Alola Islands – welcome home!
February 10, 2024 at 6:00 AM
And again the rattling pain in the head. This time, either from hitting the ground, or from annoying and loud barking right above the ear, which was joined a little later by the same insistent man's voice.
— Hey!.. Hey guys!.. – the owner of an insistent voice and, possibly, a barking puppy tried to wake them up.
Yar was the first to recover. Somehow opening his eyes, he saw a tanned man in an open robe over his naked body and gray shorts. He wore a white cap on his head and some strange anti-glare glasses on his nose. An elongated face with a stylish stand-out beard at one moment expressed a lot of emotions: anger, fear, anxiety, confusion. Which is strange: more anger. Recently dead teenagers are lying in front of him, all covered in dirt, half-dead, and he is seriously angry? A half-meter puppy with a fluffy white tail was circling around that anrgry man.
«Rockruff..?» – it was not difficult for Yar to recognize this Pokemon. Following the guy the others woke up grunting like an oldman.
— Hey, kids, whata hell are you doing here!? – the man asked anxiously, noticing that we can't clearly think right now, — The four of you, by the way, found yourself in the habitat of a Totemic Pokemon! What are you even doing here?! And what did you already do?
The man conducted a cursory inspection of everyone. After making sure that everything was okay, he stepped back and stared questioningly at the young people.
«Only four?..» – Oscar, looking around in surprise, began to count the fighters: «Yarik is there — there is a shell—shocked lying by a palm tree, Ann is in place — sitting leaning on a stone, Dan is in place, still lying on the ground, like a lively one, I definetly remember myself, Eugie... Where's Eugie?»
After looking around and not finding her body, he ignored the man's attempts to get in touch with them and connected the homies in search.
— Stop ignoring me! We need to get out of here right now, follow me! – the angry man uncompromisingly declared, turned around and walked towards the forest, that is, out of the forest.
— Yes, just wait five minutes, please. – Yar said and, getting up from the ground, out of habit began to inspect the space under his feet. And what was his surprise when, when examining their parking place, he didn't found any Pikachu covered in mud, — Holy shit... I can't find her guys.
— Similarly.
— Me too.
— Me either.
— Dudes... It seems she was punished by the mighty God of Games... - Oscar said and second later we all fell into a tense silence.
— So, guys, maybe we just got mixed up? What if she's hanging in the trees somewhere? - Ann suggested nervously.
— Don't talk nonsense, - Oscar cut it off, — We would hear her falling out of a tree or that man would find her near us but the truth is she was chastised by the Greatest Gamer...
— Shut the fuck up you goddamn bigot. It's no time for jokes! If she actually died, that "punishment" would he punishment may befall us too, — Dan seemed to stard getting angry, but he was immediately forced to calm down because he was interrupted by the man's voice.
— HELLO! - the silhouette of a man shouted from behind the bushes, — We're leaving now! We need to get to my house as soon as possible, it's going to get dark soon! I'll go ahead, follow Rockruff, catch up there.
— Fuck, alright, let's just follow him. We can ack him about the fifth member of our crew later, - Oskar snorted and stood up.
— By the way, it is proffesor Kukui, - Yar said standing up too.
— Really?!
— Yeah, you blindy nig-...
— Shut the hell up, you deaf dick.
— He didn't give ya' n-word pass, Yar, - Dan grinned, and so Anya did.
— I'm not black! I promise I will kick yours asses later, when my head stop hurting.
The company finally followed keeping to swear and fool around. They walked in a chain: the leader was that man in a robe, followed by his dog, then Oscar , Ann, Dan, and the last one was Yar. Soon the group came to a country road, along the sides of which grew very tall grass, at least one and a half meter. A trampled road without any vegetation stretched far ahead, winding between hills and lurking in the thicket of the rainforest. Soon the swearings stopped, and the four, looking uncertainly at each other, silently kept following the evil man who got them out of the forest and led them somewhere ahead. Probably to his house in the basement to lock them up and torture them there. It's not for nothing that the man is angry, right? At least that's what everyone thought, except Yar, who was carelessly admiring the countryside.
