The Alterra region. A place known for its large-scale landscapes including wide-open plains, swaths of forested land, and enormous mountain ranges rich in minerals, each of which host a variety of different pokémon. Alterra has seen increased urbanization and growth as a result of the collaboration between people and pokémon over the past 200 years, in addition to the plentiful resources the land has to offer.

The crown jewel of Alterra, Syllose City, is one of the greatest products from this urbanization. A truly modern metropolis, whose growth was facilitated by its coastal location and plentiful resources, allowing for easy trade with other regions. You can't think of the Alterra region without thinking about Syllose City. Filled with hundreds of thousands of citizens, its enormous skyscrapers and busy lifestyle make it a unique wonder for visiting tourists from all across the globe!

For our story, we will be following the life of Stella Reeves, a 15-year-old girl living with her grandmother in an apartment in Syllose City. She is about to get up and get ready for school at Syllose High. Luckily for her though, there are only a few days left of school until winter break starts and the school ends for the year. Unluckily for her though, she is about to receive a rather rude awakening.


*Beep* *Beep* … *Beep* *Beep* … *Beep* *Beep* … "Ughhhhhh." Stella groaned. She hated that alarm clock sound because it meant that she had to wake up for school. Stella opened her eyes, but all she saw was darkness. There was something, wait no, someone on her face. "Skitty!" Stella half yelled, half moaned her sleep fueled stupor. She tried to get up and push skitty off of her face, but they instead got startled, kicked their feet into Stella and launched themselves off of her onto the bedroom floor. "Ow!" Stella yelped.

Now Stella was definitely awake. "Skitty, could you please stop sleeping on my face?!" she asked, very annoyed. And yes, this wasn't the first time either. Skitty just replied with a dazed "nyah" sound and stretched out their stubby little legs after rebalancing themselves from the launch. They were probably still surprised from being woken up suddenly.

Stella sighed, got up and gave skitty a pat on the head. "Sometimes I just don't get you." Skitty purred happily in response to the pets. Stella smiled. She couldn't be too mad, skitty is just too cute for that. *Beep* *Beep* … *Beep* *Beep* It was still going. If that alarm clock wasn't a present from a friend, she would've shredded it to pieces in the next few seconds.

Stella opened their curtains to let some light inside and get a quick look outside. She lived on a typical urban neighborhood street in a slim, 4-story apartment building. The exterior brick walls of the buildings and iron wrought rails on the windows gave the neighborhood a somewhat industrial era vibe, as a result of the buildings having been around for a few decades now.

The buildings themselves were a stark contrast to the modern asphalt roads and concrete sidewalks below where people were walking. Some were with their pokémon out, others walked solo or with friends. The street also had a few cars on it, but it wasn't too densely packed since most people ride the subway or their pokémon to get around.

Glancing off to the side, Stella could see a bunch of pidove nearby on a power line, all perched together. Above, she could see various other flying pokémon including an emolga who glided down from a rooftop across the street to a light pole on Stella's side of the street. Pretty high up too she could also see what seemed to be a dragonite flying by. Stella wondered where they were going as they flew by.

Before she could procrastinate any longer, Stella got changed from her pjs into her school uniform, and ate breakfast (mmm, gotta love Combee Flakes Cereal®) before going to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

Stella checked herself in the mirror, noticing her dirty blonde hair was a complete mess. She brushed it out, tied it back into a neat ponytail, and glanced at the mirror one last time, rubbing the sleep from her emerald green eyes. Her freckles, which were usually quite faint on her fair skin, were even less noticeable than usual today.

Stella walked out of the bathroom to find her grandma boiling some water in the kitchen (presumably for tea) and cooking an omelet. "Oh, morning grandma! I didn't hear you get up."

She turned to face Stella. "Ah, good morning dear. I see you're up early." She looked up and down at Stella. "And already prepared for school too."

"Well…" Stella replied, "Skitty helped wake me up a little."

As if on cue, skitty came into the room and started purring and brushing against Stella's grandma's leg. She looked down at skitty and said, "Oh you little scamp you," and gave them a few pets on the head.

Stella's grandma, or Grandma Lucy as some people call her, is the type to invite you in for a nice cup of tea and a plate of warm home baked cookies. She had curly white hair, green emerald eyes, and a wrinkled countenance, the type that every elderly individual has.

She then asked Stella, "Did you remember to fill skitty's bowl?"

"Oh right," Stella replied. She nearly forgot. Stella immediately went to the pantry to grab some pokémon food to pour into skitty's food bowl.

