She appears to be on a small farm. In front of her is a farmhouse and a shed. To her right is a pair of large dogs with brown and blue fur. To her left is a pen full of what are probably sheep; they have pale yellow fur and blue heads. (The pen does not actually appear to be closed off in any way. It's not clear what's stopping the ?sheep? from leaving.)

...maybe the dogs are keeping the sheep in? Hopefully they do not keep Laia in. Or object to her going and knocking on the farmhouse door, which is her plan for figuring out where she is.

The dogs do not impede her in this!

The door is answered by a young couple wearing some sort of bizarre foreign style of clothing.

"Hello?" says the young man, in a language she has never heard before but somehow understands perfectly. "I'm the owner of this ranch, and this is my wife. Did you need something?"

"Hello, I'm Songbird Laia Solandra and I'm lost, some kind of monster transported me here just now and I would like to know where I am."

"This is Floccesy Ranch, between Floccesy Town and Virbank City in the Unova region. You said you were brought here by a wild Pokémon? Did you see what it looked like?"

"It was too fast for me to react but I think it was - blue and purple? With gold on it too."

That is definitely not enough information for him to guess at which Pokémon it might have been.

"Well, let us know if you need any help — food, water, borrowing my Xtransceiver, anything like that. We're not too far from Virbank or Floccesy, you could probably make it there before it gets dark, but if you're really worried you can stay the night."

"I... might need to know what continent I'm on?"

"People don't usually talk about the continents as having names — dear, do you know?"

His wife shakes her head. "If you were talking about one of the continents with multiple regions, maybe, but this one just has Unova, unless you start counting the island chains."

"And Orre."

"I guess. Er, what region are you from?"

"Well my planet is called Golarion."

"Ours is called Earth," says the man.

"You're an alien?" says the woman. "Are you actually human, or do you have some sort of Zoroark arrangement going on?"

"I don't know what a Zoroark is! Or why I can speak to you! I'm a human, this is what I really look like." ...she looks down at herself to check. "Yeah."

"A Zoroark is one of the species of Pokémon on this planet — they can disguise themselves as other species. The aliens I've heard of look a lot weirder than you," says the man.

"She might be a — what was it called, it was on the news the other day—"

"Faller?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know how we'd tell one way or the other. ...And it's not like we can get her home either way."

"...well, somebody will probably come looking for me sooner or later if I'm needed on Golarion but on the presumption that it might be later or even never," she has no idea how many people that thing snapped up, if it was hundreds of them the archmages might call the convention off rather than haul everyone back from other planets, "what do I need to know? I'm a cleric - of Shelyn, is She known here -"

"Well, if you're from another planet, I don't know what sorts of things you know already," says the woman. "The Unova Champion is Iris? We've got stricter laws than some places about riding Pokémon on roadways? ...I've never heard of Shelyn, the Legendaries people here are most likely to care about are Reshiram, Zekrom, maybe the Swords of Justice, Victini if they go in for superstition..."

"She might be called something else in Unova," says the man. "It's not like I know what people in Johto call Zekrom."

"I'm new to this language and I don't know what things are and aren't Pokémon but - are you using the same word to talk about monsters and also gods?"

"Every planet I've ever heard of has Pokémon," says the woman.

The man frowns. "That might just be because we only hear about other planets when their Pokémon crash here, though."

"...I guess. Pokémon are... living creatures that aren't humans? If you saw the Herdier and the Mareep outside, those are Pokémon. When you called yourself a 'cleric,' it sounded like you were saying that you were working closely with a Legendary Pokémon — a Legendary Pokémon is an especially powerful Pokémon, where only one exists for the entire species."

"...any living creature at all that isn't a human? Wow. Okay. Well, there is only one Shelyn but She does have a brother?"

"There are Legendary Pokémon who are siblings," says the woman. "I saw a TV special about Latios and Latias the other day. What sorts of things is Shelyn associated with?"

"She's the, uh, Legendary Pokémon, of love and art!"

"Well, I definitely haven't heard of her, even by another name!" says the woman. "The biggest ones here are Reshiram, associated with truth, and Zekrom, associated with ideals. But Shelyn also sounds nice!"

(Her husband looks a little uncomfortable at the mention of Reshiram and Zekrom.)

"Those sound like good things, what are their alignments?"

"...Did that make sense to you, dear?" asks the woman.

"Is there some other word you could use there?" asks her husband. "That question didn't really make a lot of sense in our language."

"Like. Shelyn is Neutral Good, which means She can have clerics who are that or Chaotic Good or Lawful Good or True Neutral, and those are all alignments."

"I would guess they're both Good," says the woman. "I don't know if they're Lawful or Chaotic, most laws don't really apply to Pokémon. I don't really know how I'd tell what 'alignment' the trainers they've worked closely with are."

Her husband looks incredibly uncomfortable.

Sorry, husband, it seemed important. "Trainers?"

"People who work with Pokémon," says the woman. "Any kind of Pokémon, not just legendary Pokémon."

