Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
Constance and Scott are Akari's foster parents back in her world (as in the previous fic, this remains an isekai).
This had to be some kind of paradise.
Akari had been here a month, and no one had shouted at her, hit her, or sent her out into a snowstorm to get water.
The only logical conclusion was that she'd been sent to a dream world.
Well, she supposed there'd been a few bumps; back when Laventon found her on Prelude Beach, she'd—
"You are familiar with Pokémon, correct?" Laventon asked, though Akari got the impression that was only asking to assess her mental state after her apparent fall from the sky.
"Of course," Akari lied.
The man had been friendly so far, and she didn't want to upset him with continuous questions. Besides, she could tell he expected her to know what a "Pokémon" was. It was safest to just pretend she did.
Well. She'd lied. That in itself wasn't an issue—she did it all the time. Lying at least could potentially keep her safe. She'd told Cyllene she was fifteen instead of thirteen—fifteen was the minimum age to join the Survey Corps
The issue was that her being familiar with Pokémon was the story told to Commander Kamado, who was the one letting her stay in Jubilife Village.
Kamado didn't trust her, or even like her. Akari was aware of this. But even so, he'd been nice to her. He hadn't hit her, or shouted at her, or told her how useless she was.
Akari desperately wanted him to keep being nice to her—she wanted to stay in Jubilife. So now she really couldn't tell anyone the truth, not even Rei.
She had effectively lied herself into a corner.
Well, she supposed it didn't matter; as long as no one found out, she couldn't be punished.
So she continued working on her pokédex—it was what was asked of her, after all, and she wasn't fool enough to tell an adult no.
Adults were scary, unpredictable and dangerous. It was best to stay on their good side.
Besides, researching Pokémon was fun. Pokémon were interesting, fascinating and adorable.
And catching them was so easy . Really, no one was actually asking much of her. Hisui totally beat North Dakota.
"You've been making excellent progress on the pokédex, Akari," Laventon said one evening at the Wallflower. "Already thirty-five entries!"
Akari ducked her head down, her face growing warm.
"Oh—thank you. But um, it's really not a big deal," she began mumbling, then her stomach jolted. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful, it's nice of you to say! Sorry, I just…"
"You don't have to apologize," Rei said, almost reflexively. "But it's a big deal. You realize we'd been at it for six months and only had like two entries completed?"
Akari wilted slightly, feeling a stab of guilt.
"Sorry," she said.
"It's fine," Rei said. "Just—don't act like what you've done isn't important. Because it is. The pokédex is our life , Akari. Pokémon are dangerous, we'll never be able to learn enough about them to carve out a life here if we don't complete it."
Akari looked down at the table, feeling shame well in her.
"Sorry," she said again, feeling her eyes burn.
Absolutely not. She was not going to start crying at dinner . Instead, she buried herself in her potato mochi.
Next to her, Akari's cyndaquil Matchbox looked up from his dinner of lightly toasted berries and nuzzled against her in concern.
Akari nearly jumped at the sudden contact, but relaxed when she saw who it was.
On Akari's other side, her buizel Brooke and her eevee Aurora also came over to try and offer some comfort.
"Hey, wait—Akari, I didn't mean…" Rei said, trailing off. "It's fine, okay? No one's mad."
"Righto!" Laventon said. "There's no need to beat yourself up about it, my girl! Though, I must admit, Rei is correct. What we do is important. We wouldn't have you do it if it didn't matter. Take pride in your accomplishments!"
Akari just nodded. Rei and Laventon kept telling her about how talented she was at research and catching Pokémon—and battling with them—but it didn't feel like she was.
She was nothing special. She couldn't even craft a single pokéball. Rei could attest to that.
She probably just got lucky with catching Pokémon. And in Pokémon battles, it was the Pokémon doing the work, right? So it was her Pokémon's battle prowess. Nothing to do with her.
But she wasn't going to verbally disagree. She knew better.
Besides, this was like a dream come true. She'd finally gotten what she'd dreamed of for years. Away from the Thalers.
