A/N

Diving into this the same night as I wrote chapter 11, so any feedback won't be read until prolly about half way through this.

Quick edit from me in the future: Life really does take declarations of "No more distractions." and "Back to the regular schedule." and really spit in your mouth as you say them. Over an entire month later, several unfortunate events, and several midterms I thought I could get a few chapters out ahead of later, here we are with a little less than 5k words. Really sorry about that btw, but chapters are gonna be slower/inconsistent for a while until college chills the hell out.

Enjoy it if you want.

I shake my head in exasperation as I check another section of this absolutely massive ship. Scratch my previous complaint of him possibly being in one of the container areas, I just hope to Arceus he isn't in the Crow's Nest as some sort of joke. Or, well, whatever the version of a crow's nest is on a modernized ship.

I asked some of the workers if they had seen a Murkrow around, and pretty much all of them responded in the negative. A few had said they saw one wandering about, but have no idea where it is now. Alonso being seen gives me hope that I won't have to find a way to the top of the ship somehow, so I take the information in stride and thank the sailors for their time.

You know, you never appreciate just how large a cargo ship is until you have to find a bird shaped object inside of one. I've spent the past 3 hours just wandering around this place, trying to figure out what Alonso is up to. All I need him for is to identify myself, too. Maybe I really should start handing my name out to people, so I can use it for its intended purpose.

Eh, spilled milk and all that.

The ship was creaking and groaning all around me, which didn't help my mood at all. I get easily annoyed by noises I have no control over and can't ignore, so this was honestly bugging me. I give up on searching this particular set of containers and walk up the stairs to get to the deck of the ship again. I was hoping that he'd be in the lower decks to get away from the sun or something, but it wasn't to be. Along the way, I faintly hear a girl's voice. I figure it's none of my business and keep walking, only to freeze and walk backwards.

"Oh my! You seem to get in a lot of strange situations it seems," the voice continues with a chuckle. My brain may auto translate, but I can recognize Pokespeech when I hear it. And that was 100% Pokespeech. Admittedly, it didn't go well when I asked the Wingull for help because they mostly talked in circles. But I have better hopes for this, whoever this is seems smart enough to understand my question.

I look around for a moment, before finding the right place to squeeze through the containers I hear the voice coming from. I look around, seeing none of the workers nearby. So I lean my bag against one of the containers and shift forms to be a Zorua again. Walking in between without a problem now, I soon come to a space between the mess of containers. One that would be a bitch to get to for any human, and certainly secl…

Alonso was resting on the lip of a container, right next to a Swablu. They were almost touching, but I could make out the small amount of space between them. If either of them leaned in any more than they were though, that space would rapidly disappear.

I may be completely romantically deaf when it comes to people talking to me, but even I understand what's going on here. I quickly backpedal out of line of sight, and hurry back to my bag. Not even bothering to check to see if the coast is clear, I transform back and snap up my bag before hightailing it out of there.

No way in hell am I even touching that, if Alonso wants to meet a pretty bird and flirt with her then he can do that in private. At least now I know where the hell he is and let the captain know. I hope that it is a wild Swablu and not someone else's. I don't want to have to play matchmaker with someone else if Alonso falls head over heels.

Resolutely ignoring my imagination of what is going on before it decides to run wild, I turn towards the bridge and start to walk in that direction. My face must seem disgruntled, because a few of the sailors nudged each other and chuckled at my passing. I couldn't bring myself to care as I speed walk past them to get about as far away as I can.

Was this honestly a big deal? Not at all honestly. I just always feel like this whenever relationships are mentioned or seen for people I care about. I'll feel better about this in a few hours, but right now I really didn't want to think about broaching the subject with him. Or anyone. But I do have to tell the Captain, so I'm going to do that and find a place to pass back out for a while to let this blow over in my head.

Striding up to the Captain, I wait for him to finish doling out orders to some nearby sailors who then run off to do… whatever it is he told them to do. I don't know sailor talk so it just sounded like a mess of made up names and expletives to me. The Captain turns to me and raises an eyebrow.

"Aye there lad. Found your missing bird yet?" The Captain asks with an expecting tone. I clear my throat with a cough at the question, untying the knot of embarrassment I'm feeling. Second hand embarrassment is the worst thing in existence and no one can convince me otherwise. Well, until I'm inconvenienced by something else.

