Chapter Text
Chapter One: Striking Sands
-Somewhere in Paradise-
The day couldn’t get stranger for Annette Beauchêne, one day she was walking through Kalos with her cousin Akari Akashi and the next she passed through the morning fog. The two were sitting on a beach with a small house built on stilts. Nearby was a teenage girl, around fourteen, with long red hair, healthily tanned skin, and purple eyes. She was dressed like a dancer from the southern regions. Next to her was a boy with blonde hair, purple eyes, and tan skin from the same region. ‘Or Alola.’ Annette thought as Akashi stretched. Annette and Akashi were cousins on her mother’s side. With Annette looking like her light purple haired mother, with light pink hair from her father and brown eyes. She had fair skin, and was currently wearing a pastel pink and mint green striped sundress. Akashi, who was also twelve, took after his dad, with black hair, a pink stripe, and two bright red stripes on either side of the pink. He was boyish and lean, but had defined muscles due to his nature as a fighting type trainer with a tan of someone who exercised and could get naturally tan, but still wore sunscreen. His brown eyes were filled with flames and he punched the air. The fourth member of their displaced group was another fourteen year old, he was reading a book on boats.
“Ah! Kameko-kun!” Akashi shouted and the teenage boy looked up. “Did you get that Honedge I sent ya?”
“You know him, Akashi?” Annette asked and Akashi nodded his head as the teen stood up. He had white and light blue hair, purple eyes, and pale skin. He was wearing a sunhat on him.
“Yeah, this is the friend I told you about that moved to Alola.” Akashi said before looking at the other girl. “Hey, is that Tethys?”
“Yeah.” Kameko said as the only two eighteen year old adults walked out of the house. They were the first to introduce themselves. The tall young man was Raiten Seiji, have mid neck length silvery teal hair and celadon colored eyes. The shorter plump young woman next to him was Lottie Café, with pastel red hair pulled up into an elegant side bun, and large bright pink eyes. Freckles were decorating her face.
“Well it seems like everything is stocked up like H-san said.” Seiji said as Tethys stood up, in his hand was a letter explaining that they were brought to this world to learn a lesson. What it was the letter didn’t say, however by doing weekly tasks they could earn points to buy things from a catalogue. They also got a weekly allowance for each person and a monthly allowance for the household budget. Which wasn’t going to do much because the island didn’t have anyone on it. Since the birth records were weird in this world they weren’t actually in the system as the island was their home. And H-san did not like the government of this world, and it was just a small enough island that it normally went unnoticed.
“Well the beach is nice!” Tethys said as she stretched her arms into the air. “Should probably introduce myself. I’m Tethys Loupei. This is my younger brother Loup-Garou.”
“Hi!” the boy said as Tethys pulled him a little closer. “Sis!”
He pushed against her leg, he was around six years old with a lot of scars on his body. “You’re being clingy!”
“Seisui Kameko. Recently moved to Alola.” Kameko called out quietly.
“Akari Akashi! This is my cousin.” Akashi said as he looked at Annette.
“Annette Beauchêne.” Annette said before looking at Lottie. “Where are you from?”
“Sucrème Town.” Lottie answered with a smile as well. “Seiji is from Silver City. We’ve been working on the Goldie Sands”
“Wait, is that the same place that Nagisa is from?” Tethys asked and Seiji looked towards her.
“Grandpa Seichirō’s student?” Seiji asked in reply and Tethys blinked. “Has a kid, six years old? Lost her husband?”
“Yup! That’s the one!” Tethys laughed, though Annette felt like she was putting on airs. “Wow, small world.”
Everyone grew quiet as Annette took a look at the to-do list.
“Gather food, cut down trees, prepare the wood.” Annette read before blinking. “Set up chore list.”
She blinked a few times before looking up. “The Goldie Sands?”
“What is that?” Tethys asked as she tilted her head to the side.
“It’s a sailing restaurant that goes to different regions gathering ingredients and making incredible foods.” Annette said as she began to drool with Akashi. “It was so tasty when we went with Aunty Grace.”
“So good.” Akashi sighed before looking at Seiji. “Wait… I know you.”
“Were you there in the last three years?” Seiji asked as he chewed on a candy cigarette.
“Yeah! Right after that Rhyhorn racing tournament! I saw you kick a guy halfway across the restaurant! It was cool!” Akashi pumped his fist in the air as Annette had to explain to Tethys. “They were all like this roasted Unfezant is underseasoned and bland. And you were all like “What’dya say shit for brains?” And they were all like “Huh?” And then you were like. “If ya wanted over seasoned roasted fowl you should have started with your shit in your mouth! Cus you don’t appreciate the tablespoon of seasoning blend, nor the one and a half teaspoon salt, or even the pepper!” and kicked him across the room! Your Garchomp was staring at him like he was ready to throw down too!”
