…well, hello there. It's been a minute.
I never intended to disappear quite so neatly from this story, but life caught up to me. I've started this second arc of the story maybe three times now, and only this draft has ever had enough substance to continue from. It took me six years to actualize the first arc of Wild Boy, so honestly, this has been a decent turn-around for me.
I've also edited a little bit of the previous ten chapters. If you don't feel like rereading 100k words, I do ask you to at least reread the last chapter, as the entire ending has been rewritten to match the tone here. I'm not trying to make this story darker, but as I mentioned when starting it, I can't bring myself to write in the rather cheerful tone of the anime without wanting to gouge my eyes out. One rather important detail is that I went back and reworked the story so that Kanto's Bug Master is Yellow and not the character I created to fill the gap previously.
With the release of Scarlet and Violet (the former of which I have been playing far too much of), this story has now seen three game releases that included new Pokémon while it's been written. To facilitate the inclusion of the Pokémon from these games here, I'm going to be operating under the assumption that the characters within the game are primarily familiar with Pokémon from the regions they are from/traveling in and less familiar with more foreign Pokémon. As such, assume that with every new game release, those Pokémon already existed in this world and they are simply being introduced to our cast for the first time when mentioned.
Anabel had never been Teleported anywhere before, so she didn't know what to expect from it. It felt like being shoved through a tunnel that she knew she wouldn't fit through, like her entire body had fallen asleep and was pin-pricked back into feeling within seconds, like she had been shattered and put back together roughly at their destination. It was a feeling of intense vertigo, and she sat down at their destination as her vision spun.
"You get used to it," Mewtwo said with an undercurrent of apology.
Anabel was too winded to reply, coughing out a tickle that refused to leave her throat. For a moment, she was surprised at the lack of blood in her spittle: she expected some sign of her insides being turned out.
Someone roughly grabbed her by the shoulders and helped her stand. When Anabel turned to thank them, she was greeted by Amber's bright red gaze. There was an intelligence there that Anabel found uncanny, but the Lucario just nodded before walking over to right Bulbasaur, who groaned and shook the dizziness out of his head.
Anabel looked at the thick ceiling of leaves and branches that blotted out most of the sunlight that struggled to warm the forest floor. A dampness lingered in the air that bothered Anabel, but it wasn't the first thing she noticed about this place. She had journeyed all over Kanto with Gary, following him as he earned six of the requisite eight Badges he'd need to qualify for the Indigo League Championship's Juniors division, but not even Lavender gave her the same creeping feeling of dread and hunt-prey-kill that prickled her spine.
"Where are we?" she asked, looking around for some sign of life.
"The Fringes," Mewtwo said tersely. Tension clung to his words.
Anabel's eyes widened at the revelation. The Fringes was the catch-all name for the land that was allowed to remain wild and untamed between towns, cities, and even regions. All Trainers, no matter how advanced, were warned away from them; the Pokémon found in such places were thought to be far more dangerous than any found in traveled Routes. Most agreed it was because those Pokémon that wished to travel with humans sought out routes that Trainers traveled on, leaving the Fringes for tall grasses and forest paths. What was left in the Fringes were Pokémon who were fiercely independent and strove for their greatness among their peers, tearing down humans and Pokémon alike in their contests of strength. Even Masters only went into the Fringes when a particularly destructive conflict between wild Pokémon was sighted close to civilization.
And yet, Ash looked far more relaxed here, in the middle of the harsh wilderness, than he had at New Island.
"You should release your friends," he said. "We can help them if they're hurt."
Anabel followed his gaze to the Pokéballs at her belt and just nodded a bit numbly before releasing her teammates. They appeared in a burst of red-white light that coalesced into her Eevee, Beldum, Kadabra, and Sneasel. At a cursory glance, none of them seemed tired or wounded from the battle a mere hour prior, which Anabel counted as a solid win.
Immediately, Egg bounced forward, chattering curiously. Eevee just blinked at him before mewing a question, his head tilting to one side. Sage seemed to immediately grow disinterested in the whole endeavor and immediately began floating in meditation, foci bending in his hands. Sneasel narrowed her eyes before turning to stand beside Anabel, and Beldum simply continued to scan their surroundings, quietly funneling any observations into Anabel's mind.
Ash seemed to immediately lose all interest in her. He crouched down by her team, eyes widening in excitement. "They all look so healthy," he said, almost to himself. He reached out a hand, offering it to Eevee. Eevee sniffed it uncertainly before he seemed to recognize the scent and allowed Ash to pet his head gently. The other three seemed more uncertain of a boy who smelled of loam and rain, who they'd met trying to tear the world out from beneath their feet. Sneasel in particular hissed lowly while watching her team leader, curling more firmly around Anabel's ankles.
Anabel couldn't say she blamed them.
"They're my pride and joy," Anabel said matter-of-factly, watching as her teammates perked up at her words. Sneasel puffed her chest out, preening.
"I can see why," Ash said softly, finding a tender spot behind Eevee's ear that melted him into a pile of cooing purrs.
"We need to keep moving," Mewtwo said, floating into the trees. Something that had relaxed about Ash stiffened again, and he nodded tersely, straightening up.
"Keep your team out," he told Anabel. "A human's reaction time isn't quick enough to respond to an attack out here."
A shiver went up Anabel's spine. "Why are we out here, then?"
"Answers [find-seek-source frustration-annoyance-hidden-hiding where-why-how long-so-long]." Mewtwo's stream of not-quite-words built the picture more fully in Anabel's mind: someone who had the information that Ash– and now she as well– needed.
"Who are you looking for?"
Mewtwo seemed surprised for a second before his expression cleared. "You can speak? [known-known-know deep-inside-intrinsic vein-blood-heart-rush]"
Anabel blinked. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'speak,' but I can read the undercurrent of your thoughts— I'm empathic."
"Not just that." He left it at that. "Somewhere out here is a shelter for those [home-gone-removed belonging-not-pulled-away sad-sad-drifting breeze-leaf-floating]. They say there's a man who guards it and speaks with the wisdom of Pokémon and humans." Mewtwo flicked his tail. "We seek his guidance on what the All-Mother said."
Anabel felt an uncomfortable warmth in her chest at the mention of Mew; she didn't know why She had coalesced from her body in a single tug that had left Anabel feeling disconnected and disjointed still, and she quite frankly didn't want to think about the Legend much further. Kanto as a whole spoke in awe of the small feline pixie that could become any creature on the planet, but Anabel couldn't bring herself to after today.
It had all been just one day, hadn't it? The sun was just high enough in the sky that she was certain they'd traveled west— perhaps they were somewhere between Victory Road and Viridian, but she wasn't sure.
"How do you plan on finding this man?"
"We're not sure," Ash said. "From what we could find, he's known to wander through the Fringes, though he is registered in the League's databases. He could be anywhere, frankly, but Amber tracked him down to somewhere around here."
