Pewter City

The photos were, apparently, going to be taken in an alley next to the shop. The desk lady led Finch and his two Pokemon outside and to the brick side of the building, and then reached into her bag to produce a spray can. In moments, there was a store logo sprayed right onto the wall, and she swapped cans to finish it off with a flourish, still looking bored and almost annoyed. It didn't seem like the art took her any effort whatsoever.

"Alright, here. You, I'll put you... here." She picked up Valentine, who was too shocked and potato-like to struggle, and placed her exactly in front of the wall where she wanted her. The Nidoran just stood there, frozen, either to help take the photo or from the surprise of someone just moving her like a brick.

Fritter was placed just above the newly spray-painted store logo, and the lady gently moved his arms so that his shining stingers were pointed in a menacing way. Snapping her gum, the lady said, "Wait here, I gotta get the camera."

Finch had to admire her no-nonsense approach, even if he was questioning of her methods.

Poke Job Tier 2, Shoe Retailer
Double Kicks!, Post 3

A few days later, Finch was passing by Double Kicks! when he remembered the weird modeling shoot he'd had his Pokemon do, and he entered the shop, hoping that the same clerk was on the desk today. Sure enough, she was behind the desk with a different magazine and munching on what had to be the loudest, crunchiest candy Finch had ever heard from a distance.

"Hi, I'm here to-"

"Yeah, yeah, here's your photo. And you can have the flyer I made with it too, I guess, there's some there in the pile." She all but threw a manila envelope at Finch, motioning to the haphazard stack of flyers on the desk by the door. He shrugged, took his envelope and grabbed a flyer, stepping outside to check it out, since inside the shop was a little too dark to see by. He wondered vaguely how she could read in that bad lighting.

Once outside, he slipped a gorgeous photo of Valentine and Fritter out of the big envelope, in awe of how beautifully it had come out. It wasn't his style, bricks and spray paint and splatters, but it did really show off the style of the Pokemon. The shoe had been superimposed in on the crate next to Valentine and looked amazing, for being edited in after the photo, and fit in as though it was a real physical object in the photo. Finch was astounded. He still didn't want to come back to the shop, and the lady hadn't been super pleasant to interact with, but damn if she wasn't a phenomenal artist.

Poke Job Tier 2, Shoe Retailer
Double Kicks!, Post 5

Valentine gained 12 exp!
Fritter gained 12 exp!

Valentine grew to level 16!
Fritter grew to level 12!
Valentine evolved into Nidorina!

Fritter wanted to try the next one on his own, which happened to be a wild Pidgey. Valentine was feeling protective, but Fritter didn't let her take his place this time, trying out the move Fury Cutter for the first time and decimating the wild bird in two attacks. Valentine was impressed. Finch was also impressed, but he'd known Fritter was strong, of course. He gave the two of them Potions to bring their health back up to full before moving on with more training for the day, letting them both rest for a good ten minutes, even if they didn't want to.

Pidgey level 11 appeared!
Fritter used Fury Cutter!
Pidgey (50/90) used Tackle!
Fritter (50/90) used Fury Cutter!
Pidgey was defeated!

Fritter gained 7 exp!

Yet another wild female Nidoran attacked, and Finch actually sent Valentine out to replace Fritter before she could bowl him out of the way this time. He knew now that Fritter didn't really have any attacks that would do significant damage to a wild Nidoran before it could take him down, and less experience was better than being knocked out entirely. Valentine, naturally, had no trouble fighting off the wild Nidoran, and snorted confidently as it fled to lick its wounds post-battle.

Valentine was getting to be one of Finch's strongest Pokemon, but as he took a casual look at his Pokedex to see his party's growth, he noticed something very odd about Radiance's information. She seemed to be getting way stronger for some reason, and was more than halfway to evolving into a Charizard already. That was odd, Finch thought as he took a look. He decided to head back into town to have the Pokemon Center give her a quick examination, when they had the time to do that, to make sure it wasn't something he had to worry about.

Nidoran level 10 appeared!
Fritter swapped out with Valentine
Nidoran used Scratch!
Valentine (80/120) used Water Pulse!
Nidoran (10/70) used Scratch!
Valentine (40/120) used Water Pulse!
Nidoran was defeated!

Fritter gained 3 exp!
Valentine gained 3 exp!

The nurse called Finch into the exam room, and he and Radiance stepped inside. After a short physical examination, the Nurse figured out what was going on and gave a small chuckle.

"So, there's no major problem here, but it turns out your Charmeleon had Pokerus. We don't know a lot about how it works yet, but I found the remains of a few of them in her scales. These little critters are actually beneficial to a Pokemon's growth in a few ways, but it seems like they've already died off, so the 'infection' is over. Absolutely nothing to be worried about, and it can't be spread anymore either."

Finch was fascinated by this idea. "Is the Pokerus a kind of Pokemon?" he wondered aloud. "We're not sure, honestly. We just know that they never harm the host, they operate a lot like parasites but die off after a certain amount of time. Sometimes the Pokemon carries the effects forever, sometimes only during the 'infection' period. At any rate, your Charmeleon is probably better than fine, her strange behavior must have been due to her sudden power increases!"

Finch double checked the address he had saved to his 'Dex with surprise. It was the right place, for sure, but he hadn't realized that there were any big farms anywhere near Pewter City. He approached the small blue farmhouse and knocked at the door, and a large woman in a dark green dress with a cream apron opened it, showing dimples as she smiled at the boy.

"Oh, hello there! Are you here about the wanted ad?"