Or rather, been sent away from them by whatever was on the other end of her Arc Phone with nothing but an old Okinawan cookbook she'd inherited from her dead parents.
(The being that sent her here had called themself "Arceus" when she texted them her first night here; they seemed to be a god of some kind.)
Except—even after a month here, it was just…too good to be true. Too much like the daydreams she'd had on her rare downtime in the Thalers' basement. Too much like the dreams she used to have (granted she'd never dreamed up fantasy creatures with superpowers). Here, no one shouted at her or hit her.
Maybe this was some kind of elaborate joke. Perhaps they were trying to lure her into a false sense of security, then—
Don't be stupid , Akari told herself. If this were a joke, intended to make her relax before yanking the rug out from under her and treating her how she'd been treated her whole life (that she remembered, anyway), then it was one hell of a long time to keep it up.
She needed to chill the fuck out. If Laventon or Rei or anyone here was going to treat her like the Thalers had, wouldn't they have done so by now? Besides, it wasn't like the Thalers had ever even pretended to be kind to her. Well, Constance hadn't. Scott had barely acknowledged her existence.
So why couldn't she just…relax? Let herself enjoy the fact that she'd traveled to a dream come true? Hell, logically she knew Laventon would not hurt her; but she was still afraid he would if she upset him.
Before she could think on this further, however, she noticed that Rei and Laventon were talking; Akari shut her thoughts out and tried to focus on their conversation.
"—my mom's had her hands full lately," Rei was saying. Rei's mother was a member of the Medical Corps. "She told me about that frenzied Kleavor. Some of our people went to investigate this morning, and now…well, that Kleavor's supposed to be even stronger than an alpha, isn't he?"
"Kleavor?" Akari asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of her voice.
"Kleavor is an evolved form of scyther," Laventon told her. Akari didn't question what a "scyther" was. After all, she was supposed to be from a world familiar with Pokémon. She should pretend she knew what some Pokémon were. She'd probably find out at some point, anyway, given the mission that Arceus had given her. "This particular kleavor was reportedly struck by lightning, correct? I heard he has been behaving erratically since then."
"Erratically how?" Akari asked.
"He's been…attacking everything in sight, supposedly," Laventon said. "Be it people or Pokémon. It's quite…"
Laventon trailed off.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Akari questioned.
"No one knows how to fix this," Rei said. "That kleavor doesn't usually attack unprovoked—"
Like Wyrdeer, then , Akari thought.
"—but he sent a team of our strongest Security Corps members to the infirmary. Honestly, given how strong he is, it's surprising they weren't killed."
Killed…she'd been told Pokémon were dangerous before, but she hadn't believed it until she stumbled upon the alpha rapidash in Horseshoe Plains. This was bad.
A pit formed in Akari's stomach.
Maybe this world isn't as perfect as I thought…
The moment she thought that, she felt a wave of revulsion and shame for being so damn selfish. She was not the priority here. Kleavor was—along with the people and Pokémon in danger.
"And he's stronger than an alpha?" Akari asked Rei.
"Very much so," Rei answered. "I'm certainly glad I haven't run into him."
Akari felt a sudden desire to see Kleavor for herself—if she observed it, maybe she could find a way to help. And ideally, she wouldn't have to face Kleavor at all, what with him landing people in the infirmary and all.
And if this Kleavor was really this strong, then even just observing it would be fascinating .
"Now, now," Laventon chided Rei. "You forget that the strength of Pokémon are key items of information that we of the Survey Corps are duty bound to research. And since this perilous work of ours calls for a clear head and fighting-fit physique... I do believe a good night's sleep is in order after this fine meal."
Akari and Rei took the hint; they finished up dinner and turned in for the night.
Two days later, Akari was standing at Grand Tree Arena, watching photons of light lift up off and Kleavor and dissipating. Her body felt heavy, and her ears were still ringing from Kleavor's awful, pain-filled cries.
And she felt lightheaded—not an unusual sensation. She sometimes got lightheaded just from standing up.
