Chapter Text
Looker had slept in some weird places, including a beach without any kind of towel or blanket, but he was fairly certain that he had fallen asleep in Vista Lighthouse. He first thought that someone had thrown him out the window, which wouldn’t be the first time, but it couldn’t be… Sunyshore had mostly rocky shores, with the only sandy part being in the north of the city, opposite end of the lighthouse.
Maybe, maybe , someone had moved him. Why must they have done it? He didn’t know why, but it was the only explanation, so that must be it! Or actually…
He tried his best to actually look around without moving his body, as it kind of hurt right now. He was indeed on a beach, a small one at that. He could see the sea by his feet, which he just noticed was getting them wet. There was also a small wooden dock with a boat resting next to it, something which he didn’t recognize. Another thing he didn’t recognize was the small shack by his side or the rocks with grass on top surrounding the beach.
He decided to try sitting up and ouch, that hurt, his age was getting to him. He debated if he should stand up too, eventually deciding that he would need to walk around and reach a safe place. So he set a hand as support and…
“Scheiße!” There was a small fire there for some reason and he had just gotten hurt, because his morning just had to get worse. At least he had a high pain tolerance, but he’d still need to treat the burn.
He looked down to see the fire only to be met by quite a surprise. There was a Cyndaquill right there. Was he in Johto? Was this the work of… an ultra wormhole…? No, no- He still had his memories. What a relief.
The small Pokémon looked at him with concern
“I’m sorry, little dude.” Looker made his best effort to give a genuine smile. That Cyndaquil hadn’t meant any harm, it was probably scared and worried right now.
Looker pet its head with the hand that hadn't been burned, trying to console the Pokémon. It was as he did that that he saw Cyndaquil wasn’t alone, there was a Rowlet and an Oshawott with it. Things were just getting… weirder. Those three Pokémon were not only uncommon but also all from different regions.
Maybe he should just focus on treating his burn.
He should have a first aid kit somewhere in his coat, so he looked around. Sherlock’s Pokéball, might as well let him out, a book from the Canalave library, better figure this out soon or he’ll get a fine for it, his medicine… Oh, he should take it before he forgets about it. He didn’t want Dawn’s Rotom to use any electric moves to remind him again.
He looked around a bit more until he found a water bottle and then gulped it down.
“Erm… sir?” A voice he didn’t recognise spoke. It had a bit of a Galarian accent.
Well… That meant he wasn’t alone and some poor man had seen him wake up on a beach with three Pokémon all from different regions, take out a fourth Pokémon and take his meds. Not to mention he probably looked terrible (he should fix that when he gets an opportunity).
“This is just sertraline, no need to worry,” Looker explained, right before gulping down another pill. “And that’s adderall.”
“Thank you for explaining, but that was the least of my worries.”
The man was wearing a purple knit beanie covering his hair and ears. It was cute, but most importantly, he was wearing a labcoat, one with… the Team Galactic logo!?
“Who are you-” Looker began to say, using a very firm voice. However, as he said that, he noticed something that was far more worrying.
There was a hole in the sky. A hole. In the sky.
He froze on the spot as he began to breathe heavily and shake. He had seen that before and he had tried to stop it, but-
“Are you ok, sir?” The unknown man asked him, stuttering a bit. “I’m so sorry, you must be scared- Do you need anything?”
Looker couldn’t really respond, but thankfully his Croagunk moved to literally shake some sense into him. He started to realise the hole in the sky couldn’t be an ultra wormhole, it didn’t have the usual lines. It actually looked more like the sky had broken , but that was still worrying…
The man looked a bit horrified at the moment, but he pushed through to speak again.
“You wanted to know who I am, am I correct? My name is Laventon, Professor Laventon, from the Survey Corps of the Galaxy Team.”
Survey Corps ? Galaxy and not Galactic ? Looker had made some wrong assumptions. Looking at the logo better, in fact, it was the same shape as the Team Galactic one but had different details. It was a relief, he worried Team Galactic had resurfaced for a second.
“Good morning, then, Professor. My name- no, my codename is Looker. I am an elite officer of the International Police. Now, will you grant me the pleasure of telling me where I am?”
“International Police? I am afraid I do not know of such a thing.” That was strange, one would think he would figure it out by the name if he didn’t know. “And well… How do I explain this… remember how I said your medicine was the least of my concerns?”
Looker was starting to get a bad feeling. “Yeah?”
