Chapter 31

Kanto skies were covered with gloomy dark clouds by the arrival of January. As usual, the air had zero mercy for unguarded creatures out there. Pets could not survive outside, or Pokémon that had not adopted to winter cold, like Vileplume family, would need a shelter to not freeze to death. Although some parts of the region receive a huge amount of snow all around, some places, like Cinnabar Island, would only feel the cold. But everyone living in Kanto would know that the cold of the winter is nothing to underestimate. While Kanto was just improving their social standards and industrialization in the early 1900’s, over 700,000 people were reported dead because of the cold.

A young girl with a giant floppy hat on top of her head, which was covering her blond hair almost completely, a black shirt that looked worn out, a yellow dress with bottle green lines, a jean and old, purple boots was walking on the path in Pallet Jungle. The place was not any hotter. The girl was tired and out of her breath. Her eyes were closed, but she had an urge that she had to go on. Once she reached to the corner, she put her hands on a tree and fell on her knees. For an unclear moment, she looked at her right hand that was aching in pain. It was bleeding. She rubbed her hand on her yellow dress to wipe off the blood. She passed out before she was able to look at her hand again.

Professor Oak was in a hurry in that morning. He grabbed his backpack, but he did not forget to check the inside again. He made sure that he took everything he needed. He checked his notes on the table one last time. He sounded like he was confirming something in his mind. “M-hm… Hmm… Mmm…” He nodded once in a while. For last, he wore his watch and left his office. Fennel was talking to one of the aides. Professor Oak passed them and reached to the stairs. Fennel ended her conversation with the aide in a rush and chased Oak.

“Professor, are you leaving now?” She asked when she caught him nearly at the bottom of the stairs. Professor Oak turned his back to see Fennel with a gentle smile. “Well, of course.” He said. “The hottest temperature is calculated in the daytime, if you call it hot in a way.”

Fennel checked her watch. “I thought you would leave after your lunch, sir.” She said. Lunch was still after two hours. Professor Oak pointed his backpack with his thumb. “I have with me.” He said. “Investigating Pokémon’s relations with humans in particular weather conditions is a complex research.” He said. “I have been waiting for this weather for so long. I can’t risk it for another year.”

“I understand you, sir.” Fennel said. “If you give it extra ten minutes, I want to get ready and go with you to the jungle.”

Professor Oak looked surprised. “What are you going to do in the jungle, Mrs. Walker?” He asked. “It is already too cold. You should give it at least a couple of weeks to get used to it. I don’t want one of my best assistants to have a sick leave for a week.”

Fennel showed the reports she was holding. “Let me show you something, Professor.” She said. She was holding a paper on the front. “These are the reports of past years. The winter temperature in Kanto. Sure, we have a cold climate here in winter. But the average temperature, less or more, is likely the same.” The reports were until the last year. Fennel put the paper on the bottom of the reports and another one was standing on the top. “These are the weather forecast published by the Weather Institute of Kanto last year. The predicted temperature is still the same as previous years. Nothing extraordinary is expected.”

Professor Oak was more interested.

Fennel put the paper on the bottom again. Fennel showed the last table. “These are the temperatures from past weeks. In the last three weeks, the weather is much colder than how it is supposed to be. Not only in the winter, but also the end of autumn shares the same results.”

“This year is going to be colder than expected.” Professor Oak said. “Why are you interested in that so much?”

Fennel smiled. She put the papers on the table close to her and ran to her own table. She brought another bunch of reports. “Look at that, Professor.” Fennel showed another paper of reports. “These average temperatures belong to Lavender Town, a location in eastern Kanto…” She put it on the left side of the table and replaced another paper next to it. “…and this is the predicted temperature for this year, which is almost the same as previous years.”

Fennel put the third paper on the bottom of two others. The third one was showing the calculated temperature results in the past weeks in Lavender Town. “These results are hotter than the predictions.”

Professor Oak was surprised. Although the fishy situation was clear enough, Fennel still asked the question in her mind. “Why is western Kanto getting colder while eastern Kanto is getting hotter?”

Professor Oak’s reaction to that question was quite unpleasant. Professor Oak was gazing at Fennel in so astonishment that he looked like he could not believe what he heard so far. “Did you… Did you contact the Weather Institute yet?” He asked. Fennel nodded.

