"So, what are we going to do now?"

Two girls laid on their backs across a wood floor, watching dust motes swirl in the sun beams. They could have been mirror images if it weren't for their strange choices of dress. One was dressed in a blue ball-gown, far too big for her and only fitting with the help of several pins. There was a plastic tiara on her head. The other was wearing a pretty patterned red frock glittering with sequins and a feather boa . Fake fairy-wings were attached to her back.

The girl in red and fairy-dust was the one who had spoken. The girl in blue answered, "I dunno. We could play with the doll-house again. Or can play more Dress-Up."

"But I like this dress. And the wings." The fairy girl frowned, jumping up and waving her wand around. "Let's find something new to do!"

And the blue princess girl smiled a smile full of childish innocence and naivety. "Okay!"

They rummaged through the abandoned boxes in their grandparents' house's attic. There were shelves of books, trunks of clothes, crates of toys—all long covered with dust—but the two girls ignored them in favor of the unopened boxes in the back, next to the old grandfather clock whose pendulum still swung after the years, like a metronome.

"Claire, Claire!" the red-clad girl shouted, brandishing her wand excitedly. "I found something!"

The girl in blue—Claire—was at her side immediately. "What, Piper?"

"What's this?" Piper gestured at two strange, thin, block-like devices. They both contained a single, old-fashioned screen and a few blocky buttons.

Claire squinted at the words on it; she was a better reader than Piper. "It says 'Game Boy.' Do you know what that is?"

Piper shook her head. "No. But I found them with these." She held up two smaller rectangles: one red, one blue. "What do these say?"

Claire took the rectangles and faltered at the first word, which was the same on both of them. She didn't recognize it, so she skipped to the second word, which was easy. "Blue. Something-Blue. The first word is... is... Pok... Pok-eh-mone. Pok-eh-mone Blue."

"Then this one is Pok-eh-mone Red?" Piper held the red rectangle up along with the 'Game Boy.' She fiddled with the two, jamming the red rectangle into a slot in the 'Game Boy' and nearly dropped them as she suddenly jumped up and down in excitement, her fairy-wings flopping. "Claire, Claire, it fits!"

Claire smiled. In a way, this was a lot like the puzzles she and Piper had done, also found in the attic. So far they'd only found two pieces, but undoubtedly there were more; she just couldn't see them yet. Her point was proven when she checked the sides of the 'Game Boy' and found a switch with the word 'ON' on it, which Claire recognized from the TV remote at home.

"Let's press it together!" Piper decided, and Claire nodded.

"One... Two... Three..."

Twin stars blazed across both screens, followed by two words that disappeared in sparkles too fast for either of them to read. Then an intense tune started up as two creatures appeared, seemingly locked in combat. Both girls had a strange black spiney creature on their 'Game Boy' screens, which leapt at the other beast. For Piper it was a fierce quadruped with a horn; for Claire it was a round, cute thing with big eyes. They leapt simultaneously and disappeared, only to be replaced by a screen with the same words on the colored cards: 'Pokémon Red,' 'Pokémon Blue.'

After figuring out the A-button moved them forward, they both found themselves at a screen with three options.

Continue

New Game

Options

They looked at each-other wordlessly, nodded, and clicked New Game. A tiny pixilated man appeared.

'Hello there! Welcome to the world of Pokémon!'

-X-
CLOCKWORK
chapter one: pomp and circumstance
-X-

-x-X-piper-X-x-

Today was the day. I fell out of bed at five in the morning, and the first thing I did was check my phone for messages or missed calls.

'hey girl wats up'

'wat r u doing now'

'omg holister haz sale! lets make like japnese and vaminos!'

'Ms. Reed, you have not yet paid this month's rent for your apartment. Please call the number below to—'

I faceplanted back into my pillow and threw my phone at the wall. Then I sprang back up, grabbed my phone, checked it for damage, and cradled it to my chest like a baby. My parents had already said they wouldn't pay for another phone, and today was not the day to break it.

After that, I relaxed a bit: I played with new hair-styles, put on make-up, decided on an outfit to wear since Adam was coming over, made a protein shake for brunch, and checked my phone every five seconds.

Adam came over at ten.

"Hey," he greeted. "Today's the day, right?"

