Washed Ashore: Pokémon Are Real II - Pokémon Radio Signals (Pokemon Fanfic)

Out of Place

"I honestly don't understand all this pop-culture stuff."

"Oh," their teacher responded to Nichole's comment.

Nichole found herself pondering this fact ever since they'd left Professor Oak's lab and set out to who knows where to find the man, but in truth, she'd been pondering a lot of things, such as how nobody taught her how to wash the dishes, perform first aid and other practical life things and instead focused on her studies. She'd known in the room that it was this pop-culture stuff the girls were talking about and even these Pokémon which existed in this world they'd come to be in was yet another pop-culture thing. "At least, I think the right word for all of that stuff is pop-culture. Not quite sure where I heard it if it is the right word."

"Oh, it is the right word."

Of course, "oh-ing" her response wasn't exactly what Nichole hoped for, given the fact she'd expected the adult in front of her to actually answer the questions plaguing her young mind in a manner which she might understand. "I rather feel left out of the whole thing, which is weird because it never bothered me before."

"Well, I never really got much of that pop-culture stuff either growing up, to be honest."

"But you knew that thing about this Sailor what's-it thing, right?" Nichole let out a sigh, now unsure of how she should proceed in getting the teacher to understand exactly what she was asking for. Birds flew overhead – rather large birds from her personal point of view, as she'd never seen the birds back home be the size they were in this world. "You're not very helpful Sensei."

"Wait. You're now using that word as well? I don't even know what it means."

"It means teacher in Japanese. I'm going to ask Professor Oak about that if he knows that word."

"To what end."

"To try and figure out this world a little."

"Hopefully we won't have to stay here long though."

"I know. I want to be prepared, but I think..." Nichole's lips pushed together. "I want to figure this out. There are so many things to figure out."

"Alright. I get it."

Of course, Nichole wasn't sure her teacher actually did understand what she was getting at.

"Perhaps you could ask Professor Oak for a book on these Pokémon to help you catch up with the other girls?" Perhaps her teacher did get it.

The sun beat down relentlessly on Nichole's dark head and she soon became frustrated with how long it was taking to find Professor Oak. "Where is Professor Oak?"

"He said something about going to his family home, but gave me instructions on how to get there."

"That doesn't mean we're not lost though."

"Well, he said if I did get lost.." Their teacher stopped speaking, her head turned towards a woman coming down the road with what Nichole guessed was another Pokémon. Their teacher waved her hand in the air. "Oh! Hello! We're trying to find Professor Oak's family home!"

Nichole's mouth twisted while she took in the person like Pokémon next to the woman, for it was definitely humanoid in shape. One definite difference was in the proportions, yet the clothing for some reason appeared to be a natural phenomenon as was the way the blue hair stuck out every which way. For some reason, the comparison to elves popped into her head making her wonder if this was the mythological equivalent Said creature turned its head, and instead of speaking like she'd expect an elf would speak instead said, "Mister Mime."

"Oh." The woman smiled at them. "Hello. I'm Delia Ketchum and this is Mimey."

"That Pokémon is a Mimey?" Nichole asked, completely curious regarding the foreign creature.

"Oh no. Mimey is a Mr. Mime. I simply called him Mimey," the woman smiled.

"Conclusion," Nichole stated. "Pokémon often take their name from the way they sound."

"Well, I guess that's right in some cases, but not all of them." Delilah smiled at them. "You must be one of the girls everyone's heard about and their teacher."

"Oak let everyone know about us?"

"Oh no," Delilah laughed. "No, Pallet Town is a small place and news travels fast."

"Oh, dear."

"Anyways, I am one of the few people who does know because Oak told me. He's my next-door neighbor, but his grandson Gary is childhood friends with my Ash. I can definitely help you two find your way there, but it's not surprising that Oak forgot to draw you a map. He can be a bit scatterbrained at times." The woman waved her hand at them and they followed after the woman, but in the back of Nichole's mind, she couldn't help but feel their teacher went too far to get where they were going, particularly since one could see the lab on the hill from where they were. Delilah knocked on the door. "Professor. I brought one of the girls and their teacher by as they were looking for you."

"Oh. Come on in!" Oak seemed as pleasant as usual. Without hesitation, Delilah headed straight for where Oak was and her teacher followed, albeit a bit nervously.

Nichole followed; her eyes focused on the pictures on the wall. In the back of her mind, she guessed the people in the pictures were in fact the family of Professor Oak, but there were a lot of females with only one male. She turned to Professor Oak and said, "You have a lot of daughters, don't you?"

"Hmm?" Oak glanced up from his paperwork. "Well, yes. Actually, it's more of I have a lot of granddaughters. As far as I know, Gary's the only boy, but he's also the youngest." He smiled at them. "Anyways, what brings you here Ms. Atwood?"

"Well, the girls were wondering if you could possibly teach them how to make rice balls. They've seen it in the – well, you know."

"Oh! I'll volunteer!" Delilah piped up. "I miss teaching my Gary how to cook."

Nichole's mouth twisted slightly. "Isn't Gary the grandson of Professor Oak and the name of your son Ash?"

"Indeed, this is so. I wouldn't let my Ash into my kitchen to cook, not to save his life."

Oak sighed. "It would be saving people's lives, not letting that boy cook. Anyways, that is neither here nor there. Anything else?"

"Well, sensei told me I should ask you for a book on Pokémon since I don't know much about it."

"Ah. Yes." Oak took off, muttering through the walls. " I've got just the one, but I don't think Gary would mind me letting you borrow it. Plus, he's outgrown that one and is onto more advanced ones. It's always been a good starter." He came back with a book which was small and thin, handing it to her. "These are the basics."

Nichole took it, still unsure of what went down just then. "Oh."

"Something the matter?"

"You didn't react when I used the word sensei?"

"Oh? Well, it's a word that means teacher."

"Which means that word is in your language despite not being in our language which is similar to our English language. It's in the Japanese language instead."

"Japanese?" Oak pondered this for a few moments. "Well, I don't know anything about this English or Japanese, but I do know Kantonese."

"Cantonese?" Nichole pondered, unsure of what the Chinese language had to do with English or Japanese.

"Well, since that is settled I'll head on back and finish up the lesson plans for preparing the girls in case we're stuck here."

"I'll be by at lunchtime to help with teaching rice balls, but I can also teach them a few other meals that they can make while on the road as trainers if that's the direction they're headed."

"Thank you."

Nichole didn't pay attention and instead stuck her nose into the book, nor did she notice it took a lot less time to get back to the lab, possibly because it was easy to spot the direction to go in.