Chapter 20: Stranded, part III
Paleolithic Era, in the area that will be known as Kalos.
Sada had been missing for a couple of days now.
Personally, Chalo wasn't particularly worried. Sada had always been a bit more of a free spirit, and now that she could just fly away with Winged King, she was no longer bound to stay in one place. People being away from the settlement for days was nothing unusual, as traveling took time, but…
Her timing to decide to go away was a bit unusual. Deep into the cold season, it wasn't the best time for long hunting trips. People hunkered down to survive. The wool they had gathered from their little herd of Spark Tail had proven incredibly valuable, so there was no need to set out to hunt so many Steady Glacier anymore.
And Fluffyhead had grown so strong! Now, it had even learned to make his wool grow incredibly fast and harden it to protect himself or herself from attacks. Its wool didn't make for particularly comfortable clothes, but it offered some amazing protection by wearing it underneath. Not to mention, one of Sada's latest ideas from moons ago had offered them another way to get clothes anyway:
Stealing creatures’ eggs straight from the nest and getting them to hatch! To raise them instead of eating them immediately!
Apparently, Turo's tribe had been doing it for a long time.
…Uh.
As strange as she found the guy - and still not really seeing what Sada saw in him! Way too scrawny and spindly looking! -, she had to admit that he came up with some interesting ideas every now and then. Plus, watching him trip every two steps and getting all exasperated when she called him "Terg" would never not be funny.
Chalo finished feeding the Spark Tails, carefully set aside the berries that managed to survive the cold of this season, and ducked back into the communal tent.
In one corner of the tent, carefully nestled in a bundle of pine leaves and away from the fire sitting in the center of the tent, was a little yellow and green creature. Sada had stolen the egg from a nest of strange creatures, who… Well, Chalo wasn't really sure if they were supposed to be bugs or plants, not that she really cared as long as she didn't have to kill one. They had named them "Cutting Leaf", from the sharp semi-circle shaped upper limbs that their adults forms seemed to have.
Sada had observed them wrap their eggs in fallen leaves, so they had done the same with their stolen egg, and to everyone's delight, managed to make it hatch!
The creature had grown close to Sada’s mother, Akai, who had quickly discovered how to use the sticky thread it spewed out in her sewing. After that, the two had become inseparable, and the creature was more than happy spending her days chewing whatever bits of leaves she could find and spit out more thread to use, almost always sitting by the old woman's side.
There, a group of five or six tribe people were busy making new clothes.
« Is Sada back? » Akai asked, without raising her head from her work.
« Not yet. » Chalo shook her head, sitting down by her side.
Neither of them said a word, both probably thinking the same thing. She must have left with Turo like always... but she would always come back in the evening. They would never go far. The old woman kept working, her hands skillfully gathering the thread spit out by the little bug as soon as it solidified.
« ... I've heard they found her spear. Narjik's son did. » Akai added after a moment, and Chalo's eyes widened.
« Her spear...? But...»
But Sada never went anywhere without her spear. Even with that enormous dragon with her, going somewhere without a weapon was just idiotic. This changed everything. She looked back to the old woman, her face carefully neutral as she kept working, head held low.
« If they found her spear... and no trace of her...» She didn’t want to say it out loud. The spirits liked to play cruel jokes on humans and tended to make those things true when you did, but…
« ... Sada isn't dead. » Sada's mother raised her voice, her eyes - so similar to her daughter's - finally left her work to look at Chalo, sending a shiver down her spine.
« She can't be, » Akai continued, « she will come back. She always does. »
Chalo looked away, the determination - the desperation - in the woman's eyes difficult to look at.
« ... I'll go ask Narjik's son to tell me where he found the spear. » Chalo answered after a moment.
Sada wouldn't just forget her spear, even if she had suddenly lost her mind and decided to ran away in the night with that Turo guy.
Something must have happened.
She exited the tent again and called for Fluffyhead to follow her with a little whistle, heading for her own tent to grab her bow.
---
The "radio" that Turo had managed to fix seemed to finally be working. Or at least, it was doing something.
Apparently, as Turo had explained, it used something called "radio waves" to send their voices far away. People with other "radios" could capture these "radio waves" and hear them speak. It all sounded like magic to Sada; you couldn't see these "waves", so how could you catch them? What if nobody heard them?
She thought of smoke signals: visible from very far away, but only if someone was looking in the right direction at the right time. This seemed to be the same.
