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Chapter Text

The ground had fallen out from under her. That was all that she processed, at first. The wind was battering her, throwing her every which way. She could just barely open her eyes, squinting against the wind. Oh dear. The ground was.... very far away. 

Her vision faded.  That was probably for the best.

"Hello? Wake up!"

A voice cut through the darkness. It was gentle, deep, with a hint of a Galarian accent to it. 

"Oh, please do wake up, won't you?"

Fox opened her eyes, only to see three pokemon in front of her.

She was... laying on her stomach. the ground was gritty... dust? No. The slowly rolling sound of waves meant it was likely sand. She was on a beach.

A brief look around confirmed it. Which meant... 

Had she imagined falling? or...

She turned back to the pokemon. A rowlet, cyndaquil, and oshawott. On instinct her hand went to her belt, where her partner was. But...

Nothing. 

She jumped to her feet in one fluid motion, drawing a yelp of surprise from the portly man that was standing over the pokemon.

"No, no! Where- Where is it?" She started stalking across the sand. "I know I had him with me! No, this-" Nothing. Not the brilliant red that would stand out against the dusty yellow sand, not the dark fur, not even the mischievous laugh that would tell her this was all a prank, that he was just playing.

"What are you looking for, my girl?"

She whirled around to face the man. "I am not your girl. I'm not anyone's. And frankly, what I'm looking for isn't your business, but I had my pokemon partner with me! His pokeball isn't here, and neither is he!"

The man took a hesitant step back. "I... my apologies."

Fox shook her head. "That's not important. Just... tell me where I am, so I can start looking for him."

"This is Prelude Beach. Many people sail here to start a new life here in Hisui. Might I ask... where you're from?"

Hisui? That wasn't a region. At least, Fox hadn't heard of it. And since her job was to keep peace throughout the world and hunt down people causing trouble with pokemon...

She wasn't in her own world. That meant she was now a Faller. Strange things would follow her around, and she would be drawn into large scale conflicts. That was, after all, why the International Police brought Fallers into their ranks in the first place. It attracted trouble, which in turn allowed them to keep peace.

"Are you alright, my girl?"

The man leaned away from her slightly when she turned her gaze on him.

"Sorry. I just meant... you are, staring off past me, as if I wasn't there. Is something the matter?"

"My name is Fox. I am not 'your girl'. And I'm fine." She took in a breath. The likelihood of going home was slim. And she could figure out why she was here in time. For now... "Is there any chance you have any food with you? I can't remember the last time I ate, I was chasing a lead, and..." she shook her head.

The man nodded. "I am called Laventon." He touched his hand to his chin. "Hm, I don't believe I have any food on me..." he patted the pockets of his... lab coat?

"Excuse me, but- are you a Pokemon Professor?" Fox interrupted without thinking.

Laventon's face lit up in a grin. "Why, yes! I am! I have been attempting to put together Hisui's very first Pokedex, in fact!"

Oh? Its very first? Then...

"That's really cool!" Fox bounced on the platforms of her feet. Her stomach growled. "Uh... so about that food?"

"Oh yes! Well, I'm afraid most people in Jubilife won't be so open to an outsider... especially since you fell out of a hole in the sky."

Fox just froze, staring directly at the man. "I. what."

"You fell out of the sky." he offered helpfully.

Fox started pacing. So she hadn't imagined falling. And... She was on the right track. She had been following a lead, and it had brought her here, somehow. "Okay. Okay! That's very helpful actually. Thank you, Professor!"

"I..." He looked down at the three pokemon that had been wandering around the beach, as if asking them for advice, before looking back at Fox. "I am a bit lost... why are you thanking me?"

Fox shook her head. "Doesn't matter. How would I fit in better with the people here? That is- How might I act in order for them to trust me, an outsider?"

"Well, most people here were outsiders once... so, so long as you're willing to work. Provide, and be provided for. That's really what the village is all about! The Galaxy team provides safety, medical access, and does research on pokemon, facilitating a chance for peace between humans and pokemon. A chance to coexist, even?" he trailed off for a moment, before shaking his head. :Meanwhile, everyone else farms, crafts, or provides whatever skills they may have." 

"So, the Galaxy Team works with pokemon?" Fox nodded. "Set me up with them. Give me a recommendation, help me make connections, whatever needs to happen."

A frown flashed on Laventon's face. "For that... you would need to talk to the commander. And he... well, he is not one to care for pokemon, if that was what you were imagining..."

Fox shook her head. "That doesn't matter. Take me to him. I'll do whatever it takes. I want to help you build you pokedex, but more importantly... Pokemon are my life, Professor. People deserve to live peacefully alongside them."

Laventon nodded. "I agree. Why do you think I started the pokedex in the first place, my gir-" Fox sent him a look that caused him to verbally backtrack. "that is to say, Fox- I started the pokedex because if people can understand pokemon, there will be no reason to fear them."

Fox grinned. "So take me to the commander! We can show them how awesome and cool pokemon are to be around!" She jumped up, and stumbled in the sand upon landing.

This commotion was enough to send the three pokemon of Laventon's running. 

"Wait-!" He started off after them, Fox at his heels. "No, I-"

He huffed to a stop. "I am afraid I'm not accustomed to fieldwork... if only those three had pokeballs, I could call them back to me..." Laventon hung his head.

Fox perked up. "Give me pokeballs. I'll catch them, easy!"

Laventon looked at her strangely. "Are you not afraid they will catch you-"

"That's not important!" She stuck her hand out. "Give me the pokeballs, or I won't be able to catch up to them!"

She took off running as soon as a pouch full of pokeballs was shoved into her hand. She could catch up to them, they hadn't gone far.

The three had ran into a clearing and were just wandering about. She pulled out a pokeball, and her eyes widened. Oh, that was... different. How strange. They were made of wood... or... something? She recalled pokeballs like this, though they had only been in Johto, and it was a dying art.

She fiddled with the latch of the empty pokeball, but that didn't do much. She would likely have to throw it for it to work. That was how normal- modern? because this was what was normal to the people here- pokeballs worked. They only activated if they detected a specific force, the force of being thrown.

Cyndaquil was the closest, toddling around by a few rocks. Fox crouched low, and chucked the ball at Cyndaquil... only to miss.

They had a different weight to them, okay? And it felt like something inside was rattling as she threw it. Was that how it detected that it was thrown?

Cyndaquil was staring at her, and if it was anything like the professor's hand reared Cyndaquil in Johto, it would be skittish and try to run, so she lobbed another ball and smacked the poor little pokemon in the face.

Somehow, that worked. 

Once she got the hang of it, catching pokemon was easy. She had managed to catch all three by the time Professor Laventon had caught up. "How are things doing, Fox? Have the little rascals scared you away from pokemon training yet?"

He froze when he saw Fox standing alone, no pokemon in sight. His expression completely changed when she held up a hand, all three pokeballs clearly visible.

" By Sinnoh, you've really done it ." His voice was hushed.

"Is it really not normal to know how to catch pokemon well?" Fox raised an eyebrow. "And- wait a minute, did you just say Sinnoh?"

Laventon blinked. "Oh, I suppose I did. I must have been around the Diamond and Pearl clans too much lately, if I'm picking up on their phrases!"

Sinnoh. Sinnoh, but the name Sinnoh seemingly meant a god. Likely Arceus, seeing as he used the term in the same way most would say 'Oh Arceus'. 

Sinnoh, which had long ago been called something else, that Fox never paid enough attention to her instructor to remember.

Sinnoh, which had been Hisui, long ago.

Chapter Text

Everything went by fast. Laventon rushed her into town, she got griped at by everyone that thought her clothes were weird, and she was told she would have to work in order for anyone to trust her. What was more, the woman that told her she had to work her way through the ranks, Cyllene, looked like a criminal from Sinnoh.

If Fox hadn’t known she was in the past, that definitely let her figure it out. She didn’t recognize everyone, of course she didn’t. But Cyllene was one, and then Commander Kamado…

Well, standing in front of him, he was definitely related to Professor Rowan of Sinnoh.

“Show me your strength.” he crouched low, in a fighting stance.

Oh, well most people asking for a show of strength would be asking for a pokemon battle. She didn’t have any pokemon. But a physical fight?

Easy.

Fox charged, lunging forward at Kamado’s legs. He stumbled, then readjusted himself. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted, but she twisted and kicked her legs, landing a hit against his face. He dropped her and she rolled, turning around and slamming her weight against him before he could orient himself. He tried to grab at her again, but she ducked and grabbed his right arm and twisted it behind his body, grabbing his other arm as he reached back at her.

She held tight as he tried to pull away. His sleeves rode up, her hands pushing them up his arms

Scars. Burns. His skin was red hot where the burns started. Despite how healed the scarring looked, the heat still in them felt like the fire was still there, burning him.

She let go, and he pulled away, turning back towards her, adjusting his sleeves. "Well done. Not many are able to match my strength, especially given your size."

Fox nodded. "I'm Fox. I am joining the survey corps. I came from a place where I was part of... our equivalent to your security corps. We trained our bodies along with our pokemon, so I've been holding my own against far larger opponents since I was very young."

Kamado nodded. "That is good. Strength and experience will carry you far."

"I'll be working on the pokedex for the Professor. The more people understand them, the less scared they will be. Maybe one day we can all live in peace with pokemon at our sides." Fox smiled. "Living, caring for each other." Much as her partner pokemon raised her until she was old enough to track the man that became her mentor down and demand that he train her.

"That is an honorable goal. But it is unlikely to happen. Pokemon are terrifying creatures. If someone is afraid of a pokemon, telling them how exactly it will kill them won't make them fear their death any less."

"What was it?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"The burns. What pokemon was it?"

Kamado turned his back to her with a scowl. "That is my own business. No one else's. You are accepted into the ranks of the Galaxy team, so long as you pass the survey corps entrance trial. I have no problem with your joining. I assume Cyllene assigned you a place to sleep. Go to your quarters for the night. You will be up early."

"Where did the commander come from?"

Fox had snuck off to the Professor's quarters. Despite how late it was, she couldn't sleep. Not without her partner's weight pressed against hers, fur keeping them both warm.

And Laventon was awake, just watching the three sleeping starter pokemon- though they weren't called starters yet, were they? And taking notes.

So she asked.

"Hm? Kamado?" Laventon put his notes away. "Somewhere south of here. I'll admit, I don't exactly know. All I know is that his home was burned down, and he and Beni, along with the other survivors, fled here, and started anew."

Fox nodded. "He's hurting, isn't he?" 

"The commander? No, he's in tip top shape! Why do you ask?"

"I think I know what those burns are from. What pokemon, I mean. It's a burn that never heals, and always is in pain."

The Professor tilted his head. "A pokemon can do that? I suppose it makes sense, pokemon are wondrous creatures! But such a thing has not been documented."

Fox nodded. "It's a dog pokemon. The name I know it by is Houndoom. it's a fire dark type canine pokemon, but it can imbue toxins into its fire. That's what causes the neverending pain. But there are ways to soothe it. It... It never goes away. But a poultice of some herbs I'd have to see to recognize, plus three parts rawst to one part pecha mixed together, soothes the pain. You can even soak bandages in the mixture and wrap the wounds, that would probably help the Commander."

Laventon opened his notebook again and flipped to a new page, quickly writing as Fox spoke. "That is very useful, yes. How do you know this, Fox?"

She shrugged. "I had to know how to heal pokemon inflicted injuries to survive from a young age. I worked closely with them, but I also stopped criminals that used pokemon, and there was always the chance that I or my partner would get hurt, and not be able to get help from where we were."

Laventon nodded. "Well, there's no reason to fear that here! We have the security corps to keep us safe, and most new recruits dont wander far from where the security corps are stationed. Once you're more experienced and able to protect yourself, then you can stray farther."

"I can protect myself just fine, thank you very much!" Fox crossed her arms. "I've done just fine before now."

"I thought you just said you needed to know how to treat injuries because you got hurt-"

"I got hurt doing what I love. Working with pokemon. I wouldn't have it any other way." Fox sighed. "I just miss my partner pokemon. He was..." she shook her head. "Sorry. Am I interrupting something?"

He had been studying the starters when she arrived. And sure, he seemed fine to talk with her. But what if what he was doing was important? 

Did the starters really only have one little enclosure each?

Oshawott was floating on its back at the top of the little water tank, Rowlett was nested up in the fake tree, and little Cyndaquil was curled up on the hard stone of the fireplace. And... Laventon only had a chair to sleep in, too.

"Is this really the place you sleep for the night?" She asked before he could answer her first question.

"It is. And, no, I wasn't doing anything important for you to interrupt." Laventon said. But it lacked the... lightness? he usually had. And he clearly loved studying pokemon...

"You were studying their sleep patterns, huh." she stated. "Well, to do so successfully you'll need a better place to study, better enclosures for them."

Laventon glanced at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's too small. Their mini environments are awful for them. And you have nowhere to sleep. The researcher has to be well before he can study his subjects. You need a better place to study them."

Laventon sighed. "I am afraid that's not a choice. Resources need to go to what is needed. And while the pokedex is important, it is not necessary, especially given that Jubilife is such a new settlement." His answer was rehearsed, he had been told that many times.

"I'll get the resources, then. There oughta be some strong fighting type pokemon that can build, ground, rock, and steel types  that can help with materials. As soon as I'm officially part of the team!"

Laventon shook his head. "I won't ask you to do that. I'm fine, truly I am."

"It's not just about you, Professor." she walked over to stand beside the sleeping Oshawott in the tank. "It's about them. You're important, yes, but it's humans against pokemon here in Hisui, and I'm for the pokemon." 

Fox stretched. "You should get some rest professor. I'll watch over the pokemon."

After  some grumbling and Fox insisting that "no Professor, you cannot study pokemon without sleep. Yes, that even means nocturnal ones. Yes Professor, I'm aware that I am awake. However I guarantee I am more rested than you. You only have a chair to sleep in, not even a futon. Yes Professor, I will format my notes in the same way you do." Laventon finally went to sleep.

Fox chuckled softly. he was a kind man.

