Zoey checked the clock on her phone, as she and her four companions were making their way across the empty campus, each of them carrying a bag filled with snacks and drinks for the party they would have tonight. The sun had long set, indicating that it was only a couple of hours until the new year kicked in. Originally Zoey had planned to spend New Years with her family. But stuff had gotten in the way and now she was stuck spending the last day of the year with her friends from university. Not that it was a bad thing, but well, it wasn't family.

"Oh shit, we forgot the beer!" Brian suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone to stop, except for Zoey, who went on as she spoke.

"I bought it yesterday, forgotten?" she asked in a sarcastic fashion, her gaze not leaving the screen of her phone. Brian sighed in relief, while Britanie and Stanley rolled their eyes.

"Oh yeah, completely forgot," Brian replied with a chuckle.

"You only helped me stash it all away," Zoey also reminded her fellow student.

"Jesus, Brian. Your brain has more holes than Swiss cheese," Britanie stated as a matter of fact.

"What else is new?" Zoey asked in a rhetoric fashion.

"Your ass, that's what. Jeez Zee, did you put on some weight over the holidays?" Stanley asked with a grin. He received chuckles from Britanie and Brian, but only a shrug from the young woman he had spoken to.

"At least I have a view people can enjoy. When they see your ugly butt, they run faster Britanie on her way to an all you can eat, buffet."

"Shots fired," Brian intoned.

"Hey, at least wait with the flirting, until you're drunk," Britanie intoned with a grin. "But man, I put on some weight too. I gotta hit the gym next year."

"Come on, let's be honest. Nobody goes through with this kind of stuff. At best you'll give up within the first week," Stanley told the girl. "Do it like me. Don't try. That way, you won't be disappointed."

"If your motto is "don't try", why are you still trying to get your diploma?" Brian asked.

"Everyone needs a hobby," Stanley shrugged.

"I thought your hobby was looking at girl's assets?" Britanie asked in a half-serious fashion.

"Nah, that's just casual observations."

Zoey let out a snort at the comment. "Well "observe" all you want. Doesn't change the fact that you won't be able to stick anything inside."

Since the quartet was making their way through the university campus, they passed many of its buildings, each specializing in a specific field or fields of study. Building H was nothing special in that regard. This was the place where things about economics, marketing and similar subjects were taught. However, this particular building also happened to be a place where specific incidents took place.

In the past four weeks leading up to the winter holidays, students just started losing consciousness out of nowhere. It only happened in this particular building, making many believe the reason for those students fallen unconscious was because of a gas leak. But as of yet, it hadn't exactly been confirmed that the cause was a gas leak. Nevertheless, the building was closed to the public until further notice.

The four students stopped right next to Building H, looking at the police-tape hanging in front of the doors.

"Man, am I glad I study law," Britanie said, as she looked through a window inside the building.

"You know, you hear about accidents and stuff on the news all the time. But when it happens right next to you..." Stanley trailed off.

"It's something different, huh?" Brian finished.

Zoey put her phone away and placed the bags she was carrying on the ground in order to be able to rub her hands. Mentally she chided herself for not wearing gloves.

"Just be glad this didn't happen to you. I can tell you from experience that getting knocked out from seemingly nowhere is not fun."

After hearing this particular piece of information, the three friends looked at the fourth one.

"Say what?" Stanley asked. "You got knocked out cold once?"

"What happened?" Britanie inclined.

Zoey put her hands into her pockets and looked away. "It happened when I was a teen. I don't remember what exactly happened, mind you, just that I felt like shit when I woke up in the hospital." The girl speaking shivered a little due to the wind.

"The hospital? Didn't they tell you afterward what happened?" Brian asked, now getting worried that he was getting into territory that was none of his business.

"Well..." Zoey hesitated. "The police... they believe I was kidnapped."

"SAY WHAT?!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

Three voices exclaimed at once, causing Zoey to cringe. This kind of reaction was normal, whenever she told someone about the "incident", as rarely as she talked about it anyway. Technically speaking she wasn't even lying. She said the police believed that she had been kidnapped. Granted at first they had thought she was a runaway, which was at least in a small portion right, they had dismissed this possibility rather quickly because of a multitude of reasons.

