Sleeping in Jubilife was not easy.

It was noisy despite it being the middle of the night and the walls of the Pokémon Center failed to muffle out most of the sound. It would’ve been acceptable, had she not been woken up twice now by people stumbling through the hall outside her door. Furthermore, she had been woken up by a trainer bragging to another trainer about an absolutely inane skill.

How being able to drink a lot was a skill worth bragging about was far beyond her. Still, her exhaustion from her recent lack of sleep had made it relatively easy to try and fall back asleep. So long as she just got a few hours, she would be able to function without issue.

Of course, that meant something had to go wrong. As though cursed by the One Above All – which may very well be the case, given Volo’s blasphemy – a ghost had visited her to deny her precious sleep.

The dark spherical head of the ghost poked itself through the wall between Kora’s room and the one next door. Yellow pupils briefly searched the room and, from beneath the blanket hiding her form, Kora could faintly make out a horn poking out of its head. Eventually, its eyes settled on her unmoving form, the disillusioned Zoroark opting to remain as steady and silent as possible as to avoid arousing its suspicion.

Why a ghost was visiting her was beyond her. Why a ghost was in the city was also beyond her. At this point, everything may as well be beyond her.

Her unknown invader continued to examine the room carefully for anything amiss. Momentarily, it locked its gaze onto the sleeping form of Cyndaquil, who was rolled up in a ball towards the edge of the bed, before it turned its focus back to her.

Kora had been momentarily worried it would go after Cyndaquil, but it seemed intent on approaching her for whatever reason. That was fortunate, as targeting the sleeping fire-type would’ve been really stupid and earned her full wrath, so it seemed the ghost was intending to do something just plain stupid.

With a carefree approach, the ghost made its way forward into the room, exposing more of its form. It looked like it was nothing more than a floating head covered by a cloth, at least from what she saw of its silhouette. A part of Kora was reminded of a Misdreavus, yet its eyes and shape were far too different from her memory of the Pokemon. It was technically possible that it had changed with time though… Either way, that wouldn’t explain why it was here.

As if seeking to answer her question, the unknown Pokémon stopped across from her as Kora carefully expanded a Shadow Sneak in its direction that went unnoticed. As she did, the horn on the Pokémon’s head glowed a soft red and almost immediately encompassed her, almost making her panic before she felt the ghost-type energies.

To the ghost’s confusion, nothing happened. Kora could faintly make out a frown form out of its features as she suppressed her amusement. She was the alpha ghost here and this ghost had nothing on her.

As the ghost redoubled its efforts at whatever it was doing, Kora briefly tried to follow along with its strange efforts. Hm… It felt like it was trying to do something to her emotions. Ghost-types tended to focus on the negative, so if she looked at it that way… It was probably trying to feed itself on her feelings.

That… Well, wasn’t that just plain stupid? A ghost surviving on emotions? Ghosts should be feared by all. They should be using their emotions to grow stronger! They should- Wait, was it trying to feed on her grudges?!

As Kora considered whether or not to react with anger or berate the ghost for disappointing her, it eventually abandoned its ineffective efforts with clear confusion as it failed to grasp why it wasn’t able to get anything from her.

Kora refrained from laughing at the foolish ghost for daring to take from her! She then briefly panicked as it turned its attention to Cyndaquil and approached his sleeping form.

She could resist it, but she knew Cyndaquil definitely couldn’t. Furthermore, she worked hard to give him those grudges to help him grow! Sort of! She wasn’t going to just let it touch something she was trying to cultivate.

Kora shifted herself slightly, moving the blanket slightly as she prepared herself to strike forward. The movement of the blanket caused the ghost to panic as it immediately stared at her with a caution expression, seeming to be uncertain if she was still asleep.

Desiring to catch it off guard, Kora lifted herself up with the blanket above her, shielding herself from the ghost’s sight as it let out a panicked familiar squeak. She then used her prepared Shadow Sneak to appear behind it and-

She blinked, as the ghost had moved forward rather than back to go on the offensive. Its mouth was spread open, and it looked like it was ready to shriek at whatever appeared from the blanket, only for it to grow confused once the blanket fell on the ground.

Kora stared before she heard another familiar squeak. She turned her head and spotted Cyndaquil on the ground looking around the dark room in confusion. Ah, she had accidentally knocked him out of the bed.

Whoops.

The ghost inevitably turned around to look at Cyndaquil before turning to her. Its eyes widened upon spotting her, seeming to not know how to react.

Ah, it had probably been expecting a human, not an irritated Zoroark that hadn’t gotten enough sleep and that wanted to take it out on someone.

Kora grinned and took a step forward as she inched out a Shadow Sneak, hoping to cut the ghost off after it approached her to scream in her face.

Unfortunately, the ghost didn’t seem to like that and, rather than go on the offensive like she was predicting, it moved towards the wall opposite to her.