She would be having a talk with Commander Kamado after the trial for her to be accepted into the survey corps. Hopefully she would have the materials for the curative poultice to offer as a goodwill gift, before she started yelling at him for the poor state his Professor was expected to work in.

She glanced up from her notes on how uncomfortable the poor little cyndaquil looked when she heard a noise over from the tank.

Oshawott was at the edge of the tank, paws holding on to the glass, watching Fox. It squeaked at her when it saw her looking at it.

She smiled softly and walked up to the tank. "H'llo there little one. How are you, then?"

She scooped him into her arms, and sat down on the floor. 

He started squeaking and talking to her, and while she didn’t understand him, she let him talk. 

“Yeah? Tell me about it bud.” She chuckled as he started going on a tirade, waving his stubby arms wildly. 

It only took around ten minutes for him to tire himself out and nuzzle into Fox’s arms. She held him close, laying back on the floor. He was much smaller than her partner, but it was comfortable, having the weight and warmth of a Pokémon against her

Chapter Text

Fox didn't realize anything was wrong, at first. An Oshawott was on her chest, she was in a disorganized lab. She must have fallen asleep helping Unova's professor with something. But this wasn't the sleek high tech lab it should be. And the cyndaquil and rowlet playing meant that this wasn't Unova.

Right. She had fallen into a different time, to the region of Hisui with only the clothes on her back, without even her pokemon partner. This mission was more trouble than it was worth, but she would press on.

She sat up, Oshawott shifting to her lap with a sleepy squeak. She chuckled. "Mind coming with me? I wanna get this whole pokemon catching thing done early."

Oshawott just squeaked, climbing up her torso to hang on her shoulder.

She chuckled and stood. "Alright." she left a note for the professor telling him she would bring oshawott back once she caught the three pokemon.

As she headed out, passing the house she was supposed to be sleeping in, she saw Rei waiting. He was the professor's main helper, the person that had been nicest to her, other than Laventon.

"Hey Rei. What are you doing?"

He jumped, turning to face Fox. "Oh! You're already out? I came to wake you up, actually."

Fox nodded. "Yep. I... might've slept on the floor in the professor's place." She adjusted Oshawott, shifting him to a more stable place to drape himself on her shoulders. "I was helping observe the pokemon, and I fell asleep. So here we are."

Rei nodded. "Well, I'm supposed to teach you how to do this, so follow me!"

"I already know how to catch pokemon." Fox hummed. "But I will let you lead since I don't know this place well yet."

Rei led them out of the village, escorted by the security corps. They got to a base camp, and Rei started to panic when Fox grabbed his arm and dragged him directly towards a giant Shinx with glowing red eyes.

"Woah, what- what are you doing, no, we are not facing an alpha, shinx are already aggressive, no-" He yanked his arm away from Fox. "No. You should start with something easy, or..."

Fox just continued towards the shinx, crouched low, and threw a pokeball Rei had given her on the way to the base camp.

"What are you doing! There's no way that catches, alpha pokemon are-"

The puff of smoke and click of the pokeball cut him off, and Fox retrieved the pokemon.

Rei's jaw dropped.

Fox grabbed Rei's hand, dragging him along to find the other pokemon.

Bidoof was easy enough. A whole colony of them came up to greet Fox and Rei as the two passed the river. Rox simply had to ask, with the promise of release back to the home, and a yearling bidoof let her catch it.

Fox grinned. "Let's put off finding a starly for now. When we do, we'll have to go back. So, lets explore!"

Rei frowned. "But... The goal is to catch three pokemon and go back."

Fox huffed. "But exploring is fun! I'll keep you safe, if that's what you're worried about."

"No, that's not- well that too, actually, but-" he groaned. "I'm responsible for looking out for you. If Captain Cyllene found out-"

"She won't find out." Fox offered out her hand. "We can say we couldn't find one of the pokemon. You need to live a little, Rei."

Rei sighed, but he took her hand and let her drag him off towards a forest.

"So, basically, I need to get these supplies for a medicine. The Commander has a lot of burns and I happen to know exactly how to help. And I need him to like me if I'm going to yell at him."

Rei was left to process this as Fox let go of his hand and let out Shinx.

"Okay Shinx, Oshawott, we're going to gather a bunch of berries, okay? Give me a minute and I'll let you go look." Fox pet both of the blue pokemon, then gathered up a bunch of leaves and started doing something with them. "Hey, Rei, come help?"

He sat down on the forest floor next to Fox, looking around. "There... aren't any pokemon around, are there?"

Fox shrugged. "Watch this." She started braiding strands of grass. Once she had something long enough, she wove it through the leaves, that she had been putting holes in. "If I braid the grass, can you tie the leaves together into a little sack for the pokemon to carry berries?"

Rei nodded. "I've always been better at crafting than battling."

Fox grinned. "Perfect!"

-

Soon they had two bags made out of leaves, and Fox fastened them to the pokemon, around Shinx's neck and slung around Oshawott's body.

The pokemon went off to find berries, and Fox stood back up. "Well, now I need to find some herbs. I don't really know what I'm looking for. I know one is a stalk, one is a white flower... I'm not sure what the last one is, I'm pretty sure it was a large cluster of leaves?"

Rei nodded. "The first two are probably medicinal leek and pep-up plant. We use them in pokemon medicine. I'm not sure about the last one. What did it do?"

Fox hummed. "It made the mixture stronger, more effective."

Rei perked up. "Oh! Okay, that's probably a king's leaf! I know where to find some, yeah."

Fox grinned. "Perfect!"

"So... are you really going to yell at the commander? Do you have a death wish?"

"Yes, no. Have you seen Laventon's room? Half of it is full of pokemon research, he sleeps in a chair, and the pokemon mini environments are horrid and cramped. The cyndaquil, who is literally a baby right now if you couldn't tell, is sleeping on rocks!"

Rei sighed. "The survey corps is mostly people figuring out where pokemon live and avoiding that area. No one really cares much about the pokedex." his hand went to his pouch, where the pokedex was stored away. "Not many people want to understand pokemon. It..."

"Understanding how they kill you doesn't make people fear them less." Fox sighed. "Yeah. I get it. It's just... Pokemon are really cool, and Laventon is totally right about how important understanding them is! People could live and work alongside pokemon, share their lives! It's really sad to see just how scared everyone here is!"

"Is where you come from really so different?"

Fox nodded, and offered a hand to help Rei up. "C'mon, lets hunt down those herbs."

-

Rei didn't know how long they were out there. They ate when they were hungry, eating the berries that weren't what the medicine needed. Fox kept the pokemon out of their pokeballs, and encouraged Rei to do the same. So he let Pikachu out.

They gathered a lot of herbs, leaving the forest to find the king's leaves in the more mountainous areas where they grew. It was hard to find some, since Fox couldn't go across the bridge since she wasn't even officially a member yet.

Fox was keeping an eye out for any pokemon that might attack while Rei was searching in some shrubbery. He heard a gasp from her, and turned just to see her running towards a pride of shinx and luxio that seemed to have something pinned down.

In a flash of light Shinx and Oshawott disappeared from where they were by Rei and reappeared by Fox's side.

The wild shinx and luxio backed down at the low growl from the alpha shinx, his eyes regaining the red glow they had when Fox first caught him. Several starly took flight, it was clear that they were what the pride had pinned.

Rei caught up to Fox as she scooped a small starly into her arms. It was shuddering, flapping its wings weakly.

"This one is hurt bad. The others already flew off. It's time to get back to the village, Rei." Fox withdrew Oshawott, leaving Shinx out, likely to prevent any wild pokemon from attacking. No pokemon would risk attacking an alpha.

They got back to the village quickly, and Fox had Rei go report to Cyllene. "She needs to know I did what was required. But this little one needs help, right now. I'll be with the professor."

Chapter Text

 "Are you serious? The medical corps heals people, but survey corps members have to heal their own pokemon?!" Fox growled lowly at the woman in the Galaxy team uniform for the medical corps. The woman shrank back, and Fox sighed. "I'm sorry. I just, I don't have money, I cant buy potions..." She held the starly close to her chest and left the room, heading outside. Maybe she could trade some of the supplies she had gathered with Rei in exchange for something to heal pokemon.

She walked out only to almost run into two people that were far too preoccupied with arguing with each other to notice her.

"You could at least try harder not to waste the time that we are all given!" the taller of the two, a blue haired man, was in the middle of saying. "Almighty Sinnoh gave us a brief moment on this earth! You have to use what little time you have, and it shouldn't be wasted. One would think that the youngest leader in the history of the Pearl Clan would understand the value of using the time she has, but no. You get here, many minutes late!"

The shorter, a girl in pink clothes, fanned herself with her hands. "You know, Adaman, for someone who values time, you sure do waste a lot of it talking on and on."

The man, Adaman, opened his mouth to speak, but Fox just stepped in between them.

Adaman didn't seem to care too much, simply turning away from the girl he had been arguing with. She stepped back, away from Fox.

"You're lucky that I've wasted enough time here already." Adaman just went into the Galaxy team building.

Fox opened her arms slightly so the girl in pink could see the shaking starly. "Sorry for the interruption do you have any way to heal pokemon I need some medicine for this little one urgently."

The girl's eyes widened, and she started digging through her satchel quickly. "Has no one in the Galaxy team been able to help?"

"I don't have money to pay for any potions or whatever people sell here, and the medical corps supplies have to go to humans, for the wellbeing of the village or whatever." Fox smiled gently when the starly looked up at her with a weak chirp. "Yeah, it's okay. I've got you, yeah? I'm getting you some help."

The girl pulled out a small glass bottle of medicine. "This might be a bit strong for such a little one." She sat down on the ground. "May I see him?"

Fox sat down too, facing the girl and letting her gently take the starly into her lap.

"How did this happen? His wing is badly hurt, he won't be able to fly for a while."

Fox nodded. "So long as we can help him. I guess that means I won't be releasing him until it heals. A pride of shinx and luxio had hunted down his flock. The others flew away as soon as we got there, but he had been pinned down by a luxio's claws."

The girl nodded as she applied a small amount of a strong potion onto the starly's injuries. "It's good that you got there when you did."

Starly stretched out his wings, and gave them a hesitant flap. His harsh cry proved what the girl had said, his wing was too badly hurt to use for a while. But he was up and moving. That was the important part.

"There you are!" Fox cooed. "You're okay, see? Your wing is a bit hurt, but I'll keep you safe until it gets all better, okay!" She offered out her hand, palm down. The starly promptly hopped on top of her hand with a chirp. "Hi there!" Fox smiled, moving her hand up so the starly could hop onto her shoulders or head. He did so, and Fox was met by the incredulous expression of the girl that had helped.

"How did you do that? You're Galaxy team, right? Everyone here is terrified of pokemon."

"I'm Fox. My own person. Plus, bird pokemon like being tall." She felt the weight on her head shift, the starly nesting in her hair, tucking its claws in so it could hold on. "And now I have a fancy hat. Win-win."

The girl nodded. "Well... I am Irida, of the Pearl Clan. Commander Kamado called me and Adaman here."

Fox frowned. "ooh, I have some words for the commander, that's for sure." She sighed. "He prioritizes the village to the detriment of pokemon. Then he wonders why pokemon are such a threat and are unpredictable? It's because you won't make the effort to understand them, you dingus!" She punched the dirt.

Irida started laughing at that. "You're definitely not Galaxy team, if you have the guts to talk about Kamado like that even if he's not here." She stood, and Fox followed suit.

"It was nice meeting you, Irida. Thank you for helping me help Starly. Good luck with Commander Grumpypants."

Irida laughed again at that, and went into the Galaxy Team headquarters. 

Fox dusted herself off, Starly’s talons digging into her hair to keep hold. “How about we take you to see the professor?”

The bird Pokémon chirped in agreement and Fox went inside to talk to Laventon. 

Rei was there, poring over notes with Laventon. “Over here we still haven’t been able to access because of the alpha there. So we don’t know what Pokémon live there.”

Laventon hummed. “Yes… we don’t have anyone in the survey corps that is strong enough. We may have to get help from Captain Zisu, or even the Pearl Clan warden that has a way with Pokémon.”

“I could go survey over there” Fox offered. “I mean, I caught an alpha shinx. Another alpha can’t be too hard!”

Rei and the professor turned to Fox. 

“You got help for Starly! That’s good! What happened?”

Fox nodded. “I ran into these two people from the Diamond and Pearl clans. The Pearl clan girl was kind enough to help me fix the little guy up.”

Laventon approached. “My. You truly are fearless when it comes to Pokémon. It looks as though that Starly is nesting in your hair!”

Fox nodded. “Bird Pokémon like to be tall. And this little one can’t fly right now. So I’m gonna take care of him until he can survive on his own.” She reached up to pat the starly. 

“Oh yeah, Fox.” Rei spoke up. She turned to him and he went on. “Captain Cyllene told me to send you when you were available, to officially grant you membership.”

Fox nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

She went to Cyllene’s office, and was officially made a part of the survey corps. Cyllene gave her a uniform, and instructed her to go change. 

She did so, and there, standing in her quarters in front of the mirror… gone was the jacket she always wore as an agent. Gone was the suit, the official appearing formality. This uniform would be more comfortable, easier to move in. But the familiar tight fitting light clothes were gone. And the scarf was almost suffocating. She took the scarf back off, and stared herself down again. 

The girl in the mirror wasn’t her. It was a new person, someone ready to survive in Hisui, to leave what they were before behind. 

There were plenty of agents back home. Here Fox wasnt just the only agent, junior or otherwise, she was the only person that wasn’t afraid. Not if Pokémon, at least. 

Chapter Text

"So, you finished oshawott's survey tasks?"

Fox nodded. "Yup. Storm wanted to train, so I worked with him on them." She held Storm, her newly named oshawott, in her arms. Comet the starly was nesting in her hair.

Rei nodded. "You've been doing really good with research tasks. I think it's time for you to learn to craft on the go." He pulled out a fold up crafting kit. "It's basically the same as crafting normally, but-"

"You, never taught me to craft normally."Rei stopped where he was.

