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once upon a time, a kid fell from the sky, onto a beach aptly named for the memories of new beginnings that seep into every grain of pale-yellow sand. the kid is human enough, displaced in time and space, and very confused. the kid is also not afraid of pokémon. in this new/old/new world, that’s the greatest asset they could possibly have.
the kid has been given a divine mission to fulfill. the kid is, to their core, a divine mission, although they don’t remember that or much of anything. there’s a devotion in their heart to their instructed duty they don’t understand fully and an emptiness they don’t understand at all. (they are more successful at being a chosen one than they are at being a vessel. even gods can learn from past mistakes.)
still, they think of the world they left behind, the details as clear as memory can be in their mind, a self-shaped hole cut out of all of them. still, they think of glimpses of a god they still cannot fully comprehend.
once more, this is not the right place to start, but it’s as good a place as any. however… hm. let’s try again:
once upon a time, there was a kid named rei, and all they wanted were two things—to be trusted, and to fulfill their mission.
rei isn’t sure why they’re so fond of fire types. when professor laventon offered one of the three pokémon they’d helped to corral back to jubilife village as a partner, they don’t hesitate to crouch before the cyndaquil, holding out their hand for it to sniff. it proceeds to jump into their arms, startling a soft laugh out of them. it goes into the pokéball without a second thought; rei lets it back out after a moment, offering their shoulder for it to perch on instead.
professor laventon and akari give them the briefest of strange looks at that, but neither argue, so they think it’s probably fine. the passing thought of stealing the other two pokémon occurs to them as they apologize to them, but rei dismisses it quickly. it would be wrong, and professor laventon will take care of them just fine. they’ll find another oshawott and rowlet to catch out in the wilds.
it doesn’t occur to them for a moment that they might not pass the test the captain places for them.
of course, even if they had begun to worry, it would’ve been for nothing—they pass it with flying colors, the bidoof and the starly gently placed in the pastures to roam while the shinx clings to their arm. rei lets it climb up their shoulder to join the cyndaquil on the other side, wobbling only slightly as they begin to head back to galaxy hall. it seems their mission for the survey corps will align nicely with their purpose.
it doesn’t occur to them to be scared of the weight being placed onto their shoulders as they calm the frenzied kleavor until it’s too late there, too. (faintly, rei remembers the captain speaking of other corps members being mauled. they are divine and chosen and they fell from the sky but they are fifteen and they cannot die here or soon. they do not want to.) but—if being called upon to calm more frenzied pokémon gives them further access to the region, and by extension its pokémon, rei doesn’t mind.
really, they don’t. it makes everyone warm up to them, adaman even ruffling their hair after they calm the noble lilligant in the crimson mirelands. they can carry the weight of two missions if it makes people happy.
(they wonder if arceus is happy with their progress. the arc phone is dead silent besides the occasional update of a map. there is no way to tell. sometimes they talk to it, long and rambling in a way they talk to no one else in jubilife, about pokémon and the sights they’ve seen and everything between. maybe if they report back enough, in enough detail, they’ll be able to go home. even just remembering what home is like would be enough for them, their home, not the vague brushes of the world they left behind that don’t have them in it.
it says nothing no matter what rei asks. the emptiness in their heart rumbles, disquieted.)
there’s something about meeting ingo that makes rei doubt.
it’s only for a moment. they become attached to him fast, listening intently as he speaks of his memory and his heart in the darkened cave between parts of the highlands, trying to keep it all memorized and locked away. something in their heart aches when he speaks of forgetting something important; perhaps he has a point about it remembering when the mind forgets. they wonder if they’ll be able to ask arceus to send him back home when they meet it, or at the very least give him his memories back.
the thought makes them pause.
are they… owed something in return, for this mission? it has taken their memories. it has taken ingo’s, too, to an even further degree. falling from the sky has made them distrusted across the village on arrival. life or death is nothing new, now. but what do you ask of arceus? how?
rei wants to know if arceus is kind. they want to know if it’ll grant this request, if it cares in the slightest. they want to know why.
by the time they exit the cave back into the light, they have already shuffled these thoughts away to ponder on too-late nights. “are you quite alright?” ingo asks, kindly, because he is kind and it makes their heart ache even more to know he’s missing so much, for no apparent reason. “if you need to take a break before we continue, that’ll be fine by me. we still have time before boarding.”
“i’ll be fine,” rei reassures, quietly, shushing their typhlosion when it huffs a sigh in doubt. “let’s go talk to melli before he thinks we really gave up on this.”
“aha! of course. you’d like to prove him wrong?”
they offer ingo the slightest of smiles, mischievous around the edges. “would i ever.”
“this is what was asked of me,” rei mourns, voice muffled by the way their head is buried in their luxray’s fur. it purrs, their typhlosion watching their back as they kneel in the grass and sniffle. the galaxy corps banished them. they thought rei was causing the frenzy, that rei was behind it all, and neither of the clans could help them, and they’re so very capable (chosen and divine and—) “i want to go home… ”
for the first time since landing on prelude beach, they aren’t thinking of what arceus has asked of them. their personal copy of the pokédex is battered, well-loved, still tucked away safely into their satchel and incomplete. it doesn’t matter. they have to find a way to close the rift, to solve everything. the weight aches.
