Chapter Text
Prince of Po Town
Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening
"I feel like I belong here man. I know it's just my first day, but the other place was nothing like this," the teenage new hire told Ian, leaning in and holding his fist out.
The drone of the three level pizza oven made hearing the newbie's words a bit difficult, but
Ian reciprocated the fist bump all the same. "Welcome to the team, Matt," Ian replied with a big smile. "It's how things should be."
"You sure you don't want any help? I'd be happy to do it," Matt asked, indicating the counters with random bits of sauce, cheese, and toppings.
"I wish I could say yes, but you're a minor and it's a school night. I'll get in deep shit if you're here past 10:00," Ian explained. "I'll take you up on it someday though."
"Okay. Thanks again, Ian," Matt said sincerely.
He watched the teenage new hire walk out of the kitchen, and Ian sighed in frustration as he scanned the kitchen again, seeing how much he still had to do. "Alex, why?" Ian muttered to no one in particular. With the edge off his frustration, he brushed the flour off his wet, black shirt.
Through the flour stains, the words "Prince Street Pizza" spelled out in yellow across his chest. He wore a black baseball cap and a pair of blue jeans to complete the uniform. A commotion from outside of the kitchen caught the young man's attention and Ian poked his head around the wall separating the front from the kitchen, his eyes meeting none other than Alex himself.
"Mind your own business Ian, you haven't even started on the kitchen," Alex chided with a shit-eating grin, a sleeve of paper cups now lying fallen on the counter.
Ian's smile disappeared in a heartbeat. "I think you should close the kitchen, seeing as you got the original kitchen closer so pissed they walked out."
"Carlos is a punk, he had it coming," Alex said with an over-dramatic shrug that showed off his muscular arms. He then put on one of his signature cocky grins. "It takes me forever to close kitchen anyways. If you want us to get out before midnight, it's gotta be you."
"I can help you after I finish up the bookkeeping," Ian offered.
Alex's grin turned into an even greasier smile. "We got that inspection from corporate tomorrow. Or maybe they'll take back your promotion when they see how bad my kitchen close is."
Ian rolled his eyes. Even though his co-worker was joking, Ian couldn't jeopardize the promotion. In a few months he'd have enough to buy an engagement ring. "Alex-"
"Hey, hurry up over there!" A harsh, female voice called from the other side of the restaurant. "I'm almost completely done with dishes, ya' know!"
Alex pointed to the kitchen with sadistic glee. "All you, dude."
Ian groaned, but turned around and got a towel to begin wiping the counters down.
"Did you just start?" Suzy's voice asked, poking her head around the corner. Her uniform was the same, black hat, jeans, and a black shirt that instead of flour was wet from washing dishes.
Ian gave his girlfriend a smile. "Yeah, we got a lot of late orders." Ian dropped his towel and leaned in to give the cute brunette with glasses a kiss. She held a hand up and shook her head.
"Not at work, you know that," Suzy told him.
Ian sighed, but begrudgingly nodded. "Yeah. I'd probably work faster if I got a kiss from you, but I guess I'll just work in slow motion now," Ian teased.
Suzy smiled, a blush forming on her cheeks. "Well just think of Friday night, okay? Twenty first birthday."
Ian smiled wide. "Hard to forget. Two more days."
Suzy's attention had flipped, however, and she put her hands up to her mouth like a small megaphone."Alex, you got the drawer yet? I'll help you with bookkeeping."
"Coming..." Alex said, giving Ian a suggestive wink as he laughed like a hyena.
Re-invigorated with the prospect of his first night of finally being able to go out bar hopping with Suzy and their friends, he wrung out the sanitizing rag and began wiping the counters down.
"Hey Ian, it's 10:00, turn the oven off!" Alex's voice yelled from around the wall.
He eyed his phone to double check and switched the oven off before thoroughly wiping down the kitchen surfaces and counters and sweeping the floor. After what had to have been at least twenty minutes lost in work, he looked around for the mop bucket to no avail. Ian groaned as he began searching the pizza place's back area for it when he heard a feminine giggle and poked his head around the corner, seeing something that didn't register for a moment: Alex embracing Suzy, his hand squeezing her backside, their lips pressed together-
"Ian!" Suzy cried out in horror as she separated from their muscular co-worker.
Ian stood in shock, jaw agape, his chest feeling tight all of the sudden. Alex's cocky grin dissipated if only for a moment.
"It's not what it looks like..." Suzy said, regaining her composure.
"Then what was it?" Ian asked tensely, still in shock by the sight.
"Just uh... uh-a stupid joke," Suzy said with a jitter.
Alex turned to cover his face and Ian knew this wasn't just a stupid joke. The tenseness in his chest began to spread to his stomach and limbs as he turned around and stepped away.
"It was just a prank bro!" Alex called after him.
Ian's blood began to boil, his breath quickening as he stiffly turned out of the kitchen and headed for the exit, his mind not even processing what was happening around him.
"Ian, I can explain," Suzy called, her voice cracking.
