I found Ash sitting in the breakfast area with Dawn and Brock. It was not even 7 AM yet everyone was already up apparently.

My own reasons for getting up early like this was my excitement for getting a second Pokémon and the new moves Ralts had that I still wanted to test, but it was a mystery to me why Ash and his friends were up this early.

The free breakfast in the Pokémon Center was at least available till 11 o'clock so that couldn't be the reason.

Ralts and I took place on their table, I put down my plate with scrambled eggs and Ralts sat down next to me, holding a weird fruit looking thing she liked.

The breakfast area was not big, just a few big square tables aligned in neat rows with a bigger wooden table next to the door for the buffet.

There were posters plastered onto the wall, tips for Pokémon trainers, upcoming tournaments and other shiz a new trainer might need.

A big long light bar illuminated the room but the light was pretty harsh on my eyes that still hadn't adjusted to being awake yet.

I wasn't the only one who was still feeling sleepy, Ash and Dawn too looked like they could fall asleep any second.

"Goodmorning," I said, sounding far more cheerful than I felt.

"Oh hi Dust." Dawn yawned, looking up from her pancake that was still untouched.

"Goodmorning," Brock replied, looking more alive than his comrades.

He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms.

"Ralts," Ralts replied sleepily.

{Sleepy}

I raised an eyebrow, Sleepy was not an emotion at all, does this mean Telepathy is evolving?

Ash didn't show any signs of life, instead he lay face down on the table, a bowl of cereal in front of him remaining untouched.

"Pika." Pikachu poked his trainer. Ash didn't react.

A small jolt of electricity shot out of Pikachu’s tail and blitzed towards Ash.

"Aaa! I am awake!" Ash cried out, quite literally shocked.

His eyes widened when he saw me sitting opposite of him. He recovered very fast. "Oh good morning you two."

"Sup."

"Ralts."

"So," I began taking a bite, "Why are you all up this early?"

Ash smiled brightly, "My Pokémon and I are going to train a bit extra for our challenge against Roark."

"Same as Ash but for an upcoming Contest battle," Dawn mumbled.

"And someone has to keep an eye out for those two," Brock laughed, "Without me they wouldn't even know when to wake up."

Ash nodded, "Sleep is essential for a good performance."

"It was your plan to train a bit extra in the morning," Dawn muttered.

Ash fixed his black eyes on me, his hair was still messy and wet from a shower. "So why are you up this early?"

"Yeah about that," I gave him an apologetic smile, "I can't stay in Oreburgh City…"

"What? Why?!" Ash exclaimed way too loud.

I shrugged. "Professor Rowan asked if I could come as soon as possible."

It was definitely not a lie but not the whole truth either, Rowan did need my help and he did say I could come as soon as possible.

"Something wrong with him?" Dawn asked, concerned. She nervously pushed a hairlock out of her face and took a bite from her pancake.

"Nah, just some sidequesting, you know the usual shit."

She raised an eyebrow at that but I didn't bother explaining.

"Well," Ash said, folding his arms, "If you still want to see Pikachu in action then we should hold a battle next time we meet."

He grinned, "Of course you don't stand a chance."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded firmly.

"Looking forward to it," I grinned back.

We finished our breakfast in silence, no one felt much like talking. After that I bid them farewell and took Ralts with me to find a place where we could try out our new moves.

While I was checking out I asked the girl with blue hair behind the counter where I could train a bit, she gave me some directions that ultimately led to a quiet place far enough to not bother the people who lived in Oreburgh City.

The moon hadn't even fully disappeared yet and while I was walking through the silent city I stifled a yawn.

We found a grassy battlefield with faded white lines that was a small distance away from the Pokémon Center.

The entire place was built inside what seemed to be an abandoned building site, which was again one of the questionable design choices this world had.

Ralts was ready to go apparently because she didn't waste a moment. Once we arrived she hopped down from my shoulders and tried out her first new move.

She landed in front of me and stood still for a second. Her eyes began glowing red and it looked very similar to a demon or something, then a laser shot out of the red horn thingy she had.

The laser beam was not just one color but an entire LSD trip worth of colors. The multicolored beam shot into a half built wall and tore it into pieces.

{Smug} Ralts smiled at me looking very...well smug.

"So, that's Psybeam," I said out loud, taken aback by the weirdness of the attack. "A fucking LSD laser."

Ralts nodded happily, apparently liking the comparison.

"Awesome," I knelt down to pet her on the head. "Seems like we're making huge progress today."

The new move was definitely a nice addition to Ralts' moveset. Psybeam was a stronger version of Confusion in the games, while still keeping the same 10% chance to inflict the confusion status effect.

Nothing really special.

But in real life it was much better.

The laser was faster than normal Confusion and even reached further.

It was one concentrated beam that didn't take too long to charge yet it was still powerful enough to shatter rocks.

