Welcome to Mistaken Destiny: Remastered!

Make sure to read the notes after the chapter is done, please!

Italics usually indicates thinking, but can also be used to accentuate a word.

Chapter 1)

Pilot: Criminal Mystique

Leo took his phone out and texted his sister a status update.

- Ok, I'm on my way to the school. Be there in 10 minutes.

+ Try not to fall and break your arm while picking me up again.

- Yeah ok, I'll try not to.

He smiled at the phone. Anna always found a new way to make him laugh, even in the roughest of times. The walk to her school was unusually warm, even for spring standards. The sun radiated a bright hue that made it difficult to see his phone without squinting, exercising his eyes to exhaustion.

He pocketed the device and settled with his own thoughts as he made his way to his sister's school. It wasn't a long walk from his place of work, but after having worked for 8 hours, he desperately wanted to get home and relax.

Just one foot in front of the other. The summer season is near, so I can finally rest soon.

His musing was rudely interrupted by a short buzz in his pocket. He fished his phone out of his jeans, squinting once again while attempting to glean the contents of his new message.

+ It's Friday, can we get some donuts?

Leo only sighed aloud, but he was extremely annoyed by the new dilemma that had been created.

Come on, we can't afford donuts, I'm already behind on rent and I make minimum wage at a gas station.

Leo couldn't bring himself to say no however, so he made a compromise with his sister.

- Yes, Anna. We'll go. Just one donut this week, ok?

+ Ok but since we're getting just one, can I get the large cream-filled one then?

His sister's ability to make the most of a bad situation was something he could fortunately relate to. He was forced to drop out of high school to provide for himself and his sister, but his determination to get his and his sister's lives on track lead him to working extremely hard on high school courses once again, completing his remaining two years of high school in only one and enrolling in a community college.

Despite his determination, he wasn't indefatigable, and as he walked towards his sister's school, he wanted nothing more than to recover for the day on his couch watching Netflix. His exhaustive work and long college studies left him a recluse, though it's not as if he minded; all he needed was to know was his twelve-year-old sister was happy.

He mused on his thoughts some more until he arrived, his reflective gaze upon the bright glass door of the school snapping him out of a trance of thought. He picked his sister up from the school commons, and proceeded to the donut shop he promised, stifling his complaints as he wearily continued down the overgrown sidewalk.

"How did your day go?" Leo asked Anna, trying to distract himself from the aching he had been feeling all day.

Anna groaned. "You ask that every time, Leo. My English teacher was teaching us vocabulary, maybe you need a lesson or two."

"Hey, I just want to know how your day went. It's not very entertaining to walk in silence after all."

Leo kept his head down as he walked towards their destination. His once lively life in the quiet, prestigious town of Great Falls had been cut short three years ago, and now he was forced to live in a tiny apartment in downtown Billings, an area he was ashamed to even look at because of the worn-down stature of the city. Despite that, the small donut shop business was a welcome refuge to the abysmal downtown atmosphere, and Leo felt much more relaxed as he entered the store. Anna ordered what he had anticipated, which elicited an annoyed tone from him during the order. Leo wasn't in the mood for sweets; he had too much on his mind to give himself a sugary escapism treat.

"Can we stay inside to eat the donut, Leo? It's hot outside."

"Afraid not, Anna, we need to get going. I'll get extra napkins in case the glazing melts off." Leo needed to make haste in arriving home, an important physics test was scheduled for the next day and he wanted to study well. Anna let out a half-hearted whimper but left with Leo anyways.

They set out on their way home, Leo almost regretting not agreeing to Anna's request to stay inside. The blazing sun baked them in extreme heat, and Anna made sure to make that known, but he couldn't help her if he wanted to; that was up to mother nature's discretion.

Exhausted and hot, Leo and Anna eventually arrived at the apartment, where Leo promptly turned on every fan he had and opened his laptop. Leo didn't even make it to the home screen before he got a knock on his door. He rolled his eyes and reluctantly answered the door.

"Hello sir," the man on the other end began after Leo opened. "I'm sorry to bother you- is your name Leo Vetrola?"

Leo glanced at the man quizzically. "Yes, why?"

"Your landlord scheduled an inspection; he told me to notify you."

