Chapter 4:
Black Out
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"Find me."
The voice was female, although I could barely make it out. It was due to the fact that the voice was not human or anything even close to human. It was hardly a voice at all.
Vague and cryptic, I thought sarcastically, not really a lot I could work with.
The real question was if I would remember this when I woke up instead of conveniently forgetting it.
It would be illogical to tell me to find someone if I wouldn't remember it later. On the other hand, beings/entities/Pokémon/Gods who summoned people from another world were not known for making smart choices.
Me being a perfect example of that.
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I was like 99% sure that I wouldn't be waking up in the same place I blacked out.
No, I would either open my eyes and find myself in some heavily guarded containment cell or I would wake up in a hospital. Or I would not wake up at all. Fate demanded it, there has never been a protagonist who blacked out and didn't wake up in a new scenery. Okay, maybe there was but you get my point.
When I woke up I didn't show any signs of it. I kept my eyes shut and my breathing steady. My first goal was to gather as much information as I could. I felt myself lying on something soft, was that a pillow? It felt like one. So I was no longer in the forest, Arcues thank you for the small miracles. I also didn't feel a blinding pain in my arm anymore, in fact I felt refreshed.
Whoever took me had either been the nicest villain ever or the people on the radio had managed to get me some help in time.
"Ralts!" a cheerful cry came from above me.
Before I could even open my eyes something hugged my chest really tight and kept yelling "Ralts!"
I wonder who it could be.
Slowly, I opened my eyes and spotted a green haired creature hugging me.
I lifted my right arm and hugged her back.
"Hey little one." I said, my voice sounding hoarse.
"Ralts Ralts RaRaRalts," she muttered while hugging me.
Damn, that's a new record. I think she was doing the whole oh-you-almost-died-and-I-missed-you-so-much speech. However after her speech she stopped trying to squeeze me to death and looked me in the eyes, she then slapped me and yelled, "Ralts!" It sounded vaguely accusing.
"Hey," I protested, "how was I supposed to know that there was a second one?"
"Ralts!" she said and I had no idea what it meant this time. After that she began hugging my chest again, how cliché could it get?
I petted my Ralts on her head. "Don't worry, we are still alive."
While my Ralts kept trying to merge with my chest I took a good look around, It seemed like I was in a hospital. The clean and sterile white walls and beeping heart monitor were a dead give away.
The beeping of the heart monitor annoyed me so I leaned over to pull the plug.
Ahhh, finally silence.
I slumped back on the bed.
Sunlight shone through the window. Through the curtains I saw a small town down. Rooftops were poking through the treeline, Pokémon were flying through the sky.
I did not recognize the place, which was to be expected.
I moved my left arm and saw it was wrapped in a bandage.
I wiggled my fingers and felt no pain or struggle. Yay for progress!
"Ralts," I said and she stopped hugging to look at me. "How long was I out?"
Please don't pull a Zelda and tell me I've been sleeping for a hundred years and the world is in ruins. Although, at this point, that might as well just happen.
Ralts tilted her head and looked like she was thinking really hard. After a few seconds she said, "Ralts."
I blinked. "Yeah, I still don't know what that means."
Why did I even ask?
Ralts stretched her left arm out and folded her hand except for her thumb.
"1?" I asked.
Ralts quickly opened and closed her hand three times and then retracted it. I had to say it looked rather cute, seeing her trying to communicate without fingers.
"Three days?" I asked incredulously.
Ralts nodded.
"How the heck did I sleep for three days?" I cursed, Ralts shrugged at that.
"Undernutrition, blood poisoning, blood loss and a heatstroke," A girl's voice answered suddenly.
It scared the shit out of me, same for Ralts who bumped her horn against my face in surprise.
Aren't you supposed to have an emotion radar?
A young girl stood in the doorway, she had long purple hair that contrasted her sparkling green eyes. She wore a white sundress and wore a stethoscope around her neck. I estimated her to be around 13 years old.
Was she the local nurse? She seemed to be a bit too young but this was the world that thought it was a good idea to send a 10 year old alone on an adventure to explore the world.
She strode into the room, looking very smug for some reason.
"Don't worry, you won't be dying and we fixed that arm of yours."
She sounded surprisingly cheerful, so much so it unsettled Ralts and she grabbed my hand and held tight.
"Uhhm, thank you?" I tried to react properly while feeling unnerved by this girl.
"It was quite easy, you know?" She went on in the same creepy cheerfulness. "The Team Rocket guy though? His nape is fractured and he is permanently paralyzed."
The Rocket grunt I had hit in the back of his head? Had I broken his nape? That shouldn't have been possible, right?
I didn't hit him particularly hard but a stone is a stone. Did I feel guilty? Not per se. He had this coming and knowing this world there was bound to be some kind of berry or Pokémon that would heal him.
