…
…
"...been a week now… getting better?"
"...is stable… toxin should be removed…"
…
"...chance of brain damage, though?"
"The medicine… taken care of any long-term damage… checked her pupils, they are not dilated…"
"Should we administer smelling salts?"
"No, we should wait on that, we don't know what, if any, effect that will have."
Lusamine could sense herself emerging from the haze of unconsciousness. The first things she heard were two female voices close to her, although it took some time for her to clearly register what they were saying. The more she came to, the more her hands and feet twitched to life, and a small groan emanated from her throat.
"Oh, master, I think she's waking up!"
"Give her some space, Udongein. She may be delirious."
As her senses came back to her, Lusamine's eyes fluttered open, at first only seeing a bright light above her. As her eyes adjusted to the light, two fuzzy figures came into her vision. She managed to lift her hands up to her eyes and rub the sand from them. Once she did, she blinked a few times, and could clearly see the two people above her.
She wasn't too sure what to think at that moment. On her right, a woman in a red-and-blue checkered dress with long, silver hair. She was likely the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. On her left, a girl with red eyes, purple hair, a white jacket with a red tie, and… bunny ears twitching about?
The bunny-girl lowered down to her level. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked. Somehow, Lusamine got the urge to reach her hand out and tug on the ears to see if they were real.
"Ow! Ow! Stop that!" the bunny-girl complained as she stood back up… so, they were real and not just an accessory, she thought?
The silver-haired woman, presumably the doctor, looked at her next. "I see you have regained consciousness. Tell me, how do you feel?"
Lusamine managed to push herself up from the bed she was on, and looked around. It seemed to her that she was in some sort of rustic, oriental room with mismatched modern equipment to the sides and vials and beakers of strange chemicals on the shelves. Also, there was a second bunny girl playing with a small rabbit off in one corner, and through a partially open door she saw yet a third bunny girl in a pink dress running around. About the only recognizable thing in the room was the Chansey with a medic cap to the doctor's side, who offered her an egg.
"...am I dead?" She asked candidly.
The doctor laughed. "Oh heavens no, I assure you are quite alive, although I do understand the confusion."
"I mean… yeah, I'm surrounded by a beautiful doctor and a bunch of bunny girls," Lusamine observed.
"I am Eirin Yagokoro," the doctor said bowing. "And this is my assistant Reisen."
This was all coming to her way too fast, Lusamine thought. She then felt her head hurt a bit, causing her to put her hand on it.
"Ah, yes, that was a serious blow you recieved, your children told me."
Lusamine thought back as hard as she could, until she recalled the last thing she remembered doing before blacking out.
"...yeah… I was trying to open a wormhole and… I guess the force knocked me back." She paused for a moment. "...how long was I out for?"
"We took you in about a week ago, the day after you blacked out," Eirin told her. She walked over to a shelf and picked up a vial containing a lavender liquid. "We also found this in your bloodstream and extracted all of it. It would seem to be a very potent neurotoxin."
Neurotoxin… ah. She remembered. Those experiments they performed on Nihilego… some of that must have gotten into her and made her… insane. How it amplified her guilt and sorrow over losing her husband and daughter to that wormhole many years ago.
Lusamine shook her head. Thinking back to all the things she did to Lillie and Gladion as a result… would they ever forgive her?
"Miss, are you okay?" Reisen asked her.
"Oh," Lusamine looked up and shook her head. "No, it's okay. Thank you."
"Our pleasure," Eirin smiled.
Lusamine managed to get up off of the bed, with Reisen helping to steady her wobbly legs as she did. The inaba found herself blowing Lusamine's long hair out of her face, ironic considering her own ankle-length hair she had grown and taken care of ever since leaving the moon. Soon, Lusamine was able to steady herself, and Reisen could let go.
"I'm pleased to say you are perfectly healthy," Eirin told her. "We were just waiting for you to wake up."
Lusamine looked at the door. "Is… is my family here?"
"Oh, yes, I told them you would likely wake up today, so they're waiting for you outside." She showed Lusamine out the door and guided her down the traditional hallways of Eientei. Along the way, Lusamine caught a glimpse of Kaguya meditating in her room. She could only see the back of the princess, but Lusamine knew that such long, luscious hair concealed the face of a true beauty. Just where had she ended up?
At the end of the hall was a waiting room, and seated there was Gladion and Lillie, side-by-side. When they saw her, their eyes lit up.
"Mother!" Lillie jumped up and gave Lusamine a hug, while Gladion just walked up smiling at her.
"Oh, Lillie!" Lusamine said hugging back. "I'm so glad you two are alright!"
"You kidding? You're the one we've been worried about!" Gladion told her.
"I know…" Lusamine looked down. "I… I realize I lost myself to those toxins… I hope you can forgive me."
Gladion smirked. "I can tell by the spring in your voice and your eyes that our mom is back."
"...thank you," Lusamine said tearfully.
Lillie shuffled around a bit. Lusamine could tell she had something else to say.
"Something the matter, sweetie?" she asked her.
"Er, well… there's others waiting for you," she said. "We… didn't want to bombard you all at once, so they're all outside." Lillie pulled out her phone. "I'll text them to come in if you're ready to see them."
Lusamine wasn't quite sure what was going on. "Well, sure, honey. I… don't quite understand what's going on, but I'm sure I'm ready for whoever they are."
"Well, alright." Lillie hit send on her phone while Gladion cleared the doorway.
A few moments later, the door cracked open.
Through it, came a man. A man…
"...it can't be…" Lusamine said blankly.
She and Mohn locked eyes for a long time. They were both similarly shocked to see one another.
"Are you…?"
Mohn smiled. "I am."
Lusamine teared up, then ran over and squeezed Mohn.
"I can't believe it! This must be a dream! I died and went to heaven!" The way she delivered it clearly communicated the joy in her voice. Finally, after fourteen long years, she and her husband were reunited once more.
"Ain't no heaven better than me, babe," Mohn told her. "Especially since this isn't actually heaven. This is real." The two embraced for a long time. Gladion and Lillie could not help but feel so glad for their parents, who loved each other so deeply their bond was not weakened even after fourteen years apart.
The two eventually pushed each other apart, and Lusamine asked Mohn, "how did you… I mean, I can't believe you're actually back! I thought you were dead!"
