Playing tag with Pokémon was fun and unfair all at the same time.
How was I supposed to reach Fletchling if it flew higher than I could jump? Hell, even Floette was being unfair about it… drifting slightly out of reach every single time without any apparent effort, flower held steady but it was still fun though.
Right now Ralts was on my head while Fletchling was balancing on my shoulder as usual, and on a strap at my stomach was Riolu's egg sitting in the incubator harness… getting enough trainer heat and movement to hopefully hatch faster. I was walking as much as possible for exactly that reason.
However as soon as we were about to enter the Research Lab, the door opened and a young man came out.
He was shorter than even me with spiky hair that had been spray-painted blue with a bit of black in it and the trainer passed us without looking up.
"That damn Froakie." He muttered while heading the other direction.
I looked back at him once. What Froakie was he talking about? I wasn't sure Mable kept starters on a regular basis but I'd ask her about it.
I pushed through the door and Rhyx waved at me from behind the counter.
"Welcome back Paxton, I'm glad you're okay." She said with a smile, and I nodded at her. She was a genuinely nice person considering she worked under Mable. "If you're looking for the Professor then she's currently in the Dome. If you have anything to report I'd advise heading there as soon as possible before she gets into one of her moods."
"Thanks Rhyx. I'll take your word for it." I said and walked toward the elevator, rode it up to the top floor, crossed to the second elevator and went back down to the Dome. I really didn't see the need for two elevators but I wasn't the one paying so I didn't complain.
The elevator opened again and immediately Fletchling flew off to go meet Bill's Pidgeotto for another round of training.
I walked out and let the elevator close behind me, the familiar air of the Dome filled my chest and I let out a sigh.
"It's nice to be back." I said and Floette looked at my face.
"Flo?"
"Don't worry, stick with me. It's a nice place." I looked around… there was no sign of Mable yet, which gave me time to get to Maria first. "Come on, Floette."
Maria was sitting behind the counter while scrolling through her phone and eating a few croissants. She looked up as I came in and smiled.
"Welcome back Paxton, you have some Pokémon for me to heal?" She looked at the unique Floette next to me and said nothing about it.
I dropped Feebas and Magikarp's Pokéballs on her table.
"Yes, the two of them." She plugged them into the machine like usual and the soothing healing tone ran through the room.
"If you want to keep a Pokémon here, be sure to drop their Pokéball before you go." She replied while handing me back the two Pokéballs. "I'll make sure to take care of them like your other Pokémon."
"Thank you Maria." I took them back. I'd include Magikarp on the main team for now while leaving Feebas here to rest, then I exited the building and came outside again.
This time I saw Mable… She was standing with both hands on her waist looking at the water with a sigh. Her exasperated expression was honestly kind of cute on her, not that I was going to say that.
"Professor." I walked over and she turned to face me. "I'm back. What's going on?"
"Nothing that important." She said, looking back at the water. There was a Pokémon sitting on a patch of white foam near the bank resting with one leg crossed above the other, looking at nothing in particular.
It was a Froakie.
Why would someone come to return it? Froakie had a sick final form in Greninja.
"It's just another trainer came back to return the starter I offered." She said. "Again."
"Again?"
"This Froakie was different from the others at the resort that supply the lab from the very beginning… it was always training alone rather than with the other Froakie, ignoring commands it didn't agree with, and extremely selective about which trainers it would listen to. It had been through six trainers before this one and always returned here, either leaving them on its own or being brought back for being disobedient." She let out a long breath. "This sixth trainer came back today because during a training session, Froakie went for him and attacked as well, if he didn't have others out then he could have been injured and the Lab would have been sued."
She looked at the Froakie sitting on its foam. It had moved on from looking at nothing to watching one of the flying Pokémon overhead with mild interest, like it was evaluating it and completely unbothered by being the subject of the entire conversation going on three meters away.
"I haven't seen such a problematic Pokémon in my life." She said. "I suppose even Froakie can be as prideful as Charizard when it decides to be."
Imagine commanding your Pokémon in battle but it decides to do what it wants and then looks at you like you're the one who's wrong. Yeah. Miss me with all of that.