“strange events seem to follow you wherever you go, don’t they?”
the voice is warm, familiar. it startles them, their head snapping up from luxray’s fur to stare up at volo. something twists in their chest, reaching out, but they smother it down. “found you at last, rei! you look…” volo pauses, frowning briefly. “worse for wear. you weren’t considering running off to live in the woods forever out of despair, would you? what would i do if i were to lose one of my favorite customers?”
“find a new one,” rei mumbles. volo laughs, crouching down to look them in the eye better. their luxray and typhlosion allow it; the latter’s fire begins to flare up, though, a warning. he stays a few steps away. “why’re you here?”
“i heard the news, of course! seems you’re in quite a pinch, huh? no place in either clan—to say nothing of how poorly the galaxy team has treated you!” volo waves his hand, eyebrows furrowing at the last bit. rei nods, slight. “ah, well, that’s a conversation for later, my friend. for now, let’s get you somewhere safe, hm? there’s still corners of this region where we can stash you away in secret!”
they would really love to go with him. they stay seated, though, hands tracing circles in luxray’s fur in an attempt to soothe their nerves. no use getting their hopes up. “the ginkgo guild is okay with it…?”
volo seems taken aback, before he laughs again. “oh, absolutely not. but i’m not a very good merchant, you know? always wandering off for this and that. they won’t notice a thing- i’m a lone agent of chaos, isn’t that fun?”
something in rei cracks, at that. they scramble over, nearly bowling volo over as they wrap their arms around him in a tight hug. the emptiness in their chest resonates and resonates and resonates and they ignore it because someone is giving them a chance. he goes ramrod tense for a long moment before he hugs them back, laughter soft in his chest rather than the startled, loud thing it has been.
“fate has truly been cruel to you today, my friend…”
rei shakes their head, but doesn’t move. “thank you,” they whisper, instead. volo says nothing, but hums, letting them stay for as long as they need.
they’ll figure it all out after this. they’ll get back on track. they’ll return to their mission.
for right now, they just… let themself fall apart. just for a moment.
everything from the past day feels like a blur.
there are two gods in pokéballs tied onto their hip; one of them’s still curled up in the back of adaman’s mind, making passing commentary that never fails to startle him. the space-time rift that has been looming over their head for the past few months is closed, sewn back closed. the galaxy team is allowing them back into the settlement. they’ll… really have a home here, now.
rei stands in the middle of the celebration with a small, distant smile on their face. it’s delightful. it’s… loud. they drift towards adaman and irida before stopping themself—the two are getting along on their own, they don’t want to interrupt—and instead, they change pace to meet volo where he’s standing at the edge of the festivities.
he brightens when he sees them, waving a hand in greeting. “my favorite customer! to what do i owe the honor of being given time at this celebration, hm?”
“i just…” rei shuffles, tucking their hands behind their back. “i wanted to say thank you, again. it… meant a lot, that you helped me.”
volo blinks, slow. an unreadable expression crosses his face for a moment, before it fades into a grin, his hand going up to wave a point at them. “hey, hey! no need to thank me. what’d i do without my favorite customer, huh? i told you before!”
“mhm, of course.” rei smiles back, carefully batting away his hand. “well, either way… i still have the plates, and i remember you were interested in them, so… here!” they hold out a leather bag, one of the colorful plates sticking out the top.
he takes it, movements more hesitant than they were expecting, smile fading into something… else. they can’t place it, still. “you… you’re just… giving these to me?”
“i don’t… really have a use for them, don’t worry. they’re nice to collect, but you helped me, so i want to give you something in return. and you seemed to like these!”
“i…” volo shakes his head, mouth stretching into what they think he wants to be a smile but really looks more like a grimace. something twinges in the emptiness in their chest, uncertain. “rei, i… could you hold onto them for me? merchants get into a lot of dangerous situations on the road, you know, and i’d hate to lose these! we can’t all have the team that took down a handful of gods to defend ourselves.”
“... if you want!” rei takes the bag back, tucking it away into their larger satchel and turning back to volo. “just… tell me when you want them, okay? they’re yours!”
“i will, i promise.” volo’s smile gets more genuine, now. he reaches out to ruffle their hair like adaman did, and they let him, wiggling away when they feel their hair get too messy. “c’mon, let’s get back to the festivities now, okay? they’re all for you!”
their quiet protests of that go unheard; volo successfully drags them back into the thick of the party, and they celebrate until they’re too tired to think and much too tired to do anything but fall asleep in their housing with their pokémon surrounding them.
the pokédex isn’t finished yet. they haven’t caught everything. but one mission is off their shoulders—the weight of the region leaving with it—and that’s… good. (the true story is not yet over, but even a chosen one needs to rest.)
they’re glad.