Kora frowned. “Wait, don’t you dare run away from me you little-“ she started in her illusion’s voice as she rushed forward, yet the ghost vanished through the wall before she could finish her sentence or catch up to it.

Frustrated, she let out a huff of air. She briefly considered chasing after the ghost but quickly dismissed the idea. She couldn’t phase through walls, and she doubted humans would ignore her should she break them down.

Furthermore, she was exhausted. All she wanted was to sleep, not deal with strange ghosts and humans. Still… The odds of the ghost showing up again were low since she asserted her dominance over it.

It hadn’t been stupid, after all. It tried to catch her by surprise and, once it knew that wouldn’t work, it retreated. She could respect that, even though whatever it had tried doing to her was very stupid.

Kora picked up the blanket once more and was about to go back to sleep, deciding she’d think things over in the morning. Before she could lay down, however, she spotted an irate Cyndaquil standing at her and demanding an explanation.

Oh. Right. She should probably explain what exactly happened and why she accidentally woke him up. Then she could sleep.

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After managing to appease Cyndaquil – the fire mouse being slightly irate at the fact that she had knocked him out of bed and then being very upset that a ghost had tried to do something to him – Kora managed to sleep.

A bit.

It took a while, as Cyndaquil had mentioned that the ghost might’ve belonged to a human, which had meant she had just exposed herself to a trainer’s Pokémon. Furthermore, there was a risk that it had told other ghosts or Pokémon.

Leaving would probably make her look more suspicious, at the very least. Or would it? After all, claiming that a Zoroark attacked it didn’t necessarily mean much, given it probably didn’t know she was pretending to be a trainer. Then again… She was sleeping in the bed. Maybe it would think she was waiting on her own trainer?

Or, maybe, she could pretend to be her own Pokémon if asked about it? But what if someone asked her to send herself out? She could probably do that, but it would be complex and harder to do without practice. Furthermore, there was a possibility that her showing herself would raise further suspicion, given she had no proof there even were Zorua and Zoroa-

Kora took a deep breath and stopped. Overthinking would lead nowhere. What she needed to do is sleep, as that was a guaranteed way for her to make more mistakes. That meant staying here for the night.

Unfortunately, sleep in the city was difficult, despite it being so late. It briefly got better and feasible but inevitably glimpses of sunlight poured through her blocked-out window, announcing to all that it was morning and personally informing her that she would rest no more despite her best efforts.

She had tried to sleep despite the sun’s interruption, yet Cyndaquil had woken up early, the fire-type eager to get his day started and intent on waking her up.

Upon noticing that Kora didn’t want to get up, Cyndaquil pushed his snout against her blanketed form, earning a muffled groan from the Zoroark beneath.

“Please let me sleep. I need more rest,” she tiredly tried to explain and, miraculously, the fire-type abided to her request. He stepped back, hopped off the bed, and began to explore the room, letting his trainer – if she could or should call herself that – earn some rest.

For all of ten minutes, that is, as a loud clanging sound from the room’s connected bathroom forced her to get up.

Kora nearly stomped her way over there but forced herself to stop, recognizing she shouldn’t show anger towards a young and impressionable Pokémon. The last thing she wanted was for him to hate or fear her. Furthermore, she didn’t know if any nearby humans would hear her, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

As she stepped into the bathroom, Kora felt ill-prepared for the sight before her. Somehow, Cyndaquil had managed to climb onto the sink – a device used to dispense drinking water – and opened the mirror above it – or was it a cabinet?

Regardless of what it was called, the fire-type was looking through the confusing objects with an incredible amount of curiosity and had accidentally knocked some of them down onto the floor.

Sheepishly, Cyndaquil looked at her with a guilty expression. Kora stared back with a tired expression, not even certain what she should say or do – if anything, that is, as she was considering pretending nothing was going on and going back to sleep.

“…What are you doing?” she eventually asked, deciding it’d be better to not leave the fire-type unsupervised. Cyndaquil’s explanation was squeaking out a quick explanation about his curiosity as Kora rubbed at her eyes and missed most of what he was saying.

Afterwards, he immediately asked when they would start training so he could get stronger than Houndour.

Kora doubted it was intentional, but… it was possible that this was Cyndaquil’s way of getting back at her for accidentally pushing him out of bed and waking him up last night.

If it was, he had a promising future, so long as he directed that behavior at others.

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Kora tiredly rubbed at her eyes as she sat on a bench, watching as Cyndaquil ran laps around the dirt field behind the Pokémon Center to train his speed and endurance. She was also hoping to completely exhaust the Pokemon so she could get some uninterrupted rest before going off to find Volo, yet the fire-type appeared to be a bundle of energy, as though he had an untapped reserve of energy that he was only willing to tap into now.

Or maybe she was just really irritated right now. Either way, she needed to make use of his motivation.

“Good work so far,” she commented as Cyndaquil passed by her, the fire-type happily squeaking out as he continued to run at a decent pace along the tall fences lining the empty field. Kora was momentarily reminded of a cage by them but quickly tossed the thought aside, deciding she didn’t want to think about that sort of thing.

