Chapter 8

"Who are you?"

Looker asked the question again. After his initial outburst, he slumped back into his chair, staring down at the desk, looking through it rather than at anything on it. I didn't quite know what to do. He seemed… semi-stable, but based on what had just happened clearly he was walking a fine line. I honestly missed the friendly, good-natured detective I had seen in the anime, so I figured I would do my best to help him.

After all, doesn't everyone deserve to be saved?

"I am Nathan, a student who was studying computer science before I came here. A few days ago, I woke up in the forest just to the west of Sandgem Town. I like to play video games, my favorite one being the Pokemon series." Looker looked up at me in confusion, no doubt noticing the emphasis I placed on Pokemon being a video game. "In the world I'm from, Pokemon aren't real. We have similar creatures but they're much less… extraordinary. However, we had a video game series that is exactly what this world is. As such, I know the truth behind certain events that happened here, though from what I have gathered, it's the same information that the Professors and International Police have been working with."

Looker had been listening carefully, rebuilding his composure as I kept going. His intensity had toned down dramatically, and a part of me could've sworn he seemed appreciative that I was complying and explaining, but he, of course, was still doubtful. "How am I supposed to believe you?" he asked. "I can't even verify what you knew beforehand now that Rowan has given you clearance."

I gave him a calm look and a small smile. "Can't you just ask about stuff that even he doesn't know about?" I suggested. Honestly, I was done with the formalities of the interrogation and would have preferred just having a conversation with the detective. I would have done so gladly, as well, but he seemed to be under a lot of pressure regarding what is happening because of me, if the lecture he gave Professor Rowan was anything to go off of.

He gave a small chuckle at my comment before looking at me, somewhat tiredly. "And where would you suggest we start?" I could tell he almost meant it jokingly, but I had every intention of answering. Because I knew exactly what to say to him.

"How is Emma doing?" I said simply. His body went rigid as he sat up straight and looked right at me. "What about Anabel? Has she gotten her memories back?" I continued. His eyes widened and he was about to respond, but I cut him off before he could even start. "Come to think of it, how did you get your memories back after you were found washed up on shore at the Battle Resort in Hoenn with amnesia?" He stared at me for what felt like an eternity before he did something I would never have expected him to do.

He laughed.

Not that Looker laughing was out of character, no, what surprised me was that it was entirely in character. Something he had been lacking through our entire interaction. He laughed for a solid minute before he relaxed and leaned back in his chair. He looked up at me with a smile on his face.

"Now there's something you don't see every day!" he exclaimed with a chuckle at the end. "I can't tell whether you knowing… whatever it is you know… is a good thing or not, but at the very least, I'll believe you." Looker narrowed his eyes a slight bit after that. The for now that was clearly implied went unsaid.

"I am, however, still required to continue questioning you, at least until I finish the questions mandated for this sort of encounter. I hope you understand," he said, somewhat apologetically. I nodded and gave him a quick "Ok" before he pulled out a device from his briefcase. It looked like the sort of metal detector wand that security at an airport would use.

"This will scan you for Ultra Radiation. This is a type of energy that lingers on anyone who has passed through an Ultra Wormhole. If you are found with it on you… well we'll cross that bridge if we get to it." With that, Looker gave me a couple passes with the detector. The data was sent to a small screen which he then looked over. Scrolling down, he read something that caused his face to scrunch up in confusion.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. I seemed somewhat calm on the outside, but on the inside I was majorly freaking out. The last thing I needed to deal with right now, or really at ANY time was Ultra Beasts hunting me down.

"I was able to detect very faint levels of Ultra Radiation on you, however, there was something else that appeared to be… masking it?" His tone held a hint of confusion, though his face didn't betray him any further. "I didn't even know that was possible," he concluded. I felt a bead of nervous sweat drop down my face and — after internally cringing at that cliched sweat — fiddled with my hands nervously.

