Ray's POV enjoy!

"What?" I asked. I was the only one not shocked into complete silence.

"Your call as a chosen one… the ceremony to bond you to a princess will be starting soon." She repeated, trying to explain further, as if explaining something obvious to a small child.

"But… I'm already in a ceremony to bond me to a princess." I said, looking down at Mel. Her eyes were misty. She had already realized the truth.

"A princess from the other world." Emilia said, a bit exasperated now. I didn't mean to make her upset like that. I just… no, this was not possible. A hush fell over the crowd. The king spoke up next.

"Are we sure this wasn't a miscommunication?" he asked. He didn't want me gone, either. He would have to find a new heir, he would have to… I would have to…

"Very sure." Emilia said, her face serious, then she turned to me. "You have to go, now. She will be starting the beacon soon." I inhaled to protest. There was no way, no way in the world I was going to give up what I had here to go to some other world to be bonded to some other princess. Before I could actually say those words, though, Mel put a paw on me.

"It's your duty. You must." She said in a very small voice. She did not want it to be true, either. She was holding back tears, I could tell. "I'll be ok." She reassured me. It wasn't very convincing.

I was never supposed to get this call. It had been years since the others were called, years! Why was I being called now? Why now, when my life was about to begin, when my life with Mel was finally about to officially begin. But… I looked around. Everyone looked at me expectantly. This wasn't what they were expecting, but they had great respect for chosen ones, too. This was not a bad thing in their eyes. It was a great honor… even if I had to leave everything behind. That's why you made sure there wasn't much to leave behind… but the ceremony… was never supposed to happen. So why was it? I inhaled deeply and sighed. There wasn't any way out of this, especially not with this many people around.

"Alright…" I picked up Mel and held her tight. The warmth and light of my life. Why? I said goodbye to my family… why? Why any of this? I hated this. I hated all of this. But I always knew this would happen I knew since I became a chosen one that one day I would have to leave this world. Back then I was ready for it. Back before I actually made a life for myself here.

I went back into the castle and washed, and said goodbye to the staff. I guessed I never would learn more about their personal lives. I would never get to be king. Instead… I would be the charge of some princess. Her name was Emerald, I was told. I forgot who told me. I was kind of going through to motions at this point, doing nothing but repeating the drills I had done years ago. We could be called at any moment, so we had to be ready. I wasn't ready.

"Can we just forego this whole thing? The window of opportunity closed for her a long time ago."

"No, I'm sorry. I want you to stay as much as you do. But… you have a duty. I'll keep you in my heart forever." Meliae promised. I looked around at the crowd. It was time. If I had to do this anyway, I guess I wanted to do it with dignity.

It was different with every chosen one, but it always started with journeying into your natural habitat, whether that be land, sea, sky, or some other medium of travel. For me, of course, it was the sky… it was near space. Maybe that was another reason I avoided going too high up. Maybe I was afraid I would be called. I would be… called by the beacon.

So I blasted off into the sky, soaring higher and higher until everyone and everything else fell away. It was like it all ceased to exist. Whoever this Emerald girl was… she had better be worth it. But, there was no way she could ever be worth what I was leaving behind. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't her fault, whoever she was. That only lasted for about a minute, though. Who else was there to blame? Who put off the ceremony for years and then suddenly decided to have it one day. It was stupid. This whole thing was stupid.

It was too late, though. This was already happening, and I was alone. The sky got darker and darker, and soon blue gave way to black, and I could see the stars. Maybe I could rewrite them so that I could stay here. If I was being rational, I would say that there was no reason to think up those things, excuses to get out of my duty. It was already too late… But I wasn't exactly in a rational mood.

Something shifted in my perspective. I couldn't tell what in the world was happening… but I had what I thought was a pretty accurate guess. I had just crossed over to the other dimension, the other world. I had passed the point of no return without even realizing it. There really was no going back, now. That was a smart strategy for whatever force was running this show. If I had the chance to turn back, I probably would have taken it.

