Mossdeep was humid. Far more humid than it was in Olivine. I had arrived in the city at the start of February, and despite it being the end of winter it felt more like Summer. If Hoenn was always this warm I was dreading how it would feel once the warmer mid-year months began.

Mossdeep itself was nothing like Olivine, despite both cities being port cities. Where Olivine was a condensed beach city full of tall buildings and inland skyscrapers, Mossdeep was far less condensed and wrapped around the coastline of the island like a donut. There were a few tall buildings within the city, but no skyscrapers were present on the island. The tallest building was the Space Center, with a massive structure with a classic space shuttle ready to launch, positioned on top of a hill overlooking the city.

The city did not have the constant bustle of a big city, but I didn’t let that stop me from rushing. I had a goal to achieve and I was going to do it as fast as possible.

I left the docks and entered the city proper to make my first stop. I passed by the scattered buildings that made up the town to find the one building with a blue roof. With the help of the map on my new Pokégear, I managed to find and enter a local Pokémart after only thirty minutes of exploration.

The Pokémart I stopped at was similar to the one I worked in and had a near identical layout. It was similarly dedicated to residential shoppers, so it was smaller and simpler than the Pokémarts near Pokémon Centers. It lacked the wide variety of selection of healing items but made up for it by having items dedicated to home life, like grooming kits and Pokémon toys. In other words, it had exactly what I needed.

I selected my items and brought them to the counter. The older man who worked as a clerk raised an eyebrow when he saw part of the pile of stuff I wanted to buy.

“That’s a lot of Pokédolls you’re buying. You got a rabid Mawile at home or something?”

“No, but that might be a good idea to do once I catch my own Mawile.” I smiled and look at the clerk. “Oh, and a Premier Ball, please.” He nodded and pulled a white Pokéball out from under the counter. In total, the half-dozen Pokédolls, Premier Ball, and Ice Type Pokémon food cost me just around 2200 Pokédollars, leaving me with only 1300 left. I was lucky that my discount from working at a Pokémart had not expired yet. If my plan didn’t work, I would have limited funds and have to resort to catching a local island Pokémon, which was unlikely to be a Pokémon of the Type I wanted.

I thanked the clerk and stuffed everything into my cheap backpack, and headed back to the docks. I took a moment to check my Pokégear’s map to make sure I was on the fastest path.

My destination was a boat rental, as the Pokémon I wanted was not found within Mossdeep proper. I decided that renting a jet ski was my best choice since I planned on going alone and it was the fastest vehicle. It hurt to dump 300 Pokédollars for what would amount to only a few hours of travel, but I needed overseas transportation and this was the fastest option. I took a few minutes to familiarize myself with the controls after a brief tutorial by the rental store owner, and then drove northward to reach my destination.

The jet ski was not what I expected when I rented it. I didn’t hear the classic “thrum” of an engine when it started and the silence continued as it shot over the water. Thinking about it, the silence was probably a safety precaution since loud vibrations would disturb and attract wild Pokémon. The controls were smooth and easy to control and let me modulate my speed with ease. Rolling my hand forward over the handle to set it to maximum speed made it feel like the vehicle was flying over the water. It was far faster than I ever expected, and was another reminder of how the Pokémon world had advanced technology in the strangest inventions. Riding the jet ski, I was to make it to the island in record time, which caused me to regret how much money I wasted renting it for the rest of the day.

I slowed the jet ski down and carefully avoided the jagged rocks that stuck out from the ocean. The jet ski followed a path of clear water and entered a large opening into a cave system. In a surprisingly short amount of time, I had reached Shoal Cave. It was a deep cavern that stretched far underground within an island not too far from Mossdeep. Shoal Cave was known to flood with the tides, so I only had a few hours to find a Pokémon while the tides were high enough to reach the upper levels. Timing was key to probably succeed in my plan.

My plan? Well, it was almost as insane as the people who posted on the generalist forums. I had entered Shoal Cave, a wild Pokémon breeding ground, to catch my first Pokémon without any help.

