''Nebby are you alright?'' Lillie asked one she felt they were far enough from the building of their captor. The former human boy had it's eyes closed and did not move and to Lillie's horror his form had paled significantly in color and went from a dark blue to a very whiteish color. ''N-Nebby come on, it's not funny!'' Nebby managed a very weak cry and smiled slightly at her as if to reassure her he was okay. She sighed in relief but was still worried about his condition. But first they needed to get out of here.
They were now outside of the town, in a big wooden area. Lillie didn't know where she was going but she thought anywhere would be better than staying close to these monsters who had transformed poor Nebby into this strange alien form.
Their walk through nature was interrupted as they heard a low growl coming from behind a bush. Before she could understand what was happening a group of strange dogs with orange fur and black stripes emerged out of the bush. In no time at all they completely surrounded her and Nebby.
Most of the dogs were small but one of them was massive. Almost the size of a horse which was kind of ridiculous and it seemed to command respect from the other smaller dogs. Lillie tought the creatures would kill and eat her. It looked like she escaped the facility for nothing, her fate was sealed from the start.
She tried backing away from them but they slowly followed her their eyes not leaving her for a moment. From what she remembered running from predators was a very bad idea so she continued backing away hoping against everything that they would get bored of her.
When they came close to the town the canine creatures stopped their stalking and howled in irritation as they ears folded back behind their head. Deciding the the girl in front of them wasn't worth the trouble anymore, they all ran back toward the forest. Lillie was confused, why did the creature stopped following her as soon as they got close to town? Lillie decided she shouldn't look at a gifted horse in the mouth. Now that she knew the world outside was dangerous she decided that instead of running away. It would be a better idea to hide and learn more about how much the world has changed since the Invasion.
Lillie was careful to only walked in back alleys and tried to be seen by the least amount of people possible. She didn't know how far the influence of her kidnappers spreaded after all. For all she knew this was a town full of psychos. Lillie smiled when she came face to face in front of a library. This could be the perfect place to lay low and learn more. Assuming people had written any new books in the time she had been frozen.
Making sure that no one was watching her. She ran toward the building, at first she thought of just going to the front door. But she thought better of it. She wanted to lay low for a while and if the librarian knew she was there she would be kicked out as soon as the library closed for the night. Her hope rose when she saw a window close to the ground that led to the basement of the library.
Much to her relief the window effortlessly opened up. She guessed the librarian wasn't that worried about thieves since libraries tend to lend books for free. The window was a bit small for her but she managed to squeeze throught and landed on the ground with a small thud.
This section of the libraries had many shelves, but most of them were empty and there were spider webs everywhere. Maybe this part of the library had been abandoned? Luckily for her she found an old flashlight laying around and it still worked. She looked around for the few books that remain. But to her disappointment most of the books were fictions written before the Invasion.
As much as she would like to read Harry Potter again, she had more important things to learn. In the corner of her eyes she noticed that a book had been thrown into the trash bin. That piqued her interest why would a library throw away a book? The book was a simple yellow color and written in red color was 'Children of The Great Ones: How to Become More Than Humans.'
Instantly something didn't sit well with the title of the book and Nebby made her known that he didn't like it either with a soft cry of disdain. ''Don't worry Nebby it's just a book, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Maybe the librarian just threw it because it's been damaged?'' Ignoring the protest of the small nebula, Lillie opened the book and began to read.
Dear readers you might be wondering what are the Great Ones and how can they help us overcoming these frail humans bodies we have been accustomed to? Well wonder no more! The Great Ones have freed us of the shackles of civilisation! For millenia humanity has been stuck working as willing slaves for leaders that did not care about them. The Great Ones freed us by destroying the thrones of lies and greed of such leaders. People see this as a tragedy, but nay! This was the first step to our next evolution!