"Oh, you know, you can't keep me down for long!" Mohn joked. "I'm a Kirisame, after all! Bein' tough is my game!"
Lusamine looked around. "By the way… if you're here, then is Marisa-"
"Al-OOOOOO-la!" came a tomboyish voice through the doorway. Through it came Marisa in her best witch outfit (the navy blue one with three buttons), followed closely by Alice, Sunshine and Kourin. Lusamine hardly recognized Marisa with her getup, but the platinum locks and green eyes gave her away clear as day.
"Marisa!" Lusamine smiled. "You've grown!"
"Well, I mean, yeah, I am eighteen. What, you seriously didn't think I'd be a nugget forever, did 'ya?"
Lusamine laughed. "Oh, I suppose not. By the way, is there a convention going on? That costume is so…"
"Oh, yeah, the dress? No, actually I'm a witch."
Lusamine was puzzled. "A… witch?"
"Yeah, like a real witch! I ride a broom and make potions and everything! And this is my magician friend over here!"
Alice was surprised for a moment, before collecting herself and extending her hand. "Ah, yes, pleased to meet you Mrs. Kirisame. I'm Alice Margatroid. Pleased to meet you."
"Oh… hi, miss… Alice." Lusamine shook Alice's hand, when a floating doll came out from behind the puppeteer, catching Lusamine's attention.
"Err… I'm sorry, but what kind of place did you all come from?" Lusamine asked confusedly.
"A magic place fulla gods and demons," Marisa boasted. "Actually, we're in that place right now. It just… kinda got dumped here in Alola by Necrozma. It's a long story, you probably wouldn't be interested."
Necrozma… Lusamine of course knew of the legend, but… it was involved in this incident, huh? Maybe it was the thing that knocked her out? She didn't know.
Lusamine shook her head. "Well, however you all got here, I'm so glad you two are back. I'm sure you have stories for me."
"You bet!" Marisa said holding out her fist.
Lusamine then turned to Kourin. "And you are?"
"I'm Rinnosuke Morichika," he said bowing. "You have me to thank for looking after these two."
"He's like the cool uncle I never had!" Marisa said.
"We're very good friends," Mohn added. "He taught me how to run a shop, and I opened my own, and that's how I've supported myself."
Lusamine shook Kourin's hand. "Pleased to meet you. I am Lusamine." As she shook his hand, she noticed Sunshine off to the side, kicking around looking at the floor.
"Oh? Who is this little lady?" she asked sweetly.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Alice laughed. "Sunshine, would you like to come say hi to your grandmother?"
Lusamine's mind went blank.
"Er… grand what now?"
"She used to be one of Alice's dolls, but we helped her become a real girl!" Marisa explained. "I'm a mom to her, so that would make you her granny!"
The little girl awkwardly waved at Lusamine. "...hi. I'm… Sunshine." Her eye glinted just then, briefly revealing her true nature as a Necrozma to Lusamine, letting her know this was a very special girl indeed.
Lusamine was still unsure how to process being a granny all of a sudden. She was too young to be a grandma, she thought. This couldn't be real, right?
...and that's when her eyes wandered and saw Marisa and Alice holding hands, each one with an engagement ring on it.
"...mother, are you alright?" Lillie asked.
"...ah!" Lusamine snapped back to reality. "No, I'm fine! It's just that… this is all so much to take in all at once! I… can we go back home so we can catch up? I want to hear everything up until now!"
"I don't see why not!" Mohn said. Walking out the door to a waiting helicopter ready to take them back to Aether Paradise, Lusamine asked to pick up and hold Sunshine, feeling the girl's warmth against her as they stepped on.
The chopper took off, heading across the island and giving Lusamine an amazing view of Gensokyo, the land that Marisa and Mohn had called home for all these years. She certainly was ready not only to hear their tales, but perhaps see them firsthand as well.
"This place is gorgeous ," she beamed. From the snow-capped Youkai Mountain to the verdant Genbu Ravine, the darkness of the Forest of Magic to the shrine tucked into a mountain pass. The grand old Myouren Temple crowned a clifftop, the Human Village sat by the sea, and the Scarlet Devil Mansion sprawled across bayfront property with white, sandy beaches. In the distance, she could see Skarmory nesting near the Tengu City on the mountain with what appeared to be winged humans flying close by, and the chopper swung close to the river where a Dewott was practicing its swordplay while its Primarina mother watched. Eventually, the stark-whiteness of Aether Paradise, tucked along the shore, came into view, and before long the helicopter lowered down onto the landing pad just outside the family mansion.
The chopper's blades blew wind in all directions, making all the employees awaiting Lusamine's return step back and shield their faces. One by one, the family and friends stepped off onto the white tiles, and employees greeted them as they waved and walked toward the mansion.
"This is quite the place," Rinnosuke remarked, looking around at all the expansive gardens, the massive, glass-ceilinged terrarium where the conservation area was, and most of all the regal mansion standing at the edge of it all. What impressed him the most, however, was that Mohn and Marisa came from such a silver-spooned background, something he never would have guessed based on their demeanor and, in Marisa's case, lack of cleanliness and caretaking.
Entering the sprawling mansion, the maids and butler were all quick to greet the newly reunited family, who were given the red-carpet treatment as they were led to the dining room, where an impressive lunch spread awaited them. After a week unconscious, Lusamine was certainly looking forward to some grub.
"Wow, and we even get lunch too!" Marisa exclaimed.
Kourin picked up a crab cake filled with Crabrawler claw meat. "I can tell this food was made with very expensive ingredients."
"When you can afford the best, it's no surprise at all," Lusamine smiled. "I'm surprised you could tell so quickly, though. You must have a good eye for cuisine."
"Not particularly," Kourin smirked. "I can look at an object and tell what it is, although not necessarily how it's used. That's how I can tell people what the items in my shop are. But yes, it also means I'm good at looking for ingredients when I'm out shopping and gathering."
Lusamine snickered. "Well, maybe I should hire you as a chef." Her toothy, smug smile with a fang reminded him of Marisa's own. Now he knew where she got it from, he thought.
Kourin shrugged. "Well, I guess I wouldn't mind. I don't suspect my shop would make much money in this world."
Lusamine then turned toward the magicians. "So… a witch, huh?" she asked. "Does that mean you wave a wand around saying hocus-pocus or what?" She smiled. "Or maaaaybe you like a magical girl who says cute phrases to transform~!"
