A day after the initial script reading with Beartic, Bianca brought back an updated version of the script. In the Assistant Professor's own words, she was now in charge of editing thanks partly to Professor Juniper's not-so-secret-anymore request. As the token pokémon script reader, Harper described every detail to other pokémon actors, both the stars and side characters. Since then, most of his time went towards making sure the twins' pokémon knew their lines.
Apart from a few instances in the past where Harper helped to answer Ripley's questions with the script, most of her memorization and key actions were accomplished by Audrey. Their skills as a coordinator/pokémon partnership translated perfectly into acting. Brycen and Beartic were also a veteran duo in the film industry, so the polar bear had no issue with learning his lines from his trainer. Caleb and Claire, on the other hand, didn't have an advantage like they did.
Harper expected this outcome somewhat, and helping the twins' pokémon learn their lines for the past couple of days went smoothly. Zorro and Eve were great listeners and even better learners. A young pokémon's desire to learn was just as strong as a person's, another similarity they held with their trainers.
"I can't wait to see Eve act for the first time!" Claire hugged the eevee tight in her arms as they walked to the sound stage.
Caleb held Zorro high in the air, his hind paws dangling below. "I bet Zorro's gonna be better than Eve!"
Bianca looked up from the twins' call sheets and placed a hand on both of their heads. "The two of them will do great."
Zorro and Eve wriggled out of their trainers' grasp to walk beside Harper and Beartic, who trailed behind Bianca and Brycen.
"Do you think we're gonna do great like what Ms. Neri said?" Eve's eyes glittered at Harper.
The hours spent reading and rehearsing their lines did not go to waste. Harper knew for a fact that Zorro and Eve were more than ready for today.
"After all the time I spent preparing the two of you for this first episode, definitely," Harper reassured them.
"Are you trying to give yourself an ego boost?" Beartic asked a moment later, smirking.
"More like a confidence boost, if anything," Harper replied as he flipped open his script, skimming over the post-it tabs and notes he made. "This is different compared to the last two movies I was in…"
~Or seen, since I never saw anything like this back in Hollywood…~ Harper mentally finished to himself.
"Kid, this is new to me as well. You don't see a pokémon-only cast in a production like this every day. The only thing remotely similar that I can recall is the silent black-and-white film shorts that were made when Mr. Stu Deeoh founded Pokéstar, and those were more akin to test footage if anything. Besides, I've been an actor far far longer than you were ever born, we're all in the same boat here."
Apart from Beartic's unknowing mistake of Harper's age, he had a point. Everyone involved in this show was diving into uncharted territory. The language barrier alone would make a modern production like this extremely difficult. Realizing the massive scale of Harper's involvement in making everything work, he cleared his cluttered thoughts, leaving one question to echo in his head.
Was it a good idea or a mistake when he took that notepad from Nate?
Beartic softly chopped Harper's head. "You good, kid? You're spacing out again."
Harper blinked twice before looking up at the Ice-type. "Yeah, I was just thinking that you're right."
Beartic hummed in response before his face slowly shifted into a serious expression. "I want to ask again, are you good?"
Harper only gave a single nod, knowing why Beartic was asking again. The incident of the cafeteria panic attack was still fresh in both of their minds, especially since he explained how the memory of his injury resurfaced to Brycen the other night. If Beartic was the first to know, the former Gym Leader had to know next. Like his first time explaining, he only told bits of information and lies by omission. It wasn't much, but it was enough to convince Brycen that Harper was "recovering."
Beartic accepted his answer and continued walking, this time moving faster to match the pace of the two humans in front of them.
"You said you had a plan earlier for Caleb and Claire while they watched the filming, right?" Bianca asked Brycen, breaking the silence in the group. "What is it?"
"I did, because this is a special opportunity to get voice acting experience." He replied. "For dubbing, voice actors are outsourced to different regions so the dialogue can be voiced in their respective languages. Outsourcing like that only occurs once filming and postproduction are complete. However, this show that Pokéstar Studios is producing isn't dubbing a human language, but pokéspeech."
Bianca stayed silent, unsure of what point Brycen was trying to make.
"It means that I want Caleb and Claire to try voice acting in real-time as soon as the cameras begin rolling."
"Like, we say our lines at the same time our pokémon are?" Claire jumped into the conversation.
"Indeed. This will help you figure out how you want to express your dialogue like your pokémon do before recording begins, an opportunity many voice actors wish they could have."
Brycen's words excite the twins even further as they smile as wide as their mouths possibly can. Claire begins tugging at Bianca's jacket.
"Let's hurry, Ms. Neri! I wanna see the show being filmed!"
"Yeah!" Caleb exclaimed. "I wanna see the sets as well!"
As the two children dragged the Assistant Professor faster to their destination, Harper, Beartic, and even Brycen couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.
"It looks like they're all ready to go, shall we quicken our pace?" Brycen insisted.
----------------------------------------
"That's quite a lot of small sets," Beartic commented.
The veteran actor was right. Multiple set pieces were arranged beside each other for quick transitions between scenes. From the guild lobby to the room of Zorro and Eve's characters, everything was prepared for maximum efficiency. Connected sets were nothing unusual, especially for shows where you knew that you were going to use a scene multiple times.
"I imagine this filming session today will be a smooth one thanks to the crew's efforts beforehand," Brycen added. "Since we're starting on the fifth scene for the first episode, things should be fairly fast."
"Wait, so we don't get to see the first four scenes?" Eve turned to Harper.
"Because we're not in it, duh," Zorro rolled his eyes.
