Chapter Text
D is… confused.
They are confused, but happy as they watch Emmet and Ingo leave, waving goodbye to the two of them. No one has asked much of them since they'd arrived in this place a week prior, which was… A strange change of pace. They do not know what to do without a task set ahead of them, but they are happy here so far. Elesa is talking again, saying noises without words and they focus on slipping their pokeballs into their coat pockets carefully. Each one must be set deep in the pockets, or they run the risk of falling out if D moves too fast. They don't want that, they have no idea what happens to a Pokémon if their ball is broken with them inside it and they do not want to find out. They look up from their pockets to see Elesa moving towards the door, holding up a Keychain with many shiny things on it and they scuttle over, sitting on the floor to pull their boots on. They like the bright green rain boots, even if the colour had faded some during their year in Hisui. They were pretty still and useful as well. They'd tromped around in the mire lands for a week before they found the Honey Frog, and they had never been as thankful for the gift as they were then. If only they could remember who it was from.
Elesa is waiting, hand on the doorknob, her own shoes - also fun colours! Yellow with red and blue and cute! - on her feet, and D quickly stands, waiting for her to open the door for them both to leave. She's still talking, they think about shopping and food, and they nod along when they think they should, her words blending to meaningless noise in their head as they look around the street. They hadn't left Ingo and Emmet's home since they'd come here, and it had been much quieter that first night. Now, there are so many Pokémon and people that it makes their head spin.
"Hey." Elesa is waving her hand in front of their face and they tune back into her. "You okay?" They will be, and they nod to show her that.
"Alright. Nimbasa is pretty big and crowded so, do you wanna hold my hand? You don't have to if you don't want to, sweetie." They look at her offered hand, her colorfully painted nails - red and blue again! - and instead they gently gently gently hold on to the thin sleeve of her top.
"That works too." She says with a smile before she starts walking. D is caught up in the texture of the thin sleeve - almost scratchy but soft at the same time, translucent in the sunlight - to pay much attention until they're back at the place where they and Ingo had landed. D watches with interest as Elesa taps her phone against a machine and they hastily pull out their own to mimic her.
"Its a good habit to have, but kids ride free, sweetie. " Elesa laughs and they look at their phone in confusion. What did the device have to do with payment? Questions to write later. They'll have to figure it out. Right now, they’re more interested in following her through the spinning gate and into the crowd. They’d seen this place the week before, but it had been near empty, their steps echoing, but now it’s jammed full, people and pokemon walking from place to place to stand. They’re both in awe and scared, pressing close to Elesa’s side and gripping tighter to her sleeve. She seems to know where they’re going at least, walking D over to one of the areas like where they and Ingo had waited. They’re both only standing with the crowd a moment before something pulls up, a huge box on wheels, windows dotting its sides and a pair of doors sliding open. The people that had been waiting around them begin to pour into the doors, like water through a funnel and D is surprised when Elesa follows them.
The inside is brightly lit, benches on both sides of the wall with little rings dangling from rods above them, and D stays close to Elesa as she leads them both to a seat before they’re all taken. They realize what the rings are for when there’s no seats left and people are standing holding them - a great idea for the space, though D wishes there was less people in their box. They pat at their pockets for a moment, letting go of Elesa before realizing that they’d left their journal at home. Miming it is then. They tap the woman’s side until she looks at them, cocking their head to the side and gesturing around them.
“You want to know where we’re going?” They nod no at first, then yes, because they do want to know that, but that’s not their question right now.
“Well, we’re going a little bit outside of Nimbasa, so it’s faster to take the train there. ” She explains more but D isn’t paying attention, looking around at what they know is a train! Ingo loves these things, though he couldn’t remember it and D doesn’t see the appeal in the cramped, moving room. They kick their feet, looking around, watching the dark grey walls pass by outside the windows. Elesa has gone back to tapping at her phone and D watches her for a moment before pulling out their own. They only know how to pull up the map on it and the messages from Arceus, but they don’t mind it, looking at the little marker representing them as it moves around. They’d discovered the map had changed a few days prior, but they guess that’s to be expected, this isn’t Hisui, though D doesn’t know the name of this place. Maybe they should ask at some point, or listen harder when Elesa and Ingo and Emmet are talking. They feel rude doing that though, they’re not like the clan members or the people in Jubilife, they’re real people, and it’s rude to eavesdrop on real people. Yes, yes, they’ll just ask or wait until they see a different map.
They hadn’t realized that they’d zoned out until a loud voice crackles overhead and they jump, looking around. It only takes a moment to realize it was an announcement - note: trains have intercoms? - and not anything else. By the time the thought had solidified, the train is pulling to a stop, Elesa standing with them as the doors open. D clutches at her shirt sleeve again to not get lost in the crowd as they step off. This area looked like the other one, except much smaller, the walls green instead of yellow and Elesa walks confidently through the crowd and to some stairs she leads them up. Upstairs is outside again, the sun shining merrily and D lets go of her sleeve to ruffle their own hair, settling their thoughts with the action. Trains are big box snakes that move fast and take you places. Settled, they ruffle their hair one more time, settling it back to it’s right position and taking a hold of Elesa’s sleeve again. They’re glad she waited for them, even if she’s giving them a weird smile, and they do their best to return it.