"So… what does that mean?" I asked. "I'm not going to be hunted, am I?" He gave me a curious look, which I assumed was due to my knowledge of Ultra Beasts hunting Fallers, before he shook his head. "I doubt it," he answered. "From what we and the Aether Foundation have gathered, Ultra Beasts are specifically attracted to Ultra Radiation, and if this sensor was barely able to detect any on you at this range, I highly doubt an Ultra Beast would."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and relaxed in my seat. On the bright side, I wouldn't be hunted by interdimensional, powerful beings, while in an alternate dimension containing powerful beings that I already wasn't used to. That's not a double dose I would've been able to manage. However, that didn't really mean anything to the current predicament I found myself in.

"So, Agent Looker," I began, "where does that leave us? I meet all the requirements to be a Faller, yet also meet none of them. So, am I in the clear for the foreseeable future, or do I need to worry about the I.P. always watching my every move?" He seemed to consider my question for a moment before he shut the notepad and turned to look at me. A small smile graced his face and I had a feeling everything was going to be alright.

"I think, based on what I've heard here, and thanks to Meowstic's confirmation," he said, pausing at the mention of the Pokemon so that he could meow in acknowledgment, "that we can trust you. We may still keep an eye on you, but from what I've heard, you will be working with Rowan as a Research Associate. Since they are required to assist in any circumstances when asked by the authorities, and due to your periodic reports to the Professor, we will likely leave you to your own devices, apart from occasional check-ins." He smiled at me lightly. "And hopefully that will include helping me out from time to time. I could always use some help from someone in the know and is lacking the bias that may be present in our world. Fresh perspective is always a nice addition." I smiled back at him and nodded. I didn't trust my mouth to not say something that could ruin the moment. I was essentially being favored by a member of the International Police. That's not something everyone gets to say.

"Thank you. If I ever need assistance, I'll be sure to contact you," he said, pulling out a phone of his own, assumingly to take down my number. Thankfully, I didn't have to give it to him, as my Rotom Phone flew out and transmitted the data for me. Looker's eyes went wide, startled for a moment. He was clearly surprised to see me with a Rotom Phone, so I answered his unasked question with a single word. "Rowan."

The detective chuckled and slid his phone back to his pocket. "Sometimes, that man is too generous for his own good." I matched his laugh and tapped my pocket so Rotom knew to fly back in. "Yeah," I said, "I can definitely agree with you there."

.o0o.o0o.o0o.

I couldn't tell while I was in the office, but the entire interview had actually taken about an hour and a half. When we left the office, no one was outside waiting for us. I assumed Rowan had given them tasks to do outside the main area for our privacy. I checked my phone to see if I had any messages and found one from the Professor and a few from Dawn.

The Professor's was, as per usual, short and simple. "I will be working in the staff lounge. Tell Looker when you have finished. You may have the day off as well." A wave of relief flooded my system at the idea of having a break after everything. I swear I aged a year or two in that office. I turned to the detective and relayed the message to him, to which he nodded in thanks, said a quick goodbye, and walked off to meet with the Professor.

Having handled the singular task Rowan left for me, I checked the messages Dawn had left. Turns out only two or three were actual messages, and the others were her trying to fix all of the typos she made in her hurried panic. I texted her back a quick "I'm alive" and then sent a follow-up saying I got the day off. I didn't get a response immediately, which meant she was probably working. Checking the clock, she'd be done in a few hours, which was probably a good thing, because I wanted nothing more than to just lay in my bed and do nothing.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.

As my respite came and went, I heard a knocking on my door. Getting up groggily, as I had done exactly what I planned on — nothing — I went to open the door. Unsurprisingly, I was met with a visibly worried Dawn, nearly bounding from one foot to the other. She wasted no time getting my permission before she walked through me and sat on the couch.

"Well, hello to you, too. Please, come in," I said sarcastically, letting just a bit of my tiredness bleed into my tone. Dawn seemed to realize what she did, and at least had the decency to look somewhat embarrassed.

"Sorry," she said, "I've just been nervous about it all day. How are you doing? What did he even want from you? Are you in some sort of trouble?" She spoke so fast it made my head spin a little, still trying to return to reality from my nap. I chuckled dryly as a sense of irony and familiarity washed over me.

