"OK this is weird… and that's saying something considering my circumstances…" Anto strolled along the dream path as he looked around.
Even with all dreams before this one, there wasn't something as mystic as there was with this place. The entire atmosphere felt old to the point where it felt like this place was even older than the universe.
The disappointing thing was that the young boy half expected some eldritch nightmare to show up at any moment now. There was the disturbing fact that the longer he kept walking, the more he felt like he was going nowhere.
9 11-14-15-23 25-15-21
Anto clutched his head. What was that? Did he just feel numbers?
12-15-19-20 19-15-21-12
The amber eyed boy looked around before he felt something strange…
Give
Way
Below
Him.
Suddenly,
Anto
Found
Himself
Falling
Upward!
"OOGH!" Anto grunted as he fell on the ceiling. He quickly got up and looked up… or down… which was now up… "Well this is going to get disorienting fast. I gotta get out of here."
Anto looked across the strange ruin he fell on. He noticed some kind of temple and decided he would make his way there. Though he had this odd feeling that something was still not right.
As he made his way to the steps, he noticed something odd about the temple. For one it was much smaller than he thought. The second strange thing about it was that the symbols all across this place were…
They were all moving.
And all of them seemed to be gathering around him and watching.
Just
Watching.
Anto bolted for inside the temple. "NOPENOPENOPENOPE!"
"Huh?"
"WHOAAAA!?" The young amnesiac should have definitely seen something coming into that temple. Though he wasn't expecting to fall again, but at least it was downward this time.
But another problem arose in that he was still falling.
"Oh great, now I'm free falling. My bi weekly falling-from-high-places-training has prepared me for this moment." It was either sarcasm or insanity for Anto to show as more of this went on. If he wanted to keep his marbles in check he might have to be as sarcastic and story savy as he possibly could. Good thing his amnesia didn't extend towards factual knowledge of story troupes.
As he continued to fall, Anto started to notice something odd about the area he was falling through. It was no longer a void but for some reason it looked bright, orange-red light like it was sundown, and there were clouds as far as the eye could see.
It was soothing and beautiful if one wasn't falling endlessly.
12-15-19-20 19-15-21-12, 23-8-25 1-18-5 25-15-21 8-5-18-5?
Again he felt numbers, but something was odd. Why did it feel like words?
"I… I don't know how I got here!" He clutched his head even though there was no pain, but this strange lightheadedness he was feeling.
25-15-21 23-1-14-4-5-18 13-15-18-5 20-8-1-14 1-14-25 19-15-21-12 4-15-5-19
"What the heck do you mean by that!?" Odd, did he understand that last string of numbers?
"Brace yourself."
The amnesiac wondered what that meant, but he didn't see much of anything but stars coming from the cloud.
Stars?
Why are they all moving as well?
They all were converging right in front of his falling path.
"Those better not be actual suns!" The black haired boy screamed before he braced himself for impact.
"Don't be afraid Anthony," A gentle voice called out. "I will be here to catch—"
SPLAT!
"Ofm m' nos'! Di setter not tran'late info realf wold!" (Oh my nose! This better not translate into the real world!)
"Huh, are you bleeding on me? I've never had someone bleed on me."
Anto opened his eyes to find himself on top of another constellation creature, a very, very, very large one that looked like a Wailord.
"Let me get that for you."
"Get what?" The amber eyed boy asked before he realized that his nose was fixed. "Oh… thanks? … I've never seen your kind talk before aside from that trippy time I was wearing a blue berry bage…. Great, Black was right, my conversations do go to weird places."
"You're talking to a star whale in the middle of the skies after breaking your nose in a dream world."
Anto paused as he let that sentence sink it. That last sentence only confirmed Black's previous statement.
"I hate this so much—wait what did you just say?" He looked down on to the giant creature beneath him as he started moving towards a new area.
"Repeating that sentence word for word is a strange request by itself." The guardian admitted.
The boy on the large creature started to make his way towards the head. "No I mean, what did you call yourself?"
