She was ten-years-old, sitting in a warehouse, with a dull-gray interior, lots of the sides of it caked with dried blood. Tied up with thick ropes that were painfully digging into her skin, her eyes were wide with fear as her eyes darted around.
She knew there was a whole gang stationed outside to keep watch over her and the rest of the people taken as hostages to stop a separate group. Inside, the other people, some even children younger than her, were either curled up in a ball, crying or both.
A woman with hair dyed red spoke up. 'This should be enough. They'll have to listen to what we want now, right?'
A really fat guy to her right grinned. 'They better. We'll fuck up as many people here as we need to for them to get the message,' he declared. Then he happened to lock eyes with Nysa, and gave her entire ten-years-old body a once-over with a really lecherous look in his eyes. 'In fact, why don't we start with her-'
It was at that moment the roof above them started to crack, and even groan under the weight of something on top of it. The thugs beside Nysa looked up in bewilderment.
Then the top of the structure exploded inward in a fiery blast, and several figures came through the opening. An Aggron the size of a truck crashed onto the floor, cracking it and sending an explosion of dust everywhere. While he roared, scaring the piss out of the two captors in front of Nysa, as well as the others in the room, a Ceruledge – started darting around and slashing right through the thugs almost faster than Nysa's eyes could keep up with, obviously killing them instantly.
The thugs who were speaking earlier looked at Nysa and several other hostages around her, and tried to lunge at them, probably trying to use them to get Kiran to stop, but then they suddenly froze in place, arms snapped to their side, and started to levitate.
They then started to convulse in mid-air, and scream as their brains were fried by what Nysa assumed was Athena's Psychic attack. Nysa looked away as the life was squeezed out of them. Then, a few seconds later, she opened them to see an absolute bloodbath. Bodies sliced in two, heads cracked open, people with drool pouring out of their dead mouths.
This was Orre.
Nysa's eyes snapped open and she gasped. After a taking a few seconds to realize, no, she was actually safe in a Pokemon Center bedroom, and not in the middle of a slaughter, she realized that she, as well as her pillow and bed sheets were soaked in sweat. She was also breathing heavily.
She vaguely registered that it was probably only early morning, with the sky outside still very dark, with the faintest bit of light poking through that darkness. She sat up and leaned back against the headboard of the bed, and put her face in her hands.
Perfect. Absolutely amazing timing. She had just had one of the best days ever, then a nightmare had to bring her down to earth.
Nysa decided that she didn't want to stay in one place, so she got out of bed, put her slippers on, and tried her best to move quietly to the bathroom to get ready for the day. After all, her brother and both their Pokemon were still asleep, and she didn't want to wake them.
As she was brushing her teeth, her mind couldn't help but go back to the contents of that horrible dream. It was of course her brother who had come to save her that day. She'd been late coming home that day, and she had gotten snuck up on by a gang that was a rival to the one that her brother had been apart of at the time. She learned afterwards that they wanted sole access to resources that would regularly arrive at Gateon Port. Those were the resources that other regions like Galar, Hoenn, Unova, and others would regularly send to Orre to aid the land that was still almost completely barren after the Great War disaster.
Of course, her brother's gang wasn't okay with that, and it got to the point where Team Snagem – the one her brother wasn't in – tried to kidnap people they thought were close to Cipher members, the people her brother was with.
In the present, Nysa shivered in place while the shower water poured all over and around her. Cipher was furious, and that included her brother. Let's just say… Cipher had more control than ever over Orre after that day.
'Well, obviously a day of enjoyment wouldn't be enough to get away from all that trauma,' Nysa thought to herself as she stepped out of the bathroom. After that dream, she wasn't really in the mood to worry about being stylish, so she just fished around for a thin sweater and track pants, which she quickly found.
'So it was you who woke me up, Nysa,' a voice spoke directly into her head. She jumped at hearing it, and turned around with her clothes partly on. Athena was staring at her with half-open eyes, so she clearly just woke up.
'Ugh, I thought I was being quiet,' Nysa complained quietly.
'You fool. You should know that my fur is way too sensitive to not pick up on you moving around, especially in this quiet,' Athena reminded her.
