A/N - I will say right now - I'm not fully happy with this chapter. I feel like I did something... well, I feel like I could've done it better. But it's longer than any chapter of this story thus far, and I'm happy about that. My little segment is over, you have my permission to read now. Mephiles, out.

I stood halfway down the stairs, replica blade in one hand and flashlight in the other. I'd stopped there because I heard something a bit worrying - sparks flying. Well, that was the closest thing I could think of - maybe a broken, live power line would sounder closer. Whatever it was, it was coming from outside the house, in the back. Now under normal circumstances, I wouldn't bother looking - it was storming outside, after all. But there was one thing odd about this: there were no power lines behind the house.

So, partially spurred on by my curiosity, and partially from a feeling that I'd regret it if I didn't look, I went down the rest of the stairs. As soon as I reached the bottom, I noticed a weird glow from outside coming through the back window - it gave everything a sort of haunted-looking purple tint. It was actually kind of cool. But the first thing that came to mind was "What the hell?"

I said that for a very good reason: while I was distracted by the glow, I heard a very loud thump against the back wall, followed by... a sort of pained whine? Alright, that settled it - I was going out there. I grabbed my jacket - black, with a energy-white tribal Absol design on the front - out of the closet near the washer and dryer, brought the hood up, and headed out the front door into the rain.

Immediately, my hair stood up on end - like when you static-charge a balloon and hold it near your head, only in all directions. Of course, I ignored it and started walking around to the backyard. As I went, my skin started... tingling, Like sparks were flying over it. "What is going on?" I muttered, tightening my grip on the not-Master Sword. I reached the backyard - it felt like it took far longer than the few seconds it actually did - and stood shocked, speechless, and disbelieving at what I saw.

My backyard was torn up like you would not believe; a huge section of grass was flattened and black, and the rest looked like a small tornado ripped through it. The house's back wall was not much better - no holes in the wall, but it looked like somebody had shot a lightning-shotgun at the house. There were scorched spots all over the wall, and the windows were half-melted. But that wasn't what grabbed my attention.

A short, sort of jackal-like creature - maybe four feet tall, at most - was laying against the wall of my house. It was covered in mostly blue and black fur - its chest was cream-colored, instead - and a short spike on both its chest and the back of its hands... or were they paws? Some of its fur was singed, and I could see a dent in the wall behind it - and from the fact that it wasn't moving, it looked completely out cold.

I knew what this was - didn't believe it, but I knew what it was. It was a Pokémon; a Lucario! "Alright... I'm dreaming. Awesome." I said to nobody in particular, sighing. "Well... may as well go with it." I slowly walked over to the Lucario - when you know what they can do, you're going to be cautious. Of course, even in my dreams nothing goes right. I must've stepped on a twig or something, because there was a dull snap. Then it woke up. "Ah... shit."

Without opening its eyes, the Lucario jumped to its feet. Any thought that it might not want to hurt me was dashed by its very distinctly hostile growling. Then it went into what I always called the 'Kame-Hadouken' pose that so many charge-up attacks seemed to use, with its hands - paws? - behind it and slightly apart. A small glowing blue orb quickly formed in the space between them, slightly distorting the air around it. Steam rose up from where the rain was hitting the orb.

I waved my hands and shook my head franticly, dropping my sword and flashlight in the process. When there's a Pokémon about to hit you with a ball of energy, you look as non-threatening as possible if you want to not die. "No, no no! Don't blast me - I wasn't going to hurt you!" I sputtered, panicking just a bit. Unfortunately, the Lucario didn't seem to care - it swung its arms forward and threw the basketball-sized orb at me.

In response, of course, I did the first thing that came to mind - I dropped to the ground. The Aura Sphere flew right over my head, singeing my hair as it came a bit too close. "Whoa - that was TOO close!" I said, sweating a bit. Glancing back, I saw what would've happened to me if I hadn't dropped; somehow, without any sound, the attack completely incinerated a perfect circle into the wooden fence surrounding my backyard. 'Okay... not dreaming. That's for sure.'

(I forgot to mention the fence? Oh, hush - it wasn't that important anyway! Now, let me continue.)

I turned my head to look back at the Lucario - and it was gone. "Oh, are you SERIOUS!?" I yelled at the air. "Get the HELL back here!" Then it occurred to me that maybe yelling at the Pokémon that could easily break me in half was a bad idea, even if it did leave. And then something else occurred to me. "That was a POKÉMON! That was an actual Lucario. And... it's gone... and in my world..." I stood there for a moment, thinking. Then... "Oh... oh no. This isn't going to end well..."