There a loud whine that echoed through the void, but it wasn't scary rather it sounded soft despite Anto hearing it.
"I am Totem Whale, your guardian spirit animal." The creature continued with a gentle voice.
That word panged into the young teen's brain. "Animal? … What's an animal?"
Sounds of other creatures echoed and Anto stared out into the void, all the guardians he had seen, the strange Sawsbuck, Ursaring, Noctowl, Bunnelby, Braviary, and Swanna running and flying across the sky surrounding him and the… whale creature.
"It does not matter what we are so long as we protect you, Baker." The large mammal told him.
"Protect me? In case you haven't noticed there's a demon living in my head that turned it into a tropical version of the twilight zone."
The large creature gave out another echoing hum of its soft, soothing noise. "The beast will not harm you as long as we are here, as long as you are alive."
Another word caught the young teen's attention. "Alive?" It escaped him with a strange sense of disbelief. "B-But I'm dead. I…I've been dead for almost a year. H-How can I be alive!?"
He heard the voice of his sister saying he died, he met his remorseful father, he even cut his own body up after being shot in the head and he found out he was still walking! He was some kind of zombie or something, so why did these creatures say he was alive?
"There is a truth that you have forgotten. You must remember it before The Reopening." The strange creature spoke to him.
However, the words made him pause again. "What do you mean save? What truth did I forget? Why are you speaking in half words dang it! That cliché is annoying and doesn't help me in the slightest!" He stopped as the words came out of him by instinct then suddenly flashes of all those times came to his head.
All those times wondering what was going on… he was repeating himself wasn't he?
"I… I'm repeating myself aren't I? No matter how much I claim I have no idea what's going on, I keep asking questions and complaining… I don't even have a clue what's going on anymore." Anto's eyes looked down as he sighed heavily.
The guardian beneath him gave another strange high pitched soothing noise.
"You ask questions because you want to know. You want to know because you care. You care because, despite all this, you want your friends to be safe." The gentle voice spoke as they all flew through a portal and sailed through a sunny sky over a beach island. "In a world where we are left to ourselves, one must find their own answer. I only wish that it would be a kind one from you."
"That… didn't give me another straight answer…"
The Whale landed on the beach sand and Anto motioned himself to jump off. Then he was caught by the Noctowl's wing and let gently into the sand.
"The whole picture will be hard to handle, you must be patient and collect the clues before we can explain why your soul is so important in this plane of existence."
"My soul? Isn't that being devoured by some demon or something? I thought for sure that Fake guy would eat it… where is he anyway?"
"He will not eat your soul for as long we exist. Moreover, he already devoured another soul recently…"
If things were not making sense before, they were becoming even more confusing. "What did you mean by 'he devoured a soul already'?" The child asked again. Just when things looked like they were making sense, more clues came and made things far more confusing to keep track off.
"He already devoured the poor soul of this body."
"But this is my body! And… I still have my soul! … I think…? Wait what!? How could he already eat my soul if I'm still here!?"
"He did not eat your soul." The whale stated simply.
"But you said he ate my soul!"
There was something odd: now the guardians looked confused.
"I do not understand. I told you that we would protect your soul."
"And you also said that he ate my soul!" Anto cried out.
"I did? But he did not eat you."
Anto felt like this conversation was going in circles. The creature did not look like it was messing with him at all. He looked genuine and sincere, so why was it that he was saying two very different things at the same thing?
"Why did you say he devoured the soul of this body!? That's me!" The young boy tiredly screamed.
All the beings looked at him strangely and titled their heads to the side.
"You are the soul of this body?" All of them asked that. All the guardians at the same time asked that question.
"Y-Yes! My name is Anthony Baker, the same name as this body!" The boy screamed but the guardians all still looked at him strangely. "Right?"
That last word escaped him before even he was fully aware.
They all glowed brighter. "It is time to wake up, Baker, soon you will understand who you truly are. I know you are getting restless, but I implore you to be just a little more patient. In due time, who you are shall reveal itself very soon."
[?]
As the flash died down, Anto woke up to find himself sitting on a table with an ice cream sundae right in front of him in the cafeteria.
