How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle.

The sky wept, torrential downpours raining down mercilessly down onto the Earth below; the lightning, crackling in ferocity between the glimpses of clouds above. The waves of the ocean swept forward, buoyed by a force beyond mortal ken. Entire sections of the coastline buckled under the forces and slipped into the ocean. From the depths a Leviathan rose, breaking the surface and roaring out its dominance to the black skies above. Ethereal energy flowed down the massive fins of the Legendary Being as it drove its conjured storm onwards

Behind Kyogre lay a mountain, once no more than just a small hill now it was the last remnant of the Orre region's original coast. It belched flame and stone into the air, marking the spot where Leviathan and Behemoth had first clashed; it was a battle that hadn't gone well for Groudon. who had been forced to retreat into the heartland of the region.

And now Kyogre aims to follow on its hated enemy's tail. The Leviathan pokemon dove back under the waves and navigated to the mouth of one of the many estuaries that fed into the sea surrounding the region. Orre,for centuries it had been at peace, a monument to the combined powers of Earth and Sea. but now those same powers threatened to destroy the lush environment they had created.

At any other point in time, their appointed mediator would have swept down from the heavens to calm them in their primal rage. But by some whim of fate the Rayquaza that watched over them failed to appear, whether it was through negligence or a seemingly more pressing matter does not matter, for the disastrous results speak for themselves.

Kyogre finally found an opening into the landmass that could fit its immense bulk, its mighty waters flowing into the newly created canyon ahead of it as it passed the heartland of the region. The rivers flowed freely, like stems from a many branched tree as the Leviathan of the sea pressed forward its advantage. And off in the distance, Kyogre had finally spotted its mortal enemy, and upon closing the distance, began to power up a mighty salvo of water to renew its assault upon the Titan.

Only to be pierced by a precipice blade formed in the river bed below. Kyogre recoiled in confusion and pain, its foe had shown no signs of being able to launch such tactical attacks in their clash a few days earlier. Roaring in anger Kyogre sought to answer back in kind, but found itself struggling to concentrate enough aura to form its attack as the clashing energy of the ground type attack wreaked havoc on its body.

However, this was no lesser Pokemon species, this was the Legendary Being that flooded the basins around the Orre region and created the first rivers and seas. Born of the first Kyogre, it had carried out its ordained task for thousands of years, so manipulating the surrounding waters in place of its own in order to launch an attack was trivial. But even as it fired off the attack it felt something wrong, the pulse of water splashed futilely off of Groudon's face to seemingly little if any effect.

Kyogre realized too late the true intent behind Groudon's actions, its halfhearted fight and retreat from the coastline wasn't a declaration of defeat, instead, it was all calculated to draw the Leviathan inland to where the Titan had set up its actual offensive. With the bulk of its waters diverted away by the numerous crevasses and caves that Groudon had carved the area into, Kyogre was rendered unable to raise enough of a shield to rebuff the counterattack by the enraged behemoth.

Where earlier it had been on the attack now it was finding it difficult to muster even the smallest bit of defense, the waters it ruled over stripped from it, and the harsh sun overhead dispersing the clouds where it had stored its emergency supplies.

Panicking, the leviathan tried to withdraw to a circular inland lake it had created in its assault across the plains. Relief flooded through its body as it finally slid free of the stone spike that had impaled it, and the Leviathan quickly slid over the waterfall into the lagoon, only for bone chilling fear to set in as an earth shaking foot step fell upon the shore. Kyogre felt the earth under the lake tremble and rise up and a pit opened in its stomach as it realized that its escape had also been planned.

Groudon stood motionless, both eyes locked on the waters as the very earth around the lake rose, taking the Behemoth into the sky as a mountain formed from the middle of the plains below the Legendary Pokemon. The brown landmass grew until it dominated the skies of the region, its slopes stretching for miles around. And among the clouds the Behemoth stared down into the cone of the mountain at the pool. As the Harsh Sun beat down on the tableau from above, Groudon descended into the pool as the tell-tale flames of Overheat flickered between its segmented plates, while the fires of Blast Burn began to leak from within its maw.

The panicked motions of Kyogre as it tried to escape were halted as Groudon dove into the waters, vaporizing them as it crashed down onto its hated foe. Screams of pain echoed as fins were cleaved off by superheated claws, finally, even those screams were silenced as the Behemoth drove its foot into the chest of the Leviathan pushing it down into the muck at the bottom of the pond. Kyogre, master of the waters of Orre could only gaze up in terror at Groudon's merciless red eyes as the Behemoth charged its blast burn, the water of the pond rapidly being replaced by lava.

