Chapter three- Viridian forest and Pewter City

It was a couple hours after breakfast when the three of them were finally entering the thick of Viridian forest, after having a good night's rest and filling breakfast that morning. As they were walking, Mason was scribbling down things inside a small notebook that he had bought at a shop on the way out of Viridian city as he began to make future plans on things that needed doing.

There was just so much to do at the start of a journey that he was having a hard time keeping it all in his head and remembering it all. So typing it up on his MacBook or writing it down helped keep him straight, and since he couldn't very well walk around in public with his MacBook out he was settling for the little notebook instead.

Misty was acting twitchy as they walked through the forest, her eyes darting all over the place as her Entomophobia (fear of insects) began to show itself. Mason wasn't going to say anything about it, he didn't like insects either though he thought the only bug Pokémon he would be creeped out by would be the Spinarak line, he hated spiders.

As they continued walking Ash eventually noticed Mason with his book and constant writing and arched an eyebrow, "What are you writing? You've been doing it the entire walk" he asked and commented as he tried to glance into the book.

Mason gave him a side glance before looking back to his book, "currently I am planning out the various training regiments that I'm going to be starting my Pokémon on when we reach the next city," he said as he added another scribble to the book, "With Spearow now in my team I'm thinking that I'll be able to utilise him and train both him and Poliwag together to improve Poliwags attack and accuracy while simultaneously training Spearows speed and dodging" he explained as he added more to his notes.

"Wow, that's impressive Mason, you've really put a lot of thought into your Pokémons training," Misty commented as she looked over his shoulder at his notes and blinked seeing how detailed they were, naming attacks and training strategies, moves and others that could come from them along with the factors involved in learning them, "A lot of thought."

Mason nodded as he finished making his notes and slipped the book into his back pocket, "Of course, if I want my Pokémon to become as strong as they can be I need to think long and hard about their training and how to get the most out of it for them"

"And what will you be having Dratini do?" Ash asked sounding rather board about it.

Mason shrugged, "for now Dratini's training is coming along well, we're focusing on making Twister more powerful for now while he's still getting the hang of Dragon rage, but once he has a good grasp of that we'll be moving on to other Dragon-type moves to give him more power," he explained.

Ash looked at him strangely when he said, "How do you teach your Pokémon moves, don't they just learn then naturally?" he asked confused.

Mason shook his head, "Yes it happens, but to me just sitting around and waiting for my Pokémon to pick up moves through standard training sounds like a complete waste of time. When you could just as easily do a bit of research about the move you want your Pokémon to learn and then come up with a training regimen for them to learn it, after that it's time to buckle down and train hard to get the results you're aiming for."

Misty giggled at Ash's dumbstruck look, "that much is obvious that any trainer should know that much. If you want your Pokémon to be stronger you have to train them."

Ash seemed to scowl at Misty's comment before looking back to Mason, "how do you know so much about Pokémon. I thought you said back at the Pokémon centre that you only just started your travelling like me?" he asked annoyed that he was getting shown up.

Mason gave as an "Are-you-dense" look as he arched an eyebrow, "I read about them, I studied for weeks before I set off, I made sure to know everything I could before I was to leave on my journey, because only an idiot leaves without preparing themselves," he stated, and it was true, he'd read plenty on his Macbook, and watch plenty of Pokémon so he considered himself very prepared, "I learned each Pokémon's strengths and weaknesses, their attacks and more. So that I would know exactly how to train each of them if I ever got one of them on my team. How else am I going to achieve my dream if I don't learn all I can to make my Pokémon as strong as they can be"

Ash seemed taken back for a second by that statement and how Mason said it, "I… I never thought about it like that. I just thought to be a Pokémon master all you have to do is catch a lot of strong Pokémon and win a lot of battles."

Mason sighed, he had been hoping that Ash would be a little wiser, than his anime counterpart, given how old he was. But it appeared that instead of getting a dumbass kid Ash, Mason had to deal with a dumbass teenager Ash instead. "And pray tell, how did you intend to catch those strong Pokémon or win those battles if you're Pokémon aren't strong in the first place and you put zero effort into actually training them to make them stronger?" he asked hoping that something he was saying was getting through to him, "to be a good trainer you need to be knowledgeable about Pokemon typings. So that you know what Pokémon work well with one another in teams. And being knowledgeable enough about those Pokémon to train them to be their best and keep improving. Because no matter how strong you may think you are or how good you may be, there will always be someone out there who is stronger and better than you."

