“Hey you, you with the Vulpix! I’ve seen you around a lot but haven’t seen you battle. Let’s fight!”

I paused my run with Vulpix to look over at the person who called out to me. She was wearing a workout outfit that consisted of bright orange shorts and a bright orange tank top. Her blue hair was done up in a ponytail (Ponyta tail?) and her furrowed eyes and smirk gave her look of pure determination.

At her side, a Meditite followed gracefully along her steps.

“Uh, hello?” I asked, catching my breath, “You want to do a Pokémon battle? I’ve only had Vulpix for a few days so -”

Vulpix stepped forward and puffed out her chest. “Vulpix!”

I slumped forward. The decision was made for me. “Well then, I guess we accept. I’m Alex, what’s your name?”

The girl pumped her fist to the sky and brought it down. She wasn't a young trainer, like I expected. Rather, she seemed closer to my age, only a year or two younger. “I’m Laura! Soon-to-be trainer of Brawly’s Gym!”

I raise my eyebrows at that. It was a bold claim. Most gym trainers were experienced trainers who were loaned weaker Pokémon to test challengers with. They worked with the Gym Leader in whatever type the Gym was specialized in, and generally fought trainers who chose to take the Gym Trial. In extremely rare cases, they filled in for the Gym Leader when the Leader wasn’t available for Gym Battles.

She was clearly new at being a trainer, and to say that she was going to be a Gym Trainer under Brawly was extremely ambitious. It wasn’t unusual for a new trainer to be hired by a Pokémon Gym, but it was a rare occurrence and those trainers were generally kept to be used in Gym Trials for new trainers.

The closest modern job to working as a Gym Trainer would be an internship. Gym Trainers worked in the Gym for the season and might be hired for the long run if they were impressive enough, or if not, they moved along after getting enough experience and either found another job or participated in the Gym Challenge in the next session.

“I hope that works out for you, Laura,” I said in response to her claim, “We haven’t battled a trainer yet, so this would be our first match. Do you want to bet any money?”

Laura stopped to think and rubbed her chin. “How about 100 Pokédollars?”

100 Pokédollars? It wasn’t much for a battle, but for someone like me who only had a few hundred dollars left I would lose a big chunk of my available money if we lost. However, my greed got to me.

If I won here, I’d finally have enough extra cash to buy a grooming kit for Vulpix.

I look down at my icy fox companion. She met my eye with determination.

“Alright Laura, you got yourself a match. I assume you’re using Meditite?”

“Yup! Me and Meditite are going to crush you!”

Honestly, her boundless enthusiasm was pretty intimidating.

We walked over to the free field behind the Pokémon Center. Or, I should say I walked. Laura, Meditite, and Vulpix all ran to their appropriate positions on the field.

“Umm, we don’t have a ref and we’re both new trainers. Is battling until the first knockdown good for you Alex?” Laura asked.

I nodded. It was a reasonable suggestion for a first battle. Vulpix and I weren’t that experienced and a simple knockdown would stop our Pokémon from getting too injured.

“Ready when you are Laura!”

“Alright Alex, let’s do this!”

Vulpix and Meditite immediately jumped into a battle ready pose.

"Powder Snow, right at its feet!"

"Get close and Pound!"

Vulpix immediately breathed in for Powder Snow while Meditite ran close to hit Vulpix with a Pound attack.

A gust of snow shot forward and blew around Meditite's legs for a moment, causing it to wobble, but it maintained its speed.

The Meditite ran too fast for Vulpix to charge up Powder Snow again, so Vulpix hunkered down and readied herself for the next command.

"Low Kick, Meditite!"

"Counter with Tail Whip!"

Meditite's right leg swept out to break Vulpix's balance but she turned to the side and hit the sweeping leg with her own tails.

Meditite stumbled a bit from the unexpected counter force but I saw Vulpix's mouth clench. Low Kick was a Fighting Type attack, which dealt extra damage due to her innate fragility as an Ice Type. She may have prevented a serious impact, but her tails weren’t made to be hit with such a force.

