Arc 1: Otherworldly Roots
Two
Solana was flying on a flygon once again. However this time, a second person was riding on it as well. Albeit his form was way off.
Joseph was making sure to keep a small distance from Solana. He did not want to cause any potential misunderstandings. However, due to how small a flygon is, he was hugging its tail, praying to not fall off. Lunick mentioned right before taking off that the flight did not take long, and offered to take Joseph. However, Solana butted in, saying she should be the one offering a ride as a method for apologizing.
Lunick agreed and they had taken off a few minutes back. The two of them obviously were not aware of Joseph's thought process, and just chalked the way he was riding the flygon as him never having proper training.
After about 25 minutes of gripping for his life, Joseph felt the flygon descending. A few minutes later, the three of them landed. Joseph immediately jumped off the flygon.
"Thank god!" He started kissing the ground, "Man I have never been happier seeing some grass."
Solana and Lunick once again gave a confused gaze towards Joseph, until a voice unknown to Joseph spoke up.
"Well well, who is this fellow here?"
A woman with blonde hair and orange eyes started walking over towards the three.
"Can you two care to explain?"
The woman glanced over to Lunick and Solana.
Solana stepped forward, "Hikari, this man here is Joseph Baller and he is an Ultra Beast."
The blonde woman, Hikari, immediately turned towards Joseph and started staring at him. She seemed to be sizing him up.
"Uh hi. As you heard, I'm Joseph and I am not from here."
Joseph kept it short and sweet. He was, frankly, a little intimidated by Hikari.
Hikari then reached towards her tool belt and pulled out a device that looked like a blood sugar measuring machine. This machine was an inferior version of the Ultra Sensor. However, it still did the same job. Its main drawback was not being able to detect Ultra Wormhole Energy from the air. It needed a subject's blood to work.
Hikari then walked over to Joseph and gestured to him to stick out his index finger. To which he complied. She then took the device and pressed a button.
"Ow! What was that for?" Joseph was not really hurt, he just was a little confused about why she took his blood.
After a few seconds, the device glowed green. Indicating that Joseph was indeed an Ultra Beast.
Nodding, Hikari put away the device and then started speaking properly.
"Sorry for that. I just had to verify if you are truly an Ultra Beast."
Joseph understood why she took a sample and nodded back towards her.
Hikari continued, "Solana, can you escort him to room B5? I feel our guest has had a long day."
Solana gave a thumbs up and urged Joseph to follow her.
On the way to the room, Joseph attempted some small talk.
"So, that woman there is the Hikari you mentioned earlier. Is she some kind of official here?"
"Hikari Rosschild is the current leader of all the ranger branches in the Fiore region. She replaced Spenser after his…death."
Joseph realized he once again reached a sensitive spot for Solana. But he kept going with the conversation.
"Back when you were yelling at me you mentioned some group called the Alliance. If I am going to be here for the near future, can you enlighten me on what exactly is going on here?"
Solana breathed slowly and responded, "For the past 5 years we have been at war with the regions of the Alliance. That group consists of regions that believe that pokemon should be allowed to be caught with devices called pokeballs. While here, we are called the Confederacy and our regions made it illegal to capture pokemon. We believe that coexistence with them completely is the best way to live."
Joseph correlated this with the knowledge he previously had about pokemon. In the Ranger games, there was indeed a lack of pokeballs. The way the rangers operated was befriending pokemon naturally, and at times asking for their help with capture stylers.
"So how are you guys exactly fighting? From the looks of it, it would seem one-sided if they can capture pokemon and you guys can't."
"We are holding them off with sheer manpower and creativity now. They have numbers, we have ingenuity."
Solana answered with complete honesty until she saw their destination.
"Anyway, enough of that. Here is your room. Please get some rest and I will get you later."
Solana ushered Joseph into his room and then she walked away.
Joseph's room was basic. It had a bed, a desk, a computer, and an empty notebook. Joseph decided to not research about the world just yet and went straight to bed. After lying for a few minutes, he fell asleep.
