When the city came into view, Valerie's eyes grew wide in fascination, “Wooaah! I’ve seen pictures and videos of Viridian City online before, but it looks so different from up so high!”

  Michelle smiled at her daughter's fascination, “Seeing a city from so high up never gets old.”

  ‘Ugh! I can’t even see the view!’ Larry complained from his seat in the see-through interior of the Pokeball. The windows of their carriage were built to head-height, so his spot on Valerie's belt unfortunately only managed front-row seats to the footwell of their carriage and nothing else.

  Touching down in Viridian City, Larry heard Michelle put her hands over her mouth and squealed in excitement as she looked out towards the landing pad, “Eee! Oh my goodness!”

  After a loud Thump! on landing, their pilot dismounted and opened their carriage doors. What met Larry's eyes was a large man, easily over six feet, with short, blonde hair and a muscular build, standing at the edge of the landing platform with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a signboard in the other saying ‘Welcome Valerie and welcome back Michelle!’

  “Gustav! I missed you!” Michelle rushed out of the carriage, forgetting her backpack entirely and pushing away their disgruntled pilot in sheer excitement. She launched herself into the man's arms, forcing the sign out of his hand as she forced a kiss directly onto his mouth.

  ‘W-Woah,’ Larry's eyes grew wide at the extreme show of affection, and Valerie averted her eyes with a slight blush as well, releasing Larry and Sybil out of their Pokeballs instead. ‘She must’ve really wanted to get home.’

  “Mmm, Chérie!” The man exclaimed in a thick, French accent as he extracted himself from Michelle's clutches. He handed her his bouquet of flowers to Michelle as a consolation prize, “I’m happy to see you again as well, but please! We have guests, do we not?”

  Michelle wiped at her face and straightened out her hair. “That's right!”

  Taking her mother under his arm, the man threw out the other to the town behind them as he met Valerie's gaze, “Welcome to Viridian City!”

  …

  One thing was entirely clear to Larry now: Where every road in the League Reception Town could be traversed in, maybe an hour or so by foot, Viridian City was made of tougher stuff, it was absolutely gigantic! So big, in fact, Larry wasn’t sure where the town ended and wilderness began.

  The town surrounding the League Reception was nestled in a forested area, in between multiple mountain ranges, consisting only of the amenities required for a human town, followed shortly by the violent throes of capitalism and tourism in the form of the shops lining the main alleys running through the city. Viridian City had been built on nothing but plains, with the occasional forest nearby. It was a sprawling town. That wasn’t to say there was any less plant-life in the city, though, as practically every single street had beds of flowers, trees, and other flora populating it.

  It was like someone had managed to somehow build a town in the middle of a garden center, where there was a building or other man-made structure, there was also some sort of greenery, either a bed of flowers, a row of trees, or some other plant-life. The League Reception had had a very rustic and laid-back look to it, with aged buildings and a cobbled brick-and-mortar style of housing which was cut through by the big, modern Pokemon Center nestled in its middle.

  Viridian City, on the other hand, was almost Solarpunk in its incessant need for greenery, with the technological aspect of that analogy still lagging somewhat behind the greenery, as while modern housing was available, most seemed more than content in classical brick or wood buildings of simple designs.

  They were making their way back to Michelle and Gustav's home now, Valerie and her Pokemon turned their heads every which way at the cityscape sprawling out before them. Gustav turned his head and spoke behind himself, addressing Valerie, “Have you ever been in Viridian before, Valerie?”

  She shook her head, “Not that I’d remember, but when I was very young, Dad took me to some places. So I might’ve been here back then.”

  “You wouldn’t remember it, but I think we went on a day-trip here once,” Michelle mentioned as she intertwined her fingers with her husband on their walk, “I think it was something like a tourist trip? It's been too long, so I can’t remember. It must’ve been ten years or so ago.”

  “Well, it does not matter if you don’t remember,” Gustav opened, “I just hope you can make some great memories this time around.” He hoped, smiling back towards her.

  Michelle gave him a hand squeeze, “You haven’t introduced yourself yet, dear.”

