Chapter 3 - That looks about right
Slub didn't get far before he remembered he'd been given a present, and opted to go have a sit on a bench around the corner instead. He peeked into the bag of tchotchkes the nurse had given him, all the while trying to calm his nerves by talking to himself, as was his thing.
"A small can of Devon Corp. branded Fresh Water. Fine whatever. Full Heal, Super Potion, a sheet of Pokémon stickers…" He flicked through them. "Half of which I've never seen before. OK, whatever." He grabbed a big plastic sheet. "Six white mini Poké Balls... no wait…"
He looked at the sheet of balls, then opened it like an egg carton and felt their surface. They were unmistakably actual Poké Balls. Poké Balls that happened to be white with a red stripe.
"Huh." He read the enclosed note. "Enjoy these Premier Balls as a thank you for visiting glorious Sunnyville… That's debatable… Premier Balls have the same properties and catch rate of Poké Balls… yadda yadda… but come in a cool white design to show off your individuality."
Slub took one out and held it in his deathly pale, decrepit, skeletal hand whilst viewing it with his wrinkly, tired, red eyes.
"Looks about right." He said. He put two of them back in the bag and attached the remaining four to the bandolier." He wasn't planning to go hunting for Pokémon, but if Pokémon decided to go hunting for him again, he wanted to be ready to encapsulate them.
"Hi, excuse me, I saw your battle in the parking lot."
A tall woman with braided hair hanging down her purple and gold outfit had spoken to him.
"Uh… Oh… OK?" Slub said, as confident and blabberingly wordy as ever.
"That's probably the single worst Pokémon battle I have ever seen in my life." She sucked some air in through her teeth in a 'was I just a bit too harsh'-way. "Uh, sorry, that was a bit much. It wasn't great though." She smiled a flat smile.
"Thanks," said Slub, "I get that a lot." He looked back down. He felt he was making the situation a lot less awkward by playing into it, although it often seemed to have the opposite effect. Slub wasn't very good with social interaction. This was mostly due to not having them very often.
"Well, I was going to say, if you ever want to be a bit less awful, come by the gym sometime." She said with a smile whilst pointing to the domed building down by the harbor.
"Oh, sorry, I don't really do that sort of thing." Slub said and cracked the lid off the Fresh Water and took a sip.
"Oh, no… That much is obvious…" she looked at Slub wheezing and grabbing his chest from the strain of having imbibed the very bubbly bottle of non-carbonated Fresh Water.
"It's a Pokémon Gym. We do battles and practice strategy. You… You don't recognize me do you. My name's Isla. I'm the Sunnyville Pokémon Gym Leader." Her smile was lovely, but sadly not infectious.
"I'm Slub, I'm not here of my own free will and I need an adult." Not as impressive as her accreditation admittedly. "And, yeah, I gathered that, about the training, but I'm not a trainer."
"You're a, what, thirty-something guy with a bandolier of Poké Balls who commands…"
"Well" interrupted Slub, cocked his head to the side and blew some air out between his teeth.
"Attempts to command a shiny Magmar in battle against a literal child who challenged you to… a literal trainer battle… who's not a trainer..." She smiled awkwardly whilst emphasizing each syllable with her hands. "Ehm… Help me understand what's going on here, Slub."
"Yeah, it's a whole thing… oh there's that word again: Shiny?"
Isla sat down next to Slub, which he wasn't ready for at all. She pulled out a Rotom phone with a purple and gold case.
"Very stylish," Slub thought.
"OK, Rotom," Isla said. The phone let out a little jingle. "Pokédex for Magmar please."
"Sure thing Miss Isla!" The Rotom Phone said:
Magmar - The Spitfire Pokémon - Fire Type.
She tapped the screen to skip some pointless and probably inaccurate weight, height and temperature data. The Rotom Phone continued:
"Magmar thrives in volcanic craters, where it can freely release its fiery energy. When angered, it expels intense heat waves, causing the air around it to shimmer and distort. Its powerful, fiery punches can leave opponents scorched."
"That's not a very helpful description," Slub said.
"They rarely are," Isla groaned, but see there," she pointed to the image on screen. "Most Magmar are red and yellow, but yours is pink. It's incredibly rare."
"Huh. I just assumed that's what they looked like. I've only ever met mine."
Slub tapped the button on the uppermost ball on the bandolier hoping to compare the image with the real deal, and let Magmar stretch its legs at the same time, before realizing the fact that he hadn't paid attention to the order of balls during the awkward exchange at the Poké Center. A pale light shot out as Bramblin stood, sat or possibly lay before them for a moment before rolling off.
"Oh Figy Berries," Slub sighed.
"Not a trainer… Who caught a Shiny Magmar and a Bramblin… A notoriously difficult Pokémon to catch. What even are you even doing, you absolute..." Isla struggled to find words.
