Alder watched the next morning as Skyla took Lilith away. The fire in her eyes scared him. It felt like he woke a sleeping giant. He couldn't shake the similarities to N, the leader of Team Plasma. It was whispered that he grew up in the wild with Pokemon just like her.
The timing she appeared out of nowhere was also alarming. It was the first day of Pokemon Trainer classes, the one month long crash course given to promising fledgling trainers to ready them for their journey and duties. It would take a day to reach Apertia on the other side of Unova, the site of the sponsored class. Other classes were also held in different cities at the same time, but Aspertia was the only one directly connected to the League. If Skyla had done her job properly, then the two days she had missed would have Lilith making it just in time for the first day, into a class that had one spot available.
It all rubbed him the wrong way. She was a walking mystery. Her knowledge was simultaneously incredibly thorough and also absent. She knew secrets about Pokemon that few did, but couldn’t describe how to train one. They didn’t even know her background or age. Rules regarding age were put in place for a reason. Sure, some special cases were exceptions, but this was out of the norm. She had no backing, and the only reason it was even considered was because of Virizion.
His first impression of her was opposite to what he had just witnessed. At first she had been quiet and rarely spoke. She never even initiated any conversations. After her decision to become a Pokemon Trainer however, she changed. It was subtle, but Alder noticed it. She engaged more with those around her. She even asked for things like a Holo Castor and access to the internet.
She even allowed him to check the Egg. He got the feeling that the only reason he got close was because she was worried something might be wrong rather than trusting him. He was the Champion, everyone trusted him.
Unfezant and Braviary rose into the sky as the Trevanent unsealed the canopy above.
The only upside was that Bianca would be looking after her. Although a little danger prone, she was Professor Juniper's assistant and next in line for the Professor position.
Alder turned back inside as Excadrill closed the hatch.
***
Lilith and Skyla flew South. After she had shown her willingness to be a Pokemon Trainer, everything played out rather smoothly. The rest of the day was just logistics and an increase in her understanding. Alder’s monologue had obviously not covered all that it took to be a Trainer. He had confirmed that her Egg was days, maybe a week away from hatching, and that she would have much to catch up on. Classes started under the assumption that the participant had a Pokemon.
Most people had Pokemon, but not all of them were Trainers. Trainers were people recognized by the League to be competing for Gym badges. The Gym’s were open all year round, but were injected with fresh recruits once a year. There was no particular order in which to challenge them, just that each consecutive challenge was harder than the last.
Gym Leaders had to have four 6 Star Pokemon, the qualifications for a 6 Star Trainer. They did not use their personal team for challenges for all but the last badge, and were usually executed by people recruited and trained inside the Gym called Helpers. She also learned about the Star system. It was basically just broad increments of 10 levels per star. That meant Gym Leaders had Pokemon that were around level 60.
Lilith had a long way to go before she could even dream of challenging one of them.
Trainers were also liable to be called upon during emergencies. Each major city held the right to temporarily conscript all the Trainers in the area, within reason. She wouldn’t have agreed if the terms didn’t suit her. Weaker Trainers were not forced to battle strong opponents and were usually just given jobs in logistics. The time they were conscripted also had a time limit. The city could only hold them for a maximum of one month. They were used as bandages until the full force of the League could step in for whatever emergency there was. The most common were issues dealing with Team Plasma and natural disasters like floods and earthquakes. Lilith found the terms acceptable, although a little put off by the news on Team Plasma. Apparently they were much more ruthless than in the games. They dropped to motives like stealing and murder.
After that, it was decided that she would be Staying with Bianca. Lilith was unsure how she felt about the whole situation. If she remembered correctly, Bianca was still just a kid. Professor Juniper had endorsed her however, and she could think of no reason to reject.
With that, their short time together had concluded. Melinda was the first to leave, stating that she had other business elsewhere and left the compound. Alder and Professor Juniper stayed and said they would see her off in the morning before following her out.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The Professor had pulled her aside after the meeting to give her the Items all League sponsored Trainers received at the beginning of their journey. The kit included a Bag that could store almost anything along with a T.M. and a Pokedex to both inform her about the different Pokemon native to the Region and add any new discoveries otherwise unknown. The Technical Machine was Protect. All investments had to be allowed time to grow after all.
With that, Lilith was escorted back to her room. She got the feeling they didn’t want her poking around the compound. There was much they were not showing her.
The realization that there was a large possibility Lilith would be unable to capture any Pokemon other than Dark Types rubbed her the wrong way. Flexibility was important, and a clear weakness could be exploited easily.
'How would a Pokemon who evolves into a dark type work? They aren't dark when born, but transition much later...' She thought.
There was just too much information she didn't know. Resigned to the fact, the rest of the night Lilith was on her Holo Castor researching all the known locations of Dark Types in the region. Her searches were expedited because there was one such app that connected through the Pokedex. It allowed her to search with multiple criteria such as location, Type, strength, and even provided migration patterns.
