In the Sky with You

by a-shifty-sword

A Waifu Catalog Contractor isn't satisfied with how easy the default starting conditions are, and asks for a custom challenge similar to a Minecraft Modpack he played before, the Skyblock. He has to start from nothing and grow his way into power and adventures beyond his wildest dreams.

7. Day 007

Technically, when I'm writing this, it's Day 8. I just didn't have time yesterday to update this journal. But after getting back and sleeping, Levy insisted I write out what happened while it was still relatively fresh in my mind. So let me do just that.

Again, technically, the day started on Day 6, at 10pm when the alarm went off. Sure enough, it was difficult for us to fall asleep. At least, it was for me, even with my shirt tied around my eyes like a blindfold. But I dozed, and after a day of not doing anything I felt fine when the alarm went off and I woke up, and Levy seemed okay as well.

We immediately started preparing. We bathed, making sure we were clean and free of any smells or visible dirtiness, hiding the fact that we've been living away from civilization for a week. We then dried off, something Levy sped up by writing 'WIND' with her magic and blasting us with air because the sun was down and we didn't have any towels. The only cloth we had was our clothes, which had finished drying. They were a little wrinkled, but clean and they smelt fine. Actually, they smelt faintly of blapples, which honestly was way better than the smell of laundry detergent.

And then… we waited. We definitely overestimated how long it would take us to prepare, because it wasn't even 11pm by the time we were ready. There wasn't much we could pack, since we lacked any backpacks or anything like that. Nor did we have anything to really bring. All of our 'stuff' was either survival equipment or the things we had made.

I was starting to get antsy, so Levy led me through some meditation techniques. She walked me through how I would feel for my magic and learn how to use it. Which I can't do yet, not until I grab Template Stacking, or even just Added Potential, but focusing on learning the steps in preparation for that time helped take my mind off of worrying about what to do when the portal opened.

Finally, my phone went off again at 11:59pm. One minute before the portal opened. Levy and I did one last check that we were as prepared as we could be and then watched the spot the portal would appear with bated breath.

We both flinched when it finally did open. It happened quickly, but I saw a small swirl of blue energy that quickly solidified and then ballooned into an ovoid a bit taller than I am. At least, I think it was an ovoid. Light didn't interact with it properly and it was really hard to tell if it was two dimensional or three dimensional. I viewed it from different angles, but it always looked the same.

I shook my head, giving up on trying to analyze it as I remembered that we were on a timer. I looked at my phone to where I had the portal status information displayed and saw that the destination had been filled in.

"Pokemon," I said out loud, surprised. For some reason, I hadn't expected that.

Levy frowned. "That's not one we talked about. Do you know it?"

"Broadly speaking, yes," I said. "The main problem is that there are a few different versions of it. They're all roughly the same but…" I checked the information again. "It has a Danger Rating of one, so it should be the game world. It won't be too dangerous but it doesn't specify the region. I only know half of them."

"Is it going to be a problem if we end up in a region you don't know?" Levy asked.

I took a moment to think about it. "Not a big problem, no," I finally replied. "I just won't know which characters are worth Stamping, or where we can find certain things. It'll be slower and less efficient. But any of them should provide us with some of the stuff we need to buy, and if we can't grab any characters, then we can catch some Pokemon at least."

"Pokemon?" Levy asked.

I shook my head. "I'll explain when you see them. We don't need to prepare anymore, let's go through."

Levy nodded and held her hand out. I took it in mine, finding some comfort in the simple contact, and the two of us stepped through the portal.

I expected some kind of strange sensation or flash of light, but I felt nothing as my foot entered the strange portal and came down onto hard ground. Then the rest of my body passed through, including my head, and I flinched at the sudden onslaught of sound.

I squeezed my eyes shut and froze, my body reflexively trying to reduce how much stimulation it was getting from my senses as I adjusted. Though, to my embarrassment, I quickly realized that it wasn't actually very loud. In fact, it was quiet.

Relaxed, I opened my eyes and looked around, seeing Levy do the same. We were in some kind of city with tall stone buildings. And it was night time, because of course it was. There was no real reason to think that the time wouldn't be synced up with our time, but it very much was.

We had arrived in an alley and the 'onslaught of sound' was the muffled sounds of a city at night. The hum of electricity, the rumbling of distant conversation, and even the faint cries of what sounded like animals.

"Are we somewhere you know?" Levy asked.

"Too early to say," I replied. "Let's head into a more central part of the city, learn what it's called."

So we started exploring, still walking hand in hand. I looked around to see if I could recognize the style. I was pretty sure it wasn't Hoenn or Alola since I couldn't hear or smell the ocean, but that's about as far as I was willing to guess. It just looked so different in person than anything I remembered from the games.

As we exited the ally and started walking along what looked like a major street, we started seeing other people. And with those people, we saw pokemon.

"Those are pokemon, the creatures," I said, pointing towards a man walking alongside a Hoppip. Which didn't do much to narrow down which region I was in, because I didn't exactly have an encyclopedic memory of which regions had Hoppips, and even if I did, games were different from real life, so I wasn't sure how much I could rely on that information.

"Are they magic?" she asked, watching it bounce alongside its trainer.

"They don't call it magic… but there's not any real difference," I explained. "There are a ton of different types. Last I saw the count it was something like nine hundred?"

I gave her a full rundown on Pokemon that I don't see the need to repeat here. The types, evolution, moves, battling, etc. And as I did, I kept looking around and I noticed something.

I was seeing a lot of Pokemon I didn't recognize. And I don't mean I forgot their names, or that I didn't know much about them. I had just straight up not seen them before. I hadn't played every pokemon game, but I felt like I should be able to at least recognize most of them. One or two that had slipped my mind would be one thing, but half a dozen species and counting? I was starting to have a sneaking suspicion of where we were.

We finally arrived at the center of the city, which was a large plaza. In the center of the plaza was a pokemon battle court, painted like a pokeball and surrounded by eighteen icons, each one representing a different Type.

It was a very distinct landmark. And it was also something I didn't recognize. And I didn't recognize the huge flight of stairs just north of that plaza that led to a large castle-like building. A shield-shaped plaque at the bottom of the stairs with what looked like an orange slice painted onto it had the words "Naranja Academy".

I sighed. "Bad news Levy, I don't know this one," I said. Because of course the portal opened up to the one fucking region I couldn't have possibly played because it hadn't released yet. We were in Paldea, the latest addition to the world of the mainline Pokemon games that I had only seen promotional material for.

"Any good news?" Levy asked.

My brows furrowed as I thought about it. "I do know a couple things," I admitted. "But most of them boil down to this area being relatively safe. There's a dangerous area I think, but we should be able to avoid that easily. The main thing we have to watch out for are Titans, which are… larger versions of Pokemon I think? We'll stick close to the main paths and cities and we won't have to worry about it. The biggest downside is that I won't recognize any named characters on sight, and I don't know which Pokemon we should target, since a good chunk of them are unique to this Region."

"Shouldn't there be a list of characters in the Catalog?" Levy pointed out like the beautiful genius that she is.

To make a long story short, yes, there was. And apparently trainers were a lot higher rank than I thought they were. At least, the main cast and the gym leaders were. Most generic-looking trainers were lower tier though, ranging from Tier 3 to Tier 5.

There were hundreds of those though. I'm assuming they were the various named NPC trainers scattered across the region that the player could fight. Most of them were wearing some kind of uniform in their Catalog pictures, so I could only assume they were largely students. Though they weren't all kids, which was weird, but Pokemon has always been weird when it came to ages of characters.

A plan started hatching in my mind. "Okay, the shops should be 24/7, so here's what we'll do. We'll do our shopping now, before the sun rises. We should be able to get most of what we want. Then we'll register as trainers, catch a few pokemon, and then battle some other trainers. Normally, when you lose a battle, you have to pay the winner some cash. Not a lot, but there's money on the line. We'll waive that if they agree to let us stamp them. We'll use the excuse that we're having some kind of contest or something, doesn't matter. Most of them should agree just to save the money."

Levy frowned. "Pokemon have to eat, right? And they need space as well."

I paused. "They can be kept in Pokeballs a lot of the time… but I'm not sure if that staves off their need for food. And it's better if they aren't cooped up all the time… Okay, we'll catch one Pokemon each, focusing on quality rather than quantity. We'll also grab some berry bush seeds, to help feed them. And I think we can eat the berries too?"

Levy thought over that, trying to see if she could see any more potential issues with the plan. Seeing none, she nodded, and we put the plan into action.

Thankfully, most of the shops seemed to be centered around the main plaza. Additionally, this seemed to be a major hub for Pokemon trainers specifically, and there were a lot of shops with traveling supplies. Especially camping stuff.

The first thing we purchased was a bag for each of us. And let me tell you, Pokemon world bags are amazing. I have no idea how they work, but they were like bags of holding. The space wasn't infinite, but even the purses held three times as much as they should have been able to.

We settled on some slightly larger than average traveling packs. They were separated into several pockets of various sizes to hold different things. Levy's was circular and designed to look vaguely like a pokeball, but was a shade of blue very close to her hair color. For myself, I got what seemed to be the standard student backpack. It's a simple thing of black leather, but I just liked the pocket placement. Both were rated to hold almost ten times their actual capacity, with an equal reduction in weight.

Then we filled those backpacks with supplies. Lightweight and portable cooking sets with multiple pots, hygiene products such as toilet paper, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, and all kinds of things to keep you clean and not smelling while on the trail. We also got a few towels each, because if I knew anything about traveling many worlds, it was that you always wanted a towel on hand.

Then we bought a cooler on wheels, one that also had the space-defying expansion properties, and loaded it up with ingredients. For some reason sandwich ingredients seemed to be sold in a lot of places, so we went with that. Meats, cheeses, veggies, and bread. But we also got some other things to go with it, such as a few bags of rice, some sauces, and some other seasonings.

We asked around to see if anyone was selling crop seeds, but the closest we could find was that they sold berry bush saplings in a nearby town called Cortondo. We also asked around for construction equipment. In particular, I wanted a gas generator that Levy could fill with gas created using her magic. But most people I asked had no idea where I could get 'an antique like that'. I guess Pokemon had moved on from such methods of power generation, or at least this part of Paldea had.

Bags full of supplies and it still being the middle of the night, we decide to drop off our stuff back home in our Skyblock. Levy magic'd up some 'ICE' to keep the perishables in the cooler cold and then we headed back to Paldea to finish shopping, starting with some clothes.

I'd like to say we had a cute little moment where Levy tried on different outfits and presented them to me to ask my opinion on them… but we were on the clock. We separated, going to the different sections, and made our own selections. Aside from a few other casual outfits, we both also made sure to get one semi-formal outfit, a swimsuit, cold climate clothes, a rain jacket, and plenty of underwear.

By the time we were done making our supply purchases we had spent 450,000, which was about $3,300. Almost exactly a third of our budget for the entire month. But that was fine with me. The first shopping trip in a modern world was always going to be the most expensive one due to all the stuff we needed. Future shopping trips should be cheaper, unless we need specific expensive things.

Besides, Pokemon was a world that did not seem to be hurting too much for supplies. The cost was because of how much we purchased. The actual stuff itself was on the cheap side, as far as I could tell.

We quickly discover the other downside of Pokemon when we hit our next stop, the bookstore. My plan to get a tablet and load it with reference material was shot, as those didn't really seem to be sold here. Even smartphones were hard to get, at least on short notice. Since pretty much all of those kinds of devices came with a Rotom possessing it, they apparently didn't keep them in stock, instead you had to order one and wait for it to be made. And they weren't cheap.