Anabel hummed in acknowledgment as they trekked through the woods. Kabutops lingered close to the back of the group, eyes and scythes sharp in case of an ambush. Egg and Amber led the way, slashing bushes and weeds aside, as Bulbasaur allowed his bulb to shimmer in a low-power, sustained Synthesis.
"I didn't realize that move could do that," Anabel said, more to fill the silence than anything.
"The concept of moves is restrictive and flawed," Ash replied, to her surprise. "Imagine knowing that you share your techniques with every Trainer in the known world. Sure, you can predict what they might do or what skills they might have at their disposal, but they have just as much knowledge as you do. Creating combinations with those moves is doable, but not something expected from the average Trainer." He glanced at her. "Do you see where I'm getting at?"
"I think so." Anabel glanced at Eevee, who dutifully trotted alongside her. "Something like my Eevee's Yawn move could be known by anyone who has studied Pokémon for long enough, and one can assume they'd know how to counter it as well."
"All moves are Pokémon instinct, given a way to be carried out and names to avoid confusion. Yawn is a quick burst of energy that makes one's opponent drowsier; of course, once that move is mastered, it's more than simple to manipulate its energy, but what if you started learning a technique knowing to manipulate it?" Mewtwo gazed at Anabel with such an intelligent glint in his eye that she could have been convinced that a human stood in front of her. "Wild Pokémon have no reason to know the human designation for moves and yet they perform them easily. This only shows that moves are the most rudimentary usage of a Pokémon's abilities. They are a handicap that humanity puts on itself in order to understand how best to use the innate power of Pokémon to their most convenient. They are not the way to excel at understanding a Pokémon."
Before Anabel could reply, Beldum clicked and quickly scanned their surroundings again, sending a series of percentages to her mind for her consideration: numbers denoting risk factors, possible weather conditions, and Pokémon detected nearby.
Mewtwo nodded to Beldum. "Even your partner's sensory capabilities could most likely be used in combat. If they were any quicker with it on average, research would state that Beldum as a species or a line of Pokémon can use the Foresight move. As it is, they are recorded to only naturally know the move Take Down." He seemed disgusted at that concept. "Even when it is known that Beldum have the capacity for it, they are treated as if they were a sentient stone, naught more than some material to be thrust into an opponent. Most Trainers who are fortunate enough to come across a Beldum that wishes to travel with them move to evolve it as quickly as they can, even when there exist advantages to their first forms. There's a perceived streamlined method to Training based on the moves one's Pokémon can learn, and it's all based on a flawed concept."
Anabel looked at Beldum, a flicker of guilt that she had been in the majority of Trainers who waited patiently for the day their Beldum evolved and became easier to work with. Beldum didn't seem to realize her unease, simply letting their eye flash once before turning back to their surroundings.
"And you think that a Pokémon like Beldum could figure out the concepts behind moves better than the moves themselves?"
Mewtwo floated down to the ground delicately. "Most definitely. There's a reason Pokémon cannot duplicate others' personalized techniques and why species have such limited move sets, despite whatever move-teaching technology humanity dreams up."
Beldum clicked quietly before sending an updated set of numbers to Anabel. She frowned slightly while reviewing the percentages.
"Hang on," she murmured. "Beldum, can you please transmit your last two readings to Mewtwo and Ash?"
Beldum beeped in assent before turning to the other two. Their eye glowed and Mewtwo and Ash both visibly reacted to Beldum's calm flow of information, Mewtwo nodding slightly and Ash jerking his head back.
"What do these numbers mean?" Ash asked a bit sheepishly.
"You should be seeing a light-to-darkness ratio, sound level estimate, and infrared percentage," Anabel said. "The first two remain at rather standard levels, but—"
"The infrared readings increase dramatically when facing northeast," Mewtwo realized. "What does that imply? [curious-curious-interesting awe-interested wary-caution-caution!]"
"Infrared sensing is the best way to estimate where living bodies are," Anabel said. "A spike like that implies that there are quite a few over there. Normally, I'd suggest staying away, but if you're looking for someone in the vicinity, there's a high likelihood they're the ones the infrared percentage is indicating."
Mewtwo and Ash both looked at her with wide eyes. "Beldum can tell you that much?" Ash asked with wonder.
Hearing Ash of all people ask with such intrigue made Anabel think that maybe she was a good Trainer to Beldum. "Well, it's not a perfect system," she admitted. "We mostly developed it so that Beldum could wake me up if they noticed a substantial change in any of those three indicators while I was asleep. Better to be woken up over a Rattata pack minding its own business at a Chesto bush than sleep through a rampaging Beedrill swarm, y'know?" She polished the rim of their eye as they whirred in appreciation. "We've been slowly working on using the infrared specifically to determine vulnerable spots in battle, but Beldum's not quite quick enough at computing it yet. Maybe after evolution, it'll be easier on them."
"Still," Mewtwo offered, "it's an incredibly useful skill. A quantification of Beldum's instincts, something tangible that can be grasped and improved on. And even if they can only understand it fully as a Metang, other Trainers would have waited until then to teach their Pokémon at all."
Before Anabel could stutter out a word of thanks at Mewtwo's unexpected praise, Eevee called up to her. When she focused on him, she felt a stream of 'many-many-scent kin!-kindred-approaching uncertain-maybe?-help uncertain-what-how' exuding from him and seeping into his voice.
"It should be fine, Eevee," she said as soothingly as possible, picking her starter up. "We've dealt with large groups before, remember?"
Sneasel offered a sharp purr in comfort, and Eevee looked down at her uncertainly but managed to offer a grin.
"We should head over [there-there-location helpful-admire-found]," Mewtwo said. Anabel fought off the blush at Mewtwo's impressed tone.
'Suns-slumber-dusk-twilight rest-sleep-yes-stay floor-comfort-grass-slumber,' Ash grumbled under his breath, glancing at the oranging sky. Anabel glanced at him, amused by the complaints he exuded.
Mewtwo flicked Ash over the head with his tail. "Our fearless leader here wants to rest for the night," he said.
"I picked up on that," Anabel said. "I'll see about a campfire." She didn't notice the look that Ash and Mewtwo exchanged.
Egg, Amber, Kabutops, and Bulbasaur had been trailing them, conversing with each other quietly as Anabel's Pokémon stared at them rather nervously. For Sage's peace of mind, Anabel set herself up on the opposite end of the small clearing Ash found while he and his friends sought out firewood. She carefully extracted the Egg she had found. It was still loose in her pack, wrapped in coats and jackets; she belatedly remembered that she had planned to get a proper incubator for it at the next PokéCenter she and Gary went to after New Island.
