Sombra's cursory inspection of the town revealed nothing of value, so he headed towards the nearest opening in the copse of trees around him.
If these "pokemon" inhabit the wilderness, Sombra mused, then into the wilderness I shall go. I wonder how the first conscripts of my army-to-be will look...
As Sombra approached a path (Route 101, according to a conveniently placed sign), his thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a distressed young child, standing directly in his path.
"Um, um, um!" she stammered, as Sombra masked his disgust at her very existence. "If you go outside and go in the tall grass, wild pokemon will jump out, mister!"
"Truly?" Sombra inquired. "Good. I shall tame these beasts and make them my own." He tried to step around the little girl, but she blocked his path again and threw all her little weight against his midsection to stop him.
Despite the girl's blatant disregard for his regal status, Sombra restrained himself from retaliating. After all, despite being a tyrant and a Dark Lord, he was still a King, and uncouth acts such as striking children were far beneath him.
"Wait, mister!" the girl protested. "It's too dangerous if you don't have your own pokemon!" She dug her feet into the ground to try and push him back into the safety of the town, but only succeeded in kicking up dust.
"Nonsense, little one," Sombra assured her. "No harm will come to me."
"But, but, b-but..." the girl trailed off, tears welling up in her young little eyes.
Sombra's eyes, however, were rolling as he sighed. A wailing foal was the last thing he needed today.
"Alright, child!" he exclaimed. "You have convinced me. Dry your tears."
Sombra picked the girl up under her arms and carried her back into the town limits, setting her down beside the road. He knelt down until he was at the sniffling child's eye level, and spoke calmly.
"Now," he began as gently as was possible for him, "to venture out into the wilderness, I must first acquire a pokemon of my own. So be it, little one. If that is the case, then where in this town I might find a pokemon to claim?"
The girl sniffled a few more times before replying. "W-well, um... You could ask Professor Birch. He knows all about pokemon."
"Hnn," Sombra nodded. "And where might I find this... Birch?"
The child gave him a curious look. "Everybody knows where Professor Birch lives. Are you new in town, mister?"
"...You could say as much."
"Oh. Okay," the girl replied. "The Professor lives in the big house down that road, there. The one with the sign out front."
Sombra nodded, then stood up and headed in the direction the girl had pointed.
"Goodbye, mister!" she called.
Sombra didn't even spare her a glance as he walked away.
"Ugh," he muttered to himself. "Even the younglings are hideous here..."
Birch family residence
Sombra stared at the simple wooden sign in front of the home, then looked down the road he stood on to see the very same house he had awoken in.
He allowed himself to acknowledge the fact that he had walked right past this building the first time without paying it any attention, then took a moment to try and mentally delete that fact from existence.
As Sombra entered the home without knocking (a King goes where he pleases), he noticed a middle-aged woman with brown hair sitting at a table and sipping tea, watching a young boy play on the rug with colorful figurines.
"Oh! Hello, there," the woman greeted upon noticing Sombra. "I didn't see you come in. Can I help you?"
"Greetings, Madam," Sombra replied. "I wish to speak with a 'Professor Birch'. Is he in?"
"My husband?" She gave Sombra's clothes a look over. "Oh, you must be an aspiring Trainer."
"Indeed," Sombra replied.
"Hmm. I thought so," Mrs. Birch nodded. "Well, good for you! Strange, though. I don't remember seeing you in town before."
"I... moved here very recently," Sombra evaded.
"Oh, you did? Well, in that case, welcome to Littleroot Town," she replied. "Where are you staying? I haven't seen any new houses for sale."
"The house at the end of the road," Sombra answered, his patience thinning.
"Oh, that old place?" Mrs. Birch replied, mildly surprised. "That's a relief. After poor Brendan's disappearance, I thought that house would never sell."
"That's all well and good," Sombra said quickly, nearly before she had finished speaking. "Now, about the Professor..."
"Oh yes, of course! I'm sorry for rambling, dear," she apologized sheepishly, before placing a finger to her chin in thought. "Hmm, I haven't seen my husband since this morning... Ah, but my daughter May might know where he is. She helps her father with his field research."
