A/N: italics: thought bubble

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I was only 15 when the man whispered a promise of a better life into my ears. I didn't think I would remember those memories or even hear the man's voice ever again once I arrived in the new world…...except that…

A few weeks later…

The weather outside was warm when I woke up, frightened. I found myself in the dark, where threatening-looking shadows and occasional sounds made me wary of my surroundings. I couldn't see anything in the pitch black darkness, making me wonder where I was.

Was I still in Everglade?

I noticed a glimmer of light appearing from the depths of the darkness. Warily, I looked around the area again, shadows forming into recognizable objects as I waited for my eyes to adjust. My hands brushed against the hard bumpy surface of a wall before continuing its exploration to touch a surface that was soft and warm yet damp to the I heard footsteps coming nearby and immediately took cover under the bedcover. Adrenaline coursed through my body as thoughts raced through my head:

Are the soldiers coming for me?!

But the footsteps never headed toward my direction and instead headed off in the other direction, away from my current location. Once the sound disappeared, I tossed the covers aside. My breath came out in short pants, filling my lungs with much needed air to ease my thudding heart.

As my eyes finished adjusting to the darkness, I realized that I was in the top bunk of my bed -nowhere near where I thought I was- and that moment only a dream, a memory, constantly replaying over and over again. The menacing screams of the invaders echoed in my mind and I could still feel the flickering flames of the fire burn against my skin. I gripped my shirt tightly, remembering the burning feeling of being... shot.

I pulled out my cell phone from under the pillow to check the time, sighing softly when I found out it was only 6:00. I heard a groan and jumped, startled. When I finally mustered up the courage, I turned to see that it was coming from my younger cousin Ruby, and let out a sigh of relief while mentally slapping myself at my stupidity. When you live in a small household and share it with a large family, there is limited freedom for one's self, especially when you have to share a cramped bunk bed with one little cousin.

Just then I heard Rose's voice from the bottom bunk. " Nightmare again?" she whispered questioningly.

"Yep.. same one," I answered back just as quietly, not wanting to wake up any of my cousins. I leaned over on the guard railing of the bunk bed, squinting in the darkness to see Rose lying in bed, wide awake. She had a worried expression on her face, which was understandable since she could probably hear every movement I made. Her brown eyes stared up at the mattress on the top part of the bunk bed. Our younger cousin Sal was asleep next to her, clutching her stuffed pokémon doll that resembled a wailord so tightly that if it was alive it would have suffocated.

" Hey June," she said, not noticing that I was watching her from the top bunk. "Did we leave someone behind?"

"I don't know..." I answered, uncertain about how to answer after the nightmare I just had.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Cause I've been having a feeling that we left someone behind for a while now..."

Just then, Ruby kicked me in the leg. In her sleep. Again. I sighed softly, remembering the days when I had my own bed. "Wish I was back at home."

"Home..." Rose answered in a wistful tone. She turned in my direction and, noticing that I was there, grabbed one of her pillow and tossed up at me. I ducked my head back behind the bed at the last second as the pillow flew past my face and landed on the ground. If I moved out of the way a second sooner, the pillow would have hit its target and I would have fallen off the top bunk. She started talking about how she was tired of hearing my complaints about our living conditions and the things I used to do back at home. "We don't live there anymore. We live here... in this fricken small house in this stupid city," she growled angrily. I peeked back over the rail to see Ruby sitting up, her hands clenched in tight fists in her anger.

Luckily for us, she did not wake up the whole household; our cousins were still fast asleep next to us. I didn't understand why she was suddenly mad at me; I was only voicing my thoughts aloud. Then again, a lot of things had happened in the past couple of months: waking up in the middle of the forest and finding out that we were transferred to the Pokemon world. I still sometimes think I'm in a dream, but the daily pinching and constant reality checks convinced me otherwise.

I remember an elderly gentleman with amber eyes leading Rose and me to Hujing, where we were reunited with our family. Our family was relieved, especially my mom, that we made it to them safely, and ecstatic that we were finally reunited after so long. However, Rose and I felt differently, having many questions about what had transpired during our separation. Rose and I noticed that some of the relatives were not living in the same house as them, including Rose's direct family . The adults explained that they were living in the different part of the city, but provided no further explanations. When we asked again, they dismissed the question altogether. Even though we were reunited with the family, Rose and I still felt like strangers, unaccustomed to the city we were now supposed to call home and puzzled by our family's tendency to keep secrets from us.

A few minutes passed since Rose's angry outburst. Worried about whether Rose was alright or not, I crawled over to the side of the bed,climbed down the ladder ,and sat on the cold floor next to her so that we could talk face to face. As I scooted toward her, Rose shifted her body so that it faced the opposite direction, toward the wall.

"... Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her.

But Rose continued ignoring me as if I wasn't there; this was going to be trickier than I originally thought."Hey Rose, do you you remember the game we used to play at grandpa's house, Sister Sister?" I asked her.

"... I was the younger sister and you were the older sister," she replied quietly. "You never let me be the older sister."