That was why Adam was probably my favorite boyfriend yet. He was definitely the one, and yes, I did say that every time, but this time I was sure. He actually remembered it was the day and cared enough to bring me coffee. He even remembered the way I liked it: decaf, cinnamon, no sugar, two creams, and a straw so my teeth wouldn't go all brown and ugly. If that didn't mean he was the one, I didn't know what does.

The time passed with watching football games and magazines and staring at the phone lying innocently on the table, willing it to ring.

I had terrible karma, so I jumped with surprise when it actually did ring. I lunged for it, ended up fumbling in the air for it until Adam caught it for me. I ripped it out of his hands, and, without checking the contact information, pressed it to my ear.

"Hello?" I said breathlessly, crossing my fingers.

Remember what I said about bad karma? This was one of those times. There was a pause on the other end, before, "Hi, sweetie!"

My heart and probably jaw dropped. "Mom?" I said incredulously. Oh, hell, of all the possible days... Adam gave me a sympathetic look.

"That's me," Mom agreed with way too much chirpiness. "I called to ask you ab—"

"Please, not now, Mom," I growled.

She gave me an exasperated sigh. "Piper, it's been two weeks since I've talked to you. I think you've put it off long enough now."

"That's not it," I said snappishly. "I'm waiting for an important call."

"That's what you said last time!"

"Well, this time I really am!" I debated hanging up on her.

Mom, predicting my thought process, took on a dangerous tone in her voice. "Don't you dare hang up on me, Piper Iris Reed!"

Damn, the full name. I sighed, deciding I could spare a moment of time. "Okay, fine, what is it, Mom?"

"I just wanted to know how you were doing, sweetie. I worry about you."

Guilt and annoyance fought inside me before I decided annoyance was easier. "I'm fine, Mom."

"Your debit card doesn't say so," Mom scoffed. Well, it wasn't my fault that clothes and make-up were so expensive and that America's economy and job availability sucked.

"I'll pay you back," I replied in a flippant tone which meant the opposite of my words.

"You said that last time too," Mom said exasperatedly, before giving up on that topic. "Any more boyfriends in the two weeks since I last talked to you?"

"Nope," I said cheerily, actually proud that I managed to hang on to Adam for quite a while now. I knew he was the one.

I stuck the phone out in his face. He smiled and said, "Hi, Mrs. Reed."

"Hello, Adam," she replied in a mollified tone, probably glad that I was finally dating someone with a high school diploma. "Anyways, Piper, I called to ask: how's the job-hunting going?"

"Actually, it's not that bad. I'm actually waiting for a—"

beep beep beep

My eyes widened at the beeping signifying there was someone else calling me. "Bye-Mom-gotta-go-love-you!" I spewed out, before quickly switching lines. "Hello," I said in the most composed voice I could manage, hoping this wasn't some guy asking about the rent or something.

"Hello. Is this Miss Reed? I'm here about your audition at the Boston Theater of Performing Arts." I grinned from ear to ear.

"Yes, this is Piper Reed," I said, trying to keep my voice even.

"I'm here to say..." I held my breath. Come on, come on, come on... I didn't have the fancy performing arts degrees or even a high school diploma, but I worked my heart out for that audition and I actually thought I did pretty damn well, too.

The half-second of wait seemed to last forever, before...

"Congratulations! You have made it to the secondary auditions!"

I suppressed the urge to scream and go shouting down the halls trailing rainbows. Instead I choked down the bubbling excitement and said, "Thank you so much."

"We'll email you the script and music for the secondary audition, which is in three weeks. Good luck."

I set down the phone and looked at Adam. For a moment, we just stared at each other. Then I screamed with joy and launched myself into his arms. "I made it! Oh my god, I made it, I made it, I can't believe it, I made it!"

"I knew you could do it, Pipes!" He hugged me tight as I blubbered nonsense.

Then the phone rang again.

My first thought was, oh fuck no they got the wrong Piper Reed it's not me I didn't make it no this isn't happening.

My second was, oh, right: Mom.

I picked up the phone. "Mom! Oh, Mom, guess what?" I didn't give her time to reply. "I did it! I got the call I was waiting for and I got into secondary auditions!"

"Oh, honey, that's great!" And I could tell she was actually happy for me. "Secondary auditions... I'm surprised, Piper! I didn't think you had it in you!"

