-Lake Valor, Ash's POV, Feb 15, 5:24 AM-
Whispering quietly into the dark room, Ash, feeling slightly guilty about rousing them so early, woke the three Lake Guardians. Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit, all looking minorly sleep deprived, telepathically greeted the Champion as they floated after him, into the living room of the lakefront home. Ash opened the front door and led them onto the raised porch, deeply breathing the brisk, fresh morning air. The sun was just coming up over the horizon at that point, and Ash was forced to squint to see the mere silhouettes of the rest of his team, who waited at the bottom of the deck for him.
Most people that meet the Champion of Unova consider him to be an extremely… unique case of trainer. However, if Ash Ketchum's spirit is fiery, it is nothing compared to that of his star squad. Sceptile, always the cool and collected one, leaned against the porch railing, twig in his mouth, and raised a hand in greeting. On the other hand, Krookodile, hot headed and proud, was training viciously against some dummies on the other side of the small yard, sunglasses reflecting the first morning rays. Froslass, who only recently decided to evolve from Glalie, mischievously coated Ash's hair in frost, giving him the temporary look of an old man. She had grown a bit shy over the years, but was still funny and energetic. Noivern, laying in the branches of a nearby tree, nodded in Ash's direction. While slightly immature, Noivern's addition to the team was only positive, combined with Froslass the two acted as the glue that held the team together. Pikachu, who had been perched on the railing, watching the sunrise, jumped onto Ash's shoulder. Old as he was, Pikachu was still strong and was always looking to prove himself. Unfortunately, he rarely gets his chance these days, his age leading to his replacement from the original team.
The last two were sparring together, and only Ash's experienced eyes, combined with his Aura Sight, allowed him to make out the battle, and even then only slightly clearly. As he watched, Greninja and Infernape closed the distance between themselves (a good two hundred feet after a momentarily long-range battle) in the space of a second. Greninja had a long Cut blade in each hand, whereas Infernape's dual Mach Punches glowed white hot. They jabbed and blocked, thrusted and whirled, moving at speeds most people wouldn't think possible. Finally a mistake was made; Infernape spun on his right foot, bringing his left around at chest level to deliver a devastating kick, but Greninja had expected the assault; he ducked low and aimed his cut attack straight up. The cut attack pierced easily. Infernape screeched in pain as the force of the blow lifted him off his feet. Combined with his own momentum, the monkey-like pokemon was thrown several feet to the left, landing in a heap at the water's edge. He tried to stand, but the moment he did he yelled in pain once again, and Ash saw blood flowing from the wound, into the surf.
Greninja walked slowly over and put his fist gently on Infernape's forehead, forcing his head to the ground. He quieted down immediately at the pin. Ash watched apprehensively, knowing that the rivalry between the two of them was nothing short of astounding. After a moment, however, Infernape sighed and tapped the ground. Greninja, laughing slightly, moved his hand to Infernape's hand. He pulled the older pokemon to his feet and allowed him to drape a long arm around his shoulder, both laughing. Ash chuckled as they began their three-legged walk back to the others. Krookodile meandered up moments later and matched pace with them.
As they neared the porch, Ash poked his head back inside the doorway once again. "Gardevoir, if you wouldn't mind helping us out? I know you're awake."
A few moments later a sudden flare of white light appeared on the deck. It faded as quickly as it had come, however, but it still left a bright patch in Ash's retinas. He rubbed his eyes momentarily, and when he opened them again a Gardevoir was standing in front of him. Ash had to hand it to Serena, she trained her pokemon well. Her team; Delphox, Gardevoir, Sylveon, and Glaceon were all extremely powerful, easily on par with Iris's pokemon.
Ash pointed to the top of the stairs, where Krookodile and Greninja had just appeared, supporting Infernape between them, the latter of which had turned slightly grey due to blood loss, which had created a red trail from the beach to where they deposited him. Gardevoir sighed, walking over to Infernape with a cross expression on her face. Ash stifled a laugh, he knew for a fact that Infernape and she liked each other, but her hard-to-get strategy had left him stumped. Infernape looked away in embarrassment as Gardevoir laid her hands on the cut. Ash realized it was worse than he'd thought; it was a deep gash spreading from the bottom of Infernape's knee almost to his waist.
It was now Ash's turn to take on a cross look, though he directed it to Greninja, who seemed to shrink slightly under his gaze.
"You're supposed to pull your punches during training," Ash says, and though he aims the lecture at Greninja, the entire team listens intently to the reminder, as always. "This may be a safe place to hone your skills, but serious injury isn't something we can have, especially with hints of Team Plasma still being active. We need to be ready to move at a moments notice, and flaying each other to within an inch of each other's lives is not something we can do right now."