XxXxXxX
Waking up, Joseph spent a few seconds collecting his thoughts. In the span of half a day, he went from playing video games in his room to being transported to a new world.
Knowing that he could not spend time lollygagging, he immediately turned on the computer in his room. Even though he had basic knowledge of pokemon itself, he had no idea about the nature of this world specifically. When he looked at recent news his eyes widened in shock.
"This headline…it is wrong. Why is it saying this?"
The headline read Inspection Crews Once Again Dead in Fiore.
This article gave a story saying that the Alliance, following the destruction of the Fiore region 5 years ago, once again sent a scout team to attempt to salvage any possible remnants of technology in the region in the hope of repurposing it.
"But this information is wrong. What is going on?"
Joseph was perplexed. He was in the Fiore region. So why was there an article stating that the region was destroyed? It was not adding up.
Joseph's door then swung open, revealing Solana.
"Joseph, are you awake yet? Hikari summons you."
Solana then saw Joseph on the computer in his room and the article he was looking at.
"Tch. Those bastards are at it again aren't they? Spreading fake news and indoctrinating the common people of the Alliance."
Solana seemed to know the answer to what Joseph was pondering about right before.
"Can I ask you what the meaning of this is?"
Joseph attempted to extract some information from Solana. The conflicting narratives made him worried. He had a gut feeling that this was some cover-up story, but he did not want to believe anything so horrible could be happening.
"Do not worry," Solana replied, "This was just why Hikari was summoning you."
She then beckoned Joseph to follow her and the two walked in silence. Joseph took note of the rooms he was passing. Each door looked identical to the next. However, Solana stopped at a set of double doors with ornate decorations on them.
"Hikari is waiting."
Solana then waved and started walking away.
Joseph took hold of the door handles and opened the doors.
Sitting on a chair was Hikari. She smiled and pointed to a nearby chair. Gesturing him to sit down.
"Joseph. I am about to give you the history of what happened in the last 5 years. You seem to be a perceptive individual. You looked at the recent news, haven't you?"
Joseph nodded, "I am confused, why do the headlines give clearly false information?"
Hikari did a dramatic slam on the table with her fists.
"Well isn't that just it? I assume you have reached a conclusion and what I say will only reinforce what you thought. We here, the regions part of the Confederacy, are all considered destroyed in the public eye. Ever since the sighting in Arceus 5 years ago in Kalos. The opinions of the regions in the Alliance suddenly became hostile towards us! They created a story saying that Arceus brought forward judgment to our regions and wiped us off the map!"
Hikari had a look in her eyes. It was a mix of sadness and anger. Joseph was able to put the puzzle pieces together and reached a conclusion.
"I assume Arceus gave some kind of divine revelation to the people of the other regions and then they slowly tried getting rid of their existences?"
Hikari nodded approvingly, "Yes. Our relationships with the other regions have always been strained due to our perspective on the relationships between humans and pokemon. But this involvement of Arceus gave them the ammunition to finally erase us from the minds of their citizens."
Hikari then paused and continued, "I gave you this knowledge because I want you to help us."
Joseph was confused. He was just some normal person. Why would she want his help?
"How could I be of any use?" Joseph then pointed all over himself, "As you can see I am a completely average person."
Hikari leaned towards Joseph. A sinister glint in her eyes appeared.
"You are anything but normal Joseph," Hikari then flicked his forehead, "You are from a completely different world. You are a human. Yet you have Ultra Wormhole energy. In a scientific case, you would be considered an Ultra Beast. You must be here for a reason. And I will damn well take advantage of whatever I can take."
Joseph heard the desperation in her voice. He remembered what Solana said before. On how they were outnumbered and were only alive due to clever tricks. However, even he knew clever tricks would not always win. To Hikari, Joseph may be just what they needed to tip the scales of the war.
