Hi everyone! My name is Jason, but go ahead and call me DarkSlash9! Welcome to my newest story, Pokemon: Divinus. As you may or may not have known, I was, and still am, ridiculously excited to write this story, because I think it will be my most well-written story yet, due to things such as me actually planning out the full story, and me being an overall better writer now, compared to when I began all my other stories. This story is rated T right now, but it might be bumped up to M. We'll see.

I came up with the idea for this story after watching the awesome film known as Chronicle. If you've seen that movie, expect to see a few similar points in the plot, but not too many. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly suggest you do. It's an 8/10 in my opinion.

There are pokemon in this story, but they wont have any powers. They'll just be normal animals, the small cute ones like a Pikachu or a Piplup being domesticated house pets, while larger ones like Emboar or Onyx will be considered as dangerous, wild animals. As for evolution, I will be using the real-life, Charles Darwin theory of evolution. Which means a Charmander will not evolve into a Charmelion. Instead, Charmanders, Charmeleons and Charizards will be close cousins in their genus. Same goes for all other pokemon evolutions.

Here are the ages for the main characters:

Ash: 20

Gary: 20

May: 19

Barry: 19

Dawn: 19

Shippings in this story:

Advance

Pearl

Cavalier (1-sided)

Twinleaf

and some others that shall remain hidden.

I hope you all enjoy the first chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon.

Chapter 1

Paradigm Shift

"Jealousy is a disease. Love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy - in fact, they are almost incompatible; one emotion barely leaves room for the other."

- Robert A. Heinlein

It was a chilly, Spring night. The stars shined brightly from above, not a single cloud present to mask their beauty. The moon shed it's soft, calming light down on the fields below, giving a dim yet beautiful glow to the green grasses and the dirt paths. It was a breezy night, causing the tall trees of the Kanto Region to gracefully sway back and forth in a steady rhythm. This, of course, was accompanied with the sound of rustling leaves. Not the softest of sounds, but a natural one, nonetheless.

Five young adults walked down the dirt road before them, three males, and two females. While three of them were observing the beautiful environment around them, one was cowering in fear, and the last one simply didn't care. These 5 young adults had known each other for many years, some of their individual friendships over a decade old. But they had come together as a group of friends in middle school, and they had stayed friends til they graduated high school. Not wanting to separate, they all applied to the same colleges and universities, and much to their satisfaction, they all were able to go to the same college.

They were already in their second year of college, some of them 20 years old, some of them 19. They had just left a party. As expected of a college party, alcoholic beverages were available for anyone to drink. Most of them had not taken any, but one of them did. He had taken so much that he could barely walk correctly. Luckily, his best friend was there to help him walk.

There was also dancing at the party, and while all five of them danced, one of the female friends left everything on the dance floor, dancing for almost the whole party. By the end she was exhausted, barely able to walk. She was currently receiving a piggyback ride from one of her friends.

Then there was the last one. She was walking in front of everyone else, her movement not hindered by a drunken friend or a tired girl. Her breathing was rather sporadic, and her shoulders would slightly twitch at any new sound she heard. Her eyes darted around, and every once in a while, she'd let out a small whimper. It was clear that she was afraid. Finally, she had had enough. She turned around and faced her friends, her fists clenched.

"Ugh! I can't take this any more! I hate forests!" yelled the girl, fear evident in her voice. She was 19, with long, navy blue hair. Her eyes were the same exact color, and the blue color that defined most of her appearance went perfectly with her smooth, pale skin. "Why are we even here?!"

"I'm sorry Dawn, but I told you, going through the forest is the quickest way to this idiot's apartment." spoke one of her friends, gesturing towards the young man he was helping walk. He had unruly raven hair, chocolate brown eyes, and tan skin. He had small Z shaped birthmarks on his cheeks, but by the way the birthmarks looked, most people would think that they were scars. Overall he looked like a dangerous guy, but that couldn't have been any further from the truth.

"H-hey, stop that A-ash!" slurred the young man who had just been called an idiot. He had a head of spiky brown hair, which perfectly complimented his often ridiculous, devil-may-care attitude. "I, Gary Motherf-fucking Oak, ammmmmm not an idiot!"

"Well, only an idiot drinks so much beer that he has to be walked home by four people." muttered the third and final guy, a half smirk on his face. He had blonde hair, and what looked like orange eyes. Just by the way his hair was wildly shaped, anyone could predict that he was a hyperactive person. After his comment, he turned to Dawn and smiled. "Don't be afraid Dawn, I'm here to protect you if anything goes wrong. You're safe with me!"

"Oh please, Barry," interrupted the fifth and final person. She sported a red bandana, and had beautiful brown hair which fell to her shoulders. Her sapphire eyes were struggling to stay open, but she was still able to be an active member of the conversation, no matter how tired she was. She was still being carried on Barry's back, her legs still weak from all the dancing she had done at the party. "we all know you're a pacifist."

"While that might be true, May," answered Barry. "for little Dawn here, I'd break a few of my personal rules."

"Awwww, that's just adorableeeee." said Ash sarcastically. Barry grinned, while Dawn faced the other way, hiding the blush that was forming on her face. Just then, Gary, in his drunken stupor, tripped over a rock. Since most of Gary's weight was on Ash, Ash almost fell down with him. But luckily, Ash was able to regain his balance. "Dammit Gary, I'm really tempted to just leave you here in the forest."