I laughed as I remembered that last detail. I glanced over at the other younger cousins, Dien and Jack, who were still sound asleep despite our quiet chatter. Both of us remember funny stories about our cousins: the time when Dien liked the same things as Rose when he was younger and the time when Rose's younger brother Bryce was Jack's 'tail', a word we used whenever the younger cousin was going through a phase of following their favorite older cousin around. As we discussed these events, I reminded her that she also used to follow me around when she was younger.

We laughed as we recalled those times, times of peace when we could enjoy ourselves and not have a care in the world. After a few minutes, the laughter died down and silence replaced it. I could not recall the last time we laughed this hard. Rose remarked it was always the kids laughing and smiling in the house; she could not recall the last time Grandpa smiled or laughed. Even I could not recall a time when my parents smiled. Of course, they were always off at work or doing something outside of the house. Even though we were away from the danger and safe in this world, things still haven't returned to normal.

Rose apologized for yelling at me, a guilty expression on her face. "It's just that it has been a while since we were back home, our real home. Do you think we can ever go home?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I wished I knew." I glanced at the empty space on the mattress where our cousin Cera slept on, recalling that it was Kat's space in the room.

Wish Kat was here, she would know how to answer the question.

Kat (short for Kathy) was my older sister by two years. Since Rose and my arrival to Hujing, I have never seen her around the house, let alone at all. The adults don't talk about it; it was a forbidden topic within the family along with the other secrets our family kept from us. Since my sister's disappearance, I have to be the role model for the cousins; but with the amount of pressure coming from both sides, I don't know how to handle the stress. I was glad that I could talk to Rose about it and other things I could not talk about with my parents. Even though, I was three years older than Rose, this age difference didn't stop us from talking to each other casually and without care.

Still, even with Rose here to help me cope with the stress, I wanted to get away from Hujing -far away from here.

Rose then asked me about my headache, snapping me back to reality. She pointed to the white pain-relieving patches on my forehead. I reassured her, telling her that my headache had disappeared as I pulled the bandage off my forehead. The smell of Asian medicine lingered on my fingers. My head felt sore from pulling off the bandage but the headache was not as bad as before.

"Why were you arguing with your mom?". She asked,still puzzled about what happened earlier in the day. "I heard your mom crying in the restroom."

I stared at her in disbelief; I couldn't believe Rose eavesdropped on the argument. It was none of her business; but whenever something happens, the whole family is always involved. There was no point hiding it.

"Same argument. "

Rose nodded her head, understanding what I meant. She asked me whether I still plan to go back to school; the adults having already sent the younger cousins into elementary school already.

"I don't know..." I answered with hesitation. "I don't want to disappoint my parents ... but I also want to see what is beyond the gate."

"If you want to go then go," she said simply. "Don't make it so hard on yourself. But... Do you still plan to go to school?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know at this point."

Rose got out of bed and went to get a glass of water, needing some fresh air. I was surprised that she was getting up and reminded her of the morning curfew: no lights on before 7 AM. Rose shrugged her shoulders before answering, "I don't remember those weird rules anyways." She opened and shut the door behind her without making a single sound.

I sat there on the floor, still thinking about her words and my mom's words. I wish I had Rose's mindset: be direct and not have any concerns about others' opinions, but I am not like that. I think about everyone's opinions, no matter how much it disagrees with mine. My memory of the argument still repeated in my head and the last words my mom said to me before I slammed the door in her face echoed, as if on loop on my music player. "The journey will always be there...it's a waste of time... Please... Think of your future first...

But I didn't want to be stuck here or at school... I just want to get out of here.

Also wanting some fresh air to clear my mind, I got up and opened the window, feeling a cool breeze brush against my face. It blew into the room, allowing the heat to escape and filling the room with cool, refreshing air. I looked out my window and gazed out into the city that my family was currently residing in.

A few months have passed since I started staying in this city, and yet I haven't adjusted to its laws or the structure of its society as well as my other relatives.

The local high school was only a few blocks from the townhouse and the iconic twin skyscrapers towered over the city. Only the dignified and powerful leaders resided there, looking down at the mere humans beneath them. Shops were scattered everywhere, around the school and the local companies in the city. For a moment, it felt like home. But then in the distance, few blinking lights from the surrounding gates near the border of the town were reminders of where I was. I wasn't back in California -I was in Hujing.

The city of Hujing is located in the southern part of the Hoenn region, only a few miles away from Littleroot Town. Hujing's residents were residents from our world who were transported to this world. No one knows how it happened or why it happen. The general theory around the city is that the government from the old world were experiment with alien technology and it randomly hit civilians, transporting them to different worlds. For some of the residents, including some of my family members, we were transported to the pokémon world. Created by the first people who arrived to the pokémon world, the city provided refugees -like my family- a place to stay and a job to help ease the transition into our new life. However, its existence remained hidden from the outside world, the Pokemon World. There are still many people from the other side coming to Hujing at different times, but not a lot like before. Gates surrounded the area, separate the city from the outside world and prevent outsiders, whether strangers or fellow immigrant from the other world, from entering the city. The city rarely has visitors from the outside world enter its domain. Few of the residents rarely ventured out of the town, in fear of being contaminated by the outside world. The elders warned new residents of the dangers lurking in the shadows, effectively scaring people from leaving Hujing. The surrounding fences and the restrictions were a part of the elders' plan to preserve what was left of our culture and beliefs from the old world.