"Oop, there it goes," Slub said, watching it roll down the road. There was some screaming.
"Yeah you need to stop that thing, right now."
"Who cares, I caught it yesterday and that was in self-defense. I don't want to be responsible for it. Oh! And it tried to eat me!" he pointed down to his leg. The gash had been healing, but his trouser leg hadn't been mended and was still in tatters. A horn was blaring some distance down the road. More screaming followed.
"If you caught it, then that thing is registered to your trainer ID. If it causes any damage downtown you're the one who has to pay up, including fines of up to 500.000P."
"Oh that's sub-optimal." Slub scratched the back of his neck.
"Don't worry, I'll help you." Isla smiled a bright white grin and did a thumbs up, before leaping up and taking out a light blue Poke Ball from inside her coat.
"Ludicolo! Let's get to work! Go get that thing!"
Slub actually recognized Ludicolo, which was nice. It appeared with a splash before him and let out a jolly "Ru-Ru-Runpa!"
All three of them set off down the road and as the rogue bush came into view by way of following its trail of destruction, Isla started shouting orders.
"Ludicolo, slow it down with a Bubblebeam!"
With a gargling "Runpa!" a fierce beam of bubbles shot through the air and hit Bramblin for what appeared to be very little damage, although it did seem to slow it down markedly.
"All right!" Slub said, raising a fist as if cheering on from the sideline, making absolutely zero effort to assist in containing his renegade Pokémon.
"Now let's stop it quick and easy. Ludicolo, use Astonish!"
Ludicolo had somehow caught up to the ball of death and with a loud "Pah!" it slapped it with both hands. The Bramblin rolled over on its side, or possibly some other part. Its gaseous eyes appeared to vanish as it stopped. Slub aimed the Great Ball and shouted "Bramblin come back!" which it then, thankfully, did.
"There! All in a day's work," Isla said, before brushing off her hands and smiling confidently. Several bystanders lay about, having been knocked down like bowling pins.
"We should probably leave," Slub suggested.
"Oh yes," Isla replied.
Isla was keenly awaiting an explanation as she and Slub sat in a nearby 'F. B. McCoy's', a continental franchise fast food branch specializing in long baguette-style burgers and sandwiches. Slub was devouring the kid's meal Isla had bought for him, having not eaten for what to him felt like an eternity. At first he had done his utmost to simply get away, but Isla was very persistent. In the end, when the promise of food came on the table, as well as some literal food, he wasn't that tough to convince.
"Man, I am going all-in on long and loving relationship with this cheese steak sandwich," Slub said, laying into it. As he messily recounted what had occurred over the past two days, Isla sat there in absolute disbelief.
"So basically, they threw you out because you're some kind of adult child who has zero ambition, interests or a job and they didn't want you mooching off them any longer."
"Yeah that sounds about right," Slub looked angrily out of the window with squinted eyes. "The bastards." He said, sipping a creamy milkshake drink that was adorned with cartoony Miltanks.
"And you don't want to be a Pokémon Trainer, but you ARE a registered trainer. And you started being one against your will a day ago, and you've so far lost every single battle you've been in."
"That's an unfair generalization," Slub said. "I've only had one trainer battle."
"Your Bramblin flinched to my Ludicolo's Astonish and you withdrew it in response. We technically had a casual one-on-one battle which you conceded." Isla clarified, making Slub groan.
"Why do you care so much?" Slub asked, slumping back in his chair. "I just want to be left alone. This whole town is cramping my style."
"Because I'm a Gym Leader and what goes on Pokémon-wise here in town is my responsibility. You need to begin taking this a bit more seriously before you get hurt, or you get someone else hurt."
"I didn't even register myself as a trainer, my parents must have done it on-line."
"Ah, that's… kinda bad." Isla said. "Did you even get any stuff? Like your potions or a trainer ID card?"
Slub shrugged mid-munch, making an 'I dunno' noise with his throat.
Isla started doing stuff on her phone for a minute. Slub enjoyed the moment of quiet by quietly enjoying the absolutely tooth-melting sweetness of the milky drink.
"Ok, 6 o' clock, tomorrow morning. You. My Gym. Down by the harbor. Be there or I'm reporting your little incident to the League authorities." Isla pointed to Slub.
Slub groaned in surprise; an interesting combination.
"There's… Not a lot going on around here, is there?"
"Noooooope," Isla yawned and leaned back in the chair. She snapped a photo of him with her phone. The flash made Slub see stars.
"Fine," Slub said, blinking repeatedly.
"What was that?" Isla asked.
"Fine. I'll be there… Ma'am." He said begrudgingly.
"That'll do, Slub."
In her enthusiasm she leaned forward and gave him a high five just as he took another sip of his milkshake, inadvertently smashing the cup on his face.