Castelia City is tall. I'd seen the skyscrapers hours away, but it didn't truly sink in until just now. The streets are busy with commuters, but there isn't a single car in sight. That pretty much confirms it for me - cars aren't really used to get around cities in this world.

There's a young trainer walking along the street towards the gate out to the desert, weaving between the workers with an adept grace I wave him down, putting on a smile. "Excuse me, do you know where I can find a hotel? I've just arrived."

His brows jump up. "Really? You must have been walking through the night." His expression contorts, clearly confused. "Are you looking for a Trainer Hostel, or just a normal hotel?"

The Trainer Hostels need an I.D., if my pamphlets are to be trusted - they aren't an option for me, in that case. "A hotel. Cheap would be good."

He nods. "Ah, gotcha. You'll want the Weary Sawsbuck, then. It's about half-way down third street, on the left." He points off in a direction. "Go that way until you see the street sign, then keep on heading towards the coast. You can't miss it."

"Right, thanks." I turn to leave.

He stops me before I do, "You just came in from Route Four, right? Got any tips for me before I head out? I'm on my way to Nimbasa City."

I turn back to him, looking his clothing up and down. A short sleeved sports shirt, shorts, a backwards cap and a small backpack. If he goes out there in the day, he'd be risking serious heatstroke. At night, he'd risk hypothermia.

I blink. The gate guards would have surely stopped him, wouldn't they? He can't be older than fourteen - he likely doesn't know any better. Hell, I barely knew better, myself.

"Yeah, I got loads for you. If you go out there as you are now, I'll be surprised if you don't collapse from heat stroke before midday. It's a desert out there, so travelling by day is a bad move - especially without loads of water and protection from the sun."

His eyes widen.

"You want my advice? Travel by night and rest somewhere in the shade by day. It'll be chilly and dark, but you won't be travelling in the heat. Long sleeves, long pants and something to protect your head from the sun and blown sand is a must, too. You won't make it to Nimbasa in under twenty-four hours, so plan for staying out there for a while."

His face is bewildered, but his tone is relieved. "Uhh… Really? Crap - that could have been real bad. Thanks for the tips, lady." He lets out a put-upon sigh. "Damn, I really should have thought of that myself. Looks like I need to go shopping." He waves goodbye, heading off away from the gate.

Internally, I shake my head at him. Why didn't he already know that? Travelling through the wilderness is a common practice in this world, isn't it? Surely there'd be some sort of basic survival training to stop young trainers from doing exactly what that kid had been about to do.

Whatever. I'm too tired to care right now.

I make for the direction that the kid had pointed. I'm hesitant to trust his directions, but he seemed to have been well informed about the city, at least.

I find the hotel without trouble. This part of the city is shorter and older-looking compared to the other parts I've seen so far. The hotel is five floors tall and fairly thin. Out the front is a quaint little sign depicting a deer-like Pokemon curled up asleep. The name of the hotel is emblazoned in yellow lettering around the picture. There's a sign on the door giving rates for rooms. The cheapest is five-hundred-p for a night.

Good - within my budget.

Going inside, I take in the lobby. It's got a musky smell to it and is rather small. The floor is lined with a red carpet spotted with dark stains.

The place is filthy - no wonder it's cheap.

The receptionist gives me a strained smile, asking how she could help. I ask for a room, and she sends me on my way with a key, a room service menu and a list of rules after I hand over the payment.

I drag myself up the stairs, finding my room quickly. The rules say I can't let out any Pokemon in the room, so I've got to leave Gwen and Leo inside their balls.

The room is small. There's a bathroom and a bedroom, but that's about it. It's a bit dusty, but a far sight cleaner than the lobby. I rinse the sand and dust coating me off in the shower, before changing into a set of mostly-clean clothes and collapsing in bed.

I'm out like a light.

I'm woken by the afternoon sun shining through my window into my eyes.

It's a little past three, according to my cross-transceiver. Not too much time left in the day.

The sleep left me rested, but hungry and thirsty. While I've got the chance, I refill my bottles with water from the tap in the bathroom.

What's the plan now?

The end-goal is getting I.D., obviously, but how should I go about it? Start tracking down this 'Team Rocket' that's apparently making moves here?

But what then? Work with them to get myself an I.D. from them - if they even have the connections to get one, or against them for funds to buy one myself?

