Author's Note: Hello there! Welcome to the very first story fragment I've posted on ! I hope you enjoy it, and Anilae, since most, if not all of what I'll post will be parts of her story. And lots of other worlds- Pokémon is only the first!

A warning: I haven't watched much of the anime, and what I have watched was before Hoenn, so my descriptions of locations are probably going to be more consistent with the games, though descriptions of individual buildings (which I can get from bulbapedia) will probably match the anime- this may or may not be important; I just felt I should mention it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon , Professor Oak, or any of the characters from the games, anime, or various mangas that pop up in this story. All other characters are mine unless otherwise mentioned...

Where am I THIS time? Anilae wondered as she spiraled down towards the ground. She didn't bother looking back up, knowing from experience that the gateway she'd fallen through would not be visible. Instead, she searched for a good landing place on the ground far beneath her. She spotted a small clearing in the apparently endless forest below. She dived towards it. She'd missed flying... but she knew she had to land. There was a pattern to this, and she'd slowly managed to remember it from world to world. She'd have just a little more time than she needed to land before the inevitable collapse- but it was based on how long she'd prefer to take to land, under normal flying conditions: the faster she landed, the more time she'd have to look around before she passed out. So she plummeted downwards, aiming at the small clearing. At the last instant, she spread her wings and slammed to a stop a foot off the ground. She closed her wings and dropped to the ground. For the first time, she looked at the clearing to see its contents, rather than its existence. A small human kid was staring at her, astonishment on his face. Anilae tried to think of something to say, quickly. Humans had this bad habit of jumping to wrong conclusions-

But before she could say anything, the kid threw a small red and white ball into the air and shouted,

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt!"

A small yellow creature appeared, inexplicably sparking with some kind of energy. It stared at her, then began glowing and sparking more. This seemed purposeful... and threatening.

Anilae started to get scared. She also was suddenly very, very tired. She tried to say something along the lines of "No! I won't hurt you! Don't hurt me!" but she was too late. The strange yellow creature shot a blast of energy at her chest as she toppled over. She felt the bolt snap over her head, making the air smell as though a thunderstorm had just passed by. She tried to stand back up, tried to ward off the hours of sleep that were forcing her down. But she couldn't. The last thing she heard, as her eyes slid shut, was the excited voice of the kid shouting semi-nonsense.

"Aya! Aya! Come see this strange Pokémon I found!"

A short distance away, a teen-aged girl stared vaguely up into a tree. Without looking, she sat down on the rock behind her. Her eyes never left the tree. She waved a hand.

"I think I'm ready," she murmured. The creature standing next to her nodded slightly, its eyes also on the tree.

"Go," the girl said seriously. The creature leaped up, practically floating into the tree. Despite the apparent slowness of its movements, it reached the top of the tree in moments. The creature slowly looked around, giving the girl a chance to get used to everything.

-Aya?-

-Here. Go that way, Kiri.-

The girl and the creature (the Pokémon) both smiled. Finally, they were really getting the hang of this! Kiri leaped into the next tree, still moving even more smoothly and gracefully than normal, to make it easier for the girl to keep focused on her.

-This will really make battling easier...- Kiri commented eventually, -We'll be faster than ANYTHING!-

-Except other psychics,- Aya reminded her Pokémon.

-Yeah... but how often do we fight them? That's what other Pokémon are for!- Kiri exclaimed. Aya giggled.

-You know that's not true!- she pointed out, still giggling. -You need them to fight dark-types too!-

-Hmm, true.- This was a sobering thought, to the Kirlia. She hated being reminded of things she couldn't do.

.-Hey, Kiri. How long has it been? We should go find Tim. The brat's probably gotten lost in the woods somewhere.-

-Ok. Watch how I do this.- Kiri said, resting lightly on a friendly-looking branch. She reached out with her mind, searching for Aya's little brother. -See him?- she asked her trainer. -He's going towards that clearing. He's fine. But I'll still go there.-

And the psychic Pokémon leapt off the branch towards the little clearing. Aya, watching through her Pokémon's senses, was even more amazed at Kiri's speed. She had barely glimpsed a branch before they had bounced off it, heading unerringly towards her little brother and his Pikachu.

-What? What's that? What are they doing? That's not a Pokémon!- Kiri exclaimed suddenly, startling Aya. Their careful bond shattered, leaving Aya gasping for breath back in her own body in the place they'd started. She was on her feet and running almost before she realized it. What Kiri had sensed, at the last moment, was someone falling from the sky. Not a Pokémon, but not a human, either. And what she'd seen... was Tim getting ready to knock it down. With electricity. She knew she wouldn't get there in time, and she slowed to a halt, panting.