"Okay. - anyway, I don't know if the spells I have for today are by coincidence ones you'd like, or if you need any healing, but if either would be useful I do think I should probably stay the night before trying to find my way to anywhere else."

...Maybe she's a Psychic or something? She kind of thought most Psychics were making it up but maybe she's one of the ones who isn't. "What spells do you have?"

"Today I've got Create Water, Stabilize, Detect Magic, Tap Inner Beauty, Detect Good, and Charm Person."

"If you went and filled up the watering troughs, that could save us some time."

"Sure! Point me to 'em."

She can do that.

Up close, the sheep seem to be sparking a little bit.

Concerning. She will give the electric sheep some space.

Create Water, Create Water, Create Water, just like the temple cistern.

"Thank you! It's a few hours till dinner, but I can put on the TV if you want, or you're welcome to take a walk around the ranch."

"What's TV?"

"It's slang for 'television' — if your planet doesn't have television it's probably easier to show you."

"I think my planet doesn't have television!"

"Well, do you want me to show it to you, then?"

"Please!"

Then she'll lead her back inside and show her a metal box! She presses some buttons, and it starts playing a complicated, highly realistic illusion of a pair of strangely-dressed people.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! It's time for 'Moves for Living.' Today we will learn about the move Scald. Our guest expert is Dr. Technic Al'Machine, a professor at Castelia University." 

"Hello. I'm Dr. Al'Machine. Scald is a scorching-hot move that blasts the target with water, and may even leave it with a burn. In everyday life, this move might be useful for making yourself a warm mug of hot chocolate!"

(The illusion cuts briefly to a monkey-like creature with an oddly-shaped blue head blasts a jet of water at the camera.)

"I see... I learned a lot. Well then, everyone, until next time, good-bye."

"So Scald is like a spell and the magic box has illusions that teaches people about spells?"

"Most moves aren't exactly spells, all Pokémon can learn at least some moves even if they aren't magic. They're more like... physical techniques, usually. ...The box isn't magic either. And it doesn't just teach about moves, I can put on a different program if this one is boring you."

"It will be downright fascinating if it turns out I can prepare Scald in the morning but I'd love to see what else the box can do!"

The woman presses some buttons on a smaller box. It begins playing an illusion of a city, though the buildings look nothing like any buildings she's ever seen. In the foreground is an enormous wheel with smaller gondolas all around it. Two people are standing in front of the wheel.

"Today, on “Eyes on Unova,” we will introduce you to a young nomadic dancer who loves to ride the Ferris Wheel! Hello! I've heard you ride the Ferris Wheel every single day, is that true?"

"Well, I've been riding it every day, but lately I've been thinking I might move on for a bit."

"What got you interested in the wheel?"

"The steady, rhythmic way it moves is a lot like dance, when you think about it."

"But now you're moving on?"

"A dancer who only dances a single dance will get sick of it eventually, don't you think?"

"I suppose so. Thank you very much. That was our report from Nimbasa City!"

Buttonpress. Now the illusion-box is playing the image of several — animals? Monsters? It's not really clear — all of which are wearing human-like clothing, holding various objects, and dancing. In the background, music is playing.

The furthest-right creature, which looks sort of like a cross between a flying squirrel and a bee, tosses a pink umbrella into the air, and the sound of clapping plays. The creatures continue dancing for a few moments longer, and then the lights go dark and the curtain goes down.

"...before we bring you your results, a brief word from our sponsors!"

Buttonpress. Now the illusion-box is playing the image of a snow-covered city. Snowflakes fall slowly to the ground, collecting in front of a brightly-painted door.

"...collect the hottest gossip about Gym Leaders seen around town!" a human voice is saying. "This week, we're following up on a letter we received last week, and visiting the Icirrus Gym in person! Are the rumors about Brycen true? We'll find out!"

The camera moves towards the door, which slides open to reveal a room with a floor completely covered in ice.

"Brrrrrrr. It's freezing in here. Next time I'll just send him an email."

"I think TV is a cool thing and wish we had it on Golarion."

She smiles. "I like it too! You know, if you go on to Virbank after this, you could visit Pokéstar Studios and see how some of this gets made."

"When I'm at home I'm an actress, is that part of how they make the illusions with actual actors at some point in the process?"

"Oh, it's not an illusion! Basically, they use a very fast camera to take a lot of photographs, and then they play them one right after each other. But the humans you see onscreen are almost always played by real human actors."

"...we don't have photographs either!"

"Okay. Uh." She grabs a photograph of a Herdier off the mantlepiece and shows it to Laia. "Cameras make... pictures of things exactly the way they looked at the time? —Sometimes the shows on TV get edited so they don't look exactly the way they really looked, but that's the general idea."

"...I love it! What a marvelous thing."

Smile. "Do you want me to put on a movie to watch until dinnertime? Movies are... like television but longer, and almost always telling fictional stories."

"Oh, yes please!"

The alien mentioned that Shelyn is associated with love as well as art, so she puts on a rom-com, Love and Battles: Miguel's Story.

