(Person's name POV) how the person who is talking sees things.

"Person talking"

[Telepathic speech]

'When a pokémon is talking in poké-speech'

{Anything written on paper, such as notes}

Disclaimer- This story is in no way a claim on either the pokémon franchise, or on Nintendo. Except for our claim on our OC that were made for this story, and the plot of this story itself, all rights to go Nintendo and their respective owners.

Chapter 38

Welcome to the Hidden Land

(Joey's POV)

I don't remember what happened after G and that Shadow Demon merged with me, but the next thing I do remember was waking up on something soft, my body feeling like I did after I came back to life, and my mind like someone put it into a blender. I couldn't move at all, even opening my eyes was impossible, but I could hear my surroundings, only everything sounded like it was underwater.

"We shouldn't of let him get shot," said a voice.

"What could we have done?" asked a second voice as something cold pressed against my forehead, "humans are irrational. Even you didn't see that coming."

"We need to keep him under," said a voice, that I could of sworn was G, "if he wakes up completely, then this won't work."

"Cresselia, he's waking. Put him to sleep."

Suddenly a hand, small and warm, touched my forehead. I felt an energy wash over me, and I fell back asleep.

.

When I came to a second time, I was still laying on something soft, but I didn't hurt as much. Opening my eyes, I saw an oak ceiling above me, with a white ceiling fan. Where was I?

I slowly sat up, much to my body's displeasure, and found I was in a simply furnished room with a window, and next to me was my clothes, neatly folded, atop a dresser. Looking down, I found that I was wearing a simple white t-shirt and white shorts. When did I change clothes?

I slowly got up off the bed, after grabbing my glasses, and immediately fell to my knees from the pain.

"Careful," said a voice from behind me, and looking back I saw G walking towards me, "you shouldn't strain yourself."

"G," I said as the ghostly Gardevoir helped me to my feet, and helped me back on the bed, "what happened? Where am I? Where is Lilly? Who changed my clothes?"

"Relax Joey, you are fine," said G, handing me a glass of water, which I downed in three gulps, "as is Lilly. You both, and the rest of your small group, were evacuated from Las Vegas after what happened."

"What did happen G?" I asked, setting the glass down, "last I remember was watching myself slowly get shot, while having a very strange conversation with one of my Shadow Demons, and my own G about me 'becoming my true self' whatever that ment."

"Well, in a way you did," said G, "but I think it would be better if you saw it."

"But before you do, you should change your clothes," added G, standing up and walking over to the door, "I'll have someone pick you up when you are ready."

And with that, she was gone.

"Well that made no sense," I muttered looking over to my pile of clothes, "I guess that is the new norm."

I reached over, and gently picked up my red and black hoodie, feeling the old fabric move under my fingers. Hello old friend.

.

By the time I was finished changing clothes, I was feeling a little better, and my stomach had finally woken up and told me I needed to eat. I slowly walked over to the door, and was about to open it when it opened by itself, and what I saw baffled me. Mewtwo was standing there, and from the way he was looking at me he had been waiting for me.

"Follow me," said Mewtwo, walking down a hallway, and standing by another door, "I was told to take you when you were ready."

"Ok," I said, following Mewtwo down the hallway, trying not to tick him off. I knew a lot about Mewtwo, I had fought him in a lot of my games. He was created through science, using Mew's DNA, in the hopes of creating the ultimate weapon. They succeeded, but a little too well, since now Mewtwo was without any emotions other then anger and hate towards humans.

"I'm trying to get better," said Mewtwo, drawing me out of my thoughts.

"What?"

"I read your mind, I known what you think of me," said Mewtwo as a smile crossed his face, although that just sent a shiver down my spine, "I've been learning how to be a little bit more then just a weapon."

"Well that's good," I said as Mewtwo opened the door, and I what I saw shouldn't be real. There was a grass field and a small forest to the left of it, that was normal, and what looked to be some kind of ruins to the right of it, ok I could buy that. What I couldn't buy though, was the small chunk of land that was floating in the sky with a tower on it!

"Amazing, isn't it," said Mewtwo as we both stood, looking at the tower, "Temporal Tower, home to Dialga. Even after all that has happened, it still stands tall."