Therefore, when someone had actually answered and she heard someone's voice come out of the radio, she couldn't help but jump together with Turo and ask for help.
Had they really heard them? Would someone really come?
How many days would it take?
They should have enough food to last another couple of half-moons, easily...!
Too troubled with her unanswered questions and divvying up rations, Sada hadn't even considered the idea that help would arrive straight away.
So, when she saw an enormous, blue, snake-like creature suddenly descend from the sky, Sada's first instinct had been to shoot it.
It had taken her a moment to see the human figure that had been riding it. Humans could tame even such large creatures in this time…? That was incredible! How did they do it?
« Turo! Someone's here! » She ran back into what had become their shelter, eyes wide. Turo had been busy in one corner of the room, still working on the radio, and he whirled around with a surprised look on his face, his gaze focusing first on her and then on something behind her back.
« W-what? » He looked completely exhausted, like he didn't even dare to hope that his radio had worked after days of trying.
Sada looked back to the entrance, where the dragon tamer had just crossed the door, eyes similarly wide as he looked around. He had short light brown hair, a short little beard of a similar color, and light gray eyes. He was wearing a strange clear mask over his eyes, something Sada couldn't quite understand the function of. It seemed to provide no protection to his face or his eyes, like the hard one that Turo had her wear when they had ridden Miraidon. Maybe, it was something to just stop the wind from entering his eyes while flying?
« Let me speak. » Turo whispered to her, before addressing the man.
He did seem to speak a strange, slightly different version of Turo's language... but he thankfully spoke slowly enough that she could understand, and if not everything, still quite a few words.
The man seemed incredulous to how they were here, not that Sada could blame him. According to what Turo had said, people really weren't supposed to be in Area Zero. She looked at him, and Turo seemed to be conflicted.
« What do we say...? » She asked.
« The truth... part of it. Not like he would believe us, » he answered after a moment.
Sada nodded before turning back to the man.
« We fell. Inside. »
In a way, that was what had happened after all.
« ... And we need help. » Turo added.
There were a couple of tense seconds as Sada looked to the man that had come to their rescue. He still seemed mostly in disbelief. If that was his reaction to them just appearing here, then what would he even say to the complete truth...? That they literally fell from the sky after using a magic bracelet that made you jump through time?
« ... Let's get you out of here first, » the man suggested. « And something to eat. You both look like you need it. »
Thankfully, the man seemed more preoccupied with helping than looking for an explanation. Sada almost couldn't believe it as she turned towards Turo with a relieved smile.
They were alive.
They were going to get out of here... into a completely new world.
Everything else... everything else could wait for now.
---
Turo couldn't quite believe that someone had actually received their message and had come straight into the crater. When the man entered the research station, he had to do a double take, eyes widening in disbelief.
The man had... what looked like six whole Master Balls in pure white and red attached to his jacket. That was absurd! Was he... the Paldean League Champion, or something of that sort? Or were Master Balls actually common in the past?
« W-who are you...? » He asked as they followed the man outside.
Little Pipsqueak had run off who knows where, scared by the intruder, and Turo found himself actually a bit sad at seeing it bolt away. If it hadn't been for the little electric critter managing to give power back to the building, they wouldn't have been able to ask for help.
Then again, it's not like he had wanted to take it with him. He was no Pokémon trainer. His only companion had been...
He forced himself to think of something else. Thinking of Miraidon... hurt too much right now.
Focus. He had to focus on the immediate present and nothing else.
« Ah, of course, I haven't introduced myself. Sebastian Clavell, I'm a teacher and researcher and Uvanja Academy in Mesagoza.» The man said, and Turo gratefully focused on nothing but his voice, concentrating to understand it.
It was Paldean, but... like the written one in the report, it sounded strange to him. Ancient. Almost as though he was hearing it in some old timey movie of the past. It was… Interesting, and even hilarious, when some words that had completely changed their meaning would pop up.
But hearing it in this context, in real life? Terrifying. And exhausting.
Clavell released a Gyarados from one of the Master Balls on his belt, and it took Turo one moment to realize what he’d meant by it.
« Are we... riding that? » He asked as the man motioned for the enormous serpent to lower his head.
Clavell just looked perplexed.
« Yes, of course... what happened to your Pokémon, actually? Couldn't you have flown out? » He asked as Sada climbed aboard without the slightest hesitation, even as the Pokémon growled at her bow still slung over her shoulder.
Should he say something about the bow? Tell Sada to leave it here?
