The next morning I boarded the train, having to show my Trainer ID to the conductor as I did. I chose a middle seat on the left side of the car, near the back. Or should I say we? It was an odd feeling to know that I was carrying three Pokemon. We had had a long discussion about it, and it seemed like they were aware of what was going on around, though it also felt like no time passed. I had read theories about how pokeballs worked, and it seemed like it was some sort of conscious half-stasis. They could also release themselves, though it took a lot of effort to do so.

Judging by the fact I now had a Riolu on my lap, it looked like Rio had the bad habit of releasing herself. “We’re on a train!” she said excitedly.

Thankfully the car was practically empty, and the conductor didn’t seem to care. “You can have your Pokemon out,” he explained after seeing my expression, “We just ask that you don’t release anything big, and if the train starts getting full to return them.”

I nodded. “Thank you.” I released Cara and Veny as well. Veny was immediately at the window with Rio, staring at the people walking by. Cara took the seat next to me, brushing off her lap as she did so.

The conductor gave a smile and a nod before he settled into his seat. “Hey, hey, when are we going?” Rio asked, bouncing a bit on the window seat. I had told them where we were going and why last night, but they seemed far more interested in the journey than the destination.

“The train will be leaving in a few minutes,” I said, patting the excited little dog on the head. There were a few other people on the train: a rather young boy with a Pidgey, two older women who were chatting about their grandchildren, who were apparently participating in the League, and a father-daughter pair sitting a few seats behind us.

Rio and Veny seemed excited, and I hoped that would last till we got to Ambrette. The trains were a welcomed sight honestly. They were the quickest way from town to town if you didn’t have a car or fast Pokemon. Apparently almost every town had two trains, and they would go on big loops to every town before it got back to the one it started in, while one train ran in the opposite direction as well. But this did mean some places you’d be on the train for a really long time.

Since we were starting in Santalune, we would travel through Odyssey Village, to Lumiose, to Camphrier, then Cyllage, and finally Ambrette. The fact that I saw Odyssey Village as one of the stops told me that places in the anime existed. Which I kind of expected, considering just how much bigger Santalune was compared to the game. Everything also just seemed…so much more. There was just more space than the games could show.

The trip would take a few hours, and later in the day we’d be taking a train back in the opposite direction, hopefully. I was actually excited to see Lumiose, since it was the biggest city in Kalos, and the second largest city in the whole Pokemon world.

Technically we could go anywhere, but Officer Jenny had met us at the train station. She was there partly to explain how the trains worked, but mostly to tell us that we were technically wards of Santalune and until I had my official Trainer's license I had to come back. It worked out because it was also the closest place to Kalos League City. Apparently it was an entire city, not just a place to go fight the Elite Four and the Champion.

If you weren’t participating in the League, you didn’t have to go up Victory Road and could just drive, or take a train. So I would be commuting in in order to watch. That was a pretty common thing apparently. There were hotels and things, but they were all booked months ago, and the Pokemon center there didn’t have any places for Trainers to stay. Apparently everyone who qualified got actual hotel rooms to stay in. This world was really favorable to Trainers.

Finally the whistle blew and the train started to move, much to the delight of Rio and Veny. Cara looked uncomfortable though. She put her hand on my leg, gripping one of the pockets of my pants. I gently pat her hand and smiled, though I had to be careful of her hand spike. That seemed to at least calm her down a bit, though she changed her grasp from my pants to my hand.

She had paw beans.

Before I realized it I was very distracted, examining her paw. Touching and rubbing at the textured pads on her fingers and palm. However after a moment she pulled her hand away, giving me an almost horrifiedly embarrassed look. “Sorry. I got distracted by your beans.”

“Beans?” she asked, even more confused.

“Ah- the uh… the pads you have on your hands.” I gestured to her paws.

She eyed me suspiciously before looking at her own hand. Her brow furrowed, not understanding. “What’s so interesting about them?”

“They have a nice texture, and are soft and warm,” I tried to explain, unsure if I could really justify the way I was fondling her hand.

I looked over at Rio and Veny, unable to really look at Cara now. That had been embarrassing, but I did it without thinking. “Beans?” I heard her mutter quietly to herself a few times. It was a struggle to not laugh.

There wasn’t much to look at in Odyssey, since it was a rather small village. But we did see the Rhyhorn race track. It looked like there wasn’t an actual race going on right now, but there were some Pokemon running the track. The train only slowed for a moment to see if anyone was waiting to board, but there was no one so it quickly regained speed.

Lumiose was more impressive than I thought it would be. There were a lot more buildings and people than I had imagined. The games and anime didn’t do it justice in the slightest. And Prism Tower was even grander. I had never seen the Eiffel Tower in person, but I wondered which one was more impressive?

The old women got off the train, and a lot of people got on. The car was almost full, and I was about to return the trio when a Trainer with a Delphox got on. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the way Cara tensed and I saw her hackles raise. I put a hand on her leg, patting her softly. “That’s a really bad matchup,” I said softly. “You’re weak to fire, and they’re resistant to fighting and steel.”

They didn’t even look back at us as they sat down near the front. It looked like they were the last ones on, and the car still had plenty of open seats. The train waited for a few minutes before taking off again. “I know that Delphox…” Cara said softly, still staring at them.

I looked over at them and then at her. “From where?”

“They beat me the other day,” her voice was low, obviously trying to hold back her anger. I guess mother and daughter really did not like losing.

“Do you know Bone Rush?” I asked, trying to get a good look at the Trainer.

Cara tilted her head, finally turning her attention to me. “No?”

I nodded a bit. “It’s a ground type move that Lucario’s can learn. It’s super effective against fire types. It’ll be a good move for you to learn.”

That seemed to perk her up a bit. Though her expression turned to one of confusion. “How do you know so much?”

“I like Pokemon,” I said honestly with a smile. “Maybe a bit too much,” I added with a shrug. Who knows how many tens of thousands of hours I had playing Pokemon. For some reason it was a lot easier to remember things about Pokemon, and I felt like I knew even more than I had ever learned. Maybe that was my transmigrator power?

I pulled out one of the Pokemon books that Professor Sycamore had given me. Apparently they were school books, the same stuff they were teaching kids about to go on their journey. They were extremely lacking. I had started to skim through them yesterday, and I immediately realized there were things missing. A lot of missing moves. Natural abilities were mostly unknown, something that was still being debated. There were still debates on whether fairy was a typing or just normal type.

And let’s not even bring up the breeding book. It was more like a small booklet. They didn’t even understand egg groupings. Egg moves were just a theory and didn’t even have a full paragraph of mention. It was overall useless. I knew more off the top of my head than was written in this book.

