Into the Dark - A Pokemon Isekai

The response to the situation ended up being a lot bigger than I thought it would have. I was personally expecting a couple of police officers, maybe a Ranger, and perhaps one of those armored vans to take Greer and Hawg away.

I was not expecting for dozens of police, Rangers, medics, and Aether Foundation personnel to descend on the campsite over the next hour or so.

“Of all the calls I was planning for today.” A tall woman with dark green hair in a sharp blue pantsuit approached where I was sitting with the Eevee in my lap. “A lone trainer managing to take out a gang of poachers was certainly not it.”

It was hard to close my mouth as I stared at the woman, recognizing who she was even if she did seem quite a bit older than the anime had shown. “Officer Jenny?”

She smiled, and pulled out a leather wallet, flipping it open to reveal a fancy gold badge. “Commissioner Jenny actually. Officer Jenny is my daughter.”

At my confused look she laughed. “Don’t worry about it, just a bad joke. I was called in from Jubilife City once the situation was fully revealed.”

“Aren’t Commissioners supposed to be in charge of the entire police force?”

“Usually, yes.”

“No offense then, but what are you doing here then?”

Thankfully she seemed amused at my question, not insulted. “I suppose normally you would be right, but this is a bit of a special situation. I’ve been trying to hunt down Kane for decades, and took some time out of my schedule to take a look around.”

I blinked at that. “You’ve had problems with him before?”

“With Kane? Oh yes, you could say that there’s a long history there. There’s been times when we’ve almost had him, but he seems to specialize in getting away just in the nick of time. Unfortunately while we did find the truck you reported by a makeshift dock, the boat that was moored there had left by the time we arrived.”

I grimaced. “So Kane’s in the wind then?”

“So far. But I wouldn’t worry about that, we’ll find him again.”

“Oh, okay. What about the Pokémon?”

“They’re doing well, for now.”

When the first police officer had appeared on the back of a Staraptor I had been shocked at the swiftness of the response. Only fifteen minutes had gone by after telling the dispatcher my position, and there was already somebody there to help out. He had quickly looked at the situation and decided almost immediately that it was too big for just him. So he called more police, who called the Rangers, who called the Aether Foundation.

Soon there was a hubbub of activity going on at the campsite while the police checked out the computer and the supplies for any information and the Rangers and Aether Foundation collaborated in trying to figure out what to do with the captured Pokémon.

I wasn’t expecting there to be the white-clothed Aether Foundation members, since they were based out of Alola, but a couple of careful questions revealed that they actually had branches in most of the main regions. While I wondered when in the timeline I was, and whether or not the leader of organization Lusamine was crazy or not, I did remember from the games that most of the average employees of the foundation were actually good people.

They just wanted to help Pokémon and worked with the Rangers in conservation efforts, and most of them didn’t know that their boss wanted to summon a bunch of Ultra Beasts. Right now they were trying to work with the Rangers to figure out how to return the captured Pokémon to their natural habitats without causing any more trauma.

I had been seen to myself since when the Mightyena had clawed at my face it had apparently done more damage than I had realized. Three long cuts now crossed the right side of my face, only just missing my eye. The only reason why I hadn’t noticed was that I was so hopped up on adrenaline that my mind had simply skipped over the pain to focus on making sure all the Pokémon were okay. Now that I was resting though my face was throbbing with pain, and it was only the presence of the pain meds the medics had given me and the cute Eevee in my lap that was keeping me upright. The Rangers and Aether Foundation workers had broken out Potions and other healing items to take care of the wounded Pokémon, and had also helped treat me.

They had sprayed some of the stuff on my face, and while it had burned like crazy, I was told that I would make a full recovery, and the scars wouldn’t even be visible after a week or two. Pokémon medical technology was way more impressive than back home. Thankfully they also managed to get some clothes that would fit me better than my old, massively oversized outfit, although I wasn’t too keen on how white the Aether Foundation uniform looked on my already pale skin.

“That’s good.” I said to Commissioner Jenny, realizing that I had been quiet for a little too long. “I would be a little careful with that Houndoom though, he belonged to Kane but he wasn’t treated well.”

“That’s what the Rangers said you told them.” Commissioner Jenny nodded. “Impressive that you managed to get him to turn against his owner though.”

I shrugged awkwardly. “It wasn’t really my doing, they had done most of the work for me by treating him so badly. I just gave him the last little push to realize that life didn’t have to be that way.”

“Still, you should be happy. You did well.”

Smiling, I dipped my head in thanks. “What will happen to him?”