"You could have put it nicer, Zorro, but you're right. Things have to be prepared on different days. With the four of us here right now, it's efficient for Pokéstar to start filming what we did today first. Also, with how large the beginning is in scale, I think the director would need more time for that."
"And I think we're going to do scene nine and the other episodic intermissions on a separate day," Beartic added. "It'd be weird to film them all on different days, though I wish we could film them sooner."
"Why?"
"Because I get to mess with Harper," The polar bear smirked. "The intermissions only have the two of us, and our character interactions are pretty funny. You remember reading that one with the berries?"
"All too well," Harper recalled reading the second episode, with its intermission having some creative ideas to reteach the uses of berries.
"So where are our star pokémon?!" A woman suddenly shouted. "We can't start without our stars!"
"They just arrived, Director Pokélsky!" A far-off voice of a crew member answered back. "They're by the entrance!"
Having "Poké" in a director's name once with "Pokémonski" sort of made sense with this Pokémon world. Twice with "Pokémi" was just a coincidence, a lucky guess when Harper first met him.
But Pokélsky?
He shouldn't be surprised at this point.
"Ah! Brycen!" The thrilled woman greeted everyone with open arms. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Celine Pokélsky, and Mr. Stu Deeoh called for me to direct this whole thing!"
Brycen stepped forward and raised a hand forward. "Hello, Ms. Pokélsky, it's a pleasure to see you as well."
Celine returned his handshake before looking at the pokémon behind Brycen, Bianca, and the twins. "It's great to finally see the stars of the show! I've heard a lot about how you all have been busy rehearsing."
"You can say that again," Beartic nodded.
"We spent a lot of time preparing," Zorro added.
"I can't wait to start!" Eve beamed.
Celine smiled at the three pokémon who replied, understanding their anticipation before bending her knees to get a closer look at Harper. Her silent stare was a complete contrast to her outgoing personality from before, and it slightly threw him off.
"I've heard a thing or two about you from Sergio and Takeshi," She then pointed at his chest, and then his whiteboard hung on his shoulder. "The former said you were interesting at most and the latter loved working with you in 'Full Metal Cop.'"
*The first two movies were great under their leadership. I hope to work well with you as well.*
"My, how well spoken of you! I'll be a great director for this show, just watch!" Celine stood back up and gave a single, loud clap. "Alright! We need all our pokémon stars to be ready for the camera!"
"Layla?" Harper asked Beartic.
"Layla," He repeated.
"Who's Layla?" Zorro asked.
"You'll find out real soon," Harper answered as he waved over at the rapidly approaching Lead Makeup Artist.
----------------------------------------
Unlike the costume work with Harper's mecha body in his last film, all he needed was a simple trim and the dye to hide his burn scar.
"We don't want to scare your young audience with such a large scar, now do we?" Layla chuckled as she applied the black paste to his chest. "This must feel like routine for you now."
"It sure does," Harper looked at himself in the mirror, looking like an ordinary riolu again.
"And now I'm all done with the finishing touches!" Layla wiped her hands on a nearby wet towel. "Head over to the others, they must be waiting for you now."
"Thanks, Layla," He hopped off the barber's seat and left the makeup room. On his way, he briefly looked down at his body again. The recovery of his scar improved since the last time he checked it, but it was far from completely healed, and it would never be. The slight pain he felt on his chest when stretching his body dulled considerably as time passed, but it still reminded him of his—
Harper violently shook his head, forcing himself to take a deep breath to push the train of thought away.
He was NOT dragging himself down there again.
To find a distraction from his thoughts, he looked around the sound stage for Beartic and the twins' pokémon. It didn't take long to find the towering Ice-type now that his fur looked shinier than usual, especially when he stood under the hanging lights.
"Harper! You're finally done with everything?"
"Yup, it didn't take long after you were done. I still wish I went first though, Layla was too excited to work with Zorro and Eve."
"Well that's because she loves working with new pokémon," Beartic motioned a paw to the two. "Check 'em out."
Eve and Zorro wore gradient green scarves around their necks. The only difference between them was how they were positioned. Eve's scarf was tied behind her neck, whereas Zorro's was tied in front. Eve's fur was neatly trimmed like Harper's, but he couldn't say the same for Zorro's fur. The poochyena's fur oddly looked the same as it did when they entered the sound stage. The peculiarity soon left his mind when Eve interrupted his train of thought by coming a bit too close to his personal space.
"Mr. Harper! How do I look?" The eevee twirled around in place.
"Well, I can say that the scarf matches the both of you."
Harper then heard an echoing tap come from the sets. Celine held a megaphone to her mouth and called out to the film crew. "Ahem, attention everyone! We'll begin filming soon, so make sure everything is ready! For the main pokémon actors, please meet me in the Guildmaster's office set."
The first thing Harper noticed was how organic the office felt. The place looked like the inside of a tree, with the walls made to imitate the roots of red pine. Fake icicles stuck on the walls to match Beartic's typing and character. A large wooden desk fit for a pokémon his size stood in the corner with a smaller one beside it for the assistant.
"Thanks for coming, you four. Since we're going to start soon, I was hoping to speak with Harper here for a moment to clarify some things."
*How can I help?*
"You with that whiteboard will forever amaze me… Sorry, back on topic. While I am the director of this show, you're the one that's going to call out any mistakes or anything similar of nature with the dialogue. I'll handle the rest with the pacing, facial expressions, movements, camera angles, and all that jazz. The moment you do this to me or the camera—" Celine made a T-shape with her hands. "—I'll say cut, ok?"
