Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon if I did I would give Ceruledge a mega.

Announcement: I've got some questions for you guys at the bottom if you don't mind answering that would be great. One will impact the story's format and the other deals with move pools.

Norman's pov

" Well Norman's got a child around the same age so he's got experience working with children. I vote he trains the boy." Drake said.

" Yes I agree, besides Norman has incredibly refined basics that will help Liam build a good foundation." Glacia said.

" He lives in Rustboro City shouldn't Roxanne train him?" I'd remarked trying to get out of training a child other than my daughter or son.

" Yes in fact I teach a couple of his classes at the Trainer School." Roxanne responded before continuing. " While he's recently become quite gifted I can only give him the same opportunities as other students so I'm not accused of favoritism plus he's not the most social of my students. You would probably get along with him Norman."

Unfortunately by that point everyone seemed in agreement that I was the best candidate to train Liam, at least Steven said he'd help despite his busy schedule so the two of us had begun devising a training schedule for Liam.

Which was why a month later I was standing outside my house with a Beldum Steven had insisted on leaving waiting for the boy to arrive.

Eventually I spotted Walter making his way towards me with a smaller figure in a black hoodie I presumed was Liam trailing behind him.

Time skip: 1-ish Year later

It turned out surprisingly nice passing on what I'd learned to someone eager to learn, I thought to myself as I watched Liam and his Charcadet practice their moves on the targets I'd set up. Even better was the fact he got along well enough with my family so that every month when he came over to stay the weekend was met with relative joy from my family at least for the most part. Caroline outright adored the boy claiming he was helpful and polite, while Max seemed to idolize him viewing him as a goal to match. The only member of my family to dislike him was May, who for some reason could rarely stand him and tried to avoid him whenever possible.

For today's training we were working on the move Take Down and how to minimize it's downsides. Oddly enough Liam seemed extra focused today, he'd sped through the warm ups with seemed quieter than normal.

" When you have Charcadet uses Take Down you want him to him roll after making the tackle but before he hits the ground to lessen the recoil damage." I explained after seeing them them attempt to use the move on a target.

!!!! Ring Ring Ring!!!!

May's pov

" Hey Mom, where's Dad? " I asked as Max and I entered our house.

" Well your father is out training Liam." My Mom said smiling.

" Liam's here ! " Max excitedly exclaimed. " Can I go watch them? "

Great mister "practically perfect in every way" Liam Saterr was here again. I swear he relished in showing everyone else up, always being unfailingly polite and having an answer for everything. It was infuriating how much my family seemed to enjoy having him around. Max seemed to idolize the brat wanting to be a pokemon trainer just like him, and Dad would take time to personally train him, even Mom seemed taken with him because before and after his training he'd offer to help out with chores around the house.

" Sure but only if May goes with you to the training grounds." Mom replied snapping me out of my thoughts.

" Ok I'll take him." I replied internally frowning. I really didn't want to watch Dad train Liam but Max wanted to so I guess I could grin and bear it. Max immediately grabbed my hand and practically dragged me towards Dad's training grounds.After a few short minutes of walking we arrived at the clearing Dad liked to use for training.

" Liam!" Max excitedly shouted running towards Liam and his Charcadet. Looking around I noticed that Dad wasn't there and that various targets were covered in burn marks.

" Where's Dad at ? " I asked.

" Hi Max, May. Oh Norman left about an hour ago." Liam replied as he and Charcadet looked up at us from where they were sitting. " He got a call and said something urgent had come up then rushed off. "

" Oh." Max said bummed that Dad wasn't there but his disappointment faded as he continued. " Well can we watch you train?"

" Well I was actually about to go into town and grab some lunch and do some shopping." Liam said with a smile that seemed outta place given his almost melancholic tone. " But you two are welcome to join me."

"That'd be fun maybe later you can help me with some of my homework assignments." Max said.

" You know I could help you." I interjected.

" Cool than we can all work on our school work together over lunch." Liam said his tone lost the hint of melancholy as he stood up seemingly unbothered over my interruption. " Beldum let's go."

The Beldum that seemed to follow him around everywhere floated out from some of the trees and began following us as we walked towards town.