The next building they enter is much less busy, and they let Elesa do the talking with the lady at the counter, looking around at the other bored counter people until Elesa is tapping - knocking really - on the top of their head to get their attention.
“Hey.” She says with a smile when they look up. “They gotta take your picture really quick, alright? Just right over there, with the chair.” D is herded to the chair, directed to look at a camera - but it doesn’t look like one, but they say it is - and smile. Within the next ten minutes, they’re being handed two little plastic cards that are still warm. They like how warm they are, slapping one on their forehead whilst they look at the other one. It’s the letters they’ve been writing in the past week, but they haven’t remembered what they mean, other than the spot that says their name and they take the other card off their head. It’s more of the same, letters they recognize as their name (it’s supposed to be one letter) and the picture of them (that isn’t smiling like they thought) and they hold them both up to Elesa.
“Hmmm? Oh! Yeah you probably haven’t memorized the language yet, hunh? It’s kinda impossible to expect you to do that in a week.” She takes both of the cards and then bends over, showing them both to D.
“This one - ” she says, shaking the one with their picture “- is your trainer card! It says that you can officially carry up to six pokemon at once and battle. You don’t have a device for the digital version, so you have this for now until we get you an xtrans or something similar. This other one is a card that says that you’re allowed to have an extra pokemon with you. Ingo told me that your Kirlia - Little Lady, right? - doesn’t battle but is to help you out, so this card says that she’s allowed with you always. If she evolves, we’ll have to get it reissued, but - ” Elesa cuts herself off, making a hand gesture that D doesn’t understand, but gets the gist of. They take both of the cards back from her, looking at them intently before sliding them into the pocket with their phone. They'll be useful later, when they leave, so they can’t lose them.
Elesa is looking at her phone again, and D wonders what’s on it, though she’d explained before that it was a communication tool, so maybe that’s it? They couldn’t use theirs to communicate with anyone - except for Arceus, but they feel the big weird goat doesn’t count because it’s just like - like - Fqx fjb rc jp̴j̸r̵w̵?̷
Maybe they couldn’t communicate with anyone in Hisui because they didn’t have phones either! That’s probably it, right? That’s probably it, but Elesa has a phone so D can ask her later to show them how to communicate with people on it. Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good idea. By the time they’ve tuned back in to watching Elesa tap tapping on the glass of her phone, her smile has changed to a frown, eyebrows scrunched and they wonder if it’s something bad in the phone instead. They tug at her sleeve, waiting until she looks at them to gesture to the phone.
“Oh. It’s nothing bad or anything.” She reassures them, ruffling their hair with the hand that isn’t holding the phone (and they really wish she would press just a bit harder) “A friend of mine is in Unova because she wanted to talk with you actually. I’m just confused about how she knew you’d be with me. But then again, Cynthia’s always been like that. Woman knows things. She’s the one who knew how to read your native language!” Elesa laughs and D waits a moment for her to continue - mentally chanting ‘ Unova, Unova, Unova ’ to themself so they don’t forget the name.
“Anyways, she and a professor from Sinnoh - that’s what Hisui is called now - are here. They wanted to ask you about a couple of your pokemon, since they’re, uhm… well, they’re not around any more. They’re special types that those pokemon aren’t anymore. But it’s up to you, if you want to talk to them that is.” She’s turned her attention back to her phone, nails making little ‘ tap tap ’ noises against the glass. They wonder which pokemon aren’t around any more. They wonder if their own pokemon would be sad to hear that they’re the last alive. Just like you, right little Ghost?
But…
But they miss Laventon too, helping him out with the pokedex. And there’s a lot that they’ve seen here - in Unova, Unova, Unova - that they don’t know about. They’re pretty sure that Arceus’s original message still stands, even as they try to figure out what the second means. Maybe the professor here would be able to tell them what the second message means, maybe they’d give D another pokedex to fill out, or maybe one with information already filled out. Plus, Elesa’s nice, so her friend probably is too, right? Yeah! Yeah. They tug on Elesa’s sleeve again to get her attention, waiting until she’s looking at them to give her a thumbs up.
The rest of that trip is a blur, Elesa talks about things as they walk, her arm lowered so they can hold fast to her sleeve as she points out places with her other arm. Places for them to eat or shop at, a store she says Emmet and Ingo like that they walk past too quickly for D to decipher what they sell, a park where children are playing with their pokemon. Eventually, they come to a tall building, flags flying over the door and Elesa walks them in, skirting around the edge of the large room filled with people milling about and down a hall.
