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Your first pokemon is Carbink. You find them on accident while playing in the route closest to your house. The route is small, and the trainers that frequent it most often are used to you running around. You trust that you would be safe if you somehow disturbed a low level Pokemon from its nest. You finish your chores early, so you go to run to your friends house down the road and you don't know that the thunderstorm that passed through last night disturbed the dirt path. Instead of sprinting along packed dirt past dainty wildflowers, you slide sideways off the main road down a ledge of mud with a shriek. You land on your tailbone, sore and embarrassed but ultimately undamaged. You cry anyway, because you're young. The sounds are curious enough to attract the attention of the Pokemon disturbed by the small change to the environment.
Carbink chirrups to get your attention, and when you look up from your knees with blurry eyes, they wipe your tears with the soft fluff of their mane. It makes you giggle, and you grab onto the weight and solidity of their rocky, gem-covered body for reassurance. You trade giggles back and forth with the Carbink with shiny eyes, and then the Pokemon helps pull you back up onto the route proper.
You innocently assume Carbink will stay with you, and they do. They follow you the rest of the day. They jump into the pokeball you present to them. They follow you when you begin journeying across the Pledis Region.
The closest gym to your home is in the nearby city. Kim Mingyu's newspaper runs local, regional, and international papers. More importantly, he is well known as a friendly and approachable gym leader for beginners.
You visit his gym with untested confidence, and he accepts your challenge with a charming smile. He notes the number of badges you have, none, and adjusts his team accordingly. His minccino knocks Carbink out easily.
At the Pokemon Center, Carbink wipes at your watery eyes. In turn, you polish the gemstones on their body. You rechallenge Mingyu the very next week, this time with determination instead of false confidence. You win, and it means the world to both you and Carbink. At the time, Mingyu's genuine happiness for you is incredibly inspiring. You later realize that there was barely any strategy involved at the level of the battle you had with Mingyu, and that his gym taught you more about personal character than Pokemon Battling.
The gap between the first and second gyms seems absurd to you. Mingyu told you that Jeon Wonwoo's Library was only a week of travel from his gym. You take his advice, and find a half abandoned town in the center of a creepy forest. The town is dominated by a large and imposing gothic manor. A dilapidated sign denotes the manor as the Regional Library, with a paper taped on that says "Second Life Gym" in careful print.
You almost get lost trying to find Wonwoo. Instead, you catch a Misdreavus who teasingly leads you through the maze of bookshelves. Wonwoo is in a surprisingly sunny room on the top floor, aiming a camera at a wall of first edition history books. When he finally notices you, he explains that his hobby is photographing ghost type Pokemon on film. His job, besides being a gym leader of course, is maintaining the library as both a depository of knowledge and a natural habitat.
He leads you to a plain but carefully maintained battlefield hidden behind the manor. It is bordered by the dark growth of the forest and lit by a flickering lamp post at each corner. He asks you how many badges you have, and you tell him you earned Mingyu's badge with pride.
Once the battle starts Wonwoo's polite friendliness switches to cool focus. His ghastly and Misdreavus knock each other out. His haunter plays with Carbink, layering status effects and confusion before using Hex. Haunter laughs as Wonwoo finishes the battle mercilessly. Then Wonwoo switches back to smiles and quiet friendliness.
He gives you tips on training Misdreavus, and warns you that ghost Pokemon need discipline and structure to balance their playfulness. He even explains that Carbink has the ability Clear Body, so Haunter wasn't able to draw the battle out even longer by messing with Carbink's stats. It's incredibly humbling, and also slightly humiliating. You feel like Wonwoo could beat you in his sleep, and if it wasn't obvious that he was giving you his full attention both in and out of battle, you might think he was condescending.
You quickly find out two things. Firstly, he was right. Misdrevous is playful and curious and almost too wild to control. You don't bother controlling her every action, but instead establish your boundaries and expectations. Secondly, the town isn't actually abandoned at all. There's a vibrant community of researchers and writers hermited in their shacks, and the longer you are in town the more stories you collect from the townsfolk.
The second battle is much more exhilarating. It doesn't feel any easier, and Wonwoo's cold focus is still chilling. However, instead of feeling helpless you feel like an actual challenger. Your battle with Wonwoo is a conversation explaining what you've learned about strategy in general and your Pokemon in particular. After you win, Wonwoo happily gives you both his gym badge, and a Technical Machine to teach Misdreavus the move Will-o-Wisp. He doesn't bother telling you where to go next, but instead tells you which part of the Library holds the Regional Maps and how to make a copy of them.
