"Ugh…"
I let out a small grunt while massaging my face. My head hurt a whole lot for some reason.
'Where am I…?'
I tried to remember.
I knew there was something I'd been doing before I suddenly went unconscious… it was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't quite grasp it so I decided to take a look around and my face went even paler.
The first thing I noticed was that I was sitting in a train.
It looked a lot more futuristic than any train I'd been in before, and though I knew I had been in one before, I couldn't even remember what they looked like. That wasn't the surprising part though. It was the small creatures scattered throughout the cabin.
Some were curled up on seats and some perched on laps and some of them even peered out windows with big round eyes. They were everywhere, and none of them looked like anything I could find in any natural history book.
"Attention all passengers! This is your conductor speaking… We will be arriving at Lumiose City shortly! Please hold onto your belongings and your Pokémon tightly as we prepare for arrival!"
The voice crackled through the intercom overhead and I now had a name for what these creatures were.
Pokémon?
The word stirred something in me the moment I heard it.
A warmth, it was like recognising a song you haven't heard in years but somehow still know every word to.
Across the aisle, a girl sat with a white, fluffy dog Pokémon stretched across the remaining seat beside her like it owned the place.
They both looked completely at ease and I watched them for a second longer than I wanted to then I looked down at my lap and felt something shift.
There was a Pokémon sitting on me.
It was small and barely reaching my knees with a round little body draped in something that resembled a tiny white dress.
A pair of flat red horns sat on top of its head, and its face was mostly hidden behind a curtain of short green hair that swept down over where its eyes should have been.
Despite the fact that it technically had no visible face to speak of, it somehow still managed to look peaceful and comfortable, even, like it had been sitting there for a very long time.
'What is this…?'
"Cool Ralts."
I looked up.
A boy sitting across from me with his mother was grinning with his chin tilted in the direction of the Pokémon on my lap but before I could say anything he turned back to the window.
'So this is a Ralts I guess?'
I looked back down at it.
It really was cute. As if sensing my attention, the Ralts tilted its head upward with the green bangs shifting. It had no eyes and still somehow looking straight at me.
"Raru~"
The sound it made was soft, like a whisper trying to be cheerful.
I slowly raised my hand and patted its head and the Ralts let out a small, happy cry that made something in my chest calm.
I actually laughed… just a little before reaching into my pocket.
My hand closed around a phone.
I pulled it out and immediately frowned.
It had a face on the back… it was not a sticker neither was it a design. It was an actual face with two small round eyes blinking up at me from behind the camera lens.
I stared at it and it stared back, I decided not to think too hard about it and started searching.
…
By the time the intercom announced our arrival, I had a rough picture of where I was and what this world actually was.
'So this is the world of Pokémon… instead of animals, there are strange creatures called Pokemon that exist in this place and people have several uses of Pokemon.'
Some people used Pokémon to fight battles where the winner was the strongest, and these people were called Pokémon Trainers. I also had no idea why my heart leapt in joy at being a Pokemon trainer, was it something that I was very familiar with in the past?
Some people also used Pokémon to perform in shows and there were even Pokémon Doctors and Breeders as well, but there was one thing that was constantly recurring in this world. It was that Pokémon were partners to humans.
"Last stop… Lumiose City! If you are still on board, please exit the train immediately! This is Lumiose City!"
I came off the train holding an old beat-up bag with everything I owned inside it and the Ralts sitting on my head, both of us moving with the steady flow of passengers toward the exit booths.
I scanned my ticket which had been in my bag along with the Trainer ID I apparently already had and the gate clicked open.
I climbed the stairs up from underground and stepped out into the open air and my breath caught.
"Woah."
The word left me before I could stop it.
Lumiose City spread out in every direction… there were tall buildings lining wide circular boulevards, people and Pokémon moving through the streets together with humans like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.
Cafés, boutiques, scaffolding from what looked like ongoing construction work, all of it threaded together in the kind of city that never really slept.
It was clearly built for tourism and everything about it invited you to stay longer than you'd planned but above all of it, visible from anywhere you stood, was the tower.
It rose from the centre of the city like something that had been there before the buildings, before the roads, before anyone thought to build anything at all.
It was tall and angular and it caught the afternoon light, scattering it in a dozen directions. Even from this distance it felt like a landmark that I could never forget.
Ralts perked up on my head.
"Ralts~"
"Like it?" I looked up at her and she threw both arms in the air.
"Ra ra~"
I chuckled.
Ralts was already one of my favourite things about this world and it had been less than ten minutes. I started walking, taking in the surroundings… the Pokémon Center with its red roof, trainers passing with their teams, a Bunnelby sniffing around a flower bed while its owner scrolled through their Rotom phone without a care.
I had no hotel reservation, no plan, and no memory of how I got here so I decided that I would stay here for three days. I'd give the city three days and then Ralts and I would figure out the next step from there.
