Chapter 2

"I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light."

-Helen Keller

It was somewhat of an odd little factoid. The primary ball used in the anime was the Pokeball. This was somewhat odd considering the advertised higher catch rate. If so, why didn't anyone use them?

Well, in all likelihood, they were probably ridiculously expensive. But, we know they exist. The Pokeball Factory episode in XY? Ultra Balls were shown. Which implies Great Balls as well. All of the Apricorn Balls were confirmed as well, I mean, Ash even caught Totodile in a Lure Ball. Luxury Balls, too, were canon.

And, well, the less said about the canonic anime appearance of the Master Ball, the better.

Anyways, all this to say that most Poke Ball variants have been seen in the anime in one form or another.

Except this one. The mysterious Cherish Ball. Only obtainable in games via event distributions, where the Pokemon was already inside of it. Also, notably, it was typically used for Legendaries and Mythicals. Which begs the question. Why do I have six?

I slowly walked over to the dresser they were sitting on. I took a good long look at them before I picked one up. Cool metal met my fingers in a somewhat satisfying manner. A tad bit bigger than a baseball, I'd say. But the sheer feeling of power I got just by holding the thing. Now, I had some of the replica balls they sold on the Pokemon Center website, and they were cool. Felt similar in shape, size and texture as well. But the knowledge that these were real…

So cool.

After examining the red ball for a few seconds, I placed it back down with the others. As I did, however, something strange happened.

All six of the balls started blinking in unison.

"Registered User detected," they all chimed at once. "Beginning initial setup."

Six beams of light shone out of the buttons on the balls, all twisting and turning until they honed in on me. Each one seemed to scan my face with a red light, before they all went still and silent. One of the balls rolled up and pointed its button straight up, displaying what appeared to be a sort of a GUI. At the same time, a peppy, yet robotic voice began to emit from the speakers the ball seemed to have.

"Welcome User, to the Cherish Interface! This system specializes in the seamless swapping of available Pokemon using voice commands near instantly. To hear more about the Cherish Interface and how it works, please say 'explain'. To see‒"

"Explain," I said as fast as I could. I had nothing but time right now and this seemed not only incredibly interesting, but very important considering I now had access to whatever system this was. Better learn the ins and outs of it now, rather than have it bite me in the ass later.

"The Cherish Interface is a limited production system that allows trainers to have access to their entire roster at once. Every Pokemon registered within the system has its aura signature registered along with it. When a Pokemon is sent out from a Cherish Ball, that Pokemon receives a notice sent straight to them using an artificial aura signal. This signal contains various types of data that the Pokemon would have otherwise had access to in a typical Poke Ball. These primarily being a small glimpse of the surroundings and the voice and words of the Trainer. The Pokemon is then recalled through the system, then sent out using the Cherish Ball. It is important to note that this means that the Pokemon is never held in the typical Poke Ball Pocket Dimension using the Cherish Ball and the Cherish Interface. A Pokemon is, to make a poor comparison, essentially teleported from wherever it is, to the location determined by the Cherish Ball."

Well now. What the hell? So that means, it would be like, all of my Pokemon chilling wherever I kept them, like how Ash kept his at Oak's place. But then, I could just summon them from there straight to my side? That's kinda crazy! But at the same time, I loved the idea of it. It meant I could have them all with me, at all times, but they could also live their own lives wherever they were! I basically had a remote PC but without having to shove them in a digital box when I wasn't using them!

No wonder this was a limited production system, the infrastructure alone for these must cost an arm and a leg, not to mention all the tech and research that had to go into developing these bad boys. And I had six?!

"Furthermore, in the same manner, when returning a Pokemon using a Cherish Ball, that Pokemon is then sent back to their original location, or, if that space is somehow occupied, the nearest valid location. Additionally, for the purpose of Pokemon battles, if it is required to scan and register a team beforehand, the Cherish Balls are able to 'pre-load' Pokemon in for verification purposes, sending all pertinent data through the aura link to the scanners. Lastly, due to the unique nature of the Cherish Interface, the Cherish Balls themselves are unable to capture Pokemon."

There's the kicker. I have this massive, magical, one in a million technological marvel of a Poke Ball, and I can't even use them to catch any. What a great thing for, essentially, a rookie trainer. Notably, one who has no Pokemon. Having lost most of my interest, I wanted to abandon the things until a further date, but something was bothering me.

If I don't have any Pokemon, why did whatever brought me here give me these? Wouldn't they be useless until much, much later? And it was that thought alone that made me stay.

