Money.

Money makes the world go round.

That was always a fact in my old life, and also a solid fact in the new life.

Except money was more or less easy to gather in the pokémon world. You see, the whole coming of age thing where you have to provide for yourself is an actual fact of life here in the pokémon world. It took me a good while to get used to it, but I really couldn't use most of the logic from my old world into this new one. Children from ages 11 and up were considered "adults" in the eyes of society.

The act of going beyond the walls of your hometown, befriending, and taming various pokémon, forming connections with like-minded or opposed minded strangers, and providing for yourself with your effort and merit.

That's the stereotypical view many people of today saw a child's pokémon journey as.

And it's not wrong. Yeah, there would be some newbie trainers out there that had to provide for themselves because either their family wants them to, their family can't provide for them, or they don't have a family to begin with.

Heck you can even be fully supported by your family if their filthy stinking rich without having to worry about finance troubles. Now that may sound unfair, but that was basically life in a nutshell. Not every person is made equal once born, and that goes doubly sure for pokémon trainers.

But let's not get off topic. We're here to talk about money…or as they call it in this world, "pokédollars".

Being a trainer, you need to be financially well off to care for yourself and your pokémon. You can scrounge off of the wild, but it's not a totally stable thing to do unless you're interested in living the life of a hermit. No, if you want something, you're gonna have to cough up the dough if you're interested in wanting to buy a state-of-the-art, multi-terrain travel bike at around 75,000 pokédollars.

Yep, that was the price for a freaking bike in Viridian City.

And despite my annoyance at the high price that exceeded my wallet at the beginning of my journey (I had barely managed to win around 1,500 pokédollars), I can see where that price came from. A bunch of trainers, new and old, see the need to have one and since new trainers don't have a flying license or riding pokémon big enough to carry them, they'll need the extra help.

At least the price wasn't as high as they were in the first pokémon games. Seriously, I doubt a store can get away with selling a bike for 1,000,000 pokédollars.

Now as a trainer, we easily have one of the simplest forms of earning income compared to most mundane careers, and that's through battling an opponent and winning. If you lose, then you pay them. Its customary for trainers to follow this standard, and if they don't? Well, it's frowned upon, but not super enforced unless there are official stakes, and the battle is observed around witnesses.

In a sort of weird way, going on a journey and experiencing this teaches you about high reward-high risk situations when dealing with your money. You want something? Then you need to evaluate your wants vs. your needs. You could teach some punk bothering you a lesson through a battle, but you potentially lose the chance to use what's left of your funds for utilities like new clothes, food, water, and etcetera.

So, you can bet that there were some in my age group who did manage to get this down immediately like me (but I'm an unfair example), but there would still be others who fell onto their childish vices and impulsively blew their money away. Which again, is fair, since 11-year-olds are being pushed into the world and are expected to grow independent from the experience.

My case with money is that I'm both shrewd when my funds are low and irresponsible when they're too high. Of course, I'm not a wasteful spender. I just use the 35% of my earnings from battles and tournaments that I didn't send back home. Once I've accrued enough that it didn't eat into my base utilities, then I immediately get into spending a majority of it.

Back then I'd always be super mindful of my overall account balance, but nowadays…I've been fairly lax about it. The last couple of battles I had before the last Conference did keep me in a rather good place financially, and the cash reward from participating in League only solidified that.

Seriously, I had to go through my Account's new balance three times just to make sure I counted all of those zeroes correctly. If that was the cash reward for making it as the Runner-Up for a League Conference, then I had to wonder just how utterly swamped my victorious opponent from the Finals is in pokédollars. Eh, doesn't matter. I still got paid and to this day, I doubt I made as much of a dent in the amount I had.

Not even placing half of what I earned into the family account had made me worry about potentially going broke in the foreseeable future. At best, I'd say I would be financially afloat until the midway point of next year if nothing should arise to require any ludicrous spending.

Now after all this whole talk about money, you're probably wondering why I brought all this up instead of leaving you all in beautiful silence as I enjoyed a good day long nap and laze fest.

Well…

"Two orders of cherry pie for table 5, coming right up!"

"Hey, can I get some extra napkins over here? This dispenser is empty."

"Of course. Here you go, sir."

"Ah, sorry to be a bother Luke, but could you get Timothy another fork, he dropped his on the floor."

"No problem, Miss Chester!"

"Hey, Brat! You must have gotten my order wrong because I KNOW that I ordered that EXTRA spicy seasoned curry that your mother added to the menu! I can barely taste a thing!"

"Mr. Grouse that is the EXTRA spicy seasoned curry."

"Now I'm sure you're lying to me brat because there ain't nothin' spicy about this! I've already taken five bites and I have yet to perspire or drink a single drop of my water."

"I don't know what to tell you Mr. Grouse, that's literally the spiciest dish we have. My mom said that she had to use pure Tamato Berry and Cherri berry extract before watering it down to a level where it's safe enough to consume."

"There you go!"

"What?" I raised an eyebrow.

"That right there! I didn't ask for watered down spicy seasoned curry, I ordered EXTRA spicy seasoned curry. Go back there and tell your Mama that I want all that pure Tamato and Cherri berry extract in my curry!"

