Words couldn't quite describe the burning pain that wracked throughout his body, seeping into every inch of his very being. The slightest movement, every small breath taken through his smoke-filled lungs threatened to send him straight to death's door from the pain alone and at this point, he almost welcomed it. There was a moment in every gangster's life in which they were forced to reconcile with every action that had led them into the life of bloodshed and cruelty. Falling at the hands of some bratty teen many years younger than him while the entire street was ignited in flame was Formaggio's. The job wasn't meant to be this difficult, he was supposed to have been able to stalk the kid, find out their little hideout, and get out before anyone was the wiser. Sure he'd been plenty prepared to end the brat...Narancia, if it was necessary. But given that it was common knowledge in the mafia, Passione, that he was the idiot of the bodyguard team, he hadn't planned for it. He had just planned to sneak around him using his ability, Little Feet, to shrink down and follow the boy from his own pockets. Really, he'd even gone through the trouble of introducing himself to try and ease the tension between the two before the fighting ever started.

His lack of planning and his nature to just go with the flow had gotten him into trouble in his jobs before but he'd always managed to get it done regardless. Formaggio wasn't nearly as perfect in his work as his seniors, Prosciutto or Risotto but the hell did it matter if the target was dead by the end of the day? He had his own way of doing things and he wasn't going to ever let some stick in the muds stop him. Or...maybe he should have followed their example more, could have saved him a hell of a lot of pain. Coughing, he rolled on his side, his burned skin screaming and he suspected he wasn't long for this world after the barrage of bullets that had all but torn him to shreds. Even his stand, Little Feet, his trusted companion that had stood by his side the better part of 7 years was drifting into mist around him. Dying alongside its master. But surely the flames which covered his body were nothing to what he was certain he'd soon find himself thrown in. The mafioso had never been a religious man, he couldn't afford to be with the job he had, but if there was any kind of afterlife he doubted he'd make his way into the good side of it.

Since he was in his teens he'd had blood on his hands, starting when he'd gotten on the bad side of some Capo back in Naples. It was before he'd joined the Passione, and before he knew the man was one of the highest members of it. All he'd been planning was to swipe the bastard's wallet and bolt, the best way to survive for a street rat like himself. But before he could fully understand what had happened to him he was beaten to the ground in some alleyway by a power he couldn't understand nor see as the man stood above him without a shred of mercy in his eyes. He begged for the first time in his life that day, for a life he hadn't even realized he cared about after spending so much of it scratching around for any food or shelter he could find. A life far closer to that of a rat's than a human being. The only option he was given, the only chance he had to escape death that day had been to join the gang to repent for his transgression. Working and acting as the bastards gopher and attack dog. When the capo was satisfied that his debt had been paid, well...by then he had nowhere else to go as anyone he'd had any passing relationship prior to the incident had cut him off. It was just easier to remain a part of the group. It was safer, if only relatively, and provided his life with a purpose as stained in blood as it was. But perhaps more importantly, the hitman group was the closest thing to a family he could remember having in his life.

Formaggio had never believed in the whole "life flashing before your eyes" as you died concept, the movies and TV shows he watched always seemed to make it more metaphorical than anything. But while it was not his entire life, every moment spent as part of the gang definitely flashed through his head. Wondering, looking back at what he could have done to avoid this fate, painfully expiring on the ground while well aware his body would be too mangled to even hope to identify.

Maybe there really wasn't anything he could have done differently. Maybe it was just the shitty hand he'd been given in this world. To carve out a painfully short existence as a death dealer only to die at the hands of some brat the same age he'd been when he started down this path.

Perhaps.

It can't be helped.

Bianca had never once in her life considered herself brave….or courageous...or frankly even competent. Perhaps it was due to her nature itself, that the gods above had decided this one, this one would need to be protected and unable to do anything on her own. To always be seen as some pathetic porcelain doll. Or perhaps it was her overbearing father never letting her so much as step outside her home unless it was explicitly deemed alright for her to do so, and even then he often watched her from the window to ensure she made it the long distance of right next door. Regardless of the cause for her low self esteem, her clumsiness, or her dependency on others, she had a dream. A dream to some day travel her home region of Unova without any real goal in mind other than to escape the crushing grip of her family. A chance for her to show the world the truth, that Bianca was capable of being more than someone who needed to be protected.

