Disclaimer: I do not profit in any way from this story. All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creators.

A/N: While this story is rated M and I do plan to include various indecencies in this story, this will not likely turn into a giant, hairy, walking ball of fuck. This is because of my personal preferance for some tangible feelings in a story, and my belief that sex is an extension of love, not it's basis.

On that note, this story will likely include the following.

-(M/F), (F/F), (M/F/F), ETC.

-(Pkmn/pkmn), (pkmn/hmn), maybe (hmn/hmn)

-Minor body changes for some pokemon.

-Also, some OOC and Non-cannon.

If you don't like these things, feel free to hit the back button at your leisure.

Feel free to make requests in your reviews. However, I will not write the following:

-(M/M) Nothing against it, just not my thing.

-Guro or other mutilation (Yes, this includes hard vore.)

-Anything involving "excrement."

Anyway, on with the story.

~~~Chapter one: Silver Flames~~~

Alex walked quickly down the empty street, the only light coming from the city's street lamps. He yawned before shaking himself to stay awake, having a hard time keeping alert on his feet. He hardly noticed as some of the lights flickered, lost deep in half thoughts and semi-concious dreams. He briefly wondered why he'd chosen to work the night shift, though he was still vaguely aware of his own prefference for solitude. As a freshman in college, he hardly had a choice... He groaned, remembering that his classes started in four hours, causing him to redouble his efforts to make it to his bed.

A wave of vertigo hit him, causing him to totter on his feet and lean against one of the poles for support. "This sucks. This sucks hard." He closed his eyes, trying to banish the dizziness and shaking. Hell, he even imagined the world was getting brighter beyond his closed eyes, bringing more shaking and spinning into his already unstable reality... He tentatively opened his eyes, shading them for a moment against the probably imaginary light.

Even in his compromised mental state, Alex quickly figured out that the silver light and shaking were not hallucinations as his dizziness passed. It was, in fact, something above him rattling the earth and casting it's unnatural glow, making everything take on a surreal aspect. He was loath to look upon whatever was doing this, but the young man knew he had too. Shielding his eyes, he looked up until he made out a silver flame in the sky, hurtling towards him like a meteor. He paused as he looked at the thing. It was probably big enough to take out the entire city, though it was difficult to tell it's mass... or even it's size... not that it mattered.

It struck Alex for the first time in his self absorbed haze that he'd seen no one beyond himself, his manager and his other three coworkers wandering the streets since he left. Made sense, since this thing looked absolutely enormous, and... was still hurtling right at him. He felt the urge to run, but quickly dismissed it. He was far to tired, and it was a useless notion, regardless. That thing would have a blast radius far greater than anyone could get out of in time, even with a vehicle. He sighed, then paused as he considered his situation. He smiled wryly as he let himself fall to the ground. "May as well get some sleep... Besides, what cooler way is there to go than be vaporized or crushed by a falling star?"

Alex awoke later, and was very much surprised to do so. 'I'm... alive?' He thought, considering it no less than an absolute miracle... Until he realized the state he was in. Suspended in a tube of luminescent jelly with yet more tubes sticking out all over his body was not a good way to come too. Ever. He floundered in the liquid, trying desperately to remove the crap from his body, though he only succeeded in hurting himself.

He heard a muffled sound from outside the tube, though he couldn't see anything beyond the fluid... gel... stuff around him. That is, until the blinds outside the tube were opened. First thing Alex noticed? He couldn't be anywhere near his city. There was nothing like the tech outside the tube where he lived, and he severely doubted the government had an installation in what was likely now just a crater on the landscape.

Second thing? The woman standing in front of him, presumably a doctor or scientist of some sort, was staring at him. Made him severely uncomfortable, since he was buck-naked inside the blasted gel-crap. He covered himself quickly, and she jumped, startled at his movement. She looked up at his face in amazement, then pressed a button nearby.

She spoke extremely fast, and Alex couldn't understand a word of it through the thick glass... or was it some kind of plastic?... of the tube. Half a second after the woman stopped talking, a bedraggled man burst into the room in nothing but a lab coat and blue jeans. He looked right at Alex, then rushed over to the console, almost running right into the woman in the process. They spoke excitedly for a moment, then turned to look at him again.

The man stepped over to a console, grabbing a small device that looked suspiciously like a probe. Alex would have backed away... if he could get the crap out of him. Of course, his fears were unfounded, as he learned a moment later when the scientist spoke into what was apparently a mic.

It took a moment for Alex to realize the man was speaking Japanese. He paused a moment, trying to understand what the guy had said. "You're awake! My god, this is fantastic." The man spoke with an accent Alex couldn't identify, but it was definitely Japanese, not the English he was used too. He remembered learning the language so he could meet with his online friends in Tokyo... Oh, and speak to some of his cousins, whom were Japanese, as well.

