Almost a year ago,

  I was poor.

  I was still getting used to being a Pokémon trainer, but I was getting money that helped. Every week, a notice came of a payment from my sponsor that gave just enough to get by. Combining that with the earnings from odd jobs and the occasional battle win, I was able to profit just enough to save up a decent sum.

  And that decent sum had all but disappeared into a single, big purchase.

  “But look! It was worth it! This watch can do anything!” I said, excitedly holding up my hand. “It can make a call, connect to the internet, download apps... It's like a phone you can wear on your wrist!”

  Despite my exaggerated motions, Valiant failed to look impressed. The robotic Pokémon just shifted their gaze and returned to keeping an eye out as we walked through Paldea’s Levincia.

  This town was one of the most modern-looking places I'd seen in this world, with Levincia having been built right on the waterfront. However, despite its high-rises and all of its glowing lights and signs, I still couldn't say that this place was the highest-tech place I’d seen so far.

  “I know, I know,” I said as Valiant looked away to return to being on guard. “I know it’s still just a watch, but it's a neat watch. And it’s pretty close to the smartwatches from back where I’m from. But that’s kind of why it’s special, isn’t it? It’s like... It’s like buying a little piece of home.”

  Valiant’s gaze softened, but they didn’t drop their alertness. I didn’t know what it was about me, but it was like my Pokémon always felt they needed to be on guard.

  Whatever Valiant’s reasoning was, we continued to walk—this watch hadn’t been cheap. While it didn’t quite match the smartwatches from my old world, the difference came from it being faster and possessing an advertised interconnectivity that put most other devices to shame.

  Of course, all that meant was that I was out of money. I may or may not have lacked the funds to even just buy dinner tonight.

  “Anyway, we need to take on a job,” I said to Valiant. “That’s why I grabbed that notice in the Pokémon Center. It should be something easy enough for us to handle.”

  When it came to earning cash as a trainer, most people took on odd jobs for funds. Wild Pokémon often caused problems, and those problems usually required trained Pokémon to solve them. Pokémon Centers primarily existed for treatment and rest, but trainers served a societal purpose that was for more than just battle. Nine times out of ten, a Pokémon Center would also have a bulletin board set up that contained listings for trainers to take on requests in exchange for payment.

  The job I had taken was bringing us directly to the edge of the city. The paper I held in one hand provided an address, and my newly acquired watch provided the location services that acted as a real-time map.

  “Come on,” I said, nudging Valiant’s arm. “Even you have to be impressed with that.”

  For some reason, they ignored me, but I knew they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t enjoy the chaos I brought.

  As we walked over the cobbled streets, Levincia changed somewhat. Instead of buildings pressed tight against each other, alleys opened up, and the surrounding structures grew to become more akin to warehouses.

  When we neared our destination, I didn't even need to properly approach. Rather, a person in a bright purple suit locked eyes with me, and then he ran straight over to grab my hand.

  “Oh, you came!” he all but shouted, tears beginning to well in his eyes. “I've been waiting for so, so long!”

  Before I knew it, my hand was being dragged up and down for a violent handshake. I might have tried to resist, but I was far too distracted by the longest and twistiest mustache that I'd ever seen in my life.

  “It's been ages,” the well-dressed man said, putting a wild enunciation on every word. “Almost a full day at this point! Please, tell me you brought a solution! We’ve had to dip into our emergency reserves to meet shipment quotas, and dipping into our emergency reserves means that this is truly an emergency!”

  He let my hand go just to dab at his eyes with a handkerchief. He was almost inconsolable, but he was also weirdly in control. Before he next spoke, he almost tried to grab at my shirt, but Valiant just took a step to stand between us, and this strange man stopped right in his tracks.

  “Uh, yeah?” I said quickly. “Yeah, we’re here to help. I picked up the job at the Pokémon Center—but it was kind of nonspecific? I know we need to fight something, but what’s going on?”

  The man tried to keep a serious look on his face, but his mustache began to twitch.