"Wait, all of it?"

"All of it."

"Wait, Mr. Grouse please listen we're literally following the regulations given to us by the FDA. Giving out something that extremely spicy is a violation of-!"

"And not getting me the curry that I paid for is a violation of my trust in your establishment and my unresolved hunger!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think I feel comfortable giving you actual death on a plate for lunch."

"Feh! That's what the problem is with you young'uns! You never get to experience the finer points of life until reality bites you in the keister. Back in my day, during the War, we didn't even have the luxury of having curry or rice, we had to make do on bland tasteless rations for months. Or whatever was left of the kibble that we fed to our pokémon. If one of us even had a single berry, we'd do all in our power to share with the others in our contingent and make it last! And another thing-!"

Yeah, I'mma just tune the old man out. As you can blatantly see, instead of crashing in bed for the day, I was now helping out in my mother's café, Delia's Delight. It's been five days since she roped me into working here until I pay off all the broken china that "I" broke (by extension through Kidd). It was utter crap, but I couldn't go against her word.

Now you'd think I could simply pay it off since it's just your average dish set that didn't cost more than 10,000 pokédollars, which was miniscule in comparison to your huge bank account. Well, that's true, but you know mothers…

"You won't always buy yourself out of a mess that you and your pokémon cause. Starting tomorrow, I expect to see you up and early to help me take Ash to school, and join me at work. You'll make up for what you owe me through your work hours, not pokédollars, do I make myself clear, young man?"

They want to make every little thing a lesson.

So I have to basically work the rest of March off in order to clear myself of what I owe. She did give me the option to leave early anytime I want, but that would just mean I'd have to work more the next day. Plus, the crucial part, I would still need to wake up early to go to work too.

Ugh! This freaking sucks, man. But I could see her point, like always. Letting Kidd out and being so lax about it was bound to cause trouble, and just because I've been used to his brand of tomfoolery doesn't detract how disastrous it still is when left unattended.

Still, I was glad that I wasn't the only one getting punished for this.

I smirked and watched two customers cautiously watch a floating pink apron emblazoned with the café's name carry a pair of strawberry shortcakes to their table. Looks like my Gengar doesn't want to be caught dead (Get it?) wearing pink. Shows what he knows, I'm very much rocking the pink apron + pink shirt combo. Real men wear pink after all.

No one got off Scott free when mom was mad.

Not even Ash.

Hehe, the little twerp was heartbroken when he was barred from making any plans with his friends to go play and instead was ordered to go straight home after school to do complete all of his homework.

To be honest, he got the lightest punishment in retrospect. He got to stay home and after doing some abysmally easy homework (well at least easy for me), he pretty much got to do whatever he wanted.

What I would kill for a cushy punishment like that.

But no, here I was listening to another one of Mr. Grouse's war stories of the first Great Pokémon War. At first, they were fascinating to listen to as a child whenever he babysat me, but now hearing them repeatedly for the context of his "annoyance for the day" was flat out tiring.

Looking out over the homey aesthetic of the café, I momentarily patted myself, my mother and everyone who put in the effort on the backs. You would never have guessed that the old, decrepit one-story house at the edge of town would be transformed into such a warm, comforting establishment that sold pastries, sundries, and the occasional odd special of curry or hamburgers.

Looking around for one of the nearest workers, my eyes glanced past Sylvie, who was using her ribbon-like feelers to serve two gushing Lasses their parfaits; Elizabeth, mom's Nidoqueen standing vigilant near the front door; and the various mothers and grannies from town that made up a majority of the café's management.

When the café opened and started to gain more traction from me advertising on my journey, it provided the opportunity for mom to get more help from running it than just having to rely on her two pokémon and herself. This job opened up chances for local mothers, both happily married or dreadfully single (which was an unfortunate majority in town and the world) to earn extra money for themselves and their families.

While the grannies just wanted to pitch in and help in any way they can…as they were wont to do.

But no, I wasn't looking for them, I was really looking for…there she is! Right behind me waitering for another table.

"Hey, Angel! I'm sorry for disturbing you, but would you mind telling mom about a certain customer not finding his meal to his liking?"

"Bliss-Blissey."

"Thanks, you're the best."

I smiled as the extremely kind and accommodating pokémon happily trotted her way through the maze of constantly moving waitresses, customers, and pokémon just to help me out.

Angel was a blessing that I would never ever regret. Capturing her in the Safari Zone and sending back home as an extra pair of hands to help out my family was genius. I figured that since Ash could capture a Mr. Mime to keep his mother company at home, that I'd do the same for myself.

Of course, I never really used her for battle, but she didn't seem to mind. Apart from the times I needed her for training, she was content and overjoyed to be of help to us. Especially when she had the opportunity to constantly put her skills with healing to the test with a rambunctious Ash Ketchum running around. It was a win-win for everyone. She literally got to stay and care for a great family, and we got to have our own stay at home nurse/caretaker.

Still, I was gobsmacked to find out that the Chansey that I occasionally swapped from home onto my team for training had evolved into a Blissey, two months after I caught her.