"That can't be possible," I said, shaking my head in disbelief, "Temporal Tower was on the Hidden Land, and that can't be accessed by humans because it is in a hole in time."

"Well aren't you the informed one," said Mewtwo with another smile, "you're right, Temporal Tower is on, will technically it's over, the Hidden Land. And you're right, it is in a hole in time, but you're wrong about humans not being able to get here. We allow curtain humans here, just not many."

"Then why am I here?" I asked, still baffled at where I was.

"It's better if you have Lord Arceus explain that," said Mewtwo as he started walking across the field towards the ruins, only to look back when he saw I wasn't following, "come on, if you want answers we have to go the the Old Ruins!"

"Ok," I called, running to catch up to Mewtwo, "is the Rainbow Stoneship still active?"

"Of course it is, it's been active since," started Mewtwo, only to stop and look at me funny, "wait a moment, how do you know about the Rainbow Stoneship?"

"What, you didn't read that far into my mind?" I asked, a slight smile crossing my face at Mewtwo's confusion, "It isn't my first time here, or the first time I have met you for that matter."

"Really?" asked Mewtwo as I felt him move about in my mind for a moment, "so that's where all your knowledge comes from? You lived it?"

"I played videogames," I explained, "they let me go anywhere I wanted, be anyone, and do anything."

"Well isn't that handy," said Mewtwo, "you wouldn't happen to have any of those, what did you call them, videogames with you?"

"I have my old DS in my gear I keep for sentimental reasons," I said, "and a few games to play on it, but I don't think you can play, since you have three fingers."

"I'm sure I can figure it out," said Mewtwo with a small chuckle, "I may of been created at night, but not last night."

.

By the time Mewtwo and I had reached the Old Ruins, my stomach was quite annoyed at me for not eating, and Mewtwo turned out to be good company. I wonder what the scientists that had created him would think if they saw this? Their weapon, making friends with someone.

"Here we are," said Mewtwo as we arrived at what looked to be some sort of hallway, only I recognized it from my old videogames, the walls covered in drawings of every legendary and mythical pokémon, "the Hall of Ancients."

"I recognize this place," I said, touching a rough drawing of Groudon, "this is the way to the Rainbow Stoneship."

"Correct," said a voice, and then Arceus in human form appeared in front of Mewtwo and me.

"Lord Arceus," said Mewtwo, bowing, "I brought you Joey like you asked."

"Good job Mewtwo, you are dismissed," said Arceus as Mewtwo stood back up, "why don't you go see Mew, I think he has more lessons for you."

"Of course Lord Arceus," said Mewtwo, teleporting away and leaving me alone with Arceus.

"Walk with me Joey," said Arceus, walking down the hall that led to the Rainbow Stoneship.

"Ok," I said, following Arceus while looking at the walls, "you have some explaining to do Arceus."

"Yes, I'm sure you have many questions, and I will gladly answer them," said Arceus, "whether you like the answers though, that is up to you."

"Ok, here is my biggest question," I said, "where is Lilly?"

"Lilly, and the rest of your group for that matter, are in what you could call a coma back at the house you woke up in," explained Arceus, "we wanted to wake you up first, before everyone else."

"I want to see her."

"Once we are finished, you can return to the house and see her."

"Alright then," I said with a small nod. I didn't like that I was away from Lilly, but in this situation it was better to cooperate then to argue, "why are we on the Hidden Land?"

"It was better for the procedure that you be away from civilization," said Arceus, "the less distractions the better."

"What procedure?" I asked, not understanding. Did they do something to me?

"You once asked me why we had been watching you, and you were right about it having nothing to do with you being a seer," said Arceus as he stopped before a stone door that branched off of the hallway, "but before I say anymore, you need to see what is behind this door."

"Why?"

"Some things are better understood when you see them," explained Arceus, "but when you come out, I will explain everything."

Well, if it would get me all the answered I needed, what was the harm in going into a room? I thought, opening the door to find that the room was pitch black.

I walked in, and as soon as I did, the door I had come through slammed shut, leaving me in complete darkness.

