The Tides Have Turned

Day 0

The sun set over Sunnyshore City, glinting off of the solar panels that covered the bridges. While the so-called Gateway to the Sinnoh League was bustling with trainers passing through during the day, it was peaceful, almost serene, in the evening. The orange-tinted sky was so clear, it was easy to forget about the thunderstorm the night before.

Jay had a lot of time to himself. His single mother was a freelance Pokémon Doctor, so she was often away on assignments. If things went well, she'd be back within the next hour. Today, she'd been sent to help a Floatzel who got tangled in a fishing net on Route 230. Jay had no interest in becoming a trainer despite almost being old enough to have a Pokémon of his own, but he was fascinated by them nonetheless.

On days like this, Jay liked to sit on the beach, watching the world go by. The sand was still damp, but the breeze was warm. The tide was low, and the sunset illuminated the small waves lapping at the sand.

Jay saw something out of the corner of his eye, near the edge of the beach. It was a rounded, flat Pokémon, whose top half was dark blue, with a pair of antennae that occasionally twitched. Most distinctive of all was the pattern on its back: five yellow rings, arranged roughly in a circle. It was a Mantyke.

Jay gasped as he noticed that this Mantyke's right wing was bent, trapped underneath its body. He realised that it must have washed up on the beach during the storm. How long had it been here?

Jay approached the Mantyke, carefully turning it over to the left to take the pressure of its wing, revealing its light blue underside. Its right wing drooped limply, but thankfully wasn't bleeding.

Jay splashed some seawater over the Mantyke's gills, causing it to stir back into consciousness. He ran back home, which was near the beach, where he rummaged through the shelves until he found a couple of smooth pieces of wood and a tough length of cloth - enough to improvise a splint.

Jay ran back to the beach, and placed the pieces of wood horizontally across either side of the Mantyke's injured wing. He then tied them together using the cloth, being careful not to pull it too tight.

"It's okay," Jay said between heavy breaths, mostly to himself. "You're going to be fine." The Mantyke looked at him hopefully. He tried to lift it up, but it was much heavier than he expected.

"Jay!" A woman shouted. "I'm back!" It was his mother. She knew that Jay liked to spend time on the beach, so she often met him there in the evening.

"Hi mom!" Jay called back. "I'm, um, just doing something right now..."

Jay's mother was about to ask what he was doing, but gasped when she got closer. "Jay, I am so proud of you!" Her warm, brown eyes lit up.

Jay wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Um... Thanks?"

"Okay, so that cloth isn't adequate - there's always a few bandages on the top shelf - and that wood isn't waterproof - but still, you did it! You performed first aid on a Pokémon, all by yourself!" Jay's mother hugged him tight.

"You really think so?" Jay replied sheepishly.

"Of course I do!" She looked down at the Mantyke. "Now, we should take this little one to the Pokémon Center to be patched up."

That night, Jay's mother was tucking him into bed.

"I'm so proud of you for what you did earlier," his mother said. Jay didn't have the heart to say that he was annoyed at how many times she'd praised him. "But I've got to wonder... what compelled you to save that Mantyke?"

Jay looked down, eyelids heavy with tiredness. "Because... it was the right thing to do. Mom, I'd, um... I'd like to be a Pokémon Doctor when I grow up, just like you."

"Really? Why didn't you say so?"

"I wanted to, but I never had the time to. You're always out, and busy, and... I just never had the time to ask." Jay glanced up at the ceiling.

"Really? Well then, I'll start teaching you the basics tomorrow. For now, good night and sleep tight."

"Good night..." Jay mumbled. His mother turned off the light as she left the room.

"Rest now, my dear children, for when you awake a whole new world shall be your home."

Day 1

Off the coast of Equestria was the sea kingdom of Marelantis, a city made entirely of coral that came in a dazzling variety of colours, from pink to yellow to green. The reef was teeming with colourful fish of all shapes and sizes, as well as Marelantis' main inhabitants: thousands of hippocampi, also known as seaponies. They looked rather strange to an outsider, like a mermaid pony, or a literal seahorse. Under the guidance of Queen Oceania, who had dominion over the ocean in the same way that Princess Celestia had dominion over the sun, these seaponies were in charge of taking care of the reef and the fish that inhabited it.

One such seapony was Glimmering Pearl, or Pearl for short. She was fairly young, and had a stringy, purple mane that flowed in several directions like seaweed, a pale lilac coat, and a dull sea-green tail that rapidly fluttered from side to side. Near the edge of the reef, where few seaponies lived, she was inspecting a cluster of sea anemones, being careful not to touch them.

"Okay, so the clownfish population seems stable. That's a relief," Glimmering Pearl sighed. "But what about the sea snakes? I don't like them, but the queen says we have to protect them... Wait, what's this?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Pearl noticed something conspicuous. While most of the corals in this area were yellow, this one was pink and white. Curiously, she swam closer to the coral, only to discovered that it had... a face?