Psybeam was a perfect snipe attack, the range was big but the beam only lasted around 2 seconds and the point of impact was pretty narrow thus it had to be a clean hit to do damage.

Disarming Voice and Confusion both were more effective at close range with their smaller reach but Psybeam was a good mixup for keeping a bigger distance.

Sure, at the end of the day it was another Blaster class move (which makes this one her third) but it made the total sum of her moveset more versatile.

The Psybeam could force our opponents to approach Ralts and play more aggressively, combine that with Teleport and we could use Psybeam to camp our enemies.

"Ralts, try to fire a Psybeam while jumping."

Ralts complied and tried to jump, she did a big hop and her eyes began to glow red. However the effect shattered not a full second later.

She tried to do the same thing while walking but again it was not working, the moment Ralts moved the attack was canceled.

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

I frowned at that, it was a minor disappointment that she was rendered immobile for a second before she could fire the move.

Psybeam was very similar to Confusion in that way.

My current theory was that both attacks were basically the same attack; Shooting Psychic energy but the way the energy was distributed was different.

Confusion spread it across a large area and fired in bursts while Psybeam concentrated all the energy into a long reaching, narrow beam.

This did raise the question where the Psychic energy came from, did Ralts convert something else into Psychic energy or did she draw it from an invisible source?

Or maybe this world had no things like conservation of energy and it was just ‘made’.

"Well, still pretty good." I knelt down and offered Ralts a high five.

She jumped up and hit my hand with her own tiny hand.

"Now, let's try to test the second move, Teleport."

Ralts nodded and closed her eyes, before she could start however I stopped her. "Not yet."

{Confusion} Ralts stared at me.

I opened my backpack and took out two plastic bottles filled with water.

"Let's try to test multiple things this time okay?" I proposed with a smile.

Ralts cocked her head to the side, "Ralts?"

"Sit down."

She sat down.

I sat down behind her with my back to her.

A question was asked in Pokéspeak, still Ralts didn't move.

"Just testing out some theories," I made sure I felt reassured. "Now, try to teleport the both of us as far as you can, okay?"

{Attempt}

I felt a vague pull in my guts that was very similar to sitting in a rollercoaster that was about to do a drop.

The feeling began to build up, it wasn't a nasty or uncomfortable one but it definitely felt alien. I felt the tug pull tighter and somehow I knew the teleport was about to happen.

The bottle I held in my left hand was tossed up in the air while the bottle in my right hand was clutched in my sweaty hand.

Teleporting was a scary thing after all. There was so much that could go wrong.

Distorted teleports were not unheard of in this world, Pokémon appearing inside objects, spread throughout time or straight up disappearing after an attempted teleport.

Of course this only happened when a Pokémon tried to teleport through a Teleport jammer, but still. What if the air inside my lungs wouldn't be teleported with me?

Before I could think up more horror scenarios a bright flash blinded me.

And as if it were magic, suddenly we were somewhere else.

I was sitting in the same position as before and beside the flash and the change of scenery, nothing indicated we had teleported.

In front of me the bottle I had thrown up fell down and landed in front of me in the grass.

I opened both bottles and emptied them of the water.

The fact that I had gone from a building site to a forest clearing was the only sign that the teleport had actually happened.

As I saw the water drain on the soil I couldn't help but to grin widely.

Ralts' teleport had done so much more than proving she could teleport.

First, she showed that she could teleport large distances.

Second, she was not limited by line of sight.

Third, she could teleport other people with her and said people don't have to be in her field of view, seeing how I explicitly placed myself behind her during the teleport.

Fourth, she could teleport objects; the water bottle I had tossed up was not physically connected to me yet it came along.

The final conclusion was that she could teleport liquids.

I turned around to congratulate Ralts, only to find her sleeping on the lustrous grass, her thumb tucked in her mouth.

"Huh, seems like we might need to practice that to reduce the strain." I smiled at her.

Ralts kept sleeping peacefully.

----------------------------------------

"Hello Professor Rowan," I said as I walked through the big slide doors. Ralts walked beside me, her eyes going all over the place.

The professor sat with his back towards us behind his desk, he turned around and gave me a curt nod.

He wasn't wearing his lab coat, instead he wore a blue vest and gray pants.

"Hello Dust, glad you could make it so fast," He offered me a second chair to sit on. It was notoriously less comfy than the one he sat on but after a long day of carrying a sleeping Pokémon I had no puff left to complain.

"Hey, you know it. If I want to, I'm pretty fast." I smirked, "Though most of the time I don't."

Ralts hopped onto my lap as I sat down, making herself comfy.

The desk was made of metal and was lit by a lightbar placed above it, a pc monitor was placed against the wall. The professor moved his keyboard to the side and threw a half eaten apple into the trash bin underneath the desk.

"How was your day so far?" Professor Rowan asked politely.

"Ugh, walking. Lots of it." I groaned, "Though this new Pokémon should totally be worth it."

"I hope it is for the both of you." Professor Rowan sighed.

