Well, another chapter comes up. So, this is a big collaboration with galladefenrir44, and if you want to see what happens with the other team members, go check out his latest chapter. While I'm here, I'm going to remind you that the prequel to this story is still up, and that's going to be my Spotlight today. Also, for those who might be interested, I've also got another story, up on FictionPress, called the Dragon-Elf Chronicles. My penname there is EmeraldDragon11, so if you're interested, please look that up. Story Spotlight; The Makings Of A Champion, by EmeraldDragon1. Ratings; 1st United States, 2nd Australia, 3rd Sweden, 4th Philippines, 5th Trinidad and Tobago.

Disclaimer; All shows used in this chapter are the sole property of their creators, with no ownership claimed by me.

The team was assembled in the Mercury, all of them blindfolded by Rick's orders and the Mercury's location tracker turned off, with Rick flying the Mercury. They were flying for hours and many of the team were either asleep or bored out of their minds. Rick then asked them

"You guys okay? It's been a while since I've seen any sign of life." A was pacing around his room, still blindfolded, and not liking it in the least. It reminded him too much of when Team Snagem knocked him out to steal the Snag Machine.

"Tell me we're near our destination; I'm about ready to lash out."

"Technically, we've been flying in circles over the location for hours. Sorry, but I need to keep the place a secret. A grumbled and said as he flopped on the bed

"Well, when can we get down? I'm seriously at my wits end with this blindfold. Great advice for the future; don't blind guys who've fought criminals their entire lives. They'll be convinced they're about to be attacked."

"Don't worry, I'm landing already. You can take it off."

"Finally!" He ripped the blindfold off, quickly readjusting his eyes to the light. Once he could see his surroundings and knew for sure he wasn't being threatened, he physically started to calm down.

"Damn, that's a feeling I hate."

"Oh well. Sorry about that guys. Let's get out of this thing." Everyone gave a collective sigh of relief through their communicators and went out of their rooms. They soon made it out of the Mercury and exited to see an enclosed area within a forest, though not one that was familiar to everyone else. Rick then walked in front of them and led them down a road, where they were soon surrounded by men in suits and ninjas. A's instincts kicked in, and he placed a hand to Savior's pommel, not drawing him, but very much ready to. Rick began to laugh as another ninja, one more distinct than the others appeared in a flash and lifted his hands, making the other ninjas put their swords away. Rick walked up and shook hands with the ninja.

"Ken! Good to see you!" Ken replied as his robotic mask came off his face

"You too! We've been seeing you fly around in circles for hours. I know you like to keep Mr. Silph safe, but did you really have to hide it that much from your team?"

"Yeah. Sorry, but it's my job to keep it safe."

"Technically, you gave that job to me." Rick then informed the team members that were not part of the original team

"Guys, this is Ken Shiroto. He's one of us. He's a Remnant of mine and possibly the best swordsman I know. He's also the current personal guard of Mr. Silph." A relaxed and took his hand off his sword, but didn't say anything. Ken then waved his hand and the ninjas vanished, but the men in suits stayed with the team as Ken led them through the forest. Ken then said

"Man, it's always a walk from the hangar to facility! It's something you need to get used to." He then looked at Alara, commenting

"I sense something odd coming from your wife. She's pregnant, right? Mr. Silph said something about that to us." Rick nodded and replied

"Yep! I couldn't be more happy and excited." Rick suddenly stopped and looked around carefully, alarming the team, who took a defensive position. A had drawn Savior and was more taut than a stretched wire. He cast his eyes around carefully, though didn't initially spot anything. Rick looked at his hand and laughed.

"Gamma! Delta! Come out already! Stupid force of habit!" The Arcanine and Ninetales suddenly appeared yelling "Dog pile!" and tackling Rick. Gamma looked at Ashlyn and Harmony and said

"Hey Omega, Theta, you can join in on this. A Project Dog Pile!" Harmony and Ashlyn then jumped in on top of Rick and Rick then teleported from under them. Reappearing a few feet away, gasping for air. He then charged a Shadow Ball in his hand and shouted

"I am going to kill you guys!" He then stopped when he saw a baby Vulpix on Delta's back.

"Wow! Didn't see that coming!" Delta giggled and said

"Yep! This is mine and Gamma's son, Blaze." Rick looked at the baby Vulpix and chuckled and remarked

"I knew you were pregnant, but I never knew how far along you were. He's adorable." A growled and sheathed Savior, then said tersely to Rick

"You mind not putting me on edge anymore? I'm really at my limits, and if something else happens, I'm liable to snap." Rick laughed nervously.

"Sorry, but when I sense Project energy, I tend to get defensive. Especially with my pregnant wife around." He just sighed and replied

"Fine, but please don't do it anymore."

"Alright. Let's just keep moving." The team moved on again and a few minutes later they saw a large beautiful building with the Silph Co. logo on it. The building had to take up at least a mile or two around and looked like a palace.

"Welcome to Silph Co. HQ!" A frowned and asked

"I thought the HQ was in Saffron?"

"Of course, we have to let the public believe that. We can't risk the location of the real Silph Co. HQ to be known. Saffron is just a branch."

"Okay, so tell me this; did I do anything worthwhile in saving it from Team Rocket, or was that a waste of my time, too?"

"Oh no. Saffron is still an important area. If we lost it then and there, we would be in a bit of trouble right now." He sighed in relief and said

"Good, so it wasn't a complete waste. If there's one thing I hate, it's wasting time. So, why are we here?"

"Mr. Silph invited us to visit. He also has something he want to show us. So I'm going to see what he has for us." Ken then told them

"He's expecting you on the 50th Floor. We'll just take the express elevator." The team entered the building, finding it to be a busy location with workers working hard to get their work done and the scientist working on different projects. They soon made it to the express elevator and took it up to the 50th Floor. When they arrived they saw a line of security, all the way to office's doors. A looked out the window, somehow not completely relaxed by the amazing scenery. His sixth sense was starting to bug him, and while he now knew there was apparently some sort of danger nearby, it couldn't tell him what it was. They walked down the hall and Ken opened the door to reveal Mr. Silph talking to a little girl. The little girl then looked at the group and ran towards Ken, jumping into his arms. Ken then said to Rick

"You never met her, but this is mine and Esper's daughter, Hana." Rick pat her head and said

"I'm just meeting everyone's kids today, aren't I?" He then looked at Mr. Silph and greeted

"Sir! Great to see you again." Mr. Silph smiled and reached for his cigar.

"Rick and company! I'm happy to see you all alive and well. I'm also happy to see Alara carrying the next generation. Congratulations, my girl!" Alara blushed and replied

"Thank you sir!" A looked around suspiciously. His senses were starting to drive him crazy, but he was having a hard time pinpointing anything. He started walking around, trying to find any clues that might lead to some semblance of peace in his mind. Rick noticed A's uneasiness and asked

"Are you alright, A?" A shook his head, explaining

"My sixth sense is driving me nuts. There's something in this room that's going to cause a problem, but I don't know what. It's great for telling me there's potential danger; falls a bit short as to WHAT it is."

"I doubt that there's anything sinister here. This is the most secure place in the world, with the Sanctuary of course." Mr. Silph then intervened

"Well before this turns into a debate, let me tell you all that I'm over joyed that you're all here. I do not get a lot of visitors from the outside world here. Everyone worries about my safety and I stay in hiding as much as I can, especially during this world. However, I like to have fun. Anyways, I called you all here because we have a new piece of technology that we developed. We believe that it can intercept any form of Team Rocket communication. However, he have yet to test it." Jean then volunteered

"Then bring it here and we'll test it right now." Rick replied to Jean

"That's a bit dangerous, don't you think?" Mr. Silph assured Rick

"Don't worry, it won't explode. It's connected to cyber space and can intercept any signal in radio, TV, and the internet."

"That sounds useful." The elevator bell then rang and Esper appeared with a blue cube on a tray. She entered the room and saw the team, causing her to quickly hug Rick, saying

"I was not expecting to see you here so soon!" Rick hugged her back, replying

"I know. Man! I missed you. I finally got to meet your daughter too." She smiled and took Hana from Ken's hands.

"I'm just happy that you guys decided to visit." Mr. Silph said to her

"They're going to test the device out right now."

"Really? It's never been tested."

"You told me that it won't cause any bodily damage, so is there a true risk to it?"

"Well no, but...oh very well." A caught the hesitation, saying

"Hold it right there; what's with the hesitation? What are the risks involved?"

"Nothing really. It won't hurt you, but we never tested it before. We made sure it was safe, but I can't tell what could happen."

"If you can't tell what will happen, then how can you be so sure it's safe? Any lapse in certainty constitutes a possible danger!"

"Because it doesn't use anything that can cause us any harm, not even electricity."

"Okay, so it won't harm us directly, but what about its effects?"

"It only uses signals from technology, so it still uses radio waves." A scowled for a moment, then clenched his temples.

"Then what is it that's driving me nuts?!"

"Exhausted instincts maybe, or you're just nervous." A laughed harshly, replying

"I'm always on edge, nervous is a real understatement. Just ignore me; I'm going to try and figure this out." He crossed his arms and dropped his head, entering a state of self-hypnosis, where he examined everything he knew as tangible and started to investigate things. Rick then walked up to the device and announced

"Everyone who's joining me, step forward." Since A couldn't figure anything out, he figured it would do better to drown himself in work, so he stepped forward. The rest of the team then huddled around Rick as he turned on the device and a pulse shot through all of the team and they all fell onto the floor, with Mr. Silph catching Alara. Delta then asked

"What just happened?" Esper immediately pulled out a holographic computer screen from the device and told them

"Their consciousness have been transported into the device via radio frequencies. So they are literally in tv right now, but only in the device." Gamma asked

"How do we get them out?" Esper typed for a few moments and then explained

"They have to play along with the scenarios or find their way out. How did this happen?" She then looked for a reason and soon found it in a text document that popped up, which she read out loud

"Warning: if the device is not left to connect to a television or any other media decide for a few moments, then it will send a pulse to seek out energy signals...Woops! I wrote that and forgot about it." Ken asked

"So now what?"

