Chapter 300 - My SI Stash #100 - Borne of Caution by Fuggmann (Pokemon)

-Zookeeper gets isekai'd to Pokémon by Nuke-kun~ Out of all the SI Pokemon fic I've read this has to be the best one, author managed to combine themes of fluffiness and gruesome death. Mad.

Synopsis: An irritated Pokemon might tell you to stop what you're doing. An irritated animal will probably just attack you. Pokemon, for all their power, would be open books and a breeze to care for to any competent animal handler on Earth. After a fiery death, a professional zookeeper who never outgrew Pokemon games ends up in the world of Pokemon. The entire world is thrown onto its side.

Rated: M

Words: 61K

Posted on: fanfiction.net/s/13390578/1/Borne-Of-Caution (Fuggmann)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀) -I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1-2 (exceptional)

I am an animal lover, but not exactly an expert. Some biology and behavior referenced in the story may not be 100% accurate, or might even be outright pseudoscience.

It's shit you've been warned.

edit: I've got the big dyslexia so there were a ton of mistakes. Fixed most. Point out more if found

"She really likes you, you know."

Lee groans, setting the bloody bucket in his gloved hand down and wiping at his sweaty forehead. Behind him, the staff door to the lion exhibit closes with a pair of clicks. "I know Makiri is pissed. Don't rub it in."

The first voice laughs, deep and hearty. "Well, can't dem to love you all da time, can you? Lovely Lady Makiri likes her routine, and you broke her big rule of not changin'. Mommy Mara's scent all over ya ain't helping either. Lady Makiri be thinkin' you're cheaten on her."

Lee looks up to the tall speaker.

Before him is a large african man with a shaved head, beaming smile, and eyes sparkling with mirth. He's clad in the same khaki bush trekking outfit that most animal handlers in the Columbus Zoo use as a uniform, Lee included. On his belt is a radio (currently turned off as to not spook the lions) and on his right b.r.e.a.s.t pocket is a nametag reading "Aasir".

Lee runs a glove-clad hand through his sweaty hair with a sigh. "I know. With how David called out so suddenly someone had to check up on the tigers, and I drew the short straw. Mara's in heat again and is real cuddly with anything even vaguely smelling male. She walked up to me without an ounce of aggression."

Aasir nods and hums, scratching his stubble covered chin. "Yah, no wonder Lady Maiki was givin' you da stinkeye den. Smellin' anodda female, one jonesin' for cubs no less, on any of her handlers gunna make her mad."

The shorter man grimaces. He had to carefully maneuver in the enclosure as to not let Makiri, the eldest lioness, be downwind of himself. The other lions gladly approached for their admittedly late lunch with Makiri trailing behind, already knowing none of the foolish younglings would eat her share. By the time Lee realized the wind had shifted, the old lioness had already gone silent and was maneuvering into his blindspot. Lee bid a steady retreat, as running would make her chase, and it gave him enough time to see the fury in her eyes.

If she caught him, Lee would have been dead.

Harsh is the realization that any animal could turn on you. Harsher is realization you still love them even if it might lead to your death.

"Think you can cover the lions alone for a few days so Makiri can cool off?"

Aasir nods with a chuckle. "Dats fine. Deh boys at deh reptile house gunna need some extra hands anyway. Dey be setting up a spider exhibit while new rattlers be shipped in. Lions, old Aasir can do. Now spiders?" He drops his grin and shudders. "Can't do spiders. No. Dem beady eyes and crawly legs and hooked fangs be hauntin' my dreams," he says, rubbing his arms as if to ward off a chill.

"Heh, suit yourself," Lee says with a shrug. "Any idea when that's going down?"

Aasir pulls his phone from his pocket and checks the time. "Threeish? Dey getting the buggers in and set up in da back while de enclosures be converted for dem."

"Enough time to catch some lunch and a nap in the supply closet. Nice." Lee thinks with a grin, turning towards the exit to the visitor area.

"And don't be sleepin' in da admin closet. Miss Jonesy knows."

Lee stops. "I said that aloud, didn't I?"

"It's a bad habit you got." Lee didn't even need to turn to know Aasir was smiling. The man just laughs when Lee keeps walking.

Lee steps out into the visitor area, barely avoiding a kid that runs by with an exhausted mom trailing behind. He looks around and takes in the throngs of people in the Zoo today.

Everyone is crowded by the fence of the lion exhibit, watching with gasps and exclamations broken up by the beeping of cellphone cams as the lions eat. Young, old, man, and woman alike watch raptly, and thankfully no one has the gall to try and throw things into the enclosure this time.

Just yesterday a pizza crust thrown by some brat managed to bean poor cub Sefu in the eye, and both himself and Aasir rushed out to the culprit. Lee isn't terribly intimidating, only being of average height and build, but even an indignant mom quickly caves to a large african man so angry that he accidentally slips back into his native Swahili. The family and bawling child left without needing an escort out.

Respecting the animals isn't that hard, is it?

Either way, today seems to be going just fine, making Lee smile as everyone points and gushes over cubs Sefu and Zuberi fighting over a rib bone.

The man continues on, gliding through the Saturday crowd with practiced ease back toward the main admin office and towards his much needed lunch. One or twice he's stopped by a zoo guest for directions, and he gives them out almost without noticing, knowing where everything is by heart. As he walks, Lee runs a hand across his forehead and speeds up, hoping to get out of the beating late-summer sun soon.

Lee slips into the gift shop near the front of the Zoo and walks along the wall to a door marked "Employees only." With a swipe of his keycard, the door opens with a 'click!' and lets him back into the admin office.

Inside the small lounge area, a few staff, animal keepers, security, and even an on-site cop mill about, talking in small groups or seated at one of the small tables eating lunch. In the corner of the room, an old TV with the news perpetually playing fills background. Lee promptly ignores all of that and makes a beeline for the shared fridge, snatching a tupperware container of pasta from it before finding a table for himself.

Lee pulls his phone out as he brings a forkful of food to his mouth, clicking on his GBA emulator to continue his modded Pokemon Emerald run. Not too much was added. Simply a randomized starter and all first three gens available in the wild.

Beating the first gym leader Roxanne, a Rock type specialist, with a Vulpix as a starter was a gigantic pain though. Will-o-Wisp and Confuse Ray really earned their place in Vulpix's moveset after that. The Vulpix has stellar IVs and even has the hidden ability Drought, so it's too bad her lax nature means a special defense reduction. She would have made a good wall. 'That's alright though,' Lee thinks. 'I can still build a good team around her.' He marks the little fox with a heart in the box system.

With the first gym beaten, Lee took one last look around Rustboro and talked with every NPC before heading to the next route.

A chair across the table squeaks as someone sits down. "Still a big Pokemon fan, eh?"

Lee looks up as he finishes his last bite of lunch, seeing fellow keeper and member of the reptile house, Marcy, sit down with him.

Lee nods, pausing his game to address her. "Now and forever. The only thing I like more than Pokemon is actual animals. Broke my heart as a kid when my d.i.c.k brother said they were real only for Ma to tell me they aren't."

Marcy snorts and grins. "He wouldn't be a proper brother if he didn't mess with you."

"True, and I busted his favorite GI Joe as revenge," Lee quips, making Marcy laugh. "So what brings you over to my lonely little table?"

The woman collects herself. "Aasir told me over the radio one of your lions thinks you're cheating on her, so you need a break from their for a few days. Want to help set up an arachnid exhibit in the meantime?"

"It's not my fault Mara felt like rubbing up on me..." Lee grumbles. "But yes, I was actually about to call you once I was done here to ask just that. Thanks for saving me the trouble."

"Of course."

Both zookeepers stand, Lee pocketing his phone, then stop as tornado sirens begin to sound out in the distance, their wails echoing across the whole zoo hauntingly. Under the wailing of the sirens is the audible panic of several of the louder, more skittish animals. Everyone else in the lounge likewise looks bewildered. One glance out the window shows that the sky is clear and blue, as a summer day should be. Even the fickle weather of Ohio can't shift that fast.

"The hell is going on?" Another keeper asks no one particular.

"Dunno. Some kind of malfunction?" A gift shop cashier finishing her lunch suggests.

