Chapter 22: Initial Introductions

Ark stood still as he watched a fiery redhead storm over to Ash. Pure rage coated her face as she dragged a charred bike along with her. Though he had expected this event to happen, it was strange to see a girl his age acting so violent in public, especially the fact that she was dragging around what was essentially junk now.

Ark did not intend to follow Ash around the Kanto region like a loyal dog, however he did plan to keep tabs on him just in case. Ark was very interested with the quest function of his System and believed that if he stayed mildly close to the events of the story, he may receive quests that give out some good rewards. Well they were his hopes anyway. There was always the additional bonus of becoming acquainted with a lot of cute girls.

"You destroyed my bike! How am I supposed to travel around now?!"

While Ark was thinking, the red headed girl had confronted Ash and was now complaining about her bike. Deciding now was a good time, Ark jumped into the conversation.

"Errm excuse me, did Ash do something?"

The red head stops yelling and turned her head to the new voice.

"Did he do something? Haven't you seen the state of my bike?!"

Ark once again looks at the girls bike before showing an expression of understanding.

"I take it Ash had a hand in the destruction of your bike?"

The girl nodded her head before turning back to Ash and pointing her finger at him.

"He destroyed it and then just left it dumped by the riverside!"

Ark shook his head. He obviously knew the true reason behind it but didn't see any reason why he should defend Ash. After all, it was his own irresponsible attitude that caused the chain of events to happen. At least this way Ash will grow as a person... hopefully.

"I'm sorry about your bike. I didn't mean to destroy it. It's just Pikachu was in a lot of danger"

Seeing that the necessary interaction between the two was fulfilled, Ark tried to lessen the hostilities a bit, and make himself a more prominent person in the situation. After all, first impressions are very important.

"Now, now. We should all calm down. I am sure that in the future ash can pay you back. As for right now, I feel that such an angry expression does not suit such a cute girl"

The girl froze momentarily before a bright red blush grew upon her cheeks.

"You think I'm cute? Ahem. In that case I can forgive this today but, you need to pay me back for this!"

The girl straightened herself out before turning back to Ark.

"By the way, I could gather that his name is Ash but what is your name?"

Ark smiled seeing how quickly she went from one emotion to another.

"Well usually I don't introduce myself to those that failed to do so first, but I shall make an exception just for you. My name is Ark Bates, and I am a new trainer from Pallet Town."

"Ah sorry about my late introduction, I am Misty! I am a Water Pokemon Master!"

Ark just smiled at her boasting. Even if he did not know about Misty beforehand, he was sure that he would not believe her claims for even a second.

"I see, that means that you must be pretty strong then Misty. I hope we get time in the future to get to know each other better"

Once again Misty blushed at the hints in Arks words. Unfortunately the conversation was cut short.

"Ark is that my backpack?"

Ark glared at Ash briefly before shaking his head and releasing a helpless sigh.

"Yeah. You left it behind, so I decided to bring it to you. Remember I am not going to be with you all the time to clean up after you, so you need to start being a little more responsible at the very least."

"Ah yeah sorry Ark and thanks for doing that. I guess I was so worried about Pikachu that I completely blanked out"

Ash laughed as he scratched the back of his head. His entire attitude screamed irresponsible. Ark shook his head as he realised that Ash had not even tried to reflect properly.

*Ding*

The sound of the Pokemon emergency room opening caused everyone to become silent and stare at the door.

With that, out came Pikachu. Ash darted to Pikachu and tried to hug him, only for him to be stopped by Nurse Joy. As Ash went to protest, Nurse Joy started to lecture Ash about how irresponsible he had been.

Taking this as an opportunity to leave, Ark walked over to Misty and smiled.

"Me and Sylph are heading to book a room in the Pokemon Center. I will see you around."

Misty nodded as she watched Ark walk up to the counter and fill in a form before taking a key.

Once Ark was alone with Sylph in the room, they both dived onto the bed.

"Ahhh finally some comfort. I swear dealing with Ash is more stressful than training..."

Sylph stood up and walked over to Arks chest. She then climbed up and sat down on his chest.

-Nnn very tired-

Ark smiled as he stroked Sylphs long hair. Though they hadn't battled yet, Ark was confident in Sylphs abilities. He felt that her potential was the same as his.

As Ark was thinking about Sylphs potential, a light blue screen appeared before his eyes. Ark was surprised by the contents of the screen.

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Mastery system (?)

Host stats+

Pokemon stats+*New*

Quests+

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"Huh? Since when did I unlock a new function?"

Ark was confused. Usually the system gave a notification when he unlocked something new. Sitting in contemplation, Ark continued to stroke Sylph who had lent her head back onto his chest and started to snooze. After a while, Ark was hit by a realisation.

"I remember now! When I captured Sylph, I heard the system ping but ignored it so it didn't ruin the moment! I see that makes sense as to why I unlocked this"

Ark thought about his Pokemon stats as another light blue screen appeared before his eyes.

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(1) Sylph (Ralts)

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Focusing on Sylphs name, brought upon another screen. Ark thought to himself that a major downside to this whole system thing was how long each process took. Due to this, he knew that he could not just rely on his system to magically solve all of his problems.

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Sylph

Female

HP: 21

Atk: 7

Def: 9

SpA: 12

SpD: 10

Spe: 12

Moves:

Confusion

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Ark frowned. One major thing stuck out to him as something that he thought would be there, was not. It seemed that the world did not work based on level. While it may seem like irrelevant information to many, it made Ark anxious as he now realised how different this world could be with the games and knowledge he held.

After a few minutes of silent thoughts, Ark smiled as he realised that he and Sylph can start training together soon since she already had an attack move.

"Little Sylph, tomorrow we are going to start training. Since you know confusion, that gives you no excuse not to train"

Feeling satisfied with his new ability, Ark laid down with Sylph snuggled on top of him and slowly started to drift off to sleep.

*Boom* *Crash*

Arks eyes shot open. He knew exactly what this was, it would be strange for any Pokemon fan not to know what was happening. Unfortunately, ark really did not want to deal with this right now. Yet he knew that if he wanted any good sleep, he needed to wrap this up quick.