"Attention passengers, flight XXXX is now approaching Levincia Airport in the Paldea region..."
The soft voice of the flight attendant filled the cabin, and Carl stirred from his first-class seat.
"Finally," he muttered, rubbing his eyes and turning to look out the window.
It was the middle of the day, but Levincia's famous "Million Volt Skyline" -- the city's round-the-clock blaze of neon that supposedly never went dark -- looked less like a dazzling spectacle and more like light pollution from up here.
Any frequent flyer knows that "approaching" in an airline announcement means you've still got a good while before the wheels actually touch down. With sleep no longer an option, Carl reached into his jacket and pulled out a carefully preserved envelope.
"To the grandson I have never met:
Dear Carl, if you are reading this, you are likely at a crossroads, waiting for a change in fortune..."
He stared at the opening lines, his expression unreadable. "Is this a coincidence," he wondered, "or was my grandfather in this life a transmigrator just like me?"
Because that's exactly what Carl was. To put it plainly, he wasn't entirely of this world. He had been born into it from another, his soul crossing over before he ever drew his first breath.
In this life, his father had been a celebrated explorer from the Paldea region, and his mother a star pupil of the renowned Sinnoh Pokémon researcher, Professor Rowan. By any measure, Carl had been dealt an exceptionally good hand at birth.
But fortune has a way of evening itself out. When Carl was eight years old, his parents were killed in an accident while exploring ruins deep inside Mt. Coronet. The news hit him so hard that he was unconscious for a full day and night. When he finally came to, the memories of his past life had awakened inside him. Not long after, he was taken in by Professor Rowan.
Out of respect for his parents' memory, Professor Rowan didn't push Carl to set out on a journey right away after receiving his starter Pokémon. Instead, he kept Carl close, teaching him everything there was to know about Pokémon, quietly hoping to groom him into a researcher.
As if someone with memories of a past life could possibly resist becoming a Trainer.
Even without a formal journey, Carl found ways to train. Every spare moment, he'd head out to the wilds around Twinleaf Town with his Pokémon and put in the work.
Maybe it was the passion he showed, or maybe it was the raw talent he couldn't hide. Either way, when Carl turned fifteen, Professor Rowan finally gave him the green light to go.
Less than a year into his journey, Carl had already won the Grand Festival, and not long after that, he swept through the Sinnoh League's Victory Road with just two Pokémon.
At that point, all Carl had to do was nod and he would have been crowned Sinnoh Champion to a standing ovation.
He didn't.
He knew that in the not-so-distant Kanto region, there were two trainers whose power was on another level entirely.
So after registering his name in the Hall of Fame, Carl spent a single month resting in Twinleaf Town before heading out again, this time toward Kanto, to continue sharpening himself.
A month ago, Carl, now eighteen, had collected all eight Kanto Gym Badges. He challenged the Elite Four and swept through them in under an hour. Then, without stopping to catch his breath, he made his way to the summit of Mt. Silver to find the man known as "The Solitary King of Mt. Silver," "The Man Who Lives for Battle," the greatest Trainer in the hearts of countless players -- Red -- and issued his challenge.
Carl gave everything he had. He fought at the peak of his ability, pushing himself harder than he ever had before.
Through the early and middle stages of the battle, he'd managed to gain the upper hand more than once. But as things heated up, he got a firsthand look at just what "The Man Who Lives for Battle" really meant. Whatever strategy Carl threw out, Red found an answer for it within seconds.
In the end, the battle was called a draw. But Carl knew, deep down, that if Red hadn't been limited by the standard battle format, he would have lost. Cleanly.
Still, he walked away satisfied. The tactical back-and-forth, the raw all-out clash at the end -- it had gotten his blood pumping in a way it hadn't in a long time, and his Pokémon felt the same.
He came back down from Mt. Silver and returned to Twinleaf Town for the first time in years. Somewhere in the aftermath of that fight, Carl realized that what he'd actually been chasing wasn't the title of "World's Strongest Trainer" -- it was the feeling of pushing toward a shared goal alongside the Pokémon he'd grown with.