"Someone must have broken something big then." Someone near the back of the room chimes.

More sirens echo in from the not-so-distant city of Columbus, the capital of Ohio and one of the largest cities in the United States. The extra sirens mix with the closer ones, forming an unnerving din. Then from the north even more sirens cry out from the city of Delaware.

The confusion gripping the room slowly turns to worry.

"Alright, it's one thing for our sirens to f.u.c.k up, but both Columbus and Delaware going at once?" Lee says, pulling out his phone. "What is going on?"

Then he gets an answer he didn't want.

All at once, every cellphone in the room screams out alarm tones at maximum volume. Several people flinch and a few bite back screams from the unexpected scare. The message flashing on each one is infinitely more damning than any frightening alarm tone.

PRESIDENTIAL ALERT ISSUED.

TAKE SHELTER NOW AND TUNE INTO OFFICIAL NEWS STATIONS FOR MORE DETAIL.

All eyes fly to the TV in the corner.

"-rising tension may mean disaster for negotiations. Back to you, Tom.", ``the anchorwoman says as the news shifts to a smiling man with a weather map behind him Before he can get a single word in, the screen suddenly goes black.

Everyone watching waits, coiled with tension.

After several seconds, the TV screams out with the chilling screech of the E.B.S. After several screeches, a synthesized voice begins to speak with an eerie calm. "This message is transmitted by the order of the president and Department of Homeland Security. At approximately 12:37PM EST, The North American Aerospace Defense Command detected incoming Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. These missiles are believed to be carrying nuclear warheads of unknown yield. Known targeted cities include Washington DC, New York NY, Dallas TX, San Francisco CA, Seattle WA, Pittsburgh PA, Chicago IL-"

The TV rattles off more cities in it's monotone. The longer it goes on, the more hope begins rising in the room.

"Jesus f.u.c.k this is unreal, but if there is anything good about Ohio it's how irrelevant we are. Why waste a nuke here?" Lee thinks to himself, trying vainly to steady his heart rate. "There is nothing worth nuking. Oh my f.u.c.k.i.n.g god I can't believe the crazies on /pol/ were right."

"-Phoenix AZ, and Columbus OH."

"...What!?"

A deathly stillness grips the entire room. Just outside, screams overtake the sirens.

"If you are located within 100 to 200 miles of any of the listed locations," the TV drones on, "take shelter immediately. Warhead impact is estimated to be in the next 30 to 45 minutes. Keep a radio and tune into local emergency channels. If you do not know your local emergency channels, look them up now. Internet service cannot be guaranteed after impact. Shelter in place and do not move until an all clear is given. A location underground is optimal. Failure to follow these instructions may lead to injury or death. This message will repeat."

Lee looks around at his thunderstruck co-workers, but can't hear a word of their frantic yelling over his heart pounding in his own ears and the growing screaming outside. He falls backward, his back hitting the wall and letting him slump to the floor. "Absolutely nowhere in the zoo can stand a nuclear blast," he whispers to himself. "We're going to die. We're actually going to die."

The man frantically takes out his phone and hits the first contact inside, his mother. He holds the phone up to his ear, but only hears "All circuits are busy. Please try again later" before it can ring out even once. With a growl he calls again, again, and again...

"All circuits are busy. Please try again later."

"F.u.c.k! Did EVERYONE have the same idea?!"

Lee raises his arm and almost dashes the smartphone across the ground, but controls his temper at the last moment with a deep, heaving breath. He drops the now useless device into his pocket and grips his head in his hands, tears of both fear and frustration stinging his eyes. "F.u.c.k f.u.c.k f.u.c.k..."

He raises his head, seeing everyone else isn't coping much better. Most fill the room with screams and muttered prayers asking God to save them. One poor intern has the cashier girl in a deathgrip of a hug, crying large, ugly tears as the shell shocked girl rubs his back absently. Several of the keepers slip out the door, probably to go see their animals one last time. Marcy, normally so conservative, is openly and frantically having s.e.x one last time with one of the security guards in the corner with not a single person paying them any mind.

BANG!

Everyone jumps and screams.

Lee stares at the slumped form of the on-site police officer. He's wide-eyed and bleeding from a hole in the side of his cranium, his Glock pistol held in limp fingers. The wall to his side is painted a morbid red. The man's mouth opens and closes several times before his eyes unfocus and he goes limp.

Lee quashes the temptation to take the gun and follow the man into the afterlife.

Someone else, an older man in overalls with a tool belt picks up the gun and drops the magazine, looking at with the shaky hands. "There's sixteen more bullets if anyone wants to go on their own terms..." he says quietly, placing the gun on a table after putting the magazine back in.

Impending death does things to people. Really reveals who they are.

The crying intern wipes away his tears and steps towards the gun, a sudden calmness to him.

Lee screws his eyes shut and plugs his ears.

BANG!

Red splatters across the ceiling, and another one moves on.

The crying and panic calms in favor of numb shock, everyone now too overloaded to process everything at once. All the remaining people in the lounge slowly settle into a small group along the floor and the chatter dies down to silence. Everyone is content to wait, and no words are needed to communicate that. Outside, only the wails of the sirens remain. The cries of the guests are gone, and in their place is distant beeping of car horns.

Lee looks down at his phone, now noticing it has no signal at all. With a sigh, he opens Pokemon Emerald again in a vain attempt to distract himself.

"The front gate is probably clogged to all hell..." Lee murmurs, hugging his knees to his chest with his free arm. "Glad I'm not on parking lot duty today."

A few people chuckle and the maintenance man who set the gun aside even says; "Hear hear, brother."

Quiet falls over the group again and goes unbroken for a few only sound comes from Lee's phone as he takes his character back to Littleroot Town.

"So how long until..." Someone trails off.

"That was a good 20 minutes of freakout," someone else says. "It's can't be long now, people. If you've got any regrets, out with it now."

No one speaks up and the second speaker scoffs. "Of course..."

Lee sighs and leans his head back, praying to whatever power that is listening to make sure the coming doom is quick, both for him and all the animals. The thought of Makiri, the cubs, Mara and her mate Jupiter, or ANY of the animals he'd come to love like people suffering fills him with a nameless dread. Why should they be killed for the mistakes of people?

"They shouldn't. They're the biggest victims here, being condemned to die because forces they can't comprehend or control don't even consider them in the collateral damage."

"My one regret," Lee begins, making all eyes turn to him. "Was that I could never properly tell all my charges how much I love them. I went to school and came here to learn all about animals of all sorts, and I can gauge how much they like me thanks to those lessons, but I never had a good way to tell them. The curse of language barrier that can't be breached I guess."

"Jesus Lee, make the rest of us feel bad why don't you."

Lee turns to the speaker to retort, but stops and screams when a 2nd sun blooms in the distance. The flood of white light through the south window instantly burns the left side of his face and makes the room sweltering in half a second.

The screaming begins again as everyone scrambles to cover their eyes. Hardly a second later, the shockwave hits. All the windows shatter into slivers of razor sharp glass and shoot northward. Several lodge themselves into Lee's side or fly by and open gashes, making him cry out at the sharp agony. His own scream and the rest of the world goes silent as his ears pop from the pressure. The whole room shakes and cracks like an earthquake struck the entire zoo.

And then, FIRE

OH GOD THE FIRE THE FIRE THE FIRE THE FIRE

EVERYTHING HURTS

EVERYTHING BURNS

MAKE IT STOP

MOMMY GOD JESUS ANYONE PLEASE MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT GO AWAY

MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

An instant later, and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium was no more.

Lee opens his eyes.

A second later, he shoots up into a sitting position and coughs wet, painful coughs into his hand for almost a minute, taking wheezing breaths whenever his abused lungs would allow. He looks at his hand, grimacing at the flecks of red dotting his hand and at the copper taste coating his tongue.

The man cranes his head around, confusion welling up inside him as he stands on unsteady legs. This is neither heaven, hell, or a hospital.

All around is lush greenery that one would see in a fairly tropical region. A humid wind filled with the scent of recent rain blows through the leaves of the tall trees, sending a calm rustle rolling through the forest all around.

