It was not long before the mayor joined them.

In the time that they waited, the former humans had learnt a little bit about the village. It had been founded by two fox Pokémon, one rumoured to be the old hero Vulpix, hence the name. Despite said name, there were a number of canine Pokémon and other species. Ninetales' father had been entrusted the role of mayor by the original founders long ago, in lieu of their absence, and the guild that Flaaffy apparently worked for was almost as old as the village itself.

A more mind-bogglingly topic had been highlighted by Raihan, as he asked the two Eevee a question that persisted unanswered back home. "Where do Pokémon eggs come from, by the way?"

Piers' initial fear of revealing themselves was immediately killed by the two kids' distinctively different reactions. Snowcap had burst into stammers, unwilling to look at either of them, whilst Eevee chirped a much more casual response. "I have no idea! Ma says they grow on cabbage patches!"

"So, their mums used that excuse on them too," Piers mumbled dryly, prompting Raihan to snort.

Their introduction to Blissey had been very short, as the doctor gave them a curt greeting before rushing off with a new patient on her stretcher. They appeared to be a Rockruff, Snowcap telling them not to worry because Rockruff was a repeat visitor. Something about being a chocoholic with a chocolate allergy.

Finally, waiting in the reception lobby with the two Eevee, they were greeted by Ninetales dragging a bag with his mouth. He dropped it in front of the four then grinned. "Morning, kids!"

"We're not kids," Piers deadpanned as he wondered exactly how Pokémon aged here. Snowcap was extremely persistent that he was not a child, yet he and his friend clearly had growing up to do. "We were considered legal adults back home, thank you."

"We had to pay bills and shit," Raihan remarked, prompting Eevee to snigger as Ninetales gave him a pointed look.

"Don't swear in front of the children." Snowcap opened his mouth only to immediately mute himself as Ninetales narrowed his eyes. "You two will be adults as soon as you finish your apprenticeships, thank you." The old fox immediately changed to a more cheerful tune. "I brought apples! We've got stuff to talk about, so I thought some snacks would be good."

Ninetales opened the bag, fishing out a book with a tail and handing apples out with the other ones. Piers sniffed at the apple and Raihan bit into it, as the young fox Pokémon started chomping. "What's with the book?"

In response to the Zigzagoon's question, the mayor flipped it open and showed them. "It's an atlas! This notes every major settlement in each continent, however I've seen no mention of a 'Galar' or 'Kalos' in any of these pages. So my son and I discussed two possibilities. Either you two were caught in some dimensional warp, or you were launched back or forward in time. If you don't find any familiar locations, we can assume it isn't a translation issue and we're dealing with inter-dimensional travel."

"You are oddly calm about this." Raihan continued to wolf down the apple. "I bet even a human turning into a Pokémon before your eyes wouldn't shock you."

"Oh, I'm not certain about the existence of humans but they can't be as bad as the fairy tales make them out to be," Ninetales said cheerfully before faltering. His expression turned sheepish. "Other Pokémon though, they might be less welcoming to the idea. The folk on the Air continent famously started a witch hunt when their hero was rumoured to have once been human."

All of a sudden, Raihan was not hungry. Piers was silently chewing the piece of apple in his mouth, nervously meeting his eyes. "That's terrifying."

"Humans are bullies, I wouldn't blame them." Eevee swallowed the apple and his eyes sparkled as Snowcap nudged his own half eaten one towards him. "I heard stories that they used Pokémon as cannon fodder!"

"You need to stop listening to Sylveon's wild stories," Snowcap whispered, watching him continue eating. "Even if humans were evil, that's ridiculous. That story about a human stealing Pokémon life energy to create a nuke? Not possible."

The former humans gave each other looks silently promising never to let their true identities slip in front of anyone, let alone these kids. They needed all the help they could get. "We were talking about this earlier, but do you know anything about ultra beasts, Ninetales?" Piers asked.