Hikari cleared her throat and gave a bold statement, "Joseph, I want you to go spy on the Alliance and give us information about what is going on there."
Joseph was perplexed. Even if he got to the region, why would anyone be willing to give him information?
"But why would they give me any information? I am just a random boy with no affiliations."
Hikari grinned, "You being unknown is exactly what we need. There being no records of you means there is no possibility of getting tracked back to us. And for why they will give you information. It is simple. I want you to take on the gym challenge and use strength to rise in the ranks until you get high enough to be given confidential information. The people there put strength above everything."
Joseph understood what she was saying. He was indeed someone unknown to the world. However, he had no knowledge of how pokemon battles worked in this world. He was not confident he could take this challenge and win.
"But I have no idea about pokemon battles. How do you expect me to rise up?"
Hikari expected this question, "Well you see, us rangers have no experience with pokemon battles. I will offer you training on normal combat to keep you alive as this is a dangerous world. However, learning about battling is something you must learn by yourself. We cannot partake in it."
Joseph nodded. He was indebted to these people and decided to agree to her proposal.
"Alright then fine."
Hikari grinned, "Then if you may, please return here in 3 hours."
She then walked out of the room, compulsing Joseph to return to his quarters.
XxXxXxX
When the time passed, Joseph made his way over to the room where he talked with Hikari earlier. Joseph spent the last 3 hours understanding basic pokemon battle form. Even watching some champion battles. It seemed in this world the trainers were at risk just as pokemon. Attacking trainers were allowed and they commonly ran around the battlefield. In short, pokemon battles were more like duels.
When Joseph opened the doors once again, he was greeted with an unfamiliar face and Hikari.
"Joseph, this is Caesar. He will be your training instructor."
Hikari introduced Caesar to Joseph who then walked forward and offered a handshake which Joseph accepted.
"Pleasure to finally see you in person. As Ms. Rosschild already said–I am Caesar and I will train you in preparation for your espionage mission."
Caesar then handed a coiled chain with a handle that had a button to Joseph. He immediately recognized what this was: a whip.
"Wait. I am supposed to train with this?"
Joseph questioned their methods. To him, a weapon such as a gun would be more effective. A whip seemed outdated to him.
Hikari answered Joseph's question, "Yes. You may think a long-ranged weapon would be more effective. However, when it's a matter of life or death, the trickiest person lives."
Hikari then grabbed the whip and pressed the button on it. It immediately stiffened up and the chains retracted. Leaving the metal bits to cleanly connect together and form a sword.
Joseph internally compared this weapon to the whip sword from a certain game series.
"As you can see, this whip can also become a sword. Leaving you with more options in your arsenal. If used properly, you will become one of the trickiest men ever."
Caesar gave his reasoning on why he decided to train Joseph to use this weapon.
"Alright fine, let's get started."
Joseph agreed and accepted the weapon. The path of mastery does not wait for slackers.
Meanwhile, outside the base, Zossie was spying on Joseph through the windows. Once again streaming what is going on to Ultra Megalopolis.
"It seems he has become an asset to the mission of the rangers. They seem to be preparing him for combat. Perhaps he will soon be involved in a covert mission."
Zossie inspected Joseph closely. While the residents of Ultra Megalopolis were not on either side of the war, even they were able to see how having Joseph as a potential ally could be useful. He was an irregular to them. Never before had an Ultra Beast shown the same intelligence as humans, much less look exactly like one.
"Remember Zossie," a voice came from the transponder, "You are to inspect his every move and provide it with us. It seems as just you guessed, he is preparing for a mission. Do not lose him. Follow him wherever he goes."
"Sir yes sir!"
Zossie saluted to the words spoken and kept watching Joseph training. While he was fumbling around with the whip he was slowly gaining some proficiency.
She then giggled, "You truly are an irregular aren't you?"
I am continuing my motivation and wrote another chapter. I want to get to the early chapters quickly before I find a proper schedule. Remember to share, fav, follow, review, etc. Cya later.