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Chapter 1 New

CuteBunnyGirl

Volo Enthusiast
Location
Somewhere
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. giratina-origin
This fic is rated T for themes of deception, betrayal, character death (not on screen) and bullying. This also contains spoilers for Pokemon Legends Arceus and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

Prologue - The Mistake That Started It All

The region of Paldea was a grand place with beautiful scenery. The sunny beaches of Porto Marinada, the serene snowpeaks of Mt. Glaseado, the fruitful olive orchards of Cortondo, and even the crystalline interior of the Great Crater located at the center of the region. Paldea was truly a brilliant region that was a great combination of the beauty of nature and the magnificence of technology.

Trainers were taking on the Gym Challenge, catching various pokemon, and sometimes even going on nice picnics with their partner pokemon. The students at Naranja Academy were studying various things about pokemon, exploring the region, or sometimes simply staying at home. For most people, it was an average and perfectly normal day, but sometimes, that was a part of its charm.

However, Professor Sada did not consider herself to be like most people. Deep inside the crystal caverns of the Great Crater, in a place known as Area Zero, something was going on that the average people living on the surface did not know about.





Professor Sada looked at some of her research notes on a piece of paper, before asking her AI assistant: “So, are we ready to start off the experiment?”

AI Sada, who was standing next to the Time Machine’s control panel, replied: “According to my calculations, the preparations are complete. The experiment is ready to begin.”

“We will use the standard procedures. Get the Arcanine, do the usual research, and release it back to the past.

AI Sada pressed the large start button, activating the Time Machine. A bright flash of light illuminated the room, indicating the machine had activated. An Arcanine, specifically one from the Sinnoh region 150 years ago, should have appeared on the pedestal, yet, it didn’t.

Instead of a Hisuian Arcanine, something else appeared. Or rather, someone else.

A young man, presumably around twenty years old, now stood there, brought by mistake to a time unknown to him. He was wearing a strange white and gold outfit, almost like a ceremonial robe. His hair was blond in color, styled in a way seemingly meant to resemble the pokemon of creation, Arceus. Sada found this hairstyle quite stupid-looking.

Sada was surprised by the arrival of the strange man, as she had not intended to bring a person to a different time. “Well, that was not supposed to happen.”

AI Sada also noticed something was different. “According to my assumptions based on your tone of speech, something seems to have gone differently than intended. Please inform me on what happened.”

The man seemed to be shocked by his sudden arrival, which wasn’t too surprising considering he had been taken away from his own time and was now in a room with two people who most likely appeared strange to him. Well, it was actually one person and one AI-powered robot. But someone from the past obviously wouldn’t know what that meant.

“Where am I? Who are you? What is this place?”

AI Sada noticed him, stating: “An unknown person has been detected. Please provide an explanation of what you are here for.”

Sada decided to try to handle the situation. “Greetings, stranger. You were mistakenly brought 150 years into the future by our Time Machine.”

He seemed even more surprised by what Sada had said to him. “What?! How?”

“Well, you were brought here by accident. We are trying to find a way to return you to your original time, but it is not that simple. Our Time Machine doesn’t have a way to temporally transport people back to their original time.”

After doing some calculations with her machinery, AI Sada got an idea. “According to my calculations, there is a decent chance that someone at Naranja Academy could help with the situation.”

“Wouldn’t it be possible for some kind of Butterfree effect to happen? The idea seems somewhat risky.”

“You are understandably concerned, however, it is far more likely to succeed than if we keep him here until the function is finished.”

“I believe the best course of action would be to let the visitor decide.”

He looked back at the two scientists before finally making his decision. Little did he know, this decision would be an important starting point to events that could change the fate of Paldea, or even the universe. “I will seek help from this academy you are talking about.”





He followed the two strange people outside the building filled with all kinds of strange machinery. Outside the building, he saw a place that resembled the interior of a cavern. Various iridescent and colorful crystals grew out of the walls of the cave, creating a beautiful, yet surreal sight.

As he followed them further out of the cave, the landscape changed to a forest filled with crystals surrounded by several steep cliffs. One of the scientists pulled out what seemed to be a pokeball from her pocket. While it was obviously a pokeball, it looked nothing like the ones he had seen back in his time. The design was far more sleek, and instead of being made of wood, it was made of a white and red metallic material.

