I don't know how long I knelt on the rotting deck of the long-abandoned house, unable to bring myself to stand up or even remove my forehead from where it rested on the door. What was I supposed to do now? How was I even going to survive? I was stuck in another world with no lifelines and no ideas on how to get home. I had convinced myself that I would find my parents and that they would be able to help me adjust to this new world or maybe even help me return to my home. Now there were no doubts in my mind that no one had lived in this house for a very long time and those hopes had turned to ash.

After a while, I began to consider breaking into the decrepit house in a final act of desperation to try to find some clues, but even in my distraught state, I recognized how poor of an idea that was. Even though the odds of getting caught in the act were slim, the consequences would be immense. I had no idea what would happen if I was arrested while having no proof of my identity other than an ID that was clearly incorrect and I was terrified to find out.

I suddenly heard a loud growling noise and immediately rightened myself to frantically look around for the source. Had the house been taken over by some wild Pokemon who were now going to attack me for intruding? When I didn't spot anything, I relaxed slightly before stiffening back up when I heard the loud growling again. However, this time the noise was accompanied by a sharp pang in my stomach, and I instinctively looked down to realize that the noise was simply because I hadn't eaten all day. In addition to my rumbling stomach, I also saw Deerling staring up at me with wide eyes from within his Pokeball that still attached to my shirt, causing my pangs of hunger to be joined by a pang of guilt. I had once again almost forgotten about my new companion while lost in my thoughts.

I hesitantly brought my right hand over and pressed the button on Deerling's Pokeball, causing the grass type to materialize next to me. Immediately after the red light faded, Deerling gingerly walked to my side and nuzzled up against my arm.

"I'm… okay," I tried to assure Deerling, but the effect was lessened by the slight waver in my voice. Wilting under the Pokemon's concerned gaze, I coughed lightly and attempted to change the subject, "So, uh, are you hungry? Because I'm starving…" I gave a weak smile when my statement was punctuated with another growl from my stomach.

Deerling gave me a surprisingly pointed look at my deflection attempt showing what he felt about my topic change. Despite that, he considered my question for a moment before giving a slight nod and softly replying, "Deee."

"Let's see what's nearby then," I said as I fished the Poryphone out from my pocket which was somewhat difficult considering that I was still kneeling on the rotting porch. My legs still felt like jelly though, so I wasn't in a hurry to move despite the uncomfortably of my position. Once I had extracted the phone, I opened up the maps app to see that there were a bunch of stores and restaurants only about ten blocks away. I didn't recognize the names of any of the businesses so I chose a place named "Combusken's" simply because it was one of the closest ones.

A quick check of their menu confirmed that they had both regular food for people as well as poffins for Pokemon, which was all I cared about at this point. The more notable thing was the prices were similar to what I would have expected from a fast-food restaurant back home, which was a sizable relief. I hadn't counted exactly how much money there had been in my wallet, but there had been at least several hundred dollars. While it wasn't enough to last me long term, at least it would be a while before I would have to worry about not being able to eat.

When my stomach rumbled once again, I slowly rose to my feet by pushing against the side of the house to get leverage. Deerling nervously adjusted his own footing while I tried to stabilize myself on my wobbling legs for a few seconds. Once I felt ready, I cautiously made my way off of the rotting patio while trying to brush off the blue paint chips that had stuck to my hand when I pressed against the house's siding.

"...Let's get out of here," I said softly to Deerling when he trotted up to my side as we made our way down the cracked driveway and back onto the street. I pointedly didn't look back at the house and we soon returned to the unabandoned section of the neighborhood. This time I did see a few residents outside and earned some curious looks, but thankfully no comments. As we made our way to the restaurant, Deerling stuck near me like glue despite the fact that several cars passed us on the road and that my pace was noticeably slower than before.

