Into the Dark - A Pokemon Isekai

Thankfully, hobbling down the hall to the Vespiquen’s room wasn’t nearly as painful as I had been expecting it to be. As it turns out, even though Berries weren’t as effective on Humans as they were for Pokémon, some Oran Berries and a couple of muscle relaxants went a long way to making me be able to walk again.

Although I still had some doubts about this world letting fifteen year-olds go out on their own, I couldn’t complain about their healthcare.

Roark had tagged along with Nurse Joy and I, stating that he wanted to see what was going to happen. Considering he was the Gym Leader and probably had the strongest Pokémon in the city, I wasn’t going to ask him to stay back.

The Pokémon Center in Oreburgh City was a lot larger than the one in Sandgem Town, closer to a small hospital rather than a walk-in clinic, and the room in which the Vespiquen and the Combee were resting resembled a greenhouse more than it did a hospital room. It made sense too; if the Pokémon Center was used to helping wild Pokémon you wouldn’t want to keep them in an aesthetically sterile place which would stress them out even more.

Now that the Vespiquen was awake it was amazing how much she actually looked like a queen. She was lounging on a thick tree branch while Combee buzzed around her, and her vivid red eyes danced brightly with intelligence.

A police officer was standing nervously a few yards away from the tree, and two other people were standing nearby. One was obviously an anxious Pokémon Trainer, and the other was… well something felt wrong to me when I looked at them. It was almost a case of the uncanny valley, where they looked human but something wasn’t quite right.

I didn’t really have a chance to examine them further, as the Vespiquen started a strange dance of all things as we entered the room, and the rest of the Combee followed suit, wiggling their bodies in mid-air.

“Her Majesty bids you welcome.” The strange person said.

“Er, hello.” I said, and awkwardly bowed.

The Vespiquen buzzed her wings, and made some clicking noises with her mandible, and shook her abdomen while the strange man listened with a cocked head.

“Her Majesty has heard the tales of your bravery and how you have saved her and her hive. Her Majesty would like to extend her sincere thanks for your actions.”

The voice was strange, with emphasis placed on the wrong words and coming off almost stilted.

“I… thank you? It was what anybody would do, I’m sure.”

“Her Majesty says that you are too humble, but she will grant you a boon for your service regardless. Make your request, and if it is within her power to fulfill, she shall do so.”

“I thank you, uh, your majesty, but I don’t think there is anything that I want or need.”

She buzzed and danced for a long while, until the strange person finally spoke.

“That may be so, but she still insists on granting you a boon. As you have not decided upon a favor, she will grant you one of her own volition.”

The Vespiquen lazily waved one insectoid arm and one of the Combee, the one I recognized as the helpful one from the day before, buzzed down to eye level.

“This Combee has requested that Her Majesty grant her a leave of absence, despite the great deal of work that needs to be done with the reconstruction of the hive. Normally Her Majesty would be reluctant to send away a worker in such a dire time, but there are a number of circumstances that have rendered this request acceptable.”

I blinked several times, trying to make sense of what was happening.

“So you’re just… giving her up?”

The Vespiquen danced angrily.

“No, Her Majesty would never just “give up” one of her brood. However, she has deemed you worthy of assisting one of her daughters in gaining experience in more practical affairs rather than the theoretical. It is the wish of all mothers that their children succeed them, and Her Majesty hopes that with your aid, this Combee shall become a Vespiquen unlike all others.”

I looked around at the other people for aid, only to find Roark winking at me and nodding.

“Er, thank you, Your Majesty. I… accept this duty entrusted to me?”

“Very well. You are dismissed. Chirurgeon Joy and the translators will remain to ensure that my brood is fully healthy before we depart again.”

Feeling a bit stunned, I bowed again with the rest of the people, and stepped out of the room with Roark on one side and a Combee on the other.

/^\

“Vespiquen.” Roark scoffed when the door closed behind us.

“Is that kind of behavior normal?” I asked, a little confused.

“I’ve never known one that didn’t act like they ruled the world.”

The Combee buzzed angrily at Roark, all three faces frowning.

“I’m sorry if I offended you, but it’s true.”

“So, Combee.” I said, looking over at the flying Pokémon and trying to ignore the Gym Leader unintentionally antagonizing my Pokémon. “You want to travel with me?”

Two of the faces lit up with excitement, while the third continued to glare at Roark.

“Okay, well, if you do want to come with me, you’ll have to have a Poké Ball. You won’t need to be in it all the time!” I said hurriedly as another face frowned. “But it’s for your safety.”

I tried to think of something that was suitably… royal.

“Think of it as your very own palanquin!”

Roark screwed up his face in thought. “Is that a Pokémon?”

