I'm honored beyond belief to bring you all this chapter. Thank you all for reading this far - it's only been a couple days, and I'm already back with the second chapter. As they say, the lab, the lab, the lab's on fire! Enjoy!

Current music: We Are Invincible - Johnny Logan


Sunlight streamed through the windows of Sacred Heart, waking Danny minutes before his alarm was due to go off.

Really, what was the point of the alarm? Today was Sunday, so it's not like they had anywhere to be except mass. And mass wasn't until late morning, by which time every resident who could no longer stand the taste of their own breath would be out of bed anyway.

But Danny saw no reason to stay in bed any longer. Running a hand through his hair to smooth out his bed-head, he yawned and shifted his legs over the edge of the mattress. He was just about ready to climb to his feet when he noticed something.

The bed across from him was empty.

Don't worry about Barrett, Danny told himself. He probably had to take a leak or something. Or maybe he got up even earlier than I did. Lord knows all of us can get restless.

Yes, maybe it was best to wait and see.

Danny saw the plushie on Barrett's nightstand, one of the few luxuries either of them owned aside from books. It was a miniature dragon-like creature, one Danny had only ever seen on playing cards or in one of those anime episodes they were allowed to watch occasionally.

A Charizard.

Barrett did not return after five minutes. He did not return after ten.

Danny figured it was possible his roommate had just gone down for an early breakfast. But that didn't make sense, because the residents at Sacred Heart ate their meals at the same time each day. Going to the dining room early and begging to be served food wouldn't earn you anything but a reprimand.

"Okay" Danny muttered. "Something is seriously wrong here."

He swayed back and forth, a habit the therapists were constantly telling him he should lose. But they didn't understand, they would never understand, that it helped him focus. It allowed Danny to cope with a world that often seemed too much for him to handle.

Come to think of, the sheets on Barrett's bed were still in the same position they'd been in that night. If Barrett had left of his own accord, he appeared to have made the bed prior to his departure, something he likely wouldn't have done if he'd just gone to relieve himself. And he was taking too long for a bathroom trip to be the most likely reason.

So Danny put on his slippers and tiptoed down the hall to the nearest staff office. He didn't need to knock on the door, because it was already open.

"Good morning, Danny" Mr. Wellington announced. He was a rather short, bespectacled man with a receding hairline. What he lacked in stature, he made up for in authority - he practically radiated it, even if you didn't agree with him.

"Good morning, Mr. Wellington" Danny responded in the singsong tone he'd been conditioned to use.

"May I ask why you are here?" the hall master inquired. "You don't normally come to visit."

Danny cut right to the chase: "Barrett is gone."

Mr. Wellington's jaw dropped like a freight elevator whose chains had been cut. He scratched his recently-shaved chin, then swayed a bit and grabbed the edge of his dresser in an effort to remain upright.

"That isn't good!" the hall master barked. "Why didn't you tell me before, Danny?"

"Because I just woke up!" Danny objected. Is he blaming me now?

"Surely if there was a struggle, it would have roused you? I don't see how anyone could sleep through that."

"Well, I did sleep through it," Danny muttered. "Or maybe there wasn't a struggle at all."

"That's ridiculous!" Mr. Wellington bellowed. "Why would there not be a struggle if Barrett's gone?"

"Well, how would anyone get in to kidnap him? And who would want to kidnap him?"

"Criminal minds work in mysterious ways, Danny Sham. Maybe the captor climbed up the facade of this building and stole him through the window."

"You're grasping at straws here, dude" Danny blurted out.

"Maybe I am. Were the sheets unruly? Did it look like Barrett left abruptly?"

"Not remotely" Danny muttered. "The sheets are just as tidy as they were before bedtime. And Barrett was here at that time - I came in after our evening activities and he was already fast asleep."

"Huh" Mr. Wellington sighed. "So maybe the kidnapper drugged him to keep him asleep as he was carried out of the building."

"Maybe" Danny replied blankly, playing lip service to the idea even if he didn't subscribe to it. It was never wise to be cross with the hall master, because he could make your life a living hell if you weren't careful. Well, more so.

"I don't understand," the hall master continued. "If Barrett actually got abducted in the middle of the night, that's a major security breach, the largest such failure in the history of the Sacred Heart Institute. That should not have happened."

"Or…" Danny began, eager to offer another option and yet unable to articulate what that option might be.

"What are you suggesting, Danny Sham?" Mr. Wellington wondered aloud. "Do you think he might have left of his own accord?"

Danny shrugged his broad shoulders - like Barrett, he was rather tall for his age, meaning that the twin bed he'd used since toddlerhood was no longer adequate for anything but the fetal position. As such, chairs like the one he currently sat in became uncomfortable quickly.

