Learning Opportunities:

We had entered Oreburgh city without any issue. A short stop to ask for directions led us to our first stop, the pokémart. 200 pokédollars lighter and I had a shiny new pokéball for Kagami. The capture process was extremely simple with not even a shake before the ball signaled a successful capture. I immediately released Kagami and questioned whether they liked being in the pokéball or not. Kagami appeared to have no preference for or against the ball so for now I just let them float around with me. Now that Kagami was officially my Pokémon, I could head over to the Pokémon center to have them checked out.

Wandering through the bustling streets of Oreburgh gave me a chance to check out the scenery. Oreburgh was built in an expansive manner, that is to say that they had obviously started from one spot and spread out as more and more buildings were needed. That left the streets to be laid out in a somewhat messy design that would suggest it was not set up with city planning in mind at first. There was no grid system for the roads and buildings were not always organized to fit with each other. That did give it a certain charm, but it also left the city feeling rather chaotic. The buildings were also low to the ground, with the exception of a few, and almost all of them did not get higher than two stories tall. The only exceptions that I could see was one far off building to the East that, if the location matched the game, I was guessing was Oreburgh Mining Museum, and another building near the center of the town which was obviously the Oreburgh city gym. Both stuck out and were definitely the main draws of the city to tourists. Since the Pokémon center was in between the two structures, the traffic of people monumentally increased compared to the outskirts of the city.

Kagami and I had to dodge many people and Pokémon on our way to the center, but it was largely uneventful. The people around seemed to be split into three categories from what I could tell. The first was those that appeared to be a part of the mining operations. Most were cloaked in a layer of dust and typically had Geodudes or Machops with them. The next category was researchers. They seemed to congregate around the museum and wore lab coats or other similar wear. They seemed to have Pokémon with them less than the miners but the Pokémon that they did have were very easy to spot. Almost all of them were fossil Pokémon and not just the ones from Sinnoh. There was even an Archen flapping about over the head of a young researcher whose head was in a notebook. After several seconds of trying to get their trainer's attention the Archen grabbed the notebook before flapping off in a random direction, with the researcher tripping over himself to catch it. The third category was a mix of the local population, and the people was actually fairly easy to spot the tourists, but the locals were a bit hard. I had to assume that was because Oreburgh did not really seem like a residential city and so their numbers were lower.

After finally entering the Pokémon center, I was greeted with a chaotic scene of young trainers and a sprinkling of what appeared to be a few veteran trainers. The newer trainers ran about excitedly, playing with their equally young Pokémon. The supposed veterans were much calmer, lounging about and occasionally chatting with each other. The center was far more hospitable than the ones in the games. The area had several seats and tables and multiple screens displaying various shows, along with the occasional Pokémon battle, gave ample opportunities to relax. The Center was split in half, with the left side being the aforementioned lounge area and the right side being the medical area. I headed over to the right side where a young woman in a nurse outfit was sitting behind the desk. Said nurse did not appear to be a nurse Joy clone, which was somewhat comforting as it was always one of the weirder things in the Pokémon universe. Why would one family with far too many cousins all be in the same profession? Anyway, the nurse was brown haired and greeted me as I approached. "Hello there young man, How can I help you?"

I signaled Kagami to float over before vaguely gesturing to them, "I recently caught this Bronzor in the Wayward caves and I was hoping you could check them out to make sure they are in good health. I was also wondering if there was a place here with a computer so that I can do some research. I want to check what the proper way to care for the line is as well as a few miscellaneous things I want to look into." I explained.

"Of course sir! We would be happy to take a look at your Pokémon for you. Please recall your Bronzor and let me see your ID and we will get you set up. As to your other inquiry, the Pokémon center provides access to computers for anyone with a valid trainer ID or research ID. They are through that door to your right. Please note that there is no set limit to the amount of time you can spend on the computers but if there are too many people on them the ones who have been there for the longest period will be asked to step aside to let someone else on. They may immediately join the queue again with no issue. Each person is guaranteed at least 30 minutes on the computer before they will need to give up their space to another if needed." she explained while taking my pokédex which I had opened to my ID as well as taking the pokéball for Kagami whom I had just recalled.

