I should give up, I want to give up. He's gone, swallowed by an Ultra Wormhole. The Surge Phenomenon devastated my life as it did so many others. Yet, here I am now, having fallen through on,e. I'm still alive, even after those people kept chasing me. Is it possible? Could he have survived as well? Can someone like me… still hold onto hope?

Night had fallen across the region, bringing the cold with it. A woman shivered in the cold that seeped through the abandoned house she took refuge in, wrapping the blanket around her tighter.

The woman had long, unkempt brown hair with locks of gray, falling all the way down her back. She wore all black clothing, the sleeves coming past her hands. She was very pale and thin, her sunken amber eyes reflecting a deep pain and sadness.

With the cold beating her down, all she wanted to do was sleep. Yet a small voice inside of her told her that sleeping now would leave her open to attacks from her pursuers. But at the same time, another voice asked her why did it matter. Would it be so bad to fall asleep and never wake up? Free from all the pain this world had inflicted on her?

In the end, she decided to sleep, a torrent of emotions overwhelming her as she nodded off.

As she slept, she began to dream, the same old cruel dream she always did. A man saying 'Love you too', not hearing from him that evening, a call from his company. Everything was destroyed that day. Her happiness, their future. All the Surge Phenomenon left in its wake was emptiness and despair. One that would destroy her heart and soul for the rest of her existence.

By the time she woke up, the morning warth was beginning to fill the room, making her feel much warmer than she did last night. Not that it mattered to her.

Getting to her feet, she left the blanket on the floor and left the house, walking down the empty stretches of road. She'd been living like this for the past two weeks now. Moving from place to place, just trying to survive. The Gloom Organization hadn't made things easier, but they were able to be dealt with.

This power she held, she didn't understand why she'd been given such a gift. Maybe the Legendary Pokémon took pity on her, recognizing the sorry state she was in. She still didn't understand many things about this world. Why did Legendary Pokémon give powers? Who is this Gloom Organization, and why are they in power? Why are the people fighting them called terrorists?

Most of her information had been gleaned from old radios and in one case, a cracked television from a hardware shop. Most places had no electricity, and those that did typically had their appliances cleaned out. She'd been trying in vain to find information on the Ultra Wormholes, but the only thing she had was a recent occurrence of them two days ago in Lilac Town, famously known for its crumbled tower once home to Pokémon spirits.

He had to be out there, right? That was the one thought that endlessly repeated in her mind, the one thought that allowed her to keep on living.

First things first, she had to find food. It had been more than a day since she last ate, most places having been completely ransacked for resources. Another problem was transportation. Her fastest way to travel was through her powers, which wasn't the most efficient method of travel. Thus all of her travel had been done by foot, leaving her shoes worn and feet injured.

"You there!" shouted a voice behind her.

The woman turned around, three Gloom Agents standing behind her. She was slightly surprised they had addressed her directly. Most of the Gloom Agents she had previously encountered had immediately attacked, meaning that these individuals weren't directly after her.

"Y-yes?" she asked, her voice slightly weak.

"What are you doing in this area?" asked the lead agent harshly. "This area of the city is completely off limits, we are hunting a dangerous terrorist and cannot have civilians in the way! What is your full name?"

"Ali Matthews."

The Gloom Agent stared at her, his gaze penetrating through his glasses. "Well, Ali Matthews, you're going to have to come with us to a station for breaking our law."

Ali's eyes widened slightly, was this a sign that Arceus hadn't abandoned her?

"Will we have to walk to the station?" she asked meekly. "I've been feeling faint for the past few days and I'm afraid I can't walk very far."

The Gloom Agent was about to say something when one of his colleagues nudged him, muttering something about Ali being old. In reality, Ali wasn't very old at all, still being in her thirties. However, the amount of stress she'd been under for the past year made her seem old and sickly.

"Fine," said the Gloom Agent, turning to the other person. "If you care so much then you go get the transport vehicle."

The Gloom Agent he was talking to nodded and walked off. Meanwhile, the agent who hadn't spoken yet stared at Ali carefully.

"She seems familiar, what if she's the Chosen we're looking for?" asked the agent, whispering to the other.

"Well what do you want me to do about it? We don't have any way to confirm it ourselves."

Ali regarded them with mild interest. She knew that the Gloom Organization couldn't be finding her purely by luck. Then a thought occurred to her. She'd been Chosen shortly after entering this world. What if… he'd been Chosen as well? If she followed the Gloom Organization around, she could find him!

But of course, that's considering if he'd even been Chosen. And hope wasn't something she believed in anymore, not after he disappeared.

"Excuse me," said one of the Gloom Agents, pulling her out of her thoughts. "Do you have a permanent address?"

Ali shook her head. "No, it was destroyed weeks ago."