The girl shot me a grin that I classified in the 'She will draw a knife any second' category.
"Stop messing with the patient Chelsea." A man's voice called from the door.
Does no one knock in this world? What is this? Open House?
I glanced at the door and hey! Isn't that a familiar face?! Brown eyes, black hair and wearing a brown coat that would fit Sherlock Holmes?
"Agent Looker," the man at the door introduced himself, confirming my theory, "I'm from the International Police and I’m here to investigate your case. I would like to ask some questions."
He gave me a curt nod as he walked into the room but he didn't bother to shake hands...what a letdown.
"Stop lying Chelsea," He looked at the girl who's name was apparently Chelsea and then looked at me. "The Team Rocket goon is doing fine. He woke up a few hours after the police arrived."
"Aaaah, come on Looker." Chelsea pouted.
"Go help your sister with the other patients." Looker sighed.
"There are no other patients," Chelsea complained.
Looker gave Chelsea a tired look. "None of them are as interesting as Mister Mysterious."
"Mister Mysterious," Looker air quoted. "Is not here for your amusement."
I was torn between not wanting to be in the same room alone with Looker (Who was a detective and I could use everything that could distract him) or being in the same room as Chelsea who was definitely not a psycho.
Looker was someone I had seen in both the games and anime which was no help at all in finding out in which version I was. If I remember correctly he was some kind of detective agent guy who was always disguising himself and helps the player take down the bad guy teams.
Also, didn't he have amnesia? Welp, that did make things more interesting.
Also, Mister Mysterious? Time to fish for information.
"Talking about here," I asked. "Where is here?"
"Sunbright town." Chelsea answered quickly.
Sunbright town? Never heard of, although that did not mean a lot considering the amount of unimportant unnamed towns Ash passed through in the anime.
"I mean what region am I in?"
Please don't say Galar, I prayed, I don't want to deal with Attack on Pokémon bullshit and the Dynamax stuff that was going on there was bound to ruin my day.
Both Looker and Chelsea stared at me like I was crazy, was the question that weird?
"You don't know in which region you are?" Looker asked suspiciously.
"Sinnoh," Chelsea said to the dismay of Looker. "How can you not know what region you are in?"
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Sinnoh, huh?
The region of space and time warping Pokémon. The region of Arceus, the Pokémon god.
Welp, that does give me some theories as for how I got here, still Sinnoh was a pretty easy region to be in. I knew quite a bit about it and it was at least not Galar or the tropical heat of Sun and Moon.
"You have no idea of the region you are in," Looker said, talking like he was interrogating me, "And I did notice you didn't give me your name nor did you have any identifying papers on you."
Now comes the most important part, faking memory loss.
Or to be precise, Agnosia.
People in my situation would often go with faking Amnesia which is not that strange. Movies these days misrepresent Amnesia as something that would simply block the long term memory.
On its own it doesn't sound that bad, it lets me get away with not having a backstory.
The problem for me was that everytime I would slip up and mention something I shouldn't know or remember, people would notice that and start doubting my backstory. People would start digging and ask questions until my Amnesia excuse fell apart.
No, what would be better was Agnosia.
Agnosia was similar to Amnesia but it was quite different at the same time.
People who had Agnosia couldn't remember details.
For example, someone with Amnesia would have no idea how he woke up in a random place while the same person with Agnosia would remember what happened to him but not his own name or the name of the town he came from. This also went for visuals like faces and places. Now what was easier to fake? Complete memory loss or just partly memory loss?
With Agnosia I could explain knowing certain things but not knowing my name, of course Agnosia is a bit more complicated than that but you get the point.
Agnosia was the way to go.
I frowned. "I couldn't remember the name of the region."
"You don't remember coming to Sinnoh?" Looker asked, surprise and doubt were etched onto his face.
"I don't even remember my own name," I stuttered.
Now that got a reaction out of them.
"You don't remember your own name?" Chelsea asked.
I shook my head and pulled Ralts into a tight hug, she seemed to be quite content with that.
"Did the fight damage your brains?" She suggested, sounding more excited than worried.
"No, I remember the fight and going into the forest." I answered truthfully.
"Do you remember anything else?" Looker asked, a bit more pressing.
"I remember most things fine but I can't just recall anything solid. I remember coming from another region and trying to escape from Team Rocket." I said,
"You were being hunted by Team Rocket?" Looker asked sympathetically.
Looker's main objective in the game and anime was stopping the bad guys, placing myself in the victim role was bound to give me some credit.
"Why?" Chelsea asked.
"Aren't you supposed to leave me and the patients alone for questioning?" Looker asked her.
"Yes." Chelsea smiled at Looker and then turned her gaze on me again.