Harper's thumbs-up pleased the director as she gave one back to him. "Great, spend this free time looking through the script one more time in this set since the crew is still preparing the set for Pepper and Hazel's room. I'll call for Zorro and Eve when we're ready."
As she left to attend to other tasks that demanded her attention, Caleb, Claire, and Bianca arrived to offer their words of encouragement to the group of pokémon.
"We'll be standing behind the cameras, and I'll make sure the twins get their lines right," Bianca assured Harper and Beartic.
"Good luck, Zorro!" Caleb cheered.
"We'll be watching close by, ok?" Claire patted the top of Eve's head.
The three left as fast as they came, likely due to not wanting to get in the way of the crew members shuffling around the entire sound stage.
With the time given to him, Harper opened his script. "I know we're all prepared, but there's nothing wrong with looking over this again."
"Yeah!" Eve cheerfully answered. "I love it when you read for us anyway!"
He coughed once to open his throat and begin guiding Zorro, Eve, and Beartic through the key events like he had done multiple times. As he read along the plot points, Eve inched slowly towards him with a stare full of fascination, a glance he respectfully ignored to stay professional. Beartic rubbed his icicle beard with interest as Zorro sat beside him, more stiff than usual. Harper could tell that something was stirring in the poochyena's head.
Harper was new to guiding actors through a storyline, but he was already adept at guiding them through sets to achieve the best lighting. Although his last few years as a Key Grip in Hollywood felt like a waste, he was thankful for the experience now that it benefited his other skills in Pokéstar.
"...And most of all, treat the main camera like a friend. This is a show where the viewer is as much a character as you two are," Harper flipped the last page of the first episode. "Any questions?"
"I have one," Eve raised a paw. "When we finish one scene, how do we move to the next one?"
"If Celine likes the first recording, then we move to the next set and continue filming. We sometimes do a scene multiple times if there's something that can be improved. Any more questions?"
"What's that chunk of ice on the desk?" She pointed over at one of the props in the Guildmaster's office.
"That I can answer for you," Beartic picked up the item to give Eve a closer look. "This is Never-Melt Ice... or a prop of one, I guess. The real one powers up Ice-type moves and…"
As the two were preoccupied with the cold item, Harper noticed that Zorro still had a somewhat dazed expression.
"Hey, Zorro. Is something the matter?"
"I-I'm fine… it's just that we're finally acting. I was excited before, but it's finally happening. Do you know what I mean, Mr. Harper?"
Traces of uneasiness emanated from the poochyena, the same kind Harper felt for himself when he and Beartic talked with Brycen a few nights ago. He explained the poochyena's backstory as Bianca told him with more seriousness to his words than how he usually spoke.
"Don't ever bring this up in front of him," The veteran actor added in the end. "The last thing I want to see is a young pokémon remembering past trauma."
Harper was relieved that he had chosen not to confront Caleb or Zorro directly. Although the mystery of Zorro's eye color change would never be resolved, Brycen was correct in suggesting that it was best to move forward.
"Hey Zorro, remember the first day we met? When we played 'pretend?'"
"Yeah?" Zorro tilted his head, not understanding where Harper was going.
"We're just playing 'pretend' here again, only this time the imaginary cameras I told you to focus on are real. Not a huge difference between then and now, right?"
"Right…"
Zorro still looked troubled, but Harper knew that his words loosened the young pokémon's tension. What was another way to get his spirits up? After spending a moment to think, an idea popped into his head.
Since their first battle, Harper found it challenging to keep his promise to himself and Zorro about training as their workload increased. He was determined to make time to uphold his promise, but he knew he would have to once there was time to spare. In addition to educating Zorro and Eve about filmmaking, the young trainer and his twin sister were also learning about their roles as voice actors. Adding a battle training session on top of everything happening so far would be a lot to handle. Harper held hope that their free time would be more lenient soon.
"How about this? Once we're done filming today, why don't we have a battle?"
Zorro's eyes widened and his ears perked up immediately. "Can we?"
"The moment we have the free time to do so, we sure can."
The tension remaining in the poochyena was now completely nonexistent. The timing was perfect since Celine was back and now sitting in her director's chair.
"Alright, everyone! Get to your places, we're gonna start in a minute!"
Beartic placed the Never-Melt Ice back on the desk before placing his paw on top of Harper's head. "Zorro and Eve are first, let's go to the back."
"The set's ready!" Celine loudly announced. "Come over, Zorro and Eve!"
"Welp, that's your cue. Me and Beartic will join you in the next scene shortly."
The two gave an affirming nod before they headed over to the set. Like the office set, Pepper and Hazel's room was covered with wood. On one side was a collection of books and scrolls neatly arranged on bookshelves. The other side was strewn with a multitude of items from orbs, and scattered pieces of currency, to empty knocked-over chests. The contrast between the two sides perfectly mirrored the main characters in the show.
*So you're the narrator again?* Harper showed his whiteboard to Vincent, who was fiddling with his own megaphone.
"Only during filming because other than Caleb and Claire, the other voice actors are going to arrive much later in production."
*Do you like narrating?*
"I do, and I have to admit that it's fun to talk through this megaphone in a deep voice!"
"Is everyone in their place?" Celine asked the crew around her. Once she heard multiple voices answer back, she nodded at the camera assistant with a clapperboard in their hand.
"Scene five, take one! Lights! Camera! ACTION!"
A loud clack rang in the sound stage and the cameras began rolling.
