Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

I woke the next morning to a thunderous roar that shook the house and sent Ace scrabbling for cover under the bed. When the roof didn’t collapse and no one came busting into my room, I figured it wasn’t anything to worry about and promptly forgot about it. Maybe that was just the equivalent of a rooster call around here.

Instead, I stretched and enjoyed the simple pleasure of clean sheets, soft blankets and a comfortable bed, and probably would have stayed there all day but for the annoying pressure in my bladder.

Climbing from the bed, I spotted a pile of folded clothes sitting on a chair by the door. Padding across the carpeted floor to pick them up, I found my shirt from the day before, freshly laundered, a pair of replacement jeans and some underwear.

I must have been totally out of it if I didn’t wake when they left these here.

Taking the clothes with me, I made my way to the en-suite and made myself ready for the day. Let me tell you, Oran-infused shampoo is to die for. The companies back home would kill for the stuff. Literally. Don’t mess with cosmetic companies.

Once I’d dried myself off and dressed, I spent a few minutes calming down the little fuzzball hiding under my bed. Part of me screamed that this was a monster, capable of tearing my face off, but honestly, seeing it shivering under the bed just made me feel bad for going to the bathroom first instead of checking on it.

"Come on, Ace," I called to it, kneeling down on the floor. "You’re okay, let’s go get some breakfast."

I don’t know if it understood my words or just the tone of my voice but either way it did the job, the kit promptly forgetting its fears and eagerly running over to lick my face.

"Alright! Alright!" I laughed, pushing myself back to my feet. "Come on."

Together we opened the door and slipped out into the hall. I hadn’t been awake enough last night to really take it all in, but Oak’s place was fancy. Like old money fancy. Portraits and landscapes hung on panelled walls while plush carpet so thick my toes sank into it kept the chill from creeping through the stone floor beneath.

Even the several identical doors opening off the hall to either side were made of some dark wood carved with simple but tasteful geometric designs that just screamed money.

With no idea where to do and figuring Ace probably knew the way around better than me, I followed the Eevee kit down the hall, admiring the paintings as I went, until I found us back in the same kitchen as the night before.

At the truly massive kitchen table, the man claiming to be Professor Gary Oak, grandson of THE Professor Oak from the Pokemon video games, sat drinking from a ceramic mug and reading papers. His Espeon lay nearby, warming itself in a pool of sunlight coming through the window.

“Morning,” I said, making my way over to the other side of the table and taking a seat across from him. “Please tell me that’s coffee.”

“Hm? Oh, Chloe, good morning,” Oak said, looking up from his papers.

“Coffee?” I repeated, inclining my head at his drink.

“Oh, yes, of course,” he said. He set the papers down on the table and rose, making his way over the counter and some complicated looking machine of polished steel. I hummed and hissed as he adjusted the dials on it.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked over the sound of the machine.

“Like the dead,” I said, laying my head on my arms on the table. I was not a morning person.

I watched as he held a new mug under a nozzle and the smell of fresh coffee filled the air. He walked over and set the mug beside me then made his way over to a cabinet and opened it, revealing a cleverly hidden refrigerator. He rummaged about inside for a moment, then emerged with a plate of more sandwiches that he placed on the table as well.

"I used to think you were a real dick, you know?" I said as he made his way back around the other side of the dining table. "But you're alright, Oak."

"Thank you?" Oak said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Back home," I explain, sitting back up and picking up the mug with both hands. "In my world, I mean, you're just a character in a cartoon."

"Someone made a cartoon about me?" Oak sounded surprised. "Gramps I can understand, but me?"

I shook my head. The heat of the coffee seeped into my hands, warming me as I inhaled the aroma. The Eevee, Ace, decided to lay between my feet. I didn't hate it. I picked up a sandwich, plucked some of the chicken out and dropped it on the floor for the little Pokémon. It hopped forward and gobbled the morsel.

"I may be stuck in another world full of creepy monsters, but at least the chicken is good," I said, shoving the rest of the sandwich in my mouth.

"Check in?" Oak asked, clearly unbothered by the way I was shoveling food into my face.

"The sandwiches?" I said, the previous one threatening to come back up as a horrifying thought occurred to me. "It's…. It's not chicken is it?"

"Roasted Pidgey," Oak said. "I get so caught up in my work that I often miss meals, so the house staff always keep some on hand."

"Roasted… Pidgey…" I repeated, feeling ill. "I think I'm going to be sick."

I hiccupped.

"I didn't even think," Oak apologised, jumping up to get me a glass of water. "Do your people eat meat? I have fruit if that would be better."