It was a nice reminder of how blessed I was to be born into my current family.

So, as I endured more of Mr. Grouse's long-winded "I was in THE war" stories, Angel returned with a laundry pin on her nose the most unholy form of curry that I've ever seen. It was molten hot, and so red that it visibly hurt my eyes just to look at it. The strong spices and even the sheer heat it exuded had me tearing up.

Everyone sitting near the path Angel took towards us leaned away from the hellish curry with even one of the customer's Pidgey falling over from catching so much of a whiff of it. I had to remove myself from the proximity of the table and watch from afar as the old man enjoyed eating curry with all of it's extract and spices amped up.

I never had the chance to live up to old age in my past life, but it seems that the older you get, the harder it was to experience taste unless it's to an absurd degree.

So, I returned to my duties of either being a waiter, busboy, or lead server. Having past life experience in the food industry came in handy for once. Unlike back then though, the customers from Pallet Town were frankly nice to deal with. It was the out-of-town customers that were 50/50 for us that made things a little hard to deal with.

Using newfound publicity for your family business is both a blessing and a curse. Especially in the pokémon world.

*SLAM!*

"Trainer Luke Ketchum! I, Otto from Gringey City challenge you to a Pokémon Battle!"

Sitting at the front desk, I looked up from my phone to spot a boy about a year older than me pointing a great ball at my face. Sylvie, who had been lounging next to my legs, glowered at the trainer for their audacity while I just rolled my eyes.

If he were more aware of his surroundings, he would have noticed that he was barely this close to slamming that door into Elizabeth, who caught it mid-swing. It was a blessing for him that mom's Nidoqueen was extremely patient otherwise he'd be soaring out the door like a freaking Braviary right now.

I looked at him, then shrugged. "Sure, but first you have to order something. For today's special we have our EXTRA spicy curry, but I wouldn't recommend that if you don't want to die. So, I'd suggest going for our carrot cake since that's a favorite of mine. Oh, let's get you a table first and…"

"W-What?" The guy stammered as I was already out of my seat carrying a menu for him. "No! I didn't come here for food!"

I raised an eyebrow at him in question. "Are you sure? We're giving out free lemon squares with every purchase that a new customer makes." We needed to give away some of yesterday's leftovers somehow.

"No, I-…hold on, you guys sell lemon squares?"

"Yeah, man." I nodded. "They even come with sprinkles."

"Sp-sprinkles?" The guy began to drool.

"Yeah. Sprinkles. They're freaking magical…"

"L-Lemon squares, I haven't had some in a long… Wait, hold up don't try and change the subject!"

"Oh, yeah, you're right. I should probably show you to your table first…wait, nah it's my break soon so I'll just call for someone else to come do it." I yawned and looked over my shoulder for anyone available. Hm, Mrs. Verdant seems to be available.

I began waving her ov-.

"No! I came here for a battle against you. Not to get myself a snack!" Turning around, I looked the impatient guy in the eye and tilted my head.

"Oh." I blinked at him. "Nah…I'm working."

"Are you serious!?"

"Yeah. Work comes first." Even though I'd rather be in bed or planning out a training regimen for some of my pokémon, I still held true to my priorities when working with my mom. Being the Runner Up for this year's conference gave me loads of attention from the public, especially trainers who want to prove that they can best someone who was close to being the winner of the tournament.

It turns out that advertising the café was a double-edged sword. It got more clientele to come in, but that also led to the opening floodgates for obnoxious trainers to come barging in for a battle. Honestly I'm flattered and would be willing to accept people's battles if I'm in the mood, but supporting the café took precedent for me.

An awkward pause of silence filled the air. I popped my lips and leaned back in my chair, my arm resting over it's back as I thought I heard Sylvie snickering at the kid's disbelieving expression. "So…you want to order something or…?"

I snapped my fingers at the door.

He still didn't react, so I repeated my "subtle" indicator to leave. He took exception to that.

"What do you mean you're working? I-I challenged you, so-!" I held out a hand to stop him before he threw a fit.

"Like I said, I'm working. Well, I'm on break right now…"

"So then let's go already!" My eyebrow twitched from all that aggressiveness in his tone.

I continued "So that means I'm still on clock to be here." I continued before he could shout something else. "But me battling you because of work is another story. You just have to order something, and when it's time to pay, you challenge the café. You win, you don't have to pay, and we give you a voucher for one free meal the next time you visit. You lose and you do have to pay. Simple as that, so do you want to make that order now, or what?"

With the surge of trainers knocking at our café's doors just to challenge me and not wanting to order anything, we came up with the idea to turn Delia's Delight from a simple café to a full-out Battle Café. You defeat one of the workers, and you essentially get to leave scott free without paying and getting a future free meal.

You want to earn a free year's worth of meals, then you have to defeat every trainer working here, myself included along with facing the Café Mistress, my mom. She asked Flint for some advice one time when we went over to Pewter City to help him out.

All in all, it's a fairly rewarding system for the customer and most wouldn't even fret over having to order something to eat just to put in a challenge.

