Here we go, getting into the stuff I really wanted to write! I might write one more to finish off the conversation but there's no plan other than talking.
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"Okay everyone," I said, trying desperately to not let the annoyance show in my voice. "Let's just talk it through."
Once again they turned to look at me as if they forgot I was there, even though I'd just spoken to them.
"Well, uh," said Mawile, sounded uncertain and confused, while Astra looked oddly fearful all of a sudden, looking at me with odd eyes. I couldn't make out the expression clearly because of the hood, but I wasn't that interested really. She didn't seem to know where I was any better than I did. "Neither of you are going to try to catch me, right?" Her expression changed to one of suspicion.
Now that I got a better look at Mawile, and she was staring at me, I had an odd sense of… fear. Which I could recognise was absolutely silly of me. It didn't help the emotions though, and I merely held my head higher, puffing out my chest slightly so I wouldn't take a step back.
Then again, maybe it wasn't so silly of me to accept I should be wary of this Mawile. A Mawile with Sweet Scent? That was a pretty high level move normally. Maybe she was born with it? After all, a forest was an unusual place for a wild Mawile to live in. Then again, I'd just seen a bunch of Jigglypuff living in a cave not a day ago.
"You don't catch Pokémon who don't want to be caught," I said, shrugging, ignoring the fear to the best of my ability. I could feel my voice crack at the end out of nervousness, and promptly ignored that too. "That's asking for trouble, never mind that it can be considered poaching."
Astra kept staring at me, but went back to Mawile when the latter Pokémon turned to face her.
"So you're not going to either,?"
Astra took a step back from Mawile, her eyes widening.
Like Vulpix, or Jigglypuff, or probably two dozen or so Pokémon I really liked, I knew a lot about Mawiles. They were adorable. But they also had Intimidate as a possible ability. Understandable that she'd be using it, since she was worried we were going to capture her. I'd never seen it personally, but I had been on both the giving and receiving end of a similar thing.
Truth be told I was curious me using it would even work on a Pokémon. I'd never tried it on Gardevoir back at home since I tried to ignore him as much as possible. It could work on me if I wasn't careful, when my sister did it. It could work on her. We both used it on mum. I used it on Professor Oak sometimes.
"Hey Mawile," I said, bringing her attention back to me.
I widened my eyes just a bit, blinked twice to generated some moisture and let my eyes get that wet, sparkly look, and frowned, putting a finger to the corner of my mouth.
"Why are you intimidating us?" I asked.
The lines along Mawile's face softened almost immediately, and her horn lowered a fraction. I felt the sense of pressure and fear lift and relaxed my shoulders slightly.
Astra looked beyond relieved, and when she turned to look at me as I kept up my Charm, her expression changed further to one of barely restrained excitement.
Slowly I let up on the Charm, lowering my hand and blinking the moisture away. Astra returned to looking vaguely wary, but thankfully Mawile didn't pick herself back up to try and intimidate us again.
Mawile opened her mouth to speak, but then she just got a confused look before settling on frustration.
"Agh, no wonder nobody's been willing to talk to me!" she said, pointing at me, her horns lifting again. "And you, what was that? Humans can't be that cute!"
"Ah," I said. "Well, Charm is just something me and my sister picked up. Very good for getting into, and out of, trouble."
"Wait, wait!" said Astra, waving her arms in agitation. "I have questions!" She definitely looked it, though I was unsure what those questions were other than the most important one.
"Me too," I said, wanting to just get to that question. I was three days on my Pokémon adventure and already getting into too many shenanigans. If I couldn't catch a Mawile, it was time to get out of this weird forest. There was still something off about it. "Mawile," I continued, looking at her. "Where are we, and how do I get out of here?"
"How should I know!?" asked the Mawile, obviously exasperated. "I just woke up here about a week ago and haven't been able to find my way out. Right now though, I want to know, how can you two understand me?"