"Again?" Leo grumbled. "What time?"

"Uh, Friday of next week." The man responded.

"I'll note it down" Leo replied, "Have a nice day."

Leo sat back down to study but was interrupted once more.

"Who was that?" Anna inquired.

"Home inspector. We've got to clean this place up next Thursday, got it?"

"Fine, then I want two donuts next Friday."

"Deal. I've got to study, can you be quiet for a little while?"

I'm pretty sure that guy at the door got the wrong house, my landlady is a woman, I probably should've told him.

It took longer than expected to finish his homework, but he got done at 10 at night, which just so happened to be Anna's bedtime. He opened the door to her room, disregarding her grumbling about the enforcement, and tucked her into bed before wishing her a good night and flicking on her nightlight.

Just give me a little longer, Anna. I'll get us out of this place.

He walked to his own room and collapsed himself onto the bed, relieved to finally be done with his exam prep. He turned his lampshade off to prepare to sleep, but a creak in the hallway jolted him up as he quickly flicked it back on again.

Not again, Anna, if you're going to sneak around at least do it when I'm asleep.

He stumbled out of his room, disgruntled with his sister's defiance, but instead of confronting his insubordinate sister, he nearly had a heart attack.

Leo came face-to-face with two burly men dressed head to toe in formal wear. Both men had a red armband with a giant Y in the middle engraved onto it. They stared at each other down for a few seconds until Leo worked up the nerve to speak up.

"L-Look, I-we- don't have much, just please don't hurt me or my sister, my wallet is-"

One of the men cut Leo off with a haunting chuckle. "Oh, we're not here for your valuables."

The second man looked over Leo's shoulder, which implored him to do the same. He saw a third man, much slimmer but also dressed in formal attire thrust the door to his sister's room open. Anna yelled out for Leo's help, but the two men now stood in his way, restraining him.

Despite the two men blocking his way being at least 6 inches taller and twice his weight, Leo eventually wriggled past them in an adrenaline-fueled rage and barreled towards the man inside his sister's room. He threw a punch at the guy, but a fourth unaccounted for intruder yanked him back by his shirt, causing him to narrowly miss his target. Unphased by the attack, the slim man turned to taunt him.

"Well, that wasn't very kind of you, was it Leo?"

Leo helplessly watched in agony as the two men previously preventing his rescue now escorted his hysterical sister out of the room. He began to bite and kick at the intruder holding him back, but his efforts were as futile as panicking in quicksand.

"Let my sister go, right now!" Leo's face contorted into a projection of rage as he shouted the childish demand in vain.

"You struggling will only make you suffer more, Leo."

"How do you even know my name?!" Leo shouted back, on the verge of emotional collapse; his anxiety had morphed into a full-blown panic attack. "Take my things, my wallet, take ME, just leave her alone!"

As the slim man led Anna out of the apartment, Leo found a weakness in the grip of one of the two goons restraining him, and he swiftly socked them in the chin, stunning the crook long enough for him to quickly slip out of their grasp.

Leo sprinted into the hallway and quickly grabbed a knife before lunging at the slim kidnapper.

Or, he would've lunged, if he didn't receive a massive blow to the side of the head by one of the men he had forgotten about.

Leo's head throbbed in pain as he slowly stirred to life.

He awoke still bearing the fury he had possessed moments ago, but the sudden tranquility of his surroundings stifled his emotions in an instant. The chill air and bright setting starkly contrasted the warm spring climate in his apartment.

Did they drag me outside? Where am I?

His headache slowly subsided, but not quickly enough to justify any potential further injury moving. Leo sat laid stomach down, head to the side, tears streaking down his cheek as he vividly recalled the event.

It's useless to lay here and do nothing, Leo thought through his emotional haze, I need to report these people to the police... I know their faces, and they didn't kill me, evidently.

Leo composed himself enough to push aside his head injury and push himself onto his back. He immediately recoiled back onto his stomach however as he felt a sharp crushing pain in his back, not to mention the sudden intense brightness of the sun searing his eyes.

