“The recent introduction of the Paldea Region has caused a great influx of its more common pokemon into other regions, just like what happened to the Galar Region a few years back. Back then, common pokemon that held great potential such as Rookidee or companion pokemon such as Indeedee flooded into the pokemon trading market and spread quickly to other regions. Nowadays Corviknights are commonly seen as transport and Indeedees are well known as the best butlers and babysitters in every region.”
Ms. Peach, the Current Affairs teacher switched slides to a picture of a teddy bear like pokemon with sandy brown fur.
“For Paldea, the most exported pokemon is Pawmi, an electric/fighting type pokemon known for its cuteness and unique typing, as well as learning with a new move in Revival Blessing upon evolution. As such, even with policies preventing the over-poaching of this pokemon, their novelty has caused its demand to skyrocket and for it to become the signature pokemon of Paldea, even more so than the three starters.”
As Jun continued listening half heartedly to the teacher’s lesson, he delved back into the system in his mind. As a transmigrator/reincarnation, he had come into this world with his own cheat, a Pokedex system.
The system was set up as a thin slightly worn looking brown booklet in Jun’s mind, the first page held Jun's own information.
Name: Jun
Age: 13
Talent: N/A
Pokemon(observed): 96
Pokemon(owned): 0
Pokepoints: 96
The first page was relatively sparse, but on the next page labeled Kanto, it was filled with black silhouettes, each a pokemon he hadn't yet seen. Only a few were lit up, Magikarp, Geodude, Machop, Cubone, Zubat and Chansey were the only ones filled in. Being in Sinnoh, Jun rarely had the opportunity to come into contact with most of the Kanto based pokemon. Through experimentation, he realized that it wasn't enough to just catch a glimpse of the Pokemon, there were 2 methods in order for the system to register a pokemon as being “observed”. Jun had to stare at the pokemon, whereby the silhouette of that pokemon would begin to fill in, only after around 5 minutes of staring would the silhouette fully fill up and the pokemon’s silhouette would be lit up. The other method was for Jun to physically touch the pokemon, this would immediately unlock their entry in the Pokedex system. Each pokemon “observed” so far had granted Jun a pokepoint, but he still hadn't found a way to spend these points as of yet.
Flipping over to the Sinnoh page, Jun felt a spark of satisfaction, most of the common pokemon here have been filled in, every day after school, he would run around the outskirts of Jubilife city, where he attended the Trainer School on scholarship. His parents having been missing since he was young, Jun was shuffled off into the welfare system of the Pokemon world, having shown an early intelligence, he was sponsored by the league to enter the Trainer School.
As Jun scrolled through the upper section of the Sinnoh-dex, he wondered what pokemon would show up at the Global Trade Station, having exhausted the surrounding pokemon of Jubilife City, he spends most of his time hanging out around the GTS, hoping to see some new pokemon. Progress was slow but without the ability to go on a journey for another 2 years, this was his best shot at filling in his system. Just last month, he managed to fill out 3 pokemon not from Sinnoh, a friendly Lillipup that adored the scratches he gave her, a dozing Munna perched on its trainers shoulder while they were waiting on someone and a nervously shaking Espurr holding onto its trainers pant leg who stared back at Jun with its wide open eyes. Even so, Jun knew that once he left on his journey, the number of pokemon he saw would increase explosively, now though he felt that 100 pokepoints would bring a change to his system, he just had to be patient.
In the midst of his daydreaming, he faintly heard his name being called. Coming back to his senses, he saw Ms. Peach staring at him with an annoyed look in her eyes.
“Mind repeating what I just said,” she asked. Looking up at the projector, a picture of a Zubat and Psyduck was on it, not able to think of anything, Jun scratched the back of his head and replied apologetically quietly. “Sorry Ms. Peach, I wasn't paying attention.”
The rest of the class snickered and Jun felt a blush flare on his cheeks.
