What he is seeing right now, right in front of him, defies any form of explanation he can provide.

How is this possible? He is well aware that the universe is infinitely large and the possibilities are countless, but this? Alger doesn't know what to make of it, this is impossible, yet the impossible is now standing there, staring right back at him. During his travels, many of his old beliefs had been shattered by what he had seen, it seems that another one is about to follow suit.

For once in a very long time, he is actually getting scared, it is an irrational fear of the unknown, if he gets to the bottom of this, there will be nothing left to fear, he knows that, but he just can't shake himself free from the grasp of fear.

With his mind in a stage of surging perplexity, he reached his front paw forward, wanting to touch the figure in front of him to confirm that he is indeed real, not some illusion produced by his mind, but the figure simply backed off a bit, letting his paw fall back down again.

"What're you trying to do?"

...Even his voice sounds the same.

No, he has to get to the bottom of this, he has to figure out what in the name of Arceus is going on.

"...Who are you?"

"Who am I?" The figure giggled, "Funny thing is, I was about to ask you the same! And why do you look just like me, did you come out from a mirror or something?"

The figure's blue rings are slowly softly, a familiar pair of yellow eyes, ridden with blue strips stared back into his. He cocked his head slightly to the side and asked, "My name is Alger! Nice to meet you doppelganger! What's your name?"

What has he got himself into this time?


He doesn't understand how this could have happened, everything about this world seems normal to him at first, it is most likely to be autumn times around here, a frosty chill hung in the air, but not as merciless as the winter breeze, the strong intense scent of the resin perfumed the entire pine forest, filling the wild with a scent that didn't belong here. The woods is calm and beautiful, White Spruce, Tamarack, Red Pine and White Pine formed a gregarious mix of trees, stretching on from as far as he can see through the densely packed woods, it is almost like Nature's secret garden, a place for it to plant and create amazing wonders. The shadows casted by the canopies of Pines, low lying shrubs and dry brown pine needles covered the forest floor, giving the ground a rather irritating texture to stand on composed most of the forest ground level, it seems like a barren place, but it is also where everything started, from the point when the first seed spurted to the stage where the last needle fell, the soil is the beginning and the end of everything in this forest. The autumn sun is high up in the sky, shading into the pale sky with a soft taint of warm yellow.

There is lake near by, a thin layer of frost still hangs onto the surface of the water, distorting the reflection of tall pines surrounding the lake. As the ind came, the needles and leaves danced to the beat of the wind, coupled with the sound of running water in the stream leading into the lake, this place is an perfect example of tranquility. The Pokemon around here were quite cautious of him, they are quite interested in figuring out their who their new visitor is, as his scent is strange and distant to the, a few Fletchling even dared to approach him to get closer to have a look at him, the so called "foreign creature" who was disturbing the peace of the forest, but none of them had a conversation with him, or had the desire to.

That is until this guy showed up.

When he first jumped out of the bushes and spooked him, he honestly thought that his eyes had tricked him, because the figure looks just like himself, he closed his eyes and tried again, but the figure didn't go away, he is still there, staring at him with a curious expression on his face.

And that brings him back to the present times, he is still here, so is his namesake… sort of, though he seems to have lost his interest on Alger and instead have focused on making small heaps of fallen needles and jumping into them, giggling in the process. Alger wouldn't help but to feel slightly annoyed at the sight, surely, he looks like him and sounds like him, but he acts nowhere like him, it is a strange feeling to see what is basically your body doing things you would never do, it is like someone copied him and place a new mind into the new body.

"...Hey, Hey!" He had to raise his voice a bit to catch his namesake's attention, who had just finished jumping into another heap of leaves, he climbed out of it, shaking himself clean of any needles that stuck to his fur before turning to Alger, still with a small smile on his face.

"Hey! So… what do you need? And you haven't told me your name and why you look just like me! It is kind of funny to see another me just walking around."

"... My name is Alger… just like yours. And I really wish I have an answer to your question, but I am just as baffled to as why you look just like me. However, you are not me, and I am not you, we might look the same, sound the same, but we are different, understand?"

"Your name is Alger as well?" The other Alger had a glimmer of excitement in his eyes, "Yay! This is amazing! We could be best pals forever!"

Alger inwardly cringed at his words...How in the name of Giratina is this possible?! How can someone with identical physical traits to him act so differently and unbearable? This trip… if he is even going to follow it through, is going to be a mixture between Cringe-fest and mental torture. "...Alright, friends? Maybe, best 'pals'? Not so much..."

"Aww… You are no fun! Why are you so serious at all times? Why can't you just loosen up? Like me? Being serious is no fun at all! I would expect my doppelganger to be more like me… I am kind of lonely around here."

"...Being serious or not is my choice, and I think being serious is more a lot more helpful in situations than being relaxed and having fun, and I have already mentioned to you that I am not you, I am just someone that looks like you… who also uses the same name and have the same voice. But… how are you lonely here? I have only been here for… about an hour or so and I have already seen quite a few Pokemon, not counting you, is it not possible for you to find someone to play with?" Well, if no one wants to play with him, there has to be a reason for that, right?

"Well… no one wants to play with me, because… they are all kind of scare of me… But hey! At least you will be here for me, right?"

To an outsider, this must be an pretty amusing sight, two physically identical Umbreon with vastly different personality conversing with each other

"Uh… sure, I will be here for you, but they said they are scared? How so? Is there a reason for their fear?" He couldn't think of anything that the other Alger would have done to scare off the whole forest… unless he done nothing.

"Well..." The other Alger looks a bit guilty, "It is partially my fault that any of this is happening, my mom told me not to wander too far away from the Black Forest, but that's no fun! The Black Forest is just borrrring! But I mean, I can't fault them for treating someone from the Black Forest that that."

"...Isn't that, for a lack of better word, a bit prejudice? From what you are telling me, it seems like they are scared of you and judging you without even knowing you, making judgement about someone just based on where they are from."

However, instead of agreeing with him, the other Alger just cast his a strange look, "Ha, you are funny… That is a joke right? Have you been living under a rock or something? Even I know the relationships between the two districts, and I am only 19!"

This conversation between him and this… other version of himself is getting more and more disorienting and irritating as it continues on, "...I think you are the one joking, given my… past experiences, I might as well be living under a rock for the past 10 years or something. And what do you mean by you are only 19? Isn't that way past adult stage?"

Alger just stared at his counterpart with a funny look, "Huh, you are really weird, do you know that? You know nothing! You might as well be from another world!"

...He is actually not quite far from the truth.

"Oh well, might as well do you a favour and answer your questions for you now! Story time with Alger! Oh how I love telling stories! My mom always tells me bedtime stories..."

...Is he literally having no idea how hard he is cringing at his words?

"Anyways, pretty sure that is off topic. I will start with you second question, cause being organized is just plain and uninteresting. No silly, I don't know who taught you how this world works, but we usually live up to 200 years, 300 if some of us got lucky, so being 19 is super duper young! How old are you? 20? 21? You are only a few years older than I am! As for your first question, hundreds upon hundreds of years ago, our ancestors was a part of a greater civilization that used to roam the planet, it could have lasted hundred years more, but according to mom, the owners of this civilization, a group of creatures called Humans could never get along with each other, and then something went wrong… I am not sure what it is, not even mom and grandpa, they begin to wither and fade out of the face of this planet, first a village, then a town, then entire cities and settlements, it did take a long time for them to ceased to existence, leaving our ancestors and their cities behind."

"...But, that does tell m-"

"Ack! Not finished yet! Patience! As I was saying, they just slowly vanished and never seen again, so our ancestors decided to take matter into our own hands for the sake of everyone's survival, but differences occurred and intervened again! I guess it is not only those Humans that have that trait, our ancestors separated into two groups, one group wishing to abandoned the human tradition and live in the wild, namely the Vitae District we are in right now, and the other group wish to maintain the old ways of the human, namely the Iarann District, where I was from! There is also a Grey District to the South, but it is mostly a weirdly barren land that no one wishes to visit. So from that point on, the world is divided between the two, but no real conflict emerged, in fact, as of now, almost everyone agrees that the whole District thing is unnecessary, but no one really want to step out and try to merge the Districts. And that is it for the story of the world! Though Mom tells it in a much better and interesting way."

So this one is another divided world, though different in nature than other ones he visited, he felt like the world could be whole again if the inhabitants of this actually tried to, but it seems like they just don't really care at this point. "... You said one group supports living from from human traditions while the other group want to continue practising it, how is that reflected in the society today?"

"Good Question! But it is a question you will only get half of the answer to! Because… well," He gave him a small nervous laugh, "This is actually the first time I crossed over the border, dad always kept a close eye on me, most of the time at least, so I took a chance when he wasn't looking and snuck out of the house and into this forest! Don't blame me, sometimes they are a bit too overprotective of me."

Well, at least curious side of him didn't change at all.

"According to grandpa, at first we just moved into the old human buildings, but we soon found out that won't work for long, so some of us dug into the knowledge supplies the humans left behind in forms of books and reshaped our part of the world to suit our needs, we built smaller towns scattered around the forested or fertile areas of the land, and left most of the cities to rot, seeing how we really don't have a use for them anymore, you can still find abandoned human structures here and there outside the city, but most of them are in really bad condition to where you can't even tell what it is supposed to be, unless they were inhabited by some of the last remaining humans on this planet. We never really built big concrete structures or skyscrapers like the ones in the cities, we just went with small houses made out of stone, wood, and whatever we can scrounge up from the city, you will see when I get home."