What is going on? Something isn't right…

He felt the vexing sensation of mud all over his skin, yet it wasn't the mud that perturbed his senses, it was the skin itself. He rolled over onto his side to check his muddied left arm, supported by his right arm, but he quickly recoiled back onto his stomach once more as something sharp began to stab into his side. He quickly recalled his arm to investigate what nearly stabbed him.

He nearly threw up right then and there.

They stabbed my arm with a spike? And my arm is black and blue, did they cut the blood circulation?

Leo quickly sobered up from the impairment of awakening and shot himself up to a sit, further examining his arms. His left arm dittoed the right, but he could still move and feel his arms, which indicated that the blood flow wasn't disrupted in any capacity. The more pressing issue was the fact that he swore he could feel nerves inside the spikes that stabbed his hands, as if…

No, it can't be…

In reality, there were a lot more pressing issues than his discolored skin. He glanced down to his chest to evaluate any further injuries, observing a spike center to his chest, marking three, and his hands were no longer "hands", but paws. Additionally, he had beige colored fur, with black and blue fur sectioned between his legs and arms.

Leo momentarily fully forgot about the home invasion and kidnapping just a few minutes prior. His seemingly entirely new body hit him all at once as his mind converged on the one and only possible answer:

Ok, so I'm a Lucario, from Pokémon. Either this is a dream, or I'm the main character in some prank show.

Logically, the former made more sense to him, given how the whole situation began with him getting out of bed. He tried to pinch himself awake, but dropped the idea quickly when realized remembered his paw consisted of 3 stubs that he, nor anyone else, could even call fingers.

Ok, we're sticking to the TV theory for now.

Leo took a deep breath to calm himself, then decided to study his surroundings. He noted down the odd trees, unlike any he had ever seen, and-

Oh, right, I have a tail too- that's a pretty key feature of a Lucario.

Leo cautiously extended his new paw towards his new limb. The motion of reaching behind him however made his muscle memory trigger, and he mentally facepalmed himself as he searched for his phone.

It's got to be somewhere around here, I can call 911 and-

His hopes instantly came crashing down as he looked back towards his right to see his phone's cracked screen smashed against the side of the same odd tree he noted mere moments prior. Leo breathed a deep, defeated sigh, and turned his attention towards the environment, more specifically the mysterious tree.

Actually, now that I think about it, none of these plants look like they're from Montana; hell, I haven't even seen these plants anywhere.

Leo tried to stand up and scrutinize the place more accurately, but as soon as he got on his feet, he lost balance and tumbled back down. As if that wasn't enough, Leo's carelessness for the spike in his arm and his awkwardness in catching his fall earned him a long, narrow cut along his fur-covered thigh.

Ok, this costume is far too realistic for a TV show, and surely forcefully stuffing me in one and watching me stumble around and cut myself would warrant a lawsuit.

Leo wasn't entirely sure what was scarier: his situation being real or a humiliating TV prank. He now ruled out a dream after the pain from his cut made it apparent he was truly living this out, one way or another.

Leo tried to stand more carefully by adjusting his new tail, for which he managed to stand for all of five seconds before tumbling again, this time not for a lack of care of his tail but because he was literally missing feet.

Oh, yeah, of course my feet have been replaced by paws. What am I, a dog?

Actually, that didn't sound very far-fetched anymore. Leo slowly stood up again, bracing himself to fall and attempting to correct for his new anatomy. This time around he successfully stood, feeling accomplished for all of a fraction of a second before he was reminded that he was in the middle of an alien forest, in the body of a fictional creature, and a headache that quickly rushed back to him after the events in his home.

Was I out all night?

He answered his own question peering into the sky. The sun was much brighter than the day previous, but he chalked the discrepancy up to the more natural biome. It seemed to be early morning, and Leo used the direction of the sun to guess south, which he knew would likely lead back to downtown Billings faster. Despite that, Leo knew the trees around him were nothing like they should be in Montana, and the plants couldn't be native to Montana as they were tropical. He also got chills at the thought of walking into town looking like he did now, so he figured the fact he didn't wake up in a store alleyway was a blessing in disguise.

Leo walked for all of about five steps before tripping on a rock. This time, he landed with much less grace, despite preparing himself for the inevitability, and crushed his tail behind his back. He wallowed in pain and turned to his stomach once more, his sore tail dissuading him from getting up again.