"I'm looking for instructions. I'm just hoping that wherever they are, they're safe." After several moments, A became more or less aware, and his sense was driving him to the brink of insanity, but he managed to hold on. He stood and found himself in a blank, empty space. There was literally nothing, and since he could make no sense of it, he decided to ignore it for the time being.

"Hey guys, where the hell are we? And why do I feel like something's gone horribly wrong?" Rick woke up with Alara on top of him and looked around

"What the hell? It looks like we're in a void...or limbo." A walked over and gently helped Alara up, then held a hand out for Rick.

"I think something went wrong." Jean got up, replying sarcastically

"Ya think!?" Rick then observed

"Looks like we're stuck here right now. How did this happen?" Esper's voice then came out of nowhere, asking

"Hello? Can you guys hear me?" A looked around but couldn't identify the source.

"Yeah, we hear you. What happened?"

"Apparently, you guys didn't give me time to connect the thing to a media source so we can track something. So it dragged everyone's consciousness into the device. Your bodies are still here." Although the hairs of his neck prickled uncomfortably, now that he knew the source of the problem, his sixth sense calmed down, to which he sighed in relief.

"Okay, that answers that. But if our consciousness and bodies are separate, why does it feel like I'm still in my body? More importantly, how do we get out of here?"

"It feels like you're in your body because the machine gave you a false body to use. Hell, Alara's not pregnant in there. Alara quickly rubbed her belly to check it for herself and saw that she couldn't sense the baby.

"Whoa! That's weird!"

"Huh, weird. Okay, but how do we get out?"

"You have to play along with the device or find the exit." A tilted his head in confusion and asked

"Device?"

"What you're in right now. I hope you guys watch a lot of television, because you'll have to play the parts the device gives you or you can use a skip. However, you have three skips before you are forced to play another part. Only then can you use three skips again." A sweatdropped and said

"Oh, crap…"

"You guys will be given a remote on your hand that has the skip function. You guys will also be split up, but might meet occasionally." A facepalmed and said

"Well, this is peachy. I might need some help here." Rick then told him

"If we're going to be split then you're kinda on your own."

"Well, that's great; the last time I watched TV was when I was ten in Orre. I have no freakin' clue what I'm supposed to do." Esper then informed him

"You don't exactly have to know any lines. Just go with it." A grumbled slightly, then asked

"Can we just find the exit and end this craziness?"

"In order to find the exit you have to go through the TV shows, movies, and games." A facepalmed.

"Damn. Alright, where do we start?"

"Once I press the Enter button, you guys will be taken to the media world. Good luck! You can't die there."

"Media world, huh? That's the only channel I watched in Orre… depicting my reign against Cipher. Hopefully that won't show up."

"Good luck and have fun with this. I'll be regulating everything from here. You'll all be safe...unless you end up in a war movie."

"Yeah, that's what I need, a way to vent." He turned, looking for the way to go.

"Alright. Goodbye guys! This should be entertaining for us here." She then pressed the Enter key and everyone suddenly vanished. A felt his molecules being messed with, like he was teleporting, and once everything settled again, he opened his eyes to find an extraordinarily colorful world, too much so in his opinion. Then some music blasted, making him cover his ears, but he could still hear the words, much to his detriment, and it went something along the lines of

"My Little Ponyta." A suddenly heard a scream and saw Rick as a Ponyta freaking out

"What the hell is this!? What the hell is this!?" A blinked and asked incredulously

"Rick? Is that you? Are you a Ponyta?!"

"Of course it's me! Who else would be freaking out because they're a stupid little pony?! You're one too!" A looked and shouted in horror, seeing his body as a strange blue, even as Rick was green.

"Fuck! What is this, a horror show?!"

"It's worse than that! It's a little girl cartoon about friendship! I would know, I've had to watch this with Maiyu all the time." A groaned loudly, then wobbled around on four legs, not accustomed to this.

"Dammit! Alright, what's the business with this… cartoon?"

"There's no true business. It's a show about magic and friendship that makes me want to rip my ears off."

"Excuse me, I'm going to bash my head against a barn." He went to a fairly large one and did just that. Rick joined him and the two bashed their heads on the barn until they broke through. Rick pulled his head out and said

"We can skip this, but then we only have two skips left. Then we'll have to play along with whatever it is that we get afterwards. So I think we should bear with this one...but it they make us have to do a musical number, I'm leaving."

"I'm following. Well, how bad can this be, really? Why don't we try to look at this as an opportunity to make a difference in a child's life? That's going to make it more bearable for me, at least."

"Fine, let's go into town and get our ears to bleed by the voices." A winced and they walked out into the town. It was still too colorful for his taste, and he said

"Arceus, it looks like you could literally eat these houses! What the hell are they thinking?"

"There's ponies, there's dragons, and there are things that just make you want to throw up in this world. This could be labeled as tortured in some countries."

"Great. Why couldn't we be dragons? That's way more masculine than Ponytas, right?"

"There are still male Ponytas but you question how much testosterone they have in their bodies at times."

"Yeah, and that's another thing; I'm seeing some weird stuff, like these stickers on them. Please, TELL me we don't have stickers on our asses." Rick looked back and sighed.

"Yep! We do."

"Dammit! If it's not one thing, it's another. Well, you've seen this show before; what the hell do we do?"

"We just have to do some mundane tasks in the town and hope some really smart and temperamental Ponyta messes something up and needs everyone's help to fix it."

"Great, at least there's something that won't feel like rainbows and glitter. Gah, why did we have to show up here? I'd do much better on a crime show or something. Oh well, let's get this over with." He walked on, followed by Rick, and they were soon directed to a ranch of sorts, where they had to do the basic tasks of keeping one running. Luckily the tools necessary were tailored for their bodily composition.

"I really hope Green never sees this; I'll never live it down." Rick sighed and said

"If something doesn't happen soon, I am going to go on a rampage through town. That cross-sword sticker on my ass, means I can fight really well with a blade."

"I've got a sword behind a heart. I have no clue as to what that means, nor do I much care. I just hope the bad guy comes out soon; once we get rid of that, the show's over."

"Usually it's not an enemy. Sometimes it's just something that we have to remedy."

"Well, that figures. Still, it should signal the end of the show, right? Then we can book it out of here."

"Yep! Just wait a little and we'll be able to get out of here. However, I wish I knew what we were supposed to do. Damn it!" Rick bucked a tree and all the apples fell off of it and hit a boulder, making it roll into town. A sweatdropped and remarked

"Wow… looks like you just gave us our problem." Without another word, Rick and A followed the boulder, overtaking it. The two got in front of it and caught it, trying stop it but it kept dragging them. Rick asked A

"Any bright ideas?"

"That depends if I still have my supernatural strength. If I don't, we're kinda screwed."

"I think we have magic. Some of the characters on this show have it."

"Bah, magic! I don't even know how to use magic!"

"Well try something, we're not really slowing this thing down."

"Alright. I'm going to run ahead a bit. When I give the signal, get out of the way, alright?"

"Gotcha! Hurry!" A ditched his efforts and galloped back fifteen feet, then turned and shouted

"Let it go!" Rick jumped out of the way, hoping A's plan would work. A waited until the rock was just five feet away, then lifted onto his front hooves, kicked hard, and managed to stop the rock's momentum by countering it with an equal force in the opposite direction. Once he was certain the boulder wasn't going anywhere, he sighed in relief and remarked

"That worked better than I hoped; I was expecting to just slow it down enough to stop it, but I'm glad it stopped altogether." Rick limped over to him and said

"Well I landed in a pile of rocks. Whoopee-fucking-doo!"

"Hey, come on man, this is a kid's show."

"I don't care! I just want to leave. I'm surprised we haven't left yet."

"I think we're supposed to be acknowledged or something, but-" the rest of his sentence was cut off when he was "attacked" by the inhabitants of the village, oozing thanks for saving them. He poked his head out of the throng and shouted

"Get me outta here!" Rick rolled his eyes and his horn began to glow, pulling A out of the sea of Ponytas.

"And the following will be why I can't stand this show."

"Oh, Arceus, tell me this doesn't get worse!"

"They might have a musical number."

"Oh hell no! Let's just get out of here, I can't stand those!"

"We can't leave."

"Then just rip my ears off now." They then saw as a Ponyta pulled out a tune pipe and everyone began to sing with A and Rick holding their ears for their life. As soon as the song was over, Rick and A were encased in a white light and vanished. As A flew through he-didn't-know-what, he thought

"Thank Arceus that's over. But now where the hell am I going to end up?" A arrived in a theater, watching a performance.

"Wait, what the hell is this? An opera? What kind of movie is that?" A man then pat his shoulder and said

"So President Lincoln, how do you like the performance?" A blinked and said

"Excuse me? Who?" He then heard Green's voice next to him, asking him

"Michael, is that you?" A blinked, then looked and saw her, asking

"Green? When did you get here? You weren't part of the team that went to see Mr. Silph."

"I was in our room felt something coming from you and somehow fell asleep and woke up here. What were you guys doing and how did you connect to my mind?"

"Well, apparently, Dr. Esper, or someone, created this device to let us listen in on Team Rocket conversations, sort of like tapping a phone, but with a broader range of capabilities. Though apparently it wasn't properly hooked up, so now we got stuck in movies and video games. I am not exactly a happy camper right now."

"You do realize the situation you're in, right?"

"Not at all. I don't watch TV, remember? You'll rot your brains watching that crap, especially the first one I found."

"You're Abraham Lincoln right now."

"And?"

"This is Ford's Theater, so that means that you get assassinated really soon." A rolled his eyes and said

"Green, that's just ludic-" BANG! A slumped to the floor, and Green screamed, despite knowing it was going to happen. A soon woke up on a beach, with Green nowhere in sight. A sat up, rubbing the back of his head, where he could swear he felt a bruise forming, then huffed

"Where am I now?" Jean the suddenly came out of the forest and yelled at A

"Run!" A decided not to argue and jumped up, running alongside him, asking

"What the hell's chasing us?!"

"You're about to find out." Suddenly A gigantic T-Rex burst out of the treeline and chased the two down. A sweatdropped and asked

"Where the hell are we?"

"Have you ever seen the movie 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park'?"