“Now, try flaring the flames on your back while running,” she suggested and the Pokemon followed her suggestion, flames flaring to life along his backside as he ran. “Good. Maintain them. I believe that they’ll eventually be a powerful tool for you to use, so long as you can strengthen them sufficiently.”

They wouldn’t help him with his rival, of course, but that was something they could deal with down the line. Right now, Cyndaquil needed to strengthen himself physically before focusing on strategies and moves.

Given what she’s seen so far, it was highly likely that Cyndaquil’s species used both their speed and the flames on their back in combat, as it was the only thing that made sense to her. Furthermore, it was a style of battling she was familiar with, Zorua often using the same – save for the fact they tapped into ghost-type rather than fire-type, which is where her knowledge was… lacking, to say the least.

Still, it wouldn’t do to just sit and watch. As Cyndaquil continued along the fence, Kora formed a Shadow Claw beneath her illusion and began molding it in the shape of human digits, hoping to practice that skill. It was getting slightly easier with each attempt, yet it still felt inefficient compared to what it could be.

Maybe it was because she had to actively think about it when using it. It was more straining to maintain than her illusion was, yet the use was minimal. It wasn’t something she could just ignore, however, given her claws were leaving marks on her satchel and doubtlessly other things without her notice. That was something she wouldn’t be able to just explain away. Furthermore…

The move had a lot of potential. If she could make it into a perfect human digit, she might be able to make it into other shapes. And if she could do that fast enough… Well, it’d be hard for someone to avoid her hits, wouldn’t it?

Despite her positivity, the ghost-type energy flared, threatening to break her illusion, and Kora felt a flare of anger overcome her before dispelling it with a sigh. She was getting nowhere with this. With the back of one arm, Kora rubbed at her eye to try and dispel her tiredness that was making everything even more difficult than it should be and amplifying her anger.

She then briefly looked around in the hopes to distract herself, eyeing the many windows on the buildings surrounding the dirt field. Most of them were closed and blocked off by blinds due to it being the early morning, so at least no one was watch-

Kora narrowed her eyes as she noticed a spherical gray head with a set of blue eyes surrounded by yellows irises peering at her from the corner of a window. The moment it noticed she saw it, it quickly vanished by ducking away.

That… was the ghost from last night, wasn’t it? It looked like it at least, especially given she spotted the horn on its head.

Kora eyed the spot it had been looking from before turning to the back of the Pokémon Center. Overnight, it had somehow crossed the street and gone through multiple buildings. An ounce of anger overcame her at the ghost for daring to show itself after disturbing her rest, but she quickly fought it down.

It was pointless to get upset here, especially since there was nothing she could do about it. Or…

Kora considered trying to find a way into the building to catch the ghost before dismissing the thought as quickly as it came. That would be a stupid. Besides, it wasn’t as if the ghost was doing anything particularly dangerous either, given it was just watching. That said, it wasn’t as though she could just brush the ghost off either, given it was watching her. Or it had been. That meant it might recognize her.

Or could it be something else? Hm… Technically there was her ‘aura,’ as Yuzo had called it, which may have attracted the ghost. Their kind could be more sensitive than others at sensing it, after all. It did try to do something with her emotions last night too, so it’s possible it just really wants to feed off her but doesn’t know how. Either way, given its presence, it was unlikely it belonged to a trainer.

Cyndaquil suddenly spoke up, pulling Kora out of her thoughts as she turned her attention to him. The fire mouse stopped his ongoing exercise and sat in front of her. He was panting and the flames on his back were dimming to a halt as he looked up at her.

“Sorry. I got distracted by… wayward thoughts,” she replied, deciding it was best to avoid bringing up their possible stalker and worry him. “I see you’re done running. Are you too exhausted to continue?” she asked, hoping the answer would finally let her get some rest.

Unfortunately for her, the fire-type shook his head before quickly explaining he was hoping to train in other ways too. Which… was a good idea, since doing multiple things would mean better progress across the board. She just wished he hadn’t brought that up today.

Still, she had encouraged the Pokemon to train, so It’d only be fair if she upheld her side of things. Furthermore… Kora turned her attention to the human digit shaped Shadow Claw on her hand that was hidden beneath her illusion, an idea brewing in her head.

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“Perhaps we can do a test then,” she said aloud as she raised her hand and ‘spread’ her fingers. “It’d be good to see if you even are compatible with ghost-types, so let’s try something. Only if you’re still interested, of course.”

Cyndaquil tilted his head slightly as he eyed her hand with clear interest and curiosity before nodding his head and squeaking out his interest.

“Good. Then to start, I want you to focus on my hand,” she spoke as she altered her pseudo-digits to only be a single finger. She then did her best to ‘mold’ it to her illusion, so it’d be slightly more obvious to spot. “Do you feel anything strange when looking at my fingers? Something different?”

