Pokemon - Solo's Strange Journey

Narrator-POV:

The adolescent heroes and their guardian have talked a little more with Roseanne before they departed in their car further to Jubilife City.

Professor Rowan did not return in time, and time was ticking for the future students, so they did not wait for him to say goodbye.

The sun had already been on its descent when they renewed their travel, and it had fully passed the horizon by the time they reached the outskirts of the city of jubilation.

The ever bright city appears in the distance with its far reaching skyline. The stars of the night sky fail to shine past the glow of the nightlife.

Jubilife City.

The oldest and largest city of the Sinnoh region. The population, having just recently crept past the first hundred thousand people. Only Castelia City in the Unova region has a larger population, making it the second largest city in the discovered world.

It also happens to be a city that has thoroughly beaten back the wilderness.

The only pokemon that remain here are owned privately or owned by the city to increase the beauty of the public parks.

But even a city that never sleeps, like Jubilife City, does not have administrators awake, to allow new students into their trainer school at night.

"Well... we're too late for your school orientation." Says Johanna from the driver's seat and she taps the steering wheel. "Luckily the first class only starts the day after tomorrow. I know an alright hotel near the contest stadium that is always open, where we can stay the night."

Johanna, the former top coordinator knows where to go and her daughter, the future top coordinator, wakes up from her half sleep by the word 'contest'.

"Mom, do you know when the next contest will be held here? I want to sign myself and Piplup up as soon as I can!" With that Dawn squeezes the poor Piplup who suddenly awakes from his deep slumber.

"Pip!? Piplup! Piplup!" Complains the tired pokemon and he keeps on complaining vocally.

"Oh! Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry Piplup, but I'm just so excited for our first contest. It will be so amazing!" Dawn excitedly explains herself and Piplup finally relents in his admonition.

"The next contest is the week after trainer school." Johanna explains, "Two weeks from now, the Grand Festival is being held. It is always held the week before the platinum league. And with the end of the platinum league, the year officially ends and the new one starts a few days after."

Everything in Sinnoh revolves around the platinum league. The gym challenge has been introduced to the Sinnoh region by a traveler, 300 years ago and since then, the Platinum family has restructured the lives of the citizens around the gym challenge.

Recently, the concept of pokemon contests has moved in from the Hoenn region, and they have been added to the yearly entertainment cycle as an afterthought.

Ultimately, the league champion remains the gold standard in terms of recognition, power and prestige.

A top coordinator is far less prestigious in comparison, but still has many career options wide open to them after they retire traveling as a trainer.

"Jubilife City is traditionally the first city in Sinnoh to start their new contests for the graduating students." Johanna finishes the exposition.

Every city that holds an official contest will hold them once every few months, some even every few weeks.

A contestant will need to travel around Sinnoh and win at least 5 different contest ribbons to be eligible to participate in the Grand Festival on the Lily of the Valley Island.

A league participant on the other hand needs to travel to 8 specific cities and defeat increasingly difficult opponents for their badges.

Only with all 8 badges are the participants allowed to enter the Platinum League Conference, which happens in the same stadium as the Grand Festival.

"Really?" Says Dawn, "Piplup, are you excited for your first contest too? We are going to train for it and then we will blast past the competition!"

"Piplup! Piplup!" The girl and her pokemon are both excited to start their new career as pokemon coordinators as soon as possible.

"Guys, what about you? Will any of you participate? You're already registered for it and you would just have to sign up and show up. Come on, it will be fun!" Dawn tries to convince the others to join but each one of the young men look away in disgust at the thought of joining a contest.

"Nah. Contests aren't for me." - "Fff- Heck no. Contests are for girls." - "I'm not really interested in battling. I will just focus on catching and training pokemon." Are Barry's, Swole's and Lucas' responses.

Pokemon contests might allow the participation of anyone, but the TV has clearly set a girly style to them and no self respecting young man would ever want to sign up for a contest.

"But Buneary is a girl. Come on Swole, don't you want to see her dressed up nicely? You can even beat up your opponents like Cynthia did if you don't want to win through style alone!" Dawn squeezes out rationalizations to win at least one of her friends over.

And the gears are slowly turning in the young, self-respecting man.

Because he secretly does want to see Buneary dressed up nicely. And he does want to beat up his opponents with overwhelming power.

But no rational thought can break through almost a decade of conditioning and peer pressure. Only girls and weirdos join contests, is the young man's final opinion.

"Sorry Dawn... I will watch your performance but I just can't join them. It's just not right for normal guys to go there." Swole answers to the nods of approval of the two other normal guys and to Johanna's head shake.

"Don't let yourself get discouraged, Dawn. Guys just don't know what they miss out on. And they don't know yet how popular they would be with the ladies either." At Johanna's words, the guys in question quickly perk up.

They clearly have never even considered that aspect before.

'Maybe it wouldn't hurt joining a contest or two.' Is what they all suddenly think.

"Hey Dawn, you mentioned dual performances the other day. What were those about?" Swole changed his mind very quickly. All of a sudden, contests were not so girly after all.

Dawn and Johanna burst out in laughter, and Barry and Lucas shoot Swole looks that are half betrayed and another half jealous.

But before Dawn could answer Swole's quite serious question, Johanna interrupts the banter.

