Chapter 5: Paperwork
Nate told his story, starting from when he fell asleep in his bed. Iris laughed at the parts where he almost died, while Bianca looked horrified.
"Well, that is quite the tale," said Juniper. "I must say, you've been through quite the ordeal. Once we get you registered things should begin going much smoother for you."
"Registered?" Nate tilted his head questioningly.
"Did Alder not tell you?" Juniper glared at Alder accusingly, who shrugged in response.
"I figured you could explain better than I could."
"You're just lazy!" Countered Iris.
Juniper pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "You're lucky I like giving lectures. Right, so I told you about fallers, yes?" Nate nodded in response to the question. "Ordinarily, faller events are extremely rare, perhaps only occurring once a decade. However, for reasons that aren't fully understood, the frequency of faller events is unstable. Once, around 250 years ago, Unova experienced several fallers in just a few years. The exact number isn't known due to poor record-keeping at the time, but we know of at least seven fallers in a two year period. In reaction to this, the Unova League passed the Vagrancy Rights Act, guaranteeing certain rights and protections to any vagrants who happen to land in Unova. Coincidentally, Unova experienced a drought of fallers right after the flood of 250 years ago. You'll be only the third person on record to receive them."
"Well, that's a lot to take in all at once." Nate sat in contemplative silence for a while. "I suppose the obvious question would be 'What are these rights and protections I'm getting?'"
"First and foremost, permanent protected status, meaning you have the right to travel, live, and work in Unova. Additionally, you have the option to apply for Unovan citizenship after six months."
"Sounds... nice? Honestly, I have no frame of reference," Nate, replied honestly.
"It's a good deal," replied Iris. "Honestly, if you have no interest in politics, I would consider not applying for citizenship. You won't be able to vote, but you also won't pay income tax. Sounds like a win in my book." Alder gave Iris the stink-eye, as if she wasn't supposed to bring that up. Iris stuck her tongue out at Alder in response.
"Right... speaking of income, you'll also receive a stipend for your first five years in Unova," continued Juniper. "You won't be rich by any stretch of the imagination, but it should be enough to float you until you can land a job."
"Speaking of jobs, what were you doing before you were sent here?" Asked Bianca.
"I was working at a gas station to help pay the bills, while studying environmental science," said Nate, ruefully rubbing the back of his neck at his rather unimpressive job.
"You're studying science too! Oh my god! We could be research buddies!" Bianca seemed excited at Nate's major.
"Weren't you researching the origins of pokemon?" Alder raised a questioning eyebrow.
"I'm sure the environment had lots to do with the origins of pokemon, don't you think so Nate?"
"Sure?" Nate gave a half-hearted response.
"We're getting off topic," said Juniper authoritatively. "Nate, I hope you like paperwork, because we've got a lot of it to go through." Juniper pulled a heavy-looking binder out from her satchel.
"Ah, even in the wonderful world of pokemon, no one can escape bureaucracy." Nate reached into his backpack to pull out one of his pens. "Hey, is that backpack from your world?" asked Iris. Nate nodded in response. "Got any extra-dimensional goodies for us to play with while we're stuck watching you sign paperwork?"
"Uh, maybe?" Nate pulled out his textbooks. "How do you feel about dry, educational literature?" Iris made a disgusted face, while Bianca and Juniper were practically drooling at the prospect of extra-dimensional knowledge.
"Got anything better?"
Nate did some more rummaging. "How do you feel about campy sci-fi?" said Nate, holding up the far-from-home library book.
"We have that here, too. C'mon, you've gotta have something good in there, don't you?" complained Iris.
"The only thing I have left is my phone, but it's not like that can do anything over here. It's completely incompatible with whatever network technology you're using."
"Alien technology! Gimme gimme gimme!" Iris seemed very excited at the prospect of a new toy.
Alder sighed, "Champion Iris, please act in a manner befitting your station. I'm already under a lot of flak for passing the mantle for someone so young, there's no need to make things worse."
"C'mon Alder, there's no paparazzi in here," said Iris, grabbing Nate's phone without asking permission first. "Hey! Why won't it open!"
