a/n: Decided to go for alternating points of view, so as a general rule, even-numbered chapters will be from Arven's POV, and odd-numbered chapters will be from Ash's. Thanks for reading!

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Roughly 2,000 years prior...

Three flashes of red lightning pierced a soft lavender sky on an otherwise uneventful day. The Pokémon who called this dreamy field their home certainly didn't expect it. A few were startled. Others frightened. Still others were rather annoyed that the lightning disappeared so fast. Whatever created such a display must have been a powerful Pokémon, and it would have been an exciting challenge to battle them.

But with the lightning gone and the source unclear, nearly all of the field's residents went back to their business and put the event out of their minds.

If they had actually known what caused it, they might have looked around a bit longer. Because for the first time since even the oldest among them could remember, a creature other than a Pokémon-a human-had entered this realm.

The human did not want to be there.

His name was Arven, and if anyone had asked hisopinion on the matter, he would have been preferred to be back in Paldea. Hanging out in his dorm with its adorable yet surprisingly efficient kitchenette. Making some healthy snacks for his friends. (Emphasis on healthy; Penny would eat cardboard if she could digest it and it came in a cute wrapper.) Maybe even attending some classes. Which said a lot about the situation when a fifteen-year-old with his GPA actually wanted to be in class.

Arven stood up, dusted a few blades of feathery soft grass from his woolen robe, and tried to get his bearings. The purple-ish hue of the sky was...interesting. He wasn't sure what he expected. It wasn't like the people of the ancient past had cameras to show off their unusual sky colors. Arven wondered what color the clouds were here. Not a single one floated anywhere he could see. The closest he found was a line of colorful lights on the horizon, like an Aurora Beam shooting up into the sky.

He looked over his shoulder. Were there any people here? It certainly didn't seem like it. A part of him felt relief at this. He knew logically that his attire made sense for someone traveling thousands of years into the past. If he showed up in modern clothes, he'd freak people out. The entire point of this trip was to stabilize himself on the space-time continuum, not screw it up worse. Penny's friend Atticus had done his research thoroughly, creating as time-neutral an outfit as he could out of hand-spun Wooloo wool. Arven still had a couple modern items with him-some rations, his Poké Ball, and, of course, the pocket-sized time stabilizer device. But otherwise he should have blended in to any ancient locals he came across.

He felt like he was a cosplayer dragged along to one of Penny's anime conventions.

Arven's stomach twisted. In all his worry about his fashion sense, he missed one obvious fact: he wasn't supposed to be alone here. He frantically gave the field another scan. "Ting-Lu?" he called out. "Are you okay? Where are you?"

An especially large tuff of grass rustled-the type decent parents back home warned children not to approach without a Pokémon at their side. A humanoid creature rose up from the grass, a ground-type that appeared to be made of clay. The creature was no taller than Arven. In fact, he looked nearly identical to Arven. The only difference besides the obvious material that composed their bodies was a stone bowl attached to Ting-Lu's hip.

Ting-Lu nodded in Arven's direction. Then he looked curiously at his clay hand, flexed his fingers, and mimicked Arven's signature thumbs-up. Complete with its goofy smile.

I need a new trademark greeting, Arven thought, though he gave Ting-Lu a thumbs-up in return anyway. At least they'd both arrived here safely. Wherever, and whenever, here was.

"Come on," Arven told the Pokémon. "Let's find a flat spot, get the stabilizer working, and hopefully we can move on from here."

Ting-Lu nodded again and followed Arven through the grass.

If Arven had his pick of only one Pokémon he could travel through time with, it would have been Mabosstiff. Greedant could have been a great companion too-lightening the mood with his cheerful personality. Scovillain could be fickle but he and Arven got each other. Heck, even the Appletun Arven caught in a raid once would be great.

Instead, he got Ting-Lu. An millennia-old Pokémon born from fear with no true form beyond the stone bowl he inhabited. So he had taken to mimicking Arven. Which meant every time they had a conversation, Arven got to talk to a moving statue of himself. He thought Ting-Lu would pick a different form eventually, but it seemed the Pokémon quite liked this current one.

Arven didn't take it as an insult that the fear Pokémon connected with him so well. He could admittedly be a bit of a coward at times. He liked to think he was making improvements in that area, little by little. It was a work in progress.

After walking for a good long while, Arven still didn't find a path or bare ground, but he did find something interesting.

The light he'd taken for an Aurora Beam earlier didn't come from a Pokémon at all. It was pouring directly out of the ground. The beams of rainbow-hued light were bigger than he expected-almost a meter wide. They looked like a colorful translucent wall out in the middle of nowhere.

And not far from this wall of light sat a conveniently large and flat rock. Probably as stable a surface as Arven could hope for.

He quickly knelt down beside it. Then he reached into a large pocket inside his robe and pulled out the stabilizer-a metallic cube about the size of his hand. No damage as far as he could tell.