"Hmmm, it says here that this Bronzor is the first Pokémon you have caught since you received your license. A little odd but not terribly uncommon. Some people get their license but don't immediately begin their journey. Can I assume that was the case with you?" I nodded, not wanting to give too much as I really didn't want to have to lie if I didn't need to. I am not very good at lying anyway so the less I do it the better.

"Well that's no problem but in that case let me give you a bit of a rundown of how the Pokémon centers work since this is probably your first time visiting one. The center offers free check ups and Pokémon care that falls into general care, including post battle and training healing as well as any non emergency care. Emergency care can cost depending on the severity, however we will never turn away a Pokémon in danger and the gyms of most cities have a grant set up to cover those expenses as they come up. They typically cover 85% of the costs, but as I said we won't turn away someone that can't afford treatment. If a trainer can't afford the treatment it will simply be put on their file and can be paid off when possible without incurring interest. That being said, if a trainer's Pokémon is severely injured too much or said trainer doesn't pay their costs it can be grounds to revoke their license and have their Pokémon taken away. This is meant to discourage Pokémon abuse as well as encourage trainers to not let their Pokémon get severely injured" she explained, pausing to take a sip of water.

"While at the center, trainers have access to the previously mentioned Pokémon healthcare and computers, but they also have access to lodging as needed. We have rooms in the back and upstairs that trainers are welcome to stay at free of charge for at most one 24-hour period. After said period the trainer will be expected to pay for lodging or give up the room. Rooms are subject to availability, and it is first come first serve. That being said, the lounge area will be available for trainers to rest if we are at capacity with our rooms. Please be courteous to the other guests in the lounge. Now, our checkup of your Pokémon shouldn't take too long as we aren't that busy today. I will call your name over the intercom when it is time to retrieve your Pokémon. In the meantime, good luck on your research and have a pleasant day!" With that she took Kagami's pokéball and placed it on a nearby tray that a Chansey immediately grabbed before it hobbled into the back.

I turned and headed to the computer room. Next to the door on the desk was a sign in scanner that had me tap my pokédex to it, automatically enter me in the queue. I say that I was in the queue but there was no reason to wait as there were only two or three people on the computers, leaving over 10 other computers free for use. I sat down at one in the far corner away from the other people, which included two young trainers playing what looked like a battle simulator, and one old man that looked to be reading the news or something similar.

I booted up the computer and was greeted with several desktop options. At the top left was the simulator I saw those two kids playing, followed by a streaming application to view battles going on currently or to watch videos of previously recorded battles. Skipping over that for now, I saw another that appeared to be a more in depth version of my pokédex. Opening it up I quickly searched for Bronzor. It came up with several pages of information on the line and how to care for them. Just what I needed. Skimming some of the information gave me several helpful tips. Pulling out my notes app on my pokédex I started writing them down as I found them.

Apparently Bronzor are often found in ancient sites and out of the way cave systems, and they typically stay in groups of 5 or so individuals that support each other via psychic energy. Each group tends to have a stronger Bronzor or Bronzong that can provide psychic energy if needed. They subsist on a mix of that psychic energy and the energy drawn from special ores they find, including evolution stones, making them a sought-after Pokémon for stone hunters similarly to how some used Sableye to find rare stones and gems.

These Pokémon are known to be long lived, with no recorded account of one passing away from age. The oldest recorded one of its evolutionary line was a quite frankly massive Bronzong, almost twice the average height of 4' 03", that had been around since before even the Diamond and Pearl clans had arrived. Said Bronzong was currently a part of the team of the Elite Four member, Lucian, and was believed to be somewhere between 1 or 2 thousand years old. The reason for not being entirely sure of the age of said Pokémon is that apparently Bronzor and their evolved form viewed time a bit differently than us, and also because they tend to go into a form of psychic stasis for years or decades at a time when they grow bored or run too low on psychic energy. This leaves large gaps in their view of time and makes finding a specific date of birth for the Pokémon almost impossible if not witnessed by someone or finding an event near their birth to tie a relative date to them.

