She ran. She had to. She didn't look behind her. She couldn't. Not after she caught the last glimpse of her mother staying behind.

"Run," her mother had commanded. "Don't look back. Go find someone strong to protect you. I will stop them." A shove had forced her away.

She frequently switched between running and hopping. She didn't know which took her further. Her little legs could only do so much. She made slight turns in an attempt to lose her pursuers, or to confuse them if they had been held back. She ran through bushes. She was sure they would disorient them. But unbeknownst to her, the bushes she sought for her protection betrayed her, catching not only her scent and blood, but small balls of pink fur in their branches.

And all things have their limits. The adrenaline and endorphins that coursed through her blood began to drain. She couldn't stop panting. Her muscles wouldn't stop aching. She couldn't keep going. She needed to hide.

But where?

She began to slow down and pay closer attention to her surroundings. She could hide in the bushes. But then they would easily be able to sniff her out. And they could climb trees. She pushed forward, swiveling her head like a radar. But she saw nothing. She became desperate. Despite her physical alarms, she pushed forward, only to slow down. It was over. She would go back to them, and be hurt even more. Her ears flopped over. The shreds of hope that she desperately held on to were dissolving into the air.

But she saw it. Rock peeked over the tops of the trees. She moved closer. The rock was revealed to be part of a formation. The base had a rough entrance in it.

That was it. Her last strand of hope. If she could go in and find someone to save her, she would live. That is, if someone was actually in there. She had no choice but to enter. Her little feet brought her to the inside of the cave.

Into the Other World

Chapter 17

Epilogue

#544

8/4/20XX

This entry marks the morning of the fifth year anniversary of me ending up in this world. And even after this long, I don't think I've ever really been bored. The old world had its limits. I couldn't stay out in the wilderness for months at a time. School would always limit fun time. Then there was society. I'd waste tax dollars if someone phoned in that I hadn't been seen in a while. Then they'd send in a search party, only to find me in a tent or in some cave, completely fine.

Here, it's much different. I still can't get bored of this new world. It's just so… different from before. So many things to do to keep you occupied. I've said this so many times before, but I think I probably hit my own version of the lottery. But enough of that. Here's a recap of last year.

Calendar: The calendar is now used in most, if not all households. For those who are reading this without prior knowledge, the calendar is based off of my world, as it is similar, if not exactly like it. Prior, the only calendars were based on other mon's instinctual feelings. This will prove to be more efficient and accurate.

Instruction: Schooling has been taken out of its trial stage. An actual building has been built for education. It's nothing much, only about half a year to a year for literacy, depending on progress. There are two classrooms, but only one is used, for now. It feels weird teaching something I haven't been certified to teach. Both Jess and Fiona are helping out.

Housing: More housing has been built, each still with their own garden to be maintained by the owner. Reproduction rates are far greater than that of the human race, so as numbers go up, so will homes. A split into districts will later be needed.

Home Products: Products such as blankets have been improved. With the increasing population of many bug-type pokemon, stronger silks are available.

Barracks: Barracks has been expanded. This is for the same reason. Professional instruction from various veterans is now available. Either to oversee sparring, help with attacks, or to teach how to master an ability or attack.

And that's it with the official stuff. As usual, a more professional record will be produced to be stored by the elder.

And now on to personal things.

Jason's still looking for the perfect mate. Very careful I see. Jade already found her's.

Nick has evolved into a Vaporeon. He was very excited to be like his father.

Katie has taken up Jason's style of looking for someone perfect. She still has not evolved.

Lauren has taken up private instruction with an infernape. She is doing exceptionally well.

Fiona and I have been having fun by ourselves outside the walls :). Also have been out for an extended time when school isn't in session to get some true alone time. Lauren is also invited on occasions where we don't necessarily want some alone time. Speaking of which, it's going to happen tonight.

Any upcomings will be recorded in the next couple of entries.

…

Joe took one last look at the light sheet of steel that now had holes meticulously punched out resembling words before bringing it into the back room. The expanded home now had a whole room to archive his various diary entries, all set on sturdy shelves. He set the metal sheet above the others, into a shelf carrying three similar sheets.

