A/N: I really enjoy writing this story. It feels like sometimes, writing can take you on as much of a journey as reading. I never considered myself a good writer- I would always take way too long to write essays because of my lack of motivation and perfectionism- but writing creatively has neutralized those aspects. I can be as meticulous as I want due to the lack of time constraints, and by writing in a topic that I'm interested in, I've kept motivation! Anyway, here's Chapter 3!

Chapter 3: Meetings

After eating lunch at the Pokémon Center, Hayate, with Drifloon in his arms, and Jane started to walk through the cobblestone town streets towards the beach. Jane wanted her team to meet Hayate in a more comfortable place than the middle of town, and Hayate just needed to lie down. The early afternoon sun negated February's chill, allowing Hayate to stuff his two outer layers of clothing into his backpack before they left. Vacant summer homes adorned the roadsides they walked by; most of the residents lived in warmer regions for the rest of the year, leaving Undella uncharacteristically quiet. Like Floaroma Town, it was known for the summer.

Jane had decided to teach Hayate some words and phrases in Galarian that he would need to know. "Pokémon Gym," she spoke into Hayate's Pokégear, using its translator function. Using its programmed voice, it recited: "Pokémon Jimu."

Another cognate. It seemed that a lot of the vocabulary was about the same between Indigo and Galarian, which certainly made Hayate's job lighter.

Hayate had a lot of respect for Gym Leaders. Training just one type of Pokémon was difficult when one Pokémon on a well-rounded team could potentially counter the whole party. Still, despite the disadvantages of being specialists, Gym Leaders had excelled not only in their type, but in defending against challengers with good type matchups.

Jane was planning on taking the Marine Tube from Undella to Humilau to battle its Gym Leader, Marlon, for her fourth badge. "He uses Water-types," she informed Hayate. "Humilau is one of the newer gyms- it was established five years ago. Because a lot of people come to Unova, the region has added more Gyms to accomodate, and you can choose eight of the twelve in order to qualify for the League. If you collect more than eight badges, you can even get a better seed in the tournament." She translated to Hayate, who nodded along, and spoke again. "I don't know if you're planning on going back to Sinnoh, but if you stay in Unova, can you travel with me? It's been a while since I've really had anyone to talk with. And I'm also really curious about what Sinnoh's like. I've wanted to travel overseas for a while, but my parents want me to stay in Unova."

Hayate knew he'd need all the help he could get if he were to stay in Unova. Then again, that was a big "if." He'd need to figure that out with Professor Rowan.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," replied Hayate, "but I think that if I do stay, we should absolutely travel together. You've been so kind; so I wouldn't want to turn your offer down. Plus, I don't have a reason not to."

"Great!" Jane held her hand up for a high-five, to which Hayate accepted with a soft smile.

Guilt piled up once again in Hayate. First Drifloon, now Jane. They'd been so kind to him, but he didn't have anything to give in return. So much for becoming independent.

The beach was visible up ahead. As the two walked forward, the bay revealed itself from behind the slightly inclined sand, with water shallow enough for young children to swim in. Of course, no such children were there now, save for a family in long-sleeved clothing forming a sandcastle with a pail and shovel.

Jane ran onto the sand, reaching a meter or so away from the waves, as Hayate caught up behind. "Okay, here're my Pokémon who're with me. Come on out!"

She called out the residents of five Poké Balls onto the sand. Hayate recognized her Zebstrika from earlier, but other than the Magmar who stood to Jane's right, he couldn't tell what any of the others were. A segmented bug that looked to be twice as long as he was, a small bird that seemed to be wearing pants made of bone, and a- was it a plant?- that seemed to be galvanized and covered with spikes, possessing three vine-like limbs, each with a spiked appendage.

"This is Scolipede." Jane directed Hayate to the huge, creepy bug, petting its back. "He's a Bug-Poison-type." Hayate listened to the translated playback on the Pokégear. The bug lowered its head. At least it was well-mannered. Still, he hoped he'd never come across one in the wild.

Next, Jane gestured to the Magmar, avoiding getting too close because of its heat. "Magmar, as you might know, is a Fire-type, but she doesn't really act like one." The Magmar lifted her arm and gave a quiet wave. Hayate waved back, starting to swelter.

The weird plant thing was next. "This is Ferrothorn; he's a Grass-and-Steel-type. He evolved just during this past League Tournament, so I've been trying some new strategies with him for next year." That's right, these Pokémon fought their way to the Top 16. Hayate looked at the party with renewed reverance. They must've put in quite the effort to get where they were in under three years. Jane must really know her stuff to get that far- her Ferrothorn had just evolved, and Magmar (and by the looks of it, the bird Pokémon) weren't even at their final stage.

