To say that my mind was reeling would be an understatement. I hadn’t checked who the contact was. Why hadn’t I checked? Why would I have checked? I expected someone closer to her age. Wait, how old was Valerie? How old was Malva? Irrelevant. This was a situation that I had to handle extremely delicately. There was no guarantee that Malva was part of team Flare. She did quit it, afterall. But when? Had that happened already? She bailed when it collapsed, right? So did that mean she was still a member?

  The timeline I knew differed from the game to the anime. This world had mostly been following the anime, so it was a safer assumption that she was fine. But there had also been things that didn’t. Too many variables. Too many questions and no answers.

  I’m not panicking.

  You’re panicking.

  Out loud I questioned. “Malva, eh? Didn’t see that coming.” Thankfully schooling my expression was something I’d learned to do pretty early in my teaching career. I wasn’t an expert, but thankfully this girl wasn’t paying attention to me, still glued to her phone.

  Valerie scoffed, her face red. “Malva is amazing. Elite Four member. Reporter. Fashion star,” she listed off, and I couldn’t help mentally adding ‘Team Flare Admin’ to her list. “She’s been on my show a few times and it takes everything I have to not gush.”

  “You mean gush like you are now,” I asked with a bit of a smirk. I was trying not to panic any more than I already was. Seeing the expression Cara was making out of the corner of my eye gave me the impression that she was very much aware of how I was feeling.

  She gave me a slap with her costume wing. “It’s hard not to! Did you see her battle in the last League? The only one that was able to beat her was Laura.”

  And that had been quite an impressive showing when I thought back on it. Knowing more about how strong Pokemon were, and the sort of power scaling that was in this world, beating an Elite Four member was no joke. Of course, it had been staggered in a way to give the Pokemon time to recover, but the sheer fact that Malva had only lost once in so many battles was impressive. She hadn’t fought all ten that made it that far, but she had fought six of them and only lost once.

  However, that brought a memory to my mind. Anime Malva had a Houndoom. This Malva did not. That implied that this was the Malva from the game, meaning she was still currently a Team Flare member…

  “I did watch it,” I said with a nod, trying to keep my focus on the conversation while I thought. My eyes wandered over to the wolf pack and I had an idea. Could I force that? Would that even work? How would I get her to- my mind screeched to a halt and I looked at Valerie. That could work. Or it could all blow up in my face. I was never that much of a schemer, and trying to meddle with fate and such was probably going to go poorly. But hey, at least I had a plan.

  “It was so amazing. Six battles, and nearly a clean sweep,” Valerie continued to gush.

  “It was. Malva is an extremely impressive Trainer.” I didn’t really need to hype Malva up, but I wanted- no, I guess I needed to show my support. “And you have a date with her.”

  Suddenly all words seemed to fail the poor girl. Like someone just pulled the e-brake. “Oh… right…” she eventually muttered.

  I let her chew on that thought for a moment. “Anyways. I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk with her about the wolf pack yet.”

  Her attention suddenly snapped to me, confused. “What? Why? She would be brilliant publicity for it.”

  My expression fell a bit flat. “Publicity for what? We don’t even have anything. Not really, anyways.”

  “Yet,” she said firmly. “I have the space, and with the Joy’s help, everything will go smoothly.”

  I sighed. “Valerie, we’re not talking about just these Pokemon. We are talking about potentially hundreds, maybe even thousands, of Team Flare Pokemon. There are a few thousand members, and even if we only counted each as having a single Pokemon, that’s still a massive amount.”

  She just stared at me for a moment. “Huh?”

  “Did you think that this was it?” I asked, giving her an amused look. “That this was all the Pokemon that I would be trying to save?”

  “No, but I… uhm…” She was looking back and forth from me to the dogs.

  “And that’s just Team Flare. There’s also other teams: Team Rocket and Team Galactic, just to name two.” While I didn’t plan to actively go after them, unless they forced me to, I wanted there to be a place that even other regions could send Pokemon. Maybe I was being too blunt about it, but I needed her to understand what she was trying to get into. I was also struggling to keep calm since I was freaking out about Malva. “This is a huge commitment. And I’m not saying you can’t do it - I know you can - but it’s going to be so much work and I just want you to be sure that you understand what you’re getting into.”

  She had a rather contemplative look on her face. From her expression I was guessing that this was the first time she’d actually really thought about it all. “So we’re talking about… potentially thousands of Pokemon.”

  “Yes.”

  “All of whom are probably traumatized and abused.”

  “Yes.”

  Her brow furrowed a bit. “Okay I’m starting to see why this hasn’t been done before…”

  “And to make it more difficult, we’re going to be doing a lot really quickly.” She gave me a bit of a puzzled look as I spoke. “The wolf pack wants revenge. They want to save their fellows, and know the location of numerous Team Flare bases.”

  She actually seemed to get a bit pale at that. I knew that this was a lot more than what she signed up for, or I guess it would be volunteered for, but that was all the more reason why I had to explain it to her. “So it’s… going to essentially be every Team Flare member's Pokemon suddenly dropped on our lap. That’s going to be rough,” she said as she folded her arms, partially hugging herself.

  “The problem is space, and food. Everything else can be taken slow. Therapy and adoption aren’t something you can rush,” I explained. “There’s a priority to it all. The most important thing is space. If we can’t have the space, then there’s no point in worrying about any step after.”

  “Thousands of Pokemon,” she muttered, her brow furrowing. Suddenly it was like she had a realization. “I need to talk with my great uncle.”

  I frowned a bit. “The old Gym Leader?”

  She nodded.

  “Alright. But… Keep it vague.”

  Immediately she looked pissed. “You don’t think he’s trustworthy?”

  I put up my hands. “That’s not it at all. I don’t know the man, sure. But I’m more worried about someone finding out. You have to remember that there’s a ton of Team Flare spies. They’re scattered everywhere and some of them hold really important positions.”

