Haruki grumbled as something ruffled its feathers loudly outside the next room. He groggily pulled his blanket over his head, but the rustling and flapping continued. It sounded like there were multiple birds right outside of his room.
He sighed and sat up. There was no chance of getting any more sleep with that chatterbox outside. After a few blinks, he glanced around his bedroom.
The mattress he slept on was on a tatami that extended to a step a few feet away, where the floor continued onwards as brown wooden boards. Windows behind and to the right of him let in the bright morning light, which a clock hanging in the wall revealed that he slept until the late morning. A work desk sat in the corner, complete with a lamp, notebooks, and a shut laptop.
He stood up and made his way over to the living room. A small two-person sofa and a table for four greeted him, as well as the accommodations that the stranger from last night spoke of. She wasn't kidding when she said that she kitted the apartment out.
Two abstract paintings of Castform–one in Sunny form, another in Rainy form–hung next to the television. Various drawers and shelves were marked with a sticky note. Haruki saw labels for cleaning supplies, body care, sewing materials, and all sorts of household items. The stranger even placed a rather large basket of snacks, fruits, and berries on the table.
There was a folded piece of paper sticking out of the basket's contents, but as Haruki reached out for it, the bird outside ruffled its feathers again.
Haruki turned and found himself staring at a trio of Swablu preening their cloudy wings. The middle one froze as it noticed the human nearby and chipped softly. The other Swablu stopped their preening as well and now turned their attention right indoors.
They were such funny creatures. Their small rounded bodies and fluffy wings looked so unsuited for flight; nothing like the angular wings and bodies of birds back at home. Was there really bone in those wings or were they just made up of…whatever those cottony feathers were?
The Swablu didn't seem to enjoy Haruki's stare as the middle bird frowned and the trio fluttered away. He meekly waved them farewell.
"Good morning to you too, I guess," he muttered. He turned his attention back to the fruit basket and unfolded the note, revealing a phone hidden underneath.
Dear Mr. Eika,
Good morning, afternoon, or evening, whenever you open this letter! The name's Green-
Green? Haruki did his best to recall the stranger's face from last night. The realization jolted through him. That was Green! How did he not notice?! Was he that tired?
He chastised himself for being too tired to recognize and acknowledge her. She was one of the three original protagonists of the Adventures manga! It would've been amazing to talk to her for a while.
-maybe you've heard of me, maybe you haven't! Regardless, I stocked up your apartment and took the liberty of decorating and labeling everything. I hope you enjoy it! Your fridge is stocked with vegan options–as per Looker's recommendation–and there's a few cookbooks in the kitchen as well. If you need to go shopping, you're free to use this basket! We'll talk about where you can go later.
The guys and gals at the cyber division copied everything from your phone that they could. They're still looking over some of them, but all the recovered files should be on your phone. The first number you set will be your password! Let us know if you need anything!
Haruki dropped the note onto the table and stared at the phone in the basket. As if he was in a trance, he turned the phone on, mindlessly pressed the same assortment of numbers as his old phone's password, and immediately opened the gallery.
As if the universe was taunting him, a family picture–taken during a celebration of Yuuto's engagement–was the first image listed.
The phone landed on the table with a thud. It was then that Haruki realized just how empty and quiet his apartment was.
"Oh my God," he stammered.
He was living alone. He had to do everything himself now, didn't he? Cooking all three meals of the day, cleaning the house, managing insurance, earning enough to make it day-by-day, he had to do it all. He'd never done this before! He still lived in his family's home; what little he did know was through the guidance of his parents!
He didn't have any family to ask for advice- oh God, he was never going to see them ever again. Haruki's breath immediately hastened as he fell to his knees. He blindly reached over the tabletop, gripped the phone, and stared at the screen.
The files on this phone and his memories were the only things that would remind him of home. No–aside from his necklace, which was in Interpol custody–they were the only things left from home, period.
His eyes started watering. No. He crunched down on his lip and tried his best to take deep breaths. No, he can't cry. He was tired of crying. It felt horrible, he already went through this, and there's nothing he can do afterwards anyways, so-
The doorbell rang. Haruki rubbed his eyes, jammed the phone into his pocket, and staggered to his feet. He pushed down everything that he just thought of as far away as he could, walked over towards the door, and opened it.