What good have tails ever done for evolution? All I do is injure myself with this damn limb...

He laid there defeated, whimpering in pain, and clutching his tail. A small, light voice arose from behind him, which made Leo's heart skip a beat.

"Hey, are you ok?" The figure asked.

Leo quickly turned behind him to respond to the voice. The creature Leo faced had a worried expression about its face, but it was a face unrecognizable from anything he had previously seen; except to his Nintendo console, of course. Leo brushed aside the anger and pain from his mishap and found it in him to respond to the creature kindly.

"Y-Yeah, I'll be fine- I think."

"Ok, mister! I'll get you some help just in case."

The fluffy, dog-like creature trotted off. Leo recognized the creature as an Eevee, a seemingly young one with a light voice at that. He didn't have the willpower to object to the Eevee's attempt to help him, and deep down he thought he could use the help, even if it meant talking to whatever weird creatures he would find next.

No, not creatures, they're Pokémon. I mean, we're Pokémon. I'm a Pokémon.

Leo was coming to terms with his new reality, despite his disillusionment with the situation.

I need out of this place, whatever the hell going on is distracting me from filing a police report about my sister's kidnapping. I can write a letter to the police, I don't have to actually go in there looking like this, but I need to figure out where I am first…

Figuring out where on Earth he was wouldn't be an easy feat; in fact, he wasn't totally convinced he was even on Earth. He was surrounded by unrecognizable foreign trees and plants, unlike anything he had ever seen before, which amplified his already dire situation.

Leo decided to ignore the questions he could not answer and focus on the ones he could instead.

Right, so I'm a Lucario, in the Pokémon games it's- no, I'm- a fighting and steel type.

He paused there. Reciting that, even in his head, sent a chilling shiver down his spine, which he felt in his tail, triggering another uncomfortable shock to radiate through his body.

He went to stand up once more in search of help, but he quickly froze when he heard the rustling of leaves and a faint voice. His new prick ears twitched, marking another biological anomaly for Leo to get used to; though, it did seem to have drastically augmented his hearing.

"Where is he?" the faint voice called out from the guise of a dense patch of foliage.

"Just over there!" The unmistakable sound of the Eevee who'd encountered him a couple minutes prior replied.

Leo began to hear a rustling against the foliage, the noise slowly creeping closer until he was face-to-face with a new, larger yet still feline-like creature, with a purple and pink mixed body and a red dot illuminated on the cat's forehead.

An Espeon, now? What is going on-

"Get off my property, damn Zoroark!"

In the same amount of time it took Leo to recognize the Espeon was all but happy to see him, he had been knocked on the floor by a pink ball of energy emanating from the Espeon's glowing red dot on its head. His fight-or-flight mode kicked in, and having been a Lucario for all of ten minutes, he decided fighting wasn't the superior option. He turned to run, but he spotted the Eevee side by side with the Espeon, whom after a quick glance, seemed just as afraid of him as he was of them.

"Who are you?" The Espeon asked.

"Wha- uh, my name is Leo?" He stammered out while picking himself up.

"Why are you on my property?"

"Well, I don't know-"

"On second thought, don't answer that quite yet. Are you actually a Lucario?"

The red dot on the Espeon's forehead glowed brighter and brighter, which startled Leo. He tried to back away, but a mysterious force pulled against his struggles, eventually picking him up and suspending him in the air.

"You're no Zoroark or ditto, yet you can't even wriggle out of a basic psychic grip? What kind of Lucario are you?"

The Espeon scowled as it awaited an answer from him, however Leo had nothing to give her.

"Playin' the long game, are you? Follow me, you need to get yourself cleaned up."

Leo suddenly felt the tension release across his body as he fell to the floor. He caught himself and brushed himself off, but the feeling of the now-hardened mud on his fur was akin to nails on a chalkboard.

"My name is Abaxa, but I presume you knew that already." She commented. "You owe me some answers for intruding on my property."

"Well, I-"

"No, not why you're here, I couldn't care less." Abaxa's scowl returned. "I wanna know where you're from, and who are you really?"

"I-uh- do you know where Billings is? Are we even in Montana?"

Abaxa shook her head. "Never heard of "Billings", or... what was it, Motana? You're speakin' moon runes."