"Back off and ready your charm!" I yelled at Vulpix.

"Don't let it escape, Meditite! Low Kick while it's moving!"

Using the word "charm" was code for Baby Doll Eyes. Since it was a reactionary defense, I didn't want our opponents to know when it was coming.

Vulpix, already turned away from Meditite, began to run away from their melee.

Meditite was quick to try to trip Vulpix with its Low Kick again but Vulpix slowed and her eyes flashed pink. Meditite paused upon eye contact and its leg hit the ground too early, causing its attack to be canceled before it was completed.

Laura, seeing Vulpix run away, shouted a new command at Meditite.

"Don't let it get away! Grab it!"

Meditite was definitely a low level Pokémon like Vulpix, and at this point it seemed it only knew Pound and Low Kick. It would explain why Laura wanted a knockdown battle, since Low Kick would give her quite the advantage.

Unfortunately, following Laura’s command, Meditite made the mistake of grabbing one of Vulpix's tails as she tried to run.

In the few days I'd known her, I had never seen Vulpix angry. When Meditite grabbed Vulpix's tail, an absolutely vicious look appeared on her face and she actually snarled at Meditite.

Meditite, as surprised as I was, let go of her tail and took a step back.

Capitalizing on this opportunity, I collected myself and was about to call for a Tail Whip when Vulpix shot out a Powder Snow at Meditite out of her own accord.

It wasn't as strong as her normal Powder Snow, but there was no charge up like normal. The sudden freezing burst of snow caught Meditite off guard and it stumbled back, falling on its butt. Old Man Harvey’s journal proved to be correct when it said Pokémon improved the most in battle.

There was a moment of silence before Laura spoke up.

"Haaah,” she sighed, “well done Alex, looks like you win this one."

Still keeping an eye on Vulpix, I nodded in response. Vulpix strode over to my feet and rubbed herself against my leg. She sat down and stuck her nose up in the air with a simple "Pix!" to punctuate her statement.

Meditite was still in shock, both from Vulpix's sudden demeanor shift and from the surprise of losing. It remained like that up until Laura returned it to its Pokéball.

I bent to pet Vulpix on the head then walked over to shake hands with Laura.

"That was a good match, I think. I didn't know Vulpix could get angry like that."

Laura chuckled despondently. "I should have known not to have Meditite mess with Vulpix's tails. That's on me. You did a good job for your first battle. Oh! Before I forget."

She reached into her shorts and pulled out a wad of cash. She counted a few bills out and handed them to me.

"Your prize money."

"Thanks.” I took the money and put it in my own pockets. “Vulpix definitely had some moments of improvements there. Are you sticking around Mossdeep for a while? It would be good to have Vulpix train with a Pokémon around her level."

"Yeah! I'll be in town for a few more days. It would be good for Meditite to learn to deal with ranged attacks too."

We quickly made plans to meet up tomorrow morning for some group training. She wanted to start right at the crack of dawn, but I managed to convince her to start closer to lunch since Vulpix and I were late morning sleepers.

After a few more moments of hammering out details, Laura left to get some dinner.

I turned around to face Vulpix.

"That was a great job, little missy. I definitely saw some improvements there."

Vulpix puffed up in pride.

"Alright, now that I know you can do it, let's see if we can finalize speeding up Baby Doll Eyes and Powder Snow."

I desperately wanted to say it was a mistake to train with Laura, but the results would prove that statement to be a lie.

She was a Fighting Type trainer in both body and spirit. Most of her "special training techniques" involved copious amounts of physical exercise. When she saw how low my stamina was, she somehow convinced me to run laps for what felt like hours.

I don't know if it was her constant enthusiasm or the barely disguised looks of pity whenever she lapped me, but I was able to run far longer while training with her than just on my own.

To my shock, after I had stopped running what seemed like hundreds of laps, I saw that the boundless ball of energy that was Vulpix was tiring out. I didn't even see what Laura got Vulpix to do but Vulpix was tired.

When Vulpix and I collapsed under the shade of a tree, both Meditite and Laura kept going without us.

