"If someone says it's wrong to hope, I will tell them that they're wrong every time. I could tell them that countless times!"

Madoka Kaname Puella Magi Madoka Magica


The sun shines down on a slumbering form on the leafy forest floor.


I must have passed out again, was I really that exhausted?

Brushing leaves out of my clothes, I stand and concentrate.

Going ghost!

Argh! What's wrong with my ghost form? Did it not heal from the burns?

No, it healed, but something hurts terribly … I can hardly move, and my arms and legs feel like lead and my head...

I feel like I've lost something

I transform back into my human form and the pain and loss disappears.

…Much better, now to get out of this place.

grumble… my stomach growls.

But first, I need something to eat.


All was quiet in the forest.

The boy wipes his sticky hands on his torn and burnt trousers and looks around at his surroundings, not noticing that many of his accumulated cuts and scratches are quickly vanishing.

"Good thing I found these berries," he mutters to himself. "Now which way is the exit?"

He closes his eyes and turns slowly on the spot so as not to fall, before opening his eyes and settling on a direction.

The forest floor crackles underfoot as he stumbles forward into the unknown.


"Scyther!"

The humanoid bug paused and sniffed at the wind, on which the scent of a tired juicy mammal was floating.

It seemed obvious to the scyther that the prey was exhausted from its long day - had gone without any form of nourishment for several hours, and that this mammal-meat would to be the perfect sustenance for any bug type's empty abdomen.

The wings folded on its back burst into motion at a faster rate than the naked eye could follow, propelling it towards the source of the deliciously meaty smell.

Dinner time.


The gastly came to them, saving some from strong winds that would knock them off their perches and others simply from the terror of an incredibly frightening nightmare.

The rest, he would defend, fighting tooth and nail against his former kin who delighted in taste of victim-kind.

Until, finally, the sweet respite of morning came.

Lancer dropped to the floor exhausted, barely able to move from his nightly exertions that had taken what seemed to be the last dregs of his energy.

His mission of repentance was more exhausting than he thought, but that did not deter him. He would continue the good fight until he was nothing more than a formless clod of gas floating in the breeze, or there were no more victims to save.

Lancer, doubting the latter would ever occur, resigned himself to the former.

The green-eyed gastly lay on the ground, preparing to sleep.

BZZ...

A slicybug flew past him, most likely hunting for a victim.

Lancer was reasonably familiar with the hunting habits of slicybugs, having fought several in the time before his realisation.

First, they would find the scent of their prey in the air, then they furiously would hunt it down until they found it. When they found it…

Lancer shuddered.

The intelligent gas cloud rose up from the ground and followed the trail that the slicybug had left behind itself.

The poisonous cloud accidentally phased through a tree, killing it instantly.

He winced.


I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with T.

Yes that's right Fenton, trees.

I've been walking for a while now and there is still no exit out of this leafy nightmare!

…you could say that I want these trees to leaf me alone!

"Hah!"

Calm down Fenton.

Sam. I miss her.

I can almost see her now, sitting in that tree over there!… "Danny, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience an environment completely untouched by humans! You ought to enjoy it."

Am I going insane?

Perhaps, but at least I'm turning mad in a peaceful environment.

BZZ...

"Scyther!"

Something is about to collide with my head.

I duck quickly to the side and turn to face my attacker.

It's a green bug thing on two legs.

Seriously, what is it with the ghosts in this forest!

Ridiculousness of the situation aside, those blade arms look dangerous and doubt that its a friendly bug thing.

"Scyther! Scythe!" it yells as it attacks.


A wild SCYTHER appeared!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY SWIPES!

But it missed!

Danny dodged the furiously executed slashes from the bladed bug. It could not control its momentum, and both its arms plunged into the thick trunk of the tree before it.

Sorry Sam.

"Scyther!" it howled furiously.

Bladearms, as Danny had mentally nicknamed it, wrenched its arms free of the tree and turned vengefully back to face the halfa.

DANNY WENT GHOST!

"Going ghost!"

The familiar spectral rings passed over his body, bleaching his hair white, turning his eyes green and tinting his skin slightly orange.