Then it came to care. That was…extremely basic. A lot of it was how to care for injured Pokemon in the wild when you couldn’t get to a pokecenter. How you need to feed your Pokemon. My Pokemon had been eating at the pokecenter, which made food for both people and Pokemon. The book included some basic recipes on essentially how to cook pokechow. There was a bit of information on berries, pokeblocks, poffins, poke puffs, and poke beans. But nothing on curries. Was that a Galar exclusive thing that hadn’t spread over here?

The book mentioned that diet was extremely important, and you should pay close attention to your Pokemon’s nutritional needs. But it looked like most Trainers ignored this. From what I knew from my past life, diet was extremely important to athletes. And that’s what Pokemon were; athletes. Taking in all that information I came to one conclusion…

I was going to have to cook a lot.

Half the car emptied when we arrived in Camphrier, including the Delphox and their Trainer. Only a few got on before we started off again. From the train we couldn’t get a good look at Shabboneau Castle, but I tried to point it out to Rio and Veny as we passed it. Their excitement at seeing so many things and going so fast hadn’t waned in the slightest.

The final book I had been given was the biggest. The book on training Pokemon. Most of the first few chapters were all about type advantage. It explained what beat what, and tried to explain the why. There were more details on moves, though I did notice many missing, and again there were arguments about fairy type moves. A lot of ‘In some researchers opinions’ and ‘certain people think’ before pretty much anything that had to do with fairy type.

A lot of the training tips actually seemed pretty useful, though the agility training reminded me a lot of dog show competitions. Which I suppose made sense. Weights and resistance bands were recommended. It explained that the more a Pokemon used a move, and the more ways they tried to use it, the better they would get at it. Teaching a Pokemon a new move was difficult, but Pokemon could teach other Pokemon moves fairly easily. It highly recommended the use of move tutors and TMs. But something that I found interesting was evidence that TM moves could be taught without the TM.

Practically everyone got off the train when we got to Cyllage, even the kid with the Pidgey. And no one got on. It looked like it was just my little group, and the man with his kid, going to Ambrette. Cyllage itself was an interesting city, and it even had a view of- “The ocean!” Rio exclaimed, bouncing excitedly. “Look, look! Mama! The ocean!” She was flailing her arms and gesturing outside, hopping over me to get to her mother.

Even Cara was fascinated by the water. It was probably her first time seeing the ocean as well. When the train turned and put the ocean on its right, all three Pokemon moved quickly to the other side of the car to watch the ocean. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the little girl doing the same.

I shared a look with the man and we both smiled and nodded. He had been reading something, the same as me. “First time to Ambrette?” he asked after a moment, and I nodded. “Same for her. We’re going to the aquarium for her birthday.” He sighed a bit, and then said in a quieter tone, “Least I could do since we can’t go see the league in person this year…”

“Ah, yeah I heard tickets were really hard to come by,” I replied with a nod.

“They get more expensive every year,” he said with a shake of his head. “I remember when I was a kid it was free.”

“It’s a shame. But they get more extravagant, too.”

He nodded to that. “Well, it’s all about the kids and their journey. You know anyone who’s participating?”

I shook my head. “Not personally. Professor Sycamore gave me tickets.”

“Ah, you’re a researcher,” he said with a nod, as if figuring out some sort of secret. “That’s why you look out of place. Where are you from? What brings you to Kalos?”

That was a good question. Well, I knew enough that I could be from anywhere, but if I had to pick the place in the Pokemon world that was closest to my last world- “I’m from Unova.”

He gave a whistle. “Well that’s real far. I was thinking Galar, but Unova. Wow. Don’t think I’ve met anyone from there.”

All I could really do was nod. “Yeah. I’m helping out Professor Sycamore, probably going to participate in this year's journey and try and get the badges while I’m here, see how I do in the League.”

“Ah, good idea. Yeah I’d probably take a swing at it too if I traveled that far,” he said with a chuckle. “An interesting team you’ve found already…”

“Mmm it’s more like they found me. But they all want to participate, so I figure I’ll train them up and see how they do.” They were still excitedly watching out the window. There were a bunch of gasps as off in the distance there was a Wailord. It had apparently startled a group of Mantyke and Mantine, as they were now frantically making an escape.

“That sounds like a wonderful journey… I’m a bit scared about when it’s my girl's time. I still have five years, but it still worries me,” he said with a sigh. He was a rather expressive man.

“I can imagine. But, there’s tons of resources for them. Rather than spending the energy worrying, you should spend that making sure she’s ready.” I was looking out the window, but I saw him look at me out of the corner of his eye. “The earlier you get a Pokemon, the better you get as a Trainer. You learn a lot of those teething steps while still in the safety of home.”

There was a moment of silence before he nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“I know why the Association doesn’t do it, but I think Pokemon should be given earlier.” It had been something I had thought about when I had been reading the ‘How to Start a Journey’ section from my book.

Again the man nodded in agreement. “Yeah, if they gave them too early, kids would want to start their journey early. If we’re not careful, we’ll have a bunch of ten year olds traveling the world,” he said with a laugh.

I nodded and chuckled as well, it was what I had thought as well. The car returned to silence, aside from the Pokemon excitedly chattering to each other about the ocean and the Pokemon they could see. It was an amazing sight actually being able to look out and see Pokemon out there.

Shortly we came around a bend and the view was blocked, much to the disappointment of everyone. But it also meant we were almost there. As we rounded another corner, Ambrette came into view. It wasn’t a large town, mostly consisting of the aquarium and research center. The train came to a stop, and we departed, a few people getting on afterwards.

“Well, have a good time,” the man said as he pat me on the shoulder.

I nodded and smiled. “You too.” I looked down at the little girl. “And, happy birthday to you.” She hid behind her father, but she smiled. Walking away from the two, there were a lot of people. “Alright, return for the time.” Rio didn’t seem to want to, but Cara and Veny both immediately returned. With a huff Rio did as well.

That was another interesting thing. Pokemon could willingly return to their pokeballs without you needing to pull them out or point with them. You only needed to do that to force them back in, like if they lost consciousness or something. There was a range, and it was about fifty feet. Beyond that and the pokeball wouldn’t work. It also wouldn’t work if there was anything in the way, be it an object or a Pokemon or person.

Pulling out my cell phone, I called Professor Sycamore. It rang for a moment before he picked up. “Hello, this is Professor Sycamore.” The familiar figure of the Professor appeared on the screen.

“Hey, Prof. I’m in Ambrette. Where am I supposed to go now?” I asked, since he had refused to tell me any details yesterday.