I tried connecting to the internet with my Company phone, but I was shocked to find that this world's internet just wasn't very robust. Oh, it existed, and it connected all the regions. But it was so… barebones. There were news sites, messaging apps, social media, forums, and streaming sites. And there were games and online shopping and a few other consumer-based things, but that was it.

It was just so… shallow. No wikipedias, not a lot of electronic books in general, and worst of all no real search engine. I couldn't dive in and find some obscure blog from ten years ago that had the exact niche information that I needed, nor could I find instructions on how to mix concrete or forge a sword. My few attempts at searching just led me to the Pokedex entries for Conkeldurr and Honedge.

I did go ahead and download the Pokedex though, opting into the Global one. It contained the broad information for every known Pokemon. Unlike the games they weren't sorted into numbers. By default, they were arranged alphabetically, though there were plenty of filter and sort options. And I noticed that it lacked information about Legendaries. Many of them were listed, but their entries were vague and usually spoke of 'rare sightings' or 'legends say'.

So, physical books it was. I'm pretty sure that's what Levy prefers anyway.

"Remember Levy, we only have so much room for books," I warned her. "Until we build a shelter that can reliably keep them safe from the rain, we really can only store them in the tent. The crate is too full of tools and dirty stuff, and we might need to open it while it's raining."

Levy frowned, but nodded her agreement. "I know. I'll limit myself. For now. But we're spending the next week making a hut and some bookshelves."

"Sure, sure, just prioritize reference books. Look for books on metalsmithing, concrete, glazes, or anything used in construction or crafting. Chemicals as well. And then… we'll say three fiction books for now." Because I knew 'zero' wasn't an option.

"Five," she haggled. I considered bringing it down to four… but truth be told, I was a reader myself, and I was curious about what Pokemon world fiction was like.

"Fine, five," I agreed. "We have time, but don't get distracted reading them." She nodded, and then we split up.

The first thing my eyes caught on was a thin book titled "A Student's Guide to Paldea". I picked it up and skimmed through it, and the first page I opened it to was a large map of the entire region.

I immediately blanched at the distances involved. Without some form of speedy transportation, our twenty-four hour time limit meant doing anything further than the immediate vicinity of the city would be difficult at best. According to the estimates in the book, it was a fourteen hour trek from Mesagoza, the city we arrived in, to Cortondo, the town immediately to the West that had the berry bush saplings we wanted. Too far for us to walk there and walk back.

A note on the map explained that there was a Pokemon-based transportation service that reduced that time to an hour to Cortondo, but it was closer to eight hours if I wanted to visit, for example, the cities in the northern mountains. Largely because the Pokemon wouldn't fly over the giant crater in the center of the region.

Without having a pretty good reason and a clear goal, going to one of the far off towns was too much of a risk. Still, I tucked the book under my arm and continued shopping. I'd read it later, in case the portal opened back up or I found something in here worth spending the credits to coming back. Honestly, just one of the gym leaders more than covers the cost, not to mention the main cast members.

Unfortunately, I had only slightly more luck finding good reference books in the store as I did online. The best I found was a general introduction to chemistry. You'd think a bookstore so close to a major school would have more text books, but then again, the school was focused on Pokemon. Non-Pokemon related fields of science were probably better represented elsewhere.

I also picked up a 'Field Guide to Berries' which did confirm that berries were perfectly edible for humans and even included some recipes. It just noted that the restorative properties that they had for Pokemon were barely effective on humans. Which was disappointing, but not that surprising.

I stopped in surprise when I saw Levy as we met each other in the middle of the store, having worked from opposite ends. She had her nose in a book, but that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was the Eevee comfortably sitting on her shoulders.

"I see you made a friend," I commented as I walked up to her. Both Levy and the Eevee looked up to me, Levy with a smile and the Eevee with a sort of judging look, like it was trying to take my measure.

After a moment, it made a small noise not entirely unlike a cat's meow, and entirely unlike any noise I remember from a game or anime, and its large bushy tail wagged once. I held my hand out for it to sniff and then, once it seemed to accept me, pet it. Its fur was soft, though I noted a few clumps.

"I found him napping on top of one of the books I wanted to look at," Levy explained. "He was annoyed when I woke him up to get it out from under him, but he warmed up to me when I pet him."

"This little guy is a species known as Eevee," I explained as I continued to pet him, thrilled at actually getting to interact with one of the most iconic pokemon of all time. "They're notable for being the only species to be able to evolve into a bunch of very different forms. Some pokemon can evolve into one form or another depending on factors such as a gender or held items. But Eevee can evolve into eight different possible pokemon, each focused on a different Type."

"What determines it?" Levy asked, interested.

"Their environment," I said. "Or, in the games, certain items you could use or certain locations. It varies, and I'd have to check to see how it applies here versus in the games."

"I see." She looked at the Eevee. "Do you know what you want to evolve into?"

The Eevee only yawned in response, clearly expressing disinterest in the idea.

"Many just stay Eevee, especially those owned by people who don't battle much," I mentioned. "They make for really good pets. They're smart and cute."

Eevee preened at my compliments, looking smug. Levy smiled at that. "I can see that." She then looked at the three books in my hand and frowned. "This is all you found?"

"Unfortunately. I was hoping you had better luck."

"This section is all fiction, your side was non-fiction," Levy explained. She brandished her stack of five books. "I've picked out my five though."

I sighed. "We'll check another store in Cortondo. This town seems pretty heavily focused on Pokemon, we might have better luck in a place that isn't home to a premier Pokemon academy."

Levy nodded, and then looked around before sighing. "Let's go then. If we stay I'll be tempted to buy more books."

We made our way to the counter where an old man was sitting and reading a book of his own. He looked up as we approached with a smile. "Oooh, I see little VV has taken a liking to you, miss. You must be something special."

"Vee vee? You mean the Eevee? Is he yours then?" I asked as I put my books on the counter. Levy put hers down as well, and the Eevee jumped from her shoulder to sit on the counter as well, looking up at all of us with another noise.

"Oh, no, little VV here doesn't have an owner as far as I know," the old man said, reaching out with a gnarled hand to pet the Pokemon in question. "He's a local stray, has been for about a year now. I've offered to take him in, and so have a few others around here, but he seems to prefer being on his own. We all let him stay in our homes though, and give him food from time to time."

Eevee, or VV as he was apparently called, made another noise at that, though this one was closer to a fox's yip. He then gave the old man's hand a lick before jumping off the counter and disappearing around a corner.

I tried not to feel disappointed that I hadn't stamped the Eevee when given the chance. "That's nice of you guys." I said instead.

The old man shook his head and reached for the first book of our stack to start ringing us up. "It's not worth mentioning," he said. "We're all just looking out for each other. And the kids who come in love him."

We make some more small talk with the old man as we finish making our purchases and then leave the store. I immediately look up at the sky to see that it's still dark before checking the time to find that it's only around 4am.

"What next?" Levy asked.

"Let's empty our bags as much as we can and then head to the west gate," I said. "We're gonna head to Cortondo, and we'll be spending most of the rest of the day there. We can find our pokemon there, fight some trainers, try to get some stamps, and pick up those berry bush saplings."

Plan made, we put it in action. We dumped all of our stuff off on our Skyblock, though we each kept a book to read on the flight to Cortondo, and then headed for the Pokecenter near the west gate. I wanted to register us as Trainers, which we needed to do to buy Pokeballs and gain access to a few services, before leaving.

"Wow, weird," I said as we came across the Pokemon Center. I was expecting a building, like every Pokemon Center had ever been. But this one was different. It was more like… the only thing I've been able to compare it to is a gas station. It was basically a kiosk with a large extended roof that covered the entire tarmac it was placed on. And within that kiosk was a woman, a man, and a green machine.

I approached the woman with pink hair, who seemed to be a Nurse Joy, but she was wearing a uniform I didn't recognize and her hair was in a different style. She smiles at us as we approach. "Hi, need to heal up your Pokemon?"

"We'd actually like to register as trainers," I said.

"Not a problem, we can take care of that super quick," she replies. "I just need your names and the name of your hometowns."

I panicked slightly. "We're actually from Hoenn. Is that fine?" I didn't know any towns here in Paldea and Hoenn was the region I knew the best and I could possibly sell the story of me being from there.

"That won't be a problem at all, not unless you two are already registered as trainers there. The Trainer Registry is global after all."

"No, no, we're not," I quickly said. "We came here to visit a friend and he convinced us to try doing a bit of exploring while we're here, so we thought we'd register." It was a flimsy lie, but I was hoping that the laid-back nature of the Pokemon world would keep her from questioning it.

And it did, because she just smiled. "Well I hope you enjoy Paldea. Your names?"

We gave her our names and I told her we were from Lilycove, one of the major coastal cities in Hoenn. She put us in the computer on her desk and then printed us off Trainer Cards. They had our picture, which I didn't even notice her taking but they were clearly from just then since the background lined up. They also had our Trainer ID's and some other basic information about us.

"Now, would you like to register your Eevee to your Trainer ID?" she asked once we were finished.

"Our Eevee?" I asked dumbly.

"Oh, is he not with you?" she asked, pointing to our feet.

Levy and I looked down to see an Eevee sitting quietly between us. He yipped when we looked at him, breaking his silence.

"VV, is that you?" Levy asked, crouching down to pick him up. VV mewled out what sounded vaguely like a confirmation.

I turned to Nurse Joy. "Give us a minute," I said.

She nodded understandingly. "Of course, take your time."

We stepped away from the counter for some privacy. Levy held the Eevee close to her chest, but spoke in gentle words. "Did you follow us? That's sweet, but we're about to leave the city, so you should probably go back home."

But, in a very human-like manner, VV shook his head and then put his paw on Levy's chest.

"You… want to come with us?" Levy guessed, to which VV nodded excitedly. But he then tapped Levy's chest with his paw again, twice this time.

"Do you want Levy to be your Trainer?" I guessed. VV nodded again, and Levy and I exchanged looks. "We'd be happy to have you, but you should know what you're signing up for. We're not going to be staying here for long. We'll be back home by this time tomorrow. And home isn't Hoenn, like I said. Home is another world, one where it's just me and Levy on an island in the sky. We'll visit lots of worlds, and some of them might be dangerous. If you come with us, not only will you likely never come back here, but you'll have to follow us to those dangerous places. Do you understand?"

VV puffed out his chest, as much as the little guy could at least, and nodded, letting out a confident bark. His expression was confident and excited, and I wondered if perhaps the reason he never accepted any of the shop owners as a trainer is if he desired some kind of adventure. That's my best guess as of writing this journal at least.

I looked at Levy. "Well, he's asking for you, so it's your choice. If you can only have one Pokemon, Eevee isn't a bad choice at all. He's got a lot of potential."

"I'd be happy to become your Trainer," Levy said without any hesitation. VV yipped in joy and leapt up to lick Levy's face. Levy giggled, "Alright, alright, calm down," she said. "Let's get you registered then."

We headed back over to the counter, where Nurse Joy was waiting and watching us with a smile. "Yes, I will be registering him as my Pokemon," Levy said.

"Well, all you need is a Pokeball, which you can purchase just over here." She raised a hand to indicate the man standing next to her, who had also been watching us from behind the blue section of the kiosk.

"Only 200 each!" he said with a toothy smile. "Buy ten and I'll throw in an extra Premier Ball for free!"

"We'll take ten, sure," I said. "Also ten potions, three burn heals, three antidotes, and three paralyze heals."

"Ah, I appreciate a smart man who knows how to prepare," the clerk said with a wink. He poked at his computer and a second later the items I requested appeared on the counter top. "Will that be all for you?"