“I talked to an officer, Mrs. Grimm. She was solemn while giving me information, but when I confirmed myself as Professor Oak’s assistant, she felt relieved and talked clearer to me. Apparently, what is going on interests them as much as it does us.” She said. “She asked me to wait for a couple of weeks. She will discuss with the council. As it seems, the council will have a meeting regarding this issue very soon. She will try to have you and me as invited guests at the meeting. In the meantime, she asked me to report some stuff and collect some samples in the area.”

Professor Oak was still struggling to deal with so many facts at once. He felt dizzy. Fennel pulled the chair for him. Professor Oak sat on it and took a moment to think it through. “This can’t be happening again, Mrs. Walker, can it?” He responded. He was staring at the floor.

“We can’t be sure, sir.” Fennel answered. “We can hope for the best, though.”

“You have done an impressive job here, Mrs. Walker.” Professor Oak said. “Please, take your time as much as you need. I am waiting for you here. Whatever Mrs. Grimm asked you to do, I will help you out with it.”

Fennel nodded. “Thank you, sir. I will be ready in ten minutes.” She said and walked away. Fennel wore her brown coat that she bought two years ago. She wore a scarf and put on her gloves. For last, she prepared a backpack for herself with all the reports, some glass jars and pen. After ten minutes, Professor Oak and Fennel left the laboratory and arrived in Pallet Jungle.

The cold breeze was licking the whole jungle every time it winded. Professor Oak realized that he was getting much older after all these years. He remembered the days when he went for a camp with his friends in the mountains. The cold would mean nothing to them. Now, however, a winter was already unbearable. “Maybe…” He thought. “…my time for retirement is about to come.”

Fennel, in the other hand, was able to deal with the cold much better compared to Oak. She was covered with brown coat and green scarf all around that if she stood behind a tree, she could become indistinguishable there. Professor Oak also thought that Fennel was not feeling cold as much as he did.

As they walked towards the unpaved road, they turned from the corner. Fennel’s leg hit something. At first, she thought it was a rock on the road. But it did not take too long before she realized that it was something else. She stopped and stared at the ground carefully. That was a purple boat. Fennel screamed as soon as she realized that a person was lying on the ground.

Professor Oak and Fennel gathered around the person. Her hat was standing beside her. Her yellow hair was scattered all around. She was weltering. Oak and Fennel gently turned her around and put her lying on her back. Oak checked the girl’s heart. She was still alive but passed out. Fennel tied her hair up and cleared her face. She looked too young.

“She must have some injury, Mrs. Walker.” Oak said. “Can you go to the laboratory and return with a group of assistants, please? We have to treat her before it’s too late.”

“It takes too much time, Professor. Let me carry her to the laboratory.” Fennel suggested. But Oak was not comfortable with this idea. Fennel nodded. “It’s alright, Professor. I can do it with no problem.”

Fennel grabbed the young girl on her back and stood up. She was slightly heavier than Fennel assumed, but she turned her back and ran towards the outside of jungle. Professor checked around with hope that he could find some hint on what happened around.

It took slightly longer than ten minutes until Fennel reached to the laboratory. The aides gathered in the entrance when they saw her running with a fainted girl.

“What happened?” One of the aides asked. Fennel mopped her brow. “Prepare the nursing room right away!” She responded. As the aide ran inside with another chasing her behind, Fennel walked in and put the girl on the couch while she took her time to breathe. Later on, the aides prepared the nursing room and carried the young girl there.

Fennel waited until Professor Oak returned to the laboratory. “How is she?” The first thing he asked when he arrived. Fennel looked tired. “The nurse is taking care of her, but she is still unconscious.” Fennel said. “We are waiting for her awakening.”

Oak nodded. “I checked the area. There is blood but no trace of anything. I don’t know if it was caused by a Pokémon, human or herself.”

Fennel was confused and worried, just like Oak. “Let’s wait until she wakes up. Then, she will be telling us what was wrong.” She said.

The girl opened her eyes to a room that was enlightened with the sunshine. Because the sunset was close, the colour from outside was rather orangey. The girl stared at the ceiling surprised for a while. She tried to understand the situation for a while. More importantly, she tried to tell if she was in danger. She lifted her head and leaned on the wall. Her right arm was bandaged. She checked the room for a moment. The room was rather simple and relatively cosy. The giant bed was too comfortable that she probably did not sleep that well in a long time. There was a nightstand right next to it. The case was standing on the top of it with a yellow flower. The girl could tell that the flower was replaced just recently. There was a bookshelf next to the window. There were not many books. The shelf looked dusty. Clearly, the room was not cleaned in a long time. That did not bother the girl at all. There were three paintings on the walls. An old man was drawn in one of them. He was taking care of a bunch of Pokémon in a place like a backyard. The other one was a view of a city from high above. They were oil paints that looked like classics. The third one was rather complicated, however. There was grey part of the painting that reminded the girl of clouds, and there was the blue part of the painting that looked like the clean air after a storm. She felt depressed looking at the picture.

