My old friend, the fresh air of freedom! Never will I take you for granted again!

"Well, that's a sigh of relief if I've ever heard one," Dawn giggles at my side.

"Trust me," I tell her. "This may seem like overdoing it to you, but being in a cell with nothing to pass the time has this effect on you."

"If you say so," she giggles again.

After that exchange, we move away from the police station, Dawn leading the way and Annette hopping after us. Dawn and I have to walk slowly so she can keep up with us, but fortunately it isn't too much of a problem. This time. Definitely gonna have to figure out how to take her around in the future.

In any case, as we proceed through the streets of Castelia, my assessment of the other day doesn't really change. This place is just another big city like any other, not particularly different from any on Earth. A realization that is kind of disappointing, to be honest.

Only thing that does catch my attention are the various Pokémon I can see walking around the city. An old lady giving bread to a flock of Pidoves, a guy running with a Lilipup by his side, a young girl with a Petilil on her shoulder, a kid holding a Minccino and the list goes on.

"Enjoying the scenery?" Dawn asks me chirply all of a sudden.

"Not exactly," I confess. "I'm from a big city myself, not too different from Castelia, so I'm already used to this kind of place. It's all the Pokémon around here that I'm observing."

"Is that so? Are the animals of your world so much different from Pokémon?"

"They are…" How do I put this besides 'not a bunch of animated pixels on a screen'? "Less colorful than Pokémon."

Dawn frowns. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well..." I glance at Annette. "Take her for example."

"Ra?"

"How much is a Maractus plant and how much animal?"

Dawn brings a hand to her face in a meditative stance. "If they are like Cacnea and Cacturne, they are entirely plant life forms. Why?"

"Well, the plants of my world are not able to move or make cries. They are more like…" I glance around our surroundings until I find a balcony with a bunch of plants. Regular plants. "More like those."

Dawn looks up to said balcony. Then to Annette and then to the balcony again. "Huh," she then says, face twisted in a puzzled expression. "From what you told the police, I'd assumed it was just the animal Pokémon being all Normal types or something like that. But to hear that plants are just plants there is...weird."

"What do you think plants not being just plants here feels to me?"

"Ra!"

I bite my lips to prevent a shout coming out of my mouth as I feel Annette's spiky arms grabbing my leg and shaking it. And looking at her, her mouth has thinned.

"Don't worry, little gal," I slowly say, trying my hardest not to scream. "I know you are more than just a plant."

Her mouth's angles immediately turn upward. "Ra!"

And as her grip tightens, I fail to hold that scream any longer.

Suffice it to say, after that hug I am back to limping again and Dawn has to help me walk the rest of the way. Fortunately there isn't much left to walk before reaching our destination, although what that destination is takes me by surprise.

"The Pokémon Center?" I ask as I lay eyes on the red and blue structure. "Really?"

"Ah good, you're already acquainted with this," Dawn replies. "Although a small correction: it's a Pokémon Center. There's more than one in cities this big."

I blink at her. "What? But I thought the rule was one for city."

Dawn lets out an amused snort. "Have you seen how big Castelia is? What makes you think just one would be enough for the needs of everyone here?"

I hate how much sense that makes.

In any case, we enter the Pokémon Center after that. The place resembles its game counterpart surprisingly well in terms of aesthetics, with the orange and yellow floor, red walls and large glass windows.

Of course, since this isn't a game, the proportions are not measured to account for only one trainer and thus they are much larger. Proceeding straight I can see the counter where normally one finds the nurses that heal the party's Pokémon. On the left, there seems to be a bar, a perfectly normal bar save for the clientele and their companions. And on the right of the entrance there is a shop with blue interiors, where I can spot spray bottles and - to my shock - Pokéballs.

"Alright!" Dawn intervenes before I can ask if that last one is the Poké Mart. "Let's get you to the nurse!"

The nurse, whose name is not Joy (and thank God, that would have been too weird for my taste), extracts Annette's spikes from my leg without too much trouble, aside from me having to yelp at each one of them. After that, though, Dawn pulls out a badge, tells the nurse she's dealing with a Faller case and asks to book a room for me. The nurse acknowledges everything, without even stealing a glance at me and goes to organize everything. Just what happened in Hoenn that made people coming from other worlds not such a big deal for the average person?

