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This is a new AU fic of mine based on Pokemon Scarlet. The story mostly follows the canon story of the game but with some differences, most of them stemming from the addition of a new character.
What Professor Sada wanted was to research what the pokemon Arcanine looked like in the Sinnoh region's past. What she did not expect was for the time machine to bring in its trainer instead. Later on, a young trainer by the name of Juliana starts of her journey in the Paldea region, but can she and her friends reach their goals alongside a mysterious student who doesn't belong to the present?
This story has themes of manipulation, presumed character death, betrayal and bullying. It also includes major spoilers for Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Legends Arceus and maybe the DLCs later on. If you think more of them should be added, don't hesitate to let me know!
Volo’s reaction has been changed to be more surprised after being brought to the future.
Sada now explains a bit more why he can’t return Volo to his original time.
Slight wording changes in a couple of sentences.
A few grammatical corrections.
In the grand region of Paldea, people were going about their casual lives alongside their pokemon. The students at Naranja Academy were studying, taking on the Gym Challenge, exploring the region, or just staying at home. Overall, it seemed like an average day for most people.
However, Professor Sada did not consider herself to be like most people. While the other people were living their average lives on the surface, inside the great crater located in the center of the Paldea region, there was going on a lot more than what it would seem like at first.
“Are you ready for the experiment?” Professor Sada asked her AI assistant.
“We’re going to use the standard procedures, right?” AI Sada asked back.
“Indeed. Just get the Arcanine, do the standard tests, and release it back to the past.”
“Understood. The operation will start now.”
As the AI pressed the large button that turned on the time machine, a bright flash of light briefly illuminated the room. It was something Sada was quite used to, as it indicated the time machine had activated.
A Hisuian Arcanine should have appeared on the pedestal, yet, it didn’t. Instead of a Hisuian Arcanine, something else appeared. Or rather, someone else. It was a young man, presumably in his early 20s or close to it.
The man was wearing a strange white and gold outfit and his blond hair was styled in a way resembling the pokemon of creation, Arceus. Sada found this hairstyle quite stupid-looking.
“I think it’s safe to assume that this is not what Arcanine looked like in the past.”
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?” The strange man asked.
“How are we going to explain this to him?” Sada whispered to AI Sada.
“I’ll handle it.” AI Sada responded before continuing with: “Greetings, visitor. In order to make my explanation easier, I must first ask some questions from you. These might sound a bit odd.”
“Uh… What are you going to ask from me?”
“So, first of all, what year do you think it is?”
“That is indeed a very strange question… But it’s obviously 1859, right?”
“It is not 1859. Our time machine has now brought you into the year 2017.”
The man was baffled by the statement, simply staring at Sada and AI sada in disbelief. It was an understandable reaction, as any normal person from that time would be confused and shocked by being brought into the future.
“What?! How?”
“Don’t worry about it. All you need to know is that you’re in the future now.”
“What am I even here for?”
“Well, we brought you here by accident… So we’re not really sure what we’re going to do with you. We are trying to find a way to send you back, but it is not that simple. Our time machine doesn’t really have a function to send a person back to their original time.”
During the man’s conversation with AI Sada, the actual Professor Sada was thinking of what they should do about their new visitor. She thought about it for a while, but eventually, she made a decision and said:
“I’ll have to discuss this with Director Clavell, but do you think our new visitor could be sent to Naranja Academy? It provides him a safe place to stay and also could let him learn about today’s world.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Imagine what kind of Butterfree effect that could cause!”
“Well, we can’t really keep him down here either. We’ll just briefly send him to the Academy and return him back until the time machine is able to return him.”
“Fine, I’ll ask him about it while you inform Director Clavell.” She said, looking at the man and asking: “Would you want to stay in Naranja Academy for a little bit until we figure out a way to send you back?”
He considered Sada’s suggestion before finally deciding:
“Well, I don’t seem to have any other options… Fine, I’ll go there.”