By joining the Great Ones we will become more! They freed us of corrupted leaders who were guided by nothing more than greed and lazyness! People have tried to get rid of the Great One's children over and over again, these creatures we call the Pokémon, but nay! We should accept them as brothers and sisters and join them in the worship of The Original Ones! For only then will humanity stop being the prey hiding like cattle in our wall of stones and finally become equal to the Pokémon!
Lillie closed the book loudly her face pale at all the implications. ''People are worshiping the Dragons?! But they killed billions of people!'' Nebby wailed worriedly at Lillie and rubbed his head against the girl's arms. Lillie putted the book back into the trash can and petted the top of the head of the small nebula. ''I'm okay Nebby, I just hope not everyone see Dragons as saviors. Because I'm not sure I could stand living in a world that worship these monsters.''
Lillie and Nebby stayed in the basement all day. When night finally came and they were sure no one was left in the building, they slowly made their way upstair. Just as she hoped there were more books in the main area but most of them were still from before the Invasion. Finally she came in front of an interesting book. It was called 'Pokémon for dummies: A Basic Guide On How To Deal With Pokémon'
''That word again, what is a Pokémon?'' Nebby maded a chittering sound as if to say 'how should I know?' ''Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to look. I just hope this is not another book for a crazy cult.'' Opening the book she began to read with great interest.
I assume most people know what a Pokémon is. But in case you've been living under a rock since 2069. Pokémon are creatures with great and terryfying power. They can be found everywhere, in the forests, jungles, the sea, the rivers and even the sky. As I'm writting this they have arleady replaced the vast majority of the previous ecosystem of Earth.
Some say they should be erradicated from the face off the Earth, while other suggest they could become our allies. But I'm not here to debate what we should do with them. I will only try to help you understand them better. Firstly Pokémon are divided into eighteen category or as most commonly referred to, eighteen types. Normal, Fire, Water, Grass, Flying, Fighting, Poison, Electric, Ground, Rock, Psychic, Ice, Bug, Ghost, Steel, Dark, Fairy and the most dangerous of them all Dragon.
Well, you can probably figure what most types do with their names but let me explain it in more details. Even thought most people associate most Pokémon with one type it is not uncommon for them to have two of them at the same time. For example there are grass type Pokémon who can only summon leaves or make plants sprout from the ground. But a Grass and Ground type Pokémon might have complete mastery of the ground and not just which plant they can create from it.
Weirdly despite how devastating that combination of type is, it is extremely rare to see in any species of Pokémon.
But no matter what a Pokémon can do with their types. The most important thing you should understand about them is that they are not animals. Sure they might look like it at first glance. But they are definitely much smarter. The Trainer I managed to talk to before writting this book even swore up and down that they are fully sapient. But since said Trainer had other things to do and couldn't stay with me for long, I could unfortunately not study any Pokémon from up close.
And yes I can arleady hear the question. If they are so intelligent why do they live in the wild and attack us like savage animals? The response to that is that Pokémon do not need civilisation to thrive. Humans are weak by nature. Which is why we have built strong foundations to protect ourselves and make life more convenient. But Pokémon with their strenght need no such things. And it is known that Pokémon have a much stronger connection with nature than humans and even animals did and wouldn't want to ruin this nature as we did by building industries that destroy nature for the sake of convenience. Draconid Gems allow Pokémon to still have that connection to nature while they live with humans. But wild Pokémon are not that fortunate. Which is why for the most part Pokémon who live in city ruins doesn't tend to be as dangerous as ones encountered deep in the woods.
Another theory suggest that the Pokémon worship the Dragons. And as such refuse to build any civilisation as to not threaten the natural order their deities created. I do not know if that theory have any weight. What we can learn from these creatures is very limited since Trainers have been driven out of most human civilisation and as such the experts on the subject are very hard to find.
