The Ya'an-ah desert was a harsh land of biting sand and burning sun. It sat as the trouble child of Unovan routes, fighting with terrible rage whenever the Unova League attempted to expand its thin reach into the wide desert. Crashing into construction sites with sandstorms that consume all vision for kilometres, and searing away construction workers under a brutal sun.
Were it not for the Unovan famously stubborn pride, Unova would be a region split in two, forced to hug the coast to reach Castelia and Nacrene city. Their stubborn pride, and the reluctant aid of the Ya'an-ah Nomads, desert dwellers since antiquity. Their desert home was a brutal mother, yet a mother they knew like the back of their hands, and when called on by the Unova league many years ago, they led a select few to some of the hidden places that the desert would overlook, in exchange for concessions.
Yet despite their magnanimity, the Ya'an-ah people were loath to take advantage of the new amenities that slowly snaked their way through their home, they were a people of tradition and the desert. While others might want a true shelter from the sun and sandstorms, the Ya'an-ah welcomed such hazards and challenges.
So it was a strange and rare sight, to see an entire tribe of the Ya'an-ah dancing through the streets of the so-called Desert Resort. Forty men and women clad in light brown cloaks, with billowing sleeves marked with a single pink line. Upon their neck were long roped cords, some interwoven with shining quartz-like jewels, as many as five jewels worn by the oldest of Ya'an-ah dancers.
And it was not just humans who were present in this ritual, all around, watching with keen eyes was the Pokémon of the Desert Resort. Dwebbles crawled about, little more than moving pebbles in the sand. Yellow scaled Scraggies watched the procession with wide eyes. Behind the dancing nomads were another kind of Pokémon entirely, though they were perhaps not participating in the ritual directly, it was clear many of them were here for it. Swimming through the sand a sand hidden form skittered the edges, a flash of red and black flashing in the sun. And overhead was perhaps the strangest of all, a dark figure circled high above, the sun glittering off feathers as more akin to steel swords.
As the Ya'an-ah dancers continued through the 'streets' of the Desert Resort, a high uniform chant spilled from their throats, first led by what seemed to be the youngest member of the Ya'an-ah, and quickly taken up by those around him. Slowly a heavy drum added itself to the ritual, keeping a rhythmic tempo, that danced perfectly around the motions of the Ya'an-ah people as if they had heard the metronome in their head the entire time.
The heavy drum beat almost seemed to demand any who heard it to move, as it sunk deep into their chest and forced every heart to contemporize. To follow its lead. Then as the chant reached its apex and slowed, taking its place was a flute that lingered in the air, its every note calling to a time long past. It was a call that the watching Pokémon seemed incapable of resisting, tiny dwebbles shuffling along, the scrafty attempting to mimic the tall stepped dance of the Ya'an-ah. At the edges of the road, several Maractus having previously been distinguishable from cacti suddenly began their own dance along with the beat.
The ritual dancers had made their way through most of the desert resort, approaching a massive ruined castle that sat on the far end of the sanctuary that the Ya'an-ah had offered the Unovan people so far, that shielded the few towns in the Resort from the ever-present sandstorm that blew through this place.
The castle itself was humongous, more a mountain than a building in truth, nature and the desert had long since begun the task to reclaim it. Much of it was submerged underneath the sand, and what was still yet left exposed was terribly worn. Yet they still told a story as old as any yet living memory, fractured as it might have been. A story of a people, and their close knit history with a living conduit to the sun.
This was the Relic Castle, sacred shrine of the Ya'an-ah, temple to Volcarona, the conduit of the sun. And its age was such that any of its peers had long since sunk under the sand.
Still dancing the Ya'an-ah people began to split into two groups, spreading two ways along the front of the castle, their dancing kicking sand high in the air, a sandstorm formed of human feet. Yet if the sand that started grinding into their skin and sliding down their clothes bothered the dancers, they made an admirable attempt at ignoring it. It is here that the Pokémon following grew more frenzied with their involvement, the Krookodile under the sand rising up, adding his own stomping to the brewing sandstorm.
The Ya'an-ah begin folding in on themselves, both wings of dancers dancing past each other, forming two concentric circles, centred on the young figure that had begun the since tapered off chanting.
The flute reaches an apex once more, and the young man's voice fills the desert anew as he comes to a stop, his voice dancing around the heavy beats of the drum, as the scrape of sand in the air added its own musical quality.
A moment later, the circling Ya'an-ah responded with their own voices, and under their thunderous chant joined by the braying of the watching Pokémon, the young man began to dance, almost animated by his older participants' voice. Partway through, as the chanting died down and the flute once more filled the air, the young man began dragging his cloak from his shoulders, exposing underneath a trim form, lean from the rigours of nomadic life. All across his sun-bronzed skin was a painted tapestry of symbols, of fluttering runes curling around an incredibly detailed sun, and at its centre was a moth-like figure that the sun seemed to channel itself through.
The young, now topless man began singing again, overtaking the flute, as he let himself lower to his knees. High in the sky, the sun reached its pinnacle, seemingly shining solely down on the young man sitting in the middle of the circle, a beam of light that focused on him, glittering off the sand and sweat that drenched him.
Then, as he once more reached an apex, the chant cut out. The drum stills with one final thunderous beat. The flute, long since been taken over. Silence, for the first time in perhaps twenty minutes. Tranquillity, where there had just been explosive motion.