  Her eyes widened a bit. “Do… Do you think there’s a Gym Leader that’s part of Team Flare?”

  That was honestly something I hadn’t even thought of. I knew some of the members. But I didn’t know every member. “That’s possible.”

  She took a few deep breaths, looking off towards all of the Pokemon. “You weren’t kidding when you said this was going to be hard…”

  I nodded. “So, you can talk with your uncle. But just don’t explain things too much. We’re essentially trying to set up a reserve. You can tell…” I paused as I tried to think of a good excuse. “Tell him that you’re helping to set up a Pokemon Reserve that I and the Joy’s are working on.”

  She gave me a puzzled look. “What’s a Pokemon Reserve?”

  I froze. She didn’t know what that was? That was a foreign concept here? “Like… The Friend Safari,” I tried.

  That just got her even more confused. “What’s that?”

  Did that not exist? That… I guess that kind of made sense? That was very much a game thing, so it made sense that it wouldn’t exist in a real world scenario. But now I had to think of some other example… Wait, she was from Johto. “Like the Safari Zone.”

  Immediately she understood. “Ah, okay. So something like, you’re setting up Kalos' own Safari Zone.”

  I nodded. “That’s honestly a good way to put it…although it would be different in that people don’t go in in an attempt to capture Pokemon. More like…” I paused as my mind went through possible scenarios. This was actually a pretty good idea. “Okay, I have a plan now. But the big problem is still going to be space. I’ll talk with the Joy’s about my ideas and see what they think. Do you mind if they come here?”

  She was giving me a bit of an odd look, but that was understandable. I was having a bit of difficulty explaining what I was thinking about and kept cutting myself off. “Okay… yeah, that’s fine. I’ll let Allie know about it.”

  Now I had a puzzled look on my face.

  Valerie just let out a giggle. “Allie is my secretary.”

  “Ah.” I cleared my throat. “I never got her name.”

  That just got more giggles from her. “Alright. I’ll go and talk with my great uncle. I’ve got another match soon, so I’ll probably talk about it with him after.”

  “And don’t forget to clear your Tuesday schedule for your date,” I said with a bit of a smirk.

  She stiffened at the comment as if she had forgotten. “Crap! I need to go do that now.” She turned and bolted from the room.

  I just chuckled a bit at her antics and pulled out my phone. First I sent a text to Evelyne; ‘Hey, do you mind coming over to the Gym to see the wolf pack, and discuss things? I’ve got some good ideas but I need to run them by you.’ Followed by a text to Adria; ‘Need to discuss some things with you. Are you still in Laverre? If not, there’s no rush and I can talk to you when I go back to Santalune.’ I was about to send another text to involve Professor Sycamore, but I was still pissed at him so decided against it.

  When I put my phone away, Cara was standing there, looking at me expectantly. “What happened?”

  It was kind of hard not to be amused by the look on her face. “Nothing that we can’t handle. Just… Something Valerie said really caught me off guard and I’m scheming.”

  Her right brow raised so high I thought it was going to leave her head. “Scheming? What sort of scheming?”

  I reached forward, petting the top of her head. “I’m going to make Malva see that this world has plenty in it to care about.”

  Adria was the one that got back to me first. I’d gone over to the sitting area to watch the television. More than half the dogs were absolutely hooked. It was actually pretty funny, but most importantly, it kept them all relaxed. As for the text; ‘Yes I’m still here. I have way too much paperwork to go back to Santalune.’

  ‘Okay, good. When you have some time, come over to the gym. I’m currently staying here.’ I replied.

  All I got back was a bunch of question marks, followed by an affirmation that she was heading over right now. Even though I tried to explain, again, that there was no rush, she didn’t reply. “Guess Adria is coming,” I commented to Rio, who I had thought for a moment was Cara. They had swapped places at some point and I guess I hadn’t been paying attention.

  Her ear seemed to swivel a bit towards me to show that she was paying attention. “Adria is that nice Officer, right?” Rio asked, though she didn’t take her eyes off the screen.

  “Yes. Since she’s helping with the wolf pack and taking down Team Flare, she needs to be kept in the loop,” I explained. Looking over my shoulder and out at the room, I could see Cara and Dee talking by the pond on the other side of the room. It was good to see the two of them taking time to relax.

  A few minutes later my phone pinged and I looked at the message from Evelyne. ‘Im on my way. Just got off shift so I have time. Also the Elder essentially gave us blanket approval for whatever we want to try as long as it doesnt involve any financial support.’ What did this woman have against apostrophes?

  But that was convenient. Both of them at the same time would save me on having to explain it multiple times.

  I took a moment to look for one of the leaders of the wolf pack. Hate was the closest. I had noticed that rather than just having one Pokemon in charge, they seem to have the few strongest be in charge and sort of work by group decision. Rather efficient, and I couldn’t help but wonder where they learned that.

  “Hate.” She perked up when I called out to her and she came over. “There’s an Officer Jenny and a Nurse Joy coming.” Immediately she bristled at just the mention of Officer Jenny. “It’s okay. This is the Jenny that handed you all over to me. She’s safe. I just need you to tell everyone and spread the word so they don’t panic.”

  It was obvious she was hesitant. She’d probably been raised her entire life that any sort of Officer was bad. “Okay…”

  “She’s the one who’s helping take down Team Flare,” I added, and that seemed to relax her. She nodded before turning and heading off to talk with the others.

  If my actions so far had given Adria so much paperwork that she’d been stuck here in Laverre for this long, I can’t imagine how much work she was going to have over the course of what I had planned. If things went well, Ash would never have any confrontations with Team Flare. And wasn’t that an interesting thought? What sort of conflict would he arrive to that he would have to solve? Or would the universe give him a break and let him just have an easy time in Kalos? Arceus knows he would need it by the time he got here.

  After about thirty minutes, I got a text from Adria; ‘I’m here. I was warned not to just enter the room.’