Ian looked to the floor, as he walked out slowly, resisting the desperate urge to lash out at Alex. Tension in his neck tucked his gaze to the ground until he reached the front door, which he shoved open emphatically, causing it to bang against the window as he marched to his car a few dozen feet away. He got it going in record time and zoomed out of the parking lot, tears welling up in his eyes as the reality of the situation hit him.
He kept his old beater car's radio off for the drive home, staring blankly at the road ahead, his body sick with tension. He was near home when he slowed for a stoplight. No other cars waited at the intersection as Ian finally let out a frustrated groan. He eyed the intersection once more, noticing the faint glow of the orange moon hovering in the night sky. Carlos did say something about a lunar eclipse tonight before he stormed out.
The buzzing of his phone interrupted his thought, and he saw "JOHN GM" on his phone screen. Ian cursed and answered the phone. "What?" Ian spat.
"Where are you?" John's gruff voice angrily demanded.
"About three turns away from home."
"Well, turn your ass around and finish up the kitchen," John ordered. "Alex and Suzy told me you walked out. You know we've got the inspection tomorrow and everyone has to be clocked out by eleven tonight."
"They tell you why I walked out?" Ian said, holding back a scream and a batch of tears at the same time.
"Doesn't matter why-"
"I caught them making out," Ian said with eerie softness, like the calm before the storm.
"Okay, that sucks, but you gotta go back-"
"My girlfriend of four years -"
John quieted down for a few seconds. "You're a supervisor, Ian. I could fire you for this, not even mentioning the night before an inspection."
"I just found out my mom died, is that better?" Ian said sarcastically as a tear fell down his cheek.
"Look, that blows, it really does, but I need you to go back-"
"Make THEM fucking do it!" Ian demanded, another tear streaming down his cheeks. "They were fooling around anyways-"
"I'm serious Ian, if you don't go back right now, you can kiss that IT promotion good-bye ," John warned.
Ian took a deep breath as his heart tensed more. He shook his head slowly and blinked back a tear, putting his phone right up to his mouth. "Fuck the promotion," he uttered and promptly hung up.
Ian threw his head back in frustration and put his head in his hands, a sob escaping him. "Why, why? What the fuck? WHY?" He pleaded with the car's cabin.
A sudden honk of a horn brought Ian back to the situation at hand, and the green of the traffic light. He screamed a curse once more in frustration, and floored it out of the intersection. Less than a minute later he parked in his spot in front of his mother's house before getting his phone out and typing out a text to the group chat he'd organized for his twenty-first birthday celebration.
Birthday plans are canceled. Fuck everything.
Ian closed his phone and looked up to the night sky, the orange of the lunar eclipse resting seemingly right over his house from his angle as he made his way to the front door. The house was mostly dark by now, and Ian passed the bathroom, opting straight for his bedroom while still in his sweaty, soggy, floury uniform. He slammed the door shut and didn't even take his shoes off as he collapsed onto the bed. Ian spied his acoustic guitar and shook his head, his vision blurring from the emerging tears.
He turned in his bed, seeing the outline of his bedroom TV and remembered he was nearly done on a play through of Pokemon Violet's DLC. Suzy gave me so much shit for still playing Pokemon games... at least that doesn't matter anymore. His limbs felt heavy as the pit of despair expanded in his chest, and Ian shook his head in disbelief. In fifteen minutes my whole fucking life falls apart. "How did things go to shit so fast?" Ian asked aloud, expecting no answer.
"I just wish things were different..." Ian grumbled as he closed his eyes trying to force himself to sleep.
***
While still on top of his blankets, Ian felt a falling sensation come over him that jolted him awake. The darkness of his bedroom had been replaced with very bright light which strained his groggy eyes with pain as they adjusted to the sudden change. "What the...?" He still remained lying down on his bed, but he was no longer in his room, in fact, he was amongst trees and bushes whose type he'd never seen before. Grass sprawled outward from beyond his mattress, and a small, four legged figure dashed by him quickly. Was that a deer with a flower on it?
His question went unanswered as his ears suddenly seared with pain, making him recoil from a tremendous roar from behind him. Ian pushed himself up on his knees, kneeling on his bed and still in his dirty work shirt and jeans. To say it was a sight he never thought he'd ever see in his life would be a massive understatement. A large, purple, spiky creature standing upright was nearly twenty feet away from him, looking significantly taller than Ian's own 6'2 form and had to have a few hundred pounds on him. "Is that a… Nidoking?" Ian asked out of sheer disbelief. Seeing Pokemon hand drawn in the typical anime art style hadn't prepared him for something that looked far more realistic. The purple color stuck out even more against the realistic greenery around him and the... Pokemon.Looks oddly realistic. Am I in one of those codeine dreams?
A rustling beside him made Ian turn his head, and his heart leapt in fright once more as a purple rat the size of a normal house cat scurried by him. Ian's jaw dropped as he tried to process that the small figure was in fact a Rattata. "Are these really Pokemon?" Ian asked in disbelief.
Maybe I'm coma-dreaming. Maybe the BS that happened messed me up so much I'm in some cope-fueled dream. Another ear-splitting roar came from the purple creature nearly twenty feet away as Ian covered his ears and recoiled, cursing at the overwhelming sound. Once it had gone quiet again, Ian turned to see the imposing creature turning to him, and he noticed something he hadn't before: glowing red eyes. Like an Alpha from Legends Arceus?
