Author's Note: Okay... finally got the first chapter posted. I think it's okay. That's what my beta reader said anyway. Please, REVIEW. I need reviews, they'll help me figure out how to write better. ^^

I wasn't sure what to rate it. It will earn a PG-13 rating in later parts though, so I decided to just start out there, and not have to change it in the future.

One other thing -- I obviously could not use every character in this chapter. Please don't be mad if I didn't use your character yet. I promise I'm going to use every character I got. But I got 29 of them... so I may not get around to using yours for a little while.

Disclaimer: Are you stupid? Of course I don't own Pokémon, if I did, I would be in Hawaii or something on a permanent vacation. Not sitting in front of my computer writing fanfiction. Make money off this? Ha, I wish...

And now... On with the fic!

Time's Edge

Chapter One: Dream and Fight

Eyes.

A faint golden glow permeated the otherwise black void of her mind. She somehow knew that it was a dream, yet she could not move her body.

The air around her swirled and rippled, sending waves outward from the glowing eyes. Where the waves passed, images formed. Enormous marble pillars, encased in intricate designs of gold and silver appeared periodically, stretching up toward a ceiling made of solid gray rock that must have been at least a mile above them.

Hundreds of houses formed, but they were strange beyond imagination. Each was different, and yet somehow they were all the same. They were all approximately the same height -- two stories -- and were all made out of some sort of rough concreatish substance. The similarities ended there though.

The dwellings varied in color. One was a deep maroon swirled with turquoise, like vivid paints which had been run through a blender, but somehow stayed separate. Another was pure ocean-blue, with little splotches of white sprinkled across its surface. Each of them was shaped slightly differently, with bumps and indentations scattered across them, almost as if they were gigantic coral houses.

The roads seemed covered in gold and silver. These paths were obviously not designed for cars, they were never more than three feet in width. The same type of hieroglyphic artistry coated the streets as was on the pillars.

Various people walked along these streets. Some were old men, walking alone and contemplating some important question of life. Elsewhere, couples meandered along, holding hands and chatting happily without a care in the world. On the bare, gray stone in front of the houses, children ran about, screaming and laughing happily while their parents watched on from a window, smiling at their children's games.

In the center of the gigantic cavern, an enormous sky-blue crystal jutted out of the rock. It was over twenty five feet tall, and at least ten feet wide. Surrounded by a circle of golden hieroglyphs, it was set apart from the rest of the cavern. No one approached it -- it seemed almost as if people were avoiding it.

In the center of the crystal, haunting golden eyes looked out over the city. She wondered to whom the eyes belonged, and the glow instantly intensified from a soft, mellow light to a blindingly bright rainbow of colors; so intense that the rest of the cavern was no longer visible. As the eyes glew brighter, the dreamer felt intense pain -- and then nothing.

~~~

Rei North bolted up in her bed, covered in sweat and barely managing to stifle a scream. She spent a minute just calming her breathing, then untangled herself from her bed sheets and went to get a drink of water. It was two o'clock in the morning according to her bed stand clock.

She had that dream again. The same dream she had been having for the last month and a half now. She still had no idea what it meant, or if it even meant anything at all. She had never heard of anyplace like that weird cavern-thingy in her dreams, and she had done a LOT of research to try to find it. She was very good at finding things out, so she figured that if it had been discovered -- if it even really existed -- she would have located it by now. Maybe I'm just going crazy, she thought to herself.

She walked into the dimly lit bathroom, turning up the lights slightly as she passed the switch. Rei grabbed a cup from the closet and filled it with water from the sink. As she was filling the cup with water, she noticed her reflection in the mirror mounted above the sink.

At 5'5'' with blue hair and gray eyes, Rei definitely stood out in a crowd. Normally in a good way, although she thought that the sweat soaked nightshirt clinging to her body didn't make her look particularly attractive right now.

She drank the water, then turned on the tap again and splashed water on her face. A Ninetales let out a loud yell from somewhere in the forest, startling her. She laughed at herself a little for being so jumpy and decided to go back to bed. She had never had that stupid dream more than once in a night, so with luck, she would be able to get some quality sleep in before her alarm went off four hours from now.

~~~

Kaze Uta walked along the path toward Goldenrod City, capital of the whole Johto region. She already had two badges, and given how easy it had been to get them, she wasn't expecting any problems earning her Plain Badge. The gym leaders she had met so far seemed... pathetic.

She had used Dratini to defeat all three of Falkner's Pokemon, and Ponyta to take all three of Bugsy's. They were both great Pokemon... but not particularly highly leveled. They should not have been able to beat gym leaders on their own. Sure, maybe beat one or possibly even two of their Pokemon, but not all three. Dratini was only level 23, he was practically still a baby.