"Dude, I don't watch movies or even tv, except occasionally with Green. Don't you know that stuff rots your brain?"

"Save me the lecture and run old man!" A vein pricked on A's temple, and he shouted

"Old man?! I'll show you who's an old man!" A skidded to a stop, then jumped high and round-house kicked the dinosaur straight in the jaw. It fell over, shaking the earth. He landed next to it, then heaved it up, his arms shaking slightly.

"Go back to whatever foul pit you came from!" Then he hurled the creature away from him, sending it into the forest almost fifty feet away.

"Show off! Also, I was leading it away from a group of children."

"Yeah, well I stopped it from going after the children, period."

"Alright. Take care of the others now." A cracked his knuckles and neck, then said

"Bring 'em on; I was stuck in a girl's cartoon and assassinated; I need a good fight."

"Wait...how?"

"What?"

"How were you assassinated and in a girl's cartoon?" A facepalmed and said

"No, dimwit, I first went to a girl's cartoon, and then I got sent to another movie where I wound up being assassinated."

"Well I went through a food channel, arm wrestled Hulk Hogan, and assassinated a king."

"Some guys get all the luck. So where are the rest of those monsters for me to kick ass?"

"Look at the forest. They have us surrounded. Which means it's an even fight now." Jean then asked

"Hey have you run into Rick or the others?"

"I wound up with Rick in that little girl's cartoon; neither of us were happy about it. I saw Green when I went to the movie where I got assassinated."

"Wait, how did Green get in here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. She said something about passing out after hearing me, I think, then waking up right next to me."

"Oh well, tell me later, here they come!" The army of carnivorous dinosaurs suddenly burst out of the forest and charged towards A and Jean.

"Come and get it!" A zipped around, and with each pass, another fell to the ground, unconscious or unintentionally dead. He soon reappeared, looking much happier.

"Just what the doctor ordered. How's things on your end, Jean?"

"Quite a lot really." Jean then Blaze Kicked one of the dinosaurs.

"These guys are easy."

"Need some assistance?"

"Nah! They're nothing. I think that if we beat them, we can leave."

"Well, while that's reassuring, I dread where I might end up next."

"Sadly, we have to go through with it. You get three skips and then you have to go through one show, movie, or game before they recharge."

"I haven't used any yet, but I was really tempted with the cartoon."

"That had to be horrible. I wonder what Rick is doing right now."

(Rick)

Rick was standing on a gargoyle looking over a city. He then said darkly

"I...am..." Lighting flashed;

"Batman! I fucking love this one!" He then jumped off the gargoyle and opened his cape to fly into the night.

(A)

"I don't know, but I hope he's having more fun than 'My Little Ponyta'." Jean then beat down the last dinosaur and waved goodbye as he began to glow.

"Well I hope your next one is awesome. See you later!" He waved him off, then was thrown back into the loop. Next he found himself in the middle of a bustling city, though it looked like none he'd ever seen. He spotted a crime scene and immediately went over to find out what was happening. Serenity suddenly appeared with cops and asked

"So what's the situation?" A cop answered

"A man was out jogging through the neighborhood. He heard gunshots and saw a pair of men get in a car. He then found the victim's body in this alley here with multiple gunshots to the head and chest."

"I want the entire perimeter secure. I want a full investigation." A smirked and saluted her.

"Yes, ma'am!" Serenity saw him and said happily

"Man! It's so great to see a familiar face. How are you?"

"Doing better. My first run was in a little girl's cartoon. My next wound up with me being assassinated. But last time I got to beat up… I think Jean called 'em 'dinosaurs'."

"Well that's interesting. I was in a rugby match, Star Wars, and now here."

"Most of these movie titles are completely lost on me, but whatever. So, where should I start?"

"Well you can interview the witness."

"Alright. Where'd you put him?"

"He's in that police car, trying to relax." A nodded and walked over, the door still open. He crouched next to the car, asking

"How you doin'?" The man looked at him and replied

"I'm fine. I'm just a little shaken." A nodded understandingly, then said

"I understand, but you still did the right thing calling us in. Now, can you tell me what happened?"

"Well I was just jogging around as I usually do, but today I heard gunshots. It about three shots and then these two men came running out of the alley and jumped into a car that sped off. I went to see what happened and found the guy there, dead."

"And were you able to see their faces?"

"Not really, but they drove off in a very exotic car. Maybe that's a point to start. They've obviously have done this before." A nodded and brought out a notepad, asking

"Okay, what did the car look like?"

"It was white, looked like a Rolls-Royce...a Wraith, I believe it's called." A took down the notes, then asked

"Were you able to see the license plate at all?"

"No, but there are very few of those cars."

"Yes, but knowing the numbers can still help us narrow our search. Now then, after you heard the shots and saw them drive off, what did you do?"

"I apprehensively walked into the alley, trying to see if anyone was hurt. Then I saw the body." He nodded and took it down, then asked

"And was the body positioned in a specific way, or have any markings on or near it?"

"Not that I could tell. All I saw was a pool of blood and a bullet hole in their head." A nodded again, taking it down, then asked

"Do you know the victim in any way?"

"I've seen him in the bank every once and a while."

"As a customer or employee?"

"Customer, but he should have an I.D or a bank card, if that can be useful. They should also have a record of him at the bank." A nodded and took that down, then asked

"What's your name, sir?"

"Aaron Simpson."

"Alright, Aaron, my name is Michael. Thank you for your cooperation; I understand this was a traumatic event to witness."

"No problem! I'm happy to help."

"We may need to call on you again in case something comes up, so we also need your address and number." Once he got them, he stood and shook hands with him, then found Serenity and remarked

"This is actually kind of fun." Serenity looked at him and smiled.

"Really? Then why don't you use the detective squad?"

"Do we have that here? After all, the shows may work different than tv shows, or movies, depending on what this is."

"We do not. This is just a human world, so no Sanctuary here...that I know of. What did you find out from the witness?" A looked at his notes, relaying

"Well, the victim appears to be a customer at a bank that our witness has seen there occasionally. The killers also have a specified Rolls-Royce, a Wraith. No specific markings on or around the body, nor on the killers or car. However, he believes this looked like a professional job."

"A professional job? You mean that they were paid to do that?"

"That was just speculation on the witness' account. What he meant was they seemed seasoned in this act; in other words, they knew how to kill him quick and get out of there. However, because of the rarity of the model of car they were using, it seems like they'd be easy to track. There's something weird with that."

"Like what?"

"Well, if they really are professionals, you'd think they'd use a far more common car, one they could trash if it came to it and no one would be suspicious. But everyone would notice a trashed Rolls-Royce, since they're so rare, or so I'm told. Anyway, can we identify the weapons used?"

"I already have forensics looking at the spent bullet casings."

"Okay. Do we have the body going to autopsy?"

"Already sent to the coroner's office."

"Okay. So, we seal this area off as a crime scene… then what?"

"This is a tv show. We wait until it cuts to the next scene at the coroner's office."

"Huh, so that's how a TV show works?"

"Yep!" The area then turned black and they reappeared in the coroner's office.

"See what I mean?"

"Wow, that's weird. So, where do you fit into this? What's your role?"

"I'm the Chief Detective."

"Okay, and what am I?"

"A homicide detective in my division."

"Cool. So, where's the coroner?" A woman then appeared in the room in a lab coat and a clipboard in hand, reporting

"Well I'm done with the autopsy. He died from the shot to the head. The other shots would of been life threatening. The killer was very precise." Serenity asked

"We were told that there were two of them."

"Only one gun was used and the evidence points to one person."

"So, we have a killer and an accomplice, an accessory to murder. That's still enough to put away for a good number of years. Who's our suspect?"

"Well there's one suspect. Also, the victim is name Samuel Simpson." A frowned, then remarked

"Our witness' name is Aaron Simpson. But he said he didn't recognize the victim. I think we need to give him another call."

"That's exactly who I believe the suspect is. The murder was very personal. Whoever did this spat on the victim and that's how I got the DNA."

"Alright, then we arrest him as a suspect of murder." Then the whole place went black, reappearing at a suburban housing which A recognized as the address Aaron had given him.

"Wow, I'm not going to get used to that." Serenity knocked on the door and Aaron answered the door.

"Detectives? Hello!" A walked forward and started talking in a falsely confused tone.

"Hey, we got some results back from our coroner, and funny thing, we found your DNA on the victim. Moreover, we identified him as Samuel Simpson. Ring a bell?" Aaron shook his head.

"Not at all."

"Oh really? Because when we checked the two DNA signatures, they revealed a striking similarity, indicating you also had the same parents. And can anyone verify that you were out jogging?"

"No. I live alone. Also, that's an off coincidence."

"Off-coincidence or not, we still need to take you in. You're under arrest as a suspect of murder; you have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law; you have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you under the DA. You can choose to waive these rights. These are your Miranda Rights as I have read them to you; do you understand your rights?" Aaron suddenly took off running into his house and Serenity chased him down, followed by A. A veered off, seeing a chain-link fence. He hopped over it, then positioned himself, waiting. Just as Aaron came into view, he tackled him to the ground and forced him on his stomach, cuffing him.

"Evading the law now, huh? That's another charge right there." He picked him up and started forcing him to walk back. Serenity quickly put him in their car and drove off. She then remarked to Aaron

"Nice way to prove your innocence!" A smirked and said

"Good cover with the Rolls-Royce, though, until I learned there isn't one in the city, or for a twenty mile radius. You were right in their rarity." Aaron then challenged

"You have nothing against me."

"We've got your DNA our victim, you lying about your relationship to him, and you with no alibi. I'd say we have more on you than you think."

"What about the murder weapon? You don't have that."

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me. We have the murder weapon model, and you have a permit to carry that exact model. Even as we speak, your house is being searched for weapons, illegal or otherwise. We'll soon know." Aaron hissed and said

"I want my attorney."

"Good call; you'll need it." Serenity and A then began to glow and Serenity said

"Well, looks like it's over. See you when we get out!"

"Aww, dang. Alright, good luck." The two disappeared and A blacked out. A opened his eyes to find himself in a strangely blocky world. He blinked a moment, then looked down to see he was much the same way.

