Hello everyone! I'm NYSTLSportsFan, and welcome to the first chapter of Welcome to My World! This is my second project on this site (the first being After the Wave, which you can find on my profile), and it's going to be significantly longer than my other story. Expect updates to be pretty slow (just because I'm always so busy throughout the year), but they will come in time.

I implore you, please, please review if possible; this is my first project of this size, and I guarantee that it's not going to be perfect to start, so I'll need all the advice I can get. I hope it is at least a good beginning though.

Before I let you go, I just want to say a couple things. First, that I had a weird/random thing for Finnish names in this story for no particular reason other than I thought that they were cool (nothing about me is even remotely related to Finland). However, while the last names are pronounced exactly how they're spelled, the first names are a tad hard to pronounce, so I'm putting a pronunciation guide up here:

'Joni' is pronounced YO-nee, and 'Jaakko' is pronounced YAH-ko.

Secondly, I'd like to thank Talkingbirdguy, author of The Return of the Cursed Gift, for the advice he gave me and for excusing what similarities exist between his story and mine.

And finally, despite my sharing a few similarities with Jake, I want to emphasize that this is not a self-insert fic. I actually made sure to make Jake a very different character than I am so as to avoid making it seem like a self-insert. I feel like I could do better than to write one of those. That's not a criticism of self-insert fics; it's more like I want Jake to be far more interesting and entertaining than I am. If it were me, well, I'd be one dry character.

Anyway, all of that stuff aside, please read, review, and enjoy!

Began writing: 6/21/15

Finished Writing: 6/28/15

Published: 6/28/15

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I do own my characters and the plot of my stories.

Chapter 1: Just Another Day...Right?

At 4:30 PM on a typical Friday afternoon, Jake Suomi tiredly got off the school bus and walked into his house, just like any other day. His mom asked him how his day was, just like any other day.

"Fine," he said, just like any other day. He walked over to his room, closed the door, and laid back on his bed, just like Any. Other. Day. Ugh!

Jake huffed in frustration. Another day, another repetition of his mundane daily routine.

"Wake up, go to school, do your homework, sleep. Rinse and repeat every day for nine months, and congratulations, you've got yourself a typical boring high school student," Jake said sarcastically to himself. "I feel like I keep living the same day over and over again. Kinda like Bill Murray in that one movie, Groundhog Day, wasn't it? Something like that." Thank God today was the first day of spring break. Reluctantly getting up from his bed, Jake walked over to his desk to resume his usual routine: namely, doing homework for the rest of the night. He groaned as he remembered that he had a test to study for and an essay to work on that night. Fortunately, they were both scheduled for after the break ended in two weeks time, but Jake was never one to get behind on his work. Procrastination would just mean that his workload would be even worse later on, and that was never a welcome thing.

I'd better start early, because otherwise this essay'll never get done, Jake thought. Nothing to do but to get down to work I guess. Maybe I'll have some free time tonight if I finish enough? So he told himself, despite fully knowing that that wouldn't be the case. After all, it never was; why would today be any different?

Jake wasn't really one to consider himself 'interesting.' A junior in high school, he was currently drowning in the sea of work that accompanied that status. As a result, he felt like it'd been years since he last had free time. But hey, at least his grades were staying up in the A range. That's what made it worth it. Still, he couldn't help but feel restless: he had many other interests he wanted to pursue, but he had no time to pursue them! Lately, he'd gotten into reading stories online. After doing this for a sufficiently long time, he wanted to try his hand in writing for the site; he had lots of ideas for stories, after all. The problem was, he just didn't have any time to write them. It frustrated him to no end to have countless ideas languish in the back of his mind while he toiled away doing trigonometry homework and read The Great Gatsby.

Maybe I'll write something this summer, he mused. As he sat down to begin his homework, Jake found himself bored and restless. Nothing out of the ordinary. He found himself scrolling through random websites, looking for something that would catch his attention.

