Four hours later, I walked out of the Pokémon Center’s exam rooom feeling a bit, rattled. Nurse Joy had taken Inkay and Ferroseed to see their condition; Inkay for starvation and Ferroseed for the newborn check-up. As for me, they did all sorts of exams. A psych evaluation, a memory test, a full physical examination, which included a look at what’s covered by pants. That was what really made it uncomfortable. Thank god, or Arceus I guess, that they didn’t perform a prostate exam.
We found out that Inkay’s psychic abilities are so strong that he has unconsciously created a weak mental shield for me. It’s probably from the fact that he has eaten deliciously nutritious food from the cafeteria instead of nothing, but I was giddy at the prospect of a powerful Psychic type. Alakazam was one of my favorites for a reason.
I guess Calem was right, which I guess shouldn’t be uncommon for a Champion. Anywho, Nurse Joy also told me that my body is unusually optimized and efficient in its musculature and strength output.
This she found out by having me do many trivial errands, *cough*, tests, which earned me a Great Ball, a Luxury Ball, and some Iron and Protein vitamins. Nurse Joy told me the best way to use them is to crush them up and add a pinch of the powder into every meal. She also told me about the very thing I wanted to exploit.
“Aura and Psychic abilities can produce similar effects, but you don’t have either energy signature in your body. It’s all physiological: your hypothalamus, adrenal glands, blood circuit, muscle tissues, bones, everything. It has all been enhanced to the point that you far outclass the normal human,” she explained.
I nodded, “I’m glad I’ve studied a little bit about the human body and brain before ‘cause I actually know what you’re talking about. But how is that possible? I understand my hypothalamus and adrenal glands working overtime in response to my seemingly new environment, but stronger bones, denser muscle tissue, even the blood circuit. That type of stuff doesn’t change overnight.”
“I know,” she responded, “but in a world where creatures can change their own Infinity Energy into elemental energy and humans that have access to Aura and Psychic abilities, this seems pretty tame. Of course, it needs to be studied, with your permission.”
“Once again, if you can keep the free food going you have a deal,” I told her. No way I was going to miss out on free food and room.
Nurse Joy smiled and nodded, going to get my Pokémon. She returned, saying they were absolutely fine. After a few minutes of conversation about my weird body, I felt like going out to explore a bit. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere far just yet, but I did want to see what tasks were out there and plan my general goals.
I opened the Missions app, which connected to my League Profile. It automatically filtered the tasks I could pick up. So far, there were a lot of errands. Delivering something for the Mart, picking up a kid from school, berry-picking. I selected the berry-picking task and the app gave me directions to known locations with bushes of the berries that were asked for.
‘40 Pecha berries, 20 Cheri berries, and 65 Oran berries. Not too bad.’
I walked to just outside the stone wall surrounding the city and turned right. I looked around for a few minutes before I came across an Oran berry bush. According to the League app, bushes had larger amounts of lower quality berries while trees had smaller amounts of higher quality berries. The main difference between quality is the overall healing effect for Pokémon; the taste was the same. Luckily for me, the task was for a bakery.
I stored the berries in the fanny pack to make sure I didn’t lose them. As I was collecting the Oran berries, a few Rattata came out from the forest. As soon as they saw me, they gathered into a tight circle and snarled at me. Seeing this, I just grabbed a few Oran berries and threw them at the Pokémon.
They jumped back slightly when I reached into the bag. When they noticed the berries, the Rattata stopped snarling, instead eyeing me carefully while one of them sniffed the berries. I smiled at them, offering them some more.While the berry bush wasn’t mine, I had only collected about 30 berries and was going to be there for a few more minutes. When they saw that I set some more berries straight from the bush out for them, the Pokémon decided to take the berries and run away.
After collecting the Oran berries, I started my search for a bush of Pecha berries. When I found one, I saw a group of Weedle and Kakuna around it having a feast. I didn’t want to deal with any Beedrill, so I left to begin another round of exploring. Once I found another bush of Pecha berries, I collected the berries I needed and then did the same when I got to the Cheri berries.
The Cheri berries were on a tree, so we had great quality here. I had collected extra Oran and Pecha berries, but I made sure to collect more of the Cheri berries. In total, I had collected 80 Oran berries, 50 Pecha berries, and 63 Cheri berries, which left me with 15, 10, and 43 of the Oran, Pecha, and Cheri berries, respectively.
