“Hello again nurse Joy, how are my Pokemon?” I asked with a smile when I arrived at the counter. Nurse Joy smiled back.

“Only your Murkrow needs to take it easy for tomorrow, the rest is in top condition. Your Seedot especially is at a healthy weight, so he is ready for training.” she answered my question and handed me my Pokeballs.

“Thank you, can I use the backyard to introduce myself to Murkrow? I don’t want to do that in a closed room.” I asked her after clipping the Pokeballs to my belt.

“Certainly, it’s late enough that there are no more battles going on.” she said with a clear dismissal in her tone. So I just nodded and moved through the door that lead to the backyard. Most Center’s have these, though they usually only contained one field. These are mostly used by young trainers, as the way to the nurse is especially short.

I released all my Pokemon except Murkrow and addressed them. “Alright, I will release Murkrow in a few moments. Please give her room and Seedot don’t go off eating the berry!” I said, adding the second sentence after I saw him inching towards the berry I was holding in my hand. He sadly nodded and slumped down. “You can have one later.” I sighed, he perked up as if nothing happened. Absol just gave me a deadpan that screamed I just got scammed.

I coughed once and placed the Oran berry on the ground. I took a few steps back and gestured my Pokemon to do the same. Nodding once again I threw the Pokeball towards the berry. Murkrow emerged and instantly had an angry expression on her face.

“Murkrow! Krow!” she cawed angrily and gestured with her wings to me.

“Hello Murkrow, yes I caught you. I’m Iruini Inei.” I introduced myself, earning a scoff from Murkrow. She made a gesture with her wings that clearly meant ‘get on with it!’.

“Well yes moving on. There are two options for you, either you stay with me or you will be relocated to Johto by the rangers. I can elaborate on what to expect if you stay with me.” I stated bluntly, it looked like Murkrow does not like flowery language.

Murkrow nodded once and cocked her head while staring at me with a focus that was uncomfortable. “Murkrow. Mur” she cawed and gestured at the berry on the ground.

“That one is representative of the food I can provide. I would have to look up your specific diet though, do you hunt?” Murkrow shook her head and gestured again to me with that motion from earlier.

“Hm, I could tell you about what we are doing and my goals if you want.” I said after a moment of thought. Murkrow nodded at that.

“But first, I’m not your first trainer right?” I asked. Murkrow narrowed her eyes and cawed angrily once but nodded.

“Ok, well I aim to be a dark type specialist. I guess your old trainer did not specialise in any specific type?” I continued, earning a nod. “Yeah that makes a bit sense.” Now Murkrow tilted her head. “Murkrow?”

“Ah you wouldn’t know that story. You see Absol over here?” I pointed to Absol, who looked regal as ever.

“Her species is known to get quite powerful but is elusive. Furthermore they are feared by part of the populace because they are supposed to announce disaster when they appear. Which earned them the ‘Disaster Pokemon’ description, whole load of crap of course.” I said, getting angry in my own rant.

“Anyway there is a well known story of an Absol abandoning a trainer without apparent reason. I guess he did not allow his Absol to hunt, so the resentment build until Absol just left.” I explained. “Krow. Mur.” Murkrow gestured again, telling me to get on with it.

“Sorry for the rant. Anyway what I wanted to say with that is that dark types can be difficult to care for and to train. Did he your trainer lost to Norman or something?” I wagered a guess. Either him, Roxanne or a contest loss.

Murkrow nodded looking down a bit. “Wow that’s a dumb reason to release a Pokemon.” I stated. Murkrow looked at me questioningly. “Yeah I mean you lost alright, so go and train. It is not your Pokemon’s fault that you lost. Somewhere it mostly comes back to the trainer.” I elaborated.

Getting things back on track I spoke up again. “You have until tomorrow morning to decide what you want to do. I would love you on the team, but it is your decision.” I said starting to turn around. Mid turn I spoke causally “Ah yes I know how you can evolve by the way, so that is something I would try to achieve with you.”

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“Murkrow! Krow!” came the agitated caw of Murkrow from behind me. I turned around again. “Yes? You have a question?” I asked with a smirk.

Murkrow just looked annoyed at me and scoffed again. Then she gestured towards the berry and cawed three times. “You want three more of them?” I asked. Murkrow shook her head and repeated the gesture. “You want three times the berries that the others get?” I guessed.

Murkrow nodded satisfied, as I just shook my head. “No, you can have three Oran berries now, after that you get the same as everyone else.” Murkrow narrowed her eyes again but relented and started to eat the berry.

