With all of the big reveals to his pokemon completed, Ors sat in silence the rest of the ride to let Rena consider everything she has just been told.
With a slight malaise about the bus from the parents whose kids had just left, Ors decided to just meditate, trying to enter his and Rena's shared mindscape. He knew he could connect himself to it in order to talk to Rena, but he couldn't see it and wanted to.
Five minutes later, he left the bus annoyed that he still couldn't after practicing for days in the hospital room. His mental training had born fruit, however, granting more XP because he very rarely did it.
Species: Human IV
Type: Aura (Coding:Flying)
Potential: Yellow
Abilities: Reincarnator (Increases chance of rare events happening by an incredible degree), ???
Level: 14
Moves: [Expand]
Stats:
HP: 60
Attack: 90
Defense: 32
Sp. Attack: 20
Sp. Defense: 49
Speed: 109
His Special Attack had gone up by fifteen points, HP by one, Attack by two, Defense by four, Special Defense by two, and Speed by three, with a level increase of 8 since his last checks.
A mere sixteen levels from hitting the peak of base humanity, Ors was ready to finally gain racial abilities rather than getting his potential out of the dumpster.
The duo got off the bus and headed to their first destination: a smallish concrete building behind the pokemon center where they could register for the Indigo League and a couple other things.
The inside was a bit bright, with twenty LEDs lighting up a relatively small area. "You're one of the last to make it here from the tournament. Finally ready to start your journey?"
Ors turned to see a short elderly woman with a hunched back sitting on a chair suspended from the ceiling by four ropes, like a chair-hammock. "Yes'm. I and my first pokemon, a Poliwag, would like to register for the Gym Challenge of the Indigo League, White Market and League Missions Board."
"Ah, a youngster who knows their stuff, finally. I'm legally obligated to give the rules, so I'll make it quick. You need to get one badge for each stage up to King Stage, plus one additional badge against any Gym Leader's Main Team, in order to qualify for regionals. You have twenty years to accomplish this." The old crone smirked. "Of course, there is a fee. Can you pay it?"
Obviously the boy had gotten the wrong impression from this woman. There was normally a mere 50 Poke fee, but she seemed to be raising the price. However, Ors didn't take shit.
"As per League law, here is the 50 Poke for the Gym Challenge registration, 1000 Poke for joining the ranks of the White Market, and the 150 Poke for the Missions Board. I'll wait while you register me." He said, an unenthused flat expression adorning his face.
"Perfect. Now 10% for processing fee?" She greedily extended her fingers.
Rolling his eyes, Ors yawned. "Uhh, no. There is no processing fee. I'm rank one in the city, remember? I know this shit, like you said."
Her face scrunched up as she murmured, "Well, as long as you know your requests could get lost in the mail..."
Species: Goblin Human (Rank 6)
Type: Normal/Dark
Ability: Goblin Luck (Decreases social skills, increases chances of running into situations that result in wealth)
Level: 33
'Shit, this bitch is Rank 6? I can't handle that shit... I'm Rank 6 but have a much weaker base species...'
"Look, why not just send an email instead of mail? I'll just wait here while you do it. That way the application and money won't get lost in the mail." Ors smiled placatingly.
The lady growled, but did so regardless. However, her client noticed that she "misspelled" the email address. She nearly took his head off when he pointed it out, but fixed it and sent it.
"There, done. Now get the hell outta my building!"
With a flourish, the customer sauntered off, a Poliwag now adorning his head, and his League License in his pockets. "Thank you for your assistance."
Rena delicately poised herself to appear a bit more regal. "Dealing with humans is quite troublesome. You are strange."
"Well, she's a goblin, but close enough. We're a wacky bunch, that's for sure."
But it was worth it. Ors had a mere 56 Poke left for supplies between the King's Rock and registrations, but could now access the White Market.
A place where tomes that taught evolution methods, machines that could supposedly teach pokemon weaker versions of moves, and high potential pokemon could be found.
The public knew of its existence, but most wouldn't be able to save up the 1000 Poke fee, especially considering that all of the items there costed at least 50,000 Poke. Ors only made so much money by doing less savory deeds in his younger years. This at least explained where all of his speed came from...
Over 1000 Poke could accommodate a modern family of four for three or four months of food and taxes. While most jobs paid 3 Poke per hour, there was a 50% flat income tax rate that covered electricity, water, and insurance, leaving 12 Poke a day for food. A pound of beef costed around 4 Poke. For those who didn't have a stable income, their tax rate was simply five poke per day.