I chose to enact this extremely risky and near-suicidal plan because I couldn’t afford to hire someone to help me, and more importantly because catching the Pokémon I wanted would be the first step on my plan to become a Type Specialist.

The majority of trainers chose any Pokémon they liked with the intention of covering every possible weakness their team had. Trainers on the generalist forums always posted about their “secret” strategies to be the next big trainer, and included tips and tricks about choosing what Pokémon to use. While the flexibility of generalists generally granted higher potential power over Type specialists, generalists needed to know what they’re doing to maximize their team’s potential. But that’s the thing, most generalists didn’t know what they were doing. It took time and effort to learn everything needed to raise a diverse team, time and effort that most people didn’t have available.

Choosing to be a Type Specialist would allow me to maximize my ability as a trainer. Any tips and tricks I would learn about my chosen Type could apply to multiple Pokémon, and with such a narrow focus it was easier to learn and understand any advanced information about my chosen Type. Choosing to specialize in a Type also had the added benefit that as a Type Specialist, my team’s Type weaknesses would only include a small set of specific Types that were super-effective against my chosen Type. With such a small list it would be easy to create and practice counter-strategies to deal with them. That benefit was especially relevant in the victory the Fighting Type specialist had over the Ghost Type specialist during the Galar Conference semifinals.

Also, another reason I wanted to become a Type specialist was to obtain a sponsorship. Training Pokémon is expensive. Most Pokémon required specific diets and specific tools to take care of them properly. For example, most electric Types required insulated brushes, and even more they needed different brushes for different types of fur! Not to mention the added expenses from broken brushes, shampoo for cleaning, and insulated towels to dry them off. The cost of all of those items added up, and that was just for proper grooming of your Pokémon.

Sponsorships would give a chosen trainer money and a space to send their extra Pokémon. In return, trainers would allow their sponsors to use their name for advertisements or provide their sponsors with information about their Pokémon as they are trained.

Ash, for example, had a basic sponsorship with Professor Oak where he received an allowance and space to send Pokémon in exchange for analyzing Pokémon with his Pokédex. Most trainers that tested into earning a regional starter generally ended up with Sponsorships by their region’s primary professor.

Some sponsorships didn’t have strings attached, and were solely given to support rising Trainers. Those sponsorships were given out by Gym Leaders and members of the Elite Four, who generally favored certain types. For example, Kanto Elite Four member and Poison Type Specialist Koga tended to sponsor Poison Type trainers more often than other trainers.

I personally wanted to specialize in Fairy Type Pokémon.

Fairy Type Pokémon weren’t popular. It was only recently discovered to be a full type and most people weren’t familiar with it. Trainers generally treated Fairy Types similarly to other Types rather than their own unique Type, and there was a slight cultural bias against it that I chalked up as a marketing campaign against the Type from Dragon Type trainers.

Due to that lack of interest, trainers only rarely specialized in Fairy Type Pokémon. Most trainers preferred more flashy types like Water or Electric. By specializing in Fairy Type Pokémon, I had a leg up over other trainers since Fairy Type was more memorable due to how rare it was.

Now, why was I going into Shoal Cave, home to Ice Type Pokémon, to catch a Fairy Type Pokémon? This time, the answer is globalization.

As regions became more interconnected, foreign Pokémon were slowly introduced to new environments and settled down in new regions. Some of the new Pokémon were resettled accidentally by Trainers and other travelers, while others were intentionally introduced into the region to increase biodiversity. The official stance was that resettling Pokémon was good for the environment, but I took it as people wanted to catch foreign Pokémon without leaving their home region.

Due to the resettlement policy, Shoal Cave was now home to groups of Alolan-Vulpix, the cold interior of the cave perfect for the normally mountainous foxes. I personally thought the idea of shoving foxes to live in a cave was cruel, but Elite Four member and Ice Type specialist Glacia pushed for it so the Vulpix line was now present within the cave.

