Distortion

Chapter One: How It Begins

-Sequel to Between Time and Space-

Kneeling on the ground, a teenager girl with long, dusty brown hair stared at a plant in the palm of her hand. A frown appeared on her face, dusty eyes that matched her hair narrowing with frustration. She groaned and slapped her hand to the ground, crushing the plant in the process. "No, it's not the right one! Either the crazy old coot gave us the wrong spot, or something is seriously wrong and they're all gone!" She flopped back dramatically, letting her hat flop off.

"Esp?" The pale purple form of her Espeon sat beside her head, looking down at her with amusement.

"Don't give me that look, we've been out here all day. I'm allowed to be annoyed." She sighed and pushed herself up, taking in the scenery around it. It was truly beautiful, with a bright blue sky, luscious green plants, a calm, mirror-like river, and high, swooping mountains in the background. If she had an artistic bone in her body, she'd probably love to paint this place.

She was never like that though, which was strange, considering where she came from. Then again, her family was anything but ordinary.

"Esp!" She looked over as her pokemon stood up, dark purple eyes narrowing.

"What's wrong?" She asked, twisting around so that she was on her knees instead.

Espeon's fur stood on end, and it started to shake and hiss angrily.

She was about to repeat her question when a blast of light momentarily blinded her. She cried out, covering her face as the wind whipped her hair behind her and blew her hat into a nearby tree.

Slowly, she opened her eyes again, allowing them to adjust to the dimming light. The scene before her was so bizarre though, that all she could do was gape in shock. It looked the air hovering above the water had been ripped open by a glowing portal of sorts.

"Min!" A high, voice cried out as a small thing flew out of the portal, splashing into the water. She wanted to go see what it was, but a frightening roar from the rip in the air stopped her from moving. A second later, a much larger pokemon tried to fly out of it.

Her mouth fell open again at the sight of the creature. She hadn't been in Sinnoh long, but she knew that she was looking at some sort of legendary pokemon. What else could it be? Despite knowing that, she had no idea exactly what she was looking at.

"Es espeon!" The pokemon cried out as the legendary was suddenly pulled back inside of the rift, and all she could do was stare in horror, wondering what could possibly do that to a legendary pokemon? Shaking her head a bit, she realized that it was a very stupid thought. Only a legendary pokemon could harass a legendary pokemon like that.

A high pitched, bone chilling roar, echoed through the air. A moment later, the legendary flew through the opening, a blue glow surrounding its body as it flew up into the sky and vanished. The portal sealed, and everything went quiet.

"What was—?" Her question was cut off as a whirlwind blasted up from the water, creating a hole that definitely shouldn't have been there. The same screeching from before could be heard, followed by banging and flashes of light, but then the rift in the water slowly vanished.

She waited a moment before slowly approaching, holding her fist to her chest. Nothing else happened, and all she could do was stare. "What the hell just happened?" She didn't like being confused about anything, but there was absolutely no way to get an answer about what just happened.

"Or maybe..." she trailed off, looking down the river. The pokemon that fell out before the legendary must have been whisked away by the water, but it had answers about what just happened.

Determination rushed through her as she said, "Alright. Lets go, Espeon! We're going to find that pokemon!"

...

"I'm going to catch one of those!"

Ash Ketchum let his head lull to the side to look over at the teenage girl sitting beside him on the wooden dock. Her brow was furrowed, sea-green eyes narrowed, her teeth digging into her lip as she slowly and carefully started using her fishing pole to reel in the line.

He shook his head, his messy, raven hair being held in place only by the cap that was turned backwards, his bright brown eyes sparkling with mirth and amusement when he realized what she was talking about.

"Mist," he spoke to her slowly as he shifted his own fishing pole in his hands. "You're not going to catch a Wingull with that." Not that they managed to catch anything at all that day. It was nearing noon, but they had already been in that spot for a long time. The townsfolk said that the best time to try and find some hard-to-catch water pokemon was bright and early. Needless to say, in her quest to becoming a Water Pokemon Master, Misty jumped on the opportunity, dragging her very sleepy boyfriend with her.

She glared at him fiercely and said, "I know that!" At her raised voice, the pokemon that she was eyeing all flew to the sky. She groaned and flopped back. "Look what you did now!"