  “Ah! You are right!” Her husband slowed and turned, throwing his arms up theatrically in front of a bakery, “I am Gustav Dumont, husband of your mother, Michelle, and Ma?tre Boulanger of 'Au Croc'Pain', my very own bakery. Again, welcome to Viridian City.”

  He opened the bakery door to the chime of a bell, “This is our home! Come in! Come in!” Michelle sauntered into the place with familiar ease, while Valerie and her Pokemon followed into the trendy bakery more meekly.

  “Oh, Michelle! Are you finally back?” An old man called from one of the tables on the inside of the bakery, raising a cup in celebration.

  “I am!” Michelle called back, waving towards the old man.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Another table called out to them, a grey-haired woman spoke up as she grabbed for her glasses, “Gustav! Is that your daughter you were talking about?”

  “Step-daughter actually!” He called back, pulling the girl fully into the bakery, “This is my step-daughter, everyone, meet Valerie! She is going on her journey in a few weeks and is staying here in the meantime.”

  “H-Hello…” Valerie gave the peanut gallery of old people who frequented the bakery a weak wave, barely able to meet their gazes.

  Sybil hopped down from her shoulder, far less enthused at being squeezed into her father's embrace. She closed in towards Larry, a question already on her beak, “Are all the human places this…full?”

  “Eh,” Larry swayed his hand in an equilibrium, thinking back to his human life, “this place is pretty populated, but I think you haven’t even seen some of the biggest human cities. You’d be lucky to find a patch of grass in some of them.”

  “That does not sound fun to live in,” Sybil said, squinting.

  “It isn’t that fun, no.” He responded as Valerie was introduced to all the people in the cafe.

  “Valerie is such a talented trainer, she’s even caught a Larvitar.” Gustav pointed back at them, interrupting their conversation and forcing all the eyes in the bakery on them, ‘Oh god, am I gonna be hounded by people?’ Larry thought to himself fearfully.

  He straightened his back and pushed his chest out, already preparing himself to finally get more than just the curious gazes he’d managed to get by with in the League Reception Town. His trainer, meanwhile, was already red in the face at the heaps of praise she’d received and was helplessly waving her arms around in denial.

  Before he could even begin his theatrics, a wet something slobbered up his entire back. Larry turned quickly, “Whoa! Wha-?!” Only to receive a faceful of more licking, he could barely defend himself as a pink tongue licked at him at every opportunity it could, “Oi-! Pfft! Hey! Stop it!”

  “Brio! Stop that!” Gustav quickly closed in, picking up a Dachshund-like Pokemon Larry had never seen in his life. He wiped slobber off his face as he looked at the weird-looking Pokemon, ‘What Pokemon is that?’

  “Sorry for that,” Gustav inclined his head towards Larry with the doglike Pokemon still held firmly in his arms, “Brio here always gets way too excited when he sees new Pokemon enter the store.” He took the Pokemon over to Michelle. When it finally realized she was back, it began barking wildly in surprise, “Bun! Bun! Bun!”

  “Aww, Brio! I missed you as well! I’m back!” She cooed at the dog as she kneeled, Brio pawing up at her face and licking her cheek empathetically with a whine.

  Larry was almost one hundred percent sure he remembered all the Pokemon from the games he played, he wouldn’t suddenly forget one, especially if it's one that looked this weird. It looked just like an adorable Dachshund, just without the fur, like a normal dog. Instead, its entire body was covered by a perfect golden-brown brioche bread crust, with only its mane and tail having small tufts of stringy crumb peeking out, as if to accentuate its bready nature.

  ‘If it's made of bread, then how is it alive?’ Larry mused as the Pokemon took turns receiving pets from all the patrons of the bakery. He hadn’t noticed it with the smells of the city and insides of the bakery either, but the Pokemon had a very pleasant aroma to it, almost like that of freshly baked bread, ‘Is it a Grass-Type? No way, it must be a Fairy-Type with how weird it is, right? There was that one in the 8th Generation of games, Alcremie was it? That was also a Fairy-Type made of food, right?’

