Chapter Text
Where… was I?
I sat up. I was in… some kind of forest.
My head hurt. Everything hurt. Agh.. I tried to get up. "Hello? I-Is anyone there?"
…
Silence. Only the sounds of the trees. I could've sworn I heard a voice in them… something faint, but sounding like, "What was that?"
I had to.. Get out of this forest. I tried to stand up, but my body hurt too much. It took me a minute to get to my feet.
Everything was spinning.. My legs threatened to give out. I needed to find someone… anyone.
I tried to walk, trying to remember what happened…
Why was I here? The memories were… fuzzy.
Something in the trees rustled. I got startled and stumbled, falling down.
In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have put all my weight on my foot. I had a not-so-graceful landing and pain flared from my ankle. It took a lot of effort not to scream.
Trying to move it, I felt like I broke it.
I heard sounds coming from the tree…talking?
I felt woozy… everything started to blur.
Something came out of the tree.. A person.
He looked at me. I tried to get a good look at his face, but the pain made it hard to… concentrate. "There… are." He took a good look at me, and then my ankle. "Oh, that doesn't… good. Hold… I'll try…. you." What did he say?
I was losing consciousness. He looked into the forest and gestured for something, or someone, to come over to me. He stared into my eyes. I still couldn't get a good look.. it was still blurry. "Stay calm… We'll… you back to-"
Everything went black.
…
When I opened my eyes, I was on a bed. I sat up. My ankle was in a cast, and to my right was a desk with a cup of water. To my left was the guy I met in the forest.
He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, good, you're awake." He extended his hand. I shook it. His hand felt rough. "Name's Amos. Nice to meet you."
I finally managed to get a good look at him.
His getup wasn’t exactly familiar to me. He kind of looked like a foreigner, with the orange-tipped scarf and violet kimono-esque (hakama?) garb he wore.
Apart from that, he seemed nice. He had soft eyes, dark skin and an actual genuine smile. I felt a bit of melancholy in his expression, but he looked like a good guy.
"Good thing you're okay. You'd think falling from the sky would kill you, but we humans are durable, eh?"
"What?" I asked.
He raised an eyebrow. "You fell from the sky. Into Lostlorn Forest. That's where I found you."
That… happened? I guess I wasn't awake for that… or my body decided to forget it happened. "Huh. Maybe that's why everything hurt."
He chuckled. "Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. What’s your name?"
"Er.. Kyohei." I said.
"Pleasure to meet you, Kyohei."
"Thanks.." I looked around. I was in some kind of medical bay. There were two rows of beds on either side of the room, each with around 7 each. "Amos," I asked, "Where is this?"
"Nimbasa Outpost. Don’t worry. You’re safe here." Amos stood up. "Need a hand up?"
"Wait," I said. "Nimbasa Outpost?"
He looked confused. "What about it?"
"I don’t… remember Nimbasa City having an ‘outpost’."
"You’re kidding, right?" Amos said. He looked like he had no idea what I was talking about. "There’s no ‘Nimbasa City’ anywhere here."
"...What? Hold on." I reached my hand out. He grabbed it and pulled me up. "See for yourself, Kyohei."
Getting off the bed, my ankle hurt a bit. It was healing, thankfully, but I shouldn’t put too much weight on it. Oh, well, I’ll walk it off.
I walked to the exit and opened the door.
This.
Was not Nimbasa.
I remember Nimbasa being a large city with a ferris wheel… a subway.. But looking at it, I didn't see anything. In fact, I think this medical bay was in the same spot as where the ferris wheel would be
It looked like some kind of base camp. Tents were laid in rows, and the people outside were
I was… confused. "What…"
Amos came out just after me. "Pretty, isn't it? There's a bit of breakage on the western wall, but they'll fix it eventually."
"This is… Nimbasa?"
"The one and only." He smiled, admiring the view. "Folks here only got settled in a couple years ago.. Time flies by, doesn't it?"
"Couple… years ago?"
His smile faltered a bit. He looked like he was putting two and two together. He asked me where I got my clothes.
"Join Avenue," I answered.
"Never heard of that place," Amos replied.
"Really? But it’s just down south of here."
"There’s no ‘Join Avenue’ south of Nimbasa, Kyohei."
He crossed his arms, tapping his shoulder with his finger. "We're gonna have to talk later. For now, though, let's get you to August. I kinda brought you here without informing him."
I nodded. "August is the one in charge of this place?"
Amos put his arms on his hips. "This whole outpost couldn't've been possible without him. Now, come on."
