DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON
|LOST AND FOUND
An hour after he'd sent Team Rocket running, Cross sighed as he sank into his chair, exhausted after the day's events.
The past hour had been an eventful one. Only a few minutes after Jessie and James had fled, Officer Jenny had arrived, driving her motorcycle straight through the front doors and skidding to a stop in the lobby.
She had called everyone to the lobby to take their statements and Cross couldn't help but stare at the amount of fan service on display. Misty came out into the lobby in her tiny cut-off booty shorts, and there was no way she was the same age as her character in the anime. She was about the same height as Ash, a few inches shorter than himself and she had curves that made her look more similar to the Misty from the Electric Tales of Pikachu manga. (Uncensored version, of course!)
With her, Nurse Joy in her skimpy uniform, and Officer Jenny in the smallest pencil skirt he'd ever seen, it was hard to concentrate. Cross blamed it on hormones. Puberty sucked the first time around, he was just glad he was at the tail end of it and didn't have to go through the whole thing again.
After giving his statement to Officer Jenny, he had handed Charmander and Pidgey over to a grateful Nurse Jover who had promised that once power was restored they'd be well taken care of.
Since then he'd been sitting in the lobby using his pokédex to do some research. The first thing he looked up was how old a trainer had to be to compete in the Indigo League Gym Circuit.
And it wasn't ten, which was what he had expected after seeing Ash and Misty.
In the anime, compulsory education ended in primary school at the age of ten. Students were free to continue into middle school if they wish, but when children complete primary school at the age of ten, they were legally considered adults.
This was the "All Primary School Graduates are Adults Law". Or PGAL (Primary Graduates Adulthood Law) for short.
Basically, as of the April following their tenth birthday... a person was able to gain a Pokémon License and was permitted to carry poké Balls to capture Pokémon. Of course, there's more to being a legal adult than the right to own Pokémon.
All adult rights are granted. Under-18s didn't qualify as minors, not even 14 or 15-year-olds. For example, if a ten-year-old were to steal something from a convenience store, the consequences would be more than just the shopkeeper getting mad, the police would arrest the thief. And no matter how much their parents try to apologize, the thief was still culpable as an adult.
The most important point of this law is... after leaving primary school people could make their own life choices.
They could strive to achieve higher education or take over the family business. No matter how old you were, after they turned 10 years old a person was considered an adult right down to details like traffic violations...And they pay taxes like an adult too.
In this new world of Pokémon, Cross found himself in, the "All Primary School Graduates are Adults Law" was still a thing, but it had been changed five years ago. There had been a terrible year where dozen of young trainers had died and the Pokémon Leauge had been forced to change the law.
Now compulsory education ended once you turned 18, just like it was back in what Cross had dubbed the "Old World".
And that wasn't the only thing he'd learned. Another important thing being: that just like in the games he could win and lose money during battles, but only if each trainer agreed to a League match.
Using the pokédex, an item all trainers were required by law to carry, two trainers would accept a League Sanctioned Battle (LSB for short), and the amount of money would be decided depending on the age, experience level, and rank of the defeated trainer.
Of course, not all battles had to be for money, but only LSB wins and losses would be shown on your trainer profile page. Everything else was considered to be an exhibition.
I'll definitely need money if I want to win the Indigo League, Cross thought as he leaned back in his chair. A quick search was all it took to find out that had about 11 months to get the 8 badges he needed to qualify for the Indigo Plateau Conference.
11 was more than enough for that, but once he qualified he'd be battling trainers who'd probably had years to train their Pokémon. Battle experience and natural growth weren't something he had to worry about in the pokémon games, but now it was going to be a big problem.
Cross thought about the Charicific Valley in Johoto and how Ash's powerhouse of a Charizard had been nothing but a runt. If he wanted to shock the world and place 1st as a rookie trainer, then he needed a plan and money.
Money for what?
Technical Machines!
They were also a thing despite not being in the main anime and apparently, they worked by "downloading" the knowledge of a Pokémon onto a disc that could then be "uploaded" to another Pokémon. The technology to do that was amazing, but it wasn't without a cost. When a TM was created, the Pokémon being used to create the TIM forgot the move that was "downloaded" from their brain.
Which is probably why they cost so much! Cross sighed as he closed his pokédex. Even the cheapest TM cost several thousand Pokémon Dollars and while he didn't plan to go crazy, it would be nice to have the money to buy them if he needed.
He wasn't so ignorant as to think that he could win the Indigo League by loading up all pokémon he caught with TMs, but they would help bridge the gap between him and any older more experienced trainers he came up against.