So I was being 'questioned', welp that was to be expected. Time to play my role and put my acting skills to use.
I lowered my head and made my voice sound shaky. "They took my parents and tried to take me too."
Chelsea gasped too loud while Looker gave me the look you give someone whose pet just died. A dark expression of both understanding and familiarity.
"Where are they?" Looker asked, "Can you remember anything we can use to help? Faces, names?"
"They killed them," cue the dramatic silence, "And no, I can't even remember their names. I just remember that Team Rocket showed up at our house. They breached the door and started attacking my parents. They wanted something from my mother. My mom commanded her only Pokémon to teleport me to safety before they entered the safe room."
A tear ran over my cheek and I felt bad for guilt tripping them but I had to create a backstory for myself. So far, I was killing it.
"As I was being teleported away I saw it happen." I finished.
Well, if that is not a hero's worthy backstory then I'd be damned.
Also, it would take a brave detective to question the validity of my parent's death, plus the fact that I hadn't even given them a region name. It would be virtually impossible to track down anything. I would be a ghost in their records. Just a tragic victim.
"And that's how you got into Sinnoh?" Looker finished.
I nodded. "If that's where I am, then yes."
"Seems like you had a rough few days." Looker said sympathetically. He looked at me and for a moment I almost felt bad for deceiving him. The way he was looking at me made me feel bad for his own past.
"But you can't remember anything?" Chelsea asked, it still sounded like she was talking about her favorite show instead of my fake parent's death. "That sounds to me like you got Amnesia from that trauma."
No you girl! I'm suffering from Agnosia.
"Seems more like Retrograde Agnosia," Looker said thoughtfully.
Wait, how did he even know that kind of stuff? You're not a psychologist!
Then it struck me, he must have been investigating memory loss himself since he has Amnesia. This was literally the best thing that could happen to me.
I thanked divine interference for this.
"Oohhhh," Chelsea cooed. "That's even better!"
"Chelsea," Looker said, "if you would be so nice to leave us alone 'Mister Mysterious' and I can have a talk."
No, don't leave me alone with him, distract him from noticing flaws in my backstory!
Ralts gave me an encouraging hug.
"Come on!" Chelsea pouted, "Give me the juicy details!"
"I really think you should go help your sister with the other patients," Looker insisted, the same way an FBI agent would tell you to leave the room.
"Fine," Chelsea said and she reluctantly walked out of the room but not before giving me an evil smile and saying, "Later Mister Mysterious."
How about no?
She left the room and Looker closed the door behind her. An uncomfortable silence filled the room as Looker took his time to walk towards one of the chairs next to my bed and took a seat.
"Ralts Ralts?" Ralts asked, what did it mean? I still don't know.
"So," I broke the ice, "am I in trouble?"
"Do you think you are in trouble?" Looker replied.
That Asshole! Don't answer my question with a question. That's my strategy.
I shrugged nonchalantly,
"I recognize the look in your eyes. You're lost. You truly have no idea who you are, do you?" Looker asked, or stated. Whichever it was, he sounded like he sympathized with me.
"Yeah, not a single clue."
"Well," he went on. "I did some digging, I visited the Team Rocket Site and honestly, for someone without any memories you brought some great findings to light."
"I did?" I asked, truly confused. All I did was attack two people without provocation. I'm sure that I was definitely in the wrong here. Sure they were part of a terrorist organization known for slavery and other Pokémon related crimes but still.
Looker took out his...phone? I thought it was a smartphone at first glance but when I took a better look it saw it was a blue Rotom Phone.
Wasn't that from Sword and Shield?
Welp, forwards compatibility confirmed. I had expected it but this was all the proof I needed. Even though I was in Sinnoh, all the future regions still exist and could impact this region too.
Good to know.
Looker made a few taps and swipes on his fancy Rotom Phone until it showed a photo of the Team Rocket tent.
"What do you know about Team Rocket?" He asked.
"Just the gist of it, bad guys who steal Pokémon and use them for their own profit?"
Looker sighed. “Close enough. They are originally from Kanto but later they spread to Johto as well. They’re like a plague over there, the police take out one cell or branch and it just comes back up. But at least they stayed within their own region."
I nodded, this information aligned with the Red/Blue and Gold/Silver games.
Looker coughed, he seemed a bit embarrassed. "Your ‘accidental’ trip in the woods brought to light that they are expanding their operations to Sinnoh. Possibly other regions too. This is something all the regions should know."
This was useful to know. A Team Rocket plot and I stumble across it the first day in this world? If that's not enough proof that I'm a generic heroic protagonist then nothing would be enough proof.
"Okay," I said thoughtfully. "So what does this mean?"
"Well I'm here to thank you in the name of the International Police. We've taken the liberty of covering your medical expenses. Also, the Kanto League has a bounty for capturing the two Rocket Grunts which you can claim. Though it's not much, it's still a good amount."