He started to walk towards one of the bigger buildings in the outpost. I followed him.
As I walked through the town, I heard something. I looked around, but didn't see anything. It sounded nice though; a bit like a song.
I didn’t see Amos, but the door was open. I assumed he was already in the building, and walked inside.
The place felt cozy. It reminded me of some houses in Nacrene City. The colors were a bit muted, but the building felt homely.
Amos opened a door from the inside. "Ah, took you long enough. Come in here."
I went inside. I saw a guy sitting at his desk. He appeared busy. He wore an overcoat, black hair and striking blue eyes. His tie had a red and blue tip. His face seemed to express a singular emotion: boredom.
He looked at me. "Oh, you must be the one Amos found. Sit."
I pulled out a chair that was opposite him and sat. "H-Hi. I'm Kyohei."
"Hello, Kyohei; I'm August. You're the one that fell out of the sky, I assume?"
"Yes," I replied.
Amos entered the room. He looked at me, then back at August. "Kyohei here fell from the sky into Lostlorn Forest. Mienshao and I brought him here. Sorry I didn't inform you, it happened so quickly."
"That's fine." August sat up. His eyes moved, sizing me up. "So, Kyohei. You look around… 15 or so. Quite old enough to work for your keep."
"What?"
"I’m kidding," August said, though it didn’t seem like he was. "Anyway. Amos and I talked while you were getting here. You fell from the sky, wearing, quite frankly, outlandish clothes, and talking about locations near Nimbasa that don’t exist. I have my suspicions about your origin, albeit small."
A few seconds passed. "So," I said, partly to break the silence, "What’ll happen with me?"
"You can stay here," August said. "This is one of the safest places we have. You can be safe from the Pokemon that are outside of this outpost."
…What? "Safe from… Pokemon?" I asked. "I thought they were nice."
August shook his head. "You’d do well to remember this, Kyohei. Pokemon are terrifying creatures."
He saw my expression, and said, "Kyohei. Pokemon are dangerous. We created this outpost as a way for us humans to be safe. Our professor was making strides so that we could learn more about these creatures, and yet even he got injured."
Amos put a hand on my shoulder. "Come on outside." He locked eyes with August. August nodded. He opened the door and the two of us exited the office.
As we were walking, Amos explained the situation. "Most people here are afraid of Pokemon. They’re dangerous and mysterious.. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone with, say, a partner Pokemon in this outpost."
"You have one?" I asked.
"Sure do. I found Mienshao while wandering this region, and the two of us have helped each other out a lot. Regardless, I’m one of the few people here who do have one."
"I thought… Pokemon were nice."
"Where you’re from, probably. Some are quite placid. But, in general, most people tend to stay here. This land is simply too dangerous."
He paused for a moment. "Hmm… Let’s take you to Professor Liv. He can explain." He went up the stairs, and I followed him.
I went through a door and saw someone in a lab coat. He had pale skin with green hair-albeit muted- and a tall & skinny body type.
He turned to face us. His right eye was wrapped up in a bandana; probably the injury Amos told me about. "Amos! I didn’t expect you to come back here so soon. What do you need?"
Amos pointed at me. I waved my hand. "Did you hear about this Kyohei kid?"
"Can’t say I have; though, is this the one that fell from the sky?"
Amos nodded.
The professor gestured at me to come closer. "Hmm… Well, he seems okay, but that certainly wouldn’t be the reason why you came here."
Amos leaned in and whispered something to Liv. "Ah, I see!"
He looked back at me. "So, with your clothes, knowledge and attitude towards Pokemon, you’re probably from a different world."
You know, I probably would’ve been surprised by that, but honestly, I expected it. So many things were off, I wasn’t surprised.
Liv looked at Amos. "I managed to document two more Pokemon today. Here. Kyohei, come here too."
He showed us a sketchpad with two Pokemon drawn on it. One of them was orange, with a red, coiling tail and a round snout. It had a yellow patch on its face. The other was something that looked like an owl, with black triangular patterns on its body and strangely shaped wings.
"Hey… I recognize these ones," I said.
"You do?" Liv crossed his arms.
"Y-Yeah, I think." I pointed at the red one. "That one’s Tepig, and the other is Noctowl."
He smiled. "I’m surprised!" He started to think. "Actually… Hold on, I’m going to talk to Captain August. Don’t leave yet!"
He ran out the door.
"So, you know about Pokemon?" Amos chuckled.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Interesting. I think I might know what Liv’s idea is."