"Anyway, moving away from Froakie." Mable turned to Floette and her eyes went wide for a moment before her expression returned to normal. "Was the Shiny Alpha Magikarp a rumor after all? Or did you actually see it? I'm also expecting a detailed report of what you observed underwater in Wild Zone 2."
"Yeah yeah, I know." I said. The report would cover the Magikarp schools, the Staryu drifting in groups, the Binacle that had dropped itself into my hands, the seaweed distribution, the whole ecosystem functioning normally down there… which was proper field research data.
I'd write it up tonight. "I got the Magikarp and one extra Pokémon too."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. I held up both Pokéballs and pressed the centers. In two red beams of light, both Pokémon appeared in the water.
The first was Alpha Shiny Magikarp, who immediately looked around in every direction the moment it hit the water… scanning the whole Dome, assessing everything with the gold scales catching the light from above.
It was genuinely striking up here in proper light rather than the filtered glow underwater. Mable's eyes went wide.
"Amazing... An Alpha Pokémon that's also Shiny." She pressed both hands together. "And a Shiny Feebas as well. You've really outdone yourself Paxton. It's almost like you're a lucky charm, the only two Alpha Pokémon in the reserve are both from you and you barely got here."
Magikarp kept looking around before opening its mouth and gathering water.
It wasn't quite as instant as underwater but it was still fast, and it was aimed at Mable who was still talking so I pulled the woman by the waist to the side as Hydro Pump tore through the air and hit one of the flying Pokémon above them, knocking it sideways.
"Oh…" Mable blinked, adjusting her visors before pushing away from me. "I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings again. Thank you for the help Paxton, I'll be going to my lab now."
With that the woman scurried off, already pulling out her notebook as she went, and I couldn't help but think she was a bit shy… the way she had been talking really quickly the whole time wasn't helping her case at all.
I turned to Magikarp.
"Bad fish. You already wasted one hundred Poké." I said with a sigh. "But calm down, you're not in danger."
I patted the top of its head and its eyes calmed down as it relaxed.
"I still haven't forgiven you for wasting my Pokéball but we'll both agree to disagree on the matter." I said and pulled out my Rotomphone.
The data loaded and I stared at it.
"Level 18, huh? What a monster." I paused. "I mean I'm a monster for defeating you in hand-to-hand combat."
Magikarp looked at me with an expression that had decided it won the battle and not me but at the end of the day, who was in the Pokéball and who came out without scratches?
"We'll call it a draw and fight again sometime." I said. Magikarp swam over to where Feebas was resting near the corner of the water. They seemed to exchange sounds which were different little noises back and forth before Magikarp swam away. Then Feebas slowly approached me, though it flinched when I brought out my hand.
"Come on. You don't need to be scared." I kept my hand steady and waited.
"Rara~" Ralts climbed down from my head to my shoulder and extended her hand alongside mine. I really wanted to pinch her cheeks. Ralts was a genuinely cute Pokémon.
Floette let go of her black flower with one hand and extended it over toward Feebas as well.
In the end Feebas used its face to touch my hand and I smiled while reaching for my Rotomphone.
Why would a Shiny Feebas be in the wild like that though? There were no other Feebas in Wild Zone 2 either, and it had been poisoned when I found it… That wasn't coincidence.
"Rotom, what do you think about a Feebas appearing in Wild Zone 2?" I asked.
"Bzzt… Feebas is not a documented native species of Wild Zone 2. Its aquatic ecosystem consists of Magikarp, Binacle, and Staryu. The presence of a single Feebas, particularly one showing signs of illness, is most consistent with the possibility that this Pokémon was released by a trainer rather than arriving through natural means. Bzzt."
"I see."
Someone had actually released this Pokémon while it was already sick. What kind of person did that? I chose not to think about it too hard.
Feebas pushed away and swam slowly through the water, past Froakie who was still on its foam and ignoring everything, heading toward Magikarp who had already found something to eat underwater.
"How do I evolve Feebas then?" I asked.
"Bzzt… Feebas evolution is historically connected to confidence. A Feebas that develops genuine belief in itself, in its own worth, regardless of its appearance or how others perceive it will evolve into Milotic. The transformation is not tied to conventional battle experience or items. It comes from within. Bzzt."