Alex tried to say something, but the tube jammed down his throat made it difficult. In stead, he gestured at all the crap sticking out of him, managing to maintain what modesty he could with one hand and get his point across. The man paused, then said, "I suppose it is uncomfortable to be hooked up to all that, isn't it? I'll just run some tests to make sure it's safe to unhook you... We have quite a bit we need to talk about." The guy handed the mic over to the woman, whom was obviously unsure of what to do with it as the scientist Alex assumed was her superior began fiddling with console after console.

She opened her mouth briefly, paused, then said simply said, "Hello." Her voice was quiet, but confident, and Alex could easily pick out the same accident as the man's. She looked like she expected a response, so he cocked an eyebrow at her and nodded. She stared at him for a moment, then smiled. "This is fantastic..." she muttered to herself, apparently forgetting she held a mic. "Absolutely amazing! He's retained his cognitive abilities...!" Alex's brow furrowed at that. 'Why wouldn't I have...' He paused, then answered his own question with a mental face palm. 'The meteor. Fantastic.'

"Um..." The woman before him looked at him curiously. "Do you mind if I ask some questions?" Again, Alex cocked an eyebrow at her, but shrugged. Not like he could answer with a tube shoved down his throat. Of course, at that moment, the container he was in began to drain it's fluid, and the young man had to wonder at the timing of this scientific duo. "Excellent! I'll get you a towel and something to wear, and we'll get started!"

She was off like a shot, but returned just as the tube started to open. Alex felt weaker than he'd expected, shaking with the effort of standing alone. On top of that particular pleasantness, his entire body tingled as if he'd slept on it wrong. He felt groggier, and more than a little cranky because of it.

The woman handed him the towel and robe, which he took gratefully and put to use immediately. She opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly interrupted by the man. "Greetings! I'm Professor Arcade Trivus. This is my daughter and assistant, Hana." Alex stared, not sure he believed these two were related by blood. She was blonde and well tanned, with a body that was probably more suited to a beach or gym than a laboratory. Arcade? He looked like he belonged here more than the machines did, with his wild grey hair and pasty skin. Alex shook his head dismissively.

Arcade waited a moment, then prompted him. "What's your name, lad? Or don't you remember?" Alex flushed a bit as he finished using the towel to get as much of the crap off him as he could. "Sorry... Alex. Bad at Japanese... And people." He knew his grammar was terrible, but it was the best he could do at that point. He just had to hope that at least one of them deserved the lab coat on their shoulders.

Thankfully, they both did, though they gave him an odd look. "I understood the bad at people part... but what was that about this "Japanese?" Alex's brow furrowed as the woman asked this. He assumed she was just screwing with him. "Ha ha. Got it. I am stupid American trying to speak Japanese. Funny." They BOTH simply looked more confused, and Alex began to get a slow, creeping sense that these two might actually not understand.

"What are you talking about, lad? What's this about American and Japanese?" Alex paused, feeling a bit anti-social... The language barrier didn't really help his disposition, either. "Um... Language? We're speaking Japanese. Not my language." The two of them looked at each other, then back at him. "You mean to say... That languages go beyond ours and..." The professor shushed his daughter, then looked at the young man. "So your speaking skills are limited, then? That's a minor annoyance, but at least you CAN communicate verbally."

Alex felt a bit better at the minor reassurance the professor provided, but he still wondered what his daughter had been about to say. Before he could ask, though, the doctor took on an extremely serious expression, stopping the words in his throat. "I'll be honest, boy... I can't let you leave here." Alex's heart jumped, but the professor continued. "At least, not yet. The scans I performed confirmed you were healthy enough to operate on your own... but your immune system is slightly lacking in some areas, while others... Well, let's just say letting you step outside the lab would definitely be a problem. Be glad all the gear and personnel are well cleaned before, during, and after entering or leaving the lab."

After a short pause for thought, Alex nodded, hoping the professor would keep his implied promise to release him. As if in affirmation, he nodded back and smiled. "Good. Now, I believe you owe my daughter a few answers..." Hana smiled slightly as Professor Arcade walked toward the door. "I have other business to attend to. I trust you'll behave?" He didn't wait for an answer, just walked out the door, leaving Alex (20) alone with his daughter. (~18) She stepped closer, her energy practically pouring from her skin. "Well, shall we get to it, then?"

Hana hammered Alex with a few basic questions: My family life, What year it was, my eating habits... random things that any survey might have asked. I half expected her to ask me if my time in the tube was satisfactory. Throughout the whole process, she revealed nothing about herself or the reason she asked about his favorite books. After a few minutes, though, she relented, nodding slightly as she wrote down her "findings."

