“Excuse me, WHAT?!” John blurted out in shock. “What do you mean she’s in the hospital!?”

Claire’s parents arrived at Taro’s house to pick up John and tell him the news on the way back. John was in disbelief at what he heard. Claire was hurt and brought to the hospital. How could a thing like that happen out of nowhere while he was away from her?

“It is true.” The ice Ninetales said while walking. “When she was returning from her battle class, she was attacked by shady Pokémon she said. Although, her explanation seemed pretty vague for some reason… ”

“What does she mean by shady Pokémon?”

Reya spoke. “She said it was some kind of skeletal Charmander and a Ceruledge with red eyes…”

John tilted his head in curiosity. “What’s a Ceruledge? I don’t think I’ve heard of this Pokémon before.”

“They are violet-colored armored Pokémon that have swords for limbs.” Izo stated. “Honestly, they might seem evil just from their looks and history in the world, but not all of them are like that, met one myself, and she was pretty nice.” He looked down. “Although, if word gets out of a Ceruledge causing trouble, their species might receive hate again…”

‘What does that remind me of…? Oh yeah, the American Police Department…’ John thought. “Let’s hope the media doesn’t press too much, after all, she’s okay and she will heal. It will be like nothing happened, just a slight scare.”

Reya sighed. “If things get more dangerous like that, we need to think about the safety of the children…” She turned to Izo with a frown. “What should we do…?”

The ice fox made a thinking face. “Honestly, we don’t know if she was targeted or not, but I think it was just an unfortunate timing and crossing of paths. So I guess we just have to hope that it doesn’t happen again…”

“I see…”

“Hey uh… when’s Claire gonna come back from the hospital?” John asked.

“Well…” The ice fox began. “They said that she’d be free tomorrow morning, since she’s mostly fine and just suffered cut wounds.”

“I hope that’s the case…” John muttered to himself. Something about this story was bothering him, there was never a skeletal Charmander in the games… was there?

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The Ninetales and the Joltik arrived at the house. John jumped off of Reya’s back and onto the couch, where Reya sat next to him. Meanwhile, Izo went back to his room to remove his only piece of clothing. The fire kyubi beside John groaned. “Ugh, is it just me or the world is getting more stressful these days?”

“I mean… it gets like that when you become an adult…” John said with a sigh.

“Oh yeah… I forgot you were an adult in your old life.” She said in realization. She then leaned closer to John. “So, how stressful was your life back then?”

“Well… it wasn’t that stressful, I had a nice and easy job, had good friends… although I feel like the guy I paid rent for was exploiting me…” John admitted, looking away in suspicion before shrugging. “But well, overall it wasn’t that stressful. Although I think it’s because I didn’t live very long…”

“Oh wow, that’s interesting!” Reya said in a better mood. “So dear, how different was your world from ours?”

“Honestly… it isn’t that much different… I honestly thought you guys were gonna be a bit more… eh… how can I say this without making you have a feeling of inferiority?”

Reya giggled. “Come on you can say it. I don’t care about comparisons.”

John hesitated before saying to her face. “I thought that Pokémon would be a bit more… savage and wild… like animals…”

“What’s an animal?”

“Uh… do you have a phone? I think it’s better if I show you instead of just explaining it.”

Suddenly, a phone floats out of one of the fire fox’s tails and flies towards John, making the little spider flinch in surprise. “Here you go. You’re gonna use that handy search app to show what you mean?”

“Yeah… I uh…” He grabs the phone and puts it on the couch. “I will…” ‘Did she even notice that the internet is connected to my world yet?’

Reya tilted her head. “Something wrong?”

“N-nothing!” John sheepishly said as he began to tap. Fortunately, the touch screen works with his pointy nubs as well. He searched the word “foxes” on Google and put it on the image options. A bunch of pictures of normal foxes appeared on the screen. “Well, there are many types of animals in my world, like… millions, and this is one of them.”

Reya grabbed the phone with her psychic again and looked at the pictures. “Oh my… I can see why you’d make the comparison, we remind you of them, don’t we?”

“Erm… not only you but lots of other Pokémon… because foxes are only an example…”

“Oh… and here I thought the word fox was only a minor insult. To think there’s actually a species like that in your world. What kind of other animals there are in your world?”

“Well… there are the birds, the fishes, the cats and dogs… like I said, it’s a lot. Also… I forgot to mention that they are non-sentient, they live purely on instinct.” John said the last part a bit nervous.

