Chapter 25: Journey to Another World, Part 1

“WHAT!?”

A chorus of voices rang out from the back of the bus, making students (except for a certain trio) look to the back seats. Claire looked at the Pokémon students with a nervous look before shifting into a sheepish one. “Hehe… sorry about that, it was just some gossip between us…” The students shot a confused look at Claire before going back to their own gossip. The Vulpix sighed and looked back at their own group and whispered. “For real!? You actually met THE Giratina?”

The greenish Joltik confusedly nodded. What was that fuss about? Was that deity that famous? Well, from what John could remember, it did say that historians spoke about it… but for doing what? “So uh… you guys know about it?”

The spiky rodent whispered in shock. “If we know about it?” He scoffed. “Dude, that god is known to everyone! And you’re saying that you met it in person!?”

“Yeah… apparently… they are the mice’s… no, the… the…” John sighed as he couldn’t remember the species’ name. “Popo and Nana’s guardian…”

“WHAAAAAT!?” 

John flinched from the chorus before steeling himself with an annoyed look. “Can’t you guys quiet down!?” He whispered a bit loudly before looking at the other students sitting on the other seats. They were all looking at them again. “Don’t worry, this is the last time, alright?”

The Pokémon went back to what they were doing before Amy sighed and looked back at John. “But like… how are Popo and Nana related to someone that is literally a god of another dimension?”

John rubbed the top of his head. “So apparently, from its own words… it was strolling on the normal dimension before finding them almost being eaten by like… a wild Arbok, whatever that is, probably a snake or something. He saved and took them in its care since their parents were already eaten,”

Claire put a paw on her chin in thought. “But I don’t understand why Giratina took them under its care. I thought it was more… violent and ruthless? Or at least… that’s what the books said about it.”

John shrugged. “Well, who would have known, it actually was a nice Pokémon or… something. But, the main thing I wanted to talk about is the effects of the internet in this world. So um… in the Distortion World, Giratina said that it mysteriously expanded some weeks ago, and uh… it connects to my world now.” The three Pokémon were about to shout again before John shouted first with a whisper. “No!”

The trio didn’t shout this time, however, a baffled look could be seen all over their faces. “For real!?” Claire whispered. “Does that mean Giratina can travel to your world as well?”

The Joltik nodded. “Yep… can confirm since I was there with it… we scared a human as well…”

Taro looked aside. “I don’t want to make it sound like this is a good thing but…” He looked back at them scratching his belly. “It is kinda cool that there could be a chance we could go to your world…”

John sighed. “Yes, I know it would be cool for that to happen but… you gotta understand that humans wouldn’t uh… take newcomers to their world kindly.”

Taro frowned. “Yeah, you’re right about that…”

“So um…” Everyone looked at Amy. “This might sound a bit weird but… did Asuri plan for the worlds to link with each other?” 

The Vulpix tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I might just be stretching a little but… Pokémon take pride in doing something original of their doing but… why would they copy almost everything related to human tech, even down to the smaller details?”

The Togedemaru scratched his belly. “Well… now that you say that… it kinda makes sense…? Like, you guys remember the connection orb?”

Claire gasped after remembering. “You’re right! The connection orb was a thing before computers and other technologies.”

The Joltik looked confused at the Pokémon before asking. “What’s a connection orb?”

Amy spoke looking aside. “Oh yeah, you wouldn’t know.” She then looks back to John. “So basically, a connection orb was basically a sphere where it allowed Pokémon to send requests for exploration teams and also talk to friends over long distances. It was basically the web of this world before the internet.”

“Oh, I see…” John said, putting a nub on his chin. “Yeah, now this is starting to sound suspicious as hell. If the merging of the two worlds was intentional, for what purpose?”

The quartet started to think about a possible answer, but they couldn’t think of anything good at the moment. Claire sighed in annoyance before speaking. “Honestly, this topic will make me hungry on the bus if we think about it every day. We might figure it out once we go to the actual Asuri building.”

The other three nodded and they enjoyed the ride on their way to school while asking John what it was like to be in the presence of a legendary and other stuff related to Giratina. 

---

After getting out of the bus, John hopped on Claire’s head and the quartet started walking around the school. Claire looked up at John. “So… why are we trying to find Popo and Nana?”

