Alexis walked the streets of Nimbasa City aimlessly, hands in the pockets of his black shorts as he tried to come up with a plan on how to deal with his new and only pokemon, Sandile.

Had he not been worried about that, Alexis would have had time to look around the city he had been basically dropped off in.

Instead, his mind raced with options and a bit of doubt. He had already lost a finger and almost died in the middle of a stupidly small desert. Could he really become a trainer after a blunder like that on his first day?

Maybe he should quit while he was ahead and not lose the rest of his fingers, or worst case scenario, just straight up die...

On the other hand, Eva had also gone through a similar experience with one of her pokemon, yet their relationship seemed completely fine.

There was also the fact that he had her number and had been challenged to a future battle. His ego and pride could not let that go.

Alexis stopped walking as he heard a group of people talking in front of a store with a bunch of televisions on display. Curious, he got close until he could see what was being played. It was the now-considered classic battle that had taken place between the champion and the winner of the Vertress Conference from two years ago.

Alexis stood there silent, looking at the two pokemon duke it out.

What the hell was he thinking?! He couldn't give up this easily! Besides, what else was he supposed to do with his life?

An 18-year-old fresh out of the orphanage with almost no money to his name who had recently graduated from high school.

That did not paint a pretty picture when it came to looking for a job.

Also, didn't he like Dark types because of their feral and untamable spirit?

Maybe he should start applying those traits to himself a bit.

He gave a small chuckle and sprinted towards the nearest park where pokemon could be released freely. The people around the shop window looked at Alexis as he ran with bewildered expressions, wondering if he was out of his mind.

Maybe he was, considering how dangerous his new "master plan" was.

-(=0=)-

Alexis soon found a secluded place inside a park where pokemon could be released. Sitting down, he grabbed Sandile's pokeball from his backpack and released him without a second thought.

The small Ground type looked around, confused. Mere seconds ago he had been in the middle of a desert munching on some poor young man's finger, and now he found himself in the middle of a park with large trees and a blue lake nearby.

"Hey!" Alexis screamed. Catching the pokemon's attention. "Look at what you did?!" the rookie trainer exclaimed, stripping his hand from the glove and extending his left hand forward, pinky finger missing.

"See how I only have four fingers now? That's because of what you did, so now you're both my pokemon AND have a pretty big debt with me. Must be happy, huh!?"

Sandile just looked at him, then down. "Thank Arceus," Alexis thought. At least Sandile could feel regret and see the wrong in his actions.

"I get it, okay? You were hungry and simply acted on impulse. Thankfully, you only got one finger so I'll be able to forgive you in time," Alexis said. While he wanted his pokemon to respect him and follow his orders -something especially important when it came to raising Dark types- he did not want to give the image of an unfair master or tyrannical dictator.

"Now, I shall now establish the rules of both pokemon and master.

Number one: you shall not harm me in any way.

Number two: you shall follow my instructions without complaining both in battle and when it comes to training," Alexis stated. Sandile's eyes locked on his own.

Maybe he could actually do this?

"If you accept these two rules, I will allow you to do things that most trainers are not willing to let their pokemon do. For example, I will let you hunt and eat whatever wild pokemon you manage to capture.

Another thing I'm willing to accept is how you are. I will not try to make you more docile or make you fight in a more softly manner, you can fight as brutally as you want," Alexis said, choosing to leave out the fact that the first concession was done out of necessity and not something he had ever thought of not doing.

Hunting their own food would allow his pokemon to never lose that wild edge that most captured pokemon lost after a couple of years, as well as mean that Alexis wouldn't have to buy food for his pokemon, something that he really could not afford until he started winning battles against other trainers. As for letting his pokemon battle the way they wanted to, this had always been Alexis's vision. He wanted to be known as a powerful trainer who would destroy the competition without mercy.

"Do you accept these conditions and become my pokemon? Like I told you yesterday, I want to form an extraordinary team of Dark types and become one of the strongest trainers in the world, with you as one of my six comrades!" Alexis proclaimed with grandiosity.

Sandile stood still once again as if he was valuing his options. Maybe Alexis had not given the small Ground/Dark type enough credit, he was by no means a dumb creature as he had thought previously.

The minutes passed and Sandile did not give a negative or positive response.

Alexis realized he was going to be the one to do the first move.