  I got up, looking over at Hate and Malevolence, giving them a nod to let them know that the Officer was here. “Alright!” Malevolence shouted. “Best behaviors!” Even though they had been told things would be alright, I could still see that a lot of them were nervous or fearful. Some took the opportunity to hide.

  When I opened the door, the first thing I noticed was that Adria wasn’t in uniform. If I had to call her outfit anything it would be business casual. She had on black slacks and a matching button up. Her eyes did the same to me as I did to her, giving me a quick once over. “How’s it been going so far?” she asked.

  I moved a bit so that she could enter, but she froze the moment she made an attempt. “It’s been going alright,” I tried to assure, although I very much understood that immediate sort of apprehensive feeling from a few dozen Pokemon staring at you. “Everything’s fine. Just don’t pay them any mind.”

  She still looked pretty apprehensive, but nodded. “Alright…”

  “I won’t lie, they don’t like that you’re here, but they also know that you’re trying to help. They’re all just very untrusting,” I explained as we moved a bit away from the door.

  It looked like she wanted to say something, but changed her mind. Instead she just sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I get that.”

  For a moment the two of us looked at the watching Pokemon, some of which had relaxed and gone back to what they’re doing. “Joy is on the way. We’re going to discuss what to do about them.”

  “Oh? So you got the Joy’s to join in on your mysterious plans?” she asked, her attention now fully on me.

  I nodded. “And things are going to get… a lot more hectic.”

  She immediately frowned. “That’s why you wanted to talk to me.”

  Again I nodded. “They know where a lot of the Team Flare bases are.”

  I wasn’t looking at her, but I practically felt the way she tensed up. Her eyes were flicking towards different members of the wolf pack as if trying to decide something. “Is… that trustworthy information?”

  “I’m going to confirm it.” Immediately I could tell she was going to protest, but I put up my hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful about it. I’m just going to confirm their locations, and nothing else.”

  She folded her arms, glaring a bit at me. “And how exactly are you going to go about doing that?”

  “The wolf pack knows where they are. I’m going to spend a few days and just go around Kalos, spend some time in and around each city, and note their locations. No confrontations. I’m not going to go anywhere near them if I can help it.”

  Judging by her expression it didn’t look like she believed me. “I don’t know you that well, but you don’t really strike me as subtle.”

  I snorted. “I can be subtle if I want to be. I’ve just not had a reason to be.”

  From the way she was looking me up and down, I could tell that she wasn’t convinced. “You’ll have to forgive my skepticism, since I’ve not seen anything subtle about you. Just look at the way you dress.”

  That got a bit of a frown out of me as I looked down at myself. “What’s wrong with the way I dress?”

  “Cargo pants, a t-shirt, and a long coat. With your long hair and the way you’re wearing that Key Stone, you look like someone vaguely important if not disheveled,” she argued as she gestured at me. “You’re very recognizable.”

  I put my hand over my chest in mock offense. “I’ll have you know that only people I know ever recognize me. It’s actually something I’ve been a bit annoyed at. Only being recognized by Joy’s because of Dee is a bit bothersome.”

  “Maybe it’s the shock,” she suggested, a bit of a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. “Afterall, who expects a Pokemon Expert to look like-” again she gestured at me again, “That.”

  For a moment I was silent, looking at her with as much of a mock hurt expression as I could manage. “That’s so mean.”

  She snorted in response. “Okay. So then… I’m guessing you want me to handle the raids?”

  I let the expression remain for a moment longer before nodding, and letting a smile pull at my mouth a bit. “Exactly. And then we’ll take all the confiscated Pokemon and- Well I’m still working on that part, but I’ve got some good ideas, I think.”

  Her eyes darted back towards the many Pokemon, almost all of whom had gone back to what they were doing. The only exceptions were Hate and Malevolence. They were clearly the most bothered by Officer Jenny being here. “Alright. So what’s your idea?”

  “I want to wait for Joy to get here, so I don’t have to explain it again,” I explained, looking out at the Pokemon as well. Some seemed a bit on edge, but most had calmed down.

  “I still can’t believe you got the Joy Elder to agree to whatever nonsense you’re cooking up,” Adria grumbled.

  A soft snort escaped me. “Who says it’s nonsense?”

  “Me,” she retorted.

  That got a laugh out of me. Before I had a chance to argue about it, there was a knock at the door. Well, as good a knock as could be done on such a heavy door. That was probably Evelyne. I was honestly surprised that Adria had beaten her here, but I wasn’t actually sure if the Pokecenter or police office was closer.

  The sight that met me when I opened the door actually caused me to freeze. For some reason I was struggling to comprehend what I was seeing. There was Evelyne, but there were also four other Joy’s with her. Again I had that really strange feeling I got whenever I saw more than one Joy at a time, but I quickly tried to force whatever that was out of my head. “Ah, Evelyne, I wasn’t expecting…uh… so many Joy’s.”

  “Sorry it took so long,” she said with a smile. “These are all the ones that agreed to help. Well, the ones that were currently free and nearby.”

  “How many Joy’s are planning to join us in our endeavors?” I asked slowly, moving a bit out of the way so that they could enter.

  “Fifty seven,” one of the other Joy’s answered with quite a big smile.

  “So far,” another added.

  “Some of them aren’t in Kalos, though,” Evelyne tacked on to the end.

  Well that just made my head spin a bit for multiple reasons.That was a lot more support than I was expecting. Like, a lot more. But I was also struggling to follow which Joy was which and which one was the one speaking. “Well, that’s actually wonderful news,” I managed, raising a hand and rubbing my eyes to try and stop my head from spinning.

  “Indeed,” I heard a Joy say. “So, what’s the big plan?” I wasn’t sure if that was a different one or the same one.

  “Give me a moment,” I said before turning around and staring off into the distance. This was an extremely odd feeling that I was trying to comprehend. It was like my brain was trying to recognize them as individuals but also force them together in my perspective?

