Chapter Text
It was a lovely night on Pasio. There were no wild Pokemon, so no sounds of Kricketot echoed across the synthetic island. However, in the fields not far from town, other sounds echoed- the sounds of a battle.
"Hatterene, Dazzling Gleam!"
"Obstruct, then Night Slash!"
The trainers' orders echoed over the field. This particular battle, although Pasio was no stranger to them, was between two trainers from Galar- the former Dark leader Piers and the current Fairy leader Bede. The two of them had gotten into a petty argument earlier that day, so now they were fighting to settle it.
Unfortunately for Bede, the Night Slash from Piers's Obstagoon led to his Hatterene being knocked out.
Bede scoffed and recalled his Hatterene.
"Well, I win. Good attempt, mate- one more attack probably woulda' finished me off." Piers recalled Obstagoon and extended a hand to Bede.
Bede didn't take it, even as he recalled Hatterene. "Fine. You were right, whatever."
Marnie, Piers's sister and a friend (of sorts) of Bede, chimed in. "It's later than I would have liked… Let's head into town and get something to eat. I'm starvin'." Her Morpeko chirped, accentuating her point.
Piers nodded. "Sounds like a plan, sis."
Bede was about to respond when a bright light shone from across the field. When it faded, two people and two Pokémon stood there, embroiled in an argument. They stopped pretty quickly when they realized where they were.
"New sync pairs," Piers said. "May as well go welcome them."
Lian was, suffice it to say, not having a very good day. Or, night, now. Not only had Melli (ugh) showed up when he was hiking through the Icelands, but it turned out they were both hunting for the same item- Sand Radishes. Lian couldn't say why Melli wanted them, but as the two were arguing over the Sand Radish Lian had already found, there was a bright light. And now Lian, his Sliggoo, Melli, and his Skuntank were somewhere else- much warmer than the Icelands, but darker too. It was nighttime.
"Gah!" Melli cried, breaking off his argument. "Where are we? Did you do this?"
"Me?!" Lian cried. "How in the world would I do this?" He glanced around, to take stock of the situation.
They were in a field at night, but it was quiet. No wild Pokemon sounds anywhere. And the sky seemed… not wrong, but as if there were fewer stars than he was used to…
Melli stopped arguing, looking around and coming to similar conclusions. "Well, maybe those three will have answers for us!" he supplied.
Lian followed Melli's pointing finger to see three people, and one small Pokemon he'd never seen before, walking towards them. "Those people are dressed… kind of strangely…"
The trio of people got close to Lian and Melli. "Welcome to Pasio!" the only girl waved. "I'm sure you have lots a' questions."
"What are you wearing?" Melli asked. "It's so… strange!"
"What is that Pokemon?" Lian pointed. "It looks kind of like a Pikachu…?"
The girl sighed, before the most strange person there- a man paler than anyone- spoke up. "That's a Morpeko. A Pokemon from Galar."
Lian nodded. "So this… 'Pasio'... is in Galar, then?"
"I didn't realize Galarians dressed so strangely!" Melli commented.
"Coming from the person who looks like they stepped out of the Renaissance Faire?" the third person- a white-haired teenager dressed in pink- said. "That's rich."
"What in the world is the Renaissance Faire?" Melli asked.
"Wait, hold on!" the girl cried. "Let's all slow down and introduce ourselves. You two seem awfully confused- maybe that'll help. Then we'll explain, got it?"
"It isn't just them," the pale man contributed. "What's up with the kid's Sliggoo?"
Lian bit back a retort. He hated to admit it, but the Galarian girl was right. If they really were in Galar, these three were their best chance at getting home. "Fine," he said.
"Then I shall go first!" Melli proclaimed. Lian sighed. "I am the great Melli of the Diamond Clan, Warden to the mighty Lord Electrode!"
Lian noticed a strange expression on the three Galarians' faces. "I'm Lian of the Pearl Clan. I'm the Warden of the great Lord Kleavor!"
The three Galarians seemed… taken aback. "Warden?" the pale man asked. "Never heard o' that before."
"I've heard of Electrode," the pink boy contributed, "but what's a Kleavor?"
"Clans? Just where are you from?" the girl asked.
"Right, those not from Hisui wouldn't understand my glory. We are from the Hisui region!" Melli proclaimed.
"Never heard o' it," the girl said. "But I'm Marnie, Gym Leader of Spikemuth, and this is my partner Morpeko."
"Gym Leader…?" Lian echoed.
The three of them seemed taken aback. "Do you… not know what a Gym Leader is?" the pink boy asked.
"Should we?" Melli asked. "It doesn't sound very interesting!"
All three were taken aback by this. "Even Hau had *heard* of Gyms…" Marnie muttered.
