Chapter Text
Cyllene was used to hearing the sounds of chaos coming from Professor Laventon’s office. He always kept the door between their offices open, and the three little Pokémon that he kept in there weren’t exactly tame.
Even one of the little terrors running out of his office into the hallways was a near daily occurrence. Cyllene was forever grateful that none of the Professor’s Pokémon were bug type (or even worse, a Wurmple).
What was unusual was sounds of chaos and then all three of the professor’s Pokémon darting out into the hall, past Bagin at the foot of the stairs, and through the legs of the outside Security Corp guardsman on duty, Beauregard, who had just happened to open the door. Professor Laventon collided with poor Beauregard, almost knocking the man over in his haste to chase after the miscreants. (Bagin, however, had learned to sidestep the Professor by going up the stairs by a few steps. It was practically ingrained in him after the fourth time one of the Pokémon got loose.)
“Agh! Sorry sorry sorry! I’m terribly sorry I just need to-“ started the Professor in his panic.
Beauregard just stepped to the side and sighed. He kept the door open so Laventon could slip by.
“Thank you!” The Professor said to Beauregard on reflex, and then louder, shouting into the street, “ Get back here! Where are you going?!”
Beauregard shook his head fondly as he watched the Professor run out into the streets of Jubilife before turning back into the building. As he caught Cyllene’s gaze, he smiled and strode to her desk.
She set down her papers and nodded when he reached her desk.
Thankfully, that was enough prompting to get Beauregard to speak, “Captain, I have some news from Ginter about those alphas in the Mirelands.”
She nodded to herself, she had been expecting a report from the Gingko Guild regarding the alpha Tangrowth and an alpha Hippowdon for a few days now. Both were in awkward places for the Gingko guild to avoid on their way to the Diamond clan settlement, and they were hoping that the Galaxy Team could find a solution. She had bought herself some time to think about possible fixes by asking them to note down some details.
Beauregard paused for a moment before continuing in a lighter tone, “But first, will you go out to help the professor round up his troublemakers? Ginter won’t be in town for the next few days and it can wait.”
Cyllene considered this for a moment before shaking her head, “He needs to learn how to control them himself.”
Beauregard’s eyes flicked to her Abra, still floating peacefully in the corner. “You could send him some help…”
Cyllene frowned, “Abra is sleeping.” And it was actually sleeping, she could tell just by its floating. Cyllene had quickly learned the difference between the various ways it floated while it slept, snoozed, dozed, napped, rested, slumbered, and on rare occasions, while it was awake but debating on going back to sleep.
“It’s always sleeping, Captain,” came a voice from the medic ward. Cyllene turned to see Captain Pesselle leaning against the doorway, arms crossed with a knowing smile. “All it does is sleep.”
Cyllene glared at her. Captain Pesselle was a fine medic, but Cyllene was convinced that she kept the door between their offices open just so she could eavesdrop and snoop. As much as Cyllene would never wish for anyone to be hurt (that didn’t deserve it, anyway), she thought that Pesselle was a much better office-neighbor when she had someone to nurse back to health.
Cyllene took a deep breath, “And Abras are supposed to do that. Just like you both have jobs you’re supposed to be doing,” shooting both of them a look.
Beauregard, to his credit, looked a little ashamed, but Pesselle just smirked at her.
“It wouldn’t hurt for you to go take a break and get some sun!” Pesselle said with her I-am-the-medic-you-are-the-incredibly-stupid-patient tone of voice that Cyllene hated. “You’ve been here doing paperwork all day since I came in, and I was here with the sun rise. You’ll turn into a Duskull at this rate!”
Cyllene sighed and relented. There was no use in arguing in Pesselle when she got like this. “Fine, I’ll l go help him if he hasn’t caught them after an hour.”
Ignoring Pesselle’s triumphant smile, Cyllene turned back to Beauregard and ordered, ”Give me Ginter’s report.”
