It had been a month since I’d arrived in Nacrene city and I’d been given a temporary apartment in a poorer area of the city. On paper this seemed like a raw deal however it just meant that I wouldn’t have to move after the government subsidy ran out.

But I was getting ahead of myself. I still had another month and a half until I had to worry about paying rent. The first two weeks were a blur of paperwork and tests. With these last two weeks being about settling down and planning, planning for a future out of this dump and the path I would take to get there.

After two weeks of work I was finally feeling like I had a good routine in place. Every morning started with the same meal. It was a cheap meal of mareep yogurt, oran berries and granola. Mareep Yogurt was cheap mainly because it was viewed as a secondary product to the wool they provided. Normally oran berries would’ve been slightly out of my budget but I got the old produce from my job at a market stall at the end of each day. Berries had a high turnover after all.

Then It was off to school for me and off to my neighbour Grandma Heidy for my brother who babysat him during the day. Which was kind of her as she asked for nothing financial in return, likely knowing of my situation, she just said she enjoys the company.

As for the trainer school, I was somewhat disappointed. While my inner child was electric at the thought of Pokémon battles and move training. My inner personal trainer was disappointed at the lack of physical training taught. The way moves themselves were taught was also rather one dimensional with the idea of getting better at a move being something that happened under frequent use not something that could be affected with specialist techniques too much.

Everyone seemed to work under a here's how to learn moves, good luck figuring out everything else policy. Ignoring the fact that if you honed the Pokémon's physicality the moves would naturally become stronger (Not to say moves were unimportant just not all there was to getting strong).

In fact it was to such an extent that I figured the culture of training must involve a lot of secret training techniques and such to get ahead. Rather than being open to sharing methods and improving together.

That being said whilst the training section felt a bit lacklustre the nutritional information was invaluable. As I had no real reference to work from, learning about the different nutritional information was extremely valuable. It opened my eyes to how expensive training could be and raised learning to cook in my internal measure of importance.

After school I went and worked the closing shift at the market's berry stall. Which, somewhat unexpectedly, had me do more moving produce into storage and removing old produce for new than it had me doing any selling of berries. Which was fine by me. I had enough of working customer service in my last life. Once work finished I headed home, made dinner for myself, Leo, grandma Heidy and her Lilipup before I called it a day.

These days were long and hard but I was enjoying it, learning about Pokémon was a dream come true after all. My one concern was that once the subsidy ran out I would be relying on my job to fund everything so financially I would be a bit shaky… Or I would be, If I was a normal person that is. I had a plan to make money reliably. I just didn't know entirely how I would implement it, or if it was even legal.

Which might not sound like much but the crazy mutterings of that one embarrassing uncle but after I had the legal side sorted out I would be rolling in it. Ok maybe not rolling in it but I wouldn’t be just scraping by.

Despite my delusions of grandeur, I needed to focus on the present. It had only been a month at this point. Though It felt like a lifetime and involved a lot of help from Captain Jubilee and Karley both in an official and personal capacity. They had helped me with everything from picking an apartment to getting me a job. I was truly in their debt, despite how much they insisted they were just doing their jobs.

Today was different, today I got a break from my routine. I had an official catch up meeting with Captain Jubilee and Karley. Which led me back to the police station, a stranger might be concerned with the amount I came back to the building. The building itself had quite the imposing exterior with stone statues of stoutland flanking the door standing proud and tall, looking quite striking next to the large open wooden doors and the older stone building. The details of the interior, such as the smiling receptionist, that went unnoticed on my first visit became more familiar over the last month.

As I entered the building I waved to the receptionist, who smiled back, as I walked towards the department of Hidden Villages. Which I had come to learn were not part of the police just associated with them as a related organisation, often working in tandem with them. Also, it was probably cheaper for the league to have them in spare police office space. Especially in places such as Nacrene City where their presence isn’t expected to be necessary. In fact their presence in such cities was seen as so redundant that there was even talk of the project being shut down entirely. My showing up was being turned into a big political victory for them, not that I minded as it had helped grease the wheels of the bureaucracy machine.

Plus if I wanted to become a high profile Pokémon trainer I would have to become used to working the system at some point.

The system itself seemed to work well as it was and was nowhere near as bad as it felt in my past life. No where had the long hellish lines of the DMV.

With that I walked into the department and right up to Captain Jubilee’s office promptly knocked on the door and waited to be granted entry.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Luis Is that you? Come on in, have a seat, sorry about the mess” she says through the door.

“Hi Captain, how have you been?” I ask as I walk in. Her office, though full of paper, was tidy with all the paper in neat stacks on every available surface in the room.

