The street had quietened down from earlier.

The morning rush was over and lunch was still hours away. If there was a lunch rush here. People had Pokemon to feed in this world. Were restaurants popular here or did people prefer to prepare food for their Pokemon and themselves?

David’s stomach chose that moment to growl. He hadn’t had breakfast. Unfortunately without any money he didn’t think he would be having any soon.

“Focus. There might be food in what I get from the program,” David muttered. He glanced up and down the street. He needed to try to ask someone who would know about Pokemon technology, and wouldn’t mind being bothered by someone in his state.

David watched the street for a few minutes, marveling at how people and Pokemon were acting together. There didn’t seem to be many wild Pokemon in the city but he saw a glimpse of purple darting in an alley which might have been a Ratatta. Then he saw a target. 

A man about his age was walking towards him from the direction of the Pokecenter. He had his head in a flip phone while what must be a Meowth darted by his feet, nudging the man’s steps as he paid no attention to what was in front of him.

In the games Pokecenters had computers but they were not advanced looking devices. The computers in the League Office were massive clunky things. This man’s phone was the first sign of technology on the level of.. of home.

David buried that thought.

Instead he waited until the man was closer before walking up to him. David took care to stay back to spare the man his smell. The Meowth fixing its eyes on him was just more incentive. It was a frightening Pokemon. Most Pokemon so far had been. There were too real, too present, too deadly. David shuddered as he was examined by the large yellowy orbs. The Meowth’s eyes were the size of mandarins. Narrow vertical black slits flickered as they took him in. The Pokemon had a shiny metallic disk on its forehead and its face was ringed by heavy twitching whiskers of the same color as its cream coat.

“Excuse me, is that the new version?” David asked, moving in front of the man who twitched and looked up from his flip phone. The man looked startled before he got a shine in his eyes.

“YES! It’s the new blue version Pokegear! It has an even bigger screen and better connectivity!” The man held out the opened flip phone and started to wave his other hand under it in a display that would fit in any commercial. The Meowth relaxed, turning away from David and curled up by the man’s feet.

“I even got the special launch deal with a free Map app! No more will I have to lug that bloody case around. Hah!” The trainer seemed to be getting more and more worked up about his new purchase. “Just wait and see. This will be a game changer for the next season. Right Meowth? We’re going to have so much more time for training now that we won’t get lost.”

The trainer’s enthusiasm got a lazy “Meowth” back from the cat at his feet.

“Wow, that is pretty impressive. Does it have that app with all the Pokemon info and evolutions?” David replied, trying to act casual and as if he knew what a Pokegear was.

“WHAT!” the man exclaimed. “I’ve never heard of that! It wasn’t in any of the manuals!” He let the Pokegear fall down to his side and started walking towards David, stumbling a bit as he escaped from the Meowth wound around his feet. The Meowth let out a small yowl before settling back in a circle on the ground.  “Do you have it on your Pokegear? Can I see it? Where did you get it?”

“Oh. No, I don't have a Pokegear,” David said, trying to back away from the enthusiasm. “I just heard something about it at the Pokecenter.”

“Oh.” The man stopped advancing and wrinkled his nose. He must have gotten a whiff from David as he got close. He then took a proper look at David for the first time. ”Well. Em. You should get one.” The trainer winced at his words before continuing. “The original version should drop in price soon.”

David gave him a weak smile back, not sure how he felt about his state being so obvious, but he could feel his cheeks coloring.

“I’ll keep an eye out,” David replied but the silence that followed made it clear the conversation was dying.

The man ran a hand through his short cropped hair, scratching it with oddly long nails as he figured out what to say.

“Ehm, I need to get to Route 8 but do let me know if you find out about that App. I’m Tom by the way,” Tom said before nodding awkwardly and turning to prod the Meowth into moving.

“David. Best of luck with your training alright.” David said and headed back into the League Office.

That settled it then. Tom seemed like the kind of guy that would have known about the Pokedex if it existed. 

David sighed and rubbed his face. He was glad to confirm its non-existence but he had had far too many embarrassing encounters this morning.

There was another nugget of info there too. Route 8. Maybe he could find out where he was based off of that. However, it was now time to face the music. His test results.

 

-.-

 

David opened the office doors slowly. While he was eager to get a Pokemon, getting test results was nerve racking and he hadn’t had time to prepare for this one.

It turned out he didn’t need to worry. Inside the office, a well dressed woman was sitting in front of Beth and the other booth was empty. Beth looked fairly flustered. Her eyes were darting back and forth as the black haired woman in front of her leaned forward and whispered something.

Not wanting to intrude, David waited for Geodude to complete a circuit with his paper stack before sitting down at the desk.