After Beauregard handed over Ginter’s written notes on the alpha’s movements, and recounted Ginter’s verbal explanation of said notes, Cyllene sent him back to his post. As for herself, she went back to her paperwork, fully expecting to have Professor Laventon trudge in over an hour later to sheepishly ask her assistance.
So when only twenty-five minutes passed and she heard the front door open, she didn’t bother to look up. In fact, she didn’t bother looking up until she heard her name being called.
“Captain! Captain Cyllene!”
“Professor?” She looked up sharply, and indeed, the Professor was striding towards her desk with purpose and looked to be about to vibrate out of his own skin. She set down her paperwork and brush as he started babbling at her with excitement clear in his voice.
“You won’t believe it! I barely barely believe it myself! It’s incredible! She caught all of them! All three! And oh! We have to help her! We must!”
“What are you-“ Cyllene started but the professor cut her off, still rambling even as he finally reached her desk.
“There is a girl! She fell out of the sky! Right onto the beach! Oh, oh! And she is good with Pokémon! She caught all three of the little buggers! In barely any time at all! And! And she agreed to help with the Pokédex! This could be grand! It could be the help we’ve been searching for!”
“Professor, please!” Cyllene held up a hand to try to stop him. “Slow down and start from the beginning!”
And after noticing both Pesselle and Bagin not-so-subtly peeking into her office (why did she agree to an open door policy?), Cyllene dropped her voice and added, “and please keep your voice down.”
The Professor nodded hard enough to make the enormous Pom Pom on his hat wobble, and took a deep breath.
“When I went out to catch the three little runaways, they led me to the beach. And there, a girl fell. Fell! Out of a small rift a few feet off the ground! When I went to go check on her, she had survived! And she’s willing to help with the Pokédex! And more over, she’s great with Pokémon! She caught all three with no problems! I’ve never seen anything like it! And Cyllene, please we have to help her! She’s got no connections here! No place to stay, no family, nothing! We have to help her, please!”
Cyllene put up a hand to stop him from spiraling into babbling again. “You said she caught all THREE of them? Professor, it’s been less than half an hour!”
“I know! I could scarcely believe it and I watched her do it! Look!”
He fished three poke balls out of his coats pockets and tossed them on the ground. Out popped Rowlett, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott. The three that had run out the door. Each of them looked around at her office for a moment or two before waddling off to the Professor’s office next door.
Earth, sea and sky! How did this mystery girl manage it? Even with her own proficiency, it still took Cyllene about 15 mins to sneak up on each Pokémon individually, and this girl caught them all in less time?
A random thought flashed into Cyllene’s head. The Pearl clan had asked about a strange man they had found in a field about a month after the Galaxy Expedition had landed at prelude beach. That man had also been scarily good at befriending Pokémon and had seemingly came out of nowhere. And now he was a respected warden, even if he was still considered strange in almost every way. Maybe this was a similar situation? Cyllene would have to be a fool to turn this opportunity away!
“What is your impression of this… girl?” Cyllene asked sharply.
The Professor hummed and then responded, “Odd, but… she likes Pokémon and they seem to like her right back, so… overall I think we can trust her!”
Ugh, she was afraid of that. Everyone was still wary of the strange Warden, even now. The Pearl clan had warmed up to him once they decided to just take him in, but it was no secret that he wasn’t exactly a seamless match. And the villagers of Jubilife were skittish towards new things at the best of times. Cyllene couldn’t count on them to think rationally in the face of a Bidoof, much less someone who randomly showed up out of the blue. And if they were odd on top of that… the chances of this going smoothly were quickly vanishing.
She took a deep breath. “And about how old?”
“Oh! Um, I didn’t ask, but…” he folded his arms as he thought, “Probably around Rei’s age? Old enough to help us out, anyway.”
Cyllene nodded absentmindedly. “Give me a moment to think.” She shut her eyes in concentration.
