20 New Resolve (2/3)

[}-{] Chapter 2/5 for the week. [}-{]

The Rookie Recruitment.

He'd been so occupied with establishing himself and becoming stronger, that he hadn't even looked into how he could become a real trainer. A D-Class.

Both he and Aurora split up, deciding to head to bed after such a long day. But before that, she explained to him in detail how the recruitment worked, promising to tell him if anything came up.

But he couldn't get it out of his head, wondering if just getting stronger was enough to become a D-Class.

From what he could tell, the main event was just a tournament. A one-versus-one tournament to be exact, but the trainer could switch out Pokemon in between rounds.

The participants consisted of his fellow F-Class trainers and the graduates who didn't pass with grades in the top 100. And considering Ash already graduated, it meant they were dumber than Ash.

Though to be fair, Ash was a persistent bastard. He was incompetent and overconfident, but he damn sure wasn't lazy.

Those who got in the top 3 of the tournament brackets would instantly become D-Class trainers, while everyone else would have to hope they were impressive enough for a sponsorship from whatever influential name was watching.

It sort of reminded him of the Chuunin Exams from Naruto. You could lose and still win.

Not that he planned on losing.

Though all of that wasn't the reason it stuck with him. It was the preliminaries.

Every year there would a preliminary stage that wasn't shown to the public, and the specifics would change each time. However, it would always focus on three things.

Athleticism, decision-making, and luck.

He yawned as he stood up from his bed, grumbling to himself about the third one. Sandshrew woke up as well, eyes already attentive as she unfurled and pushed off his chest.

After a quick refresher in the bathroom and a shower, he was ready to go. But the idea of luck was still annoying him.

It made sense, in some capacity. There were things you could overcome with just smart decisions and grit, but luck was a substantial factor people often forgo.

Just like when he woke up in this world. The Izan of before made the safest decisions he could with the information he had, and yet he was still fucked over in the end.

Everything he worked for, was gone in an instant.

He yawned again as he made his way to get some breakfast. There was no way to fix the luck issue. He'd have to just deal with it.

A dinging from his Pokegear stopped him mid-walk, earning the curiosity of Sandshrew.

It was a text from Aurora.

[Morning :) Just so you know, there's a sale going on at the Pokemart starting today. They're trying to get rid of things no one buys. Maybe something you'd like to look into?]

Attached to the message was a link to the list of things they were selling at either half price or for barely any money.

He wasn't reading the message past the first word though. He looked around the room, searching for her, but she wasn't there.

'How did she know I was awake? I didn't even leave the Pokecenter yet…'

Shaking off the feeling he was being watched, because he wasn't, he looked at the list of items.

Most of it was useless experimental junk. Like the Pokemon umbrella. A held item where the Pokemon attached an umbrella to their back to protect them from the weather.

A good idea in concept, and something he'd even encourage if this was the games. But in real life? An umbrella on your Pokemon's back?

There were way too many problems. Especially since it was literally just a normal umbrella, if he was reading correctly.

His eyes scanned the list before one of them popped out to him. An item created by Bruno.

Immediately, he profusely thanked Aurora for telling him about it. She didn't respond, but that didn't matter.

The normal cost of the item, at 3,000 Pokedollars, had a 75% discount. It was dirt fucking cheap, and he was gonna take full advantage.

The main reason listed why the item was unpopular was just the opinion of the masses. They deemed it a bit cruel, barbaric, and overkill for their Pokemon. Some even said it was a downright tortuous item.

…Were Pokemon trainers idiots? Or just too emotional?

"Sorry, Sandshrew, it looks like we're gonna have to take a detour. I can't miss out on this." He walked out of the Pokecenter, turning straight in the direction of the mart.

"Shrew?" She tilted her head, more curious than hangry.

"We're gonna go get an item that should make you stronger just by moving around." He replied, hoping that's what she was asking about.

She recoiled. "Shrew, sandshrew?!"

"I know, pretty crazy, right? That's the power of the Macho Brace." He enlightened her on its magnificence.

These fools won't know what hit 'em.

[}-{]

'I underestimated Bruno. This might actually kill me.'

Clenching his teeth, he was taking one step after the other as carefully as possible. To anyone watching, it looked like he was struggling to just walk. Sandshrew was walking much faster than him, but she was still going a lot slower than her normal stride.

In reality, both he and Sandshrew were wearing the Macho Brace. An item that had two distinct functions. He wasn't sure if the second one was intentional or not, but he bought two of them for 750 each.

The first, and most obvious function was that each piece of it weighed a certain amount, and the weight could be increased with just a button. With that, it served as a constant added level of bodyweight that they had to get used to.

The second function that he was unsure about, was that it forced them to walk around without any wasted movements.

Bruno, the creator, is a martial artist, so he was inclined to believe that was intentional.

In any case, it was brutal. He'd never worked out his body this much in either life. It was sort of scary.

Sandshrew would be fine afterward. Her body completely worked like a Saiyan's and would come back stronger from this. His on the other hand…

Well, he had a few assurances.

Although science dictated that he would be destroying his body and joints right now, the humans of the Pokemon world were odd in all kinds of ways. He was fairly sure they evolved from Pokemon, so they must've kept some of those traits, right?

Maybe that's where psychic trainers came from. Or the fact that every Joy all looks the same.

So if that were the case, and if he factored in Bruno's 8 feet tall mountain of muscle, it shouldn't hurt him too badly.

Either way, medical science in this world was insane, he'd be fixed up in no time.

Though it was sort of embarrassing wearing the Macho Brace under his clothes. Because of his baggy clothes, you could only see the collar and wrist parts of the brace.

Although it wasn't the official reason, he had a theory the real reason it was unpopular was that it looked like bondage gear.

He'd still wear it though. It seemed like an easy way to pass that athleticism check. Now he just needed to look into boosting his decision-making skills and luck.

'Maybe I'll pick up a Victini or some shit. Ha! Fat chance.'

He chuckled and then winced. It sorta hurt to laugh.

Now, he just had to fix his training area with his bare hands. Why not? Sandshrew would be helping with her bare hands, too. That'd be a pretty good workout for the day.

A loud grumbling sound startled him into almost falling over.

Sandshrew averted her eyes, blushing.

"Yeah… let's go get breakfast first." He concluded. Sandshrew nodded without saying a word, embarrassed.

---

->RQ: Favorite dragon-type Pokemon design-wise? Mine is Zygarde. Least favorite is Druddigon.

I'm sorry Druddigon, but you're ugly.