‘This is a good haul.’
With that, I began my short trek into Santalune City proper. As I walked, I took some time to admire my surroundings. I hadn't noticed when I walked into the city, or around it in the forest,, but the city was surrounded by a stone wall. There were several homes and apartments in the area closest to the police station, making this the residential area.
The homes were very cozy and definitely made me feel like I was living in an older village. Most of the houses were one-story buildings made of wood, with a chimney in the middle. Some looked more modern, with whole walls made out of glass. The interiors of these houses were still old fashioned, with simple wood furniture and muted-colored rugs. Just about every single house had some flower beds and bushes around the edge of the property, adding to the overall aesthetic.
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I walked down the block and saw there was a very large building, easily the biggest one in the city. It was very wide, almost two city-blocks wide, and about nine stories tall. The only thing I knew that would need so much space would be the Pokémon Gym.
It looked like a large wooden cabin, like those found in the mountains. The Gym was made from some sort of dark pine, with many windows spread throughout the upper floors. A large bouquet of flowers could be seen through the top window. The entrance to the Gym had two statues, both of a Masquerain.
I decided against checking out the Gym, instead opting to explore a bit as I made my way to the bakery. So far, I had been walking straight from the entrance closest to the police station, which was located southeast of the city.. Now that I was in front of the Gym, I could continue going forward on the path I was on and head deeper into the residential area or turn towards the city. I turned right, seeing a stone water fountain shaped like a Roselia with the water coming out of both of its flowers-for-hands. As I continued my walk, I opened the Mart app on my phone. I looked through and found what I wanted.
The Pokéballs were 200$ each, so I bought one. I also bought some general Pokémon food. A week's worth of generalized food for two cost 80$, so I bought enough to last about a month. The app had shown Pokémon food specifically for Inkay, and just about every other Pokémon, but it was expensive. I definitely couldn't afford 900$ for a week of Inkay food.
I just spent 700$, which left me with 5,400$. I decided to wait on buying anything else since I wasn’t sure how expensive things would get. I continued my walk. The area around the fountain was the commercial area. There were a few cozy cafes and art galleries. One shop was geared towards aspiring photographers, showcasing several cameras, tripods, and other accessories. Another promised only the best Pokémon kits that would ensure close bonds and gorgeous Pokémon.
I remember Santalune City had a Pokémon Center near the fountain in the games, but all I could see were the shops and eateries. If I had to guess, the PokéCenter would be found in the business district of the town. After walking the two blocks that made up the commercial district, I turned left and bam. There it was. Now that I found the other Center, it was actually time to head to the bakery.
I walked back into the commercial district, heading towards the bakery that was a few buildings to the left of the Roselia statue. It was a quaint shop, glass windows showing the racks of baked goods on display. The redwood building was adorned with purple hydrangeas and the green shrubs they grew on. A red and purple sign saying “Mitchell’s Baked Boun-Sweets,” with a painted Bounsweet happily holding a cinnamon bun.
Once I entered, the amazing smells of freshly baked bread, chocolate caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, oats… Bliss. The smell of bliss swarmed my nose. I immediately felt way more relaxed, forgetting I was here to complete the task.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Have a look at the cookies and cakes. Our most popular is the Combee honey cookie topped with chocolate MooMoo milk mousse,” a young man wearing an apron called out. “Come on up whenever you’re ready and I’ll take your order.”
“Oh, sorry about that,” I absentmindedly replied. “I’m here to deliver the berries for the berry-picking task that was posted.”
“Oh, great! Thank you for picking that up,” the guy said. “Normally the Junior trainers pick up the task and take days to complete because they get busy battling and catching Pokémon.”
I handed over the berries that I sorted into pouches beforehand. The pouches were delivered when I accepted the task. The guy grabbed them, bringing them to the back before counting the berries. “Sorry, just gotta make sure it’s the right amount. Some recipes call for very specific quantities of berries for the right flavor profiles and textures. Here’s your payment for completing the task on time and getting it all correctly.”
He handed me 1250$. About twice as much as what was posted.
