I'm back!

I am so sorry for the 100 day break, various circumstances caused me to be very busy for the last few months. I got so busy that I had honestly forgotten about this story until recently.

I hope to get back to regularly posting this story with weekly updates, so stay tuned!


Tracy Marks was having another slow day.

It had been 4 weeks now since she had been assigned to her new post, and the novelty of it had long since gotten old.

The assignment she had been given had her stationed incredibly deep into the wilds of Hoenn. Very few trainers come this deep in the wilds, and those who do are all ones who have ignored the warnings against it. Even Tracy is only allowed here due to her status as a member of the Ranger Corps.

It was all very exciting at first: setting off into near uncharted territory, saving foolish trainers who journeyed too far, and interacting with a thriving ecosystem that has been left untouched by human hands. It was always very fun meeting young Pokemon who had never seen a human before.

However, that isn't to say being this far out doesn't come with its downsides too. First of all, she is alone here. Usually, Rangers are stationed in pairs at least, but her partner ran afoul with a particularly nasty Shiftry's colony on their third day here. Anne got injured so badly that she still hasn't recovered enough to return to her post, though thankfully none of her team died.

That brings Tracy to the second downside of being out here. The Pokémon are incredibly dangerous. In times long passed, this would be a given, but in modern times pokemon are known as partners and friends of humanity. The rise of the Pokémon League made people and Pokémon alike join together in much deeper ties of friendship.

This is why Pokémon who live near human communities or well-traveled routes are very unlikely to attack a human with the intent to kill. They are taught by their parents, who have been taught by their own parents, not to go too far when confronting humans. Of course, if you threaten or disrespect a Pokémon they will still show you why they are such dangerous creatures, but the Pokémon who are used to humans will almost never go for the kill.

This is why the starting age to become a Pokemon Trainer is as young as twelve in most regions, though Tracy still doesn't agree with Kanto's 10-year-old starting age or the Youngster license, which allows 10-year-olds in regions other than Kanto to become trainers. Nonetheless, there is an understanding among parents that, so long as their children have been taught to behave themselves with respect and decency, the Pokemon along the common routes will take care of them.

The same does not hold true for those who live deep in the wilds.

In places where human civilization has not touched, pokemon still know about the ancient pact between Pokémon and humans, but they don't respect it nearly as much. Out here, pokemon are feral and the true fight for survival takes place every single day. If you are not strong enough to defend yourself, you're at risk of dying at any time. Losing a battle no longer means you need to get better: it means you weren't good enough and that you and your team are now going to die because of that.

Of course, Tracy is strong. You have to be strong to qualify for as high of a position in the Rangers as she has. Just 4 years ago, Tracy made it to the semi-finals of the Ever Grande Conference as the highest-placing monotype specialist of that year. Her starter, Skarmory, has been growing beside her ever since she was a wide-eyed kid in Fortree City watching Winona rise to take the title of Gym leader.

She is strong enough to survive out here, and her team is company enough for her to not feel lonely. So then you might ask why she no longer enjoys being out here as much as she did at the start of her station. That would be the result of the third and most stressful downside.

At the start of her second week here, she had received a mission from the higher-ups of the Ranger Corps. This wasn't anything unusual, as she had several missions both before and after this one. However, the mission itself was one with much more dire circumstances than any other she had received. To make matters worse, it was a mission she still had not managed to complete.

There was a child who had been living in a slum in the Kanto region's Neon City. It is suspected that the child had been abandoned on the streets by his parents there, which is unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence in Neon City. As such, the child had no last name, though he went by Reid. Anyway, as part of a motion to increase friendly ties between the regions, Hoenn took in several orphans from Kanto, with that child being one of them.

Reid had settled in at an orphanage in Mauville City. Less than a month into his stay there, he ran into trouble. Apparently, the child had always dreamed of turning his life around by becoming a top Pokémon trainer. As a result, he took every opportunity to chase around the trainers in Mauville City and spy on their training sessions. That's where things went wrong.

There are several reasons why most trainers keep their training sessions private. Some do it to keep their strategies hidden. Others do it so that nobody else can learn their methods of raising Pokémon. The man that Reid was spying on that night was hiding his training for a third reason. The move his Pokémon was learning was dangerous before it learned to control it.

His Exeggutor was learning how to control the move Teleport when it was startled by discovering the boy hiding nearby. In a moment of panic, it lost control of its move and Teleported the boy to a random location.

The Mauville police and the Ranger Corps worked together to locate him, but it was long, slow work. An unskilled Teleporter is actually much more difficult to track than a skilled one, due to the wasted psychic energy it lets off. It was only after a full week had passed that they finally found out where Reid had been dropped at. The deep woods of the Petalburg Woods.

