Michael used to be bright and idealistic, once. How he ever managed that, in the blasted wasteland that is Orre, he wasn't sure.

He started his journey, more experienced in battle than most ten-year-olds, thanks to the virtual reality systems that were commonplace for the region- with no wild Pokémon to speak of, well, that was the only way for the common man to have any variety. Or had he just grown used to their presence, growing up in the region's lab?

Somehow, he thought Jovi's optimistic little shit attitude helped, or at least made him disinclined to think well of anyone else who was optimistic.

Still, when Professor Krane had been kidnapped, when Team Cipher re-emerged, Michael did what he had to. No one else was listening, no one else was doing anything. Adults never seemed to understand, did they? So he took action, he saved the Shadow Pokémon from their trainers, purified them.

And kept them.

It's not like he was going to build his team any other way, not here.

But battling wasn't ever Michael's passion, not really. It was a means to an end, though interesting specimens always caught his eye. And, well, maybe the snag machine that Michael swore he wore only for the aesthetic anymore, or maybe to be ready if Miror B. ever showed up again- maybe it had a little more use than he claimed.

The software and hardware both fascinated him, and so Michael ended up devoting his studies to understanding it, how to modify- which he did manage, what with turning off the misuse alarm trigger- but never quite understood it enough to produce his own, a new one, let alone a better one.

And no one wanted to hire the washed-up hero, who would both outshine them and be useless, simultaneously. Somehow.

The solution seemed simple: go someplace no one new his name. Somewhere far, and ideally, somewhere less dry and desolate.

Looking at the departures from Gateon Port, Michael noticed one destination in particular: Alola. That was about as different from Orre as one could get, wasn't it? So he was off, to brighter shores.

A/N: This was originally told in the second person, as a style experiment, but it was pointed out that's against 's comm guidelines. If anyone sees any stray "you"s that don't make sense as a general-you, please let me know! I'll keep updating/writing in 2nd person for the ao3 version, and changing it here, so this applies to all chapters from here on out.

also, if ch3 looks like ch1 (or ch2 like the prologue, w/e) let me know- I should have correctly updated it now, I think, but takes a while to change things so idk for sure.