Caelan's eyes skimmed over the pages for what felt like the hundredth time, tracing his fingers over the faintest traces of pencil and eraser smudges. The clock on the wall clicked softly, a metronome of anxious seconds. He flipped through the answers, his gaze darting from one question to the next, searching desperately for something to pop out to him.

'Is this… all there is to it?' He couldn't help but feel disappointment at how simple it was.

As it turns out, becoming a Pokémon trainer wasn't too hard even for people like him. The standard method was to graduate from Pokéschool and use that achievement as a springboard to immediately being given a 'Rookie Trainer' license. This was the path paved by the Indigo League, the governmental power of Kanto, and was the method most regions followed.

Many of the stronger regions even provided powerful starter Pokémon to those who graduated as an incentive to follow their laid-out path.

However, the Trainer's Association wasn't subordinate to any one government. They were allied with and spread out between multiple regions, providing even the most impoverished people of the Pokémon world a ray of hope.

The way they operated reminded him of the adventurer's guild that tended to show up in the games and stories of Earth.

Therefore, there was a far easier method to becoming a trainer, albeit one without as many benefits. If one took this route, they'd instead be given a 'Youngster' license, which would later be upgraded to the higher tier license if one proved themselves. The person in question simply had to be a certain age, own a Pokémon, pay an initiation fee, and finally pass the written test the Trainer Association provided.

Even if Caleb knew about those requirements, it would've been difficult for him to become a Trainer with just Rattata alone. For a kid without an education and no job experience, the 100 Pokédollar fee would seem far too expensive, and the written test would be nearly impossible.

Nearly impossible. Caleb probably could've done it if he was determined enough.

The written test covered various topics including Pokémon caretaking, nutrition, legislation and ethics, and conservation and environmental theory.

Theoretically, the test would've been daunting even for him. That was if the questions weren't easy enough for a toddler to figure out. Unless he was overestimating the intelligence of children, he didn't understand how any kid with a lick of sense could fail the exam.

While each question seemed complicated due to the vocabulary used, the test was as basic as asking 'Do you know what a Pokémon is? Will you abuse your Pokémon or randomly attack people with it? No? Okay, you pass.'

Even if a kid didn't have a good education, the only thing they'd need was a dictionary and common sense.

He lightly shook his head, stood up, and quietly walked over to the front desk, where he gently placed his test.

"Hm?" Eventually, she looked up from her computer with a practiced smile. "You're not having any problems, are you? I can help clarify if you're confused."

"No, I'm finished," Caelan placed his hand on the packet of test questions and slid them over.

The receptionist frowned. "Are you sure? The test lasts until the day is over, you don't have to rush." She picked up the test papers regardless, her eyes slowly scanning the filled-out blocks of neatly written text on each page. "Huh… I guess you are finished. That was fast. One moment please."

Calmly standing up from her chair, she walked over to a door behind the desk before walking in without another word.

Caelan stood there awkwardly, patiently waiting for her to come back. Luckily, no one was behind him in line or anything, so it wasn't that bad.

Moreover, he didn't even have to wait long as she returned not even a minute later, holding a single sheet of paper and a familiar scratched-up Pokeball. His eyes snapped onto the ball, recognizing it immediately.

'Rattata~!' He couldn't help but think, a sigh of relief escaping his lips.

She was his way forward, his protection, and his only friend in this life. Having to temporarily hand over Rattata was far more nerve-wracking than any question on the trainer exam.

He didn't just pay a fee for the chance to take the trainer exam as it came with a few benefits even if he managed to fail. One of those benefits was a free Pokémon scan by the association's local analysts backed by Silph Co. level technology.

While those scans were available for all trainers, they were normally extremely expensive. You could get a free analysis from the Pokémon Center, but they were less accurate and more obtuse.

"While you wait, why don't you look over your Pokémon's results? I'll call you over when they're done scoring your exam," She handed him his Pokéball alongside the sheet of paper.

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"Okay. Thanks, uh," He glanced down at her nametag. "Linda, for being so helpful."

"It's my job," She snorted, but he felt her plastered smile became a tad more genuine.

"True," He absentmindedly replied as he walked away, distracted by the assessment of Rattata's capabilities.

The paper was full of diagrams and graphs, alongside long-drawn-out paragraphs detailing every single thing about his Rattata. From any medical issues she had down to the genetic advantages and disadvantages she had compared to others of her species.

Sadly, it was a one-time thing; an incentive for signing up to be a trainer.

If someone were to have access to scans of this level of detail consistently…? Even the most untalented of trainers would be able to maximize the potential of their Pokémon.

Being rich truly was a superpower.

As Caelan sat down at the table he'd returned to, he took out his Pokégear to snap a picture of the status page. Something this comprehensive was a bit too dangerous to just leave in a garbage can somewhere. Burning it after ripping it into pieces was the only logical option.

