“People these days…bullying children.” Those words caused me to frown, and I looked back to see an older looking man, giving me a disappointed look. How dare he. That was my line. How dare he try and apply that to me.

“You here to try and bully me, too?” I retorted. “Are you going to choose one of my first stages, and then send out a third stage with double type advantage to fight them?” I looked the man up and down, he was dressed rather nicely. “That kid wasn’t dumb, he just panicked when he didn’t immediately stomp me like he thought he would.”

The man scowled at me, clearly not expecting to be talked back to. “You should talk to your elders with respect.”

“Respect is earned,” I responded. There were a whole bunch of other things on my mind to say to him, but he wasn’t worth it.

However I seemed to only make him more upset. “Then I’ll teach you how to show respect.” He moved over to the other side of the battle arena.

“Cara, you’re up,” I said as I moved back into the square. “Fighting steel,” I called out to the older man. “Her weaknesses are fighting, ground, and fire. Just in case you wanna try and double advantage on her.”

To my slight surprise, the Pokemon he sent out was Pangaro. The large panda-like Pokemon towering over her at nearly twice her height. “Hammer Arm,” He said before Cara had even finished getting into position.

“Meteor Mash.” The two blows struck almost simultaneously. I saw as the Pangaro winced at punching the steel covered fist. “Force Palm.” Cara hit the Pangaro with both palms straight into its stomach.

However the large figure didn’t even stumble back. “Low Sweep.”

“Extreme Speed.” Even as the Pangaro’s leg swept under Cara, she flipped, palming the ground before righting herself and delivering a series of blows to the panda's side. Thankfully Cara had a lot more experience with fighting than the others.

“Vital Throw!” The man shouted, it was apparent that he was getting frustrated. I didn’t even have to order Cara as she leapt back and away to make space. She had heard ‘throw’ and knew the large Pokemon would try and grab her.

However she tried to do an Aura Sphere as I called out, “Extreme Speed again! Keep distance!”

Unfortunately she was too focused on collecting aura and was grabbed. There was a moment of shock on her face as the two of them suddenly twisted and Cara was slammed into the ground. “Hammer Arm!”

Cara was still trying to get up as the Pangoro raised its arm and swung downward. “Counter.” The blow struck Cara hard before she suddenly blurred and delivered an uppercut that actually sent the large Pokemon staggering back.

She looked to be in rough shape, but the Pangoro wasn’t fairing that well either. “Work Up!” The man was confident that his Pokemon could take another hit, and then finish it with his next attack.

But I wasn’t going to let that oversized bear get another attack. “Reversal.” I actually saw the ground buckle beneath Cara’s feet as she lunged forward, delivering a palm strike straight to the chest of the Pangoro.

“Hammer Arm!” the man called out. But his Pokemon didn’t move. It staggered one step back, and then was unable to get its other foot under it and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. There was an obvious mark on its chest, softly glowing with violet energy.

Cara stood there, still in the pose that she struck, staring at the Pokemon on its back, waiting for it to get back up. I could see wisps of aura slowly rising from her paw. It took a moment before the man returned his Pokemon, grumbling as he speed walked away. “Rude bastard,” I said as I made my way to Cara.

She wasn’t moving, aside from the heaving of her chest. No, I realized now that I was closer, her legs and arm were shaking. Gently I put my arm under her and her body gave out. I grunted a bit as suddenly her entire weight was dropped on me. “I won…” she said softly.

“You did,” I said, smiling. Taking a good look at her it was no wonder reversal dropped that Pangoro. Reversal did more damage the less health a Pokemon had, so here, the more beat up a Pokemon was, the harder it would hit. And Cara looked like she could be taken out with a light slap. “Take a break in your pokeball, and I’ll go give you to Nurse Joy.”

She nodded before disappearing back into her ball. “That was awesome!” Rio exclaimed, running over to me. “Mama is so strong!”

I nodded. “She’s got some really good battle instincts, but we’ll have to work on that Aura Sphere.” It had been slow, and not terribly strong. She didn’t even get a chance to fire it off before she got grabbed. That was another thing that I was going to have to really plan for; moves could be interrupted.

“Why was that guy such a jerk?” Rio asked, looking towards where the man had gone.

“Honestly I have no idea.” I walked back over to Popplio and Veny, taking a look at how the bug was doing. “Do you want to go back in the pokeball, little bug?” I asked, crouching down in front of her.

She looked a little rough, but was still in high spirits. After a moment she made a cute little nodding motion. “Yeah… I’m tired.”

I reached out, rubbing her shell with a smile. “You did a great job.” I returned her to her pokeball before standing up again. It was starting to get dark, and a lot of the Trainers were leaving. We had spent a lot of the day showcasing moves, so it made sense that we didn’t get in many battles.

Scooping up Rio in one arm, and Popplio in the other, I decided to make my way back inside. “No battle?”

“Not today, Rio. Sorry. You all know a lot more moves than I thought you would so that took longer than I thought.” Popplio laid her head against me, closing her eyes. She was really quite a fan of being carried. It would be a shame when she evolved and couldn’t do it anymore.

Rio huffed a bit in response, but nodded. “Okay. Can we play more tomorrow, instead of battling?”

I blinked a bit and looked down at her. “I thought you wanted to battle more.”

“I do, but I also wanna play. And now that we all have a win, we can all play and get better.” Apparently Cara had convinced Rio that playing and training were the same thing. Which was good, as it was going to save me the time of doing it later.

“That’s fine. We can go to the training area tomorrow, and we can play some games.” Popplio smiled a bit at my comment, probably having felt a bit left out since she couldn’t battle. “Nurse Joy,” I greeted with a smile as I saw the pink haired woman behind the desk, having apparently just returned from the back.

“Ah, Jason. How did your battling go today?”

“Pretty good. Veny and Cara need some recovery, but they both won, so it was good.” I had to put Rio down on the counter in order to retrieve the pokeballs.

“Did Rio not get to battle?” she asked, giving the Riolu a quick look over.

“Nope! But my mama was super cool! She beat this huge Pokemon!” Rio explained excitedly. Nurse Joy nodded politely; I could tell she didn’t fully understand, but she got a bit of it.

“We spent most of the day checking on all their moves, so she didn’t get a chance. And Popplio didn’t battle at all because she needed a day of recovery.” It was honestly really surprising how fast Pokemon recovered, but it also made a lot of sense considering their tendency to battle.

“I see. And how do you feel?” She seemed to look me over for a moment.

I had to think about it as well, gently touching my arm, which now felt fine. “I actually feel pretty good? I got a bit of a headache this morning, but I don’t think it was related.”