And then all my excitement fell down. She was happy. But she wasn't proud. She was surprised. But because she didn't even consider me making it. She didn't think I could go this far, and she didn't think I could go any further. After all, why expect anything out of me when there was—

I smiled my best actress' smile, the smile that got me into the auditions in the first place. "Anyways, what did you want to talk about, Mom?"

"Well..." She hesitated and I knew I wasn't going to like what I heard next. "It's about Claire."

My instincts proved correct and my mood dropped even further. "What about Claire?"

Mom sighed. "You know how Claire is. She's been working so hard for her classes and I'm afraid she's not... happy."

"So what does that have to do with me?" I asked, hoping she wasn't thinking what I thought she was thinking.

"Well, MIT isn't a long drive from where you are. Couldn't you visit her? Spend the weekend with her?"

"Wha— But, Mom!"

"She's your sister, Piper!" Mom exclaimed. "Your twin sister! You two were joined at the hip when you were kids!"

"That was then. We both grew up." I bit back the bitterness in my voice.

"She misses you," Mom tried.

I scoffed. "Liar."

"Come on, Piper. It's two days. Two days can't kill you." A threatening tone came about in her voice.

"But I just got into the secondary auditions!" I pleaded. "Next week. I promise."

"That's what you always say!" Mom put on her 'I'm-the-Mom-you-do-as-I-say-no-arguing' warning voice. "Piper."

I huffed and said snappishly, "Okay, fine!"

"Good. Enjoy your weekend," she replied with equal frustration.

I hung up on her.

Adam gave me a sympathetic look. "Spoiled your mood?"

"Mothers." I said the word like a curse.

"How about we go see a movie?" Adam suggested. "To celebrate and improve your mood?"

'Yes' was on the tip of my tongue, but I sighed. "Sorry. Apparently, I have to visit my sister for the weekend."

"The one that goes to MIT? Oh, that must suck," Adam said sympathetically. "Sure you can't just ditch on her? You told me how much you hate your sister."

"I do," I grumbled, "but my stupid parents want us to 'bond' or whatever. They say she's too lonely." I rolled my eyes. "If she was capable of making friends, she'd have some. She's already surrounded by geeks with no life, so she should take her pick from them, not force me into spending time with her." A tiny part of me felt bad for saying that, but a bigger part of me said that it was true.

"I totally agree." He pulled be into an embrace. "I have to go practice with the band, now. I'll miss you. Call me."

"Of course," I said, grabbing my car keys and resigning myself to a weekend with Claire.

As I drove, I found my sister's number in a sea of ex-boyfriends' and friends' that I'd only spoken to twice. It was still probably the least-dialed number on my cell.

She picked up on the first ring. "Piper?"

"Hey, Claire," I greeted noncommittally, a tiny bit wary. I hadn't spoken to Claire since Christmas six months ago, and even then I kind of steered clear of her. I cleared my throat. "Where should I pick you up?"

"I just finished my classes." Figured, Claire would be taking classes over the summer. I didn't know how she did it. I mean, we had the same genes. "But I need to drop off some papers. You can wait outside the Sundial Laboratory—building H12—I might be late."

"Oh." I sincerely doubted there would be any cute guys to look at while I waited, but a girl couldn't have everything. I shrugged to myself, nearly hit a cat, swerved and nearly hit an old lady crossing the street, before screeching to a stop at a red light two inches from rear-ending the car in front of me. I scowled and beeped at him.

No noise over the other end of the phone, and I knew Claire heard all the racket. No, 'Oh, gosh, sis, what was that?' or 'Oh my god, Piper, are you okay?' I scowled. This was why she was such a hopeless cause. She couldn't carry a conversation in a bucket.

Instead she just said, "What are you planning for us to do?"

I sighed internally. "Hmm. Well... I was going to see this movie with Adam, but I guess it would be all right to see it with you."

She sighed audibly and I felt a twitch of annoyance rise in me again as she said, "I suppose I can make some time for that." Then she hung up on me before even saying good-bye or waiting to see if I had questions.

I growled, slammed my head into the wheel, making the horn blare, nearly crashed into a tree, and got a ticket.

This would be a loooong weekend.

But it wasn't until later that I would realize the truth of that statement.