He turned around and took a stack of papers and handed them to me.

"What's this?" I asked as I skimmed through them, quickly reading the titles and bold letters.

"Before we can transfer ownership I need you to sign this," he explained and he handed me a black pen.

I put down the papers on the desk and began reading it.

Turns out, it was a lot of legal bullshit that all came down on: The Sinnoh league is not responsible for any future shit that might occur.

Of course I signed it.

"Why the paperwork though?" I asked as Professor Rowan took the papers back.

Professor Rowan looked me in the eyes. "The safety of this Pokémon is a big concern for the League. They want the reassurance that this Pokémon isn't being sold to the blackmarket."

"Why?" I blinked, "I never signed anything before, nor did anyone else I know."

"You are familiar with Hunter J right?" Professor Rowan asked.

"Yup."

The Professor let out a deep sigh, "It's really unfortunate but this Pokémon and her mother had both been her targets."

"Is there something special about her?" I wondered, "Not that I can't deal with it but it would be good to know."

It would be useful to know if my new Pokémon was a hot target with a price above her head.

"Let me correct myself," Professor Rowan said, "The mother was the original target but Hunter J took them both despite only the mother being a valuable Pokémon."

I raised an eyebrow, "Did she have a rare coloration?"

"Yes, how'd you know?" Professor Rowan asked.

I coughed, "Well, it's the only reason I could come up with for why the daughter Pokémon wouldn't be worth anything while the mother was."

He nodded, "You are right. The strange color made her a very valuable target for Hunter J yet she chose to kidnap both Pokémon. Luckily, at the same time the League organized an assault on her and they managed to destroy half of her fleet and managed to rescue the captive Pokémon."

"Let me guess the mother died somehow? Collateral damage?"

"Indeed," he cast his eyes down, "Not everyone survived the battle."

"That really sucks…but at least she survived," I said, not sure what to say in moments like these.

"I can agree with that," Professor Rowan said, "This left the League with a lot of Pokémon they freed. Most were released back into the wild but this Pokémon in particular was too young and inexperienced to live on her own."

Also, it would be stupid to let a Pokémon who just lost her mother alone, that was just asking for trouble.

"And that's why they sent her to you?" I guessed.

"Yes, for some reason they thought I'd be a good fit to take care of her, the papers you signed are proof that the Pokémon is now with you and not back in the hands of a shady figure.”

Aah, so basically the League wanted to make sure that the Pokémon they just saved didn't end up in trouble again.

"That's a pretty tragic backstory," I admitted, "But are you sure I'm the right person for this? Wouldn't battling be the last thing she needs?"

The professor shook his head. "She needs a partner, someone to attach to. Pokémon trainers tend to develop those bonds through hardships and adventures."

He pointed at Ralts. "And seeing how much your Ralts likes you I can't say that I doubt my own decision."

Ralts happily cuddled against me.

The professor continued, "I'm sure you are smart enough to figure out what is necessary."

"I can definitely try," I offered.

"Great." He nodded and a small smile made itself known. "Now we got that out of the way, time to meet your new team member."

He rose from his seat and gestured to me to follow him. Ralts grudgingly got off my lap and we followed the professor through a narrow hallway.

As we walked the professor began to explain. "She isn't used to humans so I kept her in the back of the building to keep the visitors away from her."

The hallway had concrete white walls with blue pipes running along the side of it, as if they were the veins of this building.

We passed by multiple doors, some of them were open and led to a specialized room for whatever the professor did in his free time.

At the end of the hallway he opened a wooden door and I was met with a big spacious room.

The room had one big open window that allowed the golden light from the descending sun to shine through and cast the entire room in an orange glow.

This part of the building must have been the windmill part of this wacky building because the entire room was a big cylinder with a wooden staircase leading up to a second floor.

In the middle of the room there was a big blanket spread out on the floor with colorful pillows on top of it.

There were various magazines, books and other random stuff meant for entertainment placed around the blanket.

As I entered the room big red eyes immediately focused on mine. The gaze was strong and too intense for the supposedly young Pokémon.

Professor Rowan and Ralts waited in the doorway when I entered the room, allowing me to have my moment.

I knelt down in front of the Pokémon and smiled. "Sup, my name is Dust. I'm going to be your Pokémon trainer, you're cool with that?"

The Pokémon in question was small, she stood on two black paws and had a blue upper body. Her fur turned to black around her neck.

She had red eyes that were surrounded by a black, almost mask-like, shape and there were two black appendages that came out on either side of her head.

Her eyes didn't waver as I introduced myself.

"Don't ever think you can replace my mother," A cold voice replied.

I blinked.

"Dafuq?"

"Something wrong?" Professor Rowan asked.

"You guys didn't hear anything."

"No…?"

"Aahh," I muttered. "Just heard a weird beeping noise."

I turned my eyes back to Riolu who kept glaring at me.

Fate, what the hell?

End of Arc 2: Journey