Route 13 Kanto

Morning

The large brown rodent Raticate sniffed the air, searching for scents on the bordering trees.

His master, a boy with spiky brown hair in blue, waited patiently for results, which he got when the Pokémon stiffened in the direction of a maple.

"Good job Raticate." Gary congratulated his Pokémon, before holding out his Pokédex towards the tree in question.

"Tangela, the Vine Pokémon," his Pokédex declared, showing him an image of a round blue creature made of vines with red feet, "Tangela is surrounded by vines to a point no one has ever seen it's inner body while alive. If a vine is severed, it grows back quickly. You do not have this Pokémon registered to you."

"Excellent!" Gary declared as he pointed at the Maple, "Raticate, Headbutt!"

"Ratta!"

His rat charged at the maple, before slamming into it with all his strength.

The tree shook, even as Tangela was forced out of it, angry and swinging tentacles around and whipping it at Raticate.

Raticate avoided it, ducking back and tensing.

"Return Raticate!" Gary called back his Pokémon: he had retired Raticate from battling to become a more dedicated field move user like Headbutt, Secret Power, Cut, and Rock Smash.

He didn't think that old captain guy's comments about the usefulness of those last two were actually anything to take to heart…but he was proven wrong exactly 6 days later when the value of cutting down shrubs and breaking rocks saved his life.

Regardless of that tale, he did have a Tangela to catch.

"Go, Golbat!"

As he through out the natural bane of Grass-types the Tangela hissed, before unleashing a sleeping powder.

"Blow it back at it with Air Cutter!" Gary counted. Golbat flapped her wings and sent blue waves of energy at the sleep powder.

The powder was dispersed, and Tangela was sent flying back into the maple tree, hitting with a thump.

Gary took long large step, than a second one, and threw a Great Ball.

The ball hit the Tangela as it began to struggle up, and engulfed the vine Pokémon inside it. It twitched, and twitched again….and stopped with a cling.

"Tangela captured," his Pokédex declared as the Pokéball began to fade away, going off to his grandfather.

"You know, I wonder if I could have made that throw from farther off…what do you think Golbat?" Gary asked his Pokémon, who shook her head in response.

Gary frowned at that: the art of actually throwing the ball was one of his weaker areas, particularly for captures. He could do it with captured Pokémon fine, but trying to hit something with it was something he had trouble with.

It was one of the few areas that Ash was better at than he was.

Golbat knew it quite well: it took 4 Pokeballs until he actually hit her back when he caught her in Mt. Moon as a Zubat.

Not one of his better moments, that.

….

Route 13 Kanto

Afternoon

A straw hat covering his face, Gary held his fishing rod into the water, waiting to see what would bite.

He had grabbed a Horsea a while back, and while Horsea was nothing to write home about he knew that a Horsea evolved into a Kingdra.

So he'd work hard and perhaps at Indigo he'll have a rare Dragon-type Pokémon suited for batting the water field.

If not, not a big loss. He had had many Pokémon. He could construct teams capable of defeating any Pokémon. If he didn't have a Kingdra to battle the water field, he could think of 5 others that could.

Gyarados, Golduck, Magneton, Pidgeot, Fearow, Blastoise, the theoretical Seadra, Golbat…..he'd be ready for anything.

The rob bobbed, a bite on the line obvious.

Pulling up the line, the waters parted to reveal a round Pokémon, covered in spikes.

"Qwill!" it shouted as it flew at him with what was clearly a Tackle attack.

Gary bolted out of the way, dropping his rod which was promptly smashed by the Pokémon.

"Hey! I didn't just get that thing from some random guru you know! That costs money!" Gary shouted as the Pokémon even as his Pokédex sprang to work.

"Qwilfish, the Balloon Pokémon. Qwilfish like most sea Pokémon lack the same defined range as other Pokémon, though Qwilfish are most commonly found in Johto, the Sevii Islands, and Kalos. Sea surveys of Alola are currently in process due to Wishiwashi swarm related delays. Qwilfish battle primarily by inflating themselves with water: without this they are mostly useless."

The Pokédex's opinion was backed by the now pathetically flopping Qwilfish.

"Well, I guess I might as well catch you. You can't attack now I guess…." Gary walked up to the Qwilfish and poked it with a Premierball he had gotten for free a while back, sucking the fish up.

The ball shook a bit, but clicked none the less.