Alolan-Vulpix evolved into Alolan-Ninetales, an Ice and Fairy Type Pokémon. Both regional variants of the Vulpix line had a generally friendly demeanor if treated properly and their coat was well maintained. If I could catch a Vulpix, it would work as the perfect starter for my Fairy Type team.

I just needed to survive being surrounded by hostile wild Pokémon long enough to catch one.

...

I was already regretting my plan as I drove the jet ski into the dark flooded caverns of Shoal Cave.

I maneuvered the jet ski around a tall pillar and parked it in a small alcove beneath a cliff. I turned it off and climbed onto the wall, carefully climbing around the side and up the cliff face to reach the upper levels of the cave. Despite the short distance, I had to take a moment to catch my breath from the exertion of climbing.

Note to self: do more cardio.

I moved as quietly as possible and used the screen of my Pokégear as a low brightness flashlight to not alert any wild Pokémon of my presence. I kept my hand on the left wall to guide me through the chilly cave.

From what I read about Alolan-Vulpix, the majority of them live in the far back upper reaches of the cave, where the cave’s temperatures stay near freezing and it never floods.

I had only walked a few feet before I heard a screech in the distance. I couldn’t afford to be caught by a Pokémon alone so I held my breath. Any noise might have drawn it to me.

I waited tensely but no attacks came.

I slowly breathed out and took a moment to steel my nerves before continuing to move deeper in. The rocky floor of the upper levels sloped upwards and split into several different passages. I took the one furthest to the left to follow an easily rememberable path: always move hugging the left wall.

Slowly, I followed the path as it twisted and curved over a long distance. The walls were uneven, rough stone with several patches where I had to squeeze between two large rocks. I would have purchased a map for the cave, but caves and tunnels with wild Pokémon tended to constantly change as the Pokémon fought and moved through the rock.

As I made my way even further in, the walls became cold to the touch. I recognized it as a sign that I was getting near the back of the cave, where the Vulpix line lived. I hadn’t encountered any wild Pokémon, but I was yet to leave the tight tunnel.

Almost as soon as I finished thinking about the length of the tunnel, it opened up into a large room-like cavern. With the faint glow of light from my Pokégear I saw a thin layer of frost cover the rock in all directions. Off in the distance a large crystal-like ice structure glinted from the reflection of my Pokegear. Unfortunately, when I noticed the reflective ice, I also saw I wasn’t alone in the room.

A large dark shadow that floated in the air somehow snuck behind me when I looked around. When I noticed it I tried not to make any sudden movements to irritate it but I knew I needed to get away.

I moved as slowly as I possibly could towards the leftmost passage again when I heard a snort and fearfully glanced back at the shadow.

Now only inches away from me, the shadow revealed its form. It was a massive uneven ball of ice with indents on its surface that revealed a black surface underneath. It had two black horns on top of its body and its face was locked in an eternal glare. Its lipless mouth curved into a cruel frown and the pupils of its massive eyes looked me up and down.

“Glalie,” it snorted.

I backed up as it floated in the air. I tried to carefully take steps away from it and towards the exit, but it leaned towards me in a challenging manner. My Pokégear could barely illuminate its massive face with its minuscule amount of visible light. Glalie was as round as I was tall and I couldn’t help but to stare with fearful eyes. One Ice Beam from the Glalie would mean all that remained of me would be an Alex-sicle. I could only hope my terrified eye-contact wouldn’t be seen as a sign of aggression.

Trying my best to project an air of “Please let me leave,'' I held my left hand up and used my right hand to reach into my bag. The Glalie narrowed its eyes to watch my next movements as I slowly reached into my backpack. Carefully, I pulled out the item I was looking for, and drew my arm back. The Glalie opened its mouth and a ball of icy energy rapidly condensed. My hand tightened on the item and I brought it forward, slinging it at the Glalie as hard as I could.

The Pokédoll smacked Glalie in the face.

“Go! Totally-A-Real-Pokémon!”

