Year of Hardships and Plans

It has been a year since everything changed for Paul. Frankly speaking, he was thankful despite being quite bitter on what happened a year ago. His first birthday here in the Pokemon World will be coming in a few days. As Paul looked outside the window, he saw gloomy clouds that were casting sorrow all over Rustboro City. It reminded him about the first few months of him adjusting as a baby. It was horrifying and was always raining, so they were always inside the house. Paul put a bookmark on the current page of the Pokemon Encyclopedia he was reading. Then, he finally indulged himself to the happenings of the past year.

It was quite hard to be a baby with an adult's consciousness. First, Paul couldn't speak properly, so he had to rely on his giggles to show that he's listening or cry to let them know that he needs something. Second, he couldn't go anywhere but his loyal and steadfast crib. It was suffocating and boring; he couldn't read and couldn't go outside often. Most exceptions were times when his parents took him to see their pokemons. He couldn't meet them always though, mostly twice or thrice a week, as they are always dirty due to training. Mary didn't want him to be sick due to germs or other hygiene issues that might affect a baby.

The positive side of that, was that he was able to meet the rest of his parents' pokemons. He discovered that his mom and dad both own six pokemons each. His mom's pokemons, beside those whom he saw earlier which are Alakazam, Gengar, and Weavile, were Tyranitar, Blastoise, and Venusaur. Most of her pokemons were diverse, while his dad's pokemons were mostly the flying type. His dad's pokemons that he already saw were Ampharos, Crobat, Honchkrow, and Gliscor. The two left was Salamence and Charizard, on which both were unable to fit inside the house.

Most of the time, Tyranitar, Blastoise, Venusaur, Charizard, and Salamence were on the lawn and the breeding grounds. The latter he wasn't sure about, but he thinks that his parents own a breeding house for pokemon. He honestly thought of it as something amazing and interesting. He can't wait for the moment when he could to read, talk, and walk, so that he could explore the wonderful world of Pokemon.

Frankly speaking, Paul was more inclined to see the current knowledge of this world regarding technology, business, and of course their depth at Pokemon research. Despite being busy all the time on his past life, Paul was able to have time to update himself whenever there are new updates in the anime or the games. He maybe wasn't able play or watch them, but he was aware about additions of Pokemons, Items, and other knowledge that the creators put into the content of each update.

Lastly, which is Paul's final complain, is that diapers suck. Especially when it's wet with urine, or worse, if it has poop. Paul knows that it's all his waste, but still, that wasn't the point. The point is that it feels disgusting, so his solution was to cry every time he just pooped or peed on his diapers. It might cost more, well, he thinks his dignity and comfort are more worthy than the cost of diapers.

It's not that his parents were frugal, but they weren't extravagant either. They are just living life more comfortably. If they want to buy something, they will buy it, if it's not necessary or wanted, then they won't. It's that simple. Well, except only for his baby clothes. It's like they're afraid that he would run out of clothes or are worried that he would outgrow them quickly. Funny enough, that exactly happened.

It was a few tortuous months for him, but for his parents, time flew so fast. Their baby boy was growing too fast. Paul made a series of signs that he was growing too fast for normal standards. It wasn't a bad thing, but Paul blamed it to his exercises that he did every day. Baby Stretching! He was very eager to go past his baby phase so that he could do more, as there was plenty of things that he wanted to do in the Pokemon World. It was during this time that Alakazam noticed that Paul possessed a psychic force. It was just budding, around thrice of an ordinary person's psychic force, but it was there. Paul couldn't use it yet, but it passively increased the strength of his body, which involved his growth and development.

For his parents, Paul was very unusual. They consulted doctors regarding normal development of babies, which nothing matched Paul's development. When Alakazam spoke to them about his ability, all things finally made a little sense to them. Paul was able to see in the distance, which wasn't normal as babies could only mostly see those things near them that has bright colors in early stages. He was able to respond, albeit in giggles, to every time they talk to him. Paul is quick at halting his cries, as he always stops crying whenever he sees his parents. They were even admiring Paul's sense of cleanliness, to whatever extent their son may know at that moment. They think that he knows whenever he wants to change diapers, mostly even if he just peed once, or pooped a little bit.

Paul was able to flip at two weeks, which typically takes five months; was able to crawl at two months, which normally takes at least six months. He was capable of walking by himself at four months, which usually takes eight months. He finally was able to talk legibly at six months, which ordinarily takes at least a year. A conversation wasn't a problem by the time he was eight months old, and by the time it came to his tenth month, he can finally do things on his own. It was like Paul was competing in a growth development tournament by himself.

Anyhow, as soon as Paul was capable of reading, he soon combed through all the books he could reach. He checked few books spanning from history, geography, literature, science, and Pokemon. Paul determined that the Pokemon World and his past world was quite similar. However, due to the existence of Pokemons, the development of his past world and the Pokemon world was approaching different goals. The former was more on technology for the convenience of people, history of mankind, and biological approaches for humanity; on the other hand, the latter, be it technology, literature, science, history, and even geography, involved Pokemons. It was quite an interesting discovery for him. This meant that there were a lot of things to learn in this world, and Paul aimed to know those he was curious about; specifically, Pokemon Training, Breeding, Medicine, Coordination, and Research.

Pokemon Training, obviously, is the most attractive part of Pokemon for most people. Besides skillsets and battle tactics, it also involves cultivating the bond between the trainer and his or her pokemon. On the contrary, what attracts Paul the most in Pokemon is how the Pokemon World works. Basically, it is Pokemon Research, as it covers the pokeballs, the Pokemons' information, evolution, genetic details, skillsets, habitat, diet, and a whole lot of topics regarding them. So, Paul is planning on focusing more on the latter than the former, because having more knowledge is power, especially here in the Pokemon World.

He also aims to learn Pokemon Breeding so that he could gain knowledge on the optimal growth of a Pokemon, this field, as he read, also involved food making process, on which a capable breeder could make his or her own Poke Food, Poke Block, Poke Puff, and other food created to be beneficial for the growth and training of Pokemons. Pokemon Medicine on other hand, he plans to learn mostly on curiosity, as Paul knows a lot regarding the human anatomy, and many medical treatments because he also specialized on biology, he wants to know what differs Pokemon Medicine to Medicine in his past life. It is also a great help for the trainer to know the extent of his Pokemon, especially during training and battle, on how much they could handle, and how to prevent worse things happening during these things. It is also good to know Pokemon Medicine in cases of emergencies.

Although he could hire a private professional breeder or just go to the Pokemon Center for treatment. Paul still believes that learning all this would be beneficial not only in the long run, but also to the starting process of his trainer career. It would be different if he was able to learn all this knowledge he planned to learn. It would be helpful when he wants to be the best trainer there is. Of course, the side benefits would also include knowledge itself, and maybe business opportunity for what he eventually discovers.

As he sees currently now that his first birthday is approaching, Pokemon research is not that developed compared to its anime counterpart. There were holes in Pokemon information. There are only 17 types, with the fairy type missing. Some evolution of other Pokemons were unknown, and some other Pokemons were still undiscovered. He wasn't that sure yet, but he feels that he could fill in these holes when he started researching. He currently needs to have his capital in both knowledge and in money. Speaking of money, there are also gaps when it comes to the market of Pokemon World, he can see things that existed on his past world, which could massively gain profit here in Pokemon world. Paul has a lot of expectations and plans for his current life, and the most first solid step would be on the day of his first birthday.