POOPOO CACA POOPOO! *vine boom*

I recommend you go read my other story, World of Light and Darkness if you want to know who the protagonist of this fic even is. (at least the first part of the second chapter (aka the "first chapter" besides the prologue), because I'm definitely not going to introduce him when I've already done that before (This takes place in another universe/timeline, whatever it's supposed to be, from that fic, and he's still 15 btw)

...If you're not going to, then at least know what he looks like: imgur com/a/qw8gd5c (just with black hair instead, I guess)

Also… I don't know a lot about Pokémon, so please forgive me if I make any mistakes ;-;

Chapter Date: October 30th


Chapter 1: A Poké-sekai Adventure?

-Real World-

United States of America

Akira's Home - Akira's Bedroom

November 23rd, 2022

10:13 PM

Akira just got his hands on the newly-released Pokémon Scarlet thanks to his… rather wealthy uncle buying him a physical copy of the game, and he was already playing it before going to sleep, only wearing a black shirt and olive green pants, his "Persona 5 Joker sleeping outfit cosplay" according to him.

This is practically his first time playing a mainline Pokémon game, since all the other times he had just gotten bored and stopped near the start, but he was sure he was gonna finish this one… and if he didn't, then too bad for him... he didn't really care.

He's obviously heard that it's pretty buggy and also kinda bad on other parts, but he really didn't mind at all, he is a lot easier to please when it comes to games than others, after all.

…No joke, his taste in media can be… quite questionable sometimes.

Enough talking about Akira's opinion on the game, though. He's at the part where you meet Nemona for the first time, since he's obviously just started.

("So this is that girl people have been talking about, huh?") Akira's thoughts spell out, his expression unchanging as he reads the cutscene's dialogue. ("Her name was… Ne… Nemona, right?") He asks himself, knowing that he could be quickly proven right or wrong in the next couple of dialogues.

("Yeah, I was right.") He thinks as Nemona introduces herself, and he's given a not so important choice.

Akira's expression turns into an unsure one as Nemona immediately brings up the topic of battling. ("Oh… she's that type of character.")

Eventually, he finally gets to choose his starter.

("Jokes on you, I knew what starter I was gonna choose the second I saw them in the trailer.") He smiles a bit as he looks at his choices, more specifically at one he likes way more than the other two.

("...There's not a single thought behind that stare, huh?") Akira chuckles as he looks at his starter for the game, Fuecoco… who stares up at him with his normal "no thoughts, head empty" look.

("I'm gonna name him… Pablo… because yes.") He stays silent for a bit, before responding to himself. ("...God, my humor is broken.") He sighs, shaking his head.

Nemona chooses Sprigatito instead of Quaxly as he originally thought she would. ("..Well, she is champion-ranked… apparently, so she'd definitely wanna go easy on me…") His mind then goes to the thought of his overall inexperience in these games as he mentions it, which makes him feel a bit embarrassed.

("A-Anyways…") He continues on with the game, until he finally regains control of his character and is prompted to go down to the beach to battle Nemona. ("I'll go check around the place…") He of course decides to first look around for stuff before doing so, getting the items along the way.

He arrives at the beach and is swiftly challenged to his first Pokémon battle of the game by Nemona on the platform down there after some more dialogue.

You are challenged by Pokémon Trainer Nemona!

Both trainers send out their respective starters on the field to start, and the battle UI pops up. He goes to the Battle menu and simply chooses Ember, because… duh.

The opposing Sprigatito used Leafage!

It dealt 3 damage to Fuecoco!

It's not very effective…

Fuecoco used Ember!

It dealt 12 damage to the opposing Sprigatito!

It's super effective!

Akira's expression turns into an unamused one as Nemona compliments him for that. ("...Yeah, uh... no comment.")

Either way, he proceeds to use the same move.

The opposing Sprigatito used Tail Whip!

Fuecoco's Defense fell!

Fuecoco used Ember!

It dealt 11 damage to the opposing Sprigatito!

The opposing Sprigatito fainted!

("That's the first battle done…") ...Right before Nemona proposes another one. ("...Second one already?")

…And then Professor Clavell appears. ("...Never mind.")

("Yay, Pokédex…") He narrows his eyes as his character's given a Pokédex. ("...I'm definitely not gonna get the sudden impulse to complete it, even though It'll be a complete pain in the ass.")

("Apparently there's a school and stuff in this game… wonder how that's gonna be like…") He continues his train of thought with another topic, until Quaxly follows Clavell. ("Bye-bye ducky...")

"...Alright, I guess that's enough for now…" Akira mutters to himself as he simply turns off the console right after the game saves, putting it down beside himself with a grunt, staring up at the roof.

("Well shit, now I'm feeling too lazy to get up…") He groans in annoyance at this, closing his eyes and staying still there for a minute or so.

("Whatever…") He reluctantly gets up and leaves his Switch on the desk, not bothering to do anything else before laying back down on the bed...

In which he finally falls asleep after an entire half an hour.

Akira's Dream

Falling… falling… and more falling…

The only thing Akira feels and knows is the feeling of an endless freefall.

"Where to?" You may ask…

Who knows?

But he certainly doesn't, nor even can.

In this dream of his, he's forgotten everything, except for how it feels to fall. Who he is, what he looks like and even how to move. All is secondary to the all-encompassing fall he's in.

…If you could ask him how it feels, he'd say it's rather blissful.

No worries, no thoughts, no satisfaction… no nothing but the fall.

Compared to the real world awaiting, this is… his perfect world, maybe?

He would rather be in this state than… continue.

But...

Not even does he know.

? ? ?

There is no music playing right now.

A strange sound can be heard up in the skies of this world.

Akira was woken up by the feeling of… wind brushing against his body with an odd intensity he's never experienced before.

He slowly opens his eyes to see what's going on… and finds himself falling from the sky.

