A/N: Wouldn't it suck if you were sucked into the Pokemon world to be a trainer but then found out you can't be the hero? Ahahahahaha. Loser.
Adrian looked at his unconscious Raticate lying a few feet away from him. On the other side of the battlefield was a tired looking, but still standing Leavanny. The bug gym leader Burgh gave Adrian an enthusiastic and supportive round of applause.
"Not bad, kid. You might've won if you had another Pokemon," said Burgh.
Adrian recalled his poor Raticate before replying, "yeah, maybe. I meant to catch a Darumaka before I got here but those things just won't stay in the ball. Good match though."
"So how long did you say you'd be staying in Unova?" Asked Burgh.
"A couple more days. I'm only here cause of a scholarship program and my time is about up. Don't think my teacher will be too thrilled to learn I couldn't get a single badge."
Adrian thought back to his battles against Clay and Elesa. Both went even worse than this one. It wasn't that Adrian was bad, at least, he'd like to think he was a pretty skilled trainer, he was just screwed financially. He really couldn't afford to take care of more than two or three Pokemon at a time, and he couldn't travel to other towns or regions without some sort of aid from a program.
"You're what, eighteen? Don't worry kid, you're better than most kids your age," encouraged the artist.
Burgh escorted Adrian through the back exit of the gym and into the busy and crowded streets of Castelia City. Burgh even called a cab to the hotel, which was great for Adrian cause he wasn't used to large cities yet. For Adrian the cab ride felt like his wait in death row. Traffic was slow which only served to give more time for knot in his stomach to swell up. Eventually Adrian would have to walk into his hotel room, call his parents and tell them about his third loss in a row then pack his bags. There wasn't enough time to give Lenora a try and he doubted his parents would want to hear about a fourth loss on his journey.
The cab pulled up on his street and he headed for the door. He said hello to the greeter at the desk and quickly made his way from the maroon walls to the sleek elevator.
This place is a huge step up from Kanto. I'm actually gonna miss it a bit.
He looked at his reflection in the mirror. There was still honey covering his purple hair and red jump suit. He tried picking it out for a few seconds before giving up once the elevator door opened. He walked through the hall to his door and locked it behind him, sealing him in his one bedroom living space that looked a lot nicer than his house back in Kanto. Across from the bed was the wireless phone. A few thousands miles away, his parents were sitting on the couch and waiting for him to call them with good news about how he trumped Burgh's gym challenge. He really didn't want to make that call.
He decided he had time to procrastinate. He started with taking his team out of their pokeballs. In three flashes of light came Chomps the Raticate, Zippy the Beedrill, and Buba the Poliwhirl. Chomps settled herself on the bed, Zippy flew wildly around the room and Buba just sat next to Adrian, waiting to be petted, which Adrian did, of course.
"Well guys, we didn't win and I don't think the guys at Pokemon Tech will be too happy about that."
Adrian had only gotten his chance to train in Unova for a month because he scored the highest on his written tests and third highest on battle factory exams. It also helped that his family was pretty low income and the Celadon City mayor thought it would look good if he gave some poor kid a shot at the big leagues. Financial aid was the only reason he was able to keep three pokemon, and he couldn't exactly afford top tier ones. He found Chomps back when she was just a Rattata chewing on their floorboards and she served as his first Pokemon. Zippy was the first Pokemon he ever caught, though he had help from his dad. Buba was given to him as a gift from his aunt in Kalos.
He tried to envision how things would go for him once he got back. His parents would put on encouraging smiles and tell him he gave it his best. The Pokemon Tech representative would try his best not to look disappointed but definitely wouldn't be keeping Adrian on his watch list. He'd have to look into finding a real job somewhere and would probably have to give up one of his Pokemon.
Adrian started to tear up at that part. He couldn't bear to lose anyone on his team. Sure, they were common Pokemon and nothing you'd see on championships, but they were his family. He decided to take a walk outside for a while. He still had time to make that call.
"Alright guys, let's hang around the city for a while," said Adrian, recalling his team mates.
After twenty minutes of drifting, Adrian found himself in a small cafe tucked away in an alley. He ordered lemonade for his team and looked at the clock on the wall. It read 6:21PM.
Should probably get back to the hotel in an hour or so.
The lemonade arrived and Adrian let his Pokemon out to enjoy their drinks. He closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the soft melody of the cafe's guitarist. He almost fell asleep until he felt a few taps on his shoulder. Adrian looked up to see a boy in a blue jacket, black pants and a pokeball themed hat.
