Chapter Text
A pale, white haired teenager sat with a quiet sigh. They looked at the Pokéball they held in their hand. Their dearest Corviknight. They put it down. Finally, finally, it was time to prove themself. It was time to prove that they could become a gym leader. Not only to the league, the region, their parents, but to themself.
They were the one their parents preferred. Emotional, polite, quiet. Their three siblings lacked at least one of those qualities. Heather was incapable of expressing herself. Luna was rude and sometimes callous, even foul mouthed at times. Luka was excitable, which led him to being unable to control his volume. Lumi Beddoe, the middle triplet, was the balance, and yet, they were the most talentless, the least skilled.
Heather, despite everything about her personality, attracted Pokémon like Dustox to a flame. She didn't feel, couldn't feel, but she cared so much. Pokémon flocked to her despite how unsettling her blank gaze could be for people, so she ran a Pokémon rehab centre near Lacunosa, Unova.
Luna was a talented Pokémon performer in Kalos, aiming to become their queen. She knew everything about her Pokémon and her bond with them was so, so strong. Luna was brash at times, definitely rather stubborn, but she was kind to Pokémon. She respected them as if they all had the power of Arceus itself at their sides.
Luka aimed to be the top champion in Paldea, and he was already almost there. He was smart, able to deduce anything about anyone in a matter of minutes. He knew the name of every Pokémon. He knew the name of every powerful trainer. He knew the name of everyone he met, always greeting them with formality and a big smile on his face.
Lumi? They've been trying so hard to become a gym leader in Galar for three years. Three fucking years. Lumi didn't curse much, but their frustration was so great that it felt appropriate. That wasn't it, either. They weren't ambitious, though they supposed that Heather wasn't, either. They were shy, introverted, barely able to speak to strangers. They cried so often that they never knew what their tears were for. They tended to just… happen.
Lumi closed their eyes with another sigh, though they didn't open until several minutes later.
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Empty brown eyes stared down at three unconscious teens, each one as familiar as her own hands. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. Three Pokémon gathered at her feet, a man following close behind them. She turned to him and put on a smile. She was a good enough actor to fool half the strangers she met. “Excuse me,” she said, putting on the voice of a confused, bubbly young lady in her twenties. “Could you help us?”
The man asked if she was okay, stating that her consciousness was a miracle, given that she, apparently, fell from the sky. She heard a groan from behind and looked down. One of the teenagers was awake, powder blue eyes blinking open. The man walked to him and crouched over the boy. “Wake up, my boy! Are you alright there?” The boy finally came to his senses, taking everything in.
He let out a soft shriek before getting up and hiding next to the brown haired lady, still wearing her mask. He didn't fail to notice it. He never did. “Heather, where are we?” He asked the older one. He then stopped speaking, turning his gaze to the mountain in the distance. The lady, Heather, didn't comment on it.
“I don't know,” she said. She was still putting on that voice of hers, knowing that this boy wouldn't fall for it. They've known each other for so long that he saw right through it every time. She suspected that even if they didn't know each other, he wouldn't fall for her act.
The man seemed to realise that they knew each other, so Heather introduced them. She was Heather Beddoe. The boy was her youngest sibling, Luka Beddoe. The still unconscious girl was Luna and the other one was Lumi. The man introduced himself as Professor Laventon of the Galaxy Expedition Team’s Survey Corps. Heather decided that the name was too long.
Laventon then noticed what Heather was holding. An egg. Really, it was quite an astonishing sight. Luka even commented that despite them falling from the sky (supposedly), there wasn't a single scratch on the egg. He asked what it was and how long she's had it. Heather answered honestly. “It's probably a Ralts egg, since Andrea gave it to me. I've had it for a few days now.” Luka nodded, not asking who or what Andrea was. Laventon looked quite shocked.
“A Pokémon egg, and one as rare as a Ralts at that? How did this Andrea get it?” Heather just shrugged. She didn't exactly want to tell this man she hardly knew that Andrea was the name of her Gardevoir from back home. “If you have Pokémon where you're from, could you be from the future? An alternate universe, perhaps?”
“I'd say we're from the future, if my guess is correct!” Luka stated, a wide grin on his face. A third voice, that of a girl's, came from behind them. Heather turned to see that Luna was finally awake.
“What guess? Care to enlighten us, genius?” She sounded annoyed at the situation, which Heather couldn't really blame her for. Luka then entered a long monologue about how they had to be somewhere in Sinnoh's past because of Mount Coronet (which neither Heather nor Luna recognised). According to his theory, they were in a time period that took place not long before people and Pokémon truly connected, likely around the time the Pokéball was invented. He also guessed that Laventon had to be the creator and that he was a professor from Galar, tagging along to explore this land and study its Pokémon. Laventon was, of course, impressed by these deductions. Heather had no idea how he came to these ideas, but since they were apparently the truth, she couldn't argue.
After her brother was done, Heather noticed that the three little Pokémon with the professor were missing. Laventon went after them while the siblings waited for the fourth member of the Beddoe quartet to wake up.
Not long after, they finally opened their eyes. Above them was an unfamiliar sky, with an unfamiliar texture beneath them - sand? Lumi shot up to see Luka fussing over them, Heather and Luna not standing too far away. “Where… are we?” They asked, looking around the beach. Heather was the one who responded, her mask removed from her face. Her smile was gone, eyes as dead as they were whenever they're away from strangers.
