"We think so! We do have the same DNA bases and amino acids as everything else. We are one of those species that's hard to place in the evolutionary tree, though."

"Humans are not hard to place in the evolutionary tree in my universe."

"Really? What are your close relatives like?"

"Various apes and monkeys on the planet where we evolved in that universe, Earth."

"Huh! There's a Pokemon called Primeape, but it doesn't even look much like us, to say nothing of genetic similarities.

Some people think we were created by a Legendary Pokemon, or that we're extraterrestrials—that one never made much sense to me, the extraterrestrial Pokemon species we've found are all made of different molecular building blocks and do weird kinds of photosynthesis or live off pure psychic energy, stuff like that.

The prevailing scientific theory when I was in school was that we evolved somewhere that's been really isolated for a really long time. There are Pokemon like that, and we've found the homelands, but nothing for us. I could check online if there have been any new developments in that area since I got out of school? My sister keeps me updated on some of the new bio research but her interests are all practical medical stuff."

"It doesn't matter very much, it's just - strange."

"You've got me curious now though!" he says, typing away on his phone.

A few minutes later, he says "huh. Apparently with all the new portal research going on in Hoenn and Alola, they think we might have come through from another world, maybe one without Pokemon like your world."

"I suppose that would make sense if they're frequent enough."

"Other worlds in general, or worlds without Pokemon? Yours is the first I've heard of without Pokemon, but there are some with the same Pokemon and humans, and some with only weird Pokemon. All have the same continents. We think they're alternate timelines, diverging at different points."

"Oh, what do the continents look like?"

Frank pulls up a world map on his phone. It looks like Earth, except the British Isles are upside down.

Kyeo has seen pictures of Earth! He has not studied them enough to notice that the British Isles are upside down. "Looks like Earth."

"We just call it 'the world' or 'the planet'. Scientists pretending to be objective sometimes say 'Terra'."

(The word he says isn't pronounced "Terra", but if Kyeo knows the Latin term or Ibyabekan has a different archaic word for "Earth" with similar connotations, that's how Kellim renders it and how the translation program learns it.)

Tragically, Ibyabekan education has discarded all knowledge of Latin and just calls Earth "Earth"-with-an-Ibyabekan-accent. "Where on it are we?"

Frank zooms in on the area that would, in another world and another time, be called "New York" and "New Jersey".

"This is Unova."

"Do you also have a large moon positioned for total eclipses? Earth has one of those."

"Yes we do!"

"So it would seem that this is an alternate universe Earth. I guess I'll leave all the questions about why this might be to the physicists, I guess."

"It would seem so."

"And you're a peace officer of some kind?"

"That's right! I'm a police officer; I patrol the streets, issue citations for infractions, apprehend and arrest violent offenders, and help people whose problems don't fit cleanly into the purview of any other emergency services personnel."

"I appreciate that you were there when I arrived."

"Thanks! I'm glad I was too. I like working in Driftveil because it's small enough we can cover lots of ground, lets us catch weird problems quick and keeps criminals at bay knowing there might be a cop around."

"Would it be a reasonable place for me to remain in the long term?"

"Depends what kind of job you want to work and what physical environment you're most suited to! Lots of people take a gap year in middle or high school to travel the region; in addition to getting experience as a Pokemon Trainer, it lets them see if there's anywhere other than their hometown they might wanna move. You're a bit old for it, but there are some people who wait until college."