I've lost sight about what I have a passion for. I've got so wrapped up in games that I haven't really written a word in MONTHS.

I'm starting this again.

I hope you enjoy.

The Long Road Home

Chapter 2: The Adventure Begins

Nathaniel didn't know what happened. Something that had to do with Arceus, Shaymin and Michael. There was a dream. Something about saving the universe, the sixteen plates. Though he tried to get a grasp on what had just occurred, he was unable to, as his head was pulsating with a pain he never thought possible. Despite his attempts to wrap his mind around what had happened, he felt it fleeing from him; like a dream he was waking from that he was desperate to cling to under the light of the morning sun. Despite his endeavors, his mind was instead filled with questions about his current whereabouts. The air was a lot dryer, his nostrils filled with what he could only describe as a 'dusty' odor, the sun he felt was unusually hot on his skin. Without opening his eyes, he knew that wherever he was, it was neither Mount Moon or the paradise from his dream.

Electing to open his eyes, he s filled with.. an unusual sight; the only way he could describe it. Above him was neither sky nor cave, but a ceiling constructed of wood, with beams to support it. The walls were constructed of bricks. Towards the back, wrought iron jail cells, two, each with a window. The cells themselves seemed unoccupied, but contained the basic necessities: wooden planks attached to the wall held by chains, a cheap pillow, and even cheaper-looking bedding, likely cotton or wool. Around his immediate area, he saw various things indicating he was in some sort of police station: a desk with some papers on it, a gun rack with two rifles, two shotguns, and a neatly-organized stack of ammunition, a wall on which wanted posters were hung with rather old nails, the pages yellowed and cracked with the passage of time.

"What the.." he muttered to himself. Was this real? Was this what Arceus meant by keeping their minds safe by distortions? It was like he was in a whole other universe! Regardless, he stood up from his seat, hearing his feet thump rather soundly against the wooden floor. A quick look over himself completed the thoughts that his mind was already beginning to piece together: faded jeans, leather belt with two revolvers in holsters, white, cotton shirt, leather vest with the very recognizable six-pointed sheriffs star pinned to it? It was as if he dropped into some sort of stereotypical western film.

Unfortunately, he had not the time to further question what had been going on; if this is all real, he was on a limited time schedule. He searched for the medallion, which he found to be tucked under his shirt. With haste, he exite the sheriff's office, content with just having the handguns at his hips. He didn't know how to shoot, but aside from hoping he didn't have to, he was hoped that perhaps this universe's body could work on instinct when firing since he was the resident law and such.

Outside, the weather was hot, and rather dry. The sun beat down on the land in a way that would cook any of those unaccustomed to such heat like a frying pan over a hot burner. However, the residents didn't seem to mind - most of them were openly walking around in the unrelenting light, some dressed in top hats, others in straw hats, and a few females with parasols or even rarer, the occasional one dressed like a farmhand. All who noticed him politely tipped there hats, one or two greeting him with a 'Howdy, Sheriff!'. From what he could see, a single, dirt road ran through the town, and there were various houses and business on either side. The business were typical enough: general store, barber shop, tailor's, saloon, train station. Near the entrance of the sheriff's office, he saw a saddled Rapidash, with the reigns looped to a post, a trough filled with water sit below it. As he approached, it looked up at him, giving a welcoming snort, confirming his suspicions that it was this universe's incarnation's horse.

Not wasting any more time observing his surroundings, he untied the reigns from the post, and mounted the pokemon, using what little knowledge of horseback riding he had to direct it down the street towards the saloon. Going with what limited knowledge of western movies, he had figured this to be the compendium of all worldly gossip, or at the very least a good place to start searching. However, as he neared the establishment, a few gunshots rang out from the location, with the very familiar sounds of shattering glass from within.