"Well then." I said. "I guess we help Feebas get more confident."
I remembered that I still had the Fist of Justice dojo visit ahead of me. "Alright Ralts. Do you want to come along to the Fist of Justice?"
"Rara!" She pumped her fist immediately.
I looked up. Fletchling and Pidgeotto were doing maneuvers mid-air with Bill running below them and his eyes tracking every movement. I couldn't help but feel this man was in the wrong profession… he was clearly meant to be a gym assistant, not a lab aide.
He caught me looking and jogged over before I could redirect my attention.
"I see you aren't wearing your weight bands." He said while jogging in place. "Even your Fletchling is wearing them and getting stronger every session but here the trainer is, lounging away. How will you do Field work if you can't scale a mountain?"
He was already digging through his bag. I sighed and resigned myself to whatever was coming.
"Back in my day, we used to climb Mount Moon for breakfast." He said.
"Dude, you're not even 30 yet." I gave him a look. "It can't be that serious."
He pressed four weight bands into my hands… one for each limb and told me not to take them off until I went to sleep.
I put them on. The moment they clicked into place, each arm and leg felt like it had gained three kilograms.
Fuck.
…
"I guess this is the place." I said while standing outside the Fist of Justice Dojo after returning Floette to AZ.
It wasn't a building at all… it was an open clear space in the Jaune District, but it matched the address on the poster.
The ground was packed earth, flattened deliberately that was worn smooth in the center where most of the daily work happened and denser toward the edges.
Wooden training posts were set into the earth at intervals along one side, their surfaces scarred from consistent use with grooves worn into the wood at exactly the height where most people aimed.
A rack of equipment sat under a small overhang against the single storage structure at the back and the Fist of Justice logo was carved into the wooden beam above the entrance.
As of right now, I only came with Ralts since the others were either chilling or training and she didn't want to. Tomorrow would be a bit brutal since we were going on our first Detective patrol with Emma and then participate in the Z-A Royale later in the evening after i tried much more combinations.
I was trying to keep a clean streak in Official Battles so I could be tagged "Undefeated" but in reality, I just needed to overprepare before every battle and make sure not to battle a trainer with a Charizard with my Magikarp.
I tucked the poster into my pocket and entered the Fist Of Justice Dojo and once I got in, I looked around.
Ivor was at the front with a gathering of disciples in yellow gis lined up in two rows before him… every one of them in the same stance with legs open and fists drawn back.
The formation was tight and they looked like people who had trained together long enough that the rhythm was shared.
"Ha!"
They took a collective step forward simultaneously, the weight of it traveling through the packed earth, and thrust the first fist forward in a sharp strike.
"Ha!"
The second fist followed and I felt it from where I was standing near the entrance.
"Now relax." Ivor said, and every disciple dropped their stance and brought their hands together with their heads bowed slightly.
Ivor saw me and waved as he walked over.
"Welcome to the Fist of Justice, young Paxton. I'm glad you made it." He extended his hand and I took it, having apparently learned nothing.
He lifted me off the ground and spun me like an umbrella before setting me back down.
"Ah… slightly heavier than last time." He noted, looking at the bands on my arms and legs. "You already have your own weights, excellent."
He turned back. "Since you're here… Josée, please come here."
Josée arrived at his side shortly after, standing like a soldier with both hands at her sides.
"Please take him to get the Black Gi." Ivor said, then turned to me. "The Black Gi is the uniform of those at the lowest ranks of the Fist of Justice. As you increase in rank your Gi changes to signify that, for example, mid-rank disciples wear orange. For now, you begin where everyone begins."
I nodded and followed Josée into the storage room.
Along the walls were different black uniforms in varied sizes. There was even a set sized for someone Ivor's build near the far end.
"You can pick what fits you." Josée said while turning to face the door. "You can put it on top of your original clothes… the Fist of Justice Gis are comfortable like that."
I found a set at my height, shook it out, and pulled it on.
The fabric was a bit light and allowed for good movement. The top sat right on the shoulders with the sleeves falling just past the elbow while the bottoms went over my trousers with enough room to move in.
There was a yellow belt that came with it. I wrapped it around my waist, looped it twice, and tied the knot flat at the front.