“No, back when there were still queens and kings they used to have these boxes in which they would be carried around in. Like a car, except people would literally lift them up to move them.”

“Oh, is that one of those Galar or Ransei things?”

I blanked, before realizing that Galar was probably one of the only regions where they actually had a somewhat similar kind of royalty to Earth, and Ransei was still a feudal society.

“Yeah, something like that.”

The Combee buzzed in thought, before bobbing up and down in a pseudo-nod.

“Great.” I fished out one of my Poké Balls, and held it up. “If you’re really sure about this, just touch the button on the front there.”

She flew closer and pressed her bottom face, the one with the red mark on its forehead, against the button.

With a flash of light she disappeared into the Poké Ball, and after a second it chimed as she was successfully captured. I let her out of the Ball a moment later, and she happily buzzed around me.

“I guess you need a name now.” I said, trying to think of one.

“That’s on you.” Roark said with a smile. “I suppose I’ll let you go though, now that this crisis has ended. Hopefully we’ll see each other again later, during the Gym Challenge.”

“We’ll see.”

“I don’t normally interrogate Trainers coming into the city, but if you don’t mind me asking, why are you in Oreburgh?”

I waffled back and forth for a second while I decided what to say. “I’ve heard rumors that there are some Pokémon around here that I was interested in catching.”

“Oh? I’m guessing it’s not a Combee.”

“No, not at all.”

“I see.”

He narrowed his eyes and waited for a moment, but I wasn’t going to tell him that I was looking for a Gible. Roark, the Gym Leader who was famous for mining and caving, would probably know exactly where I could find one, but at the same time he might try and tell me that I couldn’t look for one.

“Well, I wish you the best of luck.” Roark said eventually. “Although I would beg you not to bring any more complications to my city or do anything too risky. We’ve had enough upsets in the past couple months, and I’d like to have at least a couple weeks of peace and quiet.”

“I can certainly try to do that.”

Something chimed, and Roark looked at his wrist where a severely beat-up Pokétch was beeping. He pressed a couple buttons, then frowned.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Ah, it’s nothing really. One of the air exchangers is on the fritz, and we’re going to have to stop mining operations in that area until we get it fixed.”

Frowning, I remembered the blue vents that allowed people and Pokémon to breathe clean air in the tunnels underneath the city. “Do you need any help? I don’t know much about, well anything, but I can offer a pair of hands.”

“Ha!” I frowned at the man’s laughter, but he just patted me on the shoulder. “I appreciate the offer, but we have plenty of technicians and mechanics. The most annoying thing is that it’ll put a delay into the schedule. In fact, I might as well just give the entire mining crew a day off or two.”

“But won’t that cause problems?”

He shrugged. “There might be some complaints, but the health of my workers is my foremost concern. It’s too risky to keep them working with a malfunctioning vent. They’ll still get paid for the days off, it’s not their fault that the machinery isn’t working right.”

That was… generous. Extremely generous, especially when compared to the corporations back on Earth. They probably would have forced the workers to keep going even in the bad conditions, or if they did give the miners a day or two off the miners it certainly wouldn’t have been a paid break.

Roark sighed and continued. “No, it’s not really a problem, but it does mean I’ll have to fill out some more forms. The paperwork never ends. Have a good day, Ms. Knighton.”

“You as well.”

Roark hurried off, leaving me alone in the hallway. For my part, I simply sighed and leaned against the wall, feeling the exhaustion of the past day deep in my bones.

Then the door opened, and Nurse Joy, the Trainer, and the strange person all left the room, looking harried.

“Where is Leader Roark?” Nurse Joy asked.

“He had some paperwork he had to get to, something about the ventilator fans.” I explained. “He just left.”

“Paperwork? Ah, that explains it.” Nurse Joy shook her head, then dug out a miniaturized Poké Ball from a pocket in her apron. “With all the excitement regarding the Vespiquen, I nearly forgot, your Eevee is all rested up.”

Eagerly I grabbed the Ball and opened it, and Venus appeared in a flash of light. With a happy purr she rubbed her head against my leg.

“Your Pokémon’s love does you credit.” The strange person said with a strange cadence, and I gave them a side-eye.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to offend, but how do you know?”

They offered a strange, inhuman kind of smile, and shimmered.

Like a heat haze lifting off of the ground, the person dissolved, and in their place was standing a hunched, strangely vulpine black form with a long flowing red mane.

The Zoroark’s grin sent shivers down my spine, and it was all I could do to not jump away in surprise and terror.

The trainer, off to one side, sighed.

“Please forgive Sombra.” He said with an accent that almost seemed Spanish. “He can be quite annoying when he feels like it.”

