Chapter 5:

Mysteries

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

Two fucking weeks?! I had to wait 2 weeks before I could start my adventure.

I raised my left bandaged arm, didn't feel any pain, was I under the influence of painkillers? I sighed and slumped back in my hospital bed.

Guess I was still in the tutorial that I couldn't skip.

"Two more weeks," I complained out loud. "That's way too long."

"Ralts," Ralts agreed lazily. She was lying on my stomach like she was sunbathing.

"Hey Ralts, How about we explore this place?" I had gotten sick of lying in bed.

I glanced at the clock to see how much time had passed since Looker had left. Only 40 minutes...damn you Dialga!

"Ralts Ralts?" Ralts asked concerned and she pointed at my bandaged arm. Aaahhh...she is worried.

"It's just my left arm." I smiled reassuringly. “I'm not dying."

"Ralts," she answered skeptically.

"No one ever became a hero by staying in bed." I shot back, except Ash but he had plot armor so that doesn't count.

I moved myself slightly and forced Ralts to hop off my bed.

She rolled her eyes and muttered a soft "Ralts".

I swung my legs over the bedside and saw I was wearing a hospital gown, now that was not something I wanted to think about. I took a few shaky steps around the bed to test my footing and saw the clothes I had worn, neatly folded on top of a chair.

Time to get changed, everything was better than hospital clothes.

"Ralts, please wait outside."

"Ralts?" She questioned.

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

The building we were in was small, very small. The hospital had two floors but was not much larger than an average family house. It also missed the entire hospital feeling, instead it looked more like a motel/hotel hybrid.

Ralts and I passed a few closed doors but there was no saying if someone was inside them.

I felt my pocket knife, which I had borrowed, was still in my back pocket.

We found a staircase and an elevator that led downwards, we took the stairs and found ourselves in a lobby that had one desk and a few couches placed against the wall.

A few posters decorated the wall showing the skeletal figures of different kinds of Pokémon. There was also a poster about the health regulations of the hospital whose colors had faded a long time ago.

A woman was sleeping behind the desk, she was also snoring very loudly. Her face laid sideways on top of a book that was about...psychology? Being super creepy, her eyes suddenly snapped open and purple eyes stared back at me.

Huh it seems like we had woken her up, I was not sure if I felt guilty about it.

It was a hospital but on the flip side I would have fallen asleep here too.

"Now now," she spoke with a playful tone, "decided to escape Mister Mysterious?"

She had deep purple eyes that held an intense gaze, way too intense for someone who had just woken up. Just like her eyes her hair was purple too and long enough to almost reach the end of her back.

She was dressed in a white shirt, black skirt and wore something comparable to sneakers.I estimated her around the twenty, give it or take it.

Okay, this has to be Chelsea's sister.

"Uh, hello." I answered. "I'm...now going by the name Dust."

"Ralts!" Ralts waved happily at the woman.

The woman smiled at the Ralts and then at me, "I'm Hylla and yes, I am Chelsea's sister. The two of us run this hospital."

She leaned her head on her hands. "So, is the service here so bad you decided to escape?"

I shook my head, "No, just decided to take a look around."

"And, enjoying your stay?" She asked with a smirk. She grinned when she saw the distaste on my face. "No need to lie, no one likes hospitals."

"Just sucks to be stuck here," I replied, "though it looks nice, a bit empty too."

"I like my hospital to be as empty as possible."

So you can sleep?

"That makes sense I guess," I murmured. "though it would make bad business."

She shrugged, "I get paid per hour, not for what I do in that hour."

Welp, I could respect her mindset. Though it was disturbing since I was the patient in her hospital.

"So, if you're going to visit the town could you get me some groceries?" She asked casually.

"Wait, I neve-"

"Come on," She said. "Don't you wanna go out? You need to get some fresh air anyway. We're low on food and unless you want to eat hospital food you could help me out."

I blinked. "I'm hospitalized." I pointed at my arm.

"Your arm is in a bandage," she said dryly, "unless you're dying you can totally get me some groceries and lift my workload."

"You were just sleeping." I told her.

"Well," Hylla smiled smugly. "According to the doctor I require a lot of rest."