  “Are you alright?” Adria asked suddenly, standing in my peripheral vision.

  “Yes, fine.” I shook my head a bit. “Sorry. I’ve never seen so many Joy’s in one place.”

  “Ah,” the Officer Jenny nodded a bit. “It’s a bit off putting, isn’t it?”

  I opened my mouth to say something but stopped and shook my head again. “No, that’s not it. I just…” I waved my hand a bit before turning back around. “It doesn’t matter. My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace. Thanks all for coming.”

  “I’m Marie Joy, from Aquacorde,” one of the Joy’s said with a smile.

  “Delphine, from here in Laverre,” another said.

  “Rebecca, also from here,” the one that appeared to be the youngest, introduced herself with a bit of a bow.

  The final one had quite a big smile on her face. “Flavienne Joy, from Snowbelle.”

  It was interesting. Now that I knew all of their names, the feeling was almost completely gone. There was still this odd feeling, but it was much more manageable, as if having their name separated them enough in my head. “Great. Two of you are from pretty far away?” I questioned, looking at the one from Aquacorde and Snowbelle. Honestly I was most surprised to see someone from Aquacorde.

  “We were here to discuss things with Evelyne,” Marie answered, still wearing that same smile. “When she asked for support for your new rehabilitation program, a lot of Joy’s jumped on the chance to change things.”

  “She was rather vague about it,” Flavienne added, a bit of a frown on her face as she looked at Evelyne, who seemed a bit put out at her words.

  “Hey it’s not my fault-” she started.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  But I cut her off. “It really isn’t. I didn’t have a plan until today. Not really, anyways.”

  The four newer Joy’s looked at me with a mixture of different emotions, although most of it seemed to be shock or disappointment. “So there’s no plan?” Rebecca asked.

  “There wasn’t. But there is now.” I stood up a bit straighter with a smile on my face, though most of them seemed unconvinced. “We’re going to set up a Pokemon Reserve.”

  They all looked confused. “Pokemon Reserve? Is that like that Nature Preserve in Unova?” Delphine asked.

  Suddenly Marie and Evelyne perked up. “So you’re really from Unova?” Marie asked.

  “Does that mean you got your memory back?” Evelyne asked.

  There were a few more questions peppered in, such as who I was or if I had contacted my family. I had to put up my hand to get them to stop. “That is a Unova thing, yes. And yes my plan is similar.”

  It was quiet for a moment. “So?” Evelyne prompted. “You’re from Unova? How did you end up in Kalos?”

  I shrugged. “No idea. A lot of details are…” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Have you tried contacting anyone?” Delphine asked.

  That caused me to pause, trying to think about the best way to deflect this line of questioning. So I sighed before responding, “There’s no one to contact.”

  Maybe that was a rather rough and abrupt way to end that line of questioning, but I honestly didn’t want to explain things. And while the way I worded it left a lot open to interpretation, I was sure it would spread amongst the Joy’s and they’d hopefully not question me further on it.

  Unfortunately I quickly realized that it definitely wasn’t the best way to change the subject judging by the pained expressions on their faces. For a moment I tried to think if I should try and cover whatever sort of misconception they were thinking, but decided to just change the subject. “Anyways. So, my plan is to set up a reserve. You can think of it sort of like the Safari Zone. It’ll be a large scale area where we can send the Pokemon, treat them, allow them space and protect them.”

  The change in subject thankfully seemed to work as they all refocused back onto the problem. “And then we can have Trainers come in and catch Pokemon?” one of the Joy’s asked, I wasn’t sure which.

  “Sort of. Rather than catch them, it’s more that they will have to come in and befriend them, or convince them to join up with them,” I explained. “That’s the type of difference I’m going for from a Safari Zone.”

  They all nodded in agreement. “Well, that at least gives us a goal,” Delphine said rather enthusiastically.

  “But that doesn’t really solve any problem that we have,” Rebecca interjected, a bit of a frown on her face.

  “The problem is still space, and money,” Evelyne agreed.

  “Well, Valerie is working on the space problem,” I said, gesturing to the area around. “She has a bunch of areas like this, and she’s talking to the old Gym Leader. Not sure what she has planned there, but I think we have the space problem mostly solved.”

  “So what about the money?” Marie asked.

  It was so difficult to keep them all separate in my head. Evelyne was easier to pick out from the group, but the others made it difficult. “I have some ideas. I’ll be financing a big portion of it, I’m sure. But as for the long term, I think one thing we’ll be doing is charging for entry, like the Safari Zone.”

  There was a general murmuring of agreement with that. “That would definitely bring in some cash flow. But not enough.”

  I nodded. “Unfortunately this is something that is going to be running at a loss until we can figure out things, and might forever. Donations will be something we gear towards. Volunteers rather than employees. We’ll eventually need publicity, but that’s not something I have any experience with.”

  “What will we tell the public?” Adria asked, finally speaking up.

  “It’s a reserve for abandoned Pokemon,” I replied easily. “We won’t explicitly announce that we take Pokemon from criminals, since that would draw unwanted attention on many fronts. We explain that it’s a place to rehome Pokemon that for some reason or another no longer have a Trainer, and encourage that people can come and hang out with them and possibly take some.”

  “Should we charge for that? For taking Pokemon?” Marie asked.

  I shook my head. “We want to encourage people to take them. An entry fee is fine, and the choice of taking a Pokemon must be mutual between the Pokemon and Trainer, rather than just buying a Pokemon.”

  They all nodded at that. “So we’re encouraging people to visit, to not only have some income but to lower our workload,” Delphine mused. “It’s a good system… I think it’s similar to something that was tried, but it never got traction.”

  “Oh, I remember that,” Flavienne chimed in, actually putting her hand in the air. “About five years ago? In Paldea, I think? They ran out of funding before they could even open.”

