Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When I wake up, it doesn't take me too long to realize that I am not within the warm confines of my bed. I'm not even inside my room—that part is obvious from the fact that I'm caught under a heavy downpour of rain.

Why the hell am I outside?

I don't know…but I should probably get out of the rain before I get sick. I forced myself to sit up, feeling both groggy and sore from sleeping so uncomfortably on the ground.

Ow…

I could feel a headache coming on, causing my head to throb quite painfully. I rubbed my temples, trying my hardest to soothe away the pain. It helped a bit, though not much…

What…happened?

There isn't much that I remember from last night that could prove useful in answering any of my questions. All I can recall is how tired I was before crashing onto my bed. It was the same shit as usual—the stress from finals had taken their toll on me to the point that I wanted nothing more than the sweet, sweet release of death…

Or really just the ability to sleep off my exhaustion for like an entire week. That honestly sounds so appealing to me…

Focus!

I lightly slapped my cheeks a few times, hoping that the action would help me stay awake. I nearly dozed off…

I should go.

Standing up is a lot harder than it should be, due to how my legs kept wobbling. My body just feels so heavy and my head won't stop hurting, either. A sudden wave of vertigo causes me to stumble forward a few steps and fall flat on my face.

Splat!

Cold mud seeps into my clothes and covers my face in the most inconvenient of ways. I pushed myself up onto my knees and crawl out of the puddle of mud, ignoring the burning sensations in my limbs. Afterwards, I started furiously wiping at my face.

Well,  that  woke me up…

Could've really done without the mud, but I suppose we can't always have nice things…

Today is just not my day…

I let out an aggravated sigh and wipe off the last of the mud on my face. Slowly and carefully, I open my eyes…and nearly scream when I find myself staring into the faces of two random strangers with lightly tanned skin—a boy and a girl in their late teens. They were dressed similarly, the two both wearing the same black tank top and white sneakers. They also had on matching white beanies and had black bandanas covering the lower halves of their faces. The boy had light blue hair and wore black shorts while the girl had pink hair and wore a pair of white short shorts with a black band on her thigh. The two were sharing a white umbrella with each other, managing to stay dry despite the downpour.

The two were crouched down to my level, just staring at me with the blankest expressions I had ever seen. A minute passed before the girl finally spoke.

"Don't know how you got here, but you gotta scram," she said, gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb. "Go find somewhere else to play, kid."

The boy nodded his head. "Yeah, you're gonna catch a cold in a place like this."

I stared at them with wide eyes. Nothing they said made any sense to me. Everything that came out of their mouth was completely lost on me as they spoke in a language I didn't quite understand. That's when I finally looked around and realized that I had absolutely no fucking clue as to where I was.

Where the hell am I?!

At first glance, it looked like I was in some sort of gated community meant for the rich. Although, a closer look (of sorts) made me realize how deserted this place appeared. It just seemed so…dreary. Like, it lacks so much of the vibrant colors that I was used to seeing. The palm trees were at least there, but that didn't do much to liven its appearance as it still looked pretty dead. It's not like anything I had ever seen before…

Nor anything I recognize…

Snap! Snap!

"Oi, oi—don't ignore us!" The boy gave me a stern look after snapping his fingers a few times to catch my attention. "You need to leave, yeah? You're lucky it's our day off today."

I didn't say anything. I just kept staring at the boy.

"You gonna say anythin'?" The girl tilted her head to the side. "You're bein' really rude, ya know?"

I turned my head toward the girl and swallow hard. She looked so annoyed…

Did I do something wrong?

My first reaction to the anxiety that was welling up inside my chest was to apologize. I opened my mouth and what came out was a garbled, choked out mess. "U-U-Uuim-m-maassn."

Wh-What…?

My eyes widened. That…that wasn't supposed to happen.

Stay calm—stay calm!

I inhaled deeply and then slowly exhaled.

Let's…try this again.

"Dkoosskaa." My words came out slurred despite my efforts. For some reason, my tongue just didn't want to work with me. I know what I wanted to say, but I just can't. It was just so hard to even say anything without it sounding like some incoherent mess. "Tsukke!"

I can't even ask for help…

My blood ran cold at the thought. The idea that I couldn't even call out for help was…actually scary. I turned my attention back at the two teens before me and was surprised to see them looking just as wide-eyed and confused as me. I watched them talk to each other, speaking in that same language I still didn't understand.

I attempted to speak a few more times, but the results were the same each time. By now, it had become apparent to me that I had lost the ability to speak coherently…

What am I gonna do?

I don't know, I don't know!

I tried standing up again, only to fall flat on my ass a few seconds later. Hot tears stung my eyes as I felt the frustration eating away at whatever ever little self-control I had. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I felt something climb up my back. A startled shriek left my mouth without any warning, effectively scaring the crap out of the two teens by me.

"Salaaaand…" I heard something hiss out almost in response. The weight on my back continued moving up and up and up, until… "Salaaaaaaand."

It was right on my shoulder.

"Mmaaa…" Slowly, I turned my head…and found myself face-to-face with a darkly-colored lizard that was about the size of a small cat. It had very narrow eyes that were light purple in coloration with slit pupils. "Umaaaa…"

"Salaaaaa!" it hissed again, a sickly-sweet odor leaving its mouth.

An earsplitting scream tore itself out of my throat. The lizard blinked unflinchingly at me, hissing rather aggressively at the two teenagers when they tried to reach out and pull it off my shoulder. It snapped its jaws at a hand that got too close to it and held up its front foot in a threatening manner, sharp claws glowing visibly with white energy.

What the fuck?!

A whimper escaped my mouth when the lizard curled around my neck to hide beneath the hair that touched the base of my neck. I could feel its tail wrapping around the front of my neck like some sort of strange choker. It's body was far too smooth for a lizard's and felt about as warm as a hot water bottle. If it wasn't for the fact that I just saw this thing threaten to claw anyone that tried to touch it, I wouldn't have minded this situation—especially since I was still stuck in the rain…

But that was not the case as I wanted this thing off of me before it decided to claw my neck like some sort of angry cat! I tried actually touching it myself, but it just batted my hand away and hissed at me.

So much for that…

It normally takes a lot more to really freak me out, but for some reason, my nerves were completely shot. My heart was pounding so hard within my chest, my breathing growing somewhat erratic. It took me several seconds to realize that those were actually tears sliding down my face and not just raindrops.

I don't like this…

I really, really don't like this…

Nononono, not here!

I tried calling out to the two teenagers, not caring much about the incoherent string of words that came out of my mouth. So long as I got their attention—that's all that mattered to me. Except all they could do was stare at me, the two talking to each other like I wasn't there.

"Ain't that yours?" the girl asked the boy.

"I thought it was yours?!" the boy responded back.

"You know all I have are Zubat!" The girl crossed her arms over her chest.

"Then whose is it?" The boy scratched the back of his head with his free hand.

I made one more attempt to form a coherent sentence before breaking down into a blubbering mess.

I can't…

I'm just…too tired.

Too tired to even try…

"Hey, yo—stop crying!" The boy sounded somewhat concerned. "It won't bite…much."

"She can't understand us, Tupp!" The girl slapped the boy upside the head, her expression stern. "And even if she could, why would you say that?!"

"Because it's true, Rapp!" the boy whined as he rubbed his head. "Why would I lie?"

"Maybe so you don't go freakin' out kids like this!" The girl placed her hands on her hips. "You're such a dumbass!"

"Hey!" The boy glared at the girl.

I don't know what it is that they were talking about, but soon the two were arguing with each other. It was a little unsettling, to be honest… Just…what were they arguing about? Should I even be here?

Where is here?!

If this is some sort of sick joke, I want out of it now. This has gone on far too long for comfort—just end it so I can go home. I want to go home…how far am I from home?

I don't know…

Where is home?

I don't know…

I'm scared…scared, scared, scared,  scared .

Maybe this is a dream—some sort of nightmare I'm having right now…

Wake up, wake up, wake up!

This isn't real…it's just a nightmare—you'll wake up any second now.

Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!

You need to study anyways for the last of your exams—the more time you have, the better!

Wakeupwakeupwakeup wakeup !

Why am I not waking up?!

Wakeupwakeupwakeupwake upwakeupwakeupwakeup !

I clenched my fists tightly, my nails digging painfully into the palms of my hands.

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!

I bit the inside of my cheek and brought my fist down onto my thigh.

Hurtshurtshurtshurts!

No matter what I did, I wasn't waking up. I was still here, stuck in what was now a never-ending nightmare. I tried hitting my thighs again, but stopped when I noticed something that was extremely off.

I don't remember changing my clothes…

I looked at myself, taking in the sight that I had been overlooking for this long. Instead of some random t-shirt I pulled out of the pile of clean clothes I have in my room and a pair of jeans that I've been wearing for three days straight, I was wearing some sort of long-sleeved gown that was a brownish-gray color when not saturated with mud. Of course, even without the mud, it still seemed pretty dirty on its own…but that wasn't all that I noticed about myself. It took me a lot longer to realize that it wasn't just my clothes that had changed.

Why am I so small?!

I'm twenty-two going on twenty-three and as short as I already was at five feet and two and a half inches, there was no way I should be this small! My hands felt around my body, poking at my stomach and thighs a few times. I was relieved to feel the same, soft pudge in those areas, but it was smaller than I was used to—like I had lost a lot of weight. I still had the same, roundish face, but it was somewhat smaller…

What the hell happened?!

People don't just shrink! It's not even physically possible!

As far as I know, but that's beside the fucking point!

Just what happened to me?

Why me?

Why why why why why?!

Whyyyyy?!