"What the hell? Where am I now?" Alara then responded

"I wish I knew." He looked and spotted her, then said

"Wow, forgive me, but you look strange. I'm probably no better."

"Nope! I think I know where we are. This place is called Minecraft. My dad plays it all the time. It's a building game, but you can adventure around." A tilted his head, then asked

"Minecraft? What nimrod came up with THAT name?"

"I have no idea. Watch this." She walked up to a tree and repeatedly hit it, taking out the trunk but the top of the tree was still floating in mid-air. "This place has no physics whatsoever." A's head was almost on complete tilt, but a sudden weight became apparent to him, and when he looked down he spotted his sword.

"Hey, I got Savior back!"

"Yeah, there's swords in this game."

"Huh. I guess it makes sense when I didn't have it in 'My Little Ponyta'-ugh- though I'm pretty pissed I didn't have him when I was assassinated."

"I will ask you later. I was Joan of Arc, Street Fighter, on Oprah, and then I was on a herpes commercial." A winced and responded

"Ouch. Okay, so you know what this… game, is; what's the purpose?"

"You build shelter and try to survive the night."

"That's it? Doesn't sound like an extended game." Alara laughed and remarked

"You have no idea what's going to happen. Just start building a shelter. Once the enemies come by get ready to fight." A was beyond confused, but shrugged and went to a tree, easily breaking it apart and starting to gather pieces, or rather, blocks, of wood. His sixth sense, which still seemed intact, went off again, and he looked around. He quickly spotted a strange green… thing… that was consisted of a few blocks that were all shades of green. It had four miniature blocks that apparently made up its feet, and it had a skeletal sort of face. He regarded it with confusion, then asked

"Hey Alara, what's this ugly bastard want?"

"Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!" A blinked for a moment, then shrugged again and took out Savior. He side-swiped the creature, which flew for a moment. When it struck the ground, it seemed to swell for a moment, then exploded, leaving in its wake a multitude of miniature blocks. A stared for a moment, then shouted

"What the hell?!"

"That was a Creeper. They blow up."

"Nah, really?! I thought they gave us cake!"

"Hey! Be happy that its morning and the other enemies cannot touch sunlight." A looked around and spotted what appeared to be a severely discolored Ariados, though it had more legs and was also missing the abdominal appendages. He pointed to it and asked

"Then should we be worried about that?"

"That's a spider. Nothing too special."

"Okay. So, what's the big deal with night anyway?"

"It's more dangerous. There are a lot more enemies. Especially zombies, skeletons, and spider jockeys. That's why we need shelter." A scoffed, then remarked as he gathered more building material

"I bet they got nothing on shadow pokemon. But Rick would have my head if he found out we were both here and I did nothing to help. So, what all do you need?"

"Just help me build a house and get cats...lots and lots of cats."

"They have cats here? Where do you get 'em?"

"You have to domesticate an Ocelot. That's the only way to get a cat."

"An Ocelot? Man, this is one freaky world!"

"I'll go help. If we surround the house with cats, then that will keep the Creepers at bay. They are afraid of cats." A was no less than baffled, then just shrugged, replying

"If you say so." They then heard screaming and saw someone running from a horde of spiders. Alara then shouted

"My Arceus! That's Rick!" They then heard Rick yell in a panicked voice

"Why are there spiders here!?" A ran forward and drew Savior, then methodically destroyed the "spiders", as they were apparently called, and A collected a mass of spider eyes and string. He was tugging on one of them, asking

"What the hell do you do with this?"

"The spider eyes are used to make potion and poisons. The string can be used to make fishing rods and bows. It's unfortunate that Rick was brought here. He's afraid of spiders." A merely scratched his head, then told Rick

"I would advise you to steer clear of my Ariados and Galvantula then. If there's any more I'm missing, add them to the list." Alara nodded and said to Rick

"Don't worry. They're gone now. So man up you big baby!" Rick then said indignantly

"Hey! Everyone has their phobias."

"He's right; I have an intense fear of shadow pokemon." Rick got up and Alara kissed him. Rick chuckled and said

"I'm happy that you're alright too." He looked around, then asked

"Where's Green? I was running with her." A's eyes widened in terror, then he shouted

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?!" Then he ran off, searching for her, slashing left and right at anything, mostly Creepers and spiders, that got in his way. Rick yelled out

"You're going the wrong way!"

"Well, then, where is she?!"

"East of here. This whole place is confusing. I'm not surprised I lost sight of her." A cursed, then ran in the indicated direction, shouting loudly for her, completely disregarding his safety. Rick and Alara followed him through his mad dash to find Green. They then heard her calling out frantically

"Rick!" A made a mad dash for her, dreading what he might find. When the three got to her location, they found her on a small cliff, kicking back zombies and skeletons.

"Hey guys! It'll be nice if you could help me out a bit! I'm out of arrows!" Rick and A jumped into the mob of undead and quickly killed them, saving a very much relieved Green. After they had finished off the horde and A tossed aside the rotten flesh with disgust, he quickly nuzzled up with Green.

"Who knew you had such a wild streak in you?" Rick then commented

"Well looks like the couples are together." After enjoying Green's presence for a short while, he said

"We should get the girls back to the house, or what's part of it, anyway. I don't want to see a repeat of this." Rick nodded and the group went straight to the house and quickly began to build it before night came. Alara and Green were out getting cats and returned with a horde of cats just as Rick and A were finishing the house. Rick then asked Alara

"What's with the cats?"

"They keep the Creepers away."

"I don't see how a bunch of cats keeps those exploding freaks at bay. They're suicide bombers; do they have bad allergies?"

"I have no idea. They just run away from them. All we have to do is survive the night and we can get out of this game."

"Fine. I'll take the watch."

"Really?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You're not going to rest? You've been having a hard day." A rolled his eyes and replied

"I've seen worse before. Besides, before I came here I got to play cop, and that really helped ease the tension. And besides, I'm better equipped with my sword to kill enemies."

"Alright. Be careful for all the enemies. Me and Rick are going to bed. We're really tired." Rick asked uncertainly

"We are?" Alara kicked him, and he quickly revised himself.

"Yes! We are!" A smirked, then told Green

"Go ahead; I'll be fine." She appeared reluctant, but acquiesced. Rick was in bed asleep, but kept his psychic connection with Alara until he sensed that she was also asleep. He then woke up and met with A at the front of the house. Rick said to A

"I'm here to help." He grunted, then faced forward and said

"Shouldn't you be staying with Alara? Even if she's not pregnant in the digital world, you both are fully aware that she is. Besides, I'm sure she'd appreciate your company, even in sleep."

"Hey, as her husband, I need to protect her. So keeping the house safe is part of it."

"Well, I guess I can't begrudge you that. Still, if she comes storming out here and dragging you in by your ear spikes, I'm not going to pity you; I'll be laughing."

"If so, I deserve that. Now, what have you seen so far?"

"Well, for one reason or another, the Creepers really do avoid cats, and they hiss back and forth at each other. It's weird. By far, those skeletons are the most annoying, because they can fire from a distance, though they're not very good at it." He pointed to a pile of arrows they had shot.

"Spiders are really annoying, and they hiss like Creepers, which is really weird. And the zombies, well, they're pretty dumb." Rick then said

"I noticed." A then saw him poking a zombie and knocking it down.

"I've seen fish that were smarter." He then pulled out Shadowbane and killed it. An arrow whizzed past his face, and he hurled Savior into the stupid Skeleton. He called it back, then said

"These guys are really more of a nuisance than a threat, but apparently they're genuinely deadly, in their own way. At least the Creepers make sense." Rick then threw an arrow at a Creeper that was among a group of skeletons and spiders. It blew up and Rick remarked

"This is incredibly easy." A smirked and said

"Too much so. This really isn't a challenge. So, what happened to you after you left Ponyta land?"

"I was sent to fight Godzilla, became Batman, CSI: Miami, and got my ass handed to me by Jet Li."

"Nice. After that stupid cartoon, I became somebody everyone called President Lincoln. I wasn't there long before some bastard shot me in the back of the head, then I wound up on some island. I think Jean called it Jurassic Park. I got to fight these monsters, which I have never seen before, and finally got to play a cop with Serenity on a murder case. That was fun."

"Oh? What happened in that one?"

"Well, I came in on a murder scene; this poor sucker was popped in the head and chest, several times. I was tasked with getting info from the sole witness, who claimed he was jogging when he heard two shots, then found the guy dead. However, his story was inconsistent since we found his DNA in the form of saliva on the victim. In the end, it turned out they were brothers, and the witness tried to run, but I caught him."

"Damn! What happened afterwards?"

"Well, I forced him back to the squad car, and we were driving him back, having a little conversation. He claimed we didn't have anything against him, and I told him otherwise. Then he demanded for his attorney, and Serenity and I had to leave."

"Hmm...sounds like fun. My best one was the Batman one. It was Arkham City."

"I don't know that one. Then again, I don't know anything when it comes to movies, TV, or video games."

"Stupid question, but you didn't live much, did you?"

"Unless you count beating down crime on a regular basis. Besides, after Orre, I came to hate television, because it only ever really brought bad news for me, whether it was light of Cipher, or publicity I really didn't need."

"True. I didn't watch much TV, but I saw some."

"I had a bad habit of avoiding it when I could, but really, can you blame me?"

"No. I guess not." The door then opened and Alara came out and pulled Rick back into the house by his face spike.

"A, help!" A burst out laughing, then waved goodbye to Rick. The door slammed shut, and he turned back to keep his watch up, chuckling. The following morning, A went into the house and knocked on Rick's door. Rick called out

"Come in! Be careful, Alara is still asleep." A went in and saw Rick handcuffed to the bed.

"I don't know what this girl's obsession is with sleeping with me in the bed." A blinked for a moment, then asked

"Where'd she get the handcuffs? I don't remember finding any."

"She even surprises me. By the fact that you're here I can take that its morning and all the enemies are gone?"

"Yeah, and interestingly, zombies and skeletons catch on fire."

"That's odd. Wait...why haven't we left yet?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I think there may be something else we need to do, but because I don't know anything about this game beyond what I've seen, I can't take a guess." Alara woke up and saw A, then asked

"A, what are you doing here?"