The quelling itself mainly consisted of her throwing balms made of Kleavor's favorite food—her idea, since no one could get near him—and battling him.
It was a lot harder than it sounded, what with Kleavor swinging the axes he had instead of hands at her in a confused, furious rage. Though due to the fact that he'd been glowing, it was relatively easy to spot him around the arena.
And Rei hadn't been exaggerating; Kleavor was strong. Stronger than the alpha kricketune she'd defeated for Mai of the Diamond Clan, easily. Probably even stronger than the alpha rapidash that nearly obliterated her with a Hyper Beam that one time.
Matchbox had done his best, and got a few attacks in, but went down—she'd recalled Matchbox before he could get further injured, and sent out Brooke.
And where Matchbox had let out a nervous squeak at the sight of Kleavor, Brooke snarled back.
Brooke was headstrong and stubborn; Matchbox was shy and meek (though still enjoyed battling).
Brooke had been able to defeat Kleavor; her water-type attacks seemed to do a lot of damage. Perhaps a type advantage? Looking at Kleavor now that he wasn't glowing, he appeared to be a bug-type. But Akari had been here long enough to know that some Pokémon had two types instead of just one.
Akari cautiously approached him, taking out a super potion. She applied the super potion, wincing as the motion made pain shoot down her side.
Glancing down, Akari saw blood leaking through the left side of her Survey Corps uniform.
Oh—that's not good, Akari thought in a deadpan.
Kleavor stood up, and let out a happy cry. He looked much more content now then he had the entire time he'd been attacking her.
He handed her a slab of light green stone; other than the color, it was just like one she'd received from Wyrdeer earlier that day at Deertrack Heights, down to having writing on the back. The slab of stone thrummed with a strangely familiar sort of power—just like the one Wyrdeer had gifted her.
Kleavor scurried off deeper into the woods.
Lian and Irida approached.
"Wh—what happened?" Lian asked. "Some kind of light erupted from Kleavor's body!"
They turned to look at her; Akari tried not to shrink back.
"Akari, you're bleeding," Irida said sharply.
Akari flinched at her tone.
"Sorry," she said. "I'll take care of it."
" Sorry ?" Irida repeated, sounding incredulous. "Why are you apologizing?"
"I…um…well, I should try not to get blood on the ground here," Akari mumbled. "It's important to your clan, right?"
"That hardly matters when you're injured ," Irida said.
Akari blinked, a bit confused. Irida didn't even like her. When meeting with her and Adaman in Kamado's office, Akari remembered very well Irida's dislike of her.
"You'd send this stranger, this little girl who supposedly fell from the rift from who knows where, to study Kleavor? This twelve-year-old newcomer with no experience?" Irida questioned. "I thought you had to be fifteen to join the Survey Corps?"
Despite herself, Akari felt a sudden stab of irritation.
"I am fifteen," Akari lied.
Irida hadn't even wanted her help, Akari recalled, bitterness and anger mixing together, mingling with the fear that was ever present. She'd just dismissed her—another reminder of how insignificant she was.
Worthless , a voice in her head that sounded like Constance hissed. Who'd want your help ?
Irida clearly disliked her. So why was it such a big deal to her that Akari was injured? Irida reached towards her; Akari shied away and sat against a tree. She peeled back her Survey Corps uniform. There was a gash in her side, standing out against her brown skin, but it didn't look too deep.
Akari quickly bandaged the wound.
"Has Lord Kleavor been calmed from his frenzy?" Lian asked as Akari pulled her uniform back on.
"I think so," Akari said. "Considering he didn't try to decapitate me when I healed him."
"Does this confirm that the strange lightning was to blame for Kleavor's unnatural power?" Irida asked.
Akari hesitated, then realized Irida was expecting her to respond.
"Um…probably," she muttered. "I don't know what else it could be…"
Talking to Lian—who was even younger than Akari herself was—was a lot easier than talking to Irida.
"Wait," Lian said, putting his hands on his hips and looking annoyed. "If the lightning from the rift is responsible, wouldn't that make it a gift from Almighty Sinnoh? If Almighty Sinnoh does dwell beyond the space-time rift, then we shouldn't have interfered at all!"
