Nurse Joy called out my name, announcing my victory.

With the battle ending, Trainer Lucas did an impressive long jump and landed beside the Graveler.

He motioned me to come closer and started spraying potion on his Graveler.

I praised my Zubat, giving it head pats, and recalled it, seeing it heaving for air.

As I reached Trainer Lucas, he recalled his Graveler and looked at me.

“Let me start by apologising, I took my arrogant persona too far. I am new to the job and was hoping to keep you on your toes and mess with your head,” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

“Excuses are not enough, Trainer,” Nurse Joy spoke as she joined us.

“You didn’t know the full circumstances of the participant and still went with your poorly constructed plan,” she said motioning to me.

Trainer Lucas looked confused, so Joy motioned towards the empty field with her head.

“Oh! Oh,” He shouted coming to a realisation that I was an orphan, who achieved his score without any moral or financial support. The very score which he criticised very badly, calling me a loser and good for nothing.

“I am really sorry,” he said and took out a disk from his pack and offered.

“This is a ‘Rest’ TM, one-time use. Take it, please.”

I looked at Nurse Joy and saw her nodding her head.

So, I took the TM.

He bowed and spoke.

“ I really should put more thought before doing these things. But I promise I won’t be thoughtless again.”

I just smiled at that.

I mean I am not an orphan- technically - to know what they had to go through in this world and I knew something was going on with trainer Lucas as his ‘You are a waste’ ‘monologue’ was robotic and badly delivered.

Standing up from his bow, he spoke.

“ Your strategy was very sound and you didn’t even get upset when you had to battle a Graveler with a Zubat.”

“ I would have given you my recommendation if you didn’t win the battle,” he said smiling warmly.

“ Instead of concentrating on Zubat's weakness, you efficiently utilised the Pokemon’s advantages. The use of Zubat’s Keen hearing is also marvellous, most new trainers are not as flexible or thoughtful as you,” he gushed, maybe a tad bit overcompensating for his earlier scathing words.

“But, before going into the spoils of battle, come out Rolly,” he shouted.

As I looked confused at the behemoth Pokemon towering over me, he ordered “Rock throw.”

The Graveler tore the battlefield and threw the rocks.

‘Oh my god,’ I exclaimed.

The rocks hurled forward with a speed nearly double that was used in the battle before.

Trainer Lucas pointed to the sky and the Graveler rolled to a side, releasing the rocks, with no change in speed, directly above and stood.

‘The rocks were thrown when the Graveler was still in its roll, He remedied the inflexibility of the Graveler’s arm by rolling,’ I thought.

And here I thought I was clever for not letting Graveler use its full arm strength.

The Zubat would definitely have been hit if the Graveler was not holding back.

Seeing my jaw drop. Trainer Lucas spoke.

“I am not discouraging you now or was not underestimating you during the battle. By the league rules, my Rolly should only use the same power as it possessed in its first form for this battle.”

“Evolution is more than just changing form. I am showing you this, so you won’t underestimate an evolved Pokemon in the future,” he said seriously.

I was disappointed, I thought I defeated the Graveler fair and square.

“ Don’t make a long face. Even though Graveler was not using its full power, it still has more health and energy than a Geodude.” He exclaimed and patted my shoulder.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“ This will cheer you up,” he said, giving me a tab.

It displayed various pictures of eggs.

“These are the elite Pokemon eggs you can choose from. The list does not contain Kanto’s Royal Pokemon, as they generally do not give out their eggs. And eligible trainers, which you are not, only get to choose from hatched Royals,” he said.

I frowned at his reminder that I wouldn't be able to have a Charmander.

As if sensing my mood, he continued speaking.

“If you ask me, bonds between a trainer and his Pokemon are formed quicker if you are the one to hatch it.”

“Do everything the Pokenet suggests for bond development, as long as said instructions do not hurt your Pokemon egg, even if they sound crazy,” he said looking me in the eye.

I nodded and browsed the tab.

The list didn’t contain any Pokemon from Dark, Dragon, Fairy, Psychic, Ghost or Fighting.

I looked at trainer Lucas in doubt.

“ Ha, don’t worry take your time, and the Pokemon types that are not suitable as starter Pokemon are excluded.” He said motioning me towards a bench to sit.

Instead of further asking him about the excluded types, knowing he could do nothing about it, I sat and began eliminating the given Pokemon eggs.

‘Seal- Restricted movement on land.’

'Oddish- Too common, I can catch it later if I want.'

'Zubat- Common and no high damage attacks. But.. has a very rare third evolution.'

‘Nidoran- Good, but I prefer Pokemon focused on speed compared to tanks. Because Pokemon with opposite types can do major damage making tanks redundant in some cases.’