  “That was the last time someone’s tried anything,” Delphine added with a nod.

  Well that was interesting to know about. I wonder who tried that? “Alright, so you’ve all heard the current plan. Questions? Concerns?” I asked, looking around at the group who slowly shook their heads.

  Despite the lack of questions, the Joy’s started to discuss things amongst themselves, Adria joining in. There were a lot of logistics to work out, and they were talking about getting some medical equipment and working out some sort of volunteer schedule. With so many Joy’s on board, I figured we’d have plenty of people.

  Eventually Adria brought up security issues and I let out a snort, which got all of their attention on me. “What? You think they’re just going to stand around and let people take them against their will?” I gestured at some of the wolf pack that were nearby. “These are Pokemon trained to battle. Honestly, they would have to bring an army to take them, especially when we actually get going.”

  That seemed to be good enough for them, and I put my focus more on the wolf pack that was nearby. I hadn’t realized they had come over to apparently listen in. All of the Houndoom and Mightyena were there, patiently listening.

  “Do you have any input?” I asked them, which halted the conversation amongst Joy’s.

  They looked at each other for a moment. “You said not all of us will have to fight, right?” Grim asked, moving a bit forward to talk.

  I nodded. “That’s right.”

  “How will things be for those that don’t want to fight?” That was Rough talking.

  “Just the same,” I said with a smile. “You won’t be treated any different because you don’t want to fight. Which does bring up a good point.” I turned my attention back to the group of humans. “There are going to be three categories that Pokemon will be in. Those that want to be adopted by a Trainer, those that don’t want to fight but want to be adopted, and those that don’t want to be adopted.”

  “Some of them don’t want to fight?” Adria questioned, clearly confused at the thought of a Pokemon not wanting to battle.

  “There aren’t a lot,” I said with a few nods. “Most of them want to fight, but some of them don’t, and some of them don’t want a new Trainer. So we’ll have what I’m going to call permanent residents of our reserve.”

  While Adria seemed a bit skeptical, the Joy’s all nodded as if expecting that. Of course they would easily be able to accept that, since they had a ton of nurse Pokemon in their employment. Which seemed to spark an idea in Marie, “So those permanent residents will be assisting in rehabilitation?”

  I nodded. “I think that would be best.”

  The conversation started to go back to working out logistics, and obtaining things that they would need. At one point they called another Joy, who apparently worked at one of the Safari Zones from the conversation that they were having. It was interesting to hear that there was actually a company called Safari that ran them. When I asked about them, Adria informed me that they’re a partner company of Silph Co., and they’re also the main employer of Pokemon Rangers.

  The conversation went on for hours as they talked, and I was sort of forced out of the conversation. Which was amusing. I was mostly being pushed into the position of financial backer and Pokemon supplier. Which was fair, since I didn’t know how to run something like this. Neither did the Joy’s, but they knew other Joy’s who were knowledgeable on the subject.

  Eventually, to my surprise, Valerie returned. She was more than a bit surprised to see so many people. “Ah. Hello.”

  All of the Joy’s greeted her in return and introduced themselves. “Did you talk with your uncle?” I asked once that was done.

  Valerie had a huge grin on her face. “I did. He wants to help. Says it might be a good thing to waste time on since he’s retired.”

  “Good, good.” That was honestly a relief.

  “Yeah, he wants you to come visit Kiloude and discuss things with him in person,” Valerie said, practically bouncing in place in excitement.

  I nodded a bit. “Alright. I can do that. When does he want to meet me?”

  Suddenly her hand shot out from inside her costume, and she was holding out a card. “Tomorrow. This is a TMV Pass that you can use to get on the TMV in Lumiose Station. It’s a special train that only goes there.”

  That was similar to the game, but I had to ask, “Why do I need a special pass?”

  “Well, Kiloude is a special place. It’s where all the old Kalos Champions and retired Gym Leaders live,” she explained, and all the Joy’s and even Adria nodded.

  “I… I see…” I reached out and took the pass, looking at it for a moment. It looked pretty unremarkable, having TMV stamped on it. “What does TMV stand for?” I asked, looking up at Valerie.

  She shrugged. “No idea.”

  Looking at the others, they all shook their heads as well.

  I snorted. “Okay. Not important I guess,” I mumbled as I put it into my bag. Guess I knew what I was going to do tomorrow…

  We all spent the next few hours discussing more of the logistics, though there was a lot of going over things that had already been discussed in order to catch Valerie up on the plan. She seemed really excited about it. Eventually it ended when one of the Joy’s had to leave for their shift, and that was the trigger for everyone wishing each other goodnight and leaving.

  Adria was the only one who didn’t leave immediately. “This is going to be big,” she mumbled.

  “You have no idea,” I said with a sigh. She looked at me, raising an eyebrow at me. “Adria.” A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “The next few months are going to be rough.”

  ~

  Stepping off the train the next day I found myself in Lumiose Station. In the games, there was only the one train that went to Kiloude, but here they went everywhere. It really made getting around a lot easier. Convenient transportation.

  I made a quick check that I had everything as I made my way over to the special train section marked with TMV. I had left most of the wolf pack, but several of them had insisted on coming with. So now, on top of having Cara, Rio, Scoly, Dee, Primarina, Diancie, and Eevee in my hood, I also had Liar, Rough, Hazard, Disaster, Immodest, Grim, Impulsive, and Hate. Malevolence wanted to come as well, but she conceded the position to Hate when they realized they still needed to leave leaders at the base.

  That was also a funny thing to find out. They had started to refer to the gym as their new base. I guess habits die hard.

  The person standing beside the gate that led to the TMV was giving me a look as I approached. Maybe Adria had a point about my appearance. However I just ignored them as I retrieved my TMV pass and swiped it across some sort of odd pedestal in front of the doorway. The sort of gate gave a sort of chime of approval as I moved through the odd turnstile type thing. The look the man gave me was both surprised and disapproving at the same time. I just continued to ignore him.