"And into the archive you go." He then pulled out another blank sheet of steel, and punched out another entry, only this was for Elder's archive. He proofread it, then teleported it out and into Elder's room.

He came out to find Fiona leaning on the wall, arms crossed.

"I've been waiting for you." Her attempt to look intimidating failed as Joe approached and patted her head.

"You know you can't intimidate me like that," he teased. "You're a little too short to do that."

"Hey!" She tensed up and pouted.

"And you know you like being shorter than me." She released a singular punch. "Ouch."

"Well I don't like being too short!" Then she wrapped her arms around Joe's left arm. "But yeah I like it." Joe snickered.

"Well, let's head out and do our rounds so Elder doesn't come at us."

"Yeah. Let's."

Being popular has its perks and drawbacks. In this case, Joe being known throughout the entire clan was a given perk. He was respected and (mostly) well liked. The downside was having so many others gazing at him, despite only going out the gates to patrol. It especially didn't help when the population was constantly growing and that he was the teacher for each of the generations.

Which is why both Fiona and Joe spent many of their weekends patrolling on the outskirts, sometimes with Lauren, and sometimes without her.

In this case, it was one of the days where Lauren decided against going with her parents, partially because she wanted to get some training done with her instructor, and partially because she knew they were going to go kissy kissy.

Joe flipped two panels that marked his and Fiona's attendance, and moved out. As soon as they were out of sight, Joe picked Fiona up and set her on his shoulders like a kid. And though she definitely wasn't one, she still enjoyed it like one.

Joe set his hands around Fiona's paws while she set her hands on his head, and they set off. As usual, their first target of their patrols was the cave. Joe walked towards it while Fiona acted as sentry, constantly looking around her though it was unnecessary.

They arrived quickly and checked for any traces of others who had come to the cave. Fiona checked for any residual smells while Joe looked for any traces of disturbance. And there was none.

In the past, there had only been one occurrence of someone occupying the cave. An abomasnow who had been adventuring from the far north found the cave and had decided to stay in for the night. Joe and Fiona had found him, questioned him, and invited him to stay in Haven for a bit. He didn't stay for long though. After replenishing his supplies, he left and continued south.

Joe and Fiona exited the cave and traveled further out from the walls. From there, they proceeded with their routine.

…

As the sun set, Joe and Fiona returned. They reentered the walls, only to flip back the panels and add a marker to them before leaving again.

They soon arrived at the mouth of the cave, and entered, only for Joe to reel back upon sensing that what was at the back of the cave was no longer a wall, but more of a hole leading to somewhere strangely familiar.

"What's wrong?" Fiona asked. Joe pointed at the hole.

"That."

"What about it?"

"The end of the cave."

"Yea. What of it?"

"Do you not see this?" Fiona slapped Joe's back.

"Are you seeing things?"

"Hold on, lemme check something." Joe extended his sense and looked around the back of the cave formation. The hole was nonexistent. He returned his focus to the inside of the cave. The hole remained.

"What in the hell?"

"What are you seeing?"

"There's a hole at the end of the cave, like it's an extension leading up to an opening on the other side."

"Well, show me!" Joe projected the image towards Fiona. It took a fair amount of time for her to readjust to the new flurry of colors that Joe had always seen before spotting what he meant. She moved towards the end of the cave. Joe looked at her as she seemingly knocked in the middle of space.

"There's nothing there. See?" The sound enough proved that Joe was somehow hallucinating. He approached the end of the cave in order to knock on it himself.

His hand did not stop where it should have. Fiona was completely shocked upon seeing Joe's hand phase through the wall.

"Did I miss?" Fiona shook her head.

"Come here," she said. Joe crouched down and Fiona pressed her forehead against his. Joe could see his own hand phase through the rock.

"Woah. The hell?" He put his arm lower through the wall and pulled back.

