Thank you to my new Patrons who are keeping me warm this winter (Heating bill is very high, stay strong brothers): Boltaruas, Tom, Wing Shun Joshua Chan, Easty, Kim, Umbrra, 100016, Yungvincent05, Tank, Aesthetic Memer
-/-
If the conference had started with a bang, which, considering the sonic booms of the Machamp, it certainly had, then it ended with a chilly whimper.
Joey wasn't completely sure if the crop simply hadn't been as good this year, but Lorelei had swept through the competition with relative ease before winning the finals 4-6 against a grass-specialist from Hoenn who'd been relying on his Pokemon being relatively unknown to get ahead.
This correct prediction assured Joey another million in the bank and made him wonder.
By the time Ash started his journey, Lorelei was supposed to be in the Elite Four under Bruno. She needed to take this victory she'd just gotten and turn it into a challenge to the Elite Four that she won.
He'd looked up the rules, and when the Elite Four were missing a member, defeating the lowest-ranking one in a six vs. five match without them holding back granted one the lowest rank
The thing was, Joey didn't quite know how quickly Lorelei would be able to improve. This had only been her second year as a trainer, but as she was now, she would have gotten wiped by Michelle. And Michelle, on her part, had gotten wiped by Blaine, who'd been holding back as well as only using 5 Pokemon.
"Two years?" the boy asked himself as the closing ceremony of the conference continued, the trophy being conferred to the red-headed girl who was once again refusing to wear her glasses and thus stumbling around on stage.
"What are you talking about?" Sabrina asked from next to him, causing Joey to shake his head.
"Nothing much, just that Kanto is missing an Elite Four member, again," he replied.
"The strongest Elite Four member of Indigo is as good as a champion," Giselle crowed from next to Joey. "You don't even know this?"
Joey didn't bother correcting her on the fact that Kanto had four spots on the Elite Four and an extra spot for the champion in the rules of their League, thus proving that a non-occupancy was more happenstance than anything.
"I guess I was just wondering who's going to step up to fill that position," Joey wondered aloud. "Lance was the most promising rookie in recent years and was supposed to round out the top. Now Blaine has retired, so we're back where we've started." Pryce would also retire soon, likely after losing to Lance. Lorelei would have to step up by then.
At least he knew of another surefire bet he would be able to make in a few years. Whenever she challenged the Elite Four, he could be sure that she'd at least win the first match. Bruno had acquired two Onix to fight Blaine, but unless he had something to switch them out with, they'd hang around his neck against Lorelei.
"Another conference over," the principal sighed contentedly, standing up and stretching. He turned to Joey. "Would you like to join us on the bus back? We have a free spot or two," he offered kindly.
The youngster hesitated, looking at the fuming rich girl next to him. Just his presence alone had triggered Giselle into being a massive annoyance during the conference. He didn't want to know how she'd behave if they were stuck on the same bus for a whole day.
"I was thinking I'd catch a ride on the Sabrina Express," he thus said as he recalled his Pokemon, of which Rattata had seemingly gained the most from watching the conference. His battle lust was ignited all over again, and he was already raring for the next League season. Unfortunately, he'd have to wait a month and a half for that.
He looked towards the green-haired girl to his left.
"You owe me one again for the ditch, back to Saffron," he reminded her.
The girl at least had the decency to look ashamed at her prank; it had been quite mean of her, actually.
"Also, you owe me for the institute sponsorship and the Oak thing," he said again when she didn't budge.
Eventually, she sighed and held out an arm. "Restrain your aura," she told him, which he gleefully did.
"I'll see you at the institute dorms in two days," he told the principal, who was looking at them with a small amount of jealousy. After all, he would be stuck with a bunch of schoolchildren on a bus for the foreseeable future.
"I'll prepare the rooms," the man said.
And then, in a blue flash, they were gone.
-/-
Joey and Sabrina reappeared in front of the administrative League office of Saffron where their journey had started nearly a year ago.
"This place brings back memories," the boy muttered, while the girl grunted at him. "Will I be seeing you at Poketech as well?" he asked, turning to her.