It was at that exact moment that homesickness finally caught up to Anabel, smacking her so hard in the chest that she felt as though she were caving in. It had plagued her before: on the worst nights, she woke up aching to speak with Brandon or Swampert, unable to do anything besides letting the feeling fade until she forgot about it. Today, the shock of so abruptly changing her lifestyle from what she had expected even three hours ago was as exhausting as it was all-encompassing, and she was struggling to come to terms with it even as she had conversed with Ash and Mewtwo about their next steps—
Something dripped onto her hand. She looked down, confused, wondering if it had started to rain.
Oh. She was crying.
Acknowledging it didn't make her cry more, for which she was thankful. It did make her take a long, shuddering breath that caught in the back of her throat. Eevee looked at her for a moment, frozen in his alarm, before dashing over and forcing himself into her lap, purring furiously.
She laughed at his antics, though she heard how her voice shattered around it. "Thank you," she whispered, and a stream of 'friend-friend-sister beloved-always-follow follow-friend-forever' had her wrapping her arms around her starter even more fully.
'Friend's-friend-dear-one lilac-flower— Anabel?" resonated softly to her, and she looked up to see Amber looking down at where she had crumpled to the ground. The Lucario's eyes are softened, a far more human expression than she had ever seen on a Pokémon's face.
"Hi." She rubbed at her face. "I must look like a mess."
"Not at all." Amber settled next to her. "The boys are gathering something to eat tonight. I decided to come back first."
"Alright." A beat. "If I may ask, how can you talk?"
Amber's mouth quirked up in a grin. "Some manifestation of Psychic ability, some long tutoring from Mewtwo." She gave Anabel a conspiratorial look. "He's a harsh taskmaster."
"I'd imagine so." Anabel absentmindedly picked some smaller twigs out of Eevee's mane. "He seems the type."
"He does, doesn't he? [brother-friend-menace]" Amber hummed. She glanced down at Eevee, who was decidedly ignoring her in favor of Anabel's ministrations. "He loves you," she said rather abruptly. "They all do."
Anabel blinked at the sudden change of subject. "That's good to hear. I love them all too."
"I think they'd die for you." The way Amber said it didn't sound hyperbolic; to her, it was just a statement of fact.
"I hope they don't," Anabel said softly, even as Eevee protested and raised a paw to gently rest on her cheek. "I hope that if the worst happens to me, they live a long, fulfilling life afterwards."
Amber looked carefully at Anabel before nodding. She glanced into the woods. "They're coming."
Before Anabel could reply, Ash bustled into the clearing and threw down an armful of branches, Mewtwo close behind with a bundle of berries floating behind him. Kabutops followed them, not holding anything but cleaning his scythes, and Egg and Bulbasaur brought up the rear, each holding one twig that they delicately placed on top of the rest of the wood.
Ash stuck his tongue out at them. 'Lazy-boring-unhelpful,' he grumbled at them.
Anabel sighed, digging through her backpack for a matchbox. "They tried, at least."
Ash whipped his head around to her. 'Lazy-lazy-LAZY head-sitter-sloth doze-idle,' he insisted.
Anabel patted his head. "It's okay."
Egg and Bulbasaur burst out into laughter at how baffled Ash looked from her response. Anabel simply smiled and busied herself with setting up the campfire for the night.
It took a few days of travel before they found any more sign of life. It was a strange few days; Anabel felt a deep nostalgia traveling through unknown woods, listening for the sounds of rampaging wild Pokémon and running water, but the feeling of anticipatory dread didn't ever leave her. After jumping at every shifting shadow for a few hours, she simply held onto Beldum and let their beeping soothe her. It made her feel rather silly; Anabel wasn't exactly a coward, but the Fringes put her so far on edge imagining the ferocious creatures that would attack their party that she could barely focus on traveling.
Ash helped draw her out of her catastrophizing by asking after her Pokémon. Slowly, he drew stories out of her, recollections of endless nights spent in the Seafoam Islands to seek out Sneasel's old colony and how she caught Sage because he was frozen in his study of Beldum, baffled by the machine-like Pokémon. He exchanged his own memories for hers: stories of training alongside Egg and Amber and Kabutops.
"He used to be Fossil, right?" Anabel asked.
"Yeah. He didn't want to be after [larger-stronger-better growth-quick-quick]," Ash replied.
"Why is that?"
Ash thought about it for a second. "Names are strange to Pokémon, I think," he offered. "Many of the species who are used to seeing lots of themselves around like having one so that they stand apart from an average member. They're not permanent in the way that humans' names are, though. Pokémon don't define themselves with their names. So, when certain Pokémon reach their best form, they want to go back to who they are and be known as who they're meant to be. Kabutops is Kabutops because when he was Fossil, he was small, prey for others, but as Kabutops, he is the hunter seeking out prey." He turned to her. "Does that make sense?"
"I think so. It's like how Lance wanted to be called a Master and not a Champion."
Ash's eyes dimmed a bit, but he still smiled almost fondly at the mention of the Dragon Master. "Exactly." The look faded. "Sometimes, some [grown-best-strongest] have names to set themselves apart even further. The Rock Master Brock encouraged his teammates with that mentality; when they'd reached their peaks, they'd choose a name together to signify that they got to that apex. It's not too common though; I think most Pokémon are content to not think about what a name means to them."
Before Anabel could respond, Amber tensed and glanced at a bush in front of them. Beldum's latest readings warned of something approaching them. Ash held out an arm to stop Anabel from walking any further, holding a finger over his lips. He glanced down at Egg, who immediately zipped off into the branches of the trees surrounding them to scout ahead. Anabel's heartbeat rang in her ears, almost drowning out the sounds of the forest around her.
The bushes rustled. Anabel and Ash whipped towards the sound, only to see two pairs of eyes peeking at them. Before they can figure out what they belong to, a splash of water arced towards them. Ash shouted and pushed Anabel out of its way, but Mewtwo quickly caught it in a protective bubble before it could hurt either of them. Egg cackled from Mewtwo's shoulder.
"What was that?" Anabel squeaked out.
'Prank-fun-trickery uncertain-unsure-interesting children-small-innocent,' Mewtwo filtered into her mind, painting a picture of two younger Pokémon curious on the group encroaching on their lands as he let the psionic bubble of water splash on the ground in front of them.
"They seem [nothing-nowhere danger-not-here harm-no-calm]," Ash said. "We should follow them."
Egg had already darted after the two unknown Pokémon before Ash finished speaking, forcing the rest of them to follow him. Anabel quickly returned Sneasel, Sage, and Eevee for ease of movement, allowing Beldum to hover just above her shoulder to continue their scans of the area. Ash didn't have any such concerns; his whole team was on alert but he didn't make a move to even touch the Pokéballs he still wore on his belt. Anabel didn't find it that surprising, and having the team of basically Champion-level Pokémon around her was reassuring, to say the least.
As if sensing her unease, Bulbasaur nudged Anabel's leg and growled comfortingly. She just gave him a small smile and patted his head.