“My cousin is really into martial arts, he specializes in Fighting Types.” Annette said and Tethys nodded her head. “Wait… where are our Pokemon?”
Akashi froze as everyone looked around in a panic. Seiji looked at the letter in his hand. “Looks like they’re back at home, even if time passes here while we’re still connected when we go back we’re just going back to the age we left and to the spot we left in the same time.”
Annette sighed, calming down slightly before opening the catalogue and blinked. Right there, at the very front of the book, for free was the option to go home.
“Looks like he’s giving us the option to go back.” Annette said and everyone hesitated.
“Probably is some kind of trick.” Tethys sighed as she shrugged her shoulders. “Isn’t that always the case?”
“Or he’s being honest.” Lottie said as she took the book. “Like he just redirected us here, but we were already being whisked away somewhere else.”
“Anyways, before we mess around with anything, we should start doing what’s on the list.” Seiji said as he looked through the book before finding out that they had separate points and total points for the whole group. “He wants us to cut down three trees and we have points that we can spend.”
“Then we should buy tools.” Loup-Garou said but Akashi was already running off to see if he could punch down a tree. Tethys sighed as she shook her head but Loup was already running after as Seiji rolled his eyes. Tethys went to join them.
“I’m going to go help them.” Lottie said and Seiji’s head snapped towards her.
“I’ll do the same! Lottie-chan!” Seiji called out chasing after her, leaving Kameko and Annette on the beach.
“I guess we’re gathering food and setting up a chore list?” Annette asked as Kameko looked down at the book he had been taken here with. It was a book of ghost stories. “I could do it, it would be my first time gathering food.”
“Are you the daughter of the Beauchêne Conglomerate CEO?” Kameko asked and Annette nodded her head. “You aren’t as intimidating as him.”
“I get my looks from ma mère.” Annette replied as he finally stood up and they began walking back towards the house. “My hair color is from papa though.”
Once inside they discovered that it was large enough for all six of them, the bedrooms weren’t that big but there was enough space for a bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and a vanity, with enough to move around it. There was even a guest room. A kitchen, dining room, outdoor dining, a sitting room, a deck, and three bathrooms, with a half bath, and an extra toilet. There was a tub for cleaning clothes and a clothesline outside.
Kameko tried to imagine the towering figure run by an intimidating CEO with light pink hair. He couldn’t picture it. He flipped through the catalogue before noticing something in there in the middle, where the second tier pricing was. Not extremely expensive but not cheap either. They could summon their own Pokemon. But it had a limit of one purchase. So far they had enough to get a Pokemon, or they could save. With the equipment they had on them it was easier to survive. And he knew that most of them wouldn’t be willing to bring their partners into a situation that could possibly be more dangerous that their own world.
“Let’s go gather some food.” Kameko told Annette who nodded her head and the two of them went out into the forest. Akashi punched a hole through the tree. Most people, if looking at their world from outside would assume fun times with friends and cute creatures that would have friendly battles. They did not ever experience getting hit by a Dynamic Punch from a Hitmochan or a Rollout from a Miltank. The trainers built themselves to survive situations if town was extremely far away and their team was gravely wounded. Running back without survival skills and knowledge of weapons or martial arts, or even a way to keep Pokemon away was dangerous.
Despite her plump, round freckled face, and 163 cm frame, Lottie wrapped her arms around a tree trunk and ripped it from the ground as Akashi’s, Tethys’, and Loup’s jaw dropped as she dumped the tree onto the ground as Seiji kicked a segment out of another tree.
“SO COOL!” Akashi shouted before returning to punching his chosen tree.
-Far into the sea-
A pirate ship fired at a Marine ship due to the pirates escaping from a skirmish. Wood exploding and splintering as people shouted running around on deck. A jolly roger getting ripped off as flying in the wind.
-The Island (They have called it Tettsui Shima)- Four days later
“Phaw! That was a tasty meal!” Akashi said as he leaned back on his seat. Seiji observing if anyone left anything behind. He had made sure all the proportions would be enough for the growing teens, and Loup. Annette was enjoying some tea after the meal. The wood was curing out in the sun, Kameko having bought a book and supplies with his points in order to treat the wood. Since he had an idea of what the wood was going to be used for. A ship. Because if they were sent here to learn it was obvious that they couldn’t do it from just the island.