Ash gets a generalized response to this, but he knows his team is antsy for some action. "I know," he says. "There haven't been any challenges recently, but that isn't an excuse to tear each other to pieces just for minimal experience, if that. We know each other too well anyways," he adds. "It isn't experience to battle yourselves over and over…"
He trails off, sighing. "Tell you all what," he says. "Let's check out this note and see what in the hell is going on. Afterwards, we can travel to Hoenn and fight Drake for title of Hoenn Champion."
The silence, which had already been complete save Infernape's quiet groaning as his skin knit itself back together under Gardevoir's Heal Pulse, seemed to become, if possible, even more deafening. However, it was also charged with a tensity at the prospect of their first challenging battle in a long time.
Ash grinned, which broke the silence as the whole team cheered loudly. "Alright, keep it down!" he says in a loud whisper. "The rest of em are still trying to sleep."
"They weren't the only ones," A grumpy, feminine voice sounds in the back of his head as Gardevoir regained her footing, Infernape's leg fully healed. She pushed her green hair out of her eyes and fixed him with an annoyed stare. "So," she says pointedly. "Are you going to tell Serena where you're going?"
Ash sighed sadly. He figured Gardevoir would ask this, in fact he knew she had stayed awake specifically for this moment. Serena had found her in a parking lot as a Ralts, and had taken her home. By this time, the rest of the team had already been with her for years, but they and Serena had taken her under their wings and in no time she showed promise as an extremely strong and loyal pokemon. "Gardevoir…" Ash trailed off, weighing each word. "You know I can't. I have no idea what's going to happen, and something tells me I might not want to. I can't put her through that kind of worry."
"She worries more when she doesn't know," Gardevoir responds angrily, but she doesn't argue the point otherwise. Ash rubs his face exasperatedly as the Embrace Pokemon floats through the door and off into a hallway. A few seconds of silence followed, Ash's team nervously glancing at one another.
Finally Ash sighs. "Alright. It's time to go. Uxie?"
Ash pressed the buttons on his pokeballs and, one by one, his pokemon team returns to their respective quarters. Then he pulls from his pocket the purple stone, seemingly innocent in his hand save the warm sensation he felt when he touched it. Mesprit and Azelf both wrapped their tails around either one of his arms. Ash opened his palm, allowing Uxie to grip the pearl in one of her tails, the other of which wrapped loosely around his neck. Ash took several deep breaths, hyping himself up, then nodded to Uxie. Her face grimaced in concentration for a moment.
Suddenly they were enveloped in a harsh, white light. Ash, having teleported before, closed his eyes and held his breath, bracing against the sudden pressure in his ears. However, unlike the normal, momentary vacuum feeling, the pressure was much higher than normal. It didn't stop after a moment, either, and Ash began to panic as the pressure built painfully in his head. Just as he felt like his face was about to implode, The pain vanished, replaced with a moment of silence, followed by a loud round of cheering.
Ash dropped to his knees, eyes still shut tight, breathing heavenly, Arceus-given breaths of delicious air. Only when he felt the Lake Guardians float off his shoulders did he even realize his eyes were closed and hastened to open them. The scene he saw could not have been farther from expected.
He stood in a chamber about the size of his living room, completely bare save the doorway on the far wall. It was colored spotless white, and the corners didn't seem to have seams. Ash got shakily to his feet, looking at the Lake Guardians. "You three ok?"
They nod but stick close to Ash, which only confirms his suspicions; They were in an unknown place. After a moment his eyes are torn to the doorway, where several people had just emerged, still clapping and catcalling. Four people were wearing identical suits made of a carbon-fibre like material, but it flowed like fabric. Each had two barrels extending from the top of their arm, lined up with their middle finger. Ash suspected they were guards, but they seemed carefree and energetic. Standing between them was a shorter man wearing an extremely expensive looking suit. The fabric literally glowed in hues of silver, gold, and emerald, and it seemed to flow from the neck to his shoes as if he were standing in a waterfall of molten precious metals. He wore shades tinted a deep black but in such a way that Ash could somehow see through perfectly to the man's happy but tired eyes. His fair was brown, and a patch on his suit, over his heart. Read: "Hello! I am Professor Jonathan Xephos!
"Ahh, you made it!" Xephos said cheerfully. "As you can probably see, my name is Jonathan Xephos, but you can call me John."
Ash looks nervously around the room as he shakes the man's hand.
Xephos reads Ash's face. "You must have many, many questions," he said gently.
"That's a bit of an understatement," Ash muttered in response, causing the professor to chuckle.
