Pokemon Freelancer

Olivine, a modern port city specialising in exporting produce from a mass of fields just north-west. It's in a region of the world called Johto, and this city alone is home to millions of people. Despite being modernised, Olivine's city planners avoided skyscrapers. The settlement expanded out, not up. This made it stand out against the dozens of other cities in the country with structures towering above the people.

Deep in the bustling streets of Olivine, a small feline's light steps make no sound as it walks across stone paths that ran besides roads occupied by countless vehicles. The feline makes sure to stop and wait whenever humans come and go from their shops and office buildings. It's careful, only crossing roads when humans stop cars at traffic lights, so it gets around the city. It's not limited to a single block.

On a day that seemed like any other, the feline noticed a smell overpowering the numerous other odours lingering in the air. The smell of fresh water. Rain. It becomes irritable as it bounds along, hoping to reach vacated shelter before it gets wet. It impatiently waits for the traffic lights to stop the cars, swishing its stubby tail as it counts the seconds in its head.

Right as the green light turned red, one of the feline's ears is hit by a droplet, causing it to twitch involuntarily. The feline starts to see dark patches appear on asphalt, distracting it from the fact that the light was green again. The feline had missed its chance.

Not like it paid much attention to crossing the road now. Instead, it backtracked, sprinting as fast as it could along a store front as small orbs of water pelted it. The sky darkened, making the lights inside the ground floor shop more obvious through the row of windows. A flashing neon sign flashed atop a tall steel pole as it spun, advertising the shop to all passers-by.

Eventually the feline, soaked from head to toe, rounded a corner into a dim back alley and found a spot beneath an outcropped roof that was untouched. It shook its body violently, disposing of the water that had assaulted it. The feline looked up and, seeing the dark clouds above, knew this storm was going to last a while. It prepared to settle in for the night.

Before the feline could get comfortable, the backdoor of the shop creaked open. The bottom scraping across concrete sent a chill down the cat's back as it internally cursed itself for not hearing the person's approach. It should've heard the footsteps even behind a closed door.

The feline looked to see a shadow nearly as tall as the door, light illuminating the person from behind. A man with arms the size of tree trunks. He stepped out of the building, revealing more details now that he was away from the overpowering yellow glow. He had dark brown, scruffy hair. A strong jaw with no facial hair. He wore a simple deep blue shirt, buttoned up all the way. The feline was surprised they made clothes for giants.

In his spare hand was a white bag clearly stuffed to near bursting, yet the weight didn't seem to faze the man. The feline began shaking uncontrollably at the sight of the human, his size so visibly overwhelming that the feline didn't know what to do. It was in this moment that the feline learnt how it reacted when primal fear coursed through its veins. It did nothing. It failed the fight or flight response and instead just stood there, wide eyes focused on the giant. It froze. The cat hoped, begged, that the human wouldn't notice it. If he did glance the feline's way, the feline desired for nothing more than to be left alone.

He took strides fitting of his size to the front of a metal container the size of a car. He lifted the plastic lid and casually tossed the bag inside. He acted as if the weight of objects was subjective, like he could just will items to be as light as a feather and laws of the universe were altered in response.

As he walked to the backdoor, he dusted his hands together, as if that would clean them. His hand reached the handle of the metal door before he took note of a clump of green in a corner.

This was it. The exact thing the feline didn't want to have happen had, in fact, happened. The giant had noticed it. His hand went back to his side and he took steps towards the feline. In response, the cat just stood there like a Deerling in headlights.

Once the man was close enough, he crouched down as the feline tracked him with wide, frightened eyes. It shivered not from the cold but from sheer panic. The man spoke but the feline was so scared it didn't hear. It could understand human speech, it'd been chased off by humans and had eavesdropped enough to figure the language out, but right now everything was in one ear and out the other.

Seconds later, large hands fitting of the giant's build approached. The feline thought this was the last thing it would ever see.

* * * * *

With a sigh, Joe rose from his surprisingly comfortable seat behind the counter of the PokeMart, a simple branch of stores that supplied items to people who owned Pokemon. It'd just started raining so his coworkers didn't want to take the rubbish out. They played rock-paper-scissors to decide, and evidently, Joe lost. His coworkers looked up at him, his tall six-foot four-inch frame putting him amongst the tallest in the city, as he rose to his feet.

