David kneeled on the rolled up tent while he fastened the rope around it.

Packing up had not taken long this morning. He was starting to get the hang of all this gear. His clothes were still a bit damp so the work warmed him up nicely.

After getting back from the training session with Fred yesterday, both him and his clothes had needed a wash. He was starting to feel the pain from only having one set to wear. That said, the sky was clear this morning and he expected to dry up quickly on the walk to the market.

The rope slid into place and David attached the tent to his backpack. He stood and swung the backpack onto his shoulders in a now practised motion. After a quick glance around the clearing to ensure he hadn't forgotten anything, he flattened the backpack's straps on his shoulders and bent over to pick up the berry crate.

The crate wasn't anywhere near full but it was easier to carry it rather than try to squeeze the berries into his bag. The woods to the south of the Route 7 path were as berry barren as the north side. He and Pidgey would have arrived back empty handed if it wasn't for Pidgey's sharp eyes. She had burst into chirps a few moments after David had given up and started to walk north and back to the path.

Pidgey had led David around a few trees until they reached what looked like a small brown Christmas tree. A quick read through his foraging manual identified the berries as Wepear. Without any wild Pokemon around he was more than happy to pick 5 of the ripe berries.

They had returned to the clearing triumphantly for dinner. Which wasn't so glorious.

David had more cold salad and Pidgey polished off the last Leppa berry. She didn't look impressed by her selection and had buried her beak under her wing when presented with a Wepear berry.

David took a second to double check Pidgey's pokeball was in the backpack and set off.

The walk into the town was as relaxing as expected. His clothes dried as the sun rose and he was greeted by a few enthusiastic joggers. He was starting to recognise faces walking the same road into the city everyday.

David weaved through the streets on the familiar path to the market pausing only outside the library. It was currently closed but he spent a minute looking for an information board or list of rules. There was nothing.

It'd been two days since he had been kicked out. The librarian hadn't said how long the ban would last but David hoped it was over by now. There was so much he still needed to find out. With a disgruntled sigh, David left. The library wouldn't be open for another hour and he had business to attend to.

-.-

"Good morning Benny."

"Morning David." Benny replied and gave him a small wave. He gestured at the crate and then at an empty spot at the back of his table.

Benny's stall was already set up and he was relaxing behind the table on a folded chair. David didn't think he was any later than usual so the stall owner must have arrived early.

"I have a few berries for you today." David set the crate down and plucked a Wepear out to hand to Benny.

Benny took the berry with a grunt. He inspected it briefly before standing up and examining the other four berries.

"Perfect condition and the right amount to sell as a group. I will give you 40P each. 200 total."

"Deal." David agreed with a smile.

Benny shook his head as he counted out the money. "I hope you aren't this agreeable when you're buying from the market."

"I trust you." David replied.

Benny raised an eyebrow at him.

"And I checked the prices at the other stalls." David said with a grin. He took the Poke and added it to the pile in his pocket. He had over 300 now. He could afford to buy a Potion and still have change.

"You're not devoid of sense then. Now go on. You're blocking my customers' view." Benny waved him away.

David left the market for the library but diverted off route to find a park when he felt a shake in his bag.

It wasn't long before he came across a park. He jogged in and over to a quiet spot.

Pidgey appeared with a low shrill. She hopped in a circle before hopping over to David and peering up at him expectantly.

David cut the flying food sachet open and laid it on the ground. Pidgey gave it a look before giving David a low squawk.

"You need nutrition if you're going to evolve. Especially after the battle with Machop yesterday." David explained and used the same knife he had cut the pack open with to separate the food into smaller chunks.

Pidgey hopped about a bit before squawking and digging in.

He would need to go shopping soon. They had one food sachet left. If he got a pen and paper he could use the diet section in 'How to wing it!' to make a meal plan for Pidgey. More items were added to his mental shopping list.

Pidgey settled into her roosting position when she was done and gave David the 'I'm tired' chirp.

"Would you like to see the city?" David asked, not reaching for her ball.

Pidgey tilted her head at him. A second later she stood up and hopped to the side to look at the edge of the park.

David waited patiently for a minute as Pidgey's head twitched minutely as she stared out at the city.

Pidgey finally turned to him and pecked forward. They were a go.

David stepped around Pidgey and picked her up from behind. Pidgey was a small bird and it wasn't much trouble to carry her. She was just small enough to fit on his shoulder but David wasn't quite comfortable getting that close to sharp talons yet.

He acted as a tour guide as he walked to the library. Not to describe the purpose of any of the buildings they passed, David didn't know that himself. Instead he explained what things were. From the glass side of a building that caused Pidgey to flinch away from her reflection to the traffic lights.

In between each explanation he added snippets comparing things to his world. How the doorways were bigger here and the footpaths wider. He told her about the towering skyscrapers his homeworld had built without Pokemon. The buildings here didn't come close. He hadn't seen a single one more than 10 stories tall.

As he talked Pidgey's heart settled from a frantic throb to a steady beat. Pidgey began using her beak as a pointer and letting out low squawks to get his attention.

Both of them jumped as a high pitch whistle rang out.

