บท 1: The not so bad life

Attention:

The Royal family is hiring Royal knights and all the eligible candidates can register in your respective Knight's Hall. The only criteria are that the candidates should have an advanced level mount and a spare Pokemon. Every candidate should at least be of the rank of Knight, civilians are strictly prohibited from registering.

Please register before this summer and assemble at the Royal Gaurd building in Striaton city by the end of September.

Signed by: Royal Commander, Daemon Frost.

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'I will make sure brother Leon is eligible to register!!'

With that thought in my mind, I started walking towards our Manor. It has been 4 years and I am 14 years old this year. So much has happened since I transmigrated, when I arrived here, I was excited and at the same time a bit worried, because this world is so different from the familiar Pokemon World. Games and Anime don't do justice to the cruel reality.

Currently, I live in Nuvema Town that's under Count Claude. It also has 2 Viscount and 4 Barons who serve Count Claude and the Royal family. Nuvema is only a town in name, it is as large as New York city on Earth. My father was a Baron 5 years ago but unfortunately, his title was not hereditary. So after he passed away Brother Leon gave up the property we had for Knighthood. In this era, being a Noble is more valuable than having money and no title.

Nuvema town is to the far south region of the Kingdom of Wolks. The kingdom has a total of 6 towns, 3 cities, and numerous villages scattered around. Initially, I was confused with the landscape and doubted myself on the fact that I am in Unova. Later my brother presented me with the not-so-detailed map of Unova which completely erased my doubts.

At present, Unova has three kingdoms with no bridges connected to each other, the only safe passage is through boats or ships. So we are pretty much safe from invasion, not to say Pinwheel forest acts as a major barrier from the Kingdom of Vale which is located in the center of Unova. (Picture of the map in comments)

I am in no position to think about landscapes and foreign invasions, right now there are two biggest short-term goals to be achieved. One is making sure Brother Leon is eligible to register for Royal Knight trials and the other is to get admission to the Royal Academy by the age of 15.

The only way to get into the academy is to be a Noble or pass their impossible written test as a civilian. My brother's Knighthood is hereditary but I am still considered a civilian, so the only special means to join the Academy is to have a Royal Knight in the family. According to that notice from the Royal Commander, currently, my brother lacks in one criterion, which is having an advanced level, Mount.

'There are still three months before the summer which gives enough time to register' I thought as I walked.

I arrived at our small manor while making my next three months' plan, it is winter in the Kingdom of Wolks so there is a mild snowfall in Nuvema Town. The Manor entrance has a nameplate that says 'Leon Jones, Knight of Wolks Kingdom', I sighed at that and entered the abode of a basic noble knight.

The manor was well built with two metered tall walls around it while the inside had a small garden and a training area for Pokemon. The Manor itself looked like a replica of a medieval British manor, it has three floors, and the ground floor has the dining area, kitchen, rooms for the butler, and several maids. I live on the third floor while my brother lives on the second.

As I walked through the empty training area, I saw Butler Frederick smiling at me,

"Welcome back Master Arthur, should I inform Sir Jones about your arrival?", he said.

Frederick is a very loyal guy who has been serving the Jones family even before my father passed away. He had brown hair and a tall build with a thin mustache.

" Nah, I will go there myself just arrange an early dinner today as I am planning to do some training after.", I said and walked past him.

"As you wish Master Arthur," he said as he saw me go upstairs.

Although this is 1000 years before the canon, there are light bulbs here so don't need to worry about lamps and candles at night. I hurriedly climbed to the second floor and knocked on brother Leon's door.

"What is it?" I heard from inside, anyone who hears the voice can tell that the speaker is a young man.

"It's me, Arthur," I said with a softer tone.

"Finally back after roaming around? Come inside Arthur," he said in a relieved tone.

The moment I entered inside, I saw a grey-skinned Pokemon. It has three brown ridges on top of its head, large red eyes, and a relatively flat face. On either side of its chest are three, thin, rib-like stripes. Its feet appear to have no toes, while its hands have five fingers.

"Machop Machop...", it said in an exciting tone.

My brother sat beside the one-meter-tall Machop, he was doing some dumbbell work. Leon just turned 21 this year, he was six feet tall with a well-built body. He looked handsome for his age with a straight nose and toned jawline, we both had the Jones family's signature purple hair and pitch-black eyes. I immediately turned my attention towards Machop as he seemed more enthusiastic,

"Hey there buddy, how is that ice punch coming along? let's train again tonight with Blitzle. We need her to master flame charge before the three-month registration period." I said.

"Chop Chop," he said flexing his muscles.

"Stop it, Arthur. Don't get his hopes high again, you know you have been trying to teach these so-called tutor moves for two years now. It's time to stop this, Blitzle is blaming herself for not being able to learn the move after putting so much effort into it." said Leon, worriedly.

"No way!! how can we abandon all the work we put into it after two years? not to say, there are only three months before the registration time for you. If Blitzle can evolve, then it will be your mount and you will automatically gain eligibility. Please brother, let me train them, I am only asking for them to train at night, you can take them with you for patrol in the morning. Please, please....." I begged him with sad eyes.

" Okay, okay.... don't give me that look. If they can't master the moves within three months then give up. Do you understand?" he said authoritatively.

"Deal," I said and ran downstairs. I can understand his worry, Blitzle is his starter and he doesn't want her to be depressed. I am trying all sorts of ways to make her master the move 'flame charge', I am sure I can do it in two months. Last month I noticed the signs of 'heat' coming out from her when running at a high pace, she is close to mastering the move for sure.

As for ice punch, we are very near to a breakthrough. I am following the method Ash taught his Buizel, but it took 18 months for Machop to produce some chilling effect through his punches. According to my memory, Ash taught Buizel ice punch in just one episode, surely plot armor and protagonist luck came into play there or maybe Machop being a fighting-type Pokemon is making this harder.

In this world, Evolution doesn't happen in the same way as it happens in games. The Pokemon itself should have a mental or physical improvement or some kind of insight or epiphany into things. I am sure mastering a move of a different type will bring forth qualitative change in Blitzle and Machop. They both are advanced-level Pokemon so they should have evolved by now.

The only thing holding them back is a lack of some kind of understanding or growth in their IQ. Learning a new type of move will surely give that boost for evolution. If they both evolve then there is no way Leon will be rejected for Royal knight, Rapidash or Zebstrika is an essential part of a Royal knight, on top of that an evolved Machop will give a huge boost to his chances.

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An hour later:

The maids quickly arranged the dinner for us and I munched everything down in a hurry. Like always I got scolded for not following the ethic of a Noble and a minute-long rant from Leon for not following table manners.

"Ok stop!! I was just in a hurry as we have so much to do. Next time, I will surely follow the table manners. Now, please give me the pokeballs of Machop and Blitzle." I said stretching my hand out.

'Sighhh'

" Ok, don't stay up late as Blitzle and Machop need a good sleep before we go for the patrol tomorrow," he said giving the basic red-white colored poke balls.

I immediately grabbed them and ran outside.

--------Chapter End--------

My first language isn't English so please go easy on me. This novel will be slow to medium paced so bear with the info dumps in the initial 3 to 4 chapters. Also, give me your opinion on the writing style and grammar. Tell me if there is a need to improve in any areas that the story is lacking or give me your critique. Also please don't rate the book until 10 chapters at the least.