“When we pokemon trainers, plan for something be it a match, battle, spar, or training session, don’t be surprised when the plan fails or changes along the way. To use plans is not the reason we plan. It is to know how to plan and to speed this process so much so that it can be used on the fly when the prepared and practiced plan inevitably fails.”

The brown-haired girl named Rose was telling me about her team as she put the basic grooming kit in the small cart. It was a fairly common and normal grass-type team, an Oddish and a Sunkern. She told me that she wanted to be a grass specialist, but that she also wanted to catch more pokemon that had both grass and poison types like her Oddish.

I smiled as she asked for tips about grooming, training, and the “top” quality food for her pokemon. I, as a good Pokemart employee, ignored the last part and didn’t reveal to her that she would not find any top-tier quality food here. What I did do instead was guide her throughout the many aisles while describing some exercises that would work for her team specifically and some tips about training grass types in general.

“What about fighting wild pokemon, mister?” She whispered and looked around as if someone would appear and scold her. “My friend told me that to be a great trainer you need to go off-route and challenge powerful pokemon.”

My smile dropped a little and I felt an urge to slap my face. Damned be the day that those two decided to become pokemon trainers. Remember your training, what was the ideal path here? Lie? No, she would not believe me, and considering that she was barely twelve years old she would probably make stuff up in her mind. Sincerity? Eh, might work.

“I will be honest with you, Rose, yes, it is, in fact, a good method.” I nodded and her face lit up. “However, it’s very dangerous to do that.”

I stopped walking and turned to her. “As you are now allowed to go on a journey you should also know some things about this type of risk taking. That, for example, for new trainers such as yourself when you stick only to the main routes there is a two-point-six percent chance of you dying by the end of your journey,” she froze at the serious talk that her parents probably didn’t have with her. To be fair to them they probably didn’t research this type of thing and it's not like the Indigo government or the Pokemon League were waving that information everywhere. “Now, every moment that first-year trainers spend outside the routes and into the wild, the chance of dying goes up. At the end of your journey if you spend half the time outside the traditional routes your chances of dying go up to forty percent.”

She looked a bit shaken so I put my hand on her shoulder. “I know it's tempting to try to be the next Red or Blue, but they are the exception of the exception. It's best to go slow and steady okay?”

“Okay…”

“However.” I dramatically sighed. “I like to negotiate, not prohibited, so let's do a deal. You can only go off route when you have at least five pokemon and three badges.” I extended my hand to her and she went to shake it. “And only one kilometer away, fair?” I added.

She paused a bit but then nodded with a smile. “Yeah, it's fair.”

I smiled and we continued our walk. The grass session was big since it was one of the most common types but soon enough we reached the food section.

“Grass-only pokémon need Pokefood type d1, but grass poison types, like your Oddish, need Pokefood d2.” I said and she picked one kilo of each and put it on the small cart together with the basic grooming kit. “To make them eat it without much resistance, you will want to mix a variety of plants, vegetables, fruits, and nuts on an individual basis. You can buy it here or, when you are capable of going in the wild your pokemon can find some for you.”

She also took some toys that we passed by and then I led her to the cashier where my manager, Clarisse, was waiting to pass the items and check her Trainer Card, Rose then opened her Silph Co. backpack and put the food in distinct parts of it then she took out her Trainer Card from her purse.

I couldn’t help but take a quick look at it, after all, how could something so small cost so much?

She passed the card to the machine, and it chimed as it acknowledged the payment. She released her Oddish, collected her backpack, and left. The little grass type jumped by her side.

“Good work, Scott,” Clarisse said as she wrote something on her computer, when she was done she turned to me. “And thank you for staying late yesterday.”

I waved my hand and smiled. Now she was cool and collected. It didn’t even seem like yesterday she was about to cry because of that young mob. “It was nothing. I'm glad to help and get the nice bonus… But there are a lot more trainers than normal. Nothing like the last couple of years, right?”

She stopped what she was doing and looked at me funny.

I confusingly turned my head and she, not seeing any other reaction, sighed.

“For such a smart guy, you are really out of touch with the news.” She spun her monitor towards me, and on it were some news people discussing something called “Champion Lance’s Great Announcement”. “Champion Lance is going to give an egg for the first years that go the farthest in this year’s Kanto and Johto Conferences.”

My jaw dropped and my shoulders sagged. “Surely it’s not from the first team.”

“Yes, they are.”

I put my hand on my forehead. “Legendaries…”

“Yep,” she said, “Kids from all over the world are going to come to Indigo to begin their journey here and, with luck, take home a dragon.”

I took my hand off and leaned on the counter, smiling. “Maybe some luck, but not as much as talent and determination.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

She smiled back and rested her face on her hands. “At least the conference might be good.”

I smiled and thought about my Conference fanatic pokemon. If Cape could speak he would have said the same thing.

“… And if I know the mayor and the city council well you will have a lot more things to do.” I looked at her confused and her smile transformed into laughter. “Like the one you have today.”

My face dropped as I realized what she was talking about.

-

I dragged my arm through my forehead to take off the sweat. Today was really hot.

My partner for today’s tournament and I stood below an area on the field that was covered in shades to escape a little from the heat. Soon enough the finalists would come back and we would again be under the sun so we had to use that opportunity as much as we could.

“Who do you think is going to win?” I asked the Kadabra.

The pokemon had been stoic and not expressed any hint of movement ever since we stopped in this shade. I almost thought he was not going to respond when emotions that were not mine streamed into my mind, mostly disappointment and then a little bit of humor. It took some seconds but I got the joke he was trying to make. He didn’t know who would win, but he knew that we both would lose.

