After returning to the maintenance shaft from the make-shift battlefield, I started thinking about my next steps.
I am currently too weak to even stand near a Pokémon battle between two moderately powerful Pokémon, so I will have to train myself both mentally and physically.
In the last couple months, I had regularly trained for a couple of hours to increase my stamina, but the hard truth is I am still too weak.
It can't be helped that I am only about ten years old. Despite what was shown in the anime and the movies, a ten-year-old's body tires way too quickly.
Forget transversing forests and regions, I can't walk for more than a couple of hours without exhausting every square inch of my body.
Next, my attention went to Pokémon.
I realised, I don't know anything about the relationship between humans and Pokémon in this world.
I don't know whether there are Poké Balls, Pokemon Centres, Pokemon Battles, Gyms, or Leagues.
If I want to become the strongest Pokémon trainer I dreamt of in the past, I need to challenge and win the Leagues, but I am not even sure there are Leagues in the first place.
I soon realised I would have to leave this place; I would have to find human settlements soon. Although I was excited, the thought of leaving my make-up family saddened me. But, before I could actually leave this forest, I would have to be able to survive in the wilderness alone.
I soon realised that it would be impossible for my current self, even with years of training, to be able to compete with powerful Pokémon like the mother Zeraora.
Then, it hit me, I am not on Earth, I don't have to rely on just myself, in this world, there are Pokémon, I just have to find a way to make them come with me on my journey through the world. I also quickly realised I need to intensify my training. I also need to keep practicing my martial arts.
I looked at my training regime, ten laps around the abandoned maintenance shaft and shadow fighting with the moves I could remember.
In all of my knowledge of reading light novels, if there is one thing I have learnt, it is to start training from a small age so that one can become powerful very young.
So, now that I have decided to update my training routine, I need to intensify my training. Also, I need to drill the long-forgotten moves into my muscles.
To get through the forest alive and without harm,
I will need to have some very good reflexes for dodging any attacks that are sent my way,
I will need to have some decent stamina so that I can run away to safety when needed,
and a strong enough physical body to be able to last with all the stress in the forest.
I will also need good enough mental strength and stamina, and most importantly, I need to have some reliable Pokémon friends.
I can't make them my Pokémon, because I don't know if Poke Balls even exist in this world, also the fact that I don't have any Poke Balls with me. And, I have literally no idea how to make one.
So, the only thing I can do is make friends with the Pokémon, and hope they will come along with me, sharing my dream.
In my stay here in the last four months, I have made friends with all the electrical Pokémon living in the shaft. I have also made friends with a couple of other Pokémon.
My first friend was a timid but cute Bunnelby. It was a small, timid creature, and it was the most cautious stalker at first, always observing me from a distance. It was the master of foraging. I soon realized it had a favorite spot for digging up roots and a very good sense for finding small, edible plants. After some time, when it got used to me, it would often come to give its collection to me for safeguarding them from other Pokémon while it went on its next digging trip.
The second Pokémon was a curious and brave Shinx. Its golden eyes were like a mini-LED light in the darkness of the shaft, and its fur often sparked with tiny, crackling bits of static electricity. Its eyes were the most interesting part of the Pokémon. I remember in the anime it was said that Shinx and its evolved form, Luxray, had X-Ray vision, giving them the ability to see through walls and faraway in the wilderness. The Shinx would sit with me as I ate my foraged berries with the little Zeraora, its tail twitching as it watched me.
As I was thinking about Shinx, I realized that its strong eyes, coupled with its X-Ray vision, would really help me be aware of other wild Pokémon from far away. It would make the perfect scout. It's perfect resourcefulness paired with its curious and brave nature, and also the fact that I seem to have become its friend, it would definitely come along with me on my journey.
As soon as I thought of this, I jumped up from my seat on the ground and ran with full speed towards the inside of the shaft. The little Zeraora who was practising his moves nearby, interested in the sudden change of my behaviour, also started following me, slowing down just enough to my speed.
As I charged inside, I found the brave little Shinx, munching on a thread of broken electric wire. As soon as it saw me, it stopped munching, looking at me as if wanting to know why I was so excited in the first place.
"Do you want to come with me to roam the entire world? Shinx???"
"Shi?"
"Yes, Yes, the whole world, the world outside this shaft, the world outside this forest?"
"Shii Shinnnx", it jumped up and down excitedly.
"Get ready, Shinx, you are going to enjoy this..!!! Hehehe!! ".
"Zeraa??"