Like No One Ever Was

“Does it have to be so dimly lit?” I questioned as Hamber led me through the odd building. Or maybe it's just a very well-furnished tunnel, not like I would be able to tell.

Hamber and I had traveled outside a few minutes walk from the house before being met by an Elygem that had been waiting for us. The odd rocky blue-looking pure Psychic Type was there as transport to the Explorers' base.

We had been teleported into wherever this was.

From the dim light present in this place, I could make out smooth metal plates on the floor, walls, and likely ceiling. On the ground, the plates were interrupted by small glass strips, illuminating the place with a turquoise light, the only source of illumination in the hallway. The width was moderately-sized and spacious, enough to walk three across comfortably, but not much more. It was quite tall, however.

I think most Pokemon could fit through here with relative ease.

“It has a certain unique aesthetic,” Hamber commented. “Gibeon appreciates the lighting for his meeting places. For the training rooms, you’ll have different levels of illumination. Some are even much dimmer than this place, to help simulate caves or other locations where light is rare and possibly dangerous to make, attracting unwanted attention.”

“It’s- that’s fine, I guess. Just… weird.” My feelings as such did not diminish when we exited the hallway and came upon a grand meeting room. It had the same flooring as before, but this chamber was vast, with glowing yellow tubes lining the walls, in the back, there were the same lights set into the wall, but these glowed a mix of yellow and blue and were set in some odd pattern I couldn’t decipher.

Some were disconnected, at a diagonal pattern others would bend and stop. The floor still had the same lighting as it had before, but all of this was secondary to the central features that commanded the most attention in the room.

Dominating the center of the room was a large group of purple crystals that reached up like an incredibly elongated candlestick. In front of it were a couple of steps, and in front of them were several strange metal poles that I recognized.

“Holographic projectors?”

“Well, well, don't we have a sharp one? Looks like she might contribute slightly more than the bastard.” The somewhat mocking voice came from a young man with wavy teal hair, the presumed owner of the Elygem whose Pokemon returned to their side. He was wearing a rather elaborate getup, a light blue jacket with black lining and yellow clasps, matched by his long, almost knee-length heeled boots. He had on dark leggings and to top it off, an honest-to-goodness cape.

To be fair, it was a larger dark jacket, but with how it hung off his left side and was held in place by a clasp, it was clearly a cape.

“Spinel, thank you for your assistance.” Hamber thanked the odd man, before continuing. “I would not call Amethio a ‘bastard’, however. He has as much potential as Nemona here.” That perked my ears up. Someone who can match me? That sounds fun.

“Peace.” The words were not a request and came from none of the people in the room but instead from the purple crystals in the center. The two of them instantly turned and bowed to them.

“Gibeon, this is the recruit I mentioned. I believe she will be a fine addition to the Explorers.”

“Good. Spinel, make sure to give her the uniform.” ‘Gibeon’ said, and the young man obeyed, pulling out a set of clothes he’d been hiding in his cape. Did he have a Sliph-type pocket in there- probably. He seems extra enough to do that.

Walking up slowly to receive them I saw a light gray jacket that was cut to only cover the shoulders, neck, and sleeves, and similarly colored leggings. There was a skirt with pink highlights and a dark gray shirt with the same highlights. What caught my eye most was the badge on top of the pile of clothes, a black diamond shape cut across by a stylized ‘E’ with a blue star near the center.

“Uhh, no thanks.” Don’t feel like wearing a skirt. But also…

Spinel turned to his Pokemon and made a motion toward them, which caused them to raise their arms and flash their multi-colored, finger-like stubs in my direction. Red, yellow, red, green, green, yellow-

“Ugh, sorry, could you please stop that Elgyem? I don’t know what you mean and it’s kinda bright.” The Elgyem turned to Spinel, giving a brief shrug of their shoulders and stopping. The guy seemed the most affronted by that, for some reason. Jeez-though I guess it’s kinda rude to order Pokemon you don’t own. But I just asked a question…

“How rude, to turn aside the generosity offered by Master Gibeon,” Spinel recovered, scoffing at me. “Perhaps I was wrong and you’re even worse than Ameth-”

“Is this an evil Team?” I asked bluntly, cutting him off, and dropping the entire room into silence. Do they boldly accept it? Shake it off? Try to imply it’s not, but not confirm it isn’t? Act outraged? Actually get outraged? So many different options they had here, and I wanted to see how they responded to inform my next move. Even though the GPS was acting wonky here, I could still send or receive messages here, a discreet glance at Miles had told me on the way in.

