[The Odd One Out -- A Reborn Adventure]

@SansTheSkeleton: The "Part" is more like a season in other runs. So it won't correspond to the episode split, but probably to some 3-5 episodes, as of now I've planned for five parts. The first part, in my current outline, should end after Corey. The ratings will dip in the negative, but this probably won't occur before a while. 

 

 

So it's third chapter time, where Gabriel sets out to discover Reborn City. You can say the journey really starts there.

 

Again, any comment or feedback is welcome. 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3: The Decaying City

 

 

As newcoming challengers of the Reborn League, Victoria and I had also been handed a few Pokeballs. Before leaving, she provided me with another piece of advice. 
Pokemon, she told me, were everywhere in the city, but were discrete and shy, so would-be Trainers had to actually look for them. They would usually react very favourably to something called PokeSnax. 

She moved to leave, but she had repeatedly referred to a person I didn't know and whom Ame knew, that Kiki. This could be relevant information for my challenge. 

"Er, Victoria, can I ask you a question?"
"Yes, of course. What do you want?"
"You mentioned 'Kiki' a couple of times and Ame seemed to know her. Who is this person?"
"She's my teacher, she's taught me a lot." She slightly frowned at my phrasing, while obviously not objecting to the question. "She's the sensei of the Apophyll Academy, on the other shore of the lake." -- there was a lake here? I hadn't seen anything... "And she's Reborn's Fighting Gym Leader, so we'll have to beat her."
"Okay, thanks."

Victoria left. I decided not to imitate her at once. The best thing would be to make some list of absolutely necessary things to obtain by any (well, almost any) means. 
Let's see. A large bag with several compartments, some sort of notebook, pens, Pokeballs and Potions. Of course, snacks and water. Maybe clothes. And no cash squandering.

 
All of this turned out to be pretty easy to find. I bought a cheap old bagpack from the Hall surplus, the city workers had pens and notebooks in excess, and I found balls and healing items at the Trainer shop. Clothes and PokeSnax could wait. I started to head towards the exit of the Grand Hall before I thought of something else very important. I looked at the map included in the Pokegear and wrote down a list of reasonable objectives for this day, as well as a path running through them. 
As I readied myself to leave, some fisherman entered the Hall with enthusiasm and went straight at me. 

"Hello", he greeted me with a huge smile.
"Hm, hello," I replied cautiously. 
"I've fished an incredible Pokemon, I can sell it to you!"
"How incredible is it?"
"I can't tell you its exact species, but what I can tell you is that it can carry you through a lot of Reborn League Leaders." He looked at me with even greater enthusiasm. "Yeah, it's that good." he concluded proudly. I realized that his gestures weren't as steady as I had thought. Was he... on drugs? In an official building?
"How much would it be?"
"I can give you a discount, let's make it for nine hundred."

Nine hundred? This was waaaaay outside my budget. 

 

"Tell you what, just for you, I'll make it seven hundred."
I assumed I hadn't kept a poker face. I thanked him and said that while I couldn't afford it right now, I'd consider it again when I had more money.
"Five hundred!" he yelled, trying unsuccessfully to prevent me from leaving. 
"Not now, thank you." I went on, slightly shaken and found myself at the door, and then outside. 

I would never have expected what I saw. Before the Hall was a pathetic, dying garden with maybe five withering trees and scarce yellow grass. The pavement further was clearly only used by pedestrians, and yet it was clearly poorly maintained. Potholes were abundant. Moreover, the street itself was filthy. People had thrown everything they did not like on it. It was mostly rotting and smelt awfully, but statistically there had to be lots of valuable items left out. Even worse, there was some kind of huge lake on the other side of the street (with, very sensibly, some barriers to prevent falls), but it was brown. 

I had seen green-brown rivers, which meant pretty much any of them, because the bed was full of clay, sand, seaweed or whatever. This brown was different and suggested immediately that the water itself was rotten to its core, polluted beyond cleaning. What had I ended up in? Worst of all, there was a slight rain, and I hesitated to go on. It could be one of these so dreadful acidic rains.

 
A young woman whom I had not been paying attention to looked at me and said, annoyed: "Don't worry, the rain won't dissolve you. It's not that acidic."
She was in plain clothes, without anything really protective, not even a hood. She was actually trying to subdue a Stufful who seemed very keen on disobedience. It wasn't like I could stay there forever anyway. I started to walk in the rain. 

Nothing happened. More accurately, the Stufful went clear out of the woman's control, cast me -- I swear -- a contemptous look and a bit of a growl, then fled. 

"Come back here, Stufful!" she shouted before running off. 

Well, now that I was out in the light rain, I could as well train in the garden. After a while, I found and caught a Bidoof whom I nicknamed Goofy, which I started training till they were approximately as fit as Leaf when she had defeated Cain. 

I was pulled out of my training by some yelling at a corner nearby down, on the street leading to the Peridot Ward. There seemed to be a fisherwoman -- was that the word? -- and a thin homeless guy arguing while on the ground. 

"Can't you watch where you're going?" the fisherwoman asked angrily. 
"You bumped into me!" the other one complained. "And you knocked over my money cup with all my money into the lake."
"I'm pretty sure you broke everything in my bagpack."
"There was more than a hundred Pokedollars in it, and now it's in the lake, you ... " he growled.