After twenty minutes of walking, the team suddenly turned off somewhere into the meadows, where was a path surprisingly. It was she who led the travelers to some kind of settlement - an ordinary village, in fact. However, the pillars of power lines and bright yellow light from the wooden lanterns were strongly knocked out of the picture of a cozy little village. While we were assessing the surroundings, the professor turned to them and started a conversation.
— So we're safe here. I hope now, young people, you will deign to explain to me what you were doing on the Totem Pokemon territory at such a late hour? - the man frowned even more than when he tried to wake them up, and put his hands on his sides.
The guys looked at each other uncertainly again, they didn't even know where to start. Yarik shrugged his shoulders and tried to rule out of the situation.
— You're professor Kukui, right? Glad to meet you? ha-ha, — he stepped forward and shook his hand, - My name is Yar, and these are my companions: Oscar, Daniel and Anna. We are novice pokemon trainers and we have no idea how we got here to be honest.
The professor, arching eyebrow, looked at the company in surprise.
— That's it... Yar, huh? I remember every newbie-trainer here by sight, because I am engaged in registering them and entering their personal files into the database. Maybe you are visitors?
— Well, kinda...
— Then which city are you staying? - the company had nothing to answer. Oscar decided to answer instead of Yar, who couldn't come up with new arguments.
— Excuse us, professor Kukui but we can't think straight right now. We've been lying around in the dangerous forest not even knowing that for hours. We're linda stressed out and we actually need a rest, - Yar exhaled. The gratitude was visible in his eyes. Professor rubbed his shorted beard thoughtfully.
— Hmm... Perhaps you're right. Follow me, I'll prepare a place for you, yeah. You will spend this night in my house. Maybe you can explain what happened to you tommorow at least.
The team was able to breathe a sigh of relief. It was decided to walk on foot to the Kukui's laboratory or wherever all professors live. Said and done. After half an hour of walking through lawns and copses, they were already on the beach, where their destination was apparently located. Externally the lab-home was a small wooden house on stilts, apparently in case of tides. It had a green roof with many visible patched holes.
— Do not pay attention to the mess, please, – Kukui justified himself in advance, fingering a bunch of keys. After getting up the stairs to the small veranda, Kikei opened the door for them, inviting inside. Team hesitated at the entrance a little. Anyway in few second they already were examining the interior of the house with big interest. A large aquarium, in where Luvdisc and Korsola swam, immediately caught in the eyes.
— Well, here it is – my humble abode. To the left is the kitchen, to the right is the bedrooms, each has two bunk beds for you. The closed door on the right is my office, I ask you not to go there, as well as into the basement — there is my laboratory. There's not much for you to do in the kitchen either, if you want to eat — there are a dozen packages of custard noodles in the bottom drawers, I think it is gonna be enough for ya', yeah... By the way here is a bathroom door next to the kitchen. Now chill, - when professor finished his speech and headed to the basement. The guys were left to each other again. The house was really a mess, but it felt kinda creative mess rather than ususal. One way or another there was a place to sit down.
— So... What should we do now? - Ann asked, tucking her legs up to her body.
— Catching pokemon Pokemon, working out, getting used to the new world, of course! - Oscar replied optimistically.
— I meant, what should we say to this at all... What's his name...
— Kukui.
— Yeah.
— I offer you, comrades, to put it bluntly. Kinda we died because of one idiot who doesn't know how to handle pyrotechnics, and then we became isekai main characters, - Danya jokingly said.
— Yesh, dudes, I agree that is all quite important, – Oscar suddenly interrupted them, — Have you ever wondered how we understand them at all? They seem to be talking in Japanese... I can hear everything in English.
— Hmm, really. Maybe there are System quirks?
— Fuck, yes, you're right! What about the system by the way? I don't see a hitbar, inventory and other characteristic icons, - Danya raised another important question.
— I'll use my uber attentiveness now. Hoba! - Oscar clearly noticed something, — In the upper left corner of the page there is an inscription "download".
— Wow, really! It is actually true! I can't belive you could see that so fast. Well you're kind of blind, minus three in both eyes after all, you know...
