“Come on, Rockruff! Over here!”

In the middle of a dirt road, surrounded by trees, Selene waved her hand and called Rockruff, a small brown dog-shaped Pokémon that belonged to Professor Kukui. Although that was not exactly right, as the professor told her previously, that Pokémon was more of a friend that visited him often, but which also lived on its own in the wild. Rockruff was a bit behind her, smelling some bushes, but reacted as soon as the girl called it, rushing full of excitement and jumping onto Selene, rubbing its rock-filled fur against her neck. It was a sensation both tickling and painful.

“Ow, ow! I know, I love you too!”, exclaimed Selene happily while hiding the slight pain. “Seriously, I will never understand how you have rocks in your neck. Anyway, we should get going. Professor’s waiting for us!”

After Rockruff calmed down a bit, Selene left it on the ground and both began their walk back to Professor Kukui’s house.

It had already been one week since Selene moved to the professor’s residence, a tiny house right on the coast, a few meters again from seawater. Even if the outside seemed simple, the interior design was quite modern, with an open kitchen connected to the living room. A big fish tank was the main decoration of the area, but it also served as a wall that hid some stairs to the basement, with more advanced equipment that Kukui used for his research. Back in the living room, some stairs led to an attic, also open to the whole house, which had become Selene’s provisional room for the time being. There was a sofa and a desk in it, and as Professor Kukui promised, he bought a futon the girl could sleep on. Sure, it was not the biggest room, but it was quite comfortable, and the professor made sure she could have the privacy she needed, so sometimes the girl would just sit there and read… but there were far better things to do than reading inside.

Since she found out about Pokemon and how varied they can be, Selene had shown a great interest and enthusiasm in this peculiar creatures. Upon meeting it, she grew fond to Rockruff as fast as the dog Pokemon did to her, becoming a usual companion in her outings. Initially, Professor Kukui had taught her the basics about Pokemon and lent her as many books as he owned. The girl’s eyes were glued to the pages during the first days, unraveling all the marvelous things about these creatures. However, as the professor said, “Nothing beats a good field research!”. After taking proper precautions, like having a phone for emergencies and a map, the girl ventured into that unknown place, not without feeling a whirlpool of emotions in her stomach.

The areas surrounding the house were mostly natural, but still, Hau’oli City was close enough for Selene to arrive after a pleasant walk. Exploring the city was nice, since there were a lot of stores and tourists around. That allowed Selene to see how humans interacted with their Pokemon, and especially, how some humans and Pokemon ended up behaving similarly. Still, Kukui insisted the girl to explore nature, although she couldn’t understand why. She tried to be as cautious as possible, especially since she felt responsible for Rockruff's well-being. However, Selene gathered all the courage she could and began exploring the roads that lead into the forest. She tried not to go really far, but to her surprise, Rockruff took the lead. The girl was nervous, but quickly found out the creature knew that place much better than her, as she noticed how swiftly Rockruff moved to find water and fruits, all without straying too far away from the road. Selene relaxed overtime and learned to enjoy that part of the islands as well, discovering Pokemon that didn’t usually roam the city, all interacting directly with nature. That day proved to be as fruitful as the previous ones, as Selene and Rockruff returned home with a big smile on their faces. The house was really close, and the professor seemed to be at the entry door… talking with someone.

Officer Jenny was there as well, her SUV parked next to the house. Selene couldn’t make out what they were talking about, but noticed how serious the agent looked, negating with her head to the professor. After bidding farewell, Officer Jenny noticed Selene at the distance. She smiled and waved her hand at the girl, but even so far, Selene could notice there was some sadness behind that smile. By the time the girl arrived to the house, the agent had already started her car and drove away. Professor Kukui smiled nervously.

“Hey, there you are! How did it go today?”, asked Professor Kukui.

The girl remained silent, still staring at the direction the police woman had left. She then looked at the professor, not knowing if she should smile or feel sad at the question she was about to ask.

“Those were not good news, right?”, asked Selene.

After living together for one week, the professor had already learned Selene was more intuitive than expected. Knowing there was no point in hiding the truth, Kukui decided to be honest, not without sighing first.

“Yeah, I’m afraid so. We got nothin’ so far”, answered Professor Kukui with sadness.

“I see… Well, I guess there’s nothing to do but keep waiting. Don’t feel bad, Professor. It’s not your fault”, said Selene with a gentle smile, but Kukui could see the girl was disappointed about the news.