“Come on out, Koraidon!”

From the pokeball, she sent out a large draconic pokemon that had colorful feathers covering various spots of its body and was scarlet red in color. The pokemon stared at him with a look of intrigue on its face, clearly somewhat surprised by the fact there was a new visitor it had never seen before.

She looked at him with determination in her eyes, pointing at the scarlet pokemon. “Ride on Koraidon’s back.”

He questioned the strange instruction. “Why? Are we going to ride it out of this place or something? How would we even get past the cliffs?”

“Don’t question it. You most likely wouldn’t understand.”

He sat on the back of the scarlet dragon alongside one of the scientists, when suddenly, large wings protruded from the pokemon’s head. It was flying. He had no idea how the pokemon just did that, but apparently they were flying across the skies now.

“This thing can fly?!”

They flew over the steep cliffs surrounding the area, soaring across the clouds. It was a strange but awesome experience.

Then, he saw a massive city below them, it was unlike anything he had ever seen. The buildings were far larger than what he had seen in his home region, and there were a lot of them. However, one building stood out to him more than the rest. It was a large and fancy castle-like building with tall tower-like structures surrounding it and a pokeball-like symbol at the entrance. The pokeball also looked different from what he had seen.

She commanded the pokemon to land safely, before introducing him to this place. “This is the city of Mesagoza, and this building here is Naranja Academy.”

He looked around the bizarre city, seeing various objects and places that looked nothing like anything he had seen before. “What’s that? And what are those? And what’s that thing over there?”

“You’ll most likely find out later. Currently the important thing is to talk to Clavell.” She spoke, before gesturing to him to follow up the massive staircase and into the academy building.





As the two entered the building, they saw an older man wearing glasses and an orange outfit. The older man’s hair was light gray, almost white, and his uniform had a very professional vibe to it.

“Greetings, Sada. What brings you here? And who might your guest be?” The old man asked curiously.

Sada, who was briefly lost in her thoughts again, replied: “So, our guest here is in a bit of a… complicated situation. He was brought here from 150 years ago after an incident with our Time Machine and I was wondering if you could give him a temporary place to stay until we figure out how to get him back to his original time?”

“A… Time Machine? You actually managed to do it?”

“It’s a long story that I don’t really have time to get into right now. The point is, this guy needs some help.”

The old man turned back to look at the time traveler. “We will be providing you a temporary place to stay. You may call me Director Clavell, what might your name be?”

The time traveler spoke: “Nice to meet you, Clavell. My name is Volo, and I would like to find a job here as a teacher.”



 
Last edited:

Negrek

朝三暮四
Staff
Premium
Hey, CuteBunnyGirl! I read the first couple chapters of the previous iteration of this fic, and I’m glad you’re still working on it. It’s such a fun premise! Volo in the modern age is a great idea, and I’m curious if and how further time travel may come into play.

It looks like you’ve fleshed out and expanded upon this first chapter compared to your initial stab at it, which I think is a good call. Ending it with Volo’s declaration that he wants to be a teacher makes for an effective hook—certainly not what I’d expect someone displaced in time who doesn’t really know what the Academy is to say!

I also think you’ve done a better job of the character emotions and reactions this time around. I remember that when reading this last time I thought Volo seemed oddly chill with his surprise time travel experience. In this version I think his shock and dismay are more clear. That said, I’d love to see more physicality from him! When riding Koraidon, is he clinging on for dear life, or does he figure it out pretty quickly? Is he all agape at Mesagoza, or does he keep his cool? You’ve improved how you convey character and mood through dialogue, and I think you could elevate the effect even more by bringing in more of a sense of how characters are behaving physically.

I am kind of curious why Sada doesn’t send Volo back immediately. From what she was planning to do with the Arcanine, it seems like “catch and release” is totally an option with her time machine. There are many potential reasons Volo back in time might be tricky, or maybe Sada’s just nervous because fetching a human is unexpected and she’s worried sending him back will be dangerous, but one way or another I would have liked an indication of why leaving the lab is necessary to get Volo back where he belongs.