It felt like everything was falling apart. It was hard to breathe, and my body was shaking so badly from both the cold and the overwhelming fear that I was feeling at this very moment. Before long, I was sobbing loudly. I could hear the two teenagers trying to console me, but it did nothing to help.

I just want to go home…

…

…

It's just another uneventful evening for Nanu, the Kahuna of Ula'ula Island. The police station on Route 17 is as full as ever with Alolan Meowth, all of which are meowing loudly as Nanu fills their bowls with food. He has long since grown used to the noise they make each time he feeds them. Though today, he suspects that one of them might possibly be eating for two…

"Been busy, haven't you?" Nanu gives an especially chubby Meowth a light scratch behind the ears. He receives a satisfied meow in response. "Don't make a habit out of it."

It's going to take him a lot of effort to make the trip to the Pokémon Center to get her checked out… Though, he supposes that it would be a good opportunity to stock up on more Pokémon food while he's out. If he's lucky, maybe he'll run into an island challenger who's ready to battle him instead of having to wait for Acerola to barge into the station as noisily as possible to tell him the news.

BAM!

Kind of like that. Nanu doesn't even blink when he hears the loud noise. His Meowth are just as used to the occurrence as he is, with how they don't even so much as flinch as they continue to eat their dinner.

"You're not Acerola," Nanu finally says when he realizes that instead of a purple-haired girl with an affinity for Ghost Pokémon, it's a male Team Skull Grunt. He appears to be from the older bunches of the group, nearing the age when a Trail Captain would retire from their position. "Tupp, right?"

"Yo, how'd you know?!" Tupp stares wide-eyed at him, somewhat surprised that Nanu could still tell him apart from the others. Even Guzma slipped up every now and then…

"Just a guess…" Nanu's eyes shift over to the many identical-looking Meowth in the station. Truth be told, he's just gotten used to it from taking care of so many Meowth. They're just as huffy as some of the Team Skull Grunts whenever he mistakes one of them for another. "If you got something to say, make it short—otherwise, you can just leave."

Nanu doesn't have the energy to put up with Team Skull and their shenanigans today.

"So like the Boss sent me an' Rapp out to check on this weird-ass bright light we all saw earlier." Tupp doesn't hesitate to get straight to the point. "So we did, but when we got there…we found this strange kid."

"You sure they ain't just a new recruit?" Nanu knows that there are some members in Team Skull that are barely trial age at the youngest.

Tupp pauses for a moment to think. "Now that you mention it…"

"Then problem solved, right?" Nanu isn't sure how a child managed to get through the door in the first place. Though he supposes that one of the grunts must have accidentally left the door open. It happens from time to time…

"Not really, cuz that isn't what's strange about her," Tupp explains. "Like she doesn't really seem to understand us—kinda like some of the tourists that show up. She can't speak either an' it's not like the way Whisk can't, because at least Whisk has some other way to talk to us."

"So what's the problem?" If it worked for Whisk, then it could work for the new kid. Nanu doesn't see what the problem is.

"The problem is that she won't stop cryin', so Rapp sent me out to get you!" Tupp blurts out, sounding rather frazzled. "She's really fricken' loud, ya know?"

"Any reason why you didn't take her in?" Nanu knows that Guzma accepts just about anyone into Po Town.

"I was freakin' out, okay?!" Tupp unabashedly admits. "An' I don't think it'd be good for her, either, to just bring her in with the others, yeah? It might just confuse her even more. Plus, it's getting' pretty late, too—can you just take her in? Maybe one of the tourists lost a kid?"

"So that's why you're here." Well…it isn't Acerola, although Nanu wonders quite briefly if he'd actually prefer it if it was her. As loud as she could be, she at least gave him the option to ignore her, unlike Team Skull, who he can't even attempt to ignore (he's tried already—many, many times before finally giving up). "Give me a minute."

He still has a few more Meowth to feed…

…

…

"Yo, you sure you don't need an umbrella?" Tupp asks him, despite the fact that he is also without an umbrella.

"Could ask you the same." Nanu doesn't even care much about how drenched his clothes and hair are from the rain. He's long overdue for a shower anyways… "That her?"

He hears her first before he sees her and Tupp wasn't kidding when he said she was loud. Nanu thinks she might even be louder than Acerola.

"Didn't even think that was possible…" Nanu sighs.

"What took you so long?!" Rapp gives them both a stern look, obviously drained from all the crying she's had to endure.

"I still got him, yeah?!" Tupp gestures at Nanu. "Now move over and make some room."

Rapp huffs angrily, but does as she's told as she lets Tupp under the umbrella with her. She doesn't even bother to comment that it's already too late for the umbrella to have any use to him. All she wants to do is go back to the mansion and sleep. That kid really took a lot out of her…

Nanu walks closer to the crying girl for a better look. She's an absolute mess, with dark brown hair and skin a shade of golden tan. She doesn't look any older than ten at most, which raises some concerns he has as the oldest a child can go out on their own in Alola is eleven—and that's with a Pokémon, which she doesn't seem to have.

"Salaaand!" Scratch that—he almost didn't see the Salandit curled around her neck.

"That her Pokémon?" Nanu looks over his shoulder at Tupp and Rapp. He needs to double check since he knows that Salandit is a favorite Pokémon for Team Skull to use.

Tupp shakes his head. "Nah, it's probably one of Big Sis's."

"Shouldn't you take it to her then?" Nanu knows that Plumeria is as protective of her Salandit as she is of everyone else in Team Skull.

"We would, but…I ain't touching it." Rapp refuses to go anywhere near that thing. "Not in the mood to get scratched today. You get it, Tupp."

"Hell no!" Tupp crosses his arms in an X-shaped formation. "I ain't going near that thing, yo! My Salandit are enough!"

"Well, I don't feel like getting poisoned today." Nanu sure isn't taking his chances today. He sighs loudly and reaches out to give the girl a few reassuring pats on the head. The Salandit hisses at him for getting too close, but he ignores it. "Just send Plumeria to pick it up in a few days—assuming it is hers."

"Got it, yo!" Tupp nods his head. "I'll ask around if anyone's missin' a Salandit!"

"Hey old man—you've been here long enough, yeah?" Rapp asks Nanu.

"I guess." Nanu is used to being called an old man by everyone in Team Skull. It doesn't really matter to him as he's too busy helping the girl stand up now that she's calmed down somewhat. The poor thing's been on the ground long enough. "Easy—easy."

She's like a toddler who's only just learned how to walk with the way she struggles to maintain her balance. He might have to carry her to the station at this rate. At the very least, she doesn't look like she's hurt.

"Although she might get sick if she stays out in the rain any longer…" And if she gets sick, then he might, too, and that's the last thing he needs weighing him down.

"Is it normal to see weird-ass bright lights at random?" Rapp still doesn't know what it is that she and everyone else saw, but Nanu might.

"That again…" Nanu remembers Tupp mentioning that to him, though he can't even fathom what he and Rapp mean by that. "Did it look like anything?"

He doesn't expect Tupp and Rapp to answer his question, but when they do, it begins to dawn on him that something is very…off. That's when he takes the strange girl's condition into consideration. There are a lot of things that stand out from what he's used to—especially since the girl isn't in any state to be walking just yet. All of a sudden, her not understanding anything that they're saying makes a whole lot of sense when he realizes that she's a lot farther away from home than any of them had initially assumed.

"Well, fuck," he says after a long minute of silence.

It looks like he has to make call to an old friend of his…

Chapter Text

Feeding a dimensional traveler isn't exactly on Nanu's list of how he'd prefer to spend his evenings. Though, he supposes that there are worse ways to spend his evenings.

"It could be worse," he thinks to himself as he hands the girl a cup of instant noodles. She's doing a lot better now that she's out of the rain and in somewhat dryer clothes, so he considers that a major improvement. She's still glaring at him, though… "Guess she's still mad."

In her defense, he did force her to ride on his Absol's back when she was so reluctant to go anywhere near it after the freak-out she had when he had released Absol from its Poké Ball. Something about the sight just set her off, though she calmed down considerably once she realized that she wasn't in any danger. It certainly helped that his Absol wasn't afraid to show that he was the biggest pushover outside of battle. He didn't even so much as growl when the girl started poking at prodding at the horn on the side of his head.

Even now, he remains indifferent, despite the fact that Salandit was eating his dinner. Instead, he stretches out his body and yawns before hopping onto the sofa near the entrance, which is currently occupied by the girl. He sprawls onto the sofa, nearly pushing her off in the process with his massive size. She tenses up at first from how close he is, but after a few seconds, she relaxes and reaches out to give Absol a few pats on the head.

"Sol…" Absol closes his eyes and rests his head against his forelegs, appearing content with his current position.

Nanu huffs a laugh. "Look like Zen's taken a liking to you."

It's not that surprising, considering how much of a soft spot Zen has for children.

"ZZZzzehhhnnn…" It takes a lot of effort for the girl to say his Absol's name, but she just manages.

"That's right." Nanu points at his Absol. "Zen."

It takes her the same amount of effort to repeat his Absol's name, though she doesn't seem to care at all. From the way she's smiling, she seems happy that she was able to say something.

"I wonder…" It's easy for Nanu to assume that going through an Ultra Wormhole affected the girl's ability to speak. However, he can't say the exact same for her ability to write. "Not yet, at least."

It's a long shot, but at the very least, he can figure out what language it is that she does know. He looks around for a pencil and a notepad, making sure to avoid disturbing any of his Meowth as he checks the desk they're occupying. They haven't exactly warmed up to his guest just yet, with how most of them have hidden out of sight or just kept their distance. It's not behavior they show often to his guests, though Nanu supposes that the girl isn't like any of his usual guests.