“Well… Giratina said that it gave them a bit of its power. So they can freely travel to the Distortion World and back to this one.” John explained, starting to look around for two identical white mice. “So I wanna test something out with them…”

Taro put a paw on his chin. “For what though?”

John smirked at Taro before looking around again. “You’ll see. Hopefully, it works…”

The Pokémon students looked at each other in confusion before they continued looking around for the Tandemaus. While looking, John saw Pokémon he had never seen before in this school, some students being big, other students being small like him (although not that small), the variety was just immense. 

It was a bit hard to spot them, given their size and all, but eventually, they were able to spot a pair of twin mice sitting on a bench at the entrance of the school, waddling the little legs in unison. “There they are…” John said, slowly changing his mind as he started remembering the events of yesterday- no. He had to do it, the mice had to be the key for future plans… “Um… guys, I think it’s best if you left me alone with them…”

Amy looked at the Joltik while tilting her head. “Why?”

“Well, in their view, they see me as unique and uh… a “friend”, so… I don’t think they would respond to you guys as much as me.” The Joltik hopped off Claire’s head and turned to the trio. “Don’t worry, it’s gonna be quick, you can go to the classroom now.”

“Are you sure John? You look… a little nervous.” Claire noted.

“Yeah… it’s just their creepy factor, don’t worry, I’ll be alright.”

Claire looked aside. “If… you say so…” The trio of Pokémon nodded before going towards their class. Claire was visibly frowning a little, which made John a bit worried for her.

The greenish spider sighed and looked back at the pair of mice who jumpscared him by being in his face again. “Hello.” “Once again.” They spoke in unison while showing their sharp teeth. “Friend.” 

John had fallen on his back while screaming, after a few pants, he calmed down. “H-hey guys… what’s up…?”

The creepy mouth had disappeared once John managed to get back up. “Irrelevant question.” “The question that should be asked now is…” The Tandemaus leaned closer to the tick’s face. “Have you managed to meet the Great One?” 

John stammered as he looked aside. “U-uh… yes! I… I did! And uh… wow… they were great indeed…” The mice just stared. John thought they were expecting more for an answer. “And uh… it was truly a… marvelous experience! It… it felt like my brain had… expanded or something of the like…”

The Joltik backed away a little bit as he saw that the Tandemaus was just staring as the heads were starting to visibly shake emotionlessly. Suddenly, both of them grabbed John’s nubs and started hopping in happiness, even though their faces didn’t show it. “The Great One has accepted you.” “You are now one of us!” “The first step in converting every Pokémon to the path of enlightenment itself.” “It shall be as the Great One once dreamed.” “Worshiping the Great One rather than the false prophets around the world!”

John giggled nervously as the mice kept jumping up and down with him. ‘Holy shit, they desperately need to tone it down a notch… no, actually two notches…’ After the mice calmed down from their excitement, John hesitated as he looked away. “So uh… we’re friends, right?”

Popo tilted his head. “Silly friend.” Nana tilted her head next. “Of course we are friends” “We were friends since our souls met.”

“Aha… neat…” John looked back to the mice. “So uh… Girati-… I mean, the Great One uh… they said that you have the ability to go to their realm all on your own, correct?”

It took a second for the Tandemaus to nod their heads. “Yes.” “A gift from the Great One themselves.” “We also have the ability to not only travel to it through mirrors.” “But we can also make a portal ourselves.”

John looked aside for a moment before looking back at them. “Uh… have you noticed that… the realm has expanded?”

The mice looked at themselves before looking back at John. “We do not.” “We can only travel in and out of the Distortion Realm.” “We do not have any awareness of what the changes are since we are not connected to it.”

“So… you see… that realm expanded and uh… it allows you to travel to a different world entirely.”

The Tandemaus just stared for a long uncomfortable moment before turning around, facing away from John. Suddenly, one mitten hand of each mouse started glowing with a black aura, making the spider flinch a little. Popo and Nana jumped in the air and sliced the air in front of them, making an X-shaped tear in space. They looked back at John. “Show us.”

John (and some other Pokémon who were seeing the portal from a distance) flinched in surprise upon seeing the tear in space. He quickly shrugged it off before waving his nubs in front of him. “Wait, wait, wait! Not now! We have school for now, remember?! Later, okay!?”

The Tandemaus stared for a moment before they nodded, the portal closing behind them. “Understandable.” “We shall wait until after class.” 

