“Son of a Gengar!”
Gah
Patting herself down, Gardenia looked around wildly as she took up a fighting stance as if in preparation to fight some unknown enemy. Though one could hardly fault her considering what had just happened two minutes earlier.
Eterna Forest, 5 Minutes Ago
Ever since Roark, the Oreburgh Gym Leader, had disappeared in the Underground a month or so ago Gardenia’s duties had only continued to pile up as she was now the sole representative of the Pokemon Association routinely checking on Route 206 and 207 which she and Roark had previously been splitting up between them. Thus, it had been a while since she had been able to relax with the grass pokemon in Eterna Forest and she took a deep breath in as the scent of the forest evoked a tranquillity like nothing else in her life.
Truly nothing was better than the forest and grass pokemon!!
Mmm.
Stopping to smell the flowers, Gardenia spotted a –
“What the–”
Pausing in her tracks, Gardenia squinted her eyes and rubbed them to make certain of what she was seeing.
Sure enough.
The brilliant blue skin, the luscious white fur and the dazzling, curved horn. That was definitely an Absol.
Was it a trainer’s Absol or a wild Absol?
Gardenia didn’t know of any Absols living in Eterna Forest so this was a rather rare sight. Had it wandered in from somewhere else?
Wait.
Gardenia looked up to the sky where a shadow had blocked out the sun as the trees bent under the powerful winds that began to whip through the forest. Gardenia watched mutely with quivering eyes as mobs of flying and bug pokemon began to escape from the trees and fly away while her pokemon in their balls began to shake violently on her waist.
Oh heck no.
Gardenia loved grass pokemon but there was no way she was putting up with this spooky ghost business. Soothing her pokemon quickly, Gardenia began to run while petting the still shaking pokeballs on her waist.
“Come on guys, let’s—”
HONKKKKK
Gardenia turned her head at the loud noise and blinded by the light, she put her hands up helplessly as a truck crashed towards her, seemingly appearing from thin air. Preparing for the impact, Gardenia’s body tensed up and then…
Present, Location : ??
Confused and disoriented still, Gardenia double checked once more that her body was in fact still in one piece and wondered if some pokemon had protected her from the truck.
What the hell was with that truck anyway? Why was it in Eterna Forest and who was stupid enough to drive it straight in the path of a person!
Surprise and shock now shifting into annoyance and frustration, Gardenia stamped her feet into the ground a few times while checking that her pokemon were in fact okay. Satisfied with their responses, she looked to the left and right where two people were staring at her without blinking.
Wait, what?!
Doubling back, Gardenia turned back to her left where an extremely handsome man was staring at her dumbfounded. With large clear eyes, skin that was brighter than Lanturn, fluffy jet black hair and a jawline that didn’t even look human, Gardenia surmised he was probably a celebrity of some kind. Then looking at the second person, Gardenia wondered if the saying that ‘beautiful people flock together’ was true because the girl sitting next to him in the bush was equally beautiful, with curly, equally black hair, glowing skin and ethereal eyes that blinked slowly like a doe.
Now realising that she was being watched by these two otherworldly strangers, Gardenia felt a wave of awkwardness wash over her and unsure what to do but recovering quickly she put on a bright smile and laughed awkwardly.
“Haha… Nice to meet you! I’m Gardenia, leader of the Eterna City Gym! Who are you two?”
Step Step Step
Rather than respond to her question, the two strangers began to approach her silently and before she could react in one fluid motion they had taken her left and right hand respectively and put their forehead to her hands in a greeting of some sort.
“We greet the Maiden-sama of our lord”
“We greet the Maiden-sama of our lord”
Now wildly confused and feeling a bit put off by their strange actions, Gardenia took her hands back and tried to process what they were saying. Turning around in place, she spotted a shrine of some sorts with a stone statue lying within and put the pieces together.
Clearly, these were followers of whatever legendary pokemon was the guardian deity of this forest and seeing her teleport in front of it, mistakenly identified her as related to the figure in question. Coughing to clear her throat, Gardenia opened her mouth to speak when she felt herself get picked up by the man and carried securely in his arms while the other girl followed closely behind the two.
“Oh my Arceus! Sir! Sir! Please put me down!!”
However, ignoring her words the man pressed on in the forest path until they reached a clearing where a group of men and women had gathered in long cloaks of some kind. Placing her gently in the middle of the crowd, Gardenia looked around as the men and women all stared at her with bug eyes that reminded her of a Dustox (though on them it looked much less beautiful and much more creepy). Seeing her look at them however, the men and women quickly bowed and averted their eyes while the original duo stood behind her and declared loudly in unison,
“Our Lord Cthulhu has sent his divine maiden to grace the Earth before its destruction! Bow before the maiden and show your gratitude for being amongst the Chosen to be taken to the new world!”
Blinking rapidly, Gardenia knew what was happening.
Oh hell no, she was putting up with this BS.
Gardenia considered herself a rather patient person but enough was enough! She didn’t get her position as Eterna City’s gym leader with patience and kindness alone! While Gardenia didn’t know what nefarious actions this villainous team was up to, she knew that they wouldn’t be doing any no-good deeds in this forest as long as she was around to protect it! Though she didn’t know what forest this was, any forest was sacred ground in her eyes and she wouldn’t forgive anyone who disrespected the hallow home of the grass pokemon!
“Roserade! Torterra! Help me out! Let’s show these crooks not to mess with the forest!”
Roseradeeee~
“Tor! Tor! Torterrrrra!”
“Torterra, Earthquake! Roserade, use Leaf Storm to bind them!”
Humph!
Clapping her hands together and petting her pokemon happily, Gardenia felt very refreshed as she looked at the 15 or so people tied up with leaves in the hole created by Torterra and ignored their cries while she walked away to go find the closest Officer Jenny and report these no gooders.
