The shower had been heavenly. No words could describe the feeling of hot water pouring down onto her after all the hardships she had gone through. An assortment of soaps and shampoos lined the showers niche. Lilith took time to enjoy the scents of each before deciding which to use.

Three rounds of shampoo on her head were needed before Lilith felt satisfied that her hair was clean. Her face and skin were much faster. She didn’t time the experience, but it felt like hours had gone by under the pressure of the nozzle. She even took the time to scrub down the Egg with care. She had no idea if it was necessary, but it just felt right.

A towel hung on a rack across from the door. It was easily the softest thing she had ever touched. It felt like getting rubbed down by a cloud. Lilith quickly dried herself off before looking at the mirror. It had fogged up considerably before she swiped at it with a second towel.

With the mirror clear, Lilith finally got a real look at herself. There was a huge difference between water and the mirror before her. The last time she had gotten a good look at herself was the day she arrived. The natural mirror had rippled and never stayed still enough to stare for too long.

The time in the forest had done a number on her. Lilith’s eyes had turned completely black, gone was the dark brown tint. Her hair looked about the same color but had grown past her chin, threatening to touch her shoulders. It was still her face. Her body looked scrawny and malnourished despite eating her fill of berries each day. She was practically unrecognizable.

Lilith turned away from her reflection. She took the second towel and carefully massaged down the Egg. A good rubbing later, and both were completely dry. The wet towel fell to the ground as a problem presented itself.

‘What the heck am I supposed to wear now?’ She thought.

Lilith poked her head out of the bathroom and spotted the wardrobe. She glanced around the room before remembering where she was. She was free to roam the room. The bottom drawer creaked open as lines of underwear and socks filled the bottom. Lilith picked out a random set before trying each on. They had a good target for her size, but only some fit her just right.

‘When the heck did they put these here?’ she thought.

Lilith had gone straight from the office styled room to this one. Their decision seemed spontaneous, so she was unsure when anyone even had the time to stock a wardrobe full of clothes that fit her. With a set of socks and underwear found, she opened up the top of the wardrobe, the area that let the clothes hang on a hanger.

Lilith frowned.

The wardrobe was lined with dresses. They all looked to be about her size, not really a surprise. The colors scattered like a rainbow. Many styles, colors, and sizes mixed together.

‘Why did it have to be dresses?’ She thought

Lilith hated dresses. Her preferred clothing was jeans and a T-shirt. The flowery open designs just rubbed her the wrong way. They floated around too much and jeans didn’t allow perverts to sneak a peek under them.

Despite her unwillingness, Lilith picked out the plainest black dress she could find.

‘This will have to do for now...’ She frowned at herself in the mirror. It fit loosely, but she wasn’t happy about it. Someone was messing with her.

She felt much better as she picked up her Egg. Lilith felt ready for the next round of questions with her Partner so close.

***

Melinda took Aurea’s insistence as code. She believed they wanted to have Lilith leave as they discussed what would happen with her. So when Lilith left with Skyla, another round of talks commenced.

“So what’s so important you had her leave?” Melinda asked.

“ I think our first step should be to try and find where she comes from.” Juniper said.

“Bahh, it's as Alder said, the girls got brain damage. We don’t have enough to find a Patrat, let alone a Legendary.” Melinda countered.

“But to what extent? She clearly knows a lot of information about Pokemon, but only memories of her daily life were affected by the change. She seems largely intelligent to me.” Aurea countered.

“That’s just the problem, we know nothing about her…” Alder said

“We should see how much she actually knows.” He finished.

“And how would you do that? Your approach sucked, we need to be less passive.” Melinda asked. She wanted the original questions to be much more aggressive

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“I propose we give her an academic test. It would both assess her faculties as well as giving us a target range for her age.” Alder said

“Hmm and we could pose it as a survey. I’ll get my people on it right away.” Professor Juniper pulled out her Holo Caster and called her research assistants to help her put together the comprehensive survey.

***

Lilith poked her head outside. She had no clue what she was supposed to do now. Juniper told her to get cleaned up, not what would happen afterward.

To her surprise, Skyla and Unfezant lay out in the middle of the hallway. Skyla was using her Pokemon as a cushion to lounge around. She looked to be asleep again, so Lilith approached her.

Upon spotting her, the Gym Leader bounced up. Apparently she had been faking it.

“Hey Lilith! How are you? Ready to go?!” her energy was infectious as ever.

Lilith frowned at the woman.

“Ohh your dress is so pretty, where'd you get it?” she asked.

The dress functioned more like a jacket. The collar covered her shoulders and went all the way down to her wrists. The dress part flowed out from her waist down to her knees. It was modest and conservative enough for her tastes.

“The dresser, now let's go.” Lilith said in a gruff voice.

“Righty right! This way please!” she cheered

Skyla led her back the way she had initially come from. Minutes went by as her new sports shoes squeaked on the tile floor. Lilith memorized the way back to the office room. She made a game out of it, predicting the next turn they would take.

Skyla did a special knock on the door before swinging it open. She and Lilith entered as the two looked around. The Professor was the only one remaining.

“Welcome back.” She smiled at them.