“Evil Team? Ah yes, I heard those became a new craze recently,” Gibeon’s voice boomed out from the crystals. Without a face or even body language to place it to, it was hard to tell how he felt, but he sounded mildly amused. Recently? How old are you? There hasn’t been a major Evil Team in a decade, in part because there were so many in the decade before that police have been keeping an extra close eye on anything like them springing up.

“Of course, we aren’t a Team, Young Miss. Just a dedicated, if slightly eccentric, group banded together by our love of exploring this vast and wondrous land.”

I could feel the sweatdrop on my face and it was hard to keep a straight smile, but I managed. That was exactly what a team was!

“Uhuh. So I don’t have to wear this uniform or help you steal Pokemon or try to capture Legendaries to remake the world or anything?”

Laughter echoed out from the purple crystal. “Why would I need your help with something like that?” At his words, a white dog-like Pokemon stepped out from one of the shadowy corners of the room. The Pokemon had three hexagonal-shaped patterns on its chest, two green and one red.

It also had a few other green highlights including a stripe around its neck with an odd green protrusion sticking out about two feet in the air, as if it had part of a leash as a feature of its body.

“Z- Zygarde!?” I exclaimed, stepping forward to get a better look. The coloration isn’t right, but that’s definitely one of Zygarde’s forms. Is it shiny? How can it be shiny?!? After a few steps, Zygarde gave a low growl warning me not to come closer, so I stopped and turned to face Gibeon. “Why is it that color? Isn’t Zygarde supposed to be black and green?”

Gibeon’s next words were for Hamber, not myself. “You were not mistaken when you said she was a bright young girl.” Then to me, he added “I’ve met scholars that were less knowledgeable than yourself. There is an unusual trait Pokemon sometimes possess to give them a different coloration.”

“Right, being ‘shiny’.” Shiny hunters existed in this world, but it was a far more brutal thing than in the games since Pokemon were living thinking beings here. Trying to catch one was the dream of many a collector who would often display the rare Pokemon like a trophy.

But that’s for regular Pokemon, where you can eventually find an egg that hatches into that rare color. “I didn’t know Zygarde could be shiny. I thought there was only one in the world. Or, rather, spread across the world.”

“Spread across- what are you talking about you daft child?” Spinel demanded, glaring at me. Not making friends with him at least. Oh well, this guy feels like he’d be a jerk even outside of this weird group.

“Zygarde is split up into many cells across the world. They only gather in large numbers to unleash its true strength when the world is in danger.” I answered. Seeing Zygarde made me relax a little. These people are still weird, but they can’t be all bad if they have a defender of the world like Zygarde working with them, right?

“How many cells would you say are in Zygarde as they stand right now?” Hamber asked. Zygarde barked as well, giving me a curious look with its pupil-less eyes.

“Uhh, about 10%? Sorry, it’s hard to get an exact read on it, but you definitely aren’t at fifty or higher.” Immediately after the words left my mouth I had to suppress a wince, noticing the way the two men in the room were staring at me. That was way too knowledgeable, no excuse I could possibly give to know that exact ratio.

The crystals thrummed again, reminding me of the fourth and most important ‘person’ in this conversation. “Fascinating. As for your question, while remarkably rare, there are instances where even a so-called ‘Legendary’ can appear as ‘shiny’. One such case you may have heard of was the ‘Black Rayquaza’ from ancient times. They traveled alongside the legendary hero-”

“Nobunaga!” Right! Pokemon Conquest was a thing!

“... Lucien.”

There was an awkward moment of silence between us before Spinel broke it by laughing.

“Hahaha, how foolish. Do you not know of the hero Lucien? It’s such a common tale. Of how he traveled the world a hundred years ago with the Black Rayquaza, Entei, Moltres, Lapras, Kleavor, and Arboliva before finding-?”