This was the ritual of the sun. To honour the magnificence of Volcarona, the conduit of the sun. Here before the Relic Castle, these most sacred grounds, the Ya'an-ah would come every time one of their own would reach their age of maturity. It was here that the Ya'an-ah beseeched the conduit of the sun to bless their youngest with greatness.
This was the chance for the young man kneeling in the hot sand to receive the greatest honour those of the Ya'an-ah could receive. His, Aidinza of the Naisho'h, chance to be blessed by the sun.
And though he wished a Volcarona to appear, he knew deep inside that it was a fruitless hope. No Volcarona would appear, no matter how he might wish that he would make things differently.
It had been a very long time since the sun had truly blessed this ritual in its honour.
Decades.
There was not even a sense of disappointment anymore, this was something that the Ya'an-ah had come to expect. Were it not from the oldest among them remembering the glory of the Sun's conduit blessing the children of the desert, perhaps the Ya'an-ah would believe that there was nothing to happen at the end of this ritual.
Then, a strange sound cuts through the expectation of nothing happening. The sound of claw clacking against the sandstone. Forty eyes snap to the entrance of the relic castle, and forty eyes see a baffling sight. Sat at the apex of the stairs into the holiest sites of the Ya'an-ah, was a small quadruped figure. With light brown skin, black bar markings, and a healthy pink underbelly. There was no mistaking a Sandile for any other Pokémon.
Perhaps to any other group of Ya'an-ah that would be little more than a curious Pokémon intruding on a curious ritual. While none but the high priests of the Volcarona were allowed within the relic castle - not that there were any of those left, in the decades since the last appearance - that was a human rule, for human minds. No Ya'an-ah would find themselves roused to force out a Pokémon who was not removed by the Castle's own protectors.
But to the Naisho'h, to this tribe of the Ya'an-ah, the Sandile represented something wildly different. Because the Naisho'h roamed the dunes where the Sandile and their evolutions were the kings of the sands, where Krokorok hunted, and Krookodile ruled. And in that shared proximity, to a people as spiritual and ancient as the Ya'an-ah, there came a connection. It was not uncommon for the camping grounds of the Naisho'h to find themselves home to Sandiles, left by their parents to the caring arms of the Naisho'h as they went hunting. More than once their primacy over an Oasis was enforced by a Krookodile whose egg had been protected by the Niasho'h against the cruel hands of Salazzle years ago. Even now a Krookodile watched this all with bated breath, having followed the Naisho'h to this sacred place.
While the Naisho'h were Ya'an-ah and honoured the sun with as deep a love any human could muster, they also had a deeper connection to the desert than their sister tribes, and that expressed itself in their relationship with the Sandile line.
And now, to see a Sandile, on the sacred steps of the Relic Castle, in the apex of the ritual for the Aidinza's coming of age… That was a sign to the Naisho'h.
Then the Sandile sneezed, startled itself and fell off the front steps of the relic tower, bouncing against hard sandstone with a squeak, building up momentum as it hit the sand, rolling tail over snout until it lightly collided with the young Ya'an-ah's kneeling form. "Bwah." It moaned as it relaxed into a slump against the young man.
With shaking hands, the young man reached out towards the Sandile, hands coming to stroke along smooth scales to a happy mewl. His head snaps up to look wide-eyed at his tribe still surrounding him in a concentric circle. Most of the adults met his attention with their own confusion, and even when his eyes sought out his older sister, usually such a stable anchor in his life, all he got was an unsure glance.
Then he looked towards the Naisho'h's elder, an old woman of mountainous build, her once inferno-like hair had dulled to a sparksheened grey, and upon her neck were five glittering quartz crystals. Her dark eyes were calculating, as they studied Aidinza before turning her attention to the Sandile that had gotten up, and was curiously examining the young man before it, even with the many eyes on the pair.
The Old Elder steps forward, her figure towering over the teenaged boy, a bony hand coming up to hold the teen's head, jerking it to the side as she studies him. Then, a choice crystallises in her eyes.
"The sun has spoken!" Her voice washes over the dunes, and the anticipation of the assembled Ya'an-ah mounted. But anticipation for what… He had no idea. "We expect great things from you, Aidinza."
Blankly he nods at his elders' words, eyes falling to the Sandile that had begun burrowing itself into his mantle, snuggling into it, and poking his head out with cheerful, black-rimmed eyes. "I-I won't let you down Tsesei." He bows his head towards the old woman, and Tsesei smiles softly back.
"I'm sure you won't". Aidinza gathers the sandile up in his arms, wrapping him tighter up in the young teens' cloak, and glances around the circle of eager faces watching him. His eyes seek out his sister in the crowd, and he finds her quickly, no other member of the Ya'an-ah had a Corviknight towering regally over them.
His sister's tanned face splits into a wide grin, and even at this distance, Aidinza catches her mouth "I'm proud of you" to him. He returns her grin with a tremulous smile, as the enormity of what just happened hit him.
He was given a sign, and he was going to become a Trainer.
He was going on a journey.
Aidinza did not leave with the rest of the Naisho'h when they returned to their desert wandering. It would be… a lot of time before he would consider being part of that again. No instead he was left alone in the Desert Resort, left to wander between wrought stone buildings, and sand blasted streets.