Cyndaquil eyed her hand and leaned forward in his attempt to figure out exactly what he was supposed to see. Theoretically, he should be able to sense at least something, should his species have any ghost-type potential in its line.

“Do you sense anything? Anything at all?” she asked and was met with a slow shake of the head. Kora pursed her lips at that. She should’ve expected as much. If he were sensitive enough to ghost-type energy to easily sense it, there would be an abundance of ghost-type aligned Pokémon of his species.

No, what he needed was guidance. There had to be something there since it had once been possible, she just needed to guide him through the steps of finding the energy.

“Look closely. One of my fingers is different,” Kora explained and Cyndaquil leaned forward, eyeing each digit carefully for a physical difference. Kora sighed at that and Cyndaquil sheepishly looked up. “One of my fingers is different from the others behind what you can see with your eyes,” she provided and Cyndaquil seemed to finally get a grasp of his objective. “You need to figure out which one.”

The fire mouse returned to his search, his face darting between her spread out fingers. Kora refrained from reacting – she wanted to lightly scold him for continuing to look at things physically, however… His nose was twitching as he moved. That… was that it? Did his line find ghost-type energies by smelling them? That…

…That really didn’t sit right with her, for some reason. She doubted her digit had a smell to it, so the likelihood of this working should be extremely low.

“Here, let me help you,” she decided. She flexed all five of her illusionary digits in front of the fire mouse’s face. “Currently, you’re looking with your eyes and your nose, but you need to go above that. Ghost-type energy is fundamentally malicious by nature and fueled by emotions, generally negative ones at that. They are at their strongest when employed as a tool to cause harm to others. Now, how do you feel when you spot something that’s dangerous?”

Cyndaquil looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. He then squeaked out an explanation about how panicked he feels when around water.

“I should’ve expected that from a fire-type,” Kora commented, earning herself a look from Cyndaquil. “Sorry. Still, ghosts naturally trigger that sense of danger and wrongness in almost everything since, by nature, they are directly opposite to almost everything.”

Cyndaquil's features contorted in confusion and Kora scratched at her cheek. “I suppose I’m explaining a lot at once for something that should be straightforward. Perhaps it’d be simpler if I guided you.”

“Start by closing your eyes,” Kora said, and the fire-type listened, shutting his eyes tightly. “Take deep breaths. What you’re looking for is something manifested and held together by my desires. To feel it, you need to reach out with your own desires.”

Kora could see that her explanation was insufficient. She thought for a moment. “Think of your grudges and tap into them, like if they were the fuel for your fire themselves,” she explained and Cyndaquil seemed to try to listen. “Don’t visualize your grudge as merely motivation or an objective to be fulfilled. See it as a source of power, a means by its own right. Let it flow through you as though it were your very essence.”

She paused as she watched a variety of expressions pass over Cyndaquil. It was clear he was no natural at this, which was… Unsurprising, to say the least. Still, even if he couldn’t do all that from the start, it didn’t mean it was hopeless.

“From there, all you need to do is reach out and feel,” Kora stated and Cyndaquil stilled himself. She doubted he could grasp everything she said – especially when her own understanding was based more on instinct rather than intuitive knowledge – but there was hope that it would work.

Tentatively, Cyndaquil moved forward, inching himself closer to her hand as he held his eyes shut with an intensely focused expression. After a bit of hesitation, he moved towards a certain direction and Kora’s eyes widened slightly as he was in the right direction. Cyndaquil moved forward and-

“I’m going to be honest. I’ve been watching for a bit and I have absolutely no idea what’s happening,” a familiar voice suddenly piped up from behind her and Kora nearly jumped in fright. Someone had snuck up on her. How had someone-

She wasn’t paying attention! Her focus was entirely on Cyndaquil and her exhaustion made her sloppy. She should’ve been keeping an eye on the area while doing this, but instead she just focused on one thing. The one time she lowered her guard, someone sneaked up on her. She needed to deal with them now.

Kora jerked her head around as she prepared to do something, yet stopped when she recognized the man with brown hair standing a few feet behind her, as well as the giant rodent watching from next to him.

“How long have you been there, Joey?” she asked and quickly glanced towards Cyndaquil, whose eyes were now wide open as he looked at the man and his Pokémon with clear surprise. So he hadn’t noticed them either, which probably meant after he closed his eyes.

Either way, this was on her. She should’ve spotted the man and his… Is that yet another rodent? This one was larger and brown furred, with long dark ears and a bushy ringed tail. A white ring lined its stomach and, upon noticing Kora’s eyes on it, it tried to hide behind Joey’s Raticate. Unsuccessfully too, given they were nearly the same size.

“Sorry. I wasn’t eavesdropping on you or anything. I arrived mid… training? Was that what it was?” the brown-haired man casually approached as he explained himself, though he hesitated upon seeing the dubious expression on Kora’s face. “Sorry, really meant no harm. I usually get up this early to get some training in with Sentret and Skwovet before other trainers get up,” he expanded on as he jerked a thumb behind him and briefly turned to eye his Pokémon. “She’s a little bit timid and scares easily around people though.”

