You knew a Fairy Godmother from the Marchen Kingdom would be here in only a couple of hours, there to give anyone eligible and willing to take on the Pokemon League their Starter, yet your oldest sister had sent you upstairs to clean the attic, even locking the attic trapdoor below you until she deemed your work 'all done'.
At least this was nothing you weren't used to, your two older sisters had inflicted worse upon in the past, enough to make most of your Trainers' School memories into living nightmares. Still, looking around your vast, cluttered attic, that had only a mere slit of a window for any light, you strained to not cough from all the dust and could only feel your heart sink.
Almost out of habit you set out on dusting up as much of the attic as you could, even if your heart kept urging you to try crawling out the tiny window anyway and make a break for it. And yet, resigning yourself to cleaning this darkness-drenched attic turned out to have one benefit.
As you reached down in between cardboard boxes, you felt your hand touching something metal that suddenly started emitting a blue light. You pulled it out and saw it was... none other than a PokeDex, now old, smeared and cracked but still one nevertheless.
That alone would be quite the find, but as you squinted through the dim light, what caught your eye even more was the now-faded signature inscribed upon it:
'Professor Hildegarde Linden'.
T-this was your mother's?! ...You guessed that she must've been in such a rush to get away after the divorce, she left this behind. As the Pokemon Professor she could easily obtain another one, so there'd be little point in coming back for it. Doubly so, as most of the files it had were listed as decades old, and those were the ones that hadn't devolved into a glitchy mess.
"Bzzt..." You heard a synthetic voice from the Dex creak and groan "New user identified, fingerprint and facial features resembling -bzzt- -whirr- that of previous owner. Please register by -bzzt- inputting your name -whirr-"
Wait, really? Well... what could be the harm?
[ ] Cinders.
[ ] Midnight.
[ ] Astrid.
[ ] Rachel.
[ ] Lisbeth.
[ ] Judith.
[ ] Write-in.
(Wikipedia category page for German girls' names)
"-Beep- Name in database, registered. -Whirr- Welcome, new user, to the start of your Pokemon journey through the -wheeze- -bzzt- magical and scientific Deuto Region" the Dex's faltering electronic voice creaked out, as images of various Pokemon, like rabbits with clocks for stomachs, icy rodents wearing royal purple cloaks, tiny elves clutching poisoned bows and giant human-like machines, all flashed by, distorted as they now were.
You checked the other names in its database and saw that, along with yourself and your mother, your older sisters' names had also been inputted, you assumed your mother didn't know what sort of people they'd grow to become. They were:
[ ] Maria & Anna.
[ ] Aloysia & Ethel.
[ ] Geraldina & Evonna.
[ ] Alexis & Georgia.
[ ] Write-in.
Lastly you could see an image of an orange-brown-haired woman similar to yourself, her hair reaching past her shoulders though, being slowly digitized over to be replaced by
your own appearance. Wait, was that old image your mother when she was younger?
Your attention was then dragged away from this PokeDex when you heard raised voices coming from outside. Scrambling over to the attic window, you could see down below in Aschen Village's square that your older sisters, the oldest who'd locked you here in the first place having long, dark blue hair and wearing a golden summer dress, the second oldest with lighter pigtails lagging behind, were already meeting with an older woman in an elaborate, sparkling pink dress.
"W-what? No, there's nobody else here!" You heard your older sister protesting, with the other hurriedly agreeing. Almost fuming, you struggled your way out through that one tiny window, then tried to run across the tiles on your roof, having had to flail your arms wildly to keep from falling, before you gulped and slid down a rickety drainpipe.
"Ah, so we have indeed another here" the sparkling woman smiled at you and then said "Welcome my dear, we here from the Marchen Kingdom believe in putting wonder and magic back into the world, and so that wonder may be bestowed upon this town, we are here to give those to wish their very first Pokemon".
"W-why you! Please, Fairy Godmother, Madame of Marchen, t-this girl you see here's just a maid! She's absolutely nobody you'd ever think of entrusting with a Pokemon!" your oldest sister lashed out. You could see on your front lawn your father trying to raise his voice, but a quick glare from your sister sent him shrinking down.
"If she's able and willing, she's entitled to a Pokemon," the Fairy Godmother said in an abruptly sterner tone. "Plus if she's a maid, the more she'll likely need a Pokemon to help out with all the housework, won't she?" her face shifted back to a sunny smile.
A Pokemon of this Good Fairy's own, who you think you could recognise from old storybooks you'd read as a 'Gardevoir', though a different colour than she'd been depicted as, teleported over three Pokeballs your way.
"Now my child" began the Fairy Godmother "do you choose-
[ ] Cattleaf, the Grass Pokemon?" She showed a young cow or bull, with hedge-like horns and hooves and an ivy wreath nose-ring.
- [ ] Nickname?
[ ] "Kindeer, the Fire Pokemon?" She showed a young red deer with tiny charcoal twigs for antlers and a flaming nose.
- [ ] Nickname?
[ ] "Or Astrale, the Water/Psychic Pokemon?" She showed a tiny floating whale, balancing a miniature moon on its water spout.
- [ ] Nickname?
QM's Note: Little Pokemon Quest I thought I'd start up while waiting for Xalgeon to write up the next post for Persona 5.5.
Another idea I had for the title was 'Pokemon RoseRed & SnowWhite' but I was worried that would suggest a more immediate connection with the Red or White versions.