During the week that she had received the mission to search for him, half a dozen other Rangers had been sent here to help. However, finding one human child in such a massive stretch of untamed wilds is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It would have been easy if they were closer to civilization, as they could have enlisted the local Pokémon's help, but that's impossible out here. The Pokémon here are uncooperative and rarely leave their own territories, much less to look for a human.

After another week had passed with no sign of him, the other Rangers were forced to return to their posts, one by one. It's now been three weeks of searching the forest, four weeks since the boy had gone missing, and most people on the case have given the boy up as dead.

Problems resulting from misusing a Pokemon's powers are all too common around the world. It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that they are a weekly occurrence. What makes this case so different is that they are usually solved within a week. Just like how there are so many powers that can cause things to go wrong, there are just as many powers out there that can help fix those problems. Unfortunately, with so many variables at play sometimes it isn't so easy to fix the damage, incidents similar to this are known to happen once or twice every few years. Those types of occurrences usually don't have happy endings, and Tracy had all but given up on finding the good end to this story too.

That was, of course, until the boy rolled up to her cabin at the crack of dawn, accompanied by a young and excitable Zigzagoon.


"Skar"

The cry of her partner Pokémon rang out as Tracy was enjoying her breakfast. Skarmory always insists on keeping watch outside in the mornings, and this habit has saved her a few times already. Out here, you never know when a local Pokémon is going to arrive at your cabin to challenge you for your territory. Just last week she had to have a late-night battle with a Mightyena pack that wanted to claim her station here as their own.

As a result, she is quick to ready herself for battle. Her Ranger uniform is already on, so she only needs to choose the ball of a reliable team member to hold at the ready.

"What's out there Skarmory?" She calls out as she opens the door, more to assure her partner that she has acknowledged his warning than anything else.

Standing in the doorway, Tracy's trained eyes scan the forest surrounding her with precision. She sees him quickly enough. The shock of his appearance causes her to involuntarily lose her grip on her Pokeball.

A young boy, bone thin and dressed in rags. His jeans are so torn that it's almost a wonder that they are even staying on. The hoodie is slightly better off, though not by much. If she hadn't been told their colors as part of her search, she wouldn't be able to tell through the amount of dirt caked onto the clothes.

The child himself is so thin that it's hard to believe he's 11. She was told that he was thin at the orphanage, but she doubts it was ever this bad. He almost looks like the walking dead. His ash brown hair trails down past his shoulders with twigs and leaves sticking out of numerous areas. Despite all this, his eyes are what her gaze is drawn to.

Young Reid's eyes don't look like those of a lost child who has had to survive the deadly wilds alone. There is no fear, no desperation, and certainly not nearly as much relief at being found as she would expect. There is some relief, but it looks more like he's happy to have found something convenient, not that he has just managed to save his own life. No, he does not have the eyes of a lost child, instead, a fire is smoldering in his gaze. It's the type of fire she has only ever seen when she was competing in the league circuit.

In this boy's eyes are the flames of challenge. The burning passion and desire to climb to greater heights, tearing through every obstacle in his path.

"Zigzag!"

A new voice is what snaps her out of her thoughts.

A young Zigzagoon circles the child's ankles, happily chattering away. While still clearly being a wild Pokémon, the bond between the two of them is obvious. She can't help but smile and relax at the sight.

"Hey kid," she calls out to the boy, crouching to pick up the Pokeball she had dropped. "Can you come here? Are you hurt at all?"

The boy tenses when she first calls out to him. The juvenile Zigzagoon also gets into position between himself and Tracy. The wild Pokémon's eagerness to protect a human child speaks volumes of how strong their bond is. The lost boy only relaxes after hearing her concerned questions.

"I'm ok," his voice is like his gaze, filled with more strength than you would expect out of a child. "I'm just tired. Are you a Ranger?"

"Tracy Marks of the Hoenn Ranger Corps, at your service." She gives a salute with her fist to her heart. "I know you must have had a hard time out there, but it's alright now. You'll be safe here."

"Honestly, I just want to sleep under a roof for once." He quips as he starts walking to the cabin. He stops to scoop Zigzagoon up into his arms along the way. "It's ok now buddy, she's probably a friend."

"The 'probably' was unnecessary, Rangers exist to protect both people and Pokémon. What else could we be if not friends?" Tracy's serious reply reflects her pride in her uniform. There's a lull in the conversation until the boy passes her and steps through the doorway. "Anyway, I told you that my name is Tracy. I take it you must be Reid then?"