“Spinel,” Hamber warned his comrade, finally getting tired of his rudeness. I was happy for the support, but I had my own reasoning to throw in as well. This guy just gets under my skin. Or maybe it’s the whole vibe of this creepy place.

“Hey, I don’t consider ‘a hundred years ago’ to be ancient history!” I retorted hotly before adding: “But no, I hadn’t heard about him. He sounds like an interesting guy though.”

“Different from this, Nobunaga was he?” Gibeon asked, just a tad too calmly to actually be casual.

“Oh yeah, Nobunaga was big on his Dragon Types, though I don’t remember the rest of his team. Honestly, I should have realized you weren’t referring to him when you mentioned him being a ‘hero’. Nobunaga was a warlord in ancient Ransei.”

“... Ransei?” Gibeon drew the word out as if testing it out to see if he could figure it out just through pronunciation. Like a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit.

“Yes, Ransei was a war-torn land hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago, with warlords vying for control constantly. Nobunaga set out to try and conquer the whole place before being stopped by the Hero. The Hero was the one who eventually unified the land against them, which in the end was kinda Nobunaga’s goal.”

“‘The Hero?’” Spinel mocked.

“I don’t remember, ok?! I’m not even sure if their name was even ca- something known.”

“Where did you hear about this Young Miss?” Hamber finally prompted and I hid a grimace. Ok, time to play the ‘how to deflect from having meta-knowledge’ game.

“Uhh, I don’t quite remember. Maybe from my time in Unova?” I suggested.

He pursed his lips and gave a low hum. I probably didn’t convince him of that. Ah well, he still won’t guess the truth and it’s a good enough deflection for now.

My biggest detractor just shook his head dismissively, his Elygem at his side copying the motion. “Please, you got taken in by a bunk story kid. I’ve never heard of this ‘Ransei’ before either.”

“Just because you’ve never heard of it before doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!” I mean, it might not. Not in this world, I focused too much on the mainline games and never checked out the spinoffs. It could be true too, though. I just don’t know. Still, screw this guy.

“And how do you explain ‘warlords’ using Pokemon in conflicts centuries before Professor Laventon’s research and the Survey Core help Pokemon and humans bond?” Spinel pressed further.

I laughed derisively at that. “Please, Pokemon have been used by society for eons. Paldea had many a conqueror in the past two thousand years, and they didn’t just fight through the force of their own arms. Even more ancient societies existed with technologies we couldn’t even dream of today, making Pokemon through harnessed souls and machines. We have forgotten and lost more societies than you could ever imagine. Laventon’s research is just some of the most widespread base principles of the modern age. The idea that this era is the pinnacle of enlightenment and harmony is only the height of hubris.”

“And how does that make you feel?” This time the question was from Gibeon, and I swore the other lights got dimmer or the central crystal glowed brighter. Like the Eye of Sauron turning it’s full attention on you.

I opened my mouth before closing it and thinking about the answer. “... Excited. It’s humbling, and maybe a little scary to comprehend how dangerous and vast the world is, to know that everything I know could be wiped away in an instant. But to know how much is lost, to think of what I could find… that’s exciting.” Probably not a great instinct to have at the thought, I can admit that.

Not that Gibeon seemed displeased at my answer, however. “Very good. That’s why I founded the Explorers, to discover new horizons, unlock new vistas, and rediscover lost wonders. I understand that this may have been… off-putting for you, but I hope this can put your mind at rest. We simply want to better understand the land so we can explore it together.”

“Oh. Well… cool.” I finished lamely. “I guess I’d still like to learn if you’re willing to have me.” You’re weird enough that I won’t be that heartbroken if you say no, though.

“Of course, Young Miss. And you don’t have to wear the uniform if you don’t want to, we just thought it might help you fit in with some of the others, like Amethio. He’s only a few years older than you and he shows great potential. We could go meet him now if you wish.” Spinel made a dismissive sound at Hamber’s words, so I had to throw in one last jab his way.

“That sounds great. Spiney, you can just take those away, thanks,” I said, dismissively waving a hand at him before turning away. He gnashed his teeth before turning suddenly and marching off, his cape whirling around.

