Lexi stared out the train window, generally feeling numb to the world. The last month and a half had been… a lot. There was, of course, the fact that she’d somehow found herself in the world of pokemon, but more than that was the fact that she’d popped up in the wilderness around Snowpoint, more specifically on the shore of Lake Acuity. It’s only thanks to a preponderance of Aspear berries and the help of a matron Jynx that she’d survived long enough to make it back to civilization. She’d thought that her worries would be over then, but they’d only just begun.
“We can’t risk a Legendaries anger on one person.”
“If you were on the level of the Elite Four, you could petition to meet one, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
“Are you sure you want to push for this in the courts? We’re still filing to make you an official person after all.”
Feeling a nudge at her elbow, Lexi shakes away the lingering memories of looming suits and a gym leader’s pitying eyes. When she looks down, she sees one of the few good things to have happened to her during all this, the Smoochum that decided to tag along with her out of the wilds. It was still an odd thing to see real life pokemon, mostly thanks to how the ones in the games and anime seemed to be like platonic ideals compared to her new reality. Whereas all the Smoochums in the games had the same color palette of pink, cream and blond hair, her Morticia had an almost perfectly goth look. White and pale blue, probably to blend into her home, and black hair that she pushed into a bang over her eye, it’s adorable really.
“Choo… smoocha?” The little ‘mon tilts her head, concerned, and all Lexi can do is pat her head with a smile. Psychics in general are great emotional support pokemon, as it turns out.
“No worries girl, just processing, I guess. I don’t really… know what to do from here, you know?”
Morticia tilts her head again, this time in confusion, so Lexi simply sighs and lets her head fall back to the headrest, looking up at the ceiling. That’s the real question, huh? What should she do now? Ever since the League goons basically threatened to disappear her if she tried to shake the boat, she’s just been listlessly going with the flow. After her documents were registered, they gave her a basic beginner trainer package and a train ticket to Eterna City, wiping their hands of her. It’s not even that she can’t understand why they don’t want to risk her trying to wake up Palkia, Dialga, or any of the other Legendaries. From what she’s been able to glean, they have very much earned their demigod-like infamy.
The Land-Sea Disaster from Hoenn nearly a decade ago, Palkia almost waking up during the Ultra-Wormhole Surge incident, and the various minor natural disasters caused by Legendaries like the bird or dog trios. On and on the reports went as Lexi browsed the internet on her new Xtransceiver, and all that she could think of was how terrible it must be to live around these capricious living gods. If only-
[Now arriving: Eterna City Train Station]
Lexi shelves the half-formed thought. For now she shoulders her overstuffed backpack and wiggles her luggage to lean it on its wheels, Morticia gladly hopping up to sit on it as she leaves the train. First thing she needs to do is find a place to stay, and while the obvious choice is one of the city pokecenters, she feels a bit too paranoid for that after everything that’s happened. Instead, with the meager nest egg that came with her trainer package, she rents a cheap room in a hotel. She has to sign a waiver that any damage done by her pokemon would cost her enough to bankrupt her, but considering who she has, she’s not worried about it.
Once she’s finally alone and has her basic belongings packed away, she falls onto the bed with a big sigh. A little soft thump of Morticia jumping onto the bed with Lexi brings a smile to her face, and with a little fumbling she presses the button of the other occupied ball on her belt. With a flash of light, a blue blob materializes, a jagged, goofy grin on her face made incongruous by the purple lipstick right in the middle.
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“Waaah-buffett!”
Lexi snorts. “Yeah, good to see you too, Elton. Makeup bag’s on the bedside table, you two go wild!”
Her two new friends jump and giggle, immediately focusing on said bag. It’s funny how she managed to get both of them to join her back then with makeup, and it ended up being their own bonding activity too. Lexi will usually join in, but for now she has different plans. First off, she goes through her Xtransceiver’s settings and shuts off all the different tracking features, both GPS and digital history. It’s not perfect, but she’s at least comfortable enough to search online for more methods of increasing online anonymity.
