“Bella is downstairs at the moment so please tell me now. Am I in danger?”

Jess sighed once again. The insane temperatures outside had made her sweat all day, but she would have sworn that every call with the nameless child somehow managed to stimulate her sweat glands even more.

Why couldn’t he wait with questions like that until the qualified professionals were there? Now that her mind had exited crisis mode she felt more and more out of her depth. Normally her job ended after she called in the rescuers.

She’d only ever coached people through situations in which immediate action was necessary. At no point had there ever been time to carefully evaluate options, and her advice had never been at risk of making the situation worse. Either there was a crisis and action was required, or the people were safe for the moment and told to sit tight until someone came and got them.

“I don’t know kid. I really don’t. From what you told me until now I don’t think so, but this isn’t a topic I know much about.

It probably won’t matter either way. As far as I can tell, Bella is incredibly strong and now that she has bonded with you there is nothing you can do if she has bad intentions. But that is also your greatest protection. There should be nothing on that island of yours that she’d need your help with.

The only thing she could get out of you is a way to leave the island, and she should know that you have to remain unharmed if she wants to get taken along.”

“Are you really sure that she is strong? Maybe she was hiding in the lab.”

“No. She’d have to regularly go out for food and from your description of the lab I’d guess it has been abandoned for at least a decade if not two. No pokemon of her intelligence will stay weak that long, and as I told you before your missing awareness of your connection with her tells me she has to be really strong then.

“I understand. I’ll have to trust Bella until the rescue people come and we’ll see from there. I hear her coming up. Talk to you later.”

The room plunged into relative silence again. Only the humming of her computer and the occasional crackle from the radio kept the atmosphere from feeling too oppressive. Jess felt exhausted and couldn’t wait until someone else took over.

Luckily Professor Oak had assured her that Audinos generally had calm and gentle natures and well-developed caretaker instincts. He had described them as Chansey-like. Hopefully Bella would keep the kid safe.

. . .

As I turned back to Bella my palms were even sweatier than the temperature would merit. Now that I knew how strong she very likely was, her friendly demeanor had something menacing to it, and I was wondering how much strength she had to hold back not to injure me with any accidental touch.

She chirped happily at me and held up two backpacks. It seemed she was planning a trip with me and had already packed supplies for both of us. I closed my eyes for a moment and thought about how to best handle the situation.

On the one hand I could pretend to still be oblivious to the situation and hope that nothing of my real feelings bled through the nebulous connection that I couldn’t even perceive. I’d only have to keep up the act until rescue came.

On the other hand, I could be upfront about the situation and talk it out with her. There was the risk that Bella would turn on me as soon as her plot was revealed. The island seemed big enough that she could vanish until the expedition left again. That was the absolute worst case.

In the best case though, we could talk it out as best we could and find a solution that worked for both of us. I mulled it over for a bit, but it was undeniable that cooperation would always benefit both parties more if an agreement could be reached.

“So, I was talking to Jess just now. Thanks to the map you showed me they now know where we are, but this island is so far out that it will take at least two weeks until anyone arrives. She also taught me some pokemon trainer basics since it seems I lost many of the intricacies of that along with the rest of my personal memories.

I’m not gonna lie, she told me about the connection we should have since you gave me your pokeball to register. She told me that you’re almost certainly very smart and very strong, and that I’m basically at your mercy until the rescue workers arrive.”

Bella had looked tense even before I had spoken up, and when I had talked about the connection it only got worse , but by the end she only looked sad.

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“So, I thought to myself that it would be for the best if we came to an agreement. You help me out while I’m here and I’ll do the same in the human world. I’m somehow very sure that there’s nobody out there waiting for me, so I could really use a strong ally.

What do you say, wanna team up for now until we get to civilization and hopefully beyond?”

In lieu of a response Bella rushed over to me and gave me a big hug. I laughed and patted her on the back as she happily chirped in a language only she could comprehend. Then I felt it. There was a new sensation, like a muscle and sensory organ in one for my brain that I had never used. I sensed both relief and happiness through what could only be my connection to Bella.

The sensations that felt so very human grounded me and reassured me that I had made the right decision. While she had helped me, there had still been a certain awkward distance between us since I hadn’t been used to the idea of a non-human sentient being. All of that was gone now that I could feel her joy.

