"I Have no money," I uttered for what must be the fourth time since the hard truth hit me.
I know enough coding to make money by recreating old video games, but I need a computer to do so, And I need money to get a computer, and I need a job to get that money to make more money.
It's an endless cycle of money!
"You wouldn't happen to have any money on you, would you?" I ask the bike-sized lizard creature next to me, I'm sitting on a bench next to a bike stop outside Alfronda, there's a roof over my head, and a bench for my back.
That is to say, I found where I'm going to be sleeping tonight.
Who knew being Homeless would be difficult?
"Cyclizar," The green lizard answered, obviously not having any money on hand to give.
What can I do? It's getting late so I can't do much now, I'll have to wait for tomorrow to find a job. Maybe IT? Who knows...
"Do you have anything to say?" I ask the nearby parrot, It has a pompadour-shaped plume on top of its head and a nice coat of green feathers.
"Skwa?" The bird squawked before looking at me as if I said something hurtful "Squawkabilly! Skwa!" It yells in its bird language a bit more before flapping off into the distance.
"Cy?" The Lizard tilts its head as we both watch the parrot fly away.
"Yeah, I guess some people are just rude, huh buddy?" I say to the green bike lizard. It closes its eyes and nods its head as if agreeing with me.
As I'm sitting on the bench, I feel a vibration in my pocket, as If I'm on a bumpy road and my currently nonexistent phone is threatening to fall out. "What is it now?" I whisper as I pull out my Pokeball.
I still haven't released Salandit from its ball, Afraid it will either run away or be stolen from me.
Are shiny pokemon even rare in this world? Are they one out of eight thousand or one out of four thousand, or is there a different ratio for shiny pokemon?
But, seeing as I'm sitting on a bench outside of town with my only company being a bike lizard, It should be fine to take Salandit out of their ball.
I still don't know if they're a boy or a girl.
So without further ado, I click the ball. And as it enlarges, a beam of red light shoots out before revealing the form of the white Salandit.
"Sal? Salandit!" It yells in a rough yet slithery voice one might expect to hear from a talking reptile before it climbs up my shirt and hangs on to my lower back as it did on the rope bridge in the cave.
"Hey, come on, That's my only shirt, stop putting little holes in it," I complain as the Salandit's fingers create a new set of holes in my shirt. I don't have any replacement clothes with me, and I don't have any money to buy new clothes.
"Sal!" The Fire/Poison type yells as it wraps its tail around my waist to hold itself like some sort of living fanny pack.
"Okay, As I wanted to say, Hello," I start introducing myself to my first Pokemon "My name is Dishon, and I am your Trainer, I hope we can get to work well together"
"Sal?" It asks as it slowly crawls around my waist, sharp fingers poking into my skin before its head pops from under my armpit and it looks up at my face.
"Yep, I caught you in a Pokeball, I really hope you don't mind," I show the Salandit the ball in question.
It looks at the ball, It looks back at me, It looks back at the ball, back at me, to the ball, and then back at my face.
Several times the shiny switched from looking at its new ball to me before it seemingly came to a conclusion.
That conclusion is that my lower back is more comfortable to grab onto than my front. If the 'Mon crawling back to its fanny pack position is anything to go by.
"Sal! Salalandit Sala Dit!" It hissed loudly before tightening around my body. I have no idea if they agreed to be my partner, or if they're calling me an idiot.
"Zar Cyclizar," The Bike spoke as it looked at Salandit, who instead of answering whatever the pokemon said, simply pulled its tongue out of its mouth and blew a raspberry.
"Salan-Dit!" It yelled, before slapping me lightly on the back with the palm of its scaled hand.
So here I am, Sitting on a bench next to a bicycle stop, a shiny Salandit hanging on to me like a fanny pack and a green bike lizard looking at the situation I am in as if it's a television show. Or whatever the guy is thinking, I don't really know the bike.
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The beautiful chorus of angels singing woke me up from my sleep, ready to take on the new day in front of me.
Or I would be if angels actually woke me up.
Instead Salandit decided to slap my face with its tail and yell at me what I can only surmise be Salanditese for "Wake up!"
"Sala!" Slap "Sala!" Slap "Sala!" Slap
"I'm awake! Stop hitting me!" I shout at the white lizard, who simply nods its head smugly with its tiny arms crossed before trying to weakly push me off the bench.
"Salandit," It said once I finally stood up, stretching my aching back from sleeping on a bench.
Salandit climbed up my clothing, leaving more tiny holes where its fingers were before it took its place on my back.
As I stretched a bit more, Preparing to go into Alfronda and hopefully find a job, and something to eat, and a better place to sleep than a stiff bench, and a lot of other important stuff.
I said a soft goodbye to the still sleeping bike lizard, and started walking toward Alfronda proper.
And as I was walking the short distance between the Bike stop and the first real building of the city, I realized a perfect name for my new Salandit!
"I'm going to call you Fanny," I stated as I tried to pat the head of the newly named Fanny.
"Salandit?"