"It's morning, so all the enemies are gone. Moreover, because we haven't all disappeared yet, there's gotta be something else we need to do."

"Hell if I know." Rick then asked

"Can you get these handcuffs off of me?"

"Shut up!" A sweatdropped and said

"Well, we're going to need all the manpower we can get to figure out this mess we're in."

"Later. I'm still tired." She then told Rick

"You're not going anywhere. I feel safe here." A shrugged and said helplessly

"Sorry Rick, guess you're on your own." He yawned widely, then added

"Besides, I could use some sleep myself. So I guess I'll see ya later." Green then arrived and asked

"What's going on in here?" A grinned and told her

"Well, Rick decided to join me on guard duty, and after a while Alara dragged him back in by his head spikes. Somehow she found handcuffs, and now Rick's stuck."

"That's hilarious." Rick laughed sarcastically.

"Laugh it up!" A Creeper's head then burst through the ground and exploded when everyone looked at it, ending that section. A's eyes fluttered open, and he found himself sitting in a comfortable chair, on a stage of some kind, in front of a live audience, which made him slightly nervous. A man then said to A

"Dr. Ryuto, you can start now." A blinked, then remarked

"Dr.? I'm not a doctor."

"Of course you are! Now go! We're live." A blinked again, then saw something; some guy close to the camera was holding up what looked like a giant card, with words on it. It seemed to him that he was supposed to read off it, so he tentatively began.

"Welcome back, I'm… Dr. Ryuto?"

"What is this? Some kind of joke?"

"Today we'll be speaking with Allison, who hasn't told us yet why she's joined us today." Allison then said to A

"Well, I'm in an abusive relationship and I came to see what I should do." A forgot where he was at the moment, saying

"That should be fairly obvious; get out of it. No one deserves to be abused, least of all a lady."

"I've tried."

"Have you asked for help? Because you know, the police will often give aid to someone suffering from domestic abuse."

"I did that too, but they've done nothing."

"And did they say why? They should give a damn good reason as to why they won't help you, or at least investigate, a domestic abuse claim."

"They made me get a restraining order."

"And has your abuser been violating it?"

"All the time. I'm at my wit's end."

"Then he should be arrested; it's an offense to violate a restraining order. Have you informed the police about this?"

"He's been arrested multiple times for this."

"So how on earth is he getting off?"

"Because where I live that's only a two week jail sentence."

"Then you should get out of town. He's clearly not going to let up, and since you can't get him out, the best choice is to get away from him. Do you have any family you can live with?"

"Not nearby and I don't have enough money to go elsewhere. I don't work because of him."

"Then can you have someone pick you up? Surely they would reach out to you, being the sole victim of abuse."

"I'm not the only victim." A paused for a moment, then asked suspiciously

"What do you mean?"

"He's harmed many of my Pokemon and then one day he killed my Delcatty, only because we were so close." A's eyes flashed red for a moment, then he said in a deadly calm voice

"Would this young lady's boyfriend kindly come up and join us?" The boyfriend then came out of the backstage and walked onto the stage. He walked up to his girlfriend and slapped her. He said to her

"You always force my hand!" A rushed forward and grabbed him by the throat, then forced him to face him and his glowering red eyes.

"You made the worst mistake of your life, and your last." The boyfriend then said

"Yo! Back off!" A tightened his grip, then said demonically

"You're out of luck; the doctor's out, the Knight's in." He swung a fist into the man's ribcage, sending him flying back to crash into the camera crew. A tried to draw his sword, but he wasn't there, and A scoffed and said

"Whatever, I can kill you with my bare hands, ya bastard!"

"Whoa! What's your problem!?"

"You are! How dare you mistreat a lady and pokemon, and murder one! I'm the White Knight of Arceus, and you are now my bitch!" He jumped and arched, aiming a fist right at his chest. The guy rolled out of the way and tried to run for his life. A crashed but remained upright, though the camera crew was understandably freaked out. A's head darted in the abuser's direction, and he shouted

"Get back here, bitch!" Then he rushed forward, quickly overtaking him, then geared up for a massive punch. The guy begged for his life

"Please! I'm sorry!" A scoffed and grabbed him by the shirt, then yelled in his face

"Bullshit! If you were really sorry, you'd never have beaten her, her pokemon, and murdered one of them. Now it's time for some sweet revenge." He drew back a fist and was about to really knock his block off, but he suddenly disappeared, appearing where he knew not, though he was still poised to hit the bastard, and he shouted up into the sky

"Hey, I wasn't finished with him! Send me back!" When nothing happened, he scoffed and muttered darkly

"Dumb device." Esper's voice then came through the device;

"A, that's enough! Don't go crazy about it. It never happened."

"Hey, if you can manipulate us like this, why don't you just bring us out? Or are you using my skips without my consent?"

"No. I can only communicate to you guys when you return to the main menu. Since you're here that means that you are reaching the end. This thing just chooses when you get sent out of a transmission."

"Well, that's irritating. So, where the hell am I now?"

"In the main menu. The device is searching for where to send you now. The only people having a good time right now is Rick and Alara."

"Hey, could I make a request?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Put me in a light romance scene with Green. That will make me very happy."

"I don't know if I can, but I'll try. Give me a second as I type it in. Also, that's exactly what Rick and Alara have been in...well a little bit more heavy than that. Thank goodness I can't see what's going on." A whistled and remarked

"They're not on some porn channel, are they?"

"No. They're not."

"Okay, then it can't be that bad. So, where is everybody else?"

"In a lot of other areas. It'll take forever to pinpoint them all."

"Oh well. How's it coming along?"

"Turns out that I can get you two together. I'm just waiting for her to join the lobby with you." A rubbed his hands together and said

"Excellent. I'd love some quality time with her. Can you do a specific setting, too?"

"What do you have in mind?" A grinned and replied mistily

"A sunset beach. That's the most romantic setting ever…"

"I'll see if there's anything here that has that. I can't promise anything."

"Well, whatever you make happen. Just as long as it's peaceful and won't threaten her safety."

"So how do you intend to end it?"

"I'm sure it'll be on a timer."

"Maybe. Let's just see when Green is in the lobby."

"Okay. And how long should that take?"

"Depends on what she's doing. Oh wait! She's free now." A fist-pumped, then asked

"So, when will she get here?"

"In three...two...one. Have fun!" Green appeared out of nowhere, and A looked at her as if it had been eighty years since he saw her again. Green rushed into his arms and he spun on the spot, and the two enjoyed a passionate kiss. The area then changed to one of a sea side cabin looking out at the sunset. Esper then informed them

"There you go. Since your information is still in the lobby, I can speak to you. You have three in device days. So that's about an hour here, but three days to you. Bye!" A was ecstatic, and Green asked

"So what are we doing?" A shrugged and replied

"We're basically just going to hang here for a while, really enjoy each other's company. I predict a lot of making out." Green blushed but rolled her eyes and playfully shoved him.

"You never get enough of kissing me, do you?" He smiled and replied

"Never. Shall we start?" Green just smirked and the two began, sitting next to one another on the beach, appreciating the romantic scenery. At the end of the three days, A and Green had to separate, and they were both loathe to after this precious time spent together. Still there was nothing A could do as Green faded away from him, and he had to tell himself several times that it wasn't over, not by a long shot. Then the scenery turned white and he felt himself zooming through empty space, and when the scenery finally settled, he found himself in Pastoria City. He blinked for a moment, then said excitedly

"Hey, we're out! We're back home! Hey guys-!" He looked around, realizing no one else was with him.

"Guys?" A kid then walked up to him and challenged him.

"Hey let's battle!" A blinked for a moment, then said

"Look kid, I'd love to, but I don't-" He paused for a moment; he had placed his hand to his waist, intending to demonstrate the fact that he didn't have his pokemon with him, but lo and behold, his pokeballs were there. He took a closer look and saw himself as his alias Lucas. He plucked a pokeball off and stared at it in wonder.

"So it is a battle or not?" A, now Lucas, he supposed, jolted out of his reverie, then said

"Oh, uh, I guess. Let me see here…" He replaced the pokeball, then checked them over again. He had a specific system when it came to the organization of his pokemon, and he plucked a different ball and held it out, smirking.

"Alright, kid, let's do this!"

"Great! Pikachu, its show time!" He then threw a pokeball and a Pikachu appeared. Lucas smirked, that being his own trademark pokemon back in Kanto.

"Loran, showtime!" The Gallade popped out of the ball, and he looked younger than he currently remembered, and he thought nervously

"I was told that device put us in machinery, like video games or TV and junk; I didn't think it could transcend time." Moving past his trepidation, he called out

"Psycho Cut!" Loran extended his blades, which glowed neon purple, then he rushed forward and struck the Pikachu before it could blink. The Pikachu got up and boy commanded

"Pikachu, Volt Tackle!" The Pikachu quickly charged at Loran, while being covered in a veil of electricity.

"Loran, Protect!" The green shield bounced the electric mouse back, and Lucas commanded

"Swords Dance, then Close Combat!" Loran boosted his attack, then rushed forward as the Pikachu was prepping a Thunderbolt, Loran closing the distance with unnerving speed. He wailed on the rodent until it fell unconscious. Loran jumped back and took the recoil damage, and Lucas held his pokeball up, saying

"Excellent work, Loran. Rest up for now." The boy recalled his Pikachu.

"Well at least you tried, Pikachu. Rest up now." He pulled out another pokeball. "Go Spiritomb!" The vortex-like ghost then appeared on the field. Lucas lifted an eyebrow, thinking

"Glad I called back Loran. Alright, who all was in my Sinnoh Lineup? I remember Loran and Freya, but neither is good against it… maybe this will do…" He took another ball and held it up, saying

"Edward, you're up!" His Bastiodon came out, and he chose this as both Ghost and Dark moves were ineffective against Steel.

"Spiritomb use Confuse Ray." The Spiritomb quickly gave the Bastiodon a dark glare sending a pulse towards it. Lucas grinned and told him

"Eat your Lum Berry, then use Flash Cannon." Edward took a few bites, then built the flashing, shiny metal ball in his mouth and fired it at the Spiritomb, who wasn't capable of moving fast enough to dodge it. The Spiritomb's amazing defenses were then evident by how it barely flinched and laughed eerily at Edward and A.