Ian did not wait for an answer as he moved his stiff limbs into an upright position and scrambled to get further away, instinct taking over. He nearly stumbled as he came off his bed and onto solid ground, breaking into an unsteady run. A different, but savage, animalistic cry shrieked from behind him, and Ian saw a large ball of fur with brown legs and arms sprouting from its hairy core leap into action and engage the great Alpha beast. Nidoking roared once more and thin, glowing purple needles took flight as what Ian remembered was a Primeape ducked. Primeape then lunged, its hand glowing with brown energy and it appeared before Nidoking almost instantly, connecting a solid punch that sent a light shock wave from the impact. Nidoking was not phased, however, and drove its horn into the assailant, impaling it as Primeape gave a pained cry-
Whatever the hell is going on, I really should get out of here. Ian turned and bolted, his limbs less stiff as adrenaline pumped in his veins. He began taking in where he was, which didn't do much to assuage his bewilderment of the scenario. He appeared to be in a grove, with thin trees spread across the visible environment, although not too densely to prevent him from dashing between the various trees and bushes. Ian heard a growl and a panicked cry that went deathly quiet, and Ian slowed to turn his head. He saw the lumbering, purple monster bent over and he put together what had likely happened. That sure isn't in the games.
Ian crouched lowly, hoping the Alpha Nidoking would be distracted for him long enough to figure out what the hell was actually going on. Most realistic dream I've ever had. Maybe I'm lucid dreaming? That would be dope. "Okay, if I'm really lucid dreaming, can a busty goth girl appear in front of me?"
He turned around to see nothing appeared to change, and he took a deep breath only to realize things were rather strange around him. The sky wasn't blue, it was instead a hazy, white, fog. But it appeared to be much more compact, like a dome of sorts. A set of glowing, white cracks manifested suddenly a dozen feet ahead of him. A source of blue, swirling light seemed to push the cracks further out as what became more and more like a swirling wormhole straight out of a sci-fi movie formed.
"Wait- is that an Ultra Wormhole?" Ian asked aloud, not believing his eyes as a bizarre phenomenon from the Sun and Moon games was occurring in front of him. Suddenly a rush of water poured through the wormhole, and then two fish Pokemon, a Goldeen and Magikarp appeared, flopping helplessly in front of him. The wormhole then disappeared, leaving the stranded water Pokemon.
Ian looked around to see if he was still relatively safe, also to gauge if there was a water source nearby he could potentially get these Pokemon to. His quick scan saw nothing but dirt and vegetation. Alpha Nidoking still appeared occupied with its meal, so he felt mostly safe. Ian stepped gingerly to the Goldeen and knelt, putting his hands out as it flopped helplessly. He reached out to grab it, taking a hold of the base of its slimy, wet tail. Its main body slipped through his left hand, and he was suddenly met with a sting as Goldeen lunged its horn into his skin. Ian cursed loudly as he backed away, seeing blood beginning to drip from the point of contact.
"Okay, I'm in pain, time to wake up, right?" Ian asked no one in particular as he shook the wetness from his hand. A thunderous roar bellowed from Nidkoking's direction and Ian eyed the helpless fish Pokemon and shrugged. "Sorry you two..." Ian shook his hand as the searing pain flared back up again. Ian then went into a light jog, something he hadn't done much of since his time on the high school track team.
"So I'm seriously in the Pokemon world right now? How the fuck is that?" Ian asked aloud, his mind becoming increasingly more befuddled the longer this bizarre, overly-realistic dream seemingly went on for. Ian looked around to see other signs of life, and he saw another bright crack manifest in the distance before another wormhole opened up and out fell a potted plant, landing gracelessly in the grass onto its side, spilling soil.
"What is going on here?" Ian grumbled as he turned away from the dissipating wormhole. The white, fog-like sky seemed to touch the ground just beyond the set of trees he found himself in now, looking like a wall of wispy clouds. He turned his full attention to the phenomena and walked over curiously. Something caught his eye on the ground, a gleaming, ruby red gem of sorts on the ground in the shape of a four-pointed star. No way! Is this a Star Piece?
Ian knelt down and took a hold of it. It was nearly the size of his palm, and had a weighty density to it. A loud roar from Alpha Nidoking's direction brought Ian back to alert, and he hurriedly shoved the large gem into his rear jean pocket, jamming it in there as best he could. He felt it poking into his butt, but he continued making for the wall of fog. Upon reaching it, Ian held his hand out and it disappeared behind the haze. It felt like nothing had changed, but he couldn't see his appendage anymore. Ian took a deep breath before slowly moving his head into the apparently thin wall of fog, and a dazzling sight met him.
It was sunny, perfectly sunny, like a tropical paradise. Ian gasped as he moved his whole body through the wall of fog. The sky turned blue as he exited the blanket of fog, and turning back to look, he noticed the wall of fog was actually more like the upper half of a sphere. A dome? "What the hell?"
