PROLOGUE

Terry’s Secret Lab near Seattle, Washington

“Nephew! Come check this out!” Terry Radford, a scientist-slash-engineer with silvery-white hair said into his cell phone.

A few minutes later, a young man sporting a blue hoodie reading ‘University of Washington’ emerged from the elevator to Terry’s secret lab.

“Did you call for me, Professor Terry?” Ryan Wiskell asked tauntingly.

“I did, in fact, call for you, Ryan,” the engineer said, turning to face the brown-haired young man, who had recently dropped out of college. “Also, I’m an engineer with a minor in string theory, not a professor. Anyways, after all this time, I’m finally about to achieve the completion of this project. If everything goes well, this portal will open up so many worlds-“

The nearly 21-year-old young man waved dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, you’ve said this all before. No need to repeat yourself for the millionth time. Get to the point already.”

“I want you to witness the changing of history that will occur when we activate this bad boy!” He smacked the side of the portal, and it made a clanging noise. “We’re going to be going through it if it works, so make sure you have everything you want to bring with you!” With his free hand, he lifted

“Yep, I have my bag,” Ryan said, turning to the side to show his sky-blue backpack containing various items. “I really want this to work. It would be insane to be able to have interdimensional travel.” Ryan put a hand behind his head, a worried expression appearing on his face. “But aren’t you worried about what might happen if it doesn’t work?”

Terry scoffed. “Oh, please. The worst that could happen is that the gateway won’t turn on. It would be disappointing, sure, but both of us would walk away unharmed.”

Now, it was Ryan’s turn to scoff. There was no way that that was the worst that could happen here. After all, his uncle was working with the fabric of space-time itself! He thought Terry was being far too confident in his own mental strength. He shoved his arms out impatiently. “Well, if you’re so sure of nothing bad happening, press the button already!”

“Say no more!” the scientist yelled confidently as he slammed down on the button. The circular hole in the triangular gateway started to glow with a blue light. Terry fistpumped, a broad smile on his face. “Yes! Yes! It’s working!”

“I don’t believe this!” Ryan exclaimed excitedly. “The portal is activating and nothing’s going wrong!”

“See! I told you there was nothing to worry about! Interdimensional travel, here we come!”

Arceus’ Domain

“We really ought to put a stop to this,” a masculine voice boomed.

A levitating pink cat and a large white llama-shaped creature looked on through a wormhole of their own as they watched the humans activate the manmade interdimensional gateway.

“Sorry,” Mew said sheepishly, “but I don’t really understand what the big deal is. What is so bad about that gateway?”

Arceus rolled their eyes. “It’s not the gateway itself,” they responded, “but it’s the fact that humanity isn’t really… ready for interdimensional travel of their own accord yet.”

“Why not?”

Arceus materialized an Arc Phone, searched something, and showed it to Mew, all using an ethereal arm. She winced.

“Oh dear, I see what you mean. Terrifying stuff.” The Arc Phone dematerialized. “So, what’re we gonna do about it?” Mew added, shrugging.

The llamalike deity started to try to think of something when, through the wormhole, he heard the older-looking human say something.

“Ryan, do not press the red button again to deactivate it! We aren’t yet anyways, but once we do, press the blue one! Pressing the red one while the gateway is active… well, I don’t know what’ll happen but I’d rather not find out!”

“Why wouldn’t you test that first?” Ryan retorted.

“We all make mistakes in the heat of passion, Jimbo.”

Ryan cringed at his uncle’s statement, burying his face in his hands. “Please don’t say that ever again.”

Arceus turned back to the small pink cat. “Well, I think we have our answer. Now, turn yourself invisible and go press that red button!”

Mew did as Arceus said. She could no longer be seen as she passed through Arceus’ wormhole into the laboratory.

Terry’s Secret Lab near Seattle, Washington

Mew carefully descended, hoping that neither of the humans would notice her. Fortunately, for her, they were both too busy trying to see if they could see what was on the other side of the now-fully-active gateway. The older human, who Mew learned from the conversation was named Terry, appeared to be getting lectured by Ryan about how referencing memes in everyday conversations is cringeworthy, especially in situations like this one. Mew didn’t know what a meme was, but she took the opportunity to press the red button and see what would happen. A loud buzzer noise was heard, startling all three beings and causing the psychic feline to become visible again. Fortunately, she was able to fly back through Arceus’ wormhole before either human could spot her.

“I told you not to press the red button!” Terry yelled, pointing accusatively at Ryan.

“I DIDN’T! I’m, like, 10 feet away from it! How would I have reached it?” the latter yelled back.

Both started arguing, eventually devolving into a shouting match, and neither noticed as the portal became increasingly unstable, making an increasingly louder humming noise. Just as the noise started to catch the two humans’ attention, the room went completely silent for a few seconds. They realized that they should probably flee the scene now, but were unable to even turn for the door before the portal exploded, catching both with a blue pulse of energy. Neither felt any pain, but both vanished in a flash, leaving no trace behind.