"We are here. Secure your things and pokemon. I'm getting us two rooms, one for the guys and one for us girls."

...

The group quickly settles into the hotel, Johanna pays for the night and then the group splits up into their rooms.

Everyone is dead tired and prepares to go to bed. Turtwig and Chimchar are returned to their pokeballs and Swole carefully places the still sleeping Buneary down on his chest.

Barry and Lucas joke at their established sleeping positions but Swole ignores them.

Swole would rather suffer the jokes of his friends than the nightmares without Buneary.

---

Swole-POV:

My eyes crack open. Buneary is already awake and staring right at me from her spot on my chest.

"Good morning." I quietly say and she nods in greeting. The pride of yesterday's victory is still visible in her face. "You were amazing yesterday."

... That came out weird. "The way you took out Ariados was so cool. Everyone was very impressed with you." 

There. No more innuendo. And Buneary is now very pleased with herself. "Today, you can be as smug as you want. You really showed off your skills."

As my eyes wander around the room and take in the other sleeping occupants, I randomly notice that my hand is slowly and unconsciously petting Buneary's head.

I pull my hand back before Buneary complains and before the other guys wake up and joke at her expense.

Beep beep beep.

My alarm goes off and the others startle awake while I turn it off.

"Morning, guys. How did you sleep?" I ask. 

Man, it feels good being fully awake while everyone else look like they are half dead.

"G'Mrnin asole" Says Lucas. 

I'm guessing it was going to be 'good morning asshole'. "Ha! You look like shit." Buneary laughs at their expense too.

"Had nightmares. Spiders... everywhere." Barry's face is pale and he has dark sacks under his eyes.

Haha! You should have slept with your pokemon like me, you idiots! ... Wait. What?

"And you guys joked about Buneary sleeping outside of her pokeball. I slept safe and soundly. Not a single bad dream in sight. Man, it must suck to be you guys today." Buneary laughs out again. "It sucks to suck, doesn't it?"

"You... suck. ...Nerd." Lucas grumbles out a counter and Buneary and I laugh even more at their plight.

What a great start to the day. 

While they are barely rolling around in the bed, I silently make my way to the bathroom door with Buneary on my shoulder. "Alright, you two grumpy cunts. Showers are included with the hotel and Buneary and I will shower first, everyone agree?"

And without waiting for a response, I rush to the showers first.

Buneary and I take a nice, long, hot shower. Buneary skips out on the shampoo because she hates the smell but still hums along as she enjoys the hot water in the cramped shower stall.

I hurry up a bit because the others are waiting for us, and I change out of my old swimming trunks outside of the shower curtains, so Buneary can't see me.

She's adamant about remaining under the hot water until I'm done with everything.

Only after drying myself off, dressing up completely and explaining to Buneary that she can have another shower tomorrow, does she finally leave the shower behind.

After drying Buneary off with the high quality towels from home, in the process, turning her into a fluffy ball of fur once again, we leave and let Barry rush in. The guy rushes to the toilet and doesn't even close the door behind him.

Gross.

I shut the door so we don't need to hear him.

"You showered with your pokemon?" Lucas asks from his bed. "That's weird dude."

Is it? "But I was wearing my swimming trunks. There's nothing weird about that."

"Yea... no. That's weird." 

... You're weird. "Well... fuck off. Go have more nightmares, prick."

"Haha! You're right. Maybe I should get myself a cute female pokemon to sleep with, so I don't have nightmares either."

The way he says it, makes it sound very weird. "Don't make it weird, bro. You're a weirdo Lucas. There's nothing wrong with taking hot, steamy showers with your pokemon." Lucas laughs at my comment.

Buneary and I sit down with our notebook to discuss the issues of our adventure some more. 

I add on the list of issues that wild pokemon might just attack us with a group and Buneary can't fight three or more enemies at once. 

It's not like we have a solution for the problem, but I think it's best if we are at least aware of every possible scenario.

...

Eventually Barry finishes bombing the bowl and showering, and then Lucas finishes his morning ritual very quickly right after.

"You cunts used up all the warm water!" That was Buneary. She just had to stay under the shower for her extra time. "And the bathroom smells like shit!" He shouts as he leaves the bathroom and I pack up the notebook.

"Barry you dick. How dare you?" I push 100% of the blame to Barry, the doormat. 

Barry hangs his head in shame, "Sorry Lucas. I didn't notice how long I took!" 

Lucas buys it. "Sigh. Next time, you're showering last, dude. And open a damn window when you're done."

Buneary looks at me as if I'm some kind of evil, manipulative mastermind. Well, you're my accomplice. Get over it. 

"Should we knock on the girls' room? They should be done soon and we can check in at trainer school." I need to change the topic quickly, or Lucas might realize I played them like a fiddle.

Without another thought on the shower situation, we head out of our room and to the girls room across the hallway. 

Johanna lets us in after we knock and greets us. "Good morning you guys. Hey Dawn! Hurry it up in there! Everyone is waiting for you!"

Dawn still hasn't finished showering? Do girls really need so much time? Piplup is sitting on the bed, bored out of his mind already.

Poor guy.

"Mom! My hair isn't perfect yet! I need some more time!" Dawn's voice echoes through the bathroom door. 'Perfect'? Good grief...