That same night, back home at the dinner table, Professor Rowan set an envelope in front of him -- a letter that had made its way all the way from Paldea.
That was when Carl learned the truth. His grandfather had quietly reached out to Professor Rowan as far back as when Carl was fourteen. But by then, the news of Carl's father's death had already broken the old man. His health, never great to begin with, had taken a turn for the worse. Rather than cause Carl more pain by introducing himself only to disappear, he chose to stay in the shadows -- following Carl's life from a distance through Professor Rowan.
The letter itself had only arrived after the grandfather's passing, carried across the ocean by others and placed in Professor Rowan's hands.
According to Professor Rowan, the old man had made one request: "If Carl's life isn't going well, please give him this letter." The implication was clear -- if things had worked out fine, the letter would never have been opened at all.
Professor Rowan admitted he'd wrestled with the decision. In the end, he chose to pass it along, because he wanted Carl to know just how much the old man had cared.
Near the end of the letter, the grandfather had written:
"Dear Carl, I've left a farm for you in Poco Town in Paldea. I don't know if you'll want it. But other than your father, it's the thing in my life I'm most proud of. If you ever feel like living differently, give it a try. Good luck.
Your grandfather, who loves you."
Carl sat with those words for a long time after he finished reading. He had never planned to give up being a Trainer -- but he'd be lying if he said that letter hadn't gotten to him.
Part of it was that the farm was his grandfather's parting gift. But there was something else, too -- after three years on the road, the honest truth was that he was tired, and some part of him had been quietly longing for something steadier.
Besides, who said a farmer couldn't be a Trainer?
He talked it over with his Pokémon that night, and by morning, they'd made up their minds. He'd spend a month resting in Twinleaf Town, then head to Paldea.
The plane jolted under him. Carl's thoughts snapped back to the present. He looked out the window -- the runway was already there. He carefully tucked the letter back inside his jacket and settled in to wait.
As a first-class passenger, Carl was guided out by the flight attendant almost as soon as the plane came to a stop. He stepped off with a large-capacity spatial backpack custom-made by Silver Corp slung over his shoulder.
The moment he walked into the terminal, a Premier Ball on his belt clicked open on its own. What emerged looked like Misdreavus at first glance -- but bigger, maybe twice the size, with red-and-gold eyes and long tufts of fur along its sides that faded to a soft pink-purple at the tips. This was Flutter Mane, the Paradox Pokémon from the world of Scarlet and Violet, or as the fanbase had affectionately dubbed her, "the Mane Queen."
Unlike the famously aggressive members of her species, this particular Flutter Mane had a remarkable gentleness about her. The instant she was out of her ball, she launched herself at Carl, wrapping her wings tight around his right arm, nuzzling into him insistently, and letting out a cheerful little cry: "Fu~!" (Good morning, Trainer!)
"Good morning, Flutter Mane." Carl held her with one arm and scratched under her chin with his free hand. She immediately let out a low, contented rumble. He walked through the terminal with her like that, following the signs toward the exit.
Not far behind him, in a Budew Café tucked into the terminal, a tired, middle-aged salaryman had just accepted a double-shot iced black coffee from the barista. In the next moment, he watched the entire scene unfold -- Flutter Mane popping out of her ball and burying herself in Carl's arms.
As an employee of the Paldea League's operations division, Normal-type Gym Leader of Medali Gym, Flying-type Elite Four member, and designated warden of Area Zero -- Larry would swear on his annual leave (if that was even a thing he had) that the Pokémon he'd just seen was undeniably a Paradox Flutter Mane from deep inside Area Zero.
He didn't bother wiping the cold sweat from his temple. He just pulled out his phone with a slightly unsteady hand and dialed the number that reliably led to nothing but overtime: "President Geeta, this is Larry. I've got an emergency to report..."
Meanwhile, Carl had made his way to the airport's designated tarmac area for travelers with Flying-type Pokémon. He read through every rule on the posted sign, then tossed out a Poké Ball.
In a flash of white light, a massive bird materialized in front of him -- nearly two and a half meters tall, covered in dark grey feathers that looked like they'd been cast from steel, radiating a presence that was impossible to ignore.