“Um… I believe you might have fallen from the sky.”
Well, that brought a new meaning to faller. “Would it be too much to ask that you kept this a secret?”
“I mean, it is hard to explain, so it will be easier to not say it,” Laventon was honest. “You also wanted to know where wer are…”
“Indeed.”
“The region is Hisui. We’re standing in Prelude Beach, south of Jubilife Village.”
Hisui …? Surely he had misheard that.
“I know this will sound weird, but what year is it?” He couldn’t avoid sounding worried while asking that.
“1890! Are you suggesting you come from another time period?” The tone of Laventon’s voice was unreadable, but his excitement was clear. How had he figured it out so quickly? “I myself have found the idea of being able to see the 20th century in my lifetime quite amusing, but if you really come from another time, I have so many questions to ask-”
“You guessed correctly, I am afraid I do come from another time period, the future, to be precise. I can promise you that a lot of progress was made during the 20th century, my birth included, and we continue to do so in the 21st century, where I come from. Unfortunately, I doubt explaining all of it is a good idea.”
“I… Understand…” Laventon sounded overly disappointed. “Sorry for my straightforwardness, now, we should really get back to civilization.” He looked down at Looker’s hand.
“That would be a sensible thing to do, although…”
He just didn’t trust the time period’s medicine, nothing else to it. So he continued searching for the first aid kit and then treated his own wound while Laventon stared in horror. As if it was that serious…
“We should really go to the village now…” Laventon looked around for a few seconds, Looker following on instinct. It took them some seconds to realise the three Pokémon besides Sherlock, the Croagunk, were gone. “Rowlet! Cyndaquil! Oshawott! Where are you?”
The two men looked at each other awkwardly.
“That pokemon is yours, right?”
“Yes.”
“Could you…?”
“Just give me their pokeballs.”
Professor Laventon didn’t give him their Pokéballs, he gave him fifty of them. So… he needed to catch them, it seemed.
They all looked low level, maybe level 5 like most starter Pokémon. He also didn’t know how Laventon would take it if he hurt those three, so he decided to use Pokéballs alone.
Turns out that they went to play in a field halfway through Prelude Beach and Jubilife. Looker was right to think they’d be easy to catch, it was no trouble even for someone like him, who had barely caught Pokémon in his life. The only real problem was that his body still hurt from presumably falling from the sky, but well, he had gone through worse. None of this made Laventon any less impressed, though.
“Marvellous! Your skill in catching pokemon is magnificent! Jolly good thing to know around here, too. Now we should be good to go to the Village.”
The two men with every Pokémon except Sherlock in their balls walked towards Jubilife — village, not city. Laventon used the time it took them to get there to explain the deal with those Pokémon, as well as promise to keep Looker’s origins a secret.
Turns out those three starters had come to Hisui to aid with research, but the rascals wouldn’t listen to anyone, so it was wonderful that he had caught them. Looker just had to think… did they not have any experience with wild Pokémon?
Once they reached the village, they also discovered getting in wouldn’t be so easy.
“Outsiders aren’t allowed,” a man dressed in a red uniform sporting the same logo as Laventon’s coat stopped them. He was stern and wouldn’t take his eyes off Looker.
“He has my permission,” Laventon briefly affirmed.
“Professor… are you sure about what you’re doing? You don’t want to anger the commander.”
“And you wouldn’t want to anger Captain Cyllene, right?”
The man in red gulped. “Ok, ok!”
Looker was left with some more questions, because he didn’t seem to have enough. Who was this ‘commander’? And who was ‘Captain Cyllene’? Were they people in power inside this Galaxy Team organisation?
Laventon answered as if he read his thoughts. “That man was from the Security Corps and Cyllene is my superior in the Survey Corps,” he explained. “By the way, put your Pokémon inside that weird Pokéball of yours.”
When they stepped into the village one thing became clear: Laventon hadn’t lied when he said the year was 1890.
The buildings were of a traditional style, made of wood in their majority, with the exception of one close to the entrance and a big building standing at the north end of the village with the same logo as before decorating, both of them being built in a western style with bricks. Looker guessed the big one must be a government building, a hall for the village.
The paths of the place weren't paved like the ones in modern Jubilife, dirt being what they had to walk on. Talk about accessibility. In general one could see a lot of nature, though not in the village itself, but in the outskirts. Around the whole place there were multiple buildings in construction, with wooden scaffolding supporting them and the workers, who wore purple clothing, another uniform, Looker guessed. In general, the village lacked a lot of modern accommodations like benches, fountains, trees in the streets and regular terrain amongst other things.