We stopped for lunch (yes, all of that only happened in the morning!) and bought some premade meals at the Pokémart to eat while I chatted with Laura about her plans.

Laura hadn't been accepted as Brawly's Gym Trainer yet, but she planned on going to Dewford before the season started to apply for the job.

She was born in Dewford but moved to Mossdeep with her parents when she was young. Her parents were tired of "island life" so they moved to... a different island. I didn't really get that part, but she explained it like it was obvious. Laura was always inspired by Brawly, so it was her dream to work under him as a Gym Trainer.

She was just starting her journey since she wanted to finish schooling first. She had recently pulled out of college when she realized it wasn't for her, and luckily her parents supported her decision.

Meditite was a gift from her mother who caught it when her mother was visiting a friend in Lilycove. Laura and Meditite had only been training together for around two weeks when they heard about Vulpix and I from her neighbor who frequented the local pet park.

Apparently it's strange to have a Trainer's Pokémon visit a pet park. I just wanted Vulpix to socialize with other Pokémon. I didn't know it was weird.

I ended up training with Laura for the rest of the week. At the end of each morning I would always tell myself that "There's no way in hell I'm doing that again," but found myself showing up anyway. I knew it was for the best so I couldn’t bring myself to stop.

Vulpix enjoyed herself no matter how tired she became. She and Meditite spent a good deal of time familiarizing themselves with proper positioning and dodging. In the afternoons, I worked with Vulpix on her moves.

Tail Whip was already a pretty useful move when defending herself in close combat, but both Baby Doll Eyes and Powder Snow were coming along well. Her experience in the battle and later sparring with Meditite got her to improve both her moves such that they could be started near instantly, but she still tended to lower her head for Baby Doll Eyes. Also, it seemed that Powder Snow would require a brief startup time no matter what.

When we would retire for the night, I used the Ice-Type grooming kit I bought with the reward money from Laura to help Vulpix relax. She loved getting brushed and despised anything that dirtied her coat. Honestly, at some points it felt like she liked that grooming kit more than me.

At the end of the three days we trained together, I said goodbye to Laura when she boarded a ferry to Slateport. She planned on catching a boat there to reach Dewford. She gave me her number to stay in touch and also to tell her when I arrived in Dewford. She said she wanted to convince Brawly to do something special for my gym challenge when I got there.

I tried not to think too hard about what that might entail.

In the end, once Laura had left, I had been with Vulpix for a full week. Feeling that we had got enough training and also feeling a hole in my wallet, I decided it was time to do some jobs.

There were two ways to check for local jobs in the Pokémon Center. The first was to read the postings off the job board in the center. It was a simple bulletin board where locals could put job notices up after paying a small fee. I still remember Nurse Joy in Olivine scolding me for putting my job for the Never-Melt Ice up without paying that fee, simply because I forgot the board wasn’t free.

The second option for jobs was to check the League's website and see what was listed for the local Pokémon Center. There were only a few unique jobs online since not many people actively checked them, but there would always be corporate job postings for simple tasks listed on the website. Those jobs required higher level Pokémon but paid extremely well, so I kept that in mind until I got stronger.

Since I only had Vulpix, I stuck to low paying local jobs. Those jobs barely paid enough to be worth doing but were easier to complete over others. There were patterns in them too, like "Need Pokémon to Help Me With a Task" or "Clear Out Wild Pokémon From This Location."

Since Vulpix was only a low level Ice Type, I had two ideas for jobs I wanted off the top of my head. The first was a job type I saw occasionally in Olivine that asked for an Ice Type to help freeze some perishables or create ice blocks for storage.

The second was to defeat or scare off Pokémon that were starting to move too close to the city. That task was a bit mean, but it was necessary to maintain the safety of people within the city. Without many trainers present in the off-season, it was a way to get battle experience for Vulpix.

I did see a posting for a job to create blocks of ice like I wanted, but Powder Snow wasn't a strong enough move yet to handle that many large blocks. I would be able to take those jobs once Vulpix learned Icy Wind. Vulpix needed more practice utilizing Ice Type energy before she could form blocks of ice instead of blocks of condensed snow.

