Chapter 1
Of all the things Katherine had expected when her and her family moved to Alola, this was not it. She had thought about the inherent change in situation, the worries of settling in and finding her place. Even getting a pokemon had been a possibility in the back of her mind, though she hadn't expected anything to come of that. Of course, Blossom, her newfound Bounsweet friend, had other plans.
All of that being said, Katherine was not prepared to step onto the island's beach, expecting to see the sunset with her pokemon, and instead finding a person unconscious on the sand.
She was pretty sure it was a person, at least. The setting sun, while pretty, wasn't offering the most light, and her first glance had her assuming an injured pokemon had been beached. A pokemon more unfamiliar to her had made more sense than a random person. Regardless, closer inspection proved the figure at the very least humanoid.
They were lying curled in the sand, their strange white clothes dirty and torn. The position of their body combined with the silver hood they wore kept her from being able to see their face.
Katherine hesitantly approached, not quite certain what to do. She had no idea what had happened, or how long this person had been there, but they didn't look to be in the best condition. She stared for a moment, unmoving, until a chirp from Blossom on her shoulder startled her into movement.
First things first, she grasped the figure's hand, gently adjusting their fingerless gloves in order to check for a pulse. The heartbeat underneath her fingertips was strong, if perhaps a bit irregular. That was reassuring at the very least.
Seeing that her check hadn't done anything to make the person stir, Katherine reached to shake their shoulder. When nothing happened, she gestured for Blossom to give rousing them a try. She was already making plans for what to do if that didn't rouse them when a pained groan sounded out.
Katherine leaned back, quickly letting go of the hand that she had still been holding for some reason. "Hello? Are you alright?"
She got an answer, but the person was clearly still out of it, given that Katherine couldn't work out any words from their speech. They were slowly uncurling, shifting their body to look at her. At least, that's what Katherine assumed their goal was, given that their eyes were hidden behind a a strange silver and teal visor.
Their face scrunched up, and Katherine tried again to parse what they were saying as they reached a hand towards something on their belt. Upon seeing her non-reaction, they cleared their throat and tried again.
"Uh, hello?" They adjusted themselves again, bracing their body to sit up slightly, resting on their elbows. "What happened?"
Katherine frowned. "That's what I was going to ask you!"
"Oh. I'm not really sure. I think I was out taking a look around? I know that I tripped, then something weird happened, and I woke up here and everything hurts."
That made sense. Kind of. Katherine figured there was a chance they had been looking out for land on one of the ferries and fallen, eventually washing up on this beach. Not all of those details made perfect sense, but that was much less important than their last statement.
"Oh! Are you okay? Does anything seem broken?" Katherine took an evaluating look at them now that she could see more of their- her body. She was pretty sure they were a girl. Aside from streaks of sand and grit, her clothes sported a few minor rips, with a fairly substantial one on her forearm. Unfortunately that had left the arm underneath exposed to the sun for however long she had been unconscious. "How's your head?"
The girl made a face, her face dim in the twilight. "No breaks, I don't think. Everything's pretty blurry though, and my head is..." She trailed off. "Bad. Not as bad as my arm though. Feels burnt."
The lack of light made it hard to see, but Katherine could still notice what looked like an awfully dark sunburn on her exposed arm. "I believe it." She glanced up at the steadily darkening sky. "Do you think anyone you know is going to find you soon?"
She shook her head. "I doubt it. My family will notice that I'm gone, certainly, but they're not equipped to find me." A sigh. "I'm on my own now."
Katherine paused, considering. On one hand, this was a stranger that she had just met. On the other hand, she was an injured stranger with nowhere to go and no immediate help coming. It wasn't like she didn't have extra room where she was staying. Uncertain, Katherine looked towards Blossom.
Her pokemon chimed encouragingly. That answered that, then.
Her mind made up, Katherine smiled. "Maybe not entirely on your own. If you want, you can stay with me, at least for the night."
There was a moment of silence, long enough to make Katherine start to feel awkward about asking, before the girl smiled back. "I'd like that, if you don't mind."
"Of course!" Katherine responded. Then she took another look at the girl still sitting on the sand. "That being said, can you stand?"
"That's a good question." The girl said. "Give me a second."
Katherine watched as she shifted her weight to reach into her belt again. It was too dark to see much of what she was doing, although it ended with the girl taking a swallow of something she had pulled out.
"Ugh." She made another face, before looking up at Katherine. "Can you give me a hand?"
Blossom adjusted herself in order to stay on Katherine's shoulder as she heaved the other girl up. She swayed slightly, so Katherine forwent letting go in favor of keeping her stable.
"Thanks." The girl's voice was quiet.
Arm in arm, the two of them started picking their way across the beach, Katherine leading them back towards the lodgings she had been given for the festival. As they reached the treeline, the girl beside her paused.
Katherine stopped as well, looking to ask what was wrong, to see the girl studying the trees. She said something that Katherine couldn't quite make out, calling the unfamiliar word out. When nothing happened, the girl muttered something and tried again.
There was a flash of movement, and then a strange purple-ish pokemon whizzed out of the trees to hover just out of the girl's reach. It trilled discontentedly, glowing eyes piercing in the darkness.
She didn't seem surprised about that, just shaking her head in response and gesturing for Katherine to continue leading them. Katherine did so, figuring that now was not the time to ask questions about unfamiliar pokemon.
They made it to Katherine's room without any further issue. The girl's balance was still somewhat iffy, but she was very good at not running into things. Better than Katherine, at the very least.
Katherine finally let go of the other girl in order to open the door. "It isn't much, but it is enough for both of us to get some rest." She didn't even bother switching on the light as she stepped in.
The girl stepped in behind her, finally taking down the hood she wore. Her hair was dark underneath it, braided out of her way. It looked nice.
The strange pokemon flitted in behind them both, darting around the room suspiciously. It stopped to hover in front of Blossom and for a moment Katherine was worried they might try to fight. Luckily, after a few exchanged trills, the pokemon darted away again. It tucked itself into a corner, still watching them with its bright eyes.
There was that unfamiliar word again, coming from the girl. She followed it, speaking to the pokemon. "It's fine. You're okay." The pokemon seemed unconvinced and the girl sighed. Looking to Katherine for permission, she pulled a spare pillow off of the bed and placed it on top of the highest cabinet that she could reach. It made Katherine realize that the girl was kind of short, really. The pokemon didn't move, but the girl seemed satisfied.
Katherine grabbed some clothes from her bag, heading towards the bathroom. "I'm going to get changed. Feel free to make yourself comfortable." She heard the girl agree as she stepped in to get ready for bed.
By the time she stepped back out again, night had truly fallen. Katherine took a minute to let her eyes adjust. Blossom was waiting for her, her sweet scent permeating the air. Katherine yawned, pulling her pokemon's pokeball out of her pocket. She was still getting to know her friend, but she had learned that she liked the option of sleeping in her ball.
Blossom trilled at her, bumping against the pokeball to recall herself. Katherine whispered a goodnight to the closed ball, before taking stock of the bed situation.
The pokemon had settled down onto the pillow, but wasn't fully asleep yet, if the glowing slits of its eyes said anything. As for the girl, she had fallen asleep on the armchair.
Katherine frowned at that. She had meant to offer the bed; it wasn't like she was the injured one between the two of them. Still, given how the girl seemed to have only barely managed to take off her shoes and that visor, she must have been pretty tired. Katherine decided not to disturb her.
Instead, she yawned again. She was pretty tired too. She could talk to the girl more tomorrow. With that decided, it didn't take long after Katherine had gotten into bed for her to fall asleep as well.