Gary burped before answering Ash. "Go ahead b-bitch, I happen to like trees."

"You see Gary? This is why you shouldn't drink alcohol. 1. We're underage, and 2. You're causing trouble for all of us." scolded Dawn.

At the sound of Dawn's voice, Gary seemed to sober up a bit. Ever since he met her in middle school, he had always had a soft spot for her. Of course, they had always remained just friends, but Gary would be lying if he said he didn't want to be more than that. His small crush on her had grown into full fledged love in the past 7 years of their friendship, and there were times where he had almost considered making a move, only to back out at the last second.

"I'm s-sorry Dawwwn." he said, as if he was being scolded by his mother. "But come on, I'm 20. Legal drinking a-age is 21. I'm only underage by a year..."

"It could be one year, or it could be ten. Underage is underage." said Dawn, shaking her head. "Next time we all go to a party, I'm making sure you don't drink as much as you did tonight."

Gary looked down at the ground below, Dawn's words causing guilt to build up inside him. He looked around, and saw that judging by everyone's facial expressions, they were all tired. As beautiful as the forest was, none of them really wanted to be there, taking Gary back to his apartment. All of them would have much rather been in their dorms, sleeping. But they all cared for Gary, and knew that in his current state, he wouldn't have been able to find his way home. They couldn't let their friend of 7+ years out into the world a drunk mess. Gary began to realize that, and he slowly became more and more sad.

"I'm... I'm sorry guys." said Gary, trying his best to suppress the alcohol that was hindering his thought processes. "Th-this is my faulllllt... I'm a bad friend..."

"Nah," yawned May. "You just partied a little too hard. Everyone's done it before. Just be more careful next time."

"That was some party though..." said Barry, staring at the skies above. "I don't even remember what or who it was for, but I do know it was fun."

"It was for Misty Waterflower." explained Ash. Barry tilted his head. Ash sighed. "You know, the captain of the girls swim team? She's got the current school record for like, half the events."

"How do you know so much about her?" asked Barry suggestively. "You stalking her or somethin'?"

"No," answered May in Ash's stead. There was a hint of irritation present in her voice. "Everyone knows that."

"Wow Ash, your voice got really feminine all of a sudden." joked Barry.

"Shut up Barry." grumbled Ash.

The rest of the walk through the woods was spent in comfortable silence. With determination to prove to Dawn that he wasn't that drunk, Gary removed himself from Ash, attempting to walk on his own. He was moving, but it could in no way, shape, or form be classified as walking. It was a kind of lackadaisical strut of sorts, his limbs flailing around in various directions, while his his feet dragged on the ground. But he was moving by himself, and that was enough for him.

After a few minutes, the amount of trees surrounding the long-time friends began to decrease, and before they knew it, the woods were gone, replaced by open, grassy fields. They all had expected to see a city over the horizon, but much to their surprise and confusion, there was no city in sight. Only what seemed like endless green hills and grasslands. Everyone looked at the fields, then at each other. They were all thinking the same thing, but no one wanted to admit it. Finally, someone decided to speak up.

"We're lost, aren't we?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah..." answered everyone else in unison.

"Well, now what?" asked May, hopping off of Barry's back. "We don't know where we are, and it's what, 1:00am?"

"Wh-why don't we just ssspend the night here?" asked Gary.

"I'd have no problem with camping... but we don't have any camping supplies." said Ash looking around. "Not even an axe to cut some firewood..."

"Who needs supplies?" said Barry. "We can just lay down and watch the stars til we all fall asleep. That's even better than camping. Then when we all wake up, we'll find our way back to the town."

Everyone looked around, mumbling all sorts of different forms of the word 'yes'. Dawn was the first to lay down, followed by Barry, who decided to lay a few inches away from her. Gary saw this and felt a deep fire burning inside. He quickly stumbled over and fell to the ground, a few inches away from Dawn, on the side opposite of Barry. Dawn, aware of their close proximity, awkwardly stared at the night sky, a small blush on her cheeks. Ash decided to lay by himself, a few feet away from Dawn, Gary and Barry. He glanced at May, who was still deciding where to lay. She looked at Ash, and for a split second, they made eye contact. However, she immediately looked away. She walked over to the rest of the group, deciding to lay next to them.

Ash sighed. He didn't expect her to lay with him anyway. Maybe she would have a couple years ago, but they were no longer as close as they were a couple of years ago. A couple of years ago, May was Ash's second best friend, only behind Gary. Their friendship had deteriorated in the past two years, and very recently, did it start rebuilding. The reason for the deterioration? Drew, May's ex-boyfriend. Ash had always been very protective over May. He was like that ever since they became friends in middle school. It took him five whole years to realize that it was because he was deeply in love with her. He realized this during the summer after their high school graduation. But unfortunately, right when Ash finally realized his true feelings, May met Drew. Drew and May hit things off very well, and 2 weeks after they met, they were dating. This left an ocean of despair in Ash's soul, causing him to slowly drift away from May. May hadn't even noticed, as she was also drifting away from Ash, using most of her free time to be with Drew. May and Drew dated for almost two years, until they had a non-violent, mutual break up. Only then did May decide to re-kindle her old friendship with Ash, who was still in love with her.