Juliana woke up, excited to start her first day at the well known school in Mesagoza known as Naranja Academy. She put on her bag and her hat before going downstairs to greet her mom.
“Good morning, mom!”
“Good morning, Juliana. Do you know what day it is?”
“Yes, I know it! Today is my first day at Naranja Academy!”
“True, but don’t hurry just yet. Apparently we have a visitor from the Academy first.”
Just as Juliana’s mom said that, the doorbell rang. Juliana went to open the door, seeing a tall man with light gray hair wearing Naranja Academy’s uniform.
“Greetings. My name is Clavell and I’m the director of Naranja Academy.” The visitor said.
“Greetings, director Clavell.” Replied Juliana’s mom.
“Could you follow me outside for a little bit, Juliana? I have something important to show you.” Clavell requested.
Juliana followed Clavell outside, intrigued by what the director wanted to show to her. She was quite curious as to what it could be, maybe it could even be some kind of special gift for her. Or maybe it could simply be something boring, it wasn’t like she had any idea.
Outside the house, Clavell showed her a suitcase with three pokeballs inside it. He sent out a pokemon from the pokeball on the left side of the suitcase, saying:
“This is the grass type pokemon, Sprigatito.”
Sprigatito was a cute cat-like pokemon with a light green pelt. As it came out of the pokeball, it looked at Juliana and purred adorably. Next, the director sent out another pokemon from the pokeball in the middle of the suitcase.
“This is the fire type pokemon, Fuecoco.”
Fuecoco was a crocodile-like pokemon with red and orange scales. As it came out of the pokeball, it looked around curiously before noticing Juliana and waving its tail at her, possibly as a gesture similar to a greeting. Finally, the director sent out a third pokemon from the pokeball on the right side of the suitcase.
“This is the water type pokemon, Quaxly.”
Quaxly was a small duckling-like pokemon with feathers on its head resembling a fancy hat. As it came out of the pokeball, it did a gesture with its wing that looked like it was brushing its hair. After Juliana had looked at the pokemon for some time, Clavell asked:
“So, which one of these pokemon would you like? You can only pick one of them.”
Juliana pondered the question for a while. All three of the choices looked excellent, and it was difficult to only choose one of them. Eventually, after a long while of thinking, she had finally made her decision.
“I’m afraid I must visit another student now. You may meet me at that house over there once you’ve made your choice.” Clavell stated, pointing at a nearby house.
At the nearby house, Juliana saw Clavell alongside the three pokemon and another student, who was presumably also going to choose one of the starters. Clavell introduced the two to each other.
“Juliana, this is Nemona. She is a powerful champion-ranked trainer.”
“Nice to meet you, Nemona.”
“Nemona, this is Juliana. She is a new student at Naranja Academy.”
“Nice to meet you, Juliana! Would you like a battle?”
“I know you’re excited, Nemona, but Juliana hasn’t picked her starter pokemon yet.”
Looking at the three pokemon, Juliana finally made her choice. She made eye contact with Quaxly, deciding to pick it as her new starter.
“I would like to pick Quaxly.”
Clavell gave Juliana Quaxly’s pokeball, before Nemona replied:
“Can I pick one too?”
“Do you not already have one?” Clavell asked.
“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!”
“Sure, you may pick one of them.”
“Great! I’d like to pick Fuecoco!” Nemona requested.
Juliana followed Nemona to a beach near the house, seeing a battlefield where the two were to have a great battle together. Clavell also arrived, stating to both of them:
“I will be observing the battle in order to make sure it is fair for both of you.”
“Alright then, which pokemon should I choose…” Nemona wondered before Clavell requested:
“I would advise using the Fuecoco you just received, as a less experienced pokemon would give a fairer fight for Juliana.”
“I understand. Now, Juliana, let’s start the match! Go, Fuecoco!”
As Nemona sent out her new partner pokemon, Juliana also sent out Quaxly, as it was the only pokemon she currently had.
“Go, Quaxly! Use Pound!”
The Quaxly started off the battle by attacking the Fuecoco with a pounding attack, dealing some damage to it. Now, it was Nemona’s turn to attack.
