Chapter 11: Options

Breaking our touching moment Junior stifled a laugh when he heard what I said about beating his boss in a few weeks and said cheerfully, "I don't think even Maxwell Jones can beat a Gym Leader with just a few weeks as a Trainer but it will be interesting to see you." try it"

Then with a loud applause Junior said with a serious face: "Now you are almost ready, the only thing left is the main event, Mr. Maxwell, please go to the hallway on my right where my Boss, the leader of the Pewter Gym, will be. " city , the Great Brock , he will give you your starting Pokemon and you will officially be a Trainer ."

I almost completely forgot after so many things that they gave me today that I was going to receive my Starter right here, already excited I took Mother Clarisse 's hand and headed to the right hallway that leads to the arena and therefore with Brock , we had not found Not even three steps when we heard how Junior stood up startled and with his hand outstretched shouted to us: "Wait please! I highly recommend that only Mr. Maxwell enter." That surprised me a lot so I answered: "Mother Clarisse is coming with me, although She's not Trainer , I don't see why it would be wrong for her to accompany me" I said adding the last part with a slightly offended tone.

Junior, upon seeing my answer, got a little scared and turned to look at Mother Clarisse to analyze if he had offended her too, but luckily for him, Mother Clarisse seemed to be more confused than anything else, giving a sigh of relief, Junior said in a tone apology: "It's not about any of that, what happens is that as you may have already heard, Brock has a certain weakness for pretty women, it's not that he's a bad person or anything like that, it's just that he tends to get too distracted when "He has one in front of him and he forgets what he's doing, that's why the last receptionist quit, she felt guilty because Brock made his challengers wait just because he was trying to flirt with her," he said, feeling a little embarrassed for the boss who had.

"It sounds pretty horrible, how come he's a Gym Leader?" I said, somewhat irritated at the idea of a gym leader who is basically the protector of a city behaving that way.

The receptionist just sighed and answered with a tired tone as if he had already had to give the same explanation several times: "He really is a good Trainer , he learned everything from his father and that is why he is one of the youngest gym leaders, he barely goes turning 20, if it weren't for his characteristic personality I dare say that he could even enter the Elite Four , when he is focused he is a kind, intelligent person and very responsible for his work, he could be a little extravagant but I can't imagine helping another gym leader other than him" Junior said with a kind smile.

Understanding a little what Junior was saying and remembering what Brock was like in the anime, I decided not to judge him until I meet the version of him in this world. Feeling somewhat guilty, I turned to see Mother Clarisse and said to her in an apologetic tone: " I'm sorry, Mother Clarisse , I think it'd be better if we meet at the orphanage. I'll take a while choosing my Pokemon and I'll take advantage of the day to get to know it better," I said, somewhat crestfallen.

Mother Clarisse just ruffled my hair a little and said with a smile: "Don't worry Max, I met Flint a few years ago and I can imagine a little what his son will be like, although I don't think he'll be interested in me, I'm already 30." years so I'm practically a grandmother" she said in a playful tone before adding with a serious expression: "Be very careful with the Pokemon you choose Max, please don't forget that they are dangerous and you shouldn't trust them so much"

After saying that, Mother Clarisse gave me one last hug and left with a somewhat serious face. Junior, who heard her words, looked somewhat uncomfortable due to Mother Clarisse 's sudden change in character and just stared in silence before returning. quietly to his place.

Feeling a little bad because of the heaviness that was left in the room, I decided it was better to continue and talk to Brock , I walked down the hallway and opened a heavy wooden door that connected to the sand, as soon as I entered I was speechless from the shock of the sand, It was much larger than the one in the city park, you can tell that this is a Rock Type gym because the arena had several huge rocks as obstacles, I imagine that they must give a certain advantage to Brock 's Pokemon .

When I finished admiring the interesting arena of the Pewter City Gym, I noticed that on the other side of it, someone was standing with his back on a podium. That person grabbed a microphone that was hanging on one side of him and like a wrestling presenter. Libre said in an announcer's tone: "Looks like we have a new challenger for THE GREAT, MAGNIFICENT, UNMATCHED LEADER OF THE PEWTER CITY GYM BROOOOOOOOOOCCCCK!" The person said before turning around and showing himself as a dark boy with brown hair and slanted eyes who seemed to be extremely satisfied by his own presentation.

