Chapter 2

Kanto Region, Pewter City. On the outskirts of the city, a teen was silently resting alone in a field of grass whilst under a tree that protected him from the glaring midday sun.

The teen's handsome face was marred with dirt and his cheap, slightly baggy clothes were washed white and dyed again with many green grass stains. Judging from the appearance of the boy it's obvious that he was from a poor background.

The teen's name is Damon Smith. He is an orphan and a part of the 10% of the human population which is not registered with the Alliance. Having recently turned 15 years old Damon is now approaching a significant crossroads.

In one year from now when Damon turns 16 he will be both kicked out of the orphanage he has been living in and meet the minimum age requirement to take the "Alliance test" to register himself with the Alliance.

Damon's time living in the orphanage has been fruitful according to him. Despite the fact that most orphans below the age of 16 are not registered in the Alliance, all orphanages still receive some funding and appropriate resources from the Alliance routinely.

Normally the orphanages only receive their due funding and resources on the 1st of every new year however if some records of history are to be believed then the Alliance is willing to send even more to an orphanage throughout the year should the need arise.

Although the specific details might vary from city to city and certainly vary from region to region, Damon has long ago learned about the money and resources allocated to the orphanage he lives in. This knowledge is useful to Damon because it allows him to know what resources his orphanage has and will gain and by extension what resources Damon has access to.

With the use of his impressive intellect and copious amounts of patience, Damon has stolen over six old Pokémon themed books from his orphanage and the orphanage staff. Damon's thoughts were simple, "I want to know more about Pokémon and the world they live in.".

Due to the orphanage staff keeping the newest allocated books for themselves and a large sum of the funding meant for the care of the orphans every new year, many of the orphans don't know how to read and write at a proficiency befitting their age.

The orphanage staff's lack of attention and care for their orphans has led to the orphans themselves having lower chances of one day passing the "Alliance test" and becoming registered members of the Alliance.

By discreetly investigating over the years Damon has found out that the "Alliance test" was not as hard to pass as he had expected. In every past "Alliance test" the test's questions have mostly been related to Pokémon in some way and only a few of the questions cover other more technical topics.

Due to having a past life in which Damon was enthralled with the Pokémon world he was confident in his level of knowledge on Pokémon and thought that the "Alliance test" would be a breeze when the time came for him to take it.

Being a registered member of the Alliance may not sound like anything special for Normal Alliance members but it is different for Pokémon trainers and anyone who wanted to become one.

Being a member of the Alliance allows Pokémon trainers to legally catch wild Pokémon, legally sell any Pokémon they have in their possession, and legally own their own Pokémon.

Two things to make note of and remember are that Pokémon trainers in this world can own as many Pokémon as they want and Alliance members will be given the benefit of the doubt in any legal cases if they are against a non-Alliance member.

Over time Damon has also discovered that Pokédex exists in this world as well but not anyone can get their hands on one. To acquire a Pokédex in this world a Pokémon trainer must be given approval by a Senior Alliance member to own one and then after visiting a Professor Alliance member, they can receive their very own Pokédex. It was a hassle.

Damon's thoughts about the Pokédex lead him to his next big discovery: the levels of the Alliance. Although Damon doesn't know the specific qualifications that each new level requires he does understand that the higher the level in the Alliance the higher the authority and speaking power in the Alliance.

Alliance levels:

1.) Normal Alliance member

2.) Beginner Alliance member

3.) Trainer Alliance member

4.) Skilled Alliance member

5.) Senior Alliance member

6.) Professor Alliance member

7.) Elder Alliance member

The only thing that Damon had to adjust to in his second life was his writing. As an adult in his first life, most of putting pencil to paper was based on muscle memory and not through a conscious effort to write adequately.

Damon initially found writing to be difficult to relearn in his second life due to having different-sized hands than he was used to and due to his hands lacking his previous body's muscle memory.

Although difficult at first writing wasn't a big issue for Damon and after a few months of acclimating to his new body and re-developing his hands' innate muscle memory Damon had reached the same proficiency in writing he had in his past life. Damon just didn't want to fail the eventual "Alliance test" because his writing wasn't up to Alliance standard.

While maintaining his activity of discreetly investigating and carefully observing the world and the people around him Damon picked up on the fact that the orphanage staff spent less time supervising the orphans than they usually do on the 1st day of every new year.

This lapse in supervision was probably due to the staff enjoying their little yearly bonuses immediately after they received them or due to the staff being too engrossed in reading about the newest Pokémon discoveries which occurred during the past year.

