Thank you to my P-buddies: SaffireSpirit13, TheButtGod, Zerak, Jacob Raymond, 9milli9, Bishop7053, Stealthkug, Sgt. Rock, Helios, Grim343, Vincent Mason, Noctis117, Zaccaria Babchia, aj0413, Tim Möller, Blahmeh, Fade, Definitely not Dio, Samot, , Dave, Sanjay, Jmatt890, roger nascimento rocha, Johnathan Rogers, K, Jeremy Hernandez, and fausto escobar.
And a special thank you to Joe, you absolute madman.
"Selah!" The sound of my manager yelling my name provoked a visceral reaction deep in my soul, because there was only one reason the kindly man would do such a thing. "Birthday boy at table twelve, do your thing!"
"I'm on it." I responded politely, which was so wrong on so many levels, but money was money and I almost had enough to get my journey started. Leaving the dishes for someone else to do in the meantime, I walked calmly and casually towards table twelve with a smile only a service worker could have.
I could see some of my coworkers had already set up the cake and given out the birthday hat, and I could already hear them talking about 'my' part of the show.
"-and we have a very special guest coming to help us sing." The kid, who looked about eight years old, buzzed with excitement only for all energy to die out upon seeing my mug. I used every bit of willpower I had not to say some snarky shit at the kid, and instead shake my head playfully.
"Oh no, not me. I'm a terrible singer." Lies and slander, I just don't feel like singing happy birthday every time a kid shows up here. "I'm just here to bring out the real star of the show."
And finally, the best part of this entire thing was up, purely because not even customer service could hamper a childhood dream.
Palming a small sphere, a tap to the center button caused it to expand to the size of my palm, and the iconic red and white ball fit snugly in my hand. And tossing it lazily into the air, my starter popped into existence in the middle of the table.
"Eevee!" My starter cheered happily, which was somehow still genuine after the dozens of birthdays we'd had to celebrate during this single month of work here, and the kid's eyes glistened with pure joy at the sight of the cutest Pokémon in existence.
Fucking fight me on that.
I pulled a harmonica out of my pocket, and blew into it, as the rest of the staff and my starter began to sing.
"Ee Vee Vee Vee, Eevee." Everyone, including the staff, began to sing along to the tune of Happy Birthday.. " Ee Vee Vee Vee, Eevee. Ee Vee Vee Vee, Ee Vui Vee. Ee Vee Vee Vee, Eevui. Eevee!" And then everyone joined in on clapping, and everyone thatdidn'twork here laughed at the hilarious joke I came up with a month ago.
And the only thing I could think about, was howfucking desperateI was for the end of the week so I could get my journey started.
Sitting outside with a cup of warm water, and anEeveesitting in front of me, I sighed and began rinsing off his brown fur after the most recent Birthday Boy got his sticky baby hands all over him. Rubbing the warm water in, much to my starters approval given the euphoric sighs and purrs, I sighed heavily.
"I have no fucking clue how you still like doing birthday shit here, Vee." My hand immediately yanked itself away, experience telling me Vee was about to chomp me for using 'bad words', the fucking prude. The other hand flicked him on the nose, and began play-fighting as the rest of me focused on ensuring I didn't get any frosting on me when we went to bed.
I blinked.
"It's the cake, isn't it." Warm, chocolate eyes looked plainly at me and nodded slowly as I came to an obvious conclusion that took me a whole month to come to. God, I was a fucking idiot.
… should I say God here, or Arceus? I mean, Iamin Sinnoh-
"Oi, Visitor." My deific introspection was interrupted by the sound of the manager calling for me by my obviously fake last name. Because hey, if adorable weapons of mass destruction exist, why can't magic?
I turned back to look at the portly man, giving Vee a cross look out the corner of my eye when he successfully caught one of my fingers and began chewing on it to 'discipline' me, and nodded. "Y'need something, old man? Because I'll take overtime pay."
"Bah, you'll drain my entire business dry at this rate." He scoffed at my words, and I chuckled as he came up next to me and sat down. I noted his Rattata, who I've been thinking of as Remy this entire time considering he helps with cooking, was nowhere to be found. The old bag was probably napping somewhere, or helping count the dosh.
"You say that like Rattata would let me." Now he was the one chuckling at my words, nodding in agreement.