  Soon, a loud honking noise rang out as he blew his nose directly into his handkerchief.

  But he was able to right himself once again to look in control immediately after that.

  “I own Levincia’s Pokéball factory,” he said, carefully adjusting his tie. “We produce and ship Pokéballs to markets all across the region. We’re one of the largest manufacturers on this side of the world! But the problem started when—”

  Once more, his eyes watered.

  “The problem started with that awful ghost!” he ended up crying out.

  “A ghost?” I felt an eyebrow lift; I hadn’t seen any ghosts yet. “You’re telling me your factory is haunted?”

  Valiant began to stare at the brick building ahead of us with a bit more intensity.

  “Hm? Oh, no. Ghosts don’t exist,” the factory owner said quickly, waving me. “No, this is a Ghost-type Pokémon problem. It all started when a shipment got messed up, and we were delivered a crate with a single Rotom Phone in it. And that Rotom? A menace. It escaped and possessed all of our machinery!”

  I nodded along to his story; Rotom were capable of turning into raw electricity and taking over any electrical device. With a Pokémon like that running around, it was no wonder that the factory’s production had been stalled.

  “That’s why,” the man said, and any sense of sadness was suddenly gone from his face. “I need you to fix this. I need you to defeat and push out that... pest responsible for this mess, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that thing gets the punishment it deserves!”

  His hands were shaking.

  When he finished speaking, I exchanged a look with Valiant.

  The factory owner was no longer blinking, and he had spoken with a palpable heat to his voice.

  “Sure, man,” I said. “We’ll deal with your Rotom problem. But you are going to pay us, right?”

  “Of course, of course!” He clapped his hands, the heat fading away. “All good deeds deserve their good rewards!”

  The finely-dressed, mustachioed man brought us to the side of one of those warehouse-like buildings. A massive garage door protected its front, but we were told to enter through a small door set in the wall next to it, instead.

  “I’ll be waiting out here with news of your success!” the man called out as we walked in.

  “Yup!” I replied, shouting over my shoulder back at him. “Shouldn’t take us too long!”

  A click came from the door as it closed.

  The factory owner locked us in.

  I didn’t blink at that, however. Properly stepping into this factory, Valiant was with me, and I could see almost the entirety of this place’s enormous, open floor. Machinery with thin arms that wouldn’t have been out of place on a car assembly line had been built throughout this room, and they sat motionless next to conveyor belts covered with red, white, and grey pieces of partially assembled Pokéballs.

  “Okay,” I said, and even just that one word echoed despite my attempt to be quiet. “We need to find that Rotom and force it out of whatever it’s possessing, so... Farigiraf. We’ll need your help for this.”

  Tossing up a Pokéball, I released the only other Pokémon with me.

  Farigarif easily appeared between the rows of mechanical conveyor belts. The giraffe had been listening from inside her Pokéball, and she already knew what she needed to do. I didn’t need to give her any order before a clack rang out to signal her exterior mouth closing to protect her main head. From there, her still-visible pair of eyes turned to glowing spirals. Focusing her senses, she began to carefully trot forward.

  “Follow her,” I whispered to Valiant.

  Valiant was next in the line, and I walked after them.

  The only light in this room came from small, rectangular windows built into the top of this building’s walls. With how quiet it was in here, it was kind of amazing to hear just how far even the slightest of sounds echoed. However, no sounds came from the distance, and we could see no signs of movement whatsoever. Farigiraf’s Psychic-type senses were the only reason I was so confident about this; she would be able to locate our target quickly.

  “Thanks for your help, Farigiraf,” I whispered as we slowly crept forward, all of us keeping an eye on our surroundings. “I can’t even see the sides of this room. We’d be lost without you.”

  She held her head a little higher after that, and we stalked forward, doing whatever we could to keep an eye out for the Rotom that was apparently here. I was a bit wary of the threat it could pose; I had picked up this job because it paid well, but that higher payment generally meant it’d be tougher with more riding on its success, too.