Marisa laughed. "Oh, no, it's not like that. It's more like a science than any of that stuff. There's a buncha chemistry involved in making potions, and by chemistry I don't mean mixing newt eye with other stuff, I mean like actual balancing formulas and reactions, figurin' out molarity, partial pressure and pH, drawin' out salts and ions, all that good stuff. Lots of biology and botany, finding good mushrooms and all that, physics because magic's a type of energy the same as light and radiation, astronomy 'cause planet and star alignments affect a lot of reactions, math so you get your numbers and equations right… basically, I'm just like you and dad who were scientists!"
"And lasers. Don't forget about lasers," Alice joked, elbowing Marisa.
"Well, I mean, how else am I supposed to fry some dumb shmuck in my way in a jiffy?" Marisa chuckled.
Lusamine smiled, glad that her girl was just as smart as her, if not even more so, and dedicated enough to her craft that she was past kids who actually went to high school. "I see. It sounds like this place is tough. Is that why you're a witch?"
"Well, that, and it was also borne of my attempts to try and get home," Marisa admitted. "I never wanted to give up, so I did whatever to make it happen." Lusamine's heart warmed, hearing that Marisa never stopped looking for a way back home and that that was cause and reason.
She turned to Alice next. "And you? How did you meet Marisa?"
"Well, more like she met me," Alice admitted. "She moved into an abandoned house near my cottage after we first met, because she saw how skilled of a magician I was and wanted help with her experiments. To be honest, she was kind of a pest at first, but after I saw how truly dedicated she was to her research and how smart she was she grew on me."
"My, you seem quite young to be such an accomplished magician," Lusamine noted.
Alice laughed. "Oh, that's not it at all! I'm actually over eighty."
Lusamine was confused.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have clarified. Magicians who are skilled enough become youkai magicians who don't age, and that's what I am. It took me until I was about fifty to get to that point, but I made myself look like a teenager because I didn't like the health problems and creaking joints middle age gave me. That will probably happen to Marisa too if she keeps it up," she paused looking around, "which she can because this world has magical energies similar to Gensokyo's, but they're even stronger, almost on par with Makai's."
"I'm not surprised," Gladion added. "There's a lot of Pokemon species who use magic frequently and even some humans can. How else can a Blastoise get the water it needs to fire Hydro Pump, or a Zoroark without a flame organ use Flamethrower?"
Lusamine paused, then asked her next question. "That's… that's quite interesting! I didn't know there was so much to magic!"
"Indeed," Alice affirmed. "As you can see, my specialty is creating, controlling and empowering dolls, like this one," she said pointing to the Shanghai doll behind her. "Right now I'm controlling its movements using invisible strings connected to my fingers." She looked at Sunshine. "Sunshine here was one of my creations. Necrozma injected a soul into her, giving her thoughts and sapience. We made a larger body for her to inhabit, before a Xerneas which I'm assuming Necrozma directed gave her life to make her a real girl!" She paused. "...or, that's what we thought, but the truth is even more amazing. Not just a girl, but she is, in fact, another Necrozma."
"...another Necrozma?" Lusamine asked curiously. Sunshine was willing to demonstrate, and sent out Nebby.
"This is Nebby," Sunshine said. "This is the thing you tried to use to open that Wormhole?"
"MAHIA!"
Lusamine was impressed. She didn't expect the Cosmog to evolve, much less into a graceful Lunala, after what she did to it.
"Nebby says it still doesn't quite forgive you for what you did, but understands you weren't yourself and were desperate." Sunshine then released her brain crystal, causing herself and Nebby to turn into lights which built around it, before flashing and quickly receding to reveal Ultra Necrozma once more, the towering light dragon striking fear and respect into the hearts of all in the room. Lusamine and Mohn, for all their research, had no idea that Necrozma hid this secret all along. Finally, Sunshine melted back down into her girl form and Nebby in seemingly the blink of an eye.
"Impressive…" was all Lusamine could say.
"I… I don't have enough energy on my own to assume that form without Nebby just yet," Sunshine admitted. "...but I will eventually!"
Lusamine was still struck, how not only did she see Necrozma's secret, but said Necrozma was her… granddaughter.
"...I see," Lusamine smiled. "I guess I'll just have to spoil you extra-hard then!" she joked, giving Sunshine a noogie.
Gladion groaned, but still smirked. "Oh jeez," he joked. "Not even a day and she's already an embarrassing grandparent."
"Oh, don't be like that!" Lusamine joked in a way that reminded the magicians of a certain gap-youkai. "We're all together now, and that means you have to put up with Ms. Lusie now!" Mohn smiled as his wife's kind but deadpan, wisecracking and politically-incorrect self came crashing back like an avalanche. Grabbing Alice and pulling her close to one side, she joked, "and if you're gonna be my little pumpkin's wife, you're just gonna have to deal with it!" She gave Alice a raspberry as everyone howled.
"Welcome to the family, Alice," Marisa joked. And it was at that exact moment that Alice realized she was going to have to face something which all her years of magical studies could never have prepared her for:
In-laws.
About a month had passed since that day in Ultra Gensokyo, and it was now August, the height of the tourist season in Alola. A new attraction that came onto people's radar was the curiosity that was Gensokyo, the island on which it sat having since been christened Oma'Oma'O Island, to fit with Alola's island naming scheme and its green themes, from a green meadow with a Grass/Flying Oricorio species to the green-colored Tapu Mo'o. That month was an eventful one for everyone involved, and as expected, the news that everyone would be staying here in the Pokemon world came with mixed but ultimately positive reception. The culture shock hit the village residents the most, with them all being unused to this strange, modern world with even stranger creatures living among humans.
There were, of course, some inconvenient realities that came with this shift: first, the Youkai Sages, as almost every youkai expected, officially and forever after banned eating humans and any and all other acts that would be illegal in this society such as drinking if one appeared underage. Since pretty much all youkai had the ability to shift into Pokemon species most closely matching their own, those who couldn't bring themselves to adjust to this human-centric world did so, and would essentially live out the rest of their lives in this manner. Most, however, who considered "traditional" youkai behavior overrated before and who liked this world's embracing of all things strange, were more than willing to give it a shot.