It took about another fifteen minutes of walking for us to reach our destination and when we arrived I saw a couple of other people eating outside with their Pokemon. "Why don't you stay out here and I'll go get us food?" Deerling didn't seem thrilled by the suggestion but still went over to one of the tables before turning back to watch me. I gave him a quick nod before walking into the building where I was greeted with the sight of a fast-food restaurant that looked more or less the same as every one I had ever been in, complete with a bored cashier behind the counter.

"Welcome to Combusken's," he greeted me lazily. "What'll it be?"

"Uh, can I get a chicken sandwich and a poffin pack?" I ordered, glad that I had looked up the menu beforehand. I always hated the awkward moment of looking at the options while the cashiers were stuck waiting for you to be ready. "Oh, and a water," I quickly added.

He pressed a few buttons on the register before looking back up at me, "Alright, your total is eight eighty-three." I retrieved my wallet and pulled out a twenty since it was the smallest bill I had and handed it over. A couple of seconds later he handed me the change and listlessly replied, "Your change is eleven seventeen. It'll be just a couple minutes…"

I thanked him and stepped away from the counter, though it wasn't strictly necessary given that no one else was waiting. A glance outside confirmed that Deerling was still where I had left him and that he was watching me through the window. I gave him a small wave before turning back and waiting for the food to be ready. Looking for some way to keep myself distracted, my gaze turned towards the menu and I realized something that hadn't occurred to me when I had looked it up on my phone. Other than the addition of food for Pokemon, the menu was basically identical to what a burger joint would have back home, which was both reassuring and unnerving. I hadn't considered the implications of them offering hamburgers and chicken before and hoped that the same animals were in this world as well. The alternative was that those were generic terms for Pokemon meat and that was definitely something I didn't want to consider right now.

Once my order was ready and I'd firmly added a new item to my list of things not to think about, I filled up my water cup and went back outside to join Deerling. The Pokemon had claimed one of the tables, though he once again needed my assistance in getting into the seat. Once we were both situated, I placed my chicken sandwich in front of me before reaching back into the bag to retrieve Deerling's food. The poffins were in a container that looked like what a fast-food restaurant would normally serve chicken nuggets in but when I opened it up I saw three differently colored pastries that were a little smaller than a cupcake. The menu had said that the poffin pack was perfect for trainers that didn't yet know their Pokemon's preferred tastes since it contained a variety of flavors for a slightly discounted price.

Satisfied that Deerling was situated, I voraciously tore into my sandwich but was immediately disappointed by the lack of flavor. Even accounting for my low expectations for fast food, I found the sandwich to be excessively bland. A glance towards Deerling revealed that he didn't seem to be enjoying his food either. He had nibbled at the pink poffin a couple of times, though from the way he squinted after each bite it was clear he wasn't a fan of the flavor.

"You don't have to eat it if you don't like it," I assured Deerling. The grass type nodded gratefully and then took a bite out of the yellow poffin. That one seemed more to his tastes as he quickly devoured the pastry before moving onto the final green one. This one was likewise eaten quickly so I made a mental note to avoid whatever flavor pink was in the future when getting food for my new companion. I was just about to resume my own unappetizing meal when I heard someone loudly call out from across the parking lot.

"Hey! You with the Deerling!" My head immediately shot up towards the voice and saw a girl who looked a couple of years younger than me. Oddly, none of the other people eating outside even looked up from their food at the noise, though I heard one of them give a long-suffering sigh. The girl quickly jogged over to our table and extended her right hand, "You're Thomas, right?"

I almost corrected her, but thankfully caught myself. "Uh, yeah. That's me," I hesitantly replied as I shook her hand. She was very enthusiastic about the shake and my arm flopped around uncomfortably until she released her grip. "How'd you know?"

"When I was at the lab this morning, Prof told me there'd been another trainer from Blaine and they'd picked Deerling. I didn't know that there was anyone else from around here who was becoming a trainer!" I spotted that she also had a Pokeball attached to her shirt, but she plopped down in the seat next to me before I could identify the shape within. As she sat down, she gave me a slightly apologetic smile, "Sorry to interrupt your meal by the way."

