“How about you look around in that lab for any clues where you are. In the meantime, I’ll call in some help. I promise I won’t leave this room, so you can call anytime, but it may take a few moments for me to answer.”
“Okay Jess.”, was the only answer I could manage. My hands were shaking, and I had trouble breathing. Having an existential crisis while the other side needed important information from you wasn’t the most helpful thing to happen.
The panic attack had taken me by surprise. Intellectually, I had known that I had no memories and was now stranded alone on some island, but my survival concerns during my journey so far had overshadowed everything else.
Now that I found myself in relative safety it had really sunk in. I was profoundly sure that I was in a body that wasn’t really mine, that wherever I had come from pokemon weren’t real, and that the chances of me returning home, wherever that was, was all but impossible.
No memories, no identity, no friends, no family. No reason to live? Something inside of me rebelled as I asked myself that last question. I wanted to live. I was young again, an entire life was still in front of me. I had found myself in a fantastical world. I had an obligation to myself to make the best of it.
My shaking hands calmed at that thought. No friends meant I had plenty of room for new ones. No family also meant no expectations except my own. Whatever I did, there was nobody to disappoint except myself. I had no memories, but so what. There was clearly a lot of knowledge floating around in my subconscious since, in retrospect, I had been able to recognize every pokemon that had crossed my path so far.
The giant wasp? Beedrill. The armadillo? Sandshrew. The crab? Krabby. The tadpoles? Poliwag and Tympole. The monkeys? Pansage, Pansear and Panpour. The adult tadpole that had scared me so? Palpitoad. I even knew that most of these pokemon were not native to Kanto, which the island was evidently close to, but Unova.
A chirp behind me interrupted my musings. Bella stood behind me and motioned that I should follow her. Thankful to leave the stifling heat of the top floor behind, I followed her downstairs and into the office I had briefly examined. Now that I wasn’t looking out for monsters behind every corner the office looked almost painfully mundane.
Bella chirped again and brought my focus to the wall between two cabinets. There, half hidden from view was a map of Kanto, Johto, the Sevii Islands south of them, and a very large stretch of empty ocean. There was one single red pin on the map in the southeast. A single unnamed island. My location. I felt an equal measure of relief and despair. I now knew where I was, but civilization was far out of reach.
I didn’t know how fast someone could reach me, but I was looking at days at least, if not a week or two. I felt Bella’s hand on my shoulder and only then realized I had begun shaking again. I slapped myself mentally. There was no giving up. I would survive, no matter what.
I wandered over to the cabinets and opened them one by one. Most papers had rotted away, but some of the drawers were better protected than others and there I found the reason for this lab. The Unovan government from 50 years ago had decided that illegal experiments on pokemon as well as humans would best be handled somewhere remote.
There was however no clue to what had happened here or why I would appear on this island in the state I had been and still was. Maybe answers about the first issue would be forthcoming but I sincerely doubted the mystery that was my existence would be solved here.
Just as I was about to dive deeper into what exactly the lab had been working on, my grumbling stomach reminded me of the other pressing issue I still had. Bella had evidently heard it as well as she motioned for me to follow her again.
We once again went back to the lab and it was still just as creepy as before. Thankfully, this wasn’t our destination and I was led back to the room where I had found her. Now that I was not so distracted and overwhelmed by everything going on it became clear to me that this was a nursing station. There were leather recliners for both humans and pokemon as well as padded tables, beds, and various cabinets full of medical equipment and books.
The furniture for patients was segregated by heavy curtains, most of which had been drawn back to make the room feel bigger and to allow the sunlight to illuminate it fully. The only exception was one bed near the back which was where Bella had seemingly made her nest with all the spare blankets and pillows.
The cabinet nearest to her bed had been divested of all of its contents which was piled up in the corner opposite of it. Bella ambled over to it and opened a large drawer. Inside was a large variety of fruits that made my mouth water.
Those fruits were probably berries, and I had no idea if they were safe for me to consume. Bella stepped aside and mimed for me to eat some. I hesitated since I didn’t know if they were safe for human consumption, and I had promised Jess I would talk to her before I ate anything. My stomach grumbled again and so I stopped hesitating and picked out what looked like a blueberry.
The berry didn’t taste like much. After I had eaten a second and even a third without adverse effects, I felt adventurous and picked out a yellow fruit the size of my fist. It tasted just like the small one. I didn’t even know any fruits, or berries in case, could be so painfully bland.
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Feeling emboldened, I ate a sharp cherry-like berry, a pink strawberry which was very sweet, and a blue strawberry which was very bitter. To get the taste of that last one out of my mouth I quickly ate another of the sweet, pink berries.
My previous self had seemingly never paid that much attention to how the berries looked, and similarly to the pokemon, the real thing looked a bit different than the stylized, drawn image my subconscious knew.
Even still, I thought I recognized most of them. The blueberries could be Oran Berries and following that logic the yellow one should be a Sitrus Berry since it tasted the same. The cherry should be a Cheri Berry while two types of strawberries could be Pecha and Rawst Berries now that I thought about it.