The movie revolves around a pair of Pokémon Trainers, Penelope and Miguel. Their eyes meet — the movie treats this as enormously significant — and they end up in a "battle" with each other, which appears to involve them having their weird-looking creatures fight each other. (Penelope's is a "Lickitung," a vaguely-humanoid pink-and-yellow creature with an enormous tongue; Miguel's is a "Smeargle," which has a tail that strongly resembles a paintbrush.) The non-human creatures don't appear to speak whatever this language is, but subtitles appear onscreen to translate their thoughts.

Initially, Miguel is only motivated by the possibility of winning prize money from Penelope, but as their Pokémon battle, he starts to fall in love with her. He decides to throw the battle on purpose as part of a strategy to seduce her. (His Smeargle thinks he's being a bit ridiculous.) Penelope seems surprised to be doing so well — Miguel is apparently an "Ace Trainer" — but it doesn't occur to her that he might be losing on purpose.

Eventually, Penelope's Lickitung knocks out Miguel's Smeargle by throwing a rock at it. However, in the process, the rock grazes Miguel. Miguel congratulates her on winning, and attempts to offer her the prize money. Penelope, meanwhile, is focused entirely on whether Miguel is okay, and refuses to accept the prize money even after he insists he's unhurt. In lieu of giving her the money, Miguel offers to keep practicing with her, and she accepts; the movie concludes with the strong implication that the pair of them will end up as a couple.

The whole movie takes place against the backdrop of a city street, but it looks more like Absalom or maybe Axis than like any city Laia's ever been to. Whenever either character expresses romantic interest in the other, rose petals fall from the sky.

Laia has no antibodies against romance played completely straight at all and she loves it, to the point of applauding in several places.

Aww, what a cute alien.

Partway through the movie, the husband comes into the living room. "Will your Pokémon be joining us for dinner? Any of you have any dietary restrictions I should know about?"

"My - oh, Shelyn? No, She doesn't appear in person, She just gives me spells every morning. I would expect to be able to eat all the things you do since we seem to be the same race."

Blink blink.

"—Most people on this planet travel with a few Pokémon, even if they aren't professional Trainers," says the woman. "It's not really very safe to travel all by yourself. Travelling with a Legendary would be very rare, but... well, I guess we can get that sorted out before you leave tomorrow."

(Her husband looks uncomfortable.)

"I'm supposed to have a trained one to fend off wild ones?" The movie was very helpful in a lot of ways. "Well, that does sound important, can I - buy one, or -"

Nod. "Usually a relative or a friend helps you catch your first one, but one of us can help you out with that instead, or if you'd rather we can see if one of the Mareep wants to leave the ranch."

"Those are the zappy sheep? They're super cute. Do you use silver here, I only have what I had on me but I had some spending money."

"We use Pokédollars. I don't know what the coins are made of — do you know, dear?"

Her husband shakes his head.

"In any case, most of the money is paper. But you could probably sell the silver at just about any shop, and then you'd have Pokédollars."

"That works for me, assuming twelve silver is enough for a Mareep."

"Oh, I wasn't thinking I'd charge you for it."

"That's so generous of you! I do expect to be able to sell spells in the long run, though, I'm temporarily embarrassed, not indigent."

"Oh, I'd do the same for a kid who was just getting started on their journey — I know you're not a child, but it's the same sort of thing, you know?"

"If you say so!"

Eventually dinner is served. It consists of some kind of salad with cheese, greens, and berries, with lemonade to drink. (The Herdier join them at the table, and are served berries.)

Yummy. Could use croutons but she's not going to say that.

After dinner, they make up the couch with blankets and a pillow.

It's very kind of them. She will do her best to adjust to the local time zone by going to bed when they seem to expect her to.

She is not disturbed during the night.

She wakes up at dawn, as usual.

For once she's actually all done sleeping at dawn! Because she went to bed at what felt like noon instead of a couple hours past midnight!

Create Water, Virtue, Light. Summon Monster I as a backup in case the Mareep needs help, can she get Scald just out of curiosity? - no - might not be first circle. Cultural Adaptation then. She'll swap the Charm Person for the Shield. She is pretty sure the Mareep will not count as a Person.

The woman emerges from her bedroom shortly after Laia finishes her prayers.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning! I don't think Shelyn can give me Scald, at least not at first circle, but it was worth a try."

"Oh, that's not that surprising, human spells aren't usually that similar to Pokémon moves." At least, the sort of things she hears about psychics doing aren't very similar.

"Oh well. What's a good way to introduce oneself to a bunch of Mareep to see if any of them want to go on a trip?"

"We can head outside now and see if any of them like you!"

"Sounds good!"

Then they can head out to the pasture.

The Mareep are still there, just starting to wake up for the day.

"Good morning, Mareep!"

The Mareep bleat at her.

"Laia here is just about to start on her Pokémon journey here in Unova, and she's looking for a starter Pokémon to travel with her!"

It's not clear if the Mareep understand this at all, but one of them walks up and starts sniffing her hand.

She'll... be sniffed, she guesses! "Is it safe to pet them?"

"It might give you a little shock, but it's just static, it's not dangerous."