It was a different sort of faire than he was used to, nothing like the wide tents of the Nomads, made to be built and torn down in moments, even as they proved steadfast against terrible sandstorms.
The young Ya'an-ah could not find himself blaming his people for not wishing to spend too long in this place, even with the sacred site of the Relic Castle so close. Offering the sanctuary of this holy place to the Unovan's was a matter of great contention for the Ya'an-ah, though they never dared to break the covenant to stay far from the castle, the very fact that they were present, that they watched the rituals of the Ya'an-ah was an uncomfortable reality for many of the nomads.
Not that many of the Desert Resort made their presence known, they were not quite as withdrawn and solitary as the Nomads, but it takes a certain type of person to hide in the sandcut desert of the Ya'an-ah.
As he continued walking through the sandy streets, he came upon a curious sight, shining innocuously in the burning sun, as if it was a perfectly natural for a mirror nearly half again Aidinza's height, and framed by immaculately embossed wood, a scene of galloping Zebstrika, powerful Gigaliths, and massive Scolipedes. Though, he supposed that it would be a more common sight here than anywhere else in the Desert. Glass and mirrors were one of the few things that the town nestled in the Desert Resort produced, and its quality was such that it attracted customers far and wide. Its reputation is such that even the Ya'an-ah knew of it.
He cautiously approached the rather precious item, his attention being caught by a sign mostly worn away by sand that named the building "Carl's Glass". And another, far more maintained sign, that sat above the Mirror.
TELEPORT PICK UP ZONE!
And underneath.
Thieves beware, psychic on site.
The young man's eyebrow rose, he supposed that explained why they were so casual about leaving such a pricey piece on such an unsafe display. Slowly the young man approached the mirror, it was rare that the Ya'an-ah had access to a truly reflective surface, and the surface of an oasis was a poor substitute.
Despite himself, and despite the warning, Aidinza felt curiosity burn at him, because while his people did not stay long among these stone-carved buildings, they had stayed long enough to tattoo the new adult.
A tattoo, that he shrugged his poncho off to examine.
He marvelled at it, running a thumb over the irritated skin of his upper chest. It was not a complex thing, little more than six lines, forming two sigils whose meaning had long since lost meaning to time, yet was marked upon every Naisho'h adult. The other tribes had their own symbols Adinza knew, and if they knew the meaning themselves, that was something they kept close to their chest.
Despite his lack of understanding of the meaning of the sigils, it did little to deter his jubilation. Whatever meaning it might have had in aeons gone past, the meaning it had now was that it made him an adult in the eyes of the Ya'an-ah. Free to travel beyond the desert he was raised in, or to independently join with another of the Ya'an-ah tribes.
He pulls his attention away from his tattoo, lest he stares at it for another ten minutes. Instead, he found his eyes caught on his face. It was a starkly familiar yet strangely foreign sight to the young man, and like his tattoo he found himself studying it closely.
His entire life he had been told that he looked a great deal like his father, it was in the jaw he had been told, the chiselled bone even halfway through his teen years was a dead ringer for his father. But standing in front of the mirror, he found himself seeing more of his mother in his features, the softer cheekbones, the slightest hint of a dimple when he tried for a smile, and of course his green eyes.
It was probably his hair, that cinched it for most people, he thought absently, running a hand through the tinged red locks. His mother did not have the traditional hair of the Ya'an-ah, nor did the rest of the Naisho'h really, instead black was most common. It was Aidinza's father who had brought the Sun's hair back into the tribe, a member of the Dzil'ana tribe. One of the deeper desert tribes, who could spend decades without making contact with the greater world.
He ignored the pang of hurt that rattled through him when he gave thought to his father and his mother. They had chosen to retreat deeper into the desert years ago, leaving him and his sister, Gowteel, with the Naisho'h. Probably a wise decision if he cared to give it in-depth thought, but the ache of a child rarely cared for the wise.
He looked away from his reflection, as the sound of displaced sand caught his attention. Sandile was swimming through the loose top layer of warm sand, as cheerful as he ever was. Though, something in the distance seems to have caught his attention, a tall figure cheerfully whistling, as he returns a brownish Pokémon that Aidinza only caught a glance of.
He was a heavily dressed man, far too heavy for Aidinza's desert tastes. The vest would keep him far too warm in the depths of the dunes, and his boots were not properly tied off, to prevent sand in them. But more than that, he was a heavyset man, not what you would call fat, but a man who loved food and exercise in equal measure.
His study of the man did not go unnoticed, the man pausing his whistling to wave merrily at the young man, a wide grin framed by his voluminous beard.
"Ahoy there, me matey." The bearded man seemed to be infinitely amused by his own greeting, chuckling to himself as he moved towards Aidinza.
"Cool sands and wet winds, traveller." The young Ya'an-ah man was cautious, not quite stepping away from the rotund man but certainly keeping a free back. However, Sandile had a vastly different outlook on the situation, cheerfully snaking through the sand towards the large man.
"A wee Sandile?" The man kneels down in the sand, greeting the curious sand crocodile, with a cheerful scratch. A rather fearless choice, Aidinza cannot help but think, he had seen more than once the power of a sandile's jaw. "Aren't ye the curious one?" The man scratched at the sandile's scales, to the ground-types clear joy, writhing underneath powerful fingers. "Ah I'm soorry, looks like I've stolen ye pokémon from ye."