It was all or nothing.

Alexis stripped the fingerless glove from his right hand and clucked his hand in a fist, raising his pinky finger after a few seconds.

He slowly moved his hand towards the pokemon before him.

This was it. If Sandile bit his other finger off, he would quit. Sell him to the highest bidder and live the rest of his days as a nobody in this city.

As his hand got right before the pokemon, Alexis witnessed Sandile slowly opening his mouth. He had failed, Alexis thought as he closed his eyes, expecting the sharp pain of having a finger bit off.

Yet the pain never came, only a wet and raspy feeling. Alexis opened his right eye. He was met with the image of Sandile licking his pinky finger with a smile on his face.

"This shall be the beginning of a beautiful partnership, mister Sandile," Alexis said with a smile also spreading across his face.

-(=0=)-

"Will that be all?" the strikingly beautiful cashier asked him.

Before he could leave the city and venture into the will, Alexis had to buy supplies, which is what he was doing right now.

"Yes. Thank you," Alexis responded. "That's enough food to feed someone for a whole week. Starting your Pokemon journey by chance?" the cashier asked with a warm smile on her face.

A small blush spread across Alexis's face as he answered. "Hehe, yeah. Do I look that much like a rookie?" he asked.

"Oh not at all. There's just been a lot of new trainers buying supplies here this past week since they were able to get their licenses and all. Though you didn't buy any food for your pokemon. Do you want to hear our recommendations?" the young cashier asked nicely.

"There's no need. I already bought that a week ago because I couldn't contain my excitement," Alexis lied. He wasn't going to tell this woman that he was planning on letting his new pokemon feed on whatever wild pokemon he found in the wild. It also was a convincing cover, as pokemon food was specifically made so it could last years without going bad.

"Alright then, hope you have a great journey," "you too," Alexis responded.

"You too? You too what? Damn it!" Alexis thought as he exited the store.

-(=0=)-

Alexis decided that he would travel through Route 16 the first two days and then explore Lostlorn Forest, battling wild pokemon so that he and Sandile could get accustomed to each other and get to know each other, as well as get some practice on how to order a pokemon in battle.

He soon found out that he would also need to get used to another thing: a pokemon munching on the corpse of another without a care in the world for human manners.

Our young protagonist had always liked to think of himself as a badass dude with a stomach that could handle almost anything.

Reality had washed over him like a cold shower when, even after witnessing Sandile chomp down on a defeated and knocked-out Patrat for the fourth time that week, he still could not hold in whatever food he had eaten before.

Which in turn made his supplies large enough for around two weeks almost disappear in one and three days. Leaving him in the middle of Lostlorn Forest with no food to eat.

"At least the rivers of Unova have incredibly clean and fresh water, so I won't be dying of dehydration," Alexis thought as he stared into a river while Sandile guzzled and gobbled up another defenseless Patrat. By now, he had thankfully developed a stomach strong enough as to not throw up by witnessing nature taking its course.

Though he still preferred not to look directly at it.

Mother Nature could be so ruthless when it wanted to...

It was time to head back to Nimbasa, Alexis thought as he stood up. The first four days, they had somewhat struggled against the wild Patrat but by now Sandile's powerful Bite and Dig were knocking out ten Patrat a day.

Alexis suspected that eating THIS much on a daily basis was not the most healthy of things, even if Sandile was a carnivorous pokemon.

They had also been training Sandile's rare egg move, Fire Fang. It was coming along slowly but at an acceptable pace, as he was now at least able to heat his fangs enough to generate steam, something he was unable to do a week ago.

Aside from Fire Fang's usefulness in battle, the attack aided Sandile so that he wouldn't go around eating raw meat. Instead, he would use Fire Fang to heat it enough to make sure it was somewhat bacteria-free.

While pokemon rarely -if not ever- got ill from consuming raw meat, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Alright, Sandile. Knock it off," Alexis said, tapping the Ground type with his foot so that it would pay attention to him.

Sandile ignored him and kept eating like he hadn't eaten in a month straight.

What the hell was wrong with Sandile's stomach? Was it bottomless or something? He had already eaten seven of those today and they were mostly around his size!

"If you don't stop I'm putting you back in your ball," Sandile had not been in his pokeball since they had left Nimbasa City, choosing to sleep outside with him, but Alexis had to put his foot down here.

