Was That a Game of Thrones Reference?

This was a fantastic, and likely the only chance for Dust and Chiki to be able to survive the very stupid mistake they made. Dust wasn't an imperialist, but he didn't mind helping the Ironshroom Kingdom annex a bit of land/pokemon in exchange for his life.

Was it wrong? Probably. Was it effective? Yes.

"I'll take care of the rest of your registration." The leader said.

"Actually," Gary awkwardly coughed, "I was wondering if we could register a team while we're at it? If not that's fine." Gary was looking at Dust in a suspicious manner.

"I don't swing that way." Dust monotoned while looking at the seemingly infatuated boy.

Gary's spiky hair stood on edge as he screeched, "That's not what I meant, you moron! I wanted to work with you because you're crazy strong!"

Alkati coughed lightly, "You can register as a team, but you wouldn't receive any monetary reward even if you do help Dust with his quest. You will be likely to rank up once or even twice though. Actually, I recommend doing a couple of other missions first for all of you to gain some experience. Even though Dust seems to be the most likely to succeed, he is currently the weakest."

All three took the leader's advice and signed up as a team. After the four said their goodbyes for the day, Chiki and Dust decided to explore the city, both the inner and outer parts. Dust knew in the games that trash cans and other areas could contain extremely useful stuff. Unlikely in this world as it may be, there had to be somewhere with a good piece of loot. Even the sewers and alleys.

The city was split into five main areas, the Walls, which were around 30 feet thick but hollowed out on the inside, the Outskirts, which contained the Junkyard and lower-class housing units, the Stronghold, which held the middle class housing unit and sewers, protected by an illusion, the Mainstay, where the upper-class housing unit was, and finally the Terminal, where the association, its worker's, and its buildings were.

There were a couple of specified areas within each area, like the Junkyard, where weaker and skittish Steel Type pokemon hung around, or the Sewers, where Poison and Earth Types frequented.

Finally was the Park. It barely fit the definition of a park as it was collapsed and irreparable due to a Steelix attack. The zone was off-limits without a mission, but Dust planned to snipe the mission to "clean the area" whenever it showed up next. Basically, kill or capture the pokemon that were there.

The two decided to start by going to the sewers. Of course, Dust would be taking all possible bonuses he could and went into the main building of the League Headquarters, where the mission billboard was.

Obviously, although the outside housed relatively cheap technology that could be found in the Medieval Times, the inside was futuristic, and the board a hologram. Each person who came to it would be able to push a button and see all the missions they could take.

Dust narrowed the terms down to those that included the sewers and any that were meant for Ranks E and below. Finally, he excluded collection missions. He was still left with fifty.

Chiki started looking through them with his partner and finally decided that there was one that seemed to work, both agreeing to it.

Mission Code: Daily Declog #22

Task: Check Area 22 for clogs, unclog if necessary. Capture any pokemon using league balls to be turned into the league or using your own Pokeballs if you intend to keep them.

Reward: Price negotiable for pokemon caught, 100 Poke

Time Limit: 12 Hours

Access Granted: Sewer Areas 20-24

Eight hours would be more than enough to scour areas 20-24, where he was allowed to go for the mission for good items and pokemon.

However, pokemon were extremely expensive, and Dust planned to buy a Psychobag with any money he managed to get. Psychobags were small bags that could be held in the same belt as a Pokeball, using the same technology to shrink items, but reaching inside and pulling them out was how to get them, rather than just pushing a button.

After accepting, both went straight to Sewer Area 20 and began to enter. Opening the cover released a putrid smell and a Grimer immediately tried to leave.

Species: Grimer

Type: Poison

Potential: 1 Poison

Ability: None

Sex: Female

Level: 3

Trash Moves: Bad Breath

Dust prepared for battle but instead began laughing madly, just kicking it back in. Killing it would have felt like infanticide and it was unlikely to grow much with a 1 potential.

An old guy with a tall green top hat also laughed as he walked up to Dust. "That's Dida. She's a dearie, but she has a certain scent about her. For the past few weeks, she keeps trying to sneak out." Dust could barely focus on his words due to the distinction between the expensive green top hat and raggedy old clothes.

"Sorry, who are you?" Dust asked, eyes uneven.

Behind the smile, Dust felt that the old man was disheartened. "Ah, you people these days don't even know their own mayor! I'm the leader of this town, Mayor Finch, of course!"

"I'm actually not from this town. I just got here earlier today." The old man's mirth returned.

"And to think you're already taking a mission!" A mock tear fell from his eye. "Incredible, young people these days!"

"I'll be getting on to my mission now, but it was nice to meet you, Mayor." Dust began trying to climb down the ladder, knocking 'Dida' back again.

"By the way, have you seen a black, shadowy, childish-looking pokemon in the forest on the way here, by any chance?" His wrinkled face crinkled further noticeably.

'Inspection Time, Old Guy.'

Species: Mind Up+++ Human

Type: Fighting/Psychic/???

Potential: ???

Abilities: Mostly Inestimable, Memory Reaver (When someone replies to the user, a five second memory is granted to user by replier)

Sex: Male

Level: 99; Inestimable

Bonds: Marshadow, Salamance, Kadabra, Hypno, Hitmontop, Exeggutor (??? Variant)

Moves: Mostly Inestimable

Top Moves: Observe (3⭐), Living Carnage (4⭐)

Caution Warning: Threat Level Tiger

"Not to mention that I can't observe you. I'm not exactly sure who you are, but you're definitely an interesting kid. Maybe even one loved by Arceus to be born with Observe and Block Observe."

Dust shivered as he looked at the mayor, unable to find words.

"Don't get me wrong, it isn't like I distrust you. I can feel negative intentions and you have none toward me or my town. Just mind that you are extremely weak. I couldn't observe you in you're entirety, Luckling, but I got a few things, and you are definitely someone who should watch their back." Then the old man disappeared like he was never there.

Dust slowly continued climbing down into the sewer, thinking about a few things. 'First of all, these stars that appear by each move. That must be the user's skill with them. I would imagine reaching a certain amount of stars means some sort of new improvement with a move. I'll need to check my and Paras' status before I go to bed. I keep forgetting to check it often.'

'Second, this guy apparently has a bond with that Marshadow I saw, and I'm not the only one who can use observe. This denotes a few things. Information is not as restricted to those on the top, and I need to try to raise my Block Observation stars.'

'Lastly, every Kadabra I've seen is a Kadabra. This confirms what I gathered from my memories. The truth of how to evolve your pokemon is extremely restricted. That's why so many pokemon like Shelmet and Karrablast are mostly worthless. I can take advantage of this to a certain degree. Those pokemon that are sold for dirt cheap that have evolution item requirements are good options for me. I can buy a bunch, get one with good potential, and just sell the rest.'

Pokemon like Arcanine, Cloyster, Steelix, Escavalier, and Sinistea were all but unknown in this world, and extremely powerful whenever they showed up. The only problem was that trades did not cause an evolution in this world, leaving Machamp, Alakazam, and many others' evolutions a mystery, Dust was hoping that he would be able to see evolution conditions after starring up his Observe.

Regardless, the tunnel was below, and Dust needed to leave his new knowledge in the back of his mind to ensure he was careful in the tunnels.

As he slipped into the darkness, he pulled out the free flashlight he was given after choosing the mission at League Headquarters and turned it on, just as he felt the wet squish of sewage beneath his feet. "Ohhhh god, this is nasty."

"Be careful Chiki. The night is dark and full of terrors." Dust chuckled lightly, not noticing Chiki was still frozen in fear.