His heart almost stops. ("Wait, what?!")

"Holy fuck!" He screams out as he finally realizes what's going on, looking up (or down, whatever you wanna call it right now) at the ground.

He can even see the entire-wherever he's at from this height, and he certainly would be admiring the view if it wasn't for the obvious fact of his quickly approaching demise.

His body instinctively tries to flail around in an attempt to try to grab onto "something"... whatever that's supposed to be in a situation like this, but it obviously does nothing.

His eyes are forced shut from the rough wind against his body. ("Why the hell am I here!? I was dreaming just a second ago!") His mind tries to find an answer to this as quickly as possible while he continues screaming, but nothing comes out.

("Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Why's this happening?!") Akira panics as everything he tries to do seems to not work, yet he still tries again and again.

He screams louder for what seems to be a miracle to occur as he sees the ground approaching when he tries opening his eyes… or well, him approaching the ground, but it of course does nothing.

His screams eventually die out as he realizes what's about to happen to him, but it's mostly due to the fact that he's starting to lose consciousness, and that would definitely be a blessing in disguise for him.

("I… this is it… isn't it?") He thinks to himself as he lowers his head, not wanting to see how close he is to dying anymore. ("...Just… keep your eyes closed… don't… open them...")

The only thing he can do now is just accept his fate and hope that he won't be awake to feel it.

Soon enough, his body finally starts to break down, his consciousness dwindling as he continues to fall to his death…

But the last thing he feels before that happens is… his fall stopping… rather prematurely.

-Pokémon-

Paldea

South Province (Area One)

Poco Path

Now Playing:

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - Poco Path

Somewhere else, Juliana is just on her way to her new school alongside a Sprigatito, her starter newly-obtained Pokémon.

She's of course catching any Pokémon she can, and the couple of seemingly random stuff left behind on the ground as well along the way.

She's definitely having some fun doing all this, but she also feels like she should hurry up in case she ends up being late… which she most likely is.

Either way, she was about to head over to the lighthouse, but she then heard someone calling out to her, to which she turned around to see who it was.

"Hey, Juliana!" Nemona calls out to her as she walks over. "You're getting the hang of how to catch Pokémon, right?"

"Yeah, it's pretty fun from what I can tell so far, but it is a bit harder than I expected…" Juliana chuckles a bit nervously, finally understanding how nerve-wracking it is to fail at an attempt when you're just about to run out of Pokéballs.

Nemona chuckles back at Juliana's response. "You can't really expect to be perfect at everything on the first try, now can you?"

"Yeah, I guess that's right…" Juliana mutters to herself, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Nemona shakes her head. "It's okay, you're just starting!" She reassures the other, giving her a warm smile. "You'll get used to it."

"Thanks…" Juliana nods, smiling back a little.

"Well, besides that, let me see… So far you've caught–"

"Guh-GYAOHHH!" A loud roar interrupts Nemona and startles the two of them.

There is no music playing right now.

"H-Huh!?" Juliana jumps from the loud noise, which definitely caught her way more off guard than it should have

"Whoa! What was that?" Nemona asks, both her and Juliana looking around to figure out where the sound came from.

"Go-ohhh…" Presumably the same creature groans, sounding way weaker than before.

"I've never heard that cry before! Could be some strong Pokémon or something!" Nemona says, already sounding excited for what it could be.

"I… don't even know what to say." Juliana sighs as she looks at the other girl act so energetic.

"I say we find whatever made that cry! Let's take a look around!" She continues, walking in the direction she thinks the sound came from. "Just be careful, there's a kinda unsafe cave not far from here, so steer clear. And I know your Rotom Phone can help you keep safe, but watch your step by these cliffs anyway, alright?" She warns Juliana, to which she nods.

"Wait, I think I found it!" Nemona calls out to Juliana, looking down to the beach below behind the wooden guardrail...

"Oh, already?" Juliana asks as she gets beside Nemona and looks down from where she's at, finding a peculiar scene

An unfamiliar Pokémon seems to have collapsed down on the shore and is being growled at by two Houndours while… holding an unconscious boy close to itself.

Both of the girls's eyes widen at the unexpected situation going on down there.

"What the…?" Juliana mutters under her breath in shock.

"Okay, now that's weird." Nemona puts a hand on her chin, as confused as the other despite her behavior.

The Houndours continued to growl and bark at the unknown Pokémon they had encountered, and they were both answered rather quickly.

"Ah-giiiYAAAHHH!" The creature roars at the smaller Pokémon threatening it, holding the boy closer.

With the roar, a part of the cliff next to the two students broke apart and fell down to the sand, surprising them.

"Woah!" Juliana's eyes widened at this, surprised by the power only its roar held. "It can even do that!?"

"Now that's what I call a cry!" Nemona shouts, feeling all riled up by the feat the Pokémon demonstrated.

Back down there, the volume of the roar started to stir the also unknown boy awake, considering how close he was to the source.

"...Huh?" Akira sluggishly opens his eyes, trying to get a glimpse of his surroundings.

He sees that he's somehow ended up ashore, some dog-like creatures are running away in fear… and he's being held close to another strange creature's body.

("T-This wheel thing is… kinda bothering me…") He moves slightly, feeling uncomfortable with the position he's in, looking up to see whoever's holding him, and the reptile looks down at him with an exhausted look.

They both remain there still on the ground, their eyes locked together… until he realizes the weirdness of the situation.

("W-Wait… K-Ko… Koraidon…?") Akira's brow furrows, his mind finally putting the pieces together. ("I'm… not dead, am I?") He thinks, looking around the place to judge his doubts. ("I-I'm alive…") He lets out a sigh of relief. ("But even then… where am I?")

Before you ask, he's in the process of calmly coming to terms that he's in the Pokémon world.

Yeah, just like that. He's completely fine with this.