"Faller!" A harsh feminine voice shouted, and Ian turned to see who it belonged to and he couldn't believe his eyes. A lean, tanned woman with bright, eye-catching hair met his gaze. The high twin ponytails had one strand of each tail a bright pink, the other a bright yellow, reminding him of poison dart frogs. Her black tank top exposed a toned middle with a pink skull tattoo on it. Baggy, black pants flowed down her legs and Ian realized she was pointing at him rather accusingly. Is this Plumeria from the Sun and Moon games?
A long, skinny, black form scurried closer to Ian and he recoiled in fear. The realistic looking lizard got up on its hind legs and bared its teeth, steam rising from its mouth. Is that a Salazzle?
"You, stay right there!" Plumeria harshly demanded, pointing at him. "Salazzle, take it easy," Plumeria said, her tone much softer. Salazzle returned to a crawl and scurried back to Plumeria, eyeing him suspiciously.
Ian closed his mouth as he held his hands up innocently. Behind Plumeria were a handful of people dressed in Team Skull uniforms, and it finally, truly struck him. I'm really in a video game world.
Plumeria, Salazzle and the entourage of four Team Skull Grunts approached him. Each of them looked to be adults, or young adults at least. The bandanas covering the grunts' faces made them look all the more imposing instead of cartoonishly foolish like in the games. The familiar cry of a Pokemon hit his ears, making Ian turn to its source: a big, hairy Gumshoos on all fours baring its teeth from behind Plumeria.
He returned his gaze to Plumeria, whose scowl made him uneasy. "Do you remember anything, Faller?" Plumeria spat.
"What?" Ian asked reflexively. still grasping what he was seeing.
"Do you remember anything from where you came from?" Plumeria demanded.
Ian stammered but nodded. "Y-yeah?"
"Your name?"
"Ian," he said. "Ian Derry."
"Prince Street Pizza?" Plumeria asked, indicating his shirt.
"Where I work er- used to work, actually." Ian said, remembering the events that had just transpired, hitting him like a gut punch.
Plumeria's resting bitch-face expression seemed to lax if only for a moment. "You think you wanna go back to your home world?"
"Uh..." Ian stammered, as he processed the events that had happened what felt like such a short time ago more than what Plumeria had just asked him.
"How long has it been since you emerged in the Ultra Storm?" Plumeria asked.
"Emerged? Ultra Storm...?" Ian said, desperately trying to put together what she meant.
"She means how long you been here, yo," said a male, bandana-wearing grunt with light blue hair. The hostile looking Gumshoos growled some more, reinforcing the grunt's point.
"Oh... A few minutes?" Ian said hesitantly. "Like, not even five I think..."
"You get wormhole'd at work or something?" Plumeria asked, looking over his dirty clothes once more.
Ian tensed at the reminder of what happened. "Not quite... I woke up on my bed and there was this Alpha Nidoking-"
"The Alpha's still there?" Plumeria said in alarm. "Everyone, back up, NOW!"
Plumeria reached out and took Ian by the arm, dragging him away from the foggy, white barrier. Once they'd reached thirty feet or so from the border of the cloudy dome shrouding the nearby area, Plumeria returned her attention to Ian.
"Do you have any Pokemon on you right now?" Plumeria asked.
Ian paused and shook his head.
Plumeria rolled her eyes. "You know what an Alpha Pokemon is at least, that's good..." Plumeria sighed. "Any chance you want to go back to where you were?" Plumeria asked. "Time's almost up for this Ultra Storm."
"Ultra Storm?" Ian asked.
"This thing," Plumeria pointed up at the white half-sphere he'd emerged from. "What you woke up in," Plumeria said, pointing at the foggy shroud. "It's what we call an area that gets shrouded in this white cloud. Ultra Wormholes start popping up like crazy inside it. We don't know what happens to the people it takes with it when it fades, but we figure the only chance you have of going back home would be to stay in it and hope it takes you there."
Ian gulped. Is the direction of my entire life really about to hinge on me standing in that cloud- Ultra Storm? "You know if there's any chance I'll actually make it back home?" Ian asked.
"Not a clue. Just a crazy idea," Plumeria said.
Ian took a deep breath and realized if he wanted an even remote chance of actually going back home, he'd probably have to get close to his bed, which was quite close to where the great, purple beast roamed. With that, he made his decision. "I'll stay with you guys."
"Then lets get the fuck out of here!" Plumeria barked, signalling for the group to move away. She and her Salazzle turned to walk away but hesitated, turning back around. "My name's Plumeria, by the way."
Ian nodded, trying to act like he didn't already know her name. "Plumeria, got it."
"Anything else we should know about you, Ian?" Plumeria asked suspiciously.
"Besides this whole thing possibly being a drug-induced hallucination?" Ian said with an uneasy laugh. "No."
The blue haired grunt with the Gumshoos busted up with laughter, causing a death glare from Plumeria. "Tupp, shut up!" Plumeria barked.
The blue-haired grunt with the Gumshoos who was bizarrely named "Tupp" composed himself before pointing at Ian. "You got any more drugs on you? We ran outta the good stuff months ago."