 

Something very unsettling happened next: he got up in an agressive stance, fists closed, and got closer to the fisherwoman, who evidently minded. She failed to find something in her pockets, and with obvious panic, tried to get herself away from this man turned aggressive, without trying to get up as well (maybe due to panic). 

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, voice shaking.

There didn't seem to be any other witness. I could walk by, pretending not to notice. That would be callous, but safe. And maybe sometime I would get over it. So that left me with the unlikeable second option...

"Er, excuse me, is there a problem?" I asked loudly at them. 

The homeless person, with his attention distracted, started complaining again about fisherpeople, women and his lost money. She, on the other hand, slightly relaxed and got up. That wasn't esay to do with her enormous bagpack. 

"How much have you lost?" I asked him, willing for it to end. That was so uncomfortable, and likely unreasonable.

 

"One hundred and fifty." he answered, with the martyr air of someone asked to set a price on their own life. I could afford that.

 

"Well, here you are." 

The woman glanced at me and went away, but I noticed a fishing rod on the ground. She likely had forgotten about it. So I escaped the homeless guy's gratitude and ran after her with the fishing rod.

 

"I'm sorry, Madam, but isn't it your fishing rod?"

 

"It is, but I don't need it. I've got better ones. You can keep it."

 

"Thank you, I guess."

 

She turned away, turned again to me, thanked me and departed. Her aggressor went to me again and told me with approximate syntax how thankful he was and how today he could eat or maybe get clean. There was some warm feeling about helping him for this day, but the issue would be the same the next day. Besides, he had very nearly assaulted this woman, and there didn't seem to be a reason why he wouldn't try it again at the next opportunity.

 
"Thank you, buddy." he said again. 
"You're welcome." I replied reluctantly, waiting for him to leave. Please go away and let me do Trainer stuff.
"Buddy, you're a League challenger or something?"
"Yes, I am." I said back, trying to be as distant as possible. 
"I've got something to show you. You're interested?"
"I might be." I said hesitantly. 

 

I stayed not too close to him and very wary, but driven by curiosity, and, to be honest, the possibility that he might genuinely have something worthwhile, I followed him. That was dumb. Real dumb, even though there might be something at the end. With an unsteady pace (was he drunk? or actually starving?), he led me through a couple of deserted back streets to a small cabin. 

 

"There's been a Pokemon here since last night. I can't feed him but maybe you could take care of him?"

I entered the cabin, being very watchful for a possible ambush -- this stuff happened in movies. There wasn't anyone here, except for a Minccino who sprinted at me for some reason. Maybe I smelt like snack or something. Anyway, I had collected a bit of cheap food (Leaf would need feeding too) at the Hall, so there seemed no ill in giving him some. Leaf went out of her Pokeball to heartily disapprove, but I assured her that there would be some for her. 

After eating, the Minccino kept being close to me and even startled me a lot by jumping on my shoulder. It was quite heavy, but less than I would have expected. Perhaps he was slim, since he didn't eat enough. Since he evidently seemed to like me, I'd keep him, if he so wanted.

 

"Do you want to come with me?" I offered, since he seemed to like me.  

 

As an answer, the Mincinno, still on my shoulder, started cuddles. But then, how would I call him? He had a long, very recognizable tail, so I could call him Tails? It didn't fit; he was male. Tailor would work, though. 

 

 

The homeless person who had led me there was already snoring outside and didn't hear my muttering thanks. Where was I going, then? 

I headed for the Opal Bridge (the name sounded wrong, as it had nothing matching an opal), before getting stopped by a very self-confident young man wearing heavily used red clothes. 

 

"This is Opal Bridge." he said. "That's for trainers only."
"I'm a trainer." I objected with just enough assertiveness to make myself noticed by a three year-old child. "May I pass, please?"
"You'll have to back it up."

He sent out a Bidoof who did not fare well against Tailor, Goofy and Leaf. Reluctantly, upon his defeat, the trainer let me go. There were some other trainers on the bridge, most of them beginners and mostly easy to defeat. It was a bit of a let down, because there hadn't been any serious challenge here. On the other hand, the bridge was slightly cleaner and better kept than the street, which made the visit a net win. 

As far as I could see, the bridge was connecting the part of the city that was west from the Grand Hall (the Peridot Ward, it seemed) to the Lapis and Obsidia Wards. Both of the other exits of the bridge were blocked off by police officers, because of what they claimed were "gas leaks". They couldn't have come up with something sounding more like an excuse. Did they actually have gas there anyway?

People on the bridge were mostly alone, but in a corner, there were three of them clearly being together. Two of them seemed to be talking threateningly to one another, or maybe to someone else smaller. They were loudly threatening this hypothetical being (or maybe one another) to obey their bidding, or be throwned in the horrifyingly acidic lake. The third one kept an eye on them and watched angrily their surroundings. 

 

 

I hated that kind of abuse, but I had been thinking of such a situation (well, not the specifics) for an unrelated reason and realized there was literally nothing I could do. Three on one was a clear loss. I was rather dismayed that the police officers had not done anything to stop that, while it was occurring just under their noses. While pondering whether to just move away, I likely had treaded too much intently in their direction. The lookout yelled at me with obvious aggression:

"What do you think you're doing here, man?"
"Oh, sorry, I didn't realize what I was doing. All right, I'm going away." I backed off cautiously and politely. Definitely not cowar -- never mind. 
"No, I'll teach you a lesson!" he replied angrily. 