"Like a doorknob in winter?" Pet.

"Yes, like that."

Zap!!!!

"Eep!"

"I think it likes you."

"Do they have names?"

"This one is Wooliam. That one is Zippy and that one is Amy."

"Cute! Hi there Wooliam, I'm Laia."

Happy Mareep noises!

"Do you want to protect me on my trip to the city?"

More Mareep noises! It nibbles at her dress.

"Do they have their own language, or are they not quite at that level?" she asks the human.

She looks uncomfortable. "They definitely communicate with each other, and they can definitely understand their Trainers to some degree. ...I've heard of one human who claimed to be able to understand Pokémon, but... well, people say a lot of things."

"Oh, well, tomorrow I should prepare a Comprehend Languages, I guess!" If she pets Wooliam on his face and not his wool does she get zapped.

Nope!

(She looks really uncomfortable about that idea, but doesn't say anything.)

Oh good. About the facepets, not the discomfort. Facepets for Wooliam. "What do I need to know about showdowns with wild Pokémon that wasn't in the movie? Wild things on Golarion people sometimes address with their own companions but it's actually more common for people to fight them personally, sometimes people who aren't any good at that like me hire help to guard them."

"If you wander anywhere where a Pokémon might be hiding — like that tall grass over there, or a cave, or any place with good hiding spots — a wild Pokémon might attack you. If you send out Wooliam, you can — I'm sorry, I've never explained this to an alien before — you can give it instructions about what moves to use. Right now, it knows Growl, which makes the other Pokémon worse at physical attacks, Thunder Wave, which can paralyze the other Pokémon, and Tackle, which is pretty much what it sounds like, but it'll learn more as it gets stronger. You can either have it knock the other Pokémon out, or try to catch it.

You might also be challenged by another Trainer — that was in the movie too, I don't know how obvious it was. That's pretty similar to fighting a wild Pokémon, except that most Trainers are better at giving instructions than most wild Pokémon could manage on their own.

It's a good idea to keep a Revive on hand in case your Pokémon gets knocked out, and some healing items to replenish its health — both are legal to use in battle, too, but spending a Revive to win a battle is almost never a good idea unless you're a professional Trainer who can afford it.

If it's getting dark, you can ask just about any house to let you sleep overnight, and they'll let you.

When you're travelling and aren't in a battle, it's normal to keep your Pokémon in its Pokéball, like so."

She presses a button on a red-and-white sphere. 

There's a flash of light, and Wooliam isn't standing there anymore.

"Do channels not work? I get six of them a day."

"...I think that word means something different in your language." She is struggling to understand how TV channels would be relevant here.

"Oh, the kind of healing that comes in a burst instead of at a touch."

That's not really how she thought healing worked but she doesn't personally know how to do it without items. "If you can heal them yourself, that should be fine, though if you're battling another Trainer you should wait until the battle is over to do it, and it would be polite to heal their Pokémon as well."

"Okay. And Wooliam will be plenty to get me from here to a city?"

"It should be, as long as you're careful. If you're worried you can always try catching another Pokémon on the way."

"How does that work?"

"Follow me, I can show you." She heads over to the tall grass.

Laia follows along.

"So, first, you're going to want to walk around in the tall grass until a wild Pokémon attacks you." She does that.

Eventually, a yellow duck jumps out, clutching its head!

"You want your Pokémon to wear it down a bit — don't actually knock it out, though, the Pokéball won't be able to properly register it. If you can paralyze it, or anything like that, that helps too."

She sends Wooliam out of the Pokéball and demonstrates this. Laia might pick up a bit more about the process of giving a Pokémon instructions in battle, as practiced by people who are not movie characters.

Eventually there is a tired-looking Psyduck in front of her.

"Once you're ready, throw an empty Pokéball at it. It might take a couple tries, let me see—"

There's a flash of light, and the Psyduck disappears.

"And there you have it! Any questions?"

"What happens to the duck Pokémon now?"

"...Well, I don't actually need a Psyduck for anything, so I'll probably release it back into the wild."

"If it would be a good idea for me to have a second one maybe I could take it?"

"Oh, I guess that could work! You'll want to heal it up before you bring it into battle, though."

"Of course! I just push the button to summon it?"

"Yep! Do you want to give it a name?"

"Yes! Is it a boy or a girl?"

She peers at a little screen on the side of the ball. "It's a girl."

"How about Pauta?" Pun names seem to be in vogue.

"Sure, that works." She presses some tiny buttons on the ball, then hands both Pokéballs to Laia.

She lets Pauta out and channels.

Now she has a healthy Psyduck!

That is really not how she thought that healing worked but it's not like she's an expert or anything!

"HI there, Pauta! That's what I've named you, I don't know if you have a name already but if you tell me tomorrow when I've got Comprehend Languages that actually you prefer to be called Mar or something I will be amenable." Pet pet.

It makes a quacking sound. (It doesn't appear to have moved its bill at all.)

...She is looking a little uncomfortable again.