"What?" Fiona placed her hand on the same exact place that Joe had placed his in an attempt to replicate the effect, only to feel solid rock. She began to prod different places on the wall.

"We might want to report this to Elder," Joe said. "It wasn't here this morning. Let's go." He placed his hand on Fiona's shoulder. She yanked her hand back.

"WOAH!" She looked at her hands.

"What?"

"My hand went through." She began prodding the wall again, but nothing happened.

"Well, as I said, we should report this to Elder. Come on." He ruffled her head. Fiona immediately retracted her hand again, causing Joe to retract his.

"It just happened again." Joe bagan to think.

"Is it because I was touching you?"

"I don't know. Can we try that?" Joe grasped one of Fiona's hands. Now in contact, Fiona reached out with her other hand and watched as it phased through. She retracted her hand.

"You mind holding my hand tightly so I can look over there?" Joe tightened his grip, and Fiona stuck her face through the rock. She seemed to remain for quite some time before removing her head from the rock.

"You can let go now." Joe let go of her hand and crouched down.

"What did you see?" Fiona said nothing and pressed her forehead against his. He was immediately drawn to the extremely bright colors surrounding the vision. Bright pink, purple, and blacks surrounded the edges, with sparkles in them, much like stars. It was like some sort of galaxy. And then he saw the familiar, colorized scene of what he had been sensing.

He immediately recognized the scene. The tunnel that led outside looked like the same exact one back inside his old world.

"A portal," he muttered. "It's a portal to my old world." Fiona pulled back.

"We gotta report this," she said. And in a flash, they were in front of Elder's room.

Joe knocked, and it opened immediately. The couple walked in and closed the door. Elder was at his desk.

"I sensed your urgency," Elder stated "What's the event?"

"A portal opened up in the cave," Joe said. It would be better if I showed you everything. So he projected everything to Elder.

"It seems like the only things that can pass through is myself and anyone touching me." Having received the information, the elder immediately came up with an order.

"The portal might close. I don't want you going back to your world and losing you. I know you want to go back to your world to retrieve some belongings. Wait three months before you do in case it closes. I want you to inspect it at least once a day to see and check any abnormalities. Is that clear?" Joe immediately answered.

"Yes, sir."

"You can leave. Actually, one more thing. If you guys want to do your stuff, don't do it there." Fiona blushed under her fur before she and Joe teleported home.

"Hey Joe!" Joe, Fiona, and Lauren all turned back to find Jason running after them.

"Let me come with!"

"Why did you not come with us earlier?" Joe asked as Jason caught up. They bumped fists before Jason replied.

"Well, ever since you mentioned something about a portal back then, I've been conflicted on whether to stay and help with training or to go with you. Cause we're friends and I'm feeling adventurous."

"You do realize we'll be gone for like four days tops right? We should be back by then. And besides. You aren't going adventuring. There's nowhere to go, no time to really do anything. And you gotta stay hidden from the other humans on the other side. There aren't any Pokémon over there."

"I still want to see what it's like over there. And besides. Why discuss staying hidden or hiding when you're bringing those two along?"

"Fair. Well, I'll help you out with that. You can come."

"Sweet! Thanks."

"Anything for a friend. Aaaand, we're here."

The cave's portal was still open. Joe noticed Jason's four bulbs rise up before falling back down.

"It's still strange to me how you are the only person able to see the portal."

"Yea. It's strange for me as well. Anyways, since you're here, and since I'm the only person who can bring people with me with the fact that I want to go together with the girls, why don't you go first?"

"Fine with me." Joe dropped his half-filled backpack on the ground beside Lauren and placed his hand on Jason's shoulder.

"Welp, onwards1" Joe pushed Jason through the rock with a firm hold Joe himself entered shortly after. Immediately, he was hit with a variety of pinks, purples, blacks, and white sparkles.

"It's… beautiful," Jason said, looking all around him. "And we're standing on nothing."

"I can agree it's beautiful. And somehow I can see again." He inspected the lucario. The blues and blacks of Jason reminded him of the time he saw Jade before Bryan knocked him out.