"Tupp!" Plumeria barked.
Ian tried to hold back a laugh, mostly successful. "I promise you dude, if I had some, I'd give 'em to you."
"Sweet!" Tupp said with a cheer. "Big Sis, can we keep him? He seems a'ight."
"Tupp, shut up before I beat your ass!" Plumeria barked.
"Are you threatening him with a good time?" Ian chimed in before realizing he wasn't exactly ingrained enough in the group to make the kind of joke.
Plumeria turned to him, a deathly look in her golden-yellow eyes. Ian involuntarily gulped, realizing he might've royally fucked up. Thankfully, the death glare broke as she scoffed and shook her head, an amused smile on her face. "Great, now I have two idiots to deal with." At that, Plumeria turned around and began marching away. The other three grunts followed suit, besides the blue-haired grunt named Tupp and his Gumshoos, who stopped with Ian.
"Nice one bro," Tupp said with a smirk. "This is Gumshoos by the way," he said, pointing to the large rodent with brown and golden fur. Gumshoos eyed Ian up skeptically, then rose onto its hind legs, which made its front legs that appeared to be arms go behind its back. It gave a high pitched chitter followed by a low growl before returning to its all-fours position. "And I'm Tupp."
Ian reciprocated the fist bump and smiled. "Ian Derry."
"Derry? That's a stupid ass name yo," Tupp commented in his rougher dialect.
Ian just smiled, trying to hide how awkward the whole interaction had suddenly become. "Thanks dude." Plumeria and the grunts were getting away from them and Ian pointed at them. "Think we should follow?" Ian asked.
Tupp looked over his shoulder and laughed. "Of course, stupid!" He then turned around, and Ian followed closely behind. "You're stupid, but at least you're funny, Ian Derry,'" Tupp said, mockingly emphasizing his last name.
Ian smiled awkwardly as he continued walking. "At least I got something going for me."
Tupp snorted and gave him a soft, brotherly punch on the arm. "You keep saying stupid stuff like that and you'll be Big Sis' new punching bag." Tupp bent over and put his fists up in a bad boxing pose and pantomimed hitting a punching bag.
"Is that a good thing?" Ian asked.
Ian could see the smile behind the bandana. "Yeah, cuz the current punching bag's me."
Ian chuckled. "Fair enough." A loud rumbling sound diverted Ian's attention behind him to the white dome Plumeria had called an Ultra Storm, and he noticed the shroud's borders had begun to rotate in an odd way as a crackling, static-like noise hit his ears. Ian didn't feel any change in the wind or anything, but it looked like it should. "What's going on there?"
"Ultra Storm's ending yo," Tupp answered. "Going back to the rift at the top of the mountain." Tupp pointed up, and what had been shrouded by the mist of the Ultra Storm had now become clear: a snow capped mountain towered over the island ominously. Ian noticed a bright, shimmering, light at the summit and had to divert his gaze after staring at it for a few seconds.
"What's that bright light at the top?" Ian asked.
"Dat's the Ultra Rift, or at least that's what peeps keep calling it," Tupp explained. "That's where all the Ultra Storms come from. One day it appeared at the top of the mountain and boom, everything went to shit. Weird people and Pokemon start getting wormhole'd onto the island all the time. Like you did just now."
Ian nodded. "Interesting… How long ago was that?"
"Uh..." Tupp dropped his bandana to reveal his gawking mouth. "Four months back? Maybe five? I dunno, been a while."
"Okay…" Ian commented as the two got back to following Plumeria and the other grunts. Having more time to look, he noticed what looked to be a Lycanroc with orange fur, making Ian remind himself about Lycanroc's Dusk form. On the other side of the group of four was a red and black striped cat Ian recognized as a Torracat, the evolution of the starter Pokemon Litten. He admired the vibrant red and black fur coat on Torracat, but was interrupted by Tupp leaning in a bit closer.
Tupp began speaking lowly and rather seriously. "So, Faller, were you a Pokemon trainer where you came from?"
Ian smiled nervously, not sure how to answer. Video games probably don't do it justice at all. "Not really..."
"When they ask, tell 'em you were a trainer, okay? Else they'll have you doin' stupid labor and shit around Po Town and you don't want that, ya' feel?" Tupp explained.
"Gotcha... If I'm not exactly a great Pokemon trainer, wouldn't that be dangerous?" Ian asked.
"Yeah, but I got your back bro. I need to keep you alive so Plumeria gets mad at you instead," Tupp answered, putting his fist up for another fist bump.
What a nice guy. Ian pounded fists with Tupp and smiled. "Appreciate it dude."
"Well, that's if you get to even hang in Po Town. Boss been getting real protective about new peeps. Food's runnin' low," Tupp explained.
I hope Guzma isn't as ridiculous as I remember he was in the games. Tupp and Ian brought up the rear in relative silence for a while, and the realization of how long and bizarre whatever this dream was continued nagging at Ian. Ready to wake up any minute now...
"The road's not too far away, just over that hill up ahead. Try to keep up back there!" Plumeria barked.
