Middle Earth, present day…

Tyler had never quite felt human, for some reason he couldn't explain. He knew he was, and his application for indentured servitude said he was- whatever his physical said, he definitely had the same limits as a human- but he'd never felt like he quite… fit in. As he awoke at 5 a.m. to the quiet yet annoying buzz of his clock, he sighed, glad that he could at least rely on the fact that time would always seem constant for him and everyone else. And if we could travel in the fourth dimension… that would open up so much adventure and excitement. I'd gladly serve at least ten more years here just for that.

He sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he did so. Today was the day that they arrived, he wasn't sure where. They never bothered to mention the destination, but they did mention how long it would take to get there. Tyler slowly undressed and put on the clothes he had laid out the day before. It was a mix of the clothes he had been able to save from the wreckage of his spaceship, and the clothes they had given him here. He put it all on without complaint about how itchy the robe was; he was starting to get used to the feeling of it being so, well, itchy. Unfortunately, he only had short-sleeved t-shirts… but oh well. If it kept him warm, it would do. Middle Earth had never had global warming to make the climate warmer, most likely, so it didn't have the same warm weather conditions of his homeland, Kanto. He sighed at the distant memories of his life back there.

He'd never been the type who would be content with just a few Pokemon who would be his constant companions for life. Rather, he preferred to adventure and try to catch all of them, from all of the eighteen types and every hybrid of two of those. His brother, Ash, laughed at him and teased him when he was young, because he was the one, Ash probably felt, whose destiny was to become a Pokemon master. But this wasn't out of brotherly love or sibling rivalry; rather, it was because of the fact that Tyler was adopted, and he was a misfit in his own home. And since the orphanage he was from was owned by some evil team he couldn't remember the name of, he had no memories from before he was seven. He knew they wiped new children's memories because he had been unfortunate enough to lean against the door, hear about what they were doing, and burst into the room in a failed effort to rescue the young boy they were wiping the memories of. The boy he had tried to rescue then suffered a fatal injury to his temporal lobe as a result. Tyler hadn't even tried to use violence as a punishment, yet they still didn't feed him for two days. Then, in an attempt to catch the mythical Pokemon Deoxys, his spaceship crashed here, which not only killed most of his Pokemon, but badly wounded his girlfriend Edith, too…

"DANG IT!" came a voice from the room next door. "Quilava, come back here! RETREAT! LISTEN TO ME!"

The sudden shout, along with Quilava's name being mentioned, was enough to get Tyler out of bed immediately. He slammed the door of his compartment shut; it shook on its hinges upon being closed even if he didn't slam it. He ran down the ship's hallway, for once not paying heed to the floor's rocking from the waves. He came to a quick stop outside of one of the doors and came to behold a sight he rather would have missed.

Edith was trying to get Quilava to retreat into his Pokeball, albeit unsuccessfully, judging from the fire which was starting to burn a hole in the floorboards. Tyler took the device from her hands, and, with a press of a button, Quilava vanished into light again. Tyler stomped on the fire with his worn (and now slightly singed) hiking boots. He handed the Pokeball back to Edith, who smiled.

"Thanks," she said, clearly hiding embarrassment. "I'm useless with fire types. I was gonna try and feed Snivy breakfast, but…"

"It's okay," Tyler said. "I can't really use steel or electric types; they bring back bad memories…"

He glanced down at her makeshift wooden leg, which had some burn marks on it. Her real leg had been crushed in the crash, which sent feelings of guilt through his mind. Why did I trust the autopilot…?

Adventure had always been the one thing he wanted more of in his life, saving worlds, all that he could possibly do with his life, everywhere he wanted to go. Why did it bring him so much misery when he tried to do something new?

Sequel time! Hey, it's the narrator, and I just wanted to say that for ease of access, I will not be putting this in the crossover category. It makes it too confusing for me, annoys my friend who you may know as Aurora of the IceWings (that reminds me, YES I give her permission to use a similar storyline to the Epic of Pyrrhia), and just gets… weird. Just so you know, if you haven't done so yet, READ THE FIRST BOOK! So our story begins…

From the author of the Epic of Pyrrhia, comes the newest addition to the story of Rhodi and Aurora…

Land of Dreams

The Epic of Pyrrhia, Book Two