"For now," I said, scanning my phone to make the payment. I picked up one of the pokeballs and handed it to Levy. "Just press the front of the Pokeball against VV," I said. I then stored the rest of my purchases in my bag.

Levy set VV down and did as I instructed. VV sat still, accepting it as Levy pressed the Pokeball against his chest. VV then faded, turning into a cloud of red light and the Pokeball opened up. The ball of red light flew into it, and the Pokeball snapped shut.

Levy watched with wide eyes as the Pokeball pulsed in her hand, the front of it blinking once before there was an audible click and the light faded. I felt a vibration in my pocket, but I knew what it was and had been expecting it, so I ignored it for now.

"Congratulations!" Both Nurse Joy said. "VV the Eevee is now registered as your Pokemon."

"Just press the button again to release him," I told Levy. She did so immediately, VV appearing in a flash of light. He barked again and then jumped to Levy's shoulders, where he settled down.

Nurse Joy turned to us. "Is there anything else you need?"

Remembering our other goal for today, I fished in my pocket for my Stamp. "Actually, there is one thing. I was wondering if I could get a picture of the two of you with this Stamp on the back of your hands?" I held it up. "The friend we came here to visit is actually trying to open a sanctuary for Pokemon that have lost their trainers and are having trouble adjusting. He's trying to raise money and he asked us to help spread awareness by getting pictures with people that have the logo stamped onto their hands. Don't worry, it washes off easily, but it would really help us out if you could."

I was actually using a variation of one of the plans Levy and I had come up with yesterday for how we would get people to accept a stamp. When we originally came up with the plan it was for a more mundane modern world and it was just a normal animal shelter, but it was easy to swap a few details and make it suit the Pokemon world a bit better.

"Of course!" Nurse Joy said, holding out her hand. "Anything to help Pokemon in need."

"It's no trouble at all, and for a good cause," the man said. "I'd be glad to help."

I gave them a big genuine smile. "Thanks, you guys don't know what this means for me."

It doesn't take long to apply the Stamp to the back of their hands and then have them pose for a picture. I told them to keep an ear out for "Stone Sanctuary", a name I came up with a spot, and then Levy and I continued to head for the gates.

As we walked I pulled out my smartphone, opened the Captures app, and looked at the three new entries.

Eevee was the first entry on the list, rated as a Tier 4. He was marked as already captured too, and six credits had already been deposited into my account. We had used a capture method that was instant, the Pokeball, instead of the Stamp, which took time. There was also a tag that noted Eevee as a 'familiar'.

Nurse Joy was listed second. She was only rated at a Tier 2, but that's still 2 free credits just for capturing her. And, as it noted in the app, she also qualified for rebates on Body Defense and Creature Defense. But she was marked as 'in-progress', meaning I'd have to wait three days for the Stamp to finish growing.

But the third entry was disappointing. "Pokemart Man - Invalid Target". I guess he didn't have enough of a presence in the games to merit capture points. According to the catalog, they needed two of a design, a name, a backstory, or ability/power. I guess he never so much as gives himself a name in the game, much less any of the other stuff, so he doesn't count as 'canon'.

Oh well. I wasn't expecting much from a random NPC. I included him because with my cover story it would have been weird not to.

I put my phone away, pretty happy with the additional credits I'd be earning. At the very least, Nurse Joy's capture would cover Sexual Calibration. Shoutout to Nurse Joy.

Near the gate leading out of the city was a man standing next to a small carriage on ski-like rails. On top of that carriage was a fleet of bright and colorful bird pokemon. There was a sign next to him that said "Flying Taxi", and he was our destination.

"Are you open?" I asked as we approached. "We need to get to Cortondo."

"Cortondo? That's easy, I can get you there in a flash," he boasted with a grin. The birds on top of the carriage looked at us with wary glares, edging away from us, obviously less enthused to see us than their owner. "You'll find my fares very affordable too, 5,000 per person, and Pokemon must be kept in their balls."

That was roughly $75 for the both of us, but it wasn't like there was any other choice. It was a small price to pay to save thirteen hours of traveling. I paid him the money, Levy recalled VV, and we got into the carriage. We found seatbelts inside and put them on while the man himself strapped into a small seat behind us, outside of the carriage.

He gave a short whistle and the birds started flapping. It was then that I got my first good look at the power of Pokemon, because the four birds attached by harnesses to the top of the carriage were not terribly large and under no circumstances should have been able to lift three full grown adults and the carriage off the ground. But they managed the feat with ease, and we gently lifted into the air.

It was really cool to travel through the air like that. It was like traveling on a plane, but we were close enough to the ground to see things, and it wasn't nearly so loud. Perhaps it was more like a quiet helicopter than, considering we were only going about as fast as a car on a highway.

Levy and I didn't talk much on the trip. I didn't want to discuss plans with her when the pilot, if that was the right word for him, could potentially hear us. Levy was already flipping through the book she brought anyway, so I followed suit and did the same.

I opted to bring the book about Paldea so I could do some research on Cortondo, and its gym in particular. Most of what I learned wasn't terribly useful, though the fact that the gym leader also ran a bakery was interesting. I was starting to get pretty hungry by that point.

There were a few notes about the kind of pokemon in the area, and I paid particularly close attention to that.

There were a few possibilities for Pokemon I wanted. In the end, I didn't want to be too picky, but I did have a mental list of priorities.

At the top was a Grass type pokemon. They weren't the most powerful, but many would have a lot of utility that was super useful. And while I couldn't think of any that had the ability to make other plants grow, a Grass type was my best shot if I wanted someone to help with the gardening.

The only Grass type I saw on the list was a type of Pokemon called Smoliv. Smoliv itself didn't seem very useful, but its fully evolved form caught my eye as I checked its information in the Pokedex. It grew fruit, it produced nutrient rich oil, and it seemed to be able to affect the terrain to make it more Grass-y. That was definitely something I could experiment with or possibly train into something useful.

Second priority was a Flying type, just because of the nature of the Skyblock. They'd have plenty of room to fly and, more importantly, wouldn't take up much space. And outside of the Skyblock, a Flying type was just always useful. If they evolved into a large enough I could ride them as transportation, but even if they remained small they could be used for scouting or carrying items.

There were two flying types in the area. A small bird called Fletching that would grow into a Fire/Flying type, and the bee/honeycomb Pokemon Combee. Neither really appealed to me, but I could see the usefulness of both.

Third was a Ground type. We'd want to take advantage of the underground space available to us on the Skyblock sooner or later, and a Ground type could make that. There were Digletts in the area that could definitely help with that.

And lastly was an Electric Type. It was a little early, but electricity to power various things was going to be very necessary. Not all Electric types were suited to serve as a power source though. There were some Mareep in the area, and I wasn't sure if they'd work. But I thought that an Ampharos, which it evolved into, might.

By the time I finished reading about Cortondo and the Pokemon near it we were starting our descent. Levy and I put our books away as we got closer to the ground.

The landing was much softer than I expected, barely a jolt as we touched down. We thanked the pilot as we got out, stretched, and then looked at the city.

"Now what?" Levy asked as she released VV. He let out a happy noise and climbed back onto her shoulders, his preferred perch.

I looked at the time and saw that it was around 5:30am. Still very early. There wasn't any sign of the sun coming up yet, and while there were a few people out on the streets, it wasn't very many.

"Let's grab some breakfast and wait for people to wake up," I said. "We've been running around for a few hours already. We should take a small break anyway."

"Food that isn't those weird fruits? I can't wait!" Levy said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes at her continued stubbornness of refusing to call blapples by their proper name, but didn't push it. "I read about a bakery in my guide book, let's go check that out."

Cortondo isn't a terribly large town, thankfully, so I was able to find the bakery pretty easily and without having to ask for directions. It helped that it stood out. There was a large tree behind it that was supporting some kind of wooden structure that hung above the bakery, and the bakery itself was spider web themed, to match the fact that the Gym leader was a Bug specialist I supposed.

Thankfully it was open, and judging from the smell wafting from it, we had arrived at the best possible time for getting fresh pastries.

"Good morning!" the woman behind the counter greeted us. Unfortunately, it wasn't the Gym Leader herself.

Levy's eyes sparkled as she looked at the displayed cakes, croissants, and other pastries. "I can get whatever I want, right?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Just don't forget that we have a long day ahead of us and eat too much," I warned. "But otherwise, go crazy."

Levy nodded eagerly and immediately started studying the displayed items with a focus I hadn't seen from her before. The woman behind the counter smiled in amusement. "Let me know if you have any questions or you decide what you want."

"I'll get started with a blueberry muffin and a coffee," I told her.

"Coming right up!"

By the time I got my food, Levy had settled on her choice as well, though she insisted that she'd be back for more. We took our spoils to a nearby outside table and sat down to enjoy them.

Levy bit into her scone and let out a moan. "I didn't realize how much I missed bread!" she said, words muffled by the mouth full of food, all decorum forgotten.

I chuckled and took a bite of my own muffin. I didn't react as strongly as Levy did, but I fully agreed with her. After a week of nothing but fruit, biting into that muffin was heavenly. I don't even really remember eating the rest, just blinking and there only being crumbs left. My stomach feeling more full was the only evidence that I did indeed eat it.

Rather than get up and get another muffin, I decided to wash it down with a sip of coffee instead. As I did, Levy wrinkled her nose at me.

"Not a fan of coffee?" I asked after putting the cup back down. It was a decent cup of coffee, much better than what I was used to.

"I'm more of a tea kind of girl," she said.

I barked out a laugh. "That doesn't surprise me at all."

She eyes my cup warily. "Did you even put sugar or anything in there?"

"Nope," I replied, taking another sip. "I heard some advice once that said you should get used to drinking coffee black. That way, when you need a cup of coffee to perk you up, it's much easier to get one. You won't always have sugar and creamer available."

"...that sounds horrible."

"It was, at first," I admitted. "You get used to it though, and it's been helpful. Breakrooms run out of one or the other all the time, but there's always coffee in the pot." I look over at her own cup. "Besides, I don't see you putting any sugar in your tea."

"Sugar ruins the subtle flavors," she retorted, taking her own sip. "And these are some good leaves."

"We'll have to see if they're selling some tea bags or something," I said. "A nice cup of tea while watching the stars could be nice."

"Oh? Does Mr. I Drink It Black like tea as well?"

"Can't a guy like both tea and coffee? Tea is for relaxing, coffee is for waking up."

"I had no idea you were so… broad in your tastes. Should we be looking for cute boys to recruit alongside the girls?"

"I wouldn't go that far," I said before pausing. "Though, if they look like cute girls, I could potentially be convinced to give it a shot."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Is that so? I won't forget that you know."

I shrugged and took a sip of my coffee. It was a complicated subject for me, in truth. I was into girls, but I had seen some femboy porn that had definitely caught my eye. But all of it was '2D' stuff, animated or drawn, or even just written in a few cases. The handful of times I'd looked up 'real' porn of femboys, it just didn't do anything for me.

But now that I was a contractor, that line blurred. Everyone looked 'real', for lack of a better descriptor. But they also felt like characters in some ways, and I also knew that as someone who would likely soon be ageless, as soon as I purchased the relevant Talent, time and exposure to sex would likely broaden my tastes, and I was willing to try out new things.

The horizon finally started to light up as we finished our breakfast, and I knew that we would have to get started soon. I kept a close eye on the bakery counter, hoping to catch sight of the person who I saw listed in the Catalog.

"What are you looking for?" Levy asked, eyeing the counter. "Trying to decide what to get next?"

"No, I'm looking for the Gym Leader that supposedly runs this place," I said.

"Gym Leader?"