"Hello~! Oh dear."
Haruki blinked, turned away, then glanced back at the doorway.
"I'm- I'm sorry, are you ok?" Diantha reached out towards him. She, Looker, and Anabel all had very concerned looks on their faces. Guess he didn't do a good job at hiding what just happened.
"I- Um-"
"Hang on, let me just-" Diantha reached under her chin and pulled upwards. As if she was in a spy film from back home, her face and hair came off as a glob of pink slime, revealing the stranger from last night.
"Green," Haruki whispered. The Dex Holder rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as her Ditto crawled onto her shoulder.
"I'm so sorry," Green apologized. "They told me about how much you liked Diantha, so I wanted to give you a little surprise…"
"No, it's ok," Haruki stepped aside to let everyone in. "You're cool too."
That complement seemed to brighten Green up a bit. As everyone entered Haruki's living room, Haruki ducked into the bathroom for a moment to blow his nose. When he exited, Looker immediately stepped forward.
"Are you alright? Have you eaten breakfast yet?"
"No," Haruki admitted, realizing how hungry he was. "For both. I just got up."
"Alright. Do you mind if I cook for you? We brought our own breakfast." Looker gestured towards the kitchen and the filled cloth bag in his arms.
"Sure?" Haruki shrugged. He would've been alright with cereal and toast, but he wasn't going to turn down a cooked meal.
As Looker washed his hands and opened the fridge, Haruki stepped back into the living room, sat opposite to Green, and stared at the smiling Dex Holder. Anabel watched the Ditto enjoy a berry from the fruit basket.
"Like what you see?" Green smirked.
"You're…actually Green, right?" Haruki slowly asked.
"Yep! In the flesh!" She leaned backwards and raised her arms. "You knew about me already, did you? Let me guess, from the games too?
"No. The comics, actually." Haruki rapped his fingers on the table. "You're a main character in them."
He immediately regretted saying that as a wide grin grew on Green's face. She jabbed a thumb at her coworker.
"And what about her? Is she a main character too?"
"No."
As soon as he uttered that word, Haruki buried his face in his hands and sighed. He wished he could excuse himself to escape Anabel's piercing glare, but this was technically his house. Where else could he go? Meanwhile, Green was having a blast with this revelation.
"Ha~! Did you hear that, Ditty? Our super cool boss here is a side character!" Green giggled as she lifted her Pokemon off the table and rocked them back and forth in her palm. Ditty gurgled in agreement.
"So we're cooler than her, aren't we? Oh, ho ho, I can't wait until I tell everyone about this~!"
"Need I remind you that it's extremely classified information?" Anabel hissed.
"If it makes you feel any better," Haruki interjected. "She's just a tertiary protagonist. She's not really a lead, like Red."
Now it was Green's turn to frown as the corner of Anabel's lips slightly twitched upwards.
"'Just' a tertiary protagonist? Don't say it like that! That's a much better and prestigious role than-"
"Haruki, do you want your eggs scrambled or fried?" Looker peaked out from the kitchen.
"Scrambled. Hang on. Where do you guys even get eggs from?"
Green leaned over the table and placed a hand on his shoulder. She sighed and shook her head.
"Haruki, when two Pokemon love each other very much-"
"I didn't mean that," Haruki hissed and brushed Green's hand away. "I meant if they're actually from a Pokemon?"
"Yes, they are. We just harvest unfertilized ones." Anabel leaned forward and entwined her fingers. "If you say that you eat fertilized-"
"We're not that crazy back at home." Haruki took a deep breath and faced the kitchen entrance. "No eggs, please."
Looker nodded and went back to cooking. Green put a finger to her lips and raised an eyebrow.
"Why no eggs? I didn't stock your fridge with any synth-meat–Looker and Anabel told me about your preferences–but none of us could figure out why. I mean, you had no problems eating live meat before, so why the newly-drawn line?"
Haruki clicked his tongue. Green was direct, but she had a point. Why didn't he want to eat meat? He had no problems with eating that at home while the concept of learning what Pokemon tasted like–fake meat or not–disgusted him. Where was the line now?