Were they part of that dreadful ‘Team Galactic’ she had been hearing about recently? Last she recalled, that girl and those troublesome boys with her had reported fighting with some men and women in strange suits at the Valley Windworks, right? And thinking about it, she was pretty confident that Cynthia-san had mentioned dealing with some of those crooks in Eterna City as well the other day…
Hmm .
Putting her hands behind her head, Gardenia shook away the troublesome thoughts and took a deep breath in enjoying the fresh scent of this forest that she was certain she had never been to, and began to walk along a path marked out in the ground.
Officer Jenny would be able to handle the complicated stuff, and if they needed her she would be ready. But for now, she needed to figure out exactly where she was and what was going on.
One Hour Later
Using Jumpluff as a set of eyes in the air, Gardenia let out a sigh of relief as she finally stumbled on a building of some sorts. With traditional Sinnoh-esque architecture, Gardenia was certain that she was still in the Sinnoh region, and ignored the voice at the back of her head reminding her that she had visited every forest in the Sinnoh region and had never seen this one before.
Knock Knock Knock
Kyaaaaa!
Surprised by the attire of the stranger who had opened the door upon hearing Gardenia’s knocking, Gardenia let out a cry and quickly called her two pokemon out to deal with the girl in front of her.
“Roserade, quick Grass Knot! Torterra, vine whip!!”
Now, however, it was the girl’s turn to let out a shriek and Gardenia covered her ears while she looked carefully at the young girl in front of her.
“EEEEK! KYAAAAAA! KYAAAAAA!”
Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Gardenia tried to recall the uniforms of the strange men and women and compared it to the gown of the girl standing in front of her. While they were strangely similar in design, the girl currently being held in Torterra’s vines had a much more colourful outfit that reminded her of the Kimono Girls in the Johto Region and realising that she may have been a tad bit hasty, Gardenia prayed to Arceus she hadn’t just embarrassed herself and attacked a completely innocent stranger and silently patted Torterra from behind to tell him to put the girl down.
“Err…sorry about that. I can explain. My name is Gardenia, gym leader of Eterna City and you see... I was in Eterna Forest doing my rounds, ahem, (official Pokemon Association business, I was definitely NOT slacking off!) when suddenly a truck appeared out nowhere and almost hit me! Can you believe it! Anyway, luckily it seemed a pokemon took mercy on me and teleported here but it seems like a Murkrow cursed me with bad luck today because when I landed some miscreants kidnapped me and tried to make me join their cult! So…”
Voice trailing off, Gardenia looked downwards at the young girl who was drooling slightly having fainted from all the action and Gardenia prodded her slightly to make sure she was still alive.
“Uh oh…”
Looking around, Gardenia broke a sweat nervously and whispered to Roserade and Torterra to pick up the girl while she pushed open the door that had been left half-open.
Hmm…
While she knew in the Sinnoh region, it was well known that strangers were allowed to walk into almost any building they wanted to without asking or permission or knocking, she still wasn’t completely sure whether this was the Sinnoh region or not, so Gardenia did feel slightly guilty as she waved Roserade and Torterra inside.
“It’s probably fine though, it’s not like I’m a bad person after all!” thought Gardenia to herself and now fully convinced, Gardenia spoke up in a more confident voice,
“Hello!!! Excuse me, sorry. My pokemon and I are lost so we’re sorry to bother you but it seems we’ll have to trouble you for a little while!”
However, it seemed no one was in the building because her voice echoed off of the wood interior for a little bit before dissipating quickly and Gardenia decided to keep moving ahead since she was already inside and sat down in the living room next to the fireplace.
Ahhh.
Cuddling up into the embrace of her pokemon, Gardenia finally allowed herself to get comfortable and let out a little smile while she wiggled her toes when she felt a prick after reaching out too far and hitting one of Ferrothorn’s barbs.
“Oops, sorry Ferrothorn!” apologised Gardenia after seeing Ferrothorn retract quickly in surprise and reassured him quietly as she and her pokemon returned to their comfortable positions.
Mmmm.
It had been a long day…
*****
Ahhhhh
Letting out a refreshing sigh, Gardenia followed up by yawning loudly and stretching her arms out while her pokemon began to move from their sleep. However, confused, she felt around her body where a blanket that was not atop her before sleeping had appeared and she lifted it so she could examine it more closely.
Had one of her pokemon found it while she was sleeping?
“You’re up onee-san!”
“....?!”
Startled, Gardenia almost fell over while standing up and saw a small boy running around her and her pokemon in circles, animatedly waving his arms to show off his excitement.
“You’re finally awake! Onee-chan said not to wake you so I’ve been checking up on you since I woke up! You slept foreverrrrrr! Mom, Dad and Grandpa have all been awake for hours now meaning you’re the last to wake up!!”
Then grabbing her hand, the boy walked Gardenia over to the kitchen where bowls of rice, natto, egg rolls and fresh vegetables were neatly arranged, waiting for someone to come eat them.
“Grandpa said he would come to talk to you later and mom said you would probably be hungry when you wake up so she said to take you to the kitchen! I made these, here!”
Pushing a bowl of rice over that was slightly burnt but overall in fine condition, the boy flared his nostrils with pride as he watched Gardenia, who was still rather dazed, numbly begin eating the bowl of rice with her chopsticks.
“We weren’t sure what your pets would want to eat but I thought they might want these so I got these from the forest this morning!”
Taking out a bunch of wild herbs from his pockets, the boy did a prayer before putting them in bowls and placing them in front of her pokemon to which they gratefully accepted.
Seeing her pokemon munch happily on the plants, Gardenia realised she had really let her guard down despite not even knowing where she was and asked the boy who was petting Torterra with awe in his eyes,
“Um, excuse me kid. What’s your name and where are we?”
