This shouldn't have happened...
It's impossible.
This all has to be some sort of nightmare, right?
Please, let this all be just a bad dream…
How did it come to this?
Earlier that morning...
Jack woke up to find a tuft of soft, white fur in his face. It took him a second to realize that the warm fuzzy thing sleeping next to him was Lucy.
"That's right," he thought to himself as he remembered the events of last night. "She was worried about me, so she stayed up to watch over me. I guess she must have gotten too tired to stay awake."
Jack contemplated various ways of getting out of bed without waking the exhausted Absol. Not that it was an unpleasant situation, in fact the feel of Lucy's fur was quite nice. He just knew Jason would never let him live it down if he saw them like this again.
"Teleportation is out of the question, she'd feel the rush of air. Maybe I could gently levitate her off of me…"
However, before Jack could try anything he felt a distressingly familiar tingling sensation take hold of him. He knew exactly what was about to happen and desperately tried to hold it back, for Lucy's sake, but unfortunately that just made it all the more explosive.
Despite his best efforts Jack sneezed violently, and the noise startled Lucy so much that she jumped out of bed and landed on her back on the floor. If Jack hadn't been so mortified, and worried that Lucy might have hurt herself, he might have found the scene quite funny. Lucy desperately scrambled back to her feet, blushing in embarrassment underneath her fur.
"I'm so sorry," Jack exclaimed. "Your fur was tickling my nose, and I…"
"It's alright," Lucy said, "It's my fault for… you know. It's just, you look so cute when you're asleep…"
Jack let out a small chuckle, and a wry grin spread across his face. "Actually, I was going to say the same thing about you."
At that, Lucy blushed so deeply that it started to show through her fur.
"Thanks," she said quietly, her expression an adorable mix of embarrassment and delight.
Jack chuckled again, and then let out a deep sigh as he remembered the nightmare he had last night. It seemed almost to crazy to have actually happened, but he couldn't shake the feeling that it had. In some strange inexplicable way, the scene just seemed to... fit. It didn't feel alien like his old nightmares had, like he was a spectator in someone else's body.
That said, it made no sense. He'd gotten used to living with the unusual, but living skeletons? It was impossible, wasn't it? Then again, he woke up before he could see what happened next; the skeletons might have been some kind of illusion. The other question was who the other person with him was. Nicholas? No, even with it being so blurry he would've recognised Nicholas's fiery red hair.
Realising that no matter how much he thought about it and replayed it over in his mind he wouldn't be able to figure out anything more about the dream, Jack decided to shelve the issue until he had more to work with.
Jack let the rest of his team out of the Pack, then set about cleaning up the suite and packing their things in preparation to leave. Once everything was in order, they all headed over to Lily of the Valley Town for one last breakfast.
While they were eating, Jack once again pondered the possibility of travelling to another region. He hadn't seen Nicholas yet, but he was almost certain they would run into each other at some point that morning. Until then, he reserved judgment on the subject.
"Hey Jack," Jason said suddenly halfway through breakfast. "We… we need to talk. Privately."
"Okay," Jack said, getting up as Jason led him out of earshot of the others. "What about?"
Jason sighed, there was no running from it now. "It's just… I noticed that you haven't been reading your Bible lately, or praying."
"Yeah…" Jack said, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess with everything that's been happening with the tournament, I kinda got out of the habit."
Jason shook his head. "No, it's been going on a lot longer than that. What happened Jack? You used to love reading your Bible, and you made sure to pray every night before bed. I'm worried about you…"
Jack didn't know what to say. It wasn't that big a deal, he just hadn't had the time lately. It wasn't like he was drifting away from God… was it?
"You don't have to worry," Jack told his foster brother. "I'll get back in the habit once we're on the road."
"Will you?" Jason asked pointedly. "Promise?"
"I… I promise," Jack assured his brother, although it almost felt more like he was trying to convince himself. "I'll read my Bible and pray every morning and night until it's a reflex."
Jason sighed. "Thank you, that takes a huge weight off my shoulders."
After they'd finished breakfast, Jack teleported them all back to the hotel to grab their bags. To tell the truth, Jack grabbed all the bags and then returned everyone else to the Pack. He was planning on tracking Nicholas down, and having everyone out with him would just make it that much trickier.
Jack left the hotel, checking Nicholas's room on the way out. He wasn't there, unfortunately, so Jack sent out a mental probe. Due to the fact that the Sinnoh League was over, there were very few people left at the stadium. As such it didn't take long for Jack to confirm that Nicholas wasn't anywhere nearby.
After that Jack teleported back to Lily of the Valley Town and sent out another probe. To his relief he quickly locked onto Nicholas's mind. However, before he could teleport to the trainer's location, he sensed something that sent an ice-cold sliver of fear like a into his heart like a needle. He'd never before felt such concentrated malice, such unbridled bloodlust. A chill ran down his spine as he realized that the presence he sensed was approaching rapidly. In fact, it was practically right on top of him.
