"Look David, you know I like you but this can't continue."

Benny placed the Chesto berry back into David's crate and indicated to the full table in front of him and the boxes behind him. "My wife has the new crop of berry bushes producing and we can match tournament demand now. I can't be buying common domesticated berries like Chestos off of you."

David's heart sank down and created a cold feeling in his stomach. He had 200 poke in his pocket but he was down to one food sachet for Pidgey. He had read up on Flying Pokemon diets last night. Pidgey needed a sachet everyday if she was going to continue growing and training. 35p per sachet. 5 more days. His breaths started to shorten. There were cheaper sachets but Pidgey wouldn't be able to train as much with the risk of stunting her growth.

If Pidgey didn't train and grow she couldn't win battles. He wouldn't earn a gym badge. He would lose his licence. No Pokecenter. He wouldn't find Legendaries. He won't get home.

Benny looked away from him and back to berries before sighing. "I'll buy these two off of you today but it's the last time. Rare berries only from here on. 30P for the two."

David nodded shakily. It would give him another day of food for Pidgey. 6 more days was enough to find more berries. The common ones could fill his and Pidgey's stomachs. The rares he could save. He hadn't had bad luck with his searches so far.

"Hey Benny, how come there are so many varieties of berries around Saffron?"

Benny paused with his wallet in his hand and raised an eyebrow at him.

"The answer is in your Pokeball. Flying type pokemon like to travel and few want to stop for something as boring as a toilet break. That's the real Seed Bomb move if you ask me." Benny said with a laugh.

It took a few seconds but the implications hit David. He jerked his hand back from the crates. What he had been eating over the past few days.

Benny's laugh grew deeper at David's expression.

"Oh just wait till you see someone get nailed by a Pidgeot or Fearow. PLOP!" Benny chortled. "That brings me back. Seeing Zeek's back and bag splattered in our first week."

Benny's smile fell.

"Zeek. Zeek, my friend." Benny fell back into his chair and stared at the table.

"Sorry." David said after a few seconds of inactivity. Benny blinked and waved a hand at him.

"It's not you. Old memories blend together until you can't separate the good and the bad. Here." Benny counted out Poke and handed it over.

David took it and frowned. It was too much. He opened his mouth but Benny cut him off.

"I'm repaying a debt to an old friend. You use it to make the most of your journey, you hear."

David jogged all the way to the Pokemart. Pidgey would be up soon and he needed breakfast for her. The heavy backpack made the exercise tough but while he was panting he didn't need to stop. All the walking over the last week was doing him some good. Combined with the berry and herb diet David felt like he was losing weight.

He counted the poke in his pocket as he walked in the store. 260P. Benny had given him double the money for the berries. He felt guilty taking the money from the old man but 6 days had turned into 7.

As he walked to the Flying section David ran through and ordered his wish list.

Pen and paper

Razor

Map case

Hat and sunglasses

Weight bracelets

Change of clothes

Escape rope

It wasn't the most obvious order of things but he tried to take his money issues into account. The exception was the map case. He didn't have enough yet but it was a necessity for travel or exploring routes without wandering into badge zones.

Heinz broke out of his thoughts to pick up three sachets of Flying type food. As he turned to leave his eyes were drawn to a display of grooming tools. None of his reading indicated that Pidgey required her talons clipped yet but maybe he'd be able to find a razor amongst the grooming tools.

A razor was an odd item to have at the top of his list. The talk with Benny earlier had reminded him of how much his survival depended on others right now. The difference between looking homeless and like a traveller could be small but it was important when meeting people for the first time. A razor wouldn't fix his appearance but it was a step in the right direction.

David wandered through the Normal type section before spotting a "Grooming" card hanging from the roof. He quickly found a case full of clippers but the products disappointed him. Designed for fur the clippers were heavy duty and required power. Which David didn't have access to. With a sigh he continued down the aisles to the counter.

A flash of colour caught his eye at the end of the aisle. The card above this aisle read "General". Intrigued, David followed it to find the majority of what he needed and more. A razor, toilet paper, shampoo, deodorant, pen and paper. It was all no brand and basic and David could not be happier. 50 poke well spent.

He walked out of the shop with 105 poke left. Three days more food for Pidgey but the purchases in his backpack didn't weigh on him at all.

David's next stop off was away from the city centre. He walked down the road until he found a busy park. He repacked his backpack and waited for Pidgey to wake up. When she did he sat with her as she ate. Pidgey seemed to be especially hungry today and devoured the sachet.

When Pidgey settled into a nesting position and chirped at him David returned her to her ball. He picked up and stored the flammable sachet wrapper and set off. He had one more stop in the city.

A small bell tinkled as David entered the league office.

"We open at 10." Beth's voice rang out from the side.

David turned to see her sitting petting Fuzzy amongst the mountains of paper.

"Sorry I'll come back later." David apologised and turned to leave. He could hang out by the Pokecenter. There were plenty of people around to ask for the time.

"David? What brings you back here?" Beth asked. She placed a hand on one of the paper piles and pushed herself up. The pile wobbled but Beth stabilised it. Fuzzy let out a low "Piii" as she left.