— You may think that we have 16k monitors in front of our eyes. Okay, Dan, don't distract me now. I'mma try to tap on it.
— I have a message that there are 13 hours and 43 minutes left before the System is fully loaded, – said Anya.
— Anal-logically.
— Yeah.
— I think we just have to wait now. I suggest we go wash up, then take a dinner and go to bed.
— Yavol, Mein Fuhrer. I hope the local Doshirak is ramen...
— Uh... Oscar as always, – Yar sighed heavily. 'Cause he was the one who proposed the idea, he was the first one to go to the bathroom.
Everyone went about their business: who ate, who washed, who just lay there doing nothing. Half an hour later, the whole refreshed team lay on the beds and cooed about their problems.
— Well... What is the plan for further action? At least for tomorrow, - Dan asked.
— We need to find out from the System where we can get the starters, - Oscar replied.
— Yes, but we also need to do something else. We have to find a job in a good way and a place to live.
— If we want to find a job, we need starters, so at least we can earn initial capital through battles with trainers, – Yar gave out a surprisingly clever idea.
— Capital... It sounds so bourgeois...
— Sensible idea, but won't we live in that house? - Ann asked.
— Why the hell we supposed to live in that house? - three guys answered in unison.
— W-What? Aren't we in the game or anime? Shouldn't we now get the professor's shelter and the starters from him and follow the set route throughout the region, as always?
— Uhm... No?
— Why?!
— Because it opened world without any binding to the spicific the algorithm of actions. We can do whatever we want with the whole responsibility! - Oscar replied optimistically.
— Uh, fine, bro, I got your point. So we have to find our CHOSEN starters first, right? How do we do that?
— I'd like to know that too, my dudes. But it's wednesday now, so I really wanna sleep — I'm tired as fuck. Let's solve our problems tomorrow, okay? Btw we'll try to find Eugie tomorrow either. Everyone agree? - Yar said and received frequent nods of agreement in response, — Then have a good sleep, my du-...
— Not so fast young people! - the professor suddenly burst into the room with a laptop and a notebook, — Good evening! You won't go to bed until you answer all my questions: who are you, where are you from, and so on! - a simultaneous, doomed sigh sounded in the room, — So, let's start. I suspect you have partial memory loss, so let's start with a simple one — tell me your first and last name. Who's the first?
In response, there was a deathly silence. And as our math teacher liked to say, — "a forest of hands."
— Well, as I said earlier, we are novice trainer pokemon and have recently started our journey. But I suspect that none of us remembers where our parents are... And, in general, what island are they on... And whether on the island at all... – Yar tried to get out of it uncertainly, — Personally, I can hardly remember my last name, – he lied.
— In short, let me tell you everything as it is. Believe it or not, it's your business, but I'm going to tell the truth now, - Oscar, who already had a headache, and got even more sick from all these clever excuses, decided to take control of the ship with Dan's method, — We were celebrating the New Year, this is such a holiday we have, when suddenly kinda a hand-assed invalid let a salute into our apartment, from which we all died. Then there was a bright light, someone's voice in the dark, glare, whoosh and bang - we are lying on the ground under palm trees, just like Obama once.
Professor, Yar, Daniel and Anna stared at Oscar with an indescribable expression on their faces: Kukui was most likely trying to digest what he had heard, and the others were sitting with the thought "Could we actually do that way?!" or "Why did you tell him everything!?". They looked at their friend warily.
Man woke uo from the shock in few minutes, silently took a flashlight, came up to them and shone it directly into their eyes.
— Ouch! What are you doing, huh!? - Oscar was indignant.
Then Kukui brazenly pulled us by the arms, carefully examining the elbow pits. He even looked closely our noses&nostrils.
— And what was that?! - Ann exclaimed at these strange actions.
— You don't smell like alcohol, you don't seem to be drug addicts. Are you sure about your words? - professor asked sternly, — If I'll know that was a goddamn prank or something like that, I swear in tne front of Arceus that you won't get out of here without a... - but Kukui was stealed a chance to finish his threat or awarning — whatever that was.
