Chapter 1
Maybe I am crazy
Laresa pushed herself off the ground and got to her feet. Okay, what the hell is this?
She took a look around, or tried to, at least. It was pitch black; she couldn't see a thing. Okay, girl, she thought, think. You were just walking through the woods, and the next thing you know, you're on the ground in the dark. So what happened?
Her first thought was that she'd passed out for some reason and it was now night. No, that's not it. Or not all of it, at least. There's no way I'm in Ilex Forest any more, or in any forest, for that matter. Ground feels completely barren. A lot flatter, too, and few loose rocks or anything. Too smooth to be natural, but it's definitely dirt, and-she gave herself a mental shake-Okay, not what you need to focus on right now. Check yourself first, then check your suroundings.
In the darkness, Laresa couldn't examine herself visually, but she felt all over herself. Okay, no injuries, as far as I can tell. And I've still got my pack, so-she gave herself a mental slap-Okay, girl, you're not thinking clearly. You've got your pack. There's a flashlight in there. So get it out.
She put her pack on the ground and knelt down in front of it. She managed to locate the zipper and open it, and rummaged through the contents by feel until she found the flashlight. It took her another couple seconds of fumbling to turn it on.
Okay, good. You've got some light now. She first turned the light on herself. Okay, no signs of injury or anything. And I feel fine, too. Laresa zipped up the pack and put it back on, and got back to her feet. Using the flashlight, she took another look around.
She was in some sort of cave, it seemed. A big one, too. And not a natural one. The ground, the celing, the walls, everything was far too smooth to be natural. Someone made this cave. But who? And why? And why am I here? And then she noticed something else: there was no entrance. No way in or out. What the hell? How did-okay, girl, stay calm. You obviously got in here somehow. That means you can get out the same way. So stay calm and find the way out. Start by doing another sweep of the walls. Maybe you missed something.
She was looking over the walls when something caught her eye. there was... something, some strange object, on the ground near one of the walls. She walked over and picked it up to take a closer look at it.
At the center of the object was what appeared to be some kind of jewel. There were arms extending outward from the jewel, but they were strange. They got wider in the middle, like... Like an unfolded sphere. And sure enough, the object folded up into a sphere. And as a sphere, something else became apparent. The arms had been colored black and red, the two colors alternating seemingly at random. But that was simply an artifact of the unfolded object. Seen on the folded sphere, the coloring was clearly anything but random; it formed a design of some kind, a red symbol on black. It consisted of two parts joined together at the point directly opposite the jewel. One part was a small circle with a starburst design within it. The other was a large circle, inside which were multiple smaller, interlocking circles.
Laresa turned the object around in her hand, thinking. The object was black with a jewel, and it had a red design on it, the two parts of the design joining at the point opposite the jewel. The object's size was- Shit, it's the size of a Pokeball. How did I not notice that until now? She turned the object over again and looked at the jewel. Okay, so Pokeballs have a button to open them. This jewel is the closest this thing has to that. So... she pressed down on the jewel. She could feel it depress as a button would, and it popped back up when she took her finger off it, but nothing happened.
All right, girl, think. It's the size of a Pokeball. Is that just a coincidence? Or... Laresa took a Pokeball out of her pack. Hmm... wait, does it maybe fit over the ball? Then... she examined the object again, looking for a way to unfold it. The arms met directly opposite the jewel; that would be the place to start. But the arms melded together smoothly; there was no room to get in and pry one open. And then she caught a glimpse of something. A small protrusion opposite the jewel, presumably something on one of the arms that she hadn't noticed. She hooked a fingernail on it and pulled. Sure enough, the arm moved. In fact, every arm unfolded simultaniously. Okay, so that's how you open the thing. Now, let's see here. All right, the only thing on this object that's even close to a button is the jewel. So...
Laresa positioned the jewel on the Pokeball's button, then folded the arms down around the ball. It was, indeed, a perfect fit. Okay, so maybe it does go over a ball, but now what? Maybe... She gave the jewel another press. And it lit up with a red light.