Now you might be wondering what is a Trainer? Well a Trainer is someone who became master to one or multiple Pokémon. Because of the frightful power they could unleash on civilisation with the monsters they have tamed. They have been driven out of most settlements all over the world. Which in my opinion is just another example of the complete irrationality humanity can showcase. As it has been show time and time again that Trainers are the last line of defense humanity has left against wild Pokémon and the Dragons. Sure there is also the Knights of Humanity, but they can't be everywhere. And I for one do not approve of how they threat the settlements they protect. Everywhere they set foot I see drought of food and people being killed for befriending any Pokémon no matter how harmless they may be. And the leaders of such settlements become nothing more than puppets bending to the every whims of their enigmatic King.
If you're planning to become a Trainer yourself. Do not try to capture a Pokémon without a Draconid Gem unless you absolutely have to. Pokémon are much more powerful than any creatures native to Earth. If you try to capture one without a gem you could die in an instant. And don't even think about trying to threaten one with weapons like knives, or even guns, they will do absolutely nothing to a Pokémon and they know it.
From what the Trainer I talked to told me Draconid Gems allow you to communicate with the Pokémon in all security. I have often wondered how is it to talk to a Pokémon. I salivate at the thought of all the secrets they could reveal to me about their world. But I am far too old to do something so foolhardy as to try to tame a Pokémon. And unfortunately getting to talk to another Trainer with such things has proven to be a diffcult task. Being threated like outcasts by their peers has made most Trainers wary of strangers asking too many questions. Not that I can blame them.
Now into where the energy of The Pokémon come from the Pokémon-
Lillie gasped she was about to turn a page and noticed that the rest of pages were missing. She fumed at this, who would dare destroy such important pieces of information?! Lillie sighed in disappointment and putted the book back in it's place on the shelve. At least she had learn a lot from this book. So the weird dogs from earlier were called Pokémon huh? Did that make Nebby a Pokémon too or was he something else? After that both her and Nebby decided it would be best to go to sleep maybe they would be able to get more information another time.
Multiple days and nights passed after that night. Lillie didn't know how much time she had spent in that library. She wanted to get out of here and moved as far away from the town as she could. But she couldn't move Nebby around in the condition that he was in. He had spent almost the entire time in library asleep and dead to the world. But to her immense relief the small nebula seemed to regain some colors with every passing days they spent there. She came close to being caught a few times by the librarian. But with quick reflexes she managed to avoid detection.
But eventually as more and more time passed a familiar pain began to invade her body. Every days it became worse and worse. She was afraid someone would catch them at any moments and with both of them in such conditions there wasn't much they would be able to do to escape again.
Then one day she heard a commotion coming from upstair. The librarian who she learned was an old lady named Magnola was shouting at someone. She didn't understand everything so she decided to put an ear on the wall and tried to hear more of the conversation. But even with an ear on the wall she could only make out muffled voices.
''...Don't want you here... scaring my clients!'' She heard the voice of the old lady shout. A man with a calm voice replied to har.
''...Don't want any touble...prove to you...Just want to... and spread the word of the Great Ones.''
Her heart turned to ice as she heard the last sentence. ''Nebby we have to get out of here the crazy cultists are here!'' The star covered Pokémon nodded at her with a determined expression. Lillie took a chair and as quietly as she could placed it under the window she had entered weeks ago. She was still a bit too short to reach the window so she tried to grab the ledge by jumping.
Much to her horror this caused the chair to fall on the ground causing a loud 'clang!' as it connected with the cement floor. She heard the people from upstair make sound of confusion and then heard them heading down toward the stairs. Throwing caution to the wind she climbed throught the window as fast as she could and began to run into the streets.
Two hooded men arrived in the basement and they immediatly noticed the fallen chair and the open window. ''Let's go! This might be the escaped subject!'' The other man nodded and both of them ran toward the exit.
Lillie was sprinting as fast as she could toward the forest she didn't know what she would do once she was there but at this point she didn't care. She preferred dying at the hands of some wild Pokémon rather than being captured again by these lunatics. Unfortunately at the worst moment she felt the pain that had been building up these last few days rearing back it's ugly head. She tried to ignore it as best as she could until they were far away from here.