Lilith could tap on a City and it would tell her all known Pokemon in the surrounding area. She was unsure of the accuracy of said information, but it would not hurt to check. After becoming used to the settings, Lilith searched for all Dark Types; other parameters such as strength and location were ignored.
A small Pokeball spun around the center of her screen as the program loaded. The map appeared along with multiple red boxes of different sizes overlaying different parts of the region. Each box pertained to a Route or City. Lilith could then click on said area and learn about all of the Pokemon it had found data on.
She started with Aspertia, her final destination. The map zoomed in to show the City and its outer perimeter. The left sidebar listed all known Pokemon and the area they were last seen.
The list was short. In fact, only one Pokemon of the Dark Type was listed, Purrloin. Lilith zoomed out and clicked the Route above it, number 19. The Pokedex spat out the same configuration. There were not even any potential sightings of anything else close to a Dark type. She moved onto the next City and the next Route before finally getting a change.
The Pokedex now showed that Alolan Rattata infested the sewers of Virbank City, along with potential rumors about sightings of an unconfirmed Pokemon that could also have been a Ghost or Psychic type.
Lilith’s future selection looked bleak. Her options for Pokemon in the first three cities were awful. She knew the Krookodile and Scrafty lines would be just north of Castelia from the game. Castelia City was only a ferry ride away from Virbank and the fourth City she planned on visiting.
Lilith opened the Castelia City option and was relieved to find Seven different confirmed Dark Type Pokemon. Multiple of which interested her greatly.
With the small silver lining, Lilith smiled. It was time to go to bed. She turned off the lights before laying down on the soft mattress. She tossed and turned for about an hour before deciding it was too soft.
Lilith ripped the top blankets off and lay with them on the floor. She was finally able to sleep.
***
Her morning consisted of food and stuffing the least terrible clothes she could find into her bag. Alder appeared later, sending them on their way. He didn’t say anything worth noting. He was polite and wished her good luck on her journey.
The constant flying was becoming tedious. She had been told that using her Holo Castor above a certain height turned it off, apparently there had been too many people dropping them from high up. It was a mistake waiting to happen.
Skyla followed one of the two unnamed rivers south. The games didn’t specify a name and Lilith didn’t bother to ask. The two massive rivers cut Unova into three large sections. They were so large that they looked like oceans. Two peninsulas stood to the eastern side while Twist mountain acted as a natural barrier to the Desolate Lands.
The air was nice and Lilith saw multiple people flying on Pokemon during her journey. The most popular seemed to be Swanna; they had both Water and Flying Types, making them ideal for the area.
Skyla took her over Virbank City as the river opened up into the ocean. They followed the coast westward until finally reaching Aspertia. The City was much larger than Lilith expected. Tall buildings lined the streets. Aspertia could easily house hundreds of thousands of people. The south east side of the City held a long line of trees that bordered the Ocean. The west side contained the Gym as well as many large fields for battles which opened up the area around it.
They dipped down onto the elevated landing pad that bordered the north. Lilith would have liked more time to watch the City from above, but once they had gotten too close, a patrol of Flying Pokemon escorted them to their destination. Skyla appeared unfazed, so she assumed this was typical security for Cities of such size.
Someone had obviously recognized her because a woman in a black and blue uniform ushered them through security right after they touched down. A Stoutland and Conckeldurr stood on either side of the gate while many Emolga hung on top of the fence surrounding the landing pad. The small squirrels proved an ideal position to glide around and direct traffic. The woman escorted them to a connected waiting room.
A woman stood up as they entered.
The room reminded Lilith of an airport. It was an open air design with chairs lining the middle most parts of the room. It was obviously configured for maximum efficiency, but most of the seats were left empty. A pleasant smell met her nose as Lilith looked around. The back walls were lined with shops. Some she recognized like a Pokemart, but most were new to her. Lilith did recognize a bakery when she saw one though. She just couldn’t figure out why there was one here.
Bianca had on her classic Green hat with a white bow as she approached. The look was completed with her oversized orange jacket. Lilith couldn’t help but stare at the woman's bust as she stood before them. She definitely wasn’t a kid.
“Skyla! How are you?!” The two embraced for a hug.
“Oh my gosh, I’m doing great, the last time we saw each other was years ago! I blame Juniper for taking you away from me!” Skyla whined.
The two let go as Bianca looked at Lilith.
“Hello, you must be Lilith! Professor Juniper had me taking care of you for the foreseeable future!” Bianca tried closing in for a second hug.
Instead Lilith tried backing away from the embrace.
“Aww, a shy one are we?” Bianca gave her a big smile.
“I’ll fix you right up! Let’s go get you registered for class!” Bianca cheered.