She had heard rumors of Team Rocket activity in Goldenrod, although as of yet she had no idea what they were doing there. Team Rocket had been increasing activity all over the place, there had been reports of attacks on numerous travelers through both Johto and Kanto. Kaze wasn't worried.

She had two extremely strong Pokemon of her own, and if worst came to worst, she was quite proficient at fighting on her own. Most people she met who might have considered attacking her took one look at her sword and reconsidered their plan on the basis that they didn't want to be cut in half. A few didn't, they usually ended up... cut in half.

Kaze was about 5'10'' tall, with long, silverish-blue hair, falling to her upper thighs. The sides of her hair were trimmed to chin length with two triangular buns on either side. There was some sort of symbol on her forehead, but it was obscured by her bangs and almost looked as though it were a trick of the lights. She was dressed all in black, black jean shorts, black fingerless gloves, a black materialized bra with the locket in the center, and a black sleeveless over-jacket which was left open. The locket had a picture of eight circles of different colors surrounding a crescent moon. She also had a fairly large sword, in a black sheath hanging from her waist.

The sun had just risen about an hour ago, so it was still fairly low in the sky, but Kaze was sure she saw something coming in her general direction; apparently trying to use the sun's glare and trees for visual cover. Luckily for her, Kaze had good eyes.

Be logical, she thought to herself, there must be a million people coming and going from Goldenrod every day... This is probably just a transport to one of the more distant cities. But even as she thought that, she realized that the approaching whatever was slowing down, its shadow's speed was obviously decreasing. Not good.

Within another second, Kaze could make out that it was a black helicopter with the familiar red Team Rocket logo on it. Great, just what I need... The chopper slowed to a hover directly in front of Kaze. She fingered the hilt of her sword nervously. Thankfully, there were no guns on it. Guns weren't very common in Johto and Kanto.

The side of the helicopter opened, revealing a tall man in his late twenties with sunglasses. He was wearing motorcycle gear. He leapt out of the opening and landed gracefully on the ground. The helicopter then closed up and took off, headed in the same direction it was originally going.

"Well, well, what have we here?" he asked in a voice that sounded slightly insane in Kaze's opinion. Kaze simply narrowed her eyes in response, and fingered Ditto's pokéball. "Aww, poor little girl scared? Ha, time to die I think..." He pulled out a pokéball and threw it silently.

It split open, revealing a threatening Gengar. "Gengar, use Night Shade on that girl!"

Kaze reacted faster than the eye could follow. First, jumping up over the ghost Pokémon's attack, secondly, by throwing Ditto's pokéball so that the little imitation Pokémon would appear right behind its ghost counterpart.

"Ditto, transform!" she commanded. Ditto obeyed instantly, altering itself until it was an exact copy of Gengar. "Use Psychic!" She commanded as soon as the transformation finished. Ditto launched the attack at Gengar's back, lifting it up into the air and hurling it over twenty feet away.

Gengar landed on its feet and launched itself into the air the second the attack ended.

"Gengar, use Shadow Ball on - Aghhh!" While Gengar had been flying, Kaze had launched herself at the Rocket trainer, and hit him mid-sentence. They both fell to the ground, but whereas the Rocket just lay there for a few seconds, Kaze landed on her hands and propelled herself into a flip, twisting around in midair and yanking her sword out of its sheath upon landing.

"Think you're hot stuff huh? Try this on for size!" He pulled out another pokéball and released a Misdreavus. This guy apparently had a thing for ghosts...

"Ditto, Psywave on the new one!"

"Misdreavus, Gengar, use Night Shade!"

Ditto's Psywave headed straight for Misdreavus, but the ghost Pokémon dodged it easily and both of the Rocket's ghosts countered with Night Shade. Ditto was knocked out of commission.

I'm in trouble now, though Kaze as she glanced worriedly from ghost to ghost.

End Chapter One

Post Chapter Notes: Cliffhanger! Will Kaze escape be able to defeat the ghost Rocket Trainer?

Thankies to my beta reader, Ara Moon. Without her help, this fic would NOT have been posted on time.

Both the as of yet unnamed Rocket Trainer and Rei North belong to Airfire0, Kaze Uta belongs to Ara Moon.

There, finally done w/chapter one! Wow. That took a while. LoL. The next part should be substantially longer, and should be out around next Monday.

Please REVIEW. I need feedback if I'm going to improve my writing. Please, tell me what you liked and what you didn't.