He looked around for a moment in confusion before realizing he was back in the Pokémon league. Then he focused back on the ice cream in front of him.
Honestly, nothing was going his way, but it looked like this sundae in front of him would at least temporarily relax him.
Anto picked up the spoon and got ready to indulge himself with sweet sugary goodness.
So why the heck did everything turn dark and suddenly feel like he had a sack placed over him?
Then there was that familiar sensation—the one where when Kryx teleports him to another place.
But for some reason, he couldn't move now.
He felt the bag being removed from his face and quickly noticed something weird.
OK, maybe more than one thing.
Why were all his Pokémon, Tiana, Jamie, Tiana's Pokémon, and Jamie's Pokémon all out and glaring at him?
Jamie's Fletchinder landed on his lap. "Alright listen here!" He then slapped him hard with his back wing. "Nobody messes with Jamie and gets away with it punk!"
"What are you talking about? GAK!" Much to his grief, yet he should have seen this coming, Anto was slapped again.
It was at this moment, the two girls at the back seemingly noticed something.
"You think you're a wise guy, ey!?" The fire bird exclaimed before he snapped his feathers.
"Did you just make a snapping noise with your winRAGK! Ow! Stop slapping me!" The young boy mentally yelped.
"Um guys?" Tiana's voice died down as Kryx appeared with another odd helmet device.
"Nice try, fake Anto! Jamie and Tiana warned us about you after a very character driven and emotional trial of learning to trust each other and brought us all together to stop your vicious ways!"
"What the heck are you talking about—wait. Did you just say fake?" The word registered into his brain a few seconds after he started talking. That fake self he met in his dream world liked to call himself a fake.
"Wait, everyone!" Jamie spoke out before being drowned out by Ohko of all people.
The blue fighting type pointed dramatically. "Yeah! With the power of friendship and science, we will brainwash you back until you become your old self!"
"Like true heroes do!" If one was not familiar with this group, they could still point out the Ferrothorn said this particular line.
"Yeah!" Sentinel cried out as he started eating the Sundae originally meant for Anto.
"Hey! I was actually looking forward to that ice cream!" Anto dealt with a lot of tarous crap, but like heck he'll let someone take his ice cream!
So it came to a bit of a surprise when Anto started struggling harder and everyone heard the sound of wood cracking.
Lily, standing in the corner, recognized something. "Takezo? Isn't that actually Anto?"
"I do not believe this will change what is about to happen." Takezo offered her an opened can of nuts while Super Nut dramatically declared to bring down the young tied boy. "Here, I managed to fool the fake into buying whatever snack I wished before we planned this."
"For a samurai, you're surprisingly deviant." Lily took the can and ate some of the food while most of the Pokémon were restraining and trying to slam another metal helmet into Anto's head.
Takezo side stepped one of Sylveon's ribbons that spread out his way when Anto broke the chair and all other Pokémon dog piled on him to stop him from moving. "My former teacher takes blame for putting more emphasis on the loopholes of the Bushido Code rather than the formalities themselves."
"Huh," Lily spoke out as she raised a shield when she saw Sentinel panicking and inhaling ice. "Sounds progressive."
It was then Anto's hotel room was blown up with ice.
[Later]
So long story short, Jamie and Tiana came together with Anto's Pokémon attempting to plan to bring back the real Anto after much explanation and a touching story of trusting their friends.
However, the moment they actually tried to pull of their plan, Jamie and Tiana noticed Anto… was back to normal, yet they couldn't convince their Pokémon and Anto's to stop what they were doing and inevitably freeze over Anto's hotel room. (In hindsight, they probably should have chosen a better place for operations.)
Now against his better Judgment, Anto gathered his friends over that consisted of Wes, Benga, Jamie, Tiana, Black, and White. In a new private area, he tried to explain this lucid and bizarre dreams he's had and eventually brought it down to why he believes that Dimension Enterprise is after him.