“Great then… also, weird request but… can I bring my other friends as well…?” 

The Tandemaus looked at each other again and nodded before looking at John. “Yes.” “In actuality, they are required.” “The realm of the Great One is really dangerous to go alone.” “We shall need more vessels to traverse it.”

John nodded unsure. “Uh… alright then…”

Suddenly, the bell rang and the mice started walking away. “We shall see you after school, behind it. We hope you remember it, friend.”

John just watched them leave and he sighed in relief. “What am I getting myself into…?” He then looked at the other Pokémon students in the area, whispering among themselves. Some of them were quite small, so he thought they might be children instead of teenagers. “Hope they don’t blab out what they’ve seen to any of the teachers…” He muttered to himself.

---

“Really!?” Claire, Taro, and Amy whispered in surprise.

The quartet had grouped up on Claire’s desk while the teacher wasn’t there. John had told them about what they intended to do with the Tandemaus, but unfortunately, due to lack of time, he couldn’t progress much. “Yeah…”

Taro started rubbing his cheeks, letting small sparks lose. “Let me get this straight…” He whispered as he stopped rubbing. “So… since you knew that Popo and Nana had the power to go into the Distortion World… you wanted to test if the expansion in that place allowed them to travel to your world?”

John nodded.

Amy frowned. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I’ve seen in books that that place is dangerous without proper guidance. And what’s worse, there are Mystery Dungeons in that place, but instead of normal Pokémon… there are ones that don’t seem… stable.”

The Joltik sighed. “Look, even if it looks tough, I just… I just need to see this through to the end. Don’t worry, it’s just an experiment that won’t take the entire day.”

“John… are you crazy?” Claire asked in what sounded like a serious tone before she smiled in sheer excitement. “This is exactly what I wanted!!! I can’t believe I’m going to-” 

The hedgehog and rodent put a paw over Claire’s mouth, both whispering in unison. “Too loud!”

They removed the paw and the Vulpix rubbed the back of her head while whispering back sheepishly. “Sorry…” She then got in an excited tone again, but this time she was whispering. “I can’t believe I’m going to the human world! That’s like a dream come true!”

John looked aside, as he thought about the horrors of humanity. If she actually knew how our world truly is, she wouldn’t even dream of going there. “Yeah… sure…”

Taro crossed his arms. “Well… it could be fun.” He did his best of thumbs up with his fingers. “Count me in! Can’t wait to find out about all the tech humans have!”

“Well… I have nothing better to do, so I hope it is a good experience.” The Shaymin raised a paw with a smile. “Count me in!”

Claire grinned. “I was in from the start! I can hardly wait for it!” 

John smiled behind his fuzz. “Thanks, guys…”

---

The class went smoothly for the quartet. The Joltik saw another new Pokémon, this one being a bluish-black and red bird that was called a Swellow, the female bird being the geography teacher. In this class, he learned a bit more about the land, and that this continent mostly uses trains for distant travels and such. And apparently, this was the continent with the lowest amount of Mystery Dungeons in the world, however, more started appearing recently.

After the break, another class started. This time was with a familiar face, Ms. Iris. The owl teacher flinched a little once her eyes laid upon John, but regained her composure as she realized no one else was making a fuss about the Joltik. But after that, she gave her subject normally, talking about the robotic Pokémon anatomy, saying that they didn’t have any organic body parts, the only exception being Porygon 2 and Porygon-Z, which were digital and physical at the same time.

It was noon and school was over for the day, and one thing that John was feeling at that moment was nervousness. Well… of course he would in a situation like this. He was about to go through a dangerous dimension that could very well be the bridge of this world to his own. It surely made him kinda scared for what possibilities it all holds. 

He maybe was exaggerating a bit on all of the worries, he had to reassure himself that it would all go well. He could handle himself in the dungeons a bit better now, he even had an attacking move so he could defend himself, and not only that, he also had allies to go along with him. So he would have to hope it would all go smoothly…

The Vulpix, Togedemaru, Shaymin, and Joltik went behind the school. One was clearly excited by the look on her face, another was determined to see this through, another was a bit nervous but would go along with it for her friends, and another was anxious, excited, nervous, and determined all at the same time. 