"Do you live with anyone?"

Ali paused, a moment of sadness overtaking her, "No."

There was the sound of an approaching vehicle as the transport truck pulled up, parking haphazardly to the sign. Nodding, one of the Gloom Agents walked over to her, his weapons away.

"Alright ma'am, please follow me to the vehicle. We most likely won't be holding you for long, just need to ask a few questions."

A dark glow surrounded her, causing the Gloom Agent to step back in surprise.

"I'm sorry, but you won't be taking me anywhere."

The space around her began to shift and warp as blocks of asphalt and concrete began to rise up around her, gravity distorting around her.

"She's one of them!" shouted the lead Gloom Agent, pulling out his blaster.

However, he didn't get very far. Ali created an explosion of shadows around her, sending all the debris flying at them, knocking them back.

One of the agents quickly recovered, firing his weapon at her. Without pause, Ali sunk into the ground as a shadow.

"Where'd she go?" shouted one of them, waving his gun around.

Ali appeared behind him, striking him with a kick. The other Gloom Agents whipped around, firing their guns as Ali disappeared again.

This time, she appeared in between them, creating an explosion as she did so. The two agents were slammed into the ground as gravity intensified around them, locking them in place.

Ali walked past them, completely unaffected by the Distortion. She reached down and removed the ignition key from one of the Gloom Agent's pockets.

"Y-you'll pay for this!" the man shouted, struggling against the gravity.

Ali didn't speak, quickly moving to the truck. Using Distortion in the normal world was extremely difficult and taxing. Gravity manipulation was one of her less impressive powers when it came to Distortion, and even that she couldn't control for more than a few minutes.

She climbed into the driver seat and hit the ignition, the vehicle roaring to life. Deactivating her powers, she slammed down on the gas pedal, causing the car to leap forward and tear down the road.

Her next step was to get as deep into the populated city as she could. There she could find food and learn some more information about this world and the Ultra Wormholes.

It had been a long hour of driving, but she had finally passed the forbidden city limits and entered a truly populated area. She was surprised to see a few regular people moving about, something that had become unfamiliar to her for a long time.

However, she could tell , even from afar, that these people weren't the happiest bunch. But it only made sense. From what she heard, they were constantly under threat of being in a battle zone, as well as Ultra Wormhole threats.

As she drove, she received a mix of supportive and suspicious looks. This told her that not everyone approved of the Gloom Organization, which was a good sign.

As her eyes moved back to the front of the road, she slammed the brakes in surprise, stopping the truck.

A few millimeters in front of her, stood a girl, completely unflinching despite having almost been run over.

Ali got down from the truck and went over to the girl, only to realize that it was actually a boy. He wore a pale gray hoodie and pants, his long white hair drifting over his light blue eyes.

"You know," said the boy as Ali stared at him. "I honestly half expected you to run me over. You should really look at the road while you drive, it wouldn't do if you went to jail for accidental vehicular manslaughter."

"What are you doing in the middle of the road?"

The boy stared at her, "I was trying to catch your attention, but you were absolutely drowning in misery, so I figured this was the best way to do it."

Ali decided that the boy was insane, and started to turn around, but the boy's next words stopped her.

"How does someone completely unarmed commandeer a Gloom Organization vehicle? Surely they couldn't have just got in the truck and taken off. Though it is plausible, if they were a Chosen."

Ali turned around, keeping her expression completely still. The boy only smiled.

"That surprised you didn't it? I can read your emotions very well."

An unexpected pang of annoyance flitted through Ali, the first time she felt this way for a long time.

"You're Chosen as well," she said finally. "Was it Mesprit?"

The boy laughed again. "I don't blame you for thinking that, but I was actually chosen by Eternatus. I was given two tasks. Seek out 'its missing power' and stop the Gloom Organization, which basically means I'm a hero."

Ali didn't respond. She had figured there were other Chosen. Unlike her, they had a purpose to be Chosen, the only thing being Chosen gave her was a slowly fading will to live.

"Hello?" asked the boy, waving in front of her face. "Thought I lost you there. As I was saying, the Gloomy Guys have been hounding me for the past several weeks now. Not that I can't take them, for now at least. Eventually they'll get me one day, but for now they've been hampering my progress and turning out to be a real thorn in my side. So, I decided to find and enlist a sidekick to help me. While you may not have the Chosen mentality, I'm sure you'll be very helpful."

Ali was done with this extremely rude and cheeky kid. The boy, having sensed this, quickly waved his hands in apology.

"Hey, wait I'm sorry! I was just trying to cheer you up, the amount of sadness you're radiating is bumming me out as well. Tell you want, you help me, I help you. There has to be a reason why you're so depressed. I doubt you've talked to anyone in a long time."