He was starting to worry because when they started traveling at a faster pace, Sandile was not going to be able to eat like this, so spoiling him this much might have been a mistake.

The threat had caught the pokemon's attention, who turned around and gave him Baby-Doll Eyes.

"That is not working. You have been eating like this for the last week. I seriously have no idea how you haven't got an indigestion by now," Alexis told Sandile with a deadpan expression.

Sandile didn't take that very well, grabbing the rest of the pokemon with his mouth and throwing it into the river, walking away afterward.

Alexis started walking behind his recently acquired Ground/Dark type, hoping that no innocent trainer would be traumatized by the sight of a dead pokemon floating downstream.

"Hey! That's the wrong way, dumbass!" Alexis exclaimed, trying to catch up to Sandile.

-(=0=)-

Aaaand lost once again. How did this keep happening?!

It had now been two days since Alexis and Sandile had started walking back toward Nimbasa City, yet they seemed to be in a completely different part of the forest from before. Or was it? All he could see were damn trees and trees for miles!

Why did a Pokedex have to be so expensive?..

At least he had successfully managed to put a stop to Sandile's insatiable appetite, going from ten to six meals a day. By now he didn't even have to give any orders when they ran into the common Patrat and Sewaddle, as Sandile was strong enough to take them on by himself just fine.

They had yet to see any trainers since the start of their journey, meaning that they had not made any money from friendly battles.

Had they really strayed off the path this much? Alexis was starting to worry.

Sandile looked at Alexis with a funny face as his stomach growled. While Sandile had been having the time of his life -probably eating more this past week than his entire life- Alexis's supplies had run out and had not eaten in two days.

Humans could last one and even two months without food, but since Alexis was walking from sunset to sunrise he calculated he had seventeen days before he dropped unconscious.

"Don't look at me like that! Not everyone can eat raw meat from wild creatures and not get incredibly ill!" Alexis screamed.

-(=0=)-

Another day passed and still nothing. Almost two weeks in isolation with only his new pokemon and three days without food were starting to take a toll on Alexis, who was now cleaning himself in the river with a block of soap, his wet and now slightly cleaner clothes hanging from a tree near the shore as they dried.

"You know, if we weren't lost and I hadn't eaten in what feels like forever, this would be a pretty relaxing moment," Alexis told Sandile, who was resting inside a hole he had dug himself into, trying to replicate the feeling of being enveloped in sand.

"Oh sorry. I didn't know there was someone here," said a voice.

Alexis opened his eyes and ran towards shore.

A person! Maybe a trainer with food!

"Food!?" Alexis screamed, standing in front of this new arrival, probably too close for comfort.

"Yes. Please put some clothes on first," the man said with a deadpan expression.

Alexis looked down. Oh yeah.

He was naked.

-(=0=)-

"So, you got lost? Classic rookie mistake. Way more common than you might think," the twenty-two-year-old man who had presented himself as Léon explained as he watched Alexis devour food like some uncivilized beast.

"It's why Lostlorn Forest is not recommended for beginners. The trees here don't give any berries, so if you get lost you can't get food from the wild."

"Choulf have behhf greht to knhof," Alexis said, his mouth full of the delicious food this kind stranger had given him.

The man kept quiet until Alexis finished eating, clearly disgusted by his manners but somewhat understanding of his situation.

"Your Sandile looks pretty strong for a rookie. How old is he?" Léon asked as Alexis finished eating.

Alexis looked towards Sandile, still inside his hole. He had not moved at all from his spot since Léon had arrived.

"Don't know. Caught him two weeks ago," Alexis explained. "Anyway, what direction should I take to get back to Route 16?"

"You're not as lost as you think you were. Just follow downstream and you should get back to Nimbasa City in about two days," Léon said.

"Alright, better start walking now. I miss sleeping in a bed way more than I thought I would," Alexis said as he stood up.

"Wow wow wow. I don't mind giving directions for free, but the food you ate wasn't exactly cheap, y'know?" the older man said with a scowl on his face.

"Crap. I got almost no money… Wait!" Alexis thought "How about a battle huh? 1V1. If I win, I don't have to pay for the food," Alexis said, excited that he could fight against another trainer for the first time.

"Kid, I would smoke you. I've been at this for three years," Léon said.