The Glalie snatched the Pokédoll out of the air and held it in its mouth as I bravely ran away. I ran towards the leftmost passage, desperate to enter a smaller tunnel for protection before the Glalie could hurt me. Angry shouts and cracking ice echoed throughout the room as the Glalie threw itself into tearing apart the Pokédoll.

I entered the tunnel and ran forward a few dozen feet before I emerged into another open cave. I heard the crack of breaking rock and the cavern shook, causing me to stumble on my feet. Glalie was in pursuit and was unleashing a series of Headbutts against the tight corridor to widen it and allow it to follow. The Pokédoll clearly no longer held its interest.

I was already panting from both fear and that short run when a screech echoed from above. Woken up by the shaking, a swarm of Zubats and Golbats dived down at me. I barely had enough time to reach into my backpack to pull out another Pokédoll. Chucking it forward, a Golbat leading the swarm plucked it out of the air and a number of Zubats latched onto it with their teeth. I threw two more dolls into the swarm to distract the other bats when they split off to chase me. I ran into the leftmost tunnel once again, entering it as the wall shattered and Glalie burst into the room.

I ran away from the crazed Pokémon through a series of winding caves and passages. The Zubats not occupied with fighting Glalie flew faster than my running speed, but the winding tunnels and numerous stalactites meant I quickly outpaced them.

I ran for several minutes longer, eventually entering what looked to be another water-filled cove. I tried to find the next tunnel entrance but I smashed straight into a soft, rubbery surface shaped just like a... trash bag? Again?

The surface shifted and rolled toward me, forcing me to take a step back to not get crushed. A large head emerged from the darkness as the shape revealed its true form. A truly massive Sealeo, awoken from its nap, stared down at me in curiosity.

I couldn't help it. I screamed.

A Pokédoll smacked into the Sealeo's face and I ran past it. I entered an entrance I hoped was the one furthest to the left and entered a new corridor. I heard a confused, nonthreatening bark behind me but I rushed onward regardless, not willing to take a supposed lack of threat for granted.

However, the air grew colder and I was reminded of a physics lesson.

Ice had less friction than dirt.

I slipped and smashed my face into the ground.

I was in another cavern. Every breath turned the air in front of my mouth into a small cloud of mist. My nose hurt and warm liquid dripped down my face. There were no more sounds of Pokémon behind me, my pursuers lost in my frenzied escape. I sat up and pinched my nose. I needed to stem the blood flow.

I reached to my side and unclipped an Olivine Pokémart thermos from my belt and brought it to my mouth to quench my thirst. My eyes peered around the room, only to lock onto a pair of piercing blue eyes staring at me through the darkness.

I froze and almost threw another Pokédoll right at it. I was fortunate to have already been holding the thermos, which prevented me from taking that foolish action. I sat on the floor and the blue eyes glared down at me in almost a regal manner. I slowly reclipped my thermos to my belt with as much caution I could muster (pitifully, I didn’t have time for a sip) and raised my hands to show I meant no harm.

“Um, hello?”

The Pokémon growled.

Despite the freezing temperature, sweat dripped down my back. If these blue eyes were the eyes of an Alolan-Ninetales like I thought, it could freeze me, tear me apart, or worse: both at once.

I continued to talk with my hands held up to convince it not to kill me.

“I mean no harm to you or any members of your pack or family or kin or whatever you call it.” I gulped to interrupt my stream of nonsense before it got worse.

The Pokémon stared at me through the darkness.

“Look I’m just a poor, Pokémon-less human, I don’t really have any way to harm you or your family, would you mind letting me go?”

The eyes continued to stare right at me.

"Please?" I begged

The deep blue eyes shifted to properly look me over. Initially, they were simply looking at me as an enemy to defeat. Now, however, they were looking me over and analyzing my potential as a threat. They weren't finding much.

“I came here in peace. I don’t want to and am unable to hurt you. I wanted to know if there was any member of your kin that wanted to travel with me on a journey, see the world, get stronger, be a champion, you know?”