  Finally, having greeted every patron, the dog-like Pokemon returned to Larry. He already had his hands up and shielding his face, but the Pokemon didn’t assault him with slobber this time, instead simply giving him a loud barking “Dachs-BUN!”, which Larry heard as a “Hello!”

  “Um, hi?” Larry tested as he peeked up over his arms, “I’m Larry, a Larvitar, and this is Sybil, a Natu. It's a pleasure to meet you.” The Dog, supposedly a Dachsbun, took the greeting with a loud “Bun!” “Likewise!” and was already off to the races as it began sniffing at Sybil's face, who stared back at Brio with a distrustful look.

  “Don’t.” Before Brio could even pull out its tongue, Sybil predicted what it was going to do next, denying it before it could even begin and leaving Brio standing before her with its tongue sticking out between its two front teeth adorably.

  It curled its head to the side with a grumbling whine, “Really?”

  Sybil shuts him down instantly, “Yes, don’t.”

  …

  Time had passed, greetings were exchanged, and everyone had become acquainted now. As it turned out, Michelle and Gustav lived on the floor above the bakery, making them the owners of the entire property.

  Gustav, as Larry had assumed, was Kalosian, the region most closely connected to real-life France, emigrating from his hometown of Aquacorde to Viridian City to reinvent himself and expand his father's bakery skills into new regions. Brio was Gustav’s Pokemon, which he’d brought with him as a small Fidough when he’d moved, as he explained.

  Michelle had met Gustav when she’d been window-shopping in Viridian, dropping into his bakery for a bite to eat, the same as any other patrons, she seemed to have fallen in love with more than the food by the end of her meal, though. Michelle had regaled them with the story before, and now that Larry actually saw the man of the hour, Larry could totally see what Valerie’s mother saw in him. He and the other Pokemon were already chowing down on some Pokechow as he watched Michelle regale Valerie with another story about her Husband, ‘Sorry to say, Drew, but you’ve got stiff competition for best father.’

  Valerie had sat down in the dining room, with Michelle to her right and Gustav's seat on her left, the man himself was still in the kitchen, cooking up their dinner. Valerie cut her mother off mid-sentence with an irritated frown, “I know you love your ‘hubby’ so much, Mom. But you don’t need to keep repeating the same stories to me, you know?”

  “Sorry, sorry…” Michelle apologized, “I just can’t stop once I get started.”

  “Gustav seems nice, but I can’t see why you deify him so much,” Valerie mentioned. Gustav entered the room with plates of food after she uttered the sentence, so Valerie quickly kept her mouth shut in an attempt not to badmouth him while he was present. Michelle simply smiled as small dishes were placed in front of them. She leaned close to Valerie, “I think your opinion will change very soon, Valerie. Dig in.”

  Valerie, still with a creased brow, followed her family's example, saying a simple “Itadakimasu” with clasped hands, before grabbing for the cutlery. She rolled her eyes for effect at her mother, who still had the same grin plastered onto her face.

  A spoonful of the soup was brought into her mouth, and her eyes shot open in pure surprise. She didn’t even take a break as she shoveled the soup into her mouth with reckless abandon.

  After the meal, Gustav took their dishes with a smile, disappearing back into the kitchen.

  Michelle leant close to her again, “They say the way to a person's heart is through their stomach.”

  First up, . In this fanfiction, a wonderful romance blossoms between Cynthia on her first journey and a Self-Insert MC called Myst she finds stranded deep in a Sinnoh forest. They manage to escape the forest and decide to journey together. It's written just so charmingly that I can't wait for the next chapter every time I read one. I recommend it to anyone looking for a lovely Pokemon story in which the fighting itself is secondary, and the interactions between the MCs and their Pokemon come first.

  In the Ranger's Shadow, another 'Reincarnated as Pokemon' Fanfiction, as a Misdreavus no less! It's set in Almia, from the Ranger games, where Pokemon training is forbidden. So in comparison to Larry, the MC has much more freedom to act as his own person. That mixed with his ghostly nature makes for a character who really manages to act more as a free spirit, get it? There's this intriguing subplot about the Rangers and the local evil team, and the whole story and interactions between characters are really well written. I think anyone who enjoyed this story will have a great time reading In the Ranger's Shadow!