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“Are you alright, my girl??”
Kaname opened her eyes and blinked a few times. Startled, she recoiled a bit. She was laying on a beach, an unfamiliar one. Three little Pokemon were standing way too close to her; a Cyndaquil, a Rowlet, and an Oshawott.
“Are you okay?” the voice came again, in Japanese.
Kaname sat up and held a hand up to her forehead. Her head was pounding, she felt a bit nauseous, started wondering if she had a concussion....
“Where am I?” she groaned.
“Oh! You speak English,” the voice answered, in English. Kaname finally looked up at the man talking. He seemed to be Galarian; his little stocking hat didn’t match the style of the rest of his outfit at all. “Curious!”
“Yeah, I speak English..” she responded. Where was this that it was surprising to a Galarian man that she spoke English...?
The man gently poked the Pokemon out of the way and held out his hand to help her up. She took it, and gradually stood up. The sand was cold on her bare knees.
“Are you alright, my girl?” He asked again.
“I was a bit nauseous, but I think it’s passing,” she answered.
“Well you’re still in jolly good shape for someone who fell from the sky!” he laughed.
“I’m sorry?”
“You fell out of the sky, my dear! From the rift,” He pointed in the distance, to a gaping hole in the sky above....Mount Coronet?? There was no mistaking the silhouette of the iconic mountain...he talked about a hole in the sky so casually...
Kaname could feel her heart rate increasing. She curled and uncurled her toes in her sandals. She remembered a dream....someone was talking to her...what was happening before that? She was at the Ula’ula airport...
What was going on?
She glanced at the C-Gear on her wrist. It was blank, dead. She patted around her jean shorts for her phone; found it and pulled it out of her pocket.
“Oh, what is thiiiss,” she groaned. The case around her phone was white, with yellow pointed and curved parts sticking out that were very clearly supposed to be an Arceus motif. “What is this? This is the best you got?” she continued talking to herself, or rather Arceus; she turned her phone around in her hand, “that was a limited edition Brycen-Man phone case! I hope you kept it at least!”
“Ho?” The man had no idea what she was talking about, but was intrigued by the device in her hand, “The curious girl has curious things with her, even,”
“Yeah..it..” she unlocked her phone. There was only a map app and a chat app... “it, uh, shows me information...” Her photo album was still there too...
“Hmm.. you’re very out of place, aren’t you? You’re not afraid of the Pokemon though,”
“No?” she was even more confused, “why would I be...afraid of..them...” she looked down at the three little monsters at the man’s feet. Grass, Fire, Water...
“Sorry, do you perhaps...call yourself a Pokemon Professor..?” she asked.
The man’s face lit up, “I do, in fact! I’m Professor Laventon,” he held out his hand again, this time in a greeting. He was definitely Galarian...
“Kaname,” she gave him her name, shaking his hand, “Kaname Nakajima.....”
"Oh, you are Japanese!"
"Not...really, I do speak Japanese..." Could she tell him she was from Unova? She wasn't even sure it was called that yet, she technically wasn't pulled from there anyway: "I was in Alola..."
"Oh ho! That must be why the Pokémon don't bother you! What a lovely culture they have there!"
Kaname was sure the Alolan peoples’ attitude towards Pokemon hadn’t changed that much, but she felt she shouldn’t try explaining that the Alolas they were referring to were very different...
"Why don't we go back to the village and get you some food and a place to rest your head, I'm sure the Commander would love to meet you!"
Kaname nodded in agreement. Oh Arceus...was this the colonization of Hisui...
The Professor lead her through the gate into the village. The guardsmen at the gate were whispering about the girl who feel from the sky. The village really seemed to be only two rows of houses, a small prairie, a small farm, and a giant building at the end of the housing rows. They walked past handfuls of people, who whispered about them as they walked by.
There were no Pokemon. At all. Not even a Starly. Kaname wasn’t sure why this made her uneasy.
As they approached the central building, a woman with short blue hair came down the steps to meet them.
The Professor introduced her as Cyllene, the captain of the Galaxy Team Survey Corps. He explained that Kaname was the person they had seen fall from the rift. Kaname bowed lower than she normally would have; the expedition team should have plenty of resources, no reason to come off as rude. Laventon asked about housing the poor girl.
“Assuming she is capable of contributing to the Survey Corps, I don’t see why not.” She looked Kaname over for a moment. Kaname was rather athletic, though she didn’t quite look it, which made her nervous for a moment. “Hmm, you look to be about 15 or so.”
Did she really still look that young?? Kaname took a deep breath, and then corrected her: “I’m 24....”
“Ah,” Cyllene didn’t seem to quite believe her. “Then you should be more than capable... But we can’t simply take on a stranger who wanders in, without any idea of their skills or origin. Tomorrow, we shall see if you can prove yourself.”
She showed her the room where she could stay, though it was obvious Cyllene had little faith in her. “If you fail to pass the trial we put you to tomorrow,” she explained, “you must move on. You will be expelled from the village to meet your fate - and perhaps your death - in the wilds.”
Kaname was mostly unfazed by her threat. She was more curious than anything. Yes Pokemon were dangerous, but was it really that bad out there? She wondered if solace might be easier to find among the Hisui people anyway.
Laventon invited Cyllene to eat with them, but she declined and returned to the big building. He led Kaname over to a table in front of a little restaurant on the other side of the main path. An older man came out with a plate of food for them, and bowls of rice. Laventon introduced him as Beni, the Commander’s friend.
“Are these potato?” Kaname asked as he set the plate of mochi between them.
“Yes! Potato mochi,” Beni smiled at her.
Kaname picked one up, and blew on it a couple times before taking a big bite. “These are really good...just like my nana’s...” she mumbled, shoving the rest into her mouth and went for another one.