"Great, all alone in a room where I can't see," I muttered to myself, reaching down for the flashlight I carried in my pocket, only to remember I left it in my bag, "and with no light at all. Isn't this going to just be fun."

Right as I said that, something touched my foot, instantly scaring me half to death. When it didn't move away, I carefully reached down to find something spherical in shape, and possibly made of glass. I picked it up, and as I held it the sphere started to glow white, allowing me to see the room around me. It must be a Luminous orb.

I held the orb up, and what I saw made no sense. I wasn't standing in a room, but rather a long hallway that led underground.

"Well this is odd," I said, looking back to find that the door I had come through had no handle on this side, "I guess the only way forward is down."

.

(Normal POV)

'Is he in there?' G asked as she stood with Arceus near the entrance Joey had walked into.

'Yes he is,' said Arceus, 'I just hope he understands what he sees. A human mind can be overwhelmed easily.'

'He is now part pokémon, remember?' asked G, 'both physically and mentally, he just doesn't know it yet.'

'But he hasn't developed any powers yet,' said Arceus, 'neither Mewtwo or myself could find anything that could even hint at powers.'

'Well what do you expect, that he would just wake up and save the world?' G asked, 'even you needed time for you to even move a pebble with your abilities, but look at you now. You built a world, and put life into it, and while your brother might of destroyed that, you still should bask in the glory of what you had created.'

'Yes, but it took me a millennia to get that world the way it was, and he destroyed in less than a half a century,' said Arceus, hanging his head slightly, 'I know you taught me to try to stay positive, but after what I felt in Joey's mind, it's hard not to be concerned. I fear there might be too much darkness in him for this to work.'

'I knew about the darkness when I found him, but I still chose him over the rest of the humans on his planet,' said G, resting a hand on Arceus's shoulder to comfort her son, 'sometimes darkness is a good thing. Even you have a dark type in you.'

'True, but you'll forgive me if I worry a little,' said Arceus, 'I just hope that Joey never finds out what we did with Lilly. If he does, we all will of wished my brother had killed us.'

.

(Joey's POV)

"This hallway is long," I muttered to myself as I continued walking down the hall. I must of been walking for maybe half an hour now, but this hallway still kept going. There were no side paths, so I had to going in the right direction, but there was no indication of how far down I was. The walls and ceiling were still the same yellow and tan stone, and the floor it's simple gray bricks. Everything looked the same.

"Maybe I should turn back," I muttered as my stomach let out a loud grumble. Dam it, I completely forgot to ask Arceus if he had anything to eat before I came down here.

I was about to turn back when something up ahead caught my eye, a red glow.

"I really hope that isn't lava," I muttered, heading towards the glow up ahead, "I have enough problems to deal with right now."

As I got nearer to the light, I started to smell something burning, which either ment one of two things. Either there was lava here, in which case I am so turning around, or it was something burning like a torch.

I eventually saw what the glow was coming from, a cavern with flaming torches at the entrance, and what looked to be a man standing in the middle of the room!

"Hello!" I called, picking up the pase as I ran towards the man, "can you help me?"

The man said nothing, but as I approached he turned around, as what I saw stopped me dead in my tracks. It was like looking in a mirror, he had on the same clothes, had the some colored hair and eyes, he even had the same cut over his right eye that I had gotten a few weeks ago from an exploding Geodude.

"Um, hello," I said, not wanting to get close to the man.

"Hello," said the man in my own voice, but It sounded odd, like when an echo returns from inside a cave.

"Um, who are you?" I asked, only to get no response from my doppelganger, "can you speak?"

"Can speak."

"So what, you can only answer with words I say?" I asked.

"Only answer with what you say," said the doppelganger, not moving from where he stood.

"Ok, so you can rearrange the words to make sense," I said, thinking of a better way to communicate. What if I ended everything with yes or no? "Did Arceus send you down here as well? Yes or no."

"No."

"Are you human? Yes or no."

"No."

"Well now we are getting somewhere," I said as my stomach let out a large noise, and started to hurt from being empty too long, "do you have any food? Yes or no."

"Yes," said my doppelganger as he finally moved, walking over to a large boulder, and after messing with it for several minutes, came back with what looked to be a happy meal from MacDonalds!