"...If that is the case, don't you think you should head back home now? Your parents must be worrying sick, that is quite immature of you, running off like that, and besides, you said you never been to this part of the world, who knows what dangers might be lurking out here."

"Pff… My parents? I am pretty sure they have gotten used to me disappearing and appearing out of the blue to a point where they are just not worried about me going out of their sight for 4 to 6 hours, but… yea, you are kind of right, I should get back, I can introduce you to my parents! Could you imagine the look on their face if they see there are two of me? I bet my mom is going to faint out of shock! It is going to be so fun to watch! And we are certainly not a hurry, this forest is not dangerous, most of the Pokemon here poses no harm to us!"

"...What about that Ursaring lurking behind that tree trunk?" Alger gestured towards a tree about a couple dozen meters after from the clearing they are standing in, but it doesn't seem like anyone is behind it.

"Hmm?" His namesake turned around to took one good look at the Pine Tree, standing erect from the ground, its branches covered in olive green needle, sparkling under the warm sunlight as moisture in the air condensed on their surface, wavering back and forth with sudden gusts of wind on the forest, but he could see no one, he couldn't even smell a foreign scent the air, turning his head back, he cast Alger a weird look, thinking he is just overreacting or just paranoid. "Lessen up would you? There is nothing worth fearing here, why so tense?" He ignored Alger's warning and started walking towards the direct of which the tree is in.

But he didn't get every after before Alger caught up with him and stepped in front of him, stopping him on the spot, "Hey! What are you doing? Haven't you seen that there is no one behind that tree?" He protested against his sudden movement and attempted to get around him, but Alger would have none of that, "Shush, and don't move." He muttered to his namesake with a stern voice.

And thankfully, this time he listened and stopped his advance, albeit slightly unhappy about Alger being so unnecessarily cautious. "I am just gonna wait for the look on your face once you figure out there is nothing behind it..." He muttered to himself while watching Alger making his stance against the supposed figure behind the tree.

Alger begin to charge up a shadow ball in front of his mouth, an attack he hasn't used in a very long time, since Psychic is enough to take out the enemy he is up against, but this time, he might be needing it. The crackling purple sphere of volatile energy grew to roughly the size of of his head before stopping, then he wrapped his psychic energy around it, pulling the sphere to the side, saving it for later use. "...I would suggest you to move out of your cover, Ursaring. It would make things easier for all of us." He spoke towards the tree, waiting for an response from the Pokemon. A few seconds passed, and no words are spoken in return.

His namesake have some sort of smug expression on his face, "See? I told you so, you are just-"

"You are quite the observant one, aren't you, intruder?" A new voice echoed from behind the tree as an fully grown Ursaring slowly revealed himself to the two Umbreon, dwarfing them in size completely, his eyes have an unreadable glint in them, but it is making Alger inwardly shudder.

"...Who are you? And what do you want? If you want us gone, we are just about leaving, there is no need for violent-"

"Cut it, would you?" the Ursaring cut him off, crossing his arms in front of his chest "We all know why you two are here, you are from the Iarann District, aren't you? I can smell that unnatural scent off both of you, perhaps you are here to scavenge our food source? Or maybe even murder one of us who got in your way in the process?"

The other Alger doesn't seem to be too pleased about his words, "Now hang on! I was only here to find someone to play, and my look-alike here just appeared out nowhere! Plus he is incredibly ignorant of what has been happening in this world, how can we possibly do something like that?"

The Ursaring just waved him off, "Say no more, I am tired of your lies and tricks, you people brought nothing but unrest to this world, your previous masters ended themselves, and somehow you lot didn't abandon them like plague as we did, but to embrace their legacy? Your District is sick. You might be only a kit, but your age does not excuse you from the crimes you commited!" He is getting more and more aggravated as his speech went on, getting into a battle stance.

Alger stepped forward, ready to intervene if a fight is imminent, and by the looks of it, it is unavoidable, but his look-alike just laughed at him, earning a slightly irritated look from Alger, he was vouching to protect him without him even asking, and he is laughing at him for it? "Ha! You really think I can't defend myself? I might be young, but I know a thing or two about combat and self-defence, I would rather handle this situation by myself, if you don't mind."

Alger is a bit concerned about his overconfidence in a battle like this, "...Are you sure? Has no one told you to not underestimate your opponent? I remember someone once said 'Never underestimate your opponent, you can't be over prepared when going into a battle that has a doubtful outcome, an enemy will always remains as a threat, until he or she is no longer an enemy.', but… he still got over confident, and he payed for it."

"Pff… I will be fine! Seriously, you are start sounding like mom! I have handled way larger opponents than him, and besides," He cranked his neck, "Haven't found a real fight in months. Just… wait in the background, I will call you when I need your assistance."

"...If you so insist, but don't say I didn't warn you." Alger broke off with his namesake and retreated a dozen meters back, keeping the shadow ball nearby in case. Perhaps his look-alike does have a few tricks up his sleeves… despite the fact that he is actually not wearing clothes, he might have underestimated his combat abilities just by judging his outward appearance and behavior.

Alger looked up at the Ursaring and gave him a smile, "Come on now! I know you are a gentleman because you wanted for us to come up with a plan! And don't worry, this is going to be an one on one battle, I will even let you got first! I am waiting~"

The Ursaring looks a bit amused at his words,"Heh… Confident, aren't you not? But let's see if that confidence will save you in battle! You talk the talk, but do you walk the walk?" He flashed his claws and charged straight at Alger, moving at a surprisingly fast speed for someone his size, but Alger made to attempts to dodge or even move out of the way of his attacks, in fact, he looks kind of… well, bored. The massive bear Pokemon waited until he was almost just in front of the Umbreon before skitting to a stop, using the remaining momentum of the dash to aid his attack as he brought his claws down upon him.

Alger almost gave a yep of surprise as he was ready to sent his Shadow Ball forward and intervene in order to save his namesake's life, but he stopped when he saw that his figure is no longer there as the Ursaring's claws missed, cutting through the air of where he was. He blinked once, and his namesake vanished? Well… it is possible, if he can… he noticed there is something on the Ursaring's left shoulder that wasn't there before, his look-alike, lying casually on his enemy's should like nothing is happening.

Alger yawned as he spoke to the confused Ursaring, "Sloppy, you know? Your movements and attacks are just sloppy, you might be fast for your size, but too slow! Who trained you? They deserve to be retrained themselves."

The Ursaring finally realized that his enemy has somehow apparently onto his shoulders, "You little annoying-" His right paw reached to grab the Umbreon, wanting to throw him off his shoulders.

"Too slow!" The same thing happened again, just before his paws could reach him, Alger disappeared and reappeared back onto the ground, "I told you, you are too sluggish to ever catch me, how about we stop this nonsense now so we can all be friends again? And let us go?"

"Never! I will not let one of your kind slip by me! Grr… Stop teleporting all over the place! Fight me like the male you are!" He twisted his body and lunged at him again.

But he missed Alger again as he landed face first onto the ground, with Alger now on his back, "Does it matter if I don't fight you like a male? What do males fight like anyways? I am male, and this is my fight style! And bedeis, there is no fun fighting like that, I like watching you fall and fail!"

And the next thirty minutes or so are just similar things like this repeating over and over again, as the Ursaring tried again and again to hit Alger, but he just teleported out of his way and taunted him even more, it was entertaining at least, but Alger himself was soon getting bored of it, thankfully, it seems like the Ursaring can't last much longer, Alger had exhausted him with his constant teleporting and taunting, both mentally and physically.

The Ursaring collapsed onto the ground, panting and defeated, the other Alger walked up to his face and asked, "So… Have you finally noticed that this entire battle is pointless and we should just be friends? And finally let us go? Please?"

"Ne… Never, I can… still fight..." He struggled to get back up, but his body has reached its limit and will not obey his command.

"Aww… come on, stop doing that, you are only hurting yourself!"

"N...No..."

"Oh well, you left me with no choice, hey Alger!" He called out to the other Umbreon lying down on the edge of the clearing, almost falling asleep, "Still awake? Good! I might need your Shadow Ball, finally! I know, but he's got some stamina, would you please knock this poor fella out? It looks like he is never going to give up until he is knocked out. Stubborn, you know? A common trait for Ursaring."

"...Sure... Just give me a minute here." Alger shook his head, trying to clear the little bit of sleepiness out of him, it is surely fascinating for him to witness the teleportation abilities of his namesake, despite the almost identical physical appearance between the two, they are still very much two separate beings with vastly different abilities and personality. He has the ability to teleport as well, though it can only be used for instantaneous, long distant travels between planets and galaxies, while he seems to be able to make short distance teleportation, he needs to ask him about it, but now, taking out the Ursaring should be his number one priority.

Alger went and checked if the Shadow Ball contained in his psychic field is still stable or not, thankfully, the purple energy sphere appears relatively intact within the containment field, he brought it up in front of him, aiming up his shot to ensure he won't miss before hurling the Shadow Ball straight at the downed Ursaring, letting it break free from his psychic grasp. The shot flew true as it struck the back of the Ursaring's head, knocking him out completely, ending the poor fella's persistent yet unreasonable effort to stop from from leaving.

The other Alger approached the unconscious Ursaring slowly after he had been bit by the Shadow Ball, after confirming the Ursaring is indeed down and out, he raised his head up and gave Alger a smile,"Awesome! Thanks for the assistance! I don't really want to hurt him, he is just misguided by his beliefs and his environment."