Haruki felt a touch of nausea in his throat as he grew aware of years of meat consumption. He quickly swallowed it down.
"Have either of you grown up liking dragons?"
Anabel tapped a Pokeball on her belt. Haruki could just barely see Raze perk up from inside his Pokeball at the mention. Meanwhile, Ditty morphed into a miniature Druddigon, briefly fluttered around the table, and landed with a rather smug smile on their face.
"Nevermind, griffins then. There isn't a griffin Pokemon, is there? Anyways, if you grew up alongside that species, and then someone told you that you can eat that storybook griffin, would you really want to know what it tastes like?"
"I think I understand," Green chirped. "You don't want to learn a different side of something precious to you, am I right?"
"Yeah, I guess you can put it that way."
"Hm, alright. I'll see if I can get you some egg alternatives." Green took out her phone and typed something onto it. As she did, Looker strode out of the kitchen, holding a tray loaded with cups of tea and plates for everyone. Haruki let out a sigh of relief; finally, they can move on from this topic.
Haruki's plate came with a portion of pancakes, beans, and some assorted fruits that Looker plucked out of the basket. He and Anabel each had an egg tart and some buttered toast, while Green had two tea eggs and a breakfast sandwich. Meanwhile, Ditty helped themself to a piece of Haruki's pancake, enhanced with some leftover berries.
Breakfast was silent and quick. Anabel was the first to finish and offered to clean up the plates.
"I want to do it," Haruki argued, hands still on his dirty plate. "I can at least do that. You don't have to treat me like a guest in my- my house."
"No," Anabel stated firmly. "I'll do it later. We need to talk first about where things go from here."
Damn it, back to what troubled him this morning. Haruki sighed and sat back down. As Anabel cleared the table, Looker and Green now wore serious expressions on their faces.
"How were you this morning? Before we arrived," Looker asked earnestly.
"Terrible."
"Are you alright with talking about it?"
"What else can I do? What am I supposed to do?" Haruki hissed, clenching his fists. "I haven't lived on my own before. I'm not a real adult."
"Ah! Ah!" Green leaned over the table and pressed a finger to Haruki's lips. "That is why I'm here. Finances? Living on your own? Look no further than moi."
"Striking out on your own is hard; we've all done it one way or another. That's why we're all here to help." Looker gestured towards himself and Anabel.
"I grew up on the streets!" Green added rather cheerfully. "If I can make it to where I am from there, you can too."
Haruki doubted that. As if he was anything like the talented and gifted abominations that are Dex Holders or any Pokemon-adjacent character. Anabel only looked slightly older than he was, yet she's both an international celebrity and federal agent.
"Most important thing to keep in mind; you can't tell anyone else about the unique perspective your world has on ours. We don't know how others will react to that, nor does anyone want a crisis on their hands," Looker stated firmly. "Can you promise to keep that a secret?"
"Yeah. Who else am I gonna talk to about that anyways?"
"You'll be surprised as time goes on. Now, about your allowance. With rent payment already taken out, it's two hundred and fifty thousand yen per month."
"So, two thousand five hundred dollars?" Haruki clarified after doing the math.
"Yep! Not a bad deal!" Green added. "Your card should be right…there!"
She glanced around the room and laid her eyes on the work desk in the corner. She quickly went over to retrieve a light gray wallet from the top drawer and tossed it over to its new owner.
"Of course, we're monitoring your transactions, so don't go too crazy with it!" Green waggled a finger.
"Thanks. At least I have enough self control over that," Haruki replied as he stuffed his wallet into his pocket.
"Interpol will provide finances for you until you're employed with a self-sustaining salary. We'll send job opportunities your way. Speaking of which, what was your job originally? Were you employed?" Looker continued.
"Of course I have a job! I'm not a complete recluse," Haruki hissed. His face fell soon afterwards and he turned away. "I sold jewelry. Made it myself."
A brief moment of silence later, Looker opened his phone and pulled up a familiar picture.
"This necklace, did you-?"