He grabbed the white bag, tied neatly by his female coworker, and headed towards the staffroom door that would lead through storage and out the back of the building. Being a retail shop meant handling a silly amount of cardboard and plastic packaging for products. The trip to the bin was made multiple times a day.

"Don't worry, I'll keep your seat warm." One of his coworkers gloated with a grin as Joe left. The kid, as Joe thought of him, was fresh out of high school, and amusingly his voice still hadn't fully broken. He still sounded a bit croaky.

Joe was going to retort, but instead he smiled to himself at a memory of when the kid first showed up a few months ago. The kid was scared of Joe, a real life giant. Most people were at first. And now look at him, comfortable enough to be cheeky towards Joe, someone he was scared of. They grow up so fast.

But more amusing to Joe was the kid's face when he was told his phone had to go in a locker. No distractions during work hours. It looked like someone had just told him to hand over all his money. Shocked was putting it mildly.

Honestly, Joe didn't mind if the kid broke the rules when the boss wasn't around and there were no customers. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If there's no one to see the kid use his phone at work, no one will know unless he tells them. But from what Joe had seen, the kid had discipline. Joe had never caught the kid hurrying to put his phone away.

Joe opened the backdoor and cringed. The metal dragging along concrete always made him shiver. He felt it in his bones.

He briefly looked up. Seeing such dark clouds made him question what time of day it was. It was early afternoon, but he could be fooled into thinking it was evening. Those were some dark clouds.

He walked from under cover and was pelted by rain as he tossed the trash into a bin. He was heading back inside when his eyes adjusted to the dark exterior. He noticed something green in the corner of his eye. Dim back alleys are often devoid of such colour. He turned his head to get a better look and saw a shivering animal. Not surprising considering the weather.

It looked feline as it stood on all fours, but Joe was no expert on animals. His label could be wrong. Big red eyes. A pair of ears atop its head, shaped like triangles. A short but bushy tail. Fangs protruding from its upper jaw, permanently sticking out and over its lower lip. Light green fur coating its body, except for a pattern across its eyes and a tuft on its chest that were a darker shade. Still green though.

Regardless of what it was, Joe approached and crouched down before it. "You okay, buddy?" He observes the shivering animal for a few moments, his mind already made up. He saw no collar, meaning it was a stray. A wild Pokemon. "Come on, let's get you dry."

Joe reached out and picked the docile creature up, his hands so large they worked together to entirely engulf the feline. One hand for its head, the other for its body. As expected, it was soft to touch. The fur was damp, but that didn't take away from the feeling that it was kept in good condition. Felines have a tendency to groom themselves often, so even a wild one had a pleasant coat.

He approached the door and one-handed the feline as he listened to the scrapping of metal on concrete. He took the Pokemon through storage, his one hand gripping it tight so as to not let it run rampant in this part of the shop, while making sure not to use too much strength. The last thing Joe wanted to do was hurt the feline.

Shelving units stretched to the ceiling and were stocked to the brim, with some items looking like they might fall any moment. Camping gear like backpacks and sleeping bags. Sanitary products like soap and towels. All normal products that anyone can buy, but the shop's purpose is in the name. PokeMart. Pokemon Market. They primarily sell items useful for the animals of this world, or the people that tend to these animals. Potions to keep Pokemon in good health. Red and white spheres called Pokeballs used to store these creatures. Toys of varying shapes and sizes for Pokemon to play with.

Pokemon were usually found miles away from human settlements, out in the wild. This made camping gear invaluable to people interested in Pokemon, hence why the PokeMart sold them. The feline in Joe's arms is a bit different. It was born here in the city. 'Urban' became a valid habitat for Pokemon in recent decades, as human civilization expanded and a lot of species of Pokemon got used to city life. There are plenty of nooks and crannies for them to live in. But still, a massive majority of wild Pokemon are actually in the wild, out in mountain ranges or valleys or forests.

Joe approached a shelf with towels on it. He grabbed the one on top, which was white, ripped the label off with his teeth, and quickly ran it through his hair to dry it. He then wrapped the green feline with the towel after he was dry enough. He hadn't been out there long, it only took a few seconds to dry himself. He adjusted the towel to cover the feline's body while allowing its head to poke out. Joe knew from experience that he shouldn't cut off all senses. He allowed the Pokemon to see where it was going to put it more at ease as he ruffled it, getting the towel to absorb the water attached to the cat.