Ash stared at the starry skies. He waited for someone to start a conversation, but it seemed none of them felt like talking. With nothing else to do, Ash decided to look for constellations. He was never very good at finding them, but always tried when he had the chance. The only one he could ever find was Orion, and that was because of how Orion's belt was shaped. Three stars, lined up next to each other. He stared at the belt, and his eyes slowly began to close, sleep overtaking him. But right when they were about to fully close, he saw something peculiar. It was a small, green streak of light, shooting across the sky. His eyes opened wide, and just in time too, because even more green streaks shot across the night, creating a beautiful display.

"Guys! Wake up! Look!" yelled Ash as he sat up, pointing upwards.

"Huh?" asked Barry groggily, rubbing his eyes. He looked up at the sky, and raised both his eyebrows. "Woooaaaaaaahhhhh... a meteor shower!"

Barry pulled out his phone, and pointed the camera towards the sky, capturing the streaks of green light on video, while everyone else watched in awe.

"There's so many..." said Dawn. "So pretty..."

"Hey, this may just be the alcohol fucking with me, but I'm p-pretty sure that one's red, instead of... green!" half-yelled Gary, pointing up.

Everyone looked to where Gary was pointing, and he was right. There was indeed a red one, and it was moving much slower than the normal green ones. It was brighter than the rest too, making it stand out.

"Awwwwesome, red's my favorite color!" said both May and Ash, at the exact same time, in the exact same tone. They looked at each other. Ash smiled, and so did May. But that was all that happened, because Gary interrupted the small moment with another exclamation.

"Hey, this may just be the alcohol fucking with me, but it looks like the r-r-red one is going off course!" observed Gary.

Everyone looked, and Gary was right again. While all the green meteorites were flying by in the same arc and direction, the red one seemed to be going in a different direction. Downwards.

"Wait a minute..." said Ash, his eyes narrowing. The meteor was definitely heading downwards, but there was something awfully frightening about the exact direction it was heading in. Ash and Dawn's eyes widened, as they seemed to be the only ones that figured it out right away.

"By the way it's flying, it's going to land... right on us!" cried Dawn.

"R-really?!" asked Barry excitedly. "Sweet."

"No dumbass, not sweet!" retorted May. "Dying is not sweet!"

"Hey, this may just be the alcohol fucking with me, but we should p-probably run." said Gary, seemingly unafraid of the red meteor that was approaching.

"Good idea!" answered Ash, standing to his feet. "Let's get to a safer area!"

Everyone stood to their feet and ran, heading to a safer place. The meteor was getting closer and closer, and it was becoming more and more probable that it was going to land where they had been laying. Finally, they had reached a hill larger than the rest. They all ran around the hill, once they had reached the other side, they all stopped to catch their breath. It seemed like a safe distance, about half a mile away from where they were before. Once his breath was caught, Ash looked around. Everyone was there except...Gary. Everyone else looked around, and soon, they all realized it too. Ash face-palmed.

"Gary Motherfucking Oak..." he growled under his breath. "Ugh, I swear, I am going to kick his drunk ass when this is all over."

"What are you going to do?" asked May.

Ash paused for a second, surprised that May had spoken to him directly. She only did that about once a day. But he knew that there was no time for him to blush or be surprised. Gary was out there, right in the path of a destructive projectile from outer-space. Without any more hesitation, Ash gave May an answer.

"I'm going to go get him." he said as he ran away, heading back towards the hill they were on minutes ago.

Ash ran as fast as he could. The direction in which he was running gave him a perfect view of the meteor. It was odd; it was indeed going to land where Gary was, but it was falling at a very slow pace, as if gravity had less of an effect on it. But it was still falling, which meant it was still dangerous. When Ash had reached the halfway point, he saw something in the distance. He continued to run, deciding that he'd find out what the object was when he got to it. But a few seconds later, he realized what it was. It was Gary. Gary was rolling down a hill, laughing aloud like the intoxicated buffoon he was.

"Gary! What the hell are you doing?!" shouted Ash.

"Oh, hey Ash! You should t-try this, it's off the hooooook!" laughed Gary as he rolled past Ash.

"You idiot! There's a meteor heading straight for us, and you're rolling around in the grass?!"

"I couldn't sssstand up, so I concluded that rolling was the only option!" replied Gary, semi-seriously.

"Grrrrrr... whatever, come on!" growled Ash as he grabbed Gary by the arm, helping him stand up.

"Woah man, I could barely w-walk before. Do you really think I'm in any condition to run?" asked Gary.

"Dammit Gary!" roared Ash as he grabbed Gary and slung him over his shoulder.

With Gary retrieved, Ash ran back to everyone else, as fast as he could. But he couldn't run very fast, considering a 20 year old man was on him. He kept his eyes focused on the large hill that everyone was hiding behind. Not once did he look back, not wanting to waste any time. Gary, who had a perfect view of the meteor, gasped. It was about to hit the ground, and it was the size of a mini-van. Gary watched as the meteor made contact, creating a small explosion of purple and red light. A large booming noise was heard, and a visible wave of force radiated from the impact. Gary's eyebrows raised.

"Ummm, Ashy-boy?" asked Gary, his eyes on the wave of force rushing towards them.

"Yeah?!"

"You're um, gonna need to run f-faster." said Gary, pointing behind them.