“We're in Sinnoh’s past, or whatever they call it in this time,” she said, voice lacking any emotion. She often tried to mimic a toned down version of Luka whenever she pretended, with Luna being too rude and Lumi being too shy. Luka was the perfect person to pretend to be. She turned towards the direction Laventon left in. “Come on, we shouldn't keep Professor Laventon waiting.”
Lumi was very confused. Who was Professor Laventon? How and why were they in the past of a region none of them set foot in? Apparently, they didn't have time to question it, since all three of their siblings were already on their way. Luka gently clapped his hand onto their back with a smile.
“Glad you're alive!” He said, as if that was something completely normal to say. Death hadn't even crossed Lumi’s mind as a possibility. Heather noticed their confusion and explained that, according to this Laventon guy, they fell from the sky.
“Oh,” Lumi muttered. Yeah, they definitely shouldn't be alive. Did a Pokémon save them, maybe? It was the only possible explanation as to how they survived the fall.
Occupied with their frantic, confused thoughts, Lumi didn't notice Luka running off to something shiny he spotted. His older siblings followed him. He picked up the four items, showing them to the others.
“Are those meant to be our phones?” That was Luna, her voice holding a suspicious tone. They each took the ones that had their names displayed on the screens. Heather turned hers to look at the case, since they each had a different one. She was sure she'd seen a mural or a statue that resembled it, but she couldn't quite remember.
Luka stared at Luna's. “Hey, yours kinda looks like Dialga!” Heather tightened her grip on the phone at that name. There was no change on her face, but those who knew her could tell that she hated hearing that name. Dialga was responsible for what happened to those two, maybe responsible for what happened to her. “Mine’s like Giratina! Lumi's kinda looks like Arceus and Heather's is like Palkia!” Lumi’s phone was the most obvious, if anyone knew anything about what Arceus might look like. Heather stared at her phone. Palkia was the one she was the least familiar with, so why did she end up with their phone?
Actually, none of them really made sense. Why was kind-hearted Luka Giratina, the being that was deemed even by Arceus as cruel? Why was Lumi Arceus, when they had no connection to each other? Why was Luna Dialga, who so horrifically caused so much of the woman's suffering?
Their phones beeped in unison. They had gotten a message. Luka read his aloud. “‘I bestow upon thee this Gira Phone and thy mission… Seek out all Pokémon’?” He tilted his head, a confused pout forming on his face. Heather's message was identical, with Gira Phone being replaced by Pal Phone. She glanced at Luna and Lumi’s screens. Dia Phone for Luna and Arc Phone for Lumi. Lumi's was the only one that felt like it belonged.
“Like a Pokédex?” The middle triplet contemplated. Luka nodded as Heather and Luna continued towards the professor. As soon as Luka saw him, he grinned and gave an enthusiastic wave.
“Professor! Professor!!”
Laventon smiled in return, giving the boy a pat on the head as he approached. “My new friends from the sky, I'm glad you've come to my rescue!” Luna raised an eyebrow. The hell was that supposed to mean? She thought. “I've tried to catch my little runaways, but…” He gestured to the three Pokémon in the area, who were completely ignoring the quintet.
“We can help!” Luka exclaimed before his siblings could get a word in. His sisters stared at him, while Lumi snuck off without a sound.
Laventon practically lit up. “Oh, thank you, my boy!” Luka visibly brightened. Those two words felt like something a father would say, even though they'd only known of each other's existence for, at most, ten minutes.
The scholar was about to explain what the three were, but there was no need. Luka knew all about them and Heather already knew a thing or two about Oshawott, having lived in Unova for so long.
Luna turned to Luka. “How do you know so much about these Pokémon, anyway? It's weird. You've never even been to Johto or Alola.” He just smiled at her as Laventon handed them Pokéballs.
“Watching Pokémon battles online has its perks, even when I can't understand half of what they say!” Luna shrugged at the response.
Heather stayed next to the professor, letting her siblings catch them. She had an egg to protect, after all. Sure, it wasn't damaged from the fall, but neither were the humans. Heather didn't want to put it down in case falling would damage it now that they were on the ground and she didn't exactly trust Laventon with holding it. Not because he seemed untrustworthy, but because he seemed to be a clumsy man.
Lumi returned right after the other two approached their Pokémon. They'd already caught Rowlet in a modern Pokéball. “That was fast! You already have the Rowlet, my… girl? My boy?”
“My friend works.”
“Jolly good! Thank you, my friend!”
“That was the most Galarian thing you could've said,” Luna said as she approached the group with a Pokéball in hand.
Luka was the only one left. He threw a Pokéball at the Cyndaquil, holding his hands together, hoping that it'd be caught. The ball opened up, broken and useless, as the Cyndaquil escaped. “Oh, man…”
“That happens sometimes. Just try again, my boy!”
That encouragement reinvigorated the boy. He perked up and threw the ball again, determination flaring in his eyes. This time, the little fire type stayed in its ball. “I did it!” His smile was bright and wide, teeth showing.
Luka ran back to the group, holding the Pokéball in his hand. Laventon both congratulated and thanked them, leading them all to the nearby village to begin their journey through the land.