Just to make sure, I flew back straight down. Well, not straight down, that would put horrible strain on me. Regardless, I descended back to the Earth. Just as I thought. There was land down there, alright, but it was not the land I knew. None of the landmarks of the kingdom were anywhere in sight. I was no longer in my own world. The only thing I could do now was follow the beacon.

I could feel it. It was a strange feeling, a strange magical connection, and a yearning to follow it. It was almost like a magnet. Almost unconsciously, I started floating towards the direction of it. Like a moth to a flame, it was kind of pathetic, but what else was there to do. This was my destiny, and it had been for years. Destiny always seemed to come back for you, huh? I was more than a little bitter.

I launched myself up into the sky once again. From this vantage point, I could actually see the beacon. There was a thin beam of light shooting up from the planet away into space. That was where it needed to go. I looked down at the Earth. The beacon was coming from the middle of the ocean. This was normal, I was told. The place where royals and legendries were bound to one another was an island kingdom, on the outskirts of the Hoenn region.

From the accounts I had heard, though, this was a rather weak beacon. I heard stories of light piercing into the heavens for tens of thousands of miles. This was a misty, faint light that faded out into the Milky Way. It did not waver, though, and it showed me where I needed to go. She was calling out to me. I had to go to her.

I flew slowly down, enjoying the vestiges of my old life and my old identity. But this was no longer my world. Mel, my family, Emilia, the King, everything I ever knew was now completely out of my reach. This was a cruel tradition. There could have been an exception for me? No, no, I knew what anyone would say, the honor of being a chosen one outweighs everything else.

I wondered what she would be like. She had to be one of the older princesses, considering she kept me waiting for so long. And her beacon was weak. What did that mean? Was she just not very good with magic? But all the royal family had very strong magic? That was how they could get us from another dimension in the first place. Maybe her power only went this far, or maybe there was some new technique where royalty only used the energy that was absolutely necessary to get us here. And her name was Emerald. That was all I knew about the person I was about to spend the rest of my life with.

We were bound together based off of what was in the human's hearts and souls. Could I somehow reverse engineer her personality from the fact that we were to be bound together? What did it say about her that I was her partner, what did it say about me? I decided maybe it would be best not to dwell on it.

I plunged through a cloud and got my first clear look at where I was going. It was white rock around for a long while. There was a large landmass to the north. That would be… Hoenn? There were two larger islands made of the same white rock. The beacon was coming from the one furthest from the large landmass. I flew towards that one, getting lower and lower. No doubt someone could see me now. This was always a big affair for them, apparently, like the wedding for us.

As I zeroed in on the place that I had learned was called Waterfall Kingdom, I could feel my own energy being projected outward as some sort of, well, projection. I didn't know how it looked on the outside.

I could see them, now, like so many ants, gathered on one side of the crater-like kingdom. They were gathered on one wall, positioned so that I would fly right into them. I could see the waterfalls for which, I suppose, the kingdom was named. It was so tiny for a kingdom.

And there were the other chosen ones with other princesses, lined up along the river, next to a king with a Mewtwo. That was interesting, a monarch of the same kind in both words. Did that mean anything? I wasn't sure. And then I saw here. I didn't want to see her, but there she was. My charge. She was a girl who looked just on the cusp of adulthood. She had white hair and a white dress and gray eyes. It was like she was missing all color. This, too, was normal and expected.

I was to fly right into her to complete the ceremony. Fine, we would get this over with. I sped to her, swooping into the crater and flying across the lake. I touched a claw into the lake as I went. The water was surprisingly pure. That must have been Suicune's doing. Then I set my sights only on Emerald. It wouldn't hurt, I just had to go ahead and smack right into her. I put my faith in my teachers, and went.

And she screamed and fell backwards. At least, I thought that was what happened. My perspective changed, and I was facing a different direction. I looked down at the lake. Yep, there she was… in the lake, her silk dress soaked.

You had to be kidding me.

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