"There." Anabel glanced up at Mewtwo's words and saw sunlight peeking through the trees. She gestured for Beldum to stay close to her as Ash pushed through the leaves. He crooned into the open air, his voice curling in a soft inquiry. There's silence for a moment before Anabel heard a responding growl.
Her eyes widened as two small Pokémon stepped into the clearing. They weren't Pokémon she'd seen before, but though her hand itched to go for her Pokédex, she waited to see what Ash would do. He crouched low to the ground, gently waving for her to do the same.
"Aren't they amazing?" he breathed, and Anabel agreed immediately. Both were blue, one a bit steelier and one a bit lighter with a dark stripe down the back. The more reptilian of the two wandered closer to Anabel, and she could feel its curiosity winning out over its wariness.
"Hello," she said, trying to imbue her words with compassion and friendliness and not-dangerous. The Pokémon squeaked in surprise but didn't shy away when Anabel cautiously laid a hand on the grey crest on its head.
"They want us to follow them," Ash said. Anabel glanced up to see him standing in front of the other Pokémon. "I think we've found what we're looking for."
Anabel felt her heart racing in her throat. She moved to straighten up, but the small Pokémon in front of her gestured to her arms as she did so, growling at her with a pleading expression. She blinked and tried to read its words, but it was speaking too quickly for her to make anything out. Anabel glanced to her right to see Amber watching the two of them.
"A little help over here?"
"He wants you to pick him up and carry him," Amber clarified, amusement bleeding through her voice. "He thinks you smell nice."
Anabel couldn't help a laugh at that. "Why, thank you," she said, carefully lifting the Pokémon up and grunting at his weight. "Bit denser than I expected." Beldum swooped down and whirred at the other Pokémon quietly; he just reached out and tried to pat them in turn.
She couldn't really go much farther than a few meters holding the new Pokémon, but by then she had scanned him with her Pokédex and read up on him. He was apparently a Bagon, a species native to Hoenn known for throwing themselves off of high peaks with the hopes of understanding flight one day. She'd never met a member of the evolutionary line, but she'd been raised on stories of fearsome Salamence, a powerful Dragon that was hard to equate with the little blue Pokémon waddling alongside her.
Anabel and Ash followed the two Pokémon through the forest (she managed to scan the other Pokémon and was astonished to find out it was a Froakie, a rare Water-type native to Kalos) for as long as they could. Bagon and Froakie weren't too fussed about being tour guides, simply dashing forwards as they wished and only waiting for them if they found a particularly interesting flower or tree. The two of them disappeared into the undergrowth as Anabel squinted past the setting sun.
"Should we try to find them?" she asked Ash.
He stared at the darkening sky. "It'd be dangerous to keep going, but I don't think they're curious enough to come back." He looked to her guiltily. "Will your friends be mad if we kept going?"
Anabel shrugged before releasing Sneasel. "We're tracking a Bagon and a Froakie. Not to battle," she warned, "just to see where they're going. We think they know where we're trying to get to."
Sneasel spent the first few seconds out of the ball sniffing her surroundings, as she usually did, before turning amber eyes to Anabel and squeaking a confirmation. Beldum hovered down to look at Sneasel, who batted at them halfheartedly, claws as sheathed as they could be. Beldum beeped before hovering back up by Anabel's shoulder again.
She sighed. "Thanks for putting up with each other. Sneasel, just keep an eye out and let me know if anything unusual happens."
They kept following the trail in the dying light, Bulbasaur struggling a bit more to light his bulb up with what looked more like the preparation of Solar Beam than any sort of Synthesis to Anabel. Every step they took, Bulbasaur unknowingly sent a small spray of shimmering powder into the air, letting them settle onto the grass to sprout into some kind of rapidly growing ivy. Sneasel hissed at the new floor traps and sidestepped them all, glaring at the oblivious Grass-type.
After what felt like hours of walking through total darkness, Anabel felt Ash stiffen beside her before he yanked her behind a tree. Sneasel snarled in surprise, darting over to stand by her Trainer and glare at Ash, while Beldum whirred quietly and smoothly readjusted themself.
"What gives?" Anabel whispered to him, her words coming out in a hiss.
"I can't hear the smaller guys anymore, but I can smell a campfire up ahead," he replied. In the darkening shadows of the forest, she could see a faint outline of some kind of light around him. "Be on the lookout for anything."
"Isn't this the guy you've been looking for?" Anabel asked back.
"Just because we seek out [hunter-protector-hidden] doesn't mean he isn't dangerous," Mewtwo whispered softly to her. "He is kind; we know this. He is ferocious; we know this as well."
"Caution," Amber confirmed.
Egg scampered onto her shoulder, cooing reassurance and warning and courage to her. Anabel reached up to gently scratch him under his jaw before turning to Ash and nodding her understanding. She quietly returned Sneasel to her Pokéball before turning to Ash.
"Follow my lead," he said softly.
Ash drifted forward through the undergrowth as though made of mist, Anabel stumbling after him with far less grace. The brush opened up rather suddenly into a large clearing where the grass looked stomped down by numerous footprints. Light from a campfire flickers across the ground, silhouetting what looks like a tall figure sitting by it.
The figure was a man, of that much Anabel was certain. His hair was a slate color, and though it was sloppily tied into a bun and clipped back out of convenience, Anabel thought that it might go down his back loose. It was hard to see what he wore because he seemed to be wrapped in a crimson cloak, though he wore it tight around his shoulders like a large shawl. His back was towards them, the fire throwing his shadow into undulating forms on them. Nothing sat by the campfire with him.
Anabel felt Ash tense up beside her before he silently padded into the clearing. Anabel watched with rapidly growing trepidation as he slowly slunk towards the fire and settled next to it. The man did not acknowledge him, not even turning to look at him.
Something nudged Anabel. When she glanced back to see what, she saw Amber look at her meaningfully before she gestured towards the man, Egg on her head.
A brief moment of terror at what the Lucario was trying to convince her to do passed through Anabel before she did her best to shake it off and steel herself.
The first step out of the clearing was the most terrifying. She felt like her feet were infinitely less stealthy than Ash's and she could hear every single dry leaf that she accidentally crunched. The man twitched slightly at the sound of footsteps, but he still didn't turn around. Anabel drew up the rest of her courage to settle next to Ash, her legs trembling with anticipatory adrenaline.
It took Anabel a minute longer to allow her eyes to glance upwards and fully take in the sight of the man at the fire. Though most of his body was wrapped in his cloak, his face was uncovered. He stared steadily at the two children who had joined him at the fire now, his gaze neutral. Anabel wasn't sure if she was more relieved that he didn't look like he was going to attack them or if she was more scared knowing that he was observing them the way they were definitely observing him.
Anabel heard more footsteps behind them. Mewtwo reached out with 'yes-yes-fine worry-not-here yes-strong-yes' and Anabel felt her shoulders relaxing under the comforting stream of impressions and the knowledge that their teams were behind them.
