Chapter Text
Rei was having a pretty terrible day, all things considered.
To start with, meeting Arceus wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Less divine enlightenment, more floating around in infinite vastness (terrifying), blindingly bright light (also terrifying), and the feeling of your mortal body being rent asunder and reformed every moment (they would rather not think about that part).
And now someone is interrupting their perfectly good nap. Rei was having a wonderful time being unconscious and unable to process the implications of meeting Literal Pokemon God, thank you very much. But, alas, good things cannot last forever.
The first thing Rei noticed was that they were currently lying face first in the sand. They had sand in their mouth. Gross.
The second thing Rei noticed was that they were also eye-level with three little strangers- Pokemon Rei didn’t recognize. They were all making direct eye contact. It was very uncomfortable. Rei scrambled to their feet and quickly tried brushing the sand off their hair and face- one should always be tidy for first impressions, of course.
And that led to noticed thing number four- they were still human. Or human-shaped, at least. A quick mental diagnostic confirmed that, no, they were not in fact stuck like this, the disguise was simply maintained through unconsciousness. Odd, but not too alarming.
Rei was just about to slip back into a more comfortable shape when thing to notice number five finally registered. There was another human, looking down at Rei, and he had apparently been talking to them.
“…Thank goodness, you seem unharmed!” The human smiled warmly at Rei. Their day just kept getting worse and worse.
“Uh,” Rei said, their brain shutting off temporarily out of panic, “Um.”
The smile wavered a little bit as the stranger’s eyes scanned Rei’s face, but did not entirely fall. “Well, mostly unharmed, at least?”
Oh no. The face, Rei was never good at faces, but they tried hard this time! They put so much time into the face! But no, this guy had only glanced at Rei and noticed something wrong so it was only a matter of time until he realized and then all their hard work perfecting their technique would be for nothing and they’d be attacked and driven off or caught or worse.
As Rei started to mentally spiral, the man continued, “I mean… you did fall from the SKY, you understand. I suppose it’s unsurprising you’re a bit scuffed, but come now- who in the world does that?!” He was frowning, now, but it seemed like he was more concerned about the falling thing instead of the face thing? Was there even a face thing to begin with? And then there was the fact that they had apparently fallen out of the sky- was that thing to notice six? Seven? Ok, no, Rei really shouldn’t be worried about counting the number of weird things happening. All that was doing was driving them further into a panic as well as distracting them from the important stuff, like whether or not this trainer (presumably, considering the accompanying pokemon) had figured out what Rei really was or not.
Ok. The trainer was still talking to them- asking them questions. Focus on that. All Rei needed to do was take things one at a time and stop freaking out. Simple.
They had missed a bit of what he was saying in their brief mental breakdown (and presumably staring at him blankly as a response for at least one question), but they did catch it when the stranger asked, “Do you have somewhere around here you can stay?”
Rei took a moment to glance around and take in their surroundings- a beach, they knew that already. No landmarks other than a dock and a small shack. Nothing particularly helpful. Rei had no idea where they were.
Rei ran their fingers through their hair and said, “Uh, I don’t know? I don’t… think so? But it’s fine, I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it.”
The stranger narrowed his eyes at the much shorter Rei. Was that not the right answer? Oh, Rei probably should’ve said yes, so he would just leave them be, but it was too late for it now.
“Oh? This is a proper pickle indeed. Are you quite sure you’ll be able to survive?”
“Yep. Yes. Definitely. I’ll be fine, no worries.” Please just let me leave.
To Rei’s horror, the stranger shook his head and continued, “No, a gentleman would not abandon someone in such need. I cannot in good conscious leave you to fend for yourself in unfamiliar territory.” He was beaming down at Rei, any suspicion seemingly gone.
Rei couldn’t help themself- they let out a distressed whine and buried their face in their hands. They were doomed, that’s all there was to it. They’re going to get found out, and everything was going to be ruined forever.
At that very moment, Rei was reminded of the presence of others- namely, the three Pokemon at the stranger’s feet. This reminder was sudden and painful, as it was triggered by the one in the center (grass type, maybe a flying type?) launching herself at Rei and colliding directly with their ankles. The Tackle didn’t do much, but it still hurt. Rei blinked down at the three pokemon as the grass type retreated back to the others- while the fire type (a Cyndaquill- Rei had seen one or two before, but never up close) and the water type both tried to avoid eye contact, the little grass type was glaring at Rei with pure, unyielding hatred. If the trainer hadn’t seen through Rei’s disguise yet, this pokemon surely had. This was… not ideal.
