There had been rumors in this sleepy forest town for the last week or so – strange rumors. A group of children had gone out to play in the woods and come home terrified, insisting they'd seen something huge lurking in the evening shadows. They'd quickly been assured that no Pokémon in the area got that big. The biggest ones around here were Ursaring, and those usually stayed away from towns. The story was dismissed as children's imaginations running wild, and that was the end of that discussion.
A few days later, a herd of Sawsbuck ran through the middle of town, wild with terror. It was early afternoon, so most of the residents were at work or school, but those who'd been out and about swore they'd never seen them act that way before. It was eerie, they said.
More strange incidents came up, one after another. An elderly man complained about his Herdier spending all night barking at the window, swearing that the Pokémon was usually far better behaved. A young mother went out for a walk, and insisted that she'd seen strange footprints mixed in with the pine needles on the forest floor. They hadn't looked like anything belonging to the local Pokémon – these were too big, and the impressions were too deep.
When a visitor came through a few days later, he found the town less friendly than it would normally have been.
He was a young man, perhaps in his early twenties, with a slim build and a pretty face. He looked uncomfortable himself, somehow – like even a small town like this was too much civilization for him. He wore his long, light-green hair loose, and his clothes looked like they'd been thrown together by someone who hadn't seen a mirror in years. His shoes and lower legs were caked with mud, and the rest of his body wasn't much cleaner.
He wandered in from the edge of town, and slowly made his way through the streets. He examined each shop he passed along the way, but he never actually went inside. The few people he passed by kept their distance, and one or two of them spent more time staring at him than what would've been polite. He ignored them, or perhaps he'd never noticed them in the first place.
Eventually, the man paused in front of a clothing shop, looking over the items in the window. He took a quick look down at the shirt he was wearing – torn in a few places and covered with dust and grime – and put a hand in the back pocket of his pants. After a moment's pause, he shook his head and kept walking.
Before he could make it much further, a small Pokémon fluttered down from a rooftop and landed on the sidewalk in front of him. This is all your fault, you know, the Starly chirped. That beast you brought with you even has the humans nervous.
The man took a quick look around. No one else was nearby. A few months ago, he wouldn't have cared if anyone was, but things were more complicated now, and this ability of his was unusual no matter where he went. "We'll leave soon," he said, quietly. "I'm here for supplies, and Zekrom knows better than to show itself in town."
The Starly shook her body, fluffing up her feathers. Maybe it'd be better if it did, she replied. Then they'd actually know what the problem was, instead of just trying to guess.
The man shook his head. "Zekrom is a variable that they don't need to know about," he said. "Once we leave, there won't be a problem anymore."
You'd better get out of here soon, then, the Starly chattered. There's a man at the end of this street who used to leave dried fruit for me and my family. Now he's too afraid to do it. If only he could hear me speak the way you can – then I could ask him myself.
A faint smile crossed the man's face. "That would make everything easier, wouldn't it?" he murmured.
Suddenly, the Starly flew away, and the man heard a voice from somewhere behind him. "Are you here to buy something, or are you just gonna stand outside and talk?"
The man turned around. A girl was standing behind him, in the doorway of the clothing store. She looked young – mid-teens, probably, with a spray of freckles across her face. She wore long, loose pants and a light jacket, and her hair was styled in a loose bun. She took a look around. "Who were you talking to, anyway?" she asked. "There's no one else here."
The man glanced off to the side, into the trees where the Starly had flown off to. "Just a friend," he said.
An acquaintance at most, but this girl didn't need to know that. She'd begun to examine his clothes now, and she didn't seem impressed. "Look, if money's an issue, there's a thrift store a few streets down," she explained. "But you have got to get something sturdier than that if you're going to travel long-term on foot. Seriously, that shirt is disgusting, and I'm amazed those shoes haven't fallen apart."
The man was silent, unsure of what to say. He couldn't tell if this girl was trying to be helpful or just insult him. Either way, it wasn't anything he didn't know already.
The girl seemed to notice his confusion, and in response, she changed the subject. "Mind telling me your name?" she asked.
The man paused for a moment before answering. "It's Nat," he said.