"Probably because it's fingerprint-locked," said Nate, snatching the phone out of Iris's hands and pressing his thumb on the scanner. "Here you go." Iris immediately began swiping through his apps, looking for something to alleviate her boredom.
"Biometric verification on consumer products?" Juniper seemed surprised at the advanced security on Nate's phone. Nate could only shrug in response.
Pretty soon, everyone had settled into their own entertainment. Bianca and Juniper were reading the environmental science and biology books, respectively. Every once in a while, one of them would find an interesting passage, and show it to the other. Alder, meanwhile, was reading the European history book, albeit at a much more sedate pace than the ravenous reading of the two scientists, with a concerned look on his face. Nate looked over to see what he was reading about. "Ah, Napoleonic wars. If he's that unsettled already, he'll probably have a heart attack once he gets to world war one"
And of course, Nate had the most riveting entertainment of all, Nate flipped the binder open to its first page, and clicked his pen. "Let's get signing."
"Umm... Nate?" Bianca asked questioningly.
"Yeah?" Nate looked up from form "C-31: Verification of Legal Presence," to address Bianca's question. "What's up?"
"Well, where are the pokemon? Normally an environmental science class would teach how pokemon shape their environment, right? Were you trying to specialize in the non-pokemon factors of environmental science? Seems like a pretty niche subject." Alder and Juniper also seemed interested in this line of questioning. It seems they had both taken notice of the lack of pokemon in their respective textbooks. Iris, meanwhile, had found the games on Nate's phone, and was sliding numbers into each other to make bigger numbers. "I knew this would come up eventually. Welp, time to rip this band-aid off."
"Right, well this is gonna be awkward..." Nate started, his heart pounding with anxiety.
"Just say it," said Iris, still not looking up from the phone.
"...my world had no pokemon." That got Iris to look up. At first, no one said a word. Everyone was processing Nate's bombshell.
Bianca was the first to snap out of it. "WHAT!? How does that work!? How do you feed yourselves!? How do you build roads!? How do you travel!?" Bianca sprang from her seat and dashed over to Nate, shaking him by the shoulders as she continued barraging him with questions. "What regulates the climate? Who do you pray to? What are your cities like?" Eventually, Bianca calmed down enough for Professor Juniper to get a few words in.
"You do realize we have questions."
"Ask away," Nate looked at Bianca, who looked like she was about to go off again. "One at a time..." Bianca deflated a bit.
"You seem to have a remarkable familiarity with pokemon for someone from a world supposedly without them." Juniper asked the first question, her tone slightly curious, slightly accusative.
"Maybe I should have been more specific. Pokemon do exist in my world... as fiction. Games, TV shows, movies, comics, books, trading cards. I considered myself a pretty big fan, and luckily it seems like enough of my knowledge of the series carried over to this world."
"Hmm... Normally I would conclude that you're insane, but that would explain how you managed to identify Lord Landorus on sight, a feat that my own grandson failed to accomplish," said Alder.
"What did this... media franchise... look like back in your universe?" Juniper seemed to be barely holding back an existential crisis.
"Let me show you." Nate grabbed his phone out of Iris's hands. "Hey! I almost won! Don't take it away!" Nate stared at Iris, and spoke in a deadpan voice, "it goes past 2048." "Honestly, Iris looks more shocked at that revelation than the fact that I come from a universe where she exists as a fictional character"
Opening his emulator folder, Nate tapped the icon for white 2 version, started a new game, and handed the phone to Juniper.
"Hi there, welcome to the world of pokemon! My name is Professor Juniper. Everyone calls me the Pokemon Professor!"
Juniper stared at the tiny representation of her on the screen. Her heartbeat was pounding in her ears.
"Hey look, it's you professor!" Iris, Bianca, and Alder had all crowded behind her to see what was on the screen. Despite her close proximity, Bianca's outburst sounded far away.
Juniper slowly, almost mechanically, tapped the button on-screen to advance the text. The onscreen representation of Juniper tossed up her pokeball, and out popped a Cinccino. Her heart rate quickened as she glanced down at the pokeball on her own belt. Abruptly, set the phone down on the table, stood up, and made for the exit.