“What?"

"Yeah, uh. You were going to! But I got distracted, and you got distracted, and, it never happened?"

Rei groaned. "Alright, alright. Well, sit down then, crafting lesson time."

Fox sat down across from Rei, crafting kit set out between the two of them.

“Okay. So. Apricorns become pokeballs. The tumblestone is what allows it to be thrown, it activates the latch. I'm like, ninety percent sure of that." Fox said.

"Yup." Rei nodded. "Pretty much. Here, watch." He quickly hollowed out the newly split in half apricorn with one of the tools in the kit. "Pretty easy, don't you think? You try, now."

Fox copied exactly what Rei did. So why, then, did hers turn out lopsided and cracked?

“That looks pretty good!” Rei was smiling at her.

“Eh. Not really. I think I’m better at field work.”

Rei shrugged. “The important part is that you tried. It takes practice.” He glanced up at the sky. “It’s getting close to midday, I have to meet up with someone. You can work on crafting, or go do research tasks if you want.”

Fox nodded. “See you at dinner?”

“See you then!” Rei left towards the bridge.

Fox dropped Comet off with Laventon so he would be taken care of, with the broken wing he couldn’t fight. She headed back out into the fieldlands, Storm at her side. 

-

The air began to smell of ozone. Fox’s hair stood on end, and she was suddenly in the middle of a staticky, looming, dome, with a tear in the sky right at the top. If Fox had any doubt that she was now, technically, a Faller, that was now gone. 

Pokémon and items started appearing, then disappearing, around her. After the first few attacked her on sight, she dropped to her stomach in the grass to hide. She recalled Storm to his ball, the less variables to worry about, the safer things would be. She just had to wait it out.

She could try and leave the strange dome, but she had no clue how strong these Pokémon were, and her only battlers were Storm and Thunder, the alpha shinx. There were too many onix, steelix, and leafeon for that to be a safe option. 

Fox let out a yelp as something landed on her back. She rolled, allowing her to scramble into a crouched position and grab a pokeball to face the Pokémon that fell off of her. The sharp claws, dark fur, and red crest meant that this was a sneasel ready for battle. However, a pokeball to the face was surprising enough to be a successful catch. 

She clutched the ball to her chest. The splinters that dug into her hands made her look down to realize that this was the very pokeball she had made. In her panic she had grabbed it instead of any of the pokeballs she had bought.

She felt something calling out to her. Not a voice, no, not even really a sound, more like… a feeling. It was high, floaty, melodic. And it was reaching out. Wrapping around everything.

She took a breath. She was okay.

Soon a crackling roll of thunder roared out, and the hair on her arms was no longer standing on end.

She took a few steps in the direction of the call. It was coming from the lake that she had been headed to before the distortion began. The Pokémon were very strong around the area, so she had been moving slowly, allowing night to fall.

The stars overhead were bright. Brighter than they ever were in her own time. The only time she had seen stars this bright was when she was young, nestled into Vice’s fur, taking shelter from the chill of the air.

But she was in Hisui, now. And while there were zoruark here, she had been told, far in the north and full of anger towards any human that dared step into their territory, they were white furred, with red scars from wounds their own power caused them. That was far from the dark furred friend she had been so close to.

At the bank of the lake, someone stood, leaning against a blue flamed pokemon that looked like it might be a ponyta. A shiny, maybe?

At the sound of Fox’s footsteps, the person turned, keeping a hand on their ponyta. Stabilizing themself, it seemed?

“Hey. What’s a galaxy team member doing all the way out here? You’re…” they looked Fox up and down. “Survey corps. Gotcha. Surveying the lake? There’s usually a pride of Luxray around here, and a flock of staraptor up top. It’s pretty dangerous.”

Fox didn’t answer. The call was louder. And… distantly, an answer. Then another.

There were three. Calling out to each other, not to Fox at all. She was just a bystander.

All three, in harmony to each other. Then rest.

A Pokémon’s cry echoed across the lake, bouncing over the water and being amplified by the rock walls all around. Fox took a step towards the edge of shore.

“You hear them too.” The stranger said. “You came here to hear them.”

Fox nodded. “I don’t know what it… I don’t know why. But… something is calling out. And something answered. I don’t even know what this… this is lake Verity, right? I don’t have any evolved Pokémon. By all means I shouldn’t be here. But I came, anyways.”

“I’m Cosmic. But you can call me Cos.”

Fox turned to truly look at Cosmic.

They had braids throughout their hair, pulled into a twisted bun. Their skin was a warm brown, and their eyes were golden. They were dressed in loose fitting… modern? Clothing? It was a long sleeved red shirt that was ripped up along the sleeves and even in some places on the torso. Their pants looked more like the trousers that were available at the clothiers, but that shirt was not a style that Fox had seen in Hisui.

“Yeah, yeah. I wear weird clothes. I get that a lot.”

“You aren’t from Hisui. Right? Do you have any memories?” Because that was the question when it came to Fallers, right? Did they go through willingly and keep their memories, or did they truly fall, losing everything from before?

Cosmic just stared at Fox. “You… clocked that really fast. No. I woke up, with someone else. Neither of us had any memories. Lady Sneasler of the Coronet Highlands saved us.”

Fox gasped. It had been possible, at the beginning of the investigation, that the missing Subway Boss was with a trainer. But despite a trainer having cleared the singles train, no one was reported missing in the days that followed the disappearance. So she had been looking for a single man. But if Cosmic was also from her time…

“Who was he? What’s his name, Cos?”

“How’d you know he is a he? It could’ve been a woman, or whatever I am?”

“You’re probably nonbinary if you don’t identify as a man or woman. Nonbinary is a label for people who don’t identify as either. But that- that’s not- his name is Ingo. Right?”

Cosmic blinked. “Nonbinary… yeah. That’s what I am. That feels… right.”

Fox tapped her foot. Sure. It was great that someone found an identity that fit them. But this was a huge lead. Fox found the person she was looking for!

Cosmic shook their head. “Right. Ingo. Yeah, he’s the one I came here with. Do you… know him?”

“I never met him. But I came here to find him. We… have a lot to talk about. Will you come to camp with me?”

“Even better.” Cosmic motioned to the ponyta, and it crouched down for them to climb on its back. “You can stay at my place. It’s nearby.”

Fox followed the blue flames of ponyta. The melodic tone called out once more, and Fox barely hear the dual responses as she forged onward.

Chapter Text

Cosmic was laying on the floor, legs propped against the wall. They had gone to that position in the middle of Fox’s explanation, and that was where they were now. They had stared at her as if to challenge her, but she didn’t comment, so they listened patiently. When she finished talking, they adjusted, pushing their feet against the wall a bit. Maybe to change where pressure was on their body? Fox had seen several of the older agents adjust themselves like that. Protecting themselves. Easing what was hurting. 

“So I was on this big metal thing with Pokémon and somehow got here?”

“A train. Yes. And you were with Ingo.” Fox nodded. “He ran the battle subway, along with his brother.”

“Battle subway. Train for Pokémon fights.” Cosmic nodded. “Ingo… had a brother?”

“Yeah. Emmet. He… he sent me to find Ingo. It’s been years, now. Four, I think?”

“What about me?” Cosmic tilted their head. “If I went at the same time, I fell through whatever to end up here… did anyone ask about me?”

“I don’t know.” Fox sighed. “I’m sure at first there were missing persons reports. But after four years… the only reason Emmet had any hope was that he had observed the wormhole-rift-thing that appeared several times over the last few years. And that’s when he called me.” Fox tugged at her sleeves. “They didn’t know that Ingo was with anyone. But that doesn’t rule out people looking for you.”

Cosmic hummed. “Alright. Thank you. For telling me, I mean. Feel free to use the futon over there.” They gestured to the corner of the room. “I’m gonna be awake for a while. I… have a lot of things to think about.”

Fox nodded, and left Cosmic where they were laying. It was definitely a lot to take in. Always was, for fallers finding out, oh, hey, they got thrown through dimensions and that’s why they have no memories. Oh and now they’ll probably never see anyone they might have a sliver of memory of. And… Fox hadn’t even gotten to that part. That’s great. Breaking the news was always great. It was the worst part of working with Fallers. Seeing their faces- well, fall- as they realized they would never have a normal life? And not to mention the possibility of ultra beasts- though they rarely appeared outside of Alola, when they did it was devastating. There was a report of an attack in Hoenn wiping out an entire battle facility that was being remodeled, a resort set up in the meantime. And the attack was all because a single Faller had ended up on that island. 

Fox would have to stay alert, and stay aware of where Cosmic and Ingo were at all times. That way she could be there the moment something happened.

Though to do that, first she would have to meet Ingo. and… what if there were other Fallers? People that had gone unreported, people that had been lost to time and found a new home? Hisui was a hub of activity, with the giant hole in the sky. And items and pokemon came through the rifts. Even if they seemed to go back to their time when the rifts closed, that wasn’t necessarily a guarantee. The sneasel she caught resting in her hand made pokeball was proof that things could stay in the past. Present? 

She shook her head and let Storm out of his ball, wrapping her arms around his small body. “It’s been a long day. Time for rest.” she said quietly.

-

When Fox woke up, Cosmic was gone. 

It was… understandable. It was a lot. Fox almost ran the first time she was told how big the world was, what all was at stake. And while that wasn’t exactly comparable, wasn’t exactly the same… 

Fox returned Storm to his ball and left Cosmic’s home. She would go back. Find them again. That she promised herself. 

But for now, she had a pokemon to get to know.

She sent out the sneasel that landed on her in the dimensional rift. 

Its crest was longer than its other ear. So it was male, probably. 

It growled lowly at her, and she sat on the ground. It didn’t seem like it would be attacking her, despite the hostility it showed. So she took a breath, and let it out. 

“Hi there. I’m sorry, normally I wouldn’t have caught you like I did.” Fox didn’t make eye contact, didn’t smile. She didn’t know sneasel body language, but she knew eye contact and baring teeth were often threats, to wild pokemon at least. 

The sneasel tilted its head with a trill, questioning. Curious. It circled her, sniffing at her pouch. 

“Yeah? You smell something in there? I don’t have any berries, but I can get you some.”

The sneasel looked back at her. 

“I would release you, but the rift is gone. I don’t think you can go back.”

The sneasel made a yipping noise, grabbed something from her bag, and took off, holding its new prize in its claws. 

“Hey!” Fox scrambled to her feet and ran after the sneasel. 

Sure, she could recall him to his ball. But that wouldn’t be nearly as fun. 

So she ran after him, and boy he was faster than she was. But he wasn’t trying to escape. He jumped onto rocks and into trees, surprisingly agilely considering he had who knows what in his claws. 

Fox let him lead her into a chase through the woods, past bug pokemon, a mime jr- she would have to catch that later- and towards the camp. 

She ran right past, and scrambled over the ledge that led to the plains. 

Past ponyta, eevee, shinx. So many Pokémon, living their lives. And she was just sprinting past them, her, someone that shouldn’t be in this time, following a pokemon that shouldn’t be, either. 

The sneasel stopped at the edge of the river, for just a moment, then jumped , landing on the bank on the other side. 

Fox laughed, took a moment to compose herself, (sneasel waiting on the other side, watching her), and took a step back, before sprinting at the water, launching herself across the gap at the last moment. 

The sneasel took off again, and she followed, running right past a giant floatzel, not even caring. She was untouchable, out here, running through the wilderness again. Just like when she was young. 

The ground got steeper. Hillier. Sneasel slowed down, and so did Fox. But the hunt was still on, and when sneasel climbed a tree and jumped over Fox’s head to another tree back the way they came, she could only laugh wildly, letting the exhilaration carry her. 

Sneasel ran right past a security corps member on the bridge, and Fox pushed past him. 

“Sorry! He wanted to play!” She shouted, barely turning back to apologize before focusing again on the chase. 

She was catching up, he was getting tired. So when he hopped up to climb, and tilted backwards, she caught him in her arms, smile achingly wide. 

He was panting, but he held out what he stole. A… carving knife, from her crafting kit?

“Well, that’s scary. Your paws are already knives, little thief!” She chuckled and took it from him, tucking it back into her satchel. “That was fun. Thank you.”

The sneasel stuck out his tongue, nestling into Fox’s arms. 

“What was that I just saw?”

Fox whirled around, and her eyes widened. She stopped herself before she asked if it was Cynthia, because obviously they weren’t. But this person, with blonde hair hiding one of their eyes, had a face very similar to the sinnoh champion. 

“Wh-“ Fox shook her head. Stop thinking about before . “What do you mean? I was just playing with my new Pokémon.”

The person nodded, pulling his bag close. “It’s just-“

“That’s a huge backpack. Why’d you need it?” Fox interrupted. She blinked. “Uh. Sorry. Continue.”

“I’m a member of the Ginkgo guild. Traveling merchants? I’m sure you’ve heard of us, the boss has been setting up in Jubilife recently.” 

Fox stared blankly. 

“We… all wear these clothes? The blue and yellow?”

The sneasel made a chirruping noise and Fox looked down at him. 

“We sell things? We’re merchants?”

“I don’t have money, sorry.” Fox let the sneasel gnaw at her hand. 

“I wasn’t wanting your-“ they sighed. “My name is Volo. I was just curious, because of how you’re… playing, with that Pokémon. It’s unfamiliar to me, so it’s probably from a rift. It’s coloring means it’s probably a dark type. Those are vicious, they hunt for sport!”

Fox and the sneasel both looked at Volo. Fox chuckled. “Listen, he’s harmless. He stole a knife from my bag, he just wanted to play. He has no actual use for a knife, and it wasn’t a combat knife! Just for carving wood.” She said quickly, when Volo’s expression turned to one of slight fear. 

Volo just nodded slowly. “You are… very strange.”

Fox nodded. “Yup. Everyone seems to think that. Chalk it up to me being from the rift.”

Volo’s face shifted, cycling through several emotions before landing with shock. “You’re… from the rift. You’re the one who fell from the sky? I mean, I had heard that such a thing had happened. It’s the talk of the town! But you? Well…” they offered a wry smile. “I hardly expect to see a person that fell from the sky running around the fields, chasing a riftling with a knife.”

