the ground.

"Sorry, I didn't want to get too personal, it's just you are the first Pokémon I can actually talk to. So I got really excited."

"I. what? I mean you... I'am the first Pokémon you can talk to, since like ever? Wow. I mean how did you live until now? I never met another human speaking Pokémon either so I guess we both are a bit confused and excited. I mean why only human? What are you anyway?"

I can't tell if she is more confused or excited, but at the very least she isn't mad at me anymore.

"I well,... it's also a long story. But I have time I can tell you if you want it's no secret. I haven't hung out with anyone in days so I could use the company. But more than the company I could use some food, I'am really hungry, have you found anything good yet?" - that might have been a bit insensitive of me, but I really am terribly hungry.

"I, well no I haven't found anything really good yet, seems like nobody threw away anything good today. But I know where I can find something good, I can show you if you tell me your story. To be honest I guess I could use a talk." - she says, sounding way more relaxed than at the beginning of our conversation.

I continue: "That sounds fine with me,... uhm to be honest I'am new here and have no clue how to get through the city. I might need your help with that later."

"Eh.. ok. I guess?" - she seems a bit hesitant about the city tour but I guess that's more than normal, she just met a horned dog Pokémon that only talks human after all.

... to be continued ...