“- Cynthia said that they’d meet us in one of the meeting rooms.” She’s explaining with a laugh. “I guess that’s why they’re called that though.” She knocks on a grey door before someone with a light familiar voice calls for them to come in. D looks around the room first, at the walls that are plain, the far one a large window that looks into some sort of garden, at the little potted plants, the table that seems too big. It’s not until Elesa is moving her head to press her hand against their back that they actually look at the two people who are sitting at the table.
̵̺̓ R̷̡̽c̵͓̋'̴͍̂ḃ̵͓ ̴͔̀Q̷̝̿j̸͔̈́y̷̙̌y̵̘͆ǹ̶̲w̵̗͂ȓ̸̮w̶̻͆p̷͖̍ ̶̩́ĵ̶̠p̵̣͆j̸͚̄r̸̦̀w̸̰̉
They never knew how far into the future they were, just that Hisui had been the past. They’d thought it had been too far back to ever ever run into anyone again. Which was sad, but it was safe. But - but in front of them, a man who looks like Kamado is standing, talking in a deep voice that D can’t parse the words out of as their hands begin to tremble. He’s old, older than Kamado, hair and mustache white, but he’s still Kamado. He tracked them down . Their eyes flick to the woman next to him, breath stilling in their chest as they meet her narrowed eyes and sly smile. Of course she’d known how to read their words. She’d known in Hisui, too. Just like they’d known that she wasn’t something human.
‘ I will CONQUER it! No matter how many years, how many decades, how many centuries it takes me! ’
Volo’s here, Volo knows about the pokeball sitting on Ingo’s dresser, containing a piece of Arceus. Volo’s here with Kamado. They’re going to get hurt, they’re going to be hurt, they don’t want to be hurt.
( ṅ̶̤e̵̡͆v̶̹͆e̴̟̊ȓ̷̘ ̶̘̀á̸͖g̴̦͛a̵͉̐ḯ̴̪n̴̹̊ )
D isn’t paying attention to Elesa as they pull out their pokeballs, not looking at them, knowing by feel who is in their hands. They throw them both as hard as they can at the two people intruding on their peaceful life, ripping their whistle out from under their scarf as soon as the balls leave their hands, blowing into it as hard as they can. Sylphie and Bitters both know what that ear piercing shriek means, a wordless call to attack, cover me, help me . There’s yelling, growling, the bright flash of a Dazzling Gleam that blinds everyone and gives D the chance to push past Elesa - she took me to them, she’s friends with Volo, she’s not safe - and bolt onto the street, running blindly.
They don’t know this place, they don’t know where they’re going, other than away away away, the weight of their last pokeball in their pocket bouncing as they run as fast as they can, pushing through people blindly, not stopping until they run face first into a wall, bouncing off it and onto the concrete. They’re still breathing way too fast, gasping for breath as tears continue to drip down their face, mixing with warm-wet dripping from their nose. They don’t know if it’s blood or snot, though their mouth tastes overwhelmingly of iron as they begin to focus on the unfamiliar place they’ve found themself in. Little Lady’s pokeball had rolled out of their pocket when they’d made impact and they reach for it as they sit up, flipping the latch with a sniffle.
She gives them a smile, as she always does when released before it drops and her voice rises, little hands fluttering around their face.
“I -I’m Sow - ree-hee-e.” D hiccups through their tears as their pokemon turns their face, her little hand-mitts coming away red when she brushes their aching nose. They can’t understand her, they almost can normally, but not now, with tears running down their face and all they can focus on is the returning pain in their face and scraped hands. They hope she doesn’t mind, she doesn’t seem to as she moves their hair and rummages in their pockets, coming out with a spare scrap of fabric that she holds to their nose. Lady guides their hands to holding it on their own as she looks around, and D follows her with their eyes.
They’re well and truly lost. The few times they’d done something like this in Hisui, they’d been familiar enough with the area to find their way back to a safe place, but this… They don’t know where they are, other than an alleyway. There’s a few boxes and things stacked around that Little Lady is inspecting, dark concrete walls at their sides and the one they’d run into. They scooch, turning around to put their back to the alley wall without standing, one hand still holding the cloth to their aching nose. There’s people and pokemon walking past the entrance to the alleyway, but they’re far away and they don’t notice D in the shadows of the buildings. They sit there, watching the people until a box floats next to them, and they habitually grab it so that Lady no longer has to focus on floating it. There’s three more she’s floating over to them, arranging them and chastising D when they attempt to move any of them.
“‘Re you makin’ a fort?” They ask her, sniffling and wincing, and she chimes something before handing them back their bloodied rag. She moves the boxes around some more, until D is sure no one would be able to see them from the opening of the alleyway anymore and then there’s a faint shimmer around them, almost like the barrier that the Mr. Mime in Jubilife would create. It is a fort, Lady made a safe spot for them, and they feel the burn of tears coming back.
“Thank you.” D whispers, and the Kirlia squints at them, staring them down for a moment before rolling her eyes, waving a hand and the end of D’s scarf is flipped over their head as she takes a seat in front of their little box fort, and they pull their knees up, hiding their face as best they can. They can take a moment to collect themself, it’ll be okay. They’re not alone.
They’re not alone.