" Hey Liam, I don't think I've ever thought to ask but what's the deal with that Beldum?" Max asked.

" What do you mean?" Liam replied.

" Well you only have a provisional license right?" Max began before continuing. " So since Charcadet is yours Beldum can't be but it only shows up when you're around and follows you everywhere even though Dad has the pokeball for it. I was just wondering why?"

" You know I'm actually curious myself." I said as I realized that though I'd never thought of it, Max was right having a provisional license only allowed a person to have one pokemon but Beldum only was around when Liam was here and obeyed him not Dad.

" Oh Beldum belongs to a mutual friend of your dad and I." Liam started answer before continuing. " I think he plans to give it to me eventually but like you said I only have a provisional license so he's lending it to your dad so that it can observe me."

" Why would it need to observe you?" I asked mildly curious about the situation and knowing that Liam wouldn't be able to resist explaining so as to flaunt his knowledge.

" The Beldum line are like computers, infact the final stage Metagross is said to process information faster than a supercomputer." Liam said going into his "look at how impressive my knowledge is mode" and continuing. " There's a theory that the entire line functions like a computer. So like a computer Beldum requires user settings to operate in sync with its trainer and it calibrates those settings by watching me. That's why it goes pretty much everywhere I go."

That explanation made a lot of sense about the Beldum's presence around Liam. It also raises the question of who the Beldum actually belonged to. What was weird was the fact that Liam seemed certain he would eventually officially receive the Beldum. While I did my best to ignore Liam, I distinctly recall him explaining that Beldum was rather rare and powerful. So why would someone all but give it to a 7 year old boy? Even if I begrudgingly admitted he was talented it just didn't make any sense.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Max dragged me into a restaurant I'd never been to before.

Liam's pov

May seemed to be deep in thought as the three of us headed into town which was probably for the best since for some reason she didn't like me much. Honestly I don't know what I was thinking inviting them to lunch with me. Max was tolerable most days and despite disliking me May was too nice to actually be mean to me but they were hardly ideal company especially on today of all days. To be fair in this world right now a grand total of two people would be considered ideal company, one was too busy being Hoenn's champion and the other lived in a different region with a different timezone and everything.

Arriving at the town I was as always slightly awestruck to see it bussleing with people and pokemon alike but even the surreal sight didn't do much for my current mood. Despite it I listened to Max ramble and gave polite responses even as the Hariyama that served as a crossing guard beckoned us to cross the road. Leading May and Max along I headed towards my favorite restaurant. After about five minutes we arrived in front of Sam's diner.

" Table for one right?" Janet the hostess asked me as I walked in.

Confused as to why she thought I was alone I turned around and saw Max grab a distracted May and start dragging her into the restaurant.

" No those two are with me." I replied pointing at May and Max who were just walking in. " Is my usual table available?"

" Yes I'll show you kids to your table." Janet cheerfully said leading us towards the corner booth I was rather fond of. Handing each of us a menu Janet then walked off to give us time to decide what we wanted.

" So what's good here?" Max asked.

" Pretty much everything, though I rather like the burgers here. They even use actual Torchick 's flames to grill them." I replied. Food in this world was something I tried very hard not to think about. While I had yet to see any non-pokemon animals that didn't mean they didn't exist and as long as I could pretend that they did then everything would be fine. Thankfully nothing on any menu I'd seen so far contradicted the idea that there were non pokemon animals that existed.

After about five minutes Janet returned and took our orders before departing once again. While we waited for our food May and I helped Max with his school work. Given that both of us were older our combined efforts should've made short work of it but both of us would solve the problems differently and then insist that our respective way was right. Honestly I should've seen this coming I'd never been one for collaboration when it came to academics or really anything. Thankfully the food arrived and diverted our attention away from school work. Max like me had gotten a burger and fries, whereas May had ordered some sorta chicken salad.

After we finished eating I paid for our food using the money Liam's parents had given me every time I went to Petalburg for training, I'd rarely used any of it so I had more than enough to cover the cost of our lunches and hopefully any shopping I wanted to do. Leaving the restaurant the three of us began walking through the town.

" So what was it you wanted to buy?" Surprisingly it was May who was asking me. Though Max was looking like he also wanted to know.