Aidinza's eyes widened in a panic, hand shooting to his belt by his side, where the Pokéball his sister provided him with before she left sat, the same Pokéball that he had caught Sandile with.
"Ohoho I didn't mean like that!" The big man gives a loud belly laugh, and the noise startles Sandile, sending him skittering through the sand to curl around Aidinza's ankle, surprisingly soulful black eyes staring betrayed at the big man. "Ah I've gone and dun startled him, I'm sorry."
"He'll live." Aidinza's answer was short, unsure really what to say to someone who had such a boisterous bearing, much less one who was an outsider to his people and still coming down from the shock of panic at thinking someone might have stolen his Pokémon.
"Ah no no, I have to make it up to ye. How about a battle? I've always found it the best way to shake out any nerves with someone!" The heavy-dressed man gives a cheerful thumbs up at that, looking to all the world like he genuinely believed that sentence. Aidinza on the other hand boggled slightly at the man, having a fight to make up? It seemed like slightly backwards logic to the desert nomad.
However, Sandile seemed all for it, cheerfully bounding forward to set himself up in front of his trainer, before his face dropped into a serious mien, powerful jaws clenching together.
"I guess so. I haven't… I haven't battled before." Aidinza felt slightly awkward confessing that, even though according to his tribes' law he was not allowed to have owned a Pokémon until just half a day ago.
"Dun ye worry lad, I've got just the wee Pokémon that needs a nice calm battle. Just make sure to keep ye head in the fight and ye'll do fine." The large man pulls a Pokéball off his belt, and with a start, Aidinza noticed that the man had six balls. Was he an experienced trainer with a full team? "Go ye mad lad!"
The ball split apart, unleashing a red beam of energy, the same red energy that Aidinza had become familiar with only a few hours prior when he caught Sandile. As the red energy hit the ground, a small form - even smaller than Sandile - appeared. It was some sort of mostly gingerish furry quadruped, whose face was a shock of splotchy black. It immediately spun on its paws and bounded over to the large man, tripping over the sand as it went. The man cheerfully picked up the Pokémon, cuddling him close to his face as the Pokémon lapped at his face.
"Ohoho, I've missed ye too Lillipup, but we've got a wee fight with another wee like Pokémon to get to!" The man scratched at the Lillipups' side for a moment, before letting him drop back down to the sand, where it sniffed at the air and turned towards Sandile. "Now." The man pauses, before hitting his forehead with one massive hand. "Ah, I've gone and dun challenge ye without even introducing meself. I'm Mark, it's nice to meet ye?"
"Aidinza. May the sun watch over you." The young nomad gestures towards the sun and touches his forehead, not really expecting Mark to know how to respond.
"And I'm sure it's already watching over ye." He booms out with a grin, one that Aidinza returns, that was not exactly what he was supposed to say, but it was closer than he would expect. "Now, if it's ye first battle, I've got to insist that ye fight without a bet. I've got cash to spare, but ye new trainers can be pretty tight."
"Okay. Any other rules?" While the tribe did part with a fair bit of cash for Aidinza to support himself, he was not overly eager to part with it, so no bet was fine in his books.
"Just one on one first to yield, ye wee sandile doesn't look like we need to start setting rules for property damage just yet." Sandile seems to take exception to that, letting out a tiny little growl that no matter how adorable Sandile looked still set off a primal part of Aidinza's monkey brain that said a predator was nearby. Mark, on the other hand, seems unbothered. "Ohoho, maybe we should set some just to be safe!"
"Now, let's get started!" Mark gave Aidinza an expectant look, as his Lillipup wagged its orange tail. Aidinza returned the look with a slightly confused one of his own. "Er, laddie, ye should probably tell ye wee sandile there what to do."
"Oh! Uh. Sandile bite it?" Aidinza had witnessed the fearsome bite of a sandile before and was willing to bet that it would have serious applications in a real fight. Or not bet, as the case may be.
"Lillipup, dodge, and get the wee thing's scent with Odour Sleuth!" The Lilipup yipped excitedly, lowering into a stance ready to throw himself in any direction, as Sandile surged forward, sharp white teeth flashing in the sun. However, instead of closing his powerful jaws around the puppy pokémon, Sandile caught nothing but air, as the smaller Pokémon slipped away.
"Good job Lillipup! Now that we have his scent get in close and knock him over with tackle!" It was an almost comical sight to Aidinza, to see the Lilipup half stumble in the sand, and scramble to cross the distance. Especially since the Lilipup only came up to Sandile's shoulders, and looked far, far lighter.
"He's coming right to us this time, bite can't miss." Sandile nods firmly, despite the note of uncertainty in his trainers' voice, tracking the Lillipup carefully as it makes its approach. Soon enough the puppy Pokémon had crossed the distance, throwing its body weight at Sandile. Considering the difference in size between the two Pokémon, it came as quite the shock for the two to see Sandile sent sprawling from the impact.
"Ye shouldn't look so shocked laddie, no matter their size Pokémon pack quite the punch. Ye gotta start thinking if ye don't want to lose this!" Aidinza's green eyes narrowed at that, straightening up to his full height as he forced himself to really look at the fight. "Now those are the kind of eyes I like! Lillipup get in close for another tackle!"
"Sandile! Into the sand! Dodge around the tackle!" Sandile were incredibly fast inside their natural habitat, and while the loose top sand was a hindrance to Lillipup, it was far from one for Sandile.