"Gia…" The creature he's identified as "Koraidon" purrs, holding him closer as he ((yes, this will be using different pronouns for Koraidon depending on whose "POV" (for lack of a better term) it is at the moment, and Akira uses "he" for the legendary… for… reasons)) weakly nuzzles his hair.

A slight blush of embarrassment creeps up the boy's face, as he's not used to this closeness at all, even less with a creature he's never met before.

("This is… uhm… a bit awkward… but…. I think I needed this in my life.") He smiles and giggles a bit at the touch on his head, which tickles him a bit.

Koraidon seems to be pleased at his reaction, and simply hugs him with a smile and closed eyes.

("Ah… you know what? I don't even mind this at all…") Akira wraps an arm around his body, and simply stays there. ("Seems like he's exhausted… and to tell the truth, I think that's the same for me…") He finally starts to feel the toll from the "event" he just had earlier, which makes him feel a bit off. ("Makes sense… since I just experienced the worst that could have ever happened in my life…") His thoughts stay mostly silent as he comes to a conclusion. ("Wait…") He looks back up at Koraidon, only moving his eyes and not his head to not bother him.

Koraidon in the meantime stays still, cutely enjoying the closeness with the teen.

("D-Did… did he save me?") His eyes widen slightly at the realization, and he has gotten a newfound respect for Koraidon. ("T-Thank you…") He moves closer to him, cuddling with more love than before.

The Pokémon is a bit surprised at his movement, but he certainly isn't complaining.

They both lay there on the sand, real close to each other as they basically start to drift off to sleep.

Back up the cliff, Juliana and Nemona were watching the entire thing from up there, and they found it quite wholesome.

"Aww… That's really cute…" Nemona smiles at the two cuddling. "He's gotta be that Pokémon's Trainer if it's treating him like that."

Juliana chuckles after. "Yeah, it's pretty interesting to see how Pokémon treat their Trainers for me… even though…" She drifts off as she realizes that isn't a good thing to say at the moment, while simultaneously getting an idea. "...Rotom Phones can save you in case you fall, right?" She asks, looking at Nemona.

Nemona's eyes widened at Juliana's question in shock. "Wait, there's no way you're thinking of…"

The newer student nods. "Mhm, I think it's a bit dangerous to leave them there when they have an entrance to the "kinda unsafe cave" you were talking about right there…" She replies, pointing over to its direction.

Nemona's expression turns into an uncertain one as she listens to Juliana. "Yeah, I think they do, but… just be careful." She nods reluctantly. "I'll be at the entrance of the cave from up here, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Juliana reassures her with a smile, before looking back down at the ground to ready herself. "Alright…" She takes a deep breath, as she takes out her Rotom Phone right before jumping over the guardrail and off the ground, closing her eyes during the fall.

Luckily, her Rotom Phone does work before she lands, flying upwards to abruptly stop her fall.

"Woah!" She instinctively grabs harder onto the device and it successfully does its job… rougher than she would have liked, but she still lands safe and sound.

"Oh, thank Arceus you're fine!" Nemona shouts to her all the way from the cliff, her relief being as clear as day.

Juliana looks up at Nemona, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "Yeah… barely."

"I'll be waiting for you where I said! I'll even go down there just in case!" Nemona says before running off to wherever that is.

After Nemona goes away, Juliana looks back down, crossing her arms. "...That scared me… yeesh." She sighs, shaking her head.

Either way, she finally decides to get on with what she was planning to do in the first place, approaching the Pokémon unknown to her.

The boy it's cuddling has already fallen asleep, and it hasn't batted an eye at Juliana yet.

"Gurrr…" The creature's stomach seems to growl, showing that it's rather hungry.

"Hmm…" Juliana thinks about what she could do to help it as she looks down at it on the sand, her gaze drifting over to the boy every now and then.

"Oh, wait…" She remembers she did bring some food to eat later, but she decided that it was better to help these two out with it instead. "Here you go…" She brings out the sandwich in her backpack, which finally gets the attention of the mystery Pokémon.

"Gia?" It purrs a question-like sound, as if asking what it's smelling as it looks at Juliana holding the food, and it tilts its head slightly to the side.

She nods, gently leaving the sandwich on the sand. "Yep, it's all yours." She backs away a bit to leave space for it to eat.

It looks down at the food, smelling it for a bit before giving it a big ol' chomp, its big maw opening and closing to chew the whole thing down eagerly.

Juliana chuckles as she watches it eat the food she gave it, finding the way it does cute.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - Strange Being Transforms!

Soon enough, the Pokémon finally regains its energies from just that one sandwich, and it gets up excitedly, still savoring the lingering taste of it in its mouth. "Agias!"

The way it gets up with such different energy all of a sudden startles the girl a bit, but she simply smiles at it. "Wow… I wasn't expecting you to have this much energy with just that…"

It then looks toward the entrance to the cave from here, which Juliana notices and looks behind herself.

"..." She stays silent, her expression turning into a bit of a doubting one as she thinks about what'll happen in there.

The Pokémon looks back to the boy, and it nudges him awake.

"...Eh?" He lazily opens his eyes, grunting out of his half-asleep state, looking up at it. "Yeah…?" He looks a bit confused, but he notices Juliana in the meantime, which makes him widen his eyes slightly, not seeming too surprised.

It proceeds to walk over to the entrance, stopping right in front of it.

"Ah-GIIIAAAS!" It roars out for the third time with a shake of its head, before closing its eyes and beginning to glow a bright orange light, which makes the two humans flinch as clouds of sand reach them from the force of it.

"Huh?" Juliana raises an eyebrow at this, really confused while the other just watches in silence.

The Pokémon then jumps into the air, curling up into a ball. "Ah-GIIIAAAS!" It roars again as a shockwave pushes the light away, revealing a more "refined" form of itself.