It was surprisingly lucky for the unlucky blonde that the chance was given to her by none other than the professor of the region herself, Professor Juniper. A kind middle aged woman with a puffy ponytail of light brown hair who researched how exactly Pokemon came to be and how they related to human beings. She offered her and her childhood friends, Cheren and Black the opportunity to become Pokemon trainers and hold the esteemed title of Pokedex Holder. Despite her father's protests, she was 14 now, more than old enough to make decisions for herself and ready to prove as much to him, this was finally the excuse for her to take that step and break free.

That was two weeks ago...and a lot had changed since then beginning with Black's sudden departure from Nuvema Town. It stung. Yes she understood that it came down to something or another related to his estranged father's work but it didn't keep it from hurting any less. She'd never been great at making friends due to how ditsy she could be and while she still had the stoic Cheren, he just wasn't as easy to relax around.

But, there was also the far more concerning issue at play. Bianca didn't know much of science type things but from how the news explained it….some event in the nearby Alola region had resulted in a phenomenon known as Ultra Wormholes to spread throughout the surrounding regions including Unova. Pokemon from all over the world began appearing in places they shouldn't, including legendaries (Bianca herself had narrowly missed upsetting a Raikou that suddenly appeared outside her house). The region was in chaos as a result, making it dangerous to go even into the relatively tame tall grass around Nuvema Town much less for anyone to even consider going on a Journey. What had, not long ago, felt like Bianca's escape from her home life had quickly become another bout of bad luck in her life as no one knew when things would be back to normal. If ever.

Walking to the Professor's Lab, she considered just turning around and sulking back in her room. Even with the Pokemon she was promised nothing was going to change for her. There was no point in trying to escape the small town now so why even go through the trouble or heartbreak to bring the creature home with her and condemn it to the same life in a tall tower as her.

Bianca couldn't stop herself from letting out an angry, frustrated, despaired cry as she kicked a rock in her path as hard as she could, sending it flying into the trees that surrounded the small town. She had expected a rustling, maybe a few Pidoves to fly away in fright.

What she hadn't expected was to hear a man groaning in pain and surprise followed by a very angry sounding: "What the hell?!"

Bianca gasped, hands shooting to cover her mouth as she ran over to the source of the sound, "I'm so sorry I didn't think anyone was there! Omigosh I am so so sorry!" she cried out, already in a string of apologies even before she saw who she'd unfortunately taken her frustrations out on.

She was anticipating to have hit one of the poor souls of the town that was well aware of her clumsiness and general antics who would no doubt report her to her father. What she wasn't expecting, was to have hit an unusual looking man whose glare could have very well sent a Boufallant running.

He was a bit on the shorter side, she could tell as much even with how he sat on the ground rubbing his head where a small trickle of blood worked its way down the man's light grey, buzzed cut hair. His clothes were particularly odd, an orange coat with strange white baubles at the shoulders over a green vest. Both of which were opened slightly to reveal his chest and abs. That wasn't to mention his slacks which Bianca couldn't help but find almost clownlike, just who was this guy?

"Are you the one who hit me?" he asked, clear irritation in his voice but upon seeing her it at least seemed that the blood lust she'd first seen was gone.

Bianca bowed apologetically with almost enough force to send her hat flying from her head, "Yes sir I am so so sorry! I was kicking a rock. I didn't know anyone was over here!"

The man lifted his hands up in an 'easy' motion, "No it's...fine…" he said, and Bianca watched as he looked around him, granted it was pretty weird that he had just been here for no reason.

Before she could properly ask if he was okay or needed medical help, what Bianca vaguely recognized as a Clamperl poked its head through one of the bushes. She sighed at the thought of another poor Pokemon being displaced so thoroughly as the little clam Pokemon was meant to be found in the deep ocean, certainly not here. She was going to walk over and pick it up to bring to the lab where the smaller displaced Pokemon were being cared for, she didn't even get a step in.

"The hell is that thing?" the man yelled, getting to his feet surprisingly quickly for someone who had just had his head cut open by a rock.

Bianca hopped back herself, more startled by the man's outburst if anything as she worried if she had given him a concussion. Sure Clamperl weren't native to this region but it wasn't warranted this reaction.