"Hey there, my name's Black," introduced the boy, "I wanted to ask if those were your Pokemon."
Adrian nodded and introduced himself.
"Great! So, you wanna battle?" Asked Black.
Adrian really didn't feel like battle at the time. In fact, he came to this place to take his mind off it. Not to mention, he knew this kid's type. Probably has some rich parent he doesn't see much that can afford to set him up with the best gear, traveling funds and Pokemon. He's probably won almost every battle he's been in simply because he can afford to raise a full team of six. He probably has a Pokemon Box account too. Still, it wasn't like Adrian could just refuse. Well, he could, but it wouldn't feel right.
"Alright, I'm game," answered Adrian. The two walked outside to the street and stood a few yards away from each other. Both of them raised their first pokeball above their heads and threw them at full force towards the other. The spheres crashed against each other before releasing each trainer's Pokemon: Adrian's Raticate and Black's Boldore.
Adrian wanted to strike first to capitalize on Raticate's speed. "Use Super Fang," called Adrian.
The rat dashed for the much slower Boldore and bit hard into it's rock skin. Adrian wasn't worried about the type match up too much; Chomps had her ways of dealing with bulky Pokemon, and sure enough, the Boldore was already starting to wobble.
"Core, use Rock Slide," called Black.
The Boldore crushed up the cement beneath it and sent the debris sailing towards Chomps, who only barely managed to outrun them.
"Alright Chomps, return." Adrian called Chomps back to her pokeball and quickly switched into Buba, who appeared in front of the next wave of rocks from Core. The attack didn't phase Buba much, but cost Adrian a bit of momentum.
"Buba, use Bubble Beam."
A barrage of multicolored bubbles spawned from the swirl design on Buba's chest and bombarded the unfortunate rock type pokemon, who collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Black recalled his Boldore and sent in is next Pokemon: Zebstrika.
Oh great, that thing. Adrian recalled his battle with Elesa and how that thing managed to defeat his entire team. He noticed that Black's Zebstrika seemed even meaner than Elesa's. Adrian couldn't possibly hope that Buba could outspeed it, but he could hope that Black would spend time charging it.
"Buba, use Mud Sho-"
"Zaps, use Spark," called Black, before Adrian could even finish his sentence.
Sure enough, the Zebstrika was coated in electric energy and collided into Adrian's Poliwhirl before Buba could even think to use Mud Shot. Buba went flying to the other side of the alley and Adrian recalled her for rest. Adrian knew how this battle was about to go.
Adrian sent Chomps back into the battle.
"Use Quick Attack."
Chomps rushed the Zebstrika and managed to scratch its head, but it didn't do any noticeable damage. Not that Adrian was expecting much, but he didn't want to just go down without a fight.
The Zebstrika countered with another Spark attack and made short work of Chomps, who Adrian recalled.
"Alright Zippy, it's all up to you now."
Adrian threw the pokeball containing Zippy with less enthusiasm than he had at the start of this battle.
"Zippy, use Poison Jab."
Zippy readied his stingers and charged towards the Zebstrika, ready to strike it down, but the Zebstrika once again coated itself with electric energy and intercepted Adrian's last pokemon before the stingers could make contact. Zippy was far from a sturdy Pokemon, he fell like the rest of Adrian's team.
"Good game, man," said Black. He recalled his Zebstrika and walked out of the street, probably to find another kid to wail on.
Adrian looked at his pokeballs. Inside them were his once again defeated team, who probably weren't too happy with their trainer right now.
Maybe I'm just not meant to be a trainer. Maybe it's just for kids like Black.
Adrian walked off to the nearby Pokemon Center to heal his team. He knew there were phone lines in the center, and he had a call to make.
A/N: I might write about Adrian again one day, I kinda like him. But yeah, ever once thought about the lives of all those random trainers on the street? I know I do. The day to day lives and functionality of the Pokemon world is what fascinates me the most. The conclusion I reached is that not everyone can be the hero. Most people are broke and being a real life Pokemon trainer sounds expensive. You gotta have the money to take care of multiple pets that have much more complicated needs than real life ones. You gotta buy all the pokeballs and medical equipment and pay for traveling and all sorts of other stuff. When it comes down to it, only the well off are gonna be Pokemon trainers, only the wealthy are gonna have a chance to be good, and only the highest scoring on financial aid will have a chance.