"What the f.u.c.k..?" Lee murmurs, turning only to hiss as the movement pulls at the glass stuck into his side. He gingerly touches a large shard that shredded through his khaki shirt and stuck itself in his left side with a wince. While looking at his side, he notices the dark lines burned into the side of his shirt, probably from where the bright light shined in through the blinds. So he probably...

Lee touches a finger to the left side of his face and pulls it away, biting back a scream. A trio of lines are burned into his face, one just barely missing his eye. The flesh is cooked and bubbled in some places.

"Don't touch my face, good to know..." he says to himself, returning his attention to the glass in his side. He grits his teeth "This is gonna suck," he says, gripping the largest bit of glass. With a wet schlick! the shard slips out and Lee bites his lip to hold back a scream. He quickly yanks what shards he can out and lets the bloody glass fall to the grassy ground. Thankfully none are in so deep that he risks bleeding out.

With that out of the way, Lee reaches in his back pocket and takes out a small folding knife. With a few quick cuts, his still whole right sleeve is made into several sloppy bandages. "Thank God for small mercies," the man mutters, thankful his shirt is a button up and not a pull-over that he'd have to drag over his burns.

A moment later, his cuts are covered and his tattered shirt is buttoned back on.

"Now, where the f.u.c.k am I?"

Lee turns around carefully, trying to make heads or tails of his location. Could he have been picked up by the blast and flung here? She shakes his head. "What kind of cartoony shit is that? And I distinctly remember being on fire."

Just the phantom sensation of being engulfed in flame paralyses the zookeeper and makes his heart hammer. Sweat dots his brow and he struggles to breath, his mind convinced that opening his mouth will let the nuclear flames in.

"Ta. Taillow!" A voice with a trill to it calls.

"Zag?" Another voice asks with questioning whine.

The strange, almost child-like voices snap Lee from his vision. With a gasp and a blink, he whirls around and comes face to face with something, or a pair of somethings he instantly recognizes.

Less than ten feet away stands a living, breathing, Zigzagoon and a Taillow, both watching him carefully. A pair of f.u.c.k.i.n.g Pokemon.

Lee gulps and stares back. "I've lost it. This is my brain flooding with hormones for a nice vision before I'm burned to ash. There is no other explanation."

The Zigzagoon is just as he remembers them. Short and stubby with a cute face and the distinct zig-zag pattern to it's fur, but there is a realness that any game or show lacks. Zigzagoon has individual strands of fur that gently flow in the breeze and it's eyes gleam. It blinks and twitches it's nose in little sniffs.

The Taillow is just as real, with actual feathers composing it's from rather than just solid color. On it's beak, Lee sees several scratches and minor discoloration telling him it's not been eating a balanced diet. It's talons kneed the dirt under it anxiously.

"This can't be real."

Zigzagoon tilts it's head and Taillow narrows it's eyes.

"Shit I said that aloud."

Lee quickly falls back on his animal handling lessons and slowly dips into a crouch to make himself seem smaller and less threatening.

Taillow's form eases and Zigzagoon steps a little closer, it's tail slowly wagging.

Zigzagoon's eyes scan over Lee, and he swears he sees the Pokemon's gaze become sympathetic as it looked over the wounds upon him. The little Pokemon steps even closer, coming almost to arms length. Zigzagoon finally looks over its shoulder to Taillow, letting out a; "Zagoon. Zig zigzagoon!" that sounds imploring.

Taillow looks over Lee with and appraising eye, its eyes lingering on the burns on his cheek, before it spread its wings and took off into the forest, vanishing like a specter into the branches.

The little racoon look-alike seems elated if it's body language offers any tells and fearlessly steps closer, now within arms reach.

Lee slowly, carefully reaches a hand out, pushing down the twinge of childish excitement that suddenly wants to rise out "You're a friendly one, eh? My favorite," he says, gently laying a hand on the Pokemon's head.

Zigzagoon happily preens under the compliment and accepts the gentle scratch behind its ear with a croon. Lee takes the time to marvel at the feeling of the stiff, backwards facing fur.

Suddenly, Taillow returns and lands beside Zigzagoon. Only years of 'Don't make sudden movements' being beaten into Lee's head keep him from flinching.

Taillow carries a pair of small, blue fruits held by the stems in it's beak. The small bird looks at Lee critically before dropping both fruit at his feet and hoping backwards two steps. Zigzagoon likewise backs up several steps and looks up at him patiently.

"They're giving these to me?"

A second look at the fruit tell him exactly why.

At his feet is both an Oran berry and a Rawst berry. A berry that restores HP and a berry that cures burns.

One side of Lee knows that Pokemon are intelligent of course, but the other side is utterly blown away that a pair of animals could diagnose injuries and acquire treatment, for a stranger no less.

The man gives both Pokemon a smile, careful not to bare his teeth. "Thank you both so much."

Taillow just nods, seemingly not thinking this is a big deal, but Zigzagoon trundles up and rubs its face against Lee's knee with an affectionate bark.

With a smile, the man picks up the Rawst berry first. "Chase the bitter one with the sweet one." Then he stops. "Am I really about to accept a pair of fruits I've never seen before from a pair of anomalous creatures?"

He pops the Rawst berry into his mouth and chews quickly, trying not to cringe at the impressive bitterness that such a small fruit could pack. Both Pokemon before him watch with no small amount of amus.e.m.e.nt as he grabs the Oran immediately after swallowing the Rawst, again eating the thing quickly.

Lee almost gags when the sweet Oran doesn't wash down the Rawst flavor, but instead mingles with it into a disgusting new flavor. "Ech. Did you two know this would happen?"

Taillow actually smirks, a facial expression an avian should not be able to make while Zigzagoon replies with a "Goon!"

Once both berries are down, the pain from all of Lee's injuries fades to a dull ache and the throbbing, molten pain of his burned face eases to a much more bearable sting. He tentatively touches his face to find that action isn't pure agony any longer. He takes a deep breath, noting the wet wheeze he had was gone.

Incredible. Just incredible. His inner academic yearns to know the hows and whys of berries.

Again, Lee finds himself smiling. "Thank you both again. I won't forget you."

Both Pokemon actually smile. Taillow spreads its wings and Zigzagoon turns to leave.

"Wait!"

The Pokemon halt and look at Lee, Zigzagoon with curiosity and Taillow with suspicion.

"Can you..." he stops, almost feeling foolish. "Can you tell me where the nearest human settlement is? I'm.. not really from around here."

Taillow rolls its eyes. "Tailllllow," it says, sounding condescending. Nonetheless, the small bird flits up to a branch and points it's beak to the east. It then takes flight and vanishes into the forest.

Zigzagoon is quick to follow, but not before throwing a quick "Goon!" over its shoulder.

Once again, Lee is alone.

The zookeeper pushes away the mental breakdown that desperately wants out and starts walking east at a slow pace. No matter what happened, he needs to find other people to help him and hope he doesn't stumble into a nuclear crater. As he walks, Lee takes stock of himself.

"I'm hurt, tired, lost, have zero supplies, and I'm probably hallucinating. This is just awwwwesome. At least those berries worked."

Lee pats down his pockets, finding everything where it should be. His radio is still on his belt, but it only takes one look to see that it's chassis is cracked down the middle and the innards look live they've been microwaved, he observes with a groan. His folding knife and wallet is in his back pocket. His phone somehow survived, albeit with a cracked screen, but then...

As Lee was putting his phone back, his finger runs over something cool, metal, and spherical at the bottom of his pocket. Curious, he wraps his fingers around it and pulls the tiny sphere out. In his hand is a pokeball, shrunken into it traveling form.

"No f.u.c.k.i.n.g way."

He presses the button several times, watching mystified as the ball grows and shrinks over and over before his eyes. "Did Taillow or Zigzagoon sneak this onto me?" he asks no one, tossing the ball up and down, only for it to slip from his fingers and fall to the ground.

The ball bounces once then snaps open with a flash of energy, making Lee jump back with a yelp. The energy collects to a single point and forms a small, quadrupedal figure before fading, leaving a creature behind.

Brown eyes blink and look up at the gobsmacked human. An ear with a little heart mark flicks.

Before him stands a Vulpix. His Vulpix.

"Oh. Shit."

The first thing Vulpix does once her ball opens is take a deep breath of air.