Alex waited a moment before his discomfort caused him to blurt, "Why'd your father leave you here? Alone?" She tensed almost imperceptibly, but simply cocked an eyebrow at him. "What? Plan on doing something to me?" He turned beet red and shook his head, causing her to giggle and relax again. "Because I can take care of myself. I'm stronger than I look, and I'm also a trainer."

Alex nodded. She certainly looked fit enough to be a trainer. Maybe she ran with people from her town when she wasn't in the lab, and that's how she stayed in such great shape? "Very cool. How much does training cost?" She looked at him strangely, much like she had with the language issue. "I... take it you don't take money to train people? Charity?" Hana looked at him incredulously, then paused. "You really don't know, do you...?" She paused as she reached for her belt.

'Oh. She carries a gun... That must be...' That thought died in his head when, in stead of a gun, he saw three little red and white golf-balls with buttons. They looked familiar, but the closest things he could liken them too were grenades, and he was reasonably sure she wouldn't use a grenade on an assailant... But... "I train these." She pulled one of the balls off her belt and pressed the button, causing it to instantly inflate to the size of a softball. It split in half across it's black line, releasing a beam of red light. I stood speechless as a creature formed within the beam, then looked right at me.

The yellow creature was shorter than me by a head and a half, but it certainly didn't look like a pushover. "Alex, meet Ampharos, my guardian and best friend." Ampharos? That... didn't make any sense. Ampharos was a creature from a fictional franchise! How could it be standing... right there? He paused... and the shocked look dropped from his face, a weary, skeptical look replacing it quickly.

"A pokemon... Ampharos. Right." Instantly irritated by Alex's disbelief, Hana sighed. "Well, at least you know of them. Saves quite a bit of explanation..." "Am?" The pokemon's voice was slightly childish, but otherwise convincing. "Sorry, Ampharos. Just trying to help this guy figure things out." The pokemon nodded, then stepped closer to Alex. "Ros!" The electric type smiled and held out it's stubby paw, trying to be friendly. Alex hesitated before deciding it would be rude to ignore the offer. He reached for the paw, but received only a static shock before the pokemon withdrew.

Alex sighed, laying back and trying to stop his head from splitting open. "This is... completely unreal." He said. "Has to be. Pokemon don't exist, people don't survive being hit by meteors, and..." He paused, trying to think of something else. Of course, other than those two things, everything else seemed relatively normal.

He sighed again, staring up at the roof above him. They'd given him a janitorial closet as a room, though he wasn't really complaining. It smelled pretty clean, and they'd done well to make him feel welcome, considering what they had to work with. He paused to consider the to scientists, sizing them up in his mind. Arcade seemed a bit wily, and probably really loved his work. Hana seemed like she'd be popular among... well, anyone she met. Definitely not his type... And definitely well out of his league.

Grimacing as he shook his head, he noticed a small whimper just outside his room. He stood, walking quietly over to and opening the door slightly. What looked like a young child with green hair and baggy white clothes. She (He paused, wondering silently how he knew she was female, but dismissed the thought almost instantly,) flinched away as she noticed him watching her, falling as she tripped over the "cloth" about her feet. Of course, now Alex noticed her red eyes and the equally red horns atop her head. Her voice quivered as she shook in fear of him. "R... R-Ralts...?"

Alex looked at the young pokemon with some pity in his eyes. He had no idea what she'd been through, but he did know that it couldn't have been good to enter a human building... His brow furrowed. How cic she get in if the building was as sealed as the scientists had said? He shrugged the question off, instead concentrating on moving closer to the tiny psychic pokemon in as calm a manner as he could manage.

He offered her a hand, though she flinched and shied away, shutting her eyes tight and hiding behind her hands, but he waited patiently. She peeked at him, and all she saw was a subdued, kind smile. She watched him for a moment, then reached out to him hesitantly. She still shook violently as she touched his hand, and she was pleasantly warm. He pulled her up to her feet, then lightly patted her head. "You alright?" He asked, looking her over. She looked fine, just a little shaken, and her nod affirmed that.

He nodded back. "Good girl." He smiled at her again, then turned away, walking back over to his bed. He looked back at the door as he lay back down and noticed her still hanging around his door. He sighed. "The room is kinda small, but you can come in if you prefer that to wandering those halls." She considered that for about half a second, shivered again, then walked into the room. Again, he offered her a hand, this time to help her up onto the cot. She accepted it ever so slightly more readily.

Alex scotched over closer to the wall to give her (and himself) a comfortable buffer zone, letting her lay down among the blankets... 'It's kinda warm in here, anyway...' He thought, simply turning onto his side as the ralts did the same, both of them already begining to drift off to sleep...

A/N:Please read and review. I love feedback! Also, please remember to make suggestions! :D