"Well… my Murkrow is currently engaged in flirting with a Swablu that's on deck. So he, regretfully, can't show up to act as my badge right now," I state, groaning internally as I try to suppress my second hand embarrassment. The Captain's eyebrows shoot into his hairline as his mouth contorts.

Only to let out a raucous laughter as he doubles over and slaps one of his knees. He keeps going for a good few seconds while I'm left standing there with various sailors looking over at me. What, did I just tell the funniest joke in the world to this man?

Pulling himself together, the man wipes one of his eyes as he straightens back up. "Lad, that has to be one of the funniest things I ever did hear. That Swablu has been breaking the Wingull's hearts in the area for years now. And you're telling me your bird is off trying to court the lady now? I feel sorry for you son," the Captain says with a few more laughs, dismissing me at that point.

"So… does that count as proof of who I am?" I ask in confusion, considering I hadn't provided any proof yet.

"Oh, I was just messing with you the entire time Laddie. I saw you board and I saw that Murkrow with you before he took off somewhere, there was never any need. I just wanted to yank your chain," the Captain says with a smirk. A small part of me is angry with the deception, but I mostly just feel respect for the Captain at this point. I'll admit, he got me.

"...Alright, just let me know when we stop at Route 26…" is all I say to the Captain, stalking off to a storage area to sleep at. Provided my insomnia allows me to, that is. I have high hopes, though, because I feel dead tired after all that bullshit.

The bastard only responded by laughing at me some more.

LINE BREAK

Another splash of water is thrown directly into my face, this time partially also going up my nose. Sputtering back into awareness and coughing while desperately trying to blow the salt water out of my nose, I shake my head vigorously to throw off some excess water.. A familiar squawk beside me tells me that Alonso is both back and splashed as well.

I quickly rise to my feet, completely unsurprised at seeing the Captain's smiling face holding a still-dripping bucket. I shoot him a look that just says "Really? Again?" before wiping the water from my face with my sleeve.

"Up and at 'em lad, we're at your stop," the man says, dropping the bucket with a smile as he clasps his hands behind his back and walks away. Scowling at the bucket slightly, I turn to Alonso and raise one eyebrow.

"So, I forgot to ask. How was your little date with that Swablu?" I ask with a teasing tone, enjoying the sudden alarm and nervousness that shot across his face.

"I uh, don't know what you're talking about Don," Alonso stuttered out, turning away from me. I smirk at this, knowing that I'll have more ammunition than stones against him for a little while.

"Oh, then I suppose sitting right next to someone in a secluded area and swapping stories doesn't count as a date then? I may be romantically deaf, but I think even I can recognize something that obvious," I jab at him. He hunches down on my shoulder more and I can see the faint markings of a blush on his face through his feathers.

"...You saw us?" he asks in an embarrassed voice. I chuckle and make a tutting sound.

"Alonso, you should know better than to confirm something you were just denying. You should have just kept at it and I would have dropped it. Now, I have confirmation from you," I say with a smirk, laughing as he looks angry at himself now for giving it up after light prodding and no real interrogation.

"Fine, see if I tell you anything ever again Don," he huffs, ruffling his still wet feathers. I reach down and grab the bag beside me, which was thankfully spared from the salt water. I don't know the details, but I think that salt can permanently damage leather so I'd like to avoid that. Thinking for a moment, I pat down the pocket holding my Pokedex and it was dry. Sighing in relief, I start to walk towards the docking area. We weren't actually into the harbor, much less docked, but I figured the Captain wanted me ready.

Speaking of, he was currently shouting orders to everyone within sight. Everyone seemed to be scrambling to get everything ready for docking, but I knew better than to even try to help. I'd honestly just get in the way or break something, so I'm just going to stand right here.

A few more orders that I can't understand any more than the curses littered inside of the phrases later, and we were safely pulled into the dock and the boarding plank was lowered. I wave goodbye to the Captain, annoying he may be. I respect him a lot for his stunts, so it's the least I can do for letting me hitch a ride.

Walking down the boarding plank, I was immediately confronted with a pair of people wearing official looking uniforms that stop me. The one on my right holds up a hand and reaches out with the other, palm up.