“Hey, can I climb on his back?” asked the boy instead of replying whilst pointing to Torterra’s large shell and tree.
Smiling, Gardenia nodded her head in confirmation and seeing him playing happily she assumed he forgot her questions and was about to ask them again when the boy spoke up,
“My name’s Ryota Fujisawa! I’m 9 years old so I’m a big boy now! That’s what my dad says at least. What’s your name onee-san?”
“My name’s Gardenia, I’m the leader of the Eterna City gym. Nice to meet you!” said Gardenia cheerily, matching the boy’s positive mood and waited upon seeing his mouth open up again.
“Eterna City gym? What’s that? Is that like our shrine or something? This is the Asahikawa Northern Forest City Shrine! My family runs it!!”
Then sliding off of Torterra’s back, the boy ran over to a picture hanging on the wall where an older couple Gardenia presumed was his grandparents stood in the centre of the picture while standing behind was a handsome man and attractive woman who she guessed was his parents while surrounding them was Ryota, the girl she recognised from yesterday and a boy who appeared to be around her age.
“That’s my nan, granddad, mum, dad, onii-chan and onee-chan. But our onii-chan isn’t home right now so it’s just…”
Pausing to double check the numbers with his fingers, Ryota looked up once he had finished counting and smiled revealing his missing teeth before finishing,
“The five of us now!”
Sweatdropping in slight exasperation and not wanting to correct him, Gardenia nodded her head politely while she processed the information Ryota had just given her.
The Asahikawa Northern Forest City Shrine??
She had never heard of such a forest in the Sinnoh region…
Nor a city of that name in Kanto, Johto, or Hoenn which were the closest regions to Sinnoh…
Feeling her stomach drop, Gardenia began to realise that she may have been transported somewhere much further than she had initially thought and paused her eating as this realisation made her mood sink faster than a pokemon under the effects of Gravity.
“Ah Miss, it seems that you’re finally awake. I hope our little Ryo-chan hasn’t been bothering you too much, has he?”
“Jii-chan!!!” (Granddad)
Looking up, Gardenia saw an old man standing crookedly, bend his back over to hug Ryota who had rushed over to hug his grandad, and Gardenia got up quickly to bow and introduce herself for the nth time in the past two days.
“Hello, thank you very much for your hospitality! My name’s Gardenia, I’m the Eterna City Gym Leader! I specialise in grass type pokemon and I’ll be sure to get out of your hair as soon as I figure out where the nearest city is!”
Smiling enigmatically, the old man beckoned her to follow him and getting up from the table quickly, Gardenia was stunned by a beautiful courtyard that was hidden behind the shrine and sat down beside him under the shade.
“...”
“...”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Both unmoving, Gardenia looked over to where the Ryota’s grandad was sitting with his eyes closed while the wind moved the leaves slightly around in circles across the courtyard before flying away in the distance.
“I sense that you have much to say and many questions to ask. Start from the beginning and I will do my best to answer your questions to the furthest of my capabilities. You can probably already tell from looking at me hoho but I’ve been watching over the forest here much longer than you’ve been alive little one, so not much surprises me anymore. Speak freely to your heart’s content and I shall listen.”
Feeling gratitude well up from the depths of her heart, Gardenia unloaded all of her worries and began to release all of the questions she had bottled up thus far to the old man, starting with the strange gang she had met when she first arrived and ending with where she was from and what had happened when she had been transported to this forest.
*****
Three Hours Later
“Well, like I said, you’re free to stay as long as you wish. Amaterasu does not turn away those who come seeking shelter with pure hearts. You may be asked to do some chores of course but as long as we can provide you shall receive the blessings of our goddess.” said the old man as he grabbed his worn out cane.
Then walking away to leave her alone with her thoughts, Gardenia’s mind began to wander as she reviewed the points of her conversation with the old man who she had found out was indeed the head priest of the shrine as Ryota had hinted at.
Sigh
So, she was currently in a region called ‘Japan’ that she had never heard of and most importantly, did not know the existence of Pokemon, the Sinnoh Region or in fact any region that she had listed to the Head Priest. Besides the pokedex functions, none of the other features of her Rotom phone worked in ‘Japan’ and the Head Priest had no idea how she could get back home. The cult she had met earlier was indeed just one of the many cults that apparently worshipped a strange pokemon called Cthulhu from what Gardenia understood while this Shrine worshipped the Legendary Amaterasu and…this world didn’t know the existence of Pokemon.
This world had no pokemon.
This world had no pokemon.
This world had no pokemon.
“EHHHHHHHHHH?!!!!”
Grabbing her chestnut brown hair widely, Gardenia let out a cry of confusion which summoned over her pokemon who had been napping on the other side of the courtyard and checked to make sure she was alright.
“What in Arceus’s name was going on here?”
At a loss for words, Gardenia began to stroke Torterra’s head softly while he brushed his head against her thigh to soothe his trainer. Though he didn’t know what was going on, Torterra knew the plants of this forest were not like the ones he knew and he too didn’t feel comfortable in this strange environment. However, as long as Gardenia was with them, he never felt too afraid.
“Torterrrrrrrra, Torterrrrra!!”
Brightening up at his encouragement, Gardenia slapped her cheeks to pull herself together and looked at her pokemon before yelling,
“Well…seems like we’re going to be here for a little while guys so might as well get comfortable!”
“TORTERRRA TERRRA!!”
“Jump, Jumpluff!”
“Roserrrraddeeee~”
“FERRO, FERROTHORN!!”
“Cheeeeeerrriiiiim~!”
******
One Month Later, Asahikawa Northern Forest City Shrine
“Again, again! Do it again Torterra!”