Shit, yeah, she did forget that. Man, her brother's Pokemon were something else. Hopefully she could get close to that point someday. Also, she really hadn't thought about what she was getting ready for. Guess that happens when you're just trying to run from your trauma.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Nysa spoke up. 'You wanna just get early breakfast then? And, I dunno, explore town after?' she asked. 'Unless you'll be too busy training for the tournament?'
'I'm not going to be in the tournament. Kiran's decided to not field me,' Athena said.
Nysa was about to reply in surprise, but realized she might end up waking up others, so she motioned to the Espeon to follow her outside. As soon as the door clicked shut, Nysa swerved to Athena in surprise. 'Why not? Doesn't bro rely on you a lot?' she asked.
The Espeon sighed as they walked down the hallway they were in toward the Pokemon Center lobby. 'The first match is at night, so I'm probably not going to be as much use as I need to be. Also, he brought the team out to train yesterday, he mentioned something about wanting to get better at not relying on me so much for defense.' she said.
'Can you tell me the details?' Nysa asked. Shaken from the dream or not, she was always eager to learn more about her brother's strategies.
'It's mostly to do with field manipulation. Cinth's Grassy Terrain and Slumber's and Magnus's AncientPower will basically create enough moving obstacles to block as much as possible, and probably retaliate too,' she explained.
Hoh. Using those attacks to defend on such a large scale like this tournament was something she couldn't even imagine. But maybe field manipulation is something she should look into more. Should she catch a Ground or Rock type next that could learn it?
That was what Nysa was wondering just as they entered the lobby. At this early hour, there was only the Nurse Joy at the front counter as always, and two Trainers sat huddled together at a table near the entrance.
'Cafeteria food again?' Athena asked. 'It was pretty good yesterday.'
Nysa shook her head. 'I passed by a place yesterday that said they were open 24/7. And they serve breakfast! Let's try something new,' she urged, already walking toward the exit.
'Why bother asking then…' Athena muttered. She followed Nysa anyway, which made Nysa happy.
Ever since that day she just dreamt about, she's been close with Athena. She'd saved her after all, and they spent a lot of time together, since, aside from her own Pokemon, Nysa could obviously never make any real friends in Orre. Even with her Pokemon, as much as they would always be family, she couldn't literally talk to them, like, in English, so Athena was always a welcome presence.
As soon as they were outside and started walking, Nysa let out Zara and Beni. They both let out a yawn, then nodded when Nysa explained where they were going. She then noticed that Athena started shivering a bit. 'Athena, you good?' she asked, frowning a little in concern.
'Yes, it's just...ungh…' she groaned. 'I'm not used to these sensations, and you know my body's sensitive to the environment…'
Nysa was confused for a second, then she looked around her. Maybe it was because Athena pointed it out to her, maybe Nysa's nightmare had brought her down to earth, or both, but Nysa could feel the difference from yesterday. The cooler morning air, the dampness of the ground from a slight rain yesterday, the relative darkness of her surroundings because it was still early morning, the wild Pokemon running around some of the buildings around her… it might be normal to others, but it felt almost magical to her. It made her skin tingle and her breath catch.
She knew nature could be beautiful, but living it was clearly another thing entirely. And this was still the inside of a city! And clearly her Pokemon agreed, as she could tell from the smile that had already shown on Beni's face, even this early, as well as Zara zipping around over her head excitedly.
'Close your mouth, Athena. Drool might fall out of it,' Athena interrupted, now sitting up straight, seemingly dealing with the environment better.
Nysa snapped out of her mini-trance and threw a halfhearted glare at the feline. 'Wow, and when I was so nice to you,' she scoffed. 'Let's go, the cafe's this way.'
After a few seconds of walking, Athena spoke up again. 'Were you having that same dream again? Is that why you woke up early?'
Nysa's face tensed for a second. Even if it was Athena, being open about trauma was never going to be easy. 'Yeah. The one where you saved me,' she admitted. 'How'd you know?'
'Please. You, waking up extra early because you wanted to? And you've told me about that dream before. I can put two and two together,' Athena scoffed. Yeah, Nysa should've known that she couldn't keep that a secret.
Nysa gave a weary sigh, looking over the open ocean that loomed in the direction that they were walking. 'I know its only been a day here, but I'm getting impatient. I was feeling amazing yesterday, and now it feels like I'll never get over this trauma.' she said. Then she glanced at Athena. 'Are you dealing with it any better?'