"Ralts." Ralts pointed out which I completely agreed with, I think.

"You are the doctor." I deadpanned.

She grinned, "So, you're gonna stick around in the boring hospital or explore the town, bother some old people and buy some groceries so we can eat something decent today?"

I blinked, this woman, or girl. She was childish enough.

"Okay, so this is what we need," she began writing on a post-it she found on her desk before I could even agree.

I just watched her write, my mind still trying to catch up with this person. "Yup, this should be about it." She handed me the folded piece of paper with the same knowing smile.

"I didn't even agree," I complained but I accepted the paper anyway.

It was not like I had anything else to do.

"You didn't agree, yet," She corrected me. "So whenever you need to pay, just tell them to send the bills to Sunbright's hospital. They are familiar with my ways so it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Uhuh, aren't you scared I get lost?" I asked.

"It's a small town, you're not stupid right?"

I really wondered if she had an actual doctor's license.

"Well, then I'm going." I announced, still unsure whether I was actually just walking out of here. Just as I was about to turn around Hylla yelled. "Wait!"

She opened a few drawers, clearly looking for something, until she found something. She suddenly tossed it to me and I barely managed to catch it.

It was a Pokéball.

It was the regular red and white Pokéball. It's simple design had an elegance to it and it felt so smooth and OMG I AM HOLDING A FUCKING REAL POKEBALL!

It's so cool!

"Exciting isn't it?" Hylla asked, "holding a Pokéball for the first time?"

I nodded. "It's so cool."

And now I was losing my ability to form a normal sentence.

"What's inside it?" I asked curiously.

"It's empty. Now you can capture Ralts. Wouldn't want anyone to capture her while you're in the open." Hylla empathetically nodded towards Ralts."She's really loyal, you know? She stayed at your side and refused to leave, even for food. I had to leave it in the room."

"You gave her food?" I asked.

"Ralts." Ralts confirmed.

"Thank you," I said. "Thank you very much."

"No big deal," Hylla gave me a mock salute. "Wouldn't let a Pokémon starve on my watch. Now go and catch Ralts so I can continue my work."

"Are you sure?" I asked and glanced at the Pokéball. "Aren't those really expensive?"

Hylla shrugged. "Don't worry. I had a spare one anyway so it's not a big deal."

"Awesome, thank you so much." I thanked her. After, I knelt down to meet my Ralts on eye level.

"Ralts, I finally got you a Pokéball."

"Ralts?" She asked.

"Don't worry, I'll take you out immediately afterwards, it's just for emergencies so everyone knows you and I are partners."

Ralts gave me a determined nod and pushed the button in the middle. The ball popped open and a red beam sucked Ralts in. A Second later she was gone.

I definitely did not have a minor heart attack.

The Pokéball did the shaky thing and I held my breath, left right, left right and left and right. The light stopped blinking and it played the 'Captured' sound.

I let out a sigh of relief.

I pushed the button in the middle and the Pokéball opened, Ralts appeared a second later.

"Ralts!" she cried out and lunged at me to do a hug attack.

Damn you were only gone for 10 seconds.

"So, how is it inside the Pokéball?" I asked.

"Ra Ralt. Ralts." Ralts told me seriously. I nodded, pretending to understand it.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Uhuh, so that's how it is."

"You can hold the button to shrink it." Hylla told me and I tried it.

I did as I was told and the Pokéball indeed shrank. Huh, how did that work? Did it change the density of the particles or was the entire Pokéball a hard light construct?

I put the Pokéball in my pocket and stood up straight. I faced Hylla to thank her again when I saw she was lying on her book again.

Did she just...no she wouldn't, right?

The purple haired woman had fallen asleep, was she faking it? How in the hell-

Oh, and now she was snoring again.

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

Sunbright town was...well bright.

The small town bathed in the sunlight and had this weird almost fairy tale-like feeling to it. It was not big by any means, it had a small town square that had a few shops around it, just the essentials. No big Pokémon stores like you had in the games.

I found out that the Hospital was located on top of a hill that overlooked the entire town. It was a small hill, but large enough to oversee the entirety of Sunbright town.

It was an odd place for sure.