On his chest was emblazoned a D and P merged. It stood for Danny Phantom, not that anyone beside himself would know that in this universe, nor why his hazmat was black.

He ignored the terrible aching feeling of loss and pain and stood his ground, waiting for Bladearms to strike again.

The wild SCYTHER used SLASH!

Bladearms charged forwards, the small wings on his back granting him extra speed. He sliced both blades downwards lightning fast...

But it has no effect!

Danny Phantom quickly became translucent before the blades hit him, where upon, instead of cutting through ectoplasm, they cut nothing but air and sunk into the earth.

The effects of GOING GHOST wore off!

"Ah!" Danny screamed as sharp pains wrenched through his body, causing him to transform back into his human form: Danny Fenton.

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

But it missed!

Danny barely managed to duck Bladearm's next volley of angry swipes by tripping over a root that had somehow found itself underneath his foot.

Danny used ECTOBLAST!

The halfa managed to fire off a weak and barely visible ectoblast, which knocked Bladearms backwards a few steps, giving Danny the time he needed to phase through a tree and escape.

Danny ran away!

The scyther growled in frustration before resuming his pursuit. There was no way his prey was going to escape that easily!


Up above the treetops a gastly with bright green eyes searched furiously for any sign of the slicybug that it was pursuing.


There! Lancer chased eagerly towards the source of the commotion, though half of his concentration was spent of holding himself together against the strength of the wind.


He was unaware of a ten-year-old human mounted on a bike pointing a pink machine at him.

"GASTLY, the GAS POKEMON With its gas-like body, it can sneak into any place it desires. However, it can be blown away by wind" the pokedex announced in a mechanical tone.

"Gastly huh." The ten-year-old girl muttered to herself, "But if they can be blown away by a strong wind, then how can it stay up there? It must be strong." She grinned. "Seems like a good Pokemon to add to my team, wouldn't you think so Pan?"

"Machop!"


"Huh... huh... huh..."

I stop running and suck air into my deprived lungs.

My powers are screwy, I'm in an unfamiliar location and I'm being chased by a new enemy with blades for arms: all in a day's work for Danny Phantom!

Crack!

Maybe next time I get angry I shouldn't punch a tree?

At least it looks like lost him.

I wonder whether Sam and Tucker feel as bad as I do.

I hope they're alright. They're probably worrying about me over a Nasty Burger while they read their CAT results.

Why did I have to steal the answer sheet again? And how did I get here anyway?

"Scyther scythe!"

Oh crap.


A wild SCYTHER appeared!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

"Arhg!"

Danny blacked out…

The scyther poked his bleeding prey with the blunt side of his blade to make sure it was dead.

It wasn't.

The scyther raised both blades high into the air above the prey's fragile skull, then plunged them downwards…

The wild POKEMON Lancer appeared!

Lancer used ECTOBLAST!

Lancer fired a strong blast of strangely vibrant green energy that exploded on contact and knocked the scyther away before the bug's blades could touch their intended victim.

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

The green humanoid bug leapt to its feet and charged at Lancer.

In the blink of an eye it was upon him, blades slicing through his ghostly body like a knife through melted butter.

It's not very effective!


While the bug element was not usually very powerful against either ghosts or poisonous beings, Fury Cutter is a very powerful move as it doubles in strength after each successful hit unless the sequence is broken.


The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

It's not very effective!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

It's not very effective!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

It's not very effective!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

It's not very effective!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

It's not very effective!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

It's not very effective!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

It's not very effective!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

It's not very effective!

The wild SCYTHER used FURY CUTTER!

It's not very effective!

Lancer used ECTOBLAST!

Lancer, fighting to stay conscious, concentrated and hastily fired another beam of bright green energy in the general direction of his opponent.

Critical hit!

The energy blast hit the scyther directly between its legs, sending it flying several feet through the trees and into unconsciousness.

The wild SCYTHER fainted!

Lancer rose up unsteadily from the ground and floated towards the boy.

"Sam…" the boy murmured, before opening his eyes and looking directly above.


It's the ghost from before!

It floats above my head looking exhausted, is that green blood?