Okay, now it's got a light in the jewel. Yeah, nothing abnormal about that. Okay, so it lights up somehow. But why? And why didn't it light up before? Hmm... well, it wasn't over the ball then; does that have something to do with it? But how would the ball affect- Without warning, the jewel flashed brightly. Extremely brightly, the sudden flash of red light causing Laresa to jump in surprise. "Gah!" She dropped both the object and the flashlight she'd still been holding in her other hand. She waited for the flash to fade from her eyes, then bent over to pick up the dropped items. She grabbed the strange object and was reaching for the flashlight when there was another flash. But this one wasn't from the jewel. It came from behind. And the light didn't vanish entirely; there was some kind of glow eminating from behind. Laresa picked up the flashlight and turned around. And then dropped both object and flashlight as she stared in shock at what was before her. There was no mistaking the beast before her eyes. The Sacred Bird, the Soaring Flame, the Flame of Life, and many other titles. A creature straight out of myth. The legendary beast Ho-oh.
There was no telling how long Laresa simply stood there staring. The Sacred Flame seemed patient, but eventually it gestured downwards with its beak. Laresa managed to tear her gaze away from it long enough to look down, and noticed the strange object. The red symbol on it was glowing, glowing the same color as Ho-oh's light. She grabbed it and held it out towards Ho-oh. Eventually, she managed to find her voice. "Is this... yours?" Ho-oh made no response.
Despite being once again focused on Ho-oh, Laresa noticed a blinking. She again tore her eyes from Ho-oh and looked at the object. The jewel was now blinking. Laresa looked at it, then looked back up at Ho-oh. You want something from me, don't you? You're waiting for me to do something. But if you don't want the object, then... the jewel?
Laresa turned the object, pointing the jewel towards Ho-oh. The great bird gave a cry, and the object-Laresa almost dropped it a third time-the jewel emitted a ray of red light towards Ho-oh. And then something else happened. There was some sort of... something. Laresa didn't know what it was, but the jewel had stopped blinking. It was a solid light again, and the light had intensified. And then there was another bright flash. And then nothing. Laresa was again alone in the cave. Ho-oh was gone, and the only light in the cave was once again that of Laresa's flashlight, still lying on the ground.
Laresa looked again at the object as she picked up the flashlight, and noticed a change. The jewel, formerly clear, now had a definite red tint, and the object now bore, in addition to the strange symbol, a new starburst pattern with the jewel at its center. One of its longest rays just barely touched the nearest point of the large circle of the red symbol.
Laresa pressed the jewel again. There was no red glow this time, just a flash-and then Ho-oh was before her once more. She stared at the object in wonder. Is this... do I have... She pressed the jewel again. It flashed and Ho-oh was gone. Again she pressed it, and again Ho-oh appeared with a flash. Again, and Ho-oh was gone. Again, and Ho-oh was back. Again, and it was gone. Again, and it returned. Again, gone. Again, returned.
Ho-oh let out an odd sound. Is that-is it laughing? And then the realization hit. Of course it is. I'm just standing here pushing the jewel again and again like an idiot. Of course Ho-oh thinks it's funny. "Okay, okay," she said, "I'll stop playing around. What exactly do you want me to do?" As if in response, the jewel flashed again. "You want me to press it again?" Ho-oh nodded. "Um... okay." She pressed the jewel again, and Ho-oh vanished.
Laresa stared at the object in her hand. Okay, just what the hell is this thing? Is it calling Ho-oh somehow? Or did it- She unfolded the object and removed it from the Pokeball, then pressed the button on the ball. The ball poped open, revealing itself to be empty. Okay, so that's not it. She pressed the jewel again, and nothing happened. All right, so does it need the Pokeball for something? She folded the object around the ball again, and pressed the jewel. This time, Ho-oh did appear. "Yeah, so I'm still trying to figure this thing out," Laresa said. "Just be patient, okay? This thing doesn't exactly come with detailed instructions." She pressed the jewel again, and Ho-oh vanished once more.