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I watched the human from within the branches of a nearby tree. He seemed extremely irritated, then very worried - not that this mattered to me. What mattered was finding out where I was, what had happened to me... and the others, as well. Just as I prepared to leave, however, I noticed him pick up my trainer's backpack that I had brought with me. 'That thieving little...!' I toyed with the thought of quickly taking the container back, but for some reason... I decided against it. 'Something is... strange about this one; familiar.'

Possibly stranger still - considering my... current circumstances - was that I felt... somehow stronger here, wherever here was. 'Another region? Or... the Reverse World?' There was something off about this place, but I couldn't place it. There was a single way to learn where I was - to explore; and judging by that human's reaction to me, not be seen. I looked around, and noticed a denser concentration of buildings to the 'right' of where I was now. 'No better place to begin, I suppose.'

I tensed up for a moment, then jumped. As I thought, I was stronger here - the branch I had been standing on shattered from the force of my jump, and I could see my surroundings flashing by. And yet, I could easily react to the speed; it was as if time had slowed down around me, making everything else - in a strange contradiction - both sluggishly crawl by, and at the same time give the impression that I was going exceptionally fast. It was... actually quite exhilarating.

In no time, I was on top of a large building - the center of the town, perhaps? From the top, standing on a thin stone spike jutting out of the building's side, I watched the activity below. The first thing, glaringly obvious, was the total lack of any Pokémon. Some humans were walking, some were inside those - rather pointless, to me - cars they used to move quickly. But not a single Pokémon was in sight; and yet, that one had recognized what I was... This was far too strange for my liking.

I relaxed, leaning against the wall of the building. 'This is very strange... almost as if it is a completely... different...' The only... not possible, but most likely explanation hit me like a charging Tauros. "I am in a completely different world..." I muttered aloud, eyes wide. I looked down at my forepaws, at the spikes on the back of both. 'And I attacked... oh. That was... not the best first impression I could have made...'

I could almost hear David berating me for being so... hasty, he would call it. And he would be right; the human had outright said he meant me no harm. He had even seemed... excited, if also scared. 'I wonder... how did he know what I am? Do Pokémon actually exist here?' I suddenly felt... rather bad for attacking him... even if I did miss. '… oh, fine... I suppose I have little choice. Besides... perhaps he can help explain... something.'

With a sigh, I looked back in the direction I'd come from - and noticed that it was still raining, and my fur was soaked. '… Maybe I can dry off, as well.' I thought bitterly. Decided, I jumped off of the building, and made my way back to the human's house.

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"Whoa..." I looked at the pile of... stuff that I'd taken out of the backpack. It was left behind when that Lucario vanished, so I guess it wasn't too important. But this was incredible - Pokéballs, spray bottles that I guessed were Potions from the games... even some candy. Then there was the normal traveling stuff; flashlight, bottled water and the like. I also noticed that there was a lot more than the 'pack should've been able to hold. "Wait... is that a bike?"

I spent the next several minutes sifting through the pile, trying things out. The Pokéballs were interesting - the inside was weird, covered in small projectors. "I wonder what it's like in one of these..." I muttered, turning one over in my hand. "If it weren't for this - and my fence being broken - I'd swear this was just a really vivid dream... but this is real." Then the lights flickered back on, although they were a bit dim. "Power's back!"

Immediately, I grabbed the TV remote and switched it on - I had to see if there was anything on the news about all this. Turns out, there was; the usual anchorman was just sitting down behind his desk when I tuned into the news channel. "Hank Wimble here at News 32, bringing you breaking news when you need it. Across the nation, power had failed due to a massive storm from across the Atlantic Ocean. However, something has also been sporadically disrupting computerized devices across the board; the cause has not yet been determined."

I would've continued watching, but at that moment somebody decided to knock on the door... hard. I cringed when I heard the creaking and splintering of the reinforced wood. "Jesus, hold on!" I shouted, storming over to the door. There was a large dent - to put it mildly - that I could see from this side. "Are you serious...?" I hesitantly pulled open the door, and was... surprised at what I saw; for the second time today.