Haruki turned back and immediately choked up at the sight of Yuuto's necklace. He bit his lip and looked away, but he couldn't resist the temptation of his own creation.
"Yeah," Haruki barely breathed out. "I made that. For my brother."
"It looks wonderful," Green whispered as she spun Looker's phone around for a closer look. "That's a beautiful emblem in the gem."
"Thanks. Some good all the time spent learning that did me," Haruki grumbled.
"No. We're all very fortunate that you're in Rustboro now." Looker smiled at this revelation and put a hand on Haruki's shoulder. "Very fortunate."
"What does this place have anything to do with making jewelry? All my connections, suppliers, tools, and workshops are gone." Haruki raised a finger with each missing piece of his profession. "You don't know how long it took for me to get where I was."
"I don't, but there are definitely people in Rustboro who will. It's a city that holds its artistic and educational roots tightly. I'm sure we'll get you back on track soon enough."
"Are- are you going to help network with me?"
"We'll see what we can do, but that's a question better suited for Roxanne," Looker admitted.
"When I actually get to see her." Haruki rolled his eyes. As if he'd ever have time to have one-on-one time with a Gym Leader of all people.
"Later today, actually," Green smirked. "So you get some questions prepared."
"Excuse me?"
"We contacted her when we were still in Alola," Looker explained. "She has some time this semester before the League season starts to give you some private lessons regarding Pokemon handling and contact. We're heading there this afternoon to get the ground rules and pretests all sorted out."
Roxanne? Roxanne the Gym Leader? As his personal instructor? Christ, he was really speeding through all the categories of named Pokemon characters. A prominently-featured NPC, a Frontier Brain, an actual protagonist, and now a Gym Leader. Who's next, a Champion?
Well, he was in Rustboro, where Devon Corporation was based. He could actually get to meet Steven Stone, of all people!
"Earth to Haruki! Say, what's Roxanne like in your world?" Green asked excitedly. "You know about me, Looker, and Anabel! Surely you know about a Gym Leader! Come on, any juicy secrets?"
"They're called secrets for a reason!" Anabel hissed, having returned from the kitchen. "But I am curious as well. How did your world portray her? If you assume anything that would stand out, we'll have to get that sorted out here. You can't ask her directly."
Stand out? Roxanne was the exact opposite definition of that. Most Gym Leaders were pretty much punching bags for the player and fluff for world building. Even in the manga–where they actually got to do something related to the main plot–most of them were still side characters in those stories.
"I'll be honest, I've never thought much about her. She's just there in the games," Haruki admitted.
Anabel scoffed at that remark as she sat down. "Really? Most of what you know about me is classified, yet a Gym Leader is 'just there?' Weren't your games mostly about challenging the League?"
Haruki thought hard for a proper explanation and sighed. This was going to take a while.
"I'll try to compact this as much as I can. Firstly, you-" He pointed towards Anabel. "-as you are currently–not during your Battle Frontier days–appeared in the seventh generation of franchise games. Roxanne only really appeared in the third across the entire franchise, when the story was ridiculously bare bones. It was just 'fight Gyms, fight some bad guys, become Champion.' Those games were too old to add actual character personalities, depth, arcs."
"Unfortunately, that means that the most we got to do with her was talk to her and beat her Gym. That's it. Most players don't even come back to Rustboro after that, outside of side story content in the remakes. So yeah, I don't really have much to say about her."
"If battles are all you know about her, then how were they?"
Was that anticipation he heard in Anabel's voice? He felt bad for what he was about to say next.
"Easy," Haruki answered as he tried to not roll his eyes. "She's the first Gym you fight and the games are for kids, so they're mostly a breeze to go through."
Anabel's shoulders slumped as she sighed in disappointment. Green patted her on the back in consolidation, but then Anabel noticed something within that last statement.
"How is she as a late-season Gym?"
"That's- ugh… The first Gym in Hoenn is always Roxanne. You don't get to change the Gym order."
Green quickly covered her mouth, but wasn't enough to hide her snickers at the sight of Anabel's rapidly paling face. She leaned in very closely, her eyes blazing with fury.
"Do you mean to tell us that your games don't have badge scaling?"