Laughing merrily, Ryota bounced on Torterra’s back while asking the pokemon to lift him up once more with Vine Whip while Gardenia supervised the duo from afar.
“Here you go, Gardenia-oneesan”
Bowing her head to accept the flower crown created by Ryota’s older sister, Kasumi, and Roserade, Gardenia looked at the younger girl relieved that their relationship had improved so quickly despite Kasumi’s understandable, initial fear after the rather violent first encounter. Even more so than her own relationship with Kasumi, Gardenia had been greatly relieved when she saw Kasumi quickly getting along with Roserade. If Kasumi had become afraid of grass type pokemon because of her, Gardenia would never have been able to forgive herself.
“Thank you Kasumi-chan, it’s beautiful.”
Blushing, Kasumi hid behind Roserade to hide her relief that Gardenia liked her gift, and began to dance happily in place in the courtyard.
Sigh
Letting out a deep sigh, Gardenia watched the kids and pokemon play peacefully in a scene that reminded her of Eterna City’s gym, and found her thoughts drifting once more to her home. While she was surprised how little her life had changed after being transported to Japan, she couldn’t help but wonder,
“Who was taking care of the gym and more importantly the gym pokemon and trainers?”
“Who was watching Eterna Forest and what if Team Galactic was making trouble while she wasn’t there?”
And of course,
“What were her father and friends thinking right now?”
However, knowing these were useless thoughts, Gardenia got up to do her usual forest rounds where she interacted with the Japanese ‘pokemon’ which she learned they called ‘animals’ though they looked remarkably similar to pokemon she was familiar with, helped out any hikers or other visitors if requested, and input any important changes to the wildlife or plantlife in the database the Fujisawa Family maintained.
Hmm…
Looking down at her Rotom phone where she had downloaded the map of the Asahikawa Northern Forest, Gardenia zoomed in on the last zone she hadn’t been able to check.
E1…
The zone furthest to the north, it was strangely marked in red which she assumed meant something was wrong with it and would require more caution when exploring.
Welp, it wouldn’t be a problem for an expert grass-type trainer like herself, whatever it was.
“Torterra, Ferrothorn. You two stay here and protect the shrine alright? Roserade, Cherrim, Jumpluff, let’s go!”
Breaking out into a sprint, Gardenia felt the wind blow into her face and toss her hair aside to and fro, while Roserade used vines to swing across the trees and Jumpluff floated a bit more slowly behind her. Meanwhile, Cherrim was snugly napping in Gardenia’s backpack and the four made their way steadily to Zone E1 by midday.
“What the—”
Gasping at the horrible sight, Gardenia recognised right away what was going on that had caused this zone to be marked in a bright red.
Seeing the arid soil, devoid of vegetation and life, the land was completely barren with only a few dying trees in sight…
This was desertification…
And judging from the looks of it, it was progressing much faster than what should be occurring through natural processes.
Taking some notes and pictures with her Rotom phone immediately, Gardenia bent down next to take a soil sample while the grass pokemon she had brought with her looked sadly at the desert-like area that was readily expanding into the lush forest bordering it.
“Roser, roserade….”
Grimacing, Gardenia tightened the cap on the jar of soil and grabbed the forlorn vine Roserade had extended outwards, seeking comfort from her trainer.
“I know Roserade… I know…”
This was clearly the result of careless human actions…
How could they do such a cruel thing?
No wonder there were no grass pokemon in Japan!
Besides a few specialists like Cacnea and Maractus, most grass pokemon would never be able to survive in a desert environment like this forest was rapidly becoming…
This wouldn’t do…
“Come on guys, let’s head back! Quickly!”
*****
Later in the Evening
“What?! They did what exactly?!!”
Nodding gravely, Ryota’s grandad repeated himself,
“A few years ago, the Morioka Corporation was using the region right next to E1 for mass farming, and despite our warnings they proceeded to harvest for years carelessly from the land until one year…the plants just wouldn’t grow and it became like what you see now. We told them ‘If you continue to treat the land harshly, the gods would become angry’ but they called us crazy and proceeded to poison the land with their chemicals. We can only hope the gods will have mercy and restore the land to its former state…however I fear that I will never be able to see it in this old man’s lifetime…”
Then, patting Gardenia on the back the Head Priest walked away sadly leaving the grass gym leader alone with her pokemon while they crowded around her wondering what she was thinking so intently.
Tightening her right hand into a fist, Gardenia felt a surge of anger at the disrespect they were showing the land and looked at her pokemon with newfound determination blazing in her eyes.
“We won’t be waiting for any gods! This is a job for us, we’re going to save the forest if it’s the last thing we do! You with me?”
“TORT TORT TORT!”
“ROSERADEEE!”
“JUMP, Jump, JUMPLUFF!”
“FERRRROOOOTHORN!!”
“CHERRRRIM!”
*****
6 Months Later, Asahikawa Northern Forest Zone E1
“Ferrothorn, you know the drill. ‘INGRAIN!’”
“Cherrim, Sunny Day!”
“Roserade, Grassy Terrain!”
“Torterra, Use Earthquake to destroy the bedrock!”
“Jumpluff, Bullet Seed just like we practised!”
Following behind Jumpluff as she planted the seeds Gardenia had ordered with Kasumi’s help, Gardenia put more soil atop the seeds while Ryota followed behind her and watered the seeds carefully.
Phew
Wiping her brow of the sweat, Kasumi came over along with her mom bringing snacks and refreshments for the humans and pokemon.
“Gardenia-oneesan, you’ve made so much progress! It looks beautiful!”
Messing the younger girl’s hair, Gardenia brusquely replied,
“Stop flattering me, there’s still a lot of work left to be done, and if you should be complimenting anyone you should be praising the pokemon not me. They’re the ones who have been doing all the work!”