If I'm honest with myself, working with them is a terrible idea - I'd be outing myself to a criminal organisation with nothing but the hopes of getting what I want.

No - joining a gang again is out of the question, I don't even want to consider it further.

...I'm A bit disgusted that I even entertained the idea in the first place. Have I learnt nothing from my life as a cape so far?

I let out a sigh, flopping down on the bed. Vigilantism it is, then.

How should I go about it? Snooping around and reporting everything I learn to the authorities? Unless they post bounties for the information, I wouldn't be getting any closer to an I.D..

Raiding them myself and taking their money looks like the only option to me. Maybe I should check just to make sure there isn't a bounty, first?

How would I even do that?

I don't know. Maybe I could call an anonymous tip-line and ask about it once I've got something to give them.

I'll have to get a burner phone before then - I need more money.

In any case, I want to have much more practice working with my team before I go looking for trouble. A few full days of drills, at the least.

I don't have the power of insect control to work with anymore, so I'll need to work harder in other areas to make up for it.

But first, food. I grab the room service menu, giving it a quick read. It's all terribly expensive. Given the state of the lobby, I'm not sure I'd trust this place to keep a clean kitchen.

Oh well - I'll just have another survival bar later. My stock should last me a day or two more. I need more money, and soon.

Now that I think about it, this entire hotel is all horribly suspicious, actually. I got a room for cheaper than lunch at a sandwich shop - is that normal for this world? Or is this just a front for money laundering or something?

...I'll keep an ear out for things. Just in case I hear something I wasn't meant to again.

I shoulder my bag, leaving my room. I want to get a start on training my team today. I've got the room until midday tomorrow, so if I don't get more money before then, I'll be sleeping outside again.

Leaving the hotel, I start walking down the street. If I were to guess, there'd be a battlefield or park fairly close to the Pokemon Centre. I'm not sure where that is, though.

I flag down a passing trainer, asking for directions to a battlefield. They point me in the right direction. I thank them, and head off.

The place isn't hard to find, and unlike Nimbasa City, is quite large - especially for a metropolitan area like Castelia City. It's essentially just half a block fenced in and filled with fields separated by stocky Cinder block dividers.

There's a sign out the front with a list of rules - fairly standard stuff, I think. Avoid damaging the walls, don't disturb the other trainers, don't use moves that could spill over to either the street or the other fields.

The fields are free and open to the public to use, no reservations necessary. I can already hear the sounds of several ongoing battles coming from inside.

I enter the archway, walking down the straight dirt path that runs between all of the fields. I glance inside each one as I pass.

A large blue monkey slightly different to the ones I saw back in the forest blasting another of the squirrel-like Pokemon with the yellow markings with torrents of water.

A burly red-skinned Pokemon with an off-white torso that looks like a Karate Gi practicing various forms under the instruction of it's trainer.

A coffin-like Pokemon with shadowy arms weathering a barrage of electricity from a bluish floating eel.

The fourth field is empty, so I head inside and release my team.

Gwen snaps to attention, looking at me questioningly. Leo cocks his head, before a realisation seemingly comes over him. The confusion is quickly replaced with a clear anticipation.

A smile breaks onto my face. I haven't gotten the chance until now, but I can finally see for myself just how much I can leverage my team's powers.

"Alright team. As you can see, we've arrived in Castelia City. Chances are, we'll be sticking around for a while. Our first priority is to get used to working with each other. I need to get familiar with your capabilities, you need to get used to working under me and in conjunction with each other."

Gwen nods, understanding. Leo speaks up, excitement coming across in his voice. "What's that going to involve?"

"Drills. Sparring. Training. Technique lessons. It'll be hard work, but my hope is that we'll come through it for the better. Now." I lower my voice, waving the pair of them in close. "Battling isn't the only thing I'll be preparing you for. I plan on taking on Team Rocket. Vigilantism, in other words. That sort of work needs a different skill set to the one that you'll use in formal battling, albeit a similar one. You will need to be proficient in both."

I step back, returning to my previous volume. "Today will be fairly basic. I'm going to ask you to show me all of your abilities, and figure out what sort of limits they've got."

I walk over to the side of the field, setting down my bag and retrieving my notepad and pen. This is the sort of thing that I want to keep notes on - my team just has too many powers to work with otherwise.

"Alright, let's get started. Run me through everything you've got again, Leo."