...
Whatever. It's not like they could get any weirder. The bow was probably the most normal thing about them right now.
Turo grit his teeth.
« We don't... have Pokémon with us.» he answered after a moment.
Was it going to sound weird? There had to be people that just weren't interested in having Pokémon or couldn't afford them, right?
If Clavell found it weird, he didn't show it.
Turo copied Sada and climbed on the Gyarados's back, desperately holding onto one of the big ridges on the Pokémon's back. Something told him he was not going to like this at all.
---
Parking his Gyarados in front of one of Mesagoza's Go-for-Broke Grills had caused a bit of a scene, but it had been the quickest way to arrive right at their destination. Clavell had tried to usher the two in as fast as he could, but that still didn't stop a little crowd of onlookers to gather around them.
« Order whatever you want, » he said as he looked for the table farthest from the door. He still felt stares follow them as they took their seats, not that he could blame them: the two both would have looked like they had just dressed up for a costume party, if not for their completely exhausted faces and dirty hair and clothes.
Oh, and the giant bow carved out of wood slung over the woman's shoulder didn't help.
Sada sat down first, looking around and immediately grasping the little plastic menus to examine them, while Turo hesitated for a second more, cautiously looking around.
« We... We don't have money... » He murmured with a pained look, and Clavell took a moment to take a better look at the both of them.
Umm. Well, he obviously hadn't planned to have them pay for the food right now, not when they had both just survived who knows how many days on berries and rainwater. Sada seemed busy reading the menu by silently mouthing each dish.
« Money...? » She asked suddenly, raising her eyes to stare at the man at her side.
Turo leaned sideways to whisper something incomprehensible to her, and she nodded, biting her lip.
« You know, I’ve never heard that language before, » Clavell pointed out, turning towards the woman, and finding himself suddenly curious. « Where are you both from? »
Sada stared at him with the wide eyes of a Deerling caught in headlights.
« K-Kalos... » She answered after a moment.
« Northern Paldea... » Turo added distractedly, also busy staring at the menu. He tapped his finger on one item, then seemed to blink and flinched a little inward, pulling his hand back. « ... but I've been away from Paldea for... a while. With her. »
Clavell hummed thoughtfully. That language didn't sound even close to Kalosian, unless it was some incredibly thick dialect spoken who knows where.
The waiter approached, a young man whose eyes bugged out for a moment in noticing the two strange clients.
« Oh, umm... can I have your order? » He asked, politely pretending not to have noticed the enormous bow that Sada had left leaning beside her chair, propped up against the table on the little pillow usually reserved for Pokémon.
Neither of them looked particularly ready to order, Sada narrowing her eyes at the waiter. Or maybe they were just embarrassed about ordering for themselves if they had no money on them.
« Can I suggest something? » Clavell asked.
Turo nodded after a moment, putting the menu down with a defeated sigh.
« One large Paella de Paldea for three, two Escalivada and one Klawf al Ajillo. With water. » He ordered, and the waiter gleefully wrote it down and pretty much sprinted into the back.
Poor guy.
---
Sada couldn't help but feel completely out of place. Before the blue floating dragon of "Clavell" had brought them out of the crater, in the back of her mind, a little part of her had still expected to find a world similar to her own. Instead, the place they had landed in looked more like the one in Turo's time, albeit a lot smaller. Same for the language they spoke; not quite like Turo's, but still sounding more similar compared to her own.
The way people looked, the buildings, creatures being everywhere... It was obvious that this place was much closer to Turo's time than her own.
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Sada wasn't sure how to act. She had grabbed the little paper sheet with pictures of food on it to try and read it, grateful that she could at least touch it compared to the glowing, floating images in Turo's time, but, ultimately…
She had no idea what anything on the piece of paper was. She didn't recognize anything. Not even the "waffles" she had eaten in Turo's time.
What was she supposed to say...?
« Money...? » She didn't even know what this ‘money’ thing they were discussing was, and why she and Turo were supposed to have it.
« I will explain later, » Turo whispered quickly, and she nodded, feeling even more left out.
« Where are you both from? »
Sada stared at Clavell with wide eyes, not knowing what to say. She didn't want to look at Turo for help, in fear of making it clear to Clavell that she had no idea what to say. She didn't even know what this place was... just that this was on "Earth".
In her panic, she suddenly remembered the only other name of a place on Earth except Area Zero that she knew.