Athena tilted her head to the side, probably thinking about how to respond. 'Well, it's probably different in my case. Since I'm obviously much more capable of physically destroying my problems than you. Though I am glad to be here, and not in that shithole.'
'Did my brother teach you how to swear?' Nysa laughed.
Athena raised an eyebrow at Nysa. 'You taught me. You swear way more than he does,' she pointed out. Shit, yeah, that is true.
'Meh, I'll just tell anyone otherwise if they ask,' Nysa shrugged.
'And conveniently, there's a good chance that I can't explain the truth without breaking their heads,' Athena said, throwing a side-eye at Nysa.
'Exactly! Glad you get it,' Nysa beamed.
After a few more minutes of walking, they were standing in front of the cafe. It wasn't that big of a place, it didn't stand out in any way. The exterior had a wooden makeup, with windows to see the outside. Well, Nysa assumed the outside because she couldn't see in from where she was standing. There was a small outdoor seating area as well, with wooden chairs and wooden tables covered in cloth. For the sake of her Pokemon being able to stay out of their balls, Nysa decided to ask for an outdoor table.
It only took around thirty seconds to walk inside, and have the waiter assign them to an outdoor table like they asked. From her brief time inside, she could see a largely wooden interior as well, with plants hanging from lots of different perches near the windows, which you could see the outside from. Behind the counter opposite the entrance, she could see lots of different jars, probably with food and spices inside that she had no idea about, and a room behind that which Nysa assumed was the kitchen.
They sat down at their table, except for Zara, who perched on Beni's head, and Athena, who just climbed on the table. A waiter came to their table almost right after.
'What can I get for you, miss?' he asked.
Nysa looked at the menu. God, it all looked so good! 'I'll have the… tostada? I think I said that right…' she answered. 'The one with tomatoes, and ham, please.'
'Okay, one tostada. Anything for your Pokemon?'
'Tell him I want the same as you,' Athena said.
Nysa then looked at the other two. To her amusement, they had been staring and drooling slightly at the picture of the tostada she had pointed out to the waiter, so she smirked and put two and two together.
'Athena told me she wanted the same thing,' Nysa said, pointing at the Espeon. 'And these two do as well,' she said as she pointed at Zara and Beni.
The waiter looked a bit confused at that, since he couldn't hear Athena speak. 'Oh, Athena was using telepathy.'
His face lit up in understanding. 'Ah, that's why,' he said as he wrote down their orders. 'I didn't expect such a young trainer to be able to be able to talk to Psychics like that. Anyway, your drinks? If any?'
Nysa scanned the drinks part of the menu until she found orange juice. Her eyes widened a bit at that. She'd never had orange juice! Oh, she'd heard of it, but unlike the coffee and water that was also here, she had only seen pictures of it.
'We'll all take orange juice,' she responded to the waiter.
The waiter finished scribbling, and then smiled at them. 'Cool! It'll just be a few minutes, so just hold on until then,' he said. Suddenly, as he was about to leave, Nysa remembered something unpleasant.
'Wait!' she yelled frantically. The waiter turned around with a confused look. 'The ham... it's not Pokemon meat, right?'
His eyes widened, then he gave a short laugh. 'Oh no, no, no, don't worry about that. We have really strict laws around meat in this region, no Pokemon allowed in food,' he explained. Nysa sighed in relief, and the waiter then walked back inside the cafe.
Nysa wasn't really sure how regular animals could even exist in the Pokemon world without being hunted to extinction, but for now, she was just relieved. People had tried to feed her Pokemon meat in the past, and she vowed to take any route possible to not eat Pokemon meat again as soon as she found out what exactly she had eaten.
'Hey. What's orange juice?' Athena asked, head tilted to the side.
'It's an orange drink that's supposed to be really sweet, sour, and refreshing. I'm hoping it's as good as the info I read online made it out to be,' she responded.
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After that, Athena hummed in understanding, at which point Beni barked softly at her. They ended up starting a conversation about training methods. Beni was a Pokemon that loved battling after all, and never passed up an opportunity to look for a way to get stronger. At the same time, Zara fluttered down into Nysa's lap, looked at her, and trilled, eyes wide with concern. She had overheard the conversation about Nysa's nightmare, after all.