You double back past Mingyu's city and your own hometown to reach the next gym. Dino is young, and his rise to prominence grew his small town to a bustling city. You find a mash of well maintained cottages and new developments all connected by telephone poles and electrical wires. At the center of the growing city is a Pokemon Daycare and public park, across from which Dino's gym literally glows as a beacon of progress.
You register for a battle appointment with the automated computer outside Dino's gym, and then try to explore the depths of the city. After going down an alley and discovering a literal hole-in-the-wall restaurant with the best dumplings you have ever tasted, you trip over a stray meowth. It mewls pitifully for the bag of leftover food you took with you from the restaurant, and you quickly make a new friend.
Your battle with Dino is exhilarating. His pikachu and heliolisk are blindingly fast, and you only win thanks to Carbink's stamina. Afterwards, Dino carefully explains the effects of evolution stones on different pokemon. You listen carefully even though you don't know why he's teaching you about them until he explains that a Dusk Stone could evolve Misdreavus.
You follow the road out of his city, and adventure over the mountain range to the next route. It leads to a picturesque lake-town filled with hotels, resorts, and an open-air market. The street-meat you bravely buy is so spicy it nearly burns your tongue off. Meowth loves it even though it takes an entire bowl of rice from a nearby to-go restaurant to cool the tears in your eyes.
Meowth loves the entire market. They prowl in between, under, and around stalls to lead you to deals that shock you, and soon your bag is so heavy it makes your arm ache. Meowth proudly jumps onto a flimsy counter to show you a Dusk Stone on sale. You buy it with the last of your money, and leave the market to set up camp at one of the lake beaches reserved for visiting trainers.
Misdreavus and Meowth both evolve that night. Misdreavus evolves with a flash of light as she uses the Dusk Stone. In the ensuing spar with Meowth for the team to adjust to her new body, Meowth evolves into Persian.
The next morning you challenge the local gym with bright confidence. You struggle to find Junhui hiding in the marketplace, and when you do he is behind the counter of a successful hotdog stand. He cheerily hands his tongs off to an assistant and leads you through a shortcut you hadn't noticed back to the lakeshore. There's a simple dirt battlefield bordered by the sounds of the market and gently swaying cattail plants.
Jun's water pokemon wash Carbink away, and you realize that you heavily depend on Carbink more than any other member of your team. You walk away determined to equally train your entire team, but Jun stops you. He suggests that you take some time to explore the market, and even tells you that many stalls will trade for items or labor instead of cash.
Admittedly, you plan on ignoring him, certain that wasting your time in the market can't help you. However, Persian keeps leaving in the middle of team training to lead you and your Pokemon through the Market. Soon you've completed a series of errands and favors in exchange for random items for yourself and your Pokemon. When you help a local fisherman carry his catch from the river to the market, he helps you catch a wild Staryu in return.
You return to challenge Jun with a new appreciation for the wisdom behind the gym leader's impish smile. This time the battle goes much better, partly because of your training, but also because Jun's poliwhirl and luvdisc are weak to the Thunderbolt Technical Machine you used to teach Persian.
Jun happily congratulates you, and even takes you out for celebratory hotpot. His attention is exhilarating and overwhelming. You leave the town with bright steps, and Staryu swims upriver besides you. The route slowly transitions from sunny woodlands to fertile grasslands to the rocky base of the Eight Mountains. You hike upriver and up the mountain.
After a number of days that you don't bother counting, you arrive at the town hustled into the mountain halfway up its bulk. It's a carefully designed balance between rustic cabins and sleek modern buildings. You find a deal in order to stay in one of the empty cabins, and you take the time to enjoy the fresh air of the small town instead of immediately finding the gym.
You find Gym Leader Minghao on accident. Mismagius and Staryu are leading you up the river when you find a small waterfall created by a mountain overhang. The water is crashing down on a bare-chested figure with uncut hair, and he steps out to greet you before you can notice him.
You almost fall into the water before Staryu catches you with Psychic. Minghao kindly explains his philosophy that a trainer requires as much discipline and training as their pokemon. It almost explains what he is doing, but more importantly it flips your understanding of how to train your Pokemon upside down.
The actual battle gym battle against Minghao is appropriately difficult, but not impossible. Staryu defeats Mienshao, and Misdreavus defeats Medicham. Breloom and Hitmontop almost stop your momentum, but you pull out a victory. Minghao gives you a respectful congratulations, and you leave with a quiet sense of success.
Minghao suggests you go through the cave system instead of hiking over the mountain. You happily take his advice and soon arrive in an isolated valley community in time to watch the sunset paint the mountain in beautiful blues and pinks.