It didn't take long for the nurse to come back and give Dawn a pair of keys and tell her they had room 67 free. And now, here we are, on the elevator to floor number six.

"So," Dawn chimes in after the elevator's doors open to let us out, eyes beaming. "How do you find the Pokémon Center? Did it live up to your expectations?"

Hard for something not to live up to expectations when you don't have any to begin with. Who the hell actually expects to end up in a fictional world?

"It was...different from what I was expecting," I admit. "The way it was shown in my world made it seem like a smaller place where you just give the balls with your mons and they restored them to full health. Didn't think they offered medical care to humans too. Or even that they functioned as hotels."

"You aren't entirely wrong on that front," Dawn replies. "The human medical care they offer is limited. Had it been something more severe than a Maractus' hug, you would have been sent to a hospital."

So there are proper hospitals in this world? Noted.

"As for functioning as hotels, it's usually reserved for trainers passing by, although International Police members have the authority to requisition rooms if need be."

"Like you did right now."

Dawn answers by smirking at me.

"Well, this takes care of having to find a roof," I continue. "What's the next step?"

"Well, the next step will be filling in your documentation to get you settled in." Ugh, paperwork? "I know, I know, it's not fun. But since you already have documents on you, it's not going to be as complicated as you think. You'll just have to show your documents,explain what they're for and you'll be given their counterparts."

"That's it?" I ask surprised.

Dawn nods. "Yep."

Huh… sounds like the most effective bureaucracy I've ever come across.

"The most complicated thing is probably gonna be establishing a place of residence. Since you are, you know, not from any known city of our world, the local authorities will have to decide whether you can stay in Castelia."

Uh-oh. "And if they decide I can't?"

Dawn's face morphs into a puzzled expression. "Well, in that case we'll have to relocate to another city and hope for better luck there," she sounds unsure of that, as if the chance of that happening is nonexistent. "But why would they refuse you?"

"Why would they not?" I retort. "I'm a foreigner with nothing to give in return for the hospitality. Why would they want me here?"

"Now, now, that's no way to think," she lightly chastises me. "You need to remain positive, otherwise you'll never-"

A door slamming into her cuts Dawn off before she can finish. She then falls back on her butt while the guy coming off of the adjacent room and his Raticate realize what happened. I rush to Dawn's side and help her back to her feet.

"Oh dear," the guy - a man about our age - exclaims at seeing that. "I'm so sorry, Miss!"

"It's alright! I'm alright!" Dawn replies, although her having to massage her back doesn't make her words that convincing. "Just be more careful next time, alright?"

"Sure, I'll- hey, wait a moment," the guy narrows his eyes at Dawn. "You look familiar. Have we met before?"

Dawn winces, "I...don't think so? I'm not from Unova, I'm just here for work."

The guy is undeterred by her answer. "Not from Unova, huh? Neither am I. Are you from Johto perhaps?"

Johto? And this guy walks around with a Raticate by his side? Don't tell me he's who I think it is.

"Nope, sorry," Dawn replies.

"Huh, that's a shame," he replies, although he doesn't look too upset about it. "Well, sorry again about the door," he turns his attention to both of us "You two have a nice day and…" he stops talking as he glances down at my right leg. Or rather, the one next to it. "Wait, is that a Maractus?" He looks up to me again, eyes widened in awe. "Are you a trainer?"

Oh great…

"No," I tell him and his smile falls. "Annette and I only met a few days ago. And right now, I have no intention to train her for battling."

"Ah, pity," he rubs the back of his head. "Well, as I said, good day." He turns to his Raticate. "Come on Rattata, we're going."

Did...did he just call that Raticate 'Rattata'?

Dawn letting out a sigh of relief breaks me out of my stupor and it is only then that I realize he's no longer anywhere to be seen. "We dodged one there."

Uh? "You actually know that guy?"

Dawn nods. "His name is Joey. We are not exactly close acquaintances, but a mutual friend once introduced us to each other. And he," she shifts her weight between her feet. "Well, no offense to that friend, but I found him kind of nagging about his Raticate."

You and half of my world, pal.