"I worry that I'm doing something that's terribly rude on this planet but I'm afraid I don't know what it is. On Golarion some Pokémon can't understand a word, and some of them can understand whatever language they get used to just like a human but can't talk, and some of them can speak human languages and just might not have happened to learn the one I know, and I don't know what kind these species are yet, and if they don't understand me I don't see the harm in talking to them anyway, but perhaps you can explain?"

"—You're an alien, I guess you wouldn't know — does Golarion have organizations full of people who get together to do crimes?"

"Like bandits and pirates and such, yes."

"About two years ago, a group like that got big in Unova. Team Plasma. They did — a lot of things, really, and not all of them were even illegal — but plenty of them were. They kidnapped a lot of people's Pokémon, was the biggest one.

One of the people involved in leading it claimed to be able to understand Pokémon — every species of Pokémon, even the kinds that no one has ever heard of being able to communicate with humans. He said he was trying to make things better for Pokémon, and I think some of them even believed that, but — not most of them. Certainly not anyone else in charge. The official story is that he had been manipulated into getting involved, and that he left the region once he realized what Team Plasma was actually trying to do, but I don't know if it's true.

I don't think there's anything wrong with hearing what they have to say, if it turns out you can do that, but I'd keep it on the down-low if I were you."

"Oh dear. I think I understand, thank you."

"Was there anything else you wanted to know before you set off?"

"What do they eat?"

"Depends on the species. The two you've got are herbivorous, they mainly eat berries and grass and so on."

"How often should I be letting them out to graze?"

"They don't get hungry if they're in the ball, but at least once a day is good to give them the chance to stretch their legs, if they're not in a PC. —A PC is a sort of digital storage device. You'll need to set up an account at the Pokémon Center if you want to store any of them there."

"Okay!" She pets Pauta again and then tries putting her back in her ball.

She can do that!

"All right! Which way am I headed? And if I fill up the troughs again can I trouble you for a packed lunch?"

"Yes, that'd be great. Virbank's to the southwest." She can give Laia directions in more detail.

"Oh, and before I forget, take these." She hands Laia five empty Pokéballs and a Potion.

"What's this?" Laia asks of the Potion. She puts the empty Pokéballs in a separate pocket from Wooliam and Pauta.

"It's a Potion, you can feed it to a Pokémon and as long as they're conscious it'll heal them a bit. I know you've got some healing, but Potions are cheap, and it's best to be on the safe side."

Maybe she can trade it or something. "Thank you very much!"

"You're welcome! Let me go pack up that lunch for you..."

She heads inside.

Laia goes and fills the troughs for all of Wooliam's friends.

Happy Mareep!

A few minutes later, the woman comes back out with her husband and hands Laia a lunchbox. "Have a safe trip!"

"Thank you for all your help, Shelyn's blessings be upon you!"

"And on you!"

And Laia sets off on her Pokémon journey.

The sun is shining! The Pidove are singing! The weather is warm and pleasant!

For the first mile or so, she can stay on the path without running into other Trainers or unavoidable tall grass. There are some trees, but not anything that would be a proper forest on Golarion.

She sings to herself as she walks, keeping an eye on the trees and the grass and a hand on Wooliam's Pokéball.

If she's keeping an eye on the grass, she'll eventually notice some patches of it starting to rustle.

She gets ready to cast her Shield if anything jumps out at her.

Rustle rustle rustle... but no, whatever is hiding in this particular patch of grass doesn't seem to feel like ambushing her.

A little ways onwards there's a small stream, with a wooden bridge across it.

If the bridge looks solid she'll cross it!

It looks solid.

There's a lot more tall grass on the other side.

...And shortly after she crosses to the other side, a very large bug (or possibly a very large leaf) jumps out at her!

Shield!! Wooliam!!!

It blows some silky string at Wooliam!

What was the thing that would paralyze it - "Thunder Wave!"

Wooliam sends a tiny jolt of electricity at the leaf-bug.

It chirps indignantly but does indeed seem to be moving a lot slower.

That's not paralysis, that's moving a bit slower, ack, she was hoping it would be actually paralyzed - "Tackle!"

Wooliam runs at the leaf-bug!

The leaf-bug flails around a bit but doesn't actually manage to tackle Wooliam back.

With six channels a day it makes sense to have lots of these, rotate through them, and then heal the lot of them at once when they're run down. She'll toss one of the empty balls at the leafbug.

The ball rocks gently from side to side and then clicks shut! If she looks closely there's a little screen displaying some information about the leaf-bug.

What does the illusion square say?

The illusion square informs her that this type of leafbug is called a Sewaddle, that this particular specimen is 1'2" tall and weighs 6.4 pounds, that this is a girl Sewaddle, and that it knows Tackle and String Shot. (There's some more information that's harder to interpret.)

She also has the option to record the nickname she plans on using for it, if she wants to.

She names it Hoja. She puts Wooliam away - he doesn't seem hurt - and she's not sure a channel will fix paralysis being slowed down, so she doesn't take Hoja out to introduce herself properly right away.

A little while later, she spots a man in a large hat, carrying an oversized backpack.

Wave wave.