Fox shrugged. “I’m very surprising like that. Ask ten people about me and you’ll get eleven explanations of what I’m like. I just like Pokémon, is all.” She let sneasel guide her hand to the base of his feather crest, and scritched him there. The closed eyes and happy trills proved her assumption correct. “You’re cute. I think I’m gonna call you Crime.”

She turned away from Volo, heading back to the base camp, where she saw a familiar red cap. 

Later, Rei would scold her for crossing the river without verifying her location with the security corps, and for allowing a recently caught, likely still wild, probably mischievous, definitely dark type steal a knife of all things. 

He did agree that the name Crime was fitting though. 

Chapter Text

Ch 7 lets gooo

Fox hadn’t left her room in days. She was supposed to be out surveying, she was asked to help find a solution for some clan issue that had gotten bad enough that it resulted in a security corps injury. But it had been storming for days. And according to Rei, the pokemon causing the trouble hadn’t been active, as it was a rock type. And while rain, even storms, wasn’t actively harmful to most rock types, it was still irritating. And if it was truly in such a mindless state as Rei said, it likely couldn’t reason through the fact that the stinging rain wouldn’t truly hurt it.

Then again, she wasn’t in a much better state than said “mindless” pokemon, considering she refused to leave her room.

Storm and Crime were out of their pokeballs. Storm was on top of her item chest staring out of the window watching the- well, the storm, while Crime nestled against Fox’s side. At least she wasn’t stranded in a rainstorm alone . But it still really sucked.

When someone knocked on the door, Fox didn’t bother getting up. It had to be Rei, he had been visiting the past few days.

“Come in!” she called, wincing at the fact that her words were almost drowned out by the rain pounding on the roof.

The door opened- rain and wind and thunder, and a flash of lightning too loud to be far- and the soggy blonde in blue and yellow was definitely not Rei.

They just stood there, staring at Fox for a moment. Fox stared back.

“Shut the door, would you?”

Another crack and another flinch from Fox, and Volo had the door shut behind them.

“My bad, I just… wasn’t expecting you of all people.” They offered a smile. “How are you? Storm keeping you from surveying?”

Storm perked up, turning away from the window and waddling up to Volo, head tilted. He squeaked out a curious “Wott?”

Volo shifted their weight, almost taking a step back, before re-setting the smile that had fallen from their face. “Hello? Is your pokemon… what is it doing?”

“Come back to me, buddy.” Fox motioned, and Storm decided to climb into her lap. “His name is Storm, he thought you were talking about him.” 

Crime lifted his head to yap at Storm. Storm ignored him and made himself comfortable. Crime batted a paw, claws mostly retracted- it wasn’t aggressive, just annoyed.

Fox chuckled, and put an arm between the two. “Boys, play nice. You can both share my space.”

Volo composed themself, smoothing their clothes. “The reason I came here was to tell you that the gingko guild officially has merchants set up in Jubilife. The boss sent me to spread the word through the village.”

Fox nodded. “Thanks for letting me know. Isn’t… isn’t the storm a bit much for you to be out in? Stay inside until it clears up a bit, won’t you?”

Volo shrugged. “It’s been raining like this for days. Plus, I travel in all kinds of weather, this isn’t anything too bad. Try selling to the Pearl Clan in the middle of a hailstorm. Now that is rough.” They tugged at their sleeves.

Fox shrugged. “Suit yourself. Hey, if you see Rei- survey corps, red hat, very skittish- tell him to come by, tell him Fox wants to see him. Would you?”

“Alright.” they nodded, and opened the door- ignore the flash the crash the rumble of water’s onslaught on the earth- “I hope to see you around, next time I’ll have a special customer bonus!” 

They left, and Fox couldn’t even question that- she hadn’t bought anything from Volo yet- because the walls seemed to rattle with the sound of thunder, and things outside sounded… wrong. There were screams, the sound of people and pokemon. 

Crime jumped, fur standing on end. Storm ran and clambered up to his window spot, and let out a bunch of squeaks and gestured wildly.

So Fox stood, and went to the window. 

Her eyes widened. There was light. The exact source was barely visible. But… houses were on fire. 

She had to move. 

“Storm!” She held her arm out even as she was closing the distance to the door. She felt his weight on her arm. She withdrew Crime into his ball, and went out into the rain. 

The wind pushed her every which way. Villagers were scrambling around. 

She grabbed Beauregard’s arm as he went past her towards the Galaxy building. “Put Beauticia in her pokeball, she’s weak to fire.”

He faced Fox, and nodded, withdrawing the wurmple that had been keeping up by his side. “Thank you. Now I have to do my job.”

Fox let go of his arm. “What can I do? I have water types in the pasture that I haven’t released yet. They can douse the flames.”

“Get them. I don’t know why the rain isn’t putting it out, but the fire is spreading fast. I was about to get the commander.”

Fox nodded. “The fire is too hot. The water is evaporating, burning away, before it dampens.”

He went on his way, and Fox hurried to the pastures. Marie was there, keeping the Pokémon in a corner of the pasture. 

“No- no! Stop that!” She blocked a shinx from running past her. 

“Marie. I need all the bidoof, bibarel, and buizel.”

Marie nodded, and dug into her purse for a moment, before shaking her head and just pushing the pokemon towards Fox. “Pokeballs don’t matter right now, go with Fox!”

“Keep them safe Marie!” Fox set off with about a dozen water or almost water types. Sure, bidoof weren't water types. But they could help. And some of them were close to evolution. 

By the time she got to the fire, there was already a line of people passing buckets from the river to the houses. 

“Bidoofs! Go help the water line! Run buckets, help people that are tired!”

The bidoofs spread out. People didn’t even blink when pokemon entered themselves into the line and balanced buckets on their head to pass them on to the next person. 

“Bibarels! Don’t let the fire spread! There, there, and there-“ she pointed. “Keep the fire where it is! Buizels, get as close as you can, and use as much water as you can! Go full power, fight it with all you can!” 

The Pokémon spread out. They put their all into what they were doing. 

Fox ran from group to group, taking turns with people that were exhausted from the bucket line. Storm was by her side at first, but she sent him to help the front of the bucket line, spraying whatever the lead was focused on with his own water. 

It was tiring, and tedious, but there were always more people ready to swap in when anyone got too tired. And the fire shrank, and the storm raged on. 

But just as they got the fires down to a size that the rain snuffed it out, leaving soaking cinders and half burnt houses, there was another crack and a pop. 

“ My kid is in there! ”

Lightning hit the Wallflower. The place she had seen the security corps lead kids into, kids and a few adults to watch them. 

Fox was running before she had time to think, and she felt the weight of Storm on her shoulder, and there was a discarded coat outside of the wallflower, and the door was open, and there were flames-

Fox ran in. “If anyone is here, call out!”

She looked around frantically, Storm hopping down and starting to douse the flames. 

Kamado was there, carrying a child. Behind him, the people that had been sheltering there were in a corner, surrounded by flames. 

Fox reached out, taking the child from Kamado’s arms. “Keep getting them through the fire! Storm, help him! I’ll get them out if you get them to me!”

He nodded and went back into the flame, Storm following and keeping the fires from getting too close. Fox carried the child out to where a new bucket line was forming, the pokemon were helping- 

She went back in to keep working. 

At some point Kamado shed his kimono, leaving just skin tight underclothes. Arms covered in burns held children close to protect them from the same fate. 

It was hard. It was hot, and the air was heavy. But there was only one person left in the now-collapsing building. 

“Go. Get everyone out, I’ll go back for her.”

Fox frowned, but the man holding his daughter close was coughing, and the ceiling creaked and something sounded like it was falling, so she just let the man lean against her and turned away from Kamado as he went back in. 

The moment she got them out, though, she ran back in. She hurried to where Kamado was-

A wall of flames blocked her path. Kamado was on the other side, a little girl clonging to his side, and the look in his eyes was one she had seen time and time again in her field. 

Of course fire would cause him to react, it was a miracle he hadn’t shut down before!

“Storm! I need a path through!”

The Oshawott turned from where he was dousing the wall, and after a moment water surrounded him. He jetted right through the flames and gave Fox an opening. 

“Come on kid, run through now!” Fox held her arms out, and when the kid reached for her she was able to pull her through. “Go out that way! Storm, go with her, but come back quick!”

Fox faced Kamado again, but the wall of flames burned again, and he was looking around slowly, still clearly not in a good headspace. 

“Commander, I need you to look at me!”

His eyes met hers, then slid right past. Goddammit, she wasn’t wearing the Galaxy Team uniform. And even if she was, would he recognize it? 

“Commander! Everyone is safe! Please-“

She was cut off by the creaking of the building, so she stopped thinking and reached through the flames. 

She screamed in pain, but refused to pull back. She wouldn’t give up, she couldn’t leave him! 

His eyes widened, and took a sharp breath. “Fox- what are you doing, recruit! Get yer hand outta that blasted fire!”

“Take my hand, let me pull you-“ 

The creaking was louder, and Fox moved . She pulled Kamado with the same momentum of her passing through the flames, and with a scream he was on the other side and the ceiling was crumbling over her instead-

She opened her eyes. She was… safe. 

A blue figure stood over where she had fallen to the ground, holding a yellow shell shining with blue energy. 

He doused the flames around them, and started tugging at Fox’s arms. “Dew, Dewott!!!”

“Storm…?”

Her vision was fading, but she felt arms around her, and suddenly she wasn’t on the very hard ground, she was dangling, and she felt a paw holding tight to her hanging arm. 

“I’ll get ‘er outta here, come on.”

Chapter Text

Fox drifted in and out of consciousness for a while. Thoughts filled by a large black furred pokemon holding Fox close, grass and trees and shadows and light dancing across the forest floor. 

But the memories had to fade, at some point. Fox had to wake up. Even if she knew, at the edge of her mind, that she was hurt, that waking up would hurt more than staying in her own mind.

She heard Rei’s voice. And that was what really made her open her eyes, he sounded so worried.

“Mmmrei?” Fox tried to sit up, but there was a tightness in her chest, and oh everything hurt. She blinked rapidly. “Urgh… ouch.”

“Ouch. Ouch?!” Rei huffed. “Fox! You dove into fire what do you mean, ouch ?!” 

Fox chuckled. “Hey Rei. You okay?”

Rei just sputtered out vaguely japanese words. “You- Fox- Fox you- fire- burned? You were burned?” He trailed into gibberish.

Fox smiled weakly. “Thank you for pointing out the obvious Rei. I’m okay though. Honest.”

Rei frowned. “You don’t look fine.”

Fox chuckled. “Yeah, I look pretty rough, huh? I’ve been hurt before, though. I’m okay. Wounds can heal. Lives can’t. What I did was worth the injuries.”

Rei shook his head. “Your life matters too, you know. The commander said you almost got crushed by debris, if Storm hadn’t evolved…”

“He did, though.” Fox reached out and grabbed Rei’s hand. Her arms were bandaged, her whole body probably was, if the pain was any indication. 

Rei sighed. “I get that you’re more reckless than anyone here. But… The village was handling it. The pokemon were handling it!”

“Will you help me sit up, Rei?”

He huffed, and gently helped her into a more upright position. 

She was able to look around better, even if it meant letting go of his hand in the process. She was in the medical wing. There were screens up to keep privacy, so she didn’t see anyone other than Rei. “So, what are you doing here, anyways? Don’t you need to be out surveying?”

“Surveys have been called off for now. The frenzied lord, Kleavor, has moved from his area, and is attacking anyone in the Obsidian Fieldlands that gets near him. We have no real way to track him. I’m not qualified to survey in other places yet. So…”

Fox smiled gently. “As soon as I get better, I’ll try to calm Kleavor down.”

Rei frowned. “Not for a while, you won’t.” He hummed. “Professor Laventon came up with a pretty good idea, though. The caretaker for kleavor said that usually to soothe the lord he would give him an offering of food. So the professor thought of throwing food and scented things at Kleavor, that it might snap it out of its rage.”

“That sounds like a pretty good idea. I mean… if you cant get close, interact from far away. Makes sense to me.” Fox nodded.

Rei sat on the bed where Fox had previously been laying down. “Mind if I-?”

“Go ahead. So long as I can lean against you.”

“I- sure?” He let her lean back and rest against him. “I… I hope this isn’t a sign of more bad stuff to come…”    

“I don’t think it is. At least… not forever.” Fox hummed. “Things are bad right now. Kleavor, and the fires. And… Things may get worse. But that’s always a possibility!” She smiled. “But things may get better, too! And isn’t that a nicer thought? That we’ll be here when the bad stuff gets better?”

Rei was silent for a moment, but he pressed against Fox, and she felt his hand around hers. “You have to actually be here , though.”

Fox smiled gently. “I will be. So will you. We’ll get to see things get better.”

-

Fox took a breath. Alright. It was night. No one was around. She stood on shaky legs, and tucked her pokeballs away in her pouch. Rei had brought them to her when she asked. 

She snuck into the Professor’s room. He was asleep- at least he had a futon now. She went to the corner, and slung the carrier full of balms meant to calm Kleavor onto her back. She had been able to hear the Pearl clan kid working with the professor to craft these, she had even gone in and helped once, before she got too tired.

She was still healing. But so was Kamado, and he had gone back to leading right away! She was still hurt. But so were the people brought in after being caught up in Kleavor’s attacks. And it had been more than a week since Fox woke up. She was tired of laying around all day.

So even if her whole body stung, she would be alright. She knew she had some berries at her place, if they hadn’t gone bad, she could eat a rawst berry to dull the pain, at least for a little while. It wouldn’t be as effective as for pokemon, but it would help with the pain.

She stopped by her place. But it had been too long, the berries spoiled.

She tucked them into her pouch. Might as well take them to the Snorlax that lived in the fieldlands, it could eat spoiled things easily. And she wouldn’t know where Kleavor was until it attacked her. 

So she climbed over the fence around the village. She would be stopped if she told the security corps what she was doing. 

