The Inkay rushed at me, attempting to use Tackle. It was pitifully slow and barely managed to gather enough energy to separate the move from a normal tackle. I side-stepped the attack. Once I saw that the energy had dissipated, I threw a punch at it. I hit the top of its head and made it hit the ground hard enough to bounce back up.
I grabbed it to try and throw it down, but the yellow dots flashed once again, making me feel like I didn't want to fight. It took me a second, but I continued with my plan. This shocked the Pokémon, apparently expecting me to let it go. I threw it down and punted the little shit. As it flew, I took out one of the two Pokéballs.
As soon as it hit the ground, I threw the ball above it. The Pokéball hit the Inkay on the bounce up, a flash of white encapsulating it and then returning back into the ball. It weakly shook twice before clicking and glowing for a few seconds.
I wasn't sure what to do from there, but since the Pokédex always popped up after a catch in the games, I decided to open the Pokédex app. After searching for Inkay, I noticed it was still grayed out. I was a bit confused until I remembered that I reset the phone. It probably didn't have any profile associated with it and definitely not my profile. I looked through the phone and found a profile option. I tapped on it and made an account. I filled in as much information as I could.
0-0-0-0-0
Profile: Marco
Age: 24
Height: 1.83 m (6'0")
Weight: 136 kg (300 lbs.)
Hair: Black
Facial Hair: Goatee, Black with tips turning orange/red
Eyes: Honey Brown
Body: Bulky, some fat on the torso and abdomen; Brown skin tones
0-0-0-0-0
As soon as I completed the profile and saved it, several apps downloaded on their own. These were: Bank, Mart, Box, Ranger, League, Missions, and Trade. I opened each. The Bank, Box, Ranger, League, and Missions apps were empty and did not show much, most likely because I just created a profile and I'm probably not in any database.
The Mart app had a wide selection of items for sale, though most were pretty expensive. The Trade app did not show much because I didn't have any contacts and I don't have any Pokémon registered to my profile yet. So, I scanned the Inkay.
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Inkay (Male): The Revolving Pokémon
It drains its opponent's will to fight by flashing lights from the spots on its head.
Abilities: Contrary, Infiltrator
Moves: Peck, Tackle, Hypnosis, Payback, Disable (Egg Move), Acupressure (Egg Move)
Condition: Weak, Starving, Frightened
0-0-0-0-0
Yep, I was definitely keeping the little guy. I tried to see if there was anything I could do with the Pokéball to make sure Inkay would be fine for a while, like some sort of stasis mode. Apparently, all I had to do was hold the button on the ball for three seconds, which I did. With that, I continued walking.
It was nice out, with the sun starting to make its way down. The route was very clean and pretty empty, only the occasional car driving by. Some Pokémon would come out onto the pavement, but none of them attacked. It seems Pokémon that were willing to come out to well-traversed areas tended to be friendlier, which made a bit of sense. It didn't matter though, most of them were the common Rattata or Spewpa. I kept walking, enjoying the peace of the route.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
It took me about an hour to get to the outskirts of Santalune City. The first thing I did was go to the nearest police station. I reported what happened in the woods, which made quite the commotion in the peace of the station. Several officers were running around, grabbing equipment and their Pokéballs before heading out into the woods.
The secretary asked for my name, becoming suspicious when I said I couldn’t remember my last name. She took a picture and uploaded it to her computer, a beep and the frown on her face telling me nothing came up. She said she was going to need to fingerprint me, which I hesitantly agreed to.
I didn’t have a problem with it, since she’s doing her job to ensure the peace of the area. But how was I going to explain my situation? I won’t come up because I come from a world where Pokémon and this world is a piece of fiction and entertainment for people? I’m an interdimensional traveler with no idea about how I got here or how to get back home?
Call me crazy, but that probably wouldn’t fly.
The secretary, whose name tag read ‘Cheryl,’ led me to a room after the fingerprinting failed to ID me as well. Once we arrived, she told me I needed to wait for Officer Jenny. I sat in one of the two steel chairs in the dim room, a cool, metal table separating the two seats. An obvious one-way mirror made up the entirety of one wall. I was in an interrogation room.
How lovely.
I waited for what felt like 30 minutes, most likely an intimidation tactic. An Officer Jenny walked into the room, her stony face not giving any tell about what was going to happen.
“So, you’re Marco?” she questioned.
“Yes. How can I help you?” I answered.
“There are a lot of questions I have about you and what happened in the forest. For example, how did you find yourself in the forest?”