-x-X-claire-X-x-

"All right, that's it, kids! Have a nice weekend!"

The students around me hummed with languid activity as they put away their things and chattered about the lesson or other things. There was already an assemblage of people around the professor, asking questions. I approached his cluttered desk to request the papers from last week, which I was absent for.

His desk was chaotic with computer screens, pens, papers, folders, and books. Neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, artificial intelligence... Barely squeezed in a corner was a name-plate reading 'Gavin Cypress, Professor of Cognitive Sciences.'

"Hello! Did you need something?" The professor came up behind me, smiling. He was in his forties, but his hair and short beard were still black and without traces of gray, and his hazel eyes were bright behind rimmed glasses.

"Just the handouts from last week," I replied. "I was absent."

"Ah, right. Let me see if I can find them..." He shifted a stack of papers and a splash of color against the uniform monochrome caught my eye.

"Aha! Here you are," the professor said, finding the neatly stapled papers I needed and handing them to me.

"That's from Pokémon, isn't it?" I asked impulsively, pointing at a picture of the three cartoon-like creatures. One resembled a bipedal orange lizard with a flame on its tail. Another was a blue turtle with a brown shell. The third was a turquoise quadruped with what appeared to be a bulb on its back. The Kanto starters: Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur.

The professor raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it is. You know of it?"

"I've played the games." I still played the games. "What does a video game have to do with cognitive sciences?"

The professor smiled. "It's actually a part of a project I'm working on." His tone lowered conspiratorially. "Virtual reality."

"Virtual reality?" I knew what the term meant, having read articles about it before. The computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment.

"Yes. An oxymoron, don't you think?" He gave me a wry look. "This is a new form of virtual reality I'm working on, though, that has a neuroscience component to it. Immersive reality: a dream created by you."

I considered it. I knew many people were trying to develop that sort of technology for use of the military, though none had succeeded yet. "What does that have to do with Pokémon?"

"The former director of the company called me about it. Offered me a sum of money to see if I could bring his world to life. Actually..." He paused, scrutinizing me with hazel eyes, before rummaging through the stacks of papers on his desk, fishing out what looked like a flyer. "I'm looking for research assistants to assist with the project over the summer. Are you busy?"

I briefly scanned the contents of the flyer. I had the qualifications, double-majoring in Computer and Cognitive Sciences. I also didn't have a summer job and certainly wasn't going anywhere over the summer... It was worth a shot. "No, just some summer classes. I'd be happy to help."

"Excellent." He smiled at me warmly. "If you want to take up the offer, head over to Sundial Laboratory, building H12, sometime later today and I'll show you around."

"I'll check it out," I replied. "Bye, Professor Cypress."

"Good-bye, Miss Reed. I hope to see you there."

-X-

"No way, you are so lucky." My roommate, Min-Min Yin—called Minnie by most—sighed with longing. "Do you think that Professor Cypress would let me help?"

The pretty, eccentric Chinese girl was sprawled across her bed, calculus book over her face, long black hair fanning out across the quilted bedspread. I was meticulously typing out an essay on my laptop, giving only a quarter of my consciousness to my room-mate.

"I don't think he's accepting that many under-grads. Plus, you don't have him as a professor, and knowledge of neuroscience or cognitive psychology was a suggested requirement," I reminded her, the clacking of my keyboard barely sounding above Minnie's music, which was loudly playing a Bach concerto like it was a rock song.

"I know, I know," Minnie grumbled, flipping over and sending her calc book to the floor. "But it did say suggested. And, come on, I'm a game design major, not to mention bad-ass. I could take whatever he throws at me. Come at me, bro." She playfully sprang to her feet, fake haughtiness in her voice, before taking on a thoughtful expression. "Except maybe bunnies. Bunnies are my weak point."

I was used to her strange comments, and so ignored her last statement. "You can barely handle the summer classes you're already taking."

"Claire-Bear is mean." Minnie made a face as she half-paced, half-sashayed to the beat of Bach. "It's not my fault calc hates me. And it's not my fault you're a robot. How do you do it? You should share your almighty studying powers with me. Together we can conquer the world. You can plug your robot-ness into the Earth's core and become a giant mecha, and then I can—"

"I already tutor you. And I highly doubt two freshman college girls could conquer the world, even if I somehow became a giant mecha." With a few more clacks of my keyboard, I finished the essay and clicked save, sighed, and then leaded back to see what Minnie was doing. She had progressed to the head-stands stage of her boredom.