The psychic stasis was also the reason why they had been believed to be mirrors in the past. Several artifacts thought to be mirrors styled after Bronzor that were in museum collections had turned out to actually be dormant Bronzor that rather hilariously would sometimes wake up, leaving the museum staff worried not only about the missing artifact but also how a Pokémon got into the collections. It seemed that their dormancy was rather similar to Darmanitan's Zen form, in that they achieve this state through psychic means. Each could stay in this state for decades with no health consequences, although it's believed that said state comes more naturally to Darmanitan as they could exit the state more readily than the Bronzor line, but the Bronzor line likely lived longer because even out of the stasis they are still more focused on their psychic abilities rather than focusing on physical ability which Darmanitan was split between.

Speaking of time, I was able to find out what APB means. It is the year counter and stands for After Pokéball, indicating how many years it has been since the Pokéball was invented by Professor Laventon during his work with the Galaxy Team Expedition group. Said invention happened 465 years ago, hence the current year was 465 APB. The Pokémon world still operated with the same month names as my old world so at least I didn't have to learn new names for them. There was also BPB, aka Before Pokéball, to refer to times before said invention, but it seemed that the past of this world was far less explored unless it had to do with Pokémon. My research turned up some information about the time before the arrival of the Diamond and Pearl clans, but most of the information was dated via estimations and was wrapped in a rather extreme number of differing opinions about myths and legends that appeared to have several sects of thought.

Not wanting to get lost in a search for legends just yet, although I would definitely be back for more as it seemed like it might help me find out how I got here, I returned to the Bronzor page to look at more tips for caring for Kagami. Some of the tips were for training the line to battle, which while I knew those tips were useful, I also knew that I could look at them later. I planned to train Kagami so that if we had any encounters with wild Pokémon we could handle it, but I wasn't planning on entering the competitive battling scene.

Skipping over those for now I found a bit more about day-to-day care. Apparently, Bronzor typically don't like to be polished. The polishing reveals their reflective surface which is said to grant visions to those that look into it, but cause said Pokémon discomfort. It is also argued that said visions are byproducts of the viewer's mind via psychic energy rather than an actual vision and that the viewer is only seeing what they want to see. In fact, several people had gotten in trouble because they were swindling people with promises of visions and prophecies by having them look into a polished Bronzor, usually without care for said Pokémon's discomfort. That was around 50 years ago and since then evidence of polishing a Bronzor was grounds for investigation of Pokémon abuse.

The rest of the tips were fairly straight forward, things such as advice to keep a healthy psychic connection with a Bronzor would help it be able to gather energy from the interaction as well as a list of suggested stones or ore to have with you in case your Bronzor went into stasis. Said stones could be given to the Pokémon to restore them to an active state. It also recommended reviewing several sources about how having a psychic Pokémon can affect a trainer, things like mild headaches for trainers without experience with psychic energy, occasional accidental invasion of privacy by psychic Pokémon, especially young ones, and the importance of setting mental boundaries with your Pokémon that both of you agree to. It also recommended visiting the institute for psychic research's website and chatting with a trained psychic to establish if you have any latent psychic abilities. Said institute was the brainchild of Lucian of the Elite Four and was what he largely worked on outside of his Elite Four duties.

Noting that down for later, I decided I had spent enough time on the computer and headed back to the lounge area. The amount of people had increased by a bit. I had gotten to the center around 1 pm, and I had spent roughly an hour on research. I walked over to where they were selling food and bought a simple sandwich and sat next to an older trainer. The man was dressed in a lab coat and was idly stoking the head of a Cradily that was propping said head in the man's lap. He nodded to my silent question of if I could sit down. "Hello. Sorry to bother you but why is it so busy all of a sudden?" I asked. "It's no bother young man, and as for your question, the gym around here typically has its challenges after lunch, since the leader is usually in the mines in the morning, so it gets rather busy in the center around this time cause all the young trainers try their hand at challenging the leader and have to be healed up afterwards.", he explained to me. "Name's Eric by the way."