Zoey mentally prepared herself for the onslaught of questions that were about to come and got the lies she would consequently tell in order. However, before any of the humans could say or scream anything, someone intervened with their own voice.

"My, my, they seem quite concerned." A melodic voice echoed throughout the campus, causing all four attendees to jump in the place they were standing in.

"Wh-wh-what was that?!" Britanie stuttered, looking around frantically.

"It... sounded like a shriek?" Brian sounded a little unnerved.

"Pretty high pitched for a shriek," Stanley commented relatively calmly, at least compared to the other two.

"Shriek?" Zoey gave her three companions a questioning look. "What do you mean with shriek? I don't hear any shrieks."

"Oh, don't mind them, my dear," the same voice spoke again, causing the four humans to look around frantically.

"There it was again? What was that?! A bat?!"

"Bats sleep during the winter!" Brian shouted back. "What is this, a prank?"

"The fuck, are you talking about?" Zoey asked the humans.

"After all, these three never learned our language," the voice finished.

"Our language?" Zoey echoed, gaining her a look from all of her friends.

"Oh, you know. The pokémon language."

Before anyone could properly react to the voice, the humans felt a chill running down their spine. The source of this sudden drop in temperature made itself quickly apparent, as it floated upwards out of the ground.

Now, while Zoey did definitely not belief in ghosts, she knew very well that ghost pokémon were a real thing. When you were fighting against them, they had the nasty tendency to hide inside the walls, the ceiling and even the very ground itself, waiting for an opportunity to pounce on you. Zoey very much doubted this one needed to result to any kinds of tricks or gimmicks in order to puree all of the humans present.

If human jaws were detachable, they would have all hit the floor as soon as they saw Lunala rising into the air. Neither the anime, nor the games did her appearance any sort of justice. Her main body looked like it was made out of the night sky itself. Her golden highlights shimmered even in the streetlights, giving her an even more otherworldly appearance. And then there were her shining, reddish-pinkish eyes. Zoey couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she somehow found the gaze of the legendary pokémon both threatening and soothing at the same time.

"Son of a..." Stanley muttered.

"This... is this real?" Britanie asked, cowering right behind Brian.

"Hehe, did you guys spike my drink or lunch or dinner?" Brian asked, sounding like he was going to be hysteric soon.

"It took some time, but it looks like I finally found you," Lunala spoke, her gaze directed at Zoey.

"M-me?" Zoey stuttered, ignoring her cowering friends, who could only hear high pitched, yet melodic shrieks.

"But of course," the legendary replied, saying it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "While your race as an entirety is interesting to watch, you're the one I was looking for. Not an easy feat, mind you, seeing as there are so many of you."

"W-w-why are you looking for me?" Zoey asked, feeling her heart hammering in her chest. Subconsciously she was reviewing everything she knew about Lunala. She was a legendary pokémon, meaning she was automatically stronger than the average Joe. She was a psychic as well as a ghost-type, meaning if Zoey wanted to hurt her, she would either use her pocket knife, hoping it would count as a steel-type attack or a stick, hoping it would count as a grass-type. Lunala was stronger in the special attack department and her ability protected her somewhat as long as she was undamaged.

"What the hell, Zoey?! Why are you talking to it?!" Britanie shrieked, but was ignored by the other woman.

"H-how about we don't make any sudden moves?" Stanley suggested, fear being evident in his voice.

Lunala ignored the other humans in favor of Zoey. "Oh, the reason for me looking for you is very simple. It is the exact one you're thinking about right now."

Without warning, Lunala flew closer to the humans. Zoey reacted and held up her arms, whilst her friends behind her took several steps backwards. For a minute or so, Zoey kept her arms up. When she noticed that the legendary wasn't doing anything to her, she lowered her guard and saw that the pokémon was giving her a kind smile. It also turned out that her body was so low it was partially clipping through the ground. It almost looked like Zoey was inside a glitchy video game.

Before the human could make any further thoughts, she found herself shrieking in surprise, when Lunala tickled her under the chin. The bat-like pokémon quickly rose to the air again, giggling like a little girl that just pulled a prank on her older sister.