Getting through all the legal stuff was a massive undertaking, as everyone had to have citizenship documents created, which involved interviews and basic questionnaires, getting fingerprints and eye scans, physical exams for the Pokemon World's universal healthcare system, and other legal bits and pieces like a census that included all humans as well as youkai willing to be counted. After that was settled, a municipal government was established, based within the Human Village, which came to be known as Gensokyo City. Keine, a longtime village resident and trusted administrator, won the first mayoral election by a landslide with even most youkai approving of her job, and worked with Alolan officials to adopt and put in place regional ordinances as well as the island's first batch of laws, which included zoning the entirety of the island apart from Youkai Mountain and Genbu Ravine as being Gensokyo City's city limits; the aforementioned areas established their own governments with limited autonomy from Alola's and the world's government, similar to an Indian Reservation in our world.
All the buildings across the island also started work on being brought up to code, including strengthening as well as storm-and-earthquake proofing. A desalination plant was set up in short order, a wind farm and rooftop solar arrays established for power (former Hell's nuclear plant was not considered to be insurable and was forced to close, although the hot spring remained open, plus Satori began work with officials to reconfigure and hopefully one day reopen it), and utilities began to be laid out. One of the first buildings to be fully modernized was the Hakurei Shrine, where Reimu spent the better part of a month haggling with contractors and inspectors to get the place energy-certified, hooked up to water and internet and get the custom solar-paneled roof that resembled a traditional one working, get plumbing, a toilet and septic installed, repair or replace broken structures and get the insulation and floor heating installed, and finally file all the necessary tax information since the shrine was considered a business as well as a place of worship.
Even during construction, the place got a ton of visitors, whose donations paid for all the work and still left nearly three-quarters of it, and that wasn't even including the prize money for the battles that people invariably challenged her to. At one point, she got more in a day than the shrine had received in an average two-year period before, and had to empty it more than once. Only a small portion of the donations were from people legitimately interested in the shrine and its religious services; most just wanted the privilege of seeing such a cool person as herself who came from another world and stopped what many believed to be an apocalypse. She even made enough money that she considered hiring on additional staff (something which the shrine hadn't had since the Hakurei Border went up) and had officially decommissioned the Moriya branch shrine; ironically, the Moriyas became jealous of her increased donations in spite of their own uptick in business. Her shrine was among the first attractions listed on updated travel brochures and websites, and a road leading from the still under-construction ferry dock (Aether's dock was used for the time being) to the foot of the shrine's new bus parking and loading area was Gensokyo's first paved road, with even a light rail station in the planning phase. It was all more than Reimu could have imagined the shrine ever having before, and this was just the first month in the new world.
Yesterday was the day the construction at the shrine itself officially finished, leaving Reimu to enjoy her first morning on her own in over a month. Waking up early and to the sound of her phone alarm, it still struck her as odd, her being home but home itself being in a new place, as if Gensokyo were a gigantic trailer. She was also still getting used to the traditional shrine having modern niceties such as a bathroom with a shower, a kitchen with an oven and a fridge, and heated and insulated floors so it was still comfortable the few times it got cold. At least most of the main areas, aside from being refurbished, were left as-is.
Reimu busily went about getting herself ready for the day. The increased business meant that she now had an actual schedule: open the place up at eight, which meant sweeping and other chores before then, then spend the several hours until closing at sundown helping guests and taking battle request, which she got so many of that she actually had a portable healing machine and PC on-site. All that extra work made her concentrate harder on getting hired help, and her work today would involve going through some applications. As she bounced around, getting her miko outfit back on and her hair tubes in place (she had since changed her hair back to its normal black, straight look), she glanced at the calendar and-
Oh. It was Tuesday.
Reimu was so busy and in go-getter mode, she forgot it was the one day she had chosen to close the shrine so she could have time to herself (she picked Tuesday since, once school started back up, she figured she'd have few visitors midweek). Dropping everything and slowing down, she took a deep breath, made herself some tea and sat down on the floor, and collected her thoughts. She really was running herself ragged, she thought. She didn't expect this new world with few incidents would give her even more work than before just processing all of her visitors and making all the changes to the shrine. Hopefully, once she got some hired hands, whom others such as Yukari and even Marisa had offered help in scouting and which included training a part-time relief miko, she could slow down and enjoy this place more at her own pace.
Getting up, she began to pace around and wonder what she should do today. Perhaps, she thought, she should go to that cafe that she had meant to visit the day this all started; she heard they had even recently attached to a Pokemon Center and had things like modern grinders and drip machines, as well as fresh pastries and Malasadas baked daily. She had substantially more money now than she knew what to do with, so she decided to head down there, get a breakfast sandwich and maybe run into a friend, so she went and got her stuff together, only to hear the telltale sound of someone shaking the offering bell outside.
Perhaps someone doesn't know I'm closed on Tuesday, she figured. Ah well, she'd just have to go out there and tell them that. Hopefully, it was just an innocent mistake by a tourist and not someone trying to crash in on her uninvited. So she went to the front and slid the door open to greet her visitor.
And the pianos started playing.
Standing before her was a blonde woman, wearing an odd combination of a black suit and dress with a black cape with fluffy trimmings and odd, yellow and black hair decorations. This woman gave a professional yet ominous air, like she was someone not to be trifled with. Yet at the same time she gave a welcoming, almost playful appearance, especially with that half-smile and her holding one side of herself.
"Alola," she greeted. "You must be Reimu, right?"
"Er, yeah," Reimu said unsure. "What business do you have today? I'm closed on Tuesday."
"Oh, no business," the woman told her. "I just wanted to come visit you on your day off. Marisa's family told me all about you."
Reimu fiddled with her broom a bit, then asked her, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"
"Ah, my apologies," the woman said. "You can just call me Cynthia. I'm Sinnoh's champion. I was in town on vacation and…"
Reimu's eyes widened. The Cynthia, one of the world's most skilled trainers? She had heard of her many times but had never seen her in person. Now here she was at her humble shrine on her day off, where they could have each other's full attention.
"No way!" Reimu exclaimed. "I've heard all about you! All the pro trainers I get mention you constantly! You were caught up in that Team Galactic incident way back, right? Lillie told me all about it!"
"The only and only," Cynthia said. "And you're Reimu Hakurei, the wormhole maiden who took the world by storm and saved it from disaster. I wish I could have been there to see that, Eiki told me it was a wild experience."