I look out the window and notice a flock of swablu and altaria flying nearby the town, but still on the outskirts of Hujing. It was still hard to believe that I really was transferred to the Pokemon World.

I sneezed suddenly, shivering as the cold breeze blew against my bare skin. I was only wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts; it was supposed to be a warm summer night. My shirt felt damp -from sweat- as well, so I walked over to the closet and changed into a clean T-shirt and shorts, then grabbed a sweater before my mother lectures me about not dressing warmly again the next morning. After I finished changing into some dry clothes, I looked at myself in the mirror. My pale skin was now tanned and my black hair was slightly brown under the Hoenn sun. Even though my appearance changed, I still looked like a 13 year old girl.

I turned around and tossed my wet clothes in the hamper and the next thing I knew, I saw the reaper's reflection in the mirror from the corner of my eyes. It looked like the same one from my dream, wearing a helmet with a dark visor covering its eyes and metallic armor covering parts of its body, except its armor darkened from soot and grime. The soldier stared at me with a piercing glance. "Traitor," it whispered, and a psychic aura could be seen around it. When I saw that familiar psychic aura, I ran out of the room and slammed the door shut behind me. I gasped for air, not caring whether the whole household woke up from my loud actions. I gripped my shirt tightly as I once again was overwhelmed with the feeling of being shot. Strange that even now, the feeling of death never disappeared.

A voice startled me out of my thoughts and I jumped back in fright, only to notice that it was just Rose, having gotten her glass of water and was heading back to the room. "You look like you saw a ghost..." said Rose as she walked over to where I stood and gently placed a hand on my shoulder in comfort. "You ok?"

"Yeah... I think... I'm ok..." I took a deep breath to calm my rattled nerves -for the nth time that night- before continuing. "What's up?"

Rose shrugged her shoulders as she replied, "Lately, I've been having similar nightmares like yours: running away from a group of soldiers, the abandoned streets, and the soldier with the black visor. What if it really happened?"

I teased her about her theory, reminding her that we were transported to the Pokemon World . "You're just imagining things. Besides, who would have the ability to give everyone in this city memories of events that never happened and decide which person could remember the supposed war?"

Rose did not answer, still thinking about how to prove that her theory was correct. "C'mon," I said, "Let's go out and hopefully takes your mind off things. We thought about these types of things for long enough already. "

Quietly, Rose and I walked down the spiral stairway that led from the bedroom floor to the second level, where the kitchen and the study area was. Just as we were going to walk down the next flight of stairs leading to the ground level, where the living room was, when we noticed lights coming from the living room. We paused, noting how unusual it was for this time of night -not to mention the weird rules we have to follow.

We peered from the stairway, careful not to make any noise and alert our family members that we were awake. We found my mom asleep in her rocking chair with the TV still on. The curtains covered the windows, preventing the lights in the living room from escaping. Rose stealthily ran to hide in the kitchen as I walked down the stairs into the living room where my mom was sleeping, shaking her lightly on the shoulder to wake her up. She opened her eyes slowly and smiled at me, asking what time it was. After I told her how late it was, she walked out of the room, heading upstairs to bed. I sighed in relief, glad that I didn't get in trouble for being up so late. After turning off the TV, I noticed a white, slightly-overstuffed envelope laying there in the rocking chair. I opened the envelope in curiosity and found some money, two ID cards that bore Rose and my names, and some letters -handwritten. There were two letters: one letter was two pages long, written on only one side of the pages. The other letter looked quite old, the pages looked mustard-yellow, as if it was exposed to sunlight for a long time. Some of the words on the letter were blackened out, a practice the government did to prevent people being exposed to outside information. Strangely, I recognized the familiars curls on the i's and t's. That was my sister's handwriting, but that was impossible.

What is this? Did my mom planned this?

I skimmed through the contents of my mom's letter. The first half of the letter did not interest me,but the second half caught my interest. Then I began to read the letter that my sister supposedly wrote when I heard Rose's voice. She came out of her hiding place and was coming down the stairs. I stuffed my mom's letter, Kat's letter, and the envelope into my sweater pocket.

"Grab your stuff and pack up," I said as I turned to face Rose, a determined look on my face.

Rose looked at me with a surprised look. "Wait, what? Why?"

"We might need it during our walk...to Littleroot Town."

Rose smiled and her eyes gleamed like a child's eyes on Christmas Day. "Alright!" she exclaimed, obviously excited about our journey. " I knew you had the determination to do it. But I did not think you would want to leave now. What changed your mind?"

I turned away, reluctant to give away the true reason for my decision. "Let's just say that I had enough with this place."

With a smile on her face, Rose ran up the stairs, eager to pack and be on our way. She turned around when she noticed that I didn't follow her,not even moved a single inch."C'mon June, let's go before your parents wake up."

Slowly I walked up the stairs, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fall. This was my chance to leave after all.

...then why do I feel like I would regret it later on?

Shout out to Lightning515 for helping me edit/write this chapter (and its other version of it)