Remembering a little how they treated him in the anime, I decided to put on an indifferent expression and approached calmly, trying to ignore the antics of the person who would give me my first partner. When he noticed that I didn't react to his presentation, he stared at me for a few seconds before to say: "How unenthusiastic you are, it shows that you are still a novice if a presentation like this doesn't boil your blood, how can I help you little friend?" He said the last thing with a kind smile as if the whole scene he made with the microphone hadn't happened.

"I just received my Trainer license and I came for my first Pokemon , they told me that I had to come with you sir so I can choose my partner" I said in a calm tone, holding up the Trainer license so that he wouldn't doubt me.

" Ooooh I see I see, it makes my heart happy to see new Trainers starting their journey, it reminds me of when my father gave me my Onix about 10 years ago, what good memories" Brock said with a nostalgic tone "But I think it's "It's too soon for you to tell me sir, I'm still quite young and I haven't gotten married," Brock added with some sadness at the last part.

After a few apologies from me, Brock cleared his throat and said: "Well, let's get back to what's important, apparently you passed your exam and you already have your license and your basic Trainer kit , are you ready for the responsibility of having your own Pokemon ?, I remind you that Pokemon are intelligent and sensitive beings, they are not toys or tools for your convenience, if you do not treat them with respect or they do not judge you as someone worthy, they will not hesitate for a second to abandon you, can you handle that? Brock commented with a serious tone.

I took a step forward and told him decisively: "I already had a few small experiences with Pokemon , no matter what Pokemon you give me, I promise that I will treat it like someone in my family and protect it" I said with a very serious face. remembering the events of this week.

Brock only blinked for a few seconds before patting me on the shoulder and laughing loudly: "That's the answer everyone should give !" It seems that you do have some hot blood after all, little friend ! " He said with a happy tone, quite satisfied with my answer: " Perfect, please accompany me to the warehouse so you can choose your partner" He said as he walked without turning back, moving his hand with a gesture for me to follow him.

A few steps before reaching the door of the warehouse, Brock suddenly stopped and turned to look at me, this time it seemed like he was getting a good look at my face and asked with an apologetic tone: "You know, I didn't really ask your name, Since you have a familiar resemblance, I have already been treating you with so much trust, what is your name, little friend ? " he said as he put his hand on the back of his head with a pitiful smile.

Feeling some sympathy for Brock I responded with a smile: "You're actually quite funny, my name is Maxwell Jones but you can call me Max if you like." For a moment I could see a flash of intelligence in Brock 's eyes , as if he were analyzing Something, he looked at me in silence for a few seconds and then smiled before saying: "The last name Jones is really very popular in the orphanage, right ? "I expect great things from you if you use that last name Max," Brock said while I was surprised by how quickly he understood my situation.

We remained silent for a second before Brock took me out of my astonishment and said animatedly as he opened the door to the warehouse: "Well Max, let's not waste any more time and see what the Pewter City gym can offer you " as he finished saying the last thing. The warehouse door was already open and several shelves full of Pokeballs could be seen .

Once inside I started to look at the shelves carefully, there were several labels indicating which Pokemon were inside the Pokeballs , Brock just walked to the center of the warehouse without paying much attention to the shelves and took a list and then said: "Ok Max, I know you will appreciate my efforts to find various Pokemon for the new Trainers , listen carefully and tell me which Pokemon interests you" he said quite proud of the great variety he offered and began to read the list out loud: "We have Geodudes, Rhyhorns , Pidgeys , Rattatas , Zigzagoons , Sentrets and even a Bidoof that I was able to exchange for some connections" he said with a small wink: "we also have Nidorans, both males and females, Caterpies , Weedles , Spinaraks , Pinecos and as a special job I also have a Drowzee " he added as if it were a particularly difficult catch.

"If none of that interests you and you are more focused on beating me, I also have a few Pokémon with an advantage for my gym, I have Magikarps , Goldeens , Horseas , Krabys , Corphish , Odishs , Paras, Arons and Belsprouts " he said with a tired tone after read all that: "Honestly there is a lot more variety out there, since Trainers from all over the world visit us Kanto currently no longer has the same species it used to have so if you were looking for another Type of Pokemon you will most likely be able to find it on your travels "These Pokemon that I have in stock are mostly because they were very docile or they weren't born long. Honestly, I would like to be able to offer more variety like fire, electric or fighting types , but I can't go too far from the city for protection," he added. the last in an apologetic tone before taking my seat as if he knew beforehand that I would take my time choosing.