I looked at Astra, who then looked at me. There was a sudden glint of apprehension, maybe suspicion about her. I paused a moment and waited, but an answer from her didn't seem forthcoming. She was waiting for me it seemed, and all the while Mawile was growing more impatient, fidgeting and looking at us back and forth.
I knew Astra was a Pokémon, mostly because I was very familiar with what the Ralts line looked like, and because she had a constant veil of psychic energy around her. Sure, she was either a very tall Kirlia, or she was a short Gardevoir, but her height didn't change the hair, eyes, or skin.
Thinking back, it looked like she might have assumed the same of me, which could be a problem. I had no idea why she'd bother putting on a disguise. And while I'd never heard of a Pokémon-trainer, it wasn't completely unheard of for Pokémon to direct other Pokémon in battle, generally. It could be she was nervous around humans. Maybe she just didn't want the attention. After all, I was certain if there was ever an open Pokémon-trainer, Professor Oak would be all over that.
Ah, screw it, I was probably over thinking it. No need to contort my responses into knots to mislead a Pokémon.
"Well, it's a long story," I said, honestly. "It's easier for Psychics to learn anyway, although some real weirdoes can learn if they spend enough time on it."
"Oh," said Mawile, eyeing me. "You're psychic?" She turned to Astra. "And you too?"
Astra looked at me warily, then at Mawile. She just nodded, then.
"You might notice," I said, bringing attention back to me. "That Astra here doesn't talk normally for some reason. She uses telepathy."
"You don't have to speak for me, I barely know you!" said Astra.
I just waved her off.
"Oh," Said Mawile again. "I didn't notice. So you aren't travelling together?"
"We met like, two minutes ago," I said. "Then she got caught by your Sweet Scent and ran off."
Mawile's eyes widened slightly. "Uh, sorry about that. I was expecting like, a Bidoof or something, not a trainer. I didn't think humans could get lured by it."
"Not entirely sure they can, really," I said, awkwardly. I rubbed my shoulder in the uncomfortable silence before Mawile shook her head suddenly.
"Wait, I haven't gotten any answers!" she said.
"Not a lot of those going around," I mumbled, all too aware I hadn't gotten any answers either.
Mawile clenched her little fists for a moment, and closed her eyes. Then she exhaled, and said, "Let's try this again. I'm… Mawile, and you're name is?" she turned to me.
"Alyssa," I said. She then gestured to Astra.
"I'm Astra," said Astra.
"Nice to meet you both," continued Mawile. "So, I take it neither of you know how you got here?" We shook our heads. "What was the last thing you remember?"
"I was sleeping," I said, crossing my arms and shifting my weight to my right leg. It was weird to see a Pokémon take so much initiative. "At the Pokémon centre in Cerulean City. Then I woke up here not ten minutes ago."
Mawile tilted her head then went to look at Astra.
"I was walking through the woods near Rustboro and suddenly I was in a different forest. I've been here for hours."
"Well, okay," said Mawile. "That's uh, Kanto, and Hoenn, right?" she asked.
I nodded, while Astra said, "I was in Hoenn, yes. But this place is different." She gestured with her overly long sleeves.
"There's something wrong about it," I said, voicing this concern for the first time. "There's this… I don't know, something. A faint pressure that shows up every now and then. Wait." I moved my arms back to my sides, and stood very still, wracking my brain. It was something on the edge of my memory, but no matter how hard I kept thinking, I couldn't seem to grasp it. I looked to Astra. "Come on, help me out here," I said, holding my hands up in helplessness.
"I don't know what you're talking…," she said, trailing off. "I… oh."
"What, what is it?!" asked Mawile, sounding frustrated.
"I didn't notice it," continued Astra. "I don't feel it now, but thinking back on it maybe there was some kind of psychic attack? That didn't do anything?"
