A/N: If I ever want to say something, I'll do so in an author's note like this

Chapter 1: Second Chance

The rain was pelting the windshield of Kel's car. The sun was already disappearing behind the horizon, another long day was over. Once again he was returning from his daily duties. And like every evening he was completely drained of energy. It was just too much. Why did he have to do all this shit day after day? He actually knew the answer, but that didn't make him want to accept it for a long time.

The windshield wipers were on full power, but even so it was hard for him to really see the road. The storm had been raging across the region since the afternoon, and Kel's hopes that it would have passed by the evening had obviously been in vain. But things rarely went the way Kel wanted anyway. All he wanted to do now was to go back to his humble home, eat a meager meal, maybe watch a video, and then go to sleep, just to be ready for the exact same routine the next day. Deep down he didn't want to go back to his apartment, because to him it was nothing but a sign of constant repetition. Often it simply felt as if the young man did not have his own life under his control, but as if an author were writing the story of his life.

Lost in dark thoughts, Kel drove on through the small villages that lay between him and his home village. He had been living there alone for three years now. He hated everything about the village and the apartment, but he didn't have the money to move. The weather was really just the tip of the iceberg. But that evening, life was once again not going the way Kel wanted it to.

He drove on through the villages, further and further, ever more deeply lost in his own thoughts, his view of the road more and more limited. Until what had to happen happened. A loud bang rang out through the village and startled the unsuspecting residents in their houses. Another vehicle had collided with Kel's. His field of vision seemed to become darker than before. The panicked cries became quieter and quieter, their meaning more and more incomprehensible. Kel only heard one thing before they fell silent completely. "Hit and run" were the words. But what exactly that meant didn't matter to him.

A very different place:

"Listen, I've already explained it to you! You can't join the Battle League if you don't have a team partner!"
"Can't I just register and get paired up with someone else?"
"It's not our job to find you a team partner if you can't find one yourself!"

This was not the first time such a dialogue had come from an office inside a magnificent building in a magnificent city. An angry snow-white fox stepped out of the door of the room.

"And don't bother us again until you find some friends!"

Almost every week it was the same, the same thing happened every time. And yet both sides knew it would keep repeating itself, over and over, unless something significant changed.

"Every week they just tell me the same thing! Why don't they understand that some people just have a harder time with other Pokemon?"

The elegant fox stepped out of the large building, the central organization office of the battle league of the continent of Berelo. Here in Kira Town it was just one of many massive structures and yet all the others seemed so irrelevant. Every Pokemon that thought anything of themselves wanted to join the league and achieve great things. Aurora was no exception. Aurora, she was a snow-white Vulpix who had been trying for months to somehow become a part of the league, but failed every time because no one wanted to work with her. But she didn't let herself get demotivated, at least she didn't let it show. She always wanted to be the greatest fighter on the continent and afterwards in the entire world! And if only she could join the league... they would all see what she was capable of!

But she had to give it up for that day. There was no point in bothering Tyrantrum and Aurorus any more. The two rock-type Pokémon had been highly respected fighters for years, but above all they were the founders of the battle league here in Kira Town. That's why Aurora couldn't become a fighter if these two didn't allow it. She would go for a walk for the day and then return to her modest house on the outskirts of town.

Kira Town was a place that every resident of Berelos aspired to reach. A metropolis that truly offered opportunities for everyone. And the nature of the region was also an artifact of the past that Aurora often visited and enjoyed, when she found the time at least. Large lakes, flowing rivers, deep forests, massive mountains and the vast ocean were all just a few minutes' walk away. Usually, after her fights with Tyrantrum and Aurorus, Aurora always went to a large forest lake that the first residents of Kira Town named the "Polar Lake". Aurora had known why for a long time. As long as she could visit the lake at any time to recover from the stresses of everyday life, it didn't matter where it got its name from. What mattered was the tranquility of nature in this place of beauty.

It only took a few minutes before she was sitting in her favorite spot between some bushes, hidden at the edge of the water. The air was fresh, the silence refreshing. For a brief moment, Aurora considered quelling her anger by swimming a little in the cold water. This was one of the reasons Aurora could think of on why the lake had its characteristic name: because the water temperature was always quite low. But for an ice Pokemon like her, this had never been a problem. On this day, too, she quickly decided to dip into the crystal-clear waters. Most of the time, this helped her to get her mind off things. She would be able to join the league at some point, she was sure of that. But there were more than enough other things to worry about anyway.