I waved him off and the water, instead sipping my coffee. It was rich and earthy, and slightly bitter. I’d definitely had better, but I’d also had a lot worse.

"It's fine," I told him. "We eat meat. Well, some don't. I just… Pokémon meat?"

"Ah, I understand now," Oak replied. He sat back down again. "With no Pokémon, you must eat animals, right?"

I nodded.

"I mean, we don't really talk about it like that, but yeah," I said. "Cows, pigs, chickens."

Oak shook his head.

"We don't have any of those, I'm afraid," he said. "Non-Pokémon life doesn't compete well with Pokémon."

That made sense.

"They never talked about where the meat came from in the games or the cartoons," I told him. "I guess I just never thought about it."

"What was it about?" he asked. "The cartoon I was in."

I could tell he was trying to change the subject, so I let him.

"It was about a kid called Ash," I said, watching the Eevee try to catch its own tail. "Gary Oak - you I guess - was his rival in a few seasons."

I jumped when Oak suddenly broke into a barking laugh, slapping his leg.

“Oh, Arceus, that is brilliant," Oak said when he finally caught his breath. "Even in another world they still pit us against one another, hey Red?"

I cocked my head at him.

"Red?" I asked.

"A childhood nickname," Oak explained. "I went by Blue. We were perfect opposites and foil to the other. The crowds loved it."

"Huh, " I said. "Red and Blue were the characters in the first games. The games were even called Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue."

"I'm not surprised you thought so poorly of me, then," Oak said. "I was a nightmare in my trainer days."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

"How would you like to see one?" I asked.

Without waiting for an answer, I opened an emulator app and booted up the Pokémon FireRed ROM.

Yeah, I had Pokémon games on my phone. I'm a nerd. Sue me. I pushed my phone across the table to Oak. Curious, he plucked the device from the table and peered at the pixels flickering across the screen, 8bit tones drifting from the speakers.

I let Oak play for a time, watching his eyes light up and a small smile creep across his face as he experienced the games I’d grown up on for the first time, and slowly picking my way through the sandwiches. I tried not to think about what it was made of.

Eventually Oak sighed loudly, set the phone down on the table and pushed it back towards me.

“Thank you,” he said, a genuine smile on his face. “It was pleasant to relive my childhood briefly.”

“Any time,” I said. “I have plenty of others too.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” he replied, then his smile faded. “Are you ready?”

I froze. Was I ready? No. Did I have another option? Also no.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said. “What do I do?”

“You don’t need to do anything,” he said. “Just relax and Queenie will do the rest. Ready Queenie?”

The Espeon stood, stretched and then jumped up on the table. Settling itself between us, its purple eyes stared into mine, pinning my gaze and drawing me in as they seemed to grow larger and larger until it felt as if I were falling into great violet pools.

Memories began to flash before my eyes, my childhood, growing up in the suburbs of Toronto, discovering Pokemon, playing the games late into the night when my parents thought I was sleeping, growing out of the franchise as I went into High School, my first crush, my first heartbreak, moving to Vancouver, starting university, studying computer science, rediscovering Pokemon, making ROMhacks, sharing them online, visiting my parents for holidays, starting my job -

The visions changed, became less personal, cities I had visited, their names, the provinces they were in, the countries those provinces made up, the continents those countries were located on, a world map, the Earth seen from space, satellites, GPS, rockets, guided missiles, armies marching, the World Wars, cities destroyed, the Holocaust, fighter jets, bombers, nuclear weapons, Hiroshima.

Violently, the visions cut off and I found myself shoved back into my own mind, reeling in the hard wooden chair.

My stomach roiled and I knew what was coming. I tried to stand but nothing seemed to work right. Up was down, down was left. I stumbled, fell to my knees and vomited messily on the stone tiled floor.

“Arceus, protect us,” I heard Oak mutter.

“Told you I wasn’t lying,” I said, pushing myself unsteadily back to my feet and flop back into my chair. Across from me, Oak was staring at nothing, no doubt still reliving what he’d seen. The Eevee kit whimpered beneath my chair, so I reached down and patted it.

“Your world,” Oak said, his eyes suddenly snapping to me. “It’s monstrous.”

“Um, rude?” I said. “Sure, it has its problems but at least it’s not full of freaky monsters that can breath fire and shoot leaves out of their ass or whatever.”

“All that death,” Oak said. “Those weapons.”

“Look, I get it, it’s a shit hole,” I said, starting to feel a bit defensive. “But it’s my shit hole. Anyway, now that you believe me, how about you just send me home already? I didn't want to come here in the first place."

Oak rubbed his face, took a deep drink from his mug and shocked his head.

“I’m sorry, Chloe,” he said.

I felt my stomach drop.

