This chapter is pretty info-heavy, but it does get into a lot of important details about pokemon breeding and the risks of certain species of pokemon. What pokemon is Kate going to get at this store? Will Blake find something new himself? Remember to review!

KedharS: Yep. And it's one of her favorites!

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Folks need to beef their teams up, we're heading for difficult times.

JoshGamerV: Wonder where then.

Tambry96bj: It's definitely fun. Sadly, we're only seeing a small part of it. Maybe we'll visit again in the future, though.

Pokemonking0924: Yep, it's a business licensed by the Pokemon League to legally breed, raise, and sell pokemon to customers. A natural thing in the pokemon world I would imagine.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 783

Blake followed after Kate. She led him to a large ring-shaped counter in the center of the room, with a long line leading away from it. Blake looked at the number of people in the line and went a little pale. They were going to have to wait in that line?

Blake was about to propose that he go look around while Kate took care of her business, but before he could propose that, Kate grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the line.

"What are you doing?" Kate scoffed. "That line's for general customers, I'm here to pick up a special order. Over here."

Kate led him to a part of the ring that was, thankfully, not packed with a large line of people. Standing at the counter was a woman who was very…

Well, the only word Blake could think to politely describe her was "blatant."

She had a narrow face, making her golden eyes stand out sharply. She wore a very "punk rock" outfit, with faded jeans that were torn up and frazzled, and a black tube top that revealed her shoulders and navel, exposing a canvas of pale skin that the woman had filled with bright tattoos. Her hair was stringy and black, but she had dyed it with streaks of purple, red, and gold.

But as loud as the woman's apparel was, it couldn't compare with her pokemon. The thick, scaly hide of a Seviper coiled itself across the woman's body, wrapping around one of her arms and draping over her shoulder to wrap across the other. She seemed comfortable with it there, as if the deadly pokemon was no threat to her at all as it lay upon her, head bobbing as it watched the students approach.

She raised her hand in a wave to greet Kate, beckoning her over.

"Kate!" She called. "What are you doing here so early? Your shift doesn't start for another four, five hours."

"Hey, Josie, I'm not here as a sales clerk today," Kate said, smiling proudly. She reached into her purse and took out a wad of crumpled bills, slapping it onto the counter. "My special order! I told you I would get the money for you, and I did!"

The cashier, Josie, stared at the pile of cash in amazement, picking it up and flipping through it. "You know we also accept credit cards, right? Paying in cash is an inconvenience here."

"I wanted to carry the money with my own two hands," Kate said, holding her head up proudly. "It's all there, all 5000!"

Blake did a double-take. 5000? She had spent that much?"

"Well, seems to be in order," Josie agreed. "But you know I can't just hand it over to you."

"Yes, of course," Kate said, rolling her eyes. "But you ran my background, right?"

"Yup, everything seems in order, now you just have to fill out the details here," Josie said, slapping a stack of papers onto the counter and pushing them over to Kate. She dropped a pen on top of the pile, and jutted her thumb towards a door in the far wall. "Our testing area is back there, go nuts. 'Till then, you can hold onto this." She handed Kate the money back, and Kate accepted everything gladly, holding the leaflet of papers to her chest like it was the new pokemon itself.

"Thanks, Josie, you're the best!" Kate gushed. Without even sparing a word for Blake, she turned and headed to the back room. Blake sighed, and Josie turned to him.

"So, who're you?" She asked, raising her eyebrow, a lazy smirk crossing her face. She leaned forward against the counter, causing the Seviper she wore to shift and take notice.

"I'm… Blake," Blake said. He wasn't paying much attention to the woman, his focus on the sharp sickle-like tail of her Seviper, dangling from her arm like a poisonous pendulum.

"So are you Kate's boyfriend or something?" Josie giggled. Blake felt a wave of nausea rise up at the insinuation that they looked like a couple.

"Oh, god, no, never," he said, shaking his head. "I'm just…"

Now that he thought about it, what was their relationship? Blake wouldn't consider them friends, and he certainly didn't have any romantic interest in her.

"I'm just… some guy."