"Oh honey, if you don't hurry up, I will show the boys the photos of your bed-hair I took this morning." The bathroom door slams open and Dawn rushes out. 

Her hair and dress are exactly like they were yesterday.

Barry sacrifices himself and tries to de-escalate. "You don't look any different from usual."

Oof. Bad choice of words Barry. You will be missed.

No way! Lucas comes to his rescue. "What he meant to say was; Dawn you look good enough. Let's just get going, alright?" 

Wow! 'Good enough'? You guys are smooth as sandpaper! 

... Well, they are all related. I guess they don't need to be smooth. Still, if they perform like that, they are never going to get a girlfriend!

Dawn looks pissed, Johanna looks amused, Barry looks oblivious to the situation and Lucas looks smug. 

After listening to a few more choice words by Dawn, we finally head out to the trainer school.

---

By the time we checked out of the hotel and made it to the school property, Dawn had managed to calm down and everyone was in a decent mood again. 

I'm in the best mood of course because I slept like a baby.

The school itself is fairly small and is located right at the edge of Jubilife City's modern shopping district. 

There is a modern shopping district with a mall and another, ancient, historic shopping district, Floaro Street. The historic one is at the other end of the city, where the city was originally founded.

For the school, there is just one large building with an attached dormitory. As far as I know, the main building is just a single, large auditorium where the classes take place in, and sometimes, it is also where professors hold public lectures.

Johanna is already talking with a staff member in a suit and is pointing us out. 

The staff member approaches us and talks in a very monotone voice, "Hello. You 4 must be Dawn Berlitz, Barry Pearl, Swole Solo and Lucas Diamond."

He has an almost featureless face, uninteresting eyes and he looks like a corpse that has managed to reanimate itself with coffee.

We nod in confirmation as we are named. "We have been expecting you yesterday and you missed out on our orientation tour. If you follow me to my office, I will give you the keys to your dormitory rooms and a brochure on Jubilife City sights."

The guy seems like a stickler to rules. His way of talking was incredibly monotone and boring. He seems extremely forgettable. 

I'm actually glad we missed out on the orientation tour if that guy is responsible for it.

He leads us inside a small, cramped and entirely undecorated office-cubicle and hands us each a key from a drawer. 

Mine has the number 4 written on an attached plastic tag. Then he gives out a brochure for everyone and sends us out of the office. 

Without another word he closes the door.

"Huh. I guess we really did miss orientation." Comments Lucas, "Let's bring our bags into the dorm room and head out to explore the city, alright?"

"Yes! I want to see the clothing stores of Jubilife City! Sandgem Town really isn't all that well equipped with clothes." Dawn wants to go shopping. Because of course she wants to go shopping.

We make the short trip over to the dorms and reach the door with the number 4 on it.

Suddenly, Barry interjects. "Hey, aren't we going to take the bags with us? It's not like they are heavy and they have infinite space." 

Everyone stops. Including Dawn who was fumbling with her key at door number 3 on the opposite side of the hallway.

He's right. Barry, of all people, is right.

"It makes sense, but there must be something wrong with the logic if you were the one who noticed." Lucas agrees with my train of thought. 

"I can be right too, you know!" 

"Yea, when Pikachu can learn Surf!" I counter.

"Guys, I can't believe it either, but I think Barry really is right this time." No fucking way. Even Dawn is convinced now. The world must be ending. "Let's just check out the rooms and then go shopping!"

"Actually, can we go to the library? The brochure says we get free books from every Sinnoh library paid for by the school program." ... And I want to double-check the moves that Pikachu can learn.

Bored gazes, all around, meet my eyes. Except for Buneary and Piplup. They don't know what a library is.

Good grief. Guess that means we won't be visiting the library today.

Lucas unlocks the door and we all check out the room. It has 3 large, single beds, an open door leading to a clean bathroom and an expensive looking chandelier. 

The beds don't look cheap either.

Actually, the whole room looks more like a luxury apartment than a dorm room. "Wow." I voice my amazement.

"Wow what?" Asks Lucas. "The richest people of Sinnoh are funding the school program, the least they can do is give us decent rooms before sending us out." 

Right. I forgot how much money is involved in this.

We get out again and meet back up with Dawn. "I have two roommates, but they aren't here right now."

"So your room only has 3 beds too?" I ask. "And there are just 4 dorm rooms in total. Are there just 12 students in the entire school?" 

"Yea." Lucas replies. "The school program is very exclusive and most of the time, it is just filled with children of prominent trainers." 

Ah, so it's nepotism. I'm glad I'm benefiting from it. It sure would suck to be poor though.

"What of the other times? When it isn't most of the time? Do the spots just go to the highest bidders?" Asks Dawn. 

It would make sense. The program doesn't finance itself, after all.

"No, the other spots are carefully selected from all over Sinnoh. Mostly young trainers who somehow have gotten pokemon before they were 14 and have impressed powerful people enough to sponsor them." Lucas explains it to us as we head out of the building again. "Most people don't actually follow our tradition of starting their pokemon adventure at 14. They follow the Kanto-Johto policy of getting pokemon from family or friends with 10."

"10!? Seriously? They are sending children out when they are just 10? That's insane!" Dawn's right. 