After that I tightened it, ruffled my hair back into place, settled Ralts on my shoulder, and turned to Josée.
"How do I look?"
She turned back to face me and gave me a thumbs-up.
"You look amazing, Nice haircut too." She said and then left, and I followed behind her.
That woman really did me good… Everyone kept complimenting the haircut which meant the woman who did it had actually delivered.
Once we came back outside though, the training group had dispersed across different parts of the dojo and Ivor was now talking with a girl near the far training post.
She was short and petite with dark indigo hair cut into an asymmetrical bob, the right side slightly longer than the left and lighter at the tips and large violet eyes.
Her skin was pale and she had soft features set into an expression that was currently mildly irritated.
She was wearing a white coat over a black dress and a blue striped belt with brass buckles at the waist with black leggings, and blue gloves.
On her head was a hat shaped like a Chandelure with the Fist of Justice logo was on her coat's left sleeve but nothing else about her matched the dojo aesthetic.
Every time I thought I had seen the most beautiful woman in Kalos, a random girl walked out and reset that entirely. This girl was short and petite and that only added to her charm but their conversation was anything but calm.
"Again, Ivor… no." Her voice was flat. "I will not be teaching any new recruit. As you know, I'm very busy."
"But he is a new entry to the Dojo." Ivor said. "And since you are small, you are a much better fit than me… I feel I might break him in half."
Wow, great talk guys. Did we forget I'm right here?
"No." She said dismissively and turned slightly like the conversation was over.
Ivor cleared his throat.
"I'll give you money for that stream stuff that you w—"
"Alright then." She agreed immediately and folded her hands. "I won't spend much time here."
Stream… She was either a streamer or she watched one with that level of immediate response. I could guess she was probably a Canari fan, who else streamed in Lumiose City?
Ivor turned to us.
"Aha, welcome back… the Gi looks great on you." He said. "Now I will introduce you to your trainer for today. This is my sister, Gwynn. Don't mind the look on her face… she's very kind. However if you dare to look at her in any sexual way, I'll use your face to grate the ground of the Dojo."
So it was fine to lift me from the ground but he drew the line at looking, huh?
"We'll leave the both of you now." Ivor said and walked off with Josée.
I stood in front of Gwynn, who looked uninterested but motioned for us to go to one of the arenas on the side.
We stood across from each other and I dropped Ralts to the ground and let her shuffle to a safe distance.
"Welcome to the Fist of Justice." Gwynn said, her tone was bland as if she was reading a posted notice. "Like Ivor said, I'm his sister. I'm not particularly interested in what goes on here or in my brother, for that matter."
She settled into a stance. "Now come at me in any way you can and don't hold back because I'm short."
I took a deep breath and moved toward her.
I had learned a bit of Karate in my old world. And by that I meant from YouTube. But it should be enough, right?
I threw my hand forward in a punch.
Gwynn parried it without any apparent effort, the redirect was so clean that my arm just changed direction mid-air as if it had decided to on its own.
She hit me in the gut with a short punch before my arm had even finished moving and it went deeper than the distance suggested it should.
My ribs hurt.
She followed immediately with a kick to the same spot then pivoted on that same leg and used it to get completely underneath my center of gravity throwing me to the other side.
I was in the air briefly then I was on the packed earth on the other side of her, on my back, the impact traveling up my spine.
The weight bands on my limbs added to the landing considerably.
"Wha…"
I lay there on the packed earth for a moment looking up at the open sky above the dojo with my head still catching up with the sequence of events.
One punch… I had thrown one punch, moved forward approximately one step, and was now on my back on the other side of her.
The weight bands on my arms and legs had made the landing considerably less comfortable than it would have been otherwise. The YouTube Karate videos had perhaps overrepresented what they could teach.
She stood over me and aimed her leg at the one place you did not aim a leg.
"Get up or else I'll crush it."
Hold up.
What did little Paxton do to her?
[Author's Note]
Glad we reached the goal… sorry the Chapters came a bit late, had to skip work today but yeah.
Now for a new goal, how about 250 for 2 chapters?
Phew see you guys later and glad you're enjoying it, I see all the comments after all.