Upon noting that my clicking had stopped, she flipped out of her head-stand with flexibility even Piper would have admired, neatly catching herself on her feet. "What, you're done already? Meanie..." She hung her head with exaggerated moroseness, before springing up with sudden, almost bipolar, brightness. "Let's grab coffee!"

As her roommate, I had long since grown used to Minnie's whims. Despite what Piper would say, if I could consider anyone a friend, it would be Minnie. I didn't usually appreciate loud people or chatter while I worked, but her constant eccentric banter felt right compared to suffocating silence. And she was never uninteresting.

"Alright." I reached for my purse when my phone inside it rang. There were only two people who ever called my phone, and one of them was currently in the room with me.

"Hi, Mom," I greeted. "What is it?"

"Oh, hi, honey," my mother replied. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, I was just about to head out with Minnie."

"Hi, Mrs. Reed!" Minnie shouted from across the room as she flounced around in her bright, eccentric clothing, picking a scarf to wear and twirling in front of the mirror.

"Hi, Minnie!" Mom shouted back loudly, causing me to flinch away from the receiver.

"Anyways," I cut in before a shouting fest could occur. "What did you call to ask me about?"

"Well, are you busy over the weekend?"

I had already finished my essay and I didn't have that many assignments or things to study for. I didn't have any plans—never had any plans—since Minnie always did things spur-of-the-moment. "I'm applying to be a research assistant this afternoon, but other than that, no. Why?"

"Well..." She was being evasive. I grew uneasy, tracing the patterns of the wallpaper with a finger. "You work yourself too hard, honey. It can't be good for your health. Have you been eating?"

I only had half of a breakfast bar this morning, but I still wasn't hungry and my mother didn't need to know that. "I'm fine, Mom. What are you asking?"

My mother sighed, a sound like whistling leaves. "When was the last time you've spoken to your sister?"

I felt my voice grow guarded, hand tightening around the mobile device. "Christmas. Why are you dodging the question?"

I imagined Mom biting her lip, winding her fingers around the chord of our out-dated house-phone. "I already called Piper. She's going over to spend the weekend with you."

'You didn't ask me' was on the tip of my tongue, followed by 'Why' and 'No.' Instead I just said in a voice perhaps a little too flat, "Okay."

"Oh, sweetie, are you sure? I should have asked..." We both knew I would have said yes anyway. "I can still call Piper..."

"No, it's fine." I internally resigned myself to a weekend with my sister. We could probably work something out along the lines of sitting in opposite corners of the room and minding our own business. Actually, she would probably work it out for me, which was equally fine. "...Love you, Mom. Bye."

Minnie looked at me, head cocked to the side inquisitively. I sighed.

"My sister is coming to visit," I explained, the lightest touch of heaviness in my tone.

But Minnie had good hearing. She touched my shoulder with the tips of her fingers, knowing I didn't like hugs or touchiness. "Hey, I'm sure it'll be fine." I didn't answer, so she smiled. "Still have time for coffee?"

I felt the tug of an unconscious smile, the one only Minnie has been able to draw out of me. "Of course."

-X-

"Professor Cypress will be right with you," one of the aides told me after I walked through the doors of the Sundial Laboratory, a rather unassuming place filled with computer screens and programmers, forming an incessant clicking sound like a swarm of locusts.

I nodded, and was flipping through the pages of my notes from today, when...

"H-Hello!"

I looked to my left. A boy my age, of Indian descent with dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes. But his teeth were bright white as he gave me a half-smile, hands clasped behind his back.

"Hello," I replied because it was cordial.

"You're Claire Reed, right? I'm—"

"Shiva Sharma," I answered for him. "You're in Cognitive Sciences with me."

He blinked. "Oh. Wow, you have good memory."

"Mm-hmm," I said distractedly as I scanned over my notes while sipping a latté I had gotten with Minnie. The boy with the bright smile—Shiva—stood to the side and fiddled with his fingers, seemingly nervous for some reason. I considered asking him about it, but then I decided it probably didn't have anything to do with me.

He spoke again: "So, you also signed up to be a research assistant?"