"Right, I haven't explained that to you yet," I commented. "To put it quickly… Pokemon battling is a huge part of the culture here. It's basically a sport, though even larger than that. And it's very structured too. There are eight trainers officially recognized and employed as Gym Leaders. Those Gym Leaders basically serve as a…" I trailed off, looking for the words. "A test proctor? They test your skills in a battle. If you overcome them, then they reward you with a badge. Collect all eight badges and you can fight the Elite 4. Beat the Elite 4, and you can face the Champion. If you beat the Champion, you become the Champion. That's the goal a lot of Trainer's chase."

"I see, like a ranking system, or a competition," Levy said. "Are there any benefits or responsibilities to being Champion?"

I shrugged. "They never really made that clear. It was always just a goal for the player to strive for. The Champions you face seem to have some level of duty, just based on passing comments. But once you become one, you're never asked to do anything like that. I'll have to keep reading the guide book to see if there's any info on that. The point is, the women here is a Gym leader, which means she's strong. She's listed as a Tier 6 in the Catalog, and if we can get her Stamped it would be a lot of points."

"Hmm. What if we just challenge her to a fight? We'll definitely meet her then, right?"

"Sure, probably," I said. "We'll want to train up though. We don't have to win to get a chance to be able to sell the sanctuary story, but we do need to get to her, and many Gym Leaders have Gym Trainers that they employ that we might have to defeat to get her." I had no idea what the gyms were like here, but that was often how it was.

"Is that gonna be our goal for the rest of the day then?" Levy asked. "A Tier 6 capture could probably get us more Credits than focusing on Pokemon or hoping to get lucky with other trainers."

I grinned. "There's no reason we can't do both. Once you finish your food, we'll get started on the plan I've come up with."

A few minutes later found us just across the street where a simple concrete battlefield was laid out. In it, two trainers were already fighting, despite the sun not having fully risen over the horizon. One trainer had a Pachirisu, and the other had a Fletchling.

"This is the plan," I said. "I'm going to teach you how to battle Pokemon, and then we're going to split up. You'll challenge as many trainers as you can and try to Stamp them while I go out and catch a Pokemon of my own and do some training as well. This evening we'll challenge the Gym and try to get a chance to Stamp the leader."

Levy looked at me with concern. "I'm not sure how I feel about letting you go out in the wild alone. Isn't it dangerous?"

"Look at these kids," I said, pointing at the battling trainer. Both trainers in question where pre-teens, somewhere in the ten to twelve range. "Those Pokemon are probably their only ones, and they likely caught them themselves. So long as I don't go too far from the main paths I'll be fine."

Levy hesitated, but nodded. "If you're sure," she said. "Now, tell me what's going on in this fight."

"The kid with the bird is about to get his ass kicked is what's happening," I said. "Some Types have advantages over others. The bird, Fletchling, is a Normal Type and a Flying Type. The squirrel, a Pachirisu, is an Electric Type. And Electric is super effective against Flying."

"Giving it an advantage," Levy surmised. "But it looks like it's having trouble hitting."

"It is, the Pachirisu is probably inexperienced," I said. "But unlike the Pachirisu, the Fletchling doesn't seem to have any ranged attacks. It can dodge, but it can't get close to get a hit in, not without risking getting shocked. And with it being super effective, the Pachirisu probably only needs one or two good hits to take down the Fletchling, while the Fletchling will probably need several hits to win."

As I said that, the trainer of the Fletchling seemed to lose patience. "Fletchling, close in with a Quick Attack!"

His opponent grinned. "Pachi, stand still and use Thunder Shock when it hits you!" she called out.

The boy's eyes widened as he realized the trap, but Fletchling was already in motion. The bird blurred as it sped forward to careen into the Pachirisu. The Pachirisu steadied itself, but was bowled over when the smaller pokemon hit it. But that didn't stop it from shooting the extra strong bolt of electricity it had prepared.

The attack hit Fletchling directly. It cried out in pain and immediately fell to the ground, twitching. Pachirisu stood up and let out a squeak of victory.

"That was a smart plan," I commented. It was tactics like that that made this different from the game.

"Are they going to be okay?" Levy asked, looking at the Pokemon in concern.

"The Pokemon center is right next door, and they can be healed up in seconds," I reassured her. As we watched, the boy recalled his Fletchling with an annoyed look and the girl took a potion out of her back and sprayed it on her Pachirisu. "Or you can use a Potion like that, to heal them in the field."

Sure enough, seconds later the Pachirisu looked like it hadn't been injured at all and was ready for another fight.

I handed the Stamp and my phone with the Pokedex open to Levy. "Why don't you ask her for a battle?" I said. "Scan VV with the pokedex and it should tell you what moves he knows. I'm going to guess… Growl, Tackle, Quick Attack, and maybe Tail Whip?"

VV let out a bark as he nodded, and then he mimed kicking. I frowned. "Double Kick?" I asked. He shook his head, repeating the motion. "Sand Attack?" I guessed again, and he nodded.

"All of those moves are pretty basic, but at this level you don't need anything more than that. You saw Quick Attack. Tackle is the same, but at a normal speed. Growl and Tail Whip can lower an opponent's attack and defense accordingly, and Sand Attack kicks up sand and dirt to lower their accuracy." I looked at the concrete battlefield. "Though that one might not be useful here."

Levy hesitated, but nodded. "Okay, easy enough," she said. "VV, do you want to fight?"

VV leapt from her shoulders and onto the ground before letting out a confident bark and nodding. He was definitely eager.

"Good luck!" I told her with a grin.

I watched as she approached the trainer who had just won the battle. The Pachirisu scampered away as Levy approached, hiding behind its trainer's legs. They talked for a moment, and then the girl smiled and nodded. The two of them and their pokemon took up their spots on opposite sides of the battlefield as the boy moved out of the way, leaving and heading towards the Pokecenter rather than staying to watch.

There were a few other curious watchers even this early in the morning, but none of them were paying particularly close attention. Low level battles like this were probably a common sight.

The girl that Levy had challenged looked at me. "Count us off!" she requested.

I shrugged and raised my hand in the air. "On go! Three… Two…. One… go!"

"Dodge!" cried out Levy.

At the same time, the trainer girl called out "Quick Attack!"

Levy's prediction had been correct, so VV, having trusted in Levy's command, dodged the Pachirisu's sudden attack by leaping to the side.

"Tackle!" Levy shouted, aiming to get the Pachirisu before it recovered.

But her young opponent was far from a slouch. "Quick Attack back, then Thunderbolt!"

VV threw himself at the Pachirisu, but before he could make contact the Pachirisu blurred again and retreated to where it started. In an instant, electricity sparked on its cheeks and a bolt of lightning fired out.

VV attempted to dodge, even before Levy's shouted command, but he was too slow to avoid the attack. The Electric attack struck him in the side, causing him to yelp in pain.

I saw the worry on Levy's face, but she wasn't panicking. She was used to personally being involved in deadly combat after all. "Dodge!" she called out again.

Thankfully, VV hadn't been paralyzed, and so was able to follow Levy's command. And once again, her command came right before the other trainers.

"Quick Attack again!"

And a second later, as soon as her opponent confirmed her order, Levy commanded the already moving VV. "Growl!"

VV dodged Pachirisu's Quick Attack and let out a growling noise. There was something strange about it though, some distortion that made it sound deeper and more intimidating than something his size should be able to produce.

The Pachirisu, who was coming to a stop after its missed attack, seemed shook by the Growl, and Levy didn't let that chance slip by. "Tackle!" she called out.

"Dodge with Quick Attack!" the girl she faced hurriedly called out, seeing the poor position Pachirisu was in.

But the Pachirisu wasn't fast enough to respond, and VV slammed into it with a warcry. The Pachirisu tumbled across the battlefield from the force of it, letting out a high pitched cry of pain.

"You're okay Pachi!" the girl cried out. "Just get up and Thundershock!"

To its credit, the Pachirisu recovered quickly after the words of encouragement from its Trainer. It hopped to its feet, cheeks sparking.

"Quick Attack at it!" Levy called. VV didn't hesitate and blurred. The Thundershock missed as it arced above his dash, and before the other Trainer could even call out a command VV once again slammed into it.

But while the Trainer had been caught off guard, the Pachirisu hadn't, and it didn't get launched by the impact this time. It didn't block the hit, taking the full brunt of VV's attack, but it stayed on its feet, only being pushed back a couple of steps.

"Good job Pachi!" the Trainer called out. "Now Tackle!"

"Tackle as well!" Levy ordered.

The two Pokemon, all attempts at defense abandoned, threw themselves at the other. They collided with a meaty thunk. VV looked dazed, but it was Pachirisu who was knocked to the ground, its smaller size and the lingering effects of Growl having put it at a disadvantage.

"Growl, then Tackle again!" Levy said, a grin on her face. I could tell that she had seen the path to victory. The Pachirisu certainly was looking worse for wear, but it wasn't down yet.

"Thundershock! And then keep doing it!" the young Trainer ordered in response. It was a desperate ploy, but probably the smart one. Growl lowered attack, but it had no effect on Special Attack, meaning the Thundershocks would still be just as potent. At least, assuming we were following the same rules as the game. I wasn't sure exactly where that line between game and reality was.

VV jumped to the side and dodged the first Thundershock as he let out another Growl. Pachirisu shrunk back again, visibly frightened, but it was well trained enough to keep firing off attacks. VV dashed through them, but wasn't able to dodge them all before closing ranks, getting clipped by one that almost sent him to the ground. But he recovered and was able to Tackle the enemy Pokemon once again.

The Pachirisu went down once more with a warbling cry, and this time it didn't get back up.

VV, who looked pretty rough himself with how tussled his fur was and how hard he was breathing, stood there for a moment, unsure. But when it was clear that Pachirisu wasn't going to get back up, VV's ears perked up and he let out a howl of victory.

Levy cheered, kneeling down and spreading her arms so VV could leap into them. Her opponent sighed, but surprisingly didn't seem too upset. In fact, her reaction was surprisingly mature. She recalled Pachirisu with a whisper of "Good job, we'll get them next time," and carefully stored its Pokeball in a holster on her waist. Then she crossed the battlefield to speak to Levy, a seemingly genuine smile on her face.

I was too far to hear what they said, but I watched as they talked in a friendly manner. Levy had a big smile on her face, and VV was resting in her arms, though his tail was swaying from side to side in a way that seemed pleased.

The girl pulled out some Pokedollars, but Levy shook her head and pulled out the Stamp I had given her. They talked for another moment before the girl nodded and held out her hand. Levy stamped it and then took a picture of her. Finally, they shook hands and the girl wandered off, headed for the Pokemon Center.

Levy walked in my direction, a big grin still on her face. "How was your first Pokemon battle?" I asked.

"Surprisingly fun," she admitted. "I was a little worried about making such cute little guys fight, but they really seem to enjoy it, don't they?" She smiled fondly down at VV. "He reminds me a lot of the guys back in Fairy Tail. He'd fit right in with those battled-addicted boneheads."

Now there was a thought. Fairy Tail but everyone was Pokemon trainers instead. I could probably pull something like that off with Meta Shift, but not anytime soon. But I shook my head and cleared those thoughts. "Well, you did a pretty good job. That girl was a pretty decent trainer for her age." If she had had one of the starters, I would have suspected she was the protagonist of this generation. "Speaking of, what does the app say about her Capture?"

Levy cradled VV in one hand and pulled the phone out from her pocket. She navigated the menus and then grimaced. "Invalid target," she reported.

I shrugged. "Oh well, that'll probably happen a lot. But that's alright, we'll get some eventually. You think you can handle fighting some Trainers on your own while I go find a Pokemon?"

Levy nodded. "I can handle myself, I'm just worried about you."

