A story doesn't always begin with a flashy entrance or an exciting scene, this one begins with a man walking down a sidewalk in a north-eastern Pennsylvania mountain town at ten P.M. in January. He'd been coming from his sister's house on the other side of town on the way to his apartment, which happened to only be a few miles, when he decided to take a shortcut through the woods. As he'd already tested this route before he knew that it definitely was not faster than walking alongside the road, but it was more pleasant when he wanted to be alone and let his mind wander.
It had been a fairly dry, warm winter this year...warm for January anyway. A nice balmy thirty degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn't bad at all with the comfortable denim winter jacket he had received for Christmas and the trademark black fedora he wore. His name is Quentin Wick, five-feet-ten-inches tall with short spiked black hair and brown eyes. Besides the jacket he wears a pair of cheap blue-jeans and dark brown work boots. Under the brim of his hat he has a narrow face with pleasing features that tend to make him look serious and intense most of the time.
This particular night he enters the woods on a steep incline beside the road. If he kept going forward he would end up climbing a hill to another road known as Pig Alley, even though the road has no official street name, because the land that had been developed for housing had once been a pig farm. To his left, however, leads to a little valley of trees that slowly broaden out until one could almost believe themselves to be in the wilderness.
Quentin has always liked the woods, so as the trees close about him he smiles to himself at the illusion of seclusion, and this time the area isn't any more disturbing than the last dozen times. He follows the easiest path through the winter-browned brush in no particular hurry, darkness making him more careful but no less familiar to the terrain.
Mind wondering aimlessly he doesn't immediately realize that the night is brighter than it should be. Soon enough he glances ahead puzzled, up at the overcast sky, and then around him as if confused. The light is steady enough not to be an open flame but diffuse enough that it couldn't be a flashlight or a lantern, not to mention the bluish tinge it paints over everything, which is strange to say the least. What kind of light source does that? Chemical light? Like a glowstick, a big one, so Quentin moves in a direction he thinks might bring him to the origin.
Within a very short time he comes upon something weird, there before him buried in the ground is an object that radiates with the bluish light. Scattered about it are broken branches from the surrounding trees, which causes him to glance over his head looking for widow-makers. The broken branches and the shallow depression points to a falling object, though if it had fallen from any great height he'd have probably seen or heard it, judging by the freshly disturbed earth it hadn't been here long. More than likely it had probably fallen from just above the treetops. Which didn't make sense, as the thing was easily four feet high and almost as wide. It looked sort-of crystalline, like a giant geode, except the face was flat and as reflective as a mirror.
Ducking a little, Quentin looks into his own face, which is pale with shock. A silent moment passes in which he studies the image captured before him, thinking how irritatingly familiar this thing is, before he decides to reach out his right hand and touch it.
You might call that reckless, but as the French say: "Ne risque rien na rien." Which translates something like: "One who risks nothing gains nothing."
The thing is sort of cool to the touch, but on contact with his forefinger the hairs on his arm stand up, and he quickly yanks his arm back. Seeing no other signs of danger or injury he places his hand against the smooth surface again.
For just a brief moment he allows himself to imagine this as a doorway, "it would be kinda interesting," he says aloud. Thoughts flooded with stories written by Lewis Carol, C.S. Lewis, among others. An idle wish for adventure fills him as he looks at himself reflected in this weird rock.
All of a sudden he pitches forward as the surface he is leaning on ceases to be solid, Quentin makes a strangled sound halfway between a cry of shock and a gasp of surprise, he smells ozone while his mouth fills with the taste of copper. There is a brief confusing tangle of geometric shapes
floating in a void before he closes his eyes to hopefully stop himself from throwing up. The next moment something hard slams into his back, knocking the wind out of him before everything goes away.
Plip...
Quentin groans.
Plip...
"Who left the tap on?" He mutters groggily, rolling his head side to side.
Plip...
Blinking rapidly, his mind felt like molasses in January, except he felt pretty warm. He tried to remove his blanket but it was zippered. It took some time but logic eventually surfaced, his coat, he was fighting with the zipper of his coat. Calming down somewhat, he let his vision adjust but the view that met his eyes didn't make any sense.
He finds himself lying on his back looking up at a rough cavern ceiling, everything is lit by a strange bluish glow. The wall above his head, which has a nice rolling ache, flashes him back to the last few moments before he blacked out. The mirror-rock-thing, it was right above him set into the cave wall but...it was twice as big. Quentin looked at himself lying on the ground for a few stunned seconds before rolling over and pushing himself to his feet.
Immediately pushing against the cool reflective surface proves futile, it's as solid as it looks, "how?" Quentin asks the question rhetorically, so when a voice responds to his speech he jumps just about out of his skin.