The scents of the forest, the dirt, the trees, the water, the grass and mingle in her nose, telling her countless things about her surroundings before she can even blink the stars from her vision. She remembers an incredible victory over the Rock-type gym leader, where her own trainer commanded her like a professional. He and her working in tandem led the entire other team to ruin.

A young Fire type demolishing a team of experienced Rock types. Alone. Power never mattered overly much to her, but such explosive growth appealed to a much more primal part of her Pokemon psyche. A part should could not, and would not deny.

Her human was never the affectionate sort, and would keep her in her ball most of the time. With a flare of her budding psychic powers, Vulpix scans for her opponent as her vision clears, but finds naught but her trainer.

Curious.

After a few seconds that seem like an eternity, Vulpix's vision adjusts from the sudden flash of her own materialization, and before her stands... a human who isn't her trainer. He's taller different in the face, clad in unusual, tattered clothes,... and coated in injuries.

But this human's psychic signature feels just like her trainer. Exactly like him. She knows there is no such thing as a perfect psychic spoof. It can't be done. Vulpix wars with herself, fighting the desire to try and comfort her trainer(?) over his injuries and the logical side of her that says to wait and be wary of tricks.

And things... look different. Sharper. Dare she say more detailed? Strange happenings are abound.

Vulpix blinks and looks around, not recognizing anything. With a flick of her ear, she sits and waits, content with having her trainer(?) lead the conversation.

Lee blanks out.

Before him is the crux of his latest team, looking at him coolly with at least some level of recognition. Actual recognition, as in she knows who he is. Somehow. He takes out his phone and boots up his emulator for Pokemon Emerald. On starting up, he opens his pokemon menu.

And it's empty. His Vulpix, his only Pokemon, is missing.

The game promptly freezes and crashes.

He puts the phone away, thinking over the implications.

Again, he falls back into his training and crouches down slowly, Vulpix's eyes watching carefully. Lee hesitates for a minute with Vulpix just watching, before he finally takes a deep breath and begins "Vulpix? I know this is going to sound really stupid, but what is the last thing you remember?"

Vulpix tilts her head, carefully regarding him with her chocolate eyes. The little vulpine then looks around and spies a small rock sticking up from the ground. She trots to the rock, then breathes a short tongue of flame onto it before giving it a little kick, knocking it over.

This sudden appearance of the flame makes Lee go still, but he snaps himself back to reality a second later. "So our victory over Roxanne?"

Vulpix simply nods.

Again Lee stops to think. "Alrighty girl. Lets walk-n-talk. We want to get to a town before nightfall and I've got a lot of things to cover. I urge you to listen to me until the end."

The little fox responds with a demure "Vul..." and stands to follow.

Lee stands himself and stretches his limbs with a held back yawn. The energy given to him by that Oran is beginning to fade. He starts his leisurely pace east again with Vulpix easily falling in step to his left. As they walk, he mulls over his explanation.

"How does one explain... well, all this shit to a superpowered animal without getting killed?" The zookeeper wonders with a sigh. "Or, do I even need to explain it?" He wonders, thinking back to some of the older Dex entries for Vulpix and Ninetails. "Ninetails is explicitly said to have mind control powers in one of the gen III Dexs. That means some way to connect minds together. Could Vulpix have a lesser form of that ability?" The man then starts second guessing himself "Do I really want to let her into my head? Sure, I can say I know how psychic powers work from the show, but this isn't the show. At least I don't think. If I don't though, then everything I say is going to sound crazy. 'Hey, I dunno how either of us got here, but I was in a fiery holocaust and I'm sure you were in a video game before that.' Even in a world as wack as Pokemon, that's weird."

"Vulpix?" Lee asks, looking down at her. "I'll be honest, I don't quite know how to explain what exactly happened. It's... kind of unbelievable. So much so that I almost don't believe it. I know your line has some level of psychic power. Can I possibly show you the memories?"

"Excluding some parts, of course. I can't scar my only Pokemon."

Vulpix looks up and regards Lee with some surprise in her eyes. She stops and jumps to Lee's shoulders with a deft hop, taking care to dr.a.p.e herself over his right shoulder and to keep her tails away from his burns. Lee and Vulpix lock eyes less than an inch away, and her large chocolate eyes begin to glow a dark red.

Lee gulps and brings his daily life in the zoo to the forefront, showing Vulpix what he did for a living, then shifted to his phone.

He can FEEL Vulpix looking over his mental shoulder into the memory of the phone screen, where a perfect digital copy of herself was. He could feel the countless questions bubbling in her, but she remained silent. He shifted his mind to his trainer avatar, then back to himself, correcting her image of him.

Finally, he shifts the memory to the very tail end of... his death?

The alarm that shoots through Vulpix nearly makes him stumble.

A flash, then pain. Unearthly pain.

Fire.

Fire.

FIRE.

SKIN BOILING

FLESH MELTING

BONES SPLINTERING.

TURN.

TO.

ASH.

"..ix! Vulpiiiiix!"

Lee snaps out of the short flashback, his chest heaving and the sensation of burning. He looks to his right shoulder, seeing the horrified face of Vulpix.

"No. She saw everything." The man feels himself go cold, like a lump of ice was dumped into his stomach. "Why the f.u.c.k did I think this was a good idea?! Jesus f.u.c.k man try to think things through!"

The fox takes shaky breaths and fights back tears in an unnervingly human display as a pitiful whine builds in her throat. She pins her ears back and looks away.

Lee keeps the her pokeball pocketed. If she runs, then he has no right to pursue. He'll break the ball and free her.

For a long moment, man and fox stand there. Then Lee jumps when a cold nose nuzzles into his neck. "V-Vulpix?"

Vulpix meets his eyes with hers, but stays nuzzled to his neck.

"You're," the man stops and thinks over his words. "You're not going to run and leave? I won't stop you."

The fox bares her teeth and growls as pure offense flashes across her whole face. Merely suggesting she leave seems to make her almost enraged. Her body heats up before she suddenly stops and lets it cool down again.

Lee gulps and turns away, holding up a hand in surrender. "L-Look. I was just saying. If you don't want to, then that's fine too. I'm more than happy to have you."

With those words, Vulpix visibly calms and huffs, holding her head high as she steadily meets her trainer's gaze. "Vulpix. Vul, pix." she says firmly. It's easily interpreted as 'I am not leaving. Don't ask again.'

Despite all the day's great misfortunes, Lee feels a little of that childish excitement from earlier return. Here he is, with a Pokemon of his own!

The time to cry and mourn is later. For now wonder can have the front seat.

Chapter 2

Ara ara. Still here reader-kun? Endure this trash if you can.

"Little Root Town?"

"Vul?"

After about thirty minutes of walking, the treeline had thinned until vanishing altogether, showing the ragged man and little fox on his shoulder a quaint hamlet with an ocean port to the south. The muggy forest air faded away in favor of a rolling breeze smelling of salt.

"Must be Little Root," Lee muses aloud. "That Taillow and Zigzagoon were pretty concrete evidence that this is Hoenn, and this place is much too small to be Slateport or Lilycove. We won't have to run all over hell's half-acre to find Birch then. I guess something had to go right for us, eh?"

Vulpix says nothing, but the short purr in her throat tells Lee she acknowledged his words.

"Here's hoping Birch finds us to be enough of a scientific curiosity to be worth helping," Lee says as he walks, "because if not, things could get rough for a while..." he finishes with a grimace.

Vulpix noses Lee's cheek with a demure "Pix," making the man smile and reach up to pet her. Vulpix accepts the affection with a small smile of her own, even leaning into the hand.

Lee grins. Again, a childish giddiness pushes away the day's negativity and all the buzzing questions all thanks to the fact that he has a real pokemon! He is a Pokemon Trainer!

'Or I'm one in spirit at least. I know it's not as simple as having a pokemon = trainer. Paperwork, here I come.' Lee thinks. A moment later, another thought hits him. 'Oh shit, I have no legal ID here. I seriously doubt my drivers licence and zoo ID will work. It will certainly add some credibility to my story, but Jesus, having no paperwork for either myself or Vulpix is going to be a bureaucratic nightmare. I bet all the money in my wallet is useless too, and I know my credit card is trash now.'