Sandile wasted no time in obeying, sliding straight under the Lillipups' next tackle as he delved into the sand. But the Lillipup was quick to whirl around on the Sandile, its keen nose impossible to escape now that it had a scent and it tried to chase the lump of moving sand through the dunes.
"Get ready Sandile! He's right on your tail!" Aidinza warns his Pokémon, knowing that the Pokémon lacked the sand sense that its older evolutions had.
"They're trying something Lillipup, keep on your guard." Aidinza's brow furrows at that, and he finds himself wondering if he actually was up to anything. Regardless, Mark's words proved to be his own Pokémon's downfall, as the Lillipup hesitated, breaking his momentum.
"Now Sandile! Turn around and bite!" Sandile turns on an absolute dime, sand more like water to the desert croc, jaws opening wide to snap down onto the Lillipup, teeth glittering in the sunlight. It was truly a fearsome sight, a sight that would incite primal fright. And Lillipup certainly thought so, scrambling in the sand to turn and get away from the gaping maw.
However, the Pup was too slow, and though he managed to put his back to the croc, he lost his footing in the sand. Sandile's jaw snapped closed, catching the tiny canine's tail in a potent grip.
A beat passes, then two, and then a heart-wrenching squeal hits the air, as the pain of having his tail bitten hits the young Pokémon. The Lillipup, heedless of the fifteen kilograms of sand reptile behind it - or perhaps all too aware - shoots off as best it can, desperately trying to shake Sandile off his tail. However, no matter the surprising strength in the Lillipups form, it was still yet subject to physics, and with a weight three times its own sliding around behind it, it was inevitable that he would lose balance at some point.
And it just so happened that when it did happen, they were sent spinning out of control, skidding over the sand in a strange Pokémon rendition of a spinning top, until they came to a halt in front of Aidinza. The trainer watched with some curiosity as Lillipup stood up, and stumbled around dazed for a few seconds, before collapsing in the sand, out cold. Aidinza glances down at his own Pokémon, Sandile himself looking dizzy but quickly shakes it off.
"Well, I didn't reckon that would be the way it went down, but ye did great Lillipup!" The tall man returns his Pokémon, patting the shell of the white red device with a fond grin before he turns to Aidinza. "Ye did great too laddie, I didn't even expect ye Sandile would be old enough to know Bite!"
The tanned young man blinks slowly at that and slowly looks down at where Sandile was glancing around, confused from his dizzying journey, and confused why its opponent had suddenly disappeared. Sandile was a little on the smaller side, but he was far from a literal hatchling, the idea of him not knowing how to bite was mind-boggling to the young Ya'an-ah. As Sandile continued to look for his erstwhile opponent, he turned his attention to his trainer, who gave an encouraging smile. "You did great Sandile. We won!"
That seems to be all Sandile needed to know, a cheerful smile spreading over his snout, as he bounced back over to his trainer, and butted against his shin. Aidinza kneels down to properly pat the victorious Mon.
"Now, I know I said no bets, but a performance like that deserves to be rewarded!" Mark, despite his loss, remains rather chipper, wandering over to where Aidinza was petting Sandile and shoving a large hand into his pocket. Aidinza glanced up, briefly wondering if he should protest, before deciding that trying to talk someone out of giving him something for free was a poor life decision. After all, you do not throw out a Salandit egg, just because you were not hunting for Salazzle.
Aidinza frowned slightly, now he wanted some Salandit eggs for dinner.
"Ah, here it is!" Mark pulls out a tiny disk in his pocket, looking inordinately proud of himself, as he waved it in the air. "Now laddie, I've got something real nice for ye he-". A loud ringing noise interrupts him, and the large man's face pales. Quickly he tosses the disk at the younger man, and pulls out another device from his pocket, flipping it open with great urgency. "Darlin! I was just thinking about ye! Yes I'm right in front of the mirror! I was just about to release Beheeyem Darlin. Just had to take a moment to appreciate how lucky I am to be with ye." Aidinza watched Mark awkwardly, unsure what to do as he spoke into the device. Especially since the older man swapped between panicked and suave with every few words. The larger man fiddled with his belt, expanding a Pokéball and releasing a strange brown pokémon that hovered in the air.
For a moment Aidinza met the new Pokémon's eyes, the alien green glow an uncomfortable sight. However, Mark quickly got the Pokémons attention, jerking a finger at the Mirror as he continued to try and reassure the person on the other end of the device.
"Yep, Beheeyem is seizing up the mirror right now, is the room ready for him?" Mark presses a hand to the side of the mirror, and a moment later he and the mirror are engulfed in an alien glow. Mark catches your eyes again, giving you a hurried wave before he nods to the strange floating Golem. "Right I'll see yo-."
The older man disappears, along with the mirror, and the alien Pokémon.
Aidinza blinks again, as he scratches at the back of his head. That… happened, he supposes, before he examined the disk, still kneeling in the sand. It was an odd yellow-brown colour, held in a black casing with the word DIG marked across it. The young man glances over at Sandile, where the Crocodile had lost interest in whatever was happening and had taken to chasing his own tail around in the sand.
"Do you know what this does?" Aidinza felt it was a pretty redundant question, considering that Sadile could not actually respond to him. Regardless it made him feel better, especially when Sandile stopped his tail pursuit to shuffle over to him, once again dizzy, and nuzzled its way into his lap.
