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[The Grumpearl projects an image: a long-furred Yungoos seated primly on a wooden Canopy platform. Her grin is restrained, showing only a sliver of her sharp fangs, and her surroundings are awash with color: the greens of lush foliage and the vibrant blossoms of various flowers, both growing naturally in the trees and collected for display around the edges of the platform.]

Hello, everyone. I hope you are all faring well, in spite of the extraordinary circumstances. I am still familiarizing myself with this "Grumpearl" device, so I also hope you can forgive me for any technical difficulties that may arise.

[Observing her in this moment, it's hard to imagine that there even could be any such technical difficulties. She is perfectly framed and her thoughts are silent—almost eerily so. Try as she might to make it all seem effortless, it seems she is trying very hard, in fact, to keep them focused and to herself. Not a single stray thought allowed.]

My name is Lusamine Mendel, and I was very recently recruited into the Cheri Guild. Although I am still new to this world, I intend to do everything I can to be of assistance to you all. If there is ever anything I might be able to help you with, please do not hesitate to ask.

[The dark green gem fastened around her neck gleams as she tilts her head.]

Now, I have a simple question for recent arrivals and longtime residents of Bottlecap Bay alike, if you wouldn't mind indulging me. What is the last thing you recall happening before you were transported into this world?

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Ah, I see! Well, I suppose there are worse things you could have been doing with that amount of power.

Although... Planning to make a child suffer isn't a very benevolent thing to do, is it?

You sell yourself short, Laios! To explore such mysterious, magical places—and as a leader, no less... The life of an adventurer must be full of excitement! And it certainly suits you.

[But those memories make it all even more interesting to her. He must have had a change in profession at some point. What could he have been, to be meeting with so many important people?]

Come to think of it, it sounds quite similar to the sort of work we do now, as part of these guilds...

In a manner of speaking. As I said, my aim is to identify any common threads between our arrivals in this world—if there is a specific thing we all saw, or something we all did that might have sent us here, for example.

If I could identify something specific, then perhaps it could give us a clue as to why we've all been brought to this world... As well as how we might leave it.

Ah... So that's all it was. Not to worry. I am still adjusting to this technology myself...

[She doesn't believe him. She also shows no intention of leaving.]

You kept a garden in your world?

A severe punishment, to be sure... Whatever could you have done to deserve such a thing?

Oh! So you were...! Incredible...

[It's still a bit jarring to her, having memories fed into her head like this (it makes her think of the tunnels and the rain, of private thoughts raw and exposed)—but these memories are darling and incredible indeed, so her surprise is brief.]

I suppose you were following that creature with the intention of making a meal of it, then... [She feels a bit silly now, for assuming him to be a trainer.] Well, it's no wonder your stomach was growling!

[She laughs into her paw.]

Is this world very similar to your own? There were many other cats there with you...

[And no humans, as far as she could tell, though there was a mirror...]

Oh dear... My sincerest condolences for your loss.

[It... sounds a little stilted, even to her ear. But how else does one respond properly to such a thing?]

It must have felt like a true miracle, then, to awaken again and find yourself here.

[A strange emotion makes its way past her defenses and to him through their psychic connection—something like discomfort, close to anger, like he's intruded somehow—before she's able to steel herself again. This world has offered her an escape from the world that was once her own. It certainly isn't her paradise, but it is an escape all the same. To think that others from that world might have followed her—chased her here...

But she doesn't know this man, and the location he thought of just now wasn't like anyplace she's familiar with. She can permit his presence.]

Yes... I admit, I already miss my own darlings terribly...

[A gentler thought, then: the plush fur of her Bewear, luxuriously soft between her fingers.]

What a surprise this is... Somehow, I thought I was the only one here who was already familiar with Pokémon before arriving in this world. You were a trainer, then?

Ah, so you were a train driver, then. That must have come as quite a shock! My own arrival here was not entirely pleasant, but I was at the very least on dry land...

You're sure you don't recall anything out of the ordinary before the pain? [A pause.] Did you see any unusual lights, by any chance?

Firoza, then. It's a pleasure to meet you.

You certainly have an optimistic view on our situation! I'm glad to hear it. [There's a pause.] You mentioned "issues" in your world, just a moment ago... What sort of issues were you dealing with, if I may ask?

To a degree, yes, but I'm not quite as bold as you are. [She chuckles.] I can't say I'm in any hurry to return to that fog myself...

[Those fever-like symptoms he mentioned were unpleasant at best, after all, and often frightful... Though she would be lying if she said that she had found nothing tempting about that fog.

She tilts her head quizzically, then.]

What do you mean by "entering someone's territory"?

Or a sick joke. I shouldn't be the one alive here. It should be-

[Anasui stops himself but his thoughts of a beautiful young woman bleed through.

Anasui tries to stop thinking about it but it's clear the girl haunts every thought she has if he's not actively thinking about her. The sigh over the Grumpearl is almost irritated, though it's clear from the emotion that Anasui at himself. He tries to focus back on Lusamine.]

... The voice that I heard before arriving here... God or someone or something else... is a real bastard.

Oh... I see.

[Her voice is soft, sympathetic.]

What was her name, if I may ask?

[Anasui doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't like socialising and the only replied because he wanted to know what information Lusamine had gathered already and see if there was anything interesting there. But Jolyne was everything to him and he's already talking before he can stop himself.]

Jolyne. Jolyne Cujoh. I fell in love with her at first sight. Her focus and determination... Her pure heart shines a light on the darkness of my own. She was... She is wonderful.

Not localized to inside the train car where I was. If by chance they were outside in the tunnels, and large enough to encompass the train, then.

Well. Then we are missing seven cars and the people who were inside them. So that would be verrrry concerning!

[ So that's probably a no to unusual lights being in the subway before all that happened. ]

Jolyne Cujoh... She's very beautiful, in your memory.

[She senses that Anasui doesn't think he wants to talk about the girl, and perhaps she shouldn't admit outright that his memories are in her mind now, but it's so sweet (and familiar; and painful) that has to say something. It makes her feel...

Well, it's still difficult to tell what exactly Lusamine is feeling. But there is a certain sadness—an old, never-quite-healed wound—buried there.]

It's unspeakably terrible, when our loved ones are taken from us... But surely she would have wanted you to continue on. [There is a hesitant pause before she adds,] Perhaps there is even still a chance that you will be reunited again, in this world. You were brought here, after all, and you mentioned another who is also from your world, didn't you?

I should say so.

[Hmm...]

What was your intended destination, on this last trip?

Northbound towards Nimbasa from Castelia.

[ Ergo, if she's familiar with Unova's cities at all, and specifically their relative sizes and populations... it is quite the busy line.

At the very least, since he was awaiting a challenger, that means he was not, in fact, the one driving the train at the time. ]

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