Disclaimer: Pokémon is owned by the Nintendo, Hakunon/Fate is owned by the all-powerful Mushroom(Nasu), and all that stuff.
Nero's blade slammed into the digital floor to find purchase, she had only just barely blocked Jabberwocky's fist, the beast roared in anger as it sped after her it rewound her fist to put her out of her misery.
A digital explosion ripped into the Jabberwocky stunning it briefly as Nero's sword flashed decapitating the beast. It wouldn't put him out of commission for more than one or two minutes at most, but they are right there! Hakuno pushed her body to reach the first Cipher Key once her fingers were around it with her other hand she crushed one of the few return crystals they could afford and appeared outside the arena.
The safety of the hallway instantly made her collapse, "Praetor, that was far too close…" Nero was clutching her side she could faintly see the dripping of blood, a rib or her arm might be broken Sakura will help again… hopefully the Nurse has been getting colder the more times they come in, "Even for one such as me, I would rather not face that beast again."
Hakuno couldn't agree more, they hadn't defeated the Jabberwocky all they did was temporarily put him out of commission, they had no idea how to get a 'vorpal sword', and all they could do was hope that Alice wouldn't let him loose on their eventual fight to the death.
She tried to speak but all that came out was a flood of blue and red pixels as her mind was flooded with static.
For the second time, Hakuno idly thinks, that she had woken up without knowing when she fell asleep. Crying herself to sleep while holding onto a Pink Egg was something she hopefully would not do again... although… admittedly, she did feel better.
Chansey seems to have left and closed the previously opened window, at least she could guess it was morning as there was a slight amount of sunlight creeping in from the old wooden window.
She sat up, her eyes glancing around the empty room, the cup with the Berry Juice was gone. She made her way to the window and unlatched it, blinding herself for a moment from the amount of sunlight that came in and she looked outside.
Nothing had changed, she was, fairly certain that the Apple tree was not apples, although she now did see a handful of smaller trees that bore some type of fruit… or perhaps they were Berries? They don't look like any species she has seen leading her to believe they were an original species to this… world. There were also a few small pink salamander-like Pokémon milling about underneath the shade of the trees.
At least for now, she had decided to believe that she was in another timeline that must have branched off so far ago that it would be more correct to say she was in another world than a different timeline. Too many things that were vastly different from the information the Moon Cell had flooded into her mind.
She looked further than the immediate yard and could spot a few people in the distance, but they didn't seem to notice her peeking out of the small window. She saw a wide array of Pokémon; large blue and purple birds nesting with some large brown birds, large purple rats dashing into the brush, a small pink gnome running from their building being chased by Shuckle, and even a large blue rhinoceros beetle relaxing against a tree.
Resolving herself to at least try and find out more about the world she was alone in, she decided to talk to Kurt. Smoothing out her Uniform, she will have to find a way to purchase more clothing soon, she latched the window closed and opened the door.
To see a plate with three Onigiri and a note on it. Her stomach growled slightly, it had been a while since she ate… She picked up the note first, the lettering was strange but she could read it just fine.
Hope you are feeling better!
-Maizie
Maizie… perhaps the old man's granddaughter? Now that she thought about it, he never introduced himself, but Nurse Joy did say his name was Kurt… She bit into the Onigiri, and the flavor of umeboshi blossomed in her mouth.
Hakuno blinked, the plate was empty, seems she was hungrier than she thought. Picking up the plate, and placing her Portable Terminal into her pocket, she slowly entered the hallway. She tilted her head slightly as she heard the metal clanging from deeper in the house, that would be her best bet to find someone.
She took care of where she stepped as she got closer to the clanging of metal, she didn't want to interrupt their work.
She blinked, it was a slightly separated room, Kurt was wearing a different Samue hopefully more durable as he sat in front of a small forge. The old man removed a red hot sphere from it, placed it on an anvil, and hammered it a few times before quenching the sphere in some water. He picked it back up with the tongs and inspected it before nodding to himself, lowering the forge's heat, and placing the sphere back inside.
Hakuno wasn't sure what he was making, but she could feel his devotion to his craft, a small part of her envied it, as she didn't have anything to pour her soul into like that.