As soon as I said that, it growled once more.

Okay, it's defensive, and it probably does have a family, but doesn’t want me to take them. Good to know.

“Okay, okay. I get it. I’m sorry to disturb you. I guess I’ll just rest here for a moment before heading out?”

The eyes in the darkness looked at me once more before it briefly lowered its head and turned away. I used this opportunity to carefully move my Pokégear’s screen to light up the Pokemon and see if I was correct in my assumption.

It was indeed an Alolan-Ninetales, a massive blue-tinged white fox with nine regal tails behind its back. A small cloud of ice and snow floated around its body, the Pokemon instinctively showing off its innate cryokinesis. When it turned to leave the room, I finally lowered my guard. I moved against the wall and collapsed against it, finally able to catch my breath.

I wanted to finally take a sip of water but fate worked against me once more. Before I even had a moment to breathe, the room shook and the Ninetales turned around and let loose a threatening growl.

The temperature of the room immediately dropped several degrees and a layer of frost formed on my clothes.

"Wasn't me," I choked out.

The passage I just emerged from burst open in a shower of rock and ice as the same Glalie from before flew into the room.

It was battered and chipped, and pieces of its Ice Body were missing. It looked to have sustained damage from breaking through the tunnels and fighting off other Pokémon.

If it fought through that entire Zubat swarm just to reach me...

I gulped.

The Alolan-Ninetales barked at the Glalie. The Glalie turned midair to glare at the ice fox angrily as it began to speak in turn.

"Glalie lie Glale."

"Nine, Ninetales."

"Glalie!"

“Nine!”

Clearly, those short negotiations failed as the Glalie charged up a ball of ice energy to unleash an Ice Beam attack. The Ninetales barked and jumped back, preemptively dodging the beam.

The Ice Beam impacted the spot the Ninetales had just occupied and a phantasmal pink sphere formed in the Ninetales' mouth. A faint ghostly image of the moon appeared behind the fox as the sphere rocketed out of its mouth and shot towards Glalie.

The snowball-like Pokémon was launched back and slammed into the wall. I shot up and jumped away to create distance from the fight.

Glalie easily recovered despite its injuries and repeated the same process for another Ice Beam. This time, the sphere of energy that served as the origin of the beam didn't disappear after the first attack, forcing the Ninetales to dodge a rapid spray of Ice Beams. Each one was individually weaker, but the rate of fire was far faster than multiple of its normal Ice Beam attack.

Despite how well it could dodge, the Ninetales was unable to keep up its speed forever as an Ice Beam hit it in the side, pushing it back and temporarily losing its balance from sliding along the icy floor.

Glalie, not one to pass up this opportunity, charged forward and Crunched down onto Ninetales' side.

A wavy pattern of snow and rainbow light tried to form around the Nintelales but shattered when Glalie’s jaw clenched down harder.

A horrible cry of pain echoed through the cavern.

The Ninetales’ deep blue eyes desperately shot around the room, looking for a solution to allow it to escape before they settled on me.

It locked eyes with mine for the briefest of moments and I realized what I had to do.

This whole plan was basically just a giant suicide mission anyway, what was one more brush with death?

Running forward, I jumped into the air and landed on Glalie’s back. I tried my best to ignore the freezing temperatures emanating from its body and grabbed its two horns. My hands felt like they were freezing over but I pulled back to try to free Ninetales.

"Get off of Ninetales, you unfinished snowman!"

Glalie opened its mouth to roar and Ninetales used the opening to jump free as soon as it got the room. Quickly, it turned around to face the Glalie occupied by my attempt at riding it.

Once more, I saw the glowing pink ball of lunar energy form in its mouth as the Ninetales prepared a Moonblast. However, this time it took a lot longer to fully charge up the attack. Glalie was weakened and Ninetales planned to finish it off.

Seeing the amount of energy it put into the move, I jumped off as soon as the attack looked ready to fire and immediately ran as far away as I could.