"To hear the explanation again, please say 'explain'. To contact support, please say 'help'. To see account details, please say 'profile'."

I ignored my minor annoyance at the similarity to automated call menus, and figured I should look at my account that somehow existed. "Profile," I prompted.

The GUI being projected, while blank prior to this, now showed a slew of information, supposedly about myself. It even had a high res photo of me off in the corner of the screen.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Name: Alexander Night

Account Number: ##########

Trainer ID: KA############

Age: 22 (2001)

Biometrics: Enabled and Verified

Cherish Balls: 6

Touch to Manage Pokemon

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A spark of hope. The slight glimmer of possibility. I reached, somewhat hesitantly, towards the apparent touch screen, projection, thing. How that worked and why they hadn't used it for them menu, I didn't know. But I stopped caring for a few seconds.

I hit the button.

And was immediately met with a long list of species, names, and faces that were strikingly familiar.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

1 month prior…

"Yes! I got the Riolu encounter!" I claimed proudly, despite the room being empty.

I was playing a Nuzlocke of Pokemon Y and got the Riolu on the early route. It was something like a five percent encounter rate, I think, so it was actually pretty cool.

"Alright, let me double check what your name is, but I'm like eighty percent sure it's Rio," I said as I pulled out my phone. I opened up the document called "The Full List" and scrolled to find Riolu. Sure enough, it was in fact named Rio.

What is this list? Well, it all started a year ago when I asked myself a single, random question one day.

If I could have ten Pokemon from each region, who would they be?

Thus the list was born. Originally starting as ten normal Pokemon from each region, plus ten Sub-Legendaries, five mythicals, and five legendaries. A hundred Pokemon that would essentially be my favorites.

Of course, naturally this list evolved as time went on. Hisui and Paldea came and went, adding another sixteen Pokemon considering the small number of Hisuian Pokemon. And at this point, I stopped being, what I considered at the time, "reasonable". Eighteen Pokemon from various regions filled out a "Miscellaneous" category. One more Legendary was added. Four Mythicals were added. Eleven more Sub-Legends.

At this point, it was just one hundred and fifty Pokemon which I considered to be my favorites. I stopped caring about how overpowered one would be with so many Legendaries, I just picked out Pokemon I thought were cool, unique, or would just be fun to hang out with.

Then I got inspired by a group of PokeTubers. Whenever they were playing through a game, they had a list of subscribers who had "claimed" a Pokemon, and would name that Pokemon after the subscriber if they got caught. It made it more personal and helped them connect with their audience.

More personal, and helped them connect. I was already sold on nicknames for those exact reasons, so thus began the next evolution of the list.

Nicknames.

Some of them were based on famous people, like Joy the Blissey. Some were a little more literal, like Fluff the Whimsicott. There were even some that were based purely on jokes. I thought it would be quite funny for a super edgy looking Pokemon like Ceruledge to be named something basic like Liam.

Like this, I went through the whole list of 150 Pokemon and gave… almost all of them nicknames. For some reason, some part of me just felt wrong giving any of the Legendaries, Sub-Legends, or Mythicals nicknames. It almost felt like, if they were real, it would be irreverent. They were, after all, essentially deities in the Pokemon World. So I only gave one a nickname. My absolute favorite Pokemon of all time. And all she got was a simple shortening of the name.

As I was making up the names, I was coming up with little personalities for each one as well. They all become more than just a spreadsheet of names, species, and types. They were sort of like a list of friends I wished I could have. A family I made all my own, if only they were real.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

I scrolled through the list of Pokemon registered on my Cherish Interface and found myself slightly tearing up as I recognized all the names. Pebble, Radar, Diva, Graham, Cogger, Saffron. All of them. They were all here.

Every single named member of my family was here.

That of course meant that there were no Legendaries on the list. There was, however, a single Sub-Legend there. I closed my eyes and very nearly whispered a question.

"Hey, uh, Cherish Interface?" I asked quietly. A quick beep and a flash on the button indicated it heard and was waiting for input. "How do I send out a Pokemon?"

"Simply hold the Cherish Ball you wish to use. Voice recognition will pick up on any phrases involving a desire to send out your Pokemon, and will also listen for the registered Nickname of the Pokemon you wish to send out. Due to the possibility of multiple Pokemon species being on the same Cherish Interface, it is required to use a Pokemon's registered Nickname rather than its species name. The same process will apply if you choose to throw the ball or simply hold it still."