« K-Kalos... » She answered and hazarded a look at Turo, who nodded approvingly.
Somehow, it looked like she had managed to say the right thing.
A young man approached them, and Sada glared at him suddenly intruding in their conversation. What did he want? What was an "order"? When Clavell proceeded to list some of the things she had read on the paper, she realized he had probably asked what they wanted to eat.
Oh... so you don’t just touch the pictures like in Turo's time?
...Strange.
« I'm afraid I still have to ask you a couple of questions while we wait for the food, » Clavell said, and she forced her attention back to him; all of her focus was required just to make little sense of what he was saying. She glanced at Turo, feeling uncomfortable in having to entrust most of the conversation to him. He looked similarly troubled, eyebrows furrowed and a look of deep concentration on his face.
« W-what... questions...? » she asked, pretty much the only part other than "food" that she had understood.
« Well, we could start again with your names and what you were doing in Area Zero, » Clavell sighed, adjusting the little, rigid mask around his eyes.
Sada hesitated, not sure what to say.
She had noticed that the man had called himself "Sebastian Clavell", like Turo had said that he actually had two names.
« Romero Turo... and... » Turo answered after a moment, throwing her a glance. Clavell was staring straight at her now, obviously expecting her to answer.
Sada grit her teeth, crossing her arms to her chest with a huff. She still found the whole thing incredibly stupid.
She didn't need another name! Why was one not enough? Was it really that strange?
« Sada. Only Sada, » she huffed stubbornly, noticing Turo cringing in disapproval at her side. She ignored him, just as she ignored Clavell - or Sebastian or whatever -, who narrowed his piercing grey eyes at her.
People would call her Sada and nothing else. She didn't care how weird it would make her look here. Other than the literal clothes on her back, it was the only thing she had that was still hers. Begrudgingly, she had realized that she couldn't keep walking around with her clothes here as soon as she had jumped off that blue serpent.
They just looked too strange, like Turo had when visiting her.
« All right... Let's put that aside for now. I assume you know that entering Area Zero is forbidden? How could you... fall inside? » Clavell tried again.
Sada pointedly looked at Turo, hoping he could pick up the conversation from here as she examined her surroundings. Like the little soft paper things that were put in front of each of their seats. There were no pens, so what were you even supposed to do with those?
---
This whole conversation was nerve-wracking; Clavell was just doing the sensible thing, because obviously someone that discovered two idiots that had fallen into Area Zero and survived there for what? Short of a month? - would want to know how for the love of Arceus that had even happened.
It didn't make the situation easier for Turo. He had no idea what kind of bullshit he could even try to feed to the guy.
Ortega was right. Keeping a cover story straight was difficult, especially if he was lacking information like right now.
He had been trying to stealthily find out exactly in which century they were for the last five minutes, glancing around in search of anything that could give him a hint. The presence of electricity at least pointed him in the right direction... Now, he just needed a stupid date printed somewhere. A newspaper, a holographic display, a sign, or whatever.
He was a time traveler. They had rules for not attracting attention. And grabbing the man in front of him by the shoulders and going "The year, man!! What YEAR is it?!" like the protagonist of a crappy sci-fi movie was definitely not the way to do it.
…And as much as he wanted to right now, he had to be better than that.
When Clavell had asked where they were from, Sada had thankfully given the perfect answer; saying that she was from outside Paldea would at least not make her look out of place for not knowing the language.
As for him... pretending to be from barely-Paldea, right near the border could (maybe) pass. He was going to sound weird in any case, and there was nothing he could do about it. He made a mental note to... discuss the name thing with Sada later.
« We know. We weren’t planning on getting to Area Zero... but I can't reveal how. » He lowered his voice when some people at the tables nearby turned towards them, eyebrows raised.
He couldn't tell this man the truth. Definitely not here, anyway.
And Clavell probably would think him insane anyway. What... what was he even supposed to say?
He was just tired. His mind was stubbornly refusing to make plans, or even just contemplate the existence of something ahead of the next fifteen minutes - where he would hopefully get some food.
« It was... an accident. W-we need... Help. »
Clavell was looking at him in silence, and he felt uncomfortably scrutinized by the man.
« ...So you were not trying to infiltrate Area Zero unauthorized? » He asked after a moment.
Turo sighed.
« ...And end up trapped with no way out? » The younger man huffed. « No. »
Clavell's eyes narrowed down even further.
« But you can't tell me what you were doing or how you arrived here in Paldea. With no Pokemon. No money. Barely able to speak the language. »
Silence.