Wave wave. He looks her up and down, like he's checking for something, but seems satisfied.

"Things get pretty rough up ahead," he says. "Here, I'll give you a taste of it!"

He reaches for the Pokéball clipped to his backpack.

"- okay, but I'm from another planet so I might make a mistake, please correct me if I do!" she says, reaching for Wooliam again.

"Another planet! What's that like?"

(He sends out a blue-and-black vaguely-humanoid Pokémon.)

Wooliam bleats excitedly.

"It's really really different! Nobody keeps Pokémon in balls! Wooliam, Thunder Wave!"

The hiker's Pokémon moves shockingly quickly and manages to get in a punch before Wooliam can do anything, but Wooliam takes the opportunity to jolt it with electricity. 

"Really? Where do they keep them?"

"Tackle! - sometimes we summon them from other planes by magic and they just go home when the spell ends, or you just have them around all the time, maybe in their own building with stalls if they're too big to live in your house with you. Also people don't battle with them nearly as much, it's a thing but I've never done it before today!"

The hiker's Pokémon is trying to get in another punch before Wooliam can hit it but it's not really working.

Wooliam rams into it! 

"From other planes? How does that work?"

"I have one prepared today but only one so I can't show you without using it up! I'd just cast it and then I'd get a celestial Pokémon from Nirvana to help me. But I'm not very powerful so it wouldn't stay long."

"Wow! I don't think I've ever seen a celestial Pokémon before!"

"I'm not sure if I can get any species that are common here! Usually I'd get a species that also exists on my planet, and it'd just be especially pretty and maybe a metallic color - keep going, Wooliam, you've got it! - but maybe there are celestial versions of species here too that I could summon now I know about them."

Oh, like how Alola has a special prettier version of Ninetales. That makes sense.

Wooliam goes to tackle the hiker's Pokémon—

"Riolu, Counter!"

The Riolu braces itself, and as Wooliam runs into it, it catches some of Wooliam's momentum and turns it back on Wooliam.

Wooliam falls to the ground, exhausted. (The Riolu looks like it's decently damaged, though.)

Oh no! "I guess you win?"

He blinks a little. "—It looks like you've got two more Pokémon with you, you can keep battling as long as you've got Pokémon left to fight."

"If that's how it works, I guess!" Out comes Pauta! ...she doesn't actually know what Pauta can do so hopefully Pauta can figure it out.

Pauta will attempt to scratch at the Riolu! Pauta is notably worse at fighting than Wooliam, but between Wooliam's earlier efforts and the paralysis, she's able to take it down before it can hit her back.

"Nice work!" 

He offers her some paper money.

"- is there always an implicit bet on these things?"

"Huh. You know, I never really thought about it like that."

"I don't actually have any local money, just some silver I had on me when I was transported to this planet, so I won't turn you down, but it's good to know - is this the usual stake -" She counts it up. "Can you scoot your Pokémon a little closer and I'll heal the lot of them?"

"There's not a single stake that's usual — let's say I beat a ten year old and they hand me a fifty-Pokédollar coin, I'm not going to start complaining, you know? I guess maybe you don't know, if you're an alien. Three or four hundred would be pretty standard around these parts."

He moves his Riolu closer.

She holds forth her rainbow bird and channels.

"Thank you very much! Safe travels!"

"Shelyn's blessings go with you!" she chirps, and she re-balls her Pokémon and proceeds down the road.

As she walks, the tall grass gets thicker and harder to avoid.

...she will have Wooliam out to take point and nibble on the grass, how about.

Wooliam is content to do this. ...Possibly a little too content. He seems more interested in eating the grass than on actually continuing to walk down the road.

Well, if he's hungry and wants a lunch break she'll let out Pauta too and take out her packed lunch.

Pauta finds some seeds on the ground and starts eating them.

Lunch is a pair of mini-sandwiches, topped with cheese and tomatoes.

Yum.

When they've had some time to forage are they any more willing to forge on through the grass?

Yes, but they don't seem interested in displaying very much urgency about it. Both of them keep wandering off to look at trees, rocks, et cetera.

Does... pointing and asking them to go That Way help at all?

It helps somewhat.

While she is attempting to get them to do this, they're ambushed by a purple cat!

Oh, well, fortunately both her not-"paralyzed" creatures are out already and can dogpile it! "Tackle! Scratch!"

Wooliam does this enthusiastically!

Pauta is not quite as enthusiastic as Wooliam, but still seems happy to participate. (Her scratches seem to be hitting noticeably harder than they were when she fought the Riolu.)

Now there is an unconscious ?cat? on the ground.

Oh, maybe she overdid it, now she can't catch the cat-thing. ...right? That doesn't work?

If she tries with an empty Pokéball, it doesn't seem to register the cat's existence at all.

Whoops.

Well, she's not sure how many of these she even wants to be responsible for, that other guy only had one. But it's hard to make progress with Wooliam and Pauta out anyway, so she will put them away and just have Wooliam ready to go if she sees anything else jump out. Walk walk.

Eventually the grass thins out again.

