Obviously, I don't own Pokemon.

[=-CHAPTER 5-=]

- (Ash) -

He watched as his former classmate climbed the cliffside with nothing but a weird yellow vine Pokemon as her climbing gear.

'What was her name again? Bean, or something?'

"And what is THAT?" He pulled out his Pokedex, pointing in her direction.

[Bellsprout, the Flower Pokemon: It prefers hot and humid places, and ensnares tiny bugs with its vines and devours them.]

He squinted at his Pokedex, thinking the Pokemon was a bit ugly. It also looked pretty frail from what he could tell.

"Hmm…" An imaginary lightbulb appeared over his head. "Oh! I know exactly what that is."

"Pika pi?" The Pikachu on his shoulder asked, curious. The Pokedex already told him what it was, what else could it be?

"That… is not our problem." The lightbulb cracked and shattered. "Let's go Pikachu." He said with an upbeat tone, all too happy to just ignore the girl.

"Pi." Pikachu rolled its eyes as they made their way to Pewter City.

- (Izan) -

It took almost four days of constant stinging sensations for Sandshrew to become acclimated with the Rock Gem.

And after she was done, she had a look of complete satisfaction. Like she had overcome some great obstacle and become stronger.

Izan almost didn't have the heart to tell her she wasn't done.

Almost.

And so, after a total of ten days, her energy training was complete. Well, the basics, at least. She could still improve a lot.

Plus there were still a few other typings that would be useful for her in the future, such as psychic for [Agility] or dark for [Hone Claws], but that was for later.

A problem he didn't take into account was that he planned to make smoothies with the Apricorns he bought, but it wouldn't help her.

It was something he'd done countless times in the Pokeathlon minigames, and if each Apricorn did what he thought they did, it'd work like a charm.

The idea was to make stamina-increasing smoothies that pushed her to her training limit each time they did a workout. But since the only thing stopping her from continuing was pain, it wouldn't help here.

Either way, the results of her training spoke for themselves.

[Sandshrew (Female)]

[Type: Ground]

[Level: 10]

[Energy Mastery: Ground (Beginner), Normal (Beginner), Rock (Beginner), Poison (Beginner), Steel (Beginner)]

[Ability: N/a]

[Moves: Scratch, Sand Attack, Defense Curl, Mud Shot]

'Is she super talented or was the Fearow encounter a blessing in disguise?' Izan wondered as he looked at her status page.

While having a level 10 didn't seem like much, it was alarming considering how long it took her to get to that level.

There were a few articles he'd read about the Youngster Program and how most people were against its continued existence. One of the main arguments was the dangers of letting inexperienced young adults travel, even if it was on protected routes.

And a few of the articles simply brought up statistics about how long it took the average F-Class trainer to train their Pokemon to level 10.

Two and a half months.

Of course, this article failed to take into account that D-Class trainers were only better by about 50%.

But the point was that Sandshrew way faster than normal.

Realistically, the training they'd just completed should've only leveled her up to 9. That meant that she was on the cusp of level 9 before the training began, and this just pushed her over and above.

Now that it was over, it was time for one last thing before he could bust out the Aprijuicer and do some real workouts.

"Oi, Sandshrew. I've got a present for you-" Izan called out. At the sound of the word 'present' she damn near teleported in front of him.

She was even giving him a salute like a soldier.

'Wait, who taught her how to salute? Bah, whatever. It's pretty cute.'

He chuckled. "Eager, aren't ya? Well, I figured this would be a fitting gift after you finished that energy training."

Reaching into his hoodie pocket, he pulled out the dark yellow scroll he got from Serebyi.

Her eyes brightened as she saw it, but dulled as she tilted her head in confusion. "Sandshrew?"

Izan furrowed his brows at her before relaxing. "Ah, I don't think you were paying attention back then. Anyway, this is for you."

Handing her the scroll, he backed up a bit. She inspected it a bit, before looking at him in confusion again.

He made a shooing motion at her. "Go on, open it. I think that's how it works anyway." He muttered that last part.

Placing it on the ground, Sandshrew shrugged after staring at it. Carefully, she picked at the string holding the scroll together until it snapped.

Pulling it apart, she stared at the… blank page.

'Uh… Did I get scammed or-'

A bright brown light burst from the scroll, startling both him and Sandshrew.

Motes of brown light danced in the air before swirling around slowly. Sandshrew herself was stunned in the center of it all.

The lights grew faster and faster, spinning faster around her like a hurricane. All until they suddenly stopped.

And then, as one, they rushed into Sandshrew's head.