Mr. Wellington banged a fist on his wooden desk, which had clearly seen better days. Danny flinched, having been less than prepared for the sudden loud noise.

"Look, Danny" the hall master commanded. "It's not okay for us to not know what happened. If you have any knowledge, you have to come forward."

"I already told you everything I know."

"Well, 'everything you know' just isn't enough, I'm afraid" Mr. Wellington responded, lowering his tone a bit. "I'm sorry I hit my desk - I know you're rather sensitive to sudden noises."

Here we go. Here's the cycle again - he's going to pretend to care about us.

"Look," the hall master repeated. "If you're not going to help us for our sake, do it for your own sake. Barrett's a friend of yours, right?"

"Yeah" Danny mumbled.

"A close friend?"

"I guess so. I mean, we're friends, but…".

Mr. Wellington raised an eyebrow. "But what?"

"We aren't friends by choice, you know? We didn't pick each other - we've just lived in the same room since we were three."

"Ah. But you admit that it could be far worse. You could be stuck with someone you don't like at all" Mr. Wellington offered.

"Yeah" Danny replied. "Better Barrett than someone who'd bully me."

"That's one reason you are here. So you don't get bullied by those in the outside world."

"I guess so."

Mr. Wellington sighed. "The point is, I assume you care about Barrett. You want him to be located safe and sound. You want him to be okay, because, again, he is your friend."

Danny nodded.

"Then it's in your best interest to help us find him. If there's anything else you know…".

Danny's face flushed, his heart rate speeding up. "What if I said that I know everything, like I already have twice?"

"What if I said I don't believe you?"

The 16-year-old could feel his face falling. "You don't…believe me?"

"Well, I'm not going to compare this place to a prison…".

"Too late."

Mr. Wellington clasped and unclasped his fingers. "But research has shown that of all the escaped convicts in the United States last year, the vast majority had some help on the outside, and many had help on the inside as well. So…".

"So what?" Danny snapped, releasing those words more harshly than he'd intended to.

"I want the truth, Danny," the hall master repeated. "If you had any involvement, or know anything else…".

"Wait a minute. Are you saying I had something to do with it?"

"I'm not saying you did, Danny, but I'm also not saying you didn't. Just give us what we need to find Barrett."

When Danny remained silent, Mr. Wellington grunted. "Do you feel as though I'm wasting your time?"

"Of course!" Danny all but yelled. "Listen, there's nothing I know that I haven't already told you. I'm totally innocent!"

"Spoken like someone who is not, in fact, innocent. But okay, I guess I'll take your word for it…for now."

"But I don't understand," the younger man replied, feeling his temper soar. "Do you really need someone to blame that badly?"

Mr. Wellington sighed. "Well…".

"This isn't that mobile game where they accuse one another of being imposters, you know" Danny continued. "If it were my fault Barrett vanished, why would I be the first one to come to you?"

"Well, you've got a point. You just have to look at it from my perspective; that's what one of the classroom aides taught you as a kid, right? That you need to consider how someone else might feel?"

"Yes."

"So I'll tell you this, Danny" Mr. Wellington continued. "You're not in any trouble for Barrett's disappearance, yet. But if you aren't the guilty party, who is it?"

"I don't know," Danny muttered. "And that's the truth!"

"I believe you" Mr. Wellington responded. "Or at least, I want to, and I think that might be the same thing."

The pair were silent for a while. Then, the hall master broke said silence.

"You have to help us, Danny. If one of our residents goes missing and doesn't come back alive, that's a giant hole in our reputation that will be very difficult to repair. That's the thing about a reputation; it takes years to build up, but it can be shattered in an instant."

Reputation? Why should I care about your reputation? Quite frankly, this place is SHIT, just like its initials.

"You may leave now, Danny" Mr. Wellington said eventually. "But I want you to let me know if you ever feel uncomfortable or unsafe. This should go without saying, but definitely tell me if you have any leads about where Barrett might be. We want to find him as much as you do."

Yeah, I doubt it.

As Danny walked back to his room, he thought about the last thing Barrett had told him prior to his mother's arrival for visitation day. That was less than sixteen hours ago, and yet so much had already changed since then.

"You know all those creatures on the cards?" he'd asked Danny that day. "Pokémon?"

"Yeah?" Danny had responded, barely letting his nose peek over the book on trains he'd received for his recent birthday.

"Wouldn't it be cool if they existed?" Barrett had replied.

"I dunno, man" Danny had said. "I just want to get on a train."

Barrett frowned. "A train? Why would you want to be limited by railroad tracks?"