« ...You wouldn't believe me even if I did, » Turo mumbled after a moment.
The man sighed, removing his glasses to clean them with a little handkerchief that he pulled from his jacket.
« Alright, » he conceded. « If you have your reasons to keep it a secret, I won't pry further. »
The conversation was thankfully cut short by the arrival of their food.
« …At least tell me one thing, » Clavell said as an enormous plate of paella and the two side dishes were put down at the center of the table
Just the smell enough to make Turo’s mouth water.
Real food. Actually cooked. With... seasonings and stuff.
He couldn't believe it.
Turo forced himself to look away from the still-sizzling pot, noticing Sada staring at it with an equal mix of curiosity and uncertainty.
« What...? » He asked, suddenly uncomfortable.
Clavell donned his glasses again, carefully folding the handkerchief back in his breast pocket.
« What, for the love of Arceus, are you two wearing? »
…Ah. Yes.
He should have expected that.
What was he even supposed to say now?
---
An uncomfortable silence stretched on as Clavell watched the two stare at the food that had just arrived with wide eyes, and he felt a little twinge of pity for the couple. They must be famished, to look at the couple of plates in front of them with those wide, incredulous eyes.
« Is this... real? Real meat...? » Turo asked in a low voice, staring at the boiled Klawf claws in one pot.
Clavell raised one eyebrow, surprised.
« Of course. It's not processed surimi if that's what you're asking, » he answered.
Sada mumbled something incomprehensible to the man by her side, who threw her a sideway glance before shrugging. One moment later, they threw themselves over the food, starting to eat ravenously.
Clavell looked away respectfully, sipping his water, and then doing a double-take when he saw Sada grab one of the claws with her bare hands and sink her teeth straight into it.
« Um... » He wasn't quite sure what to say.
He noticed Turo flinch and quickly grab fork and knife, trying and failing to stealthily attract the woman's attention. Sada looked at him, then at the cutlery and finally down at herself, oil and sauce dripping down her chin.
« ... Oh.»
After a moment she grabbed her own fork and knife and clumsily started to try to cut the claw open, throwing little glances towards Turo.
Clavell decided that it was better not to comment on it.
« Our... clothes... um... » Turo answered after a moment, head low as he kept shoveling paella into his mouth.
« Yes. What even is that? A scuba diving suit? Is that what the lights are for? » Clavell chuckled, but found that trying to alleviate the mood didn't work. The man just kept silent, face twisted in an uncomfortable expression.
« We... We like to... They're costumes. » He finally answered, stopping to eat for a moment.
The silence had never been louder.
« ...Costumes. » Clavell simply repeated, before heaving a deep sigh.
Alright. They were obviously hiding something, and obviously didn't want to talk about it, so he decided to simply drop the subject for now and let them eat in peace.
He was willing to believe them on entering Area Zero not being their true objective, because doing it only to end up trapped there with no way out… It didn't make any sense. So, he could imagine that it had been a genuine accident. They obviously knew each other and looked pretty close.
For now, he had a couple of hypotheses about who they could be:
1) Secret undercover agents, here in Paldea for some super-secret mission! Didn't really explain the complete lack of any equipment or general preparation. Or the strange clothes, which had the opposite effect of attracting even more attention judging by the fact that everyone in the restaurant had been staring at them since they had stepped in.
2) A secret romance! A forbidden love between the members of two families that hated each other, prompting the young couple to run away into the night, looking for a place where they could build a life together!
...Again, didn't really explain the "costumes".
3) A weird combination of both.
As for how they arrived here, the only way he could explain it was by using a Corviknight to try to illegally enter the region by flying, only to get shot down by Tinkaton... but the man had mentioned being from Northern Paldea. How could he not know that flying on Corviknight was dangerous in Paldea for that very reason?
His curiosity was well piqued by now. He wanted to ask more questions, but... looking at the slight desperation with which they were devouring their food, he simply pushed his own untouched plate towards them.
« ...How long were you stuck under there? » he slowly asked.
Sada looked up from her half-eaten plate, scrunching up her face in concentration as she whispered something to Turo. He answered with something that sounded like "month", and she swallowed her bite and nodded.
« A moon... um... a "month". I think. It's always day under there, » she whispered, carefully enunciating every word. Clavell's eyes bugged, and he hastily did the math backwards to the first time he had heard the radio catch one of those stray signals.