At that, Kora raised a brow as she leaned back, still trying to gauge how she should react. She was also tempted to question why exactly the man would bring a Pokemon that ‘wasn’t used to people’ to a place densely populated by them but held back on commenting. It wasn’t her business, after all, nor a major concern.

“You seemed to be doing some pretty interesting stuff though,” Joey commented. “I couldn’t really tell what exactly it was you were doing though. Mind sharing a little?”

Did she mind? Yes, she very much did. But that didn’t matter though. What did matter was whether it’d be more suspicious if she said something or nothing. The man didn’t seem to think she was a Pokémon, at least given his behavior... unless he was hiding his suspicions well. Hm…

“…It was ghost-type training,” she decided on sharing, as she could probably get away with it by explaining away her own part in it. Furthermore, assuming she was successful, people would inevitably notice that Cyndaquil was different from others of his kind.

“Huh. Didn’t think Cyndaquil could learn ghost-type moves,” he commented. “Most trainers only start expanding their move pool that way further down the line, but I guess you’re forced to think outside the box from the start with Roark around the corner.”

Kora didn’t know who Roark was, but it seemed to play to her favor, so she merely nodded her head. She then turned to Cyndaquil, who was watching the conversation in silence.

She doubted they’d be continuing their training this morning, given the interruption. Still, Cyndaquil looked like he had been able to sense something, so there was a strong chance she was onto something here.

“I think that’s enough training for now,” she decided after a moment and received a slow nod of agreement from the fire-type.

“Ah, looks like I’ll have to apologize again. Really didn’t mean to interrupt your trainer,” Joey said as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Curiosity got the better of me since it looked way out there and I’m always looking for ways to better my team. Besides, I’ve got a personal interest in ghost-types.”

Oh? That was unexpected. It looked like the man picked the blandest of Pokémon so far, but perhaps they all eventually turned into ghosts? That… might be very morbid, actually. Kora eyed him dubiously. “Why are you interested in them?” she warily asked.

“Well, Raticate isn’t exactly the best at fighting them. Most of his moves phase right through ‘em and he’s got poor TM coverage,” Joey replied, and the rodent in question nodded its head rapidly. “I think it’ll be the same for Sentret and Skwovet too, so I took up the habit of figuring out all the best ways of countering ghosts so that we have a fighting chance.”

Ah. Well, that… left her feeling complicated. On one hand, she respected the principle. It was important to know how to cover your weaknesses, after all – or, better yet, avoid them altogether. On the other hand… Well, it wasn’t good to know that a human nearby was looking for the most efficient ways of beating her.

In the end, Kora merely nodded her head in understanding, deciding it best to appear neutral while she internally freaked out at the possibility that the man may be a ghost hunter.

“Hm… I planned to head out after getting a bit of training done, if you’re interested in joining up,” Joey mentioned. “It’d also be nice to see your other Pokémon. Still not entirely sure what sort of trainer you are exactly, beyond being a rookie. It looks like you have experience though…”

Oh. Oh no. Odds were he’d want to have her tag along on some merry ghost hunt with the annoying teenager from yesterday. That sounded like a terrible idea.

“I’m sorry to say I’m predisposed today,” she replied as quickly as she could. She already had a good excuse to stay away from the man. “I need to find Volo though since I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

Yes, Volo would be the perfect barrier between her and other people. He’d make all the social mistakes and she’d adapt based on them. Furthermore, she had a loose idea of where he might be… but she didn’t particularly want to go to where he thought a Legendary Pokémon might be, even if it was safe.

“Who’s Volo?” Joey asked and Kora looked at him with a puzzled expression. What… Oh, right. Joey was under the delusion that Volo was Cynthia because of her. Hm… she should probably remain vague here.

“Volo’s a… friend, I guess,” she replied, though it didn’t feel like an accurate description. Either way, it sufficed as an answer given Joey was nodding in understanding.

“Ah, I getcha,” the man said. “Well, I’ll be around if you ever change your mind. Always happy to help a fellow trainer out. I’m here every morning.”

Somehow, Kora doubted she’d be changing her mind anytime soon. If anything, she’d be making sure to avoid this place every morning. Instead, she very politely said her goodbyes and headed back into the Pokemon Center after getting Cyndaquil to follow her as she decided that’d be it for his training today.

After saying her overly polite goodbyes to the man, Kora headed back towards the inside of the Pokémon Center. However, before she left, she did move her gaze to the surrounding buildings. Briefly, she caught a glimpse of the same ghost staring at her from the same window.

That was going to be a recurring problem for her, wasn’t it?

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Sleep eluded her. She had thought she could rest after that, but of course she couldn’t. The city was a hive of activity and that meant a lot of noise coming and going. Every time she heard a human yell, she was getting anxious. Then that anxiety turned to annoyance, especially when she pieced together that a group were training nearby.