"I'll be fine," I reassured her. "My knowledge of this world in general will be enough to make up for my lack of knowledge about this region specifically, or my lack of Pokemon. We need to maximize how many trainers you fight, so VV can get strong enough to face the Gym, and you have as many chances to Stamp someone worth credits as possible."

Levy frowned a little, but she nodded. "I know. I just worry."

She offered the smartphone to me, but I shook my head. "No, you keep that. You'll need it to scan the Pokemon you face, so you can at least figure out some general information about them. You also have to take pictures to sell the Pokemon sanctuary story. I've already looked up most of the Pokemon I'm likely to run into around here, and I have a good chance at knowing any that might not be on the list I saw."

Levy hesitated before sighing and nodding her head. "Just… be careful, okay? And come check back in at noon."

I smiled at her and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. "I will, I promise." Then, more confidently, "Besides, it's a Danger Rating one world. It'll be fine."

I really should have known better than to invoke Murphy's Law like that.

Obviously I didn't meet my doom as I left town and headed into the wilderness, but I certainly ran into far more trouble than I was expecting. Though most of it could be boiled down to two main issues.

The first was the way Pokemon reacted to me approaching them. I found groups of one of my targets almost immediately, tiny little Smolivs huddling together, usually near the olive trees the town was known for. But anytime I got even a little close to them, they all immediately fled in terror.

That wasn't too surprising. They looked pretty skittish, and I was enormous compared to them. The Diglett I spotted as I headed further from the main road and into the massive patches of olive trees surrounding the town also running away from me was something I could understand too.

But, as I reached the edge of the olive tree fields and entered the grassy plains around it, I had to question why the Mareep bleated in fright as I approached. Weren't they super docile? And why hadn't I seen any Fletchling that the guidebook had said were so common here? I had heard them, or some kind of bird pokemon at least, but I hadn't spotted any.

As far as I could tell, Pokemon were avoiding me. I had no idea why, or if this was normal behavior. My initial impression was that it wasn't, especially since VV had been so immediately friendly.

But, when I started thinking about it, I realized that VV had been the exception. The bird Pokemon that had lifted the carriage that flew us here had given us the stink eye as we approached, and the Pachirisu earlier hid behind its trainer when Levy approached. And now the Pokemon were fleeing from me.

What was that Sherlock Holmes line? Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, but three times is a pattern? It was starting to feel like a pattern.

So I started trying to sneak up on them. I would have preferred to catch a Pokemon by talking to it, honestly. But I figured that catching a Pokemon against its will and forcing it to obey you was just business as normal for this world. The effects of the Binding would smooth out any issues with a bit of time as well.

But that was when I ran into my second major obstacle.

Spotting a Mareep that hadn't seen me yet, I slowly walked in a large arc until I was directly behind it before I approached it, careful to not make a sound. This was the second time I had tried this, and the first time it sensed me when I got too close, either through hearing or smelling me I could only assume. So this time I stayed a good distance away and pulled out a Pokeball, the first of the nine I had left after giving one of the ten I purchased to Levy.

I wound my arm back, focused, and then threw the Pokeball. It spun through the air towards the Mareep. For a second I thought it was going to miss, but it veered ever so slightly as it got close to the Pokemon and hit it directly. There was a flash of light and the Mareep disappeared, leaving behind only the Pokeball on the ground.

And before it even shook once, there was another burst of light, the Mareep reappeared, and it ran off with a bleat. There was no sign of the Pokeball I had used, not even scraps.

The second obstacle was that it was so much harder to catch an unwilling Pokemon than the game made it out to be. I regretted splitting up with Levy, as I had drastically underestimated the need to weaken a Pokemon before capturing it. Or I was just getting horribly unlucky.

Because it wasn't just that one Mareep. It was all the Pokemon I tried to catch. I'd give up on a Pokemon species after two failed attempts, thinking maybe that Pokemon had something like 'Catch Rates' like they did in the games.

But even with that, I was quickly running out of Pokeballs. I had wandered quite a bit north of the city at this point, the sun well above the horizon. I'd have to turn back soon, whether to purchase more balls or just to make it back in time to meet with Levy like I said I would.

I was contemplating if I should turn around then and use my last Pokeball on the way back when I heard a strange noise from the other side of a hill.

So far the Pokemon cries I had heard had been pretty close to animal sounds. The Mareep sounded like sheep, though with a hint of static in their cries. Smolivs had made tiny, barely audible squeaks not unlike a rodent. Digletts hadn't really made any sounds except the burrowing of dirt. The Pachirisu from earlier had sounded like a squirrel, and VV sounded either like a small dog, cat, or fox, depending on what noise he was making.

The cry I heard from over the hill wasn't anything like that though. It was like vibrating metal, except it lacked the sound of something hitting it to make it vibrate. Like a tuning fork almost, albeit one of a rather low pitch.

I guessed it was a Steel type pokemon, but I didn't remember the guide mentioning any in this area. Which meant that I was hearing a Trainer's pokemon, I had wandered way too far, or I had stumbled upon something rare.

The possibility of it being that last one pushed me to at least look and see what I was dealing with. I climbed the hill, quietly and carefully so it wouldn't run from me immediately, and peered over it.

Rather than more grassy plains, I saw the ruins of old buildings. They were made of stone, but so much of the walls had collapsed that only one building had more than one wall standing, and even that one only had half of the second wall.

And floating among those ruins was a handful of Bronzor. That had been what I had heard, the cry of a Bronzor. And there was one lightly bobbing in the air, seemingly asleep, in the middle of the ruins.

As far as usefulness on the Skyblock went, I didn't think Bronzor ranked very highly. It was Steel/Psychic, and in terms of combat it was pretty strong, but I wasn't sure what it could help with back home. It probably could lift things with some kind of telekinesis, which was a little useful, I guess?

Though, truth be told, at that point I was just desperate for a Pokemon. I didn't want to go back to Levy and admit that she was right, that I should have brought her with me at least until I caught a Pokemon. I had been so confident that I would be fine and that my knowledge would see me through. Going back empty handed would be mortifying.

And at the end of the day, if the Pokemon was only useful for defeating some trainers or the Gym Leader, then that was fine. I just didn't want to pass up a sleeping Pokemon, which was my best chance at the catch actually working.

I crested the hill and silently crept into the ruins. Some of the other Bronzor spotted me and fled, but that didn't matter to me. I only had one Pokeball left, and my target remained asleep even as the others ran.

I snuck up as close as I dared, and then I threw the ball.

But as soon as I did, a strange warbling cry cut through the air, louder than any noise the Bronzor had been making, and with far more panic in it. I watched in despair as the Pokeball left my hands and flew towards the Bronzor whose eyes had just snapped open as it became aware of its surroundings.

The ball hit it, it disappeared, and then it reappeared before flying off, destroying my last Pokeball in the process.

I admit, I got a little frustrated then. I let out a strangled growl of anger and kicked at a nearby wall. Despite how much it had suffered from time and exposure, it was still pretty sturdy, so all I did was hurt my toes. I cursed as I nursed it, pain dulling my anger but leaving me frustrated at myself.

The cry that had woken up the Bronzor repeated, louder this time, and accompanied by a similar cry, but it was quieter and I'd call it angry instead of scared. Curious about what had ruined my chances at a Pokemon, I headed in the direction of the noises.

It wasn't far, really just around a wall, but what I found surprised me. Two Pokemon I had never seen before were fighting with each other. Both were small and pink, proportioned like dolls for kids with big heads and limbs. Especially their hands. But one of the Pokemon was taller than the other, almost double the size of the approximately one foot tall smaller one.

The larger one was holding a large metal hammer almost as big as itself in one hand while the other one was wrapped around a much smaller hammer that the smaller one was holding onto desperately. It was obvious at a glance that the larger one was trying to take the hammer, which really looked more like a baby's rattler, from the smaller one.

They were definitely two Pokemon in the same evolution line, I could tell that much. The coloring and design was basically the exact same. The main difference was that the smaller one looked vaguely like a baby and the larger one had a teenager style going on. Though neither of them even came up to my hip.

I'd like to say that I evaluated the situation, weighed the risks, and acted with a clear mind. But that would be a lie. Instead, I saw what was clearly a larger pokemon picking on a younger one and got angry, and then realized that the smaller one's yells of protest had been what woken the Bronzor up and got even more angry at the larger bully.

So there wasn't much thinking involved when I stepped around the corner and stomped in their direction. "Hey!" I yelled sharply. "Leave her alone!"

The larger one looked up at me, eyes widening in surprise. It's grip slacked just enough for the smaller one to pull the hammer-thing from its grip. The larger one made an angry warbling noise as it turned its attention back to the baby, but the baby was already running away, heading directly for me. It hid behind my leg, shaking.

The larger one narrowed its eyes and turned to face me again, but I refused to show fear. "Your little bullying attempt isn't gonna work with me around," I claimed confidently.

In response, it hefted its hammer. A hammer I was realizing, now that I was getting a good look at it, must have been very heavy, as it was made of thick chunks of iron. I looked down at the baby one cowering at my feet, and saw dents in the metal of its hammer. And I remembered a trend I had noticed that Pokemon who had physical items like that tended to either scavenge them or make them themselves. And the hammer looked like it had been hand made by someone with the ability to bend iron.

I looked at the Pokemon hefting said hammer with ease and it's very large hands. Its eyes weren't very human or animal like, but it was easy to read that there wasn't any hesitation there. Only anger and determination.

It was then that I finally evaluated the situation rationally and weighed the risks. And I didn't like the outcome.

So before it could make a move I bent down, scooped up the smaller one in my arms, and booked it the hell out of there.

I honestly have no idea if the other Pokemon chased me or not because I didn't want to slow down even the small amount it would take for me to look over my shoulder, and all I heard was the rushing wind and the beating of my heart as I sprinted over the hill and back towards town.

I made it halfway back before I finally gave in to my protesting body screaming for a rest. I looked over my shoulder and didn't see anything, so I slowed down, coming to a stop near the edge of the olive tree plots. My chest heaved as I sucked in the warm air, heart hammering in my chest.

I looked down at my crossed arms, where the small Pokemon that I had picked up still was. It was clinging to my shirt with one hand and its hammer with the other. It looked up at me, and then back the way we came, obviously still scared.

"I think we lost him," I said, still breathing a little heavy. "Or her? Sorry, I've never seen a Pokemon like you before."

It didn't seem to care about my questions on its gender, it just kept looking for a moment longer before it relaxed a bit. I bent down to put it down, but it just tightened its grip on my shirt and looked back up at me and let out a little cry of protest.

It's hard to put into words what its cry sounded like. The best thing I've been able to come up with is "otherworldly chimes". It was strange and ethereal, like nothing of this world, but there was a hint of metal underneath it lending it a sharpness.

Though right then it just sounded afraid.

"You're safe now," I reassured her. "You'll be fine from here, right?"

She shook her head and clung tighter to me. I frowned, but as I frowned I thought.

When I saved this Pokemon, it was just a knee-jerk reaction to seeing a larger one bullying a smaller one. I wasn't trying to make it mine or anything like that. But, for whatever reason, and despite whatever caused the other Pokemon to run from me, she was already quite attached.

Did I want to keep this Pokemon? I had no idea. I didn't know the first thing about it or what it was capable of. I knew it was Steel type, and Steel types were pretty decent in general. But I also knew that it had to have a secondary typing, considering its design. I just wasn't what.

The pink made me think Psychic, but Fairy was also Pink. Or it could have been some weird kind of Ghost. I had no way of knowing for sure.

Still, a Pokemon that could manipulate iron with its bare hands wasn't not useful to improving our home. And as I looked down at her and the way she was clinging to me, obviously already strongly attached, I knew that denying her wasn't an option.

