Hello! This playthrough was inspired by drakon49's "New World" and my own desire to do a nuzlocke but lacking any artistic talent. This is not a nuzlocke, because if Pokémon died in battle I can't imagine Artemis participating and that would ruin the whole concept, so it's a playthrough. Anyway, sit back and enjoy.
Artemis was falling, second by second bringing him closer to terminal velocity - and his final destination. Blue swam past his eyes as he flipped end over end rapidly, arms flailing desperately, even though he knew no aid would be found. Wind shrieked past his ears, and his suit jacket had already been yanked away from his body long ago, the dress shirt he wore underneath billowing and threatening to go the same way.
"D'Arvit!" He screamed, unable to even hear his own voice. Oddly enough, the only thought running through his head was how he was going to kill Foaly, whether he survived or not. Not seemed most likely.
He could see the ground now, and although it was blurry through the tears streaming from his eyes, he thought he could see buildings and maybe even some people growing larger at an alarming rate.
Please move, he thought. I don't want to crush one of you on landing.
He closed his eyes, and bared his arms over his head.
"Charizard! Fly!" A male voice, followed by a deep growl. A whistling noise, and suddenly Artemis felt himself being gently caught in thin arms, and rising back up. Something sharp, four somethings to be precise, were digging into his side, and he wanted to open his eyes to see his savior. He couldn't, though, and the black grew darker and swallowed him.
"An interesting concept." Artemis mused. "But what practicality does it have for the LEP? Last I checked, dimension jumping isn't a common practice among convicts, or anyone else for that matter."
Foaly snorted. "Just because it's not now doesn't mean it never will be. When Qwan and No 1 dropped into town, they revived forms of magic not practiced since the age of Frond. Just a matter of time before someone starts trying to attempt the spell used to lift Hybras out of time and space and ends up either sucking something important in or bringing something deadly out."
Artemis nodded slowly. "A fair point." He conceded. "May I assume you brought me down here to help check calculations? I appreciate the personal visit - it's been a long time since I've gotten to see Holly and you in person - but surely I could have run the numbers just as easily from the surface."
"Nope, Fowl, you're here for a different reason. You are here to watch its first test. Since you and Holly were the inspiration, I thought it only fitting. Plus I thought you might be able to tell me what's happening in there, having actually been in a space-time tunnel before."
Artemis tipped his head. "How thoughtful. But if you truly intend to try and open a window to another dimension," he waved a hand at the horseshoe-shaped metal contraption covered in wires and circuits, "shouldn't there be more protection than the glass?"
Foaly brushed away the human's concern. "That glass is bullet-proof, laser-proof, fireball-proof, and even bomb-proof. Trust me, it'll be fine. I've got Qwan and No 1 on standby, too, just in case."
Artemis nodded slowly. "Alright, then. Let us begin."
Awareness returned to Artemis, but he was careful not to outwardly show it. He kept his breathing slow and deep in a mimicry of sleep, and forced his eyelids not to immediately snap open, just like Butler had taught him. Instead, he focused on his other senses to survey his surroundings.
He was lying on his back on a soft surface, most likely a mattress, with at least two pillows propping his head up. A soft rhythmic beeping was coming from his left, along with the small chittering of a bird. A sterile tang inhabited his nose and mouth, like a mixture of hand sanitizer and Windex, and a cold chill soaked him, despite the sheets that covered the lower half of his body.
A hospital, Artemis summarized. He had been in one enough times to recognize the universal characteristics. Armed with this knowledge, Artemis slowly opened his eyes.
It was indeed a hospital room, generic and bland without any indication of where it was located in the world. The walls were a pale mint green, and fluorescent lights were harsh above him. A monitor balanced on a table was connected to a tight cuff on his left wrist and beat out his pulse. The bed he was lying on was a standard bulky hospital bed, with thin white sheets pulled up to his chest.
There appeared to be no one else in the room. Artemis slowly sat up, wincing slightly at the ache in his muscles, and cast his gaze around the room again. There were two doors, one to his right and one in front of him, and a window to the left. A plastic chair was seated at the right of the head of his bed, and a bundle of clothes that Artemis recognized as his laid on it. Looking down, Artemis saw he was clothed in a hospital gown.