----------------------------------------
Pepper bounced around the room with impatience as Hazel carefully packed her bags with items strewn all around her.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Come on!" Pepper whined. "We shouldn't keep the Guildmaster waiting!"
"I know that, but we need to be ready for our first mission," She acknowledged as she shoved a blue orb in her satchel. "We can't do what the Guildmaster says without the right supplies."
"You always over-prepare! Adventure waits for no one!"
"I'm not overpreparing, I'm still trying to find the essentials in this mess you've made on your side of the room!"
"We only need to grab the basics, what more do we even need?"
Suddenly, three successive taps knocked on their door, causing them to turn their heads over.
"Am I intruding at a bad time?" Vincent the Narrator's voice echoed through the door.
Hazel greeted the Narrator and viewer with a smile, the bickering with Pepper long forgotten. "Oh, hello! Do you need something?"
"I'm here because you two are the best for helping our guest here around Sonamu."
"Is that a new friend?" Pepper hopped beside Hazel and flashed a smile to the viewer.
"Hi! My name's Pepper and I'm a poochyena!"
Hazel flicked her tail with grace. "I'm Hazel the eevee and as a duo, we're 'Team Horizon!'"
"Those are our names, new friend!" Pepper moves closer to the viewer. "What's yours?"
After waiting for a few seconds for the viewer to respond, Hazel smiled with her eyes closed. "That's a nice name, I hope we can be great friends!"
"Now that you have all met each other, I will be taking my leave," Vincent slowly turned his megaphone quieter over time. "Have fun with Pepper and Hazel, my dear friend!"
After a brief silence, Hazel's eyes widened, remembering the task she was undergoing before meeting the viewer. "Pepper, we need to go now! Grab your bag and let's go see Guildmaster Tundra!"
As the two rushed out of their room, Pepper looked over to the viewer one more time. "We're off to the Guildmaster's office, you won't be lost as long as you follow us, friend!"
"And cut!" Celine shouted. "Harper! How was their dialogue?"
The first thought in Harper's mind was that the long days spent teaching Zorro and Eve worked like a charm. He'd seen novice actors and actresses stumble over their lines or actions due to anxiety and the like. With Zorro and Eve in that one quick scene…
There was none of that at all.
Their afflictions, their tone, secondary actions, everything fit exactly with how he described the script to them. Beartic liked to call Harper a prodigy in acting, but that was because of his years of experience in his past life. He would have complemented his teaching skills like the polar bear always did, but this was more than that. Zorro and Eve were true prodigies for their age.
*Their dialogue was perfect.*
"Great, I didn't see anything wrong with anything else so far, though I'll recheck the raw footage later. Regardless, let's move to the next scene now!"
"It's our turn now," Beartic patted Harper's back. "You ready, Luca?"
"Sure am, Guildmaster Tundra."
The two split off in different directions due to how their starting positions were placed. Harper took off his whiteboard and placed it somewhere safe, replacing it with his clipboard prop, an item he'll be holding a lot for the rest of this show. Standing in front of the office doors, he looked over where Bianca and the twins were. The Assistant Professor was scribbling away in her notepad as Caleb and Claire were looking at each other's copies of the script, critiquing their delivery of the dialogue. Harper then noticed Eve and Zorro walking up to him with excitement.
"Ok! We're doing scene six now! Get to your places!" Celine clapped her hands together, urging everyone to pick up the pace.
"Let's do this, Mr. Harper!" Eve rooted as they stood in their positions.
Harper gave a thumbs up to Eve and Zorro, glad that they were having fun, Zorro especially. The nervousness in him was now completely gone.
"Lights! Camera! Action!"
----------------------------------------
Pepper and Hazel rushed over to the Guildmaster's office as fast as they could. Luca, the Guildmaster's assistant, stood behind the door as a fine, icy haze leaked out the bottom cracks of the doors. Noticing that Team Horizon was approaching, he looked up from his clipboard with furrowed eyes.
"You two are late…" Luca tsked.
"See, I told you we were taking too long!" Pepper whispered to Hazel.
"We're sorry, Assistant Guildmaster Luca," She waved over to the viewer. "We actually got a request as we were getting ready to help our new friend around. Is it ok if they can be a new member of our team?"
Luca flipped through a few pages on his clipboard before pointing at the door behind him. "You're going to have to take that to the Guildmaster himself as your team is still new. Knowing him though, he'll let your friend around as you do your tasks."
"Is Team Horizon outside?" Tundra's voice muffled through the door. "You can let them in!"
Luca opened the office doors, still facing Pepper and Hazel. "Best not to keep the Guildmaster himself waiting, let's head inside."
"Oh boy, I can't wait to get our first-ever mission!" Pepper looked over to the viewer. "What about you, new friend?"
After waiting a few seconds, Pepper gave a nod as his tail rapidly wagged from side-to-side. "Great! I feel just the same!"
As soon as Luca leads Pepper and Hazel inside, a wave of cold rushes through them. Condensed air hovered slowly along the floor, caused by the icicles jutting out of the walls and roots of the room.
"Brrr, it's chilly here!" Pepper uttered through chattering teeth.
"You can say that again," Hazel uttered back.
On the other side of the room sat Guildmaster Tundra, the beartic, behind his desk. On his desk is a Never-Melt Ice acting as a desk piece and stacks of important-looking paper. Once the doors shut, Tundra raises a curious glance at the viewer.
"Hello, Pepper and Hazel," Tundra greeted the two warmly before looking at the camera. "Who is this new companion of yours?"
"They're our new friend," Hazel replied. "Someone wanted us to show them around Sonamu Town as we helped around with the Guild."
