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As I'm walking along the town avenue towards the pokemon center I happen to walk by a fellow in an expensive blue suit and blonde hair.

Just as he passes me, I hear click of his fancy shoes stop, "Wait...you, where did you get that ball?"

Looking back, the guy is pointing at the luxury ball I was tossing up and down in my hand.

Could this be Winston?

"A nice girl gave it to me earlier today, what's it to you?"

His face turns red with rage, "That Slut!"

Damn dude, she can't be more than seventeen!

He looks back at me, then runs around to block my way, "I demand you hand that ball over! I bought it, it's far more expensive than someone like you deserves to own. In fact, I bet you slept with that little slut and took it from her!"

Is this guy alright upstairs? "No, it's mine now. More importantly, despite what your delusions are telling you, that girl Gina is definitely too young."

The light of a pokeball flash reveals a large, dark furred lion with a flaming red mane, a Pyroar!

Fancy Pants smirks, "This Winston gets whatever he wants, and whoever he wants!"

Creepy!! I'm just going to walk past this asshole and pretend my faith in humanity didn't just lower.

Pyroar seems a bit at a loss, likely never experiencing being completely ignored before.

Winston starts following me, "Hey! I demand that you battle me and hand over that ball!"

I silently just keep walking, mindful of the growling lion beast that should only be a few steps behind his owner.

Rounding the corner of the pokemon center I quickly stop and take a solid stance.

Winston's voice calls out as he quickens his step, "You bastard I told you to Umf!"

The moment his face rounded the corner I sent a solid right fist straight into his eye!

He collapses to the ground holding his head, "You...you!"

"I what? Piss off rich boy, and take your overgrown house cat with you before I report you to the police and the gym for attempted robbery. I should also mention your harassment of young girls."

He screams as a bit of nervousness passes in his eyes, "Do you know who I am?!"

I start walking towards the center doors, "Street trash."

——

It's an hour or so later, I'm eating dinner with Doctor Lacy just behind the center counter. Cindy is also chatting with us while seated in a position to still help any trainers should they need it.

A female police officer with blue hair walks up to the counter, behind I hear the familiar voice of Winston, "That's him Chief Devon, the man who assaulted me!"

She seems to hesitate at the sight of me having dinner with the local doctor.

I speak up first, "Good evening officer, I see you've apprehended the local pedophile and street mugger."

Her eyebrows raise as she looks back to the man, "What's this about Winston? You told me you got attacked by some hooligan, instead you bring me to the pokemon center and Lacy's dinner date. And now he's accusing you. I'll tell you that Gina girl has already talked to me about your behavior, you're facing some serious charges if you don't stop. Do you know how awkward it is for the Chief of Rustboro Police to have a cousin like you?"

We'll that was easy…

Winston sputters, "Haley?! Look here!" He points to his black eye, "I was clearly assaulted!"

Haley looks back at me for explanation.

I look offended, "This asshole chased me down the street with his Pyroar! Am I not permitted to defend myself?"

She calmly asks, "You have a pokemon right?"

Lacy helps out, "I told you barely a few hours ago Haley, I helped him catch his starter this morning. The little thing was worn out from the herb gathering this afternoon."

The doctor points to my net ball resting in the pokemon recovery machine, the lone ball in a machine designed to treat six at a time.

Officer Devon sighs, "Sorry cousin, I'm gonna have to tell uncle that this is your final warning. One more person complains about you and being the Mayor's son won't save you from some time behind bars."

His eyes glare sharply at me before he turns on his heels and stomps out of the center.

The cop exhales a breath and looks at the ceiling. I try not to laugh at her 'Why me' moment. Which is easier when I consider this clearly isn't a new event. Talk about privilege.

She looks back at us, "As for you, I'll have someone take your picture to post in the office in case anyone comes looking for a missing person."

I nod, "I appreciate it Officer."

Haley smiles, "No problem, actually trying to help someone is much better than chasing assholes. Anyway, have a good night Lacy, cute boyfriend. Ah, lil cousin Cindy, keep up the hard work!"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

As the Doc seems embarrassed, Cindy looks over shyly, "Sorry about my older brother Kurt. Winston has always been like a bully fish in this small pond. I was surprised when I got back from nursing school, it was like he hadn't grown up at all."

Waving my hand, "I'm optimistic jerks like him can't get away with being a piece of shit forever. I want to ask though, that Pyroar was huge, can he ride it?"

The young nurse nods hesitantly before hiding a chuckle, "His Pyroar is actually very sweet, it's the mate to mine. I ride mine on the weekends, Winston has always been too afraid to ride his."

I must look like an excited little kid as I turn to Lacy, "I want a pokemon to ride, oh, make it a flying one!"

Thinking back to the games, that was the best way to get around the map.

However the Doc frowns, "Really there are few pokemon in this region that can do that. I've heard that the best Pidgey in the Kanto region evolve large enough to ride. Here in Hoenn you're a bit limited to dragon types or if you can manage to get an Aerodactyl…"

She thinks it over some more, "Ah! It will take a while to train one up, but Zubat can eventually evolve to a Crobat. It's rare to see, but you should be able to ride a large one of those no problem. They can reach the same size as an Aerodactyl. You can find caves to the north and east of town, go in the evening and you won't even have to go inside the cave."

Cindy walks over and puts a black and green pokeball on the table, "Here, use this dusk ball, just think of it as me saying sorry for my rude brother. Oh, don't worry, if you haven't guessed my family is loaded. Daddy hands out stuff like this as if it was candy."

