Pokémon: Mysteries of Hisui

Chapter IV | Midnight Battles

Sleep was impossible when all I could hear was the constant graveling noise escaping the elderly woman's breath. Even when I tried covering my ears or moving to the opposite side of the room, the crackling noise kept following me. There was no way to escape it.

No way, that was, except to go outside. Seeing how soundly my roommate was sleeping, I figured it was best to escape, listen to the tranquility of nighttime.

My hands grabbed my shoes and slipped them on, tying the strings into a double knot. One could never be too sure what could happen outside. I would never forget the time I made that mistake. My body tensed at the mere memory of it. Never again would I make that mistake twice of walking towards strange translucent, cloud-like creatures unless it was absolutely necessary. Ghost-types could be friendly creatures, but if they're provoked, they could be as scary as people painted them out to be.

To this day, I wondered how I was able to escape their endless taunts and poisonous bodies. They swarmed around me, forcing me down to the ground, coughing and wheezing. I blacked out not long afterwards, miraculously ending up in a hospital where the nurse was sworn to secrecy to not elaborate how I ended up there. If I had to guess, one of those Gastly that attacked me felt bad and got some help; though, I'd never know for sure.

I was much wiser than I was back then. My hand grabbed Rowlet's Poké Ball, twisting it in my hand. This time, I would have someone by my side too, someone who knew how to protect me and was willing to help out. Not that my original team didn't, but it was back before I learned that sometimes, battles are necessary, even if I hated them.

The ball bounced out of my hand before a stream of light flooded out of it and fell to the ground. When it disappeared, the green feathered Pokémon was standing right in front of me, tilting his head in confusion.

Guess even Pokémon even knew that being out this hour was a strange idea. Regardless, I motioned for him to follow me out the door and into the star filled night.

Star filled. My head gazed up to the sky as I noticed it. There were a few lanterns hanging outside of buildings, but none of them could compete with the twinkling light above. Back in Sinnoh, it was rare to see the stars in the cities or even in small towns. I would have to travel a few minutes outside if I wanted to even capture a glance at them.

It was a breathtaking view.

"Oh? Up so late? What a curious getup you have there. I can already tell you're quite the character," a tenor voice observed.

I turned around, finding a man walking from the directions of the front gates, almost as if he had just gotten back. Unlike most of the people in Jubilife Village, he didn't seem afraid of me. If anything, he seemed intrigued. I didn't catch a good glimpse of him as it was so dark, but whenever he walked past one of the lanterns, I could see a giant backpack hoisted up on his shoulders while he wore something that resembled a dress with baggy pants underneath.

When he got close enough, he stopped. "I'm Volo of the Ginkgo Guild, the go-to choice for any of your mercantile needs here in Hisui!"

"Mercantile?" I asked. "Wait, does that mean you have some clothes I could—"

No. My hand covered my mouth as I realized my mistake. Clothes would help me blend in so much better if I could have them, but there was still one major problem; I didn't have any money. Or maybe people did things differently here? It would make sense considering I had to work in order to eat. Yet, how would clothes work? I couldn't even patch a hole in my pants without ruining them all at once. What help could I be to a seamstress?

Volo just let out a short laugh. "No, I don't sell those types of items. What I sell are items like Poké Balls, Potions, and other things that can help in battle," he explained before crouching down to get eye-level with my new partner. "Oh, and you've got a Pokémon! You're certainly full of interesting surprises, my sky-fallen friend."