I sighed and stood back up. "If you really want, you can come with me," I said. "But, you should know what you're getting into first. If I become your Trainer, you might not ever come back here. And I don't mean just here, in these fields. I don't even mean this Region. I'm from another world entirely, and I'll be going back soon. Tonight. And I might never come back. Home is a very small place and we have a lot of work to do to make it nice. And I'll need someone who can battle as well. Not just against other Pokemon, but against all sorts of things. Is that something you think you can do?"

The Pokemon stilled at that, thinking. It was obviously afraid, and its gaze lowered. But then it turned to face the way we came again, the direction where the larger Pokemon was. It stiffened its shoulders, looked up at me, raised its hammer and let out a determined cry.

It was more adorable than it was impressive, considering its small statue and baby-like proportions. But it was a definite sign of conviction, and there was no way I wasn't going to accept it.

"Alright then, welcome to the team," I said. "Let's just head to town so I can get a Pokeball for you-" I cut myself off as I suddenly realized I did still have a Pokeball left. I kneeled down on the ground and slung off my backpack. The Pokemon protested as I tried to put it down. "I need both my hands," I said. It grumbled, but let go of my shirt.

Honestly, it was also just heavy and I was tired of carrying it. VV was probably something like eight to ten pounds, akin to a dog his size. The yet-unnamed Pokemon was roughly the same size but easily twice his weight, and a good chunk of that was the hammer I was pretty sure.

With both hands free I opened up one of the pockets of my bag and pulled out the single item in there, a Pokeball that was all white with red accents. It was the Premier Ball I got as a bonus from the Pokemart guy.

My normal procedure in Pokemon games was to buy all of my Pokeballs in groups of ten, each time getting a Premier Ball. But I never used them, instead just collecting them through the entire game. It wasn't until the end game that I would use them, and exclusively to capture legendaries.

It was a lot harder than using Ultra Balls, and I usually had to save scum to do it, but I just really liked the aesthetic of my Legendaries being in Premier Balls. And it made catching them a bit more exciting and challenging.

So when I had gotten this one I had put it in a different pocket and mentally wrote it off as an available Pokeball just by sheer habit. But there was no point in hoarding a ball like that when I only planned on picking up one Pokemon and I was way too weak to even think about approaching Legendaries.

So I offered it to the Pokemon. "Once I put you in this, there's no going back. Are you sure?"

It nodded again, determined, so I pressed it against the Pokemon's head. Just as VV and the others I attempted to catch had, she disappeared in a flash of red light and entered the Pokeball. It pulsed a few times before letting out an audible click, and the process was done.

Levy had my phone so I had no way of verifying the capture, but that was fine. I was headed her way anyway. "I'll let you out when we get back to town and I can get you healed up, just in case," I said. I wasn't entirely sure if she could hear me while she was in the ball, but I figured it was worth a shot.

I didn't release them immediately because the sun was pretty close to its zenith and I wanted to hurry back to town before Levy started worrying. She had the phone, so she knew that I had just captured a Pokemon, but still.

With the Pokemon still avoiding me and not being slowed down by trying to capture one I made it back to town in just fifteen more minutes of walking. I hadn't really gone out that far, it had just taken a while to get there with all the detours and stops.

We hadn't specified a place to meet up, but I found Levy near the Pokemon Center close to the battlefield I had left her at. She was standing at a table, looking in my direction, while VV played with a berry, batting it between his paws on the table top.

She smiled and waved as she spotted me. I waved back and picked up the pace, eager to reunite with her. When I reached her I immediately wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. She eagerly returned the hug.

"I was really worried, you know," she said. "I didn't get any Capture notifications for the longest time."

"Sorry," I said. "The Pokemon were acting weird. They kept avoiding me like they were scared of me."

"You too?" Levy asked as she let go of me and took a step back. "Aside from VV, every Pokemon I've gotten close to has seemed especially skittish."

"Do we smell weird or something?" I asked. "What do you think, VV? Got an explanation?"

VV looked at the two of us and tilted his head, thinking. Then he barked and shrugged before going back to playing with his berry.

I sighed. "Well, it gave me trouble. But I was able to finally get one that wasn't afraid of me and she agreed to come with. Lemme see the phone though, I need to scan her because I have no idea what species she is. But first, let me bring her to Nurse Joy."

"Wait, I thought the other lady was Nurse Joy?" Levy asked, confused.

"They're all Nurse Joy," I said. Levy only looked more confused at that. "It's one of the great mysteries of this world. Pokemon Centers are staffed by Nurse Joys. They're a large family, and yes, they all look identical. Theories range from them being clones, Pokemon, some kind of statistical and genetic anomalies, or just the concept of caring for pokemon in human form. Personally, I don't want to know, because the answer is probably more boring than any of those."

I left Levy to mull over that little fact as I went to get my new Pokemon healed. "Hi, I just caught a new Pokemon, and she seemed fine, but I wanted to get her topped off just in case," I told the Nurse Joy there.

"Sure thing, just place her Pokeball in that first slot on the counter," she instructed me. I did so and the machine started flashing. A few seconds later it played the iconic jingle of all Pokecenter healing machines and the lights turned off. "There you go! Your Tinkatink is in perfect health."

I hadn't expected to find out the name of the Pokemon I had picked up like that, but it was convenient. "Thank you," said as I picked up Tinkatink's ball. I made my way back to Levy. "Ready to meet our new family member?"

"Yes!" she replied, excited.

VV made room on the table as I aimed the Pokeball at it and pressed the release button. A beam of light shot out and coalesced into the small form of my new Pokemon. Tinkatink looked around at her new surroundings, nervous. When she spotted me she reached for me.

I fought down the temptation to pick her up. "Now, now, it's okay, these are all my friends," I said. I put an arm around Levy's shoulders. "This is Levy, she's my…" I trailed off with a frown. "Girlfriend? Lover? Wife?" I looked at Levy.

She shrugged. "All of the above?" she suggested.

"We'll go with lover," I decided. "And there next to you is VV, Levy's Pokemon."

VV made a soft noise in greeting and extended his nose towards the Tinkatink to sniff at him. Tinkatink shrank back at first, but after a moment she reached out and touched him gently on the nose. VV smiled and licked Tinkatink's hand as he wagged his bushy tail.

While the two of them interacted, I looked up Tinkatink on the Pokedex, scanning her. I learned her moveset, which included Astonish, Fairy Wind, Baby-Doll Eyes, Metal Claw, and Covet. It was a bigger list than I expected, and something I could definitely work with.

I also learned more about her species. Like how yes, they're all female, they make their own hammers, and they're Fairy Steel, which was a really good defensive typing. Still had to look out for Fire and Ground, but she had a lot of other good resistances.

"We should get lunch and talk plans," I said. "I also want to hear how you did this morning."

"There's a really good kebab vendor a few of the locals recommend," Levy mentioned. "I'll grab a few and you can look over the Capture list to see how I did. Any preferences?"

"No onions unless they really cook the shit out of them," I said as I pulled open the app. She nodded, kissed me on the cheek, and then ran off.

I looked through the Captures as Levy suggested. In the approximately six hours I had been gone, Levy had fought seventeen trainers. Or, at least, she had Stamped seventeen of them. The vast majority were invalid targets, but six were worth credits. Four were rated at Tier 4, and the other two at Tier 3. All together, and adding the Tier 2 Nurse Joy from earlier, we were set to earn 32 Credits in a few days when the Stamps finished.

That didn't even count the twelve available to us right now for capturing VV and Tinkatink. I could've purchased something cheap before we left if I needed to, but with our current plan I didn't see the need for that. Martial Talent could maybe be useful for Pokemon Battles, but a few hours wasn't enough to make a huge difference.

But then I looked closer and saw something interesting. Each Pokemon trainer qualified for a Rebate on Creature Defense. Between the six of them, that meant I could pick up both levels of Creature Defense for free.

It wouldn't help against Pokemon, since it only worked on non-sapient beasts and animals, but a free Defense was nice no matter what it was. And since those trainers didn't offer potential Rebates for any other Defense, it was an easy choice to put it all on Creature.

Nurse Joy also offered Rebates for both Body and Creature Defense. I didn't need it for Creature of course, so I went ahead and applied it to Body, but didn't purchase it yet. But when I did, I'd only need three Credits to do so.

Similarly, Levy qualified for a Rebate as well- Stress Defense. Thinking about it, she did keep a pretty cool head during the events of Fairy Tail, especially compared to her guild mates. Since it was the only Defense she qualified for a Rebate for, I applied it there as well and again didn't purchase it. Stress Defense was a pretty low priority, all things considered.

It was then that Levy came back holding two large skewers of meat and vegetables. "Oh, that smells divine," I commented as she handed me one. "Also, good job with the Captures."

"Not a single person said no to being stamped and having their picture taken," she said. "Not even the one person I lost to."

"Only one loss?" I asked as I bit into a chunk of meat. I had to hold back a groan as I realized that this was the first time I had had meat in over a week. "That's impressive. You two did great. Think we can get more?"

Levy shook her head. "Maybe one or two more, but I'm pretty sure I fought most of the willing people around here. Some more traveling students might trickle in, but there are probably better uses of our time."

I nodded and took another bite of the skewer. "One of us should do the Gym," I said. "And… I think it should be me. I know you've been training all morning for it, but VV doesn't have any super effective moves, nor does he have any resistances to Bug, and if one of them has a Fighting type move, you could be in real danger."

"But Tinkatink resists a bunch of things," I continued. "Including Bug and Normal, two types of moves that they are sure to know. Offensively Tinkatink doesn't have any advantages either. We'll have to check out the TM list for both of them."

"TM List?" Levy asked.

"Technical Machines are items that can be used to teach Pokemon moves they don't learn naturally," I explained. I opened the Pokedex and pulled up the entry for Tinkatink. "Ah, good, the Pokedex has a list of which ones they can learn."

I looked over the list until I found what I was looking for. "Here we go. Rock Slide. Rock is super effective against Bug, so all I have to do is purchase that and teach it to Tinkatink."

"Can VV not learn anything?" Levy asked. "Not that I'm against you taking on the Gym leader, I just want to make sure we explore all possibilities."

I pulled up the Eevee entry and looked. "There are definitely some I think we should pick up, but nothing that would help against the Gym." Then I looked up. "What do you think, Tinkatink? You feel up to a Gym Battle?"

Tinkatink looked at me and tilted it's head, clearly not having any idea what a Gym Battle was. "Hmm, probably not," I said. "Okay, here's the plan. I purchase some TMs. I teach Tinkatink Rock Slide and we spend the afternoon training it in mock battles of VV versus Tinkatink. Then I take on the Gym before it closes in the evening." The Gym buildings themselves were open 24/7, but challenges could only be done before so late at night. A Gym Leader needs to sleep after all.

Levy nodded. "That sounds like a good plan to me. What TMs are you going to get besides Rock Slide?"

"I'd like to get every single one they can learn," I mused. "But no. Even with a TM it will take time for them to master using the move in actual combat." Or so I was assuming. I didn't want to rely too heavily on game mechanics. "Besides, that would drain our money too much. We'll say… five for each of them, and we can spend some time working on them at home."

After picking the TMs I wanted and getting another kebab, we headed to the Pokemon Center to buy them. But it wasn't Nurse Joy or the Pokemart guy we talked to. No, we just went straight to the green part of the kiosk, where there was… well, a Technical Machine machine.

I was afraid that it would have a limited selection of TMs, but thankfully that wasn't the case. I was able to find all the TMs I wanted and it printed them out for me, putting the information on a CD-like item. They weren't as expensive as I feared they would be, coming out to roughly $230, but I restrained myself from spending more. I didn't need to blow a thousand dollars on TMs we might not even use.

