[Time Skip: A week later]

“Feed me” Guts squawked

“FUCK” Heath shouted

“Shut up” A voice from another room yelled through the wall.

Guts complains by poking Heath with his uninjured wing. Guts was still healing from the battle with Ursaring and they have been resting in their hotel room for the most part. Heath wanted to leave Guts with Nurse Joy but with not trusting Pokemon rarity analyzing technology, He decided to just do daily checks which was less expensive anyways. Guts hasn’t complained but Piplup’s mood when seeing the duck hurt has gotten any better. Other than resting Heath had tried to look for any pokémon it might have wanted but not seeing anything that looked right. He just left the shop in order to do other things. Heath had tried to work on his sight with his new skill. He figured out that the string was the connection with another being but he couldn’t see his connection with the world or anything with the world for that matter. Another thing that confused him was Red and his blackened and charred string which he hasn’t seen with anyone else. What Heath had figured so far is that the aura that a trainer or pokémon has is their potential and their strength mixed into one. It seemed like he could control it and people treated you different.

“Trainer’s Instinct is so weird” Heath commented as he rubbed his eyes. He notices a bunch of lines connecting everything but there would be gone the next moment. It looked beautiful but also uncomfortable in a mental sense. Heath slid Piplup off and then got out of bed, quickly feeding the brown duck. He slugged around to do the daily deeds and quickly went back to bed but it was taken over by Piplup.

“I hate you guys” Heath grumpily sighs and decides to his daily warm up. He had been checking up on Professor Birch and the rest of them back in Little Root but everything had seemed to be fine. There last call was a little awkward because Professor Birch had urged Heath to quickly come as there was someone who wanted to see them but there was no name given when Heath asked for it. Birch had left with the promise of sending Heath’s number to the gym leader and soon after the call ended, he had received a message.

‘I’ll be coming today, meet at the address and time below. We’re leaving today and I apologize for taking so long.’

The text message was short and concise which Heath liked for this mission as he wasn’t trying to spend a lot of time texting anyone he didn’t know.

He finished stretching and got up to fed Piplup this time before putting Guts in the pokéball and Piplup on top of his head as they headed out the door to check out. They quickly got to the main lobby where Heath heard the morning bustle of trainers, hunters, rangers and breeders talking about the recent new happening within the surrounding area

“Have you heard of the growing Beedrill population?”

“The authorities had put blockages on route 102, apparently there was a raged Ursaring trekking through it. ROUTE 102, can you believe it?”

“Word. I heard that the Pokéball manufactures have been on strike after having their products consumed mainly by the Union and Genesis.”

“I thought that they had the-”

Heath stopped listening when as he arrived at the counter similar to nurse Joy’s but without the expensive healing equipment in the back. Instead, there were just cabinets and computers that were off. Heath noticed a couple of other things but one of the things he had been grateful of is the fact that this place had a lack of people.

“What can I do for you today, Sir”

“I would like to leave for checkout” Heath smiled and brought out his wristband near the counter where the lady scanned it and observed the computer.

Heath and the receptionist had followed the procedure of checking out and Heath quickly went on the line for nurse Joy who had once again billed Guts with good health but he is was advised that Guts still couldn’t fight for a couple of days after the injury heals for at least 4 days. Heath left the building trying to figure out the placement of the café, while thinking about his resources. He had already re-upped his supplies which costed him 35K from the miscellaneous items he could’ve used in the on his trip to Oldale City.

“We did a lot. We gained a lot of strength, I got a Megastone, I met the famous protagonist, who seemed pretty nice…. A little weird but nice. We’ve grown a lot.” Heath cringed at the thought of fainting when his pokémon needed him

‘I just don’t want to faint like that again.’ Heath felt a overwhelming feeling of sadness but he quickly shook his head and immediately felt Piplup become sad as well in response. Heath patted Piplup, trying to cheer him up.

” We just need to become better Pip” Heath reaffirmed.

“Yeah” Piplup replied Crestfallen.

Heath thought at the Current Pokémon Master and remembered that Red said that he still had a dead Ursaring in his body, So changing course he went to sell it. Thankfully, Erwin’s Pokémon shop also sold and bought Carcasses.

‘Finally!’ Heath smiled a little bit as he actually knew how to get there, so they headed in that direction. After a half hour of walking, Heath looked inside the shop and saw Arthur inside playing with Shinx and a Togepi. Arthur had looked towards the door, and his eyes shimmered in recognition. Arthur quickly motioned Heath to enter to which Heath did.

“Hey long time no see stranger!” Arthur smiled but continued playing with Shinx.

“Hey Arthur. Thanks for the other day. I had this encounter with this wild Ursaring and it was trying to eat me so Guts and Piplup had to put it down.”

“So that was you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah a official’s assistant from the Research guild had claimed to be hunting the Ursaring to help people but when they finally stumbled upon the pokémon’s head and they thought a trainer looked to be knocked out not long after with a small pokemon helping out. Some say it was a bird like pokemon”

“Oh?” Heath thought about Red.

‘Why would he do that? He should’ve at least asked me if he wanted to talk about me.’

