- Vagabond - Male Reader x Pokémon

Chapter 4: The Pokémon Professor

[Y/N] tried his hardest to get some sleep that day, but despite all his efforts, sleep wouldn't visit him so easily. It hadn't helped that Cynthia, and her Gible, had remained by his side for an hour or so, keeping him company. He wasn't sure whether or not it was Rowan who had put her up to it, or she herself who had made the decision, but he appreciated her presence. Cynthia was a strange person, but in a good way. She gave off a modest, reserved appearance, polite and always well mannered. Often when going on small tangents, having caught herself rambling on, she would apologise profusely again and again with an unmatched remorse that he found largely amusing. Every so often she would check in, ask how he was doing, and make sure there wasn't anything more that she could be doing. He hadn't known this person for more than a day, and while at first he had been suspicious of her intentions, it was hard to find some ulterior motive to her actions.

Cynthia appeared as genuine as genuine could be. It was endearing in an unusual way that he hadn't experienced before. Though, even if he had come across someone similar prior he wouldn't have remembered anyway, his memories still barren and desolate. What was more impressive was her seemingly endless enthusiasm, but also wealth of knowledge. Pokémon was easy to tell. The way her eyes lit up when looking at her partner, Gible, or when [Y/N] would ask another question about the strange monsters. They weren't animals, or at least no animals that he was familiar with himself. They were weird amalgams of creatures, objects, elements and so on. Some shared features with animals he had known, like dogs and cats, while others were practically alien to him. They each held specific moves and abilities specific to each monster, but also every individual Pokémon was unique in their own way, based on temperament, genetics and even skin pigmentation.

Pokémon weren't just stagnant either. They could grow stronger and stronger, learning new moves, each more powerful than the last. Evolution was a term Cynthia made liberal use of, though [Y/N] wasn't entirely sure of what it meant in practice. Supposedly, when at a certain stage, most of these monsters would undergo a transformation, taking on larger, more impressive forms. "For example..." Cynthia began with a bright smile, "My Gible here is still only a young. She doesn't have much experience in combat, but she knows some basic moves, like Tackle, Sand Tomb, and Sand Attack!" The small baby dragon in her arms held a smug appearance, knowing it was the centre of attention. "Most Pokémon know Tackle, but not all can learn Sand Tomb or Sand attack. It's because of their individual typing, so Gible couldn't learn Splash, a water type move." It looked slightly defeated after hearing she couldn't learn a move, lowering its head in shame.

"After Gible gets strong enough however, she can learn new moves, and evolve into a Gabite, or even a Garchomp!" Cynthia explained with excitement, almost lost in a world of her own. [Y/N] still wasn't entirely sure what evolution meant for the little monster before him, but it certainly didn't sound like anything he had heard before. Humans evolved sure, but over thousands of years of history. The Pokémon's evolution seemed the complete opposite of that.

Coincidentally, history happened to be another topic the girl couldn't help but talk about with intricate detail. Specifically, the history and mythology of the Sinnoh regions. "Legends used to say that Sinnoh was the first region to ever be created!" She began, "They described how, Arceus, 'the Original One', created everything, including the entire universe! Arceus then went on to create Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina, to help control the flow of space, and time, but to keep order..." [Y/N] gave her a confused expression, "Wait, so this Arceus is like God?" There was a strange familiarity with that name, though why exactly he wasn't sure. Arceus. [Y/N] thought to himself. A.R.C.E.U.S. He spelt out internally. Arceus? He questioned it as a desperate last attempt, and yet nothing worked, he couldn't grasp onto anything.

"Well, we don't know anything for certain. Some people have theorised that Arceus was actually just some incredibly powerful Pokémon that humans believed to have been a deity. In reality, we'll probably never know." Cynthia concluded, but her smile hadn't faded. "Isn't that what's interesting about it though?! We don't know yet! There's still so much be haven't discovered yet, I'm sure of it!" [Y/N] grinned back, "Sounds like you've got it all figured out." They both talked for what appeared to have been the majority of the afternoon. Though it was largely a one way conversation, he didn't mind. There wasn't very much he could have said either way, what did he have to talk about? Oh yeah, well I woke up beside a river in the middle of a forest with no clue where I was. And that's it. It wasn't the most stellar of conversation starters...