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When I was 10 years old, I did not receive my starter Pokemon.
Perhaps we should backtrack a bit, and see for ourselves the mess that this world has become. At least, the mess that is my home country, the one that used to be 4 entire Pokemon regions. Before China and Kanto-Johto-Hoenn-Sinnoh got into a bit of a political tussle and China reclaimed a whole bunch of land, especially after Pokemon had been banned in Japan. And before this day, when I could only learn of Pokemon through books my uncle brought to me. Before……this world did end, in the eyes of many.
Around 200 years ago, when the Hero Public Safety Commission was set up, one of their first orders to their heroes was to outlaw Pokemon, and Pokemon Trainers. Any Pokemon-related businesses and corporations were to cease operations immediately, and these orders were backed up by their heroes. Even the Japanese government couldn’t stop them, recovering as they were from the Quirk Wars. And even though these marvelous, incredible, fascinating creatures known as Pokemon had been around for millenia longer than the odd Quirks that had manifested in humans and ordinary animals that had nearly died out due to Pokemon- even then, the HPSC had sworn to eradicate Pokemon. Our lovely, powerful partners, ones we had sworn to cherish always.
The motives for wiping out our partners has always been unclear, but some speculate that the HPSC felt threatened by the power Pokemon had always wielded. Now that they had Quirks, they planned to fight back, to defeat the Pokemon that could once have killed humans as easily as breathing.
But is it not the sheer trust that the Pokemon place in humans, that ensures that they do not kill us in the first place? So many questions, and so little answers. But one thing is for certain: with the fall of Pokemon came the fall of nature as well. The eradication of Grass and Water type pokemon saw a downturn of the environment, as less Pokemon with moves to ensure the lushness of forests and purity of waters meant that foliage began to wither and shrink, and bodies of water began to succumb to pollution. Nothing like how it used to be. Contamination of this Earth became even more rampant. Even as Trubbish, Grimer and their evolutions took advantage of the further contamination, they were just as quickly wiped out by heroes. Forests were cut down and raided for materials to use for the development of Quirks. No care or mercy was given to the Pokemon there. Caves were mined and exploded with Quirks and dynamite, destroying carefully-cultivated ecosystems that had built up over thousands of years of Pokemon habits. Nature, something that was once so important because it was the home of Pokemon, began to die.
But not everyone complied with the destruction and death of nature, brought by the HPSC’s hate and poison. The small, rural villages, whole towns even, drove out heroes with their unfriendly atmosphere, and raised nature and Pokemon back up, trying to salvage the ruins of human greed. Skitty and Pidove could flock the streets and use moves freely, without any repercussions from heroes. Breloom and Lotad played in the woods by the rivers, giving nature a chance to breathe once again.
Even as Pro Heroes were destroying the Pokemon World as we knew it, we-Pokemon Trainers- shall do our utmost to restore this world to the beauty it once had.
“That’s a nice tale, Uncle, but why are you telling me this?” 10 year old Nagisa reclined the seat of her uncle Sojiro’s car, letting her new friend Ferdie the Fennekin lie on her stomach.
“Little brat…… I’m telling you this because I want to introduce our history to you. The reason why you don’t see many Pokemon around anymore, and why the forests you’ve read about in those Pokecyclopedias are either reduced or gone.”
“Oohhhhhhh……….like how Truffula and Tufty can’t return to the fields they were hatched in because now it’s just a block of flats?”
“Exactly.”
“Woahhhhhhhh…………………….” Nagisa paused for a moment, stroking Ferdie’s fur. “Uncle…am I going to live with you forever from now on?”
“Well, if you don’t want to leave for the other regions that haven’t been wiped clear of Pokemon, yeah, you can live with me in Johto forever.” Sojiro rolled down the window, before shouting at another driver. “THIS YOUR GRANDFATHER’S ROAD OR WHAT? HURRY YOUR ASS UP!”
Nagisa stared in awe as Ferdie began to chew her pant strings. “Was that…road rage?!”
“Ahem. Yes, it was. Never do that, Nagisa.” Sojiro coughed, rolling up the window. “Road rage is bad, and you should never shout at other people unless they have proven that they despise Pokemon.”