Ian realized there was no set path they were following, Plumeria just led the group across the more easily walkable terrain covered in grass. Up ahead was a hill that took up a lot of his vision, and the few hundred foot uphill march made Ian groan. Thankfully, the sun shone beautifully in the sky, and he remembered if he was in Alola, then this was the Pokemon world equivalent of Hawaii. "Always wanted to go to that state..." Ian mumbled.
"Whatchu saying, Ian?" Tupp asked.
"Just thinking I'd always wanted to come here at some point in my life," Ian answered.
"Well you sure picked the worst fuckin' island at the worst fuckin' time to be here," Tupp retorted. "Where you from anyways? You got a bit of a Unovan accent."
"Uh..." Ian froze as the magnitude of what he would truthfully say came to him, and something told him he probably should play along like he was from a world with Pokemon in it. This could be a bizarre coma dream anyways. "N-Nimbasa..." Ian blurted out, saying the first Unovan city name he could remember.
"Fuck, well you a long way from home, bro," Tupp said. "And y'ain't gettin' back there soon, okay?"
Ian gulped. "Why's that?"
Tupp leaned in closer to Ian. "Well, you on Ula'Ula Island, see? And deez Ultra Storms be messin' shit up so much the government stopped giving a fuck. So we on our own out here."
"Oh..." Ian said, not sure he fully comprehended what Tupp meant.
"Po Town's so outta the way, we always kinda' were on our own, but now we're like, super on our own, ya feel me?" Tupp continued.
Ian shrugged. "Well, I'm just glad I got picked up by you guys and not some Alpha Pokemon as it's next meal."
Tupp snorted. "You're damn right about that, stupid ass Ian!" Tupp cackled incessantly at the joke, and Ian managed to crack a fake smile.
As their heels met the incline, the chatter ceased. Ian's eyes got heavy as he realized he was still really sleepy, and the aches and pains in his body took hold. A fly started bothering Ian for a moment, and he didn't think much of it for a moment before realizing something: the fly was an actual fly, like something from his world. Do they have animals that aren't Pokemon here? A quick thought of what the implications would mean of him asking that made him shelve the idea for the time being though.
They had to stop for a couple breaks, and he noticed even the Team Skull members seemed drained as well. While the air was a bit humid, it wasn't too uncomfortable thanks to the light ocean breeze, and he did find himself working up a sweat in his already selectively damp clothes. But whatever discomfort in his armpits, back, and legs with the uphill march faded as he got to drink in the view from the top of the hill.
Barely a cloud was in the near sky in the mid afternoon sun, and the deep blue of the sea made him gawk. He noticed a couple Trumbeak soaring below them, and the unhindered breeze washed over him like a breath of fresh air. "It's gorgeous..." Ian commented. "I'm really in Alola..."
"Everyone, take five!" Plumeria barked. "Water if you got it."
Ian mouthed "thank goodness" to Tupp and bent over, hands resting on his knees. Ian's parched mouth begged for water, but he didn't have anything on him, and something told him it would be a bad idea to ask, so instead he drank in the view of the shoreline a bit longer before he turned back to the little valley they'd come from. He rubbed his eyes and a huge yawn came over him.
"How dafuq you sleepy when it's the afternoon still?" Tupp said, pulling a tube from his mouth as some water spilled out from the end.
Is that a camelbak? "I was still on my bed in that thing- Ultra Storm, you guys call it?" Ian said. "I'm still sleepy as hell."
Tupp shook his head. "That sucks, but it's the middle of the day here, bro."
Ian shook his head, rubbing his eyes to try to wipe the sleepiness from them. "I can see that…" Ian paused, looking out over the cliffs some more. "How much further are we going?"
Tupp shook his head. "Not too far, just gotta get down this ridge. See the shitty road down there?" Tupp pointed down and to the right, and Ian realized the majestic sea view had made him totally miss the paved road at the base of the hill they were on. "Then we'll be on The Straightaway and we can bike it back to Po Town. Just a few miles."
Looking up the coast, he saw plains and then a dark outline of buildings on a sort of peninsula. "That's Po Town?" Ian asked.
Tupp nodded. "Yup!"
Doesn't look too far away. Ian turned around, seeing a chaotic mess of green and slopes leading up to the mountain as it loomed over them ominously. He then looked what he assumed was south, seeing a dense line of trees a way down. He noticed more black outlines of buildings surrounded by trees before the emergence of some hills. "What's that over there?"
Tupp shook his head. "Nah man, that's the Lake of the Sunne. Old sacred place, we not supposed to go there unless we gotta. Tapu Bulu'll fuck ya' up if you stay too long."
"Noted..." Ian replied. The place didn't get fleshed out much in the games, but he did remember there being a design similar to Arceus's when you looked at the area from above. Sacred? Shit, I don't know what the religions are like here. Better keep my mouth shut on that front. Ian rolled his eyes, still in partial disbelief he was taking any of this seriously. Most realistic dream ever. Maybe I died? Maybe this is the afterlife? Did I really die of heartbreak or some lame shit like that? He shook his head to get the puzzling thoughts out of his mind, and he noticed a couple of the female members taking their bandanas off, revealing their faces as they approached. One was the stereotypical female Team Skull grunt with pink hair and resting bitch face, but she did have a necklace of flowers around her neck. The other was rather sweet and innocent looking, a stark contrast from the grunt, but she looked quite familiar with her brown hair and beaming smile, an orange-coated Lycanroc following beside her.