Both trainer and Pokemon blinked at each other, stunned by the light show. Izan opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted before he got the chance.

*I wanna be the very best like no one ever was~*

His Pokegear rang. The fact that that song existed in this world was a surprise that didn't make any sense, but there was no point questioning it.

Opening his Pokegear, he raised an eyebrow at the contact. 'An unknown number? …it is what it is.'

"Yo. Who is this?" Izan answered without hesitation.

There was a pause before the other person sighed. "Izan, you didn't even save my number? Then why ask for it?"

'Oh, it's Nurse Joy. Whoops.'

He'd exchanged numbers with Nurse Joy in case someone came to the Pokemon Center to request a job specifically from him. So far no one had, but he had faith.

And he didn't save her number because… well, he had no excuse for that. He was just lazy.

"Ahem. More importantly, did someone finally ask me for a job?" He brushed it off.

He could almost hear the eye roll from across the phone. "Yes, but it might be a bit different than what you were expecting."

"Considering I wasn't expecting anything, that'd be impossible." He stated matter-of-factly.

"…Right. Anyway, I think you might want to postpone this job if Sandshrew has already done some training today. She should probably get some rest beforehand."

"Oh? Is it that dangerous? I didn't expect something like that already."

"I thought you just said- never mind. If you want to do it today, I'd rather you come down sooner rather than later."

Izan gestured to Sandshrew, as she jumped on his shoulder without a word. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. I don't see why you'd care when I complete it though."

"Because if you accept, I'll have to get involved." She replied.

'A job where Nurse Joy has to get involved? What kinda Bizzaro world bullshit is that?'

He thought on it more before giving up. "Nah, I've got no guesses. What kind of job is it?"

"It's a battle request. And if you accept, I'll have to referee."

Izan felt a bit awkward as the girl in front of him looked him up and down without even trying to hide it.

Sandshrew was getting antsy on his shoulder, looking down on the girl with irritation. She didn't seem to like that the girl was holding them up at the door.

All he'd done is walk into the Pokemon Center. Why were there always weirdos around every corner in this world?

Wait, no, that was every world.

'Well, two can play at that game.' He thought, exaggeratedly looking her up and down as well.

The first thing he noticed was her long, light-blue straight hair that reached to her hips. The second thing he noticed was that she was around his age, even if her makeup made her look a bit older.

Her outfit matched her other features, being a navy blue school uniform with an icy blue ribbon. Or was it just something she wore to look more professional? Probably both.

The air she gave off mixed with her glasses gave an impression of intelligence, after all.

"3 out of 10." She suddenly stated bluntly. "I'll admit you have some potential, but your current unsightly visage is perfect."

He frowned, that was just rude. Looking her up and down with his eyes, his eyes locked onto a certain part of her. 'Possible insecurity spotted.'

"Thanks." He said dryly, rolling his eyes as he walked past. "Maybe if you grow some bigger tits you'll hit a 1 outta 10 someday."

Sandshrew backed him up with a contemptuous 'hmph'. He wasn't sure the little lady understood what he just said, but the support was nice.

He didn't make it two steps before the girl called out to him calmly.

"My apologies, that wasn't meant to be an insult."

He looked over his shoulder at her like she was stupid. "How was that not an insult, exactly?"

Seemingly expecting his attitude, she answered. "Those who cannot rely on looks to get through life tend to develop a skill to replace it. And seeing as how you're flaunting that Sandshrew around, I'd assume you're a very skilled battler, are you not?"

'Huge logic jump there. Plus she just stroked my ego right after throwing a perceived insult. That sounds like some sort of social trick so that must mean…'

"You want something from me." He turned fully, giving her his full attention. "What is it?"

To that, she smiled brightly, as if she was waiting for him to say that.

Walking up to him, she offered a handshake. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Aurora Stone, and I'm the one who requested you for a battle."

Sandshrew… hissed.


After calming Sandshrew's territorial tendencies, Izan and Aurora sat down at a table in the Pokemon Center while Izan had lunch.

Sandshrew was eating too. A mixture of Moomoo milk and ground-type kibble that resembled cereal.

Pointing his fork at her, he spoke after swallowing. "I'm not apologizing, that comment about my looks was just rude, no matter how you spin it."

Still smiling, she replied immediately. "I didn't expect you to. Most people can't wrap their heads around my views."

'Because it doesn't make any sense.' He almost replied. But in the end, her skewed views of reality didn't matter.

"…Right." He wiped his mouth and sat up straighter. "Anyway, I have to wonder, why do you want to battle me? You know I'm an F-Class trainer, right?"