And so it was with that that the first eruption of occurred. A cataclysmic event that was filled with so much explosive energy that it caused earthquakes in regions as far away as Galar and Kalos, sending primitive humans fleeing into their shelters, while everywhere else Pokemon stopped for just a moment as the feeling washed over them. For Absosl near the Orre region, the overload caused by the disaster crippled their ability to sense crisis for generations to come, and for the Psychic Pokemon of that time, it was even worse.

Tales told by particularly long-lived species such as Metagross and Ninetales tell of the psychic death scream of the legendary, how many weaker members of species such as Abra or Ralts simply dropped dead upon brushing across it with their minds. The scream rebounded across the globe reaching every corner, it was only eventually drowned out by the following roar of triumph, with one particularly elderly Ninetales claiming to have heard it physically while in Johto, without even tapping into its latent psychic powers.

Tales shared by those who have been able to communicate with Ghost and Dark types attest that when the deceased spirit of the Kyogre entered the Distortion, Giratina himself had to attend to it personally, as the shock and pain of its defeat and subsequent death had driven the spirit into a bitter madness. One that if it had been allowed to naturally form into a ghost pokemon of such power that even more catastrophic consequences would have resulted.

So the lord of the Distortion Realm stepped in and took hold of the spirit shredding it into numerous pieces, but even then it was not enough for numerous accounts allege that any one of these shards held enough negativity and power for the creation of dozens of Spiritomb. But not all shards were contained.

Orre, the name drew varied responses from those who heard it. Some only knew it in passing as a crucial overseas trade hub, cargo ships would stop at the Gateon Port to refuel on their way to destinations in regions such as the nearby Unova and the Hoenn Archipelago. Cruise ships would also have short layovers at the port, letting their passengers off while they refueled. If you asked those passengers they would describe Orre as a quaint region with a vibrant green coast and not much else. Of course, some of those passengers would also return with stories of scam artists or thieves who had taken their pokemon, and of course, some passengers would not return at all.

If you asked someone more in the know about the region then they would describe it as a mix, with the settlements along the coast being similar to those found in many of the larger regions, but contrasted by the tough fight for survival that many of the interior towns had. The factors they would cite for this difference is the sheer size of the Orre Desert and Badlands, the largest examples of such in the known world. These environmental factors heavily limited the diversity of the Pokemon in the region with only Ground, Steel, Rock, and Fighting types being able to inhabit the vast majority of the region with any amount of success.

This, in turn, made it difficult for the early human settlers, leading to them instead settling along the coast due to its greater diversity of Pokemon types essential for daily life.

Of course, this did not stop everyone, a small tribe of early settlers managed to penetrate the interior of the region, intent on eking out a living there. Why they chose the harsher option as opposed to the coastline is to this day unknown. But what is known is that this tribe was the ancestor to the majority of Orre's present-day population, and this is in large part due to what they encountered in the depths of the Orre Desert...the Legends.

Professor Linden Krane's paper on the existence of multiple individual legendaries was a landmark event in the history of Pokemon science. Before it was published occurrences of legendaries within separate regions had been chalked up to migration events. the theory being that the legendaries would periodically patrol their domains to monitor the state of affairs. But a single exchange in Krane's youth set him on a path to dislodge that notion.

The relatively unknown Professor had left his home region of Johto to travel to Orre after hearing tales told to him by a trainer he had come across in the Ilex Forest. The trainer themselves is unknown, but records of the encounter were detailed in the Professor's personal journal. Apparently, Krane had been traveling through Ilex on his way to Ecruteak when he encountered the unknown Orren at the Shrine to Celebi within the forest.

As the Professor recounts, he had been passing on the main road through the forest when the sound of a flute reached his ears. Giving in to his curiosity the professor detoured into the small clearing that housed the shrine to the legendary where he encountered a man wearing desert garb sitting on a stone by the shrine with a stick of incense burning beside him while he played his flute. This intrigued the professor as worship of the Legendaries had for the most part died down in most regions by this point. And upon engaging the Orren in conversation he was even more surprised when he learned of his companion's nation of origin.

Orre being known for its lawless nature had long been cut off from the mainland, with the only interactions being either refueling stops or shipments to the league outposts of Gateon Port and Phenac City. As a general rule inhabitants not from these two settlements found it extremely difficult to find passage into the mainland and often had to stow away.

However, instead of questioning how the man had arrived in the region, Krane was more curious as to why someone from a nation that was not especially known for its "spiritual" ways was leaving an offering The answer he received, shocked him. The Orren told him that he had come from Agate Village, one of the more famous if not highly populated settlements in Orre, having risen in notoriety after standout actions during the inter-regional war some years prior.

