Reality Check

A stabbing pain, a wave of nausea, and the rumbling of a hungry stomach. These were the three sensations that Alice Hope felt first as she came round into consciousness, body aching as her petite form lay strewn across the grass. The heat was anything unlike England, not muggy, but still humid, and the breeze that rustled her messy blonde locks smelled fresh and salty. Glossed lips parting into a long groan and yawn, the human’s eyes fluttered open.

No bedroom. Just wide, tropical forest.

The twenty year old’s head pounded again, caused by the jerking motion of her shifting into a seated position. Adrenaline blasted through her veins, heart racing wildly as the pale female tried to process what had happened to her. There didn’t seem to be anyone else around, but from the distance the sounds of birds tweeting and flapping their wings carried over, as did the rushing water from the cliffs not too far away, and the crashing of waves. Alice closed her eyes, opened them, and repeated the process several times. The scenery didn’t falter.

“Not good...” She stood up, non-straight teeth biting down onto her lower lip. Chaotically, Alice jumped back after getting a look at herself. Things apparently could get freakier. She wasn’t undressed, or even in her own pyjamas, instead adorned in a gingham check bustier tank top, cropped so that it bore her midriff, short legs on show with a white miniskirt, the ensemble fitted with fancy gold earring, a dream catcher style necklace (’how bloody appropriate’, she thought absently) and odd looking watch strapped to her left wrist. A bit of height was gained from white wedge sandals, and resting against the trunk of a nearby tree was a pale pink bag.

And a pink hippo with the dopiest expression ever. Its jaw was hung open, curled-looking ears twitching, long tail flopping up and down onto the terrain.

“Slow...”

Alice stared.

“... ... ... Poke.”

Well, then.

“I’ve finally gone mental, haven’t I?”

"Fenn, fenn! Fennekiiiiin~" Baconidas chuckled to himself as he hobbled along the shores of an island in the Orange Archipelago, watching Ferret run circles around him, chasing a pair of Butterfree around playfully. Cute little pokemon, he was. The professor was, in fact, here on the business of gathering a few more cute pokemon; his last set of starters had been taken by some of many newly licensed pokemon trainers, all very excited to have their very own Pokemon. As the Butterfree finally flew away, Fennekin stopped yapping at them and looked down, a little disappointed, much to Hickory's amusement. With a laugh, he picked Ferret up and set him atop his messy shoulder-length head of pale pink hair. Setting his darkly coloured cane to the sand once more, he stepped forward, putting a hand up to his eyes, to shield him from the Sun as he looked around for some good Squirtles or Surskits and such that may be in the water, just waiting to be caught and given to some kid.

What he spotted was, in fact, an even odder sight. A girl, about twenty, was just waking up, apparently from a really long nap, near a Slowpoke. Peculiar! No more peculiar than himself, mind. He set out, a bit faster, to go investigate, or at the least say hello. Hopefully she wasn't one of those odd people who challenge anyone who looks at them to a battle... He wasn't in a battling mood, to be quite honest. Soon, he came up near her, though, specifically from just behind her, as she apparently spoke to herself about her current state of mentality.

"Perhaps, hahaha!~ Though you couldn't possibly be as mad as I am, heehee!" With a chuckle, and Fennekin's cheerful yapping, he extending a hand for her to shake, assuming of course, she turned to face him. And in a red tailcoat suit, of Victorian style, with a pale blue shirt, complimented quite nicely by a red tie bearing the initial "H" in stylized penmanship, he certainly did look a bit mad, or at least odd. The trio of bright red roses pinned to his coat didn't help, of course... Well, at least he was well-dressed, despite the heat and occasion.

As his hand was extended, whether she accepted the handshake or not, he spoke, ever bright and cheerful. "Ahh, sorry if I scared ya, miss, hehe. The name's Sir Baconidas Hickory, Pokemon Professor, splendid meeting you! That's a nice Slowpoke you got there, by the way.