“She’s not flattering you, Gardenia-san. It’s starting to truly look like it did when I was a child.”
Gardenia looked around upon hearing Masako’s, the childrens’ mother, words and had to admit that it indeed was starting to look much better than it had half a year ago. From the seeds, sproutlings could already be seen and the once dry soil was replaced by fertile, soft soil that had a richness that was completely absent before Gardenia had started the project.
“The gods truly blessed us by bringing you and the forest spirits to us, Gardenia-san” said Masako with wonder and a drop of reverence mixed in her voice which embarrassed Gardenia.
About to open her mouth to reply, Gardenia looked over where two luxury cars had pulled up with a man of tall stature, being escorted by numerous bodyguards and employees surrounding him exiting the front vehicle.
Walking over in a few long strides, he cast a shadow over Gardenia as she pushed the children behind her defensively. Wearing a perfectly tailored suit that matched his stylized, slick black black hair, the man gave Gardenia the same vibes as when saw Chairman Rose from the Galar region on TV.
No, even worse…
Smirking at her, the man ran his hand through his hair before giving her an arrogant look with his eyes and asked in a low voice,
“So you’re the ‘Fairy of the Forest’ I’ve been hearing so much about?”
Then looking at her up and down, he snorted as if he could hardly believe it and as if he needed to verify for himself, he reached out and grabbed her chin to lift her face upwards so he could look at her face carefully.
“Interesting…”
Shocked at his audacious and disrespectful actions, Gardenia’s eyes widened like a jigglypuff that had just had its microphone stolen and before she knew it her leg had already started to move towards the man’s groin.
However, seeing their trainer being disrespected, Torterra and Roserade moved faster than her and Roserade had already tied up the man with thorny vines while Torterra smashed ahead of Gardenia straight into the man’s sensitive regions with a powerful Iron Head.
“Morioka-sama!!”
Seeing the terrible sight, the workers who had come with the man rushed forward to pick up their now fallen boss who was clutching his stomach area pathetically and letting out salty tears while staring fervently at Gardenia through bloodshot eyes.
“Y-Y-Youuu”
Ughh
Dropping his index finger which was wobbling in the air, seemingly in Gardenia’s direction, the man passed out and was taken away while Gardenia tried to mentally recover from that traumatic experience.
Not even the villains of Team Galactic would do something so heinous!
Just thinking about it sent a shiver down her spine, and Gardenia made sure to thank Torterra and Roserade while Kasumi, Ryota and Masako came up to check on her. After reassuring them she was fine, Gardenia decided that that had been enough chaos for one day and accepted Torterra’s offer to ride on his back as the four humans and pokemon headed back to the temple.
One Month Later
Patting down the soil, Gardenia couldn’t stop herself from running her fingers through the soil that had become as soft as a Minccino’s tail.
This was life!
This was what life was all about!
The scent of freshly sown seeds, the sturdy feeling of the earth beneath her feet, the sounds of the pokemon running amok in the forest and the steady beat of the sun’s rays giving life all that was beneath it.
At the top of the world, Gardenia hadn’t felt this good in a long while since arriving at this strange land but felt something was off and turned around to where the sun had now been blocked off by the same man who had arrived a month ago.
Ignoring the trash behind her, Gardenia continued with her work while motioning with her head to Torterra to take care of the garbage.
“Stop, put me down this instant!!” cried the man as he was taken away.
Gardenia rolled her eyes and debated for a second whether or not she wanted to entertain this maniac before relenting and telling Torterra to put him down.
She had heard about him from the others after their brief encounter last month.
Tsuyoshi Morioka.
The spoiled son of the current CEO of the Morioka Corporation and apparently the one in charge of the idiotic projects that were causing needless damage to forests and Japan. If this world had any sense, they would have restricted the actions of these corporations but apparently they were allowed to do as they pleased and no one could stop them! It was so utterly dreadful, Gardenia imagined all the things she would do to them if they were in the Sinnoh Region right now…
If these people wanted to act like a gang of villains they would be treated like so!
Brushing off his clothes after being put down by Torterra, Tsuyoshi gave her an amused smirk like things had gone exactly as he had planned and he laughed while crossing his arms in front of himself,
“You’re the first woman to hit me and treat me this way. If this is your way of gaining my attention, consider it gained! I’ll grant you the honour of being one of the few who have gained the title of ‘Tsuyoshi Morioka’s Woman’ so now would be the time to grovel at my feet in gratitude.”
“....”
“....”
Wow.
Gardenia had never met such trash in her entire life and she could hardly believe that such a bad fruit had actually grown up like this for so long without being pruned from the tree.
Well, Gardenia was certainly no stranger to taking care of some bad fruit and had no qualms about what she was about to do next.
“Roserade, SLUDGE—”
“STOP!”
Rushing forward, a man who looked strangely familiar to Gardenia ran up to the duo while waving his arms urgently.
Pant Pant
Grabbing his knees after sprinting for the first time in a while, the man paused for a bit to catch his breath as Gardenia watched him with a curious gaze in her eyes as she wondered why he was defending this man. Judging from his rather weak appearance, he was probably one of the Morioka grunts that followed their boss mindlessly like some sort of brainless Wishiwashi.
Thus, moving forward aggressively, Roserade mirrored Gardenia’s movements and began to wave her vines menacingly. Seeing their threatening actions however, the man quickly waved his hands to show he meant no harm and opened his mouth to explain,
“Ah, please don’t misunderstand me Gardenia-san. I’m not here to defend this piece of shit, it would just be troublesome for everyone here if you attacked him in broad daylight.”
“As for you Tsuyoshi-san…”
Rotating his body to face Tsuyoshi, who had begun to back up when he had seen Roserade start spewing out some weird purple liquid that was now bubbling on the ground, the man threw a bunch of photos of Tsuyoshi lying on the ground holding his nether regions like a sad slug.