"Kid? You're only twenty-two, dude, not that much older than me," Alexis said, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, haven't you caught any new pokemon recently?" Alexis asked.

"Nah, caught my sixth one two years ago and he would decimate your Sandile without breaking a sweat," Léon proclaimed with a cocky smile.

"What's up with this guy? Why not say yes to an easy victory?" Alexis thought.

"Ok ok, how much for the food?" Alexis asked in a defeated tone.

"Half."

"Huh? Half of what?" Alexis asked with a confused expression.

"Half of all you have," Léon said as he stood up.

"Screw you asshole. I'm not giving you shit," Alexis responded.

"Look, we can do this the easy way-" the man said as he grabbed a pokeball and released the pokemon inside, "-or the hard way."

*THUD*

A Gigalith now stood behind the man, double the size of Léon, who was already a bit taller than Alexis.

The young trainer swallowed hard. Sandile was definitely not taking this thing down.

Sandile -having noticed the change in atmosphere- quickly positioned himself between Alexis and Léon, growling at the older man.

"And tell the little guy to chill out, or I kill him and sell his skin. It's probably worth way more than anything you got on you," Léon threatened.

"Easy Sandile," Alexis said, grabbing his wallet and throwing it at Léon's feet.

"Excellent choice," Léon said as he bent down and grabbed the wallet.

"Arceus kid, you're poor as shit. Screw half, I'm taking three-quarters," Léon proclaimed. He grabbed the money and threw the wallet at Alexis, who managed to catch it in the air.

"See ya around, or not," Leon said as he turned around, walking in the opposite direction of where Alexis was supposed to go. The rumbling of the Gigalith disappeared only after ten full minutes had passed.

Alexis sighed. Léon was not the smartest of thieves, so he hadn't taken his gloves. That would have been an actual catastrophe.

Still…

"Fuck."

-(=0=)-

After a day of walking, Alexis finally realized that Sandile was not angry and pissed because of what Léon had done, nor Gigalith, or even with himself, but with Alexis of all people.

"What? You've been giving me the cold shoulder since yesterday. You got something to say?" Alexis asked Sandile, catching up to him.

Sandile couldn't say what he thought.

Well he could, his trainer just wouldn't understand him.

"Oh, let me guess? You're mad at me for not letting you get yourself killed trying to fight that asshole's Gigalith."

Sandile was now growling at him.

This was dangerous. If his pokemon started to think he was a weak person who was hammering their potential instead of helping, it wouldn't be long before they left while he slept or something worse.

"Look, I would have liked nothing more than to let you fight that guy's pokemon. Hell! Let you kill it even, but I draw the line when it comes to fights you have no chance of winning, ok?" Alexis explained his reasoning to his partner.

Sandile still looked mad, just a little bit less than before.

"I promise you, when you become a strong Krookodile, if we ever run into that guy again, I'll let you do whatever you want with him and his pokemon. How does that sound?" Alexis said, trying to appeal to Sandile's Dark type nature.

It wasn't like he would want to stop Sandile in the first place, if he was being honest.

Sandile gave a happy bark and started walking faster. Alexis just smiled and shook his head as he ran behind the small Ground type. He was surprisingly fast for how small his legs were.

Welp, people did say that finding the good in the bad was an important skill to have as a trainer.

-(=0=)-

Léon might a been a fucking asshole but at least he wasn't a liar, Alexis thought as both himself and Sandile walked passed the "Welcome to Nimbasa City" sign.

Alexis returned Sandile to his pokeball as he made his way to the Pokemon Center.

Today he would sleep on a comfy bed.

-(=0=)-

"Hello and welcome to the Pokemon Center, what can I do for you?" asked Nurse Joy with a warm smile on her face.

"Hi, I'm here to heal my Sandile and rent a room, how much would that be?" Alexis asked.

"The room is free for the first three days. Only for trainers of course," Nurse Joy said as she grabbed the pokeball from Alexis's hand and handed him the key to his room.

"Please come back in half an hour to pick up your Sandile."

Alexis nodded and walked up to his room. He took a shower and rested a bit in his bed.

Oh how much he'd missed this…

-(=0=)-

The sliding doors of the Nimbasa City Gym opened silently. Alexis stepped inside and looked around. There was a black-haired girl around his age behind a desk.

"Hello. Can I do anything for you?" the girl asked in a condescending tone.