The Ninetales put a paw on her chin. “Just like the Mystery Dungeon Pokémon…”

“What about the Mystery Dungeon Pokémon?” Asked Izo as he came from the bathroom.

Reya floated the phone over to her husband. “Oh, John was talking about creatures called animals that live in his world. Apparently, they look like Pokémon but they act like Dungeon Pokémon!”

Izo adjusted his glasses as he made a curious look at the phone. “Oh wow… I can honestly see the similarities… they look cute if I’m being honest.” He then looked at John. “So John, tomorrow you and me are gonna go to Obelisk High to apply you there.”

“Uh… why should I go…?” John asked a bit concerned.

“Well, you should get acquainted with the school so you’d have an easier time being there on your first day.”

“Well… you’re right about that…” The Joltik sighs. “I can’t believe I’m gonna start school again… hopefully it goes better than last time…”

“Last time…?” Reya asked.

“Oh uh… nothing, just thinking about the last time I was in a school. But don’t worry, it wasn’t that bad.” He said reassuringly.

“Well, if you say so.” The ice fox looked at his wife. “Are you gonna cook dinner this time or... was it my turn?”

Reya just sighed. “Oh, dear…” Suddenly, an apron flew from the kitchen and tied itself to Izo’s neck. “There you go.” She chuckled.

“Ah… my turn it seems…” He chuckled before sighing, going to the kitchen.

Dinner was pleasant, Elsa wasn’t that much of an annoyance this time, since she paid more attention to the phone rather than the others. John said to the pair of Ninetales that he wanted to eat actual food rather than just electricity, so they made him a plate that consisted of small parts of vegetables and small pieces of meat. John didn’t eat the meat so Elsa ate it from his plate before saying “Better having me eating prestigious meat rather than wasting on a lowly bug.” That was the last thing she said before going to her room to sleep.

After dinner, they all went to bed and slept soundly.

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“There’s no way…”

“What?”

“The cars in this universe are freaking Pokémon as well!?”

John and Izo went inside the garage beside the Ninetale’s house, which John did not see before because he was focused on other things. Inside the garage, they found some strange kind of car that had rocky wheels, no ceiling, and five leather-made seats like normal cars had. In front of the glass, was an engine with two yellow eyes and a weird mouth. “Got a problem with that, bug?”

Izo started explaining. “That is a Varoom, John. They are Pokémon that were born once the first engines in this world were created.”

“Heh, the bug doesn’t know basic history? Can tell since it’s the size of a baby.” The engine chuckled. “So Iz, who’s the Joltik?”

“Oh, it’s just… a special Joltik we decided to take in.” The ice Ninetales said as he entered the car. “Don’t question him, he’s shy around new people.”

“If ya say so. Where are yer going chief?” The Varoom asked as the sound of an engine starting could be heard and the car started floating?

‘What the hell!? The car floats!?’ John realized when he noticed they were above ground level.

“Obelisk High please.” Izo said as John realized another thing, there were no pedals or steering wheel. The engine was controlling the car itself!

“Ya got it Iz.” The cylinder behind the car flared as it expelled some smoke as the car left the garage.

The ride was less bumpy and less fast than he expected. After all, it was a freaking car engine that was also a Pokémon! How cool and dumb was that? It made the car float for some reason, which was a bit strange. But hey, at least the flying cars from the future existed here, it was a fact that made John chuckle mentally.

The Joltik also noticed there weren’t a lot of them running around the streets of the town. He guessed it was probably because it was a kind of recent technology, or perhaps it was because this was a small town. What impressed him however was the fact the poisonous fumes coming out from the cylinder of the car disappeared almost immediately after being expelled from the car. ‘Man, my world needs one of these Pokémon for sure.’

“John?” Izo started and John looked at him. “Do you have a plan on what to say if they start questioning your baby size?”

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“Hm… I could say that I’m just smaller sized than usual Joltiks, and I’m actually a teenager.”

“You’re gonna fake your age?”

“Yep, I’m probably gonna say that I’m… 15 years old, how does that sound?”

Izo let out a chuckle. “Heh, alright then, and what if that doesn’t work?”

John put a nub on his chin, looking up while thinking. “Hm… probably leave the rest to you.” He pointed his nub at the Ice Ninetales.

“I’d advise not leaving those situations to me, because honestly… I’d freeze.”