Aurea stood up and motioned her to sit in the same seat. Her physical transformation was so great, she practically couldn’t recognize her. Lilith placed the Egg next to her and sat down. She instantly noticed the tablet placed in front of her seat. That wasn’t there when she left. A smart pen lay to the right.

‘Why was Alder using a pad of paper and a pen when he could have been using that?’ She wondered. ‘Must be old…’ She concluded.

With everything set, the next round started. Skyla left the room, leaving only her and Professor Juniper present in the room together.

“We have created a list of questions so everyone better understands how much you remember. If nothing comes to mind, leave it blank. Take your time and go at your own pace, ok?” Aurea said

Lilith nodded. This plan worked perfectly for her, a baseline would let her know what she knew compared to what she was supposed to know. She picked up the pen and began.

Lilith let out a breath, she could read it. It would have been awkward if there were a written barrier when she could already talk to them in English. The box she had seen all the way back at Bouy had the same writing. Many Unknown Pokemon formed letters that spelled out words which created questions.

‘Can I even call this English?’ She wondered.

The questions started out personal, stuff like ‘What is your name’, ‘list every family member you know’, and ‘Where were you born?’ Questions already asked like they expected something different. Unsteady, she left those blank and moved on. The new questions morphed into academic questions. Multiple pages were only filled with math problems. History and Language followed after. She hadn’t come across anything remotely Pokemon related.

Math and English were exactly the same as her old world. Lilith had no trouble with those, in fact it would have been insulting if they knew her real mental age. The difficulty increased considerably with history, she had no way of answering things she didn’t know. It wasn’t like she had the context to guess. It was more about memorizing different events like, ‘how was the Unova Region founded?’

Her prior knowledge with the games gave her no clues. The hardest of all, however, was when the questions transitioned into things about Pokemon. Not hard in the literal sense, but whether she should even answer them. Questions like, “Name all the Legendary Pokemon you know of’ were ignored in favor of ‘Name all the Types of Pokemon.’. Those were gimme questions. Things like naming the league starter Pokemon, name the evolution to a specific Pokemon, or what item a Pokemon needed to evolve.

General questions were answered while more niche questions were skipped.

Like that hours went by.

“I'm done.” she announced.

Professor Juniper looked up from her own tablet. She had been getting work done while Lilith took the test.

***

It didn’t take long for Melinda and Alder to reconvene into the meeting room. They were obviously in some other room in the complex getting their own work done. While they were waiting Professor Juniper had uploaded Lilith’s answers to her own tablet.

Everyone gathered together and scrolled through the overall statistics. Each group of questions was scored individually to better understand Lilith’s knowledge. Each group gave their own percentiles.

“Hmm, yes, this is very interesting.” Alder stroked his chin.

The Math and English sections were completed with high marks. The test contained material up to the 10th and final grade of general education. The average age for those graduating was 16, and Lilith looked to be much younger. 14 was the oldest Alder was willing to guess. After that came Pokemon themed higher education.

Her general Pokemon knowledge was shaky at best. Lilith only knew the basics of Pokemon. Nuances of the Trainer Classifications eluded her. They also added even more specialized answers to try and narrow down her background, but nothing came of them. While she was taking the test, Alder had been looking into any missing persons cases. He even looked back multiple years, but no one in Unova had reported of her description missing. Alder was thorough in case she really was from Unova despite not remembering anything about it.

Her history score was non-existent. All the questions were open responses, and she had only answered the questions pertaining to geography. Lilith could label each major City of Unova on a map, but showed no signs of living there despite her physical appearance. They were obviously missing a large piece of the puzzle.

“Hmm.” Alder placed his tablet on the table.

“I am unsure how to interpret this data.” After a moment, he spoke.

“We will be sending out your photo to other Regions asking if they have anyone looking for you.” Professor Juniper paused.

“Until then, you will stay with us here.” Professor Juniper said.

Alder drummed his fingers on the table.

“The only question is what you will do until then. There is the likely possibility that no one recognizes you.” He said.

Lilith listened intently. She wasn’t thrilled with her picture being shared, but if they assumed she came from this realm, that was better than refusing and having them ask more scrutinizing questions.

“The way I see it, there are only three options.” Melinda spoke.

“This data is vexing. I think common sense will come naturally, so I see no reason to send her to school if she had clearly demonstrated understanding of the material. That leaves her to either study to become a Professor, Ranger, or Trainer.” She finished.

“Trainer!” Lilith blurted out.

Everyone in the room turned to Alder.

“A Pokemon Trainer seeks to better themselves and their Pokemon Team. They are the force that protects the people from danger, whether it be man made or Pokemon. Unlike Rangers who patrol Routes, Trainers focus solely on combat year round. They travel around the Region proving their mettle, Gym leaders assess their strength, and the strongest participate in a tournament once a year. Their goal is to win. Win the right to challenge me, the Champion. If you don’t have the drive to win I suggest another path.” Alder stopped to catch his breath.

She hung on his every word. Lilith wanted to be the best there ever was. Why stop at the Champion of a region when Monsters like Cynthia, Red, Steven, Lance, and Leon roamed the world? No, she would surpass them. There was no need to be a Champion.

Her eyes blazed with passion. She leaned forward as if to get closer to Alder's voice. She could practically feel the intensity in the air.

Lilith had found her calling. She would be a Pokemon Trainer.