Each person took their points in consideration and most were still deciding whether they should summon their Pokemon or not. But to Kameko he knew that he didn’t want to go back to Alola but he wasn’t going to drag his Pokemon anywhere. They were accidentally brought here in something like a spirited away or accidental isekai, but just the destination was arranged to be brought to this world. ‘And to this island.’ Kameko thought as he flipped through the catalogue. Most of the options for the group points was upgrading the house or something called Merge. The points were being built up by completing important tasks. One of which was preparing the wood. Daily tasks were like them just building up trust between each other and getting to know one another.
“There we go.” Annette said as she finished assembling one sail as Akashi ran outside and dove into the water as Kameko yelled after him to wait until the food settled. “You won’t be able to stop him. He and his father have passions. While his father has the passion of YOUTH! Akashi has the passion of martial arts.”
“He would really get along with my grandfather.” sighed Seiji, shaking his head. “He runs a dojo in Silver City.”
“Well his father Akari Gai is a Martial Artist who runs a dojo and works at the Shalour Gym. Silver City, where is that?” Annette inquired as Seiji leaned against the railing chewing on the candy cigarette, which turned out to be a rice candy.
“Under Mt. Moon, it was an ambitious attempt to live under a mountain, this was before Saffron City and Celadon City rose to prominence, because of the crater that the meteor left. They had a reactor that would provide light, heat, and a source of energy to the settlement. Before one day the Pokemon rampaged and damaged the reactor to the point it shut down. Since a lot of the people didn’t know what happened or even how to fix it, they fled. Those that remained created another part of the city known as Yoruichi, leaving Low Town where the Fighting Gym was.” Seiji explained as he stared out of the ocean, enjoying the sun on his face. “Zenden, my gramp’s best friend went to the Elite Four for help rebuilding the city, Agatha was one of the few still on during that time. But since Sabrina was rising in prominence and Silver City was even harder to get through they had Zenden fight Sabrina and when he lost… he left. I found out from Agatha that it wasn’t their intention to break his spirit like that, once I explained to her that Zenden became a drunk at my grandfather’s bar and that my grandfather was trying to reignite his fighting spirit. I guess I got into cooking because I hated to see people go hungry. Before Gramps got the roads open and his students started using them to bring back food a lot of us would watch wasted food go through the poisoned waters in the sewers. So I think everyone should eat but be grateful, but if you waste food… or insult those who made it or even think about lying to get a free meal. I’m gonna kick them through a wall. Don’t like dirtying my hands with filth like that.”
“Elbows, knees, and legs do just fine. After two warnings of course.” Seiji chortled as Annette watched a wave crash. “I only punch those flirting with Lottie.”
“It must have been tough.” Annette said before looking at him. “When we get back, would you like some help getting Silver City reconnected?”
Seiji blinked before looking at Annette.
“I know why H-san knew I needed to learn a lesson, I’m pretty quick about those things. I prefer resolving things peacefully and am rather… weak when it comes to pressure. But when it comes to my own decisions I can make it work.” Annette admitted as she looked out across the ocean. “Just like how I figured out why H-san wants us to build a ship. All of us kids remain stagnant, except Tethys, she’s been getting itchy and wanting to leave. I think it’s because if she settles bad memories start happening. So being on a ship would be good for her.”
“You really are scary good at reading situations.” Seiji laughed as he thought about it. “I think we should figure out the situation with the reactor first and what was going on with those scientists.”
“A mystery for another time, I suppose.” Annette sighed as she began to work on the next sail. The Akashi picked up pace in the water before diving underneath. Tethys ran forward before diving into the water as well.
“Get Lottie-chan.” Seiji instructed as he leaped over the railing and took off his shoes, socks, and coat before diving into the water as Annette ran inside.
“There’s someone in the water!” Annette called out as Lottie cleared off the table and grabbed towels. Kameko looked confused. “Do you know first aid?”
Kameko nodded his head as Lottie ran outside with the towels. “We might have to help. Stay here, I’ll bring out more towels.”
Kameko nodded his head as he made sure the table was steady in case they needed to put the unconscious person on it.
Annette was heading outside when she heard another splash before realizing there were dozens of people floating in the water. She glanced back at the house hoping they were going to have enough as Seiji and Tethys were performing chest compressions. Loup was helping too, keeping an eye out for signs of breathing. So Annette dove into the water to help her cousin out. Some were dressed in uniforms while others were dressed in different clothing. Kameko came out to see what was going on and moved to see who had been dead for a while, who was still breathing and who was going to need chest compressions.