"Hnn," Sombra grunted. "Where is she?"
"She'll be upstairs in her room," Mrs. Birch said before turning to look at the boy, who had been watching the conversation from the carpet. "Max, honey? Be a dear and go introduce this young man to your sister." She turned to address Sombra again. "My daughter's roughly the same age as you. I'm sure the two of you will be great friends."
As Sombra's lip curled in disgust, an egg timer chimed from elsewhere in the house, drawing Mrs. Birch's attention.
"Sorry, you caught me in the middle of making lunch," she stated as she left for the kitchen area. "Max, when you're done helping our guest, go wash up. And make sure to tell your sister lunch is ready."
Sombra trudged up the stairs without waiting for the boy, completely uninterested with the details of peasant family matters. Once he was out of earshot at the top of the staircase, he muttered darkly to himself about the nattering gossip of housewives, and their invasive questioning.
"Hey, wait up!" called a voice from behind him. The boy, Max, came bounding up the stairs two at a time with a deftness Sombra was in no way envious of. Sombra debated abandoning his guide, but the child was in front of him before he could act.
"A complete stranger walks into her home," Sombra criticized instead, "so your mother sends the younger of her children off with him unsupervised to find the other? The woman must be an absolute sage."
Max looked shocked for a moment, then grew indignant. "If you wanna try something, then go ahead," he huffed. "My Mom's Ninetales is still picking bits of the last guy out of her teeth!"
In Sombra's professional opinion, that threat rated about a three-point-five out of ten; a respectable score, considering the age of the one who delivered it. "Sure it is, little one," he sneered. "And I'm secretly made out of Crystalberries."
"I'm serious!" Max cried. "That guy, Brendan? He tried to grab one of Ninetales' tails, so she ate him! Swallowed him whole in one bite!"
"If this creature devoured a person whole, then why would the remains still be lodged in its teeth?"
"W-well..." Max faltered. "Um..."
"Hmph. You're adorable," Sombra smirked mockingly, then ruffled Max's hair to drive the insult home.
"Yeah, well... whatever!" Max retorted embarrassedly, slapping Sombra's hand away. "My sister's room's over there. I hope she gives you the Pokerus, you weird-eyed jerk!" With that, he stomped off.
The door Max had indicated was halfway open, so Sombra let himself in. Though it had more of a feminine touch, the room he now found himself in was quite similar to the one in which he had awoken. And much like Sombra's new- if temporary- living quarters, this room's original occupant was nowhere to be found.
"First the Professor is missing, and now his daughter vanishes," Sombra groused. "Are the peasants here trying to waste my time purposefully, or are they just that inept?"
Since there was no one around to point him in the direction he needed to go, Sombra examined the room, looking for some hint as to where the elusive Professor might be. He passed over the horde of stuffed animals occupying the bed, flipped through a sketchbook of what he assumed were pokemon, and glanced at a few family photos hanging above the writing desk before noticing a curious object resting on the dresser of the far wall.
It was an orb, roughly the size of an apple, its deep red upper half and contrasting white bottom standing out greatly from the room's softer colors. As Sombra moved closer to examine it, he realized it was a device of some kind. He reached out to pick it up, but a voice from behind him stopped him in his tracks.
"Huh? Who... Who are you?" a feminine voice asked cautiously.
Sombra turned to see a girl standing in the doorway, frowning at him. She wore a sleeveless orange vest that extended past her waist like a mini-skirt, over a pair of worn but resilient-looking jeans with many pockets. A green bag hung backwards on her waist, like a belt. Her light brown hair fell loosely to her shoulders, and her blue eyes met his own with little trepidation.
As Sombra turned to face her fully, a strange sensation somewhere between fluttering and clenching bloomed in his stomach. He clamped down on it, and mentally reprimanded himself for being caught off-guard.
"Greetings," Sombra answered, nearly calling her "little one" before remembering that his new form's apparent age was close to her own. "My name is Sombra. I... recently 'moved' into your town, and wish to become a Trainer of Pokemon."
The girl stepped into the room, looking about suspiciously. "Um... I'm May. Glad to meet you..." she replied, though her tone was far too uncomfortable to be sincere.