"Is it all right?" Ting-Lu asked, standing patiently beside Arven as he inspected the device.

"I think so," Arven said. The device was doing all its weird, glowy-light routine like normal, so that was probably good. Now they can had to give it time to boot up and run the stabilization process.

Arven drummed on his knees. As he wait, he couldn't help thinking how that wacko history teacher Raifort would be having a literal field day in his situation. She could get stuck here in the past forever and not care one bit. But Arven wasn't her. All he wanted to do was return home-a prospect that would take a few trips.

Okay, more than a few. Way more. They were...what? Over four thousand years in the past? And they could travel home in increments of a few centuries at best. Assuming the equipment didn't break. Or no one murdered them on the way.

Ting-Lu inhaled deeply. "Your emotions are quite potent after the trip."

"Yeah, well, eat up," Arven muttered, "because I've got no clue where we are or what we're dealing with."

Ting-Lu did not answer, which Arven took to mean the Pokémon was already feeding on his nervous energy anyway. It wasn't a process Arven noticed for the most part, though he did feel a little less stressed than he had moments ago. He generally only noticed when Ting-Lu tried to agitate his emotions to get a bigger meal. And they'd agreed before this trip even started not to do that.

Arven took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I'm not a coward, he told himself. Fear, or his fear anyway, came from a desire for safety. Protectiveness. That was noble enough. Ting-Lu could feed on that.

Just as Arven was feeling more or less optimistic, the device's main light turned from a friendly green to an ominous-looking red. At the same time, a child's voice gasped behind them: "Human! There's a human here!"

Arven clambered to his feet, his brain unclear on which problem he should worry about first. Ting-Lu remained impassive. Probably making a dessert out of Arven's panic.

The voice had come from a Pokémon. A Riolu. She looked the same as others Arven had encountered in the present time. Maybe a little on the short side? She was barely level with Arven's knee.

She pointed again and screeched, "Why'd you come through the barrier? Humans aren't supposed to be here!"

"Uh..." Arven said, glancing over his shoulder. Was the Aurora wall supposed to be this "barrier" she was going on about? Never mind the fact that he could understand her. Ting-Lu was a unique situation. Of all the wacky things the time machine could do, Arven was pretty sure allowing him to speak to any and all Pokémon wasn't one of them. Then again, the Rilou's lips weren't moving. And weren't they one of those species that could talk into people's heads with their...telly-taffy?

"It has telepathy," Ting-Lu observed.

A sweatdrop formed on the back of Arven's head. "R-right. Of course. I knew that."

"No, you did not," Ting-Lu said matter-of-factly. Then turned to the Rilou. "Apologies if this is a strange question, but what about Pokémon? Are we allowed here?"

The little Rilou grinned. "You mean just you? Oh, yeah. Of course! I've never seen a species like you before, but sure, you can stay as long as you want." She did a 180 on her attitude and gave Arven a death glare. "Humans need to get their human butts into the human realm! If you want to use our powers, do it from there!"

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy!" Arven said, hands up in defense. "We just fell in here, okay?"

"We've been traveling together," Ting-Lu explained. "We would rather not be separated if we can help it."

The Riolu shrugged. "So follow him if you want. Our kind can come and go as they like." She held up one clawed finger, clearly enjoying this chance to lecture someone older than her. "Humans, not so much."

Arven and Ting-Lu exchanged uneasy glances. "The device isn't working?" Ting-Lu asked quietly.

Arven shook his head. "If this is some sort of Pokémon-only realm, it might not be able to stabilize me here. What do you think?"

"I think we need the device to work," Ting-Lu said. "If it cannot do so here, the only solution is leave here and find a place it iwill/i work."

"I hate how logical you are," Arven said as he pocketed the device. The Rilou looked curious, but she kept her firm stance, pointing him towards the strange aurora wall. He stepped tentatively in front of the glowing rainbow-hued lights. "I go through here, that'll take me to the, um...human realm?" he asked.

The Rilou nodded. That likely would not have given Arven enough confidence on its own. But as he peered into the light, he could see shadows moving around on the other side. He could feel the presense of other humans. It drew him in.

Arven swallowed hard. It was easy to say he'd gotten braver since all his adventures in Paldea. It was much harder to act that way. Especially when some terrifying stood there glowing in his face.

"I am well-satiated for now," Ting-Lu said, as if that was Arven's biggest worry here. "We will still be connected, whether we are physically beside each other or not. And when the device has worked and stabilized you, I'll return and we'll travel to our next destination together."

"Right," Arven said.

Well, if he couldn't feel any genuine courage, he could at least act like it. And he had some reason to be confident. Fear might have connected him and Ting-Lu at the start. But they were still trainer and Pokémon. Conductor and source, as the eccentric art teacher back at Naranja Academy would say. They could form a bond beyond that. This was a...chance to grow. Or something.

Yeah, if lying to myself was my ticket home, I'd be all set.

He closed his eyes, swallowed his fear as best he could, and stepped forward.