Yet another problem on the pile fails to bring down Lee's spirits though. 'Because If I don't think positive at this point I'm going to have a f.u.c.k.i.n.g stroke.'

Lee and Vulpix clear the flat, grassy clearing to the east of Little Root and into town proper, where a handful of townsfolk walk here and there around the apparent shopping district they stumbled into. Several Pokemon are out with their humans too. A Machop down the street lifts up one end of a car with little strain as a man changes a flat tire. A Poochyna holds its own leash, looking bored as its teen girl owner slips inside a small shop to gawk at handbags. Down a sidestreet closer to the pier, an Alolan Marowak and a tanned, shirtless man put on a street show for a small crowd of cheering people and pokemon.

It's... Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

"Vul?"

Lee snaps back to awareness when his own pokemon questions him. He tilts his head to meet her big brown eyes. "Ah, sorry about that, love. I guess I got caught up looking around."

Vulpix accepts the apology with a short purr in her throat, then says; "Vulpix vul?" with an inquiring tone. 'What now?' he interprets it as.

"First, we find Birch," Lee begins, holding up a finger. "Then, we give him the abridged and edited version of our story," another finger goes up. "Finally, make a case that we're interesting enough to help. If I can nab a job, we can grease the wheels of quite a few of our problems."

"Just from the look of you, you must have some story."

Lee tenses and Vulpix's jumps, almost slipping off her human's shoulders. Lee turns around slowly and blinks at who he sees.

Grinning with his hands held behind his head is a young Brendan Birch, son of the man Lee is looking for.

Brendan's eyes widen when Lee turns. "Oh jeez man. You didn't look that bad from behind," the preteen winces, trying not to touch his own face when he looks at Lee's burns. "Uh, do you need a hospital visit?"

Lee waves the kid's concern away. "Don't worry about it. It can wait until later. My name is Lee, and this is Vulpix. And you?"

The boy smiles. "Brendan Birch. Nice to meet ya!" he says, thrusting a hand out for a handshake. Lee takes his hand and gives it a single firm shake. "I'm gonna guess when you say you were looking for Birch, you mean my dad, right?"

"Depends, is your dad Professor Birch?" Lee asks, playing dumb.

Brendan nods. "MmmHmm! Hoenn's own Premier Pokemon Professor!" he exclaims with obvious pride. "What do you need to meet him for? Some kinda research project?"

"Of a sort," Lee says with a nebulous wave of his hand, sidestepping the topic. "I have a proposal for him, one regarding... the raising of pokemon in a unique training environment. I'm certain the results will produce pokemon that deviate significantly from the norm and might even shift the paradigm of modern pokemon training."

'I hope he doesn't realize I'm full of shit.'

Brendan raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "Thats awful vague and scammy sounding. And you don't look like the professor type."

Lee shrugs. "If I just blurt out the details, what's stopping anyone from taking my idea and taking credit for it?"

And indeed, a few people have stopped to watch the professor's son and the torn-up stranger talk.

"That makes sense..." Brendan grumbles. "I don't think dad has anything scheduled for today anyway, so I don't see the harm taking you to the lab. You looked kinda lost."

"We blew into town just today," Lee replies, following once Brendan turns and starts to walk. "Vulpix and I appreciate the help, by the way."

"Vul!" Vulpix chimes in.

Brendan grins and looks back. "Hey no prob! So how long have you been a trainer anyway? You must be really traveled if you've got a Vulpix! Can I see the rest of your team?"

Lee and Vulpix share a look. The little vulpine doesn't need to say anything, as her eyes alone tell him 'consider your words.'

"Not that long, actually, and Vulpix is my only pokemon." 'At the moment.' Lee reaches up to pet Vulpix along her neck. "It all actually ties into the proposal I have for the professor. How about yourself? You must have an impressive team with a professor as a dad."

Brendan either doesn't notice the focus shift upon him or ignores it. The boy slumps and groans. "I don't have a pokemon yet. Dad won't bend the rules for me. Once the newest starter batch shows up from the breeders, then I can finally start being a trainer!" He says, perking back up and dramatically pumping a fist.

'Sunny kid,' Lee muses, still gently stroking Vulpix's plush fur and making the little fox slowly relax across his shoulders. "Any idea who you want?"

"Mudkip, no contest. Ever since I saw Wallace's Swampert one-shot the finalist Chesnaught with a single Hydro Pump in the Ace of Aces tourney last year, I've been set on Mudkip and one day Swampert," Brendan gushes with a grin, his eyes alight. "Did you see that tourney?! Chesnaught was thrown off his feet by that Hydro Pump and almost went through the arena wall!"

"I must have missed it."

The boy scoffs as the lab begins to take shape in the distance. "I've got it saved. When you're done with dad I can show you. It was insane!"

The rest of the short walk is spent with much less interesting small-talk.

Birch's lab is a modest place. It's an arched, 2-story building atop a gentle, grassy hill with a rather homey look to it. It would have been easily missed if not for the sign out front declaring "Pokemon Research Center. Head Prof: Birch." Further behind the lab, a fenced-off corral housing a breathtaking number of pokemon expands hundreds of meters back all the way into the forest. In front of the lab is a plain, parked jeep, probably Birch's

Brendan walks up to the front door and throws it open without a care, almost bowling over some poor lab aide in glasses. "Sorry Dave! Hey dad! There's someone here to meet you! He's not in a pimp suit and actually has a Pokemon so he's probably not a scammer!" He calls, running into a sideroom and out of sight.

Lee coughs into his fist to hide the laugh that bubbled out of him and looks around.

The lab looks much like it is in the game. A wide space with several computers, sci-fi level machines, and bookshelves along the wall. One aide is manning one of the PCs while another is near the corner writing on a notepad as a Lotad before him picks at a bowl of food. The one named Dave grumbles at almost being run over and walks up to you. "Ah, sorry about Brendan. He didn't hassle you too much, did he?"

"Him? Nah. Lee, by the way. And this is Vulpix," he introduces, gesturing to both himself and his pokemon.

'My pokemon. That's not ever going to get old.'

"A pleasure. My name is Dave if Brendan didn't make it obvious," Dave says with a smile and nod. The smile morphs into a frown as he takes in Lee's form. "Ah, do you need some first aid? You're looking a little... rough?" He trails off, eyes lingering on the burns across Lee's face and shirt.

"I'm no stranger to a bit of pain," Lee waves his concern away. "I have some cuts that could use a wash if you have a restroom I could borrow for a moment, but other than that I'm fine and don't want to impose too much."

The aide frowns a little more. "If you're certain. Still, there is a first aid kit under the sink if you need it. The restroom is the first door on the left," he says, adjusting his glasses before pointing down the hallways Brendan vanished through. "I'll let the professor know where you are if you're not back by the time he arrives."

Lee offers a short thanks and turns to the bathroom

(linebreak)

Lee finishes buttoning up his shirt, careful not to catch it on the gauze now wrapped around his middle. The makeshift bandages made from his sleeve didn't hold up well, and were messily crusted with blood when he pulled them off, so he reluctantly made use of the first aid kit in the sink cupboard. A dab of stinging disinfectant and a little help in the form of Vulpix holding the gauze taut later, and his cuts were treated.

Then he looked at his face for the first time since the blast.

Three near-perfect lines the thickness of his pinky are burned into the left side of his face at an angle. The flesh is a raised, painful, angry red, practically still fresh.

'Because it is.'

The topmost burn narrowly missed his eye, carving through his eyebrow instead and down to the base of his nose. The next one was just under his eye, the line going from his temple to his lip. The last one burned away some of his sideburns and went down to his chin. It looks like someone took red-hot claws and raked them down is face.

Lee didn't want to lament on his ruined face all day, so the burns got some ointment to ease their stinging and were promptly ignored.

Finally, he just gave his hair and face a rinse to take the most noticeable bits of grime off. Vulpix watched the entire process from the lidded toilet with her usual placid expression.

"Alrighty, girl," Lee says, glancing in the mirror one last time. "Lets head back."

Vulpix hops down and follows without a word.