"That is precisely why. Due to some… complications with my background, I've been forced to relocate to Kanto and become a trainer through the Youngster program. I'm using you as a baseline."

His eyebrows raised. 'Tragic backstory, perhaps? Yeah, I'm not getting into that. It is a bit surprising she's also an F-Class trainer, though.'

"What do you mean by baseline? All things considered, I should be a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to F-Class trainers." At least, if levels were the main factor.

He'd also updated his request sheet each time Sandshrew went up a level, so everyone who'd read it would know she hit level 10 recently.

Aurora nodded at that point. "Exactly. I've learned how to battle from tutors, but it isn't my forte. If I manage to reach your level or surpass you, the chance of me becoming D-Class would be much higher."

Izan's eyebrows rose even further. That was high praise from someone who told him he was ugly five seconds after they met.

…Maybe he had a complex about that.

"And if I agree, what would the terms of the battle be?" He asked after considering Sandshrew.

Seemingly in her element, Aurora suddenly pulled out a piece of paper from a bag that he somehow hadn't noticed sitting in the booth next to them.

Glancing at it, he realized it was a contract made specifically for their battle.

"I assume you don't have any other Pokemon, but I do. This contract states that it will be a 3 versus 1 non-lethal battle where each Pokemon you defeat with Sandshrew alone gets you closer to the full payout of a C-rank mission."

'Wh-'

She continued, ignoring his massively confused face. "You may not know, but a battle would only fit into a C-rank mission, seeing as how C-ranks are the only rank where battling is expected. That being said, the range of C-rank payout is 3,000 to 10,000 Pokedollars."

"…When did you write this contract?" He blurted out, flabbergasted. He had many questions, but that part just didn't make any sense at all.

"This morning, of course." She answered with a professional smile.

'Doing paperwork in the morning?! …Scary.'

Skimming over the contract, he made sure there were no clauses that could legally fuck him over. Ultimately, he couldn't find any so he went to grab the pen she was offering, but he stopped himself.

"Actually, Sandshrew." She looked up at him from her meal. "What do you think about this?"

She tilted her head, evidently not listening at all.

Izan snorted. "Aurora here wants you to battle three of her Pokemon. They should be about your level or below. You up for that?"

Sandshrew looked over to Aurora with narrowed eyes. Getting up, she hopped onto the table and walked up to Aurora who stared back at Sandshrew with a slightly surprised look.

After glaring at her, Sandshrew closed her eyes and made a 'hmph' sound again. Pointing her nose up, she hopped off the table. "Shrew."

Izan dragged his hand down his face with a smile, signing the contract. "Guess that's that, then."

And with Nurse Joy as the referee, he was pretty much guaranteed a battle that wasn't too dangerous. He'd seen her personal Mr. Mime… handle people.

That thing was brutal.

"You… understood what Sandshrew said?" Aurora asked, now thoroughly taken aback.

He waved her off. "Nah, nothing like that. I can just tell what she meant. She accepted, but she only did so because she thinks you and your team are beneath her."

Aurora's smile became strained. "I-I see. I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight, Izan." She got up to leave, taking her things with her.

"See ya, Stone." He replied. She paused for a split second when he called her stone, but kept going afterward.

'Yeah, there's a story there. And she's definitely related to Steven in some way.'

Izan's mind wandered about the implications of that until he refocused when he realized Sandshrew was done eating.

"Alright, Sandshrew, let's go." He gathered his things and stretched. "We've gotta do a little bit of last-minute training if we wanna full sweep her."

Sandshrew, enthusiastic to do anything with Izan, hopped on his shoulder. "Sandshrew!"

"Right." Izan's tone turned serious as they made their way back to the training grounds. "So, do you remember that brown gem? That's rock-type energy and what you wanna do is…"

Bouncing back and forth in place, Izan couldn't help the smile that grew by the minute.

That feeling would probably never go away as long as he was a Pokemon trainer. Battling with real Pokemon was just such a novel experience.

It was always so… exhilarating!

He paused in his excited bouncing. 'This is technically my first ever trainer battle. Am I about to get utterly destroyed?'

A glance at Sandshrew, who was currently exaggeratedly flexing to the small crowd, made him reconsider.

'…Nah. Sandshrew is too awesome for that.' He concluded, continuing his bouncing.

He looked like he was warming up to fight a Pokemon himself, stretching and bouncing in place like he was.

Opposite him, Aurora retained her air of dignity as she silently and calmly did some form of breathing exercise.