 

I was frightened at the idea of a physical beating, because I didn't enjoy sports in general. I hated physical fights and it was obvious to see that the guy, however younger, had more experience with them. So that went as a mild relief when he sent Pokemon instead, which I managed to defeat.

 
"Ugh." he said, disappointed and angry, but not aggressive any more. "Have it your way, whatever."

 

Our battle (more likely, his yelling and colorful swearing during the battle about killing Leaf and feeding Tailor to angry Grumpigs) had attracted a bit of attention, and especially from his teammates who took me two on one. Fortunately, it wasn't physical but a Pokemon battle again. And again they weren't as strong or trained (my Pokemon battle classes had included strategy and stuff, but it had seemed pretty irrelevant here -- maybe we were all too weak) as mine. Or, more likely, mine were less weak and poorly-trained.

After their defeat, the three young men retreated, letting me see who they had been threatening to kill: it was a female Zigzagoon, and she was absolutely terrified. For some embarrassing reason, she rushed to me and kept getting very close to me without any sign of wanting to go away. 

I brought her to the Pokemon Center in the Grand Hall for examination, as she kept being within millimeters of me. It turned out the Zigzagoon was in relative health, just terrified. She apparently wanted to go along with me. I'd call her Long, then. 

 

 

I had probably nothing else to do on that bridge and I wasn't eager to go back anyway. According to my list, the next place to go would be the South Peridot Ward again, just west from the Hall, about where that homeless guy had guided me. 

It was a more depressing place than the bridge or the immediate surroundings, because there were more homeless people, the streets were in even worse condition, and the stench of filth was stronger. Everything was rotting down there. I wondered why I had accepted the whole League thing.
Maybe because since wouldn't have escaped Reborn City anyway, I would have needed something to do?

 

 

No character ratings for this chapter -- not enough significant interaction. 

[The Odd One Out -- A Reborn Adventure]

First, thanks for the replies! 

 

About your remarks: 

@Angelkitsune: your question about Gabriel's physical appearance actually got me thinking a bit more than it should have. I was using Vero for the screenshots and th playthrough (as you can see in the chapter), but that's mostly because he's the least unsimilar of the player characters (and I really can't draw or sprite). For Gabriel, he's white, has green eyes with short brown hair, and is about 1.75 meters (5'9'' for American readers) tall. For the picked Pokemon and interactions with Cain, well, you'll see just below.

 

@Majin J-Awesome_One: I was indeed referring to your recounting of Matthew's (and Whettam's) adventures in and around Reborn City. Thank you for your appreciation. For the memory loss and skip to the after-crash, that's because the train part feels rather trite to write... and there's a bit of a plot point about it. 

Yes, the sentences in italics are in most cases the protagonist commenting or thinking to himself. I'm not too sure about how I'm going to do that in the long run, because clearly, a lot of the rest is the narrator commenting the situation from the protagonist's point of view, meaning that the difference isn't really clear-cut. 

 

So, on to the second chapter. I'm apologizing in advance for the random math-dropping (it's really in-character though), there's probably going to be other instances a bit later on in the story, but I'll keep them short and uncommon (the precise details, of course, aren't going to be relevant to the story). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2: Leaf Rocks

 

 

Despite, or perhaps thanks to, the brutal shocks of last night and the uncomfortable couch, I slept blissfully, and I found myself very surprised to wake up on a couch in a small dark room I felt I had never seen before. Then memories rushed in. 

Not all, unfortunately. Before the train wreck, my last memory still was me somewhere in Kalos with no plans to leave whatsoever. How would Mum and Dad have reacted, especially if I had told them I wanted to become a Pokemon Trainer in a place where international phone calls weren't a thing? Not to mention Michael, Carol and Simon, or the grandparents? Just what had happened to me?

So, back to a sane (cowardly) frame of mind, the answer was clear. I was in a foreign land with terrorists able to launch attacks that deadly. I did not have much money or supplies. The sane (definitely not cowardly) thing was to run back. 

Except Ame said that with the train station shut down, there was no escaping Reborn. There wasn't even any communication with the outside. 
 

Crap. 
 

That had been last night, she was tired and overworked, maybe she'd have thought of something. 
 

With this cheerful thought, I got up -- ow, my wounds wouldn't heal overnight -- dressed up with the replacement clothes Ame had found for me (mine somehow had not liked at all the whole "being shoved out of speeding train" thing, but I had not noticed last night) and started exploring the building, before realizing that I was starving. I hadn't showered in maybe two days, either, but that hopefully did not matter too much. I'd find something tonight. 

After a few moments of going in circles, I ended up in the main hall. It was larger and more populated than I remembered. Then again, I hadn't been exactly watchful last night. I found Ame sitting at a desk with a stack of paperwork, in a remote corner. Victoria wasn't around. 

"Good morning Gabriel!" Ame called. "Did you recover?"

"Good morning Ame. I quite did. I slept much better than I would have expected. And you?"

"Not much sleep." she smiled with a tinge of longing. "There was the investigation, and the chain of supply got sort of crazy with no railway station. Fortunately, we are mostly in control right now. We got information from the suspect, I guess you're interested?"