The job I settled on was one to scare off a small group of Wingull that were starting to make their nest in a warehouse at the docks.

I gave Nurse Joy a heads up that I took that job and headed off to the docks to take care of it. I hoped the Wingull wouldn’t be too tough of a fight.

The Wingull were not willing to go easily. There were five Wingull setting up nests within the warehouse - two mated pairs and one individual.

They were tense when I first approached and responded to my explanation on why they needed to leave with cawing laughter.

Vulpix, offended on my behalf, shot a warning Powder Snow at them.

The Wingull reacted with a not-so-warning water gun at Vulpix, drenching her fur.

What resulted from that exchange was a massive ranged move dodge-fest where the Wingull sprayed water at Vulpix and Vulpix responded with Powder Snow while both Vulpix and the Wingull tried their best to dodge out of the way.

In the end we annoyed the Wingull so much that they had enough and left. I took the time to destroy their nests to discourage them from coming back. Luckily, they hadn't laid any eggs yet.

The pay for the Wingull job was less than what I earned from beating Laura, but it was quick enough that I could do several jobs like it each day. Mossdeep City was large enough that there was always someone with Pokémon issues within it. I had the option to take a few jobs to catch local Pokémon, but it felt cruel to me to catch a wild Pokémon and rip it from its home just to be given as a gift to a stranger. Pokémon were much smarter than the average animal in my old world, so I couldn’t accept the normal method of knocking a Pokémon out and catching them. I didn’t want to ever force someone to come with me on my journey.

Vulpix and I spent the next few weeks adding jobs to our schedule. We had a simple daily schedule made for training and earning money. Wake up, do some late morning physical training, eat lunch, do any jobs we think we can handle, and then do basic move training around dusk. At night before we slept for the day, I would brush Vulpix as she sat in my lap while I browsed the Pokénet for more information. Sometimes we used the television in our temporary lodging in the Pokémon Center to watch battles or movies, but I ended up quickly falling asleep when we did that.

I had arrived in Hoenn right when the Ever Grande Conference was happening, so I was able to watch the final rounds. Ash vs. Tyson was much more exciting to watch in real life rather than in the anime, and Tyson's bipedal Meowth was quite impressive. The online forums freaked out over Tyson's team. He had many rare Pokémon, like Metagross, Sceptile, and his bipedal Meowth. It was a new experience to read people's reactions to Tyson since he was such a crowd favorite.

Also, there were memes about his walking Meowth. I never thought I would see the day where I was reading Pokémon world original memes.

When I used the Pokémon Center’s computers, most of my research was spent on the Type forums, and I was surprised to see how genuinely helpful they were. When I expressed interest in becoming a Fairy Specialist on the Fairy Type forums I received a lot of support. When I asked for tips for Vulpix on the same forum, I was directed to the Ice Type forum for more specific advice.

One thing that caught me off guard about the Ice Type forum was that Pryce, the Ice Type Gym Leader of Johto, was an active moderator on the site. He didn't give out any advice personally, but he was quick to shut down any false or misleading information provided by the anonymous users.

From the advice the users gave me, I confirmed that the best way to train Ice Type moves (and other special moves in general) was to start with weaker moves and build your way up to the stronger types of moves. It was a slower method of training that built technique in favor of losing power in the short run, but it would allow for Vulpix to have better control of Ice Type energy in the long run. It was nice to know that I was training Vulpix properly.

We spent a while mastering Vulpix's current moves and finally succeeding in teaching Vulpix Icy Wind. She picked up the basics of the move surprisingly quickly but still needed time to master it. The jobs we took allowed Vulpix to have plenty of opportunities to get experience in battle and train her moves in new and unique situations. Overall, eventually the jobs let her gain enough experience with Icy Wind to have it be battle ready.