"...bably the real deal. I mean he's got the whole hermit look and everything," Brendan tells the frowning, elder Birch as Lee rounds the corner into the lab's main room. Brendan looks over and smiles. "Hey Mr Lee! Tell my dad about the training thing you were proposing!"

Professor Birch, a stout, shaggy man who looks to be in his 30s, turns away from his son to face Lee.

Despite the man's carefree, almost goofy demeanor in the anime, Birch regards Lee with a critical eye. Birch's gaze doesn't linger in any one place for too long, taking in and dissecting all of Lee with intensity, and maybe even a level of hostility.

Lee jumps a little when Vulpix slips between his legs and seats herself between himself and Birch. The little vulpine sports a cool expression, but he can see the coiled muscles in her legs and withers.

The professor eases and even smiles when he notices Vulpix. "Oh, sorry about that, little miss," he says with a sheepish laugh. "I didn't mean to come of as hostile. We just get more than a few uh, interesting proposals from all sorts of people. If you're so willing to jump to your trainer's defense, then he can't be a bad guy."

Vulpix lets the tension in her small body fade and instead looks up at Lee. Again, she jumps to his shoulders and settles herself around his neck like a warm, furry scarf. Lee can't help but smile and pet the fox, earning him a positive purr.

Professor Birch clears his throat. "Ah, sorry about the ugly look, Mr Lee. Like I said, we get some real characters showing up at the lab time from time of any number of reasons, and as the League Professor for Hoenn, I'm obligated to hear everyone out regarding anything pokemon related no matter what it is... Even if it's something as dumb as trying to pass off gold spray-painted Feebas as some new subspecies," he grumbles the last, but composes himself and holds out a hand. "Professor Nigel Birch, at your service."

Lee grasps the offered hand in a firm shake and offers the professor a smile. "Lee Henson, a pleasure to meet you professor. And just Lee is fine."

Birch smiles back. "So, Brendan tells me you have some sort of unique training style to present? I have to admit that I'm curious. You have the look and standing of a seasoned trainer so I can only imagine that you've developed something quite special."

'Make or break time. Birch is a goodhearted man, but don't f.u.c.k this up.'

Lee slowly nods. "Unique is a good word for it. I don't mean to be rude, professor, but can we discuss the details in private?" He asks, giving the curious Brendan a sidelong look. "Some of the details are... sensitive I guess. It's nothing against you, Brendan."

The boy hums and folds his arms behind his head. "Don't worry, I getcha. You don't want your secret techniques getting out. It's a smart move, because if I got my hands on them, then it'll be too easy for me to overtake old guys like you," he says with a grin. "I want some challenge."

"I'm twenty-four you brat."

Brendan turns on his heel and walks off, arms still folded behind his head. "Okay whatever old man. That's a whole twelve years between you and me. Don't bust a hip."

"Yeah yeah, get outta here."

"I will, cuz my hip isn't busted."

"You woulda had a busted ass in my day for that lip."

Brendan snorts and laughs, grabbing a backpack by the front door and taking off back out into Little Root.

Lee turns back to Birch, who has his face held in his hands. "Sorry about him," Birch mutters, dragging his hands down his face. "He's got the same rude mouth I did at his age."

The younger man waves away the older's concern. "He's a kid. It's what they do. He was pretty mild and not really offensive compared to what I'm used to dealing with."

Birch straightens up and a smile returns to his visage. "Alright, I've got a small meeting room in the back. We can talk privately there."

The professor turns to lead Lee to the back of the lab, but Lee stops for a moment. "Professor?"

Birch stops as well, turning to Lee with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Do you have a Psychic type on hand? Some of the things I have to say are kind of... hard to swallow I guess?" Lee looks away briefly from a sudden spike in nervousness. "Having a second listener that can't be lied to might make this easier for you to believe."

Birch's earlier caution is back as his face hardens, but he nods. "I do. My Medicham isn't a true mind reader, but he can read brainwaves and separate lies from truths. Do you really think that what you have to say is so outrageous?"

"One hundred percent."

Birch dips a hand into his labcoat and pulls out a weathered pokeball covered in nicks and scuffs. It bursts open in his hands, and in a flash of white light, a Medicham materializes by his side.

The short humanoid glances to Birch, then to Lee and Vulpix, utterly dismissing them as a threat.

'Probably for good reason,' Lee muses, looking at the whipcord muscles rippling under Medicham's scar pockmarked skin. In the corner of his eye, he can see Vulpix frown at being overlooked so easily, but she doesn't make a fuss.

"Medicham," Birch begins, making the pokemon instantly turn his attention to his trainer. "My friend here says he has some outlandish things to explain and suggested your help in verifying them. Can you passively scan and be a lie detector for us please?"

Medicham nods without a word.

The pair of men and pokemon continue on to the back, passing several aides who look at Medicham pensively. Birch stops before a door on the right and opens it, flipping on the lights to reveal a small room with several chairs and a table between them. Both men step inside and seat themselves with Vulpis still on Lee's shoulders and Medicham opting to stand by Birch with crossed arms.

"Alrighty," Birch says, folding his hands and leaning on the table. "Whenever you're ready, Lee. Medicham?"

The Fighting/Psychic's eyes glow the slightest amount.

'Don't. F.u.c.k. Up.'

"Okay... jeez I almost don't know how to open this..." Lee says, running gentle fingers over his burn. "I don't even have all the details myself here. I'll be frank, professor. This isn't exactly regarding some super secret training method. It could if everything goes well, but..."

Birch and Medicham exchange glances.

Lee runs his hand through his hair and sighs. Vulpix cuddles a little closer and noses his cheek, looking at him with her soulful chocolate eyes. The man tries to pull has much strength as he can from his little fox and continues. "Professor, this is going to be a leap, but what do you know about the Multiverse theory?"

Birch's hard face melts into confusion. "I've not studied it in depth, but I'm aware of the basics. Everything that could happen is either happening, already happened, or is going to happen in another universe, right? Why bring that up?"

Lee steels himself. No going back now. "I'm not from this universe, professor. Through a method I'm still trying to puzzle out, I've been ripped away from my home dimension and brought here with nothing but what I have on me. The trip is why I look so roughed up. I came to you because I need help from someone trustworthy."

The pokemon professor goes totally still, then turns to Medicham slowly. The pokemon lets out a breath through his nose and gives one quick nod.

The whole room is silent for almost a solid, agonizing minute as Lee waits for Birch's retort. Birch just stares at the younger man with an expression that he can't place, making him squirm.

'I knew it. I knew this wasn't going to end well. I'm going to get called crazy then thats end, game over. Life in a padded cell. I really need to learn how to think things through.'

Vulpix's cheek suddenly being nuzzled to his takes the edge off his panic, but Lee can still feel his heart hammering.

Finally, Birch lets out a sigh and breaks his intense stare. "Well, uh. Thats quite... something? Medicham knows you're not lying, but please understand this still sounds crazy, and Medicham's scanning isn't perfect. If it's a delusion that is strongly believed, his scan can be fooled. Do you have anything to back this up?"

Hope begins to build in Lee's heart. Birch might believe him. He takes his wallet and phone from his pocket and hands both over. "Here. See if these seem familiar in the least bit."

Birch opens the wallet and takes a look at Lee's driver's license, inspecting it carefully. "State of Ohio?" He asks, moving the card around to see the different holographic layers embedded in it.

"My home," Lee supplies. "One of fifty individual states that makes up the collective nation of the United States of America."

Birch nods absently and looks at the money and credit card inside the wallet. "Fifty states huh? Must be a governing nightmare," he quips. "I'm assuming Chase is the bank?" he asks, holding up Lee's credit card.

"A bank, yes."

"Don't you mean the bank?" Birch asks with a raised brow.

Lee frowns. "A bank. Chase was the one to screw me over the least so I went with them. Though with how they've been wanting to nickel and dime me recently, I'm almost happy to be here just out of spite."

Birch mouths 'nickel and dime?' and replaces the license and credit card before pulling out the small handful of dollar bills in the wallet. "Physical bank notes?" he asks, sounding incredulous. "These went out of style years ago. The bank doesn't even print bills anymore. And what's a dollar?"

"Well, physical currency protects against the dangers of having an account hacked or a catastrophic failure and/or attack destroying someone's account." Lee shrugs.