"No no it's okay really!" Bianca tried to calm him down, quickly running over and picking up the clam Pokemon and bringing it over, it wasn't like it could run or even move by itself anyways. "See it's just a Pokemon, I know they're not really native around here but these are really harmless, I've seen a few around here already cause of the whole umm, Ultra Wormhole thingy-"

"The fuck is a Pokemon?" the man asked and Biannca could only blink in response.

First was naturally his language. Such language would get her grounded until she was well into her 20s if she'd even tried getting the word out. Second was the more pressing, much more concerning issue.

How could someone not know what a Pokemon was?

Biana rocked the Clamperl mindlessly, just trying to think of a response, yes, yes she had definitely given him a was just the only conclusion she could reach for his confusion. Unfortunately... there were no hospitals anywhere near their area so the next best bet was the Pokemon Lab, well, she was heading there anyways.

"U-umm, le-let's start over." she said, hands shaking as she tried to hold the pokemon in a way that would let her have one hand free to extend to him, "My Name's Bianca, i-it's good to meet you. We should get your head checked out."

The strange man looked at her hand, as if he was expecting it to explode or grow talons. But reluctantly, he took hers as well. "Formaggio."

Of the things that Formaggio had expected after shutting his eyes for what he believed to be the last time as flames licked against his body and distant sirens rang in his ears, this was not it. As the sidewalk melted away, he'd opened his eyes to soft sunlight filtering through a canopy of trees. The weather was comfortable, with the soft chill of early spring and the distant sounds of birds chirping their afternoon songs to the forest around him.

It would have certainly been great and all were it not for the fact there were no forests where he'd taken his last breaths, and he certainly doubted that he'd made it to a place this peaceful in death. That had only further been proven by the rock which had smacked into his head shortly after sitting up and the teenager who came out of the wood work practically yelling apologies at him. He could have only explained what happened next as being part of some concussion or end of life delusion. From the strange creature she carried in her arms after it had frightened him to the complete lack of concern she had regarding it.

She seemed harmless enough, a bit ditsy but harmless nonetheless as she carried the strange clam creature she'd called 'Clamperl' and it had responded shortly after by repeating its name. Initially, he'd made the assumption it was the girl's stand, the manifestation of a person's fighting spirit and will to live. He'd had his own long enough to make the connection that meeting another user of the mysterious power was hardly just a chance encounter. But again his assumptions were proven wrong as she'd called it a Pokemon and had looked at him as if he was the crazy one for not understanding what that was.

Nothing was making sense to him, Formaggio, a man who had lived through his share of bizarre and unexplainable things. Walking with the teen, he'd hoped some memory, something, anything, would come back to him.

About what the hell was going on. About how he could still be alive.

He was normally so easy going, so willing to go with the flow, but right now he felt like he would have killed (quite literally) for any semblance of normalcy.

Well, at least one thing didn't seem to change. As Bianca led him out of the forest into a small town he was given similar puzzled looks to those he'd received back in Italy, part of it surely due to his choice in clothing, but it may have also been the constant looks of bewilderment he was giving to the strange creatures that made their home in what he learned was called Nuvema Town. Some bore slight resemblance to animals he recognized, like the grey birds that flew overhead or the purple cat he watched slink into a home, but there was always something…..off. Whether it be color or body shapes, none of the animals seemed right.

Formaggio, as talkative as he was, didn't make much of an attempt at conversation as Bianca took him to wherever she planned to have him checked and she didn't do so either leaving them to walk in uneasy silence. It was fine for him, it gave him a chance to reflect and wonder and try to make sense of what threatened to drive him crazy.

"Oh u-um we're here!" Bianca stuttered out as they stopped at a large building with an orange roof and an array of windows. "There really isn't a hospital or Pokemon center until the next town so I thought maybe the professor could help?" she explained, struggling a moment to try and open the door with the creature in her arms until Formaggio took pity on her and opened it himself.

Now Formaggio wasn't particularly good at keeping up with current technology trends in the same way one of his teammates did, but it didn't take a genius to recognize that the tech in the building was far above what he understood to be currently possible. From the various monitors on the wall to the unusual cylindrical machine towards the corner of the lab that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie. People dressed in white lab coats mulled about their daily duties and paid the two of them very little mind as they entered other than a cursory glance that was quickly dismissed.