But, "But on the other hand, these children have 4 years more experience than us. That's a little unfair, I think. Well... it's not like I could have survived getting Buneary as a 10 year old... So yea, they really are insane. Sending a 10 year old out to potentially meet wild pokemon."

Everyone, besides Buneary and I, shudder at the recent memory of meeting a real wild pokemon.

---

When we made our way back out together, Johanna was still waiting for us and she went to hug her daughter. "I will start heading back home now. I will miss you dearly Dawn."

"I will miss you too mom."

"Don't forget to call me once in a while. And if you ever need advice that your friends can't help you with, then I will just be a phone call away to help you." A small tear runs down Johanna's cheek. "I love you Dawn. Be safe out there."

"I love you too mom." 

Johanna's last words are whispered and I can't hear them but from Dawn's reaction, it seems to be something embarrassing. 

Her face heats up and she looks around to check if someone was listening in.

... I smile knowingly; Pretending to have heard everything and Dawn gets even more red in the face. 

Haha, got her.

The two women finish their tear jerking goodbyes and Johanna drives off back home with tears welling up in her eyes.

The gang and Buneary and I remain behind for a moment for Dawn to collect herself, and then we head off together for the library, to be productive pokemon trainers.

"Let's check the stores in the mall out first! I need to mark down the clothing stores on a map to optimize shopping with my roommates!" Or we can head off for the mall. 

Good grief.

"Actually, let's make a list of sights we should see in Jubilife City. We should use the time we have as students." Says Lucas, and I agree. 

There are a few places I really want to visit at least once.

"I will need to visit the library for Buneary specific books and I need to check out the shops in main street to find good value survival equipment and poke berries and maybe even some TMs." 

Those are really the most important places. 

I don't want to ever be without equipment in the wilderness again and I want only the best stuff for Buneary.

"And I want to visit Jubilife TV and the Sainte-Rin church." Barry wants to go to the church? Since when is he religious? "The Sainte-Rin church is supposed to have a breathtaking atmosphere and incredible art. And the Jubilife TV building allows for public tours and we might see some famous people there." So, boring tourist crap...

"If you both get two places, then I want to visit Floaro Street as my second choice. They serve lots of traditional food and there is even the original Arezu Anthe store. I NEED to visit that place." Dawn amends the locations. 

Floaro Street is actually pretty interesting. It's the original location where Jubilife City was founded and all of the stores there have existed ever since.

Lucas is still staring at the brochure, trying to find something to add to the wish list. "Well... There's also the Global Trade Station. I guess we could go there if we want inexpensive stuff. But the other places are mostly just monuments or ancient building. Like Galaxy Hall. Do any of you want to see the beginnings of the Galaxy Acquisition Group?"

"Nah." - "Not really." - "Sounds boring." Even Buneary and Piplup shake their heads.

...

We end up talking a little more about the places we want to visit and what to visit first. In the end we decided on Dawn's first choice and went to the shopping mall.

In the technology department, we found out that the Poketch are all sold out. Which sucks. A lot. 

They have GPS, a call function, internet connection and some helpful trainer-apps. They are pretty important for modern trainers.

Dawn got herself a Piplup keychain in an accessories store. 

I looked for trainer equipment but found nothing useful beside a Buneary-brown trainer belt that can fit 6 pokeballs.

They also had armbands and thigh-bands with slots for pokeballs. But the armbands make you look pretentious and the thigh-bands are for girls in very short skirts... Girls, who are immune to cold or don't live in Sinnoh.

... Not gonna lie, I wish Dawn would pick the thigh band but she just uses her bag for her pokeballs instead. 

It would have been a great excuse to look further down, than otherwise polite.

And I was also hoping to find stuff like a Black Belt, Silk Scarf or a Keystone Bracelet... But my hopes were far-fetched. With luck I can probably find them at the Global Trade Station, only to not be able to afford them... 

Well... I could afford them, but I shouldn't spend all my money on expensive stuff just yet. I still need to buy so much equipment. 

Maybe I could check out GTS after I get everything else.

We also found a toy store specializing in pokemon toys and Piplup and his gang of starter pokemon were over the moon after getting gifts. 

Buneary wasn't interested in anything they sold. I guess it's because she is a little older than the others.

Last but not least, we visited every single clothing store. 

Luckily we didn't go inside any. Dawn was merciful to us and just peeked through the entrances to mark down good stores on a mall map.

But that reminds me that I still have to buy a suit. "Hey Dawn, when you go out shopping for clothes, can I tag along? I have no clue about clothes."

Dawn looks overjoyed at my request but Barry and Lucas look like I was replaced by a Ditto. 

"Come on guys. I know this will be the end of me, but I need a new suit. I grew out of my old one." And I need new swimming trunks too. My old ones are super embarrassing now.

"Hhhhhhuh?! You'll come with me? Awesome! You won't regret it!" I probably will. "But we will get your suit at Arezu Anthe. They just have much better quality and people can tell if you dress cheaply. And then we can try out more styles for you." 

I will definitely end up regretting this, won't I?

"Sure. I look forward to it. Let's find me a nice outfit." I say while forcing out a smile.

The other guys cringe, I can barely keep myself from cringing and Piplup and Buneary look at me weirdly. They don't know how bad it's going to be. Poor souls. 