“Well start paying attention now, as I was saying, the spreading of pokemon via the Global Trade System may cause the proliferation of invasive species that the local pokemon have no way of dealing with, such as the Zubat infestation of Mt. Coronet. Their high rate of breeding and their poisonous nature make them unpalatable for most hunting Pokemon with few exceptions. On the other hand, pokemon like Psyduck who are present in most regions but exhibit less explosive breeding rates may have been present since ancient times.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
*Ding Ding Ding*
“Ah that's it for today's lesson, take your break then head to the training fields everyone. Mr. Letters will be refereeing today.”
Ms. Peach swept out of the classroom as the students burst into chatter as they separated into their cliques. Jun packed his belongings carefully and joined up with Alyssa, his fellow orphan and best friend growing up. She was a slim tomboyish girl with black hair tied up in a ponytail.
“Jun, I swear if we get another repeat Pokémon, I’m going to start a riot,” she fumed, rolling her eyes dramatically as they made their way towards the training grounds.
Jun let out a soft chuckle, feeling the tension ease from his shoulders. “Alyssa, it’s not like you wouldn’t make a great riot leader.”
“Too right! But this is getting ridiculous. Last week we had the same Pidgey as before! I mean, how am I supposed to show my incredible skills with a Pokémon that can’t even land a proper Tackle?”
“The Gym Rotation System is supposed to challenge us, remember?” Jun reminded her. “The idea is to make us adapt to different situations.”
“And what are we learning from ‘adapting’ to a Pidgey? How to be mediocre?” She scoffed, her acerbic tone vibrant against the chatter of their classmates.
Jun stared ahead, the winding path through the courtyard bringing them closer to the training grounds. He appreciated Alyssa’s fiery spirit even if it sometimes overwhelmed him. Despite their bickering, often over the most trivial things, he was glad for her company.
As they entered the large, open space filled with students waiting for class to begin, the lively sounds of voices and laughter enveloped them. Jun spotted Mr. Letters, their instructor, standing at the front. The tall, burly man was a fighting type trainer turned teacher who claimed his journey had once involved traversing the Sinnoh region barefoot. Now, he bore the faint scars of battle, each one a testament to his past adventures.
The class bell rang, “Alright class!” Mr. Letters bellowed, his voice booming. “Today, we’ll be drawing lots to see which Pokémon you’ll be training with. Remember, no one gets to use their own Pokémon here! It’s all about adaptation!”
As Jun waited for his name to be called, he couldn’t help but wonder about the Pokémon he’d receive. Perhaps a Starly or Bidoof, maybe even a Shinx if he was lucky. He had already added these common pokemon to his system-dex, so it didn't matter to him what pokemon he got.
When it was finally his turn, he approached the table piled with Poké Balls, his heart racing. With a flick of his wrist, he opened one, revealing a swirling pink creature inside. A West Sea Shellos, he had already observed one on the outskirts of Route 218, so he didn't have much excitement.
Alyssa received a Starly—a small, swift Normal/Flying type known for its agility.
“Hey at least it wasn't a Pidgey, even if they share the same typing.” Jun snickered on the side.
Alyssa swatted at him, “Starlys are nothing like Pidgeys, they might have a slightly lower base stat total, but they're actually faster and stronger than Pidgeys. Not to mention their evolution is so much better.”
The Starly, flustered from the praise, quickly hopped onto Alyssa's shoulder and nuzzled into her face.
Alyssa felt a flush on her cheeks, turning away to hide her blush, she walked towards the battle zones. “Time to show what you can do!” Alyssa declared, her Starly perched on her shoulder, flapping its wings in anticipation.
Jun found a quiet spot beneath a tree, gently stroking Shellos on its crown of horns. He quickly flipped to the West Sea Shellos page in his system-dex and scanned what moves Shellos learnt. Judging from her size, she was probably equivalent to level 15-20. Catching the pink Pokemon's attention, he asked, “are you able to use Water Pulse?” Shellos nodded cutely and continued to look up at Jun.
“How about Ancient Power?” The pink blob shook her head morosely. “It's alright, maybe you'll have learnt it by the end of the day.” Jun gently encouraged.
