A/N: Alright, this took me way too long for what it is. Sorry about that - issues in general, out of town for holiday, etc. Going to -try- not to do this again, but knowing my luck with Writer's Block... yeah, probably not happening. Not much left to say here, but look for the mini-note at the end. I got a question for all of ya. Now read on!

I didn't know where I was. It was a forest, which I was used to, but I didn't recognize the trees or the flowers. At least I was clean - I'd managed to find a stream and washed my fur of dirt and blood. It felt good, really; felt like I was a little lighter. How long I'd been in this forest, I didn't know - hours, maybe? It didn't matter, really... I was happy to have nothing going wrong.

Then I felt... cold. It wasn't really cold - a few seconds ago, the sun felt warm on my fur - but I still shivered. No, that wasn't cold... could I 'feel' dark? That's what it felt like. Whatever it was, it lasted only a few seconds, then it was gone; like a shadow just passed by. I really didn't like it. Something else caught my eye, though - weird looking Pokémon! Little Butterfree that were smaller than my head, blue and red and yellow colored Pidgey, or something like them... and they all were just ignoring me.

That made me want someone to talk to... but every time I tried talking to the Pokémon here, they just flew or ran away. I don't think they understood me. After a while, I stopped trying; I just flopped down on the grass next to a tree, and started thinking. 'I don't know where I am... and nothing wants to talk to me. I can't go back, but...' "What should I do?"

I didn't notice that I'd thought out loud until I heard someone say something back. "Survive." Looking up, I saw who it was - and jumped back with a yelp. Looking down at me were the red eyes - no, there was just one... the other was shut, and had a faint scar over it - of an Umbreon. Something about him scared me, and it wasn't just the eye. I hadn't even heard him show up...

He stood there, just... staring down at me silently for a few moments before speaking again. "You're no warrior; you're not going to last a week here." That made me stop shaking - was he saying I was useless? I'd made it this far, hadn't I? But he turned away from me and started walking off, like I was never there to begin with. '… Maybe he'll talk to me!'

The thought pushed everything else aside - even if he was mean, I'd rather talk to him than be alone here. So I shook some dirt out of my fur and ran up beside him. "Who are you?" I asked, happy to have somebody to talk to.

"Umbra." He sounded annoyed, but I almost think I saw a smile for a second. Just a second, but it was there. That meant he didn't want me to go away!

"Can I come with you?" He stopped and looked back at me for a moment. I stopped too, hoping he wouldn't say no - I didn't want to be here alone! Then, after almost a minute, he nodded silently and kept walking. With a hop, I quickly followed along. "Thanks, Umbra!"

"You need someone to look after you." was his only response. This was going to be fun!


It was really sort of touching, seeing Aurora and other-David's reactions to seeing each other again. Then again, it's probably a lot like how I'd be if I got to see my parents again... Unfortunately, I couldn't let them enjoy it too long. I gave them a few minutes to catch up, to get a grip on the fact that the other was alive after all this, then broke in. "Hate to break this up, but we've got a problem."

Having gotten their attention - as irritated as Aurora seemed, which couldn't be helped - I sighed. "I need to take stock of things, catch you up to speed. First off, I'm Dave now - makes things easier not to have two Davids. And before you ask, yes I know we have the same name." David's question died in silence, thanks to that little add-on. "First off... any of your team come through with you?"

It looked like that hadn't even occurred to him. He started looking around, already heading back into the trees he'd walked out of when Aurora 'spoke' up. "There is nobody else here, David. I would know if there were." I let out a sigh and saw him tense up slightly - it was like he'd traded Aurora for the rest of his team almost, if I was reading him correctly.

"Damnet... well, knowing what I do, they're fine for now. It might sound dickish, but there's no time to think about what you can't change." I couldn't afford to be comforting or anything - I could tell that everything was about to hit the fan. "The short of it is this - Pokémon don't belong here; they never even existed until now. Throw in Giratina, and a government that removes anything that doesn't belong, and you get one hell of a mess."

It took several seconds for David to respond. "Wait... Giratina? But it's just a legend... right?"

I laughed at that, but there sure as hell wasn't any amusement in it. "If so, then I just got my home blown up by your 'legend', buddy." That shocked him, but I held up my hand before he could say anything. "No time for 'sorry about that'. Now, your team's not here. But you've got experience with this that... hell, I just don't. I'd bet that your end's been hell for the past while." His darkened expression told me all I needed to know. "Thought so. Aurora's yours again, then - what's a Trainer without his Pokémon, right?"

The next... oh, half hour was spent getting things set straight - I gave David the long version of events on this end and some basic changes from his world, which he seemed to deal with, even if he didn't quite understand some of it. "So, we've got that cleared up. Expect some confusion - I should know, with how often the 'alternate realities' thing is done in shows or stories..." I stopped talking as a certain apparent fact hit me.

David gave me an odd look after a moment. "Are you... alright?"

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded. "Yep... I'm justfine. Something just occurred to me is all; It's like I'm living a movie or something. Never expected this... sort of thing to happen."

This time it was Aurora's turn to give me an odd look - not sure why, though. Actually scratch that, I knew exactly why. I was doing the same thing I've done for years: acting. Not like those professional actors, who play the characters in movies or plays, but just... not being what I actually was - broken up and damn furious. You learn to do that after a while, if you want to keep your head on straight.