"WhoaWhoaWhoaWhoaWhoaWhoa!" Black spoke up as he stood up from his seat. "Are you telling me that somehow, you think there is a demon implanted into your brain!? And that's the reason why Dimension Enterprise is after you? And you found this out because this demon thing turned your subconscious into a personal pocket dimension?! And that there are strange dream creatures in there that told you all of this!?"
"Well, when you say it like that, you make it sound hard to believe."
"IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE!" Black yelled. "I mean, seriously!? What kind of god did you tick off in your past life?!"
"The God of BS apparently." Anto retorted. "Unfortunately it doesn't change the fact that there's a demon in my brain!"
"Huh." Everyone turned to Wes who seemed to be deep. "So that's why the leader of Dimension Enterprise said we were dealing with forces we don't understand. Apparently they're playing with forces beyond our world and Anto here seems to be the byproduct of all that cosmic messing around."
"You seem kind of laid back with all of this…" White noted to the Snagger.
"It's just, when I think things can't get any stranger, they do when I'm with Anto. So at this point, I'm just going to keep an open mind from now on. It'll save me headaches for later when this does get crazier." Wes reclined into his seat.
"What!?" Benga stood up. "Don't you guys understand what this means!? It means that we have the potential to have an epic journey that may span the cosmos! Oh this is so exciting!" The flame haired boy jumped.
"Exciting? How can it get any crazier than this!?" Black yelled out.
Jamie started to sweat. A small part of her wanted to mention that Anto was being sought after by the other strange people/creepy cult. Though, what would happen if she did? Would she reveal that those previous hosts sent her to watch over him? They hadn't exactly told her much except give her a strange stone and follow/care for the one who the stone chose.
Still, the only reason why she got involved with them all in the first place….
Black's Transciever rang at this moment. "Oh wow. It's already Midnight?"
They all looked outside to indeed see the moon already high up in the sky. Anto was shocked. He didn't actually remember what happened to day until everyone told him he had beat Haruto and helped Misoka and Candela.
"Looks like we're putting this on hold. I'll tell Nerd and Headband about this new update." Wes stood up to walk out.
"That reminds me. Who are you up against tomorrow?" Jamie asked, trying to get her mind off the secrets that were very close to being found.
"Someone named… Victor Montague… he apparently scored high in the Kalos last League Finals." Anto answered her. He had seen the schedule sometime before everyone got together.
Tiana paled at the name. "Wait, you're against Victor?"
"You know him?"
"He's… my sister's boyfriend…"
Anto reacted to that as one would think: his heart stopped beating in fear for a few seconds.
Tiana then placed her hand near her mouth. "Actually, I think I forgot to tell my sister was spending time with you more than her and Victor in this tournament."
The young mute was starting to notice that his dreams were infinitely safer than his reality.
"I… I should go meet with them!" Tiana spoke out before leaving the room in a flustered manner.
The amnesiac paled. He really hoped tomorrow would be a better day.
[…]
"Oh come on!? I just left here!" Anto shouted as he realized he was back in his dream beach.
"Sup, Anthony!" Fake Anto cried out as he was in a sun chair, wearing sunglasses and sipping from another Coconut. "Thanks a bunch for switching with me during that time; I didn't want to be interrogated!"
"How on earth did you take over my body!?" The amnesiac demanded.
"Huh? Why are you asking that? I didn't take over your body. You were just tired and I seized the opportunity to take control."
Anto narrowed his eyes. "That is the same thing."
Fake had a smile across his face. "Is it? See, Anto, when talking to higher beings, pay extra attention to how they talk. You might miss something hidden in plain sight."
"What are you talking about?"
The demon with Anto's body and voice shrugged his shoulders. "Anywho, if you're wondering, I talked with Hoopa a bit and helped him to what he wanted from this Dimension. You might meet him again soon."
Anto rolled his eyes. The guy was trying to change the subject. Getting answers out of him might not be the wisest idea if he confronts him and just demands for it.
But something was tugging at the back of his mind and it suddenly manifested in his mind.
"Why a beach?"
Fake snapped his eyes open and looked to Anto. "Excuse me?"