"Yes. I'd like to request a gym battle please," the girl gave an exaggerated exhale, put her phone down, and started typing something on the computer.

"Trainer ID?"

"Alexis, 77544238V," the girl raised an eyebrow at him, probably due to his lack of surname.

"Alright, here you are. No badges right?" "Yes."

"Okay, tomorrow at 6:00 PM, is that good?" the receptionist asked.

"Yeah, that's fine," Alexis answered, a bit annoyed. This girl's attitude was starting to piss him off.

"That'll be 150 dollars."

"Huh?" Alexis asked, he surely had heard that wrong.

"What?" the girl answered back.

"Sorry, I think I heard that wrong. Could you repeat yourself?" Alexis asked again, still a bit shocked.

"The entry fee will be a hundred and fifty dollars please," she repeated a bit louder.

Alexis could not believe his luck.

"Since when is that a thing?" he asked, also raising his voice a bit.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Ugh… You're the trainer, shouldn't you be up to date with this stuff?.. A law passed, like, two years ago stipulating that if a trainer wishes to be eligible to obtain badges, he or she shall have to pay 150 dollars. This only applies to the first fight against a Gym Leader."

Son of a bitch! If that fucker Léon hadn't stolen his money, he would have been able to pay for this, if only barely. Now he was left with only 40 dollars! How long would it take to get 110 just by challenging trainers?!

"I'll be back," said Alexis, storming off the building at a quick pace.

"Hey, what do you mea-" before she could finish, Alexis was already out the door.

-(=0=)-

He soon found the same park from two weeks ago. He released Sandile and sat down on a bench, throwing a tennis ball he had found lying around so he could play fetch with Sandile.

"Is he a Growlithe trapped inside the body of a Sandile?" Alexis thought as he stared at Sandile ran towards the ball, grabbed it with his mouth, and brought it back to him with a dopey smile on his face.

"That must be the most docile Sandile I've ever seen," a man said, sitting down on the bench right beside Alexis.

"You should see him when he's eating," Alexis said with a chuckle.

The man stayed silent for a bit before speaking again.

"How would you like to make some cash?"

Oh shit, was lady luck finally smiling at him? "Yes. How?"

It was time now for the man to give a small chuckle. "Relax, don't be so impatient… How many badges you got?" the man asked

"None."

The man let out a breath. "Alright, a rookie then."

"Yeah, so?" Alexis asked in a pissed-off tone. The last couple of days had not been great and he was not in the mood for jokes.

"Shesh kid, take it easy," there it was. Another person with the kid thing.

"I'm one of the organizers of The Cage. We hold fights once a week," the man explained.

"So you basically run an illegal fighting organization," Alexis stated the obvious.

"If that's the way you wanna put it," said the guy back as he lit up a cigarette.

Alexis had to stop himself from telling the guy to extinguish that shit.

"As you said, I'm a rookie, even if I wanted to fight, I'd get crushed."

"Oh, don't worry about that, we have two leagues. The rookie and the intermedium," the man explained.

"So how do you get into the intermediate league?" Alexis asked as he picked up Sandile from the ground, put him on his lap, and scratched his head.

His pokemon purred softly in return.

"..." the man stayed silent for a second, trying to get his tough act together again after witnessing that. "You need two badges or more," the man finally said after staring at Sandile for a while.

"Alright, how much do I get if I win?"

"500 if you win, you lose 100 if you don't, however."

Holy shit. Alexis had never seen that much money in his life. Still, there was a bit of an issue.

"What if you don't have a 100 and lose?"

"Oh don't worry, we can always help you find other ways to pay us," the man said ominously.

Ah, screw it. It wasn't like there was another way of getting that much money that fast.

"Alright, count me in. What are the rules?" Those five hundred were going to be his.

"4602 Street, tonight at 1 AM. 1v1. No rules. Fight to the death. None of those puny league rules," the man said, standing up.

"Crap," Alexis thought. "Hey, do you always go around asking strangers this kind of shit?"

"No. Only those who look like their Purrloin had to be put down yesterday," the man said as he walked away with a smile.

Alexis looked down at Sandile, who had fallen asleep at some point during the conversation.

He would let him rest for a bit, then do a warm-up to get his blood flowing for the battle ahead. He could only hope they were ready.