Could she trust the Professor’s judgement on this? Professor Laventon was so quick to trust, and while so far he hadn’t been hurt by that tendency, there was always a first for everything. The big clumsy fool had a heart three times what it should be, for better or for worse. He had unofficially adopted Rei at first sight and it had left Cyllene scrambling to find a place for him in the Galaxy team overall. As much as the people of Jubilife loved children (enough to try to make a new home in a strange land just to have a better future), teenagers were on that thin line of get-to-work-you-lazy-layabouts and we-must-protect-our-future-by-safeguarding-them-at-all-costs.
Rei, having no parents with him to argue for the latter option, was too old to not work for his food, especially when it was so scarce and hard to come by right now. And Rei had been a simple stowaway! Nothing unusual about him, and yet Cyllene had had to fight tooth and nail to get him a place, eventually just sticking him in her own Survey Corps when none of the other captains had been willing to shoulder responsibility for him. Even Kamado had been pressuring her to get him to work or send him on the next boat home. Thank the land and sea that Rei also happened to be highly proficient in crafting, so she could shield him from dangerous missions or too much scrutiny from the commander by having him stay back and make a small mountain of pokèballs.
It didn’t bear thinking about what the paranoid villagers and commander would think about someone who fell out of the sky…
Speaking of, if the girl was still on the beach, maybe Cyllene could make up a story for how she arrived? Maybe washed up from a bad storm? She could work out the details after talking to the girl in question.
Cyllene blinked once, twice, before shaking her head quickly and looking at the Professor again, “I would like to see this girl before we proceed. Is she still at the beach?”
The Professor cocked his head, “No? I brought her into town, she’s waiting by the wallflower? I thought I mentioned that?”
Fuck fuck fuck. So much for trying to make a cover story. Shit, this just got a lot more complicated. If he brought her from the beach to the Wallflower, that means she walked right through the center of town in full view of any villagers who happened to be out and about. And also, that meant Beni…
Oh shit.
“Go back and wait with her. I’ll be right out.”
In a rare show of temper, the Professor crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at her, “But you haven’t said what you want to do yet? I will not leave without an answer!”
Oh great, why did the Professor only grow a spine when he had a kid to adopt?
“Professor,” she snapped back, “I’m not saying that we won’t help her, but the fact remains that we can’t just give her aid without knowing what she can do. Right now, you are the only one who has seen her in action. I am trusting in your word and your judgement to even give her consideration when you know full well that the commander would have you both out on your ear for even suggesting to bring her in. There will be a trial given and if she passes, I will accept her into the Survey Corps with food and housing and whatever else she will need to succeed. That is the standard procedure and I will not budge on this. We will have a discussion together about the test for her later, after dinner.”
The Professor looked shocked for a moment but then visibly brightened, “Well that seems fair!”
Thank goodness that he was so easy going.
“Now, go and make sure she’s still by the Wallflower. I will come out in a few moments.”
The professor beamed, “Right-o! I’ll go out and talk to her! Maybe I can find Rei and introduce them to each other!”
But as he turned to walk out, Cyllene was struck with a thought.
“Professor?”
He turned back to her with a “hmm?”
“Treat them to the Wallflower. But sit outside.”
The Professor paused for a second. But he brightened again, “Good idea, it’s a lovely day today!” And turned back towards the exit again without any further comment.
Cyllene sat and watched him leave out of her office into the main hall before she got up out of her chair. She gave her Abra a quick pat. It was still asleep, so she only got a soft mmmrrph in response. It would find her at the Wallflower once it woke up. As sleepy as it was, it still loved food too much to skip dinner. She took a deep breath, briefly considered screaming, decided against it, and let out the held breath in a whoosh.
Finally, she gathered herself up and started walking towards the Galaxy Hall’s front door.
“Getting another stray, Cyllene?” teased Pesselle as Cyllene passed the open door to the medical ward.
Cyllene ignored her.