Nysa smiled and rubbed Zara's head affectionately, which she clearly loved. 'I'm fine, baby,' she said softly. 'Maybe this breakfast will take my mind off things, yeah?' Zara still looked worried, and started rubbing her head against Nysa's stomach, in a cute attempt to cheer Nysa up.
While she was doing that, Nysa took out her phone. She had gotten a lot of attention yesterday because of that battle, so maybe people were saying things about her now?
The name for the most popular forum site that Trainers used to discuss various things was called OceanBattles, and Nysa went specifically for the section that talks about new Trainers. Sure enough, there was a section with her name as the header! Someone must've matched her from the video to the picture she submitted to the public database for Trainers in Hoenn when she registered for the circuit yesterday morning.
Flygon234: This chick must have at least four badges, no? I'll eat my hat if she doesn't.
CuteSwablu456: Well, better get to eating. She doesn't have any badges somehow.
Flygon234: ...well, let's just forget about eating hats than. But how? That's objectively not a first-gym-badge-level Masquerain.
DeepSeaSpheal78: If you type her last name into the database, another name comes up. Kiran Acosta, her brother. No gym badges either, but get this: he's participating in the Lilycove Elite Tournament next week.
SlackingSlaking31: The fuck?
OvenTorchic53: Well, that explains things. Nepotism as usual, winning out.
CuteSwablu456: I mean, I'd hardly call being born in Orre 'winning out'. You wanna try growing up in that dump?
TanMan45: Yeah, yeah, keep defending the person with an obvious advantage to us. At least that body of hers is probably good for somethi-'
Blocked and reported. Well, Nysa should probably stop looking through that shitshow, as scrolling through the comments only seemed to show that getting worse and worse. Only took a grand total of several sentences to go wrong. The sexual harassment aside, she wasn't doing anything particularly special in the battle. No complicated tricks or anything, just hard work. And Kiran barely helps her, since he's always busy.
Well, Nysa had seen the cheering crowd for herself yesterday, so partly for the sake of her own pride, she was going to assume the forum users were likely bots, or people who weren't there for the battle, who just wanted to cover for how terrible at battling they were in comparison.
'Here you go, miss,' said the waiter, whose voice Nysa jumped at, since she had been lost in her thoughts before that moment.
On the plate he put in front of her was a some slices of toasted bread, with what looked like grated tomato layered on it, and… ham? It looked good, but it didn't look like any ham she'd seen before. It was cut really thinly, had alternating dark pink and light pink sections, and it looked stickier. On receiving the same plate, her Pokemon started staring at her.
'What am I, the guinea pig?' she thought. But regardless, she lifted the toast to her mouth and sniffed. Huh, that smelled great. She then put it in her now-salivating mouth and bit down.
An explosion of flavor followed. She could now tell that the toast was buttered, and had a delicious garlic flavor attached to it. It was a great combo with the salted tomato. But the ham was the real treat. It tasted different than ham she was used to as well, definitely saltier and smokier, which the tomato balanced out nicely.
Zara trilled on her lap, and Nysa snapped out of her food heaven for a second to see Zara looking at her curiously. 'Here, try it,' Nysa said, pulling the plate to Zara. As soon as she bit into the tostada, she shivered, then let out a happy squeak. Nysa turned to Beni and Athena. 'See? It's great!'
Athena nibbled on her plate of food curiously, and Beni just stuffed a whole slice in his mouth. Both their eyebrows raised immediately. First, Floatzel let out humming noise while smiling at his food, so he clearly liked it.
'Okay, you were right, this is incredible!' Athena then said, quickly going back to eating, taking increasingly big bites.
Next was the orange juice. Nysa sipped it, and realized it tasted great too! Tangy, but also sweet, and neither was too much, and Nysa could tell it was really fresh. She let the others try it as well, and they had a similar reaction.
After she had scarfed down a lot of her food, Nysa sighed contentedly and leaned back in her chair. She was feeling a lot better now, and her mind started drifting to Pokemon battles, and the conversation she had with Mary yesterday.