Let's see… News? Another article about how my favorite team lost in the semifinals of the playoffs. Yeah, like I needed to be reminded of that. Oh, and now they've dismantled the whole team? Oh come on! Whatever, I can't bear to think about that right now. Moving on. Random sites? Just clickbait upon clickbait. Ooh, 'The 15 Cutest Puppies Ever?' Hell yeah, I'll click- no, Jake, don't give in to the clickbait. That's what they want. Social networks? All my friends are playing that one random video game, what's it called… Pokémon? What the hell is that anyway? And more importantly, where do they get the time to play video games and do things like that? I guess I'll never know. As Jake was about to log off, he noticed that his friend Joni was online. Wonder how he's doing with this essay? He decided to start a video chat with him. After a couple rings, a smiling blond-haired, pale-blue-eyed face appeared in the middle of the screen.

"Hey man, what's up!"

Joni Rantanen was, in Jake's mind, quite the character. They'd met at a young age when their Finnish parents decided to introduce themselves to each other. They'd hit it off immediately. Joni was, without a doubt, the smartest student in their grade, getting straight A's seemingly without even trying (a fact that Jake was admittedly jealous of). He was a bit geeky, spending most of his time either playing video games or doing web design, and had a bad habit of going on and on forever about whatever he was interested in at a given moment. Nonetheless, he was a good guy, and Jake considered him his best friend.

Jake returned Joni's smile. He quickly replied, "Not much. Well, other than trying to get an early start on Ms. Linden's essay."

Joni's smile faded for a moment. "I swear, she's trying to kill us. What is this, the third one in three weeks? She does realize we have other classes, right?"

"Well, if she does, she clearly doesn't care," Jake replied. "Have you started it at all yet?"

Joni shook his head. "Nope. I'll probably just end up squeezing it in right at the end of the break. I've got more interesting things to do with my time!"

It hardly even feels like a break for me. "Yeah, and knowing you, you'll probably still get a better grade than me without even trying. Seriously, tell me your secret! Where do you find so much free time?!"

At this, Joni laughed and tapped the side of his nose. "That, my friend, is a trade secret! You'll figure it out eventually."

"Like hell I will! You've been telling me that for years now!" Jake laughed. "Whatever, man. So, what've you been doing instead of working?"

Joni's face lit up. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you! I was bored the other day, so I decided to play through Pokémon Pearl again, just for kicks! Currently, I'm trying to train a Lucario. Man, it's going to be so good once I get it up to the level of the rest of my team! Though it's been a bit harder training him than it was to train my Buizel. Just watch though, when I finish leveling him up, I'll beat Volkner for sure, first try! And then from there, I'm going to conquer the Elite Four and Cynthia and…"

Oh God, he's going on another one of his rants, Jake thought. He does realize I have no idea what he's talking about, right? I've never played Pokémon! Never had the time, really.

"...anyway, it's going to be awesome, trust me. Buizel and Lucario together will be unstoppable!"

Jake sighed in relief. I thought he'd never stop. "Uh, yeah, I'm sure they will be, Joni. Anyway, I was thinking, since it's spring break and all, why don't we meet up in the park sometime? The weather's great this time of year."

"Yeah, I'd love to man! How about two days from now, Sunday at noon, in Pleasantside Park? I could bring my DS, so I can show you just how awesome my team is!"

Jake smiled. "Sure man, why not? Maybe we could discuss the essay, too, while we're at it."

"Alright then, sounds like a plan! See you then!" With that, Joni left the video chat with one final smile.

That'll be a lot of fun, Jake thought. I probably should tell mom about that though.

Jake got up from his desk and walked towards the kitchen of his house. He found his mom, a short woman in her mid-fifties, there, humming an old Finnish folk tune while she cooked dinner. When she noticed him come in, she smiled.

"Oh, hello Jaakko!" she immediately said. "Dinner's going to be ready in a bit. Is there something you needed to ask me?"

"Mooom, I told you, just call me Jake! 'Jaakko' is way too hard for my American friends to pronounce," Jake protested before continuing. "Anyway, is it okay if I hang out with Joni on Sunday at Pleasantside Park? The weather's going to be really nice."

