Mesagoza.
The Pokémon Café.
After climbing out of the flying Pokémon taxi, Moon had asked around until she found the place Larry had described.
Pikachu stood on her shoulder, scanning the surroundings with alert eyes.
It was a habit picked up during their time in Kanto.
If anything dangerous was nearby, Pikachu would catch it first.
“Pikachu, it’s okay.” Moon rested a hand on its head.
Walking through Mesagoza, she had noticed how different the atmosphere here felt compared to Kanto.
She had not run into a single Team Rocket member or Pokémon poacher the entire way.
Paldea had a settled, peaceful quality that Kanto had long since lost.
“This must be the place Larry mentioned.”
Moon stopped at the entrance, looked up at the sign above the door, and pushed her way inside with Pikachu still perched on her shoulder.
“One, two…”
She counted from the entrance inward and at the second table found exactly what Larry had described: a young man with a briefcase, drinking coffee.
Moon hesitated at a distance.
After a moment she opened her friends list and sent a message.
Moon: Larry, I’m at the Pokémon Café.
Is the man at the second table with the briefcase and the black suit and tie the NPC you meant?
At the table, Naoki’s hand stilled slightly around his cup.
He turned his head as though by chance and spotted her almost immediately.
A girl in a short skirt, around thirteen or fourteen, looking somewhat worn around the edges but with eyes that were strikingly bright and fixed directly on him.
He sent back a quiet confirmation and watched her start walking over.
He arranged his expression into something appropriately puzzled.
“Can I help you?”
“Hello, Mr.
Naoki.” Moon straightened up with visible nerves.
“I’m a Trainer from the Kanto region.
My name is Moon.
I’d like to join the Paldea League.”
“Join the Paldea League?” His expression did not change.
“The League doesn’t accept just any Trainer who walks through the door.”
“We only extend invitations to those who meet our standards.
The standard process requires an assessment of your abilities, and we also need to verify your identity.
We take precautions against individuals misrepresenting themselves to gain entry.”
“That’s completely fine.” Something in Moon’s chest loosened.
Paldea already felt safer than Kanto, where Team Rocket had eyes inside the League itself.
Naoki stood and picked up his briefcase.
“Come with me.
We’ll go to the League headquarters.”
“Yes, of course!”
Moon hurried after him and quietly opened her friends list on the way.
Moon: Larry, I met the NPC.
We’re walking to the Paldea League headquarters right now.
The reply came quickly.
Larry: Don’t be nervous.
Just show them everything you’ve got.
Moon: I will!
They made their way north from the café and reached the League building without much delay.
Naoki led Moon to a room the Paldea League used specifically for assessing new Trainer candidates.
The examiner was not Hassel, the Elite Four member who handled assessments in the game, but a composed woman who looked to be around thirty.
“Name,” she said, glancing at Moon.
“Moon.” Moon gave her player ID without hesitation.
The examiner’s expression shifted slightly.
Though given that the League currently had someone on staff who went by “Unbeatable LOL King,” Moon was frankly on the normal end of the scale.
“Age.”
“Fourteen.”
“Home address.”
“Viridian City, Kanto region.
I grew up in an orphanage there.
No parents.”
Another child with a hard start.
The examiner gave her a brief look of quiet sympathy, then pulled up a search on her terminal and ran Moon’s details.
Everything matched exactly what she had said.
“We’ll now conduct an assessment of your abilities.” The examiner stood and reached for a Poké Ball at her hip.
“You’ll battle me using your Pokémon.”
Moon glanced instinctively at Naoki.
He gave her a small nod.
“Don’t be nervous.
You don’t need to win this.
Just give it everything you have.”
Moon nodded.
She thought of Larry, who had been guiding her from behind the scenes this whole time.
She thought of Gastly, who had stayed behind so she could escape.
She closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them again, the uncertainty was gone.
She had always been a casual player, someone who wandered and explored without any particular drive to get stronger.
That had changed.
She wanted to be strong now.
Strong enough to find a Legendary Pokémon.
Strong enough to bring Gastly back.
“I’m ready.”
She raised Pidgeotto’s Poké Ball and released her.
The examiner studied the Pokémon that appeared before her.
This Pidgeotto was not ordinary.