*Great, a fight inside a saloon. How stereotypically western.* Nathaniel thought with a roll of his eyes, as he climbed down from the Rapidash upon his stop near the entrance. He entered the saloon with a heavy sigh, a bar fight the last thing he had honestly wanted to deal with. He walked past the fleeing patrons, and through the swinging doors straight under a sign named 'Stone Creek Saloon'. Though he figured Stone Creek to be the name of the town he was in, he had little time to dwell on that thought, as he was nearly bowled over by a gentleman being thrown out by another individual. He rolled his eyes - did he really have to deal with this? He just wanted to get the Plate and move on. However, his 'sheriff senses' as it were began tingling, and sensing the call to justice, he followed the inclination to put a stop to the violence. *Must come with being a sheriff .. I guess* he though, letting the doors of the establishment sway shut behind him

Inside was an all-out brawl, much as he expected Humans an their pokemon - a surprising variety of them he noted, including grass and bug types - were duking it out in a massive fight. Amidst the chaos, he saw them breaking bottles over each others heads, using tables as shields from gunfire, people getting and pokemon getting thrown out of windows, cats and dogs living together - it was pandemonium! Not the fun kind, either. Nathaniel let out a rather audible sigh, and used his index finger and thumb to massage the bridge of his nose - he again questioned the compulsion to stop this mess, but again felt the pulling at his chest saying that it was something he had to do. Electing against further time-wasting, he let his 'sheriff skills' as they were, to as any outside observer might state: 'kick but and take names'. Resorting to good ole fisticuffs, he near floored every degenerate, sending them out the doors with their pokemon at their side and their tails between their legs. Despite the wasted time, he was unable to deny feeling a certain amount of accomplishment at his feat - truly it wouldn't normally be so easy to win a fight against ten or fifteen people, but this being so western, he just had to.

As the conflict settled down, he shook his head and sat at the bar, having found one of the few stools not broken during the conflict. There, a woman in a tight, green and white corset and long dress stepped up to him. As he slowly looked upwards towards her face, eyes taking in every detail of her figure, he saw she was wearing green opera gloves, and that her corset had yellow fur around the collar. Finally, he made contact with her face: piercing green eyes, with long, green hair in a few curls. A pink flower placed in her hair. A surprised look overtook him. "…Shaymin?" he asked, the amazement clearly evident in his voice. After all, who else could it be, wearing such an odd color scheme amidst the world of brown and more brown.

The female's ears gave a twitch, likely something kept over from her time as a pokemon. She practically leapt at Nathaniel, pulling him in an extra-tight hug. "NATHANIEL!" she squealed in excitement, nuzzling his cheek, her voice filled with excitement. "THERE you are! I was so worried! I thought, when I woke up alone and everything was so weird and I thought that maybe I was stuck here all alone but you're here!" she rambled on, shifting between emotions rather rapidly. She took a moment to catch her breath, before giving Nathaniel a large hug again. "Hey Natey, Have you seen Mikey? Wait! Who cares. YOU'RE here!" She squealed again, before finally releasing him.

Nathaniel nodded a bit, not sure what to say. He looked rather flustered - even though he knew she was a pokemon originally, she inhabited a human form right now, and a rather attractive one at that. Quickly pushing such thoughts to the back of his mind, he dug out the medallion from below his shirt. "Arceus said it would react to the plate. Has it started yet?" he inquired, ignoring the inquiry as to Michael's whereabouts. Despite his hopes, Shaymin quickly shook her head in response. "No. Nu-uh. I dun think so. I mean, I didn't see anything and then there was a fight and then you came and- no." she said, managing to cut herself off before rambling on about events that had barely transpired.

However, as soon as she finished her sentence, there was a rather large rushing sound from outside, followed by a brief glow from their medallions. This made them both jump, despite the fact that it was only for a split second. "Was that..?" Nathaniel pondered aloud, eliciting a nod in response from Shaymnin. "I think so." She gave him a curious look. "But what made it do that?"

Before they had a chance to ponder further, a young man entered, dressed similarly to Nathaniel, though with a star reading 'Deputy Sheriff'. His hair was slightly longer than average, poking out just barely under his head. He looked in a panic, his breath short from his hasty movements. "Sheriff Nathan! It's an emergency!" he spoke with a thick, old Western accent. Their attention caught, both Nathaniel and Shaymin turned to face the Deputy. "The Express just shot past 'ere like a jackrabbit from a rabid kay-yote! There must be some nasty banditos that've done taken over the train! We gotta stop 'em, Sheriff! That thar lo-co-motive had the Governor riding in it - his life could be in danger!"