"Right. Pokémon trainer," Aya reminded herself, sparing a fraction of a second to whack herself on the forehead. "Swellow! Go!" she called, throwing a pokeball into the air. Her Pokémon appeared, staring curiously at her.

Where is Kiri? The Pokémon seemed to be asking.

"Kiri is that way, in a little clearing. We have to get there, quickly!" Aya told the Pokémon. Swellow nodded, and scooped the girl up. They flew towards the clearing much faster than Aya had been running, and about as quickly as Kiri was able to move.

"AYA! Come see!" She and Swellow heard her brother's shout at the same time. Swellow turned towards the shout and flew twice as fast. In less than 10 seconds, they were on the ground. Swellow instantly joined Kiri in standing protectively before the strange creature, glaring warningly at the confused Timmy and Pikachu. Aya, instead, turned to the creature.

It was a girl, that much was obvious. A girl who almost looked human... But she had wings.

"Aya, what's wrong with your Pokémon? Isn't that one cool? Pikachu hit it spot-on! I think it must be very rare!"

"Are you an idiot? This isn't a Pokémon! She's a person!" Aya snapped.

"No she's not. She has wings, Aya."

"I didn't say she was human. I said she's a person. Kiri and I think she's an alien." Before Aya said this, she hadn't known it, but she quickly decided that her subconscious (or Kiri) was probably right.

"Now c'mon. Help me! We've got to get her home! Who knows what damage your silly attack did!"

-Aya, Pikachu says he didn't really hit her. She passed out on her own, but Tim didn't see.- Kiri's voice whispered in her head. Aya glanced at the Pikachu, who looked sufficiently embarrassed at his poor aim to make that true.

"If you didn't hit her, why is she passed out?" Aya asked the electric Pokémon. Pikachu made a face and shrugged.

"Hey! You didn't hit her?" Tim asked his Pokémon, startled. The Pikachu shook his head sadly.

"Well, if she's not a Pokémon, that's probably best," the boy reassured his friend. He turned to his sister, "Aya, how are we gonna get her home?"

"Swellow could fly her back... But I'm not sure how I'll get home. Swellow can't possibly carry both of us..."Aya said, thoughtfully, "And your Staravia can barely carry you..."

-I could float her,- Kiri volunteered. Then we could fly with Swellow, like we did to get here.-

-You sure you can hold her up the whole way?- Kiri thought for a second, then nodded.

"Ok. So Kiri will float the stranger, and Swellow will carry us back. Ready?"

Tim nodded, his Staravia already out of its ball and looking at the strange girl with interest.

"I'll explain on the way, Jake" Timmy assured his Pokémon. "But let's get going now. I want to beat Aya home!"

Almost before he'd finished speaking, the flying Pokémon had launched them both into the air. Aya giggled, watching her brother and Jake vanish beyond the trees.

-Why does he like races so much?- Kiri asked. As always, she translated everything other Pokémon said for Aya's benefit... as long as Aya was paying attention, anyway.

-Cause he knows that I'll beat him unless he grows more,- Swellow said matter-of-factly. -Are we going? Can we hurry up already? I don't want them getting too much of a head start, since I'll be carrying you and Aya... and pulling the human-Pokémon.-

-Hey! You won't even notice that! I'll be floating her the whole way!-

-Yes, but I'm sure you can't alter wind resistance. Her wings will mess mine up. Even flying with only Aya makes it more difficult! Staravia already has a huge advantage!-

"Shush you two. It's not like we're actually racing. Kiri, let's get going," Aya interrupted before her Pokémon got even more distracted.

-Right- Kiri stared at the strange girl, and slowly she lifted off the ground.

-She's much lighter than I thought. This will be easy.- Kiri assured her trainer. -As long as Swellow can handle the altered air currents.-

-Hey!-

"Enough, enough! Swellow! Let's go home!" she cried, gesturing dramatically in the wrong direction. Her Pokémon both rolled their eyes. Swellow scooped Aya up, hovering a moment to let Kiri leap up to join them, the stranger floating apparently unaided behind her. They swept off in a flurry of feathers to catch Timmy and his Pokémon.

-It's just not worth it if we don't TRY to beat them home,- Swellow explained cheerfully as she accelerated.