Chapter 4
Is the world going crazy?

Jubilife was one of the Sinnoh region's larger cities, or so Laresa had heard; this was actually her first time in the region. But regardless of how it compared to any other cities in Sinnoh, Jubilife was certainly large. Too large. Okay, girl, you can handle this. Shit, I'm still not ready for a big city. But I need to... take care of a few things. Okay, girl, just get this done quickly and get out of here. No need to stay here for very-

Laresa ran smack into the side of a building. "Gah!" She stepped back. Okay, what the hell was that? She looked around. Yes, I was going this way. Just a straight line. So how the hell'd I end up turned left like that? She turned away from the building and resumed walking. Shit, what the hell was that? How did I get turned to the left like that without noticing? Well, shit, I didn't notice the building until I ran into it. Of course, I'm close to it, so it'd only be a step or two before impact. Okay, girl, you know what? You just weren't paying attention. That's all it-

The world turned sideways. Laresa stumbled and tried to catch her balance, but that just made it worse, and she fell to the ground. And then the world was normal again. Laresa picked herself up. Okay, this is getting weird. What the hell was that? Wait, that happened before, at Floaroma. Well, things were upside-down that time, but still, it's the same thing. What the hell is this?

Laresa made it to the Pokemon Center without any further incidents, although she did notice that there seemed to be a lot of police and medical personnel running around. She entered the Center and approached the nurse at the desk, who looked up as she came closer. 'Hello, there. How may I help you?"

"Here," Laresa said, handing the nurse the dead trainer Matthew's card. "Ran into this guy yesterday, a couple hours outside of Floaroma. Or what was left of him, at least. It was... bad."

"A dead- um, yes, um..." the nurse took a few seconds to compose herself. And recall the procedure, too, maybe. Must be fairly new; I don't think you can go for too long at a Center without having to handle one of these.

"Okay," the nurse said eventually, "um, do you have the trainer's Pokedex and Pokemon?" Laresa handed them to the nurse. "Thank you. Um... oh, cause of death. Do you have any idea what happened?"

"I can guess," Laresa said. "There was an insane frenzy going on. Huge group of Pokemon, and they were all mindlessly attacking each other. I found him nearby after it cleared. I barely made it out alive myself; this guy never stood a chance."

"I... well, um... um, I'm sorry, I can't-"

"Here," Laresa said, handing the nurse her card. "You need to verify trainer status and mark me as reporter, right?"

"Um, yes. Thanks." She scanned Laresa's card and returned it to her.

"This your first death report?" Laresa asked.

"No," the nurse said. "I've been here for a while. But it's been pretty crazy lately. I'm sure you noticed the... activity in the city."

Laresa nodded. 'I did."

"It's been like that for a few days now. There've been a lot of incidents. They've been building in frequency for a while, now, but it's only recently that they've hit this level. Many Pokemon attacks-individual Pokemon or small groups; yours is the first report of a major frenzy in progress, although there have been a couple reports of what looked like frenzies getting started. There've been a lot of other injuries, too, mostly minor but some major. Weird stuff, too. People are reporting sudden perspective changes like they see things upside-down for an instant, seeing things, hearing strange voices, sudden flashes of light, and so on. The injuries are often part of the weirdness, too. I... no, it's not your problem, I'm sorry."

"Don't hold back on my account."

"It's not your problem. I don't want to trouble you with it."

"Say it if you want to. I don't mind." And maybe hearing someone else's problems will help be keep my mind off of my own.

"If you're sure," the nurse said. "I don't know, I guess it's nothing too major, but it's, well, I think it's more a case of shock than anything else. You can hear about a million incidents, but until it hits close to home, it's not worrying. Once it does, though..."

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah," the nurse said. "My sister works as housekeeping at a hotel. She was out on a third-floor balcony, taking a brief break before getting back to work. She took a nasty fall. I got off the phone with the hospital a few minutes before you came in. Apparently, she says she was leaning on the rail when she just... fell. Like the railing just wasn't there."

"Through the railing?"

"That's what she says. You probably don't believe it, do you?"

Laresa laughed "I somehow went from Ilex Forest to Eterna Forest instantaneously. Compared to that, falling through a railing doesn't really sound all that strange."

"You were-"

"Yeah."

"So relocation really happens?"

"Apparently," Laresa said. "It happened to me, anyways."

"Really? Huh. That's one thing I didn't believe. Anyways, yeah, so if I seem a bit... discombobulated, that's why. And I'm sorry to trouble you with that-"

"Like I said, don't worry about it. I am a bit surprised that you're sharing that with a random stranger, though."

