Mac knew not if the people here spoke the official empiric language (or even where the people were), but he assumed his mother would have said something if this would be an important change. He also wondered why his mom had left him so abruptly, but again figured that she had some plan for him. "Well", he said, "I might as well begin exploring this new land". So Mac put the pokeballs in his backpack and the money in his pocket before setting out to understand his surroundings.
Although he assumed the dirt clearing he stood on was a path, he could not imagine where it led or where he was. "I guess I'll just follow this until I find others who can assist me", Mac thought. He followed the path for what felt like several hours while observing all the odd creatures he saw; some were playing, other fighting, and many more just trying to survive. Finally, out in the distance he saw two pokemon trainers fighting, and, after watching much of their battle, he decided to try his own luck attacking a wild pokemon.
Mac scouted out his immediate area to find the perfect creature to attack. After a quick thought process, he decided upon one of the monkey-like pokemon that he saw (which he would later learn was a primape). He reached into his bag and grabbed for the pokeball which contained his evee. He screamed, "Go evee" as the other trainers had done with their pokemon, but to his surprise, the ball absorbed the creature for about a second and then exploded. "UH OH!", Mac exclaimed as this crazed monster ran after him to attack. Mac knew from his limited pokemon knowledge that the gods had put up magical barriers preventing humans from fighting pokemon within this galaxy, so he attempted to run in the direction of the other trainers (who were still in an intense battle and paying no attention to him), as he threw his remaining balls at the monster until his evee came out.
Two more balls were wasted before Mac's evee finally came out to help him. "Just defend yourself until I get help!" Mac yelled to his evee while he continued running towards the other trainers. Luckily their battle had just ended when Mac arrived, and he was able to get their attention. More for the evee's sake than Mac's, the trainers ran at the primape and began tossing balls towards it. "Go pigeotto!" said one. "Go rattata!" said the other. The two trainers fought off the primape even after Mac's evee fainted, and, after Mac assumed the battle to be over, one trainer threw a pokeball at the primape. It enclosed on the primape like Mac's did earlier, but it jiggled around for a good three seconds before bursting open. Then the other trainer took out a purple ball with a "g" on it, and threw it at the primape. The ball took in the primape and jiggled around for a little while. After about five seconds, the ball fell still, and the trainer exclaimed, "I caught a primape!"
As Mac went to thank the two trainers for saving him, they began screaming at him for almost killing his evee. Mac tried to explain that he doesn't know anything about pokemon training, but the two trainers ignored him and continued lecturing him on his actions. Finally, one trainer yelled, "Uh oh! We forgot all about his evee. It needs to get to a pokemon center ASAP!" Mac then replied, "This is why I need your help. I don't even know what one of those is." "Then follow us, and you better run", the trainers yelled back to Mac as they raced towards town.
When the group reached the pokemon center, the trainers told Mac that they had get back to their training, but before leaving, they gave him one last piece of advice – "go visit the professor in Shingle Town before you do anything stupid again. Take the next bus there and he'll help you out." Mac listened to this advice while he stared intently at the giant machine behind the counter which was magically healing his evee. By the time Mac realized that "professor in Shingle Town" was advice and not another lecture, the two trainers had already left. Mac took back his evee after it was healed, and then proceeded to check out the huge pokemon center.
A man sitting at a desk called over Mac and said, "I heard your friends over there talking to you. It seems like you're new around here; not from the pokemon galaxy I presume?" "They aren't my friends, but you are correct. I am actually a member of the Empirical Army, but I plan on spending some time away from all that training pokemon", Mac replied. "Wow! A member of the Empirical Army? Well, then I have a great offer for you as I could always use a strong ally on my side. I am a pokemon trader and collector; therefore, I am always looking for more pokemon to add to my collection. Just recently I received the pre-evolved form of Gyrados – a dragon and one of the strongest pokemon you will find. This is the perfect pokemon for you to train, and, for you, I will trade it to you for your evee and $1000. Do we have a deal?" stated the trader. Mac hesitantly replied, "How much is a bus ticket to Shingle Town? I only have $1000 and I still need to get there to learn from the professor." The trader responded, "Oh, that will be around $100, so how about you trade your evee, all your pokeballs, and $900, and we'll have a deal". "Ummmm…ok", responded Mac.
The trader and Mac went upstairs to the official trading center, and the trade was initiated. Mac was amazed at the machinery used in this trade, and he stared intently as both pokeballs were sucked up. Mac's evee and the trader's magicarp were exchanged, and the trainer info was updated. After the exchange, the trader pointed Mac in the direction of the bus stop, and then went back into the pokemon center.
Mac walked to the bus stop. Once he arrived, he attempted to buy a ticket to Shingle town, but they cost $150. He had to settle for a ticket to Sanguine Village which was two towns away from Shingle Town. Mac realized he would have to find a way to get to Shingle Town, but he felt it was worth it because he now had a magicarp to train. Finally, the bus arrived and Mac got on…