Around a minute later, the professor came back. "So, Kyohei. How do you feel about… assisting me in our efforts to document Pokemon? A sort of… Pokedex?"
"S-sure?"
Amos elbowed me lightly. "Sure? You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, kid."
Liv shrugged. "Kyohei, the choice is yours; I won’t force you."
"He’s just a kid, Liv," Amos said. "What if he gets hurt?"
Liv thought about it, then it seemed like his eyes lit up. "Let’s find out if he’s capable enough. Come with me, Kyohei, why don’t you?" He motioned for Amos to exit the room. He shrugged and left, closing the door on his way out.
I followed him as he took 3 sphere-like objects out of a box. He threw them into the air. While mid-air, the balls glowed and opened.
Three Pokemon suddenly came out.
"Kyohei," Liv said, "Try to get close to them. They won’t hurt you, probably, but I want to see if you’re capable of it."
I approached one of them.
The first Pokemon looked like a cat. It was almost uniformly black, with red stripes on its limbs. It had two pure red whiskers, and black-red eyes with a yellow sclera. When it saw me, its black tail puffed up and hissed.
"That’s Litten," Liv said. "They’re not very kind towards strangers, but they’ll warm up to you. Just… give them time. Took ‘em a while to like me."
The next Pokemon seemed like a chameleon of some kind. It was mainly light blue, with a yellow fin on its head. It had darker blue eyes, with blue patches on its body of a similar color. It tried to hide the second I got near it.
"Hey, hey, buddy, don’t cry!" Liv sounded worried. He managed to approach the Pokemon without a fuss. "This one is Sobble. It gets scared rather easily, so treat it with care, won’t you? Also, be careful of the fact it can camouflage, I’ve tripped a few times.."
The last Pokemon looked asleep. It looked like a turtle. It was green, with a jaw and patches on its legs that were yellow. A small seedling sprouted from its head, and it had a brown shell that looked to be composed of soil. When it woke up and saw me, it approached me and looked at me with its yellow eyes.
"That one is Turtwig." He smiled. "He’s nice, isn’t he? He gets more energetic under sunlight. Honestly, of the three ones here, he’s the least problematic of them. It’s nice; these two troublemakers are enough work."
I knelt down and pet the Turtwig. It seemed to like me. I looked at Liv and he made a thumbs-up gesture. "That's a good start," He said. "Sobble and Litten, on the other hand, might be tougher to approach."
I tried to not make a sound as I approached Sobble. It slowly backed away.
"Woah, hold on, buddy," I said, trying to keep my voice quiet, as to not spook him, "I'm not gonna hurt you."
I reached my hand out. Sobble flinched. Then it came to its senses. It approached my hand and let itself be pet.
"Don't worry, little guy, you're safe." I said, trying to reassure Sobble. Sobble smiled.
"You did it," Liv said, his voice also trying to be quiet.
Sobble curled up and went to sleep. Liv picked it up and placed it on his desk. He put a finger to his mouth. "Okay, now, where's Litten?"
I looked around. Litten was perched on top of a stack of boxes. I wasn't surprised at all.
"What if it falls?" I asked.
"It'll be fine," Liv said. "Probably."
I walked towards it. Litten hissed.
"Hey, hold on, we're friends here, okay?"
I reached my hand out. Litten slapped it away with its paw.
I tried again.
This time, it went a little better. Litten looked at my hand for a bit, and instead of slapping it away, Litten touched it with its paw.
I tried to go further and tried to pet it. Litten moved its head back a bit. It hesitated, then slowly moved towards my hand.
I pet it.
"Aw, now isn't that cute?" Liv said.
I turned around. Litten meowed, probably asking for more pets.
"You seem to be a natural at this," Liv said. "Strange… most people are afraid of Pokemon! But you managed to approach them without a hint of fear!"
Liv seemed to think of something. "Kyohei! You seem to have a bond with these Pokemon. I have an idea."
Liv gathered the three of the Pokemon together.
"Turtwig, Sobble, and Litten. I want you to choose between them. They can be a great partner to have! Plus, out in the field, you can document your partner so we can continue our development of the Pokedex."
I looked at him. "I just choose?"
Liv nodded. "I'll keep the other two here; I'll feed them and keep them healthy, don't worry. You, on the other hand, can aid me with our research with the partner you choose."
I looked at the three Pokemon.
This was it, I told myself.
I thought about it for a minute or two. I looked at Liv.
"Thought long and hard, didn’t you? You going to pick one?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "Yeah."
I inhaled.
"I choose…"