“Fuecoco, use Tackle!”
The Fuecoco attacked by tackling the Quaxly with its body, dealing a decent amount of damage. The attack was more powerful than the one Quaxly used, as while the pokemon itself had not battled before, Nemona had more experience commanding a pokemon in battle.
Juliana had to think of a strategy if she wanted to win this battle. She tried to recall the things she had learned from her late brother, Florian.
Around five years ago, Florian was sitting on a bench alongside Juliana talking about his day at school with her.
“So, if you wish to be a strong pokemon battler, you should know how different types of pokemon work against each other.” Florian said.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, some types have attacks that deal more damage against certain types of pokemon. For example, water type attacks are super effective against fire type pokemon.”
Then, Juliana knew what she had to do. She would use a super effective attack.
“Quaxly! Use Water Gun!”
As the Quaxly squirted a blast of water, it hit the Fuecoco with precision and power due to the type matchup. In fact, the attack was powerful enough to knock out the Fuecoco, winning 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. She had won her first pokemon battle, this was absolutely an amazing start to her pokemon journey. Perhaps she could even become a champion-ranked trainer one day, just like Nemona.
After the battle, she was congratulated by her mother, who said:
“So, Juliana, I heard you won your first battle.”
“Yeah, it was awesome!”
“By the way, here’s your rotom phone with the pokedex app installed on it, some pokeballs for catching pokemon and a sandwich.”
“Thanks, mom!”
On her way to Naranja Academy, Juliana spotted Nemona near a lighthouse building. She quickly noticed Juliana and excitedly asked:
“So, how’s your adventure going? How many pokemon have you caught?”
“Well, I still just have Quaxly but I’ll probably catch some more soon.”
“I of course have my champion team but that’s too strong for you but I’ve also just caught a new pokemon!”
“What pokemon is it?”
“Well, it’s a-”
Suddenly, the two had their discussion interrupted by a strange roar. It sounded like a pokemon and it seemed to come from the direction of the nearby beach. As Juliana looked down from a steep cliff, she saw an odd-looking pokemon.
The pokemon resembled a Cyclizar, but it was red and it had a lot of large feathers on its body and was also much larger than a regular Cyclizar. As Juliana tried to get closer to the bizarre pokemon, she suddenly fell down the steep cliff, falling right next to it.
As she got a closer look at it, she saw it seemed to look somewhat weakened. At first, she tried giving it a potion to see if it was hurt, but after that didn’t work, she realized it could be hungry and gave it the sandwich.
As the pokemon ate the sandwich, it seemed to gain a newfound surge of power as it stood upright, taking on a more powerful-looking form. It picked Juliana up and leaped up the cliff, taking Juliana back up with it.
When Nemona arrived, the pokemon seemed to go back to its weakened state, surprising both Juliana and Nemona. Seeing the pokemon, Nemona asked:
“Huh? What’s that?”
“I don’t know, but it helped me get up the cliff after I fell.”
“It looks like some sort of weird Cyclizar!”
“Yeah, I agree.”
“I think we should rest a little bit at that lighthouse over there.” Nemona said, pointing towards the nearby lighthouse.
As the two walked towards the lighthouse, they saw another student looking towards it. The student was wearing the Naranja academy uniform, and he seemed to have long and somewhat messy hair. As he noticed Juliana, Nemona, and the pokemon, he asked:
“Where did you get Koraidon from?”
“Well, I found it and it helped me out.” Juliana replied.
“Are you Arven, the son of Professor Sada?” Nemona asked.
“It doesn’t matter who my mom is!” Arven stated.
“Either way, how did you even recognize this pokemon?” Juliana said, pointing to Koraidon.
“Well, it’s been in my possession for a while now. I’ll test if you’re worthy to have it in battle! Go, Skwovet!” Arven said.
Starting the battle, he sent out a small normal type pokemon with brown fur and a fluffy tail known as a Skwovet.
“Go, Quaxly! Use Water Gun!”
