Nemona and I said our goodbyes to Clavell and ran off. As I followed her, my sprigatito in my arms, I couldn't help but gape at everything I saw. People were standing on the side of the route with their Pokemon, including ones I'd never seen before!

Overhead, a flock of weird bird Pokemon flew. They all had pompadours. Like what is that about??

"Mírate! You are so taken by the region, Luciana." Nemona teased me as I stared at the Paldean Wooper and it's trainer we walked past. She threw her arm around me and brought me in for a shoulder hug as we rounded a corner. "Don't worry, you can catch your own Paldean mons soon! I can't wait to see what sort of team you'll build."

I could barely contain my excitement when Nemona ran ahead of me and turned on her heel. "Here we are, Poco Path! Why don't you practice catching Pokemon here?" She dug into her pockets as I ran up to meet her. "Here, have these. I'm not the best at catching, so it takes me several tries."

Nemona handed me several Pokeballs. I pocketed all but one and held the loose ball in one hand. It felt light in my hand in stark contrast to sprigatito's ball, which felt heavy even without the little cat inside.

Sprigatito hopped down from my arms and jumped into a brush seemingly at random.

"Hey! What're you doing??" I cried, but Nemona put a hand on my shoulder, shaking her head.

"Relax, your kitty probably just found something. People tend to drop the most random things out in the fields, and Pokemon like to keep it tidy, you know?"

As if on cue, Sprigatito reappeared with something in her mouth.

"See? La Gatito already found you something. But what is it? I don't think I've ever seen an item like that. Maybe it's a battle item!"

I squatted down and held out my hand. Sprigatito brought me what at first glance looks like a simple phone charm, but in fact-

"Shiny charm!" I exclaimed, causing Sprigatito to jump backwards and Nemona to startle. I immediately got to work attaching the charm to my phone.

Finally, I can get to hunting! I wonder which one I'll catch first.

The shiny charm had several green beads and a blue star at the end of the thread. Shiny hunters everywhere knew what this baby looked like.

"Shiny charm?" Nemona tilted her head. "Aren't those just an urban legend?"

"Well... Only one way to find out!"

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"Soo... I think we might be late for school if we don't keep moving."

No, no, no... Why isn't this working?

A gasp escaped my lips the first time my eyes came across a lechonk, but now I barely registered any after an hour of searching.

I committed the color schemes of the new Pokemon to memory and kept my eyes peeled for any thing that looked even remotely different. I even caught a tarountula because I thought it's shading looked ever so different.

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Turned out it looked different simply because it was in the shade.

Nemona's hand clasped on my shoulder as I sent the tarountula to the box using my phone.

Nemona gave me a hopeful smile. "Maybe you'll come across a shiny Pokemon on your way to school?" I could tell she was getting bored and wanted some excitement. "I didn't realize you were that kind of trainer."

"What kind?" I asked as I followed her towards a hill.

"The obsessive kind. Shiny Pokemon are rare, you know? Plus, a shiny Pokemon isn't necessarily stronger than any other of its kind. It just has a weird color. I guess I just don't get it ." Nemona shrugged.

I looked at Nemona like she had evolved into a Zweilous. "It's not about how powerful it is... I just think collecting shinies sounds like fun."

"To each their own." Nemona lifted her shoulders in a shrug as she strode forward, the wind at her back.

Actually, the wind howled and we struggled to stay upright.

"What in the-"

As the gust knocked into me, I stumbled into Nemona. She reached out to steady me, her fingers digging into my arms. We both turned to look for the source of the sudden wind and caught a glimpse of a large creature shimmering in the late morning sun. It careened through the sky and crashed into the rocky cliff just a few yards away from us. Whatever it was, it let out a loud cry.

Nemona and I glanced at each other briefly before we both came to a silent agreement and raced to the cliff's edge where a wooden fence stood precariously. From our perch, we could see a strange Pokemon laying on the beach seemingly unconscious. It reminded me of a lizard.

"We have to help it, right?" I looked at the helpless creature lying on the ground, its pained cries echoed. "We can't just leave it like this."

We both leaned against the wooden fence, our eyes fixed on the pitiful Pokemon.

Before Nemona could respond, a loud cracking noise broke the tension. Turns out, it was the fence I was using as a leaning post. Oops.

As the railing gave way beneath my weight, sending me falling down a cliff, I shed a few tears.

So this is how I die... Well, at least it was more exciting than getting hit by a moving van.

My pocket buzzed and suddenly my Rotom-Phone flew out of my pocket.

HEY PAL! YOU NEED TO WATCH OUT AND LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP. LUCKY FOR YOU, YOU HAVE ME! BZZT.

I snatched the phone as it hurdled through the air, clutching onto it desperately to avoid a potentially fatal fall. After saving me from certain doom, the device swiftly returned to its rightful spot in my pocket without so much as a word.

"Are you okay, Luciana!?"

I gazed up at Nemona and simply nodded, unable to find the words to speak after almost meeting my end.

My feet carried me over to the Pokemon laying on the beach. Now that I got a better look at it, it didn't look like any Pokemon I'd ever seen before. Its appearance hinted at being a possible final form evolution for an entirely new line of Pokemon, but it didn't quite look like any of the new ones I'd seen so far. It's appearance felt...

No way. They wouldn't just... give you a legendary at the very start.

Right?

The poor creature seemed out of it, but it perked up somewhat when I approached it slowly. It had big, puppy-dog like eyes, which melted my heart instantly. When I got closer, it suddenly nuzzled my backpack like it wanted something I had.

"You want something in here?" I asked it as I took out my bag and started to search through it. I found at the bottom of my bag a sandwich. I don't remember putting it there... maybe my mom in this world packed it for me.

Looking at the strange Pokemon, I couldn't help but wonder...

Can it even eat this?

Based on how it was staring at what I had in my hands, I definitely had the correct item. It was practically drooling.

"Do you want this?" I offered the sandwich to it.

Its jaws snapped inches away from my hand, which I thankfully saved with my quick reflexes. My mother must have laced that sandwich with a full restore, because something incredible happened. The Pokemon suddenly started to levitate, the air around it crackling with energy. When all was said and done, what floated before me was clearly a dragon-type. If it wasn't a legendary, it was definitely a pseudo.

I stood in awe, but couldn't help but think:

That's basically a robot lizard.

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/872987948642095137/1194886437942857728/Miraidon.png?ex=65b1fbb6&is=659f86b6&hm=cc7d8f9434d4e8cd72b3fce1d6d8ce58784de64c45295e939b38c67263a4ff68&]