Akari didn't dare say that if Almighty Sinnoh had wanted to stop the three of them, they easily could.
"Kleavor was suffering," Akari said meekly. "I…I had to—"
"Calm yourself, Lian," Irida said. "Remember that the Lord of the Woods has long been our protector, keeping the Pearl Clan safe from dangerous Pokémon that might harm us. Would power sent by the true almighty Sinnoh have driven Kleavor to turn on us and attack people and Pokémon indiscriminately? I doubt it. What Akari accomplished just now—it needed to be done."
Lian looked at the ground.
"I'm glad we could settle this without further strife with the Diamond Clan or the Galaxy Team," Irida said, and then turned back to Akari. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine," Akari said. "You don't need to worry about me."
Irida didn't look convinced, but nodded.
"Well, if you're sure," Irida said, doubt coloring her voice. "Please, I can't thank you enough for what you've done for the Pearl Clan. Take these as an apology for being so rude to you yesterday."
Irida held out three large yellow berries; Akari hesitated. What if it was a trap? Maybe Irida was testing her, and would yank them away and yell that she'd never share food with her, then—
Are you gonna panic like this every time an adult tries to give you something? A voice in her head asked snidely. Stop being so pathetic.
Akari swallowed; averting her gaze, she cautiously reached for the berries.
Nothing terrible happened, just like how no adults had hurt her or yelled at her the entire time she'd been in Hisui.
She needed to stop being so damn paranoid. Hisui was…well, it wasn't like North Dakota.
Next to Akari, Brooke was staring intently at her.
"You're welcome," Akari said to Irida, her voice coming out higher than a mumble this time. Effectively an improvement. "Um—I'm really glad Kleavor's okay."
"Hmmm—yes, I suppose you're both right," Lian said. I apologize for my outburst just now. I'm grateful for what you've done for my lord."
Akari felt her face grow warm.
"It's—" Akari cut herself off. She remembered what Rei had said a couple days ago about not underselling her accomplishments—that what she did was important. And even Akari herself couldn't deny how important it had been to quell Kleavor's frenzy. Both for Kleavor's sake, and everyone else's.
"Like I said," Akari said, offering a small smile. "I just wanted to help Kleavor. And now everyone else will be safe, too. People and Pokémon."
Brooke was now tugging incessantly at her leggings; Akari gave her one of the berries, and Brooke happily bit into it.
And with everything wrapped up, Akari pulled out her Celestica Flute and called Wyrdeer. It had been given to her earlier that day by Adaman. While Akari didn't think she deserved such a gift, but given it allowed her to call upon Wyrdeer, she'd accepted it as it allowed her to help Kleavor faster. Not to mention she'd wound up having far more energy to save Kleavor, since she hadn't had to walk all the way to Grand Tree Arena.
When Wyrdeer arrived, she climbed onto his back, and they headed back in the direction of the Fieldlands Camp—and Jubilife Village.
By the time Akari reached Jubilife, it was the early hours of the morning. This suited her just fine. Even ditching the worn and threadbare clothes she'd arrived in Hisui wearing hadn't stopped the staring. And it certainly hadn't stopped the whispers.
Do they all seriously have nothing better to do than gawk at and whisper about some kid? God they all need hobbies, Akari thought with no small amount of bitterness.
She hated it when they whispered about her. Hated it. It made her feel naked, exposed, and—and it made her want to hide herself away. Then, at least, she'd feel safe. But since there was nowhere out here to hide—at least nowhere that wouldn't make her look like a fool—she always had to settle for making herself seem smaller.
It felt like she was…some kind source of entertainment for a bored town.
While Akari did not hate the villagers—in fact, she wanted them to like her, and was more than happy to do favors for them. She just wished they'd mind their own damn business.
Of course, Akari knew full well rural villages were just like this, having lived in a rural town in North Dakota. That didn't mean she liked it.