I figured out that Sunbright was south of Sandgem town, which was interesting since that was where Rowan's lab was located. The nearest town was Twinleaf town where the game's protagonist would start his/her adventure.

Also of note, nearby Twinleaf town was Lake Verity which I really wanted to visit. If my memories were correct, the three lakes in Sinnoh were the places where you could find the three lake Guardians. Apparently the lakes themselves were a portal to where they actually lived which was an interesting concept.

Alternate dimensions exist in the Pokémon universe and I really wanted to know more about that kind of stuff.

Also, I kind of want to meet a Legendary.

I'm in the world of Pokémon after all and Legendaries were one of the best things in the Pokémon games and anime. Sinnoh has 9 legendaries of its own and that was not even counting the roaming legendaries from the other regions.

Would I try to capture one? Let's leave that question for another day.

People waved at me and Ralts as we walked around the town. They thought Ralts was really cute, which was understandable. She was sitting on top of my shoulders again because it was much faster than walking. I imagined it also must have looked adorable.

As we were walking through town at a lazy pace I saw an ongoing Pokémon battle.

"Shall we take a look?" I asked Ralts.

"Ralts!" She said and she urged me to move.

I complied and walked towards the clearing where two people were having a battle on a Pokémon battlefield. A boy and a girl, the girl was fighting with a Starly while the boy had a Fennekin.

Huh, Generation six?

The boy shouted a command, "Fennekin tackle!"

The yellow fox Pokémon charged at the Starly who was standing on the ground.

Why wasn't it flying?

If it were me I would order the Starly to keep flying and keep attacking Fennekin from the air, at this point Fennekin was most likely not really equipped to fight an opponent who stayed in the air. It could probably do Ember or even Flame Charge if it was lucky enough to know the move but that would drain energy and once it was getting tired I would attack relentlessly from the air.

"Starly dodge it and then do wing attack!" the girl yelled back.

Starly tried to dodge it but being a bird its ground movement was inferior to Fennekin's 4 legs which allowed it to move much faster than Starly. Fennekin bumped into Starly and Starly let out a cry.

"Starly!" The girl yelled, the panic in her voice rising "Quick attack!"

While the Starly was thrown in the air it suddenly faced its opponent and shot towards it in a flash, completely ignoring its previous momentum.

"Ralts!" Ralts yelled excitedly. "Ralts Ralts!"

"I know," I said, "That was quite the hit."

Starly crashed into Fennekin and it was thrown in the air before it regained its footing and landed on all fours.

"Ember now!" The boy yelled and Fennekin yipped a happy "Fenne" before it opened its mouth and a burst of flame shot towards Starly who was too slow to dodge it.

A second later the Starly had fallen to the ground, clearly unconscious.

"Welp, it seems like Fennekin won." I said.

"Ralts!"

It was the first battle I had seen in this world, or atleast a real battle.

The girl recalled Starly and whispered something to the Pokéball, probably something along the lines of "Take a rest now." The boy for his part hugged his Fennekin who proudly smiled. The boy and girl congratulated each other and then departed. I stayed at the field for some time.

This battle left me with a lot of questions.

It confirmed something I had thought before, Pokémon can tank lethal moves without much trouble.

See, when that Fennekin crashed at full speed into Starly it should've crushed all the bones inside Starly's body. Normal birds have hollow bones so they aren't too heavy and I assumed that Starly had something similar being a bird Pokémon after all.

However, it did not break any bones nor did Fennekin's Ember burn Starly's feathers or burn its eyes out.

In a lot of ways it reminded me of RWBY.

In the show RWBY there was a thing called Aura which was the manifestation of the soul, lore bullshit aside it meant that the people in RWBY could tank bullets and survive lethal attacks as long as they had enough Aura. A shotgun blast to the face or scythe coming down on your head would only lower your Aura instead of decapitating you. If someone ran out of Aura however the attacks would land as they normally would.

Pokémon must have something similar, I suspected some kind of ultra thin force fields but that was just a theory, a Game-

"Ralts?" she asked.

"Oh, just theorizing." I patted her on the head. "Was thinking about the battle and the underlying mechanics. Anyway, what did you think of the battle?"

