Hey Howdy! Hope everything is going well with y'all and life is going swimmingly! Chapter 2 is here so I won't talk too long but as always, feel free to leave a review! As a reminder this is still my first story so take it with a grain of salt! Hope y'all enjoy!!

(I do not own Pokemon or anything connected to it. That all goes to Nintendo and Gamefreak. Otherwise Mega evolution would have never been a dumped mechanic cause that shit was dope.)


"Man-Mankey!"

The red energy coalesced into a small brown Pokemon in front of me. A Mankey. It raises its arms into the air and does a happy dance while chanting its name. I quickly pulled out my phone to scan him into my Pokedex application.

"Hey, buddy! My name's Cindy and I'm going to be your partner from here on out!" I extended my fist towards it in a fist bump. "I also have a couple of names figured out for you but I want to make sure what gender you are before I start. That way it'll make naming you easier!"

At this the Mankey studied my hand and after a second gave a small nod. It reached its hand up in a fist and bumped mine as I began the scan of it.


Mankey

The Pig Monkey Pokemon

Gender: M

Type: Fighting

Prowess: B

HP, Attack, Sp. Def, Speed

An agile Pokemon that lives in trees. It angers easily and will not hesitate to attack anything.

Ability: Defiant

Moves: Scratch, Leer, Focus Energy, Encore, Spite

Type Energy Proficiency

Normal: D

Fighting: F

Ghost: F


I leaned back and grinned. Oh, this was good. This was good! You see, in this world of Pokemon, there are ways of determining if your Pokemon is a good specimen or not. It's in terms of growth and all that complicated nonsense. That term is called Prowess. In a loose definition, it means in terms of Pokemon of that species, its potential can achieve a certain range. The range stretches from F, D, C, B, A, and finally S. Basically the higher up the chain your Pokémon is the more potential it has to grow into a powerhouse.

Say we compared two Charizards with one being a B rank and the other an A. Now the B-rank Charizard could certainly defeat a Charizard of a higher rank if it is better trained. However, if trained competently then a Charizard of a higher rank will always be stronger than one below it. It will always be a little bit faster. Able to receive just a bit more damage before succumbing to unconsciousness. It was in a basic sense, this world's way of explaining genes and IVs.

Pokemon are known to be able to increase their prowess but its a very intensive and difficult process to undertake. This is where Rare Candies come into play. While you can improve your Pokémon's prowess rating through extreme training or sometimes through evolution, Rare Candies allow for those processes to happen easier. Think of it like someone going to the gym and then another person going to the gym but they bring a protein shake along with them. They'll both have gains but the person with the protein shake will have a bit more.

I looked over at Mankey and gave him a grin. "Hey buddy, what do you think about the name Kong? It's a name for a giant ape that fights giant monsters and saves the world!" The Mankey blinked in surprise for a second and then began to dance around in a circle with his arms raised showing his agreement.

Looking back at the Pokedex I looked at Kong's proficiencies. Pokémon are beings of energy. And this energy gets used up in the form of moves. A Pokemon however doesn't inherently have mastery over a move or type of energy just because they have it. They must develop and hone their energies to better manipulate it. Developing proficiency in a type of energy takes time but is worth it. The higher the proficiency, the better a pokemon can utilize the moves of that typing. It also makes it easier to learn moves that utilize that type of energy.

What sets Kong apart from a regular Mankey is the move Spite. Spite is a Ghost-type move and not a regular move that Kong could learn. I managed to get lucky in terms of an egg move but now I wouldn't have to spend money or time developing it fresh. I was a step ahead of getting my very own Annihilape.


My birthday party was a pleasant affair. I spent a lot of time getting to know Kong and helping my Uncle around his dojo. My parents bought me some Pokeballs and some basic healing items for the beginning of my journey. They gave me a whole speech about how they couldn't always be there for me but if I ever needed to rest along my journey that they would love nothing more than for me to visit home.

My Uncle was always a big spender on me. He bought me two Item Pouches. These were pouches that could be attached to your Pokemon and allow them to hold an item. You could put berries or a held item in them and not have to worry about them being damaged or lost during a battle. He also gave me a Black Belt from his stores in the gym and a Good Rod. Uncle Koichi knew about my dreams of becoming a Fighting Master and that my roster was going to need some growth. He sent me a data file that marked popular Poliwag locations in Kanto. This brought tears to my eyes and I gave him the biggest hug that I could. I knew that he had lost his ambitions to climb higher. He could never fully overcome losing his Pokemon and spent his time building the next generations of Fighting Specialists. He always supported me in my dream of surpassing where even he could go and offered to always give tips and training to any Pokemon that I would send back to the Gym's stables.

After my gifts were wrapped up, my Uncle brought me into his Gym office to explain how being a sponsored trainer would work.

Uncle Koichi sat down in his office chair and motioned for me to sit on the couch in front of his desk.

"So to start, you have stabling rights at the Gym. We can care for up to ten Pokemon before we'll have to look at expanding your stable space. That will cause some personal expenses but it's also well off in the future so it can be saved for then." He pulled out some paperwork that had just finished printing. He doted a few places that indicated where I would need to sign and the date and slid the papers over to me.