She reached out to turn my head. “Hm… Well, it doesn’t hurt to double check. Come back with me and we’ll give you a quick look over.”

It was more of a quick checkup, but she came to the conclusion that I was indeed doing much better. She still made a lot of recommendations, that I should rest more, to still not use my arm, and that if I feel any nausea I should immediately tell her. After that she had taken Cara and Veny’s pokeballs and told me to go rest in my room.

Again I thought it would be a good idea not to argue and did as she suggested. I put Riolu and Popplio down on the bed before deciding on cleaning up before going to bed. “Alright, I’m going to take a shower.” I looked at the two of them.

Then I had a thought. I picked up Popplio and brought her with me. “Wha?” She made a bit of confused noise.

“I’ve got an idea. I want to see if I can help you blow some bubbles.” I set her down on the sink by the shower, before turning the shower on. After checking, I saw that the shampoo and soap had been restocked.

“Bubbles?” Popplio asked excitedly, actually jumping into the shower. I almost panicked before realizing that she was probably a bit dried out.

Nodding, I decided to clean up first before showing her. Riolu seemed curious as to what was going on as well. “Alright.” After I had finished, I grabbed some of the soap, lathering my hands. Creating a small gap in my fingers, I blew a bubble.

Popplio let out an absolutely jubilant noise as she watched. “Bubbles!”

I sat down on the floor of the shower, showing her what I was doing, and blowing a few more bubbles. “See, you create a small little film of stuff, and then blow air into it for the bubbles.” I knew what Popplio made bubbles with was probably similar to snot, though it sounded more like a special type of mucus that just happens to be from the nose. But it was probably snot.

She tried to blow a bubble on her own, and was immediately disheartened when she couldn’t. I took soap, and rubbed a bit of it on her nose. Her face scrunched up, but she tried again, blowing a little bubble that almost immediately popped. Her eyes widened. “Bubble! I blew a bubble!”

“You did!” I rubbed a bit more soap on her nose and she blew another bubble. We did this for a few minutes, her bubbles slowly getting stronger and lasting longer. After a while, I didn’t even have any soap on my hand, merely mimicking the action. Her progress almost reset at this, but the action had seemed to trigger some sort of process.

And now her bubbles were starting to get more cohesive. She still waited for me to rub her nose after every bubble, showing more and more excitement as time passed. Rio had come in as well, getting excited alongside Popplio. I don’t know if she really understood why she was excited, but that didn’t really seem to matter.

A sudden knock at the door interrupted our celebration. Quickly getting up, and wrapping a towel around me, I moved and answered the door. Wigglytuff didn’t even give me a moment as she pushed the door all the way open. “What are you all being so loud- why are you naked?”

“I was taking a shower. And showing Popplio how to blow bubbles.” She arched a brow at me. I took a few steps back and gestured. “Show her, Popplio.”

In her excitement, Popplio completely forgot about the soap trick and blew a large bubble. “Bubble!” She looked so proud, and even Rio struck a pose, mimicking her announcement of ‘Bubble’. But when it suddenly popped she had a realization. She stared at the air for a moment, and then looked back at the soap, and then at me, then back to the soap, and then back at me.

I smiled at her, nodding. “Yup. You did it on your own.” I moved over to the sink, turning it on before washing off the slimy mucus that was on my hand. It reminded me a bit of slime I had made when I was young, though it was more liquidy and far less sticky. Like snot.

“I can… I can blow bubbles,” she said, as if just realizing it. She must have seen her mother make bubbles and be so upset because she didn’t know how to. I could only imagine how frustrating it must have been to know that you could do that, but didn’t know how.

“Yes. Yes you can.”

Wigglytuff seemed a bit confused, but also understood that it was very important. “Good job.” She held out the small tray with two pokeballs.

I chuckled a bit as I took them, releasing Cara and Veny. “I can blow bubbles now!” Popplio proudly announced, and proceeded to blow another bubble.

Cara nodded with a polite smile, but Veny rushed over. “Whoa! You can make bubbles!”

Cara looked at me, a bit confused. So I decided to explain to her and Wigglytuff, “Popplio and their line are known for a few things. One of which is bubbles. A Popplio is capable of performing acrobatics using their bubbles as well as using them for offense and defense.”

“Oh, that explains her excitement,” Wigglytuff said as she tucked the tray under her arm.

“She’s done very good then,” Cara said in agreement, nodding.

“I wasn’t going to let her battle until she was able to blow bubbles,” I continued. While Popplio could now do it, her bubbles weren’t exactly strong. But that could be fixed through training. I was honestly surprised it worked, but if I could teach a Pokemon a move using fairly basic principles then I could teach them anything.

“Ah, that’s very good then,” Cara said, nodding some more.

“Thank you, Wigglytuff,” I said as I saw the pink blob attempting to leave the room.

“Yes, yes. Of course,” she responded. “Now put your clothes on before you catch a cold,” she added before closing the door.

“Ah. Right.” I cleared my throat a bit, though all the Pokemon seemed quite unbothered by my state of undress. Then again, Pokemon didn’t usually wear clothes. But the pink one is correct; it would be bad if I got sick, so I dried off and got dressed. I didn’t have many clothes, though all the sets I have now were given to me. They weren’t exactly nice or comfortable, but they were free.

Money was going to be a thing to worry about. I was going to need income. Battling for money was a thing, and what the battle app was for on the phone. But how much that would be I had no idea. Maybe I could use my knowledge in some way to my advantage? There was a story I read about having a Milotic farm for prism scales, but I didn’t have the land to do that. Any sort of farm would be out of the question in the short term. Problems to think on later.

Laying in the bed I was almost immediately dog piled. Everyone seemed to have their own spots now, Cara on my left, Rio squeezed between her and Popplio, and Veny on the right. “You’re all going to be so upset when you get bigger and can’t lay on me,” I said with a chuckle.

“We will adjust,” Cara said, and I could practically hear the smile on her face.

~

The next day after breakfast, we all made our way to the training ground again. Said training grounds were completely deserted. Moving to the same area that we had used the previous day, I released everyone. The three little ones all seemed rather excited, though Cara seemed a bit bothered they would not be battling again today. Almost immediately, Popplio began to excitedly blow bubbles, while Rio and Veny started to…well, I could only describe it as roughhousing.

“Cara.” I turned my attention to the blue jackal, who returned my gaze with a curious expression. “Let me see your Aura Sphere again.”

Immediately she looked hesitant. I could tell she was aware that it wasn’t at the level it should be. It looked like she wanted to protest, but eventually sighed and began to gather the energy. It was slow and methodical. No, more like reluctant. She was…scared of it.