My team definitely needs a tank in the future, but choosing a tank Pokemon as my starter is not something I want.

You can say it is a personal preference.

‘Ryhorn- same reason as Nidoran.’

‘ Pidgey- No type synchronisation or notable advantage.’

‘Rattata….’

‘Caterpie….’

I scrolled to the end of the list.

‘Huh! I eliminated all Pokemons,’ I thought and winced.

The damned list only has Kanto Pokemon.

I started scrolling again and finalised three Pokemon.

‘Nidoran’

‘Ryhorn’

‘Pidgey’

I checked their parents and the egg moves they are going to have are nothing special.

The egg moves will just let these Pokemon have certain moves earlier than their non-elite heritage counterparts, that’s it.

Nothing game-changing like my earlier Zubat’s Hypnosis.

Logically Nidoran was my best choice, but I couldn’t get myself to accept it.

So, I again started checking Pokemon, this time with its Parents, ignoring the fidgeting Trainer Lucas.

Zubat’s ancestry caught my eye. The egg’s going to be from a Crobat and an Honchkrow, with Crobat being female.

‘Is that a wild Crobat or a trained one?’ I thought bewildered.

The Sinnoh region’s Honchkrow being the parent is not weird or rare, as I read that most Flying Pokemon spend their whole youth travelling between different regions.

So Honchkrow as a parent doesn’t surprise me.

Kanto is home to many more flying types which are not considered Kanto flying Pokemon.

‘ The Zubat will inherit flying type egg moves as both of its parents are part flying type. With one Flying-type egg move showing the way, Zubat can learn many more flying moves like Wing attack and Gust, erasing its early weakness of having no good moves.’

It will even have a Dark-type hidden power move- with the Honchkrow heritage, which will be a very useful move against psychic Pokemon, who are the natural bane of Poison-type Pokemon.

The Crobat is a very rare evolution, with its evolution condition not clear – as people here or anywhere for that matter cannot measure friendship.

I firmly believe in Oak’s Balance law, which states- ‘The more difficult the evolution conditions the more power a Pokemon gains on its evolution.’

The Pokemon Professor gave an example by comparing Beedrill and Scizor, both bug-type Pokemon.

Evolutions are quicker and more common in Bug-type Pokemons when compared to other types, decreasing the time required for the completion of the experiment.

The professor observed that a newly evolved Beedrill never won a match against a newly evolved Scizor.

The Scizor can endure greater damage and is faster compared to a Beedrill.

The Professor provided a vast number of examples proving his theorem.

With Oak’s Balance law helping me in my decision I chose Zubat as my starter, maybe it being a flying type also played a part.

After informing such to Trainer Lucas, he slowly stood up and spoke stretching his body.

“Your Pokemon egg along with your starter package will be delivered tomorrow.”

After giving more details about my package and some tips for looking after my egg, he bid farewell to me and Joy.

As he was leaving the Pokemon Centre, he paused for a second and turned to look at me.

“If you notice something wrong with your emotions in your journey. Don’t feel afraid, you will get your answers after you complete your 3rd Gym.”

“It may not happen but remember my words just in case and if it happens do not worry, it is harmless,” he said mysteriously and walked off.

‘ So, it is aura messing with my head,’ I thought nodding, concluding his evasive advice.

‘ As long as it is not permanent, I am happy and from his words, it's common and harmless.’

With one less thing to worry about, my future no longer looked uncertain, the battle provided many answers I required for my peace of mind.

I looked at the sun dipping on the horizon and was enchanted by the magical view before me.

A Staraptor soared high in the sky, trailed by a fleet of Starly and Staravia, a lone Atlaria and a group of Swablu drifted peacefully like clouds. The sun's shine added a golden glow to the sky, making a magical and picturesque view.

The sounds of the group of birds blended into a harmonious song, erasing my stress.

Most of the flying-type Pokemon are always on the move chasing something ephemeral all over the world, each flock follows its leader. The scientist thinks the leader just picks a direction he fancies, as didn’t observe any pattern.

All large fleets of Flying Pokemon are monitored to prevent any surprises, with a significant amount of wild Flying-type Pokemon being part of some, truly, large group.

Most of these large fleets are made up of unawakened Pokemon at the end of their lifespan, with an Awakened as its Leader.

So, most people don’t dare to catch those Pokemon and are encouraged to stay away.

Thus the sighting of small flocks of flying Pokemon is uncommon and valuable enough to make a small amount of money by posting on Pokeforum.

‘My first earnings in this world’ I thought and walked towards the Poketerminal to make some money.

I wanted to catch them for myself but seeing that I would be spending at least 10 days in the Pokemon Centre to hatch and train my starter. I decided to make some small cash on the side.

After posting it on the forum, I went to bed.