Misty nodded her head in agreement with Mason's words before she paused as a shiver went down her spine, as she paused in her step making both boys pause in theirs and look back to her, to see her look behind them at a small Caterpie who was sitting watching them.

Misty gave a shriek and rushed to behind Mason, "keep it away!!" she said shivering in disgust.

"Aw cool it's a Caterpie, it's one of the bug Pokémon," Ash said as he turned to face the Caterpie and took a Pokéball from his belt and looked seriously at the small green Pokémon before rearing back his arm, "Go Pokéball!" he called as he threw the ball at it.

Mason watched rather dispassionately as the ball made contact and sucked the small Pokémon inside and the light on its front going out quickly. He knew it was going to happen so he didn't really get much thrill out of watching a catch like that. 'Guess that's what happens when you already know what's going to happen in advance' he thought to himself. It was one of the reasons he knew he would be breaking off from them a lot just to get to enjoy some of his own adventures.

Ash quickly picked up the Pokéball and began to celebrate, "I did it, I caught a Caterpie!" he said doing a little dance with the Pokéball in hand.

Misty shivered again behind Mason, "Why on earth would you be excited about catching a gross bug?" she asked in disdain.

Mason sighed at her fear and shook his head, "Misty, you should really be more accepting of all types of Pokémon. You do realise that there are Pokémonin the world with dual typings right? What are you going to do if you come across a water and bug type pokemon?" he asked her over his shoulder.

That made her pause for thought, "Well…. I…" she said not sure how to respond to that at all and was starting to feel a little bad.

Mason just shook his head, "food for thought" he said as he turned and began to walk away from the path.

Both Ash and Misty saw him walk away and blinked, "Hey, where are you going?" Ash called out to him.

Mason just waved over his shoulder, "going exploring by myself, this forest is teaming with bug Pokémon, one of them will probably make a good addition for my team as well. And if we stick together we'd just end up fighting over who'll get to catch the next one, and I'd rather not let a Pokémon get away while I'm kicking your ass" he smirked as he heard Ash's muffled yells after him as he walked on, "I'll meet up with you both in Pewter city," was the last thing he called back before he disappeared into the forest to begin his hunt.

Scene break

It was half an hour later and Mason was still moving through the thick bush line and dense forest in his search for his next catch, he'd encountered some Pokémon already but nothing with any real potential, and he was beginning to lose hope as he came out into a clearing where the grass was up to his hips.

He sighed, he had been hoping that he'd be able to find something strong here for his team. He remembered the Samurai trainer from the anime having a Pinsir and decided that the chances were good that he'd caught it in this forest. So he had theorized that there was more than just the weak Pokémon like the Caterpie and Weedle evolution lines in this forest to catch, that is wasn't just like the video games.

Walking out into the middle of the area he was trying to think what do to now since his search was bearing little fruit. 'I could send Spearow out and have him do an aerial search and see if I can find anything that way' he thought to himself, coming up with a plan of attack.

But just as he did he heard the rustling of grass off to his right. Movement caught his eye and he instantly threw himself into a roll just as the top two inches of grass where he'd been standing was sheared off by a sharp cutting attack.

Turning and coming up to his feet fast from his dodge. Mason came face to face with the culprit of the attack and a grin split his face from ear to ear when he saw what it was, 'Bingo!' he thought to himself as he looked at the very angry looking Scyther who was glaring at him as it ran its bladed arms off one another.

"Well aren't you an angry fella," Mason smirked as he pulled his Pokédex from his back pocket and held it up to record the mantis Pokémons data.

"Scyther, the Mantis Pokémon. Its claws are sharp as swords, and it is a powerful flyer. This Pokémon is rarely seen by humans and almost never captured." Dexter recited off in its robotic voice making Mason grin.

"Is that a fact," Mason said taking the reading as a challenge, "Well, we'll just have to see about that last part" he said as he closed the Pokédex and slipped it back into his pocket as he kept an eye on the territorial Scyther as he reached for Dratinis' Pokéball. From what he could guess this clearing was likely it's territory and he must have pissed it off by walking in uninvited, lucky him.

"So you want a fight, do you? Well we'll give you one then," Mason said as he tossed the Pokémon between them and Dratini appeared in a flash of light as the ball recoiled back to Mason as he caught it, "Ready for a battle Dratini!"