"Nope, don't you say it,” I said. "Don't you dare."

"I am truly sorry, Chloe," Oak said anyway. "I can’t send you home."

—

I spent the rest of the day in my room, hiding from the reality Oak had dumped on me. No way home. I was stuck here. Ten year old me would have been disgusted if she could have seen me. Here I was, in a world where Pokemon were not only real but just beyond my bedroom door, and instead I was hiding under the blankets, mourning for a world I’d spent more of life escaping from in books and games.

Twice, knocks came at my door and twice I ignored them, even as my stomach complained that the only food we’d had that day had ended up on the floor.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Eventually I fell asleep, but even in sleep I couldn’t hide as nightmares of Rattata chasing me through the woods plagued me.

I woke on the third day much as I had the day before, to a thunderous roaring that shook the house and jolted me from my nightmares. I tried to pull the blankets back up over my head, but my body betrayed me, forcing me into action first to visit the bathroom and then to seek out food.

Like the day before, I padded my way through the house back to the kitchen, hoping to find something to eat without being seen. Unlike the day before though, this time two uniformed women were busily chatting as they worked away at the impressive culinary setup.

"Uh, morning," I said to them, unsure how to approach them.

The pair instantly fell silent and turned to stare at me.

"Good morning, miss," the older one said in a curt tone. She was an attractive portly woman, her dark brown hair in a bun, apron covered in flour. "Can we help you with something?"

"Is Oak around?" I asked them, though what I really wanted to ask was if there was any food to be had, but I didn’t think that likely with how they were glaring at me.

"The Professor is taking tea with his guest in the garden," the woman said. Her tone was definitely colder this time. "If you return to your room-"

"No, it’s okay," I interrupted. "I’m sure I can find him."

Ignoring the woman’s flustered sputtering, I made my way across the room to a door with a glass window set into its upper half. From what I could see beyond, it looked like a solid bet it led outside.

Outside turned out to be a garden absolutely overflowing with a riot of colours. Flowers, bushes, fruit laden trees. It was like I’d walked into a prestigious botanical garden, not someone's back yard. A stone path led away from the door, disappearing through the maze of greenery. Unsure what else to do, we followed it, me trying not to step on anything sharp with my bare feet.

After almost ten minutes of stumbling around the utterly bonkers garden, I finally passed under a vine covered arch, ducked as a Combee buzzed overhead, and found Gary Oak calmly sharing tea with a red haired man at a white-washed wrought iron table.

I froze when I spotted the truly massive orange dragon curled up beside them.

Holy shit, that’s a Dragonite.

"Chloe!" Oak said, raising his porcelain tea cup in greeting. "You’re just in time, come meet my old friend, Lance Blackthorn."

The red haired man stood and bowed formally to me.

Dressed in a rich blue military-style jacket trimmed with gold and matching trousers tucked into shiny black boots, he looked like a Napoleonic cavalry commander. A black cloak over his shoulders made him look like an anime version of a Napoleonic cavalry commander.

I clumsily bowed back.

Lance? As in Champion of the Pokémon League? Or was Red Champion now?

"So you are the Otherworlder that Former-Champion Blue wishes to sponsor," Lance said.

He had a rich baritone voice that carried in the morning air. It was the voice of someone who expected to be listened to. It reminded me of a politician.

“You didn't mention her appearance,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder to Oak.

I instantly disliked him.

"Otherworlder?" I ground out, letting his comment slide. Oak had warned me how people in this world viewed my piercings and my tattoos.

Lance opened his mouth.

"Otherworlder is the term the League uses to describe any person, Pokémon or object from a world other than this one," Oak spoke over him. "Sounds silly to me, too old fashioned. But that’s the League for you. Old fashioned."

Lance shut his mouth with an audible click and scowled back at Oak while I shot him a grin. At least Oak was on my side.

A rumble escaped the prone Dragonite, the massive Dragon-type picking up on its master’s displeasure.

Oak ignored it, reaching out to pat the Espeon sleeping at his feet. I noted the Eevee kit playing nearby, chasing butterflies and eating flowers.

"Former-Champion Blue means-" Lance started.

"Professor Gary Oak," corrected Oak. "My trainer days are long behind me, Administrative-Champion Lance."

I had the impression I had walked in on something that had been going on between these two for a long time.

"As I was saying," Lance continued. "I have come here today as a representative of the Indigo Pokemon League to verify the veracity of your claims and if found true, to offer you our protection."

Oak snorted.

“Protection?” I asked, glancing from Lance to Oak.

"Please, sit with us," Lance pulled a chair out from the table with a flourish that made his cloak swish.

I couldn’t help but notice Oak rolling his eyes as I sat in the proffered chair.