“You are all here.” “Wonderful.” Popo and Nana said, looking at them with their signature creepy stare. They were standing on a bench, watching as the quartet of Pokémon approached them. “Are these your acquaintances, friend?”

John nodded. “Yes, they’ll be coming with us as well.”

The Tandemaus looked at each Pokémon slowly. “Very interesting fears…” They stopped at Claire and kept looking at her longer than others. “Yours is truly a wonderful one…” “We shall get acquainted wonderfully!”

Claire stepped forward. “We heard from John that you can travel to the Distortion World by yourselves, is that true?”

Popo and Nana nodded. “That is true.” “It is a gift from the Great One themselves.” “We have been enlightened by them!”

The four Pokémon looked at themselves in concern before John jumped off of Claire’s head. “Alright uh… we are ready to enter. I said to Claire to bring us some healing items, just in case we run into an unfortunate encounter.”

Then something clicked on the Vulpix’s head. “Oooooh! So that’s why you asked me to bring the berries from our home secretly, right?”

The greenish spider turned to Claire. “Look, if we are heading out into dangerous territory without the guidance of the deity who owns this place, we need to be careful at all costs.”

Popo and Nana tilted their heads. “What do you mean, friend?” “Would the Great One not guide us?”

John turned back the mice. “Yeah, they’re… busy investigating Asuri, which might be the cause of the expansion in the first place.”

“Understandable.” “However, we know that the Great One will always watch us.” “No matter what.” They jumped off the bench while one of their hands glowed with the dark aura again. They slashed through the fabric of space again, making an X-shaped rift once again. Once they landed, they looked back at the quartet of Pokémon, who had their jaws dropped at the portal created by the Tandemaus. “Are you ready?”

All four Pokémon regained their composure and nodded before the twin mice entered the dark portal. The Joltik jumped on Claire’s head and with that, the three of them entered the portal with their eyes closed, the portal disappearing upon entry.

After passing through, the group opened their eyes to find Popo and Nana standing still while looking away from them. They looked around and shared a “Woah…!” of amazement, mesmerized by the twisty and surreal environment. “Here we are…” The Tandemaus said while lifting their arms. “The lair of the Great One!”

Unlike John who had been there, the others took in their sights, floating islands with dead trees everywhere, teal-colored bushes, some blue crystals coming out of the ground, and distorted buildings all around. If they could make a comparison, the Distortion World almost looked like the final area of a videogame. Claire took some steps forward. “This place is trippy…”

“Vessels.” “There is a warning that we must speak about.” Popo and Nana turned to them. “This is a dangerous realm if not careful.” “So we recommend that we stick together.” “Or else death shall claim our souls and throw us into a dark and inescapable abyss.”

They gulped a little before nodding. Amy stepped forward as well while looking around her surroundings. “I’ve only known what the Distortion World would look like by the description of books but this… it’s kinda beautiful in a way…”

Taro hopped forwards. “Yeah, I kinda get it as well…” He looked at the pair of mice. “Hey, does any other Pokémon live here besides Giratna?”

Popo and Nana got in Taro’s face in an instant, making the spiky rodent yelp. “They are called the Great One. Show some respect to the true God, mortal.” The Togedemaru rapidly nodded as the pair of mice calmed down, getting away from Taro. They turned around and both pointed in a certain direction. “That way is the edge of the realm.” “If what friend said is true, then it should have expanded way beyond the last time we went with the Great One.” “However, it is far away.” “So we have to go through a Mystery Dungeon.”

John tilted his head. “Wait, if you said it was that dangerous, but even without other inhabitants, would a dungeon have something else other than Pokémon?”

“We never said that there were no other inhabitants.” “There are Pokémon here.” “Only at a certain Mystery Dungeon, however.” “However, those Pokémons are more unstable since they appeared in a Mystery Dungeon of another dimension.” “They act more aggressively.” “They constantly teleport to random places in the dungeon.” “We call them… Glitch Pokémon.”

The group looked a bit shocked before Amy took a step forward. “There was a WHOLE other type of Pokémon and you didn’t say anything!?”

The Tandemaus shrugged without changing their expression. “We could not say anything because the Great One told us to not speak about them. And if you are worried about one of them escaping, there is no need to be afraid. None have left the realm so far and they shall never leave.” They looked away, putting a hand on their chins. “Actually, there was one incident that the Great One had mentioned.” “A certain Pokémon left the realm with an energy source we call glitch energy.” “We do not know what it does to a Pokémon who isn’t born a Glitch Pokémon.” “But if there was nothing in the media until this day we have decided to just simply ignore it.”