As it falls back to the ground, the two get a slightly clearer version of its new appearance due to the sand around it as it roars yet again. It's now standing on two legs, its head and rear feathers are now standing, its gear-like gular sac is inflated, and it's now keeping its claws spread.

"Whoa!" Juliana looks super impressed by this, her confidence skyrocketing. "Oh yeah! Now we're definitely gonna get out of this place!" She shouts in excitement.

Meanwhile, the boy finally looks around and notices that there really is no way out of here besides the cave. "...Ah." He seems pretty bummed out now.

What Juliana does gets the attention of the Pokémon, looking behind itself to stare at her before stomping its way over to the boy, each step making the ground tremble.

"O-Oh, uh…" He looks up at it nervously, before it grabs him and gently throws him over its shoulder, which wasn't something he was really expecting, but he's still fine with it. "Oh… o-okay…"

She chuckles a bit at this, following them both as it walks over to the cave.

Inlet Grotto

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - Inlet Grotto

Juliana and the Pokémon walk through the narrow corridor that is the entrance to the cave, the boy deciding to just… go back to sleep in the meantime.

"It's getting darker, I wonder how we're even gonna be able to see." Juliana questions as she goes further in. "I mean, at least me and him, since you might as well be capable of seeing in the dark." She shrugs, not discarding the idea even when she spots bright green crystals on the walls of the cave as they get to a more open area. "Woah…" She looks surprised at them, wanting to get a better view or even touch them, but she knows now is not the right time.

Juliana was about to go follow it down a slope when she heard someone calling out to her again.

"Oyeee! Juliana!" Nemona yells out all the way from the only other entrance to the cave.

Juliana looks up to the source of the sound, finding her friend at the place where they need to go which is… quite high up from where they are.

"You okay? You're not hurt, right?" Nemona asks from up there, still feeling worried about her. She's supposed to help her around, not let her get hurt, after all.

"Yeah! I'm fine!" She replies, waving at Nemona.

Nemona lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I was really worried." She waves back a little. "If you'd gotten hurt because I said we should search for whatever made that cry…" She drifts off, before shaking her head. "No, never mind that! Right now we've gotta focus on getting you back up here!"

"But…" Juliana was about to respond with something related to the boy and the Pokémon, with the latter standing still there to wait for her, but Nemona continued.

"You just gotta find a way to get out of there! If you get close enough, I'll try pulling you up with one of my Pokémon's moves!"

"...But what about these two?" She asks, pointing towards the others.

Nemona looks at the two she's referring to, and her eyes light up. "Wait, that's the Pokémon from before? It looks super strong now!"

As they mention it, it decides to continue walking, coming across a boulder that's blocking the way and simply slashing it to pieces.

"Whoa, that was amazing! It might even be strong as some of mine, maybe even s tronger!" Nemona seems even more excited by the display of its power. "It definitely looks strong enough to be able to jump up here, or at least climb! I think you should just get close enough to here!"

Juliana watches the Pokémon walk further into the cave, even seeing probably the same Houndours from before running away as they see it. "Well, I'll be seeing you in a bit!" She waves again at Nemona, following it.

"See ya! Take care, alright?!" She yells out as she waves back, watching Juliana go away from her point of view.

As Juliana follows it, she sees a Houndoom watching them from a hole in the upper corner of a wall, which rubs her the wrong way. "Uh…" She notices something on the ground below the hole, but she doesn't dare get near for obvious reasons.

Due to feeling very suspicious of the random Houndoom just watching them from afar, she decides to up her speed, starting to jog towards the one she's supposed to be following, but not without getting all the stuff on the ground she can use while getting out of the way of the other Pokémon in the area.

"Hey, heads up—some pretty rough and rowdy Houndour live in this cave!" Juliana hears Nemona's voice from afar, which surprises her a bit. "I'm glad you've got your bodyguard, but watch your back! They're strong!"

"...Well there was a Houndour watching us just now so now I don't know how to feel about this!" She replies, hoping that it won't just come out and attack them.

"Just be extra careful then!"

But speaking about that, as Juliana was following it, she heard a cry that startled her, looking over to the tunnel they had next to go to and noticing the pack of Houndours that ran out of it and towards them, barking aggressively.

"...Oh." Juliana was a bit surprised by the sudden influx of Pokémon running at them, not expecting them to appear so quickly after what Nemona told her, but their red-feathery-lizard-thing-'mon let out a roar that quickly dispersed the group of tinier Pokémon.

"...That was fast." She mutters under her breath as she swore she could hear it making a groaning sound in irritation before informing Nemona. "Uh yeah, they just came straight at us and ran away after… Agias roared again!" She shouts, deciding to name it "Agias" due to the fact that Pokémon usually only speak their names, and she definitely wouldn't be wrong, right?

"...Is Agias the big red Pokémon?"

"...I-I'm guessing so?" Juliana stammers a bit at the fact of just… completely misnaming it right in front of its face, but she quickly follows as it continues to lead the way.

In the tunnel, she finally gets to see the green crystals at a close distance, and they seem to have a visual moss-like texture to it, yet the touch feels completely normal.

Either way, "Agias" slashes another rock that was in the way to pieces.

"I wonder what that move was. Man, now I wanna see it up close!" They can hear Nemona say as they continue on and get to an area where they can easily get up to her with the help of "Agias", but they're interrupted by her.

"Look out! Something's coming!" Nemona warns the two as she hears something that the others can't.

"What is it?" Juliana asks as she and "Agias" stop in their tracks, looking around but not finding anything.

"Behind you!" She says, whatever it is nearing them finally coming to view.

The two turn around, and their stances get tense as they see the Houndoom from before.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - A Skirmish in the Cave

"Agias"'s eyes narrow at the sight of it roaring at them, while Juliana's widen at this.