"Your first request already? I'm impressed by the both of you. They're allowed to accompany your team, just don't leave them behind, ok?"
Pepper and Hazel eagerly nodded in response. With a smile, Guildmaster Tundra cleared his throat to debrief Team Horizon's first mission.
"We have recently received a report of an incident occurring in the town square that's disturbing the peace. Pansage, Panpour, and Pansear are arguing about whose type is superior. I want your team to settle their debate once and for all."
Pepper tilted their head in confusion. "But I thought we were going to be exploring the nearby Mystery Dungeon?"
"While that is a major purpose for the Tundra Guild, it's also in our best interest to maintain peace in the very town we reside in," Luca smartly replied, as if reciting a motto.
"I couldn't have said it better myself!" Tundra laughed aloud. "Don't worry, Team Horizon, that Mystery Dungeon isn't going anywhere!"
"We won't let you down, Guildmaster Tundra and Assistant Guildmaster Luca!" Pepper exclaimed.
Hazel nodded in agreement to Pepper's confidence. "We'll make sure to bring back peace."
Tundra briefly chuckled before waving his paw to the door. "I know you will... Now go!"
"And cut!" Celine chopped the air with her left hand. "That was a great session, but I want to go check for myself if that plaza set is prepared now. As soon as I'm back, I want to talk with Harper about redoing this office scene."
Harper gave a thumbs up as the director swiftly left her seat to talk with other head staff members. Zorro and Eve immediately approached him the moment the word "break" was uttered from Celine's mouth.
"Mr. Harper, the director said that we have to do the scene again. Did… Did we do a bad job?" Eve faltered near the end.
"No, no no no, it's nothing like that at all," Harper quickly stopped the dispirited eevee from beginning a slippery slope. "Redoing scenes is completely normal. It could be because the lighting isn't how the director wants it or the audio doesn't sound right. There's a lot of factors and I know your acting isn't one of them."
"That's good, I really didn't want to mess this up for you!" Eve brightly beamed at Harper.
"Mr. Harper. You were so weird in that scene!" Zorro exclaimed.
Harper was taken aback by the sudden criticism. "W-What? How?"
"You were so serious-looking!" The poochyena laughed out. "You never looked like that, even when we first battled!"
"I think that 'serious Harper' looks cool!" Eve blurted.
"That's acting for you," Harper sighed with relief, thankful that the twins' pokémon didn't feel like his acting was wrong.
"Hey!" Beartic appeared behind the three of them with a fake frown. "You're all leaving me out of the conversation?! C'mere!"
Beartic picked up Zorro and Eve and placed them on their shoulders before spinning them around multiple times. The two young pokémon laughed as the polar bear continued to entertain them. Harper chuckled as he watched them, their fooling around mildly amusing the film crew around them.
His concentration was only broken when he looked over behind the cameras, where Bianca and the twins were, wondering why they didn't greet them yet. All three of them were completely focused on their own matters. The Assistant Professor relentlessly wrote in her notes as the twins talked together with Brycen, pointing at different parts in their scripts.
"Hey, Mr. Harper," Zorro called out after Beartic finished spinning around, still on his shoulder. "Do you know what Ms. Neri always writes in that?"
"I don't know… Want me to go ask?"
----------------------------------------
"So what did you think about that?" Brycen asked as soon as Ms. Pokélsky ended the scene.
"What do you mean?" Bianca turned her head to him. She didn't expect him to ask a question so soon, and she had no clue how to answer yet.
"Pokémon in the filming industry, what do you think about it?" He clarified.
"It's… It's amazing," Bianca answered a few seconds later. Now that she saw a scene filmed before her eyes, especially with pokémon, she finally witnessed the skills of Harper she had heard so much about from not only Nate but Brycen and the film crew familiar with him. Not only that, Zorro and Eve looked like they were having tons of fun as the cameras rolled, and the twins were already talking with each other about how they could do better. She never knew that making films could be as fun as watching them.
"I knew that pokémon were capable in other occupations, but I never really thought much about them being in movies before coming here," She continued her answer.
"But you have seen movies, yes?"
"Of course I have! As a kid, I always went to the theater with Cheren and Hilber—"
A sharp tinge struck her heart as soon as she uttered his name, with Brycen slightly frowning. The twins briefly paused their conversation together at the sight of saddened expression.
"Right… I used to watch movies with them."
With how long ago it was, all she could remember was the buttery smell that hung in the air from Cheren's box of popcorn. Whenever he wasn't looking, Hilbert always stole a few handfuls for him and Bianca to secretly enjoy, taking more than was meant to be shared. With the context of the movies she watched forgotten in the passage of time, it made her want to cling onto anything she could remember about Hilbert.
Because who knew when he'd ever return.
Two years had passed since his disappearance, and the only people to last seen him were the former Champion Alder and Cheren. The only words Hilbert spoke to them were, "I'm finding N," before flying away on Zekrom. She never even got to say goodbye to her friend, where did he go?
Brycen placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about Hilbert, Bianca. He has his team and Zekrom by his side, he is more than prepared for anything."
"...Pokémon are amazing, aren't they?" Brycen broke the silence a moment later, looking over at Beartic joyfully spinning Zorro and Eve, with Harper chuckling by their side.
"They truly are," Bianca chuckled as well at the sight of them playing around. "Pokéstar Studios is an amazing place."
"Ms. Neri?" Claire tugged Bianca's jacket, interrupting their conversation. "How did we do?"