"Yeah, I'm not sure why I felt the need to tell you. Maybe I just needed to talk to someone. Anyways, I'll get the dead trainer report taken care of. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yes," Laresa said. She handed the nurse her Pokeballs. "I need treatment for my team. They're all pretty badly beaten; it took everything we had to get through that frenzy. I did what I could, but there's a limit to what the medicines can do. They're not in any danger, but they do need significant treatment."

"Got it," the nurse said.

'A couple other things." Laresa removed her pack and handed to the nurse. "First, I'd like a recharge for my pack's batteries. They're nowhere near really needing it, and I've got the really long-lasting kind, but I like to charge them fairly often anyways. And take this, too." Laresa removed the object from the ball it was on, doing so under the counter so the nurse didn't see it happen, as the folding and unfolding was not how custom plates were normally designed to be attached and removed. She then handed the ball to the nurse. "Can I get a charge reading on this?"

"Unused, I take it? Sure, but, you know, it shouldn't need anything."

"I'd like it read anyways."

"Sure thing. Will that be all?"

'Yes," Laresa said.

"I'll get on it, then." The nurse took Laresa's balls and pack into the back. She returned shortly with the pack and empty ball. "Here. I got these done. Your pack's fully charged, and as for the ball, there's a couple percent's worth of power drain, nothing unusual if you've had it for a while."

"It's more than you might think," Laresa said as she took her pack and the ball. "I only buy the long-lasting balls." The standard ball batteries were generally more than sufficient, even if one spent a long time between charging them. However, long-lasting versions were available, the longest-lasting having batteries that could last up to three times as long. There were the only ones Laresa bought; they were more expensive, but Laresa had never found herself short on credits, and she felt it was worth the extra price.

"Still within tolerance," the nurse said. "I don't think you've got anything to worry about there." She returned to the back room, and Laresa, after re-folding the object over the ball, took a seat.

After some time, Laresa heard a voice from beside her. "Well, hello there." She stood and turned to face the newcomer. "I remember you, I think," he said "I watched your match back in Floaroma."

Shit, this is the same guy. Was he real, then? Or am I seeing things now, too?

"All done," the nurse said as she returned from the back with Laresa's balls.

Laresa turned to face the nurse as she spoke, then looked back at... nothing. The man was gone. Okay, I'm losing it. All right, forget about him. Take your balls and go. "Thanks," she said as she retrieved her balls from the nurse, returning them to her belt. "Okay, I'm out of here

Laresa made a stop at the local Trainer's Mart to replenish her supplies, then began making her way out of Jubilife, towards Canalave. She knew she wouldn't make it to Canalave today; Canalave was closer to Jubilife than Floaroma was, but it would be dark in just a couple hours. In fact, under normal circumstances, Laresa would've spent the night at the Jubilife Pokemon Center, but she didn't want to spend any more time in a big city than she had to. It was too uncomfortable, a reminder of what had happened in the last big city she'd visited, something she was trying desperately not to think about. Canalave would probably be okay, though; it was certainly large enough to be a city rather than a town, but it wasn't a big city; in fact, it was the smallest 'city' in Sinnoh.

Laresa walked along, keeping her mind busy by focusing on the object, as she'd been doing. What was it? And why was it given to her? And-

She walked straight into a tree. "Gah!" She stepped backwards, and...

And there was no tree. What the hell? She looked around. Yeah, that's what I thought. No trees in the main road here. Alongside it, yes, but I'm nowhere close to the side. This isn't like getting turned sideways back in the city. I just ran into something that isn't there. What the hell is this?

Laresa stepped forward carefully, hands outstretched. But there was nothing there. Okay, so there indeed is not anything here. So how the hell did I walk into a tree?

Laresa walked on, thinking. Okay, so I just walked into a tree that wasn't there. But I saw the tree, didn't I? As I walked into it? I guess I wasn't paying attention, but now that I think of it, I wouldn't know it was a tree if I hadn't seen it at some point. But... it wasn't there. So what happened? Hmm... okay, this isn't the only strange thing that's happened to me. The cave with Ho-oh and the object was the first. After that, there were the sudden perspective shifts, the odd running into the wall back in Jubilife, and then the tree. And that frenzy outside of Floaroma, too, although that was less something happening to me and more me being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But things have been happening to others, right? If that nurse was right, at least. And the one in Floaroma about relocation. And they said it's been going on for some time now, but it only started happening to me when I got the object. Although there were those misplaced Pokemon before that. But that wasn't something that happened to me. And can the object really have something to do with it if it's been happening to others, too? There can't be very many of these things. But then why didn't anything happen to me until I got the object? Is it just a coincidence? And how much of this is actually happening as opposed to just a product of me going crazy?

Or is the world going crazy?