Chapter Text
'Yes! This is it!' Liko thought as she approached the bus stop on Route 22 in Kanto. She was a human girl with blue eyes, shoulder-length black hair with blue underlights, wearing the uniform of Indigo Academy, and a green clip in her hair. A Kadabra in the Indigo Academy uniform was already sitting there, browsing on her Rotom phone. She looked up as Liko approached.
"Hey!" She shouted, waving. Nervous, Liko started to wave back, when-
"Hey! You saved a spot for me!" A human girl behind Liko greeted the Kadabra earnestly, leaving Liko embarrassed. She walked to the other end of the bench with her head down, the other girls looking at her in confusion.
"Do you know her?" The human girl asked.
"No, not really. She seems like a foreigner..."
'She's not wrong about that...' Liko thought to herself. The sound of munching invaded her thoughts, and she looked down to see a Rattata gobbling up an Oran Berry next to the bench. She watched the purple rat, until he finished and glanced at her.
[[What are you looking at!?]] he demanded, startling the girl. [[What a weirdo.]] With that rude comment, the Rattata scurried off. Liko could only sigh, disappointed with herself. She made a bad first impression on that Rattata, of course he thought she was weird. Before she could beat herself up any further, the bus arrived.
[[Here, let me get your luggage.]] A Machop attendant offered, grabbing Liko's suitcase.
"Oh, uh, thank you, sir," the girl replied, soon climbing onto the bus and taking a seat in the back corner, opposite the girls from earlier. She noticed them staring intently at the Kadabra's phone.
"Oh my gosh!" The human girl squealed. "New Nidothing video!"
"I know, right?" The Kadabra answered.
'Nidothing?' Liko thought in shock. 'I love Nidothing!' She wanted to tell them that, but the words caught in her throat. She immediately beat herself up over that. Why couldn't she just say what was on her mind? Why was it so hard to talk to people? Why did she have to so... socially incompetent?
Before she could continue down that Bunnelby hole, she realized that the bus was arriving at Indigo Academy, meaning it was time to move into her dorm room.
About an hour later, she stood in front of dorm room 303, the room she had been assigned to. Liko took a deep breath before opening the door, but stopped at what she saw inside.
"Come on, come on, where is it!?" a female human with a fang sticking out of her mouth ranted, throwing a large quantity of clothes around the room, before noticing Liko as she stopped to catch her breath.
"Uh, sorry," the other human girl stated before closing the door. 'Did I get the wrong room?' she thought to herself, double checking the room number. 'No, it says 303...'
"You're my roommate!" the girl exclaimed in excitement as she threw open the door and dragged Liko inside. "Sorry about the mess. I'm Ann."
"I-I'm Liko," Liko replied. "N-n-nice to meet you." Despite Liko's hesitance, she found herself chatting with Ann well into the night.
"So you're from Paldea?" Ann asked eagerly. "Lucky. I've never been outside Kanto..."
"Yeah... this is my first time leaving Paldea too..." Liko replied. "But my parents went here when they were my age, so I decided to attend here too."
"Wow, that's deep," Ann replied. "Was it hard to meet the requirements for enrollment?"
"Not really," Liko answered. "Paldea has one of the highest Pokémon citizenship rates in the world. Humans learning to understand them has become pretty much common sense."
"Lucky you," Ann griped good naturedly. "Anyway, you looking forward to tomorrow?"
"You mean the opening ceremony?"
"No, after that! We'll be getting our very own partners! Aren't you excited for that!?"
"O-oh! Right..." Liko looked away, anxiety eating at her.
It was the next day, after the opening ceremony when Liko found herself in class. The teacher, a male Clefable, had them all update their Rotom phones with the Pokedex app. She restarted her phone once the download was complete, and smiled on seeing the app on her home screen.
"Now that your Pokedexes are taken care of," the teacher started. "I'm going to call you up one at a time to give you your partners." Liko swallowed as her fellow students, be they human or Pokémon, came up as their names were called and picked a ball from the tray. Ann was excited to befriend the Oshawott she got as her first partner.
"Liko," the teacher called.
"Y-Yes!" Liko exclaimed as she stood up and stiffly walked up to the desk. A tray with a number of pokeballs sat atop it, and she slowly grabbed one of the balls, and returned to her desk. Swallowing down the lump in her throat, she opened the ball and let out her first partner Pokémon. She blinked as the green furred kitten yawned atop her desk before looking at her curiously.
"Sprigatito has been registered to your Pokedex!" her phone announced.
"Sprigatito..." Liko murmured in awe.
[[Uh... miss?]] Sprigatito asked, concerned.
