Chapter 1: First Steps Outward

"Pokemon husbandry is only in its second generation back home. The world went feral for so long that domestication is something that has to be taught to interested parties and they have to be pretty strong on their own. There aren't really any for entertainment purposes. Could we ride and talk? Please?!"

Parish gave her a pleading expression. It was as though the idea never occurred to him before that you could be carried around by a Pokemon. Before Falling Star and the others, Oops was quite small.

"I don't know, never flown before! Ladders and stuff are fine. I'm scared of eating fruit seeds or breathing in dandelion puffs. And I guess of Tangela. And accidently drinking Oops. Some psychic Pokemon. Things that are unexplainedly sticky...". He trails off, face getting warm.

"Probably not heights though."

"Well, I try dirt often enough on our excursions, what if I swallow a seed and it grows?". Parish asked in a hissing whisper. "There's a lot of water in the human body but I need mine.". There was no humor in the admission, and he huddled in on himself as though cold.

"...". Parish seems to consider this with some scrutiny. "Okay but what if there is a dimension where they can?" The boy mostly takes her at her word, but still seems a bit nervous about the concept of stuff inside of him.

His breathing began to slow with the contact, and the boy wiped at his eyes with a sleeve. "Thanks Becca... Stuff... In me has always been one of those things.". Parish swallowed a few times and brought himself back to ease.

"Did you ever hear about a woman named Julia? She was the stuff of nightmares. The reason Alpha 2 ended up where it was."

"The Julia from Alpha Two was also a scientist, and she had few scruples. She was the origin of both our apocalypse and our salvation from it.". Parish began to tell a story he had heard recounted again and again. Now a fable about the dangers of being too quick to sacrifice in the name of progress.

"She created the Pokemon Human hybrids, far in our past. Hybridized Pokemon with others of their kind too. Caused a great deal of suffering. Among these creations was an amalgamation of a Class Zero lifeform, with dominion over the winds and sky, and a Class One, the highest tier of psychic waveform."

Parish wrung his hands slowly. "They rained stone, polluted with an other across Hoenn. It seeped into the land and warped the minds of the Pokemon. Got inside of them. Made them savage... Then the creature fled into the sky. Julia's body died, but her will to be the mother of an age persisted to my Gram's generation. She wanted the unification of everything, perfect beings to spread through an infinite cosmos. Could... Infect your body with just a scratch."

He sagged a little. "Gram lost a dear friend named Yellow Star, and almost lost her wife."

"No that's okay, but what's a sea Mauville? Is that like Sootopolis?". Parish tilted his head to one side, now we'll free of the demons he had recounted. "Do all the people there live in a bubble town under the ocean?"

"That sounds really nice, making houses for Pokemon out of stuff that isn't being used anymore.". His dreamy expression was back. "I definitely want to see that sometime. Can we go riding now Rebecca? I promise I will share something extra special with you later to make up for it."

"I would like that a lot.". Parish scoots up against Rebecca and settled his arms around her middle. The Pokemon reminded him of Oops in some ways. A little cool to the touch, making not a sound unless she wanted to. It didn't feel like the horse was breathing. He held with his legs and his hands.

It wasn't super comfortable, hips are boney, but being ridden probably wasn't either. One thing at a time. "Okay... I think I am settled right."