He thrust a hand into the pocket of a satchel that hung on his left leg. After digging his arm much deeper than should've been physically possible, Xephos pulled out a pair of goggles. They seemed fashioned similarly to a Virtual Reality headset that Sapphire had practically forced him to try once at a store.
Xephos hands him the goggles, then snaps his fingers. At once, a bed seems to appear out of thin air, attached to the wall. A TV, refrigerator, microwave, along with several other appliances melted out of the wall, too, and Ash turned around just in time to see a door materialize into existence behind him, revealing a court yard big enough for his friends.
"You can let your… What did you people call them? 'Pokemon,' right? Yes, you can let them out to roam around there, and use these goggles to watch the introductory video," Xephos said. He glances at Ash. "For most of your people, your world consists of only your Earth. For you, that is no longer the case," he says, his voice shaking with prideful emotion. "Trust me, you'll be happy you came."
The guards exit the room, and as Xephos gets to the doorway he calls back; "You can leave this room at any time, but I highly advise you to watch that video first." He disappears. Ash stares in shock at the door for a moment, goggles hanging loosely in his hands. Finally he shakes his head firmly. He drops them on the bed, then walks through the back doorway and into the courtyard. It's fairly large, walled but open to the sky, with deep green grass and sweet smelling air. It's fairly bright, and Ash glances up momentarily, shielding his eyes against the sun. Then he looks down once more, pulling his pokeballs from their compartments and popping them open.
"Alright," he says tiredly as his friends appear before him. "Stay here and hang out for a bit, don't leave the courtyard." After receiving assent from him, Ash leaves them and the Lake Guardians to fend for themselves for the time being. He heads back inside, sitting down on the bed. He feels the fabric between his fingers. It's soft and comforting, and he's vaguely reminded of his mother's soft blanket that she would hug him through when he was little. Why it was this memory of all things he thought of as he removed his hand from the bed and pulled the strap of the headset wide, he wasn't sure. Surely it wouldn't have been designed that way?
Taking a deep breath, Ash pulls the strap of the goggles over his head, slipping them on. For a moment, all he can see is black, but then a dim light appears. It slowly grows brighter, allowing him to get used to the change, and then a deep, calming voice sounds through the headphones.
"Hello, Mr. Ash Ketchum. My name is Roger, and I am an AI that will be taking you through your virtual tour of the Dimension Axis today. Tell me, are you laying down?"
"No," Ash responds, somewhat lamely.
"Ok," The robot responds. "Stay seated, then. Your goggles are about to expand slightly. Do not be alarmed, it is simply adjusting to give you a better experience." Ash stayed still as he felt the device emit a soft beeping, and then a shell of metal closed over his head, almost like a helmet. "Are you ok?"
"Yes," he responds.
"Alright," Roger says. "Lay down upon the bed. Commence travels." All at once, he's standing in a white room very similar to the one he was just in. Before he can think anything of this, another person appears next to him. He's tall and skinny, with sunset orange dyed hair and blue eyes. He flashes a peace sign at Ash and speaks in the same voice of the AI, which doesn't seem to fit him at all. "Follow me."
They leave the room and Ash gasps. They're standing in an enormous room, and from Ash's high vantage point, for they had appeared up very high, he thought the entire city of Lumiose could've fit inside it. The walls were made of millions of doors, each with a long, silver staircase that descended downwards a couple of feet, before joining with the main staircase, which had hundreds of people flowing down it already.
Ash and Roger joined the crowd, which seemed hurried but organized and peaceful, the likes of which Ash wouldn't of thought possible otherwise. It took nearly 10 minutes to reach the bottom, but Ash wasn't tired in the least: this was all virtual. When they finally reached it, Roger motioned to the staircase and the millions of doors around them. As he did, the white noise that had been present earlier faded until he could only hear the bot.
"This place you are in now is called the Station at the Seams. It's a Deep and Wonderful Place! At present, sir, you are standing between two dimensions."
Ash choked on his breath. "W-what?"
Roger nodded. "Your Earth is but one of millions, billions of Earths. Each one is in it's own dimension, and each is different. Tell me, how would all of that stay stable without something to keep it that way?" Ash shrugs, and Roger chuckles. "The answer lies at the Dimension Axis." he motions to their left, where a Maglev train sat silently waiting. "That is the Nexus Rail. You will ride it soon, on a two day journey to the Dimension Axis. There, you will be given the opportunity to speak on behalf of your world about anything that you need addressed."
Roger snaps his fingers and Ash's head is suddenly filled with images of what looked like the biggest meeting he'd ever seen, billions present, listening to someone speak about a world ending catastrophe. Ash shakes his head, but understands, much to his own surprise. "Alright. When do I set out?"
