Registering as a trainer was so easy, even Alec could do it. The forms were all digitized and he'd just needed to get the local Nurse Joy to help him when he ran into things that he didn't have the information to properly fill in.
Thirty minutes later, literally, and the Nurse was printing off and laminating a little I.D. card for him and handing over a single, empty PokeBall.
That was it. Apparently the whole 'Journey' thing was completely optional and not actually suggested for a few more years. Kids could get PokeMon, get registered, all that jazz at any age that the Joy felt was appropriate. Some things were still absolutely prohibited, others were just frowned upon. Giving a child a Tyranitar was a bad idea for a lot of reasons. Giving a child a Mankey was just thought to be in poor taste.
That wasn't everything the PokeMon center offered- Owen, the Youngster Alec had taken over at Matron Joy's behest, had been shown a trio of Growlithe-
Fluffy little dogs that were fire-orange and had big tufts of white fur on their head and chest. The local reality was a little interesting in that everything, man and mystical animal alike, could channel the forces of reality. Growlithe were especially attuned to the element of 'Fire'.
-and the boy had found one that was especially friendly and playful.
On the opposite end of things, the Joy had tried to introduce him to several PokeMon and they got real nervous, real fast. The remaining two Growlithe had backed away, ducking low to the ground and hiding their tails under their bellies.
Some bipedal yellow and brown pig-like PokeMon, Drowzee, had been completely petrified at seeing him.
The last attempt Joy had made involved a red and brown bird, Spearow. It looked at him once and then flew away so fast it broke a window on the way out. Because it went through the window to get out.
Well, no big loss. Alec proscribed to a rather simple mindset-
If someone didn't want to spend time with him, why should he try to force the issue?
So Alec was left with two new tools. A trainer's I.D. and an empty PokeBall. Neither of which solved his problems but they were steps taken on the road to doing so.
So. Step two. Figuring out how to get money and slash or another PokeBall. Alternatively, or at least some time during the process, he still needed to find a PokeMon that wanted to come with him.
Some sort of tool for self defense would be nice, too. Something recognizable in the local region would be ideal, but it also had to carry the appropriate measure of intent. A kid with a gun would draw a lot of unnecessary attention he didn't want. He would be getting a knife at some point, they were indispensable tools, but they were also too easily overlooked.
The societal mindset to being armed was such a finicky thing. A length of pipe with some sports tape wrapped around one end for the handle made for a truly fantastic club but it carried with it a lot of less than savory associations. Alec did remember the bug-samurai guy, and he knew there were a lot of folks that carried swords as props...
"Where are we going?" Owen, the Youngster, asked as he followed behind Alec. His newly acquired friend was trotting along right beside him.
"The scrap yard." Alec told him distractedly, his mind still working at trying to think of what he'd need.
"Ooh, are you gonna try and get a Magnemite?" The kid asked, eagerly reaching down to pet his fire-pup.
"Not planning on it, no." Alec told him, thinking on what he recalled of the floating PokeMon in question. "If one wants to come along, I suppose I wouldn't be opposed, though."
If Alec was aiming for the Champion's seat, he'd have a wishlist of insanely potent PokeMon. Metagross and Hydreigon, Contrary Serperior, maybe even put together just the right conditions to sweep with a Shuckle.
But that was a lot of work and it wasn't his own dream. He didn't care about people knowing how insanely strong he could train something else to be. Assuming he actually could train a PokeMon. Hopefully, magic lessons would translate okay.
"I need to make some money and I'd rather not head over to the docks and try to convince them to let me be a stevedore." And Alec could definitely do the work. Berserk if he wanted to just brute force the issue. Teleport if he wanted to add in a bit of finesse.
He wasn't sure how to do the actual convincing part, though.
"What's a Steve-e-door?" Owen asked, confusion in his voice.
"Fancy word for people that move cargo around the ships." Alec explained as the distant trash heap came into sight. "Most of it was done by machines where I came from but there's a lot of finicky work that still has to be done by hand."
And Alec looked like he was nine or ten years old. Pre-pubescent.