  But I had complete faith in my Pokémon. I might not have been in this world for long, but I had yet to encounter anything that Valiant couldn’t defeat in a fight. As for Farigiraf, she was extremely skilled, and I trusted her to handle any problems that Valiant could not face head-on.

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  Still, there was a tension in the air as we moved deeper and deeper in, and the dim light caused the machinery around us to curve into unnatural shapes that formed silhouettes in the air.

  “Maybe...” I said quietly, “Maybe I should have asked that guy to turn on the lights.”

  Unfortunately, that was the wrong time to speak. A flash of movement came from the corner of my eye, and Valiant drew their polearm within an instant.

  The resulting “CLANG!” almost made me go deaf in one ear.

  Frozen from shock, I could only stare at the object that bounced off to hit the floor. Valiant kept their blade next to my head where they had blocked that projectile, and they only drew their weapon back once they were sure the threat had faded.

  “...The red half of a Pokéball?” I asked, looking at the object now sitting on the floor. “Do we think that was the Rotom?”

  At that point, Farigiraf opened her exterior mouth to take a better look around.

  Her yelp was the only noise that signalled the other projectiles coming our way from a distance.

  “Block them!” I yelled.

  Valiant moved. Machines shifted. The faintest sounds of electricity crackled through the air. Machinery began to whir in activation as mechanical arms grabbed whatever had been left on the conveyors, twisting and snapping around to chuck the Pokéball pieces directly our way.

  Valiant’s defense was a flurry, a rapid spinning of their polearm back and forth to deflect every incoming projectile. They could not be everywhere at once, however, and a second onslaught from a different direction forced me to give another command.

  “Screens, Farigiraf!”

  Though briefly stunned, her eyes flashed, and it took almost no time at all for her to form a Psychic barrier behind us. The Pokéball parts coming from another angle were all blocked, and that gave Valiant the chance to only focus on a single direction.

  But that was when the factory itself started to rumble.

  Whatever this Rotom was doing, it was turning everything on.

  “Defend us! Don’t get hit! Focus on battling, and I’ll look for wherever this thing is!”

  As more and more machines began to activate, the handful of broken Pokéballs being thrown our way turned into an entire barrage. Both of my Pokémon were forced to work together as I began to furiously scan through the room.

  It was almost overwhelming. We were only our group of three, but this single Rotom had the entire factory at its disposal.

  Arms meant for assembly bent in unnatural ways to grab and fling parts of Pokéballs. Large, square openings that almost resembled mouths poured out pieces that became nothing more than ammunition. The movement was regular, but more and more arms turned on to make this assault come in frequent waves. I could hear the sounds of pistons slamming and hydraulics hissing as these machines defied their intended usage to throw dozens upon dozens of Pokéballs directly toward where we stood.

  Mounds began to build at our feet; this entire factory had entered operation in what felt like seconds. The barrage almost threatened to bury us, but when looking for an escape route, that’s when I saw our target.

  It came as only a flicker, but an unnatural source of light sat in the catwalks that hung above the factory floor. For a brief moment, it struck down like a bolt of lightning to activate a new set of arms, but doing so made it visible, momentarily appearing as almost a thin, orange-yellow string.

  “The Rotom is up there!” I shouted, my voice echoing. “It’s using the catwalks to get around! And it’s zipping down to activate the machinery before returning to where it’s hiding!”

  I heard a surprised squeak; the Rotom had heard my shout. From there, the assault began to become even more furious.

  It did not want us to reach its location.

  “We need to get to the catwalk,” I said to my team, no longer yelling. “That means...”

  Looking around, I was just barely able to locate a ladder on the back wall.

  “There!” I shouted. “Protect me! I’m going to climb up!”

  With that yell, I immediately took off into a dash. I was forced to leap over a pile of half-made Pokéballs that had built up after being deflected. Surprised by my sudden movement, Farigiraf scrambled to chase after me, but Valiant did not let down their guard, easily keeping in pace at our backs.