The girl moved the white blanked and got off the bed. There were no shoes or slippers. She was barefoot on the floor. The floor was rather cold for her, but the girl did not seem like she worried about it. She walked towards the window and looked at the outside. The place out there looked like a farm. She was not familiar with that place. She had the sudden feeling of unsafety. She was not used to close areas like such rooms that were taken good care of and rather elegant.

She walked to the door really fast. She opened it slowly and checked the outside. The hallway reminded her of a hospital. She could walk away from there, but she heard footsteps that sounded like coming from downstairs. She silently closed the door and walked back to the window. She was on the basement. She could easily jump off the window and run away. She checked the outside for a second. There were no dangerous Pokémon, no humans that could stop her. She opened the window, but the cold breeze licked her whole body in seconds. Although she knew that she could survive in cold better than other people, without her outfit, she had no chance. She shut the window in a second and checked the room again. She walked to the nightstand and pulled the drawer. It was empty. She began to think about where her outfit could be at the time.

Since she had no knowledge about the place other than this tiny, claustrophobic room, she decided to ignore it and go out either way. She believed that she had more chances of surviving outside than inside. Once again, she walked towards the window and opened it again. She lifted one of her legs and put them outside of it. She was sitting on the window, then. Just as she was about to move her other leg outside of the window, the door opened in seconds, and she saw a woman in a white coat staring at her surprised.

“What are you doing?” The woman responded. The girl wanted to escape right away, but the woman was fast enough to reach the girl and pull her back in the room. The girl struggled and bit the woman on her arm, but the woman did not let go of her and insisted on pulling her back no matter what. Eventually, the woman grasped the girl from her waist and pulled so hard that the girl had no chance of struggling. The woman closed the window and took only two seconds to breathe. “Now, little lady, we’ll see Professor Oak.” She said unpleasantly.

The girl was gently brought to Professor Oak’s office. She was sitting on the edge of couch uncomfortably. She did not make any eye contact the whole time. Instead, she stared at the ground or the objects in the office. Professor Oak was on his chair, checking the girl carefully. Fennel was on the chair, taking notes of the situation. After a long silence, Oak put a careful, warm smile on his face. “I was informed that you attempted to escape, is that right?”

The girl kept staring at the floor.

“First of all, you are not being kept hostage. If you are willing to go, you are free to do so.” Oak said. “However, you need to remember that outside is quite cold. In fact, it is the coldest winter this year compared to past years.”

The girl did not react.

“In the other hand, I would feel better if I handed you over to someone that I can count on. You are quite young to be outside alone. Do you have a home?”

The girl did not show any sign that she even understood.

“Also, we found you blacked out and hurt in the jungle. Were you in danger? Did someone attack you, or was it a Pokémon of any kind?”

The girl was clenching. She had an uncomfortable expression on her face. She frowned. Neither Oak, nor Fennel was sure of what to do in her case. Fennel thought an approach of a lady could make her feel safer. She put the papers on the desk and walked slowly towards the girl. The girl knew who was coming, but she kept staring on the floor with frowned eyebrows.

Fennel approached but did not make any contact with her. “I am Fennel. What is your name?” She asked. The girl’s only reaction was forming her hands as fists and putting them next to each other on her legs. “I repeat, we are not going to hurt you. You are free to leave if you want. But it is not safe for you.”

Oak and Fennel looked at each other for a second. Both were surprised. Fennel turned back to the girl again. She fell on her knees. “Can you understand us?” She asked. The girl was nonreactive.

“We can’t let her go away like this, Professor…” Fennel said. “It is not safe.”

Oak nodded.

Fennel put her hand on the girl’s left shoulder. The girl limberly held Fennel’s arm in a second or even less. Fennel was dumbfounded. It almost looked like the touch brought the girl to real world. The girl did not feel enough by holding Fennel’s arm. She quickly bit her arm. Fennel suddenly stood up and shouted in pain. She pushed the girl back to get rid of her, but the girl was holding so tight that she was inseparable. Oak stood up and ran to them. But the girl kicked Oak and caused him to fall.