At once, they both opened their eyes. Izan's eyes were honest and anticipating, with a hint of wild ferocity behind them. In contrast, Aurora's eyes exemplified the point of a dagger, a quality of her sharp and cold focus.

Nurse Joy, the referee, sighed.

She didn't seem to think the battle was worth having, for some reason.

"Okay, let's get this started already. This battle will be judged based on the default league rules, correct?" Joy asked both of them. Aurora nodded, Izan tilted his head.

"I, uh, don't know those rules." He admitted sheepishly.

She took out her rotom phone- 'I'm beyond jealous'- and tapped away before a buzz alerted him of a notification on his Pokegear. "Here, I can send it through the trainer app. It's not very complicated, thankfully."

Opening the Pokegear on his wrist, Izan went through the app and briefly looked through the battle request, clicking the accept button. A list of rules popped up with an 'Are you sure?' button on them, which he looked at more thoroughly.

After quickly reading through it, he clicked accept again.

The first thing he noticed was that this was an official battle on his record, and that would count toward his ranking in the future.

The second, and less important part, was that it was a ruleset that pretty much everyone besides tournaments and gym leaders used this ruleset. To put it simply, it was the casual ruleset.

Then, he read the rules themselves.

Most of them were fairly obvious. Stuff like trainers being unable to move from their designated spot or directly intervene in the battle. The most they were allowed to do was make callouts and return their Pokemon.

An interesting rule he saw was about items. If a Pokemon could hold it and it wouldn't impede the battle, it was seen as okay. Things like weapons were forbidden, but something like an 'Expert Belt' was fair game. Sadly, Pokemon could only hold one item at a time.

He knew that held items existed already. After wondering about it, he looked up why most people didn't use them, and it was because they distracted the user or would be hard to use in an intense battle.

And finally, the rule he hadn't expected but he probably should have, was that there was no 1v1 or 3v3. It was trainer versus trainer, meaning if one trainer had six Pokemon, and the other had one? Well, tough luck.

Thankfully, battles did limit your Pokemon usage to six. So you could carry a ton if you were a C-Class trainer, but you can't use them all like a maniac with an army.

Considering how the games functioned on this rule, it wasn't that surprising. But it was annoying considering he could only have 3 Pokemon at a time as an F-Class trainer.

'I'm gonna need to fill out my roster soon if that's the case.' He thought, clicking the Pokegear closed. Looking back up, he gave Nurse Joy a nod.

"This will be an official battle between F-Class Izan Ritcher and F-Class Aurora Stone. The winner will be decided when one trainer runs out of Pokemon able to battle." Pausing, she looked over both of them. "Are both trainers ready?"

"Of course." "Hell yeah!"

At their agreement, Joy nodded her head.

"Begin."

Sandshrew was front and center without a word, both trainer and Pokemon in tune. A Premier Ball trailed through the air without a word, exploding into an assortment of red and white flashes as a Pokemon appeared from it.

Shivering, it stood its ground with a surprisingly ferocious snarl. Its blue cloak was the thing that stood out the most, however.

"Snorunt."

'Are shinies really that common?' Izan couldn't help but think.

"Don't give them a chance, Snorunt. Jump and use [Spikes] as fast as possible."

"Runt!"

Despite his eagerness, Izan wasn't expecting a move that quickly. He was still in the process of thinking about possible moves Snorunt had while she had already attacked.

The thinking time for battle in the games had spoiled him.

The triangular Pokemon took a running start, jumping into the air. As it reached the apex, it began to spin and somehow stay in place, a brown glow enveloped the Snorunt as black spikes shot out from its body. Each spike embedded itself into the ground, ominously awaiting someone foolish enough to step on them.

'It's a good thing she went for that move instead of something else. That isn't too bad, actually.'

"Shoot it down with [Mud Shot], Sandshrew, and then follow up with a quick [Scratch]!"

Sandshrew reared back, its cheeks becoming full as it shot off a huge mud-like shot. It was a bit off course, but the sheer size of it still let it clip Snorunt and send it down easily.

'Gonna need to work on that aim. Though I doubt we'll be using that move often.'

Snorunt impacted the ground with a concerning amount of force despite Sandshrew angling the shot from below. Snorunt struggled to stand up, that earlier ferocity still present.

Sandshrew, however, had other plans.

Taking off from her spot, she dashed in as her claws gleamed with white light. Rolling and jumping into the air, she stretched her arm out, a savage look on her face as she put all her strength into a downward slash.

