“…Choice Scarf Dracovish’s Fishious Rend goes brrrrrrr… heh, suck it mom, you Legendary spammer… Wait, Gigantamax Eternatus is cheating… Oh no, my Dracovish, what will I do… Choice Band Dynamax Dracovish’s Fishious Rend goes BRRRRRRR… yes, duplicates are allowed… yes, my entire team is all Dracovish… ha, haha, hahaha… Mr. Fish goes brr-Ow!”

Having her dream rudely disrupted, Miu grabbed her head in pain. She rubbed her forehead as she blinked away the tears that came out, having slept with her eyes open, again. She opened her dry eyes, expecting to see a chunk of the ceiling missing, only to see an endless clear sky above. Her confusion at the unexpected scenery lasted only for a second, yet she still took a moment to take in her surroundings and realize that yes, what happened the night before was true and she still was in the Pokémon World. New tears fell out, but this time they were for an entirely different reason.

“I… I can do it…” she whispered to herself before sitting up with renewed spirits.

After struggling to untangle her hair, she found the offending object; a seed that had been thrown at her head. Looking around she failed to spot anyone, until she realized that up was also an option. And indeed, in the branches of the oak tree she was resting against, a duo of small yellow rats stared at her, their ears, hands, tails and cheeks the only difference between them, one red and the other blue.

Huh… out of all the Pokémon possible, she would say that the Hoenn Pikachus were among the friendliest and most harmless beings she could find in a forest. Better than most options, though a Blissey would have been ideal.

“Hey, hi!” she called out with a wave and what she hoped was a friendly smile.

The electric duo waved back with smiles of their own, though Plusle was quick to change hands when they realized they were still holding a seed on one. She snorted at the poor attempt, but she allowed them to pretend they hadn’t been the one to hit her before.

“I’m Miu, and you must be Plusle and Minun, right?” she asked with confidence, only to be instantly rebutted.

“Nun, Nun! Minun un-!” “-plus Plusle!” they shot back in… French exasperation?

It took the girl a moment to decipher what they meant, though already she could see how Pokémon were leagues above animals when communication was concerned.

“Oh, sorry, Minun and Plusle, is that right?” They nodded in complete unison, which would be slightly creepy were it not for how cute they looked. “You wouldn’t happen to know how I could get to the nearest city, would you?”

While it was a wild guess, part of their Pokédex entry led credence to them knowing. It drains power from telephone poles. They would need a city for that, unless there was an abandoned power plant around, and even that could guide her closer to civilization.

However, her simple question didn’t turn out to be so simple because, after quickly checking the sun, Minun pointed to the east… and Plusle pointed to the west, both beaming at her and waiting for praise due to their invaluable help.

“You… you know you are both pointing in opposite directions, don’t you? Are there like, two cities or…” she wandered off as the duo realized what they were doing and began discussing between themselves.

While they talked, she checked the sun’s position herself. It was early morning, since she could barely make out the top of the sun above the horizon, unless she overslept big time. If she had a backpack of supplies and, you know, shoes, she could perhaps make it before nightfall if the place was near. But since she lacked those, she would have to forage and watch carefully where she stepped, which meant it would at least take two days while being optimistic… though maybe a wild Pokémon wouldn’t mind giving her a ride in exchange for berries?

Her musings were interrupted by another seed to the forehead, and while she grumbled about stupid electric rats beneath her breath, she gave a smile to her potential guides.

Once they were sure they got her attention, Plusle gave a theatrical bow before spinning in place, and Minun did cartwheels on the branch around Plusle. Their spectacle was enhanced by their use of electrical pom-poms, which unfortunately reminded her of last night’s Pikachu and made her take a step back in caution. Still, it was a dazzling show, which finished when they clasped each other’s hands and pointed towards…

“Oh, come on, really?!”

…the same directions as before, but this time Minun was pointing to the west and Plusle was the one pointing east. Apparently, her complaints weren’t the only ones, as the duo began shouting at each other too in their high-pitched voices, which did make it both adorable and annoying.