“Uh… fine then. I guess I’ll come up with stuff along the way.”

After a couple of minutes, they finally arrived at Obelisk High. Izo grabbed John, putting the Joltik on his back before leaving the car. “Thanks, Sentra. After this, we’re gonna pass Nuts and Bolts for a snack, sounds good for you?”

“Perfect Iz, can’t wait for that!” A small tongue came out of the mouth of the engine, licking his lips. That made John a tad bit uncomfortable seeing that.

Izo then entered the school along with John on his back. The school was quieter than the last time John was here. Definitely, because it was Sunday and there were no classes, John assumed. Izo entered a room labeled Secretary, where there were a lot of drawers and cabinets lying around, two desks with computers and papers littered around. Behind the desks, there were two Pokémon, one white and grey colored bipedal goat-like creature, that had curled horns. The other Pokémon was pink and skin-colored, with blue eyes and elephant like ears, below the ears two auditory thing that John did not recognized.

The female Indeedee was on the phone, while the Audino was on the computer, the latter spotting the Ice fox. “Oh, good morning sir. What brings you here? Does it have to do with one of your daughters?”

Izo approached the Audino’s desk. “Good morning, I actually came here for something else…”

The secretary tilted her head. “What is it?”

John jumped out of the Ninetales’ back and landed on the desk. He looked up to the Audino, who was looking at him with confusion. “Hi…”

The Audino looks back at Izo. “Is… is this a joke?”

“Judging from his emotions…” The Indeedee said looking at them after putting the phone away. “Apparently not.” She looked specifically at the Joltik. “John, eh? Weird name for a Joltik.” John flinched at hearing his name.

The Audino looked back at the Joltik. “Don’t worry, Mila can just read your name from a distance, not actually peer into memories without touching you. But anyways…” She leaned in on the desk, supporting her head with her paws. “Why are you the size of a baby?”

John mentally panicked before clearing his throat mentally. He practiced this potential scene in the car on his head. He can do this! “Heh… I get that a lot… I’m actually 15 years old.” John said with a sheepish smile.

“Ah, I see…” The Audino leaned back before turning her head to the Indeedee. “Mila, could you grab the papers please?”

The Indeedee nodded and lifted her paw, which started glowing with a purple glow. A cabinet opened and some papers came out flying directly to the Audino’s desk. “There you go.”

“Thanks, Mila.” She turned back to John. “If you want to explore the school while the papers are being filled out, you are free to go.”

The Joltik looked back at Izo, questioning. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this kid, no worries.”

John nodded before jumping off the desk and leaving the room. “Well… that was easier than expected… Izo even went in with my play…” He muttered as he started walking along the school halls. “Now… what to do and where to go in the meanwhile…?”

He needed to get acquainted with the school as best as he could before the first day. So he started exploring, seeing the various classrooms, the courtyard, and last but not least, the cafeteria. In the cafeteria, he saw a Pokémon. “Holy shit…” It looked like some kind of lizard combined with a hammerhead land shark, with spikes coming out of its arms and legs and sharp claws. It was currently mopping the ground. ‘I’m just gonna…’

As John started taking steps back, the Garchomp looked at the Joltik and they locked eyes for a moment. The land shark let out a groan and said in a raspy male voice. “Not another one…” It said before raising the mop and literally flying towards John at high speeds. The Joltik let out a scream before he started to run away, avoiding the hits from the mops.

‘What the fuck, what the fuck, WHAT THE FUCK!?’ John thought as he started running on the walls of the halls, while the Garchomp kept trying to hit him with the mop.

“Stay still! Just gonna knock you out real quick!” The janitor shouted.

“Wrong bug, WRONG BUG!!!” John shouted, but it seems the Garchomp didn’t stop to listen, as it kept trying to hit him with the mop. The Joltik used the Grappling Silk, grappling away to a locker and avoiding a swing from a janitor’s deadliest weapon. “Chill dude, chill!!!”

“You picked the wrong school, fool!” The Garchomp shouted as it was about to hit John. However, the Joltik tapped into his electric powers from his core to let out an octagon-shaped web that was running with electricity, hitting the snout of the land shark.

“Yes!”

However, the janitor felt nothing, not even making him paralyzed. “Pathetic.”

“… shit…”

The land shark finally managed to hit the Joltik, baseball style, knocking him away from the locker and onto the ground.

