Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds and Pokemon
Take Me On a Journey
By Lucky_Ladybug
Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! I've been playing Radley at Victory Road, a panfandom RPG at Dreamwidth set in the Pokemon verse. It's so fun that it's given me many plunnies. I had already started a concept of YGO and Pokemon existing in the same verse, as shown years ago in Every Side of Me, and I decided I wanted to explore that idea more fully instead of doing a concept similar to the RPG where it's different verses. This is post-series, and as always, Radley is a very nice guy, the way I honestly interpret him. Canon is so vague about him that I think it's equally canon compliant to portray him as good, neutral, or bad (although I'll admit I think the evidence stacks more in favor of him as neutral or good). I chose Eevee for him to bond with because the evolved Eevee form Espeon looks eerily like Ruby Carbuncle, one of Radley's cards in Over the Nexus. Ruby looks like a cross between Espeon and an unevolved Eevee! Radley's Eevee has some personality traits similar to Chloe's Eevee in Pokemon Master Journeys, which is ironic because I didn't know that Eevee existed until after I developed Radley's!
Chapter One
It was quiet and peaceful that night. Radley stood on the plateau, looking first up at the mountain and then down at the town as his hair blew gently in the night breeze. His motorcycle stood nearby, gleaming in the moonlight.
Winter was almost over now; Spring was clearly approaching in the number of slightly warmer days and nights. He loved all the seasons, but since motorcycling wasn't always easy in the winter, he preferred other times of year. Spring was always so lush. Even in the desert town of Satisfaction, there were spots of green grass and beautiful flowers. Radley had planted yellow roses in his and Kalin's yard and delighted when they bloomed twice a year. And the surrounding mountains were often filled with pine and other coniferous trees as well as desert brush. He liked taking pleasant walks through the woods sometimes. Zero Reverse had tried to permanently scar everything when it had turned the area desert-like, but the beauty of nature still shone through and triumphed.
There hadn't been any new calamities since Lawton had wrecked such havoc the last time. They were probably about overdue for something, but Radley hoped not. The peace had been so nice. For the last several weeks now, he and his loved ones had been living their lives, enjoying the peace and just being together. There was always plenty to do while running a town and keeping law and order strong among the people. Most of the town loved them and didn't cause trouble, but there were natural disasters like rock slides that were no one's fault, kids innocently wandering off, and the occasional troublemaker among those who had sided with Malcolm. They usually didn't do more than be immature nuisances, but that was plenty. Radley really wished they would all just grow up and recognize their idol for the cruel and hurtful man he had been.
Of course, the most frightening thing was that a few of them did understand that and still preferred Malcolm's way anyway. And ironically, Malcolm himself had started to soften. Radley still wasn't sure Malcolm was really sorry for all he had done, but at least some of it bothered him, including how he had treated Radley. Radley had never thought he would see the day.
A strange yip startled him out of his reverie and he looked towards one of the steep inclines up the dyne mountain. Something was coming out, limping directly towards him. He stared, baffled. It looked like a small fox-like creature with long, pointed ears and a huge ruff around its neck. In fact, it looked a lot like the Eevee plush he had grown up cuddling and loving in Napa Valley, and also like . . .
Radley was promptly drawn back to the present when it stepped into a moonbeam and revealed that was exactly what it was—a living, breathing Eevee. It looked up at Radley pitifully, clearly in pain from its hurt paw, and collapsed in front of him.
He exclaimed in alarm as he reached out, tenderly taking it in his arms and cradling it close. "Hey there," he said softly. "It's gonna be okay. Just hang on, alright? I'll have to take you for a ride to get help."
Somehow he balanced the animal against his chest and zipped his jacket up enough to support it. Then he climbed on his motorcycle and practically jammed the helmet on his head before taking off down the plateau. The Eevee mumbled something but didn't seem afraid, instead cuddling close to him on the trip.
It didn't take long and he was back in town, pulling up in front of the diner. He hung his helmet on the handlebars before hurrying inside.
Kalin noticed first. "What's that?" he asked, getting up from the counter as Radley ran over with the fluffy animal clearly visible in his jacket.
"It's an Eevee," Radley replied. "Is the vet still having dinner here?!" He looked among the crowded tables for the desired face.
Kalin shot to his feet. "It's a what?!"
Radley unzipped his jacket and took the injured animal in his arms. It gave Kalin a bleary look and flipped its tail.