Once he finds what he's looking for, Nanu walks over to the girl and hands her the pencil and notepad he's found. It takes her a moment to do anything with them, since she's still eating. Though as soon as she's done, she grabs the notepad and pencil and starts writing on a clean sheet of paper. She seems so elated as she hands the notepad back to Nanu—likely because she was able to write coherently.

/Can you understand me?/

Her writing is a bit sloppy, but Nanu doesn't particularly mind. He can still read it—that's honestly what matters the most right now.

"Kantonian, huh?" He recognizes that dialect anywhere. "So that's where you're from…"

The girl's hand shoots out almost immediately in response to his language switch. She seems eager to speak to him now that she can understand him, so he returns the notepad back to her. He watches her quickly jot down a few of questions that he finds himself answering as soon as she hands the notepad back to him.

/Where am I?

Who are you?

Do you know why I look like this?/

"First off—you're in the Alola region." Nanu doesn't waste any time in answering her questions. "Though to be more precise, you're on Ula'ula Island—I'm Nanu, by the way. As for your last question…I have no idea what you mean by that."

Nothing seems particularly out of the ordinary about her, though Nanu wouldn't know how she's normally supposed to look like. He returns the notepad and waits a few seconds before receiving it back from her. When he looks at what she's written down, he needs a moment to process what it is that he just read.

/I'm twenty-two./

"Well…" That's the last thing he ever expects to read and without even thinking twice about it, he finds himself pointing out the obvious. "Not anymore, you're not."

He is not at all surprised when the girl throws an empty cup of instant noodles at his head. She's glaring at him again, his comment having soured her mood considerably. He huffs out a laugh, unable to take her seriously. She reminds him of just about every other Team Skull Grunt that has tried to threaten him—it just never works out.

"Look, there's not much I can do for ya." From what Nanu knows already from past experiences involving a lilac-haired girl from Hoenn, there's not much that can be done about the effects an Ultra Wormhole can have on a person who goes through one. "I know it sucks, but you're just gonna have to suck it up."

She scowls at him for a few more seconds before looking away to wipe her eyes. She's trying her hardest not to cry, her brown eyes glistening with unshed tears that she tries to blink back. She manages, though just barely.

"You up for answering another question?" Nanu holds out the notepad to the girl. He doesn't know what to expect, though he is surprised when the she accepts the notepad from him and writes down, in big letters,

/SURE./

She holds up the notepad for him to see, deciding that it would be easier this way instead of going back and forth between questions.

"Alright, then." Nanu nods his head. "Can you tell me your name?"

It's a seemingly simple question, but Nanu knows better than to treat it as such. It's why he isn't that surprised to see the girl struggling to write anything on the notepad.

"And there it is." Nanu sighs heavily, not liking what'll likely come next. He sees her writing again at a much more frantic pace. She keeps writing and writing until Nanu finally takes the notepad from her. "That's enough."

She starts crying after that, having finally reached her limit. She is just as loud as before, though she sounds far more distressed. She screams this time out of anger and frustration, not knowing how else to react over the things she lost in such a short amount of time.

…

…

/I don't know.

I don't know.

I don't know don't know, don't know

dontknowdontknowIDONTKNOW

WhYDONTIKNOW?!

I SHOULD KNOW MY NAME

I SHOULD KNOW WHO I AM

WHY DONT I KNOW?!

WHY CANT I REMEMBER?!

WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY

WH—/

…

…

I must have passed out at some point, because I don't remember much after that. When I wake up, I have a blanket covering me. My head is resting on a warm, white pillow that is surprisingly firm despite being so fluffy…

Except it's not a pillow—it's Zen, that weird animal thing with the resting bitch face. I'm guessing Zen didn't want to wake me up…or maybe Zen just couldn't be bothered to get off the sofa. I wouldn't know, but Zen doesn't seem to mind being someone else's pillow, so I'm guessing they're pretty chill with strangers touching them. I mean, at least they're not like that weird-ass lizard—is it even a lizard?

I don't know, I'm not into herpetology.

I'm not even sure it matters, since it doesn't look like anything I've ever seen before…as far as I know. My memory has never been the best, but it's never been as bad as it is now, with how I can't even remember my own name.

Why can't I remember my name?

I remember just about everything else—like, I know who I am as a person. I just…can't remember my name. I guess I should be thankful that I still have the rest of my memories. They're not all gone—it's just hard to remember them.

For now, at least…

It might just take some time, but I know it'll come to me. I just wish I knew that before I had a meltdown…

Anxiety fucking sucks…

Geez, I hope I wasn't too much of a nuisance. The last thing I want to do is annoy the only guy I can actually talk to…in a way. I mean, I'd prefer it if I could speak, but writing isn't that bad—it's better than nothing.

What time is it?

I honestly don't know. The lights are off, and it still looks dark despite the windows. Of course, it could be that it's still raining or that the sky is just cloudy. I would check, but I don't feel like getting up. I don't have the energy for it and even if I did, I'm too damn comfortable to move from my spot.

I wanna sleep more…

My eyelids still feel heavy and since not much is happening, I don't see the harm in going back to sleep. I buried my face into Zen's fluffy fur, sighing contently at how soft it is. It's just so soft…

Smells nice, too…

A bit too sweet, but it could be worse…then it got old pretty fast. Like, there was only so much I could handle before it became nauseating and it certainly didn't help that the smell got even stronger. That's when I noticed I had a weird-ass lizard sleeping right in front of my face. It was curled up into a little ball, looking oddly harmless for once.

I'm not sure when it got there, but I know it wasn't there before. Really wish it picked a better place to sleep, because it's breathing right on my face and—aaugh, that smell! Without even thinking twice about it, I pushed the lizard away to put some distance between it and my face. That didn't get rid of the smell, but it was tolerable now…until I woke up a few minutes later because the lizard got in front of my face again!

Motherfucker!

For a second time, I pushed the lizard away. I kept my eye on it for about a minute before closing my eyes. I was trying my hardest to go back to sleep and just as I was drifting off, the smell was back and so was that lizard. At this point, I realized what was going on and I was going to get nowhere if this kept up.

So rather than push the lizard away, I just shifted onto my back and decided to take my chances with getting sleep paralysis. I'd rather deal with that than have a lizard bite me—I really don't want it to bite me…

At least I can breathe now…

The smell is still there, but it's not as strong as it was when the lizard was right in front of my face. Yawning, I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Not even a minute later, I felt the lizard climb onto my chest. I choked back a scream, my body going completely still. I could hear its tiny claws scraping across the fabric of the shirt Nanu had given me earlier to wear. It circled around a few times before finally stopping. When I opened my eyes a few seconds later, I saw that it was curled into a little ball, sleeping just as peacefully as before.

It was no longer breathing in my face, so I could deal with the sickly-sweet smell. It seemed satisfied, too, so I don't think it'll be moving around anymore. Yawning, I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

This time, I didn't wake up until much, much later…

Chapter Text

Loud meowing roused me from my sleep none too gently. It was a lot louder than what I was used to with my cat—though, that was probably because of the absurd amount of cats in the place.

So many cats…

They all look alike, with bluish-gray fur and that weird golden thing on their heads. Oddly enough, there’s something…familiar about them. I don’t know why, but it feels like I’ve seen them before.

Have I?

I don’t recall ever seeing a cat that can walk on its hindlegs… Or lizards the size of small cats.

Or whatever the fuck Zen is supposed to be.

But why does it feel like I know them? Like, not them specifically—but just the sight of them.

“Ah!”

Thud!

The back of my head hit the sofa cushion after Zen got up without any warning. Zen hopped off the sofa afterwards, nonchalantly making his way over to Nanu, who was feeding his many cats. Nanu huffed out a laugh and said something to Zen that I couldn’t really understand. Seriously, just what language is that?

“Salaa!!” Oh shit—almost forgot about the lizard! “Salandit salaand!”

Oh yikes, it sounds pissed!

I froze still as the lizard moved around on my chest. I bit back a shriek when I felt its tiny claws digging into my skin. It wasn’t as painful as it possibly could have been, but it sure felt rather uncomfortable and— “HHhyaugh!”

The little shit just caught on fucking fire!

What the absolute fuck?!

The lizard was just minding its own business when it suddenly sneezed and now there are flames covering its tail! What the crap?!

Shit—I can get burned!

“Aaaaaahhhhh…” Nanu, fucking do something before this little shit burns this place to the ground! “NNnnnnnaa!!”

Dammit—why is it so hard to say your fucking name?! Why can’t I still talk?!

“Calm down, calm down—it’s nothing serious…” Nanu finally noticed my distress and—are you high?! Do you not see the fucking fire on this lizard’s tail?! “There’s no need to get so riled up about it.”

“Hhwahh…!” Well, excuse me for not wanting to get burned!

“See?” Nanu directed my attention back on the lizard, who is…no longer on fire. Huh…so that happened. “Nothing to worry about—it just sneezed, yeah?”

“Uhnn…” I nodded my head.

“Not sure if this is common knowledge, but fire-types tend to do that while they’re young.” Nanu rubbed his nose with his index finger. “It’s the embers that you have to worry about.”

Fire-types? Embers?

Why…does that sound familiar? Seriously, I feel like should know about this…but my mind just keeps drawing blanks. Geez, are the gaps in my memory that bad?

“Guess that’s another thing you don’t remember.” Nanu reached into his pocket and pulled out the notepad from last night. “Ready to try again?”

I stared at the notepad, remembering how upset I was at not remembering my own name… I still don’t remember it.

“If you can’t remember it now, then you will eventually.” Nanu tapped the notepad on his head a few times. “That’s how it usually works.”

Is that so?

