“— And so, the clan of Unown worshippers journeyed North, to the legendary Hisui, the supposed cradle of the world.

“It was there that they encountered a group of nomads, claiming to be heralds of the mythical Spear Pillar. And together, the two groups joined hands to build the Temple of Sinjoh, in honor of Arceus, the Original One.

“To date, the location of the Sinjoh ruins remains unknown, only that it is a closely guarded secret by the Church of Origin and the ruling clan of Sinnoh.”

Nina let out a weary sigh as she set aside the journal she was reading and rubbed at her eyes. The contents following the passage she just read was the author’s depiction of a ceremonial dance performed to honor Arceus, complete with illustrations and everything.

The problem was, the author’s drawings were terrible — utter nonsense like the illustrations on one of those ancient martial arts tomes that Nina often saw in movies.

This was a time where cameras weren’t as widespread as they were now. And even if the author had a camera, he wouldn’t have been able to film due to restrictions from the worshippers overseeing the performance.

Still, it didn’t make the material any less impressive. As expected of Johto’s Regional Professor, Professor Elm’s library was truly expansive. That was where Nina was at right now, Elm’s library, which contained a treasure trove of books, papers and scrolls from a time before the Pokenet. 

The good professor had a team of bibliographers that worked tirelessly day in and day out to catalogue his collection and digitize it in his database. But the work was never ending and there were always little gems like the lost journal that Nina found which hadn’t been digitized yet.

For a change of pace, Nina scribbled in her notebook, trying to copy down any details from the journal that she deemed pertinent. Ideally, she would also take photos of the journal pages for reference, but she would need permission from Professor Elm first.

“There’s clearly a link here between the Unown, the Ruins of Alph, the Spear Pillar and the Sinjoh ruins…” Nina tried to rack her brain for any meta knowledge that might be useful in her quest. 

Unfortunately, the girl’s memories of her past life were spotty at best. She never was one to get too sweaty with the in-game lore. At most, she knew the general storyline, but none of the stuff one could only find by reading the online wikis. 

Nina let out a regretful sigh. “I should have written down everything I remembered back when I first got isekai’d.” But then again, given how controlling her mother was back then, it was likely that Leanette would have treated her as some sort of demon baby and attempted to have her exorcised. “I mean, she didn’t even allow me to touch pencils when I was a kid.”

“Nina.” The girl jolted in response to someone calling her name.

“The lab's researchers are about to examine one of the fossil Pokemon, wanna come with?” Kerry asked as she came up to her friend’s little study corner.

Nina lit up with enthusiasm at the invite. “Yup! Gimme a few minutes to wrap up here and I’ll be right there.”

***

The examination ended up being more of a biopsy than anything. On the examination table was a limp Aerodactyl, wheezing and panting in pain as the surrounding nurses went about restraining the fossil Pokemon in straps.

“You two might want to keep a distance.” One of the researchers said to their two guests. “They tend to get a little violent during their final death throes.”

“What happened to it?” Kerry asked, her delicate features twisted into a concerned frown.

The researcher responded with a wry smile. “An imperfectly revived fossil,” he said. “Or at least that’s what we think. The organ failure is the biggest tell, but we’ll know for sure once we study the corpse later.” The man sighed. “A shame really, this was one of our best specimens. We were so sure that she would last for a few more years.”

“Is there no way to save her? Rejuvenation treatment maybe?”

The researcher shook his head in remorse. “No, she just underwent rejuvenation last week. This development came about very suddenly with no forewarning. I’m afraid she’s a lost cause — not that we won’t try to save her of course.”

“Must be tough.” Nina chimed. “To deal with so much misfortune on a regular basis.”

“You get used to it,” said the jaded researcher. “The trick is to not name them. Doesn’t stop the newbies from getting too attached though.”

“KAAAWWW!!!”

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud screech from the Aerodactyl as it struggled against her restraints and squirmed at the sight of the needle approaching her. 

“This isn’t going to work. Put her to sleep, Chansey!”

“Chance!” The jovial pink blob cried in affirmation as she whispered a soothing lullaby to calm the Pokemon’s suffering.

“Can I help?” Kerry approached and offered to one of her cousins with her Happiny in hand.

The Joy looked at her junior cousin in apprehension but ultimately nodded in approval. “Do you know how to set up the scanners?”

Kerry nodded. “Yeah, I’ve done it before.”

“Then come over and help me with the positioning, I’ll do the calibration.”

Kerry nodded and proceeded to put on what can only be described as armor-like implements on a group of Magnemite. The “scanners” latched on to the front of the magnet Pokemon — their round eyes now magnified through red and blue lenses which narrowed, protruded and expanded in adjustment.