Aidinza's hand begins massaging over the reptile's scales, as he looks away from the teleport bay, across to the very end of the town, where the sand-covered road gave way to just sandy dunes, beyond which was the Ya'an-ah desert proper. What was known as route four to wider Unova.
"Come on Sandile. Time to start our Journey."
Aidinza's wandering along the road cutting across route four was in equal measures exhilarating and utterly routine. This close to Unova's constructed works, the desert had few secrets kept from the young Ya'an-ah. But the roads did have along them young Pokémon not yet old enough to brave the desert itself, but old enough to have left their parents' care.
They made excellent training partners for Sandile and Aidinza to start exploring just how trainers and Pokémon fought together. Lacking the honed edge to go straight for the win when the inexperience of the two confused Sandile mid fight, yet still a reasonable threat to the croc.
It was during these fights that Aidinza learned that while Sandile had a set of powerful jaws on him, it was far from his only avenue of attack. Nor was it really his best avenue, strangely enough, Sandile's best move seemed to be, well boasting at his foes. The desert-born reptile would flex his powerful muscles at his foe, something that seemed to infuse him with potent energy. When his foe inevitably grew angered by the Sandile's posturing and attacked, Sandile would easily bat them aside, sometimes with a headbutt, sometimes with a slash of his claws. One time Sandile even used his powerful tail to send a scrafty rolling down, and then back up, a sand dune.
The only real common point of the attack seemed to be Sandile's boasting and the energy that came from it.
This perhaps tied into the second thing that Aidinza learned about his Sandile. When Sandile beat another Pokémon, he did not slow down or become tired. If anything it seemed to be the opposite, he would become stronger, muscles bulging tight against his smooth scales. Aidinza was pretty sure that it was not a confidence thing, nor did he think it was just adrenaline. No, it seemed to be a deeper matter than that, a similar potent energy as Sandile's boasting that suffused through his body when he triumphed over a foe.
And it was something that the two of them were only beginning to scratch the surface of. Aidinza could tell that the glimpses at the power in Sandile's body after he beat one or even two Pokémon in quick succession was the tip of a Trapinch nest.
It was something that Aidinza knew that he would need to explore, or perhaps research. There had to be an explanation that others had already found? Maybe when he reached Nimbasa city, there would be an Elder willing to share their wisdom? He was cautious to explore it on his own, however, whenever the power started building Sandile grew a bit wilder. Not to the point where he would disobey Aidinza. But certainly to the point where he was harsher on his opponents, just a bit more brutal, and just a bit slower to listen to his trainers orders.
Even with Aidinza taking plenty of time to fight the wild Pokémon along the wide bitumen road, travel out of Route four was quick, and in only a few days he had come upon a very strange sight, to both him and Sandile.
It was an odd thing, tiny and stretching as far as the eye could see. Some of it was tall, nearly as tall as Aidinza's waist, while others were barely taller than a single finger. The strange little things prevented Sandile from smoothly swimming through the brown sand - soil Aidinza reminded himself, soil and dirt - seemingly holding it all together.
And most peculiar of all was the fact it was green of all colours. Indeed, the little green plants were to their knowledge, grass.
It made things very green.
Aidinza was unsure how he really felt about the little plants, they felt strange, and did not fall away from his steps like he was long used to. But ever since he hit the dirt and grass outside the Ya'an-ah desert, he had not felt the annoying grate of sand caught in his clothes.
Sandile on the other hand seemed to have very much made his mind up about the grass, and that mind was that it was the worst thing in the world. More than once Aidinza would find Sandile tearing into the grass around him, acting as if he pulled up enough grass that it would transform the dirt underneath into sand. Once, when the two of them had set up for the night, Sandile forced Aidinza into joining him in tearing up the grass, turning soulful black eyes on him whenever he stopped to go and lie back down.
It even affected Sandiles fighting. The Sand Crocodile's speed in the sand was far greater than his speed overland, and it was something that the two of you had to seriously account for when one day you stumbled across a trainer and had a friendly match with him.
Going from being both the physically strongest and fastest in any fight that you had thus far, to only being the physically strongest against the Pansear that the other trainer sent out was a real shock to Sandile.
Luckily, with some careful timing and Sandiles' uncanny ability to flex his enemies into striking at him, the two of you proved triumphant, getting a disappointed tut from the opposing trainer, and a hundred Poké, the absolute minimum bet that the Unovan league requires. Before parting ways to do some "Super intense training, booyah!" His words, not Aidinza's.
But no matter how discombobulating the grasslands and forest were to the two desert dwellers, it had nothing on just how bizarre Nimbasa City was. Though he had seen in the darkest and clearest nights the lights of both the south coast, and the north, it did not prepare him for the first real sight of the city. A sight that neither of them really understood what they were looking at. On the horizon had been a strange, massive wheel that rivalled even the walls of the relic castle slowly rotating in place, the function of which completely escaped Aidinza. He supposed they could be one of those windmills he had heard about that would somehow turn wind into lightning. But if it was indeed a windmill then windmills looked even more bizarre than he had imagined.
The strange sights only grew stranger as he continued walking closer, in half a day other buildings became obvious in the distance, and these were nothing like the wrought stone buildings that peppered the Desert Resort, hiding in the sanctuary offered by the Sacred Relic Castle. No, these were massive and almost sleek things of steel and a mind-boggling amount of glass. The painted buildings were a riot of colours to rival even the most colourful of Ya'an-ah clan meets and were often framed by artistic decorations that defied explanation.