The Zoroark turned to his trainer with a frown, and smacked him on the arm.

“Or just do what I do, and ignore him.” The man continued, before sticking out his hand to shake. “Pleased to meet you, my name is Alejandro.”

For the first time I actually looked at him, and was surprised at how normal he looked compared to some of the more… anime-esque figures that I had seen so far. The Nurse Joy’s and Officer Jenny’s stood out in particular, with their naturally pink and green hair respectively. Alejandro on the other hand had dark skin and nearly black hair, and was wearing simple dark brown trousers, a tan button-down shirt, and a worn leather jacket.

“Alina.” I said, taking his hand. “Pleased to meet you as well, Sombra. This is Venus.”

Venus, who had jumped behind my legs upon seeing the transformation of the Zoroark, stepped forwards curiously, sniffing at the much larger Pokémon. Sombra, for his part, crouched down and began to purr and snarl at Venus, who responded with her own purrs.

Alejandro rolled his eyes. “And now he will be gossiping for ages, I swear. As soon as he gets a chance he’ll talk anybody’s ears off.”

I smiled, then gestured towards the room we had all just come from. “Do you do this kind of thing often?”

“What, arbitrate meetings between Pokémon and humans?”

“Yeah.”

He shrugged. “It’s one of the services we provide. I’m not from around here as you can probably guess by my accent; we’re actually from Paldea. Sombra and I travel the world in search of artifacts, but we often end up taking these kinds of jobs to help pay our way.”

“You’re an archaeologist?”

“I am! Specializing in historical Pokémon/human relations.”

“Ah, I’m guessing that’s why you’re here in Sinnoh then.”

“That would be correct.” Alejandro nodded seriously. “Sinnoh has a long and storied history with humans and Pokémon coexisting together. Sombra and I both have an interest in these kinds of studies, and his ability to talk to both humans and Pokémon opens a lot more doors that would normally be closed.”

That… was actually really interesting, and I said as much.

“Well thank you!” Alejandro beamed at the praise. “Most people don’t see the value in such research. A lot of times, especially in places like Unova, there’s a focus on looking forwards to the future, and not enough people pay attention to our past.”

His phone beeped, and Alejandro frowned as he pulled out his Rotom Phone and checked the screen.

“Unfortunately I think Sombra and I have to go, we have another meeting soon. Do you have anything to keep in touch? I do appreciate knowing that there are other Trainers who are interested in my kind of research.”

“I have a Poké Gear.” I said, fishing the old device out of my pocket.

“Oh, that’s practically in my field of study!”

I suppressed a grimace that, yet again, I was far behind the curve when it came to technology, but we were able to exchange phone numbers. For Alejandro it was much simpler, all he had to do was press his phone against mine and the Rotom in his phone automatically downloaded my number and added it to his contact list. I, on the other hand, had to negotiate through several sub-menus just to be able to add a new number to my contacts.

After an embarrassing minute of dealing with the phones, Alejandro and Sombra waved their goodbyes.

“Well.” I said to Venus and the Combee after the two left. “I think it’s time for us to have a talk.”

/^\

Oreburgh City was a beautiful town in a very strange way, mixing nature and industry together to create one cohesive aesthetic. The mountain towered overhead, like a miniature version of Mount Coronet, and thick streams of smoke emerged from countless smoke stacks spread out across the city.

I had recalled Combee after a minute of leaving the Pokémon Center once she had started getting overwhelmed with the sights and sounds of the city.

The roads were obviously sized up to support bulldozers and other mining equipment, but there were trees and healthy patches of grass lining the roads, and bird Pokémon like Starly chirped happily in the branches. Everywhere I looked it was obviously a mining town that should have looked depressing, like so many back in my world, but instead it was as if the industry of Oreburgh City had nestled comfortably alongside the natural beauty of the landscape, instead of imposing itself on it.

Once again, I marveled at this world’s beauty and connection to nature.

As we walked down the sidewalks of the city, people and Pokémon went about their daily lives, as happy as they could be. We passed a tall brick and stone building that had a very art-deco feel to it, with a massive bronze plaque mounted above the doors declaring it to be the Oreburgh City Gym. Empty patches of ground were cleared out around it, where a number of low-intensity battles were taking place. Most of the Trainers were local miners with a scattering of Rock- and Ground-types, but I did see a few people who looked like they were from out of town, like one battling with a Scyther of all things.

A city-wide horn blared, startling everybody including myself, but all of the miners began cheering so Venus and I exchanged a look and kept walking. A few minutes later, streams of miners left the massive opening in the side of the mountain, laughing and singing Roark’s praises for giving them the day off.

Eventually Venus and I settled down in a small park near the outskirts of town, where it was relatively quiet enough to have a talk.