The old fox peered at them curiously then glanced down at his atlas. "If I knew you were going to bring them up, I would have brought my encyclopaedia too. No one knows if ultra beasts are truly real, but there's stories of a Pokémon that was a personification of the galaxy itself. Some legends say it evolved into the sun, some say it grew to represent the moon. None of them could agree, but all of these stories mentioned mysterious portals. If anyone fell through one of these 'wormholes' as they were called, they would never be seen again."

"That sounds like Cosmog." Raihan looked up, deep in thought. "It evolves into either Solgaleo or Lunala but no one knows what decides that. But if it was one of Cosmog's evolutions, why would it send us here… If it isn't…"

His train of thought was sent into a rude crash as a loud bang sounded and the improperly-closed door was slammed open. "Mayor Ninetales!" The Pokémon looked to see a Zoroark, their movements clumsy and face clearly distraught. "Mayor Ninetales, I need your help!"

He stared at the dark type and smiled. "Miss Zoroark, what do I owe this pleasure to?" His expression turned confused. "Wait, how did you know I was here?"

"Please be serious, sir, we're in trouble," she gasped out, her paws shaking. Seeing her, Piers had never felt so small in his life. So, this was how it felt to be a Zigzagoon. He sure hoped he could speed run evolving to at least be equal to her height. "My little boy- Zorua wandered off into the forest by himself!"

Piers could hear Eevee and Snowcap whispering amongst themselves. "Little boy? Isn't he the same age as us?"

"She could mean literally, Zorua was always tiny for his species… What level was he again, Eevee? 8?"

"Zorua got hit with the 'Mummy' ability yesterday, correct? So he can't just sneak his way out," Ninetales mumbled, sighing. "The guild members are all busy and so are we…" He turned to Piers and Raihan with a wide grin, prompting them to jump. "How about I find that encyclopaedia for you and in the meantime you look for Miss Zoroark's son? You two look about level 12, you should be fine with enough berries and seeds."

They looked that level? Piers hoped that was true, if his memory wasn't malfunctioning, he would now have the ability to slam his head into things. How that didn't do recoil damage, he would never know. "What do you mean by seeds?"

Snowcap scurried over to a basket and grabbed the handle with his mouth. Lugging it over, he dropped it before them. "These seeds are really helpful in a mystery dungeon! This one makes you breathe fire if you eat it, this one stuns your enemy if you hit them with it, this one will resurrect you if you get knocked out, and this one here makes your enemy fall asleep!"

Raihan squinted as he noted each seed. The fire breathing one looked like a flame, the sleepy one looked like a flower, the stun one a moon and the revival seed seemed to have a little leaf sprouting out of it. "Cool but are you sure we'll be okay?"

"I could go with them!" Eevee chirped and Ninetales stared at him.

"Don't you have work in…" He looked at the clock the visitors did not notice. "10 minutes."

Eevee's jaw dropped and Snowcap started chuckling. "Oh shit, you're right! Damn, I'll tag along next time someone goes missing! I'll be over later, Snow!"

"Guess that nickname's sticking," Snowcap murmured with a faint smile as Ninetales snapped after the dashing Eevee about his language. "I'll put these and some berries in a satchel for you guys, I'll stick an Escape Orb in there too."

Piers tilted his head. "An Escape what?"

Ninetales finally stopped chastising the no-longer-present teenager to inform them. "It'll teleport you out of the forest and back to the village, you just hold it up and shout 'escape'! But it only works once so don't use it until you're with Zorua, alright?" He smiled at Zoroark. "I'll be off to work. I'm sure these two will be successful, miss."

"If you say so," she whispered, any attempt at a smile of her own failing. "You two will be able to find me after in the café next to the bank, alright? Thank you and good luck."

Watching them leave, Piers sighed and Raihan nudged him. "Hey, we save this kid and then we can learn more about the ultra wormholes. We've been trainers for 13 years, this forest will be a cake walk."

"I hope you're right," he mumbled as he watched Snowcap scurry into another room, basket in his mouth. He longed to go home yet he could not help but worry. What if they couldn't find Leon? What if he wasn't left in their own world but wandering lost somewhere? Would Marnie realise they were missing? The thought of his little sister panicking over them made his stomach unsettle. No need losing his breakfast over this, the sooner they made sense of things, the sooner they would be all together again.