The quartet just stayed silent as they heard all of that information that could be really important just laid casually on them. However, John could mutter one thing. “What the fuck?”

The Tandemaus just turned around and looked at the other floating islands. “We do not have time to waste.” “Let us move, vessels.” With that, the Tandemaus started running off to the edge of the island they were standing on. The group was shocked and ran after them, John holding onto Claire’s head. The mice jumped off the edge and instead of falling, it seemed like gravity suddenly flipped and they turned upside down, falling (or rising) to an upside-down island above them. After they landed, they looked back at the shocked Pokémon. “Follow us, we shall guide you to the dungeon.”

Taro looked at the others while rubbing the top of his head. “Um… I’m starting to have second thoughts-”

“Geronimo!” Claire said before rushing towards the edge of the island.

John’s heart rate started going up fast. “Wait, wait, wait, waaaaaiiiit-” Claire jumped off the edge, but instead of falling, she started rising along with John who fell out of her fur and started rising as well. “Wooaaaah!” He shouted before landing on his back along with Claire. “Oof…”

Claire was on her back, her uniform smoothing the landing a little bit, processing what happened back there. After assessing the situation a little, she shouted while extending her paws. “Amazing!” She then looked at the Togedemaru and Shaymin that were upside down from her view. “Hey Taro, Amy! Come on, it’s so cool!”

Taro and Amy looked at each other for a second before Taro motioned a paw forward with a sheepish smile. “Ladies first…?”

The Shaymin sighed and started walking towards the edge of the island. She put a paw forward and felt a strange reverse gravity pull hitting her paw. “Woah…” She looked up and saw the four Pokémon waiting for her and Taro on the other island. “Here I go…” She jumped off the edge and started rising towards the island. Bracing for impact, she landed smoothly on her back, her grassy needles on the back sticking the landing along with her uniform. She looked around, confirming whether she was alive or not. “Alright… I’m here…”

As the hedgehog was getting back up, John looked down and shouted to the spiky rodent. “Your turn, Taro!”

Taro sighed as he started hopping in place and tapping his cheeks. “Let’s do this!” He started rolling, building up speed as he fell off the edge and started rising by the inverted gravity. He uncurled himself as he noticed the shift in gravity as he started falling upwards. “Woah!” On instinct, his spikes popped out of his body right as he landed. After looking around, he jumped up and retracted his spikes, doing a proud pose while smiling. “I’m here!”

They just stared before the Tandemaus spoke. “Anyways.” “Let us move on.” “This shall not be the last island we have to jump to.” With that, Popo and Nana started to run again, making the others run after them, with John jumping on Claire’s head. Taro sighed at the lack of acknowledgment from his brave act of jumping off an island and started running after them as well. 

The group followed behind the mice, jumping from island to island, getting a bit dizzy from all the gravity shifts. John could adapt well to the feeling, since he had a bit of experience with being sideways himself, while the others had to take a small breather as their bodies adjusted to the gravity. 

While walking on one of the islands, they looked at an upside-down island with a massive tilted building and some other small buildings around it. Claire looked at the buildings and got a bit weirded out. “Hey, Popo and Nana. Why are there buildings here? And why do they look so… distorted?”

The mice spoke while walking, looking at the building themselves. “This realm mirrors the original one.” “Both sides reflect the image of one another.” “The Distortion Realm cannot exist without the original one and the original one cannot exist without its counterpart.” “If one world were to disappear…” “The other disappears as well.”

The group looked at each other in concern before focusing ahead once again. However, John was thinking hard about this information. ‘Wait… if this world reflects the state of the other… does that mean… no, I won’t think about this just yet. Just focus on the current objective for now.’

John shook off his thoughts as the group continued to follow the mice. After a small while, the group reached an island that had two giant gray open doors, showing an archway that was filled with kaleidoscope-looking colors. Besides the doors, there was a bunch of dead trees, lined up almost like a wall. They got in front of it and the Tandemaus turned to them. “Welcome to the only dungeon of this realm.” “And the biggest shortcut in the entirety of the Distortion realm.” “Welcome to the Hollow Forest.”