"Oh c'mon!" Juliana was about to throw Sprigatito's Poké Ball out to at least try to fight it (albeit being fully aware that she'd get her ass kicked), but "Agias" extends an arm in front of her, telling her not to waste her time on that.

"...Alright." She nods, storing back her Pokéball as "Agias" gently sets the boy down on the floor, taking a step forward,ñ with the Houndoom roaring again, but that doesn't stop it from quickly approaching and slapping the other Pokémon away with its tail, followed by a roar of its own.

"Oh yeah! Show it what you're made of, Agias!" Nemona says excitedly from up there, cheering it on.

The Houndoom roars back, but this time it seems to be more of a call to arms than a normal roar… and their suspicions were quickly proven as the group of Houndours came back for more, surrounding the three of them.

"...なんてことだ..." The boy grumbles in Japanese as he finally opens his eyes, having enough of his attempt to sleep being interrupted by a bunch of yelling or and the rest. "What is this, Dragon Ball…?" He mutters under his breath.

Yet Agias doesn't budge even a bit, it's even ready to start fighting again, but then it notices even more of these guys arriving like it's never gonna stop.

It then looks back at Juliana and the boy surrounded by the smaller Pokémon, a bit amused by the latter's decision to just lay there on the ground while being barked at.

But it brushes that thought away and lunges at the two to grab them on each arm, startling the Houndours around them.

"Heeey!" Nemona calls out to Agias while waving her arms, getting its attention. "Up here, quick!"

Agias understands and quickly leaps up a couple of times until it finally reaches the exit, with Nemona getting out of the way as the Houndours all bark up at them from back down there.

Poco Path

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - Poco Path

After the tension of all that fades away, a smile forms on Nemona's face as she claps for Agias. "Way to go!" She congratulates it as it lets the two it's carrying free on their feet. "For a second I thought you three were goners…" She continues, feeling a bit bad as she says that.

"Yeah, I think I panicked a bit when I got surrounded…" Juliana chuckles nervously to herself.

The boy was about to respond to Nemona's comment, but he decided not to. Not only because he didn't feel like it'd be a good thing, but also because they were already moving along when they noticed "Agias" was staring off at a lighthouse outside.

"...Oh?" Juliana raises an eyebrow as it steps out of the cave and towards the building, but it suddenly glows orange again and collapses onto the grass, downgrading to its previous form due to exhaustion.

"Whoa! What's wrong?!" Nemona runs out to it as the other two follow her.

"Uh… Maybe he used up all his power?" The boy proposes, and the others agree.

"Yeah, it did feel like it was doing a bit too much back down there…" Juliana points out, looking down at it worriedly.

"What is this Pokémon, anyway? It kinda looks like a Cyclizar, but I've never seen one quite like this before…" Nemona asks, crouching down, inspecting "Agias"'s appearance. "And now it looks so different from a minute ago, you think it's okay?"

"He… should be." He answers, but it's not really convincing either to him or the others.

"You can't tell either, huh?" She says to the boy, to which he sighs.

"...Yeah, I don't." He seems disappointed in himself for being such a painfully obvious liar.

"So this is the first time this has happened?" Juliana asks.

"Eh… you could say that." He shrugs.

Nemona gets up and looks at Juliana. "Well, all that aside, I'm seriously glad to have you three back up here in one piece!"

"We… were really just sitting ducks back there…" Juliana mutters, feeling bad that she didn't get to do anything back there but just watch "Agias" do all the work.

"Hey, look at the bright side of things, you're up here safe and sound." Nemona smiles at her. "But talking about that… that battle down there was really something." She turns her attention to the boy. "You're its trainer, right? What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Akira." He answers right away. "And… uh…" He trails off, wondering if he should lie or not, but he doesn't feel like probably getting found out in a couple of minutes so he decides to take the safer option instead.. "...I'm not, actually."

Both Nemona and Juliana look surprised at his answer. "Wait, you're not?" The former asks, to which he shakes his head.

"But it really looked like it, though…" Juliana mutters, feeling a bit confused.

"I guess it was just… his way to comfort me from the fact that I almost fell to my death… which he saved me from…" Akira replies, which takes the others aback.

"Wait, what?!" Juliana's eyes widened in shock, surprised by the way he just said it like that.

"How'd that happen?" Nemona asks, intrigued by what happened to him despite the implications.

"I don't know either… I was just sleeping and then I woke up falling from the sky." Akira tries to explain, but it just bewilders them more.

"Huh…?" Juliana's brow furrows in confusion, not sure if she should believe him. "That… sure is one hell of a story."

Nemona nods. "Yeah, but considering the stuff that's been happening, he could be telling the truth for all we know."

Akira chuckles a bit nervously at their responses. "I… yeah, wasn't expecting either of you to believe me just like that…"

As they were talking, "Agias" was recovering some of its energy and decided to finally get up, catching the others' attention.

"Oh good! Looks like it perked up a little!" Nemona says, glad that it's okay after all.

"Giaos…" It cries out, turning around to look at the three.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man!" She shouts, getting increasingly louder as her excitement also increases. "The more I look at this Pokémon, the more mysterious it seems!" She looks back at the other two. "If any of you do become its Trainer, you gotta let me battle against it!"

"There she goes again…" Juliana mutters, to which Akira chuckles.

"Let's exchange numbers so we can get in touch if we somehow get separated again!" Nemona proposes, and her Rotom Phone comes out of her pocket along with Juliana's.

The two Rotom Phones get in front of each other and glow blue, signaling that the process has finished, and they go back to their respective owners' pockets.

"And here, this'll let you teach your Pokémon a move to help it battle stronger opponents!" She pulls out something from her bag, giving it out to Juliana. "It's a TM032 "Swift."

"Oh, thanks!" Juliana grabs the TM offered to her, storing it in her own bag.