He continued walking, moving through the staffroom door and back out onto the shop floor. He'd gotten used to the sight years ago, but he still remembered the sheer size of this ground floor store when he first started working here. It looked like it stretched a mile in every direction, shelves as far as the eye can see.

As he moved he caught the attention of his two coworkers. Not hard since he stands taller than the shelves. Out here on the shop floor the shelves are a little under six feet tall. Nowhere near reaching the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead.

His female coworker, a woman by the name of Hydie, bounded up to him. She was shorter than the average woman. To reach his head she needed to jump. And that she did. She hopped up and swiped the towel's label from his mouth. The label had a barcode on it so it was necessary. Joe could've one-handed the feline and pocketed the label, but he got along with Hydie and knew she'd help out.

"Thanks." Joe nodded to her, his mouth free to talk.

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" She spoke at him but to him. Her focus immediately shifted to the Pokemon in Joe's hands, a lovely smile forming across her face. She stroked the feline's ears and Joe could feel the animal purr in response.

Hydie was referring to the countless other times Joe had brought in a stray animal. The crazy one she always remembered was when Joe burst out of the automatic doors of the PokeMart and into the road outside to scoop up a bird Pokemon with an injured wing before it got hit by a car. Birds are notoriously bad with their legs, they find it hard to walk. With an injured wing, that made it impossible for the bird to get out of the way in time.

"What is it?" Joe took this opportunity to learn.

After she got her fill of cuteness, Hydie thought about it for a moment, standing straight and putting a finger to her chin. "A Sprigatito, I think?"

Nodding, Joe hoped he wasn't being too presumptuous as he moved a finger to stroke Sprigatito under the chin. Sprigatito is a Pokemon, one of countless species of animal that call this world home. They came in all different shapes and sizes, and all had different capabilities. As expected of animals.

Joe had never had an interest in owning a Pokemon. He saw them enough around town, as pets of customers, and on television. Especially on television. He'd never looked at a schedule, but he was sure there were battle competitions airing on TV all day, every day. It was constant. People loved it. Watching those battles got Joe's adrenaline pumping, but he had never thought to enter one himself. Never had a desire to become a Trainer and create a team of Pokemon.

Joe had heard that word a lot over the years. Trainer. Typically, they were people that fought alongside Pokemon in battle. Pokemon had the power to control the elements, and it became popular for people to compete against each other to see who did a better job at training Pokemon. Hence all the televised battles.

Some might say a Trainer is a General in the army and their Pokemon is their soldier. The Trainer has a wider view of the battlefield and issues orders to their Pokemon, and the Pokemon trusts the Trainer's judgement enough to obey commands.

That's not to say all Trainers battle. Not these days. Many professions use Pokemon, like canines joining the police or water-type Pokemon being firefighters. The handler that trains Pokemon for these jobs is as much a Trainer as someone that only uses Pokemon for battle. It still takes time and effort.

"Poor thing looks scared half to death." Hydie observed Sprigatito as it froze up at Joe's touch.

"Are you surprised?" The kid, Shaun, interjected from his seat behind the L-shaped counter that looked like it was made of cheap plywood. "Joe looks like he eats bricks for breakfast."

"My diet consists entirely of metal, I'll have you know."

"Ha, yeah, I bet." Shaun responded. He thought about it for a second before talking again. "Oh, I get it. Pumping iron. Good one."

A corner of Joe's lips curls up in a smirk as he brushed past Hydie to walk along a row of shelves. Joe isn't as big as people make him seem. He doesn't even have a six-pack. Just a mild four-pack and some decent muscle in his arms he got from working out at a fitness centre. His size more so comes from his lineage. Genes from his parents. There were people much bigger than Joe out there.

Joe reached a shelf, home to small packs of pellets. Pokemon food. It may look ugly compared to human food, but it has all the nutrients animals need. He grabbed a pouch, it was about the size of his hand, and ignored the plastic bowls. The pellets were of decent size. Sprigatito was small, it would only eat one pellet at a time. Plus, Joe would prefer to personally feed the Pokemon. Try and bond with it a bit. He had to admit, he didn't like being feared by such a cute creature.