“Then why did you shout at them?”
“Again, that was road rage. Bad stuff.” Sojiro grumbled, as they sped along towards Sojiro’s house in Wakayama.
“TRUFFULA! TUFTY!” Nagisa ran into the field behind the house the moment she got out of the car, leaping as high as she could to reach the Cottonee and Whimsicott. Truffula the Whimsicott bounded into her arms, but Tufty floated away.
“Noooo…….Tufty come back…..” Nagis began to run after him, but stopped before long as Tufty drifted into a tree.
“Have a good nap Tufty….” Truffula bounced on Nagisa’s head as Ferdie finally caught up to Nagisa, slapping her foot with his tail a little.
“Nagisa, come and unload your bags!” Sojiro called, pulling one duffel bag out of the car boot. “What the hell did you put in here, anyway?”
“Pokeballs, Potions, as many items as I could stuff inside, including a lot of evolution stones!”
“Is that why this feels like there's literal rocks in here?!”
“Yup!”
“Who raised you to be like this…..certainly not your Pokemon-hating excuse of a sperm donor….”
“I don’t know. Hey look, Ferdie and Velvet have reunited!”
A shaggy little Lillipup ran out to his old friend Ferdie, and commenced a display of furry friendship.
“Velvet’s more shaggy than velvety, kid.”
“I know! That’s the funny part.”
“Alright, then.”
Sojiro entered the house, and went up the stairs puffing like a Weezing. “Agh, my back-”
“You’re an old man~” Nagisa ran to his side, grabbing one end of the bag in her little Cottonee-wool-coated fingers. “Let’s go!”
Together, uncle and niece brought the bag into her new room, a small one with a bed, dresser and desk. And best of all, a huge open window where there were multiple Fletchling and Starly already flying in and shitting in the flower pot next to the windowsill.
In other words, it was perfect.
“HOORAY! NEW ROOM! FERDIE, LOOK AT THE FLOWERS IN THE FIELD OUTSIDE! AND SO MANY FLETCHLING GIVING THIS LIL GUY FREE FERTILIZER!” Nagisa flopped onto the bed, waving an arm out as a Starly came to land on her hand. Sojiro dumped the heavy bag beside her bag.
“I’ll leave you to unpack…..or play with the Pokemon. Most likely the latter.” Sojiro eyed the Bird Pokemon swarming in through the window from the tree line at the far end of the field, all attracted by his own Bellossom, a little one by the name of Herta using Sweet Scent in excitement, for Nagisa was here to stay. Herta spun around as usual, twirling towards the pile of feathers and fur. That had escalated quickly.
“Herta! Kurukuru~” Nagisa wiggled around, being careful not to squash any Starly, and gave her friend a hug.
Sojiro smiled at the sight, before heading downstairs to feed the Wooloo that had somehow rolled into the fields behind the house. At least he’d make sure they wouldn’t go hungry.
2 years later…
The sun was shining. Spearow and Pidgey raced through the skies like little jet planes. Clouds drift past the bright, azure sky. A couple years had passed since Nagisa began to live, not survive, and nothing bad has happened.
A 12-year-old Nagisa zoomed into the house like a Boltund on caffeine, and after getting a few water bottles, she darted back out again towards the Yungoos and Zigzagoon dotting the field.
“Remember to toss those into the recycling bin later!” Sojiro called. “And lay off the coffee, I can see you shaking!”
“I’m not getting high, uncle! It’s just caffeine!” Nagisa shouted back. Her voice was high-pitched and loud, a sure sign that she had ingested coffee that morning.
“Just 1 cup, and now you’re a Latios,” Sojiro sighed. “At least you won’t start breaking the sound barrier- oops, there she goes.”
“YEET!” Miming a Dragapult, Nagisa stood in the field, and pitched a consenting Joltik (who went by the name Reverb) into the air.
Reverb flew over low clouds, the field, and some trees before eventually disappearing with a plop into the forest at the end of the field.
Laughing, Nagisa and her Mightyena friend Fenfen took off towards the forest, before Nagisa’s legs tired out halfway through and was picked up by Sojiro’s own Ponyta, named Trampler.