Ali let out a long sigh. The boy, annoying as he is, was right. She'd been alone for so long that she'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a positive interaction. Despite the boy's impulsive jokes and terrible humor, she found it somewhat heartwarming to be talking to someone again.

"By the way, how old are you?"

Nevermind.

"Just get in the truck," said Ali, moving to the driver's seat. "You can call me Ali."

The boy nodded. "I'm Heyden Asher, Chosen of Eternatus and the hero this world needs! Unless we die on the way, which we probably will. But hey, people will tell legends of how we tried."

"You really need to stop," said Ali.

"Y'know," said Heyden as he took his seat, closing the door. "You should really put more emphasis on your voice. No one's going to take you seriously if you speak in the same depressive tone."

Ali put the truck in motion, pointedly ignoring Heyden. She suddenly swerved the truck as she felt a spell of dizziness, briefly driving into the other, empty lane.

Heyden quickly clicked on his seatbelt, bracing himself against the seat. "I know I said we'd probably die in this mission, but you don't have to come about it so quickly!"

He pulled out his phone and turned on a navigation app, putting in a destination.

"We can head here, it's my late grandmother's house. We probably won't have long before the Gloom Organization shows up there, but we can afford some food and rest."

Ali nodded, grateful for Heyden's assistance.

"So, what happened," said Heyden, his voice finally serious. "You don't have to talk about it, but my grandmother always told me it's better to talk to someone than to hold it all in."

Ali didn't look at him. "Maybe at a later time."

Heyden nodded, not pushing it. Ali drove on, the two of them watching the road and the city around them, sitting in comfortable silence.

The trip to Heyden's house was surprisingly and thankfully uneventful, no Gloom Agents in sight. Ali was surprised none of the Gloom Agents had reported the fact she stole their truck, but she was able to use the opportunity to finally get a decent meal for the first time in many weeks.

After her meal, she took a shower, changing into some old clothes while putting her own in the laundry. Afterward, she decided to settle down and take a nap, finally able to sleep pleasantly for the first time since landing in this world.

Yet, her heart still refused to hold onto hope that he may be out there. Her depression had gripped her too long for it to fade away so easily. In the back of her mind, a feeling of fear and hopelessness nudged at her, like an itch you can't get rid of, only so much worse.

Ali woke up to Heyden shaking her, a sense of urgency on his face.

"We have to get out of here, now!" he shouted, jolting her awake.

"What's going on?"

"The Gloom Organization are rapidly approaching from all sides. We have maybe two minutes or less before they get here. It was most likely a trap, one we fell into."

"How long have I been sleeping?" asked Ali, getting up and looking around.

"Maybe three hours or so," he said. "They must have tracked our vehicle or something. I've gathered your few worldly possessions in this backpack. We got to go, I don't want them damaging this house."

She took the backpack. "I know how we can escape, take my hand."

Heyden hesitated at first, but took her hand. He suddenly felt sick as the entire world warped and shifted around him, everything fading to black.

When it ended, he found themselves outside of the house, a few meters away from the front door.

"Woah! You can teleport?"

Ali weakly nodded, her complexion even paler than before. Heyden helped her up, pulling her down a street.

Around them, alarms began to blare as a voice could be heard over a citywide PA system.

"Two of the Accursed have been spotted in District BA. I repeat, two of the Accursed have been spotted in District BA. All residents are to stay indoors while local Gloom Agents handle the situation. Warning, anyone found making contact with the Accursed will be prosecuted."

"Accursed?" asked Ali.

"It's what they call us because we were gifted powers by Pokémon. Everyone has a negative view of Pokémon nowadays because they regularly attack cities near the edge of the Outlands. Little do people know it's because the Gloom Orginization broke the treaty. No one knows much about them, all my information on them came from other Legendaries."

"You've met other Legendary Pokémon?"

"Yeah, they mostly come and go, each with their own agenda. A few weeks ago, Urshifu appeared before me and warned me about another Chosen being directly hunted by the Consumer himself. Urshifu also shared with me some information about the Gloom Organization. And then it was gone, stating something about finding a worthy champion. This was already after I had been chosen."

Heyden looked over her shoulder and saw four Gloom Agents charging down the street pokéballs in their hands. Heyden stepped away from Ali and walked forward, approaching them.

"All right people," he said, spreading his hands as a sign of peace. "Rather than fighting, what if we decided to set aside our differences and talk things through. Otherwise, I most probably will have to kill you, just saying," he added with a laugh.

The agents froze in place, unnerved by his casual attitude. Then, remember they had him outnumbered by a lot. There were multiple flashes of light as two Herdier, a Flareon, and a Nidoqueen appeared. Dark auras surrounded them as they stood much taller than their non-Shadow counterparts.