"Yes," I replied as I flipped a page in my notebook.

Shiva peered forward, trying to get a look. "What are you looking a—Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

I blinked as my latté spilled all over my jacket and notes. It was hot and burned my hand, but I ignored the pain and sighed as Shiva flitted around me, desperately trying to apologize. "It's fine," I muttered, "I'll just go clean up..."

"Do you need he—" He coughed and fiddled with his fingers again, looking down at the polished white-tiled floor. I looked down to the spot he was staring at but didn't see anything. "I mean, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just tell the professor where I am if he comes," I said, dropping the Starbucks cup in a trashcan. "And I'll need to copy your notes."

Piper would have to wait...

-x-X-piper-X-x-

What was taking her so long?

I looked at the doors of the normal-looking building with the letters 'SUNDIAL LABORATORY' on it along with some sort of stylized hieroglyphic-looking things below it. People were already beginning to leave for the day. My sister wasn't among them.

I sighed and reached for the keys in the ignition, shutting the radio off abruptly. I made for the door handle, before pausing and glancing in the mirror, considering re-doing my make-up. What if someone mistook me for Claire?

Well... Probably not. I mean, we were identical twins, with the exact same shade of chestnut hair from our mom, gray eyes from our dad, same angular faces from Grand-Pop, same long lashes and flat chests from Gram.

But we didn't look that much like each-other anymore: I wore make-up, she wore glasses; I was thin in an athletic way from years of cheerleading, she was practically anorexic from forgetting to eat; I straightened my hair and usually wore it down, she kept hers naturally curly and in up-does; I checked the fashion trends daily, she wore the first drab thing she saw in the morning.

I shrugged and locked the car as I walked over to the building. If someone mistook me for Claire and tried to ask for advice on quantum physics I'd just flip them off or something.

"Hi," I greeted the first person I saw, a mousy Indian guy who was twiddling his thumbs in a corner and looked like he was going to pee his pants. "Have you seen—"

He looked up and his eyes widened. "Clai—I mean, are you—"

"Her sister." I sighed.

"Oh. You look a lot like h—"

"Her twin," I added. "Identical twin."

"Oh. C-Claire never mentioned you." He immediately grew fidgety as soon as he said Claire's name.

I frowned, scrutinizing him. The way he stuttered as soon as he mentioned Claire... I felt my face morph into shock. "No way, you have the hots for my sister?" I found myself blurting out, laughing.

He went bright red even through his dark skin. "N-No, we're just classmates!"

I smirked. The way he spoke confirmed it. I looked at him appraisingly. Not the acne-scarred, obese geek I had always imagined when even getting past the 'if-Claire-could-even-have-a-boyfriend' thought process. Not gorgeous, but cute in a nerdy sort of way. And probably a saint for being able to deal with my sister in the first place.

Knowing Claire, she probably didn't even know he existed.

"Well, good luck with that lost cause," I said, before remembering why I was here in the first place. "Oh, right, where is my sister anyways?"

"Er, she went that way," he said, pointing down a hallway.

"Thanks." I gave him a knowing wink as a parting present.

Most of the people seemed to have left; the halls were deserted except for one person.

"Excuse me—" I started.

The person—a man, probably a professor or something—turned around and smiled. "Ah, Miss Reed. I'm glad you could come. I was going to come get you but it seems you've found me." He tilted his head to the side. "You look different than you do in class. Not that that's a bad thing."

He must have mistaken me for Claire. "Well—"

"Right, to business," he cut me off again. "You go head down the hall to the last room on the left. I just need to get some things."

He hurried off in the other direction and I was about to call after him and correct him, but then I figured that was kind of pointless anyway. And the best chance of finding Claire was with his directions, so I headed in the way that he pointed.

All the doors I passed on the way had labels and windows on them. The last door was completely unmarked.

But it was unlocked, so I strolled in. It was also empty, except for desks littered in folders and tech equipment. Claire was here for some sort of job interview, right? This certainly didn't look like any of the interviews I'd been to (and I'd been to a lot), but maybe the professor person wanted to show her the equipment or something. What sort of job was she applying for, again?

I shrugged to myself, seeing that Claire was clearly not here, and was about to turn around when I noticed another door, also unlabeled and without a window. It seemed thick, maybe soundproof.

