I DO NOT OWN POKEMON. I MIGHT HAVE MADE UP THIS STORY BUT I DO NOT OWN POKEMON.
Emily spun around as a flash lit up her living room. An unconscious boy lay in the middle of the room. By his arm was…
"A Pikachu?" Emily yelped, surprised. "But how?"
The boy moaned as he slowly sat up. "My head… I feel as if I just got off a wild roller coaster that crashed…" He took in his surroundings. "Who are you?" He asked Emily.
"I'm… I'm Emily Lula… Is that a Pikachu?" Emily replied.
"Yep." The boy answered. "I haven't introduced myself. My name is Ash Ketchum and this is my Pikachu."
"To believe there's a Pikachu… here… in my house…" Emily whispered.
"Is there something wrong?" Ash asked.
"No! This is impossible! Pokemon don't exist! They're just make-believe creatures made up by some guy in Japan!" Emily screamed, falling to her knees.
Ash looked shocked. Pikachu looked like it would like to do some shocking.
Emily forced herself to calm down. "My parents aren't home. You say you have a headache? If you want, I'll get you an icepack. I'm sorry for my breakdown. I'm not used to… pokemon…"
"An icepack would be nice. Do you have something to eat?" Ash responded.
"Sure. We'll deal with my parents when they get home." Emily told him. "Myers!"
"Yes, Miss Emily?" A servant bustled into the room… and fainted.
Emily hit her head. "Never mind. Ash, follow me."
Ash followed her down to the kitchen, where Emily requested an icepack and two apples.
The two went outside to sit and eat their apples in the garden. They talked about what had happened.
"So some criminals decided to test their machine on you and your friends?" Emily asked when Ash was finished with his story.
"Yes. Apparently, I was supposed to be sent straight to a group of their allies in this world, but, instead, I ended up here…" Ash paused. "You're not a criminal, are you?"
Emily laughed and then frowned. "No, but I'm worried about your friends. What if they're sent straight to the criminals?"
"I certainly hope not." Ash said.
Meanwhile…
"What did you do with our friend?" Misty screeched. She, Brock, Dawn, May, Iris, and Cilan were all trapped at the headquarters of Team Dimension.
"No worries. He's safe with our allies in the other world. Now, young redhead, would you like to go next?" A scientist working for Team Dimension snickered.
"Don't you dare!" Misty yelled, hugging her Azurill close.
"I take that as a yes." The scientist laughed, snapping his fingers once. A couple grunts yanked Misty from the cage and shut the door behind her, blocking the other five who wanted to help her.
"Let go of me!" Misty struggled as the scientist started up the portal again.
"Push her through." He ordered. Misty screamed as she was pushed into the vortex.
Back at the Lula mansion…
"Mom, Dad, this is Ash. He's… um…" Emily began.
"Emily, Myers claimed to have seen a pokemon." Mrs. Lula interrupted. "Do you have any clue what he means by that?"
"Pika!" Pikachu hopped up onto Ash's shoulder. Mrs. Lula passed out in her husband's arms.
All of a sudden, a flash of light came from the living room behind Ash and Emily. Both kids spun around while Mr. Lula just stared.
"My head…" Misty groaned.
"Azurill!" Azurill sprayed her in the head with water gun, hoping to help.
"An Azurill!" Emily exclaimed. "How cute!" She and Ash ran over to Misty. "Are you two okay?"
"Misty? How are you doing after that crazy ride?" Ash put in.
"So your name is Misty? I'm Emily. It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too." Misty replied, feeling better after Azurill's water gun.
"We're going to have to pay the servants extra to not blab about this…" Mr. Lula murmured. "Pokemon trainers showing up in our living room… The press would be all over us in no time…"
"Dad, can they stay until we figure out a way to send them back home?" Emily asked her father.
"I don't think we have much of a choice. Besides, we have plenty of guest bedrooms." Mr. Lula answered thoughtfully.
"Thanks, Dad!" Emily cried.
Over the next couple of weeks, dozens of pokemon trainers appeared, including Ash and Misty's friends. Emily was awestruck by every single pokemon that showed up. Every night there was a feast in order to serve everybody and every afternoon there was a pokemon battle for Emily and the other trainers to watch or participate in.
Emily stopped inviting her friends over when the trainers started arriving, but something strange was going on. Emily's classmates started disappearing. One day, Emily voiced her concerns to Ash.
"Do you think it's the allies of the criminals that are causing the disappearances?" She asked him.
"Maybe. It would make sense if the experiment were mutual. In their minds, the experiment hasn't been working. That's why they keep sending people to this world. If their allies are trying to do vice versa, people are probably being sent to our world from yours." Ash told her.
"You're right. We have to do something about this."
"Maybe if we can contact Professor Oak…"
"Ash! You're a genius! Contact! That's exactly what we need!"
At Professor Oak's laboratory…
"Professor Oak, another kid appeared." Tracey informed his boss.
Professor Oak sighed. "We're going to run out of money and food soon. We have to figure out a way to send them back."
"Professor Oak?" A group of kids walked up to the professor and his assistant. "We've decided we want to go on a pokemon journey until we can go back home."
"Professor Oak, that would solve a few problems. I think we should do it." Tracey voiced his opinion on the matter.
"Please!" The kids begged.
"Well, okay, but you can only set out three at a time." Professor Oak hesitated. Why was he agreeing to this? It would only solve a few problems, not all.
"Yay!" The kids shouted happily.
The phone rang. It was Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother.
"Professor Oak, have you heard from Ash? With all the disappearances lately, I'm worried about him." She said.
"I'm sorry, Delia. I haven't, but I'll let you know right away when I have." Professor Oak responded.
"Thank you, Professor Oak. Thank you."