An awkward silence formed between the two of them, in which Sombra realized he had intruded heavily upon this girl's privacy. His status as a King would make this irrelevant, but in this new world, that status did not apply. At least not yet.
"...Your brother Max was supposed to introduce us, but he ran off," Sombra stated into the silence, his tone forming the words into an accusation against the boy.
May's cautious expression shifted, first to surprise, then annoyance. "Please tell me he didn't feed you some story about Mom's Ninetales cursing the neighbors and turning them into pokemon?"
Sombra glanced over her shoulder at one of the photos on the far wall. In it, a large fox with orange-white fur and multiple voluminous tails looked on while a much younger May hugged its neck and smiled at the camera. May's mother stood beside her, holding up a first-place ribbon from some sort of contest.
"Actually, he claimed that it ate the previous owner of the house I now live in," Sombra replied.
"Ugh, the little dweeb!" May huffed, then looked at Sombra again with much less suspicion. "Do you have any younger siblings?"
"No," he replied truthfully.
"In that case, you're lucky," she told him. "But seriously, sorry my brother was bothering you. He's just looking for attention."
"He was hardly a bother at all," Sombra stated haughtily.
"Really? Try having to live with him," May joked. "So, you said you're looking to become a Pokemon Trainer?"
"Correct," Sombra nodded.
"That's awesome! I'm a Trainer, too!" May exclaimed, before growing self-conscious. "In fact, I... Well, I have this dream of becoming friends with pokemon all over the world..."
Sombra made a gagging, retching sound.
"Hey, are you alright?" May asked, putting a hand on Sombra's shoulder.
"Yes, I'm fine," he answered, stepping out of reach. "Just had something... inane stuck in my throat."
May blinked in confusion, then smirked. "Heh, you're funny, Sombra," she chuckled, punching him lightly in the arm. "You know something? Even though we just met, I think we're going to be best friends, eventually."
Sombra might have given a very heated reply, but lost the opportunity when May gasped in shock.
"Oh no, I forgot!" she cried, then hurried around the room frantically collecting items. "I was supposed to go help Dad catch some wild pokemon! Sorry Sombra, we'll talk more later!"
"Hold on," Sombra called as a brown-haired tornado flew around the room, "I need to speak to your father about acquiring a pokemon of my own. I was told you know where to find him?"
"Iph fee's na in hith lab," May answered around the gloves she held in her teeth, while hopping around on one foot and trying to fit a shoe on the other, "hen he's pralaly out on loot lun-oh-lun."
Despite the mangling of her words, Sombra was able to understand May's information. "Where exactly is this lab?" he asked as May tied most of her hair up under a green bandanna.
"Thuh bi buildin a he en of thuh maim row. Can' mith it," she replied, now focused intently on the screen of a PC of her own.
Again, Sombra understood. He turned to leave but stopped at the door, studying the profile of May's face, gloves still hanging from her mouth.
A part of him wanted to express gratitude to her in some way, but a "thank you" was beneath him. Still, he felt as if he should say something before he left, so as he turned back to the doorway, he raised his voice and said, "Your mother has finished preparing lunch. Make sure you eat something before you leave."
He left without waiting for her response and walked down the stairs, pushing the conversation from his mind. Max was there at the bottom of the stairs, glaring at Sombra with his arms crossed. Sombra didn't even spare a glance in his direction, even as the boy stuck his tongue out at him.
"Your time was appreciated, Madam," Sombra called to Mrs. Birch without stopping. "Now, I have business elsewhere."
"It was no trouble at all, dear," she answered. "I can't wait to meet your family. They must be lovely pe--"
"I live alone," Sombra bluntly stated.
"O-oh," Mrs. Birch replied uncomfortably. "Well... Goodbye, dear--"
She was cut off as Sombra shut the door behind him and walked away.
Sombra stepped through the double doors of what was easily the largest building in Littleroot Town, though that wasn't saying much.
Aside from a handful of computers and a few other machines, the place was no different from a public library- a small, very disorganized library, at that.
Sombra approached the building's only occupant; a bespectacled man in a lab coat, milling about. "You, there!" he called. "Are you Professor Birch?"