"I was more concerned about the chain of supply thing, because I'm actually starving, but"

"Gabriel," she interrupted me, her tone stern and reproving. "Please do not use this overstatement. I can understand that you are being hungry, but you are not starving. There has been actual starvation around here."

"Oh, I am sorry." I felt like a spoiled kid -- where had I chosen to go? "What did you find about the attack?"

"The suspect we had caught at once did trigger the explosives. And here's the bad news: he wasn't working alone. He's part of some group called Team Meteor. "

"Did he tell you what they wanted?"

 

"That wasn't clear. There was some weird part about changing the world, another about protecting some sort of sanctum. He couldn't explain the relation with blowing the station up and murdering all the people around. You'd expect a terrorist group to have some clear demands."

That was really worrisome. Hopefully they'd deal with it while I would be far, far away. 

"So, no offense, but can I get out? Can I send a word out? And can I eat?"

 

Ame started looking annoyed now. 

 

"We've checked that out again during the night. We can't send a word out." No... "So, of course, we can't send you out." Please nono... "You'll have to stay till the station is repaired. And it likely won't be repaired while the Meteors are a danger. Looks like you'll be stranded here for months, because we're kind of understaffed and overworked."

It had been such a nice day so far... 

 

"Can I do anything to help?" I asked, as had been drilled into me by my parents. I really hoped they didn't worry too much.

Ame shut her eyes and tried to sit more comfortably in her desk chair. 

 

"I don't think so." she finally said. "Without offense, your skills are mostly about math and that isn't suited to our needs. Besides, you have no idea where you are or what the city is like. The easiest thing for you, since you have a bit of money, would be to take on the League. The most fun too, maybe."

I had never had a Pokemon before. When most people my age had been desperate to have their own Trainer journey around Kalos, I had been mostly interested in stuff such as Kepler's laws, Gauss theorems, Galois theory or Lebesgue integrals. I had come to almost regret it, because I had declined an opportunity to see something truly different from my daily life (which was mostly about groups or derivatives or epsilons, depending on the days). Now I could catch up. The idea wasn't that crazy. I knew a bit about the theory and I had already had a few Pokemon battles for school; like everyone for once, I followed the important battles on TV. 

Maybe trying my hand at Pokemon training would do me some good indeed. I might meet and keep contact with new kinds of people. Maybe more normal ones.

 
Another issue brought my daydreaming back to real life. Namely, there was a terrorist group right there, and they had almost killed me. 
I decided that it shouldn't be that much of a problem. I would be very wary and stay out of trouble. After all, I wasn't here for them, and the likelihood that they would target me was almost negligible. I would be a target like anyone else anyway. 

 

You're not being any reassuring, some inner voice noticed.

 

Victoria had arrived while I was thinking and had engaged Ame. 

 

"Hi Gabriel. Did you sleep well?" she asked when I noticed her. 
"I did. How about you?"
"I didn't sleep that much. I replaced Ame earlier today so that she could nap and I worked out." she replied. "So, did you make up your mind on what you wanted to do?"
"Ame thinks I can't really help here. So I decided I could as well attempt to take on the Reborn League."
"That's great! I'm doing it too." Victoria answered enthusiastically. 
"I have the papers right here", Ame said. "Victoria, you know that the League usually provides starters for outsiders only. But I guess I can make an exception for Kiki. Gabriel will have first choice though."
"Go for it", Victoria said. "Don't worry about me counter-picking, I already know which one I will take." 

What was she talking about? 
 

I realized that I didn't even know which were the starters. I decided to pick one at random. 

 

Ame led me through a small maze of staff-only corridors to a small room upstairs, which she unlocked with a six-digit code. There were three colored tables with seven Pokeballs on each. I recalled that traditionally there weren't over half a dozen available starters in Kalos journeys. Of course I'd end up in a place where I'd have to make harder choices. Fortunately, I had already made up my mind on choosing at random. I decided on meanings for the outcomes (that is, sequences of head or tails), drew a coin and tossed it multiple times. 

 

Spoiler

 

Which generation?

 

 

Which type?

 

Player speaking: I did not tamper with that RNG but I don't want all these allegedly game-breaking Speed Boost sweeps (I suppose I couldn't make them work anyway) So I will keep the evolutionary line, but Torchic is going to have Blaze. 

 

 

Fate had me choose a tiny adorable orange chick, whose species name was Torchic. That did not feel like a fitting, or at least individual, name. I had to give it a name of my own. 

Of course I could have gone for something linked to the software I had been using a lot in the past months, but this Pokemon wasn't an algorithm. It was warm and cute. It was almost relief personalized. Relief... Well, I'd call her Leaf. .

 

 

Ame didn't let me stay long in the room and insisted that I came back downstairs right away, not to keep Victoria waiting.
"Whom did you pick?" she enquired. 
"Leaf. She's cute, isn't she? " I answered her with a mixture of equally absurd pride and embarrassment, showing her the small Torchic. 

 

She nodded and followed Ame again to the corridor maze. While I was looking at Leaf, I heard a disturbingly close voice addressing someone:

"Heyy, you're cute!"

 

It took me a few seconds to realize that the speaker was a boy with much makeup and long purple hair, likely younger than I was, and that he was speaking to me. I immediately felt intense discomfort. 

 

Who was that guy? Did he realize how inappropriate his words were? Did he speak them on purpose? What did he want? Should I act offended, as I actually quite was?

