All in a Day's Work
Brendan did not have a nice easy day at work.
...
After the initial tests and training videos, all of the new hires were brought onto the floor with their service Pokemon. Each one would be paired up with a seasoned veteran to the company. Brendan had to admit, the warehouse was vast and impressive. No wonder they were able to service all regions!
Still, it seemed like grunt work. Scratch that, grunts in this world got to fun (albeit illegal) stuff.
This was not at all where he, a champion of the Hoen Pokemon League, expected to be at this stage of his life. Brendan thought back to all of his many battles. It was like he could see them all right in front of him: his finals, the Championship battles, the Elite Four, Gym Leaders... wait... that one was coming towards him! It was...
"Winnona?" Brendan asked dumbfounded. "You work here!?"
"Hello Bre..." the woman stuttered at Brendan's comment. "Oh! No dear; I'm an older relative of hers. My name is Windleaf." Standing next to this proud but older version of the flying trainer, was an especially powerful-looking Pidgeot... complete with a mega stone around the "wrist" of it's right talon.
"Oh, ok. Sorry about that." he apologized. "Anyway, hi, I'm Brendan, and this is Swampert."
"Swam pert!" his friend and companion greeted.
"Of course," she smiled happily "you were one of the youngest champions ever!"
"Uh, yeah..." Brendan looked down.
"Well, let me show you the ropes." Windleaf lead Brendan to a stack of larger boxes. "We try to reduce our footprint on the world ecologically, so whatever we can do with people or Pokemon, we do ourselves instead of using machinery!"
Brendan looked around and was surprised. He thought his Swampert (let alone Mega Swampert) would be able to outclass the competition due to its' muscle, but in reality, it felt pretty obsolete. He saw a skinny guy with an Alikazam (a normal one, not the one who saved him) as well as a purple-looking Machamp lifting a crate... with their minds! Nearby, a bug Pokemon he didn't recognize was acting like a forklift, flying stacks of items wrapped in plastic on a wooden pallet!
Swampert saw the first item, a decently-bulky package he lifted to put onto the cart Brendan had been managing to push. It felt pretty proud, until..
"Oh! No no..." Windleaf interjected. "That's not meant to be lifted by the Pokemon." The new recruits tilted their heads quizzically as their coaches "lectured" them. The Pidgeot even motioned its' wing like fingers. "That needs to be lifted by you Brendan." Brendan stared dumbfounded. Even with Swampert's link there was no way someone could lift and move those all day! Yet, it got worse, as Windleaf motioned to the next subsection. Swampert dropped the package as he looked up. In front of him was a wooden crate... the size of himself! "This is for your Pokemon." Pidgeot added insult to injury by needing to fly up to the top of it. It then used some kind of wind-based attack to move the object without even touching it!
Brendan as Swampert struggled to keep up as they pushed the cart and lifted items on it to be placed in the shipping containers. They were instructed to take multiple ridiculously-large items at once to save time and trips that would effect their rate. "You should really be pulling your cart too." Windleaf added. "HU!?" "SWAAA!?" That was not how they were instructed in the video to avoid back injuries, but apparently that was the "required" method. "Hurry hurry!"
...
Brendan and his Swampert were aching all over in places they didn't even know they had before when they were simply training for battles. Over time, once a trainer becomes close to professional, most Pokemon become trained to unleash their most powerful attacks as soon as possible before fainting rather than taking hits. Their total Power Points often reflect this. Swampert wasn't even that much of a "glass cannon" and yet still felt like he got whooped as they said here in Alola.
In contrast, everyone else seemed to thrive with their psychic powers and special abilities. Even the other "muscle" Pokemon they came in. Eventually, Brendan just stopped walking and Swampert ended up carrying him on his shoulder. On the way inside, the hotel manager, a blunt old man, mentioned something about "sucking it up and getting use to it." Swampert raised the second of his three fingers at the grump behind his back. He then reached into Brendan's pockets for the room key...
"Mmm... May..."
...Swampert felt dirty all of a sudden, and so he placed Brendan on the bed and washed up. A horror movie was on in the background as Swampert bathed, freaking him out a few times. As Brendan watched the horror movie through sleepy eyes, he continued to wonder how it all went so wrong...
…
"I thought this would be what you wanted." Brendan argued with May.
"Wha? No, of course not Brendan!" May countered, "All I wanted was to be with you."
"But with no job or money? May, this is how trainers earn a living nowadays. It's the best of both worlds, not only getting paid but having an actual job battling."
"You don't need to have a job with Pokemon battling..." May responded quietly.
"Everyone sais I have real potential. This is my...our chance." he bit his tongue.
"Don't you wanna be together?" May asked, placing her gentle hands on his chest. "I hardly get to see you as it is with training. I get that, but still..."
"...I don't think I can handle a normal job May."
"...I don't think I can wait for you Brendan."
…
Brendan awoke... crying... to the sound of his room's buzzer. Swampert was now completely wrapped up in the horror film, and was startled by the knock at the door. It was just like the movie...
Not caring, Brendan covered his ears with the pillows, hoping the noise would just go away.
It didn't. The noise grew louder and the headache grew worse. Swampert was backed into the corner with his blanket. Finally, Brendan had enough...
Answering the message cockily to Swameprt's horror, Brendan began to mock quoted "I don't know who I am. If you're looking for money of a future to steal, than you shouldn't have come to a hotel room you idiot! What I do have is a particular lack of skills... skills that I needed to leave a normal happy life... skills... that without them make life a living distortion world for losers just like me.
If you let it go, that will be the end of me. I will not be happy. I will not succeed. If you don't let it go, I will still loose, I will still die alone, and YOU'LL HAVE TO BREAK DOWN THE ARCEUS DAMNED DOOR!"
BANG