I glanced down at the partially eaten chicken sandwich disdainfully; I knew I should eventually finish it, but I wasn't in a hurry to do so considering how unappetizing it was. Deciding that a conversation with a stranger was preferable, I shrugged, "It's fine. And I, uh, just… got here so that's why you hadn't heard of me…" I trailed off expectantly but she didn't seem to get the hint.

"Oh, you just moved here? Where are you from?"

My mind raced for the name of another suburb and I blurted out the first one that I thought of, "Coon Rapids!" I immediately cringed internally at my choice as soon as I had finished speaking.

"That's… not much of a move," she hesitantly replied.

"Uh, yeah… You know how it is…" I blandly said before picking my sandwich back up and taking a large bite. The flavor hadn't magically improved in the past few seconds but I was quickly revising my opinion on whether it was better than this conversation.

She shrugged indifferently, "Not really, but it doesn't matter if you just moved here. We're two trainers from the same city and we got our Pokemon on the same day. You know what that means, right?" I blanched at her suggestion, though I don't think she noticed since she continued without even waiting for a response. With a triumphant grin, she loudly announced, "It means we're fated to be rivals!" At this declaration, another one of the people eating outside glanced up and gave me a look of pity before returning to his food.

I slowly swallowed and blinked a couple of times, trying to formulate a coherent response. "...What?" I asked intelligently.

Her smile momentarily faded slightly at my apprehension, but she quickly fired herself back up. "You know... All of the famous trainers have their great rivals: Red and Blue! May and Brendan! Lucas and Barry! Rosa and Hugh! And now..." She paused for dramatic effect while flourishing with her hands to gesture at the two of us, "Cait and Thomas!"

As unenthused as I was about her proclamation, I decided it was good that I finally had gotten her name. I sighed and asked, "And what does being us being…" I hesitated, finding it difficult to continue her serious use of the word, "...rivals entail?" Hopefully, if I humored her then she would leave me alone, and if I was lucky we wouldn't see each other again. Since it turned out that I didn't have a house here, I had no reason to stay in Blaine so it wasn't as if we would run into each other at the grocery store. The reminder about my lack of living conditions made me taste bile for a second before I quickly took a sip of water.

I didn't think it possible, but Cait's grin somehow grew, "It means that we're going to keep meeting up during our journeys until we finally face each other in the Grandstand! But for today… we have our first battle!" Almost as soon as she finished her latest declaration, her eyes went wide as if she just had a horrible thought. She urgently asked, "You didn't already battle anyone else, right?"

I was tempted to say yes in the hopes that it would make her leave me alone, but I was starting to get tired of lying. Plus, I wasn't confident that Deerling wouldn't have a reaction that would give away the lie. "No," I reluctantly replied with a shake of my head. "I'm still trying to get adjusted so it didn't even occur to me."

"What better way to adjust to being a trainer than to have a battle? C'mon, we can head over to the Battle Center right now. There's always at least one field open." Cait quickly stood up before hesitating, "Oh, you can finish eating first…"

Deciding that it would just be better to get this over with, I shook my head again. I slowly got to my feet as my sore legs complained at the motion. "It's fine, I can finish on the way." When Cait gave a questioning look towards Deerling's single remaining poffin, I explained, "He didn't like the pink one."

"Ooh, if you're going to toss it, can I have it? Houndy loves sweet food!" I stiffened at the name, immediately regretting my decision to accept the battle. Without waiting for a response, Cait tapped the Pokeball attached to her shirt and my fears were realized when a Houndour materialized at her side.

As soon as the red light had faded, the fire Pokemon yipped in excitement and bounded over to the seat where Deerling was still on. I was surprised to see that Deerling didn't shy away from the other Pokemon at all, instead picking up the poffin in his mouth and dropping it over Houndy. The small pastry didn't stand a chance as it was engulfed in the Houndour's maw before it had fallen more than a couple of inches. Now that the leftovers had been dealt with, Deerling jumped down from his seat and landed on the ground next to Houndy. The fire gratefully licked Deerling with significantly more restraint than I had thought that it was capable of from the short interaction I'd had with it.