"No, I just want a battle! I don't want to wait around for some cake just to do that. You're right here not doing anything anyway, so why not skip straight to the action!?"

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I groaned.

Then you have kids who were too impatient to prove themselves like this guy. Spectacular. Now he's going to be insufferably stubborn to battle until I give it to him, or Elizabeth throws him out, and the Nidoqueen was already making a move to do just that until I raised my hand for her to give me a moment.

…I also made sure to stroke Sylvie's head to calm her down before she gave more fuel to this guy's raging need to find some excuse for me to battle him.

There wasn't any need to kick the guy out or indulge him any more than necessary because the moment I heard Mrs. Verdant come over with another pair of footsteps alongside her, I knew that the issue would be taken care of.

"Excuse me, young man, may we help you with something?" Delia Ketchum, my mother, and the owner to the fine establishment that we're all standing in, happily greeted our "newest customer".

"W-Who the heck are you two?" Wow, dude way to be polite to your elders. At least introduce yourself first.

"Ah, where are my manners? Hello there, my name is Delia Ketchum, and to my right is my assistant manager, Petaline Verdant."

"A pleasure." The bespectacled raven haired woman happily waved before winking at my grateful glance. She must have seen how this guy was giving me a hard time when I called her over before going straight to mom.

"And to my left…" I felt the warm caress of my mother's fingers through my hair. "Is my baby boy, Lukey. Isn't he such a cutie?" N-Now was not the time to be a doting mother, I need you to be a serious and on task mother.

"Ahem! Thanks mom but maybe we should…" I gestured to the issue in front of us.

"Right…right…" She sighed and turned to the trainer, who was now starting to piece things together by looking at the both of us. Not that it's hard not to after introducing herself as my mother. "So, Mister…"

"Otto, ma'am! I-I'm actually a trainer from out of town, and I'd like to face your son in a pokémon battle!" Wow, his tune sure changed. Clever. He's trying to appear cordial into worming his way into getting a battle from me.

"Oh, is that all?" Mom happily clapped her hands then turned to me. "My my, Lukey, your popularity has been through the roof these last few months! I'm so glad you're gaining more opportunities to gain more friends."

I yawned. "I know, I'm positively bouncing for joy with this new "friendly" encounter."

Ow.

"Cover your mouth when you yawn, young man. Don't let it become a habit…" Mom scolded me.

"Yes, ma'am." I rubbed the cheek she pinched.

"Now I am grateful that you came all this way to see my little boy, Mister Otto. However, I can't quite lend him to you for a battle since he's currently working as punishment. He's needed here until his hours are done, and I can't have any rough horseplay while that happen right now, understood?"

Sheesh mom, you don't have to look so intense, you're making the poor guy shake in his shoes. But it's the only way to reign in these overly pushy trainers with a chip on their shoulders, so I can see the necessity in her doing it.

"Y-Yes, ma'am." Otto gulped.

"I'm glad that you think so, Mister Otto. That's very considerate of you." Approaching the boy, she did her usual mom thing and straightened up his collar and poked his nose. It had the effect of leaving him in a surprised daze as she graciously gave him a vibrant smile.

"And don't be in such a rush to prove yourself. There's always more than enough time to do better for the next Battle Circuit." The boy's eyes widened that mom of all people could readily read him like a book.

Except he wasn't the exception since most others who either dropped in the prelims or could barely get 8 badges sought some form of validation by challenging someone who made it far into the conference. For those challenging me, knowing their type apart from those who advanced far into the conference, or who at least earned their eight badges were simply too easy. It was always the desperate, pushy ones that gave away their current predicament.

"So do your best, okay? I'm sure that you'll knock them dead this year. I believe you can do it. So have more confidence in yourself, alright?"

"O-Okay." Otto looked determined not to cry after that small pep talk.

"Now Lukey may not be able to directly battle you right now, but if it's fine with him…" I yaw-.

Mom's eyes narrowed at me.

I quickly shrugged while covering my yawning mouth.

"Then you may skip purchasing your order and can face him in battle." She raised a finger as Otto looked just about ready to jump for joy. "IF you can defeat one my waitresses in battle first." Oh boy…

"R-Really?" Otto blinked in disbelief. Don't look so happy man, you're still going to be in for a bad time if you're going to be facing who I think will be your first opponent.

Mrs. Verdant's glasses took on a rather ominous glare as her sight was directed at the unassuming trainer. Her smile was…unnerving.

"Yep~. Just defeat one of them, and you get the chance to battle my son." Mom sang. "However if you lose, you'll need to purchase a meal from the café, okay?"

"Sure do, but I ain't about to lose! Alright! This should be a cake walk! Muk and I totally got this one in the bag!" You fool, don't be so quick to celebrate your victory before the fight even begins. Your opponent's already sizing you up.

"You hear that, Petaline?" Mom's warm, motherly smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Sure did, Delia." Mrs. Verdant, you're scaring me. I really hope that Blossom doesn't turn out to be as frightening as you.

"Then would you please be a dear and give Mister Otto the battle that he desperately craves for?"