“Umm, are you sure you want to give me this much? The task description said the completion money was just 600$.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” he replied. “Normally, the trainers take a few days, which usually ends with me not being able to finish the order on time. That costs money. You saved me a lot of money because I can prepare the ingredients for this wedding cake and I’ll still have time to work on other projects. You’ve actually saved me a few thousand PokéDollars, so you definitely deserve the tip.”
With that, he rushed me out since I wasn’t planning on buying anything. Adding the money I received from Calem and the dead Team Flare grunt, I now had 6650$. Not too shabby for my second day. I immediately opened up the Mart app, seeing what I could buy. First on my list was a new bag. The fanny pack was nice, but I needed more room.
I saw a few options available but decided I wanted something crossbody that had the bag resting on my hip. It made for easier access. The fanny pack also only had about a six cubic-meter (211 cubic-feet) space. Quite a bit compared to what I was used to but nowhere near enough for a typical trainer.
I eventually decided on a brown leather messenger bag that had a 30 m3 (1,059 ft3) space. Definitely useful. The bags were somehow able to keep everything organized so that you could just grab what you wanted whenever. It also helped that there were dedicated pockets for berries, Pokéballs, healing items, and documents. I had no idea how they managed this but so far couldn’t manage an electric car or hover bikes.
The bag cost 1360$. I also bought twelve potions and an electric/solar mini fridge. I also tracked down some food specifically for Dark and Grass types, which was cheaper than food for the Inkay and Ferroseed species. I also bought some food for myself, mostly stuff like bread and noodles. I also ordered some spices for flavor, especially salt and pepper.
Salt is the single most important flavoring agent in the culinary world. While fats like butter can be used to give more flavor and calories, as well as make some foods easier to cook, it does not compare to salt. Salt is crucial in dishes because it enhances the flavors that are already present. Having fries with spices but no salt is just eating starchy potatoes with some stuff that you can barely taste. The moment you add salt is the moment all the flavors come together to let you taste.
With that tidbit done, I got back to my order. I didn’t order meat or any other protein because I figured I could just hunt some Pokémon to eat with my team. I already ate some Pidgey, might as well try the others. Though, I’ve never actually skinned an animal.
Besides carbs and spices, I also bought milk from both Dubwools and Miltanks, as well as oil made from Sunflora and Smolivs. In order to cook, I bought a portable fire pit, cooking equipment, a cast-iron pan, a wok, a pot, some utensils and plates, a sleeping bag, a waterproof tent, a two-foot ax, a rechargeable flashlight, 10 Pokéballs (which also got me one Premier Balls), and a few potions made specifically for humans.
All the spending reduced my total of 6650$ to 34$. I was happy, however, because now I was set for a month, which was more than enough time to increase my finances. With that, I headed back to the PokéCenter for lunch. I had Magikarp filet with greens while Inkay had Murkrow noodle soup and Ferroseed ate, or absorbed, chunks of metal and moss-covered rocks. We all enjoyed lunch before heading to the training facility. There, I told my two Pokémon the new routine we would be starting.
“Alright you two. We’re going to start doing some training. Inkay,” I looked at him before continuing. “You are going to do laps around the facility as fast as you can for 30 minutes, followed by pushing Ferroseed from this side of the room to the other and then back for another 30 minutes. Afterwards, I want you to practice using Disable for 20 minutes, Payback for 20, and Peck for 20 minutes.
“Ferroseed,” I then turned my attention to her, “I want you to practice Gravity on Inkay while he is doing his laps and then use the move on yourself while he is pushing you. After that, I want you to use Harden for 20 minutes, Leech Seed, for 20, and Tackle for 20. While both of you are doing that, I’ll be doing my own workout.”
I stopped to think for a moment. ‘She was just born yesterday. Is it alright to have Ferroseed train right away?’
I turned to look at her. Ferroseed was bouncing along happily, checking every single piece of equipment. When she got to a machine meant for Pokémon to slam into, she gave it a few nudges before hopping back and breaking it with a Tackle.
‘... I think she’ll be fine.’
While they started their training, I looked around the facility. There were many different machines and areas with weights. It reminded me of the larger gym I would go to when I became a graduate student at a university back home. This place had everything I needed, so I warmed up with a biking session. Since my body was optimized for strength, I would have an easier time doing daily whole body strength training and resting for the remainder of the day. So with that, I started some warm-up laps before starting with deadlifts.