Ash turned his head around, and from the corner of his eye, saw what Gary was seeing. The colorful explosion, and the wave of force a few inches away from them. His eyes widened. "HOLY SH-"

Ash and Gary were pushed into the air by the force, sending them flying towards the hill that their friends were behind.

Ever since Ash had left, May and Dawn had been anxiously waiting for his return. May started to nervously pace back and forth, while Dawn sat next to Barry, hyperventilating. Barry simply watched the two silently, his phone still recording everything. Barry had tried to calm them down, and it almost worked too. Right when he had gotten through to them, the meteor hit the ground, making the large booming noise. Of course, that sent the girls back into panic mode. But fortunately for Barry, Ash and Gary could be heard screaming in the distance, which meant they were alive. The screams were getting louder too, which meant they were getting closer.

May and Dawn looked at each other, but before any words could be spoken, a small "thud" sound was heard on top of the hill they were behind. Barry, Dawn, and May looked up, and saw Ash and Gary tumbling down the hill, heading straight for them. Ash began to roll to the side of the hill, where nobody was. He landed face first into the ground, his face submerging itself in mud. Gary tumbled straight towards Dawn, and lucky for him, his head landed on her lap, while the rest of his body was on the the grass. Gary's black eyes looked up into Dawn navy ones, a smirk on his face.

"Why hello there." he said.

Dawn was not amused. She flicked Gary's forehead angrily.

"You are never drinking alcohol again, got it?" she said through gritted teeth.

"G-got it." answered Gary, stuttering out of fear.

"You'd better." commented Ash as he walked over, wiping the mud and dirt off his face. May was beside him, staring at him from the corner of her eye. "I risked my life to save your drunk ass."

"Thaaanks..." said Gary.

"Alright, now that we're all here, why don't we go check out the meteor?" asked Barry as he stood up, his phone still recording everything. "I wanna see if there's ALIENS in it!"

"There's no such thing as aliens, Barry." giggled Dawn as she stood up, Gary's head sliding off her lap in the process. "But I do want to examine it."

"Me too. I wanna take a piece of it and give it to Max for his birthday. He likes stuff like this." said May, walking away. "You guys coming or not?"

"We're coming." answered Dawn, helping Gary off the ground. Once on his feet, Gary awkwardly thanked her.

"Let's goooo~~!" yelled Barry, running ahead of everyone else. "I'm gonna go see me some aliens!"

Barry led the group up the hill, and when they reached the top, everybody gasped. As expected, there was a crater where the meteor had landed. What was shocking was the purple, red, and cream colored lights that seemed to be pulsating from the crash site.

"Well," said Ash, eyebrows raised. "that's not normal."

"I don't want to go anymore." droned May. "That looks really sketchy."

"But didn't you want t-to go there so you could get a errr, a ummm, a present! A present for Max?" asked Gary.

"That was before I saw the light show." answered May.

"Oh it's probably some left over ions caused by friction or something. The light should die down by the time we get there." said Dawn scientifically.

"Or it could be aliens! Only one way to find out!" hollered Barry as he sprinted down the hill, phone still in hand.

Everyone followed Barry towards the crater, having to listen to his ramblings about aliens and Star Wars the whole time. It got to the point where everybody just tuned him out, focusing on other things to help them ignore Barry's voice. Gary had focused on Dawn, who was walking ahead of him. More specifically, her butt. He wouldn't have stared at it if he was sober, but when he was drunk, and his eyes tended to wander more. Ash had focused on the light radiating from the crater, wondering if it was really what Dawn said it was. He doubted it, because he'd never seen those colors from a meteor before. May was watching Ash out of the corner of her eye again, for reasons she kept a secret. She found herself doing that more and more everyday. Dawn wasn't focusing on a specific person or object. She was blankly staring ahead, trying to organize the many thoughts that always seemed to be bouncing around in her head.

With all their minds elsewhere, it seemed like they got to the impact crater in no time at all. It was a large and deep crater, one that could be considered hazardous for an inexperienced explorer. They all stared down at the center of the crater, where the meteor lay. As Dawn predicted, the glow around the meteor had died down, but there was still something peculiar about it, giving off an eerie feel to the situation. The meteor was still glowing purple, cream and red, but instead of a normal glow spread evenly around the whole object, this glow had shape. The glow was in the shape of what looked like tentacles, tentacles that danced around the meteor, in an almost protective manner.

"Yeah," said Ash. "this is definitely not normal."

"It's... it's like an octopus..." whispered Gary in awe.

"A glowing, multi-colored, space octopus." added May.

"Looks like some sort of alien rock to me." said Barry in an Australian accent. "Crikey, I'm going down to take a look!"

Barry stepped forward, but before he could enter the crater, Ash pulled him back.

"Hang on there, Mr. Crocodile Hunter." said Ash slightly irritated with Barry's constant excitement. "We can't all go down there. The crater's gradient is too steep. Someone needs to stay up here so they can help everyone else out when we're done looking at it."

"You're not saying it should be me, are you?" asked Barry.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." said Ash with a smirk. "Dawn wants to examine it, Gary's too drunk for us to rely on him, May wants a piece of it, and that thing almost killed Gary and I. I deserve a close up look."

"But, but, but..." whimpered Barry.