"You are a stranger to this world and we to your world," Lance said. "I understand it might be difficult to comprehend, but what might be common knowledge to one could be world changing to the other. A number of organisations would be very interested in learning what you know."

"You’re here to validate my sponsorship, not terrify the poor girl," Oak said.

“What kind of knowledge?” I asked, nervous to be caught between the two men.

“Like the game you showed me, Chloe,” Oak explained. “Though it depicted events that happened a long time ago, it still contained information that has never been made public. You mentioned there were others?”

I nodded slowly.

“There are ten official ones on my phone,” I admitted. “And their remakes.”

“And do they all follow Red or myself?” Oak asked.

“Only the first one, and the remake that I showed you,” I said, shaking my head. “The others are set in other regions and have different stories and take place later in the timeline. Oh shit, what if they predict the future?”

"Hmm, that could be troubling," Lance said. “Can you outline the events these games depict for us?”

"Ah, sure," I said, starting to feel panicked. "Oak is an adult, so I’m guessing that the stuff that happens in Red and Blue has already happened -"

"Chloe," Oak interrupted my rambling. "Just start at the beginning."

"Okay," I nodded, forcing myself to calm down. "Kanto. Right. Giovanni and Team Rocket. They take over Silph Co to steal the Master Ball to use on MewTwo."

Oak nodded along as I spoke.

"The events of the game you showed me,” he said. “That happened nearly thirty years ago.”

"Okay, awesome, great," I said. "Um, then after that was Team Rocket in Johto with a radio tower, but you probably already stopped them too. Then there was Magma and Aqua in Hoenn, they summoned two legendaries."

"Twenty five years ago," said Lance. "And again ten years ago."

"Hm, okay, what about Team Galactic in Sinnoh? They want to use Palkia or Dialga to create a new universe?" I said, looking between the two men.

"Twenty one years ago," Oak said. "Stopped by Champion Cynthia."

Lance looked like he wanted to add something until Oak shot him a look.

"Good, good," I nodded. I tried to force myself to relax. So far nothing I knew was current let alone future knowledge. "What about the Sages and N in Unova?"

"Fifteen years ago," Lance said.

"Lysandre in Kalos?" I asked. "Mega evolution?"

"Ten years ago, and widely in use now," Oak said. "We can even duplicate Mega stones right here at my lab."

"What about Aetherlabs in Alola and the Ultra Beasts?" I asked.

The two men shared a haunted look.

"What?" I asked.

"Seven years ago," Lance said, his voice filled with regret. "It is not a pleasant memory."

"I think that’s it then," I said with a relieved sigh. "That’s all the games. Oh, wait, Chairman Rose in Galar is going to unleash Eternius and cause a bunch of Pokémon to turn into rampaging giants."

"Four years ago," Oak said.

"And if I ever get my hands on that traitor Leon," snarled Lance, clenching his fists.

"Traitor?" I asked. "I don’t remember all the details but I don’t remember him being a bad guy or anything."

"It’s a long story, and not one I’d enjoy repeating today," Oak said. "Is that everything you know about the events of our world?"

"Yeah. To be honest I mostly played ROM hacks over the main games," I admitted.

"I think it’s time we move on," said Lance, changing the subject. "Former-Champion Blue, as Professor of the Kanto Region has verified your claims as truthful via means of psychically viewing your memories. As current Administrative-Champion of the Indigo Pokemon League, I hereby accept this verification and would like to present you with our offer.”

“What offer?” I asked, suddenly suspicious.

"It's called the Otherworlder Protocol," Lance explained. "In exchange for your ongoing silence on all matters relating to your world of origin, and any other worlds you may be aware of, the Indigo League agrees to grant you Indigo Citizenship, identification, funds to establish your new life, and an ongoing monthly stipend, as well as support you in your assimilation."

"It’s a good deal, Chloe," Oak said. "I’d be more than happy to take you on as one of my aides while you adjust to your new life."

Lance nodded, looking pleased at that idea.

It wasn’t just a good deal. It was a great deal. Back home they’d have just shot me to keep me quiet. After torturing everything I knew out of me first.

"There are conditions, of course. First you would need to surrender your communication device to the League,” Lance said.

"You mean my phone?" I asked. “I can’t keep it?”

"I am afraid not," Lance replied. "As an artifact from another world, it is simply too much of an unknown to allow it to fall into the wrong hands. It has already been retrieved from your possessions while you were sleeping."

"But that’s my personal property, man," I said. "You can’t just take it like that."

"Then there is the matter of the ‘games’ your device possesses," Lance continued, ignoring me. "While these games appear to depict past events, they reveal far too many classified details to be allowed to leak.”