With a full stomach I decided to return to the oven that was the radio station floor. Further time in the sun had not improved the room’s climate, but this was my only connection to the outside world. I went over to the microphone and pressed the button to talk.
“Jess, are you there?”
“Yes, I’m here. Everything alright over there?”
“I’m fine. Bella has a stash of Berries downstairs where she sleeps. She gave me some of them. I also found a map.”
“Oh, finally some good news. That’s really great. You can eat those but don’t eat too many at once, so that you don’t upset your stomach. But you can survive on them if you have to. Have you found some clues where you are?”
I was still ashamed of my lack of control, so I didn’t tell her that I had already gorged myself on a pile of them.
“Even better, there’s a pin in one of the islands and I’m pretty sure that’s where I am. It’s far down south-west though. Beneath Kanto and even the Sevii Islands. There also isn’t any other island near it.”
“Alright just let me look it up on my computer.”
I heard the clacking of a keyboard in the background, so she had probably forgotten to turn the microphone off. I only heard a groan before she shuffled to the mic again.
“Is everything alright?”
I was suddenly quite nervous. I just hoped there were no further complications.
“Yeah, sorry again kid. You just don’t have the best of luck. I found the island since there’s really only one that fits your description. The island was declared hazardous ages ago and according to my files, there hasn’t been any attempt to confirm or deny that claim yet. Islands like that are a dime a dozen and yours is particularly far out, so besides what you can tell me we’re flying blind.
There’s sadly also nobody anywhere near you, so we’ll have to send a dedicated rescue operation from the mainland. They should be ready to set out tomorrow morning at the latest, but they’ll need at least two weeks to reach you.
Me and others will reach out to the public in case there is someone near you we don’t know about, but that seems unlikely to me. I have invited some experts to come to our office though. They will try their best to help you remotely.”
“Oh. What do I do now?”
“Well, I think it would be best if I taught you some pokemon trainer basics. Since you have bonded with Bella, I think it’d be helpful for you to know what that means for you.”
“Yes! That sounds fun. Where do we start?”
I was very excited to finally learn how to battle with Bella. This world clearly didn’t run on game logic alone and so I was eager to close the gap between my game knowledge and reality.
“Ok the first thing you should know is that there are different stages for pokemon.”
She then explained pokemon evolution, types, the type chart, battle experience, berry effects, and pokemon moves, abilities, natures and intelligence levels to me. Most of that knowledge was either very similar or even identical to how the games had portrayed it, at least as far as the big picture went.
“Wait, there are three levels of intelligence?”
“Well it’s more of a spectrum, but generally speaking that’s right.”
“So that’s the reason Bella is so different from the other pokemon that I saw along the way. I thought that was because she lived in the lab, and they did something to her.”
“Not necessarily. Some pokemon are born smart, some grow smart with age or strength, but the majority stay as they are. As a rule of thumb, almost all of the strongest pokemon are intelligent, but not all intelligent pokemon are strong. It’s probably best if I give you a short overview.
There are generally believed to be three levels of intelligence for pokemon, though the borders between them can be quite blurry. The first level, which includes most wild pokemon, is called Dull, the second level is Aware, and the third level is Bright.
Dull pokemon aren’t very smart and most of them don’t do much besides finding food, battling, and sleeping. Any pokemon that are farmed or hunted for meat have to be certified as Dull by specialized scanners.
In general, most Dull pokemon will only evolve once, if even that. Sometimes they will age or luck into their second evolution if they have one, but those are incredibly rare. Theoretically, Dull pokemon could be trained for battle, but it’s really not worth it.
Aware pokemon on the other hand make up most of the pokemon trainers use for battle or other tasks. They have the intelligence of a young child and can be trained to do most tasks. Wild Aware pokemon are often local overlords and you should steer clear of them if you can. We don’t know how strong Bella is exactly and you have enough troubles as is.”
And then there are the Bright pokemon. Those go from adult human intelligence all the way to supercomputer. Most Ace Trainers will have at least one of those and should you ever battle Leader or even Elite level trainers you will be hard pressed to find a single Aware among their strongest teams.
From the few things you have told me about Bella, I am reasonably sure that she is both Bright and has reached a level of at least eight badges. She is strong enough to have carved out the lab as her territory and her finesse must be very high.
Normally, a connection to a strong fifth badge and up pokemon would sap your strength through your connection. That you haven’t even felt it tells me that she had excellent control only gained through long hours of practice.
Which brings me to my next point. You need to treat her with respect. If Bella continues to help you, she can keep you safe. If you upset her too much or mistreat her, you may not survive it.”
I swallowed, my throat suddenly very tight.
So far, Bella had been nothing but helpful and happy to be around me. I was now more determined than ever to keep it this way. I looked behind me, but Bella was apparently still on the ground floor, so this was my best chance to get straight answers from Jess.
“Bella is downstairs at the moment so please tell me now. Am I in danger?”