The people weren’t much better. Everyone was staring at him while he walked down the main street, whispering words that he couldn’t make out but most likely weren’t positive. He couldn’t look that bad, he thought.
There was just one more thing that caught his attention. There was an almost total lack of Pokémon. He had to look at the sky to spot even a single Starly, which felt weird… With so much nature around, one would guess Pokémon would be thriving there. Maybe that had something to do with Laventon making him recall Sherlock.
After crossing a bridge, Looker saw there was another big street going from west to east. To the west, there was what he assumed were a restaurant, a shop, some houses and a dojo. To the east there were more shops and houses, with a gate just like the one they had crossed to enter the village at the end. In the centre, he found the government building and a teenage boy waiting at the entrance. That boy looked way too much like Lucas. He sure hoped Rowan’s assistant hadn’t gone through the same as him.
“Laventon, I thought you were going out with those Pokémon!” he protested, getting closer to them. That boy wore a similar uniform to the Security Corps man, but in dark blue instead of red and with a cap instead of a straw hat. “That’s a grown man who looks like he slept on the beach!”
“Rei, my boy, I swear I can explain-”
“That’s because I slept on the beach,” Looker stepped in. “You see, I’m a police officer from Unova who was boarding a ship to Johto for a vacation when the ship capsized, leaving me stranded here.”
The boy’s face was suddenly met with regret. “Oh, I’m sorry…”
“It’s not like it was your fault,” Looker assured him.
Looker prayed that Laventon would follow along. To his credit, that was a pretty good lie, at least considering he made it up at the spot. It wasn’t a complete lie, either! He was a member of the police (even if it was the international one, not Unovan ), saying he was from a western region would explain his clothing and the shipwreck story explained how he ended up there. If only he could pat himself on the back…
“You see, Rei, he doesn’t have any way to return, so I was thinking of letting him stay here…” Now that was a relief.
“And just how’re you planning to do that?” Rei questioned him. “Make him join the Survey Corps? Does he even have the skill?”
“I believe he does, as he caught those three menaces without trouble. He seems to have a Pokémon of his own too.”
“Wanna see him?” Looker went to grab Sherlock’s Pokéball.
“Later,” Rei responded. He paused for a moment before continuing. “The thing is, I really feel sorry for you, and I’m grateful that you helped the prof out, but the captain…”
“I’ll handle that, please don’t worry,” Laventon assured him. “Speaking of the captain, you should meet her if you want to join…” He turned to another man in red standing by the building’s entrance. “Beauregard, this gentleman has my authorization, we need to speak with Captain Cyllene.”
Beauregard listened and stepped aside, letting the three of them pass.
The interior of the building was what one would expect seeing the outside: Formal, big and with stairs going both to the left and the right. The insignia some people of the village wore was also found in the carpet of the lower floor, the one Captain Cyllene’s office was on.
Looker didn’t really know what to expect of Captain Cyllene and… well, let’s just say that Looker nearly had a heart attack upon seeing her.
“Professor Laventon, care to explain?” she spoke in a serious and monotone voice.
She very much looked like a fem-aligned Cyrus. Short blue hair, no eyebrows and a look of apathy… Looker had to remind himself that he was in the past.
“Keep it brief, if you would.” She clarified. A quick glance at her desk explained why. That was a lot of paperwork…
Laventon took a deep breath. “Basically, this poor man’s boat capsized, leaving him stranded here. He showed skill in both medicine, as those bandages in his hand were applied by himself, and catching pokemon. I had a bit of a problem with those three rascals, you see…”
“You can explain that story later.” Cyllene stood up from her desk chair and walked over to Looker. The look she gave him was glaciating. “I understand that you want him to join the Galaxy Team, am I correct?”
All of a sudden Looker remembered something. He had asked Cyrus about the origin of the name ‘Galactic’ and they explained that as well as the space theme, it came from the Galaxy Team in Hisui.
“Y-yes… the Survey Corps, to be precise…” Laventon continued.
“You.” Cyllene turned to Looker with a stare even worse than the previous one. “Name — Full name, region of origin and previous occupation, you must have one.”
“Name’s Looker…” C’mon, think of something… “Handsome, yup, that’s my name.”
“Are you sure that is your real name?” she asked.
