Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 2, Chapter 2


After an hour of walking through Santalune Forest, Louise had mixed feelings on the expedition so far. On one hand, it was easier than her trek down Parterre Way. Previously overburdened by the large hiking backpack, Louise wisely decided to only carry a small knapsack with some food, water, and medical supplies, along with the Beedrillite. The abundant trees provided ample shade from the sun, and coupled with a nice, cool breeze meant that she was kept cool, not hot and sweaty. There also weren't any flies and mosquitoes around to bug her, which brought up the other side of the issue.

So. Many. Pokémon.

Practically every five steps had Louise run into a Pokémon that she, Brennaraki, and Aile had to fight off. Just in the past hour, she had to fight off a few Caterpies, Metapods, Scatterbugs, and Fletchlings, not to mention all the Weedles and Kakunas, all of which she scanned with her Pokédex. On the bright side, she was getting some good training in, but it was getting annoying.

"Founder, why are there so many bugs!" Louise grunted, having driven off another Weedle who had attempted to get into her knapsack. She sighed, before making her way deeper into the forest.

"Ms. Viola! Are you there? I have something for you from Professor Sycamore!" She shouted out, hoping to get a human response but receiving none.

"Okay, this is getting us nowhere," she admitted, taking a sip of water to sooth her throat, sore from all the yelling she'd done. "Aile, can you fly around and try to find her, please?" Louise asked the Fletchling, who was currently perched on her shoulder and giving her an expectant look.

"Really, again? I just gave you some!" She scolded in exasperation.

Aile chirped and began jumping around in excitement. Louise sighed, before reluctantly kneeling down and opening up her knapsack, pulling out a slightly diminished jar of honey.

"You are the greediest bird I've ever seen, you know that?" Louise sighed, taking out a small spoon to feed Aile with. For the past hour, and indeed for the past few days since Aile's capture, Louise had gotten to know the bird much more intimately than their initial encounter would have suggested. As it turned out, Aile was quite the glutton. If Aile wanted something, she was going to get it, with everyone else's concerns secondary. For Louise to get her to do anything, she had to bribe Aile with something, usually the Combee honey.

"That's the last one today, got it? No more," Louise scolded, like a mother would to an unruly child. When Aile began to whine, Louise continued. "Uh-uh, no whining. Honey is desert, not a meal, got it?" Louise stated, lightly glaring at the small bird. When Aile didn't respond, Louise intensified her glare until finally Aile nodded in agreement, causing Louise to smile.

"Thank you, that wasn't so hard now, was it? Now, get going," Louise ordered, to which Aile took to the air and began conducting a search. "Founder, now I know how the cook felt." At this, Louise and Brennaraki followed after her, never losing track of the bird as it flew around.

"You know, Brennaraki. Take away all the hordes of Pokémon, and this forest isn't that bad. It's…tranquil, really," Louise mused, as they continued to search, only to trip on an exposed tree root and fall flat on her face. "I take it back, this place is awful!" She grumbled, hearing the familiar laughter of the small fox and bird. Despite her frustration, Louise soon began to laugh as well, joining her two Pokémon in their amusement.


After half an hour minutes of searching, with the sun lying directly overhead, and still no sign of the elusive photographer, Louise decided to take a short break to catch her breath and eat. Laying out some bowls with Pokémon food for Brennaraki and Aile, Louise gnawed on a meal bar, contemplating her next move.

"Okay, so we've been searching in this forest for roughly an hour and a half by now, and there is no sign of Viola," Louise stated, taking a bite out of her meal bar before continuing. "We still have a few hours before Viola told Nurse Joy she'd be heading back so we still have some time. Until then, are going to keep at it and search this forest until we find Viola and give her the Beedrillite, or the sun starts to go down, whichever comes first. Afterwards, we'll…" At this, Louise paused, causing Brennaraki to look up at her in concern.

"What will we do?" Louise asked herself. She had been so distracted the past few weeks, what with being Sycamore's assistant, bonding with Brennaraki, dealing with Elizabeth, and travelling cross country down Route 4, she hadn't really thought about the reason why she was here in the first place: to prove her worth to Arceus. She only had a year to prove herself, and she doubted that being Professor Sycamore's assistant for a year would prove herself worthy in his eyes, merely being a freeloader. No, she had to do something, prove that she was worthy of respect. But, if she didn't, she didn't know what would happen. Would she be allowed to go home, or would she be stuck here, permanently? Would be she allowed to keep Brennaraki and Aile?