"I think it's a girl," Radley said. "Scotch said they've come out with some new way of identifying gender by the fur patterns on the tail. That didn't used to be the case, though; they used to all have the same patterns. I think maybe the ones with different patterns are from one specific region and then spread."
Kalin gave him a blank look. "That's a real animal."
"I know it is!" Radley said. He shook his head. "Pokemon are real, but there's not many of them around here. I don't know what happened, if two different versions of Earth merged or if they've always been here, but they've been around for as long as I've known. I'll explain everything I know, but not right now. Doctor!" Spotting the town's veterinarian, he threaded his way through the tables and over to the shocked man.
Scotch came up next to Kalin, his jaw slack. "Isn't that . . . ?!"
"A Pokemon. Yeah." Kalin just kept staring after Radley. The doctor was examining the Eevee's hurt paw with a frown. He got up from the table, gesturing for Radley to go to the door.
Radley came back over to his friends. "He's going to fix her paw at the pet hospital. I'll be back soon!" And then he was hurrying off again.
Kalin shook his head. "I'm going with him." He started off towards the door too.
"I wanna go too!" Scotch exclaimed.
"You'd better stay here and look after the customers," Kalin said over his shoulder.
"Aww!" Scotch looked frustrated, but he stayed where he was . . . for all of two seconds. Then he gave chase.
xxxx
Radley arrived at the pet hospital first, but it wasn't long and the others caught up with him. He was standing by the receptionist's desk, watching in concern as Eevee was carried into the back room.
Kalin came up to him. "How bad is it?" he asked.
"He thinks she'll be okay," Radley said. "She got caught in a trap or something." His eyes darkened.
"Poor Eevee!" Scotch exclaimed.
"And people don't usually put collars or microchips on Pokemon, so we can't easily know if she's already got an owner somewhere," Radley sighed.
"She's probably wild," Kalin said.
"I know." Radley hesitated. "If she is, would you mind if we kept her, Kalin? At least until she's completely well? There aren't any Pokemon Centers around here, so she'll have to heal the regular way."
"I don't mind," Kalin said.
Radley smiled in relief. "Thanks."
Kalin sighed. "Well, while we're waiting, why don't you tell us about the Pokemon?" he suggested. "How is it they're real?"
Radley sighed too, and turned around to lean back against the desk and face them. "I don't know much," he said. "I have no idea how they're real, but it was just kind of an established thing in the past. I used to see some occasionally in Napa Valley. They loved the beautiful meadows and fields, and sometimes the vineyards." He chuckled. "My family wasn't so thrilled about that, of course. Grandma often recruited me to get them away from the grapes, since they'd usually listen to me."
"But if they were around, why didn't you try catching them?!" Scotch exclaimed, his eyes wide.
"I didn't have any Pokeballs, for one thing," Radley said. "But for another, it's just not my style. Can you really feature me grabbing up animals like that?"
". . . No," Scotch admitted.
"You'd be more likely to try to charm them into coming with you," Kalin said with a smile. "And it would probably work."
"I wasn't allowed to have any pets," Radley said. "But I loved playing with them when they came around. After a while they stopped coming. I figured they'd been adopted or that they just wandered off. I hoped they were okay, but I had no way of knowing. I still don't know."
"That's awful," Scotch frowned.
"One of them was an Eevee, though," Radley said. "I loved her and I think she loved me. It's loco, I know, but . . . when this one came stumbling out tonight, I thought maybe . . ." He shook his head. "Nah. . . . It couldn't be."
"Yeah, it could!" Scotch insisted. "Pokemon live longer than regular animals. Remember the surfer guy with his Pikachu and how long they'd been together?!"
Radley chuckled. "Okay, yeah, she could still be alive. But in another state, just happening to wander out of the woods where I am?"
"It does sound like a bizarre coincidence," Kalin grunted. "But so did us having met as kids. It was fate. You should try to find out if she's your Eevee when she's feeling better."
A far-away look came into Radley's eyes. "Yeah. . . . It sure couldn't hurt, at least."
"What about all the towns and regions and stuff?" Scotch eagerly asked. "Are those real?"
"As far as I know, yeah," Radley said. "I think they're usually deep in the woods or behind big mountains, almost like they're different lands. And they're all over the place. Kanto and Johto regions are here, but some of the others are in other countries. Kalos is in France, and that recent one . . . Galar, is it? That's in the United Kingdom, I think. When I got kicked out by my family, I did idly consider going to one of the Pokemon regions. But then I decided I'd rather stay in the world I really understood."