He'd learned pretty quickly not to use the name he was used to. He still remembered that news report that'd come on about a week after he'd left Unova, and the suspicious looks he'd gotten as he'd abandoned his seat at the restaurant. He'd left that town as soon as he could. That was months ago by now, but it was still better to use a name that wasn't so unusual…or easy to remember.
The girl smiled. "I'm Holly," she said.
Nat pointed to the nametag she was wearing. "I noticed," he responded.
Holly glanced down at the tag, suddenly flustered. "Right," she muttered to herself. "Still working. Duh."
She looked back at Nat. "You a Trainer?" she asked.
Nat shook his head. "No."
"Didn't think so. We get Trainers stopping by sometimes, but I didn't really get that vibe from you."
She shrugged. "We're pretty much the least interesting town in the area for tourist types. They only come through if they're visiting the nature reserve nearby, and it's the off-season right now."
"Do Trainers ever visit the reserve?" asked Nat.
"Not as much as everyone else," Holly answered. "It's a protected area, y'know? You're not allowed to battle or catch Pokémon, so unless they're real suckers for sightseeing, they're fine just running around the woods on their own."
Nat's expression clouded. "They can't simply enjoy a place like this without subtracting from the whole? How disappointing."
Holly gave him a funny look. "That's not what I meant," she remarked. "I don't think the Pokémon care much about where the reserve begins or ends. All the types that live there are in the surrounding areas as well."
"What did you mean, then?" asked Nat.
Holly took some time to think before responding. "It's more that nature isn't anything special if you're a Trainer. If you can go out to the woods whenever you want, and spend as much time there as you need, then going out of your way to visit a specific part of it wouldn't seem as exciting."
She grinned. "I don't know about you, but I think it sounds exciting! My parents want me to finish school all at once before I even think about becoming a Trainer, and they're not wrong about it being practical…but still, I feel like I'm missing out. I hear all sorts of cool stuff from my friends about the places they've traveled to, and all the people and Pokémon they've met. Once I'm done with school, I'd love to give it a try."
Nat remained silent, unsure how to respond to that. "But you know, this place is cool too," Holly continued. "It's easy to forget, since I've lived here my whole life, but the forest here is special."
"Special?" echoed Nat.
Holly nodded. "There's this type of tree that's native to a bunch of the regions in the area, including this one. Give me a moment – I'll try to point one out."
She looked around a little, past the buildings in front of her and into the forest beyond them. After some searching, she pointed upwards and a little to the left. "See that one?" she asked. "The really tall one with the reddish bark? That's one of them. They're all over the place along this side of the continent, but they don't grow in the wild anywhere else in the world."
Nat didn't pay much attention to plants unless he knew they were edible, which wasn't often. Now that Holly had brought up the topic, though, he couldn't recall seeing that type of tree anywhere between here and Unova. "Were they always so rare?" he asked.
"These ones, yeah. It's a matter of growing conditions, or natural barriers, or…something like that. I'm not sure myself," Holly answered. "Oh, and there are these other trees that are related to them, and they're even rarer. You can find them somewhere east of here. I've never been over there myself, but they say some of them are over a thousand years old."
Holly paused. "I, uh…I'm not bugging you, am I? Babbling like this?"
"I don't mind," said Nat. "I'm going to be traveling for a while, so it's good to know about unique places like that."
"Yeah, well…I'm not sure how much more I can tell you," said Holly. "Like I said, I've never been there."
Nat seemed disappointed. "I was going to ask what kinds of Pokémon live there, but you probably don't know."
Holly shook her head. "Nope. Sorry."
She tapped her foot a few times. "Right…do you want directions to that thrift store I mentioned? Or maybe the Pokémon Center?"
"The Pokémon Center?" repeated Nat. "Why would I go there? I'm not a Trainer."
"You can still stay the night," Holly informed him. "Trainers get priority, and they can stay for free, but anyone can pay for a room if there's one available. I've heard the price isn't much different from the motels in town, and the rooms are probably cleaner."
She gave him a sly grin. "Besides, you might not be a Trainer, but you seem really interested in Pokémon. Maybe someone there will have one you've never seen before."
Nat gave it some thought. He could definitely use a shower, and the idea of sleeping in a real bed was tempting. Still, he didn't want to leave Zekrom on its own – not when he'd promised to be back by sunset. "Can I go without staying overnight?" he asked.