Birch shakes his head. "With the number of Porygon that the bank employ, any attack on the bank, physical or electronic, is doomed to fail. Physical bills are just a liability now. Does 'Chase' not use Porygon or something?" He asks with some mirth, as if the notion was ridiculous.

"There were no pokemon in my dimension, so they really can't."

Birch completely freezes, his eyes widening to an almost impossible degree. Medicham mirrors his trainer, staring at Lee with shocked eyes. Birch recovers and looks over to Medicham, who can only gulp and nod.

Lee tries not to squirm as both stare him down, saying nothing. 'I guess that is kind of a big bomb to drop outta nowhere.'

Vulpix growls and slides down from Lee's shoulder, landing on the table and standing defensively in front of him, her tails flared and a growl in her throat.

"Vulpix, please, there's no need for that," Lee says gently, carefully picking up the vixen and settling her in his lap. Vulpix doesn't fight, but the growl in her throat remains.

Birch finally speaks up again. "I believe you."

Vulpix stops growling and Lee's head shoots up, elation filling him.

'No f.u.c.k.i.n.g way.'

The professor sighs and slumps in his seat, his face lost. He takes a moment to formulate any words. "No pokemon? I can't even... comprehend a world like that. I don't think anyone can. I have so many whys and hows I want to ask, but I don't think I'd understand. Not even the most deranged person could say "there was no pokemon in my alternate dimension" and honestly believe it, and no one sane would come up with such an unthinkable lie," Birch says, leaning back in his chair and holding a palm to his forehead. "Medicham backing you up and all the hard-to-fake bits and bobs you have make for a compelling argument too, so... Wait..."

He sits back up and stares at Lee and Vulpix. "If you are from a dimension with no pokemon, where did you get Vulpix? Or even know about pokemon? And how did you know about me for that matter?"

Lee mulls over his answer. "Can you pass me my phone?"

Birch slides the cracked phone over to Lee. "A phone huh? I guess that makes sense, though I thought it was some old pokegear or a pokedex."

"That's not inaccurate," Lee says, unlocking the phone and scrolling through his apps to his emulator. "As for how I know about pokemon, they don't truly exist back home, but were a popular media franchise that had everything from toys, games, movies, TV shows, you name it. Pokemon was a cultural phenomenon that started twenty years back and bridged the generation gap with ease. I guess I never quite outgrew pokemon..." He says quietly. "As for how I got Vulpix, I have a theory, but the exact how and why is still a mystery. Here, look at this."

Lee shows the phone screen to Birch, who leans in with open interest. "This is one of the games I mentioned. I frequent it when on break at work and whatnot. I know you since you're briefly featured at the beginning to give the player the first pokemon and the mission to complete the pokedex. I just started a new game in the Hoenn region, and with some code finagling, got a random starter in the form of Vulpix here."

"Me in a video game, huh? I hope they were flattering at least," Birch quips as Lee clicks open the menu and opens the 'Pokemon' option, showing a solitary Vulpix in the lead slot.

"This is from an older save state of the game. In the newest..."

Lee opens the save state menu and clicks on the newest one. Again, he opens the pokemon menu, showing Birch an empty menu. The game music gets stuck as the game freezes then crashes.

The professor connects the dots instantly. "No. You think that..?"

"Something took Vulpix from the game and deposited her with me?" Lee finishes, closing his phone and storing it away. "I don't have any other explanation," he says, running a hand through Vulpix's soft tuft of b.r.e.a.s.t fur, the vixen rewarding him with a coo of appreciation. "A pokeball with a Vulpix that somehow knows me appearing in my pocket the exact same time that this game with a Vulpix spontaneously corrupts itself seems suspect even after all the crazy shit that's happened to me today."

Birch nods along absently before leaning back. "Medicham? Can you get me some aspirin please?"

The pokemon, who has been silent the entire time, powers down his psychic power and slips out the door without a single sound.

"Sorry for the headache, professor."

The older man waves away the sheepish apology. "It's fine, Lee. If I was in your shoes, I would do the same thing if I could stop freaking out long enough," he says, leaning back up. "How did you end up in out world anyway?" he asks, leaning forward in interest.

"Again, I have only theories, but the most likely..." Lee trails off, hesitating. "Do you know what n-nuclear fission is, professor?" He asks, resisting the urge to touch his burns.

"Like with power plants and whatnot, yes? It's not my field of study, but I've read some things and watched a few doc.u.mentaries."

"Yeah, and..." Lee gulps and suppresses his shaking. "Yeah, power plants."

He can feel Vulpix's eyes and hot breath on his chin. Birch notices something out of place as well and frowns. "Lee, you're pale. If you don't want to say, that's okay."

"I was caught in a nuclear explosion, one with city-leveling yield," Lee forces out as fast as he can without the words turning to mush. "I-I can speculate all day about how physics might have broken down under that kind of strain and punched a hole in space, but I'm not an expert so..." He takes a deep breath and focuses on the soft fox in his lap, forcing the image of...of...

Skin peeling

Flesh bubbling

Forcing the imagery from his mind before the bile rolling in his stomach could rise into his mouth. Lee swallows dryly and takes great heaving breaths of blessedly cool and not superheated air. Sweat dots his brow and his burns pinch and sting. He loosely hugs Vulpix, who cuddles into his arms without any protest and watches his face with troubled eyes.

Birch gulps and looks away, his expression disturbed and his hands wringing themselves. "W-well. Maybe we should move on to more pleasant topics? Was all the information on that licence correct and up to date?"

Lee blinks at the strange question. "Yeah, it was. My DL was updated just a few months back. Why?"

"We're going to need that info for me to sign as your sponsor."

'What?'

"What?"

Birch looks nonplussed, but repeats himself. "We're going to need that info for me to sign as your sponsor."

"As my sponsor?" Lee questions, looking to Vulpix who just shakes her head. "I don't follow."

The professor groans and lightly slaps his own forehead. "Duh, Birch. Different worlds. I guess your games never went into detail about trainer sponsorsh.i.p.s?"

"No mention at all."

Birch hums. "Okay, so being a sponsored trainer is a pretty simple thing. I give you a pokedex and the League fronts you a bi-weekly stipend to use as you see fit. In return, you're considered an active trainer who operates on my behalf and represents me in official tournaments while you conduct your own studies. Basically? You get paid to battle and bring prestige to the lab, and the better you do, the better grants I get from the League and the bigger your stipend becomes. I only have two sponsor slots since I'm the newest regional professor. One is going to Brendan, but my friend Norman decided he'd pay for his daughter's journey himself, so I have a free spot for you. Great, isn't it?!"

Lee sticks a pinky in his ear and rubs it around. When the digit comes back clean, he levels the grinning Birch with a flat look. "I'm sorry. I must have something crazy stuck in my ear. It sounds like you're just handing a coveted position to me. An interdimensional stranger."

The professor's grin falls some. "Is this... not what you wanted?"

"I expected a couch to crash on for a day or two as I got up to speed without anyone asking questions, and maybe being pointed to a job that a guy with no ID can do," Lee says with a shake of his head. "I just need something to keep Vulpix and myself fed and warm as I figure out my next steps. I dunno if you-"

"I'm certain."

Lee stops at Birch's curt reply. "You said you came here with a revolutionary training method, and I know you were fibbing to have an excuse to talk to me, but," Birch smirks, "I think you do have a revolutionary training method, even if you don't know it."

The younger man blinks. "I don't follow."

"Answer me this, Lee. How good are you are those pokemon games? How much do you know about pokemon?" He asks. After a second of inspecting Lee's clothing, he also adds; "And what did you do for a living back home? Something outdoorsy I take?"

Lee thinks to himself for a moment, rubbing a circle in Vulpix's chest tuft with a thumb. "I played competitively as a teen against other people and did fairly well with a few local tourney wins to my name. That's more being aware of the current meta and prep than actual skill. At that age, I had pretty much the entire pokedex of every available game memorized, but that's limited to types, movesets, stats, and whatnot with no actual biology or behavior factored in. And as for what I was, I was a zookeeper, one specialized to work with large carnivores, though I frequently lended a hand to other exhibits."

Now Birch seems confused. "But you said there were no pokemon?"