"H-Hi..." Liko spoke aloud. "I-I'm Liko... and... I'm your new..." She slowly reached out to pet the grass cat.
[[Hey,]] said cat started before swiping her claws at the human's hand, [[no touchie.]] Liko yanked her hand back in pain, and could only watch as Sprigatito leaped off the desk. [[I need some sun.]] With that, she ran out of the room, Liko staring after her before following her. Liko sighed in disappointment as she realized she had already lost sight of the grass cat.
"Great. You blew it, Liko," she admonished herself. "Okay... according to the Pokedex, Sprigatito emits a pleasant aroma by kneading their paws, so maybe I can follow the scent right to her." She got down on her stomach and started sniffing the ground, quickly finding a sweet scent and beginning to follow it.
Sprigatito yawned as she lounged on the roof of one of Indigo Academy's buildings. She did feel kinda bad for scratching her new trainer-Liko, was it?-but at least it wasn't anything serious, like...
[[I don't want to think about that...]] she muttered under her breath. Maybe she'll find her new trainer later and try to make it up to her.
"There you are!" Or maybe her trainer could find her. She cracked an eye open to look at the human girl looking up at her from the roof floor.
[[Huh... color me impressed.]]
"Please, get down from there, you could fall and hurt yourself!" Liko begged.
[[I'm a cat, remember?]] Sprigatito chided. [[I always land on my feet.]]
"Maybe, but still..."
[[Liko, was it? Tell me, what do you want out of your time here?]] Liko blinked in confusion at the question.
"I-I... uh..."
[[I get it. Not everyone knows what they want the second they leave the nest. To tell you the truth... I still don't know what I want out of life, either. But I do know what I want here and now.]]
"And... what's that?"
[[I want to have a real friend. Someone... I can honestly trust.]] She slowly got up to her paws, staring at Liko seriously. [[Can you be that person, for me or anyone you meet?]]
"I don't know... but I have to try, right?"
[[That's all I ask.]] Her part said, Sprigatito easily jumped down into Liko's arms. Both ladies couldn't help but give each other hesitant smiles.
Later that night, Liko, Sprigatito, Ann and Oshawott were hanging out doing homework in their shared dorm room, Liko writing out the Pokémon type chart to help memorize it.
"And..." She filled in the last entry. "Done. How's it going with you, Ann?"
"I'm done, too," Ann reported happily, showing off the chart.
[[Uh, you got the Psychic-Fighting matchup backwards,]] Oshawott sadly told his trainer.
"Aw, what!?" Ann complained, realizing that he was right.
[[Brain over Brawn, Ann, that's a good way to remember Psychic beats Fighting...]] Sprigatito chipped in.
"Right, right..." Ann got to work correcting her chart, beating herself up over the mistake. Liko smiled at the three of them.
"Hey, can you guys keep a secret?" Liko asked suddenly, catching everyone's attention.
[[Uh, sure,]] Sprigatito answered, curious. She and the others watched as Liko reached under her bed, and pulled out a small, rectangular box, then opened it to reveal a glimmering jewel pendant inside.
[[Oh, pretty...]] Oshawott said in admiration.
"Thanks..." Liko replied. "My grandma gave me this pendant before I came here. She said it would give me good luck."
[[If it's a good luck charm, why hide it under your bed?]] Sprigatito asked, [[Why not wear it?]] Ann took the pendant from the box and held it up against Liko's chest.
"It looks good on you, if that's the problem..."
"No, that's not it," Liko assured her. "I just... don't feel like I'm worthy of it, know what I mean?" She put the pendant away as the others shook their heads.
[[No, I don't think we do...]] Oshawott muttered.
Days went by like this, with Liko forging a friendship with Ann, Sprigatito and Oshawott, doing homework with them, introducing them to Nidothing, and overall learning more about each other. Over the days, she has been trying to help Sprigatito master the move Leafage, but it's been slow going. Liko, however, wasn't one to be discouraged.
Right now, however, Spring break was starting, and she and Sprigatito were seeing Ann and Oshawott off.
[[I can't wait to meet your family, Ann!]] the otter exclaimed.
"And I can't wait to introduce you to them!" Ann exclaimed in turn, before turning to her roommates. "Are you sure you two will be okay staying here for the break?"
"Yeah," Liko replied. "I'm sure."
[[We'll be fine,]] Sprigatito assured. [[You two go have fun.]]
"Okay," Ann relented, turning to climb onto the bus, letting Liko head back towards the training fields. She Sprigatito got in more practice with Leafage until the sun began to set, at which point they decided to head back to the dorms.