Sprigatito sneezed, a cute little exhale that could barely be heard, as Joe moved it under one arm. He used his hand wrapped around its stomach to scratch it even though the towel was in the way. The Pokemon took this to mean it should be quiet. No more silly noises.

That wasn't his intention though. Joe was just trying to show affection.

As Joe is grabbing a pack of food, his coworkers talk in hushed voices over by the counter. When Joe eventually walked up to them, they go quiet and turn to him. Hydie is the one to speak.

"Thanks for the money."

"Betting on me again?" Joe asked, knowing this happened every time he brought a Pokemon in.

Hydie nods. The bet was made a week ago, in preparation for whenever Joe brought in another Pokemon. "The food was an obvious one, but Shaun didn't think about a towel." They both knew Joe had a tendency to fawn over animals when given the chance, and feeding them was the perfect chance to get close to a Pokemon.

All Joe could do was smile at how predictable he was as he walked to the counter, placing the food and towel, Pokemon included, onto the short conveyor belt leading to the cash register. Sprigatito was still scared into submission, not daring to move in case it earned the ire of the big man.

"You just got lucky." Shaun said as he scanned the food and towel label Hydie had already given to him. Shaun was right. Weather forecasts were notoriously inaccurate and changed minutes before the weather actually hit. Hydie couldn't have predicted the rain. She bet on the towel on a whim.

After Joe paid for the items using his own money, Joe tucks Sprigatito and the towel under one arm while grabbing the food with his spare hand. He moved around the counter and, knowing his superior's intentions, Shaun abandoned the chair. Joe's seat. The big man sat down, placed the food on his lap and unwrapped Sprigatito. It's nice and dry now. He put the towel on a shelf beneath the counter and ripped open the pack of pellets after leaving Sprigatito to stand on his lap. His hand barely fit inside the pack, it's easier to shake food out, so that's what Joe does. The scent of food seemed to catch the Pokemon's attention and it finally relaxed its muscles slightly.

"I'll never get used to that." Hydie said, standing next to the counter.

"What?" Joe asked.

"A giant coddling a cute animal. These two things don't go together in my head. They should be mutually exclusive."

"Where did you learn a complex term like that?" Joe showed a toothy grin as Hydie's blue eyes narrowed to scowl at him, her long blonde hair swishing about. He knew Hydie is studying at university. Of the people in the shop right now, she's easily the smartest.

Sprigatito, much to Joe's delight, seemed to have fully relaxed around him. Its muscles were no longer tense and it had padded his thighs gently to ensure the surface it wanted to rest on was comfortable. Confirmed to be a fine resting place, Sprigatito lay down on Joe. He wasn't the big, scary man anymore. He was someone who wished to help. Sprigatito happily ate the pellets presented to it.

"By the way, how much is my share?" Joe asked, referring to the bet his coworkers placed on him.

"Five dollars." Hydie, being the winner, spoke with a smile aimed at Shaun, who was going to be losing money real soon. He needed to cough up the cash before the shift's end.

"You guys are cheap." Joe said, continuing to shake one pellet at a time out of the packet and feed it to Sprigatito. The Pokemon was taking twenty seconds to get through a pellet so it was quite a calming, consistent action.

The PokeMart had been quiet for some time now, which allowed the employees to do what they wanted. It wasn't surprising. Less people roamed the streets during bad weather, and there was currently a storm raging outside. They had been busy all morning with what felt like thousands of customers, so this was a pleasant reprieve.

After a few minutes of casual banter between Joe and his friends, the big man was deemed worthy of stroking Sprigatito without it thinking its life was going to end. Joe stroked its back at first. Well, more like scratch its back. With his hands being so big, or Sprigatito being so small, Joe had to use the tips of his fingers to stroke the Pokemon. As he thought earlier, Sprigatito was soft. It reminded him of his mother's Meowth, a feline with short beige fur that favoured standing on two feet.

Sprigatito began purring gently as it got crumbs all over Joe's black work trousers. It finally knew Joe was not a bad person. He wasn't going to harm the feline. Pokemon could, for lack of better phrasing, sense intentions from people. Sprigatito was so focused on how scary Joe looked that it failed to sense the soothing aura coming from the man. It's a gentle, calming wave flowing over Sprigatito. The feline could get used to this. It'd lived on the streets for its short life of a few months and had learned to fend for itself almost immediately. The streets were harsh. It hadn't been granted a chance to relax like this. It had never properly received the parental affection it needed to grow properly, but it imagined this was what it was like to have a father.

