What the…? Where am I? Why does this seem so…familiar?

I sit upwards with a start and look around at the blooming scenery around me as what look to be…Pokemon, more specifically Pidove, fly overhead and exclaim with a neutral tone, "Pi-pi!"

Interesting… I seem to have been dropped into the Pokemon universe abruptly and without other reasoning… What is more curious is that this seems especially real, despite its unrealistic nature.

I reach for my side, and much to my delight I find six pokeballs at my side attached to a belt which seems to have also mysteriously appeared as if it was put there simply to hold my 'balls' at my waist…

I chuckle to myself in amusement as I throw the pokeball skyward and exclaim with a smirk, "Ok then… Let's see what I have under my possession. Go, Pokemon Ichi-ban!"

A purplish light bursts out of the opened ball and coalesces into a purple-colored Zoroark that sneers with glee as it transforms into a copy of myself and proceeds to affectionately pat me on the head.

Looks like whoever put me here at least sent me a team that suits me quite well… I wonder if it is that team…

I turn to the Zoroark and exclaim with a stern tone as I pick up its ball and recall it back to its spherical cage, "Vortal, please return… There is much to do if things are in fact how they seem. But, first I must contact someone in this region and get my bearings…"

But, fate seems to have planned something different for me as I hear a familiar voice exclaim with surprise, "Paul? Is that you?"

I turn around to find my good friend, Scott Matthews, walking towards me with a Starmie trailing behind him…. Why does this not surprise me?

I reply with a sigh as I narrow my eyes with slight disinterest, "Yes, Scott… And before you ask, we ARE in the Pokemon universe… The real question is WHERE in it are we…"

Another familiar voice replies with a chuckle as my friend from across the state, Max M., comes forth with his infamous Crobat flitting about in the still air next to him, "Most likely Unova… I am guessing…Route 1?"

I reply with a shrug as I try and scout out any more who may have been brought here as well, "Probably… Now then… Can you return your pokemon back into their balls? With how things are, it seems an awfully a lot like the adventure ahead of us is stealing plot devices from Digimon…"

Scott replies with an exuberant shrug of his own as he pulls out a pokeball and retrieves his Starmie, "Not like that is necessarily bad, Paul… Digimon was a good series, after all. But, if it REALLY irritates you so much… Return, Misty!"

I reply with a teasing tone as I suggestively raise my eyebrow, "So… You named it Misty…"

Scott replies with embarrassment as his face becomes as red as a cherry, "SHUT UP!"

I reply with a sigh as I turn my attention to Max, "Whatever… Now, Max…"

Max replies with amusement as he crosses his arms and cracks a wide grin, "How about we settle this the OBVIOUS way?"

I reply with a dissatisfied frown as I pull out two of my pokeballs and release the pokemon within, "Must you be this way, Max? Whatever… If it must happen, so it shall… Karmine! Marshy! Show him your combined might!"

Max replies with a sly chuckle as he unleashes his own pokemon into the fray, "Don't be so surprised…or for that fact, so PREDICTABLE. Go show him the error of his ways, Dugtrio and Crobat!"

I reply with a shrug, "Since I know you have the first move due to your pokemon's combined superior speed… Go ahead…"

Max exclaims as he grits his teeth with zeal, "Fine then… Dugtrio, use Night Slash on Karmine! Crobat, Acrobatics on Marshy!"

As his pokemon come within contact of my own, I exclaim with eyes widened to the point of inferred madness, "Karmine! Blast his Dugtrio away with an Energy Ball… Marshy, stop that Crobat in its tracks with an Ice Beam!"

Acknowledging my last minute exploit of the weak spot left by Max's all-out assault, Karmine summons a orb of pure solar energy, which kicks up a shroud of dust as it collides with the Dugtrio and knocks it back before it at last succumbs to the severity of the damage it had just previously endured. Seeing the success of Karmine, Marshy finds an opening in Crobat's routine right before it is about to strike with a jagged wing enchanted by the expended power of a Flight Gem and swiftly flash-freezes it with a potent Ice Beam.

With the defeat of both of his pokemon, Max exclaims with a scowl as he returns them to their ocular prisons, "What the…? How did you…?"