  The train didn’t look that much different from the others that I’d ridden on, aside from being marked with TMV on the side and only having one car. It was also a bit weird that it was just sitting there, but Valerie had told me this morning that it didn’t travel as often. The first train was at eight in the morning, which was the one I was catching. Everyone had been so upset that I’d gotten up early.

  As I boarded the train I noted that I was the only one on board. That was a bit odd, but I supposed I was early, and this train wasn’t often used. Valerie said sometimes it was just empty. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I didn’t like it, so I sat at the back where I could see the entire train car.

  Honestly I had had plans to start doing my city tours to locate Team Flare bases today, but this was more important in the grand scheme of things.

  The shifting of Eevee pulled me out of my thoughts as she looked around. “Where are we going?” she asked sleepily.

  “Kiloude,” I said as I reached up, petting her softly. “How are you feeling?”

  It took a moment before she yawned. “Better? Less tired. You have so many Pokemon now and it got so loud.”

  I chuckled a bit. “Yeah. A lot of things have been happening, and you’ve been sleeping through most of it.”

  She made a sort of disgruntled noise, and I pet her more in response. “So what’s been going on?” she asked with another yawn.

  With a bit of a smile, I gave her a quick rundown of all the stuff that’d been happening lately. Judging from the surprised and questioning noises she made, she really had not been paying any attention the last few days. “So now we’re going to go and explain things to someone who should be able to help.”

  Her head tilted from side to side a few times. “I don’t get it. Why isn’t there already something to help everyone?”

  “Money,” I said simply.

  That just got her to frown. “Money is stupid.”

  I snorted and nodded. “It is.”

  While waiting for the train to depart, I pet Eevee and checked her over. Physically she had completely recovered, but the problem now was her energy. And as I had been discovering, energy is far more important to Pokemon than I had originally thought. That made the disease even worse.

  She seemed quite pleased at the attention, rubbing herself against my hands.

  Someone stepping onto the train caught my attention, but it was just the conductor. He seemed just as surprised to see me as I was him. He gave me a nod before closing the door. It was seconds after he did so that the train started to move, and we were off.

  It took quite a while before we got to Kiloude. There was a lot to see, but it was mostly wilderness. It seemed that this train had its own tracks, since I didn’t even see any cities on the path. There were also a lot of tunnels.

  My legs felt a bit jellified as I stood up and stepped off the train, wishing the conductor a good day. There were a few people who gave me strange looks as they boarded the train.

  Kiloude was a rather small city in comparison to others. It was more like a retirement community than anything else, but it still had quite a lot going for it. While it didn’t have the Friend Safari, the Battle Maison was a thing. Apparently that was where those that got high ranks in the League came to train.

  That meant Andrew might be in this city.

  Just the thought that we might find them practically sent Cara into a frenzy, demanding that she come. As much as I wanted to try my hand at that, I had a feeling that we wouldn’t run into him, and if we did, we wouldn’t be able to battle him.

  Especially considering the fact that I hadn’t even left the station when I came face to face with an older looking man. “You’re Jason, I presume?” he asked. Looking him over, he was definitely related to Valerie. It was mostly the eyes being nearly identical to hers; large, pupiless, and a deep violet color. Although other than that, he looked completely different. Short grayed hair, a slight hunch, and wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts despite the colder weather.

  “Yes. You’re Valerie’s uncle?” I asked.

  He laughed and nodded. “Call me Aymond. Valerie speaks pretty highly of you,” he said as he turned and started walking.

  I shrugged as I followed. “Some of the stuff I’ve done is impressive, I will admit. Though a lot of it has been luck.”

  He watched me out of the corner of his eyes. “And this whole… Safari thing…”

  “It’s more of a reserve. Similar, but not quite what we’re going for,” I explained, before proceeding to explain in more detail about our plans and what we wanted to do with it.

  Aymond was mostly quiet as he listened, now and then asking questions. We had sat down at a cafe that was just outside the station. “Well, it’s an interesting idea.”

  “Certainly is.”

  I felt my entire body tense as I looked at the person who had just come up and sat down. “Diantha,” I greeted with a nod of my head.

  The dark grey haired woman gave me a bit of a smile. “Jason, right? I’ve heard a bit about you.”

  “That’s worrying,” I couldn’t help but say.

  That got her to laugh. “Aymond contacted me last night after talking with his niece about a rather interesting project.” A waitress set down a cup in front of her, clearly having seen her and prepared her order before she had to even ask. “While I normally wouldn’t get involved, I couldn’t help my curiosity when your name came up.”

  I arched an eyebrow at her. “Why would my involvement pique your interest?”

  “Well I’ve been hearing a lot about you. There are so few Pokemon Experts, after all. They’re even more rare than Elite Four members.” She sipped at her drink, which judging from the rather rich smell, was espresso or some kind of strong coffee.

  “That’s even more worrying,” I said with a chuckle.

  “From what Sycamore has said, you’re an odd one, but your knowledge is the real deal.” She leaned a bit towards me. “So if you’re trying to do something like this, there’s got to be a really good reason.”

  I looked at her for a moment, trying to decide if I should explain the why of my plans. “How much do you know about Team Flare?” I asked.

  She scoffed, leaning back in her seat. “Lysandre’s little crime organization? Not much.”

  So she knew Lysandre was in charge? That was interesting and concerning. “If you know that, why haven’t you done anything?”

  “Not my job. I’m not Cynthia. I don’t go around poking my nose into every little conflict; I’ve already got way too much on my plate as a Champion.” She sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t know how Cynthia does it.”

  There was a snort from Aymond. “That girl’s always been wild.”

  Diantha nodded. “While Lysandre is an annoying prick, he’s also done a lot of good. Mega stone research and the Holo Caster alone give him a pass on a lot of things, even if the way he goes about it isn’t entirely ethical.”