"Heh, you aren't wrong there. But still, Selah. You've been doing good work this month, and I just want to know… well, if you're dead certain you want to go." I paused for a moment, Vee letting my finger out of his mouth so I could contemplate what was going on.
Waking up in a hospital bed to a very irate Eevee and a two for one combo of Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny, the realization that this wasnota dream hit me like a brick to the back of the head. Even when I learned that healthcare was free thanks to the absolute bullshit that was Heal Pulse.
Hell, I'd even been given a Pokeball to keep Eevee in once it became clear the little prick wouldn't leave me alone out of fear I'd do something stupid and get myself killed. Likehecan talk.
So after explaining to the 'nice' government officials that I wasn't a spy, I had no idea how I got here, and I have absolutely nothing to my name besides the clothes formerly on my back and an Eevee. I then received a free room at an inn for the month, a set of identification so I don't getimmediatelyarrested, and a poster filled with job openings in Sandgem Town.
Apparently, people appearing from nowhere without warning or any idea what to do was a recorded happening, so it was now common practice around the world to have basic accommodations from those proven to be from other worlds.
(There had been a Psychic Type in the other room reading my mind, which made me extremely glad I wasn't a habitual liar and that my awareness of general Pokemon knowledge didn't enter my 'surface thoughts')
Thank Sun and Moon for making Isekai a random thing that just happens in this universe!
In any case, despite practically being handed a well-off lifestyle to spend the rest of my days in a basic-ass Slow Life Isekai, there was only one answer I could give him.
"Absolutely." There wasn't a bit of hesitation as I looked him in his green eyes, and felt Vee sitting straighter as he followed my lead. "I understand that training isdangerous, that Vee and I could get seriously hurt doing this." I shuddered at the memory of running for my life almost a month ago, and I could feel the fox in my lap tensing at the shared memory.
"But…" A lot of things flash in my mind as I considered all the reasons I was going through with this anyway. The various threats I was aware of hanging over my head- terrorist Teams, malevolent Pokemon, living the rest of my days in fucking food-service- and the fact I had nothing to my name aside from Eevee. I was some kid with no safety network, no allies, and no clue what I could possibly do at this point.
But none of those were the reason I was going on my journey, and pretending otherwise would be lying to myself.
"... There's a whole world waiting out there for us. It's filled to the brim with wonders and adventure, and I… I want to see it. I want to experience everything this place has to offer, the freedom to go anywhere." Despite myself, I looked up into the big blue sky, watching as Starly soared overhead.
I couldn't live with myself if I didn't follow that dream of traveling this fantastical world, seeing what I could never imagine existing with my own two eyes.
A paw batted at my hand incessantly, and a challenging look was sent up my way by the fox in my lap. I huffed and rolled my eyes.
"AndI really want to become the best trainer in the world." Y'know, because I'm hyper-competitive and wouldn't hesitate to pursue a childhood dream that had previously been impossible given the chance. "Gym challenges seem like a good thing to work for, and a fuckton of free money."
Suddenly teeth sunk into my finger without any of the prior gentleness, and a stream of curses flowed from my mouth while I futilely tried to pry the fucking asshole off of me with my free hand.
"Agh, you piece of shit! Let go you fucking prick, I swear to God I will punt you into the fucking dirt!"My boss merely laughed at me while I did my best to squeeze Vee's skull so he'd cut out his 'no cursing' fuckery and let me the hell go!
"Ah, you two're a riot, aren't you?" He said as Vee finally hopped off of me, and I rubbed at the indents in my skin. He would never actually break the skin or the bone beneath despite being more than capable of it, butfuckif his 'corrective measures' didn't feel like they did.
"Certainly got the violence for it…" I grumbled, the ungrateful motherfucker I called a starter merely giving me a cross look as ifIwas the unreasonable one.
Returning the same look to the fox, I stood back up and stretched out my back, twisting over to my boss as a yawn escaped me. Only for the older man to hold out an envelope towards me. "What's that?" I asked, taking it from his hand, pointedly not stumbling when Eevee suddenlyleapedfrom the ground onto my head without a warning. Those jumping exercises were paying off.
"Guess." The old man said, and I clicked my tongue at the irritating words.
A tired glance upwards was met with a curious look down, and I sighed before opening the letter-
It was thick in a way I'd more than grown used to, except this was even moreso. I blinked.
