----

"You killed them all? You didn't even spare the pokemon still inside the pokeballs?"

Jared's head began to throb as an unfamiliar emotion was put directly into his head.

Contempt, anger, and resentment.

After the waves of injected emotions faded, Jared muttered under his breath, "It wasn't supposed to go like this... they weren't all bad people... Why didn't you just run? This world is huge, they would never find you!"

Suddenly Jared felt like his head was about to explode as powerful telepathic words drilled into his mind. The words were in his own voice, but they sounded strange, it was as if they were rearranged imperfectly, "Being of earth, this is not for you to decide!"

Clutching his head to try to dim the pain, Jared stumbled.

Remembering Nyx, he turned back towards the large tent.

Inside the large tent, the lights were shattered, and glass was everywhere. the only light source was the glowing eyes of Nyx.

"Nyx... what have you done? I told you to tell Mewtwo to escape," Jared looked down at the headless corpse of the once seductive woman, "Not... this... never this..."

Nyx gave a sigh, "Human, these people stood in the way of your *DrEaM,* I have given this last gift to you."

"Nyx... what last gift? What are you talking about?"

Silence

"NYX! ANSWER ME!"

.

The world suddenly twisted, and Jared found himself standing at the sandy shores of an unfamiliar beach.

Jared let out a heart-wrenching shout, "WHY NYX! WHAT DEAL HAVE YOU MADE THAT YOU WOULD ABANDON EVERYTHING WE WERE TRYING TO ACHIEVE!?"

But only the sound of the crashing waves answered back.

Kneeling on the sandy shores for a long while, Jared whispered emotionally, "Don't leave me... my friend."

With a sudden realization, Jared clawed around his waist with shaky breaths, and upon finding Bulbasaurs pokeball still there, he hugged it tightly, "Nyx's pokeball is gone, Bulbasaur you are all I have left..."

.

Hearing the sound of a man clearing his throat, Jared freezes.

Turning around, Jared finds a weatherbeaten old man with a wide brim hat minding a fishing rod.

Collecting himself, Jared wiped his eyes then asked tentatively, "Who are you, where is this?"

"It's polite to give your own name before asking for someone else's."

"My name is..." Jared paused mid-sentence, as he recalled that he had been partly responsible for the deaths of all the Rocket Gang's executives, as well as a large number of their elite members, so he thought it prudent to use a different name, at least for now.

However, He liked his old name, so he decided to just shave a few letters off.

Clearing his throat, Jared finished his sentence, "Sorry, call me Red"

Nodding, the older man replied in kind, "Alright young man, you can call me Madrik Juniper, and these days I'm just a retired old man enjoying my golden years." Madrik chuckled.

Changing his tone, Madrik continued, "Although... It's uncommon for me to have company on this small island, especially one that appears out of thin air, and yells so enthusiastically in the morning..."

Red would normally feel embarrassed, but the mention of his shout had only brought a wince of stinging emotions, "Nyx..."

.

Sitting on a small rock, Red conversed with Madrik, while doing his best to try to figure out where he ended up.

He found that he was in a land called the Unova continent, and this island, although remote, was still part of it.

Red had never even heard of the Unova continent, so he was feeling a bit worried, as the old man never heard of Kanto or Alola.

Feeling the cool breeze, Red put aside his thought to ask, "What were you doing all the way out here?"

"Fishing! Me and Quig here love to fish on these quiet shores! I have no need for the hustle and bustle of city living!"

Red had not seen the creature the man kept referring to, but he nodded anyway.

While trying to decide on what to ask next, the old man suddenly stood up and shouted from atop his rocky seat, "QUIG, WE'RE HEADING BACK!"

Suddenly, a creature poked its head from the water, and inside the creature's mouth was something resembling a shelder, but it was cracked and broken, making it difficult to tell.

Collecting his things, Madrik carefully climbed off the boulder, and he began walking along the shore, heading elsewhere.

Red followed along while staying a few meters back.

He had nowhere to go, and this man seemed to know the area. The old man moved slow, so Red took some time observing the tide pools.

A lone spearow that was gnawing on something was surprised by the humans, and the quagsire, so it flew off hurriedly, while leaving behind a single disapproving squawk.

Red watched as the creature disappearing into the tall leafy trees.

Training his eyes on what the spearow had just been eating, Red finds a small half-eaten staryu.

Looking to the nearby tidepool where it had presumably been pulled from, he found it was teeming with life! Many tiny staryus in varying stages of growth were present. Some were as small as a fingernail, while others were as large as a hand.

Red found it was amazing that so many pokemon could be out in the open like this. Back in the forests of route one, he had to travel far to find a few pokemon here and there.

Habitually, Red scanned them in an attempt to observe their potential, but he found nothing extraordinary. However, he thought it was natural, as he had only been looking for a short time.

After a few minutes, the old man changed his course and headed inland, so Red reluctantly left the tide pools they had been traveling between, and he followed along.

Through the spindly prickle bushes and messes of winding trees that darkened the ground below, there was a worn path, and this was the path in which the old man and Quig trod on.

Looking into the winding darkness, from the entrance of the path, Red asked, "Where are we going?"

Not pausing his steps, as he continued to trek his way up, the old man's voice echoed down, "We? - I'm heading home, of course. I'm not sure about where you are going, however!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought I would give you a taste of something different, so this chapter is slightly shorter than usual.

I have found my preferred way of presenting the novel, so it may seem different than you are used to. If you have a moment, then please let me know if you like it or despise it.