"Your friends are very protective of you," the man said, his voice hoarse and unused. There's a lilt to his words that Anabel doesn't recognize, and she briefly wondered what the Fringes connected and if he'd come from farther than Tohjo in general.
"They care," Anabel said.
The man hummed. "It's good that they care. These are dangerous woods, even for those accompanied by such guardians."
Ash chattered 'friends-gained-friends many-many-sad help-will?-help?', but Anabel could tell from the slight furrow of a brow that the man had no idea what he was saying.
"He wants to know if you've come across the new friends he found," Anabel translated. "He's worried about them but he can't take care of them himself."
The man's eyebrows raised. "I'm impressed. Not many can attest to speaking or even understanding the intent-voice that Pokémon share," he said. "I've spent many years away from human society and I still struggle with much past the basic desires and needs."
Anabel wasn't sure what to do besides nod at that.
"If you speak of the group that appeared in this section of the Fringes a few days ago, you don't have to worry," the man said to Ash. "My partners have already found them and ushered them to our sanctuary. They're being taken care of as we speak."
The tension left Ash's form, and he nodded gratefully to the man.
"This forest is dangerous after nightfall. I'm surprised you haven't been attacked yet, though perhaps the company you keep assured your safety," the man said. "Come. We will adjourn to the sanctuary and you can continue on your way in the morning or when you know where you will go next, whichever you'd prefer."
Anabel stood up, Ash alongside her. "If it's so dangerous, what are you doing out here?" she asked.
The man's mouth quirked in a soft smile. "I was told there may be children wandering the woods by some Pokémon at my sanctuary, of course."
"Are you so powerful that you can be out here alone?"
The smile turned sharp. "Who said anything about being alone?"
They trekked after the man as soon as he cleared his campfire away, the final embers bursting into a roaring flame that Anabel would have thought strange if she hadn't noticed the being woven out of shadow flickering in and out of existence at its base. At some point, Sage and Eevee had gracefully entered their Pokéballs, preferring the stasis to more walking. Sneasel seemed still happy to dance across the forest floor, a sentiment Anabel wished she could share. Not for the first time, Anabel wished they could turn on some sort of light as she stumbled over fallen branches and through dry brambles.
Ash remained stubbornly mute, his team hidden in the trees. Anabel wasn't sure why he was insisting on speaking exclusively in Pokéspeech around the man, but it made for an oppressive silence settling on them in between their breaths. To fill the quiet, Anabel cautiously attempted to learn more about the man she was currently trusting with her life. At some point, she learned that before he became a hermit, the man's name was Tobias and that he was very rusty with being referred to as such, that he was once a well-respected Trainer, and that he vanished into the woods one day after following an inkling that settled deep in his gut and never quite went away. After the third instance of his staring blankly at her after being prompted, he shook his head, chuckling to himself.
"It's strange enough for me to use my voice, let alone for me to hear another's," he said. "I will grow accustomed to it. Don't worry for me."
Anabel nodded uncertainly.
Tobias gave her a glassy-eyed nod and a distant smile before turning back to the direction he was leading them in. His shadow clung to his back like a cloak, occasionally blinking narrowed eyes at Anabel, and the presence that lurked in the skies above their heads would dip down, let out a low rumble, and ascend once more. When it ducked down once more, Anabel surreptitiously pointed her Pokédex at it. It beeped before loading in pages and pages of information on the Pokémon's species.
Immediately, the Pokémon hissed, twisting to glare at her. Its eyes gleamed yellow and it tipped its triangular head towards Anabel, rows of sharp teeth bared in her direction.
Beldum darted in between them while Sneasel jumped up to her shoulder to snarl back at the semi-incorporeal figure. Anabel herself froze, the Pokédex still in her hand. From somewhere behind her, she faintly heard Mewtwo's psionic voice asking if she was alright.
Tobias frowned as he turned at the sudden chaos before noticing the device Anabel held, its screen lighting her face in a cold white light. "One of Oak's models?" he asked mildly.
Anabel winced. "Sorry," she said quietly. "I was just curious. I didn't mean anything by it."
"Curiosity could get you killed out here," Tobias said, his voice no colder than it had been all night. "Admittedly, it could also save your life." He held up a hand to his agitated companion, who irritably shook it off before darting back into the sky. "No harm meant, no harm done. Read whatever you've found."
Anabel swallowed back one last apology before ducking her eyes to the Pokédex entry in front of her. Images and textual descriptions of a Galarian Pokémon called Dragapult filled the screen, numerous tabs including known move sets, abilities, and notable owners populating the side of the windows. That final category seemed to contain only one Trainer, a purple-haired man from Galar who proudly posed with his team after finishing in Top 8 in some tournament there.
She frowned. There was something strange about the photos aggregated. Anabel carefully summoned the hologram of a Dragapult, watching closely as it hovered over the screen. The form's spectral tail undulated as she brought up its move set and selected a random move (Dragon Darts, the text said, and when she hit it, the two small dragon-like projectiles in its head shot out of the frame). She ran down the whole list, wondering if what she saw was some sort of visual illusion, but nothing she clicked changed the colorful accents of the hologram.
"Mr. Tobias?" Anabel ventured.
"Just Tobias," he corrected after a moment. "What is it?"
"I'm sorry, I was just curious— your Dragapult?"
He glanced up towards the sky, his eyes softening in affection. "Zero. What of him?"
"I was wondering—" she selected Dragon Darts again and watched the Dragapult hologram dutifully shoot off two more projectiles "—all of the Dragapults I see in photos here have pink heads and claws and chest markings. Were Zero's yellow, or did I imagine that?"
The only indication that she surprised Tobias was his eyes widening by a hair. "They were," he confirmed.
"Is that unusual?"
"Unusual." He rolled the word around his mouth. "'Unusual' is probably the best word for it, yes. I can explain better once we get to the sanctuary."
Anabel dispelled the hologram and put her Pokédex away. "How much further do we have to walk?" she asked.
"Not too far," he replied, his stride never slowing. "My companions will have shooed away any Pokémon who try to waylay us, so we have no need to worry about being stopped."
Beldum quietly beeped as they transmitted the latest environmental data to Anabel's mind. She noted the increase in all three statistics and guessed that the sanctuary the man had spoken of was up ahead.
"A clever creature," the man murmured to Anabel.
"They're a key part to helping me travel safely," Anabel said fondly, reaching a hand up to the Pokémon. Beldum seemed to light up at the perceived praise and let out a series of nonsensical but delighted sounding beeps.
The man hummed.
Ash's breath stuttered in his chest a moment before Beldum flew over to Anabel and frantically beamed in updated, much higher values. Sneasel's ears twitched and she hissed quietly, hanging back to stay at Anabel's heels. Tobias showed none of their caution. Rather, his strides sped up and he gestured for the two children to stay with him.
