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Silver sparks swirl in the air, my grip on Alain’s collar tightens, the sparks spiral out into an open portal. A weedy old man in a lab coat stumbles through along with an Alakazam rocking a beard to make Gandalf jealous.

“A-Alain! We have to leave now!” He stutters out. I catch a brief glimpse of Dawn and May on the other side of the portal as it closes between us.

Alain’s glare shifts from me to the new arrival, “Faba, did you secure the files? You said you detected a Cosmog as well.”

“That brat Sophocles’ Porygon actively scrambled all the information, It’ll take months to find anything useful in what we downloaded. I wasn’t able to hold off the girl’s mentors while working on the system.”

Cold stare, “So you failed.”

Sheesh, I almost feel bad for the old creep, he said he got something. “I think you have more pressing concerns, asshole.”

Faba finally registers that I’m gripping his comrade, “Who are you?” Metagross slams against the nearby patient rooms shattering glass everywhere.

Alakazam stops his trainer from pulling out more pokeballs, “Enough! We need to leave! The boss has already pulled back, Ketchum will be here any second!”

Alain tries to shrug off my grip but that's not happening. Planting my good leg, I use his attempt to pull free to strong arm him into head lock. “It’s so useful that the villains of this world rarely visit a gym or learn to fight by themselves.”

My captive gives up pointlessly punching my numb back and shouts, “Faba, teleport us out!”

Shit!

I reach for Faba too but his Alakazam pulls the bumbling researcher away. He then raises a hand glowing with silver energy. Matching rings of sparks circle around all of Alain’s pokemon and the man himself.

Pokemon start disappearing from the room leaving Faba and his focusing Alakazam. It feels like something is ripping my arm off as Alain glows silver and struggles to break free from me.

I hope I’m not going for a ride with these clowns.

Alain growls out, “Faba?!”

“H-He’s trying!”

Alakazam’s eyes glow an intense silver as a voice echoes in my head, “Let him go!”

As if, “No.”

Nearby a purple portal opens up and Goh walks through in front of her Deoxys leading Dawn, May and her teammates.

An even harsher pull makes my arm feel like it’s getting stretched by some type of medieval torture device, my stitches burst and blood sprays the floor and Alain’s jacket.

Gritting my teeth, “I said No!”

Deoxys dashes towards us, Alakazam shakes his head and disappears with Faba in a firework of silver sparks.

Immediately I feel the torturous pull stop.

Alain goes practically limp in my arm, “What? How?”

Goh looks at me after hearing something from Deoyxs, “A very good question.”

A cold feeling creeping along my left side tells me now isn’t the time for questions. I toss Alain to the ground in the ruined garden and take out Blue’s Duskball.

“Hold him there buddy.” Looking then to the Zapdos while my giggling ghost starts wrapping vines over Alain, “Please make sure this bastard doesn’t try anything.”

Zapra gives a haughty chirp and then glares down at the man at the face of all of this, sparks lance out to the ground next to him as he tries to break eye contact with the big yellow bird.

A female voice comes through the shattered ceiling, “Would someone smarter than this idiot explain why I’m running all over my island this morning stopping pokemon battles to the death!?”

Tapu Lele floats in using telekinesis to drag along a slightly embarrassed looking Ash Ketchum.

For some reason I feel the world tilt awkwardly.

I barely hear some folks shout, “Kurt!” before the world just goes dark.

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Sleeping, I must be, the flashes of memories are too vague and strange to be anything but dreams. Then it all stops.

I’m standing in the middle of a round library, endless bookshelves surround a lobby consisting of so many floors the building seems to be missing a ceiling, instead just fading into the darkness of space. Stars drift down and orbit the breathtaking golden hourglass that seems to stretch up into the cosmos. Occasionally what looks like planets bust out of the lower sands and join the stars in the sky. Grains of sand glitter in the soft light of the library as they break off from the flow and drift towards more planets that occasionally dip down in orbit of the pillar of sand.