« An entire month... How... »
« Probably a bit less. We couldn't keep track. » Turo added, in his unknown, exotic accent. « We ate mostly berries and other fruits, and... » his eyes drifted briefly to Sada's enormous bow without saying anything.
Clavell simply nodded, leaving that little detail unsaid.
« If you want anything else, just order it. I will pay for everything, » he said.
It didn't take long for the two to completely polish everything they had on their plate. It was only noon, and he had definitely missed his classes for today… Oh, he would just have to explain what had happened later.
« So, what are you going to do now? » Clavell asked the both of them as he had finished paying - Sada curiously following his every move - as they exited the Go-for-Broke Grills.
He half expected them to immediately start on a suspiciously specific plan or destination - "oh yes, we have to go to Alfornada to do this one thing"-, but instead, he was met with absolute silence. He looked back to make sure they had actually followed him outside and found them both standing just right past the door, looking at the streets of Mesagoza with wide eyes, holding hands.
« ... I don't know, » Turo answered after a moment, and he sounded completely, utterly... defeated.
Clavell was left completely baffled; his new theory already shattered. The man wasn't lying. His eyes were just completely devoid of any light as he looked at the horizon.
Lost.
Hopeless.
« You don't have... anywhere to go? » He asked, just to make sure.
Sada sighed and held Turo's arms closer, giving the man what should have been a reassuring smile but only managed to look a bit sad to Clavell. She was doing her best to act strong for the both of them, he guessed.
« No, but... thank you for the food. And helping us... »
« Thank you for everything, Mr. Clavell, » Turo added after another moment of silence, and the couple started to move towards the city's western exit, not without attracting more stares.
Clavell was left looking at them with a strange mix of pity and confusion. These two... they genuinely had nowhere to go, he realized. Nothing to do. No secret plan or mission... but how was that possible?
It didn't matter right now.
« Wait! » He yelled, running after them. « You... You said you have no money... Where are you even thinking of spending the night? »
They both looked at him in confusion; two completely, different kinds. Sada looked like she hadn't understood a particular word again, while Turo was simply… perplexed.
« Aren't... Aren't Pokémon Centers free...? » He asked, and now it was Clavell's turn to stare at the man in absolute confusion.
« Pokémon Centers haven't been built in Paldea since we created the Flying Taxis and Cyclizar roads, » he said. How could he be from Paldea and not even know that?
Then again, Pokémon Centers were still a thing in Kalos, and they did offer free housing for Trainers... which brought him to the second problem.
« ...And even if they were, you said you have no Pokémon. »
They both looked saddened at that.
« ...I guess you could spend the night at my place, » he offered after a moment.
He couldn't simply leave them there in good conscience. They needed help.
---
Clavell had insisted on bringing them to his place.
He had specified that they could "make themselves comfortable" before he had to leave, but Sada had barely any idea what that meant. By her night in Turo's home in his time and their time spent in the crater, she knew by now that homes of the future seemed to be divided into a lot of different spaces. Clavell had offered them a bed in the "living room", a name that made absolutely no sense to Sada even when she asked Turo for the translation to be sure.
Weren't you also living in all the other rooms?
« So, what is this "money" thing? You kept talking about it. » Sada asked once they were alone. She had watched Clavell the entire time, and he had handed a bunch of shiny round stones to the guy that had brought them the food.
Turo stopped his slow pacing around the room and actually smiled a little, sitting down on the "couch" that Clavell had opened to make another bed for them, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.
« ...Something that we will need here. Desperately, » he answered, sounding exhausted. « You use money to "buy" things... Um, you give it to someone and they give you another thing you need. »
So… It wasn't any different than trading?
That didn't sound so difficult.
« And what do you do with it after you get it? » She asked as she sat down near him, leaning on his shoulder. Turo sighed - she could feel the slight movement - and absentmindedly started stroking her hair.
« ...Nothing. You get it and then give it to someone else to get something else you need. »
Sada looked up to glare at him, certain that he was playing some dumb prank on her.
« ...That's stupid. So it doesn't do anything? You just pass it around? »
Turo winced as he stroked his chin.
« Not... Not really... It's... Okay, let's give an example. Let's assume, um... That you are trading with me. You give me a set of clothes, and I give you three paper notebooks. We both get something the other wants and help each other. Right? »
Sada nodded, waiting for him to continue.