"Don't blame me. I didn't want to wake up early but nooo you had to drag me out of my nice warm bed. I get up early for training but you're ridiculous! Even Ria didn't want to be up early and she's a bundle of energy," Ash pointed out, referring to his smaller than average Riolu.

"Well, you want to be a Pokemon Master, you should jump at the opportunity to see new pokemon whenever you can." Her face faltered when he raised an eyebrow at her. She groaned and lightly slapped his arm. "Fine, fine, I know you do. What about spending quality time with your girlfriend that you rarely see?"

"Well," He dragged out the L sound. "You are going to be here for a little while longer, but we might not get many more days to sleep in warm beds."

Misty laughed at him. "You're impossible. Putting comfort before me."

"Always," he joked, stretching out and accidentally nudging the small creature that was napping behind them.

"Pi pikachu pi pika pi" a yellow creature said from behind him, looking every bit annoyed at being woken up yet again.

"Nope, you couldn't stay with Ria and sleep. Water pokemon would be no problem for you to handle," Ash told his first ever pokemon, petting his smooth fur and then scratching behind his head.

"Chaa," Pikachu cooed, eyes closing with delight.

"So I'm forgiven?"

"Pikachu pika pi pika."

"Only if I get you ketchup," Ash shook his head. "Spoiled."

"Pi."

Ash's attention was drawn away from Pikachu, back to Misty when he saw her yawn. An amused smile appeared on his face, and she looked at him sheepishly.

"Maybe we should go see what Brock and Dawn are up to." Misty pointed above them, where a set of stone stairs led to a park that overlooked the water. Their other two friends showed up not too long ago with the rest of the pokemon, and started setting everything up for an outdoor brunch. "There's no pokemon around here right now."

"We can always leave the poles here," Ash pointed out to her. "We'll just be up there and we'll be able to hear if anything gets caught."

Misty thought about that for a moment. Ash knew that she would normally protest that, since leaving fishing poles out and straying too far from them could lead to really hurting the pokemon on the end of the line, but they really weren't going far. He wouldn't have suggested it if he thought something was going to get hurt.

"Alright."

They secured Misty's fishing pole, the better of the two, so that it wouldn't just get dragged into the water, both agreeing that there was no need for two of them. Pikachu led the way up the granite steps, eagerly running towards a water fountain that was there.

Ash looked over at his pokemon, watching as he spoke to Piplup quickly. Piplup was Dawn's starter pokemon, and in his opinion, it was spoiled rotten. Not that he didn't spoil his too, but that Piplup was something else. The fountain that was there had a place to drink from, and faucet to let water run over a pokemon. That's where the little water-type was now, Dawn cheerfully splashing it.

"Something smells good, Brock," Misty said to their oldest friend, who was standing over a grill that he normally carried with him. Though the sheer amount of stuff trainers seemed to carry with them seemed utterly impossible, most bags were made with slightly similar technology that pokeballs had, fitting much more in them than it might seem by shrinking everything that wasn't biological down.

Ash had no idea how it worked, he was just glad that it did, because that meant that Brock could carry around everything that he needed to make amazing food even on the road. It also meant that he could hide the plethora of underwear that his mother shoved in his bag every time he went home. It was one thing to have enough, but he really thought that his mother had issues that way. It wasn't like he never washed anything. The women he knew were completely insane.

"Ri riolu ri!" Ria spoke up from where she was sitting on the table. She waved at Ash when he looked at her, but then turned her attention to the pancakes that Brock was making. His little pokemon really enjoyed her food.

"Yeah yeah, you little glutton," Ash joked as he picked her up, moving her out of the way so that Brock could put the pancakes on the picnic table. "Look at you, all dirty."

"Like trainer like pokemon," Brock spoke up, wielding a spatula in his direction, looking more than just a little ridiculous in his pink apron that he had no issues wearing."You don't get any either until you wash your hands."

"I'm not 10, Brock," Ash rolled his eyes and sighed with exasperation. He knew he had to wash his hands before eating, even if it was just his fingertips that were dirty, the rest covered by his fingerless gloves.

He walked over to the fountain with Ria struggling in his arms, wanting to go back and get her share of the food that Brock had revealed for the pokemon, but he didn't let go of her.

"Poor Ria, look how dirty you are," Dawn cooed to the little pokemon as Ash put her under the faucet and turned on the water. "I can't believe you let her get so dirty, Ash."