"….Well, now I have another option for the water field."

Route 13 Kanto

Three days later

Gary stood in line with others who had entered this park on this day for one purpose.

To capture Bug-Pokémon and win prizes.

He stood proud with his Blastoise, quite confident. After all, what did he have to contend with?

Some wannabe samurai with a Marowak?

Or that girl whose look screamed foreigner, with a Pokémon his Pokédex called a Trubbish that looked as stubby as they came.

There was only one person he feared showing up, and there was none of that mute guy, or his little cheerleader, anywhere in sight.

Maybe Ash could have given him a challenge here, but the outcome would still have never been in doubt.

"We will now judge the Pokémon you've caught," The MC stated, and at that stated command everyone let out their Bugs at once.

He looked them over once, and twice, and once more again before speaking.

"I have chosen the winners! Are you ready for this?

Yes, yes he was.

"Placing third is Otoshi, who caught a writhing Paras!"

The wannabe samurai nodded, accepting his placement.

"Placing second is Kendra , who caught a wriggling Weedle!"

The foreign girl cheered with her Trubbish, looking rather proud of herself. "Well this is wonderful!" she declared, "Last day in Kanto before I go back to Virbank, and I got a free Pokémon!"

Virbank huh? That was Unova if he recalled correctly. No wonder she found a Weedle interesting.

"The Bug-catching Contest winner is Gary Oak…..who caught a whopping Pinsir!"

Gary grinned widely as he walked forward to the MC, who shook his hand firmly.

"Congratulations! You now may choose one evolution stone. Which one do you desire?"

Grinning, Gary knew just what stone to pick.

….

"Blastoise! Scald!"

And after his victory, wash with a nice refreshing ass kicking of some random noob.

The burning water attack sent his opponent's Dodrio flying, before twitching on the ground with steam coming off it.

"No!"

"Ha! Ten wins today! Thank you, thank you, no better way to celebrate winning a bug contest than showing off my new stone evolved Pokémon! And my Blastoise! This is what a Pokémon Master to be looks like!"

As the Dodrio trainer withdrew his Pokémon and fled, Gary let the wonderful ego boosting waft through him.

"Alright! Who's next!?"

"Why what about me, Mister Master?"

Gary turned around, Blastoise mimicking his movement to find an older man looking at them.

Not his grandfather old, but the veteran of at least two decades. He had dark hair and a beard, wearing a blue and white jacket and dark pants.

While there was a certain resemblance to his favorite idiot and fellow pallet town trainer, it wasn't enough to warrant a reason you suck speech he had prepared if he ever met a trainer who looked like an older Ash too uncannily.

A Clefairy was bouncing at his side, even though it was probably the oldest looking Clefairy he had ever seen. The thing definitely had been with this guy for a while.

"Fine with me old man!" Gary declared, even as the man smirked and reached for a pair of Pokeballs on his belt.

"What about two on two?"

"Fine with me! Blastoise, you're still up! Go, Kadabra!"

Gary let out his choice for a second: the brown and yellow single spooned master of psychic energy, Kadabra.

"Chesnaught, Lilligant, I choose you!" he declared as he threw out his Pokéballs, releasing two Pokémon Gary had never seen before.

The first was a massive Pokémon, gray with green undertones with a spiked shell.

The second was a plant of some sorts, with womanly features. A large flower adorned her head, sort of like a fashionable Vileplume.

"Okay….you have some interesting Pokémon." This guy obviously had traveled at some point, still no problem for him.

But what did his dex have to say

"Chesnaught, the Spiky Armor Pokémon. Chesnaught is the final evolution of Chespin. Its shell can resist bomb blasts and its protective of others."

"Lilligant, the Flowering Pokémon and the evolved form of Petilil. Lilligant is known for showering the Petilil it cares for with love and affection. Lilligant is popular with celebrities."

Compared to the two images in the Pokédex, the Chesnaught's beared looked bushier, and the Lilligant had that older look to her that made her resemble more Diantha than the latest sitcom starlet. So, both were older too huh?

"A couple of aged Grass Pokémon if I'm right, no problem for me," Gary declared as he prepared to give his commands.

"Well then, this should be interesting. That Blastoise and Kadabra look pretty good from over here," the man stated, before reaching into his pocket and holding out a solid gold shape.

Gary just stared at what the man offered him, before he continued.