Up ahead on the road, there's a really young-looking kid, maybe about five years old.

"...are you lost?"

"I am NOT lost!!! I'm the STRONGEST trainer in Virbank City's entire PRESCHOOL and I'm going to WIN!"

He reaches for a Pokéball.

Wow, okay, she did not quite process all the implications of how inexpensive, easily handled, and necessary the Pokémon here are. Sure. She'll let Pauta have a turn.

The preschooler also sends out a Psyduck.

"Ducky can BEAT UP your Psyduck!! Because he's the best Psyduck ever!!!"

"I bet Pauta can give him a run for his money! Go on, Pauta!"

"You can do it, Ducky!!!"

Ducky shoots a blast of water at Pauta. 

Pauta mostly shrugs it off and starts scratching at Ducky.

They exchange a couple rounds of blows. It seems like Ducky is a bit sturdier than Pauta, but for whatever reason the water blasts aren't really doing much to her. Eventually Pauta is able to knock Ducky out.

"Wow! You're better than EVERYONE at Virbank Preschool!"

"Maybe I'm just very lucky and Pauta did all the work. Is that your last one, I can heal them."

"WOW!" He hands her some loose change and waits for her to heal Ducky.

Channel. "You did very well, Pauta," she says, petting her own Psyduck.

"How did you DO that?"

"I'm a cleric! I get magical powers from Shelyn, the Legendary Pokémon of love and art."

"Can Shelyn give ME magic powers too??"

"Maybe, if you're the sort of person who'd make a good cleric for Her!"

"What sort of person is that?"

"An artist or a musician of some kind! I'm an actress. And you have to be a good person, and care about helping everybody and getting them to a good place in their lives even if they've done bad things."

"And if I do all that I get MAGIC POWERS?"

"If you do all that and Shelyn chooses you. It might take a while! I haven't been a cleric for that long and I'm much older than you!" Probably most of that delay was because she grew up in Infernal Cheliax but she's simplifying.

"Awwwwwww. That's practically FOREVER."

"Yup. But it turns out that art's really fun even if you don't get magic powers! So I recommend it anyway."

"Okayyyyyyyy... I bet it's less fun than battling though."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you could do both, but it's up to you."

Well, in that case he's going to sit down and start singing off-key.

She's not in a hurry if he would like to practice some beginner vocal exercises!

He thinks vocal exercises are boring, but if she's sticking around he'll attempt to teach her the theme songs for his favorite TV shows.

Pauta is unhappy about this development!

Pauta can go back in her ball. She would love to learn local songs! Does it sound right if she resolves that wobbly note like this or like that?

The first one. ...He thinks.

She can go over them again if that helps him be sure!

...He's still not totally sure.

Well, next time he hears the song he can pay extra close attention! Ears are as important to singing as mouths!

While she's here talking to a fellow Psyduck trainer: what is the name of that water attack?

"Water Gun!"

"What a fun name! Well, it's been very nice to meet you, and if you want to find me again, I'm Songbird Laia Solandra." She curtsies and proceeds on her way; the kid can't have gotten too far from civilization on those little legs.

A little while after the spot where she met the preschooler there's a big hill, with what is presumably Virbank City on top of it, though most of what she can actually see from this vantage point is the fence around it. 

There are some more preschoolers hanging out on the road up hill, or if she'd rather avoid being challenged by preschoolers she could cut through some of the grass.

With the city walls in sight she'll go ahead and battle preschoolers, she hasn't encountered anyone who has more than one of these things yet and she doesn't know why and she has three and maybe they only seem low-maintenance.

"Hi miss!! Want to see my Lillipup? It's SUPER awesome."

(She doesn't actually wait for an answer. The Lillipup looks kind of like a smaller version of the Herdier Laia met earlier, complete with the blue back.)

"What an awesome Lilipup! Want to see my Mareep? He's terrifically fluffy." Go, Wooliam!

Happy Mareep noises!

"It's so fluffy!! Want to fight?? If I win you have to let me pet it."

"Sure, why not. Thunder Wave!"

"Bite it, Chase!"

Chase nips at Wooliam!

Wooliam bleats indignantly and zaps Chase with a little bolt of electricity.

She should probably try the debuff move ever. "Growl!"

Eep! Chase barks indignantly!

"Keep biting it, Chase!"

Chase attempts to bite Wooliam, but with noticeably less force this time.

Cool! "Tackle!"

Wooliam and Chase continue to exchange blows, but eventually Wooliam is able to knock Chase out.

"Awww man! ...Can I still pet him?"

"I don't mind if he doesn't! The wool's zappy but his face isn't." Pet pet.

She starts petting his wool.

Zap!

"That TICKLES!"

"A bit, yes."

"Oh right! I'm supposed to give you your PRIZE!" She hands Laia a slightly sticky coin.

"Thank you! And I can do a healing -" Channel.

"Thanks!"

"No problem! Have a lovely day!" And she continues in to the city.

There are a pair of identical twin preschoolers waiting outside the city gates, does she want to try to avoid them?

Sigh... she has a couple channels left... hoepfully inside the city there's something for non-clerics though.

