I lazily looked at the Espeon sitting on the teacher's desk as I did my best to listen to the teacher drawl on about Pokemon typing. She was currently talking about the effect of each type and I was trying my best to make sure that I had a face that told her I was listening, already knowing what she was talking about made doing that ten times harder. Reality is different from the games of course and I knew that what I know from them couldn't always be applied in my current situation but typing? I would know how they work even with the fact that I forgot most of what I know about pokemon.

Espeon's two tails waved back and forth and as my gaze lingered, the cat-like Pokemon looked back at me and I smiled at him. She nodded at me and then jerked her head to the side, clearly asking me to pay attention to the lesson going on and I listened in for a bit, just in time for the teacher to pause as she picked moved to a new pokemon type- "of course, there is also the poison type, who's trainers are known to be patient and meticulous battlers that will carefully avoid their opponents until their inflicted poison takes knocks them down," she explains with a smile as she looked at all of us for a moment before turning to the board and writing something down, [PATIENCE] she wrote- "is what you need if you ever want to become a poison type trainer," she turned back at us and her eyes lingered around the classroom to scan for anyone that took the opportunity to talk to their seatmate when she turned her back.

Seeing nothing, she continued, "poison type trainers are methodical, they like to plan and most would have thought up their battles before they even start but most get over the planning part by sticking to a battle plan,

"using evasion moves is very pretty common for them but they also have a few more tricks and most of those involve stalling," I saw her scratch the back of her head and her eyes briefly looked at the stack of papers that held all basic pokemon type information on her desk, "and because of that, they're quite annoying to go against."

she paused and a few hands raised themselves, most of them in the front row. The teacher, thinking that it was a good opportunity to pause the lesson, raised a finger out and picked a student from the back. Seconds later, the girl asked her question, "uh, Miss Chrome, where do you catch poison types?"

I frowned and the teacher paused again, clearly surprised that a little girl was asking about where to catch what most people in Johto would associate with pollution and trash. A thought surfaced in my head and I scratched my scalp, if I remember right, there aren't that many poison types in Johto and both the Ghastly and Nidoran lines were the only poison types here. They, and the Zubat line. And maybe two more? if I'm correct?

after a long pause, Miss Chrome answered- "caves," she said, pausing for a few more seconds before continuing, "there aren't that many Poison types here in Johto sadly," at the girl's frown, she waved her hands back and forth, "well, not that many in terms of what most people would consider actual poison types." she explained, "see except for the Ekans line-" she drawled on, naming a few more pokemon that I had missed: The Spinarak, Weedle, and the aforementioned Ekans lines were the few things that I forgot about. Living here for 8 years took its toll when it comes to remembering the more forgettable pokemon.

'should've taken notes.' I silently thought to myself.

the teacher continued but her words started to get blurry as I thought back to the news I heard last night- Team Rocket... wasn't a problem. Or, at least when you compare them to the actual, large-scale threats to the pokemon world that replaced them in the later generations like team Galactic, Magma, Aqua, and even Ghetsis. Because of that, I don't exactly plan on taking them on, and right as long as they don't mess with me, I'm not messing with them back.

Even with the whole Mewtwo thing, I'm not in the place to take care of that and unless I feel suicidal, I'd stay away from that with a ten-foot pole. The league exists for a reason and I'm sure the Elite four and the champion can take care of the powerful psychic if they band together or something.

and besides, I don't even have a pokemon yet but it's something that's going to change sometime soon because I knew that those pokeballs right next to that goodrod were for me instead of Dad because why would he need a weaker water type? The fishing trips that he has with his co-workers, know was just something that he considers as a time to relax instead of something that he does to catch new Pokemon.

and as for why he bought those Pokeballs when I'm still two years away from going on my journey? Who knows, maybe he just wants me to have a Pokemon that I can train right now and treat as my starter when I finally start my journey, maybe he feels like letting me handle my Pokemon would let me prepare for being a trainer- the reason as for why can be anything.

the school bell ringing took me out of my thoughts and as usual, the kids in my class let out all the pent-up emotions they had bottled up during the prior lessons to talk, enjoy, and battle each other during recess.

