"Please, you have to treat my Charmander!"
Asher rushed back into the Pokémon Center, his voice tight with urgency as he pleaded for help.
Flare had taken one punch from Elekid and gotten zapped so hard its head fur stood on end and its eyes rolled back.
This definitely didn't look like the kind of injury you could fix with a quick spray of medicine and a night's sleep...
Behind the counter, Nurse Joy put on her standard professional smile and delivered the usual line.
"You're a trainer registered with the Kanto League, correct? Then please prepay 3,000 Poké Dollars for medical treatment. Any difference will be refunded or charged later depending on the final cost."
Three thousand?!
Asher only had eight hundred bucks on him. Where was he supposed to get three thousand?
He stammered, "Can I put it on a tab... or, uh, get a loan?"
Nurse Joy kept smiling in silence.
"I'm sorry, but our Poké-Loan program is not currently available to non-Hoenn residents..."
Asher jolted.
He'd only asked casually, but there really was such a thing as a Poké-Loan.
At that critical moment, the same headache-inducing voice rang out again.
"What is this, you can't even afford your Pokémon's medical bill? Since we're both from out of town, I'll cover it for you."
Him.
It was Paul again.
Even though Asher wanted to say, I don't need charity from someone like you, what actually came out was:
"Nurse Joy, what are you waiting for? The money's here. Hurry up and treat my Pokémon!"
Once Flare had been taken into the emergency room, Paul said coldly, "See that? Without money, you can't even heal your Pokémon's injuries. So how exactly are you supposed to be a trainer?"
That was the gap resources created.
Trainers with League-backed credentials could use the local Pokémon Center's medical services for free.
They could train their Pokémon through battle as much as they wanted without worrying about the consequences.
Ordinary people, meanwhile, often couldn't even afford the treatment bill. One bad mistake, and their Pokémon could be left with a pile of lasting problems.
Even after getting hit with another lesson from reality, Asher still refused to soften.
"Hmph. I'll pay you back tenfold."
Paul tucked his bag away and left without another glance.
"Then pay me back with your victory three months from now. Oh, and don't tell me by then you still won't even have the Rustboro Gym Badge."
"..."
Asher had no answer as he watched Paul walk away.
Back then, he'd only said that to help Kagari regain her confidence. It had just been some stubborn trash talk in the moment.
He hadn't even believed his own words, and Paul had actually taken them seriously...
While Flare was staying at the Pokémon Center, an unexpected visitor came by.
"Huh? Kagari... how did you find this place?"
The little purple-haired girl had slipped in quietly and now whispered, "Because when a trainer's Pokémon gets hurt, they come to the Pokémon Center. So I sneaked in to check, and sure enough, you really were here!"
Looking at Flare sprawled on the hospital bed like a corpse with an IV in its arm, Asher awkwardly scratched his head.
"Ahem. Even though we lost by a little, you've got to believe that as long as you work hard, you'll get stronger. We just got started later than he did. We still have plenty of room to improve..."
Kagari shook her head, eyes sparkling.
"No way! Mister, you're already amazing. If I could ever be even half as strong as you, I know I could become an incredible trainer. Mister, would you be my teacher?"
Teacher?
"Heh. Of course. No problem!"
Just like that, chatting casually, Asher broke League rules without even trying.
Within the League, only Gyms and Pokémon academies were allowed to teach trainer techniques.
Privately teaching someone to become a trainer was treated almost like running an illegal militia.
To be fair, Asher wasn't actually trying to become some outlaw...
As someone who'd only arrived in this world not long ago, he still didn't really understand all the League's rules and restrictions.
Because of the gap in culture and mindset, there were some things the League would absolutely forbid that he'd break without a second thought.
Even if he was self-taught and operating completely off-road, Asher had a lot of confidence in his ability to teach.
Well, maybe Flare had given him that confidence...
Kagari lit up.
"That's great! Asher, you're the best!"
[Rotom! Your relationship with Kagari has risen to: "so nice"!]
As they talked, Flare gradually woke up.
The flame on its tail was no longer drooping weakly. It flared back up, burning with vigorous fighting spirit.
"Gah!"
Asher rubbed Flare's big head, feeling a pang of guilt.
Because of one hotheaded decision on his part, his partner had gotten flattened in one punch and wound up laid out like roadkill...
And Flare, for its part, felt guilty over losing. If it had just been a little stronger, Asher wouldn't still be carrying a 100% PvP loss rate...
For a moment, the two of them gazed at each other with mutual sympathy and heartfelt affection, to the point that Kagari's face turned bright red just watching them.
This... this was...
When it came time to check out, Asher received a refund of a little over 1,000 Poké Dollars.