She set off, avoiding the base camp. It was unlikely that anyone would be there, but it was still safer to avoid the possibility.

She went to where snorlax was, left the rotted berries out for it, and went on to the lake. The pokemon over there were dangerous, and aggressive. But Fox was good at stealth. So she made it to the bank of the lake. She felt the three beings calling out to each other. 

She knew something was wrong when it went silent. A light reflected off the lake, cast by something-

She whirled around, to see a large, golden figure, coated in rocky armor and an arm that was more like an axe raised, about to strike.

She dove out of the way, wincing at the pain that shot through her body. She scrambled to her feet despite the stabbing in her chest. 

Well, she had found Kleavor. Which was what she was trying to do. But man, Frenzied was an understatement. It was attacking recklessly, paying no mind to the narrow area it had ended up in- The lake being a caldera really helped, seeing as the one access point to the shore was narrow, and Kleavor kept stunning itself when it ran into the cliffside.

Fox took a breath, and backed up to the edge of the water. She grabbed a balm from the carrier, and threw it at Kleavor. It staggered back, and looked… confused, for a moment? 

It regained its bearings, but that was enough to give Fox hope . 

What if she led it back to its seat? If it recognized its surroundings, and had the familiar treats its warden gave it…  

She dove past it when it swung at her, and she took off running. 

Past trees and pokemon, pokemon that cleared a path when they felt Kleavor’s presence before they saw it charging, axes swinging.

Her best bet would be to get to the land bridge past the plains of ponyta, Kleavor wouldn’t fit on the manmade bridge. 

She scrambled over the strip of land the alpha snorlax patrolled, noting that the berries were gone as she continued to focus on the desperate run. 

She was faster than Kleavor, sure. But how much longer before she was exhausted? He could catch up, his rolling, while not seemingly sustainable, let him speed up quite a lot.

She took a chance, turning towards the shore, and running. 

She jumped, releasing Storm from his pokeball and into the water. She landed next to him. “Grab me, aqua jet.”

He wrapped his arms around Fox and they were lifted out of the water. They didn’t make it far, and they crashed into the ground. But Fox got up, and quickly picked Storm up.

Kleavor had cleared the river by jumping and spinning. Fox had to move.

“On my back, Storm!” She took off, feeling her partner climb onto her back, into the basket of balms. “If it gets too close, throw those.”

She kept running. She just had to follow the shore, she would get to the dam, and then it would be a straight shot to the Grandtree arena.

She pushed herself on. She was aching, but she had to keep moving. At least she didn’t need to go top speed. She couldn’t. If she did, she would’ve fallen behind by now, and-

“Wott!”

Storm’s weight on her back shifted, and she heard a cry from Kleavor, scarily close. 

Okay, she needed to pick up the speed a little, at least. The dam was ahead, and-

A bearded white stantler was trotting next to her, keeping pace easily. Was this… Was this the Noble Wyrdeer?

The basket on her back got lighter, and she saw Storm land on Wyrdeer. 

She felt the earth shake and heard the rumble, and took the risk of offending the clans to save herself. She grabbed onto Wyrdeer’s side, and jumped on. She dug her hands into the beard-like neck fur. Wyrdeer made no attempt to buck her, so she assumed that this was what it wanted her to do.

She took the chance to look back, and saw rocks breaking through the ground where she would have been. Kleavor had slammed its axes into the ground. 

“Let’s keep going, Wyrdeer. To Grandtree.”

Chapter Text

Fox explained her plan to Wyrdeer as they ran on. And when they got to Grandtree Arena, she slid off of Wyrdeer’s back, and he was gone. 

She stood on shaky legs with her back to the looming tree, Storm at her side. 

Kleavor slammed an axe into the ground, and rocks shot towards Fox. 

She ran to the side, tossing a balm to Storm. 

He took her cue, tossing the balm and following it up with an water pulse, propelling the balm forward with water, staggering Kleavor. 

“Good job! Now move!”

Storm got to her side, barely avoiding the enraged Kleavor’s swing. 

Fox couldn’t help but grin, even as she was running to the other side of the tree, forcing Kleavor to run after her. 

Sure, she was dodging for her life. Sure, having her partner throw balms in water- resulting in essentially bath bombs being used to stun the noble- was more serious than the concept made it seem. 

But Fox had always been a thrill seeker. 

Also it was kind of funny. The pouches of balms were opening with the force of water. Food, herbs, and water. Soup. Though, it wasn’t hot. 

Storm hit Kleavor in the face with another smoothie. 

Fox snickered, tossing another balm to her partner and diving past Kleavor as it lunged. 

She felt something approaching. And if it was what she thought it was, they wouldn’t have to hold out much longer. 

“Storm! To me!”

She turned away, and ran. She felt claws on her back, and when a paw pressed against her face, she dove to the opposite side as the touch. When she stood again, Kleavor’s arm was lodged into the tree. 

“Thanks Storm. Cmon!”

She couldn’t run far, no. But all she had to do was keep Kleavor occupied. And running in circles around the tree seemed to work perfectly fine. 

She just had to keep moving. Storm helped her dodge attacks, and Kleavor didn’t seem like it would break the cycle of chase-attack anytime soon. 

“Lord Kleavor!”

Lian stood at the entrance to the Grandtree Arena, hand on Wyrdeer’s side having just dismounted. 

“Storm, Aqua jet.”

Kleavor turned, called by its warden. 

Storm flew over Fox’s head, coated in water and dragging all the balms along with him. He slammed into Kleavor’s back, balms exploding, causing Kleavor to fall to its knees. 

Lian went to Kleavor. Still so small compared to Kleavor, even though the noble was on his knees.

Lian was a child. The same age Fox had been when she had hunted her mentor down and made him teach her. So it shouldn’t be such a surprise that he had such a responsibility. 

But as the light left Kleavor and it bent down to allow Lian to reach out and cup its face in his hand, the hand was so small compared to the noble Pokémon’s everything…

Maybe children shouldn’t have to shoulder the world. Maybe they should have support. They shouldn’t have to worry about safety. Maybe he shouldn’t be doomed to responsibility that was bigger than he was. 

“Thank you for getting here so fast, Lian.”

He looked over at Fox, wrapping an arm around Kleavor’s head. “I had to. When a noble comes, you go with them. I figured it had to do with Lord Kleavor.”

Ah. He had to get there fast. It was what was expected. 

Fox nodded. “Is… is Lord Kleavor doing alright?”

Lian looked to his Noble, who had shifted to ‘Nuzzle the Warden’ position. 

“He’s tired. But… calm. How… how did you know that would work?”

Fox gave a wry smile. “I didn’t. I just had to hope it would. There's very little that can get between a Pokémon and its person. I figured you might be the best chance of getting through to Lord Kleavor.”

Lian nodded. “I’m glad it worked. I… I can take care of Lord Kleavor from here. You should go… report that the fieldlands are safe, or whatever you survey folks do.”

“No way!” Fox shook her head. “You just rode several miles on Lord Wyrdeer, and Lord Kleavor is exhausted from the frenzy. I’m not just gonna leave you. You shouldn’t have to be alone right now.”

Lian frowned, but didn’t protest. “Alrighty. Well, we should…” he looked around the arena, pouches and mashed food and herbs and puddles and mud. “We should probably clean this place up.”

Fox nodded. “Alright. Hey, Storm, I’m gonna put you away for now, okay baby?” She crouched down to talk to her partner. 

He nodded, so she put him back in his pokeball and tucked it away. 

“I will never get why you Galaxy people put your Pokémon in those little balls.”

“Mainly for ease of transport. Plus, they don’t work unless the Pokémon is willing to be caught, in some quarters  way.” Fox shrugged. “How do you get your Pokémon around? You have a goomy right?”

Lian lifted his hat, revealing a sleeping slug. “Gem is still young for a dragon type. She needs a lot of sleep. Hat makes sure she can’t fall off.”

Fox couldn’t help laughing. “Oh that’s adorable. She’s just a sleepy little baby, aww.” 

Lian smiled, tucking her back in his hat, hiding her away. “Yes… I guess my hat is the same as your pokeballs.”

“Yeah!” Fox smiled. “We’re the same, in the end. The clans, Jubilife, all of us. In the end, we want the same things. And you and I are the same. We want somewhere cozy for our buddies to sleep.”

Lian nodded. “Yeah. I guess so.”

-

Fox was nudged awake, gently, and opened her eyes to see a guilty-looking Lian. He opened his mouth to say something, but a voice that was definitely not his came from farther away. 

“Fox what in the fUCK did you think you were doing?!”

Lian grimaced. “So, I went to tell the Galaxy team that Kleavor was fine now, but he realized that you were gone, and…”

Rei was standing there, arms crossed. “Fox, what are you doing here?”

Fox blinked slowly. “I was taking a nap.”

“You were taking a- Fox! You are covered in burns! You shouldn’t be this far from the village! And don’t act like this wasn’t your doing!” He gestured over at Kleavor, the Lord sleeping, curled up. 

“He’s taking a nap.” 

Rei groaned. “Fox… you said you’d be okay. You said you’d be here! You can’t do that. You can’t just run off!”

“Hey, it worked out though!” Fox shrugged. “Kleavor is okay now!”

Rei sat down in front of Fox. “Listen. That doesn’t matter!”

Fox pressed back against the Grandtree. “Rei, I’m okay, I had to do this, no one else would-“

He took her bandaged hands into his unmarked ones. “Fox… don’t run off like this again. If pokemon stopped attacking people, it wouldn’t be worth it if the people were gone.”

“Rei, I-“

“I know I’m not as brave as you, or as good with Pokémon! Pokémon are scary! I know you say they're good. But… people die from Pokémon attacks, Fox.” He let go of her hands. “I just… what if you had been killed? We wouldn’t have known where you were, and who knows what would’ve happened to your body?”

“I would’ve been fine. I’ve survived way worse than this!”

“And that scares me!” Rei turned away from Fox. “Because if you’re from somewhere way better than here, and you’ve been through worse, then what’s gonna happen to you here?” He shook his head and stood up. “Come on. We should get back to Jubilife. Don’t wanna leave people not knowing where we are, or anything.”

Fox winced, but she got up, steadying herself against the tree. She was still very drained. 

“See you around Lian. Take care of yourself okay? Kleavor too.” She smiled at the boy. 

“See you, Fox.” Lian nodded. 

Fox followed Rei as he headed towards Jubilife. 

“Listen, it’s different where I’m from, Rei. I have- had- a job where I saved people. That was my thing. Of course I got hurt along the way.”

“You’re still getting hurt.” He said.

“But- I’ll be fine, I know how to handle it, okay? And everything’s fine. Kleavor didn’t even hurt me! I’m just sore from the burns.”

“And what if it had hurt you? What if it cut your arm off like that supply corps guy?” Rei shook his head and kept walking. 

“Rei…” Fox trailed off. He was upset. Obviously. But it wasn’t really that big of a deal, was it?

“Don’t act like you didn’t know I would be upset.”

“I knew you would. I just… I don’t understand why. I’m alive, aren’t I?” Fox sighed. “I don’t want you to be mad at me though. I want to figure this out.”

“It’s not that easy, Fox. I… we can talk later, okay? After you’re healed more. After things calm down.”

Fox frowned. “I don’t have to go back with you, you know.”

Rei turned, his face twisted in a way Fox couldn’t interpret.

“What? I’d be perfectly fine! Don’t act like I owe you something. If anything you owe me! We can survey the fieldlands freely again! I did that!” Fox waved her arms, gesturing to everything around them. 

“You-“ Rei scowled- an expression alien to him, he was always gentle, at least around Fox-

“I may owe you, but it sure isn’t because of that.” Rei shook his head. “Do what you want, okay? Just… do whatever.” He turned away again, and kept walking. 

Fox didn’t move from where she stood. 

Chapter Text

Fox stood in front of a wooden door, hand raised to knock. She didn’t even know if they were at home.  And why would they let a stranger they met one time stay for a bit?

She was about to leave when she heard footsteps from behind her. 

“Oh! I’ve been expecting you, Cosmic!” She turned around. 

That was definitely not Cosmic. 

“Emmet?”

No, he had a black coat on, and the ever-present smile wasn’t there. That meant…

“Who… are you? I know that name.” His face was drawn into a scowl, brows furrowed. “My name is Ingo. I’m a warden. I was simply making a detour to visit my friend Cos. I have never seen you before, how do you know the passenger that reached this stop?”

Right. Of course. Train lingo. Emmet had done that too. Though according to Cosmic, Ingo had no memories. So how did he know train talk???

“Uh… yeah I met them a little while back. At the lake. I was just trying to visit them, say hi.” Fox shifted from foot to foot. 

She was a mess. Her hair was all over the place, she was dirty from running and rolling all over to avoid Kleavor. And this was how she met the person that she went through the rift for?

“Ah. Well, it is good to meet you. Cos does not socialize much, so it is a surprise to meet a friend of theirs.”

Fox just nodded. 

Ingo’s coat was tattered, his hat was beat up. He wore what looked to be a Pearl clan outfit like Lian’s under his coat. His hair was long and somewhat unkempt, though it was braided to keep it out of the way. 

He looked like he’d had as rough of a time as Fox had. 

Ingo nodded. “Well, it seems as if Cos is not at this station, since you were waiting on them.”

“Oh- uh, no, I just- I just said that because I didn’t want to look dumb, I haven’t actually, knocked on the door… I don’t know if they’re here.”

Ingo nodded. “Then allow me.” He pointed and stepped forward, and Fox shifted out of his way. He was very slumped, and he was still quite a bit taller than her. Though, it made sense. Emmet was verrrry tall.

Ingo knocked on the door. 

“So uh. You ended up here with no memories.” Fox nodded to herself. “Uh, what’s that like?”

He glanced over at her before looking away again. “It is… strange. I assume you know that from Cosmic. We arrived at this unfamiliar terminus with no memories. I managed to adjust to clan life, but Cosmic chose a different station.”

Fox nodded. “I’ve talked to Cosmic about it, a bit. I… I’m from the same place as you. But I have my memories.”