She let it off, allowing it to collide with an object used for target practice. It did significant damage, but nowhere near at the level it should. “Again,” I said, watching her form another sphere of aura. Again there was that fear until she let it go.

She refused to look at me. There was a look of frustration on her face. I moved closer to her, kneeling down to be more at her level, and then offered my hand. Again she was hesitant, but eventually she touched my hand.

Gently grasping her hand, I slowly turned it so that her palm was up. “Again,” I said softly, and her face turned to one of confusion. “But this time…don’t let it go.” After a moment, she did so, slowly gathering up a small orb of aura. I could feel some sort of energy resonating off of it, not quite heat, but I knew that if I touched it, it might burn me. “Hold it,” I said, keeping my voice low and soft.

It wavered as the moments passed, though the fluctuations were barely noticeable. But it wasn’t because it was difficult. Aura was second nature to Lucarios. It was part of their being. It was what truly made them unique in the Pokemon world. Yet she looked at it with fear, like it would bite her.

Probably because it had. “He hurt you with your own aura,” I spoke barely above a whisper, but my voice caused her focus to break, and the aura sphere was snuffed out. Her hand clenched, but she didn’t respond. I hadn’t put much thought into it, but there was probably a fight between the two of them when he left.

After a minute she finally spoke, “That Trainer…made us fight…” I was quiet, letting her talk. “My mate…wanted to go… I wanted him to stay… And the Trainer… That man… said that if I won, he wouldn’t take him… But if he won…then they would leave together… He didn’t hesitate.”

She was shaking slightly, her hand clenching tighter. That was honestly even worse than I had thought. It was no wonder that she was so upset about it all. It was no wonder her aura was a mess. I gently pulled her more towards me, slowly putting my arms around her, and she leaned heavily into me.

She didn’t cry. She was far too proud to cry over something like this. But it absolutely crushed her that that other Lucario had not just left her, but beaten her to make sure he could. “I knew he was stronger than me. I knew I would lose. But he didn’t hesitate to hurt me.”

I could feel her taking deep breaths, doing her best to stay strong. There was this intense feeling that she didn’t want to let it affect her. I could feel that from the aura that she was putting out. It was a rather strange and unfamiliar feeling; as if I could taste her emotion in the air.

“Rio was still an egg,” she added, which made things worse, but also better. I looked over at the little dog, who was being ganged up on by Veny and Popplio. She was struggling to figure out how to cope with the new found bubble powers. Popplio’s bubbles were visibly getting stronger with every few attempts. “I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to us if that Ranger hadn’t found us.”

I was starting to get a better idea of the timeline of events. “He heard the battle and came to investigate?”

She nodded, rubbing her face against my shoulder. “I just…couldn’t do anything… I was weak. I’m… I’m still so weak…”

“You’re a lot stronger than you think. And you can get so much stronger.” She pulled away slightly to look at me. “And I can help you get stronger.” I pulled away from her, sitting down. “But first, you need to focus. I know it’s hard. And it’s going to take time. But I’m going to be here to help you, as long as you let me.”

Her gaze slowly went down to her hands, clenching and unclenching them slowly. “You’ll really help?”

I nodded. “As much as I can.”

It took a few moments before she smiled a bit and asked, “And you’re not just… just after my beans, right?”

I blinked and stared at her for a moment before a smile crept onto my face. “Well. Maybe. The lure of paw beans has been the downfall of many.”

She let out a snort-bark, shaking her head. “They’re my beans. So you’ll just have to suffer without them.”

“Perhaps,” I said with a bit of a smirk. “Who knows what the future holds?” We both laughed a bit, the tension slowly easing, but I could still feel it there. “Now. Let’s see that aura sphere again.”

She held up her hands between the two of us, and I watched as the energy gathered. While I could still see the hesitation from the way the basketball sized sphere wavered, she looked less afraid of it and more focused. We both watched it for a time as she tried to keep her hold on the energy. Eventually she looked from it to me. “What…what am I supposed to do with it?” she asked softly.

A soft chuckle escaped me. “What do you mean what? Cara, what is aura?”

She frowned slightly. “It is… It’s aura?”

“It’s energy. It’s a raw form of energy that exists everywhere and comes from everything that you can use.” I put my hands on either side of the sphere, which made her obviously nervous and the orb fluctuated. “You can do far more with it than you realize. You can make it hot. Cold. Solid, or like water.”

Her brow furrowed as her attention turned back to the sphere, trying to keep it under control. “It fights me,” she revealed after a moment.

“Don’t force it. Guide it.” For a moment its shape became more solid, before it began to waver again. “It’s raw power, but it is not wild. It’s you.” Slowly I put my hands onto the sphere, and she flinched. It was hot, to the point that it hurt a little, but not to the point that it burned my hands. “It will follow your will. You don’t want to hurt me, so it won't hurt me.”

Minute after minute the temperature of the aura sphere lowered, becoming warm to the touch. The shape of it also became more cohesive. It didn’t waver as much, now looking far more in form to what I remember from the anime. She looked far more relaxed now, gaining some shreds of confidence.

Slowly her eyes closed, focusing more on the sphere of aura. There were a lot of things I wanted to test with aura, just to see what extremes it could be pushed to, but Cara needed to regain her confidence. I slowly moved my hands away from the sphere, rubbing at my palms to make sure she hadn’t actually burned me. They stung a bit, which I had honestly expected since I’m not a Lucario.

Aura was honestly fascinating, and had numerous applications. Cara had said my aura was soothing, but I had no idea why. Humans could learn to use aura from what I knew, and it might be worth trying to learn how. Hell, if Ash could learn it, then I should be able to, right? Psionics was also something that existed in the Pokemon world. That might also be a good thing to look into.

Refocusing my attention on Cara, I saw that she was still focusing hard on her aura sphere. I had given her a lot to think about. Suddenly there was a soft little jingle and I saw the sphere waver before she regained her focus. It took me a moment to figure out what the noise was until I remembered my phone.

I had put the phone in an outside pocket of my bag so that I could hear it ringing. Pulling it out as I got up, I walked away to not disturb Cara more. The little display was of Professor Sycamore. I answered it and nearly put it up to my ear before remembering that that’s not how phones work here. “Morning Professor.”

Professor Sycamore looked a bit haggard, like he hadn’t slept. He appeared to be sitting on the deck of some building, holding his phone out. I assumed the building behind him was his laboratory. “Ah, good morning. I heard from Professor Oak earlier. What did you say to him that made him so adamant you were telling the truth.” He had quite a confused looking expression.

