Chapter 2
Charity
Charity woke up to see a small, familiar stuffed animal (a new word that popped in her head at the sight of it) on the bedside table. Its bright yellow fur and orange mane made her smile, though seeing only two back legs gave her a pause.
“A lion,” she remembered the name as she carefully lifted it up, “It’s a strange lion.”
She swore she saw it move slightly, but it was definitely her imagination. She looked around for Audino, but they were not in the room. After a bit, Charity hugged them tightly, feeling a bit safer before seeing an orange rectangle that appeared to have a face. The eyes were closed. She studied it carefully, not noticing Audino reentering the room.
“They were gifts,” Audino startled Charity, “The stuffed Pokemon showed up after the Rotom was dropped off. Don’t know what it’s supposed to be.”
Charity furrowed her brow, “Pokemon…”
A headache formed as she remembered someone telling her Pokemon was demonic, a distraction from God. Her parents. If she fell, where were her parents?
Audino cleared her throat, “Uh, Rotom, the human is awake.”
Charity opened her mouth to tell Audino they could call her Charity, but as the rectangle’s eyes opened and they floated, she felt too shocked to speak.
“Hiya! I’m Clark!” Clark dipped slightly at her, “I’m glad you like Beta! He’s a sweetheart!”
Charity looked at the stuffed Pokemon, fully expecting it to come to life, but they remained motionless. She wordlessly glanced up at Clark, not sure what to say.
“He’s a bit shy,” Clark joked, “I’m sure he’ll warm up to you with time! Anyways, since you’re going to be my main user, I wanna get introduced to you. What’s your name? Favorite color? Do you have a preferred theme? Light or dark mode?”
Charity’s head swam at the questions. She hesitantly gave her name and tried to think of her favorite color. What was it? Her eyes landed on Audino.
“Pink. I like pink.”
“Great! You wanna choose a theme? Here’s a list of pink themes!”
Charity stared at the screen as different images formed. She didn’t know what to do. Clark seemed to notice.
“Oh, you can touch the screen, don’t worry! You can just slide around and if you see one that screams, ‘Charity’ you can pick it!”
Charity hesitantly poked the screen, feeling a bit worried that she might hurt Clark. He didn’t react, so she carefully slid her finger, watching the images move as she did. She stared, feeling a bit overwhelmed at all the choices.
She paused at a yellow and pink one. Despite being predominantly yellow, the pink petals and small red berries felt right. She clicked it.
“Ah, cherry berry,” Clark seemed delighted, “I’ll also see if I can get the case at a discount. It’s a nice theme!”
Charity wanted to ask why he called them that, but she remembered the dilemma with Audino.
“Can you help me pick a name for Audino?”
“You don’t need to do that,” Audino responded, “I’ll be leaving soon enough. I’m here to make sure you recover.”
Charity opened her mouth to ask what she meant, but just then someone cleared their throat. She looked over to see the guy from yesterday. Again he spoke, the words sounding like noise to her.
“He’s asking if you’re okay,” Clark spoke.
Charity looked at her burns. Was she okay? They still burned a lot, though the pain was certainly less severe than yesterday.
“I think so. The burns still hurt, but not as bad.”
Clark chirped sympathetically before replying to the man. She noted the noises he made sounded different than his normal speech, less excited and eager and more monotone.
The man’s response was very long. She stared at him, watching his lips move as she wished she knew what he was saying. She felt a bit anxious as he finally stopped speaking.
“First of all, he wanted to introduce himself,” Clark beamed, looking excited, “His name is Edric. He wanted me to explain what happened. You fell here! From a different time, a different universe! He was asking if you remembered anything from before you fell here. I told him your name already, but is there anything else you remember?”
Charity let that sink in, “I fell?”
“Yeah,” Clark hesitated, “I suppose it would be confusing especially if you forgot a lot. But let’s just say there’s sometimes holes that open up like tunnels through different universes and times. You fell through one and now you’re here!”