Leo slumped his head defeatedly. "Are we even on Ea-"

"Hey now, you seem to forget who's supposed to be asking the questions." Abaxa interjected. "Who are you, and why are you on my property harassing my child?"

"I wasn't harassing him, he asked me if I needed help," he defended, "and my name is Leo."

"So you're a Lucario, from nowheresville, trespassing on my property with mud caked all over your fur, walking as if someone snapped your leg in half." Abaxa rolled her eyes.

Leo decided against fighting her on her observations; he wasn't about to irritate the only help he's found thus far. They trudged through the slick, muddy forest for another minute before they arrived at a destination.

In fact, Leo called it merely a destination, because it looked nothing like any house he was used to. It was a small log cabin, just barely big enough for him to fit through. Abaxa flung the door open before they even arrived on the porch, which made Leo flinch, even though he expected something like that to happen.

Once inside, Abaxa moved into what Leo guessed was the equivalent of a kitchen, which left him and the Eevee who had stumbled upon him earlier to themselves.

"So you're a real Lucario? The one those on the other side of the mountains are trying to-"

"Facillian, that's enough! No need to pester our guest with questions." Abaxa yelled across the house. She walked out of the kitchen with some berries in hand. "Leave it to me please, Facillian. Leo, I apologize if we got off on the wrong foot, but feel free to stay here as long as you need; I've prepared some berries to help heal the damage my moonblast did to you earlier."

Leo was taken aback by the swift swing in mood, but he happily accepted the berries; he hadn't realized his hunger until now.

"Thank you for the berries. Hey, you wouldn't mind if I asked you some questions now, would you?"

Abaxa shook her head. "Ask away."

Leo paused for a moment to ponder how he would approach his most pressing question.

"Uh, I am kind of... lost, do you know where exactly we are?"

"Yeah, I guessed that. You're on the outskirts of Luvanhalla, the best town this side of the mountains." Abaxa chuckled. "At least, that's what I hope you think. If you weren't already aware, I'm the mayor of this town."

Well, that answers my other question on whether or not humans inhabit this place, no way in hell humans would elect a Pokémon as mayor. Which means this has to be a different world...

Leo turned his attention to the berries sitting on a small wooden table next to him. They were almost the size of apples, but blue in color. He picked one up, accidentally stabbing another berry with his paw spike.

"How sharp are your spikes, Leo?" Facillian asked.

Leo shrugged. "Pretty sharp, clearly."

He took a bite of the berry, careful not to take too much in case he disliked it, but the flavor was unlike anything he had ever had, in a good way; it tasted not dissimilar to blueberries, but a little saltier and more sour.

"I'm glad you're enjoying the berries." Abaxa remarked, smiling as she rolled one to Facillian. "I grow them out back, but I'm no grass type so I'm quite limited in what I can enhance them with."

Abaxa's admission furthered Leo's suspicions that he was no longer on Earth, despite the fact he had absolutely no idea how he had wound up in this place. The best course of action in Leo's mind, of course, was to backtrack his steps in an attempt to undo whatever he had done; an action that couldn't be completed idling in a psychic cat's home.

"Thank you for the hospitality Abaxa, but I need to get back to where I belong."

"No problem, but before you go, if you'll trust me, I'd like to know where this Billings place is."

Leo groaned, not wishing to explain more than he had to. "It's a place on Earth; not sure if you've-"

"So you mean to say you're from the rifts?" Abaxa scoffed. "They've been closed for ten years now, no? Not to mention there's not even a dead rift within a hundred miles from this town."

"Look, I don't know how I got here, but I'm telling the truth. I just woke up in this world not even an hour ago, I didn't do anything special to get here." Leo vented.

"Hmm," Abaxa pondered. "I wouldn't believe you if we met under any other circumstances, however, none of the communities this side of the mountains has seen a Lucario in the past five years; alive, that is. If you want to get back home, I advise you do it sooner rather than later. There's a Sceptile in Horma, a large city right over the mountains who specializes in studies about the rift phenomenon, you should talk to him about how to go about using them."

Abaxa turned around to telekinetically grab an atlas sitting on a nearby desk, gently placing it in Leo's paws.