Not even wanting to look at the images, Tsuyoshi grimaced as he stared at the man with a dangerous glint in his eyes and growled.
“So if nee-san’s dog is here, I’m guessing she’s not far behind.”
“If you know then, why don’t you retreat for today while you still have some dignity Tsuyoshi-san.”
Grrr…
Tsuyoshi began to grind his teeth together as he felt a deep rage settle within his bones, but not wanting to mess with his older sister who was sure to beat his ass if she knew what he had been up to, he kept his mouth shut and barked out a
“Don’t fuck with me! You’re just Saori’s little bitch at the end of the day so don’t think I’m done with you or Saori-nee!!”
Tsuyoshi looked like he wanted to continue barking but the man cut him off with a crisp and clear reply,
“Oh, and Lady Saori wanted me to tell you that if you even think about taking any more projects from her, she’s sure father will love seeing these on the news.” and emphatically gestured towards his phone where numerous scandalous pictures of Tsuyoshi were shown visiting certain seedy establishments, threatening women and inciting violence amongst others.
“Y-Y-YOUUUUUU!”
Face now flushed a beat red, Tsuyoshi dug his fingers into his palms but managed to contain his rage and made his escape from the area leaving Gardenia, the man and her pokemon alone.
Looking at the man with newfound respect, Gardenia thought she would have to reevaluate the man based on what she had just seen. Despite his rather fragile appearance, he seemed to have more of a backbone than she thought he would!
Clapping her hands together, Gardenia complimented him aloud in a cordial manner,
“Amazing! You’re pretty tough, just like a strong tree with roots!”
Seeing the man’s face now looking at her head on, Gardenia waved her pokemon over to introduce themselves.
“Hiya! I’m Gardenia, though I suppose you already know my name? Well, anyways, I’m an expert on plant Pokémon and a Grass-type Gym Leader from Eterna City! I wasn’t expecting much from you but I guess looks can be deceiving! I should’ve known better considering I just faced a challenger recently who looked pretty weak…but she and her pokemon sure showed me! Anyway, thanks for the help haha . I guess despite being a grass type specialist I still have a fiery spirit within me after all! If you had any pokemon on you, I would definitely challenge you to a battle right now!! Speaking of, these are my partners. Come on guys, let’s thank the kind man for helping us out. This is Torterra, Roserade, Jumpluff, Ferrothorn and Cherrim!”
“Tort, tort!”
“Roserade, roserade~~”
“JUMPLUFFFFFFFF”
“FERRO, FERRO^^”
“Cherrrrrrrrim~”
However, a bit overwhelmed by the strange animals he had never seen before and Gardenia’s motorboat style of speech, the man seemed to shrink in size, a little bit afraid due to their enthusiastic greetings and chuckled nervously.
“Errr…hi! I’ve heard a lot about the new ‘Fairy of the Asahikawa Forest’ from my mother already. Thanks for taking care of the temple while I’ve been gone…I was pretty worried since I didn’t exactly leave in the best of scenarios…”
“Your mother?”
A bit confused, Gardenia gave him a puzzled look back as she waited for an explanation when she heard the familiar footsteps of a young boy behind her.
“Nii-san!!!”
“Ryo-chan!!”
Picking up the small boy who had run into his older brother’s arms, the man gave an embarrassed smile to Gardenia and held out his left hand while carrying Ryota in his right arm.
“Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Ryota’s older brother and the Head Priest is my granddad. The name’s Naoko Fujisawa, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Shaking his hand firmly, Gardenia smiled and replied with a simple “Likewise” back and the two continued to converse on the way back to the temple while Ryota listened in from Torterra’s back.
*****
18 Months Later, Tokyo, Japan
“Oh crap, we’re late!”
“Jump, Jumpluff!”
Stuffing her boots on quickly, Gardenia threw away her suitcase into the trash and tossed a backpack carelessly over her shoulder while the rest of her pokemon cheered her on from inside their balls. Only Jumpluff, who attracted the least attention (and if asked, was a drone according to Gardenia for all official inquiries) was out of her ball and using Fairy Wind to generate a slight gust behind Gardenia to speed her up.
Gardenia waved hurriedly to grab a taxi when she heard a familiar voice call out to her.
“Gardenia-san!”
Spinning around, Gardenia saw the bespectacled man she had gotten to know quite well over the past year and a half after working together on a more regular basis.
“Naoko-san! What are you doing here? I thought we all agreed to meet back up at the office?”
Naoko gave her a half smile with his crescent eyes and opened the door to the limo first before answering her question.
“The Lady figured you would probably be running late and another meeting came up so we decided to pick you up and have the meeting on our way there.”
Bowing her head to enter the limo, Gardenia thanked Naoko as she sat down and began to munch on some nuts and carrots that had been left out beside her seat. Stuffing her cheeks large enough she could be confused with a Greedent, Gardenia continued to snack, unbothered while a woman in a monotone, black suit, midnight black hair in a bob and sly, curved eyes stared at her from across the aisle.
“I trust your trip to the Sahara was satisfactory Gardenia-chan? If there were any issues, I’ll be sure to punish anyone who gave you a hard time, okay? Just say the word” said the woman as she tapped her right fingers on her face enigmatically
Mood soured that the woman had interrupted her eating, Gardenia decided it was probably time she acknowledged her employer and glumly answered,
“Yes, everything was perfect as usual, Saori-san.”
Unfortunately, that statement was an annoyingly accurate description of her last trip to begin the study of reversing desertification in the Sahara. Even down to the meals, every last detail of her three month trip had been perfectly planned out. All the resources she had requested and even things she didn’t ask for were already there when she arrived, the entire team of elite researchers had been summoned from across the globe and were ready and waiting for her when she arrived. Clothes, transportation…Anything and everything that could possibly slow down her work had been dealt with before she could even encounter them.