The Gloom Agents all brandished their blasters, pointing them at Heyden. The four Pokémon didn't hesitate and started running for Heyden, intent on taking him out.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," said Heyden, beginning to glow. Lingering energy particles in the air began to glow and turn a reddish purple as they swirled around him.

Ali gathered shadows around her, firing at the advancing Pokémon. The shadows surrounded the enemy Pokémon, slowing them down as Heyden powered up.

The Gloom Agents rapidly fired their blasters, but the energy shots simply were absorbed by the swirling energies, boosting Heyden's own power.

Having absorbed enough energy, Heyden put his hands together, all the energy gathering at his hands. The Gloom Agents turned and scattered, leaving their Pokémon behind.

"I warned you. Now die."

Heyden fired a giant laser of pure energy, blasting through the street and destroying everything in its path. The Pokémon directly in its path were sent flying as the sky above grew red, clouded by released energies.

"That should keep them off our tails," said Heyden faintly, stumbling a bit.

"Aren't there people living in this city?" asked Ali, startled by the sheer destructiveness by the attack.

"Oh no," said Heyden sarcastically. "The road's closed for repairs. Let's go."

They continued on, Heyden falling behind Ali due to all the power he expended.

"Let's hide in here," said Heyden, pointing to a deserted bar. "It's rarely open, and the alert that's going on is going to guarantee its vacancy."

Ali froze, staring at the bar. It instantly reminded her of the first time she'd met him. Sadness overwhelmed her to the point where she couldn't move. Heyden turned around, sensing her depression.

"I'm sorry to be a bother, but we have to hide."

She followed him into the bar, trying and failing to keep her feelings at bay. Heyden looked at the staff only room, his hand glowing for a moment. Shaking his head, he turned to Ali.

"Think you can get us in there?"

Ali nodded, taking his arm. Instead of teleporting, she turned herself and Heyden into shadows, passing under the door and into the room on the other side.

Heyden flipped on the light, a creepy grin on his face.

"Your powers are so cool. Which legendary chose you, Marshadow?"

Ali shook her head. "Giratina."

Heyden's eyebrows shot up immediately. "Giratina? As in one of the three deities under Arceus? One of the Pokémon responsible for the creation of this world and all other worlds that are potentially out there? As in the one who-"

"Yes, that Giratina."

"That explains the teleportation you did earlier."

Then, a thought occurred to him. "Isn't Giratina able to warp the laws of nature and manipulate antimatter-"

Ali interrupted him before he could go on another tangent. "Yes, Giratina can do all of that. I can't do most of that, except to manipulate gravity."

Heyden nodded. "Right, warping reality is something most people probably aren't capable of."

"How do your powers work?" asked Ali. "What kind of energy was flying around you?"

"Hmm, it's kind of weird. Basically, there's a lot of natural energy floating around in the air. This energy is typically what sorcerers use, but they also use their personal energy, but that's another story. What I can do is take all the energy floating in the air and convert it to Dynamax energy, which I can use to power up myself or my attacks. I can also use it to replenish my personal energy as well. By the way, you have no personal energy for some reason."

"I don't?"

"Nope, which is really weird. Everyone has personal energy from the moment they're born, with varying amounts. But it basically means that anyone can become a sorcerer. I've discovered that abilities from Chosen don't typically need personal energy, but since I can convert mine to Dynamax energy, my personal energy is super useful. But back to the question at hand, how come you don't have personal energy."

"I wasn't born in this world," said Ali. "I fell through an Ultra Wormhole and ended up in this one."

"That makes a lot of sense," said Heyden, nodding sagely. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me that your world has no magic or powers of any kind?"

Ali didn't respond. With the reminder of the Ultra Wormhole, her mind immediately went to Karl, her beloved. The rush of adventure and excitement had finally faded away, leaving nothing but sadness and depression. She was still no closer to finding him.

That day, after he'd left for work, she hadn't known that would be the last time she would ever see him.

Heyden watched her silently, deciding to stay quiet and give her room to grieve. There was nothing he could do right now.

Something was wrong, she could feel it.

A young girl was sitting on a plush couch in a lavish and well decorated room. She wore a striking light blue dress with gold trim and bows. The girl had long silver hair and a slender, petite build.

She stood up now, heading to the nearest window. There had been a sudden surge of energy nearby, one that resonated within her. Could it have been one of these Accursed Aurora talked about? The ones destroying everything and ruining the lives of many?

She didn't like the Accursed, for many reasons. How could seemingly ordinary people hold such power? Why did they decide to commit such murderous actions? And now, one of them wields a power familiar to her.

The girl stared out the window, her golden iris shining. It wasn't her duty to deal with them, but if they came close to hurting Aurora, then they could all die.