Nina then watched as Kerry went about positioning the Magnemite, a group with blue lenses on one side and another group with red lenses on the other. Meanwhile, her senior cousin was behind a computer, tapping away to shift the living scanners ever so slightly to align them against each other.

“Scanners all set up. Everyone, move out of the way!”

At their colleague’s call, the surrounding nurses scattered, being careful not to bump into any of the Pokemon that were hovering in place. When Aerodactyl’s surroundings were cleared, the Magnemite shifted; the blue ones rotating in tandem with the red ones to scan the Aerodactyl from head to toe. 

The end result was an uncannily detailed 3D hologram that the lead nurse projected onto an empty space to the side, where each of the staff could zoom in and out to examine every detailed minutiae of the Aerodactyl’s internals.

Nina was not sure about the details, but it seemed to her that the devices attached to the Magnemites were universal implements that possessed the capabilities of a CT scanner, MRI, ultrasound etcetera all in one convenient little package, relying on their host Magnemite’s innate characteristics for power and processing.

“I’m seeing cirrhosis of the liver, it’s practically non-functioning at this point,” said one of the nurses.

“Renal functions have failed entirely,” chimed another. “Most likely what’s causing all this swelling and effusion in the lungs.”

“Pulse is weakening and BP’s low. There’s no saving her, I suggest we move on to palliative care.”

“Seconded.”

And with that, they began gassing the Aerodactyl with sedatives and set up intravenous lines to administer opioids into the fossil Pokemon’s system, to relieve its pain and facilitate a peaceful passing.

Nina sighed. “Is there really no saving her?” 

“If it’s just one of the organs failing, we can probably make do with an artificial one. But multiple organ failures? All at once and at such an alrming rate?” The researcher shook his head in dejection and prepared himself to move in and conduct further study.

In the end, the Aerodactyl did indeed pass away. However, Nina opted not to participate in the biopsy. She may be much more jaded towards this world now, but there was still a limit to her squeamishness. Kerry though, despite her grief, steeled her resolve and put on a set of scrubs to assist with the process. 

***

“Life’s real fleeting huh, Brucey?”

“Gol?”

Nina chuckled and nuzzled against the back of her Golbat’s fuzzy head. The pair were currently in a nearby park, just observing the comings and goings of the local community; children running around playing tag with Pokemon and each other, adults hovering nearby, gossiping about their day and recent happenings. To the side was an ice cream trolley, manned by a vendor and his Jynx, blaring a catchy jingle that tickled at Nina’s nostalgia.

It all felt very peaceful and serene. Most of these people probably weren’t even aware of the tragedy that just unfolded underneath Professor Elm’s lab.

“But such is life…” Nina mused, feeling a sudden bout of melancholy wash over her. “Every day, as we go about our own business, life waxes and wanes — new life is born while existing ones fade.”

“Kukuku…” Brucey just laughed in response, not at all understanding the girl’s words. But he liked to listen to Nina’s voice all the same. After all, she was his beloved family.

Nina smiled and gave the oblivious Golbat a little kiss while pointing at one of the kids, who was crying in the distance and standing beside a ball of ice cream splattered on the ground with an empty cone in hand.

“See that girl over there, Brucey? How do you think she’s feeling right now? Left fist for angry and right fist for sad.”

“Kukuku…” Brucey laughed feebly as he furrowed his brow in contemplation, eventually letting out an enlightened “Gol!” and tapping Nina’s right fist with his wing.

“Good job, Brucey! I’m really proud of ya!” Nina commended while smothering the Golbat with kisses, eliciting a happy blush from Brucey.

At some point, the Jynx from the ice cream trolley approached the crying child, to replace the ruined cone with a new one and comfort her with gentle head pats.

The girl sniffled with a mild hiccup, looking up at the Jynx with sparkling eyes filled with gratitude. “Thanks Jynx! You’re the best!” She exclaimed as she threw herself against the Ice Pokemon’s billowy red skirt for a hug.

“Jynx~” The Pokemon drawled melodically, before breaking out into a happy song and a peppy little dance to elicit more laughter from the child.

Nina let out a warm smile at the scene and extended her fists once more. “What about now, Brucey? Is the little girl happy or angry?”

“Gol!” Brucey bent his wing and correctly chose happy, earning more affection from his proud trainer.

“Alright, let’s go get some ice cream to cheer ourselves up. But don’t tell Nitey, okay? He seriously needs to cut down on his sugar intake.”

“Kukuku…”

***

Author's note:

Man, it's near the end of another month... And we're approaching the weekend as well. Time is flowing at a scary rate.

Ever had a nightmare that seemed to go on for hours, only to wake up and realize it had just been twenty minutes? That just happened to me and it really sucks.

I was just looking to take a quick nap. But I woke up feeling like I had ran a marathon.

Also, nice...

Managed to catch these auspicious numbers just in time.