"What the heck was that for?!" Zoey shouted, holding her finger on the place Lunala gently scratched her with her claw.

"Oh, I just thought it would be more easier for us to have a conversation, if you weren't staring with awe at me," Lunala explained with a chuckle. "While your attention on me is quite flattering, I'm afraid my interests lie within the opposite gender."

The human's face turned slightly red at the implication. "Shut up! You're the one who appeared out of nowhere!" The human pointed an accusatory finger at the flying pokémon. However, only a moment later she relaxed her stance and put her hands inside her pockets.

"But, yeah, I probably needed that," the human conceded, looking up at the ghost and psychic-type.

"Happy to be of help," Lunala replied. "I am also glad to be able to meet the one who saved our world."

"Ehehe... yeah," Zoey scratched the back of her head. "It wasn't that big of a deal, really. Just go to Rayquaza and tell him to shoot a gigantic rock out of the sky. I'm pretty sure there're lots of others who could have done that."

"Don't sell yourself short, Zoey. You saved many of my kin during your time in our world. Even nowadays, the pokémon speak highly of your team's accomplishments."

Zoey felt her heart racing a mile a minute at this point. The sheer fact that she was speaking to a legendary pokémon after such a long time should be enough to make her fall unconscious. Not to mention there was a hope burning inside of the human, a hope of returning to the ones she was forced to leave behind. However, the woman tried to keep her emotions hidden. As much as she wanted to explode here and there, she had received her fair share of battle scars from legendaries that had lost their temper.

"Naturally, I just had to meet the one responsible for saving us all. And luckily for me, my unique abilities allow me to do just that."

"Wow," Zoey spoke in genuine surprise. "I'm flattered, I really am. I... haha, I'm sorry, but this is so surreal. Hahaha!" The human was bending over from her sudden bout of laughter. "It's... it's been so long since I have talked to a pokémon, let alone a legendary."

The other three humans were saying something behind Zoey. However, at this point, she had stopped listening to them as well and was fully focused on the legendary in front of her.

"I understand. It must be hard for you to keep your excitement in check," Lunala replied, smiling brightly. "And given that you now know that I am capable of traveling between the worlds, isn't there a particular question you should be asking me by now?" Lunala asked in a rhetoric question, her smile changing into a smirk.

The human woman looked away and tried to calm herself, by taking in some deep breaths. But it was pretty much for naught, as her entire body was shaking in excitement at this point in time.

"Well... WAAHH!" The human screamed when out of the blue the legendary decided to pick the human up, using her psychic abilities and placing the hairless monkey firmly on her back.

"What are you doing?!" the aforementioned human shouted in slight panic, causing Lunala to laugh.

"Why, what does it look like?" the legendary asked, after her fit of laughter. "Your friends are waiting for you. And it is clearly written on her face that you want to see them again too."

Eyes widening, Zoey could see Lunala's third eye appearing on her forehead. This could only mean one of two things: she was either using her signature move or opening an Ultra Wormhole. Given that there are no real targets in range, with the exception being Zoey's friends, who were screaming their lungs out at this point, it could be only one thing.

Now, Zoey had survived many things during her time as a pokémon and she had also seen many things. But, reality itself being torn apart in front of her eyes and a rift to another world appearing in place of it, well, this was something new to her.

"Wait!" she desperately screamed. "You can't just take me like that! My family will-"

But it was too late. Lunala was either not listening or not caring to the human's complaints. With a loud screech (and a bloodcurdling scream from Zoey), the legendary pokémon dived into the Ultra Wormhole, leaving the human world and its inhabitants behind. The only evidence that she had ever been there, the Ultra Wormhole, disappeared just like she and the human did.

The only evidence? Well, not really. Humans did have that pesky habit of taking out their phones and recording anything and everything interesting happening around them. But it's not like that would make a difference on the long run.


Zoey didn't know how long her trip through the Ultra Wormhole lasted, nor would she be able to fully recall it. A mixture of her emotions going haywire at the time, plus all of the flashing lights made it hard for her brain to comprehend everything that was going on around her. Add to that the rather rough landing Lunala subjected the poor human to, then one could forgive her for blacking out.