Meanwhile, Grandma Lucy's omelet finished, so she put it onto a plate and took it to the dining table. She went back to the stove to get the boiling tea kettle, poured it into a tea cup with a persim berry tea packet and started mixing it with a teaspoon.

As Stella finished pouring the pokémon food for skitty, Stella's grandma asked her, "Will there be anything interesting happening at school today?"

"Hmmmm," Stella thought out-loud. "Not really. Since we finished all of our exams and school assignments, they have nothing else to give us. We'll probably be watching boring educational videos and playing board games."

"That doesn't sound too bad." Grandma Lucy replied. "I wouldn't want to be left doing school work on my last few days of school. Would you?"

"I guess so," Stella replied, "Maybe the educational videos will be on something interesting."

"See!" Grandma Lucy exclaimed. "Now that's a better way to see it. I don't want to keep you waiting though." She turned to a nearby clock on the wall. "You're not going to be early anymore if you keep chattering away."

"Alrighty grandma, see you later!"

"Bye dear! Have fun at school!"

Stella left her apartment and locked the door behind herself. Stella lived on the second floor, so she normally took the stairs down. But just as she was about to head down, she heard a door open and a familiar voice from across the hall, "Hey Stell!"

Stella turned around to see none other than Michael Lane. He's Stella's neighbor and a good friend of hers. Bit of a personality though.

Michael is a tan, somewhat tall dude with messy black hair (no one can ever convince him to comb that beast), brown eyes, and square glasses. He originally came from Alola but moved to Syllose City after his dad was hired for a research job at Delta Technology Solutions (usually just shortened to Delta Tech), one of the leading giants in energy-related research and solar power in Syllose. Delta has played an enormous part in advancing the infrastructure and technology in the city.

"Yo, you weren't planning on leaving me behind, were you?" he asked Stella as he caught up to her. Since the two live right next to each other and go to the same school, they both usually walk to school together.

"Oh," Stella replied, "Normally you're waiting for me on the first floor so I thought-"

"Nah I'm just joking with you," he interrupted. "C'mon," he said, "Let's go!"

Every weekday Stella and Michael usually take the subway together to school, since it'd be a huge walk otherwise. Luckily for them, the city provides student discount passes, so taking the subway is pretty cheap.

So as they took the subway to school, Stella and Michael talked about winter vacation plans. Michael said he was thinking of interning at Delta Tech where his dad works.

"Really?" Stella asked, "Wow, that's a big step for you."

"Yea," Michael replied, "I'm a bit young for it, but with dad already working there and my-" he paused for dramatic effect and switched to a sophisticated-sounding accent "-infinite technological prowess," before switching his accent back to normal "I don't think it's going to be too much of an issue."

Stella had to chuckle at his boasting comment. "Well alrighty the all-mighty alakazam," she replied, "Just don't fall over with a head that big."

He smiled "Yea, no worries I won't."

It's true that Michael is pretty smart though, and he's a big science nerd. Usually he has his head buried into one book or another, is tinkering around with some electronics at home, or is just chatting away about some science stuff he learned the other day. He also has an elekid who helps him out with electronics and such, but they aren't out of their pokéball at the moment.

The two then switched over to talking about Stella's summer plans. "You don't have any?" Michael asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Stella replied, "Just been focusing on getting through exams. Didn't think much about what's coming after."

"Well what about your track team?"

"We don't compete again until the beginning of the next school year. I can still train, but there won't be any competitions until then."

"Well I mean, I'm sure you'll find something else," he said. "Wasn't your dad a pokémon trainer? And I know you love watching the league. You ever consider battling in the local Syllose circuit?"

"Even though I watch a lot of the league, I really don't know much about being a trainer," Stella replied.

"Nah Stell," Michael replied. "You'd probably be a great trainer!"

"Besides," Stella continued, "I really don't have a pokémon to compete with."

"Yea I guess so. Your grandma's skitty really doesn't count."

"Yeah, no way grandma would ever let me battle with skitty even if they were cut out for it."

Stella and Michael spent the rest of the ride talking about some random other stuff until they arrived at their stop. The two got off at the education district station and pushed their way through the dense crowd to get back above ground where they could walk the rest of the distance to school.

The education district didn't have many tall buildings but still has a lot to explore. It houses both Syllose High and Syllose University, which are actually both right next to each other. A majority of the buildings are made of red brick and mortar, giving them a sophisticated vibe, with some crosswalks stylized with some murals of pokémon made by highschool and college students. There were also several open areas with grass, trees, and a bench here and there where students could relax and enjoy the natural space in the middle of the city with their Pokémon. Most of the paths were made for students, so cars aren't allowed on the college campus with the exception of trucks and other important vehicles, so corviknight taxi stations are popular there. Besides the high school and university, a few streets down east there is also the Pokémon Natural History Museum and the public library, both also making up part of the college campus.