"There aren't," Lee replies, stopping when Medicham returns with a glass of water and several pills for the professor.

Birch accepts both the water and aspirin with a smile. "Thanks, friend."

Medicham returns the smile with a small one of his own.

The professor tosses the pills into his mouth and downs the entire glass before turning back to Lee. "Sorry about the interruption, Lee. Please keep going."

Lee does. "Like I was saying, there aren't pokemon back home, so animals filled their place. Think pokemon, only much less intelligent and lacking any special powers."

"I'm aware of what animals are," Birch says, now looking at Lee with a manic, almost unsettling gleam in his eye. "They don't exist outside special reserves and farms anymore since fighting with pokemon for territory is near impossible, but anything outside of domesticated livestock is dangerous and unpredictable. You handled carnivores of all things?"

"A handful of scars and the Zoology degree gathering dust in my closet say so," Lee quips, leaning back into his chair. "Hell, my elder lioness, Makiri tried to kill me this morning."

Vulpix looks at him with ill-concealed alarm and Birch grimaces briefly before his face-hurting smile returns full force.

"So, let me get this straight," he begins. "You have knowledge of advanced battling strategies that had to be used with the constraints of a video game, wide-spanning knowledge of both pokemon and the world, experience handling creatures much more violent and unpredictable than pokemon, and obviously the ability to comprehend advanced biological and psychological principles based on the fact that you handled animals of all things. What part of this sounds like you'd make anything other than a stellar trainer? It even shows with miss Vulpix here. You've had her for less than a day and already she's gladly jumped to your defence several times."

Lee bites his lip and looks down at Vulpix.

The vixen in his lap looks up back at him, her eyes narrowed just the slightest amount.

"If I didn't think you were worth the investment, then I wouldn't offer," Birch keeps going, leaning forward. "This opens countless doors for you, Lee. I... don't really know where to begin on getting you back home, but this is a good stopgap for you at least?"

"Short of tracking down and beseeching Palkia to help me somehow, I don't think I'm getting back," Lee mutters, crossing his arms as he feels a headache start to form. "I need to care for Vulpix now, after all. Not that I have anything to return to anyway."

Oh.

Oh no.

It's all gone.

It wasn't just him destroyed. The Zoo, his friends, his family, his animals.

All of them are gone. Gone without the peace ignorance of their fate could have brought.

Even if he went back there is nothing to return to.

The realization makes Lee blood run cold as his eyes sting with with prickling, unshed tears. The man focuses hard on the fox on his lap and pushes the mounting breakdown away, desperate to not bawl like a child in front of his pokemon and the professor.

Vulpix shifts and noses his chin, again drawing his attention to her. She turns in his lap to face him and rears up on her hindlegs, placing her front paws on his shoulders. The vixon's eyes draw his in as she leans forward and presses her forehead to his, then the captivating eyes glow.

Trust.

Support.

Empathy.

Loyalty.

Companionship. Always. No matter the choice.

The raw emotions Vulpix feeds to Lee almost makes the man choke up and let out the tears he's holding back. Each one reverbs inside his mind with incredible strength, a conviction borne of being absolute. Vulpix feels all of this for him.

'What in the world have I done to have someone like you at my side?'

Vulpix's answer is swift. Visions fly through his mind with incredible speed.

He opens her ball, then takes the hard but right choice to explain things to her, even after the stress of living through the unthinkable and losing it all. How after that, he still regards her concerns on the same level as his, how he consults her rather than just choosing for her, how he saw being with her as a real, valid reason for not returning home. Goodness deserves goodness.

Again, she hammers her feelings home.

Trust.

Support.

Empathy.

Loyalty.

Companionship. Always. No matter the choice.

Goodness deserves goodness.

Lee sucks in a shaking breath, glad that Vulpix's gentle face blocks Birch from seeing the tear tracks running down his face. "Professor? Where do I sign?"

"And that will do it!"

Professor Birch takes the final paper from Lee eagerly, turning in his office chair to a scanner on a cluttered side desk. "I think this is the first step in something beautiful, Lee! Steven Stone's rise has done a lot for Hoenn, but we're still considered one of the weaker regions. I know you can change that when you take the world by storm! And think of all the incredible discoveries only someone with your unique talents could find!"

Lee rolls his sore wrist and looks around the professor's messy office. "I still think you're overestimating me, professor. I can certainly try, but I don't know how much I can do," he says, leaning back into his chair.

Birch curses and smacks the scanner, then turns to his newest trainer when the machine finally starts accepting the forms Birch fed into it. "Well of course you can't do it all. Not alone, at least. If Vulpix is any indication, then you'll have no problem building a team."

At hearing her name, Vulpix stops pawing the oblivious Lotad that had wandered into the office and looks up. After a second, she goes back to Lotad, who finally seems to realize he's being touched with a quiet "Tad?"

"Vulpix is a sweetheart who took pity on my lost ass. She's an exception, not the norm," Lee retorts. He yelps when he feels a nip on his pinky and looks down to see Vulpix glaring up at him.

"You're not doing a great job convincing me," Birch says with mirth. "Since you're a special case, I'll need to submit your paperwork to the League to get your license set up. I marked your birth place as a 'remote region/unnamed island' so make sure your story stays the same for anyone who asks. It'll take a week or two to be approved, but that's not a big deal. It'll give you some time for self-study and recovery, and the League year recently ended too. It'll start back up here in about a month if you want to try the gym circuit."

'Time to relax. Now that I could use. Today seems to have dragged on for f.u.c.k.i.n.g weeks and my smokes didn't even get ported with me. What a goddamn rip.'

"I imagine. The corner store sells cigarettes, but good luck without any ID."

Lee's face flushes. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Birch laughs and reaches into a drawer on his desk. "You did. I can't make the ID show up faster, but maybe this will take your mind off it," he says, placing a device on the desk that makes Lee's eyes widen.

A Pokedex. An actual Pokedex. It suddenly lights up and a synthesized voice begins to play. "I am the Pokedex of Lee Henson. I was issued by Professor Birch of Hoenn. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced."

"Yeah," Lee breathes, his chest tight. "I've been looking for an excuse to quit anyway. I don't know how to thank you, professor."

Birch slides the Pokedex closer with a smile. "I took the liberty of pre-installing a voice recorder in there for you. I want to pick your brain, Lee Henson, so I want you log your training, studies, and discoveries and periodically turn them into me. Even if it seems like something silly to record, please do so, and that'll be all the thanks I need. What seems simple to you could be unique or even revolutionary in reality. Now!" Birch claps his hands together. "I think you've earned some rest. There is a guest room in the back for you to use. It's a little cramped but it should fit one man and his pokemon just fine."

Lee stands and picks up the-his Pokedex before bowing his head. "Thank you for everything, Professor. It means the world to me."

"Vulpix!" Vulpix chimes in from his side.

The man smiles down at his fox. "Means the world to us, I mean."

Professor Birch waves both off with a smile. "Go rest. I'll order some takeout or something for dinner and get you both later. Lee, close your mouth. You're not imposing if I charge it as a lab expense."

Lee lets his protest die in his mouth with a sigh. "Fine. I'm too tired to argue anyway." He looks down to Vulpix. "Lets scoot, love. I need a nap."

The man and fox leave Birch to his work and head to the back of the lab like he instructed. With every step, Lee feels himself slump a little more as an all-encompassing exhaustion finally grips him. He slips his Pokedex into his pocket as to not drop it and opens the door marked "Guest" at the end of the hallway.

The door swings open with a squeak, revealing a spartan bedroom with naught but a plain bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a door to a tiny bathroom.

Everything but the bed is ignored as Lee flops into it with zero grace. He groans in relief and lets his tired body sag into the mattress. Sleep rapidly overtakes him and he shuts his eyes, but just before he can fully pass out, something shakes the bed.

He cracks open an eye to see Vulpix settling into the crook of his arm, her head on his bicep. She smiles at him and cuddles a little closer.

With herculean effort, Lee hugs her close, almost losing himself in the delicious warmth her small body provides.

"You know, Vulpix?" he whispers, eye closing again. "I think everything is going to be okay."

Sleep takes him.

On to FF.net for more~!