There was a pause, and then he laughed. “Ah, right. Head over to the aquarium. Tell them who you are and who sent you. That should be it.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

I hung up on him with a sigh and shoved it back into my bag. I hope he found his little game amusing. Although I had to admit it was kind of exciting. I could deduce that since it was in the aquarium, it was probably a water starter. Walking into the aquarium I found an information kiosk with a woman behind it, who was currently helping out another guest, so I waited. From where I was standing I could see a large statue of a Magikarp. Gyarados was a powerful option, but a risky one.

How confident was I that I could raise one that wouldn’t be consumed by anger? Was that possible? If I could find a Magikarp that was gentle, and raise it kindly, would it be possible? There were stories people wrote about that, which I had really liked, that had people go through a lot of effort to have a more gentle Gyarados.

It was honestly no wonder that Gyarados was so full of rage. If I was a little fish that got nothing but abuse from literally everyone, I would probably be destructive too if I gained immense power. I was firmly in the opinion that just because it can’t fight, doesn’t mean that a Pokemon doesn’t deserve to be happy.

“How can I help you?” The voice snapped me back to what was in front of me. I realized that the other guests had already moved off.

“Ah, yes.” I cleared my throat, having gotten completely lost in my own thoughts. “My name is Jason, Professor Sycamore sent me here about a Pokemon.”

She blinked at me a moment before apparently suddenly realizing. “Ah! You’re the one. One moment, I’ll get Doctor Raily.” With that she turned and jogged off.

I stood there, wondering what exactly the Professor had said to get that sort of reaction. After a few minutes, the woman returned with another woman. This woman had dark red hair, a big lab coat, and absolutely huge glasses. “Ah, you’re the Pokemon expert that Professor Sycamore sent?”

I blinked, but before I even had the chance to respond, she continued.

“Good. I’m glad you’re here. Come along.” She turned and started speed walking. I had to jog a bit to catch up, and once I did she again didn’t give me a chance to talk. “We can’t find anything wrong with her, but she’s also a Pokemon we have little detail of because she’s from such a far away region.”

She led me to an outdoor enclosure; there was a large pool and a mass of land. There were a few people looking down at the little blue Pokemon who had their large red nose in the water, and was blowing bubbles. “A Popplio,” I said rather excitedly.

“Ah! Good! You know what she is.”

“Of course I do.” The Popplio line was my favorite, but I didn’t feel entirely comfortable telling her that, so instead I said, “She’s one of the starters from Alola.”

We moved to the edge of the enclosure, looking over at her. She didn’t even raise her head or acknowledge our presence. “Yes. There was an Alolan Trainer who passed through here, and their Primarina had an egg. However when it hatched he seemed to lose interest in it because it didn’t have the Torrent ability.”

I frowned, looking down at her. “That means she has Liquid Voice.”

Doctor Riley’s brow furrowed. “He said she had no ability? What is Liquid Voice?”

I frowned a bit more, and looked around. I could see a number of kiosks selling all manner of things from food, to toys, to information books. “It turns all sound-based moves into water type moves,” I explained as I made my way over to one of the kiosks. “It’s debatably far better than Torrent, but it sounds like the previous Trainer didn’t know.”

“I see, well that explains one thing, but that’s not the problem. She is extremely depressed and has hardly been eating,” the Doctor said as I suddenly grabbed something from the Kiosk before heading back. The man who was manning it looked like he was about to complain, but the Doctor quickly paid for the thing.

“Considering what happened to her, and her current environment, that doesn’t surprise me.” I moved back to the edge of the exhibit and tossed my bag as well as the thing I had taken from the kiosk over. The noise drew the Popplio's attention, but only enough for her to look over.

However what I did next drew her full attention. I leapt over the edge, landing with a splash in the shallows of the water. “Ah! We have stairs!” the Doctor exclaimed.

The water wasn’t deep, but it was enough to mostly absorb my landing. I moved over to my bag, under the gaze of not only the Doctor, but many patrons. But most importantly, I had the attention of the Popplio as I pulled myself out of the water. I quickly grabbed the thing I had taken; a bag with a balloon. It was one of those balloon toys with a rubber band at one end.

“What are you doing?” The Doctor asked as I began to blow up the balloon. That seemed to get the Popplio’s full attention, and she even sat up a bit. I blew it up as large as I could, and then held the rubberband, beginning to bap at the balloon so that it went back and forth in the air. I did this for a few moments, watching the Pokemons reaction.

“Do you wanna play?” I asked, tossing the balloon towards the Popplio. She easily caught it on her nose, adjusting a bit in order to balance it. There was a bit of a smile on her face. With a flick of her head, she sent it back to me, and I hit it in the air, sending it back towards her. She made a noise of delight as she quickly moved to intercept and catch the balloon.

Our little game lasted for almost an hour, my arms were a bit sore by the end, but the Popplio seemed in much better spirits, bouncing the balloon up and catching it for herself. She had also drawn a lot more of a crowd, who was delighting in the show. I had moved over to the wall, also enjoying her show off.

“Well, your methods are a bit strange, but I can’t deny the results,” the Doctor said, having come in through a nearby door.

“All calculated,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. “Popplio are a playful Pokemon that likes to play and show off. She’s very young, and hasn’t figured out how to blow her own bubbles yet.”

“So she needed a surrogate.”

I nodded. “And I needed to do something that would get her attention. Doing something out of the norm is a good way to get the attention of a playful Pokemon.”

She nodded a few times. “I had doubts when Professor Synclare said you were a Pokemon expert, but color me convinced.”

I laughed a bit, which drew the Popplio’s attention. Despite our play, she had not said anything to me, or approached me. She was still very cautious of people. I just gave her a smile. “She’s going to take a bit to warm up, but she’s a good girl. Just bored and lonely.”

“Will you be alright here by yourself? I have some things that need doing.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll be fine. If you could just send some food? Something for me, Popplio, and my three Pokemon. She’s probably really hungry after all that playing.” I was watching as Popplio had started to bounce the ball against the wall, delighting in the noise it made.

“Alright. I’ll have someone bring it for you,” she said before departing.

Popplio watched her go, and looked at me curiously. “Aren’t you leaving?” she asked, finally speaking to me.

I shook my head. “No, I’m staying here. They’re going to bring food for you and me, and my other friends.”

“Friends?”

This time I nodded. “Yeah. Would you like to meet them?”

There was a bit of hesitation before she nodded. I smiled as I released the trio. “Whoa, where are we?” Rio asked, looking around before spotting Popplio.

“We’re in the aquarium. Literally. We’re in one of the exhibits where Popplio is staying.” Cara moved over and sat next to me. It was honestly really cute how she consistently did that.

