The terror only lasted for about ten minutes. Then I realized what was going on, and all of the fear fled my body, to be replaced with wonder and awe.

I was flying.

Not just in a plane, but actually flying! The wind whipped through my hair, and it was all I could do to not start laughing or crying in the absolute sheer joy of the flight. The tension started to drain out of my body, and I simply gaped in ecstatic pleasure at seeing the ground flash by me.

Forty-five minutes after I had first been terrified for my life, we winged over a small town, and landed in a clearing where Professor Rowan waited.

“Welcome back.” Professor Rowan said with a slight smile. “While Star can be very lazy, he also has a bit of a sense of humor. I do apologize if the ride was too unpleasant.”

The Pokémon in question huffed, and promptly laid down on the ground. The professor, for his part, sighed and pulled out a bag of treats, dropping several down in front of Star and the Pokémon eagerly started to gobble them up.

“That was amazing!”

“It is, isn’t it? The people who tend to fly more often have harnesses, but Star and I don’t get out often enough to bother with one. I must say I am glad you enjoyed the flight, I was worried there for a minute. It was perhaps a little rude of me to do that to you without warning, but I had hoped that the experience would show you there was still wonder in this world, and not just terror from being locked up.”

I stood there for a minute thinking, before eventually looking him in the eye. “Yeah, that was kind of an awful thing to do to somebody. It worked out this time, but what if it didn’t?”

A spasm of guilt ran across his face.

“I took a chance, and given the opportunity, I’d probably do it again. This world has wonders and terrors in equal measure, and I wanted to make sure you were strong enough to deal with them.”

It wasn’t like I couldn’t see where he was coming from, but it was still an awful idea in my mind, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I did enjoy flying, but if I hadn't...

“If you didn’t like it, I would have said that you can always catch a Psychic type.”

“Oh?”

“Why yes, so it can learn Teleport so you don’t have to fly.”

It took a couple seconds for his words to sink in, but when they did I blinked. “They can?”

In the games it was just to the last Pokémon Center visited, but that was a gameplay limitation.

“Oh yes. Most Psychic-type Pokémon can, although often only their first stages of evolution can only use Teleport on themselves. Most notably is the Abra line, with Abra themselves knowing Teleport instinctually, as soon as they are hatched from their egg. In fact, I wrote a paper on the subject several years ago with the assistance of Lucian’s Alakazam, who is now on Sinnoh’s Elite Four as a matter of fact. It’s quite a fascinating subject when you drill down into it, because-”

Professor Rowan apparently realized he was lecturing, and cut himself off with a cough. “Of course that can wait for later. Let’s get you settled in, shall we?”

It was only then that I really got my first good look at the professor’s lab, and the town of Sandgem as a whole. It was, like just about every other landscape that I had seen since coming to this world, absolutely beautiful. Professor Rowan’s lab was an interesting affair, with an almost medieval windmill joined to a high-tech facility that didn’t resemble the one from the game at all. Then again, this seemed to be more of the world from the anime and not the games, so I was cautiously setting aside my meta-knowledge for now.

Sandgem itself was a quaint town, spread out in the near distance from where the lab was situated on the hill. It was quite a bit bigger than the four or five buildings from the games as well, which made sense to me. Can’t exactly have a town with like twenty or so people in it.

We were close to the sea though, and I could smell the salt air on the wind as it rustled the grass around us. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed not being in a forest, and I took a long moment to just take in the sights.

“Come on out.” I said, releasing Eevee from her Poké Ball.

It wouldn’t be fair for me to revel in this experience all by myself, after all.

Eevee appeared with a happy cry, and eagerly jumped at me, and I just barely caught her. I smiled and picked her up, giving her a hug and rejoicing in the warmth that seemed to radiate from her. After a second I pulled away and she pouted at me, only to gasp as she took in the sights around us.

“Well, I’m glad to see you two have formed such a strong bond so quickly.” Professor Rowan said, watching us with a small smile.

“She saved me.” I said, remembering the charge of the Mightyena.