That thought lasted about four minutes then I spotted her standing near the centre of the circular plaza not far from the station exit.
She had three Pokémon in front of her… a mix of two Johto and an Unova starter, I recognised them distantly from my research on the train but I wasn't particularly focused on them. I was more focused on the trainer.
She was around my age which was 18 according to the ID, with fair skin and royal blue eyes that hit like looking directly at the ocean on a clear day.
Her hair was warm blonde threaded through with pink highlights, tied up in a distinctive looped bun with a few pink-tinted strands framing her face.
She wore a beige jacket with navy blue buttons over a crimson cropped sleeveless top, white jean shorts that sat high on her waist and showed off a generous length of leg, navy blue high-top sneakers with pink laces, and a belt with a circular buckle keeping it all together.
There was exactly one word for it.
"Beautiful." I muttered, completely without meaning to and Ralts immediately grabbed a fistful of my hair before yanking.
"Ow… sorry, sorry…"
I kept walking forward.
We still needed somewhere to stay and standing in the middle of the plaza staring at strangers wasn't going to help anyone but as I moved closer to the centre of the circular space, the woman glanced over at me and a small, satisfied smile formed on her face like she'd just found something she was looking for.
I blinked and she walked straight over.
"Bingo!"
I had no idea what that meant.
She closed the distance between us with easy confident strides and the three starter Pokémon trailing behind her in a loose cluster.
"'Scuse me! Yeah, hi. You just arrived at Gare de Lumiose, right? And judging by that big old travel bag…" she looked me up and down "... I got a hunch that you're a tourist."
Then her gaze landed on the Ralts sitting on my head and her expression shifted into something genuinely curious. "What a cute Ralts too. So you're a Pokémon Trainer as well, huh?"
'She talks quite a lot for someone who only just met me.' I thought.
On my head, Ralts had gone very still in the way that suggested she had opinions she wasn't able to voice.
"Yes," I said. "I came into the city just now."
"Phew." She wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. "If you'd turned out to be a local I would've thought I was losing my grip on reality and you're about my height so we'll look nice standing side by side."
I blinked and Ralts did the same.
"...Oh."
So we weren't exchanging numbers or going on dates or anything? Just straight to business? Honestly I think I liked it, however Ralts pulled my hair again.
I had no idea what her problem was.
"Listen… before you get to exploring, would you mind helping me out with something? I just need to film you saying 'Hotel Z's a hidden gem of Lumiose.' Easy, right? No worries if you're staying somewhere else, I just need a hand advertising the hotel."
'Oh, so that's what she meant.'
Looking good together meant they'd shoot the video together... That tracked.
"Well," I said, "I wasn't exactly staying anywhere else honestly."
"Oh, that's great." She placed both hands against her cheek with a warm smile. "I'll take you to Hotel Z right after we do the shoot. Sounds good?"
"Sure."
A Rotom Phone zipped out of her jacket pocket… it flew, apparently that was just something they did and hovered in front of her face with its lens focusing on me.
"Good! Okay, lights, camera—"
And then music started playing. It came from a large billboard nearby, it was the kind that covered half a building face and the music was loud enough to immediately swallow everything else.
The woman's expression twitched and the Rotom Phone drifted back into her pocket.
"Actually, let's hold on. The sound from that ad is gonna drown everything out."
"Ad, huh." I looked toward the board.
A logo spun onto the screen in a clean, practiced animation… it looked like a starburst with orbital rings curving around it like the paths of satellites, all of it rendered in silver and deep blue.
Quasartico Inc. appeared beneath it in sleek lettering. It looked corporate and expensive looking too.
"That's Quasartico," the woman said, crossing her arms. "They're the company behind the city's whole urban redevelopment plan. Making Lumiose into a place where people and Pokémon can live side by side, wild zones built right into the city, all of that. It's ambitious stuff, honestly. Jett… the CEO, she really does believe in what she's building here, I'll give her that much… I just wish the ad budget wasn't bigger than my entire existence."
Then the woman herself appeared on screen.
She was blonde, mature, with sharp blue eyes and crescent moon earrings that caught the light. She wore a tailored dress in muted blue tones with a wide collar, and on the right edge of that collar sat the Quasartico emblem.
"Welcome to Lumiose City," Jett said professionally. "Where people and Pokémon flourish together—"
I tuned out. She kept talking but I was more occupied with Ralts, who had started whining softly and shifting around on top of my head in a way that was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
I brought her down into my arms and tried patting her but she just kept making small restless sounds.
'What is she trying to tell me?' Regular people couldn't understand Pokémon… I'd established that much from my research on the train. So how was I supposed to know what was making her so worked up?