But I will pull them down with me. "Barry, Lucas, don't you want to come with us?"

"Fuck no. You're on your own." - "Nah dude."

"Shit."

"Hey! Shopping with me isn't THAT bad!"

"Piplup!"

She says this, but we all know the truth.

We continued our mall tour and for lunch, we ate some pizza in the food court. 

I need to remind myself to stop with the finger foods. Buneary still needs to learn how to eat properly.

---

All in all, it was a nice day and after we finished exploring the mall, we wanted to get to the Sainte-Rin church, but on our way we had to cross through a fairly beautiful public park.

The park on its own was pretty nice, but what we see happening inside the park isn't very nice at all.

There is a guy who just slapped his Chimchar. "You useless piece of shit! How many tries do you need to learn Flame Wheel?!" What the fuck? Then he slaps his Chimchar again.

The guy is around our age, has purple-ish hair and wears a tracksuit jacket with gray jeans. He also looks like an asshole.

Buneary looks at me and I can't determine her expression. Does she want me to interfere? Or is she glad I'm not a trainer like that? 

Or could she be thinking of what to do with my body if I ever become like that? "Buneary, use Defense-" I start to whisper but get interrupted by Lucas.

"Hey jackass! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The guy seems confused at first. 

What? Are you wondering why someone stands up to you, for abusing your pokemon? 

But then he responds to us. "Why don't you go bother someone else, huh? I don't need to justify myself to you. Chimchar, Flame Wheel!" 

The guy just ignores us now and continues pushing his depressed looking Chimchar.

"Chimchar, come out." Lucas calls out his own Chimchar, "You! I challenge you to battle!" 

The guy turns around to us again with a smirk. "I accept. Chimchar, return." And he returns his pokemon?

"Elekid, time to battle." He tosses out a pokeball and out comes a yellow wall plug. He looks a little bit like a smaller, weirder version of Electabuzz.

I have never seen this kind of pokemon before. Will he evolve into Electabuzz? If so, then Lucas might be in a pinch.

All of a sudden, a robotic voice comes out from behind me. "Elekid, the electric pokemon. It rotates its arms to generate electricity, but it tires easily, so it charges up only a little bit. A weak electric current flows between its horns. Sticking a hand there shocks the unwary." 

Or, I could just ask the pokedex. Dawn's pokedex gave us a good summary of the pokemon.

'The electric pokemon' should give us a decent enough hint for his typing. The electric type is generally pretty strong. 

"Lucas, be careful! Electric attacks hit almost instantly and can paralyze your pokemon." I try to warn him. 

Not that the warning will do any good. I can't think of anything Chimchar could do against a Thunder Shock. "Good luck Lucas!"

"I will try to referee, alright you two?" Barry offers to play the referee for the battle. 

Are we even qualified for that yet?

"Thanks Barry."

"Whatever. We are doing a 1 versus 1 style battle. No items allowed."

"Agreed."

The two participants step away from each other for 5 meters each and their pokemon stand around 1 meter ahead of their trainers. Standard battle stuff.

"You two ready?" Barry asks and two nods follow. "Begin!"

"Chimchar, Ember!" A concentrated stream of red hot motes of fire come out of Chimchar's mouth and Elekid is already spinning his arms for his own attack. "Thunder Shock." The guy's voice is cold and dismissive. 

He's planning on trading attacks.

The pre-charged electric attack finishes first and fires off. The bolt of Thunder Shock crosses the distance of the battlefield almost instantly and hits Chimchar head on, while the Embers are still flying through the air. 

Chimchar is forced to abort his Ember attack halfway though and only a partial ember attack hits the Elekid.

The guy wanted to trade the damage. A dick move, but very efficient. Elekid looks like he just took a little bit of pain but Chimchar took some real damage there. 

"Chimchar... Chimchar, use Scratch!" 

Shit. Bad move. Chimchar is too far away. 

"Charge." As Chimchar starts running, Elekid uses the extra time to spin his arms even faster.

"What does Charge do? He doesn't look like he's running anywhere." Asks Dawn.

You really need to learn more about pokemon moves... "It's named after the electric charge. Charge increases the power of the next electric type attack and makes all of Elekid's non physical moves stronger. You should never give an electric type pokemon the time to use that move." I explain to her. 

Dawn and Piplup look thankful at the detailed explanation.

By the time Chimchar finally reaches attacking distance, Elekid has already finished his Charge, "Tank the Scratch and then use Thunder Shock." Another damage trade? The guy is brutal.

The Scratch hits Elekid right in the face, leaving 4 red lines behind. 

That should be a critical hit. But despite getting pushed back by a meter and wincing in pain, Elekid continues spinning his arms and lets out a powerful Thunder Shock. 

Chimchar is hit again and an explosive force smashes him across the battlefield. Even Elekid was hurt a little from the closeness of the explosion.

Elekid looks like he's in a lot of pain but Chimchar is down on the ground. "Chimchar, are you alright? Can you continue?!" Shouts Lucas. 

Chimchar tries to struggle up but eventually his arms fold and he drops face first to the ground and passes out.

"Chimchar! No!" Lucas rushes to his pokemon, ignoring the basic rules of waiting for the referee.

"Ahem! Barry!" Dawn whisper-shouts to remind him of his task. 