Roger grins. "Whenever you're ready, but by tomorrow noon at latest. It's about 6 PM here. We run on the same time as most Earths, but we've our own time zone. I will see you again soon. Commence Exit."
Suddenly the world becomes dark again and Ash feels the device slip off his head. He quickly sits up, breathing heavily. So it really is true… the reality of his situation hit him like a Wood Hammer and sent his head spinning, heart beating a million miles an hour. It took him several minutes to calm himself, deeply breathing, trying to get his head around the fact that he was in a different dimension.
No, he thought. Between dimensions. He stood with finality and went to check on his team. They greeted him nervously, but he seemed cheerful enough, so they allowed themselves to return to their pokeballs. Ash looked at the Lake Guardians. "You three should go in temporarily as well," he says sadly. While not happy about it, they agreed, so Ash captured them in three spare Ultra Balls. He was glad he had opted to get a pokemon increase, allowing up to 25 pokemon to travel with him, a helpful decision considering some of the pokemon liberation missions he had run since becoming Champion of Unova.
He glanced around the small room he was in, then, with an air of forced finality, strutted through the front door of his room. He appeared at the staircase once again, though this time he was much lower. He joined the crowd of people and streamed down the stairs, trying not to stumble over the thought that invaded his mind: every person around me is from a different dimension… He managed to make it to the bottom without tripping, and headed to the train. It was a sleek design, colored in royal designs of green and yellow. Rather than wheels, it had two turbines that stretched the length of the train, which upon closer inspection seemed almost two miles long. Ash whistled low as he waited his turn in the fairly quick moving line.
A few moments later, Ash was at the front and boarding. He moved down the aisle, and it seemed like a fairly regular train: aluminum seats with comfortable looking material covering them, designed to fold down into beds when the time came. Ash took one near the back of his compartment, laying his bag down beside him. The compartment was quickly filling up, and Ash was surprised to see four teenagers, three guys and a girl, stagger nervously onto the train. He was understandably more surprised by the fact that three of them were dressed in combat gear, the guys all had swords, and the girl had a vicious looking dagger strapped to her arm and a laptop with a Greek Delta glowing blue on the front. They made their way carefully through the aisle, taking care not to hurt anyone with their weapons, though they were sheathed. They stopped beside Ash.
"Mind if we take these seats?" The first guy said. He seemed to be the leader of the group; with sea-green eyes, untidy jet black hair and a scar on his forehead that looked suspiciously shaped like a hoof print.
Ash shrugged. "Long as you don't impale me," he joked.
The boy on his right grinned. He was dressed in jeans and a green shirt, with blond hair and an overall skinny appearance. "I like this guy," he says cockily.
"That's no reason not to be suspicious, Magnus," says the third. He was the tallest of the three, with gold-blonde hair, blue eyes, and a handsome face. His shirt read, "My daddy is the Lord of the Sky! What about yours?" He gripped his sword pommel so tightly his knuckles were white.
"My Gods, Jason, calm down," The girl said as she settled in beside the other two boys, who were already sat beside Ash. She leaned comfortably against the first kid, hinting to Ash of their relationship. "Impaling someone won't get us points during this, remember that. Besides, Zeus wouldn't want his own son getting kicked off this kind of thing."
Jason grumbled for a moment, before sighing and sitting down, too. "Jupiter seemed upset enough about this in the first place, Annabeth. It's not like him to not know something about this place, eh?"
"All of you calm down," the leader ordered before the girl, Annabeth, could retort. He shakes his head and holds his hand out to Ash. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Percy, and these are my friends, Jason, Magnus, and Annabeth."
Ash shook the boy's hand. "Same to you. I don't know if I heard you right," he adds to Annabeth, "But did I hear you say Gods, as in 's,' for plural?"
Annabeth grimaces. "Yep, you did."
Magnus rolls his eyes. "Nice going, Annabeth." he turns to Ash. "Although, if all this crap about dimensions really is true, then it wouldn't matter. We come from the Earth where all the Greek, Roman, and in my case, Norse Gods are real."
Any other day, Ash wouldn't've believed this and instead ordered these kids to a mental hospital, but with all this? What the hell, why not. Four kids dressed in greek armor claiming that the Gods exist. Sure.
"What about you?" Percy asks.
Ash laughed at this. "Me? I come from the world of Pokemon."
All four looked severely confused at this, and so Ash launched into an explanation that took the better part of five hours to complete. By the time he had finished, the train had started off, taking them to who knows where.
'Cas if their Gods didn't even have a clue about this place, who in their right mind would?