Miu just sighed and decided to head south, believing the duo was trying to prank her. It was an easy choice, since north had the Pikachu from yesterday, leaving only one direction to go. She tried to say goodbye to the pranksters, but their argument was beginning to grow heated and she did not want to be in the middle of a fight between electric Pokémon, so she power-walked away, all the while wincing at every sharp stick she stepped on. She began walking faster with a smile when she heard Thunderbolts behind her.

As soon as she made enough distance, she allowed herself to relax and look for another Pokémon to ask directions. Camouflaged against the grass, she spotted a slithering thing. She locked up in fear, before continuing to examine the Pokémon and realizing it wasn’t a snake, but a green worm with a red V on its head and yellow circles on the sides, who realized it was being observed and stared back with its googly black eyes.

“Hey little… guy?” she asked more than said, and when the Caterpie didn’t do anything but cock its head to the side, she accepted it as a positive. “Yeah, little guy, you wouldn’t know how to get to the nearest city?”

“Pie?” he asked as she approached him.

“Where humans like me live?” she continued, realizing she was talking to a baby Pokémon, “A big nest made of wood, stone or maybe metal?”

The Caterpie didn’t answer, so she crouched next to him and started to pet him, hoping to endear herself and maybe get him to call a Butterfree. The Bug Pokémon froze as soon as she touched his head, and she barely had time to remember its entry before she recoiled away in disgust.

Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon. If you touch the feeler on top of its head, it will release a horrible stink to protect itself.

Coughing and wheezing (she would laugh at the joke if she wasn’t dying at the moment), she backed away while covering her nose, only to trip backwards and hit her head against the ground. Through watering eyes, she managed to see a String Shot tying her feet together, the Caterpie nowhere in sight. After breathing through her mouth for a couple minutes, she gained enough strength to tear the weak string off her feet, before pausing and making improvised shoes out of it once she realized it wasn’t adhesive. It was more like socks than actual shoes, but she would take what she could get. She also made a small pouch to store whatever she found with the remaining string, though it would probably break with enough weight.

Miu continued her walk, looking for another guide, but the stench bomb had probably driven away most Pokémon near her as she found none. It was only after an hour of walking that she found a bird on top of a tree. Its plumage was mostly gray, though there were also touches of white and black, with a little red in what could be called a comb in humans.

Okay, third time’s the charm. Let’s actually remember the entry before interacting with the magical pocket monster, okay?

Staraptor, the Predator Pokémon. It has a savage nature. It will courageously challenge foes that are much larger than itself. The muscles in its wings and legs are strong. It can easily fly while gripping a small Pokémon.

‘…do I classify as a small Pokémon? …let’s hope not.’

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“Hey, Staraptor, buddy!” she called out despite her inner doubts, “You wouldn’t know how to get to-?”

The girl’s entire body refused to move as her mouth failed to continue, a chill up her spine warning her that she better choose her next words carefully or she wouldn’t live to regret her mistakes. Above on his nest, Staraptor was Growling at her, his Intimidating presence cowing her into submission, displaying in all its glory why his species was known as the Predator Pokémon. He was staring unflinchingly into her eyes with mere annoyance and a scowl on his beak, yet her entire being screamed at her that said annoyance could escalate in an instant if she so much as breathed the wrong way.

It took Miu a second to finally blink and understand her situation, and she stopped approaching Staraptor as just another bird from her family’s pet shop and instead treated him with the respect and caution a prideful predator like him deserved, making herself smaller and slowly extending her empty palms towards him to show she was not here for a fight.

“Staraptor, I apologize for my earlier disrespect, I meant no offense.” She began, using big words like she was taught to show she was serious. “I only wished to ask a question, but if it’s against your desires, I will bid you farewell as soon as you say the word.”

The only visible red eye continued to stare at her, most likely judging whether hunting her was worth the hassle. For less than a second, the eye dipped below her face before returning to their staring contest. As she began to become aware of the sweat trickling down her body, the Flying Pokémon nodded to himself before throwing a wing out and making a lazy gesture, which she interpreted as a ‘go on,’ making her release the breath she had been holding.