It didn’t take him long to figure out that the Geodude was making a balancing game out of moving the paper. He watched as it carried the same heavy stacks back and forth from Fuzzy’s nest to the other side of the room. The Pokemon maneuvered its body and two arms so as to not drop a single page. It was fascinating to watch what seemed to be solid rock flex and move. The joints changed shape before his eyes, the rock flowing.

David wondered if this was a kind of training for the Pokemon. While he knew paper could get heavy when stacked, it couldn’t have been much compared to the solid rock body the Geodude also lifted each step. The only effect this seemed to have was wearing a path on the carpet underneath.

Eventually the woman exited Beth’s booth, opening and exiting via the door which rang a bell David hadn’t heard or noticed before. A minute or so later Beth called him over. When he sat down she seemed a bit shaken but gave him a smile before passing a booklet beneath the screen to him. He took it with shaky hands. His score was written neatly on the front. 46%.

“Oh.” David faltered. Was 46 percent a pass? Could he fail this exam?

“You scored quite oddly with lots of points in some sections and very few in others. That said, don’t worry. You are within bounds to get a Pokemon though your selection will be limited.” Beth appraised him with an odd look as she spoke. “You will receive a trainer’s license valid for two months from the start of season, which gives you two and half months from now. You’ll have to earn two gym badges to go any further.”

David wasn’t sure if that was a fair amount of time or not but seeing as he had never owned or touched a Pokemon, he would be tight on time.

“What are my Pokemon options?” David asked, focusing on the important part.

Beth gave him a rueful smile in response to this question. “Everyone always focuses on that part. Well I suppose it’s best to get it over with if I want you to understand the rest. First, you won’t be getting your Pokemon today.”

Beth laughed as David sagged.

“No League Pokemon are kept on the premises. Everyone always thinks I have a bag full of pokeballs back here but they are delivered the next day depending on the paperwork,” Beth said between giggles. “I also need you to acknowledge that until you achieve two badges these Pokemon are to be considered loaners. There are some conditions under which these Pokemon can be revoked but we can go over them later. Can you confirm you understand?”

Two badges didn’t sound like an issue to David. He had his sights set a lot higher than that.

“I understand,” David confirmed.

Beth typed a few things out with her keyboard. The keyboard was the same shape as the keyboards at home, but even with the keys being upside down it was clear that they were in a different order.

“Alright, Well you have four options based on your results and means. Caterpie, Pidgey, Rattata and Diglett. Johto commons are not available as you don’t originate from there.” Beth glanced towards Fuzzy’s nest as she spoke and David wondered if she had made a similar choice in the past.

In his mind, none of the four were great options. But he was influenced by years of playing with powerful starters. It did raise the question of what were the other 7 Pokemon included in the ‘common 11’. There was so much he needed to learn.

David quickly eliminated Diglett and Rattata. While he didn’t have much information he knew that he hadn’t really used either of them during his childhood and on top of that, he didn’t feel either had good typing.

Bug type was never incredible but he knew that Butterfree, Caterpie’s final evolution, had the ability to make other Pokemon sleep and could poison them. If that worked like it did in the games it would be useful in real life.

His musing was interrupted by Beth.

“While I can only advocate for a Caterpie like Fuzzy, you will need to forage for a lot of your meals if you want to make it as a trainer. Battling is expensive and you are tight on means. Caterpie is also.. difficult to battle with.” Beth shrank in on herself after that statement. “Either Rattata or Pidgey would be able to help you find edible food as they have either a sharp sense of smell or good eyes.”

With that advice, David’s choice was clear.

“Pidgey. I choose Pidgey.”

“Alright.” Beth slid a form under the glass. “Please sign here. You can come back after lunch tomorrow for the Pokemon and your trainer’s license.”

When David signed and pushed the form back he was given a receipt on a sheet of paper and a small leaflet: ‘How to wing it!’.

“If you bring that paper to the Pokemart you will get a bag with your kit inside. Good luck and I will see you tomorrow.”

David could only gather up the leaflet and paper and smile at Beth. She had helped him massively.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

As he got up to leave, David remembered he still didn’t know where he was.

“I was told I should check out Route 8. Would you know where that is?” David asked.

Beth blinked up from the computer she had already gone back to. “Oh, it's the Route to the east of Saffron. There should be lots of signs if you head that way. I would actually recommend Route 7 to the west for camping. Less rocks. And pick up a map case when you can.”

“Thanks again and I’ll see you tomorrow,” David said to a distracted Beth and gave a nod to Geodude and Fuzzy, getting quiet cries in return.

Then he was out the door and back in the city proper. Saffron city proper.