I laughed. “If he didn’t tell you, there’s no way that I’m going to.”

He let out a sigh that sounded a bit like a huff. “Well, I just wanted to check in since the League starts tomorrow.”

“Ah, yeah. I’m looking forward to it.” I leaned against the fence of the training ground, watching my four Pokemon as well as Professor Sycamore.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He nodded a bit. “Right… I also spoke with Professor Juniper last night. Professor Oak had apparently called her to explain that he believed you.” Apparently these Professors didn’t have anything to do but make phone calls to each other. “Not that it was really necessary as she has actually documented cases of otherworld travel, though they are extremely rare. They do happen.”

That caused me to blink, staring at the phone for a moment. “I’m not the only one?”

“Only one on record in the last three hundred years. But no, you are not the only one, nor the first. Which adds a lot more credit to your story.”

I nodded a bit. That at least made me feel better, but it also raised a whole number of new questions. The biggest question being: Why? Though I did have another question that I might get the answer to, “How many cases?”

Professor Sycamore shook his head. “I didn’t get many details from Juniper, so you’ll have to ask her. I’ll send you her contact details.”

“Alright.” It took a moment before I saw the message notification. “Was there anything else?”

He scoffed. “That eager? Well, the last thing I wanted to talk about is I have a potential ride for you to the League, that way you don’t have to cram into public transport. And a hotel room has been set for you for the duration, and I managed to get you an advance on your Trainer payout, so that should be in your account.”

“Oh, that would actually be really nice. Thank you, Professor,” I said with a smile. “Though I do have to ask why you’re going to such lengths?”

“Mhm. Think of it as a future investment. And… Well, you can also think of it as me trying to make up for things… I really slacked off in certain places, and I’ve got to start correcting that.”

“Yeah, Cara was going to deck you.”

He laughed. “Yeah I could tell. Honestly, probably a little deserved. But I’m glad she didn’t.”

I nodded. “Yeah. That probably would have been bad.”

“Right. Well, I’m going to get back to work now. Juniper should still be up, so you can give her a call.”

Again I nodded. “Thanks, Professor.”

“Alright, your ride will be there at about eight in the morning. Have fun watching the League. Oh, and one more thing,” he said and disconnected the call.

I blinked, staring at the screen for a moment before shaking my head. I took a few minutes to watch everyone. Cara no longer had an aura sphere, but she did have a visible glow around her. Popplio had managed to create bubbles that they could use as a ball, and were playing ‘don’t let the bubble touch the ground’ with several bubbles. Mostly Popplio just kept adding bubbles while Rio and Veny ran around trying to keep them up. That was probably good training.

It was still kind of surreal to watch Pokemon just doing their thing. It had only been a few days since I arrived, and would probably take a long time before I was accustomed to seeing them. All I could think is that it was wonderful.

Turning my attention back to my phone, I decided to talk to Professor Juniper. It actually took a few rings before the call was answered. What I got was a side profile of the light brown haired Professor, who was sitting at a desk covered in papers and obviously typing on something and looking at some other screen. “This is Professor Juniper,” she sounded a bit tired.

“Hello Professor. My name is Jason, who I believe you’ve been hearing about?”

She hit a few more keys before what I said seemed to sink in and she froze. Slowly her attention turned to look at the screen, giving me an almost crazed look. She suddenly leapt towards the screen, which actually caused me to flinch. “Oh my. Jason? You’re Jason? From the- the one Augustine and Sam talked about?”

“Yes, the one from the other world,” I said with a bit of a nervous chuckle.

“Oh my…” She started to shuffle through papers. “What was your other world like? Are there really no Pokemon?”

“Yes, there’s no Pokemon,” I replied, nodding. “It’s…really different from here, honestly. There’s a lot more people, bigger cities, the technology is…different.”

“Fascinating. Sam mentioned you wanted to travel, is Unova on that list?”

I nodded. “Yes, I do plan to go there. I want to see this world, and I’m hoping to put myself in the position to do so.”

She nodded a bit. “When you do visit, I want an interview. I want to know all about your other world.”

I nodded again with a smile. “Yeah, that sounds like it could be fun.”

There was a smile on her face as well. “Truly that would be amazing. It’s been over three hundred years since the last documented case.”

“Ah, I was wondering how many cases has there been?”

“As far as I know, there were twelve. You would be the thirteenth.”

“That many?” I was a bit surprised at the amount. It was both a low number, but more than I thought.

“Yes. They used to happen every few decades, but there is a large gap. Most of them claim that it was Arceus, or at least described seeing a Pokemon similar to them.”

“So he…what, just does that?”

She shrugged. “Historically, yes?”

There was a moment of silence as we both sort of just absorbed that realization. “I knew he could just… will people through time and space, but to actually pull people from other dimensions?” I muttered, my brow furrowed.

“Will people through time and space?” she asked curiously, catching at least part of what I said.

“One of the uh… games. Arceus sends you back in time to Hisui,” I explained, and went into a brief overview of what roughly happens in that particular game.

She seemed fascinated, writing everything I said down. “I’ll have to double check to make sure that these records matchup…but if they do, this could be valuable information. You’re like a trove of knowledge.”

I chuckled nervously, that had sounded like a compliment, but not quite? “Thank you?” A rather loud pop noise drew my attention from the screen. Popplio had managed to make a bubble that was quite loud. Much to Cara’s annoyance, as her focus was broken. She was glaring at the little trio, who were unaware and laughing at the noise.

“Well, we’ll have to have more conversations in the future,” the Professor said, seeing that my focus was elsewhere and wanting to get back to her own work.

“Right.” I looked back at the screen. “I do plan to visit Unova eventually, though I don’t have an exact schedule or route.”

She nodded. “Well, let me know when you plan on heading my way.”

“Of course.”

“I’m going to try and finish my work,” she said as she moved a bit away from the terminal, her focus turning back to the monitor.

“Goodnight, Professor,” I said, which only got a vague wave of her hand. I ended the call, and put my phone away. Her interest had so quickly faded that it was actually kind of funny.

Cara had gone back to her meditation, though I didn’t know what she was doing. I could see the wisps of aura around her, but that just showed how strong it was. Walking back over towards her, I could see the moment that my aura seemed to touch her, as she suddenly relaxed. Stopping when that happened, I estimated the distance at just over ten feet, maybe four meters?

That was an interesting realization. Was this the range of my…what would it be? Aura pressure? The reach of my life energy? Maybe I could find an Aura Guardian? Aura was such a mysterious power to me, even though there were quite a lot of bits of information. Was it like ki? That would have some interesting implications. Suddenly a thought entered my head.