"Ah, right! Chimchar is unable to continue the battle! Elekid and... ehhh... that guy, win!"

"Whatever. Elekid return."

The guy immediately turns around and walks away, while Lucas cradles his unconscious Chimchar. But before leaving earshot, he turns around once more just to tell us, "Don't bother me again, losers."

Wow! What a fucking asshole! 

"Grrrr!" 

Fuck! Buneary took that insult personally. "Calm down Buneary, we can't kill the guy." I whisper and move her from my shoulder into my arms. "Remember, no crimes, alright?"

The guy finally leaves completely and Lucas stands up as well. "We need to go to the pokemon center." He says. 

Barry already has the brochure out and points out the direction to the closest one. "The next pokemon center isn't too far away. Let's go!"

---

There it is. A massive 2 story building with a bright orange roof and an LED pokeball in the front.

We all rush through the sliding door, into the pokemon center and Lucas runs up to the stationed nurse Joy with Chimchar clutched in his arms.

Nurse Joy, a pretty, mature woman with bright pink hair, styled in twin-tail loops with a nurse outfit, notices the panic in Lucas' eyes and orders her assistant, Chansey, to get started. "Chansey, go and prepare the surgery room."

"Chan-sey."

"You," She turns to Lucas, "What happened to Chimchar?"

"We fought and lost against an Elekid. Will Chimchar be alright?" Lucas is distraught but his concern over Chimchar keeps him going.

"Oh. Let me see how serious the condition is." She visibly calms down after hearing that it was just a regular pokemon battle and helps move Chimchar onto a nearby stretcher. 

Nurse Joy starts her examination immediately to the backdrop of some equipment noise and the pacing of an increasingly worried Lucas. 

Dawn and I also start to worry a lot now. She has been examining him for a while now...

"Your Chimchar is fine. He will be perfectly alright after Chansey heals him up and after that he just needs some rest to recover his stamina." Nurse Joy finally tells us before pushing the stretcher into the backroom. 

Lucas stays for a few more moments and stares at the closed surgery room.

"You alright, man?" I say to Lucas as I pat him on the back. "Come, let's sit down to wait. You heard Nurse Joy, Chimchar will be alright." 

He nods and follows me to a row of seats. Poor guy. He looks so defeated. Devastated. I sit down next to him and Dawn takes up the other side. Barry shuffles on the spot awkwardly.

"Next time you'll get him." I say to no visible effect. Shit. "Come on, man. You were just a little unprepared. Next time you will be stronger. The guy won't win twice, alright?" This time he nods a little.

The interior of the pokemon center has a waiting area with rows of cushioned seats. Each one is red with a stylized pokeball pattern on it. 

The room is incredibly tidy and smells of antiseptic. 

On one side of the pokemon center is the lonely front desk of Nurse Joy and on the other side of the building is a small kiosk in blue colors. 

There are pokeballs of various designs on a shelf behind the kiosk counter and a magazine rack to the side of it. 

The store clerk is an older brunette woman, around the age of my mom, with quite a massive rack. 

The rack behind her of course. It is filled with all sorts of trainer supplies. From potions to antidotes and even an 8-sided yellow crystal. 

Revives. The most expensive healing item around. It's the only item that can bring a passed out pokemon back into battle conditions. 

It can be pretty unhealthy if used too much and official pokemon battles generally forbid them but I still think I should get one. 

Just in case. Still, the price tag says 1500₽. That's half my month's wage... 

I guess I will really need to dip deep into my savings for my initial equipment. 

There is no way around it either way. If Dawn pulls me into Arezu Anthe, then my wallet is bound to come out lighter.

... Speaking of Dawn, she has Lucas covered so I can excuse myself. "Hey guys, I will do some supply shopping while we wait." I say as I point to the small store. 

Barry joins me and says, "I need some potions and pokeballs too. My dad said, I should never travel without lots of either."

Together we make our way to the store clerk. She leans forward to greet us and points out her large, heavy and stuffed rack. 

I mean, the shelf. 

She has a thumb pointing backwards to show off her wares. 

Ehhh, the wares that are available for purchase. 

"Hello dears, how can I help you today?" She asks us and Barry and my gaze snap back up to her face. 

Her tits are just really distracting. I suddenly feel like I should buy more than just a revive. 

"Cough, good evening, Miss." She smiles extra brightly at my greeting. Miss is for young, unmarried women after all. "I was looking to buy pokeballs, potions and a revive. Can you tell us a little more about the different types of pokeballs on the shelf?"

Barry's and my eyes slowly travel back down. 

Man, I love the city. 

"Of course. We currently stock five additional types of pokeballs." She turns her head and points out the different pokeballs while Barry and I ogle her chest. 

"The regular pokeball is always in stock and costs 200₽ per unit." 

Sheesh. That's not cheap. 

"We also have the Heal Ball, Luxury Ball, Nest Ball, Great Ball and the Love Ball. The Heal Ball and Nest Ball are 300₽ each and the others are all priced at 1000₽." 

Ouch. So it's a minimum of 200₽ to catch a pokemon. No wonder most families have just 1 or 2 pokemon, top.

"We also give out a Premier Ball for customers whenever they purchase items for 10.000₽. The Premier Ball and regular Pokeball are both the basic model, except the Premier Ball looks better and has a more comfortable interior space." 