There was a moment of silence before Rio looked at Popplio again. “Hey, do you wanna play with us?” I had a feeling that Rio’s outgoing personality would be a good choice, but I would have to reign her in if Popplio didn’t want to play.

Thankfully Popplio nodded, hopping over to them with her balloon ball. It quickly became a game of ‘keep the ball in the air’ between the three of them. They set the space into three different areas, and passed it around in a circle. As time went on, I really saw just how fast Veny was. I was sure she didn’t have quick feet ability, due to the lack of a status effect, so she must have speed boost.

After a bit longer, a few people dressed as staff came in carrying trays of food. “Wow, who would have thought I’d get to see that one so happy,” one of them said as he moved over to where I was sitting before handing me a tray, and putting the other one he was carrying down in front of Cara.

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“Sometimes you have to look at Pokemon as more than just creatures,” I said, looking into the tray to see quite an extravagant meal.

The guy shrugged, the other two also put down their trays and pulled out bowls of pokechow, though there seemed to be other stuff mixed in with the food. Rio shouted, giving the balloon a rather hard punch into the air, “Yeah! Food time!”

Veny quickly rushed over to join as well, although Popplio hesitated. All the food was placed near me. She was balancing the balloon on her tail as she thought over the situation. “Do you want to eat over there?” I asked, which drew the attention of Rio, who looked puzzled as to why Popplio was still over there.

But before Rio could talk, I put my hand on her head and began to pet the little canine. Slowly, hesitantly, reluctantly, Popplio came over. She settled in front of her bowl and began eating, keeping her eyes on me.

I paid her no attention as I began to eat. Those were some bad mental scars, and it was going to take more work to gain her trust. Rio and Veny excitedly talk about how to make their little balloon game more fun, like adding obstacles and things on the ground. It took a bit before Popplio added to the conversation, suggesting that they add the pool to the game area. They all agreed, and once they were done eating they ran off to continue playing.

“Looks like Team Speed Shell is getting another member,” Cara said softly.

“I’m not sure,” I said honestly, watching the three of them play. “I hope so, but that little girl doesn’t trust me. I don’t know if her mother was in agreement, but her Trainer ditched her here.” I could feel the jackals' anger rise from that revelation. “I want to take her, but if she doesn’t want to go with me, then I’ll have to figure out a different way to help her.”

“Even if she didn’t come, you’d still help?” She was looking at me.

I glanced at her before nodding. “I would have done the same for you, as I said. You coming along just makes it easier, and with better company.”

She let out a little snerk sound, which almost sounded like a bark. “You really just wanna help, huh?”

“I like Pokemon.” I turned my attention back to Popplio. “And every Pokemon deserves to be happy…”

“Even if they can’t help you?”

I pointed a finger at her. “Especially if they can’t help me. Someone's worth shouldn’t determine if they get to live a good life.”

She stared at my finger for a moment before she nodded. We both became quiet, just watching the three of them play. At one point I had gathered up all of the dishes and placed them onto the only tray that they left. The three of them had not taken a break, only making their game more and more elaborate. It was actually really good training.

The nice atmosphere was broken by Doctor Riley coming back. “The aquarium is closing.” She looked a bit bothered that we were still here. “The last train to Santalune will be leaving in an hour.”

“Ah, alright.” I stood up, picking up my bag as I did. “Alright everyone, we’re going back,” I called out.

Rio and Veny both slumped a bit. “Awww… Do we have to?” Rio asked, and I nodded. They both sighed, but nodded, Rio batting the balloon back towards Popplio, who caught it on her tail.

Cara nodded before disappearing in red light and returning to her ball. Veny said goodbye to Popplio before skittering over and also vanishing when she got close. Rio was really dragging her feet about it, but eventually she sighed and waved goodbye before returning to her pokeball.

I gave Popplio a smile as she approached, crouching down to be closer to her level. She held out the balloon to me. “No, it’s okay. You can keep it. Doctor Riley’s the one who bought it.”

She looked over at the Doctor, who startled at the attention suddenly being turned to her. But she nodded, pushing up her glasses. “Yes, it’s perfectly alright that you keep it. And if it pops, we can get you a new one.”

Popplio looked at the balloon. “It was really nice to meet you, Popplio.” I gave her a really big smile. “You’re one of my favorite Pokemon, and getting to see you was wonderful.”

“I’m your favorite?” she asked softly.

I smiled a bit more at her and nodded. “Mhm.”

There were a few tears in her eyes as I stood up. I didn’t get more than two steps before she suddenly rolled and sprang up in front of me, her flippers off to the side to try and block me. “I-!” She was full on crying now. “I don’t want to be here! I don’t like it here!”

Slowly I crouched down in front of her.

Her arms fell limp to her side and her head drooped. “No one plays with me! The people say mean things! They call me a clown! I can’t even blow bubbles!” Tears ran down her nose, making a puddle in front of her.

I moved forward slowly, gently picking her up. She pressed her face into my chest, loudly sobbing. “I’m sorry,” I said softly, gently rubbing her back. I thought I was going to have to come back in a day or two before I was going to ask her to come with me. “Do you want to come with me?”

“Uh-huh…” she mumbled out, nodding her head.

With a nod, I slowly stood up. “Where’s her pokeball?” I asked Doctor Riley. “I’m gonna take her with me.”

She nodded, the shadow of something angry flickering over the woman's face. “Alright, this way. We keep it right over here.” Just through the door was a staff only section, and right beside the door was a little case that she opened, pulling out a pristine white premier ball.

I had to shift Popplio’s weight a bit in order to take it, but I didn’t return her, instead I put the ball onto my belt. “Thank you, Doctor Riley.”

She nodded again, and gestured towards her right. “The exit is that way. Have a nice day.” It really sounded like I had made her mad, but I didn’t care. I made my way out of the aquarium, moving over to stand at the train station. There were a few people waiting, but it looked like the majority of people had taken the earlier train.

Popplio was still crying, though she had quieted down. There wasn’t really anything to say, I just had to be here for her now and take her away from this place. Honestly I don’t understand what any of them were thinking. The Trainer abandons her and they just…shove her into an exhibit? Heartless bastards.

The train came to a stop close by, and I double checked that it was going to Santalune before boarding. I made my way to the back, sitting down in the most empty part so that people didn’t bother Popplio. It felt like the trip took longer, but by the time we hit Camphrier Town, the sun had started to set, and the little blue Pokemon had cried herself to sleep.

~

It was dark by the time the train pulled into Santalune, and I made my way to the Pokecenter. As I entered I locked eyes for a moment with Nurse Joy, who immediately stood up and began to make her way over to me. “She’s fine,” I said quickly, though softly. “She’s just asleep.”

Nurse Joy’s pace slowed as she nodded, still coming over to take a look at her. “Okay. What Pokemon is this?”