"What? Are you okay, sir?" The voice sounds young and female. The face behind the voice belongs to a pretty teenage girl with medium length honey-colored hair and green eyes. She wears an expensive looking gray striped suit, pants and vest, with a crimson shirt and a black tie. On her feet are a pair of red flats with an open front design allowing him to see she wears red socks underneath. Finally, on her head is a crimson fedora with a silver star shaped pin left of center and a large black leather bag under her right arm. The look on her face speaks of concern.
"I-I don't...where am I?" Quentin stammers, still standing with his hands against the 'mirror.'
"You're right near the entrance to Reflection Cave," The girl gestures to her left behind him, which he can see in the mirror-rock is the very edge of a rough entrance way. The name 'Reflection Cave' sounded familiar but at the moment he is head sore
"How did I get here...and why is it so warm?" He asks, taking off his jacket and his sweatshirt as he turns back to face her.
Her face is brightened by a bemused grin, "well it is the middle of July, and I assume you walked? Everyone else does."
For a moment Quentin stares at the girl with an open mouth, holding his coat and sweatshirt in his left hand, he now only wore a black T-shirt with a howling wolf on the front. Before he could collect himself the girl's eyes widen and she gets very excited.
Oh! What kind of Pokemon is that?! I've never seen that kind before..." She leans in with her hands on her knees to get a closer look at his T-shirt.
Looking down at himself briefly, Quentin mutters out a reply, "it's a wolf not a Po-" then he realizes what she just said and the name Reflection Cave clicks. "Pokemon?!"
She gives him a searching look for a few seconds while a surreptitious hand touches something familiar on her belt that had been hidden by her bag before. "Yes, a Pokemon, you don't have a Pokemon?"
"No...I," Quentin pauses, "I have never seen a Pokemon with my own eyes before..um...you wouldn't believe me if I told you." He blurts the last bit with a sigh and a long look at the mirror-rock-thing.
She follows his gaze, surprised a little, "try me. I may be young, but I've seen allot in my travels around Kalos."
Giving her a searching look, he nods, "my name is Quentin Wick. My friends call me Qwick, and the place I'm from is called Pennsylvania. Where I live Pokemon are just stories and games, so even though I've seen hundreds of Pokemon...I've never actually seen a single one.
"As to how I ended up here, I was walking through the woods near my home when I found a big rock allot like this one." Quentin gestures at the mirror-rock-thing, "I leaned on it and all of a sudden I wake up in this cave with a terrible headache."
"Wow...That's amazing! So, wait, you've never met a Pokemon? Do you want to?" She plucks one of the five red and white balls from her belt to show him, and then something occurs to her, "oh I'm Leona! My friends call me Crimson, though."
After awkwardly shaking their left hands, Leona holds the Pokeball in her right, she holds up the red and white technological wonder again, "so do you want to meet a Pokemon?"
Feeling overwhelmed, Quentin nods, a little apprehensively.
With a wide grin Leona steps back a few paces, "okay then, you can say hi Nightwing!" As she speaks she pushes the little white button in the center of the ball and it pops open with a flash of red light that soon coalesces into a Charizard.
Even knowing what it was didn't make it any less intimidating, it stood nearly eye-to-eye with Quentin with the seasoned glint of a fighter. With the exception of the blue under it's wings and its round white belly its skin has a reddish-orange tint. It seems a little surprised at first to be facing a strange human instead of a Pokemon, so it looks over its shoulder at Leona curiously.
Leona smiles, stepping forward to place her hand between Nightwing's bat-like appendages to give his rough scales a scratch. Obviously in heaven, The large lizard rotates the right wing over his trainer's head and pulls her against his side with it, making Leona giggle.
"See?" She says adjusting her hat, hugging him back easily, "this is my Charizard. His name is Nightwing, I promise you he is very friendly!"
"Char!" The lizard seems to agree with her, looking at Quentin expectantly.
When Quentin hesitates Leona discreetly makes a scratching motion near the hallow of Nightwing's throat and winks. With some trepidation the nervous newcomer steps forward a little and reaches out his right hand, which he gently places on the Charizard's chest before cautiously rubbing the area indicated. The skin feels rough, warm, and dry to his fingers.
"Grah!" Nightwing closes his eyes for a few seconds before his right leg begins to twitch.
Despite himself Quentin can't suppress a grin, he had always been a fairly big fan of the Pokemon games, this is something like a wish come true. He didn't recognize the Leona character at all though, she may have been from the anime or manga as he had never paid much attention to them, but it hardly matters at this point.
"He's amazing," Quentin admits finally.