The young boy turned and looked towards the Ocean. "Why, out of everything, did you turn this part of your dimension into a beach? Sure it's relaxing, but I always thought that beings of power, like yourself, would reside in an area that best suits their personality, like how Angels sit on thrones of white or how demons sit on the piles of their enemies bones. But the fact that you choose to reside in a beach—when you can literally have anything you want—makes me wonder either you are one lazy being…"
Anto turned back with a plain look towards Fake. "Or does this remind you of home?"
For the longest seconds, Fake just stared at Anto without any sign of reaction. He was just frozen.
That was until he spoke up again. "That was a weird thing to say. How do you even know that is from me? Last time we had this conversation, you complained that I was using your brain to make what I wanted." He then went back into sipping his coconut.
However, Anto just smiled as if he had just won a prize. "I now know for sure that you were the one who made this area because of one thing: if I was wrong, you would have just said so honestly, but you said something else to doubt myself."
Fake stopped sipping.
Anto inhaled. "'When talking to higher beings, pay extra attention to how they talk.' Those were your words; I just applied them." Anto finished with a smile.
"… I was wondering how that dimension hopper got along with you so well despite having that type of proud character. You're not conventional." Fake eyed the boy.
"I," Anto recalled his journey so far. "Found out that things aren't always so straight and narrow. Sometimes, a little out of the box thinking seems to work fine or it doesn't. Glad it did this time."
The clone of Anto sighed before standing up and putting his drink down. "Well, knowledge and cleverness were not my forte, so I concede this battle of wits. I'll answer one question for you. You at least deserve that much."
Anto really wanted more than just one question answered. He had a lot to ask like who he really was; did he really eat his soul; how did he come to meet with dimension enterprise; and so on and so forth.
But he didn't get this question for being foolish and rash. He remembered those cosmic Pokémon warning him that what was going on was complicated and that he had to take things slowly. He could ask the big questions, but Fake answering them might not mean he'll understand what he says. He could even lie while that was unlikely.
So how would Anto do this? One free question for someone so mysterious and powerful.
He breathed in deeply before exhaling. "I want you to answer my original question: why did you transform this area into a beach when you could have done anything you want?"
Fake paused. "I was not expecting that. Are you sure?"
One last out. He could probably ask a more sensible question to what Dimension Enterprise is truly after. Still, there was a reason why the young teen was pressing for this particular question.
"Yes. I'm sure."
Fake seemed silent before snapping his fingers. The island suddenly turned to sundown and the two of them were on top of a cliff with Fake standing on the very edge.
"You asked me if I was lazy or it reminded me of home when you made the deduction. You're half right and half wrong." He spoke as he looked on to the artificial sun.
"I'm waiting for you to explain more." Anto folded his arms.
Fake smirked even as his face was turned away from Anto. "For a very long time, I have been thrusted in to battles. After one of my earlier victories, I heard one of my dying enemies whisper about something called a 'beach' and dying as he said something about 'not making it to her'. Looking back, maybe he thought he would live and marry a girl near a beach, but I digress. I wandered for a bit until I found a beach…"
The demon laughed fondly. "I guess that was the first time I felt at peace at the cool breeze, the soothing sound of waves, the gentle light of the sunset, and the way the sand melded to my shape beneath me…" His smile faded. "That was a long time ago, after that I was attacked and ended up fighting again for a very long time until my last one where… I'm getting off topic."
He turned around towards Anto. "So yeah. The beach does remind me of home, the small part that actually seemed to make an impact on me. I do like it here, but I didn't know it was making me lazy." He smiled and folded his arms. "There. Your question has been answered."
…
…
One would think it weird that something as obscure as this would answer anything.
For Anto, it was more than enough. The mute smiled at his fake. "Thanks. You're… a lot nicer than I thought you would be."
That seemed to catch the demon of guard. "Huh, you're the very first person to say that. Too bad you'll die when I regain my full power."
"I won't deny that, but then again, what happens if I survive it?"