I picked up one of the balls and held it out in front of me, towards the center of the room. And with a single phrase, I knew I would never be the same.

"Tia, it's time to finally meet."

A flash of blueish-white light and I found myself staring at a Pokemon for the very first time. Brown eyes met amber as I stared at the Pokemon who I had considered to be my second in command in this wacky, formerly fictional family I had made. The one who kept all the others in line. The one who helped me with everything from training to just being a trainer in general.

The one who I had always seen as being my best friend.

In hindsight, I was lucky she was only slightly bigger than an adult, this room wasn't really the biggest. But that didn't stop me from getting tackled in a hug that left me spitting small red and white feathers out of my mouth.

"Ass," she said to me.

Despite myself, I had to laugh. I laughed so hard that she broke out of the hug for a second to stare at me like I had gone crazy. After a minute of laughing she started looking upset with me, and I finally relented.

"Sorry, sorry," I said, wiping away the tears from my eyes. I wasn't sure what emotion caused them at this point. "But, I know it's just part of your name, but it seriously sounded like the first thing you said to me was calling me an ass!" I had to start laughing again. Luckily for me, she seemed to find it funny as well, since she started giggling along with me.

' Well, you wouldn't be too far off at least. I said 'It's about time, jerk.' '

I nearly jumped at hearing her voice. Telepathy was… weird. It was like listening to one of those 8D audio youtube videos with the sound source being "placed" right in the center of your head. It was genuinely weird. But also really cool.

"Wow! That hurt me, right here," I said, dramatically putting my hand on my heart. "You know, I didn't think Latias could learn Torment," I teased back. Though, all it earned me was a small smile and a thwack on the back of my head.

"Oh, shush, you," I said, offering her another hug. "I really am happy to finally see you, I know you know that. You are an empath after all." Her smile softened and she gave me another hug. It was only made slightly awkward due to the massive wings, but oh well.

' Oh, I know,' was all she said to that. She shifted, as if somewhat uncomfortable. Then her face lit up as if she had some brilliant idea. She floated a bit away from me and started glowing slightly. The intensity grew until I couldn't look at her. When it faded away, gone was the six and a half foot long dragon. In her place was a shockingly short girl with shoulder length auburn hair. The same amber eyes looked at me expectantly.

"Well, don't you look nice," I said, quite honestly as well. "Though, I have one question." She tilted her head in curiosity and had a confused look on her face. Oh, I just had to mess with her. "Why are you naked?"

Confusion turned into mortification as she frantically looked down at herself. When she saw the white t-shirt with red sleeves and a blue triangle in the center, along with a pair of gray pants, that mortification turned into fury.

"ALEX I SWEAR, YOU ARE SO DEAD!" She yelled, which surprised me. Not the yelling, that was very understandable given how I messed with her, but rather, the fact that she actually yelled it in human speech, rather than telepathy was shocking.

Not shocking enough for me to forget to run away, though. I wasn't completely lacking in self-preservation instincts.

To save myself I ran through the doorway and… well I stopped there. After all, this was just an illusion. Light refracting to make it look like she was just a five-foot-six girl. Her wingspan wouldn't let her get throu‒

That train of thought was quickly derailed as she tackled me straight through the doorway and onto the hall floor.

"Umm… huh?" I said intelligently. The sheer amount of confusion I felt probably caught her off guard, as she stopped her assault and just sat up next to me.

"What's wrong…?" she asked somewhat hesitantly. I just sat up and grabbed her cheeks. I lightly tugged them around, playing with her face, then running my hands through her hair. I even tugged slightly at her shirt before she finally broke the silence.

"Alex, what are you doing?"

"You're real!" I said in response.

This seemed to not be the correct response, as she let out an irritated huff. "No shit, I'm real," she snipped back.

"No, no. I mean you being a human," I clarified. "It's not just a visual illusion! I thought it was just refracted light, but this is more like…"

"… an actual transformation?" She finished my thought for me. Sighing, she continued, "Well, yeah, because it is. Humans know that Latias can refract light and make themselves invisible. Some of the powerful and skilled ones can even make illusions of themselves as humans. But there's an even rarer few who are able to… well, fully transform into humans. I don't really know much about it, but it has to do with a connection to both the Alpha and the Ancestor."

She seemed somewhat uncomfortable at the admission, as if she was expecting me to call her weird for it. I didn't really care, I actually thought it was really cool. Besides, she was supposed to be my best friend. Obviously I'm going to actually treat her as such.