“The stranger remained identified but, it was you, right?”

“…” Heath hesitated before nodding. Arthur’s eyes twinkled.

“Well… I did think you were special but tell me this” He paused and then continued “Please tell me you know the approximately rank of the Ursaring you fought.”

“It was around Gold right?”

“Wow” Arthur chuckled to himself.

“Is that bad?” Heath asked shyly.

“Not at all. Were you going to sell it?”

“Yea-”

“I’ll personally buy it off of you” Arthur smiled and it reminded Heath of Birch and his smile when they talked about pokémon.

“Why?”

“Well, some of my pokémon are currently low on good food.. So gold is pretty good from them. Plus, it’s Normal type so there is no bad pokémon to feed it too. Besides Dark and Ghost but it’s complicated” Arthur rambled.

“Okay, what are you offering?” Heath feigned suspicious and remained cautious.

“80,500K-”

“220K” Heath spit out. He had done a little research and found out that raged pokémon costed more due to the chemicals that imbued to their bodies. It allowed them to gain strength in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, it cost their life span so having fresh strength building chemicals cost a lot more than the normal Pokémon.

“What?”

“220K”

“What?” Arthur repeated again. His expression instantly became sharper and his gaze became hard.

“160K is what you pay for normal Ursaring’s around that rank. That’s a rip off”

“80K isn’t? Plus, it wasn’t a normal Ursaring.”

“You’ve done research on this.” Arthur’s gaze became soft.

“I thought I would be arguing with Erwin.” Heath smiled slyly as Arthur sighed.

“220,000 Pokédollars is still too much. How about 190K” Arthur recovered with a smile which made Heath even more cautious

‘Should I? 190K is pretty good without a contact. I should take it…’

“..” Heath hesitated to speak

Heath out reached his hand and Arthur took it. When they were in hand Arthur’s aura flare in a blazing red. It was strong and Heath felt warm but when they let go Heath felt normal.

‘He’s strong’ Heath thought and Arthur sent a transfer for the amount while Heath transferred the carcass.

[Arthur Pov]

“Nice to do business with you” Arthur offered. They talk for a while before Heath went to leave and Arthur stood there playing with Shinx again.

“Interesting”

[Heath Pov]

“Finally, I found it” Heath heaved as he found himself in front of a café’s door.

‘Why was this place so hard to find. The location almost made me late’ Heath sighed slowly and walked up to the brass colored door and opened it to find a Pichu running out and kids following after it.

‘Cute’ Heath looked forward and saw a hipster styled boba café with people chatting with others, having fun with very few looking otherwise. Heath went to the counter with three beautiful looking girls were talking about random things until they had noticed him to which the smallest of the three was the first to pipe up.

“Hey welcome to Splinda’s Café. How may we help you”?

“Uhh I was supposed to meet someo-”

*Ring*

*Ring*

The waitress looked apologetic and quickly answered the phone in her apron’s pocket. A quick conversation was heard and the waitress looked surprised taking a peek at Heath. She quickly finishes the conversation and direct her attention to Heath, who was afraid he would be late at this rate.

“Excuse me” the both of them cleared their throat as they said it.

Heath chuckled while the waitress continued.

“I’ve just received a call, so I must attend to something, you wanted to find a table. Come with me” The waitress leaves no room for discussion and walked off. Heath stood there before realizing he had no choice as the rest of them attending the counter had left to wait on the other customers who was happily eating and enjoying their time at the café.

Heath picked up his pace and hurried up to the waitress’s location trying to stay behind her and not look at other people to much as they ate.

‘Hopefully Norman won’t be anal about the time.’ Heath pleaded with himself while looking where they were going. He went up upstairs and saw a completely different designed from the first floor. The second floor of Splinda’s Café was gilded in gold and ornaments that seemed to indicate a high class. The uniform was even different from below. It wasn’t until now that he realized that the waitress, he was being attended to was also different from the first floor’s employees.

Heath looked ahead and saw imitations of Chili, Cilan, and Cress crowding around one area that they seemed to be going to.

“Excuse me, uhh ma’am” Heath said politely.

“Hold on.”

They arrived near the trio and what they were doing was broken as Heath saw Norman in a red jacket that reminded him of the pop king, and another guy who was currently red with irritation.

“You are terribly ignorant of us Norman.”

“I am constantly told about how good you guys treat your young, but I know what you concluded with Giovanni” Norman whispered the last part, and Erwin got up and quickly left the table bumping Heath aggressively and leaving the area without the hint of a condolence or apology. Heath shook his head and the rude act of his.

‘Well at least I’m on time’

Norman looked around him and saw Heath, smiling before putting on a serious face.

“You’re late” Norman crossed his arms.

“I can say the same.” Heath said as he noticed Norman’s aura change becoming aggressive before stopping and going away.

‘Was that a test?’ Heath thought.

“Sorry, I had to meet the champion, before going here. Steven is a different breed from Lance. SO much easier.” Norman chuckled. Seeing the tension was over the Trio had left but the waitress had stayed to stare at Heath.

“You may leave him. He was coming to see me.” Norman addressed but the waitress seemed to have questions of her own.