Draco: One of the best things about writing a story is getting to mock yourself. I raised all the Ranger rescues from Almia and Oblivia, sent them forward to Gen VI, and will regularly eat Mulch when I fight friends without them. Lucas having a party of Legendary Pokémon doesn't make him a badass, it makes him a bot.

Pokémon and protagonist © Nintendo. Character designs © Koei. Ransei © somewhere in the middle.

Resort Area: A Land of Trainers

Evia opened her eyes.

Her body felt unusually heavy, and there was a slight pain in her head; her vision also seemed to be clouded in some way. After a moment, she realized that her eyes were fine - the sight above her was simply an unfamiliar ceiling. Confused, she reached for her head, wondering if she could at least feel some mark of an impact to explain the headache.

The armoured gauntlet on her arm interrupted that train of thought.

The Warlord shot upright in a shock, looking down over herself; she was dressed for war, clad in her armour but without her robe. She was sitting on a canopy bed in a rather luxurious-looking space; the size suggested a one-room home, though the style of both the building and the furnishings were of a design she was not familiar with. Someone was sitting on one of two sofas around a coffee table - a girl in a black-and-pink minidress, with dark blue hair of shoulder length that was bound at the sides of her face with golden clasps.

The sound of Evia's rise drew the girl's attention, and she got to her feet. "You're awake. Thank Antimatter."

"Who are you?" Evia's voice felt a bit rough, suggesting she'd been asleep for quite some time. "No, before that - where am I?"

"You're in the Battle Zone, in Sinnoh," the girl replied. "My name is Dawn."

"Sinnoh?"

Dawn's gaze fell. "...The region divided by mountain."

Evia started.

"On which note..." Dawn looked up to her. "You must be Evia, the Warlord. From Ransei."

"Then... you're Manaphy's 'mama'," Evia realized.

Dawn nodded. "That's right. You have her to thank for still being alive - she found you and that child drifting on Route 230, and kept you from drowning long enough for Lucas and Barry to find you."

"Child?" Evia echoed. "Wait, Kaguya-!"

"She's okay," Dawn assured as Evia made to rise from the bed. "Her and her Kirlia both. They woke up about an hour ago, but she didn't want to talk to us. When she got hungry, Lucas took her out to get a meal."

A growl emerged from Evia's stomach at the mention of food. "...How long was I out?"

"We found you in the water yesterday," Dawn replied, "mid-afternoon."

The sound of a door opening drew their attention; a boy stepped inside, dressed in a heavy blue jacket over a red top and black trousers. A head of short, slate-gray hair was mostly hidden by a red hat bearing a purple emblem. "We're back."

The girl at his side quickly sprinted forward. "Mama Evia!"

"Kaguya!" Evia moved off the bed, meeting her daughter and lowering down for a relieved hug. "Thank the Alpha you're alright." Her protective gear was nowhere to be found, but Kaguya herself seemed to be in fine health.

"I did say she was okay," Dawn protested.

The boy shook his head. "Come on, Dawn," he defended. "We both know that doesn't make it any less of a relief to see it for yourself." Then, when mother and daughter finally parted; "My name's Lucas. It's nice to finally meet you, Evia."

"You, as well," Evia returned. "Manaphy mentioned you wanted to meet. I just wish it had been under kinder circumstances."

Lucas sighed. "Could you tell us what happened?"

"...I don't know what happened," Evia insisted. "One minute, Kaguya and I were sparring, and then the castle shook. I tried to grab her and Kirlia and bring them outside, but there was this bright light, and a sound like..."

"Like ice," Kaguya spoke up. "It sounded kind of like when you break ice, but... noisier."

"Crystals, maybe?" Dawn wondered. "Does the castle have any sort of crystalline fixtures?"

"No," Evia insisted, "not in Aurora." She sighed. "What in the world happened?"

Kaguya stepped forward. "Um, Lady Dawn... Do you know where our weapons are?"

Dawn double-took. "Weapons? Uh, right, Warriors."