When Bianca had mentioned a professor, he first assumed the kind found in colleges, or, given her age, perhaps secondary school. It was now very apparent they were a very different kind of professor. More odd creatures also made their home in the lab and didn't seem to cause anyone any kind of disturbance. He took it in, distracted from his awe when a tall woman with light brown hair that seemed to add a few more inches to her height made her way towards them. Much like the others in the lab, she wore a long white lab coat but wore it more casually, opened to where her business shirt and skirt were visible. Admittedly, if he had any idea of what the hell was going on, she could have been his type, or perhaps just someone to playfully flirt with.

"Bianca it's good to see you dear, I was getting worried you'd gotten lost." the woman teased as she walked over, taking a moment to look over Formaggio but her attention was quickly caught instead by the blue clam. "Oh I see you found another poor lost Pokemon. We'll get you sorted in no time." she said, patting the clam on its head gently, finally taking notice of him, "Oh, who is this?"

"Heh great to know a rock to the head is less dire than a weird clam." Formaggio couldn't help but chuckle in mild annoyance, though at this point that was far from the only issue he had. In the mafia, names held a good amount of power whether that meant tracking someone down or putting someone down. Families and friends were such common targets that most of the men in his particular field called themselves by different code names for safety, "Formaggio." he replied, the name more real to him now than his birth name. "Blondie hit me in the head with a rock."

"I am still so so so sorry about that I swear it was only an accident! I didn't think anyone would be there ooooh that's no excuse I am so sorry!" Bianca pleaded and Formaggio lifted his hands up in the same gesture as before.

"Wait no no I'm only joking here really. I've been told I have a hard head, see?" he chuckled, using his knuckles to tap on his head, "Not much up there to hurt."

The woman watched the antics with a smile on her face, "I feel like I'm missing something here." she said, passing the Clam to one of her assistants. "In any case it's good to meet you sir. I take it you brought him here to get his head checked out? Other than a bump nothing seems to be wrong with him. I am Professor Juniper by the way, I'm the head of the Research Lab here in Nuvema."

"Well that's the thing Professor, he had no idea what a Pokemon was! He looked like he'd seen a ghost when he saw the Clampearl and he was looking at all the Pokemon in town oddly too-O-oh not that I was watching you that closely!" Bianca explained, frantically throwing her hands up in apologetics.

"Oh come on it can't be that strange? I mean, I bet there's tons of people who don't know shit about whatever the hell those things are." he said, "You're looking at me as if I'm crazy…"

He had to pause, looking at the concern across the Professor's face as she cupped her chin in her hand and evidently began to think, "Mr. Formaggio, Pokemon are found all over the world, quite literally in more places than human beings can survive. So you have to understand that claiming you don't have even the slightest bit of knowledge on them sounds...well worrisome."

"You're, you're really trying to get me to believe these weird little creatures have just been running around my entire life and I didn't notice?" he asked, "Do you really think I'm that dumb? Hah, this has to be some stupid joke…" Formaggio said, taking a step back, waiting for someone to punk him, to say this was some sort of elaborate prank.

"There could be another possibility however so please don't go worrying just yet." Professor Juniper said, extending a hand to the clearly anxious man.

"Yeah? Like what? And you'd better start making sense because-" he stopped, he'd planned to summon his stand, just in case, just in case he was in danger, but try as he might, his trusted guardian wouldn't form at his side.

He wasn't given enough breathing room to contemplate the implications before Professor Juniper continued, "What do you remember, prior to Miss Bianca hitting you" that elected a repeated 'sorry' from the teen,"and before you were in the forest."

Formaggio stopped, in all honesty he'd been trying to avoid thinking over those very same events for a few reasons including how he'd been so certain what he'd experienced had been his death. It was far too real, the fire and bullets too agonizing to have simply been a dream. He ran his hand against the short, buzzed off hair on his head, the fuzzy feeling one that could occasionally calm him down in times when his thoughts got too complicated. What could he say? That he'd been trying to kill some teenager with possible connections to the key to taking down Italy's most notorious Mafia Boss? That his 'death' was arguably some karmic justice for everything he'd done? Nope, he didn't know what was going on but whoever the Professor was she clearly had some influence and probably wouldn't be too happy to hear the entire truth. Sympathy points however…."I was on a street in Italy that had caught on fire, I don't remember what happened after, I guess I passed out due to the smoke or something who can really tell." he shrugged.