It was something that was only accentuated when Aidinza found his way into the city itself. At the distance he could almost pretend that the structures were of a reasonable size, they seemed tall, but perhaps only as tall as some of the valleys and cliffs that Aidinza had waited out fierce sandstorms in.
That was not true in the slightest. Some of the bigger buildings absolutely dwarf anything that Aidinza had seen in his life, barring perhaps the Relic Castle. Painted concrete and glass jutting into the sky.
And it almost did not seem to be enough to contain the sheer amount of people that Aidinza saw around him. Thousands of people bustling through the wide streets of Nimbasa, ducking into buildings, crossing streets, or just seemingly walking.
There were more people on one side of the street than Aidinza had seen in his life. Even the vague memories he had of the Half-centennial Sun Festival, where every Ya'an-ah tribe would come together to honour Volcarona and the sun for a month straight, did not have anywhere near as many people as Nimbasa.
Everywhere the nomad looked there was some new crowd, a new cacophony of noise, another set of Pokémon and humans, more colour more, steel more concrete. It was overwhelming.
He had to get away from it all, and judging by the complete lack of protest from Sandile when he was returned, the young man's starter agreed.
Maybe it was providence that he ended up stumbling into the Pokémon centre, maybe it just seemed to be the most welcoming building in the steel prisons that seemed to be closing in on the desert-dweller. Or perhaps its sign was just that universal, that even someone who had no experience with the outside world could realise it was a place of sanctuary.
The inside was calmer than the bedlam, not quite a tranquillity, and still, far more people than Aidinza was comfortable with, but more manageable as long as he ignored the solid walls around him.
"Hello there!" Aidinza startles, as a cheery voice comes from off to his side. An older woman sat behind a desk not far from the entrance, with an elaborately made up pink-hairdo and a soft matronly smile. But most importantly to Aidinza, balanced slightly precariously by her hair, was a white hat, with a soft pink plus embroidered into it.
A symbol that he had been taught to recognise in his youth, of the honoured healers throughout Unova and the world that he was to seek out if he ever found himself lost from his tribe.
"Honoured healer!" Aidinza immediately bows towards the older woman, the Ya'an-ah relied on wise men and women who would wander the desert between tribes to ensure that the Sun Worshippers would remain healthy. It was a difficult life, solitary and dangerous, and no Ya'an-ah would ever consider giving them anything else than the utter respect they, and anyone else who dedicated themselves to healing, deserved. "The sun shines ever bright for you."
The healing woman looked flummoxed for a moment, crystal clear blue eyes blinking, before a flash of realisation crossed them
"And may you find a place in its light." This time it was Aidinza's opportunity to be caught on the back foot, as the traditional greeting was returned despite the distance from his beloved desert. The words felt like an anchor for Aidinza, a flash of normalcy in the overwhelming alien nature of the city he found himself in, and the remnants of stressful tension pulling at his shoulders fell away. "It's been a while since I've met one of the Yaanah."
Despite the butchering of his people's name, Aidinza let a smile slide across his face, he was happy that his people were at least still known beyond the deserts.
"I have begun my journey into adulthood, I will bring honour and praise to the glorious sun!" It felt like it was hitting Aidinza all over again, the sheer enormity of what was happening. He had left the sandy desert, he had left the ancestral lands of the Ya'an-ah to venture into the wider world.
"Oh, that's fantastic for you." The beaming smile on the healer's face left no doubt the absolute sincerity of her words. "Now, did you need me to give your Pokémon a check-up, or are you looking for accommodation?"
"I-if you are not too busy, I would of course welcome you to look over my Sandile, who knows when the winds will lead you to me again!" Aidinza knew not to waste the opportunity to have a healer look you over, it could be months before another wise woman would crest the dune and request to stay with the tribe. In fact, once when he was young he had kept close to his chest the heavy feeling in his stomach while a healer was staying with the Naisho'h, too shy to bother them with what seemed to be a petty bug. Unfortunately, only a week after they left it had blossomed into a terrible sickness, and it had taken nearly a month for another healer to come to the tribe. It was not a mistake that the young Ya'an-ah would repeat twice, and certainly not one that he would risk with his Pokémons health.
"I can even pay for your time!" The Naisho'h knew the value of ensuring that the healers' time was well compensated, not only would their generosity mean the Healer would always keep them in mind, but it would mean that the healer could purchase and barter for more medicine, propagating and bolstering the health of the Ya'an-ah as a whole. However his words seemingly caused the woman to grow concerned, her pink eyebrows furrowing slightly, and Aidinza felt a shock of worry that he had done something wrong.
"You are really new to training, aren't you?" Aidinza was, but he was not entirely sure how that was relevant. Maybe there was some sort of taboo about looking after your Pokémon's health? Or having someone else look after it for you, that you had somehow stumbled into?
It sounded insane to the young nomad, but then the terrifyingly tall buildings of steel and concrete, and the strange windmill in the middle of the city that made no more sense the closer he was to it also were insane to him.
"Oh no it's nothing bad, it's just new trainers don't need to pay for the Pokécenters healing services, and I'm certainly not going to be carried away by a wind." The woman gave another full cheeked smile, her face dimpling as her teeth shined in the sterile light.