“Let go of me, girl!” Fennel shouted. But the girl had no such intention. Although Fennel did not want to do that, she knew that she had no other choice. She reached to Oak’s desk and grabbed a glass of water. She poured it all on the floor and prepared herself to hit the girl with it. She was worried that she would have to chop off her hand otherwise. However, hitting a little girl was not as easy as she assumed, even though she was intentionally hurting her. She took a deep breath and gained some courage.

However, as Clefable rushed in the office after the screams and rumble, Fennel dropped the glass on the floor immediately. “Do your move, Clefable. Save me!” She begged. Clefable used her unique move Sing to calm everyone down. In a short span of time, the girl let go of Fennel’s arm and felt tired, just like everyone else in the office. Oak leaned on his desk and closed his eyes. Fennel just let herself lie down on the floor. The girl did the same.

The nurses took care of Fennel. They bandaged her arm and eased the pain. Oak and Fennel talked over about the situation. It was not an easy decision, but they decided that, as long as the girl would not want to leave the laboratory, she was going to stay there until someone comes to pick her up. Oak claimed that it was not safe for her to be alone in the jungle again, and Fennel said that they should have taken the responsibility of the girl.

The situation with the girl did not get any better for a while, though. In the beginning, she was staring at the wall and doing nothing. She would not answer anything. Oak analysed and came to the conclusion that she was likely to understand the speeches, but she would not respond to any. In the beginning, she was in trouble finding a pattern for herself. She could only eat what she was given and spend the whole day lying in the bed, probably thinking about whatever.

Once she discovered the backyard, her standard routine had changed relatively a lot. She would spend her whole day around the backyard, watching other Pokémon but never getting in contact with them. Fennel reported that she got distinguishably happier after it. In the beginning, Oak and the others were worried that she could get sick because of the cold temperature, but she was enduring it.

While Oak and Fennel worked on the unusual temperature and got ready for the meeting with the Weather Institute, Oak charged one of her aides for watching the girl and report what she does. In the weekend, Oak and Fennel checked the reports. According to them, the girl was watching other Pokémon in the backyard from afar all day long. She never got closer or touched them. She was spotted acting like some species at times, but then again, she never approached.

“Isn’t that awkward?” Fennel asked. In the beginning, she would sound surprised and amazed by the reports. But this time was different. She sounded like worried. Oak put his paper on the desk and paid full attention on Fennel. She kept talking. “She is not talking at all, she is acting like other Pokémon, she never approaches them…” She was speechless.

“I have a theory.” Oak said. But he did not sound like he found his theory persuasive. He took a minute to think through what he thought. “I know it will be over the top a little, but I can’t explain it in any other way.”

“What is it, Professor?” Fennel asked.

“I don’t think this girl lives with humans.” Professor said it eventually. “Just her behaviour… For some reason, she raised herself in the jungle. She lives with Pokémon. Since she can’t find her own species, she observes other Pokémon and finds her own way. The reason she was startled in the beginning was that she encountered other creatures like herself for the first time. She is now here, because she trusts us for this very reason.”

Fennel knew Oak was a respectable professor, and if he says something, it would have a solid reason. But this one… It was too extreme. Although there were some missing plots, what he said would not be extremely crazy considering the reports being held in the hands.

“But we found her in clothes in the jungle.” Fennel said. “She can’t product fabric clothes on herself.”

“Maybe someone else found her hurt in the jungle and brought her to their place, gave her decent clothes and whatsoever. Despite of that, she escaped and returned.” Oak said. Fennel thought if it was possible to see Oak forcing his opinion. But Fennel had no solid statement to say otherwise.

“You claimed that she was able to understand us, though.” Fennel could only say. The room then remained in silence. They focused on the reports and tried to come to an absolute conclusion.

In the meantime, the girl was in the backyard as usual, watching other Pokémon behind the bushes. A group of Machop were making an appearance. Each was chopping woods or punching trees to prove their power. The girl lost her attention very soon. She then saw a Psyduck jumping in the lake and disappearing. The girl wanted to see the Pokémon coming to the surface again, but it took a while and the Pokémon still did not appear again. Thus, she lost her attention very soon again.

A cry echoed through her ears. She looked around in a sudden to find the source of the cry. It was the sound of a Pokémon in need of help. But nothing seemed to be wrong. She stood up and got off the bushes. The cry came through again. However, there was no trace of a Pokémon possibly crying out.