Jack looked around at his surrounding. He was roughly in the center of the town, and there were people everywhere. He couldn't afford to get into a large-scale fight here, there would almost certainly be innocent casualties. He was about to teleport away to somewhere less populated, when he picked up a high-pitched sound from directly above him.
Instinctively, he threw up a hasty auric barrier above him. He had no doubt whatsoever that whatever had caused the sound was dangerous, and aimed at him. His intuition proved correct as a bolt of red energy hit his shield and exploded. Jack took an involuntary step backwards at the force of the blast, but his shield held.
Jack looked up to the sky just in time to watch another bolt drop from seemingly out of nowhere, and then another one, and another. The blasts kept coming every half second or so and Jack was forced to put even more energy into his aura shield just to block them.
Around him the townsfolk were in a state of panic, running desperately to get away from the area. In all the confusion plenty of people were bumping into him, which didn't help his concentration. Still, it wouldn't take long for them to evacuate and he only had to hold out until they had. After that he could safely teleport away and buy himself some time to assess the situation.
Then he felt something that was more than a simple bump, and more like someone had slashed his shoulder with a knife. He instinctively let loose a blast of psychic energy which sent everything around him flying, and as he did so he realized that his backpack, containing the portable PC which currently held his team, was no longer on his back. Someone had cut the carrying straps, and his right shoulder with them.
Jack spun on his heel, readying a focussed bolt of aura in his left hand. His assailant was a man wearing a black uniform with a strange purple symbol on the shoulder, a combat vest, and a black helmet. More importantly he had a knife in one hand, and Jack's backpack in the other. Jack's mouth curled into a vicious snarl which would've terrified him if he could've seen it, but before he could even think of doing anything he was hit in the back by… something. It didn't hurt, in fact he barely felt it. Come to that, he could barely feel anything...
Jack realized with a start that almost his entire body had gone completely numb, and the feeling was quickly spreading up his chest. He tried to move, to do anything, but he was unable. The last thing he saw was something that shook him to his core, a grey-haired woman wearing a visor which obscured her face; The Predator, Pokémon Hunter J. Then the numbness spread to his head, and everything went black.
No sooner, it seemed, had he blacked out than light entered his eyes again. To him it felt like no time had passed at all, but he knew that was highly unlikely. As he took a deep breath and looked around himself, the first face he saw was Nicholas's.
"Are you okay," the red-headed trainer asked worriedly. "You were… brown!"
"It was a form of suspended animation," said another familiar voice from behind Jack.
"Maylene," Jack said, turning around. "You're here too? What happened? There were explosions and a soldier and… The Predator was there, Hunter J."
After his encounter with the Predator months ago, he'd learned her real name as well as her reputation as a ruthless Pokémon hunter. He'd assumed she died when her skyship blew up at the hands of Matthew, a wise Alakazam who sacrificed his life by using the Mind Plate to protect Solomon, his son. Evidently though, the universe had no justice and J had survived.
Maylene furrowed her brow. "Yeah, J was there; and soldiers."
"What happened?" Jack repeated.
"We were both nearby and we came running when we heard the explosions," Nicholas told him. "We got here just in time to see Hunter J talking with a bunch of soldiers wearing black uniforms."
"We would've tried to rescue right away," Maylene said, "But there were four of them and they had rifles."
"The soldiers didn't stick around long though," Nicholas continued, "They got into a black helicopter and took off that way," he said, pointing.
"What about J?" Jack asked.
"We attacked her as soon as the soldiers were gone," Maylene said, "But she disappeared. She must've had a ship nearby."
"How did you turn me back to normal?" Jack asked.
"We didn't," Maylene replied. "It just wore off after a while."
"How long has it been?"
Maylene shrugged. "Maybe five minutes? The police haven't shown up yet, and everyone else is long gone."
Jack got shakily to his feet, and in the process he jarred his shoulder which still hurt. He glanced at it, but his robes weren't even cut. It looked like they really could survive anything… Then he remembered why his shoulder hurt, and his eyes widened in terror.
"Where's my backpack?" he asked, a tinge of desperation in his voice.
Maylene and Nicholas looked at each other.
"I'm pretty sure I saw one of the soldiers carrying it," Maylene said. "But why would they want your backpack?"
A knot formed in Jack's stomach as he remembered something else. He'd found the Pack in a lab which had originally been run by the Saldaran terrorist organization known as Alpha, and there had been a weird looking A on the door of the lab. The soldier who stole the Pack had that same symbol on the shoulder of his uniform.
"Alpha…" Jack muttered, his blood turning to ice. "They came back for their invention…"
"Invention, what…?" Nicholas said, confused.
"Jack," Maylene asked, "What was in that backpack?"
Jack turned to look at them, his face a blank unreadable mask. "My Pokémon, all of them."
Maylene and Nicholas's eyes widened as they realized the implication of that sentence. They both knew how Jack felt about his Pokémon.