Reimu tilted her head. "You know Eiki Shiki?"
"Of course. She and her friend are training to become International Police investigators. We met at a coffee shop in Jubilife City and we hit it off quite well. She invited me to come visit here when I got the chance, and it certainly is an exotic place."
"Gensokyo has that effect," Reimu told her. "Rabbit holes at every turn, each weirder than the last."
"It certainly seems like that," Cynthia chuckled. "At one point, I ran into two sisters, one with orange hair and she looked like a movie star, the other looked poor for some reason…"
Ah, yes, the Yorigami sisters. Reimu had been keeping a close eye on them for quite some time; in fact, before this incident she had been gathering evidence that they were going to do something big soon. Shion was a poverty goddess that spread misfortune around, while Jo'on encouraged people's desires by leading them to financial ruin. They used their powers in the past to scam people, which brought them into conflict with her and some others often. Word was their "faller ability" allowed them to switch their abilities on and off at will, and so far they had been on good behavior, although Reimu had talked the fuzz into monitoring them for suspicious activity.
"I hope they didn't try to scam you," Reimu asked.
"They actually challenged me to a battle, but their team was no match for my Garchomp." She smiled thinking about it. "She's getting a little up there in age, but she still fights like a champion."
"I've heard your Garchomp is fierce," Reimu remarked.
"She's my first Pokemon," Cynthia said. "That was a crazy day when I caught her, chewing up the cables at my father's work site. But that just proved she was a scrappy little girl, and I easily trained her to be a strong fighter." As she was saying this, she very conspicuously flashed an Ultra Ball gripped in her right hand.
Reimu observed closely. "Hm. Hmhmhm," she chuckled. "I don't suppose you came here to demonstrate Garchomp," she asked slyly. "If you have, then you certainly won't find me to be the pushover that they probably were."
Cynthia closed her eyes and smirked. "I just wanted to see the power of the world-famous Reimu Hakurei."
"If you insist," Reimu taunted as she sent out Sasha, who beat his chest and roared, rearing for battle. Cynthia matched the wrestler cat with her own traditional startup, a keystone which soon projected a lilac ghoul with an evil face, Spiritomb. Cynthia commanded it to use Double Team, which it did by glaring and laughing wickedly while shifting around creating illusions…
...not that Sasha cared, jump-tackling into it and grabbing it in his arms as he slid. Sasha then punted the keystone straight up into the air, before finishing it off just before it landed with a powerful lariat.
"Impressive," Cynthia remarked. "Your Incineroar is certainly trained well. Perhaps now is the time I get started for real ." She took out her sole standard Pokeball, tossed it, and out came a fearsome, bipedal land-shark, who roared at its opponent while flashing its fins.
"Ohoho," Reimu chortled with just a tinge of nervousness. "You must consider me a real threat for you to drag out ol' Chompy so early in the battle."
"It is always tactical to bring out a Pokemon that counters the one in front of you," Cynthia explained. She then posed and let out her hand, revealing a double-sided Mega Ring from under her sleeve with a Z-Crystal clipped onto the underside of it. "Now witness the power of a truly Earth-shaking Z-Move!" Striking the ground while reaching up into the sky, Z-Power surged from her Groundium-Z into her Garchomp, who crouched low to the ground while baring her teeth and growling, before shooting straight at Sasha, shoving him into the ground and piercing straight into the earth underneath the shrine, emerging into the caverns underneath the surface.
Hitting the ground, the two Pokemon got up dazed while brushing off their scuffs, before looking up at the hell raven staring at them. As it happened, they were in a sensitive area of the reactor complex currently under shutdown, and Utsuho Reiuji was very defensive of them.
"Satori-sama told me not to let in any visitors!" she chirped dissonantly, before brandishing her control rod which soon transformed into a massive array of ray guns pointed right at the two fighters. They barely had enough time to look at each other and gulp before getting blasted by suns and lasers, sending them rocketing up out of the summit of Youkai Mountain, in the process shattering part of a walkway in front of the Moriya Shrine which Sanae had just gotten repaired.
While in the air, time seemed to slow as the two careened through the clouds at high speeds, tumbling around and eventually facing one another.
Sasha opened his eyes, and smirked. Then, in a flash of light, "Sasha" melded into an exact copy of Garchomp, charging her with Dragon Rush and knocking her straight into the ground in front of the shrine, leaving a small crater where she landed. Moments later, an exhausted Ditto splattered onto the ground, and both fighters recalled their Pokemon.
"I knew that thing would come in handy one of these days," Reimu remarked.
Cynthia's eyes widened. "Well. I never would have guessed that wasn't Sasha."
"I actually don't him with me at the moment," Reimu chuckled. "Let's just say he's on his honeymoon."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Adele was out on a morning swim in a reef near the shore, while Sasha was busy bench-pressing two keystones while Tenshi spotted for him, a clutch of eggs buried in the sand and surrounded by coals nearby.
Shrugging it off, Cynthia let out Milotic, a beautiful and serene sea serpent who Reimu matched with her own scowling sea dragon Wakasagehime (who, as a side note, her namesake approved of). Cynthia had enough foresight to teach Milotic Dragon Pulse despite otherwise being defensive, exactly for situations like this, and so commanded it to use the move; however, it was intercepted by Hurricane, the two attacks merging into a twisting maelstrom of draconic energy crackling with electricity. A swing of her fin sent the storm right into Milotic, ravaging the Tender Pokemon and knocking her out.
Now down three to Reimu's one, Cynthia gritted her teeth and decided now was the time to get serious. She decided now was the perfect moment to demonstrate two new additions to her team. The first one she sent out was a cobra, about the size of Cynthia herself, and whose hood flared with trippy, bioluminescent patterns while it hissed at Reimu.
Reimu tilted her head. "Huh…? I've never seen that one before."
"This is Psycobra," Cynthia explained. "It's a very rare species from Novograd, but there is a population on this island as well, in the forest at the foot of the mountain as well as the Forest of Magic. And that's where I found this one as its pre-evolved form, Psyrpent. It's quite versatile." Commanding it to attack, it bared its fangs, striking Wakasagehime in the blink of an eye and sinking them into her skin, poisoning her.