Sabrina hesitantly shook her head. "I have parents, but maybe" she eventually said, before disappearing.
Joey blinked owlishly at the spot she'd vacated. "Damn, chill girl," he muttered before considering if he needed anything from the administration office.
He'd already upgraded his license to trainer-class after his first gym badge. His stipend was automatically transferred to his account until he failed to fulfil his obligations as a trainer and his capture and Pokemon evolution limit was imposed by the law.
"Thanks, Ruth," he said to the building before turning around and heading for the orphanage.
Staying there for two more days before spending half the winter semester at the institute. It wasn't such a bad deal.
A walk took him from one part of Saffron to another, to the newly renovated orphanage that he called home. He paused at the entrance, looking at the barren courtyard and the empty trees.
After he left this time.
There wouldn't be any coming back anymore. His room could go to another unfortunate child without parents.
He'd stay at the institute dorms and then immediately leave for Pewter to start his journey.
"Weird," he muttered as he brought up a calloused hand to touch his suddenly wet cheek. "It's cold." He looked up. Unlike at the conference village, the weather here was overcast.
A snowflake fell from the skies and landed on the tip of his nose.
"It just started snowing. But why is my cheek already wet?" he asked himself, before shaking his head and taking a seat on a bench placed in front of the orphanage.
He'd go in after a few more minutes.
-/-
"So this is it, huh?" Joey said two days later as he looked at his barren room at the orphanage. He'd never owned much, not having had the money until recently to buy more than the bare necessities.
And, well, when the cash had started flowing in, pimping out his bedroom had been the least of his worries. He'd been too busy saving up for TMs, vitamins and training equipment.
What would now be missing from the room would be his book collection, his notebooks, clothes and his hygiene items.
One painting that he'd bought at a flea market, he decided to leave behind. It depicted a ship caught in a violent storm with only a solitary ray of light through the clouds illuminating the way to the harbour. He'd primarily bought it because it reminded him of home due to the resemblance to Turner's work.
But, he wouldn't be at the institute dorms for long and taking a painting on a journey was a bit asinine.
He exited the room to find Maria waiting there for him, nervously biting the fingernail of her right thumb. She was wearing that green sweater he'd bought her.
"You know you don't have to go," she reminded him. "You have a right to keep the room until you're 14."
"16, if the journey fails and I find myself out of education or employment," Joey corrected idly. Then he shook his head. "But we both know it won't fail, at least not to the point I'd ever have to return. The orphanages are always over capacity; better leave the room for another kid," he said as he and the matron walked to the entrance.
Not having wanted a drawn-out goodbye party, he'd decided to leave early in the morning, before anyone else woke up, like a thief.
"You're a good influence on the other children. They saw you studying and did the same, they saw your passion and developed their own." Maria paused in her words. "They saw your success and they realised the value of hard work. Diara will be taking the youngster licensing exam next year. She wants to follow in your footsteps and take a Rattata."
Joey shrugged. "Imitation without comprehension is simply a synonym for failure. Tell her to try and bond with the Pokemon and pick the one that understands her the most."
"Howard has missed your help with his math homework for the past year, but he still has the best grades in his class."
"An Introduction to Modern Topology and Computational Analysis by Georg Kretchin will be a good book for the next year of his schooling. If he comprehends it, he can easily get that scholarship to the mathematics department that he wants," Joey replied.
The two of them arrived at the entrance.
"I'll miss you too, you've been…" Maria hesitated. "A blessing on this orphanage, especially to me. My little adult. Do you remember when you helped me fill out the expenses report when they changed the filing requirements?"
"If I remember correctly, you couldn't do it because half the orphanage was down with the flu."
The matron put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "You were sick as well, dummy. Your fever was high, and there you were, eight years old, at my oversized desk poring over legal documents and receipts."
"The ginger honey tea you made helped, I was in better condition than if I had been healthy, actually," Joey joked, remembering the time fondly.