"Hunh? Professor Birch?" the man replied dumbly. "The Prof's away on fieldwork. Ergo, he isn't here."
Sombra rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Oh, let me explain what fieldwork is--"
"I know what fieldwork is, you useless simpleton," Sombra growled as he turned and stalked away. "And in the future, remember that sprinkling words from a dead language into your sentences doesn't make you smarter. It just makes you look like a witless fop."
The Professor was neither in his home nor in his laboratory, so, as May had indicated, the only other place he could be was Route 101.
"Nearly two hours of my time, wasted," Sombra muttered darkly as he walked down the main road, "only to find that the one person I could coerce into giving me a beast of my own is currently exactly where I had been heading in the first place. And for what? To appease some simpering foal that didn't know better than to block a King's path? Rrrgh, somehow this is all Discord's fault. I know it."
As he approached the same opening in the trees that he had been heading for earlier, Sombra saw the same little girl who had started his pointless backtracking in the first place. She stood staring out into the wilderness listening intently, half hidden by the tree she stood against. Sombra moved behind her and loudly cleared his throat to get her attention.
She jumped in surprise and whirled to face him. "Um, h-hi mister," she stammered.
Sombra stared down at her, arms crossed.
"There are some scary pokemon out there. I can hear them howling!"
Sure enough, Sombra could hear the faint sounds of some kind of animals in the distance.
"I wanna go see what's going on, but..." the child began hesitantly, "I don't have any pokemon..."
She looked up at Sombra hopefully. "Can you go see what's happening for me?" she asked, in complete defiance of her earlier stance on leaving the town.
"Hhh," growled Sombra as he pushed past her into the woods.
Route 101
"H-h-help me!" someone called over the sounds of an enraged animal.
Sombra rushed forward, more out of curiosity than concern.
Ahead of him, a bearded man in a lab coat was being chased around in a circle by a zig-zagging brown creature.
The man tripped over one of his sandals, and the raccoon-thing wasted no time backing the man into a corner made of dense trees.
As the beast snapped at its prey, the man caught sight of Sombra.
"Hey!" he cried in between the animal's attacks, "Over here! Please! The Pokeball in my bag! Help!" He pointed to a tan messenger bag laying half open by the wayside.
Sombra picked the bag up by its end, scattering its contents into the dirt. Among the notebooks and loose papers, there was a familiar red-and-white orb, exactly like the one in May's room.
Sombra picked it up and loped out awkwardly to confront the strange, if mostly non-threatening creature.
A wild Zigzagoon appeared!
Sombra's footsteps were by no means silent, and at his approach, the animal turned and growled bitterly at him.
Unperturbed, Sombra examined the Pokeball. More by accident than intent, he depressed the white button on its arbitrary "front", causing it to spring open in his hand.
He nearly dropped the Pokeball in shock as an amorphous blob of light sprung from it onto the ground in front of him, resolving itself into the shape of a blue, four-legged amphibian.
Sombra sent out Mudkip!
The amphibian creature glanced around quickly before staring at Sombra, tilting its head in a curious expression.
"Creature!" he called, pointing over it at the raccoon and the man. "Defend your master!"
The amphibian turned, noticing the man, the man's minor wounds, and the raccoon in that order. It then squared its shoulders and emitted a strange growling noise.
The raccoon's ears folded back, and though it did not back down, it's own growls became far more subdued.
"A sonic attack to unnerve the opponent?" Sombra mused appraisingly. "Hmm. Useful. But your enemies aren't going to surrender unless you make them, creature. Strike, before it can recover!"
The amphibian charged forward and threw itself bodily at the raccoon.
The raccoon was ready for it, however, and dodged before answering with its own tackle.
The attack struck true, but the force behind it was diminished, and the amphibian was barely pushed back before responding in kind.
"Good, creature," Sombra called. "Don't give it even a moment's rest!"
The battle continued for a few more moments, the raccoon's stamina visibly dropping with each strike it recieved.
Finally, after a particularly vicious attack from the amphibian, the raccoon's nerve broke and it fled, zig-zagging its way into the trees.