He turned to face her. “You know what our home station is? How we ended up on these tracks?” His expression didn’t change from the frown it seemed to always be. But his voice rose in volume, and his arms moved more wildly as he shifted positions. 

“I… it’s a long story. And, uh, I don’t think Cosmic is here. So I guess we have time.” Fox shrugged. “Uh, I guess I’ll start with- Your brother asked me to come find you.”

“Brother.” Ingo repeated. “The man with my face, all in white.”

Fox nodded. “Yep! You remember him?”

“I have very few memories. Though I do remember him. His name… You said it before. His name is Emmet.” Ingo nodded. His volume continued rising. “He had my face, but he wore white. He liked battling more than anything else, I remember him saying that!”

Fox winced slightly. Ouch. He was. Very loud. “Yeah, he- he was a Subway Boss. You’re a Subway Boss too. You both battled people on trains, you.. You had really strong pokemon?” Fox shifted back and forth. “That’s… that’s about all I know about you personally.”

Ingo slouched in on himself. “My apologies for my volume, miss Fox. I will try not to get that loud.” He took a moment to think. “Trains… Subway Bosses. That seems right. Even if those words are foreign to me.”

“Oh!” Fox lit up. “You probably speak English! We’re speaking Japanese right now, of course. Tell me, did you know this language when you first got to Hisui?”

Ingo shook his head. “No, Cosmic and I both spoke another language. We still use it, sometimes. It helps.”

“Helps the feeling of being lost.” Fox offered. It wasn’t a question, not really. It was just something she knew, from working with Fallers before. 

“Yes, that is correct. It is a very isolating feeling, especially now that Cosmic and I are not around each other very often.” He fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket. A small sound came from inside the coat. 

A small… sneasel? Crawled out from the inside of the jacket. 

“Well hello little one. How was your nap?” Ingo’s expression and voice softened. “Did you rest well Little Lady? How about your brothers?”

Sure enough, the sneasel had a short feather, she was a little lady. But this sneasel had light fur, and her crest and face markings, as well as markings around her paws, were purple.

Ingo held the sneasel up. “Little Lady, meet miss Fox! She has helped me remember some things about myself.”

Little Lady dangled from Ingo’s hands, tongue stuck out. She kicked her feet with a chirpy laugh.

Fox smiled gently and offered her hand for the baby to sniff. Little Lady promptly licked her hand and started trilling and purring. 

“Oh my goodness you are such a baby.” she scritched the baby’s head. “You are so cute, and so little, and, ough I adore you, Little Lady.”

“Would you like to hold her?”

“Absolutely.”

Ingo gently handed the baby sneasel over.

Fox cooed at the baby. “Aw aren’t you absolutely a baby? You’re a cutie, you know that?”

Out of nowhere, Ingo held up two more babies. 

“Oh my goodness!” Fox cooed. “Oh they’re so cute! Oh hello! Little babies!” 

Ingo nodded. “I am babysitting for Lady Sneasler, my Noble. She had kits recently. She’s teaching three of them today and I am caring for the other three. They are quite cute, arent they?”

Fox nodded, cuddling Little Lady close. “Verrrry cute.”

Ingo tensed up. “The way you said that was familiar. I think that… Emmet used to say that. He used to draw out the word like that.”

“Yup!” Fox grinned. “I pick things up from people I’m around, and I was working with him for about a month before I ended up here in Hisui. And you look like him, so, yknow, mirroring?” she stretched slightly.

“Mirroring. Emmet and I were mirrors, too. We mirrored each other a lot.” He moved his arms, one pointing forward and the other out to the side, hand pointing down. “We would call out together. All aboard!”

“All aboard!” Fox mimicked. “Loud and clear! All aboard!!!”

Ingo nodded, volume rising. “We would point and call our actions! It made it safer!”

“Safer is good!” Fox grinned. “You’re verrrry loud and energetic!!!”

“Yes, I am loud, Emmet is not. Is my loudness uncomfortable? I can attempt to keep quieter.”

“No way!” Fox bounced on the balls of her feet. “Loud is cool! It just means you’re excited! And you should be, you’re remembering things! I’m excited for you!”

“I am very excited, yes! I am excited that I have remembered Emmet, and I am starting to remember more! But people often don’t like when I get too loud, too excited. It is often too much for them to handle, and so I try to respect that.”

“Yeah, people can be frustrating.” Fox stuck her tongue out. “Even if you’re doing something important, they just don’t understand! And don’t get me started on how people just don’t get why someone might possibly act different from most people. Like, I get inappropriately excited about things! Emotions are hard to deal with! I don’t understand why people do things! People hate that, apparently!”

Ingo nodded. “Yes, That is what happens to me, too. I am too loud, and act strangely, and use words that don’t make sense to anyone here, and many people talk behind my back, thinking that I am unaware. The Pearl clan…” He shook his head. “It’s not my place to talk about clan issues with you. My apologies for derailing you from your point.”

“No no, you’re okay! You got the point exactly!” Fox smiled down at Little Lady, who decided to climb Fox’s arm. “Oh hey, what type are these sneasel? Cuz I have a sneasel, and he’s a dark and ice type. He’s from the future though.”

“Ah, Sneasler and the babies are poison and fighting types- did you say from the future?”

“Oh! I never said that part, did I? Yeah, you me and Cos? We’re all from the future. It’s… complicated. We should probably sit down if we’re gonna have the Faller talk, I think.”

Fox sat down, letting Little Lady settle in her lap. Ingo and the two sneasels climbing all over him followed suit.

Chapter Text

Fox still hadn’t gone back to Jubilife. She was putting it off at this point. She had explained everything to Ingo, she had left and he had gone back to his place of being a warden in the mountains. And Fox had said that she was going to go back to Jubilife, that’s what she told Ingo!

But maybe she preferred no one knowing where she was. Maybe she had gotten tired of having to say where she was every time she left the tiny little village. Maybe she was still bitter-

She had calmed Kleavor down. She had figured out how to calm the Nobles, in case it happened again! And it probably would, the lightning struck all over Hisui! 

So she wasn’t wrong! Someone needed to do what she did, and no one else was going to! So why was he so upset? 

He could find her if he wanted to. He could figure out that the person that was helping people and, more importantly, helping pokemon, was her. 

No. She couldn’t do that. Even just because the Professor wanted to study Crime, pokemon from the rift weren’t well documented. As in, they knew there were some Pokémon that only showed up in rifts, but they disappeared just as fast. 

Fox took a breath. Maybe she just needed to talk to Rei?

No. He was wrong . That was the end of it! She did the right thing in order to make sure no one else got hurt! 

She still had to go back, though. So she would have to do something. She would have to… she shook her head. She would figure it out. 

-

Even though she settled back into days in Jubilife, Rei’s silence was hard. Sure, she was the one who avoided him, at first. But she didn’t really expect him to stop trying to talk to her. Stop trying to acknowledge her. 

Reports started coming in. Other nobles had started acting in the same way Kleavor had. One in the mountains, one in the snowy north. And that matched the reported rift strikes, the lightning that came from the rift around the time Fox arrived. No one had known what it meant, at first. But now that three nobles had become frenzied in three of the four places that had been struck? 

It was clear that it was all connected, in a way. But it still didn’t make sense. Why would lightning striking pokemon make them lose control and rationale?

She shook her head. There was no use in worrying about that. Not when a girl from the Diamond clan came to inform everyone that a Noble of the Pearl clan had suddenly become frenzied. 

Something had to be done, so Fox was sent. She had been the one to calm Kleavor, after all. So she was sent to talk with the Warden to Ursaluna. To figure out what was wrong.

She stopped, though, and went by her place. She tidied up a bit, gathered some jam she had haggled with the ginkgo guild to get, some of the rations she had been given for out in the field, and a rare berry that she had found. She had recognized the plant. She didn’t even know the name of the berry, but she knew it was hard to grow, so she had gathered what little fruit she could and left it to grow.

She tucked everything into a basket and left it at Rei’s door, left another one of the rare berries she had on the desk of the Commander while he was speaking to Adaman, and left Jubilife.

Fox took a breath, walking past Ress at the gate, walking on. It took half the day to get to the Crimson Mirelands.

As Fox walked, she let Crime and Storm walk alongside her. Comet, the starly with the injured wing, sat on her head. The wing was still healing. 

Maybe Fox was a bit bitter. Maybe she was thinking about how Rei had led the way, the first time she went out of the village. Maybe she was thinking about Rei too much. That didn’t change the fact that she did the right thing, helping Kleavor.

She hummed to herself, smiling softly when Crime climbed onto her shoulder. The base camp was up ahead. “Wanna go scare those weirdo humans at the base camp, Crime, baby?”

Crime grinned.

“Alright.” Fox pulled out a knife from her pouch. “Don’t hurt anyone with it, but scare them a little bit.”

Crime ran into the middle of the camp, brandishing the knife. Fox couldn’t help but cackle as a supply corps member scrambled away.

Fox got into the main area of camp, and Crime climbed up onto her shoulder and handed her the knife.

“Of course it’s you.”

She whirled around, aiming the knife at the person that was right behind her, close enough to pounce before relaxing. Volo had their hands raised, visible eye visibly widened. She put the knife away. 

“Hey Volo. Got anything that might be good for growing berries?”

They raised their eyebrow. “Oh? Have some good ones you want to grow?”

Fox nodded, and pulled out the berry she had with her. “I don’t remember what it’s called. But they’re really good, and, I think, really sweet.”

Volo reached out to take the berry, but Fox clutched it to her chest, baring her teeth at them. Crime snarled at Volo in response to his person’s reaction.

Volo stepped back. “Okay, okay. I just wanted to take a look at it.”

Fox forced herself to relax. It was fine. They weren't taking it. She still wasn’t going to give it to them. Not even to look at.

“It’s for the Professor. I just wanted to know how to grow them.”

“I’m guessing you have others, and aren’t going to give your only one away?”

Fox nodded. “I’m not stupid, I know how growing things work. I found a tree that grows them. But it’s not in good shape.”

Volo hummed, shifting from foot to foot. “Well, your biggest problem will be keeping pokemon away from it. Especially bug pokemon.”

“Okay.” Fox nodded. “I’ll figure that out. Maybe…” She reached a hand up to her head, and Comet hopped on the hand elevator. “Would you want to help, buddy?”

Comet chirped, which she took as a yes.

“That would be great! You could make a family out there, and you’d have room to fly, and there… I could turn it into a garden! With lots of berries and plants, a whole bunch of food! And you and your family could eat when you want, so long as you keep the rest safe!” Fox cooed, scratching under Comet’s chin. “You aren’t much of a battler, I know that, but no one will mess with you when you’re a big strong Staraptor!”

Comet trilled happily, leaning into the scritches.

Crime tapped Fox’s shoulder with a squeak.

“Oh, are you being left out? Huh Crime? Oh I’m so sorry! Oh I’ll just have to love on you, huh?”

Fox lifted Comet up to her head again, and took Crime into her arms, giving the clingy dark type the attention he wanted.

Storm locked eyes with Volo.

“Is she always like this? Because the only times I’ve met her she’s had a sneasel with a knife.”

Storm shrugged up at Volo. 

Chapter Text

“Okay, so look here.” 

Fox was sitting on the ground, a map spread out in front of her. Volo was marking several locations. 

They circled a spot. “Here, it’s a ruin. And there, and there. There’s so many ruins around here, it’s so interesting don’t you think?”

Fox nodded. “Where do they come from? They’re not Diamond or Pearl clan, are they?”

Volo shook their head. “No. It doesn’t match their style at all. The clan’s huts, and… the things they build, it’s all temporary. It’s easy to take down and move, in the case of a disaster. Even the temple near the Pearl clan settlement, up in the north, it’s not clan built. They just took it over.”

Fox hummed. “That’s really weird. Were there people here before the clans? And how do their legends play into it? Are the legends really theirs?”

“Exactly!” Volo punched their own palm. “It just doesn’t add up. Is anything they claim really theirs? Or did they take it from someone else? If so, what’s really the source?”

“As soon as I figure out what’s going on with Ursaluna I’ll go with you to investigate the ruins!” Fox hesitated. “I mean… if you want?”

“Sure.” Volo nodded. “I’m not that strong of a battler. I only have two pokemon, and they’re pretty weak. So it might help to have someone strong like you around!”

Fox chuckled weakly. “I’m… not that strong. I’m just good at understanding pokemon, and sometimes that’s all you need.” 

“I suppose so. Though… understanding doesn’t always mean you can do anything. You can understand exactly why people act the way they do. But you can’t stop them from…” They hesitated. “From causing harm, I suppose.”

It was more than that. Their expression was off, and words hid meaning that Fox had no way to understand, even though she knew it was there. So she let it be, storing it away in her mind as if she was storing food away for later. She could digest it later.

“So, how much do you know about the legends, anyways?” Volo asked. “You seem like you would know more- or at least, be more interested in- that kind of stuff. No offense, but the Galaxy team is mostly stuffy and scared of the unfamiliar, and legends are seen more as threats. I tried talking to the Commander and. Hoo boy. I just mentioned a volcano that you guys should survey! There are a lot of legends about it, so it would be helpful to find out about! But he got all glare-ey and mean, and was all like ‘a legend like that is not to be trifled with, grrr grrr’ and then Ginter found me and got mad about how I wasn’t selling stuff, and-” Their hands waved wildly as they talked, getting more energetic until they froze and trailed off. “Uh. Sorry. I really went off on a tangent there, didn’t I?” They grinned. “My bad.”

Fox had leaned towards them as they spoke, getting caught up in the energy. “No, no, you’re fine! You’re so right, honestly. Kamado… is very complicated. I think he does things how he does because he thinks it will be safest. And he did everything in his power to save people when the fire… but he hates pokemon. They hurt him, and probably killed people he cared for. So he hates them. And that…” She huffed. “I don’t know. I don’t know how to feel about it. It’s complicated. And I’d choose pokemon over people any day. Because pokemon aren’t the ones that destroy places just for their own gain. You know? But pokemon are dangerous, here in hisui, and… where I’m from, too, even if we know more about them and no one is scared of them, they’re still pokemon, and they’re dangerous, and capable of more harm than humans, and just because they don’t hurt people as much as humans do… it’s complicated. And people are complicated.”