I huffed out a laugh and then pushed the lizard off of my chest. It doesn’t respond negatively in any way, having allowed for the action to happen. Instead, it crawls over to an empty space on the sofa and then scratches its head with its hindleg.

Huh…it’s actually kind cute.

I was almost tempted to pet it, but I’m still not taking any chances.

“Salaaa!” the lizard hissed.

Nope, nope, nope, nope!

I immediately distanced myself from the lizard, only for the little shit to follow after me. I kept backing away until…

Thud!

I fell off the sofa.

“Aahh!” Oww, my ass…

…

…

Nanu doesn’t know whether he should ask her if she’s okay or just laugh at her clumsy antics. She’s certainly lively for someone who just woke up… He’s almost envious of her.

“Almost…” Nanu walks over to the girl and helps her get up. She still has issues standing on her own two legs, so he sits her down on the sofa. “Easy there—don’t think you’ll be getting anywhere like that.”

“Mma…” The girl grunts when her back hits the cushion. She freezes still when the Salandit crawls onto her lap.

“Hey now—it’s not gonna hurt you.” Salandit are by no means shy about expressing their dislike for anything or anyone. Nanu’s seen enough from the issues that some of Team Skull Grunts have with their own Salandit. Often, it leads to emergency trips to the Pokémon Center due to poisonous gas inhalation. This Salandit, however… “I think it likes you.”

The Salandit curls up into a ball, looking extremely comfortable on the girl’s lap. It yawns and then closes its eyes.

“Huh…” Nanu scratches the back of his head. “Guess it’s still a baby.”

That would likely explain why it’s smaller than most of the Salandit he’s seen—which is a lot, considering how much of a favorite it has become amongst Team Skull Grunts. If Nanu had to take a guess, it’s likely only been a few weeks since it hatched out of its egg. Which would mean…

“Yeah, its likely Plumeria’s…” Nanu doesn’t know any other source aside from Plumeria and her Salazzle. “Just bear with it a little longer, yeah?”

If all goes well, then they won’t have to deal with that Salandit any longer.

“In the meantime, why don’t you tell me more about yourself?” Nanu hands the girl a pen and the notepad.

The girl silently accepts the pen and notepad. She opens up the notepad and hastily writes down a response, which she shows to Nanu that reads,

/Like what?/

“Whatever it is that you can remember,” Nanu replies. “For example—do you have a name that you’d like to go by?”

She stares at him for a moment, as though lost in thought. A minute passes and she looks down at the notepad, quickly jotting down a response. She holds up the notepad, her finger pointing at the name she had decided to give herself.

/Noa./

“Noa, huh?” Nanu looks at the girl, who just nods her head. “Well, Noa…welcome to Alola.”

Noa tilts her head to the side. “Aaaaa…roooooaaa?”

She pauses for a moment, her eyes widening slightly.

“Did something click?” Nanu asks, wondering if some of Noa’s memories had resurfaced. It’s possible, but not very likely.

Noa thinks for a moment before shrugging.

“It’ll come to you.” Nanu can only hope. “You hungry?”

Growl.

“Take that as a yes.” Nanu doesn’t blink when a crumpled wad of paper hits his head. “Just so you know, all I have is noodles.”

/How are you living?/

That is what Noa writes on the notepad, to which Nanu bluntly responds, “I’m not.”

More than a minute passes before Noa gives Nanu yet another written response, one that actually raises a brow.

/You poor motherfucker./

“A comedian, huh?” Just his luck… “Watch your language.”

/I’m twenty-two—why should I?/

“Because you’re like nine now.” At least, Nanu thinks she might be nine…physically, at the least. “Or maybe you’re ten? Hard to tell when you’re so small…”

/Fuck you!/

“Well…I tried.” Nanu shrugs, not knowing why he even bothered when there’s no one around to actually witness his attempts at being a responsible adult.

/Not hard enough, old man./

“Yeah, yeah, fuck you too.” Nanu waves off Noa’s comment. “When we’re done eating, I’m going to teach you a few things, so try to at least behave. It’s the least you can do.”

…

…

/Okay./

…

Nanu doesn’t expect much when he starts teaching Noa the basics of sign language. He shouldn’t, since she’s only a beginner. And yet, as the hour goes by, Nanu starts to notice how fluid her hand movements are.

“Are you sure you don’t know this already?” Nanu asks Noa, earning a rather surprised look from her. She looks at her hands for a moment before shaking her head. “You say no, but your hands say yes.”

He doesn’t mean it literally like she thinks he does, though his point still stands. There’s a level of fluency in the way she moves her hands that he wouldn’t see in beginners. She just needs to know what to do with it…

BAM!

“Uncle Nanuuuu!!” That will sadly have to wait until later, because a certain Trial Captain decided to barge right into his house. “I got those clothes you were…oh, hello!”

“Oooohaaa…” Noa stares wide-eyed at the purple-haired girl who’s dressed like a beaten-up doll. She has no idea what to make of her, especially since the girl’s loud antics have woken up the Salandit on her lap. “Ahhhhhh…”

The Salandit reacts predictably to its rude awakening, hissing angrily at just about everyone before climbing up Noa’s shirt and settling onto her shoulder. It curls its body around her neck, taking comfort in how her hair hides its body from view. It cares not for Noa’s visible distress, prioritizing its needs over hers like any other baby Salandit would.

“How cuuute~!” the purple-haired girl coos, her gaze soon turning to Nanu. “Are the clothes for her?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Nanu rubs his nose. “Acerola, meet Noa…Noa, meet Acerola.”

“Rrrooollll…” Noa greets Acerola in her own way, which resulted in a failed attempt to say her name.

“Kantonian, huh?” Acerola places her hands on her hips, her lips curling into a wide, cat-like smile. “Welcome to Alola, Noa!”

“Don’t expect her to say much—she can’t talk.” Nanu might as well inform Acerola before she accidentally goes overboard, like she usually does when meeting new people.

“Can’t or won’t?” Acerola tilts her head to the side.

“Can’t—like she physically can’t.” At first, Nanu thought it was a side-effect from going through an Ultra Wormhole. It’s still plausible, though it’s also just as plausible that Noa has always been like this—she just can’t remember. “Not like it stops her from trying…”

She has that going for herself at least.

“Okaayyy!” Acerola nods her head. “I’ll keep that in mind! Are you gonna take her to the Pokémon Center to help her get cleaned up?”

“Might as well.” While Nanu’s at it, he should take his Meowth to get checked out. “Although, you should take over for that.”

“You should take a shower too!” And Acerola should learn how to keep her mouth shut—but Nanu doesn’t say anything, because she’s right. “The community showers are there for a reason, Uncle Nanu!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Nanu doesn’t even know why he even tries getting anything past Acerola. One way or another, she’ll know—she just does.

…

…

You know, it’s already awkward not being able to talk nor walk well. It’s even more awkward having some strange girl just straight up helping you shower because you couldn’t stay standing up. Like, damn—I really miss being able to do things myself already.

“Close your eyes!” Acerola says before spraying me with warm water. “And there we go! That should get the last of that mud out of your hair!”

Good—that means I can get into clothes and forget about this experience. And maybe, if I’m lucky, I get to see more of this place. Nanu and Acerola took me to this building far off from where we were previously, which…wasn’t fun, because some flying fire lizard had to fly us there. I…might have had an anxiety attack, because of this intense fear of falling I have.

It’s not the height gets me—it’s the idea of falling down. It just gets to me on such a paralyzing level, that I have issues walking on things such as piers. Of course, I don’t think I have to worry about that just yet, seeing as I can’t even take a few steps without falling flat on my ass.

“Saaa!!!” That lizard who refuses to leave me alone has actually left me alone for once…and that was only to play with some weird, sandcastle thing…that’s sentient???

God, it’s so creepy.

It’s also huge—that’s a thing. It’s almost as tall as Acerola, and is actually taller than me—yeah, that’s also a thing.

I’m so fucking short.

It’s gonna be a while before I return to my original height, seeing as I’m now a child again…oh damn, I’m gonna have to go through puberty again!

God dammit all!

“You okay?” Acerola heard me groaning as she was getting a towel to dry my hair.

“Hhhhhhaaa…” It’s still hard to say anything, so I just nodded my head and forced a smile.

“Shiro—what have I told you before?!” Acerola’s smile was replaced with a scowl as she scolded the sandcastle thing. “We don’t eat friends!”

Hello?!

Before I can even try to ask for an explanation, that lizard scurried over to my side and hid behind me.

“I’m so sorry—Shiro sometimes forgets that she’s not supposed to eat other people’s Pokémon!” Acerola gave me a genuinely apologetic look.

Pokémon?

Why…why…why…whyyyyyy does that sound familiar?

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

My life flashed before my eyes, keying in on memories of me playing a series of videogames, involving your player character and a bunch of creatures being caught in tiny balls. It was quite the experience, going from absolute confusion, to delight, to back to confusion…and back to utter fucking delight.

I don’t if I should be happy about this!!!

Like, I always wanted Pokémon to be real, but not like this!

Why me?!

Why this??!!

WHYYYYYYY?!

I was basically fighting myself as I tried to figure out how exactly I should feel about all this. While this went on, Acerola started drying my hair. I let her help me into a new change of clothes, which was really just a darkly-colored dress with long sleeves and a skirt that almost touched the floor—and that was while I was standing.

“A bit long—but otherwise, a perfect fit!” Acerola clapped her hands together as she took out a Poké ball from a pocket in her dress and released a ghostly abomination in the form of a Haunter.

Jesus fucking Christ, that thing is creepy!!