"Nice to meet you Eric, I'm Aaron. Thanks for the info. How often do people beat the gym leader?" I asked. It certainly seemed like most had lost, if the panicked looks and tears were anything to go by.

"Eh it's always the same, every year the badge season starts and all the young new trainers swarm to Oreburgh to take on Roark cause he's the newest leader. They think it'll be a piece of cake so they go in with just their starters and think they'll win. Roark isn't mean or anything, but he does try to teach the newbies a lesson in preparation and as you can see, no lesson is pain free." he waved vaguely in the direction of the trainers rushing to the medical side of the center. "Most take a few tries before they actually stop and train their Pokémon for the battle. It isn't a bad thing and teaches them to slow down a bit. New trainers tend to try and rush through the badges at first."

I nodded along. It made sense that new trainers would rush over to what they perceived as the easiest gym, hoping to get an easy badge. It also explained why I hadn't seen as many people when I arrived at the center. They must have been challenging the gym.

"Aaron Carter, your Pokémon is ready at the front desk." played out of the intercom speakers.

"That's me. It was nice talking to you" I said as I got up. "Nice talking to you too. Since you are new to town, you should stop by the Museum. I work up there. It's a lovely facility and they also post jobs for trainers if you are interested." Eric said as I got up to leave.

"Thanks, I'll definitely stop by. I heard they do research into some of the old caves and ruins. I would really be interested in hearing more about what research has been conducted in regard to the Celestica culture and what became of it." I replied excitedly.

"Well, if that's the case, you should talk to Dr. Kenzo, he's the museum director and he communicates with the various researchers in Sinnoh and might be able to point you in the right direction. Here I'll write you a note of reference so you can see him." He started pulling out a piece of paper to write on.

"Wait, you are just going to give me that? A random stranger?" I asked confusedly. Surely, they don't just let anyone random off the street have that information. Eric glanced up and smiled, "I saw you doing research in the computer room when I came in. You were pretty focused so I doubt you noticed but I saw some of the stuff you were looking at. We need more inquisitive minds and it's never a bad thing to get more young people involved in research. So many young trainers are only interested in battling and getting stronger. If I can help nurture a young mind who is interested then I will." He reached over to hand me the slip of paper, "Here, tellem Eric Loreson sent ya. I put my communicator info on it too in case you need anything. Best of luck."

I was speechless. I had never expected anything like that when I sat down. It was an amazing opportunity and I honestly couldn't fathom how I had gotten that lucky. I just mentioned my interest and he was willing to give me a way to further it without asking for anything in return. "...Thank you. Thank you so much. This is amazing! Please let me know if there's any way I can repay you." I hastily scribbled out my communicator info on a slip of paper as well, after finding it on one of the apps in my pokédex, and gave it to him before running off to get Kagami. Eric waved farewell with a small grin as I ran over to the medical desk.

The woman at the desk handed over Kagami's pokéball, "Your Bronzor is in perfect health. They appear to have adequate energy stores and your connection with them seems to be stable from what we could tell. Please check in with a center if you have any problems with the connection, such as abrupt severing of the connection or any mental interaction that causes severe pain to you or results in anything bad such as causing your nose to bleed. It is rare but some people have rather bad reactions to psychic energy and it's important to be aware of it." she informed me. "Will do. Thank you!" I said before heading out of the center.

Once outside, I released Kagami. The little mirror Pokémon floated around a bit to get their bearings before floating over and face planting on my chest. I chuckled, "Well hello to you too buddy. Was your checkup alright? I hope you weren't too annoyed by it."

Kagami shook their body back and forth negatively but otherwise stayed close to me. I gently stroked their rim. "Well bud, how do you feel about checking out the museum? It was recommended to me by someone while you were getting your checkup. Whaddya say? That sound interesting?" I asked. Kagami seemed to contemplate it for a second, as well as teasing our mental connection to see what I was thinking, before nodding excitedly. I grinned back. "Welp then off we go!"