The woman is doing an amazing sales pitch. The way her chest moves up and down as she speaks just forces me to agree with everything she says. 

"The Heal Ball, as the name implies, heals the pokemon you catch. But the inside is very sterile and pokemon don't like to stay inside that type of ball."

Damn. A Heal Ball for a bad day would be nice, but it's a waste of money since I can just use a proper pokeball and then heal the caught pokemon.

Who in their right mind would buy that?

"The Nest Ball works especially well at capturing weak and young pokemon." 

Wtf? Is that the go-to pokeball for poachers? 

Yea, no thanks. It's useless. I don't want to waste my time with weak pokemon either. 

"The Great Ball is a newer model of the Pokeball. It has a higher capture rate and its interior is larger and generally more comfortable for pokemon. But the Luxury Ball has the Great Ball beat in terms of pokemon comfort." 

She points to a sleek, pitch-black pokeball with golden and red highlights.

It certainly looks luxurious. "But it has the same capture performance as a regular Pokeball." Damn. So that's its downside. 

"And last but not least, the Love Ball. It has a very girly interior design. If you find a pokemon that likes such a style, then it is a guaranteed capture." 

It also has a very girly outside design. 

I think I would be forced to participate in contests if I ever used that ball. One half is pink, the other half is also pink but with a different shade of pink and it has a heart design on it.

My eyes go back to the Luxury Ball. Sleek. Professional. Gorgeous. That's the one I need, isn't it? But it's five times as expensive. "Hey Barry, why don't you shop first? I need to think a little through my options."

"Sure. I'm just going with 10 pokeballs anyway."

10 Pokeballs... That's still 2000₽. My gaze shifts from the store clerk's breasts to Buneary. I got her with just a single pokeball. 

Maybe I should split my budget up? A Luxury Ball if I find something special and 5 Pokeballs.

I don't need antidotes because I still have a lot of Pecha Berries, but I'm out of Sitrus Berries and potions are 50₽ per bottle. So for another 2000₽ I can get 10 potions and 1 revive for a rainy day.

"Have you decided yet?" Asks Barry, "You're up." And he walks away to look at the magazine stand.

I go back to the counter, "Hi again." I smile and give her a wink, she smiles back. Yes! "I would like 1 Luxury Ball, 5 regular Pokeballs, 10 Potions and 1 Revive, please."

"No problem. That's 4000₽. Do you also have a pokedex? I can link the pokeballs to your pokedex and it makes recovering them easier if they are lost or stolen."

The pokedex and the wallet with 4000₽ are easily pulled out thanks to my trusty cargo pants, and the woman scans each ball with the pokedex, before confirming something on her computer monitor.

I shrink the balls and put all but one into my backpack. One shrunken, regular pokeball ends up on my belt, next to Buneary's premier pokeball and one potion ends up in a pants pocket. 

Those are in case of an emergency. 

Then I head back to the gang.

Barry took my spot on the bench so I sit down across from Lucas. "You better now?" It's not like Lucas to be so distressed. 

It's weird.

"Yea. You're right Swole. Next time the guy is going to eat shit." He says with a lot more motivation now. Dawn probably managed to cheer him up. 

Good. 

But, "I don't have to tell you not to commit crimes either, right? A bloodthirsty bunny is enough for me to babysit."

"Hahaha, no man. I will just use my pokemon to pummel him into the ground metaphorically. I'll keep everything legal." The others laugh too.

Good. He will need to train a lot though.

With the general mood improved, Barry starts a new topic, "By the way, did you know that Team Galactic is hiring again? They want to try another expedition into Mount Coronet. They have a recruitment ad in the news." 

They are? Awesome! If I get a little stronger and my league challenge is on a good track, I might actually sign up.

Team Galactic: The research and exploration branch of the Galaxy Acquisition Group. They are one of the most popular employers in Sinnoh. 

They release the most cutting edge technologies and are the only people still financing expeditions into the wilderness in Sinnoh.

Although... The wilderness is a little fucked, isn't it? 

I'm not sure if I really want to go back there... But the prestige of working for Team Galactic would be pretty good for my career...

I just can't decide! "Do any of you want to sign up some day? I mean, not now of course, but if we get stronger?"

Dawn is first to answer "No way! If it's more of these Ariados, then I won't make a single step into the wilderness!" She is also the most resolute.

"I think I want to." Says Lucas next. "There are bound to be countless unexplored sites in Mount Coronet. If I want to become a researcher, then I can't say no to a little bit of danger."

"Me too. I can see how strong your Buneary is. I doubt I can beat you this year if I don't get stronger pokemon. Just wait Swole, I'll become the Sinnoh champion before you!"

Pah! In your dreams! You will be forever in my shadow!

"Really Barry? We'll see about that! Because I'm going to go into the wilderness too, to get even more strong pokemon! And then I'm going to become the champion!" 

There's no way I'm letting Barry beat me. "Bun! Buneary!" Even Buneary agrees. 

"You don't stand a chance, Barry Pearl!"

"Excuse me," Comes nurse Joy's voice from behind me. I only startle a little bit. "Sorry about that. Here is your Chimchar. Be sure to let him rest for the rest of the night and take good care of him, will you?"

"Of course! I won't let Chimchar down." Lucas replies.