But hey - I wasn't going to get anything done if I stood around raging or sobbing or anything else along those lines. No, I'm the only one who has any real idea how to handle this... situation, I guess - ironic really, but it's half-true at least - and I have to make some sort of plan. Real grieving, and one hell of a reckoning, can come later.

Shaking my head to clear it, I let out a sigh. "Alright. So now we're just waiting on my friend to get here, then we can-" I stopped, and cocked my head to the side - was that an engine? "Does anyone else hear something rumbling?" No sooner did I ask that, a plane shrieked by overhead. Looking at it, it wasn't a commercial plane or anything - they usually don't put guns on those, if I recall. It took me a moment to register what was happening before I essentially freaked out. "We've got to go, now!"

I grabbed David's backpack and tossed it to him, which he caught with ease. Then I grabbed the one I'd picked up before leaving town - just a normal backpack, nothing dimension-breaking for me - that was filled with food and some water bottles, among other things. "Ghost, we're outta here! Cut us a way through if ya would?"

The Scyther bolted into action, his scythes turning into a blur as vines, bushes and the occasional interfering tree fell to the side before him. Maybe it wasn't necessary... but I had the distinct feeling we needed to be as far as possible from the town. Hell, if I was right... well, I hoped I was wrong. One explosion was enough for the day, thank you very much.

With my occasional direction, it didn't take long for our living machete to cut a way through to the highway, or at least near it. But just as he was about to cut through the last 'layer', I held up my hand. "Hold it." Ghost stopped mid-swipe, looking back at me. I walked past him, muttering a "Nice going pal." as I passed. Pushing a wall of branches apart, I could see the road out of town perfectly... and let's say traffic was going to be a bitch.

Camped out on either side of the road was probably an entire base's worth of troops and trucks - although about half of those were scientists, if the white ones were any judge. The middle of the road was blocked by those stone... well, roadblocks, as well as some of the trucks. All in all, they really didn't want anybody getting in or out - although if they thought those guns were gonna do more than scratch anything they should worry about, they had another thing coming.

I stepped back into the trees with a sigh. "Yeah, like I thought - they've got the road blocked. Gonna have to stick to laying low, unless we want them coming down on us." David gave me a confused look that Aurora and Ghost seemed to share.

"Who are you talking about?" David's question made me facepalm - I'd gone over this already.

"The military, Dave. The guys who'll shoot Pokémon - and probably anyone found with 'em - on sight." was my response, complete with me holding an 'air-rifle' and aiming right at his chest. "Can't let them catch us, or things are going to go south real fast."

Now, there are times where you say something, and almost as if you called on it, something related to what you just said happens. Usually, that occurrence is something bad, or even just plain annoying. There's a term for that - Murphy's Law: Specifically, whatever can go wrong will. It's times like these where I think someone etched that law into my back.

"Freeze!"

The sound of a mechanical click made me freeze quite well. It didn't need the megaphone-sounding shout to get that point across. But against my better judgment, I slowly turned to look back. A guy in black armor - SWAT, seriously? My luck... - had a rifle leveled at my back. And I couldn't tell past the helmet, but I'd bet he wasn't happy that two guys were sneaking past his line with two of the 'monsters'.

'… Well, shit.' This was a great start to this little adventure...


**********************************Hall of Origin*************************************


I was dumbfounded, there was nothing more to say. I had only seen the world's destruction through the Timestream, seeing only the end result and not the process. Palkia had told me of some of the effects in the present, but that couldn't convey just how bleak everything was. Then Arceus himself... opened my eyes, so to speak. Seen through his view, nearly omniscient as he was, I saw that we truly had failed.

What I had seen, the one shining possibility in the Timestream, had represented the persistence of this world; it had not 'mentioned' the state of our world. Everything we had been doing... was for nothing. I saw not the death of a world, not quite - if two objects fuse, neither is truly destroyed. No, what I saw was the creation of a new world; a world in chaos, where nothing truly belonged.

It took me several long minutes to even speak. "And there is... nothing we can do? No way to stop this?"

Wearily, Arceus merely shook his head. "You should know this better than anyone, Dialga. It is inevitable - now we can only try to survive it." It was not until just then that I realized how dire the situation was. I had never even acknowledged the possibility that we would be... killed, throughout all of this, but now that I saw what was coming...

"And what of Giratina? How will she be dealt with?" Normally it would not be my place to ask, but under the circumstances I was sure it would be forgiven. "Surely you cannot let actions that... malevolent go without consequence?"

For a moment his eyes seemed empty, looking at something I couldn't see. Then he turned to me and sighed. "I will not be the one to deal with her. This time, that duty falls to another." There was another moment of silence, like he was deciding what to say next. "… and I believe they will need help."

When there was no explanation, I had to speak up. "What... do you want us to do?" For just a second, I could have sworn I saw the flash of a smile in his eyes before he responded.

"Send them some assistance, of course. One of our own should do, seeing as we are... not needed here." He blinked once, and I was suddenly standing just outside the open doors to the room. "I will leave the decision to you. You are dismissed." Without another word, the large doors slammed shut, and I let out a sigh.

'Who can I trust not to cause trouble in their world? … and how will they get there?'

A/N: I dunno, Dialga... who CAN you send over? Let's ask these readers, maybe they've got an idea? *hint hint*
Alright, no subtlety. Long story short, I need a Legendary to send to Dave in the Real World, and I've no clue who to send. So I'm asking you all - any Legendary Pokemon is allowed, but it has to be Generation IV or below (Pokemon Platinum and earlier). Sorry for those who like Gen V-VI, but them's the brakes.