She was tempted to try and show them how to master ‘Leech Seed’ herself, if only it would get her some peace and quiet, but she didn’t need to be dragged into another person’s mess. Still, she had the feeling she’d make more progress on the move than the trainers outside could.

Rather than lay around doing nothing, Kora eventually chose to explore the city so she could get a better idea of humanity on her own. Afterall, this place was, without a doubt, the largest human settlement in existence, so what better place was there to judge humanity for herself without distractions – beyond her exhaustion of course, which, granted, did influence her perception of her surroundings.

…At least she hoped it was their largest settlement. She very much hoped she didn’t somehow stumble upon an even larger place.

Currently, she was walking down the street alone, Cyndaquil having opted to sleep in his Pokéball after growing exhausted from his early training session instead of joining her in her exploration. She was almost jealous of him for having a spot to sleep on demand, yet she knew with certainty she never wanted to see the insides of a Pokéball herself.

…Still, she could see the convenience, if only for that.

Either way, the company would’ve been reassuring. The hive of human activity on the streets were irritating, as were the many signs and boards that seemed fully made to draw attention. Every one of them seemed to be designed to draw eyes to them, which would’ve been fine if it weren’t all of them doing it. And that’s not to mention how dull everything else looked. Every building looked identical, and the city seemed to be built in squares, for some reason, which felt distinctly unnatural.

What caught Kora the most off guard were the other Pokémon she passed by on the streets. None of them showed so much as a hint of malice or dislike towards their trainers. If anything, they seemed to be happily engaging with them for the most part and, in the worst of scenarios, acting aloof towards them.

Kora was beginning to question whether this was even the same world, let alone the same region. She understood time changed things, and yet… She couldn’t deny some of what she saw.

Or what she smelled, for that matter, a few of the buildings producing very tantalizing aromas that begged for her to approach. Yet humans were obsessed with money – something she lacked entirely, meaning she couldn’t take things as she desired without giving something back.

…But that was only a problem if she got caught, wasn’t it? She was hungry, and if she did things right, she could get away with people being none the wiser. Part of her recognized this was most definitely a bad idea, but she ignored that.

Besides, it wasn’t like she was going to do something no matter what. She was just going in with a very open mind and if an opportunity happened to come by, well, things happen.

Kora followed one of the scents to a small building with a wide-open door accompanied by windows that showed the interior of the… café? Something like that. It looked like the one she had seen in Sandgem Town, though far more compact and somehow even more populated.

Furthermore, something in it smelled delicious. Tentatively, Kora stepped inside and noted the small crowd of people milling about the place, some going so far as to form a line. She quickly dismissed them as she tried to find the source of that sweet scent.

Her eyes almost immediately narrowed the source down to a pile of cream with two berries in it left on one of the tables. It went almost entirely ignored too, none of the humans paying it any mind beyond brief glances.

Perfect. Kora casually approached it while ensuring her claw would be able to reach out and get a handful of it. All she needed to do was hide it beneath an illusion as she took a single bite, vanish afterwards, and then let the humans try and figure out what happened once she was long gone.

The pile of cream was nearly a foot tall too! Kora briefly glanced around from beneath her illusion once she was in front of it. Slowly, she reached a claw forward towards the no doubt delicious treat and-

The pile of cream turned on her and Kora spotted two beady eyes. It blinked. She blinked back.

Kora furrowed her brows in thought. Did… did food normally blink? Hm… Technically yes, but not when it was being eaten. So that meant-

The Pokémon made from sweets waved one of its arms at her as it let out a soft cry. Slowly, Kora backed away from it, earning a confused look from the living whipped cream as it tilted its head.

She turned and walked out of the shop, rubbing her brow on the way out as disbelief overcame her. A Pokémon made out of delicious food. What sort of world was she in?

Wait. Was that a trap? A trap made to lure in would-be thieves and Pokémon hiding in plain sight. That… That was devious. And it had almost caught her. In fact, had she not noticed it was a Pokémon, a lot could’ve gone wrong there.

She was being sloppy. Far too sloppy. She should’ve been resting to help get her mind in working order, but instead she was acting more instinctual in a place she couldn’t afford to. What she needed to do was find a place to rest.

As she continued her walk, Kora came across a large map built into a board and held up by wooden posts. At least she thought it was a map, though it didn’t look like one she was familiar with. However, there was a large red circle around one spot and if she based herself off the large tower in the middle… It was probably a map of Jubilife itself.

As she looked over it and its many sections, a sense of dread began to fill her. Almost every area was built in a square grid-like pattern, save for the few places with points of interest. At least she assumed they were points of interest given they were the only places drawn onto the map. She really needed to either learn to read or have someone around who could.