  I wasn’t sure if I could frown anymore than I was now. “You know his plan is to end the world and remake it in his image, right?”

  Both of them gave me an incredulous look before laughing. “Oh please, like he could do that,” Diantha managed to say through her laughter. “He’s pretty smart and capable, but he’s not that capable.”

  So Diantha wasn’t doing anything because she didn’t think of him as a threat. “I suppose that’s the case now that he doesn’t have access to the Ultimate Weapon.”

  “Ah, right. I heard about that,” Aymond said, nodding. “Hell of a thing. But we’re not here to talk about that. We wanted to know more about your little reserve thing. And what I can get if I help.”

  That was extremely annoying. Was this what happened when you got to their level? To her, Lysandre wasn’t a threat, he was just annoying? You just stopped seeing threats as anything more than minor annoyances? That would have to be something I was cautious of if I ever got to the level she was at. “Fine.”

  “Oh don’t be like that,” Diantha said with a bit of a smile. “We’re here because we’re interested in possibly helping out.”

  I looked at her for a moment before taking a deep breath and sighing. I decided that it was probably best to not try and force Diantha to get involved, and explain my idea of a Pokemon Reserve, where abandoned and confiscated Pokemon would be taken, rehabilitated, and potentially be given to Trainers or other people depending on what the Pokemon wanted. I was actually starting to get annoyed with how much I was explaining and reexplaining how this was all going, but it was necessary.

  There were a few moments of silence after I finished, the two of them digesting the information. It was Aymond that broke the silence first, “And what do you get out of all this?”

  My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “What’s the end goal? Money? Power? What do you get from doing all this?” he asked, gesturing vaguely towards me.

  That actually confused me a bit. “Why do I have to get something out of this?”

  He let out a snort that almost sounded like a scoff. “No one does anything for nothing, boy.”

  It was silent for a moment as I glanced between him and Diantha. I couldn’t tell the Champion's thoughts on the matter, but she looked thoughtful. I sighed, shaking my head. “What a sad way to see the world…”

  “Excuse me?” he snapped.

  “I want to help Pokemon. I shouldn’t have to have a reason for doing something like that.” Clearly he was unconvinced by my words. I just sighed and shook my head again. “If you’re so desperate to reason some sort of need to do something like this, then how about it makes me feel better about the life that I’m living. That I didn’t just sit and do nothing while thousands of Pokemon are put to death because of a system that doesn’t take the time to care for them.”

  At least my words seemed to shut him up, but he still had a skeptical, unconvinced look on his face.

  Honestly that just pissed me off more. “Do you like Pokemon?” I suddenly asked the old man.

  “What? Of course I like Pokemon. You think I could get this far if I didn’t like Pokemon?” For some reason it sounded like that question offended him.

  Well at least that was something. “Then why don’t you want to help these Pokemon?”

  He had quite the scowl on his face. “They aren’t my Pokemon.”

  I stood up abruptly, my chair noisily scraping against the ground. Both of them startled slightly, and I noted how both of them went for the pokeballs. “So you don’t like Pokemon. You like your Pokemon. And I bet if one of your Pokemon couldn’t battle anymore, you’d get rid of them, wouldn’t you.”

  For a second it looked like he wanted to argue, to immediately deny it, but he hesitated. That was more of an answer than anything that he could possibly say. “It doesn’t matter. We’re all retired.”

  “What about you, Diantha?” I suddenly snapped, turning my attention to her. “What if something happened and your Gardevoir was never able to battle again. What would you do with her?”

  She frowned a bit, and her brow furrowed slightly. This was clearly not something she had never even thought about. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

  “Obviously you replace her,” Aymond said, sounding exasperated. “If you wanted to keep your position, of course you’d need a new Pokemon.”

  “But does that mean she would have to get rid of her,” I questioned.

  “Yes,” he snapped. “There’s no point in wasting the resources on a Pokemon that can’t battle. You might as well just sell them off to one of those damn fashion show nonsense things.”

  “What a sad way to see things,” I said, frowning at the man.

  “It’s how the world works. If you aren’t strong enough, you have strong Pokemon. If you can’t have strong Pokemon, then what the hell is the point in even living.” He was ranting now, clearly this was an argument that he had had in the past. “You young Trainers are all the same. Don’t understand how the real world works. Just this cheap facade the Association’s built. You’ve not seen true battles. Never known war.”

  I glanced at Diantha, who still had a bit of a thoughtful look on her face, but also didn’t look to agree with the man. However, before I had a chance to speak, he continued.

  “The last war was barely twenty years ago. You think another won’t happen in your lifetime?” He was actually looking quite upset, angry at either me for bringing this up, or the world for how things were going. “The world can’t go more than fifty years without massive war.”

  While that was interesting information, it didn’t change the fact that there was something worrying about what he was saying. “So you don’t want to help Pokemon?”

  He scoffed, shaking his head. “Not if there’s nothing to gain from it.” And he meant that, too. He truly believed that. I could tell from the look on his face that he really believed that there was no point if he didn’t get anything.

  Silence fell after those words. I wanted to say something, continue the argument, make him see that he was wrong, but I stopped myself. This was a pointless argument. He wasn’t worth the effort. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Then it seems this conversation is over, as our values are far too different. Goodbye Aymond. Diantha.” I turned and walked back towards the train station.

  Aymond had a few more words to say as I walked away, but I didn’t listen, making my way back to the train station. That was an extremely annoying conversation, although I did find out some interesting information. People knew that Lysandre was in charge of Team Flare, but didn’t care. Also there were wars? I hadn’t heard anything about wars since coming here. Probably something that just slipped everyone's minds, since it was common knowledge.

  I pulled out my phone, sending Valerie a text. ‘Your uncle is a prick. I don’t think we can expect any help from him.’ How the hell does someone like that become a fairy type master? Wait, the gym might not have been a fairy type one before Valerie.