“Ngh… ow…” John looked at the Garchomp again, trying to get up but immediately failing because of the pain. The Garchomp was approaching him. “I swear… I ain’t like the other bugs…!”

“Say that to the others that came before you saying the same thing…” The land shark lifted the mop above him, ready for the final strike. John braced as the Garchomp brought the mop down-

“STOP!”

Another voice stopped the Garchomp in his tracks, John opened his eyes to see the source of the new voice. It seemed to be a… what even is that Pokémon? It had a Disco ball-looking head. The head was white with pink and blue small balls, that looked like LED lights, and was floating above the wide white neck of the creature. The rest of its body looked like the outfit of a clown, with white, pink, and blue pom-poms on its legs and chest area. There was only one thing in John’s mind now. ‘What in the actual fuck is that…?’

“Director Piero? Why did you stop me?” The Garchomp asked confused.

‘THAT THING IS THE DIRECTOR!?’ John blurted out mentally.

“Oh silly, didn’t you realize yet?” The Blacephalon walked towards John, grabbing his head with his hands and putting it right in front of the Joltik, eyeing the bug with one of the yellow eyes on the side of his head. “This little Joltik isn’t a feral!”

“He’s… he’s not?” The Garchomp said confused.

John looked up annoyed at the Garchomp. “I’ve been trying to tell you that the WHOLE TIME!”

“O-oh…” The Garchomp looked away embarrassed. “Sorry for erm… the trouble. Now if you excuse me…” The land shark walked away, not even looking back.

John sighed in relief that whole ordeal is over, but immediately flinched once the director grabbed him, putting the green spider face to face with a disco ball-like head. “Now young one, might tell me who are you and why are you here on a Sunday morning?”

“Uh… name’s John and uh… my dad… is signing some papers for me to apply to this school…” ‘Hope Izo doesn’t get weirded out by that later…’

The Blacephalon’s head started spinning in excitement. “Oh, a new student! I’m glad to meet you! My name is Piero, and I’m the director of Obelisk High!”

“Nice to meet you too but erm… I’m kinda curious… how does your body work…?”

“Oh, it’s just my species' things, don’t worry about it!” With a free hand, he took off his head from his body. “I can even make my head explode!”

John looked at the head of the weird Pokémon in disbelief. “Wait, what-!?” Suddenly, the director’s head exploded into colorful lights like a firework, making John shield himself from the explosion. However, instead of being hurt, John felt a bit… weaker. Like some of his strength was just sapped away from him. He started to limp a little. “Ugh… what… happened…?”

The head of the Blacephalon appeared from the hole in that clown cloth, inflating like a balloon. “Holy Baloney! That vital force coming from you felt amazing! I never had tasted something like that from a Pokémon before…” He spun his head again, stopping when one of his eyes was facing John. “What are you hiding behind that tiny body of yours?”

“Ngh… I’m…” John felt so tired, he couldn’t get his thoughts straight. “I am…”

“Ah, there you are!”

A voice called out, John looked at the source while also feeling his energy returning. That voice was Izo’s. The ice fox walked to them and John stammered. “I-Izo…?”

“Was looking for you little ma-” He then turned to Piero before he sheepishly smiled as he realized who that was. “A-ah… Director Piero, nice to see you again!”

“Nice to see you too Izo!” The Director’s head turns and one of the yellow LED eyes looks at Izo. “So, what brings you here to the school?”

“Well, I was signing papers so that little one in your hand applies to Obelisk High.”

Piero tilts his head in confusion, before spinning his head to John and then Izo again. “You’re his… dad?”

Izo flinched at that claim. “I- I’m sorry wha-”

John jumped at the ice Ninetales’ back, interrupting him. “Hey, Dad! You done with the papers?”

The ice fox was slow to respond, trying to process everything said to him. “O-Ooh, yep little man!” He adjusted his glasses. “Your… big mon has successfully applied you in! The secretaries said you can start school tomorrow!”

“Alright, dad!” The Joltik looked back at the Director who was looking at them with an unknown expression. “See ya, Mr. Piero!”

“See you sometime John, I hope you like the school!” The Director said as Izo and the new student of Obelisk High waved back and left. Piero saw them turn a corner as they left his view. The Blacephalon couldn’t help but think. ‘That small Joltik’s vital force… it wasn’t anything that could ever be possible inside of a normal Joltik… he’s hiding something.’ He then just shrugged and walked away. “Ah, who cares what he is, a new student is always a pleasure!”