Nathaniel and Shaymin blinked, and looked at each other. A mutual understanding of the medallions' reaction crossed their faces, as they ran out to the dirt road, leaving a rather confused Deputy behind. "We have to find something faster than a speeding bullet. We cant catch up with the train if it's going that fast. " he said, matter-of-factly. However his words fell on deaf ears, as it seemed Shaymin already had an idea in mind: as he looked around for her, he saw her standing in front of a slow-moving stagecoach, waving her arms and jumping, politely requesting that it and its four Rapidash be leant to her. Grinning at her cleverness, Nathaniel ran over, climbing up the side whilst the driver was distracted by Shaymin's spectacle. "Escuse me? Escuse me Mister? MISTER! Please? We gotta borrow the stagecoach! It's an emergency!" Shaymin said, trying her best to use her new form to the best of her abilities to sway the man's decision.

"Look, my apologies little lady but the answer is no! I have packages I need to deliver to the post office in Rock Ridge! Now pardon my brash demeanor but kindly move out of the way!" the coach driver near-snapped. However, his attitude was quickly subdued, as an audible click pierced his left rang through his left ear canal. Immediately, he recognized the sound; it belonged to that of the hammer of a revolver having just been pulled back into a lock position. The revolver of course belonged to Nathaniel, who in an uncharacteristic show of threatening behavior, had taken the opportunity to pull a gun on the individual. "..excuse me, Sir, but I believe the lady requested to borrow your stagecoach?"

Deciding his life to not be worth the contents, he quickly jumped free from his seat, leaving Nathaniel to take over the reigns. Shaymin quickly climbed up from the other side, taking the passenger's seat next to him. He snapped the reins, causing the four Rapidash to speed off and along the tracks, leaving the poor man in the dust. Shaymin glanced at him, practically bouncing in her seat from giddy excitement. "Wow! That was AMAZING! You were all, and then pewpewpew almost and then he was like no way I'm gone and ran away and you're so cool!" Nathaniel scratched the back of his head in response. "..I'm just doing what we need to do to get home. I dunno what came over me." he said, quite honestly.

As they sped alongside the tracks, they saw their target in the distance: A steam locomotive, five cars, not including the coal car and a rather fancy, ornate car attached to the back. With a rather loud 'hya' and another snap of the reigns, they began to gain speed on the iron horse, fortunate to have a long length of straight track for ease of control. The air rushed through their hair, blowing Nathaniel's hat from his head, and on the ground a ways behind him, near some of the parcels and other pieces of mail that had fallen off through their reckless actions. Though they immediately thought that the plate would be in the back car, they had a bit of a problem: interruption by this bandits. Given how the train was speeding out of control, they figured they had to be near the front car. Daring to get the stagecoach nearer to the locomotive, Nathaniel ran the Rapidash within such a narrow proximity, they could practically reach out and touch the side of the train, an action that drew attention from the passengers inside the cars. Figuring the 'safest' thing they could do would be to try to get in through one of the linking cars, Nathaniel kept them going at a steady pace up to the space between cars one and two. Not really afraid - more excited than anything - Shaymin climbed to her feet, feeling a bit unsteady, but ready for the task at hand. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she edged towards the side of the stagecoach. She steadied herself against the wind and with one great leap, managed to grab onto the ladder between the cars, using that to step over to the small platform near the coupling. She let out a small cheer at her accomplishment as she clapped her hands in much excitement.