The truth was, like those of many other residents, Danny's interests were often inexplicable to others. To him, there was something oddly romantic about getting on a train and watching the scenery pass you by. It sounded more appealing than flying, at least, not that he ever got to do either. But that was what books were for - to live out your fantasies when you knew they'd never come to pass.

"Listen, Danny, I'd love to live among all those cute forest creatures. Their lives are probably a lot less complicated than ours."

Danny snorted. "I bet you'd want to be one of them too."

"Actually, yeah. I would!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Barrett exclaimed. "It'd be pretty amazing to have a special ability. Like, a legit special ability. Especially to be a Legendary, but I never let the fantasy go any further than spreading my wings."

"Why don't you let yourself fly?" Danny asked his roommate. "If you think about it every night, then why not go all the way?"

Barrett sighed, his green eyes losing some of their shine. He shuffled over to his bed and leaned over it, appearing to break down as he stared at the sheets.

When he finally answered, Barrett sounded far older and more mature than his sixteen years would suggest.

"Because I know that if I imagined that, it would break me. Because it'll never happen, unless you believe in miracles."


BARRETT'S POV

When I woke up that morning, the first thing I became aware of was a sense of peace. That was a far cry from my usual morning routine - usually I was shaken from my slumber by an alarm clock that wreaked havoc on my senses.

"Five more minutes, Mom," I said instinctively. It didn't matter that I rarely saw my mother - those were just the first words that came to mind.

But my mother wasn't there, and I realized that I could have as many minutes as I wanted to lie there in peace and relaxation.

My bed felt quite comfortable, far more so than the cots we were provided at Sacred Heart. It was almost as though I were lying on a cloud made of some uneven material.

Wait a minute..a cloud?

If I were truly lying on a cloud, it would only be a matter of seconds before I sank through, since whatever material clouds consisted of would be woefully unable to support my weight. So I opened my eyes.

The first thing I noticed was that I was no longer in the dusty wooden bedroom I shared with Danny Sham. I gasped.

Instead, I was in what seemed to be a forest clearing. Trees much like the redwoods I'd seen photos of (but, like so many other things, never had the chance to experience in person) surrounded me on all sides. The sun was directly overhead, so I lifted a hand up to shield my eyes.

Something felt different about my arm. It was shorter than usual, or at least it seemed to be. Additionally, if I looked at it a certain way, it appeared almost… white?

But I didn't think much of it. Maybe I was just weak the way you always are right after waking. Besides, I was on the paler side owing to the lack of Vitamin D within the walls of the institute.

Well, I might as well get to my feet. Those people at the Institute are probably worried about me.

At first glance, I could have been in New England - these trees certainly existed in the general vicinity of where I lived. Maybe for some reason I'd gotten drunk and decided to sleep in the woods for the night. But that was ridiculous, because we were strictly prohibited from using any substances, including alcohol. I may not have agreed with the rules, but I wasn't one to flout them so flagrantly.

In any case, I got to my feet eventually. But let me tell you, it wasn't easy in the least. Not only had I been comfortable on the ground, but my body just seemed… different.

Oh well. I'll chalk this up to being hungover. Even if that's a silly reason, let's just go with that.

The next thing I noticed was that I'd been lying in a bed of grass and leaves, which would explain why it felt so soft and comfy. Of course, I knew better than to celebrate that, because a tick check would be in order within the next few hours. Or, if I'd been asleep long enough, it might already be too late…

"Wait, what's that over there?" I mouthed.

My voice sounded different from how it normally did, higher, much like that of a far younger child. There was also a different… dialect to it?

Anyway, I'd noticed an urn full of coals. Despite the bright sunlight, the coals were still burning lightly. It smelled pretty good, like incense.

A couple yards from the urn, there was a sign hammered into the ground featuring a drawing of a majestic, staglike creature whose body contained numerous jewels. Its name was written using an alphabet I did not understand or recognize. It wasn't English, it wasn't even Japanese - but that did not matter, because I recognized the creature featured prominently on the sign.

"Arceus," I muttered.

It was then that I realized that at least one of my wishes last night had been fulfilled. Things were indeed different.

But I don't understand how I got here. There aren't any signs or outdoor incense burners anywhere near the institute.

I turned to face another direction, where I was greeted by the sight of a tall red gate curved at the top like one of those gates you saw at a Shinto shrine in Japan. Even if you'd never witnessed one yourself, there were so many of them in popular culture that you were at least aware of the concept.

So someone teleported me to Japan, and I'm at a shrine to Arceus? That makes no sense!

I must have been dreaming. But this felt far more realistic than any dream I'd experienced in the past. If it was a lucid dream, I should be able to wake up at will - right?

There was just one problem with that: Why would I want to?