"I'm not even going to ask where you got that I'm too hungry," I said, taking the happy meal and digging into the food, my doppelganger silently watching me the whole time.

"Thank you for that," I said as I finished eating and put my garbage in my pocket, "I can't remember the last time I ate."

Still, my doppelganger said nothing, just looked at me with a blank expression on his face. Was I really that boring when I looked like that?

"Ok, this is an important question," I said, remembering the reason I came down here in the first place, "can you either tell me, or show me, what or who the chosen one is? Yes or no."

"Show you, yes," said the doppelganger as he walked over and lightly tapped on a rock, causing a blue portal to appear across from the entrance to the chamber.

"So I need to go through that?" I asked. I wonder where that portal leads to. Answers at the very least.

"Go through," said the doppelganger, passing me the Luminous orb I had dropped on the ground, "need to."

"Is there anything I need to know about before hand, like any dangers?" I asked, looking straight at my doppelganger, "or do you not know?"

"I not know," replied the doppelganger, looking down at his chest like he was disappointed he wasn't able to help me anymore.

"Well, wish me luck then," I said as I ran straight at the portal, but before I hit I heard my doppelganger say one last thing.

"Good luck."

.

(Normal POV)

'He is past the guardian,' said Arceus as he and G stood by what looked to be a prison cell, an unconscious shiny Gardevoir chained to the floor, 'we will need to go soon.'

'I know, but I wish we didn't have to do this to Lilly,' said G, 'I mean, I know it was my idea to replace her, all be it temporarily, with a duplicate. It's just seeing her like this is a little depressing. She is so young, and Joey loves her so much.'

'If Joey is to train well, we need him entirely focused on us,' said Arceus, 'not on his girlfriend.'

'But even with a duplicate, some of his attention will be focused on her,' argued G, 'we can't do anything about that.'

'We will just have to make Lilly's duplicate be a little distant for a time,' said Arceus.

'That may work, but we need to find the right balance,' agreed G, 'too little and we might as well keep Lilly with him, too much and he will see straight through her.'

.

(Joey's POV)

As soon as I was on the other side of the portal I landed flat on my face. So apparently I am not cut out for Aperture Laboratories, no one tell GLaDOS.

"Ow," I mumbled as I slowly got up, only to find myself in another chamber like before, but this one lacked the torches and had a small pedestal in the center of it, and a note attached to the top of the pedestal, written in Unown.

[For whoever finds this note, place your orb on the pedestal to see the truth.]

"Really? I walked all this way, and had a very strange conversation with what I am guessing was a Ditto, only to put an orb that randomly rolled into my foot onto a pedestal?" I asked after I read the note, "why make it so long and confusing just for a simple task? I blame Arceus for this."

Blame him or not, I still needed answers for why I was down here, so I took the Luminous orb and put it atop of the pedestal. At first nothing happened, it still let off it's white glow, then as I watched the orb it slowly started to change colors, first to red, then blue, then to green, and finally ending back at white.

"Ok, that's odd," I said as the orb's light started to focus upward like a spotlight, allowing me to see that the ceiling above was curved, and that it had drawings on it, "what the hell?"

The drawings were damaged, probably from age, but I could still make out a huge battle spread out over the ceiling. Pokémon, of every size, shape, and type, were rushing from one side, while what looked to be an army of shadows rushed from the other, and in the middle stood two humanoid figures. One looked to be made of pure darkness, apparently leading the army of shadows, while the other looked like he was glowing light blue, and leading the pokémon. What struck me as odd though, was that the blue man was wearing the same clothes as me, right down to the blue paracord wrist band I wore on my right wrist.

"What is all this?" I asked myself, looking at the ceiling, trying to understand, "is that supposed to be me?"

"Not yet," said a voice from behind, making me jump out of my skin. I turned around, and saw that G and Arceus in human form were standing behind me.

"You are not ready to face that yet," said Arceus, "first you must train."

"What the hell is all this?" I asked, "you said if I came down here I could find answers. Well I came down here, but now I have more questions, and less answers."

"Its time for you to know what you truly are," said G, "Joey, you aren't human, not anymore. You are now a pokémon."