I paused, before swiveling back around. Might as well check.

I opened the new door and squeezed my eyes shut at the sudden fluorescent light that came from it. When my eyes adjusted, I saw that it was some sort of experiment room lab, and Claire wasn't there.

Then the door slammed behind me.

"What was that?" I shouted, panic rising in me as I rattled the handle again to no avail. "Was that you, Claire? This isn't a joke, and it's not a funny one! Claire? Claire!"

But Claire didn't make jokes.

Get a grip, Piper, I told myself sternly. With the skills of an actress, I forced a wave of calm to wash over me, drowning the panic. Okay, good girl. Now you have to find a way out of here.

I looked at the rest of the room. It was an off-white color, made brighter with the help of the fluorescent lights above, and rather small, which didn't help my claustrophobia. There were various wires and pieces of machinery decorating the walls, ceiling, and floor. Nothing really of use.

Suddenly a mechanical voice sounded from above.

"Occupant detected. Would you like to initiate escape sequence?"

I could have cried in relief. "Yes!" I shouted fervently. "An escape sequence would be very good right now!"

"Please step on the escape platform."

I looked over at the metal disk thing in the center of the room, confused. There wasn't anything else in the room that could be an escape platform, but... Maybe it was some weird new elevator they were developing? I shrugged, deciding it was my only hope to get out of the room and stepping onto the metal circle

"Confirmed occupant." All the bright white lights blacked out to be replaced by a faint green glow that did not look good or like an escape sequence. There was a whirring sound and suddenly it felt like my head was about to explode. "Escape Sequence: Reality, now activated."

"Wait, what?" Escape Sequence: Reality? Was that... like, escaping reality? What did that mean? What was happening?

I felt myself getting dizzy, collapsing to my knees as the green lights swirled around me. I knew I should have gotten off the metal transport disk, but I couldn't move. My head was just about to explode when—

Everything vanished.

-X-

The first thing I was conscious of was a light breeze and warm sunlight.

My eyes snapped open to a clear blue sky.

"Ugh... Where am I? How did I get here?" I felt like I had been the flyer in a basket toss but the bases forgot to catch me.

What was I doing again? I had gone to pick up my sister... And then what?

A flock of birds flew in a V-formation above me, cutting through the blue. They weren't like any birds I'd ever seen, yet they felt strangely familiar.

I got to my feet, holding a hand to my head at the rush of blood, making me stagger. Through my blurred vision I saw some sort of small town. Quaint, but nothing like Boston. And yet, also familiar. I saw a sign and stumbled towards it.

"Ra-ta-ta, rat." A strange chittering sound came from around me. I turned around and saw a strange purple rat dart by. Funny, it almost looked like that thing from the game me and Claire played when we were—

I froze. No way. That wasn't possible.

And then like a rush, I remembered. Picking up Claire. The strange room. 'Escape Sequence: Reality.'

I swiveled around and read the sign.

'Welcome to Pallet Town! Shades of your journey await.'

The strange birds. The purple rat. Pallet Town.

This had to be a dream. I pinched myself. Nothing happened. Only one thing left to do now.

I screamed.

-x-X-AN-X-x-

Trivia:

~Piper's full name is a subtle reference to the tale of the Pied Piper. Pied means colorful, and Iris is the goddess of the rainbow; Piper for the Piper part; Reed which is a part of a woodwind instrument.

~Claire's full name is Claire Nettie Reed, which is also a play off woodwind instruments. (Claire-Nettie, Clarinet, geddit?)

~A lot of things from this chapter are made up, like the Sundial Laboratory. By the way, MIT does exist.

~The cover is my own. Though I really think the 'cover art must be authorized' is retarded.

~Chapter themes based on duality, sort of. This title, Pomp and Circumstance, is an allusion to the song and some other obvious meanings.

-X-

Welcome to Clockwork!

This fic came about from an attempt at a realistic approach to the 'getting-sucked-into-Pokémon' idea that does not involve a main character who's a nerd self-insert that knows everything about the PokéUniverse. Thus, you get Piper, who is definitely not a self-insert. And Claire, who isn't really a self-insert either. By the way, no, this will not follow the plot of any canon game or anything.

Reviews are bundles of bunny joy. Hugs, kisses, love you all!