Of course, that was the easy part - Nathaniel had it a bit tougher. With a bit of a sigh, he did his best to settle the Rapidash to one path, before dropping the reigns. He stood up, creeping slowly to the edge of the stagecoach. Despite his best efforts to just take the leap, he found himself making momentary hesitations as so just what he was doing. After a few moments, however, he finally managed to find the courage within to just take the leap, both literally and figuratively, as his body flew across the small gap. Immediately, his hands grasped for anything they could reach to prevent the otherwise sure fall into the train tracks. Fortunately, he managed to grasp onto same ladder Shaymin had, and he grasped the rungs with such force that he swore his knuckles would be white for weeks afterwards. His breathing heavy, he wrapped his legs as tightly as he could around the metallic construct, taking a few moments for the disbelief and adrenaline rush to wear off. As the initial shock wore off, he took a deep breath, summoning all the strength within to finish the task. He climbed up to join Shaymin just outside the door from the first car, as the stage coach rushed off from its area parallel to the train, going towards an unseen destination in the distance.

Nathaniel and Shaymin, feeling the need to take a breather from their recent life-threatening ordeal, slid open the door to the first car, taking a seat in the back row in order to catch their breath. The other inhabitants of the train stared at them with disbelief, mostly out of surprise at their stunt, but the ones who didn't stare out of surprise looked much-relieved at their presence. Despite the serious turn of their situation, Nathaniel and Shaymin managed to smile at each other, before exchanging some tired laughter, much to the confusion of the passengers.

However, their relief was short-lasting, as a Meowth wearing a black vest walked in, carrying some sort of horn under his arm, and a case with the other, causing more confusion to the poor inhabitants He knelt by the device, and removed its cover, before dusting off and setting up some sort of cylinder in it. To one part, he attached the horn-shape object, and turned a crank for a short time, before running back outside. As some sort of music began to play - music quite familiar to Nathaniel - a female entered, wearing a black-furred, red corset. She had long, flowing red hair, and opera gloves with a similar red R embedded over the back of her hands. In addition to this attire, her body was covered long, red dress, similar in color to the corset, which extended to the ground. Most of the attention to the dress was drawn to the rather long slit in it up to about her mid-thigh. She held a shotgun aimed towards the upper corner of the train car in a true display of bravado, and glanced towards the passengers with her deep blue eyes.

"Prepare for trouble, and stick up your hands!" she said, with much energy to her voice.

A male entered. He stood facing the left as a large, black duster jacket with a red R emblazoned across the back swayed gently with his movements, but settled as he decided on a pose - back to back with his female counterpart. He used a thumb to push up a cowboy hat, black in color and surprisingly sinister-looking, then drew a rifle from beneath the jacket, holding it in a manner similar to his parter. Emerald green eyes shone from beneath the hat, as lavender hair swayed in the incoming breeze. "And make it double, if you ignore our demands!"

"To attack all trains without hesitation!" the female spoke; it was clear she had a bit of a thicker accent than her male companion. She cocked her shotgun, as if to say: "Yes, I will shoot you at the drop of a hat."

The male turned towards the train, showing a black vest and red shirt under the duster jacket. He held, aiming the rifle towards the upper-left. "To line our pockets 'til complete blotation!" the male said, shifting in his boots, which had a series of roses branded into the leather.

The female stepped closer to the male. "To hit all lines from East to West!"

The male followed suit. "When taking on trains, us two are the best!"

The female fired through the roof, causing a bunch of tiny holes which light flooded through. She reloaded, though due to the time in which it took her to do so, a look of 'I shouldn't have done that' was clear on her face. "Jessie!"

The male did the same, firing and reloading, though he had less of an issue than Jessie had. "James!"

Nathaniel face-palmed and sighed, looking down. He rubbed his forehead a bit. *Those two again? I don't have time for this crap..* he thought to himself, shaking his head.

"We're Team Rocket, hand over the goods if you value your life!" Jessie said, aiming at the passengers, who were quick to comply with her demands.

James did the same, aiming at others, who of course valued their existence over personal belongings. "Surrender now, or you'll meet the Reaper's scythe!"

The Meowth from before enters, with a rather sizeable bag to collect the loot. "Meeeeowth! Don't give us no strife!"

Nathaniel only sat, palm to face, largely ignoring the motto, while Shaymin blinked, giving the trio a bit of a inquisitive stare. Not wanting to waste any more time, however, Nathaniel stood, causing Jessie and James to point their weapons at him. Not really concerned, figuring these two to be as much of a threat as they were back when he was a pokemon, headed out the back. "I really don't have time for this crap today." he muttered as he moved from the first to the second car, followed closely by Shaymin. The trio was confused at his actions, given he was supposed to be a man of the law and all, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and return to liberating the passengers of their worldly possessions.

