"Hey, Nadia!"

I turned around after placing the brick around my neck again. Jake was running over, breathing heavily once he caught up. He's not a really athletic person, is he...

"Weren't you going to wait by the entrance?" I asked him, brow arching. Jake scowled.

"Someone told me to move, I couldn't stand there, so I really had no other choice but to go here." He explained while trying to catch his breath. "Anyway," he heaved, "did you get your necklace back?"

"Yeah." I nodded, and held the bronze brick out for Jake to see. Jake looked relieved.

"Thank goodness. Didn't know what they wanted with that brick though."

"Yeah, that was the person I was instructed to stay with. Some friend she turned out to be." I replied, setting the brick down and grabbing my bag.

"I wonder if the professor knows what kind of friend she was..." Jake pondered. I thought for a minute.

Either he had no clue, or he intended to lure me into a trap. Either way, it's not a good image for him.

"In any case," Jake said, "I don't think you should trust anyone to find your parents for you. If Team Eclipse really did take them, then you should get stronger to fight back. You know about the 8-gym system in Roria, right?"

I nod. It's a recurring system in the main games, save for Generation 7.

"Then you should know how to get Gym Badges. Luckily there is a Gym just near here, in Silvent City." Jake notified, and turned around. "We should go to the Pokemon Center first though. Pikachu and Scorbunny look kinda beat up."

"Pikachu is wild," I blurted. "I didn't catch him, just wanted to help him since his bruises are at least half a day old."

Jake looked at the Electric Mouse, then at me. "That's nice of you." He said, and then nothing else. "Come on, we should get them healed."

At the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy healed both Scorbunny and Pikachu. She hands back the Pokemon.

"The Hoothoot in Gale Forest were rather aggressive yesterday, unlike the calmness they usually are. I wonder what happened to make them so assertive on the other Pokemon..." Nurse Joy trailed off.

"Maybe it was a disturbance. Like a meteor full of dark energy crashed into the forest." Jake suggested. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You'd think that if that had happened, everyone in the vicinity would have been alerted." I replied bluntly. Jake chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"No, there was no meteor," Nurse Joy agreed, "But there might have been a disturbance in the atmosphere."

We never really solved out why Hoothoot and Hoothoot alone was disturbed the night before, because it pretty much just solved itself a few days later.

Anyway, after we waved goodbye to Nurse Joy, we decided to move on to Silvent City.

Route 2 was short, while Route 3 was confusing. Many different paths led to different locations, and we did a little bit of wandering before we reached the City's gate. By then, it was nighttime, and we had to take shelter in a family's house. I noticed they had an entire farm of Eevee...

I was given permission to go out and see the Eevee, as was Jake who decided to go later. I stepped out onto the field and all the Eevee stared at me. All but two.

One Eevee had a different color palette compared to many of the others. It was silvery-white, save for the eyes, which were brown like everyone else. The other was a normal palette.

The female Eevee, the normal-colored one, stared at me, as if trying to calculate something. I walk over to them and crouch down. The alternate-colored Eevee, the male, looked like he was going to step in.

"Hey..."

Eevee stared up at me, still silent. Her eyes were blank, still debating about me, or something. That is, until something shuffled in my bag.

Oh yeah, the Pikachu...

Wait. The Pikachu?!

I forgot to return him to the wild! Oh no oh god oh for God's or Arceus' or whatever deity rules above this region how could I forget?!

Pikachu jumped out of the bag and landed on the ground. Both Eevees went on guard until he proceeded to talk to female Eevee in incomprehensible Pokemon talk, which really was just their names.

"Hey Nadia, whatcha doin-oh."

Jake came up behind me, then noticed the Eevee/Pikachu conversation with Scorbunny just listening. Eevee did open up though, talking to Pikachu excitedly. The shiny just sat there, making sure everything is alright.

"Yeah, I kinda got into a small staring contest with these Eevee, and then I forgot to release Pikachu so I guess he's coming along?" I elaborated, looking between Jake and my Pokemon.

"Oh. Okay. We should go challenge the gym in the morning." Jake reminded me.

"Yep. Got it."

Apparently satisfied with my nonchalant answer, Jake disappeared into the house again. One of the residents, a woman, came out to give the Eevee their dinner, I think. All of the Eevee went to the woman, except for the two conversing with my Pokemon.

The woman noticed, because when she finishes feeding everyone else, she walks up to me. "I think the Eevees know you're trustworthy. After all, they would have run off by now if you weren't." She explained, giving two bowls for the Eevees and two extras for my own Pokemon. They munched the food happily.

"Um...about that kind of uh..." I trailed off, not really sure how to call it.

"Those two are extremely close, ever since they were born. Apparently, the others didn't take an albino Eevee too well, and the other was...I believe the word was transgender."

Misgendering, even in Pokemon? That's...new.

The woman must've saw this confusion and revelation, because she chuckled. "This happens a bit more often than you'd think. Anyway, after they both figured out they were going to be outcasts, they decided to be best friends. They've never left each other's sides ever since."

I look at the two Eevees. They were happily conversing with Pikachu and Scorbunny through food, which I found to be endearing.

I look at the woman again. "Can I take them with me?"

The other nods. "As long as it's okay with the both of them, yes. I think you've proved enough, though." She smiles, then leaves.

I fish out three Pokeballs and hold them out to Pikachu and the two Eevees. They looked at me, and then at each other. The Eevees accepted the capture, but Pikachu couldn't go in the Pokeball. Pikachu dug through my bag and found a Pokeball and held it up. I realized by then that Pikachu had pretty much already caught himself.