Dratini gave a rather cute yell of "Dra!" in confirmation as Mason smirked.

Scyther seemed to take that as a challenge and picked itself up off the ground with its wings and sped at the pair of them, blades at the ready.

Instantly Mason's mind went into tratagising mode as he began to come up with a plan, 'it's too fast, Dratini won't be able to dodge it in time, gotta stall it' he thought to himself before calling out, "Dratini, use Leer!"

Dratini did just that as it began to leer at the rapidly approaching Scyther as its eyes began to glow red as it did so. The action gave Scyther pause for a moment during its attack and Mason saw his opening, "Dodge now Dratini and use Thunder Wave!" he called knowing that if they were going to have a chance at winning then needed to gain a speed advantage.

Dratini did just that as he lowered its body when Scyther's attack resumed and its blades just missed the top of Dratini's head as the small dragon began to spark before letting out the electrical wave from its body, catching Scyther in its pulse.

Scyther grunted as it felt the electrical attack and Mason smirked, it wouldn't do much damage ways but Mason knew it would feel something, with it having a secondary flying typing.

With his opponent now paralysed and open for an attack, Mason saw his opportunity and went for the kill, "Twister!"

Scyther took the attack point blank, being so close to Dratini when the attack was launched and was caught full frontal by the powerful winds and was thrown bodily backwards before slamming back first into a tree, before falling to a knee it's body sparking from the paralysis.

Mason didn't waste a second as he reached for his belt and had a full-sized Pokéball in his hand the next second and had his arm up to throw the half second after that before the red and white sphere was hurtling through the air right after.

His aim was true and it hit Scyther right on the top of its head, being too paralysed to defend it was sucked inside and the ball fell to the ground and into the tall grass.

Mason paused and waited for a five count, he couldn't tell if the catch had been successful or not, the tall grass kept him from seeing the Pokéball, but as five seconds reached ten and then twenty, his grin began to make its way back onto his face as he began to approach the area the ball had fallen in.

And sure enough. There in the tall grass. The Pokéball sat, still and calm, the light on its front out. He'd done it again.

Kneeling down Mason lifted the Pokéball with a grin as he looked over to Dratini, "Nice Job buddy, we just got ourselves a new teammate" he grinned.

"Dra!" Dratini cried happily as Mason pointed his Pokéball towards him and returned him to it in a beam of red light.

Attaching both Pokéballs to his belt again Mason gave a pleased sigh before rubbing the back of his head, 'well now that that's done I suppose I'd better be getting out of here and make my way to Pewter city, it's going to be a long walk' he thought to himself as he began to press on and deeper into the forest.

'If I recall the timeline of the anime, Ash should be running into Weedle or Pidgeotto right about now before his run-in with the Samurai' he thought to himself as he walked, 'and I noted that Ash mentioned in his gym battle with Brock that Ash said he'd been a trainer for two weeks, so it took them roughly ten days to get through Viridian Forest'

Mason halted in his steps when he thought that and groaned, "I don't want to be in this forest for ten hours let alone ten days" he moaned at the thought of having to camp outside for that long. He knew he would have to do lots of camping on his journey but after spending a night in the comfy bed back at the Viridian Pokémon centre he was really not looking forward to camping out. He didn't even have a tent or a sleeping bag to use, he hadn't had time to buy them yet.

Resigned to his fate he resumed his walk and continued onwards, pushing the thought of the long week of sleeping on the ground to the back of his mind. It would only depress him if he thought about it any more.

Time Skip

Four long hours of walking later Mason was blinking as he stared out at the wide open plains in front of him, with the long winding road that had a sign pointing down it with "Pewter city" written on it in clear bold letters.

"What the hell?" Mason said clearly baffled as he looked back at the forest he had just made his way through, "how did I get through that so quickly?" he wondered aloud.

'Ash and Misty spend at least ten days in there in the anime,' he thought to himself as he recalled it all and tried to think of an explanation before it hit him and he smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand, 'are you telling me Ash mucked around in there all that time completely lost and when he could have made it out in less than half a day' he mentally groaned, that settled it for him, Ash was an idiot.

Shaking his head he started walking down the road heading in the direction of Pewter city, 'looks like I'm going to be waiting a while in Pewter city for those two to catch up with me, boy am I glad that I didn't stick with them now, I'd have been in there for ages. Now I should hopefully reach Pewter city in no time and get my training plan for my team started, buy all the gear I'll be needing and to top it all off, get to sleep in a nice warm bed again tonight' he thought to himself as he slipped his iPod and headphones out of his backpack to put on some tunes to walk to, life was good.