"Not that I'm complaining." Beth said with a laugh as she walked back to her desk. "But few of my clients are so eager to appear back here."

"I was hoping you would be able to help." David took a seat in the booth as Beth waved him in. He reached into a pocket and pulled out 'How to wing it!'. He had been thinking about how to phrase this. "A friend took me to a tournament match yesterday and I've realised I have niche knowledge about Pokemon. I'm missing some general coverage."

"That would explain your STATs." Beth smiled and David shrugged. He wasn't lying, just stretching the truth.

"A lot of trainers have returned home for the tournament haven't they?" Beth trailed off as David nodded. Fred had said Sharon was a local.

"Would it be possible to get the other silver league leaflets?"

"Hmmm." Beth drummed her fingers against the table. "It's not really a thing we give out…"

David grimaced. It was back to rummaging through the books in the library then.

"But there aren't any rules against it. Professor Oak wanted the knowledge to be spread and I think everyone should know more about the common 11." Beth slapped her hand against the table and stood. "Wait here."

David grinned as his plan came together. Beth disappeared behind the wall of the booth. He frowned at the blank wall.

"Hey, what happened to your Karen poster?" He called out to the back of the room.

A crash echoed out. David winced and stood.

"Everything alright?"

"Fine, fine." Beth appeared again a little flushed. She thudded back down into her chair.

"Here. Sea for yourself." Beth slapped a blue leaflet down on the desk.

"Down to earth." A brown leaflet was slapped down.

"And-" Beth's hands halted. "Beleaf in them." She placed the green leaflet down on the desk.

"Thanks." David said and moved to collect the leaflets. Beth's hand stayed on the last leaflet.

"You know these are missing a lot of information." Beth said. David looked at her confused.

"They won't have any of your 'niche' knowledge." Beth's face tightened as she spoke.

"I'll take any help I can get." David said hesitantly. Whatever that crash was had pushed this from a friendly visit and small favour to a cleanup job and more work. He had overstayed his welcome.

Beth's hand rose from the leaflet and she caught it with her other and began massaging her fingers.

"It's a start anyway." Beth whispered.

"Listen, I didn't plan on taking up any of your personal time." David gestured to Fuzzy. "I won't come so early again."

"We're closed on Sundays." Beth replied absently.

"Well, thanks again." David said and got up to make a quick retreat.

Beth called out to him when he reached the door.

"It was nice seeing you David. Please visit again." Beth said. David waved back and left. She had said the same thing the last time he was here but today her face was torn.

Back at the clearing David released Pidgey and sat down beside her. The Tackle breaking stick and the Peck branch were placed beside them. After a promise of future berries Pidgey started to train and David opened 'Beleaf in them'. Like the flying version, the leaflet was broken into three sections. Biology, Needs and Training of Grass types. David started at the beginning.

Grass and Bug type biology contains some of the most interesting systems and processes known to humanity. These Pokemon create nutrients from the environment in incredibly efficient ways. This allows our world to flourish but often at the expense of the Pokemon themselves. Young Grass and Bug type Pokemon form the start of the food chain and few survive their time as prey to become their powerful older evolutions.

Common Grass and Bug types today share several biologic traits to help them survive. From the odour that Caterpie and Oddish can emit to the signature corrosive fluid of the Bellsprout line.

Bellsprouts! That's what those yellow plant Pokemon are. The drops from the evolution had burnt the ground.

A behaviour common to all grass types is their strong attachment and reliance on other young of the same species. As these pokemon breed in litters this leads the Pokemon to form clusters during their early years for protection. Frequently the parent or another older evolution of the species will guard the clusters.

David paused his reading to poke the air by Pidgey with the stick. It popped and she let out a low chirp.

"I guess we'll have to rely on each other won't we."

Pidgey tilted her head at him and shuffled a little closer before going back to her training.

Endnote:

Just a little appreciation to those willing to give others a hand. It reminds me of The Lion and the Mouse fable by Aesop which seems particularly suited to this fandom.

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

Who's that pokemon finally revealed. I'm going to pretend that everyone was just stumped by the mystery in ch 4 and it's not my bad description.

frankieu - It had to happen eventually. The Pokemon world has a small population (not as low as the games but small) for many reasons but it has been several days now.

Kiri TheFrenchReader - Thanks for reading :D Expect some action soon.

roukoups - Thanks for reading and I'm glad you're enjoying it.

GoMagikarp - (Ch 6) 7 out of the 11 with 2 more in your second set of guesses. Pretty damn close. In terms of actual game numbers, Spearow is more common than several of the 11 and the top 7 most common pokemon are all water types. Weedle and Catepie are quite far down in the list. But I took some artistic licence.

(Ch 7/8) Fairly far off with the guesses I'm afraid. Based on the group of natures you've missed you are on the wrong track.

(Ch 9) It's going to be a mess of confusion :D

(Ch 11) +1 thank you for the ideas. Training is starting out now but it will start ramping up in the next arc.

(Ch 13) Great. I really want to make battles feel alive with all the messy imperfections while working in types and moves. I do hope the tournament match in ch 15 doesn't give the same vibe…