« All right... Now, imagine that someone else comes with something you want, and he also wants to trade with you. But he's not interested in you making clothes for him. »
« ...So? I can just find something else to give him, » she interrupted him, but Turo just shook his head.
« You have nothing he needs. So, he just leaves to find someone else to trade with. »
« And what makes money different? It doesn't do anything... Why would he want that? » She insisted.
« I'm getting to it... imagine that I gave you this "money" instead of the paper. This money... It's a symbol. You can use it to get something because the other person can then use it on anything else they need... »
At that moment it slowly dawned on her.
« Oh... So it's like... A message? "I have money because I did something for someone else"... Even if it's not what you need. So... It's a way to make everyone trade with everyone else? » Sada asked, starting to consider all the implications.
« I'm sure I just gave the most horrible over-simplification but... yes. In a way, » Turo muttered, even as he smiled weakly.
She still wasn't really sure that she understood it, but... alright.
« And we get money by doing... What? » She asked, settling closer to him. Turo's answer, however, didn’t come as quickly as she had hoped. She looked up at him after a while when his hand stopped caressing her hair, to find him with his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.
« ... No idea, » he confessed in a low voice, eyes empty.
---
They had spent most of the day inside, getting accustomed to their temporary home and generally exhausted by everything that had happened. Clavell would come back only late at night, and he had left them some money to get something for dinner. Just the whole concept of having to use physical money was absurd to Turo. He kept turning the little coins in his left hand, examining them in complete disbelief.
So if you dropped it somewhere, your hard earned money could just ... Go puff, and disappear?
That was so inefficient. Of course, he knew that people had lived like that for most of human civilization; It just… It didn't make it any less weird.
Even just wandering around the house felt almost surreal. Things looked familiar enough that he still found himself trying to summon a display in midair or simply touch them to interact with them, only to be hit again and again with the realization that there wasn't even a touch screen.
Literally everything seemed to have half a dozen buttons to operate it. He had spent a good five minutes just looking at the remote control for the ridiculously blocky television in the living room.
It gave him a headache.
During the days spent in the crater, his mind had almost operated on emergency mode: focused on nothing but fixing the radio and surviving. He had somehow pushed the thought of what the world actually was like behind Area Zero out of his mind.
Surely, it wouldn't be as primitive as being stuck with typewriters and physical batteries.
Surely, it was just because it was old, abandoned equipment.
Surely, he wasn't stuck in a world that had only barely invented the telephone for the rest of his life.
Now it was all slowly sinking in.
Yes, they were stuck in a world exactly like that.
He had just confessed to Sada that he had no idea what they were supposed to do. All his studies and fancy PhD were about stuff that didn't even exist yet, or in Sada's case, long obsolete.
They had no credentials.
No skills.
No identity.
He felt panic creeping in as he stared at the ceiling, his chest rising and falling in panicked breaths.
What could they even do...?
Sada's hand gently caressed his cheek, and he blinked and looked down at her. She didn't say anything, just kept slowly stroking his jawline.
His breath slowly calmed down. Right.
At least they were together.
He pulled her closer and closed his eyes.
« ...I need two names, right? » Turo heard her say after what could have been ten seconds or ten minutes, lost as he was simply focusing on having her close.
« ...Yes. Everyone here has a first and last name. It will look strange to have only one. »
Sada's hand stopped, and she was silent for a long moment.
« ...But it's my name. Mother gave it to me. I don't want to get called anything else, » she whispered, and Turo had to look down at her in shock when she sounded so lost and for once...
Incredibly vulnerable.
« ...It's the only thing from home I have left, » she added after a moment, and he found that his chest ached painfully.
She was... scared. Sada had never been scared. In her brutal world where a moment of weakness could spell death, she had been a pillar of strength to him. Always knowing what to do, always looking forward to the next challenge, the next new thing to discover with her endless enthusiasm and excitement.
Everything was an adventure to her.
Now he could see her eyes shine, not with her usual curiosity, but with sadness. Tears, gathering at the corner of her eyes. He kissed her forehead, holding her against his chest as he tried to comfort her as she had just done to him, whispering a single "I'm sorry" over and over again. Her tears soon became little sobs that she tried to choke back by biting at her lip, her hands balling into fists against his bodysuit, slipping over the smooth fabric.
« ...What name will people see more? » She asked after a while in a little voice, and he thought for a long moment.