I reply with a chuckle as I swiftly retrieve my own pokemon, "This is not the games, but rather much more realistic when it comes to tactics… However, I will not charge you for the loss this time, so consider yourself lucky."

Max replies with a deflated sigh as he shakes his head, "It just seems kind of odd that my pokemon were defeated without a hit laid upon your pokemon, despite their speed surpassing that of yours'. No matter… I WILL defeat you eventually, even if it means actually coordinating my attacks without relying on numbers and such like I usually would with the games."

I reply with a shrug as I turn my attention to Scott, "We will see… Now then, Scott, meet Max. Max, meet Scott. Although it is weird for two of my main friends to be meeting one another…I assume much more odd things will occur in this adventure."

Max exclaims with a slight smirk as he extends his hand to Scott, "Nice to meet you, Scott. I look forward to seeing your skill in the heat of battle…"

Scott replies with a friendly grin as he shakes Max's hand, "As do I! Now that that is out of the way, where shall we go?"

I reply with another shrug, "Well… We could ALWAYS go to Accumula Town and see what is happening there…"

Before either of them gets a chance to respond, my phone begins to buzz violently and as I look at it, my eyes grow wide as I see the following phrase illuminated by the glistening backlight: 'Incoming Call from N Harmonia'.

N…is calling me? What the…?

Better put my slight fanboy attitude on the backburner for now, as finding out what such an important power player in the region wants with someone like myself…

I answer the phone with a calm tone, "Hello…?"

A soothing tone replies with a chuckle, "Ah… So, you are Paul Blank, or should I say, Maekir Vilemist or 'Drakkon'? I have heard much about you from the whispers of the mythical Zekrom… The wicked young poet who, despite having a surname associated with the empty void, has adopted pseudonyms to add meaning to that emptiness…"

I reply with a chuckle, "Says the person with the true last name of 'Gropius'…"

N replies with a scalding hot snarl, "It was my MOTHER'S surname…"

I slyly retort, "…Yet you are said to have been born from a pokemon…which I will not ask the specifics about…"

N sighs heavily as he exclaims in an annoyed tone, "Nevermind… Let me take a different approach. As I am sure you are probably aware, Team Plasma was defeated and promptly captured about a month prior to this date, and I am currently still in possession of Zekrom even after that whole…fiasco involving that false father of mine. If you are willing to meet with me to discuss an alliance between us against whatever Ghetsis may throw against us next, come to Accumula in twenty-five minutes with an open mind and preparations for whatever…variables may try to interfere with our meeting. Oh, and since you were wondering…your phone was patched with X-Transceiver data when you came to this dimension, so all calls will have automatic caller ID if that is what you wonder. Besides my number, you have your nearest companions' numbers added in as well as Professor Juniper's should you need it for some reason. Besides that, I think that should be all… Until we meet again…"

As N at last hangs up, I turn to Scott and Max and exclaim with slight confusion, "N…just called me…and wants me to meet him in the next town in twenty-five minutes. I don't know… You two up for meeting the fallen King of Team Plasma to discuss whatever he wishes to divulge to us?"

Max replies with a smirk on his face, "Don't you think that that's a bit suspicious? Yeah, we should go. But we should heal our pokemon before the meeting. Just in case. I am not trusting this guy."

Scott adds in with a chuckle, "Sure. Maybe if we are lucky, he might pull a Panty and Stocking like he does in Black Adventures. By the way, where the heck is Black?"

I reply with a shrug as I reach into the pouch on the side of my belt and pull out a Max Repel, which I promptly spray all around us in order to make the trip less miserable, "I do not know… Maybe N will fill us in enough so that we can find that out. Besides, there is enough time to prepare before such a meeting, but I doubt he will want a battle… At least not one AGAINST us. But, it doesn't hurt to prepare…"

Max replies with an intrigued tone as the three of us at last begin the mysterious and peril-drenched journey ahead of us, "I still find it strange how he had your number… But yeah, N isn't the kind of person who would just have a useless battle. And I did want to explore Unova a bit anyways... Let's go!"