I watched as a few of the kids that had pokemon scurried away from class, leaving the door with a few people following them. I couldn't help but notice that some of those kids had pokeballs of their own and a part of me wonders why more and more of my classmates are starting to carry their pokemon. That same part also likes to think that the reason why Dad bought those pokeballs for me is because of the frequent-

"Lionel?" I turned around and saw a boy looking at me through his glasses with nervousness. He was wearing shorts that stopped just above his knee and a black polo shirt with a roaring vulpix printed on the chest. The boy, Michael I think, looked unsure enough that I thought he was going to run away at a moment's notice. He didn't though and continued, stuttering at the start, "c-can you help Nick with his battle?"

I frowned, "what?"

"well... y-you know since I heard that y-you've experience battling a-and that your Dad has been letting you b-borrow his pokemon and giving you p-pointers I thought that-"

"Who told that?" I asked, eyebrows furrowed. No one in our classroom should know about that.

he froze, "w-well, uh,- you know what? never mind." his stutter is gone, Michael leaves and I let him go, watching as his back shrinks with every step away from me.

My frown deepens but my head started whirring, thinking up possibilities as to who did it and scenarios on how to deal with it flashed into my mind. Dad's office was the first suspect because it was at that that I fought my first pokemon battle and- I stopped the train of thought, the office was more than enough because unless one of my classmates lived near the Ilex Forest, they wouldn't see me fighting wild pokemon.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

I looked back in the direction where Michael had left and my mind again thought about who he's friends with and a small stray thought about stalking him during lunch and any of our free time came to me before I cut that specific train of thought off. As lucky as I was to have this ability in my new life, it was outright malicious sometimes.

putting the thought of Michael at the back of my head, I headed for the school's cafeteria.

...

Strangely, the school cafeteria was on the second floor and unless you were 10 years old - whose classrooms were conviently located on the same floor as the cafeteria - you had to climb a long set of stairs before you can even begin to eat but when you do get there, the food, as expensive as they were, tasted quite good. "not to mention the view..." I thought out loud as I watched a battle from where I was, the pure glass wall - with a few support beams that blocked some parts of the view, - the made it easier for anyone with the right seat to see what was happening in the courtyard below.

The battles were interesting, especially if you were a kid.

Down there, every single pokemon that was out, ready for battle or not, were either from Johto or from Kanto. I don't see and haven't seen anything else. There wasn't a single native pokemon from Hoenn, Unova, Alola, and all the other regions that had been made available to all the new Generations.

a battle caught my eye, it was between a Meowth and a Crabby, nothing new since those two pokemon are sort of a standard but what caught my attention though, is the Meowth's trainer- a girl sporting a bob-cut wearing a long-sleeved sweater and a pencil skirt. I think I saw them a few times at the edge of Ilex Forest (and in Route 35 during one time I think?) training her pokemon, a venonat, during Dad's weekly lessons.

Admittedly, the two fought well, and Crabby's trainer, as passionate as he was, wasn't reckless enough to let that passion cloud his head. I could barely make out their command from where I was but-

"CRABBY! DODGE!" yelled his trainer and the little crab followed, jumping away from the Meowth's slash. A small gash on the ground appeared from where the crustacean once was. "NOW! AGILITY AND USE BUBBLE BEAM!"

white energy enveloped the crab before disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared, following that, Crabby's mouth started to foam and he leaned backward, his eyes followed the meowth and when the cat made a mistake, he fired.

calmly, Meowth's trainer issued a command that I wasn't able to hear but her pokemon grabbing something from the dirt and throwing it towards his opponent made it clear she told him to use payday.

The dirt flew through the air and halfway through, it started glistening, the dirt struck crabby's bubbles and broke away parts of the attack before reaching the crab and exploding into a dust of glitter. When the now disrupted bubbles reached him, Meowth simply leaped back and calmly watched as the foam dissipated on the ground.

"CRABBY! TACKLE!" - just like his trainer, the crustacean ran towards Meowth whose trainer finally became audible-

"meowth! don't let him reach you! dodge and retaliate with scratch!" but the command was either too slow or Crabby was simply too fast as the crustacean brought the cat down in a bone-cracking display that kicked up dirt.