"There are TWO of us! That means we're TWICE as strong!"

"That's what you said last time and we still lost."

"Well this time we won't lose."

"Does that mean I can use two Pokémon at once?"

"Yes!!!"

Out come Wooliam and Pauta!

The preschoolers send out a pair of... some kind of flower with a face?

Well, that's funny-looking but hopefully goes down to Thunder Wave and... she wanted to try Water Gun, how's that work, or does it just water the flowers.

Wooliam paralyzes the weird flower on the left.

Pauta looks confused about what she's being instructed to do.

"Dig in your roots! Let's stall them out!"

The flowers appear to plant themselves in the ground. It's not really clear yet what they're doing.

Maybe it doesn't know how to Water Gun. "Scratch! And Thunder Wave the other one, Wooliam."

"Now use Absorb!"

Wooliam paralyzes the one on the right!

Pauta also goes to scratch the one on the right!

The flowers turn their leaves towards Pauta and Wooliam and — pull? It's not entirely clear what they're doing but they seem a little healthier afterwards, and Pauta and Wooliam seem a little weaker. (Pauta moreso than Wooliam.)

It's also more obvious what their roots are doing — it seems like they're letting them heal some of their injuries.

Oh, how inconvenient, she might lose this one. ...is Pauta okay? Maybe Wooliam has damage reduction or something. "Concentrate on that one, you two!" she says, pointing at the right-side one.

Wooliam runs into it with his head!

Pauta tries to scratch it!

The right-hand flower is looking pretty damaged! The left hand one is doing fine.

The flowers continue attempting to drain their energy, or whatever it is that they're doing. Wooliam is still doing alright, but this time it's enough to knock Pauta unconscious.

Heck. She puts Pauta away and sends out the bug thing, though she doesn't strongly expect it to be much better than nothing, it's still "paralyzed". "Tackle!" she calls to both of hers.

Wooliam enthusiastically continues running into the right-hand flower!

Hoja is still struggling to move.

The right-hand flower is on its last legs, or would be if it weren't healing itself a little. 

The left flower is doing great. It's going to try to drain Hoja.

...For whatever reason, this seems to do almost nothing.

Oh, good for Hoja. "Go on, Hoja, you can do it!"

Wiggle wiggle wiggle — there! It tackles the flower.

Wooliam will also continue to attack the flower!

Then between the two of them, they can take the right-hand flower down! The left hand flower is going to drain Wooliam again, who's starting to look pretty rough.

"Hey! It's all up to you now, Sunny!"

"Okay guys, focus on this one! Tackle it together!"

"Hit the Mareep!"

Tackle!

Tackle!

Sunny is trying to move, but not totally managing it!

And after a couple more exchanges, Laia's two Pokémon can wear down the one still on the field.

"Told you so."

"Shut up."

"I'm telling Mom you said that."

"That was really close, you two put up more of a fight than anybody I've battled before!" says Laia, making sure everybody's in range and doing another channel. "Is there healing available in the city, I'm running low."

(They will need to get their other Pokémon back out of its ball, but yes, then, channel.)

"Just go to the Pokémon Center, silly!"

"Oh, was that a silly question? I didn't know because I'm an alien." Away go her 'mon after congratulatory pats. "Where's the Pokémon Center?"

"It's in the middle of town! It's big and blue and made of glass and it has a red roof."

"You're an ALIEN?"

"Yup! I'm from another planet! I just got here yesterday, some kind of Pokémon attacked me out of nowhere and then I was on a Mareep farm."

"Wow!!! What was your old planet like? Did you know Deoxys?"

"Deoxys isn't real."

"Says you."

"I don't recognize the name, sorry! My old planet has really really different Pokémon that people get ahold of in really different ways and battle with a lot less because of it."

"That SUCKS!"

"I'm telling Mom you said that."

"'Sucks' isn't a bad word, dumb-dumb head."

"It seems really nice here so far!"

"Our planet is the BESTEST."

"Well, you two have a nice day now, I need to head for the Pokémon Center."

"Buh-bye!"

In strolls Laia.

There's an entry gate, with a scrolling illusion-board displaying the local date (the year is apparently 2012) and a weather report. 

Then she's in Virbank City. 

The buildings here absolutely do not look like they were built on Golarion. They're more colorful, for one thing, and their style is completely different. To the east is a port; to the south is a group of drab buildings with smoke rising from large chimneys.

And there's so much glass! It's very nifty.

Can she find the blue building with a red roof in the middle of town?

Yes! Here it is! 

...The building has a pair of doors, but the doors don't seem to have handles.

Maybe they just swing open and never need to lock? Push?

When she gets close they slide open on their own.

In the back of the Pokémon Center is a large, central desk, with a woman standing behind it, surrounded by a few different machines. To the right-hand side is a small shop. Stairs in the far back corners lead upwards and out of sight. A few people are milling about; one is looking at a rack full of magazines.

To the reception desk! "Hello. I'm from another planet, so forgive me if this is a strange question, but I've heard you do healings here, where is that?"