“If you’ll follow me, Young Miss,” my majordomo requested and I followed while lost in my thoughts. So, this place is creepy and very weird. But are they bad? Nothing I had seen so far was evil, and Spinel being arrogant and full of himself didn’t mean that everyone in this organization was like that.

Even that isn’t a sign that he’s a bad guy or anything. I guess, for now, I’ll stick with it. I’ll be vigilant! Any signs of cult or gang-like activities and I’m bolting. Their offering to teach me wilderness exploration is nice, but that doesn’t mean I owe them anything or need to do anything bad because they asked me to.

Hamber directed me down a different hallway to a large open room, like an empty warehouse. No, a battle arena. The lighting was still regrettably dim, which is why I didn’t make it out as a battle arena at first.

I did see the young boy standing there, however. He had split white and black hair that was slightly curly at the ends. He was also wearing the same type of uniform I had rejected, though he had black pants instead of leggings and a skirt.

“Who are you?” He asked, turning around to glare at me, then glance upwards at Hamber.

“Why are your pupils triangles?” I asked back, crossing my arms. The boy was taken aback, eyeing me up like I was out of place. Sorry, maybe I’m still on edge from how Spinel was acting, but that is just kinda weird. How do eyes even work in this world? Do lenses, retinas, and the like work differently here?

“Wha-” The boy began before our awkward first meeting was cut off by the adult we both abruptly remembered was in the room.

“Children,” Hamber clapped his gloved hands together. “This is Nemona, she will be joining the Explorers. Nemona, this is Amethio, one of our newest members.”

“If she’s a new recruit why isn’t she wearing the uniform?” Amethio asked me suspiciously. As if I somehow managed to trick my way down here while accompanied by Hamber while missing that.

“Cause I didn’t want to.” I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at his shocked face, but it was hard. He just looks so completely thrown by that idea!

“Before we give you further training, I thought it best to test your skills as battlers. It’ll also be a good chance for you to get to know each other.” Amethio didn’t look too impressed with me but didn’t say anything in response to Hamber’s words, taking his place on one end of the field.

Hmm, I think I should give Miles their first fight here. Perhaps I was underestimating Amethio, but I felt Dun would be a bit much for most trainers his age to deal with. Plus, in any case, it would be a good experience for Miles.

“Alright Miles, I’m going to use you for this battle, ok?” I muttered as I opened my bag. They gave a small buzz of affirmation. What appliance would be best?… Probably the oven. Most resistances, few weaknesses. We’d practiced with all of them a little bit, enough that they knew how to possess each of them, but they didn’t have any preferences yet.

“What are you doing- what is that?!” Amethio squawked out as I hefted the massive red oven from my bag.

“Miles, I choose you!” I cried, tossing it a meter in front of me. Miles zipped out of their phone case and into the oven, possessing it. The machine stopped falling immediately and was surrounded by red energy, with Rotom’s eyes now colored red appearing above the oven door, with a small mouth in between. The red energy also extended out on either side of the oven ending in bulky approximations of hands, particularly hands that were wearing oven mitts.

“Wha- huh?” Amethio just seemed kinda shocked at the display. “What is that?”

“That’s Miles, my Rotom. They’re in Heat Form! Go ahead, you can release your Pokemon too.” I urged and he shook himself out of it.

“Go, Charcadet!” He shouted, pulling up his Pokeball and releasing an adorable little guy. He was just over half a meter tall with an overly large head and a humanoid body. His torso had many flame motifs, and actual flames were flickering out the top of his head, back, and even off his eyes.

“You got a Charcadet? Cool.” I never really played with them in the games, though I remember that Armarogue and Ceruledge looked pretty cool. I wonder if he has plans on which he wants to evolve-

“If both trainers are ready?” Hamber called out and I snapped my focus to the battle at hand.

“Yes!” We both called out, locking gazes with each other. I can sense his determination, but also nervousness within his gaze. His nose was turned up at me, but I saw how tightly his fists were clenched at his sides, betraying the nervousness he felt.

“Begin!”

“Flame Charge!” Amethio ordered. Charcadet had already started rushing at Miles before the command was even given, but when it was, he covered himself in a burning aura.

“Rain Dance!” I countered and Rotom waved their plasmic hands in the air and began dancing around frantically. They’re nervous, too. It was to be expected from Miles’ first battle, but I had every confidence in them.