After noticing this temporary lack of supervision when Damon was only 7 years old, every following year on the same day, one or two old Pokémon themed books belonging to his orphanage and the orphanage staff mysteriously went missing.

After a few years, the orphanage staff noticed the anomaly but easily dismissed the missing books as books that were misplaced by accident during their excitement and didn't care about them any further. The missing books were old and didn't hold any valuable information they weren't already aware of after all.

After reading and rereading and then memorizing many Pokémon themed books Damon has better comprehended his last words, "Naturally, reality and fiction will have some discrepancies.".

According to the books he has read Damon discovered that many characters portrayed in Pokémon fiction are real people in this world. For example, Professor Oak is alive and well and has maintained his status as an authority on Pokémon in this world.

Damon even came across an article that speculated whether Professor Oak would ever consider taking the advancement test to Elder Alliance member but eventually concluded that he wasn't interested in gaining more authority in the Alliance and much preferred maintaining his current level of Professor Alliance member instead.

However, it's not all good news. Damon also chanced upon a statistic in one of his books stating that 60% of Beginner Alliance members end up dead or missing in the wild before they can advance to the Trainer Alliance member level.

Without knowing any insider information Damon can only assume that so many Beginner Alliance members end up dead or missing in the wild due to their lack of combat experience and their over-excitement for reaching the next Alliance level as soon as possible causing them to take rash actions.

Fighting strong opponents has always been a surefire method to increase a Pokémon's level. It's just unfortunate that most wild Pokémon don't hold back in Pokémon battles and usually aren't merciful to their opponents should they win a battle.

An Alliance member is not considered a Pokémon trainer by the Alliance until they reach the Trainer Alliance member level so owning and training any Pokémon at the Normal or Beginner Alliance level was viewed by the Alliance as an amateur trainer or hobbyist enjoying themselves and they are generally ignored by the majority of the Alliance's higher-ups.

This is good news for Damon because it means that although some of his Pokémon fiction knowledge is out-of-date in this world the areas about Pokémon and Pokémon characters are still up-to-date and might prove useful for the future Damon yet.

One major discrepancy between Pokémon fiction and this world is that there are clearly defined levels of potential for Pokémon and the level of potential a Pokémon has determines what level of strength is their maximum and how fast they can level up and learn/master new moves.

Finding out the potential of any Pokémon has been made very easy in this world due to the invention of the PPMM(Pokémon Potential Measurement Machine). The PPMM was created through the joint efforts of many Professor Alliance members for the distinct purpose of measuring and recording different levels of Pokémon potential.

Pokémon potential levels:

1.) Bronze

2.) Silver

3.) Gold

4.) Diamond

5.) Emerald

6.) Tanzanite

7.) ???

All Pokécenters are equipped with a PPMM and as long as they are a member of the Alliance anyone can use it for a fee depending on what level of potential test they want. Of course, the existence of publicly available PPMMs hasn't stopped the rich and powerful from buying their own PPMMs for private use or for doing their own research on Pokémon potential.

The reason only the rich and powerful buy PPMMS for themselves? A PPMM can be bought from the Alliance directly for the same price as a Pokémon with Diamond potential. That kind of money doesn't come easily to the common folk.

Damon noticed that there was a rather interesting rumor noted down within one of his books that related to PPMMS. The rumor stated that some individuals are capable of modifying a PPMM to display more detailed information than the norm and Damon was willing to bet that this rumor had become a reality long ago due to the 7th level of Pokémon potential that was left unknown to the public.

A similar book on Pokémon potential had an item article that vaguely mentioned that some rare and special items can be used to increase a Pokémon's natural potential but the items listed were too expensive to buy and impossible to obtain personally for the current Damon so he didn't place too much importance on this information for now.

Now equipped with what Damon considered the basic knowledge necessary to start his journey as a Pokémon trainer all that's left for the current 15-year-old Damon is to either illegally acquire and tame a wild Pokémon somehow or wait until he turns 16, takes and pass the "Alliance test" and then legally acquire and tame a wild Pokémon somehow.

For now, Damon will prioritize figuring out how to get his own starter Pokémon and leave worrying about what his starter Pokémon's species and potential will be for future Damon.

AUTHOR'S THOUGHT-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have some idea about my story? Comment on it and let me know.

Was this a long chapter(1938 words)? It felt long when I was writing it.

I'll try to info dump less as the story progresses but for now, I promise nothing.

If you like Ghost-type Pokémon like I do you should check out the Pokémon fanfic, "Pokemon: The Trickster".