"GOOD JOB! NOW USE VICE GRIP! AND TACKLE HIM AGAIN!" the sounds of Meowth's cry was loud enough for me to hear clearly from where I was and as the cloud of dust blew away, I could see why- both of Meowth's arms were held in place by Crabby's pincers. The small cat tried to struggle as much as it could but Crabby's hold was far too tight.

Crabby's trainer met his Pokemon's eyes and he nodded, "LET'S FINISH THIS! USE BUBBLE BEAM POINT BLANK!"

and the battle was over from there, Meowth fainted and was recalled with Crabby following a few seconds later and after that, both trainers met up so that the loser can give the winner her money. The reluctant look in her eyes told me that she probably was on a tight spot already and I briefly wondered if the girl will continue battling to earn that money back.

She probably will, judging by the fact that she was gripping a fresh Pokeball in her hand.

...

Persian, for all he was annoying, would gladly protect me if I asked him to accompany me on the beach. And that shows when he was patiently waiting for me with a tired grin as I grabbed all three pokeballs and GoodRod from the wall and stuffed them into my backpack. Since my knapsack was pretty normal, the tip fishing rod slightly popped out of the bag's mouth even if it was retracted.

I gave my bag a once over, "The Goodrod... Pokeballs, food, and uh,- you think I missed anything?" I turned towards Persian.

"Per!"

"yeah no," I scoffed, "Dad's gonna be pissed that you took more food than he prepared this week." I reasoned. Persian winced. "and we both know that he actually keeps track of the stuff."

I gave the bag another check, "so we're not missing anything right?" I asked and Persian shook his head. "that's it then, we're leaving."

GoldronRod, for how small it was in the game was a massive city in this reality. And sure, the anime showed the actual scale of the places but seeing them firsthand really makes you think. Back in my old life, I never personally saw anything with the name skyscraper and the buildings that I did see were either pretty small comparatively or in most cases, lacked any sort of presence other than being simply big. They had no grand designs and to me, they looked quite plain. The fact that the buildings right next to them were smaller than them also didn't help.

Goldenrod city though, had presence and the sheer sense of scale and gigantism that I feel whenever I walked on the streets of the city made everything I saw back in my old life obsolete and it showed. The buildings here, when you go through the streets would block out the sky and the sun. This is what I once imagined what a city would look like and I was sure that if I went to this place as me I would get culture shocked to the point of just staring at the place for at least a few minutes before moving again.

a few more minutes of walking later and finally, me and Persian reached the Gate that led to Route 35. The guard here was more than kind enough to let anyone pass right as long as they had a Pokemon that can fend off anything wild. Said wild pokemon are usually the ones that managed to stray away from the grasslands and fields outside the route and into the commonly used path by trainers. Rangers also patrol these routes and they do a routinely check in the place every day but what are the chances that one would just randomly stumble upon you when you're getting attacked by wild Pokemon?

Slim to none, apparently. "hey there Mr. Boldock." I waved at the tea-party guard as I passed and he looked up from his newspaper to give me a polite yet professional smile,

"Lionel, Persian." he says, "I see that the two of you got tired of Ilex Forest."

I smiled and Persian says his name in agreement, "yeah, there isn't a single Pokemon to be seen on the edge of the forest lately and the rain on Route 34 got to Persian's nerves." the cat purred in agreement. "so we're taking Route 35 for now."

the guard nodded, and for a moment, his smile faded and his face became stern, "be careful out there, I heard a ship got sunk by Team Rocket off the coast from here," he cautioned, his voice laced with anger. Then his smile went back and gestured for us to continue, "but I don't see why they would go here and make trouble for themselves, so off you go!" he laughed and not wanting to be impolite, I gave him a smile,

"will do Mr Baldock." Persian and I left. When we were out of earshot, or, at least when the guard muttered something about Kantonians and I couldn't help but frown. The guy lived through the war between Johto and Kanto didn't he? And so did Dad...

I looked at Persian and he gave me a smile, "Persian?"

"nothing, nothing." and the two of us left off.