"Hmm," I said, in thought. I hadn't seen anything, and I hadn't been here very long, but I definitely felt something on my arrival, something that wasn't nearly as obvious as Astra's psychic presence. "Mawile, you said you couldn't find your way out of here?" She nodded. "Okay, if that's the case we're probably looking at some Psychic or maybe Ghost Pokémon pulling a prank on us. Or protecting their village or something."
"Wait, village?!" asked Astra, excited all over again.
"Pokémon?" asked Mawile at the same time. "You think Psychic or Ghost Pokémon transported us here and now won't let us leave?"
"I don't know about transporting us here," I said to Mawile, "but keeping us here? Sure, I've heard of certain areas that require Psychic Pokémon to get through because the Ghost Pokémon lure travellers into getting lost."
"Wait, back up," said Astra, taking a step forward. "Pokémon villages? You know there are other Pokémon villages?"
"Well uh, yeah," I said. "I literally just ran into one yesterday. It was inside Mt. Moon in Kanto, and a bunch of Jigglypuff and Clefairy lived together in the mountain. All the Jigglypuff left though, because everyone else fell asleep during the celebration song."
Mawile snorted. She opened her mouth to say something, but clamped it down before any noise came out.
"So there are other villages!?" asked Astra, all but confirming what I already knew about her. "What was it like?"
"Uh, I don't know," I said, shrugging. "I wasn't there for very long. There was some kind of personal argument that had blown up into a huge village wide problem between the Jigglypuff and the Clefairy. The two groups were arguing over the Moonstone and its pieces."
"What's a Moonstone?" asked Astra, her "voice" even more insistent.
"Just a kind of Evolution stone. Some Pokémon need it to evolve. The Clefairy rode in on it from space apparently, and they worshiped it as their god. They were really protective of the pieces and thought the Jigglypuff were hoarding them for no reason."
Astra blinked, seemingly dazed. "What does that mean, 'god'?"
"Well I didn't exactly talk to them about it, but my guess is that since it's what brought them to this planet, in that sense it's their reason for being. So they worshiped it."
"From space?" asked Astra, eyes wide. "They came from space?"
"The way they tell it," I said. "Extra-terrestrial Pokémon are real, I just didn't think Clefairy were one. But apparently I was wrong."
"Extra-terrestrial Pokémon," said Astra, awestruck. She was wobbling slightly, and I worried she might fall down. She shook her head, and then said forcefully, "Had any humans found this village?"
"Uh, sure," I said. "It was built so that all the Pokémon could hide if a human just strolled in, plus it was in the mountain cave system, difficult to find. And also there was some crazy scientist who implied the mountain was under protection from the government. That last one's just a guess though.
"Anyway, Pokémon villages aren't exactly unheard of. They're very rare and hard to find though, for obvious reasons. But I feel like you should know all this." I gave her a pointed look, and she shuffled nervously before seeming to steel herself.
"Actually, I have questions," she said, looking at from me to Mawile.
"Shoot, I guess," replied Mawile.
"Are you from a Pokémon village? Is that why you can talk?"
"No, there's no village," said Mawile. "But what do you mean, is that why I can talk? Every Pokémon I've run into can talk, they just don't want to talk to me."
"Every Pokémon can talk," I said, confirming. "Every one I've met or heard in passing. They can all talk."
"But I mean like.…" said Astra, gesturing from me then to Mawile. "Like the way we're talking now! All I hear are Pokémon who say their name over and over, and trying to use Telepathy on them just gives this crude conceptual thing."
"Isn't that what I'm doing?" asked Mawile. "Just saying my name over and over?"
"Yes," I said, at the same time Astra said, "No." I whipped my head to look at her, and she did the same.
"She," Astra began, before looking at Mawile, "You sound like… two people speaking. One's speaking human, and the other's lower and just saying "Maw mawile wile maw," all the time.
"Ooph," I said out loud, smiling. "That sounded almost funny. I'm so used to understanding Pokémon I couldn't begin to speak Pokémon gibberish."