Finch smiled back and agreed that he was, and the woman nodded, looking him over. "Well, you're a bit scrawny, pardon me, but I'll bet you have some strong Pokemon on your side, eh?"

"Well, I've got one that's strong to help, and one that needs a bit of training yet. Will that do?"

"Certainly! That's as good a way as any to train em up when they're young, I think. I'm no trainer myself, but I've seen lots of ya come an' go."

Finch released his new Eevee and his Wigglytuff, Debbie, from their Poke Balls, and the woman led them right over to the fields.

Poke Job: Vegetable Farm
Wigglytuff and Eevee
Post 1/5 (Good)

Once back in town, Finch made sure his team was healed up and brought everyone out to have lunch together. They were a bit cramped in the tiny Pokemon Center room, what with having a Charmeleon, Nidorina, Wigglytuff, Clefable, Beedrill, and Eevee all in one tiny space, but they all enjoyed their egg salad sandwiches and corn chips and lemonade.

Back out to keep on doing trainerly things, Finch took his Pokemon down to the route south of Pewter once again. While there, he spotted a bright purple egg, seemingly abandoned beneath a tree, and picked it up. He wondered what kind of Pokemon could be inside, but figured he'd take a bit of a look around for any mother Pokemon or trainer that might be missing the egg.

After a short while, he decided it was definitely in need of a home, shrugged, and used a Poke Ball to send it back to the PC for now. He'd try to hatch it later.

It seemed like it would prove to be quite an eventful day as an oversized Jigglypuff with bright yellow eyes and a long dark pink ponytail came floating out of nowhere. Finch wondered if it was some kind of weird shiny Pokemon, but upon checking the Pokedex he found that it had no idea what this thing was. Heart pounding hard with the thought of discovery, Finch threw a Poke Ball, fingers crossed for a quick capture, and got exactly what he wanted when the ball dinged success. An Egg and a weird new Pokemon all at once was crazy lucky!

Shiny Labor Day egg and New Year's Scream Tail claimed!

Finch's temporary streak of great luck petered out as he and Dusty couldn't find any more wild Pokemon to battle with at the moment. Instead, they jogged around in circles to no avail for a while, Dusty kicking up dirt from her pelt and the ground and getting it on Finch when he wasn't fast enough to avoid the airborne dust. They were having a great time, but it was annoying that no Pokemon would show up to fight when they wanted to train.

Eventually, they stopped running for a rest, panting and sitting down in the grass. Finch checked on his 'Dex to see when his new device would arrive, and groaned when he saw that it was still at least a week out from arrival here at the Pewter Pokemon Center. To be fair, he'd ordered the latest device straight from the company in Hoenn, which was far enough from Kanto that without modern day delivery methods it would have taken at least a month or two to arrive. He daydreamed about just going to Hoenn to pick it up himself, but that was silly, it was already on the way and he'd never find the right ship, truck, train, or whatever they were using to deliver.

While back in town to heal Dusty, Finch happened to spot a brand new ice cream shop with no real crowd outside. It appeared to be open but there was nobody around. He wasn't sure if it was because it was on the far side of town and nowhere near anything residential or if it was because nobody knew it was open yet, but he decided to take a look inside and check it out.

Within the shop, there were a few small, round tables with matching chairs that had pink cushions and blue metal edges. The counter was striped in pastel colors, with a big glass display window hiding the ice cream shelf behind it. It seemed all fine until Finch saw the owner struggling with a large, horse-like Pokemon. It had a horn, a long flowing mane in pastel colors, and a huge pair of white wings. The shop owner had a rope around the Pokemon's neck and was trying to lead it forward, but it kept rearing up and crying out and it looked quite upset.

"Oh gosh hi, so I don't know what its problem is, but I ordered this Rapidash for my shop opening and it keeps trying to headbutt the kids, it won't let them pet or ride on it and - whoa!! - I just want it out of here now, honestly, it wasn't worth all this hassle!"

Finch blinked at the sudden explanation for the HORSE in the ICE CREAM SHOP, startled by the whole situation, but he kept his cool. "Er. So it's your Pokemon? Or..? It doesn't matter I guess."

He leapt forward to help wrangle, or soothe, or something, the Rapidash, but it kept bucking and trying to pull the rope from the peoples' hands. It was hard to keep hold of it at all.

Eventually Finch got fed up and yelled, "Is this your Pokemon or like a rental or something?" 

"Ah!! I bought it online but figured I'd just keep it out back, I'm no trainer!"

Knowing that the poor upset Rapidash was unowned by an official trainer, Finch quickly reached into his bag for a ball and tossed it. It shook many times but finally gave the telltale glow of a capture.

"Here.. Maybe now it'll calm down. I'll take it outside for a moment and see."

Finch went out and released the big horse, and though it snorted and stamped, it was a lot more relaxed than moments prior. "There, there, it's all good big fella." Finch stroked its nose, and it looked into his eyes with beautiful full-lashed purple eyes.

He turned to lead the Pokemon back inside without the rope, handing the rope back to the lady. "I think it's all good now, did you still want her to stay?

She hesitated, then nodded. "Maybe you could.. go deliver some ice cream with her? I've got this Vulpix too, it's much tamer, and honestly you can just have it, I won't be doing deliveries after today.."

A white Vulpix stepped out from behind the counter. Finch caught it in another ball with zero struggle.

Claiming Alolan Vulpix and Galarian Rapidash!
Swapping out Valentine and Fritter
Ice Cream Shop job
Rapidash and Vulpix
Post 1/5 (Good)