Well, then.

That night, I laid in bed, wondering how the heck I got into this predicament. Let's see...

I was tired, I wished upon the moon or something, then I ended up here.

I mean, according to a couple of things like anime, it's technically an isekai.

I just got isekai'd here, and I don't think I can go back.

Oh well, Angel's gonna have to live on her own...sort of.

I roll onto my side. I decided to pretty much just accept my fate, like many other isekai characters...although, I'd really like to find my way back.

Anyway, the next morning we set off, waving goodbye and thank you to the family, and headed to the gym. Jake decided to do something else, though, and ran off before I could stop him and ask him to explain himself. Waiting for him was gonna be too long, so I just entered without him.

Some bellhop noticed me and jogged over when I entered what looked like a club. "You there, are you a member or a challenger?"

I blinked, then answered, "Challenger."

The guy nods. "What ya gotta do over there, is step on these red tiles till they're all green. Ya can't step on an already green tile or it will reset the board. Got it?"

I nod. The bellhop moves back to where he was standing. I look at the board in front and decided that this challenge isn't so hard.

After each board was cleared, was a trainer. Each trainer had an opportunity to wear my Pokemon down before I got to the Gym Leader, making it harder for me to defeat him. However, I managed to get through a lot of them by constant switching, and just using Pikachu's Quick Attack most of the time.

When I got to the Gym Leader, he was on the DJ set, switching the vinyl disks. When he finishes, he looks up and at me. "Hey there," He starts, "You here for the Gym Challenge?"

I nod. "Yeah."

The man smiles and sets down his headphones. He presses a button and I suddenly feel myself falling down...onto a battlefield. Well, there was a cushion there, so I landed on that.

The Gym Leader lands on the opposite cushion and jumps off of it. "This is to ensure that nobody gets hurt up there, and so the building stays intact."

I slide off of the cushion as well. "That's pretty convenient," I remark, already fiddling Pikachu's Pokeball.

"Yep. By the way, my name is Chad. Nice to meet you." Chad introduces himself. "Now, my club has a reputation to uphold, so I keep my challenges hard to beat. You ready?"

I nod, and we both send out our first Pokemon. Chad sends out Shinx while I send out Pikachu.

"Shinx, use Charge!"

"Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!"

As Shinx powers itself up, Pikachu sends a wave of electricity at the other Pokemon, which does less damage because of its electric typing. Shinx shrugs it off.

"Now use Charge Beam!"

"Dodge using Quick Attack!"

Shinx sends a large beam of electricity at Pikachu, meant to do more damage than it normally would. However, Pikachu manages to dodge it and barrels straight into Shinx.

"Now use Tackle!"

Shinx uses the opportunity to charge at Pikachu at the very close distance and dealt damage. At the end of that, Pikachu's health was red due to the previous battles.

"Pikachu, return! Scorbunny, go!"

I returned Pikachu and Scorbunny jumped into action. Due to Route 3, she had learned Quick Attack and Double Kick in replacement of Tackle.

"Okay, Shinx. Use Charge again!"

Shinx started charging himself up again.

"Use Ember to try and disrupt it!"

Scorbunny sent flames at the Electric-type, but it did virtually nothing to stop the opposing Pokemon.

"Now use Charge Beam!"

"Dodge with Quick Attack!"

Shinx sent out Charge Beam faster than Scorbunny could dodge, but the latter got away enough to only be bruised with the attack.

"Use the Quick Attack to get up close, then use Double Kick!"

Scorbunny ran towards Shinx, then kicked the other Pokemon twice. Shinx, who couldn't escape, fainted in an instant.

"Shinx, return! Pikachu, go!"

Chad's Pikachu appeared. Scorbunny's feet tossed up flaming debris as she got ready to fight.

"Quick Attack again!"

"Thunder Wave!"

Pikachu sent static at Scorbunny, who got caught up in it. Paralysis took hold of the Fire-type, and she stopped moving.

"Scorbunny! Can you get up?" I called. Scorbunny seemed to struggle, but called back in reassurance.

"Quick Attack!" Chad commanded.

"Double Kick!" I countered.

When Pikachu got in close, Scorbunny used all her strength to break through the paralysis and kick Pikachu's face twice, which sent the other flying.

"Use Charge Beam!"

"Try to dodge it!"

Pikachu sent out a weaker Charge Beam than Shinx, due to the lack of Charge beforehand. Scorbunny succumbed to the paralysis, and got hit by the attack.

"Are you okay?" I called out again. Scorbunny makes no response, but manages to get up again.

"Use Charge Beam again!"

Pikachu readies another beam of electricity, and I panic, since I don't think Scorbunny could take another hit.

"Can you use Quick Attack?"

Scorbunny breaks through the paralysis again, and charged at the opposing Pokemon. The attack hits, and Pikachu is interrupted from using the move. His health drops to the lesser yellow.

A clash of Quick Attacks later saw Scorbunny as the victor. Chad returns Pikachu and walks to the middle of the battlefield.

"That was some great battling. You deserve this badge." He hands over a golden badge with two lightning bolts coming out from the sides.

"Thank you," I replied and pocketed the badge somewhere.

"And a Technical Machine, which contains my signature move Charge Beam." He hands over a circular disc. I thank him and pocket the disc as well.

The battlefield disappears, and suddenly I'm going upwards. I get greeted with the club's blue interior and neon lights.

"Thanks for stopping by my club. Challengers like you always energize the other members," Chad remarks as he returns to his spot at the DJ set. "Thank you for that entertaining battle as well."

I nod thank you as well, and make my way out of the club.