For her part, Eevee just poked at me with her nose.

“And I think she’s trying to say that you saved her.” Professor Rowan commented. “Come on you two, it’s not much but let me show you to your room.”

The room really wasn’t all that big, consisting of a bed that looked a little too short for me, a closest that was far too big considering I was wearing everything that I owned, a desk and chair, and what looked like a small dog bed. A door to the side revealed a small bathroom, complete with a small shower stall. Eevee hopped off my shoulder and turned her nose up at the animal bed, but seemed to be quite taken with the human bed, poking around it curiously.

“She doesn’t have to use that small bed, does she?” I asked.

“Hm? Oh, no of course not. My previous assistant who was living here, she’s the one investigating the Elgeym I mentioned earlier, she had a Shinx for her companion.”

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I frowned. “Why would that be a problem?”

“Shinx generate electricity when their muscles extend and contract. Coincidentally, they tend to have very vivid dreams where they tend to be chasing smaller Pokémon.”

“Oh.” I said, starting to see the issue.

“Yes, most Shinx owners tend to have their Pokémon sleep on another bed until they’re trained to master their electricity generation. Otherwise, well you can receive quite the unfortunate wakeup alarm.”

“I can imagine.”

“Commissioner Jenny is going to want to speak with you, to get some of your info for your paperwork. That can wait for a bit however, you look terrible.”

I was mildly offended at the comment, but I couldn’t really get too upset. I had seen my face in the bathroom’s mirror, and it was true – I did look awful. Thanks to the medicine the Pokémon Rangers had given me most of the smaller cuts and bruises that Hawg had given me had mostly healed, but it wasn’t perfect. Most of my face was covered in an ugly yellow bruise, my lip was split, and part of my eye was still red from where a blood vessel had burst. As well there were still three angry red lines where I had been clawed, and while they should heal over completely in a couple days, right now they looked terrible.

In addition to all of that loveliness, I hadn’t had a shower in a few days and I had spent most of that time in the woods. I was still wearing the spare white uniform of an Aether employee, but it didn’t fit right and was somehow already dirty.

“Like you saw, there’s the shower inside the bathroom, and I’ll have some loaner clothes brought out for you. Get cleaned up and I’ll get your reward money ready.”

“My what?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, you were asleep when Jenny left so you didn’t hear our conversation. Since you were responsible for assisting in apprehending several suspects wanted for crimes by the Sinnoh Pokémon League, and InterPol as well, it was decided that you should get some recompense for your actions. Helping the Pokémon in the way you did certainly helped in making that decision, by the way. The Riolu in particular gave you high praise, which is not something that should be taken lightly.”

“You mean you can get paid for catching criminals like a bounty hunter?”

“In essence – yes. There are rules and regulations regarding winning money for Pokémon matches, but that’s only for certain competition matches. Catching criminals however, well that’s something the Pokémon League decided should be rewarded. It helps deter Trainers from breaking the law, knowing that they might be put on a wanted list, as well as encouraging people not to tolerate criminals.”

I didn’t know how to feel about that, but I guess it made some sense. Didn’t the FBI offer reward money for information about their most-wanted list? This was essentially the same thing, except a little more hands-on, which made sense considering the seemingly less regulated world I was now in.

Of course Professor Rowan didn’t notice my internal discomfort over the idea of people hunting down criminals for money.

“Now most of the money won’t be available for access until your identification gets actually created and entered into the system, and until you are certified as an actual Trainer. Until then however, I can certainly give you an advance, to help get you on your feet.”

“How much money are we talking about anyways?”

“Oh, about one hundred thousand dollars.”

It was all I could do to not pass out right then and there.

/^\

As it turns out, one hundred thousand dollars in the Pokémon world was not the same as one hundred thousand dollars in America. Which, after what felt like a small heart attack on my part, certainly made sense.

The Pokémon world was essentially fantasy Japan, or at least had been at first before they started adding in other regions. As such their money was more like the yen and not the dollar, and one hundred thousand dollars was about the equivalent to a month’s wages for a full time job.