"Hey there dude with a stupid ass name," the female grunt greeted him with a harsh dialect similar to Tupp. "I'm Rapp, and this is Comfey." Rapp pointed to her flower necklace, or Lei as it was called in Hawaii. Then he noticed a small little life form came out from between the flowers and gave a melodic chime to greet him.
"Nice to meet you Rapp, Comfey," Ian said, eyes fixated on the Fairy Pokemon.
"And I'm Selene. This is Lycanroc, say 'hi' Lycanroc!" The other girl said. The coyote-sized Pokemon gave a couple happy barks Ian's way as it smiled excitedly.
Ian was slightly taken aback. She looked really similar to the Alola games' female protagonist, just like a young adult instead of a kid on the verge of puberty. What is she doing in Team Skull?
"You alright dude?" Selene asked, her voice much sweeter than Rapp's.
"Sorry, just processing everything a little slow," Ian replied.
"That's normal for Fallers like you," Rapp commented. "Mind all numb and shit. At least you weren't like the last one we picked up."
"Last one?" Ian asked curiously.
Rapp giggled. "Some fat guy with glasses. He started celebrating and shit. When we told him to chill out, he said he was some weird ass word. What'd he say, Tupp?"
Tupp smirked. "Girl he was like, 'I'mma e-si-guy protagonist' and he had special powers and that we should listen to him," Tupp explained with a laugh.
E-si-guy protagonist? What is- And then it hit him: some otaku from a world like his with the Isekai genre of shows had wormhole'd in. "What happened to him, is he still around?" Ian asked warily.
Rapp, Selene, and even Tupp joined together in a fit of laughter. "Nah man, after Plumeria told him what was up, he got all butthurt and started bitching. Dumbass ran into a bush and got fried by a Vikavolt."
"A Vikavolt?" Ian asked, eyes expanding in shock.
"Burnt him to a crisp. Fuckin' idiot" Rapp with a giggle. "You not like that guy, right?"
Ian shook his head. "Nope." Maybe running with these guys is a bad idea. But what choice do I have right now?
"Hey Faller!" Plumeria barked harshly, approaching him. "Your mind done being fuzzy?"
Ian shook his head. "Still a bit but..."
"Too bad, cuz I got questions for you..." Plumeria began. "So where you from?"
"Elk Grove-" Ian answered habitually before covering his mouth. "Well-"
"He's from Unova, Nimbasa City," Tupp chimed in.
"Shut up, Tupp! He will answer my questions!" Plumeria roared. Tupp slouched in defeat, but Ian could see a subtle smirk on his face.
"Yeah, Nimbasa City..." Ian said.
"What's Elk Grove?" Plumeria demanded, folding her arms.
"A suburb outside of it," Ian said nervously.
"And were you a Pokemon trainer there? Or were you just a delivery boy for a pizza place?" Plumeria asked.
"I was a supervisor, thank you very much," Ian said defensively. "And I trained Pokemon in my spare time."
"Which Pokemon?" Plumeria demanded quickly.
"Uh... Herdier, Krokorok, and-" Ian tried to remember a flying Pokemon from Unova that wasn't the Pidove line. "Rufflet…"
"Not bad. Not great, but could be worse," Plumeria eyed Tupp. "Like being a trainer for one year and having just a Gumshoos and a Golbat to show for it."
"C'mon Big Sis, boss ain't lemme get more Poke Balls. Plus I don't have any good practice partners, and you always say no when I ask you to train me!" Tupp protested.
"You could always hit up the Driftwood Guild for more balls, but that would involve having something to trade," Plumeria lectured. "And I say no to practicing with you because as one of Team Skull's 'Bones.' my Pokemon have to be in top shape to fight threats at any time. Remember the last time Breon's guys attacked the outer wall?" Plumeria demanded.
"Yeah..." Tupp said, defeated completely this time.
"Bones?" The hell does that mean?
Plumeria shifted her focus back to Ian, her resting-bitch-face look very apparent. "You don't have your Pokemon with you now, Ian?" Plumeria asked.
"No..." Ian croaked. "I put them on my bedside table, which uh, I don't think arrived with me."
"Figures," Plumeria said with a sigh. "On that note, break's over."
"Any place to stop for water? I'm parched." Ian asked.
Plumeria scowled. "The water fountain at the police checkpoint stopped working, so you'll have to just wait until Po Town. It's just a few miles ride up The Straightaway from here."
Ian nodded. "Okay I wasn't exactly packed for a hike when I went to bed today..."
Plumeria motioned him to come closer to her as they began their descent down the hill. "Random question, but you never met a guy named Oleander where you're from, right?"
Ian shook his head. "No."
Plumeria exhaled with a hint of disappointment. "So what was it like for you?"
"What?"
"Falling... Faller-ing? I don't know if that's a word," Plumeria said.