"You've already met Zebstrika." The striped equine Pokémon, who had been pacing around them on the sand, neighed heartily.

Jane picked up the bird, swaddling it to leave one hand free for Hayate's translator. "This is Vullaby. She's still developing into the team. I only caught her last year, but she's been showing some great stuff. She's a Dark-and-Flying-type." Jane put the Pokégear back in Hayate's hand and swept her bag for something. When she brought out the Liechi berry, Vullaby happily cawed, taking the berry and stuffing it in its beak.

Finally, Jane threw one more Poké Ball out to the water. She caught the rebounding ball after it opened and revealed a plump, pink aquatic Pokémon. Glad to have a body of water to swim in, it splashed around, spraying the water near Jane's feet. "She's a Jellicent- a Water-and-Ghost-type." "I have two more Pokémon at home, so I'll show you them later."

It was Hayate's turn to introduce his Pokémon to Jane's party. "This is Drifloon. I'm not sure what gender it is yet, but its types are Ghost and Flying. We just met today."

Drifloon flew out of Hayate's arms to greet Jane's team. It approached Magmar, surprisingly unfazed by the heat she exuded. Hayate supposed that because they had to control their altitude with the air pressure, the Drifloon species possibly had a natural heat resistance. They shared a hello, and Drifloon moved on to greet Vullaby. The Flying-types traded incomprehensible statements, getting progressively louder, until Drifloon floated away.

Maybe they consider themselves rivals, Hayate pondered, or maybe they just don't get along. At least they're not fighting each other.

Ferrothorn and Scolipede each gave their salutations, and the Balloon Pokémon flew over to Jellicent in the water. After a few exchanges, Jellicent splashed Drifloon with some seawater. Drifloon retaliated, and the two Ghost-types found themselves engrossed in their game. Along with Zebstrika and Scolipede, Jellicent was one of the powerhouses of Jane's team, but that didn't stop her from having fun with her new friend.

Hayate sat down on the cool sand, facing the ocean. Jellicent and Drifloon- his Drifloon- were still playing, splashing away, and his family, town, school; everything was way beyond those waters. Would the Professor take him back to Sinnoh? He'd warmed up, literally as well as figuratively, to the idea of staying in Unova. He wanted to learn how to raise and train Pokémon from someone as skilled as Jane. And he didn't want to cross paths with that rogue who sought the Windworks again.

Something large and magenta caught the corner of Hayate's left eye. Jane's Scolipede ambled up to him and lied down on the sand beside. Jane rubbed the Megapede Pokémon's segmented back, motioning for Hayate to join. "He likes it if you get between the segments," she spoke into the Pokégear.

Hesitant, Hayate waddled over on his knees. "Are there any v-venomous parts I should avoid?" he asked.

"Just the horns on his head and tail. His claws can become venomous, but only if he's in battle," Jane enunciated.

Finally, Hayate put his hands on Scolipede's back. Scolipede closed its eyes and relaxed itself. Hayate had only really studied type matchups and technical skills at school. He wasn't too familiar with this part, the care-taking aspect, of being a Trainer, but it seemed quite nice.

It was late afternoon back at the Pokémon Center. Hayate sat in the lobby, searching his backpack for his book. He was curious to find out what kind of advice Get A Move On contained. His fingers touched a thin, hard plastic casing.

"Jane?" he asked. His companion was sitting across from him, brushing her Vullaby's feathers. Hayate pulled out the case with the yellow disc inside, ready to practice his Galarian vocabulary. "How do I use a TM?"

Jane stood up. "You can use the PC." She walked over to the machine, and Hayate followed. "You need a Trainer's License," she articulated in her native tongue. She logged in to the PC, and Hayate slid the disc into the slot. "This says which Pokémon can learn Thunder Wave." A long list of Pokémon species popped up. Jane scrolled down. "Hey, Drifloon can! And Duosion and Ferrothorn!"

Hayate didn't know what a Duosion was, but he presumed that Jane had one of the amorphous green Pokémon whose icon showed on the screen.

"Zebstrika too," Hayate noticed.

"My Zebstrika already knows Thunder Wave," Jane revealed. "Can I teach Ferrothorn?"

"Yes." Hayate's Galarian was getting better, but he still had to listen closely to deduce what Jane was saying.

"You put the Poké Ball here," showed Jane. There was a raised stand for a Poké Ball on the right side of the machine. "Because I'm logged in, it will work only with my Pokémon." She took out Ferrothorn's ball and placed it on the stand. On the PC, a window opened, showing Ferrothorn's information. A disc icon showed up in the top right corner. "And you click here to teach your Pokémon the TM move."