"Don't worry Barry. Here, give me your phone. I'll record a video of the 'alien rock' for you." cooed Dawn sweetly. "Okay?"

"Alriiiiight..." sighed Barry, handing Dawn his phone. "I can't say no to a pretty lady. It's still recording, so all you have to do is hold it."

Dawn blushed and giggled, the same things she did whenever Barry flirted with her.

"Let's goooo guys... I want to meet the glowing muli-c-colored space octopus." whined Gary as he entered the crater.

Dawn immediately went in after him. "Be careful Gary! You're gonna hurt yourself!"

Ash wanted to enter the crater next, but apparently, so did May. Unfortunately, neither realized this until they bumped into each other. What ensued next was a series of stutters and nervous gestures, both of them apologizing over and over again. Barry had to snap his fingers in between the two of them to snap them out if it. Ash scratched the back of his head and gestured for May to go first. May grabbed Ash by the hand and they walked into the crater together.

"Woah, this is unexpected." said Ash, looking at May's hand intertwined with his own.

"What? I'm not allowed to hold my friend's hand?" asked May with a half-smile.

"No you can, it's just..." mumbled Ash, his eyes becoming sad. "I didn't really think you'd want to. Things just aren't the same as they used to b-"

"You guys, you g-gotta check this out!"

"Gary, stop that! They might be dangerous!" warned Dawn.

May and Ash looked, and saw Gary playing with the tentacles of energy. Dawn was watching from a few feet away, just out of the reach of the tentacles that Gary was dancing with. The tentacles didn't seem to do anything when Gary poked them or walked through them. They just continued their swirling dance, each tentacle phasing right through Gary whenever they had to.

Ash and May walked towards the meteor, but 3/4ths of the way there, May stopped. Ash looked back, confused.

"This is as far as I'm going. That thing is creeping me out." said May.

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay." said Ash, letting go of May's hand. "I'm gonna go get a closer look."

May watched as Ash continued the walk towards the meteor, passing a worried Dawn on the way there. As Ash passed the bluenette, she grabbed his arm tightly. Ash looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

"You're not seriously going any closer, are you?" asked Dawn.

"Why not?" asked Ash. "Gary's closer."

"Well that's because he's a drunk pile of stupid right now. You should know better than to go touch it. It's clearly no ordinary meteor."

"Just one touch shouldn't hurt. I'll be careful, nerd." answered Ash as he continued walking, his arm slipping out of Dawn's grasp.

"I hate when you call me that..." muttered Dawn.

Ash approached the meteor, paying no attention to Gary, who was still trying to dance with the tentacle things. The closer he got to the actual rock, the stronger the smell of burnt rubber became. His arms and legs began to tingle, but he ignored the sensations. When he was finally within arms reach of the meteor, he placed a hand on it, wanting to feel the texture of the surface. He immediately pulled his hand back, growling a few swears as he shook his hand in the air. It was still hot, and Ash could see what looked like small burns on his hand.

"Eyyy, Ashy-boy!" called Gary.

"Hmm?" answered Ash turning around.

As soon as Ash turned around, Dawn, Gary, and May gasped, the girls cupping their hand over their mouths. Ash looked around at their faces, confused.

"Ash! Your nose!" cried Dawn.

"My... nose?" he asked. He felt it, and if felt normal. But when he looked at the hand he felt it with, he understood. There was blood. Lots and lots of blood on his hand. He looked down to his shirt, and saw a plethora of blood stains. But what made matters worse was that he could see the drops of blood falling from his nose to the grass below. His nose was bleeding, profusely. "Crap, this was a brand new shirt too."

"Ash, just get away from that thing!" called May.

Ash looked up from his shirt, once again surprised that May had spoken to him first. But the surprise was quickly converted to a different type of surprise, when he saw May's face. A small river of blood was seeping out of her nose as well, and just like him, she didn't seem to notice.

"Umm May, your nose is bleedi-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"screamed Dawn, pointing to Gary.

Gary's nose was bleeding, just like Ash and May's. Dawn then looked down at her own shirt, and sure enough, it was blood-stained, more blood falling from her own nose. Dawn wasn't squeamish, but seeing that much blood was enough to make anyone faint. She collapsed onto the ground, face up, Barry's phone still in hand. It was then that the tentacle-like glow around the meteor became less graceful, and more violent-looking. The tentacles started to move around sporadically, in different angles and directions. They were no longer beautiful.

"Dawn!" yelled Gary, who immediately lost all silliness in him when he saw her collapse. He tried to run to her, but ended up falling flat on his face.

Barry couldn't hear what they were saying from the top of the crater, but he knew something was wrong when he saw Dawn collapse. He quickly ran into the crater, completely forgetting about the job he had been assigned earlier.

"Dawn!" yelled Barry, running towards everyone else. "What's going on?!"

"Barry?!" yelled Ash, who was kneeling beside Dawn, trying to wake her. "What are you doing?!"

"What happened to Daw- agghhh!" cried Barry, blood practically exploding out of his nose mid-sentence. He tripped and fell, landing face first on the ground. He lifted his head, and saw a puddle of blood where his face had landed. "What the heck?! My nose!"

"We're all gonna die..." mumbled May sadly as she began to stumble back and forth. She then collapsed, unconscious.

"Not May too!" cried Ash.

"Umm, Ash?" asked Gary.