After a short walk from the subway station, through a bit of the college campus, Stella and Michael arrived at Syllose High. There were what seemed like hundreds of other students either hanging out in front of the school or walking inside. In front of the school, there was a huge marble fountain of an octillery statue shooting out water into the air. Octillery is actually the school mascot, with all sports team names being the "Syllian Octilleries." There were also some ducklett swimming around in the fountain too. They were somehow unbothered by the many students chatting and wandering around them.

Michael and Stella walked inside and split up as they each went off to their respective classes. Despite having that fantastic fountain in front of the school, there's nothing particularly remarkable about the interior of the school. Just walls with locker after locker after locker of lockers with the occasional door with a classroom inside.

The classrooms themselves aren't as bad as the hallways though, the teachers know how to decorate their own classrooms. For example, the science classroom is filled with posters with pokémon anatomy puns and the language class has posters on famous novels such as "Lord of the Cutieflies," "Moby-Dick the Wailord," and "Hairy Pooter and the Order of the Moltres." Actually that's it. All they have are posters. They can't put up much else without "disrupting the learning environment."

Throughout the day, nothing particularly interesting happened with Stella. She played board games like Pokémon Chess, got to catch up with some friends, and played with the pokémon some of the other students brought with them. She couldn't understand why they couldn't let them start summer early. The school system is weird.

After Stella's final class, she went to the front of the school and waited for Michael since the two also normally go home together. However, he sent her a text that read "going to lab to visit dad, you can go on ahead." Since Syllose University is right around the corner, it's a short walk to get to the research labs they have on campus, so he usually visits his dad at his research lab whenever he can.


After riding the subway, Stella finally arrived home. She closed the apartment door behind herself carefully; she noticed that her grandmother was taking a nap on the sofa in the living room with skitty sleeping on her lap. Stella quietly snuck by the two of them to her room.

Stella's room was a mess. Normally she keeps everything pretty neat, but with exams the past week, she has been too tired (and maybe a bit lazy) to actually clean anything up. There were random dirty clothes strewn about the floor, a few of skitty's poké-toys, and a few pieces of balled up paper under her desk.

It took a bit of time, but after several minutes Stella cleaned everything up. As she was finishing up, she noticed a few dusty old boxes in the back corner of the top shelf of her closet. She couldn't remember what they had in them, so out of curiosity she pulled one of them down to see what it had inside. Inside was a thick binder-like book, and a few other small mementos or trinkets.

Just as she was examining it though, her grandma walked into the room, "Oh, you found our old photo album!"

Stella turned around. "Photo album?" As it turns out, Stella was holding the book backwards. She flipped it over to the other side to find that it read "Reeves Family Album."

"Oh yes, we kept a lot of pictures from when you were younger. But I don't recall if we ever looked over them together."

"No… we haven't," Stella replied pensively. "I don't ever remember seeing these before."

"Would you like to look it over after dinner then?"

"Sure."

Stella and her grandma cooked mushroom medley curry together. After eating, cleaning the dishes, brushing her teeth, and doing a few other chores Stella went to her room with her grandma, where she pulled down the rest of the boxes so they both could see what was inside.

The boxes held an array of items. Shuffling through them, besides the photo album, Stella also found copies of "How to Train Your Salamence," "Pokémon Anatomy Vol. 4," among some other books, an older model of a pokéball, a feathered poke-toy, and a music album from the band Toxic Wave.

Skitty entered the room curious as to what the two humans were doing. Taking note of skitty, Stella took the poké-toy out of the box and swung it around for them to play with. Stella then tossed it to the side, which prompted skitty to leap across the room and pounce onto the toy. It was just to keep skitty distracted while the two looked over the items in the boxes.

As Stella and her grandma went through the photo album together, her grandma kept pointing out this or that distant relative which Stella never met before. There were several cute pictures of Stella when she was a baby, alongside her parents who were the only people she actually recognized. There were also a few pictures of her parents next to a marshtomp too. In fact, there was one picture with her parents laughing and having fun as they are getting sprayed with water by that same marshtomp. Stella wondered who they were.

"Well," Stella's grandma began as she stood up from the bed, "I'm getting tired, so I think I'm off to bed. But feel free to look at more pictures without me. Just let me know what you find tomorrow."