Not quite picking up the obvious tension between the two, the trainer cheerfully explained that he had just caught up with his pokemon. Seemingly misinterpreting Rei’s unbroken eye contact with the grass type as confusion, he added, “Do you even know what a Pokemon is?”
“Yes?” Rei practically choked out. “Yes. I know what a Pokemon is.”
“Wonderful!” the stranger exclaimed, positively beaming, “Though you fell from the sky, it seems we have common ground, eh?”
Rei felt like they were going to faint. “Yeah,” they said, “common ground.”
“Yes, these Pokemon are mine, mysterious creatures they are,” the man continued, looking at the trio with a mixture of pride and wonder. He looked back up at Rei before adding hastily, “Oh, and pardon my manners, but I believe we have not been properly introduced. Oh, yes, what might your name be?”
Finally. A normal question that they knew how to answer. “It’s Rei.” There was a lot of power in a name. It would probably be wiser to choose a different name for each disguise, avoid the dots connecting as much as possible. But choosing one name also acted as an anchor- if someone called for Rei, there was no moment of confusion or lack of recognition if caught off guard. It was just practical. No emotional attachment at all, nope.
The man nodded and said, “That name has quite the ring to it! I imagine it must have some lovely meaning.” Nope, he was wrong. No meaning. No meaning at all. Definitely not. Just three letters, nothing more nothing less.
“Oh, but I do apologize! I haven’t even introduced myself! My name is Laventon. I am something of a Pokemon Professor.”
Well, that was that. Arceus had plucked Rei from their perfectly happy life and thrown them into hell. Actual hell. If Giratina emerged from the shack and tore Rei to pieces at that very moment, it would be preferable to continue this conversation. At least then, things would make a bit more sense.
Rei was doing a very good job at hiding the fact that they were having a crisis, thank you very much, and replied, “You’re a professor. Great. That’s great.”
Whatever the stranger- Laventon- planned to say was interrupted by a solid thunk nearby. The sound was the straw that broke the Camerupt’s back, and the already on edge Rei let out a totally not pathetic yelp. While Laventon looked more startled by Rei’s reaction than the sound that caused it, his pokemon were similarly affected. The three wasted no time in bolting, heading towards a nearby clearing while the Professor was distracted.
“Oh, blast and bother!” the Professor yelled, “My darling Pokemon! Why must you run from me again?!” Again? Is this a regular occurrence? Rei figured a Pokemon Professor might be a bit disorganized, but this one seemed to be completely baffled by the actions of his own Pokemon.
To Rei’s continued bafflement, Laventon turned to them and implored that Rei help recapture his Pokemon. This professor was seemingly turning to a child (in all intents and purposes) to help wrangle Pokemon. Before Rei could question why he thought they’d be any help, Laventon had run off in the direction of the runaways.
Well. This would be a perfect time to just transform into a Magikarp, flop into the water, and get as far away from here as possible, but there was something reflecting light at just the right angle right up ahead. It was practically begging to be investigated, and Rei was not one to deny their nature or the nature of anyone else, especially when it involves mysterious shiny objects. Shiny was objectively the best type of mysterious object.
So, Rei made their way over to the shiny object, picked it up, and immediately regretted every decision they’ve made since waking up on the beach.
The glimmer they saw was light reflecting off a phone screen. More specifically, the screen of the phone Rei had stolen shortly before being nabbed by Arceus itself. They were originally intending on returning it (eventually), but they doubted the original owner would even recognize it at this point. The shape was completely different, warped by the influence of a Pokemon. While this usually only happened when Rotom was involved, the influence in this case were obviously not from a Rotom.
A message appeared on the screen the very moment Rei touched it, once again drawing out a startled squeak. They fumbled it for a moment, and accidentally dropped it onto a rock. To Rei’s relief, the screen failed to crack, but the sound it made was unpleasant. It was the same sound that had originally startled the Professor’s pokemon into fleeing. Well, there’s one mystery solved. Rei squinted at the screen, and read the message that appeared.