"That's really cool, you know. You're like a Super Latias with bonus powers. Or a secret agent meant to infiltrate human society and keep us ignorant of the Legendary's secrets," I told her with a very dramatic and joking tone. After a second, we started laughing and lying on the floor next to each other. The unspoken thanks in her eyes was enough for me.

"Hey, Tia? This has been just as great as I've dreamed it would be."

"Good. I'm glad."

I rolled up to a sitting position and looked out the nearest window. Dusk was just rolling in and would soon fade to night. Despite the hour I felt myself wanting to go out and explore a little.

"Let's go for a walk, Tia," I suggested to her. She sat up and gave me a strange look.

"Alex, it's going to be dark out soon, it might not really be the safest time to go out on a walk."

I gave her a deadpan look as she continued to give me a scolding look. We held our stare off for another minute before I decided to push a little.

"Tia," I started slowly, "you do remember that you are a Legendary Pokemon, right? Besides, I have, like, another hundred Pokemon I can send out for protection. I think we'll be fine."

Her face bloomed into an embarrassed blush at having to be reminded who exactly she was. Then, being reminded how many other Pokemon I have, she gave in and agreed to go out on a walk.

Though we may have been delayed by me avoiding a suddenly angry dragon-turned-girl. Apparently, asking if she'd rather go for a float was not appreciated.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.o0o.

Once outside, I gave my house a look, aided by the streetlights which were still on. It was the same house I'd always known. It had a different paint color and was slightly updated to match all the other houses on the block, but other than that it was the same. It even still had the little lawn flamingo I put in as a joke, although it was notably now a Flamigo.

What was curious to me, though, was that as we walked along the block, the houses were all of a similar floor plan to my house. A fact that made my head hurt if I thought too hard about it.

Tia and I just kept walking in silence through the residential area, occasionally having short, quiet conversations, until we finally made our way to the beach. It was empty, thanks to the hour, but we still just sat and enjoyed the moonlit ocean view for a while. It was something I had always wanted to do. I loved nighttime and loved beaches. I never really lived close enough to a beach to be able to just go and visit in the dead of night. And if you did there was always the chance of running into some unsavory characters.

While that still could be a problem here, I had mobile natural disasters with a vested interest in keeping me safe, so it was a lot less threatening.

Looking out into the distance, it was difficult to tell where the ocean stopped and where the starry night sky started. The twinkling lights of Staryu, Tentacool, Chinchou, and their evolutions made the ocean itself appear full of stars. Every once in a while, a Krabby or two would walk by and wave to us, before continuing on their way. They were likely used to people being on the beach and weren't too fazed by how late it was.

We had probably been out there for an hour or so when we heard a shout further up the beach. Tia and I shared a look before running off to investigate. When we arrived at the scene, I was somewhat shocked by two different things.

The first being the people involved. One was not worth mentioning other than the large red 'R' on their all black uniform. The other however, was much more interesting. It was a girl, probably about my age. She was about Tia's height, but with long, maroon hair styled into a side braid. Someone who was instantly recognizable.

The second thing that shocked me was the state of the scene I saw. The girl had an Eevee and a Yamper out, further confirming her identity. However, they were both on the floor, battered and asleep, likely due to the pair of Parasect the Rocket grunt had on his side.

"Both of you, use Spore on the girl!" he called out. Without needing much more prompting, I grabbed one of the Cherish Balls from my jacket pocket and threw it forward.

"Dandy, block the Spore!" I instructed. With a flash, there was now a Jumpluff floating in front of the girl. She waved her arm spores and a gust of wind blew out from behind her. The Tailwind managed to push back the Spore and cause it to land harmlessly in the sand.

"Tch!" the grunt complained. "Use Fury Cutter, now!" The two semi-sentient mushroom crabs made to slash at Dandy, only for her to float effortlessly out of their reach.

"Dandy, Acrobatics on both." Dandy quickly floated around and repeatedly smashed her glowing arms into the two Parasect, knocking them out quickly.

The assailant saw how quickly his Pokemon were dispatched and turned to make a run for it, only to find an angry blue ball of cotton in his face. A light blue powder was emitted from Dandy's head towards the man.

"Yeah, let's see how you like it," I said to the now sleeping grunt. I then turned towards the girl who was kneeling over her two Pokemon, not sure what to do. She reached for their Poke Balls so she could return them before I stopped her.