Seeing it in real life versus to how it looked in the game is pretty jarring, and I wish I wasn’t part of this…except I was, because Acerola had her Haunter lift me off the floor and carrying me out of the shower stall we were in. Never before have I ever wanted to know what it was like to touch a Haunter and I would be happy to go back to that blissful ignorance I had before this moment.

“Salaaaaa!” Salandit was pretty angry to get left behind, from the way it kept following after me and Haunter. “Saaaa!”

Acerola’s Haunter was a bit of a jokester, from the way it purposely lowered me to Salandit’s level…only to then lift me right back up, out of its reach. This went on for like a few more times, before Salandit spat out a few embers at us out of anger. That was when Haunter decided to let me down for once, just long enough to let Salandit crawl into my lap. Salandit curled up into a little ball, giving the Haunter one last hiss before falling asleep.

“Aww, she must really like you!” Acerola laughed behind her hand before returning her Palossand to its Poké ball. “If you’re lucky, you might get to keep her.”

I don’t know how to feel about that, since Salandit was never on the list of Pokémon I wanted. Now if this was a Buneary or a Rowlet—then we’re talking.

Oh my gosh—I can actually pet those now!

It was hard to stay still now that I was thinking about the Pokémon I can meet. I mean, I’m still confused as to why I was here in the Pokémon world—but it’s hard to think about that for too long, when you’re looking at random person passing by with their Alolan Raichu floating at their side.

Ahhhh!!!!!!!

Truly, a mindboggling experience.

…

…

Nanu stares at his Meowth as she grooms herself, obviously pleased with herself to know that she was having twins. She was at least healthy—there was definitely that, though…it might take his Persian some time to adjust.

“Uncle Nanu!” Then there’s this loud noise and…ohhh.

“A Hex Maniac?” Nanu takes note of the iconic dress that Noa is now wearing, a sight he recalls seeing from time to time in his younger days. It’s not that bad of a look, although Nanu feels that it has long since overstayed its welcome in the world of fashion. Noa seems to feel similarly, from look that makes her look like she’d rather be anywhere else but here. Though, that could be from the fact that Acerola’s Haunter is carrying her. “Guess she doesn’t like ghost-types.”

It happens, from time to time… And with how much of a prankster that Acerola’s Haunter is, he honestly wouldn’t blame Noa for feeling uncomfortable around it. The Salandit at least looks comfortable, from the way she’s curled up in Noa’s lap.

“It was my Great Aunt’s!” Acerola huffs, somewhat annoyed with his reaction.

“Great Aunt…” Nanu tries to think of when he’d last seen her… It’s hard, when you’re somewhat caring for an orphan who’s made a name for herself as a Trial Captain. “She needs a better sense of fashion.”

“I could say the same thing about you.” Acerola crosses her arms over her chest, looking smugly at him as though she managed to get him with that.

“I suppose you’re right.” Though, that won’t stop Nanu from keeping his uniform and sandals. “What’s up?”

Acerola approaches him, taking a few moments to sniff the air around him. She hums happily, nodding her head proudly as she proclaims, “You showered!”

“Of course.” If he hadn’t, then Acerola wouldn’t have shut up until he did.

“So what are you gonna do about her?” Acerola turns her head to Noa. “You want me to keep an eye on her at the Aether House? I’m sure Hunter and Ruri would be happy to have a new friend to play with!”

Tempting, but… “Nah, I have to keep an eye on her.”

“Official police business?” Acerola asks, placing her hands on her hips.

“You could say that.” The less he has to explain to her about Ultra Wormholes, the better… “I’m about to head back now. Feel free to leave if you want.”

“I will in a bit!” Acerola smiles, playfully swishing her dress’s skirt from left to right. “Wanna make sure Noa is doing okay…you good?”

Noa blinks, turning her attention to Acerola before nodding her head.

“Anyways, I caught her trying to say Cheshire’s name,” Acerola says, looking somewhat pleased with herself.

“Her nickname or…?” Nanu tilts his head to the side.

“Haunter!” Acerola clenches her hands into tiny fists. “You said her memory was bad, yeah?”

“Right.” It seems that some of her memories must have returned… That should make things easier. “Good to know.”

“Also, you have your grocery list on you, Uncle Nanu?” Acerola looks at him questioningly. “I know it hasn’t been that long since I did your shopping, but now that you have Noa…maybe you should stock up on more food?”

“Fair enough.” If it means having some sort of reprieve from Acerola, so be it. “Let me get Zen out first.”

Knowing Cheshire, she’s about ready to drop Noa the instant she gets the chance to, so in order to avoid whatever scene that’ll cause, Nanu decides that Zen should help out in Haunter’s stead. Thankfully, Noa is no longer as freaked out as she originally was to seeing Zen. In fact, she even starts making some sort of cooing noise as she pets Zen’s fur.

“Cute.” At least until that Salandit started getting jealous…which Nanu supposes can also be considered cute—though he’s never been that much of a fan of poison-types. “Looks like Plumeria ain’t getting her Salandit back.”

That little guy got attached too fast to such a strange girl.

…

…

It’s about a few hours later before we finally returned to the station, which was…a lot more exhausting that I feel it should have been. To be fair, being around Aceerola is a lot more draining than I thought it would be. Honestly, I can finally understand why Nanu is the way he is when it involves her.

She is pretty loud…

And I thought I was loud. Of course, it does help that I still can’t talk well, but hey—my memory’s back…somewhat. I at least know about Pokémon. And from the looks of it, the events of Sun and Moon haven’t yet started…

I don’t know where that puts me, but I honestly don’t care. It’s fucking Pokémon—I’m having the time of my life just petting Nanu’s Absol!

“Salaaa!” Oh, and this Salandit, who’s pretty jealous with the attention I’m giving Zen. Geez, you really are a baby…

I guess that’s what makes you pretty cute.

“Nyaa!” There’s also the abundance of Alolan Meowth that Officer Clinical Depression owns. Like damn.

Tha’s a lotta cats.

Maybe one day, that’ll be me… If I stay in this world that long.

Is there a way for me to go back?

I should probably think about that a lot more than I’m actually not. Like, what about my family? My friends? The life I left behind?

Screw that—there’s a big-ass cat!

Nanu was in the middle of feeding the rest of his Pokémon, of which included Zen, an Alolan Persian, a Krokorok, and a Sableye…that just kept staring at me.

Creepy.

But also kinda…cute? “Ahhh!”

That thing just ran at me!

“Salaaa!” Salandit hissed at it, spatting out a few embers that only made the Sableye laugh.

You cheeky bastard!

“You just made Nirami’s day.” Nanu chuckled, like the depressed bastard he is.

“Niiii…” Did you really name your Sableye that?

“Nirami,” Nanu said as slowly as possible, in an attempt to get me to try.

“Niiiiiirrrraaaa…” Why is it so difficult to talk?!

“Don’t push yourself.” Nanu walked up to me, reaching out to ruffle my hair. “Ultra Wormholes are no joke. You’re a lot luckier than most.”

As opposed to what? Man, I really regret not doing post-game that much as I should have…

That’s what you get for spending four fucking days shiny-chaining a Wishiwashi.

Oh, I can catch one of those! Ahhh, I need to consider my options!!

“Saaa…” Salandit nudged its head against my hand again, prompting me to pet it for the umpteenth time. It was a nice way to pass the time, and the more I get to know this toxic fire lizard, the more I feel like I’m getting attached to it.

Not a good sign.

Oh well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there…and burn it

Heh, burn it…

…

…

It takes about a few days for Plumeria to even show up to collect what could be one of her Salazzle’s Salandit. She takes one look at Noa and the baby in question, rubbing her nose a few times before giving Nanu a look that says, “Yeah, no.”

“You sure about it?” he asks.

“It’ll just distress her.” Plumeria sighs. “She’s had it rough with her other hatch-mates, since Belladonna had another girl that hatched first before her. I didn’t think it was a problem until she finally left. Looking at it now, she’s pretty small for a female.”

“Yeah, I was going to ask about that.” Nanu looks at the Salandit that Noa is the middle of feeding. “Is that normal?”

“Not really.” Plumeria frowns. “They’re supposed to be bigger than that by now—it’s been two weeks since she’s hatched, after all. Honestly, I think she’s better off with that girl. Here—you can even help her catch it.”

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a minimized nest ball. She presses down on the button, causing the ball to expand to its actual size. She then hands it to him, giving him a few reassuring pats on the shoulder before going on her way.

“Thanks for nothing,” Nanu huffs as soon as he knows Plumeria is out of earshot. He supposes that it was only natural that Noa would keep that Salandit, he just…didn’t think it’d be that easy. After all, Plumeria is pretty attached to whatever Pokémon she owns. “Well, I guess there’s only one thing left to do.”

Nanu walks over to Noa, catching her attention as she gently rubs Salandit’s tummy.

“Naaaaaa?” She still hasn’t made much progress with speaking, but Nanu already knows it’s going to take a lot of effort and time to get anywhere.

“Plumeria told me to help you with this.” Nanu gestures at Noa to hold out her hand, which is where he places the nest ball in her hand. “Just tap Salandit with it. She shouldn’t put that much of a fight.”

“Whhhhhh?” Noa furrows her brow, clearly confused.

“She said that Salandit was better off with you,” Nanu explains. “Congrats on getting your first Pokémon.”

Noa blinks a few times, not really paying much attention to the Salandit that reaches up to tap the Poké ball’s button with her snout. A light pops out and engulfs the baby Salandit, converting it into energy that is pulled into the center of the Poké ball. The ball closes shut, the red button in the center now flashing white as the ball twitched from left to right a few times in Noa’s hand. It takes a few seconds before a “click” resounds, notifying both Nanu and Noa that Salandit had been caught successfully.

“She’s all yours,” Nanu says.

