Blinking and shaking my head I respond. “Hi, I’m Iruni. The Professor is in the back, buried under research as always. Follow me.”

“Nice to meet you Iruni, lead the way.” Brendan responds.

Walking through the door to the lab I call out to the Professor. “Professor you got a guest. I guess you could say a familiar face showed up.” Sometimes you need to create a reason for him to pause his research, otherwise he would wave me of to handle it. Though to be honest that happens somewhat often, ranging from the delivery man to people who want to scam the lab.

“Huh? Who is it?” he replies, slowly looking up.

“Long time no see Professor. How are you doing?” greets Brendan, still with that megawatt smile. ‘Doesn’t his cheeks hurt or something?’ I begin to wonder.

“Oh, Brendan. What a nice surprise, yes I’m doing great. We are currently researching the differences between the Ice Path in Johto and the Shoal Cave. It’s not looking good for our goal to settle Johto ice types there.” the Professor responds and continues to ramble. “Of course that was to be expected, after all way too much water. At least the Kanto ice type Dewgong could be added, we are not clear on Cloyster, not enough data you see. Don’t get me started on Lapras, those are endangered even over there.” the Professor goes on, while Brendan watches with a smile.

“That’s interesting to hear. I thought you would want to meet my Pokemon team and witness Eevee’s evolution.” Brendan said.

“Yes, of course I would like to meet them. But first let me introduce you to Iruni and Frank Inei. Frank is my new assistant and Iruni helps around the lab.” Birch introduces us and after a quick handshake we were walking to the ranch.

“Alright come out guys, meet the Professor and the lab staff!” Brendan shouts, once we are outside and tosses six Pokeballs into the empty field beyond the porch. A cacophony of voices greets us as his Pokemon let out their cries.

While Brendan explains each member to Birch I mentally go over his team. ‘Hm. Marshtomp, probably his starter. Nuzleaf, Petalburg forest. Swellow, outside of Petalburg. Lairon, Granite cave. Meditite, also Granite cave and a Rhyhorn, where the did he found that one?’ I muses as I observe his Pokemon, who look to be all in great shape. Looking to the right I watch a brown furball jumping into Brendan’s arms.

“Hello there Eevee. Ready for your big day? I finally found one.” Brendan smiles. Eevee eyes sparkle happily and he rapidly nods.

“Good, now guys give us some room please.” Brendan calls out to his Pokemon. Absol came over in the meantime to investigate what the fuss was about. “Hey there girl. Want to watch Eevee’s evolution?” I smile down at her and start petting her head. Absol give a short nod and turns to watch the event.

All in all it wasn’t that different from the anime, a bright light shone for a short moment and after it went out there was a Jolteon.

“Welcome to the team Jolteon.” Brendan said while smiling even wider. Jolteon just marvelled at his new body and inspected every nook and cranny of it.

“Professor do you have my expanded License ready? I want to take Jolteon with me for the rest of the journey.”

Birch pulls some papers out of his breast pocket. “Already filed with the league, you are now allowed to have seven Pokemon on hand.” When Brendan turned to Birch he spotted Absol sitting next to me and needed to take a double take.

“Who caught a freaking Absol Professor? They are extremely rare!” he marvelled while his Pokedex spat out the known information about Absol.

“Absol is my Pokemon and I would say I rescued her from a turf war.” I explained. At his confused look, I expanded upon the events of that day and he nodded.

“Didn’t think I would see a real live Absol anytime soon. Do you need any help with it? I know that dark types can be difficult at times.” He said while looking at his Nuzleaf, who made a ‘What me?’ expression.

“Absol’s fine, as long as you don’t do anything stupid. Like trying to pet her without her consent.” Yeah that happened to a delivery woman who didn’t like to wait, almost costed her a few fingers.

“Hm, if you say so.” Brendan shrugs.

“What’s up with that license to carry seven Pokemon? I thought only rangers and the like are allowed more than six?” I ask in the lull of the conversation. Professor Birch heard me and explained to me that because Brendan is a trainer sponsored by the lab and showed promise, he could apply for that license. It appeared that those aren’t given out often, so Brendan must be the real deal. Brendan didn’t stay long after that, he wanted to go and train Jolteon right away. Understandable, really.

In the following months it was the same old, the only interesting thing was Brendan placement as a top four in the conference. He quickly left after a quick hello after that and went onto Kanto, but didn’t say exactly what he wanted there. Though it was easy to guess, the Indigo league of course.

As time went on Absol grew like a weed and I added some exercises so that her muscles will be a bit more trained. Also I added some Oran berry slices to her food, who knows perhaps that bit of fanfiction is real. She shadowed me and the Mightyena on patrols to learn more how they behaved, she doesn’t have her parents to learn from after all. And like that the years went on, I sadly didn’t escape scot-free after laughing at Absol when she was panting from exercising. So I had to add my own exercises to my schedule, which probably was a good thing anyway. As the time of my own journey drew nearer I gave my wardrobe a makeover.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Now standing at 190 cm tall it was needed. I usually whore dark green pants that where made from sturdy material, a black breathable shirt with a grey jacket on top. The jacket reminded me of those ‘softshell’ jackets from my old world, you know those that are light but don’t let through wind. To round the attire out I wore a light grey scarf around my neck and black gloves. I’m not a fan of hats so the scarf is needed to protect from sunburns.

A few months before my start the Mightyena alpha gave me a real surprise. She nudged me after feeding time and gestured me to follow her, confused I let her lead the way. She led me to an obscured corner of the ranch where I saw an egg lying between the leaves.

“Hm, where does that egg comes from?” I wonder and looked at the Mightyena. She sat on her haunches and pointed to herself.