I snickered and a small smile grew in the Kadabra’s mouth. I looked up the stands as there were a lot of people for just this Beginner’s Tournament. It seems as if Clarisse was right when she said that there would be a lot more beginner tournaments. Lots of new trainers from Johto and beyond were coming to pursue that dragon egg and most would begin their journey here, in Azalea City.

I clicked my tongue, Azalea City simply didn’t have the same ring as Azalea Town. It’s funny how fast things change, a year ago people called Azalea a town. Now, however, as Azalea’s population had reached two hundred thousand people last year, the city council decided to change Azalea from a town to a city, the seventh city in Johto. Some members even pushed to change the name of the Gym to Azalea City Gym, Gym Leader Bugsy, however, said that he would not change the name and would leave the decision to his successor.

That did not go well with parts of the trainer society of Azalea who already didn’t like Bugsy because they felt that he was not respected by the rest of Johto, especially the teen trainers and the youngsters who put the Azalea Gym in a group they called the “casual” gyms.

I rolled my eyes at those kids as they obviously ignored the battles where Bugsy and his teams dismantled five and above badge challengers.

Nevertheless, Bugsy being perceived as an easy badge was splendid for the more civilian parts of the city who cared more about economics and less about its reputation. First, second, and even third-year trainers flocked to Azalea for their first or second badge and the city council organized many pre-season events and tournaments to get the trainers to enjoy the city and spread the good word so that next year more trainers come here to spend money and not in Goldenrod or Violet City, the other two parts of the trio of “casual” gyms.

What did that mean for me? More well-paying work.

Finally, the two kids returned for the final and the loud announcer began the introductions. I was almost dead on my feet and just wanted to finish this quickly so I could finally end this day, go home, and watch some battles with Cape.

“On the right side. Trainer Stacy.” I looked, together with the crowd, as a little girl wearing blue clothes got down to the field and took position on a square-shaped by white lines. “And on the left side, Trainer Jeffrey.” A boy with purple shirt and painted blond hair walked down to the arena waving his hands to the crowd and I almost rolled my eyes, another Blue lookalike.

As the announcer was finishing the Kadabra teleported to the other side of the field, I took another sheen of sweat from my forehead, straightened up, and left the shade to take my place in between both of them.

“This will be a one-on-one battle. Trainers, send out your pokemon.” Both kids raised their arms, pulled back, and then launched their pokeballs at the ground. The two pokeballs smashed against the ground and I winced. Many children thought, probably because of the League media empire they watched and consumed, that they needed to— or can— throw pokeballs like a baseball. I shook my head, whatever, not my problem.

The familiar red beam left the pokeballs and materialized in a Sentret, on the side of Jeffrey, and an Azurill, on the side of Stacy. I looked to one side and got a smile, I looked to the other and got a nod then I raised my hand with three fingers and started the countdown as the crowd followed my lead.

“Three!… Two!… One!… Begin!”

“Aqua, use Water Gun,” Stacy said.

“Use Quick Attack, Speedy!” Jeffrey shouted.

The Azurill opened his mouth and water energy began to slowly gather inside. It didn’t look like it had much practice with the move. On the other side, the grey-glowing Sentret pushed the ground with its tail and ran towards the blue pokemon but it was not, actually, very quick.

Maybe it had a lack of physical training and was relying solely on the move’s energy or didn’t know how to coordinate the move with its body yet.

Whatever the motive it wasn’t fast enough to reach the Azurill in time and was knocked by the Water Gun straight on the shoulder and thrown off course by the hit. Well, at least he landed near the Azurill.

“Use Scratch!” The boy shouted and white energy collected on its stubby arms, but the little pokemon was definitely feeling pain because it tried to walk on its two stubby legs to its smaller opponent, the pain making him forget that Sentrets “walked” with their tails, which gave the Azurill time to attack with another Water Gun, which sent him into the ground.

“Another Water Gun, Aqua.” Water energy started to accumulate in the panting Azurill's mouth.

“That’s bad.” Said Jeffrey. I almost smiled. You tell me, kid. The Kadabra on the other side didn’t look amused whatsoever. “Speedy, dodge.”

The poor pokemon struggled but was able to dodge by rolling to the side. “Nice! Quick Attack again!”

I sighed silently as the clearly tired pokemon wouldn’t be able to attack in time, however, when I looked over at the Azurill, she was more tired than the Sentret, I sent a small prayer for Arceus that she got her pokemon yesterday because it should not be this tired after just three weak water guns.

The Sentret was able to land its first strike at the Azurill with Quick Attack and she was thrown two meters back and the little blue ball rolled a bit. When I looked at her I saw that her eyes were closed. She had fainted.

The barriers came down while the Sentret pushed the ground and shakily stood up.

“No!” The girl ran into the field and cradled her Azurill. “Blue!”

“Yes! You did great speedy!” The boy also ran up to his tired pokemon and gave it a high five.

I coughed loudly. “I will ask that both trainers withdraw their pokemon into the pokeballs.” After they did, I declared the winner. “The victor of the battle and this pre-season Beginner’s Tournament is Trainer Jeffrey.”

People began to cheer and the only thing that I could think of was how in the world the people could find this exciting. I know they probably are not that into training or battling but, come on, people in Johto watched the Conference battles and saw Hyper Beams and Giga Impacts powerful enough to smash down houses.

I could only think about my home and my bed as I watched the mayor give a small speech about cooperation with pokemon, the spirit of battle, of the importance of nurturing the next generation, and then give the trophies to the three “trainers” in the podium.

Later, after saying goodbye to the Kadabra and having changed into my normal clothes in the locker room, I was exiting the arena when I remembered that I still needed to go to the library to talk to Jeremy.

“Fucking hell, this day doesn’t end,” I whispered under my breath.