“Okay, well this is a little different than how I was expecting this to go.” I said to Venus, who cocked her head, obviously confused.

I held out the other Poké Ball, and released Combee.

“First, introductions. Venus, this is Combee, she doesn’t have a name yet but she’ll be traveling with us. Combee, this is Venus, she helped me in saving your queen. Hopefully you two should already be a little familiar with each other.”

Venus yipped a greeting, and Combee did a mid-air dance in response.

“Please try and get along, because hopefully there will be more Pokémon joining us in the future.”

Combee’s three faces merely looked inquisitive, but Venus had a hurt expression so I hurriedly explained.

“It’s not that you’re not good enough! You’ll always be my first Pokémon, and I’ll always love you. But sometimes we might get into situations like last night where we don’t have the skills. A Water-type could have stopped that fire from getting any worse, or a Fire-type could have made some smoke to knock out the rest of the Combee.”

She frowned, but nodded slowly.

“Combee will help us with some of those skills, but I was thinking about trying to find a Gible, have either of you ever heard of one?”

Venus shook her head, and Combee wiggled her whole body in what I guessed was a negative.

“That’s okay, they’re very rare after all and they’re mostly found underground. Gible are Dragon-type Pokémon, and are very strong.”

The two Pokémon nodded seriously.

“I think I’ve been lax in my responsibility as a Trainer recently, and I’m sorry about that. So what we’re going to do is some actual training for battles, and we might even try battling some of the local trainers. I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to do, but I think we should work on both of your speeds. Venus, hopefully you’ll soon be able to learn a move called Quick Attack, which should prove handy.”

I wasn’t sure exactly how levels worked in this world. Obviously they were a game mechanic back where I was from, but after some careful questioning and online research back in Sandgem Town I had learned that they weren’t a thing here. If you wanted your Pokémon to learn a new move you either used a TM, or you practiced and trained a lot to learn it the old fashioned way. The rest of training to build up strength and HP was daily practice, working out, and eating healthy.

“In general, I think the faster you can be, the better. Sounds good?”

Venus nodded, apparently happy with the idea, and Combee just looked happy to get stronger.

I thought for a minute about what I knew of Combee as I turned to the waiting Pokémon.

“I’m not sure about what we’ll do for you, but I think speed work is also going to be important. If I’m being honest, you weren’t exactly part of the plan when I set out, but I’m happy to have you here.”

Combee danced, and thankfully she didn’t seem too upset.

“Would you like a name for yourself though?”

She stilled in mid-air except for her wings beating in a mesmerizing pattern, until all three of her faces lit up in excitement.

“Okay, let’s see here. Combee, bees, Vespiquen, queens? How does Elizabeth sound?”

She shook her body violently.

“Okay, that’s a no then. Catherine? Mary? Boudicca? Cleopatra?”

I struggled as each name got a negative response, and tried to pull out every last bit of memory from my old social studies class. Not for the first time I cursed the inadequacies of the US school system.

“The only other famous queen I can think of is Wu Zetian, but I think she was technically an empress?”

Three faces lit up in eager anticipation, but it was the look in the lower face’s eyes that had me a little worried. That pair of eyes was excited, but also hungry in a way that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

“Okay, well Wu is a family name and I don’t know if you already have one, so how about just Zetian?”

Zetian buzzed around me ecstatically, and I smiled.

“Great, Zetian it is. Despite what I just said, it’s been a busy day so we’re not going to do any training today. Instead I think we’re going to scout out the cave.”

Venus and Zetian nodded again, and we started our way out of the city and towards the Wayward Cave. In the games, the cave had been located in a hidden underpass beneath the cycling road. I wasn’t sure that would still be the same here, but it was the best idea that I had.

Of course, the games were much more condensed than the world actually was. It took over an hour to leave the city in order to just to reach the official cycling road itself, and as I looked at the scope of the task before me I suddenly felt a lot less sure of my plan.

The thing about a hidden entrance to the Wayward Cave was that it was hidden. I knew where it was in the games, but not where it was in reality. And as I learned over and over again, this world was most certainly not the same as the games.

The cycling road was a massive construction of concrete and metal that loomed overhead, leaving plenty of room for nature and hiking trails underneath. It could have honestly rivaled some of the larger highways from my old world, and stretched far into the distance until it curved around some hills and mountains. And unfortunately for me, there was a lot of ground to cover underneath the cycling road where a cave could be hidden.

It could take days, or even weeks to find the entrance, and then I had to actually get into the cave, find where the Gible were living, and convince one to come with me.

“On second thought.” I said, feeling a little light-headed. “I think we should start searching tomorrow.”