Meanwhile the two men weren't able to catch up to the girl. So one of them stopped in his track and yelled toward his partner. ''She's too fast, let our Pokémon handle the job.'' The silent man grinned at the suggestion before nodding. ''Alright Rookie come out!'' A blue and black bird with red piercing eyes came out of a sky blue gem and squawked loudly awaiting the command of his master.
The silent man whispered something and a red beam of light came out from his belt. A dog with orange fur and black stripes exactly like the one that had chase after Lillie a few days ago appeared in front of the quiet man. ''Alright you two we need to capture someone who's trying to to run from us. They came out of this library a short while ago, so their scent should still be fresh.''
The orange dog nodded with a small growl and began to sniff at the ground. Then it barked loudly and ran toward the south exit of town. The more talkative man of the two began to laugh. ''Whoever it is there no way they're gonna escape our Pokémon. Professor Aether will be please if it turn out to be the escaped hybrid.''
Lillie heard a bark behind her and she shrieked when she saw the same species of Pokémon she had encountered a few days ago pursuing her. It was followed closely by a blue bird. Nebby chose that moment of all time to finally wake up from his long slumber and wiggled out of the girl's pocket. Wasting no time in his grogginess He floated alongside Lillie until he found a rock laying on the ground. Picking it in his mouth he proceeded to throw it at the striped dog who growled more annoyed than anything else at the attack. Then Nebby flew to the right and the canine followed the nebula instantly.
It finally dawned on Lillie what her friend was trying to do. ''Nebby no! You're going to get killed!'' But it was too late the Cosmog was arleady too far away to reach.
She considered running after her friend but before she could even try a strong gust of wind pushed her to the ground making her hit her head on the dirt. Looking up she saw that the blue bird was still after her and was looking at her with a predatory glint. The bird began to flap it's wing more erraticaly and produced another gust of wind. But this time Lillie reacted in time and rolled away to escape the blast of wind. Then she pushed herself up from the ground and began to sprint away from her attacker.
She heard the wind whistling loudly, instinctively she ducked and she was glad she did. The wind had missed her head by a hair and had putted a large gash on the trunk of a tree. Lillie gulped as she realised how close she had come to death, but then looked up at the bird in defiance. ''You think you're so strong huh? Well take this!'' She picked a tree branch on the ground and threw it toward the bird.
As soon as it made contact with the Pokémon the branch snapped in half and the bird looked no worse for wear. ''Are you serious?!'' She exclaimed with baffled look before trying to run again but suddenly the pain from earlier came back in full force. It spreaded suddenly all over her body and wouldn't subside. Lillie kneeled on the ground and began to scream in agony.
The blue bird began to squawk in shock as the girl began to convulse and trash on the ground. Her scream could be heard in every corners of the forest. Finally the girl couldn't take it any longer, her vision faded to black and she felt her mind slowly shutting down. The last thing she saw was the bird beginning to frantically cry for it's master to come to it...
When she was bought back to consciousness she was back in her familiar cell as if the last few days had been nothing more than a dream. She tried to rub some of the sleepiness out of her eyes and nearly screamed when she felt something furry brush against her eyelids instead of her usual hands. She quickly opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw.
Her hands were covered by dark blue fur. Looking at the rest of her body she saw that her kidnappers had stripped her of all the clothes she had found in her food runs during her stay at library. Leaving her stark naked once again. but this time most of her body was covered in a spotless white fur that glowed in the darkness of her cell. Except for her arms and legs which were covered in golden fur similar in color to her hair. Touching the top of her head her stomach drop when she felt a pair of massive furry ears protruding from atop of her head and she noticed that despite how dark she remembered her cell being when she had been there last time, she could see amazingly well right now. She tried to scream but all that came out was a loud meowing sound which did nothing to calm her panic.
She heard footsteps coming to her cell and her blood began to boil when she saw her mother standing there with an indiferent look on her face. She didn't even react when Lillie ran toward her and slammed her entire body on the bars of her cells.