"Well then I won't decline, Thanks Cindy! I'll train up Tesla a few more days then head east in the evening."

Lacy smiles and laughs, "Take care of yourself Master Trainer."

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The next week simply goes by without any incident. I don't run into Winston again, Cindy said that their father has put the hammer down on keeping him too busy to cause another incident.

I did run into Gina again, she had a laugh about what I did to that creep. Janice came by the pokemon center, I apologized until she got annoyed again and said to forget it already.

A few more dates with Lacy made sure the local gossipers were all synced up. Getting to know her better hasn't been easy. She's got a few sore subjects she avoids talking about if she can, including most things relating to being a pokemon trainer.

Finally one afternoon I returned from my herb hunting and battling ten year olds to purchase my new phone. The mart clerk seemed surprised that I was doing all that work just to buy something someone my age should long already have. Seriously, dude needs to mind his own business.

It's decided that tomorrow I'll head east out of town towards the mountains. Instead of passing through the caves I'll cut South to Petalburg City. Once there I'll have my First gym battle!

I wanted to try out the Rustboro gym but Lacy said that was a silly idea considering my sole pokemon was a bug type. Roxanne, the local gym leader, would make Tesla a stain on the ground with her massive rock type pokemon.

My last night in Rustboro with Lacy, a nice dinner place, she places a purple pokeball in front of me, "Here, this is a friend ball, Zubat are notoriously fickle and prone to anxiety. Their evolution is dependent on their relationship with the team."

"So I'm not getting friend zoned, we're just drugging my ride?"

She laughs a little before schooling her face with a breath, "Be careful Kurt. If there's a Golbat, hit the emergency button on your phone or Joltik's ball. You're not ready, and there's a reason they put a harsher age restriction on foot travel."

The shadow of a memory turned nightmare passes in her expression.

Taking her hand and looking into her golden eyes, "I'll be careful. Remember, I'm not even going down the cave."

Lacy untenses a little and leans into my shoulder. After a moment of candle lit silence she almost snorts a laugh, "If you'd like practice going down I'm happy to help. Can't call it a dry run though."

Chuckling, "That answers the friend zone concern."

Her fingers push a fork off the table, "Oops."

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A late breakfast and I head out just after noon.

The only stop I make is at the police station to leave my phone number with Chief Haley… Not that it really matters, how could I forget that I'm not even from this world.

The woods are pleasant and peaceful as always, it only takes a couple hours to reach the mountain base. As the sun slowly moves towards the horizon I have Tesla set up a series of webs along the tree tops.

A few treats keeps her happy and motivated. Her little eyes focused with the determination to get each part of the trap just right. It's legit impossible not to smile as she makes happy chitters when scratching her back. All the webs have threads leading back to a nice hiding spot within some large tree roots above ground.

As the light fades from the sky, odd sounds from various nocturnal pokemon break the silence. Before too long I start to spot silhouettes flitting through the air over us. A moment longer and a harsh screeching noise can be heard nearby and the threads being watched by Tesla start to shake violently.

I light a lantern and rush out to check the webs. In the dim light I can see several Zubat and a random Wurmple caught in the webs. One of the bats is easily triple the size of most of the others. I'm pretty sure it isn't a Golbat though.

"Tesla, wrap the biggest one up and thunder wave!"

She hops forward to the net and quickly wraps it up. Once she has it fully covered a bright flash lights up the area from her Thunder Wave. Lastly she bites down with a Leech Life just to make sure.

I toss my Friend ball, the Zubat is pulled in and caught while even still slightly thrashing to break free. The suspense as the ball light flickers makes me nervous, as does the knowledge I can't hang around here any longer if this fails. Finally there's a solid glow and a soft ping. Just like that I have my second pokemon!

With a fist pump, "Fan'fukintastic! Now give those other suckers a quick zap to stun them again. Then we'll cut 'em loose and get out of here before the big bats show up."

Nothing can be done about the rather sharp screech the Zubat let loose when Tesla uses Thunder Wave on the entire web, I'm sure she's out of juice now too.

Nearly at the same moment I cut the final bit of web free, another bone chilling screech comes from the black night. Peeking over my shoulder I spot a Golbat the size of a pool tube zeroing in on me.

"Time to go Tesla!"

I scoop her up and start running into the night with my lantern barely leading the way. Shrieks echo in the darkness as the occasional tree root nearby bursts into splinters. In what laws of physics can soundwaves actually be fired off like this?! No there totally was a movie...Shazzam? No, Steel!

Another tree trunk has a section blasted away, the bits of bark hitting my side, "Ah fuck what am I even thinking about, Tesla fire some webs at that thing! Darling if you could pick a time to pull off that Electroweb we've been working on, it's now!"

Tesla begins to shoot lines of string from my shoulder, each shot gets closer to the target. After a few seconds of getting her aim locked in she finally sends a string shot directly at its wings.

Beyond belief the Golbat does a barrel roll, his wings seeming to reflect light from my lantern as he slices right through the threads.

I hear the Joltik on my head chitter angrily as another spray of string flies out directly for the Golbat's face. Small sparks can be seen arcing off of it as it actually glows slightly in the darkness.

The giant winged fiend with its gaping maw fails to dodge this faster web as it hits him square in the face and sparks. I barely avoid tripping as I watch it give a final screech and fly off into the sky.

I bend over to catch my breath and pet my tired pokemon, "Nice shot! We'll find a nice spot to hide for the rest of the night and rest up."

What sane person ever sent out their ten year old for this shit?!

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