Where's Bladearms?

Oh, I see.

"Did you save me?" I ask it. I want to say more but I don't think I can manage much besides breathing at the moment, such is the pain of my ribs.

"Gastly garst tly garst." It says, and makes the motion of what I think is a nod, which is quite weird since it's essentially a floating head.

"Berries?" I ask it.

"Lee!" it agrees, and turns to leave, but something hits it in the face and it is enveloped in a red glow.

It vanishes, and something heavy drops onto my forehead.

Losing consciousness… Sam…


Where am I?

What is this place?

Who are these people?

This is my parent's lab! I remember now!

I'm talking to them, and feeling embarrassed, but it's a warm feeling of embarrassment… I think.

Parents? What am I thinking? I have no parents that I know of, and even if they haven't dispersed to the air by now they're still most definitely not any being that I would care to meet.

But they are still someone's parents.

The question being, whose?

In the confines of his Pokeball, Lancer dreams.


"Sam…" I croak through dry lips.

"Oh you're awake, I'm so glad." I hear a voice say.

I look over to the source and blink.

Standing at the door of my room I see a nurse with pink hair. She's pretty. Man, Tucker would love to be here.

Actually, maybe not, considering his nosocomephobia.

"What happened?"

The nurse smiles. "A girl brought you in. She said she'd saved you from a wild Pokemon attack."

Huh?

"A Pokemon?"

"Yes, she said it was a gastly…" Pink-hair frowns. "But your injuries seem to be more in line with being attacked by a wild scyther since…"

"What's a Pokemon?" I interrupt.

"Don't you know?" she asks, looking concerned. "Maybe you should sleep again; you're exhausted."

"What are they?"


Ernie the janitor smiled to himself as he examined his work with pride. Never before had there been such a clean floor in his hospital.

Carefully picking up his pail of dirty water he started towards the sanctuary of his storeroom, where hot coffee awaited him.

"THE'RE WHAT?" He heard someone shout.

"I think you should could lie back down." The voice of Nurse Joy pleaded, "I think you may have suffered brain damage."

"NO! THAT GHOST SAVED MY LIFE! NOW IT'S GOING TO BE A SLAVE FOR THE REST OF ITS LIFE!"

"…"

"Where did the trainer go?" he heard the first voice ask in a somewhat more gentle tone than before.

"She took the S.S Aqua to Hoenn." Nurse Joy replied, bewildered. "No! Please sit down!"

A boy, wearing nothing but a hospital gown ran through the wall and faced Ernie with a scowl.

"Where is the S.S Aqua?" he demanded.

Ernie pointed wordlessly out of the window at the expensive cruise ship that was rapidly sailing out of the harbour.

"Going Ghost!"

Glowing rings passed over the boy's body as he jumped through the closed window without smashing it. The shocked janitor stared as the boy flew in the direction of the speeding cruise ship.

Dirty water lapped at Ernie's feet.

"Damn it!"


The wind is tugging at my body, but I do the same thing to it as I do to the terribly wrong feeling of emptiness and pain: I ignore it.

…Getting closer…

I almost find myself changing back, but restrain the urge, if I change back now…

Yes... Made it!

Quickly, I phase into what looks like someone's cupboard and return to human form.

Don't worry. my green-eyed cloudy friend: I'm coming.

Losing consciousness… Sam…


A few weeks ago.

The morning sun shone brightly over Ecruteak city, banishing the darkness of night and giving the fallen autumn leaves a golden tint.

On the borders of the human settlement, two voices could be heard.

"Bag?"

"Check!"

"Hat?"

"Check!"

"Pokeballs?"

"Check!" Lyra sighed before leaping at her mother and hugging her tightly. "I'll miss you!" Lyra told her. They continued the hug for a long time, and then Lyra unfolded her bike and mounted it.

"Good bye Mother!" Lyra shouted as she cycled away as slowly as she could "I'll miss you!"

As she rode towards the distant horizon, Lyra's mother cried, knowing that it would, in all likelihood, be the last time she would ever see her daughter again.

Such is the fate of the Pokemon trainer.