And she had good reasons to be disappointed. It had already been one week since she appeared on that shore, and nobody, not even her family, had asked about her. Sure, Selene was having a great time at that place, and the professor took good care of her, but still… Why hadn’t anybody reported her disappearance? Maybe nobody was looking for her? Did she even have a family to begin with? How did she end up at that place? There were instances in which the girl couldn’t stop those thoughts popping inside her head, and all that roaming with no possible answers was hard. Still, she tried to be in high spirits as much as possible, the professor was already doing a lot for her, she didn’t want him worrying too much.

The next day, Selene decided to take it easy, so she just took a book and a towel and sat on the sand. There was something soothing about reading with the sea views in front of her, the fresh air caressing her hair and cheeks. From inside the house, Kukui stared at Selene, knowing already the news affected her more than she made it look like. He had been thinking about a way of helping her, and given the circumstances, that seemed to be the right time. With Rockruff walking by his side, the professor left the house and walked towards Selene.

“Hey, mind if I sit ‘ere?”, asked Professor Kukui.

Selene was so focused on her reading that made a small jump when she heard the professor’s voice. She didn’t say anything, but pointed at her side with her hand. Kukui sat down and looked at the sea, with Selene doing the same, closing her book and leaving it on her lap. Rockruff instead decided to run along the beach in front of them, making sure to avoid water at all. They remained silent for a moment, contemplating the brown creature having fun, but eventually, the professor said:

“I’m sorry about yesterday”, said Professor Kukui.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s not your fault, nor Officer Jenny’s”, said Selene with a smile.

“Still, I know it’s hard for you. It must be confusing, being in a new place, not knowing about your own past and not knowing anybody”, said Professor Kukui. Those words made Selene change her expression, revealing a sad look in her eyes.

“I won’t deny it. I thought everything would be good by now. It’s… frustrating, I guess”, answered Selene. “Especially, you all are working so hard for me, and there’s nothing. If you haven’t got anything so far, what can I do? Still, I know mooning about won’t get me anywhere, so I try to make the most out of this situation. It’s just… the longer this takes, the more I wonder what I’m supposed to do…”

“That’s reasonable”, said Professor Kukui, noticing how Selene’s mood worsened after her own speech. “Right now, it’s hard because you don’t have a road ahead to focus on. And so, I have a proposal for ya. I didn’t want to say anything before, but now, since it seems you’ll be staying here for a while… Would you like to go to the Pokémon School?”

If there was a picture next to the definition of “confusion” in the dictionary, it would show Selene’s face. Even though she had learned about Pokémon so far, she couldn’t even imagine how those two words could appear together in the same sentence.

“The Pokémon… School?” repeated Selene slowly, making sure she heard right. “Is that an actual place?”

“Sure it is!”, exclaimed Kukui, followed by a loud laugh. “You see, I stayed at home this week to take care of ya, but every morning, I teach classes at the school. It’s a place where young Trainers and Pokémon go together to study more about Pokémon. They learn by interacting, playing together and doing lots of fun stuff hand by hand!”

It seemed to be a normal school, or that’s what Selene thought at least, with the difference of Pokémon being there as well. The idea seemed interesting, but she couldn’t help but worry as well.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? With my current situation…”, said Selene with sadness.

“I get it, but I think it’s gonna be great for ya”, assured Kukui with confidence. “You can meet and play with other children of your age, you’ll have much more fun than staying here all day! And even if it were just for one week, you’d have much happier memories to take with you. I promise, the kids in my class are really nice, they’ll welcome you with a Lovely Hug! What do ya say?”

Considering Kukui’s words, Selene found the idea more appealing. She was still nervous about meeting other children, of course, but everybody had been treating her well so far. Why would a school be different? She had nothing to lose by trying, and additionally, the professor was right: she was running out of activities to do while staying at that house. Maybe a change of scene would be beneficial for her. The girl nodded without saying any word, but that was enough for Kukui to smile.

“All right! I’ll call the principal and prepare everything so you can start tomorrow! You’ll see, it’s gonna be great!”, exclaimed Kukui with happiness.

Selene smiled nervously, feeling both excitement and fear in her heart. Maybe the memory loss was the cause of It, but the girl felt it had been a long time since she made friends and wasn’t sure if things would come out well. And still, she found a strong wish in her heart that pushed her to give it a chance. The rest of the day passed by quickly, with the professor making phone calls and filling up the paperwork to enroll Selene in the school while the girl reviewed the basics of Pokémon knowledge, as she didn’t want to give the impression that she didn’t know anything at all. At night, it took a while for Selene to sleep, thinking about what kind of kids she would meet the next day or what could go wrong. Among those thoughts, one popped out suddenly: “Everything will be fine”. That thought made her feel calmer, letting her sleep for the rest of the night.