“I will take that as a yes. Talk to the other three if you have questions, they probably can answer most of them. I will get myself something to drink.” I said, hoping that nothing happens while I’m away.

Upon my return from the vending machine I came across a hilarious scene. Poochyena and Absol where just lazing around but Seedot and Murkrow appeared to be in a heated discussion. I chuckled and took a seat on a bank, causing Absol to jump up and demanded scratches. I looked at my Pokemon while scratching her with a satisfied smile. The team was coming together nicely.

The interview with the ranger was a quick one on the next morning, as I already cleared with Murkrow that she will stay with us. After getting directions from nurse Joy I was of to the ferry station.

I was lucky and arrived while the boarding was in process, I had returned all my Pokemon back into their balls. I don’t want to risk being denied the ride because I had two disaster Pokemon with me. Yeah two, I looked up Murkrow on the Pokedex the day before. They are also being rumoured to bring bad fortune. After paying the fare I realised that I would need to start looking into jobs while on Dewford Island, having so many Pokemon this early is a drain on resources.

The travel was uneventful, I was bored to be honest. I couldn’t really release my Pokemon, Seedot and Poochyena did not like the waves and the other two were out for other reasons.

So I was glad to be finally back on solid ground when we arrived in Dewford. A bit away from the pier I released my Pokemon. “Let’s check out the beach, we can check in at the Pokemon Center later. Tomorrow will be the start of training.” I explained to them, they just nodded back.

We leisurely walked along the beach, none of my Pokemon going into the water. Murkrow perched on my shoulder after a while. I looked onto the water and the forming waves and saw a person with a Hariyama at his side, both surfing on their boards. ‘Looks like I found Brawly.’ I chuckled to myself. I took a seat on the beach and watched the two surfing. To my Pokemon I spoke.

“You see those two out on the water? That is Brawly, the gym leader here, and his signature Pokemon Hariyama.” my Pokemon looked intrigued towards the two.

“You can see how they shift their stance while surfing, that probably also leads to their battling style. They won’t loose their footing easily, for example with being tripped by an Iron Tail.” I elaborated.

We continued to watch them for some time, but after a while Brawly and Hariyama came out of the water. I called out to them.

“That was some nice surfing, especially the stance shifting.” Brawly looked up from his discussion with Hariyama.

“Thanks, I’m Brawly and you are?” He asked while coming up to me hand extended.

I stood up, took his hand and replied. “I’m Iruni Inei and as you can see I’m specialising in dark type Pokemon.” Brawly apparently did not see my Pokemon before or has a severe case on tunnel vision.

“Huh, those are some rare Pokemon you have there. Not that that will make it easier to earn my badge.” he chuckled. I just laughed at that.

“Oh I will earn your badge. Just not yet, we first have to train. Even I have to train, I’m severely out of shape.”

Brawly raised an eyebrow. “And what would you train your Pokemon in to tackle my gym?”

I shrugged and answered. “Well we need to get more stamina and muscle mass on some of my Pokemon. The second thing is move training.”

Brawly scratched his chin clearly thinking. “Would you like to train with me? I do lead a training program for trainers.” I tilted my head.

“You would make it harder on yourself and train up your challenger’s?” I asked in disbelief.

This time he shrugged. “I only train their bodies and their Pokemon are not trained by me, I only give them a general workout that they can follow if they want.”

“When do you start and where I guess.” I answered, I really needed to get into shape.

He answered easily. “Every day at 1 pm, it is held at the gym and lasts for two hours.”

I mulled it over. ‘I can do jobs depending on their time and train my Pokemon before or after the training session. It really does not have a real downside.’

“Well I will be there tomorrow, thank you Brawly.” I shook his hand again. He just laughed.

“You would have seen it in the Pokemon Center anyway.” he proceeded to walk of with his Hariyama.

“Well it looks like I secured my training schedule. Let’s get to the Pokemon Center and craft yours, also we need to see which job are available here.” I said to my Pokemon while walking towards the Center.

It turned out that most jobs were clearing out wild Pokemon that encroached a bit to close to the city but there was one I saw that really tickled my fancy. A Patrol job, which required to have knowledge on what patrolling entailed. It was posted by the local rangers, so the pay was good and you needed to have a flying type in case of emergencies.

In short perfect for me as I can rotate my training according to the patrols. The ad states that they are done in pairs with a ranger by your side, so I can probably can learn more about the local Pokemon.

The evening was spent with research and writing down which moves which Pokemon should learn. I eagerly awaited the next morning.