Apparently back when the original tribe of settlers had been exploring the interior of the region they were overtaken by a sudden sandstorm caused by a battle between an Alpha Tyranitar. Taking refuge amid the caves and tunnels of a dry canyon, they attempted to wait out the battle, But as time wore on it became more and more evident that the storm was only growing in strength. As the tribe ran low on supplies despair began to set in, their attempts at rationing their precious water supplies worked for a short time but one day they awoke to find that the sand had slipped in and contaminated those as well.

Fearing for the end the tribe gathered together so that when their end came they would not face it alone. But it was in that moment when all hope seemed lost that hope blossomed anew, in the most literal of manners. A young member of the tribe who was known for his creative tendencies, had taken to crafting various knick-knacks along their journeys and had carved a small flute out of one of the stones that dotted their cave shelter. And as they waited for the end they decided to try playing it in an attempt to cheer up the younger members of the tribe and take their minds off of the impending doom. What nobody expected was for his song to attract the attention of something else altogether.

Celebi, known in myths as the aide of Dialga, was drawn from its vigilance over the skeins of time by the sound of the young lad playing the flute. Upon seeing the state that the tribe was in its heart was overcome with pity. Abandoning its vigilance it descended into the real world, appearing in a shower of green from a cairn of rocks that the tribe had erected to serve as their gravestone. Celebi then flew out of the cave and into the lands above where it quickly quelled the rampaging Tyranitar, banishing them back into the depths of where they had come. Then in a supreme display of power Celebi blessed the tribe and the lands in which they had taken refuge.

The river that had once run through the land had dried up years ago in the cataclysm that formed the region, Celebi drew upon the threads of time to bring the river into the present and set it upon its flow once again. The giant petrified tree that dominated the land was at a touch revitalized and burst forth in leaf and fruit. The grasses which had long since shriveled and died once again grew long and lush. And as the tribe gazed in shocked awe, the sun and storms which had for so long battered them on their journeys withdrew giving the new oasis a more livable climate. Celebi then descended before them once again on the same stone -though it was now covered in moss- and commended the lad on his musical talents, commenting that it would love to hear more of the unique sounds created by the flute in the future before it departed back to its post watching over the threads of time.

The Orren then explained that ever since then it had become a tradition for the members of the tribe to craft those stone flutes and then take them to the Relic Stone: the main shrine for the worship of the Legendary in the village. When they reached the stone the tribe members would play a tune upon their flute before leaving it as an offering to their guardian deity believing that in doing so they bared their heart and "purified" themselves of any negative emotions. The Orren further explained that every now and again the Legendary itself would appear to those who had managed to attract its attention with their songs, blessing them and their Pokemon.

Their conversation dragged on, the young Pokemon Professor enraptured by the stories recounted to him by his unexpected companion. But the tale that provided the basis for Krane's landmark theory was an anecdote about one young trainer, who had apparently woven a song so skillfully that the Celebi of Orre had invited another to listen along with it. Before they parted ways Linden questioned the Orren about the story and the desert dweller replied that the trainer was in fact a current resident of the village going by the name of Daegun.

After this exchange, Professor Krane weathered the mockery of many of his peers in the scientific field and gave up his possessions to emigrate to Orre. And while his theories soon made it back to cause some uproar in the scientific world the man himself never returned.

"Ugh…" I slowly regained consciousness, my awakening hastened by the horrific heat I felt. I immediately realized something was wrong when my eyes cracked open and I didn't see a ceiling above me, and the feeling of sand pouring into my pants certainly wasn't helping.

"What the fuck?!... shit where the hell am I?" I propped myself on my hand before I rose into a half-sitting position, letting me get a better look at my surroundings… "Fuck"

I was in a desert, there wasn't any other way to say it. And not one of those deserts with a bunch of cacti and shrub bush, no, the landscape around me looked like something out of a Dinosaur documentary; focusing on the badlands with desolate sand surrounding me breached only by monolithic stone formations that jutted out here and there in the horizon.

"Fuck me" I took a look at my clothes since I didn't remember getting dressed. Jeans and a black T-Shirt with a white striped button-up. Ok the T-Shirt will be a problem, if there's one thing I know it's that wearing black in the sun is always a bad idea and that's just for normal environments, not a desert. I can't just discard it though, desert nights are freezing and I don't know how long I'll be stuck out here.

I look around again, I've been isekai'd, I'm damn certain about that. While I'd like to think that I was important for someone to kidnap me from the East Coast just to dump me in the nearest desert (wherever the hell that was) it was probably more unlikely than literally switching worlds.

