"And one more thing! This is the last time I let you get away with such behavior! You are a grown man. Start acting like it!" Nurse Joy finished her lecture with a scathing tone. She was VERY upset with the fact that I now had an egg despite my not being fully accustomed to being a Trainer.
However, she did a check-up on the egg and told me it was going to be perfectly healthy once it hatched. She knew from experience that it would hatch into a Ferroseed, so I counted myself lucky to have a Steel-type so early in my journey. She gave me an estimate of about three weeks without an incubator and mentioned that the quality of the incubator would affect the hatching speed.
The incubator had a screen that showed a few different things. I had to input the species of the egg, which I thought was weird. But I guess incubators created a stable and nurturing environment instead of identifying energy types or species.
After selecting the Ferroseed option, the incubator hummed lightly and glowed with a dim white light. The screen turned on and soon had three sections. One screen showed whether there were any complications with the incubator itself. The second had the species name and the egg's condition. Currently, that section read 'HEALTHY.'
The third section gave an estimate of how much more time the egg needed before hatching. That section showed my egg still had two weeks until it hatched, so I had that much time to train Inkay and myself up into proper caretakers of a newborn. Inkay curiously tapped on the glass and attempted to headbutt it when he found it sturdy enough.
I slapped him away from the incubator and caused him to bump into the bed. "Don't mess with the egg," I told him. "Our future teammate is in there, and I don't want them being disturbed."
"In," he grumbled, followed by his stomach. The clock in the room told us it was thirteen o'clock, or 4pm. I still had a hard time with the time system here. It was weird seeing digital clocks start and end with nine, but I had no idea why. The day went on anyway, so it didn't really matter if it was a nine-hour system.
All of that to say, it was now time for dinner. Dinnertime turned itself into a ritual for me and Inkay. The moment his stomach growled, I had about ten seconds to order dinner before he started the same storm of Pecks he assaulted me with the morning after I caught him.
Phone in hand, I turned to Inkay, who had been about to start Pecking me. "Pidgey parm?" I asked him, though I wasn't sure why. The damned brat wouldn't eat anything else. Meanwhile, I had something different every time. I've gone through most of the menu since the Center didn't offer a wide variety of foods, just enough to satisfy most people's palates. My current favorites were the Goldeen sushi rolls and teriyaki tofu and mixed berry stir-fry.
"Evening, Nookie. Can I have an order of the Pidgey parm and, let's see… What's another thing I haven't tried? The Santalune feast? What's that? Ugh, that sounds gross. Let's do it. Sweet. Thanks, my guy."
With that, Inkay and I started a meditation session until dinner arrived. I sat down with my back flat against the wall, tilting my head back just enough for it to rest on the wall as well. I sat crisscross applesauce, the term immediately popping into my head. Inkay plopped himself atop my head, nestling into my hair to get comfortable.
I placed my hands on my thighs, palms up, and closed my eyes. "Don't get too comfortable up there, Inkay," I called out. "You should be focusing on feeling your Psychic energy in and around your body. Once you're comfortable with that, try to move it around."
With his instructions clear, I focused on myself. I took deep breaths, holding for a few seconds before releasing. My thoughts jumped all over the place like a Greninja, from my first day here to the fact that I was going to take care of a baby Pokémon soon. I let my mind wander for a few minutes, only reining it in when my mind started racing. With each breath, I could feel myself falling deeper within myself.
Eventually, my thoughts landed on what I was going to do with myself. I wanted to earn Gym Badges and beat the Elite 4 and Champion, Calem in this case. That felt superficial the more I thought about it, though. There was something else.
Hanging around with Inkay was nice, but I had an inkling that I wouldn't want to be a professional homebody. No, I wanted to stay busy. Maybe some sort of human services job? I did like interacting with most people so far, especially with how friendly everyone besides the Team Flare grunts and that one lady were. Maybe I could find a job and be a Trainer on the side, though that would require a remote job to make it work best.
I wasn't sure how long we were there, but a knock on the door knocked us out of our meditation just as I felt a tingling sensation across my scalp.
"Ik!" Inkay hissed out in annoyance. He had probably just accessed the ambient Psychic energy in his body, and the knocking interrupted that. Oh well. Time for food. I got up and walked over to the door, Inkay still on my head. He'd be grumpy right until the aroma of the food reached his tentacles. I thanked the Pokémon that brought the food, giving him a berry as a tip. This one, a Kirlia, loved Cheri berries, and I thankfully had plenty of those in stock because of the berry-picking jobs I completed. I may have gotten weird stares from the people who needed the berries, probably 'cause I might have been too old for the job in their eyes, but I needed the money and I was not ready to go traveling in the wild for the higher paying jobs.