It wasn’t a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but for somebody who had no money to their name at all? I was ecstatic.

The first thing I did was shower, which was an incredible relief. I hadn’t even fully realized how dirty I had been until I had stepped into the hot water streaming from the showerhead and clumps of dirt, dried blood, and god knows what else started flaking off me. I shuddered, and eagerly scrubbed at my skin until I was red.

Of course Eevee decided that she wanted to be clean too, and as I was finishing up she hopped into the shower as well. Her thick fur made it harder for the water to soak in, and after a long, piteous look I gave in and knelt down to help her wash.

She purred as I worked the shampoo into her fur and pulled out twigs from where they had gotten stuck. There were also more than a few twisted clumps of fur, and I silently resolved that I would set aside some money to buy a proper grooming kit for her.

“You really like the water don’t you?” She nodded vigorously as I used the detachable shower head to rinse the lather off. “Maybe you’d like to be a Vaporeon?”

Eevee looked up at me quizzically.

“You know, when you evolve?”

Her head cocked to one side.

“You did you know can evolve into another form, right?”

The two ears flopped around as she shook her head, heavy with water-soaked fur.

“Oh boy. Well, Professor Rowan specializes in Pokémon evolutions, and I wanted to talk to him about it more later, so I’ll make sure you’re there. But in essence, Eevee’s like yourself are famous for being very adaptable, evolving to different kinds of elemental stones. Vaporeon for water, Flareon for fire, Jolteon for electric, Glaceon for ice, and Leafeon for grass. Oh, but then there’s also Espeon, Umbreon, and Sylveon, who evolve with friendship and love.”

She looked up at me with her wide, brown eyes full of wonder at the massive list.

“But don’t you worry about that for now, okay? Just focus on being yourself, and everything else will come later.”

Once again I was reminded of the sheer intelligence that Pokémon had, as Eevee was obviously mulling my advice over while I finished washing her off. Of course, as soon as we finished the shower she shook herself dry, splattering me with even more water.

“You did that on purpose.” I accused, and she simply turned her nose up and walked out of the bathroom.

Well I’m glad to see she’s doing better.

I had been a little worried at first about Eevee, she had been in a cage for a lot longer than I had been, and I was afraid that she would be withdrawn and nervous, like when I had first met her. Now that she was feeling safer though, she was starting to come out of her shell a little bit.

Professor Rowan was good to his word though, and when I came back into the bedroom there were some clothes laid out for me on the bed. They were too big for me, again, but I cinched in the belt and decided that I would definitely be going to the store today if I could.

“Say, Eevee?”

The Pokémon looked up at me from where she had parked herself on the foot of the bed.

“Would you want another name?”

She cocked her head, a little confused.

“Like a nickname. Eevee is your species, like how human is mine. But my actual name is Alina, not “human.” Do you want a name?”

Eevee seemed to think about it while I finished dressing, before eventually nodding.

“Do you want to pick the name, or have me do it for you?”

Her ears dipped down, then back up in what I assumed was a shrug.

“You don’t care?”

The same kind of shrug.

“Okay, well, let me think about some good ideas then. Until now, do you want to go shopping?”

I got a skeptical side-eye as a response, and a little belatedly I realized that as a wild Pokémon she probably didn’t know what “shopping” was.

“I need new clothes.” I explained. “And I was thinking about picking up some other stuff too. Like say, I don’t know, a grooming kit?”

She cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"Uh, something to comb your fur and make you look better."

Her ears perked up at that, and her tail started wagging.

“So, you interested?”

After another moment, she jumped from the bed into my arms, catching me off guard.

“Oof! I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can carry you and go shopping at the same time. I need both my hands!”

Eevee thought about that for a moment, then like a cat she squirmed in my arms and used the small claws on her feet to pull herself up my shirt until she was sitting on my left shoulder, her tail curling around my neck like a scarf.

“Okay.” I said smiling. “That works too. Come on, let’s try and get some money.”