"Jack," Maylene said, "Don't even think about it. They're terrorists from another region, you can't get involved with stuff like that!"
"Watch me," Jack said, his calm tone conveying more fury than any amount of shouting could have.
"Jack, for the love of God you're not bulletproof!" Maylene shouted desperately. "If you go after them, you could die!"
"DO YOU THINK THAT MATTERS TO ME?!" Jack shouted, rounding on the young gym leader. "I can't just abandon them! What good is my power if I can't protect the people I love?! Don't try to stop me, because you can't."
"Then at least let us help," Nicholas said. "Take us with you!"
Jack shook his head, forcing himself to calm down. "Not on your life. This is my fight, I won't involve the two of you. Just… one thing," he said, his expression softening as he remembered what Jason had said to him during breakfast. "Pray for me, okay?"
Tears started welling up in Nicholas's eyes.
"Y-yeah, I will. I promise," the trainer said, fighting to hold back the tears.
"We both will," Maylene agreed, her own eyes starting to tear up as well.
"Thank you," Jack said, a rueful smile appearing on his face for just a moment. "That takes a huge weight off my shoulders. Don't worry, you'll see me again. I promise."
With that, Jack disappeared.
Jack stared out into the pitch-black night as the ship pitched and rocked underneath him. He was on the rearmost of three cargo ships bound for Haven, a port-city in the North-East of Saldara. The ships were packed full of food and medical supplies that were desperately need by the Saldaran Defense Force. They were being escorted by four small warships and a squadron of fighter jets.
After finding out that all public transport to and from Saldara had been shut down because of the war, Jack had been directed to the captain of this ship who had, for almost all the money Jack had, agreed to smuggle Jack in.
"Alright kid, this is as close as I can get you," the captain said, looking down at Jack. "You've got guts trying to sneak into Saldara right now, I will give you that."
"Believe me," Jack replied, "It's not by choice. They just wouldn't let me through customs."
"Well, let me tell you; the less I know, the better for both of us," The captain started, crossing his arms across his chest. "I have helped a few people get into other regions before, but never Saldara. Their punishment for doing this… it's enough to wreck a man for life, which is why this is costing you an arm and a leg."
"It's a price I'm happy to pay," Jack said, "And I appreciate you helping me at all."
"It's my pleasure, so long as it all goes smoothly… Well here is what you need to do. Usually I would just send you on your way from here, but I haven't had military ships give us escort before," the captain said before sighing.
"So what's the plan?"
"Once I got your boat lowered, you are to do nothing but drift for half an hour. Let the convoy get away from you before starting the engine. The current should take you west towards the coast. Once thirty minutes have passed, continue west and you'll reach landfall. Got it?"
"Sounds simple enough."
"Well, don't jinx it; saying it'll be easy almost guarantees that it won't be. Oh, and one more thing; I don't think I need to tell you this but if you get caught, you were a stowaway that stole a boat and I will deny ever meeting you."
"I figured as much," Jack said as he got into the small motor boat. "Don't worry, if I get caught, I won't mention you."
"I appreciate it," the captain said, tipping his hat to the boy. "Good luck, kid. You'll need it."
With that, the captain pressed a button and the wires that held the small, black boat up started lowering it towards the water. A few seconds later, the motors stopped. When the wires started swaying, signifying that the boat was free, the captain pressed another button and the wires were reeled back up. Stowing the remote back in its position on the railing, the captain turned around before going back inside the superstructure of his ship.
Me: And so it begins, the long awaited collab with OseanSoldier. LET TEH HYPE COMMENCE!
Jack: This is going to be really, really awesome.
Me: Seriously though guys, this is the single, solitary moment to which I have been building for the entirety of book 2 so far. And Osean has been waiting on the edge of his seat for me to get this chapter out for far too long now. Well here you go buddy, I hope you liked it. And now the real fun can begin.
Jack: If you haven't read Osean's story… why not? We've recommended probably more than any other story. I don't endorse things easily, but I can fully get behind Osean's Dimensional War fanfic, it is a work of art.
Me: If you haven't read it though, don't worry. For each chapter Osean and I write from the perspective of his characters and post to his story, I will re-write it from Jack's viewpoint and post it to my story. So no matter which story you read, you'll be getting what you paid for; and we'll do our best to make it so that nobody actually has to have read both stories to understand it. And for those of you who follow both Dimensional War and Rising Storm, congratulations; you'll be getting twice the awesomeness, and in two different flavours.
Jack: If you can't tell, we're really excited for this collab. It's something that's been in the works for… about a year and a half, and we're glad to finally be able to start it in earnest. If you've been following Osean's story though you probably already know most of this since he, for some reason, decided to post the first chapter of the collab early. Something about his story's anniversary or something. I don't know.
Me: Anyway, I hope you're all as hyped for this as we are, because it is going to be one heck of a ride. Osean and I are going all out on this one, it's going to be a tale to remember. See you guys in the next chapter.