"Aww," Cait cooed, and I couldn't help smiling when Deerling nuzzled back at Houndy. My smile waned when Cait returned to her previous enthusiasm and announced, "Alright! Let's go to the Battle Center!" With that, she purposefully started walking north while the other three of us hurried to catch up once I'd picked up my sandwich and thrown away my water cup. I ended up walking on her right while our Pokemon followed behind us with Houndy occasionally jostled Deerling playfully. I slowly ate while we walked since I wanted to extend my excuse to not talk as long as possible. As it turned out, that wasn't particularly necessary because Cait was more than happy to do the talking for both of us.

"Ya know, I was super surprised when I got to the lab and Houndy was the last starter left for today. I thought getting there around noon would net me a first or second choice, but Prof said that you and John had gotten there hours ago. Not that I mind, of course. Houndy is the perfect partner for me!" As she spoke, Cait leaned back and scratched her Pokemon on the top of the head behind the ears.

"Zhon?" I asked with my mouth full.

"Yeah, I guess he got there not too long after you. Prof said that he immediately picked Rockruff and seemed pretty pumped about it. So I guess that means that we're all happy with our partners which is awesome. I forgot to ask Prof where he was from though; it completely slipped my mind once she told me that you were from Blaine too. Anyway, here we are!"

I was surprised that we had arrived at our destination so soon until I mentally compared our location to the Blaine that I was passingly familiar with back home. I realized that I had been eating at the small shopping and restaurant area that was right next to what was the National Sports Center back home. The frankly ridiculous number of soccer fields were all battlefields here, and I could see that a bit over a dozen of them were currently in use. Even from a distance, I could hear trainers shout commands and see the effects of their Pokemon's attacks from arcing electricity to jets of flame to torrents of water.

"Let's take that free one over there," Cait said happily and resumed walking towards the field that she had pointed out. I quickly stuffed the rest of my lunch into my mouth and eagerly followed her. Any hesitation that I had previously was now gone, though it was primarily because I wanted to see the battles up close rather than being involved in one.

One particular field caught my attention as we walked past, as I saw two very similar-looking Pokemon battle against each other. They were both clearly Mightyena, but only one of them had the black and gray coloring that I was used to. I initially thought its counterpart was a shiny of its species, but quickly abandoned that theory because of just how different it looked. Rather than being two distinct colors, this Mightyena's coat was a smattering of browns, grays, and whites and it looked almost gaunt in comparison to its opponent. Despite how skinny it was, I had no doubts about its well-being from the way it lithely moved across the field as the two Pokemon battled.

Cait must have noticed where I was looking because she stopped to watch and commented, "Oh awesome, a regular Mightyena! I come here pretty often and that's only the second one I've seen. Which do you think is better, regular or Minnesotan?"

"Uh, regular," I replied distractedly while watching the two Pokemon continue their battle. The version I was familiar with went in for a powerful Crunch at its trainer's command, but its regional variant jumped out the way and bit down on its opponent with an Ice Fang. Frost immediately began emanating from the wound and within seconds the black and gray Mightyena had been frozen solid.

"Well, the home team won this match," Cait boasted as the frozen Pokemon's trainer returned it and she resumed making her way towards the adjacent empty field. I hesitated for a few seconds so that I could watch the trainer send out his Machoke before hurrying to catch up with Cait. She had already walked onto the field and was standing a few yards away from the center with Houndy at her side.

My apprehension about this fight came back in full force, but I still took my place across the center of the field from her. I looked down at Deerling to get a confirmation that he was ready and got a small nod before he stepped in front of me. "Ready when you are, I guess," I called out to my supposed rival.

"Yesss!" Cait gleefully exclaimed while pumping her fist. "How about on three?"