"This is all the paperwork needed for you to be claimed as a sponsored trainer. I'll scan it later tonight so it can be in the system by tomorrow. Now onto the terms of the carry limit. Since you're sponsored your limit immediately increases by one. This allows you to start with a carry limit of three. You'll get the standard increase on every odd-numbered badge you earn. And then being a sponsored trainer you'll get another increase upon completing your eighth badge challenge."

He also slid a small tablet over the desk towards me. It held a prompt asking me to put in my Trainer ID as well as to link my Trainer account to the Gym's system. I quickly put in my information as my Uncle continued.

"As a Sponsored trainer you will receive a small stipend upon which you are free to use. Our Gym's stipend is 3000 poke dollars a month. It will be deposited into your accounts at the beginning of each month. There are also your responsibilities as a sponsored trainer. You will be required to assist with Emergency Trainer Requests in your immediate area. Your abilities as a trainer will be accounted for in emergencies so you shouldn't be asked to deal with anything too much to handle.", at this, my Uncle looked at me with a serious look on his face, "However life isn't fair. So be prepared for plans to crumble at the unexpected. Train yourself and your team. I do not wish for you to be hurt or killed rushing into things you aren't ready for. If the tempo of the situation is too far against you, run and request assistance."

The look that he gave me froze me in the chair. That wasn't advice but an order. I could feel a weight fall on my shoulders as I realized that I was soon going to be considered a figure of authority in the region. I clenched my hands into fists and met his gaze. " I promise Uncle. If the fight is out of my reach I'll pull out of there."

He nodded and suddenly the weight lessened off my shoulders and I could breathe fully again. He pulled out a cord and motioned for me to hand over my Rotom Phone.

"Give me your phone for a few minutes and I'll directly update your trainer license. You'll also be added to the Gym's HoloNet Forum. This will ping you for requests and jobs depending on your location. These are completely voluntary but they do offer items and money as rewards. You will also be keyed into the Gym's egg program. You will receive notifications if any eggs appear in our roster for any types that you specify. I've already keyed it to our Fighting stock but you'll have to wait a bit to use it. Pokemon Eggs are expensive and even with your discount on our Gym's products, you'll still be looking at 15,000 minimum. So I'd worry about that at a later date as well but get familiar with it because it's a good tool."

I plugged my phone into the computer and waited as the changes to my ID and account were being applied. Once finished, I unplugged my phone and looked back at my Uncle. "Thank you for choosing to sponsor my journey, Uncle. I promise to make you proud and bring honor and prestige to our Gym."

Uncle Koichi smiled at me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Cindy. I have no doubts that you will make me proud. Forge your path in front of you. Grow both as a team and as an individual. Keep climbing until there are no higher mountains. I know you have the drive in you to do it, girl." He patted my shoulder and walked with me back to the kitchen where my parents were waiting with a huge cake. I released mankey and cut him a generous slice and he cheered in glee after trying a small bite.

All in all my birthday was wonderful. I had the beginnings of a strong and rare team member, especially in this part of the world. And the information for where I can gain my next addition to the team. After that, it would be time for some travel and train time while we figured out what Gym I would want to tackle first for the circuit.

I climbed into bed and pulled out my phone to plan my moves for the beginning days of my journey.

The closest location that I could go to gain my next team member was south to Route 6. I could also train Kong a bit and try to develop his Normal and Fighting Type energy up to the next tier. My only concern was that Kong currently didn't know a Fighting-type move so developing his Fighting energy was going to be slow going in the beginning.

The closest gym from there would be in Vermillion City but Surge is an Electric specialist. And he's known to use a Raichu in every gym battle, even first badge challenges. With my Poliwag having a pretty big type disadvantage, I wouldn't want to challenge Surge until I had three Pokémon on my roster. This would allow me some flexibility in how I could whittle down his Raichu.

Of course, I could just travel around until I reached Pewter, Cinnabar, or Viridian. With Kong and Poliwag I would have the type advantage over these three gyms. However, they were also very far away and would require resources to reach. Resources that I currently didn't have.

In the end, I decided to just focus on getting a Poliwag for now. Afterward, I could focus on training and potentially have my first battle. I'd have plenty of time to consider where I wanted to go after I widened my roster a bit. Plus I could still come back home and get some tips for training my team from my Uncle. I'm not incredibly anxious to get my first badge straight away. I wanted to develop my team and grow their skills so I could be confident in their abilities to make a potentially taxing journey if we wanted to tackle a gym to our advantage.

With a solid short-term plan in mind, I closed my eyes in preparation for a long day of walking and fishing tomorrow


And that wraps up Chapter Two! I know it's going to be a little slow for the first few chapters but Cindy has some groundwork to lay before she starts working on her dream.

As always, feel free to review! Next chapter should be a bit longer as I'm figuring out how to balance writing consistently with living life. Im thinking two smaller chapters followed by a longer chapter as it allows me time to still be a dad and get my shit done that I need to. Hopefully that will work for y'all as my chapter releases start to catch up to where I've written!

Have a good one and dream your dreams!