"Can we see your ID kid?" he asks, seemingly uninterested with the whole affair. Then again, if my daily life was standing around at a port waiting to see if people got off of a boat so I could check their ID I'd be done with everything too. You know, more than I already am that is.

Handing over my Pokedex silently, I watch as he flicks it open and starts to glance over my information. Suddenly, his eyebrows furrow to the point where I think it is a monobrow at this point. Holding it over to his partner, who suddenly looks much more interested in what's going on, they lowly converse with each other before turning back to me.

"So… whoever gave you this fake ID needs to read a history book. Indigo hasn't existed for over 500 years at this point. There's nothing to be a citizen of, and Azalea Town certainly ain't some random village in the mountains that still claim to be Indigo land." the guard holding my Pokedex says with an exasperated look on his face.

"Oh, sorry for the confusion officers. I happen to be the only currently living legal citizen of Indigo. Long story short, a really old law from almost a millennia ago means I'm special." I explain with a calm smile, really hoping they won't escalate this.

"Uh-huh, sure kid. Why don't you follow us to our station so we can get this… figured out." The one not holding my Pokedex says, motioning towards a small building near the docks. I sigh and shrug my shoulders, rubbing the back of my neck. Alonso was obviously looking agitated at the officers, most likely due to thinking they are disrespecting me by not believing me, so the shoulder shrug also served to remind him not to try anything that could piss them off.

I have no idea what the holding laws are here, so for all I know they could keep me here for weeks on end while they "sorted" this out. Really didn't want that to happen, so I'm banking on being compliant enough that they aren't pissy or hostile.

"Sure, no problem officer. I figure it must be a strange situation. There shouldn't be any problems once you look through your systems." I say with a smile, closing my eyes for a moment.

The guard that told me to follow him lets out a dismissive scoff waving me towards him. I follow along, and the guard with my Pokedex follows behind me and pushes me along whenever he feels I'm not moving fast enough for his liking. Damn, this probably looks extremely bad to everyone involved. Kid shows up from out of town, police stop him and frog march him to the station. I can already feel my public reputation plummeting faster than Wile E. Coyote when he looks down. Already multiple people were looking at the scene and whispering to one another.

I already had to warn Alonso to back down with multiple glares, since every time I was prodded he would scrunch up his face angrily and his talons would dig into my shoulder slightly. Thankfully I have a stone poker face, since whenever he did it I could avoid wincing or flinching in pain. Can't give the game away more than the 'disgruntled' faces I occasionally made at Alonso to tell him to chill the hell out.

Honestly, if the worst comes to worst I'll just become a criminal in Kanto. Not like I'm actually doing my gym challenge here. I'm here to nab me some important Pokemon for my team if I can. If Team Rocket can survive here, I'm sure I can rough it just fine… Provided they don't throw me in a cell with a camera inside. That could get awkward extremely fast.

A few more rough pushes later, and we were standing outside of the precinct building. Grumbling lightly, the officer in front of me reaches down to his belt to snag the keys off of it. Inserting the key, he quickly unlocks the door and returns his key ring to his belt. Pushing open the door, I'm perp walked inside of the building and sat down roughly onto a nearby bench. Which is a generous way of saying I was roughly pushed onto the bench, and if it was any rougher I could have said I was thrown onto it without exaggerating. With a gruff "Don't move.", the officer that pushed me down stalks off to the back rooms. Presumably to run my information and not to prepare a cell, but with how they are acting I really don't want to push my luck with fate.

Jesus Fucking Christ, in a world where 99% of people are nice to a fault I had to find the only police officers that are assholes? Hell, one of the police officers I met in Violet City offered me one of his donuts because he thought I looked too thin so it's not like this is the asshole reject job. I just happened to run into the bad bunch I guess. Maybe it's telling that they are stuck in a small area away from the general population? Wait, wait… Paul is a person in this universe so I guess I've just been lucky.

On the plus side, Alonso was now in a glaring match with the remaining officer who was standing guard over me. I've never seen a 6 foot tall man attempt to glare down a 2 foot tall bird before. It was even better because of how goddamn unsuccessful he was at doing it. Alonso had yet to blink, much less look away from the man.