At this, she nodded. "Oh, of course you can. Thank you for telling me in advance. You're such a sweet boy, Jaakko!"

Jake sighed. She'll never quit that. Then again, it is my name. Ugh, why did she have to pick such an annoying, hard-to-pronounce Finnish name for me!

"No problem, mom. I'll tell Joni you said hi."

As he left the kitchen, Jake heard his mom say, "Oh, Jaakko, please tell Joni to give his parents my regards! We must catch up sometime!" After agreeing to tell him, Jake made his way back to his desk. He looked at the clock. It'd been a full hour since he'd sat down to work, and he hadn't done a thing! Damnit, Jake sighed. I'd better get back to work.

Late that night, Jake finally finished enough of the essay that he could afford to stop working. Another day, another gigantic mountain of work. I swear, the teachers must have it out for us students. And not just Ms. Linden, either. God forbid we ever catch a break.As he brushed his teeth and got ready to go to sleep, he looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. The only thing that came to mind when he saw it (well, aside from "tired high-schooler") was ordinary. The short, messy light brown hair, the somewhat lanky frame, and the blank expression all just screamed ordinary. The only feature that stood out were his bright blue eyes, but even those looked dull and distant in the mirror. Jake looked at the mirror image of himself and sighed.

Walking over to his bed and laying down, he thought to himself, I'm so tired of this boring routine. I wish things would actually happen for once, interesting things! Some adventure! Some excitement! Anything to break me out of this awful cycle! Jake sighed again. Yeah, like that'll ever happen. Turning off the light, he quickly fell asleep. As he did, he thought he heard a childlike laugh, and a soft voice.

"You just wait and see, heehee!"

Afternoon on a typical training day. Ugh, Aria though as she lay on the hard-packed dirt of the training grounds, surrounded by the cries of other sparring Lucario, after being knocked down for what seemed like the hundredth time. I hate training days. She heard someone laugh at her from across the field and knew full well who it was. Sure enough, she heard Wes's voice call out to her in a mocking tone from where he stood.

"C'mon, Aria, get up!" he said, a smirk on his face. "You go down easier than a baby Deerling!"

Ugh, shut up Wes! Aria was irritated; she was not in the mood to take Wes's crap. But it's not like I can do anything about it. What am I supposed to do, go over to him and try to fight him? He'd wipe the floor with me!

Aria was, to say the least, not the strongest Lucario in her tribe. She'd always been a bit of an outcast, ever since the day she'd been taken in by the tribe after she, a tiny Riolu, stumbled into the village frail, injured, and alone. She never liked to talk about her past before then; it brought back bad memories. After her arrival, she never really fit in among the other Riolu: she was always too quiet, too timid, and too absent-minded for them to bother wasting time with. This never changed, even after all of the Riolu evolved into Lucario: to her peers, she always remained the frail, shy Riolu they'd known. It wasn't entirely unfounded; she was never as well-built or athletic as some of the other Lucario in her age group. So when the required battling classes began, she never really distinguished herself as much of a battler, hence why she was in her current position.

She would've just been content to lay there for a bit just to catch her breath had she not heard a stern voice from across the field.

"Aria! Get up! You can't possibly be this bad!" Aria groaned and looked in the direction of the voice. Nevin, the grizzled old head battling instructor of her tribe, stared back at her with a steely gaze. Briskly walking up to her, he said "Come on Aria, for the last time, why can't you just follow the basic techniques that I taught you?! It's been almost a full year, yet you still have failed to improve at all! Even Will here has made (minimal) progress!"

Aria looked sheepishly in the direction of the rather frail looking Lucario who had just knocked her down. Will shot her an apologetic look and mouthed "sorry;" as Will and Aria were considered the two worst fighters in the whole tribe, they'd become best friends.

"What are you staring at him for?! Get up and resume sparring!" Nevin barked at Aria. "Show me that it hasn't been a total waste trying to teach you to fight!"