Sigh
Nothing less from the expected heir to the Morioka Corporation, Saori Morioka.
However, even though all of this sounded great, to Gardenia, Saori still gave her the same dangerous aura as the first time they had met.
One Year Ago, Tokyo, Morioka Corporation Headquarters.
“...”
Tap Tap Tap
Saori tapped the tip of her pen lightly against the mahogany wood desk that was conspicuously at the head of the office as she stared at Gardenia up and down with a gaze that was different yet similar to the gaze of her younger brother, Tsuyoshi.
“I trust that Secretary Naoko has already filled you in on the details of our contract, Gardenia-san?” asked Saori with an amused chime-like tone in her voice and upon seeing Gardenia nod her head silently, continued.
“He’s such a good little boy, isn’t he? I was so glad to be able to pick him up from that little forest of his…My instincts are never wrong you see with these things, you see…”
Gardenia unconsciously felt a shiver run down her spine, as she swore Saori’s eyes flashed red for a moment like a Seviper and wondered whether she had made the correct decision to follow Naoko’s advice and meet with Saori after all. However, it was too late to leave now so she gripped Roserade’s vine that had reached out to her and hardened herself to fight.
“I want you”
Knowing that Saori was just teasing her, Gardenia showed no reaction and seeing there was no fun to be had, Saori dropped her pen in boredom and continued.
“Or…I should say I want the ‘Fairy of the Forest’ title that you have. You see, thanks to my bumbling fool of a brother, we’ve been having a teensy bit of trouble with our public image recently and what better way to show our dedication to the environment than collaborating with a Fairy sent by the gods themselves?
Think about it, Gardenia-san. I can tell by looking at you, you’re probably wondering what I get from this little trade of ours and there’s no reason to hide it from you. My idiotic father, despite my capabilities still wants to hand down his position to my brother due to anachronistic traditions in our family history so I’ll need every card I can get…”
Eyes sliding to the right where Roserade was standing beside Gardenia, Saori licked her lips greedily and continued to speak, now with a bit of spite dripping her voice.
“So if my father wants to stay bound by tradition, then I’ll show him that even the gods approve of my succession; so let Saori-nee take care of everything okie-dokie Gardenia-chan! Sign that paper there and it’s a win-win for everyone!”
Looking down at the paper set in front of her, Gardenia reviewed the contract quickly one more time, and as she read she did like some of the more appealing terms like the Morioka Corporation being responsible for negotiating with the government regarding her pokemon so she would be able to have them with her liberally, even in other countries… And most importantly, Naoko told her she would receive a significant amount of funding so she could travel the world and fulfil her mission to restore the forests of this world and so Gardenia counted the number of zeros at the end of the paper.
“Five…Six…Seven!!!”
If she had any water in her mouth, Gardenia would have spat it out in that moment and with stars in her eyes she saluted Saori and shouted,
“It’s a pleasure to work with you, Lady Saori!”
Unlike the Sinnoh Region, Gardenia had come to learn pretty quickly that in Japan, money was king and if she achieve any of her goals than she would need the sweet smell of money so even though she knew Saori was just using her, as she said both parties would benefit from it so there was no reason to say no at that point.
Smirking, Saori brushed her hair out of her face and replied cordially,
“You can just call me Saori-san, Gardenia-chan.”
******
Present, Tokyo
“I’m just so proud of our little Fairy! I’ve been seeing your name all over the news and rubbing it into Tsu-chan’s face has really made it worth investing in you and your little spirit friends! You’ve really been working so hard, Gardenia-chan!” said Saori as she clapped her hands together merrily as if she was truly excited about Gardenia’s nature restoration projects but Gardenia knew better.
Snorting, she finished Saori’s sentence in her mind with the tone in the business woman's voice making it clear what she had meant by it.
“Working hard for me ” thought Gardenia but while cynical of Saori’s words, had to admit that she did truly have a productive last year thanks to the resources offered by the Morioka Corporation. Focusing on the deserts of Africa first, Gardenia had already begun several surveys in all of the biggest deserts and now was ready to begin Project Celebi (Gardenia had named the project) next month.
However, Gardenia quickly began to regret accepting the ride as she realised she was now trapped with Saori for another ten minutes and attempted to practise the mental exercises Lucian had recommended to her that would focus her mind. Unfortunately for her, Saori continued to gab her ear off and Gardenia was completely exhausted by the time they arrived at her flat.
Somehow managing to summon the energy to still bow politely to the limo that had dropped her off at her flat with Naoko and Saori still inside, Gardenia ran inside her flat when she realised the fridge was still empty after she had thrown everything away before leaving for the last survey. Fortunately, there was a local grocery store next to the building so, tying up her hair, Gardenia got out of her travel clothes and walked across the street to grab some vegetables, eggs and rice. However, in her fatigue, Gardenia clumsily reached out to grab a bag of lettuce when she felt her hand brush against a man’s hand roughly.
“Oh, sorry” Gardenia and the man said aloud in unison.
Shaking her head, Gardenia told herself she just needed to make it through this grocery run and she could be back in her flat in a few minutes when she felt a hand land on her shoulder.
“Gardenia-san?!”
Eyes widening in surprise at the touch, Gardenia swivelled around to look at who was speaking to her and took another look as she scanned the man head to toe. Dark maroon eyes, rusty, spiky red hair, and for some reason he was wearing a bright red hard hat inside the store. She knew that hat and she knew this man!
“Roark-san??”
Now fully awake, Gardenia dropped the lettuce she had just grabbed and opened her mouth in wonder.