“I…” She paused, trying to present the question in a more formal way. “You have my gratitude for accepting to hear my plea. My query was related to human settlements, for I am lost and need to reach the nearest one, so I was hoping to receive directions from one as ostentatious as yourself, for surely such a fine specimen of a Flying Pokémon had seen humans from high above before.”

The girl was impressed with herself from using such an advanced vocabulary, while the other was utterly terrified of the now trembling Staraptor. But before she could get out an apology, he began laughing while pointing the tip of his wing at her in mockery. She blushed, the Pokémon probably laughing at her over the top speech, yet she felt that this was better than offending him by not being formal enough.

Eventually, Staraptor just waved his wing around in a shooing motion after he had his fill, and Miu silently accepted the out, now red as a beet after minutes of being forced to hear his ridiculing laughter. Yes, maybe she had gone full Victorian peasant on him, but it wasn’t that funny, she grumbled to herself.

Miu frowned after some time in her walk, feeling like she missed something, and only after some minutes of frustration and a scowl forming in her mouth did she realize what. She raised her hand to her jaw and slowly tried to work out some kinks, but there were none, and pulling her cheeks didn’t give her anything but soreness. She pondered on that oddity, but in the end she couldn’t come up with any reason and gave it up as a fluke before resuming her trek.

As the sun continued to rise, she found no new Pokémon to ask directions. She found it weird, until she stopped to smell herself and realized she still carried that horrible stench, her nose had just become accustomed to it… and it probably pissed Staraptor off too, now that she thought about it. Since everyone was avoiding her because of it, her best bet would be finding a river to wash it off, so with a new objective in mind, she continued her trek.

…At around noon, the girl was hopefully nearer civilization and, more urgently, she was starving. Fortunately, the answer was in front of her in the form of multiple berry trees. Unfortunately, said berry trees were being guarded by a giant round blue thing with a white belly, its closed eyes not really telling her if it was sleeping or not since its entire species never had them open.

Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon. Snorlax's typical day consists of nothing more than eating and sleeping. It is such a docile Pokémon that there are children who use its expansive belly as a place to play. When prompted to make a serious effort, though, it apparently displays awesome power.

On the one hand, the sloth could barely muster the effort to fight in most cases. On the other hand, despite there being ample berries for the taking, only Snorlax was present, which hinted at other Pokémon not willing to steal its food. A rampaging Snorlax… she was pretty sure its species is one of the few which learn both Giga Impact and Hyper Beam naturally. High risk, low reward.

As Miu finally chose a course of action, she noticed how the Snorlax was holding a yellow and blue berry similar to a chestnut, which quickly reaffirmed her decision. A Snorlax holding a Sleep curing Chesto Berry was way out of her league, it would probably eat it subconsciously as soon as she tried anything with the trees and the ripe fruit. Yet… there were some half-eaten berries around it… you could almost call them Leftovers… and if it hadn’t eaten them, then surely it wouldn’t mind if she took some for herself? A part of her gagged at eating them, but her stomach quickly silenced that part with a hungerous rumble (was that a word? The one-day starvation was already getting to her head).

Mind made up, she silently approached the slumbering beast, careful of where she was stepping. A step at a time, she alternated between staring at the ground looking for obstacles to avoid and the Snorlax looking for any hints of it waking up. A twitch of the nose and a snore made her almost give up just in case, but she controlled the impulse and forged on.

When she began thinking that maybe this wouldn’t be so hard, the brute decided to sleep on its belly just to spite her, turning around and almost crushing the girl beneath. After falling on her behind and scrambling away, she could only stare at all the Leftovers crushed underneath it, her lunch dying a quick death before she could even grab it.

“Stupid, selfish, careless glutton…” the girl murmured to herself with a pissed off smirk that promised violence as she started walking around it, looking for Leftovers on the other side since Snorlax clearly didn’t care about them.