Josie's eyes glimmered as she looked at him contemplatively, like she was still trying to make up her mind. "…I see… just 'some guy' huh? Well, no problem then. But if she brought you here, today, then you must be someone important for her."

Blake raised his eyebrow. "Look, this place is nice and all, but I don't think that it means I'm 'important' or something, it's just a pokemon store."

"Hey! Not 'just' a pokemon store, here at New Beginnings we offer the finest selection of pokemon partners in the entire world!" The woman huffed, standing up straight and crossing her arms indignantly. The Seviper on her shoulders raised his head and hissed, causing Blake to nearly fall over as he moved to put some distance between.

"Uh… s-sorry," Blake said, staring warily at the Seviper. It looked poised to attack. Its tail twitched, and this time he DID lose his balance, falling backwards and landing on his ass.

The woman burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she cackled, lifting the divider and crossing over, helping Blake up. "You just looked so tense I couldn't help but tease you a little."

"…No problem," Blake groused, brushing himself off.

"But like I was saying, this is the finest pokemon store ever!" Josie said proudly. She pressed her thumb against her chest. "And you happen to be looking at the manager of the Poison Section, Queen of the Poison Types, Josie Krost!"

"Ahem." An older man standing at another section of the counter cleared his throat, glaring at Josie. She paled and averted her eyes.

"Well… assistant manager," she mumbled under her breath. Refocusing on Blake, she reinvigorated herself, putting on a business-like smile. "Sorry for earlier, but I promise, Naga isn't dangerous at all, she's a sweetheart."

Blake looked at the Seviper, and didn't see what part of that pokemon's intimidating glare said "sweetheart". He forced himself to smile to keep from coming across as too rude. "I'm just… surprised. I heard that Seviper were aggressive, dangerous, and hostile pokemon, so seeing one look so chill, it's just… it caught me by surprise, that's all."

"Ah, no, I totally get it," she laughed. "Poison types have a stigma attached to them, after all. It's okay, every type of pokemon are unique."

She leaned in close. "But don't let Kate catch you talking about that, or she'll go on a massive outrageous tangent about how Poison type pokemon are unfairly persecuted."

Blake nodded in agreement, it seemed this woman knew Kate quite well.

"Honestly, if I didn't have such a soft spot for that girl, I would have fired her already," Josie sighed, leaning back against the counter. "I can't count the number of customers she's scared off with her… let's call it 'aggressive negotiations'."

"Yeah, honestly, I can't imagine her handling any kind of customer service job," Blake agreed. Her personality was just too abrasive.

"It helps that she's just a part-time student worker," Josie nodded. "But if that girl wasn't such an expert on Poison types, I would have let her go. She knows more than most of my full-time employees, and she's only, what, 16?"

"It is impressive," Blake agreed, remembering how skillfully she'd stepped in to handle Silver's poison problem back when the baby Skorupi first hatched. "But is she really that good at her job? I would imagine that she's scared away more than just a few people."

"Honestly? If she had better people skills, she'd be my top employee," Josie confessed. "That girl is like a walking encyclopedia on Poison types. Quick question, Blake, do you know how many unique families of Poison type pokemon there are? Not the number of different Poison type pokemon in total, but their different families."

Blake took a guess. "Like… twenty?"

"Nope," Josie said, shaking her head. "The actual number is thirty-one."

"Wow, that… huh." Blake wasn't sure what to make of that info.

"It seems kinda too big and too small at the same time, huh?" Josie laughed. "Well, only three people working here know that off the top of their heads. Me," she pointed at herself, "the old man," she pointed at the man from earlier, the manager, "and Kate. And not only that, Kate can name 'em all by heart, and in alphabetical order. The girl's a whiz."

"Wow, that… okay, yeah, I knew she knew a lot, but that's amazing," Blake said. He was used to being in awe of stuff like Alcea's knowledge of Grass type pokemon, but he was really starting to realize that Kate was pretty smart about this sort of stuff herself.

"Here's a trivia question for ya," Josie laughed. "What are the only two Poison type pokemon to evolve from a pokemon that isn't a Poison type? Bet you won't be able to guess it."

Blake didn't have the foggiest idea.

"Ask Kate. She'll name 'em both," Josie snorted. "But anyway. I think if Kate invited you, today of all days, then you must be important to her. Today's a really important day for her, after all."