But he was getting ahead of himself.
I don't even have my first badge, Cross thought. He could forget about TMs, he didn't even have money to buy camping gear or potions to get him through the Viridian Forest. What if his pokémon got badly hurt and he couldn't get them help in time?
Viridian Forest was massive, spanning over 100 square miles. Trainers could easily get lost in the dense trees and winding trails. Not to mention all the wild pokémon that lurked within, ready to battle at a moment's notice if threatened.
The league had even put out a warning about the dangerous Beedrill swarms for trainers to watch out for. Just last year, a rookie trainer stumbled into an angry colony and ended up hospitalized for weeks.
Cross ran his hands through his orange hair, realizing how unprepared he really was. He slumped in his chair, his eyes heavy with fatigue. He had been through the gauntlet today, and as much as he wanted to find a room and follow Misty and Ash's example by passing out, he needed to wait until Nurse Joy came back. There were some questions that he wanted to ask her and the answers were going to affect what he did moving forward.
As if summoned by his thoughts, Nurse Joy appeared back in the lobby. With a soft smile, she approached him, her apron ruffled from today's excitement. "Your Charmander and Pidgey will be healed soon," she said, then in a soothing voice, she added, "It's getting late. Are you planning on staying the night?"
"Definitely," Cross replied with a grateful nod. The thought of trudging through the Viridian Forest in his current state was unthinkable. He needed rest, both for himself and his pokémon. And he didn't have any kind of camping gear whatsoever.
Which was what he wanted to talk to Nurse Joy about.
"I'm going to be brutally honest, I didn't put much thought into planning or packing for my pokémon journey," he said, looking up at the pink-haired pokémon nurse. "And if I want to make it through the Viridian Forest, I'm going to need more than what I have."
It rankled him, having to pretend that he was in the situation he was in because of his own hubris, but those were the cards he was dealt.
Nurse Joy didn't seem surprised. She took a moment to sit beside Cross. "A lot of young trainers just starting out find themselves in your position," she said and there was a tinge of bitterness in her words. "The league has never made wilderness survival a requirement to become a pokémon trainer and that's a big reason why so many young trainers fail. They're not prepared physically or mentally."
"The physical and mental part I can handle. Money is the problem for me," Cross wasn't worried about the physical and mental strain of traveling. He'd grown up in a small rural community a hundred miles from the nearest city. He was more at home in the woods than he was in a city.
"Well, battling is the most common way for trainers to make money," Nurse Joy said, "but there are other ways too."
Cross's curiosity was piqued. "Other ways?"
Nurse Joy nodded. "Sometimes trainers spend weeks in the cities or towns they pass through, working part-time jobs to save up money for the essentials they'll need to continue traveling. Like food for themselves and their pokémon, or poké balls if they plan on capturing more pokémon."
Cross considered the idea. He didn't want to be trapped in Viridian City for a week, but he also knew that without the right supplies, he could die. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, determined to make his pokémon team stronger.
A yawn escaped his lips, reminding him of his fatigue. Nurse Joy chuckled softly. "You look like you could use some rest," she said kindly. "Before you find a room, why don't you take a look through our lost and found? You never know what you might find."
The idea intrigued him. If he could find even just a few things he could use in the lost and found it would at least save him some money.
Nurse Joy's pink hair bounced with every step as she led Cross to a room tucked away at the back of the bustling Pokémon Center. The scent of antiseptic filled the air, making the whole place feel sterile.
As the door slid open, Cross's eyes widened in surprise. When she had said the lost and found, he had been expecting a couple of crates. The room Nurse Joy led him to was filled with rows of towering shelves, each one crammed with boxes and plastic containers of all shapes and sizes. It was as though he had stumbled into a camping section at a Walmart!
"This is the lost and found?" he asked, unable to contain his surprise.
Nurse Joy's smile was gentle yet filled with sadness as she nodded in response. "It is," she said. "Trainers often leave behind their belongings when they give up on their pokémon journeys or forget them in the excitement of a new adventure. We hold onto them for 30 days, if the original owner doesn't contact the center about missing items we put them in here and eventually everything is either recycled or re-sold.
Cross's eyes gleamed as he scanned the shelves again. "And I can take anything?" he asked, barely able to believe his luck.
Nurse Joy's smile widened. "You helped save my Pokémon Center from Team Rocket. Letting you choose whatever you like from the lost and found is the least I can do."
Cross's Pokemon Team!
Charmander: Scratch, Bite, Ember
Pidgey: Tackle, Gust, Quick Attack