Light burst in front of Anabel's eyes in what seemed like an instant. For a second, she wondered if the sun had risen while they were still stuck in the shadows of the Fringes' oppressive canopy, but she soon realized that she was seeing an uncountable number of lanterns, strung between wooden support beams that held up the building in front of her. It was obviously built by self-taught hands; the wood wasn't stained in an artistic manner, the roofs slanted out of utility rather than style. The stones that made up its foundation seemed worn with time, though interlocked in such a way that made Anabel sure that they wouldn't collapse for decades to come. She thought she saw the edge of a pond stretching out from behind the building as well.
The building wasn't what made a gasp catch at the back of Anabel's throat. Pokémon surrounded the building in a flickering mass. A hulking segmented bug patiently stood as birds of all colors alighted on its shoulders, and a strange green Pokémon that looked like it was made of gelatin hovered anxiously by the bug's waist. A Houndoom slumbered on top of a pile of firewood, its tail neatly tucked next to its body as a pack of younger canine Pokémon tried to yap it awake, led by a Poochyena. Anabel even recognized some of the Pokémon that were being gently led around: a Machop huddled alongside a Charmander, even as they both curiously leaned towards a pig-like Pokémon that marched them along imperiously.
"Welcome to my safehouse," Tobias said. Anabel had almost forgotten that he was there. His eyes were softer as he fondly gazed upon the Pokémon.
"Are they all yours?" Anabel asked in a hush.
"No, not at all; only six Pokémon call me their family." Zero suddenly swerved down from the sky and abruptly twisted so that he hovered over the ground, facing Tobias. The yellow of his markings seemed to shimmer in the lantern light. Tobias fondly patted a corner of his head before nodding towards the house. As he did so, something peeled itself out of Tobias's shadow, coalescing into a dull violet form with pale pink eyes. The strange Gengar cackled at Anabel's alarm before stalking towards the house itself.
"Most of the Pokémon you see seek out this place themselves. It's a refuge of sorts in this frontier." Tobias walked faster down the more well-worn ground, and only now did Anabel notice that he limped slightly. "Many League-affiliated institutions offer medicine to wild populations of Pokémon as well as those registered under humans. That's a big reason why somewhat frailer species are easier to find closer to cities and towns. Out here, I'm the only intervening hand."
"Is it hard?" Anabel asked.
"It can be." Tobias reached the threshold of the front gate and carefully opened it, making sure that no Pokémon had strayed too close to the swinging door. "I don't really leave often enough to stock man-made medicines reliably, so I tend to treat anything that comes by with more rudimentary things: berry mashes, herbal presses, whatever it is I can forage. Sometimes it's not enough and I have to negotiate their capture and release so that I can take them into a PokeCenter." A wry grin, dry of amusement, curved across his face. "I'm sure the Nurse Joy at Tohjo Falls thinks I'm a monster, bringing in all of these severely injured Pokémon and leaving for the woods the moment they're healed, never bringing the same one back twice."
Ash trembled next to Anabel. She wasn't surprised when he blindly reached out and grabbed hold of her arm, the hand soon joined by the rest of his body pressed against her side. When Anabel chanced a glance back at him, his eyes were wide and unseeing, staring off into a middle distance that she could not see.
"Is your friend alright?" Tobias asked, having paused to look back when she stopped following him.
"I don't know," Anabel said truthfully.
She heard the sound of a delighted croon a second before something bruising ran into her shin. Wincing, Anabel glanced down to see the Bagon from earlier that night cuddled into her leg, rubbing the grey helmet on his head against the slowly forming contusion. The Froakie accompanying him looked up at Ash, his head cocked to one side in concern.
"He's fine," she tried to say, hoping her empty words were some reassurance, but Froakie croaked quietly before springing up and towards Ash.
Ash gave a wordless shout before quickly detaching from Anabel so he could catch the young Pokémon. He gaped openly at the Froakie, who adopted a smug smile and began squirming and complaining until Ash tucked him close to his chest.
Immediately, Bagon gave a tragic wail and tried to convince Anabel to pick him up as well.
"Those two seem fond of you," Tobias said as he watched the girl struggle with the Dragon-type.
"Oh, do they?" Anabel muttered to herself, finally figuring out a way to hoist Bagon up.
'Friend? Friend-lilac-flower-speaker speaker-other-not other-not-nice? okay?okay?leave?' streamed into Anabel's mind from behind her, strangely faint. She wondered just how far away Mewtwo was with the rest of Ash's group. Anabel tried to focus on a message of 'yes-okay-come-here' as hard as she could, imagining Mewtwo in the woods as the recipient of her message. She wasn't sure if he was scanning her mind or if she actually managed to make contact with him, but not too long after, Mewtwo cautiously led the rest of Ash's family out from the treeline.
"Is that everyone?" Tobias stared at the newcomers. "If so, I can send my team back out to continue scouting.
"That should be," Anabel said quietly. Soon after, she saw three more Pokémon split off from the mass in the fields, all with an otherworldly shimmer to their fur and scales as they stepped forward. Two of them dashed into the woods in a blur of gold-and-black fur and red scythe held high, but the third paused next to Tobias with a rumble. It's a large creature, though most of its size seemed to come from the hardened mask-like ruffle around its head. It bared dull white fangs at Anabel even as it examined her with an unreadable gleam in its eyes, and the dark blue of its head reflected the lantern light in countless stars despite being covered in dust.
Tobias brushed off the worst of the dust with an errant hand. "It looks like Wark wants to stick with us," he said, nodding to the Pokémon. "He's a bit slow, but that shouldn't be a problem, right?" Wark gave a crushing grunt as he leaned into Tobias's hand.
Anabel nodded wordlessly. By then, Mewtwo and the rest of Ash's Pokémon had caught up to them, and she felt a prickle as Mewtwo flashed a mental scan across them all.
"Where are we?" If he didn't sound so suspicious, Anabel would have marveled at his manners.
Tobias openly stares at Mewtwo. "You speak?"
"I suppose one could call this speech," he said. "It's more— intent over mental communication. I intend for you to read my impressions as words, and thus you do. I repeat, where are we?" Anabel felt 'patient-patient-please must-must-can't can't-understand of-course of-course of-course' rush through her as Mewtwo went through the charade of explaining himself to a stranger.
"This is Mewtwo," Anabel said helpfully. "He's a friend."
"We are all friends," Mewtwo said with a twitch of his tail.
"That I see," Tobias said slowly. Beside him, Wark growled quietly, the sound like a grind of teeth against each other and rock sloughing off of a cliff face.
"May I…?" Anabel asked this time, lifting her Pokédex.
"Go on," Tobias said with a lazy flick of his wrist. "Zero's the only one who would be startled by something like that. Wark is old enough to know better."