As Louise sat in contemplation, Brennaraki and Aile continued to enjoy their fill, with Brennaraki growling at the bird as she attempted to help herself to the fox's bowl. Before any altercation could occur, Louise suddenly stood up and directed the Pokémon's attention toward her.

"Come on, let's find Viola. I would rather not be stuck in this forest for the next three hours," Louise signaled to Brennaraki and Aile, causing them both to jump off, ready to start searching again. "Now, I think at this point we can assume that what we are doing currently is not working. Aile, can you fly above the tree tops and search for a nearby clearing? That might be a good place to look," Louise ordered. Aile attempted to ask for another helping of honey but was quickly silenced with a glare. Grumbling to herself, Aile took flight and flew past the leaves of the trees until she was out of sight. Smiling, Louise began to follow Aile, with Brennaraki not far behind.

"See, there we go. That wasn't so hard now, was-and now I see the Sitrus Berries. Of course," Louise sighed, grasping her nose as she finally spotted the yellow spotted fruit, recognizing it from her time at Sycamore's lab. As it turned out, Aile had deliberately chosen the path towards some nearby Sitrus berries, and was gorging herself on them before noticing Louise's glare. Unashamedly, Aile took off again, this time fully intending to follow Louise's orders. After a few minutes, Aile came soaring back to Louise, having found a nearby clearing.

"Good job, Aile! Lead the way!" Louise exclaimed, quickly rushing after the Fletchling, with Brennaraki keeping up by her side. Soon enough, they reached the clearing, only to find it empty.

"Ms. Viola! Ms. Viola! Are you here!?" Louise shouted as they began to search around, upon hearing a yip from Brennaraki, Louise and Aile quickly made their way over to investigate. The fire fox had found a mud puddle with tracks leading out of it, almost as if someone had dumped a bucket of water onto the dirt and walked in it. "Viola was definitely here. It looks old, though," Louise stated, crouched down to get a better look at the shoe prints, before directing her gaze down its path. She found a series of muddy footprints leading off into the forest. Oddly, Louise noted, Viola had some pretty large feet for a lady. Regardless, Louise began following the trail of footprints, hoping to find their source, never realizing that she was being watched by scheming eyes.


After another half hour of following the trail, Louise was able to take in a picture of what Viola must have done. Based off some nearby damage Louise found along the trail, Viola also must have encountered many of the forest residents and had to drive them off. Based off the abundance of water and mud, she must also be a Pokémon trainer and have a Water type Pokémon on hand to protect herself. Regardless, Louise pressed on, only stopping to drive off the occasional Pokémon. Eventually, however, as they neared another clearing, the trail ran cold, and the foot prints stopped.

"Great... Just as they were getting fresher, too," Louise sighed before once again searching for more hints as to where Viola went. "Ms. Viola!" She shouted, before sighing when she didn't receive a response.

"Aile, see if you can-" She started to order when the sound of rustling leaves caught her attention, putting her, Aile, and Brennaraki on guard. Looking around, she searched for the source of the rustling before settling on a small patchwork of tree branches, shaking slightly. As she prepared to give an order, the inhabitant of the tree showed itself. It was a small, blue and black bipedal dog, with a black mask like patch on its face that ended on both sides with a large black drops that could almost be mistaken for ears. Its eyes shone bright red, and a small yellow collar was wrapped around its neck. Not recognizing the Pokémon, Louise quickly pulled out her Pokédex and activated the scan function.

"Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon. Riolus, along with their evolution Lucario, are among the only species capable of channeling Aura. Their small bodies make mastery of Aura's offensive use exceedingly difficult, however exceptions have been noted," the Pokédex spouted out.

"Aura? What is that? Is it similar to magic?" Louise asked herself before moving on, looking more closely at the data the Pokédex provided. Apparently, Riolus are not found in Santalune Forest, the closest being in Route 22, which meant that this Riolu was most likely a captured Pokémon. Deciding to trust her instincts, Louise decided to speak to the small canine. "Uh, Riolu…do you already have a trainer?" She asked to the creature, who silently nodded.

"I'm looking for a photographer named Viola. Do you know where I can find her?" Louise once again called out to the diminutive creature, who, after a moments pause, nodded in affirmation before beckoning her to follow it. "Great! Thank you so much!" Louise shouted back up to the Riolu as she walked over to it, its eyes never leaving her.