  The setup of this factory meant there were regular paths between the lines of Pokéballs waiting to be assembled. We had what was essentially a straight line between us and the ladder. That gave us an easy path forward, but it also gave the Rotom an obvious route to predict.

  Somehow, the Pokéball assault became even more furious, and my Pokémon started to struggle to keep up.

  “Valiant!” I cried out. We were only halfway there. “It’s worth the risk, but do it! And Farigiraf, do everything you can to protect them!”

  As we ran, the concrete floor gained a new hole in it that day when Valiant’s blade pierced the earth. Static from an Electric Terrain rushed out in all directions. Thanks to their Quark Drive, Valiant’s speed was boosted to new levels, and they gained the fuel needed to practically flash from location to location.

  Although the machines around us seemed to become energized as well, Valiant actually knew how to make proper use of this supercharge. With their speed, two balls being thrown from opposite directions could be blocked at almost the same time. Anything that threatened to slip past Farigiraf’s hastily made barriers was hit and launched far away.

  Valiant’s efforts gave us the freedom to run, and the ladder was just up ahead. We would only need to climb up to the catwalk to escape this assault, but right as we reached the ladder, all of the projectiles suddenly stopped.

  A deep rumble echoed out from behind us as machinery whirred with a newfound volume. Whatever setting they’d been set to had all but doubled.

  Slowly, my team and I turned to see whatever this new attack was, and at my side, Farigiraf let out a nervous laugh.

  She hadn’t joined my team expecting to see an entire tidal wave of Pokéballs building into the air and threatening to crash right down onto us.

  “...I’m going up,” I said. Our best option was to keep moving. “I can outclimb this. Do you two want to be returned?”

  I could protect my team by bringing them back into their Pokéballs, but the problem was that without their defense, I’d risk the tidal wave crashing into me.

  However, to make sure they’d stay safe, I was willing to risk that.

  As one of my hands rested on a rung of the ladder, my other hand was already reaching for my pocket. But, there was no need to retrieve their Pokéballs; Valiant answered my question by taking a single step away, turning to properly face the incoming wave.

  Meanwhile, Farigiraf desperately didn’t want to do this, but she also knew she was needed. She sent me a single, supportive nod before closing her exterior jaw for protection and turning to join Valiant in their defense.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Both of my Pokémon were prepared to ensure I’d be able to climb.

  Moving quickly, I began to ascend the ladder, and Farigiraf shouted beneath me. All of her energy was expended in this defense, as she formed as many barriers as she could to create what was essentially a vertical tube that’d protect me from anything coming my way.

  As she poured all of her effort into focusing, Valiant spun their blade, getting ready to defend her from this massive, incoming attack.

  Then, all light in the room vanished.

  The wave came crashing down.

  Protected, I ignored it, continuing to climb. I could hear the many impacts of countless, metal semi-spheres hitting Farigiraf’s screens around me. All of the Pokéball pieces rained down onto the earth, and they behaved more like a liquid as a mound of them formed and spread out in every direction.

  My Pokémon were consumed. Farigiraf’s screens faded away.

  With the crash of that wave, the warehouse became silent. The machinery no longer whirred. As I reached the top of the ladder, I pulled myself onto the catwalk, and I could see that a good portion of the warehouse had been consumed by a metallic sea of red, grey, and white.

  From up here, I could see no movement from my team, but I wasn’t worried.

  I knew their strength; they were okay.

  But I had climbed up here to finish this job, and I took my first step along this hanging path. From my side, I unclipped what was basically a metal stick. After all, with my team still below, I would need to fight this Rotom myself.

  Thankfully, I didn’t need to call out or search or do anything to find it. This catwalk was the only open area left in the room. Every footstep caused an echo, but the space up here was otherwise empty and silent. That meant I could both see and hear the static of a tiny, electric Pokémon circling back and forth.

  This Rotom had no clue what to do.

  It had been using the machinery to attack us, but that final wave had removed that as a possibility. With half-made Pokéballs covering so much of the factory, everything nearby was hidden. The Rotom could no longer reach any machine to possess it, nor would those machines be capable of any help.