When you wake up the next morning you ask a yawning artist getting morning coffee where you can find the gym. You assume he's an artist based on his beanie, ratty tie-dye t-shirt, and streaks of charcoal on his face. He smiles brightly, and you get distracted by his jawline as he leads you down the valley to the town's hot springs. The gym leader doesn't maintain an official building, the stranger explains, but usually accepts challengers out here. Then he introduces himself as Gym Leader Chwe Vernon, and you try and figure out a polite way to ask for proof. The strength of his fire type Pokemon and difficulty of his creative, sideways strategies make you regret your doubt. You burn up your energy in exchange for a victory, and learn to reevaluate your own thinking.
The next gym is a far distance, so you loiter in town for a while. Eventually, you catch a ride on a bus of tourists leaving town. They take you out of the mountains to the bus depot. When you buy a bus ticket you see a figure in the corner of your eye. Carbink doesn't notice anything. While waiting for you bus you see it again. It seems to be getting. closer.
The sableye jumps out of the shadows to try and gnaw on Carbink's gems. You screech and throw a pokeball reflexively, and the Pokemon doesn't fight it. You welcome Sableye to the team with trepidation. The bus arrives shortly afterwards.
The bus you ride drives you all the way to the coast. The port city you arrive at is busy and bright, carpeted in flashing lights and steel skyscrapers. You take Staryu to explore the saltwater beaches, and they find a Water Stone.
After a week in the city you find the Pokemon Gym tucked in between a street level coffee shop and a convenience store. You walk in to find Leader Joshua already waiting for you with a welcoming smile.
The battle is absurdly hard, even with your multiple type advantages. Joshua's chimecho, meowstic, and slowking look cute and relaxed even as their moves rip viciously through your team. More scarily, Joshua seems to battle as if his brain is several moves in the future. When he sends in his last Pokemon, a bronzong, Persian struggles through a Trick Room and Future Sight to continue battling.
You actually ask, because you can't hold back your curiosity. Joshua denies having any psychic powers or extrasensory perception, or even unusual luck, and tosses the gym badge you won into the air for you to catch. You catch it, barely, and you find his teasing smile sweet and charming even though you're still sweaty from the battle.
You follow the coast down south to the next city. Its peaceful and gorgeous, with the ocean on one side and swaying grass fields to the other. Eventually the grass switches to carpets and carpets of flowers, and you watch combee dance through the skies. Carbink and Mismagius mimic the bugs in the twilight each night, while you cheer them on. Sableye and Persian goes to sleep early. Starmie twinkles at night to reflect the clear stars above. Eventually the same young combee joins your Pokemon in their dance every night, and she becomes a naturally accepted part of the team. You give her some focused training to help evolve into a powerful Vespiquen.
The fields of flowers give way to repeated series of sprawling farms, and you start moving inland. Eventually you hit a small town that obviously services the surrounding agricultural industry. The local berries you buy are delicious, and overwhelmingly tasty.
The gym is a bright and clean building in the center of town. It features stadium seating and the battlefield is a stage. You feel anxiety in your gut at performing for a crowd instead of holding a normal battle. The receptionist that schedules your battle is an ethereal beauty, and they try to reassure you with a multitude of different pieces of advice and platitudes. Ultimately, your goal is the official Pokemon League, which is televised to a much broader audience anyway. You convince yourself that you can handle it. That you have to handle it.
The angelic receptionist is the gym leader. Jeonghan introduces himself to the crowd first, and then throws a wink at your surprised face. His fairy type Pokemon twirl across the stage with laughter and misdirection that makes you feel like Jeonghan is reading a script you never got to learn. Your Pokemon are well trained, and pick up the slack in your orders. The battle comes down to luck and improvisation, and the adrenaline flooding your veins blocks out the small audience. You win.
You win, and you have collected all eight badges. You laugh, ecstatic, and join Jeonghan's storytelling of your journey to the audience. The handful of local farmers and visiting families clap and cheer politely. Carbink twirls happily at your side.
The Pledis Region Victory Road cuts through the Eight Mountains, and leads to a hidden valley that holds the Pokemon League building. You get lost in the maze of caves and hiking trails, until Carbink suddenly perks up and spins excitedly. They dart under an overhang and through a cave you hadn't noticed before you can follow. You rush after your first Pokemon.
Up ahead you hear high pitched chattering, the tumble of rocks, and a light giggling voice. The tunnel you're climbing through suddenly opens up into a large cavern that spirals downward, criss crossed with solid rock bridges that look unreal. Blue crystals larger than a person glow faintly from phosphorescent moss. Carbink is excited talking at a floating crystal Pokemon that looks like a pink evolution of your pokemon. They identify themselves as Diancie, a legendary, speaking directly into your mind. You move to bow respectfully, but they stop you. Instead, you spend the rest of the day telling stories of your adventures with Carbink, and spend the night sleeping in Diancie's cavern.