Ferdie, who was now a Delphox and still loved scritchies, ran after them.
What a wonderful day.
“Are we lost? Oh, hi Reverb! And Reverb’s friends, an Espurr and Minccino!”
Nagisa, Fenfen, Trampler and Ferdie had tracked down Reverb, who was absorbing some electricity from a Mincinno using Thunderbolt. Beside them, an Espurr watched from a bush.
Unfortunately, they had reached an area in the forest that was rather dense, and the situation they were in could be described as lost.
“Yeah, we’re lost.”
Using her Quirk, Nagisa tuned in to Ferdie’s intentions. He scoffed at her.
Yeah, you think?
“No need to be so salty, Ferdie.”
We’re lost. Lost. Lost.
Nagisa, why did you throw me so far?
“Deep breaths, Trampler! And Reverb, you’ve gone further than this. Last time you ended up in the river. And we definitely didn’t go past the river this time.”
What if we skipped the river?!
“The river runs through the whole forest, legit no way we could have not crossed it, we’ll be fine.”
Do you have your phone with you?
“Yeah?”
Cool. Open up the map app.
“Oh, you’re so smart Ferdie! I didn’t think of that!”
With a deadpan expression, Ferdie bonked Nagisa on the head with his stick.
“Ow! What was that for?”
For being a human, you can be really dumb sometimes.
“Compared to an Alakazam, I am but a mere amoeba. How could I ever compare? And besides, my situational awareness is iffy sometimes.”
And don’t we know it.
Memories of Nagisa’s spotty situational awareness replayed through their minds as they worked their way out of the forest. The time she forgot that Leaf was standing next to her while she and Yellow conversed, and accidentally smacked Leaf while demonstrating the jig she and Ferdie had come up with. Or the time she and Blake ended up getting into a fistfight because she tripped over his Galvantula.
In other words, this small human was not very aware of her surroundings, and this gap had to be filled by her beloved companions.
“Okay, found the path out!”
Good, let’s get out of this Arceus-forsaken place. Ferdie grumbled. That head of yours is so empty, I wouldn’t be surprised if an Oranguru decided to crack it open because it mistook it for a coconut.
“And are we back to Bully Nagisa Hours again?” the aforementioned girl scoffed, hopping over a tree root and into a puddle. The twig-filled water splashed onto the Minccino, who screamed.
STOP STOP STOP! MY FUR’S ALL WET AND DIRTY! CLEANING BREAK, CLEANING BREAK!
The Espurr helped by using Confusion a little, to remove the water from the Minccino fur. And from the seemingly bottomless bag Nagisa had on hand, she produced a few natural loofahs- some new ones she had bought from the mart a few days ago, as she had already thrown out the old ones.
Loofahs? Good. Got any biodegradable soap? The Minccino scrubbed away at the dirt on its fur, as Nagisa found a bottle of water in her bag and helped it wash off.
“I don’t usually carry soap around….. I guess you’ll just have to use water. Hey, where did the Espurr go?”
For indeed, the Espurr had disappeared.
She must have gone to meet up with this Skitty friend we have. I think she has a crush on her.
“Oh. Good to know. Say, would you like to come back to my house and properly wash off?”
Oh. Yes please. I feel so itchy all over.
“Cool! Uh, should we pick up the Espurr and Skitty first?”
Of course. We’re a trio, after all.
Nagisa pulled up the Pokedex app on her phone, turned on her location, and set the tracking function to Espurr Skitty in the nearby vicinity.
“Now we wait for it to track them…..okay, got it! Due south, let’s go!”
I want to go home…… Trampler groaned.
“Oh, come on guys! The sooner we find them, the sooner we can wash off Minccino and get you some berries!”
For once I agree with my dumbass human. Let’s go find those little ones. Ferdie intoned. If you want, Trampler, you can go back first.
But we’re lost in the woods.
You literally grew up here before your mother was killed what do you mean-
I DON’T REMEMBER EVERYTHING FROM MY FOALHOOD OKAY?! Just ‘cause I’m not evolved yet doesn’t mean I’m still a foal that can remember the days by my mom’s side!
