The Ralts peered up at the sky, shielding her eyes as she did so. The sun hadn’t moved very far across the sky and yet she had already left the familiar portions of her home behind. The trees had started to thin out little by little, and the sounds of wildlife were becoming less and less common. She hadn’t even heard any Zigzagoon packs, and they were as common as the grass. It was, she decided as she brushed past yet another shrub, slightly unnerving.

Not for the first time, she wondered if this had been a bad idea. Heading directly into a human city where she could be found and captured at any moment…one wrong step, one bad move, and it would all be over. It went against everything she had ever been taught, yet among the anxiety and fear, excitement welled up from deep within, a font of curiosity and wanderlust in equal measure. It was with these feelings that she forged onwards, determined to seek out answers for herself.

Still, all the excitement in the world didn’t help with her nerves. What would a human city even look like? A vision of giant log houses came to mind, each with their own garden so you didn’t have to go far to get a snack; an enormous bonfire would light every corner and at least five massive rivers would be trailing around, all wide and shallow yet packed with fish. She crested the hill she had been climbing, daydreams still floating through her mind, when a glint of light from ahead blinded her. Yelping, she rubbed her eyes to get the spots out and squinted at the irritant. She blinked once, twice, and her jaw dropped.

Sprawled in front of her was a landscape full of structures unlike anything she had ever seen. Most were taller than the trees and colored not unlike river pebbles: a collection of muted grays, blues, tans, and reds with brightly colored slanted tops. Spaced regularly along the surfaces of many of them, she saw... mirrors? The light of the sun glinted off of them and into her eyes. Ralts blinked. The only mirror she had ever encountered was a small, cracked thing owned by a trail-scavenging Kirlia. It had been strange, akin to looking into a collection of water-filled cups from above.

And then she looked closer and saw that the swarms of far-off figures among the buildings were humans. Many, many humans. Overcome with a sudden bout of paranoia, the Ralts squeaked and dropped to the ground, peeking above the grass after a moment. Not spotting any alerted bands of hunters or trainers bearing down at her, she felt rather embarrassed. She peered at the little dots of life visible around the buildings. The number of people and the size of the city was amazing. The concentration of beings around the structures outnumbered her home fivefold, yet there was so much space it felt a little empty. They moved to and fro, heading about their day with nary a bumped elbow.

A hint of movement caught her eye. To her left, she could see a large amount of humans scattered around the forest edge. What were they…? In the distance, she saw a tree fall to the ground, cut from its roots at the base and leaving a stump behind. Many such stumps were littering the field behind them. They were cutting down the forest? Why?

Across from the field of felled trees she could spot an increasing number of squat structures, some of which seemed to be unfinished. The Ralts felt uneasy at the sight. Was the city… growing?

Well, she wouldn’t get answers by sitting here and gawking. To her right she spotted a patchwork line of large bushes and trees that led down, with only a few open spaces between. Backtracking a little, she circled around and made it to the line with no trouble, darting down the hill in the foliage's shadow.

Her cover passed near a small, isolated building on the far outskirts. That seemed like a promising first investigation destination. The walls were very tall with a mirror inset into it above a few stacked boxes. There was no movement, but muffled noises emanated from inside. Spotting nothing immediately alarming, the Ralts moved forwards. Climbing on the crates, she looked into the mirror only to find it wasn't a mirror at all, but a window.

It was transparent, giving her a perfect view inside the building, which she quickly re-identified as a house. There were so many things inside it was hard to take in: amazingly crafted furniture, wooden floors, figurines of creatures she had never seen, a miniature star on the ceiling surrounded by rotating boards, plants in pots, a human that was looking right at her—

She dropped down, almost bashing the window sill in her haste; her heart hammering in her chest as the seconds passed. When nothing seemed to happen, she hesitantly peeked over the edge, ducking back down when she spotted the human still looking at her. She bit her lip. Surely they should have spotted her by now? Taking a risk, she poked her head above the edge a third time.

The human was still there, but they didn’t seem to notice her. They seemed to be animatedly talking into the otherwise empty room, unbothered by the lack of audience. She held a hand above her head to block out the glare of sun from the glass. She blinked, confused. On closer inspection, the human appeared to be exceptionally tiny, and standing in some sort of box. Who was she talking to? What was going on here?