The Quaxly attacked with a blast of water aimed towards the Skwovet, almost knocking it out in a single attack.
“Skwovet, use Bite!”
The Skwovet struck the Quaxly with a biting attack using its sharp fangs, dealing some damage but not enough to knock it out.
“Quaxly, use Pound!”
The Quaxly finished off the battle by using a pounding attack with its wing, finally knocking out the Skwovet and winning the battle.
“Fine, you win. You can have Koraidon, it’s not like I have any use for it.” Arven said after the battle, walking away.
“Hold on, why are you giving this to me?” Juliana tried to ask but Arven was already gone.
After Juliana and Nemona rested for a bit at the lighthouse, the two were ready to continue onward towards Naranja Academy. After a brief visit at Los Platos, the gates of the academy were in sight.
Once both of them entered through the gates of Naranja Academy, they saw three students. Two of them were wearing a rebellious-looking uniform with star-shaped details, and the third one was wearing a hoodie with an Eevee-shaped backpack.
“Hey there, do you wanna join Team Star?” One of the rebellious students asked.
“Leave me alone…” The girl with the Eevee backpack requested.
“No, you’ve gotta join us!” The other Team Star grunt said.
Before the girl could be harassed further, Juliana intervened and said to the Team Star grunts:
“If you want to harass that girl, you’ll have to defeat us first! Go, Quaxly!”
“Let’s do it together, Juliana! Go, Pawmi!” Nemona said, sending out a small electric type with round cheeks and a fluffy tail.
“Go, Shroodle! Use Scratch on the Quaxly!” The first Team Star grunt said, sending out a small normal and poison type pokemon.
“Go, Yungoos! Use Bite on the Pawmi!” The second Team Star grunt continued, sending out a normal type pokemon with a long body and tail.
The two pokemon started the battle by attacking their opponents. The Shroodle scratched the Quaxly using its claws and the Yungoos bit the Pawmi with its sharp teeth. The attacks dealt quite a bit of damage and Juliana wasn’t sure if they could win this battle. However, Nemona seemed to have a strategy.
“Quaxly, use Water Gun on the Yungoos!” Juliana said.
“Pawmi, Terastallize and use Thunder Shock on the Shroodle!” Nemona commanded dramatically.
Suddenly, Nemona took out a pokeball-shaped item made of crystals and pointed it towards the Pawmi. Iridescent crystals covered its entire body, and more crystals sprouted on top of its head in a shape that resembled a light bulb, looking like a funny hat.
The lightning attack seemed a lot more powerful now, knocking the Shroodle out in a single hit. The Quaxly’s attack was strong too, but not strong enough to knock out the Yungoos that quickly. However, before the battle could continue, the Team Star grunts simply said:
“We forfeit the match, Hasta La Vistar!”
The grunts fled soon after, leaving Juliana and Nemona the winners of the battle. After the battle, Juliana had many questions for Nemona.
“How did you just do that?”
“I Terastallized it! It’s a phenomenon that allows a pokemon to change its type or boost the power of its attacks.”
Juliana was fascinated by what Nemona had said to her. Terastallization sounded awesome, and she was excited to be able to try it out one day. But Juliana wanted to ask something from the Eevee girl first.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m alright… Thanks.” The Eevee girl replied.
“By the way, what might your name be?”
“I’m Penny…”
However, their conversation was about to be cut short. The bells rang, school was about to start. Penny was the first to walk up the large stairway to the academy, quickly followed by Juliana and Nemona.
In the academy’s entrance hall, Director Clavell was already waiting for them. Nemona decided to tell him:
“We saw a couple of Team Star grunts outside school harassing a student named Penny. They left after I battled them alongside Juliana.”
“While you two did do the right thing by helping Penny, you should have simply informed the school staff about it.” Director Clavell stated.
“You’re right. We’ll do better next time.”
Juliana looked at her clock and told Nemona:
“Either way, class is starting!”