"You have no idea how much I appreciate you help with this. I have had a horrible week and-" Louise started thanking the Riolu before a small snap beneath her feet caught her attention, directing her, Aile's, and Brennaraki's gaze downward, only to see a broken string underneath her feet. "What…why is there a string here?" She asked herself before a clunking sound, coming from above her, caused their heads to look up. What they saw caused their eyes to shrink, as above their heads, connected to a now lax string, was a fairly large, hastily woven basket, filled with a wide assortment of berries. Unfortunately for them, it began to tip. Next to it, hanging upside down from a nearby branch, was a smirking Riolu, which finally clued Louise in to its intentions.

"You son of a-!" Louise began to shout as Aile tried to hastily get away, only to be caught up in the sudden downpour of Sitrus, Pecha, Rawst, and Oran berries. Louise shielded her head with her arms as she was bombarded by the berries, many of which burst open as they made contact, spilling their juices on her clothes, skin and hair. Once the downpour of berries stopped, Louise opened her eyes and took in the sight of her now multicolored stained clothes, along with a damp and sticky Brennaraki and Aile. As she looked back up in shock at Riolu, she found it now on top of the branch and rolling on its back, laughing as hard as it possibly could as it looked at her predicament, hard enough so that it was crying, causing her to begin shaking in indignant rage.

"How-HOW DARE YOU!" She shrieked at the Riolu, who simply got up and stuck its tongue out at her, pulling its eyelid down as it did so. "EMBER! PECK!" Louise shouted orders to Brennaraki and Aile, who happily complied, also furious at the Riolu. To her shock, the Riolu gracefully jumped over Aile and batted away the fireball with a metallic, glowing hand before making a three-point landing on the ground in front of Louise. As it looked back at her stunned expression, it smirked, turned around and shook its butt at her before running off deeper into the forest.

"After that stupid dog!" Louise shouted, chasing after the mischievous canine with Aile and Brennaraki following. As they chased the laughing Riolu, they would sporadically attempt to hit its retreating form with Embers and Pecks, only to have been be effortlessly dodged, even if it couldn't see where they were coming from. To its credit, Louise would begrudgingly admit it was well trained as it dodged another dive bomb and fireball, but she didn't care for that right now. This dog had humiliated her, and now she wanted it to pay. In her rage, she never noticed that the Riolu seemed to be enjoying the chase and was deliberately holding itself back.

After several minutes of chasing, attacking and dodging, the distance between the Riolu and Louise began to shorten enough so that she could almost grab it. Before she could, the Riolu took a sharp turn past a small grove of trees and ran into a clearing. Entirely focused on the Riolu, Louise took the turn as well, only to accidentally crash into another person, whom the Riolu ran behind. Louise could only make out that it was a boy before they made contact.

"Ooof!" The two of them grunted as they crashed into one another and tumbled, before coming to a rest and sprawled across the ground, with Louise lying on top of the boy. As she opened her eyes, she too in his white skin, blue eyes and black hair, with him looking at her pink eyes and hair, before a bright blush enveloped them as they finally took in the position they were in.

"Oh Founder/Arceus, I'm so sorry!" The two of them shouted as they apologized, hastily getting to their feet. As they brushed themselves off of the dust, they took a step back, the blush still adorned on their faces.

"Are you-Arceus, what happened to you?!" The boy shouted in concern, finally noticing the berry juice stains covering Louise's and her Pokémon's bodies. He quickly reached into his small backpack and pulled out a piece of cloth and handed it over. "Here."

"Thank you," Louise thanked the boy as she took the cloth, wiping her face, arms, and hands. As she did, she was able to take in more of his features. He was wearing a blue and white pull up hoodie-turtleneck, along with a pair of dark blue jeans, contrasting Louise's lighter pair. Unlike Louise, he was not wearing hiking boots, rather a pair of blue sneakers. Instead of a hiking backpack, his backpack was smaller, similar to a large, multi-pocketed school backpack with a blue Pokéball design on it. Realizing that she was staring, Louise quickly handed the cloth back to the boy, who simply stared at it in confusion before Louise realized her mistake, pocketing it.

"-sorry about that," Louise sheepishly apologized, looking off to the side in embarrassment.

"It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it. You okay?" The boy asked in concern.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking."

"What happened to you? You look like you just came out of an arts and crafts store."

"Well you see, I was-YOU!" Louise suddenly yelled as the Riolu poked its head out from behind the boy's legs, sticking its tongue out at her. "Gagh!" She grunted as she lunged for the Riolu, only to be held back by the boy.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down, calm down!" The boy grunted as he held Louise back. After a bit of struggle, she finally relented and ceased attempting to strangle the Riolu, stepping back to glare at it. "I think I understand what happened now. Tanuki, what did you do?"