So, why were you sleepin' all the way out here on the beach? I'm sure your bed missed you."

Alice nearly screamed, gasping and jumping with fright as she whirled round and stumbled back, keeping her distance from the mad professor. She was still shaking as the man rambled, her large eyes skimming him over from behind the rectangular lenses of her glasses. In any other situation she would have complimented his get-up, but this was really not the time.

"I... I wasn't napping. I think I was... unconscious." She replied hesitantly, manicured hands moving to try and straighten her hair. It was vaguely styled into a long bob, the parting off kilter, a fringe shifting into place and bangs half teased. Head shifting, Alice looked at the Slowpoke again, the Pokemon's wide eyes peering at her, his smile fixed permanently on her. "And I don't have any Pokemon... He was just there when I woke up. I don't have Pokemon. Pokemon aren't real..." The young woman finished somewhat hesitantly. The stranger had what looked like a Fennekin with him. God, she was delusional.

"I don't even live near a beach. And I'm Alice Hope, by the way. Sorry-- I should-- go." He said Pokemon professor, too, didn't he? His name was odd. She really had to go. Maybe she was having a post-exam breakdown. Not good.

Awww... Poor thing was scared! Ahhh, wait. That may have something to do with the fact that he'd just come out of completely nowhere, greeted her with a rather loud and cheerful response to a question asked to herself, as she'd assumed herself to be alone, and was well... himself. But after a moment or two of being afraid, she answered his words with more words. Words are always so nice and fun! She seemed kinda shy, speaking with a rather hesitant tone, though for all he knew, that could just be fear or shock affecting her speech. At any rate, she had apparently passed out; was she on her way to a Pokemon Center after a particularly foul battle? Nah... Slowpoke didn't look fainted. Ferret proved this by boldly leaping from Baconidas' head to Slowpoke's back, making himself at home, to the bemused chuckling of the professor, his mustache twitching in laughter. "Ahhhh... That doesn't sound very fun." As he spoke, he pulled over a nice-sized rock from nearby and sat down on it; may as well make himself comfortable, non?

Hie cocked an eyebrow, however, when she noted that the Slowpoke wasn't her's, and even moreso that Pokemon aren't real. Peculiar. "Really, now? My, but if Pokemon aren't real, what are these fantastic creatures? And where have the last forty decades of my life gone to? Dear child, they are as real as you and I!" He grinned and tapped her shoulder with his cane, ever so lightly, as if to prove that he was, in fact, real as well. "And surely this Slowpoke is your own, right? He looks so attached to you!" And indeed, it did. In its own little way, the Slowpoke, now with a napping Fennekin on its back, simply adored the girl, and to a Pokemon expert like himself, it showed.

A moment later, she noted that she didn't live around here, which he could neither confirm nor deny, and introduced herself as Alice. "Alice, hm? That's a lovely name, you know? Reminds me of one of my favrite books..." Surely he was speaking of "Alice in Wonderland," though little beknownst to the professor, her life was quite similar to Wonderland, although in her case, she'd fallen asleep to a magical dream that seemed so very real, only to wake up to... Well, a reality that was stranger than fiction. But he had no way of knowing this, and was thusly oblivious. Though what he did know was that she was about to leave. And of course, he was a bit ignorant of the fact that she wanted to get away, not from the place, exactly, but from him. But, being himself, he simply smiled, standing from the rock, before stretching a bit, Fennekin waking up and climbing back up to perch on his head. "As you need to go, so you shall! Though, where DO you need to go? It's not very proper for a young lady such as yourself to be wandering alone, you know. Besides, some friendly company is never unwanted, yes?" Even when it is, it isn't!~

Alice frowned, glancing at the cane that tapped her shoulder, silent as the Pokemon professor rambled away. She wasn't really sure of what to say to him. He reminded her of the crazy scientist from Chobits and Angelic Layer, and vaguely of the Lord Ilpalazzo from Excel Saga. Oh, the love of popular fiction. Looking again to Slowpoke, he didn't even seem to notice the Fennekin, far too interested in its inferred trainer.