For Tinkatink I got Rock Slide, Swords Dance, Thunder Wave, and Helping Hand. Rock Slide had a lot of type coverage and was an all around good move. Swords Dance would boost her power, especially outside of turn based context. Thunder Wave paralyzed foes, which was not only useful for giving her time to set up Swords Dance in battle, but also just being able to paralyze people at will would be useful in our excursions. Helping Hand was similar in that I got it less for Pokemon Battles and more for our other trips. If it could be used on a person, that would be a very useful tool.

Eevee got Dig, Shadow Ball, Sunny Day, and Rain Dance. Truth be told, none of those were intended to augment his Pokemon Battle potential. Without knowing what he would evolve into, if he ever would, it was too early to figure out how to focus him. Still, the moves would be very useful for us. Sunny Day and Rain Dance would offer some level of weather control, though I had no idea how much it would be in practice. But even if it was minor, Talents would eventually train it up to pretty crazy levels. Dig would serve the role I hoped to fill with a Ground Type and help us excavate rooms and tunnels in our home. And Shadow Ball was for just in case we ever ran into a ghost we needed to fuck up in our adventures. Or a Ghost Type Pokemon, but VV wouldn't be doing much more battling before we leave except against Tinkatink.

And I also purchased Rest for both. Rest was a special state of sleeping that restored HP and cleared status conditions. Considering berries would be our only source of Pokemon healing, I decided it would be best if they had a way to heal themselves.

We head out of town to find a place to train in private. We opt to go the other direction I went before, heading south west instead or north east, just to reduce the risk of running into that angry Tinkatuff as I had learned it was called. We found a relatively flat area far from the olive tree orchards and close to a river and decided to train there.

Something had been bothering me on the walk there though. So when I released Tinkatink I addressed her directly. "Tinkatink, you're part of the family now, so I think you should get a name unique to you."

"I agree!" Levy added. VV mewled his support as well.

Tinkatink looked a little caught off guard, but she slowly nodded, accepting our decision but not seeming terribly enthusiastic about it.

I had been thinking long and hard as we walked. I didn't usually name my Pokemon in the games, but this was very different, so I wanted to make sure I did a good job with it. So I offered her the name I had come up with.

"How about TT? To match VV?"

Tinkatink frowned, VV growled, and Levy said "Dejected!" all at the same time.

"Ouch," I said in a dry tone of voice. "Okay, do you have anything better?"

"How about just going with Tink? Or, better, Tinks? It's snappy and cute."

I turned back to Tinkatink. "Well? How do you feel about Tinks?"

She put a fat finger up to her chin for a moment, thinking about it. Then she nodded and smiled, letting out a warbling cry in that strange voice of hers. VV barked in approval as well, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Okay Tinks," I said, using her new name. "Remember how I said I was going to need you to battle? Well, it's time to start training for that. There's a strong person I'd like to challenge. We don't have to beat her, but it's important that we impress her. Are you up for it?"

Tinks tightened her grip on her hammer and she looked a little nervous. But after a moment of hesitation, she nodded.

"Good. Now, I'm going to teach you a few new moves, and then we're going to spar against VV in order to practice them. I'll need to return you to do that, okay?"

Tinks nodded and I pressed the return button on her Pokeball. See, the way TMs work is actually super cool. It was always something I had wondered about when I played the games. How did you apply CDs to Pokemon?

Well, the answer was in the Pokeball. I had looked it up while we walked over here, and the process was simple. The hole in the center of the CD was sized to snap onto the button on the front of a Pokeball. When that button was pressed with a TM on it, it would start spinning in a circle. Then it would slowly, starting from the outside, be digitized into that same red light, which would get absorbed by the Pokeball. And when the TM was completely gone, the Pokemon inside of the Pokeball would know the move.

Levy and I did this for all the TMs I bought and then got to work. I had a strategy in mind for the Gym and only a few hours to practice it with Tinks.

Suffice to say, a few hours was not enough time to master it, but I wasn't aiming for perfection. The biggest thing I was trying to accomplish was just getting Tinks used to battling. Unlike VV, she didn't immediately take to battle or following commands, frequently panicking when pressured and hesitating to attack.

I wasn't, and honestly still am not sure how much of that was Tinks inexperience and personality, and how much was me just not being a good Trainer. But I was patient, and Tinks did improve as we practiced. But I didn't know if it would be enough. The first Gym Leader was an enigma to me.

A few hours later, when I noticed that Tinks improvement had started slowing down, I called an end to the practice. Levy and I both recalled our Pokemon so they could rest as we trekked back to town, where we healed them up at the Pokecenter and then headed straight for the Gym.

Well, I say 'straight' for it, but it took some asking around to figure out where the Gym was. Turns out, it was right across the street from the bakery the Gym Leader ran. But I never would have guessed it, because it just looked so… corporate. It looked like an office building rather than a Gym. Hell, even when we went inside it was a nice professional lobby that we stepped into.

But I just made a mental note that this region was weird and I approached the counter. "I'd like to challenge the Gym Leader," I said.

"Certainly," the man behind the counter replied with a smile. "Can I see your Trainer ID?" I handed the card over to him and he scanned it. "Oh? You just became a Trainer this morning? Are you sure you're ready for a Gym Battle already?"

"I did a lot of studying before becoming a trainer, and I want to at least give it a shot," I said, a little annoyed that he'd bring that up.

But if he noticed my annoyance, he didn't show it. "Then I wish you luck. But before you can face the Gym Leader, you must perform a Gym Test."

I frowned and my mind instantly went to some of the puzzles that many Gyms required to just make it to the Gym Leader. "Alright, what is it?"

"Go to the north-west part of town, where there is a large field. A Gym Representative will be there and will lead you through the Gym Test. Once you complete it, you can come back here for the Challenge."

I nodded. "I'll be back soon then," I promised as I turned and left. Levy, who had been waiting near the door, met back up with me and I explained the situation to her.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the Gym Test, but it certainly wasn't what we ended up finding there.

"Cortondo is responsible for the vast majority of olive production for the entire Region," the Gym Representative explained to me as she stood in front of what looked like a obstacle course. Or really, more of a maze with the smallest obstructions I've ever seen. "So, for our Gym Test, we'll ask that you 'transport' an 'olive' from the starting point to the goal!"

I looked at the entrance, where there was a giant inflatable ovoid roughly in the same shape of an American football. It was an olive green color and easily twice my height. "And the rules?" I asked, entirely unsure how to feel about this.

"You can't push it over the walls and you can't use any Pokemon," the Representative said with a smile. "There's no time limit though, so feel free to take as long as you need."

I sighed. I realized even then that it had to be something even ten year olds could do, but this felt incredibly silly. But I didn't have much of a choice, so I made my way to the starting point.

Look, I'm not gonna give that 'Test' credit by detailing it. It was stupidly easy. The 'olive' may have been a weird shape for rolling, but so long as you only rolled it along its thickest part and you just pivoted it to turn it, you wouldn't have any problems. The maze only had a few dead ends and all of them were easy to see over the waist high see-through fences stylized like spider-webs. It only took me a few minutes to push the 'olive' into the goal. The Representative congratulated me and told me to head back to the Gym, so Levy and I trekked back.

"Congratulations on completing the Gym Test!" said the man behind the counter in a tone that was probably genuine but came across as demeaning. "Gym Leader Katy is waiting for you at the battlefield, so if you'll follow me?"

He led me out of the front doors of the Gym and across the street. I soon realized that the wooden platform above the bakery wasn't additional seating, but instead a high quality Pokemon Battlefield. People were standing around the edges of it, talking and looking excited.

And standing on the far side of the battlefield was Katy, the Gym Leader. She was a plump woman dressed in a baker's outfit. My first and largest impression of her was that she was one of those southern mothers who would try to stuff you full of food to 'put some meat on them bones' and play the perfect host no matter the situation.

But, as I took my position, the look she gave me was surprisingly serious. "My name is Katy, and I'm the owner of Patisserie Soapberry," she introduced herself. Then she smiled sweetly at me. "But right now I'm the leader of the Cortondo Gym. My love for baking delicious sweets is only matched by my love for cute little Bug Pokemon that hide in the foliage. And if you're not careful, they'll both knock you off your feet!"

With that declaration she threw out her Pokeball, and a Pokemon I didn't recognize came out. It looked like a black grasshopper the size of a rat. I tossed out my Premier ball. "Tinks! It's time!" I said as she appeared.

Our few hours of training had done a lot to help stiffen Tinks' backbone, but she still looked a little nervous as she appeared on the battlefield and saw all of the people. "Don't worry about them, just focus on me and your opponent, okay?" I reassured her. She looked at me over her shoulder and nodded before turning to face the enemy Pokemon.

Okay, it was a Nymble. I didn't find that out until after the battle but not naming Tinks' species for so long was really annoying and I'm not doing it again for any of these Gym ones.

"She's adorable," Katy said with a smile, but her eyes were sharp. "But I hope she's prepared."

"We'll find out," I said with a grin. I could feel myself getting excited. I knew she was using a low level team to match the fact that I didn't have any badges, but it didn't change the fact that I was essentially trying to speedrun the gym using a suboptimal team.

And nothing excited me more.

A thrum of power vibrated through the field and I saw the air shimmer in front of me. I must have looked confused, because Katy offered an explanation. "Just some barriers to make sure no one gets hurt," she says. "Now, are you ready?"

"Let's do this, Tinks, just like we practiced!" I called out in answer. And like that, it was on.

"Approach and Double Kick," Katy ordered calmly but in a clear voice.

I paused, letting it get close. When it was too late for the Nymble to change course, I shouted. "Stun 'em!"

Tinks let out a cry and raised her iron club. Electricity sparked from the tip of it and jumped towards the Nymble as Tinks hit it with a Thunder Wave.

The Nymble came to a stop as it was paralyzed, twitching lightly on the ground.

"Now leap back and Swords Dance until it wears off!" I ordered.

Tinks did as I said, leaping back a few feet and starting to literally dance. She shimmered with energy as she spun and moved her body, wielding her club like a sword. That energy slowly started shifting and shaping into swords hanging in the air around her.

Swords Dance was a move that raised the power of your physical attacks. In the game, it was a single turn move and it raised the power by 100%, up to a maximum of 300% extra, or 4 times, damage.

But outside of the games, it wasn't so clean. They had to actually stop and dance to do the move, and the longer they did the move before stopping, the stronger the effect and the longer it would last. How well you danced also impacted how strong it was, but there wasn't much research on exactly how that worked.

Still, even if the application was a bit different, the idea was the same. I'd dabbled in Pokemon challenge runs before, and there was one basic strategy you used when you were facing an enemy stronger than you.

Set up and sweep.

The Nymble couldn't do anything as Tinks danced, slowly increasing her power. It slowly struggled to its feet, fighting through the paralysis. Katy didn't offer any commands and just watched. I met her eyes across from the battlefield, and she gave me a little smile. She wasn't at all worried.

Something on her face shifted, and my instincts told me my time was up before she even opened her mouth. "That's enough, Rock Slide before it can move!"

Tinks stopped her dancing and raised her mallet in the air, a brown energy gathering around it. At the same time, Katy made her move. "Struggle Bug!"

Even as Tinks slammed down her mallet against the ground, chunking the concrete and sending a wave of sharp rocks shimmering with that same brown energy at the paralyzed Pokemon, it released a barrage of green energy that flew through the air and slammed into Tinks.