Professor Oak hung up. He knew Ash was one of the disappeared, but he didn't dare tell Delia that. No, it would be best to imply that Ash just hadn't contacted them. It happened.
At Lula mansion…
"I hope this works." Emily said, wiping her forehead she had a knack at building machines in her spare time, but this one was more important than her other inventions.
"I hope so too." Ash said. "I believe in you."
Emily smiled. "Here goes nothing." She pulled a switch and typed the number Ash had given her into a keypad she had found upstairs.
A beeping sound ensued and a dial started spinning.
"Hello?" The answering voice was very familiar to Ash's ears.
"I'm… I'm Emily Lula… Is… Is this Professor Oak?" Emily stammered.
"Why yes, yes it is." Professor Oak responded. Ash broke into a grin.
"I… I was wondering if people have been showing up strangely lately…" Emily's voice was still shaky, but this time in an excited way instead of a nervous one."
"How in Arceus did you know about that?" Professor Oak was shocked.
"How in Arceus? That's a funny saying." Emily giggled. "People have been disappearing around here lately. I was wondering if they were showing up there."
"What do you mean by that? Where are you?" Professor Oak asked.
"Birmingham, Alabama in the United States of America on the North American continent." Emily was specific, holding in her laughter at the fact that he had no idea what she was talking about.
"Okay… How did you know about the disappearances?" Professor Oak asked. "And why don't you show your face?"
"You take that for granted. Not all people have a video phone, you know." Emily said.
Professor Oak was silent for a moment. "I guess you're right. Not all people can afford a video phone…"
Emily sighed. "Let's get down to business, okay? The fact is, I've got pokemon trainers appearing in my world and you've got people who have never seen a pokemon before appearing in yours. We need to find a way to switch them back."
Professor Oak was silent for longer this time. "The missing trainers… they're with you? Why don't you send them back?"
"I don't know… Why don't you send the kids who've never seen a real pokemon before back?" Emily retorted.
Even longer silence. "You have a point. I guess we'll have to work together here. We need to find a way."
"Emily." Ash finally spoke up. "Even if you send us all home, those criminals will still be out there. They'll send us right back here again."
"Ash? You're there?" Professor Oak asked.
"Yes. Emily's family is taking care of us all until we can find our way home. Emily created a device that could help us communicate between the two worlds." Ash explained.
"Well, I have the kids from the other world here at my lab. There's too many of them to take care of and some of them want to go on a pokemon journey. What do I do?"
"I don't know. Emily?" Ash said.
"Go ahead and send them, but tell them to keep in constant contact so that they can go home when it's time." Emily told him.
"Okay." Professor Oak said. "I don't know this number, so call me again when you can."
"Okay." Emily and Ash replied in unison. They hung up.
"You're a genius, Emily. How'd you manage to do that in one try?" Ash said.
BOOM! BANG! BOOM! Emily's contraption exploded. The smoke alarm went off.
The two kids coughed. Ash called out his Oshowatt to put out the fire.
Other trainers staying in the house rushed down to help. It took 20 minutes to put out the flames.
"So much for that." Ash choked.
"Ash, Emily, are you okay?" Misty asked.
"We're… fine…" Ash replied. He stared at the blown up machine. "At least they know we're okay."
"It's okay. I'll just build another one. This time, I'll make sure it won't blow up. Nobody gets it perfect on the first try. Especially when it comes to something like contacting others from far away." Emily whispered.
The other trainers were confused.
"What do you mean?" May asked at last.
"That machine… it was something Emily made to contact the pokemon world. We talked to Professor Oak, but it blew up right after we hung up." Ash explained.
"It'll be better this time." Emily exclaimed confidently.
The trainers were all silent for a long time.
"Ash, can you help get some more supplies?" Emily said at last.
Ash nodded and the two went upstairs. Everyone else continued to stare at the blown up contraption.
"To believe Emily is capable of making a machine that can contact people in our world…" Cilan murmured at last.
"I can't believe it actually worked…" Iris put in.
"We're back!" Emily announced. "I hope you don't mind, but I need space to work!"
The trainers cleared out of Emily's little lab.
Emily worked fast. A turn here, a squeeze there, a stretch there, attach something here, attach something there, and… done!
Emily walked upstairs. "I'm done!" She called. "Now we should get to work on a contraption to get you home. Spread the word. I want to meet with everyone in ten minutes."
Ten minutes later…
"Okay." Emily began. "So I've finished with a contraption for contacting your world, which is the first step to fixing this problem. Now, I need everyone's help to build a portal to get everyone home and to catch the criminals that are responsible for this. We'll split up into two groups. The older trainers with experience will work on a plan to stop the criminals. The younger trainers and I will work on a machine to get you all home. Got it?"
Everyone agreed to Emily's plan and the groups were quickly determined. Those with mechanical experience were the most helpful with the machine, and those with experience fighting criminals were the most help with the plans to stop their enemy.
"Emily." Ash walked up to Emily. "We've decided on a plan, but it involves practically sacrificing someone to the criminals."
"Um… Explain, please." Emily hesitated.
"If we can get someone on the inside, not only will that person be sent home, but they will also be able to gain valuable information if they poke and pry a bit." Ash clarified.
Emily hesitated again, and then nodded. "That person will need to be out walking alone without a pokemon. I can help with looking vulnerable and native to this world, but that person needs to be willing to be tracked by us and able to hack a system."
"I'm sure there's someone like that here." Ash told her.
The person fitting Emily's description ended up being Ash's friend Richie.
"I can hack a system, and I'm willing to entrust my pokemon to Ash if it's necessary. I'm also willing to let you track me." He assured them.
"Are you sure, Richie? This could be a very dangerous mission." Ash said.
"I'm sure." Richie answered.
To be continued…