As I understand it most of this was not directly relevant to my case but the implications of what it could mean to have more people like me from an unknown unfriendly settlement.

We sit in the seats in front of her desk, once seated I pass Leo a Pokémon figure to keep him occupied whilst we have this conversation.

“I've been fine,” she said with a weary sigh. “Just buried in paperwork is all”

“Sorry about that” I reply with a meek smile.

“Don’t worry about it, I've had it easy for so long. It's a nice change of pace” she replied with a kind smile.

“Anyway how have you two been? We’re here to talk about you after all.” She asked starting the meeting.

“We’ve been okay haven’t we Leo?” I reply.

“Yeah! Grandma Heidy is really nice” he said with a goofy smile.

“Oh! You’re meeting your neighbours that's good.”

“Yes Grandma Heidy has been a massive help by babysitting whilst I'm at work and school. I just cook her dinner for her and Lilipup in return.” I explain, in fact without her I wasn’t sure my schedule would be possible with all the work and school I had.

In response Jubilee just smiles while writing some notes.

“And how are you finding work and school?” She asks.

“It’s going well. I'm not finding either particularly difficult and in fact was wondering if I could test out of trainer school early? Just so I can make some more money before my journey” I respond.

“Wow, are you sure? I know you had a good level of education before but you haven't learned about training for that long” she asked looking a little concerned.

“Yeah I’m fairly sure I’ll be fine. I just need a few more months but I’m already looking ahead at the curriculum and it doesn’t seem that difficult. Honestly, I think I’d find practical experience more valuable.” I respond with my practised answer. I’d been anticipating this conversation for a while now and was ready.

As Captain Jubilee processed my response she

“Hmmm, and how exactly, do you expect to get this experience without a starter Pokémon? Are you asking to receive it early?” she asks in a strict slightly accusatory way.

“No nothing like that, I don't even know my options for getting a starter. I was going to use my diploma and charge for training advice,” I said this wouldn’t be too much different that what I did in my previous life as a PT so I was confident I could do it. It was just an issue of legality, I didn’t know the laws around Pokémon training so it was better to ask an expert.

“Well that’s certainly not what I expected you to say, normally people don’t do that kind of thing until they have their own teams. But it’s not unheard of.” She said.

“I would recommend training a well known Pokémon in your apartment building to use an example of what you can do. I believe little Leo mentioned Grandma Heidy’s Lillipup, maybe that's an option.” She suggested.

“That's a really good idea!” I say, excited and happy this conversation was going well.

“Yep, after you’ve trained the Lillipup and passed your classes I would be happy to help you with making contracts and figuring out pricing. I imagine that, once he’s stronger, if you take Lillipup to your local battle park even casually you’ll get some interest.” She replied.

“As for your starter that is more complicated, every person is guaranteed a starter by the league, if they want it of course. That being said most only get given a random bidoof, pidove or lillipup. If you want to get to choose your starter you have to apply for an advanced starter program,” she explained.

“How does that work and what can I do to get the starter I want?” I ask confused about what my best option was.

“You can apply to up to three, as these programs act as your first sponsor they want to make sure you’re either a good fit or going to be successful as a trainer. So becoming a consultant trainer beforehand as experience will make you a good candidate. You might even want to aim for a lab starter if it goes well.” she elaborated.

“Oh wow, that is interesting. I can't wait to see what my options are.” I exclaim feeling excited at the prospects.

“Calm down, let's not get ahead of ourselves. You need to pass your tests first and talk to Grandma Heidy about training Lilipup.” she says with a kind smile.

“Yes, I’ll do that first thing when I get back!” I reply in kind.

“Well it seems you are both doing well, so why don’t we call it here. Ace Trainer Karly will be happy to know you’re settling in okay.” she says.

“Yeah we’re doing great, please thank her for me and thanks for your help with my plan.” I reply with a smile. As I get out of my seat with Leo and walk to the door.

“No worries, I'm just doing my job. Try to focus on one thing at a time, it’s good to be ambitious but it can be overwhelming trying to do everything at once.” she says waving me out the door.

“Will do, see you in two weeks.” I reply exiting the office feeling lighter than when I came in.

It was nice to know that my plans were not a complete bust and I could continue with my idea. Though I had perhaps played the part of an excitable teenager too well I couldn’t help it. I was excited especially at the idea of getting a better starter.

Everything felt so far away and all I needed to do was focus on doing things one step at a time to stay on track to my goal. For the first time since I had reincarnated I felt like the road ahead was visible and I just needed to follow it.

Starting with talking to Grandma Heidy.