Time Skip

It was just starting to get dark as Mason arrived at the Pewter city Pokémon centre and sighed with relief, the walk had been a very long one and he had decided to add looking for a pair of comfortable padded walking boots to his to buy list when he went out the next day to do some shopping.

Once he was inside he made his way over to the seating area to sit down to rest his feet for a few minutes. 'One thing that people never think about when they think that being a Pokémon trainer, all the travelling is killer on your feet, now I see why Misty was so upset about Ash destroying her bike.' Mason thought to himself as he planned to soak his feet after getting something to eat.

After ten or so minutes he rose from his seat and walked up to the front desk where the Pewter City Nurse Joy greeted him.

"Hello, how can I help you young man" She greeted him with a pleasant smile.

Mason smiled back as he took Scythers Pokéball off his belt, "could you please, treat my Scythers injuries. I just caught him on the way here, the battle was short but a little rough" he told her as he handed her the Pokéball.

Taking the Pokéball she nodded understandingly, "Of course, I'll see to him right away,"

"Thank you," Mason said and turned. He was about to go and look for the cafeteria to get some dinner, but paused when he noticed the telephones and frowned before shrugging, 'Might as well' he thought to himself as he walked over to them and began to dial up Professor Oak's lab, having memorized the number during his stay at the watchers cabin.

After a couple of moments, the screen flashed and the kindly Professor appeared on the screen, "Oh hello Mason, I wasn't expecting a call from you." he said sounding happily surprised.

Mason smirked, "Yeah sorry Professor, I planned to call you back in Viridian city, but some things happened. Long story"

Oak chuckled, "No need to apologize, my lad, I'm sure you have your reasons. And Viridian you say, did you by chance run into a boy about your age, by the name of Ash there?"

Mason nodded, "Yeah I did, I ended up following him all the way to Viridian City. After he ended up getting chased by a flock of angry Spearow,"

"Oh my! What did he do, to get in such a mess?" Oak asked sounding concerned.

Mason shook his head, "apparently he was having trouble getting his Pikachu to obey him, so thought it would be a bright idea to try to catch a Pokémon by hand and threw a rock at a Spearow, and things snowballed from there"

"Oh no," Oak groaned, "why does that sound exactly like something that boy would do?" he sighed

Mason smirked, "he then proceeded to be chased by the flock that came to the aid of their fellow Spearow and got chased right into the river. Climbing out he made his escape by "Borrowing" the bike of a girl I was having a pleasant conversation with by the shoreline, the flock still hot on his tail. The girl, Misty, and I had to jump into the river to avoid becoming targets of the flock ourselves"

Oak was groaning louder and louder as the story continues, "Merciful heavens, that boy can't help but cause trouble can he, did your friend get her bike back?"

Mason shook his head, "That's why we were originally following him, but halfway to Viridian, we found her bike in the middle of the road, it looked like it had been scorched, it was damaged beyond all hope of repair. Needless to say, Misty was pissed. I ended up helping her carry her ruined bike all the way to Viridian city and the Pokémon centre there, and then she proceeded to use it as a club and smack Ash over the head with it." Mason smirked, "And now she refuses to leave him alone until he's paid her back in full by replacing her bike. Last I saw them they were both in Viridian forest heading here."

Oak groaned but chuckled when he heard about how Ash had gotten himself some unwanted travel companions, "I see, well perhaps that will teach him to be a bit more responsible." he said amused, "now what about you Mason, how has your journey been coming, it sounds like you've reached Pewter City, very quickly too I might add." he said sounding impressed.

Mason nodded, "Yeah I just got in about ten minutes ago it was a shorter trip than I thought. I expected to spend one night in the forest at least, but I got through it within five hours." he explained.

"Very impressive indeed, most trainers heading through there get sidetracked with all the Pokémon in the forest and can spend days just looking for new Pokémon to catch." Oak smiled before frowning, "I hope you aren't missing out on catching any new Pokémon by going so fast."

Mason shook his head, "No Professor, I've got four Pokémon on my team already. I caught one of the Spearow from the flock that was chasing Ash, and then I went out on my own in Viridian Forest and caught myself a Scyther to add to my team."