Glalie took a moment to reorient itself, but that delay sealed its fate. As the Glalie floated midair, recovering, Ninetales released its fully charged Moonblast straight at the Pokémon.

The sphere of Fairy energy smashed into Glalie's face and exploded into massive cloud of glittery, pink powder. Glalie was knocked back and slammed into the far cavern wall, creating a circular hole for its unconscious body.

I couldn’t see the Ice Type anymore. It looked to have been knocked into another room.

We waited to see if the Glalie would return but the only audible sound was the sound of both my and the Ninetales' panting as we recovered from the fight.

Luckily, it seemed Glalie was truly and soundly unconscious.

I turned back to the barely illuminated Ninetales and once more its blue eyes met mine.

"Good job. I guess this means I should leave now?"

The Ninetales snorted and walked away.

I sighed.

I only had one Pokédoll left and there was no way I could go deeper in if something like that could happen again. I was going to have to convince a Pokémon in Mossdeep to travel with me, and it probably wouldn’t be a Fairy Type.

Maybe I could convince the gym to give me a Mime Jr.? Nah, they probably wouldn't want to do that for a non-local.

Ugh. So much for being a Type Specialist. Failed before you even started. Good job Alex.

I unclipped my thermos to finally get a sip of water. Luckily it was insulated enough that the water didn't freeze when I was close to Glalie. As I held the thermos in my hand, I noticed that my hand was... shaking?

Am I really that cold? I don't feel that cold. Actually, I don’t feel much at all.

I paused for only a moment to put the pieces together.

Oh. Ha ha. That was a near death experience. I'm in shock.

I was uncomfortably calm and I put away my thermos to stand up once more. I stretched my shaking arms back and tried to stop my hands from shaking. My mind was still but my body was still dealing with the consequence of that battle.

Being a Pokémon trainer is dangerous. This was stupid. I shouldn't have come here without a Pokémon. Marty was right.

Shivering from both cold and shock, I turned back to the now wider set of tunnels I entered from. Before I could take a step through, I heard a yip from behind me.

Oh. It’s come to finish me off since I didn't leave when I said I would. Guess I’m going to be a snow cone.

As I faced my death that was an angry Alolan-Ninetales, I noticed it wasn't alone. In front of its legs sat a smaller, whiter version of itself. A tiny fox sat on Ninetales’ paws with a puffed up chest and a tuft of curled hair on its head. I looked at it, and without any prompting from the Ninetales, it strode over to me and plopped on the icy floor only a few feet away.

Its tiny head pointed upwards in a show of its own pride, but the height difference caused it to look like it was staring at the ceiling.

It was more adorable than anything else.

I looked over to Ninetales to make sure and it nodded its head. I kneeled down to reach eye level with Vulpix the best I could and spoke calmly.

"Hey there little guy." It huffed, offended. "Girl, then, okay."

"I plan on going on a Pokémon journey to challenge the Pokémon League. It's a difficult challenge, but I know with enough effort me and my future team will be able to do it, and I want to ask if you'd like to be the first member of my team."

The Vulpix stopped her haughty show to pretend to think about it.

I held out my hands to show they were empty. "I don't have any other Pokémon yet so that means you'd be my starter."

She cocked her head to the side, confused.

I understand her plan. Ninetales is trying to kill me with a heart attack from how cute Vulpix is.

"Well, a starter Pokémon is a trainer's first Pokémon. That means they are expected to be the most reliable member of the team, the one with the best connection with me and the leader of the rest."

Vulpix puffed up her chest once more and I tried my hardest to not die right there and then.

"It's a big responsibility, but do you think you're up for it? Do you want to join me on my journey as my starter Pokémon?"

Vulpix looked like she wanted to nod, but turned around to look at Ninetales first. Ninetales snorted and gracefully walked forward to nudge Vulpix with her snout.

Vulpix turned back to me and looked me in the eyes. She nodded, yipped, and moved forward to rub against my legs. I reached down to pet her cold, white fur.

She was very soft.