Into the Dark - A Pokemon Isekai

Sandgem Town had a number of luxuries that I remembered from the games, including its own PokéMart and Pokémon Center, but like everything else so far there was quite a bit more than just that.

After I had been given Professor Rowan’s debit card, with gruff instructions not to spend more than twenty thousand dollars, Eevee and I took to the town. The thought of spending not more than twenty thousand dollars still seemed crazy to me, even though I knew it wasn’t the same currency base. Of course by the time we managed to find the general store in town, I realized that the money really wouldn't be going that far.

“How is a shirt 980 dollars?” I exclaimed, looking at the price tag.

As it turns out, clothes were either more expensive than I thought they should be, or the money just didn’t go nearly as far as I had been expecting.

“And hiking shoes are almost five thousand!”

Of course, the problem was that this was the only gig in town, and I didn’t exactly have the luxury of not buying clothes. Mine were too big, and I did have to admit that these clothes seemed to be a lot higher quality than the ones from back home. The nicest sweaters even had a tag that said Made in Galar With 100% Pure Wooloo Wool on them, although the price tag made me sweat.

Eventually I grumbled and gave in, taking a couple blue t-shirts from the rack.

Eevee on my shoulder whuffed at my choice, and I turned a scandalized eye on her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She turned and pointed with her nose at the black shirts.

“What, you think I look better in black than blue?”

Her brown eyes stared into mine until I eventually sighed, putting the shirts back and grabbing the black ones.

“I can’t believe I’m taking fashion advice from a Pokémon.” I grumbled again when I realized that she was right and the black shirts did look better.

She mewled happily, and helped me pick out the rest of my clothes. A couple of blue jeans, some socks and underwear, a pair of the hiking shoes, a toiletry kit, and the cheapest hiking pack I could find all made their way into the basket.

“Well, what do you think?” I asked Eevee while standing in front of the hoodie rack.

Pondering the selection of hoodies, she turned her head one way, than the other. Eventually she settled on a dark purple hoodie, and into the basket it went.

I grimaced at the cost, which came perilously close to the twenty-thousand limit. Still, all of the clothes went into the bag, and we were out of the store. It wasn’t all of the money that I had available, but it was close enough, and I still had the real store that I wanted to go to. The general store was just for clothes and the necessities, but now we were going to the store that I was really excited about.

The Poké Mart.

There was where I could buy Poké Balls, Potions, and all kinds of wonderful items that spat in the face of physics. With eager steps I walked towards the blue roofed building, and the doors opened with a soft hiss.

Which was right when a small form came hurrying out of the building, crashing into me.

If it had been pretty much any other time I would have been fine, but I was carrying around a bag full of clothes, an Eevee my shoulders, and had been imprisoned for most of a day only yesterday. To say that I was unstable would have been putting it lightly, and the person who knocked into me sent me sprawling to the ground.

I wasn’t worried about myself, instead focusing on the surprised yelp coming from Eevee as she was thrown from my shoulder.

“Watch it!” A reedy voice called from behind me, but I didn’t pay it any mind as I scrambled over to Eevee.

Really I shouldn’t have been so worried, Pokémon were built tough after all. Just yesterday after I had asked about Havoc the Houndoom and I was told that he would probably be completely healed after a week of rest, even though I had clearly seen and heard his leg break from the Mightyena.

Eevee didn’t look hurt, but I still picked her up and held her in my arms, carefully poking at her to see if she reacted in any way. She didn’t, thankfully, and instead reached up to lick my face in reassurance.

“Hey! I’m talking to you!”

A hand dropped onto my shoulder, and for a moment the entire world froze.

When I had been younger, back in high school, I had been an angry kid. I had ranted and raved at the world, furious for the injustices done to me, and it was only through time and Pokémon that I had mellowed out. The world of Pokémon had been an escape, a place separated from all the trials and tribulations of the real world, where things could be fair.

As I had gotten older, learned that I was angry with the world because I hadn’t understood or been able to accept that I didn’t feel like I had been born in the right body, things had gotten better. I learned that I couldn’t solve all my problems with a fist, but there had been plenty of times as a teenager when I would have taken a swing at somebody for grabbing me like that.

But instead of getting angry like I would have as a kid, or brushing it off like I would have as an adult, today I flinched.

For a moment it was a different hand grabbing my shoulder. It was the grip of Hawg, his rough fingers grabbing me in preparation of hauling me away for a beating. After a second the feeling passed, but I was curled around Eevee to protect her from the blows that I had known would be coming.

“What’s your deal lady?”

I looked at Eevee, only to find her staring back at me with worry clear in her brown eyes. Reassuring myself that she was okay, that I was okay, I finally turned back around to see the person who had slammed into me.

“Jeez, what happened to your face?”

He was a scrawny kid, probably about sixteen years old, with vivid green hair and a sneer on his face. His clothes, a mixture of bleached denim jeans, a red t-shirt, and a grey coat were all ripped or worn, but they had obviously been purchased that way instead of natural wear. There were whisps of hair on his chin, but they few and far between and he really should have just shaved.

Any sense of anger or anxiety simply melted away as I looked up at the boy, and instead all I felt was exhaustion. It had been a long couple of days, and I hadn’t had much sleep.

Just a kid who’s angry at the world.

“Sorry for bumping into you kid. C’mon Eevee.” I said, placing her on my shoulder and reaching for my bag. “Let’s finish our shopping and go home.”

“Woah! Where you do think you’re going, old lady?” The kid said, stepping forwards to block my way.

“Old lady?”

I’m only twenty-three… although if kids leave home so young I can see how that could be considered old.

“What, would you prefer “Scars”?”