“He’ll be taken to a reserve where they specialize in mistreated Pokémon. Without his Poké Ball we can’t release him immediately, but they’ll work with him and make sure he’s both healthy and can function in society again. If he can’t make that last step towards recovery, he’ll be kept at the reserve where he can live out his days in comfort.”

A weight felt like it had been taken off my shoulders with her words. “That’s great, thank you.”

“Your compassion speaks volumes, although I would be careful in the future. Not every mistreated Pokémon is so willing to come around to those who would help them.”

“Yeah, I will be.”

Commissioner Jenny pursed her lips, looking me up and down critically. “Although I did a little digging, and I must say your story has some interesting holes in it.”

That got a wince from me, even though I knew this conversation had been coming. “Let me guess, you couldn’t find me in the system?”

“Not at all.”

I sighed, looking up at the clear sky. “This is going to be a complicated explanation. I know it’s unusual, but do you think you could convince Professor Rowan to come here?”

She raised an eyebrow at the request. “Professor Rowan? The Pokémon Professor?”

“That’s the one.”

“The one in Sandgem Town?”

“Is there another Professor Rowan somewhere else?”

Commissioner Jenny shook her head. “No, but you’re right, this is certainly an unusual request.”

“Trust me, it’s about to get a lot stranger.”

/^\

It took a couple of hours to get Professor Rowan on the phone, explain to him the situation, and manage to convince him that it really was worth him dropping everything he was doing to come and talk to me. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do any of that.

No, I instead left that to Commissioner Jenny, who actually knew the man. For my part I managed to get some food out of the Aether Foundation medics, split it with the Eevee who refused to leave my side, and was finally able to get some sleep. It had been a long, long day, and I hadn’t even realized how tired I was until I woke up and the sun was starting to set. Eevee had been curled up against me while we both slept, but now stretched and let out a tiny little yawn. I smiled at the display and ruffled it’s fur while thanking the Ranger who had stopped by to wake me up.

By the time I got the Eevee settled in my arms and made my way to Kane’s tent, which had been appropriated by Commissioner Jenny after the computer had been moved out of it, Professor Rowan had already landed and gotten off his Staraptor.

He was an intimidating man, I had to admit. Tall, with severe features that were only enhanced by the white mustache and mutton chops, he seemed the very picture of a perpetually tired and annoyed college professor. Which I guess he basically was, when it really came down to it.

“Jenny.” He said with a professional nod as he entered the tent, then eyed me. “Who’s this?”

“That is what we’re about to find out.” Jenny said, and the professor turned his full attention on me.

It was a lot more unnerving than I expected it to be, and I found myself at a loss for words as it felt like he was systematically dissecting me.

The Eevee butted it’s head against my hand and I idly scratched it’s head, using the action as a distraction from my thoughts, and soon I was able to take a deep breath in.

“My name is Alina Knighton. You won’t find me in any of the databases, no matter where you look. This is going to be really strange to hear, and trust me I’m still wrapping my head around it myself. The truth is that I’m not originally from this world. A couple days ago, before I met these poachers, I was coming back from my job in my home, then I was here in the forest.”

Commissioner Jenny reacted pretty much the way I expected her to, incredulity, suspicion, concern, doubt, all flickered across her face during my explanation until she seemed to finally settle on a bemused tolerance of the situation.

Professor Rowan on the other hand, didn’t react at all in the same way. Instead his brow just furrowed slightly, and he leaned in a little closer.

“Did you see any Pokémon before you arrived?” He asked to my surprise.

“Uh, no, not that I can remember.”

“Hm. Fascinating.”

I was thrown a little off-kilter by the simple acceptance he was showing.

“If you don’t mind me asking Rowan, you seem to be taking this rather well.” Commissioner Jenny asked, apparently feeling the same way. “Do you know something that might be relevant here?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes. Two things, actually. The first is a record from centuries ago, back when Sinnoh was still called Hisui. I was looking into Pokémon evolutions and records of certain kinds of Pokémon having different forms in the past, like they do now in Galar and Alola. One of my predecessors, one Professor Laventon, wrote in a private journal of how a strange visitor appeared one day, wearing clothes and carrying a device unfamiliar to them.”

I started. That was the plot of Pokémon Legends: Arceus!

People online had joked about the “Pokémon Isekai Game,” but I wasn’t expecting anybody to actually know about it here.

Wait, is that what happened to me?