"So you don't hear a second human speaking voice when I talk?" asked Mawile to me.
"You're just speaking like any other Pokémon," I confirmed.
"That's… weird," said Mawile, frowning. "You're a human that can understand Pokémon. Can you speak like a Pokémon? Maybe like, 'hu human man man?'"
I snorted, lifting my hand to stifle a giggle.
"No that's ridiculous," I said. "But yeah I can speak Pokémon. I haven't run into the occasion to need to, but I suppose if I ever need to talk to my Pokémon without other humans knowing what I was saying, I could definitely do it."
"Ah!" said Astra, sounding accusatory, pointing at me. "Other humans! So you're human!"
I looked at her and shrugged.
"Never said I wasn't."
Mawile looked at Astra like she'd just said something extremely stupid. Then she shook her head, looking at me again. "Saving that question for later, can you say something in Pokémon for us? I want to see if we can understand."
"Sure," I said, though it came out as "Vul." "As a kid I practiced speaking Pokémon with my family's pet Vulpix, so I speak with a Vulpix accent. I can do a Gardevoir one too, though I'd prefer not to."
Both Astra and Mawile just stared at me, and I worried for a moment that I'd somehow gotten really rusty before Mawile spoke up again.
"That… is weird," she said. "I understood you fine and you sound just like any other Pokémon I've heard, just… it's crazy to hear that coming out of a human." She looked like she wanted to say more, but after a moment she just turned to look at Astra, who was still staring at me.
"It's like Mawile," said Astra, seemingly transfixed. "But… why can you talk like a Gardevoir?"
I grimaced.
"My… my mum has a Gardevoir," I said, trying to speak quickly to move past this topic. "Been around all my life."
"What!?" asked Astra, her voice sounding angry for some reason. "How could… I don't understand! I want an explanation!"
I scoffed. So did I!
"What's to explain really?" I said, getting heated. "From what I understand my mum met Gardevoir when he was a Ralts. And he's just… hung around. I don't know if she even caught him, he's just there." I threw up my hands. "And she never answers any questions about it. So can we change the subject please?"
"No, we can't," said Astra, taking a step forward. "Are you sure your mom never caught him? Where did he come from? Did he come from a village?!"
"I don't know!" I said, stepping forward myself, peering at the hooded weird Pokémon with a stupid hat. "The only thing I know is he was with us when we were in Galar. If you're from Hoenn and asking about some kind of village there, he's not from there, he's from Galar. Hoenn's not the only region with the Ralts line you know! Have you been living in a cave your whole life!?"
"Yes!" shouted Astra, though after a moment she took a step back, her expression turning to one of thought. "So… there are other Ralts, Kirlia, and Gardevoir out there?"
"Of course!" I said. "The world's a big place. Off the top of my head they're native to not just Hoenn, but Galar and Unova. There's probably plenty of other places too."
"Where is Galar?" asked Astra, sounding a lot less angry now.
I lowered my voice too, feeling only a little bad for yelling at a Pokémon who clearly didn't know much about the world. "Assuming we're all in the same country where we started, Galar is practically on the other side of the world. So's Unova for that matter. "
Astra took a step back, seemingly lost in thought as Mawile waited a bit, before speaking.
"Astra," she said. "I don't want to upset you or Alyssa, but can you uh, do me a favour? Can you bring out one of your Pokémon?"
Astra's expression changed, looking confused. She then nodded.
"Sure," she said, taking out one of her Poké Balls again. "Treecko, come out!"
Treecko formed out of the light and landed beside Astra. It took one look at Mawile before crouching down, ready for combat.
"No Treecko," said Astra, patting it on the head. "Mawile's friendly. She just wanted to see you."
"Hello!" said Mawile, waving at Treecko. "How are you?"
Treecko looked back at Astra, then suddenly looked at me, seemingly only noticing me then. It then looked at Astra again and said, "Who what?" pointing at me and then Mawile. "Talk her you the good?"