"Sure thing. Good night grandma."

"Good night dear," Stella's grandma replied as she walked over to her room.

Nothing else in the rest of the photos caught Stella's interest, so she put away the album into a box. Meanwhile, skitty, who was done playing around with the poké toy Stella threw her earlier, was now walking around, sniffing at the boxes out of curiosity.

However, just as she was about to put away the rest of the boxes, Stella noticed that skitty was pawing and meowing at one of the boxes. "What are you doing?" Stella muttered. Stella walked over to the box skitty was pawing at. It was just a box with a bunch of random old clothes. "What's so interesting about that?" Stella thought to herself as she watched skitty pawing away.

Stella could see that Skitty was pretty insistent though on getting into that box, and was now trying to climb into the box. "I guess I should check." Stella thought to herself as she lifted Skitty off of the box, put them onto the floor, and then began to dig through the pile of clothes. At the bottom, she found a smaller box underneath. She pulled it out to inspect it further.

It was a small, rustic-looking wooden chest with a metal latch and metallic rim. It felt like old wood and smelled like old wood too. On top was a painted symbol of what looked like a pokéball flanked on both sides by two wings. Stella flipped open the latch and opened the chest.

There were only two items inside. The first was a dark and light green fabric with a lighter gradient in the middle and a darker gradient towards the edges. The other item was a glass vial with a rainbow powder inside labeled "Emera Dust" with a sticky note. The vial was wrapped up in the fabric.

"How did skitty find this?" Stella wondered as she looked over to the cat pokémon who happened to be licking themselves at the moment.

Stella picked up the rainbow vial first because of its unusual color. It shimmered when she held it up to her bedroom light. But Stella immediately noticed that the powder inside wasn't dropping down like everything else that obeys gravity.

Stella shook around the powder in the bottle, but all of the powder was obeying its own direction of gravity and was stuck on the side of the vial, almost like it was being pulled to something. "What's up with this stuff… Is it magnetic somehow?" Stella thought.

That gave Stella an idea. She placed the vial on the ground, and slowly but surely, it started rolling across the ground. Skitty watched with curiosity as it slowly rolled towards them. "It's attracted to skitty?" Stella wondered to herself as the vial stopped at skitty's feet. "Or maybe it's just attracted to something in that direction."

Skitty turned to watch as Stella picked up the vial and placed it behind the pokémon to test her theory. And slowly but surely, the vial started rolling towards skitty again. "Weird, a powder that's magnetized to skitty," Stella wondered as she picked back up the vial. "Or maybe just pokémon in general. Why would we have this?"

Stella used her phone to look online for "Emera Powder" or just "Emera," but turned up no results. "Huh, maybe should ask Michael about this tomorrow, he might know something," Stella thought as she streeeeeeeeetched and gave out a big yawwwwwwwwwn. She could figure this out later, but was getting tired and needed to go to sleep.

Stella was about to put the vial back into the small chest, but saw that skitty was trying to take the green fabric. "Hey," Stella said as she took the fabric from skitty's mouth "We gotta put things away okay? We both need to head to sleep."

Stella took the preemptive measure of picking up skitty and locking the mischievous cat out of her room to prevent any further shenanigans on skitty's behalf.

Stella was about to put the fabric away, but stopped because the texture and smell of the fabric caught her off guard. It somehow felt both like a smooth silky scarf and warm fuzzy scarf at the same time. Stella caught a whiff of the fabric and then sniffed it, intrigued by the smell. It was… oddly familiar. Stella couldn't pinpoint the smell immediately… but it smelled… like nature? She racked her brain for a word to describe it. It was like morning dew with a sort of earthy vibe to it; petrichor.

Stella stretched out the scarf and looked at the full pattern. She could clearly see the light and dark green pattern with a gradient in the middle, and various lines that resembled a greek key pattern with geometric lines running across it at 90 degree angles, making it a distinct pattern. "I swear I've seen this somewhere before..." Stella muttered to herself.

Stella looked back at the wooden chest with the emblem she had opened. "Wonder where they came from," she thought.

Without warning, the scarf attacked Stella. The opened fabric somehow lunged itself at Stella's face, blocking her sight. In a blind panic, Stella tried to pry the fabric off of her face, but it wouldn't give. Stella stood up and tried to gather her bearings, but suddenly started to feel drowsy. She abruptly passed out, conveniently falling into her bed, all without making a sound. As she drifted off into a deeper sleep, the fabric, by itself, loosened itself from the grasp of her face and neatly tied itself into a scarf around her neck. All in a mere 3 seconds…