If aura and ki did work similarly, and people could use it, then maybe… I turned towards empty space, taking a deep breath. I set my feet into a stance that I had practiced as a child and brought my hands forward, slowly I went through the motions while saying softly, “Kaa-mee-” Slowly bringing my hands back, I tried to imagine energy gathering, “Haaa-meee-” I thrust my hands forward, “Ha!”

Nothing happened. I laughed at myself, obviously nothing would happen. Even if I could use aura, there was no way I’d be able to fire off energy beams. As cool as that would be. “What was that?” Cara suddenly asked, making me jolt upright.

“Ah- uh- well.” I cleared my throat, trying to think of a proper reason for my silly action. “It’s a move that I saw someone really strong do.”

She tilted her head, but didn’t ask anymore questions as she returned to her meditation. Honestly I was glad that she didn’t. I also wasn’t sure how long she was watching.

Moving a bit closer to her, I sat down, watching the trio play. It really occurred to me just how rough they played. They weren’t afraid of tackling, using moves, punching, kicking, or throwing each other. This sort of play was clearly instinctual, to help them learn to fight, to survive. Battling was ingrained within them.

I sat there watching them for quite a while, losing myself in the act and thinking about how to train them. Popplio would be the most difficult. She had the hardest start of the trio and had no battle experience. Rio was strong for her size, which would catch people off guard. How that would translate when she evolved into a Lucario I had no idea. Veny was fast, and would only get faster as she evolved. Even though she knew Extreme Speed, it was nowhere near as fast as Cara, who was faster without even using Extreme Speed. Speaking of Cara…

“Cara,” I said softly, glancing at the meditating Pokemon. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked towards me. “You want to beat him, right?” She gave me a rather firm nod, though she looked puzzled as to where I was going with this. “Then you’re going to have to make your aura better than his.”

“I know,” she replied softly, looking down at her lap.

If my thoughts were right, and aura was like ki, then I might actually be able to apply Dragonball logic to it. Dragonball had gone into more detail about how ki worked, than Pokemon did about aura. I had already leaned a bit in that direction with my earlier talk of aura and that seemed to work, but now I was going to just straight up treat it like ki. “Your aura is affected by your emotions.”

She clenched her fists in response, nodding.

“You can think of aura as something made up of three things.” I drew three little circles in the dirt between us. “Vigor,” I tapped in the first circle. “Courage,” I tapped in the second. “And right-mindedness,” I tapped the third circle.

Her head tilted to the side. It was apparent that she had never heard it described this way.

Of course I couldn’t know if anyone would have ever been this much of a nerd. “Starting with vigor. You can think of it as what aura is. It’s how much aura you can use, and perceive. If you don’t have enough vigor, you won’t be able to properly use aura.”

“Vigor…” she mumbled, looking at the first circle.

“Courage.” I pointed to the second circle. “This goes with vigor, but it’s how much emotion you put into aura. Aura is heavily influenced by emotions, and can be strengthened with them. And if you are scared of the aura, you won’t be able to use it properly.”

That seemed to really get to her, her ears folding back. “Courage…”

I nodded and then touched the third circle. “Finally, there is right-mindedness. You have to be in the right mind to use aura. It comes back to courage, but it’s more than just using emotions to empower yourself. Right-mindedness is about not letting your emotions control or overwhelm you.”

“So I have to…use my emotions, but control them?” she asked, her head tilting to the other side.

“Sort of. It’s about balance. If you lean too much into one of the three, you can hurt yourself or others. If you let your anger overwhelm you, you’ll hurt things indiscriminately.” Her expression looked thoughtful, and I saw her glance at me. “If you let your fear overwhelm you, you can weaken yourself. But you might do the opposite and do something in your fear that you will regret.”

Her brow furrowed. “Something that I will regret?”

I nodded. Of course, everything I had said was speculation, but from what I knew it should work? There was no reason that it shouldn’t work, but time would tell. I just hoped that it didn’t do any damage. But, it shouldn’t, right?

She nodded slowly. “I…think I understand. It does make sense.”

“The most important thing for you is to decide your path.” She looked up at me. “Is revenge your only purpose? Your mate chose his pride and desire for strength. Do you just want to beat him? What about after? You’re going to have to choose something better to drive you. Your revenge is a single step in your life, not the final one.” I sat up a bit straighter, putting my hands in my lap as I watched her.

It was clear that that thought hadn’t occurred to her. She had wanted revenge, but didn’t think it possible and was solely focused on surviving and raising Rio. But now? Now she had a chance. “I… I don’t know.”

I reached over and gently pat her shoulder. “You don’t have to decide now, you can think on it.”

Her face was all scrunched up as she was in deep thought. This was a rather heavy decision and she couldn’t just recklessly decide. But I couldn’t help myself. I reached up and started to rub and scratch her jaw. She closed her eyes and smiled a bit as I did so, raising her head up a bit. I was honestly a bit surprised that she just let me pet her without complaints. I even saw her tail wagging.

And then it was like she suddenly realized what I was doing and was suddenly standing several feet away from me, staring at me with wide eyes. I laughed. She narrowed her eyes at me, rubbing at the area I had been scratching with her paw. “I guess it’s a bit presumptuous of me to pet you?”

“You are very forward when it comes to touching me,” was her response.

I shrugged and looked back over at the trio. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it made you uncomfortable, considering that you sleep on top of me,” I said with a bit of a smirk.

She huffed, sitting down again now that there was distance between us. We had such an interesting sort of relationship. It was obvious that more public forms of affection were too embarrassing for her, considering her previous reactions, but she didn’t really seem to dislike it. I just couldn’t help seeing her as a big dog sometimes, and I wanted to pet her.

My gaze wandered up to the sky, looking at the Pokemon flying overhead. I could see Fletchlings and Pidgeys. There were really Pokemon just everywhere. On the other side of the fence I could see a little Oddish half buried and dozing in the sun. A few Caterpie and Burmy in the trees. A Plusle and Minun were running through the brush.

Suddenly my gaze locked with a pair of eyes that were hiding in the dark of some bushes. It took me a moment to recognize the shape at this distance, but eventually I realized it was an Espurr who was staring at me. Those were cute cat Pokemon. Maybe I should get a cute Pokemon that I could shower with affection? That was kind of why I wanted a Fennekin, just getting a cute little fox. Maybe an Eevee? Those were adorable.