"Hey, wait one sec," I called to her. She turned and opened her mouth to say something but I kept going before she could. "Dandy can heal them up if you'd like."

She hesitated a moment before looking between me, Tia, Dandy, and her Pokemon. After a moment she sighed. "Yes, please. That would be a big help," she said. I gave her a soft smile as I recognized the fatigue and worry in her voice.

"Sure thing," I told her. I then turned to Dandy who had floated over. "Pollen Puff and Worry Seed them both, please," I asked. Dandy made two glowing, fuzzy spheres before throwing one at each of the downed Pokemon. She then spat out a seed at each, waking them up for a good while.

"Thanks, girl," I said as I returned Dandy. I made a mental note to ask Tia about where all my Pokemon resided before turning to the girl. "The puff should have healed up most of the light damage and their fatigue. The seed should keep them awake long enough for you to get home or to a Center. I assume they still have some Spore in their system, so you should probably get them checked out." The trainer, who was now just sitting on the sand, slumped in relief.

"Thank you so much, mister…" she said slowly.

"Alex. No mister though, we're probably near the same age. And this is Tia," I gestured to the disguised dragon and she waved. "Are you alright as well, miss…" I asked, a slight smirk on my mouth. She chuckled lightly in response.

"Chloe. Yeah, I'm fine, but right back at you, mister," she said. I laughed at her snark while she smirked back at me. By now, we heard sirens and saw lights approaching. A second later, a cop car stopped at the edge of the road before the beach and turned the sirens off. I was only slightly disappointed when the person who stepped out was just your average man, rather than the iconic Officer Jenny. The man approached the three of us and glanced between us and the grunt laying on the floor.

"We received an RPA about a kidnapping in progress at this location. I assume that involved you three and the man on the floor there?" The officer asked us.

At this point, Chloe took a step forward and began explaining to the officer. From what I gathered, she was on her way back from a late University class, when she was attacked by the Rocket Grunt. She made her way to the beach in the hopes that there would be someone there to notice what was going on before she was stopped and forced to fight back. Apparently, Rotom Phones could automatically send alerts to the authorities when their owner was in any sort of serious incident.

"‒at that point I thought the guy was gonna get me, but then these two came running in and saved me at the last second. If it weren't for them, I don't know what would have happened. They also healed my Pokemon temporarily with Pollen Puff and Worry Seed." She finished her explanation by giving the two of us a grateful look, which we returned with smiles. The officer closed up his notepad while his partner loaded up the sleeping criminal into the back of the car.

"Alright then, thank you all for your time. I'm glad everyone is okay. Young miss, you did a good job in trying to find help by coming to the beach. And you two, a fine job beating this man's Pokemon and also in the triage of those two little ones. I would definitely recommend you all get back home quickly now, I'm sure you've all had enough excitement for the evening. Take care!" The officer got into the car with his partner and turned the lights off before they pulled away.

Chloe turned back to us for a final time. "Seriously, thank you guys so much. It was very nice meeting you, hopefully I'll see you around."

"Yeah, not a problem," Tia responded with a smile, "Take care getting home!"

"Stay safe, Chloe!" I called after her as she walked away. She had a fairly brisk walk, but given what just happened, it was pretty understandable.

"What a nice girl," Tia told me as we started making our own way home. "Hopefully we can meet her again. She'd be a good friend." I nodded slightly as I glanced back in the direction Chloe had walked in. She had turned a corner by now and was out of sight, hopefully staying safe and making it home alright.

"You're right, she would," I agreed. "You know what, I think I know what we're going to do tomorrow, Tia."

AN: Another chapter set and done! New friends! Old enemies! What awaits in the future? Only I know! …Kinda. Like I said, I don't really storyboard, I just have a good idea of what I want to include and then throw words onto paper.

Anyways I will preface any comments that may pertain to this immediately: No, this is not OC x Latias. They are best friends. That's it. Also if you have a problem with the way I'm "giving" the MC Pokemon, or with him having Latias, or the Cherish System, then don't give me hate for it. This is the way I want to write the story I have in mind, so this is how I'm going to do it.

As usual, Like if you liked, Follow if you want to see more, and Review if you have something to say! But keep it civil!

Edit: For those who are following, does it notify you guys every time I update the chapter's content? Like, not just when a new one is posted, but when the existing chapter is updated/edited? If so I'll pay more attention when I go through and proofread the chapters! Sorry about that!

Peace out =)