Reimu decided not to keep her now ailing Pokemon out, so she recalled it and sent out the only thing qualified to take this monster on: Magnezone, whose Steel-Typing let it laugh off poison and muscle through Psychic blasts, going for the paralysis with Thunder Wave and crippling Psycobra.
However, Cynthia was right when she said it was versatile, since besides its main attacks it also had Fire Blast and, more importantly, Earthquake to counter the Steel-types that dared threaten it. So it used the latter move, hoping to effortlessly knock out its 4x weak opponent… but, generally speaking, the opponent has to be grounded for the shock waves to strike it and sink it into the ground to deal damage, and Magnezone just floated over it, focusing on blasting out Thunderbolts that hit like trucks. An attempt at Fire Blast failed when it was fully paralyzed, allowing Magnezone to knock it out.
Cynthia was now visibly seething, prompting Reimu to cheekily smirk. "What's wrong?" she teased. "Is miss champion's fight not going her way?"
Cynthia shook her head. "No, it's just… it's been so long since the last time I've been at the receiving end of a beating." She gripped another Ultra Ball and tossed it. "But I wonder… do you have an answer to this?" Emerging from it was an archangel-like Pokemon, similar to Alice's but male (resembling depictions of Micheal) and wielding a spear. "This is Arcovenant… the male of the species, that is. I found it in its pre-evolved form near the mansion and evolved it. It's quite an interesting species, I've never seen or used anything like it." By now Rotom had been updated with its information, filling in its entry (which also had Alice's Arcovenant in its memory) and pointing out its Fighting/Fairy typing.
Reimu felt that it might be risky to leave Magnezone out against it, and so switched out to another of her Pokemon who could more safely combat it. Spreading her wings and ears, Sanae took to the sky, the fearsome Archangel Pokemon diving up moments after. The pair rose up high above the shrine, just off the side of Youkai Mountain near the Shining Needle Castle. Sanae realized it would be best to engage Arcovenant at a distance; that sharp spear with sword blades extending down the tip was not to be trifled with. She had a varied moveset that included Air Slash and Psychic to hit it super-effectively, plus Ice Beam to try and freeze its wings. First, she let loose with Air Slash, but Arcovenant foresaw the attack and quickly shut his metal-scaled wings to dispel it, taking minimal damage. He realized that, despite type advantage, Sanae was weakest if engaged at close range where his attacks could land, but she was faster than him, forcing him to get creative and figure out how to do that.
Thinking quickly, he found a ledge along a cliffside, and positioned himself there so he could more effectively parry Sanae's attacks from where having to remain aloft was not a concern. Sanae took this as him feeling cornered, and let loose with more Air Slashes and Ice Beams, but each attack was repelled by Arcovenant's wings and mighty spear, which he used to smash rocks off the mountain and hurl them at her, forcing her to dodge.
Sanae then switched tactics, using Psychic to try and pry his wings open to land an attack. Activating it, she concentrated hard on the wings, which Arcovenant struggled to keep closed as the psychokinetic force threatened to rip them clean off. But his determination and resistance eventually paid off, as Sanae lost focus and became dizzy from using the attack for too long. Now was the time to strike. Rising above, Arcovenant bore straight down on Sanae with a fist covered in electricity, landing a powerful Thunder Punch and meteoring Sanae into the ground, knocking her out and forcing Reimu to recall her.
Arcovenant lowered down to the ground as Cynthia snided, "as you can see, type advantage isn't everything. One must use tactics in order to counter the opponent's strategy, rather than just relying on brute force." Arcovenant twirled his spear around and let out his hand as if to say "here and obey the word of the lord…"
...before turning around and getting slammed by a huge metal drill, driving him into the hillside and knocking him out.
"One must also remain aware of their surroundings and not talk about how they're going to win," Reimu countered. A blue, jackal-like figure landed in front of her. "Nice job as always, Anubis." Reimu had decided recently that Lucario needed an actual name, and felt that the Egyptian judge of the dead was the only fitting name for him.
Cynthia crossed her arms and looked down. "To think that I would be brought down to my last Pokemon by someone other than Dawn…" She smirked, chuckled, and brandished her last Pokeball. "All the rumors about you and your skills have turned out to be true. One who kills evil spirits, faces down goddesses… how quickly you adjusted to life here and completely crushed surfing, racing and skiing. You're a rare sort of person to have done all that at just eighteen."
"The Hakurei line is one of fearless fighters," Reimu said. "I'll be damned if I don't live up to the high standard my ancestors set."
"...then I'll be damned if I don't live up to the example all descendants of the Kirisame Line strive for."
Reimu was taken aback. "Wait… are you really…?"
"Mohn and I have a common great-grandfather," Cynthia told her. "The family is unbelievably vast, with over two-thousand living members. We're as much an elite club as a family."
"Like a royal family," Reimu said. "Because the Kirisames are a royal family from Kalos." She pointed her Gohei at the Sinnohvian champion. "I may be the only living Hakurei, but that doesn't mean I don't strive to bring up the family name. If anything, it means that I am all the Hakureis at once."
Cynthia finally sent out her last Pokemon, a Lucario just like Anubis. "Very well, 'all the Hakureis.' Let's see how well you can stand up to the sheer power of Mega Evolution." She activated her keystone, and reacting quickly, Reimu opened up her pendant and activated her own. Their bonds with their Pokemon caused physical and mental energy to flow into each, powering them up until, in a flash of light, they each became Mega Lucarios, floating above the ground and brimming with aura.
Both combatants darted up into the sky and started brawling. At this point, it wasn't so much a Pokemon battle as it was something ripped out of the pages of Shonen Jump, with each one rapidly punching and striking at each other while dodging, their trainers telepathically directing their actions as they traded blows. Anubis let loose with Blaze Kicks and Aura Spheres, while Cynthia's Lucario used Drain Punches and Shadow Balls.
Reimu thought as this was going on, and hatched a plan. Reaching into her pouch, she secretly swiped a spell card, and with a skillful flick, tossed it up into the air, where Anubis caught it. Calling upon Stardust's power, the card powered up, and Anubis activated the spell card, Fantasy Seal. Flashes of light spiraled out, struck their opponent, and then yin-yang orbs sealed Lucario's powers and held it in place, giving Anubis the opportunity to practically go Super Saiyan before focusing, gathering a huge amount of energy, and unleashing a veritable Aura laser, ravaging Cynthia's Lucario and clenching the match in Reimu's favor.