"Think before you use it, though! TMs can be only used once." Nemona warns her. "Oh, and…" She looks at Akira. "You don't have a Rotom Phone, do you?"

"Nope." He shakes his head.

"Okay." Nemona nods, turning around. "I think we better take a breather, you've all been through enough for a minute." She takes some steps forward, looking at the lighthouse. "Let's just get to the lighthouse, that'll be a good spot to relax." She then heads over to the building, hopping off the slightly elevated ground they were on, with "Agias" following her.

Before they follow, Juliana looks at the boy. "One question though, why do you refer to it as a "he" when you don't even know its gender?" She asks him, pretty confused about the subject.

Akira's eyes widened at the question, not expecting anyone to catch onto something like that, and he thought about it for a bit. "...Reasons? " He shrugs, seeming confused as well.

"You're confused about that too?" Juliana's a bit taken aback by his response. "...Huh."

They stand there in awkward silence until Nemona breaks the silence. "Hey guys! What are you all waiting for back there?" She calls out to them, getting their attention.

"...L-Let's just go." He quickly says, to which Juliana nods and they both follow Nemona.

Once they all reach the lighthouse, they see someone standing in front of a door off to the side, who turns around once he hears them arrive. "Why, that little…" His brow furrows once he sees "Agias" beside them.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - Arven's Theme

"What're you doing out here?!" He yells out, running straight at the Pokémon, action which of course shocks the other three.

They all stay silent, until the newcomer speaks.

"I'm not talking to you three. You can shove off." He follows up in a dry tone.

"The hell's this guy's deal…?" Akira mutters, surprised by his first impression.

"Yeah, pretty bad first impression..." Juliana agrees.

"Wait, I know you… Aren't you Arven? You're enrolled in the humanities track, right?" Nemona asks, crossing her arms. "And aren't you the son of those two Pokémon researchers, Professors Sada and Turo?"

The guy turns to face Nemona as he hears her, looking irritated. "Doesn't matter who my parents are!"

"Looks like that hit a nerve…" Juliana says in response to his reaction. "Maybe she shouldn't have pointed that out, even less both of his parents…"

Arven then turns to the other two. "The real issue here is what in the world this Pokémon is doing out here! And what is with the form it's in?!"

"I say I'd be dead if it wasn't for it…" Akira replies, grimacing slightly at the thought of what would be of him if it didn't intervene.

"And it also saved us from a pretty tight spot at the cave back there…" Juliana continues.

"You see, we heard its cry and wanted to investigate, finding it holding onto Akira here-" Nemona loosely points at who he's mentioned. "-and then Juliana jumped down the cliff to help it out…" She explains, looking at it. "This Pokémon saved them, but it looks like it wore itself out in the process. It got kinda slumpy afterward."

"...Yeah, kinda felt bad a bit." Akira says.

"But you shoulda seen it before! It looked totally different, it was incredibly strong!" Nemona says, her excitement coming back when she mentions this.

Arven turns back to the Pokémon. "Well, yeah. As it should be. But it can't fight while it's like this." He says, crossing his arms. "The form Koraidon takes in battle… That's it's true form." He finally mentions the Pokémon's real name, which surprises both Juliana and Nemona.

"Koraidon? Is that this Pokémon's name? How'd you know it?" Nemona asks.

"And how do you know so much about it?" Juliana follows.

Before Arven could respond, Koraidon looked at the door and cried out at it. "Agiagias!"

Arven looks at the door, before back at it, shaking his head. "You can't go in the lab. It's locked." He then turns back to the others, uncrossing his arms. "I don't ever remember seeing you two around, but given the uniform, you go to the academy too, right?"

"Yup." Nemona nods.

"But what's with this guy?" He asks, referring to Akira and his odd outfit considering the situation. "He looks like he hasn't even gotten out of bed yet."

"I was just sleeping and then woke up falling from the sky, which Koraidon saved me from." Akira explains rather casually.

"...Okay." Arven narrows his eyes at his story, finding it… peculiar, to say the least. "Anyways, Koraidon isn't the sort of Pokémon any old trainer can hope to command." He quickly changes the topic. "It's special."

Nemona raises an eyebrow at what Arven says. "Special how? What sort of Pokémon is it?"

"Yeah, what do you mean by that?" Juliana asks as well.

Arven looks at Juliana. "You think you're up to ordering Koraidon around? Then how 'bout I test your worthiness?" He says, a minimal hint of condescension showing.

Juliana thinks about it for a second... and she refuses. "That wasn't what I was saying… I was genuinely just asking…" She answers, shaking her head. "I've just got my first Pokémon like an hour ago, and the only other ones I have are from this place… so compared to you, I'm pretty much screwed."

Arven was a bit taken aback at her actually thinking it out. "I'm saying I want to test you, you can't just leave me hanging here. I'm not even that good either way." He replies, insisting on the battle.

Juliana sighs at him insisting. "Okay, fine…"

"Well, then." Arven starts to roll up his sleeves. "I've been feeling all out of sorts, so I'm gonna use this battle to blast these doldrums away!" He pulls out a Poké Ball, to which Juliana does as well, with the others moving away a bit to give more room for the battle.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - Battle! (Arven)

You are challenged by Pokémon Trainer Arven!

The two send out their respective Pokémon out, Juliana's being her Sprigatito and Arven's being his Skwovet.

Beside the field, Akira stares at the Skwovet, finding it a bit curious. ("Second time I've seen a Skwovet outside the routes and stuff now… not counting the big Skwovet plushie-thing Juliana probably has in her room if the actual game's anything to go by.") He ponders.

While Akira was monologuing to himself, Arven spoke as the battle started. "These memories are leaving a bad taste in my mouth, and I want it gone!"

"Sprigatito, use Leafage!" Juliana shouts, her Sprigatito forming leaf-shaped energy out of her collar fur and shooting them at the opposing Pokémon.