Nightwing makes a small noise, ducking his head with averted eyes, denoting what can only be humility. This causes Leona to laugh, "compliments embarrass him easily I'm afraid." She pats the white scaled belly with affection before having the large grinning lizard return to it's Pokeball, "return Nightwing."
Giving her attention back to Quentin, Leona places the Pokeball back on her belt, "we were just about to head over to Geosenge town to rest up for the night after some training. Unfortunately I don't think there is anyone nearby who knows anything about Reflection Cave at this time of night, but if you want I can call Professor Sycamore tomorrow morning."
With a sigh as he glances at his reflection, Quentin decides to make the best of a confusing situation, "alright then I suppose I'm stuck...plus I am excited to see more Pokemon."
"Right! Let's get going," she breezes past him at a swift pace, leading the way outside.
The entrance to Reflection Cave opens to an amazing view of a the nighttime cliff-side tapering off into the mountains on their left and each tier to the right a small grassy plateau. In the distance a small stone arch marks the entrance to what must be Geosenge Town with several buildings lit from inside. Quentin takes a long deep breath to soak it in, his eyes seeing what he can't believe is real. He pinches himself hard in the upper arm with his left hand and jumps when he is pinched on the left shoulder.
"Ow!" He exclaims, giving Leona a wounded look.
She only smiles back, "nope, I'm real too. We should get going, some Pokemon get a little more active at night." With that she motions for him to follow and starts away from the cave.
Setting out, Quentin's head kept on the swivel to take in as much as he could see of the scenery, there was a lot to take in. Besides the tall grasses, trees, and rocky outcroppings there were luminescent spikes of the mirror-like crystals in several places as well. Being such a warm night in such a beautiful place he had to wonder where everyone was, he said as much to Leona.
"Well there's a parade tomorrow in Lumiose City in honor of the opening of the Pokemon League preliminaries. The Elite Four will be there with the Champion for opening ceremonies, so everybody has gone to get a place for the parade route or a place in the preliminaries." Leona's explanation took them down a flight of steps onto a lower tier.
"So Diantha will be there?" Quentin asked, glad to have some useful knowledge, "don't you want to go?"
"I am going," Leona replied while absentmindedly pushing her way through some grass, "and two years ago Diantha was...dethroned. So she might be there but she won't be the Champion this time."
"So who's the Champion now?" He queried.
A long silence followed, then, "I am."
Quentin stops, stunned, "you?! You're the Champion? Well, you don't sound very happy about it, if you don't mind my saying so."
She smiled over her shoulder at him, "yeah I'm the Champion. I defeated Diantha two years ago, I was fourteen, and it is pretty amazing to be the champion. I just...miss the challenge, I've defended my title twice but so far nobody has been able to take it from me."
"You want someone to defeat you?" He asks, sort-of understanding how she felt.
Leona seems to consider this, "maybe...at least I want to give my partners a chance to lose something. We're so well in tune after all this time that-"
Suddenly she stops and looks down at the bag under her right arm, "oh?"
"What?" Quentin stops as well, glances at her bag, then does a double take.
It is twitching.
She opens the bag, glances at him and laughs at the look on his face, and then her features soften as she studies him. Reaching into her bag, she pulls out something that looks like a brown speckled ostrich egg. The egg is twitching energetically in her hands as she holds it out to Quentin with a wink.
Eyes widening, mouth gaping, Quentin looks at the offered item, "that's a Pokemon egg."
"Duh," She replies, rolling her eyes, "take it quick! You should be the first one it sees."
He gingerly takes the shaking egg from her, which is warm to the touch and is beginning to crack, "what is it?" His voice is barely above a whisper, as if afraid to hurt the small being in his hands.
Gesturing at the egg, Leona smiles, as if to say: 'Look and find out.'
With a chill running up his spine, Quentin locks his eyes on the egg, a large crack bows out the upper portion of the egg to reveal the tip of a tiny pink nose. "You can do it," he unwittingly whispers, "come on. Just a bit more."
As if responding to his encouragement the egg shudders with a sharp crack when the creature with the small pink nose gives a huge shove from inside. Nose is followed by a rust colored head, two long limp pointed ears, and a pale peach colored ruff. Quentin coaxes the young Pokemon out of the shattered remains of its shell, it felt small, and wet, and a little slimy. It's eyes remained closed but it's nose drew in small puffs of breath as it seemed to be scenting him. It made small weak noises.
Leona presses a small warm bottle into Quentin's hands and then helps him maneuver the Pokemon into the crook of his arm so it could drink comfortably. The whole time the man hadn't looked away from the small furry bundle but he did glance up once as the girl holds up a small, pink, very fine brush.