We only had a handful of actual trainer battles in Mossdeep, since most trainers were focused on relaxing between seasons. We won a few against new trainers planning to start in the next season, but some of the battles were against people returning home after their own Gym Challenge. Needless to say, we were soundly defeated by them but learned a few tricks in exchange. One Trainer was kind enough to let Vulpix spend a few hours practicing Baby-Doll Eyes with his Linoone that knew the move.

Not all of the matches were bet on, but overall our win rate in the battles meant the earnings from trainer battles was essentially a net zero. All of our profits came from the jobs we did outside of battles. Luckily, as a trainer, local jobs weren't taxed so I didn't have to send most of our earnings to the League since most of my money would be sent to the League anyway when I bought their products to take care of Vulpix.

I made a tidy sum of profit overall. I was able to buy some cheap supplies before we properly left the city. I purchased a collapsible tent and sleeping bag that folded up far tighter than normally possible by using the same technology as Pokéballs. I eyed a Devon backpack that was larger on the inside, but decided against buying it due to its absurd price. I also bought cooking supplies, spare food and rations, and a small amount of healing items for post battle care. What was nice about items like Potions and Antidotes was that they could be used multiple times rather than consumed all at once like in the games.

I made sure to purchase proper clothes for myself. I tried to make some kind of signature look with my outfit to be easily recognizable to potential sponsors but there was a limit to what I could do with my limited funds.

Despite my wish to be memorable, my outfit ended up composed of clothes selected primarily for comfort and ease of use rather than anything fashionable. I wore a light lavender shirt and a pair of black shorts that I had immediately purchased after seeing how large its pockets were. To accessorize properly, I tied a pink and black jacket around my waist to help me stand out. I also bought a pair of fingerless gloves, because what kind of Pokémon trainer wouldn’t wear gloves? Finally, I wore a set of thick hiking boots to make travel between routes easier.

My boots were large enough that I felt like a clown wearing them, but they were extremely comfy so I didn’t care how I looked. As much as I wanted to stand out to sponsors, I didn’t have enough money to buy a more unique outfit. I hoped the lavender and pink colors stood out and tied to the Fairy Type enough to be recognizable.

Outside of my shopping spree, I also spent time learning Vulpix's culinary tastes with the help of Old Man Harvey's journal. After buying a selection of berries and having Vulpix do a taste test, I found she liked sour flavors and disliked spicy flavors. We shared a dislike of spicy food, but I was disappointed she didn't have a sweet tooth like I did. Her favorite berry, surprisingly enough, was Aspear berries, which she profusely enjoyed despite the berries’ ability to help cure freezing. I wasn't a cook, but I made sure Vulpix received Aspear and Oran berry chunks mixed in with her food. The berries both improved the taste of her food and her physical health.

Despite the fact that Mossdeep contained a gym, I didn't stick around to challenge it at the start of the season. Mossdeep's Gym Battle required trainers to use two Pokémon in a double battle against the Leaders. That requirement was true for all levels of the gym, regardless if the challenger had zero badges or seven. As I only had Vulpix and there were no weak or common Fairy Type Pokémon I could normally catch on the island, I had already made the decision to tackle the Mossdeep gym at a later date when I had more Pokémon with me. Mauville was a good alternative to start due to its proximity to Slateport.

I was ready to leave the city and purchase tickets on a ferry to Slateport when I decided to check the job board just in case. Slateport had a famous market that may contain a useful item or two so I wanted to earn some last minute spending cash. My top priority in the market would be to locate an Ice Stone so that Vulpix can evolve when she was ready. Ice Stones weren’t native to Hoenn so purchasing them in the Slateport Market was the only place I could obtain them. If I found one for sale and wasn’t able to afford it, I would only have myself to blame.

Despite looking for easy money on the board, one posting caught my eye. It was a difficult job and would likely end up costing me items on both healing and new supplies, but the title was enough to convince me to take the job.

"ROGUE MARILL MUST BE DEALT WITH - TOO AGGRESSIVE TO BE LEFT ALONE"

Marill wasn’t native to Mossdeep but it seemed like a wild one was present on the island. I would have to eat the cost of taking care of another Pokémon, but gaining a second member of our team would be priceless.