The PC dinged- a success. Hayate retrieved his disc and put it back in its case as Jane took back her Ferrothorn's ball. "Ferrothorn and I will practice this for our next Gym," said Jane. "Thanks a bunch!"

"You're welcome," replied Hayate. "Thank you to you as well, for walking with me."

Pokémon Center meals weren't incredible, as Hayate decided after finishing his dinner. The Center had served the Trainers a standard mixed vegetable soup with bread that night. Jane had gotten seconds, then thirds- either she loved this soup, or the Center didn't get much better. The League had made Pokémon Centers free for anyone with a Trainer's license- and with so many Trainers to feed, Hayate suspected the second option.

It was a bit past 7 p.m. in Unova- 8 a.m. in Sinnoh. Hayate had decided to wait on one of the Pokémon Center's chairs and read his book while waiting for Professor Nanakamado. Get A Move On, as he realized when he read the forward, was written by the chief regional professor from Alola, Prof. Dan Kukui. Maybe Prof. Nanakamado knew him from work. Hayate approached the first chapter:

The Basics: Move Types and Categories

Just as Pokémon have types, their attacks have types as well, stemming from the type of energy they use. Of course, a Fire-type move will be super effective against a Grass-type, a Grass-type move will be super effective against a Water-type, and a Water-type move will be super effective against a Fire-type, but some new Trainers forget the less iconic advantages and disadvantages. For reference throughout the entire book, I've included a table of how effective different types of moves are against different types of Pokémon.

A table, filled with different shapes scattered among the grid, took up the opposite page. Hayate looked through the chart. He knew most of this information by heart, but he'd never realized that Bug-type moves were not very effective against Poison-types, or that the only type of move that Ice resisted was itself.

A move, when super-effective will do about double the normal damage, and only half the normal damage when not very effective. Some types of Pokémon are immune to certain types of moves, although sometimes, depending on the move, a non-damaging move will still take effect. Normal-types are immune to Ghost moves. Ghost-types are immune to Normal moves in return, as well as Fighting moves. Flying-types are immune to Ground moves, ...

What he just read was common knowledge, but it just occurred to Hayate: Drifloon was immune to not one, not two, but three types.

... Ground-types are immune to Electric moves, Steel-types are immune to Poison moves, Dark-types are immune to Psychic moves, and Fairy-types are immune to Dragon moves.

Things get a bit tricky when a Pokémon has two types. Let's take Probopass, a Rock-and-Steel-type, for example. Fighting or Ground moves are super effective against both Rock and Steel, so they'll do four times the usual damage against Probopass. On the other hand, Normal or Flying moves are not very effective against Rock and Steel, so they'll do only a quarter of the usual damage. Grass or Steel moves are super effective against Rock but not very effective against Steel, so they'll do normal damage. It's important to remember your type matchups- a move you may think is super effective may actually only have normal effect!

Also, if a move is super effective against one of your opponent's types, but your opponent's other type is immune, you wouldn't want to use it! It'll still have no effect.

Moves seem to do more damage if they match the type of the attacker. This phenomenon, called Same-Type Attack Bonus (which I will refer to as STAB), likely stems from the energy of the move being easier, more natural for the Pokémon using the move to harness. This increase is about 50%- quite significant!

Now, moves fall into three categories: Physical, Special, and Status. ...

Hayate noticed Professor Nanakamado, with his Gallade behind him, enter the Center. The boy put his book down and went to greet the Professor.

"Professor!" Hayate shouted, running up to the aging man. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I got the key back!"

The Professor looked down at the boy and began to talk through his moustache. "Young man, what you've done was really dangerous. You were lucky to come out unscathed." He sat down in a chair nearby. "Hmm, sit down with me for a bit." Hayate did. "The criminal whom we made the most unfortunate acquaintance of, her group seems to be targeting Sinnoh's energy sources. They seem to go by Berry code names- one of them is "Agent Leppa," and Volkner heard one of them address another by "Agent Rawst". It seems that one of her allies stole access to the Sunyshore solar network. I hate to admit it, but getting that key back was really important. We don't know what this group wants, but we have League agents stationed at the Windworks and the other power sources for Sinnoh in case they come back."

The Professor got to the point. "They know your face. You'll be a target the moment you set foot again in Sinnoh." Going back was out of the question. "Your mother told me that you came here on a Drifloon. I don't have any traditional starters with me at the moment, so if you want to receive one you'll have to wait, but if you want to travel Unova with your Drifloon, I have no problem with it."

"That's fine, Professor. I'm good with Drifloon. And I'll have Jane traveling with me." Jane, who had been writing in the Pokémon Center lobby when Prof. Nanakamado came in, waved. "She was in the top 16 of the Unova League last year! She's really good."