“It’s a Popplio. They’re the Alolan water starter. She’s exhausted herself, but tomorrow I want to get her an exam.” I was trying to speak softly so as to not rouse the little thing. I placed my hand on her back so that I could feel her breathing to make sure she was still asleep. “Not that I don’t trust the Ambrette Aquarium staff, but I don’t trust the Ambrette Aquarium staff. Especially since their first thought was to shove her into an exhibit.”

“Did you steal her?” Nurse Joy asked almost immediately.

I did my best to stifle my laughter, letting out a snort. “No. But I probably would have if I saw her and knew the story.” After saying that I gave a quick history of the little blue thing's life, as well as how she was being treated at the aquarium.

Nurse Joy looked appalled. “After that sort of trauma they just left her alone?”

I shrugged a bit. We had moved over to her desk while we talked. “A lot of people, especially researchers I’ve noticed, don’t see Pokemon as anything more than tools or dumb animals.” It really came across in the tone of how the books were written.

She nodded a bit, frowning. She had probably seen a lot of that. It looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself and instead just sighed. “I can do a checkup on her tomorrow.”

After taking a deep breath, I nodded. I couldn’t see or feel anything wrong with her, but I wasn’t a pokedoctor. That made me have a thought. “Nurse Joy? How hard is it to get a medically trained Pokemon?”

There was a moment of silence where she just blinked at me. “You mean…like Wigglytuff?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “I know that there are a variety of medically trained Pokemon. Other Nurse Joys use Chansey’s, and they use Indeedee in Galar, Alola uses Comfey and Blissey, Audino in Unova, and here in Kalos you all use Wigglytuff. There are a bunch of individual cases of other things, but that’s the generalness of it.”

She continued to stare at me, blinking. “Did your memory come back?”

Slowly my smile fell. “No. But for some reason…I remember every detail I have ever learned about Pokemon.” I looked down at Popplio, who was still asleep. “Which is… Which is a good thing, right?” I felt a bit bad about lying to Nurse Joy, but I didn’t know if telling the truth would be a good thing.

“I wonder what sort of job you had? Professor Sycamore called you a Pokemon expert.” She had placed a hand on her chin with a thoughtful expression. “Though… returning to your question, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been asked about someone wanting a medically trained Pokemon.”

“It was just a thought I had.” It was actually an idea I was stealing from some Pokemon stories that I had read, but it always sounded like a good idea, so I might as well try. “It would mean being able to immediately treat not only my Pokemon, but others as well when battling out in the wilderness.”

She slowly nodded. “Well, I’m not sure but… Doesn’t hurt to ask, I guess? I’ll give my cousin a call. She does all the Pokemon medical training for Kalos, Galar, Paldea, and Unova.”

I gave her a smile. “Thanks. I also thought it might be a good idea to have someone who was trained because of my uh… condition.”

Realization slowly dawned on her and she nodded a bit more enthusiastically. “Oh, yes. That would be incredibly helpful in case anything happens later on when you can’t get to proper medical facilities.”

“Yeah, what are the chances of finding a Lucario that’s willing to carry me to a Pokemon Center twice.” I chuckled a bit, trying to keep the movement to a minimum to not disturb Popplio.

“Right,” she said, giggling a bit in turn. “Well, I’ll contact my cousin and see.”

I nodded. “Again, thanks for trying.”

With that, I bid her goodnight and headed back to my room. Once inside, Rio popped out immediately without even waiting for me to close the door. “Operation steal friend was a success,” she said, sounding very proud of herself.

“It wasn’t stealing. I was told to go get her,” I retorted. The other two also popping out of their pokeballs.

“But you weren’t sure you were going to take her?” Cara asked as we all sat down on the bed.

“Oh I knew I was going to take her the moment I saw her. Heck, even before that when Professor Sycamore was being all mysterious about it, I was fairly sure I would take her.” I had to think for a moment. Was there any starter that I wouldn’t take? I shook my head. “No, there was no way I wasn’t taking her. All the starter Pokemon are good.”

The room fell silent after that, and I carefully laid down. Veny’s spot had been taken by Popplio, so she moved to smush in under my other arm, since my left was taken by Cara. Rio snuggled into the spot next to her mother on top of me, half laying on both of us. When these Pokemon started to evolve, I was going to end up being crushed.

~

In the morning, Popplio was reintroduced to everyone. Though she was a bit nervous at first, Rio and Veny quickly incorporated her into Team Speed Shell, though they didn’t know what sort of role she would be in. I wondered where they got the idea for teams like that. Was it an idea they got from watching Trainers? Or was there some sort of mystery dungeon stuff at play? That would be a completely different concern.

The three of them played a bit, mostly Rio was showing off her strength by lifting Popplio up, while Veny showed her speed by doing laps around the room. It was rather amusing to watch, though I could see that the little blue seal was concerned. “I don’t know what I’m good at…” she said after a time.

“We’ll figure it out,” I said with a smile, which drew all of their attention. “If you want to be strong, I’ll do everything I can to help you be strong. If you don’t want to fight, that’s fine. If you want to do competitions, we can do that. If you wanna be lazy and get fat, that’s fine too,” I said the last bit with a bit of a chuckle.

Popplio made a face at me, and I could tell she was trying to blow bubbles at me, but nothing came out.

“I want to battle!” Rio declared.

Veny nodded eagerly. “Yes yes. I want to battle.”

“I agree. I want…” Cara stood up, standing in front of me. “I want to win.”

There was a large smile on my face, and I looked down at Popplio. “It’s okay to not want to fight, but if you have the drive, I will help.”

She looked thoughtful for a few moments, taking the decision quite seriously. It was rather important. Pokemon seemed to have this innate instinct to become stronger, to fight. It was something that I had thought about in the game, but it’s described in the book about Pokemon that the majority of them enjoy it.

Suddenly Popplio nodded. “Yes. I wanna fight, too.”

I nodded. “Alright. We’ll need to do some work on understanding your movesets. First, I want to-”

A knock at the door interrupted me. I looked over at the door, which Cara opened. Professor Sycamore was on the other side. “Ah, Jason. Good, you’re awake- And I see you made a new friend.” He was looking at the new addition to my little group.

“Yes. Can I help you, Professor?” I asked, looking at the way Cara was eyeing him as if he was a potential enemy, moving over to me as if to guard me. The other three had gone back to playing. Wrestling was the current state of things, both Veny and Popplio having to team up on Rio to make it fair.

“A few things. First I wanted to check in. You haven’t answered your phone.” He gave me a look.