" I need a new jacket or hoodie preferably one that's durable." I responded. Training was surprisingly rough on casual clothes, I'd already ruined multiple hoodies so it was clear I'd need something a little tougher. Honestly I was just lucky the original had similar tastes to me and that I wouldn't have to wear a bunch of bright colors or stripes.

"Oh no." Max muttered so quietly I could barely hear him. Turning I noticed May had a strange glint in her eyes.

" Oh so you're looking for clothes then I know the perfect place to go." May announced sounding rather chirper. It was at this moment I vaguely remembered something in the anime about her caring a lot about her appearance. " Mauville City has loads of good clothing stores. I'll ask Mom and Dad if they'll drive us there tomorrow. I've been meaning to get some new clothes myself."

Max looked faintly horrified for some reason. Personally the idea sounded excellent to me having a second opinion when picking out clothes was always good idea especially since fashion trends weren't exactly on my list of things to look into in the year I've been in this world.

" Guess I don't need to go shopping here then." I Said. "Guess we should go talk to your mom about going to Mauville City ? "

Turning the three of us started walking back to their house.

May pov

Pitching the idea of a day trip to Mauville City over dinner to Mom went better than I expected. She had happily agreed to drive us there. It wasn't until I was getting into bed that I realized I would be stuck in the car with Liam for over an hour. Great.

I shivered and pulled the comforter tighter around me it was too cold for me to fall asleep. Liam didn't have this problem since his Charcadet served as a miniature heater something he was quite proud of.

!!! Creak !!!

The noise got my attention throwing on my jacket I got outta bed to investigate. Walking carefully down the stairs to avoid making a noise I noticed no one was down there. Looking out the window I was surprised to see Liam walking away from the house Beldum and his Charcadet were following him.

" What is he doing?" I asked myself before slipping on shoes and rushing after him.

Liam seemed to be walking rather fast towards the woods. Speeding up so I would lose him when he reached the treeline. Despite the cold the woods were rather beautiful at night with the moon shining down on them. Taking a moment to admire them I was shocked to see that when I looked back in front of me Liam was gone.

"Great now I'm alone out here." I muttered too myself.

A sudden flash of fire from up ahead gave me the direction Liam probably headed in. Jogging I eventually came to a clearing where Liam and Charcadet appeared to be battling a wild Kangaskhan.

" Charcadet Flare Blitz." Liam called out.

Immediately Charcadet cloaked itself in dark crimson flames. Even as far away as I was from Charcadet I could feel the heat coming off of him as he slammed into the wild Kangaskhan knocking it over with a loud thud.

Pulling out a potion Liam began applying it to Charcadet and then gazed upwards at the sky.

" I don't know if you can see or hear me but if you can I want you to know I wish things were different." Liam said before his voice became too quiet for me to hear the next part of what he was saying. I turned to head back home.

!!! Crack!!!

Author's Note:

So this chapter was shaping up to be kinda long since originally I was gonna have the whole clearing scene and a car ride scene plus the shopping scene all be in this but I figured for the sake of not having to scroll a lot when editing these I would break it up in two. Part two of this chapter will be out later either today or tomorrow.

Important Questions:

So I've got some ideas for scenes that while I think would be fun to write don't necessarily contribute to the plot in a huge way. An example would be Liam learning how to dance after the gala. Like I don't think it would matter hugely narratively if i just skipped the scene but I do think it would add to the character dynamics a bit. So while I'm going to write the scene would you readers rather I put them in this story but label them specially or create a new story to hold these kinda side stories?

Also how would you guys feel about expanding certian pokemon's move pools? An example would be say having the Galarian birds be able to use some fire/ice/electric moves respectively. Obviously this would be on a case by case basis but it never made sense to me why some pokemon can't learn specific moves that they probably should be able to. I ask cause I do have at least two planned appearances for the Galar birds.

Review responses:

To Runeion - Yeah it was gonna be Eye Of The Tiger but I ended up listening to this shortly before I started writing and figured it would work a little better. I will eventually use Eye Of The Tiger though. I've already come up with two instances later in the story where it might better fit what I'm going for.