"Since you're a Lucario, I advise you to stay off the main roads."

Leo shared an equal parts inquisitive and worried look with Abaxa. "And why is that?"

"Right, you only woke up an hour ago, huh? Well, I'm no history teacher, but I'll give you the short story of why. Fifteen years ago, Yveltal was awoken and wreaked havoc on the continent, which we call Hyclon, capturing Pokémon under its influence with a mysterious form of dark aura. A Lucario named Yolsa lead the two major factions for the time against it, but one of his military generals, a Gallade named Vincent, was tricked by Yveltal and enslaved under said dark aura. He puppeted Vincent to rebel against him, and ultimately ended up defeating him; but not before Yolsa put Yveltal in a sort of 'auric jail', where he's struggled to get out to this day. However, since Yolsa's death, the cage has been growing weaker and weaker, and despite Yveltal being caged, he continues to influence a group now led by Vincent, his puppet, named the Rebirth. I don't know a whole lot more else, but as revenge for its imprisonment, Yveltal ordered the group to capture and imprison every Lucario on the continent, but the group often ended up executing them instead. Today, they control all the land north and west of the mountains, which I'd estimate is around 70 percent of the total continent.

"You've got to be joking, right? And I have to travel to the other side to get back home?"

"I wish I was; the only bit of safety you have is staying in a city southeast of the resistance mountains, and that might change soon. Yveltal is growing even more powerful and unstoppable day after day."

Great, it's like the universe put my life on hard mode, and then they decided to spin the wheel of torture and it landed right on the jackpot spot.

Leo sat down and actively dissuaded a panic attack. He couldn't be sure Abaxa wasn't lying, but the more time he spent near her, the more sure he was that not only was she telling the truth, but she was genuinely fearful- for him.

"Well, thanks for your help. I have someone waiting on me to get back home." Leo wasn't even sure how he would survive the journey, but that fear was assuaged.

"Hey, wait, hold on a second!" Abaxa shouted as Leo opened the door. "You're going to walk all the way there without supplies? You'll die faster than a Parasect to a flame, I'll give you some things to bring."

Abaxa gave Leo a steel canister filled with a strange green water, a red spray bottle, and a pile of assorted berries inside a small leather satchel.

"In there's some pretty high-quality berries. A chesto berry, a cheri berry, a rawst berry, an aspear berry, leppa berries for food, and some sitrus and oran berries in case you find combat. Figured you wouldn't need a pecha berry 'cause of that typing of yours."

Abaxa smiled and wished him luck as he left the cabin. Leo sat down on a log bench connected to her house, hoping she wouldn't mind him lingering around for a couple more minutes to get his bearings together. He took a particularly awkward stretch of exhaustion before sitting down; stiffening his tail frightened him for a split second.

Leo opened the atlas and began studying the area he found himself in.

Let's see... I believe she said we were in Luvanhalla, so if I am to go to Horma, I need to travel back the way I woke up at, up a hill, through Vemine, a city parallel to Horma, then I need to get through a short tundra before climbing up, then down the resistance mountains, then it's a short walk to the city.

He stuffed the atlas away and stood up to begin the journey, but a familiar feeling of dread resurfaced as he recalled the still fresh events earlier in his apartment. Though he knew he was unconscious for a while, the kidnapping of his sister felt far too recent, and the gravity of his situation finally caught up to his thoughts.

As he walked, he sniffled a little bit, then began to cry. His sadness slowly morphed into rage, and he violently struck a tree as he swore and cursed. Again. And again. He kept swinging at the tree until he calmed down, his paw bloodied and the tree, thick and bulky, left with a gaping slash across its bark.

I'm sorry, Anna, I swore to always protect you after what happened that morning, and I'm coming. I'll find my way back to Earth; I don't care how many... Pokémon I have to fight.

I assume most if not all readers are unaware of the story I made a year ago, but put simply, it was garbage. It was my first experience ever making a story (and still is), but I have remastered it to be more appealing to a wider range of people as well as support a long plot.

Full changelogs to the story can be found in my bio if you're curious or an old reader, as well as comments on the story. For now though, enjoy the read.

(also, the last story got over 600 views, which is probably a tenth of what I was hoping for, which I am very appreciative of. Thank you.)