"Whew… I'm getting too old for this…" She barely heard the old man's grumble, his… Shuckle opened the door to his side, bringing with them an empty glass and pouring more Berry Juice from one of its many holes into the cup.
Shuckle's eyes landed on her, "Shuck Shuckle!" She still had no idea what the Pokémon was saying, Kurt seemingly did as he turned around.
"Ah, thank you Shuckle, got rid of that Pink Demon did ya?" He drank the Juice and patted the Pokémon on its head, he glanced over at Hakuno, "Ah you're awake, Nurse Joy wants to see you at the Pokecenter when you have a moment." She watched as he set a timer.
Hakuno nodded slowly, "What were you making?" That 'Pink Demon' was most likely the one she saw running, not the multitude of pink salamanders, if it was then this Shuckle was not doing its job.
Kurt's eyes widened only a moment, "Ah… I forgot you don't know much about this time… I am a Pokeball Smith, one of the last that make them out of Apricorn." He seemed to know the next question as he continued, "Apricorns are those large white fruits on the trees out there, there are more colors but that's the only tree the Slowpoke allowed to grow." Hakuno nodded, not fully understanding.
Mostly she wasn't sure what a Slowpoke was and why they limited the growth of trees. Maybe they revere them to the point of godhood? Sacred land was common in Shinto from what she knew.
F̴r̷o̵m̵ ̶h̴e̷r̷ ̴t̶i̵m̸e̷ ̶b̴r̷i̶e̷f̶ ̷t̴i̶m̴e̶ ̷r̴e̸s̶e̸a̷r̶c̷h̷i̷n̷g̸ ̸a̵n̴d̶ ̶f̶a̸i̴l̵i̶n̸g̴ ̸t̶o̴ ̶s̴a̵v̸e̶ ̴T̸a̵m̷a̵m̴o̵-̷n̷o̵-̶M̷a̸e̶.̸
"And.. what are Pokeballs?"
Kurt sighed, he had to wonder what she did know, she seemed well-spoken when she did speak and seemed to have a curiosity akin to a Meowth. But she knew nothing related to Pokémon… the period she had to be from must be thousands of years after they somehow passed away… or perhaps she is from a Region without Pokémon and the time travel wasn't that long?
Why did Celebi love to pick troubled children?
He vaguely remembers the last time he had helped a Drifter, all that one needed was a general direction to Sinnoh, but she had an old Apricorn Pokeball. He did have to help calm down the Slowpoke that was stirred up by her large blue and white bird Pokémon which ended up with one evolving into a Slowking after it had looked for a Shellder.
That Slowking was strange, it had teleported immediately after evolving and hadn't been seen since. It took both him and Bugsy to calm down the more fervent believers.
"Pokeballs, are containers for Pokémon to rest in, when they 'return' to a Pokeball they turn into something else and stay in the ball. They can perceive the world around them to an extent and exit it if they really wanted to." It takes more energy for them to break out of the premade Pokeballs, as his Apricorn Balls are made more with the concept of bonds.
Pokémon are friends, not tools.
"Do they… turn to data and does it hurt?" He shrugged his shoulders. Her face was stoic but he had to put a hand on Shuckle's head as he could feel her tense up he rubbed the Mold Pokémon's head calming her down.
"They've always been able to do it, there are probably smarter men than I am that do understand the mechanics behind it but I don't think it hurts them, from what Shuckle has told me it's like being at home." She seemed relieved to hear that. Well, as far as her completely stoic face could look relieved.
"You… can understand them?" How she tilted her head reminded him of a Sentret or one of those… Pachirisu? He nodded to her question though.
"Not, perfectly Shuckle isn't a Psychic type, and being part bug makes it even harder, but for general wants and questions I can figure it out." Took him months for that.
No matter what Bugsy said, Bug types are harder to understand.
"You don't know how the Pokeballs that you make work?"
He nodded sagely, she was starting to remind him of Maizie when she was younger, "To some extent, I know how to make them using the Apricorns and the water Slowpokes create allows me to make my specialty Apricorn Pokeballs." That was at least the gist of it, there was more to it but he didn't want to reveal all his secrets at once.