“I’ll delete them!” I said, my voice rising. “Then they won’t be a problem.”

"I’m sorry, Chloe," Oak said. "Lance is right. We can get you a new phone and we can transfer any data deemed a non-threat onto it for you."

No. They didn’t understand.

I felt panic starting to build inside me.

"You don’t understand," I cried. "I need my phone! I need to be able to call my parents when I get home, they will want to know I’m safe!"

Lance swore.

"I thought you said you told her," he said to Oak.

"I did," Oak replied. "Chloe, we’ve been over this. We can’t send you home."

"No! There has to be a way!" I shouted, pushing away the table and standing. I pointed at Lance. "You! You’re meant to be the Champion and a Dragon Master and who knows what the fuck else. You have to know a way for me to get home!"

"I am deeply sorry," Lance said. He stood and bowed deeply to me once more. "I understand how strong the bonds of family can be. To know you will never see your family again must be a terrible burden."

The sincerity in his voice rocked me and I felt the fight go out of me.

"There has to be a way," I said, the anger leaking out of my voice.

Lance shook his head, his eyes downcast.

Oak, though, remained sitting, calmly watching me while he sipped his tea.

"The Indigo League is not aware of any means, public or classified, that allow for an individual to travel between specific worlds," Lance stated. "There is no way to send you home."

"That’s not technically accurate," Oak said.

What?

"Blue," growled Lance. "Don’t."

"No, do! What do you mean it’s not technically accurate?" I demanded.

"The Indigo League knows of no way to send you home," Oak said. "That doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist."

Huh?

"Don’t give the girl false hope," growled Lance.

"There are organisations out there other than the League," Oak said, locking his eyes to mine.

"You mean someone else might be able to get me home?" I asked.

I felt hope reigniting inside me.

"If I am being completely honest with you, Chloe, probably not," Oak admitted. "But there are a lot of secretive researchers in the world. One of them might be able to get you home."

"Then let’s go!" I said. "Whatever it takes, I’m ready."

"It is not that simple," Lance said. "The people Blue speaks of, they are not just secretive. They are often well off route, in locations no civilian could ever reach and even should you reach them, they rarely share their knowledge."

"Or they’re criminals," Oak added.

Fuck. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

"Like AetherLabs, right?" I asked. "They were researching Ultra Wormholes but they kept all their research to themselves because they were the bad guys? So we just need to go to Alola and look through their files."

Lance and Oak both grimaced.

What did I say?

"Chloe, Alola is a quarantine zone," Oak said after a moment. "Aetherlabs unleashed countless Ultra Beasts on the islands. Far more than their Guardians could contend with. No one goes there anymore."

That’s not how it went down.

"No, that’s not right," I said. "Eilo or Selene should have stopped them."

I saw Oak’s eyes go wide.

"I fear your games may have portrayed happier endings than the reality," Lance growled.

If Alola hadn’t played out like in the games…

"Then what about the others? Hoenn, Sinnoh, Galar?" I asked. "The villains were defeated and everyone lived happily ever after, right?"

"Chloe, life isn’t a video game," Oak said softly.

"Much of Hoenn and Sinnoh were devastated by the events that took place in their respective regions," Lance said bluntly. "Rebuilding efforts are ongoing, but the loss of life has left us with reduced manpower and progress is slow."

No. This wasn’t right. Pokémon was always supposed to end with the bad guys defeated and Ash and friends winning the day.

Ash!

"Ash, or Red, or whatever his name is!" I said. "In the cartoons, he always pulls through and saves the world."

Lance looked at Oak but Oak only shook his head.

"Grand-Champion Red has been missing for almost 25 years," Lance said. "They are presumed dead."

"Unova, Galar and Paldea have all withdrawn from the League and closed their borders due to our inability to provide aid during their own crises," Oak said. "If the answers you seek lie outside the Indigo regions then I fear they may be out of reach."

"As Administrative-Champion of the Indigo League, I strongly advise you to put aside any desire to seek a way home," Lance said. "Take the League’s offer and make a new life for yourself."

My mind raced. A thought struck me.

Was I going to risk it? Could I?

"This start-up money and stipend?" I asked. "I can spend it on anything? There’s no strings attached?"

Lance frowned.

"The money would be deposited into your Indigo League banking account and would be free for you to use however you like," he said. "Though we strongly encourage you to work with your sponsor to purchase the items you will need."

I nodded.

I could do this. It was insane, but I could do it.

"I’ve decided then," I said. "I’ll take your money."

"Good," said Lance. "I will g-"

"And I’ll use it to become a Pokémon trainer, and find a way home," I declared.