"... This seems…a lotmore than my usual paycheck." And a lot earlier too, considering I only get paid at the end of the work week. Which was very odd, considering I was leaving at the end of this week-
"Call it advanced pay, kid. It'll help ya get all your stuff sorted before you leave town." The words were amazing, and exactly what I needed to help prepare, and despite everything my paranoia flared up.
"Why are you doing all this for me?" I asked plainly, no longer content to just mindlessly accept gratitude for no reason. I'm not too proud to accept handouts when I need them, but this? I didn'tneedthis, and he's already given more than enough to ease a guilty conscience.
Because there's only so many ways someone can interpret a random guy with no education, identification, or relatives appearing in the middle of the country without a cent to his name. And even if they weretechnicallyright, I hated deceiving them like this. Taking advantage of a kindness I didn't deserve butdesperatelyneeded.
The old man sighed, scratching at his salt-and-pepper beard. "When I was on my journey, I fucked up alot. Practically every step of the way, honestly. But, everytime I went over my head or did somethin'realstupid, someone would help me in the end. Strangers you meet once or twice on the road who end up changin' or even saving your life."
I gave him a pointed look as I digested his words. "Are you giving me a handout because you're passing on those good deeds, or because you think I'll fuck up constantly like you did?"
"I have to pick just one?" My face twisted in displeasure as the old man guffawed at his own words, hands holding his gut as he damn-near doubled over. My eyes turned skyward, meeting Eevee's equally unimpressed eyes as we let the old man have his fun.
I suddenly don't feel bad about almost immediately forgetting his name.
When he eventually regained control of himself, after wiping more than a few tears from his eyes, he continued. "Ah, I'll miss laughing at you, Selah. Always brightens up my day."
If I attack him it's a robbery, if I attack him it's a robbery, if I attack him it's a robbery.
"Still." His aged eyes hardened as he looked at me, and I raised an eyebrow at the sudden tone shift. "Accepting this money comes with expectations, lad. If you take this, you must promise me something." His words hung in the air, and I could feel Vee nodding in time with me.
"You must promise to let people know about our restaurant in Sandgem Town. Make sure the name of the Starly Nest-Egg spreads far and wide!"
"Oh fuck off!" I snapped at him, a surprised laugh escaping me at his words. I'd honestly expected him to add some random condition to this shit, but turning to free advertisement across the Region?
That, I can do.
"I'll do it when I remember to, no promises." I waved him off, and he shook his head in mock disgrace.
"Ah, after I pour out my heart in soul you can't even just agree?"
"Sothat'swhy you're hitting me with a backstory after a month of working for your dusty ass-" A yelp of pain escaped me as I suddenly had a set of Eevee teeth digging into my shoulder, which was followed by a string of obscenities that'd make a sailor blush as I grabbed the motherfucker.
"That's right, Vee! Avenge my honor!Avenge me!"
Early in the morning, after spending all night reorganizing my plans and schedule given the extra week of prep we've been given, Vee and I were standing in the early chills as the sun slowly rose over the horizon.
Vee was standing firm in the morning chill, while I was doing my best not to shiver as I held onto a full-basket.
"Alright, training time. Today we're working on Free Running, so we're going to start with the stupid sh-" The Eevee's teeth gleamed darkly in the early light, and I rolled my eyes. "-stuff, immediately."
Free Running wasn't an actual move, but merely a style of movement I've been trying to teach the little fox. Eevee was a small Pokemon, and he wasn't particularly durable compared to other Pokemon. While I'd been contemplating our training, I'd been imagining how Vee would fight the Beedrill that ran us down that first day, and building off of that.
It could fly, and use Poison Sting from a distance, and there's only so many ways to dodge when your opponent has endless angles to shoot at you from, especially in a clearing. So even if I made him stronger, faster, or more durable he'd still get dog-walked by the overgrown insect through sheer range and mobility.
I'm more than aware that weakness is essentially permanent as Vee can't fly, and that basing my team on it's ability to defeat a single Pokemon is asinine. But I've always been the type to obsess over the problem in front of me until I either solve it or break it through sheer stubbornness.
In any case, after being hopelessly outclassed in theoretical battle, I was made painfully aware of Vee's limitations as a fighter.
Mainly, that he is small. Sure he is fast, and I've always preferred fast attackers to bulky tanks when I played the games. But his legs were small, so even when he can dodge it takes much more energy compared to others, and he lacks a lot of movement options against opponents who aren't earthbound.