“Glad I could provide at least some familiar comforts for you,” Beni patted her shoulder before returning to the restaurant. Kaname struggled against the tears trying to form in her eyes. She shoved more mochi in her mouth.
“I daresay you’ve had enough excitement for today,” Laventon laughed a bit, “I’ll refrain from asking all of my questions so you can eat and rest in peace.”
Later, in her room, Kaname looked through the chest and dresser but they were all empty. She didn’t really want to sleep in these clothes, but she had nothing else. She sat down on the futon, and pulled her knees up to her chest. She pulled her phone out, the light was bright in the darkness.
There was an unread chat message: “Seek Out All Pokemon.”
Kaname scoffed. “That’s it? That can’t be it,” she said to the darkness. PokeDex holders weren’t special, they were just more interested in research or travelling. If that’s all there was, surely someone form the Survey Corps would work just fine. Why was she here?
She tried to stop her brain from running through all of its problem thoughts. Things like what kind of diseases she was giving to these people. She opened the photo album app, even though she knew it was a bad idea. All her photos seemed to be there. Ingo and Emmet both smiled up at her from the first photo in the list - a selfie they’d taken in response to the one she had sent Emmet showing that she was at the airport, waiting for the plane. The caption over it said “have a safe trip! see you soon!”
She rubbed her face with her other hand. Everyone probably thought she was dead.
She tried to tell herself that she shouldn’t think about that since there was nothing she could do about it. She flipped the photo order to oldest date first. Ingo and Emmet smiled up at her again from the oldest photo she had; both of them in the green Battle Subway jackets, with her standing between them in her referee uniform. Their first day at the Subway.
She scrolled through her photos. Most of them were of her Samurott, random Joltik she found, or her grandma’s Purrloin. She came across a nice photo of Samurott and changed her home screen wallpaper to it. Getting cold, she laid down under the blanket, and eventually fell into an uneasy sleep while scrolling her photos.
Kaname jumped awake, quite literally, at the knock on her door. She frantically looked around the unfamiliar room. Great. That wasn’t a dream.
“Miss Kaname!” came a voice from the other side of the door, “Cyllene would like to see you!”
“One moment,” she answered. She patted at her dark blue hair, pulled her hair tie out and tied it back into a ponytail that hopefully looked better.
Opening the door, she found that the voice belonged to a boy she hadn’t met yet. He wore an outfit similar to Cyllene’s. He looked to be about 15.
“Good morning, Miss Kaname,” he bowed, “I’m Rei! I’m part of the Survey Corps! Captain Cyllene asked me to come get you, if you would follow me.”
“Onward then,” she said, closing the door behind her.
They entered the big building. The inside was expansive. What was the point of all this room? Kaname looked up. There were 3 flights of stairs. They must’ve built this, right? It was huge.
Rei took her into the room across from the front door. Cyllene sat at an absolutely enormous desk. The first Pokemon she’d seen here, an Abra, sat in the corner. It didn’t open it’s eyes but Kaname could feel it staring at her.
“Kaname,” Cyllene stood up from her desk.
“Yes, ma’am,” she answered.
“Let us get straight to it.” Cyllene explained her trial: “If you wish to join the Galaxy Expedition Team, prove yourself capable by going out into the Obsidian Fieldlands and catching three different species of Pokémon.”
Kaname thought that sounded easy enough, though Rei protested that it would be too hard for her. Cyllene ignored him.
“The Galaxy Team does not have the means to provide for those who take without giving. If you wish to stay, you must prove that you’ll be an asset to our cause.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kaname agreed. Cyllene gave her a satchel and some PokeBalls. Kaname turned one around in her hand. It felt more like a softball than a PokeBall. It was heavy, and expertly crafted. She tossed it into the air a couple times.
“I’ll show you how to use those when we get out into the Fieldlands!” Rei told her excitedly.
“I--” she started, but decided against being rude. Of course she knew how to use a freaking PokeBall. “Thank you, Rei.”
They returned to the foyer to find Professor Laventon and his three Pokemon.
“Kaname!” The Professor said, “I hear you’re going out into the wilds. Of course I can’t let you go out there without your own Pokemon.”
She looked down at the little monsters in front of Laventon.
“You’re saying I can have one of these Pokemon..?”
“Yes, my dear!”
She took a step forward, all three of them looked up at her like they knew what was going on. She focused on the Oshawott eagerly looking up at her. Suddenly she was 10 years old again, excitedly taking the tiniest Oshawott, with a ribbon around him, from her father’s arms. Kaname fell to her knees in front of the little blue otter. She held out a hand to him, tears welling up in her eyes. The Pokemon sniffed at her fingers, then cautiously grabbed a couple of her fingers with his little paw. She gently pulled him towards her.
“Can I hold you please,” she quietly said to him, opening her arms a little. They seemed tame, but not that tame; she didn’t think he’d let her hold him. Oshawott tilted his head to the side in confusion, but then held up his little arms and stepped towards her. Tears rolled down Kaname’s face. She slowly picked him up and hugged him against her shoulder with one arm. Stroking his head with her other hand, she continued to cry into his fur. Oshawott licked her face.
The Professor motioned for Rei to step into the other room with him, to give her a moment. Cyllene stood in the doorway, silent and emotionless, watching this strange woman hold a (basically) wild Pokemon as if it was a precious old friend.
Kaname moved Oshawott to her lap, so she could wipe her eyes. There were no Pokemon in this village, but now she had a very precious one. He squeaked at her when she looked back down at him. She laughed.
A familiar voice echoed in her head: Everybody smile!
Kaname scooped Oshawott up in her arm again and stood up. Check safety!
“I’m sorry everyone,” she apologized, turning to the three in the doorway with a smile.
Everything’s--
“I’m ready!”