But just because I'm certain I've been isekai'd doesn't fully clarify things, cause I still have no fucking clue where I've ended up. There's only one sun overhead so it's not Tatooine, although I'm not read up on other desert planets in Star Wars, that is if this even is a desert planet, hell I could be in any number of desert themed locations, Dorne, Suna, Generic Overpowered Harem Isekai #526207 (crossing my fingers for that one).

I stretch a bit as I look around, working out some of the kinks as I survey the area around me… after a few moments I can concretely conclude that this is in fact… a desert. No greenery in sight, sand dunes spreading out all around me, dry as bone heat and weird rock formations that you wouldn't find anywhere else.

I had to get my shit together fast if I want to survive. I remember when I was younger I used to watch some of those survival TV shows so I vaguely know how much time I will have before I die of starvation or dehydration. And in a desert survival scenario obviously I'll need to find water first if I was going to have any hope of surviving the first few days. Unfortunately, that's pretty much it for what I remember from those old shows, and it's not like I can employ the patented Bear Grylls technique of staying in a hotel each night before driving out to the desert and filming.

As I walk I keep my eyes peeled on the horizon scanning it again and again until my gaze settles on something far in the distance. A cluster of monolithic outcroppings… it's certainly not the best possible choice, but it's the only choice I have. And if there's a cave or something in the formation there might be water as well,...if I'm lucky. Regardless, it's the only thing that I can see to reliably orient myself with and so I face its direction and start walking, 'Focus. I can't pause for too long as I know the heat will sap the energy from me, and I'll need to secure shelter in case of sandstorms or a freezing desert night.'

I've been walking for a while now, stopping wasn't really an option as there wasn't any outcropping large enough to cast sufficient shade for me to curl up in. Even if I did see such an outcropping that big I couldn't afford to stop unless I confirmed it had water. At least I had the beautiful landscape to keep me company as I trudged on through Anakin's 2nd worst nightmare.

At one point as I descended into a minor valley between some desert hills, I thought I saw some cacti off in the distance atop another dune. But when I crested the other side there wasn't a single trace of green, just sandy brown as far as I could see. I chalked it up to a mirage and redoubled my pace towards the monolith.

Now might not be the best time to mention that I've never been the best at taking the heat, I definitely had heat stroke when I was walking through the Forbidden City a few years ago, luckily I managed to get into the Tiananmen train station in the nick of time to grab a bottle of water from the vending machines in the mercifully cool underground. And now I'm hoping that I can use the same strategy here, especially since the sun's getting higher and higher in the sky.

But it doesn't look like I'll be able to reach any of the mountains in the distance today, I just hope I'll be able to find someplace to take shelter. and find some water on the shaded sides where the sun wouldn't have caused it to evaporate. or if I'm lucky I'll be able to find the opening for a cave and get underground and find water there, if I recall correctly caves are usually formed by water erosion over time. Of course, if I recall even more correctly, water in caves also tends to be dangerously unfit for human consumption. But beggars can't be choosers and I honestly don't have any other choice, so I must continue onwards towards whatever end awaits at my destination.

'So many hills, oh my god there are so many hills, why God did you invent hills, have you ever tried climbing a hill made of sand when your shoes are already full of it? It fucking sucks I can tell you that. Anakin was right, I swear I could feel sand up my ass at this point.' I climbed on and on, constantly bitching internally as I felt my mouth go dryer than a woman at a smash brothers tournament. It went on and on, hours of nothing but me trudging through the endless shifting sands. I had been trying to summit this dune for several hours already, and the closer I got to the top the more I felt my own exhaustion

Once I finally pulled myself over the side I collapsed on my back under the shade of a large ruined stone wall that dominated the summit. Yea, fucking ruins. I had seen a few on my way here but hadn't gone out of my way to explore them due to the fact that I was trying to avoid my imminent death. They looked old though, like something you'd see on the Aegean isles in the Mediterranean, probably part of some grand old civilization or some shit but for now it served a new purpose, namely shielding me from the sun as I tried to catch my breath. I was still acutely aware that I couldn't stay here for long, I had been walking for days at this point and to be quite honest I'm surprised I wasn't dead yet.

I spent the days just walking on and on while at night I would find a little sheltered overhang and curl up under it before being woken up by sand being blown into my face. Sometimes I'd even find some condensation on the sides of the rocks in the morning, I would lick that shit off like a fucking dog.

Yea, that shit wasn't fun… but here I am after finally summiting the biggest dune I've come across yet. Once I caught my breath I strode to the other side of the hill so I could get a good vantage point that wasn't blocked by the smaller rock formations that dotted dunes like this one.