  It was stuck up here with me, and I just needed to make sure this Pokémon was forced out of the building. It was causing trouble for everyone involved, but most importantly, succeeding in pushing it out meant I would be paid.

  “We can do this the easy way,” I said, stalking forward with my fancy metal stick in hand, “or we can do this the hard way.”

  Of course, I couldn’t resist using a line like that, but I didn’t expect the result that it brought.

  This Rotom didn’t flee. It didn’t even try to attack. As flighty as its species tended to be, the palm-sized lightbulb of a Pokémon saw me coming and froze in place, eyes going wide in fear.

  Halfway there, I stopped approaching.

  Rotom were meant to be smiling. Every member of the species was known to be mischievous. The classic “Rotom smile” was present on every single possessed device and dedicated Rotom-phone.

  This Rotom, however, lacked that expression. It was consumed by the terror of seeing me coming. Upon witnessing that genuine fear, I completely froze up. For once in my life, I wasn’t able to take the most direct path forward.

  I actually had to stop and think.

  “You... were sent here in a shipment,” I said to it, speaking out loud to work through my thoughts. “You left your Rotom-phone and started to possess the machines, and that disrupted the entire factory. But that’s... just what that guy told me. The story doesn’t make sense. I mean, it was a shipment to a factory. What kind of shipment contains only a single Rotom-phone?”

  Neither of us moved, and the tiny Pokémon stared.

  I knew I had done something wrong with how it looked so terrified for its life.

  “You weren’t attacking us,” I realized, lowering my arm. “You were trying to defend yourself. You found yourself in a brand new place, and that shipment... Hm. How much of a mess-up was it actually? Did your phone get delivered improperly, or did it...”

  I looked the Rotom in the eye.

  “Or did you personally mess with things to slip into a delivery intended for somewhere else?” I asked.

  Nervous, practically shaking, the Rotom nodded once, confirming my thoughts.

  Though having been delivered in it, this Pokémon wasn’t in its phone, either. It was simply floating in the air, possessing nothing at all. However, if there was a Rotom-phone nearby, this Pokémon should have wanted to keep possessing it.

  Putting all of those clues together, I realized that the Rotom wasn’t here as a mistake.

  No, it had already confirmed it for me; the delivery was intentional.

  And the lack of a phone told me that this Rotom had been trying to escape.

  “Oh,” I said.

  I let myself fall back to sit on the catwalk, and I swung my legs around to let my feet hang off the side. I grabbed the support bar of the railing just in case, and I cast my gaze out over the unmoving sea that filled the factory below.

  “Rotom-phones are getting pretty popular,” I said. “They’re devices made specifically for members of your species to possess. They’re advertised—and proven—to be something Rotom tend to like. How often do ghosts get custom-built objects made just for them? How often do Pokémon get such an easy way to find a partner and live a comfortable life?”

  Using my free arm, I rubbed the side of my head. For some reason, this whole situation suddenly felt so incredibly awkward.

  “But you... left that. You didn’t just leave wherever your phone was made; you left the phone itself. And if you came here like that... you didn’t want to be stuck as a phone, did you? That’s the only explanation I can think of for why you’re here. That’s why you fought us so furiously.”

  I let out a sigh.

  “You wanted to scare us away,” I said, grumbling at my inability to recognize that sooner. “No matter what, you didn’t want to be brought back to wherever you came from.”

  The Rotom looked away from my words, down at the sea of Pokéballs. It still wasn’t smiling, and it didn’t have a response. However, from the nervous way it was reacting, I knew what I said was right.

  “Yeah,” I said, returning to gazing out. “I think I understand. Being inside a single phone like that... It kind of means that you’re stuck, right? You would always have to be in a single device. Whoever you’re partnered with might buy a more updated one, but that’d just be jumping out of one phone to enter another.”