David shook his head and looked around for the source.

Striding down the sidewalk was a man in a dark blue uniform with silver highlights. Striding towards him.

Darting forward by the man's knees was a Growlithe. The doglike Pokemon was large. When it sat in front of him, a plume of hair came up shy of his waist. Irregular black stripes marked its orange fur. Narrowed eyes focused on him.

"Are you listening?"

David froze as he realised he had missed the officer speaking. And that's what the man was. A police officer.

Was he busted? Had his application to the League recovery program tripped some kind of alarm?

Pidgey let out a high pitch shrill. His grip had tightened.

"Ye-ees." David coughed out.

The officer sighed. "Look, return your Pidgey to her ball and I'll let you off with a warning."

David scrambled to do just that. He was missing some context but felt it was better not to ask.

Pidgey let out a low squawk as she was set down but she quieted down as David gave her head a pat. She disappeared in a burst of light.

"Okay. Now don't let your Pokemon out on the sidewalk again until you have the badge requirement. I'll be keeping an eye out."

And with that the officer turned and left. His Growlithe followed with a bark.

David shook as he began walking again. He plodded on past the library and continued out of the city.

The shivering only stopped when he was past the Route 7 sign.

Pidgey gave several questioning squawks when he let her out in the clearing but David just shook his head. He diverted her questions into training.

Pidgey took off four times again today before stopping. As with yesterday, they moved onto Tackle next. Pidgey was much faster today. She started at 15 seconds and was creating the haze in 14 when she stopped and got into a roosting position.

Only after all this did David consider the police officer earlier. He had likely overreacted but he couldn't shake the fear. The officer had been friendly but he had been accompanied by a large moving flamethrower.

David had been lucky so far. People didn't pick up on his oddities or assumed they were related to his homelessness.

His hand was halted in place. He looked down to see that Pidgey had caught the Tackle popping stick in her beak. He had been poking the ground with it absently.

"Hmm?"

Pidgey spread her wings which only shook a little.

"Gliding practice then."

David shivered as he walked past the Abra sign on his way into the city.

What had seemed so innocent the day before now worried him. The police officers in the Psychic city were bound to have access to Psychic Pokemon. What were interrogations like?

He was a little sweaty under the sun's heat. To keep Pidgey motivated he'd run alongside as she glided and he hadn't cooled down much during her Peck practice. Out of all the training today, Pidgey had treated the Peck exercises the most seriously. He'd needed to find a new thicker log after she drilled through the one from yesterday.

Pidgey had been shaking from the effort when David called a stop to the training. He didn't know how he felt watching her drive herself to exhaustion and based on his rough guess on the time of day, he needed to meet Fred for the tournament match soon.

-.-

"David!"

David turned to see Fred waving. He'd been keeping an eye out but he hadn't been able to spot the ginger haired teen in the crowd around the Pokecenter. In his defence, Fred wasn't wearing his usual workout gear either and there was no sign of Machop.

"Hey." David greeted the teen. "Do you know the way to the match from here?"

"Yup. It's in one of the smaller city stands by the Fighting dojo."

"And did you remember your ticket?" David asked and waved his.

Fred froze and started patting his pockets. His shoulders dropped as he fished a ticket and a note out from his breast pocket. His face reddened as he took in the note and he scrunched it back up.

"This way." Fred said slightly sullenly.

David waved at the security guard as they walked past the entrance. It wasn't the guard that helped him on his first day but honour by association and all.

"So how come you had a spare ticket? My joke yesterday about the ladies seemed to hit a little too close to home?"

"You have no idea." Fred said with a groan and rubbed his face. "My mom."

"Huh?"

"My mom got the tickets. We were going to go together but she got called up to cover a sick leave." Fred fished the scrunched up note out of his pockets. "Thankfully she saw I had left my ticket in the wash."

"Moms are good for that." David said roughly and focused on his feet.

"Yeah." Fred said with a groan.

"Left here." Fred instructed.

Any conversation between them had died as they walked but thankfully the match wasn't taking place all that far from the Pokecenter.

David looked up to see a large oval building. It was huge, about half the size of the superstore that was the Pokemart. At two stories tall it didn't dwarf the surrounding buildings but it more than made up for that with its length.

'This is one of the small stands?'

Endnote:

Police faction rep -1

What do you think would be the requirements/ training for the Police in Pokemon? (Separate from Ace trainers in this world.)

frankieu - Pidgey learned something from the battle anyway. Lots to learn from an enthusiastic fighting type.

Zyxis Ouroboros ReArchtypist - Thanks for reading and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope I can keep to the same realism when the Hyper Beams start flying. (Not for a while thankfully)

Guest A (1-17) - Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much.

Guest B (1-19) - Unless the Rocket grunt casts it first. Or he finds a battle axe…

Guest C (1-19) - It's looking like one chapter a week atm. I'm finishing off a short story for a competition and I'm low on time.

The Defense Professor - I hope I can keep them coming. More hints & revelations on the world coming soon. RoyalRoad has a much better writing interface/ experience but it also demands very quick releases. I'll think about it but I've lots of world building/ prices/ characters to flesh out still.