"Ahhh damn. that monolith's still so fucking far off… Shit there's a pretty solid chance I'm gonna die here isn't there." speaking to myself in these brief moments of rest was something that I used to keep myself somewhat functional on this god-forsaken hike. But unfortunately, my thoughts sometimes went to dark places, case and point right now.

"Nah fuck that shit, I'm not just gonna give up when I've already gotten this far." My attempt at rousing my spirits was of…middling success, but it was the best thing I could do at this point. If I dwelt too long on the demoralizing aspects of my current situation then I'd lose all energy to keep pushing forward. I glanced back the way I came, trying to measure at an eyeball how much ground I had covered over the last day. Unfortunately, I was hampered in this attempt by the simple fact that everything looked exactly the same… so that was a loss. I ended up just guessing that I would hit the Monolith in or around the early evening if I could keep up the pace.

Thankfully it looked like I'd managed to get past the more dune-filled part of the hike, so I wouldn't be going uphill as much. Unfortunately when I tried to descend the dune my foot snagged on something half-buried in the sands, causing me to trip up and start rolling down the hill causing a mini avalanche as I went. I clawed at the side of the dune as I was swept down its side, hoping against hope that I could arrest some of my momenta and hopefully make it out of this situation alive, but more and more sand kept piling up in my wake battering me down even fast every time I managed to slow my descent even a tiny bit. For a brief moment, I had a glimmer of hope as I felt something hard brush against my fingers just under the surface of the sand, I immediately grabbed onto it and for the first time, I managed to completely bring my fall to a stop as I hung on for dear life.

Sadly this didn't last long as the entire dune side kept shifting, loosening around whatever I was grabbing onto and causing it to come away in my hand. Luckily I had managed to get a brief moment to think while I was hanging there and I used that moment to curl myself into a ball around the oddly shaped rock I was holding in the vain hope that I would still be able to get out of this alive. In this position I had my eyes shut, but through my ears, I could still hear the sand of millions upon millions of grains of sand falling around me, and as my hearing became progressively muted I managed to suck in a deep lungful of the scorching desert air before I was completely buried alive.

Fun fact! Being buried alive sucks and I would never wish it on anybody, lying there under the all-encompassing pressure of a sand dune, I knew that my end had come. And yet in the back of my mind, I still found time to puzzle about how I was even still alive, I had just survived a sand avalanche and I was buried under what must have been several metric tons of sand, and yet all I felt was extreme pressure.

At this point, most of my body should have been crushed and bruised beyond all recognition, especially since I had already been tossed around when I was swept down the dune in the first place. But as I mentioned, it was just this small part of my brain that was pondering this conundrum, the other half was feverishly reciting every prayer I could think of while also trying to remember if my former browsing habits were too degenerate for at the gates.

Neither part of my brain was paying any bit of attention to the strangely shaped rock I held in my arms, even when it started moving slightly. Now, not noticing something literally moving around in your arms might sound stupid and unrealistic. But in my defense, my imminent death appeared to be a speedrunner and it was on a world record pace. So no, I didn't notice the rock in my arms moving, not even when it started hovering slightly against my chest.

However I did notice when it started glowing, and a second later I absolutely noticed the mountain of sand being blasted away from us by an unseen force. However, I wasn't paying attention to my newer secured safety, instead, I was just staring slack-jawed at the figure hovering slightly above my chest.

It was unmistakable. After all, I had seen it hundreds, maybe even thousands of times before, in countless hours of playing Pokemon Ruby. Long handless arms, red markings all over its body, a spike slowly turning in place of legs, a spike jutting from its head over eyes that always appeared closed. A Psychic/Ground type, normally found in desert areas or ruins.

"Toy?" It asked, questioned in as much confusion as I.

A Baltoy, a pokemon, was hovering above my chest, and I was stuck in a state of shock. Strange it wasn't my arrival in another world that did it or the fact that I arrived in a desert. No, it was the simple fact that I now had confirmation of what world I had found myself in.

The Baltoy hopped off of my chest, spinning its way to my head as it bent over to look me in the eye, "Bal?"

Suddenly I felt something waft over me, almost like the pressure I'd feel from going down a mountain, or when I stood up too fast. Like something was scanning over my mind.

"Baltoy!" The Baltoy's head slowly spun around as it looked at me and its surroundings in what I somehow knew was confusion, despite it not having any facial expressions for me to read.

I just kept staring in shock as it slowly spun around before suddenly jerking to a stop as it seemed to lock onto something buried in the sand near me.