He would be out of the job if he did that.
"But they are recipes handed down from my Ancestors, I'm not a Professor they would be the ones you would have to ask." The timer went off, and he put the visor over his face as he went to remove the Fast Ball, it still needed to be polished and outfitted with its Tumblestones so it could hold the Pokémon but the shell of it was ready.
Dusting himself off, he gave her a brief tour of his home, Maizie was absent, but that wasn't a surprise the young girl's Trainer Classes would be ending next week. She's finally at that age.
Maizie was certainly prepared, ever since she got her Teddiursa from that trainer all those years ago, she has been working researching, and preparing. How many trainers started with Two Pokémon anyway? He remembers back in his day with his lone Slowpoke…
He glanced at the clock finally noticing the time and sighed "I suppose we should take you to the Pokémon Center now then…"
She was glad that Kurt wasn't asking her questions, it saved her the effort of trying to lie. Which she knows she is bad at, at least according to Nero.
She watched the beam of light return Shuckle to the Pokeball with a clearer mind than she did the previous night. She wasn't sure how it worked, but at the very least it didn't seem to hurt the Pokémon, it appeared to be something like when Saber would return to Astral Form.
Perhaps these 'Pokémon' were truly magical beings. Not in the sense of being Phantasmals or Enemy Programs, just plain magical. She didn't know of any creature, Mythological or real that could shrink themselves like they could whether that be them turning into light or just becoming small she had no idea. She was interested in the mechanics of the 'Pokeballs' though, perhaps Kurt wouldn't mind teaching her a few things?
Hakuno shielded her eyes as Kurt led her out of his home, she had a feeling that the 'Slowpoke' was the small pink Pokémon, there were dozens of them crawling around town. Most of them lay on the ground listlessly, the few that did walk seemed to do it aimlessly. She looked into one of their eyes and instantly knew there wasn't much looking back at her.
She did notice that the only people she saw were adults, who waved at Kurt but kept a respectful distance from him. Maybe Kurt was supposed to be important, maybe being a Pokeball Smith was a respectable position in this Region?
"Kurt… why are there only adults?" She was curious about why most people had hair that varied drastically, she had seen everything from radioactive green to a more normal brown. That mixed with Nurse Joy's bright pink…
She did spot a sign, Azalea Town: Living Happily with Pokémon at least now she has a name to connect to the town she is in. She did spot another Pink Pokémon ruffling in a nearby trashcan a nearby purple rat was hissing as it ran away from the can, Pokémon are strange.
"Most residents of Azalea town are adults, the town is fairly small, and the few families have their kids at school, either here or in Goldenrod the ones in Goldenrod typically stay in their dorms until Schools out." School was important, even if her experience was terrible.
Does she have to go to school? She does have the memories of a teenager from the 2030s, at least the school aspect, but she is in a world that could sustain beings that can travel in time. There had to be a lot to learn.
The town was a lot smaller than she was expecting to be honest, in a cozy way, most of the old buildings seemed more traditional Japanese. There were very few buildings that seemed new.
Although with three large exceptions to even that.
One appeared to be a large greenhouse, she could faintly see something scuttling along the glass but couldn't make anything concrete out. She could faintly make out the words Azalea Town Gym on the door, along with a large closed sign haphazardly added on.
Did they take their Pokémon there to exercise? If so why was it closed?
Another was a large blue store of sorts, a 'Poke-Mart' according to the large spinning sign, it seemed quite popular as it had a decent amount of traffic, both human and Pokémon, at least more popular than the smaller more traditional store next to it.
The third final one was the one they were headed to. It was sterile white, except for the roof being a bright red. It was probably the second largest building in the town, only beaten by the Gym, it had a large sign stating Pokémon Center on it.
Hakuno took a deep breath as she walked inside.
Author's Note: Time for a Hakuno Check-up! Sorry, it's a bit info-dump, but Hakuno doesn't really know anything about the Pokemon world just yet, and seeing her initial days makes more sense than just glossing them over.
Only another chapter or two of info dump.
Hopefully ;.;