''Such a shame I had high hope for you my daughter. When I saw that you retained your human form for much longer than the other subjects I thought we had finally succeeded at unlocking the power of the Pokémon. But you became just another hybrid just like all the other ones that survived. But don't worry it is possible we might give you back your humanity with time. We will preserve you and the others in a jar of life. They are similar in concept to cryogenic pods, just much safer. Since it doesnt required us to freeze you. If we don't manage to find a way to turn you back into humans well...It's a shame but humanity has no need for more monsters, so I will have to dispose of you.''
Lillie banged on the bars of her cell and she hissed in rage like a feral cat. But the woman she used to call mother was unaffected by this as she walked away without a care. Pretty soon someone else came to her cell and summoned a small yellow bipedal fox creature that floated in the air and had it's eyes closed. The Pokémon opened it's eyes and began to glow with a piercing blue light. She tried to back away from the light, but a sudden drowsiness overcame her. She soon fell asleep once again, this time she wouldn't see the light of days for a long time...
She didn't know if it was a positive thing or not. But the so-called jar of life worked differently than the cryogenic pod. The biggest difference is that she was a bit more conscious than she had been in the previous pods. In both case she didn't feel the passage of time. But the difference was that while she wasn't really concious her brain was active enough to sometime let her dream. Most of the dreams she had, had been forgotten a long time ago. Lost in a cacophony of sound and colors. But the last dream she had, she still remembered it as clearly as if it had really happened.
She was standing in a large grassy field. There was no end to this field in sight it was almost like a sea of green and the sky was a perfect blue color, with no clouds in sight. She wasn't concerned about being alone in this vast place in fact she felt more at peace than she ever did before.
She heard someone walking on grass behind her. As she looked back she smiled, her father was standing there with a loving smile on his face. Her father had died years ago due to a freak accident with the Starleap. But somehow within the dream, it made perfect sense for him to stand there.
''Father! You're finally back!'' She said before giving the man a bone crushing hug.
''Sorry for the long wait my little kitten. I wanted to see you because I have a gift for you.''
Lillie smiled at that. ''Really?! What is it?'' She asked curiously.
The man giggled which was kind of weird coming from her dad but it was nice to see him this happy. ''Close your eyes and I'll give it to you.'' He said with an excited smile on his face.
Lillie did as ordered and she felt her father fingers touching her forehead, suddenly her head felt really warm, then the warm sensation spreaded to all over her body, as suddenly as it had appeared the sensation was gone. She opened her eyes and look at her father in wonder. ''What did you give me?''
''I gave you what is rightfully yours my child. I gave you the gift of the mind.'' For one second her father's eyes seemed to glow, but she thought nothing of it, it was probably just her imagination.
The girl cocked her head curiously. ''The gift of the mind? What is that?''
Her father laughed at that once again. ''Oh I'm sure you'll find out soon enough. But first you have to open your eyes. You have been asleep for almost nine months now sleepyhead, it's time to wake up and return to the real world.'' As soon as he said those words the world around them started crumbling before darkness shallow it whole...
Lillie opened her eyes her heart was beating wildly. She was trapped inside a weird, green and goopy liquid. An alarm blared from just outside her containment and she could hear someone screaming. ''Subject forty-two is waking up! That shouldn't even be possible!''
''Of all the fucking time! The Knights are at our doorsteps we don't have time to deal with this shit. Steve inject her with the f-33 serum.'' A gruff voice said.
The man she assumed to be Steve could be heard gasping in shock. ''But sir, this is the Professor daughter are you sure we should kill-''
The other man grabbed him by the collar. ''We don't have time for this! Do it now! In fact kill all of them! If the Knights find out what we've been doing they will never stop tracking us down!'' The man named Steve paled at the order but nodded and tried to prepare the serum.