“Upgrade the house Kameko-kun.” Akashi panted, Tethys hesitated. “Now! Max bedrooms with the max amount of space and beds!”
Kameko got on it, he guessed this was why they also needed a lot of wood. House upgrades needed group points to buy the necessary materials. But if those were already provided the amount of points needed decreased. Their gathering attempts also aided in the material costs. There was a glow as the house began to increase in size, a good portion of the wood being sucked up. Except for the stuff for the boat. Those who were in critical condition were being taken care of on the beach while Annette and Tethys managed to bring a few to the house and getting them settled in the beds.
Annette had the idea of placing those in uniforms in the same room and those who weren’t in the same room. Tethys, instead because she loved a little bit of chaos, put some of the guys in uniforms on one side of the room she was putting them in, and those without uniforms on the other side of the room. And then took away their weapons. This repeated as those they were able to revive were put into beds and the teens had to dig graves for those who were long dead. Loup wasn’t giving up on those who didn’t make it.
The next few days the teens continued to gather more wood and supplies to continue working on their ship. Lottie had purchased a book on ship building with her points, apparently this was one of the tasks was to “prepare for new guests” new guests probably meant the people now sleeping in the guests room. Lottie was sitting at the table drawing out blueprints for the ship while on another paper was a new pastry idea. While Seiji was an apprentice chef on the Goldie Sands, Lottie was an apprentice patissier. Seiji was cooking up some soup with the ingredients that he bought with his points, mainly because he was still studying the flora and fauna on the island to see what was edible and how to cook it. Due to his sensitive taste and smell he was able to do that easier than Lottie who just had a very keen and heightened sense of smell. It was why Seiji ate unflavored rice candy cigarettes because he used to smoke to dull his sense of taste so he could enjoy food, but he quit so Lottie wouldn’t avoid him. Since he could pick out the different ingredients but he could never enjoy the food. Unless it was his grandfather’s cooking. Mainly because it was a lot of grilled meat. Lottie wanted to create a dish that Seiji himself could enjoy.
Annette was sitting in one of the rooms working on a sail when one of the men began to wake up.
“Ah! Bonjour.” she greeted with a smile, the man was one of the ones in the uniforms that read MARINE on the back.
“W-what?” the man breathed before trying to sit up but Annette was already by his side placing a hand on his shoulder. She knew her twelve year old strength meant nothing, considering the size of his muscles, however she was still in charge of keeping an eye on them.
“Please do not move, you are still recovering from your injuries.” she said with as she guided him back down. “One moment, s'il te plaît.”
She headed out and could already hear the Marine moving.
“Akashi, he’s moving.” she called and Akashi walked into the room as Seiji looked up. “One is awake, I am sure more will be following.”
“Got’cha, dumbasses trying to move around while still injured?” Seiji asked and Annette smiled. “Lottie-chwan! Please watch the soup!”
“Oui, oui.” Lottie called after him before standing up, Annette finishing the sewing on the table before setting it down she spotted an empty bottle nearby and picked it up. Then she took a stray piece of paper and began to write a letter. Lottie managed to spot the first two words. Cher père. So Lottie looked away, she had heard a little bit about Annette’s situation from Kameko and figured that Annette was a little bit homesick. There was a thud before Seiji walked out as Akashi called out to the Marine. “I told you so! Recovery is important for the body! Geez, up you go, back in bed.”
Tethys walked by in her typical harem pants and tube top, her wrist gauntlets shining as Loup ran up the stairs with a basin of fresh water. Something that Tethys had put together to gather water while they went back and forth to the river. Akashi built some barrels to hold water in and made sure it was secure with a lid. Annette listened to Seiji muttering insults under his breath as he served up the soup in the first bowl before walking into the room. Then there was a crash from the upstairs and Tethys flew up the stairs blades extending from her gauntlet as Annette moved up after her.
When they got to the room there was two overturned beds and Loup was behind one with a Marine.
“Surrender pirate!” the Marine shouted and the pirate was taunting the Marine before spotting Annette and Tethys.
“Tethys, this is why I separated them.” Annette said, Tethys shrugged her shoulders. “Get back to bed, both of you.”
“Not while that pirate is still alive!” the Marine called out and Tethys walked up to him. “Wh-what?”
Tethys leaned over as she smirked at him and then poked him in the ribs causing him to collapse. The pirate laughed before moving to grab Tethys only to get hit on the back of the head by the basin that had been overturned early. Annette huffing before she looked at the rest of the patients.
“Look, we already know some of you are still awake.” Tethys called out as she tilted her head to the side. “If you want to fight and kill each other, don’t do it in the house. However seeing as all of you are still injured, tough luck. Now stay in bed.”