As Nathaniel stood by the door to the second car, he drew his revolver, quickly checking that it had been fully-loaded with bullets. Not really knowing how to otherwise separate train cars, he held out the gun, aiming towards the coupling. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and fired all six rounds into the coupling, eliciting a surprised squeal from Shaymin. A strange noise emitted from the coupling. As Nathaniel opened an eye to see the cause he found that, much to his surprise, shooting the coupling enough times had actually got it to unhook. The first few cars of the train, now free from the weight of the rest, began to pick up speed, slowly but surely moving further and further from the remaining cars.

Electing against questioning the logic of this, both he and Shaymin went through the door of the second passenger car, past a mix of confused and happy individuals, some having seen their stunt with the stagecoach and clapping. Nathaniel more or less ignored the inquiries from the passengers, as he made his way through the third, forth, fifth passenger car, up to an armed guard who had come to block their progress. Despite not being able to see it, Nathaniel felt it in his gut that they were getting closer to the plate, and made a bold move to step towards the door in back of the car, but was stopped by the guard.

"Excuse me, Sheriff, but this is the Governor's Car. No entry except for welcome guests or the conductor." the rather well-built individual said. His accompanying pokemon - a Garchomp - glared daggers at the pair.

Though Nathaniel opened his mouth to speak otherwise, Shaymin put a hand on his shoulder, and stepped forward to the man. She folded her hands over her lap, and moved one leg behind the other, gently rapping her toe against the floor. She pushed up her shoulders a bit, and gave the sweetest smile she could muster. "…'scuse me, Sir." she said, her western accent seemingly mastered in the short amount of time. Or did she always have it in this form? He didn't know. "…but.. I'd be much obliged if'n you could let myself and my dear friend the Sheriff see the Governor."

The guard blushed, and scratched the back of his head, as he couldn't help but smile at Saynin. "Well, I dunno Ma'am. I'd probably get in a heap of trouble if I were to-"

"Oh please? Pretty please, for little ole me?" she interjected, fluttering her eyelashes a bit. Nathaniel was surprised - Shaymin really knew how to turn on the charm. "If you'd be so kind as to oblige, I'd be ever so grateful? Please?" she asked, pouting slightly, in her attempt to turn the charm up to the max.

Despite the flushing cheeks of the guard and the rubbing of the back of his neck as a sign he could have been falling for it, he remained steadfast in his denial. "I'm truly sorry ma'am. Truly I am.. But I'm afraid the answer is a no.."

Shaymin let out a small sigh, and frowned slightly. "Really? Not even five minutes?" She crosses her arms and looked at the floor, gently tapping her toe. Nathaniel could clearly see the cogs in her mind were turning, but what they were attempting to process, not even he could take the wildest of guesses. However, it seemed she finally arrived at some form of conclusion, as she let out another sigh. "Well then, if that's your absolutely final answer .. then I'm sorry."

The guard tilted his head slightly. "..sorry, Ma'am? About what?" he inquired.

"About this." she responded, and before the gentleman could even think, put her hand on his shoulders, gripping tightly. She gently pulled, catching the man off-guard enough to where he stumbled forward slightly. Shaymin shut her eyes tightly, and swiftly brought her knee up to his crotch, causing a rather nasty crunching sound and a pained yelp as he crumpled to the floor in the fetal position, writhing in pain.

Nathaniel visibly cringed at the sight, feeling his stomach do a bit of a flip. However, the Garchomp was not as effected as he charged up an attack to defend the honor of his Master. Thinking quickly - and having no other idea in mind - Nathaniel pulled back his arm, steadying himself. He threw his fist and weight forward and across, cold-clocking the surprised pokemon right in the snout. The punch had enough force to send the pokemon's head bouncing against the wall of the train car they were in, with the result of it falling to the floor, out cold. He blinked a bit and shook his fist, though no words left his mouth. He was simply too surprised to say anything.