If she and Mary went to Fortree first, Nysa knew now – after looking it up last night – that she would be facing a Flying-type Gym Leader. Zara might have a hard time with that, given her Bug typing, and Floatzel didn't have any super-effective moves. Should she go for an Electric-type, then? But then her team might have three relatively fragile Pokemon only, in which case, the typing may not even matter… though, where would you even go to find a tank Pokemon? Gah, she was so confused.
Suddenly, Nysa sits up straight. 'I got it!' she said out loud, causing all her Pokemon to jump a bit, in the middle of eating.
Athena coughed a bit because of that. 'What exactly do you get?' she frowned, having almost choked on her food.
'What type of Pokemon I want next; a Rock-type,' Nysa responded.
Athena tilted her head, and looked at Nysa in confusion. 'But where do you even get one around here? It's just beach and forest life, no?'
Yeah, that was unfortunately true. Nysa rested her chin on her palm for a second while she thought.
'Excuse me, dearie?' came a slightly frail-sounding voice from behind Nysa. She turned in her seat to see an old lady looking at her. 'I heard you were looking for a Rock type?' she asked with a smile.
'Yes! But I'm new to the region, and this city doesn't look like it's surrounded by any environment where I'd fine them,' Nysa said.
The lady gave a soft laugh. 'That's no problem. You can find Rolycoly and their evolved forms in the Safari Zone, and Route 121. Though the evolved forms are rare, it's mostly Rolycoly.'
Nysa brightened at that. 'Oh, I've heard of that one! The… coal Pokemon, right?' she asked. She'd seen the Pokemon a few times in Orre because they had some abandoned mines, but she'd never caught one because Kiran had always told her to never go into abandoned, dark spaces if she could help it. There was a time when that advice annoyed her, but looking back on it, her brother had the right idea.
Still, this excited Nysa. A Rock type that could also breathe fire in one? That would give her the type she needed for the Gym, and it would add lots of coverage for her team. Looks like she had just hit the jackpot.
After thanking the lady, she quickly downed the last of her food and drink, and turned to her Pokemon. 'Okay, you two, let's go. Athena, you're coming too, right?'
Athena stared at her and blinked. 'I am?' she asked.
'I know you have nothing better to do for now. Or do you want me to maybe get burned by lava from a Fire type? You can shield me while I'm there.'
Zara squeaked happily and landed on Athena's head, to a bit of her annoyance. Finally, she sighed. 'Fine, I'll come. At least I'll get to explore a bit,' she replied.
'See, I knew you'd want to!' Nysa beamed. 'Let's go.'
----------
'Okay miss, ready to go?'
Nysa was now standing at the entrance to the wild area in the Safari Zone she was looking for. Some grassy fields in front of her, but lots of caves as well, which is apparently an ideal environment for lots of Rock types, including Rolycoly.
She turned to the Pokemon Ranger in charge of letting Trainers on the premises. 'Yep! Thanks for everything,' she smiled.
As she started searching around the compound, Athena put up a Psychic shield around her, and Zara fluttered above her.
'You aren't bringing out Beni?' Athena asked.
Nysa shook her head. 'They said we can't battle unless it's self-defense in here, so I'm guessing we need to get to know the Rolycoly in question to catch them. If they're tiny, Beni being large as he is might scare them,' she explained.
Athena hummed in understanding, but also didn't look too happy for some reason. She glanced around the compound as they kept walking. '...Are all these Pokemon here willingly?' she finally asked.
Nysa winced and Zara gave a sad squeak as she realized where Athena was coming from. They both had way too much experience with Pokemon being used by humans for bad purposes. Zara had to be rescued from poachers who were bringing her back to Orre with them, back when she was a Surskit, and the same was the case for her brother's Walrein, back when he was a Spheal. Athena had been kidnapped by a group from Kanto-Johto known as Team Rocket, and shipped to Orre, and was used as a prize in a competition. Kiran had to win the tournament to take her with him, and they both saw how malnourished she was at the time.
In other words, it made sense for Athena, and now Nysa, to view a place where Pokemon 'from all over', as the signs in the entrance building said, as pretty suspect.
Nysa stopped walking for a second to think. 'I don't really know,' she managed after a few seconds. 'But Hoenn isn't Orre, right? Things should be fine, for the most part, at least.'
'...just make sure to not be rough unless absolutely necessary, alright?' she asked.