—NO! It's not a prank, I promise! I confirm his words. If it's easier for you to understand, we are not from this world... We don't know how we got here, and we absolutely don't know HOW EXACTLY we got here, - Yarik decided not to mention the System.
Dan and Ann kept quiet and looked at each other strangely, while Oscar and Yar actively tried to talking some kind of nonsense to Kukui as he thought himself. Kukui clicked his tongue couple times, took his stuff as he mumbled something kinda:"Another world, huh? Interesting..." and left the bedroom, wishing to the team a good sleep. But the team's sweet dreams obviously disappeared after such ambiguous professor's reaction.
— And why did you tell him almost everything? - Danya asked in perplexity, looking at the ceiling in doomed mood.
— What else was there to do? Of course, we could go to the doctor who have psychic Pokemon, could confirm that we have amnesia, but tell me honestly, do we need it? Want it? – Yar reasoned, getting comfortable on the bed.
— Now they will probably drag us to other doctors – to the shrinkers... - Anya noticed, cowering under the covers.
— Shit, it's true in fact... - Oscar agreed. There was a tense silence in the air.
— So what do we do next? Should we run away as fast as possible?
— Well, yes, Anya, indeed. We're on the high seas on the damn islands. They may be big, but where can we hide from the professor's eyes?! They are literally in every RotomDex. And there are a lot of trainers under the Kukui's auspices, by the way, therefore there are exactly the same number of people who want to catch the fugitives. Well, untill now i didn't eve mention about the police, detective agencies and etc... - Oscar was whipping up an atmosphere of despair.
— What the fuck is RotomDex..?
— So if we can't escape, so what should we do?! - Yarik asked irritably.
— To deceive, lie, conceal and lie in a dirtiest way, - Oscar replied decisively, — So, listen to me, I have a plan...
we have a city to burn we overslept! - Anya bustled noisily and tried to stir up her friends sleeping asses.
Slowly guys woke up and realised that they had already fucked up badly at the first stage of their plan so they hurriedly began to collect their stuff. After they made sure that nothing was forgotten, Yarik cautiously peeked around the corner and found Professor Kikei, who was talking sweetly with a swarthy girl with ash-colored hair.
— Fuck, guys, we totally screwed up, they've already come for us! - guy stammered in fright, ran back in panic and pushed everyone inside back.
— Oh, are you guys awake? – the professor's cheerful voice was heard from below, — Come down here, I want to introduce you to someone!
— Well, that's it, – Danya sighed, resigned to the situation, — Enough of this clowning, let's go downstairs. Sighing bitterly, the dumb quartet, there is no other way to say it, quietly went down to the professor.
— Good morning everyone! I am pleased to introduce Professor Burnet, my colleague. I told her about your, uh, problem, and she's here to help you!
— We've tried so hard and got so far...
— In the end...
— It doesn't even matter...
— Hi guys! Professor Kukui actually told me about you. Yar, Oscar, Anna and Daniel, right? – she looked at them with a sly squint, — Nice to meet you! Kukui called me here as a leading expert in the study of such a phenomenon as an Ultra-wormhole. Don't be surprised, I'm about to explain. This anomaly is a kind of intangible object of space-time connecting two points, in fact, the space-time of our reality. Simply put, this is a kind of portal, a wormhole, if you please, through which, if you believe our theories and lab results, you can get anywhere on our planet and even more! Perhaps there is a chance to get to another planet or galaxy! ersonally, I also assume that through an Ultra-Wormhole you can get into a completely different world, another universe. Do you understand why I'm telling you about this?
— So you want to say that you believed our speech and think that we got to you through this... portal? - Dan drawled doubtfully.
— That's right. Uh, Daniel, right?
— Yeah.
— That's why I'm here! I wanna hear your story in details — it can help us advance our research, which in turn will help you get back. Don't you want to go back to your world? You probably still have friends, relatives, and parents there, after all.
— Well, how should I put it?.. No, don't think about it, we're not insensitive scums, that's all because... Well... My memories began to weaken after our appearence in this world. 've already forgotten what my college looked like. Now I don't remember the faces of my classmates, but I have a good memory for faces, you know! And the worst thing is forgetting the faces of my parents and relatives. I clearly remember everything about myself. Strange fact, but I also remember well the general information and moments related to our group of four, - Yarik, smiling awkwardly, scratched the back of his head, realizing the depth of the asshole where they found themselves.