Ralts suddenly leaped off my shoulders and landed in front of me. She raised her fist and started fighting the air in front of her, yelling a few explosive "Ralts" to exaggerate her movements.

I grinned. "Yes, we will prevail and make this world crumble underneath our greatness!"

"RALTS!" Ralts cried out, her eyes practically shining.

"But first I gotta get some groceries."

I grabbed her and lifted her back to my shoulders.

We passed a few stores, one sold Pokémon merchandise, or was it just called regular Pokémon stuff in this world?

Another store was focused on camping stuff and the third store, the one I was looking for, sold food.

I entered the store and found what I was looking for.

Matpat once theorized that the Pokémon Dollar is not worth much compared to an American Dollar. He calculated that 100 Pokédollars was as much worth as 40 cents.

Turns out, he was wrong.

The Pokédollar was around the same value of a regular dollar, or euro. Of course I hadn't studied the economy here but just seeing the prices in the store it wasn't that different. I collected everything I needed, lifted the bag with my good arm and went to the counter to pay.

"Aaah," the old man behind the counter said. "The mysterious patient of the Sunbright Hospital."

The man was dressed in summer clothes, khaki shorts and a white polo shirt.

"Huh?"

"Ralts?"

The man beamed generously. "Just a jest kid."

"Okay…" I slowly replied, wondering what that was about. "Uh, you're supposed to send the bills to the hospital."

The man nodded. "So, if I may ask, how is it, staying at Sunbright Hospital?"

"Not really anything special?" I replied, wondering why he was asking. The man must have seen my confusion because he chuckled again.

"Is there anything wrong with me staying at the hospital?" I asked, getting a bit annoyed.

"Well, you're the first person to stay in that hospital for a long time." He explained after he calmed down, "so we all began to theorize what's so special about you."

I blinked, oh no, I smell an information dump coming in.

"What's so special about the hospital?" I said, which was the sign for the npc-I mean man to start his explanation.

"It's just that no one ever goes to hospital, and if they do they never stay."

Don't tell me it's haunted and that Hylla and Chelsea were dead all along.

"Why?"

The man shrugged, "It's not that something is wrong with the hospital. It's just that it's kind of unnecessary to have it here in this town. Almost an eyesore, we could have had a park on that hill."

I scowled. "Wait, how is a hospital unnecessary?"

"It's a small town," The man answered as he started to lean on the counter to make himself more comfortable. "The hospital is under equipped for anything serious so whenever people actually need help they go to the Hospital in Sandgem town. It's actually a mystery why it's still running considering that it just sucks up money right now."

"Who pays the hospital?" I asked. "Seems like a waste of money."

"The League," The man answered. "although we don't know why they refuse to close it."

So the League was involved with keeping the hospital open? Why?

It sounded like the League was some kind of governing body but why bother with a small hospital in this town? Was Hylla connected to the league? If she was, then how?

"Does Hylla work for the League?" I asked.

The man shrugged, "I don't know. We never see her in town, she always stays at the hospital. Her younger sister, Chelsea, always buys groceries."

"That's weird." I said,

"Yeah," The man agreed, "That's why we were so surprised that you were brought over to this hospital instead of the one in Sandgem town. "That along with the fact that Hylla appeared in town to do some shopping the same day you arrived, led us to theorize about you."

"Weird," I said. "She was pretty nice to me but it's indeed weird I've been sent to Sunbright Hospital with my condition."

The man shrugged. "So got some juicy details?"

I shook my head, not gonna give you something to talk about. Knowing how much this man loved gossiping the entire town would soon know. I thanked the man and headed back towards the town.

I tried to train Ralts a bit but even Ralts noticed I was too distracted with whatever the man had said.

Something was just wrong here. I couldn’t just relax without knowing what was going on here. I tried to study Ralts' Confusion move but I gave up after my thoughts kept going back to the mystery on hand.

Ralts and I headed back towards the hospital where I found Hylla sleeping in her chair again, though she had switched positions.

I considered waking her up but I saw a layout of the building hanging on the wall. Using the layout I found the kitchen pretty easily. I placed all the stuff I had bought in the fridge.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, I played outside with Ralts and I had her spam Confusion to see her limits. Around the end of noon I was called for dinner which turned out to happen just at a regular table instead of my own bed. It was almost as if I was back home, instead of being a patient in another world.