Those who could not pay tax lost access to the free water, electricity, and insurance others had, but weren't imprisoned. There was also no property tax on smaller properties, only larger buildings or corporate enterprises.
Overall, this world was much more accommodating to the lower-middle class than the last, as there were plenty of jobs, and the government was rather capable, if not still corrupt.
Now, it was time to buy some food and hit the road. But just as Ors past the Pokemon Center, he slammed headfirst into a tiny human bullet. "Ughfff, what the...?"
The small figure looked to Ors. "Yooooo, bestie? What's up? I was just in the Pokemon Center to see you out, I thought you left already when I found out you weren't there!"
"Doto? You're still here? Say I haven't gotten the time to message you. How did the Tournament go?"
"Tch, I don't wanna talk about it. My Mareep ended up against a Rhyhorn in the round of 32, so there was nothing to be done. We only had Rain Dance and Cotton Spore to stall. We actually almost won, but a Rock Throw got Lanie."
A good number of people named their pokemon if they were raised in captivity, since their parents wouldn't name them. Rena was an exception. Admittedly, Lanie made for an odd pokemon name for this world though.
"Oh yeah, how did everyone else do?"
Doto crossed his arms. "Well, Sylvester made top 16 but lost to that guy you fought in the finals, Alynn made it to top 16 as well but lost to an older kid with a Pidgeotto, and seven other people from our school made it to top 32. I think one dark horse actually made it to top 8. He used a Psyduck."
"Ah, I thought I recognized that guy in the awards ceremony. He chose a soft sand, I think. Anyways, what are your plans?" Ors asked, starting to walk with his friend to a nearby store.
Following closely, Doto answered thoughtfully, "Not quite sure. I wanna challenge the gym circuit, but I don't have any sort of backing other than the orphan stipend."
"Huh? What happened to the city giving you a bunch of resources?"
"Be great if they did that, wouldn't it? But "somehow" my package has gone missing, so they can't do anything for me. Corrupt sons of bitches..."
As Ors picked the dried and canned food off the shelf, a bit of potions, and one Deluxe Caesar Salad, he shook his head. "I might be able to do something about that, but I'll need a favor for it."
"No way, really? I'll do anything!" He shouted.
Setting his groceries on the floor, Ors typed up a quick message to Vatira, who promptly responded to him.
—Already a true Team Rocket member, helping me weed out corruption in the city council lol
—I'll make sure to raise my evaluation of you to Giovanni for this, thanks bro!
—Not a problem. Uh, but I still haven't accepted the invite, remember?
—You will, I have a good feeling about you!
A splat resounded as Ors spat on the ground. "This guy... Ugh, the city should contact you about your package within a couple days. I wish I could travel with you, but I'm going to be doing nothing but grinding for the foreseeable future, so I'll catch you wherever Arceus wills." Ors paid as Doto replied with his farewells.
Seeing that nobody was around and making sure he was at the right store, Ors whispered to the clerk, "I need a Pointer Seed, you got it?"
The man produced a large whitish-clear orb in a plastic case. "That'll be 46,000 Poke."
"You must be missing neurons to try and scam a friend of Vatira! People are trying to steal my money all over the place today.."
The clerk started sweating bullets. "Geez dude, it wasn't a scam, I just didn't know you were picking it up for Vati..."
"Oh. Sorry, guess I'm a bit paranoid after the League lady tried to scam me... Oh, I should tell Vatira about that too!" He muttered the last bit to himself, not noticing the old man on the bench prick his ears up.
With the transaction done and the seed well hidden from people's eyes, Ors made his way back to the pokemon center, where he had been told to meet his new friend. "Here's the seed, did you need anything else before I head to Neon town?"
"Nope, your gym battle is set for a week from now at baby stage. Should be pretty damn easy. Message me if you decide on Team Rocket or if you want me to set up a meeting with Giovanni."
"Oh, Vatira, wait. Just wanted to warn you that the lady who does League registration is trying to scam money out of people."
"I know. But she was put their by the League. I'll probably have to do something... extrajudicial... about her." Vatira bit his lip. "By the way, call me Vati, otherwise I'll start calling you Orthrus or Orthus or whatever."
Ors started walking off, trying to look like the cool anime protagonist, while successfully looking like a total douchebag. "It's Orthrus, but nobody ever remembers. Even my parents mix it up sometimes. Call me Ors, Vati."