"Damn, you do look like your sister."

"Well of course. Congrats. You can see. I don't think you'll be able to see when we get to the other side though."

"Yea I know. So I might as well soak it in every time I go through here." The pair walked through out of the portal and back on solid ground. Joe immediately lost his sight and returned to using his senses.

"And there goes my sight. Wait here while I get the others."

"Alright." Joe let go of Jason's shoulder and turned around to return towards the girls. He admired the scenery around him and exited the portal.

Fiona and Lauren looked up as soon as Joe phased back inside the cave.

"How was it?" Lauren asked.

"It was great, thanks for asking. I could see again while I was in the portal. I swear no matter how many times y'all show me mental images of everything, it won't beat being able to see again. Anyways, are y'all ready?"

"Ready!" Lauren cheered.

"Ready," Fiona followed.

"Grab my hands," Joe said, picking up his backpack. With Lauren on his left and Fiona on his right, they simultaneously entered the portal.

"Woah," Lauren gasped as she looked around. "So pretty!"

"That's what I thought, honey," Fiona said.

"And that's pretty much what Jason said," Joe added. "But I can't stop looking at you two with my own eyesight. You both are beautiful."

"Thanks honey," Fiona replied. As they reached the end of the portal, Joe took one last look at the two before looking forward. Jason was standing there, looking at the floor. Something pink and brown was attached to his leg. But Joe couldn't identify it.

As he got closer and closer to the end of the portal, he began to recognize it. A buneary, one with an unusual coloration was attached to Jason, who seemed flustered. Joe, Fiona, and Lauren soon exited the portal, and the girls immediately took notice of the pink buneary that had quickly hid behind Jason's legs.

"I thought you said your world didn't have any pokemon," Jason said, head tilted towards Joe.

"There aren't. I'm confused as well."

"And the weird thing is that I can't understand a single word she's saying."

"She? Oh I can sense it now." Joe crouched down in order to try and make himself less threatening.

"EARY!" she squeaked, clutching Jason even harder.

"Was worth a try," Joe said. And then he felt something. He opened up a mental link between himself, Fiona, Jason, and Lauren.

"Two humans. One male, one female. One houndoom. All with bad intentions. I want all of you to stay silent. If you need to say something, tell me through the link. If this world is what I think it is, the pokemon here don't speak the language we do, and the humans have power over the houndoom and any other pokemon they have hidden. Give me a nod for confirmation." All three recipients nodded.

"Come out of there," a feminine voice coaxed. " I know you're in there." Immediately, the buneary shifted her position, hiding behind Jason in front of Joe. Jason reached down and picked her up. She clutched his arm.

"DOOM!" the houndoom barked as it entered the cave. It spotted the group and immediately took an offensive stance. It began to growl.

"What is it boy?" the female human said as she entered the cave. She spotted the group and assumed a commanding position behind the houndoom. She turned her head towards the entrance of the cave to shout at her partner.

"Hey! I got one person in here." The woman's partner sped up to meet up with his partner while the woman turned back to face Joe's group.

"Hand us that buneary and your pokemon and I'll let you leave intact!" The man entered shortly afterwards, a red and white spherical object in hand.

"Yay," Joe said in his link, "traffickers."

"And what if I don't?" Joe taunted.

'Then you'll get this," the man said, throwing the ball and releasing a pyroar.

"PyROAR!" it shouted upon its release.

"Do I look like the type of person to just give up pokemon like that?" Joe asked.

"Pyroar. Flamethrower." The pyroar immediately shot out flames form it south, only for it to hit a barrier that Joe had set up.

"Lauren. Take the buneary. Jason. On the pyroar. Fiona. Houndoom. I'll take care of the humans." They all nodded. Jason turned and placed the buneary into Lauren's hands, and both Fiona and Jason sped towards their specific targets. Joe teleported.

"What the-" the woman shouted. "How are they so fast?"

"And where'd the guy go?" the man shouted back. Joe materialized behind the man and swept his legs out from under him.