Stung somewhat by his words, Aria slowly got up and got into a fighting stance. I hate this so much, she thought. I swear, if all Lucario in the tribe weren't required to take this class, there's no way I'd even be here. Why does everyone have to learn how to fight?! Is that really all we live for?! Across from her, Will mimicked her fighting stance. Upon seeing the two's sloppy technique, Nevin sighed and facepalmed- er, facepawed.

"Ready, you two?" After receiving two uncertain nods, he yelled, "Begin!" Will and Aria charged at one another. Will began by taking a weak swipe with his left paw at Aria's face. Trying to retaliate, Aria put all of her effort into a counterattack. She swung her right paw with all of her might at Will… and missed completely. So badly, in fact, that she lost her balance and tripped over herself, crashing heavily to the ground. Will, who'd been cowering in the face of the blow, relaxed his fighting stance, wincing upon seeing Aria hit the ground. Aria swung her head around to face Nevin, only for her blood to run cold. Nevin looked absolutely furious with her.

She hastily got up to face him. "Sorry, sir, I thought I could get him there, but-"

"Would you just shut up with the excuses?!" Nevin sputtered. He had a wild look in his eyes. The many Lucario around them froze, turning to watch the scene play out. It was half terrifying, half exciting to see their head instructor go off like this. Out of the corner of her eye, Aria noticed Wes sniggering at her.

"In all of my years of training the Lucario of this tribe in the ways of battling, I have never taught a worse battler than you, Aria! You're a hopeless case! Despite all of my teaching, you still have not grasped even the basic principles of combat! I can't believe you! Not once have I ever given up on a student, but you're really testing that!" In the midst of the stunned silence that followed, he took a deep breath to calm himself down somewhat before telling Aria, "You know what, just go home for the day. I don't have the time or patience to even try to correct your technique today." Turning to Will, Nevin continued, "You too, Will. Don't go thinking that you're a hotshot just because you beat Aria here. You're not much better!" After taking another moment to compose himself, Nevin turned to address the rest of the class, "What are you all looking at?! Get back to sparring!" Terrified, the other Lucario hastily resumed their matches. They didn't want to be next!

Aria was dumbstruck. Sure, Nevin had gone off on her before, but never to that degree. She felt like she could cry at any moment. Well Nevin, it's not like I want to be here anyway! Screw you, screw your class, and screw this whole tribe and its stupid obsession with battling! She quickly made to walk away into the woods between the training grounds and her home. No way would she let the others see her cry! Especially not Wes!

Will, seeing her quickly walk off, yelled, "Aria, wait, I need to ask-!" But she had already gone. "...you something." Will mentally kicked himself. Damnit! he thought. Just when I'd finally worked up the confidence to ask her… He glanced into his palm, wherein one of his latest projects lay. Guess I'll just have to show it to her later. Out of habit, he rubbed the top of his head, trying (and failing) to push down the ever-present spike of fur present on top of his head. He was worried about Aria; day after day of getting berated by Nevin had to take a toll on someone as timid as her, right? "I should go check on her at some point. Maybe after practice sometime. Then I can ask her," he told himself. This time, nothing would go wrong!

As Aria walked away, a few tears slipped down her face despite her best efforts to keep them from doing so. She was distraught. What am I doing wrong? she thought. It's been a year, so why can't I improve? I swear, I'm trying! She huffed in frustration. Besides, I don't even like battling. Seriously, though, why does everything have to be centered around fighting in this tribe?! As much as she thought about it, no answer came to her. Eventually, she made it back to her small, one-person hut. Slamming the door behind her, she lay on her bed and began crying in earnest. Opening her eyes, she stared at the interior of her home, which was full of pieces of paper that, upon closer inspection, had countless drawings on them. These reflected where Aria's talents truly lay: she was an artist, not a fighter! A pity that no one in the village cares about that sort of thing, Aria thought. If they did, maybe I wouldn't be so universally looked down upon.

She thought about sitting at her desk and doing some drawing. Normally, drawing calmed her down and got her through tough situations like this. Well, that and talking to Will about his latest projects. But today was different: it felt like the last remaining vestiges of her pride had been ripped from her grasp and tossed into the dirt while her peers looked on in amusement. She shivered as she remembered the look on Wes's face, laughing as she was humiliated by Nevin. No, this was beyond just talking to Will or doodling.