"I take it you must be Reid then?"

My head whips around to face the woman who just spoke. How does she know that?

I had been debating whether I should lie about having memory loss ever since seeing her. No, I had been considering that ever since Goly and I had started looking for humans in this forest. Between weighing the pros and cons, I somehow never considered this body's own past.

Does he really have the same name as me? Can there be such a perfect coincidence? Or do they somehow already know that I transferred over and are calling me by name intentionally? But what if…

"Hey, calm down kid," The Ranger's brusque voice cuts into my thoughts. "Why are you so panicked now? I've been looking for Reid from Mauville City Orphanage for weeks now, and, unless you can tell me about any other 11-year-olds who'd be wandering around out here, I'd assume that's you."

Sarcasm aside, she just gave me a lot of information to work with. For now, I think it's best to assume that I took over "this" Reid's body. Maybe that coincidence in names is part of what let me take his body, but that's not worth thinking about for now.

"Yeah, sorry, that's me." I'll just roll with it for now. "I just wasn't expecting a random Ranger to know me by name."

"Of course we'd know; it's our job to save crazy kids like you." She smiles and her posture relaxes. "Now, come inside, I've got breakfast on the table, and I'm sure you're starved for a well-cooked meal."

Entering the cabin, the first thing I notice is the warmth. It was a comfort that I hadn't realized I was missing after spending so many days and nights in the woods. Goly has turned to putty in my hands, already losing the battle against sleep.

The next thing I notice is the red hawk sitting above a fireplace along the back wall. Her Talonflame radiates nearly as much power as the Skarmory I had seen outside. I can't help but wonder what her ability as a trainer is.

"Your Pokemon seem pretty strong," I casually speak my thoughts as I sit before the plate of still-warm bacon and eggs (Let's not think about where those came from). "Are they?"

"Hah!" She scoffs. "You must not know much about Rangers." She speaks with a hint of the pride I had seen in my fellow athletes before. "To be stationed alone, even temporarily, in a place as dangerous as this means that I have to be strong. Four years ago, we took 3rd at the Ever Grande Conference, and we've only gotten stronger since." She fiddles with the watch on her wrist as she gloats. "I bet we'd win if we entered it this year, not that Rangers are allowed to."

"Wow!" I exclaim with genuinely impressed awe. "No wonder they look so powerful then." Having learned that the two Pokemon before me are at or near the Elite level, I can't help but wonder how strong Ursaring was. The pressure from Ursaring definitely eclipsed what I felt from Skarmory. "You said this forest's dangerous, where exactly are we?"

"Sorry, hold on a second." She mutters while tapping away at the device on her wrist. With a final tap, she looks up at me again. "This Forest is called the Border Woods. It's a vast and untamed expanse along the Northern coast of Hoenn. The closest Hoenn city to us would be Fortree, but we're actually so far out in the wilds that it'd be quicker to fly North to the Orre Region if we wanted to head back to civilization." Her watch starts beeping to cut off anything else she might say. "Well, we're going to teleport anyway. Nobody would think to bring a child to a place like Orre." With that, she tapped the watch and held it to her face. "Tracy Marks reporting the completion of my mission: code 004872."

The response comes through an earpiece, so I can't make it out. Instead, I decide to stew on all the new information as I munch on my breakfast.

First, I am an 11-year-old orphan, also named Reid, from Mauville City. It's a little unfortunate that Steven Stone isn't my dad, but I can make do. No parents means no awkward explanations, acting, or guilty lies.

Second, I'm in a very dangerous place called the Border Woods, where even powerful trainers need to be cautious. Tracy's near Elite team doesn't even stack up against some of the wild Pokemon I've encountered.

Third, Orre is a place in this world. Meaning that spin-offs and minor games or shows seem to have at least some presence in this world. I need to make a note to investigate the existence of Cypher at some point. Shadow Pokemon are a whole can of worms I'd rather not have opened.

Fourth and last, I will likely be returning to Mauville City very soon. I need to be ready to interact with people who definitely know the previous me. Luckily, I can use the trauma excuse to justify any changes in my disposition.

"Understood Sir," Tracy's voice snaps back into focus. "We'll be teleporting back to Mauville Station Promptly." She hangs up and turns to me. "Well, as you've heard, it's time to go back home." She takes out a Pokeball from her belt. "I know you may be scared to teleport again after what happened, but I can promise you that Xatu is a practiced expert." She grins as a tall green totem bird is released in between us. "You can expect a quick and smooth trip."

I hold out my sleeping raccoon to her like he's Simba. "What about Goliath here? I promised to take him to the top of the world."