Somehow, it makes sense to me. An hourglass in an astrolabe in a library. The dust of time at the center of the universe and a record of all things. Both order and chaos, balanced in the gentle flow of existence.

A voice next to me asks, “Where is such a place?!”

I turn to see a young boy with black hair, he almost looks like Ash.

From behind a woman's cold voice cuts in, “Somewhere you shouldn’t intrude.”

A woman with raven hair in a silky black corset dress snaps shut a book and waves it at the boy. His form distorts like a fading mirage, a terrified Gengar evaporates into nothingness.

“Tricky creatures in that world,” Her eyes shift back to me, they look like swirling galaxies, “I see Viviane is slacking off again. You should not be here Young Master. Perhaps it would be best to learn how to keep pests out of your dreams.”

Her hips sway and the click of heels draw my eyes to the fact this woman is showing a borderline erotic amount of deathly pale skin. An impulse to give a witty reply is curbed by my inability to vocalise sound at the moment. A concern immediately put on the back burner as the hauntingly beautiful woman grabs me by the chin.

“Sweet dreams Young Master, live life to the fullest.” She gently lifts me as if we really were in space with a complete lack of gravity, “We’ll meet again at the end.”

My back splashes against the pillar of floating sand, the golden grains slowly envelop me like a warm pool until all returns to darkness.

--------

“He’s waking up!” Naomi’s excited voice shouts at a volume that makes me wince before I even open my eyes.

Opening my eyes I find myself on a hospital bed once more, in a different wing than the final battle.

Naomi hits the call nurse button on the wall as Jane wakes up from a nearby couch.

“Hey girls,” I notice it's not a private room, across the way is another patient, Guzma is actually sitting up in his bed giving my Joltik scritches.

“Um, hey Guzma, doing any better?”

The man snorts, “Ya, bastards drugged me up real good.” he points to the IV in his arm, “Just get to sit here and wait for it all to flush out. This little missy is quite the rare find, has anyone actually looked at your Joltik before?”

Naomi hops out of the room while calling back, “I’ll go get Doc Cutter!”

Jane seems interested in whatever the Battle Tower Master has to say.

“No, I haven’t let any of the labs we’ve visited check her out. But they haven’t exactly seemed overly interested either.”

Again he scowls, “Bastards always discount bug pokemon.” a sigh, “Look, I’m probably the leading expert on bug types in this region or most others.”

He holds up my starter like a puppy, “She’s showing a rare genetic mutation passed down from a Scizor. Her front claws are growing more rapidly than average Joltik while her organs for absorbing and redistributing electric energy are below average in capacity.”

While I try to remember what a Scizor is, Jane sits up in her seat, “So it’s a physical attacker instead of special focused?! Can it use steel moves?”

Guzma nods, “I wager so,” he looks over to me and scratches his head, “Look Kurt, thanks for helping snag the guy leading the attack on my tower… Before you leave today, Director Lils is going to give you a case from the league as a thank you. Let your Joltik absorb the Electrium Z crystal by keeping it in her pouch to solve her underdeveloped energy problem.. And take this.”

He tosses a small case from his bedside table over to Jane. She opens the box to find a polished red and grey marble.

While Jane seems stunned he chuckles, “That’s Scizorite, you'll need a custom pokeball for your Joltik to absorb its energy at a proper pace as she evolves into Galvantula. You won't get some weird Mega Galvantula with just that, but it should smooth over the rest of her evolution.”

Jane carefully places the case down next to a box already on my table which she shows me, “Geez Kurt, scoring two mega stones in one day. This one they dug out of Alain’s Charizard, Director Lillie said you could keep it or trade it when we get back to Hoenn.”

“Huh,” this may be a bit much to cover while I’m just waking up. I still don’t even know what happened to me, although my money is on blood loss, which could be used to explain away the crazy dreams. Assuming I pretend that didnt happen.

“Hey, what exactly are Z crystals?”

