Pokémon: Out of the Woods | A Galar, Unova & Sinnoh Fanfiction

Chapter 92: The Man From 300 Years Ago

40 years ago
6 December, 2038

Hooves thudded. Hordes of Ponyta galloped from Glimwood Tangle into Ballonlea. Bede was already alerted to an influx of Sinistea. They invaded the Seri restaurant that, 12 years later, became Craving Books. The streets were brighter than usual. Masses of Impidimp jumped on the mushrooms dominating the town centre. Bede's Gym Trainers sprayed Repel, but more kept coming.

Such numbers of wild Pokémon appearing in towns often preceded natural disasters. Bede called Abbey. As the president of the Galarian Geological Society, she was the authority on such things, but she and her team detected nothing that indicated a looming natural disaster. Heath called Sonia. He could hardly hear over Queenie screaming in Lovrina's arms, but Sonia confirmed by text that nothing was obviously amiss.

There was only one lab in Galar with the equipment to detect what was wrong. An alarm blared in the Ultra Space Research Centre in the Crown Tundra. On the screen of a computer that was left on, a warning message appeared over a map of Galar, where Glimwood Tangle was bright red: SPACE-TIME IS UNSTABLE HERE.

No-one would ever know. The research centre was connected to the Max Lair, which was closed since Gentleman Martin was killed by the raging Nihilego last night. The police weren't in any hurry to conclude their investigation. No-one but Martin's family, who were busy fighting over his beloved Solrock, cared about him. The Max Lair and its research centre were equally unimportant to the overworked local officers. With no-one there to protect it, the entire lab was eaten by a Guzzlord before it descended on Freezington and was captured by the new Galar League Champion, 10 year-old Fayiz. He handed it over to the local police. They were supposed to surrender any Ultra Beasts to the International Police, but they decided to keep it to scare sports hooligans.

Thud.

Back in Glimwood Tangle, a sleeping Ponyta shrieked. A man hit the ground beside it. Its father Rapidash was about to slash him with Psycho Cut when it was knocked immediately unconscious by a ghostly beam from above. The terrified Ponyta backed away from the dazzling, gaping hole in existence itself. A Lucario helped the young man, about 27 and well-built with blond hair falling over one grey eye, to his feet. As suddenly as it appeared, the hole was sealed. The man petted the Lunala that brought him there before returning it to its unusual Poké Ball.

He easily caught the Ultra Beasts that fell from the hole with him. They were drawn to the Ultra Wormhole energy emanating from him like a magnet. Not that he knew they were Ultra Beasts. He caught them partly because they were powerful, but although he didn't know it yet, partly because he would come to feel as homesick as they did.

Professor Laventon told stories of Glimwood Tangle. Volo Lucine listened intently. He always did. He wanted to know exactly what happened in every past, in every place, that led to the present he found himself in. He remembered Laventon mentioning something about touching mushrooms. He also remembered a warning to watch out for Impidimp. There weren't any. Other than the Pokémon who slept through the disturbance, the woods were eerily empty. Glimwood Tangle usually seemed like a separate world, but it was silent enough to hear the distant buzz of Ballonlea.

Ballonlea wasn't a big city. It was only recently promoted from town to city, but even that distant buzz was louder than the biggest settlement that Volo had ever visited, Vermilion Town in Kanto. It was easy to follow it to the city.

Its lights, that shone all day and all night to help the mushrooms illuminate the dim streets, were blinding. Modern people barely noticed the lights. They only noticed the mushrooms, but Volo had never seen electric lights before. He didn't even care about Arceus at that moment. This was fascinating... until something sloppy and stinky hit him in the face. A schoolkid cackled.