It was at this moment that Anto noticed that he was starting to fade, in other words he was starting to wake up again.
Fake spoke up with a smirk. "I think you'll figure something out if you do."
With that, Anto woke back up on his bed.
For once, he was well rested.
It was early morning when Anto awoke, so he decided to go train with his partners.
"So does everyone know the plan? And no one will try and assume I'm evil and attack me?" He narrowed his eyes at his Pokémon.
"We shall not! For as fellow heroes, we must also protect you from turning into the dark side with all our might!" Super Nut declared while he was out in the balcony shouting out the window.
Anto ran out and dragged Super Nut back in as other balcony doors started opening and demanding someone to shut up their Pokémon.
"Glad we all agree." He dropped Super Nut into a couch as he started walking towards the exit. "Now who wants some foo—"
Yet when he opened the door, the first thing he saw was amethyst eyes staring right at him.
"Tiana?" Anto asked as he took a look at her with her hand up as if she was about to knock on his door. She was wearing a mini jean shorts, long brown combat boots, a blue long sleeves shirt, and another white wool beret with a blue Poké Ball symbol to the side.
"… You uh… you look nice today." He said as smooth as sandpaper.
All his Pokémon behind him gathered to see what would transpire.
Still, the compliment made the black haired girl giggle with a tint of red on her face.
Anto then looked at himself wearing the same clothes he had ever since he started his journey. "You know, I just realized you change your clothes a lot whenever I see you."
"I'm surprised you wear the same set of clothes every day, but surprisingly…" She leaned in and sniffed him. "You always smell like berries."
"Well Takezo showed me that there are berries I can use to clean up and dry my clothes. It happened one time he stripped me—" The young boy's brown eyes became the size of saucers after he realized what he had just said.
"Takezo, the Patrat, stripped you?"
"He smelled stinky and had this disgusting goo all over him." The comment from the small Samurai was not helping.
And Anto had such a good morning too!
"N-No! I mean yes! Actually no! It-It's not what you think! You see, I was used as a human handkerchief by a guy I'm sure was born with muscle steroids—"
Now Tiana was full on laughing at him. Fantastic.
"Oooh… ooh I needed that." Tiana gasped after a good laugh. "You just made my morning."
"That makes one of us." Sometimes he wished he was being funny on purpose that got people to laugh at him.
The male trainer wasn't expecting his hand to be grabbed by her. "Come on! I'll treat you to breakfast."
"Huh? Wha—"Anto did get much to say as she dragged him out of the room.
All of the young trainer's Pokémon stared.
It wasn't until a few more seconds that Kryx floated up suddenly and dramatically pointed in the direction where the two left.
"It's the human courting ritual! Quick my fellow scientists, initiate plan Eloping!"
"Oh tight! I actually trained for this!" Ohko declared before he, Sentinel, Super Nut and Kryx jumped off the balcony Super Nut was screaming out of a while ago.
One would start to wonder if Anto's Pokémon were clinically insane at this rate…
Lily and Takezo stayed behind in a bit in shock. (Mostly Lily though.)
The two looked at each other before shrugging. Then after closing the door, they too jumped out of the window after their fellow party like normal people would.
[...]
"Not that I'm not grateful, but is there a reason why you wanted to meet me so early? We could have met at lunch." Anto asked as he and Tiana were sharing an outside table near a somewhat empty and recluse area since both Amnesiac and the Kalosian girl's Pokémon were out on the field wrecking their own havoc.
The raven haired girl sighed. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Uhhh no?" Anto shifted his eyes to the side then bit on to his blue berry bagel sandwich with eggs and bacon.
"Thanks, but I got into another fight with my sister," She spoke out a little sadly. Anto quickly apologized, but she just shook her head. "She doesn't like me spending so much time with you and the others."
"She sounds very over protective…"
"She is… and… can you keep a secret?"
Anto responded by making a motion on his lips as if he was zipping it up and throwing away the zipper.
"Oh right." She giggled softly. "Well it's just. I… I was in a coma, but my sister blames herself for it and I later found out that she did some things to make sure I got out of that coma. She looks out for me a lot not only because she cares, but I think she's afraid that I'll be put into another coma."
