In a Happiny World

Brendan looked up out of breath at the broken ceiling... shielding his face, before noticing some Pokemon in the grass he never saw before were standing in the grass without cover! Brendan sprinted over as the glass fell down from the ceiling and shielded the creatures with his body as best he could.

When it was all said and done, he looked down to see the critters looking up happily at their hero, no longer pained with worry for their well being. Brendan looked all over for any sign of his best friend around him. He finally saw to his side his Swampert, finally seeing it doing the same thing he had done to another group of wild Pokemon.

"Are you guys alright?" A large man could be heard running a lot fasster than one might think he could, yet he was unfazed nor out of breath. By his side was a new familiar face.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Brendan replied, looking over again at Swampert to verify he felt the same, to which he received a nod. Brendan then looked down at the rare Pokemon beside this man. "Hey! You're the Pokemon from earlier! Wait...are you... some kind of Alikazam!?"

Now that he could really look at it, the fox-like creature did strongly resemble the psychic Pokemon, yet its' arms were buff and held two sticks chained together instead of two spoons.

"Yep!" his trainer replied. "Meet Alolan Alikazam! The only one bred of its' kind! And I'm Dill I manage the shipping center here. It's nice to officially meet you, new hire!" "A-li-ka!" Alikazam added enthusiastically, extending its' hand to Swampert just like his master did to Brendan.

"I'm Brendan, and this is my Swampert from Hoen... although... I guess you probably already knew both." Swampert scratched the back of its' head embarrassed just like his trainer did also. His employer obviously knew who he was from his file, if not for Brendan's deeds in Hoen... so easily forgotten by the media. It was oddly customary to introduce Pokemon with their trainers. While polite, unless the Pokemon had a nickname, it was rather obvious what its' name would be.

"Hey, we should go ahead and head for the meeting. Don't want to be late!" Dill added. "This way please; we oughta let the staff here do damage control anyway." Several workers dressed in white rushed in with some machinery to prevent further damage or caving in and medical supplies for the Pokemon."

"Oh, right!" Brendan realized. "O.K. Let's go!" Swampert followed his trainer, who was following his new boss. It noticed something inside his pocket.

...

"The foundation here was responsible not just for Alola's distribution of products, but also for those in neighboring regions as well. Basically, any nation accessible by water nearby was fair game."

Dill was giving the basic backstory to the new hires.

"Wow!" "Cool." "Whatever." "Heard it last time"

Hires past, present, new and old replied differently to the presentation Dill was giving. It seemed many were return-to-works oddly enough.

Brendan was having a hard time paying attention...or staying conscious! He hadn't moved like that when he fought Zinna in forever! Now he was beat!

"O.K." Mr. Dill concluded "Let's take a break for lunch."

Brendan's forehead collided with his paperwork and notes.

"Excuse me?" Brendan freaked and shot up at attention. He though he was about to get in trouble by a female supervisor. He looked and instead found a younger redhead with a Happiny.

"Are you alright?" She asked, now more concerned than ever. "Ha-pinny?"

Brendan's head darted around back and forth several times before Swampert gently put its' hand on his shoulder. He finally realized he wasn't in any trouble. He let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Y-yeah, I'll live, thanks." Brendan replied weakly. "Sorry for startling you."

"It's alright." She insisted softly and sweetly. "Here, let my friend help you."

Brendan initially freaked out a bit when Happiny plopped into his lap, but soon he felt relaxed and healed as the stone in Happiny's pouch glowed and it channeled a soft-boiled. "Wow! Thanks!" he replied enthusiastically. "I had no idea Happiny could heal so well before evolving!"

"Yeah," the girl smiled "She's really something, isn' she? I'm Joy by the way."

"Happiny!" the little pink Pokemon replied.

"Swampert" Brendan's sidekick reached out his arm. A surprised Joy reached out and shook his hand, and Happiny in turn shook a surprised Swampert!

"I'm Bre...wait...Joy?" It finally dawned on Brendan. "Wait, are you...?"

"Yep, that's right!" she happily replied "I'm applying to be the foundation's next Nurce Joy!"

"HAPPINY!" her Pokemon added.

"Hi, my name is Brendan..." he finished "...buuuuut I guess you probably already knew that.

"Swampert" he momiced his trainer, blushing and rubbing the back of his head embarassed.

"Uhhh..." Joy stammered "...nooooot really."

Brendan and Swampert's eyes got wide in shock. "You...you don't?"

"...OH! I see now!" Joy added.

"Yeah, what finally made you think of it?" he asked sincerely.

"The Hoen championship? The contests there? The... univer fiasco?"

"Well, you see..." Joy realized how depressing this would be for him despite not actually knowing him personally. Unfortunately, her Happiny, despite being rather smart in some ways was not so much in social matters.

"Happiny!" the little innocent pink blob hopped up onto the table...

...and pointed at Brendan's name tag.

Brendan and Swampert managed to catch each other as they fell over like a character might in an anime.

"Ha!" a larger boy his age smirked nearby. Brendan turned to glare at his own height, but soon found himself looking up at a giant cat-looking hulk of a Pokemon the likes of which he had never seen! It smirked with its' claws folded over its' buff chest. "In-cin-a-roar." it sneered alomsot mockingly.

Swampert was almost ready to fight it right then and there. Whatever it said must have been enough to start something. It's trainer pushed back on his Pokemon though and turned away back to where it was. "Sorry." he appologized.

In a happy world, Brendan could just keep challenging trainers to get paid that way, but trainers like the Elite Four only battle trainers so often. There comes a point where you run out of trainers to battle. True, some are driven to hunt the champion down to beat them, but in reality, after a certain point, people are smart enough not to challenge you.

The champion usually stayed that way not because of ability alone, but financially they were sound enough to do so and stay in their slot without looking for work and needing another job. Even Steven Stone was technically employed by his father, so he still worked but was able to balance his time with such a flexible schedule created by his own father. Most others were celebrities with sponsors either before or after they won.

Besides, the most cash Brendan ever remembered having at one time was just under a 100K. That may seem like a lot, but a bottle of water from a vending machine or a potion from the PokeMart cost 200. That's like having a thousand water bottles worth of money. Not much to live on long-term by yourself once you put in in perspective.

Plus, he still technically lived at home. Not everyone's parents can support their child financially on a Pokemon journey when they are working on maintaining themselves. Others actually have been rumored to force their child out of their home by having them start their shot at the Pokemon League.

Most full-time trainers fail miserably. The majority of people only battle as a hobby. Brendan was trying to find some middle-ground by attending a Pokemon-related college to apply what he had learned. Even then, so many trainers applied for carers and education. Few succeeded, making schools look bad in their own eyes, limiting who they now deemed "worthy" enough to graduate.

After everything Brendan had been through, between saving the world to his "break" with May, Brendan could use a nice easy first day at work...