Alger walked back to the clearing where the battle took place, though it is more of a taunt than a battle as his look-alike just toyed with the poor Ursaring until he is utterly exhausted and collapsed onto the ground due to it, "... You surely display an interesting mix between agility and versatility, even so, I do still have some questions, how did you acquire your ability to teleport? And who taught you your way of fighting?"

"You really don't know anything, do you? Well, be glad that you are with me and not my brother, he hates explaining things to other people." He has a brother? Alger is certain that he doesn't have a brother or a sister, this look-alike definitely only shares his appearance, nothing else, "Here is the deal, most of us living within a certain area of the Iarann District will gain some form of extra ability in addition to our Pokemon ones during some stages of our lives, I discovered mine when I was 12! Saved me from falling off a tree, you should have seen how shocked my family is when they saw me disappearing and appearing out of nowhere. According to my grandpa who visited us on the weekends, it wasn't always like this, our ancestors who settled on this land never had this extra ability, that is until a fierce thunderstorm came and wrecked an abandoned human building out in the deserted part of the city, we could never quite figure out what it is for, but suggestions is that it is used to generate power. About one or two month after that incident, the first Pokemon with an extra ability appeared, hmm… Who was it who was it… Oh well, can't remember his name, but it doesn't matter, I think he was a Luxray who gained the ability to pause time for a short while in a small area, and it just grew from there. For some unknown reason, these kind of additional abilities only appears to Pokemon in my home region, and nowhere else, plus it is not guaranteed that you will get an ability, weird right?"

"...Yes, weird indeed." Alger replied, but didn't say much, he think he knows what that building that was destroyed in the thunderstorm might be, and if it is indeed what he think it is, then that area might be dangerous for him to stay for an extended period of time, "... How long ago did the thunderstorm occur? And has there been an increase in Pokemon passing away or disease?"

His look-alike give him a wary look again, kind of disturbed by the question he asked, but he answered nevertheless, "Let me count… My father is… one hundred and two years old this year… And he heard it from his dad… About seventy years ago? I would say? No one really knows for sure as no one really care about what happens in the Ruined City. The humans started to disappear And why would you ask something like that? You are even weirder than I originally thought, but mom told me it is not polite to not answer other people's questions, so… The answer is no, I am pretty sure that my dad even complained about overpopulation in some parts in our region, but where I live is fairly less populated."

"...My apologies for getting you uncomfortable, but my curiosity got the better of me, should we get a move on? Your parents must be getting worried at this point, and I suggest we better move before this Ursaring wakes up again."

"Oh yea! Sure sure, just follow me! I know the way, onwards to victory!" His alternative self then dashed off towards a certain direction, not giving him any bit of forward warning, Alger can't say that he hates this version of himself, but he can't bring himself to say that he likes him either, he is a bit too energetic for his liking…. But why is he comfortable around Vul then?

He shook his head, now it is not the time for that, "...Hey! Wait up for a bit!" He yelled at him before going off, chasing after his footsteps into the forest.


"Hey Alger! Look what I found! You really won't believe it this time!"

He groaned in annoyance, this is the fourth time they have stopped in order to view of some his alternate self's "discoveries", he doesn't get irritated all that often, but this is pushing it, he would have been fine with it if the things he found are actually interesting and worth his time for him to stop and look, but they are not. The first time they stopped for a rock that looks slightly strange, only because it has moss all over it; The second time a rotting fallen log halted their advance as his look-alike get curious over a funny looking mushroom growing out of the tree trunk and made the attempt to eat it before he stopped him; The third time he insisted that he heard something when there is absolutely no one around them. He is… literally a more childish version of himself, but he will never know how did he survive these 19 years acting like this, now what did he find this time around? Maybe a dried up stream?

"...What is it this time? I think I already told you that we don't have much time left for exploration." He is trying really hard to hold down his irritation towards his namesake.

Alger voice echoed back, he is pretty far ahead of him, "Oh you won't believe it this time! I found a ruin! A human village by the clearing near a stream! Come on now! I won't wait for you forever!"

A ruin? He is only hoping it is an actually ruin and not just some rotting logs all over again. He quicken his pace to catch up with him, pushing past the dense low lying shrubs that is blocking his line of sight so he couldn't see what Alger has discovered until he gets out of woods, "I am coming, don't go any where."

"Get a move on old Mon! You can go faster than that."

"...There is a difference between can and want." He said with a deadpan tone, his alternative self is really getting on his nerves, the thick vegetation began to thinner as he pushed towards the edge of the woods, brushing away the final layer of branches and leaves, he found himself in a small clearing in a forest, his namesake is having fun toying around with the the handle of an old, most likely dry well, almost breaking off the frail handle in the process, behind the well, lies the ruins of a very small village, consisting of only a couple of houses.

His look-alike noticed that he came out of the woods, "Finally! You are here! Took you long enough old Mon. But now you are here, there is nothing stopping me from exploring, good luck find me!" His form then vanished from the well, the next thing he knew is that he is now on top of the ruined roof of a house, looking towards a certain direction, "Wow, I can see Mount Cabe from here! I need to ask my mom to built an tower or something near our house, imagine the view." Then his form disappeared from view again, god knows where he went this time.

"...Kids never change." He muttered to himself in mild amusement while moving towards the ruins, according to him, he is still a kit in this world, but he could never understand how they are always so energetic and naive all the time, but… innocence and naivety is rare in almost every universe, people had it at first, before growing out of it or losing it, it is actually tragic if you think of it, but also an inevitable part of life.

The warm afternoon sunlight shone through the bare branches of tall Maple and Birch trees that surrounded the clearing, the overly stretched out shadowy arms hung over the ancient ruins, as if Death himself is creeping over this ruined village, trying to claim it as his own. What was left of the former village stood in spite of itself, defying the process of decomposition and the passage of time, for now at least. This place was kept secret and cut off from the rest of the world by the trees, surprisingly avoiding the destructive touch of modernized humans, though it looked like something built the middle ages rather than something from the hands of modernized humans, perhaps that is why they are disappearing in the first place, they are slowly… devolving? From what he had seen, it certainly looks like the case. He would expect to find some other Pokemon within the ruins, but from where he is standing, he couldn't see anyone else, normally a ruin like this should be literally infested with Pokemon, he is guessing this has something to do with Vitae District's views on human life styles, which should explain why no one wants to go near these buildings.

It appears to him there had been a fire in this village, possibly leading it to be abandoned. The charred remains of stone and wooden houses stood in the neat roles along the a path resembling a street, a skeleton of what they are suppose to be. Even from only the ruins, Alger could sense this town used to be so alive, so prosperous, people going about with their own business, carts filled to the brim with goods, traveling down the street, from one town to another. These house must have been a place where people felt secure and content when they are inside, a place where they can relax, sit around and chat with their friends. Now only the stone columns are the only complete thing left behind after the fire as nearly everything else withered away in that fire, the gradually decaying town is almost like a marker, counting down the days that passed since the fire in a timeless place like this forest, the sun is shining through the cracks on the roof, wind whistled in without concern and the rain pounded it, falling right into the interior that lost the protect of the roof. Looking around at the rest of the buildings, this area of the town must have been the place where the fire started and claimed it first victims. The walls had long since crumbled inwards, replaced by the fallen beams of wood from the roof, blackened and charred from where the flames had licked and scorched them, nothing was able to escape the grasp of the flames.

Who knows what might lie in these ruins, perhaps a photograph of a family? Lost riches that couldn't be carried out in time? Or maybe just nothing at all. Moving closer to one of the houses, he touched the charred beams of what had been someone's home, the wood felt wet and fragile, a piece even broke off under his paw, he closed his eyes, imagining what might have happened to this village on that unfortunate day, he saw the town in an inferno, thick black smoke rose from the blazing buildings, ascending higher and higher into the air, the smell of burning wood clouded over the entire forest. Orange flames reaching out the windows and roofs, spurting out horizontal jets of flame in every creak, He could almost feel the heat of the flames on his face, radiating off the building in front of him, he could almost hear people screeching away from the burning wrecks, begging for mercy, he cou-

"Whatcha doing?"

"Gah!" The sudden intruding voice of his look-alike actually spooked him, he was certainly not expecting him to creep up on him… or teleported next to him, combined with his voice sounding exactly like his, then you got yourself a recipe that scared the poor Umbreon pretty bad. Alger had almost blasted a Shadow Ball right in his face if he haven't realized who it was, "Arceus… Could you not do that? Couldn't you see I was deep in thought?"

The Umbreon who crept up on him didn't seem to realize how big of a scare he just gave Alger, "Ha… Do what? I saw you from the top of that building, standing there motionless, facing a burnt wall, I thought you were in a trance or something, so I did what any good friend would do, I came over and checked on you! Don't you appreciate how much I care for a friend?"

Alger can't tell if he is using a joking tone, a sarcastic one or really being serious, but he can't make a good argument against his point nevertheless, he is partially right, he is only caring for a friend, "...Right," though he is still a bit doubtful that he did it with good intentions, for all he knew, he might just want to scare him and see his reaction, "But please, don't do that to me nex- In fact, don't do that to me ever again, you are only putting me and yourself in danger."

He pouted, "Poof, you are just boring, just like my brother, you and him will get along soooo well, anyways, I have done my exploration, there is really nothing interesting in this pile of rubbles, I want to get a move on!"

"...Just be patience, I just want to see some more of this ruined place, that is all, after that, I promise you that we will be one our way to home."