You may have noticed that aside for the prologue, the chapters so far have been mostly canon-compliant. However, more canon-divergent stuff will be coming up soon!
As Juliana and Nemona entered the classroom, they could see a bunch of students looking at a large screen with an image of Diglett, its Alolan form and Wiglett on it. The person who seemed to be the teacher was a man with glasses and messy lavender hair. The man said:
“Welcome, Juliana. I am your biology teacher, Jacq. Everyone, say hi to our new student!”
“Nice to meet you, Juliana!” All the students greeted her in unison.
“If you have any questions for Juliana, raise your hand and ask her politely!” Jacq said.
The first student to raise his hand and ask her a question was a strange-looking man, clearly much older than the other students in the class. There were many things standing out about him, but the strangest was probably his blond hair styled in a way designed to look like the pokemon of creation, Arceus. He asked Juliana:
“Miss Juliana, do you happen to be related to Florian in any way?”
Juliana was immediately caught off guard by the question. How did this student know about Florian? Eventually, she answered:
“Yes I am. He was my brother…”
“How intriguing…” The strange student said, but didn’t continue.
Juliana had answered some questions asked by the other students, and
tried to concentrate on the topic of the class. Soon the bells of the school rang once more, and it was time for another class. This time, it was the battle studies class.
At the schoolyard, a person who appeared to be the battle studies teacher was already standing there, looking at the group of students who had arrived. The teacher enthusiastically said:
“Greetings! I am Dendra, your battle studies teacher!”
“Greetings, Dendra!” The students greeted her in unison.
“Today we test your battle skills., Each of you may choose an opponent to battle against!” Dendra said.
As the other students picked their opponents, Juliana thought about who she wanted to battle against. Did she want to battle someone who would be easy to defeat, or did she want a tougher, more challenging adversary? And she didn’t even know which students would be easy or difficult to battle against, so it would be a guess either way.
After thinking about it for a while, Juliana pointed dramatically at the strange blond Arceus-haired man, saying:
“I challenge you to a battle!”
The Arceus-haired man simply looked at her without saying anything, and then stepped on the battlefield. Nemona could only watch and wonder Juliana’s choice as the battle was about to start, simply reacting with:
“Good luck, Juliana. You’ll need a lot of it.”
As the battle was about to start, Juliana noticed the strange pokeballs the Arceus-haired man was using. Instead of the metallic ones that people usually had, they seemed very old-fashioned and made out of wood.
“Go, Quaxly!” Juliana confidently commanded.
“Go, Arcanine!” The Arceus-haired man said, sending out his pokemon.
Something seemed strange about the Arcanine, primarily its odd, darker-colored mane and rockier appearance. Overall, it didn’t look like a typical Arcanine, but Juliana still hoped it was a fire type like a regular Arcanine, and therefore weak to her Quaxly.
“Quaxly, use Water Gun!”
“Arcanine, use Extreme Speed!”
As the Quaxly squirted a blast of water towards the Arcanine, it simply avoided the attack by dodging it extremely fast , followed by a swift attack on Juliana’s Quaxly knocking it out.
Juliana was shocked and embarrassed by her immediate defeat. The weird trainer seemed incredibly powerful and difficult to defeat, yet, he also seemed strange and mysterious. Just who was this guy, and why was he studying at the academy to begin with? After all, he was clearly much older than the other students.
In the evening, after the school day was over, Juliana was chatting with another student. She remembered the battle she had with the strange blond man, and she eventually decided to ask the student:
“You saw my battle in the battle studies class, right?”
“Yeah. It was over pretty quickly.” The student said.
“Who was that guy I battled?”
“His name is Volo and he’s pretty weird.”
“Yeah, I can tell that. Like why is he so much older compared to the rest of us?”
“According to what I’ve heard, he’s from another region and has to study here to get used to living in Paldea.”
“Then where is he from?”
“We don’t really know. Sometimes he claims to be a time traveler, but no one is gullible enough to believe that.”
“A time traveler?”
“You’ll probably find out more tomorrow. We have history class then, after all.”