So the answer was, naturally, to teach him how to move like a particularly acrobatic parkourist so he can easily triple-jump his way away from enemy fire.
Opening the basket filled with a rainbow of toy balls- plastic, styrofoam, rubber, and whatever else I could find that cost less than a dollar per orb- I grabbed one and pointed it at the Pokemon.
"From now on, instead of just teaching you how to push off and turn in certain ways, we're putting all of it into practice. I'm going to be tossing these all at you however I please, and your job is to dodge them while Free Running. Duck, weave, deflect, as long as it doesn't hit you directly it's free game. Got it?" Vee yipped in agreement, so I immediately threw the ball into his face, getting an aggravated bark when he jumped over it.
In response, I threw two more at him in mid-air, and sunk into training alongside him.
Watching Vee duck and dodge like an experienced pro, I once again found myself in awe in how Pokemon casually break the laws of physics on a whim. Twisting mid-air around various projectiles, rolling into a ball when an attack tries to hit him when he lands, straight up hopping away like a gymnast when I make the mistake of trying to attack him on the ground.
While Pokemon would naturally attack at much higher-paced speeds than me, this was more about training his body to react like he wanted in various situations. What if three attacks in the shape of a triangle come at him from the side? How should he twist himself to minimize damage? Is there a better, faster shape? Does he need to work on his flexibility to do it, or is it straight up unfeasible at this stage?
Answering those questions, and burning the muscle memory into the fox was the name of the game. Though I needed to give him something unexpected to keep him on his toes.
So I purposefully dropped a ball before kicking it up into him, catching him in the stomach and knocking him off his rhythm. I hissed out in apology, and made to go over and check on him, before receiving an Eevee skull straight to my stomach in reparation.
I fell back, breathless, with Vee giving me an equally breathless glare from where he fell as well.
This was going to take some work.
Standing across a dusty battlefield, I locked eyes with my opponent, a local legend in the area for his battling skills. It was a perfect opponent to cut our teeth on, and I nodded at the warrior across from me in acknowledgement and silent determination.
Instead of silently responding, the eight-year-old pointed a thumb at himself and began bragging like I was the one who had challenged him.
"Hah! Don't you know, I'm the strongest kid in Sandgem Town-" I immediately began tuning him out as he attempted to unleash his Secret Technique: Backstory to make me feel bad about fighting fucking primary schoolers.
But I didn't, because I know for a fact there are several 'Youngsters' in the world capable of sending out crazy strong Pokemon they borrowed from their parents.
Also this was going to be Vee and I's first ever 'official battle', so beating up toddlers seemed to be as quick and easy of a first attempt as physically possible.
"- Now take out your Pokemon and let's battle." Ah, zoned back in at just the right time.
"Fine. Single Pokemon, fight till knockout or surrender, no wager?" I laid out my preferred ruleset, and the child nodded in agreement. Unlike what most media from back home talked about, there are a lot of unseen rules and regulations behind Pokemon Battles.
First and foremost, most people on the road don't go for full knockout battles with their entire teams in case of wild Pokemon attacks. Secondly, the whole process behind getting money from battling is an extremely complex system based on number of gym badges, Pokemon, time active in a Championship Circuit, and a bunch of random bullshit that I can't be bothered to look into.
Though all of that is irrelevant, considering neither of us have a Trainer License, so betting is extremely illegal.
"Um," Some little girl off to the sidelines, where the rest of the children were cheering excitedly for combat between two complete strangers. "Is it okay if I play referee?"
"Ah, sure." I nodded, and the authority of being the oldest one here naturally outruled being the 'best trainer in school!'.
"Uh, this is a single battle between challenger Brian," Oh sweet Arceus his name'sBrian?"And the… uh, de-fun-der?" She looked at me in askance, and I gently corrected her. "DefenderSelah. The battle ends on either knockout or sur-surrender."
Aw, isn't she just precious?
I tugged the minaturized Pokeball off my belt, the only one holding a Pokemon (Vee was annoyed at being contained, considering he was absolutely an outside fox, but neither of us was capable of dealing with someone stealing him), and paused for a moment.
What do I say when I throw out a Pokemon? Do I need a one-liner or something?
Ah, who gives a shit.