"Spiritomb, use Will-O-Wisp!" The Spiritomb charged a line of blue flames in its mouth and fired it straight at Edward. A tossed a Rawst Berry and said

"Gyro Ball." Edward floated up briefly, then spun in a massive brown and black glowing ball, slamming hard into Spiritomb and knocking it to the ground. The Spiritomb got back up in pain and the boy commanded

"Use Shadow Ball and then give it extra power by Dark Pulse." The Spiritomb did so and mixed the two attacks before firing it at a rapid speed, hitting Edward directly.

"Hey, that's my move! What a rip-off!" Nevertheless, A smirked and ordered

"Mirror Shot." Edward fired a volley of shiny shrapnel, and it took out the Spiritomb thanks to its damage being extended. He returned the Bastiodon and waited. The boy returned his Spiritomb and then took out another Pokeball.

"Alright, my last one! Go Garchomp!" The land dragon burst out of his ball and gave a mighty roar. Lucas smirked and held up another ball, proclaiming

"Freya, let's do this!" His Froslass popped out, and he started off

"Hail!" Freya formed a thick ball of ice in her hands, then threw it into the air. Her Icy Rock would extend the duration of the weather condition, and her ability doubled her evasiveness, and she became practically invisible.

"I won't say my tactics are invincible, but they are definitely decent."

"Garchomp, Flamethrower!" The Garchomp filled its mouth with a torrent of flame and released it into the field.

"Freya, Evade, and then counter with Blizzard!" He saw a slight shadow, then the hail and ice gathered together, forming an icy gale. Because the weather condition was hail, it had perfect accuracy, then thanks to Garchomp being a Dragon and Ground, it had quadruple effectiveness, and given that Freya was an Ice type, extra damage was added for type matching. All this combined took the Garchomp down in one hit. The boy sighed and withdrew his Garchomp.

"You guys tried. Rest now." Lucas recalled Freya, then stepped up and held out his hand, saying

"You battled well. I have to admit, that Spiritomb is pretty decent." The boy shook his hand and asked

"How so?"

"Well, its defenses are honed pretty well; most don't brush off Edward's Flash Cannon like that. Moreover, you were able to combine two moves together and cause more damage, which was needed since both types aren't very effective against Steel."

"Yeah, I trained all of my Pokemon in a certain stat."

"Good. Keep it up, and you'll go far. Just remember that they're your friends who are willing to go on the line for you, and treat them accordingly. You won't go wrong."

"Alright. Thanks! Well I have to go heal these guys. Bye!" Lucas nodded, then wondered if he could find the Sanctuary and figure out what was going on. However, when he traveled southward, he found a line of trees he could not pass, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not enter them.

"What's going on here?" He then stepped on a patch of grass and a Bibarel came out of nowhere and attacked him. He jumped back, holding his hands up and saying

"Whoa, hold on, little one; I didn't mean to upset you, and I apologize." The Bibarel didn't listen and began to fire a Water Gun at him Lucas dodged it, then sighed and grabbed a pokeball, sending it up and saying

"Edward, help me out here." The Bastiodon appeared and the water gun splashed up against his face shield. He shook it off as nothing but a splash, then waited for his command.

"Use Mirror Shot, but aim it at the ground; don't hurt it." Edward regarded him with confusion for a moment, then complied, striking the ground in front of it and scaring it off. The Bibarel quickly jumped into the marsh and disappeared from sight. Lucas sighed in relief, then held up the ball and said

"Thank you, Edward. Go ahead and rest up." He was returned, and Lucas wondered what was going on; he couldn't find the path to the Sanctuary, though reason and memory told him it should have been accessible via the direction he was facing. However, the treeline was in the way.

"I'd almost say that the Sanctuary doesn't exist yet, but that's impossible, because it's been around longer than I was born, hell before my great grandfather! So why can't I access it?" A Gallade then appeared on a few tree branches and looked down at A before jumping to another.

"A wild Gallade… that's extremely rare." He decided to follow it as best as he could, through the trees, though thankfully not beyond his view or area of reach. The Gallade then arrived at a clearing where a Gardevoir and baby Ralts were waiting. The Gallade sat down with them and began to play with the Ralts. Lucas smiled, then left, leaving them alone completely. He brought out his map, then looked it over. As he expected, he knew all of the towns, and he decided to check up Hearthome City. He tossed out his Staraptor, then said

"Hearthome City, please." He nodded, then flapped several times, rising in the air. Lucas grabbed hold of his leg, then Staraptor easily lifted him and began to fly. A soon arrived in Hearthome City and saw a festival of sorts going out at the contest hall.

"Hmm… I remember this in my reign originally. Maybe I have really gone back through time. And yet I have all my badges. So, what did I do after beating the Elite Four and Champion?" He racked his brains for a moment, then said

"That's right, I went home. But first I should call." He went to the Pokemon Center, but it was inexplicably dull, with none of the amenities he knew were supposed to exist.

"What the hell?!" The Nurse Joy looked at him and greeted him.

"Hello and welcome to the Pokemon Center! How may I help you?" Lucas walked up, then asked

"Where are the rentable rooms for trainers?"

"I'm sorry sir, but we do not provide lodging in Pokemon Centers. We only provide Pokemon health care and wireless communications with other players." A shook his head in shock, then reluctantly pulled up his pokemon, having them healed in a matter of seconds, which surprised him enormously. He looked around for a moment, then muttered to himself

"What madness is this? It's like I traveled through time, again, and while this place is very similar to the world I know, there's a lot missing."

"Like what? Everything seems to be in order."

"Well, how about the telecommunicators, for one? Then the rent rooms for trainers, the path to the Sanctuary… I don't get this at all!" Nurse Joy regarded him with confusion.

"The what, what, and what?" A scoffed impatiently, then walked out, looked around, and tried to transform so he could teleport out of there. However, his body wouldn't change, and after a moment of thought, he realized that he hadn't transformed since he got here. Something weird was definitely going on. A Chatot then landed on a branch and saw him lightly freaking out. Lucas looked over to it and sarcastically remarked

"I don't suppose you can tell me what's going on here." The Chatot tilted its head and replied

"Chatot? Chat...at...tot?" Lucas smirked and said

"Oh, come on now. I know you can understand me, and even mimic my sounds. Go ahead; my name is Lucas." The Chatot then flew off as a Honchkrow arrived. It also looked at A curiously. Lucas scoffed and said

"You're an ill omen, aren't you? But you and I know better. I know what a real omen looks like, and you're not one. So, what's your story?" It seemed to not understand and asked

"Honch? Honchkrow." He frowned and mumbled

"This is just weird. I know I couldn't speak to pokemon before I became a Knight, except those who could speak telepathically, but this whole scene is just eerie. And if I really have traveled through time, then I can't call on Arceus for an explanation." The Honchkrow then flew off into the trees and vanished.

"Another one gone…" he sighed. Then he cursed and struck a tree, thinking

"What the hell is going on here?! I can't be in the past because it doesn't have the amenities I had before I even came to Kanto, but I can't be still stuck in the device, can I? I mean, what are the odds that there's a show, movie, or video game that looks almost exactly like my world?" A then saw the Gallade and his family from earlier, walking through the forest, trying to get somewhere. Lucas walked up slowly, saying

"Excuse me, are you trying to get somewhere in particular?" The Gardevoir and Ralts quickly hid behind the Gallade, who growled and drew his arm blades against A. He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, and he said

"I'm not an enemy, and I mean you no harm. In fact, I'd like to prevent any harm befalling you. Please, hear me out." The Gallade growled at him

"Gallade!" He winced slightly, then thought

"Damn, I can't understand pokemon. I need a bit of help."

"Okay, listen, I have a Gallade of my own, who has consented to travel with me, mind you, and I need his help in order to understand you. May I please bring him out?" The Gallade looked at the Gardevoir, who nodded. He then in turn nodded himself. He slowly reached down and pulled off Loran's pokeball, then released him. Loran took a look at the situation, then looked at him in confusion.

"Loran, I need you to translate for me, okay?" He nodded, then turned back to the small family. The Gallade and Gardevoir waited to hear what A had to say.

"Okay, so I don't look the part right now, for some reason I can't explain, but I am the White Knight of Arceus and the Guardian. Arceus appointed me to safeguard pokemon as best as I could. I am only one person, so my reach doesn't go very far. However, if I find someone I think needs help, I gladly extend my hand. I noticed you seemed to be heading somewhere. If you like, I could give you safe passage between here and there." The Gallade replied to Loran, who relayed the message to A

"We're just trying to get back home. I can't trust humans, since we left because we heard that humans were in the area, looking for Pokemon. So I had to get my mate and child out of our home and get them somewhere safe. We've been gone for two months and traveled a long way. We just want to go home and live in peace." He sighed disappointedly, then recalled Loran and said

"Well, I won't say I'm not disappointed you can't trust me. But I'll leave you alone. Good luck on your journey." He turned and began walking back to the city. The Gardevoir then caught his hand with Psychic, making the Gallade question her. They exchanged some words with one another and the Gallade then sighed and said to A

"Gal! Galla, Gallade!" He frowned, then released Loran again, asking

"Can you repeat that?" The Gallade repeated the message and Loran relayed to A.

"Fine! But if you do anything to my family, I will kill you." He looked astonished, then replied

"You have my word. But I have to warn you, if you turn on me, you'll have to go through my pokemon first." The Gallade then said

"I have a family to protect, I wouldn't risk it. Also, if you say who you claim you are, would you take a father away from their child if they did turn on you?"

"I wouldn't; my pokemon, however, all care for me as I do for them. If something threatens me, they will defend me with their lives. If I die, then all bets are off. But since we shouldn't have that problem, let's move on." The Gallade nodded and held his mate and child and walked on, keeping a close eye on A. He walked out of the treeline, keeping them in sight, but avoiding suspicion by sending Loran as an in-between man so they could still communicate. The Gallade asked Loran

"Where's your trainer?"

"He's staying in sight of the city. He wants to show you that he can be trusted, but he'll be here in a second if I call him." He hesitated for a moment, then added

"He really is trustworthy, you know."

"I can't take chances with my family."