All in all, I think this is a big improvement over the initial iteration of this story! Like I said, I was glad to see this revision appear, since I was hoping you’d write more of it. Good luck with this fresh start! I hope it rekindles your interest and desire to continue with the fic.
 

CuteBunnyGirl

Volo Enthusiast
Location
Somewhere
Pronouns
She/Her
Partners
  1. giratina-origin
Chapter 1 - A Journey’s Beginning


It had been ten years since Volo’s arrival in Paldea. He had become a teacher at Naranja Academy, teaching about the pokemon found in legends and myths around the world. Currently, he was doing some small paperwork regarding the students of this year’s class.

He looked at the paper that contained the names of this year’s students.

“Penny Astreon, 12 years.” The paper showed an image of a girl with a hoodie and a backpack that resembled the pokemon Eevee. The paper also read “Notes: Often absent from class.”

Volo continued to look at the next student’s information.

“Nemona Solen, 13 years.” The paper had an image of a girl with the usual academy uniform without many modifications. The paper also read “Notes: Skilled in battle, the youngest champion ranked trainer in the academy.”

Then, he looked at the information of the next student.

“Arven Sada, 14 years.” The image on the paper showed a boy with long brown hair who was wearing a more outdoors-fitting version of the academy uniform. The paper also read “Notes: Child of the region’s professor, lives alone.”

He made a small mental note about the student’s apparent relation to the professor before moving on to the next papers. None of them stood out to him in particular, until he reached the last one.

“Juliana Hyacinth, 11 years.” The image showed a girl with the standard academy uniform with medium-length brown hair and an eye color that reminded him of another student in a previous year. “Notes: Younger sister of Florian Hyacinth, a former student from a previous year.”

The last name Hyacinth and the note that he was Florian’s sister stood out to him. He had already known the truth about Florian could never be revealed to anyone else in the school, but now the secret was under an extra threat with Juliana being in the academy.

They could never learn what had happened five years ago. Because if they did, his job as an academy teacher would be threatened, and maybe he wouldn’t be able to achieve his dream.



Juliana woke up in the morning, the rays of the sun gently shining from the window onto her face. She was excited, since today was the day she was going to start her first day in Naranja Academy, the famous and well known school in Paldea. She quickly put on her hat and her bag before walking down the stairs.

Juliana entered the living room with an excited and joyful smile on her face. “Good morning, mom!”

Her mother, who was sitting on the couch, looked up to her with a proud gaze. “Good morning, Juliana. Do you know what day it is today?”

Juliana nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, I know! Today is my first day at Naranja Academy!”

“That is true, but don’t hurry just yet. I was told a visitor from the academy would be coming to meet us for something important.”

Just as her mother said that, the doorbell rang. Juliana went to open the door, seeing an old man with light gray, almost white hair and professional-looking glasses. He was also wearing the uniform of Naranja Academy.

“Greetings. My name is Clavell, and I am the director of Naranja Academy. Pleasure to meet you.” The visitor spoke with a professional tone.

“Greetings, director Clavell. Pleasure to meet you too, what brings you here?” Juliana’s mother asked.

“Could you follow me outside for a little bit, Juliana? I have something important to show you.” Clavell requested.



Juliana followed Clavell outside to the yard, intrigued to see what Clavell wanted to show her. She was quite curious as to what it could be, but she hoped it was something good. Outside the house in the yard, Clavell showed her a suitcase with three pokeballs inside it. He started by sending out a pokemon from one of them.

The pokemon that came out of the pokeball was a cute feline pokemon with light green fur that looked like leaves of willow trees in spring. It purred and adorably rubbed its paws together, releasing a pleasant flowery aroma.

“This is the grass type pokemon, Sprigatito.”

Next up, Clavell sent out the second pokemon. It was a crocodilian pokemon with bright reddish-orange scales and a bright yellow flame atop its head. It waved its tale at Juliana, possibly as a gesture of greeting or excitement.

“This is the fire type pokemon, Fuecoco.”

Finally, Clavell sent out the third pokemon. It was a white and teal duckling-like pokemon with fancy feathers resembling a hat on its head. It made a fancy gesture on its wing that looked like it was trying to show off its cool hat.

“This is the water type pokemon, Quaxly.