"Let's make this interesting: if you win you get this nugget I found today. If I win, you have to listen to an old man talk."

Ha! Even if he did lose, which wasn't likely, he was all but immune to old man talks from years of exposure!

This was no problem at all.

"That gold is as good as mine! Kadabra, use Thunder Wave on Chesnaught! Blastoise, Ice Beam on Lilligant!"

Electric and Ice energies began to form before Kadabra's spoon and Blastoise's cannons.

"Lilligant, use Quiver Dance to dodge! Chesnaught, Protect!" Both Pokémon nodded in sync: Lilligant glowed and began to move in a way that caused Ice Beam to just miss her.

A glowing sphere of blue energy formed in front of Chesnaught, blocking Thunder Wave.

"Kkk….alright then Blastoise use Earthquake! Kadabra, protect!"

A sphere of protective energy formed around Kadabra even as Blastoise stomped the field, sending a shockwave across the makeshift battle field.

"Throw Lilligant into the air, then counter with your own Earthquake!" the old man shouted.

That was crazy! Did this guy think you could stop a tremor with a tremor!?

Chesnaught nodded, before providing a hand for Lilligant to stand on daintily. The flower Pokémon was promptly thrown high into the sky, before Chesnaught stomped the ground.

A tremor shot out and hit his own just feet away from Chesnaught: shattering it and continuing forward towards Blastoise.

"Wha!?" That…..that should not have worked!

The shockwave struck Blastoise, sending his starter to the ground and on his back helplessly.

Kadabra's protect broke just after that, just as Lilligant fell down to earth.

"Now, Energy Ball!" Lilligant nodded, even as she formed the solid green ball between her hands.

"Psybeam!"

The energy blast threw from Kadabra's spoon as the Energy Ball was let loose. Said ball tore through the beam and struck Kadabra in the chest.

His Psychic type was sent flying into Blastoise. Kadabra rebounded off the collision and fainted, though the blow did knock Blastoise up and back on his feet.

Lilligant landed on top of an outstretched arm of Chesnaught, who lowered back to earth gently. She nodded and hopped off his arm, before dusting off her sort of skirt.

"Oh, your Blastoise is still up? Impressive." The man noted, sounding genuinely impressed

"Blast…."

"Can you still battle?" Gary asked his starter even as he returned Kadabra.

Blastoise nodded, and with that in mind Gary pointed at the Chesnaught.

"Let's show them Blastoise! Use Focus Blast!"

Blastoise pointed his cannons right at the spiked Pokémon, charging yellow energy within.

"You know, what do you think we should do? Should we counter with Seed Bomb, or maybe we can do that really complicated combination that starts with Heal Bell we came up with during that fight with Remo in the Kalos League….." the trainer was talking with his Pokémon as if he didn't care for his upcoming attack.

Lilligant looked ponderous, while the Chesnaught looked at the man for a good few seconds.

"Oh…..oh I see. You want to use that huh? Well, it has been a while I suppose, so let's do it."

Do what? Oh who cared what this old man was thinking.

Blastoise fired the Focus Blast, and maybe that would shut the old guy up.

Chesnaught extended an arm out, even as a fury of leaves and wind began to surround it. The old guy mimicked the movement, as the Focus Blast was completely blocked.

Gary and Blastoise synced gaping jaws as the leaves blew away, revealing a changed looking Chesnaught.

"Data unknown. Data unknown," the Pokédex chanted as the man mimicked a punching movement.

"Chesnaught, Drain Punch!"

The Chesnaught sped ahead, and punched the center of Blastoise's chest with more force than Gary expected, and with the exact same motion the man made. Blastoise was sent flying across the battlefield, into the nearby forest, and shattering several trees before he hit the ground.

He did not need a judge to tell him what the outcome of that was.

As Chesnaught returned to normal the old man smiled his way, a smile that made him somewhat uncomfortable.

"My name is Casey Snagem: now go return your Blastoise and come with me. I have old man lessons to teach!"

Apparently he was not letting that old man thing go…..

….

After a visit to the Pokémon center, the old man took him to his house.

And no, that was not the start of some badly written fanfic written by some Unovan girl who had no idea how to write romantic interludes. He was a future Pokémon Master, not a future chip eating drama master.

"Here we are!" the man declared as he arrived at the front of a sizeable home overlooking a beach, though said beach was rocky and not sandy. A variety of trees dotted the property, and based on where tree gave way to the next house Gary could only assume the property had a few acres.