I blinked at him and reached for my bag. Pulling out the cell phone I had shoved in the bag. “Oh no. It seems I forgot about it…” I muttered, seeing I had two missed messages from the Professor.

There was a rather disappointed look on his face, but he shook his head. “I got a rather irate phone call last night, about a disrespectful young man making a mess of an exhibit.” His expression changed to a rather amused one as he spoke.

All I could really do was shrug. “Maybe they should treat their Pokemon better.”

He nodded a bit. “Second-” He paused to look around the hallway before closing the door. “After asking, I found out about Professor Laventon. I had to ask Professor Magnolia, who was quite surprised to hear about him.”

“Ah so he is from Galar, that was hinted at.” I nodded a bit.

The Professor had a look on his face, one that I couldn’t quite understand the meaning of but I knew he was thinking. After a moment he nodded. “Anyways, it seems that your other world thing holds a bit more possibility. I’ve asked Juniper and Oak about it…”

“Ah, I bet Professor Oak took it very well. He was probably very interested.”

There was a rather blank expression on his face now. He was quite expressive. “Yes. He gave me a number that he wants you to call him at.” I watched as he took out his own phone and sent a quick message. After a moment my phone buzzed with a message, which was Professor Oak’s contact details.

“Oh, awesome. Man, I’d love to talk to Professor Oak. He’s iconic.” I was tempted to call him immediately, but I felt that would be rude while Professor Sycamore was here.

“Yeah. Juniper said she would have to look at some things, but would get back to me.” His attention was turned to the three roughhousing Pokemon on the floor of the room. “I’m glad things worked out. I was honestly thinking about just going and getting her myself.”

I took a moment to look at him. There was a question I wanted to ask, but I was worried about what the answer was. “How long?”

The smile faded from his face and he sighed softly. “He participated in last year's League.”

I had to grab hold of Cara’s wrist to stop her from going forward. She was pissed. I had seen the way her hand clenched and her aura flared slightly, she was going to attack him. That wasn’t a thing that I could allow her to do, even if I thought he deserved it.

The Professor noticed it, too, and took a step back towards the door. Cara turned her attention on me and I slowly shook my head. “He let her be like that for over a year,” she argued, trying to convince me. It seemed she had already adopted the little thing.

“I know. And he gets to live with that,” I responded softly. “Some people don’t see Pokemon as anything more than things.”

He cleared his throat. “That’s a bit harsh… But I understand where you’re coming from. I’ve already scheduled for the aquarium to be receiving a surprise inspection rather soon. I misplaced my trust in that they would properly handle the situation.”

That seemed to calm Cara down a bit, though she still looked like she wanted to deck the Professor. “Hopefully that gives them the appropriate attitude adjustment.”

He gave a slight cough and nodded. “Yes. Well, I’m going to be heading off now. Busy and all that. Try and keep your phone on, alright?”

I nodded. “Alright.”

After he left, I saw the way that Cara seemed to slump, sitting back down on the bed. This whole situation probably hit pretty close to home with her. My grip loosened on her wrist, rubbing gently at the back of her hand around the spike.

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye before huffing and moving over to the other three, but I saw the way she smiled a bit. My attention turned to the phone. It was like a fairly early model of smartphone. There was a phone app, a pokedex app, a Trainer battle app that synced with your Trainer ID, and a banking app. But other than that it was pretty bare bones.

I hesitated, looking at the contact information for Professor Oak. “Hey,” I got everyone’s attention. “I want all of you to get a check up with Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff. And then after that, we’ll do some battling.”

“Yeah!” Rio was immediately excited, her fists in the air.

That made me smile as I pulled out their pokeballs. Popplio immediately had a look, but the three of them immediately comforted her. “It’s alright,” Cara said, patting her softly on the head. “He’s good.”

I was actually really glad that that worked, and that they all seemed to think of me that way. “It shouldn’t take that long. And Nurse Joy will be happy to see you,” I reassured.

There was still a lot of hesitation in the Popplio, but after a moment she nodded. “Okay.”

They all returned to their pokeballs, and I made my way out. I found Nurse Joy quickly at the front. “Ah, Jason, good morning. Did you want me to check up on Popplio?”

I nodded as I placed all four pokeballs onto the small tray in front of her. “Yes, please. And if you could look over the others as well. They want to start battling more and I want to make sure they’re in good shape to do it.”

She smiled and nodded. “Of course.” She picked up the tray, and was about to turn when she suddenly stood up straighter. “Oh! I almost forgot. My cousin said that she might have a Pokemon for you, but you’d have to come and meet them all in person to see if any want to go with you.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense. Where do I have to go?” That was actually really exciting news.

“The Pokemon Medical Training Center is right outside Geosenge Town. She’s a bit busy right now, but she’ll be free once the League starts the day after tomorrow, so any time after that. Though she’s probably going to get busy again when the next journey starts, so the visit will have to be during the League.” She was explaining all this while walking to the back, and I was following her.

“Alright. I can do that… Probably the second week of the League?”

She nodded. “First two weeks are the Prelims. Third week is the actual Pokemon Tournament. And the last week is Elite Four battles, and maybe a Champion fight.” I was actually really glad that someone had explained it to me because I had been wondering how it worked.

“So, second week then. Outside of Geosenge.” That was really exciting for multiple reasons. There was Reflection Cave, which was supposed to be an absolutely beautiful sight. And there was also- I stopped walking. “I’ll be in my room when you’re done, alright? I’ve- I’ve got a phone call to make.”

“Oh of course. Shouldn’t take too long,” she said with a smile. “I’ll let her know when to expect you, here’s her contact information.” She handed me a piece of paper before heading off.

I stood there for a few moments as I watched her leave. Team Flare. The Ultimate Weapon. Were those a thing in this world? Was I going to have to deal with that in some way? Should I even try? I had no idea about the timeline of events, or if they’re actually going to occur. Guess I’ll just keep an eye out for hints and help out if I can. Although I should probably take a look while I’m there, just to see if it’s there. I haven’t seen any hints of Team Flare, but then again I haven’t seen much of anything outside of the Pokecenter.

With a sigh I went to grab some food quickly, before heading back to my room. I hadn’t thought about it when I had called Sycamore yesterday, but using the phone to call was a bit interesting, as it was a video call and I had never really done those in my previous life. It didn’t take long before it was answered and I saw an oddly nostalgic looking man on the screen. “Hello, this is Professor Oak.” It looked like he was at a terminal, rather than having a phone, and behind him was a rather plane looking wall.

I couldn’t help but smile, finding it oddly comforting to hear that man’s voice. “Hello Professor, my name is Jason. I believe Professor Sycamore told you about me?”

“Ah!” He smiled. “The otherworlder! Yes, he did.”

