A small blue, orb-like shape zipped into existence as Sam slowly walked away from their home. It floated in front of the teenager for a moment, staring directly at them, then vanished with a small popping sound. Sam ignored the odd occurrence and instead continued waving and calling happily to their parents as the teenager made their way to school. In the corner of their eye, Sam saw a few more of the strange orbs, the purple haze that flowed behind them leaving trails in the air, as they buzzed around the home, unnoticed by all others, floating in and out the open door or around corners and trees.

I'm not really sure what those are, maybe some kind of undiscovered Pokémon, Sam thought, turning around and continuing down the road, but they don't seem harmful. At least, they've not tried to do anything.

It seemed no one else had noticed the orbs, and Sam couldn't bring themself to mention them, when no one seemed worried about their sudden appearance a few weeks ago, spotted or not. The orbs also never bothered interacting with anyone, though they did seem to take a slight interest in the only person who appeared to have been able to see them. The increase in their activity, more of them popping in and around the home, seemed to be the only concerning thing about them. Otherwise, the blue orbs had been completely harmless.

The day at the Pokémon School had been normal and unremarkable. Sam enjoyed the morning's lessons and had plenty of fun playing outside with their friends during the afternoon break. The day was just like any other.

That is until a bit after lunch.

Professor Kukui was giving a lecture on Alolan Raichu, a picture of the other form showed up on the screen in front of the class, while the Electric and Psychic-type mouse of the region floated happily in front of them. The small sacks on its face buzzed with energy when the teacher had held up a magnet, and it chirped excitedly at the attention it was receiving.

The sound of a fire bell on a truck rang out over the quiet classroom air, and even the Professor paused to look out the window. Sam knew something was wrong that very moment. Something about the wail of the siren, the sudden pin-drop silence of the class, and the widening eyes of Professor Kukui as he looked at the obvious location the disaster was happening at.

Of course, the whole class buzzed to life once they realized they could see where the emergency occurred, and everyone, including Sam, had rushed to the balcony of their classroom.

The, then fourteen-year-old couldn't remember how they made it back to their house, but suddenly, they were standing in front of flashing red and blue lights, sirens blaring and emergency professionals running in and out of the broken-down door of their home.

Two rolling beds were being loaded onto ambulances, white sheets covering and obscuring the human-like shapes of the unmoving victims of an unfortunate accident. The teen could tell, even without seeing their faces, that the bodies were that of their parents.

Flitting about the heads, unnoticed by everyone on the scene but Sam, was another one of the orb-like Pokémon.

A piercing cry echoed across the noisy grounds, and it took the teenager a long moment to realize the screaming was being uttered by them.

A hand grabbed Sam by the shoulder, calling out to them, shaking them vigorously to get their attention.

"Sam! Sam wake up!" A male voice said, the worry in it finally dragging the now sixteen-year-old into a gentle dawning sun. The still-weak light filtered off leaves and branches, dappling the forest floor outside, but the cave they sat in still held fast to the last creeping of night.

Sam's orange eyes finally shot open and their form bolted upright, searing pains overtaking the nightmares and finally bringing Sam around fully.

Deep blue eyes sat, only a breath away from Sam's own, worry flashing. "It's alright. It was only a bad dream. You're not in any danger here." Kai said carefully. "You're awake now."

Sam felt awful relief that it wasn't still the terrible day of their parents' death, but the pain from the dream made a fresh wave of grief wash over the teen as they allowed their breathing to slow. Kai had moved off for only a moment, returning with an armful of the slimy herbs he had used earlier. With care, he placed them along Sam's left arm, using extra caution to not press down on the long deep cut. The cooling relief from the day prior did not return.

They looked at their left arm, and to much concern, saw that the injury that had been inflicted on it was not taking to the strange medicinal herbs Kai had gathered and spread on all of the others wounds. The edges were a bright, angry red, the skin swollen and painful. Sam's hand moved only slightly at their command, but the pain it caused forced the teen to stop. They didn't need any medical training to know their arm was in serious trouble if they didn't get to a doctor soon.

A flash of purple announced the arrival of the strange Ninetales, and again, Kai showed no awareness of its presence. It was just like the orbs from before, though Sam had not seen a single one after that dreadful day.

Attempting to pull their mind from the last dredges of the memory, Sam stared at the Pokémon, but said out loud to Kai, "Can you really not see the Ninetales?"

The blonde took this as a sign for good, sitting back with a sigh of relief, that their new friend was lucid enough to speak, then responded, "At the moment, no." He answered looking around a bit, but his eyes passed right over the creature. "Sometimes it'll show itself to me, but not very often, or for very long. It doesn't have any issues making me aware of its presence, when it wants me to know something, though."

"What do you know about it?"

"Not much. I believe it may be a Ninetales variant from the Kaneko Region. If I'm remembering correctly, from what that Region's Professor, Acacia, had once told me, it's a Psychic and Ghost-type."

"Ghost?" Sam asked with a realization.

"Yes. I assume that's why you can see it." Kai answered in a matter-of-fact manner, but then continued when the shocked face of the teenager only stayed in place, "you being a Medium and all."

"How did you know?"

"I mean…" Kai's eyes squinted as he thought carefully for his next words but when none came to mind, he simply stayed silent.

Sam pushed down a rush of embarrassment, though they could feel their face reddening despite their best efforts. This was not something they had ever spoken of, besides to their parents.

The two human's sat in silence for a moment, the Ninetales having vanished back into the forest.

"Hey, Kai."

"Hmm?"

"Did you say your last name was Māhoe"

"Indeed, it is," he responded, then sounded hopeful, "Do you know it?"

"Yes. There's a woman from Akala, her sister is a friend of mine. She's a doctor-

"Anya," Kai interrupted with both excitement and sadness. "My wife. And I have a daughter too. She'd be three years old by now, Himiko."

"Did you know they are looking for you? Or that they think you're dead?" Sam questioned worriedly.

After a slight hesitation, the man said, "You have my captor, the Ninetales, to thank for that." Kai's blue eyes flashed with ominous frustration in the gathering light.