"—in fact, so many Pokémon now grace us with their presence… that we've set up wild zones where they can live comfortably alongside us. These diverse creatures wield many marvelous powers… It's up to all of us to work with them so we can live in harmon…"
"Ra ra ra~"
Ralts was insistent now with both small hands gripping my sleeve. I kept trying to calm her down but she simply wouldn't settle. The billboard behind me finally fell quiet and the woman put a hand on her hip with a long exhale.
"I like how that CEO thinks, even if her ad did keep us from filming." Then she looked over at me. "Alright, let's start the— hang on. Where'd your bag go?"
I looked down.
My hand was empty and the bag was gone. That was why I had been able to hold Ralts with both arms without noticing… my hands had been completely free for the last two minutes and I hadn't registered it once.
I found it quickly enough.
A small Pokémon was making off with it, waddling away at a pace that was surprisingly purposeful for something so round and stubby. It was black and white with a little panda face, holding my bag like it had somewhere to be.
"Ah," the woman said cheerfully. "I didn't know you hired a Pokémon to carry your bag."
"I didn't!" I was already running. That bag had the Rotom Phone, my wallet, and every change of clothes I owned. Without it there was essentially nothing separating me from a man sleeping on a park bench.
"Ah… okay then."
Her voice appeared right beside me less than three seconds later. I had started with a full running head start and she was already level with me with the three starter Pokémon streaming along behind her.
"It was my fault you got distracted anyway so I'll help you out. Just try to keep up, kay?!"
And then she was ahead of me.
I put Ralts back on my head and pushed harder but she and the starters were already pulling a considerable gap.
We ran into an alley, out of it, down another, and by the time I came around the last corner my lungs were working significantly harder than I would have liked.
'Why is this body so weak?'
The woman had already stopped.
She was standing face to face with two people… a dark-skinned girl and a fat man while the Pokémon which was apparently a Pancha,m was right there between them with my bag hanging from one small fist. Upon seeing me appear behind her, everyone turned.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled.
"Seems like the Pancham that scooted off with your stuff belonged to somebody after all." She tilted her head. "So I forgot to ask… what's your name?"
I had already memorized the name from my Trainer ID and I couldn't help but think it was weird.
"I'm Paxton," I said. It was a genuinely strange name. Who named their kid Paxton?
"Paxton. That's a cool name… I'm Taunie, you better remember it." She turned back to the two and pointed at the bag. "Well, the two of you better return that bag you stole."
"Stole?" The dark-skinned girl lifted the bag by one handle and looked at it like it had personally wronged her. "Even a backpacker like me wouldn't be caught dead with something this tacky. It looks older than my grandma."
I felt very offended.
"Maybe the Pancham was just trying to clean up the eyesore," the man added. "Who carries a bag like this anyway? But on a more important note…" he pointed at Taunie "You're Taunie, right?!"
Taunie blinked and her expression became thoughtful.
"I can't say I know you… Aha! Did you see one of the ads I filmed? I guess I'm getting pretty famous." She finished with a smile.
It was the dark-skinned girl who answered.
"Huh?! Ads?! It's me… Andi! From the Z-A Royale! How could you forget about me already?!" She looked genuinely wounded.
Honestly I couldn't blame her, I'd be furious too.
"Yeah, I'm Andre," the man added. "We faced off just last night."
And she had forgotten them completely… My eye twitched. What were the odds she forgot me by morning?
"Oh, I remember now." Taunie rubbed the back of her neck, looking not remotely embarrassed. "I can't blame myself, ehehe… you two weren't really much of a challenge, honestly."
"Harsh," Andi said. "But fair, I guess."
She crossed her arms. "We came to challenge you to a rematch and you have to accept."
"Huh? You just have to wait till nightfa—"
"Shut up! We'll do the rematch now!" Andre cut in and I quietly thought that both of them were being a bit much about what was ultimately a Pokémon battle. It can't be that serious.
"In fact…" Andi swung her finger toward me "I don't even need you anymore. I want to battle him instead. He's got a Pokémon on his head, it's obvious Taunie cares about him. Beat us and I'll give you your bag back and leave her alone too. Send out your Pokémon."
"I'm not really much of a—"
The zip on my bag chose that exact moment to give out.
Andi had been holding it at an angle and the old broken zip split open and several items of clothing tumbled to the ground in a pile.
Sitting right on top of that pile, catching the afternoon light like it was proud of itself, was a pair of pink boxers with Fennekin printed across the whole thing..
Andre didn't even try to hold it in.
Andi burst out laughing beside him and I looked over at Taunie. Her face had gone neutral in the strained way of someone fighting hard to keep it that way.
"I honestly think Fennekin shorts are a good brand," she said admirably and my eye twitched.
I turned back to Andi, who was still laughing, and looked at her with a flatness that made her laughter die fairly quickly.
"I guess if a battle is what you want," I said, "then a battle is what you'll get."
On top of my head, Ralts pumped both fists into the air.
We were both ready to kill them!