“I will get more water.” Annette said as she headed outside, the evening mist was settling on the waters as she walked around to the water barrels. The tide crashing against the shore as Annette looked at the letter in the bottle. Then she noticed a strange light in the mist, a shimmer almost. ‘I’ve seen that before.’ Annette thought before placing the bottle in the tide watching it get pulled out to sea and towards the mist. ‘Hopefully père will understand.’ Annette thought as she held the basin close and began to ladle water into the basin.
Then the wall of the house shattered as a man went flying through the wall behind her. Annette turned around expecting Akashi but instead Seiji was kicking one of the pirates before slamming his knee into his gut sending him up into the air before leaping after him using his elbow to hit him to the ground.
“What happened?” Annette asked as Akashi ran up.
“Well we’re going to need more medicine and bandages because that guy dumped an entire bowl of soup on Lottie.” Akashi explained as he watched. “After looking at her upturned nose calling her a piggy because it is slightly wide. Lottie says that Seiji isn’t going to dirty his hands but the guy is probably going to need to be treated.”
“Akashi, you’ve always wanted to fight a strong opponent.” Annette said, seeing the rage in Seiji’s eyes. “Remove your weights and stop him.”
“YOSHA!” Akashi shouted before reaching under his wrist warmers and there was a click before he pulled out heavy weights, then the weights from under his pants legs, both calves and thighs, and the weights from around his waist and chest. The sand managed to disperse the weight but there were still indents where he set them. Then Akashi leaped into the air as Annette ran to check on Lottie. Tethys was already placing a warm cloth against Lottie’s face where a burn was starting to form. Annette frowned as she ordered a lasso from the catalogue and ran out into the house.
“What are you doing?” Tethys asked as Annette found one of the pistols that the pirates had. The Marines almost dove for cover as Annette used proper gun safety ran back outside. She began to swing the rope as the pirate stood back up while Akashi battled Seiji. The pirate grabbed a rock to strike Seiji just as the lasso wrapped around him, tightened, and Annette pulled him back using the balcony beam and tied him to it when he hit it. He struggled as Annette pointed the pistol at him.
“Non, mon ami, I would not do that. I know how much damage these do.” Annette told him using her father’s intimidation tactics but in a life or death situation and not a board meeting. The Marines, the ones who weren’t injured but resting because of the near drowning, came out to secure the pirate as Seiji walked up with Akashi under his arm. Both Akashi’s black hair and Seiji’s silvery teal hair were soaking wet because Akashi decided to tackle them into the ocean.
“THAT WAS AWESOME!” Akashi shouted not even fazed that he lost. “Raiten-san, your gramps taught you well! Let’s both share in the passion of martial arts!”
“I prefer cooking.” Seiji said around his candy.
“So is he a Strawhat chef wannabe?” The pirate mocked and Annette looked at him. “The lot of you.”
“Who?” All the trainers asked at once. The Marines and pirates stared at them. Annette blinked before explaining. “We’ve never left this island. So anything beyond the shores we don’t know.”
She tightened the rope and wrapped it around the pirate a few more times before tying a knot that she had learned from Akashi’s mom, the Rhyhorn riding champion by the nickname Grace.
“Thank you for your assistance in this matter!” one of the Marines said as he stood up straight once he took the rope in his hand. “These pirates are very dangerous, so it would do well to detain them.”
“Unfortunately, their wounds would have been aggravated if we did so. Since we weren’t aware of the severity of the matter.” Lottie explained as she walked up finishing drying her hair. Loup was following behind with a hairbrush. Since Lottie’s hair was down to wash the damage out. “We did take their weapons, but… I wasn’t expecting them to be ungrateful about the food.”
“No! Just that guy!” the voices of the pirates rang out from the room. “He just likes to be a jerk!”
“No excuse! Y’all idiots! Just as bad as Team Aqua.” grumbled Seiji and Lottie saw the confusion on the Marines’ faces.
“From a book.” Lottie said quickly. “About two teams, Team Aqua and Team Magma who are always fighting about which is better, land or sea.”
“O-oh. That actually sounds pretty interesting.” the Marine said before looking out. “Did you see any ships nearby?”
“We haven’t. Sorry.” Annette said as she bowed forward, the Marines were trying to tell her it wasn’t her fault while the pirates scolded the one that was tied up for wasting the soup. “Please, use our house for now to rest.”
There was a terse agreement but the pirates just laughed them off before heading inside as one of them hit the pirate only for Seiji to smack them both telling them to behave.