Laresa stared at the object again for a while, then once again gave herself a mental shake. Dammit, girl, come on. You can mess with this thing later. First, find a way out of here.
Laresa took a step forward and stumbled, feeling dizzy all of a sudden. Lacking anything to brace herself on, she eventually just fell over, and-
-And she was in a forest. Flat on her belly. The dizzyness faded, and she got to her feet. Am I back- no, this is not Ilex. Some forest, but definitely not Ilex. And do I still have... she looked around, quickly finding both the strange object and her flashlight. She turned the flashlight off and returned it to her pack, then picked up the object. Okay, so I still have this thing. Does it still... She pressed the jewel. The flash was a lot less stunning outside of the darkness of the cave, but the flash did happen, and as before, Ho-oh appeared before her. "Yeah, so I'm still experimenting with this thing," she said, and pressed the jewel again. As before, Ho-oh vanished.
Okay, so have I totally lost it, or is this shit all real? This... thing, Ho-oh-and what the hell is this thing, anyways? I-Once more, Laresa gave herself a mental shake-Okay, girl, you can think about this thing later. Priority number one is finding out where you are.
Laresa moved to put the object in her pack, but then stopped. No, better idea. I'll just say it's a Pokeball with a custom plate. Much simpler than hiding it. Besides, maybe someone'll recognize this symbol; it may very well be something out of one of the legends of Ho-oh. Damn, I'm really wishing I knew more about those legends right-dammit, girl, focus.
Laresa clipped the object onto her belt, next to the Pokeballs of her regular team of six. There. Good thing I got the beld with the extra clips; I can keep the object out this way. People'll see it. And hopefully someone'll know something about what it is. Have to plan how to handle it, though; if this is all real, I don't think I want people knowing I've got something like this. I can work that out while I move, though. Okay, now where the hell am I?
Laresa opened her pack again and reached in. Man, I hope nothing in here's broken or anything. Or missing. It may have seemed to me like I was instantly moved from ilex to that cave, and then to here, but who knows what really happened? I'll need to take inventory at some point soon. But for now... ah, there it is.
Laresa removed a small photo album from her pack and opened it up. Okay, I'm clearly in some forest, so... she flipped through the album until she came to a series of pages filled with pictures of forests. Each page had a lable, the name of the place the images on it were from. None of the photos in the album were hers; she'd gotten them from friends, magazines, etc. Most had actualy come from her older sister, a trainer for whom photography happened to be a hobby. The purpose of all the photos was for a situation exactly like the one she now found herself in. By comparing her surroundings to the photos, she could at least get a pretty good idea of where she was. And people thought I was nuts to think I'd need something like this. Heh, maybe they're right. But if so, I'm sure glad for it right now.
Laresa examined each page's photos, comparing them to the area around her. Okay, not Viridian Forest. Skip Ilex-I already know I'm not there. Okay, next page. Let's see... okay, definite similarities here. She checked each picture carefully, comparing it to what she could see around her. Okay, this looks like it. So it looks like I'm in... she checked the page's label, Eterna Forest. Wait, what? How the hell'd I end up in Sinnoh? I can't really be-damn it, I must be going crazy.
Eventually, Laresa returned the photo album to her pack. Okay, so I have this crazy object that apparently calls Ho-oh, and now I'm somehow all the way over in Sinnoh. Well, maybe I am crazy. Wouldn't surprise me, not after-okay, girl, don't go there. Don't think about it, do not think about it. Focus on something else. Okay. Okay. You're in Eterna Forest. Focus on that, focus on getting out of here. Okay, so Eterna Forest. She reached into her pack again and removed a map book, which she opened to the general Sinnoh region map. All right, there's Eterna City to the east, and Floaroma to the south. But which is closer... you know what, no, I don't care. A big city's not the place I want to be right now. Floaroma it is, then.
Laresa returned the map book to her pack, then reached into her left pocket and removed a compass, which she used to orient herself. Okay, so south until I get out of the forest, then Floaroma's to the south and just a bit west. All right, then. time to get moving.
Laresa took another look at the object on her belt, then started off towards Floaroma.