Jubilife was huge. Far too huge. She was intending to explore the city and eventually find Volo, but finding Volo would likely take days. She didn’t want to be up for days either. Unless… There were red and blue Pokéballs on the map. If she assumed humans were as simple as they appeared to be, those were probably Centers and Marts.

So, all she needed to do is visit the red ones and hope to catch him? There was only… Well, there were a lot. What she could do is head in the direction of the closest one and, should she not find him, she can just pass out for a bit and try again.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was a plan.

----------------------------------------

As Kora continued to explore the city in the general direction she intended to go in – using her occasional glimpses of the tower as a reference point – she attempted to pay attention to any interesting places she may want to visit in the future.

So far, most of them had been places that offered food. How on earth humans could make so many delicious smelling things was beyond her, yet she wouldn’t repeat her mistakes from earlier.

No matter how tempting it may be. Especially when compared to the stuff at a Pokémon Center.

With that in mind, Kora continued making her way to her objective. However, as she passed by an alley between a set of buildings, she stopped herself as a person nearly slammed into her on their way out of the opening.

“Watch it,” a man cloaked in heavy clothing grunted, his eyes taking a moment to look her over before stepping away. Most of his features were muted by his clothes, yet Kora had faintly spotted strands of cyan hair and eyes to match.

She almost considered biting the man for his comment, but she quickly caught herself. She needed to maintain a hold over herself, not act out like some rabid mutt. Instead, she settled on staring at the man with an unimpressed glare before noticing yet another cloaked figure was trailing behind him.

This one maintained eye contact with her as they passed, and Kora had the distinct impression it was a woman. She couldn’t tell for certain, however, as the lower half of their face was tucked beneath a black face mask. Kora thought she saw orange hair, yet it was too subtle for her to say for certain.

Eventually, the second stranger turned away once they were a distance away, moving closer to whisper to the man about something Kora couldn’t make out. Once they turned a corner, Kora let out a breath.

She had the distinctive impression those two were shady, yet she wasn’t certain. She could try and confirm it, though.

Kora turned her attention to the alleyway they had emerged from. Nothing seemed immediately amiss, however… She could spot people loitering around in the distance. Furthermore, there was a bright neon blue sign that flickered on and off again that was mildly annoying to look at.

Hm… Based on the sign, that likely meant there was a store or restaurant down here. Interesting.

The people in the distance looked interesting too, once she took a closer look. They both wore leather jackets that sported a similar design on them. It looked like… Some sort of skull breathing blue fire that encompassed itself. It looked somewhat familiar for some reason. There were also tiny blue horns on it.

Actually… It looked like a Froslass! That would make the blue fire around it an ice breath, then. Interesting, especially since Kora knew Froslass were rather… Odd, even by her standards. She knew they tended to freeze humans and other Pokémon that entered their territory, yet they could be peaceful under other circumstances.

They were also ghost-types, which made her like them somewhat, if not for the fact it was always a tossup whether they tried to kill you or not.

Hm… Given these people used one as their symbol and weren’t encased in ice, it was likely they had a connection to a relatively friendly one. Considering Froslass were ghost-types, there was also a minuscule possibility of it being one that dated all the way back to Hisui. Even if it didn’t, it could help explain some of the important changes of the ages to her.

That is, assuming there was a Froslass with that knowledge here. The likelihood of that were minuscule, and yet it felt like the risk here should be negligible, so long as she doesn’t do anything stupid.

With the two odd humans that had almost bumped into her all but forgotten, Kora stepped into the dimly lit alley, avoiding some rather… questionable materials left on the ground as she made her way forward. As she approached, one of the two identically dressed humans tapped another on the arm before nodding in her direction.

“-ck is that?” one of the two men said, Kora barely making out the words. This one had a mostly shaved head, save for a long strip going down the middle. Some sort of minuscule stick was in his mouth and being puffed on.

It smelled vile, at least based on what little the wind sent her way.

“Beats me. Probably a customer?” the other man said with a shrug, this one bald and rotund. “Can’t see them too well though. Think we should worry about it?”

The other man pursed his lips as he eyed Kora, taking a deep inhale from the small stick in his hands before blowing smoke passed his lips, momentarily confusing Kora as she stopped.

Was he a fire-type? Is this what a human aura was? Suddenly, she felt like she was in danger.

“…Yeah, better safe than sorry, especially after our last clients,” the fire-typed human said as he tossed the stick he held aside, Kora focusing on it and noticing it was lit. Maybe it was that which allowed him to breathe fire. “People don’t just walk in here without a reason,” he then quietly added, clearly having intended for his words to only reach his friend but failing to account for her superior hearing. “I’ll deal with it. You get Laurence just in case anything goes wrong.” the man told the rotund man, who hastily obeyed and went through the door behind the small group.

The larger man nodded his head before hastily moving to the door and opening it. He vanished inside, though Kora caught a glimpse of something coming from there. It was a cacophony of sound that she couldn’t quite understand, but it involved a lot of yelling.