His breath hitched, and he reflexively grabbed at a spot just below his neck. It wasn't there. Artemis dove at the pile of clothes, pulling the entire thing into his lap and pawing through it frantically. A glimmer of gold drew his attention, and he sighed in relief as he pulled out the fairy coin that always hung around his neck. He had feared that whoever had redressed him might have pocketed the keepsake out of curiosity, but they had been professional and put it with the rest of his things.
He re-tied the leather necklace around his neck, then examined his clothing more thoroughly. His pants seemed to have survived alright, but his shirt was nearly torn to shreds and not fit to wear. A pity, Artemis thought absently. Hopefully he could find a suitable replacement soon.
Bringing him to the question, where exactly was he? He hadn't the slightest clue. He wasn't even sure he was in his own dimension anymore; though if it was another dimension, it seemed to be on a remarkably similar level to his own in regards to medical technology.
He pulled the sheets off of his legs and swung them over to the edge of the bed. He stood, bare feet protesting at the contact with the chilled tiled floor, and careful not to snag the heart monitor on anything, made his way to the window.
It appeared that the hospital he was in stood in a small town. Directly across the path (Artemis hesitated to call the narrow brick strip a road) below was a café, a few tables scattered in front and the odd couple enjoying the sunshine in the chairs. The path turned into stairs that lead to a few shops surrounding a fountain, and past that was a bridge that went over a small river. After that, the path turned to dirt and weeds and trailed off into forest.
It . . . looked like Earth. The sky was blue, the trees that stood in the distance had healthy green leaves, and grass grew in between the brick of the walk below. It looked like it could have been Earth, but somehow Artemis doubted that it was. While it looked like Earth, something just didn't feel right. It felt off, like the colors in a familiar painting being just a shade off, or the furniture in your bedroom being shifted just a couple inches out of place. It wasn't really something you could pin down, but there was always a little nagging in the back of your mind that something was fundamentally wrong . . .
. . . Like the bug that was crawling along the windowsill just on the other side of the glass. It was reminiscent of a caterpillar, with a long green segmented body and short legs to help move it along. But it was far larger than any of the common caterpillars he had seen in the gardens at Fowl Manor, coming to nearly a foot in height as it reared up onto its lower legs to look at him. It also had a yellow-colored tail that vaguely reminded Artemis of a rattlesnake's, large black eyes that didn't seem as mindless as the insects Artemis had encountered before, and an odd protrusion on its head that seemed almost like an antler or horn of some sort.
Almost absently, Artemis reached up to the window latch and twisted it open, pushing the pane of glass up so he could more closely examine the insect. It gave a little chirr as it eyed him, tiny legs wiggling at the sight of him but unable to reach him through the wireframe separating the room from the outside. Its eyes sparked, reminding Artemis almost uncomfortable of the horses back at Fowl Manor – animals, yet with an air of intelligence about them.
A new arrival – a bird landed on the ledge, opposite of the large caterpillar. This creature, at least, fit within the realm of what Artemis was familiar with. It was about a foot tall (reaching the same height as the bug), and had a red-feathered head and a gray-feathered body. Its eyes, legs, and beak were black, and its tail feathers were black with a thick white stripe running across them.
The bird was eyeing the caterpillar with intent eyes, and before Artemis could even blink, the bird had darted at the bug with a loud chirp of a battle cry, banging against it with its small body before pulling back, flapping its wings as it hovered over the ledge to reorient itself.
The caterpillar seemed dazed, but with a shake of its head, the fogginess in its eyes vanished. It took a deep breath in, then let out a cry off its own. What seemed to be string shot out of the bug's mouth, hitting and wrapping around the bird and binding its wings to its body, causing it to crash back down to the ledge. As the bird struggled to free itself, the bug turned down, and began to crawl off the ledge and down the side of the building.
Meanwhile, the bird was struggling against its constraints, chirping furiously as it scratched at the sticky string tying its wings to its body. Vaguely, Artemis wondered if his gift of tongues would work with this creature. Back home, he had tested it using online audio files of languages he was unfamiliar with. Casually listening to the words resulted in nothing, but if he concentrated and brought his magic up to the forefront of his mind, he could understand the language perfectly. He had never tried animals, but the People seemed to be able to communicate with them quite well.