He'd never really done a lot for the orphanage, considering that he was an adult. He could have done more. He'd been busy studying everything he could about this new world. Helping the kids with their homework sometimes, tucking the younger ones into bed so Maria could catch some rest. He'd done the bare minimum.
"I know it was you who donated the money those two times," Maria suddenly said.
Joey froze. A real orphan making it big would have given more, but he needed the money for his journey so he could give more in the future. He'd simply given a small cut from the winnings of both his bets. "Just paying the rent," he said.
"A few too many zeroes for that," Maria muttered.
"Plus interest," Joey corrected.
Silence.
"I decided to hire an assistant with the money. If I manage to showcase that the children receiving more care result in better academic achievements and social integration, then the funding might increase so as to make the position permanent."
"The system is woefully understaffed," Joey muttered. "Too many deadbeat parents in this region, a real crisis."
"We'll manage."
"We'll always manage," Joey replied. "We are the dregs of society without a safety net. It's not like we have a choice." He paused before turning to the matron and hugging her.
He'd grown taller recently. He was able to rest his head on her shoulder.
Maria smelled like chamomile and the cheap detergent you got by the bucketload whenever there was a sale.
In other words, she smelled like home.
"I'll miss this place, but I'm too successful to justify taking up space anymore," he whispered.
"You're never too successful to have a home. If you want to come back, the couch in my office is extendable," Maria muttered back, her arms almost crushing his spine.
Joey would somehow manage to refrain from giving in to his urges and willingly live in a house with almost 20 other children again.
"I'll come visit," he said to the woman as he untangled himself from the hug.
"I guess this is goodbye then," Maria muttered with a wet smile.
"A goodbye is just a hello in reverse," the boy replied and reluctantly turned to the exit of the orphanage grounds and started walking.
"That doesn't make any sense," Maria shouted after him with a laugh.
"Life's not a novel, it doesn't have to make sense!" Joey replied loudly while raising a hand.
This chapter of his life was over.
He'd give it a 7/10, too little autonomy.
But the people he'd shared it with?
A 100/10.
-/-
Joey was in a reminiscent mood as he walked through the early winter morning of Saffron on his way north. He'd decided to walk to the institute, thinking that he'd say goodbye to the city that he'd lived in for his whole life in this world.
But well, it was winter, and the only reason he wasn't cold was the highly graded outfit Jessie had stolen for him back in Viridian.
Even if now was the time for people to be getting to work, the streets were quite empty in comparison to the usual.
He walked past his favourite food truck and grabbed a burrito for himself and for Rattata, whom he released so the rat could accompany him on his shoulder.
"Ratta," the starter said before chomping down on the wrap that was almost as big as himself.
"It's also your home, isn't it?" Joey remarked idly as they passed cafes and markets, all just opening up now, the employees unshuttering the windows and turning the signs from closed to empty.
"Rattata, ra."
"Yeah, we'll come back when we're rich and famous. Succeeding and not coming to flaunt it to your hometown is like owning a bespoke suit and then wearing a hoodie to your less successful cousin's wedding," Joey muttered between bites.
Soon he approached the gate, threw the packaging in a nearby dumpster and just stood in front of the small building separating the city from the route to Cerulean.
"Nothing to do about it," he eventually decided and walked through the doors.
Once inside, he greeted the gate guard, flashed his license and carried on through.
As a fourth badge trainer, he could basically walk anywhere he wanted these days, as long as it wasn't the deep wilds, so he simply started trudging down the road.
"Rat, tata?" His starter asked as he hopped down to walk on the route instead of getting carried.
"Season's over, everyone's packed up and left the road for us alone," Joey replied and stretched his arms, eventually resting them behind his head.
A whistle inadvertently escaped his mouth, and he started whistling a simple tune. He was trying for "Country roads, take me home," but he doubted that even someone who knew the song could recognise the melody.
He wasn't a very good whistler.
"Ratta, ta, ta, tattatatatataa," Rattata chittered off, occasionally going to a bush by the road to sniff at it.
"Sure, you could say that it's lame nobody's here to battle, but it's cold, you wouldn't want to stand around waiting either."