"They're both new friends," said Astra. "I think Mawile just wanted to hear you talk a bit. Is that okay?"
Treecko shrugged. "Good."
"What…," both Me and Mawile said at the same time. "Is that?" I continued, while Mawile went with "the Hell?"
"What did you two hear?" asked Astra.
"It's basically nonsense," I said, while Mawile nodded her head, keeping her horns low on the ground. "I think he was asking why Mawile can talk like you?"
"It's all primitive and out of order," said Mawile, continuing the thought. She looked at me. "Do you have a Pokémon too?"
"Sure," I said, reaching for my bag. This could get interesting. I took out Jigglypuff's ball and enlarged it, tossing it on the ground next to Treeko and said, "Come on out Jigglypuff."
"Morning!" she said upon coming out, her little stubby arms out. Her expression shifted to one of confusion, looking at Treecko, then Astra, then Mawile and finally me. "Where are we? Where's that mean guy with the red hair?"
"Okay, so that's what I expect!" said Mawile, gesturing to Jigglypuff while Astra seemed completely taken aback.
Jigglypuff turned to face Mawile, and puffed up slightly.
"Am I fighting that?" she asked. "I've never seen a Pokémon like that before."
"What the fuck," said Astra, and I was taken aback.
"Language!" I said, looking at Astra. "I am a child!"
Astra didn't even seem to hear me.
"I don't want to be caught!" said Mawile angrily at Jigglypuff. "I just wanted to hear you talk!"
Jigglypuff looked at me. "What's going on?" she said.
"Heck if I know, Jigglypuff," I said. "We're trying to figure that out." I held out my Poké Ball again. "Jigglypuff, return."
Jigglypuff let herself get hit by the return beam and disappeared in a flash of light.
"So all your Pokémon talk like that?" Astra said, still completely shocked.
"Yes," I said, gears in my head spinning furiously and coming up with nothing. The best thing I could come up with was that maybe Astra had only encountered particularly stupid Pokémon. "Every Pokémon I've ever met, or heard, or heard of."
"I… think I have an idea," said Mawile.
"Please," I said, gesturing between myself, Astra, and her, then finally to the forest in general. "Make sense of this!"
"I think we may have gotten punted here from alternate dimensions."
I opened my mouth, then closed it. The very concept wasn't unheard of. But… the manner in which I experienced it was a lot different and a lot more integrated into my new life. And was also a decade ago. Why would I get put into a different universe again, without even dying, and one that seemed basically the same as where I left? Oh… but wait! I kept thinking, trying to cross reference what I'd read and what I remembered about Pokémon in my past life.
There was a long silence, and eventually Treecko got bored and curled up amongst the flowers.
"I don't know what that means," said Astra, frowning.
"There are other dimensions," I said, slowly. "There's some research going on in Unova about that, I think."
"But what does that mean?" asked Astra.
Mawile took a small step forward at that, sighing.
"So, imagine there's a world just like yours somewhere else, except something in the past, or maybe all the way at the beginning, happened differently. And whatever happened differently, that caused everything else to spiral out into a different direction. Are you following me?"
"I… think so?" she replied, frowning harder. "Like if I hadn't gone out for berries that one time, and then…." Astra trailed off. Mawile waited a few moments but when Astra didn't say anything more, she continued.
"So, this world, and it sounds like wherever Alyssa's from, is a reality where Pokémon can all talk to each other like humans, but not to humans, and yours is one where they're all, uh. Animals." Mawile paused, looking at Treecko. "No offence meant."
Treecko waved her off. "No about worry."
Both me and Mawile cringed at that.
"That's going to take some getting used to," she said.
"Alright," said Astra. "I think I get it. But wait!" She turned to me, gesticulating wildly. "If you're from another dimension too, then all that stuff you said about Pokémon villages might not be true for me!"