Haruki turned away. His silence was a good enough answer. Anabel threw herself backwards and her arms up high.
"I- That's- Ok, ok. You don't have Gym scaling, Understandable." She buried her face in her hands.
"It is?"
"Old game for kids. Alright. That's ok."
Haruki nodded. He wasn't about to tell her that even the newest game installment failed to add badge scaling, even though players could now freely choose their Gym order.
"So then, what were battles like? What's the format?" Anabel's face was starting to grow red.
"Format?"
"Oh gods. You know, doubles, team of four? Singles, full team? Elimination, no time limit, open switching? Come on, please tell me your games have different battle formats."
"We do, but they're regulated to side content. Most battles are one-on-one with full teams. No time limit and you just switch out on your turn. Been that way…for…decades…"
Haruki shut himself up as Anabel's eyes twitched. Green ducked under the table, busy trying not to die to laughter. Meanwhile, Looker glanced back and forth between his boss and Haruki, terrified of what would come next.
"Your turn?" Anabel hissed. "Your battles are all turn based?"
"Yes. Well, we had Pokken, but-"
"So you just take turns hitting each other?!" Anabel leapt to her feet and slammed her hands onto the table. After a few seconds of gawking, she slumped back into her seat.
"Unbelievable. Unbelievable! No wonder all your games were so easy! There's no positioning, no combos, no real-time reactions?! Nothing?! All you do is just stand there and hit each other! How strong are super effective attacks? What about set-up moves?"
"Double damage. Nobody really goes for set-up moves unless it's competitive since they take up a turn too."
"There's a competitive scene for this boring format? How would anybody like that? How did your world make decades of games out of something so boring?"
"Don't ask me, ask Gamefreak! Nintendo! They did this in the '90s, it worked, and they never changed since then! People still like it!"
"This is an insult to the art of Pokemon battles everywhere." Anabel slammed a fist onto the table. "They should be ashamed of themselves. They robbed you from the best thing this world has to offer."
"We have an anime."
"Watching isn't the same as participating! I promise, the moment you get a Pokemon of your own, I'm teaching you how to battle. You have to do it at least once!"
"And why don't we start by heading on over to Roxanne's?" Looker interjected, sliding a hand between the two. Anabel took a few deep breaths, straightened her collar, and nodded.
"Oh no, keep going! Please, I insist," Green pestered, her phone still raised.
As Anabel reached for a Pokeball on her belt, Haruki felt the air around him grew hot and humid.
"Chill, chill, it's not a recording." Green threw her phone into the air, its lines and reflective screen melting into a purple glob. She quickly returned Ditty back into their Pokeball.
"Let's go. Maybe Roxanne can join us for lunch after." Anabel huffed as she strode towards the door. Haruki shuddered as he followed. He'll never bring up the topic of game battles in front of her ever again.
During the short walk over to the Rustboro Trainer School, Haruki's attention swiveled around and around towards the various details of his new home. Now that he was at ground level, he was pleased to say that his airborne preview of a city greatly underestimated how beautiful they would actually be.
Rustboro was gorgeous. Gone were the boxy reused houses held back by console limitations, replaced by actually functioning buildings. Instead of using a metallic and reflective pallet found in a typical skyscraper-infested city, Rustboro was built on yellow, brown, and red stone structures. Most buildings were shorter and stockier than the skyscrapers Haruki remembered the last time he went to Japan to visit relatives, but were undeniably Japanese in construction. The only exception to this was the Devon Corp headquarters he could just barely see in the distance.
Just like what he saw at Melemele Island, there was an awful lot of greenery here as well. He couldn't walk a few feet without seeing a flower bed next to a window or a tree growing over the street. They provided more than shade for pedestrians, as Haruki found himself staring at Pokemon after Pokemon on his way across the city.
Flocks of Taillow were perched on trees, a Skitty nibbled on a treat in their Trainer's hand as they biked down the road, and even a Chingling jingled loudly to signal the opening of a shop.
It was as if a zoo burst open in the city and everyone just accepted it. There were so many Pokemon out and about! Not just those in the Hoenn roster, but everywhere!