Before she could reply, Caleb rapidly tapped Claire's script. "You messed up here! You were stuttering right there!"
"I didn't! And you completely forgot to say that line!"
"Caleb, Claire," Brycen stepped in between the two. "What did we say about giving advice?"
"Be constructive, not critical," The two muttered together.
"Exactly, now let's try this again."
Even though the twins made up thanks to Harper, siblings would always be siblings. They still argued from time to time, but compared to when Bianca first met them, it was now much lighter in scale. She remembered when Caleb and Claire — with Caleb doing most of the talking — demanded for pokédexs soon after she gave the last few to Nate and Hugh. Their insistence on being trainers together was a smart idea, especially since going alone on a Journey was a huge risk. With Caleb being a Pokémon Trainer and Claire as a traveling nurse, they had the potential to be a formidable duo, but it wouldn't work if they were always fighting with one another.
With Brycen, Caleb, and Claire now talking together, Bianca took out her notepad to finally write down everything she'd been wanting to write since filming started. Underneath the notes about Harper's skills in teaching Zorro and Eve, she began writing as fast as she could.
The first note she made was how natural Harper looked in a movie set. Harper was extremely talented with anything related to cinematography, and his retrograde amnesia made it extremely astounding. Did he have a past history with another film studio? Was that why he was so fluent in Unovan?
…Was that why he had that panic attack?
Bianca had no right to create a conclusion based on assumptions, and Beartic was right in stopping the riolu from telling her then. For now, learning about Harper as he is now was the best course of action. When she first started her notes, she fell into the same habit she always did when compiling data for pokémon. Not wanting to erase what she had so far, she continued her notes with bullet points.
Harper
Species: Riolu
Sex: M
Age: N/A (Estimated: Early age)
Height: 2'5" (Calculated by comparing height to Zorro's [1'11"])
Weight: 45lb (Estimated: Average for species)
Original Trainer: Brycen (No evidence of trainer before him)
Additional Features: Large burn scar on chest
* Peculiar name
* Why "Harper?"
* Retrograde amnesia
* Remembers skills, but not why
* Has human-like habits
* Ex: Licking finger to flip pages easier, post-its on his script
* Lived in civilized life before injury?
* Exceptional fluency in Unovan
* Can read and write perfectly
* Vocab is also advanced
* Who taught him? And how?
* Burn scar
* Caused by external forc
* No human invention is strong enough to cause such damage to a pokémon
* Only conclusion I can make is a strong Fire-type move like Overheat, Flare Blitz, Inferno, etc.
* But why is the scar still there?
* Permanent injuries on pokémon are extremely rare
* Unknown past
* Not even Brycen knows
* Mr. Stu Deeoh's story
* Met Harper at Floccesy Ranch after being injured
* Nate also met the ranch owners there
* Coincidence?
* Mature for young age
* Troubled past?
* Skilled actor
* Films to watch:
* Film short: Riolu-Man of Justice vs. Brycen-Man
* Feature length film: Full Metal Cop
* Brycen said Harper doesn't like combat but will fight in movies
* But it contradicts the nature of Fighting-types?
* Panic attack?
* Cause of panic attack is unkno
* Panic attack related to burn scar?
* Beartic calmed him down as if it happened before
* Common occurrence?
* My fault?
Her notes didn't help with answering any of her lingering questions and the main topic Professor Juniper wanted her to look into, which was how Harper learned Unovan. Pokémon speech is fundamentally different from how humans speak, and not just by the usual call system of sounds and gestures in response to environmental stimuli. From the languages that Bianca researched for their historical origins from Unovan, Kalosian, to Sinnohan, they all followed the essential structure. Every language has symbols, written and spoken, to refer to real and imaginary things in the world, and this was undeniable from what she looked into.
Pokémon speech, on the other hand, couldn't be considered a language. There were no symbols for either form of communication that followed human languages. With the wide abundance of pokémon species and all their unique speech patterns, it would be impossible for one pokémon to give meaning to a certain sound they emitted that another different species could understand. Bianca made an attempt once to translate her Mienshao once when they had a one-on-one conversation together. The experiment ended as quickly as it began, with Bianca unable to get a single sentence correct. Talking with pokémon was completely one-sided, and it would be impossible to understand what they said.
But somehow, pokémon still talked with each other perfectly.
The communication between pokémon species was completely fluent, no matter what species talked with another. They also comprehended whatever humans said, even if different languages were used. To further show why Harper was a big deal, Professor Juniper showed her a video before leaving Nuvema Town. The video recorded a famous experiment done by Professor Oak and Rowan when he visited Kanto to test the interconnectedness of language. They assigned a multilingual person to give simple commands in different languages to a recently captured Bidoof from Sinnoh. Each test concluded with the Bidoof comprehending all the commands with pinpoint accuracy.
Since then, the scientific community largely accepted that an unknown link existed between pokémon that allows them to understand each other. With humans lacking that connection, they were unable to talk with pokemon. That was the reason why pokémon couldn't write, their habitual interpretation of one another didn't translate to human-made languages.
And that's what Bianca firmly believed in until she heard of Harper. His existence shattered her beliefs in pokémon linguistics like glass.
Unable to reach a conclusion for now, she ended her notes with a single word in the corner of the page.
~Why?~
Bianca then noticed the very pokémon she was researching approaching her, grabbing his trademark whiteboard along the way.
"Hey, Harper!" She quickly closed her notepad and greeted the riolu with a wave. "You were great out there!"
*Thanks, but you should tell them that.* Harper pointed to the twins' pokémon.