"Vee, give 'em hell!" Tossing the red and white ball in front of me, it burst open in a flash of light, before launching itself back towards me. Themetal ballsmacked into my open palm, and I hissed both in pain and the fact I knew that it was on purpose.
The fucking prude burst into action with a cheer, though a reprimanding glare sent my way proved I was right on the money.
The referee 'awww'-ed at the Pokemon, along with most of the crowd, while I clicked my tongue at him. The child, whose name I didn't know, reacted poorly to the attention I was receiving, and instead yanked a Pokeball from his pocket and threw it onto the field as well.
"Show 'em whose boss, Bidoof!"
What.
"Doof?" The… regular fucking beaver tilted his head curiously at Eevee, not a single thought going on behind those beady black eyes of his. I could probably blow into his ear and reset his train of thought.
I don't know why I was insulting him so badly, he was just so stupid-looking it looped right back around to being adorable. But I at least had the decency not to insult the guy's Pokemon right before beating its ass, so I nodded over to the referee.
"Ah, alright, battle begin!"
"Bidoof, charge and Tackle!" The kid ordered sharply, voice high and proud as the beaver Pokemon followed through with a cry of its name,visibly glowing with white energyas it ranoh shit it's fast.
"Vee, Growl!" I ordered instantly, and my partner immediately followed through, a threatening rumble spilling out of his maw causing the Bidoof to reel back in fright. While I had never used a status move back when I was playing the game, with everything actually being real and not being limited to four moves at a time I decided to experiment.
And I could almost see it's muscles lock up as it was suddenly harder to move compared to before, though it still charged forwards anyway, eyes laser-focused on Vee as it devoured the space between them.
"Twist and Bite!" Our training immediately showed why it was worth doing as the small creaturetwistedout of the way of the charge, as despite the Bidoof's surprising speed Eevee was still faster, and with a gleaming black grin Vee's teeth sunk into its side for a moment before letting go.
As no one knew how hard Vee bit quite like I did, I understood that if he'd held any longer he'd be dragged back by the Bidoof's charge. I nodded in sympathy as the Bidoof screeched in pain at the unexpected attack, but he was the enemy so…
"Don't let up, Tackle!" My orders were sharp and sudden, but my partner followed them to a tee, legitimately flipping over himself to quickly angle and charge straight into the Bidoof.
"Bidoof, Defense Curl!" The Bidoof quickly twisted in on itself in the closest approximation of a ball it could, unfortunately it couldn't do thatandkeep Vee from shoulder-charging straight into the fresh injury. It cried out in pain, wobbling at the sudden force, but didn't fall over.
Sorry to say, though, that in real life there's a lot more ways to learn moves than TMs. Especially when they're basic-bitch shit they come out the egg already knowing.
"Leer and Bite!" Vee's normally warm eyes twisted into a dark look that actually made Bidoof more vulnerable, but even as he used it, darkened teeth were already on the way to non-quite-defended flesh.
They sank in, Bidoof cried out again, and-
"We surrender!" And I suddenly remembered that this was abattlewith nothing except bragging rights on the line. I didn't even have to say anything for Vee to immediately disengage, depowering his move before unlatching his teeth from beaver-hide.
I grimaced, having completely zoned into the battle and not even noticed the complete lack of orders on theeight year old'sside. The kid looked… upset, but in the 'why didn't you let me win' way instead of 'I'm literally a child what's wrong with you' way.
"Oh, right, ah- Defender Selah wins due to surrender!" The audience all clapped politely as the kid went over to his Bidoof, comfortingly patting it on the uninjured side as it whined in disappointment.
I looked down at my Pokemon, who looked just as shame-faced as I was at the absolute beatdown we'd just accomplished.
"... Gonna have to buy the kid a popsicle, aren't we." It wasn't a question, but Vee nodded anyway. I sighed, before absently rubbing the top of Vee's head. "Still, bullying aside, amazing battle. Let's make every fight as one-sided as this, yeah?"
"Vee!" And a hyper-competitive fire burned in his warm chocolate eyes at the thought, and suddenly everything was all right.
… Even if the brat asked for a double-scoop instead, but I'd do the same thing in his shoes, so eh.
A/N: And the divergence from the original finally starts. Next one is either an actual chapter or a flashback from a new perspective (You can already guess who it is).
Thank you for reading, peace.