Probing his mind for a connection to his magic, he spoke. "Hello. Can you understand me?"
The bird immediately halted in its struggles. "The human pokespeaks?" It chirped in surprise. "Human speaks to me?"
Well, that answered his question. "Yes," he said, "I am speaking to you. Would you like some help?"
"Please." It accepted sheepishly. "Caterpie string is strong."
Caterpie string? Was the bug creature called a Caterpie?
Artemis fiddled with the screen and lifted it up, then gently cupped the bird in his palm, cradling it lightly against his chest and using his free hand to gently pull away the string. Wrinkling his nose at the sticky slime that coated each strand, he scrapped the remains of the web trap onto the window ledge and made sure that he set the now free bird as far away from the mess as possible.
"Thank you, human!" The bird chirped happily. It flapped its wings exuberantly.
"You are quite welcome. My name is Artemis. What is yours?"
The bird tilted its head. "Your kind call me Fletchling. My kind call me Foxfire."
His kind, meaning humans? Was Fletchling the name of the bird's species, or their word for birds?
"It is nice to meet you, Foxfire." Artemis simply said.
"Well met, Artemis." Foxfire nodded. It then stilled. "One is coming." Artemis perked his ears, and sure enough, he could faintly hear the clattering of shoes against linoleum tile, growing steadily louder.
"I'm afraid I can't talk to you anymore at the moment. Will you come back soon?" Artemis said quickly. He had no idea what exactly his situation was, and getting caught speaking to the wildlife may not bode well for him.
"Of course, Artemis! Until then!" Foxfire chirped, flapping its wings and taking off towards the town below.
That taken care of, Artemis relaxed his magic, refastened the screen, and turned to face one of the doors to his room as it slowly opened.
Revealed in the doorway was a petite woman with one of the oddest hairstyles Artemis had seen above the earth (dyed(?) pink and styled into two large rings below and behind her ears) and wearing a pink and white nurse's uniform, complete with a little white hat perched on her head.
Artemis began to reach for his magic, but before he could, the nurse spoke, and to Artemis's shock, he could understand her perfectly.
"Oh, you're awake!" She had said, in French.
She continued to speak as she rushed over to him and gently grabbed his arm, beginning to guide him back to the bed. "I'm glad to see that you're feeling better, and I'm sure Professor Sycamore will be too, but you must get back into bed and rest some more. That was quite a fall you had."
"Excuse me," Artemis interrupted the nurse's mother-henning (but conceded to sit back down on the bed; his legs had already begun to shake with strain), "but can you tell me where I am?"
"You are in Acquacorde, at the Pokémon Center, of course. You fell from so high up and blacked out when the Professor's Charizard caught you; where did you think you would be?"
Three sentences, but Artemis felt like they had given him more questions than answers. Pokémon Center? Charizard? And this was the second time she had mentioned a professor.
"What on earth happened to you?" The nurse continued to fuss over him, checking the readings on his monitor and taking notes on a clipboard that had hung on the edge of the bed. "Were you Flying to another town and fell off of your Pokémon?"
That word again! What was a Pokémon?
The nurse looked up at him expectantly. Artemis thought fast.
"I am afraid I have no recollection of how I got here, Miss . . . "
"Nurse." She corrected. "Nurse Joy. Short-term amnesia isn't uncommon following traumatic events –"
"You misunderstand, Nurse Joy. I don't remember anything beyond my name and age."
The nurse stared at him with a look of shock on her face. "Are you sure? I've never – have you been near any Beheeyem?"
"Any what?" Artemis screwed his face into the most clueless expression he could manage. "I have no idea what you are talking about. Very little of what you have told me makes sense. I don't know what a Pokémon Center is, or who this Professor you keep mentioning is. Could you explain?" He looked at her pleadingly, doing his best to appear innocent and sincere. Not an easy feat, but a necessary one if he was to pull this off.
"Oh dear." The nurse frowned pityingly. "It appears you must have stumbled upon a very strong Beheeyem. They're known for manipulating memories, but I've never heard of a case this extreme. You said you remember your name, though, dear?"