"I'm right here, fucker," he said deviously. He knocked the man out with a punch to the face. The woman, who stared at her partner, mouth agape, met a similar fate. A hard fist to the face and she was down. And Joe leaned back to dodge a stray flamethrower.

"Ya know Fiona, you might wanna put a bit more psychic power to bend the flames more." Fiona jumped to the side in order to avoid a bite, and thrusted out her stick for another flamethrower, which hit the houndoom point blank. She finished it off with a cut with her stick, and a whack on the head with it.

"I know. Just got a little too excited." A similar sound echoed through the cave. Jason put his entire weight into swinging hiss bone staff right through the pyroar's mane and on to its noggin. The pyroar went out like a light.

"Easy peasy. Didn't even put a scratch on me."

"Nice flex Jason," Joe said as he dragged the two humans against the wall of the cave. Jason returned to the end of the cave to inspect the buneary's injuries.

As soon as he took her out of Lauren's hands, she wrapped her paws around his arm. Jason chuckled and used his other paw to start healing her.

"What to do now?" Joe contemplated. "I'm sure as hell this isn't my world, and I kind of do want to go exploring." He "eyed" Jason and the buneary. "And it looks like someone's attached to Jason. I'll report this to Elder. Y'all watch over the other guys while I go."

"Alright," Fiona said. "Come back soon!" Joe phased back through the rock and back into the portal. He looked back to see the buneary looking wide eyed at the wall. He chuckled, and turned back, running towards the end.

He sent a message to Elder as soon as he arrived, containing everything that had happened on the other side.

"Well, Joe, seeing as the portal hasn't closed yet, you can go and adventure on the other side. I'll tell Jess to take over for you. Good luck! And you'd better come back and visit."

"Thanks! I'll be sure to visit." Then Joe backed up back inside the portal.

The buneary was still staring at the end of the cave by the time Joe phased back through the wall.

"So what did Elder say?" Fiona asked.

"Well, he said we can go adventure here in this world, provided the portal doesn't close. So do all of you want to go out and explore this world? I can bring y'all back if you don't want to." Everyone, excluding the buneary, who was still clutching Jason's arm despite being cradled like a baby, shook their heads.

"First impressions," Jason stated, "bad people, fun fights. I think I want to stay here."

"By the way," Joe said, "there are fighting competitions here. So yeah. You're going to enjoy that."

"Just like that story you always talked about at home," Lauren said. "I've always wanted to get stronger. And when I heard that story, I became interested. So I'm in!"

"And you, Fiona?"

"I'll go wherever you go, Joey. Plus, I'm interested in seeing what society will look like."

"Well, I guess that settles it. Let's get outta here and into the world!" They exited the cave.

"Oh, and I guess y'all can leave those guys there. They'll wake up sooner or later. It would look weird for us to shoulder two criminals into a town anyways. Plus, I don't know where to turn them in."

"Cool," Jason said.

"Assuming this is the world I'm thinking of, we'll find a path to civilization soon. And then we'll register for those competitions, get even stronger, and win!" Everyone cheered and pumped their fists. Except for the buneary of course, was still attatched to Jason's arm.

And that ends it. The series I mean. Yes, I'm planning a sequel. Sometime in the far future. I'm working on another story right now. I personally believe it's going to be better than my others. Just give it a while. Heads up. Very dark themes. As for my other series, it's gonna stay on hiatus for a while.

Thanks for sticking with me throughout the year. I apologize for the unnecessarily long delay. I just lost my motivation. For a bit. More like I got distracted by various games. But we don't talk about that. Thank god school is in person now, so I kind of have time to write in between classes. And in the car.

Fun fact: I wrote most of this chapter on a bus. On my phone.

I can see how much my writing has changed over the past year. It's kind of… unsettling. But, life's life so…

I'll probably rewrite the story sometime, in the future. Up to somewhere where I can read it without internally cringing. Or maybe I'll continue with the sequel and nerf Joe. Hard. Either way, expect drastic changes.

I'll see y'all whenever.

IBE dipping.