Her gaze was sharp and her presence carried a weight that had nothing to do with training drills.
That kind of bearing only came from fights where the stakes were real.
A warrior, the examiner thought.
This Pidgeotto is a genuine warrior.
“Good.” The examiner released her own Pokémon.
A Kilowattrel, one of Paldea’s native Flying-types, hovered in the air with arcs of electricity crackling across its feathers.
Naoki stayed where he was at the edge of the field, watching quietly.
Type-wise, Pidgeotto was at a disadvantage against an Electric-type.
He was curious how Moon would handle that.
The air in the room shifted.
Kilowattrel beat its wings and released a sharp cry, electricity dancing along its body.
“Begin.” The examiner moved first.
“Kilowattrel, Quick Attack.”
Kilowattrel’s body became a streak of blue light, electricity trailing behind it as it surged directly at Pidgeotto.
“Pidgeotto, dodge with Agility!”
Pidgeotto threw her wings open and accelerated sideways in an instant, clearing Kilowattrel’s attack by a clean margin.
She came back around in a smooth arc, eyes fixed on her opponent, the instincts shaped by every desperate fight she had survived keeping her completely steady.
Naoki’s brow shifted slightly.
Moon’s reaction had been fast, and she had not panicked despite the type disadvantage.
“Good,” the examiner said, and pressed forward.
“Thunderbolt.”
Kilowattrel’s wings beat hard.
Dense electricity gathered between its feathers and discharged in a thick yellow bolt that spread across most of Pidgeotto’s available airspace.
No room to dodge.
“Air Cutter.”
Pidgeotto drew together a blade of compressed wind and sent it cutting directly into the oncoming electricity.
The two forces met with a sharp crack and burst apart in a flash of light and turbulence that rolled outward across the room.
When it cleared, both Pokémon were still airborne.
Kilowattrel had lost some composure.
Pidgeotto had taken a glancing hit from the discharge and was showing it, but her fighting spirit had not dimmed at all.
“Strong sense of rhythm,” the examiner said, approval evident now.
“You and your Pokémon read each other well.
Let’s see what you’re really made of.
Kilowattrel, Hurricane.”
Wind tore through the room with sudden, overwhelming force, sending loose items skidding and Pidgeotto struggling to hold her position.
Moon bit her lip.
The image of Gastly going down flashed through her mind.
Then Larry’s voice, steady and guiding throughout everything that had led her here.
She breathed in.
“Pidgeotto, charge into the wind.
Use Agility to build speed, then hit it with Return.”
Pidgeotto did not retreat.
She turned into the storm and began to climb, feathers tearing loose around her as her speed built higher and higher with each passing second.
Then she became a streak of white light and drove straight through the hurricane directly at Kilowattrel.
Naoki’s eyes moved.
Return.
A move that drew its power from the bond between Trainer and Pokémon.
The stronger that bond ran, the harder it hit.
Using speed to compensate for a strength gap and closing the distance for a direct exchange was a bold choice.
“Kilowattrel, hold on.”
The collision was audible.
Kilowattrel was thrown backward by the impact and hit the ground hard, struggling to rise.
The wind died down.
The room went still.
Pidgeotto landed, her chest rising and falling.
She held herself upright long enough to look across at Kilowattrel, and then her legs gave out beneath her.
Kilowattrel was hurt but still standing.
Pidgeotto was not.
Naoki watched and quietly revised his estimate upward.
That Kilowattrel was at minimum Gym Leader-level strength.
Even for the talent-rich Paldea League, having an examiner at that tier was a statement.
The examiner recalled her Pokémon and looked at Moon with undisguised appreciation.
“That’s enough.
Battle concluded.
Your ability, your situational judgment, and the bond between you and your Pokémon all meet the League’s recruitment standard.”
The tension went out of Moon’s shoulders all at once.
A bright smile broke across her face.
Naoki walked over.
“Congratulations.
You’ve passed.
We’ll handle the registration paperwork now, and after that you’ll be an official member of the Paldea League.”
“That’s amazing!” Moon clenched her fist, the relief hitting her in a wave.
She pulled up her friends list immediately.
Moon: Larry, I got in.
I’m officially part of the Paldea League now!
…
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