The pale man spoke up next. "Uh, anyway, the name's Piers. Marnie's my sister, and my successor as Gym Leader."
Now that it had been said, Lian could definitely see the resemblance between the two.
"And I'm Bede," the pink teenager said. "Brand new Gym Leader of Ballonlea."
"Introductions didn't help much," Lian noted. "I still have a lot of questions."
"Me too!" Melli cried, before realizing he was agreeing with Lian. "Nevermind!"
Marnie thought for a moment. "How about this? Bede, you go and find Rachel or Sawyer or someone and tell them what's happening here. Piers and I will answer all a' Lian and Melli's questions."
Bede hesitated, infuriated at being sidelined, before composing himself. "Fine. Keep me updated, though. You have my Poryphone number, right?"
At the same time as Piers said "No", Marnie said "Yes, I do!"
"Fine," Bede hissed, stalking off.
"Okay, maybe we should begin with some explainin'," Marnie said. "Pasio is an artificial island in the sea."
"Artificial…?" Lian echoed. "Humans made this place?"
Piers nodded. "Yep. Constructed by a man named Lear for the Pokemon Masters League. Which is also why you're here."
"Hm?!" Melli hummed. "I certainly didn't consent to this… whatever it is of yours!"
"Yeah," Marnie said. "Lear uses the power of a mythical Pokemon to bring promising Trainers here to participate. I don't think anyone hasn't wanted to stick around after hearing about it."
"Wait, Trainers? Isn't that what the Galaxy Team calls themselves nowadays?" Lian pointed out.
Melli harrumphed. "I didn't care to take note of what they called themselves."
"Anyway," Marnie said. "The PML is a team competition where teams of Trainers, using one Pokemon each as a sync pair, battle each other to win the title of Champion. Bettie's team won not too long ago, but a second PML is startin' soon."
Melli and Lian took stock of the situation. Melli was the first to respond. "An entire competition based around Pokemon battling?!" he cried. "Did the Galaxy Team set this up?"
"Piers, where's your Pokemon partner?" Lian asked. "I see Marnie's, but…"
"Oh, he's in his Poke Ball for now," Piers replied. "We were battling Bede earlier. We won, but Obstagoon needed a rest."
"Poke Balls?!" Melli realized. "So it is the Galaxy Team's doing!"
"I… 'unno what that is," Marnie admitted. "Unless you're talking about Team Galactic…?"
"No, the Galaxy Team," Lian said. "A group from Hisui."
"You keep talkin' about stuff I've never heard of," Piers said. "And a lot of basics seem to be shocking to you. I've never even heard of Hisui…"
"You're the strange ones!" Melli defended. "Talking about all these strange things…"
A buzzing sound came from Marnie's pocket. She took a small object out of it and spoke into it. "Hello?"
Lian and Melli watched, confused. "Wait," Lian muttered. "That's kind of like-"
Marnie gasped. She stared at Melli and Lian for a moment, before going back to talking into the object. "You're sure? Got it." She pressed something and put the object back into her pocket.
"What was that?!" Melli wondered.
"You don't even know what a phone is?" Piers asked.
Marnie shook her head. "That… actually makes sense, bro. Bede found Sawyer, but also ran into Steven and Cynthia. Cynthia says that Hisui… is the old name of Sinnoh. She's on her way here now, but we can meet her halfway."
Lian's stomach dropped. "Old like… how old? Sinnoh is the name of our god, or, it was…"
Melli was, for once, rendered speechless. "The future…?" he murmured.
"Well?" Marnie asked, turning back towards the duo of Wardens. "You comin'?"
Lian glanced at Melli. Confusion was etched on the older man's face. For once, Lian could agree with him. He took a deep breath, leaned down and picked up his Sliggoo, took another breath, and followed Piers and Marnie.
Elsewhere, Clay was embroiled deep in a debate with Roark. "Somethin' seems off about this!"
Roark shrugged. "I don't really see the issue with adding another branch to the tunnel there. I get what you're saying about stability, but…"
Clay threw up his hands. "All I'm saying is that that there stone seems unstable!"
"I don't realllly understand," chimed in one of the two twins watching the debate in the tunnel. "But why don't we go find Steven and get a third opinion?"
"Great idea, Emmet!" Roark complimented. "I'll stay here and watch, and you three can go find him."
Ingo, Emmet's twin, nodded. "Let's have a safe journey!"
"Check for safety!" Emmet chimed in, looking at the tunnel."
"All aboard!" Ingo called. He chuckled, still without smiling.
Clay laughed. "Oh, you two… Y'all are really a hoot, you know that?"
"I… don't understand," Ingo added, "but thanks…?"
"It was a compliment!" Clay defended as he and the two twins headed off to look for Steven Stone.