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Izo sighed as he entered the car with John. “Dad… seriously…?” He asked looking at John with a frown.

“Look sorry, but it was basically the best thing I could come up with. ‘Sides uh… I kinda see you as a dad to me… you’ve been treating me well ever since I came to this world.” John said, feeling the vibrations of the car as it started moving. “I… don’t think I even thanked you yet…”

The fairy and ice type blushed from the compliment, adjusting his glasses. “Well, you’re welcome John… listen… if a window of opportunity lets you travel back to your world and this one freely, just know you’re always welcome in our house, alright?”

“Really…?”

“Yep, a hundred percent.”

John smiled at Izo behind his fuzz. “Thank you Izo.” They both smiled at each other as the ride continued. Instead of the car going back to their house, the Varoom made a stop at a place called “Nuts and Bolts”, where Varooms and Revavrooms went to eat along with the passengers of the car. The Varoom detached itself from the car to eat… whatever that was inside the canister. “Pokémon are weird creatures…” John muttered. However… that reminded him of the Director. “Oh yeah, uh… Izo?”

The Ninetales looked at him. “Yeah? What’s up?”

“So um… about the Director… what’s up with him? What kinda Pokémon is he? Something about him just… ticks me off for some reason.”

“Ah yes, you wouldn’t know that yet. So… Piero isn’t a Pokémon.”

John tilted his head at that statement. “What? Really…?”

“Yeah, his species is what is known as an Ultra Beast. Those are creatures that came from other worlds caused by a certain incident in the past… although they are similar to Pokémon, they do contain cores as well.”

John was dumbfounded. Really. Aliens from other dimensions? Well… he supposed he counted as an alien from another dimension as well. Although… what did he mean by the incident? “What happened in the past for these creatures to appear here…?”

“So… to summarize… a god of light from another world was left stranded on this world. They, for some reason, lost all of their light. However, a human-turned-Pokémon helped them to regain the light that they lost, but… it made them lose control after staying without it for so long. So as a result, it summoned portals everywhere from other worlds, bringing the Ultra Beasts into this world.”

John was so intrigued with the history lesson that he wanted to know the rest. “Oh damn… what happened next…?”

“That human, if I remember correctly was a female Pokémon, pushed that light deity into one of those portals they created, sacrificing herself to save the world. Both the light deity and the woman were never seen again.”

John felt pity for that human. She never got back to her world, and her family never saw her again. Hopefully, John doesn’t end like that, at least he still has a way to talk to the people he loves in that world. “So… what happened to the Ultra Beast then…?”

Izo sighed. “So you see, the Ultra Beasts are… a difficult topic to talk about… some of them were... dangerous to this world. There was a kind of Ultra Beast that ate everything in its way, so with a lot of effort, Pokémon had to put it down. Some others were intelligent, they either went to find a way back to their world or decided to stay in this one because some said, and I quote "Better than a fiery pit of death and destruction".”

“Wow, uh… this world went through a lot…”

“Yeah, but at least everything is better now… well, until the next cataclysmic event happens that is…”

John muttered to himself looking away. “Hopefully not…”

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They finally arrived home. After waving their goodbyes to Sentra, they were at the front door of their house. “So… Claire should be back, right?”

“Well, the hospital said she was going to be liberated today, so I hope she is back.” Izo said as he unlocked the door and opened it. After opening the door, they realized something concerning. It was quieter than usual, not even Claire jumping at John or her dad. “Guys…? We’re home!”

Then out of a corner, Claire came out of a door, instead of being in her usual excited glee, she looked quite concerned and worried. “H-hey dad… hi John…”

“Claire, you’re back!” Izo beamed with relief. “Is something wrong…?” John jumped on top of Izo’s head, tilting his head. He felt worried that something happened to Claire.

“Well, nothing’s wrong… it’s just… we have a visit…”

“From… who…?” John said the suspense was slowly bringing an old feeling of anxiety back.

Claire gulped. John thought if Claire was a human, she would be sweating right now. “So um… please don’t freak out… she’s just here to talk…”

John was not liking where this was going. “… Freak out because of what…?”

Suddenly, from the same corner that Claire came, a Galvantula appeared and stood beside Claire. John was starting to shake a lot at the sight of that… that thing! His Jaw dropped while looking at his own mother. “Hello, my dear child.”

That was the breaking point, where John just let out a scream.