"Excuse me, did you say something?" I decided after a second's puzzlement. 
"No." he said smiling. "I didn't say anything. Did you see Ame?"
"Yes, she's currently walking someone to their starter. She should be back in a short while, the place is a maze."
" 'Kay." he answered. "My name's Cain, how about yours?"
"I'm Gabriel. Nice to meet you..." I mumbled the second part. 
"I think that's a pretty name actually. You've just got your first Pokemon, right? Are you gonna challenge the League?"

"Yes, she's Leaf." I answered, ignoring the first part (what could I exactly answer anyway?). "I'm not sure how sensible it was to try to challenge the League, but I am stranded here and I can't do much else." I said, pointing at the Torchic. "And you? Are you coming here to challenge the League?" 

 

He didn't answer at once, briefly dropping the smile. "I was coming here to start over. I figure I'd try taking on this League instead."
 

Instead? What did he do before?  
 

"So, what would you say to a battle, Gabriel?"
"Er... Okay, why not, but do you have your own Pokemon?"
"Aha, yes, don't worry about that."

 

We retreated to somewhere less close to any damageables (such as Ame's paperwork). We probably shouldn't have bothered: our Pokemon were fairly weak and all they managed to do to the scenary was a bit of scratching and a couple of ashes on the floor. Cain's male Nidoran did all the scratching. Leaf didn't need to do so and, keeping moving to be a harder target, burnt him into defeat.

 
"Nice battle", he acknowledged, still cheerful. "Let's get our Pokemon healed, there's a Pokemon Center just there." He added, pointing at a spot a bit farther again from Ame's desk. Was he trying to do something else specifically? I decided that probably not, but resolved to stay cautious. 

Overall, the battle had actually been pretty nice, even though the actual action (or thinking, or strategizing) for me had been fairly limited, and I had more felt like a sports supporter than like someone who actually took part in the battle, unlike all the interviews of well-known Trainers declared. Leaf looked pleased of herself but tired. Cain hadn't been a poor battler as well. And he didn't mind losing -- would I be that polite in his situation? Or, well, without the telling random people they were cute. 

Ame and Victoria found us at the Pokemon Center, where Leaf and Cain's Pokemon were resting. 

 

"What were you doing?" Ame asked. 
"Sorry" Cain answered. "I, er, stole Gabriel, and we had some fun."

 

Cain had innocently or most likely not stressed the last word. I felt once again very discomfortable and annoyed, didn't notice the two women's frowning and clarified: "He meant a battle." I added for him to "please stop it".

"I didn't know you were like that", Ame noticed idly, teasing -- couldn't someone please give me somewhere to hide from everyone? "By the way, Cain, why are you here?"
"We had an appointment, Master. Remember?"
"Master?" Ame asked, apparently puzzled, saving me the embarrassment of doing so myself. 
"Nothing," Cain said with an enigmatic smile. 

Cain took his Nidoran back and walked a bit away with Ame. So I found myself with Victoria. 

 

"Well, I got my first Pokemon too and I'd like to test him. Are you okay with another battle?" she asked me. 
"I'd agree, but Leaf doesn't seem to be rested."
"She is, actually.", the nurse interrupted. "She looks very eager to accept, if I may say so."

I picked up Leaf to oppose Victoria's Litten. Once again, Leaf, after growling her fiery awesomeness (I really needed to watch myself, that was sports commenter vocabulary) at her opponent, easily clawed him to death -- er, defeat.

 
"You're good." she only commented before Ame called us over at her counter. 
"You're not bad too." I said while we were walking back there, not really wanting to point out that Leaf, not I, had done all the work. 

Ame had several important things for us. She handed us over empty Pokedexes, "because come on, full ones would kill your sense of discovery" -- I already missed Bulbapedia -- running shoes, because "Reborn is huge, you'll really need them, oh and they're from our sponsor, so you can't say no", and a Pokegear -- my equivalent in Kalos was better but it broke already. Too bad. 
"You can find on the Pokegear lists of inhabitants that are willing to let challengers sleep on their couch some night -- for a fee, of course. You might like keeping some cash -- that shouldn't be an issue for you, Gabriel? By the way, there are vending machines with food and beverage in the hall. If everything else fails, there's usually room for people at Pokemon Centers."

"Just a few words -- the last ones, I promise -- about the Gym Leaders. They are all skilled. You will be fighting them on their terms, in singles or doubles, on terrains of their choosing, with always a full team of six Pokemon. The terrains were subjected to some scrutinity, to make sure the fight is not too unfair. It will nevertheless always be an uphill battle. Good luck."

And so my journey as a challenger of the Reborn League started. 

Had I suspected how it would turn out, I might have chosen to do something less risky.

Maybe something like safety controls at wherever Julia worked?

 

 

 

 

 

Character ratings: 
 

Spoiler

Ame: 7/10 (0). She really hasn't found a way to send me back home, or let me do something useful. If it's plain impossible (which might be true), I can't blame her. Besides, she looks rather skilled at her really demanding-looking job. 
Victoria: 8/10 (0). Not much difference. Mostly confirms the positive opinion. 
Cain: 3/10. Does the guy realize how actually annoying he is and how awkward he makes everything?

 

[The Odd One Out -- A Reborn Adventure]

Hello !

 

So I've been reading a few playthroughs/fanfictions on the forum, most notably Vanilla's and Matthew's adventures, and I wanted to try one as well. 

