Hyrikan

Jomei

I stared at the doorway doubtfully. "This will transport us down to the planet's surface?"

"Yes," Alakazam answered. "You need to say out loud, or think, the place you want to step out. Like this." He stepped in and said, enunciating each word carefully, "Chrysanthemum City, first floor." And with that, he just vanished!

I stepped back a couple paces. "Uh…are you sure about this?"

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Jomei," Akiko teased, right before she stepped in. "Chrysanthemum City, first floor, please." She was always that polite, even to something obviously mechanical.

She disappeared, and I looked at Kyerrsha. "Are you going next, or should I?"

"You'd better be next. You're the nervous one."

True. "O-okay, then." I stepped in and looked around at the glowing blue walls. "Chry-san-the-mum City, first floor."

It felt like electricity was racing through me, but it didn't actually hurt. I might have blacked out for a second there, but when I opened my eyes, the light from the doorway was different: it was more…natural.

I carefully stepped out. Akiko and Alakazam were just standing there, looking at me.

"So you didn't faint after all!" Akiko said, sounding smug.

"Of course not!" I protested.

"Argue once you're away from the portal, Jomei," Alakazam interrupted, "because Kyerrsha needs to come through as well."

I jumped away from the doorway, right before Kyerrsha came through himself.

He shook his head around, making his ears smack himself in the face. "I've only been away for a few days, and I've already nearly forgotten what that felt like!" He looked at us and asked, "How was it?"

Akiko actually seemed perky. "It was amazing! I could get used to traveling like that!"

"I couldn't." I was sorry to crash Akiko's party, but I did feel like this. "That just felt too weird."

Kyerrsha looked sympathetic. "Some hybrids can't stand tower travel, either. It all depends on what you're used to and, ah, how adaptable you are."

I shrugged. So I couldn't adapt very well: I knew that a long time ago!

Akiko

I laughed. I couldn't help it: Jomei just took the hit with barely any reaction! That was just ridiculous!

Jomei scowled at me. Then he looked at Kyerrsha and asked, "So where is Siyatra, anyway?"

"It's the…the Hyrikan equivalent of the North Pole. Or…maybe the South Pole, I'm not sure. Anyway, it's definitely the nerve center of the Sun Side."

That got my attention. "Sun Side?"

"Hyrikan's divided into two halves:" Melchior explained, "the Sun Side and the Dark Side. The Dark Side isn't actually evil, but all the hybrids that are the elements of Dark, Poison, or Ice live there, not to mention all those that need absolute darkness in order to evolve."

I thought about that last one. "You mean like Chimecho?"

"Exactly!" He seemed ridiculously happy with the fact that I'd caught on so fast. I just rolled my eyes.

Kyerrsha grinned at me for a minute, looking like a happy little boy in that moment. "Want to see the Sun Side?"

Ooh! Do that again! "Sure! Lead the way!"

He turned, straightened his shoulders, and started towards the doorway leading out – for some reason, there was no actual door. His ears weren't quite up at their usual angle, though, I noticed as I walked up on his right.

He's back on Hyrikan. It's where he belongs, but this is also where his destiny is weighing down on him like a well-fed Snorlax. I hope whatever the problem is, it's resolved soon, so that he can get back to something resembling a regular life.

With you?

Stop it, I told myself, you don't even know if humans and hybrids are compatible! Plus, how could he possibly like me? I'm just a plain, weak, ordinary human!

Though he was defending me on Earth…

Then we stepped outside, and I was shocked at the whole enormity of our surroundings.

We were in a forest, one with some seriously tall trees surrounding this clearing. There were buildings in each tree, on different levels, and suddenly I laid a bet with myself that we'd just stepped out of a tree ourselves!

A sudden cheer brought my attention back down. There was a welcoming committee composed entirely of hybrids representing every other element, and every other species from those elements!

Kyerrsha

I sighed. Somehow, I knew there would be a welcoming committee. Why wouldn't there be? As soon as news spread that I was gone, the population would panic.

Of course, I'd have to clear away one thing that they might assume: that I was kidnapped by my friends. "I have returned," I said aloud in my best public-speaking voice – which had become a stronger version of my Pichu speaking voice, I noticed. "And I have brought new friends with me from Earth who wished to see our wonderful planet." Okay, that last one was kind of egocentric, but I hoped Jomei would restrain himself from making a snide comment.

He did, sort of: he punched my tail broadside, making it sway to the right. I swung it back, smacking his hand. I hoped he'd take that as a warning. Jomei seemed to, or at least, he didn't reply to that.

"This is Akiko," I gestured at her, "and her brother Jomei. Please treat them with the utmost courtesy during their stay, as they are unfamiliar with our ways."

I got another cheer from that, though I noticed a couple of the Flame-hybrids looking at Akiko with something in their eyes…lust?

They'd better not get any ideas about her, or they'll get what for!

Wait… Kyerrsha, you'd better knock it off! You're not likely to get her either, you know!

I looked around at the crowd. Suddenly, I realized that I could see someone who looked an awful lot like the one friend I'd had during school, right up front and bouncing around excitedly. "Evon!"

The kid's ears twitched up, and he ran over. "Kyer! You're back! You're back! I knew – "

I held up a hand. I figured I knew what he was going to say, and I didn't want it said in front of this crowd. "Save it for a little later, Evon. Can we go somewhere away from this mob?"

"Sure! Just shift and follow me!" He dropped all at once to his little Eevee form and started running off.

"Dude, I meant to take my new friends with me!" I called.

He skidded to a stop and turned around. At least he had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry. Uh…" He shifted back, and waved his hands around at the crowds. " 'Scuse us! Kyerrsha wants to talk to me in private!"

They parted like the Great Ocean and Evon grinned over his shoulder at me. "Your name's like words to a magic spell, dude! Come on!" And he walked through the pathway, twitching his tail.

I sighed. That little furball was almost more trouble than he was worth, but at least he was a friend. "Come on, you two," I said over my own shoulder, "Let's go."

A/N: There is a Hyrikanian mythology reference in the second-to-last paragraph, that "parting the Great Ocean" line. If someone asks, I'll make a fanfiction that's purely a collection for Hyrikanian myths. (Not, of course, until after this one is completed; I have enough on my plate already!)