Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Infrared

Chapter One: Locked in the Past

Song: "Twilight Melody" - Adrian Von Ziegler

Arven often wondered what it was like to die. Was it painful, scary, peaceful, or a combination of all three? What did his mom feel when she died? Arven pictured her death scene every day after he and his friends descended into Area Zero in the Great Crater of Paldea. A Pokémon attack hurts, right? Did it break every bone in his mom's fragile body? Arven wouldn't be surprised if it did.

Oh gosh, the ache in his chest was back. It was like somebody grabbed his heart and squeezed the life right out of it. Arven couldn't think straight. How could his mom be so stupid when she had a child waiting for her to come home to him?

The first thing Arven saw when he sat up on Poco Lab's leather couch that he used for a bed that morning was the Scarlet Book on the glass coffee table. But how? Sada took it with her to the past. Then again, in the world of Pokémon, anything was possible.

Arven fluffed his pajamas and picked up the familiar book. It remained breathtaking, with its scarlet cover, golden border, and an outline of Koraidon on it. The pages were yellow with age and slightly torn but still readable.

Still trying to make sense of the phenomenon, Arven stood. He didn't see his Dark-type dog Pokémon, Mabosstiff, anywhere, so he most likely was out on his morning walk. That was good in its own way because it bought time for Arven to clear his head, although it was near impossible with all those disturbing memories of his mom. What sick person abandoned their child and left him with just a dog to grow up with? Arven loved Mabosstiff, but still! He might as well call himself an orphan. His mom was dead—replaced by an AI—and his dad was Arceus knows where.

Arven jogged to the lab's tiny kitchen and pulled back some flower-printed curtains. He peered outside to the newborn day and called into the hazy, blue sky, "Mom, is this a sign?" He held the book up to it. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

Arven hoped that the sky's translucent cirrus clouds would come together to take on the form of his mom, but they never did. No one visited him from the heavens. Seriously, what was the point of magic if Paldea was forbidden to share it with people like Arven?

He lowered the Scarlet Book, disappointed but curious if its sudden presence meant he could, indeed, reunite with his mom, whether in the afterlife or the past. He didn't care which one as long as it happened.

"I don't wanna go to school," Arven muttered. He slammed the book down on the kitchen counter, and its impact rattled the dishes in the dishwasher. "Not until I get her back." Tears sparkled in his oval-shaped, teal-colored eyes. He slid off the counter like he was dying and rested his left shoulder on its wooden cabinet. The Scarlet Book fell with him and landed open at his knees, revealing the blurry image of a Past Pokémon called Great Tusk.

Arven shivered and crossed his arms over his chest. He recalled one of the earliest memories of his mom—when she taught him how to swim for the first time with his little Magikarp floaties. He still felt her tossing him up into the sky and twirling him in a circle because he managed to doggy-paddle to the other side of the pool. That's all it was, though—a memory.

"I just want a mom," Arven whispered to himself. The emotions built up inside him like a volcano preparing to erupt. He felt like he was about to erupt. His face paled until he looked like he was about to faint.

Arven suddenly didn't want to be alone anymore and shouted, "Mabosstiff, help me! Mabosstiff!" The whole time he waited for his partner, he sobbed.

***

"Good morning, children!" Ms. Raifort pulled her large, square-shaped glasses off and set them down in her lush, light black hair. She eyed her History students, who sat with their legs behind their desks, straight as poles, and admired their white uniforms with deep red ties and striped shorts. "Oh, aren't we missing someone?" Raifort wanted to know after studying her students a little longer. It was like she suddenly owned all of Naranja Academy.