Nysa nodded, then kept walking. They were trying to keep walking around the areas where the grassy fields connected to the caves. According to the guides in the entrance building, that would be the best way to find Rolycoly. As they walked, Nysa saw various different Rock and Ground-type Pokemon. There were Rhyhorn stomping around, periodically stopping to chew on grass. There was a turtle-like Pokemon sipping from a watering hole in front of them. It had a blue body and a scary-looking jaw that Nysa figured most people wouldn't want to get near. Dreadnaw, was apparently their name.
To her left, she was surprised to see a Pokemon that looked like a small blueish-purple flower bud. With yellow eyes, and blue petals positioned away from the bud, the Glimmet was definitely something Nysa hadn't seen before, even in Orre, where they had lots of caves. The Pokemon was playing around with another Rock type, a Rockruff, a puppy-like Pokemon that Nysa wasn't really familiar with either. The little one was running in a circle and trying to jump to catch the levitating Glimmet, but kept failing.
'So cute,' Nysa thought. Ugh, but she had a different goal for now, so she wouldn't think about trying to catch this one.
Zara trilled above Nysa to get her attention, and fluttered over to the entrance of the cave they were beside once she had Nysa's attention. There was a… small flame she could see in there? And close to the ground as well.
'Rolycoly. Probably, at least,' Athena said.
'Should we go in? But wait, we don't have a light to see the rest of the cave,' Nysa remembered.
Even with how domesticated the Pokemon in the Safari Zone were supposed to be, Nysa wasn't interested in getting jumped by lots of fire-breathing Pokemon, especially if they were evolved in any way. She didn't see much of those during her brief walk, but they were supposedly in here, just rarer, according to the guide from the entrance lobby.
'Let's just go slightly in, the beckon to whatever's there to come to you,' Athena suggested.
'Okay then,' Nysa went into the cave, tiptoed for a few steps, then got on her knees, with Zara on her shoulder now. Rolycoly was supposed to be small, and Nysa knew that small creatures tended to feel intimidated when you tower over them.
The flame had moved back and forth a bit at this point, so it was definitely part of a Pokemon. 'Hey, little one,' Nessa called out softly, her voice echoing a bit in the cave. 'You probably know we're here. Can you come out? We won't bite.'
The flame shifted a bit closer to Nysa, but stopped. Were they hesitating? Well, Nysa had a plan for that. She had brought a bag with her, stuffed with some Pokemon food that the Rangers had given her, specifically for Rock types. She placed it on the ground in front of her, then slapped the ground with both hands a few times, beckoning for the Pokemon in front of her to come closer.
Zara trilled softly to the Pokemon as well. 'She won't hurt you, if you're worried about that,' said Athena to the flame.
The Pokemon inched closer, and finally stepped into the light. They looked like she remembered, a piece of coal. Well, that wasn't all. They had one bright orange eye that was apparently the 'fire' that Nysa and the others had noticed earlier. Their only limb was a wheel-like limb, their body was pitch-black, and they had a small mouth right below the eye.
Yep, this was Rolycoly! 'Hey there,' Nysa said in the softest voice she could muster. 'Have some.'
The Rolycoly seemed really shy, but ever-so-slowly rolled toward the food bowl Nysa had laid on the ground and started munching. After a few seconds, the Pokemon made a small rumbling sound and smiled!
Nysa beamed at them. 'You like it! Right?' she asked.
The adorable little coal blob nodded happily, and even rolled closer to Nysa to nuzzle her leg! 'Gah, I'm gonna die from a cuteness overload!' she thought happily, barely managing to hold in a squeal.
'So, are you a boy or a girl?' Nysa asked.
The cutie made an insistent noise, and Nysa turned to Athena for help. 'This one is a boy,' she translated.
'Nice! So, what do you-'
Boom, boom, boom!
She was cut off by a several strong, repeated tremors. Nysa and Athena tensed, and looked deeper into the cave, where they could tell the tremors were coming from. And slowly, but surely, a behemoth emerged.
Twice the size, at least, of Nysa. An entire body made of coal, arms, legs, and all. What looked to be heated coal was stacked on their back. Two massive spikes on their shoulders, eyes on their head, along with a mouth containing serrated teeth. And they were looking at Rolycoly with a concerned look.
Yeah, Nysa wasn't stupid. This was Rolycoly's parent, and she did not look happy.