---

In the end, we headed back to our dorm rooms right after that, without visiting the Sainte-Rin church. 

The sun has already gone down and the meager Sunday nightlife begins without us. 

We have our first classes tomorrow and can't legally drink yet, so 'enjoying the nightlife' wasn't an option to begin with.

... Not that I know how enjoyable the nightlife is for adults either. None of us had any experience with alcohol yet.

As soon as our dorm room door closes, and Dawn is out of earshot, Barry starts taunting Lucas. "Dude. You missed out so much today. Swole, tell him. The tits of that store clerk were fucking huge!"

"Dude. I know, right? So massive."

"What?! And you didn't tell me? What the fuck guys?"

Hahaha, "You snooze, you lose. Dawn was right next to you. We couldn't just go up and tell you 'See those melons? You should get a closeup view.'"

"That's bullshit! You could have come up with an excuse! I still need to buy pokeballs and potions too, dammit! You bastards!"

Oops. Yea, we could totally have reminded him of that.

Lucas continues, "Swole, you wanted to visit the library, right? I guess I will just split off then and buy my supplies... By the way, your Buneary is looking at you strangely."

I turn my head and look into a face filled with disapproval. "What? You saw those tits too! They were extraordinary. A sight worth seeing. A once in a lifetime opportunity!" 

And Buneary relents the stare-down with a disappointed shake of her head and a roll of her eyes before turning away from me.

"Ahem... What did you guys think about the park-guy's fighting style?" I change the topic. 

As entertaining as the store clerks massive badonkers are, I still want to be at least a little bit productive before bed.

"What do you mean?" Asks Barry.

"I mean, the guy let his Elekid tank the attacks and used Chimchar's distractedness and recovery time to make some clean hits. It's pretty brutal but very effective."

Lucas replies. "Well... He did win... I can't say it isn't effective. But I don't think that's for me. I don't want Chimchar to get hurt too much." 

And Barry agrees. "Yea. I think it's too ruthless for Turtwig and me."

Huh. I actually thought that doing this would be okay. I mean, Chimchar would get hurt less if he wins. And Turtwig is a tank already. 

"Buneary, what do you think? Would you fight like that? If dodging is not possible, of course."

"Bun! Buneary- Bunne!" She said a lot but from the head nod I can tell that it means she would be alright with it.

Let's try to fish for a straightforward answer anyway just to be sure. If she is alright with it, then I will add it to our repertoire. At the end of the day, she has to be the one who tanks the hits, not me.

"Hm, hm. You're a tough little bunny, aren't you? No way you would toss a winning strategy away over a little bit of pain."

"Bun!" Another firm head nod confirming my earlier interpretation.

I pull out my notebook and sit down next to Buneary, to write down possible applications of the new strategy, and when dodging would be better.

We might have to tank every single long ranged lighting attack simply because we can't dodge them anyways. 

Protect would be so useful. 

"Buneary, you saw Elekid use Thunder Shock today. Do you think you could dodge it with Quick Attack?" She thinks for a second before unsurely shaking her head.

Damn. Not even with Quick Attack? Tanking it is. Probably the same for every beam attack. 

Luckily the pokedex said her special defense was pretty high. But electric, ice and fire attacks would still have a chance to leave Buneary paralyzed, frozen or burnt. I need to buy a Protect TM at this rate.

Wait, 'Buy Protect TM'... Hehe. No... I shouldn't make that joke. It would be cringe.

... Or would it be?

"Hey guys, next time we're on main street, I will need to buy some protection for Buneary." Whatever they were talking about, I thoroughly threw them out of their conversation. 

Barry's mouth is gaping and Lucas says, "First off, gross dude. And I'm going to call an Officer Jenny on you."

"Haha!" I can't keep my laughter away to pull the joke off completely. "What do you snort mean? Why would Officer Jenny care that I buy a Protect TM?" Got 'em.

Lucas and Barry facepalm before trying to go back to their conversation while I'm laughing my ass off. 

Buneary didn't get the joke.

"Cringe." I hear from the others.

I stop laughing.

Anyway, back to strategies. Protect is very important. Until then, we will just have to tank it out. 

After tanking an attack, she can easily rush in with Quick Attack while her opponent is still recovering from the attack.

After I wrote it all down, I retell Buneary all the strategies I settled on.

She might not be strategically inclined, but repetition could hammer it into her skull at some point... Probably. 

I will do that every night now, just to make sure she understands the strategies at least a little bit.

"Oi, I'm turning off the lights, alright? We will need to wake up early tomorrow." Barry notifies us and I switch into my Ariados silk pajamas before snuggling into bed, and Buneary snuggling onto my chest. 

My arms subconsciously wrap around her and, surprisingly, she only glares at me once before rolling her eyes and ignoring me.

"You're such a weirdo. Stop sleeping with your pokemon dude." Says Lucas.

"Stop saying it like that, dude. Don't make it weird. I'm pretty sure Dawn does it too. She didn't even look half as asleep today as you two did. So, shut up. You're just jealous of my quality sleep."

"Cope!"

"Seethe!"

"Mald!"

"Shut up you two! It's bedtime! Lucas, just let him sleep with his pokemon if he wants to."

...

"Gross."

"You're gross."

"No you."