I suddenly realized that I had forgotten a very important aspect of battling: I had absolutely no idea what attacks Deerling knew.

"One!"

From what I remembered, most Pokemon started with Tackle, Scratch, or Pound. Of those three, Tackle seemed like it was the most likely for both of them.

"Two!"

I had no idea what any of Deerling's other moves could be, so I would just have to hope that he would be able to win the Tackle-off.

"Three!"

"Tackle, Deerling!" I called out and the small deer immediately began running directly at Cait's Houndour.

With a large grin on her face, Cait issued her command a split second later, "Use Ember Houndy!"

"Shit," I muttered under my breath as I helplessly watched Houndy take a deep breath before exhaling a scattering of flames that flew towards the quickly approaching grass type. Thankfully, most of the Embers flew too far to the left or right and missed Deerling, but he still grunted in pain from the couple that did land. Doing his best to ignore his injury, Deerling slowed slightly and continued running until he had almost reached Houndy.

"Dodge left and Ember!" Cait commanded and the fire type immediately jumped out of the way of his fellow starter. Before Deerling could stop or adjust his charge, Houndy launched another spew of Embers that all landed cleanly on the grass type's exposed side. This time Deerling cried out loudly from the hit and stumbled, though he barely managed to keep his footing and maintain standing. The rest of us winced sympathetically and Cait reluctantly said, "We don't have to continue if you don't want to…"

I gave her a quick nod before running over to Deerling's side and kneeling at his side while slowly guiding him down to a sitting position as well. He was shaking slightly, but I thankfully didn't see any visible injuries apart from some small red blotches on his side. "Liii," He softly whined as I petting him in what I hoped was a reassuring manner while being sure to avoid his injuries.

"I guess that wasn't the fairest matchup…" Cait admitted before pointedly adding, "Though you could have at least told him to dodge that first Ember. Houndy might not have been able to dodge out of the way if Deerling hadn't slowed down."

I ignored Cait's comment for a moment to make sure that Deerling wasn't badly hurt, but he seemed to be recovering remarkably well considering that he had just been broadsided by a stream of flames. I continued petting him while I looked back up at Cait, who was standing over me with her arms crossed. "I don't have much experience commanding Pokemon," I explained flatly.

Cait frowned at that and deflated slightly, "Oh. I used to compete in battle tents pretty often so I just figured…" As she trailed off, Houndy cautiously walked over to Deerling and gave him a large and slobbery lick. Deerling was significantly more accepting of the gesture than I would have been and he calmly reciprocated, though his lick was accompanied by significantly less slobber. Cait's smile slowly returned as we watched the interaction until she brightly proclaimed, "Well that's just something you'll have to work on then! We can't be rivals if we aren't challenging each other after all!"

"I guess so," I said glumly. It was starting to look as if my fairly extensive Pokemon knowledge wasn't going to be nearly as useful here as I would have hoped. Telling a Pokemon to dodge an attack was a laughably large oversight on my part, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. I was used to battles where you could take as long as you wanted to think and everything was simply based on numbers and probabilities. In real-life battles, there could be any number of additional variables that I never would have had to consider before.

"So what's your plan for what to do next?" Cait asked, all of her previous hesitation gone. "Training Deerling? Catching more Pokemon? Challenging gyms?" As her list went on, she grew more and more visibly excited until she was almost bouncing up and down.

"I'm… not sure yet," I said with a wince. I definitely should have given it some thought during today's long walk, but I had been so desperate to arrive at my destination that I hadn't even taken the time to consider my next steps.

Cait's excitement vanished and she stared at me incredulously, "You don't know? You didn't plan what you were going to do after you got your starter?" When my only response was to grunt noncommittally, she coughed awkwardly and continued, "Well, I'm going to go to the Duluth or Moorhead gym first. Brainerd would be a good first one for you, and then you could hit up St. Cloud on the way back."

It was my turn to give her a surprised look, "You're going to walk all the way to Moorhead?"