“The other thing,” Professor Rowan said, interrupting my thoughts. “Is that my colleague Professor Birch in Hoenn called me up a day ago, and had the most remarkable story to share. Apparently some of the Trainers he was looking after told him the most remarkable story of a Pokémon that has the ability to grant wishes. There was apparently quite a to-do, but it has resolved itself well enough.”

And that’s the plot of Jirachi: Wish Maker!

“Now normally I would have chalked that up to childish flights of fancy, blowing events out of proportion, except for the fact that there are also records of a Pokémon from a thousand years ago that was able to grant wishes. And the Millennium Comet appeared in the sky a week ago, for the first time in a thousand years.”

I breathed out, amazed. “So you think that Jirachi brought me here? That it somehow heard a wish that I had made?”

“Exactly. As ridiculous as it may sound on the surface, while these kinds of events are very rare they’re not unheard of. As well, when you live in a world as full of mystery as the one we do, well it’s better to keep an open mind to these kinds of things.”

Commissioner Jenny seemed to take a little bit longer to get used to the idea, but she eventually nodded as well. For my part, I was finding hard to understand why they were so willing to accept it. I mean, these things just didn’t happen! There are no strange phenomena that can only be explained by literal legends warping reality!

My head started to hurt at the thoughts, and I pushed them away to deal with for another time.

“Okay.” I said. “Accepting that all that is true, and I really don’t know how to feel about that, what is going to happen to me now?”

Commissioner Jenny and Professor Rowan shared a look. “Well,” the Commissioner said. “What do you want to do now?”

My mouth flopped open and closed like a fish as I stared at her. “What do you mean what do I want to do? What are you going to do with me?”

“I was originally worried because I couldn’t find anything on you.” Commissioner Jenny explained. “I thought that was because you were a criminal of some kind, or an InterPol agent working undercover. That was worrying to me, but now…”

She shrugged. “Do you plan on breaking the law?”

“No.”

“Then it’s not really my place to figure this out, I guess. I’m sure I’ll be having nightmares about the concept that people can just appear out of nowhere and the very idea of gods coming to life to change the world by granting wishes, but that’s for me to deal with.”

“But… I…”

“I must admit it’s not exactly my area of expertise either.” Professor Rowan said. “My focus is on Pokémon evolutions, not the possibility of different dimensions. You’d want Professor Burnet in Alola for that. I would have said Professor Mohn, but he unfortunately disappeared several years ago.”

I spluttered some more. “You’re taking this entirely too calmly!”

“And what are we supposed to do?” The professor said. “Gnash our teeth and pull out our hair? I’m sorry if you think we aren’t taking this seriously, but I assure you we are. However the thing you have to know is that this isn’t an entirely unknown situation to us. Just several years ago the weather was completely disturbed when the Legendary Birds became imbalanced, and Lugia had to restore order. I have a research assistant who is investigating Elgeym and Beheeyem, and she’s insistent that they are tied to the reports of UFO crashes in Unova fifty years ago. Seemingly impossible things happen every day.”

“Then… what am I supposed to do?” I said weakly.

Commissioner Jenny gave me a reassuring smile, and laid her hand on my other shoulder. “Whatever you’d like to do, Alina. If you want I can pull some strings, get you registered as a resident of Sinnoh. If not, we can work out a way to get you anywhere you want to go. Maybe Alola, if you want to try and make your way back home with Professor…?”

“Professor Burnet.”

“Professor Burnet. The fact of the matter is that you’re an adult, we can’t make any decisions for you. If you were a child then I’m sure we would be having a different conversation right now.”

I wavered, trying to think of what I should do. In all of my thoughts about what would happen if I told somebody that I wasn’t from this world, I didn’t expect them to be so blasé about it. On the one hand, getting recommended to somebody who was more capable of dealing with this was greatly appealing. I could let them figure out what to do, let them decide what I would be doing with the rest of my life.

But on the other… people always talked about moving somewhere new to reinvent themselves. I had taken hormones and had surgeries to try and show the true me, but you could never really escape your past. I knew that from experience. But now I had the body I should have been born in and the opportunity to really make decisions for myself in a way that I had never had before.

It felt… liberating. Terrifying in a way, but the thought of exploring a new world lit a fire in me.

Nervous energy seemed to well up inside by chest, but I shook my head. “No, I think I’ll be good. I want to do this myself.”

It was the scariest sentence I had ever spoken, but Professor Rowan and Commissioner Jenny seemed to take it in stride.

“Alright then, I’ll talk to my people, get some documents sorted out.” Commissioner Jenny said with a smile.