"What do you mean? There is nothing left to see! It is just a sea of rubble, well, perhaps excluding that one building in the center of the village." He was never one for staying in one place for an extended periods of time, especially when there is nothing interesting around for him to mess with, he could understand how this might be of interest to his weird, boring alternative self, but certainly not to him, he was raised right alongside ruins of various types and conditions and they are practically everywhere, but his look-alike certainly doesn't know that as his ears perked up at his words.

"Really? An intact building in the middle of an post-apocalyptic wreck? A likely story." Alger doesn't seem to be convinced by his words, but who can possibly believe that a single building managed to survive while the rest didn't? Combined with the fact that his namesake claims it is in the middle of the town and he perceived him as very unreliable, he simply couldn't bring himself to believe him.

Alger noticed the tone in his voice, "Hmph, don't believe me now, do you? But I saw it this time with my own eyes while standing on the rooftops! It was a really big building with high raising rooftops and spires with colorful glass windows! I will show you, follow me please!" With that , he turned and hopped down the grassy streets, signally Alger to follow him without even asking if he want to follow him.

This is really getting more and more like looking after a kit than an exploration, he wouldn't have minded if he actually knows how to handle kits, but the reality is, he is kind of obvious as to how to handle and take carry of them correctly, so the only thing he can do is just follow them around and keep them safe from danger, which he suppose he better do now. Alger stretched out his body, then begin to chase after the fading figure down the street.

By the time he finally caught up with his namesake, he has already arrived at their destination and was waiting for him, for a kit, he sure knows how to run, but Alger is sure that he had an advantage with his short distance teleportation abilities. Though it certain didn't stop him from teasing him as he approached him, closing in on the final meters. "Aww… What is the matter old Mon, can't keep up with me? You could have just asked me to slow down a little bit."

"...Why don't you be quiet and show me where the building is?"

"Jeez, can't take a joke, can you? Well the building is right in front of you, look up!" He moved out of his way, enabling him to get a first clear view of the intact building in this entire village.

The building in front of him is a church, he was sure of it, the beautiful, old stone carvings on its walls are still somewhat tangible, he could make out the outlines of a sculpture that resembles Arceus on the top part of the arch, with other legendaries surrounding him, though he can identify what most of them are suppose to be, the stained glass on the sides are still in pristine condition aside from a few that had shattered over the years, almost like someone was looking after it since the humans fled, these colorful crystal panels each hold a forgotten story, never to be told again. The high spire at the back, presumable acting as the bell tower at the same time, stood its ground against the test of time, thick vines are beginning to creep up the tower from the base, but the structure held, like a lone soldier standing amongst all of his fallen comrades, preparing his final stand against the inevitable.

The church is surrounded by a ring of jumbled up stones, a cemetery, presumably. He had seen mass graves like these before, but the graves stones back he saw back then are lined up in a single file, nice and neat, the grave stones themselves are carved out of white marble and the lawn is healthy and well trimmed, but here it looks like people are buried at random, as if they deiced the burial place by tossing a coin into the air and starting digging at the place where it landed, they are tilted to one way or another, no two are in a straight line, nor is any of them in the same shape, size or colour. It is actually kind of saddening, to think that all that's left of these people are the twisted gravestones, they might have been great merchants, warriors, people who stood up for what is right, but they all withered away, with only a piece of stone to mark their existence on this planet, their body are long gone, not even bones can long periods of time in the damp ground. Soon enough, even these tombstone will crack and break, and there will be nothing left to say that they even existed.

"See? I told you that I was not lying!" He suddenly jumped in front of Alger's face, giving a playful smile, "I am waiting for that word~ That magic word that starts with a S~"

"...Very well then, I am sorry that I didn't trust you, but under the circumstances back then, it was hard for me to trust you." Alger does feel slightly bad for just brushing away his statement about this church like nothing, but who can blame him for doing so?

"There you go! Now, was it so hard to just trust me? Not only you are boring, but also distrustful, oh well, different strokes for different folks, now what do we do? Can we leave now?"

Alger didn't answer his question at first, instead he started moving towards the lone church, "I am thinking that we should at least explore the church, to see if there is anything worth investigating inside, you told me to try and trust you, don't you think you should try and trust my decisions?" His face showed a small smirk, though his look-alike didn't see it.

Seeing no way out of this, Alger sighed and walked slowly behind him.

Getting past the gravestones, they arrived at the large, wooden front door of the church, reinforced with cast iron gratings, it is made out of large, plain, unadorned wooden planks, its surface became dull and spotted with mold with years of exposure to the elements and lack of maintenance, the brown varnish that is suppose to protect the planks can no longer even protect itself as it is scratched and dented in places, and completing missing in other places, only one brass door knob hang on the door, dulled with rain and a layer of green tarnish, on the other side of the door where the matching door knob should be was replaced by a square piece of dark metal. Alger pushed his body against the door to see if it would budge, the heavy doors creaked in its hinges and bented backwards, but did not break. He will need to get around this door if he wish to enter the church. He pulled back from the side, the side of his body that was touching the door came away blacken with mould, though it is barely noticeable through his black fur.

His look-alike watched his initial attempts in mild amusement, "What is the matter? Are you having trouble getting past that door, if whatever is inside interest you so much, if you could just blast it out of the way, or you can but you don't want to, then I will do it for you."

"...Yes, I would like to enter the church, but I would rather-"

"You could have just asked me in the first place, move out of the way please!" His look-alike cut him off again, stepping in front of him, facing the door, he couldn't see what exactly he is doing, but he knows that he is charging up an attack. This soon became evident as a ball of white energy became visible in front of his snout, seconds before it erupted into an violet beam of energy, tearing right through the door, disintegrating it in the process, Alger's jaw almost dropped, this kit just used an Hyper Beam! Though much weaker than the one the Snorlax who he was up against used, but it is still powerful.

Alger seems to be happy that his Hyper Beam did the job as he bounced around to face the shocked and slightly horrified look-alike, "What? You seem like you just seen a ghost or something, also, no need to thank me! I was looking for something to practise my Distortion Beam on."

"...Two things, I never asked you to destroy the door, I was planning on looking an alternative way of entering this building without causing any unneeded destruction. Second, what in the world is a Distortion Beam? That looks like a Hyper Beam than anything else to me."

"Isn't just blasting the door open just way more easier? The humans are gone, there are absolutely no penalty for doing so, and it makes things easier for both of us, in other words, I don't see why I shouldn't. And as for the Distortion Beam," He gave himself a light chuckle, seemingly pretty proud, "it is my version of Hyper Beam, given my small size and the limited physical capabilities that came with it, I obviously can't use Hyper Beams multiple times before i tire myself out, so I made some modifications to our lovely beam of destruction! Its range is vastly limited, but each use doesn't require that much energy and it covers a wider areas in front of me, after some trials and errors usually involving the beam blowing up in my face, I got the hang of it… most of the time."

"...That still doesn't explain why you chose Distortion Beam over other attacks, the door is not a durable object, a simple Shadow Claw or Shadow Ball could have broken through it."

He gave Alger a sheepish smile, "That is because… I… Don't really know any non-physical attacks that deliver enough force except for the Beam, so… I admit I might have gone a little bit overboard with this one."

Alger rolled his eyes, "...The point is, the door is now gone, we should get a move on, and do not, I repeat, do not blow anything else up unless I asked you to, which I highly doubt I ever will." He then entered the church, walking past the former doorway of the church, parts of the door still hang loosely on its hinges.

"Killjoy..." He muttered.

But he muttered them a bit too loud and Alger caught them, "...No, I believe the correct pronunciation is, Preservation."

"I never said I was going to blow anything else up..." he huffed, following Alger into the depths of the lost sacred ground.

The disturbance in airflow caused by his look-alike Distortion Beam, made the thick layer of dust that settled every surface in sight like a layer of gray snow, which gave the church a gloomy atmosphere, flew up and hung in the air like a curtain of veil, abstracting his vision. Rays of light shone through the cracks and colored glass windows, not only catching the dust particles suspended in air, but also casting a beautiful display of colours upon the floor and rolls of frayed wooden chairs, and shattered marble altar stood alone near the end of the church, remains of tapestry still hung high up on the moved cautiously to avoid the several dark holes that formed on the floorboards where it has snapped due to the lack of maintenance and mold, billowing more dust into air as he passed.

The church was surely deserted. The coloured light beaming through the coloured glass panels on the walls made an eerie contrast dead and silent atmosphere of its interiors, it almost feel like to different worlds, colliding together at such a place. The fragrance of mold was heavy and the occasional sounds of wind buzzing by the windows and cracks could be heard, it is hard for him to believe that this place used to be somewhere people came to look for shelter and forgiveness from their god. He never believed in any Religion, but he can understand and respect the ones who do, they want something to turn to, something to believe in, someone to rely on, to confess their sins and misdoings, but Alger is certainly not one of those beings.

"This is… certainly an interesting place, what's with all the weirdly colored windows, rolls of chairs and that alter? It is a fancy theater or something?" He commented on his surrounds with following Alger, clearing not knowing what a church is supposed to be.

"...You have no idea what a church is? I thought your District is associated with Human culture, you ought to know what a Religion is." Alger asked while being careful to not to trip over the gaps between the floorboards.

Thankfully, it seems that he does know what a Religion is, "Religion? You mean the thing that was written in some weird books in the city we found? Meh, it was of no use to us, so we just left it there and forgot about it. What is the whole thing about anyways? Something about you are a someone created by Arceus himself, and you live under his rule or something?"