Juliana looked at the three pokemon in awe and excitement. She had seen images of these pokemon on the academy website due to them being the standard beginner’s pokemon for students, but it was way more fun to see them in person.

“Wow! These are so awesome!”


“Indeed, but you may only pick one.”

“It’s such a hard choice…”

“I’m afraid I must go now. Come visit me at that house over there once you’ve made your decision.” Clavell pointed at a nearby house just down the road.



At the house, Juliana saw Director Clavell alongside another student, seemingly close to the same age that she was. The student was a girl with long dark brown, almost black hair with streaks of lush green styled in a ponytail. Her bright orange eyes gazed at her with excitement.

Director Clavell began to introduce the two to each other. “Miss Juliana, this is Miss Nemona. She is a student and the youngest champion-ranked trainer at Naranja Academy.”

“Nice to meet you, Nemona.” Juliana greeted.

“Miss Nemona, this is Miss Juliana. She is a new student who is about to begin her journey by picking her first partner pokemon.”

“Hi Juliana! It’s awesome to meet you! Would you like to have a fun battle after you’ve picked your starter pokemon?”

Clavell looked at Juliana thoughtfully. “Now, Juliana, which of these starter pokemon would you like to choose? It is an important decision.”

Juliana thought carefully before making eye contact with the Sprigatito, seeing it purr adorably in response to Juliana’s gaze.

“I would like to pick Sprigatito.”

Clavell handed Sprigatito’s pokeball to Juliana. This would be the start of a great journey through the Paldea region.

Suddenly, Nemona replied: “Can I pick one too?”

“Don’t you already have your champion team, miss Nemona?” Clavell inquired.

“Yes, but I’d like to pick one in order to have it grow alongside Juliana. We can’t really be amazing rivals if my team is too strong for her to defeat, after all!” She responded eagerly.

“Understood. You may pick one of them.” Clavell stated.

Nemona gazed at Quaxly, deciding that it would become her partner pokemon. “Awesome! I’d like to pick Quaxly!”

Clavell recalled Fuecoco back into its pokeball, deciding to take care of it.

Nemona looked at her Quaxly, and then at Juliana’s Fuecoco. There was only one thing left for the two to do. “Now let’s have a fun battle!”



Juliana followed Nemona to a beach near the house, seeing a battlefield where the two trainers could have a battle to start out the journey.

Clavell also followed them, stating: “I will be observing the battle in order to make sure it is fair for both of you. Miss Nemona, I would advise you to use the Quaxly you just received, as Juliana is only a beginning trainer.”

Nemona briefly glanced at the Quaxly, replying: “Alright! Let’s have a match to start out your journey! Go, Quaxly!”

Juliana also readied herself for the battle. “Go, Sprigatito! Use Scratch!”

The Sprigatito dashed towards the Quaxly, attacking it by scratching it with sharp feline claws. The attack was decent, but the battle wasn’t over yet.

“Quaxly, use Pound!”

The Quaxly continued the battle with a pounding attack. The attack was decently powerful, especially for a pokemon yet to reach its full strength. Even a relatively weak pokemon could clearly be powerful at the hands of a skilled enough trainer.

Juliana tried to think of a strategy she could use to win the battle. Then, she remembered what her late brother Florian had taught him five years ago.

Five years ago, two siblings were sitting on a bench, the older one talking about her first day at school. The younger one listened eagerly.

If you wish to become a trainer like me someday, you should know how different types of pokemon work against each other in battle.”

“What do you mean by that
?”

Well, some types of pokemon are more powerful against other types of pokemon. For example, the attacks of a grass type pokemon would be super effective against a water type pokemon.”

Having remembered the teachings of the brother she once had, Juliana now had a plan.

“Sprigatito! Use Leafage!”

The Sprigatito attacked once more, this time by hitting the Quaxly with a variety of leaves. The attack was super effective, managing to knock out the Fuecoco and win Juliana the battle.

Nemona looked at Juliana excitedly. “Wow! That was an awesome battle! Maybe you’ll even be strong enough to defeat my real champion team someday!”

Juliana was quite proud of herself for winning her first battle. Then, she looked at her Sprigatito, knowing it would be her partner pokemon.

“From now on, Sprigatito, I will be calling you Willow!”
 
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