"Oh, I understand, but to threaten his life… you're really playing with fire on that one."

"If something happened to the only family you have, wouldn't you want justice?"

"My trainer is my family, and he's suffered more than you can imagine. But I could do nothing to help, and that makes me feel weak. So, and may Arceus be my witness, if anything threatens him again while I'm around, I will make sure it never bothers him again unless he tells me otherwise."

"So you would kill me?"

"Only you mean to kill my trainer. Since you yourself said you wouldn't do that, there shouldn't be any problems." He glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, adding

"Don't take it personally; I hold that against everyone, human and pokemon alike."

"I don't. Tell him that we have to go further into the forest." Loran nodded and contacted him, and he acknowledged him. He looked around covertly before stepping in, surprisingly able to now. He still kept his distance, but them in sight. After a few more minutes of walking the Gardevoir sat down, tired and not wanting to continue. The Gallade said to Loran

"We've been walking since this morning. We're tired, but the baby keeps us awake." Loran explained the situation to his trainer, and he called him back. He gave him an assortment of potions that would restore their energy and took a moment to explain how to use them. Loran came back with a wide grin, saying

"You're in luck; he has a way to restore you." The Gallade looked at the items and inquired

"What do these do?" Loran looked at them for a moment, then picked the pink-tinged one, explaining

"They restore a pokemon's energy. He uses these often, especially when we're up against an enemy and can't get to a Pokemon Center."

"This is how you know that I've never been owned before. My mate used to be owned by a trainer, but her trainer released her after she met me so that we could be together." Loran smiled, replying

"That's sweet. My trainer has a Gardevoir himself, Rose. I intend to court her soon, and I hope it goes well."

"Do you believe that you have a chance?

"Yes, I think so. She cared for me shortly after she was dropped off, and she actually expressed a desire for a significant other. I plan to fulfill that role."

"Then I wish you luck. It's not easy to conquer a female."

"I don't wish to conquer her; that's disrespectful and dishonorable."

"Conquer is a metaphor for getting them to fall in love with you."

"Oh. I know conquer in the sense of utterly dominating someone. I had a rough past. Anyway, let's get you guys restored."

"Sure, but be careful."

"It should be pretty easy. First I break the seal…" He broke a small plastic tab around it,

"Pull the tab…" He pulled out a small plastic stopper, somewhat like a fire extinguisher,

"And we just apply it." He stood awkwardly for a moment, then said nervously

"Maybe you should use this on your mate instead of me…"

"Yes. Thank you." He took the bottle and asked

"So what do I do?"

"Just aim it where you want to apply it and squeeze the handle." He took it back for a moment, then demonstrated with a small spray.

"You can also adjust it to stream or spray, but I really suggest spray." The Gallade did as instructed and sprayed his mate thoroughly with the spray. Once he was done he questioned

"What now?"

"She should get her energy back in a matter of moments, depending on how much she lost prior."

"Then this might last much longer than a few moments." Loran nodded and took back the empty potion bottle, brought out another, then followed the same process and handed it over, telling him

"Give yourself a once over while you're at it. Then we'll see if you need another." The Gallade nodded and sprayed himself over and said

"Thank you! Now we just wait for my mate to get on her feet." Loran nodded and returned the remainder of the potions to his master, as well as the trash, which he stored to throw away properly later. Loran came back, asking

"So, where are you headed anyway?"

"Our home. It shouldn't be too far now."

"Good to hear. Once we get you there, we'll promptly leave. Though out of curiosity, what made you change your minds?"

"My mate. I didn't want your master anywhere near my family, but she thought that he could be a big help in getting home without humans attacking us."

"And do you still have your doubts about him?"

"Not as much, but that's me being careful."

"Of course, I understand. Still, you really can trust him; he goes out of his way to help someone in need."

"Well I thank him for that. Our journey was a long one."

"I'll be sure to let him know. Is your mate's energy restored?" The Gallade walked up to his mate and helped her up. She then said

"I'm alright. I can keep going now." The Gallade looked back at Loran and said

"Yeah. She'll be fine." Loran grinned and replied

"Good. Shall we, then?"

"Yeah." They walked for about another half hour until they reached what looked like an abandoned cabin in the woods. The Gallade and Gardevoir walked inside and Loran saw how the inside was a complete contrast to the outside as it was clean and orderly. The Gallade then remarked

"Just as we left it. We'll need to clean it a bit though."

"Huh… interesting. Well, as I promised, we'll leave you to your peace." The Gallade and Gardevoir then spoke to one another for a moment and the Gallade inquired

"Would you and your training like to join us for supper?" Loran considered them for a moment, then asked the Gallade

"You don't have a problem with that? Only a few hours earlier, you were threatening his life. Now you invite him for dinner? What happened?"

"I just want to thank you two for escorting us back to our home and helping my mate with her fatigue."

"Oh. Well, I'll have to ask him first." He contacted his trainer telepathically, explaining what happened. After a moment, he told them

"He says he doesn't want to be a burden, and he doesn't require anything as thanks. He was happy to do it. But he thanks you for the offer."

"Very well. Thank you again!" The Gardevoir then waved goodbye and said

"Be safe!" Loran bowed his head and replied

"We will. Good luck in the future." Then he walked back to Lucas, who returned him and began to walk back out of forest. As soon as they reached the main road, A began to glow and returned to the lobby.

"Wait, what?! I was still in the device?! You're kidding me!" Esper then spoke to him.

"Of course you were in there. Why would you think that you weren't?"

"Because I wound up in a world identical to ours, except the Pokemon Centers didn't have the rent-rooms for trainers, nor was there a path to the Sanctuary!"

"That's strange. What did you do in there?"

"Well, I had a battle with my old Sinnoh lineup. Makes me miss the old days to an extent. Then I escorted a family of a Ralts, Gardevoir and Gallade back to their home. Though the Gallade wasn't too happy with my offer initially."

"Well at least you kept your powers there."

"No, not really. I didn't have Savior or my badge, and for some reason I lost my transformation, too. I thought initially that I had traveled through time to the past."

"If you lost your Knight powers, then I guess you lost your ability to speak with Pokemon?"

"I did when I went to the past-appearing world of ours, but here I can still speak with them, and occasionally I had Savior. My transforming into a Gallade was not part of my Knighthood; it was the result of a Ninetale's curse."

"Oh! Well you're about to go to what I believe is your last one."

"Wow, and I haven't used any skips. Depends what this last one is, though."

"Well four of you guys are out already. Looks like you're be placed with Rick again."

"This could be good or bad, once again depending where we end up. Are we the last two?"

"Nope! Only four are out. Alara, Green, Wayland, and Serenity."

"Green was never a part of this in the first place, though, was she?"

"She was in there in real life. She somehow got dragged in there."

"Wait, how did that happen? She wasn't with us when you activated the device."

"Well were you connected to her at any point?"

"Not that I know of. I can only really connect to her in my pokemon form, and I'm not gonna fool around like that. It gives the wrong impression."

"How?"

"A pokemon and a human together? That just doesn't sit well with me, and in my time it's considered an enormous taboo. I think Rick will agree with me here."

"Point taken! Well get ready. You're about to be sent to Normandy Beach with Rick, Jean, Dartz, and Lucian. If you don't know what that is, it's also called D-Day." A frowned and asked

"And what the hell is that?"

"World War 2? The Storming of Normandy Beach by the Allied Forces? Saving Private Ryan?" A facepalmed and shouted

"How many times do I have to say it?! I DON'T WATCH TV OR MOVIES!"

"That's World History that has been done to death by tv/movies/video games/ and literature." A just shook his head and said

"Alright, whatever. Let's just get this over with." A was then transported onto what seemed like a beach, but there were explosions, gun fire, dead bodies, and screams everywhere. A was then tackled by someone who yelled

"Get down!" A looked at him and saw Rick.

"What kind of horror show did I get stuck in now?!"

"D-Day. We're in Normandy, France, fighting back Nazis."

"You do know none of that makes any sense to me, right?"

"We're fighting some racist, world domination obsessed scumbags that have killed over six million people and intend to do that to the rest of the world that does not have blonde hair and blue eyes."

"And now it has meaning. What are the bastards dressed in?" He looked down at his hands for a moment, then asked

"And how the hell do I use this?" He motioned to his rifle.

"You point the barrel at the enemy, pull the trigger, it goes boom, and they go dead." A looked at it for a moment, then said

"Alright, and what does the enemy look like?"

"Look for black/grey/green with a red band on their arms that has a swastika on it." He then dropped down when he heard a mortar explode nearby.

"Son of a bitch! Shoot and storm the beach. The others are already fighting."

"Alright, but one more question; what do these do?" He pointed to the grenades. Rick warned him

"Whatever you do, do not pull the pins. Those are explosives called grenades. If you pull the pins, you have a few seconds to throw them away because they will explode and kill everything in range."

"Got it. Alright, let's go!" Rick pat him on the shoulder and jumped out of cover, firing as he went. He ran forward and shot down two Nazis. He quickly dove into cover and signaled A to follow. A jumped out, staying low to the ground. He spotted a couple enemies on a rock outcrop and picked them off before they could blink. Rick noticed a group of enemies coming from the trenches and said to A

"Use your grenades at those trenches over there!" A spotted it and nodded, then took one and eyed the spot. Then he pulled the tab and threw it barely a second later. It bounced against the far wall and landed right between the groups in the trench. When it exploded, it took them all out. A repeated the process for the next batch. Rick quickly ran into the trenches and began to fire at the enemies he saw. A joined in later to help Rick kill the enemies in the trench. They kept going until Rick's rifle jammed and was shot in the shoulder as a result. A saw that and threw his knife at the enemy before he could take another shot, sticking him in the forehead.

He continued shooting as he went to retrieve his knife, which unlike guns, would not jam and run out of ammo. Rick shook off the shot and used his knife to pull the bullet out. He then use it to kill an incoming Nazi. A retrieved his knife and used it to kill more of the Nazis that were too close to use his gun on. Then he hurled one of the bodies to a group rushing at them, picking them off as they were distracted. A Nazi managed to sneak behind A and aim his gun at his head. Suddenly, he was shot in the head and Jean appeared with a smoking rifle. Jean looked at A and asked

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for the save." He threw another grenade, taking out another six running in a group at them.