  Ah. I was pacing. That meant I was really frustrated. I only ever paced absentmindedly when I was really upset. Damn I had been so upset at that old man's words that I hadn’t even gotten Diantha’s opinion. That was stupid of me. She didn’t seem to completely agree with him, but she didn’t argue.

  Oh, and here’s Diantha. I suppose she followed after me. But I hardly paid attention to her. I needed to get this pacing out of my system before I went back and decked that old man. I didn’t understand how people could live in this world and not love Pokemon. How can they not be excited to see all these intelligent little creatures running around and not try and be their friends?

  Thankfully Diantha seemed fine to simply stand and wait for me to calm down. “I’m sorry,” I said after a moment. “Those types of people really get under my skin.”

  She was quiet for a moment. “What types of people?”

  “The kind that would look at a sick child, and do nothing because it doesn’t benefit them.” I tried to keep my tone even, but I still wasn’t calm.

  “That’s a bit harsh, I think. He just doesn’t want to deal with this,” she argued, waving her hand vaguely.

  “Oh I know the type. I’ve seen so many of them,” I said, taking another deep breath. “I already didn’t like him because he forced Valerie to replace him, all because he didn’t want the Gym Leader position to leave the family. But it’s the way he talks. The way he does things. All he cares about is what other people can do for him.”

  “A lot of older people think like that,” Diantha said with a shrug.

  “That doesn’t make it better,” I said slowly, finally regaining my composure. In one motion, I sat down on a bench and pulled Eevee out of my hood, putting her in my lap. Petting her was a good way to calm myself down. After a moment I started talking again, “This is my Eevee. Do you know how many battles we’ve gone through together?”

  The little fox looked a bit nervous at the look Diantha gave her. “Can’t have been many… She doesn’t look strong.”

  “The answer is none.” She blinked at me. “Eevee had Manepox when I took her in. I’ve cared for her this entire time because I wanted to help her, without ever having a thought that I would ever get anything back.”

  Diantha flinched when I mentioned Manepox, probably being familiar with the disease, but she didn’t say anything.

  “I can’t say it’s been easy, as she takes quite a bit more care and effort, but it’s all worth it. She won’t be able to really start training for five to seven more months, but that doesn’t matter. I took her in without any thought for that.” I wasn’t looking at Diantha, all my focus was on the Pokemon in my lap, gently rubbing my fingers through her fluffy mane. “I took her because she needed help, and I wanted to give it. Someday she might be strong, but there’s no guarantee. And it doesn’t matter, because she’s part of my family.” I looked up at Diantha, who had a complicated expression on her face. “Can you say the same?”

  She frowned a bit. “I would never abandon my friends.”

  “Even if they couldn’t fight? If one of them got Manepox, or something worse, would you take the time to care for them?” I pressed, trying to make her see what I was getting at.

  “Yes,” she said firmly, frowning a bit at me as if annoyed that I would question her resolve.

  “Well, Aymond wouldn’t,” I said simply. “That’s the type of man he is.”

  “I-” she stopped, frowning a bit. Clearly she wanted to defend him, but I had gotten my point across. She had probably spent a lot more time with him and knew exactly what I was talking about. She sighed. “You could have at least tried to convince him.”

  “That’s not how this is going to work,” I explained, shaking my head. “I might have been able to get him to help, but that’s not the kind of person I want anywhere near this. The moment it becomes more advantageous to sink the ship, he’ll be the first one knocking holes in the boat.”

  She giggled a bit. “Wow. Sounds like you deal with a lot of assholes, huh?”

  I let out a heavy sigh, but a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “That’s putting it lightly.”

  We both laughed a bit before falling into silence. It lasted for a moment and I focused on brushing out Eevee’s mane with my fingers. Dee usually took extra care to make sure that the few Pokemon in my group that had fluff were well brushed. She had made some attempts at brushing those in the wolf pack, but most of them saw the brush as some sort of affront to god.

  “So, mister expert, I’m curious. What do you think your chances are of facing me in the upcoming League?” she asked, a smirk on her face.

  I looked at her for a moment before smiling a bit. “Actually I wasn’t even planning on challenging the Elite Four.”

  She blanched. “What? Why?”

  “Not what I’m aiming for,” I said with a shrug.

  “Wait… Then why are you participating?” She sounded so confused.

  “There’s someone I need to beat, and I have to win in order to prove that I’m worthy of something,” I answered vaguely.

  “Worthy of something?” she repeated, clearly having difficulty understanding what I was talking about.

  “The Tapu of Alola gave me a task to win the League,” I explained with a bit of a smirk. It was interesting to watch her try and understand what I was talking about.

  “And… Who do you have to beat?”

  For some reason that seemed to dampen my mood quite a lot. “Andrew Yellow.”

  She blinked several times. “The Yellow jerk? Why do you need to beat him?”

  “Revenge for one of my Pokemon,” I said simply, and did my best to make it clear in my tone that I wasn’t going to elaborate.

  Again we fell into silence as she spent some time processing what I had said. It was probably quite a shock to find out I didn’t plan to challenge the Elite Four, but there wasn’t a reason for me to. Well, maybe I would try and fight Malva, depending on how things went, but overall there wasn’t really a point. I didn’t want to be Champion.

  “So,” Diantha suddenly broke the silence, folding her arms in front of her and looking at me.

  I raised an eyebrow at her.

  “How do I help?” she said, a bit of a smile on her face. “With your little Pokemon Reserve?”

  I blinked at her. I had still been unsure if she wanted to participate, but I guess my little tantrum hadn’t put her off the project.

  Lucario - The group mom

  Lucario - Craves violence

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but persuasive?

  Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Houndour

  Guff

  Bleak

  Rascal

  Dilly

  Fret

  False

  Grubby

  Muddle

  Gabby

  Bungle

  Dwindle

  Crass

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel

  Liepard - Big hungry cat