Kyoko was too jet lagged to remember the drive to Pallet Town--trees blurred into messy green streaks as her Mom's car bounced down Route 1 toward the seaside village. At least she was too tired to cry, an improvement on yesterday.

Ever since her Dad had gotten the job at Professor Oak's laboratory, she'd been dreading the move to Kanto. Unova was where all her friends lived, where she went to school, where the lady at the local Pokemon Center knew her by name. For as long as she could remember, she'd dreamed of being champion of Unova's Pokemon League. Now she was sixteen, the age when a trainer could challenge the Pokemon League, and all her friends were starting their gym challenges without her. She hated seeing their pictures on social media.

"There's a Pokemon League in Kanto, too," her parents had told her. "It's the longest-running tournament in the world. Isn't that neat?"

But it wasn't her Pokemon League, and it wasn't ever really going to feel like home. Apparently in Kanto they let ten-year-olds challenge gym leaders. She was going to be competing with babies in the Indigo League, which made her feel a little useless.

Now, as she woke up in her new bedroom with nothing on the walls and no furniture except a stack of cardboard boxes, it all hit her at once. She wasn't in the city anymore, but a tiny little town south of Viridian where there weren't any other kids her age. Before she could break down crying, she reached for her Poke Ball and released her partner Pokemon, Vulpix.

The red fox Pokemon sensed her distress and snuggled up against her. Kyoko stroked her partner's soft head.

By the evening, she felt better. She gathered up some of her old clothes from a box and put on her ballcap, then looked at Vulpix, who yipped happily.

"Let's go explore our new home. Who knows, maybe we'll find something cool."

Kyoko's quaint house didn't stand out among the one other house in the entirety of this "town". There wasn't much to do in Pallet town, there never had been, apart from head to Route 1. Kyoko pressed her lips into a thin line when she stepped out onto the mowed grass and gently shut the door behind her. Her Vulpix mewed as it rubbed its cheek across her leg, a habit it had adapted when it had first been caught. Kyoko almost smiled at the contact, but there was something about this town that just felt... off-putting. The architecture was much older than Unova, and Kyoko wondered if all of the buildings in Kanto were just as antique.

The Vulpix padded along the faint path, clearly adjusting to this new life much better than its trainer. In fairness, it had been caught in a rather rural area, so perhaps Pallet Town reminded it of its old home.

Kyoko sighed and rubbed her eye, reluctantly following her Vulpix as if it were her trainer. Considering the options of what she could do, which consisted of meeting the neighbours, going to Oak's lab, or leaving to Route 1.

Riveting.

Kyoko was stuck at a metaphorical fork in the road, and after weighing up her choices for around three seconds, she huffed and hobbled down the three meter long dirt path to Oak's lab. She stood at the glass door and looked inside, eyes squinting as the harsh, clinical light shone through. A lamp was on, next to some files that had seemed to have been flicked through, with photos of Pokemon she had never seen before. Kyoko had read up on some of the more common Kantonian Pokemon before her family moved, but she had never seen one like this, but she couldn't make out many of the details from the distance she was at. She would have to get closer. Something tugged inside of her, an intrigue to investigate, a sudden thrill of mystery in this boring town.

Kyoko shouldn't, she knows its immoral and probably breaks whatever law this town has. She looked to her left - her Vulpix was playing with flowers, swatting its red paw at them playfully and wagging its six tails. Seems like it is entertained for now, maybe it wouldn't notice if she slipped in, even just for a few minutes.

Kyoko reached out her hand and touched the door handle, feeling a rush of adrenaline and excitement. She was doing something dangerous--if she got caught, she might get arrested, or her Dad might get fired from Oak's lab. Actually, if that happened, maybe it would be good, because she would get to go home. She slid the door aside...

It was locked. The windows, too. Short of breaking the glass, there was nothing left to do. Time to go home and feed Vulpix, then go to bed. Her friends in Unova wouldn't even be awake at this hour to call.

She turned around with a sigh, only to feel Vulpix brush up against her leg. The fiery fox had a flower in her mouth, and she looked expectantly up at Kyoko, then at the lab.

"What? What is it?"

Vulpix set down the flower. Then she raised her six tails in the air and her eyes glowed white. Suddenly, a mechanical click came from inside the building--the locks were no longer active, and neither was the alarm system that she hadn't even noticed before. The fox Pokemon perked her ears up proudly and pointed a paw inside.

"What was that?" asked Kyoko, impressed. She hadn't ever heard of a move called Pick Locks. "Oh, Disable! Clever! I didn't know you knew that move!"

At this point, there was really no turning back. She stepped inside the lab, smelling old paper and coffee stains. It was eerily quiet and cold, and again she thought of how disorienting the unfamiliar Kantonian architecture felt. The pages she had been looking at sat on a desk, notes scribbled by hand instead of on a computer, and she stepped closer to read them.

There were several blurry photos, as well as three sketches: watercolor drawings of large bird Pokemon. The blue one had a crest on its head and a long, ribbon-like tail, the yellow one had angular wings and a long beak, and the reddish-orange one had fire coming out of its wings and head. She read the words.

Numbers 144, 145, 146: The legendary birds of Kanto have not been credibly sighted for decades. As the Pokedex is based on fact and not rumor, these Pokemon may have to be excluded from the first edition.

The birds reminded her a little bit of a legend from Unova, the three dragons of fire, ice, and lightning. She had always loved myths and legends, so she soaked up the drawings and the scribbled notes about their rumored capabilities. Apparently the birds could control the weather and each one was only active in a specific season, hibernating in hidden nests for the rest of the year.

Vulpix cocked her head, wondering what Kyoko was doing breaking into a building to look at some drawings on paper. "I don't know either," she whispered. "We should probably get out of here."

She turned to leave, carefully closing the glass door behind her. "No chance you have another move that can re-lock the door?" she whispered to Vulpix. The fox Pokemon wagged her tails, performing a Tail Whip--not exactly what she was looking for. Silently, the two of them darted away, crouching behind the fence row across the street. Kyoko looked both ways to make sure no one was coming down the path, then gestured for Vulpix to follow her back to the house.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't a great idea to walk so suspiciously. She made it three steps away from the door before someone noticed.

"What are you doing sneaking around like that?" a voice asked.