“Good, good. It’s honestly a relief that you sound far more accepting of the circumstances.” I sat down on the bed.

“Yes, well, I’ve seen all sorts of stuff. But, I do have some skepticism, so I want to ask you some questions.”

I nodded. “Alright.”

“There was mention that you know a lot about Pokemon, and the people in this world because of…video games and cartoons in your world, correct?” He was looking down at something, probably a little notebook.

“Yes, that’s right. But that’s only if what I know lines up with this world. There are a lot of… things that could be off,” I responded, still not sure how exactly this world lined up. It seemed to follow more of the anime than anything else.

“Don’t be worried if you can’t answer any of them, but if what you told Sycamore is true, you should know some of them. But we’re going to start with me, since Sycamore said I was one of the first suggestions you made. So you should be familiar with me, right?”

I nodded again. “Yeah, I think I am.”

“Then let's begin. What’s my strongest Pokemon?”

“Charizard, of course. Your Dragonite is a close second. Though I think your Tauros is probably a bit more dangerous,” I responded.

He rubbed at his chin. “Where am I from?”

“Pallet Town in Kanto.”

“What’s my grandson's name?”

“Gary. You also have a granddaughter named Daisy. And a cousin named… Melvin? Marvon? No it’s an s… Sss- Samson.”

That caused him to blink a few times. “Those cartoons in your world go into a lot of detail, eh?”

“You’re the most prominent professor in them,” I explained.

He nodded a bit, again rubbing his chin. “Though you could find out that information pretty easily… Let’s move onto some questions about Pokemon. How many Pokemon do you know about?”

“Over a thousand.”

His brow arched. “That many?”

“Well, some of them don’t exist anymore, or don’t exist yet?” I shook my head. “Timelines are a bit muddled. But you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, Professor?”

He looked both confused. “What do you mean?”

“Not that I don’t want to spend hours answering questions, let me tell you something that no one knows about.” That seemed to pique his interest. I really hoped that the movies were canon in this universe. “When you were a child, you met Celebi.” That caused the smile on his face to slowly melt away into a more stunned expression. “I honestly don’t know where I am in the timeline… but if Ash is on his Journey, then it should be about forty years?”

“Ash…started his Journey two years ago.”

“Then he should be in… Johto? Or Hoenn?” I wasn’t sure of how exactly timelines would match up.

“He’s in Hoenn,” Professor Oak said, still sounding rather stunned.

So it seems that the League’s are staggered in some way. And the Orange League is probably different from official League’s, if he even did that. “So he’s about to participate in the Ever Grande Conference…” I frowned a bit. He lost in that League, too. “It’s kinda sad he lost…but it was a good fight.”

“He loses?” Oak suddenly asked, seeming to snap out of whatever rut he had fallen into.

“Ah-” Should I tell him stuff about the future? “Uh…yeah. He doesn’t… He doesn’t win very many. But it doesn’t upset him, and he actually has a lot of fun and does pretty well. The kids got a lot of heart, and though it was rough for him in- in the beginning, he really grows into a good Trainer.”

There was a moment of silence before Oak nodded. “Yeah. He’s a good one.”

“And that Pikachu is a freaking monster. Where the hell did you get that thing from?”

Oak actually laughed. “He was…surrendered to me by a Ranger. He was deemed too aggressive to release, and too violent for Trainers. But… I immediately knew it was Ash’s when I saw it, so I held onto him.”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah… Also, total dick move to tell Ash you’ve got no Pokemon for him, when you absolutely did.”

Again he laughed, though this time it was more of a chuckle. “Well, it was his fault for forgetting to turn in his starter request form.”

“Yeah he was… a bit scattered at the start…” I remembered sitting on the floor in the living room, watching the anime. “Maybe I’ll meet him one day…”

“If you do, you can’t tell him anything about his future. Celebi warned me that knowing the future was far more dangerous than anything the future can actually contain,” he sounded a bit worried.

But I nodded. “Yeah. I honestly didn’t intend on telling you, either, but I slipped up. Celebi would probably be upset with me. But I don’t think I have to worry about Dialga, since it was Arceus who sent me here in the first place.”

Oak nodded a bit. “Yes, probably. But I think Celebi would be far more interested in you than upset.”

I chuckled, and nodded. “Honestly I would love to meet them. Maybe I’ll get the chance when I go to Johto.”

“Oh, you’re planning to travel all the way out here?”

I nodded. “I… I want to see this world that I only ever got to see on the other side of a screen. Actually being here is… so exciting. It’s like being dropped into the world of your favorite story.”

Again Oak nodded at my words. “Yes, that would be very exciting.”

Taking in a deep breath, I turned my attention back to Professor Oak. “So? What’s your conclusion, Professor?”

He leaned back in his chair, looking off into the distance above whatever he was using to talk with me. “I think that your otherworld must be a thing, because the alternative to how you have the knowledge that you have would be terrifying.”

I nodded to that. “Yes, I’m fairly worried about what sort of alternatives there could be…”

“Yes. Well, I am quite confident now that you are indeed from another world. Which is fascinating. When you come to Kanto, you’ll have to sit and have a long talk with me about it.”

I smiled at that and nodded. “Yeah. That actually sounds pretty good. I don’t know what sort of world route I’m going to go, but I’ll be there eventually.”

“If you need my help with anything, don’t hesitate to call.” It sounded like Professor Oak was keen on getting to other work.

“Alright. Thank you, Professor. I will.” We said our goodbyes and he hung up. I stared at the phone for a moment, taking in the fact that I had just spoken to Professor Oak. That made all of this feel so much more… real. I still had doubts. I still wasn’t sure if this wasn’t just some hallucination, or false memories, or maybe a coma dream. But at least right now, I felt better about it.

While I was waiting for Nurse Joy, I looked through the pokedex app. It was surprisingly bare. Missing Pokemon, and missing information on the Pokemon that it did have. It was unfortunately completely useless to me. It actually gave me a bit of a headache how little there was. What were all these researchers doing?

There was nothing else on the phone. It could make calls, the texting app was absolutely bare bones; I had to download a better one. I also had to download a camera app, even though there was a camera built into the phone it didn’t come with one. There were hardly any other apps that I could download. A calendar app. A note taking app. There was no map? There weren’t even any games. No games on my phone.

My disappointment was interrupted by a knock at the door, and a large pink figure entering. In the Wigglytuff's hands was a tray with my pokeballs. “Everyone looks fine, though the Popplio is suffering from malnutrition. We’ve given her some supplements, and they’ve all been fed now, but she probably shouldn’t battle today.”

I nodded a bit, taking the pokeballs from the tray. “I kind of figured she would be… They said she hadn’t been eating much.”