Kalin nodded thoughtfully. "So they usually stay in their hidden lands and only rarely come over here," he mused.
"That's not always the case, but I think it is sometimes," Radley said.
"How do you know as much as you do?" Kalin wondered.
"There's people in the know," Radley said. "I've talked to them and seen video footage of some of the places."
"Who knows?!" Scotch wondered.
"Mostly people you don't know," Radley said. "But Yugi's grandpa knows too."
"That doesn't surprise me somehow," Kalin mused.
"Yes, he examined the lands extensively on his travels," Radley said. "He was especially fascinated, however, by things such as carvings of Pokemon in ancient cultures."
"You mean like Egypt?!" Scotch's eyes were wide.
"Exactly," Radley said.
Kalin grunted. "I guess it makes sense they would get around that much. But it's still strange more people don't know about them now."
"I think more people did thirty years ago," Radley said. "I wonder if Zero Reverse scared most of them out of this area. . . ."
"Probably," Kalin said.
They perked up as the veterinarian returned, holding the Eevee in his arms. The injured paw was bandaged and she seemed much more alert than before, looking around at everything and everyone in the room with mild curiosity.
"She should be just fine," the vet smiled. "I could keep her here or you could take her with you, whichever you'd prefer."
Radley was relieved and surprised all at once. He glanced quickly at Kalin before responding. "Well, we don't have any facilities for taking care of Pokemon," he said slowly, "but they seem to do fine on people furniture rather than having pet beds and that kinda thing. . . ."
The vet nodded. "I don't have much experience with them. I'd be great with keeping her here and studying her while she heals. I'd love to learn all about them."
"We wanna take her," Radley said. "I'm just wondering if she should stay here overnight while we get some stuff to maybe make it more comfortable for her."
The Eevee swished her fluffy tail and looked up at Radley. "Vee. . . ." A light suddenly went on in her eyes and she reached out with an uninjured paw, desperate to get to Radley. "VEE!"
Radley hurried over, petting her head as he stared into her bright eyes. It was unreal and impossible, and yet it seemed to really be true. She knew him. Still, Radley could scarcely believe it.
"Is it really you, girl?" he gasped. "Somehow? You remember me? Not from earlier tonight, but years ago?"
"Vee! Eevee-vee!" Eevee struggled, almost frantic to get out of the doctor's arms. Radley gently took her into his and held her close. She immediately calmed down.
"It's alright," Radley said softly. "You found me again. I'm not gonna let you go this time."
Eevee snuggled against him, making happy sounds as she cuddled into his neck.
"You know this Pokemon?!" the vet exclaimed, stunned.
"Yeah," Radley smiled. "Looks like she'll be coming home with us tonight, Doc. Sorry you won't get to learn more about Pokemon from her, but I think we've been apart long enough."
The vet smiled too. "That's just fine. You go ahead and take her. She obviously loves you very much."
Kalin also smiled. This might take some getting used to; it definitely wouldn't be temporary. But he was certainly willing. The Eevee absolutely belonged with Radley. Both she and Radley were so happy.
"This is so cool!" Scotch gushed. "Everyone will love her!"
"Yeah," Radley said. "They sure will." He petted the soft fur. "What happened to you years ago, girl? One day you were just gone. The other Pokemon were too. None of you ever came back." He frowned. "Or did you come back later and I was gone?"
"Vee," Eevee said sadly.
"I'm really sorry," Radley said in all sincerity. "I didn't leave because I wanted to. And maybe you didn't either, huh?"
"Eevee," was the quiet reply.
"Maybe Team Rocket scooped them all up," Scotch frowned.
"That's possible," Radley said, a bit of anger flashing in his eyes. "They're real too."
"Vee," Eevee said, almost sounding like she was confirming their suspicions.
"That could even be why there aren't many around here now," Kalin said. "Maybe most of them were taken."
"Well, it'll be different now," Radley soothed, looking down at the Eevee. "You're free and no one can tell me anymore that I can't have you. You're going to come home with us, and you can stay as long as you want."
"Eevee!" Eevee exclaimed in joy.
"She's looking much better already," Kalin remarked.
"Of course she is! She's with Radley now. That would make anybody feel better!" Scotch gushed.
Radley chuckled, deeply moved.
Kalin draped an arm around Radley's shoulders. "He's right, you know."
Radley smiled, leaning into Kalin's arm. "Thanks, everyone. Let's get our girl home where she can start getting better, okay?"
"Let's," Kalin agreed.