"Sure. You could just hang out for a while and get yourself cleaned up. Maybe buy some supplies for the road, if you think you'll need them," said Holly. "I think you still have to pay to use stuff like the laundry room and the showers, but you can do that without renting a room, and just stopping to rest shouldn't cost you anything."
She glanced down at her watch, and gasped. "Crap, I need to go!" she exclaimed. "My shift's almost over, and I still have stuff to do!"
She looked back at Nat and pointed to the right. "Stay on this street, go that way, and turn left as soon as you can. The Pokémon center is just ahead from there – you can't miss it. The thrift store is on the same street a few blocks down, so pick up some clean clothes while you're at it."
She gave him a quick wave goodbye and headed back towards the store. As she opened the door, Nat spoke up. "Wait," he said.
Holly turned to face him. "I just said I'm in a hurry!" she shouted.
"It's just one thing," Nat insisted.
Holly crossed her arms and leaned against the display window. "Make it quick."
"Tell the man at the grocery store that he can start leaving food out again for those Staraptor and their chicks," said Nat. "Someone told me they miss the dried fruit."
Holly stared at him. "The wild Pokémon have been really freaked out lately, and everyone's nervous about what else might be out there. Can you blame him for being cautious?"
Nat turned away. "The Pokémon you're worried about will be gone by tomorrow," he said. "There's nothing to be afraid of."
He started to walk away, and Holly walked back into the store. She checked her watch again, looked towards a stack of boxes in the corner, and groaned.
Suddenly, she froze. "Wait…who said anything about Staraptor?" she exclaimed. "Mr. Randall only said he was feeding Starly!"
She turned around and flung the door back open, but by then, Nat was already out of sight.
Zekrom was waiting deep in the forest, in the same clearing where its companion had left it. Once he returned, the Pokémon rested its massive body on the forest floor, putting its head closer to eye level with the man in front of it. It's nearly sunset, N, it told him, its voice a deep rumble. I was beginning to worry about you.
N put down the large bag of supplies he'd been carrying, relaxing a little in the presence of someone familiar – someone who called him by the name he was used to. He put a hand out to stroke the horn on Zekrom's nose. "I took longer in town than I expected," he said. "None of the humans saw you, did they?"
Zekrom responded with a loud snort that sounded strangely like laughter. N could feel jolts of static mixed in with the Pokémon's breath. I kept my distance from the town, it assured him.
"I'm glad," said N.
He sat down next to the bag and began to remove its contents. "I mostly brought food," he explained. "For myself, although you're welcome to taste anything you'd like."
Zekrom looked over the array of packages. I'll consider it.
N continued to unload the bag. "I brought medicine, too," he said. "For both of us."
The Pokémon here pose no threat to me, Zekrom reminded him. There's no need to be concerned with my health.
N frowned. "We don't know what the conditions will be like once we move on. There's a large mountain range somewhere to the east, and parts of it are high enough for snow. Even weaker Ice-types could be dangerous for you if we're caught by surprise. Better to be careful."
Do you expect to leave soon? Zekrom asked.
"We should leave tonight," N confirmed. "Your presence here is making everyone in that town uneasy, and the longer we stay, the more likely it is that someone will find you. That would complicate things – and besides, we've been here a while already."
He looked up towards the sky. The waves of orange and pink that were visible through the trees' branches suggested a spectacular sunset. "There's still light for now. If we leave soon, there'll be time to cover a lot of ground before nightfall," he added
You're concerned about flying at night? Zekrom asked, a hint of amusement in its voice.
The air around them crackled with electricity, and Zekrom's cone-shaped tail began to glow, filling the clearing with light. "We might pass over a populated area," N pointed out. "Besides, even you need to sleep eventually."
The light vanished, and both of them were quiet for a while before N spoke again. "I stopped at the Pokémon Center for supplies," he said. "I cleaned up while I was there – put on new clothes, took a shower. Humans don't like each other to be dirty."
I did notice that you smelled different, Zekrom remarked.
N chuckled. "While I was there, I found a book about the history of this area. Someone told me that there are places further east where a type of giant tree grows – one that can't be found anywhere else. They're like these, but with much wider trunks."