"Because she's getting a new pokemon?" Sure, that was something to be excited about, but it still didn't tell Blake what he was doing here.

Josie shook her head. She looked at Blake with amazement. "You mean she really didn't tell you? Damn, that girl…" Josie sighed and held her forehead, shaking her head. "She really is difficult with everybody, isn't she?"

"What? Tell me what?" Blake asked.

"It isn't just that she's getting a new pokemon," Josie explained. "Those forms I gave her? And that test? They're the final stages for getting her Type 2 Poison Certification."

Blake stared at her like he didn't know what she was talking about.

Josie sighed. "What a shock, Mr. Boyfriend doesn't know about a Type 2 Certification."

"I said I'm not her-"

"Fine, Mr. Some Guy. Whatever," Josie scoffed. "Anyway, are you a pokemon trainer?"

"Yes," Blake said, nodding.

"Good, that makes it easier. So you remember how you had to fill out a bunch of forms and stuff when you got your first pokemon?"

Blake vaguely remembered his brother helping him and his sister with paperwork that they mailed out back when they were younger. "Uh… yes?"

"Well, that's because the World Organization for Pokemon Health needs that information," Josie explained. "Every trainer gets an official Pokemon League certification when they register a pokemon as theirs. That's a Type 1 Certification permitting you to own, capture, and battle pokemon, it's part of your government-registered ID. But that's just the baseline."

"Oh, so everybody has one, then," Blake said.

"Yup," Josie agreed. "And it allows you to own most pokemon of any type, so most people don't go beyond that. I'd say about 90% of the legally registered trainers only have a Type 1 Certification."

"So what's the point of Type 2, then? What's the big deal?" Blake asked.

"What are you going into? Pokemon battles?" Josie asked. "You have a 'Pokemon Battler' kind of energy."

"…Thanks?"

"Well, Type 2 Certification is a little trickier," Josie explained. "Let me show you why."

She turned over a computer monitor to Blake and typed some details in. "This is the pokemon that Kate ordered through us."

Blake looked at the pokemon on the screen. It was a Muk.

"Muk?" He asked.

Kate… he remembered something she had told him about her past. How girls had teased her, because she thought Grimer and Muk were adorable. And she was finally getting one? That… well, surprise, surprise, even Kate could be wholesome.

"Yeah. The problem is, you can't just go around and buy Muks," Josie said. "The World Pokemon Health Organization has categorized them as a Type 2 Invasive Species. After all, their body is a form of living pollution. International trade and shipment needs to be carefully regulated, and any trainer who catches one needs to go through extensive paperwork to keep it."

She sighed and looked up, her eyes scanning the store wistfully. "We can keep a wide selection of Poison type pokemon here, and truthfully, every pokemon is a type of dangerous in its own way. But pokemon like Muk and Weezing, their negative impact on the environment means not everyone can own one. You need to get a special permit from the Pokemon League certifying you as capable of responsibly caring for the pokemon and accepting all potential consequences."

"And that's what Kate's doing?" Blake asked.

"When she came into my store a few months back telling me she wanted a Muk, at first I thought about just shooing her away," Josie murmured, her eyes watering with nostalgia. "After all, a girl that young, no way she could properly handle a Pokemon like that. It takes years of study to pass the test, after all. But she was adamant. So I hired her on, just to humor the girl, thinking I could direct that passion towards selling and maybe show her the ropes, but… well, here she is. She passed the background check and the main test, now there's just the final form submissions and the appeal test and she'll be good to go."

Blake was surprised by how much work it took to own specific pokemon. But he supposed it made sense. It wasn't enough to just catch a pokemon, the Pokemon League would want trainers to show that they could properly care for their pokemon as well.

"I suppose that's part of being a Pokemon Breeder's job, then," he murmured.

Josie raised her eyebrow. "You are a sharp one. Exactly. Type 2 Certifications come in all forms, you have to fill them out individually for each pokemon you want to own. Of course, there's the general 'Poison' Certification that gives you a permit certifying you to handle any pokemon with deadly venom or poisonous gas, but that's an even harder test. Kate could have taken the Muk-specific one, but she was dead-set on the full credential."