"...Basically."

"Well, to me, that whole thing is just dumb, I mean, really? Arceus creating all of us? That is just… wholly unscientific, I remembered the book also mentioned something about destiny and fate, but these two things are also just stupid, you honestly expect people to believe that their life is already mapped out for them and everything they do is won't matter because the plan will go its course? I personally don't believe in things like "Destiny", your life is something you forged for yourself as you live on, not something set by an unseen god at the moment you are born, I worked hard, I tried my best, I made attempts to surpass my limits, and none of these efforts went to waste. I can say that I am content with where I am now. My point is, if you believe in destiny, you are most likely not going to try to change anything about your life, since you think there is no point in trying." He stopped as he began to gave his speech, getting more and more serious as further he went, something that Alger really did not expect to see on such a character, he used to see him as an overly energetic and possibly sassy version of himself and he knows that he shouldn't judge someone he met just today, but given the properties he presented, it is really hard not to.

"... I appreciate that you trust me enough to share your opinion on such a touchy subject openly, but I don't think Religions can be called stupid, I respect your opinions, however." Secretly, he does agrees with most of what he just said, that Destiny is something that doesn't exist, but he shouldn't just pan Religion entirely just based on one side of it. "And I would like to continue our exploration if you don't mind."

However, his look-alike doesn't seem to be too keen on continuing venture any further into the church, "You said you respect my opinion, and that is my opinion, which is Religion are stupid and unneeded, end of conversation! Now, can we please go now? There is clearly nothing in there besides more dust bunnies and chairs, unless you are interested in things like these, which would be...pretty weird."

"...I would rather see what I could find."

He cocked his head ot the side and gave Alger an innocent smile, "Nope, you are coming with me, we are out of here, and besides, who is the one that suggested we need to get a move on before it turns to night time? Need I to remind you that the nights here are as freezingly cold after the cities went dark? I think I can feel the temperature drooping right now! And if you refuse… I will have to drag you outside, well, not really drag, but more like forced teleportation, did that to my brother once, and he got sick for a few hours, I am sure you don't want to taste that now, do you?"

...So, basically now he is being threatened by himself, another scenario he never thought would happen, he really doesn't want to comply with his terms as he want to see if he could find anything else worth his time, but he want to reduce conflicts in a minimum, and judging by his look-alike's tone of voice, he is not joking in the slightest bit. "...Very well then, we will resume on our path back home, however I would rather you to not threaten me in order to get something done."

His namesake's face instantly grew bright at those words, "Wonderful! Let's head back now!" He turned, ready to run off towards the doorway, he muttered to Alger, "I don't know, I find passive aggressive threats fun, don't you think?" before running towards the doorway, leaving Alger behind.

Alger didn't immediately follow his look-alike, instead he was distracted by a circular object resting by one of the chairs, almost covered by the dust, resembling a coin through the dust, he walked up to it and gently blow the dust off from its surface, revealing the object. It is indeed a coin, a quite old one, it must be, its rough metallic surface giving off a shine ony gold may possess, he can make out the words "Arceus, the One and Only." and a symbol resembling Arceus' golden cross like wheels in its midsection, two small blue gemstone are embedded on either side of the wheel. He scooped it off the ground with psychic to get a better look at it, on the backside it has the shape of a crescent moon stamped onto it with a green gemstone right above it, reflecting off some light his rings are giving off, besides that, there is really nothing much to the coin, but he tossed it into his leather pouches anyways, like always, a little souvenir for every occasion. With that sorted, he turned and finally started chasing down his look-alike, hoping that he still could catch up with him.


"...How much further?"

"It is close, I swear this time around, we are getting close!"

"...That is what you said five minutes ago."

"No I didn't, you have no proof!"

They have spent almost all eternity traversing through the woods, he didn't pay much attention to the time, but he is certain that night has fallen, made evident by the sharp drop in temperature, the kit was not joking when he said the nights are cold, his fur are not quite enough to stop the bitter coldness Cold from seeping into his flesh, stealing the heat from his body. The environment is certainly not helping with lighting up the mood, the forest they are in now gives him an ominous feeling, he won't be able to see anything if it weren't for his night vision ability, it is quiet, the sullen silence in the woods is creeping him out, the rattling of leaves under their footsteps is the only thing he could hear. He does wonder how in the world can he navigate through these woods without ever getting lose since everything looks the same, his eyes flickered from tree to tree, be sure to not run into any of them, they rose steadily into the sky, their branches interlocking with each other like a net of chains, preventing anyone from getting in or out, they were also quite densely packed together, leaving just enough space for him and his look-alike and maneuver around them with ease.

"...I don't want to be rude, but are we sure that we are not lost?" Alger is getting dubious about whether his look-alike in front of him actually knows where to go.

He answered him without stopping, "Oh please, have some faith in me, I know my territory, I was born here, raised here, injured here and learned here, it would be tragic to not know a place where you spent 19 years of your life."

"...I have seen someone who lived in a house for 10 years and still managed to get himself lost in the forest surrounding the house, so I would consider my doubts justified."

"Really? Whoever that guy is, he clearly doesn't come out and exercise, like, at all. But I do! I venture out and play around this area quite so often, annnnddddd..."

Alger is getting an ominous feeling from his purposefully prolonged voice, "...And what? Somehow I got a feeling that whatever you are going to say next is not going to be good news for any of us."

He gave Alger a sheepish smile, "Well, it is not really a bad news… Alright, it is not good either, so basically, a few days back, I may or may not have accidentally angered the entire population of a small village..."

Alger would have face-palmed if he could, but his body form doesn't allow him to accomplish such a task without straining his body, why wouldn't he just stay out of trouble?! Alger himself knows the importance of being neutral and how to clearly chose his words and actions to prevent unneeded trouble, but it appears to him that his look-alike doesn't know any of that, at all. "...Why am I not even surprised anymore… Can't you just stay out of trouble? For once? I have been with you for about only half of a day, and I believe I have seen enough. Where is this village, how big it is and what did you do?"

"It is nothing big, I swear!" He stopped running completely at this point, forcing Alger to stop as well, "It happened around… 2 to 3 days ago, I was walking around this forest as usually, and I might have wandered slightly off course, a bit more to the North than what I intended to go, into unfamiliar territory. So, as I was walking alongside a river, I noticed a structure in the distances right alongside the river, it is definitely built by Pokemon, seeing how it was in grand condition. And being the bright fella I am, I approached it, it turns out the building is… or rather, was a watermill."

"...Was? What did you do?"

"Uh… I will get to the part. So! The watermill was built out of stones and wooden beams, with a hay stacked roof, nothing special about that. I walked up to it, knocked on the door a couple of times- Actually, now I think of it, I remember seeing a sign up on the door that says along the lines of "Returning in 10 minutes", but… I kinda ignored it. After receiving no response, I nudged the door to see if it would open, much to my dismay, it didn't, I really wanted to see the interior of a mill, I never saw one before! Only in those stupid human books left behind." He paused, taking in a breath of air.

"...Has it ever came to your mind that doors are locked for a good reason?"

"Hmm… None of my concern!" He continued on with his tale, "Anyways, so after the failure attempts to open the door- obviously I can't just blast it open like the church door because it is private property, I looked for another way to entertain myself while I am still here, that is when I set my eyes on the vertical waterwheel spinning in the river."

"...I really don't like where this is going."

"Shush you, let me finish first! Where was I? Ah, yes. The waterwheel, being the sensible Umbreon I am, I decided to climb up the wheel while it is still turning, and t was not easy for me to get on that wheel without falling into the river and get myself soaking wet, drying up all this fur is not easy, and I think you are aware of that. I had a few minutes of fun racing up and down the steps of the wheel as the water propelled it to move, until… I heard a cracking noise at the part where the wheel is connected to the mill."

"...This is going exactly where I think it is going."

"Aww come on! You can't expect me to know that thing will be this easy to break! And before you even mention common sense, forget about it, my mom said I have none, whatever that means. Thankfully, I hopped off it before it broke off with the rest of the building and rolled down the stream, normally, I would just get out of there as quickly as possible, but this time around I made the mistake of hanging around a bit too long, and before I know, I was surrounded by half of the village, wanting to put my head on a spike."

At this point, Alger could only stare at his counterpart in a mixture of amusement, disappointment and shock, he will need more than just luck to survive if he constantly goes around and making trouble like this, "And how did you escape, judging from what you told me, you sound like you have no way out."

He rolled his eyes at Alger, "Duh. Forgetting something here? Teleportation! I would most likely dead if it weren't for that."

"...Please tell me that you at least apologized to them."

"Oh boy, now you are starting to sound like my mom, actions can only be forgiven, not forgotten, what is done cannot be undone. I mean, if you took a plate and toss it onto the ground, and say sorry to it after it broke, the pieces won't come back together, I would apologize to them, if they are not too busy trying to tear my head off, after one failed attempt, I figured it is not worth to risk my life over a watermill."

Alger sighed in utter defeat, "... Did your parents at least try to make things up with them? A little bit? Anything! Or can you just sit down and talk it out? Like actual civilized creatures?"

"Uh.. Nope! My dad told me to clean after my own mess after they are tired of cleaning up after me, so… My definition of clean up is very different. And who said civil creatures must sit down and talk like gentleman? Humans are civilized, that didn't stop them from going at each other's throats and destroying themselves."