It floated over a small distance and I had the privilege of being in a front row seat as it shifted large amounts of sand away from a small area. It kept this up for around a minute and it had excavated a rather large hole when it suddenly jerked to a stop and just hung motionless staring into the pit.

"Baltoy…" its vocalization this time was noticeably more subdued. Curious as I was, I managed to struggle back to my feet and walked over to where it was floating. As I drew near to its side I realized what had upset the doll-like pokemon so much.

A small satchel lay in the shallow hole. it was obviously old judging by the amount of wear and tear it had, but it was still very much intact, One of the clasps had broken off at some point so it was opened wide enough for me to make out some of its contents, the most attention grabbing of which were orbs that I instantly recognized as Pokeballs.

But that's not what drew my attention the most, nor was it the thing that had upset the Baltoy that was floating next to me. Wrapped around the parcel in a protective embrace was a human arm, though the flesh had long since decomposed leaving only bone dyed a dark color from the sand that had been its tomb.

I could see other bits and pieces of skeleton sticking up through the sand, having been partially uncovered when Baltoy had been excavating the pit. I dropped to one knee and placed my hand on the Baltoy's shoulder causing it to look up and meet my eyes.

"Were they your trainer?" I asked. The Baltoy stared back at me before looking down at the skeleton again.

"Toy.." it responded in a despondent tone. Suddenly I felt a flicker of something flash over my mind before it vanished, leaving only the vague image of a young olive-skinned woman smiling at me.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I tried stroking its head to comfort it a bit but its unmoving face didn't give me any cues as to whether my attempt worked or not.

I knelt like this for a fairly long amount of time, not even noticing that I no longer felt the oppressive heat of the afternoon sun while I was doing so. Finally the Baltoy seemed to get control of itself as it started moving again, shaking off my hand and floating down into the hole.

I watched as it slowly and respectfully shifted the parcel out of the skeleton's grip and slowly floated it back to the top of the hole. Then it remained in the hole for a little bit longer, looking at the boney hand that had been holding the parcel.

I kept watching in silence, I didn't really want to intrude on what I gathered was the final farewell between the Baltoy and its trainer, and I figured this might be the best chance I had to deal with my current situation.

But all things must come to an end and after a short time, the moment ended when the Baltoy did...some kind of gesture with its head which caused the sand to filter back into the hole. Then the Pokemon floated above the filled pit for a split second longer and then blurred out of existence before I could say or do anything to stop it. Leaving my arm hanging limply in the air as I raised it on reflex to bade the psychic type to wait.

My first thought following this was 'Fuck' my second thought was that there was still a bright side to all of this. That was a Baltoy, a Ground/Psychic type Pokemon which means that I must by extension be in the eponymous "World of Pokemon." which put a lot of what I had experienced into perspective and actually enabled me to come up with a few theories as to how I ended up here in the middle of the desert.

The new revelations also caused me to reevaluate some of the other things I'd seen, those Cacti I had seen earlier probably weren't mirages. Which meant that -if I remembered my Cactus pokemon correctly- they were most likely Cacnea, Cacturne, and/or Maractus.

Thankfully despite the fact this new information -I.e. the fact that I was now in the Pokemon world's version of a desert- would probably have some sort of psychological ramification later down the line, it was also quite helpful in that it narrowed down my location, I must either be in Hoenn or Unova… or Alola I guess… or any other region that has a desert.

Shit I can remember almost the entire Gen I-VI roster of Pokemon but I can't remember if you could catch Baltoy and Cacturne in the Alola games. Also, I haven't played Sword and Shield, so I don't know whether you could catch them in Galar either, or if Galar even had a desert. Though since it was based off of Britain it's likely the only desert it had was its culinary options.

Now wasn't the time to have an existential crisis, I was still standing out in the middle of a fucking desert and the heat of the sun was regaining its prominent effect.

I quickly came to the decision that the best course of action would be to try and push any deep philosophical thoughts on the nature of my new world's existence to the back of my mind and keep walking so that I could hopefully get water before it was too late. However, before I set out I noticed something that made me stop in my tracks for a moment. The parcel that the skeleton had been holding was still at the side of the pit, the Baltoy having left it there when it reburied its old trainer. I barely spent any time weighing my options before I plucked it from its sandy resting place and quickly wrapped it around my torso, banking on the chance that it would come in use down the line.

The sun lazily turned overhead as I continued walking, at this point my mouth was as dry as bone and I was developing a pounding headache. But my concerns were drawn elsewhere.