As if fate itself wanted to convey this message to her, the sky flashed brightly out of nowhere. The bright light seemed to penetrate everything and for a moment Aurora no longer recognized the world around her. As her vision slowly returned, she decided to leave the water as quickly as possible. Although the likelihood of another Plothole in the near future was very unlikely, it was unnecessary to take a risk. Aurora herself had of course immediately recognized the origin of the light. The Plotholes had been occurring often, for many years, and no one had been able to stop them. Like distortions in reality, they influenced everyone's life.

Now in a slightly better mood, Aurora climbed out of the water, the drops on her fur immediately freezing and shattering as they fell out of her fur. As she sat down again, she was already wondering what had happened this time during the light. It was at that moment that she heard a strange noise in the bushes. Was anyone else here? It had happened before that other Pokemon were here, but it really wasn't the norm. And Aurora had never really been happy about it either.

"Is anyone there?"

For a moment there were no more noises, but soon something could be heard again. However, it was not an answer. It sounded more like a painful groan. Hesitant at first, the Vulpix finally decided to follow the noises. What if it was an injured Pokemon? Maybe they were here because of the Plothole?
It was only a matter of minutes before Aurora found a Pokemon not far from her favorite spot, in the middle of some leaves, lying on the ground. It didn't look particularly injured, but extremely confused and exhausted.

"What... are you?"

It was hard to imagine a more polite first question...

"A Vulpix? What else? What are you doing here?"
"A... what? I've heard that somewhere before, I believe."

After just two statements from the other person, Aurora had lost all interest in the conversation.

"A Vulpix? The Pokemon? There are two variants? Did you hit your head, or what?"

Memories flashed back into the Growlithe's mind.

"Vulpix? I... that doesn't make sense. I must be dreaming!"

Aurora briefly considered just leaving the stranger, but somewhere inside she felt somewhat sorry for the confused creature.

"What doesn't make sense about that?"
"Well, at least where I come from, Pokemon aren't even real."

Where he came from? Aurora's interest piqued.

"What do you mean? Where do you come from?"
"Well... I'm a human and that's where I come from. Whereever humans live."
"A... human? What is that supposed to be now?!"

It was clear that neither party could make any sense of what the other was saying.

"Best forget it."

Finally, the Growlithe got up, trembling.

"Is there a guild or something like that somewhere around here?"

"A guild? Not on this continent... there is the Battle League, I could imagine Aurorus and Tyrantrum having connections to a guild somewhere."
"And where is that league?"

At first, Aurora simply wanted to point the Growlithe to the direction and go off her own way, but she changed her mind when she saw the uncertain steps.

"Follow me. Maybe they will be able to help you."

So Aurora set off for the headquarters in Kira Town once again, the second time today. This time, however, with a different goal than previous times. For once, she wasn't going there for herself.

"Who are you?"
"I already told you. I'm a human."
"Whatever that is, but I know. Don't you have names or anything like that over there?"
"Oh, uh yeah... yes, we do. My name is Kel."

Kel? A very strange name, but Aurora decided not to judge the customs of the strange beings that these "humans" were.

"All right. I'm Aurora. Can you tell me anything about these humans or their world? I've never heard of it before."

The former human hesitated for a moment before an answer came that Aurora had not expected.

"So, basically, I don't remember anything, just two or three isolated things, which wouldn't help you, though."
"Really? You've forgotten everything? Are you sure the Plothole didn't just confuse you and you're actually a normal Pokemon?"
"The what confused me? You keep using words that mean nothing to me."

It was a quite frustrating to Aurora. And yet she had to accept that her explanations to the Growlithe would have to be much more extensive than what she was used to.

"I'll explain it to you later, okay? Let's go to the league office first. But what are you planning to do there anyway? I honestly doubt that Aurorus or Tyrantrum know anything about your species or your home, otherwise I probably would have heard about it at some point."

Once again, Kel hesitated with his answer. "I don't want to go back there anyways. I just want to be able to understand what happened to me. And after that... what do I know? Somehow I'll take advantage of the second chance that fate has given me, I guess."
"A second chance? Why do you need that? Didn't you like your life in this other world?"

When Aurora heard what her new acquaintance had to say about this, she was shocked that he didn't even hesitate this time. "I hated that miserable existence and it hated me too! I was happy when it ended! I left my world because I died. And I enjoyed it. And now I've somehow reached another world... and I just hope that my new life won't be hell again!"

Died... Aurora had already experienced a lot of weird things since the Plotholes ruled the world. But she had never met a Pokemon like this before. Could anything good come out of accompanying this Pokemon? To be honest, Aurora hardly believed it...