Oaks eyes seemed to grow wider as he heard that, "very impressive, and a Scyther you say, I didn't think there were any Pokémon like that in Viridian forest, I had heard tales of some odd Pincer but never a Scyther. It's very impressive that you caught one, they're notoriously difficult to catch."

Mason nodded, "yeah the battle was quick but still challenging, Scyther really had some speed, but Dratini's training showed, a quick paralysis and we had the upper hand. Scyther is currently being treated right now so I'll be checking on him tomorrow and starting my teams training early in the morning before I sign up for the Indigo league and then go out and do a bit of shopping for some gear."

"Oh taking the gym challenges are you?" Oak asked before smiling, "Well I'm sure that you'll do just fine, you seem to have everything well in hand, more so than Ash anyway, I swear that boy worries me sometimes, it's a miracle his mother doesn't have as many grey hairs than I do by how much trouble he gets into" he sighed, "well I don't keep you any longer," he added after a moment, "I'm sure you must be hungry and tired after your travels, I'll let you get something to eat before you go to bed."

"Thanks, Professor, I'll make sure to call you after I've gotten my first badge from the Gym here in Pewter, I'll be sticking around at least until Ash and Misty catch up before I move on," He told him with a nod of his head.

"Good luck my lad" And with that, the call ended.

Mason sighed as he hung up the receiver and stood up, 'yep dinner and bed sound like a good idea to me' he thought as he turned and started to head off to look for the cafeteria to get started on just that.

Time Skip

Like Mason had said it was early the next morning when he woke up, while he wanted to enjoy sleeping in the comfortable bed some more, he knew he needed to make a start on his teams' training. Brock was no pushover and he wanted to get as much training done as he could before he would be confident enough to make his challenge.

After retrieving his Scyther from Nurse Joy at the main desk. He went to the cafeteria and put out the food for all of his Pokémon before he called them all out.

Spearow and Poliwag looked to be a little shocked by the appearance of the newest addition to their group but Mason on smirked, "Alright everyone, this is Scyther, he joined our little group yesterday, make him feel welcome, okay"

Scyther seemed to eye him and the other Pokémon wearily as it began to eat. Mason just put it down to being the new guy and not really knowing the others yet, he was sure after a couple of training sessions things would smooth themselves out.

"Make sure to eat well, once breakfast is over we'll be starting training, we have a gym challenge to prepare for," Mason told them as he sat down at the table and began to eat his own breakfast. Though the glint in Scyther's eyes when training was mentioned didn't go unnoticed by him and he hid his smirk. 'Oh you'll fit in well on this team' he thought to himself as he ate.

As soon as their food was all finished, Mason led them all out to the back area of the Pokémon centre, where there was a battlefield set up as well as a training area that was free to use for all trainers.

"Perfect," Mason smirked as he looked over the clear area, there was room enough here to two full teams to train at once, plenty of room for his team of four to train.

"Alright listen up, I spent yesterday and last night thinking long and hard on various training methods for each of you, and how to improve yourselves," Mason stated as he looked over his team.

"Poliwag, Spearow, you two will be training together. Spearow you will be doing aerial manoeuvres in the sky, while Poliwag will be using you as a target for his Water Gun. This exercise will be to help improve your speed and evasiveness, while also working to improve Poliwags power, range and accuracy" He explained getting nods from both the small bird and tadpole pokemon, "Good now get to work" he ordered and both started over to an area of the training area to begin.

Mason turned his attention to Dratini, "Dratini, you'll be working on your own today, I want you to spend today working on getting Dragon rage down," he said before pointing to the far end of the training field where a large wall of sheet metal was set up with red targets painted on it, "I want you to continue the exercises we were practising back at the cabin. Gathering your energy into a single point and fire it at those targets, okay" he said getting a nod and an enthusiastic "Dra!" in response from the small dragon, "okay go get started then" he said and watched as his partner slithered off down to the targets to begin practising.

Mason then turned his attention to Scyther who was looking very impatient and not impressed at being left for last. Mason smirked, "I haven't forgotten about you, Scyther. We're going to be working on something very special for you" he explained as he gestured for the large mantis to follow him over to two large thick wooden poles that were sticking out of the ground, that looked to be for Pokemon to punch or to use as targets for attacks.