"I didn't see any weapons when we found you," Lucas admitted. "Manaphy's searching to see if you were the only ones adrift; when she gets back, we can check Route 230 again in case they sunk."

Kaguya's face fell. "Mine was just bamboo," she muttered. "It wouldn't have sunk."

Lucas double-took. "Bamboo? Maybe I did see it, then. I didn't realize it was a weapon - looked more like some kind of walking stick."

A smile spread across the little one's face as he stepped outside; Evia set a hand on Kaguya's shoulders. "Let's go out with him," she prompted. "No swinging your weapons around inside, unless the room is made for it, remember?"

"Uh-huh."

+x+x+x+

Kaguya's training spear was outside, hidden in the corner of the villa's yard behind a couple of Berry trees. Evia's robe was also outside, hanging to dry; as she was putting it on, Dawn spoke up again. "What do you plan to do?"

"We need to find our way back to Ransei," Evia admitted. "If Oichi didn't end up here with us, she must still be in Aurora, dealing with whatever has happened. I can't leave her to deal with it on her own." She sighed. "The only problem is..."

"...finding someone who will take you there," Dawn observed. "Most of the interregional services I've found haven't even heard of Ransei."

"And for good reason," Evia admitted. "Ransei is..." She glanced around the Resort Area. "...very different. Everything I've read about Trainer lands, and I still wasn't prepared for something like this."

Lucas crossed his arms. "From what Manaphy told us, a land of Warriors would be just as strange to us," he admitted. "The way she's described it makes it sound so... old-fashioned. Trading in gold, kingdoms with a ruler, and the whole thing about armed combat... It sounds more like a fairy tale than another region. There's a cautionary tale in Canalave about a man with a sword and what he does to wild Pokémon."

Evia narrowed her gaze. "What are you implying?"

The expression that appeared on Lucas' face told her he hadn't really thought about what he was implying.

Dawn only shook her head. "We're not passing judgement," she insisted. "It's just so different. We're not completely unfamiliar with regions where there are no Trainers like us. Fiore, Almia, and Oblivia, for example - Pokémon live alongside people, but not for battle, only for companionship. Enlisting a Pokémon's help in a crisis is the domain of Rangers, who work to defend nature. But the rest of it isn't all that different from a region of Trainers. Almia's got a similar level of technology to what's available in Sinnoh, a similar scale of cities. People in Ranger regions still make friends with Pokémon, even if they're not a Ranger; just like people in Trainer regions can still make friends with Pokémon without having to be a Trainer."

"People in Ransei who aren't Warriors can still make friends with Pokémon," Kaguya proclaimed, drawing everyone's attention to find her and Kirlia approaching. "They don't have to have a Link to be friends!"

"I'd have to take a closer look to be sure," Evia admitted, "but I don't think our technology is on too different a level, either. We have TVs, we have video games, we have computers and video cameras and security systems. Most of Violight is built over stones that generate natural electricity, and they put it to good use. And Valora is basically made of machinery. Even our weapons - some of us are satisfied with swords and spears, but Magoichi is a crack shot with a rifle, and I'm pretty sure Ginchiyo has tasers built into her gauntlets."

"Really?" Lucas mused. "The way Manaphy described it made it sound a lot older than that. Old-fashioned towns around castles and everything."

Evia crossed her arms. "You might say each kingdom's style of architecture has stagnated a bit," she admitted, "but we're not just throwing it together and hoping it sticks. Software to draw up design plans, research to find the most suitable materials, power tools to make sure everything is uniform. The design might be old-fashioned, but the way it's made isn't too different from what you've got."

"And what about the region being seventeen different nations?" Dawn asked. "How does you being a Warlord affect the people of Aurora?"

Kaguya was the one who spoke up. "Mama Evia isn't making everyone in the kingdom do everything the way she wants it," she insisted. "She's just the person to turn to when something goes wrong. If someone does something bad, she gets to make the last pick on how they get punished. If she wants someone's shop to get better, she gives them the money to help it happen."