The two recalled their Pokemon, after which Cynthia collapsed down to the ground. Reimu stepped up in front of her. "So," she snarked, slinging her gohei over her shoulder, "does this mean I'm the champion of Sinnoh now?"
"...as if," Cynthia retorted. "Come beat the league and challenge me officially if you so desire." Getting up and brushing herself off, she told Reimu, "I haven't had a fight like that in such a long time. When you're used to winning against other professional trainers all the time, victory gets boring, and I feel… refreshed, humbled, to have lost to someone when I wasn't holding back."
"I've been fighting since before most kids master writing," Reimu boasted. "When I was seven, Yukari left me out in the wilderness where I had to live off of the land and fight for my own skin. I still remember when I had to rip the heart out of a youkai that had killed three villagers with my bare hands." She laughed. "I've also had to shoo out drunk idiots after the party's over, some of whom could blast out half the mountain if they wanted to."
Somehow, Cynthia wasn't surprised that Reimu had received this kind of harsh training. "To become the best means sacrificing comfort for strength and willpower," she reflected. "I put myself and my Pokemon through rigorous training nearly daily to stay on top of our game, but never anything that intense."
"I bet people would kind of avoid you if you did that all of a sudden," Reimu joked. She turned back to the shrine. "It's a bit breezy out here. Would you like to come in and talk some more? I'll make you some tea."
"That sounds wonderful," Cynthia replied. So she followed the shrine maiden into the shrine, where she was treated to a cup of rare Genbu Ravine green tea, brewed using tea leave Reimu personally picked.
"...and so that's why you killed the fortune-teller?" Cynthia asked. It had been an hour since the battle, and she and Reimu were knee-deep in conversation and well into their second jelly biscuits.
"Pretty much," Reimu said, taking a sip. "I mean, on one hand, I killed a father, and have been called a hypocrite for offing him but letting other youkai visit my shrine, which is why a lot of people in the village don't trust me. But on the other hand, turning your back on humanity is one of the biggest crimes you can commit in Gensokyo." She slumped back. "Honestly, if he weren't also a known predator of kids and even fairies I might have let him go with a warning never to return to the village, since he honestly wasn't any threat, but there was no way to trust him. So I had to carry out my duty as the Hakurei Shrine maiden. Hard decisions like that one come with the territory, since I supported the balance of Gensokyo on my shoulders."
Cynthia took another sip. "I can't imagine having that sort of burden placed upon me. Being Sinnoh champion is already a job and a half."
"Speaking of which," Reimu asked, "how can you be here visiting me and not back home facing challengers?"
"Dawn takes my place whenever I am away," Cynthia answered. "As formidable as my Garchomp is, even fewer challengers make it past her Dialga and Palkia. She also used to command Giratina, but traded it for a peculiar metallic Pokemon who packs a lot of firepower."
"I think I might have battled it," Reimu said, thinking back to the battle against the Phantoms on Exeggutor Island. "I swear it looked like goddamn Lucifer."
"I don't know who that is," Cynthia explained, "but in the Sinnohvian creation myth it stood against Arceus and was cast out into the Distortion World."
"Sounds like Christian Myth," Reimu said. "Replace Arceus with YHVH and Giratina with Lucifer and you have that story in a nutshell."
"I'd love to read about some of that world's lore sometime," Cynthia said to Reimu. "I'm also an archeologist and love exploring ancient ruins, uncovering the secrets of lost civilizations."
"Patchy's library has a whole section dedicated to Earth religions, if you can get into it," Reimu told her. "Shinto, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Native American Mythology, Greek and Roman Mythology, Zorostrianism, Theosophy, the works. I used to go there in my spare time and bone up on parts of the Shinto mythos that I wasn't clear on, as well as learn about some of the other religions."
"I doubt I'll have trouble accessing her collection," Cynthia replied. "Me and her met recently and talked for a good couple of hours about her adventures."
"Oh, right, she's been pretty busy lately, hasn't she?" Reimu asked. "I still can't believe they actually managed to go into Meiling's timeline and fix everything. Sunshine helped her and told me it was a personal request from Starlight that they get that taken care of."
"Indeed." Cynthia took another sip of tea.
Reimu thought for a second, then asked, "hey… you mentioned you met with Eiki Shiki recently, right? What was the occasion?"
"She and Komachi were just in town and invited me out for coffee." She took a sip, then set it back down, this time changing her tone a bit. "She told me something interesting that she wanted me to relay to you. She thought you wouldn't listen to her if she tried telling you herself, so she asked me to do it instead since she thought you'd enjoy my company more."
"Eiki's always been a nag who goes off on tangents and only sees things in black and white, since she had to for her old job," Reimu said rolling her eyes. "Komachi visited me a few days ago and told me when they were doing all the medical screenings it took all of five seconds for the doctors to diagnose her with Autism, which I guess has things like that as symptoms."
"She does have a unique aura," Cynthia commented.
"You could say that of a lot of people I know," Reimu snarked.
Getting back on topic, Cynthia asked Reimu, "so, I'm sure you know of the Tale of Prince Kamehameha, correct?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Reimu said.
Cynthia paused, then continued, "Eiki thinks she has her own theory on what happened after he was cast into the Ultra Wormhole by Necroma."
Reimu's ears perked up. Eiki, being the arbiter of right and wrong and Gensokyo, would undoubtedly have seen plenty of souls come before her for judgement. For her to have an idea on what happened next could only mean one thing: she was highly convinced the prince ended up in Gensokyo.
Now this tale seemed extra-weird. If that actually happened, then Alola and Gensokyo were connected in more ways than she could have imagined.
"When we were chatting in the cafe, the conversation somehow drifted toward that tale, and how no one knew the prince's fate after he was cast away. But after I described the prince to her, she said she was reminded of someone she had to judge once." She sipped some more tea before pouring another cup.
"According to her, about five-hundred years ago, a strange man came to Gensokyo from a distant land. Of course, the Hakurei Border had yet to be constructed, so outsiders, while rare, were not unusual. What was unusual was that this man had markings no one knew, and spoke a language no one understood, and he could not understand them either. He was almost killed by youkai, before the Hakurei Shrine maiden at the time, Haru Hakurei, rescued him and took him back to the shrine. There, she nursed his injuries, and helped teach him Japanese. He eventually mastered it enough to communicate to her what had happened and how he had arrived there. Realizing he would, in all likelihood, never return home, she offered to help him settle in the village or another location outside the valley."