She tucked the tray under her arm and nodded. “Your Pokemon mentioned that they were going to battle, but I did warn her that she shouldn’t battle today. I expect that to be followed.”

“I’m not going to argue against a nurse's orders,” I said with a smile, standing up to put the pokeballs onto my belt.

“You better not,” she said, though her tone was a bit more playful than strict.

I had to stop myself from patting her on the head, instead I held onto the strap of my bag to keep my hands to myself. “I’m going to do a bit of training with them first. I need to know what moves they have in order to battle effectively. Would something like that be alright for Popplio?”

Her face scrunched a bit as she thought about it, but eventually nodded. “Some light things should be fine, but just nothing rough.”

“Of course. Thank you, Wigglytuff.” I watched for a moment as she waddled away before I made my way out to the battle ground. A Wigglytuff would be a good choice for my team’s nurse. Now that I was thinking about it, most of the Nurse Joy Pokemon were pink. Was that on purpose or coincidence?

The battle fields weren’t as crowded as yesterday, probably because the League started soon. But there were still a lot of people. It took me a while to find an out of the way area that was actually set up to be a training ground. It was a rather large area, with low fences all around. It even had a sign to designate it as a training area, and a request that no big moves be used here.

There was only one other Trainer there, trying to teach a Chespin something. Rollout, if I had to guess from the way it was trying to tuck and roll. They seemed fairly young from a glance, probably starting their Journey after the League.

That wasn’t really my concern, so I headed towards the other end of the grounds and released everyone. “Alright. So, before we battle, I want to get a feel for what moves you know. This will also tell me what we need to practice.” I pulled out my phone, planning to record their demonstrations. “Who wants to go first?”

Rio was the first to volunteer, doing a quick run through of all the moves she knew. It really showed me that levels meant nothing when it came to learning moves. She knew Force Palm, which was something she’d learn above level thirty, but she didn’t know Feint. Her Vacuum Wave was probably her strongest move, which probably meant she relied on it a lot.

Cara was next, and though she knew a lot more moves than Rio, it was obvious that Rio had learned from her as she also didn’t know Feint. But she did know some higher level moves that I wouldn’t have expected, like Meteor Mash and Close Combat. And like I thought previously, she did know Extreme Speed. Her Aura Sphere was a vibrant purple, but rather unimpressive, at least compared to how it looked in the anime or games.

Veny was probably the most surprising. Not only did she know a plethora of poison moves, but she also knew Rollout and Agility. She also definitely had the Speed Boost ability, because the more she showed off, the faster she got. But what absolutely shocked me was that she knew Extreme Speed. That shouldn’t be something she can learn, at least by game logic. That would require later testing.

Popplio was a different story. She hardly knew any moves. She did know Water Gun, but it was the only water move she knew. Though she was more than a little embarrassed to show them off, she also knew Disarming Voice and Sing. Sing got us all pretty good, but she stopped before any of us actually passed out. But this poor little seal was going to be needing the most attention when it comes to training. She was young, and with no interaction with other Pokemon, her learning had been severely stunted.

That was actually good information. Young Pokemon seem to develop moves as they play. I had noticed this as the three of them played, and all three of them were using softer versions of their moves. Trying to make the training into games would probably be a good way to teach them things. But for now, I wanted to try out a little battling.

We all sort of made our way to the battle grounds, watching the few battles that were going on. Though we didn’t get to watch for very long before a kid came over and asked, “You here for battles, or just to watch?” He was actually pretty polite.

“Oh, yeah, we were looking to battle. These three are ready,” I gestured to Rio, Cara, and Veny. “But this one is just watching today,” I said as I picked up Popplio.

He gave a nod. “Cool. Can I battle that one?” He pointed at Veny.

I nodded. “Sure.” We moved over to one of the open battlefields, and I handed Popplio over to Cara before moving into position. It was an extremely intense feeling. My first battle. Even though I judged that this kid must be no older than fourteen, he was probably using his parents' Pokemon.

Veny quickly followed and stepped into the field in front of me. This was her first official battle as well. I could tell Rio was a bit upset that she didn’t get to go first, but she would just have to deal with that. “Go, Talonflame!” He tossed the ball out.

Alright, young, but he knew type advantage. There was a moment of flash as the bird announced itself, “Yeah! Let’s do this!”

“Agility,” I said, before the kid could finish calling out his move.

“Flame Charge!” The flaming bird bounced off the ground, having struck the spot that Veny had just been in. “Again!”

“Extreme Speed.” Veny rushed and sprang forward, slamming into the Talonflame before it had a chance to ignite itself again.

“Dang it, Ember!”

“Agility.” Bits of flame peppered the ground where Veny was, however she didn’t escape fully unscathed this time. There were just too many little things of flame.

“Roost!”

I blinked, looking at the kid. I guess I was giving him way too much credit. “Toxic.” The bird was splattered in the purple goop that Veny spat out. “Venoshock.” Veny prepared and spat out a more concentrated glob.

“Aerial Ace!” The Talonflame charged straight through the poison and slashed past Veny, knocking her off to the side.

“Rollout!” I called, trying to get her to take advantage of the momentum. It didn’t quite work, as she had practically came to a stop before she had managed to curl up properly. Something to work on.

“Ah- uh- Agility!” The kid called, which caused the first Veny ball to miss, but she quickly rebounded and slammed into it on the return.

The blow sent the Talonflame to the ground, getting up with a bit of struggle. There was purple goop dripping from its beak. “Stupid kid,” it said, shaking its head. Just before Veny could strike it again, it leapt up, soaring into the sky.

“Wide circle!” I called out. “It’ll be coming down fast! Get ready for it!”

In the sky, the Talonflame burst into green flames and began their descent. Veny rolled to the other edge of the field, having circled it twice before she straightened out, prepared to meet them head on. The two crashed into each other at a great speed, actually causing a small explosion of green flame.

As the dust settled, I saw Veny, dizzy and bruised, but still on her feet. I looked over at the Talonflame, who coughed up a bit of purple, and let out a soft “Damn…” before falling forward into the dust.

“Talonflame!” the kid cried out, rushing to the bird. He quickly picked the bird up and began sprinting to the pokecenter. I didn’t even have a chance to say anything to him. Although I did hear his final words of, “Dad is gonna kill me!”

“Did I win?” Veny asked, a little confused.

I nodded. “You did.”

There was a moment of silence. “I won!” she screamed, rushing towards us. “Rio! I won!” The two practically collided.

Honestly I was surprised that Rio not only stopped the charging bug but even picked her up. “You won! We’re winners! We can win battles!” they chattered excitedly.

“People these days…bullying children,” a voice said from behind.