Clefairy bounced over to the door and attempted to open it, only to fail as the old man shook his head.

"Clefairiy, I locked the door behind me. We can't have some petty Rocket Grunt breaking in again: Officer Jenny got on my case for the Grunt being sent to the hospital after being burned by Houndoom. I just need my key."

Gary then noticed that the man was not searching through his pockets.

"What, you keep it under a rock or a rug or something?"

The old man chuckled, before he extended his hand out dramatically as the bushes nearby rustled.

"No, I will use my Klefki!"

His what?

Gary got an answer when yet another Pokémon he had never seen before shot out of the bushes and floated to his hand: a floating key ring adorned with a variety of keys.

"Klefki, the Key Ring Pokémon. Kalosians use Klefki to store keys for them safely. Wild Klefki are known to occasionally steal keys, ensuring that keysmiths in Kalos are never out of work," the Pokédex informed as the keyring floated over to the still strugging Clefairy.

Clefairy promptly dropped down as Klefki began to fiddle with the lock.

"Yes, Klefki. Perfect to ensure no one drops a lift key." the old man stopped posing even as his door clicked open.

….

Inside the home certainly did look lived in. The front coat hanger was littered with various sized jackets and several hats hanging from the edge, including a pink one with a black ribbon and a white cotton hat that was more for covering up your head in cold weather than fashionable statements.

The hallway was framed with photos of what looked like past accomplishments: various leagues and teams were shown on each frame. Some frames had other people in it: one had a younger version of the guy with some long haired kid with blond hair showing off Coordinator ribbons with a Feebas and Baltoy next to the blond coordinator.

Another had a dramatic handshake between the old guy and a purple haired trainer after a league match, though Gary could not tell who won the fight. Behind the two was a partially shown scoreboard, though one that was set up for the photo and not for battle information. From here, Gary could tell the purple-haired guy had a Bibarel, Swalot, Starraptor, and Drapion, and the old guy had a Ledian, Exploud, Purugly, and Chatot.

A third photo was more modern: showing the old guy posing with a woman his age and five girls, presumably his daughters. One had a single ponytail and looked like a tomboy, the second had two lengthy bangs and a bandana, the third was wearing that white cotton hat, the fourth had hair so long Gary wasn't sure how long it must take to brush it, and the final had short hair and was wearing that red hat he saw earlier.

The probable wife resembled all five of them someway or another.

The two eventually found themselves in a sitting room, with two couches and a large leather armchair with a large table in the center. Several books and magazines littered the table, while on the leather chair a large gray cat, a Purugly, was lying on its back in a way that took up the most space possible.

At the side of the closest couch slept the Houdoom mentioned earlier, graying at the muzzle. Looking around the room a bit, Gary noticed some other Pokémon: A Castform hovered near a window, shimmering in form from having a red bubbled head resembling a sun to having a blue raindrop bubbled head, a Xatu stood in the corner completely still: completely normal behavior for one but it was still somewhat creepy, and in the sunlit reaches of a nearby window stood a Sunflora, though one of a more golden color than the usual green.

"Make yourself at home, though do be mindful. Any Pokémon you see here are mine: I've got a Pokeball Limit Jammer up with my Wi-Fi router so you'll see more than six. They'll harmless, though as long as you don't do anything to upset them. Don't push Pururgly off my nice, comfy chair that he likes a bit too much. Don't try and break into any of my daughter's rooms: Drampa doesn't like that and I've trained him to react to teenage boys getting near their rooms aggressively….at least I would have if they were teenage girls, but still don't break into their rooms as that would be creepy. And my Sunflora…..well I actually can't think of anything off the top of my head with her. So, take a seat."

Gary plopped on down on a couch, his eyes briefly wandering around the room some more and coming across a display of badges on a nearby desk.

Six sets of eight badges, and a set of four with a trophy Gary didn't recognize. They seemed different from the other badges with an overall shell theme to them.

"Oh yes, my badges. Pretty, aren't they?" the man noted, eyeing his badges with a fondness that he often saw in his old man's eyes as well. "I remember each of them fondly….I won that Soul Badge during the first part of my journey by defeating Koga. My Slowbro, Magby, and Doduo defeated his Venomoth, Golbat, and his…..well I can't quite remember. It was either a Muk or a Weezing…..but I beat him. That Glacier Badge was from defeating Pryce in Johto, and let me give you some advice now….if you ever go to Johto, avoid him. He's an ass."