I shrugged. "I guess not. But you don't seem to know a lot about the world outside your cave, so who knows?"
"There's a reason we never left before," she said, sounding annoyed. "I almost got caught myself, and those humans didn't stop and ask if I wanted to be!"
"Wait, what?" asked Mawile. I ignored her.
"Normal Pokémon who don't want to be caught don't get found in the first place!" I said. "That's like, rule one of Pokémon, and being a Pokémon trainer! Being seen is in itself a sign you want to fight and join a trainer! Did you at least run?"
"For my life!" said Astra, sound furious, her voice loud in my head. "I couldn't have been any more scared!"
"Am I missing something?" asked Mawile.
"Well then fine, maybe things are different in your world then!" I shouted, completely confused why Astra seemed to think I'd done something to her. "Or maybe they were just jerks! Some humans don't pay attention, and some are just bad people! That's why humans have Officer Jenny's, and that's why you can break out of a Poké Ball if you have to!"
"So that's another thing to look into later," said Mawile, to nobody. "If this world, or Astra's have Officer Jenny's."
"May's not a bad person, she's just a little rough around the edges!" said Astra. "She didn't know, things are obviously just different where you're from!"
"Wait," I said, my voice back to normal levels. "May? Like, brown, kinda short hair? Blue eyes? Wears a bandana thing on her head?"
"Um, yes?" said Astra, put off by the sudden change in tone. "Do you know her?"
"Not at all," I said. "Do you by any chance know a boy named Ash too?"
"No?" said Astra. "My other friend I'm travelling with is named Brendan."
That name sounded familiar. "Brendan…." I said out lout. "Brendan…." I was pretty sure that was the male protagonist in the games. I didn't know if he had a counterpart in my world, but it did answer that question. "That clinches it," I continued. "Our universes are very different."
"Can one of you please explain what you were arguing about?" said Mawile, and I felt the sudden dread from her intimidate, which disappeared after a moment. "I'm being left out of the loop!"
Astra glanced at Mawile, her shoulders slumped, looking defeated.
"I guess it doesn't matter now," she said. "I'm a Kirlia."
Mawile blinked. "Do Kirlia normally look like you in your world? You look human."
"She looks weird," I jumped in, which earned me a glare from both Astra and Mawile.
"I'm using an illusion to look like a human," she said. "And I'd… rather keep it up if you don't mind." She looked at me. "No offense, but I'm just not comfortable showing myself around you."
"Whatever," I said, a bit more annoyed than I thought I should be. Astra glowered in response to my tone. "I doubt your disguise will fool any Psychics. Unless those don't exist in your world, or maybe wherever you're from really is the only place the Ralts like exists."
"I've only heard that humans aren't Psychic." Astra then cocked her head, her expression softening. "Do humans have types where you're from?"
"Like, for pair bonding, or do you mean Pokémon types?"
Astra blushed, then looked annoyed. "Obviously I mean Pokémon types."
I tapped my chin with my finger in thought.
"Not too much research on that," I said. "Obviously, as I prove, some humans can use 'moves' that normally only Pokémon can use. And…." I sighed. "I am Psychic, so I can use Psychic moves, but Charm is a fairy type move. And I mean, have you seen me?" I gestured to myself. My outfit was pink and white, and my hair and eyes were pink.
"Holy crap, your mom has a Gardevoir," said Mawile. "Are you implying –"
"I'm not implying anything!" I said, cutting her off. "The truth is I don't know, I only suspect. That subject needs more research."
Mawile smiled, and I didn't like the look of that smile. "Are you planning on doing any of that research?" I could tell what she was implying by the tone.
"I don't know, what about you?" I asked. "Does that sound like a good idea to you?"
Mawile blinked, as if she hadn't thought about that. She was the one who brought it up!
"Am I missing something?" asked Astra. "I just wanted to know if humans had types."
"Maybe they do!" I said, throwing my hands back up in the air in frustration.