Refusing to blush in embarrassment again, Anabel carefully scanned Wark, who blinked at the device in her hand and calmly observed the small hologram that popped up, even as Bagon jumped at its sudden appearance and tried to swipe at it. There was much more data on other Bastiodon like Wark, mostly from Trainers in Sinnoh with enough connections to net them a prized fossil Pokémon (Anabel ignored the Kabutops that slunk behind her). The most notable of the bunch seemed to be a Steel Master named Byron, whose ace had been filmed showing off Metal Burst for the researcher who compiled move data for the species. Just like with Zero, Wark's coloration wasn't documented at all in the images that Anabel saw; all of the Bastiodon she saw, including the archetypal one used as its main model, had plating that looked more like regular stone than the strange blue hue that Wark sported, along with golden scaly skin rather than the more fluorescent shade she saw on him.
"He's a different color, too," Anabel said, mostly to herself.
"That he is," Tobias said, smiling slightly when Anabel jumped. "All of my team are."
"Why is that?"
Tobias didn't answer immediately. Instead, he gestured towards the house and ushered them all inside. "Questions are for the morning," he said. "Night is for rest. Sleep, and tomorrow I will answer everything."
Anabel screwed her face up at that, but walking into a surprisingly cozy cottage after traipsing through a forest for truly-who-knows-how-long sapped most of the strength from her limbs and her eyelids struggled to stay open. She nodded wordlessly and set up her bedroll by the waning coals in the fireplace. Tobias vanished down some hall, presumably to his own room, and Anabel fell asleep with Bagon resting his head on her neck before she saw how any of the others prepared themselves for the night.
–
She's not sure what woke her the next morning. It could have been any of a number of things: the weak dawn light streaming in through a window, the sounds of Tobias's footsteps unabashedly stomping around his house (to be fair, it was his house), the Pokémon that snuffled at her face and crooned as she sleepily blinked awake.
"Axel," she heard Tobias sigh from somewhere behind her. "Let the kid get up before bothering her, will you?"
"It's fine," she said, her voice rough from sleep. Bagon was still curled into a ball on her bedroll, but Beldum had blinked into consciousness the moment she had and whirred quietly beside her. "I was already awake."
"No, you weren't," Tobias said plainly. "It doesn't matter anymore, seeing as you're awake now." He gestured towards the small pot balanced precariously over a camp stove. "If you're hungry, you're welcome to breakfast."
Anabel's hunger was one of those things she had never quite been able to train her body to ignore, and the sweet-spicy smell coming from the pot was extremely tempting. She tiptoed over, skirting the pile of limbs and bodies that was Ash and his still slumbering family, and peeked in the pot to see what it held. It seemed to be some sort of stew of mashed berries, roots, and rice, and Anabel soon had a small bowl of it in front of her that she ate with her hands. The well-kept girl she used to be would probably have balked, but Anabel had been on the road for long enough not to care and was also too distracted by the bird that had woken her up.
Really, the word 'bird' wasn't quite correct. The Pokémon stood like a person, though cape-like feathers grew from its arms. It looked at her intelligently, an obvious curiosity in its expression. Even without checking her Pokédex, Anabel could tell that this Pokémon's coloration was unusual, if only because she knew she would have heard of it if not. The plumage that crowned its head grew moss green, while the feathers that sprouted like a mask around its eyes were a wisteria purple. Its body was burgundy and black in sections, and the black extended across its back and down the backs of its arms. Its feet were yellow, clawed things that clacked against the stone floors, though it stood eerily still as Anabel appraised it.
"You can scan Axel as well," Tobias said. "He'd probably appreciate the attention, in all honesty."
The Pokémon huffed at his Trainer's amusement, and while he glared at the man Anabel quickly licked the stew off of her fingers and dug through her pack for her Pokédex to scan him. She wasn't too surprised to see that typical Hawlucha were, in fact, not moss green-and-wisteria purple-and-burgundy-and-black, though she did still marvel at the red-orange-sea green-white colors they usually wore.
"Will you explain why all of your Pokémon are so differently colored, now?" she asked as she watched a video of a Hawlucha swooping from the sky to pummel an opponent's Farfetch'd.
Tobias hummed. "I suppose you can explain it to your companion when he wakes up," he said, glancing at Ash. "He doesn't seem open to conversing with me, anyways."
Anabel winced. "He's, erm, had some bad experiences. With adults." Even as the person saying it, Anabel could hear how lame her words were. She scraped up the rest of the stew in her bowl and stuffed it in her mouth before she had to explain herself further.
Tobias waved it all off. "It's no problem, I promise. Having guests that I can hold a conversation with is more of a luxury than having guests who I don't understand in return." He took her empty bowl. "If you'd like to release your own team and have them relax here, you're more than welcome to. Everyone is welcome at this safehouse."
Anabel muttered a thanks before releasing her three other team members. Bagon jumped as they suddenly materialized around him, diving behind one of her legs. Eevee cocked his head at the tiny dragon, Sage snorted before closing his eyes in meditation, and Sneasel snickered under her breath.
"Be nice," Anabel chided the three of them. Beldum beeped in support of her. Sneasel stuck out her tongue in return.
Axel stepped forward with a friendly caw, gesturing for the Pokémon to follow him when they all turned. Eevee glanced at Anabel uncertainly.
"Go on; go enjoy yourselves for a bit," she encouraged, and her words were more than enough to convince her Pokémon to follow Tobias's. She noticed Sage nudge Bagon with one of his foci, and they soon gained a slate blue shadow.
Tobias wandered over to the fireplace, poked at the dead embers, and began piling wood in it. "Anabel, was it?" She nodded. "How long have you been away from home?"
"Almost one year," Anabel said softly. "I've had Eevee since I was a kid, though."
"Hm. He did seem close to evolving." Tobias ignored her confused look at that. "Do you know what a shiny Pokémon is?"
"I've heard of them, but I don't know anything in particular."
Tobias stared at the woodpile. "The Pokémon you find on formal Routes within the regions aren't quite as wild as the League would want you to think. Those Pokémon are— if this makes sense, feral rather than wild. They're happy to tag along with whatever Trainer proves themself, however that means. That also means that the Pokémon in those Routes are far more conscious of survival. Generally tamer dispositions means that most of those wild Pokémon are less likely to immediately fight off attackers, which in turn means that Route Pokémon rely on hiding and camouflage to keep themselves safe.
"Shiny Pokémon are, for all intents and purposes, the exact same as their typical, non-shiny variant. The only thing that's different about them genetically is that some gene woke up and changed the color of the pigments in their skin, fur, or scales. In certain circles of Trainer, they're very valuable for this visual difference."
"But they're the same in every other way?" Anabel said.
"In every other way," Tobias repeated in confirmation. "There's no connection between the expression of the shiny gene and the genes that control how innately powerful the Pokémon could grow to be. Some breeders devote their entire lives to hatching shiny Pokémon to either sell to appreciative owners or flaunt as trophies of their prowess. They tend to focus on the rarest species for this. That's typically where regional Professors get the starter Pokémon they offer; there are plenty of breeders who are willing to give out their non-shiny hatches, especially knowing that they will be loved."