"I'm going to take a break," she said calmly, walking out the door and closing it behind her before anyone could object. Juniper walked downstairs, out of the pokemon center, and onto the streets of Undella Town. She headed for the beach, and once she got there, sat down on the sand, staring out at the endless-seeming ocean. Her mind was swimming with thoughts, but the minute she tried to grab on to one, it slipped away. She wasn't exactly sure how long she spent staring at the beach.
"Nothing about this makes sense... A universe without pokemon is one thing. That alone already stretches my imagination thin. But how could a fiction in his world so perfectly match with ours. Is this world a simulation? Is Nate's world a simulation? How could he cross the boundaries between universes in the first place? If a pokemon sent him here, that would imply that pokemon do exist in his world, or at least have the ability to access it." Eventually, she was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of footsteps in the sand. She turned around to see a tall, red-haired man, back lit by the setting sun.
"You missed Bianca's cameo in the game," said Alder, "She gives the player their starter."
"Let me guess, in Aspertia? Diane's kid?"
"How'd you know?"
"That's the only starter I've given since Minccino evolved." She let out a long sigh. "I don't understand it, Alder. Not a single bit. And how am I the only one taking this so hard?"
"Well, you know how Iris and Bianca are, they just roll with the punches. As for me, I don't think I have any existential crises left in me."
"So, what? You came out to try and cheer me up?"
"No, I came to warn you that I think Iris wants to sponsor Nate as a trainer." The unexpectedness of the statement managed to jump start Juniper's mind a bit.
"What! Why!?"
"Aurea, I've known that girl for nearly her whole life, and not once have I understood any reasoning behind her actions."
Juniper stood up, brushed the sand off her skirt and marched back to the pokemon center. Alder smirked, he'd known Aurea for a long time, and he knew what she looked like when she had her mind set on something.
The prospect of the most interesting research subject on the planet being snatched up from under her lit a fire in Juniper's heart. "Who cares if I don't have any answers. That's what science is all about, finding answers. If those answers happen to come from a scatterbrained twenty-something kid who managed to stumble his way into our universe, so be it."
"How many times do I have to tell you, it's a video game! The mechanics are simplified for the purposes of gameplay!" yelled Nate, exasperatedly.
"Movement and positioning are the most fundamental parts of battling? Why would the game completely remove them in favor of moves having a fixed accuracy? It makes no sense!" Iris countered.
"I didn't make the game! Some Japanese dudes did, I just like to play them! Direct all your complaints to Game Freak."
"I don't even know what that means!" Professor Juniper chose this moment to re-enter the conference room.
"Thank god, someone reasonably sane." "Hi professor, enjoy your, uh, walk?"
"It was... productive, I think." Juniper thought for a second, before continuing, "Nate, how would you like to become a trainer sponsored under me?"
"Hey, I was gonna say that!" complained Iris.
"I know, that's why I said it first."
"How did you even know I was gonna ask him?"
"Alder told me."
"Well, how did he know?"
Juniper shrugged in response. Iris clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Fine, you can have your extra-dimensional sponsee, but if you manage to reverse engineer any of the games on his phone, I wanna be the first to get to play them." Iris grumpily walked out of the room, just as Alder was re-entering.
"Is it just me, or does it sound like she wanted to sponsor me just to have access to my phone?" asked Nate.
"It's best not to try and guess her intentions," said Juniper. "Now, about my offer."
"Look, it sounds great, but shouldn't we discuss this after I'm a legal resident of Unova," said Nate, pointing at the binder full of paperwork."
Alder sighed heavily. "He seems to do a lot of sighing." "Iris left before signing anything, didn't she?" Nate nodded in response. "I'll go fetch her, you finish the paperwork."
"I'll go get us some food, this meeting dragged on way longer than I expected." At the mention of food, Nate suddenly realized how hungry he was. Once Bianca left the room, it was just Nate and the Professor left.
"Professor, mind if I ask a weird question?"
"Go ahead."
"Do people eat pokemon in this world?"
"What? No! That's horrifying, why would you even think to ask that!?"
"Oh thank goodness," Nate sighed in relief.