 

Sorry for the title, I usually struggle with these things. I wanted to add "terribly-titled" (because it's bound to be) but some expletive guy with a huge hungry dragon-like green familiar (I think it was a female, they're supposedly always fiercer) told me these words were his. He sounded pretty upset so I thought best not to defy him. 

 

A couple of things about how it is going to work: it is going to be a fanfiction (mostly following the game's original scenario, but...) coupled with a simultaneous playthrough (which will impact events such as the Pokemon in the team, the evolutions, etc). The fanfiction chapters will include a few screenshots as illustrations. Most chapters will, as seems customary, include a "character ratings" part at the very end.

 

Some of them will also include a "PC death count" section which corresponds to the number of defeat-related save scums (not for IVs or mining) during the playthrough to that point. (I'm really not a good player, so I'm going to use items and save scum instead of losing money.)

 

This "death count" will not be referenced directly in the story, but it may affect how the protagonist wins or loses some minor battles with little stakes (some Gym Leader battles, maybe Cain/Fern as well). 

 

Something else is worth mentioning: the fanfiction (and thus playthrough) is going to be quite slow-paced. For some comparison: I've been preparing a few chapters and it's more or less going to take twice as much text to get to Julia (probably Chapter 9) as in Vanilla's adventures. 

 

Finally, English being not my first language (and my not having much experience writing in my own native language either), there probably are going to be mistakes, so I am welcoming any feedback and comments. 

 

That's all for the introduction, the story starts right under the spoiler box (which contains links to the uploaded chapters so far).

 

 

 Part 1: (complete)

Spoiler

Part 1: An Unexpected Journey

Chapter 1: Pearl Harbor

Chapter 2: Leaf Rocks

Chapter 3: The Decaying City

Chapter 4: Lower Mantle

Chapter 5: Upper Mantle

Chapter 6: The Fantastic Four

Chapter 7: Recklessness

Chapter 8: War Declaration

Chapter 9; Power Madness

Chapter 10: Dewilish

Chapter 11: The Law of the Jungle

Chapter 12: Treats and Tricks

Chapter 13: Rescues

Chapter 14: The Longest Day

Chapter 15: Investigations

Chapter 16: Of Math and Men

Chapter 17: The Obstructionists

Chapter 18: Freezer Logic

Chapter 19: Biomass Effect

Chapter 20: F for Effort

Chapter 21: Play Pretend

Chapter 22: Double or Nothing

Chapter 23: Friends and Foes

Chapter 24: The Cleansing

Chapter 25: Last Stand

Chapter 26: Darwinism

 

 

 

Part 2: (current)

Spoiler

Part 2: Taking Responsibility

Chapter 27: No Rest for the Wretched

Chapter 28: The Enemy's Gate

Chapter 29: A Mob Job Gone Wrong

Chapter 30: Presents Day

Chapter 31: Relapse

Chapter 32: Undertakings

Chapter 33: Shocking Authorities

Chapter 34: Breaking Out

Chapter 35: Nigh Nightmares

Chapter 36: Worse Worries

Chapter 37: Plausible Plans

Chapter 38: Threat Thresholds

Chapter 39: Blacksteam's Battles

Chapter 40: Novel Nihilism

Chapter 41: Fire Fighter

 

 

 

 

Part 1: An Unexpected Journey

 

“It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two.”

Tolkien, The Return of the King

 

 

 

Chapter 1: Pearl Harbor

 

 

"aelauake?"

The first thing I realized while awaking was pain. My whole back hurt as badly as though a car had tackled me into a solid wall. It didn't hurt (well, it did) that I was currently lying on it. The simile wasn't perfect, actually: the worst was focused on my shoulders and on my lower back. They felt exactly as if they had been skinned. I also found myself struggling to breathe. Maybe someone had struck me in the chest as well. 

"Gabriel, are you awake?"

I didn't really hear the words, my ears were ringing wildly and felt deaf at the same time. The air around me smelt awfully -- and I didn't usually notice these things. There were heavy smoke and ash in the air, but there was something even deeper and more unpleasant beneath. 

"Gabriel, is it? Are you okay? Please don't go..."

My hearing was too dull to make out the last words, which were very quiet, but I got the meaning of the first two sentences. And I thought I could infer the tone. The speaker was distressed, maybe even desperate. 

What could possibly have happened? I hardly remembered a thing. I did not know this voice. I hurt a lot and I could have been dying. Deep down, I felt like this was definitely not normal. I decided anyway to show I was alive by opening my eyes and trying to rise --

Pain soared. I could see nothing but destruction around. Actually, it was dark, so maybe I was at just the wrong place. Given how much I hurt, I definitely was. Some sort of large, broken apart, building was burning beside me. There were a few police officers (with recognizable uniforms) around. And a woman who looked both appalled and relieved as she looked at me. 

"Gabriel, thank Arceus you're awake. But, all the others..."

She gestured desperately at the burning mess, and I became aware again that I had zero idea about what was going on. Although the woman looked very faintly familiar, with her blue eyes, white skin and very light-colored hair, this was no explanation for why she knew my name. This was very worrying, especially since I seemingly had survived a life-threatening event. My life was at stake. 