"I will, but do you have something to ask me?" Bianca responded with a question, wondering why he wanted to talk with her in the first place.
*Zorro was curious about what you always write down in your notes.* Harper looked over at the poochyena enthusiastically talking with Beartic.
Out of all the questions that the riolu could have asked her, she never wanted to hear that one.
Luckily, she had a failsafe, if she could even call it one.
"I'm just taking notes on pokémon behaviors during filming. I only ever saw pokémon in either battles or in their natural habitats, so seeing them act in something like this is pretty neat," She shrugged off, playing it cool.
Harper's eyes looked up and down from the notepad in her hand to her eyes. A moment later, he gave a single nod before writing on his whiteboard again and showing Bianca.
*I hear Celine coming back, but thanks for answering.*
True to his word, the Director arrived back from the plaza set behind the set of Pepper and Hazel's room. Harper waved Bianca goodbye as he left to join the other pokémon stars of the show. She unknowingly relaxed her muscles, not realizing her body felt tense ever since Harper asked her his question.
Bianca looked over at Harper again, where he and the director were now conversing with one another, reading the script and pointing at different parts of the set. The riolu held two of his paws up, making his best attempt at a square shape, as if telling Ms. Pokélsky where the camera could better work.
"Everyone! Break's over!" She sat back in her director's seat. "Let's redo this scene again, starting at the office entrance for a better camera angle! As soon as we're done with redoing scenes six and seven, we're doing the eleventh scene since the plaza set needs a little more time!" Celine continued announcing. "We're doing that scene as soon as we're done with this one!"
"S'cuse me, miss," A crew member rolled a film camera beside her. "Just gotta move this here."
"Oh, sorry," Bianca stepped back, not realizing she moved closer to the set earlier when she talked to Harper.
"Alright, let's start! Lights! Camera! Action!"
As soon as the clapperboard made its iconic sound, the pokémon in front of the camera got into character.
"Rio, orir ro" Harper's character, Luca, spoke in a disapproving tone.
Zorro's character, Pepper, growled his lines softly at Eve's character, Hazel.
"Vee! Euvui, ei!" Hazel waved her paws at the main camera beside her. "Eevee, vee!"
As the scene continued, Bianca overheard the camera crew member whisper to his colleague.
"You can't tell me that this is pretty strange, right? Filming actors that we can't even understand."
"I mean, we technically understand one of them," The crew member beside him joked, tapping the screen of his camera that had Harper in the frame. "But you're right, I spent years filming for Pokéstar and I never filmed something like this. Thank the Twin Dragons that I'm not in the audio department, it's gonna be a nightmare to balance pokéspeech."
"I agree with ya there."
Was… Was it just her or did all of Pokéstar Studios take Harper's literacy this lightly? This was a pokemon that broke common sense, and yet, this news never got out of the studio's gates. It was most likely because of Brycen due to his stern approach to wanting privacy, especially after he retired from being a Gym Leader. Wanting Harper to have a sense of privacy was most likely why every newspaper's headline had no mention of a pokémon understanding Unovan.
Bianca felt like giving the Professor another status update was soon approaching. Now that she witnessed Harper in front of a camera, she had so much she needed to explain.
----------------------------------------
"Well done, both of you," Tundra flipped through their completed report. "I've heard that you have brought peace back to the town."
Pepper held his head up high, full of accomplishment. "We did! The trio are friends again!"
"Keep up the good work," Luca smiled. "You've certainly proven yourselves to be a fine team for the Tundra Guild."
"Especially you, dear friend of Team Horizon. The Panpour, Pansear, and Pansage would still be arguing with each other right now if it weren't for your help. Will you continue to help them?
Tundra looked at the camera and smiled a few seconds later.
"Thank you, Team Horizon will surely succeed with you around."
"With time still remaining, the two of you may now go to the Mystery Dungeon just outside of Sonamu Town," Luca announced. "I wish the best of luck for your team!"
"Yeah!" Pepper and Hazel high-fived each other as Vincent held his megaphone up.
"And so, our two new explorers have taken their first steps in learning about their duties with the Tundra Guild. What else will await them as they continue to work under the guidance of Guildmaster Tundra and his assistant, Luca? Find out next time on 'Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Sonamu's Sunrise!'"
"Cut!"
"This scene is done!" A crew member announced. "Someone go get the three elemental monkeys and the extras!"
"Extras?" Zorro repeated. "What were they again?"
"They're the people, or pokémon in this case, that fill up a scene so it doesn't feel empty. The next set we're going to is a town square, so having you, Eve, and the other three would feel empty."
"Do we talk with the extras?"
"Are you forgetting what you need to do in the beginning already?"
"Right! We need to push through them to get to Wave, Blaze, and Twig!"
"Should I give you another breakdown of the script?" Harper asked, making sure Zorro didn't forget some parts.
"No, I got it now! It's all in my head!"
"Then I guess you should prove that," Harper began walking off the set. "You and Eve did well so far, but we got this last scene to do."
"We'll do our best!" Eve butted in, running into Zorro. "We'll act as good as you!"
Harper smiled, he knew they weren't going to mess up. Everyone was on a roll today, and he hoped that this continued throughout the whole production.
----------------------------------------
In the center of the town square with various vendors and shops lined around, Twig the pansage, Wave the panpour, and Blaze the pansear continued their heated argument, drawing the attention of surrounding pokémon. Pepper and Hazel pushed through the crowd as the three continued their squabble.
Twig raised his arms and posed. "Grass-types are the best! Water doesn't hurt us one bit, it's like a refreshing shower!"