« ...Both, but your last name is what's used most. What people will usually call you until they know you better. »
There was nothing but silence for a good ten seconds. Outside the window, the sun was beginning to set, painting the room in an array of blazing orange and scarlet. She looked up at him with fierce eyes, nodding once at his answer as the light streaming in painted her face in fiery light.
« Then... Sada will be my last name. I will think of another name to use... but the name I got from my people will be the first thing everyone will see. And they better remember it. » Sada announced, finding strength within her voice.
---
47th century, Time Travel Laboratory Departments, University of Mesagoza
Turo had insisted on accompanying the native girl back to her time. It was understandable.
He probably wanted to... say his goodbyes.
Vega hadn't realized how much the guy had genuinely fallen for the girl until she had seen him never abandon her side – not even for one second - at the hospital… At least, until they had forced him to take a break. Now, she felt kind of bad for him.
Falling in love with someone in another time? That sucked.
As she exited her office, she noticed the time machine room was still lit up. That was strange. The last one to use it had been Turo more than two hours ago, and when it wasn't used…
Well, it's not like Porygon 568 had much to do except his usual check-ups... and probably playing solitaire on 40 different screens simultaneously or whatever an AI did to pass the time.
« -st! Connection lost! Connection lo-»
Connection lost?
She ran into the room as she heard Porygon's voice repeat something over and over. Something that made her blood run cold. The Pokémon was in a frenzy, zipping around the room flapping his wings, looking less like a little adorable chibi Zapdos and more like a panicked Torchic.
Vega didn't know much about computers or AI. Turo had been their local computer wizard, but even she knew that Porygon wasn't supposed to do that.
« Porygon, calm down... PORYGON! »
« Connection lost! » The Pokémon kept crying out, agitated.
She had to get him out of that state, in the only way she knew would work for sure: she ran for the time machine terminal to shut it down.
That was a mistake.
« Threat to ongoing process detected. Executing Protection Protocol and directing all power to the time machine to assist in safely completing current task. »
She froze at the sudden change in voice from the little Pokémon.
Outside the room, the lights fizzled off, and Porygon grew. His wings crackled with electricity as they spanned so wide they could barely fit into the room when spread. His little head turned sharper, features growing more ferocious. Two feet with sharp talons made of pure Hadron energy landed heavily on the floor, and the Pokémon, now probably as big as the legendary it had been inspired from, lowered his great head to stare at her with completely white eyes.
Vega desperately scrambled backwards until her back hit the wall, staring at the now enormous Pokémon in complete shock.
What... was happening?
Was this the "error handling procedure" Turo had coded into Porygon months ago?
« What's going on...? The power in the whole department just went out- » Ortega's voice came from the door, and Porygon 568's head snapped to the side.
« Threat detected. »
More power crackled over his wings as they beat them once, launching arcs of electricity all over the room. Ortega froze on the threshold, eyes wide with sudden panic.
« What the f- »
Vega let out a shriek as a bolt of lightning passed right over her and threw herself to the floor, desperately crawling to the exit.
« Out! JUST GET OUT! » She screamed, pushing the still petrified Ortega back out into the corridor. Porygon 568 was too big to follow them there in that state... and if her idea was right...
The Pokémon stopped suddenly, glaring at the two from the middle of the room but making no move to attack.
Yet.
They then started pacing around the room, an eerie, unnatural droning sound filling the area as electricity buzzed and crackled all over them.
« Connection lost. Retrying... connection lost... » the Pokémon kept muttering.
« What was that?! » Ortega asked as the woman desperately tried to calm down.
« Porygon called it the "Protection Protocol"... I guess... I guess it's Turo's doing. »
She only now noticed that the corridor was completely dark, not a single light turning on as the power of the entire department (if not the entire building. At this point, she wasn't sure that Turo wouldn't be capable of it) was being redirected to the room that housed the time machine. The only light came from her and Ortega's bodysuits, and the man's face became ashen white.
« Turo's...? Wait, why did this thing activate? » Ortega turned back towards the time machine room and the message that the Pokémon kept repeating on loop.
« Connection lost... Whose turn was it to use the time machine...? » he asked in a low voice, and Vega stared at him in mounting horror.
« It was... Turo... Two hours ago...» She answered slowly.
He furrowed his brows.
« You... You don't think... Oh no...» She whispered, covering her mouth with one hand. It couldn't be... But if Porygon kept repeating "connection lost"... That could only mean...
« ...We have to call everyone in the department. All jumps will be canceled. » Ortega took a deep breath, suddenly struggling to speak.
« We've had a mismatch. »