I glanced back over my shoulder just in time to see something green duck back over the dune I had just come down. At this point I was certain, something was stalking me.

I had my suspicions roused a little while after I had discovered the Baltoy. The discovery that I had fallen into the world of Pokemon had cemented plenty of questions I had had. And it also put some of my other observations into perspective.

The cacti. I had seen them in the distance earlier while walking over the dunes. Back then I hadn't paid them much mind, as seeing cacti in the desert was not the most unusual thing. And despite the fact that sometimes I could have sworn a few vanished while I dipped down into the valleys between the dunes I had just chalked it up to the heat getting to me.

But that changed the moment I realized what world I was in.

I knew of only two types of cactus Pokemon off the top of my head, Maractus the Pokemon from GenV that's so forgettable and overlooked that it wraps around to being well known. And the Cacturne line from Ruby and Sapphire. Not an evolutionary line I used much, as I had better choices if I wanted a grass type and they were out of the way, to begin with.

But there are a few things that stuck in my mind about them; Cacturne were the dark type, meaning they were innately more malevolent than most Pokemon in the games. And, according to their Pokedex entries they enjoyed stalking lost travelers through the desert before descending on them and feeding…

Fuck me I'm in trouble, I had made a mistake…a big one. I had focused too heavily on problems I was familiar with. finding water, looking for shelter from the heat, logical problems that anyone from my world would confront if they were stranded in a desert ...but I wasn't in my world anymore.

I was an idiot for not realizing it sooner, after all, they had been stalking me since I saw my first hint of green. I cast a glance back over my shoulder at the cacti on the hill a little ways behind me…Cacturne a Dark/Grass pokemon, it was a pokemon that I hadn't thought much of when I played through the games in all honesty the only prominent one I could remember was Sidney's, and he was a minor speed bump for Elite 4 runs.

But there was something else I remembered about Cacturne, they ate travelers who got lost in the desert. Yeah… kind of fucked I'm not gonna lie… wait I already mentioned that, I shook my head from side to side and felt some kind of presence retract itself from my mind.

They were messing with my mind now the sadistic fucks. But I should have a bit more time to try and find a way out of this situation. According to the Pokedex Cacturne come for their victims at night when they're already tired out by the heat of the day. But if the lengthening shadows are anything to go off of… well, I'm boned if I don't find anything soon.

I sped up my walking pace as much as I could, luckily I was closing in on the monolith I had set as my destination when I first woke up. And as I crested over the last dune before the rock formation I was able to spy a small cave entrance on the side. Throwing caution to the winds I broke into a run down the side of the sandy hill, scavenging pokeballs dangling from the ancient belt as I tried to reach the cave opening as quickly as possible.

After what seemed like minutes of running across the last stretch of sand I finally reached the destination I had been journeying to for the last few days. In retrospect, running was a mistake as it made me realize just how fucking thirsty I was. But it was slightly overshadowed by the adrenaline coursing through my veins due to my current situation and the feeling of triumph at finally reaching my objective.

I leaned against the wall of the cave entrance as I caught my breath while mumbling to myself "Ha-Ha- Wonderful world of Pokemon my ass. Fuckkk, of all the places I could have gotten tossed it had to be in the middle of a desert, goddamn. Could have been Lumiose, Goldenrod, hell even Sootopolis would have been fine. But nope! Had to be a fucking desert…." I looked back outside of the cave and raised up one of my pokeballs to blot out the glaring sun, in the distance I see the shadowy figures closing in and I resolve myself.

Thankfully I hadn't eaten or drunk anything for the last few days, otherwise I probably would have pissed or shit myself when something's breath hit the back of my neck and I heard something growl behind me.

The sound of a running engine shattered the desert tranquility as a beaten-up flatbed truck crossed through the sandy terrain. The driver scrolled through his PDA, his other arm hanging out the window as he barely even looked at the empty road -if it could even be called that- in front of him.

"Hey Folly! How're those steaks coming along?" He shouted back to the flatbed. When he received no response after a minute he put down his PDA and slammed his hand on the dividing window. "Wake up jackass!"

"Huh wha?" a muffled voice came through the window, and a second later it was pulled to the side. "What the hell was that for? My dream was just getting to the good part!"

"We had an agreement, moron, I drove while you cooked, and I don't smell anything cooking from back there."

"Ugh, lemme check the steaks, I had just put them on when I went to sleep."

"Close the window while you do that, I don't want to lose the cool air." Trudly shot back

"Sure, sure." Folly responded as he slid the window shut again. He got up and walked to the other side of the flatbed where the hover engine was located, grabbing a hot pad hanging from a hook on the side he slid it onto his hand and used it to remove a side panel from the engine compartment, withdrawing a rack with several cuts of meat on it. He took a quick look at them before reaching back behind himself and fishing a knife out of his rear pocket.