This really was the world of Pokemon. Slowly I stood up, and walked over to the fence. I wanted to get a better look at the Pokemon out there. Swinging a leg over I sat on one of the large fence posts, and I took a better look around. The Oddish wasn’t too far away now, and I could see that there were also Metapod in the trees. Some of the plants that I had seen were actually Budew, and I could even see a blue Flabebe. Considering it was only four inches tall, it was no wonder I couldn’t see it.

There was a group of three Skitty following behind a Delcatty. A Ralts carrying something and looking to be in quite a hurry to wherever it was going. They all had their little lives, going about doing things. It was fascinating to just watch them. I could still see the Espurr, which I was a bit curious about since they weren’t in this area in the game, but this was real life and they wouldn’t be restricted to silly things like routes.

A Ledyba buzzed over, landing on the fence a bit aways from me, which was quickly joined by four others. They seemed interested in the group of Pokemon that were playing in the training ground. I was trying to not move too much so as to not startle them. They seemed to be communicating with each other through scents, though I couldn’t tell what they were saying.

It didn’t take long before one of them noticed me, suddenly freezing in place as it did so. I purposefully didn’t react to it. Curiously it made its way over to me. Only as it did so did I actually turn a bit to get a better look at it. It looked like it must be a younger one, considering its size compared to the others. It stopped right beside me.

Slowly I reached out and rubbed its shell. “Hi there,” I said softly, smiling.

It had a rather happy looking expression, apparently pleased at the feeling, and made a happy little noise that wasn’t actually words. The rest of the group turned to look at me, obviously reacting to the sudden happy scent from their smallest member. I was worried for a moment that they might react aggressively, but instead they just seemed curious.

They all slowly walked over to me, and onto me. I laughed a bit, petting and rubbing their shells as they explored. “Well, you’re all a lot more friendly than I thought you’d be.” I again remembered what Cara had said about my aura being soothing, and wondered if that was what it was. But then again, living so close to the city they must be very used to people.

To my sudden realization, I could actually understand their way of speaking now that they were this close, if only slightly. It was more that I could tell what the scents meant. Such as them being curious about me, wondering why I was here, that I was new but not a Trainer.

That was interesting, that they could tell I wasn’t a Trainer. “How do you know I’m not a Trainer?”

There seemed to be a general conversation until they came to the conclusion that I didn’t smell like one. Then one actually spoke up to try and explain, “Trainers have a certain smell. You smell more like Pokemon. Like them,” it pointed at the rest of the group.

I looked over as well. It was not surprising that I would smell like them, since we slept in a pile. I could also see how Cara was watching the situation carefully, making sure that I wasn’t in any danger. “Those are my Pokemon,” I explained.

They all seemed to freeze. “You’re a Trainer?”

I shook my head. “No. They’re-” I paused a moment to think of how to explain it. “They’re my friends, but in order to go around the city with them they have to be my Pokemon and have pokeballs.”

They communicated for a moment, about how that made sense. I was gently rubbing two of the Ledyba who were very pleased from the petting. They felt very smooth. I honestly wished I had some little treats to give them. But those were expensive. Maybe I could go berry hunting? When I go to the Nurse Ranch I should keep my eye out for berries.

There was a small little shout that caused my attention to shift. There was a Combee bothering the Flabebe. The Flabebe was angry at the Combee, who had apparently thought the Flabebe was just a regular flower, and had damaged it. The Combee gave a rather flat apology before simply floating off.

The little flower Pokemon was still yelling at it, but it quickly left the range that it could hear her. I shifted to the other side of the fence to get down, my movement causing the Ledyba to scatter in surprise. I moved over to the little flower and knelt down; she looked a bit rough. “Are you alright?” I asked softly.

She screamed, immediately trying to get away, but with the state of her flower she was unable to float away. Though she really did try, only to fall over. I watched as she struggled for a moment before gently reaching down and carefully putting her back upright. Once she got past a certain point, she seemed to auto balance again.

The little thing stared at me as I examined her. Her flower seemed a bit battered, but it still had all of its petals. From what I knew, she should be fine after a bit. “Alright, you don’t look too bad,” I muttered before standing up and making my way back to the fence.

Cara was there, watching what I was doing. She gave me a puzzled look. “What are you doing?”

“Just making sure she wasn’t too roughed up,” I said as I gestured back at the Flabebe.

“Is she alright?” she asked.

I gave a bit of a shrug before hopping back over the fence. “She seems to be.” In the distance I could see the trio laying on a grassy spot, obviously worn out. They had been playing for hours and hours. “I guess it’s time to call it a day.” It was some time after noon.

Cara nodded. “Yes. It’s actually quite comfortable in the pokeball, so resting there is… nice.” She was looking at her pokeball with a mixed emotion.

“I’m sure that’s by design.” I glanced back over the fence, seeing the Flabebe slowly, and with some obvious difficulty, float off. And the Espurr. Still staring at me. Was that actually an Espurr? They looked a bit off. Maybe a Mimikyu with an Espurr costume? Maybe a Ditto that hadn’t quite got the hang of transforming?

The Lucario nodded and made a noise of confirmation before returning to her pokeball as I made my way over to the other three laying in the grass. Popplio was the first to speak up, “My bubbles are so strong now.”

“Oh? You’ll have to show me,” I said as I stood over her.

In response she rolled over onto her stomach before blowing out a rather sizable bubble. She then proceeded to jump onto it and pose. “Tada!”

I smiled as I crouched down a bit. “Wow, that is some amazing improvement.” I reached out, putting a hand into the bubble. It felt a bit rubbery, like a balloon, and had some give to it but didn’t pop. “Amazing.” She made quite a few happy little noises before using the bubble as a sort of springboard and colliding into me, taking me off my feet. I made a little- “Oof-” sound, but managed to catch her.

“I’m gonna get so strong!” she announced.

“Team Speed Shell has bubbles!” Rio announced, raising her paw into the air.

I laughed. “Oh?” I looked down at Popplio in my arms. “Are you part of Speed Shell now?”

She had the biggest smile on her face. “Yup! We’re still figuring out my role…”

“Hm…” I moved over to sit beside Veny and Rio. Veny was passed out. “You could be the performer? Since your evolution line is known for that sort of stuff.”

Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked over to Rio, who had managed to sit up. She looked thoughtful, but then nodded. “Yeah. The performer of Team Speed Shell.”

Popplio beamed. “Yeah!”

I chuckled a bit, nodding. “Alright. We’re going back to the Pokecenter, so everyone can return to their pokeballs.”

Rio nodded. “Yeah… I’m really tired. Today was fun.”

I smiled as I returned Veny and Rio before looking at Popplio. “Did you have fun?”

She had quite a grin on her face as she nodded. “Yeah. I… I really did. I had lots of fun.”