During the conversation Lillie had felt her blood boil more and more. And when they threatened to kill everyone her rage became uncontrollable. A blue glow began to emerge from her ears as she instinctively unfolded them and it illuminated the whole tank around her. As soon as she did this a louder alarm went off this time it was heard in all the facility.
''Holy shit don't tell me-'' He didnt have time to finish his question before Lillie's tank exploded and sent the two men crashing brutally against the wall. If Lillie had been able to hear she would have heard the sickening crunch of their bones before they fell lifelessly on the ground.
More men and women came rushing throught the hall and they were left speechless when they saw the bipedal cat floating in the air enveloped in etheral energy. At this point Lillie wasn't really thinking clearly, her rage and instincts had taken over completely. All she cared about was to get out of here and do as much damage to these monsters as she could along the way. One of the men shakily took out a gun and began to fire bullets at Lillie. The hybrid raised a hand and stopped every bullets in mid-air with almost no efforts.
When his charger became empty she had seven bullets in her grasp. ''You fucking dumbass! She's a Pokémon now! Your gun is going to do jackshit!'' Lillie proceeded to do a flicking motion with all of her fingers. The bullets were sent back toward the group of attacker at such speed that it made the same damage it would have done if they had been shot by a gun. Three men and two woman lay dead while two other men where laying on the ground and groaning in agony.
''Retreat! Retreat! We don't have any Pokémon on us, call the guards!'' The group of cultists ran away leaving Lillie alone. Even in her state of pure instinct her first act was to look for Nebby. She found the small nebula in another tank close to what was left of her's. She tried to free her friend from the tank. But it was much more solid than she thought and she wasn't able to open it without risking hurting her friend. Then she found a terminal at the end of the hall she tried to use it but was instantly pushed back by a strong shock of electricity.
She wanted to scream in rage but she managed to contain herself for now. She turned back toward Nebby. and promised herself that that she would free him if it was the last thing she did. With that she sent a large blast of blue energy toward the ceiling and created a massive hole which she flew throught.
Once she was on top of the building she saw members of the cult trying to fight against people wearing large metalic armors. But the member of the cult were losing and pretty quickly they were retreating with their tails between their legs.
Lillie proceeded to float down to the rooftop of abandoned building as soon as she landed she started feeling woozy and quickly fell unconscious from all the energy she spent...
The next day when she woke up she found that the rooftop had a door and she sneaked inside the building and used it as her shelter. She took this time to practice with her power. It took her a few days to be able to summon her power at all without using the power of her rage and even then it was a pathetic fraction of what she had done while she escaped from the lab. Her first priority had been to turn herself back into her humans form. With the small amount of power she had she managed to create an illusion of her former self which would fool most people who didn't have powers similar to her.
She thanked God or whatever deities that were listening that for whatever reason she was able to talk once again. She didn't know why she could only meow before her long sleep in the tank. But it would have painful to live while only being able to communicate like a cat.
Now that she was part Pokémon she could hear an incessant high pitch sound throught out the entire little town and it never stopped. It was really painful to her new ears and annoying as fuck but she managed to stay in town out of sheer will for as long as Nebby was still there. It was probably also helpful that she could somewhat mitigate the sound by tightly curling her ears close to her head otherwise she might have gone insane. No wonder no other Pokémon wanted to approach the town...
She tried to recruit the help of the townsfolk, so she could free Nebby from his sleep. But everyone she met threated her as if she wasn't even there, or tried to get away from her as fast as possible since she was an outsider. In that time she also tried to learn as much as possible about this new world. She read everything from books, newspapers and even diaries, everything she could get her hands on. There was probably a lot she was still missing. But she learned the basics on how this new world worked.
What was left of Orchestralia was controlled by two factions. The Knight of Humanity and the Ding Dong Resistance. The Knights wanted to kill all the Pokémon, while the Resistance tamed wild Pokémon to help them protect people. The two groups seemed to be in a sort of cold war. Skirmish between the two factions pop up there and there but both groups seemed to want to avoid a full on war, for now.