"Well, while we are here, let's see." Dawn looks at the door that hit her just moments ago, where there is a very noticeable 65.

"Uh…" she turns to look at me and gives me a nervous smile. "You don't mind being in the room next to his, right?"

I don't really have much of a choice, do I?

I let out a sigh. "I'll be fine."

"Excellent," Dawn replies. "Should you need anything, I'll be in room 42 a couple of floors below. Otherwise, let's meet again at the bar at 8 o'clock for dinner. Bye." She turns around after that and walks back to the elevator. Leaving Annette and I on our own.

I turn to the cactus in question. "Well, let's go Annette. The sooner we get settled down, the better."

"Ra!"

The room of this Pokémon Center was not too different from any other of a regular hotel: one living room, a bed, a sofa, a mini-bar, a tv and a bathroom. And looking at the time on a clock hanging on one of the walls right now it's...only slightly more than half past four.

Meaning more than enough time for a shower. Perfect. Dunno how no one's commented on it, but I haven't been able to wash since arriving here. There's little doubt I smell terrible by now.

Although, before I can do that, I need to address the matter of Annette staring at the mini-bar.

"You hungry?"

"Ra…" Annette says without even turning to look at me.

"Alright." I kneel next to her and open the mini-bar. "Let's see what we've got here."

The content is mostly water, some drinks I've never heard before and a bunch of junk food. Not wanting to risk weird liquid mixtures with Annette, I give her the water, which she briefly drinks before stopping. Guess it makes sense for a cactus not to get dehydrated easily.

The junk food goes less well. Annette takes a bite out of it and briefly munches on it before her mouth contorts into a disgusted grimace and she spits it out.

"Crap," I mutter. "Sorry about that, little gal."

Annette replies with the most forced smile I've seen from her thus far. "Ra!"

Alright, how do I feed a sentient plant? Better question, how do I take care of a plant in the first place?

If this were my world, I'd try to contact an expert. And the closest thing to an expert here is the folks working at the Center below. If there's anyone who knows what plant Pokémon eat, it's gotta be them. But that brings up another problem: even if they can tell me what Annette can eat, how am I going to pay for it?

Well, Dawn said to turn to her if I need anything. I just hope 'anything' includes the cash to keep Annette fed.

Guess my shower will have to wait.

"Hello, Miss Hikari, are you there?" I ask after knocking on the door of room 42, Annette by my side.

I hear no response.

"Hello?" I repeat while knocking another time. Again, to no response.

I try to knock a third time.

"BLIIIIIIIIM!"

But before I can, some sort of ectoplasmic purple being coming out of the door takes me by surprise and forces me and Annette to take a step back. The ectoplasm soon fully comes out of the door and reveals itself as some kind of purple balloon, dark on the top, light on the bottom. Four thin arms with yellow tips dangle from its bottom, while its top is adorned by a yellow X on its center, two red dots slightly above that X and some sort of cloud-like thing on its very tip.

This…thing gives off an odd sensation. Like it's alive and not at the same time. And it does look familiar.

"Are you…" I hesitate. "Are you a Drifblim?"

"R-Ra?"

"Blim," the thing replies, even though I can see no mouth from which that could have come from. And not a single part of its body so much as twitched as it answered.

Before I can question that, it starts hovering closer to me, body still perfectly still.

"L-look," I say while taking a few steps back. "If you're one of Dawn's Pokémon, I didn't mean to intrude. I just wanted to ask if she could lend me some money. I need to buy some food for Annette."

The round-shaped ghost stops in place after I say that. "Blim?"

"Yes, I'm the Faller she's here in Unova for. Surely she's mentioned me?"

It has no reaction.

"Look, the two of us are both hungry. I can do with what was in our room for now, but Annette can't. And I don't know what a Maractus is supposed to eat."

The Drifblim doesn't say anything. It just turns and rotates its body so that its red dots are looking down at Annette, who looks downright terrified by the Ghost/Flying type in front of her as her whole body shakes. Only the tiny arms being pulled by gravity break the uncanniness of this thing.

Fortunately, the Drifblim doesn't attack and just hovers back into the door. And after it does so, Annette jumps and holds tight to my leg. I can't suppress my wince as she does that.