“This is a lion in my world, but they have four legs.” Charity held up Beta as she spoke, feeling further lost at Clark’s explanation, but not wanting to ask more questions, “And cherry berries are just called cherries. They aren’t berries, they’re fruit. They look like berries, but they’re not.”
“Oh!” Clark laughed, “I wasn’t talking about cherries! I was talking about cheri berries! It’s spelled C-H-E-R-I! Unlike the tart but sweet cherry, cheri berries are spicy! Do you have any more questions or should I tell Edric what you said?”
“I think I’m okay.”
Charity thought everything over as Clark responded to Edric. She had never heard of cheri berries. She had never heard of Audino either. She looked at Beta, the lion plushie. She did remember them. She had never seen one in person, just in a book at…
“School,” she tried to focus on the memories further, but nothing further came to mind.
“Edric says once you’re more stable they’re going to be moving you,” Clark’s voice cut through her thoughts, “You’re going to Alola, specifically the Aether House. Alola has a lot more precautions in place, it’s the more common place for people to fall.
“There’s also a few psychic types that’ll be helping you, a Malamar and Beeheyem, they’re good at looking into minds and might be able to pull a few memories up! Oh, and you’re getting a Lucario language therapist, a few Pokemon can talk, so he’s gonna try to help you!”
Charity’s mind spun at all that. Audino hesitated.
“It sounds like everything is figured out,” she murmured.
“Do… Do you wanna leave?”
Audino looked sad, “I don’t.”
“They offered you a Pokeball, so you can come with!” Clark pointed out. Charity didn’t remember him mentioning that.
“Out of the question. It would be irresponsible for me to leave. I look after the Houndour and Houndoom.”
“It’s Unova,” Clark scoffed, “As much as they need you, another Audino will help them. What’s stopping you from coming along?”
Audino glared at Clark, before storming out. Charity watched.
“It must be pretty important to her,” Charity said quietly.
Clark looked a bit embarrassed, “I owe her an apology. I got carried away. I can understand the importance of a job.”
Clark left, leaving Charity alone with the plushie. She hugged him tightly as she felt a wave of sadness and worry.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t understand what Clark was saying, but I know I’m not home anymore. That nothing is familiar anymore. Even if you are a stuffed Pokemon, you look the most like something from home. Thank you.”
Charity swore he looked at her, but she didn’t care. If he was real or fake, he was the closest thing to home. As she hugged him tightly, she closed her eyes.
Clark
“I apologize,” Clark spoke to the Audino, who seemed adamant on walking away, “That was incredibly tactless, disrespectful to your job, and hurtful on my part to say. I’m sure the Houndoom will miss you if you leave. If you don’t want to stay with Charity…”
“That’s the problem,” the Audino cut him off, “I do want to stay with Charity.”
Clark felt confused, “Why is that a problem?”
“Have you ever lived in the wild?”
“No.”
Audino sighed, “That’s why you don’t get it. The wild, it’s changed over the years. When I was a child… a lot of Pokemon showed up. Pokemon that didn’t belong. It hurt a lot of people. And it was because people carelessly released and abandoned their supposed friends.”
Clark processed that information, “Team Plasma.”
“What?”
“Team Plasma stole and mass released Pokemon. They also convinced trainers that the bonds they shared weren’t real and they were hurting Pokemon by keeping them captive. It led to a lot of trainers giving up their Pokemon thinking it was the right thing to do. That was 15 years ago.”
“What difference does that make?”
“Have you ever thought you were doing the right thing only to discover you were wrong? People have been trying to fix the damage that was done for years. Sadly it’s not that simple, but… sometimes people mess up. Team Plasma reformed and while they still fight for Pokemon rights, they also do a ton of environmental cleanup.”
Audino just stared at Clark, who felt a pang of regret. He probably pushed too hard.
“Again, I’m really sorry for my harsh words!” Clark quickly left, returning to the room where Charity and B3T4 cuddled. He smiled, noticing how happy B3T4 looked. At the very least, Charity would have a Pokemon companion if the Audino chose to leave.
