Chapter 2

7 years later

A bunch of pre-teens could be seen sitting in a circle around a kind-looking old man. The children's complete attention was on a small pokemon in the hands of the old man, it looked like a little rat but had a bright purple coat of fur that seemed to ripple with every small wind.

"Now look here children, this is a Rattata. As you can see from its coat, it is well taken care of. Now can anyone tell me anything else about this rattata?"

Out of the 20-30 children around 3 raised their hands and answered.

"It's purple," said the excited boy

"It's small" exclaimed a boisterous girl

"It's uh a pokemon?" Said a shy kid sounding more like a question.

The old man in the center of the group simply smiled as praised the children for trying to answer. The man then pointed to a much younger boy sitting under a tree 5 feet away from the rest of the kids, the boy had a disinterested expression as he looked at the little rat in the man's arms.

"Alex, why don't you try?"

The boy, now named Alex, simply sighed before starting to speak in a tone that screamed disinterested,

"The rat has grown in captivity, its claws are dulled, its fur is washed and cleaned but the fur doesn't provide any protection, its instincts have degraded enough for it to not tense up when surrounded by unknowns. It's small for its species and is already 5 years old which is nearing the lifespan of a normal Rattata, the only way it lives for another year is if it breaks through advanced which isn't going to happen since it hasn't even begun transitioning. If it were to be left in the wild, it wouldn't even last 1 whole week."

The boy simply closed his eyes after answering the question and the rest of the class simply brushed off the despaired assessment with a few of the girls feeling bad for the little rat Pokémon.

"An excellent answer Alex although the delivery could use a bit of work" responded the old man

"Look professor aide #5, these kids are gonna be pokemon trainers, they are gonna see death everywhere they go, they are gonna see pokemon eating each other's corpses and they are gonna face many situations where they have to make a decision that may take a life, you can't expect a greenhouse flower to do the job of a wildflower"

Alex replied scathingly. The children immediately reacted negatively, a few insulting Alex, a few(read one) excited and the rest extremely scared. However before Alex could be scolded by the aide, another man walked into the camp. However, this man had a calming presence that somehow commanded respect and awe.

The aide's eyes widened as he saw Professor Oak walking towards them

"Now now young man, although these kids will be trainers at one point, they will not have to take these decisions."

"What a kind way of saying that these children won't reach advanced rank and will never do anything worthwhile in their entire lives."

Although his words were disrespectful, Alex had straightened his back and looked at the man with respect in his eyes.

"You know most people when they meet me for the first time trying to suck up to me. After all, imagine the benefits of being in the good graces of professor Oak"

The man, Professor oak, replied in an interested tone.

"Well they would be right, after all, there is no Pokémon in this entire world that you cannot get your hands on. You have contacts in every region, with every influential person in the entire world and while your strength is unknown, but it is at least at the level of an elite."

Hearing Alex's assessment Oak was surprised that the boy knew about his influence but still didn't try to lick his boots like most people.

"Well, why aren't you trying to get into my favor?"

"I learned a long time ago that there is no one you can rely on but yourself. So what if I butter you up and get a scholarship and get a Pokédex from you, at any point in time you can simply take back any privileges and my Pokédex And if there's one thing I know, it's that Power that can be taken away is not power but a privilege."

Professor oaks eyes widened a tiny bit before he hummed in agreement. Meanwhile, the rest of the kids were looking at Alex as if he was an idiot for throwing away his chance at a possible sponsorship, which was the dream of every orphan. After all, without a sponsor, orphans would be given one Pokeball and would have a small chance to catch a common pidgey or weedle that can never even reach the advanced realm whereas all Pokémon starters from sponsors were immensely powerful and could reach the advanced realm with even a half-decent trainer given 3-5 years.

"Well, then what is a power that cannot be taken away in your opinion Alex?"

Oak seemed to be interested in his answer and looked almost contemplative. Alex of course answered honestly but he was also feeling the pressure of talking to the most influential man in the region.

"Pokemon. They are loyal and they can only be taken away if you are too weak. If you develop your Pokémon to be strong enough then not even the champion himself cannot force you to yield, a true Pokémon master bows to no one should he not wish to."

Oak seemed to smile at the answer.

"Hmmm. Let me get back to you in a few minutes."

After saying this professor oak walked back to his lab.