General warning: This is a crossover between the Pokémon Black & White games and the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime that does not actually outright break either canon (except in small ways) — that means SPOILERS ABOUND FOR BOTH FANDOMS, ESPECIALLY PMMM. This fic includes sorta genderbending, angst, some mild creepyness because of the canons, hints of femslash/slash/is-that-actually-het? pairings all over the place, teenage hormones, all that stuff and more. Japanese names for everything (sorry but there are actually a couple reasons for that), and a couple mythology gags/references to meta stuff.
In short, this was written for a kink meme request and because I'm crazy. You have been warned.

(For anyone interested in the specifics of this crossover and additional explanations, long, rambly author's notes are posted on my livejournal at http(colon)(slash)(slash)hiwaba(dot)livejournal(dot)com(slash)18855(dot)html — take note that they are spoilery for this fic and if you're going to read them, you should do so after finishing the story.)

She wakes up. No, he wakes up.

Cheren's first reflex in the morning is to reach for the bedside table; the glasses are still there — or are they back? Homura can't seem to quite remember. All she knows is that she is, beyond a doubt, a boy this time around.

Cheren. The name resembles nothing from her past life, yet the looks are barely different; he still looks exactly like Homura would have if she had cut her hair and worn a jacket to hide her small chest. The glasses are even the same that she used to wear. The conservation of those details is almost laughably absurd when her gender somehow got lost on the way.

What happened? Who wished for this? Did Madoka —

— where is Madoka?

Cheren gets dressed, secures around his wrist a watch that he remembers getting for his fifteenth birthday and that Homura knows can manipulate time, and rushes down the stairs. He knows this room, this house, these people — his parents. He knows what day it is, he knows what are those Pokémon creatures the professor mentioned, he knows how big is the world waiting for him beyond Kanoko Town; he's just as excited as Homura is anxious to get moving.

Cheren knows the three other teenagers gathered for the adventure: his childhood friends, Bel and Touko and Touya. Homura only sees that not one of them seems to be a reincarnation of Madoka and there's not a trace of a fifth child in the village, and no one like her in Cheren's memory, either.

She reflexively stops the pain that threatens to seize her, focuses on her heartbeat to prevent its skipping, pushes away the slightest hint of despair before it can even be born - before she remembers that this kind of thing is alright in this world. Her soul is no longer trapped in a crystal; no Soul Gems or Grief Seeds anymore.

And if it seems there is no Madoka either, well, Homura will simply have to search for her. She has to be there, somewhere. Homura made a wish to guarantee this, once upon a time, what seems to be thousands of years ago. She'll find her.