"Your stupid dog dumped a basket full of rotten berries all over me and my Pokémon, that what it did!"

"Really, Tanuki?! We've been over this!"

"Bark!" The Riolu, now properly identified as Tanuki, crossed its arms and barked, pride evident in its face.

"Ugh, listen Miss…?" The boy started to apologize before stopping. "I don't we've actually said our names yet. I'm Saito Hiraga, you've already met Tanuki, and Ronin should be around here somewhere-there he is!" The boy, apparently named Saito, shouted out as he pointed towards the edge of the clearing at a small blue and white otter, wearing a scallop shell on its chest. Louise made a mental note to scan Ronin after she was done yelling at the boy in-front of her.

"I'm Louise Vallière," Louise coldly replied.

"Heh, well…Louise. I am terribly sorry about Tanuki here. He like to pull pranks. He's harmless, really," Saito said, attempting to placate Louise. Unfortunately, judging by her stormy expression, he failed.

"You're sorry!? That's not good enough! That dog of yours ruined my clothes! I don't think my shirt can be saved, you plebian!"

"Okay now, calm down. I know that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot here, but…" Saito started, only to get interrupted again by the enraged girl in front of him.

"Honestly, how can you call yourself a trainer if that dog keeps doing that!? If that is any indication of your training ability, you should be ashamed of yourself. 'Tanuki' needs to be trained better!" At this, Saito stopped and glared at Louise.

"Train him better? Lady, I don't know who you think you are, but do not tell me how to train my Pokémon!" Saito shouted right back, insulted.

"Oh, I sincerely doubt that you could control that thing!" Louse scoffed in disbelief.

"I have a Gym Badge! Earned with Ronin and Tanuki over in Unova! How many do you have?!" Saito shouted back indignantly. At this, Louise paused for a moment, reaching back in search of the familiar sounding word, only to come up blank.

"…I have absolutely no idea what a 'Gym Badge' is, but I sincerely doubt you are a better trainer than me!" Louise proudly declared.

"…What?" Saito asked in disbelief. Who didn't know what a Gym Badge was? Before he could ask that, Louise answered.

"In fact, I'll prove it! I challenge you to a battle!" At this statement, made with the utmost confidence, Saito went silent. As the silence went on, Louise smirked in apparent victory before Saito broke out into a confident smile.

"You're on!"


Hey, everyone! Here's the latest chapter of Outsiders! Louise and Saito have now met each other, and it went about as well as one might expect. What happens next will be revealed tomorrow. Now to answer questions:

D'reakmus: Yep, you were spot on with Ronin and Tanuki. We all felt that an Oshawatt and Riolu fit him pretty well. But, what makes them unique are their personalities. Didn't expect to see a Bushido-Oshawatt and a Prankster-Riolu now, did ya? As for how I am posting these regularly, I am actually catching up to our other threads. Once we do, this will revert to a weekly publishing schedule.

PokemonFan93: What we meant by blue Combee was not that their bodies were blue, but that there is a blue triangle on their face. Female Combees have the red triangle, which was a small change to help us better differentiate the two genders at a more noticeable glance.

Fate: Brennaraki's name actually comes from Nordic languages. Louise's world of Terre, specifically the continent of Halkegenia, actually has a significant Nordic influence. Their religion is actually polytheistic and highly resembling the Norse pantheon. Brimir is considered to be a messiah like figure but is not actually worshipped. Due to all of this, we decided that Louise's nicknames would come from French and Nordic languages to reflect her cultural heritage. Saito is the same way, only his reflect his family's Kantoan heritage, which would be akin to Japanese in the real world. All of Louise and Saito's Pokémon will be nicknamed. Helps to make them their own characters. And thank you for the kind words. We appreciate it.

Meh: Arceus is acting the way he does because of the very first time he ever encounter a Void mage. In this case, it was Brimir 6,000 years ago. That meeting went terribly wrong, and ever since then Arceus has had to with Void mages, and Void mages only, trying to do a summoning from his world, earning his ire. He doesn't intervene on Earth very much, only to make sure that things don't blow up, but he makes a special exception to Void mages. That is why he acted the way he did. He was incredibly biased against her from the very start.

MAJORMATT1234: Part of our reasoning for including Saito was out of a desire to try and do him right. Most other stories, especially crossovers, don't even use him, and we wanted to try our hand in doing him in a way that wasn't making him into a complete tool. We hope everyone appreciates the attempts.

Hope you guys enjoy!