It was pretty chill, all things considered, just eating like I wasn't on the edge of dying but I couldn't help but feel suspicious.

"So, what do you think of Sunbright town?" Hylla asked me.

I shrugged. "It's nice, though small."

"It's a shithole." Chelsea grinned, "come on, you can say it."

I blinked, "well, that's one way to call it."

"Saved me lots of time though," Chelsea complained. "The people in town are so boring."

I couldn't really deny it, though I haven't spoken to anyone really. Except the weird man at the store but that doesn't count.

"So, anything special happened?" Hylla asked and her purple eyes stared into mine, it was an innocent question but it felt like she was looking for something.

I shrugged, "Saw a Pokémon battle, Fennekin vs Starly."

"Ah, Thomas and Melon. They love to have their battles in the open." Hylla said, "They always hold their battles around noon sunday." Wait, the girl is named Melon? Now that is weird.

"Oh, well the girl with the Starly lost anyway," I told them.

"Ra Ralt." Ralts confirmed, happily eating the weird Pokéfood Chelsea had given her.

"That's like the only thing that ever happens here," Chelsea complained.

"Well, boring is better than danger." Hylla argued.

"Ugh, if only there came some Pokémon to wreck this town, at least I would have something to do."

Hylla ignored Chelsea's remark and pointed her gaze at me, "Oh, before I forget. You got a gift sent to you from The Sinnoh Bird club. I left it in your room to open it."

"Huh, wonder what that's about."

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

The letter that came with the box was kind of simple, apparently it was sent by the woman and guy who I had called on the radio. They wished me the best regards and a fast recovery.

As I had thought, they were part of some bird spotting group in Sinnoh. Not my cup of tea, but they did pull through and saved my life.

I opened the large cardboard box and found inside...a Pidgey plush? It was smaller than a real Pidgey but still quite big. It felt soft and I squished it.

"Ralts?" Ralts asked as she studied the plush.

"It's a gift from the Sinnoh Bird spotting club," I told her as I threw her the plush.

She caught it and began hugging it. "Ralts!" she cried out.

Wasn't Gardevoir called the Embrace Pokémon?

I glanced at Ralts who was trying to merge with the cute Pidgey plush, yeah I can see why they would call her that. Curious for myself I took the Pidgey plush and tried to give it a hug myself, though I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Ralts did, it was still quite soft and warm.

"So, want to sleep in your ball or-" I began but Ralts has already claimed a part on my hospital bed.

I blinked, "Don't assume anything." I answered and I ignored all the things I knew were coming.

I hopped onto the bed with the Pidgey plush when my heart froze.

"Ralts?" Ralts asked, when she noticed my sudden shift in emotion.

I forced myself to think about something happy so Ralts wouldn't notice. She still did but didn't mention it.

I felt cold inside, a feeling of dread was filling my mind, still I tried to act as normal as I could. I placed the plush back on the chair and layed down on the bed.

"Ralts?" Ralts whispered, apparently noticing me trying to force my emotions.

"Nothing," I told her. "Just nervous for tomorrow."

Ralts gave me a skeptical look before closing her eyes, any other day I would complain about Ralts sleeping in my bed but my mind was now a mess.

I closed my eyes but I didn't feel relaxed in the slightest. My mind kept wandering to the things I had heard in the grocery store.

I should've been excited about starting my own Pokémon adventure but I couldn't shake it.

That along with the fact that Hylla appeared in town to do some shopping the same day you arrived led us to theorize about you. The man had said.

As I tried to fall asleep my thoughts kept going back to the Pidgey plush.

When I peered through the cracks in my eye lids I saw it sitting in the chair I had placed it in. There was a store in town that sold Pokémon merchandise, a store that probably sold Pidgey plusiesh.

I tried to think of a reason, an explanation, a hypothesis but my mind kept going in circles.

It kept going back to the Pidgey plush I had hugged. I had hugged it tightly, and found that a part on its back could be opened,out of curiosity I put my hand inside and felt what was inside it.

I opened my eyes again and stared back at the Pidgey Plush.

The Pidgey plush with a camera inside.