"Yes, my name is Artemis." Artemis extended a hand, and Nurse Joy shook it tenderly. "But again, I have no idea what a Beheeyem is, though it doesn't sound like a very pleasant thing."
"A Beheeyem is a Psychic-type Pokémon that lives primarily in the desert." Nurse Joy rattled off, as if reading from a textbook.
"But what is a Pokémon?" Artemis questioned. "And what do you mean by Psychic-type?"
Nurse Joy looked worryingly at him. "You really don't remember Pokémon? They are the creatures that inhabit our world. Everything from the Fletchlings and Weedles in the forest, to the Wailords and Crawdaunt in the oceans, to the Onix and Gravelers in the mountains, all of them are Pokémon."
Ah, Artemis thought. So Pokémon was the word the people of this world used to describe the animals. But . . . didn't she say he was at a Pokémon Center? Did this mean he was being treated at a veterinary clinic?!
"Pokémon are broken down into 18 different typings, which are determined by the kind of moves they are capable of learning and performing, and what kind of moves they are weak to."
"Moves?"
The nurse purses her lips. "Moves are skills that Pokémon possess that, in the wild, are used to defend and attack against other wild Pokémon. These skills are classified into types, such as Fire, Water, Psychic, or Bug, for example, and the types of moves a Pokémon uses, along with other factors like Abilities and weaknesses, determine their typing."
Artemis mulled over this new information. From the sound of it, Pokémon were not exactly like the animals of his own world, if they had skills that could be classified as Fire and Psychic.
"You said in the wild. What are their skills, sorry, moves, used for when not in the wild?" Though the very fact that they were called moves . . .
"Pokémon battling is a very popular sport. Trainers build a team of Pokémon to take on other trainers, gyms, and if they are strong enough, the Pokémon League. The League consists of the Elite 4 and the Champion. If one beats the Elite 4, one can battle the Champion. If the challenger wins, they become the new Champion, and are recognized as the strongest Trainer in the region. At least, until a challenger can dethrone them. That isn't very common, though. Decades can pass without changes in the League."
She looked at him. "Is any of this ringing a bell?"
Artemis shook his head. "No, but thank you for explaining. It was . . . very informative. What exactly is a Pokémon Center, then?"
"Pokémon Centers are places dedicated to supplying Trainers with medical care for their Pokémon in the case of illness or severe battle wounds, and providing medicines and travel supplies."
"Do Pokémon get injured in battle often?" Artemis asked distastefully. The idea of creatures being forced to battle each other to the point of injury was not one he condoned. He actually did approve of all of his mother's donations to charities that rescued abused animals and dogs that had been trained as fighting dogs.
"Oh, no, hardly ever seriously. Pokémon battling isn't usually harmful to the Pokémon that participate, but incidents do happen, so it's best to be prepared."
"How can Pokémon battle but not be harmed?" Artemis questioned, but his mind was spinning. Were Pokémon battles like the sparring Butler and Juliet indulged in when they worked out in their dojo? The possibility of severe injury or even death was always there, but each combatant knew how to pull themselves back from that finishing blow without limiting themselves from the full range of their abilities.
Nurse Joy gave him an odd look. "Are you from Unova, by any chance? Does the name Team Plasma seem familiar?"
Artemis shook his head, so the nurse went on with her explanation.
"Pokémon have incredible healing factors. It takes a lot of power to damage one. Instead, what's more likely to happen in a battle is that one Pokémon will become exhausted through the combination of attacking, defending, and getting attacked, and perform an action called 'fainting'. It's not fainting like you or I might do, but a biological process that basically shuts a Pokémon down so that they may have time to recover their energy before any real damage can be done. In the wild, this can often lead to the losing Pokémon's death, but in a Trainer battle, it just means they have lost the round, and are returned to their Pokeball to speed up their recovery."
"Pokeball?" Artemis asked before he could pull the question back.
The nurse sighed, resigning herself to having to explain many things that appear to be such common knowledge she can't believe anyone could have forgotten it, but before she can continue, a buzzing sound comes from a small device on her wrist. She held it up to comfortable viewing height and tapped the screen.