Before she could think further on whatever loud thing she heard, the now lone man took a few cautious steps forward as his hands moved within his jacket’s pockets. “G’day stranger!” he cheerily spoke out, Kora barely noticing him grab onto something in his hand. “Mind telling us why you’re here?”

Oh. She might be in danger here. This human was showing the amount of paranoia she had been expecting all humans to show, yet she had grown complacent with how others were behaving. She briefly considered leaving, but… She could probably get away with a few questions without putting herself in danger, right?

“I got curious,” she tried, keeping all hints of emotion out of her voice. She needed to be firm but not aggressive. Still, her answer didn’t seem to convince the man, given the way he was remaining silent and merely staring at her. She’d need to offer something more substantial. “I noticed the Froslass on your clothes. Is there one here?”

“…Didn’t expect that line of questioning,” the man answered as his posture relaxed slightly. Good, that meant he wasn’t going to attack her. “Can’t say I see where this is going. What’s it to ya if we’ve got one or not?”

“I’d like to qu- meet it,” Kora started and quickly corrected, deciding it’d be best to avoid further raising the man’s obvious suspicion by overthinking her answers. Being mostly honest would be best here, so long as she didn’t make him think anything was amiss. “I would like to confirm some things by meeting with one.”

It wasn’t the best answer, but it would hopefully suffice. Though she was beginning to doubt whether it was good enough based on the fact the man was staring at her with furrowed brows.

“You’re not one of those ghost nutjobs, are you?” the man eventually asked as he fiddled with whatever was in his pocket. “You sort of look like one, though I’m not really sure what your whole get-up’s theme is. Mind explaining what it is?”

Kora furrowed her brows. Shouldn’t it be obvious what she-

Wait. Now that she thought about it… Her and, to a certain extent, Volo both stood out partially due to their clothes. Well, the latter also stood out due to his resemblance to a famous figure here, but that was beyond the point.

She would need to remedy that problem at some point.

“Yeah, guess that’s not the best thing to ask about since girls get pissy about it,” the man eventually said as he brought one hand up to scratch at his neck, mistaking her silence for discomfort. “Either way, I don’t think you’re seeing a Froslass today.”

“And why’s that?” Kora asked with a tinge of annoyance leaked in her tone. She cringed at that. She needed to not offend the human, not give him reason to attack her.

“Call it a gut feeling,” the man replied with a shrug, which further irritated Kora. She was about to speak up but stopped herself when the door once again opened, the man from earlier returning with yet another human. However, this last one was far older than the other two, wrinkles lining his grizzled face and long gray hair both marking his age.

“What seems to be the problem here, Bill?” he asked, his eyes looking Kora over as he crossed his arms. “All I see is a kid that looks like she came straight here from Celestic.”

Kora frowned. Kid? She should look like an average young adult at the very least.

“Laurence! No trouble so far,” the man – Bill – replied. “Just thought it’s better to be safe than sorry, especially since she showed up right after the Gs left.”

Laurence grunted. “I see. You ask why she’s here?”

“Said something about wanting to meet a Froslass but didn’t expand on much else, so I thought it’d be better to turn her away,” Bill replied, earning a snort from Laurence. “Busy day and all that.”

Kora remained as quiet as she could as she took slow steps back. She recognized this was likely going to go absolutely nowhere, so-

“Don’t think you can just walk from us,” Laurence yelled out, Kora freezing at the unexpected tone. “Mind explaining why exactly you’re interested in our mascot?”

Kora considered fleeing regardless of what he said, but she felt like there was a strong chance of her being chased down by them. While she felt confident that she could avoid them once, she had the feeling that earning their ire would be more of a long-term issue.

She also had a decent excuse for why she was seeking out a ghost.

“I’m being stalked by a ghost,” she replied, slightly exaggerating the events of last night and this morning. “Naturally, I thought it’d be a good idea to seek wisdom from another one on how to proceed.”

Laurence stared at her, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. His brows furrowed as he searched her unmoving and unflinching illusion’s face. Right when she was about to worry, the human started chuckling to himself.

“Ha… That’s funny,” he eventually spoke up. “First time someone seeks out Froslass’ Boys to get help with a ghost. Right when I thought I saw everything. Talk about bad common sense…”

That… Sounded good, right? Laughing was usually good. “Does that mean I’ll be able to meet one?”

At that, the man let out a long breath before shaking his head. “Hate to disappoint you but there’s no Froslass here, ‘least not anymore. Besides, even if there was, I’m not trusting anyone with such a flimsy reason to be here.”

So, all this was pointless. Now that was frustrating.

“I see,” Kora icily said as she stepped back. “I’ll be taking my leave then.”

As she moved away, it looked like Bill was going to try and intervene, yet one glance from Laurence stopped him. Eventually, Kora turned her back on the pair – or at least her illusion’s back, as she didn’t trust them not to try something.

While neither of them did anything, she couldn’t help but notice that they were both staring all the way until she left.