"That's right," Evia confirmed. "I'm not a tyrant - no Warlord is. And those that try to be usually get an army marching on them. Being the top of the food chain doesn't mean you're eating everything down to the bottom rung."

"Then why the whole 'kingdoms to conquer' culture?" Dawn asked.

Evia's gaze fell. "That's... a very long story that might be better told over a meal in private."

Lucas narrowed his eyes at her. "Huh? Why in private? I don't-"

Dawn's hand on his chest cut him off. "...I think I know why."

+x+x+x+

They elected to save the history lesson for later; Dawn put on a heavy jacket of her own, and they picked up a meal to go for Evia before heading out onto Route 230. Manaphy was indeed there, and reported no other sightings of people adrift around Sinnoh, whether her own or another's. The Sea Princess was very glad to see Evia and Kaguya awake, and was more than willing to go diving to look for the Warlord's sword and shield.

Kaguya and Kirlia elected to do some practice motions on the nearby trees; after a moment, Lucas spoke up. "Should I be concerned that there was only one Pokémon with you guys?"

"No, I don't think so," Evia assured him. "All my Link partners were with Oichi when I left. They'll be safe in Aurora." She sat back. "Well, maybe not 'safe', given what happened, but... in a position to defend themselves, at least."

"Who were your partners?" Dawn asked.

"Eevee," Evia replied. "Four of them, actually, but they've all evolved by now. Glaceon, Sylveon, Espeon, and Flareon."

"Four?" Dawn echoed. "Really? The way Manaphy described a Link, I thought it was a lot more..."

"Exclusive?"

Dawn's face turned red. "Well, when you put it like that, you make it sound like-"

Evia laughed. "It's not quite so strict as all that," she admitted. "Though a lot of Warriors might make it seem that way." She turned to the water again. "Every Warrior has a perfect partner - a species of Pokémon with which they can achieve a Perfect Link. But it's not as simple as being the first Pokémon you Link with; it's a lot more personal than that. And even if you think you've found it, it takes years of constant training and battle to reach the point where you can well and truly say that you're fully and completely synchronized."

She held a hand before her. "Most Warriors can forge at least a basic Link with a fairly broad variety of Pokémon. Unevolved Pokémon, at least; more mature stages can be more temperamental. But every Warrior will have better resonance with some species than others; usually, it divides along type lines, and you can feel more in-tune with some types than others."

"But what about the others?" Lucas asked. "What happens to the Pokémon you Link with, who you don't have that much resonance?"

Evia turned to him. "What happens to the Pokémon you catch in those balls?" she asked. "The ones you can't fight with?"

Lucas seemed surprised by the remark. "Well... that kind of depends on the Trainer," he admitted. "The Pokémon Storage System produces ideal environments for any Pokémon to reside in, so that's always an option, but most Trainers release the Pokémon they don't keep in their party."

"That kind of sums it up," Evia admitted. "If a Warrior forges a Link with a Pokémon and realizes it doesn't work out, they can choose to sever the Link with mutual understanding. Some let them stick around as non-combatants, but most let them return to the wild, or find someone else to take care of them. My second Link was with a Dratini who had wandered into Aurora; she helped with a few battles during my journey, but we didn't quite click together, so I left her with a friend in Dragnor."

"...Maybe Ransei's not so different as I thought," Lucas admitted.

Manaphy's cry drew their attention to the water as the Sea Princess surfaced. "Found!" she announced.

"My sword?!" Evia got to her feet.

"Mhm," Manaphy confirmed. "And shield. Deep, but easy reach. Can bring you."

"Excellent, thanks," Evia praised, taking her robe off. "I'll come with you."

Dawn started. "Wait, are you just going to-?"

SPLASH!

Draco: Ugh... every time I take these stories out of modern-day Ransei, I've gotta be careful to make sure the titles fit the character limit because the locations all have longer names than the existing kingdoms. At least once I get to actual cities, I'll be able to abbreviate to i.e. "Snowpoint" instead of using "Snowpoint City".