Riolu and I were sitting on the beach, my head against his chest. I could feel his heartbeat drumming against my head, counting down the seconds going by. I sighed as I spotted the Farfetch'd sitting in a bush, barely out of sight; even though I was only twelve years old, I was the most famous Pokémon in Treasure Town, and possibly the world, along with Riolu.

"God, I'm sick of them!" I groaned as a scrawny Farfetch'd raised a camera and took a snap at us on the beach. "I wish I could just…I dunno, get out of here, out of this place, somewhere where I'm not the one those paparazzi take endless and endless photos of!" I stood up and strode into the Beach Cave; no matter what, those cowardly birds wouldn't follow me into a mystery dungeon, even if it as the weakest one there.

"Kate, wait," gasped Riolu, rushing after me. I went down a whole two floors before stopping, letting him catch me.

"Kate," Riolu puffed. "You can do that, you know."

I stared at him. "But how?" I asked. "I'm stuck here, full stop."

Riolu just grinned and held up the Dimensional Gear sitting on a string around his throat. My eyes widened.

"No," I said firmly. "No. Won't it create a paradox? Or a distortion in the fabric of space? No."

"It will distort space a bit, yes," Riolu said. "But I can patch it up with the gear as well. Look, Kate, the only way you'll get away from them is if you do this."

I looked up into his sunset-orange eyes. "But what about you?" I asked. "Will you come with me?"

To my surprise, Riolu shook his head. "No, I'm sorry but I want to complete my goal of becoming the world's greatest explorer. Once I do that, I'll come looking for you, and we'll stay together." I nodded. Riolu walked one step forward so that we were nose to nose, and then kissed me. I kissed him back, knowing that this might be the last time I'd see him for a while, maybe even forever, and so made sure that I'd never forget that last kiss with him in the crystal-walled cave. We then broke apart, and Riolu created a special hole in the wall using his space powers.

"I'm going to send you to the Phanto region, in the Pokémon universe," he said. I nodded, and, with one last fleeting look at Riolu, leapt full-force at the swirling portal, leaving behind everyone in the Treasure universe-including Riolu.


Kate woke up lying on a grassy floor of a forest in the Phanto region. All around her were dark trees, and the floor she lay on was covered in pinecones. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, thinking, what am I going to do?

Well, she didn't know, really; she had just left a place where she had something to do, always, like picking up jobs from the noticeboards, maybe going to the beach or Fogbound Lake with Riolu, and always, she had friends. Now she was in a completely different place, where she didn't know anyone, and she couldn't go back to the Treasure dimension-not that she'd want to, anyway. She just stood up and started to walk through the dense woods.

Eventually she came across a berry bush. Starving, she began to gobble some Oran Berries from it, until a quiet voice said, "Get your paws off my berries, sweetie, or I'll whoop your ass."

Kate whirled around, frightened, to see a Pokémon she had never seen before; a Banshat. The Banshat had red hair that was swept to one side of her face, and her legs were white with gems all over them, with her purple feet poking out the bottom so that she looked like she wore jeans. Her electric blue eye flashed and she flexed her wings threateningly.

"Alright, kid," she said icily. "I'll give you a head start, so then I can catch you and torture you more. 1…" Kate quickly got to her feet. "2…" she was already starting to run, knowing that she was fast, but the Banshat might be faster. "3!" The Banshat suddenly launched herself into the air and flew after her, gaining more and more speed as she went. Kate stumbled and tripped over the roots of trees, which slowed her down. Banshat was really starting to close in, and Kate knew that she could no longer outrun the Class Pokémon, so she just stood her ground and brought back her fist, which started to glow blue and have small snowflakes come off it. When Banshat came at her, Kate slammed her fist into the large bat's face, flinging her back, howling in pain as she tumbled through the trees. Kate sighed and turned around only to yelp in fright; right in front of her was an Absol, looking down at her curiously.

"Wow," he said quietly. "You are quite strong, I must admit. How would you like to join the Darkstorm Guild?"

"Darkstorm Guild?" Kate asked confusedly.

"Yes," said the Absol. "It is a Guild specialising in the training of Dark-type Pokemon, and helping citizens in times of war. In fact, that Banshat that just chased you is Madison, she used to be in the Guild but graduated. She was always that hostile I guess…anyway, would you like to join?"

"Yes," she said, knowing that her only chance to start anew right now was to join a guild. Absol motioned for her to follow him and lead the way through the trees until they reached a large tree. Absol pressed his paw on a small knob on the tree's roots, and a section of the front of the tree lifted to reveal a little compartment. "Go in," said Absol, and Kate walked cautiously inside before Absol squeezed in after her. He then pressed his paw onto a panel on the side of the compartment and the door closed.

Then, suddenly, Kate felt the compartment rushing downward, like an elevator, and saw strips of light fly up past them on their descent into the earth. Eventually they came to a stop, and Absol pressed his paw to the panel again so that the door slid up to reveal a huge room filled with some Dark-types chatting to each other. Absol lead Kate to a desk nearby labelled 'Reception' and spoke to the Hydreigon sitting there.

"Hi, Ray," Absol said. "I've got a new recruit here." He nodded over to Kate. Ray beamed at him.

"Of course, Guildmaster Absol," she said. She then gave him a box of items, which he passed to Kate.

"These are things you'll need," he said. "There's a Pokedex, a bag and some assorted scarves and bows-though, mind you, it doesn't seem you'll need one," he adds, looking at the large blue bow on the Sneasel's back. He then led her down a flight of stairs to a room as large as the first, but filled with hundreds of hay beds, some of which are still occupied. Kate thought that Guildmaster Absol was about to give her a bed, when he brought the two of them to stop in front of the bed of a sleeping Zorua. Absol shook the Zorua, waking the Tricky Fox Pokemon up.

The Zorua yawned. "Yo, what's with the wake-up call, Guildmaster?" he murmured, his eyes still closed.

"I'm going to give you your own base with this new recruit," Absol said, waving a hand at Kate. The Zorua's eyes flew wide open and he sat up in bed, all excited. "Really? Wow, thanks, Guildmaster! I'm Zorua, what's your name?" The last sentence, though rushed like the others before it, was directed at Kate.

"Kate," she said. "But call me Sneasel." She felt that she'd rather be called Sneasel than Kate.

"Wow, Ka-er, I mean, Sneasel, nice to meet you!" said the Zorua, before quickly packing up all his possessions. When they were all ready, Absol led them back up the stairs and back up the elevator into the forest, before taking them a little bit more of a walk to the outskirts of the forest, where there is a small burrow. Inside are three beds and a fridge.

"All right, then," Absol said to the two of them. 'This is your base, where you'll live while you work in the Guild. Show up for training tomorrow, and use today to settle in, and maybe get some rest." He eyes Zorua suspiciously as he says the last sentence before leaving the base. Zorua and Kate then settle in and chat, getting to know each other.

That night, while Zorua sat on his bed playing a DS game (which he obviously did a lot), Kate lay on her bed and thought of Riolu, who she was missing so much. Eventually she couldn't fight the drowsiness and fell asleep.