"...Point, but still, you should really try to-" Alger suddenly teleported right in front of him and tackled him to the ground, catching him completely by surprise, moments before an electric energy sphere whizzed past above them, narrowly missing them as it struck the tree trunk behind them, he was about to yell at him as too what the hell he thinks he is doing, but the energy sphere said it all, they are under attack, and he just saved him from a nasty hit.

His look-alike immediately rolled off from him after the effects of the attack went away and got back onto his paws, staring at the direction where the attack came from, "It is really not much fun to ambush your opponents like that, you know?"

The elements of surprise quickly wore off on Alger as he got back onto his paws as well, standing side by side with his look-alike. At first he couldn't locate their attacker among the thick tree trunks, but eventually he noticed something out the ordinary, the outline of an ear could be seen poking out from behind a tall root, "...Come on out, we can see you, you are behind the Dark Oak's roots, your ears is showing."

The figure cursed something under its breath, too quiet for the Umbreon to pick up exactly what he is saying, the figure then rose and removed himself from his cover, showing himself to the duo, it is a quadrupedal Pokemon, most of its body is covered with ragged, black fur, with the exceptions of his face, hind legs and torso, which are covered in a light blue fur, a long, thin tail tipped with a yellow four-pointed star could be seen swaying back and forth behind him. He growled at them, "My plan was perfect, perfect! There was no way that you could have seen me in that darkness, what trick did you use on me, you little scum bag? And- Why… is there two of you?" He shook his head, trying to make sure that he is not seeing things, yet there it is, two of the same Umbreon who destroyed the watermill in his village.

The alternative Alger first tried to hold back his laughter, before a wave of laughter burst out, he was laughing so hard, he couldn't stop, trying to catch his breath and snort. He stared at the Luxray with a vastly amused expression, as if he just told a wonderful joke. The Luxray, on the other hand, was both confused and angry at this sudden outburst of laughter.

"Wha- Stop laughing! Do I look funny to you? Treat your opponent with respect!" In his displeasure, he let out a tremendous roar, the trees around them begin to tumble as the leaves that still hang on to the branches begin to fall. A field of azure glow surrounding the duo protected them from the mighty roar, Protect. Alger smirked, Protect is surely a neat little trick to have around, especially when your opponent is not expecting it.

His counterpart's laughter eventually died off, reduced to the occasional giggle, "You asked me why I was laughing? It is because what you just said, is the best joke I have heard in years! You are like a kitten, with a look of one and the intelligence of one, really now? There was no way that we can see you in that darkness? I think you are forgotten here, something really important, something fundamental about being an Umbreon, we get night vision, you dumbass! I saw you coming a mile way, I just didn't say anything as I was unsure of what you were trying to accomplish by trailing us, but now I know! Don't mind this fella over here that looks exactly like me, he is not me or associated with me in any way, I just found him wandering around in the Vitae District, then he deiced he would escort me home! Because apparently, I am someone that needs protection."

"...You could have just told me not to."

"Nah, that would be just boring, besides, I like having someone around, like you!"

"ENOUGH!" The Luxray shouted at them, grabbing both of their attention for the first time. "I don't care who you are, where you are from, or what you did, just stay out of my way! This is between me and this Umbreon, he has brought disgrace upon my family, I was the town guard, and he somehow slipped past me and caused the destruction of the watermill, I will end you here!"

"Well, if you are the town guard, you obviously weren't doing a very good job either way, so… Oh yea, Alger, why don't you handle this one, I think I have already handled someone for you, now it is your turn! Every man for himself!" He blinked out of existence again, "Up here!" Alger looked up, and found his look-alike laying comfortably on one of the thicker branches, "I will just stay here in case anything goes wrong, don't worry! If you want my help, just ask me, and I will help! Unless you let your ego get the better of you."

Alger blinked at his words, "... Do I seem like someone who has an ego?"

"You never know, I only knew you for 6 hours, who knows what exactly is hiding under your skin? Anyways, enough chit chat, he is coming right at you! Battle Formations! Now!" He shouted orders at him, pretending to be a General overseeing a battlefield, but his warnings were ultimately valid, the sound of rapid paw steps and the crackling noise of electricity was upon him in mere seconds, he buckled and dashed out of the way, using Feint Attack to gain some additional movement speed, narrowly avoiding the sharp fangs and clutching jaws of the Luxray as he missed Alger and bit into an overly exposed tree root, crushing it into pieces in one swift bite. This guy is no pushover, he will have to fight hard to bring him down, looking back at the Luxray, he is still trying to get all that wooden splinters out of his mouth, buying Alger some precious time to form a plan.

"And Alger escaped the Luxray's first attack! But will he get so lucky next time? He needs to get on the offensive if he wants to win to save himself and me!" He shouted out from his branch, acting like sports commentators, earning a glare from Alger and a low growl from the Luxray, he gazed downwards at the Luxray from his branch, "Hey kitty! How does the wood taste? I bet it tastes great! Perhaps even better than your mom's cooking, isn't that right?"

The Luxray looks like he is about to murder the Umbreon on the tree, he gritted his teeth, "Let's see how smug you are when I am done with you. I will finish off your little bodyguard over here, then I will drag your body into the village and redeemed myself as the Royal Town Guard!"

"Geez… So barbaric, so much for a civilized for a civilized conversation like you proposed, isn't that right Alger? No wonder the humans kept us under their supervision at first. But! I don't think anyone is getting dragged back into any village today, because sir, you just made three mistakes, first one being overly underestimating your opponent, what makes you think that we can be so easily defeated? I thought being a town guard, you would have learned that through experience, which leads to my second point, never give your back to an enemy! Which is what you are doing right now, honestly, who said that I am going to fight you?" He lie flat on the tree branch, looking rather relaxed as a looking of realization and horror crept up the Luxray's face, he instinctively attempted to leap out of his current position, but his realization came a tab bit too late, a Shadow Ball struck and exploded on the back of his head, knocking him to the ground, but far from being able to take him out, the Luxray scrambled to get back up, afraid to take another hit, but Alger had different ideas in mind, the ground beneath his paws suddenly begin to glow with a sickly purple light, which soon turned into a field of purple, gritty muck.

"Excellent! Alger used a combination of Shadow Ball and Toxic to catch his opponent off guard! Now the kitty is hurt, poisoned and embarrassed, what will he do now?" Alternative Alger is still commentating on this battle, despite the general consensus from both sides that no one wants him to, though the good thing is the Luxray is reacting towards his taunts, giving Alger more time to prepare his next move.

"Shut up! You get down here at this moment and fight me fair and just! Stop letting your minions do your dirty work!" The Luxray yelled at him in rage and frustration, he would have dragged him down the tree… if he knew how to climb one, in his rage, he charged up another Electro Ball and launched it towards the branch the Umbreon was resting on, hoping to knock him off the tree.

The Umbreon simple yawned at his puny attempts to bring him to the ground, the Electro Ball did fly true as it snapped the branch right in half, but he simply disappeared from that branch and reappeared on another one before the energy sphere even reach him. "You know, we could do this all night long, I have got the time, the patience, space and energy to do so, but I don't think you do! And besides, I am not the one who still has the battle to fight! You made the second mistake twice in a role! And made a new one in the process, you are poisoned, Idiot! Time is of the essence! Seriously, who taught you? My God, why is everyone I face so incompetent at fighting?!"

As much as the Luxray is reluctant to admit, this little brat is correct, he is no threat to him for the moment, the real threat is the other Umbreon in the distance, keeping a close eye on him, but he didn't take the chance to attack him when he was distracted by the little prick upon the trees, maybe he is planning something out? Or- No, he is waiting, he knows that he is poisoned, it is only a matter of time before he falls, so why even bother to fight him now? He can already feel the Toxic slowly taking its effect on his body, his vision begin to blur and a mild headache begins to develop, soon, he will be a heap upon the ground, unconscious, ripe for the taking.

He fell into in a mindless rage, yelling, spitting out some saliva with each jagged word he through at Alger, "No… I refuse… I can't be defeated by you two, I can't. I will not be defeated! NOT BY THE LIKES OF YOU!"

"Sheesh. Someone has lost it. I think you need more anger control classes than battle training classes,"

The Luxray is breathing hard, from both the effects of the Toxic muck and his anger, he let out one earth-shattering roar, his howling reverberated in Alger's ears like a flash of thunder, a roar of pure rage and frustration.

Then he charged.

He is running as fast as his legs would carry him, quickening his pace to an all out sprint, bolting right towards Alger, like a Predator chasing after its prey, his head throbbed with pain, his heart pounded inside his chest, but he didn't stop, he is going down, and he is going to take someone down with him.

Alger watched the Luxray as he began his final desperate offensive, his last chance to turn the tide of a losing battle, he didn't move or made his attempt to move out of his way, he just stood there and watched the Luxray as he got closer and closer to him.

15 meters, he could hear the crackling electricity that surrounded his form.

10 meters, he could smell the scent of earth coming off from his body.

5 meters, he could see the whites of his eyes.

1 meter, he could almost feel his hot breath on his face.

And then-

He smashed face first into a green barrier.

Alternative Alger, who witness the whole incident from his vantage point, burst out laughing at the sight of a full grown lion slamming his face straight into the Barrier Walls of a Protect, "Oh my! I thought this can't get any better! What were you trying to accomplish? By rushing in like that? Didn't you honestly forget that Alger has Protect? For Arceus' sake, he even used it in front of your cat eyes!"