With Hydie and Shaun deciding it was time to restock and clean up as the end of the shift approached, Joe was left alone with Sprigatito and his own thoughts. He thought of his upcoming holiday. Today was his last day of work for an entire year. He had become an employee at the PokeMart when he was eighteen and he was now twenty four. He had saved up as much money as he could and had gotten to a point where he could afford a long vacation.

Joe wondered what sights he might see as he travelled. He planned to head to Kanto, a neighbouring region to the east of Johto. Joe was going to hike there via Mt. Silver, a massive mound of earth that stood between Johto and Kanto. The tallest mountain in the range that separated the two regions.

Once in Kanto he was just going to walk around, him and his backpack. Let his legs take him wherever he wanted. He could imagine it now. If it looked interesting, he'd check it out. His main plan was to sightsee, as many tourists did, but if he just wanted to relax on a beach for a week, he could do that. He'd be completely free for three hundred and sixty five days. No commitments or obligations. He could act on any whim, take any opportunity that presented itself to him.

He'd done this before, but on a smaller scale. Every year he would save up his paid holiday. A total of four weeks. He would have all his paid vacation at the same time, and just walk around Johto for a month. This did a good job getting him used to living in the wild. He knew how to survive out there, away from civilization. It was also why he wanted to visit Kanto. He'd seen most of Johto.

He looked down at Sprigatito happily munching on food. How long was this going to go on? It'd already eaten a dozen pellets. The brand advertised fifteen per bag. At this rate there'd be none left. Joe had no idea how they were fitting inside such a small creature.

Getting a good look at the green feline, Joe was sure he would encounter plenty of wildlife on his adventure. He was going to take hiking and walking everywhere seriously. He'd spend days walking through forests to get to the next town. During that time, he'd be surrounded by nothing but Pokemon. Despite not caring if he had his own or not, he did admittedly think Pokemon were all cute or cool, depending on the species. Sprigatito definitely fits into the cute category.

Joe was thoroughly looking forward to his holiday, but he had one major worry. Jasmine. They'd met a couple of years ago and become good friends. She worked as a Gym Leader, not to be confused with the fitness centre Joe used to stay bulky.

No, a Pokemon Gym was a place for people to challenge specialist Trainers, known as Gym Leaders, to Pokemon battles. Each Gym Leader focused on one type of Pokemon. Jasmine was the master of steel-types in Johto. He remembered her saying they were the most defensive type, making them tough to take out.

Joe's worry stemmed from Jasmine's personality. Despite her public facing position of Gym Leader, she had a major flaw. Severe anxiety. He always wondered how she managed to work with such a problem always at the forefront of her life, but she barely interacted with Challengers. As long as it was a Pokemon battle, she could handle other people. When she rewarded challengers with a Badge, a trophy to say they beat the Gym, she came across as calm and collected. Perhaps a bit stern. But it was just her anxiety keeping her quiet as she internally begged the challenger to leave.

Thanks to Jasmine, Joe had a rough idea of how the League worked. Seasonal rotation for Gyms. Every region had a Pokemon Gym of every type, but only eight were active every year. At least, that was how Jasmine explained being off of work last year.

Since Joe was one of her two friends, Jasmine constantly came to hang out at the PokeMart. She was there so often that customers started thinking she was a new hire, there to learn the job. That got a laugh out of Joe. Seeing a customer ask Jasmine about a product and seeing her get flustered, frantically looking for Joe. Good times.

Gym Leaders are basically celebrities, but Jasmine is one of the lesser known ones due to anxiety. She stays out of the limelight. Customers had no idea she was a local celebrity.

Olivine Gym is in rotation this year, so there's no Jasmine to hover around the PokeMart like a ghost bound to a location.

Hearing the boom of thunder and the flash of lightning, Joe looked through the row of windows making up the store's front wall. He couldn't see a thing, the rain was too heavy and had totally covered the glass panels. At best he could make out colours of cars that passed on the road outside.

This rough weather reminded him of when he met Jasmine. Joe continued to look out into the heavy rain with his bright green eyes, recounting what happened the day they met.