Ash Ketchum—the Alola League Champion, the superhuman kid who could casually hold Cosmoem in one hand and punch through Mewtwo’s barrier with the other.
At least this world had fixed one of the anime’s stranger problems.
After traveling through region after region and competing in that many League Conferences, Ash hadn’t somehow remained ten years old forever.
Jun kept scrolling.
The next articles covered Team Flare’s plot and the battle that had saved the Kalos region, and the more familiar faces he saw, the stranger his expression became.
Eventually he lowered the phone and took another bite of bread, followed by one of the Pokéblocks Ralts offered him.
He chewed absently as he tried to place everything on the timeline.
The news was already a month old.
The previous Jun had simply been too busy earning money, studying Pokémon, and preparing for his own journey to pay much attention to major events in other regions, which explained why none of this had been among the memories Jun inherited.
Going by the anime, Ash should be in Alola by now.
Jun poured some water into a cup for Ralts before taking a drink himself.
“Ra-ru~” Ralts happily hugged the cup, which was almost bigger than its face, and began drinking.
Jun leaned back against the cave wall.
If Ash really was in Alola already, then the season didn’t quite line up with what he remembered.
Ash had arrived there in summer, while Galar was currently buried in snow.
Then again, trying to make sense of the anime’s timeline was probably a lost cause from the start.
It had never cared much about keeping time consistent, and this wasn’t an anime anymore.
This was a real world, with far too many variables for Jun to blindly rely on a plot he remembered from another life.
At most, he could make a few broad guesses.
If events were still following roughly the same path, the Alola League should be established sometime next year, with Ash eventually becoming its first Champion.
Not that any of that had much to do with Jun.
Ash was on the other side of the world, while Jun was sitting in a cave in Galar with one newly caught Ralts and five thousand Pokédollars to his name.
Even if Chairman Rose decided to unleash Eternatus tomorrow, there wasn’t much Jun could personally do about it.
If the sky started falling, someone stronger could worry about holding it up.
Jun had neither the strength nor the position to involve himself in problems on that scale.
Right now, his priority was much simpler: raise Ralts properly.
She already knew Fire Punch, and the Teleport she’d pulled off earlier showed an unusual amount of psychic power for a Ralts.
There was clearly room to develop both her physical and special abilities.
Jun wouldn’t have abandoned her even if she’d turned out to have poor potential, but having something promising to work with certainly didn’t hurt.
Once they became strong enough, they could decide what kind of life they wanted.
The Gym Challenge, the World Coronation Series, traveling around the regions, or simply settling down somewhere quiet—strength meant having the freedom to choose.
A second Pokémon, however, would have to wait.
Jun glanced at his backpack and sighed.
Money was the problem.
The previous Jun had already spent nearly everything he’d saved preparing for this trip.
Only five thousand Pokédollars remained, which was enough for roughly twenty decent Pokéblocks at current prices.
Raising Pokémon properly took resources.
Catching every Pokémon he came across while lacking the money to train, feed, and care for them would only leave him with a team of neglected cannon fodder.
So the plan was simple enough: train Ralts, make money, put that money back into her training, and only then think about adding a second or third Pokémon.
Beyond that, there were plenty of things Jun wanted to do.
He could visit the Slumbering Weald someday and, if luck was absurdly kind to him, perhaps even encounter Zacian or Zamazenta.
Compared to plenty of Legendary Pokémon, the two of them were at least relatively approachable.
He also wanted to visit the Pokémon Research Lab in Wedgehurst.
Getting a Pokédex would already be useful, and if he somehow managed to obtain a Dynamax Band as well, even better.
Then there was the Isle of Armor.
The Crown Tundra.
Other regions entirely.
Kalos had Key Stones and Mega Stones.
A Shiny Mega Gardevoir wore black rather than white, if Jun remembered correctly, which was reason enough to want to see it in person.
Alola had the island challenge and Z-Moves.
Jun still thought the dances looked painfully childish, but he couldn’t deny there was something undeniably cool about throwing everything into one massive attack.
And then there was Terastallization in Paldea, although his knowledge of that region was far shakier.
Better to leave that for much later, once he actually had the strength to wander into unfamiliar territory without getting himself killed.
There was far too much to see, and even more he wanted to try.
Just thinking about it made something restless stir inside him, as if both body and mind were already urging him to get moving.
Jun tore off another large bite of bread.
“Ra…?” Ralts lifted her head from the oversized cup and tilted it slightly, her amber horn twitching as she stared at her suddenly excited Trainer.
She didn’t understand what had changed, but Jun was happy.
That alone was enough to make her happy too.
Then Ralts seemed to remember something.
She set the cup aside, hurried out of the cave on her short legs, and crouched near the entrance.
A tiny spark appeared in her hand, melting a patch of snow into water.
She touched the water with her fingers, checked the temperature, then trotted back inside.
Jun was still rummaging through the backpack when Ralts hopped straight into his lap.
He instinctively caught her before she could slip, only to blink when she began gently wiping his cheek with her damp fingers.
He touched the spot afterward and found faint traces of dried blood.
Apparently something had scratched his face during the avalanche.
Ralts had been protected inside his arms, but Jun himself had taken the full punishment of being dragged through snow, branches, and whatever else had been caught in the slide.
He hadn’t even noticed the injury.
Jun smiled and let Ralts continue fussing over him.
Once she was satisfied that the last traces of blood were gone, Ralts yawned, shifted around in his lap until she found a comfortable position, and promptly fell asleep.
Jun rested against the cave wall and pulled a small blanket from the backpack, draping it over her.
As he reached into his pocket afterward, his fingers brushed against something soft.
A green ribbon.
Jun pulled it out and remembered where it had come from.
He’d torn it from Nickit’s tail during the fight and stuffed it into his pocket without thinking while escaping.
The ribbon was a similar enough shade to Nickit’s fur that it hadn’t stood out much at the time.
Looking at it more closely now, Jun noticed a tiny name embroidered into the fabric.
“An…?” he murmured.
Was it Nickit’s name?
A mark belonging to the poacher?
Maybe even the name or symbol of some organization?
Jun rubbed the fabric between his fingers for a moment before opening his backpack again.
Inside were several ribbons, bracelets, and other small accessories in different colors.
The previous Jun had bought them in advance for whatever Pokémon he eventually caught.
Jun compared one of the green ribbons with the one taken from Nickit.
The styles were surprisingly similar, but after a few seconds he put everything away again.
There wasn’t enough information to make anything of it yet.
Outside the cave, the wind continued to drive snow through the forest.
Inside, the fire crackled softly, casting shifting shadows across the stone walls.
Ralts slept against Jun’s chest beneath the blanket, her little body warm enough to work almost like a hot-water bottle.
To Ralts, Jun probably felt much the same.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept somewhere this warm or felt this safe.
Certainly no one had ever thrown themselves in harm’s way for her again and again within hours of meeting her.
Jun looked down at the sleeping Pokémon and gently adjusted the blanket around her.
This was the first day they’d known each other.
The beginning of their story.
No matter how many years passed afterward, neither of them would ever forget the moonlit view beyond that cliff—or the fact that, for one brief moment high above the forest, they had looked out at exactly the same world together.
[End of chapter]