"Dodge and use Bite!" Arven orders his Skwovet, who dodges the leaf attack with ease, running at the Sprigatito to attack.

"Tackle!" Juliana says, to which her Sprigatito runs at the rodent Pokémon and manages to headbutt it, which catches it off guard. "Now use Bite back!" She continues, which her Pokémon does while its opponent is staggered.

"Woo!" Juliana cheers her friend on excitedly after seeing her. "You can do it!"

Juliana looks over to Nemona cheering for her, and she smiles a bit. "You don't need to say it…" She pauses for a bit, her expression faltering slightly. "...That… that sounded a bit egotistical, didn't it…?"

Arven's brow furrows in irritation at seeing his Pokémon be weakened to this just like that and Nemona cheering his opponent on. "Use Bite and then Tail Whip!" He says while Juliana is distracted as Skwovet regains control, the attack successfully hits due to the close range between them, with the status effect applying shortly after. "Tackle, keep attacking!" Even though his Skwovet got weakened to its last legs, it's still fighting back as if that weren't true.

Juliana's eyes widened at what happened while she was distracted with Nemona. "Dodge until you see the right spot to attack!" She immediately shouts, with her Sprigatito understanding her loose order and dodging the Skwovet's next couple of Tackle attempts until the right time to attack comes, which it takes advantage of with another Tackle of its own, causing the opposing Pokémon to faint.

The opposing Skwovet fainted!

"Ugh…" Arven scoffs at seeing his Pokémon be defeated so easily, sending it back into its Poké Ball. "Seems you know a thing or two about battle."

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - Poco Path

("Huh… guess I should've expected the fights to be more like the anime… I am actually in the Pokémon World after all.") Akira thought as Juliana's Sprigatito meowed up to her, with her deciding she wanted to keep her outside for now.

"Wow, Juliana! That was awesome!" Nemona congratulates with a big smile, happy for Juliana that she won her first somewhat serious Pokémon Battle.

"Thanks." Juliana nods, smiling back at her.

"I guess I wasn't ever going to stand a chance using some Pokémon I'd only just caught…" Arven admits, still looking disappointed in himself either way, but he shakes the thought off. "But if you really take Koraidon off my hands for me… you'll need this." He pulls out a Poké Ball from his bag, giving it to Juliana. "It's the Pokéball that brute's been kept in."

"...So why'd you have it?" Nemona asks, looking at the seemingly normal Pokéball.

Arven stayed quiet for a second, pondering about something, before deciding to ignore her question. "Anyway, that thing's your problem now, not mine. Good luck." He says right before running off.

"What? Oye! Can you not hear me or something?" Nemona calls out to him, surprised that he's just brush her off like that, but she sighs. "Fine, be that way! But you better actually show up for school!"

"Well dang, there he goes." Juliana shakes her head, watching Arven just go away as her starter meows at the scene.

"What a weirdo…" Nemona mutters.

While all that was happening, Koraidon decided to approach Akira and nuzzle him affectionately with a purr, to which the boy chuckled again at the touch. "H-Hey…"

The other three turned around when they heard this, finding it cute.

"Oh, It's doing that again! Looks like it really likes Akira, doesn't it?" Nemona looks over to Juliana for her opinion, to which she nods, and her Sprigatito meows happily.

But as they watched, Juliana got an idea, taking some steps toward him. "...Hey, you wanna try having him for a bit?" Juliana asks, handing over the Poké Ball to him and getting everyone's attention. "It looks like it's taken more of a liking to you than us, but if it's not your thing then you can just say." She explains her idea, her Pokémon tilting its head as she does.

"O-Oh?" Akira stammers as both he and Koraidon look at the Pokéball offered to him. "Wait, actually?" He asks back, to which she nods.

"Are you sure about this, Juliana?" Nemona asks her, trying to make sure she's confident about this decision.

"Yeah, I'm sure." She nods. "Plus, it doesn't look like he has any Pokémon with him, so this should help with that."

Nemona looks satisfied with her answer. "Okay, just wanted to make sure!"

"Well, uh…" Akira trails off, still unsure whether he should accept or not.

Akira's gaze drifts over to Koraidon, who's looking at him with a bit of a smile before crying out happily in approval. "Agias!"

This makes Akira smile and come to a conclusion after seeing how happy Koraidon is with the idea. "...If he's okay with it, then I accept." He finally answers, taking the Pokéball from Juliana and looking at Koraidon. "So I just… put him in here." He activates it, and the Pokémon disappears into it, before putting it in his pocket.

"With that done…" Nemona looks at Juliana. "That Arven guy definitely knows more than he's letting on." She crosses her arms with her eyes closed, thinking about what he could be hiding from them. "Next time, he and I are battling! I'm gonna wring the answers outta him!"

"He might have a reason to not explain, but it also might not be a good one, so I'm up for seeing that." Juliana says.

"That reminds me…" Nemona trails off as she tries remembering something, until it finally clicks. "Oh, right! We gotta climb the lighthouse! Can't wait to show you the view of our school!" She says excitedly before going into the mentioned building.

As Nemona climbs up the ladder to the top, Juliana looks down at her Pokémon, who's looking up at her with a meow. "In you go…" She mutters, putting her Sprigatito back in its Pokéball before following.

Poco Path Lighthouse

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - South Province (Walking)

Juliana arrives at the top of the lighthouse, going over to Nemona when she gets up from the ladder. "Wow, the view from up here sure is something." She admires the scenery from here, her hair flowing in the gentle breeze.

"I told ya the view was gonna be awesome!" Nemona looks at Juliana with a smile. "Mountains! Forests! Grasslands! Beautiful nature stuff, as far as the eye can see!" She says with a hint of a jokingly grand tone in her voice. "And you know what's waiting for you all over these spaces? Tons of Pokémon!"