With a nod and pleasant trill, the Kirlia Teleported away. That left Inkay and me to enjoy our meal. We'd gotten into the habit of playing blackjack while eating, occasionally betting pieces of our meals. It was fun, though maybe not the best game to play. Maybe he would like chess? That would be a great way to pass our time.
After dinner, we watched a movie based on the adventures of Brendan and May. The beginning of the movie, where Brendan moved away from his hometown to a completely new region, pulled at something within me. Seeing him leave his family to start his journey made me feel like I had basically done the same, though maybe not willingly. The rest of the movie, I couldn't help but feel like I had been brought to Kalos to start anew. However, I also felt like I wouldn't have left family and friends behind willingly to be here.
When I went to bed, I felt more lonely than I had over the last eleven days. Inkay must have noticed something was up because he lay in bed next to my head and cuddled into my neck.
"Thanks, buddy," I said, "I guess I'm not actually alone, am I?"
"Ink," he softly tweeted before dozing off. I went to sleep soon after, dreaming of what I possibly left behind.
The next morning found me up later than normal. I didn't have much to do now that Nurse Joy's testing was momentarily over, but the many missed calls from Mitchel told me I was supposed to have been somewhere already.
"About time," Mitchel said when I called him back. "We need to start your training."
"My training?" I yawned out. I knew Trainers had to train their Pokémon, especially for taking on the Gyms, but I didn't think about starting so soon.
"Yes, training," he said. "Now, I know you have all year to challenge the Gyms and that the Badges you earn can qualify you for the next three League Seasons, but that is no reason to be lazy!"
"Whoa, whoa, run that back. I think I missed the study session about the League Season. What do you mean the Badges will qualify me for the next three seasons?"
Mitchel sighed, "Arceus, why did I promise to help you?" He took a deep breath and continued, "Each League Season is for three months, right?"
"Yeah," I answered, "From Shaymin's Wake to Suicune's Blessing."
"Good, you at least know the months," he said. "Well, most people earn the Gym Badges throughout the rest of the year because it gives them time to grow stronger and prepare themselves, even if only a small percentage actually end up getting them all. You can do it in the three months of the active season, but that's considered a bad idea because only Veteran Trainers and above tend to do it for a challenge. That, and the Gym Leaders tend to use their personal teams without holding back. For anyone.
"Now, each badge you earn counts for three League seasons after you earn it. Which means if you only earn three badges your first year, you have another two years to earn the other five and qualify for a League Season. However, after three years, those Badges no longer count. So, if you earned zero badges your second year and five badges your third year, you will need to earn three more the next year to compete in that season. With me?"
"Yeah, yeah, a year to get badges, and each badge is only active for three. Got it. What does that have to do with me starting my training now?"
"Most Trainers are lazy and do not take their journey seriously until after their first thorough defeat, which is usually the first or second Gym. I don't want that to happen to you, so I'm going to help you train."
"Why do you not want me to be lazy?" I asked in surprise. The kid barely even knew me.
"Because I'm invested," he said. "I spent precious time I could've used getting ready for my second Gym Challenge on helping you prepare. I got close to beating Viola since I had the type advantage with my Pansear and Dwebble, but the same isn't true for Grant."
"That's fair, I guess. I'm thankful for the help, but I'm sure I could manage something on my own. I know I'll challenge the Gyms eventually, but I was honestly thinking of taking it slow. I'm not really an adventure-type guy, so I want to make sure I have a goal in mind before just going out and throwing myself in," I told him honestly. This was still all new to me, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. With Inkay by my side, I felt like I could do anything I wanted. I could catch a team around any profession I chose, and these magical creatures opened up so many paths that I felt slightly overwhelmed.
"Okay, fine, but I still want to meet up," he pushed. "We can talk about options, and then I'll get back to my adventure if you really feel like taking it slowly."
"Alright, thanks. Where should I meet you?"
"How about the new Kalos Fried Corphish? I heard they've just released a new spicy seafood platter," he said.
"You know what? Spicy seafood sounds good. Meet you there in twenty minutes?" I asked.
"Sure thing, see ya!"