It all starts with an egg.

Lonnie had said it as if it was some great truth.

One of the issues when it came to actually having a conversation with him was that he could be exceedingly vague and did an overall shit job at explaining things. Or, maybe I should have just listened more to him.

It all starts with an egg. He said it like it was important. What exactly started with an egg? Life, the universe and everything? Or just the Plot of this game? Yet, nothing happened. No protagonists started banging on the door on a mission from Elm. Oak didn't show up and hand me a shiny pokedex. The weeks passed quickly as the start of the season approached.

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Mal was frosted over. The air condensed around him almost clouding him in mist, his eyes closed in concentration as the energy built. Finally, a point of light blue energy formed in front of him. It had been several long moments to get to this point. His eyes opened colored an icy blue seeking the target. But, his concentration breaks and the energy is released. A few snowflakes formed and a cold gentle breeze blew them across the clearing.

He let out a soft cry of frustration, "Poreeeee..."

"It's okay buddy. We'll get there." I tried to reassure him. "You're getting better. We're sure to get this down before long."

"Broooo Slow!" the Slowbro, Bubba joined me in giving Mal reassurance.

Around us lay patches and great spikes of ice, Bubba had been willing to demonstrate Ice Beam for us. He had been kind enough to keep doing so for about an hour a day the past few weeks in exchange for headpats and berries. Bubba might be getting just a little bit fatter.

As Mal tried again to harness and manipulate Ice type energy, I recorded things in a notebook. Everything was written in cursive, as a little safety precaution. Unown might be the basis of a written language but cursive hadn't been developed. It might delay someone if they ever got their hands on it, or it would at least stop people from reading over my shoulder.

I hadn't had much time to actually focus on training Mal. While I was preoccupied with my studies, his spars and time in electronics seem to have paid off. Thundershock was a new and often used weapon in his spars with the locals. I had focused on trying to have him learn Ice Beam in the hours I had been able to sneak in training with him. I was laying the groundwork for that good old BoltBeam combo. There were very few things that had counters to or resisted both Thunderbolt and Ice Beam. In time it might even help him learn Tri-attack. Ice and Electric were two of the beams used in it after all.

Mal did seem to be making good progress on Ice Beam. In the games his line only learned Ice Beam through TMs. However, that didn't mean he couldn't still learn it. Pokemon did learn moves without TMs in the anime and games. Move tutors existed and they had been a lot more common before the advent of TMs and pokeballs.

The general consensus I had found in my research seemed to be that learning moves without a TM was a hard time consuming process that just wasn't worth it in the modern era. Better to just shell out the money for a TM and be on your way. TMs were expensive. Pokedollars to real dollars seemed to reach a one to one ratio when it came to TMs. I would be shelling out thousands to teach a move once and I wasn't going to ask the cult for even more stuff. Besides, I would have missed out on all the data I was collecting.

Having Mal try to learn Ice Beam as an Ice type seemed to help immensely. It made some theories about typing and STAB start to swirl in my head. STAB or same type attack bonus was a mechanic in the games that meant that moves that matched a pokemon's type or types were stronger, fifty percent stronger. Why exactly they were stronger I was still trying to figure out. Figuring out just how well game mechanics translated to this world was going to be a long process. Though sometimes it felt like I had gotten to see the inner workings of this universe in a way the locals couldn't even hope to dream of.

Things were starting to open up for Mal and I. There was no longer this big time crunch that had been hanging over my head. The desperate hours of studying and late nights had paid off. I passed my licensing exam. I was a trainer and season started tomorrow.

I could have left three days ago when I got my license, yet I had delayed. Not being on the road allowed me to focus on some last minute research and training. There was also the start of the season rush I had to consider. Locals flooded their gyms at the start of every season in an attempt to get a badge and some bragging rights over their friends.

The flying type gym in Violet city was the traditional first gym of Johto and my first major destination. It also seemed to be everyone else's. Just like Pewter and Brock was the proper place to start in Kanto, Violet and its leader Falkner were the same.

The Pokemon center and local hotels would be packed full for at least a week before and after the start of the season. I wasn't in a hurry to rush to Violet just to have to wait and sit on my ass. I could be doing more important things like trying to get some more team members. There were a few that I might be able to pick up along the way if I was lucky.

A few hours later we finished up with our training for the day. Mal might just get Ice Beam down in the next week or so if we practiced while on the road. Falkner needed to watch out. My digital duck was gonna wreck his birds. The rest of the afternoon passed quickly as I packed up, doubled checked and then tripled checked my supplies. I'd need to stop at a town along the way for one or two things, but I was ready. The Journey was going to start.

Then Mr. Pokemon called me down to the dining room.

Sitting across from each other, he started the conversation with words I didn't want to hear. "We need to talk about your sponsorship."

Was this it? I had gotten this far and now they're gonna try and pull the rug out from under me. Or was it finally time for an exchange?

The sponsorship setup was pretty simple. I received a stipend during my Journey. Any pokemon I caught that exceeded my carry limit would be sent here to be stabled. There was a transporter built into the massive computer systems that were housed here. I had gotten a glimpse of it once or twice, it took up an entire room. My best guess was it was some sort of backup of Bill's system.

"Ah, is there some kind of issue? Or are we ready to finally talk about an exchange?" I asked.

The Bell really was one of the best things I had to offer the cult. It wouldn't disrupt anything further down the timeline as far as I was aware. Maybe I could also offer knowledge of Eevee's Z-move and where to find the Z crystal? I might be able to offer some info on Hisuian Typhlosion. Those Hisui variants all seemed to have died out or been forgotten over the years. At least they weren't on the surface, the Grand Underground was massive and some of them might still be down there. Knowledge of a lost variant for one of the regional starters might be tempting to them. The line might even be able to be revived if you could get your hands on an Odd Keystone. There was a small connection there that might just be enough. No matter what I offered, the cult still had an uncomfortable amount of power over me.