She continued, "...but, I'm sure you know how these things go. She of course meant to help him find a home in the village, but kept putting it off, seemingly out of laziness. She put him to work on the grounds for the time being, cleaning up and such, until one day where a youkai attacked a shrine-goer. Before she could help out, he was already in action and killed the youkai with a makeshift spear. From that day onward, he accompanied her on youkai hunts, demonstrating his skills at hand-to-hand combat and leading villagers, and she knew, this amazing man was 'the one.'"
Reimu realized where this was going, and her face was blank.
"So, in time, he proposed, she accepted, and they married. Not long after, they had a daughter who would eventually take up the reins of the shrine."
Reimu was dumbstruck.
"I…" she stammered. "So… I'm descended from the prince?"
"It would seem so," Cynthia smiled. "You are, believe it or not, of Alolan royal blood."
This was all way too much for Reimu's pea-brain to absorb at that moment. When she was displaced from Gensokyo, she ended up in a place where her ancestor she never knew about came from, and had the throne in her birthright.
"But," Cynthia added waving a finger, "that is not where the story ends." Oh geez, Reimu thought, where could this possibly go next?
"The prince, ultimately, never did return home. He grew old, old enough to see his granddaughter become the shrine maiden, before his age got the better of him. Like all souls in Gensokyo, his appeared before Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu, for final judgement. She was just about to hand it down - she did not tell me what said judgement would have been - but found herself frozen, stuck. No matter what, she could not make that judgement."
Sipping some more tea, she continued, "normally, whenever this happens, it means the soul has some sort of unfinished business significant enough to bar it from the afterlife. In this case, he never fulfilled his destiny to become king, but she could not have known that. So, with no other alternative, she entered his soul into the cycle of reincarnation, hoping that a future life could fulfill this business. The first reincarnation was the man who was Rinnosuke Morichika's grandfather. The second was a kamaitachi, ironically exterminated by a Hakurei Shrine maiden. Each time, the soul came back to her and was re-entered into the cycle for the same reason."
She paused again, before adding, "after the third time, she was really annoyed by this one soul in particular who would not pass on no matter what she tried. She thought back to his first incarnation - that being the man who married Haru - and figured the 'unfinished business' had to do with the shrine somehow. On a whim, when she next re-entered the soul she included special instructions to make that soul a Hakurei Shrine maiden when the next one was born."
Cynthia did not need to continue for the implication to set in.
Reimu wasn't sure if either Cynthia or Eiki were shitting her, or…
"...you're joking," was all she managed, pointing at Cynthia.
"That's what she told me," Cynthia replied, taking one last sip.
All was silent. Then, Reimu began to chuckle. Then, she fell over laughing hysterically.
"Ah. Ahaha… hahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!" she howled. "Oh man, that's rich! So basically, not only am I descended from the Alolan Prince, but I am, in fact, the Alolan Prince reincarnated?"
"That's what it looks like," Cynthia smiled. "And the yama's word is absolute." She looked at Reimu. "Ironic, in a way, how this whole entire time you were searching for a way home, never realizing you had returned home all along."
All of a sudden, with that revelation, everything fell into place: the reason Tapu Koko saved her back at Mahalo Trail and gave her that sparkling stone, and the others seemingly respected her despite being an outsider, was because they immediately sensed the prince's soul in her and bowed down, having sworn loyalty to him so long ago. Starlight, assuredly, picked her up and realized she was the prince, and wanted to send her back to atone for what it had done back then.
And then there was the matter of the prophecy, and all the figures now had names: the witches in wings of black, referring to Alice and Marisa in the Black Arwing. The Spectacled Disciple, referring to Adele after getting the MLG glasses. The Guardian of Order, who was Zygarde. The Mane of Dusk, Sunshine and Stardust, and all eighteen colors, the Z-Crystals powering them up. And leading the charge was the prince… herself.
Cynthia was not done with her observations, either. "And think about this… you performed the elite Over-The-Gyarados technique, which the prince invented. You were a natural on the ski slope, and so was he. And although G-Zero racing didn't exist back then, he was a champion Tauros Racer as well, another high-stakes racing sport." She stood up and crossed her arms. "And finally, while there were no Magnemite on the islands at the time, his first Pokemon was a Litten, he caught a rare Red Gyarados, he hatched an Eevee which became and Aerileon, and he caught a Lucario before journeying to Poni to face Solgaleo and Lunala." She smirked. "I guess the soul remembers, and history repeats."
It was beyond belief, how what seemed like a boring Tuesday completely flipped itself over and revealed a life-changing fact, that she was the prince, whose old Pokemon battling skills seemingly impressed upon her own, and how instead of returning to Gensokyo, she led Gensokyo to the land she didn't know she came from.
She shook her head, the sheer absurdity of the situation still gripping her like a metal hand gripped a tube of toothpaste. "I, er…" She cleared her throat. "I mean, jeez. Even after the incident ended, it's still shooting surprises at me like a machine gun. Except now I feel like I got hit in the face with a cannonball." She looked away. "I'm the prince! I didn't know it, but I was the main character of that story!"
She stopped, quieted down, then turned around smiling. "But… that was then, in a life I don't remember. Even if my soul is that of the prince, I'm still me, Reimu Hakurei, keeper of the Hakurei Shrine and resolver of incidents. That is my duty handed down to me, and my identity."
"Ah, but you shouldn't ever forget about the legacy you left behind in previous lives," Cynthia teased. "Doing that would be like pretending it never happened. Especially if, as Eiki suggested, your soul has unfinished business attached to it."
"Oh, yeah, like, what do you expect me to do, run for Prime Minister?" Reimu jokingly suggested. "The monarchy's been dead for centuries, I'd need a time machine to fulfill that role now."
Cynthia looked down, and smiled lightly. "Actually, it may be easier than you would think."
"Oh?" Reimu said tilting her head.
"Back then, as now, each island had a kahuna, and the prince's title had he become king would have been 'grand kahuna.' As it happens, that role was recently recreated." She looked at her phone. "You have today off, correct?"
"Yeah?"
Turning to the door, Cynthia told Reimu, "then gather your Pokemon and a stash of potions. I would like to show you something."