 

I wished I could be as far away as possible from this place, but, obviously, nothing happened. Well, of course I couldn't get something for nothing. Teleportation like that was fantasy. I got up -- pain flared, the world spinned for a while and then steadied itself -- kept focusing on my breathing, and I turned to the woman beside me. 
"I'm, hum, sorry, but what was this?"

Just unbelievable how clumsy I could be. She frowned as an answer. 

 

"I don't know. The train wasn't slowing down, so I tackled you, shoving both of us outside. The train hit the station at full speed while exploding.  I'm glad to have saved you, but everyone else... I'd rather not think about it. But who would even -- "

She had been struggling to form the sentences, marking long pauses. She visibly had trouble collecting herself. That's likely a very normal behavior. Hopefully you aren't a psychopath devoid of empathy, yet. You might only be completely lost because you don't remember anything. She only broke at the last sentence, as a cheerful younger woman with bright yellow clothes ran with obvious enthusiasm and much giggling towards us. 

The blue-eyed woman did not seem pleased to see her. She actually looked very not-pleased. 

"Julia... What did you do? "

Julia, obviously, denied being involved in any way, apart from her racing to the explosion to watch the fun first-hand. That was also worth a worry. Hopefully she would be very, very far from anything that might explode... My savior frowned deeply, watching the mess -- and I imitated her. 

"This must have been a deliberate attack, I am afraid." she uttered. 

I could not believe my ears. A terror attack? A terror attack had physically blown up the train I was travelling in -- even though I couldn't remember what for -- and I had survived only by the most unlikely stroke of luck. I would very much go home now, please. Wait, this was not appropriate. Never mind. Julia, on the other hand, sounded almost admirative. As if she could not wait to hire the person responsible... This was as scary a thought, actually, than the terror attack thing.

"This isn't the time to be admiring their work. Whoever did this would have been monitoring the train, so they cannot be too far away. If I have the perimeter locked, we might get them... Sorry Gabriel, but I have to go. Somebody should be waiting for you near the Grand Hall. Just go straight ahead, not on the bridge. "

 

Had I not watched her as she spoke, I would not have believed how fast she was in control again. As if this was an ordinary Tuesday for her... That could be even worse news, when one thought about it: that might mean that such disasters were common.

 

Julia looked at me, and uttered this unbelievable sentence: "I am Julia, captain of cheer and pep, and all things bubbly and bright! Oh, pop quiz: are you going to take on the Reborn League?"

 

What the... whatever was even the Reborn League? 

 

"Hum, I'm afraid I won't. Actually", I blurted. 

 

"That's no fun", she pretended to whine. Oh, come on, she could be older than I was. "I am the Electric Gym Leader" -- oh, no -- "so of course I have to insist! I'll be looking forward to your challenge, so get down to the Grand Hall!" she added, oblivious to my dismay, and leaving me alone. 

 

I had no idea where I was, where to go, except something about a Grand Hall, somehow straight downtown. It all hurt pretty bad, but hopefully it wasn't too far.  
I started to walk, but I noticed that the pain was worse than I had assessed, although it remained manageable. I tried to speak with a few people along the way. The attack remained on their minds -- how couldn't it be -- and it was no use trying to find out where I was. 

One of the people waiting not far, was crying -- she had been waiting for her fiancee. Another one, with a still shaky voice, had escaped the catastrophe by a very bare margin -- they had been in the station a few seconds before the train had blown up. Several others had lost friends, relatives. A few ones had been on vacation and had no idea how to come back. And I still did not know where I was or why I was there. 
 
After quite a while, maybe a mile, the outset changed. People did not that much concerned with the incident any more, and I found myself staring at a large building with slight colorful notes. This had to be the Great Hall. 

"Hi, are you from the station?" a tiny little boy of maybe five asked me.

"Yes, why?" I found myself answering uneasily. 

"My dad is very sad because he said that something very bad had happened there. But Mummy was supposed to come back home by train and she hasn't come back and Daddy is crying now and won't tell me. And why are you walking funny?"

 

I c-couldn't tell him, that wasn't my place. What could even I say?

 

"I'm sorry." I muttered back, heartbroken, and hurried away.  

 

A rather muscular young woman with loose grey clothes was waiting nearby, glancing at me every so often. 

 

"Hey", she asked me as I was heading towards the Hall. "Are you Gabriel?"

 

With a bit of surprise, I nodded. How come my name was known? Julia or the other woman could have told her. She answered that she was Victoria. She enquired after my general situation with concern. I answered her that I hurt pretty much everywhere -- after the shoulders and the lower back, I had developed a nasty headache and my limbs felt very heavy -- and that a train apparently rigged with explosives had blown up and taken the entire station with it. 

She mentioned that a certain "Eimy" had asked her to "bring me in for registration". 

Wait... Eimy what? Registration what? Where in the world was I? I really wished I could have asked this, but this definitely would not have been diplomatic. And she had been kinder than pretty much everyone...

 

"Er, what registration, exactly?" I finally asked.

"For the Reborn League, of course." she answered, looking baffled. 

"Hm, I'm really sorry for asking, but what is the Reborn League?" I insisted.

"That's, well, the Pokemon League from the Reborn Region." she answered, apparently more confused. 
"So I am in the Reborn Region and I asked to participate to the League?"
"I'd guess so, yes." she patiently said. 
"But I have never heard of any of these!" I protested. 