Despite having the initiative, Charcadet was just a lot slower than Miles, so by the time he reached the plasma Pokemon, rain had begun to fall. Charcadet leaped up to slam into Miles, but the fire surrounding it was fizzling out in response to the rain pouring down. He hit Miles with a dull thud before sliding off. Brushing himself off, he jumped back up, covering his body in weak flames and whaling against my Pokemon not even leaving a scratch on the durable Rotom appliance body.

“Hah,” I laughed, mostly at how shocked all three of them were. Honestly not that shocking when you think about it. In Heat Form Miles resists Fire attacks anyway, and Rain Dance is reducing the power even further. I was impressed that Miles had made even a small rain cloud indoors here. They had done fine enough with practicing it outdoors, but indoors added another level of difficulty to most weather Moves.

"Good job Miles!” I cheered, to let them know my appreciation but also to boost their confidence. “I think we've given you enough of a chance, now it's our turn, Thundershock!"

Miles brought their plasmic hands together, letting sparks fly between them. Amethio's cries for Charcadet to dodge were in vain. He was far too close to get out of the way and received a painful shock as the accumulated lightning was unleashed upon him.

"Get out of there!" The boy shouted, and Charcadet jumped away nimbly. Not paralyzed yet. Miles has been working on Thunder Wave, but it's not reliable yet. We could go after him, but if they want us to do the setup, why not?

"Nasty plot." I imagined Miles had a big grin on his face, though I couldn't see it from behind.

“Clear Smog, don’t let them build up!” Amethio called out, a look of panic on his face. His fiery partner took a deep breath and let out a bunch of white smoke that washed over Miles.

“Rotototo,” they whined, shaking about and exiting the cloud. Immediately I felt that their power had decreased back to normal. Something to get rid of stat changes and deal damage? Nice Move. Pretty sure it’s Poison too, so no Resistances to help either.

“Confuse Ray, then blast it.” Rotom unleashed a tightly clustered bunch of dancing lights that shot right at Charcadet’s face, dazing him. He tried to continue his attack but started blowing the smoke in the wrong direction.

“No, other way!” Amethio shouted, but it was too late. Miles called down a massive bolt of lighting, like a blue spear striking down from their conjured rain cloud it struck Charcadet. To his credit, the tiny Pokemon remained standing after the first bolt. Unfortunately, their body stiffened, Paralyzed by the shock, and so they had no chance of dodging the next three bolts, which each struck dead on. Before the fifth could be called down, he crumpled to his knees and fell over unconscious. “Charcadet!”

He ran to check on his Pokemon. From what I could see, the Charcadet would be fine, but I walked over and offered him a Revive. “Here. You did well.”

“Hardly. I was completely outmatched.” He scoffed but took the medicine, waking Charcadet back up.

“Well yeah, Miles did great,” and I flashed them a thumbs up, which they eagerly smiled back at. “But that Clear Smog was smart thinking on your part. Would have been a lot tougher to deal with if I had that going.” I had more to say but was distracted by the rain, a drop falling very close to my eye.

Turning to Miles I asked, “Hey can you turn off the rain?” They tilted their body to the side, the equivalent of cocking their head slightly before waving their arms around to little avail. Alright, I’ve been considering this since last time. Luckily, this is not a game, and I have an idea. “Just go up to the clouds and release an Overheat.”

With a nod, they flew to the center of their dark storm clouds and opened their oven door. A massive blast of heat came out, enough to be felt on the ground, drying us instantly and blowing the clouds away.

The boy muttered, looking up at my Pokemon, "I didn't know Rotom could do that."

"Yeah, they're pretty impressive. Each of their forms has a super powerful move of the other type they gain in that form."

He nodded.

"We'll have to train hard to beat you next time."

"Cadet!"

I beamed broadly. "That's the spirit!" I offered him my hand, he took it, and I pulled him back up from where he'd been kneeling beside his Pokemon.

"Quite a show, both of you. I have a feeling you're both going to make good Explorers." We'll see. Still, if I spend more time fighting quiet but not stupid guys like Amethio and less time around creeps like before, it might not be so bad.