Akira groans as he finishes climbing up the ladder. "I'm… not very good with heights." He mutters as he walks over to them, to which they chuckle.

Nemona then looks over to where the academy should be. "There's Mesagoza!" She points out, getting the others's attention. "And that huge building with the Pokéball on it is our school!"

"...Huh." Akira looks a bit unamused at the certainly "unique" architecture of the school.

Nemona looks back at Juliana. "It's gonna be so great having you in the same class, Juliana!"

"I look forward to it!" Juliana replies happily with a nod.

"Right? I can't wait to get back." Nemona's happy at her response. "We're gonna get to learn so much… and battle so, so, so much!" She continues, the excitement getting to her head.

"Looks like someone's getting excited…" Juliana says.

"Of course I am!" She responds, now facing her friend. "Consider this me officially telling you; welcome to Paldea!"

"...Yeah, I think it's a bit late for you to be doing that…" Juliana chuckles, and the other girl follows.

"Well anyway, as you can see, it's kind of a hike to get to school from here." Nemona points at a small town. "Let's make it to Los Platos for starters. That's right on the way!" She turns around. "Vamos, c'mon!"

Music fades.

Juliana watches her hurry down the ladder, before her gaze drifts to Akira, who's just leaning on the bar, looking at the sea in silence... more specifically the land that can be seen surrounding Paldea.

She approaches him, deciding to start a short conversation with him. "...Something on your mind?" She simply asks.

Akira looks at her, before back at the horizon. "...Yeah."

They both stay silent for a bit, but she continues. "...Where do you come from?"

His eyes widen at her question, his mind reeling with thoughts.

Should he tell the truth? No, because that would lead to even more questions.

Should he lie and say the first Region that comes to his mind? …Maybe, that would be the easiest option, but…

Should he half-lie and say that he's from another world yet from one similar to this one? …That would still bring questions, but at least not as much.

Should he fake amnesia and say that he doesn't remember?

Or… should he just stay silent?

…No, of course not.

That's what he thinks, but he can't bring himself to speak.

What if they find out he's lying? Sure, they might not think much about it since they'd know him a lot more by then, but to him…

After a while, Juliana nods in understanding. "I guess you don't wanna talk about it then. Don't worry, though." Even as she says this, she frowns slightly at the questions piling up in her mind.

Akira stays silent for a bit, pondering if this was the right choice to make. "...Yeah." He says, but the doubt in his voice is evident, at least to himself.

Doubt of what?

…Everything.

"…"

"..."

"...You know, I can kinda understand why you don't wanna talk about it." She breaks the silence.

Akira looks back at her, intrigued by her response. "...What do you mean?"

Juliana sighs, somewhat starting to regret ever saying that. "...I don't really like to talk about my past either, considering my family was split in half after the divorce, with my father taking custody of my brother." She explains reluctantly, frowning more with each word.

"Oh…" Akira's eyes widen as he hears Juliana speak. "I'm… sorry to hear that… I guess…" He stumbles with his words, not knowing what to say. "I-I don't know what to say, sorry."

A small smile grows on her face at his response. "Don't worry about it."

Akira's relieved to hear that he didn't make the situation even more awkward than it already was, but it's now his time to talk about… that. "Well… mine are… dead." He somehow says it just like that, still not being able to find proper (less blunt) wording. "...From a car crash."

Juliana looks shocked to hear this. "Don't tell me you were in the car with them…"

Akira flinches slightly at the thought. "Luckily, no… but after that I had to move into another… region with my aunt."

"...Even so, that must have really affected you, didn't it?"

"...Yeah."

It seems they at least have something in common regarding their backstories, but even if it was from different causes, they both still won't be able to see their relatives in quite a while.

Their conversation is cut short by Nemona. "Hey, guys! What are you waiting for? Come back down here!" She shouts at them.

They stare at each other after they hear her, both nodding. "Let's go." Juliana says, being the first to go down.

To be continued…


"I'm Nemona!"

"And I'm Juliana."

"I can't wait to get to the academy!" Nemona shouts, her voice full of excitement.

"You're really easy to excite, now aren't you?" Juliana sighs.

"Sorry, I'm just raring to battle you again…" She chuckles nervously.

"Oh, no. Don't worry." Juliana reassures Nemona, shaking her head.

"Still, I promise to try not to get ahead of myself."

"There's no need to, but alright…" She nods.

"Well… the next chapter will be named: "Welcome to the Scarlet Academy!" I wonder what we'll do there…"

"Probably… meet Arven there?"


Do you want to save your data?

Yes

Creating a new save file...

Successfully saved.

-Pokémon-

Paldea Region

Poco Path Lighthouse

Akira, Koraidon, Juliana, Nemona

Pokémon (In team):

Akira: None so far... (excluding Koraidon because he's a special boi lol)

Juliana: Sprigatito, Lechonk, Fletchling, Hoppip, Tarountula, Pawmi


Well, that's the first chapter!

After so long, it's finally done!

I really hope I did good for a franchise I know basically nothing about…

Extra Notes:

About the POV stuff, lemme give another example.

"Agias" has quotation marks when they first start using the nickname, and they go away when they get used to it, and then come back when Akira finally decides to pay attention to what's happening around him, as he knows its actual name.

And this next thing isn't really a POV thing, but Akira starts to refer to Koraidon as an "it" when Juliana points out him using male pronouns for it, but he continues to use "he" when he sees they don't mind it.

…But he'll still be using "it" around strangers, of course.

"...Why, exactly?" Arven asks with an unamused expression and crossed arms.

"Don't bother, he probably won't say." Juliana replies.

"You got that right." Both Akira and recc say in unison.

…Also, I know the whole "falling scene" and all could be kinda awkward to read for some, but it's what I could do.

"...I don't wanna remember that ever again…" Akira mutters under his breath.

With that out of the way, thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day!