 

What I didn't tell her was that I remembered quite clearly now the previous days, and I had made absolutely no plans about challenging a Pokemon League. I would never have gone challenging even the Kalos League. I was studying math, which was just better in every respect. Cleaner, clearer, less uncertain. So how could I have ended up here, of all places?  
I didn't really have the choice anyway, and I went with Victoria to the Great Hall. While holding the door for Victoria -- I couldn't believe I was being this ridiculous, Victoria would have done so much better instead of miserably struggling in a haze of fatigue -- or maybe struggling to just open it -- a thick envelope slipped out of a pocket I hadn't remembered I had. 

It was meant for me (it had my name, but not any address), but I was positive I had never seen it. So I opened it. Inside were a few bank notes -- I couldn't believe that so far, I had not worried about money -- and a note: "Use sparingly". In my own writing.

What?
 

"What's there?" Victoria asked, looking at my presumably alarmed face. 

 

"Nothing." was all I could answer. I didn't want to draw too much attention to the fact that was helpless, and that I had money. "And now, with my usual luck, I am stranded here..."

 

Another thought managed to reach my strained brain. Should my parents get wind of the attack, they would want to know what happened to me... They would worry a lot. I picked up my phone, only to find it smashed. It seemingy had not liked my disembarking very much. Victoria looked at my cell phone and said that she could not make international calls. Guess I had to ask "Eimy". Was it my alleged blue-eyed travel companion (although I didn't remember any travel)?  

We ended up at a far end in the Grand Hall, at a counter. 

 

"I am, er, sorry" I apologized to my rescuer. "But I have no idea what is going on. In my latest, memory, I am in Kalos. What happened?"
"Oh." she answered simply, looking very puzzled. "I don't have much time, what do you wish to know?"
"First, who are you?"
"I am Amethyst, the manager of the Reborn League. You can call me Ame." So that was her.
"So, we're in Reborn City, and you convinced me to try my chance."
"I didn't convince you. We met in the train to Reborn City -- I think you mentioned something about three planes before and another train -- I mentioned the League, and you sounded quite enthusiastic about challenging it."
"I'm afraid I would rather come back home."
"There's no real way." she sighed. "Reborn is rather wild. The railway station is, well, to pieces. It was the only real way to go back to... Kalos, right? There was almost a full day of high-speed train in the wilderness. Till the station is repaired, I am afraid you can't leave."

 

Come on, there had to be some way... I'd deal with it later. Wait, did I actually spend at least several days, with the full-day train ride and the other planes? Which day were we? 

"Is there a way for me to phone someone in Kalos, just to tell them that I am safe?"
"I am afraid it can't be done either. We don't have phone links with Kalos, or much of the rest of the world for that matter. We were using the train and letters to communicate with afar."
 

Crap..
 

"I think I'm slightly wounded. Do you know where I can some sort of treatment? And by the way, I don't know anything around here, do you know where I could sleep?"
"I'll show you in a minute. You might be interested to know about the investigation: we were quite lucky and caught right away a suspect with good evidence. We're going to make him talk. By the way," she added, turning to Victoria, "why are you here, Victoria?"
"I'm here to take on the League, Ame." she answered. "Kiki thought it would be good training."
"I'm sorry, but as you know, you'll have to wait for tomorrow. I can't give out starters this late." Ame replied simply. "There should be room for you to stay here as well tonight. Why are you here so late, anyway?"
 

What kind of administrative building had even room for chance (or rather misfortune) wanderers to sleep?
 

The rest of the evening was mainly pain and exhaustion, now that my adrenaline level was falling down to normal. Ame showed me the nursery and pointed me to a couch in an isolated room. A weary doctor examined my wounds and declared that however spectacular (falling off a train at that speed apparently was quite damaging), they weren't serious, but required disinfectant. Very annoyingly, it turned out that the disinfectant reacted more to the "spectacular" part, rather than the "serious" part. 

 

I tripped on the couch and fell asleep after contemplating unpleasant thoughts such as the stinging pain in my back, my now atrocious headache, being trapped in Reborn City for an indefinite period of time, and not being able to communicate with the outside world.

 

Oh well. Tomorrow was another day. 

 

 

 

 

 

Character ratings: 
 

Spoiler

Ame: 7/10 -- She couldn't find in the whole evening a solution for me to come home, yes, but she saved my life. Anything less would be ungrateful. Sounds like a responsible person. 
Julia: 4/10 -- What's her thing, about forcing me to participate in the Reborn League? Also, why does she need to keep mentioning explosives?
Victoria: 8/10 -- Seems nice at first glance, but ... ? 

 

[The Terribly Titled Nuzlocke of Pokemon Rejuvenation: Part 3: Chapter 88 - My Teenage Robot Life]

Well, it seems that most of the characters of the game are females, so obviously you can't have only males as insufferable people.

What honestly surprises me is that nobody (in game) yet has decided to engineer an "accident" against Karen. I mean, she has weird powers letting her murder and mind-control on a whim, which she does, and she's allowed to move freely (as opposed to, say, there is an official group of mind-control-immune people specifically tasked with preventing her from abusing her powers). Second, she's not a real villain in the game, which lets one suppose that she'd be an easy target. 

 

I mostly wanted to write what a pleasure it always is to read about your (not that terribly-titled) epic journey through Rejuvenation, and also marvel at (and thank you for) your commitment, because you have been at it for a huge while now).