“You asking that ‘cause he needed time to think? C’mon, Captain, he was in a shipwreck, some shock’s normal,” Rei stepped in, to Looker’s luck.
“I trust you enough, Rei. Now, I asked two more questions, Mr. Handsome.”
“Ah, yes… I’m from Unova and before the wreck I worked as a police officer.”
“That certainly explains your weird clothes and accent.” He had an Unovan accent? He wasn’t actually from there, what an insult. “Although, if you were a police officer, wouldn’t the Security Corps suit you better?”
“Oh, no, no, I mostly did investigations, sort of a detective. I am certain the Survey Corps are the right fit. I must mention I am well educated, as well, I can speak a lot of languages and-”
“No need to elaborate, I understand.” Cyllene cleared her throat. “But knowledge is not the only thing you need to join my division. If you truly desire to join, tomorrow you must pass a test.”
“Ok, I can do that. Where should I stay during the night?”
She stopped to think for a moment. “There’s a free living quarter right by the Galaxy Hall. You can stay here for the night and if you pass the test, you can use it permanently. You’ll be given a uniform later as well, as the clothes you’re wearing don’t look to be very comfortable for field work. You’re dismissed.”
Laventon smiled at him and gave him a pat on the back before guiding him to the room left to Cyllene’s office, his laboratory. Rei went outside at Laventon's request. Once both of them were inside, the professor closed both the door to Cyllene’s office and the door to the hallway, locking them with a key.
“You’re a bloody good liar, y’know,” the professor said upon closing the second door.
“Oh, don’t flatter me. It was thanks to you playing along that I was able to convince them. Now, why did you bring me here?”
The lab was a messy place with a homey feel to it. Laventon’s desk was also full of papers, though he also had a kotatsu table next to a couch. One of the walls was stacked with bookshelves and had a strange machine occupying the corner. The place also had multiple boards full of research related papers. Looker was no one to criticise that as his investigations often involved similar boards. As well as all of that, there were three separate places for the starter Pokémon, appropriate to each of their typing.
“If you’re going to join the Survey Corps, you’re going to want- no, need to see this.” Laventon moved over to the kotatsu and picked up a notebook that was lying there, he placed it so Looker could see. “This is a Pokédex, my life project, and you will help
A Pokédex? Dawn and her friends had those, right? But theirs were digital devices while this was a book. Maybe…
“In the future, we also have Pokédexes, I feel like you should know that,” Looker carelessly said.
“Wait, really!?”
“Yes, they’re way more advanced, but I’m guessing the idea is the same, so you don’t need to explain anything.”
“That means I succeed, right?”
Looker just smiled and nodded, while Laventon barely could contain his emotion.
Looker laughed. “I’ll help you, I really doubt the test will be hard, anyway. Now, where are my quarters?”
His quarters were one of the traditional looking houses that were right by the Galaxy Hall. Laventon guided him to it before leaving.
Crouching to not get hit by the doorframe, Looker entered the place.
Crouching to not get hit by the doorframe, he entered the place. There was a lower level, the entrance, with a chest to keep his things. He supposed he should remove his shoes, so he did, revealing the terrible bright red socks he had on.
There was a hearth and some basic appliances in the centre, with the bedroom being at the back. Said bedroom was simply a futon, a small table, some drawers and a full body mirror that Looker was too tall for. He decided to put his things in order.
First of all, he let Sherlock out to explore the place, but not without a warning to be quiet. Then he started getting other things out of his pockets. He left his meds and books by the window and he was slightly worried about running out of the meds, but that was a problem for another day. Everything else, mostly InterPol gadgets, were left in the chest at the entrance, except for…
SEEK OUT ALL POKÉMON
Now what the fuck. Why was his phone Arceus themed and why did it have that message, not to mention when did that map appear-
Oh, wait… Couldn’t he be the chosen one, could he? Yeah, just what he needed, getting sent into the past by God. This must be a weird nightmare, a step up from his usual ones but still a nightmare. Though… Why had his body hurt earlier, then?
Before he could think of it further, a knock came from the door.
“Come in!” he yelled.
The door slid open, revealing Rei carrying some clothes. He closed it again before walking over to the older man.
“I see you’ve already set up, Mr. Handsome.” Oh, he should get used to being called that. “Here’s your uniform, plus some sleeping clothes since we doubted you had anything like that… I’m sorry they’re old, it’s all we could get on such a short notice.”
“Don’t worry about that. Beggars can’t be choosers, or so they say.”
