A/N: This is technically a spin-off of my brother's work, Doom-Kindred. Dug is a representation of me from that fanfiction. I will be referencing events from that story, you have been warned.

Chapter 1

Slateport City: gateway to the region of Hoenn. There are many things to see and do in Slateport. On the golden beach, there is the Sea Shore House, as well as an ice cream parlour which claims to sell the "finest ice cream in Hoenn ... using the freshest MooMoo Milk and best ingredients". Moving up from the beach there is the Slate Market, which sells, imports and exports goods for anyone; the Oceanic Museum; and the famous Saviour bar and restaurant...

Ruko Younger woke from her daydream. God, she sounded like a travel guide sometimes. She looked down into her nearly-cold cup of coffee. A brown-black reflection looked back at her: she had shoulder-length black hair - some of which was tied into two ponytails – with a single blue forelock, which she was proud of. Official she was a human chimera, which explained her heterochromia (one eye was red, the other blue). She very regularly used the condition as a major factor (and/or excuse) contributing to her unnatural height: she was 19, and about 6' 5", meaning she dwarfed most people.

She wore a flowing black coat, dark blue shirt, black trousers and a tie the same tone as her forelock. Because of height and refusal to buy new clothes unless absolutely necessary, most of her clothes were several sizes too small. These unfortunately made her underwear show a bit, which was white today. The only item she wore today that was the right size was the single white glove on her right hand.

Ruko sighed, and looked out to sea, or at least, tried: whilst in her daydream, a girl had sat and lay down at the table between Ruko and the sea. Ruko recognised the newcomer instantly: Teto Kasane. Surprising as it seemed to other people, they were quite good friends, knowing each other since Teto had started at Rustboro Pokémon School. Teto was about 5'3", had crimson-fuchsia hair which was curled into a pair of drill-like ponytails (though they seemed to be sagging at the moment), and her eyes matched the colour of her hair. She wore what looked somewhere between a school and nurse's uniform: she was doing an apprenticeship with the Slateport Pokécentre, after all. But above all else, she a grade-A ditz. Yet Ruko still liked her.

"Hey, Teto."

"Hmm?"

Teto got her head out of her arms and looked at Ruko. Unsurprisingly, she had a bread roll sticking out of her mouth. "Oh, hi Ruko," she said through the roll. Teto was normally a bright, cheery girl, an optimist. For some reason, this attitude was significantly dulled. Something had upset the younger girl.

"What's wrong? You don't seem to be yourself," Ruko asked, genuinely worried for Teto.

Teto sighed, got up and moved to sit at Ruko's table, facing her friend. Before talking, she removed the roll from her mouth, taking a bite as she did so. "Oh, it's the apprenticeship. There's an increasingly strong chance I could get kicked off if I keep acting as I am.
"But I can't change who I am, I mean, I've tried, you've tried to help me," Ruko nodded, Teto took another small bite from her roll, "But I keep falling back into my normal, silly, ditzy self."

"You're not that silly," Ruko offered, encouragingly.

Teto shook her head and sighed again. "Last week, I got the trays wrong again. That's only just been settled. I try, but it's not looking good for me."

It was Ruko's turn to sigh. She knew pretty much all there was to know about Teto: She'd started the apprenticeship nearly nine months ago, and it was meant to last twelve. It was a new placement, set up in the attempt to support the Joy family who ran most of the Pokécentres in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Ruko believed Sinnoh and Unova regions too. At least, that was the impression that her closest friend put across the last time they met and had a good chat.

"Hey, I've had an idea: finished that roll, and let's go see if we can't brighten that mood, huh?"

The coffee sat on the table, long abandoned.

A/N: I know that there no actual pokémon yet, and it's just Utauloids in Slateport, but I will be expanding to Vocaloids, and there will be more locations. Stay tuned!