Lunala smiled sheepishly to herself, when she saw the human lying on the ground and not getting up. She guessed she could have been a little bit more careful with her mode of transportation and maybe she should have given Zoey some time to comprehend the entire situation. But then again, this wouldn't be the first time the human would have been thrown into the cold water. Plus, she would have her friends to help her out very soon.

Knowing that her work was done for the moment, Lunala smiled one last time down at the human, before taking flight heading to wherever her instincts would take her.

Of course, the sudden opening of a hole in the sky didn't exactly go unnoticed by the local population. Indeed the phenomenon in addition to the appearance of the huge, unknown pokémon caused almost everyone to metaphorically jump ship and run, crawl or fly as quickly as possible away from that particular area. However, there were two exceptions.

Two pokémon who observed the happenings from afar were now heading directly where they saw the big, dark pokémon coming out of the hole. Ignoring the shouts and warnings of their kin, both of them continued on their way with a determined look in their eyes.

The first of the two pokémon was a Blaziken. A two-legged, bird-like pokémon with red, white and yellow feathers and a lengthy, athletic body. It was a fire and a fighting-type, capable of using powerful, as well as superheated kicks against its foes. While technically not capable of flight, this pokémon can jump so high, it might as well be an unofficial flying-type.

The second pokémon was an Absol. A four-legged, white furred pokémon, with red eyes and a black scythe growing out of the head. It was also called the "disaster pokémon", due to its ability to sense incoming disasters of various degrees. Examples of this ability are: sensing an incoming storm, knowing when a bridge is about to collapse, and so on. Absols are very strong physical fighters, though they usually rarely engage in a fight themselves, preferring to live a reclusive lifestyle.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at their intended destination and when they did, they immediately noticed two things. One the pokémon they had spotted earlier was already gone. And two, there was another pokémon just lying on the ground, one they had not seen previously.

"We missed Lunala," Blaziken stated the obvious, his eyes fixated on the unconscious pokémon. "But who is this? And what pokémon is it for that matter?"

The two conscious pokémon approached the unconscious one, examining it from head to toe.

"I have never seen a pokémon like this," Absol stated calmly. "And it is wearing a lot of clothing," the dark-type pointed out.

While clothes were nothing new to pokémon, they usually satisfied themselves with a bow or a scarf or something similar. However, this one was clearly overdoing it. Its head and hands appeared to be the only free parts of its body, showing white, yet not entirely white skin. It also had brown hair, about shoulder length.

This pokémon wore a green scarf, some kind of very thick black blanket with buttons holding it together. It also wore some blue trousers and had its feet covered up by something black and leathery that reached up to half of the bottom part of its legs.

"I wonder what she is doing here," Blaziken thought aloud. "Could it be that she was brought here by Lunala, like us?" he asked his companion.

"It is very possible," Absol agreed. "But if we want to be sure, we'll need to wake it up."

"Well, sleeping on the ground like this can't be comfortable," the fire and fighting-type commented, before crouching down and giving the other pokémon a gentle shake. Apparently, this was already enough to wake it up, as it let out a groan and opened its eyes, revealing them to be brown in color. The pokémon on the ground held up one of its hands in front of its eyes, seemingly getting blinded by the sun.

"Where am I?" she asked, as Absol and Blaziken could finally identify the pokémon's gender by her voice.

"Are you alright?" Blaziken asked in concern, causing the pokémon on the ground to turn her head. For a moment she was silent, until she let out a sigh and dropped her arm to the ground.

"You know, I should be freaking out, but given what just happened to me-" She didn't manage to finish her sentence, as her stomach let out an unhealthy gurgle sound, surprising the dark and fire-type.

"Urrgh," the pokémon sat up and held her arms over her stomach. "I feel like I have been on the fastest rollercoaster in the world three times in a row. Damn you, Lunala."

"Well, that answers that question," Absol said out loud.

"Yeah, Lunala has brought her here, too. Just what is this pokémon up to?" Blaziken asked, turning his head to his companion. "First she appears out of nowhere in the middle of the night, then she transports us who knows where and now we find out we aren't the only one?"

