Chapter 5: The Meeting

4:07:03 PM, Route 2, Kalos

After running from the kids for a few hours and walking through the forest, Collin was finally at Route 2.

He took a short break, and was about to get moving again when he heard a strange noise. It sounded like a bee, or in this case, a Beedrill. Collin tried to follow the sound, and traced it to a patch of tall grass.

Collin didn't want to be attacked by Beedrill, but his curiosity got the better of him.

But this sound wasn't produced by a Beedrill.

Collin moved the tall grass a bit, and instead of a Pokémon emerging, a small quadrotor came out instead.

''What the heck?'' Collin said.

The hovering contraption floated in front of Collin for a minute or so, then flew off over the trees.

Collin wondered why it was here, but he suspected it was an IRF drone, which wasn't good no matter which way he looked at it. Just as Collin put the drone at the back of his mind, he heard an even louder noise.

The sound of an MQ-9 Reaper flying towards him.

Collin started running, this time legitimately fearing for his life. The Reaper launched a canister of some kind, and Collin dove for cover behind some rocks.

The canister didn't explode, however. Instead, the cap flew off and revealed a hollow compartment.

After Collin looked at the canister a bit, he decided that it was safe to approach. He looked inside, and found a small device that looked like a cellular phone. Collin picked it up, and just as he lifted it up it put out a hologram. The message was very simple:

''We know why you are here.''

5:14:02 PM, Aquacorde Town, Kalos

Serena was sitting by the river, bored out of her mind.

''How long is this going to take?'' She thought to herself. After this thought, she saw something interesting, a new Pokémon or something. It was a black object with wings and a propeller.

Serena pulled out her Pokédex and scanned the object. The Pokédex didn't give any helpful information, to Serena's surprise. Instead, it displayed ''Analysis Inconclusive'' on-screen.

Serena had never heard of a Pokédex not being able to identify a Pokémon. Just as she was attempting to scan again, the creature accelerated away.

Serean was filled with disappointment. She wanted to learn about every Pokémon, and she just spoiled an opportunity to identify one. She walked along the bank of the lake for a little while, and then decided to head back to town. On the way, Serena encountered another cool Pokémon.

It looked like a box with four propellers holding it up in the air. ''Wow! What a strange Pokémon!'' Serena exclaimed.

She decided to try to catch this mystery Pokémon. She pulled out a Great Ball and threw it straight at the creature, which warranted some unexpected results.

Instead of capturing the Pokémon, the ball knocked one of the propellers straight off of it. The poor creature flew in circles for a few seconds, then collided with the ground and burst into flames.

Serena's eyes were filled with tears as she realized that she had just killed a Pokémon. After the flames went out, Serena picked the poor thing up and started to try to heal it with potions when someone came out of the forest.

It was everyone's favorite foreigner in Kalos, Collin.

''Uh…what's going on here?'' Collin was genuinely wondering why such a pretty girl was crying like this.

''This Pokémon is hurt, and I don't know how to help it,'' Serena said between sobs.

Collin looked over Serena and saw the same drone that had identified him on Route 2.

''Well…that's not a Pokémon….'' Collin said.

Serena blushed and wiped the tears from her face. She felt stupid for believing that she had just murdered a Pokémon, and was embarrassed that she had been seen crying, especially by a boy.

''I'm…I'm Serena,'' Serena said.

''My name's Collin,'' Collin responded.

Collin made a startling conclusion. If this girl was the same Serena he thought she was, that meant that Ash was around here somewhere. Collin decided to ask about him.

''Where's Ash?''

''Who's Ash?'' Serena responded with a confused look on her face.

Collin thought for a few seconds, and realized that he must be in the video game world, not the parallel anime world.

Serena asked Collin if he knew of someone coming to town looking for her.

''What do you mean?'' Collin asked.

''You'll probably think I'm crazy, but Arceus invaded my bathroom earlier today and told me that someone was gonna meet me in town,'' Serena said, worried about what Collin would think of her.

Collin was instantly excited. Not only was he in the world of Pokémon, he had a kind, visually pleasing girl to travel with.

With his excitement, he also had feelings of worry. He knew this journey would be dangerous, and Collin didn't want to see Serena get hurt.

''Well, this may be a little hard to believe, but I'm actually looking for someone too.''

Sorry if the story is getting off to a slow start, but it's important that the main characters have at least a semisolid relationship before the real adventure begins.