Suddenly, she saw it. A Pikachu was on a tree, but she was about to fall down. The girl could not tell that the distance would be around 12 meters. But she could understand the fact that such distance is too dangerous for a Pokémon like Pikachu. All of a sudden, she ran in a rush towards the tree. She grabbed the branches that were closest to the ground and began to climb the tree. The aide who was watching the girl saw that she climbed around 12 meters in seconds. Eventually, she stood on the branch that was carrying Pikachu on the other side.

The girl slowly, but carefully stepped on the branch. It was not thick enough to carry a person and a small Pokémon at once. The girl stepped very gently. Eventually, she reached her hand to the Pokémon. Pikachu, as a scared, desperate Pokémon, took a moment of instability. He looked down, and then looked back at the girl. He did not have many options. Eventually, he reached his hand back at the girl. In the second they touched each other, the branch cracked and the two fell on the ground.

For a couple of following days, the girl and Pikachu had to stay in infirmary. In the meantime, the aide kept watching and reporting everything about the girl. Oak even warned them to be careful about the girl. He was worried that she could attack Pikachu in an angry moment. But such thing never happened. When Oak and Fennel read the reports, they were informed that the girl and the Pokémon had improved a great bond between each other. Oak noted that Pikachu tends to shock other people other than Oak, and even Oak at times. He was not a friendly Pokémon.

“That supports my theory.” Oak said. “Pikachu is afraid of humans, but the girl doesn’t give the vibes of a standard human being. She belongs to nature more. Pikachu feels it.”

Fennel still thought the idea was extremely exceptional to be real, but she had no other choice but to believe that Oak was indeed right, either completely or partly. She nodded, kept checking reports.

The girl and Pikachu were released from the infirmary on a Saturday evening. They had such a good friendship that they spent their whole time together afterwards. They would sleep together, run and play all around the whole day, they would eat at the same time. “This is incredible.” Oak responded. “Ever since I brought Pikachu here, albeit not so long ago, he never made friends with other Pokémon here. He rejected humans as well. Then, the girl became his best friend all of a sudden.”

“Isn’t it the same for the girl as well?” Fennel said. “She would reject approaching anyone in the laboratory. She would not get closer to any Pokémon. Suddenly, Pikachu broke all the taboos for her.”

“Do you know what, Fennel…” Oak said, staring at the garden from the window. “The girl, she understands us very well. I am sure about that. She rejects to speak at the moment, but she will speak in the end. All she needs is some time. Once she does, we will know everything about her.”

“What makes you sure about it?” Fennel asked. Up until that point, he was always sceptical about it. He then sounded very decisive.

“My two aides were discussing about the unordinary weather changes in Kanto’s different areas. The girl was in the room as well. I saw from afar. She was listening to them very carefully. She was interested in this issue. I can tell the look on her face was not trying to understand the conversation and catch some words in particular. She was into it already.”

“But, Professor…” Fennel remained speechless for a moment. “If that is the case… How can we be sure that she is not dangerous? She might be after anything. Are we sure that she had really passed out when we found her?”

“I am positive.” Oak said after a short thinking process. “I believe if something was up with her, our nurses would have realized something before and told us.”

“We should be more careful about this girl.” Fennel said.

The same day in the afternoon, Oak and Fennel had a meeting with the girl in Oak’s office. Oak asked questions related to the girl. “Where and with whom do you live?” He asked. The girl did not say anything, as usual. “How old are you? What is your name? Are there people looking for you? Are you hiding from someone?”

No response…

A sudden sound that echoed through the hallway distracted everyone. Oak and Fennel looked at the window that was showing the hallway. The girl kept staring at the floor. Fennel walked towards the door and opened it. One of the aides was standing right before it.

“What is happening?” Fennel asked.

“There is a Vulpix in the garden. Her condition seems to be dangerous.” He said. Oak stood up and walked out of his office in a rush. He followed the hallway to find the Pokémon in the garden. Fennel followed him behind. When he reached in the backyard, he saw many aides gathered around the Pokémon. Oak walked through them by pushing many aside, eventually saw the Pokémon. Little Pokémon was lying on the ground, almost unconscious. She was attacked and therefore hurt, also most likely hungry and dehydrated. “She is not from my laboratory.” He thought.

Before Oak had a chance to do anything, the girl pushed everyone aside, including Oak, and hugged the Pokémon. “Fireball, are you alright?” She asked, almost cried. “Don’t worry, Light is by your side again.”

Humans

 * Professor Oak
 * Fennel Walker
 * Light Yellow
 * Oak's Aides

Pokémon

 * Machop (several; in the lab)
 * Psyduck (in the lab)
 * Pikachu (in the lab)
 * Pikachu (in the lab)