My eyes widened, I needed money and this was literally the jackpot.
"Ralt?" Ralts perked up, sensing my sudden change in emotion.
One of the first things I had to do was buy a Pokéball for Ralts, no way in Hell I was going to risk someone else capturing her.
"The fact that you can't recall anything means it is a bit more troublesome to help you." Looker pointed out the obvious.
"Until we know who your parents are, you can not claim their heritage which leaves you without resources, identity and a place to stay."
Thanks Captain Obvious.
"Ralts," Ralts told Looker.
"I have Ralts," I said and for the first time I was completely honest. "And for that I'm eternally grateful."
"You are quite lucky with that one," Looker said, "she refused to leave your side for the entirety of your stay in the hospital."
"Seriously?" I asked Ralts, and I gave her a big hug. "Who's da best?"
"Ralts!" She squealed in delight.
"Although you have Ralts you still lack other essentials," Looker went on. "That limits your options for the near future."
"What options do I have?" I asked.
"Well normally I would suggest you settle down and try to build a life somewhere but the lack of money and a place to stay is troublesome.” Looker sounded apologetic. “That alongside the fact that you seem to be a bit too young for that. There’s also the problem that Team Rocket might be looking for you after you escaped their grasp and sabotaged their operation."
Oh, I hadn't even considered that, though it did further my own plans.
"What should I do?" I asked rhetorically.
"Well you already have a Pokémon and some money from the bounty. Unless you want to settle someplace, I think it would be best for you to just stay on the move. Try to find some footing in Sinnoh until we know more about your past and the Team Rocket situation blows over."
Yes! Send a traumatized teen on a journey please!
"You're suggesting I become a Pokémon trainer?" I asked.
"You remember your age?" Looker asked, though his voice already told me he knew the answer. I shook my head.
"You seem to be around 16 years old, maybe older but it can't be much older. 16 is the age most trainers start their journey. You're not too old to start one."
Huh, 16 is the starting age instead of 10?
Well it makes more sense, does this mean that this universe is auto correcting itself to make sense? 16 made more sense than 10 but still, at least it was a good thing to know.
"You can still go on a journey. You don't need a lot of money to become a Pokémon trainer. A lot of kids these days do it." Looker sounded like he was trying to convince me to become a trainer but I was already convinced.
"You think I can be a Pokémon trainer?" I asked.
"You have a sharp mind, the fact that you took out two Team Rocket grunts showed that. You could try to take on the Gym challenge. If you want I can ask Professor Rowan to hook you up with a few Pokéballs and a Pokédex. He’s a friend of mine and owes me some favors."
"Don't you need an ID to become a Pokémon trainer? I probably don't even have legal Sinnoh citizenship."
Looker smiled, warmly. "I can create a new ID for you. The International Police kind of owes it to you and I have already checked you for any criminal background you might have. Consider it a thank you."
YES YES YES YES! This was literally everything I wanted. All the pieces had fallen into place.
"You think we should do that Ralts?" I asked Ralts with a smile.
She gave me a determined nod and raised her first in the air with an explosive "Ralts!"
"Well," I grinned at Looker. "There is your answer."
Looker gave me a satisfied nod and rose from the chair. "Well, then my business here is done." He scratched his neck. "Just ask me if you remember anything else. Although I might not be able to respond immediately." He gave me a sore smile. "I think I'll be swamped in the foreseeable future. Team Rocket might have more operations in Sinnoh and potentially other regions so I won't be sitting still."
"Thank you for everything Agent Looker." I smiled and Ralts gave the man a nod.
"Though I still need a name for your new ID. Got one in mind?"
I gave him a thoughtful look before saying. "Dust. That sounds like a fun name."
Well, choosing my old name would be stupid and break character. Dust would work just as well. A synonym of Ash. Hopefully a name like that meant good things for the future.
Sure Dust might sound weird but in a world where you had people named Red and Ash Dust fits right in.
Also so many puns I could make, though people could dust me not to do such a thing.
"Last name?" Looker asked, neither complimenting nor refusing my new name.
"Wildfire." I said, "Dust Wildfire. That sounds cool enough." I shrugged.
"If you say so," Looker answered. "Well, good luck with recovering, Dust." he walked out of the door frame but not before saying. "I'll make sure to send you your new citizenship papers and ID to the hospital. In about two weeks Professor Rowan should ask you to come to his lab to start your journey."
He turned around and left the room...wait.
'TWO WEEKS?" I yelled incredulously.
"Your arm was ripped open kid," Looker yelled back from the hallway, sounding humored. "That takes time to heal. You're under observation for two weeks until you can leave the hospital. Enjoy your stay!"
THAT MOTHERF-