"Puzzling, indeed. Maybe she knows something," the dark-type stated and stepped in front of the unidentified pokémon. Said pokémon had her face contorted in pain, but was obviously fully focused on the two pokémon beside her.

"Lunala brought you here, too?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Indeed," Absol replied. "But her motives elude us. Perhaps you could-"

The female pokémon let out another groan, bending over slightly.

"I think we should get her some medical attention first," Blaziken said, while holding his arms out, ready to catch the pokémon, should she drop to the ground. "Can we get anything for you? Do you need water, maybe?" he asked.

"Its fine," the female pokémon smiled, still sounding like she was in pain. "I just... I just need a moment or two, until my stomach calms down." She let out an awkward chuckle.

"If you say so. Just say something, if you need anything," Blaziken told her.

"That's very nice of you."

The two pokémon standing watched the female one with concern, as she slowly took in a deep breath and released the air after holding it in for a couple of seconds. She repeated this mantra a couple of times, until she relaxed her overall posture.

"Okay, I think I am better," the female of the trio told the male ones. "Thanks for sticking with me there."

"It's not a problem," Blaziken replied with a smile. "We're all kind of in the same boat, anyway. We might as well stick together."

"Speaking of which," Absol spoke up "do you perhaps know why Lunala has brought us to this place? All she did was appearing out of nowhere all of a sudden and telling us there was someone who was waiting for us."

"Really?" the female one asked and took a look at her surroundings. However, there wasn't really much to see for her. All she knew was that Lunala had dropped her inside of a forest of some kind, but there weren't any landmarkings she could orientate herself on.

"Well, it was kind of similar for me. She appeared out of nowhere, spooked the crap out of me and some friends that were with me and offered me to bring me somewhere I had wanted to go for a long time."

Absol and Blaziken gave each other a look.

"Somewhere you wanted to go for a long time?" Blaziken repeated.

"Y-yeah," the female smiled sheepishly. "It's... a little complicated. There are some friends I have been meaning to visit for a very long time. But..." she trailed off for a moment. "Let's just say, they live very far away from my place. Plus I couldn't just leave my family like that." The woman took in a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. "Not that Lunala gave a damn, apparently. She just grabbed me and took me here without even giving me the chance to pack a few things, let alone tell my family that I might be out of reach for a very long time," she finished with a deadpan expression.

Both male pokémon blinked in surprise when the female one finished her story. Absol cleared his throat, before speaking up again.

"I see. This pokémon's behavior is very strange," he commented. "However, I noticed you said she wanted to send you somewhere you have been meaning to visit. Does that mean, you recognize these woods?" To the dark-type's disappointed, she shook her head.

"Not really. I mean, we could be pretty close to the place I have in mind and I simply have never visited these parts of the woods, surrounding the place. I'd need to take a look around." The female pokémon put her hands on the ground and pushed herself of it. Now standing at full height, it became obvious that she was only slightly smaller than Blaziken.

"Since we're all in the same boat, like you said," she spoke the second part to Blaziken "how about we have a look around together?"

"Sounds good!" Blaziken nodded cheerfully. "Oh, by the way, my name is Blaziken."

"And I am Absol. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Haha, nice to meet you, too. Been a while since I had any pokémon companions. I am Zoey and as you might have already guessed, I'm a human."

The reaction that followed from the last sentence wasn't something that Zoey, the human, was expecting. Both pokémon looked like she had just slapped them in their face and had recoiled from the impact.

"Huh? Something wrong?" she asked. But while the question mark was still lingering over her head, her brain finally went into gear, as she took a hard look at the pokémon in front of her.

One of them was a Blaziken, which was a funny coincidence since her best friend was a Torchic. The other was an Absol, equally funny because she and Torchic had been very close friends with an Absol who had saved their life in a dire time of need.

Zoey would later proclaim it was the radiation of the Ultra Wormhole that kept her brain from putting two and two together, but once the penny dropped, it was her turn to recoil from the none-existent slap.

"No way in motherfucking hell..."