As she headed in past the gate, she spotted Volo up ahead; he was the only one out at this hour. She briefly wondered what he was doing here, but then remembered that the other day, he'd gone to explore some ruins.
While Akari had briefly wondered what a merchant would want with ruins, she'd shrugged it off as a hobby.
"Oh—hi, Volo," Akari greeted him as Volo approached.
"I saw the light fading into the sky on my way back to the village," he said. "You must have quelled the lord Pokémon!" He eyed one of the stones sticking out of her uniform. She'd been using them to apply pressure to her injury. "And what do you have there?" Volo said, eyes lighting up. "Could it be—? Ah!" he cried, doing a double take. "Those are two of the fabled plates of old! Please, let me have a look!"
Akari complied, and considered it a victory when she didn't even flinch. Of course, this was Volo. He'd been nothing but kind to her. He'd walked her through his first battle, he gave her gifts, he'd apologized for startling her that one time, he'd been nothing but kind—he was an adult that was harmless. A rarity, in Akari's life experience.
"There's an inscription on the back of both of them," Akari said.
"You are correct!" Volo said. "Let's see—if I'm not mistaken, I believe these are the Mind Plate and the Insect Plate. This one says The Original One breathed alone before the universe came. " Volo's gaze shifted to the Insect Plate. "And this one says where all creation was born, that is the being's place of origin. " He looked at her. "They seem to be phrases from a very old myth. How did you come across these?"
"Wyrdeer and Kleavor gave them to me," Akari said. If anything, Volo looked even more fascinated. In fact, she'd never seen him look so excited. Hell, Volo's excitement was starting to infect her as well.
"That is quite something, indeed," he said. "My heart is practically racing with excitement! It is my guess that you will find more plates like this scattered across Hisui!"
"You think so?" Akari asked, feeling her face heat up. From what Volo had said, these…plates were rare and almost impossible to find. Did he really thought she'd find more?
"I do!" Volo said. "I imagine it wouldn't be difficult at all for a talented young Survey Corps member like yourself."
Akari felt herself flushing more; she knew Volo was probably just being kind. If he hadn't talked her through her first battle, she would have lost.
Still, she didn't say this out loud. It was clear these plates were important to Volo, and she didn't want to end up unintentionally offending him by claiming what she did wasn't that special.
"Um—thank you," Akari said. "It's really nice of you to say."
"Because it's true!" Volo said. "I wouldn't lie to you."
Akari let a small smile cross her face as something fluttered in her chest. It felt…nice. Not very familiar, but nice.
"If we were to gather them and decipher the scripts on them, we may uncover something absolutely amazing! The mysteries of the past! Oh, how they tickle my curiosity! What a joy to be alive in such times! Well, it's late and I must be on my way. Until next time!"
He handed her the plates back and turned to leave.
"Um—wait!" Akari burst out. Volo stopped, looking puzzled. Akari plunged her hand into her satchel and took out a honey cake.
"Um—it's not much, but I wanted to thank you. For always being so nice to me," Akari said, averting her gaze. "So here."
Volo stared at her for a moment; Akari felt dread claw up her throat like vomit—but then he smiled and took the honey cake.
"Thank you, Akari! I appreciate your generosity!" he said, and walked out the gate.
Akari relaxed. It was fine. Volo… appreciated her. A warm, buoyant feeling began to swell in her like a balloon.
And it wasn't just Volo. Laventon and Rei seemed to appreciate her. And even Irida and Lian seemed to be grateful to her. It was…Hisui was still a paradise, even with what had happened to Kleavor.
Besides, it's not like she'd ever have to do that again.
With that thought, Akari headed into her quarters.
I tried to balance Akari's meek nature with the repressed anger and bitterness she has. I hope it's not too terrible...I don't usually post stuff with OCs/OC adjacent characters.
As for what Akari wound up telling people...she told them she's from a world with Pokémon (which is, of course, a lie), but hasn't ever owned a Pokémon before.
If anyone's curious, here's Akari's current team:
Matchbox - Cyndaquil (M)
Brooke - Buizel (F)
Aurora - Eevee (F)