PokeWild

“Look David, you know I like you, but this can’t continue.”

Benny placed the Chesto berry back into David’s crate and indicated to the table full of berries in front of him, and the packed boxes behind him. “My wife has the new crop of berry bushes producing, and we can match tournament demand now. I can’t be buying common domesticated berries like Chestos off of you.”

David’s heart sank down, creating a cold feeling in his stomach. There was 200 Poke in his pocket, but he was down to one food sachet for Pidgey. Last night he’d read up on Flying type Pokemon’s diets. Pidgey needed a sachet everyday if she was going to continue growing and training. 35p per sachet. 5 more days. His breaths started to shorten. There were cheaper sachets, but Pidgey wouldn’t be able to train as much with the risk of stunting her growth.

If Pidgey didn’t train and grow she couldn’t win battles. He wouldn’t earn a gym badge. He would lose his license. No Pokecenter. He wouldn’t find Legendaries. He won’t get home.

The elderly stall owner looked away from him and back to the Chesto berries before sighing. “I’ll buy these two off of you today but it’s the last time. Rare berries only from here on. 30P for the two.”

David nodded shakily. It was another day of food for Pidgey. 6 more days was enough to find another job or more berries. The common ones could fill his and Pidgey’s stomachs. He could save the rares. He’d found plenty of them over the last five days. So many different kinds.

A weirdly high amount of different kinds. Why were there so many kinds of berries growing in one place?

“Benny, how come there are so many varieties of berries around Saffron?”

Benny paused with his wallet in his hand and raised an eyebrow at him.

“The answers in your Pokeball. Flying type pokemon like to travel and few want to stop for something as boring as a toilet break. That’s the real Seed Bomb move if you ask me.” Benny laughed.

It took a few seconds but the implications hit David. He jerked his hand back from the crates, the berries - what he had been eating over the past few days.

Benny’s laugh only grew louder at David’s expression.

“Oh just wait till you see someone get nailed by a Pidgeot or Fearow. PLOP!” Benny chortled. “Hah, that brings me back. Zeek’s back and bag got splattered in our first week.”

Benny’s smile fell.

“Zeek. Zeek, my friend.” Benny fell back into his chair and stared at the table. His shoulders fell, his cheeks sagged. Each wrinkle seemed to grow deeper.

“Sorry,” David said after a few seconds of inactivity. He hadn’t meant to bring up painful memories.

Benny blinked. He shook his head, seeming to come back to himself. Looking up he waved a hand at David. “It’s not you. Old memories blend together until you can’t separate the good and the bad. Here.” Benny counted out Poke and handed it over.

He took it and frowned. It was too much. He opened his mouth but Benny cut him off.

“I’m repaying a debt to an old friend. You use it to make the most of your journey, you hear.”

-.-

David jogged all the way to the Pokemart. Pidgey would be up soon and he needed to get breakfast for her. The heavy backpack made the exercise tough, but while he was panting, he didn’t need to stop. All the walking over the last week was doing him some good. Combined with the berry and herb diet he was losing weight.

He counted the poke in his pocket as he walked in the store. 260P. Benny had given him double the money for the berries. He felt guilty taking the money from the old man, and old man who’d clearly been upset at that, but 6 days had turned into 7.

Benny was savvy enough not to put himself into any trouble. He grimaced as he considered that all he had in this world was on his back. The same could not be said for himself.

As he walked to the Flying section David ran through and ordered his wish list.

Pen and paper

Razor

Map case

Hat and sunglasses

Weight bracelets

Change of clothes

Escape rope

It wasn’t the most obvious order of things, but he was trying to take his money issues into account. There was no point stuffing the list with things that he couldn’t afford. The only exception to this was the map case. He didn’t have enough Poke yet, but it looked like a necessity for travel or exploring routes without wandering into high badge zones.

He broke out of his thoughts to pick up three sachets of Flying type food. Turning to leave, his eyes were drawn to a display of grooming tools. None of his reading had indicated that Pidgey required her talons clipped yet but maybe he’d be able to find a razor amongst the grooming tools. A razor was an odd item to have at the top of his list but he felt it was necessary. It wouldn’t feed him or Pidgey, but the talk with Benny earlier had reminded him of how much his survival depended on others right now. The difference between looking homeless and like a traveler could be small, but it was an important distinction when meeting people for the first time.

A razor wouldn’t clean up his appearance completely but it was a step in the right direction.

David wandered through the Normal type section before spotting a “Grooming” card hanging above another aisle. It wasn’t long before he found a case full of clippers but the products disappointed him. Designed for fur, the electric clippers were heavy duty and required power. Which David didn’t have access to. Idly he wondered what voltage the mains power was here. America used mostly 120V, but 240V was used for large appliances like ovens. Europe used 230V nearly across the board and Japan used both 100V and 200V. Was this world as divided as his own?

With a sigh he continued down the aisles to the counter.

At the end of the aisle a flash of color caught his eye. The brightly coloured card read “General”. Curious by such a nondescript category amongst Pokemon types, especially when ‘Normal’ already existed, David followed it. In the aisle he found the majority of what he needed and more. A razor, toilet paper, shampoo, herby toothpaste, deodorant, pen and paper. It was all no brand, as basic as possible and David could not be happier. 50 poke well spent.