Did she mean that she did not travel? "But what about the people that need your help outside of this city?" He blurts out, before feeling a hot sting of shame on his cheeks, despite him becoming an adult in the eyes of the Ya'an-ah, he was still far from having the right to question someone with as great stature as a healer.
"Well, most cities and towns have their own nursing staff, in fact, much of my family is spread out around Unova to help out the Pokémon centres." Have their own nursing staff? She meant healers. But that would mean that there were hundreds of healers, right? Aidinza was never the best when he was being taught geography, but he knew Unova was teeming with permanent settlements that were presumably - hopefully - not as big as Nimbasa, but still were sizable.
"Your family?" The young man absently asks, mouth on autopilot as he tries to come to terms with the idea of there being potentially so many healers. He knew that Unova was much larger than the Ya'an-ah, with a great deal more people, but he never considered that would also extend to people of such august stature as healers.
"Yep, the Joy family has been a backbone of Pokémon healing for centuries, ever since Champion Joy became the twenty-third champion of Kanto, and began spreading the Chancey line all throughout the world." Aidinza blinks as he focuses back in, second names were rare in the Ya'an-ah, most went by their tribes' name if ever called upon it. For there to be an entire family with the same second name… Was Aidinza in front of some sort of royalty? "Though, us Unovan Joys found a partnership with the Audino suited us better."
"You are Healer Joy then?" She said that one of her family was a champion of Kanto? Kanto was a region like Unova, he knew, though one far away, past the sands of Orre, the region so famously lawless that even the Naisho'h had stories about it.
"Doctorate first-class Joy, technically, but most of us prefer to be called Nurse Joy." Nurse Joy's clear blue eyes study the young man for a moment before she taps away at some strange box in front of her. "If you haven't heard about Pokécenters yet, does that mean you haven't been registered with the league?"
That was a question that Aidinza for certain knew how to answer. "By the agreement for the Relic Castle Sanctuary, and in trade for the secrets of the Desert, the Unova League recognises the Ya'an-ah right to determine the feasibility of their people as trainers, and agrees that they will require no further testing to be assigned a trainers licence." It was one of the cornerstones of the agreement between the Ya'an-ah and the Unova League, at least for the Ya'an-ah. Back before the agreement was made, the Unova's had been encroaching on the Ya'an-ah with accusations of not properly looking after their Pokémon, and sending out underprepared trainers into the wider world. It was something the Ya'an-ah easily dispelled, even though they had not had a sun-blessed trainer in decades, the Nomads knew how to prepare their children for training, teaching them the valuable skills of existing alongside pokémon and how to scavenge for food in even the harshest environments.
But now that they had their agreement, not just Unova acknowledged that fact, but the entire world beside.
"Yes you are right, but we still need to get you into the system, otherwise how can we keep track of your gym challenge? I am assuming you want to challenge the gym circuit right?" The nurse gave Aidinza a knowing look, as she continued to tap away at the odd box behind her desk.
"Yes! I will challenge the eight honoured leaders and demonstrate my worthiness." The young nomad smacked his right hand into his left palm. He did not fully understand what the sign of Sandile appearing meant, but he was determined to live up to it.
"Excellent! Now, I just need you to fill this out." The Nurse stands up, and hands over a small tablet sort of thing. With a sleek metal frame, and a glassy front that was lit up with lights, showing what seemed to be a number of very neatly written lines. Aidinza takes the strange device, as Nurse Joy sits back down and turns her attention back to her big box, completely missing the lost look on the young nomad's face.
Carefully the man prodded at a button on the side, unsure what else to do, and found himself staring backwards as the crisp white on the tablet suddenly flicked black. The Ya'an-ah stared at the thing in his hands for a long moment, wondering if the fact the light had retreated at his touch was a sign of a bad thing.
He pokes the button again, and the light returns to his relief. Still unsure of just what this thing did, and trying to remember back to stories in his childhood about ancient tablets in tombs, the young man pressed his full palm to the front of the tablet.
Unfortunately, that seemed to be exactly the wrong thing to do. The screen flickers black again, but this time it was not an absence of light but a corruption, like the light, had been eclipsed - a cursed, woeful event for the Ya'an-ah - and the thing began flickering and shaking, the words rapidly growing smaller and larger seemingly at random.
The young man, panicking, and sure that this time it really was a bad sign, that he had corrupted a pure white light into something dark, let go of the tablet. The metal thing slammed into the ground with a heavy clatter, so noisy that he was sure that his people days away would have heard it.
Aiden's wide green eyes met Nurse Joy's bemused blues, panic writ clear across his face. "Honoured healer, I don't know what I did but I'm sorry."
The young man seemed so earnestly lost and apologetic, that the older woman could not help but give an amused smile, one that she hid behind a delicate hand.
"I'm sure you didn't do anything too bad. Pick up the tablet, and come behind my desk. I'll show you how to use it." And so Aidinza picked up the tablet between two fingers, carefully making his way behind the desk.
Soon enough he was introduced to the wonders of a touchscreen tablet and was well on his way to completing the first of many forms to come.
A/N Thank you to Sidvious, my Beta who is borderline writing the story for me. To everyone else, welcome to the Unova, and the journey of Aidinza, the desert Nomad, a tribe of Sun Worshippers, who's sacred Pokémon is Volcarona, whom they believe to be the suns conduit.