*Screeeeeeech*

Instead of the satisfying slash landing and downing her opponent, an orange barrier formed of hexagonal light appeared and clashed with her attack.

She persisted, attempting to cleave through it, but the barrier stayed strong.

Finally giving up, she flipped back onto her two feet and winced as a black spike pricked her from below.

"Calm down, Sandshrew. Look again." Izan called out. It seemed she had something to prove with how vicious she was attacking.

That much was obvious.

Sandshrew glanced over to Izan, before huffing and looking back at the Snorunt who was… standing up, unconscious.

The barrier faded as Joy's Mr. Mime put its hands down. A few eyebrows raised from the growing crowd as they reevaluated Sandshrew's strength.

Izan, however, was more impressed that Snorunt stood up despite being too exhausted to continue.

"Snorunt is unable to battle. Please call out your next Pokemon, Ms. Stone." Joy affirmed as the battle judge.

Aurora was unfazed by Snorunt's loss, simply returning it into the Premier Ball. "Sorry about that. Snorunt was only recently hatched but she's been really battle hungry."

'Yeah, I figured it was something like that.' There was no way Sandshrew could one-shot a Snorunt like that without some serious difference in power.

Especially not with a damn [Mud Shot].

"I promise, though, this next one won't be as easy." Taking out a Heal Ball this time, she let it soar through the air and everyone watched as a snow-white Pokemon appeared from the pattern of pink lights.

'That confirms it, then. She's an Ice-type specialist.' Izan deduced.

It was a Vulpix, but one of Alolan descent.

Izan winced as he heard a few high-pitched squeals go off in the crowd as they gushed at Vulpix's cuteness.

The squeals continued when Vulpix calmly ignored Sandshrew's growling and looked at her with contempt.

"Vulpix."

"Set aside your feelings, Vulpix. Let's end this here with an [Attract]." Aurora commanded, taking the lead again.

Vulpix flicked her head in one direction, sending off a pink heart toward Sandshrew at a blinding speed. It arrived almost instantly, splitting into more hearts that surrounded Sandshrew, whirling around her.

Sandshrew looked at them curiously, shrugging as she seemingly perceived no danger. The hearts struck, causing Sandshrew to glow pink for a second.

And then... nothing.

Izan laughed. "Sandshrew is a girl, dummy."

He then laughed even harder at the blank look on Aurora's face. "Ah, I see."

'So eventually, Aurora stopped thinking.' Izan laughed a bit more at his stupid inside joke. Aurora's cheeks became redder and redder by the second.

Izan wiped a tear. "That was good. Anyway, Sandshrew, use [Rapid Spin]. Let's get rid of those pesky spikes."

Sandshrew, not understanding what the [Attract] was supposed to do, simply ignored the exchange. Using her arms as an anchor, she pushed off the ground and began to spin with a white glow. The sheer momentum was enough to loosen and push away the spikes from the battlefield.

For the first time, Aurora showed an emotion other than calm or happiness. She was panicked.

"Vulpix, just rush in and go for a [Powder Snow] or something!" She cried.

'I do so love the smell of broken plans in the morning.'

"Ignore her, Sandshrew. We're gonna show off what we worked on last night, okay?" Sandshrew looked back with a surprised look. "Yep, that's right, I think it's ready. Now, go for [Defense Curl]."

Sandshrew curled up into a ball, a blue glow emanating from her to show off her increased defense.

Vulpix, on the other hand, had already arrived in front of the ground-type Pokemon. Jumping up, she reared her head back before blowing out a gust of snow and cold air.

Taking it, Sandshrew was only knocked back a bit but stayed curled up despite the pain.

That exchange got some mixed opinions from the crowd if their confused murmuring was an indicator.

What they didn't know was that last night, he decided to push Sandshrew's training forward a bit.

As it turned out, level-up moves really did exist. Just not in the way he expected. Instead of Pokemon learning moves upon hitting a certain level, those specific moves were simply much easier to learn than others.

For example, [Earthquake] was one of the level-up moves that Sandshrew got eventually. As a result, Sandshrew could learn it even with an Intermediate or even Beginner level of ground-type mastery.

However, if a Pokemon like Pinsir, who could only use the move via TM were to attempt to learn it, they wouldn't be able to until they had at least an Advanced level of ground-type mastery.

Of course, Sandshrew's would be much weaker than a normal [Earthquake] since her mastery was subpar, but that wasn't the point.

It was the fact that she could learn it at all.

"Let's put everything you've got into this, Sandshrew! Go for it, use [Rollout]!"

Sandshrew rolled in place for a minute and then...

She moved.