“Good.” I rubbed her head a bit, still smiling. “We’ll all have lots of fun together. We’ll see the world and visit all the places that all of us ever want to see.”

Suddenly she had a thoughtful expression. “Even Alola?”

I blinked. “Of course. Where did you hear that?”

“They said that’s where my line is from. I heard them talking about it a lot…”

“Yeah,” I said softly, still rubbing her head. “We can go to Alola. I want to see the islands, and maybe try and get a Z-Ring.” I saw the confusion, so I continued to explain before she even asked, “It’s something that lets you channel power, with a crystal and Pokemon to unleash some of the most powerful moves in the world.”

Her eyes lit up, practically sparkling in excitement. “Wow. So like, a super move?”

“Yup. And your final evolution has one. It’s really strong.” I wondered how Z-Moves worked in real life. Would I have to dance? Probably.

“Wow… I want to do that.” Her eyes got a far off look, probably imagining what sort of powerful moves she could do.

“And you will. But right now, it’s time to rest. The League starts tomorrow, and we have to be well rested so we can watch the whole thing.” She nodded and I returned her. Standing up, I dusted myself off, taking a deep breath before heading back.

~

It had taken a bit of effort to get them to all go to sleep, even Cara. It was exciting. They were going to see so many battles. But eventually we had all turned in. And then there was a second struggle to get them all to calm down and go back into their pokeballs. I had to explain that we were getting a ride, and I would release them once we were there so they could watch.

Much to my surprise, though honestly I shouldn’t have been, it was Professor Sycamore who was there in the morning. “So you’re our ride?” I asked after spotting him in the Pokecenter’s lobby.

“Well, just because I gave you tickets doesn’t mean I don’t have my own.” This man liked surprises and secrets. “Now come on, we don’t want to miss the opening ceremony. It’ll be quite something,” he said with a chuckle.

Professor Sycamore actually had a fairly nice car, at least as far as I could tell. It reminded me of a jeep, but not open. He was also a horrible driver. “Do you even have a license?” I asked when we finally got into the city and he was forced to slow down and drive carefully.The city was quite large and bustling, and the arena was a huge building, but it was nothing compared to the large castle behind it. That castle was where the elite four and champion got to live, apparently.

“Of course I do. I just don’t drive much,” he admitted with a laugh.

We had to drive slowly through the city, traffic was pretty bad. I was watching out the window, seeing just how packed the place was with hundreds upon thousands of people. The Pokemon world had lots of sports, but pokebattles were the most popular and had been for a very long time. “How many people are here?”

“The arena can hold about fifty thousand, and there’s a few hundred other places in the city to watch via large televisions.”

That was… quite a lot. Not as large as some of the sports stadiums back in my old life, but definitely up there. Considering that the cities were smaller, and the overall population lower, that made sense. But that also meant that most of Kalos was here. “Interesting…”

“Pretty big, huh? One of the largest in the world.”

I looked over at him, arching an eyebrow. “The largest sports venue in my world could hold over two hundred and fifty thousand people.” I could literally watch as he deflated as I spoke.

“That many?” he said rather wistfully. “That could probably fit all of Kalos and not even be full.”

“There’s… a lot less people here,” I said as I turned my attention back out the window. I had seen worse crowds than this. But that was interesting, learning that Kalos probably had less than two hundred and fifty thousand people. Then again, with how many Pokemon there were, and the sheer amount of wilderness, it wasn’t surprising.

As we got even closer to the arena we suddenly turned into a parking structure underground. We drove a bit in the large parking tunnels before he pulled into a spot marked ‘Professor Sycamore’. “Here we are.”

“You have your own parking spot?” I commented as I got out, taking a look around. I could see Pokemon here and there. Some Rattata, which wasn’t a Kalos native as far as I was aware, but rats are everywhere I guess. A Scatterbug that looked like it was on a mission to somewhere. A little group of Noibat tucked in a dark corner. Two Shuppet bobbing along.

“Of course I do. One of the many perks of being a Professor. Now come on, we have to get going.” He made a gesture for me to follow.

As I did so I continued to watch for Pokemon, spotting a trio of Trubbish gathering trash from near a dumpster. They eyed me suspiciously, as if I would steal their trash. We didn’t go very far, arriving at a nearby elevator and waiting for it.

The elevator opened to the sight of a rather surprised Delibird wearing a scarf. “Ah, pardon me,” it said as it gave us a nod and waddled off quickly.

I watched it go as we boarded the elevator. The Professor was on his phone, responding to messages from the looks of it. “There are really just Pokemon everywhere, huh?”

“Hm? Ah, yeah. It would be more difficult to get them out, so we all do our best to get along and live together. At least, we do that here in Kalos.” He frowned a bit. “Some places don’t like having them… in the way, as they put it.”

“I can’t imagine why. Pokemon are great. Even those Trubbish serve a purpose.”

“Trubbish?” He frowned a bit more. “You spotted some?”

I gave him a bit of a look. “They’re hard to miss? Little green garbage bag. They were by that dumpster.”

“Ah, I didn’t spot them in the dark.”

The underground area had had plenty of light. “Maybe you just need some glasses.”

He scoffed. “I have great eyesight. I’m just not looking for Pokemon in all the nooks and crannies.”

“And you call yourself a Professor,” I snarked.

Before he had a chance to reply, the door opened and we stepped out. We were in a rather large opulent hallway, and there were hardly any people here. I was a bit puzzled. “Come on, this way.”

He talks like I wasn’t going to follow him and just wander off. Eventually we came to a door with a rather tough looking man in a suit standing outside of. I had seen a few of these same types throughout the hall. “Ah, Professor, good. You’re here. And this is the guest you spoke of?”

Professor Sycamore nodded. “Yes, this is Jason. He and his Pokemon will be watching the tournament with me.”

The man nodded before opening the door. It occurred to me when they were talking, and was confirmed when the door opened, that we were in one of those private booths. “Ah, Professor. Good to see you.” There were other people in the room, so not that private of a booth. “Who is this?”

“Jason, the one I talked about,” the Professor said with a smile, gesturing at me.

The older man dressed in green reached out and I took his hand, shaking it without really thinking about it. “Good, good. Glad to meet you. Names Ramos.”

“The Coumarine Gym Leader?” I asked, a bit surprised, but I took a better look at him. He didn’t have his large shears on him, but he still had those huge chin beard whisker things.

“Ah, you know of me?” He stroked one of those beard whiskers. “Augustine did say you were knowledgeable.”