Without any warning, the ball pops open, releasing the Salandit inside as she scurries up Noa’s shoulder, quickly wrapping her body around her Trainer’s neck.

“Salaa…” She sounds far more content than Nanu has ever heard her. In fact, she almost seems rather…docile.

“Congrats on becoming a mom.” Nanu smirks, causing Noa to stick out her tongue at him. “Whatcha gonna call her?”

There’s a moment of silence between the two of them, before Noa reaches out to grab the notepad. She scribbles down a few things—some names, most likely—before showing it to Nanu.

“Junko, huh?” Nanu reads, giving the baby Salandit a curious look. “I guess she’s yours, so it’s up to you at the end of the day. Not a bad name.”

Junko takes to her new name very quickly, making strange clicking noises in satisfaction. She still acts up from time to time, nearly getting into trouble with some of Nanu’s Alolan Meowth. At one point, Nanu had to return his Persian to her Poké ball, because Junko had annoyed her so much, she nearly got slashed.

“Troublemaker, are you?” Nanu stares at Junko as she hisses at him from the safe confines in Noa’s hair. “You been brushing that?”

Noa averts her gaze somewhat nervously, clearly avoiding the question.

“I’ll take that as a no…c’mere.” Nanu picks up a brush off the table, taking a few seconds to confirm that yes—it’s not the one he uses for his Persian, Akela. “Hey—Junko, stop.”

She’s hissing at him again, swiping at him with glowing claws. It’s been two weeks since he first met her, and even now, she still shows him quite the sass. Noa, at least, does something about it by grabbing her and scratching her gently underneath her chin. That’s enough to calm her down, although…Junko goes back to hissing again when Noa starts yelping in pain from the tangles that Nanu has to brush out.

“Calm down—it shouldn’t take too long.” Hopefully—Noa’s got a lot of hair. A lot more than she needs it to be, though Nanu doesn’t feel like cutting it, for fear of having Acerola on his case for doing something without her being present.

“Stttoooopppp!!” Noa is getting somewhat better with saying certain words, though she still fumbles a lot with new words she tries to say. As a result of Nanu switches languages back and forth around Noa, he’s pretty certain that Junko is picking up on it from the way she responds to whatever Noa manages to say in her Kantonian dialect.

“You gotta look good for our visitors.” Who should be coming any day, now…

“Viiii…?” Noa quickly shoots him a questioning look before yelping again in pain at a particularly nasty tangle that Nanu barely manages to brush out.

“You’ll see,” Nanu says, hoping that Noa hasn’t gotten too attached to him like Junko had with her. That’d make things troublesome… “Aaaand we’re done.”

He moves away, avoiding the almost well-timed swipe that Junko throws at him. Noa’s hair now looks a lot more manageable, though Junko quickly musses it up by taking her place on her Trainer’s neck.

“I tried.” Nanu shrugs. “You up for some noodles? Asking because I’m thinking about ordering take-out.”

He ends up ordering it anyways, being too tired to heat up the water for their instant ramen. It’s a random Team Skull grunt who delivers the order for him, as Acerola is the middle of helping some Island Challenger on their trial.

“So that’s what happened to Big Sis’s Salandit!” It’s Tupp again, who still is rather wary of Junko as she just outright glares at him.

“She don’t bite…much.” He’s seen her bite on at least a couple of his Meowth’s tails. “Here’s your pay.”

“Thanks!” Tupp takes the wad of bills from Nanu’s hand, leaving immediately after with a harsh slam of his door.

SLAM!

Nanu sighs in exasperation as his Meowth make a mess of the place, hissing loudly in panic as their fur bristles up most noticeably. He really needs to tell Guzma to keep his kids under control…

“Juuuunkooo!” Noa has some issues fighting with Junko over a spring roll she’s trying to eat. It takes fifteen seconds before Junko manages to snatch the spring roll and just outright jumps off the sofa, crawling underneath it to hide. “Noooooo!”

“Here—have mine.” Nanu hands Noa his own spring rolls, hoping that it would be enough to appease her. She’s usually a lot quieter when she’s calm, after all… “Still not as loud as Acerola.”

Though, she’s certainly close.

…

Another week goes by before Nanu’s visitors finally make their appearance. It’s late in the evening, during a storm, when a tall man and his lilac-haired companion barge into the station without any warning. Nanu swears up a storm, having been woken up from his sleep from the ungodly amount of frightened Meowth that fill the room with noise. Noa is making just as much noise, because of the embers that Junko spat out in fear on the sofa, nearly catching it on fire, were it not for Zen slamming his paw down on the small embers.

“Hope we weren’t intruding,” Looker says, clearly oblivious to the chaos he and his companion caused.

The lilac-haired woman, Anabel, makes a face and bows apologetically to Nanu as she apologizes on Looker’s behalf.

Nanu, however, does not give a shit as he points at the door. “Out!! Come tomorrow morning—it’s too damn late for this! ZEN!”

Zen scurries over to the door, butting his head into Looker’s stomach as he pushes the tall man out the door. Anabel follows after him, shouting out a quick apology before proceeding to harshly scold Looker for his impulsive actions.

It takes more than an hour for Nanu to clean up the mess that Looker has caused him. Noa has at least fallen back asleep, her head buried into Zen’s fur. Junko is curled up on her stomach, sleeping just as peacefully, despite the fire she almost caused. His Meowth had gotten the worst from the sudden disruption, with most of them refusing to come out from under the table. He lays down on the sofa, sighing loudly in exasperation. He shuts his eyes close for a moment…and when he opens them up, it’s morning already.

“Damn.” He was just that exhausted.

Noa is at least trying to fill in for him, from the way she feeds his Meowth. Zen helps her by giving her the support she needs to stay standing. It’s hard for her to keep her balance, but she’s walking at the very least.

“Naaaana!” she greets him as usual, with a shortened version of his name that he’s starting to suspect might be an actual nickname she’s giving him.

“Nanu,” he quickly corrects, wanting to break her of that habit before it sticks.

“Absol!” Zen barks out a warning, his gaze focused on the door.

“Not this again…” Nanu buries his face in the palm of his hand.

Thankfully, Anabel takes the initiative, forcing Looker to knock first before opening the door.

“Sorry about last night,” Anabel says with a frown on her face. “Right, Looker?”

Looker coughs into his hand. “Yes—right.”

“Don’t do it again—there is a fire-type in the premise.” Nanu gestures at the Salandit that hisses loudly at Looker. “Just a baby—but still just as capable of causing a huge fire.”

“I am now aware.” Looker takes one look at the Salandit and then at Noa, who just stares questioningly at him. “That hers?”

“It is now.” Nanu nods his head. “I wouldn’t recommend separating the two.”

“Don’t plan on it,” Looker says. “It wouldn’t feel right.”

Not to mention, Anabel wouldn’t let him, from the way she looks sternly at him with her arms cross over her chest.

“Now onto business!” Looker makes his way over to Noa, who is the middle of feeding an Alolan Meowth. “Hello.”

“Hhhhiiiiii,” Noa slurs out.

“Right—I suppose you should write out your responses.” Looker almost forgot about Noa’s inability to speak well.

“Juuuuuun!” Noa calls out to her Salandit, who quickly scurries over to her with a notepad in her mouth. “Thaankkkk.”

She grabs the notepad, quickly pulling out a pencil from her pocket to jot down a few words. For the next few minutes, she talks to Looker using the notepad. Though, after that, Anabel decides to step in after noticing the difficulty Noa has understanding Looker. Though her Hoenn dialect might cause Noa to give her a few stares, for the most part, she understands.

With nothing else to do, while Anabel takes over, Looker goes back to Nanu to talk to him.

“How long has she been here again?” he asks.

“Three weeks now,” Nanu replies. “Apart from the issues she has, and her sudden arrival…nothing much out of the ordinary has happened.’

Not yet, at least. Hopefully, it stays like that. If not, well…Anabel and Looker should keep her safe. That had been the plan…

But then Anabel asks Noa a question that leads to her pointing in Nanu’s direction. “Ohh, I see.”

“What’s up?” Nanu arches his brow.

“She wants to stay with you, Nanu,” Anabel replies.

“No.” Nanu didn’t sign up for this—he didn’t sign up for anything.

His response is enough to get Anabel on his case as she argues that Noa is better off staying with him.

“She’s just a child,” she points out. “She deserves to have a normal childhood instead of staying cooped up with us.”

Looker actually thinks about it. “She is safer here, than she is with us.”

“Why don’t you send her with Emma?” Nanu knows that Looker has a ward of his own in Kalos.

“Emma might be old enough to watch her, but I wouldn’t trust her with it, as she already has enough issues of her own to handle.” Looker’s expression turns stern. “Don’t drag her into this.”

“We’ll cover for her living expenses.” Anabel twirls her finger around a lock of her lilac-colored hair. “That’s the least we can do.”

“That’s not the issue.” The issue is that Nanu is done playing babysitter. He just wants to go back to his usual life of dealing with the occasional Island Challenger, and Team Skull acting like a bunch of immature kids (since that’s what they are).

And yet, both Looker and Anabel refuse to let him do just that. A phone call here, a serious conversation there, and Looker and Anabel are making their way out of the station.

“You should get some documentation forms in the mail,” Looker tells him. “Just fill them out and we’ll do the rest.”

“Congrats on your new ward!” Anabel smiles sweetly at Nanu, as though she hadn’t just pushed him into a corner to accept his new responsibility.

Nanu glances over his shoulder at Noa. She remains blissfully ignorant of her situation as she cuddles Junko, who is feeling far more affectionate than she should be, though he supposes that she was able to read the mood between him and his guests. Sure enough, Junko gives him a nasty glare before focusing her attention back on Noa.