'Noted, I'll avoid a Gym Leader who obviously uses a type with a ton of weaknesses, because some random guy tells me to.'

"I used the Houndoom by you to beat him, along with my Girafarig…but I suppose you don't want me to recap every element of my past, but perhaps you'd rather have me to cut to the chase. Tell me, do you read?"

Gary was pretty sure that line was off somehow. Wasn't it supposed to be 'tell me, do you bleed?"

"I am curious, have you ever read the book "To be the Very Best, like No One ever Was?, with an emphasis on the subtitle as a question as opposed to the main title being a statement?"

"I've heard of it, but I never got a chance to read it. It was by some guy named Casey Snagem…." Gary's voice trailed off as he realized he was in fact speaking to the author of said Castelia Times bestseller.

In his defense, his mind was still reeling from what had happened in that fight. Seriously, what was up with that Chesnaught?!

He sighed dramatically at the fact he was not recognized until now, "What's the point of selling millions of copies as part of a great moral debate if no one recognizes you? Perhaps it would be better if I grew a distinguished novelist mustache…."

At the very word 'novelist mustache', all nearby Pokémon rose their heads and glared at him, led microseconds in action by Clefairy. From his belt six lights burst out as he found himself being glared at by Chesnaught and Liligant as well, joined by a aged looking Swampert, Magmortar, Dodrio, and Stantler.

"….Why must you agree with my wife on this…" he complained as they seemed to drop the glaring and promptly found somewhere in the room to drop down and either listen or sleep, in various stages of dignity: Lililigant got on the farther couch with royal grace and sat upright in apt attention, while Swampert just dropped to the floor with a loud thump and began to snore.

"I digress though: today you were speaking of being a future Pokémon Master. By no means am I speaking as if you are completely wrong for thinking you can accomplish this: you do have talent. I am just wondering, what is a Pokémon Master to you?"

"A great trainer, isn't that obvious?" Gary replied as if the old man was debating with him that the sky was blue.

"Yes, but what makes a trainer great? On my journey alone this question led to five bar fights in Sinnoh alone. three of them with an old rival of mine named Reggie actually, though he started the majority of them."

"A great trainer wins of course."

Casey raised an eyebrow at that, "But where does a trainer become great though? At what point do the wins equal mastery?"

Gary attempted to speak, but he found himself at a loss for words.

"Do take your time, I like to see how people come to conclusions, even those I disagree with," Casey stated as Gary pondered the question.

The room was quiet for a few minutes before Gary could come up with an answer he liked.

"Well, a Pokémon Master has to be really good, so a Pokémon Master has to be someone who wins a Pokémon League. They don't have to be Champions or Elite Four, but they have to be at that level."

Gary felt like that was the best answer. After all, it was exclusive, but not so exclusive it was all but unobtainable.

Casey nodded, though it wasn't an agreeing one, more of an 'I see' sort of nod.

"So, the only ones who are worthy of the title Pokémon Master, are those who win a league? I presume you mean a major one, and not a more niche one like the Orange League or the Whirl Cup?"

Gary nodded as Casey continued.

"Many agree with your view Gary, it is certainly not a bad one. It's one of the three main schools of thought on the matter. There are more niche ones, such as the idea that a Master has to capture all Pokémon, or in fact be a member of the Elite Four or a Champion to be a master, but they have little traction."

"Your view is one that has a large following. To them, there are only so many masters, one declared a year in a variety of region: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos. The question of if Pokémon Coordinators can be masters is oddly glossed over by these people. However, there are other schools of thought. One is that a Pokémon master is one with eight badges."

"That's it?" Gary noted the underwhelming qualification.

"I agree that there are some holes in that theory. After all, you can get to the league with a single badge with the right conditions just the same as eight badges. Plus, there are only so many good gyms in a region: does someone who beat the easiest gyms deserve a place with those who took on the strongest? "

"I myself, and my work, subscribe to the view that a Pokémon Master is one who competes in leagues and similar competitions regularly," he stated that as if it were fact.

"That still sounds kind of weak," Gary commented, not buying his viewpoint, "So what, you're saying that the guy who gets knocked out of the first round of a league every year is equal to the guy who wins it?"