In the Pokémon world, Poké Dollars still had real buying power. It wasn't one of those currencies where everything had a bunch of extra zeros slapped on. A thousand Poké Dollars was about enough to cover a month of expenses for an ordinary family of three.
"Asher, are you staying at the Pokémon Center? How am I supposed to find you later?"
That question completely choked Asher.
There was no way he could afford the Pokémon Center's absurd 300-a-night price.
Was he supposed to say he lived near Devon Corporation?
Seeing the look on his face, Kagari seemed to realize something and smiled.
"Asher, if you don't mind, you can stay at my house for now. That way it'll be easier for me to find you!"
Hearing that, Asher couldn't help sighing in admiration.
This girl was sharp.
Staying at the house of a little girl he'd only just met felt a little embarrassing, but then Asher thought about it again. A teacher staying at a student's house wasn't really that strange.
At least it beat sleeping under an overpass.
So that night, Asher stayed at Kagari's house.
After leaving the Pokémon Center and walking for more than half an hour, they reached an area close to the outskirts, where the family of three was crammed into a place of less than five hundred square feet.
Numel might sound like some big camel, but in reality it was under three feet tall and only weighed a few dozen pounds, about the size of a large dog. Living indoors with people wasn't a problem at all.
It was already past eight, and Kagari's parents still hadn't gotten off work.
The two kids sat in front of the TV watching the evening programs.
The show on screen was called Hoenn Law & Order.
"Team Magma, Hoenn's most dangerous criminal gang, has been sighted repeatedly near Mt. Chimney today. Residents in the surrounding area are advised to stay alert. If you spot any suspicious individuals in red uniforms, contact Officer Jenny immediately..."
"In recent days, a criminal wanted for theft and smuggling of Johto starters crossed illegally from Kanto into Hoenn. If you see the man shown in the sketch on screen, contact Officer Jenny immediately..."
Asher, who had been massaging Flare while listening to the report about a familiar troublemaker from his home region, looked up curiously at the screen.
Then—
"Huh? That red hair looks really familiar... Damn it, isn't that Silver?"
Asher twitched at the corner of his mouth.
Apparently trainer privileges didn't carry across regions, but wanted posters sure did.
Click—
While the two of them were watching TV, the door quietly opened.
"Oh! Kagari, th-this... who is he?"
At the sight of the red-hatted young man on the couch petting an orange-red lizard, Kagari's mother froze in shock.
Asher looked over at the sound of her voice. Kagari's mother was a middle-aged woman with deep lines around her eyes and the exhausted look of someone who had been working far too hard for far too long.
[Rotom... scanning information.]
[Target: Kagari's mother]
[Relationship: ?!]
[Advice: In a situation like this, you should probably explain yourself first...]
Faced with the woman's question, Asher was fully prepared. He held up his trainer license and gave her a calm smile.
"I'm Asher, a pilgrim from Kanto. Kagari and I really hit it off, so I'm staying here for a little while and giving her some pointers. I hope I won't be causing you any trouble."
The moment she heard that, Kagari's mother was both shocked and delighted.
In an instant, her relationship to him changed to: a blessing from heaven.
To an ordinary civilian like her, real trainers were practically nobility. For someone like that to lower himself enough to stay in their home was an honor.
"Oh my, Trainer, listen to you. It's more like I should be asking whether Kagari has been causing you trouble."
Half polite and half honest, Asher replied, "Not at all. Kagari's actually pretty talented. She really might become a trainer someday. While I'm here, I'll do everything I can to guide her."
Kagari's mother just stood there dazed, like she was dreaming.
Their family had moved here from Mt. Chimney. Her greatest hope had always been that her daughter would one day find a decent husband in Rustboro City and settle down for a stable life.
Back then, they had only brought this Numel with them because she couldn't bear to refuse her daughter. At least that way Kagari would have a companion.
She had never once dared imagine that her daughter might actually have a chance to become one of those noble trainers.
Seeing that her mother had come home alone, Kagari asked worriedly, "Mom, is Dad working late again?"
Forcing a tired smile, her mother said, "Yes. The factory's been busier lately, so he's been working overtime all the time. You should get some sleep."
By the time Kagari's father got home, it was already deep into the night and Asher was asleep.
He had worked overtime at the Devon factory until after midnight. When he finally stumbled through the door, he was so exhausted he collapsed straight into bed, barely conscious. He didn't even notice there was an extra person in the house.
Watching how hard Kagari's father pushed himself, Asher couldn't help breaking into a cold sweat. He could vaguely see a shadow of his own previous life in the man...
As the pillar of the household, a father always had to silently carry a lot on his back.
Early the next morning, Asher took Kagari out to grind on the outskirts of Petalburg Woods while giving her a beginner's crash course in becoming a Pokémon trainer.