He cut a piece of one of the steaks and popped it into his mouth, chewing it thoughtfully for a few seconds as the juices came out. As soon as the taste hit him however, he wretched and hurled himself over to the side of the truck, gagging and dry heaving. Trudly hearing the commotion slid the window open again.

"What happened this time?" he asked. "You alright?"

"Ugh…blech, the steak is so raw I could swear I still hear it saying 'Tauros' How the hell is it not cooked already?"

"Hmm, might be that new coolant we scavenged the other day…there's a spot up ahead where we can pull over and move them to the main engine." He tapped the breaks, slowing the truck to a crawl before coming to a stop in the shade of one of the many dunes that dotted the area. Trudly hopped out of the cab and made his way along to the side of the truck, hopping up into the bed.

"You good Folly?" he asked, seeing as his friend was still hunched over the side of the bed.

"Yea..urk…just give me a few more minutes, will you be able to open the hood if you grab the steaks? Cause I'm just gonna go over to the dune side and get this out of me"

"Eh, might be a bit difficult, but it won't be a problem." Trudly reached to his belt and pulled out one of the shrunken pokeballs he held there. He enlarged it in his hand before giving it an underhanded toss towards the back of the bed. "Machoke, gimme a hand here."

A flash of white light shone from the ball, before coalescing into a humanoid though still monstrous form. "Choooke!" Machoke announced as it flexed its arms.

"Quit the fucking showboating and help me carry these steaks." Trudly said as he tossed a large pair of oven mitts back at the Fighting Pokemon.

"Choke…" Machoke said in a disappointed tone as it slid the mitts on and picked up the tray.

"Hey Machoke, don't sound so disappointed, there's plenty to go around, and if you help make sure these get down right I'll even pull out some of that sauce Iz made for us."

"Choke, Machoke!" Machoke perked up and within moments they had successfully transferred the rack of meat from the bed of the truck and into a small panel in the main engine block. Trudly observed the rack heating up for a few minutes before he was satisfied. "Machoke, are you okay if you stay out for a while longer? Might need to call on you again to get these out soon."

"Choke!" The Pokemon replied in the affirmative as they headed back around to the cab of the truck, the superpower pokemon sliding into the passenger side seat as Trudly paused on the step of the driver's side when he realized Folly was still hunched over by the dune.

"Yo Folly! Get back in the truck. We want to be back home by sundown." he shouted over to his friend. He turned to get into the truck, only to be halted by Folly's response.

"Trudly? You might want to take a look at this."

Trudly shared a confused glance with Machoke, who shrugged and turned the dial on the radio as his trainer grumbled and slammed the door before heading over to where his friend was kneeling.

"We're wasting fuel stalled here Folly, what's important enough to delay us getting back even further?" he irately asked as he neared his companion.

"Take a look at these Trudly" Folly responded, pointing at something in the sand.

Trudly looked over to where his friend was pointing, and paused. He reached a hand up to his face and removed his goggles to take a clearer look and what he saw still didn't change. "Oh sweet Arceus, those are footprints."

Folly nodded, "we're gonna have to radio this ahead so they can get some first aid ready. You know the rules."

Trudly scoffed. "Better than you jackass, get in the truck. Hopefully the Cacturne haven't gotten to the poor bastard."

First attempt at a Pokemon fic, I know it sure as hell aint perfect. I must have started and stopped on this thing a thousand fucking times over the last year or so which is why it might be a bit disjointed at first. Thanks to Mosgil and The Immortal Spank for looking over this chapter to make sure it was in a publishable state.

I chose Orre because I fucking loved those two games and because it offers something different from the mainline series of games. Think about it, usually when you have a Pokemon fic it follows the same trend of getting the starter pokemon and then traveling around the region beating the gyms. And while I'm not saying that won't happen in this fic, I am saying that it'll take a while to get there. Orre is also attractive because it's such a shithole in terms of places in the Pokemon world, I'm pretty sure that aside from the people in Phenac, Gateon and Agate 90% of the population has a criminal history.

On that note I must go to try and work on chapter 2 of this in the hopes that I can get it finished in a timely manner (writers block and just general stress and lack of time between work and playing games to relax tends to hamper writing lol {I'm still continuing my Genshin fic it's just kicking my ass and due to the nature of how that game works I tend to wait for a few updates due to the massive lore bombs that Hoyo drops on us just so that I can make sure I can still somewhat remain in Parity}).