We stayed like that for a while despite the heat, both of us seemingly in need of a bit of skinship. Eventually we separated though and basked in the suddenly much more relaxed atmosphere. I’m sure that my own emotions were an open book for her, so we both knew we had someone who had, for the moment at least, only the best of intentions for the other.

“Alright, you wanted to go on a trip, didn’t you? What did you even pack for us?”

I opened the bag she had given me and found some more berries, a blanket, some rope, and most importantly some pokeballs. Since she didn’t tell me to register them I supposed they were empty and waiting for me to fill them.

I suddenly knew how I wanted to fill my time on the island. Instead of moping around waiting to be rescued I would catch and train a team of my pokemon. I was certain that this had been a childhood dream of mine, which was ironic since I was now a child again.

Then I remembered that Aware and Bright pokemon were supposedly very rare. There was a legitimate chance that I wouldn’t find any among the pokemon weak enough for the current me. After so thoroughly dousing my own excitement, I turned to Bella.

“Let’s hope we find an intelligent pokemon weak enough for me to handle. I’d also best give Jess an update on our situation and tell her we’ll be gone for a bit.”

Bella patted me on the shoulder encouragingly and flexed her other arm. I wasn’t sure how strength would help our situation, but I was willing to be convinced. She then turned me around and shooed me in the direction of the microphone.

“Hey Jess, it’s me again.”

“Hey kid, that was fast. Something wrong?”

I could hear the worry in Jess’s voice and hurried to reassure her.

“No, everything is fine. Great even. So, I might have spilled everything to Bella. I don’t think I could’ve even kept it secret if I wanted though. Anyway, she even opened the connection and unless she is the best in the world at faking emotions, I’m one hundred percent certain that she wants to help me.”

Not my most eloquent moment ever, but I hoped it was sincere enough that Jess didn’t think I was now Bella’s puppet. The line went silent for a moment before Jess managed to formulate a response. Which was fair enough. I had after all just thrown out her advice and probably been incredibly lucky with how the situation had turned out.

“Well, not what I would have done, but it seems to have worked out for you. There aren’t many pokemon capable of believably falsifying emotions, so you should be clear on that front. Now we can at least plan with your physical safety basically guaranteed.

You should probably try to find out more about the island for now. Information is always key in an unfamiliar environment, and you probably have the best source that you can find on the island. It might be a bit difficult, but I’m sure you’ll figure out most of what she wants to tell you.”

“Yeah, about that. Bella wants to go on a trip with me. She even has some empty pokeballs here, so I may come back with more friends than just her. We’re gonna be back by evening at the latest.”

“Well then have fun exploring. Before you go you should remember that Aware and Bright pokemon are quite rare, so don’t be too disappointed when you don’t find any. In the case that you have enough pokeballs and incredible luck, you should know that the carry capacity of at maximum six pokemon isn’t arbitrary.

Most trainers can’t manage more than six pokemon at once due to the mental strain. Younger trainers have it even rougher and it may take time until you can tolerate more than two or three even. Just make sure to stop when you feel any strain, it will pass in time. If you ignore your limits you could seriously injure yourself, so don’t be too much in a hurry to build a full team.

“Okay, thanks for the reminder. I just have one question left: How do I even find out which pokemon is more intelligent.”

“Ah that’s fairly simple in theory, but quite hard in practice. Your best bet is to look at curious pokeon and those who act different from the others of their species. For that you’ll have to observe them for quite a while though.

Some species also have specific tells, so if you’re not sure its probably best if you come and ask me before you try to catch them. Most pokemon have a territory they live in and aren’t particularly nomadic, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find them again.”

“Ok, until later then.”

“Take care kid.”

I followed Bella out of the room. As we descended down the stairs, the air got noticeably cooler and easier to breathe. I really should avoid the radio room while the sun was up.

When we exited the lab, contrary to my expectations, Bella didn’t lead me into the jungle. We went around the lab to a fenced off area. It took a moment for me to recognize what I was looking at, but when Bella proudly pointed at the plants behind the fence I understood.

She had created a berry farm. We entered through an unlocked gate and when I asked her about security, she just proudly puffed up her cheeks and sent me a mental image of her flexing her arms. It seemed she had some fairly hard-hitting arguments why others should steer clear.

After looking suitably impressed and complimenting her on her good work we were finally off to so that I could explore the island in safety, and to maybe find a second pokemon for me.