The wild Zigzagoon was defeated!
As the fleeing animal's tail disappeared in the woods, the amphibian stood proudly, despite its own collection of cuts and bruises.
"Well done, creature," Sombra praised. "You fought well, for something so small and unassuming. Here. A reward." He retrieved the Potion from his bag and held it before the pokemon. "This will heal your wounds. Or, so I am told."
He sprayed the substance on the amphibian's largest welts, looking on in slight wonder as they healed before his eyes. As the last of the pokemon's cuts evaporated, it turned and faced Sombra with its mouth open expectantly, its black eyes shining.
On a whim, Sombra sprayed the remainder of the Potion into the creature's mouth, and, in a stark contrast to his own reaction, the pokemon accepted it happily, the corners of its large mouth turning upwards.
"Hmm," Sombra mused quietly, "maybe it does taste like berries to pokemon, after all..."
As Sombra tended to the little blue being, the man picked himself up from the dirt and dusted himself off.
"Whew..." the man sighed. "I was studying pokemon in the tall grass, when that Zigzagoon jumped me! That'll teach me not to pay attention to my surroundings. Anyway, thanks a lot, kid. You really saved my bacon!"
Sombra examined the man. From his build, his facial hair, and his poor choice of footwear for the situation, Sombra would have easily assumed the man was just another run-of-the-mill peasant fool. The white lab coat he wore might have attested otherwise, but Sombra's current track record for individuals in lab coats was less than stellar. In spite of all of this, though, there was a look in the man's eyes that indicated a vast amount of practical knowledge, and the thirst to acquire more.
"Hnn," Sombra finally replied. "You are Professor Birch, yes?"
"Yep. That's me," the Professor replied as he gathered up his scattered belongings.
"Finally. My name is Sombra. I recently moved to your town, and am attempting to become a Pokemon Trainer."
"Sombra, huh?" Birch replied. "Nice to meet you. Look, this isn't the best place to chat, so why don't you and Mudkip there come with me back to my lab?"
"Mud...?" Sombra murmured, looking down at the amphibian pokemon by his leg. "Oh, is that what you are?"
The Mudkip nodded, making a sound almost like an "Uh-huh".
"This is acceptable," Sombra stated, answering the Professor. "Lead on."
Littleroot Town: Professor Birch's Lab
"So, Sombra..." Professor Birch began once they were all back in the safety of his lab. "Even though you seem to know shockingly little about pokemon, you still battle like a natural!"
"It was hardly what I would call a battle," Sombra replied. He would liken it more to a pair of children slapping each other until one gives up and runs home in tears.
"Don't be so modest, Sombra," the Professor continued. "You and Mudkip were amazing. I can tell the two of you really bonded out there!"
Sombra looked down at the pokemon. To his distaste, it sat there gazing up at him adoringly.
"In fact," Birch stated, "As thanks for rescuing me, I'd like you to take Mudkip with you. Your very first pokemon!"
Sombra received the Mudkip!
"Wh-what?!" exclaimed the bespectacled man from earlier, who had up to that point been glaring at Sombra from behind a microscope. "Professor Birch, you can't be serious," he complained, moving to the Professor's side. "Letting this... this brat have one of your own pokemon?"
"This young man saved my life, Ethan," Birch replied. "You should show him more respect."
"Sir, this child is the most ill-mannered, disrespectful, churlish..."
"Now, now," Birch dismissed, "While I admit Sombra may be a bit... brusque, I owe him for what he did earlier today. What's more, I can tell that beneath his unpleasant exterior, Sombra's got a good heart."
Oh, how wrong you are, Sombra thought silently.
"You hardly know the boy!" Ethan protested.
"In any case, it's still my decision to make," Birch frowned with a tone of finality. "As is your continued paid internship here as my assistant. Don't think there aren't a dozen other candidates out there, willing to do what you do at a fraction of your salary. My daughter May, for instance."
"Wh-- bu-- but Professor..." he stammered.
"Word to the wise, 'friend'," Sombra spoke up, smirking cruelly. "Quit the field before you dig yourself any deeper."
The assistant threw his hands up and left in a huff.