"Make sure he stays out of trouble," Prof. Nanakamado instructed in his accented Galarian. Jane nodded, beaming. So they would be traveling together!

The Professor directed his focus back to Hayate. "I have a Pokédex and a Trainer Card for you. I'll confirm your ID into the system when I get back to my office." He placed an oddly-shaped Pokédex, with a fresh Trainer Card and a slip of paper on top, in Hayate's hand. "There's a surprise for you in that Pokédex. Call me and your parents if you get into trouble. My number's on that paper."

"Thanks so much, Professor!" exclaimed the newly-knighted Trainer.

"Mhmm, and there's more," revealed the Professor.

Gallade rematerialized inside the Pokémon Center- Hayate hadn't even realized he had gone- with three figures behind him: Mrs. and Mr. Yamaguchi and Momoka. Momoka ran up to her brother, their parents behind her. "We'll miss you!" she said, wrapping her arms around Hayate.

His father, then his mother gave him long hugs. "Our boy is really heading off on his journey," remarked Mr. Yamaguchi.

"You've grown up so fast," reflected Mrs. Yamaguchi. Their words may have been cliché in other, less emotional moments, but they held true for Hayate's parents.

Discretely, Hayate handed over the Works Key to his dad. "Thank you for keeping this safe," Mr. Yamaguchi said softly.

The Professor spoke up. "We wish you the best of luck on your journey. Be safe!"

"I will!"

The Yamaguchi family and Professor Nanakamado bid their farewells, and Gallade Teleported them back to Floaroma Town.

Hayate and Jane retired to Jane's room in the Pokémon Center. Since Hayate hadn't been a Trainer yet when they booked, their room was meant for only one person- Jane had lied down on the bed while Hayate was setting the pillows up on the couch.

"We'll be going through the Marine Tube to Humilau tomorrow. After we get there, we can train if you want. You probably won't want to challenge a Gym Leader without doing some training first." Jane talked as Hayate translated on his Pokégear. He had just added the Professor as a contact and synced his Pokétch with his Trainer ID. A Drifloon icon showed up on the party screen- the connection was a success.

Hayate agreed. He had to train Drifloon and catch a second teammate if he wanted to have a chance at beating a Gym.

That reminded him to check the Pokédex for the Professor's surprise. He booted on the device.

Suddenly, the Pokédex flew out of Hayate's hand and fluttered through the air! Electronic eyes looked around the room as Hayate stared, bewildered. The machine started to talk.

"Hi! I'm your Pokédex's Rotom operator! I belong to Professor Nanakamado, and my task is to assist you, Yamaguchi Hayate, and transmit important information to the Professor. This Pokédex, built specifically for me to use, allows me to speak in a variety of human languages for clear communication. Nice to meet you!"

"N-nice to m-meet you too, Rotom," stammered Hayate.

Jane looked in from the door frame. "You're so lucky! Rotom Dexes are bleeding-edge technology!"

Rotom answered in Hayate's place, switching to Galarian. "Thank you! I'm actually the first one to travel through Unova!" The Plasma Pokémon turned back to Hayate. "I'm glad to be your assistant and make history!"

"Thank you, Rotom," Hayate rejoined. "Can you please give me information about my Drifloon?"

"Sure thing, sugar!" Hayate glowered at the nickname. "Your Drifloon is male and about level 9. His types are Ghost and Flying, his ability is Unburden, his Nature is Lonely, and his moves are Constrict, Astonish, and Gust. Held item: none. Dex numbers: National #425, Sinnoh #065, Unova #208. Captured at Unova Route 13 on February 8, '16. Original trainer: Yamaguchi Hayate."

"Thanks, Rotom," said Hayate. The Professor had enabled the Sinnoh and Unova regional Dexes, as well as the National Dex, it seemed. "By the way, Rotom, how should I refer to you?"

"We Rotom don't have biological genders, but you can use 'she' for me."

"Okay," Hayate mumbled, weary from the long day. He was eager to lie down and sleep. After letting out a yawn, he let out Drifloon and plopped down on the couch.

Drifloon tucked itself in next to Hayate. The new Trainer remembered that he'd have to teach Drifloon the Thunder Wave TM tomorrow morning.

Hayate mumbled out to the other beings in the room. "Goodnight Jane. Goodnight Rotom. Goodnight Drifloon."

"Goodnight," said Jane. Rotom had cozied up in Hayate's bag, asleep. Drifloon softly trilled.

Tomorrow would be a big day for the new Trainer. Hayate's dreams that night were filled with thoughts of his new companions.

A/N: Fun fact: I named Jane after the Jefferson Starship song. I like popping in little music references, so let me know if you find others!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review!

Thanks for reading,
JetStreamGamma

Translations:
Prof. Nanakamado = Prof. Rowan