"Do you know what it is?" She asks, demonstrating how to clean it with the brush and a small bit of warm water from a canteen.
"Yes," comes the slow answer. Quentin is focused mainly on watching her hands as they deftly clean the little body from snout to tail while it fusses, "it's an Eevee...A boy...have you done this before?"
"Sure!" Leona says brightly, if quietly, "I'm an amateur Pokemon breeder."
"Really?" He asks, now looking curiously at her, thinking about how young she is.
She gives him a shrug, "did you think being Champion is all I did?" Leona pauses to rinse her brush off before putting it away in her bag. "Some day I will travel the world to become the greatest Pokemon Breeder ever." As she says this her eyes get the faraway look of someone who had held this dream for a long time, after which she stands while still smiling wistfully to continue onward.
Carefully rushing to stand up and follow, Quentin interrupts her thoughts,"why don't you go now? If you won the Championship at fourteen surely you could travel abroad, live your dream."
Blinking slowly, Leona nods, "I could but...that would mean abandoning the Championship title, it would pass back to Diantha."
"So why not?" Quentin asks, cautiously descending more stairs to a lower tier.
"Because..." Leona pauses a second to give him a long look, "the title must be earned as I earned it. Somebody has to beat me at the Pokemon League."
Quentin nods, both of them entering a patch of tall grass in a silence that remains for a long while. Leona seems focused on her dilemma internally, meanwhile, the man studies the Eevee in his arms thoughtfully. The Pokemon is small, fragile looking, but even now he can feel the strength in it's tiny frame while it sleepily polishes off the formula. As he gently strokes the downy fur, the creature fully asleep with the bottle still in it's mouth, something occurs to him.
"Leona," Quentin's voice breaks the silence, "is it just me or is this Eevee...different than normal?"
The teenager's eyes light up to her favorite subject, "yes! You do know Pokemon after all. I have been working on breeding different color patterns into my Pokemon, this Eevee is one of my experiments." She falls back to walk beside Quentin and reaches over to take the bottle, "it's honestly sort of a mixed success." Leona gives him an apologetic look.
"Why?" He asks.
Sighing, Leona slowly takes the Eevee from him with expert care, talking as they exit the tall grass and walk down another set of steps. They'd come into a more open area, the path twisting on ahead where the archway into Geosenge Town could be seen in the distance by moonlight.
"Eevee is such a chaotic Pokemon," Leona begins, "breeding them is difficult even when you aren't trying for something specific. This little cutie was supposed to be paler than normal." She scratches it under the chin briefly with fondness, "but it looks like he came out very red."
"Well," Quentin says thoughtfully, "that's really a strange coincidence. I happen to be fond of the color red." As he accepts back the Pokemon from Leona she nods with a small grin, then he continues, "I wonder what he'll look like when he evolves."
"I don't know but he seems perfect for you." She says, "you'll tell me when you find out, won't you?" Closing in on the entrance to Geosenge Town with a new spring in her step, Leona leads Quentin on, thinking happily about the friendship that could happen between these two.
Meanwhile the man had been chewing on a question of his own, "how am I supposed to take care of him? I mean if you're going to Lumios City tomorrow...what do I do?"
"Oh," she waved a dismissive hand without looking at him, "I'll take you to the Pokecenter where you can get some sleep. They will take care f him while you rest, after that make sure he gets fed every six hours."
"I don't have any money," he pointed out , "I don't know the first thing about raising a Pokemon. How long will I need to care for him like this? Where do I get food? How do I-"
She laughed and spun to face him, now walking backwards with her hands patting the air, "relax! I'll give you some Pokedollars to get by and we'll pick up everything you need at the Pokecenter before I leave, Promise. As to your new friend, he should be ready to battle in around three days."
"Three days?!" Quentin gasped, "isn't he a little young? That's pretty fast!"
"Well I wouldn't go challenging the league or anything but Pokemon adapt very quickly," Leona nodded sagely as she gracefully spun on her toes without missing a step, "especially Eevee. I mean, they aren't called the 'Evolution' Pokemon for nothing, right?"
Quentin nodded, still apprehensive, as they passed under the huge stone arch into Geosenge Towns eastern side. The town is not very large, a collection of cabins to the north are arranged in a circle around a large statue lit from below, Quentin stops to stare.
The statue is Leona standing with her hands on her hips, younger than she is now with a look of determination on her face, and behind her posed as if flying is Yveltal. The statue had a plaque on the base he was unable to read from this distance but the statue itself made her look heroic.
Groaning, Leona grabs Quentin by the collar to tug him back a few steps, "come on. I don't like that statue, it's embarrassing, I asked them not to make it but..." She was blushing furiously, turning away, she set off at almost a run.