Lillie instantly knew she was more on the side of the Resistance. It's true that she wasn't there to witness the true horror that the Pokémon bought to the world. But she couldn't believe all of them deserved to die. And beside would the Knights of Humanity even make the difference between what she had become and a true Pokémon? She didn't want to find out.
Finally after almost a week of trying to find someone to help her, she came across a boy who looked around the same age as her. He was currently muttering to himself about where he should go next. She saw that just like her, people were giving him a wide berth but he didn't seemed to care about it.
The boy looked malnourished and his torned up clothes looked too big for him. And yet there was an air of defiance about him, as if he wasn't willing to give up despite the hardship he was facing. That made her interest in him, she thought someone like that would be perfect for helping her get Nebby back. Taking a step toward him she smiled. ''Do you always talk to yourself?''
Present Day
''And I guess you know how the rest of the story goes from there.'' Lillie finished, Ash was looking at her with a weird expression. She had a lump in her throat as she waited for him to react to what she had said.
''...I really don't know what to say. I mean wow and I thought I had a shitty life. No offense but your mom is like a super-villain or something.''
Lillie stiffled a laugh at that. ''I guess you're right. Unfortunately what she did was unforgivable and even if she's my mom, if I ever see her again, I won't hesitate to kill her.'' She said it with such certainty that it sent shiver down Ash's spine.
''Enough chit-chat you two. The day is almost over we should get back to the Ding Dong Community.'' Xofamai said in a deadpan voice.
''What about you? Won't you share your mysterious past with us?'' Lillie asked in a teasing tone.
''My past is none of your business, now come on. The General will be pissed if we're out too late.'' The man dress in black said impatiently.
''Wait so does this mean we passed the test?!'' Ash asked excitedly.
Xofamai sighed in exasperation. ''I guess you did, both of you. But don't think that everything will be easy from now on. Once I'm done with your training you will wish you had failed the test today.'' He said with a dark chuckle which made the two teens look at each other nervously.
Entry From the Pokédex
Subject: Etherians
When it come to Pokémon Training the region of Orchestralia is not exactly memorable to most people. The region does not really have any Pokémon species exclusive to it's region. The only thing it has is a few regional form and evolutions exclusive to it's region but, even they are pretty rare compared to other regions with similar regional variants.
However Orchestralia has two things going for it. The first is the sheer variety of Pokémon species that can be seen living in the Region. While not a lot of them are exclusive to the region, the sheer number of catchable Pokémon even put a region like Galar to shame.
The second thing that make them memorable are the Etherians. Unlike Pokémon they are not catchable creatures. Unless you want to take a very quick trip to the nearest Ranger station. During the early years after the Invasion they were simply called Hybrids. They were created by the Cult of the Great Ones in an attempt to get closer to their gods.
However most of the early Etherians were unwilling test subjects who wanted to have nothing to do with their religion and as such were treated as nothing more than slaves to the service of the CGO cause. Due to the connotation with their time as slave soldiers. The term hybrids has become offensive over the years and they chose to call themselves Etherians instead. A name that connect them to the power that allow them and Pokémon to use their elemental powers, Ether.
It is rare to see Etherians outside of Orchestralia due to the many stigma most people have against them. Etherians, like Pokémon are very sexual creatures, they almost never wear any clothes except for when they attend formal events and even then most of the time females Etherians never cover their vagina as it make them uncomfortable and make their powers weaker.
Their open acceptance with sex put them at odd with many cultures who still those things as taboo. Unlike with humans, sexual activity is not a private affair for Etherians. If you ever visit a Etherian city. Do not be surprised if you see husband and wife having intercourse in the middle of the street, or high school sweethearts performing oral sex on a park bench, or even young curious cubs playing doctor with a friend of the opposite sex while the parents watch with fond nostalgic smiles. It is simply seen as something normal, healthy and to be celebrated in their community.