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She eased her eyes open, blinking as she realised this wasn’t where she fell asleep. In fact, she wasn’t anywhere she recognised. There was nothing for as far as she could see, and as she regained feeling, she found that there was no floor either.
She wasn’t falling, but she wasn’t standing either. It felt like she was being suspended by nothing… is this what it felt like to be held by a psychic pokemon? She shook her head, now was not the time for that, she had to… do something? Do what though? How do you escape an endless void where you can’t move anywhere? Maybe this was a dream and she’d wake up soon…
Before the panic could begin to creep in, there was a bright flash. She turned to see what it was, but it was gone by the time she looked. She stared after where it was, then jumped - as well as she could in a weightless void - when more flashes appeared around her.
A few of them began taking the form of… of some kind of pokemon. At least, that’s what she thought it was. The light pressed together as more of its body formed and she had to shield her eyes when it became blinding. When the light had finally died down, she could see… whatever it was.
Its body was still enveloped in light, the only thing breaking the golden glow was its intense green and red eyes. She could pick out its head, body, legs, tail and an odd looking ring around its torso, but she couldn’t see many other details.
“Welcome to my realm, located beyond both time and space.”
The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. She could feel it in her head, as if it was projected directly into her thoughts, but she could hear it echo, bouncing off of the non existent walls of this… of this realm.
“It is well that thou art here,” The voice itself was unusual, it could be understood, but she could tell that whatever spoke them didn’t breathe human breath. With the appearance of the pokemon in front of her, it was clear why the voice sounded as it did. Still… it wasn’t cold, or even unsettling. It felt warm, she could even go as far as to call it comforting.
“I am that which humans call Arceus.”
…Arceus? There was no way… How- why had it taken her here, to its realm? Why was it speaking to her? What was going on?
“Akari…” She was pulled from her thoughts as Arceus spoke her name. “Soon thou shalt find thyself in a world strange to thee… A world inhabited by wondrous creatures that humans call pokemon.”
A strange world? She’d argue that they were already in a strange world, but contradicting Arceus in its own realm was probably a bad idea. At least there would be pokemon there, she could work with that.
“Akari… Seek out all pokemon, and thou shalt find me once more.”
She felt something shift in her pocket, then watched as her phone floated away from her and towards Arceus. It shifted its gaze from her to her phone as it was enveloped in a similarly blinding light.
It floated back towards her and she reached out to take it into her hands. She didn’t physically touch it, it didn’t seem like she was able to, but it remained in place, hovering between her hands. The light that had surrounded it felt like sunlight on her hands, but different, as if it was reaching further than her skin.
She looked back up at Arceus, but it was gone and she was alone in the nothingness once again. There was a tug in her chest and she was hit with a wave of dizziness. She must be on her way to this ‘strange world’.
The tug stuttered for a moment and she could feel her hands begin to shake. She looked down at them, brows creased and frowning. Something felt off… wrong…
There was a deafening rumble filled the air. For a full few seconds, she could feel it all around her and in her bones. When it disappeared, she was left with a full body shiver. What was that? It was a stark contrast to the light and sound Arceus had been producing.
She caught a glimpse of something moving beneath her. Looking down, she couldn’t see anything aside from what could only be called ripples as something big moved by.
Everything felt wrong. Like this wasn’t supposed to happen. Like whatever that thing was, she wasn’t supposed to be near it.
She curled up and clutched the light closer to her chest, the only bit of warmth left. Her hands were going numb, no, her whole body was going numb and her mind was starting to swim.
The light flickered in her hands as her consciousness wavered. She was out before the rumble filled her ears again.