He motioned to a tree behind him – the same kind that Holly had pointed out. "The book provided more information. Apparently, there was a time in the past where humans traveled to this area from faraway places, and when they found those trees, they thought they were incredible. Then they realized what they could do with that much wood, and their priorities changed accordingly."
N stopped for a moment, thinking about how to explain the rest. In the meantime, he started putting everything back in the bag, and Zekrom waited patiently until he continued his story. "They started cutting down the trees, but before long, the Pokémon that lived in the forests started to interfere. Sometimes they'd attack the humans. Other times, they'd take their supplies, or gather in groups to block their path. It became impossible to get anywhere in the forest without the Pokémon getting in the way."
Zekrom tilted its head to one side. What happened after that? it asked.
"Some of the humans wanted to fight back. They'd come armed, and they'd brought their own Pokémon with them. They thought they could force their way through, and they didn't care how many wild Pokémon were hurt or killed in the process as long as they got what they wanted."
N paused. "But…not everyone thought that way. Whether they were reluctant to hurt the wild Pokémon, or took their behavior as a warning, or simply decided that persisting was more trouble than it was worth, most of the humans lost interest. In the end, it was declared forbidden to enter those groves, and they found safer places to cut wood. Many years later, the ban was lifted, but the groves remained protected. People came there to explore, to battle, or just to see the trees for themselves, but as long as they weren't there to destroy the giant trees, the Pokémon didn't drive them out like they had before."
Zekrom craned its neck a little, eyes still fixed on N. You seem surprised, it observed.
"I am," N answered. "It seemed like a classic recipe for an explosive reaction, and yet things managed to remain stable."
His expression clouded. "If I'd heard this story before we left together, I would have dismissed it as a lie. I was certain that humans would never listen to Pokémon, no matter how badly they needed to be heard. Most people can't do it as easily as I can, after all."
And now? asked Zekrom.
"Now it doesn't seem so impossible. It's true that not everyone cares about how Pokémon feel. My old friends were proof of that. But most of the people I've met on this journey want to live together with Pokémon…and it seems most Pokémon want the same thing."
N sighed. "I suppose you've known that all along," he admitted.
I've seen situations play out like the story you've described, but I've seen others where greed and selfishness proved too tempting to ignore, Zekrom responded. Most times, it falls somewhere in between. It's not as simple as one outcome or the other. Few things in this world are.
The Pokémon lifted out of its reclining position and stood to its full height. It looked towards the sky, and then back at N. We both have so much to learn, child, it continued. Much has changed in the time I spent dormant, but some things remain the same. Despite our mistakes, and our misunderstandings, the world as it is would not exist if humans and Pokémon were truly incapable of coexisting. At our best, we can achieve more together than we could ever do apart.
N nodded. "I still have my doubts," he admitted. "But I truly hope that my old expectations continue to be challenged."
Then we'll continue together, and you can see for yourself.
Zekrom spread its wings and tilted its head upwards, inviting its companion to join its flight. N responded with a smile. "My thoughts exactly."
This is the only Pokémon fic on my list, and the concept played out a little differently than I'd planned. Originally it was going to just be a conversation between N and Zekrom during the post-B/W timeskip, since the fifth-gen games are my personal favorites (and he gets Zekrom because I played Black). Then I decided it'd be better with context, and ended up with my longest 100 Themes one-shot so far. I had a lot of fun playing with the concept.
I'm a little worried about whether N was in-character or not - he's complicated to begin with, and it's been a while since I've played any of the games he's in. I wanted to convey that there'd been personal growth since the start of the journey, but I didn't want him to go straight to the way he is in B2/W2. That kind of thing would take time, especially for someone who'd lived his whole life cut off from reality. I hope that came across the way I intended.
The setting for this fic was intended as a rough Pokémon-world equivalent of California's redwood forests, although it's not based on anywhere too specific. I don't live out in the woods or anything, but I have lived in northern California my whole life, and I've visited the redwoods plenty of times for day trips or camping. The bit about settlers and logging has a historical basis, although it didn't turn out the same way in real life. The giant sequoias are still out there if you go to the right places, but a lot of the oldest ones were cut down at one point or another. I'd like to think that in this kind of setting, things might've turned out a little better.