Josie sighed, and shook her head. "It's a strict, difficult process, and because of that, a lot of people ignore it, and unlawfully capture and train pokemon in violation of league laws. I wish it was a little easier to get certified so that more people would have the opportunity to legally own the pokemon they want, but at the same time the difficulty and scrutiny is necessary for the health of not just the pokemon itself, but the trainer as well and other people and pokemon around them. It's one of those necessary gates to overcome if you want to own pokemon."

She turned to Blake and held her head up high, her solemn expression replaced with a smirk oozing with smugness. "By the way, a licensed breeder like me has a Type 3 Poison Certification, permitting me to handle, breed, sell, and distribute Poison type pokemon. And that's not something you can get with just a little test."

"I guess it's not something I ever thought about," Blake admitted. "I've just been sort of capturing pokemon and registering them with the academy."

"Well, the pokemon you have probably aren't on the list of Type 2 Specialization," Josie said. "It's mostly there for Poison types, Fire types, a few of the more dangerous Dragon types, you know, species that by nature can be considered invasive and destructive in foreign environments."

"I have Poison type pokemon," Blake clarified. "But I never considered them to be, like… destructive, I guess…"

Josie's entire demeanor changed when she heard THAT.

"You have Poison type pokemon?!" She gushed. "Really? Here? Show me!"

And suddenly, Blake was getting some serious flashbacks to Kate. Luckily, he'd brought both their pokeballs with him.

"This is Maria, my Mareanie," Blake said, letting Maria out of her pokeball, "and this is Silver, my Skorupi."

"Marea!" Maria leapt towards Blake, but he managed to dodge her poisonous stingers just in time. Silver looked around warily, scuttling closer to Blake himself.

"Oh! Wow!" Josie cooed, kneeling down and reaching out to the two pokemon. Her Seviper unwrapped herself from around the pale woman, slithering behind the counter. "A Mareanie AND a Skorupi!"

She looked up at Blake, her expression taking on a more serious tone. "Skorupi are fine, everyone loves those, but this Mareanie is a rather risky prospect, Blake."

"Huh?" Blake wasn't sure what she meant by that.

"I'm sure you must be aware that Mareanie are natural predators of Corsola, right?" Josie asked. "You can't introduce them into a new environment, they're an invasive species."

Blake remembered Marion telling him something or other about that. "The girl I got her from said that it was okay, she didn't make me sign any other forms or anything," he said.

"That's because Mareanie are still Type 1 compliant," Josie explained. "Due to conservation efforts, Corsola haven't been classified as an endangered species just yet. So it's okay to have one for now, there's no issue with that."

Blake felt relief wash over him, but he forced it back. He sensed a "but" coming.

"But if she evolves, that's a different story," Josie said. "Toxapex are absolutely a Type 2 Invasive Species. Just introducing one into an environment can have a devastating effect on the pokemon ecosystem. If your Mareanie does evolve, you'll have to get an emergency certification or your pokemon may end up being forcefully relocated."

"S-Seriously?" Blake looked down at Maria, the small pokemon staring innocently back up at him.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," Josie said, rising to her feet. "But if you're planning to evolve her, I would suggest getting started on preparing now. It's definitely something you'll need to be vigilant of, I'm glad you came here today. I can bring you some study materials."

Blake was glad he'd come here himself. It may not have been the reason Kate had invited him, but it definitely was having a positive outcome. It wasn't like he planned to evolve Maria or anything, but he was definitely not going to let her get taken from him just because she evolved.

Blake recalled his pokemon to their pokeballs as Josie walked back around the counter and began typing something into her computer.

"I'll begin getting out the-" Josie turned to Blake, but she was cut off before she could say anything else about the matter.

"Josie! I finished it!" Kate said, rushing out of the back room and waving her forms excitedly, doing a remarkable job of breaking the tension.

Blake suppressed a sigh. She was just like that sometimes, there wasn't anything he could do.

So Kate is getting her certification to officially own one of her most favorite pokemon! She's dreamed of having a Grimer or Muk of her very own ever since she was a little girl, and it looks like she's going to get her wish!