She looked at her reflection in her drink somberly. "The doctors told me that I was lucky to come out of my Coma unscathed, but that wasn't really true. I may not have suffered mental defects, but I did suffer a lot of emotional ones. When I woke up, I found out most of my friends just… moved on without me. Some even assumed I was dead… it was like I really did die and got brought into a strange new world."
"I'm so sorry about that." Anto admitted.
"Even though I argued with my sister about her being aggressive in making me come along with her, the truth was that I did want to leave Kalos as well. I felt like a stranger in my own home and the only people that understood me… they weren't really there for me." She then looked to Anto with a smile. "Then I met you. Someone… who probably has it even worse than me, yet… you always look so happy. How do you do that?"
She looked at Anto with honest eyes.
He gave her answer. He just shrugged his shoulders about it. "I-I don't know."
Tiana laughed a little sadly this time. "Yeah, I don't understand either."
"It's not all bad. You do at least still have your sister. She'll be there for you. And hey, look at you now: I'm your friend, and my friends are your friends too." Anto tried to cheer her up. He didn't know much, but he didn't really like seeing his friends mope.
Huh, was that how he looked whenever he moped?
A small but honest smile came on her face as she heard that. "Thanks Anto." Her smile quickly turned into a frown though.
"Actually… there's another reason I had to grab you before anyone else could." The stylish girl admitted.
The trainer titled his head. What did she mean by that?
"It's about Jamie."
"As much as I appreciate a fun date as the next guy," A new person suddenly walked up to their table and put his hand on it to face Tiana. "I think it's time came back, Tiana."
He was obviously around his late teens if not twenty at most. His face was fairly handsome while he had light brown eyes with jet black hair that grew to mid length. He was wearing long, baggy, cargo pants with sneakers and a black shirt with one vertical white stripe.
Anto was confused until Tiana huffed and folded her arms. "I don't care, Mr. Montague!"
"Hey, it's Victor and you know it. You also know I hate it when my two favorite women fight."
Amethyst colored eyes were beautiful, but Tiana could make them look scary with her glare towards the older teen right now. "You only hate it because Trinity kicks you out of the room to brood and you've got nowhere to go."
"Hey now! That's not all true…" Victor rubbed his head sheepishly.
Anto, feeling ignored, wanted to contribute to the conversation. "Also this isn't a date."
That sure caught Victor's attention as he suddenly backed off a few steps and stared towards Anto. It occurred to the mute he was really used to speaking with this telepathic ability of his.
"T-tha freaked me out, man! Not everyone can use telepathy!" The older teen/young adult pointed before walking closer to the boy and getting a good look at him. "Huh. Tiana, I thought you would have better tastes than this."
Anto threw his hands up in the air. Was that really necessary!?
Despite her red face, Tiana still looked ticked. "W-Why are you even here in the first place? Shouldn't you be preparing for your match that you're going to lose?"
"What? I can totally beat a toddler like that Anto kid!" Victor managed spoke out. "I just was on my way to call an old friend when I spotted you with this… familiar looking kid… have we met, psychic kid?"
Anto narrowed his eyes. "Hi. I'm Anto. And I am not a toddler."
"Oooohh. Awkward." He winced before quickly putting up a joking smile. "But I was kidding! I heard about your battles, you've got some pretty strong Pokémon. And weirdly enough, I'm just surprised someone as young as you can make it this far in the league."
"There are people who make it to the league at ten years old, Victor." Tiana grumpily corrected.
"Yeah but they never win." Victor pointed out before looking towards the phones. "So anyway, I'm going to make a call to Tadashi and I'll definitely see you two later."
With that, Victor left them both with different feelings.
"Sooooo that was your sister's boyfriend?" Anto asked.
Tiana buried her flushed face into her hands and wished she was dead. "Yes…"
"Okay then, umm what were you trying to say before he interrupted us?"
"Yo! Mute! There you are!"