“To be honest, I’m not too sure. I was sitting at home catching up on my readings and then… I don’t know. I was in the middle of the forest. And then those Team Flare grunts walked by and fought the Litleo.
“But they didn’t know about the Pyroars that were near and they were caught off-guard. One of them was burnt to death and the other mauled and then eaten. And the Pyroar just walked away and left me alone and I didn’t know what to do cause one minute I was home and the next I was in the forest with a very real chance of dying before I knew what even happened or e-.”
“Hey, hey, calm down. You’re fine,” Officer Jenny hushed as she sat down in front of me. I hadn’t realized I was starting to hyperventilate and panic while telling her what happened in the forest. She placed a coin on the table, blank on one side and a scarcely detailed Arcanine on the other.
“I like to spin and twist the coin around my finger when I’m nervous or anxious,” she said with a soft voice. “Why don’t you try it, and I’ll ask some easier questions. Just focus on the questions, no more no less.”
I nodded, grabbing the coin and manipulating it with just my fingers. It was something I did often with some of the older kids so I could get them to focus on calming down. Truer words had never become so relevant: sometimes, you need something or someone from the outside to snap you back to the moment.
“Good. Now, can you tell me your name?”
“My name is Marco. I… I can’t remember my last name, but my first name is Marco,” I answered.
“Good, now, can you tell me where home is?”
I froze immediately at the question. I wasn’t quite sure where home was, and that was ringing alarms like a motherfucker. But even if I did, how was I supposed to tell anyone here that the world they live in was just a fictional franchise?
“I… I don’t know,” my voice faltered. Panic and a sense of being lost hit me like a train and I slumped into my seat. Officer Jenny nearly fooled me into thinking she didn’t really believe me, but the slightest of cracks in her collected demeanor clued me in on the fact that she wasn’t cold-hearted.
“That’s rather… Strange. Is there anything you do remember?”
“I have a girlfriend, but I can’t remember her name. I work in an elementary school, working as a social worker assistant while I finish up my degree in social work. Um, I lived… I lived in…” I was going to say I lived somewhere called Connecticut, but she obviously wouldn't know where that was. And it would make her more suspicious.
“I can’t remember where I lived, “ I sighed out, shaking my head. I put my elbows on the table and rested my head in my hands. How the hell am I going to get by?
“Well, I can’t say you don’t sound suspicious. But you also don’t seem to be the type to be part of Team Flare, especially now that they’ve been disbanded for over a year,” Officer Jenny told me with a firm, but gentle, tone. “I’ll have to report this to the League and they’ll most likely file you as a person of interest. But for you to have gotten into Santalune Forest, you’d either have to go through the edges of the Kalos routes and cities or the wilds. Do you have any Pokémon?”
“I caught an Inkay on the way here. One of the Team Flare grunts left a Pokéball, which I put into stasis so there would be no chance it got out and attacked me,” I answered, grabbing both Pokéballs and putting them on the table. Officer Jenny scanned both, suspicion creeping into her voice.
“Our systems have no trace of you ever having been in Kalos, and yet here is an Inkay registered to you.”
“I had a phone on me, which I didn’t realize until I caught Inkay. I made a profile after catching it.
“I… I also grabbed some of the grunts’ things,” I told her, putting the slightly tattered fanny pack on the table. “I was too focused on getting something to help me to really think about what I was doing. I’m sorry.”
Officer Jenny grabbed the bag and looked it over a few times before settling her analyzing gaze on me. The longer she stared, the more uncomfortable I became. She opened the bag and dumped out its contents: a key ring, a Team Flare ID card, a key card, a Potion, and a flip phone.
“I’m assuming the Pokéball was the grunt’s?” she asked.
“Yes,” I answered, lowering my head.
*sigh*
“So, you have recently caught Inkay, one that couldn’t possibly protect you from the powerful Pokémon that are common deep in Santalune forest. The means you must’ve traveled at least close to the established routes and towns. And yet, there are no records about you anywhere.
“For that to be the case, you’d need to come from some unknown or closed-off region. The only one that comes to mind is Paldea.”
“Paldea? That sounds familiar, but I don’t think that’s where I’m from. I… I honestly don’t remember,” I answered her unasked question.
“Well, you won’t be able to leave until we figure this out,” Officer Jenny said firmly. “While I believe that you had nothing to do with those Team Flare grunts, I can’t let you leave when you don’t technically exist here in Kalos.”
“That’s fair,” I sighed out. “Are the cell beds comfortable?”