"I already had one interrogation today, Dawn. I'd much like to not be thrown into another," I said as I flopped down on the couch next to her. The embarrassment she felt earlier returned with a vengeance, and I could see her opening her mouth to apologize yet again, so I decided to spare her this time.

"It was alright," I said, causing her to close her mouth and pay attention. "I'm doing… mostly fine, I suppose. Hard to say. Some good things happened, some bad things happened. All in all, it went well I think." She sighed in what I assumed was relief, and I saw the tension leave her shoulders as she finally settled into the couch.

"Phew, okay. That's good at least," she managed to say after a second. "What exactly was he here for?"

"Apparently Rowan jumped the gun on various procedures regarding my clearance as a non-threat, so Looker came here to confirm that which the Professor could tell from a glace; that I'm trustworthy and from a different world. Then he basically said that we'd be in touch and that he may ask for my assistance in the future."

She stared at me somewhat incredulously. "So he took you at word of mouth?" She asked, not looking for an answer. "After yelling at Rowan for doing that, he turns right around and does it himself? Isn't that at least a little hypocritical?" She seemed more than a little annoyed and frustrated on the Professor's behalf.

"Not quite," I explained. "He had a psychic-type in the room as a sort of truth verification medium, so it was really word of mind." That earned me a laugh which Dawn tried and failed to hide. Placated for now, she relaxed again and turned to look at me. "So," she said, "now what are you going to do?"

I looked back at her for a moment before I stared at the ceiling for a short while, thinking. Having finally reached a conclusion, I turned back to her with a wide smile and determination burning in my eyes.

"I think it's finally time for me to start looking for a Pokemon."

Whelp, hey there everyone. Sorry for the utter lack of updating for a bit over a month, not exactly the best show on my part. There's reasons, involving mental and physical health, but I won't bore you with the details, but I am still sorry that it caused me to fall (very) far behind on this story.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Upon reading some reviews, I think I'm going to start addressing them generally in these authors notes. So here goes.

1 - Romance will happen if romance happens. I don't plan on it, but I'm not entirely against it either. If it lends itself to the story well, or if it feels natural enough, then I'll write it. But again, nothing is explicitly planned.

2 - Cliffhangers. I realized after reading a review about this, that I have had quite a few cliffhangers (like 5/8 chapters have them) so I'm going to try and cut back on them. I tend to like them because it builds suspense and interest for the next chapter, but I also understand the view that they are crutches and that they shouldn't happen all the time. Genuinely didn't even mean to add so many.

3 - Chapter length. I usually shoot for 2500-3000 words (this one was short, oops) per chapter, excluding author's notes. To me this just feels like a nice chunk to read, and also a nice chunk to write. I've never really liked chapters that were 5k+ words each and felt like a story in and of themselves.

4 - Rotom. Rotom is not a usable Pokemon for Nathan. Technically it isn't even his Pokemon, it is still Rowan's. You can't use the Rotom from your phone in Sword and Shield for battle, thus follows my logic here. I like to think of it as the Rotom enjoys being linked to the phone, is unwilling to leave the phone, and is not able to use moves while in the phone. That's just my opinion on the matter.

5 - I honestly have most of the trainers' Pokemon planned out, so I am not really big on taking requests for team members, sorry everyone! A lot are based on either Pokemon I personally like (for Nathan) and Pokemon that a trainer has been seen using in various media (for actually canon characters)

6 - I will probably be following a lot looser of a schedule posting updates from here on, especially in a month or so when school starts back up, but I promise that as of writing this AN, I have no plans on dropping this story.

7 - I also have a new story that is (roughly) in the works, and I might consider posting a bit of it once I have more of it written. It's actually somewhat based off of another story I read and enjoyed. I didn't copy what happens there, but I will say it is similar (at least in the beginning) to that story. If I post my take, I'll be sure to include the inspiration.

I think that covers about everything I wanted to address up to this point! Please favorite if you liked, follow if you want more, and review if you want to tell me anything!

-TD2297 :)