And in a blink of an eye, the predator shifted to a more friendlier persona for the boy as she "lightheartedly" laughed and waved her hand. "Sure, I don't mind. Too bad I only have one pokémon on me. But I'm sure Tia will do fine." She turned to Otto and "worriedly" frowned. "Please go easy on us."

"Heh, don't worry lady, I'm saving the best for Luke anyway, so I'll make we won't go too hard on you."

"My, my, such a gentleman~."

"Sylve…" Even Sylvie of all pokémon was feeling a tiny bit of pity for the guy.

Not that I could blame him, he was about to get eaten alive.

"Eliza, would you be a dear and prepare the psychic barrier generators around the field."

With a light grunt, the Nidoqueen vacated the café and immediately went to prepare the battlefield with both Otto and Mrs. Verdant following right after them.

"Just you wait, Luke, I'll be after you once I'm done with her." Otto, the dead man walking heartily declared.

Before he goes though, I had to ask. "How many Gym badges do you have?"

"Heh, I'm sure you'll be impressed to find out that I currently have 4 to my name!" That's…impressive. Still not enough for who you're going to face though.

Wait…four gym badges?

"So, you've defeated Lt. Surge?"

"Urp…well, I challenged him, but I realized the jerk wasn't worth the effort and moved on to the Wisteria Town to face their Gym instead." So, he faced the Flying Type Gym Leader, Icarus instead, eh? A minor gym instead of going back to face the major one, a wake-up call for all newbie trainers to better their strategy and training regimen.

It took me three tries to get my badge from the guy. After that he's been really cool with me. A bit more to my actual liking, but I wasn't going to give him the cold shoulder especially after he told me of ideal locations or environments that were potential habitats for Thor's species. Still had to enforce some limits against him wanting to really get me "balls deep" as an Electric Type specialist trainer.

Still if this guy hasn't beaten Surge, then…

I nodded and could only wave him goodbye. "Well, good luck against, Tiamat." I hope they remember you, Otto.

Watching the poor fool on his death march, I slumped back in my seat, and gladly allowed Sylvie to hop up and rest on my lap. She crooned as I gently rubbed her forehead. Most of customers noticed the waitresses tying back the curtains facing the battlefield and activating the back-up psychic barriers placed on the tempered tall paned glass.

With a battle to entertain them about to be on display, more than half of them chose to eat on the veranda much closer to battlefield while a few chose to stay inside and watch. With my own mother being part of that demographic as she chose to instead stand by my side and return to running her hand through my hair.

"Hi, mom…" I muttered.

"Hey, Lukey." She giggled and continued fiddling with my hair. "You hungry?"

"Yeah, I'll make myself something for lunch."

"Nonsense, just tell me what you need, and I'll cook it for you."

"Well, if you're offering…can I have some mild curry. Like REALLY mild."

"Right, so you don't want hard spices in it."

"Yes, please." I nodded. "…Also wasn't it a little cruel to sic Mrs. Verdant on that guy after talking him up like that?"

"It may have, but I figure you would like to take it easy with your lunch break approaching, and for the day in general." She giggled at my enthusiastic nod. "I may want you keep active and see your punishment through to it's end, but I won't push you to do much more than you personally want. Especially when getting pressed by those impatient to not be considerate of other's circumstances and feelings."

Ah, so she was little annoyed with the guy trying to strongarm me into a battle. Delia Ketchum has always been such a worrywart, caring, kind, and overprotective as a mother in the anime. However, being born to her as her firstborn son has given me a bit more of a glance into her as a human being. One of them being that she can be a bit spiteful should the moment call for it, especially for her children.

It would have made me wonder if I inherited that aspect from her if I hadn't been reincarnated from my past life.

"Thanks, mom."

She kissed my forehead. "Don't mention it, and be sure to enjoy your lunch break, sweetie."

Sylvie's growling toward the door interrupted our mother-son moment. "What's wrong, Syl-?"

"Hey, everyone, it's just your common Diglett (Gopher) Daisy here to place an order in for everyone down at the lab!" Ah, so that explains why she's growling.

"Oh goodness, it's so lovely to see you again, Daisy!" Mom happily ushered the girl in.

"You too, Mrs. Ketchum. How was your morning?"

"Simply the best. How about yours?"

"You know the usual, had to give my brother a harsh reminder about why sleeping in because he was playing his video games until midnight again wasn't a good idea with me around." Daisy smirked.

"We can certainly relate to that." I nodded in agreement with mom. Ash didn't need video games to stay up, just the defiant thought of not going to be was enough to keep that ball of energy up through the whole night.

Laughing at that, Daisy finally turned her sights to me, her bright smile turned into a dry grimace. "So…"

"Hey, Daisy." I lazily waved.

"Yeah, hi, why are you still wearing sweatpants to work?" At least pretend to be cordial, girl.

"I don't see why there's anything wrong with that." I shrugged.

"Mrs. Ketchum, please…an explanation for why you're allowing this madness to continue." Daisy desperately looked at my mom, who could only sheepishly rub the back of her head.

"Well, he mentioned that working at the café was technically like being at a home away from home, and felt like wearing what was comfortable for him. He also mentioned that he'd experience less strain to his body and experience less rashes if his pants weren't so tight, and so I decided to let him do as he wished."