Okay, okay, calm the heckkers down, dude. Reverb patted Trampler’s snout, from where he was perched on his head, before jumping onto Ferdie’s fluff.
Okay. I am calm. I am calm. Fluffy hay. Marshmallows. Rawst Berry. Tamato Berry. Marshmallows. Tomato Berry. Tomato Berry.
Good, you’ve calmed down mostly. Still want to follow us?
Argh, might as well.
“Y’all done? C’mon, let’s go! The Minccinno’s already taken off!” Nagisa barely avoided Ferdie hooking her shirt with his branch, and shot off after the wild Pokemon she was now following. Trampler bemoaned his aching hooves once again and they were off once more.
Ahh……scritchies in juuuust the right spot. Nice! Nagisa could hear a new Pokemon’s intentions up ahead- a Skitty.
“Awwww……cute kitty. Soft kitty. Funky-tailed kitty with pink fur I’m pretty sure cats aren’t supposed to have- but it’s fine, cause you’re a cat and I love you anyway.”
SCRITCHIESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! The Skitty rolled over onto its back, accepting the scritchies as a new voice could be heard, drifting over the bushes.
In the bushes was hiding the Espurr. She hardly flinched as Nagisa popped up next to her, clutching the Minccino as well.
Skitty saw a human again….. Espurr groaned. And like the idiot she is, she ran towards him for pets. Without checking for hostility.
That dumbass. Minccino shook its head. She’s already been nearly captured in nets like 4 times and she still has no situational awareness!
Sounds like some human I know. Ferdie scoffed.
“It’s not that bad!” Nagisa hissed.
It actually is worse.
“Hey!”
He raised his head. He could hear someone in the bushes, as well as the cries of more creatures. Pokemon, maybe? But then why would there be a human voice-
A blue-haired child who looked about his age tumbled out of the largest bush near the pear tree. They were all sharp angles and scrapes on their knees, shorts doing nothing to protect their legs from the sharp twigs they landed on.
“Ow! What the hell, Ferdie!” This voice was distinctly female.
The Pokemon he was giving scritchies to- for it could only be a Pokemon- darted over to the second-largest bush, and led another 2 Pokemon out. He couldn’t tell what they were, but despite both having gray fur, he could tell that one was…..feline.
Cat.
The blue-haired child’s head popped up, and in seconds had scrambled over to him. She seemed unaware of the concept of personal space.
“Hey! I’m Nagisa!” She chirped. Her golden eyes were slightly unfocused, but it seemed as though her sense of sight was fine. “Did you know you’re giving a Skitty scritchies?”
“A what?”
“A Skitty! The Kitten Pokemon. It chases its tail around and it’s known to be very hard to earn it's trust. This one seems special, though. Really likes humans, even if they try to capture her.” She glanced at the three Pokemon gathered in a circle, doing a little dance.
More rustles and growls came from the largest bush, and out came a bipedal fox who's down made it look like it was wearing a dress. The Pokemon seemed to sigh, and growled out a “Delllllll……” At Nagisa.
“I know, I know Ferdie, I need to check if he’s a threat, mind personal space, yadda yadda, don’t creep anyone out….” She listed the rules off her fingers, before suddenly turning to him again. “What’s your name?” She asked. “That’s item 5 on the list.”
“What?”
“Name. I already gave mine, so by social courtesy you gotta gimme yours.”
“Uh……Shinsou Hitoshi? My dads and I are vacationing in that block of flats over there.” He pointed to the field-that-once-was, that was now the aforementioned block of flats. Really big ones, come to think of it. Good residential areas should you come to Wakayama for holiday.
The same one Truffula and Tufty were hatched in. The irony was not lost on Nagisa.
“Oh, alright, then! Hey, wanna be friends?” A question so direct was flicked at Hitoshi’s forehead, sending him reeling. Metaphorically, of course. What was not metaphorical was the hand she extended to him.
“That’s so sudden…” His face twisted in a sort of confusion. “Do you make friends like this all the time?”
“Nope! I don’t have any friends, actually.” The smile never left her face. Behind her, a flaming horse trotted out from behind a bush-and-tree combo that had previously blocked it from view. At this point, he wasn’t even surprised at the number of Pokemon she had on hand.