I sigh in slight exasperation, leaning my back against the wall and closing my eyes to think. Not really about my current situation, I had about nothing to do that could affect that positively at the moment so best to shelve it for now. Right now I'd rather plan out how to use the Sneasel I'm going to catch soon enough. As far as I remember, considering I never really used it or Weavile on my main team when I played Pokemon (or really, even at all), it was a total glass cannon. Quad weak to fighting, and a laundry list of other weaknesses that are only balanced out by… 3 resistances. In return though, it has a really high speed and attack stat. My biggest question is… how common is an OHKO in this universe? Because if it's rare, then Sneasel/Weavile really has a chance to become an important member for our offense.

And if they are common… hope to Arceus that Sneasel/Weavile is really good at dodging. Just getting clipped by a Mach Punch and just getting decimated is the alternative, which obviously isn't ideal. Hmm… I wonder if there's a way to abuse the Detect, Protect, etc moves. If getting hit is the problem and dodging isn't perfect, what about moves that automatically make you dodge or immune?

Actually, how the hell does Protect work here? I doubt it's as simple as an unbreakable shield appearing before the Pokemon using it, blocking anything that comes its way automatically. I guess when I get out of here I'll have something to ask my Pokedex. Turns out having a literal encyclopedia of in-universe knowledge at your fingertips is extremely useful to have when it comes to sifting through my fragmented outsider's perspective understanding of moves.

I was yanked from my internal thoughts when the door from the back room was shoved open like it personally offended someone's mother. The cop that was running my information stormed back into the room, holding up my Pokedex with two fingers.

"Alright, what did you do to get this ID made? Everything is running through cleanly and there's info on you inside our systems. We know that there's no such thing as a legal Indigo citizen, it's covered in training in case someone tries it. Did you or someone else hack into our systems or something?" The officer demands, shaking my now closed Pokedex at me in an admonishing fashion.

I give a large sigh internally, wishing I could wilt in the exasperation I feel. I know I can't though, because they'd just take it as an admission of guilt instead of what it truly is: Soul-level pain at their idiocy. Thankfully Alonso can act in the way I want to, because he finally ended his staring match with the one officer to look at the admonishing one like he was supposed to be secluded in a padded room so he doesn't accidentally hurt himself by drooling too hard at something he doesn't recognize.

"You can't find anything wrong because it's legitimate. You can keep me here all day long, but you're never finding anything wrong no matter how much you look into it. Like I told you earlier, I was entered into the system through an old law. It's 100% legitimate, and if you look at Johto's data I am a registered Regional Trainer in the current season," I explain, desperately trying to keep my disdain from reaching my voice. There has to be something in the books about fishing for evidence when you don't have any.

"Then what is a Johto trainer trying to sneak into Kanto with a fake ID?" Officer Drool asks me accusingly, completely ignoring everything I said besides 'Johto' and 'Trainer'. Which is really unfortunate for both of us, because now I have to explain the same thing again and my patience has already run out. Officer Stare, meanwhile, has turned his petrifying gaze upon me… to no effect.

"Seriously, it's a real ID. I'm not going to keep telling you this, because you don't seem capable of understanding that your training didn't cover 700 year old laws and exceptions making me an Indigo citizen. Just… give someone from the government or league in Johto a call? Or your higher ups? Or just accept what the system is saying? Any of these would be… just... wonderful," I almost spit out, losing my patience as I stand up with a small scowl. Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I stand up straight and look at Officer Stare right in his eyes, not bothering to hide my unimpressed look. They were blue, thanks for asking.

His face turning Vernon Vermillion, Dursley of course, he walked up to a phone on the wall and dialed a number. On the screen appeared an Officer Jenny, looking decidedly unimpressed by her callers. Seems they have a reputation.

"Officer Jenny, this kid has a fake ID but is insisting it's legitimate. He's claiming he's a citizen of Indigo of all places. The problem is… he is actually showing up in our systems as a legal citizen, so he probably had someone hack into our system to try to back up his forgery," Officer Drool says with complete confidence, sending a few glanced back at me and helpfully motioning at the only other person in the room besides Officer Glare as if she only had as many brain cells as they did put together. I give her a little wave from my position next to Officer Glare, and helpfully respond.