The Luxray only grunted, slowly sliding off the Green Barriers and onto the ground, falling unconscious, he had knocked himself out with the impact. Alger retracted Protect as the Green Barriers begin to fade out of view, stepping in front of the Luxray, Alger nudged him to see if he is truly unconscious or just pretending, the Luxray didn't respond to this motion, it seems that he is truly knocked out, "...Honestly, I have no idea what he was doing either, my best guess is that he has gotten overly angry and upset at your comments to the point where you literally broke him...I would consider that an accomplishment more than anything else, breaking someone using just words."

"Thank you! I try my best!" Alternative Alger replied before reappearing beside him, he has gotten used to him appearing out of thin air at this point, he poked at the Luxray with his front paw, "Are you sure he is alright? That you didn't accidently kill him?"

"...I used that tactic on multiple different opponents, none of them have died, he is just unconscious, he should be awake by tomorrow morning, though most likely with a pounding headache, but… I think I have something that might help him." The older Umbreon's eyes lit up brightly, and a handle of berries was removed from his leather pouches, placed just in front of the unconscious Electric Type, "...Pecha berries, it should help with the poison."

"Probably…" Alternative Alger gave him an amazed look," You are too nice of a person, even giving your enemies a cure after the battle. Which reminds me, why do you never go on the offensive? I mean, you threw one Shadow Ball at him and one Toxic, that is it, it worked, not complaining, mainly due to me keeping him occupied, but still, why?"

"...Because I simply do not like to go the offensive, I am never a big one with fights in the first place, I would partake in them if they were for fun or to protect someone I care, but most of the time I just avoid them. A lot of things that can be solved by fighting can also be solved by talking, so why fight? Going on the offensive feels, weird, unnatural, contradictory to my moral codes, and besides, aren't we built to be defensive? My offensive abilities are even more limited than other Umbreon, seeing how I sacrificed that for more Defensive Based abilities like Protect, Light Screen and Reflect, my attacks don't do much damage anyways… But I did found something a while back, a scythe to be exact. It can significantly boost my offensives abilities for a limited amount of time."

"A scythe?" The alternative Alger eyed the pouches on Alger's sides, "How big of a scythe are we talking about? I don't see you carrying anything with you besides those leather pouches, and I am pretty sure if it can somehow fit in there, it won't be very useful in any form of combat situations, unless you are fighting a Rattata or something, even so it would be wholly inadequate, are you sure you are not mixing something up here? Because I felt like you are."

Alger shook his head, "...No, it won't fit in there since it is never in there in the first place, that scythe… doesn't actually take a physical form when I am not using it."

"Huh, it doesn't? That is… interesting, also not making any sense at all. Well, presume what you are telling me is true, where is it then? You just call it out of the air or something? Or do you pull it out of your ears?" He joked, hoping to earn a laugh or a few from his counterpart, but Alger just stood there with the same, unchanging expression on his face, "Really? No reaction? Is your nervous system damaged or something? To a point where you literally can't laugh at all? Because I think I have not heard you laugh a single time since I met you, you smirked, and that is about it."

"...I am… not sure what you are talking about." Alger is honestly confused by his look-alike, first he asked why won't he laugh at his supposedly jokes, then he claimed that his Nervous system is damaged, "You are making no sense at all, I was supposed to laugh at that? I don't see the humor in your speech."

"See? You are doing it again!" He exclaimed, suddenly warping right in front of him, unable to believe what he was hearing, "That monotone voice! At first, I thought you just like being serious, but I think you are incapable of anything else but being serious! Come on, just laugh a little bit! Relax! You are not at war or a job interview, is it just so hard for you to lessen up a little bit?"

Alger just stared back at him with a deadpan expression, "...Two answers to your questions. First, I didn't laugh at your joke because I didn't consider it as one at first, and it wasn't funny to me. I will laugh, only if it is proper humor that appeals to me, not some witty comments or one-liners. Second, I am serious all the time because I keep to myself, not going around and doing stupid things to embarrass myself; I am serious because it helps me to focus on what I am doing, squeezing my way through hardships; I am serious because… When I tried to act playful, I was punished for doing so, and I changed my ways, when I tried to act carin-" He abruptly ended the sentence, "...I think I have said too much, and please, do not inquire any further, you are wandering into dangerous territories."

Alternative Alger was about to press on, but Alger's gaze silenced him, his stare made him feel uncomfortable, it was by no means a chilling stare, but combined with his motionless face, it made him shudder."Alright… I will not press on… Changing subject! You haven't answered my question from before, where do you keep that scythe if you can pull it out whenever you want?"

"Well..." He does seem to be somewhat relieved by the change of subject, "I think the most accurate way of putting is… it is inside my own body, I know to you, it sounds ridiculous and all, but it is true, the scythe is stored inside my body in a form of energy, when I call it out, it will take the form of a solid. Though it is more of something enforced upon me than a willingly accepted gift. The moment when I touched the scythe, it contorted into an energy sphere and struck me right in the chest, I could feel its aura merging with mine, despite my internal protests. Before I could even recover from the initial shock and dizziness, it is forever one with me. It didn't prove to be useful on several occasions, I use it more as a last stand strategy than anything else, I don't like what it does to my mind, it...changes me, every time that scythe is activated, I felt like a small portion of my mind gets shut down, causing me to be more irrational, easy to anger and erratic, I don't like it, one bit."

"Why not? It sounds awesome to me! And I bet it would be quite the show to watch? Can you please show me it? Pretty please?" He gave him the puppy eyes, hoping it would at least have some effect on this emotionless piece of rock.

Unfortunately, it doesn't effect Alger at all, "...If you are expecting that to work on me, you will be disappointed, according to my friends, what you are doing right now is acting 'cute', which I am still trying to learn how to comprehend it as an emotion. It might be awesome for you to watch, but it is no fun for me, you don't know the feeling. And besides, slicing things up just isn't my style of fighting. Due to previously mentioned reasons, I will have to say no to your request, accidents might happen even if you are being extra careful, I don't want to do anything that would make me regret it."

"Hmpf, Buzzkill times two. Oh well, different Strokes for different folks, moving on! My home is very close to here, in fact, I am surprised that my family didn't hear all this ruckus caused by this kitty over here. We better get a move on, enough loitering around in this place, follow me please!" He took off once again, jumping from root to root, Alger followed him without saying anything else, secretly hoping that nothing else will go wrong.


And nothing else went wrong.

When Alternative Alger said his home is very close to where they were, Alger thought he was exaggerating again and the trip to reach his home would take an hour or so, but in reality, it only took them about 5 minutes of navigating through the dense forest.

He stopped and pointed towards the base of a giant oak tree with his front paw, "See? There it is!"

Following the direction his paw is point at, Alger eventually spotted his home at the base of the oak tree, It crouched into the roots of the great oak, hunkered down into the tree like a child snuggling against its mother, not wanting to let go, almost becoming one with the tree, as though it were trying to hide from the rest of the world, but the light emitting from this misshapen windows was too bright for it to ever go unnoticed. Through the tangled roots sprawling across the surface of the hut and the roof thatched with beams of wood and straw, he could see the smooth, finely cut, grey stones that made up the walls and the wooden beams that reinforce the stone walls, holding up the cottage, there are occasional flash of bright colours here and there, though they are not stones, but flowers of various colors, spawning here and there against the grey stones, it looked alive and welcoming, a thin smoke trail could be seen coming out of the lone stone chimney on top.

"Pretty, isn't it?" He asked, noticing the stunned expression on Alger's face, ""Though I do wonder who the hell is up and what they are doing this late, probably my parents preparing something, can't be my brother, he is one lazy piece of ass. Anyways, this cottage is actually way older than what you would expect over 150 years old, my grandfather built it, gave it to my dad, and now we live in it...Granted, it is not exactly the one from 150 years ago, since my dad revamped it a couple of times, like reinforcing the walls, adding new furniture stuff like that, I think he wants me to do it next week, don't really want to, it is boring! So! What do you think?"

"...I was… well, expecting something a bit more modern than… this, aren't you guys born from the reminiscence of a doomed civilization? Isn't it common consensus that concrete is much better than wood and stone?" Alger inquired, a bit puzzled as to why his family would make a hut like this for a house.

"Nah, we have those, and other houses from different stages, as I mentioned before and I will say it again, different strokes for different folks, people built all forms of structures these days, using whatever they can find, and my grandfather built this because that is all he had back then, according to my dad, these types of household is a rarity these days, and..." He walked towards the household, signaling Alger to follow, "Don't you think it is refreshing to see something like this among a mountain of stone or concrete structures?"

"...It would be, but I have yet to see any other settlements besides the ruined human town and your house." Alger trailed behind him, getting a closer view of the cottage, it does look pretty the close he gets to it, resembling a scene in a fairytale picture book with a happy ending, the windows are rather dusty rusty, but other than that, everything else about the house is in good condition, they stepped onto a narrow dirt path packed small cobblestones, leading up to the front door of the house, a tiny pond lay to the side, with lily pads floating on top. A small area beside the cottage is surrounded by a roll of fences, protecting the small farm of vegetables inside. "Does your mother keep the house clean, or is that your father's job?"

"Technically, speaking, they both do, mom keeps everything inside and outside the household in check, and my dad is only there to assist her when she needed help." Stopping in front of the plain plank door of the household, he took a deep breath, "Whelp, the moment of truth. The good thing is we made it back in one piece, the bad thing is, my mom is probably going to kill me… Here goes nothing!" He reached out his paw and knocked on the door.