“I bestow upon thee this Arc Phone and thy mission: seek out all Pokemon.”
Rei put the phone into their pocket, deciding almost immediately that this was something they’d deal with later- unfortunately, Laventon was within sight, so Rei had lost their chance at fleeing unseen. They were left with one option- Rei was going to be helpful.
It turns out, what “helpful” meant was… throwing Poke Balls. Because, for some reason, the runaways were not already caught, not technically. Laventon at least filled them in on the two Pokemon Rei was not familiar with. The water type was an Oshawatt, and the grass type out for blood was a Rowlet. Laventon then dropped a handful of empty balls into Rei’s arms, much to their dismay. After realizing that no, none of them were triggering, and they were not in fact being sucked into any, Rei noticed that these were not the smooth, mass-produced Poke Balls they were familiar with, but looked individually crafted out of apricorns, with a metal clasp instead of the typical release button. Huh.
Rei was kind of tuning out the professor at this point. It wasn’t intentional- just. Everything was a bit overwhelming. They were still trying their absolute best to not panic and it was getting really, really difficult, ok. They got the overall message, though- throw the ball at the Pokemon, catch the Pokemon. Simple, in theory.
And simple in practice as well, apparently- whoever Rei was copying must’ve had really good aim, since the first pokeball they threw hit the Cyndaquil dead on. It popped open with a flash of light after bouncing gently off the fire type’s forehead. With a bounce, followed by a fairly impressive lightshow, the Cyndaquil was caught.
Laventon loudly expressed his approval of their technique. “It seems you’ve quite the knack for this Pokemon-catching business, Rei!” They weren’t quite sure why this was so noteworthy- didn’t practically everyone have at least a few spare pokeballs on them for this very reason? It’s not rocket science.
“Still,” Laventon continued, “this is most unusual. You don’t seem fearful of Pokemon in the slightest…”
Huh?
Ok. Rei added that to the ever-growing list of “things to think about and probably have a crisis over later”.
They caught the Oshawatt with similar ease, and Laventon said more concerning things about being afraid of pokemon. Great. Awesome. Things are totally normal!
The only slightly challenging one was the Rowlet, which charged at Rei as soon as she spotted them. Rei still managed to hit the pokemon, sure, but that was mostly muscle memory (someone else’s muscle memory. The original wearer of this face must’ve caught a lot of pokemon). Rei topped over in their haste to avoid the round grass type’s wrath, landing rather painfully on the rocks. With a groan, they pulled themself upright and gave a thumbs up to the concerned looking Professor, much to his apparent delight.
And then the Rowlet broke free from the ball.
While Laventon began lecturing about how Poke Balls did, in fact, do that sometimes, Rei scrambled to throw another Pokeball. The ball hit right before Rowlet launched herself at Rei’s face, and the ball let out those victory sparks this time, indicating that the Pokemon was caught for good this time. Ok, Rei could’ve totally taken her in a fight, but they were having a rough day. Also, that was a lot of rage in a very small package.
Rei absently handed over the three pokeballs over to Professor Laventon. “I must say, Rei,” he commented, “I was taken aback by how well you use Poke Balls! How is it that you catch Pokemon so ably when you’ve only just arrived here? One can’t help but think there’s a reason you appeared here and now…”
Rei realized a few things, at that moment.
They silently took the Arc Phone out of their pocket, and showed the message to the Professor. Seek out all Pokemon.
The Professor, to his credit, was more curious of the device and the message than suspicious. In fact, he seemed to immediately come to the conclusion that Rei had taken an embarrassingly long while to think of. As a Pokemon Professor, Laventon’s goal was to document the Pokemon of the region- and Rei’s goal was, apparently, to seek out all Pokemon. A match made in heaven (literally, since Arceus was involved).
“Come now,” Laventon said, “What do you say? Shall we help one another out, my boy?”
“Uh, sure,” Rei responded, pretty certain they didn’t really have a choice in the matter.
“Then whoever or from wherever you may be, I welcome you with open arms!”
Rei greatly doubted that Professor Laventon would say that if he knew he was speaking to a Ditto wearing the face of someone else, but Rei could pretend for a while longer.
“We’ve a Pokedex to complete!”
This was going to be a really, really long day.