I verbalize my goal without shame. Now that it has been set, I will stay true to that goal like Luffy chasing the dream of becoming pirate king. I won't go around shouting it at everyone, but I will never shy away from speaking it into existence.

"Pfft!" A quick laugh escapes Tracy's mouth, but I think it was due to Goliath's name, rather than our goal. Her eyes had turned pretty wide when I said it. "Don't worry about him, kid. The bond that the two of you have is obvious, nobody would want to try and break something as precious as that. I'll even give you a Pokeball to catch him properly after we arrive. Now, they're expecting us on that end. Are you ready?"

With one arm holding Goly to my belly and the other hand on my chest, I take a deep breath to calm my nerves about what's to come. "Ready."

"Alrighty," She pats the top of my head. "Then Xatu, teleport us to…"

"Skarmory!"

"Zigzagoon!"

"Zagoon!"

"Zigzag!"

"Zigzagoon!"

A cacophony of barks and yips from outside interrupts her at the last second, and Goly is immediately awake and runs out the door. Without thinking, a smile breaks out on my face and I quickly give chase.

"What in the…" Tracy quickly snaps out of her confusion and follows behind. "Wait, where are you going Reid?!"

It's too late, I'm already entrapped within a massive mosh pit of spiky fur.

It would seem that the entire Zigzagoon pack has followed us here. There are far more than had been involved in the confrontation with the Beedrill. In fact, there have to be at least fifty Zigzagoon in the clearing outside Tracy's cabin. Before being overcome by the swarm, I had even seen five or six Linoones standing at the edge of the clearing, eyeing Skarmory vigilantly.

At first, Tracy had seemed alarmed, but hearing my laughter must have relaxed her nerves. When I get the chance to peek at her through all the fur, I can see that she has a fond smile on her face. No, it looks more like she is gushing at the adorable situation. Oh, she's even aiming her watch at us. Is she recording?

"Linoone!"

After several more minutes of this, the Linoones seem to have had enough. They step forward and break up the mosh pit, clearly separating everything into two sides. Goly and myself on the side of the cabin and Tracy, and the rest of the pack on the side of the forest.

The largest Linoone steps towards Goly, and I can somehow immediately tell that that is his mother.

"Li!" Noon!" Her tone is gentle, yet firm.

"Zig! Zigzagoon!" Goliath's voice contains a strength of conviction that I haven't heard since we spoke of our dream.

"Linoone." His mother nods and rests her head on top of his.

Tears form in Goliath's eyes and I can tell that they've said their goodbyes.

"Before you leave, Mother," I step forward and speak up. "We should take a picture with you and the pack."

"Linoone?" Her head tilts in confusion.

"A picture is a way to capture a moment in time as a physical memory," I explain. "It will allow Goliath to always look back on this as the moment he first stepped away from home to chase his goals. Think of it as an important memory of his origin."

After thinking for a few seconds. Mama Linoone nods her head.

"Great!" I exclaim. "Then just move to the front of the pack with Goly and me." I turn back to the still-gushing Tracy. "Tracy, can you take the picture?"

"No problem Kiddo," She grins even wider. "I'd love to."


A few moments and some awkward shuffling later, and we are now alone in the clearing with Tracy and her Xatu. All her other Pokemon have been returned and the Zigzagoon pack has returned to the forest.

"You realize how utterly adorable that was, right?" Tracy asks, still smiling at a holographic video being played on her watch.

"Whatever, just make sure you send me that picture and video once I get an email set up." I shamelessly lean into it.

"Sure, sure." She pats my back and points at the paper in my hand. "I already wrote down my contact info there, just let me know when you've set something up and I'll send them over."

"Good."

"Zigzag!" Goly comments, not to be left out.

"Alright then," Tracy turns to Xatu. "I'll say that was worth the chew-out I'll get for being so late, don't you think?"

Xatu remains silent, but their eyes are locked and Tracy is nodding, so I think they might be communicating psychically.

"True enough." She confirms something I'm not aware of. "Then let's not give them any reason to make it worse than that. Xatu, teleport us to Mauville City Police Station!"

As her words end, my vision blinks black for an instant. After that single instant, I can feel a new temperature and I can see all new colors. I'm no longer in the wilds.


Tracy Marks

Badges: 16

Pokémon team:

Skarmory

Talonflame

Xatu

Tropius

Swellow

Altaria

Reid Redwood

Badges: 0

Pokémon: 0

Companions:

Goliath (Goly)

Zigzagoon

Moves:

Extreme Speed

Protect

Tickle

Growl

Sand Attack

Tail Whip

Tackle

Covet