I refused to meet Daisy's eyes. So, what if I had to use my mother's overprotective nature to give her a flimsy excuse just to wear sweatpants. If I'm going to have to work a majority of the day, then I'd rather be comfortable while doing it.

"So, you're here to get everyone their lunches again?" I decided to change the subject.

"Yeah, that's literally what I said upon entering." Okay no need to be like that, I was only trying to make conversation.

"Good to know, but why do you keep coming over? You could have just called us, and we would have had Heaven and Jubilee fly over to deliver it to the Lab?" I mean, the reason was obvious since I've been working here and she's gone from calling in the orders to come physically make them herself, but I wanted to get the truth from her.

Or at least tease her about it for fun.

"Well, maybe I just wanted to say hi to you guys."

"Aw~." Mom cooed.

I wasn't convinced. "You can do that over the phone too."

"Luke!" Mom admonished me.

"It's the truth." I shrugged. "So, what's with you always dropping in to see u-?" I looked back to Daisy to find her attention grasped by the one-sided massacre of a battle outside.

"Is there a reason why Mrs. Verdant is having her Dragonite turn that Muk into a popsicle?" Hah, look who's changing the subject now?

"We-."

"I'm sure that you and Luke will have more than enough time to chat about that after having some food to fill your bellies~." Ugh, I know that look she's giving us. Mother, please stop trying to be my wingman, I'm still 12 y'now. Ugh, I wasn't going to get out of this was I?

Sylvie looked just as displeased as I was. Though I figured that my displeasure was for my missed opportunity to tease Daisy. Have no clue what my pokémon was completely displeased for.

And after placing in her order for herself and everyone back at Professor Oak's lab, we were placed us in one of the more private booths of the cafe. Way to be subtle, mom. Sylvie sat beside me giving Daisy a rather worrying glare that the girl was doing all in her power to ignore. To be fair, this was the most behaved Sylvie could get around my childhood friend, and that's because of mom's presence.

Mom had put her foot down and scolded Sylvie not to keep growling at Daisy.

Sylvie would have growled at mom, but…hahahahaha…no.

Now look I love my pokémon, and I would never be needlessly cruel or angry with them. But there's always been a ground rule that I establish with them when bringing them home or around my family.

You don't ever growl, bare your fangs, or physically harm my brother or my mother.

One look from me was all it took to cowl the moody Sylveon's from overstepping her limits.

As we waited for our lunch, we finally got to talk about the trainer of the day that impatiently wanted to battle me while at work.

"Well, at least he's technically getting his wish to battle an Indigo League Runner-Up." Daisy worriedly smiled as we watched from the intimidating sight of a large, green Dragonite clobber the hell out of Otto's fourth pokémon, a Heracross.

I desperately wanted to ask the guy how he managed to find one of those in Kanto, but I doubt he'll be in a good mood to disclose that information with me like Lt. Surge.

Well, that's what he gets for underestimating the "simple" waitresses of the café. Not everyone may have been successful on their pokémon journeys as a kid to conquer the Conference and League, but there is still a good chunk of them that are still accomplished trainers in their own right. Growing up and making a family make them rusty if they're not still training, but an Elite trainer is still an Eliter trainer.

That goes doubly for Mr. and Mrs. Verdant, who come from a generation after my parents. They both met at the Indigo League at the ages of 15 in the Semi-Finals with Mrs. Verdant from Blackthorn City being the victor yet losing in the Finals soon after.

They might not have all made it to the Finals or Semi-Finals, but the population of most of Pallet Town consisted of retired trainers. Heck, the founding of Pallet Town was soon after the Second Great Pokémon War ended, specifically the long bloody feud between Kanto and Johto. Old veterans like Prof. Oak, the Mayor and so many others needed a place to settle down and keep vigilant near the border of their former enemies, and so Pallet Town was founded.

I probably skipped a lot of crucial context but that was the gist of what was taught in class.

So, from all of that, remember…never underestimate the old folks because they sure as hell lived a more colorful life than you, who has been alive for barely a decade.

"Yeah, I almost feel sorry for him…" I frowned for a mere second before turning to my lunchmate. "So, how's everything down at the lab?"

"Good…good…" Daisy shrugged. "Grandpa's still in a fit about not getting to study Sylvie."

I laughed and happily stroked Sylvie's fur in the way she just absolutely adored. "Of course, he would." Eventually my pokémon did melt into my hands from my ministrations. Good, I wasn't mad at her, just what she tried to do.

"What about you?"

"Huh?" I was broken from my Sylvie petting trance.

"How's everything with you, I mean. You're back to waking up early and on time again, so…" She drummed her hands on the table counter. "That must be a nice change of pace."

"Yeah…" I looked to the side and sighed. "It's a change of pace…"

"Doesn't sound like you're happy about it."

"I mean, I'm happy to help out my mom, but I'd just rather enjoy sleeping, y'know." I propped my head up with my hand.

"I know." She deadpanned.