"Damn, they're endless, aren't they?"

"At least we have the Russian on our side. They're the endless horde. However, not in this battle. They're fighting about a thousand miles away."

"Then what good does that do us?" He picked off several more, then rushed in with his knife since he ran out of ammo. Dartz then appeared with his knife on a metal rod, making a makeshift spear. A made a displeased noise and remarked

"If I had Savior, I could easily thrash these guys."

"Hey, there were no swords in this war. Just get creative."

A looked around quickly, then ran over and punched a rock shelf. Cracks split up until it came crumbling down, crushing a contingent of Nazis that were coming to reinforce themselves. Rick was almost caught in the rock slide and jumped to safety.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry! I'm out of ammo and grenades, with only a knife left; I'm kinda out of options." Rick passed him a pistol and a grenade.

"When the moment comes, use it." A nodded and jumped high, then lay flat on another rock outcrop, then started sniping as best as he could manage. Rick rushed forward and slashed away at the Nazis. He then jumped out of the way of a mortar and began to slaughter all the enemies in another trench. A continued to snipe, until he ran out of ammo. He huffed and looked at the battlefield for a moment. He facepalmed, then vanished. When he came, he had a pile of weapons that still had some amount of ammo in them. He picked up another pistol and said

"Why didn't I do this before?" Shaking his head, he proceeded to use up the weapon's ammo, plugging the Nazis. Jean got next to him with a sniper rifle and asked

"Mind if I join in?" A tossed aside an assault rifle and picked up a sniper rifle of his own, replying

"Not at all." Rick was rushing into enemy lines and fired down onto the Nazis and stabbing away. He then felt A and Jean's bullets brush past him and kill the enemies in front of him. Rick turned around and gave them a thumbs up and A shot a Nazi that was going to stab Rick. Jean then complimented

"Nice shot!" A grinned and replied

"Thanks. But it's not over yet, and I'm runnin' out here." Jean jumped back into the pile of bodies and came back, giving A another magazine of ammo.

"There you go!"

"Sweet, thanks!" A reloaded and looked down the scope at a Nazi a hundred yards away, then shot him straight through the forehead. He looked around with the naked eyes for any inconspicuous Nazis. Rick and Dartz plowed through a large number of Nazis and were then knocked onto their backs by a mortar round that was really close by. A looked quickly and pinpointed the direction they were coming from. He gathered his sniper rifle, making sure it was fully loaded first, then ran close to the ground and just barely peeked over a sand dune. He quickly the mortar operators and took them down, then ducked down. The Nazi's began to retreat and Rick and Dartz were quickly on their tails, killing many as they ran. A looked back up, seeing them starting to retreat, and had spotted Rick and Dartz giving chase, so he propped his rifle back up and started sniping quickly but precisely, occasionally preventing one from retaliating. Rick soon stopped giving chase when he noticed that he was glowing.

"Guys! We won! Time to go!" A sat back against the dune, sighing

"Finally…" He loosed a victory shot into the air just as he disappeared. Rick got up, groaning in discomfort. He looked around and saw that he was back in Mr. Silph's office. Alara quickly hugged him and he hugged her back, content on being back. A huffed and stood back up, brushing himself off.

"Well, that was quite the adventure. How long were we gone in real world time?" Esper replied

"Three hours."

"Wow. That's quite handy; just work out the bugs."

"Will do! How was it?"

"Some parts were more fun than others. Really don't wanna go into my first one."

"Was it really that bad?"

"I suppose it wasn't, but it really struck at my manhood."

"Well then, let's not talk about it." Rick then shuddered.

"Yes, let's never mention it again!"

"Then the second one was even less fun, since I got assassinated!" Wayland then shouted

"Shut up! You guys probably never had a worse one than me."

"Oh yeah? What's your worst?"

"I don't want to talk about it." A shrugged and replied

"Fine. So what are we going to do now?" Mr. Silph then said

"Well, this took up the entire visit time I had prepared. You may all stay for dinner." Rick asked the team

"Do you guys want to eat here or do you want to go home?" A hesitated for a moment, then voiced his opinion.

"As long as I get back to Green before the sun sets, I don't care." Rick then looked outside and saw it getting late.

"That'll be a stretch if we stay." He turned to the gang.

"What do you guys say?" Jean, Seras, Ashlyn, Dartz, and Serenity then all replied

"I'm tired."

"Well I guess we're leaving." He turned to the members of Silph Co., telling them

"Thanks guys, but looks like the team had enough action for one day. We'll be back for that dinner another day." Mr. Silph nodded his understanding.

"Alright. We'll see you then. Goodbye, my boy!" Rick nodded.

"Goodbye, sir!"

"Goodbye everyone!" Everyone then said goodbye to Mr. Silph and the members of Silph Co. and filed out of the office and soon got back onto the Mercury, where Rick got everyone to put the blindfolds back on as he flew off quickly towards the Sanctuary. A forced himself to lie on the bed, thinking about the three-day relaxation period he'd had with Green, and it automatically relaxed. He was glad he requested it. Rick then contacted A;

"Hey A, it wasn't all bad. At least we both got some time with our girls." A smirked and replied

"Yeah, I know. It kinda makes up for being stuck… you know, THERE."

"Yeah, let's not talk about it. So what did you and Green do?"

"Mostly made out. There wasn't much else to do, but the scene was perfect. We had a sunset beach."

"Me and Alara had a beautiful cabin by a lake, high in some mountains. The moon was so perfect. Alara took advantage of the fact that she wasn't pregnant in the device. Those were some awesome three days."

"You dog, you. So that's what Esper meant; she mentioned you and Alara were in some heavy romance."

"Not my fault. I blame Alara. She's the one that wanted to have some 'fun' now that she had one chance before returning to pregnant life."

"And you weren't exactly in a position to deny her. Not that I think you wanted to."

"See...when you're married, you learn to like what you receive and relish what you have. So I had three days with a wife that was not pregnant and wanted to take full advantage of the fact."

"Well, you'll get those days back after another half month or so, when you're not occupied with your child."

"I can wait, it's Alara that has grown to really love mating."

"Well, I'm sure you don't have much of an issue with it. Besides, I prefer to think of it as a way to reaffirm your love."

"Well I guess I consider it that too. However, we already know that we love each other. Well, I guess it's the privilege of all married couples." A's mood fell slightly, and he replied almost sadly

"Yeah…"

"Something wrong?"

"No… no, it's nothing… I just wish I could be more intimate with her."

"Let me ask you something, and don't get upset. Do you intend on marrying Green?" A hesitated for a moment, then replied

"I'm not mad; that's a question I've been asking myself for a while now. I really want to commit myself to her, but I'm afraid of the repercussions."

"Such as?"

"Well, I have no doubt that I could commit myself to her and remain faithful; my concern is that I can't give her the attention she deserves, especially when we return to our proper time, as we must at some point. Because of my position as a Knight, I have to constantly travel, and she may feel like I'm ignoring her because of it. Moreover, my curse that transforms me might become too much for her to handle. On what grounds do I, a half-pokemon, have to court a full-blooded human? And what if she wants children? I could provide that, but I couldn't live with myself for passing my family's curse to an innocent child."

"Hey, don't worry too much about it. So what do you want to do with Green? Are you going to let your insecurities and fears interfere with your relationship?"

"I don't want them to, but these are all facts! So far, we've been doing pretty well, had a few twists and bumps, but that's to be expected. But can I be a good husband and keep her happy while I'm gone for the majority of the time?"

"Well, I can't say I know how. I always try to go home and spend all the time I can with Alara. Just make sure that the love never ends, the communication never dies, and make sure you always try your best."

"I already do all that, but I still worry."

"Hey, try not to worry. Look, just cherish her."

"I do. Hell, I have for eighty years, and she wasn't around!"

"Look, just calm down. Everything will work out for the best. So when are you planning to pop the question? I'll admit it's early, but I'm curious."

"I'm still trying to work that out. I want to find out first if she could handle all the problems she'll be presented with if she consents to be wedded with me first. Then I've gotta shove all my worries aside and gather my courage."

"Then start working on it."

"It's a process, Rick, and should not be rushed! If I make the wrong move, I risk pushing her away, and I don't want to deal with losing her again. That's one reason why I'm so worried about proposing to her; if she declines, things will never be the same again."

"I know. However, how much do you think that you know her?"

"I'm not sure. We never really got to know one another while we debuted in Kanto, and for the most part she's been focused on me. I was only too happy to show her who I was, just about everything I am, so she knows what she's getting into."

"Then start getting to know her personally. Even if she wants to hear about you."

"Yeah, I know. I'm surprised we've gotten as far as we have considering I don't know her as well as she knows me."

"Start knowing her from all angles."

"I'll try, but how do I lead into that without coming off as suspicious?"

"Just ask her. Girls actually like it when their men ask them about themselves. You can't have a relationship that revolves around one person."

"Okay, that makes sense. I guess I'll be pretty busy for the next few days. If only I could control when I transform, I would feel much more secure about this."

"Ask Alara anything about me and she will know it...well not what happened in Vegas or the Prowler Incident."

"I'm sure those of us in the dark are curious about all that, but I never heard of that. The Vegas Incident?"

"You really don't pay attention much, do you?"

"Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. Since you swore you'd never breathe a word about it, I just completely dropped the entire subject from my mind as useless space. No sense in keeping something if you're not going to expand your knowledge on it."

"Well good that you decided not to remember."

"But now that you've reminded me, I've gotta take the time to forget again, because you're obviously not going to explain it this time."

"Not at all. Anyways, we're going to be back at the Sanctuary in an hour or so. So rest up a bit."

"I'll work on removing that piece of useless information from my mind. Shouldn't take more than a half hour, forty-five minutes. But I need absolute concentration, so after this, I need silence." He cut the communication and relaxed physically on his bed, then calmed his mind and began the lengthy process of safely removing a piece of information from his mind. They soon returned to the Sanctuary, and A went back to Green, where she explained her involvements, and the two went to bed shortly after.

That might have been a weak ending, but the wordage might make up for it. Anyway, tell me what you think soon, okay?