The Lucario from before was back... and absolutely soaked. For a moment I was scared out my skin - after all, the thing had tried to blast me! But then I noticed its eyes - very intense-looking, red eyes - and expression in general looked... almost apologetic. I simply stood there in the doorway for a few moments, trying to process everything. Then... "Ah, hell with it. Get inside, will ya?" Apparently, my mind decided not to check in with me before talking. Maybe it was on to something.

The Pokémon seemed just as surprised as me before cautiously walking past me into the house. I closed the door, wincing again at the sight of that 'dent' - my parents were gonna kill me. "Alright - you're the same Lucario who tried to Aura-blast me?" The only response was a faint whine, and the Lucario glanced down at the floor. "You gonna do it again?" A quick shake of the head; a negative. "Then we're cool. You owe me a door and a fence, though."

I almost laughed out loud at the Lucario's expression of surprise this time. "What? Didn't think it'd be that easy? I'm cool peoples, as some say - besides, you were startled. Not the best move on my part." Well, it obviously understood me; that's a plus. "Now, you have any idea where you are?" Another shake of the head; like I expected, really. "Oh boy... this is gonna be a bit of a shock. You're not in Sinnoh anymore, I can tell you that." That earned me a half-way 'no shit, Sherlock' look. On a Lucario, it's funny - trust me.

"You're actually not even in your own world; we don't have real Pokémon here. Well... we didn't." I sighed, and gestured for the Lucario to follow me into the living room. "A shame, if ya ask me. Not sure how you got here, though. Anyway, here Pokémon is just a video game." I noticed the very confused look on the Lucario's face, and sighed again. "I'd show you, but my game got fried. Freak storm... geh."

Then I remembered that the Lucario was soaked, and dripping water all over the floor. "Hold on for a second. Let me get you a towel so you can dry off." I left the living room and came back a few seconds later with said towel. Tossing it to the Lucario, I asked, "Ya know how to use it, right?" A quick nod answered my question, and in about a minute it'd dried itself off... and had its fur sticking up all over the place. Ever seen a cat dried off after a bath? That's what it looked like.

This time, I did laugh out loud. It occurred to me I was taking this... really well. It probably helped that I wasn't thinking too much about the situation. The Lucario glared at me before turning away in a huff. "H-heh... hey, sorry. It's just... oh, boy you should see yourself." After a moment I managed to stop laughing, and it'd started smoothing down its fur. "Alright, alright... sorry for laughing. Hey, you got a name? Can't really just call you Lucario all the time, can I?"

The Lucario nodded, and held a paw out with the 'palm' facing up. A small blue aura covered its paw, and just as quickly faded. I thought for a moment. "… Aura?" It shook its head and gestured at the window, towards the night sky - wow, it was later than I thought... I kept guessing at names, and consistently failed horribly - it seemed to start getting annoyed when I finally thought of something, however ridiculous. "… this is my last guess; is your name... Aurora?"

It nodded quickly, apparently glad that I'd finally figured it out. "… alright, then." That was a hell of a coincidence. "I've got one other question for you, then, if ya don't mind." Aurora made a 'go on' gesture with a paw, nodding. "Are you a... well, a female?" In response, I got a 'you're joking, right' sort of look, and a slow nod - like it was bloody obvious, which it wasn't. Have you ever seen a Lucario? They don't look particularly... well, the look like they could be either one.

"Well then - this is quite the coincidence." I said in a horribly forced official-like tone. "You see, I had mentioned that Pokémon was but a game he-" I was interrupted by a 'light' smack on the arm by a not-amused Aurora - light here meaning enough to dent my DS. It hurt. "OW! Alright, jeez..." I muttered, rubbing my arm where she hit it - that was gonna bruise, alright... I opened my mouth to continue when the news - yeah, that was still going - said something that caught my attention.

"This just in; isolated reports of strange phenomenon, described only as 'purple rifts', are coming in across the nation. One such report mentions a strange creature exiting the rift; it was described as a 'giant green, scythe-armed mantis', and was spotted leaving the Stadium Field area, right here at home." Hank glanced off-camera for a moment and nodded slightly before continuing. "Should you encounter this creature, avoid being seen and report it immediately to the authorities. We will continue bringing in updates on the situation as they occur. This has been News 32, and I'm Hank Wimble."

I looked over at Aurora, and she was looking up at me. I really only had one word for the situation, but it was enough. "… well, shit." Alright, make that two words. The Lucario - my Lucario? Maybe... - silently nodded, agreeing with me. This was a far from ideal situation... and I felt like it was going to get a lot worse before it got better.