"From what I saw yesterday in our battle, you are fast as well as strong, but from what I saw you are limited to only physical slashing attacks, what I want you to focus on in your training will be to pull your energy into your blades as you swing, and try to force it out in blades of wind to attack with, think you can handle that?" Mason asked figuring a challenge would be best for the bug Pokémon who was obviously confident in his strength.

"Scyther," Scyther nodded its head and ran its blades together as he approached the thick poles and began to slash at them as it began its exercise, a look of concentration on his face.

Mason nodded and glanced over to his other Pokémon seeing them all hard at work as they carried out the exercises he'd given them and smirked.

'Perfect, hopefully, Dratini will be able to get Dragon rage down in a couple more days. And with the training, I've given Poliwag and Spearow they should get stronger. I need Spearow to learn Aerial Ace and Poliwag to learn Hydro pump to give them both an edge in battles,' he thought to himself about the end goals of the training regiments he'd planned out for them, before glancing back to Scyther who was still clashing his blades against the metal poles, 'and hopefully is scyther can learn Razor wind, the likes of Air Slash, Night Slash and X-scissor shouldn't be far away, he already has false swipe down which will be useful if I need to catch other Pokémon, but he needs to increase his attack and get some long-range moves in order to keep him out of the thick of it. Both his defence and special defence are lacking, he's a fast moving glass sword. We'll have to work on that too' he thought to himself before he turned and started to walk over to another area of the training ground that was clearly set up for the trainers to join their pokemon in training.

'Time to work up a sweat' he thought to himself as he took off his shirt and shoes and began to get to work on his own physical conditioning.

Time Skip

It was only after a solid four hours of training that Mason finally called the training session to an end and recalled all of his team to their Pokéballs to let them rest before going inside to get himself a drink.

The training session had been very beneficial as far as he was concerned. Dratini had finally managed to start to get Dragon rage down, it was still weak and wouldn't be useful in battle for some time yet, but it showed great promise.

Poliwag and Sparrows training was showing great strides as well, Spearow was definitely a speed demon in the sky, he hadn't been hit once by Poliwags attacks and Mason suspected that it wouldn't be long before it picked up Aerial ace on its own. While Poliwags water gun was coming a long way, it was looking a lot stronger, but he still suspected it would be a while before he would be able to use Hydro Pump.

Scyther was also showing promise by the end of the four hours, that was clear from the thick thunks that he had slashed out of the wooden poles he'd been practising on. Mason could tell that the mantis Pokémon was determined to rise to his challenge and was taking to his training with passion, something that the other Pokémon on his team were respecting and that same respect was being returned.

After getting a bottle of water from the vending machines Mason returned to his room to take a quick shower and to plan what he was going to do next.

He could see that his teams' training was coming along well and that he suspected within a few more days Dratini would be strong enough to take on Brock's rock Pokémon himself. But he wasn't about to be that arrogant. He wasn't about to bank on one of his Pokémon winning it all for him because he plainly didn't know what strategy Brock would use.

He knew Brock had two Pokémon on his team, his Geodude and Onix, but he didn't want to play Dratini right from the start because for all he knew Brock would start with Onix from the get-go and his dragon range trump card would be worthless.

He also didn't want to put all his money on Poliwag either, using Brocks one weakness against him seemed like a cheap move to him and he didn't want to insult him like that. The man may have been an absolute perverted dog, but he was still a damn good trainer and he wasn't going to pull a cheap punch like that. Sure if he actually lost the first time he'd come back the next day and give no quarter and use everything he had the second time, but as it stood now, he didn't plan on using Poliwag in his first gym battle.

With thoughts of his future battle put to the side, Mason took out his notebook again and began to think of just what things he would need to get while he was out. Now that he was finally in a city on his own with cash to burn he needed to get himself properly kitted out for life on the road and so began making a list.

'Sleeping bag, single tent, walking shoes, a couple of shirts and pants, training clothes, a jacket and other clothes, a bag to carry all this…' he began to mentally list as he continued to write down all of the things.

After half an hour Mason had his list made up and he hoped that he had enough money to cover it all, he was very glad that it wasn't like the games where he'd have to fork out an endless stream of cash to keep stock on Pokéballs for catching Pokémon, seeing as the balls didn't break after a failed capture and could be used again. Though he had made a note in his book to check future cities to see about getting other Pokéballs than just the regular kind.

With his list made up, Mason left his room and headed out into the city to begin searching the shops to get together his things and see everything this city had to offer, now that he had time and privacy to get his shit together he wasn't about to waste it.