Chapter 4

Concealed Self

The grass tickled and scraped against the exposed skin left unprotected by clothing. He looked up at the sky in a perpetual gaze as if it was something he had never seen before, a foreign object, somewhat of a dream world. He closed his eyes momentarily; senses slightly being heightened and hearing the seemingly constant turn of the windmill blades. Seeing as the world he knew was gone to an extent with the only advantage being the minimum knowledge of possible events that have yet to happen or could be at risk with his very presence on this Earth. Dawn hauled the long umbrella pole through the small hole in the center of the fairly large wooden table the group was seated around, a fair distance away from Hareta. Brock sat with his hand pressed against his cheek, elbow pressed against the table with full concentration on the small yet thick book opened up. "There" She said with a tone of exhaustion in her voice.

"I could've done it if you were feeling tired, Dawn" Ash muttered

She dismissed Ash's statement and let her gaze shift towards their new companion. Ash didn't have to look at Dawn to tell what she was thinking about. He had been with Dawn for quite some time on his journey and found that she was like an opened book yet at the same time it could be hard to tell what exactly was on her mind. He sighed and adjusted his hat; slightly shielding his eyes from the sun and also began to gaze at the foreigner almost as if in a trance.

Both were quickly snapped out of their trances with the simple yet loud clasping together of a book "I see you two are more interested in him then I though. It's great to know you guys aren't used to the weird things yet" Brock spoke

"Is it really possible to get used to this?" Ash complained as he shifted his gaze towards Brock

He clasped the book in his hands "I picked up a book from Rowan's office inside and found this book called 1984. I've been reading it for a while and even though this book is outdated on a possible 'future utopia' I think it would be a great help with Hareta or at least understand him a little more."

"He's been evasive lately. Do you think it could be stress?" Dawn asked

"That's not really a question I'm able to answer but if I had to take a guess it could be the fact that he's like a caged mouse here." Brock said

The both of them looked at him quizzically; waiting for a response.

"The world he lives in is probably not what he's used to compared to what he sees and hears in his own time. He could've lived on the other side of the world for all we know." Brock stated as he held up the book as if it was an example. "He took the time travel pretty well than what we see in the movies though. I guess there isn't any real way to handle it; I guess it depends on the person but this is probably his own way of handling the situation."

A strong gust flew by making them shutter slightly despite the naturally warm weather for the season. Hareta sat up and looked towards the group with a hint of curiosity in his eyes; only now had he just noticed how large the lab he was facing truly was. Although it wasn't the biggest he had seen in his lifetime but the windmills that were around it were quite impressive to him. "Enjoying yourself?" He turned in surprise only to see the face of the yellow mouse Pokémon Ash seemed to be so fond of. "I could've swore you just spoke…not only that but if I heard right it was English." He shook his head clear and dismissed the thoughts related to the creature. Turning back around he practically jumped out of his skin at the sight of Ash so close to his face "AAAHHH!" He shouted in surprise "WHY ARE YOU SO CLOSE?!"

"Chill out okay, you were talking to yourself so I was a little curious. Anyway Professor Rowan wants to see us all." The eyes of the lookalike stared back into Ash's eyes not willing to move. He held out his hand "…trust me, Hareta" Hareta gave what looked like a pouty facial expression as his eyes darted between places Ash couldn't trace. He returned the mutual eye contact and nodded slowly. He grabbed Ash's hand and pulled himself up with little effort. For that brief amount of hand to hand contact Ash felt strange. The feeling was light and fell to the pit of his stomach as if he was about to lose his lunch. Although it only lasted for a second; he felt the strong urge to jerk his hand back in those quick few seconds but he repressed the urge and kept his cool. He snapped out of his phase only to notice the stranger meters ahead of him looking at him quizzically "You're coming, right?" He shook his head and caught up to Hareta.

Hareta closed the door behind him quietly. The room he was in has in was somewhat large, had dark green carpeted floor along with a few windows with the shutters closed slightly to dim the room. At the very end of the room was Professor Rowan sitting expectantly for him to sit down. He walked up to the desk solemnly and sat in the chair across from the desk.

"Dawn and her friends have told me a lot about you. Hareta, isn't it?"

He nodded quickly in confirmation

Every so often after a question was given and answered; Rowan wrote quick notes in a small black notebook. Hareta's eyes occasionally looked down towards the notebook although the things the professor scribbled down were either hidden because of the natural position he wrote in or his chicken scratch printing which as far as he knew was illegible. What was only at least a minute of writing seemed like hours to him as they sat in silence with only the sound of a pen hitting paper with the occasional turn of the page. What seemed like forever; the professor spoke "You can leave for now. I have some errands to run and some research to do later on with your help." Hareta, half awake, simply nodded and left the room. As the door shut, a grim smile showed on Rowan's face. Not a normal smile but one that held something seemingly more sinister waiting to unearth itself. "Everything is going according to plan…"

Well that's the end of Chapter 4 people. I'm sorry it's a little short but I plan on doing some Christmas specials of my fanfics; they won't have anything to do with the regular plot though. So what do you think Rowan is up to? Will Hareta get back home? Where's X? Don't worry guys, I haven't forgotten about Lucas.