They aren’t that noticeable, right? The doctor did say they would go away soon…

I sighed. “Listen, I’ve had a rough couple of days and all I want to do is finish my shopping.”

“No no, you don’t run into me and just leave like that. I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m the best Trainer in this town!”

The kid boasted proudly, sticking his chest out and raising his chin defiantly. A ten year-old might have been impressed, but all I saw was the acne and the gangly limbs.

“…Congratulations. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

He stopped me again, holding out his hand. “What part of “best Trainer” do you not understand? You’ve already bumped into me today, and now you’re just going to blow me off like that? C’mon, I’m challenging you to a battle!”

The kid grabbed a Poké Ball off of a black leather belt that had silver spikes studded in it, holding it out to his side. I was somewhat surprised that he didn’t poke himself with the spikes, he must have practiced the draw since it looked natural and far too flamboyant to be off-the-cuff.

For my part, I just looked around in tired confusion. There’s nobody around to show off for, is his self-esteem really that fragile?

“Sorry, no thanks.”

The polite refusal more than anything seemed to shatter the tough-guy persona.

“Wh- What? You can’t do that!”

“Sure I can. You’re challenging me, and I don’t want to battle.”

“But…”

“Sorry, but I’m not interested.” I pushed past him, picking up my bag and opening the doors to the Poké Mart.

“You’ll regret this!” The boy shouted from behind me, although he didn’t actually push the issue. “I don’t know who you think you are, but I’ll make you pay for this insult!”

The doors closed behind me and I let out an exhausted sigh and slumped against the door frame, thankful for the frosted glass so the kid outside couldn’t see me.

“Ah, I see you’ve met Kevin.” A sympathetic voice called, and I looked up to find a girl wearing a blue uniform smiling at me from behind the counter. “I’m sorry.”

“Kevin? Is he always like that?”

“Ever since he came back from his Journey, yeah. Sorry, I’m Courtney.”

I got up from the door frame and walked over to the counter.

“Alina. What happened?”

She shrugged. “He lost. It happens to every Trainer sooner or later, but Kevin took it more personally than most. When he returned, he was different. Angrier, easier to set off.”

“Kids.” I said, shaking my head. “I was like him too though, so I guess I can’t take it too personally.”

A real smile spread across her face, not a customer service smile like I myself had worn so many times. “What changed for you then? Maybe it could work for Kevin.”

“I grew up, did a lot of self-reflecting and realized that I was angry because I was trying to convince myself that I was something I wasn’t. And later I met this little one.” Reaching up, I scratched Eevee behind the ears and she purred.

“Ooh!” Courtney said. “How precious!”

I looked at Eevee and raised an eyebrow. In response, she hopped down onto the counter and Courtney squealed a little.

“Can I pet you?” She said, and Eevee nodded graciously.

“Ohhh, you’re so fluffy!”

Eevee looked up at me smugly, and flicked an ear towards the rest of the store. I rolled my eyes, not for the first time wondering just how smart Pokémon actually were. Apparently smart enough to be better with people than I was.

If I had been shocked at the prices of the general store, the prices at the Poké Mart absolutely astounded me. For some reason I had still been expecting the items to be sold at the same amount in the games, like a Poké Ball for only two hundred dollars, or a Potion for three hundred. Much to my great displeasure though, they were almost twenty times that much.

Okay. I thought weakly. That’s… something that can wait for the rest of my money to come in.

How ten year-olds were supposed to afford that I didn’t know, but I hastily moved away from the more expensive displays and towards the back wall where there were simple basic items. It didn’t take me long to find a grooming kit that would be good for Eevee, and it was just within my price range too. I had wanted to maybe grab a Poké Ball or two but with how much they cost...

“Just this please.” I said, putting the grooming kit on the counter next to Eevee.

“Oh!” Courtney said, from where she was still petting my Pokémon. “Of course!”

She quickly rung me up, then looked me over.

“Here.” She said, reaching below the counter and pulling out a Potion, adding it to the pile. “On the house.”

“I can’t take that.” I argued, despite desperately wanting one just in case. “It’s too much!”

“Please.” Courtney flashed me another smile. “We’re authorized to give them out to Trainers as promotional items. If nothing else, consider it thanks for treating Kevin more kindly than he deserves.”

I waffled for another couple of moments, but eventually gave in, thanking her profusely. It really would come in handy if something went wrong while I was waiting for the rest of my money to come in.

Handing over the debit card, her eyes widened at the name on it. “Professor Rowan? You didn’t steal this did you?”

I laughed. “No, not at all. My last card was destroyed in, uh, unfortunate circumstances. Professor Rowan is just giving me a hand until I get the paperwork sorted out.”

“Ahh.” She said knowingly, and finished the transaction. “That explains it.”

“Explains what?”

“The Eevee of course!” She reached down and continued scratching Eevee behind her ears. “They’re very rare around here, but they’re a bit more common in Unova aren’t they? Knowing the Professor, of course he would take on another assistant who has a Pokémon who is famous for their evolutions.”

My mouth opened and closed several times as I processed that. I wanted to argue at first that I wasn’t his assistant, but it for now it made a lot of sense and the fewer questions that I had to answer, the better.

“You got me.” I said weakly. “But if you’ll excuse us, I do think we need to get going.”

“Oh of course! Thank you for your patronage, be sure to visit us again!”

“Thank you.” I replied as Eevee scrambled her way back up to my shoulder as I put the grooming kit and Potion into my bag. “I’m sure I will.”

Stepping out of the Poké Mart, I looked around for the kid, Kevin. Thankfully he wasn’t lurking outside, waiting to ambush me, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“C’mon Eevee, lets head back. I think I need a nap.”