“You seem so extroverted, though….” He eyed her open hand, worn and slightly rough from handling Pokemon and their various surfaces.
“Just ‘cause I’m extroverted doesn’t mean I’ve got a lot of friends. No one’s parents wanted their kid to be around the girl with a load of Pokemon paraphernalia, like at all.” A small shadow of sadness passed her face, but it cleared up almost immediately. Her hand stayed open.
“Speaking of which, you seem to be okay with Pokemon. That’s like, super rare nowadays. Do you relate to them or something? Or does your family reject the crap the HPSC puts up and embrace Pokemon wholeheartedly?” A small yellow bug-like Pokemon that looked like a furry spider jumped onto the bipedal fox’s tail, blending in smoothly.
He focused back on the question. “Uh, my folks are pretty neutral towards Pokemon, but they’re also heroes, so technically they’re also supposed to capture them? Without Pokeballs, although Pa collects antiques.”
A frown twisted Nagisa’s face. Oh, right. Heroes. Or, as she called them when she was younger, Pokemon killers. Some heroes had personal values that made them…..well, slightly more receptive to Pokemon in this new era. Still, more often than not, they followed what the HPSC told them like good little bitches and continued to capture Pokemon like they were nothing more than wild beasts- and then the Trainers would have to save them and either catch them themselves, or release them into the wild.
That this was the new world they lived in was quite pathetic. But as surely as Trainers were beginning to heal nature from the relatively shitty standpoint it was at, heroes would probably never cease their attacks on Pokemon. Yet this was how life was, and how it would be for probably the whole of Nagisa’s lifetime.
“Uh, your face looks really scary….” Shinsou Hitoshi trailed off. “Did I say something wrong?”
Nagisa snapped out of her disgusted face and put on a bright smile. “Nah! I just really like Pokemon. And therefore I don’t really like Pro Heroes for….well, what they do to Pokemon… There are reports on the news every day about Pokemon being captured and euthanised by the HPSC, and it makes me really sad.”
“That was super concise….” Hitoshi mumbled. He was slightly in awe of this bright, sky-haired child who had literally tumbled out of a bush into his life. No one would so loudly and bravely proclaim their love for Pokemon, without fearing repercussions. He wanted to accept her offer to be friends. But…..he lived in Tokyo. And judging by her accent, she seemed to be a Wakayama local.
“Oh…..so you live in Tokyo?” Nagisa interrupted his thoughts.
“Woah! Are you a mind-reader?!” Hitoshi hadn’t said out loud that he lived in Tokyo, but this girl somehow knew already!
“Body language! And your clothes come from a brand especially prevalent in Tokyo. It’s really expensive in Wakayama, but as you are wearing literally one of the highest quality shirts and pants I’ve seen in their online catalogue, either you’re really rich or you came here from Tokyo. Also, you said you were vacationing here with your dads, so.” She shrugged.
“You could tell just looking at my clothes, that’s so cool!” Little sparkles appeared next to Hitoshi. Ferdie face-palmed.
You sure like to brag, huh. Well, you are still a kid. You get a free pass.
“Awe, thanks Ferdie!” Nagisa beamed and Hitoshi took a double take.
“You can talk to Pokemon?”
“Yep! It’s my Quirk. Well, actually there’s two parts to my Quirk, the first is to speak to Pokemon, and the other is a sort of hammerspace area to store things. I only registered the hammerspace part on my Quirk Registry. Officially, my Quirk is Inventory. What’s yours?”
Hitoshi suddenly looked very sheepish. “It’s…….not something I’d tell a lot of people.”
“Oh, alright then! You don’t have to tell me now. Can we still be friends?”
Well, that was a first. Someone who didn’t push for answers, was also ostracized and just wanted to be a friend. When had he last known someone like this?
Well, maybe they’d simply passed him by before they got to know each other.
But somewhere in his fragile, little cat-loving heart, a voice was saying, “Don’t let this one go.”
“Oh, okay. Let’s be friends. I'm Shinsou Hitoshi, my Quirk is Brainwashing, and I want to be a Hero."
He found himself saying those words- words that heralded, though at that point he knew not, a future bright and filled with hope and heroics.