Bianca returned with pizza in hand. "I'm back, I hope you like pizza!" She looked at Nate and tilted her head, "Do I need to explain what pizza is?"
"No, we had pizza back home, too." Nate's stomach growled in anticipation. "Not the most exciting first meal, but after two days of granola bars and alien fruit, I'm ready for some real food. Unova was supposed to be based on New York, so hopefully that applies to the pizza, too."
Alder chose this moment to return, with a sulky looking Iris, who immediately perked up on sighting the pizza. "Ooooh! Food!"
"Paperwork first," Alder said firmly.
"But Nate's already eating!" she complained.
"Nate spent the past two days in the woods, he deserves to eat," said Alder, with the tone of a disappointed parent.
"Not bad, cheese tastes a little different though, I guess this is from Miltank milk." Bianca was also digging in, while Juniper had a pensive look on her face.
"Penny for your thoughts, Professor?" Said Nate, finishing his first slice and now reaching for his second.
"How is it possible that the same food with the same name is present in both universes?"
"How are we even speaking the same language?" countered Nate. "Exactly nothing about my situation makes sense, if I stressed about every little minutia, I'd probably be dead in the forest right now."
Juniper thought about Nate's answer for a bit, before shrugging her shoulders and reaching for her own slice.
After a few minutes of furious signing, Iris finished the last of her paperwork, before diving for the pizza like a woman possessed. She inhaled a few slices at an alarming speed, before letting out a contented sigh. "You only needed me here to sign those forms right?" asked Iris to Juniper.
"Technically, yes, we only needed your signature, but..."
"Alrighty, I'm out! Nice meeting you Nate! Bye Juniper, bye Bianca, bye Alder!" She was out the door before anyone could stop her.
"Uh, shouldn't someone go get her?" asked Nate.
"Honestly, it's probably for the best that she left. She would've just distracted you further, and you still have a lot of paperwork to get through." Alder said, while staring at Nate's pile of unsigned documents. "The sooner you finish, the sooner my obligation to Lord Landorus is done, and I can go home. Now start signing."
Around an hour had passed since Iris left, and Nate had finally filled out the last form. He slammed the pen down, startling Juniper and Bianca, who had gotten themselves re-immersed in Nate's textbooks. "All done?" Bianca asked.
"Yup!"
"Good, now I can leave." Alder opened Reuniclus's pokeball. "Simon, let's go home." The pokemon briefly glowed before the both of them disappeared in a flash of light.
"Aww, I didn't get to say goodbye." Bianca seemed a little disappointed in Alder's abrupt exit.
"Well Nate, I'll submit your paperwork. It should take a few days to process. In the meantime, you can just relax in Undella Town. I've already arranged for your room and board here at the pokemon center. Also, you should take this time to consider my offer. Being a sponsored trainer is a rare opportunity, and one I don't give away lightly."
"Will do, and thanks for everything, Professor."
"I'm staying in town for the next week or so, if you need anything, come see me!" Bianca added.
"Sure, I could use someone to show me around town."
The three of them headed to the lobby of the pokemon center. Juniper released a Gothitelle from a pokeball on her belt, and teleported away.
"Does everybody have a teleporter?" asked Nate.
"It's fairly uncommon, actually. Psychic types need to be exceptionally strong to teleport long distances accurately."
"Huh, good to know. What about flying?"
"That's a little more common, but unlike with teleportation, the physical build of the pokemon matters. If you just wanted to pop across town, an Unfezant could probably handle it. Flying across the whole region, though? You'll realistically need a soaring pokemon like Braviary or Fearow."
"Neat. I'll probably have a lot of questions for you over the next few days, but for now I'd like to lie down. It's been a long day," said Nate, yawning as he did.
"Of course, I love helping people! I'm staying in the pokemon center too, just give me a holler if you have any questions," she said cheerily. "Oh, wait! Before you go to sleep, make sure you give Paras to the center. It's a good idea to give freshly caught pokemon a check up."
Nate did as he was told, and also got directions to his room from the nurse while he was at it. He walked to his assigned room, feeling his tiredness growing as he approached the promised bed. By the time he got to it, he was just about ready to fall face-first into it, although he at least remembered to take off his backpack this time.