“Right…” Nanu sighs. “Guess this is my life, now.”

Looker and Anabel are refusing to give him any other options, as he’s the only one capable of understanding the gravity of Noa’s situation. So as soon as they’re gone from his sight, Nanu turns his attention onto Noa and says, “Looks like it’s just you and me.”

“Yaaa!” Noa smiles widely, freezing still when Junko suddenly licks her. A few seconds pass and a purplish “blush” soon covered her cheeks. That’s when Noa started having difficulty breathing.

“Aww fuck.” Nanu didn’t think Junko was capable of learning that move so early… “Should’ve figured, since she is Belladona’s kid.”

Thinking of it now, he should have stocked up on poison-healing items to avoid this situation. It’s happened more than once with the grunts in Team Skull, when handling Pokémon like Salandit and Zubat. And yet, it’s only until it’s happened that Nanu actually thinks about it.

“This is why I don’t like poison types.” It’s gonna be a mess if he doesn’t get it handled quickly…

“Bleeegh…” Oh, there goes the floor…

“Greaaat.” Well, he’s got a mess to clean up when they get back. “C’mere.”

One short trip to the Pokémon Center later, and Nanu returns with an armload of bags containing various status ailment healing medicine. He’s even bought a Pecha berry tree for the occasion, if only to get Noa through whatever learning phase Junko has to go through, as a baby poison type Pokémon. Noa is doing a lot better and is even trying to apologize to him for the mess she’s made on the floor.

“It’s fine,” he tells her as he cleans up the vomit covering the floor. “It’s bound to happen eventually when you’re training a poison-type.”

It’s never a matter of if, but when… He’s heard enough stories from Plumeria when she goes to him for help. Acerola herself had to deal with issues of her own, back when Cheshire was a Ghastly, although in her situation, she was mostly paralyzed instead of poisoned. Not as bad as a status ailment, but still just as annoying.

“This is gonna be a rough learning curve.” Nanu throws Noa a Pecha berry when Junko suddenly sneezes and lets out a cloud of toxic purple gas.

Thankfully, as the days go by, Nanu’s Meowth learn quickly to avoid Junko when she’s sneezing. It was bad enough when she spat out embers, but toxic gas was another—especially since it wasn’t the typical Poison Gas move one would expect, but Toxic.

“Plumeria doesn’t mess around.” Nanu is almost impressed, were it not for the fact that Noa often makes a mess on the floor when she doesn’t realize she’s poisoned. “Baby steps.”

Hopefully, Noa’s body learns to build an immunity to the poison, like Plumeria. It might make her Island Challenge a lot easier on her…

“Why am I thinking about that?” Nanu catches himself thinking such senseless thoughts. And yet, that still doesn’t stop him when he’s filling out the documentation forms he’s received in the mail. It’s honestly not that difficult, beyond the age he has to estimate based on Noa’s appearance. Her birthday, on the other hand, is something that she easily gives to him. “At least that memory’s still in place.”

As soon as he’s finished filling out the forms, he sends them out in the mail. Anabel and Looker should cover the other half of the forms. In the meantime, he and Noa have a date with the Pokémon Center’s community showers.

“We’ve been cooped here long enough,” he tells her as he helps her onto Zen’s back.

“Youuuu.” Noa wrinkles her nose when she catches a whiff of his clothes.

“Yeah, yeah—it’s also laundry day.” He resists the urge he has to tell her about how rank her dress smells. Unlike him, she at least has the excuse of being poisoned by a Salandit. “Let’s get moving.”

Unlike the times before, Noa can now shower on her own, though she still has issues standing for long periods of time. While that goes on, Nanu pays the laundromat part of the Pokémon Center a visit to go wash some clothes. It’s there that he meets Acerola, who has Hunter and Ruri at her side.

“Hiya Uncle Nanu!” Just when Nanu thought he’d escape her…

“Hi Uncle Nanu!” the two children by her side echo.

“Hello.” Nanu sighs inwardly, hoping that he doesn’t take too long.

…

…

Being able to shower without any help is like…amazing. I mean, I still can’t stay standing for very long without falling down—but I can at least stand! That’s something. Although, the new risk of accidentally getting poisoned by Junko is still a threat…thankfully, Zen is here with me, to help me out in case something bad happens.

Maybe I should give him a bath…

“Zeeeeen!” I called out to him, to which he responded by barking at me. I called after him again and this time, he actually walked over to me. He stayed still as I sprayed him with warm water.

“Salaaa!!” Junko, of course, got jealous and started rubbing against my leg.

“Juuuun…” I sprayed her as well, though not without turning up the heat a bit to adjust to her temperature. Being part fire-type, Junko can handle water if it’s warm at the very least, though it’s recommended to turn up the heat beyond that when bathing certain fire-types. There’s a whole mess of procedures, according to this Trainer Guide that Nanu handed me as soon as he found one that I could read.

Pokémon Refresh sure is looking amazing!

I mean, it’s similar enough and I get a chance to effectively groom a Pokémon by cleaning them up. So it’s aaaaallll good!

“Absol ab!” Zen barked a few times before finally shaking the excess water off his fur, earning a couple of angry hisses from Junko.

Oh you’re not done, Zen—I haven’t even applied the shampoo!

Is about an hour later when Zen, Junko, and I finally left the community showers. We were squeaky clean, and I actually felt good. I wonder if Nanu feels the same way…where the fuck is he?

…

Oh dammit, he’s still washing clothes, isn’t he?

Guess I gotta wait here for him…

Time to deal with random Trainers giving me strange looks because of the Hex Maniac dress I’m wearing. Like seriously, Acerola? You didn’t have anything better?

Whatever.

I’m used to it by now, but the instant I can, I’m gonna try to get a new wardrobe—keyword: try. Depends on how much money I have and if I even have the energy to go out shopping…which isn’t likely, when it takes so much effort to even walk a few feet without taking a break. Speaking of which—break time!

“Zeeennn…” I called out to him, motioning him to come closer as he let me climb onto his back. It’s shortly after I managed to get comfortable on his back that I received a sudden visitor in the form of Team Skull’s Plumeria.

“Heya,” she greets me…though, I feel she’s mostly looking at the Salandit on my shoulder.

“Pluuummm.” It’s still hard saying her name, and I’m praying to the Tapus that she at least knows a second language.

Plumeria looks at me for a few seconds before speaking, with a heavy accent, “Kantonian, yeah?”

“Yaaa…” I’m not expecting her to know many words, but she’s at least trying.

“Baby…good, yeah?” Plumeria reaches into her pocket for a Poké ball. Within seconds, she releases a Salazzle from the ball, saying a few things in a language I don’t exactly understand. “Mama.”

The Salazzle moves towards Zen, quickly crawling up him as she makes her way to Junko. She gives Junko a few scrutinizing looks before returning back to Plumeria’s side.

“She approves.” Ahh, good to hear. “Shopping.”

Plumeria motions at the many bags she has hanging off her arms before looking in the direction of the Poké Mart set up by the Pokémon Center’s healing facilities.

“You want?” I think she’s trying to ask me if I want anything…

“Ya.” I mean, she’s offering…

Plumeria ends up buying me a Pokémon doll to give to Junko, which she quickly starts making quick work of it by biting down on the doll’s soft fabric. Afterwards, she treats me to a cup of Tapu Cocoa…which is actually nice. Huh, no wonder Guzma loves this stuff…

It’s shortly after this that Nanu finally makes his return, with freshly cleaned clothes in the basket he has in his arms. He talks to Plumeria for a bit, likely getting whatever news she has on the status of Team Skull, since he’s effectively their guardian of sorts. From what I can gather, he at least steps in whenever they start taking things a bit too far.

Plumeria reached out to gently ruffle my hair, saying some stuff I couldn’t exactly understand, but I could tell she meant well. It felt nice, to be treated this kindly. I don’t know why it’s making me feel so emotional—it just does.

That manages to get Plumeria talking with Nanu again, though Nanu makes sure to keep me out of it by giving Zen an order to leave the Pokémon Center.

…

…

“She’s like some of the kids we have back in Po Town,” Plumeria tells Nanu, somewhat concerned with whatever background Noa might’ve had.

“Well…she’s stuck with me, if it makes you feel any better.” Nanu still didn’t sign up for this shit, but he’s in it for the long run now. He might as well make the most out of it. Honestly, he’d been planning on dumping Noa with Plumeria, but considering Noa’s current language barrier, he thought against it.

“Keep her safe, yeah?” Plumeria places a hand on her hip, still very much unfazed by the number of bags hanging off her arms. “Lemme know if you need any help. I have experience.”

Sadly enough, Nanu knows exactly what she means. Despite the bad reputation Team Skull has, it still functions as a safe haven for most runaways who have nowhere else to go. Many of them just so happen to be children from abusive homes…much like Guzma, himself.

Nanu still knows so little about Plumeria, but only because of a rule he and those in Team Skull follow. You don’t ask about where you’ve come from—you just don’t. If you want to come clean about it, then it’s fine to do so. You just don’t go asking people around about their backgrounds.

It’s kept most of the kids off his back when they’re especially curious about what he’s done, back before he settled down in the station. Apart from having some issues and flaws of his own, Guzma has done a pretty good job at watching over so many children. He suspects it has something to do with Plumeria, from the way she takes her job as everyone’s big sister so seriously.

“You need any new clothes for her?” she asks him, likely about ready to offer him some of the clothes she has back in Po Town.

“Sure.” It’ll save him another encounter with Acerola, and it’ll at least give Noa a chance to socialize with children her own age…even if they do happen to be Team Skull grunts. If all goes well, Nanu might be able to reach out to that one member that had caught his attention. He doesn’t often do it, but he’s had some slight concern for one of their newest members when it came to his attention that they’ve been having issues budgeting their money.