Furthermore, it wasn't just Rustboro's architecture, greenery, and biodiversity that made Haruki fall in love with it, but just walking through the city itself made him feel safe and clean. There wasn't a single piece of litter around–even in the smallest and most hidden of corners–and he could actually breath freely without the smell of petrol or tobacco around.
He didn't have to worry about where he stepped or walked to avoid getting run over by a speeding vehicle. The most common sight on the narrow central lanes were bikes–God, there were so many of them–and the occasional large Pokemon. Even then, traffic moved slowly and smoothly.
The only time people had to stop and move out of the way was when a Trainer riding her Rapidash blew a whistle. She led families–each riding their own Pokemon–on what sounded like a guided tour across the city, but Haruki paid no mind to what she said.
"How does she do that?" he asked Green, pointing at the Rapidash. "Shouldn't fire be hot?"
"Incredible." Green clapped her hands. "Such detective work! Interpol should hire you. Ok, but seriously, that's only when the Rapidash doesn't like you."
"And they can just turn the heat off?"
"Yep!"
Haruki sighed and thanked Green for the answer. He doubted he'd ever fully understand Pokemon biology.
A few minutes later, they arrived at what Haruki first assumed to be a castle. It was a textbook image of what a prestigious college would look like. The many palladian windows and aged stone walls stuck out like a sore thumb from the neighboring buildings, looking more European than Japanese.
The school's main gates were fully open, inviting everyone into a lush open field and garden that served as the school's main yard. There wasn't a single student or teacher present–as it was the weekend–but Haruki could see some Shroomishs in the flowerbed and even a Silcoon and Cascoon hanging in a tree nearby. He wondered if they were wild-
"Look out!"
A rumbling sound followed that cry shortly after. Haruki only had an instant to turn his head to the source of the noise and recognize the growing cloud of dust before Anabel stepped in front of him.
She released her Lucario with a pop of her Pokeball, who scooped the swift rolling blue ball off the dirt path into their arms. The Phanpy huffed and snorted as it squirmed around. Its eyes were fixated solely on Haruki, ignoring his stunned expression and returned an excited gaze of its own.
"Fifi! I know you're eager, but don't break our guests' ankles!" A woman followed after her runaway Pokemon and quickly returned them into their Pokeball. She quickly bowed in apology to Anabel, who returned the gesture alongside her Lucario.
Out of all the characters Haruki has met, Roxanne differed the most from her franchise depictions. She grew out of her adolescent depiction from the games; she was taller and looked about his age. Her hair was now tied up in two buns and her expected tie, tights, and skirt were replaced with an outdoors jacket, brown knee-length shorts, and dirt-covered long socks.
"Sorry about that. Students have a lot of trouble wrangling that little one." She rubbed the back of her head before offering a hand towards Haruki. "I take it you're the Faller, correct? I'm Roxanne Stellar, your new teacher!"
Author's Notes
So terribly sorry for this late chapter. Finals,graduation, and life got in the way and I had a lot of trouble trying to pace this chapter well.
Green and Roxanne are here! Originally, she was going to stay on the sidelines, but since this is set in the Pokespe universe, what better way to establish that than to have a Dex Holder be a part of the main cast?
Dear god, Green is so much fun to write. It's such a breath of fresh air to have a character I actually have material to reference when I write. I only have crumbs for everyone else, who are quite serious characters, so it feels good to have a voice in the story for all my funny dialogue ideas.
I keep forgetting to mention this about Roxanne's last name, but I named her "Stellar" because when this story was still in the planning stages, I was going to give her a Minior on her team. I scrapped that idea, but meteor-themed Pokemon plus Roxanne's existing connection to geology made me think of Megaman Star Force. So I decided to use Geo's last name. She even has "rocks" in her name too!
One thing I really want to focus on in this story is how suddenly Haruki has to take care of himself and the house. It's the equivalent of getting kicked out of your parent's house one day. You have to remember every skill you took for granted from your parents and you have to apply them for yourself. Cooking, doing insurance, cleaning up around the house, doing laundry, etc. After spending some time home alone, it's amazing how much those tasks get so much harder without someone to guide you or correct you if you make a mistake. I hope my story will communicate those feelings well in the future.