"Ra! Ra, ra, ra!"

"Don't worry," I tell her through teeth clenched by pain. "Drifblims are uncanny to look at, but they are mostly harmless."

That's only a half-truth. Maybe they are harmless when in captivity, but in the wild these things abduct people to parts unknown. And I doubt they are any kinder to other Pokémon.

It is not long, however, before this one comes back, this time with two of its arms holding a pouch and rolled paper. Both of which it offers to me. I carefully take them and then the Drifblim goes back into the door, without reappearing afterward.

I unroll the sheet and read what's on it.

If you're reading this, it means I'm taking a shower. Sorry about that, Mister Beccaria.

I forgot to mention it before, but plant Pokémon have very particular needs for food. This pouch has some biscuits containing the nutrients Annette will need. I'll buy you some more tomorrow.

I'll see you tonight!

P.S: Sorry about Drif. She can't help being ominous.

…'Drif'? That's the best nickname she could come up with?

I turn to the pouch. At least this solves the immediate problem of feeding Annette. And at least I avoided the real life equivalent of a dated anime cliche.

Now if only I hadn't gotten my leg filled with spikes again...

Between going back to the Pokémon Center, getting the spikes out of my leg, feeding Annette and taking a shower myself, the hours before eight o'clock pass by pretty fast.

Annette has fallen asleep in the meantime, so when it's time I head down on my own. I find Dawn already waiting by the counter, trench coat dropped in favor of just a black shirt.

"Hey there!" she greets upon seeing me. "Sorry again about earlier. Were the biscuits useful?"

"They were," I answer. "Way better than whatever it is they put in those minibars, according to Annette."

"I'm glad to hear." She turns her gaze to one of the tables within the bar. "By the way, I've made a reservation for the two of us. We can sit there."

I arch an eyebrow. A reservation? Isn't that a bit overboard for just a business talk or whatever else she wanted to see me for? Unless…

"Is something wrong?"

"...you are not trying to hit on me, are you?"

Dawn winces at my question. "W-what? What gave you that idea?"

"The reservation is a little much, don't you think?"

She recomposes herself upon hearing that. "Oh! Well, no it's not that. It's just…" she comes closer to me and leans to my ear. "I would like a bit of privacy. There is something I wanted to ask you."

Oh? "What is it?"

Her answer is looking at said table again. Really set on that, is she?

"Fine."

We each order a sandwich and then go sitting at the infamous table. Dawn doesn't ask her questions right away and instead decides to focus on eating her sandwich first. I follow her lead on that.

"So, now can I hear what it is you want to know?" I ask when we're both done eating.

I bet it's gonna be something about her whole world being fiction. It wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't so okay with it as she first showed.

Dawn takes a moment to purse her lips before speaking. "You first addressed me as the Sinnoh Champion. If you knew that about me, it means I was specifically a character there, correct?" I nod. "So what exactly is it you know about me?"

Oooooh, she's worried about her privacy. I guess that makes sense.

I wrap my hands and lean on the table. "Well, that's a bit of a complicated story. You see the you you-"

"The me me?" Dawn interrupts, eyes now widened.

"Yes, the one specifically from the videogames."

She arches an eyebrow. "So there's more versions of me?"

I nod. "Various others with different names in various comics plus one still called Dawn from the tv series. For example, that last one was a coordinator instead of a trainer."

After I say the word 'coordinator', Dawn has a...surprising reaction. First she pales somewhat, then she turns away from me and clenches her jaw and tightens her hands into fists.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine, fine, don't worry," she hastily replies before taking a deep breath and turning back to me. "So, my videogames counterpart. What was she like?"

I'm sorry, since when do Pokémon characters act like she is right now?

I let down a gulp before answering. "Well, your videogames counterpart was...kind of blank." Dawn frowns at me. "Let me explain how the games work."

The next few minutes are spent with me giving a general description of the main videogames structure, especially how the protagonist is written without a clear personality to give more immersion for the players, while Dawn listens attentively. I skim over the gender choice, though. No idea how she'd take being interchangeable with Lucas.

"Interesting," she says after a bit. "I can't say I'm flattered about being portrayed as emotionless and unspeaking, though."