The constant shifting into alternate forms and bodies... Alec was specifically not thinking on it especially hard but he still kept missing steps, thinking his legs were longer than they actually were.
A group of wild Rattata fled as Alec pushed open the unmanned gate into the scrapyard. It was a mess of rust, broken vehicles and tossed-out appliances. Televisions, washers and dryers, all sorts of things that were eminently recyclable in the near future. Most of the stuff was too big for Alec's interests, carrying them would be awkward and uncomfortable.
"Woah..." The kid trailing him murmured, looking at the tetanus trap like he'd just been brought to a new playground.
"Grow!" His dog barked before pushing his nose against the ground. "Grow! Grow-lithe!"
"Don't climb anything." Alec said, likely being ignored by the Youngster. "Don't catch anything on fire- If you guys want to practice, find something non-flammable and set it up a bit away from everything, alright?"
"So cool..." The Youngster whispered, his eyes locked on a broken washing machine.
Well, if he wanted to catch something on fire with his arson puppy, that was a good option. The sheetmetal case on the outside should keep the burning internals from causing too much of a mess...
Alec walked away as Owen started yelling, calling out for his puppy to use Ember.
Yeah. He was going to have to summon a rain storm before they left...
He ended up poking around for a solid half an hour, looking over the surface wreckage and actually following his own advice for a change. There was no shortage of options that would certainly meet his interests... If Alec had a truck.
He'd had no luck finding a wagon or anything else that would work to carry anything with, so he was stuck using his own arms.
The trip had been enlightening, though, for a number of different reasons. Primarily, it let Alec know what people were throwing away. CRT Televisions, VCR players, big computer monitors and the few computer cases he'd cracked open had RAM sticks in them that measured in the megabytes.
Alec pursed his lips, elbow deep in a computer tower as he was busy extracting the RAM and Processor.
The prevalence of 3.5 floppy drives should have been a pretty big tell, too.
Ignoring the overhead shadow as a trio of Magnemite flew over, Alec picked up the real prize after pocketing his minuscule amount of precious metal. A reasonably large televideo unit. A combined TV/VCR player. Mending could repair it but it wouldn't bring the remote control back.
Repair, futzing with time, had basically conjured the thing right on top of the unit in a glitter of golden sparkles.
Awkwardly settling the heavy device on his shoulder and holding it in place with his left arm, Alec paused as he heard something growling at him. Slowly turning around, he had to look down to meet the black eyes of a dog. A small, black thing covered in bony protrusions with a stubby little tail. Smoke trailed out the sides of its bared fangs.
Alec stared into the frightened eyes of the smaller creature for a long second before slowly turning back around.
He hadn't been paying attention but the shadows that were creeping across the ground indicated that, yes, night was coming.
"Owen!" Alec shouted as he started to move. He could hear the PokeMon behind him shuffling after him. "You ready?!"
"Yeah!" The kid shouted from a few piles over. Coming in to sight, Alec was absolutely unsurprised to see that the budding arsonist had loaded more things into the washing machine. "Alright Growlithe! One more Ember!"
The puppy, just as eager as Owen, happily opened its mouth to spit a mouthful of flames at the burning trash.
"Conglaturations." Alec grinned at the kid, the confused look on his face practically enough to make him laugh. "You are the win!"
"What?" Owen asked, jogging to meet up with Alec as he left the scrapyard. His Growlithe was more than happy to run along beside him, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.
"Nothin', kid." Alec told him, snapping his fingers. Overhead, black clouds swiftly blocked out the feeble light of dusk. "C'mon. Let's go find a pawnshop."
Behind them, one very confused PokeMon stared at the retreating humans. It had never been ignored by one that was so small before, nor had it ever felt primal terror just by gazing into a human's eyes.
Confused, it began to return to its den just to jump in fear as a lightning bolt struck a nearby broken car, briefly illuminating a growing crowd of Magnemite in the sky. Rather than try to find safety between the rain and cluster of hungering electric types, it turned back in the same direction the humans had gone and ran.