"Oh, dear." She muttered. "James and his Weedle again." She tapped the screen once more, then looked back at Artemis. "I'm afraid I have to go and take care of this in person. I'll send some books to you with Audino; hopefully they can answer more of your questions quicker than I can."
"I would appreciate that, thank you." Artemis nodded.
"You are very welcome." Sparing one more glance at the monitor, Nurse Joy exited the room, leaving Artemis to ponder the information he had received, and the new questions it had raised.
Approximately 15 minutes later, there was a knock at his door.
"Come in." Artemis raised his voice.
He expected it to be Nurse Joy, or one of her counterparts, either to check on him once again or deliver those books she promised, but stepping into the room was a creature unlike any he had seen before.
It stood almost 4 feet tall and was pink and cream in color, with bright blue eyes that Artemis could see even from across the room. Its head was round with two enormous ears that reminded Artemis of an elephant's, except they also had small feelers dangling from them. It had four limbs, two arms and two legs, that seemed almost stubby when compared to the almost rotund body they were attached. A small nurse's hat identical to Nurse Joy's was perched on its head, and in its arms it carried a small stack of books.
It waddled over to his bedside, where he laid with the top half of the bed propped up so he could remain in a sitting position. It placed the books it carried on the bed beside his legs.
"Audino!" The thing chirped cheerfully.
"Are these for me?" Artemis asked, picking the small pile up and into his lap.
"Audino!" The creature nodded.
Artemis recalled that Nurse Joy had said she would send Audino with the promised books. "Are you Audino?"
"Audino!" The creature nodded again.
"Are you a type of Pokémon as well?"
Another nod and cry of "Audino". It was growing a tad annoying, actually. Artemis was almost tempted to slip into the magical tongue simply to hear Audino say something other than its name, but he resisted.
"Thank you." He said instead.
"Audino!" Audino gave a small wave of farewell, then waddled back out the door, closing it behind it.
His second encounter with a Pokémon over, Artemis turned to his new treasure trove of information. He had received a book entitled A Beginner's Guide to Pokémon Training, a small but thick paperback that proclaimed itself to be a sightseer's guide to the Pokémon of the Kalos region, a map of said Kalos region, another book on the history and culture of the Kalos region, and a travel guide to Kalos (Artemis cleverly deduced he was in the Kalos region).
He choose the training guide to read first, and was just to about to crack it open when a thought occurred to him. He crossed the room to his window, and opened it, just in case Foxfire returned. It was always useful to have a first-hand account of what the situation was like, rather than rely on unknown sources. Satisfied, Artemis returned to the bed, got comfortable, and began to read.
4 hours later, the sun was setting, and Artemis was rubbing his eyes as he looked up from the multiple texts spread out on the bed before him.
It truly was a fascinating world that he had fallen into. He had never heard of anything like this before; the magic and technology of his own world couldn't hold a candle to what was possible here. Creatures that breathed fire and had psychic powers, ghosts and dragons floating through forests and tromping through fields, bigger-on-the-inside technology ripped straight from the scripts of Doctor Who episodes, it was simply incredible, and it was all completely common and ordinary to this world's inhabitants.
Of course, it was not a paradise. The history book spoke plenty of war, death, and destruction. This society had its faults, just like any other.
He had not stumbled upon utopia. People here were the same as they were back home, and for that Artemis was grateful.
He had just picked up the Pokémon guide book and begun to flip through it for the town the nurse had said he was in when a knock at the door pulled away his attention.
"Come in!" He intoned, allowing the book to fall shut.
It was not Nurse Joy or Audino that entered, but a man Artemis had not seen before. He was around 6 ft. tall, give or take an inch or two, with thick dark brown hair that curled up at its ends. He wore an indigo shirt with a large collar that flared out prominently, a pair of black skinny jeans held in place by a yellow belt with a simple silver buckle, and brown dress shoes with dull orange socks peeking out. Topping the whole ensemble was a white lab coat that draped down to his knees and had sleeves rolled up to just below the elbows. His face was clean shaven and more thin than full, and his eyes were a dull green that expressed concern and intrigue.
"Hello." Artemis thought it was as good a way as any to start a conversation.