"I'm serious." I dryly looked at her. "It's just nice…not having to follow a strict routine for once after nine months straight of constantly worrying myself to death with training, arriving to the next town in time to log in for the next available gym battle." Jesus Christ was I such a mess when I had to wait a full 3 weeks to battle Erika. "And always needing to keep an eye out for any wild pokémon that seem to want forage my belongings for food, or just want to eat me or my other pokémon."

I shuddered at memory of that deep, dark cave beneath the unstable footing of that damned mountain range. Being surrounded in the dark by so many ancient predators… Getting reminded about how "innocent" and "cartoony" the anime made the experience of being trapped with so many of them was such an eye-opener.

All of those jagged teeth developed over countless years to bite into and rip apart the flesh of its prey…and a maw so wide that it could swallow me whole in a single bite.

…

…

…

…

"L-Luke?"

"Huh?"

"You're shaking." I looked at my hand to find that I was.

"I am." I tightly clenched my fist to stop my jitters. "Sorry about that, I'm fine. So don't worry."

"Are you s-?"

"Yes." There wasn't anything to talk about.

"Well…" Daisy sighed to herself before looking to the side. "If you say so, just know you can tell me if something's bothering you, okay?"

I smiled. "I sure will. Thanks."

"Sylveon?" Aw, I guess Sylvie noticed my...fe-. No, I'm fine.

I gave her a scratch beneath the chin and chuckled. "I'm fine, don't worry about me, girl." She leaned into my affectionate scratching, but still looked worried…like Daisy. That's what I get for accidentally opening old wounds…

Great job, Luke.

Looking back to the battle happening outside, now Mrs. Verdant's Dragonite was facing a Raticate. Nothing else to say besides the obvious curbstomping it was out to the rest of Otto's pokémon. The guy seemed to be in distress over this battle as a whole. Well, hopefully he'll buy himself some of those lemon squares to cheer himself up after he loses.

"You smell nice."

"E-Eh?"

"I'm saying that your new choice in perfume smells nice." I shrugged.

"Y-You noticed?" Hey, no need to act so surprised, you've been coming around here for days, so of course I'd notice the smell.

"Of course. It suits you, smells…flowery." I chuckled.

"Flowery…just flowery?" She looked disappointed.

"Yeah?" I said, unsure. "Why? Is there something else I'm not getting?" I tapped my chin and took another whiff of the lingering aroma. "I do smell a hint of citrus if that's what you're implying…"

"N-No. It's nothing…" Daisy sighed and immediately pulled out her phone. The rapid dexterity of her fingers tapping against the screen meant she was texting someone. Who exactly, I had no clue.

"…lackluster reaction…"

"What?"

"Nothing! Nothing just texting Erika about the results of a new fragrance she wanted me to try." Oh, that's right. I guess that kind of thing would entail when she has a sponsorship with that girl's budding business. "It didn't produce the results we were looking for it seems."

"Huh, okay." I blinked, unsure how to respond until the clattering of both of our meals on the table roused our attention to our invisible waiter. "Thanks, Kidd."

"Gen…" Kidd unhappily grunted.

"Oh hello, Kidd, I like you're apron." Daisy complimented him with a smile and a wave.

"…" I couldn't see my ghost pokémon's face, but I would surmise that he was caught between feeling insulted or elated with the genuine compliment. After he silently floated off, both of us happily ate our meals with gusto. Chattering on about the recent news (or lack thereof) about town, the region, and our individual homes.

By the time we were close to being done with our meals, the battle had ended with Mrs. Verdant as the clear victor. Poor Otto. I almost felt bad for the dude. Thankfully I had asked mom to leave a dish of lemon squares out for him to stuff his face with just to cope with what was probably the most difficult battle of his life.

Daisy had attempted to elbow me to offer up a battle to guy to cheer him up. I steadfastly refused since that would kill the point of mom having tricked him to face Mrs. Verdant in the first place. So, I chose to instead go with a different approach.

"Look, man, you just really caught me at a bad time for your challenge. Still, I hope you learned never to underestimate a completely unassuming opponent." The guy slowly nodded, looking as dour as ever. Daisy and I decided to see him off after Mrs. Verdant gave a passing compliment to Otto for the fun battle. The guy certainly didn't find getting clobbered to be fun enough to give her more than a subdued nod.

"Anyways, I wouldn't mind facing you in battle the next time you visit."

"Really!?" Oi, what happened to that sad sack routine you were pulling right now?

I plowed on before he could go off into his own little world. "But…only when you've defeated the Vermillion Gym and acquire their badge."

"B-B-But-! I already have four badges, so shouldn't that be enough?"

"No." I shook my head. "Sorry won't accept anything less than you surpassing him in the upcoming circuit. Do that and I'll give you a one on one battle."

He slumped down. "Just a one-on-one?"

"Of course, but let's say if you were to have all eight badges and then some, then I'll indulge you in a full six-on-six." Aha, that had him perking up. The trick to handling trainers in gyms was ingenious for us selfish bunch. If you dangle a challenge over another that seems just as rewarding, then you can basically get as much sway over them as want.

"All right then, so if that's all I have to do, then fine!" Determined, he pointed his finger at my face, in my personal space, and exclaimed. "Just you wait, I'll be back to surpass you and…her. Ya hear!?"