The next morning the pokemon is gone. Carbink leads you over a bridge to a different exit from the cavern, and you can't understand the chittering answers to your questions about yesterday.
You find your way to the Pokemon League through a mixture of skill, determination, and luck. You march up to the large Coliseum styled building and walk through the front doors to a grand foyer. Your team are healed up and you're allowed to buy from the League's on-site store before you begin your final challenge. The Elite Four and the League Champion are infamous, imposing, but you are confident that you can achieve victory. You have to prove yourself to them to gain access to the Pokemon League Tournament.
Boo Seungkwan is your first opponent. He meets you in your waiting room, and leads you down several gently curving hallways to a large room. You're shocked that the coliseum building is large enough to contain the indoor battlefield, with a raised ceiling and exposed industrial air vents. Seungkwan's team of versatile flying type Pokemon are cohesive and vicious. He bounces between tailwinds and u-turn attacks from pokemon like chatot to vicious attacks from pokemon like masquerain and talonflame. Seungkwan himself uses a variety of vicious, speedy, intelligent strategies that you scramble to keep up with. Carbink and Persian pull you through.
Seungkwan compliments you with a joke, and gestures you towards a simple hallway to the side. It leads towards a series of stairs heading underground, and you find yourself in a cobblestone room with a skylight that must be level with the ground outside. Inside you recognize the trainer playfully chasing a mudbray as Lee Seokmin. Trainer and Pokemon both stop to happily greet you, and you introduce yourself shyly. Seokmin smiles like the sun as his ground type Pokemon persistently, determinately, unwaveringly charge into battle with force and precision. You dig your heels in and carve out a victory, and smile up at the clear sunlight from the glass roof. Seokmin's Pokemon cheer for you from the sidelines: his mudbray stomps the ground, his quagsire slow claps, his dugtrio rumbles the ground, his flygon vibrates their wings in a happy chitter, and his nidoqueen and nidoking both roar excitedly. Seokmin claps your back, hard, and pulls you towards the back door.
He leads you up to the first floor and through a maze of hallways. You follow Seokmin's smile with stars in your eyes. He leads you into a dark room that is seemingly filled with the entire night sky. You gasp in wonder, and barely hear Seokmin's farewell.
The false night sky perfectly matches the night sky from your travels across the Pledis Region. Occasionally, a comet zips past. The silver light illuminates the polished tile floor, and red strip lights indicate the exits. A spotlight suddenly turns on over both you and the other person in the room. Kwon Soonyoung introduces himself with drama and intrigue. You're charmed and intimidated, even as you prepare Carbink for a fierce battle. Soonyoung's raw instinct and practiced synchronization with his dark type Pokemon is nearly overwhelming. His bisharp punishingly returns any damage it takes, and his scrafty treats the battle like a dance. Finally, Vespiquen is able to defeat Soonyoung's umbreon, and you bend over to breathe through the adrenaline of keeping up with Soonyoung's fierce abilities.
When you straighten up, Soonyoung's bright smile is right in front of your face. Only long exposure to Misdrevous and Sableye prevent you from reacting to the jump-scare. Soonyoung laughs and leads you through what you have to describe as a space tunnel. The room you walk into is paneled with metal. One corner features a booth with dark glass windows. Jihoon walks out with a yawn. He has a pair of headphones around his neck.
Some League fans joke that Jihoon doesn't sleep. He is a successful music producer and the strongest Steel type trainer in the region. His pokemon form a literal wall preventing you from moving forward. His metagross and aegislash smashes into your team with frightening power. More scarily, your own attacks barely scratch even Jihoon's physically smaller pokemon like klefki and togedemaru. You keep pushing forward, using every strategy including sheer tenacity. Everntually, you win. Jihoon unlocks the door behind him, which reveals a simple staircase. You follow it as Jihoon waves behind you until you reach a closed door.
It opens into bright sunlight, and you realize you're standing on one side of the middle arena of the Pokemon League. You look around at the many seats of the coliseum looming above you, and goggle at how the setting makes the simple dirt battlefield in front of you seem so much bigger and more intimidating than it looks on television.
The small figure of the reigning pokemon champion waves at you from across the field. You jog forward until Choi Seungcheol comes into focus. He accepts your challenge with praise and encouragement. Then his dragon type Pokemon fill the arena. Even with a type advantage Carbink struggles, and it takes strategies that interweave multiple of your Pokemon over multiple moves to finally whittle Seungcheol's team down to his last pokemon. Seungcheol's altaria is a breathtaking beauty, but she's also a monstrous battler in her own right. Seungcheol directs her with ferocious experience and bloodthirsty joy. You win. Somehow, you win, and you scream, cheer, shout, cry with unrestrained joy.