I nodded a bit, glancing around to see if any of the other gym leaders were present, but I didn’t recognize anyone here. “I try,” I said after a moment. The man then excused himself before heading off to talk with some of the other people in the room.

The room was quite nice; several large chairs, couches, and tables. There was a bar taking up an entire corner of the room where three people were seated, talking. The far wall was a huge window with six large screens hanging from the ceiling. Each screen was showing battlefields of different terrains. Each one was labeled. Water: a large arena filled with water and large chunks of ice. Fire: rocky terrain with fire spouts and flowing lava. Earth: Similar to the fire field, but without the fire. Grass: an open field filled with grass. Forest: filled with trees and brush. Normal: just a flat area, looking to be covered in some sort of clay.

“The Prelims will be the first two weeks,” the Professor explained, seeing where I was looking. “A Trainer must win one battle on every field to move onto the actual Tournament. When you get here after your journey, you get assigned a random field and time.”

“So you’ll never know who or where you’re going to fight. That’s interesting,” I mused, moving up to the window.

He followed. “Yeah, we try to make it fair, but there’s a rather rough discrepancy in most battles in the Prelims.” He had a bit of a frown on his face. “They tried to balance it early on, but gave up because there was too much work.” He sighed, shaking his head.

“Well, with a few hundred Trainers, I can imagine that it would be hard to sort them all.” The view was impressive, and the arena looked packed, with thousands and thousands of people moving around. We weren’t at the very top, but nor were we at the bottom. I could see every field without difficulty, but making out faces and details would be difficult.

“There won’t be any battles today, just showcases and highlights from last year's Tournament and Elite Four battles.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small keycard. “This is for your hotel room. It’s a few blocks away, called Fletch Roost.”

“Thanks.” I smiled a bit as I took the keycard.

“This is booth twenty one, just show someone your ticket and they’ll be able to let you in.”

“Are you not staying?” I asked, looking over at him

He shook his head. “Nah, I won’t watch till the actual League starts. The Prelims can be interesting, but anyone who’s interesting will be in the League.” He gave me a pat on the shoulder. “Your Pokemon are allowed out in this room, but not outside.”

I nodded. “Alright.” He gave a wave as he left. I let everyone out after that, and settled into one of the chairs. No one seemed to even have a reaction as I released them, though I did see Ramos looking over.

“Whoa!” Rio exclaimed as she moved to the window, looking down. Veny and Popplio joined her.

Even Cara was there at the window. “So this is…” she mumbled.

“There’s so many people,” Popplio said, looking down at the crowd.

It wasn’t long before the opening ceremony started. As Diantha came and the other elite four members came out I was a bit surprised to see that they were all the people I recognized. Since this was before the anime, I had wondered if they would be the same or if there would be their predecessors.

Diantha gave an extremely short speech, welcoming everyone and declaring that the Kalos League had officially begun. And that was it. Then they left. It was an interesting thing as the Professor had said. “No wonder the Professor didn’t stick around,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. With no actual battles happening today, I settled in and watched the highlight reels.

The trio didn’t find it too interesting, because they weren’t active battles. And since they were still tired they decided to return to their pokeballs. Cara however, did not. She watched each and every fight no matter who was fighting. I thought it was because she wanted to learn, and know what others were capable of, but then I realized she was just looking for a specific man and Pokemon.

She sat beside me and I saw how she tensed at every new match when the Trainers were introduced. All the clips were of the Elite Four battles, which were rather intense but purposefully done in a way that you couldn’t really get more than a basic understanding. And after about forty minutes, it looped. I could see how she tensed up, glaring at the screen.

Gently I placed my hand onto hers and she slowly relaxed. “We’ll see him. There’s still a lot of tournament left.” She nodded and returned to her ball. I really hoped that he would show up. Otherwise it was going to be a lot harder to track him down.

After that, we made our way to the hotel. On my way out I was given a schedule pamphlet, which just let me know the start and end times for battles. The hotel was nice, and I was not surprised to find out that it was the Professor’s room, according to the person at the desk who stopped me. This was also apparently not the first time he’d done this, so they weren’t going to keep me out. I also found out that he would be charged for everything I ordered for room service.

He likes surprises? Well, I’m going to give him one.

In the room, I released my Pokemon, and immediately went for the menu. Everything on the menu was actually pretty cheap. Or at least it looked cheap. From what I knew, prices were from the earlier games. For instance, a basic pokeball costs two hundred pokedollars, and an ultra ball is twelve hundred. Honestly if not for the Pokecenter offering food and shelter, the five thousand they give new Trainers would hardly help.

I did eventually order food for everyone after a while. The bed in here was much larger, and the room in general was much larger. There was even a couch and a television. Immediately I was curious as to what sort of shows were in the Pokemon world, and picked up the remote. What I found were a lot of dramas. Like, an absurd amount of dramas. Nearly every channel was showing dramas. A few of them were actually Pokemon dramas, with translated subtitles. I noticed that the subtitles often didn’t have anything to do with what the Pokemon were actually saying, and more often than not they were just talking about random things.

The other thing I saw was a lot of news. So much news, and all of it was focused on the League. I left it on that, as they were talking about big names. Cara was interested as well, but they weren’t showing pictures of the Trainers, or talking about their Pokemon. “That’s annoying…”

“I don’t know his name,” Cara said, obviously frustrated at it as well.

Eventually I found some cartoons, which seemed to be in a very Mystery Dungeon style. They were of Pokemon, but used actual English for the language. The trio was immediately transfixed. That was what they wanted to do. That was what Team Speed Shell wanted to be. The cartoon characters even had guild badges. It was…actually scary how accurate it was to the Mystery Dungeon, including the main character being a human turned into a Pokemon.

~

According to the time pamphlet, the first battles would be at eight. So I woke up a bit before seven, got everyone breakfast once again on the Professor’s dollar, and went back to booth twenty one. I did have to show my ticket to several security guards who stopped me, since I didn’t have that magic buffer of Pokemon Professor.

I was apparently the first one there, aside from the bartender. After looking at their alcohol selection, I decided to just get a soda. Which was free apparently. All food and drink in the booth was free. These must be some serious VIP tickets.

The first day was honestly boring. There was a match on every field every thirty minutes, but all of them were one sided. One Pokemon wiping out the opponents team with little effort. There were some good matches between some obviously newer Trainers, but by ten at night when the last match ended I came to one conclusion; the match order was rigged.

It was almost painfully obvious. No one with any actual skill struggled. In fact, they were paired up against Trainers that obviously looked like they had struggled to even get here. Someone who hasn’t even reached the third stage with any of their Pokemon? Surely putting them against a Charizard is a fair fight.