"WHAT?!" snapped Ash, turning to Gary.

The tentacles of energy that were surrounding the meteor had wrapped themselves around Gary, restraining him.

"Get these things o-off of meeeee!" screamed Gary as the tentacles pulled him into the air. The tentacles around Gary quickly tightened their grip on Gary, and somehow, that knocked him out. The tentacles then released their grip on the young man, dropping him onto the cold, hard ground. This left just Barry and Ash as the only conscious people.

"Well, that escalated quickly." thought Barry.

"Gary!" yelled Ash. "What the fu- UUUGHHH!"

Ash howled in pain. A sharp, hot pain was running straight through his torso, almost immobilizing him. His widened eyes looked down, and saw that one of the tentacles had impaled him from his back through to his chest, effectively leaving a softball sized hole through his body. Blood sputtered from his mouth as he collapsed onto Dawn, his face landing on her chest.

"Lucky bastard..." muttered Barry, seeing how Ash had landed on Dawn.

But just then, even more blood erupted out of Barry's nose. He tried his best to stay conscious, but he was losing a lot of blood. He eventually gave in and went limp, his consciousness fading away. When all five of them were unconscious, the tentacles of energy around the meteor returning to their rhythmic, swirling dance, as if nothing had ever happened.

And the winds of the chilly Spring night blew, swaying the blood-stained grasses back and forth. Back and forth.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

A pair of brown eyes cracked open, and within the same second that the alarm clock began to ring, it was turned off. The 20 year old sat up, and yawned, his raven hair covering his tired eyes. Through the window of his dorm room, sunlight entered, illuminating the otherwise dark room. He glanced at the clock. 8:30am. He removed his blanket from his lap and stood up.

"Damn, that was some party last night..." thought Ash, stretching as arms and legs. It was then that he recalled all the events from the night before. The last thing he remembered was everybody's noses bleeding. He looked down at himself, and saw that he was in a different shirt than he was the night before. But then he realized that he was in his dorm room, not in a grassy field in the middle of nowhere. He shrugged his shoulders. "That was a crazy dream...I gotta tell everyone else about it..."

Now fully awake, Ash walked over to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He looked himself in the mirror, and for the first time in his life, his own reflection scared the living daylights out of him. His eyes were extremely bloodshot, and there was dried blood all over the lower half of his face. He ran back to his bed, and examined his pillow. There was no blood on his pillow, which meant his nose had to have bled before he went to bed.

"That was a dream, right?" thought Ash, walking back to the bathroom.

He quickly splashed some water on his face, washing off the blood. As he washed his face, he heard what sounded like a door opening. He quickly turned off the faucet and jogged out of the bathroom, thinking someone had entered his dorm. But much to his confusion, nobody had done such a thing. His door was closed. He walked towards the door and opened it. He poked his head into the hallway. All he saw was somebody on the far end of the hall, exiting their dorm room. Ash's eyes widened.

"How was I able to hear them open their door all the way from here?"

Ash slowly closed his door, and went back to the bathroom.

After washing his face and brushing his teeth, Ash went to his kitchen to make himself some breakfast. He opened the fridge, and stared at what was inside. Being college student, he didn't have much of a selection. His choices were ramen noodles, Hot Pockets, or Honey Nut Cheerios. He pulled out a Bacon, Egg & Cheese flavored Hot Pocket and tossed it in the microwave.

While his not-very-nutritious breakfast cooked in the microwave, Ash went to his desk and sat, planning on studying. He had and exam at 5:00pm, and he really needed to study for it. He opened his textbook, and opened a drawer. he shuffled through it until he found what he was looking for; his reading glasses. He put them on and tried to read his books, but found that he couldn't. The words were too blurry. he lifted an eyebrow and took off the glasses, concluding that the lenses were probably dirty. As he cleaned the lenses, he glanced at the textbook. He was able to see all the words, clearly and sharply, without the aid of his glasses.

"What in the world..."

Just then, the smell of his Hot Pocket invaded his nostrils. All the way from his desk. He put his reading glasses down and entered the kitchen. He opened a cabinet, and when he did, three glass plates fell out of it. He caught the first one, pushed the second one back into the cabinet before it completely fell out, and bounced the third one into the air with his knee and caught it, all in one fluid motion, without any of the plates shattering. He stood there for a few seconds, amazed at what he had just done. It was as if his reflexes had been increased tenfold.

He put the extra plate back in the cabinet, and walked over to the microwave. He took out his Hot Pocket, poured himself a glass of fruit punch, and went to his desk. He moved the books to the side and placed his 'breakfast' there. He took a bite into the Hot Pocket, and froze. It tasted... good. Very good. So good that he shoved the rest of the pocket into his mouth, devouring the whole thing in two bites. It was amazing. He could taste every seasoning, herb, and spice in the food, things that he'd never tasted in the bland meal before. He grabbed his cup of fruit punch and took a sip, and as he half-expected, he could taste each and every fruit present in the beverage. His eyes widened.

"Whether that meteor thing was a dream or not, something must have happened to me last night..." thought Ash as he looked at the clock. 8:51am. "I have class in about 3 hours. I've got some free time... I'm going back to where that meteor landed, if that actually happened. Maybe I'll get some answers."

Ash drank the rest of his juice, and stood. He took off his clothes and walked to his closet. The first thing he saw was his new shirt, blood stains all over it. He sighed.

