Chapter 24: Branching Paths

Ark and Sylph had slept soundly. Their first battle had mentally drained the two of them as they ended up sleeping in until an hour later than usual. Seeing the time, Ark got out of bed and started to get dressed. On the other hand, Sylph grabbed the covers and pulled it back over her head.

"You really love your sleep huh. Sylph, you have until I am ready, then we will go say goodbye"

Sylph just snuggled deeper into the covers after hearing Arks words.

-Nnn later-

After about half an hour of getting ready, Ark straightened out the bed before heading down to the Pokemon Center entrance. Sat down at a corner table was two familiar figures. Walking over to the two people, Ark decided to wrap this up quick so that he can start working on himself and Sylph.

"Good Morning, Misty. You're looking lovely this morning."

He flashed a bright smile to the redheaded girl sitting opposite Ash. Her expression originally was one of pure annoyance however, when she heard a certain voice speaking to her, her face lit up.

"Ah Ark, you're finally awake! Do you want to sit down?"

Ark smiled at her sweet gesture before shaking his head sideways.

"No can do Misty. As much as I would love to spend hours getting to know you right now, Sylph and I need to start training today. We have a lot to do."

Misty slumped her shoulders in dejection. Her aura clearly displayed how dejected she was about not travlling with Ark. Watching Mistys cute behaviour, Ark walked closer to Misty before leaning into her ear and whispering to Misty.

"Misty... in the future, I want to get to know you more. However, for now, could you do me a favor of looking over Ash for a while. I can't have him getting irreparably damaged. I am sure his Mother will become enraged should I allow that to happen. So please."

Though he was feeling slightly guilty to be pushing this responsibility onto Misty, however all of his words were true. He needed someone to keep Ash grounded whilst he worked on improving himself. Additionally, it is likely better for Misty to follow along Ashs travels as that is what the World Fate has planned thus him tampering too much at such an early stage is only asking for trouble. Ark was not afraid of the risks involved with interfering, but right now he was not strong enough to challenge such an entity over something that could be avoided for now.

Misty blushed at the voice that felt like it was crawling up her neck. She nodded her head shyly before looking down at her breakfast.

"Right. Now that is settled, Ash, I will be leaving by myself. Try not to get too into trouble."

Ark held onto Sylph and left the Pokemon Center.

He and Sylph were running in the outskirts of the forest before a sudden realisation descended on Ark... in the form of a stomach grumble.

"Ah no! Food! Wait money? How am I even mean't to survive? I told Mother and Delia that I didn't need money sent from home. I thought it would be more mature if I sorted it out myself but there's no pay to being a Pokemon trainer"

Ark was clutching his head as he desperately tried to find a solution to the dire situation he found himself in. Even though trainers can sleep for free at the Pokemon Center, it seems that the food was not an included service but was instead given out on a discount to active league participants. This was all well and good until the fact that Ark had no money to his name came into play. Luckily, Ark had brought along roughly a weeks worth of food and Pokemon food in his Pocket Storage. Yet this did not solve his future issues. Thinking to himself, Ark tried to think over his strong points. As his mind was focusing on himself, a familiar blue screen appeared in front of his eyes.

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Mastery SystemStamina: 10Strength: 12Agility: 10Dexterity: 9Intelligence: 16Vitality: 11

Abilities+

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Ark was startled slightly by the sudden change in his vision however he quickly calmed down when he relaxed that his excessive thinking about himself had actually triggered the system.

He was pleased to see his improved stats, but his mind immediately turned to elsewhere. A part of his brain had remembered a certain function of the system.

The 'Quest' function.

Focusing on the 'Quest' section, a different blue screen appeared. Arks eyes began to water when he saw what was on his screen.

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Quest Complete:

Win your first Pokemon battle

Rewards:

1 x Pokeball (Normal)

£1000 inserted into bank

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A small round sphere appeared in his hand as the screen faded away. It seemed that the quests are not always broadcast or perhaps there was multiple questlines that Ark needed to unlock otherwise they remained hidden. Regardless, Ark was overjoyed by the convenient luck that was brought about by Team Rocket.

In this Pokemon world, £1000 will only last approximately two weeks as long as Ark did not try and buy any specialized equipment such as Pokeballs, Potions or Evolution Stones. Therefore, Ark decided that he will only use this money on accommodation and food therefore, it will last longer.

"Wow... I am so thankful for this system thing. I would have had to crawl back to Pallet and beg for funds if I didn't have it."

Sylph stared at Ark as his whole episode had finally wrapped up. While Ark was clawing his own hair out before crying and grinning like a Gengar, Sylph was training. This training was very simple but Ark wanted Sylph to focus on her speed as it will likely be her best weapon with her small stature.

The little Pokemon was jumping from side to side, making sure not to cross past the two tree stumps by her side. A slight exhaustion was seen in her movements as she continued to shoulder on through the training.

"Sylph, you can stop now. Here have some water and food. You have done really well today"

Ark smiled at Sylph as she dragged her tired body over to the area Ark was setting up lunch. Seeing her struggle, Ark walked over and picked her up.

-Thank you Ark. Too tired-

Sylph let her body go limp in Arks arms causing him to smile wryly as he carried her over to her food. Sylph plopped down before digging into the food without hesitation. Ark stroked Sylphs hair as he spoke.

"Sylph, rest up for a bit and we will continue training for today. After that we can rest up in the tent before heading in deeper to look for some good opponents to train with."

The little Pokemon nodded deeply with her cheeks bulged out full of Pokemon food.