“You’ll need a place to stay for a little bit.” The professor said. “I have a spare place at my lab since one of my assistants is out in the field. While the Commissioner here gets you your papers, I’ll make sure you’re actually okay. I don’t have a lot of equipment for measuring these kinds of things, but I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.” I said, nearly choking back a sob as the enormity of what these people who didn’t know who I was were doing for me sunk in.

“Come now,” Commissioner Jenny said with a smile. “We look out for both people and Pokémon here. Want to know how I know you’re not a real troublemaker?”

“How?”

She pointed to the Eevee in my arms. “Pokémon are generally good judges of character. If you really did mean to cause any trouble, it wouldn’t be nearly so attached to you.”

The tears did start to fall then.

“I’ll go get the accommodations sorted.” Professor Rowan said gruffly, and stepped out of the tent.

“It’s okay.” Commissioner Jenny said, guiding me to the bed where I sat down heavily.

The Eevee in my arms nuzzled it’s head closer into my chest, and I held it tightly as I started to cry.

“I can’t imagine what it’s been like these past few days.” Jenny continued. “I mean, getting transported to another world, only to end up being captured by poachers and kept in a cage?”

“I was terrified.” I sobbed. “Not of the poachers, but I just didn’t want this to be fake. I didn’t want it to be taken away from me.”

“I’m sure you were.” She said gently. “But it’s okay now, this is real. What you’re feeling right now is shock. You’ve been through a traumatic experience, several really, and your mind is trying to make sense of it all. Just let it out, it’ll be okay.”

Commissioner Jenny must have had a lot of things to do, but she sat there and let me cry into her shoulder and murmured words of encouragement the entire time. Eevee also licked my hands as I petted it.

I don’t know how long I sat there and tried to cope with what had happened over the past two days, but by the time my tears stopped, I was exhausted, and quickly slipped into a peaceful slumber.

/^\

“She’s had a rough go of it.” Rowan said, looking at the girl fast asleep on the cot.

Alina wasn’t really that young, but the older Rowan got the younger, the new generations seemed to become.

“That she has.” Jenny said from beside him. “Still, it’s remarkable that within a day of being captured, she managed to convince a Houndoom to turn it’s coat and captured two of the poachers.”

“Indeed it is. I’m going to have to keep an eye on her.”

“Do you think she’ll be okay?”

“I think so.” Rowan said after a minute. “Especially if she has that Eevee with her. You and I both know the benefits that having a Pokémon as a partner can provide. Not just in a physical way, but as somebody who will listen to you and support you.”

“Coming from another world… I can’t imagine it.”

“Neither can I. But like I said, it’s not entirely unheard of. There’s a phenomenon in Alola that I’ve heard rumors of, a similar kind of experience.”

He eyed the Aether Foundation workers around them with a critical eye. Rowan had never fully trusted the white-clad conservationists, it always seemed like they had an ulterior motive, although he hadn’t managed to figure it out yet.

“Do you really think that she could live a normal life? I mean if she did go on a Journey, she would be nearly a decade older than any of the other new trainers. And even if she could… do you really think we should let her?”

Rowan mulled over her words, so similar to the same thoughts that he had been having. But when it came down to it…

“It’s not our place to decide.” He said firmly. “We let children go out into the world when they’re young because it helps teach them the way of the world and to form their connection with Pokémon. If we were to keep her locked away, wouldn’t we be setting a standard for the rest of Sinnoh?”

“You can hardly compare the two!”

“Can’t I?” He turned a thoughtful eye to the police commissioner. “Many Trainers of them have left their homes with much less experience than Alina and have done magnificent things. Professor Oak told me tales of quite the amazing young man who was only fourteen when he set out on his Journey. In the end no matter how you look at it, Alina is an adult, and we can’t make any decisions for her."

"But-“

“Has she broken any laws?”

Chief Jenny chewed her lip. “No.”

“Then we must treat her like any other adult, regardless of where she came from. If she had come from Johto, or Orre, or even Ransei, and not some foreign world, would you have the same hesitations?”

She sighed. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Then we must let her make her own path. I’ll have some time with her and I’ll make sure she’s prepared to take her own Journey, like you and I both did.”

Jenny gave him a sidelong look. “That was a long time ago, and you know it.”

“Nearly fifty years.” He confirmed. “We’ve both come a long way in that time.”

“Things were different then, less complicated.”

“Were they? Or have times always been complicated and we were just too young to understand?”

“I’ve always hated it when you made sense.”

“Is that why you’re always upset with me?”

The two laughed softly at the old joke as the night grew deeper, and the strange young woman in the tent continued to sleep peacefully.