“Alright, so our movepool is Water gun, Water pulse, Mudslap, Harden and Recover. We have both attack and recovery, I think we're set, let's find our first opponent.” Shellos squealed a warcry and scooted forward, following Jun to a battlezone where a student with an Onix, a Rock/Ground-type was waiting.
The size difference was stark, the massive rock serpent towering over the tiny pink sea slug, but Jun steeled himself. “Okay Shellos, let’s start off with a Water Pulse! Aim for its snout!”
Shellos, surprisingly responsive, quickly gathered water type energy and spurted a jet of water at the Onix. The 4x effective move landed squarely, causing Onix to sway but not topple. His opponent yelled “Smack Down!” Jun could feel the eyes of his classmates on him and pushed through the adrenaline coursing through his body. “Harden! It's faster than you, don't try to dodge, you can take the hit.”
The battle felt frantic, but with every exchange, he adapted more to the timing and calling out of moves. He knew the key was not just to rely on sheer power but to strategize—and Shellos responded, catering to his every order.
“Recover, then hit him with another Water Pulse!” Jun called out another command.
His opponent quickly responded, “Dragon Breath, Onix.”
The two beams of energy met in the middle but Onix was already tired and battered, after a second of collision, the Water Pulse pierced through the dragon type energy and slammed into the rocky snake, toppling the Onix to the ground. The cheers that erupted from his fellow students rang in his ears. It was a sweet victory but this was only the first battle of the day, Jun was sure Shellos had a few more rounds left in her.
The sun dipped lower into the sky, Jun won 2 more matches but lost the last. As he carried Shellos back from the Pokecenter on his shoulder, Jun noticed Alyssa struggling against a trainer with a Murkrow who seemed overwhelmed with confidence. He could see the flicker of worry in her eyes, the realization that her usual bravado was faltering.
In a rare moment of impulsivity, he shouted, “Alyssa, remember F.E.A.R! Murkrow doesn't have priority this early!”
Her head snapped up, and for an instant, Jun saw confusion, recognition then a mix of annoyance and gratitude. But she didn’t let it show too long; she quickly flicked her ponytail, commanding the Starly with newfound confidence.
“Starly, use Double Team!” she shouted. Starly began rapidly flitting back and forth, creating clone-like illusions. Murkrow’s trainer smirked, “Whatever tactic you come up with is useless, Murkrow has over 100 base stat total over Starly, Haze and reset the field, Murkrow, then into a Gust.”
The Murkrow flew up, summoning an icy fog that cleared away the Starly clones, then flapped its wings and blasted a column of wind at the remaining Starly.
“Keep up the pressure Murkrow, hit it with Peck before it regains balance.”
As the Starly was battered back and forth, the situation looked dire, Alyssa suddenly yelled, “Starly, Endeavor then into Quick Attack.”
Surprised by the command, Murkrow's trainer choked but before he could formulate his response, the battle was over, with the Murkrow fainted on the ground and a battered and bruised Starly standing triumphant.
After the battle, Alyssa ran over to Jun.
“What the hell, Jun. I can't believe your stupid tactic actually worked.”
“It's not stupid if it works.” Jun replied, “the F.E.A.R tactic, Focus sash, Endeavor, Attack, Rattata is a tried and true gimmick tactic, works 100% of the time.”
“Yeah, unless they use status, weather or have priority.” Alyssa retorted, wiping the sweat off her brow, attempting to maintain her aloofness. But Jun could see the happiness in her eyes; it sparkled, even through the steely façade.
As the training session came to a close, Jun felt something shift in their dynamic. They weren’t just two orphans navigating a world that often felt overwhelming. They were becoming partners in their journey, Jun would bring the experience of another world while Alyssa would temper that arrogance with her acerbic attitude.
It was a comforting thought, and as they made their way back to the school, he felt a curious spark of hope within him. Life was like Pokémon battles, filled with unexpected twists, daring moves, and the sheer joy of surprising oneself in the end.