He walked out of the shop with 105 poke left. Three days more food for Pidgey, but the purchases in his backpack didn’t weigh on him at all. He would be clean. He would have a well fed Pokemon. The two of them could work something out from there.

His next stop off was away from the center of the city. It was a short walk down the road until he found a busy park. He repacked his backpack with all the new items and waited for Pidgey to wake up. When she did he sat with her as she ate. She seemed to be especially hungry today and devoured the sachet.

When Pidgey settled into a nesting position and began her chirping routine, he returned her to her ball. It was funny how quickly it was all becoming routine to him. He picked up and stored the flammable sachet wrapper and set off.

He had one more stop in the city today.

-.-

A small bell tinkled as David entered the league office.

“We open at 10.” Beth’s voice rang out from off to the side.

David turned to see her sitting and petting Fuzzy amongst the mountains of paper.

“Sorry I’ll come back later,” David apologized and turned to leave. He could hang out by the Pokecenter. There were plenty of people around to ask for the time.

“David? What brings you back here?” Beth asked. She placed a hand on one of the paper piles and pushed herself up. The pile wobbled but Beth stabilized it with practiced ease.

Fuzzy let out a low “Piii” as she left.

“Not that I’m complaining,” Beth said with a chuckle as she walked back to her desk. “But few of my patrons are so eager to appear back here.”

“I was hoping you would be able to help me with something.” He said, taking a seat in the booth as Beth waved him in. He reached into a pocket and pulled out ‘How to wing it!’. He’d thought about how to phrase his request last night. “A friend took me to a tournament match yesterday and I’ve realized that while I have niche knowledge about Pokemon, I’m missing some general coverage.”

“That would explain your STATs.” Beth smiled but it seemed a little strained. There was an edge to her voice like she knew he wasn’t telling the full story.

David shrugged. He wasn’t lying, just stretching the truth.

“A lot of trainers have returned home for the tournament haven’t they?” Beth trailed off.

David nodded. Fred had said Sharon was a local. “Would it be possible to get the other silver league leaflets?”

“Hmmm.” Beth drummed her fingers against the table. “It’s not really a thing we give out…”

David grimaced. It was back to rummaging through the books in the library then.

“But there aren’t any rules against it. Professor Oak wanted the knowledge to be spread and I think everyone should know more about the common 11.” Beth slapped her hand against the table and stood. “Wait here.”

David grinned as his plan came together. Beth disappeared behind the wall of her booth. The blank wall.

“Hey, what happened to your Karen poster?” He called out to the back of the room.

A crash echoed out. David winced and stood.

“Everything alright?”

“Fine, fine.” Beth appeared again a little flushed. She thudded back down into her chair.

“Here. Sea for yourself.” Beth slapped a blue leaflet down on the desk.

“Down to earth.” A brown leaflet was slapped down.

“And-” Beth’s hands halted. “Beleaf in them.” She gently placed the green leaflet down on the desk.

“Thanks,” David said, moving to collect the leaflets. Beth’s hand stayed on the last leaflet.

“You know these are missing a lot of information,” Beth said.

David looked at her confused.

“They won’t have any of your ‘niche’ knowledge.” Beth’s face tightened as she spoke.

“I’ll take any help I can get,” David replied hesitantly. It seemed whatever that crash was had pushed this from a friendly visit and small favor to a cleanup job and more work. He’d overstayed his welcome.

Beth’s hand rose from the leaflet. She caught it with her other, and began massaging her fingers.

“It’s a start anyway,” Beth whispered.

“Listen, I didn't plan on taking up any of your personal time.” David gestured to Fuzzy. “I won’t come so early again.”

“We’re closed on Sundays,” Beth answered absently.

“Well, thanks again,” David said and got up to make a quick retreat.

Beth called out to him when he reached the door.

“It was nice seeing you David. Please visit again.”

David waved back and left. Beth had said the same thing the last time he was here, but today her face was torn. He couldn’t quite figure out if she meant it or not.

-.-

Back at the clearing David released Pidgey and sat down beside her. The Tackle breaking stick and the Peck branch were placed before them. After receiving a promise of future berries, Pidgey started to train and David opened ‘Beleaf in them'.

Like the flying version, the leaflet was broken into three sections. Biology, Needs and Training of Grass and Bug types. David started at the beginning.

Grass and Bug type biology contains some of the most interesting systems and processes known to humanity. These Pokemon create nutrients from the environment in incredibly efficient ways. This allows our world to flourish, but often at the expense of the Pokemon themselves. Young Grass and Bug type Pokemon form the start of the food chain and few survive their time as prey to become their powerful older evolutions.

Common Grass and Bug types today share several biologic traits to help them survive. From the odor that Caterpie and Oddish emit to the signature corrosive fluid of the Bellsprout line.

Bellsprouts! That’s what those yellow plant Pokemon are. The drops from the evolved version had burnt the ground.

A behavior common to all grass types is their strong attachment and reliance on other young of the same species. As these Pokemon breed in litters this leads the Pokemon to form clusters during their early years for protection. Frequently the parent or another older evolution of the species will guard the clusters.

David paused his reading to poke the air by Pidgey with the stick. It popped and she let out a low chirp.

“I guess we’ll have to rely on each other won’t we.”

Pidgey tilted her head at him and shuffled a little closer before going back to her training.