"It's actually real, they just refuse to believe that an old law allowed me to become an Indigo citizen. Look me up, my name is Grimm. Johto Trainer ID number 14923699," I say with a small smile, even as Officer Glare lives up to his nickname over me speaking up. Officer Jenny looks a bit confused, but starts typing away on a nearby computer, studying the contents of her screen before sighing and turning back to us.

"Sorry about all of this Grimm, I just checked our system and you seem to be fine. There's even a special note on your file letting everyone know that your entry is correct and as stated," Officer Jenny says pointedly, looking upset at the dynamic duo next to me as they visibly begin to deflate.

"Oh, no problem Officer Jenny. I understand it can be confusing to some people that exceptions can exist," I jab with a cheerful smile, walking up to Officer Drool and extracting my precious Pokedex from his clutches. "If there's nothing else, I'll just be on my way Officers."

Pocketing my Pokedex swiftly, I turn and walk straight out of the doors and turn towards the road, giving a small backwards wave. I fully plan on vacating this town as fast as humanly possible- er, Pokemonly? Whatever, I'm leaving about as fast as I possibly can. You can get the picture, as much as it pains me to ignore a possible tangent line of semantics.

Turning down the street and continuing my brisk walk, I ignore the inquisitive looks and "secretive" whispers of the locals as I make myself scarce. Damn, gossip sure did travel fast… Thankfully Alonso's glare didn't suddenly lose its fierceness as the whispers quickly died down only to return once I turned another corner.

I know these people probably have literally nothing better to do, but this is seriously irking. I'll have to stop through here again, and next thing I know I was the culprit of a crime. Anything from bank robbery, murder, or absconding with the mayor's daughter.

Provided they have a mayor, and said mayor has a daughter of appropriate age to be ran off with of course. This isn't some bootleg Moonrise Kingdom after all, although now I sort of wish it was. That movie was absolutely hilarious, and it should be a crime to not have seen it. Especially for boy scouts.

Soon enough, I managed to reach the tree line and let out a quiet sigh. I should really be concerned with being more comfortable in the wild than I am in a city at this point, but considering the pure amount of traveling awaiting me… I'm just taking it as a blessing in disguise. Alonso doesn't care much either way, but I think he is more comfortable with me not being near so many people.

Although, he does get very worried whenever I look at a tree for too long. Wonder what that's about? I mean, I could ask. I could do that very easily, in fact, considering he rarely leaves my shoulder for anything and is currently in his usual roost.

The correct questions, however, are 'Do I care enough to?' and 'Will I?'

The answer to both: No.

I can't be bothered to try to needle the answer out of my obtuse teammate when it's something so minor. If he wants to tell me? Great. If not? Whatever. Do unto others as you would have done unto you, or whatever the actual saying is. And the last thing I would want is someone questioning me over something dumb like, say, an obviously legitimate ID that they refuse to accept is real. If that answer was too passive aggressive to work, let's go with asking if I'm sure nothing wrong after I say so.

Now, let's get to the really important bit… getting to Mount Silver and getting a new teammate or two. Preferably two, if I'm perfectly honest. Getting a goddamn Larvitar would be amazing. I would actually stab a Team Rocket grunt over a Larvitar with no regrets. Or a Sneasel. Or for existing in general.

The point is I really want a Larvitar and I really don't like Team Rocket.

I should probably think of a better recruitment line than that though, I don't think that any Pokemon would go for that. Hell, I don't think Mewtwo would go for that line.

A/N

Again, really sorry about leaving all of you to hang like that without any warning. I'm not going to jinx myself again, but hopefully you can determine what I meant by that.

So, some important notes going forward:

To my potential Beta Readers, you are lovely people but unfortunately I am still completely unable to receive your PM's even with a completely clear inbox following the original troubles. I completely blame ffn for this, and instead I welcome you to use my new burner email that had a coincidentally open name available:

rewardedreincarnation gmail . com

*some assembly required for email address

As for the rest of my readers… did you know I've somehow made it to page 16 of 3724 ordered by followers? I have no idea what you all like so much, but here's to hoping I'm able to keep it up and keep delivering these hotcakes of chapters. Bakery's open folks, and there's plenty to go around. I'm posting this at 4:29am, which is the very minute I finished writing this chapter.

Peace

-Taldor