After listening to the entire list I could only put my hand on my chin and think carefully, I was surprised at how few Pokemon there were. Type Rock that was supposed to be Brock 's gym , but then I analyzed that most of them are fossils so they must be difficult to get, I honestly didn't expect such a number of options, although a part of me is a little disappointed for not having a Charmander like everything A huge Pokemon fan , I was happy to have more than three Types to choose from.

Analyzing the options for a few minutes I thought it would be better to choose by elimination, first of all I am not a fan of Pokemon Grass Type , personally, I consider the Electric Types better as a counter to Water Pokemon , so that rules out several options, hence the Rock Types are ruled out for the moment because although they would be very useful due to their strength, they would be a hindrance for me in the first two. gyms, something similar happens to me with the Water Types. I actually don't think that Magikarp or Feebas are useful until they evolve and the others would take me some work to strengthen them, the Bug Types are still ruled out because although they are quick to strengthen their threshold of strength is very low.

I came to the conclusion that my real options were only: A male or female Nidoran , Drowzee , Horsea and Aron, I felt a little bad for discarding Rhyhorn and Pidgey but one had a bad Type for my beginnings as a Trainer and the other It brought back bad memories.

Deliberate a bit and then also discard Drowzee , unfortunately my path to the top is rushed, I need a Pokemon with the potential to be very strong and that can help me win at least the first Gyms with some ease before I can complete my team and unfortunately a Hypno would fall short at the end of the Indigo Plateu .

My starting Pokemon should be the pillar of my team, the strongest, the one that helps me guide my team, that's why I also ruled out Horsea , a Kingdra would be perfect but I heard that Types Dragon tend to be a bit stubborn and individualistic and to be honest I don't see it as very smart that my bodyguard throughout the region only has decent mobility in the water, I know they can jump with their tail but I think my Starter should have legs to walk with me.

That only left Aron and Nidoran as options , either of them were worth having on my team, their evolutions are powerful and have many advantages, in particular Aron was an option because his Type was good at fighting Pokemon Lance's Dragon in the future, but in the end the answer was pretty obvious.

"I think I already chose, please I want my initial to be Nidoran ♂" I said with the most decisive tone I could, Brock just smiled and asked me casually: "I thought you would choose a Water Type , can you tell me why Nidoran ♂ ?" " I smiled back and shared my reasoning: "It was somewhat complicated but it is the best option for my situation. Thinking ahead, I can say that it has a Type with few weaknesses for the gyms in this region. Only Sabrina would really have me against her. strings, its latest evolution Nidoking is known for being very powerful and has a good combination of Types for the team I want to form, it is one of the Pokemon that can learn the most MTs so it can fight any Pokemon if I give it the right attacks and in the short term it would be very easy to level him up in Viridian Forest for his Peck attack , eventually learning Double Kick that will be crucial to defeat you and the Moon Stones necessary for its last evolution abound on the way to the next city" I said trying to sound calm but I was very happy to obtain so many advantages with my first Pokemon .

Brock calmly applauded and told me: "I congratulate you, usually new Trainers choose a Water Type to beat me or a Rock Type to match me, I'm glad you think outside the box Max, let's hope that helps you in your career as a Trainer " he said. as he walked to a shelf and took a common Pokeball : "Here you go Max, it's your first Pokemon . Please take care of him and educate him well, I promise that he will meet your expectations as long as you meet his" he said as he gave me the Pokeball in my hand. hand.

Feeling moved by the situation, I could only jump with happiness, things are finally starting now, today my true path to the top begins, I raised the Pokeball to the height of my face and said: "I hope we are the best friend Nidoran ♂ I promise you that I will make you a Champion " Almost as if in response to my words the Pokeball shook a little.

When I was about to release my Pokemon from its Pokeball to interact with it for the first time, a loud alarm was heard throughout the city" ALERT ! ALERT ! THE ENTIRE POPULATION IS ASKED TO ENTER THEIR HOMES ! "SIGHTING OF A POKEMON DRAGON."

The alarm had not finished hearing when I saw how Brock moved at full speed to the podium that was in the arena where, by pressing a red button, 6 Ultraballs that were hidden there came out, he took them and ran outside without saying a word, leaving me there without know what to do.