"Hello, Artemis. It's nice to meet you." The man held out his hand, and Artemis politely shook it. "I don't suppose you know who I am?"
"I'm afraid not." Artemis shook his head. "May I ask who you are?"
"Of course! I'm Professor Sycamore, head of the Kalos Pokémon Research Center."
"Ah. Nurse Joy mentioned you. She said you were the one who saved me."
"My Charizard and I, yes." Professor Sycamore nodded humbly. He pulled up the spare chair and sat down tenderly. "It was a lucky catch. You really don't remember how you ended up in such a situation?"
"No, Professor. My mind is unfortunately blank, as I am sure you heard from Nurse Joy."
"Yes, well, I thought there was no harm in trying to prompt the memory." The professor back-tracked sheepishly. He gave a nervous cough and looked away, eyes then lighting on the guidebook Artemis had set aside among the other resources. "You're studying Kalos and its Pokémon?"
"I had the same thought as you, Professor. I was hoping that while refreshing my memory on the world I am in, I may stumble upon something that would trigger recall. As of yet, I have had no luck." Artemis sighed heavily, then wondered if he had overdone it. Judging by the guilt and sympathy that blossomed in the professor's eyes, though, he had not.
"That's – unfortunate." Sycamore said. An idea seemed to have occurred to the professor then, because his eyes lit up with the spark of inspiration, and a grin began to spread across his face. "But maybe I can help you with that."
"Really, Professor?" Artemis promptly voiced curiosity, making sure to tint his voice with the undertones of hope.
"How would you like to work for me?"
Artemis blinked. "Come again?" That had not been what he had expected.
"Sorry, let me explain." The professor began rummaging through his lab coat pockets, then pulled out a brochure. He held it out to Artemis, who took it and began skimming the information it contained.
"Every year, I choose 3 children from a town in Kalos to become interns for my organization. They are supplied with a Pokédex, a starter Pokémon, and a fully paid trainer card. The interns are then tasked with traveling the region and recording all Pokémon life they encounter along the way. The data they collect is recorded on their Pokédex and on the computers back at the center, where we can sift through it and check for any significant differences from data collected in the past. This way, we can focus on areas of interest in Kalos without spreading our resources across all of it."
"This year, the town I selected for interns is Vaniville Town, a very small town located a few miles south of here. Two girls already live there, and a boy called Calem was supposed to move in last week. The boy's mother changed her mind, unfortunately, and moved the family to Alola instead. Anyway, the point is we had planned for 3 interns, and all the supplies are already prepared for the third intern; all that is needed is someone to fill the spot."
"And you would extend such an honor to me?" Artemis looked up from the pamphlet. He had not been expecting such a turn of events. As far as where to go next, his plan had been to read as much as he could while he waited to be dismissed from the hospital (or managed to slip away, whichever proved necessary), then locate a library or information center and research more before deciding his next move. But here, being held out right in front of him, was a perfect opportunity. Being a research intern gave him the perfect cover for poking around for any ways back home, and a trainer card would go a long way to warding away questions about his past and identity, not to mention the free board and medical care that came with it.
"Why not? I need an intern, and you need a way to regain your memories. Surely someone in this region knows you, or something out there will jog your memory. It's a win-win situation."
"When you put it that way, Professor, how can I refuse?" Artemis had the urge to flash a vampire smile, but swallowed the instinct. He did not want to put off the professor just when he was about to hand him such a golden opportunity. "I accept your offer."
"Excellent!" Sycamore clapped his hands and rose from the chair. "Tomorrow at about 1pm, two of my interns from last years recruitment are bringing the Pokédexes, starters, trainer cards, and everything else you'll need to the café just across the way from here. I already informed Serena and Shauna of this; they're the other two interns, you'll meet them then."
"Thank you, Professor Sycamore, sincerely."
"It's no trouble. Just do your best to find your home, okay?"
"Excellent!" The professor said once more, and then he was out the door and gone.
Artemis watched him go, then turned back to the books that described creatures that could summon fire and lightning at will, ghosts of children and ethereal beings that stalked the living at night, and scraps of metal and rock that had taken form and life. The beings that the pamphlet he held in his hands said he was supposed to study and, in some cases, was expected to train.
What had he gotten himself into?