"Statistically speaking, trainers who have back to back departures from leagues or festivals in the first two rounds don't tend to come back until they either train intensively, or not at all," Casey noted, "Winning three rounds, four rounds, all the rounds….do that year after year for a while and I don't see why you should not be respected as a master."

"If you don't win, I don't see why you should be treated as a master. If you keep making the Top 32 every time you enter a league, I'm hardly going to treat that guy the same way I treat someone who wins a league, or even someone who places constantly higher but doesn't take home the gold. Heck, under that way of thinking the guy who wins a league but never challenges one again isn't a Pokémon Master!"

Casey looked ready to respond to that one, but he actually looked surprised about it, as if he had never considered that idea before.

"Yes….that is an interesting question to ponder…what are you if you only fight in one league, but you win it? Are you better than someone whose fought in many and done consistently well but never having won? I'll have to give it some thought and answer it in my next book!"

Dodrio let out a low call from all three heads in response.

"….And yes, I will remember to have my breakfasts this time."

"So, what's your damage anyway? I don't see any league trophies, so I'd assume you've never won any?" Gary kept the pressure up as Casey shrugged.

"Top 16, Top 8, Top 8, Top 4, Top 8, and Runner-up." He stated in a matter of fact tone. "Are you curious as to how lost?"

"Given that you're explanation would cover up your Swampert's snoring, sure."

He had a bit of an amused smile at that one.

"First time I lost fully on my own failings: I was a lazy bugger back then. True, I was also kidnapped by extortionists, but in the end I failed to fully train a powerful Pokémon and I lost via a sleeping Fire-Pokémon. Thankfully memes were not a thing then, or I'd never have lived that down."

Gary noticed the Magmortar blushing, which was a weird sight to behold.

"I spend some time in the Orange Islands after that, and won it. Of course it was about a year before the current head took over, so can't say if I could have beaten the current top leader Drake. But that's neither here nor there."

"After that it was opponents strengths and not my weaknesses that cost me. I lost to a Pokémon I had never seen in a brutal match the likes of which I rarely have seen; a Blaziken if you are curious. My next loss came from a Jigglypuff in a princess dress."

Gary looked at him funny.

"I am not kidding. I actually have it on VCR."

"VC what?"

"…..." Casey shook his head in that 'silly youth' way.

"My top 4 loss was actually quite strange. I had just defeated a bitter rival of mine named Reggie in a great battle: I have it framed you see. Purugly over there was quite crucial in it, without him I'd have a big line of 8's on my record,, though I still don't know where he got that Swalot of his, those things are not native to Sinnoh and it was his first league. Then my next opponent threw a Darkrai at me."

"A Darkrai!?" Gary stated in utter surprise. He knew that at some point, some mysterious guy used legendaries at a league in Sinnoh, but to actually talk to someone who was there…

"Yeah, a Darkrai. I thought I had a decent set of ideas by using my Ledian, Tropius, and Dodrio: the first two know Safeguard and both Ledian and Dodrio have Early Bird for an ability. It didn't work, though Swampert managed to smack that thing down eventually. Then I got a Latios to my face, well Swampert and Houndoom's faces anyway. Clefairy here eventually tied the thing, but by then I was out."

Casey had a ponderous look on his face "Come to think of it, whatever happened to Tobias? I heard he was interested in capturing a Celebi, but no one's heard of him since then….."

'Well, as long as I don't have to deal with some guy with three legendary Pokémon….' Gary couldn't help but think.

"So, your down ranking was next?" Gary pressed as he shrugged.

"Spontaneous Larvesta evolutions are a pain."

Liligant gave an upper crust huff at the reminder. Apparently she agreed with the pain of spontaneous evolving Larvestas, whatever a Larvesta was.

"Regardless of my position at the end of it all, I certainly had fun in Unova. I caught many Pokémon who still are with me today: Simipour, Golett, Braviary, Durant, Scolipede…."

Gary noticed Liligant instinctively reach for her flower protectively at the mention of that last Pokémon.

"After that of course was Kalos. A beautiful country, Kalos, though I am not much for the Performers of then. I know contests you see, I traveled with a Coordinator named Robert in Johto and Hoenn back in the day. Hard worker him, odd taste in hair length though. Anyway, it just seemed a bit too…..narrow for my tastes. You could also argue the female exclusivity, but that is beyond this conversation. Anyway, the same applies. We won, we got to the Kalos league, and I made it to the Finals after defeating a master of Mega Evolution named Remo."