"Italy?" she blinked, pondering a moment more. "And there's no such thing as Pokemon from what you claimed in this 'Italy'?" she asked, a hand on her hip with another on her chin as if she'd been handed some impossible math question.

"Nope, none, we just have the usual dogs, cats, birds…" he trailed off, hoping she would get the idea.

She did seem to get the idea, nodding her head and twirling around, taking a few steps towards a massive bookcase and fiddling through towards a fairly small bound book, hardly more than a binder really, with slips of paper poking out from it.

"Umm...Professor, is something wrong? Did you come up with something?" Bianca asked, leaning over as the Professor fiddled through the papers, jumping back as the older woman shot straight up.

"Here we are!" Professor Juniper announced with a grin as she hurried back towards Formaggio with Bianca in tow, "This is what I was looking for, one of my colleagues, Professor Burnet, she works with the Ultra Wormhole Phenomena and while it's still a recent revelation and so few cases have been documented-"

"I'm sorry but can you please get to the point." Formaggio said, growing annoyed with how she seemed to be delaying the explanation he was growing desperate for.

"Yes of course." She said, shutting the binder with a clack, "Fallers. They're humans who fall from other dimensions into our own through ultra wormholes. Thus far there's only been a few known cases with all involved being from world's with Pokemon, but the possibility of someone coming from one without is exciting. I need to contact Professor Burnet immediately." she said and even if Formaggio didn't entirely understand all that was going on he could still realize she seemed far more excited by his situation than troubled.

"Listen Lady, no offense but none of this really matters to me. My team and I were up to something pretty damn important before I got dragged here by these ultra whatevers. What I need to know is how I can get back home and out of this crazy place."

Professor Juniper's excitement seemed to dim a bit as she was brought back to a pondering expression. Shutting her eyes a moment as Formaggio watched her intently, feeling like he could practically scream at her to get on with it. "Well, I don't believe anyone has found a solution to the Faller problem yet. We know so little about the phenomena actually that even if we knew how to open an Ultra Wormhole it would be difficult to figure out how to get you to your dimension. Surely there has to be so many out there after all."

"I see. So what you're saying is I'm stuck and going to die here in this weird place full of weird monsters and people who are way too damn trusting of strangers who came outta nowhere." Formaggio grumbled, throwing his hands up in frustration. He'd been in plenty of rough situations before, but this, this was the definition of hopeless.

Before he could protest, Juniper reached a hand out, placing it on his shoulder and making him flinch. She couldn't have been much older than him, even if he was only just out of his teen years at 21, but something about her eyes held what could only be described as wisdom beyond her years if Formaggio believed in that kind of shit, "I wouldn't say it's the worst thing. This world is quite nice I believe even if it has its issues and for the same reason you just said. Yes we're trusting, perhaps more than wherever you came from, but that is due to the belief that people are inherently good."

"Yeah well-"He waited a moment before pushing her hand away, gritting his teeth and sighing at the fact that he was stuck here, damned here. It wasn't hell but it wasn't home either, but what even was home for him anymore? "Well you're giving me far too much credit. You're giving humanity too much credit by trying to say most of us are 'good'." he replied without thinking, a taste of bitterness in his mouth as he spoke, reminded of all the ways his world had knocked him and people like him down. Not to mention the people he too climbed over to get to where he was, it was survival.

He didn't get the chance to hear what she said, if she'd replied to him at all, before a piercing roar shattered through the lab from the outside causing Formaggio to stumble back as he covered his ears in pain. When the roar subsided, it was followed by the sounds of screams outside. The professor wasted no time in running outside and against his better judgment, he chased after her.

Running outside to see a towering creature at least 7 feet tall with a muscular build and dark brown fur, spikes jutting out from its back and a tail that looked to be made of clouds. The sharpest detail however, was a face that looked full of fury and hatred, not that Formaggio had seen such a face on an animal before, much less one that looked somewhat like a lion. A lion that was spewing flames.

"The hell is that?" he asked, turning to the professor who looked to have gone pale, Bianca cowering behind her.

"Entei."