— Damn, me too. As I still remember I had brother and sister... I... I can't remember their names... Fuck... - Oscar whispered with a sombre note.
— No, it can't be true...! I... I... No! No! - Dan shouted in despair.
— I think I had a kitty. Damn, I'm not even sure about that! – Ann said, and the team fell totally depressed.
— Okay, I got your point, but are you sure that you weren't attacked by psychic or ghost pokemon, maybe a trainer with these pokemon? Don't get me wrong, but everything you said sounds quite plausible, but... It's stilll weird, you know. I steel think you should undergo a medical examination, - Kukui interrupted and finished the guys completely.
«Hm-m-m, dammit. We are really close to get to the shrinkers. If we would say something about System — we difenitely dead. The System does not fit into their theory with Ultra wormholes. Urgh! I need to say smth!» - Oscar was thinking hard about how to get out of the situation, but his head hurt again, and he decided to go the old–fashioned way - straight ahead.
— You see, dear professors... When the fireworks exploded in my apartment, I saw in the reflection of the mirror some kind of the brightest fillet pink glow, and it was definitely not fireworks light. Then darkness fell abruptly, and I suddenly woke up. We were in some kind of boundless white space, slightly tinged with pink. I don't know when, time seemed to be running out there, but we heard a loud, such a powerful voice. He introduced himself as a certain Arceus, said that we were given a second chance to live and held a Heavenly Court over us. After his speech about rebirth and an unstable gap in space, darkness fell again, and here we were already lying in the forest.
— You said Arceus?! It s the... Oh my god... So it's... - Kukui was clearly in turmoil, just like his colleague. He decieved, lied, concealed and lied in a dirtiest way, as he said a day earlier.
— Well, okay, I... understood your situation. We can't do anything yet, but your testimony will definitely help us with our research. If Arceus himself is involved in this... Even if all you said was truth, it can wait a liitle! I'mma give ya'll a business offer! So you don't have many options where to go in your position at least because you don't have any documents. Therefore, I suggest the most profitable way for everyone – you will become real Pokemon trainers and you will collect information about all kinds of Pokemon for us with Kukui! I will assign one of you separately a special, very secret and difficult, but well-paid and promising task. Yarik and Oscar were clearly in anticipation, and Dan & Ann once again sighed in resignation – they probably would not see a calm, measured life ever in this world.
— I confirm. I'll close my eyes for the first time that you appeared in this world, uh, literally yesterday. We kinda have a little staff shortage. Four extra trainers won't bother us. Moreover, most of the Alolan trainers have either scattered to other regions or just ignored our missions and tasks. Tsch. Like they have something more imporant than work every day. That way or another, you better work hard — it is all for your well-being afterall!
— Great,– Burnet smiled and clapped her hands, — Then this afternoon we can go to the Kahuna of our island, Hala, and get the starters for you. Kahuna, by the way, is the island's strongest trainer, who is engaged in issuing starter Pokemon and testing young trainers. And don't worry about the documents, we will arrange everything you need.
— I think there is no need to visit Kahuna. I forgot to tell you guys. This morning, when I visited Burnet with an invitation and was returning back, I decided to take a walk through the very forest where I found you. Not far from your location, I found four empty backpacks with one pokeball in each. I assume they are yours.
«So Euginia actually left us,» - Ann thought with a lump in her throat.
— Empty backpacks with pokeballs... A direct gift from Arceus?
— It sounds crazy... The great Arceus distributes Pokemon to teenagers from another world," Kikei sighed, and trudged back to the basement. Apparently, he left the backpacks in his laboratory.
— Well, little ones, you can discuss everything for now, decide who will carry out my secret mission, and all that. Soon you're gonna see your starters!
***
Reluctantly opening her eyes, Ann turned over on her side and tried to focus her gaze on the wall clock. Looking a little closer girl notices with horror that the time has already passed eleven in the morning. — Wake the fuck up, samurais,