“Is it really you?”
“I think that’s what I should be asking you” laughed Roark and now no longer focused, Roark and Gardenia abandoned their groceries and went to the neighbourhood park to talk.
“Everyone’s been looking for you! Is THIS where you’ve been all this time? How did you get here? Wait… First, how are you and how are your pokemon? Have you all been well? What have you been doing here? Is anyone else we know here? ” asked Gardenia excitedly, happy to finally meet a fellow Sinnohian.
Used to Gardenia’s motorboat talking style after years of working together, Roark answered methodically,
“Yes.
I have no idea, I was inside the Underground doing some exploring and then next thing I know, I’m here!
My pokemon and I have been doing well, we recently just came back from an expedition in the Middle East actually! We’ve been looking for fossils but accidentally found the ruins of an ancient king which was pretty fun!
And, I’m not sure…You’re the first person I’ve met since I came here that knows what pokemon are! It’s just so strange! I couldn’t get used to it at first but I suppose you can get used to anything because we’ve been here for almost two years now!”
However, now wanting his curiosity to be sated, Roark turned the questions back on Gardenia,
“What are you doing here? When did you get here? Are your pokemon here too?”
Now fully awake, Gardenia animatedly began to catch up Roark on everything that had happened starting from being hit by a truck in Eterna Forest to being recruited by the Morioka Corporation and starting Project Celebi to restore the forests across the globe while he listened patiently after calling out his pokemon so they could listen as well. After chatting till almost sundown, Gardenia and Roark finally parted ways after adding each other on Line so they could chat in the future if anything else came up and Gardenia finally returned home.
Hmm.
Tossing around in bed, Gardenia contemplated the pieces of information she had learned from Roark and began to corroborate it with her own experiences.
So she wasn’t the only person who had been transported to ‘Japan’ and strangely both people who had been transported were gym leaders. Was someone targeting the gym leaders and if so who? The only logical explanation was Team Galactic but unless they had somehow managed to harness the power of the pokemon of legend, Palkia there was no way that would be possible…
Sighing again, Gardenia decided she wasn’t suited for this sort of investigative work and recalled the happiness she had felt working at Lake Chad the past few months. Seeing life being restored to the quickly drying out region as the Sahara continued to expand filled her with greater joy than almost anything she had ever experienced before, rivalling her times of being a gym leader in Eterna City. She had never tackled a challenge of this scale before and she certainly wasn’t one to give up just because things looked daunting because she was sure once flowers did finally begin to bloom it would truly be a sight to see. Resolving herself to accomplishing this mission Gardenia turned her head to face Torterra, who had already fallen asleep, and touched his nose gently while whispering,
“Let’s continue to grow together, okay Torterra. Let’s grow good and strong together!”
“Tor…Tor…Tor…”
Suppressing a laugh with her hand so as not to wake the snoring pokemon, Gardenia smiled to herself and let her eyes close as she and her pokemon finally rested after a long journey.
Chapter Fin
**************************
Epilogue
Two Years Later, Tokyo
“Roark-san!”
Hearing that he had won a prestigious Young Researcher award of some kind, Gardenia had flown in from Mali where she was currently working back to Japan to congratulate him.
“TORTERRRA!”
“ROSE, ROSERADE~~”
Accepting the flowers that Roserade was holding, and patting Torterra’s head, Roark turned to thank Gardenia who had stayed in touch with him the past two years, them being the only two people from the Sinnoh region as far as they knew in the world. Finishing congratulating all of his pokemon for their contributions to Roark’s work, Gardenia finally sat beside Roark who had just finished his interview and teased him gently,
“So I guess ‘Mr.Greatest Fossil Maniac of His Generation’ will probably be too busy to talk lil ol’ me now huh?”
“What are you talking about Gardenia-san! Name one person who hasn’t heard of the “Forest Fairy of Japan’ yet!! You’re all over the news for your environmental restoration efforts, I heard you even gave a talk at the UN meeting last year right?”
“Bah. You know that my contract with the Morioka Corporation means I have to keep my identity anonymous to keep up the mystery of the legend. So as far as anyone else knows I’m just Gardenia, a regular office worker from Japan!”
“Well, my pokemon and I all know, and you’ll always be our friend! You know that!”
Smiling, Gardenia punched Roark’s arm in a friendly manner and was about to open her mouth to speak when the two humans and all the pokemon fell silent.
“Call Incoming. Call Incoming. Call Incoming…”
Looking at each other with confusion in each others’ eyes, Gardenia and Roark looked at the device that was currently ringing.
“Call Incoming. Call Incoming. Call Incoming.”
Checking the phones that were in their pockets, they looked down at Roark’s wrist where his red Rotom-etch was brightly blinking with Rotom’s face lighting up the device,
“Call Incoming. Call Incoming. Call Incoming.”
Gardenia knew that they could still use many of the features of their Rotom phone and Rotom-etch like the camera, pokedex and other apps that didn’t need connections to the Sinnoh Network but ever since arriving in Japan they hadn’t even been able to call each other with their Rotom devices which is why they had added each other on Line instead.
How on earth…
Tapping his shoulder anxiously, Gardenia hissed at him nervously,
“What are you doing! Answer it!”
Hand trembling nervously, Roark nodded and gulped and tapped the screen to answer the call.
“Hello?”
Ouch
Roark winced as he felt Gardenia’s fingernails dig into his shoulder and she apologetically let go and instead reached out to grab Torterra’s head instead.
“....”
Not hearing anything, Roark hesitantly repeated himself,
“Hello?”
“...”
“C’EST UNE DISASTERRRRRRRRRRRR!”
Recognising the voice almost instantly and the broken French, Gardenia and Roark looked at each other before yelling at
“FANTINAAAAAAAAA???” in unison.