"Nope, that definitely wasn't a dream." he said as he grabbed a white t-shirt, a green zip-up jacket and some gray pants. "I wonder if everyone else is okay..."

Once his clothes were changed, he headed towards the door. But before he left, he turned around and grabbed a pair of John Lennon style black sunglasses. He put them on his face so his extremely bloodshot eyes could be hidden. All set, he left his room, beginning his journey to the crash site. As he walked through the halls of his dorm building, his mind was completely enveloped in trying to remember what exactly had happened the night before. He remembered walking through the woods, he remembered laying on the hill, he remembered running, going back to save Gary, and he remembered all of them walking towards the crater. After that, it all became foggy and fragmented.

He stepped out of the building, and his thoughts were immediately put on hold. He was instantly overstimulated. The cold, Spring morning winds blew around, forcing Ash to endure the sound of millions of rustling leaves. He could hear every Pidgey and Spearow chirping, and every Beedrill buzzing. He could hear people's conversations from 20 feet away, and could see much further than he normally could. He shook his head and tried to ignore the symphony of sounds, focusing his mind on the task at hand. He had to find that meteor.

After about 20 minutes of walking and trying to ignore the millions of stimuli around him, Ash paused and stood still. He was already off campus, having reached a dirt road. The road lead to where the party was held, which was where Ash wanted to go. He knew if he reached the location of the party, he could find the meteor. But with his heightened senses, he kept on sensing a presence around him.

"Whoever you are, I know you're following me." he said out loud. "I can hear you breathing."

"Really?" asked Dawn, hopping out of a nearby bush. She was in a navy blue pea coat, and black jeans. She too was wearing a pair of black sunglasses, the lenses shaped like flowers. "You too?"

"'Me too' what?" asked Ash as he continued walking, not at all surprised that Dawn had hopped out of a bush.

"Your senses and reflexes are all sharper too?" asked Dawn, walking with Ash.

"Oh. Yeah, they are. I'm glad I'm not the only one... I'm actually on my way to the meteor now... You think the heightened senses have something to do with that meteor last night?" asked Ash.

"That has to be the reason..." said Dawn. "This feeling... I don't know how to describe it. It feels like I can do anything now."

"I know what you mean..." replied Ash. "Heightened reflexes, hearing, sight, taste and smell... I guess the only word that fits the description is-"

"Superhuman." said Dawn.

"I was going to say extraordinary, but that works too. So, why exactly were you following me?"

"I u-umm ahh..." stuttered Dawn nervously, a small blush on her cheeks. "I um, wanted to check out the meteor. Hey, are your eyes bloodshot too?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm wearing these." said Ash, pointing to his sunglasses.

"Same. That's also why I'm wearing mine... I really hope this is all reversible, I want to be normal again."

"Me too nerd, me too." replied Ash.

"Will you quit calling me that?" whined Dawn. "I really hate it."

"Never." chuckled Ash.

Dawn pouted and punched him in the arm. Or at least, she tried to. Ash caught her fist without even taking his eyes off the path ahead.

"How did you-"

"Heightened reflexes. Y'know, the ones we just talked about?" said Ash with a smirk. "Silly Dawn, you may be book-smart, but you've always been lacking in the common sense department."

"Oh whatever, Ass Ketchup." retorted Dawn, mischievous intent clear in her voice.

"What did you call me, nerd?"

"I called you Ass Ketchup, Ass."

Ash and Dawn stared at each other angrily, and for a split second, it looked like they were actually going to attack each other. But instead, they both burst into laughter, as if they had just witnessed the funniest thing of their lives. Ash and Dawn were too good of friends to ever fight. Ever since May and Ash drifted apart, Dawn had unknowingly taken May's place as Ash's best female friend. They got along quite well, as they were considered the smarter portion of the group, Dawn being book-smart and Ash being street-smart. They were always friends, but they had become best friends as of late, but it was just that. Ash did have feelings for her, but they were practically nothing compared to the feelings he had for May. And he viewed Dawn as off-limits, since he was well aware of Gary's interest in her. Pursuing a relationship with Dawn would be considered a major violation of Bro Code, a code of honor that Ash and Gary, being best friends since the age of 4, lived off of.

But as close as Ash and Dawn were, he had his dense moments. An example of his density would be the fact that he was completely oblivious to Dawn's crush on him. She sent signals all the time, but Ash never received them. The only time Ash wasn't a dense fool was when May was the subject. If it was May, he'd pick up every signal and analyze every detail carefully to make sure it was actually a signal to begin with. Dawn knew Ash's heart belonged to May, and she knew that there was little to no hope they'd ever end up together. She was okay with that though, because Ash wasn't the only boy who invaded her thoughts often.

"So..." said Dawn, her and Ash's laughter over. "How are things with May?"

"Shouldn't you already know?" asked Ash, amused. "When you're not studying or hanging out with me, you're hanging out with her. I'm sure you know more about the two of us than we ourselves know."

"This is true." answered Dawn.

"But I'll entertain you. I really miss the good old days." muttered Ash sadly, his eyes gazing at the dirt below them.

"What do you mean?" asked Dawn.

"I mean the days before May met Prince Charming and his bouquet of roses... " muttered Ash.

"But they broke up 3 weeks ago. You're already friends with her again." stated Dawn.