She snatched maybe 5 half-eaten berries, and a single, proper Leftovers. She didn’t know it at first, but after vacating the area and having lunch (and after promptly trying not to gag at her luck of getting only spicy flavored berries), she quickly found out what a Leftovers was when she took a bite out of the item and it just grew the bitten portion right back as if nothing had happened.

“Do… do I have infinite food?” she asked in bewilderment.

It turned out that no, she did not. While in the games it would last all the turns in the world, here it only lasted 16 bites, and since it healed 1/16 of health, it meant that a Pokémon who held this item could heal themselves to full HP before it became useless, at least theoretically. She still kept the item after eating all its uses in case it somehow recharged itself, which she had no idea how it would work in the first place but hoping she would have dinner for the night… somehow.

So, after an unfulfilling lunch and wondering for a bit about magic food, she resumed her trek south. As she walked, she wondered in which region she was. She had seen some Kanto Pokémon, but those were everywhere. The Staraptor made her think Sinnoh, which would be great to hunt god, but the electric duo made her think Hoenn, which could be potentially useful due to Jirachi. She also saw a Pikachu, so Unova was out since they didn’t have them. What else…

Klefki, the Key Ring Pokémon. These key collectors threaten any attackers by fiercely jingling their keys at them.

Miu… stared at the small crater right in front of her where a fainted Klefki laid, having stopped a second before on instinct when she heard the wind whistle. One moment she was pondering what region she was in, the next she heard a loud boom and jingle and found herself right in front of a Pokémon from Kalos. The girl looked up with a twitch of her mouth, trying to decipher how this had happened, and the answer was easy to see.

Bombirdier, the Item Drop Pokémon. It gathers things up in an apron made from shed feathers added to the Pokémon’s chest feathers, then drops those things from high places for fun; the louder the noise they make when hitting the ground, the better.

Yeah… she hadn’t ever thought that Pokémon were included on that list… Looking down, the Klefki managed to slowly float into the forest before she could ask for directions, hiding between the foliage as it looked at the sky in terror, which fair, she would do the same in its place… Man, Pokémon were both more brutal and resilient than what she had expected…

But moving on, that was a Pokémon from Paldea… exclusively from Paldea since it was the newest region… but Caterpie, Plusle and Minun weren’t in Paldea… at least at the time of the latest DLC she played, so… a previous region with gen IX Pokémon? Was she in the Unova remakes? Wait, no Pikachus, so… Kalos remakes? No, she was thinking in game terms, this could still be Sinnoh or Hoenn with newer Pokémon included, and she still hadn’t confirmed which continuity she was on anyways.

Miu couldn’t help but sigh at the non-answer, but she would probably clear it out once she got her hands on a computer. In fact, it didn’t matter what continuity she was on, she would accomplish her goal! Even if it was the gory manga continuity, she would succeed all the same! Yeah, bet Dusknoir put her in that one to test her resolve, but guess what, bring your worse Arceus! She could handle whatever you threw her way!

Her fires of passion were quickly snuffed out as a sudden downpour fell on them, making her clothes cling to her body and letting the cold wind caress her skin, an involuntary shiver travelling through her whole body at the change in temperature… But she wouldn’t give up to just a little rain! Her inner flames would keep her warm through this storm! She laughed at this pathetic attempt! Nothing would ever stop her!

An ominous bellowing echoed across the forest, full of anger and grating in her ears. It was answered by cries of defiance, until the bellowing turned into an outright scream, muffling all sounds but its own and forcing the girl to cover her ears from the sheer volume, until it stopped abruptly. When no other sound came, the deep roar returned, increasing in intensity as new voices joined the call. They came from everywhere, north, south, west, east, Miu was surrounded by the screams with no way to escape as they all converged in the direction of the original roar… south, just where she had been heading...

…And it had sounded awfully near.

“Well…” Miu clicked her tongue as her lips moved upwards without her consent. “Now I just have to go that way to prove you wrong.”