Cait squinted confusedly and tilted her head, "What? No, I'm going to drive up there… Wait, were you planning on walking everywhere?"

I grimaced and nodded. I didn't exactly have any other options for transportation so there wasn't much of a choice.

Cait's frown returned in full force and she exasperatedly put one hand on her hip, "Do you have any supplies? From the look of it, you don't even have a tent! Honestly. Did you do any preparations for-"

I'd finally had enough and scowled up at her. "No Cait, I didn't prepare," I answered with no small amount of venom in my voice. "Because when I woke up this morning, I didn't expect to be homeless!"

Cait's eyes widened and she took a step back while Houndy scampered back to her side. My hand that had been petting Deerling suddenly felt weirdly slimy, and when I looked down I saw that he was lightly licking it. My anger went cold at the sight and I returned my full attention to the injured Pokemon. Damn it... I was supposed to be making sure he was okay, not the other way around.

"Arceus… I'm… I'm so sorry," Cait quietly apologized, but I refused to look back up at her. "Do you... do you need any help? I mean…" She trailed off uncertainly and Houndy softly whined in what I assumed was a supportive manner.

I sighed before slowly shaking my head and making an effort to return to an even tone. "I'm fine," I tried to flatly insist, but the credibility of my statement was marred when my voice cracked.

"Umm, okay…" Our field was quiet for several seconds until Cait hesitantly continued, "I, umm, need to go… My parents are probably wond-" She cut herself off and I could almost hear her wince at her own word choice. "Sorry! It's just that they're probably wondering where I am. Just… just reach out if you need anything." When my only response was a non-committal grunt, Cait and Houndy slowly walked away and left me and Deerling alone on the field.

I sat there quietly for a few minutes and continued petting Deerling while he simultaneously attempted to comfort me by licking my hand in return. With both of us failing fairly spectacularly on our intended goal, I smiled wryly and said, "I guess we shouldn't sit here forever… Are you okay to walk?" Deerling nodded emphatically and I was forced to reassess how tough I thought the Pokemon was. Whenever I saw a normal fawn, they always looked like a stiff breeze would knock them over, but Deerling was ready to keep going just minutes after being hit by actual balls of fire.

We slowly pulled ourselves to our feet and walked off the field, ignoring any odd looks that we got from the trainers on the fields next to us. Without any clear direction, we began making our way back towards where the Combusken's was. "You know, Cait was pretty, um…" I paused to try to come up with a more charitable word before continuing when I was unable to find one. "...pushy, but she wasn't wrong. I'm not at all prepared for this." One particular thing she had mentioned kept going through my mind so I pulled out the Poryphone and opened up the maps app. A quick search revealed that there was a store named Adventure's Outlet nearby, which was apparently a sporting goods store, so I altered our course to head there. The store's proximity was a definite relief since I wasn't confident that I would have been able to do much more walking today.

An hour later my wallet was significantly lighter but my backpack was now heavy with various items that I would need for at least the next few days. Conveniently, there had been a prominently displayed list of items that were considered essentials for new trainers so I was less worried than I otherwise would have been about forgetting something. The most important item was the small tent that I'd been able to attach to my backpack so that I wouldn't have to carry it around all day.

Despite it only being early evening, I was completely beat and once again consulted the maps app to try to find somewhere I could pitch my new tent without trespassing. Surprisingly, there was a forested area right across the street from where we had eaten lunch so we slowly made our way there. After confirming that there were no signs marking the area as private property, Deerling and I headed far enough into the forest so that we weren't visible from the road and I got to work pitching the tent. Deerling attempted to help out, but he quickly discovered that none of the tasks were particularly well suited for a deer to perform so he was relegated to simply retrieving the stakes for me.

