[Originally completed November 17th, 2018. Published July 13th, 2019. The prologue and chapter 1 originally shared the same entry in order to make the chapter number and entry number the same. This no longer matters, so it has been separated for your reading convenience.]
Prologue: The Light
The simple Nevada town was dormant. Aisles after aisles of houses in front of dirt roads lay bare. Few people moved during the night, save for filthy scavengers who disrupt the order with their invasions and thievery. They move through the miserable fog that covers the black sky and its crowning moon during a time meant to be peaceful. Tonight, however, not a soul was in motion, save for one.
The man tossed and turned in his bed, seeking the comfort he needed to rest. He knew he would never find it. The bland room with brown walls and no furniture but the bed and a dresser was simply too big. The void was eating him up.
Finally, he turned his body to face the side with the dresser. There was nothing there. Nothing he could speak of. His eyes began to load up for his next session of weeping. He swiftly denied it, swiping them away with his hands before hopping out of bed. He just wasn't going to be able to sleep that night. Again.
He ventured to the kitchen, being careful not to make any noise. What would he be dining on tonight? There were plenty of snacks lying around. Or perhaps, he could binge on one of his remaining drinks. That'd be easy. Nice, even. Slowly, he reached for the refrigerator door and-
Out of nowhere, light began to fill his peripherals. The man turned around only to be blinded by a giant ball of searing heat and energy right in front of him. "Greetings," a voice boomed, seemingly coming from the light itself.
The light was so overwhelming. His back began to slide down the door until he was sitting on the wooden floor. "W-What the…?" the man sputtered.
"Do not fear, I have not come to bring harm to you. Quite the opposite, in fact."
It was then that the man knew he had finally lost it. He was staring at a fake sun that speaks as if it has come in peace. Desperate, he reached over to a drawer next to the fridge, pulled out a knife, and pointed it at the light. "Get the fuck away from me! I'm not ready to go crazy yet!"
The light of the ball dimmed somewhat, as if to quell the man's fear. "I shall say it again; I am no apparition, and I have come to save your life."
That was it. It was over. There was no escape from whatever illusion this was. The man gently put down his knife. "Fine. Just tell me what you want to say already."
"I'm speaking to you from another dimension. Have you, by any chance, heard of Pokémon?"
"...That's a weird question for my own mind to ask. But yeah, I've played a few games before. What about them?"
"In my world, pokémon are real, living creatures."
Immediately, the man chuckled. "Really? Of all things to imagine, I dream up a guy preaching to me about alternate dimensions made up by a corporation for profit? Good going, me."
The voice audibly sighed. "Still don't believe I'm real? Take this."
Coming out of the ball of light, a thick, three-ring bright blue binder slapped the man square in the face. The reality of the situation hit him then; he had not gone crazy, and the ball talking to him was no dream.
"In this binder," the voice explained while the man put the binder in his lap, "are blueprints. These blueprints are for a portal generation device designed to allow you to create a rip in the universe and jump into another. You will be able to use it to venture into my world."
The man opened up the binder. Various papers filled its pockets, showing every angle inside and out of this seven-foot, circular device. No easy creation, that's for sure. "Why should I come to this place you're talking about?" he asked.
"Don't you see the world you're living in? How long do you really think you can sustain yourself here?"
The man pondered this question for a moment. "...I see your point."
"You can use that portal to escape. Start again. And all we ask in return is for your assistance."
"Well, it's worth a try, at least."
"Excellent. Now, before I part, I should mention that going to this dimension will turn you into a pokémon as well, but I'm sure you can live with that, can't you?"
"Oh, then wait-"
"Good," the voice interrupted. "Until we meet again." With that, the ball of light slowly shrunk into nothing, leaving the man to rub his eyes and adjust back into the darkness of night. Once he could see again, he returned to eyeing the papers. Now no longer blinded, he got a long look at what the blueprints had to say. At the bottom of each diagram, essay, and graph, the page was signed with a pair of initials written in white: D.E.
Satisfied, he closed the binder, stood up, and placed it on the kitchen table. He then made his way towards the dining room that, in all its years, had never been used. He would need to make some space for his new project.
Eight months. Eight long, grueling months were what it had taken to construct the dang thing. It looked miserable, only barely reflecting the blueprints' design, but thanks to some lucky material grabs from a few merchants running around town, he had finally completed the project. For the thirteenth time.
The man spent a solid two minutes praying for his machine to finally work once and for all. Then, he pressed the button on the left side. Tiny streaks of lightning began dancing across the ends of the circular machine, becoming more frequent as time passed. After a few seconds, the rip was formed: an opening resembling a black, empty void.
The man heaved a sigh of relief. Quickly, he picked up his backpack chock full of all the things he wanted to take with him into this strange world. With one final breath, he stepped inside.