My surroundings just felt so serene. I was surrounded by trees that looked like they belonged in California, and I could hear the trickling of water not far away. There was the scent of incense, which might have felt overwhelming at mass, but was relaxing when the shrine was open to the air.

So no. If this was a dream, I would sue whoever woke me up from it, no matter how little standing I might have.

As long as I remained in the "dream", of course, I figured I might as well explore my surroundings. And that's exactly what I did.

I shuffled awkwardly toward the gate, finding it challenging to lift each foot more than an inch or two. Additionally, my legs themselves felt weak, as though I had a fever and they were struggling to support me.

But it became clear that this was no fever dream - this was real. No fever dream was this pleasant.

Once at the gate, I lost my balance.

It all happened so fast - my foot must have caught on something, so I held out my arms like the wings of an airplane. That didn't work, not well enough at least, so I tumbled to the ground. And, as though that weren't bad enough, I was at the top of a staircase!

I rolled down the staircase, making an impact every foot or so with the rock. I let out a gasp with every hit, knowing better than to stick out my arms to break the fall. I might only end up breaking one of them.

After what felt like an eternity, I stopped falling, presumably because I'd reached the end of the stairs. I let out a deep breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

The next step was to take inventory of my injuries. Though some parts of my body were rather tender, I didn't think I had broken anything. Indeed, I felt certain I hadn't. That didn't mean it wasn't painful, though!

Following less than a minute of lying on the ground moaning, the pain ceased to exist, and I could breathe normally once more. I sat up, my eyes watering as I crushed something on my backside. Grimacing, I took a few steps and nearly collapsed again.

I'd better be more careful going forward if I don't want to take even more tumbles.

As I resumed my awkward shuffle, rather like that of a patient in a nursing home, I was able to achieve a better appraisal of my surroundings. I was in a grove of trees with numerous forms of greenery surrounding them, while parts of the ground were dotted with thick mud.

The next thing I noticed was that the sun beat down like nobody's business. The weather was like that of the hottest summer day I'd ever experienced, but if the protective layer of your skin was severely weakened. I likened it to that time I'd taken antibiotics for a tick-borne infection - I'd been instructed not to let too much skin be exposed to the sun, not that I got much sun anyway at Sacred Heart.

It would be nice if there were a few more clouds! Or maybe some sunscreen I could bathe in!

There wasn't a cloud in the sky. In the temperate climate of New England, this was the sort of weather often celebrated. Not here.

My throat quickly shriveled like a grape destined to become a raisin. I needed water, and I needed it soon.

Wait a minute…why's the ground so slippery?

Like a proverbial light bulb going off in my head, I suddenly knew the answer.

It's covered in mud! And water's part of mud! So that means there must be a spring nearby!

Indeed, I could hear the trickle of water somewhere amid the greenery. As a result, I followed the sound as it got louder and louder, like an orchestra slowly warming up before reaching their crescendo. And once that peak was achieved, I would drink my fill from the stream, not caring whether or not it was purified.

Now, my ears were pretty good most of the time, but it still amazed me how far I could hear the stream from. Even after walking for a few minutes through a set of trees bearing some tropical fruit, I still hadn't located the running water.

On some level, I wondered if I were trespassing on someone else's property. The fruit trees were planted in such an orderly manner, so deliberately, that they probably comprised an orchard. Maybe I would get in trouble!

I'm already in trouble for "escaping" that shit. And by "shit" I mean the Sacred Heart Institute.

Finally the stream appeared, and I nearly fell in as I leaned over and lapped up the water with my tongue. The potential for trouble didn't deter me from guzzling what must have been a gallon. And yes, clear water isn't always clean water, but it looked as pure as the drinking water I was used to. Maybe even more so. I wasn't worried about giardia in the least.

Only once I came up for air did I notice my reflection.

I gasped at the sight, arrested by just how pale I appeared. No, not pale - completely white!

Not only that, but my face was completely unlike that of a 16-year-old human. My teal eyes only vaguely resembled my previous eyes, but they were a completely different shape, as was the rest of my head. For all the world, I resembled a dragon child.

Instead of a nose I merely had a snout, but my sense of smell was just as potent, if not more so, than it had been last night. There's nothing like the scent of fresh river water, and it was magnified by my heightened sensory perception.

It was then that I knew that not one, but all three of my wishes had been granted.

Things were different - there could be no doubt. Pokémon clearly existed, not only because of the shrine to Arceus, but because I was a Pokémon myself!

My fantasies had come true beyond my wildest dreams. I damn near jumped for joy as soon as I saw that I had in fact done it - I'd wished my desired future into existence, and I didn't even have to do anything!

The only thing that could put a damper on this moment was a rather squeaky voice that sounded behind me not ten seconds later.

"What are you doing there?"