“Oh it’s yours? Congratulations Mightyena.” I said.

“Mightyena. Might.” she answered, gesturing between the egg and me.

“Ehm, you want me to take the egg?” I ask unsure if I got it right.

“Mightyena.” came the answer with a nod.

“I would be honoured.” I answer solemnly. I really am, while the alpha is no champion level Pokemon, she is strong. Who knows what a child from her has as egg moves.

“But I will only take it when my journey starts. You should spend the rest of the time with it, you know to make sure we don’t get another troublemaker.” I say joking.

The Mightyena’s eyes went big for a second and then nods seriously. ‘Huh, she didn’t think about that.’

My dad and Birch where surprised but please when I told them the news and Birch even promised to let the newborn not count towards the starting kit that I will receive. Ah, I should explain that.

You see, while I don’t meet the requirements for the standard lab sponsoring, the one with the regional starters, Birch manage to sponsor me as a trainer that helps him out on his research. There is not that much difference between the two, but both come with the standard starting package. Five Pokeballs, a map and a Pokedex. I myself got a PokeNav some time ago so the map is only backup if the PokeNav is out of battery.

The egg hatched soon after that, but I only got to meet the newborn Poochyena after another two months. He was an excitable fellow that quickly warmed up to me, especially after I gave him a few treats.

It was after that feeding, that my dad called out to me, when I entered the lab.

“Hey Iruni, there will be a match between two trainers that are sponsored by Professor Oak. We will watch it here together, so clean up quickly!” my dad hollers. He sometimes forgets his indoor voice at home.

“Oh? Alright I will be quick, I also have to get Absol and maybe Poochyena. They should see that as well.” I answer. While cleaning up I think about that match and could only be the showdown between Gary and Ash at the silver conference. It will be interesting to see how it differs from the anime, sadly it also means that I will start my Hoenn journey in the same time frame as Ash. ‘Ugh, I better think about that later. Need to catch those two.’ I mulled while walking out and grabbing both.

Absol appeared to be interested but stayed somewhat aloof as always. Poochyena had to much energy and was always running between my legs.

The match was not that different from the anime to be honest. The tactics where more brute force than what I would like, but apparently that’s somewhat normal. Not many trainers employed more than the occasional Stunspore for example. I did not catch any of Koga’s, Agatha’s or Sidney’s matches sadly. I would bet that they would be different.

After Ash’s later loss to the guy with the Blaziken, I could finally start training my two Pokemon for real, but first I got a baseline for my Poochyena from the computer.

Poochyena (male)

Stage: 1, juvenile

Health: Healthy

Probable Attacks:

- Tackle

- Howl

- Leer

- Taunt

- Bite

‘The little guy really trained good with his mother, huh?’ I muse while looking at the screen. That I don’t see any elemental bites is logical, he simply doesn’t have enough power yet. That’s the biggest difference I saw till now between the games and here. In the games my Poochyena would be able to start out with all three bites, but here he has to first grow strong enough to handle them. Which the move Bite should help with, because a Pokemon needs to have strong jaws if they want to Firefang an Aggron for example.

I started to make my Patrols with only my own Pokemon and got some fights with wild Pokemon in. Nothing spectacular mind you, the wild Pokemon here are usually weak and don’t want to fight. The exception are the Poochyena packs that are dotted through the forest. But even they don’t do much, otherwise the Mightyena from the lab would pay them a visit.

I was ripped out of my musings from an explosion that came deep from the other side of the forest. I looked confused at the smoke trail that remained. ‘Wasn’t there a robot that exploded in the first Hoenn episode of the anime?’ I thought. ‘Ah yes, that was what healed Pikachu. Better get back to the lab.’

“Come on you two, trouble arrived at the lab.” I said to my two companions. The small Poochyena and the not so small Absol. They nodded and we speeded back to the lab.

The first thing I noticed was the fried bike outside of the lab. ‘What is with this Pikachu and it’s hate for bikes?’ I chuckle while walking into the lab.

“Professor Birch? Everything alright? I saw an explosion in the woods.” I shout as I entered the lab.

“Ah Iruni! We are in the living quarters, not the lab.” came the shout from the left door. I shrugged and walked through the left door and entered a living room. I saw Birch, my dad and Joshua slumped in chairs with a drink in hand. A teenager sat anxiously on the only couch.

“What’s with the sombre mood?” I ask.

“Ash’s Pikachu had an overcharge problem but is now resting. It came really close to being lethal.” Birch explains.

“Ash? That dude that lost to the Blaziken in the silver conference?” I ask as I observed the teenager.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. Yes I’m Ash and you are?” He asks while looking up to me.

“My name is Iruni Inei and I work here.” I said. I saw Ash noticing my Absol and whipped out a Pokedex. The device rattled of its information and Ash stared at Absol in wonder.

“Wow, that’s a cool Pokemon!” He exclaims and I see what he is trying to do. Quickly stepping forward I grab him by the wrists and he bristles. “What gives?!”

“You never know how a Pokemon, you don't know, will react if you try to touch it. Absol here would not have liked it and you would be at least bleeding and at worst have lost a few fingers.” I said seriously while unhanding him.

I finally noticed the last occupant of the room, a girl that seemed to be Ash’s age, about 14. She looked a bit frightened at my Absol. I just smiled and said to the room at large.

“Well since everything is in order I will go home. See ya!” A chorus of goodbyes followed my out of the living room.

“Absol it would be good if you growl next time someone tries to pet you. You know, give them a warning before they loose their fingers.” I said half serious to her.

I receive a nod in return and sigh internally. It’s hard to change her mind sometimes, always adamant on her own opinion being the best.