It was still snowing a bit, just enough to obstruct the view slightly.
Rattata suddenly returned to his trainer's feet, zigzagging between the boy's feet, forcing him to start riverdancing to avoid stepping on his starter.
"Hey, what's the deal?" Joey growled.
"Rara!"
"A race?" Joey muttered before sighing. "You just want to get there faster, don't you. No appreciation for the journey."
"Ra!"
"So what? Nothing, I guess, it just means you have a lot to learn before you can claim to be a bodhisattva." Joey suddenly tapped the other three Pokeballs at his belt, releasing his team. "Have it your way then, but you're carrying Metapod."
Rattata shrugged, went over to his green teammate and easily lifted her over his head. Then, without ceremony, he started running on his hind legs like a particularly small human.
Metapod for her part was happy to leave a trail of sizzling purple poison on the floor behind the two. Truly, a dangerous skidmark.
"Dig?" Digglet asked, confused.
"Rattata decided he wants to race," Joey told the brown Pokemon, at which a rare competitive gleam entered the ground type's eyes, and he frantically turned to see how far his speed rival had already gotten.
The answer was… Not very far. Rattata was toddling along with Metapod held above him, but he'd only made it about a hundred meters.
"Dig!"
"And off he is," Joey muttered, watching the Pokemon speed up. Far were the days when Diglett only knew how to race and not to fight. Now he was great at both.
"What do you think?" Joey asked, turning to Misdreavus, who was floating there with a faraway look in her eyes.
"Misssss," the ghost Pokemon hissed, before floating to a position above Joey's head and dissipating to leave behind her pearl necklace, which flopped gracelessly onto Joey's head and wound itself around his neck.
"Too busy contemplating the dao, I see," the trainer muttered and took off his backpack to remove the Chansey egg from the middle compartment. If he really ran, it would be better to secure the incubation machine in his arms.
He squinted his eyes at the route, seeing that his two Pokemon were almost out of sight behind a bend.
Then he smirked and crouched down.
The fewer Pokemon he was carrying, the easier Shadow Sneak became. His ability had recently been getting more and more limited by his team size, but now? He melded into his own shadow, and the fact that it was a cloudy, snowy day helped him even further. He reappeared way further up the route, if he had to guess, about two kilometres.
Once there, he leaned against a tree and only had to wait a minute before his errant Pokemon came into view.
Surprisingly, Rattata was still in the front, Metapod helping him increase his speed by projectile vomiting poison behind them to lighten the burden and to expel some kinetic force backwards.
Diglett was straining, but starting to overtake the dastardly duo, the nightmare of all road-upkeep personnel across Kanto.
When Rattata and Diglett beheld that Joey had gotten in front of them, however, and was lazily leaning against a tree, they shouted in surprise.
"Rattata!"
"Diglett!"
Joey, for his part, simply let himself fall back with a smirk and disappeared once more into his shadow.
He had a few more Shadow Sneaks in him.
He snickered.
-/-
In the end Joey arrived at the academy last. There was something to be said about a quick but tiring travelling technique like Shadow Sneak losing to the slow but steady running of Diglett and Rattata who primarily consumed their physical stamina rather than their type energy reserves.
In the end, it had been Diglett who'd won, and it hadn't even been close. Rattata and Metapod were second, while Joey, Misdreavus and the affectionately named Egg were last.
The almost Victorian gates of the academy were quickly passed through after Joey recalled all his team except Misdreavus and was promptly met with the same secretary who'd led him around the first time around when he'd come to the job.
"Good morning to you, Miss Elvis," Joey said politely as the glasses-wearing woman with the pencil skirt came over to him.
She smiled at him. "Mr. Joestar, I'm happy to see that a talented youngster has become a partner of our institute. Let me show you your room first so that you can deposit your bag. Then I shall give you a more comprehensive tour of our campus than last time."
Joey shrugged and followed along as the woman started walking towards the main building, which they quickly passed through to enter the backyard with the different battle grounds in which Joey had stomped the beginner trainers of the school last time.