[[I feel like we're making progress on Leafage...]] Sprigatito mentioned in passing.
"Yeah, I agree," Liko agreed, reaching out to open the door.
"Oh, perfect timing!" The Paldeans heard the dorm manager exclaim as they entered. "Liko, this young man is here to visit you." She gestured towards a human boy with split dark gray and light gray hair, and a bored, dour expression on his face. Liko couldn't help but feel uneasy about him.
"Uh, hi," She greeted hesitantly, "Who are you?"
"My name is Amethio," he introduced himself. "I have a letter for you from your grandmother, Diana. She wants me to bring you to her, and it's absolutely imperative you bring your pendant with you." Liko could barely hear anything else over the alarm bells going off in her head.
"Let me go get it," She replied calmly, walking past Amethio to heard into her room. Sprigatito watched as Liko locked the door behind her.
[[You don't seriously trust that guy, do you?]] She asked, suspicious.
"OF COURSE I DON'T!!" Liko screamed. "Grandma never sends me letters, she always uses either her phone or her Squawkabilly to send me messages! And asking me to specifically bring the pendant is way too suspicious! What in Arceus's name could he possibly want with it!?" She passed in her ranting as she noticed the grass cat grabbing the box with her pendant in it.
[[Whatever he wants it for, we can't let him get it,]] She declared. Liko nodded in agreement, taking out the pendant and slipping it around her neck, just as she heard a knock at her door.
"Ms. Liko?" She heard Amethio call. "We mustn't keep Ms. Diana waiting, you know." Liko said nothing, silently leading Sprigatito out the window and onto the roof, where they made a run for it.
The two had barely made it to the edge of the roof when a human woman with dark hair stood in their path.
"Where do you think you're going, little girl?" She asked menacingly, prompting Liko and Sprigatito to turn and run to another rooftop. On the ground below them, they spotted a human man in a similar uniform to the woman rushing up the fire escape, so the two Paldeans turned again, towards the school's clock tower. Before they could get to the tower, they were abruptly cut off by an armored Pokémon with swords for hands.
[[I'm afraid this is as far as you go,]] the Pokémon, a Ceruledge, told them. [[Now, be good girls, and wait here for my liege to collect you.]]
"I'm here, Ceruledge," they heard Amethio's voice announce. Liko looked over her shoulder to see the young man in the same uniform as the other two she saw. "Now, be a good girl, and give me that pendant, Ms. Liko."
"Why should I?" Liko asked, mustering up all the confidence she could. "What do you even want with it?"
"Beats me," Amethio answered smoothly, "I'm just following orders... though given the Explorer's recruitment policy, I wonder if that's a good thing..." his two subordinates nodded in agreement, "...but I digress. Now... hand over-"
"We've found you!" An excited voice screamed from above. Liko looked up in shock, to find a Charizard diving towards them. On the pseudo dragon's back, she could see a slimly muscled Alakazam (Though for his species, he may as well have been a bodybuilder) wearing a brown leather jacket, aviator goggles, and black pants. She noticed his long mustache was stark white, and he had his spoons jammed into his belt. The Charizard landed between Liko and Ceruledge, allowing the Alakazam to dismount next to her and glare down Amethio.
"So... you're here now?"
"Uh, huh, I sure am!" The Alakazam exclaimed. "Any last words?" Amethio gave him a scrutinizing look.
"Your mustache is on fire," Amethio said plainly. Liko looked at the Alakazam to see that Amethio was right, though the Alakazam didn't seem too bothered by it. He must have Magic Guard for his ability.
[[Agh, dang it, not again,]] the Charizard muttered as Liko took the moment of distraction to sneak away with Sprigatito. [[I am so sorry, Friede, I always do this.]]
"Hey, buddy, don't let it get to you," The Alakazam, Friede, assured him. "Besides, we have a battle in front of us!"
[[Oh, uh, right!]]
[[Give your orders, Lord Amethio,]] Ceruledge exclaimed, readying his swords. Liko stopped paying attention at this point, simply rushing to get to the top of the clock tower before anyone noticed she had left.
The sounds of the battle resounding behind her, Liko raced to the top of the tower, but soon ran into a problem.
[[Where do we go from here!?]] Sprigatito questioned nervously.
"The way way forward is... to jump to that next roof..." Liko realized.
[[That's... a big jump...]]
"Hey, when did you get up there!?" They heard Friede exclaim.
"Zirc, Onia, after them!" Amethio exclaimed.
"We have to jump!" Liko exclaimed, rushing forward to do so. Sprigatito quickly followed her, both jumping out into the open air. Both were then suddenly blinded by a light from the pendant.