"Mega Evolution…" Gary parroted, "That's that thing that allows Pokémon to get stronger and change form, right?"

"Correct. It's a pain to fight, particularly as I never did find a Key Stone or Mega Stone. Pity really. After that, I fought a woman named Mabel who entered the tournament after a grandchild of hers asked her too. I suppose she definitely counts along with Tobias on the 'does a onetime challenger who wins it at the end count as a master under my views' debate as a powerful argument piece."

"So, you got beaten by some granny?" Gary inquired as Casey chuckled.

"A Granny with Mega Evolution, but yes. Ever fight a Mega Mawile? They are nasty things, and they hit like Slaking who hit the weight room instead of slacking off."

Note to self then, avoid Mega Mawhile.

"So what, you couldn't win, so you're trying to change the rule to make yourself feel better?" Gary weaponized what he had learned so far for the discussion knock out blow.

"I met my wife in Sinnoh, though back then she was just my good friend. Kalos changed that of course, though Unovan shorts certainly helped to spark it. She was the daughter of two former high ranking trainers who believed you had to win a League or you were nothing. My wife is by no means a slouch: in the three leagues we fought together she had an 8-4-4 record. She lost her battles to the eventual runner up of Sinnoh, and the winners of Unova and Kalos, all clearly skilled in battle and by no means a disgrace. That wasn't good enough for her parents…"

The last line was said with more bitterness than Gary had heard in Casey up to this point.

"Tell me, you're an orphan right?" Gary's mouth was wide open at the blunt question, "Don't be so surprised, I see it in your eyes just as if the younger me was looking back. Though with a last name like Oak: for I was at the contest earlier after I decided I wished to have a Caterpie. Said Caterpie is currently somewhere in my garden and hopefully not eating my hostas, but that is beside the point….Oak. I assume you are the grandson of Professor Oak then?"

"Yeah….." how odd that people often didn't make the connection. Maybe he needed to be more eccentric about it, or perhaps gray his hair.

"He's a good man, Professor Oak, and I doubt you were ever treated badly. However, both you and I never experienced parents. A mother and a father, or a mother and a mother, or a father and a father, a solo mother, a solo father, or a father and multiple mother, or a mother and multiple fathers….."

"That's a thing?"

"Yes, that's a thing. Parents are capable of being wonderful, and I like to think I'm among them. They can also be cruel though. Some parents live for their children, and others live with their children. I personally think having a life with your child is better than devoting your entire life to it. Of course even living just for your child is much better than what some do, living through your child."

"Um, how exactly?" Gary tried to imagine how that would even work. Everytime he tried to imagine his grandfather trying to do that, it just felt silly.

Not to mention rather creepy and pathetic.

"While my wife's parents were skilled trainers, they never did win a league. So they expected their daughter to win it for them. The issue they had with her first loss was minor and the two of us only recognized it in hindsight. We started to pick it up a bit more clearly after Unova, though after Kalos…..yeah my daughters have never met those two for a very good reason."

"What, did they disinherit her or something?" Gary stated in appallmant. He couldn't even fathom what he'd have to do to make his grandfather do that.

"Yes, also a brutal series of fights, the last of which involved Pokémon. Politoed, Scizor, Toxicroak, Magnezone, Gastrodon, Forretress,: as well as Skarmory, Tyranitar, Gengar, Breloom, Machamp, and Starmie on their side: do you want me to list the Pokémon my wife or I used or have you grown bored of it all?"

"I'm good, I've immune to lethal levels of ramble poison," Gary snarked.

The room was filled with giggles of various stages of stifling from the nearby Pokémon. A Dodrio laughing was rather hard to describe.

"Well then, if you are immune let me not deprive you of my rambling then." The words did not match Casey's lack of irritation.

"Gabriela , my wife, had her starter Empoleon, Electivire, Simisear, Sawk, Gourgeist, and Avalugg ,and I had Chesnaught, Clefairy, Pangoro, Slowbro, Druddigon, and my Hyper-Blaze Typhlosion. Ever heard of Pokémon who have Hyper-insert power up ability here? You may encounter one travelling, I'd suggest reading my Book on it, available at any bookstore worth going to and various large chain bulk stores."

All present gave him a long look for his shameless plug.

"What, every time someone buys any of my books I get enough money to replace a lightbulb and buy a pack of A.A batteries. Do you know how fast we go through those, and the 5th light in the kitchen's been taunting me."