If this was a dream, the young woman would've just rolled with it, glad to have a Pokemon of her own, especially one as cool as a Slowpoke. Unfortunately, this felt too real for her liking. Ironically. "He's not mine. I've never seen any real Pokemon before now." The twenty year old insisted in that same lowered tone, clearly quite uncomfortable about the situation. Indeed, Alice knew which work the man spoke of. It certainly felt like she had fallen down a Buneary hole and awoken to something fantastical.

"Alice in Wonderland... Anyway," She trailed off, looking around. "A woman can be proper and still walk alone. I'm not totally defenseless, but - I don't really know where I'm going. I don't know where I am, or where to go to from here." Alice admitted. Her journey wasn't aimless, but with the mind so dizzied by everything, it was no surprise that she simply didn't know where to start.

Bwuh? She still seemed to be insisting quite firmly that the Slowpoke wasn't hers, despite the fact they looked as if they were practically attached at the hip; on Slowpoke's part, at the very last. Hickory frowned slightly, running his hand down one side of his 'stache in contemplation. She couldn't possibly be serious... Who hadn't heard of Pokemon? Ahhh, didn't matter, didn't matter. If she wanted to believe otherwise so badly, there was truly very little he could do to try and tell her anything different. She'd likely not care, even if he did, still not believing it, so for now, he'd take that in stride, shifting from a frown back to his normal smile.

Ah, but she seemed to have caught the reference he had made, to which he gave one of those classic old man smiles, the really meaningful kind with a glint in his eye and such. Alice in Wonderland did seem to fit her situation quite aptly, the way she described things. "Quite an excellent tale; have you read it? Simply charming." Though as she continued the discussion, it seemed she didn't have much interest in discussing literature. Ah well, another day.

He had to smile at the next comment, though. "Ahh, I should correct myself, haha! Rather, it isn't proper for a gentleman to have to walk alone. I'm positive you would be able to defend yourself," he said, offering a nod to Slowpoke, "it's just that it should be the gentleman's duty to escort a lady such as yourself to her destination." He gave a bit of a chuckle, remembering days of old. "Could just be me clinging to a bit of nostalgic youth, but I can't say that chivalry ever died, not in these eyes at least." Today's youth could really take a lesson from the good professor.

It did make a bit of sense though, chivalry aside, that he walk with her to help her find her way. She wouldn't know where to go, as she said she wasn't from here, and he was quite familiar with the area; most areas, in fact. "Well, you're in the Grapefruit Islands, in the Orange Archipelago right now; where would you like to go from here?" After a moment of thought, and allowing her to answer, another question struck his mind. "Say, where are you from anyhow? If you don't mind my asking, that is."

Alice frowned, nodding. She knew of the Orange Archipelago, that long forgotten, tropical region of Pokemon canon that she and few others appreciated. The gym challenges were unique and worked differently there, and in theory, if one could overcome them, then Kanto was a breeze (as long as one didn't have to battle Giovanni, of course). "I'm from a place called England. It's very far from here." She was convinced that the guy, or her own crazy mind, was bullshitting her, but she'd just run with it. "The weather's usually depressing and a bit random, it's quite small in comparison to other places... But I suppose from here, going to another place where there're actual people and places make the most sense."

Slowpoke still giving her the look of ultimate derp, murmured something to the Fennekin, before dipping his head to let the miniature fox down. He gestured his trainer to the bag beside him, and with a little hesitation, Alice in Pokemonland crossed the short distance to pick it up. "It'd probably make sense to escort each other, then, if you don't mind. We can even be all chivalrous about it." She managed a laugh, albeit a nervous one, smiling faintly, "Alice in Wonderland is great. I like all the different interpretations of it, and when I was little, I saw The Looking Glass on stage."