  “There’d be no exploration. No freedom. No form of choice,” I continued, my voice quiet. “You’d have a partner, but you’d only ever be in a phone. You’d be trapped, and that wasn’t what you wanted.”

  For a while, I let that statement hang, but after a bit, I ended up releasing a laugh.

  Looking back over, I saw that the Rotom was inching closer to me. Something about what I was saying was making a point.

  “No, I definitely get it,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s scary to be in a new place, and... it’s not great to have everyone constantly making demands.”

  There were expectations. Beliefs. Direct orders, in some cases. For me, I wasn’t from this world, and that meant I hadn’t come here with any support. As much as sponsorships were supposed to exist with “no strings attached,” there were still always expectations attached. I technically had the freedom to choose to do whatever I wanted to do, but if I ever did something my sponsor didn’t like...

  My entire support structure could be removed, just like that.

  “I know you don’t want to go back, but there is a difference between doing your own thing and causing trouble for a lot of the people involved,” I said, leaning back to properly look at the Rotom. “Sure, you’re costing the factory owner a bunch of money, but who cares about him? The real problem is what happens when this place stops being able to produce more Pokéballs.”

  There was an entire ocean of Pokéball parts that could be salvaged from beneath us, but all of those parts added up to a limited amount. This factory was important; it produced Pokéballs. And without Pokéballs, Pokémon could no longer be captured. People wouldn’t be able to meet their partners, and Pokémon wouldn’t be able to find comfortable homes.

  “I won’t send you back,” I told this Rotom, “but we can’t have you stay. So, how about this—I’ll help you find a new place, instead. Not this factory, but not just one phone, either. Somewhere that you can be happy, and somewhere that you won’t have to feel so trapped.”

  This Rotom stared at me, focused. It no longer looked so scared. However, its mouth had been pressed into an even line. It briefly gazed out at the factory and all of the destruction it had caused, but then it looked right back at me with a certain glint appearing in its eyes.

  Before I could even realize what was going on, the tiny lightbulb Pokémon finally regained its smile. It charged me, causing me to fall back in surprise, but nothing about this was an attack or a move—it had simply been rushing right at my arm.

  Or, more specifically, it had been rushing right at my wrist.

  I blinked, and the Rotom was gone, but the screen of my smartwatch had changed to display that classic Rotom smile. As I looked at it, my words briefly failing me, the Rotom snickered, having already found a comfortable place to stay.

  “You want to come with me?” I asked, feeling like I was in a daze.

  The Rotom’s face nodded on the screen, and I laughed again, somehow finding myself matching the Rotom’s smile.

  Valiant and Farigiraf were safe; Farigiraf formed a barrier around them, and then Valiant had the chance to dig a path out. They were able to get help, and I managed to escape by climbing out a window.

  Unfortunately, though I had technically completed the job, this Rotom had decided to join my team. As a result, I was considered its trainer, and every dollar of damage that occurred was immediately attributed to me.

  The sheer amount of debt that accumulated meant I could work every day for the rest of my life and still not have enough to pay. The damages far exceeded the “acceptable” amount of damage an irresponsible trainer could cause, so I was on deck to pay it all back.

  But that was when my sponsor came in. A single flex of her influence, and I didn’t need to worry about any of that. It was completely unfair to put that cost onto me—and illegal—especially since the damage happened before I “caught” Rotom. And, it was especially not my fault since Rotom would have fought like that against anyone who came in.

  I didn’t need to pay anything. Neither did my sponsor. Instead, a very unhappy man wrote me a check—fixing the place would be easy for him, he just didn’t want to pay.

  I walked away debt-free.

  Of course, I still had the additional “debt” that came from my sponsor stepping in on my behalf, but that was a problem I didn’t need to worry about until later.

  Instead, I had a new Pokémon on my team, and now Rotom, Valiant, Farigiraf, and I could continue to safely explore Paldea.

  At least, as safe as it could be when it came to me and my team.

  Nick’s Team:

  Farigiraf

  enormous thank you to everyone reading! Your support keeps this story going.