"Yeah, but it doesn't feel the same. Before, I could tell her anything. Now... now I feel like I can't. And something tells me she feels the exact same way. It's not that I don't trust her... I just feel like the empathy we had for so long has just... disappeared."

"Oh Ash, you've gotta be more optimistic. You know what she told me the other day? She told me to keep this a secret, but I'm willing to tell you anyway. She said you've changed in the last 2 years... for the better."

"How?" sulked Ash. "By becoming more sarcastic, boring, and introverted?"

"No," said Dawn, "She thinks you've matured."

"That's only because my heart was shattered into pieces. For a whole year I was a cold jerk, and only you and Gary were able to put up with my constant negativity. And even now, I only genuinely smile about three times a day. Honestly, I don't know how that comes off as maturity." said Ash, his enhanced eyes following a small Butterfree that flew around. "I'd see it as the exact opposite."

"Oh whatever. Point is, she has a crush on the new you." said Dawn. She immediately covered her mouth. She didn't want to say that, but it slipped out.

"Really?!" said Ash, his mopey mood seemingly evaporating at the sound of such good news.

"Yeah, really." said Dawn, ashamed of herself for telling May's secret to Ash.

"Alright. I have just upgraded from three smiles a day to four." said Ash, smiling. "Maybe five if we're lucky."

"Congratulations." laughed Dawn. The both of them paused, looking at their surroundings. "Well, here we are. Misty's party was held straight ahead, which means..."

"Those are the woods that we walked through." said Ash, pointing the their left. "You ready?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You're afraid of forests."

"Only at night." replied Dawn, rolling her eyes. "Let's go."

Dawn jogged on ahead, and Ash followed. They jogged through the forest, and a few minutes in, they both realized the same thing. They weren't losing their breath, nor were their legs getting tired, nor were they getting sweaty. They looked at each other, both of them shrugging their shoulders. They decided to run faster, thinking they might have been imagining things. Still no sweat. They ran even faster, breaking into sprints. Much to their surprise, they were still showing no signs of exhaustion. Finally they stopped running, their breathing at normal pace.

"Wow. We just ran a mile, and we're not even breathing heavily." observed Ash.

"Well, looks like we've found another symptom: an unlimited supply of energy." said Dawn.

"I'm starting to like these abilities more and more." said Ash.

"Maybe they're not all that bad." agreed Dawn, looking around. "So, which way now?"

"I'm pretty sure that we went that way." answered Ash, pointing to their right. After a few seconds of thinking, he nodded his head. "Yeah, we definitely went that way last night. We should be out of the forest in less than two minutes if we run."

"I'll race you!" challenged Dawn as she sprinted ahead.

"Okay." answered Ash as he jogged after her.

Much like Ash had predicted, they had gotten out of the forest in no time, Dawn winning the race due to her head start. She waited for Ash by the exit of the woods, and much to her surprise, he simply walked out. Dawn's jaw dropped.

"You didn't even run the full distance." she stated.

"I got bored," answered Ash, an apple in his hand. It had a few bites taken out of it. "so I found an apple tree, climbed it, and got an apple instead. These things taste a lot sweeter with our powers. Want a bite?"

"No."

"Fine then." he said, nonchalantly throwing the half-eaten apple behind him. He looked around, and sure enough, they were in the hilly grasslands that they were in the night before. "Alright, I'm pretty sure that the crater should had been... wait a minute. Where's the crater?"

"Oh yeah... it should be right around here..." said Dawn looking around. "It landed where we were laying, which was right here."

"Maybe our memories are a little off. Let's get to the top of that hill over there so we can get a better view." said Ash, walking to the closest hill.

Dawn nodded and followed Ash to the nearest hill. They walked up the uphill slope, unable to see the top yet. Suddenly, both of the stopped walking and looked at each other.

"Did you hear that?" whispered Ash.

"Yeah, it sounds like someone's up there. I hear breathing."

"What if it's someone or something dangerous?"

"Dawn. We're super-people now. I'm sure we can take whatever is up there."

"Fiiiiiiiiine..." groaned Dawn as they continued their walk up.

When they reached the top, they saw what they had heard. It was a guy, his back turned to Ash and Dawn. He had a black sweatshirt on, and was wearing dark blue jeans. His spiky brown hair was flowing in the Spring breeze. He had a relatively carefree posture, his hands shoulders slumped and his hands in his pockets. Ash and Dawn recognized the him.

"Gary?" asked Ash, his head tilted.

"What are you doing here?" asked Dawn.

Gary turned around, revealing that he was wearing black aviator sunglasses, hiding his eyes. He seemed to have a straight face on, his eyebrows only furrowed slightly. He did not answer Ash or Dawn. He instead reached into his pocket, pulling out a small black object. At first Dawn and Ash didn't know what it was, but with their enhanced vision, they found out quickly. It was a pistol. Without the slightest trace of hesitation, Gary silently pointed it towards his two friends, his other hand still in his pocket.

Chapter 1 complete! Forgive me if anyone thought this chapter was boring; I had to set everything up for the real story to begin. I plan to make this story around 20 chapters, but we'll see, knowing me, it might me longer. If you happen to leave a review, please tell me whether you think I should bump this story up to an M rating because of the blood. Seeya next time,

~DarkSlash9