"Sorry about him," Professor Birch said once they were alone again. "He's always been a bit self-obsessed, but I really don't know what his problem is today."
"Hnn," Sombra replied, feigning innocence. "Perhaps I just have one of those faces that makes people insecure."
"Anyway, back on topic, why not go ahead and give your new Mudkip here a nickname?" Birch smiled.
"Why?" Sombra asked, trying not to sneer. "Isn't 'Mudkip' enough of a name?"
"For some Trainers, sure," Birch replied. "But this isn't just any Mudkip now, this is your Mudkip. Your friend. Your first ever pokemon. Giving him a name that's personal, that means something- not only to you, but him as well, will strengthen the bond between you two as you embark on the journey of life."
Sombra tuned out the Professor's overwhelmingly boring speech, choosing to stare off into the distance until it was over.
Halfway through, though, Sombra's ears pricked at the sound of someone tapping on glass. Without turning away from the Professor, he spied Ethan sitting at one of the PC terminals in the corner, tapping away on the keyboard. The assistant did not react, however, when the screen went dark and Discord's grinning image appeared.
The Draconequus pointed at Sombra, then at the Mudkip, and held up a sign with big, cartoonish letters.
Rule 1: Nickname all your pokemon or you're never coming back.
Discord winked, then the image vanished and the screen returned to normal.
Sombra's fists clenched, and he very nearly growled in rage before he noticed Professor Birch staring at him expectantly.
"Hhh. Fine," Sombra relented. "I'll name the thing."
He knelt down to bring himself closer to the Mudkip's eye level. "Now... How does 'Minion #1' sound?"
The Mudkip frowned in disapproval.
"That was rhetorical, Minion," Sombra replied lowly. "You have no say in the matter."
The Mudkip kept frowning, and sat pointedly, furrowing its nonexistent brow.
"Rrrgh. Fine, you little..." Sombra lowered himself completely to the floor, placing himself in a sitting position.
He and the Mudkip sat staring at each other for the next twenty minutes, despite Professor Birch's hesitant objections.
Finally, Sombra spoke again, declaring one word. "...Tack."
The Mudkip tilted its head questioningly.
"Your name is Tack, minion," Sombra stated.
Tack looked up, as if in thought, then smiled and nodded at Sombra.
"Of course you approve," he preened. "After all, I thought of it."
"Tack" the Mudkip joined the party!
"Great!" Birch smiled. "I'm glad the two of you are getting along so well. If you work at it and gain experience, I think you'll make for an amazing Trainer, Sombra. My kid, May, is also raising some pokemon while she's helping me out."
"Yes, I know," Sombra replied. "We've met."
"Oh, excellent!" the Professor said happily. "I bet the two of you get along really well. Say, Sombra, don't you think it might be a good idea to go and see May?"
In truth, Sombra wanted nothing more to do with any of this town's peasants, after how unhelpful they had all been. Least of all, that sentimental foal of a girl.
So, it was to his own great surprise that he found himself saying, "I suppose so. Why not?"
"Great!" Birch smiled again. "May should be happy to see you, too."
"Wait," Sombra faltered, "I meant to say..."
"Sir, Professor Rowan is on the phone from Sinnoh," Birch's assistant called.
"Old Man Rowan?" Birch grinned. "I wonder what he could want."
"Professor, I--"
"Sorry Sombra, I've really gotta take this call," the Professor apologized as he ushered Sombra out the door. "Go meet up with May. She'll tell you everything you need to know about being a Pokemon Trainer."
"But--"
"Good luck!" Birch called through the closed door.
Sombra and Tack stood for a moment outside the lab, before Sombra's temper got the better of him and he gave the building's modest wooden sign a swift kick.
"Rrrgh! Who does that oaf think he's talking to?" Sombra growled. "I am King Sombra, not some juvenile errand boy!"
"No offense, Master, but you do look like you're just a kid..."
Sombra's head snapped to Tack's direction so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash.
"What's wrong, Master?" Tack asked, head tilted.
"..." Sombra replied wittily.
"Uh, Master? What's with the look? You're starting to scare me."
"..."
"...Master? ...You okay?"
"...You ...talk??"