She’s probably paranoid, but a recent dimensional refugee looking up records of people fighting Legendaries would probably raise some red flags.
After maybe half an hour, she’s got a free trial for a well-reviewed PPN (Porygon Protected Network), and she starts her research in earnest. Of course, the vast majority of people that end up actually fighting Legendaries are Champions and Elite Four members, but occasionally groups of Ace trainers are known to be used as emergency responses to the lesser, roaming Legendaries like Darkrais or the Forces of Nature. Much more rarely are those trainers that stand out for their strength and tendency to stumble across ridiculous circumstances, including several of the protagonists Lexi recognized from the games and even Ash himself, currently in his late 20s.
All good information to know, but what she’s really after are the few video recordings of actual fights, and what she sees cements her goal in her mind. Over and over again in the videos, she can see Legends stumble, flinch, even bleed from the attacks of regular-albeit powerful-pokemon. The Gods can bleed, and that means they can fall, too. Seeing it, the listless depression in Lexi’s mind ignites into a burning spite. Morticia and Elton, being psychics, pick up on the change immediately, turning to her in curiosity.
Seeing their childish attempts at applying makeup to each other pulls a laugh out of Lexi, banking that new fire inside of her with joy. Turning to them fully, she gives her ‘mons her full attention.
“Ok guys, I think I finally know what to do from now on. The question is if you guys want to follow through with me on this journey.”
“Fett! Wobbu fetu!” “Smoochumoo!”
Being the naive, wonderful ‘mons they were, they immediately protest even the idea that they wouldn’t, but Lexi holds up a hand to stall their protests.
“I know, you guys would never leave me behind, but this is going to be more than just a regular Journey. Let me explain and really think about it before you agree, ok? I won’t hold it against you if you don’t agree.”
Elton wobbles uncertainty and Morticia pouts, but they quiet down at the feel of Lexi’s seriousness. She takes a deep breath in and out to clear her thoughts, then lays it out.
“I’m not from this world. More than just being stranded, I have family back home, and come hell or high waters, I’m going to see them again. But the governments in this world are, understandably, very leery of random people going up to Legendaries and poking the lords of different aspects of reality with a stick. When people do that, they aren’t the only ones who end up dead.”
The mention of death sobers the room, and her two pokemon settle more in their seats. They’re no stranger to the dangers of pokemon going wild, even in their young ages. A Legendary going wild is almost too terrible to imagine.
“When a Legendary goes wild, thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands can end up dead. But what if that didn’t have to be the case? What if we built ourselves to not just withstand them in their rage, but to fight back, to overcome, to capture them? What if we became Legend-Breakers?”
Lexi’s grin is like a Sharpedo’s, but Morticia and Elton are understandably hesitant, looking between each other and their trainer.
“Smm, smoocha?”
“I know, it’s a big dream. Hell, if a native had the idea, they’d probably be either insane or stupid. But we have an advantage. Thanks to me being a Faller, I’ve got knowledge of things I shouldn’t, special items, locations, techniques and all sorts of other things that can help us leverage everything we have to make it work. We’ll have to train until we collapse, and experiment a lot to see what still works the way things should based on my knowledge, but I really think we can do it! And it’s not like we start with Groudon, we’ll take baby steps, you know? What do you guys think?”
Morticia looks thoughtful, Elton pumped up, and after a while of murmuring to each other, and Lexi can barely keep herself from bouncing her knee incessantly at the wait. Eventually though, they both turn back to her with smiles, nodding resolutely to her. Lexi pumps her fist with a “Yes!”, pulling her friends into a tight hug as they laugh and maybe cry, just a little, but it’s not like they’d tattle. At Lexi’s prompting, they all put their hands on top of each other like a team hustle.
“On 3! 1, 2, 3! Team Legends!” “Smoocha!” “Wobbuffet!”