As David walked to the Pokemart he considered what he knew about Saffron. It was an easy city to remember, it was the location of the difficult psychic gym and the only city with two gym buildings. In the games the city's fighting dojo didn't award you with a badge but a rare Pokemon on completion. The fact the guard at the pokecenter had a Hitmonchan supported this memory.

The clamour around the pokecenter was lighter than earlier but some of that diverted traffic had moved to the Pokemart. Unlike the Pokecenter, there was one door in and out of the pokemart though it was a wide revolving door. There was also no security outside the pokemart. Why the Pokemon version of a shopping centre had no protection but the hospital did wasn't clear to David.

Inside the pokemart was well.. a pet superstore. The large building was divided by head height aisles. Cards hanging from the ceiling announced the contents of each aisle. David could spot several Pokemon types and categories of goods among the categories. A store layout hung on the wall to the left of the entrance but David was unable to see any category that 'League Recovery kit' fit under. Weirdly there was no section for Pokeballs either. He noted the whereabouts of both the Recovery and Safety sections and decided to check those out first before asking about the kit.

David tried to get an idea of prices as he wandered through the grass type section. It was all too similar to a gardening centre, potting soil included. The cheaper foods were only 10P for small sachets while grooming tools were in the 100s and items locked behind cases were in the 1000s. The P symbol on all the prices was the same as in the game, which meant the money was likely called Poke as well. He did wonder what the fascination with those four letters was..

David reached the Safety section first, the Recovery section was beside the checkout. What he found ranged from building safety clothes to a variety of thick overalls claiming resistance to different types of moves. Escape rope was a bit of a let down. It was just a 50ft extra strength rope with a hook on the end.

'I guess it's useful if you want to get up or down a slope.' David thought but he felt cheated by its depiction in the games. The rope was added to a mental wish list anyway. There was a map case but it was in the range of 100s of Poke so he doubted he would be getting it any time soon. As the map claimed strong location accuracy and updated route maps it joined the rope on the list.

Growing a little tired of window shopping he hurried over to the Recovery section. This section contained products that looked like a mix of cleaning products and pharmaceuticals. He was amused to see eye-catching warnings with 'Not suitable for human use' on the back of Potions. Other products had the opposite label on them and it seemed the medical warnings extended to types too. Human use products looked as he expected but pill style medicine was less common compared to poultices and homoeopathic treatments. The prices were much more than he expected, with the most basic Potion at 300P. Based on that, a potion was more expensive than multi use tools and reaching the price of electronics. The poultice style medicine for Pokemon was cheaper but at least twice the price of human variants.

Browsing complete David headed to the counter and after a short, covid style queueing to keep his distance from people, he was at a counter. A tired looking man stood behind it, organising the register after the last customer. Thankfully the lack of anything else in his pockets made it easy to find the receipt for the kit.

"Hello, How can I help you?"

"Could I get a, em, League Recovery kit? I have a receipt here" David said and passed the paper to the man. The man let out a hmm and a sigh before turning around and disappearing into a door behind him. It wasn't long before he reappeared with a hiking backpack on a small trolley. It looked basic and a wrapped up bundle hung off the bottom of the backpack.

The man hefted the backpack up onto the desk before pushing it over to David. David lifted it off the desk to the ground but he was already dreading carrying it around. His arm dropped as the bag left the desk. As soon as the backpack cleared the desk, the man slapped a clipboard and pen down.

"Sign here please." David signed the next spot on the clipboard but figured it was the last chance he would get to ask a question.

"Would you mind telling me where the pokeballs are?" The man behind the counter gave him a long suffering glare before curtly replying.

"No pokeballs are available to those without 6 badges outside of the season, tournament or not. You know the rules." David didn't know the rules but he also wasn't about to inform anyone why that was.

While he wasn't pleased about being unable to buy the balls that made this world go round, he didn't have any money anyway. Besides, Beth had told him the season was starting in two weeks. Two weeks should be long enough to earn enough to buy a pokeball. Feeling a little wronged he just nodded and handed the clipboard back. There was one more thing he needed to know.

"Any way to make some money here?" The expression on the clerk's face told him that he was pushing it but David would need money. He had nothing else to rely on.

"No, we don't buy from trainers and I don't care how the marts work in your hometown. Try the market or the bulletin boards. Neeeext!" With that dismissal, David hoisted his new backpack onto his back and left, trying to avoid whacking someone with the pack.

Leaving the pokemart, David walked up to the signpost outside. It was looking like there wouldn't be a shower for him in the city but he might get lucky on Route 7. If it was a camping spot, there might be either facilities or water nearby. The sign for Route 7 pointed down the road away from the Pokecenter. As Beth had said that Route 7 was westerly, the alley and League office were on a north-south road. The pokemart was also on the south-west corner so he had a straight course to the route.

As he walked he passed wide open spaces full of Pokemon and people. The air still had a chill to it but the heavy bag on his back was making light work of that. It was the only good point to the weight. His back was starting to ache and he suspected an uncomfortable sleep to be the cause. The people in the parks were not there for the sun or temperature. Feeding Pokemon was messy and definitely required a lot of space. Pokemon were catching food thrown through the air, eating out of bowls, the ground, plates and bags. While some trainers were quite neat, the majority were leaving plenty of marks and stains.

David could also see some wild Pokemon hanging around. Rattata lurked on the fringes of the park and in the air a mixture of Pidgey and Spearow hovered. Occasionally a brave Pokemon would dart down to snatch some food but the majority that did were scared off by the Pokemon they were trying to steal from. David was a bit worried looking at the wild Pokemon. They were quite small. Why was there such a difference compared to the trainer Pokemon? They were also messier on average than the trainer Pokemon in the park but he really wasn't in a state to judge that.

The city became more residential as he walked. The road narrowed and the road absorbed the pavement as the tarmac disappeared. The buildings and common green areas grew smaller and merged, leaving more private gardens. Here was where a lot of variety in the style of buildings kicked in. The construction materials seemed to change wildly from stone to wood to metal. The houses ranged from squarish apartment blocks to older Japanese or manor style houses to modern edifices of glass. Some buildings were minimal and the majority of the house was taken up by the gardens. If you could even call the nature areas attached to each house a garden. The open areas might be dominated by mounds of earth, tall trees, ponds and the odd garden was a mess of metal and cables. It was beautiful but alien.

As he approached the outskirts of the city, buildings became rarer and ranch style buildings became common. Grazing Pokemon herds roamed in fenced areas around these ranches.

David was amused to see a 'See you in the future' sign marking the ends of the city boundaries. A cute cartoon image of an Abra accompanied the pun. Past the sign there was only one building, before the path he was on narrowed and twisted behind a line of trees.

David was in the wild.

Endnote:

Zyxis Ouroboros ReArchtypist - Thanks for the review! I agree. Bugs are really limited by their stats in game. I won't say much but they have additional advantages/ disadvantages in this twist on the world.