"Ahh Anto! I finally want to try a Synergy Burst Battle once more!"
Leave it to Wes and Benga to keep coming in awkward times.
Tiana sighed before standing up. "I'll tell you later. Good luck on your match, Anto. I hope you win!"
Wes whistled as Tiana left. "Man Anto, you sly dog, you've been holding out on us."
"Wes, I am just friends with people who happen to be cute girls that I find attractive. There is nothing more to this than just hanging out."
The silver haired boy smirked. "Dude, you're like too easy to read when it comes to girls." He nudged the boy with his elbow.
Anto groaned.
Benga blinked before 'whispering' to Anto. "So… can we battle now?"
The amnesiac started banging his head on the table.
[Later]
"Ladies and gentlemen! I give to you one of our most unpredictable, but nonetheless entertaining, trainer, Anto!" Guyver cried out as the young teen walked out to a scream of fans with a humble wave.
High in the stands, a young girl with blonde hair and light blue eyes was motioning to her parents. "Come on, Mom and Dad! We're going to miss it!"
"Caitlin! Slow down, you know your father gets winded very easily!" An older woman who also had blonde hair and light blue eyes lightly scolded before her daughter and Haunter went ahead anyway.
Her husband then came up gasping a bit.
"Simon, tell me again why we're watching someone with the same exact face as our dead son?" She asked her loving husband.
"Well, I mean, he just looks and has a similar name to our son, Yana. Nothing more than that. And Caitlin seems to look up to him. It could be just like—you know—maybe we can pretend that it's our son out there beating some of the best trainers in the world."
"… But our son is dead. He… isn't our son." Yana softly said.
Simon loving took his wife's hand and calmly stroked it. "I know. I know. We aren't replacing our son, but we do have to move on. Who knows? Maybe his doppelganger is secretly doing this for Anthony, and up there our son is cheering him on like our daughter."
Yana seemed a little hesitant.
"I know you loved to battle. I know it's pretend, but pretending isn't always a bad thing. It's part of my job as an actor anyway." Simon smiled kindly.
True, it was not her son. But maybe, just maybe if she just pretended for a minute that he was her lost son… "I suppose you're right. That boy better win. I did not come all this way to watch him lose."
Meanwhile, in Hoenn, two people were watching a television screen in their hotel room.
"So here comes Victor's next fight… and it's with a kid." A beautiful girl with chocolate colored locks with eyes of a greyish-green color said as she put down the remote and sat on the bed.
A handsome and toned young man with dirty blonde hair and emerald colored eyes walked into the room with nothing but pants and a towel he was using to wipe his head. (Not that the girl was complaining.) "Hey, that kid fought against two people, one who had mega evolution over him, and still won."
"If Victor loses though, we're totally holding it against him. Aren't we, Tadashi?" The girl gave a cat like grin.
"Definitely, Clarice."
Back in the fight, the two contestants were told the rules. This round and from then on will all be 6 on 6 Pokémon battles.
Here was where people made it or break it.
"On your mark, get set, go!" Guyver cried out as the battle was officially started.
The two trainers threw their Pokémon out.
{Author Notes}
Sorry to end on a cliff hanger, but a six on six battle would be too long to put.
Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to my good friend, Mangolime Pie and one of that account's earliest Pokémon fics, "Flames of Revolution."
Most of the main characters there cameo in this story because we're buddies and I thought it was a good way to show how much Anto has grown as a battler to fight against trainers who went through their hardships.
Also, some new insight into the dreamscape! Seems like the rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper. Trust me, when I first wrote how this was going to work, I was afraid that this would be too convoluted and over complicated.
Wait. It technically is.
Huh. Well for those that can somehow keep up with all this strange details, I have looked over the overall explanation and it should make sense… in a very sci-fi heavy sorta way…
Still, we finally see Caitlyn, Anthony Baker's sister back from Mistralton City is in the league with her parents! They seem to be rooting for the boy that looks like their son.
Also, get ready. The tournament is soon coming to a close and out will come one of the chapters I've been waiting so long to write!
Peace out dudes!