The sleeping clothes were just a plain jinbei, maybe old but he really doubted he would get that thing out for any festivals, so it didn’t really matter.
The uniform was a bigger version of what Rei wore. It was also old, shattered and with a lot of parts that clearly had been fixed at some point. It had already lost the colour, being more grey than blue and he was pretty sure it had the remains of bloodstains in some parts. That must be the uniform of a former member, if he had to guess, which wasn’t precisely a pleasant idea for multiple reasons, but he’d have to deal with it.
“I patched it up myself!” Rei said proudly, oblivious to what was going on in Looker's head.
“Thank you, you’ve done a good job.”
“Can I meet your Pokémon now?” Rei sounded excited, so Looker couldn’t help but listen.
“Of course! He should be around here… Sherlock, Liebling, Knurspe!”
An old but efficient trick. The Croagunk quickly came out of wherever he was hiding to eat the poffin Looker offered. Yes, he had some poffins on him.
Rei spoke again while the Pokémon was eating. “Why did you call it Sherlock? Also that’s a Croagunk, right?”
“That’s his nickname! It comes from the detective. Why is that a surprise?”
“It’s… nothing. It must be a Unovan thing. I guess you also like those books Laventon loves so much.”
That was a surprise, but it made sense. If he was correct, the first book was published around this time and the professor had a thick Galarian accent.
“I guess so. Now, do you need anything else?”
“Not right now, but ‘round dinner time I’ll call you to go to the Wallflower — Laventon’s favourite restaurant. You can explore the village in the meantime, I guess.”
“I’ll do just that, thanks.”
When Rei left, Looker changed his clothes simply to fit in. He did keep his beloved coat, though. He also prepared some things before heading out to explore the village.
The Wallflower was actually near his quarters, right in front of the Galaxy Hall. The owner, an old man called Beni, seemed to hate his guts though, so he stayed clear of the place.
He also stayed clear of the crafting station by its side, not because the man in charge had anything against him, but because he was terrible with crafts.
He stopped by the Dojo.
The second biggest building in Jubilife, it had a battlefield right in front of it and was mostly filled with Security Corps members, of which a tall woman with curly red hair that reminded him of Flint approached.
“Hello! You’re the castaway that’s going to join the Survey Corps tomorrow, right?”
She sounded nice, very energetic, but Looker wasn’t a big fan of being known as ‘the man who got in a shipwreck’. At least he wasn’t known as ‘the man who fell from the sky’.
“Yes, that would be me, and you are…?”
“Zisu, captain of the Security Corps! I hope Cyllene isn’t too hard on you!” she started to laugh.
“Yeah… I have a name, by the way.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Looker, right? I heard you already have a pokemon of your own, so if you need to teach it any moves, just come to me and I’ll do the job.”
“I’m fine with the moveset he has, thank you very much. I’m exploring Jubilife Village right now, so is there any place worth checking?”
“ Any place worth checking… Well, there’s the general store and the clothier, if you have money, that is.”
He listened to her and passed by the general store. Not the clothier, he didn’t need new clothes. The resemblance the shop keeper had to Charon was awkward, even more than Cyllene’s to Cyrus. He still bought some of the time’s Pokéballs and potions, just in case. It was a surprise that he could use modern Pokédollars, but a welcome one.
Some hours later, Laventon, Rei and Looker met up at the Wallflower.
“Beni, the usual, but three rations this time!” the professor cried out.
“Why do you need- oh. The sky-faller,” Beni said in response.
“Excuse Me, my name is Looker, not sky-faller, in fact being called faller brings some… unpleasant memories afloat.” He tried to say that with as much confidence as possible.
“But you fell from the sky.”
“C’mon, Beni…” Rei stepped in. “You wouldn’t talk about fire around the Commander, right? It’s basically the same.”
“What he said,” Laventon added.
“Tch. Whatever, the usual, right?” He went back to the kitchen without waiting for an answer.
Laventon placed a hand on Looker’s shoulder. “I’m terribly sorry… He really dislikes strangers. His food is really good, though!”
Thankfully, the professor was right about the food. That mochi was delicious , so much he nearly forgot the earlier incident.
At the end of the day, Looker went to sleep in his room, with Sherlock on top of him and hoping that tomorrow he’d wake up back in the Vista Lighthouse.
That night, while everyone was sleeping as peacefully as any other night, thunder struck down. Murkrow flew away in fear and no one could expect what would happen…