Suddenly, an icon began to flash in the corner of his eye.
"Oh, what's this? Must be important!"
After a bit of probing, PainterMan opened this icon which was in fact, a video call.
Hello PainterMan! I was just checking if the connection is stable!
"Professor Oak! Where can I find Pokemon?"
If you want to find Pokemons, I recommend going to a rift. I gave you a few Pokeballs to start. If you find a new species I'll transfer you Pokedollars!
"Pokedollars? What can I do with that?"
A lot of things! You see, gyms and outposts are home to some residents that can trade items such as Pokeballs and medicine. Outposts are made by a collective of individuals but Gyms are different. They are made inside rifts! They create a hot spot of elemental energy where sometimes a powerful Pokemon can be born!
"So I should look for a rift? There should be a gym inside with the essentials right?"
Exactly! The only issue is our elemental energy problem.
"What do you mean?"
You see, since our elemental energy is neutral, most the rifts are inaccessible, they are in a pocket dimension where only that elemental energy signature can enter, of course, if you found an item potent enough, you might be able to enter with your friends.
"What!? Does that mean I can't go to the gym!?"
Of course not! from my research, there seems to be Pokemon that have a natural neutrality. I call this energy, the Normal Type! You should be able to see them! Also don't worry if the rift is too far away, it is still possible for a Pokemon to appear outside one, but usually they are very weak, probably because of the scarcity of energy outside them.
"Nice!"
Still, be careful I've heard that some nefarious individuals roam around and try to subjugate Pokemon. They are very dangerous.
"Oh. Okay, I'll try to avoid them, for sure!
I'm happy to hear that! Alright, I'll be going! I hope to see new data soon! Call me if you need information! I might call you if what you recorded is significant!
The call ended after that. PainterMan was left with his thoughts and his Squirtle by his side.
"Geez, that was long, but at least I got what I needed."
After looking in his menu he found the inventory where he discovered 30 Pokeballs where there as Professor Oak said.
"Okay, got the stuff, now to start looking for the rift."
"Squirtle!"
"Yeah!"
After this, he started to look for a rift as Professor Oak has described to him.
"Is that it?"
What PainterMan was seeing was, what he would best be described, as a bubble. This bubble was glowing white. After checking with his glasses if this was in the game he exclaimed:
"Woah, that's big! Alright Squirtle, let's go see what other Pokemon I can find there."
"Squirtle!"
After a few minutes of walking, PainterMan arrived at his destination.
"So this is it! Let's go in!"
After taking a few deep breaths, he entered the rift. When he entered, there wasn't much of a difference. However, PainterMan still couldn't see any other Pokemon.
"Where are they, I thought they were common in here?"
Just as he said this however, a cat white cat with a coin in its forehead appeared in his sight, shocking him.
"Woah what is that? That must be a Pokemon! Squirtle help me capture it!"
Alarmed by the noise, The cat turned its head towards PainterMan scrutinizing him.
"Squirtle?"
"Do anything to it please!"
At that moment, Squirtle used Water Gun and because the other Pokemon was distracted by its trainer, It hit it square on!
"Alright! Pokeball!"
Bewildered by the spray of water, the cat Pokemon got hit by the Pokeball and was absorbed.
"Nice!"
But then, the Pokeball started shaking.
"What!? Can it break free?"
After a few shakes, the ball dinged and stood still.
"Alright! Caught my first Pokemon!"
Suddenly, the data of the Pokemon was compiled and was added to a Pokedex in his menu.
"Oh? Is this where the data shows what the Pokemon is?
After looking, PainterMan opened the data on his new Pokemon and started reading.
Pokemon N52
Meowth
Type Normal
The Scratch Cat Pokemon
This Pokemon seems to love things that sparkles. When it sees a shiny object, the gold coin on its head shines, too.
After reading the info, PainterMan checks to see if he had gotten money from catching that Pokemon and he had received 3000 Pokedollars. He also discovered in his inventory a new item, Stardust. The description read like so:
Stardust
This material seems to be an residue of elemental energy. It might be useful to create something later on.
"Might need to save that, seems important."
"Okay! Let's start to go to the center, that should be where the Gym is! Maybe I'll even find some new Pokemons or people that have started the game too!"
After walking for a minute, he saw a bird in the distance that seemed like a Pokemon, it ran away when it saw him. Shortly after, he arrived to what seemed like a Plaza with an altar in the middle.
"Hello how can we help you?"
PainterMan looked around and then saw what seemed an NPC in a shop in the plaza. there also seemed to be other NPCs around too.
"Yes, what can I do here?"
"Hah yes, in this shop we sell berries and medicine for an affordable price, we are a trustworthy business."
Okay... What about the rest?"
"Oh them, they are residents, they might need help sometimes and you might be able to provide them with what they need."
"Ah, like quests! Okay, what about that altar what's that?"
"That's the energy reservoir, sometimes if it accumulates enough energy, a powerful Pokemon appear, good for business, might you be interested?"
"I'll check out your store, but one last question."
Thrilled the berry merchant asked:
"What's the question, kind sir?
"Can the altar do anything else?"
"Well..."
"What?"
"I've heard rumors that if enough people with Pokemons control the altar, they get exclusive access to the Pokemons that appear here."
"Really?"
"Yes, but I've never seen it, heard it from a friend from another Gym."
"I see, what do you sell."
After the berry merchant began showing his goods, PainterMan decided to buy a few Potions, which apparently healed wounds of low level Pokemons. He decided to use one on his newly caught Pokemon Meowth.
"Come out Meowth!"
"Meowth!"
"Woah! Is that a Pokemon!"
Looking behind him, PainterMan saw another person, which seemed to have a Pokeball to his belt like him.
"You're a new player as well?"
"Yeah, just started, the game is so cool! You already started catching Pokemon, that's amazing! Can you show me the ropes, I'm a bit lost?"
"Slow down, what's your name?"
"Right, my name in game is YellowFern, nice to meet you!"
"I'm PainterMan, but honestly I've only just started, I'm not sure what I can teach you."
"Then let's play together then!"
PainterMan was, his entire life, a person who was bad at social interactions, but looking at this bright guy who seems to love this game as much as he did, PainterMan decided at that moment what to do, a decision he would never regret.
"Alright, let's do this thing together!"