Volo nodded along. They sighed. “Ah, yes… humans. The most complicated, dangerous, and hard to handle out of all of Ar- all of our creator’s creations.” 

Fox nodded. “Humans. Awful things, they are.” She couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Volo’s solemn nod in response. Luckily they joined her in laughing and she wasn’t misinterpreting the lightheartedness of the conversation.

Volo took a moment to calm down, holding a hand up as they caught their breath. “Well, humans aside. You’re here because of the Ursaluna situation, right?”

“Yup.” She nodded. “Got any insider info?”

They gave a crooked smile. “I do, actually! The Ginkgo guild deals with the clans more than the Galaxy team does. So I’ve been able to talk to the Pearl clan’s Warden Calaba, the Warden to Ursaluna.”

“Okay. So, tell me it all. Did the lightning from the rift strike Ursaluna? Why didn’t the Warden tell us herself? Why did someone from the Diamond clan tell us?”

“I don’t know. Listen… Calaba said the lightning was too far away. And more importantly, Ursaluna was fine a few days ago. That shouldn’t be right, not if all of the Nobles were hit at once.”

Fox nodded. “That’s… very quilfishy.”

Volo raised their eyebrow at the turn of phrase, and hummed. “Calaba is very hostile towards outsiders. But some bandits desecrated the ruins she guards. If you’re able to find them, and get the fragment of the ruins wall… then maybe…”

Fox nodded. “Gotcha! Give her that as a gift, and get her help? Like giving a mean Pokémon a good berry to make them not attack your territory.” She hummed. “Any idea where the bandits went?”

“Yup. They’ve stolen my wares recently, too. They have a campsite a ways away.”

Fox frowned, looking Volo over. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you at all? You should’ve started with that. I’ll catch them, they won’t get away with this.” 

“It’s- it’s fine. That doesn’t matter” they shook their head. “Not as much as the wall fragment they stole does. It’s a piece of history, you know?”

Fox nodded. “Alright. Well, lead the way. My Pokémon and I can take them on.” Her hand went to the pokeballs she had taken to carrying tied to the waist-wrap-thing of her satchel. “I still don’t know why you made me put Crime away.” She gave a playful fake-pout, holding it only for a moment before breaking into a smile. 

“Everyone at camp was? Terrified???” Volo gestured vaguely. “Jubilife folks hate pokemon!” 

“I know, I know.” She sighed, and stood up. “I’m ready if you are?”

Volo nodded, and started out of the camp. 

“Fox!”

She turned, and Rei was there. He was there and suddenly her chest was tight. 

“Rei.” She nodded. “I was about to go deal with some bandits.”

“Listen, Fox… somethings wrong. Arezu was supposed to talk with Adaman, but she went off somewhere. And… Adaman said that it was suspicious that Ursaluna was frenzied, when the lightning struck far away from ursaluna’s seat. Im going with Adaman and Irida to investigate.” He took a breath. “Be careful, okay? I… I’m not going to apologize for being upset with you, because I’m not sorry. But I wish we hadn’t…” he just gestures vaguely. 

Fox stepped forward towards Rei. “I… I don’t know why you’re so upset that I did what was needed. But I… I’ll try to be less reckless.”

Rei offered a weak smile. “That’s all I can ask. It was you that left the basket, right? Thank you. I don’t know what that berry is, but it smells sweet.”

Fox smiled. “Yeah! It’s really rare, and really sweet. Be careful out there Rei. I’ll see you around.”

He left, and Fox went off with Volo to find the bandits, a weight lifted off her chest.

Chapter Text

So, when Volo said bandits, he failed to mention that they were annoying as all hell. They were like some of the people she had studied in training, but worse because they just- they were bandits, and were stealing peoples livelihoods, but they acted like it was a game, coming up with absurd phrases to say before battle?

Evil teams did that in modern days, sure. Team rocket in particular was notorious for a trio that had a motto. But this was lives, not just money. 

“Are you kidding me? You stole their wares, the means they have to survive! You stole a fucking wall for Arceus sake!”

Volo let out a hiss of air, but Fox was too focused on berating the bandits. Storm was beside her, waving his shells in imitation of his trainer’s wildly waving hands. 

Coin- Coin of all names?- sent out a toxicroak, but Storm had taken it down before it had a chance to attack. 

Fox grinned, letting her teeth show. Even the leader of the trio, Charm, took a step back at that. 

“What? Sharp teeth too much for you? Too scaaarry for the thieves that bragged about the Galaxy Team being do-gooders?” Fox scowled, teeth still bared. “Take me on, both of you!” She challenged the two that hadn’t fought. 

Coin looked to the others. “Yeah! I wore her out a bit, you two can take her!”

Clover shook her head. “Look at those teeth! She has to be a Zoroark, we shouldn’t test it.”

“Quiet, both of you!” Charm snapped. The other two went silent, waiting for her lead. “Zoroark or not, this rock is more trouble than it’s worth. Take it.” 

Charm flung the rock, and as Fox dove for it a smoke bomb exploded, letting the trio disappear. 

Fox had the fragment, but when she looked over at Volo, frozen where they stood, it didn’t even matter. 

“They took everything…”

Their voice was small, and the smile they always seemed to have was gone. 

“Hey. I-“ Fox hesitated. “Is there any way I can help you find the stuff you usually sell? I’m good at collecting supplies?”

A smile flickered across their face again. “That won’t be necessary. I’m quite fine on my own! I’ll simply explain the situation to… Ginter. Arceus strike me down…” they devolved into muttering. 

“Nope! It’s official.” Fox offered out her hand. “Let’s go find replacements.”

Volo’s eye narrowed, and they leaned slightly away. “What about Ursaluna? You shouldn’t leave it rampaging like it is, frenzied in the same way as Kleavor or not.”

Fox frowned… but they were right. 

“Fine. But after that’s taken care of.”

“Fine.”

Fox had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t be that easy to get them to agree. But she let it go.

-

“Warden Calaba.” Fox bowed her head. 

“Ah. The Galaxy child that subdued Kleavor.”

Fox nodded. “Yeah! That’s me! I heard that Ursaluna was-“

“You do realize that what you did was practically bullying an innocent pokemon into submission, right?”

Fox’s face fell. “Ma’am with all due respect I am a head taller than you and probably know more about Pokémon. I definitely know more than you about what happened, seeing as I was there, and, you know, was the one that came up with how to help Kleavor. By, you know, bringing his person to him. His warden, his boy.” 

Calaba opened her mouth, but Fox went on. 

“And, speaking of Lian- he’s a little kid! Who allowed that? He’s just a kid, he was doing all he could but in the end he just wanted to save the Pokémon he was thrust into caring for! Talent is one thing, but you wouldn’t expect a newborn to be able to dress themself, why would you expect a kid to have adult responsibility?”

Calaba frowned. “Did you come here to claim that your Galaxy ways are superior, as always? You are not going to sway me, so you might as well leave.”

Fox held out the fragment of the ruins wall. “I came here for this.” She kept her frown as Calaba’s expression changed to one of reverence, taking the piece of wall from Fox. 

“How… how did you find this?”

Fox sighed. “Isn’t it obvious? I went looking for it.” She turned away and headed back outside. 

-

Fox sat outside the Solaceon ruins as the sun set, sitting on a rock and humming to herself. She had been waiting there half the day, hoping Calaba would come to say she changed her mind. But she hadn’t. 

Storm was curled in her lap, half asleep as Fox pet him. 

“Any luck with Calaba and Ursaluna?” 

Fox tensed, before relaxing. It was just Volo. They had a way of sneaking around, but Fox was getting used to it. Maybe she shouldn’t, there might be some day when her reflexes would be needed to save her life… but maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about that any more. 

She shook her head. “She… Ugh. I hate people like that.” She buried her face in her hands, elbows resting on Storm’s body lightly as he dozed. 

“Oh? How so?”

“Older people who think their way is the best way and young people are just trying to ruin tradition.” Fox glanced up at Volo, and she gasped. “What happened to you?”

They were a mess. Tattered clothes, coated in dirt, backpack gone-

“The boss sent me to gather new wares. My Pokémon aren’t strong enough.” They shrugged. “Nothing to act so surprised about. You wouldn’t happen to have any medicine… would you?”

Fox smiled gently. “Bring them out. I’ll tend to them.”

Volo nodded, and pulled out two pokeballs, hands shaking. “They… please help them?”

Fox nodded, and when they released a togepi and a gible that were in awful shape Fox got to work tending to them. 

Volo sat silently, watching Fox work. Whenever one of their Pokémon let out a cry their hands twitched, as if to reach out and shield the Pokémon from any harm that might befall them. 

Fox smiled when the togepi and gible stirred. First the gible woke, toddling up to nibble at Volo’s sleeves insistently. And then the Togepi blinked awake, and reached for Volo, and they pulled it close to their body, whispering softly. 

“You should’ve let me help you. I… why would your boss make you do that?”

Volo sighed. “I was weak enough to let our wares be taken. I had to prove I was strong enough to replenish stock.”

Fox frowned. “That’s stupid. You’re what, eighteen? nineteen? And that Ginter guy is in his thirties or forties?”

“That’s generous-“ Volo muttered under their breath.

“But you’re the one expected to be strong? That’s totally unfair! Everyone in Hisui sucks.” Fox pouted. 

Volo sighed and recalled their Pokémon to their balls. “What can you say? Hisui is ran by murderers and warmongers that are willing to wipe out an entire people group…”

Fox held out her hand. “Come on. I think we need to take a moment to breathe. Gather resources, catch Pokémon, and figure out how to people, and how to proceed. Come with me. Please?”

Volo hesitated, hand hovering in the space between them and her. “I- there’s no time for-“

“Dialga above there’s time! You’re barely an adult. I’m not one. Let’s take a step back. We can be productive without struggling. I need info about Ursaluna, you need new wares. We can work together. You’re good with people and I’m horrible at it. I’m good at gathering resources in places you would get hurt.”

Volo crossed the gap, so to speak. Their hand rested firmly in Fox’s, and she smiled, teeth a bit too sharp. 

Volo smiled back crookedly, an imperfect mirror.

Chapter Text

A roar echoed across the mirelands. Fox saw Volo tense. 

“It’s getting louder.”

“I know.” she sighed. “Calaba never…” she took a breath. “I want to go find it anyways. But… What if she’s there, shoos us from…”

Volo finished bundling herbs into a sack. They had their backpack again, they had gone and gotten it at some point while Fox looked for the herbs and plants they said they needed. “Do you want to help?”

“Yes. Always! A pokemon is suffering, I want to help.”

They offered their hand. “Then let’s go. I can’t help too much, but I’ll go with you.”

They stood, and Fox took their hand and let them help her to her feet. “Volo…”

“That’s my name.” They smiled, teeth sharp.

“Thank you. I… people are complicated.” Fox shook her head. “Let’s go.”

She let them take the lead, going across pools of mud. Fox let Storm out of his ball, and he climbed on her back. He was there in case wild pokemon attacked.

Volo had a pokeball in their off hand, knuckles white. They were tense, and every sound made them twitch. They were still leading Fox by the hand. 

Soon a hill loomed in front of them. Calaba was there, her Bibarel at her side, facing Ursaluna. She was… talking to it. 

It reared onto its hind legs and roared again, and Calaba threw her hands up, blocking it, as if trying to settle a rearing rapidash. 

Volo kept going, but Fox pulled them back. “Wait. She’s the Warden. We could make it worse! Ursaluna knows her, what if we freak it out more?”

“Right…” they nodded. “Okay. So… what, then?”

“We wait. And if Calaba…” 

“She is strong.”

“And Bibarel has a type advantage.”

Volo gave her a strange look. “You know a lot about Pokémon.”

“I had to. Working as… I protected people and pokemon. And bad people use Pokémon cruelly, and harshly, so I had to know how to deal with-“

Fox was cut off as, after a roar loud enough to shake the earth, Ursaluna collapsed. 

Calaba nodded to herself, patting the Pokémon’s head. She said something and motioned to Bibarel, and Bibarel sat down next to Ursaluna. 

Calaba turned to where Fox and Volo were, and approached them. “You did well to hang back. In Ursaluna’s state he surely would have hurt you. He barely stayed calm for me.”

Fox nodded. “Is he okay? What… what happened? He wasn’t glowing…”

“Poison. It was clinging to his fur, and I gave him medicine that purged it from his system. Bibarel is helping to wash it off right now.”

Sure enough, Bibarel was gently pouring water over Ursaluna and rubbing his fur to get something off of him.

Fox nodded. “Thank you, Warden Calaba. I… I promise you I’ll figure out what happened to Lord Ursaluna.”

“That’s not your place, child.” Her voice softened. “I… should have done more to tend to my Lord in the first place.”

Fox tilted her head. “That’s… a change of heart, if I’ve ever seen one.”

“It shouldn’t have taken a child to remind me of Almighty Sinnoh’s words. All lives touch other lives to create something anew and alive.” 

“The ruin fragment.” Fox nodded. “Unown lettering.”

Calaba nodded. “I… have much to think about. For now, you might want to find your merchant friend.”

Fox turned, and Volo was gone. “Oh! Where did they- have a good day Warden Calaba, I-“ she shook her head and hurried off to find Volo. 

-

It seemed like Volo had up and disappeared. But when Fox heard a scream that didn’t matter as much. 

She ran towards the sound, and saw a carnivine looming over a redheaded diamond clan girl. Fox reacted before she could even think, and threw herself at the grass type. As she grabbed at its leaf arms she realized that maybe tackling a Pokémon wasn’t the best idea. Especially one as big as-

Oh god oh fuck its eyes were red. Fox had just full body tackled an alpha, and the type that her partner was weak against? That was… probably not good. 

She held it down to the ground for all of five seconds before it began to rise, lifting her with it. Her arms were tangled in its leaves, and when it rose to its full height, floating above the ground, her legs were dangling. She kicked at its body and vines, but it didn’t seem to bother it. 