…

“I should talk to Noa about that.” He might as well teach her about Alola’s currency, in case she has any questions about it. It shouldn’t be any different from Kanto’s currency, but one can never be too careful. At the rate she’s progressing, he might end up sending her on the Island Challenge to help her grow more as a person. “She certainly has the potential.”

The days go by, and Nanu finally receives his first challenge in almost a month. Gone are the peaceful days he’s been having, as he has to actually fucking prepare his Pokémon for whatever beatdown they’re going to give to some brat’s Pokémon…

Of course, if that brat’s lucky, they’ll be the one kicking his Pokémon’s ass. It all depends…

With some reluctance, Nanu decides to leave Noa behind after thinking about it for a couple of minutes. She’s currently taking a nap with Junko curled up on her stomach, as usual. He leaves her a note on the table and hopes that she doesn’t get into too much trouble while he’s gone. She’s been doing pretty well so far, despite the issues she still has with walking and talking.

“Don’t make too much of a mess while I’m gone,” he tells her before walking out the door.

…

…

I don’t know how long I’ve been asleep, but I got woken up by an Alolan Meowth asking for food. Yawning loudly, I rolled off the sofa, disturbing Junko from her sleep as she started hissing at me for the rude awakening. I muttered some slurred apologies, still having issues saying coherent words when I feel so sluggish.

I stumbled over to the counter to get the bag of Pokémon food to fill the Meowth’s bowl. Afterwards, I returned back to the sofa to get Junko, who was glaring at me.

“Ssssorrry.” I rubbed my eyes, yawning a second time as I considered the pros and cons of going back to sleep. I stopped only when I noticed that I was completely on my lonesome.

Beyond the Meowth that live here, it was just me and Junko—no Nanu in sight. Looking around for whatever note he must’ve left me, I found it being used by a couple of Meowth as a sort of crumpled up toy they were batting around. I had to get Junko to fetch it for me.

/Out battling some brat.

Feel free to amuse yourself while I’m gone.

Just don’t cause too much trouble.

-Nanu/

Oh yeah, that’s right—he’s a Kahuna. Man, it’s easy to forget when nothing fucking happens here. It’s just eating, sleeping, and occasionally, showering—me and Nanu are not good for each other when it comes to our depressive habits. Acerola knows it herself, from the way she tends to hound us for neglecting our personal hygiene.

Thankfully, she’s been making some progress in breaking our bad habits, but damn, if it doesn’t take a lot of effort. I’m impressed with the patience she has for us, though…the same could be said about Nanu, with the way he puts up with her loudness.

Man, I’m bored.

Without Nanu around, there’s not much to do here… So I decided to take a small trip outside. With Junko at my side, I shouldn’t have much to worry about. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just scream and get whatever Team Skull grunt comes my way—they’re pretty receptive to whatever loud noises they hear outside their turf.

“Haaa!” It feels nice to get some fresh air every once in a while. I stretched out my arms and legs, stopping only when Junko started climbing up the dress I was wearing. She took her place around my neck, nuzzling her snout against my cheek before promptly going back to sleep.

Lazy bum.

I love her anyways. Never thought I’d actually get so attached to a Salandit, but hey—things are a lot different when the game is no longer a game, but your new life. It’s honestly pretty cool.

Welp…time to go for a walk!

There’s like this area around the station that is perfect for strolls…if you ignore some of the wild Pokémon living in the area, or some of the roadblocks forcing you take a different route altogether. It was exactly as I remember it being while I was going out searching for hidden items and Poké balls, only…different, because it wasn’t a game anymore. It was reality, and the thing about ledges is that holy fuck, they are not meant to be climbed up without some form of help. Like—you need an extra boost to even go up one, so you’re better off just jumping off of them.

At least, that’s what Nanu told me. And me being the way I currently am, I’m not exactly in any state to even attempt it. Instead, I take my chances in the tall grass, where most Pokémon don’t exactly jump out to attack you—they just mind their own business. Kinda like in the anime…

It’s exactly like in the anime.

If you wanna battle a Pokémon, you need to provoke one. I don’t feel like battling any Pokémon, with the little experience I have so far, so I just straight up ignore them and go on my way, just leisurely enjoying the scenery…

And then I tripped and stumbled over a tree root that caught on my dress and fell off a ledge during my attempts to maintain my balance. Not exactly the best idea I ever had, considering how little skill I had at maintaining my balance on top of walking for long periods of time.

Rii-iiipp!!!

“Aahhhh!”

“Salaaaaa!” Junko abandoned ship for her own safety, quickly jumping off my shoulder seconds before I landed on the ground.

Thud!

I landed face-first onto the dirt, with the absolute grace of an Alolan Persian that had been pushed off the sofa. Getting up took a lot more effort than usual, as my legs were pretty much giving out on me. The palms of my hand stung from the fall, grains of dirt digging into my skin in the most painful of ways. I had to pull out a sharp rock that had embedded itself in my leg during the landing.

It fucking hurt—like so much, that I couldn’t blink back the tears in my eyes I could feel Junko climbing up my back, so that she could take her place back on my shoulder. She nuzzled my cheek with her snout in an attempt to comfort me. I appreciated her actions, but it really wasn’t doing much to help me. After one last attempt to get off the ground result in me landing roughly on my ass, I started crying.

…

…

There are a lot of weird things that have happened to Gladion since he left home. Having some strange girl fall right off a ledge and land in his path is certainly…something. He doesn’t react much at first, just staring at the girl, taking note of the Salandit on her shoulder. He’s pretty sure that’s one of Plumeria’s…

“Is she the one who took it in?” Gladion recalls hearing some things from the other Team Skull grunts. He’s about to ask the girl a question, when suddenly, she started wailing at the top of her lungs. “Crap!”

He rushes towards her, trying his best to calm her down. It’s difficult, when there’s an angry Salandit hissing at you, because it thought you were a threat to its Trainer.

“I’m trying to help!” Gladion tells it, though all that does is earn him a swipe from the Pokémon’s claws. It misses his skin entirely, but it manages to drag a tear in one of his shirt’s sleeves, which…is already looking like it’s seen better days. “H-Heyyy!”

The Salandit hisses at him again before hiding in the girl’s long, brown hair. Thinking that was its way of saying that it was leaving, Gladion tries again to make some sort of contact with the girl. It…doesn’t get him anywhere, when she doesn’t exactly respond to some of the questions that he asks her. And when something does manage to click, all he gets is a very slurred response of, “Nooooooaaaaaaaa.”

“Huh???” Is that suppose to be her name? Gladion isn’t too sure, but there’s something strange about the way she talks. Apart from having difficulty saying much in the first place, he can tell that there’s some sort of language barrier between the two. “Just my luck.”

The Salandit hisses at him again, though the girl—Noa—stops it by placing her hand on its head. She wipes her eyes on the back of her sleeve, sniffing loudly as she tries her best to compose herself. She’s no longer sobbing so loudly, but she is hiccupping.

“Maybe I should take her to Plumeria.” Plumeria can at least help him out with Noa, and while he’s at it, maybe she can help him patch up some of the tears in his clothes. He’s been meaning to do that, honestly, he just…hasn’t found a way to bring it up in casual conversations.

Gladion tries to help Noa stand up, but that gets them nowhere when her legs keep giving out on her. Thinking that she might’ve sprained something, Gladion decides to help her get on his back. Memories of his little sister pop up in his mind as he is reminded of the times that he would carry her back home whenever she tripped and fell. The difference between her and Noa is that Noa is older than his sister had been during those times. There’s also the fact that Noa is a bit heavier—just a bit… Okay, maybe a lot more, but Gladion doesn’t say anything about it. It’s not like he has any issues carrying Noa in the first place—it’s just an observation he’s making.

“Alright, let’s get you to Plumeria.” Hopefully, this shouldn’t take too long— “Huh?”

Gladion’s gaze drifts towards a peculiar sight in the sky, where a strange vortex of some sort appeared. He knows not what to think of it, but soon, both he and Noa are screaming when a strange creature appeared out of the vortex. It lands a few feet away from them, standing at a height taller than the two of them combined. It has a lithe, insect-like appearance that seems somewhat feminine. Its body is mostly white in coloration, almost glimmering brightly under the sunlight. Purple eyes stare down at the two of them, the creature’s head tilting to the side in question.

“Pheeee…?” It takes a hesitant step forward, cringing in disgust at the dirt beneath its feet. That sets off the creature almost instantly, from the way it gazes as its surrounding with such a disgusted expression. That’s when it turns its attention back on Gladion and Noa. “Pheeroooooo!!”

Gladion chokes back a scream that wants to leave his throat as he takes off, desperately hoping he can throw it off before it even thinks about following after him and Noa. He tries his best to stay calm, but it’s rather difficult with Noa screaming into his ear. That’s honestly when he starts screaming along with her, their cries growing even louder when the bug-like creature appeared right in front of them within the blink of an eye.

“That’s so fast!”  Gladion doesn’t know what to make of it, so he does the one thing that comes into mind: head towards Po Town. Guzma and Plumeria might know what to do about this…thing.

Gladion considers himself lucky that the door was left open from his earlier visit. Now if only there was someone around to shut it… Not like it would’ve mattered much, from the way that creature moves so fast.

“Why me?!” Gladion was just minding his own business. How did he go from helping a strange girl to this?! And to think, he was just looking for a quiet spot to train his Type:Null… “I should’ve just stayed home…”

…

…

Why is there a fucking Pheromosa here?! Whyyyy??!

I should’ve just stayed home!!