I rub the back of my head. "Yeah, I can imagine. Unfortunately there isn't much I can do about that."

"Hmmm," she murmurs in response. "Well, aside from that, I take it what you know of me is my Gym Challenge, my encounters with Team Galactic and my parents?"

Uh…

"Yes, yes and yes and no." Dawn arches an eyebrow. "I know your mom used to be a coordinator herself." I glimpse her hands clenching briefly again. "No idea about your dad, though. The only protagonist who seemed to have a dad was the Hoenn one, and he only appeared because he was a Gym Leader."

"A Gym Leader? Are you talking about Norman and Brendan?"

Brendan? So the Hoenn protagonist is the male one? Alright.

"Precisely," I answer with a nod. "It started with the Kanto protagonist and everyone assumed he was raised by a single mom. But then that pattern kept repeating and now no one knows what exactly the dads do, if they exist at all."

"Huh," Dawn comments dully. "Well, I can't speak for the others, but my dad is alive and well. And he works at a restaurant in Jubilife City."

Wait, what? "There's a restaurant in Jubilife?"

"Well, of course. Why shouldn't there be one? Jubilife is almost as big as Castelia."

I can only stare at her in silence and shift uncomfortably on my seat. Dawn mouth falls agape as that silence drags.

"There wasn't one in the game?!"

I shake my head.

Dawn then furrows her brow and mutters...something I can't understand. And whatever it is, I'm not even sure it's English. "Okay now I want to know how the game portrayed Sinnoh. Give me all the details you remember."

I arch an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Yes."

Alright. Just one thing first. "If I say Commander Charon, who is the first person you think of?"

"The old man from Team Galactic, of course. Why?"

"Just checking." So I am talking to a version of her that went through the events of Platinum. Good to know. "Well, the game starts with you and your friend Barry attempting to go to Professor Rowan's lab in Sandgem Town."

"That's...a way more flattering version of how events happened for me," Dawn comments when I'm finished recounting her final encounter with Team Galactic at Stark Mountain.

"Flattering?" I ask confused. "Why?"

"Well for starters, I didn't face Team Galactic alone every time. I had help from various Gym Leaders during my travels. Gardenia helped me storm their base in Eterna, and Wake was there when they bombed Lake Valor for example."

Uh…

"And I didn't always win the fights you mentioned. I had to challenge Roark two times before I could get his badge, I lost to Mars the first time we fought and it was a tie with Jupiter in Eterna."

Huh…

"Also, just…" she cuts herself off for a moment. "Did that game really make it seem like everyone who has a Pokémon can just become a Trainer like that?"

"...there's more than that?"

"Well, yeah," she replies like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "There's a registration process to follow, a sponsor to refer to for the Gym Challenge - in my case, Professor Rowan - and requirements to fulfill to be accepted."

Sounds more bureaucratic than the game made it out to be. And...realistic.

"And on that note, ten years old?" she continues, now sounding outraged. "Ten years old? There are Pokémon in the wilds that are threats to even adults, and you would expect anyone to trust ten years old to go catch them? Seriously?"

"Well, I wasn't the one who came up with that idea," I rebuke. "I'm merely repeating what information we were given in the game."

"Ten years old! Of all the things to get wrong…!"

"Well, what is the minimum age to get qualified?" I ask, before she can go on a rant or something.

Thankfully it works. "Well, that depends from region to region. Here in Unova, it's eighteen. Back in Sinnoh, it's sixteen."

I look at her incredulously. "And a teenager is more trustworthy than a kid?"

Dawn blushes.

"Look," I let out a sigh while massaging the bridge of my nose. "We've got several days of working together ahead of us. Can we just agree to drop this matter?"

"Deal," she immediately says.

From there, we spend the rest of the night eating and discussing different topics from her and the events of her youth touched on by Platinum. Like places we'll have to visit in the next few days and such.

And chapter. Not a lot has happened here besides dialogue, but at least we met the first of Dawn's Pokémon and got a cameo from a certain Youngster from Johto ;)

Once more, thank you to Softandhappy for betareading this chapter. You can find us at the Fanfiction Treehouse discord server at: 9XG3U7a

See you guys next time!