He frowned at her. "She's been battling more, so she's going to get dirtier. It's not like I roll her around in filth, Dawn."

Dawn bristled a bit, her dark blue eyes narrowing at him. Misty glanced from one to the other and sighed, shaking her head.

It might have just been from Misty's perspective, but lately, the two of them had been butting heads more for no reason. Almost like a brother and sister who just couldn't seem to see eye to eye.

Misty might not know the reason behind their arguments, but Ash was definitely well aware of his reasons for getting snippy with Dawn. Ria had shown some interest in contests lately, largely because of Buizel. With Dawn, the pokemon participated in contests, but showed a much larger interest in battles, where his Aipom liked contests more. The end result was Dawn trading with him, and both pokemon seemed to prefer where they were now. The problem was that Dawn had been a little more forward with pointing out when Ash's pokemon seemed to prefer contests to battles even since. It was silly of him, because he wouldn't trade Ria, but Dawn really pushed the boundaries when it came to her sometimes.

Needless to say, Brock was glad when Misty arrived a few days ago. She didn't take any of their snarking at each other, which was kind of funny, considering how much she argued with Ash.

Breaking out of his thoughts, Ash realized that all of the other pokemon were going a little crazy over their food, and Ria looked utterly miserable at not being able to do the same. She wasn't squeaky clean, but that was okay. He nodded his head, and she cooed happily, running towards the others. He finished washing his own hands before getting up to get his pokemon organized so that they'd actually eat from their own bowls, not just squabble over it.

Soon all of his pokemon, Pikachu, Riolu, Turtwig, Chimchar, Buizel and Gilgar were munching on Brock's homemade pokemon food. Along with them were: Brock'sSudowoodo, Croagunk and Happiny; Dawn's Piplup, Ambipom, Swinub, Buneary and Pachirisu; and Misty's Azurill, Politoed, Psyduck, Corsola, Lumineon and Spheal (her two newest additions to her team), who were eating from the little pool of water that was put there specifically for water pokemon.

He smiled at the Lumineon, who had been a high-levelled Finneon when he captured it and gave it to Misty. At the time, he claimed it was for some strange holiday in Sinnoh, but Misty saw through his lie and thought it was adorable that he got her something just because he wanted to. It didn't happen all that often, so it both flattered and amused her when it did.

"Watching them is making me hungry," Ash said, earning a laugh from all of his friends. They turned towards the table to sit down and enjoy the pancakes that Brock made for them, but all of them came to a stop when they saw a small, brown ball eating them.

"Hey!" Ash shot forward, stopping at the edge of the table. "You shouldn't just come up and eat someone else's food!"

"What is it?" Dawn asked curiously as she leaned closer to inspect it.

"A pokemon." Brock answered.

Misty sighed at him and mumbled, "You don't say?"

Pikachu and Piplup both abandoned their food, jumping up on the table to look at the pokemon. Pikachu tilted his head and said, "Pi pikachu?" The pokemon ignored him.

Piplup huffed with anger, waving his flightless wings wildly at the pokemon. When it paid him no mind, he grabbed the pancake it was eating and tried to yank it away. The pokemon just quickly chewed through the food, accidentally biting Piplup's hand.

Piplup yelled loudly at the pokemon, who shook its body, sending dust everywhere.

They all covered their faces, coughing a bit and wondering just how much dirt a pokemon could have on it. They couldn't see anything, but Piplup's yells of anger echoed through the air.

"What's it doing?" Ria spoke into Ash's mind as she jumped up on his head, making it there easily. Though she could use telepathy so everyone could hear, the only time she ever did that was when it was just Ash around, or if it was just him and Misty. Some things were better left unknown. "It feels funny."

Ash never got the chance to answer his pokemon as the creature lunged out of the dirt, slamming into his head. It knocked the startled Riolu off of his head, and when Ash turned to try and catch it, the pokemon ended up flying off of his hat and slamming into the stove.

The pokemon, Ria and the grill all crashed into the ground before the machine exploded, dark fumes rising up into the air.

"Miiiiiin!" A loud cry could be heard as the smoke started to vanish, and it was only when there was almost none left that they realized the pokemon was sucking it in somehow.

Ash didn't really pay attention to it, swooping down and picking up his small Riolu. She winced a bit when he touched her arm, and Ash concentrated, trying to see if he could sense what was wrong with her. He was pretty sure she didn't have any broken bones, those were easy to pick out, so it was probably just a bruise or a sprain. That was too bad though, there really wasn't much he could do for those.