As soon as we had finished setting up the tent, I made my way inside with Deerling cautiously following me in. Thankfully, there was enough room for both of us despite it being a single-sized tent so I wasn't forced to return him to his Pokeball for the night. I knew that it would be an entirely different matter if he eventually evolved, but that wouldn't be a concern for a long time. I rolled out the bedroll that had appeared in my backpack and then laid the light blanket that I had purchased over that. The blanket wouldn't be nearly warm enough once the weather started turning, but once again that was a problem for later. Despite my exhaustion, it was still way too early to go to bed, so I opted to do some much-needed research about this world.

My first search was regarding the gym system and I was relieved to see that, as with the Pokemon games, there was a monetary reward for winning a gym battle. I would have to beat them at a decent rate to stay afloat, but for now, it would work as a way to earn money since I didn't have any other options. Other than an ID with an invalid address, I had no way of proving my identity and I was confident that wouldn't float. Challenging gyms would at least give me time to come up with something else. Another search confirmed that I didn't need to do any additional registration in order to challenge gyms so I was fine there.

With my course of action decided, I did a search to find where all of the gyms were and was surprised when the result came back with twelve different gyms instead of the expected eight. Cait's recommendation to me made sense since Brainerd was the home to the region's water gym which meant that I shouldn't have too many difficulties with Deerling. On the other hand, St. Cloud was the flying gym which would prove a much greater challenge. That said, I figured that if I caught an electric type somewhere then I would be in pretty good shape for both of them. Cait's decision to prioritize Moorhead and Duluth likewise made sense since they were the respective homes to the state's ice and steel gyms.

I bookmarked the page with the gym listings and then moved on to my next search after retrieving one of the granola bars from my backpack. While challenging gyms would tide me over, I had no illusion that they would provide me with a path back home. After all, an extraordinary problem like the one that I was stuck in would require an extraordinary solution. With that in mind, I began poring over news articles, official reports, and even conspiracy theories trying to find where legendary Pokemon had been spotted across the state.

Unfortunately, none of what I found was terribly promising at first blush. Tornadus and Thundurus were occasionally seen in southern Minnesota, but the reports didn't have any information about them apart from listing sightings. In each case, the legendary Pokemon seemed to appear, wreak some havoc, and then disappear as quickly as they came. Everyone that had been interviewed about the pair claimed that the legendaries hadn't acted like any other Pokemon they had ever seen. Sure, some Pokemon were dangerous in the wild, but even then they never attacked without a reason. As far as anyone could tell, Tornadus and Thundurus had no such pattern and their only motivation seemed to be a fickle need to destroy.

The reports in the northern part of the state concerned much more static sightings of its respective legendaries. Regirock, Regice, and Registeel were said to stand guard at three specific spots, but as far as I could tell no one had been able to figure out why they were there. All three Pokemon stayed in their individual spot and ignored everything and everyone unless they were attacked. When that happened, they thoroughly trounced their attackers before returning to their mysterious vigil. There were also reports of Kyurem to the north, though I couldn't find any sightings from an actual news source that was dated more recently than the 80s.

Lastly, there were reports from all over the state about sightings of Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. Unlike the other legendaries, it seemed to me that these three would be the most promising when it came to the subject of dimensional travel but they were frustratingly impossible to pin down. Almost every decently sized lake in the state claimed that they had been visited by one or more of the trio, with some of the sightings supposedly happening simultaneously. I eventually closed my searches and gave up on the idea of a quick-fix. Right now, chasing after rumors would likely accomplish nothing other than running out of food and money.

At some point during my fervent research, it had grown dark outside so I finally decided that it was time to retire for the night. Once I had curled up under my new blanket and Deerling had resituated himself to be pressed against me, I closed my eyes. I had expected to be unable to fall asleep for some time, but thankfully I fell into a blissfully dreamless sleep almost immediately.


A/N: So as it turns out, there's a random small wooded area in the middle of Blaine that I'd somehow never noticed before. Weird, but convenient. Thanks to krazykz for betaing.

After three chapters, we're finally done with day one. I'm moderately confident that any given day will be a maximum of two chapters going forward, but let's see if I get egg on my face later on. At any rate, the entirety of day two will be in Chapter 4: Powerless.