Shaymin blinked a bit as well, staring at the falling pokemon for a few brief seconds, before laughing and giving Nathaniel a small smile. "Jeeze! You sure are strong, Nate!"

Nathaniel let out a bit of nervous laughter, before scratching the back of his head. "Eheh.. Well, you certainly have an .. interesting way of getting past stubborn people.

Shaymin let out a small giggle, and scratched the back of her head as her cheeks turned a light shade of red. "Well .. Pokemon or not .. sometimes you just have to go for a person's weak spot." She grabbed his hand, giving a gentle tug. "Come on, Nate. The plate is in there. I can feel it in my gut!" she exclaimed, using her free hand to open the remaining door. Nathaniel just gave a small smile, and crossed over with her to the final car.

Electing against wasting any more time, they opened the door and entered, again closing it behind them. The sight that they came across was surprising to say the least. The car looked more like a small hotel room than anything else - there was a place to sleep, to eat, oil lamps for adequate lighting during the darkness, a nice desk with parchment and an ink pot and quill. The aura of the plates was strong - their pendants were glowing brighter than they had been since then. As they entered the main area of the Governor's Car however, a voice rang out through the car.

"… it's about time you two got here."

Nathaniel and Shaymin turned to the voice greeting them. It came from a seat near one of the windows, where a rather rotund individual in his mid-forties sitting, moustache curled upwards, balding hair parted in a way to say 'I'm old but confident in my looks'. Though Nathaniel felt confusion as to who exactly this speaker was, Shaman was unable to stifle a giggle, and tilted her head. ".. Michael?" she asked.

Michael snorted. "Don't laugh." he grumbled, putting a good amount of effort into standing. He scratched his stomach, and stretched. "It's not my fault I'm some aging fat guy. …" he sighed, and knelt by a safe hidden underneath the desk. "The plate is here. It was being shipped with me to my office. I didn't want to touch the thing in case it didn't bring you guys with." he placed his ear to the safe and listened, gently manipulating the dial, until he heard the very distinct 'click' of the lock releasing. Noting the looks of his comrades, he gave a small shrug. "..it's something I picked up from Team Rocket. Basic skills - nothing special." he stated, playing the safe cracking off as a minor thing.." With a certain sense of vervousness, he gently grasped he handle of the safe, pulling the door open.

They glanced inside. There was a number of cash, a folded flag, some papers -mainly minor objects of little value. However near the back, sat a cedar box with a beautiful finish, about the size of a sheet of notebook paper. A strong aura radiated from it, and the closer proximity to their chests caused their pendants to glow a rather bright color. Michael slowly undid the brass clasp to keep the box closed and opened it, admiring the lovely velvet interior. A small satin cloth was gently moved aside by his hand, revealing a gorgeous slab of stone. It was smooth, as though it had been eroded to that point by a stream over hundreds of years, however despite this it had a surface perfectly flat without even the slightest hint of a groove.

Unable to help himself Nathaniel carefully removed the plate from the case, holding it out in front of his face. He tilted his head as he rubbed his thumb over its featureless surface, admiring his reflection that was cast upon it. "Wow.." he muttered to himself. Michael and Shaymin followed suit, each taking a moment to admire the object itself. However, before any of them could speak a word, the simultaneous contact of the plate between them caused it to shine brightly. Their pendants shone with an equal radiance, before the plate broke apart into three pieces, striking the trio in the chest. They fell back onto the ground from the recoil, as the radiance of their individual pendants faded. Everything began to go dark, and as their conscious left their bodes they felt an unusual, ethereal force pulling at their very spirits.

Outside of the train car, the skies around the world lit up. A yellow band appeared around the sky, as though the sun was moving at such a speed this was the only thing left. This did not last for long however, as what could only be described as a giant fissure appeared in the sky. This large fissure spawned smaller cracks, each which formed their own, smaller cracks, until eventually the sky was fractured like a pane of reinforced glass which had just been hit by a large object. The band of light that had once so clearly been the sun began to close in, as indeed the very fabric of space itself collapsed into a singularity in the center of the universe. Yet another one was lost to the collapsing of space.