He hadn't paid much attention the last time, but behind the battleground and right at the edge of the forest were two rather distinct-looking dormitories. The same building, essentially, had four floors and 20 front-facing windows per floor; the only difference lay in the fact that the dorms on the left had blue curtains while the rooms on the right had pink ones.
"It's currently winter break, we always have it immediately after the conference. The students will return next weekend after which classes will resume," Miss Elvis explained as she confidently strode through the front doors of the blue dormitory and led Joey to the reception area of a medium-sized lobby. The left side had a bunch of postal boxes, while the right had what must have been a changing area primarily meant for coats and outside shoes. It was a bit hard to tell as barely any clothing was actually present. In the middle was a set of white stairs.
"Some students remain during the breaks for different reasons, but it is rather rare. Most of the staff is gone as well, although the principal is still here, of course. I, too, will leave tomorrow," she explained and led him towards the stairs.
"Family?" Joey asked.
"Only me and my partner. Her Pidgeot will pick me up this evening," Miss Elvis replied. She had enough tact not to return the question.
They went up one floor, two floors, three floors and four floors before going to the end of the corridor and stopping in front of room 42. Miss Elvis unlocked the door and gave Joey the key.
The room was… About twice the size he'd had at the orphanage, with a much fancier, tasteful wooden frame bed. In front of the window facing the forest was a study desk with a chair. Next to it was a half-full bookshelf.
"The books cover all the classes at the academy. There is also a library for extracurricular reading, but we don't believe in students having to wait because someone else has checked out the book they need for an assignment or asking them to purchase all of them on their own. It's easier this way," Miss Elvis explained.
On the other side of the room which must have been around 30 square meters, quite large actually, was a large wardrobe and next to it on the floor lay a cot probably intended for his Pokemon. There was some basic grooming equipment on the shelf of the wall and a private bathroom, no washing machine. There was no mini-fridge, so Joey assumed that the canteen was always open.
"During the break the principal wishes to converse with you about the finer requirements of the sponsorship contract while introducing the school to you on a more deeper level," Miss Elvis explained as Joey put down his backpack, left Misdreavus' necklace on the bed after whispering to his ghost type to care for Egg in the bag.
"The cafeteria is open from 7h in the morning to 21h in the evening, although actual warm meals are only provided from 7-8h, 12-14h and 17-19h. It will be our last destination, where I will leave you for your breakfast."
With that, Miss Elvis led Joey out of the dormitory and towards the main building.
The school was interesting in the sense that it was the first time in Joey's life that he'd been at a private school like this, but uninteresting in the sense that it was, in the end, just a school.
They had classrooms, a library, a battle simulation room and their own healing centre, which seemed almost as well equipped as an actual Pokecentre.
The second coolest thing, if anything, was that now that Joey was officially taking on his duties as a sponsored trainer, his Poketech affiliation got him a 20% discount on TMs and Pokemon gear from the Celadon department store.
The coolest thing, of course, was the cafeteria, a large sprawling hall with so much human and Pokemon food that Joey would likely save thousands during the next month and a half on food costs alone, let alone the technical machine discounts. Most notably, every student had the ability to requisition one supplement pill of choice per week from the cafeteria staff. This meant that Metapod would be getting her Iron, whether she wanted to or not.
All of these thoughts grinded to a half however as Joey saw the blue-haired boy sitting alone at one of the large tables and poking idly at a quite decent looking omelette.
After Miss Elvis had left, Joey grabbed a tray of food and went towards the other student.
"Hey, I'm Joey. Can I sit here?" he asked, causing the other boy to look up and blink.
"Of course!" The other boy replied in an overly formal accent as he stood up and extended a hand. "I'm James!"
-/-
AN: According to Pokemon anime lore James attended Poketech for at least one semester before failing, lol. Trying to weave that into the story, cuz why not. Yesterday an update of HE, tomorrow an update of video game cultivator. Happy holidays, lol. Support me on Patreon if you like my stuff and want to read ahead ;), there is currently a poll open for members about the next Pokemon interlude. Currently in the lead. The IRS, Sabrina's parents, and Oak