Anger rushed through him, and he turned to snap at the little pokemon, blinking with surprise as the flower on its head started to glow, the light slowly taking over it's whole body. The power pulsing off of it was amazing for something so small, and that was when Ash knew exactly why Ria thought it felt funny.

It was a legendary pokemon.

Without warning, the light exploded outwards, blasting all of them backwards. Ash gasped as he collided with the table, but was quick to scramble up and check on his friends and pokemon. No one particularly seemed worse for wear, the explosion wasn't that bad, but he was at his wit's end with the pokemon already.

"What are those?" Misty asked, pointing at glittering green spores that were flying through the air.

"Who knows, just don't touch them," Brock groaned as he stood up, cracking his back in the process.

"Pip! Piplup!" Piplup jumped to the ground and after the creature, scolding it angrily. The pokemon tried to slink away, only to run into the rest of their annoyed friends.

"Stop it!" Dawn yelled at them, storming towards the pokemon. She knelt down in front of the pokemon, her harsh tone turning into a quiet, sweet one. "Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you." Carefully, Dawn reached out, scooping the small pokemon up into her arms.

Ash held Riolu in his arms as he watched Dawn walk towards the fountain with the pokemon. It was scared, he could feel that much, but for once in his life, he felt more annoyed than anything else. Then again, that thing did just appear out of nowhere, eat their food, and hurt his youngest pokemon.

Still, he approached carefully, staring at the pokemon as Dawn started to wash it off. Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder, sniffing Ria and patting her head a bit, getting a smile out of the small pokemon.

Ash watched as the dirt started to run away, revealing green, leaf-like fur and and two bright pink flowers on either side of its head. Misty cooed a bit beside him, because no matter how tough she was, she had a soft spot for adorable pokemon (bugs aside).

The pokemon stretched out before shaking itself off. Ash took a step back, not wanting to get wet, but poor Piplup was hit with the full force of the spray.

Dawn was quick to stand up straight, running back to their bags and grabbing a small, pink dishtowel that was just big enough to wrap around the small pokemon to warm it up.

"There you go," she said cheerfully. "I bet that feels so much better!"

"That did feel nice," a soft, feminine voice spoke up. Brock and Misty both gasped, but Ash just stared at it with a blank expression.

"I'll bet it did," Dawn replied cheerfully and obviously. A split second later, her mouth fell open and her eyes went wide as she stared at everyone else.

"Though it was a little chilly," the pokemon added. "And perhaps if you had been the tiniest bit gentler."

"Did you-?" Dawn couldn't even get the whole phrase out.

"I heard it," Brock answered, and Misty nodded her head in agreement.

"Telepathy," Misty added, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Not many pokemon can use that, and I've never even heard of this one before. I think I'd remember an adorable little one with flowers."

"Legendary," Ash sighed, and everyone looked at him. "I don't know what it is, but I'll eat my hat if it's not a legendary pokemon."

The second a legendary pokemon appeared, things tended to spiral out of control, and that was the last thing he wanted.

...

Note

What's that? Yes, you see this right! Sequel! Whoo!

Okay, just a few notes right not because I'm not going in depth into anything when this is only the first chapter! Firstly, for this fic, we're at the point where there WILL be some confusion if you haven't read the three prequels to this. I'd recommend going back and catching up on them but if you want to just keep going with this, that's okay too. There's not really going to be much for indepth recaps of things that happened in the past though.

In order, they go: Mystery of Aura, Master of Mirage, and Between Time and Space.

For updates, I'm not entirely sure how regularly I'll be updating this. I don't mean monthly waits, I promise. I do plan on finishing it, I wouldn't have posted it other wise, but at this moment I can't promise consistent updates right away. I'm still struggling through a bit of writer's block but I wanted to give you guys something to show that I haven't forgotten you or quit yet! I'm HOPING I'll be able to do at least once a week like I did for most of Between Time and Space.

Lastly, the very awesome Kimiko Heroux is going back through my other fics and helping me edit them a little more! It's a work in progress, but it'll get done eventually! That does not include this one as of right now, so don't expect perfection here. I'm a very fast reader and often skip over my own typos, preferring to focus on editing the story instead. That doesn't mean I won't fix typos and things, but I'm always so eager to post.

Sky