"Well, I had a really shitty night so I went right to bed..." Ian paused as his heart tensed with the memories of the night before, the image of his ex-girlfriend Suzy lip to lip with Alex burned into the back of his retinas, which made him wince.
"Was there anything that caused it? Anything out of the ordinary?" Plumeria asked seriously. "Like a comet or meteor shower?"
"Uh..." Ian gasped as a small detail came back to him. "There was a lunar eclipse, the thing where the moon turns red..."
"Oh. Anything else? Like did you say anything?" Plumeria asked.
Ian opened his mouth but paused, recalling the memory. Oh shit... "My last words I remember were saying 'I wish things had been different.'"
"And there you go, you get your wish. Welcome to Alola," Plumeria said, a hint of teasing in her voice. "Picked an awful time to come here, though."
"Yeah what's going on with that?" Ian asked. "Tupp was saying something similar..."
Plumeria shook her head. "Easier to show you when we got a map handy."
"Wait, you're out here without a map?" Ian asked.
Plumeria scoffed. "I know this part of the island like the back of my hand, idiot. No need for a fucking map."
"Well I'm dumb..." Ian admitted.
"No wonder Tupp wants to keep you around," Plumeria teased. "Better hope Guzma feels the same way."
With that, Plumeria pulled ahead a bit, indicating her business with him was done. Ian followed along, eventually getting back with Tupp, who'd been speaking to the other Team Skull grunt he'd yet to meet, the one with a Torracat by his side. He had dark blonde hair and wore his beanie leaning to one side, almost covering one of his green eyes.
"Hey man, I haven't met you yet, I'm Ian-"
The grunt furrowed his eyebrows and didn't respond, just continuing to walk forward. "Uh... my bad..." Ian added.
Tupp shook his head and put his arm around Ian. "That's Hyde. He's a little over-protective of us sometimes."
"Cautious," Hyde said lowly before returning to walking in silence.
"Yeah whatever, paranoid bozo," Tupp retorted.
"Fuck you!" Hyde called back.
"Fuck you too!" Tupp called back, a smirk on his face, returning his focus to Ian. "What, anything wrong?"
"I thought you guys were gonna fight right now..." Ian observed.
Tupp busted up with a throaty laugh. "Nah man, that's just how we talk in Team Skull. When Hyde gave you the cold shoulder and you said 'my bad' like a little bitch, you'd get called out if you were one of us, you feel?" Tupp explained.
"Okay..." Ian said with uncertainty.
"You keep acting like a lil' bitch and boss is gonna make you a house bitch, and trust me, you don't want that," Tupp continued.
"Got it," Ian said with more confidence.
"Good, now keep that shit up."
During the walk, Ian caught Tupp's eyes continually checking out Rapp and Selene's behinds. Their pants weren't nearly as baggy as Plumeria's or the guys. Ian leaned in close, hushing his voice and slowing down a bit, which Tupp picked up on. "Do me a solid bro, how old is everyone here?"
"Me and Rapp are nineteen, Plumeria's twenty-two, Selene's eighteen and Hyde-" Tupp raised his voice. "Hey Hyde, how old are you again?"
"Don't tell him shit about me, Tupp," Hyde retorted. What is that guy's deal?
Tupp chuckled and didn't ask again. "What about you, Ian?"
"Was gonna turn twenty-one in a few days."
Tupp shook his head. "Sorry bro, but this gotta be the worst birthday present, ever."
When they reached the bottom of the hill, the group and their Pokemon went right for a patch of brush by the roadside. Ian watched in confusion until he saw Plumeria pull a bicycle out of the brush. More cycles were uncovered from their stealthy hiding place, and Rapp rolled a bike over to Tupp. "He's riding with you," Rapp stated as she gave her neck-residing Comfey a playful scratch, causing the little fairy to chirp softly.
Tupp sighed. "Yeah." He then grabbed a Poke Ball from under his baggy black tank top and pressed the button on the front, firing a red beam at Gumshoos, causing the large rodent Pokemon to light up with a red glow before following the beam back into Tupp's Poke Ball.
Ian noticed Tupp's bike had a metal bar protruding from the hub of its back wheel. "You've done this before…" Ian asked.
"Couple times," Tupp said. "You ain't a hot chick, so you ain't sitting on my handlebars."
"How far are we going?" Ian asked.
"About three miles up the coast," Tupp said. "Shouldn't take too long, even with two riders."
"Yeah, I hear you," Ian said, bracing himself for a very uncomfortable ride with his leg muscles already aching as he mounted the cycle's back protrusions and went in motion. In such a drowsy, sore state, Ian was barely able to keep his balance. This isn't gonna be fun.
The cool breeze was a nice by-product of their method of transit, but it didn't take long for Ian's muscles to begin aching. Plus he was yawning every few minutes, his eyelids getting heavier with each yawn. When the walls of Po Town came into view he gave a relieved sigh. "Finally," Ian said with a groan.
Tupp shook his head. "Don't get too stoked now, bro. You ain't even seen the boss yet."
Ian cursed, a pit of dread forming in his torso. "Yeah, don't remind me."