Sleep will do me good. I can deal with this better in the morning, Aria thought. I think I'll go apologize to Will for blowing him off earlier, too. He's probably worried sick about me right now. As she lay in her bed, many thoughts raced around in her head, but one in particular won out. I wish that I could live somewhere where I'd be accepted for who I am. Not just as a fighter, but as an individual. Is that so hard to imagine? Slowly, as she was falling asleep, she could have sworn she heard a faint giggle, and a quiet voice that answered "You'll see, heehee!"

When Jake and Aria opened their eyes, they found themselves floating in a field of inky blackness, unable to see anything.

Whoa, this is one trippy dream, Jake thought. What's going on? Jake wasn't a person who dreamed often, often joking that he 'didn't have time to dream,' so he was curious to see what would happen.

Aria, on the other hand, panicked at not being able to see anything. She hated being unaware of her surroundings; it made her feel vulnerable, scared that something would creep up and attack her without warning. It's not like Wes and his buddies hadn't done it before countless times. She tried to activate her Aura sight to restore her vision, but she was shocked when nothing happened. It's just like I'm a Riolu again...g-guess I'll just have to see what happens.

As they assessed their situation, the blackness was suddenly pierced by innumerable pinpricks of light, illuminating the entire space. Looking up, Jake and Aria noticed each other from across the space. Neither knew what to make of the other.

Oookay, now there's a blue humanoid jackal thing staring at me. Yup, this is one weird dream, Jake thought to himself. Did I eat something weird before I went to sleep? Nah, I don't think so. What the hell…

At the other side of the void, Aria was similarly surprised. She wanted to run away as quickly as possible from the unfamiliar lifeform that was staring back at her with wide blue eyes. But to her horror, she couldn't move an inch! This is just a weird dream, Aria, don't panic, she reassured herself. At least it doesn't look too threatening… I think.

The two noticed that the tiny dots of light surrounding them were slowly beginning to spin and condense around them. With a start, they realized that they were being gradually drawn towards each other! Jake and Aria began to really panic; dreams weren't to be this crazy and vivid, right? And vivid it was: there was nothing blurry or unclear about their situation. As they drifted closer to each other, they could pick out every detail of the other's bodies. Bright blue eyes met crimson red ones in a shared look of fear and cluelessness. It was then that they realized that this was no ordinary dream: when they looked into each other's eyes, they realized that the figure across from them was not just a figment of an overstressed imagination. No, each saw a real person, a reflection of themselves in those eyes! As they got closer and closer, the lights around them spun faster and faster and glowed ever brighter, until finally, when all they could see were each other's eyes, there was a bright flash of light!

When the light dissipated, they opened their eyes to a rather confusing sight. Still partially blinded by the light, Jake looked up and was perplexed when he saw... himself? No, this Jake had red eyes, the same color as those of the jackal-thing he had just seen.

Huh, that's a weird detail, Jake thought. What's going on?

Aria, meanwhile, was similarly confused. She, too, saw a reflection of herself, with the only difference being that the Aria in front of her had shockingly bright blue eyes! The same as that person from before…

Before they could make heads or tails of what had just happened, they heard a high-pitched giggle, followed by a voice saying, "Jake, Aria, I've granted your wishes! Come find me when you've learned a thing or two from this experience! Best of luck, you two! Heehee!"

And suddenly, they were falling, falling into the pitch black void below…

And there you have it, the first chapter of Welcome to My World! This is a bit of an intro chapter for the rest of the story, as this mostly just frames the plot and introduces some of the most important characters. The plot really picks up from the end at the start of the next chapter. But I hope this was a good beginning! Again, I ask, please do review this. I want to iron out most of my mistakes at the beginning of the story so that they don't linger around in future chapters. All criticism is welcome. Anyway, expect another chapter of this to come sometime later in the summer! Check my profile for news of my activity and updates on the progress of my projects. So yeah, thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

NYSTLSportsFan

Edit 6/29/15: Fixed dialogue.