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"Oh ho, don't worry about that. We're not talking about them." Mr.P smiles "We're talking about sponsorship. It's a relationship, and like any relationship it's a bit give and take. And I am your sponsor. If a corporation was your sponsor they might have you advertise them, like Leon does with that garish garment of his. A lab or professor might require you to gather data or participate in some studies. I just have some small tasks you could perform for me from time to time."

I guess my Journey really was starting, I was going to be given a fetch quest by an old man.

I nodded in hesitant acceptance. It was a reasonable request provided how much support I was getting and would continue to get. Still I had some reservations. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"You get a choice." He smiled, "Helga if you would?"

Helga brought in the box and placed it on the table. I couldn't help but stare at it.

Mr.P gently tapped the box, "Choice number one. You can take these to Ecruteak for me."

Helga returned with the Egg and Mr.P motioned towards it, "Choice number two. You can take this to Elm for me."

Mr. P paused and smiled as I studied my choices. I bet my aura looked very interesting. He could probably see I didn't want anything to do with the egg or orbs.

"And choice number three." He placed some papers on the table. "This one is a bit of an ongoing task..."

I had to chuckle interrupting his showmanship. The chuckle grew into laughter as Mr.P looked at me in confusion.

I sighed, "So this is my choice then."

At the beginning of every game there always was one. It would color and change your entire journey. The choice would be debated and weighed but in the end everyone had to make a choice.

You always had to make a choice.

I discarded the Orbs as an option right away. I wasn't one to take artifacts of great and terrible power across the land. I couldn't even protect them properly.

The Egg was probably an even worse choice. It would put me close to the plot. Like a pebble dropped into a pond my presence might already be rippling out changing things. The Egg was key for the growth of the protagonist. It was the test that would bring the big bird back to the nest, as Lonnie had said. If I messed with the plot, would the protagonist develop properly? If I interfered and the protagonist changed through my influence Ho-Oh or Lugia might never return.

I was an outsider to this world, could I or even should I change things? It was an ongoing debate I had with myself when I found a quiet moment.

The Egg wasn't really an option. My eyes turned to the papers, "What's the third option?"

"It's a bit of an ongoing one. I want you to write about your Journey and share it." Mr.P smiles. This must have been the one he wanted me to choose from the very beginning. "The papers are some guidelines and advice. As you know I used to host a travel show and I know a thing or two about presenting. Ideally you'd post once a week or thereabouts. You have shall we say an outside perspective on this world and your observations should be quite interesting. Besides it's only fitting that the trainer I sponsor follow in my footsteps just a little."

I frowned as I considered my choices. He smiled back at me as he watched. He really was a sly old man. He gave me a choice without really giving me a choice.

There had to be more to this last choice than just writing a blog. I would probably let some knowledge slip in my writings if I wasn't careful. But if he wanted knowledge he could just ask for it, he didn't need to do this. If it's not really for him then it's either for me or it's for a possible audience that will read it. Was it to develop my skills? Did they want me to build an audience for some reason? There had to be more, was it the beginning of a cover? Mr.P was an agent for a cult and he was getting too old to go running around the globe. Was he trying to groom a replacement? Like he had used his travel show now I was to use this? In time if it was successful it might be enough to justify my presence in some very odd locations. I was still dependent upon his sponsorship and the cult's goodwill. I was stuck with them until I could monetize my knowledge and get out of this odd relationship I had with them. If I could even get out of it.

I frowned, turning back to the egg that I had discarded as a choice. I could take it, maybe… The protagonist should still get it. But could I take that risk? Being close to the plot and maybe derailing it versus being groomed by the cult for a position. Did either option give me a normal journey?

In the end I had to make a choice, you always had to.

"I'll do the writing."

"Splendid."

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That night was a large dinner to see me off before my journey.

Afterwards I spent a lot of time staring blankly at a laptop screen. Writing was... hard. All I had been able to get out was a brief introduction about me, a few of my goals as a trainer and what to expect from the pseudo travel blog I had been asked to do. This was my task and however unwanted it wouldn't feel right to do a poor job of it. What I had though was boring and would be quickly buried among the hundreds of others doing similar things. I needed something different.

I needed inspiration of some sort.

It was times like this that made me wish I still had my music. Soft relaxing tunes in the background while I worked would have been nice. Hell, I'd even settle for Lonnie's classic rock. I eyed my old laptop hard drive nearby. It had survived by some miracle. The Beedrill's lance had just missed it. After a lot of jury-rigging I had tried to transfer data over. However, different world and different computers didn't really get along. It was now nothing more than a paperweight and somewhere for Porygon to sleep.

Or... Maybe I was just an idiot. An idiot with a porygon.

"Mal?"

"Pory?" he made the transition back from cyberspace at my call.

Mal had started his existence as a battle ai on that hard drive, he still slept on the thing from time to time. He had also been able to enter the computer systems of the pokeworld. He could bridge the gap.

"Can you take data with you? Take it from the hard drive to the laptop." I pause, "Could you also convert the data somehow?"

After a long moment of consideration he nodded twice, "Gon gon."

"I don't know what I would do without you buddy." I gave him a pet as I thought about things. "Here's the first thing I want you to bring over...

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The next morning after some goodbyes to Mr.P, Helga, Eevee and a hug for Bubba we were finally off.

The open road stretched before us, our journey had begun.

As for my travel log, an audio file had been attached. I had found maybe just a little inspiration.