He frowned as he looked at the abbreviated status page at the bottom. Despite being more concise than the details above, it only filled him with more confusion.

[Species: Rattata (Female)]

[Class Level: 0.4]

[Type: Normal (Innate), Dark (Hidden)]

[Elemental Quality: Normal (D-Grade 80%), Dark (F-Grade 80%)]

[Ability: Guts]

[Condition: Average]

…The only thing that stayed true to Nolan's memories of the Pokémon games was the 'Ability' category.

This was a small part of the reason he didn't mind having Rattata as his starter Pokémon. Alongside the fact that they already had a good relationship, there was also the fact that she wasn't a Pokémon who could have a useless ability.

She had three potential abilities in the games; Run Away, Guts, and Hustle.

Some might argue that 'Run Away' was useless in battle, but this was real life. If a Pokémon could flee from any other Pokémon without fail, then the ability must've had some miraculous effects in real life.

Perhaps it was a speed boost only when not attacking? Or the result of instantaneous movement, somehow? It was one of the many abilities that made no sense in a real-life setting.

Luckily, he didn't have to think about it as she didn't have that ability anyway.

Besides that category, every other part of her status filled him with questions.

With that in mind, he hunched over the page as he examined every last word, trying to gleam some answers.

That was until he saw the small arrow pointing at the corner of the page.

"Oh," He facepalmed, rolling his eyes at himself as he turned the page over. "Of course, there's an explanation on the back," He muttered under his breath.

Seeing as most amateurs wouldn't understand the terms, they'd put an entire FAQ section on the back, explaining what they meant. He read it through thoroughly, before putting it down as the ramifications of the information dawned on him.

The biggest thing he realized was that 'Class Level' was literally just a Pokémon's level.

It didn't say this, obviously, but he could tell from how they worded it that it was pretty much the same thing.

The association listed that it improved with both subsequent battle and physical training, detailing the overall power the Pokémon could exert. When it improved, all of the Pokémon's abilities improved with it.

Also, it ranged from 0.1-10, just as Pokémon levels ranged from 1 to 100.

Technically Class Level 0 existed, but it was only used for scanning eggs.

Since scanning a Pokémon to get their exact Class Level was expensive, most institutions and people instead had rankings assigned to the level. Instead of Level 0.4, which would be Level 4 in the games, they called it Middle Class 0.

0.1-0.3 would be Lower, 0.4-0.6 would be Middle, 0.7-0.9 would be Upper, and Class 1 would just be called Base Class 1.

Both 'Type' and 'Element Quality' were interlinked, so they were easy to understand.

Essentially, the Element Quality was the power of a Pokémon's typing. An S-Grade Normal's Scratch would be far stronger than an F-Grade Normal's Scratch. Getting to the next grade required the Pokémon level up, as starting from F-Grade it would increase per level in increments of 20%.

Sadly this growth rate would be halved each time it reached a new grade.

Luckily, a Pokémon's innate type would begin at D-Grade while keeping the growth rate of F-Grade.

All of this information would be nice to know, but the cheaper scans at the Pokémon Center only told the grade, not the percentages. That didn't matter now when his Pokémon was growing so fast, but it would be annoying to keep track of later when he had a full team of Pokémon with various types and quality grades.

Another annoying thing was the glaring difference between the Types of the game and this world's version. Here, a Pokémon could only use moves of the types that it contained. Charmander couldn't use Scratch with energy behind it since it was a pure Fire type.

It could still use its claws in battle, but they would only be as strong as normal ol' claws.

Luckily, a Pokémon could 'learn' a new type for every evolution. Additionally, all Pokémon were born with a hidden type they could use alongside their innate type. Sadly, this hidden type only grew at a moderate pace, nowhere near as fast as the innate type.

Finally, there was the Pokémon's condition. It was just a summarization of how healthy the Pokémon was. While it did say 'average', the association noted that this wasn't exactly good.

A person vying to become an Olympic athlete couldn't just be average, they needed to be at the peak of their athletic capability. Similarly, an average Pokémon wasn't bad for everyday life, but it was less than desired for battles.

Caelan's eyes glazed over at the information dump while he slowly took another picture with his Pokégear. If the information was accurate, it meant that training Pokémon would be a bit different than the games, and he'd need to memorize this new information for later.

"Caelan?" A woman's voice called out to him. He looked up and saw it was Linda, and she was looking right at him. "Your results are ready."

Crumpling up the paper and putting the paper ball in his pocket, he stood up from his seat.

He took a deep breath, steadying himself. Despite knowing how easy it was, it was hard not to get a little nervous over a test that would determine his future.

Nolan was undoubtedly a delusional person. But it was only in the haze of his delusions that he truly believed he could beat the odds. Through staggering confidence in himself, he achieved his dreams one step at a time.

'This is the beginning.' He thought, forcing himself to firmly believe it. 'The beginning of our ascension.'