In a flash, the human disappeared, only to be replaced with a closeup of her upper body. Various images in the shape of clouds and the sun appeared behind her, the human waving at them animatedly. She stared at this unexpected display, struggling to understand what was happening. What was this? She gazed at the rest of the room, desperate for some context. On the walls were various still images of a few people, all in odd poses and smiling. She frowned at them, comparing it to the weird box. Was it a moving picture? A moving, talking picture at that, though it was a bit hard to hear through the glass.

The Ralts stared at it in awe. Humans had made this? How did they make a picture move and talk like that? It wasn’t anything like telepathy, and she didn’t sense any psychic energy, so it wasn’t an illusion. Who was it even playing for? There didn’t seem to be anyone receiving the message around. The moving image changed again, showing a different set of humans. Well if nobody was around to hear it, she might as well listen in. Pressing an ear to the window, she concentrated on the voice within.

"...Mossdeep’s Space Center has reaffirmed their plans to launch their first manned mission to the moon in the coming weeks." A woman with blue hair stated as an image of a tall yellow-green building came into focus behind her, with a large white construct looming in the background. Mossdeep space center? What was that? The Ralts watched the screen, fascinated. "Using data gathered from the Porygon-M rovers, these brave astronauts and scientists will land on the moon to facilitate the first ever lunar research base. The center has announced that with their new spacefaring technology and cooperation with several species of pokemon that construction should only take a few months. An exciting time for all of us."

She nearly fell off the crate. Land on the moon!? Did she hear that right?

"Indeed." The screen had switched to focus on the black haired man. "I wish them the best of luck. In other news, the Gym Leader of Lavaridge Town, Jeffrey Moore, has retired from his position—"

Suddenly, a high-pitched screech filled the air and the Ralts jerked back from the glass, scrambling for cover. She hid below the edge for some time, listening to a succession of very faint sounds and footsteps followed by some nondescript clattering, a squeaky groan, and a sigh. Risking a peek, she saw that an actual human had sat on the cushioned seat directly below her. He appeared to be fairly old, brown haired and light of skin, dressed in a baggy garment, and emanated hunger, anticipation, relief, and a fading exhaustion. A bowl of what appeared to be steaming worm-like strands covered in some type of meaty sauce lay on the table, next to some type of small rectangular device covered in bright protrusions. The human picked the device up and pressed down on the protrusions, and then the noise from the animated box became so quiet that she struggled to hear anything at all.

The Ralts watched as the human picked up some tined metal, twirling the strands around the implement. Was that how humans ate? Wouldn’t it be easier to just lift them up and—oh, right, they weren’t Psychic. Wouldn’t his hands work? Ah, but the meal had been hot enough to steam, and that sauce looked rather messy. Maybe he could’ve just made a psychic bubble and—er. Hm. Wow, living without telekinesis kinda sucked.

The human frowned suddenly, looking left and right before turning around fully. The Ralts recoiled, dropping back onto the crates, and descending even further at the distant sound of footsteps. Darting around a box, she hid with her back to the cardboard and held still.

She heard the glass panel creak as it opened for a moment, then she heard the human’s voice. “Tch, damn pests. Gotta get rid of—” the words cut off as the window closed. The Ralts sighed in relief. That had been too close; the human was starting to get suspicious, she’d have to move on before something bad happened.

Circling around front, she noted a flowerbed and a strange wheeled contraption chained to a fence. More importantly, a road that looked to lead directly into the city. She glanced at the sun once more, finding that it was still just barely past its apex. She had plenty of time left to explore the city before she had to head back. Few questions had been answered, many more had arisen. What were those strange terms that woman had spoken of, like ‘Gym Leader’? What was that animated box, and how did it work? What kind of weird food was that, and what did it taste like?

But the most important discovery was that announcement on the picture box. Were they really going to…?

The Ralts glanced at the distant horizon where a faint white crescent peeked out from the rim of the world, thoughts of wondrous flight darting across her mind. Shaking her head, she turned back to the human city and started to walk once more.