...Alger realized something.

If this Alger is an alternative version of himself in an alternative universe, this could mean that his mother could be-

He shuddered.

Jolecia.

But it is too late for him to back out now, paw steps can already be heard behind the door, rapidly approaching, the door knob turned as the door swung open, revealing the figure behind standing behind it. The creature is quadruped, with slender legs, her entire body is covered in smooth, violet fur. Her ears are large, not quite as bushy as an Umbreon's, but still of considerable size, with tufts of fur beneath them, coupled with her purple colored eyes and the ruby red gem embedded in her forehead, Alger instantly identified her as an Espeon.

"Uh… Hi mom..." Alternative Alger greeted the Espeon nervously.

Alger expected her to get angry at his alternative self before returning home so late, given what he just said about his mother going to kill him over this. But she just sighed and face-pawed. "Oh my god... This has to be a new record or something, how long was it this time around? 6 hours? I know that your father told you to venture out into the world, but certainly not to that extent! You are only a kit! My little kit… Where did you go to this time? Tell me the truth Alger."

He is squirming uncomfortably under her gaze, "Um… Nowhere…? Just wandered into the Vitae District for a bit."

And they are both afraid of their own mothers, something else in common between the two of them.

"YOU WHAT?!" The Espeon's eyes widen as she heard the words "Vitae District", literally screaming at him, "Have you lost your mind or something?! Going over there like that? Do you know that you could have died? I am I said you were devoid of common sense, but I never thought it was to this extent! You, Alger, are grounded for a week for trying something out like that, next time, think before you act young men."

"No! Please! I promise I won't do it again! I returned alive! And I brought a friend over!" He moved out of the way, revealing the identical Alger to his mother, "Mom? I know this is… impossible, but meet Alger."

"...Greetings." Alger awkwardly waved his paw, not sure what to say.

The expression on Espeon's face was… unreadable, but it was fascinating to see the least. Her eyes widen, starting right at Alger, yet not really at the same time. She moved forward, her forked tails weaving behind her, eyes still focusing on his face.

"Umm… Mom?" Alternative Alger seems to be little be freaked out by his mother's strange behaviors, but she didn't respond as she stopped right in front of Alger.

"...Miss, are you alright? You sure doesn't act like you are alright, I suggest you might need to sit down and spent some time taking this in." Alger suggested to the Espeon, frankly, himself was a bit worried as to what his appearance might have done to this poor Espeon.

The Espeon still didn't respond to either of them, she raised her forepaws and poked Alger in the face, causing the Umbreon to back off in alarm, "You are… real..." She lost the color from her face, though it is hard to tell through the thick fur on her face, she then swayed to the side for just a moment before completely collapsing onto the ground, unconscious.

Nobody said anything for a moment as both Umbreon are still trying to take in and comprehend what the hell just happened. "That was… I was expecting a lot of things, but certainly not… that! What have I done?! Oh my god… now mom is actually going to kill me when she wakes up! What to do what to do what to do?!" Alternative Alger broke the silence first, pacing all over the front porch, panicking over the fact he sort of cause her mother to faint.

"...How about start by picking up your mother and put her on a couch of something inside of running around the porch the middle of the night?" He deadpanned.

His look-alike stopped, "Right… Well, how about you pick her up since you knows how to use psychic? I will prepare something that would wake her up, the living room is just to the right-hand side of the hallway, put her down anywhere, I will be right back." He dashed into the cottage, disappearing around the corner at the end of the hallway.

The Umbreon sighed as his look-alike disappeared from his view, why can't he just be a tab bit more responsible and mature? Nevertheless, he has an unconscious Espeon to carry, his eyes lit up again as the Espeon was lifted off the ground, surrounded by a blue energy field, he carefully floated the unconscious Pokemon into the cottage, being mindful so she doesn't hit the wall or a corner while inching towards the Living Room of the cottage.

The Living Room is about average for a cottage of this size, not uncomfortably large nor small. It reminded him of his friend's house, not just in the size of the room, but in the settings as well. The floor is constructed out of polished oak planks, he had never seen such a small room with so much furniture fitted inside, the walls are all made out of smoothed wooden logs packed densely together, painted white. A tiny fireplace at the other end of the room, hosting a warm fire inside it, four small rustic wooden chairs, an oak wood circular table, a beautiful, hand-woven carpet lay at the center of the room, and couches with vibrant cushions lined the walls. Strangely enough, there are no personal photographs to be seen anywhere, nor is there any painting.

Alger walked over to one of the couches and carefully set the unconscious Espeon down onto the soft cushions. The room is well kept, he would give it that, unlike the mess of a household he usually went to on a visit, there is time he felt like he is just not cleaning up the for the sake of annoying him and getting his reaction.

"I am here! Where is mom?" Alternative Alger came stumbling into the room, balancing a small bowl filled with water on his head, even so, it is still straining him as the bowl wobbled from side to side.

"...I thought you went to get some medication, not a bowl of water, what are you even on planning to do with that?"

"Ha, meds? For this? Nah, this bowl of water will do just fine… If I don't spill it prematurely, that is, out of the way! Alger coming through!" He shooed Alger away and got a bit closer to the couch his mother was on, and then…

He lowered his head and dumped the bowl of water onto her.

But it worked.

The Espeon jolt awake with a start, scrambling to get back onto her feet, and only almost caused her to fall off the couch. "Hey, hey, Mom. Relax, no one is attacking us, nor are you dead, I am right here. It is just Water!... Please don't make me do the cleaning afterward." He leaned a bit closer, trying to ensure her that everything is alright.

The Espeon's eye finally came into focus as she recognized the figure in front of her, "A...Alger? Thank god… I think I just had the craziest dream, ever, I thought there was two of you, and that is no...t possible..." She trailed off as she noticed the second Umbreon in the room, identical to her son, "...Wake me up when this dream is over." She closed her eyes, trying to wake up from a dream that never existed in the first place.

"No! Mom! Ugh..." He pushed her with his front paw, shaking her awake once more, getting mildly frustrated at his mother's refusal to believe what she is seeing is real. "He looks like me, but he is not me! I met him during my journey! Just randomly appeared out of nowhere!"

Alger himself stepped up, trying to prove his authenticity, "...Miss, I assure you that I am not your son, I would explain myself in more detail, but I must request you to sent your son to bed before I can explain anything."

"Aww… Why? I want to know who you are and where you are from! You never told me! And we have known each other for half of a day, you only met my mother for less than an hour and you decided to tell her? What sort of backward logic is that?" He doesn't seem to be pleased by Alger's request.

"Sometimes it is a matter of should you know it, not could you know it." Alger doesn't wish to reveal information about himself to him just yet, he will eventually, but not now. "We will see what your mother decides to do."

The Espeon listened to Alger's words and didn't say anything, she doesn't know whether this Umbreon in front of him is real, or just a new trick her son somehow learned and decided to test it out on her. Her curiosity eventually won out against her caution, it wouldn't cause any harm to have a casual conversation with this Umbreon even if he is just an apparition, he even offered to tell her who he is. "Very well then, I will listen to what you have to say, but… Alger, if this is some trick you decided to play on me, the consequences will be severe, didn't I make myself clear?"

"Yea yea mom, I heard you, I promise that he is real, alright?"

"Good, now why don't you go up stairs and to your room? Be careful not to wake up your brother and father, bed time for you."

"But Mom!"

"No space for negotiation, better go before I decided to prolong how long you are grounded for!"

The Umbreon pouted, unhappy that he is being excluded from this conversation, but he obeyed his mother nonetheless, he turned and left duo alone in the room.

The Espeon waited until he ascended up the staircase before turning to Alger, "I am terribly sorry about all of that, but Alger is… difficult to say the least, though I am sure you already know that if you spent today with him. I thank you for escorting him back, he really need to learn where is dangerous and where is not. The more urgent question is, who are you? Why do you look just like my son? You are not a Ditto, I know that judging by the smell, nor are you an illusion, since I can physically touch you. Ugh… excuse me for a moment, I need to get all this water out of my fur." Her eyes begin to brighten as an invisible force brushed against her body, getting the excess moisture out of her fur and coagulated them into a small floating sphere of water. When her fur is mostly dry, she floated the sphere over to a pot of plants at a corner and dropped it into the pot. "There we go, nice and dry and not a single drop wasted, begin please, I am all ears. Ah! Where are my manners? My name is Jan."

Alger cleaned his throat and begin telling his tale, "...Pleasure to meet you, Jan, what I am about to say will seem completely fake and unreasonable, but believe me, I am only telling the truth and my experience, only that. My name is Alger, just like your son's, but I am not him. You can say I am not even from this world, I am a world Traveler, I just happened to stumble upon this words, and by that logic, your son. I found him in a Pine Forest, and escorted him back to his home. Does that answer your question?"

Jan nodded, "You are right about your not making any sense at all, and I don't know if I could trust you or not, but you safely returned my son, it is a deed I have to repay, you can stay here for tonight if you wish, I presume as a world traveler, your goal is to see what different worlds are like? If that is the case, I can get Alger's brother, Ronson to show you around the towns, or even the abandoned city if you wish to see it."

"...I appreciate your generosity, that would be nice. I won't be staying for long though, I think I will depart tomorrow evening, I hope my presence won't bother any of you."

"Not at all! I was about to make some tea when you two came barging in, would you like some as well?" Jan asked.

Alger replied with a faint smile on his face, "Some tea would be nice.