With a last look at the statue Quentin follows, carefully cradling the Eevee still asleep in his arms, wondering at his strange turn of fate. They pass a long row of stones to the left behind a huge building with cream colored walls and a brown roof, this was a hotel if he remembered correctly.
Turning left around the other side of the building, they pass up a road leading to a house a short distance away, and the Pokemon Center comes into view. The walls are white, the lower half of the roof is red while the upper half is plate glass and steel. Each corner of the building is shaped like a column, those in front are made of glass with a ribbed red metal framework inside. In front of the building the door is also rounded like a column and hanging above it is a lit Pokeball symbol, there are lights on inside.
Leona doesn't even hesitate as she walks up to the doors that open with a gentle hiss. Quentin follows more slowly, a little overwhelmed, he steps through the doors. Inside the Pokemon Center is quiet, Leona is chatting with a woman at the central counter that can only be Nurse Joy, and a man dozes on a huge black sectional couch to his left. The whole room is a soothing sterile white with the exception of a black Pokeball marquee on the floor. The center of the room is dominated by Nurse Joy's counter, which is red, and the machine behind her with six concave hemispheres for healing Pokemon. Above that is a huge blue screen, currently blank, but one can only assume it's used for Pokemon information.
Besides the Pokemon care area there is a lounge with the aforementioned couch to the left with a coffee table next to it. Hanging on the half-wall is a T.V. That is currently off, and past that is a large area of changing room doors. To the right is an eatery with red tables and stools as well as a bar table along the right hand wall. The half-wall here is filled with a bookshelf brimming with books in various colors, opposite the isle is a red computer that looks not-unlike an ATM machine. Pokemon center info and adds flash across the screen in an endless stream. Past all this is a store area where a bored looking man leans on the blue counter, yawning while reading a magazine, to his left is a register and behind him is a display of several items for sale.
"Sir?"
Snapped from his visual exploration, Quentin looks up to see Leona and Nurse Joy smiling at him, "yes?"
"If you would hand me your Eevee please we can care for him and make sure he is healthy," Joy gestured towards the back of the Pokecenter, "in the meantime Leona has graciously arranged for you to stay at Hotel Marine Snow! While you are resting we will prepare some supplies and an I.D. For you, is that okay?"
"Um," Quentin is slightly nonplussed at the rapid changes but decides he is too tired to argue, "yeah...I um, sure."
"Wonderful, may I see your Eevee, please?" Joy holds out her hands to him while Leona titters behind her left hand. Quentin gives her a stare, which only makes the girl snicker harder and turn away.
Nurse Joy opens a door hidden neatly in the counter and takes the Eevee to a the inner workings of the Pokecenter through a door near the store in the back. After she leaves Leona turns back to face him, now more composed but still grinning, "okay you're all set. Get some sleep and come back here tomorrow to pick up your Eevee, he should be all good to go!"
"Wait, Leona, what do I do?" He asked desperately.
"Don't worry!" She put her hands on his shoulders, "I have the parade tomorrow, Professor Sycamore will be in Lumiose, too. I will talk to him when I see him about your problem, I promise! Until then hang around here, Nurse Joy will take care of anything you need, and wait for me to call you tomorrow."
With an uncertain nod for an answer, Leona hugs him briefly, "I have to fly out to Lumiose tonight if I'm going to get any rest before the parade. Bye for now!"
Still slightly perturbed, Quentin turns to watch her exit the building, absently thinking that she smelled like apples when she hugged him. With a sigh he shakes his head, following her out in time to see her with a Pokeball in hand.
Within seconds a Talonflame appears, about four feet tall, the fiery bird lets out a brief cry and leans in to let its trainer pat its head. "Hey, how about a quick trip to Lumiose City, okay Flare Blitz?" Another acquiescing cry and the bird spreads it's wings, jolting into the air briefly it circles around to settle itself onto Leona's shoulders, who waves to Quentin. Soon they are airborne, and despite the size of the bird, it seems to easily carry its trainer away on the winds.
A few long moments pass watching them dwindle away before Quentin goes to the hotel, which looks pretty standard as hotels go, and he barely has to mention Leona's name before the desk clerk smilingly calls an attendant to bring him to his room.
To his surprise the room is actually rather lavish, but he only has eyes for the gigantic four-poster bed, as all the strangeness slows down he suddenly feels weary. Flopping down onto the soft comforter without even taking off his shoes, his second to last thought is concern for how he was going to get home.
His last thought, murky and heavy with impending sleep, is a consideration on how awesome it would truly be if he really was in Kalos with his very own Pokemon.