Guzma groans, “Look man, I just work bugs.” It’s like this guy hates showing that he has a working brain in that skull, “They are crystallized energy from the dimensional energies that fluctuate in this region. They form similar to geodes and can be found in the nests of Pokemon around the islands, particularly totem pokemon. Pokemon can absorb them over time to improve their connection to their energy affinities and unlock more powerful moves.”

Director Lillie walks in, “Like the Trevenant your teammate here fought, or that Raichu the other girl battled.”

Lacy and Naomi are hot on her heels while Citro follows a bit further back, trying not to spill the arm load of snacks and drinks from the snack room.

Guzma’s wife is last in with a steel case and a scowl. She dutifully places the case on my bed with a quick polite smile before rushing over to her husband.

My Lacy gives me a peck on the forehead before examining my machines, “Heart rate is steady, and the symptoms of blood loss seem to have lessened. We’re probably fine to go, I just hope the ride home is as boring as possible.”

Citro gulps, “We’re really leaving.” His eyes go to Naomi, “I can really come with you to Hoenn?!”

Naomi smiles but Lillie flicks the boy on the head, “Call sometimes brat, you’re that bastard’s son but you’re still the closest thing I have to a relative left in this world.”

So she says but I catch her hand on her abdomen like any pregnant woman when thinking about the future.

I spot the AM time on her watch and quickly glance over to the machines, “I slept clear to the next day?!”

A knock on the door declares the arrival of one Ash Ketchum to my utter shock, equally suprising is the Raichu beside him.

“Um, mind if I bother Kurt here for a minute before you guys leave?”

I spot more people outside, particularly Vermilya is poking her head in, looking for her cousin, “Naomi when are we leaving?”

Watts puffs her cheeks, “The boat is ready and in the harbor Milly, we’ll be headed over as soon as Kurt is checked out of the hospital.”

Lillie smiles, “Fifteen minutes kids, the paperwork is just waiting for him to sign at the door.” she pats the steel case on her way out, “I’ll bet Guzma spoiled the surprise, thanks for your help Kurt, you’re always welcome here on Akala.”

Maybe to you.

While my teammates pack up our stuff and Jane gently picks up my red snuggle bug from Guzma, Ash grimaces at the lack of privacy considering Guzma is still in the room.

With a sigh, Ash releases his Gengar who spots me and immediately hides in it’s trainer’s shadow. Raichu pokes at the shadow on the floor teasingly.

“I need to apologise for my pokemon, I think. He still hasn’t told me what he saw in your dreams that scared him, he just warned me that you’re very important.”

The famous protagonist seems to be looking for some kind of answer in my eyes.

“It’s fine Ash,” I put forward my hand to shake his, and when he clasps it I use his help to pull myself out of bed.

“I know Gengar are trouble makers.” he seems to sigh with relief but I have a question, “What happened with Mewtwo?”

Eyes widen, “You know it’s name?! That shouldn’t be possible, everything was locked down by the League.”

Figured he’d say that, “I heard the one in armor call it out, they’re the same pokemon right?”

Ash scowls, “No, the one from this world is a friend I’ve spent years gaining the trust of. The other… is the result of a sick experiment being dug out from the shadows of another reality and used by an evil man. Giovanni…” His expression twists in reluctance, “I’m not allowed to say even that much Kurt. Just know that not everything in the news has been wrapped up as neatly as the League claims.”

His gaze spots the steel case and mega stones, “I see you’ve gotten a nice set of rewards for the capture of Ultra Alain. I’ll add something in apology for my Gengar.”

Pulling out his phone, “Let me see yours.” I hand him my phone and he taps them together, “You’ve got my number now. If you need anything from the League, just use me as a reference.”

Hello land development approval!

Naomi’s voice calls from the hall, “Kurt, we’ve got a boat home to catch!”

“We’re good!” I give Ash’s hand one more shake, “So, I heard you’ve got problems with ex-girlfriends?”

I swear the Raichu just giggled.

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