“Arezu, get out of he-ahk!” The carnivine let out a puff of pollen into Fox’s face. She gasped, and realized a bit too late that- oh, that stung. 

Her body went limp, and she could only watch as the Carnivine carried her away, but at least Arezu was gone. 

She could only watch as carnivine flipped upside down, twining its vines into the branches of a tree. It lifted her body up to its face, and its maw snapped shut around her. 

It was suffocating. The walls were pressing against her on every side. She couldn’t move. Her thoughts were racing, she was trying to figure out a way to escape  But how could she escape if she couldn’t move? 

The flesh- plant matter- whatever the fuck it was made out of, Arceus, it was hot in there- was moist, and it stung. 

Fox was lucky that she was numbed, that the paralysis dulled her senses- because she couldn’t imagine how much it would hurt. She could tell, with what dulled sense she had, that it hurt. And it was all around her, soaking her- her clothes were the best gauge of it, they were soaked through with whatever forsaken substance the pokemon used to break down food- that’s all she was, she was food now-

Slowly, she realized she was able to move again. She tried twisting, reaching for a pokeball, something- but with fading paralysis, the pain grew. And then the screams began.

-

Fox didn’t know how long she was there, writhing in agony, unable to fight it, unable to move, unable to think through the pain, only comforted by the sound of her own screaming, desperate, hopeless pleas ripping through her throat. 

The pain was fading again, though, numbing as the fluids around her soaked her through. Her screams faded, she could barely think, but for a moment she happened upon the thought that this was just like an incident she had investigated in Kanto, someone’s victreebel being used to dispose of political enemies with nothing remaining. After the numbing… the body would begin to break down. 

It would be over soon. 

It supposedly took a full day for carnivine to digest something, if Fox remembered right. But once the numbing kicked in, awareness would slip away. A small mercy. 

She could still hear sounds from outside. She could still feel the carnivine moving around. But her own body felt nothing. Something was happening outside, the carnivine was moving quite a lot, and there were muffled yells. She felt something slam into her, and she gasped, too weak to even cry out. 

“Sto-…… sh- in—-“

Voices. Human voices, right outside. Something…

Everything was fading fast. But if someone was out there, then maybe-

“Hel-“ her voice was raspy, aching. She hadn’t realized just how long she had been screaming. “Help…”

There was no way anyone could have heard her. She was stuck there- what would happen if the survey corps came and tried to capture the alpha? What would happen to her? Though… everyone was too afraid of alphas to try, weren’t they.

Thrashing, shaking, pressure on all sides, and then the carnivine fell, slamming to the ground and taking her with it. She couldn’t help the whimper that left her throat. It wasn’t like anyone was there to see how weak and pathetic she was anyways. So why not succumb? Her eyes were closed anyways to keep out the fluids. So why not just try to drift off, let it end while unaware?

More yelling, and voices, and light burst in, flooding everything and burning even Fox’s shut tight eyes. 

Her body was tugged, and there was room for her limbs to spill out every which way, and the air was much cooler. 

She felt hands on her, heard soft whispers that meant nothing to her clouded mind. But it felt gentle. And as something cool and wet hit her skin, and the voices were so kind…

Maybe she could rest. 

Chapter Text

Fox took a breath. Everything hurt, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t even open her eyes. But she was aware. That was what mattered. She opened her mouth slightly, but it burned and she quickly shut it again with a whimper that tore at her aching throat.

“Fox! She-!” 

Someone was there. She heard them. But she was already fading and everything hurt so she let herself slip away again. 

She was able to hold on longer the next time she gained (admittedly fuzzy) awareness. She still couldn’t move, but she was able to assess her condition more. 

Her arms, legs, and back were in the most pain. Her arms and legs were outspread, probably being treated. There were quiet voices, but she still couldn’t discern who was there.

It took longer for things to fade, that time. 

She didn’t know how long she was there, fading in and out of consciousness, trapped with her own thoughts and the muffled voices around her. 

But after a while. A long while. 

She opened her eyes. 

Everything was in grey, and silent. It seemed like it was late, but there was light somewhere. 

There were no voices. No people. 

She tilted her head, looking around. 

Yep, there was a window, moonlight streaming through. 

Fox took a breath. Okay. Things were okay. She was okay. 

She flexed her hands, testing them. They were sore, and ached when she moved them. 

She was going to be okay. 

She held her arms up over her face so she could see them. In the faint moonlight she could see pale bandages wrapping her arms. From the tightness around her body, she had a hunch that many of the injured areas were bandaged. 

Though, why wasn’t her face in much pain? Sure she didn’t remember exactly what happened, but shouldn’t all of her be hurt? But somehow, her stomach, chest, and face just stung, nothing like the all encompassing pain of her arms, or legs, or back. It was almost as if she-

Oh. She must have been curled up tight in there. Her arms and legs could have shielded her front and her face from much of the damage. 

Her hands were blurry in front of her face, and slowly she felt herself slipping away again. She let her arms fall to her sides, and let things go dark again. 

The next time she woke up, someone was there, talking softly. 

“Will she be able to return to full health, after this?”

“Commander, I hardly think that is what we should-“

“Answer me, Pesselle. She is one of my members. I need to know. Will she be okay?”

Why was the Commander… did he just want her to return to work? That was kinda unhealthy. Then again, not like she was one to talk. 

She forced her eyes open, but she was still on her back and couldn’t exactly sit up, with how much pain she still was in. So all she saw was the ceiling. There was light, though. So it had to be daytime. 

“We don’t know. No one has ever survived a Pokémon like that, it was an alpha, and the regular sized ones aren’t big enough.” 

It sounded as if Kamado cleared his throat. “Very well. Continue to treat her.” 

She could hear footsteps, and he seemed to leave. 

“That man…” the medical corps captain sighed. “Definitely a papa beartic at heart… does he think we can’t see?”

Things were fading, and Fox closed her eyes again. 

“Please, just tell me if she’s okay!”

Fox’s eyes snapped open. That was a voice she hadn’t heard in a while. 

“Excuse me- ma’am- sir- whoever you are! You aren’t even from the village, I will not allow you near my patient!”

“That’s my friend! Shes my buddy! Let me-“

Fox struggled to push herself up into a sitting position, barely rasping out Cosmic’s name before the nurse was at her side. 

“Excuse me, now you, young lady, are going to lay back down.”

Fox sunk her teeth into the arm that was trying to push her back down. 

The woman cried out, and redoubled her efforts to push Fox back down on the bed. She was grabbing at something-

“Hey! What are you doing with that?” Cosmic’s voice cut through. 

The woman drew back, keeping a hand on Fox’s shoulder. “She needs to lay back down, she’s still very hurt.”

Fox just growled lowly. Words weren’t forming properly, and a growl would get it across just as well. 

“She clearly doesn’t like what you’re doing!”

Cosmic was there at her side, and they shoved the med away. “Let me talk to her.”

The med scowled. “This is a bad thing that youre doing. Do you want your friend to heal, or no?”

“Does it matter to you what she wants?” Cosmic huffed and turned to Fox. “Hey there buddy. You doing okay?”

Fox shook her head. 

“Wanna lay back down?” 

She shook her head again, and pointed at Cosmic. 

“Oh!” They smiled. “Want me?”

Fox nodded. Cosmic was safe. Cosmic was someone she could trust. And they were here?

She pointed at them again, and tilted her head. 

“You asking why I’m here?” 

At Fox’s nod, Cosmic hummed. They stretched, and Fox could hear the cracking. “I heard you got hurt. I know people in Pearl Clan pretty good, and Calaba… she told someone who told someone, basically. I wanted to check on you.”

Fox’s vision was fading again. The last thing she saw was Cos’s worried expression as she fell backwards. 

“I’m worried. She’s woken up a few times now, but…”

“It’s Fox. She has to be okay. I- she said she’d be here, for better things to come. She…”

It was Rei. He was there, he was close, things were going to be okay. 

“She hasn’t woken up in a couple days- I would know, I’ve been staying here-“

Cosmic too? They had stayed since she last woke up? She barely even knew them, but-

“She’ll wake up again, for good this time.” Rei’s voice was close. “I know she will. She may be reckless, but… she’s stubborn too.”

Chapter Text

When Fox woke, it was dark. She could hear quiet breathing nearby, but even as she tried to sit up- biting back a groan of pain- everything was in shadows. There was no identifying who it was. There was barely any moonlight from the windows.

Still, after far too long for her taste, she was able to push herself up to a sitting position. She was even able to stay at least mostly quiet  doing so, despite the bone-deep pain.

All she could do for a moment was just breathe, still her pounding heart. How long had she had been there that just sitting up was that strenuous?

She could barely even remember what had happened. Everything was so hazy. And… maybe that was for the best.

She… couldn’t remember ever feeling like this. Maybe that was just the haze of hard to think thoughts, too. But…

Something made Fox think this was something wholly different from anything she had experienced before.

“Fox…?”

She jumped at the voice, and a jolt of pain coursed through her just at the sharp motion.

“Fox, lay back down, you shouldn’t be sitting up!”

Fox huffed, but didn’t fight against the gentle hands that pushed her back down on the bed.

“Mornin Rei. Did I oversleep?” It was an attempt at humor, sure. But it was an unspoken question… multiple.

“… you were out for a week. They said your body just gave out after going through so much.”

His voice was quiet. Withdrawn. There was a weariness there, and Fox was reminded that she didn’t know Rei that well, not really.

“We’ve been keeping watch so you don’t go trying to quell Lady Liligant the moment you woke up.”

She winced at that. “…I… couldn’t even if I tried. I… we needed to talk… didn’t we…? Everything is still… a mess. I… I think I have too much medicine in my system right now. I… I hate to leave things unaddressed, I really do Rei, but… I’m fighting just to even- to even string sentences together and make them make sense.”

“That’s alright.” His voice softened. “I don’t want to have the conversation with you in this state anyways. You need to rest, to heal, okay?”

She nodded- not startled by the sting any motion brought this time. “Mmmyeah. I’ll get right-“ she yawned, “right on that…”

A soft chuckle echoed through the room. “Rest easy, Fox. I’ll be here.”

The next time she woke, light was filtering through the windows. It was… early morning, maybe?

The screens shielding her cot from the rest of the medical wing was up, and Rei was dozing in a chair.

She could hear a bit of motion somewhere else in the medical wing, hushed voices, general bustle and movement.

So much hurt right now. Maybe it was whatever medicines in her system had been wearing off, maybe it was just that she was more aware than she had been in a long time, but oh she ached.

“Man… I told Rei to head home already…” Cosmic’s voice came as one of the screens scraped against the floor. They had moved it out of the way.

Fox turned their head towards the sound, noting Cosmic was in the most standard grey clothes sold in Anthe’s shop, the same clothes Fox had been given in case something happened to her survey corps clothes.

Their eyes widened as they locked on to Fox. “Hey! Hey, buddy, are you doing okay?” They moved to the side of her cot quickly. “Do you need anything?”

She shook her head. “Hey Cos. What… what’s got you sticking around here, mm?”

“Oh, well… Calaba told someone who told someone. I’m close to a lot of Pearl clan members.”

“Oh.” She nodded. “You said something like that already…. Some time… didn’t you?”

“Yeah. But you were pretty out of it, I don’t know how much you remember of the times you’ve woken up?”

Fox hummed absentmindedly. “Everything is all… blurry. I dunno.”

“That’s alright.” They hummed softly. “They have you under some pretty strong medicine, I’m pretty sure.”

“Why are you and Rei staying here?”

Cosmic’s expression softened at that. A small smile tugged at their lips. “Why do you think, mm?”

Fox looked away from them, at that. She let out a sigh.

“I don’t know that part. I… there’s a lot about how Rei acts around me that I don’t understand, and now you’re doing it too. If I were a packmate I’d understand, a packmate getting injured is a threat to the whole. But you two barely know me.”

“You care about Rei, don’t you?”

“Well yeah. He’s comfortable to work with, and fun to talk to. I… hm. Okay. That care is reciprocated, gotcha. Then, it’s the same for you?”

Cos nodded. “Mhm. I don’t know you well, but I’d like to. I’ve liked talking with you, even if most of it was about how I got here and all. The way you talk about things is interesting.”

Fox hummed. But as she was about to respond, the screen around the cot was moved, and Pessele entered the little area.

Cos had to step back, shooting an apologetic look towards Fox as Pessele started to look over her now that she was aware enough to communicate things that might not have been seen just through examination as she slept.

Quite a while passed. Fox was still in and out of awareness, still hazy from the medication that kept her from noticing just how badly she was hurt.

No one would tell her what was going on outside. Which… to be fair, last time she was hospitalized and was allowed to listen in on what was going on and what was being planned she had ran off in the middle of the night.

Still, it was starting to feel like the cot and the screen and the muffled goings on of the Galaxy HQ were all there was, anymore.

At least Rei and Cos visited all the time. Even if conversations were never able to be more than just so and so in the village did so and so, such and such pokemon was being studied…

Fox really, really wished the cotton stuffing her brain would just blow away in the wind already.  She wanted to clear up whatever was between her and Rei. To break through the invisible wall that was there, solid as a Mr Mime’s barrier.

But trying to sort out her thoughts on it was hard. So she let it fall to the side, for now.

For now she could be content with quiet coexistence. With hearing how the Pokémon out in the fields were doing.

She could laugh at the story of the person who came running about a Will of the wisp that turned out to be a chimchar, and smile that the person’s little brother ended up taking the chimchar in as his own Pokémon. Even in spite of learning that the adults were trying to stop him from training it.

The pain started to fade. It got less torturous to have the bandages changed. Sure, it was still bad. Of course it was. But… slowly. Slowly it was a bit less bad.

And even during the worst of it, the pain that was so intense it made her strength fade, even as she drifted in and out of awareness… she knew someone would be there when she woke up. And even if there was an awkward wall keeping things from going any deeper than the surface… that was still enough that Fox could let herself rest. It would be safe when she woke.