Anabel thought of a timid Charmander clinging to a Machop's hand. "Not all of them."
Tobias's gaze hardened. Anabel wondered if he was thinking of the same thing. "Unfortunately not. But most of them are, and that's good enough."
"You're not one of those breeders," Anabel stated.
"By the Creator, no," Tobias said, shaking his head at the concept.
"Then where did your shinies come from?"
Tobias gave her a faint smile. "You're a clever child. I've told you two facts about the world: that Pokémon found on Routes try to hide rather than fight and that shiny Pokémon are a rare anomaly of color expression. What is the conclusion you could draw from them?"
It took Anabel all of a minute to figure it out. "Do wild Pokémon on Routes chase away shiny Pokémon so that they can hide better?" she squeaked out.
Tobias nodded. "Don't be upset with them; it's as much a survival tactic as running away is," he said. "Some shiny Pokémon are almost indistinguishable from their counterparts; those are usually able to stick around their native colonies until they're strong enough to fight. The ones who have joined me were chased into the Fringes, made their way here, and decided they'd rather help protect my sanctuary rather than continue through the woods. Many other shinies have made a different choice, and I only see them when I need to help them.
"Doppel is probably the only exception to that rule."
"Doppel?"
The strangely washed out Gengar that Anabel had seen the previous night once again leaked out of Tobias's shadow and flashed her a wide grin. Anabel jumped at the sudden appearance of the ghost, who cackled at her surprise before melting back into incorporeality.
"Doppel was the first shiny I acquired," Tobias said, the same slight affection from earlier leaking into his voice. "In a previous life, I worked as a Ranger, someone who tried to facilitate Pokémon-human relationships as best as I could. I was called to Lavender Tower due to a strange-looking Haunter that the mediums there feared was possessed due to the pale blue color of her tongue. They thought the spirit of someone who had choked to death decided to try for a strange un-life."
"They thought a Ghost-type was possessed?" Anabel asked.
Tobias shrugged. "I try not to judge."
"So now she's with you?"
Doppel's head once again manifested from Tobias's shadow, just enough for her to be able to blink large pink eyes at Anabel. "Yes. She'll be by my side for as long as she wishes." The Gengar peeked out further to smile toothily at Tobias, a stream of content underlying the sharp sigh that echoed in the back of her throat. It's easy to interpret the loving loyalty and still lingering appreciation in the sound.
"I think she'd stay with you until you ask her to leave," Anabel said.
Tobias blinked. "I forgot that you could understand her, at least a little," he admitted. "Thank you. It's… comforting to know that perhaps I'm doing something right by those who have decided I deserve their loyalty."
"Ash is better at it," Anabel said, feeling a vague discomfort echo in her chest at his appreciation. "He can understand Pokéspeech far better than I could ever hope to."
"I see," Tobias murmured.
Before either of them can say anything more, they heard a small, rather disgruntled sounding noise as Egg wriggled out from under Amber's arm and plopped on the floor. He blinked sleepily, glancing around before noticing Anabel and Tobias sitting by each other. Suddenly, all tiredness left his posture and he bounded over to leap into Anabel's arms with a cheerful cry. Before she could say anything, he wriggled onto her shoulder before propping himself partially on her head, his forelimbs leaned against her hair as he proudly chattered to himself.
"Egg, what are you doing?" Anabel heard Amber say, most likely woken by her friend's exuberance.
Anabel looked at Tobias sheepishly. Tobias raised an eyebrow at her. Doppel didn't show herself again, but the miasma of her amusement permeated the air.
"It seems our other guests are awake," Tobias said.
As if in response, Bulbasaur scrambled out of the pile, tripped over his own feet, and flopped onto his back, his bulb preventing him from being able to reach the ground. His feet waved through the air more and more frantically as he tried to right himself to no avail. Egg leapt off of Anabel's head with a laugh and quickly batted at his friend until the Grass-type was able to stand up again.
Tobias stood. "I have to go make sure the Pokémon staying at the sanctuary are all fed," he said in response to Anabel's confused glance. "Once your friends have all woken up, feel free to seek me out if you need anything in terms of supplies."
Just as Tobias walked out of the door, Ash poked his head out of the pile, and Mewtwo's eyes blinked open, looking far too focused for him to have just woken up. They fluidly extracted themselves with obvious practice as Kabutops and Amber roused themselves.
"Ash, have you not checked on that Pokémon Lance gave to you yet?" Anabel asked, not seeing an unfamiliar face in the groggy bunch.
He froze before his hand went to the Pokéball still in his pocket. "I don't know," he said quietly. "I think I know who it is, but if they've— changed, then I—I don't know what I would do."
"You'd just have to meet them again," Anabel said. "It would suck, for sure, if they have changed. But they're still the core of who they were when you knew them, and I think that's all that matters when it comes to friends."
"Yeah," Ash said, though Anabel's not sure if he really heard her. He took the Pokéball out slowly from his pocket and examined it carefully. From where she sat, Anabel could tell that it was a new Pokéball, one that hadn't seen the road; even after just one year, Eevee's Pokéball had been rather dinged, the bottom of the device scratched from how many times she had bounced it to release him.
'Man-stranger-where where-where-is outside?-somewhere-close?' Mewtwo floated over to the rudimentary kitchen. 'Smells-smells-hmm good?-food?-food?'
"We had breakfast earlier while you were all still sleeping," Anabel said. "Tobias is outside, taking care of the wild Pokémon that are staying here."
"We should go find him," Ash said. "Maybe he can tell us something about where to head next."
"Only if you're the one to talk to him, Ash," Anabel said.
He blinked. "Why can't you ask?"
"Because I don't know what you want to know," she said. "Also, because I don't want to."
Ash seemed confused.
"It was our idea to seek this man out, to be fair," Mewtwo said. "We might as well take care of our own business."
Ash still seemed uncertain, but Anabel began to craft a plan in her head.
"Ash," she said slowly, waiting for him to turn and wait for her to keep speaking. "Would you be interested in a match?"
Ash blinked. "A match?" he echoed.
Mewtwo seemed to catch on to what Anabel was plotting, and though his tail lashed uncertainly he didn't deny her either. "Against one of us?"
"No," Anabel said, her confidence rising. She points at the Pokéball Ash is still holding. "Against them."
My logic for giving Tobias shinies rather than legendaries is simply that legendary Pokémon are about to be very central to this plotline and I wanted to square him away with something of equally baffling rarity. The logic with which I chose his team is that Dragapult and [Mega-]Gengar happen to share stat values with Latios and Darkrai respectively (and the dragon-type aircraft parallel was too fun to pass up), there was an old debunked fan-theory that Absol could evolve into Arceus (does anyone else remember that? It's from over a decade ago, I believe), Hawlucha is a key Pokémon used in speedrunning for many of the more recent games, and Luxray and Bastiodon are just neat.