Booth gives some thought about what pokemon would give him the most benefit. 'I guess I should start with what I want in my pokemon. I want something a beginner can use in a wide variety of situations. That rules out pokemon that are either too slow or have trouble with certain terrains.'
Booth takes a second look at the Pokemon in the area. He judges the attributes of the pokemon, and thinks of what will be good.
'Many of the water pokemon in the pond seem difficult to use on land. That leaves flying and land pokemon. Flying pokemon have better mobility, but are lacking in other things like mass and weight. The land pokemon lack the mobility and speed of many flying pokemon. The biggest problem is I'm too unfamiliar with flying types. Ben said it's mostly a preference, so I guess I should just go with something I understand.'
After looking through the different pokemon for a while longer Booth makes his decision. "I've decided on my pokemon."
"Which will it be?" asks the employee.
"I'll take the Pansear."
"Alright. Here is the pokeball. The pokemon here are familiar with the process, so you should have no trouble if you just want to call out its name."
Booth receives the pokeball and calls out to the pansear. The pansear looks over then climbs towards Booth. It stops a few feet away and waits in front of Booth. The pansear nods, as if encouraging him to go ahead.
"I hope we can learn a lot together, pansear."
The pansear smiles and nods. Booth presses the ball to pansear. In a smooth sequence the pansear shrinks and is sucked into the ball. The light in the center of the pokeball soon turns green to indicate a successful capture.
Ben, who is watching from the side complements Booth, "Very good Booth. Pansear is a great choice. It's a quick pokemon and its fire type is sure to be useful. How did you make your decision?"
"I liked how Pansear has a similar body type, but has things like claws and a tail. Other than that, the fire type seems strong."
"Things like this are better kept simple. Compatibility has helped me out as well. My cousin will be excited to have another trainer on the team. Speaking of which, he says he'll be over to teach you how to use an Integrator after he's finished training."
"Cool, I guess we'll be waiting for the Integrator till then." Booth says
"Right, we can head over there now and wait until the guy comes." Ben replies.
Booth turns to thank the employee. Then he and Ben head over to the lobby of the tiered trainer center to wait for the Integrator seller. When they arrive, Booth asks Ben a couple of general questions related to tiered trainers.
Ben happily gives answers, tiered trainers battles are the most popular form of battles across the world. Even so, being a tiered trainer doesn't make the best money. So, individuals who become tiered trainers either do it as a hobby or find other ways to make money. Most commonly, tiered trainers form teams to share their expenses as well as the benefits.
"So what's the benefit of forming a team?" asks Booth.
"I'd say the greatest reason is for team battles. Team battles are the easiest way to make money battling at a low level, and they pay at least a 100 credits for any official matches your team wins."
"Is that good?"
"Honestly, it's not great. For low ranking trainers it's not bad, but tiered trainer equipment is expensive after all. I'm not really complaining though, no matter how expensive being a tiered trainer was, I wouldn't spend my money any differently!" Ben answers a little awkwardly.
Suddenly another trainer barges in the conversation, "Hahaha, well said! Are you Ben?"
"Yes, that's me. You must be Emmet right?" Ben says.
"That's right, I have the Integrator. It will be 450 credits, feel free to try out the Integrator first."
Emmet hands the Integrator to Ben who then gives it to Booth. Ben instructs Booth on how to use the device, "Bring out your Pansear then put a bit of spit on one of the dna readers, then have your Pansear do the same on the other reader."
"..."
"Come on, stick some spit on it and rub it in." Emmet says with a mocking smile.
"Gosh, you seemed so excited a second ago, this is the fun part!" Ben adds as he smirks.
"I got it, fine." Booth rolls his eyes and does as directed.
Booth wipes some saliva off his tongue with his right finger and wipes it on the right reader, while pansear does the same on the left reader.
"With the hand you shake with!" Ben comments as he and Emmet laugh from the side.
Booth ignores them, while the reader lights up green on both sides. After admiring the device once more Booth begins to test the device. Booth was informed on how to use the Integrator beforehand, so he slides the switch up with his thumb to turn on the device.
As if suddenly immersed in water, Booth is quickly barraged by another set of senses. He tries to make sense of things, but he can't.
Booth frowns. The device is in working condition from what was explained however, so he switches it off.
"I don't really understand what just happened, but in any case, the device works." Booth says.
"Yeah, it's a little much at first. Since everything works, we'll take it." Ben replies. After which Ben sends 450 credits to Emmet's account on his phone.
"I'll be going then. Wish you luck!" Emmet says as he waves the two goodbye.
Booth and Ben wave back. "That's everything done as far as getting started. We can go get some lunch now. My cousin, Damon, has finished his training. He said he will be over for lunch, his treat."
"Let's go with that then."
---
Some time later Booth and Ben meet up with Damon at a restaurant. Damon sees Ben and Booth and greets the two. "Hello, you must be Booth. Welcome to the team, I'm Damon."
"Nice to meet you. I'm glad to be on the team." Booth replies.
"I can help you familiarize yourself with the Integrator after lunch, so let's head in.
During lunch, Damon sets some expectation for joining the team to which Booth readily agrees. With this, Booth's place on the team is finalized.
---
After finishing lunch, Damon and Booth head out to the trainer center to get some practice. Ben goes as well, but goes to do some training by himself.
"Let's get started then. When you turn on your Integrator you are immediately flooded with new senses. You want to use this initial feeling to get a feel of your new body. If you miss this feeling or are too overwhelmed, just turn off the Integrator then start it again until you think you got it."
Booth nods and brings out his pokemon to try for himself. He switches on the Integrator and attempts to catch the feeling. This time he gets something. A wave moves along his new body as if to tell him where everything is. Gradually he can somewhat see the world through Pansear.
"I got it," Booth announces.
"Good. Now give a Pansear a command, but make sure to focus. A good tiered trainer doesn't just give commands, or else they would be no different from a regular trainer. You can take your time, but focus on more than what you can see. Pay attention to things like your footsteps, the temperature, and how the air and ground feel."
With a little exploration and a few quick hours of practice Booth makes some progress with the Integration. At first Booth has Pansear walk and run around the room to better understand his new senses. Later, Booth throws the ball back and forth with Pansear. He fumbles a bit whenever it's his turn to catch the ball. Overall, there's still a lot to improve coordinating his senses.
Damon notices that Booth is getting a little worn out and calls out to him. "That should be enough for today. I'll teach you some different exercises for coordination tomorrow. For now we can go get Ben, he should have finished already."
Booth thanks Damon for the help and they go to find Ben.
They find Ben waiting in the lobby. With Ben joining them the three head back to Damon and Ben's apartment. The apartment has 4 rooms, but only two are furnished. Booth is instead given the couch to sleep on.
After dinner Booth has quite a good impression of the two. Both are eager trainers. Ben is easy to work with and makes even long tasks feel simple. Damon has a lot of patience and thinks things through well, which not only makes him a great trainer, but also an amazing teacher.
'At this point the people and places are too real to be just a dream. This really does seem to be a different world. I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity and I'll be sure to make the most of it.'
Booth cleans off his integrator and places it down, before lying down himself.
'While I appreciate what Ben and Damon have done for me, the reason I will get better is not just for the team. I want to keep improving myself as a trainer. To experience all a tiered trainer has to offer.'