Both Pokemon are sent reeling, but Nymble definitely comes out worse. Some of the shards of concrete are as large as he is, and several hit him, pushing him to the edge of the battlefield. Stray shards impact against the invisible barrier at the edges, sending small ripples through the air. Nymble lay still, no longer paralyzed but instead fainted.

Tinks, on the other hand, had merely been forced back a few steps. She had raised her stubby little arms to try to block it, but it had left them a little scuffed, and a few pinpricks of green energy lingered on them. But Struggle Bug was a Bug type move, which she resisted. She let out a cry of annoyance and tried to rub the remaining bits of the attack off her arms as Katy recalled her Nymble.

"That's some pretty good thinking for such a new Trainer," Katy complimented me with a smile. "But do you think it'll be enough to beat me?"

"Well, I'm making progress at least," I replied. "Good job Tinks, you did it perfectly."

Tinks let out a happy cry and raised her mallet in the air.

Katy took another Pokeball from her pocket and threw it onto the field. Her next Pokemon was one that looked like a spider that had its body wrapped in a big silk ball, and it was roughly the size of a cat. This one was called Tarountula I later learned.

"Rock Slide!" I ordered, hoping to finish this round immediately. But Katy wasn't a Gym Leader for no reason.

"Defensive webbing!" Kay ordered. I frowned. I was pretty sure that wasn't a Move, which meant it was a practiced strategy.

Tinks sent another chunk of the battlefield hurtling at her opponent, but faster than I thought could have been possible the enemy Tarountula used what I could only assume was String Shot to not attack but instead create a sticky wall of web.

"Metal Claw that wall!" I told Tinks, improvising. Tinks let out a cry that contained a hint of uncertainty, but she dashed forward, off-hand glowing with a shining gray energy. But that turned out to be the wrong call.

"Now!" Katy ordered. "Bug Bite!"

Like a scene ripped straight from a spider documentary, Tarountula darted over the wall it had made, teeth glowing with green energy, and it latched on to Tinks, sinking its teeth into her shoulder.

Tinks panicked and let out a shrill scream. She scrambled back, pulling the Tarountula with her. When she saw that, she thrashed around with her iron club. The Tarountula tried to jump away before it could hit her, but one of its legs got clipped.

Tinks scrambled away, putting as much distance between herself and the Tarountula as she could. "You're okay Tinks!" I reassured her. "Calm down, calm down, you're not hurt badly."

Tinks looked at me with wide eyes, little tears in the corners of her eyes. But I kept calm and spoke to her in a soothing voice. "It only did a little bit, right? You're a tough girl. It just scared you."

Tinks slowly calmed down, and I kept an eye on Katy. She seemed willing to give us a moment though, which was awfully nice of her. But I didn't want to push it. "We'll keep our distance now, okay? Just be ready to do what I tell you, and trust me."

Tinks nodded, stiffening her shoulders and turning to face the Tarountula again. "Baby-Doll Eyes!" I ordered.

I couldn't see them from behind Tinks, but there was a flash of pink light and the Tarountula was definitely looking. The move was basically the same thing as Growl, but Fairy themed.

"String Shot!" Katy ordered.

"Dodge and Thunder Wave!" I countered.

The Pokemon carried out our commands at the same time. A string of web shot from Tarountula's rear, but Tinks was dodging to the side as another spark of Electricity shot from her hammer.

Unfortunately, it missed, but I had made my plan assuming it would. And thankfully, it had dodged away from the web wall it had set up earlier. "Now Rock Slide before it can block it!"

Tinks didn't hesitate, and empowered by Swords Dance as she was, the rock shards shot at Tarountula with a blinding speed. It was caught out of position and despite its attempt to dodge it was still blasted with a shower of concrete.

It let out a chittering noise and slumped to the ground defeated. I pumped my hand in the air. "Good job Tinks! We're almost done!"

"A good job indeed," Katy commented as she recalled her second Pokemon. "You are certainly a fine Trainer. But I have one final test for you. Can you handle this?"

Out of her next Pokeball was…a Teddiursa? I frowned in confusion, trying to figure out why a Bug specialist would send out a Normal type.

But I found out very quickly as Katy pulled out what looked like another Pokeball, but one made of crystal or glass. It shone with some kind of internal energy. The crowd started cheering louder at the sight of it, which just furthered my confusion. "Be ready Tinks!" I warned her.

Was this Mega evolution? No, only fully evolved Pokemon could Mega Evolve. Was she about to Dynamax? Not on this small battlefield she wasn't. No, I realized then that it had to be something new.

She threw the glass Pokeball and suddenly the Teddiursa was encased in shining crystal. It flashed for a second and let out a keening sound before shattering into nothingness, even the shards dissolving, revealing the same Teddiursa but… different. It was covered in a crystalline coating, tinted green. The only difference were the two bug-like antennas on its head.

"What the hell is this?" I asked out loud.

"Oh? Have you not been in Paldea long?" Katy asked. "This is a process known as Terastilizing. My sweet little Teddiursa is now, for all intents and purposes, a Bug type!"

I admit, I gaped at her as the full implications of such a mechanic settled in. To be able to change a Pokemon's typing on the fly was insane.

While I stood there like an idiot, Katy made her move. "Dig!" she shouted. The Teddiursa wasted no time in using its claws to tear up the concrete of the battlefield and dig into it.

I mentally cursed. Dig was a Ground type move, one of the few weaknesses Tinks had. "Feel the ground, be ready for it to pop up underneath you!" I ordered.

Tinks looked terrified at the ground, hammer raised with trembling hands. My mind whirred as I tried to come up with a counter.

I latched on to the first idea that came to mind. "Rush across the battlefield and use Fairy Wind into the tunnel it dug!" I commanded. I didn't know if that would work, but a backup idea was already forming in my head.

"Intercept her!" Katy commanded.

Tinks was only a little more than halfway there when I saw the ground shudder between her and the hole, the vibrations heading straight for her. But the idea from earlier was now solid in my head, so I was ready.

"Jump onto the webs and use Thunder Wave!" I yelled.

Tarountula's webs from earlier were still present on the field, making a good safe place from a burrowing pokemon. Sure enough, when the Teddiursa burst from the ground, it got stuck momentarily on the webs.

Just long enough for Tinks' Thunder Wave to hit it.

Bug-type or Normal-type, it didn't matter to Thunder Wave. Electricity coursed over Teddiursa's fur and it went rigid.

I didn't waste any time. "Rock Slide!" I shouted. Tinks hopped down from the webby wall and slammed her mallet into the ground again, sending rocks hurtling at the Teddiursa from point blank range. It was bowled over by the impact, but a Teddiursa was a little hardier than the Bug types she had sent out before, and it started getting up on shaking, mostly paralyzed limbs. "Again!"

Tinks ruined the battlefield even more by sending more rocks at the teddy bear Pokemon. It was knocked over again, and it let out a pitiful moan before falling still.

There was a moment of stillness as the whole crowd went quiet. And then they erupted into cheers. Tinks flinched at the sudden onslaught of noise and turned to me, but I just kneeled down and held out my arms. She ran to me then and I picked her up.

"You did it Tinks! We won!" I told her. She made a happy noise and hugged me back. I looked into the crowd and saw Levy cheering and clapping, a smile on my face.

Katy approached me, having recalled her Pokemon when I wasn't paying attention. "The two of you did very well," she praised us. "Your bond is sweeter than any pastry I could possibly make. And for that, you deserve this." She held out a Badge, a small circle of metal where the green symbol of the Bug Type was surrounded by a gold laurel wreath.

I stood up, still holding Tinks with one hand, and accepted the badge from her. "Thanks a lot," I said. "But, at the risk of being presumptuous, could I ask a favor?"

I hadn't forgotten the real reason I was challenging her, and it wasn't the badge.

She ate up the fake story and was all too happy to accept the Stamp and a picture. She even said that she'd be happy to help out with the Stone Sanctuary. I told her that I'd tell him to get in contact with her and work something out, wished her a good night, and then made my excuses to get back to Levy before she could ask too many questions.

I gave Levy a hug, both Pokemon now stored safely in their balls. "You did it!" she congratulated me.

"I beat her," I agreed. "But also, I got the Stamp on her, and I'm not sure which one I'm more excited about."

"You should be proud of how well you did," she reassured me. "I think VV and I would have struggled a lot more, but you made it look easy."

"Being able to set up was the only reason that worked," I said with a shake of my head. "And I had to do a lot of improvising."

"And you handled it very well, as did Tinks," Levy said. "Now, we still have about six hours until the Portal closes. What else do you want to get done?"

I sighed. "Honestly? I'm exhausted and ready to call it a day. Let's pick up those berry bushes, fly back to Mesagoza, and maybe grab some food at a nice place before heading home. I don't think there's anything else meaningful we can get done."

Levy nodded. "That's probably for the best. We did much better than we were hoping for, so leaving early should be fine." She kissed me lightly on the lips. "I had a lot of fun today though. I never imagined a world like this existed, and seeing it for myself was everything I could have ever hoped for."

I smiled and squeezed her tight. "Well, it's a good thing we're just getting started," I said. "If this world blew your mind, just wait until we see some of the crazier ones out there."

"I can't wait," she replied. Then she stepped back from me, finally breaking that hug. "Now, come on. Let's go before we fall asleep."

To make a long story short, we did exactly what we planned on doing. Space was at a premium so we didn't get too many berry bushes, but we did get a nice spread. Oran berry for normal healing, Pecha for curing poison, Rawst for burns, Cheri for Paralysis, Chesto for sleepiness, and Aspear for excessively cold temperatures. I wasn't sure if our Pokemon could even be affected by those kinds of status conditions if they weren't facing out Pokemon, but it also helped that each of those berries had a different type of flavor and would do a lot to increase the variety of our food dishes. They were cheap too, and I spent about $500 total on them all.

After that we flew back to the city we arrived in. I dozed in the carriage, the cool night air lulling my tired body to sleep. It had been a very full and active day filled with a lot of emotions. But it was also incredibly satisfying, and it gave me a lot of hope for the future.

When we arrived in the city Levy and I took it easy finding a place to eat, eventually settling on a nice Japanese-esque place serving ramen where we each had a nice big bowl of it to fill our stomachs. Then we headed for the portal, went home, released Tinks and VV and collapsed into our beds in the tent.

And today… well, I'll save that for tonight's entry, which won't be long, but I wanna keep this thing organized. But this week is going to be exciting, and I can't wait to see what we get done.

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AN: The world was semi-randomly decided, picked from a list of worlds within the DR range that I thought would make for an interesting story without offering him too much or too little. Future worlds will probably be a bit more random, but some worlds just don't offer much in terms of storytelling. Those are fine in the future, but I specifically didn't want the first world to be disappointing after hyping it up.

I very much decided on what Pokemon they got though. Something about Eevee just fit Levy on an aesthetic level. And I love Tinkaton so I decided to take a chance to include her in something. It wasn't until after I had already decided on her that I realized her potential as a blacksmith(literally being the "Metal Smithing" pokemon). So that was nice. Also, Tinks will not be lewded. Most likely. Even if she is, it'll only after being fully evolved and gaining a human form through some means. But honestly I'm leaning towards making her more of a daughter figure.

To be clear, I wrote this after playing Pokemon Scarlet(which I really enjoyed btw), but I flipped a coin to see if Roland would know it or not, and he didn't.

I won't be uploading in chunks like this in the future, entire weeks at a time. Though I will be uploading in groups, at least 5k words at a time, that way I don't just upload a 200 word chapter and that's it. I just wanted to make sure we got through the first portal opening so I could establish how this is going to go and hopefully answer questions. I also thought it would be like…10k, max, instead of the 21k monstrosity it is. It's like the early days of GotV all over again… But that's all I have for now, hope you enjoy!