Gary tried to pretend he did not see Swampert shake his fist as he slept, as if cursing the 5th light in the kitchen. It would hurt his brain to acknowledge that just happened.

"Anyway, Gabriela's parents lost, as they had I every league they entered up to the final rounds. This didn't magically make the scars go away of course: winning can create friendship but it can't repair family ties or devastation. That's around the time we stopped competing: before that we had planned to return to Kanto and compete there again but her heart was never in it afterwards. An oddly dressed man named Tucker made the point very clear, but as far as I know you'll never meet him so it isn't relevant. I retired shortly after, as I felt that continuing to compete when she lost the spark to do so would have been rather insensitive."

"A strangely dressed man named Tucker huh…..I've heard of him. He's apparently a member of this thing called the Battle Frontier," Gary noted as Casey looked surprised.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Oh… how odd. Not long after this, I did some thinking. Not all my bar fights were with Reggie after all: I had many with trainers whom I could not understand then, but I can now. All the….no wait, most of the other trainers and coordinators I got into bar fights with were those who saw the league world, or the coordinator world, as one where you had to win it or you were pathetic, and had fallen into self-destructive depressions. Some of the others were because they called Robert various slurs that probably weren't true, and I think at least one involved a Magikarp in my soup and another in the floorboards…."

Gary wasn't sure that incident was one he wanted to know about

"I briefly considered politics, but after Gabriela and my Pokémon voiced their concerns on the subject….." the way the term was phrased made Gary doubt many words were involved, and more vague threats of fire and thunder, "…I decided to write instead. Typed of course, my handwriting is Trubbish."

Does anyone actually write hand-written books anymore?

"With my words, I hope to convince people that there is more ways of being a Pokémon Master than just winning the league. That they don't deserve getting shit thrown at them if they don't win, and that they are still great and wonderful peope. Well, I've probably kept you here long enough," Casey stated as he got up, a movement Gary imitated. "I mean, unless you want to continue to listen to me ramble."

"No, I'm good."

Fuschia City

A Week Later

Morning

"You're all set. The Tournament will begin tomorrow. Be there by 9." The receptionist smiled.

"Thank you." Gary nodded as he turned and walked out into Fuschia proper, thinking to himself.

After he won this tournament, he'd go and get his seventh badge from the local gym. Then he'd go find a gym to fight for his final badge. Then he'd begin to prepare for the Indigo League.

'What happens if you lose though?' the voice of Casey Snagem rang in his ear. 'If your first time at a league ends with you in the Top 16, is that a failure? What about the Top 8, or….'

"Shut up you," Gary muttered under his breath.

A Pokémon Master was someone who won every battle, who was the best like no one ever was.

The moment he thought that though, the door to a nearby food market opened up, through which two people stepped out.

The younger was a little girl, probably twelve or so, with long blond hair in a ponytail and a large straw hat. She was carrying more bags than she really could carry, and was struggling.

The older was about his age, with dark hair and red eyes. He had a Pikachu on his shoulder, and he was carrying a similar amount of bags in his hands.

Neither noticed him, but he knew them quite well.

'If you've lost a battle, does that mean you can never be a master?' it wasn't Casey's voice in his head who said that this time, it was that little girl's voice. She sounded genuinely curious.

Those losses did not count: they weren't league matches.

'But if Red's always beaten you before, what makes you think the League would be any different?'

Shut up mental twelve-year old blond girl! Shut up!

'If you do win a league Red fights in, what if you never fight him? Perhaps he gets taken out by a spontaneous Magikarp evolution or something, is it really all that impressive if you don't overcome him?' Mental Casey asked him again.

Gary shook the thought out of his head, trying to ignore it all.

'Can you handle the idea that there may be scenarios you cannot overcome, no matter how many times you fight. Pokémon you've never seen before, legendaries, mega evolutions, does the end result nullify everything you've accomplished since? Ever league, is there only one trainer who deserves to be treated with respect, and the rest with scorn for not being him or her?'

Gary reached for his Pokédex, deciding he needed to put his mind on something else. Having his thoughts talk back to him was probably not healthy.

"Pokédex, E-Books please."

"Yes master: there is currently a sale on Shauntal penned novels, as well as buy one, get one 50 percent off deal on books by Casey Snagem. Are you interested?"

"No."