Chapter 64 - Home Again, Home Again

Khrista looked around the street as she stepped out of the portal, her eyes widening in surprise. Turning to have a better look at her surroundings, she took in a sniff of the surrounding air. "We're close to my house. I think I can smell Mom's flower garden from here."

Joshua's nose twitched. "So can I. It must be either spring or summer."

"School just ended about a week back," explained a voice.

Khrista turned to see Maria step out of the blue portal with Liz, the door to another world closing up behind them.

"And the only reason I know that is because I latched onto my house's wifi signal for some reason." Maria's face scrunched up on annoyance.

"A week?" Joshua repeated in surprise. "It felt like longer."

"Time tends to...fluctuate between worlds," Maria explained carefully. "A day here can be an hour in another place, and an hour here could be a year somewhere else. Because time was out of flux in the Pokemon World, it took longer than it was supposed to - a day here is a year there, on average."

She scowled. "Which is why I was gone for all of Spring Break because I was there for eight years with amnesia!"

Matthew laughed at his sister's statement, then looked around the area where they were standing - the street on which Khrista and the Carlsdales lived.

A frown came over Matthew's face. "Where is everybody else?"

"We're in our main neighborhood," Maria replied. "Since everybody's from around here, they took off for their homes to find their families. Speaking of which..."

Maria started off down the street towards one of the houses - a tan two-story on the left side of the street. The rest of the group started to follow, Khrista staying next to Joshua.

"Mom and Dad are probably going to kill me," Khrista muttered to her cousin. "They were reluctant about letting me join with the Carlsdales as a keyboard player, but now?" She let out a sigh.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Liz replied from nearby. "According to Yen Sid, the only reason Maria and I can go from world to world is because Mom and Dad were World Jumpers before we were born. There's a chance that your parents did that stuff, too."

"You think so?" Khrista asked as Maria moved onto the front porch of the house.

"Anything can happen!" Collin piped up, his blue eyes bright as he looked up at Khrista. "Especially when you're a World Jumper!"

Knock knock.

Everyone looked over as Maria knocked on the front door of her own home.

"Anybody home?" she called out in a playful tone.

The door flew open, and a woman with frizzy black hair and green eyes stood in the entrance.

The woman looked over the collected group in surprise and confusion, blinking rapidly for a moment before finally settling on Maria. "Maria? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Mom," Maria replied, nodding. "We just got back from...well, Neo-Mobius."

"Neo-Mobius?" Khrista repeated, frowning. "Why in the world would the realm of Pokemon be called Neo-Mobius?"

"Long story," Maria replied without looking back.

Khrista scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. "And your armor isn't?"

"Look, I just had an accident and got turned into a Reploid by Dr. Light in order to save my life," Maria responded as she turned to look at Khrista, clearly irritated.

Mrs. Carlsdale let out a gasp and covered her mouth with her hands. "Maria! What happened?!"

Maria looked back at the woman nervously. "With what? This?" She motioned to the armor. "Or this?" She motioned to the others around her, including Khrista. "Because, honestly, I think their story was a lot more terror-inducing than the origin story behind the first Reploid."

"Reploid," Joshua muttered. "I know everything about MegaMan, and then this happens."

Mrs. Carlsdale looked uncertain. "...let's go for the second one. We can talk about your situation later." She zoned in on Matthew. "What happened to you?"

"Honestly, I only remember enough to fill a page in a notebook," Matthew replied helplessly.

"He and a lot of others were...hypnotized, I guess, by Cyrus," Khrista stated quickly. "It happened as soon as he got there, so he only remembers from the attack to right now. Some of us were a bit more lucky, since we weren't caught by Cyrus and were able to help with the attack." Khrista sent looks in both Liz's and Joshua's directions, and the two nodded.

"Haaa...haaa... Hatchoo!" Collin sneezed, sending sparks of electricity flying from his blond hair. Everyone looked over at him with either surprise or amusement.

"Collin, what just happened?" Mrs. Carlsdale asked, coming over to stand by the youngest in the family.

"I guess I'm getting a cold," Collin responded with a nervous smile.

"And you need to keep out of sight," Khrista remarked. "Who knows what would happen if people outside of this house found out you were an Electric-Type like Ash?"

Mrs. Carlsdale looked over at Maria, who shrugged helplessly.

"It happened while I was in Capcom," Maria stated. "He wasn't like that before, and it definitely wasn't my doing."

"It was my fault, because I released him from the Red Chain using a GigaVolt," Khrista replied, shrugging.

"Kristine!"

Everyone's heads turned to see a woman with bright red hair and blue eyes running from a blue two-story across the street.

"Kristine, where have you been?" the woman asked. "Are you all right?"

"...I'm fine, Mom," Khrista replied cautiously. "And I was taken to another planet, that's all."

"That's all?!" Mrs. Langstrom looked aghast at the suggestion that it was "just all." "Your father and I were worried sick!"

"I was fine," Khrista replied, holding up her hands in a warding gesture. "And I wasn't defenseless, what with a Rayquaza at my beck and call. Besides..." A smirk appeared on Khrista's face, and her dull red, yellow Master Ball graphic shirt switched to a sky blue shade. With that, Khrista jumped up into the air...and didn't come back down.

The group of Avatars (and Maria) looked up at Khrista either with usual expressions or complete surprise.

"Whoa," Maria stated, eyes wide. "And I thought I had superpowers."

Mrs. Langstrom looked like she was about to have a heart attack. "Kristine, get down from there! It's not natural!"

"Madame, with all due respect, nothing is truly natural unless it is a part of your life. Khrista's 'natural' is different from yours."

Khrista looked up in surprise upon hearing the voice, and her eyes widened when she saw the source. "Chaos? What are you doing here?"

"Aurora helped me get here so that I could assist in helping you return to something similar to your previous lives, as some of you aren't quite used to adjusting, while others are." Chaos looked down at Maria, who waved at the Mewtwo.

Mrs. Langstrom looked confused, but Mrs. Carlsdale didn't look quite so put off as a result of the Pokemon's sudden appearance.

"So, you're one of the Pokemon that my daughter ran into," Mrs. Carlsdale stated, looking up at the hovering Psychic-Type. "She didn't cause you too much trouble when she was with you, did she?"

"Neither child did anything to annoy or cause trouble," Chaos replied calmly. He looked around the group, then nodded as though to himself. "It seems I do not need to worry much here, as most of use children taken were affected in some way by what has occurred. I bid you farewell."

"Wait!" Khrista exclaimed. "If you can get here, can other Pokemon come here, as well?"

The Mewtwo turned to look at the still-flying human and regarded her with a curious expression. Then he gave a nod. "You can bring one Pokemon from our world to yours by using your PokeDex. Although, be warned - some may not come immediately if they are being detained by events of some sort of circumstance."

With that, the Legendary disappeared with a flash.

Khrista looked over at where the Pokemon had been for a moment longer, then landed and looked at the red backpack on her back, since it hadn't left her since the battle against Primal Dialga and Primal Palkia.

Moving swiftly, she took the backpack off and zipped it open. to her surprise, the only item within was the red electronic device that Professor Birch had given her. Grinning, she removed it from her backpack and started to scroll through the Dex entries.

"Which one will we bring over first?" she asked herself.

It's the epilogue, now, guys!