Sure, dude. Also, good to know that Mrs. Verdant is now in his sights. Sure, she'll look forward to another rematch to show to Blossom one of these days.

And so, Otto rushed out of the café to who knows where.

I scratched my head and sighed. Man, was it going to be pain for everyone when he returns. But at least I'll have something to look forward too.

"Aw that was very sweet of you…" Daisy smiled, then leaned in to give me a suspicious look. "What's the catch?"

"There's no catch at all. He just needs to either beat Surge or get more badges to battle me. Simple."

"Yeah…but you're not staying in Kanto for the upcoming Circuit. So what's up with that flimsy promise?" Ah, I can see where she's coming from.

"But it doesn't exactly have to be during the Circuit, it could just as easily be after it that he'll have his chance to battle me."

"So, you've finally chosen where you're going?"

"Who knows…" I crossed my arms and smirked, leaning in closer to her. "What about you? Since you're so eager to find out where I'm going, you won't have a problem spilling the beans about your plans, right?"

"Who knows…" She huffed. "I'm undecided too."

"Hm, strange…"

"Strange indeed…"

We just stood there at the front door staring at each other until a burst of flash broke out staredown.

"Hmhmhm~! Memories~!" Mom shamelessly hummed to herself as she pulled the developing photo from that old camera she loved to carry around. "Aw, you two look so cute~!"

"Mom…" / "Mrs. Ketchum…" Both Daisy and I groaned at her antics.

"By the way, Daisy. Your orders for the lab are ready, so whenever you're ready be sure to come around so that we can fasten the containers to your Arcanine." With a thumbs up and a "will do", she immediately got to doing that right now. I of course helped because mom had wanted me to be a gentleman.

With everything in place, she took off after saying her goodbyes to everyone. It was almost perfect timing too since the grassy field that we stood on began to experience a brief gust of wind with the two arrivals of both mom and I's aerial takeout delivers.

"Pidgeoooooooo!"

"Kisssssssss!"

"Welcome back, Gail and Jubilee! Marvelous work as always!" Mom and I rushed over to the duo of flying types and began divesting them of their empty leather harnesses that were packed with the wrapped food of our customers.

Mom took exceptional care to not ruffle the feathers of her Pidgeot while I was gently coaxing the literal baby of my party with tender affection. She giggled and played a bit as I sought to brush down the fluff of her feathers with each leather container that I divested off her sides.

"There you go, sweetie. You feel good?" I gently rubbed her face and inspected her for any food that must have spilled on her soft feather.

"Toge-Kiss! Kiss!" She crooned at my touch and happily flapped her wings in jubilation.

"There that's way better." I chuckled and touched my forehead to hers. She was technically the only Togekiss around, so I couldn't really compare her size to those of her species, but I imagined that she was smaller in comparison since they were estimated to be around a Pidgeot's size when fully grown. But that's to be expected of the little one, since she's still basically less than seven months old.

I really had to blame my…hectic lifestyle during my journey. When all I did was either feed or lightly play with her between long bouts of intense training with the others, she innocently began to believe that two pokémon battling each other for days was a "fun game". As a trainer, I have no clue if that made me a good or bad influence.

Welp…

And from there, nothing much really happened for the rest of the day. We managed to feed all of the customers, we fed all of the pokémon that helped out around the café, I had to help Mrs. Verdant break up an argument between Sylvie and her Dragonite over their lunches that were swiped from them with Kidd as the main suspect, and lastly me accompanying mom to pick up Ash from school after locking down the café.

Apart from everything else, today was chill.

Which was to be expected since Pallet Town was basically the best place in Kanto for an idyllic life.

At least to me.

Hm, it may go against my long-term plan of returning to my busy schedule of sleeping in, but perhaps a break in routine would be nice. I'm sure mom won't mind. I'd lose time that I could put in at the café to pay off what I owe, but a change in scenery would do me some good.

Besides, it's not like I'm going to miss much. At worst, I'll probably hear about another random trainer who solely came to challenge me but not order anything from the café again.

Typical behavior.

Now who to take with me out into the wild…

----------------------------------------

Unbeknownst to Luke, a challenger did arrive that very next day, but in no way shape or form were they any random trainer…

"Hello, young lady. Welcome to Delia Delights, may I take your order?" The unassuming waitress approached the table of fairly intimidating blue haired girl sitting alone in the stall.

"Indeed. I would like to purchase one of your Rage Candy Bar sundaes please. I expect that it will live up to my expectations?" The blunette haughtily spoke.

"Why of course, ma'am. It's certainly a big hit with the visiting crowd from Johto, so I hope you'll enjoy it. Now Is there anything else I can get for you?" The waitress happily jotted down the order.

"Yes, actually…" In a blink of an eye, an oppressive feeling washed over the waitress as she and many other occupants in the café began to sweat under the mere pressure the mysterious girl had.

"I hear that this café, allows for their customers to forgo payment should they best one of their workers in battle. If that's the case…I wholeheartedly request a battle…no, a rematch against Luke Ketchum if you would ma'am."