Wave crossed his arms in defiance. "Water-types are superior! We can put out any fire, no matter how large!"
Blaze ferociously stomped on the pavement. "Fire-types are the strongest! We can burn anything down that's in our way!"
With one final push through the crowd, Pepper and Hazel finally reach the center of the attention.
Hazel stepped between the three elemental monkeys. "Hey, what's going on here? Why are you all arguing?"
Twig eagerly turned to Hazel. "You! Eevee! You're a Normal-type! You're neutral! Tell us which type is superior now!"
"I can't decide an answer that quickly!"
"What about you, poochyena?" The pansage looked at Pepper. "Which is better? Grass, Water, or Fire-types?"
"I'm with Hazel on this," He shrugged. "I can't pick that fast."
Unable to accept either of their answers, the three monkeys began snapping at each other, growing angrier with each passing.
"Grass-types are the best! If you choose the others, you're just barking up the wrong tree!"
"Water-types always make a splash in every battle! We are better than every other type!"
"Fire-types blaze through any competition! I'm just warming up here, I have so many reasons to tell!"
Hazel nervously whispered to Pepper. "Their argument is getting worse, what do we do?"
Pepper faced the camera. "Do you have an idea, friend?"
A moment after looking at the camera, Pepper's eyes widened at a revelation.
"A game?" He replied. "Like 'Rock, paper, scissors?' That's a great idea!"
After overhearing Pepper's conversation and idea, she turned back to Twig, Wave, and Blaze as she cleared her throat. "Your argument is going nowhere, how about the three of you play a game to find out who is the strongest?"
"A game?" Twug repeated. "Really?"
"Rock, Paper, Scissors, to be exact. Only this time I'm going to assign each hand to each one of you."
Hazel whispered to each of the elemental monkeys. Their faces shifted into a mischievous smile after hearing their answer. When she finished, she stepped to the side and gave Pepper the spotlight.
"Now that the three of you are ready, let's start on Pepper's count!"
Raising a paw, Pepper readied his voice as they all circled in. Some passerby pokémon paused their daily commute to observe the game they were currently playing.
"On my go…"
Twig, Wave, and Blaze moved their hands toward the center of their circle, angling their eager hands at each other.
"Three… Two… One… GO!"
With blinding speeds, the three swung their arms down, shifting their hands to their assigned form. Pepper and Hazel smirked as they looked at the surprised faces of the elemental monkeys. Twig's hands were in "paper," Wave's were in "scissors," and Blaze's were in "rock."
"Huh?"
"Wha?"
"How?"
"Do you still not get it?" Hazel walked up to Wave. "Let's try again, I'll whisper what hand to use for this next round to change it up."
"After secretly telling the three what hand to use, Pepper began the next game of Rock, Paper, Scissors."
"Three… Two… One… GO!"
Like their first game, it ended identically to no watching pokémon's surprise. Twig's hands were in "rock," Wave's were in "paper," and Blaze's were in "scissors." With another tie in their belt, they all began to realize the purpose of the game.
Relieved by the surprised reactions, Eve sighed. "Do you see it now? The three of you are strong and weak against each other, just like how rock, paper, and scissors are."
"Don't argue like this again," Pepper glanced over at the crowd. "It's disturbing the peace in Sonamu Town."
Nearby pokémon muttered together in agreement as the three looked at each other with pained expressions.
"I guess we all have our own strengths," Twig spoke up, shyly.
"Yeah, we're better together," Wave said, unable to maintain eye contact
"Agreed," Blaze put one hand forward. "Friends?"
Twig and Wave place their hands on top of Blaze's as they all nod in unison.
"Friends!"
"Aaaaaaaaand cut! That's a wrap for today! Great work, everyone!
With the last scene finally completed, the three elemental monkeys gave quick farewells to Zorro and Eve before hopping back to their trainers. This scene had to be reshot continuously because with the addition of other pokémon that Harper spent less attention with prior, getting them to nail their lines was a much more complicated affair.
~At least we're finally done,~ Harper thought to himself as he slumped on top of a nearby crate, laying down on the wooden cover. With one episode finally done, he could cross it off the list and…
~Seven more to go. Hope it's always as fast as this,~ Turning his head to the side, he saw Bianca and the twins approach their pokémon.
"Zorro! You were so cool!" Caleb scooped his poochyena up. "Saying your lines was really fun!"
"I didn't know acting like this could be so fun!" Zorro said before licking his trainer's face, causing him to laugh at how it tickled.
Claire then picked up Eve, petting her backside as she asked her eevee. "Did you have fun?"
Eve nuzzled Claire's cheek before looking at her trainer eye-to-eye. "Mr. Harper was right! This is way more fun than 'pretend!'"
Smiling, Harper sat back up and hopped off the crate, walking to Brycen, who was complimenting his ace pokémon.
"Perfect as always, Beartic," Brycen patted Ice-type's arm. "I expected nothing else."
Brycen then looked at Harper and gave a warm smile, a rarity from the cold-looking man. "Especially you, Harper. This show would be impossible without you guiding the twins' pokémon. This show is going to be a success, I know it."
Despite all the guilt Harper felt for feeling like he was duping everyone for his "skills," he couldn't deny the fact that it had a positive effect on everyone around him.
"Thanks, Brycen," He reluctantly accepted the praise. "I couldn't have done any of this without your help."
"Why are you talking like this is the last thing you're ever gonna be in?" Beartic joked before grabbing Harper and placing him on his shoulders. "This is just the beginning!"
~And I hope it never ends…~